Almond flour pizza crust

The whole family enjoyed the crunch and toasty flavor of this gluten free, dairy free, sugar free pizza crust!

Serving size: 2

What you'll need:
Parchment paper to line your baking sheet or pizza stone.
1 cup almond flour
1 egg
2 tbs melted coconut oil
pinch of sea salt
1/2 tbs garlic powder
1/2 tbs Italian seasoning . 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk your egg,  garlic, italian seasonings and salt. Then add in almond flour and melted coconut oil.

Lightly coat your hands in the coconut oil and roll the mixture in to a round ball.

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and a little oil on top to help not stick.

Press out your dough until about 8inches in diameter.

Pre-bake at 350 degrees with no toppings until golden brown.
Add a thin layer of sauce (I used Target's Simply balanced marinara because is sf/gf/df) bake until chosen toppings are hot.

We opted to top with salad instead of cheese ;) yum!

*Note* if you are topping with meat make sure it is cook all the way to safe temperature before adding to the pizza.

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!

Zucchini "noodles" with Turkey Meatballs and Simple Marinara Sauce

          We love Italian food! Low carb, low calorie, but there's no skimping on the flavor, yum!

Ingredients:
32 oz ground turkey
1 can of 14.5 oz Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes
3 zucchini
1 minced clove of garlic
2 tbs melted coconut oil

Seasonings:
1/4 tbs onion powder
1/2 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs fennel seed
sea salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs fresh basil (plus save 1 tbs of basil for garnish)
1/4 tbs fresh rosemary

Pre-heat the oven to 400 deg F.
Oil a 9x13 baking pan with 1.5 tbs coconut oil.
In a large bowl gently combine the ground turkey, and onion powder, garlic powder, fennel seeds, and about 1/2 tbs sea salt 1/4 tbs pepper seasonings using your hands. Roll golf ball sized meat balls and place in the baking pan. To get a nice outer crust roll each of the meat balls a little in the coconut oil so all the sides are slightly oiled. Each ball should be about 1.25 oz of turkey which will produce 24 meat balls (3 rows of 8 as seen in the picture). Place in the oven uncovered for 12-18 minutes (the meat should be a nice golden brown).

While the meat balls are baking, cut off the ends on the zucchini and use a potato peeler to peel off the outer skin on the zucchini. Toss the skin into your compost or garbage. Now we're going to make the "noodles" with the potato peeler run even ribbons of zucchini for all 3 zucchini. As you approach the seeds then rotate the zucchini. The core with the seeds will be used in the sauce but contain too much moisture to be noodles.

Toss the "noodles" with the remaining 1/2 tbs melted coconut oil and lightly salt and pepper then set aside for the last minute to warm through before serving.

In a blender combine the zucchini cores (chopped), 1 can of roasted tomatoes, minced garlic clove, rosemary and basil. Once evenly combined pour into a sauce pan and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Remove the meat balls from the oven and let them rest for 1-2 minutes out of the oven while you gently toss the zucchini "noodles" over medium heat just enough to warm them through. You don't want to COOK the zucchini just get it warm. Plate the "noodles" top with 3 meat balls (4 oz serving of turkey) and spoon on the sauce. Garnish with a little fresh basil and ENJOY!

A lighter more flavorful spin on a Chicken salad

Who doesn't love chicken salad? The problem is usually its full of mayo and chicken and bread which doesn't really provide much nutritional value to your day. Here's my absolute favorite chicken salad mix on a bed of spring greens. 

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast cooked and cooled (you can boil or bake or use left over rotisserie)

1/2 tbs olive oil based mayo or veganaise

1/2 an orange

4 dried apricots

1/2 cup red grapes

optional garnish** sunflower seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, Chopped basil

2 cups lettuce of greens of your choice (I like the spring mix with baby herbs and spinach)

Note: Don't like Mayo? no problem! Substitute greek yogurt, or 1/2 tbs mashed avocado, or 1/2 tbs of olive oil emulsified in the blender with 1/2 tbs lemon juice. 

Seasonings:

cumin

sea salt

pepper

Dice up your cooled cooked chicken, apricots, grapes (cut in half) and toss with the mayo and 1 tbs of fresh squeezed orange juice (save the rest of the orange to dress the greens with). season with 1/4 tbs cumin and salt and pepper to taste.

Plate the greens in a bowl and squeeze remaining orange juice on to the greens. Spoon the chicken mix on top of the greens and garnish with your choice of seed or basil. 

Voila! so delicious and healthy!

Veggie Loaded Gluten Free Lasagna

 I love Italian food! Lasagna is a personal favorite. I have a recipe for you that can easily be done vegan or with Goat cheese (if you can tolerate cow milk go for it, goat cheese is much more allergy friendly and about 1/2 the calories of cow milk). Instead of pasta layers I used thinly sliced strips of zucchini. My whole family -even little Ms. Picky eater- and the neighbors who joined us for dinner LOVED this and didn't miss the noodles at all.

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs of ground chicken or turkey - to simplify you can get Italian seasoned turkey sausage
2 large carrots (shredded)
3 medium zucchini (sliced thin, length wise)
1 yellow onion (finely chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 can Hunt's Basil Garlic Oregano canned diced tomatoes
Optional** 6 tbs Chevre (we get ours from a local goat dairy farm but you can buy yours from any grocery store!)
2 tbs Olive oil (or coconut oil)
2- 25 oz jars of spaghetti sauce of your choice ( I use O Organics tomato basil)
Sea Salt
Pepper

Seasoning for Turkey:
1/2 tbs Sea salt
1/4 tbs Pepper
1/4 tbs Onion powder
1/4 tbs Garlic powder
1/2 tbs Rosemary (I used from from the garden but you can also use dried)
1/4 tbs fennel seed (ground)
1/4 tbs cardamom (ground)
2 tbs Balsamic vinegar

Note: If you are preparing Vegan than use the seasonings typically used for turkey and apply to saute fresh spinach and pine nuts instead.

Ready? Here we go!

1st, Zucchini has a lot of water in it and we need to get rid of as much as possible. Slice your zucchini thin length wise and lay out on top of paper towels (or clean kitchen towels), salt lightly and then lay another layer of towel on top. Make sure the top layer is covered with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel and place another cookie sheet on top to help press out the liquid.
Let that sit while you prepare the filling.

Grate two large carrots with the larger hole size set in the sink (on top of a clean plate) in a colander to drain the moisture.

Heat up a 2 tbs of olive oil in a frying pan, brown the ground turkey with all of the dry seasonings (wait to use the balsamic vinegar until the meat is completely cooked) deglaze the pan with the vinegar. Then put your drained/shredded carrots into a big bowl and use the colander to drain the turkey meat use light pressure to help expel extra moisture.

While your turkey is draining add the can of tomatoes (drained) to the carrots, chopped onion, minced garlic, sea salt and pepper to taste, add the turkey and toss in the goat cheese if you are using it.

In a 9x13 pan spoon in a thin layer of spaghetti sauce, then lay down a layer of the zucchini, spoon in a layer of the filling, top with a few spoon fulls of spaghetti sauce and then lay out another layer of zucchini. Repeat. For your final top layer lay out a double layer of zucchini evenly spoon out a thin layer of sauce. If you're using cheese crumble some of the chevre on top, if you're preparing vegan I recommend topping off with some pine nuts. Cover with foil.

Place a cookie sheet on the bottom rack of your oven to catch any over flow from the lasagna while baking.

Bake for 45 min in a preheated oven to 350 degrees
then remove the foil and bake for 15 more minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit for about
5 minutes before serving

Enjoy!

Vegan Faux Alfredo Pesto

I've used Cashews for creaminess in desserts and this evening I trimmed back my basil plant so voila it was time to make a pesto sauce which turned out to be the most delicious faux alfredo that I have ever had. My brother had some of the left overs and said he would have never guessed that the dish was vegan!

Ingredients for sauce:
1 1/4 cups raw unsalted cashews
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup warm water
1 large lemon (juiced)
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup chopped fresh basil
sea salt
pepper
*optional* crushed red pepper

Additional ingredients for pasta dish:
Quinoa pasta
broccoli
6 roma tomatoes
*optional* cooked chicken breast or shrimp

In a food processor or powerful blender/magic bullet
Puree the cashews, olive oil, lemon juice and slowly add warm water until mixture is creamy (similar to the texture of creamy almond butter) add basil, garlic and 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp ground pepper (or season to taste). Pulse and blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy adding warm water as needed to keep the mixture loose. If like spicy Italian food then stir in crushed red pepper flakes for desired heat level.
 That's it! you can toss as is with any pasta, veggie, dip with veggies, gluten free snacks what ever you want. Here's the dish I made.

I boiled a whole package of Quinoa Pasta in salted water, when I drained the pasta I left about a 1/4 cup of starchy water in the pan, then folded in the pesto sauce. While the two were heating up I microwave steamed a package of broccoli that was salted and peppered. I tossed the cooked broccoli in and then diced up some roma tomatoes. I removed the mixture off heat and folded in 4 of the diced roma tomatoes. After plating the pasta I garnished with fresh diced roma tomatoes. My husband wanted meat for his dish so I grilled a salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder seasoned chicken breast on the bbq sliced it up and topped off the chicken and tomatoes.

Quinoa Stuffed Bell Pepper Halves

There are so many nights where I need to make dinner FAST and when it would be easy to give in to temptation. I have a few recipes that I can make in under 30 minutes and this is one of my favorites!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (this should be about 1 large lime squeezed)
2 bell peppers
1/3 cup chopped cilantro + 4 small sprigs for garnish
1 cup chopped white or red onion (should be about one small onion)
2/3 cup your favorite salsa
1lb ground chicken (or your choice of meat/ tofu)
1/4 tbs coconut oil
Seasonings: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder

Cut the bell peppers in half and remove the stems and seeds/membrane.
Place the bell pepper halves cut side down on to a hot grill or BBQ (about 375 degrees)
In a sauce pan combine the quinoa, chicken broth, and lime juice. Bring to a boil for 30 seconds then reduce the heat to low and cover. Let simmer covered until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Melt coconut oil in a saute plan on medium/high heat and season well and brown the ground chicken. Toss in the chopped onions once the meat is browned.
Once the onions are soft add the salsa, toss in the cooked quinoa and mix well. Take the saute pan off the heat and fold in the chopped cilantro.
Remove the bell peppers from the grill/ BBQ and spoon in the quinoa/chicken mix in to the bell peppers and garnish with the remaining cilantro sprigs.

Voila! Super easy and so delicious!

Easy Ground Chicken, Marinara and Sauteed Veggies

             Prior to our lifestyle change Spaghetti was a staple meal for our family, usually as an excuse to have garlic bread but none the less I had to figure out a healthier solution to this quick and easy meal.  First step was finding a marinara recipe and a pre-made sauce for easy nights that was also sugar free, dairy free, gluten free, and soy free.

             We will save my marinara from scratch recipe for another day and today let's focus on those ever so tempting "in a rush" nights where you just have to make something or your going to end up ordering pizza...

Here's what you need!

16 oz Ground chicken (or turkey)- 4 adult servings
1 jar of Marinara (I found O-Organics from Safeway was the most cost effective, Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Soy Free)
2 green bellpeppers
1 yellow onion
3 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp coconut oil
Seasonings
1/2 tbs onion powder
1/2 tbs garlic powder
3/4 tbs rosemary (dried) or 1/2 tbs (fresh)
sea salt
pepper

Ok here we go =)
Slice onions and bell pepper to thin strips (these are going to mimic the pasta) sprinkle with salt and pepper
Season the ground chicken with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and rosemary (if you can go fresh on herbs than do it!) and sprinkle it with salt and pepper..
In a saute pan (a wok works well too) over medium/high heat melt the coconut oil, then add the veggies. Saute the veggies until they are starting to caramelize on their sides. Add in the ground chicken and break into bite size pieces stirring as the meat browns and the veggies get soft and fully caramelized.
Deglaze the pan with balsamic vinegar and loosen up all of the yummy brown stuff that has accumulated at the bottom of the pan.
Add the bottle of sauce (25 oz jar) I like to add a couple tablespoons worth of water to the jar, replace the lid, shake it up and get all the sauce out =)
Once the sauce has heated up to a low boil, reduce heat for 5 minutes and its ready to serve.

If you can't live with out pasta, I highly recommend Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta.

Note: You can use just about any vegetable to saute if you're not a fan of peppers and onion, try summer squash, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli or sliced carrots.

Chicken Fajita Salad (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free, Soy Free)

Last night I made some homemade pico de gallo as I prepped for our lunches this week. This afternoon I stared in to the fridge and thought about how easy it would be to snag my toddler up and grab a bite to eat out instead. Haha! Talk about how we trick ourselves into making choices out of "convenience" when really not having to leave the home at all is way more convenient. On a whim I threw together this keeper, a recipe I will definitely be reusing time and time again.

Things you are going to need:
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast (fat trimmed) or 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs (fat trimmed)
season both sides well with:

• salt
• pepper
• cumin
• onion powder
• garlic powder

1/2 tbs of coconut oil (you can sub olive oil)
6 tbs pico de gallo
1 bell pepper (or 5 mini bell peppers)
1 cup mixed greens salad
1/2 a lime

In a medium sized nonstick skillet (this allows you to use less oil) heat up the coconut oil to medium/high heat. with tongs place your well seasoned chicken in to the skillet and brown both sides.

Cut the bell pepper in to strips and toss in to the skillet. Stir occasionally, after 2 minutes add 4 tbs of pico (save 2 tbs for a fresh garnish to dress your salad with) and toss and use the liquid to help pick up (de-glaze) the brownings on the bottom of the skillet (there is so much flavor in there!). Reduce the heat to medium /low) and remove the chicken and cut the chicken into strips then place back in to your skillet. Squeeze the 1/2 a lime into the skillet to help brighten the mix and coat the chicken in the yummy seasonings that have coated the bottom of the skillet.

Lay down a bead of spring salad mix on the plate and top with the fajita mix. Garnish with your remaining 2 tbs of pico de gallo. Enjoy!

4 oz serving of chicken fajita on salad is 220 calories.
6 oz serving of chicken fajita on salad is 338 calories.

Well balanced and delicious! Who needs to eat out? The secret to healthy eating is in your grocery cart.

Heirloom Tomato Pico de Gallo

We use a lot salsa in our home. Its a great salad dressing, garnish and marinade. Here is a Easy Pico de Gallo, no fuss,  recipe.

4 large tomatoes (I like to use heirloom tomatoes when they're in season)
1 sweet onion
2 Serrano peppers
1/4 bunch of cilantro
1 lime
Pinch of sea salt

Dice the tomatoes,  onion, cilantro, and peppers. If you don't care for spicy food make sure you remove the seeds before you dice the serrano peppers you can also reduce the amount of peppers you use. Mix all your diced ingredients and add the juice of one lime. Toss the mixture and sprinkle with a dash of sea salt if desired.

You can eat right away but the longer it sits in the fridge the more the flavors will marry together.

Orange Chicken Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free

We used to frequent Thai food and Chinese food for take home meals quite a bit before making our life style change. We spent a lot of money to earn that unwanted weight ;) Karl has been missing Orange Chicken and typically when the temptation to fall off the healthy bandwagon happens its as he smells the Orange Chicken from the Deli in Safeway.  So today I did some experimenting and finally came up with a great alternative that really aligns with our better eating habits and fits in with the Slenderiiz program we've been doing to shed pounds quickly.

Things you need:
4 oranges juiced + (1 tablespoon of orange zest)
2 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 white onion
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 tablespoon ginger powder
1/2 tablespoon salt (salt and pepper to taste)
1 tsp of stevia
2 cloves of garlic minced
(Optional) pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
6 green onions
toasted sesame seeds (garnish)
1 bag of California Vegetable mix (or your choice of veggies)

In a sauce pan add all but a tablespoon of the orange juice and 1/2 a tablespoon of orange zest and 1 tsp of Stevia (and the red pepper flakes if you want the spice). Heat on the back burner and allow to reduce.

prepare for a quick stir fry in the wok by getting all your ingredients ready ahead of time

Slice the raw chicken in to thin slices as evenly as possible. I did mine about 2 inches long by 1/3 inch wide. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, and half of the green onions (leave some for garnish). Cut up the white onion in bite size pieces.

lightly salt the onions

In a hot wok or large skillet drop the coconut oil and onion, saute until the onions just start to brown on the edges. Add your seasoned chicken and brown. Throw the bag of veggies in the microwave to cook while finishing the rest of the dish, or add your raw (not frozen) veggies to the Wok as soon as the chicken starts to sizzle (you don't want the Wok to cool down and slow down the cooking process or end up with rubbery chicken)

De-glaze the wok with the apple cider vinegar. 

Pour the orange sauce (consistency of a thin syrup) out of the sauce pan and in with chicken. Toss in the sauce until the contents are evenly saturated. When the chicken is all evenly cooked (PINK IS BAD), and the coated in the sauce remove from heat and toss in the remaining tablespoon of fresh orange juice and 1/2 tablespoon of orange zest. 

Arrange the Chicken on top of your steamed or microwaved veggies and garnish with sesame seeds and the remaining minced green onions.

Voila! This serving is 320 calories. 

I kid you not when I say, the kids literally licked the bowl clean! and I was tempted to as well.

Lettuce Wrapped Bison Burgers

We love Bison for it's lean qualities and flavor, and burgers were are go to staple for at least 2 meals a week...only before our lifestyle change we were eating them from Carl's Junior's drive thru instead of our grill.

You can have your burger and eat it too haha!

Bison is super lean, the suggested serving size is 4 ounces which grilled yields 190 calories.

I seasoned both sides of the 4 oz patties with black pepper, red pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and dried onions. You can also use McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning (it's gluten free and sugar free).

Grill as usual I grill ours medium well (we're not pink meat people lol)

While your meat is resting off the grill wash your iceberg lettuce leaves and arrange, your toppings.

Our toppings:
Trader Joes low fat mayo (sugar free) 15 calories (1/2 tbs)
Mustard (0 calories)
Dill pickles (0 calories)
Cherry tomatoes (10 calories)
Iceberg lettuce (1 calorie)

Total burger was 216 calories and finger licking delicious!

P.s. Karl topped his burger with some salsa instead of tomatoes/pickles and raw red onions for some extra spice/sweetness. He had raving reviews.

(criteria meets Slenderiiz program approved foods)

Healthy Food on the Go!

Mandy posted this request on our Facebook wall this morning and I was more than happy to dive in to a blog response ;)

Believe it or not, your planning for a healthy lunch tomorrow starts with tonight's meal! If you can strive to have a lean protein each night make sure you have enough for left overs the next day.
I turn just about every dinner into a salad some how. I looked online for recipes to give you but I feel like building blocks to every day lunches or quick food is the key here.

Salad Base
I keep spring leaf salad in the fridge at all times
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Sprouts
Peas
Black olives
Hard boiled eggs
2 Lemons (wedge and save to use in place of salad dressing if you desire)

Salads don't have to be lack luster and can be hearty!
Sunday night set aside an hour to prepare for your week's lunches.
Cut up your tomatoes (I recommend de-seeding them so you cut down on moisture), Cucumbers, rinse your sprouts, and defrost a bag of frozen peas. I keep mine all separate so they maintain their individual flavors all week and don't get slimy.

Now envision that you have all of your salad base ready for you every night to pack your lunch, you had chicken tonight so you toss some chicken in there, you had ground beef, pork chops, even fish it can be added to your salad!

If you have a meal that integrates your protein in to your food like a casserole, lasagna and enchiladas then you wont really have anything to throw on your salad but here's the back up plan.

Have some quality lunch meat ready for back up, or one of my favorites it s tuna salad.
Here's my tuna mix.

One pouch of White albacore tuna
1tbs Wish Bone Robusto Italian Dressing
1 tbs of olive oil mayonaise
dash of ground pepper

This makes two servings and yields 126 calories for a 1/2 cup

                                 
  I use these Glad containers that are built for salads.










For snacks on the run I use raw almonds, baby carrots and PureNourish meal shakes (I use Vanilla coconut milk to mix, since its not naturally very sweet). I'm also a big fan of Safeway's (Von's) "Open Nature" branded nut bars.

Flavor is better than fat

As a self proclaimed foodie I love all food that is delicious and typically I associate that with starving myself through breakfast and lunch in order to eat something extravagant for dinner or dessert. Sound familiar? I think the concept of calorie counting alone can perpetuate this. However, a healthy caloric intake for me is 1100 calories a day and for Karl 1250, so there is definitely a balance between keeping track of what you're eating all day but making sure you divvy up those calories through out the day.

I started using the Android application "Fitness pal" to keep track of both calories and exercise.

If you get a popular omlett from IHOP you're facing  915 calories not including toast, juice,  and etc. YIKES! I don't think we will be eating out very much, you don't know what is going into your food unless you make it.

The Omlett I made at home today was only 376 calories with toast and and apple! So tasty too.

I really like Dave's killer bread for how much fiber and natural protein it has while still being free of any animal products.  You don't have to deprive yourself of bread, just make good choices of what bread you use.  

Delicious, filling and satisfying.

Omlett

Wisk 2 medium sized eggs (I prefer organic omega 3 eggs from Safeway), add some pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

Heat 1/4 tbs of olive oil in a small skillet at a medium to high heat ( 6 of 10 on our stove top)

Add your whisked/seasoned eggs to the hot skillet, unless you want scrambled eggs DO NOT TOUCH
until the eggs have cooked all the way through and the ends start to curl up a little.

Carefully flip half over on to the other half then slide on to your plate. I don't like having cold salsa on my eggs so I place a dollop of salsa in the still hot pan and heat up before place on top and then just for looks I garnish with parsley. (What? I like my food to be pretty)

Enjoy! Lean and delicious but chalk full of protein and fiber =)