Nut Butter Banana Smoothie

       This smoothie tastes just like a banana shake, and you'd have no idea how healthy it is for you. My roommate and I are both addicted and have been putting our blender to work multiple times a day for these things.

       I love the unsweetened almond/coconut milk blend so much that I've basically stopped drinking milk. It has less calories than skim milk, plus 50% more calcium and a good amount of vitamins D and E. It tastes really great in cereal too!

      I crave these when I wake up in the morning for breakfast, after a long day of classes or a post gym snack, and for satisfying a sweet tooth. Maybe I'm just obsessed, but really it's good at any time of day!

       Sometimes I'll get creative and throw some fruit in there (mainly strawberries), so it's kind of like a PB&J with banana, and that's really good too! I don't have a lot of extra money to spend on fruit though, and bananas are so cheap so they're my go-to fruit for smoothies.

(Note the bananas are a tiny bit green - they aren't the ones I used in the actual smoothie, they're a new batch. Using brown speckled bananas is good in these smoothies because they are sweeter the more they ripen! The green ones aren't quite ready!)

        If you really have a sweet craving you gotta curb, try one of these with a little squeeze of honey and cocoa powder or chocolate syrup. That's really a treat :)

         When I make these smoothies I use whatever type of butter I have on hand. Recently I've had peanut butter with flaxseed, almond butter and sunflower seed butter (Is that ridiculous?), so I like to alternate. My favorite is the almond butter, but it is just so much more expensive than peanut butter, so I buy it only on occasion to spoil myself :) It's necessary sometimes!

        You could also use any type of milk - regular skim, coconut, almond, soy, chocolate soy, vanilla soy, etc etc. It's really flexible and you can change up the recipe to your preference. I bet you'll end up addicted, too!!

Kale and Mushroom Pizza

      More kale! I bought a 1 lb pre-cut bag, so I'm forcing myself to incorporate it into my cooking, and it turns out that it's a great addition to pizza. I used my trusted brand Portland Pie for the crust because they have a gluten free dough, which I was really pumped about, of course!
       It's a little different consistency than the regular dough. You roll it out instead of stretching and tossing it, and the texture is a little different upon being cooked as well but I thought it was really good. Especially with all the yummy, healthy toppings :)

       I had needed a substantial dinner that day because I had the beer olympics that night, which you know we take very seriously. I figured a good pizza would do the trick holding me down and keeping me in the games! Here's the winning team:

(though technically the games never got finished for obvious reasons, but we'll still take the win! And I won't disclose what country we are because I don't want to offend anyone....Though it might be obvious from the photos on our chest...)


       Whether the pizza did it for me or not, who knows. But I do know that having a piece for lunch the day after the olympics was a life saver.

 It's not the shapeliest thing in the world but you'll get over that once you take a bite...

     I love using fresh mozzarella on a pizza. It could just be because I love eating it while I'm cutting it up, or because the way it stretches so long when you take a bite of the pizza. Either way, in my opinion it's the way to go!

       As always, the recipe is just a guideline. Switch up the ingredients based on whatever you got! I don't use real measurements in the recipe because you really don't need them for a pizza. It's all eye balling and just throwing on your desired amount!


Remember to look for that Portland Pie dough in your grocery store! It really makes a difference.

Chicken Sausage and Broccoli "Alfredo"

      It's been well over a month since I've eaten any form of pasta. Either I had forgotten completely what it tastes like, or the brown rice pasta I cooked in this recipe tasted pretty much identical. Either way, it works for me! I got my pasta fix, smothered in a yummy, easy to make cheese sauce, and found something to do with the chicken sausages I had in the fridge. It was a success!

       It's a really simple recipe, and you could substitute chicken or a different meat for the sausage. Johnsonville Apple chicken sausages just happened to be what I had on hand and the sweetness of them balanced out the spice of the cayenne pepper really nicely.

(The cayenne pepper is optional, but I've been wanting everything with a kick recently so I definitely had to put it in there.)

        Also, in my opinion, the more broccoli the better. There isn't too much that's better than cheesy broccoli. I think it could be a satisfying meal in itself!

         This is a great dish if you're looking for a really simple cheese sauce, similar to alfredo but not 100% the same. It uses waaaay less butter than traditional alfredo does, and the cream cheese does give it a different flavor, but it is very delicious. You could easily mix in cheddar or another cheese to the sauce when it's on the stove if you want to make it more mac-n-cheesy-extra-cheesy, but that's all up to you! Recipes are meant to be altered to your preference :)

Kale, Quinoa and Veggie Soup

      This meal is so cheap. It is so easy. It's delicious, healthy, gluten free and vegetarian. It is many many many things.....  It better have healing qualities too because I've been sick for days (hence I got the desperate idea to make a healthy, heartwarming soup!).

      Here's hoping this soup will cure all your winter ailments, as well. With all the nutrients packed in there I think it could work wonders, but if not, at least it's super colorful and nice to look at!

         I've been needing a good recipe with kale. I'm guilty of neglecting it and all its nutritional powers, but I've made it my goal to eat more of it. This was a wonderful start, especially because I made a HUGE pot of it so I'll be eating it for days! I'll be a healthy girl :)

        I basically threw in anything that I had that I felt would be good, and it ended up working in my favor. That's the magic of soups! It's fun to mix in whatever you have and make it delicious. I was really happy with the quinoa in there, as I have never tried it in a soup before. It added a different texture component than what I was accustomed to, and I really liked it. Of course the kale added a great crunch, with the rest of the tender vegetables.

        I ate my serving with a slice of gluten free bread. And for the record, whoever says it tastes like cardboard has never had Three Bakers 7 Ancient Grains sliced bread. It is nutty and flavorful and so so sooo good. I think I like it better than basically any store bought sliced bread I've had in the past, regardless of the amount of gluten it's got! This brand tastes great toasted with peanut butter or jam, used for a sandwich, or in this case, dunked in the broth of a soup.

(Image taken from imaceliac.com)
The one I use is on the left. The only downfall is the small size of the slices, but hey, we could all use a little portion control ;)


       This recipe is definitely a keeper because it's tasty, and you can feel good about yourself even after eating a ginormous bowl of it. Being healthy feels great!

Balsamic Chicken W/ Spinach and Mushrooms

         Another yummy meal to post about! I was beyond satisfied with this one, as it was both healthy and delicious. I haven't been cooking with enough spinach lately, and as weird as it may seem to say I was craving spinach......I was.

         Spinach is low in calories, very low on the glycemic index and it's PACKED with nutritional components that function as anti inflammatory and anti cancer agents. Not to mention it has more than 6x the necessary daily value of vitamin K and A, and plenty of antioxidants.

         I probably had 3 servings of spinach after eating this dish, and it was easy to do so because the spinach absorbed the yummy sauce so well. Plus the mushrooms add all sorts of nutritional benefits as well. I decided to balance out all this wonderfully healthy food with a little handful of cheddar cheese to be melted on top of the balsamic chicken, which added another flavor element and boyyyyyyy was it good!
        And of course I served it with quinoa because I do have a slight obsession. I've been looking forward to eating the leftovers for dinner all day!

Gluten free is easy!!

           I sprinkled a little bit of red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese on it to serve and it was amazing!