Inspired by a visit to my cousin's home out towards Asheville where we enjoyed some gorgeous Fall weather and did some hiking over in Flat Rock. We made a butternut squash risotto and I decided to take the recipe and make a vegan pumpkin risotto that was so delicious! You can easily use either the squash or the pumpkin. It's all about what you have in the house.

What You Will Need

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 yellow or white onion, diced

1/4 tsp salt and pepper

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

1 1/2 cups brown rice

7 cups of veggie broth, warmed

1 tbs coconut oil

1/2 cup of nutritional yeast

1 1/2 cups of cooked pumpkin or butternut squash, warmed

3 tbs fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley

What You Need To Do

• In a medium/large saucepan on medium, heat the olive oil.
• Add the onion and cook until it starts to become translucent.
• Add the garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper and stir together.
• Add the rice and stir together completely.
• Add 1 cup of the warmed veggie...

This week's recipe goes with last week's blog post about fiber. Lentils are a great source of fiber. This is a delicious way to get them into your diet!
I've wanted to make a lentil soup for the blog for a long time but have put it off because I don't have a lot of experience cooking lentils. I was very pleased with the results of this recipe, super yummy and also freezable for batch cooking.

Keep in mind I like my soups like stew, super thick, so just add more water/veggie broth for your desired thickness.

Italian Lentil Soup - vegan/gluten-free

Servings 6-8 - Preparation and cooking time - 1 hour

What You Need

 1 onion, diced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

3 medium carrots diced

3 celery stalks diced

1 medium sweet potato, diced

1 28oz can of diced tomatoes

6-8 cups of water or veggie stock. Depending on your preference of thickness.

1 ½ cups of green lentils

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp basil

2 tbsp fresh parsley thinly chopped

½ tsp red pepper flakes

½ cup...

Why is fiber important if you're trying to lose weight?

• When fiber is in your digestive tract it actually absorbs other molecules like carbs, fats, and sugars along with all there calories stopping them from making a home on your butt!

• Fiber also adds bulk to foods helping you feel fuller without the added calories.

• Fiber-rich foods take longer to digest which helps you feel fuller longer. Helping you eat less throughout the day.

Why is fiber important to our health?

• Fiber protects against heart disease by helping lower cholesterol.

   

• Fiber decreases the risk of diabetes by helping with weight-loss/control, and by controlling blood sugars during the day.

   

• Fiber decreases the risk of breast cancer by lowering blood estrogen levels.

   

• Fiber reduces blood pressure by reducing insulin resistance and inhibiting weight gain, two hypertension risk factors.

   

• Fiber protects against colon cancer. High fiber diets...

Yes, It's apple season! I love this time of the year. Baked apples, applesauce,  apple muffins, and, of course, this apple bake!

This was something new I wanted to try. It's easy and made with on-hand ingredients this way you can just throw it together. Top it off with coconut ice cream or whipped cream and yum!

Let's get started!

Preheat - 350

Prep time - 10 minutes

Bake time - 30-40 minutes

Serves - 4

What you will need

3-4 Apples of your choice, thinly sliced

1/2 Lemon, juiced

2 Tbsps. coconut oil

1/4 Cup of walnuts chopped

2/3 Cup of coconut sugar. You could use 1/4 cup if you're trying to use less sugar.

1/2 Cup of gluten-free oatmeal

1/1/2 Tsp of cinnamon

1/4 Tsp Nutmeg

1 1/2 Tbsp of cornstarch

3 Tbsp of water

1/4 Tsp of sea salt

What you need to do

Place all ingredients in a pie or baking dish and mix together well. Cover with tin foil or parchment paper and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes. Serve with coconut ice cream or coconut whipped...

It's my favorite time of the year, Fall, Autumn, whatever you love to call it. 

It's not just that it's my birthday, My Mom's, and my youngest Daughters (Halloween Baby) It's also, sweater weather, boot season, beautiful colors everywhere, comfort food, apple picking, pumpkin carving, and I could go on and on.

There are two types of Fall lovers. Pumpkin spice embracers and the people who say "What? Pumpkin spice in August" Well I managed to to wait until September but I fully admit to being a PS embracer.

This creamer is delicious, quick to make, and has all good for your body ingredients. It's not full of unhealthy oils, artificial sweeteners, and emulsifiers. So there is no guilt with this seasonal pleasure. It has just 5 ingredients and is easy to make.

What You Will Need

1 Cup of cashews

2 Cups of water

2 Medjool dates, pitted

1 Tbsp. of pumpkin spice

1 Tsp. of vanilla

What You Need To Do

-Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender and mix on high for a minute or...

This is one of my favorite recipes and if you have a food processor very quick and easy!

I ended up using walnuts instead of pinenuts for two reasons. The pine nuts were hard to find and they were super expensive! As you know my goal is usually quick and easy and let's save some moola.

I made this into two meals because I'm one person:) I served it over some spaghetti squash, very yummy. Then I made a little cashew cream (another recipe for another time) and mixed this with the leftover pesto and served this over Trader Joes Cauliflower Gnocchi. Wow, delicious!

Let's get started.

What You Will Need

1 1/2 Cups of fresh basil

1/3 Cup of olive oil

1 Cup of walnuts

6 Cloves of garlic

Juice of one lemon

1/3 Cup of nutritional yeast

3/4 Tsp of salt

3/4 Tsp of Black pepper

What You Need To Do

Add all ingredients to the food processor and pulse until a somewhat smooth paste forms. Be sure to scrape down the sides in between pulses.

That's it! Store in the fridge for 3-4 days or freeze for...

That's right, I love soup. I just can't wait for the weather to get a little cooler so I can start eating it again. So I'm just not going to. This is my adult version of breaking all the rules:)

I haven't made this soup in a while and I'm not sure why it's one of my favorite healing soups. This recipe is the best and I always change it up a bit depending on my mood. Sometimes I add potatoes, green beans, sometimes I leave out the zucchini. It just depends. I always put the cabbage in. It adds a little sweetness to it and makes it more filling. You can also change up the kind and amount of beans you add.

One of the best suggestions I have for you is that if you're going to spend the time chopping and cooking make enough to freeze and then you have healthy, home-made soup always waiting for you at home. I put enough for two people in a quart-size canning jar and it's perfect. Be sure to leave about 2 inches for it to expand when it freezes.

Let's get cooking and chopping!

Fills...

Full disclosure, I was going to do Roasted Curried Cauliflower, not the Sweet Potato Fries but I wasn't in the mood for cauliflower and I had none in the house and I did not want to go to the grocery store so sweet potatoes it is! 

I love sweet potato everything and it goes so well with the lemon tahini dip it also goes well drizzled on mashed sweet potatoes!

I'm definitely having the leftovers for lunch today! So excited!

Servings 2

Prep time 35 minutes

Preheat over to 425°

What you'll need

2 Large or 4 small sweet potatoes cut into wedges (see picture) No need to peel

2 Tablespoons of avocado oil

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Garam Masala

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

For the Lemon Tahini Dip

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 Cup of tahini

1 Garlic clove

1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1-3 Tablespoons of water (it depends on the consistency you would like)

What you need to do

For the sweet potatoes -  Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix...

The Ultimate Guide To Eating A Plant-Based Diet

 In this guide, I will go through the steps needed to successfully start eating a plant-based diet. I hope you enjoy and congrats to you for doing something healthy and positive for yourself and the planet!

Also, if you want to deep dive into plant-based cooking, batch cooking,  and meal prep? Join me for my FREE Plant-Based 3-Day Meal Planning Challenge with the link below. Learn to maximize leftovers and minimize food waste to save time and money in your plant-based kitchen.

Join The Challenge HERE!

-What does Plant-Based Diet mean?

 Removing all animal foods from your diet

Eating plant-based means removing all animal food products from your diet. This can be quite challenging once you learn some of the strange things that have dairy and some seemingly random animal-based ingredients in them. It's all about reading labels and learning what some of those ingredients are. Of course, it's a lot easier if...

Hi You!

Hope you had a great 4^th! I've decided to do something different this week.

I want to start giving you some batch cooking and meal prep ideas. A lot of these ideas are pretty simple. We just don't always think of it.

I heard a statistic the other day that shocked me. A third of the money we spend on food goes into the garbage! That's right, we are wasting a ton of food.

I'm very guilty of this myself. Just last week I threw away a whole zucchini!

I made a promise to myself I would stop doing this. Which means I need to plan, prep, and batch!

This week I have all these sweet potatoes sitting on the counter and before they start to go bad I decided to take action.

I peeled, chopped, seasoned them and stuck them in the freezer. I also took one batch and I'm baking them right now to throw on top of a salad later...I'll take pics!

I'll give you my recipe but remember if you don't like the seasoning I use, then change it up!

4 servings

Prep time 15 minutes

4 Sweet...