Easy one pot soup

It's finally fall time! Which means hot soup is on the menu.

If you need an easy dinner that makes for great left overs try this one out.

What you need:
2 bags frozen vegetables (I use the California vegetable blend)
2 boxes of chicken broth (read your ingredients to avoid gluten and sugar exposure)
1 lbs ground chicken

1 bag gluten free fusili pasta (I like the simply balanced brand from target)  

Italian seasonings
Sea salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
2 tbs coconut oil

Melt 2 tbs of coconut oil in the bottom of a large soup pot.  Brown the ground chicken in the oil over medium heat with 1 tbs italian seasonings,  1/2 tbs sea salt, 1/4 tbs pepper and 1/2 tbs garlic powder.

Once chicken in browned dump in the 2 bags of frozen veggies.  Stir together. Add the chicken broth and crank the heat up to high.

Once the broth is boiling pour in pasta and stir every couple of minutes until aldente. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let sit at least 4 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Whipped Cauliflower (faux potatoes)

My favorite part of any family meal used to be mashed potatoes. The high starch value of potatoes just kills my stomach and isn't Slenderiiz approved. My go to comfort food now is the whipped cauliflower! So good you barely miss the potatoes ;)

Yes that's cauliflower not potato!

Ready to get started?

Ingredients
32 oz frozen cauliflower
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbs crushed garlic
1/4-1/2 cup unsweetend coconut milk

Instructions
In a stew pot add all the ingredients (yes it's that easy!), cover with a lid and heat up on medium high heat (my stove has this as 6 out of 10). Stir semi frequently and add small splashes of unsweetened coconut milk if the liquid completely evaporates before the cauliflower is mashable with a manual masher/fork. If you like chunky potatoes then mash by hand. If you want light and airy then blend away! I use my Ninja on high and crack the little pour spout cover a little to make sure the seal doesn't pop from pressure. If you have a hand mixer you can use that too but be careful not to burn you self!

I like to top my light and airy cauliflower with a pinch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Also super yummy with your favorite gravy recipe!

Chocolate Chunk Cookies (Gluten free, dairy free, sugar free)

Who wants a fiber and protein packed chocolate chunk cookie that could easily pass as breakfast on the go instead of dessert? Um yeah that's right, me!

Ready for some odd sounding ingredients that I promise will rock your world if blended like crazy?

Ingredients:
1 can drained and rinsed Garbanzo beans
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tbs almond butter
1/4 cup agave or 1 tsp vanilla stevia plus 6 tbs of unstweened coconut milk (use stevia for Slenderiiz approved)
1 pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chunk I use "Coco Polo 70% dark chocolate"  because it's sweetend with stevia, gluten free and dairy free plus no GMO and great taste! We purchase it from Natural Grocers.
1/2 tbs coconut oil

Instructions:
In a high powered blender blend all the indredient except the chocolate until smooth and evenly integrated.
While still packaged smash the chocolate with something heavy (I use a tenderizing hammer or a full can of beans).
remove the blade from your blender or scrape mixture in to a bowl. Stir in the chocolate chunks (I also use the dough "blade" for my Ninja and it works great without over chopping the chocolate).

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Grease your hands with a little coconut oil and roll about 2 tbs of dough in your hands and then flatten and place on the parchment paper. You will probably have to reapply the coconut oil every 2-3 cookies to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.

Note: The cookies do not rise or spread so how you form them is how they will look once baked.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg.
Bake for 15-20 minutes and let set for a couple minutes before eating.

Enjoy!

Quinoa "tortillas" (faux corn tortillas)

My family loves Mexican food! In order to have tacos and enchiladas that fit with in our Slenderiiz eating clean lifestyle we gave up corn which means no corn tortillas. I've looked around and tried multiple different versions of tortilla recipes and found them to be way too complicated for my patience. So after a couple tries I came up with these and they're great for tacos and for enchiladas!

Ground chicken tacos!

Verde Lasagna styled enchiladas =) (quinoa tortillas laid flat instead of rolled)

Easy peasy ready for this?

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups water

8 eggs

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

Rinse the quinoa to remove the bitter starch.

Cook quinoa by adding the quinoa and water in a sauce pot. Bring to boil and cover with a lid. Remove from heat and let sit until all the water is absorbed.

Fluff with a fork and let cool (either in fridge or to room temp)

In a high powered blender (I used my Ninja) blend the cooked (and cooled) quinoa, eggs, and seasonings.

Blend until smooth.

Heat up non-stick skillet or crepe pan (I used a crepe pan for convenience).

Brown on both sides and layer parchment paper in between each tortilla as you finish.

Note: After you spoon the mixture on to the hot skillet/pan spread out with the bottom of a non-metal spoon like a ladle. 

Voila! Done =)

Makes about a dozen medium sized tortillas.