green goodness bowl

a few matters of business:
1) finals suck
2) #SO
3) much
4) everyone needs to try this dinner bowl bc it's the bomb.com/org/edu/gov

ok so i follow like 300 food accounts on instagram & lately i've seen the idea of a dinner bowl floating around. last week i was out of ideas for dinner, so i tried it out....and i'm so glad i did. it only took 10 minutes max to put together, and was sooo filling. (i couldn't finish...which, let's be real, pretty much never happens).

edamame, cucumber, spinach, broccoli. simple, but when used the right way...dynamite. i roasted the broccoli and sprinkled on some nutritional yeast, which has a taste reminiscent of cheese. the limes ended up on the spinach (as well as some toasted buckwheat groats), and everything got dunked in the greek yogurt dip in the middle. it's pretty impressive how full you can get off of some plants.

the yogurt dip is plain nonfat greek yogurt with lime, jalapeno, cilantro, and pepper. it's sort of like sour cream, but infinitely better. love you long time, greek yogurt. the only thing this is missing is some tofu or tempeh. next time i'll add my fav trader joe's tofu. yummmm.

so not-so-long story short, make this. you'll thank me forever.

recipe:

(this made enough for 2 enormous bowls)

a head of broccoli, chopped and roasted (i do mine without oil or salt)

about 1/2 cup edamame per bowl, thawed

one cucumber, sliced

couple handfuls of spinach for each bowl

sliced lime

about 3/4 cup greek yogurt

1/3 jalapeno, diced really small

lime juice!!!!! (i'm lime's #1 fan so i used the juice of two limes...but do whatever tastes good to you)

a couple sprigs of cilantro, chopped

a couple dashes of pepper

nutritional yeast to sprinkle on the broccoli

toasted buckwheat groats for the spinach

arrange however you want! i put my yogurt dip in the middle as a dipping sauce and also bc it was aesthetically pleasing. lol. 

joy in a bowl (banana ice cream)

ok so i'm pretty sure every person who's ever been on a health kick, "lifestyle change," or whatever you want to call it, has made banana ice cream. you know, the good old standby, freeze a couple bananas, chop em up, food proccessor those suckers and magicially, ice cream happens. BUT i made a couple changes and took super artsy pics so i had to post it.

please love this as much as i do

my mom just got this rockin fujifilm camera that takes the BEST pictures ever so my photo quality should be on the rise here. iphone photograpby b gone. 

i can hear angels singing rn look at this divine creation

i really can't believe how much it looks/tastes like actual ice cream. it's a beautiful thing. i made this for breakfast a few days ago, and it was fan-tas-tic. i added frozen blackberries and vanilla extract to the first little batch on the bottom (1 banana's worth) then mixed cocoa powder, maple syrup, and coconut extract into the top layer. on top are buckwheat groats (if you've never heard of them click here. they're oprah approved everybody.) i eat mine raw or toasted, but not boiled. i used raw for this bowl of joy, then sprinkled some dark mini chocolate chips on top. 

recipe

2 bananas, frozen overnight

1 tbs cocoa powder

1 tsp maple syrup 

1/4 tsp coconut extract

1/4 cup frozen blackberries

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

do the bananas one at a time. all you have to do is cut them & throw them in the food processor (or magic bullet), then wait until they go from chunks to dippin dots to dairy queen standard soft serve. add blackberries and vanilla to one batch, and the cocoa/coconut extract/maple syrup to the other. you'll love your life. the end.

one more bc i'm so proud of these pics

Extreme Self Control (making homemade Larabars)

Today, I bring you not only your new favorite recipe, but also a test in self-control.

I seem to really like putting food in strange places, then taking pictures of it???

I failed it.

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough Larabars, (each batch makes around 2.5 full sized bars). Unfortunately I was unable to get a picture of them before someone DEMOLISHED them... (me) Sooooo I did the only logical thing and made another batch. This time they were key lime pie.

looks like granola but it's not...

Luckily I was able to get these pictures before they too were GONE. I don't know what it is about Larabars, especially homemade ones...but they're just so, so, so, so, so, SO good. They're easy to make, raw & vegan, (unless you stuff them with chocolate chips...) sweetened with dates and limited to three or four ingredients, and overall perfect. That's all.

aw baby larabar

Not to mention you can do all sorts of cool things with these crazy good snacks. Example A, roll the dough into mini energy bites. Or cut it into the traditional bars, as thin or thick as you want. Sculpt a small scale Mt. Rushmore. Seriously, as long as it ends up in your mouth, who cares?

So, moral of the story, make these when have one of those I-rule-the-world-I-am-Beyonce-my-life-is-so-in-order-I-love-myself-I-am-so-in-charge-and-in-control days. Hopefully you won't end up like me, finishing off half a container of dates and bloated for days. (WORTH IT)

Homemade Larabars - my two favorite flavors

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:

1/3 cup pitted soft dates (I get mine at Trader Joe's)

1/2 cup raw, unsalted nuts - I've found I like to use a mix of almonds and walnuts

1/2 tsp vanilla

tiny bit of salt

1 tbs (or more!) chocolate chips

put the dates and nuts into a food processor and pulse until the nuts are mostly ground up and the dates don't really look like dates. This is a horrible attempt at describing this...but basicially, it will look like a loose Larabar. At that point, add in the vanilla, salt, and chocolate chips. Pulse a few more times, then roll into balls or bars. For an easy way to make the bars, put the dough between two pieces of wax paper and roll it out as thick or thin as you want. Cut into squares/rectangles. I store mine in the fridge or freezer.

Key Lime Pie: (guys...these are incredible)

1/2 cup pitted soft dates

1/2 cup raw, unsalted nuts

1/3 coconut

zest of 1 lime

1/2 TBS - 1 TBS fresh lime juice (depends on how lime-y you want it)

tiny bit of salt

Follow the same instructions as above!

Enjoy! (& good luck with that whole self control thing...)

Carrots & Classics

This post, like my last one, (in November...oops) must start with a song. I shazammed this gem from Veronica Mars. And don't worry, I linked the Listen on Repeat version to spare you the trouble of clicking "replay" over...and over...and over.

I got home today and was tired beyond belief and craving something good. I didn't even know what I wanted. I just knew it had to be good. I've been making Oh She Glow's carrot cake smoothie a lot lately. Breakfast, dinner, mid-afternoon snack, this smoothie has seen it all. And it is deeeee-lishhhh-ousssssss.

Disclaimer: I didn't actually open these books today...but Carrots & Classics was just way too cute of a post title to pass up

As soon as I remembered the carrot cake smoothie, I knew it was The One. The perfect pick-me-up after a (very) long day at school. I whipped it up in record time and took 50328 pictures of it before I let myself take a sip. It was torturous. 

I was probably drooling at this point. really. 

This smoothie is gorgeous. Not only is it ORANGE (!!!) but it is smooth, sweet, and cinnamon-y. Not to mention raw, vegan, and crazy healthy. Your mom was right about that vitamin C!! It tastes exactly like carrot cake batter, but better. No weird baking soda-y aftertaste. No one hounding you about salmonella from raw eggs (but let's be honest, I've never listened to that anyway...cookie dough is my friend). I sound like a desperate advertiser right now, but only because you need to try this smoothie. It's good. 

please admire a) my chipped nails b) my workout shirt c) my porch in the background

I've adapted my recipe from the Oh She Glows one to make it a little simpler. 

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

2-3 carrots, peeled and chunked (cut into 1 inch "chunks")

1/2 banana, preferably frozen

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinammon

5ish ice cubes

Pour the almond milk into the blender, and drop in the carrots. Blend until it's as smooth as possible. Then add in the banana, vanilla, and cinnamon. The vanilla and cinnamon are really a matter of taste. Once I accidentally put in so much cinnamon that the entire smoothie turned brown but I was EXTREMEMLY desperate for breakfast and drank it anyway. My throat burned for hours. Moral of the story: be gentle with your cinnamon shaker. Add in the ice cubes, and blend again. Enjoy!

first (and successful!) smoothie bowl

before i say anything, everyone has to listen to this song that i'm obsessed with. 

okay

i'm excited because this was my first ever smoothie bowl & my first actually healthy post on this blog. yay!

for those of you who haven't seen or heard of smoothie bowls, they're exactly what they sound like...but they taste even better. it's literally a smoothie poured into a bowl with some toppings. some other health bloggers get prettyyyyy artsy with layering smoothies and swirling in different granolas, etc. i kept it pretty simple with my bowl and decorated it with some carefully placed raspberries, pomegranate seeds (aka nature's candy) and a sprinkling of coconut. The crunchy coconut, tangy pomegranate, and sweet raspberries (so many adjectives) were the perfect compliment to my smoothie.

admire my poorly colored and probably oversaturated iphone photography

i'll admit, i bummed out on my couch and enjoyed to a couple episodes of Seinfeld. best show of all time. it was just what i needed on a saturday morning, the perfect marriage between healthy and delicious. fresh but filling, sweet but nourishing. i was also mostly just looking for an excuse to make something, and to eat pomegranate. i've been so obsessed with it lately i bring it to school, put it in smoothies, yogurt, and salads, eat it for snacks/dinner/lunch/breakfast/snacks. you get the idea. so besides christmas, pomegranates are pretty much the best thing about winter.

without further ado, i give you...my first ever smoothie bowl!

another iphone masterpiece

Smoothie Bowl

1.5 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk

2.5 cups spinach

1 frozen banana

1 cup frozen mango chunks

1 tsp vanilla

toppings of choice! i used 2 tbs pomegranate, a handful of raspberries, and 2 tbs coconut

blend the almond milk and spinach first, until it's completely smooth. break the frozen banana in half and throw it in, along with the mango chunks. when everything is blended how you want it, add in a teaspoon of vanilla. it's my secret ingredient, and really makes all the difference. introduces a whole new dimension of flavor. pour smoothie into a bowl, and go crazy with your toppings! enjoy with a spoon and feel like a health food queen/beyonce of the food industry

peachy peach pie & reminiscing about summer fruit

i love fall. i really do. the leaves changing, the air getting that tingle of a chill, the complete and pure joy of new sweaters, the sometimes nauseating smell of pumpkin-spice-EVERYTHING. i'd be lying if i said i didn't write a few too many poems about fall, and take way too many pictures.

utah is a beaut

anyway...

as i was sitting here wearing 2 pairs of socks and my bathrobe because my house is impossibly cold, i started looking through pictures from this summer. among the snaps of the beach and family were at least 50 pictures of fresh picked peaches and raspberries. i remember whipping those peaches into a pie and the raspberries into my greek yogurt. mmmm. 

pounds and pounds of fresh raspberries, courtesy of mom's friend's backyard patch

i just had to

gorgeous peaches ready for pie-making

see why this is making me so sad and hungry?! fruit = fabulous. especially summer fruit.

so, for anyone lucky who still has a few peaches hanging out, or is as excited as i am for next year's crop, i present...

peachy peach pie!

the recipe is this one from smitten kitchen.

tip one: make this pie dough. it's literally changed everything about pies for me. it's impossibly easy and ridiculously flaky, yet substancial. i've used it for all my pies for the past year, and it's 158% perfection.

tip two: DON'T boil the peaches to get the skin off. this was suggested in the smitten kitchen recipe i used, so i blindly threw my peaches into boiling water, oblivious to what i was doing to them. the skin peeled right off, which i was thrilled about. however, when they are in the boiling water, they obviously cook a little bit. then...they cook more in the oven. the result? soggy peaches that had a taste reminicent of canned fruit. not my favorite.

tip three: use an egg wash. if you're a pie baking veteran you know - egg washes amp up the beauty and flavor of the crust. 

tip four: get wild with the crust. it's fun and makes you feel super artsy. i wove my top crust, then used leftover bits of dough to roll tiny balls to stick on the intersections for decoration.

finished pie ft. flowers

that's it! make sure to use this smitten kitchen recipe, and enjoy! 

a (little) healthier pesto

another old post. last one, i swear. but now i'm really REALLY craving that pesto, and our basil plant just froze. what's a girl to do?! #roughlife

it's been a while! as in a-month-and-a-half while.

anyways

my mom has these MASSIVE basil plants in the backyard and i've been itching to whip up some pesto. so on this fine labor day, i decided to take advantage of my free time. first, i jammed to Ingrid Michaelson's new album...this song got repeated about 36 times. then, i got to work. i'd found a few recipes i was considering, but none of them seemed quite right. so i decided to wing it.

i grabbed a ton of basil, some almonds, parmesean cheese, garlic, and unpictured olive oil. (the bottle wasn't worthy of my photo) i also ended up throwing in even MORE basil/almonds/garlic. & some salt/pepper of course.

first i toasted a cup of almonds (i'm funny cause it was a cup measurement, and i took a picture of them in a cup...ha ha)

then i chopped up my garlic into about 5 chunks per clove. i threw the almonds, garlic, and parmesean cheese into the food proccessor and pulsed it until it was mostly all uniformly ground. make sure you don't let it go for too long or the almonds will turn into almond butter and heaven knows you don't want garlic-cheese flavored almond butter. trust me, i've been there. ew. 

next i added the basil in a couple handfuls at a time, with incorportations of olive oil each time. i pulsed it all until it was the pesto texture i wanted. it's a deeply personal matter, really. some people like the chunky pesto, some like the so-creamy-it's-almost-liquid stuff, and some, like me, prefer a happy medium.

i ground in a little salt & pepper to taste and voila! pesto.

the color is a little off-putting. toasted almond probs. but the flavor from the toasted almonds is worth the unphotogenic-ness. if that's a word. if it's not, it should be. 

anyways

the pesto turned out great. tastes like summer. it's super basil-y, with a definitive nuttiness from the almonds. which, by the way, are way cheaper than pine nuts. and have less fat. speaking of less fat, you'll notice by reading my recipe below that i didn't use much cheese. that was intentionally to keep it a little lighter. sometimes i eliminate it altogether. i just felt like living on the edge today. 

to be honest, a lot of it's already gone. i slathered it on wheat thins straight out of the food processor...we were out of bread...#lunch? and used it as red sauce on my whole wheat pizza for dinner. i might go back to school tomorrow with green hair or something due to excessive basil consumption. worth it.

a (little) healthier pesto 

5 packed cups fresh basil, washed

1 cup almonds 

about 1/2 cup olive oil 

1/4 cup parmesean cheese

4 cloves garlic, chopped roughly

salt and pepper to taste

lemon juice (optional)

toast the almonds on medium heat for around 7 minutes, or until uniformly golden. put in food processor with cheese and chopped garlic, and pulse until everything is about the same size of crumb. you're kind of going for the look of bread crumbs. start adding in the basil a couple handfuls at a time, pouring in a couple tablespoons of the olive oil with each addition. repeat until all the basil is incorporated. it could take more than 1/2 cup of olive oil, just use what you need for the basil to blend in. sprinkle in salt and pepper until it's perfect for you. add lemon juice if you're feeling zesty. (ha ha) 

store in fridge for about a week, freezer for up to 6 months.

yields around 1 1/2 cups pesto

-mads