Baked Quinoa Falafel

This recipe is easy to follow, pretty much fail proof and freezes soo well.
I make a double or triple batch and freeze them for super quick meals in the future.
Vegan & gluten free

So right to it per my norm.
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Recipe:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa, cooked in veggie broth (because it makes it tastier than just water)
• 1 x 15 oz can chickpeas, drained & rinsed (*see note below)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, large & minced
• 1 cups parsley, packed
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp chickpea flour (can sub cornstarch here)
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• zest of 1 lemon & 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2-4 tsp avocado oil *add slowly (can sub olive oil or even water here)

**chickpea note. Just being real here. REAL falafel uses dry chickpeas, soaked for 24 hours and then just mushed. I personally never prep that far in advance so I tend to just use canned but if I was actually prepared, I would prefer to just soak my own and it would be cheaper as well

Instructions:

• in a small pan, heat 1 TBSP oil and cook the onions and garlic until onions are translucent 
• In food processor combine chickpeas, parsley, onion and garlic until it looks combined and no larger chunks are visible
• Add in the quinoa, salt, cumin, pepper, sesame oil, flour, turmeric and lemon zest & juice. Mix until forms it looks like dough. *You'll need to use judgement here and add the oil until it is easily shape-able but not too much. It really depends on where you live and how dry your other ingredients were. Sometimes I only need 2 tsp, sometimes the full 4 tsp. Play around with your food here. It should form a ball easily but not be sticky, but you shouldn't have to fight to get it to keep it's shape either....
• Roll into balls and chill in the fridge for about an hour (if you have time. I never do, but it's preferred) Should make about 12-16 balls. I use a cookie dough scoop to keep them even sized.
• Preheat oven to 400F. Pop those balls on a parchment lined cookie tray and bake for 30-40min flipping over 1/2 way through. Remove when they are just starting to brown. 
• Leave on tray for 20 mins to finish (again, if you have time here!)
• Eat or freeze. These are great reheated and freeze amazingly well

I do mine in a wrap with a BUNCH of salad and then peppers and gauc because that's how I run, but feel free to add your favorite tahini sauce.

Chocolate PB Power Balls

Right to the recipe. I hate blogs that have pages of words and life stories. 
I literally just want the recipes and scroll thru everything else. 
I hope you guys want that too!

If someone wants to know about my life, please feel free to follow me on Instagram or Facebook










Ingredients:
*1/2 Cup Peanut Butter (I used chunky because I accidentally bought it, but typically I would use smooth because that's what we have... it doesn't matter! either would work) *can sub PB for almond butter, or sunflower seed butter
*2 TBSP Unsweetened Almond or Coconut Milk
*1/4 cup quick cook steel cut Oats
*1/4 cup some type of dried fruit. I used raisin, cranberries would be good, or dried blueberries..something without added sugar
*1 1/2 scoops Chocolate Nutrient Dense Powder
*1/4 cup finely chopped nuts. I used almonds but any type of finely crushed nut would work here







Put all ingredients except the nuts in a bowl and mix together well (use your fingers! Get in there!!!)

Roll into balls. I used a cookie scoop to keep them all the same shape

Place the nuts in a shallow bowl.
Roll the balls in the nuts.

Makes about 17 balls (cookie scoop sized)









I keep mine in the the freezer and just grab a couple for my day. Easy peasy. Ready when you are.

Prep time like 10 minutes. Depending on how long it takes you to roll balls :)

You can also press these into cookies and keep in the freezer. Then when your kiddo wants a cookie....
BAM, here it is
Amazingly easy nutritional rich cookie

Chocolate Nutrient Rich Fat Bombs

YESSSS chocolate + healthy fats + your days supply of nutrients in a candy form?
Who would not want to pop these?
They are the perfect thing to feed a sweet tooth without feeling guilty You are actually doing something good for your body (whatttttt/!?! I know it's amazing)

Right to the recipe. I hate blogs that have pages of words and life stories. I literally just want the recipes and scroll thru everything else.
If someone wants to know about my life, please feel free to follow me on Instagram or Facebook

 

Melt 1/2 cup peanut butter (can be chunky or smooth. I just happened to have chunky) with 1/2 cup coconut oil

Allow to cool but still be melted

Add in 1/2 scoop Chocolate Vegan nutrient powder and stir. Taste test for desired sweetness. 1/2 scoop is perfect for me but you might want more

Pour into molds. I couldn't find my old candy molds so I used a mini muffin pan. Which was perfect because they looked like PB cups

It made 12 full mini muffin tins

Put in the freezer until solid. Pop out of the mold and eat and enjoy the rich chocolate nutrients while knowing you are basically eating a salad but it tastes like a candy bar. Double score.

(My eyebrows look craaazzzyyy)

 Tower of Nutrition Power!!

Ingredients. Soooo easy just 3 things!!

1/2 Cup Organic Peanut Butter, no sugar added
1/2 Cup Unrefined Coconut Oil
1/2 scoop Vegan Chocolate Nutrient Dense amazing powder

Gluten Free Coconut Fig Granola Bars

Gluten Free Fig Stuffed Granola Bars
A Tasty little snack, for dessert or breakfast! I choose breakfast, but I like desserts for breakfast.















1st start by soaking the dried figs to re-hydrate. Makes them easier to mix into the ozzy filling :)

 Use your food processor to finely chop toasted nuts

Mix nuts with and dates to blend into a "dough" Press the dough into a 9x9 pan lined with parchment paper. 

Mix the soaked figs with coconut oil and maple syrup into a paste and fill the pan.

Toast up the coconut. Toasted is always better. At least to me.

Press cooled coconut on the top of the fig mix. Pop in the fridge.

Look at these layers of gooey fig jam between nuts and coconut. It is soo good. Slice, eat and enjoy.

Nut layer:
1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup coconut oil

Toast all of the nuts. Let cool. Process with the salt, dates and coconut oil to form a cookie crust layer. Press into the lined pan.


Fig Filling:
2 cups figs with stems removed
1 cup hot water to soak
3 TBSP Maple Syrup
1TBSP melted Coconut Oil

Soak figs in hot water. Drain water. **save the water. it's so good.
Mix with maple syrup and coconut oil into a jam filling


Topping:
1/2 cup toasted coconut.

That's it. Press onto the fig layer and eat :)

Maple Roasted Veggies

Veggie Candy?? It's 2 words that I never thought I'd hear in the same sentence but that is what my child called my Maple Roasted Veggies. I feel required to make it for him daily because it was probably the easiest thing I've ever convinced him to try.

I'm not going to go crazy with a back story here. Honestly I just had an assortment of things and threw this together so it's not my typical fancy write up (which may be good. No one needs to read a book, you just want the recipe!)

So I started with my veg. On a pan, drizzled with avocado oil

Roasted in Oven @ 350 for 25 mins

Then removed, drizzled a smidge of maple syrup on them, mixed it up and back in the oven for another 10 mins to caramelize up the sugar.

(just adding the photos of drizzling because I was pretty impressed with myself taking a photo while I was pouring and having it be remotely in focus)

Looks like this when it is done. You could potentially caramelize a little more if you'd like. Whatever your preference is. I didn't go crazy b/c my son sees it darker and thinks it's burnt even when it's not! (Kids right)

Here it is. The bite of perfection!

 
Recipe:
5 Brussel Sprouts
5 radishes
1/4 head of broccoli
*it's about 1 cup of each. Or make your own blend of whatever veg you like best (or have on hand!)

Cut into equal sized pieces. I like to cut the sprouts in half and  then make everything that size.
Drizzle with 1 TBSP of Avocado Oil. Mix up. Put on oven :) I like to put the sprouts with the cut side down to get the color.
Roast at 350 degrees F for 25 min (or more/less depending on what size you cut things down to)
After 25 mins, remove pan, drizzle 1 tsp of maple syrup (yes only that little amount! We aren't actually making candy here today) and mix up and pop back in the oven for 10 mins.

Remove and eat (once cooled enough to not burn your mouth)
In my opinion, best eaten that day.

It made enough to be a side dish for my 3 person household.

Dehydrated Fruit Chips

Dehydrated Fruit Chips. 

The options are really limitless in my opinion. 

But some of my personal favorites:

Cantaloupe: 

The important thing is to use a ripe melon. The dehdration process just makes the flavor stronger, so if your melon is still a little tart and unripe, your chips will turn out tart! (yes I did learn that lesson the hard way.)

So you start by slicing the melon into 1/4" thick slices. Remove the rind and place on your trays.

and go. 

I did mine at 130 degrees for about 10 hours. 

They look like this once done. Delicious and crispy

Watermelon Chips:

Same process. Again super important to use a really ripe melon.

If your watermelon has black seeds, you should remove those. The White seeds you can keep, they are ok to eat.

I used a little melon for my chips, so the final chips are little and round instead of slices.

Optional: sprinkle with some sea salt. That is if you like salt on watermelon. I do so I did :)

Then Plum Chips.
I personally love these. You can take them out a little earlier and have some plum jerky if you like. Otherwise you sohuld probably eat these chips a little faster as they don't tend to stay crispy as long as the melon chips do.
I like to soak my slices in orange juice overnight to give it a plum-orangey flavor, but you don't have to. Plums on their own are pretty tasty anyways.
You don't have to remove the skin, as you can eat it. But you can if you want. The skin gets a little hard, but I personally don't have any problem with it.


 

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers

This recipe could not be easier. And the best thing is, if you want to sub an ingrendient, it's so easy. No cooked rice on hand? Use some orzo pasta. Don't have mixed beans? Use a can of black beans, or add more vegetables. Add an onion, add shredded cheese... the options are so limitless.

Here is my basic recipe for vegetarian stuffed peppers. I like to use lentils alot. I feel like they have a meaty flavor and I can typically pass them off as a meat option to my family when I mix them in recipes.

I typically make mine in a crock pot due to the ease of throwing them in and coming home to something cooked and ready to go. An hour for cooking on a weeknight is too much for my son to wait for, so it's nice if it's ready to go.