Protein Power Balls with Dark Chocolate and Almond Butter

If you want a protein-packed snack that tastes like cookie dough, look no further! I love to make these at the beginning of the week and keep them in the fridge for a quick and easy snack pre or post-workout, or if I want breakfast to go. The best part is that you can dress up however you like! Add some flax or chia seeds! Don't like dried cranberries? Use raspberries or craisins instead! I love this recipe because the texture and the shape appear like cookie dough. So, mentally and according to my taste buds, I am getting a treat when I am giving my body the fuel it needs. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups oats

• 1 cup almond butter

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate morsels

• 1/4 cup dried cranberries

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

Method:

Makes 16 balls, keeps in the fridge covered for 5 days.

1. In a large bowl combine, oats, cinnamon, and salt and stir together.

2. Spray a measuring cup with nonstick oil and measure out almond butter. Spray your stirring utensil with nonstick coating as well, and pour almond butter into oats. Mix with your coated utensil to help avoid sticking!

3. Add in chocolate, vanilla, cranberries, and coconut oil and bring together until it looks like cookie dough.

4. Scoop out into golf ball-sized portions and place into a covered container and refrigerate!

5. That’s it! Enjoy your healthy snack for the week!

Summer Salmon with Mango Salsa and Cauliflower Rice

I could write a few things about this dish, but I think its most winning endorsement would be this: Last Friday I offered to order pizza for dinner from our favorite spot, my husband considered the option and then asked me if we could have this instead. Yes, you heard that right. This dish trumped the glorious soppressata and sausage pizza from Olivella’s. Bonus points for this dish because you can snack on the salsa while you finish the rest of it!

Serves 2-4 depending on the size of your salmon fillet. 

Ingredients:

• For the salmon

  • 2, 8 oz or 4, 4 oz salmon fillets

  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika

  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (you can use more if you have the stomach for it—I do not!)

  • 2 teaspoons of lime zest

  • 1 tablespoon of olive or avocado oil

  • 1/2 of a lime for finishing out of the oven

• For the salsa:

  • 1 peeled and diced mango, yielding 1 cup (Tip: Just like I advocate for when working with peaches, you have to squeeze the mango meat off the giant seed in the middle of the fruit! Once you have cut off all you can, place the seed in your hand and give it a good squeeze over a bowl. Using the fruit and the juice that comes out for the salsa!) 

  • 1 large avocado diced

  • 1 small red onion diced

  • 1 peeled and diced small grapefruit (I like to use Ruby Red!) yielding about 1 cup

  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

  • 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) lime juice

  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

  • Optional: 1 seeded and chopped jalapeno

• For the cauliflower rice:

  • 10 oz riced cauliflower (if yours is in in the 16oz size, no problem just double the following ingredients!)

  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil

  • 1/8 cup lime juice

  • 1/3 cup chopped cilantro 

Method:

1. Let’s start with our salsa so it can marinate in the fridge while we prepare the rest or you can have a ready made side snack!

2. Combine all of the salsa ingredients into a bowl and mix them together. Taste for additional salt or lime juice. Cover and place in the fridge. Or grab the tortilla chips, you know what to do!

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

4. Mix salmon seasoning together and pat salmon filets dry.

5. Place fish on a foil-lined baking sheet, drizzle oil on top of the fish, and divide seasoning evenly between the fillets and sprinkle on top.

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes. For well-done salmon, cook until the center reaches 145 degrees and for medium salmon cook until it registers 125 degrees. Smaller fillets will cook faster so, check them more often!

7. While the salmon cooks, time to start on your cauliflower rice. In a skillet on medium heat, add your oil and then your cauliflower rice and toss. Cover with a lid so the cauliflower can steam, checking it every couple minutes and stirring. Once cauliflower rice is tender (the time will vary based on if yours is frozen or fresh), add lime juice and cilantro. Take off heat immediately and cover with a lid so it will not dry out. If your cauliflower is frozen and calls to be steamed in the microwave—you can do that! Once out of the microwave and ready to open, pour the cauliflower into a bowl with the lime and cilantro and cover so you can trap the steam and help the flavors intensify. Remember: time + temperature = flavor.

8. Once salmon is cooked through, drizzle the filets with the juice of half a lime and get ready to serve. 

9. Lay down the cauliflower rice at the bottom of the plate/bowl, add salmon filet on top, and then add salsa. Garnish with cilantro and a lime wedge or two! 

10. Enjoy!

Loaded Egg Muffins

These muffins were a revelation to me when they were first introduced. About 10 years ago, a trainer I was working with suggested I make them to help satisfy my need for bread in the mornings. She recognized my inner Carbie early on! Anyway, she described the concept of making these, telling me to add what I liked, and it felt simple enough for me, a high schooler at the time, to try and they have been a staple in my breakfast line up ever since. The base of the recipe is so simple that you can use any fixings you want and because of that, I never get sick of them. Bonus points because they can be stored in the fridge for 5 days and make a perfect breakfast or can be added as protein to a salad! Just a quick trip to the microwave to rewarm them and you have the perfect, protein-packed, “muffin” start your day!

Ingredients:

• 12 large eggs

• 3/4 cup finely chopped spinach (You don’t want to feel like a giraffe and pull out a whole leaf when you take a bite)

• 3/4 cup cooked, chopped, and cooled bacon (No egg scrambling!)

• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend)

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• Optional adds: 2 tablespoons milk (to thin it out a bit), 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1-2 seeded and chopped jalapeños

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large bowl crack in your eggs, pricking the yolks, and whisking in order to create a homogenous mixture.

3. Add in bacon, spinach, cheese, milk, jalapeños, cilantro, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and evenly distribute.

4. Line your muffin tins and then grease the pan! In order to make sure the egg muffins come out cleanly and that you’re not going to spend the next hour scrubbing your pan, I strongly suggest using liners or baking cups. I got these adorable and reusable ones off Amazon and they have given my hands and my scrub brush a much needed break!

5. Distribute egg batter into muffin tins. I used the 1/3 of a cup measuring cup to help ensure an even distribution!

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife when inserted into the center muffin comes out clean. They will be really souffle-like when they first come out of the oven; however, when you take them out, they will lose a bit of their height as the hot air escapes. Don’t let that deflate your enthusiasm, honey!

7. Sprinkle with a little extra cilantro for color and enjoy! They keep for 5 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container—congratulations breakfast is done for the week!

Jazzed Up Blueberry Muffins

On Saturday morning after I got up and made coffee, I peeked in my fruit drawer and noticed pints on top of pints of blueberries that had somehow gone unused. Picking them up, I inspected them, took a bite, and decided that these perfectly ripe and juicy berries were to be wasted no more. I set off to make something with blueberries, what it was going to be, I had no clue. Flying by the seat of my pants, without a recipe, I got to brainstorming and decided that I really loved the flavor profile of my jazzed up banana bread.  I also knew that this recipe would lend itself well to a few tweaks and a pile of blueberries. Bonus points to my mom, as when taste tested my banana bread recipe, after telling me how much she liked it, she immediately said, “This would make a really great muffin.” Lightbulb! Blueberry muffins! So, I added some milk and blueberries to the recipe, played the recipe’s ratios, set the timer, and 30 minutes later I was greeted with the most fabulous smelling, heavenly, little blueberry pillows. Within an hour of making them, four of them were gone, and my husband said, with a full mouth of muffin, “You should share this recipe.” So, here is my recipe for my new favorite jazzed up blueberry muffins! They get their warmth from cinnamon, their lightness from the lemon zest and Greek yogurt, and their sweet smell and floral notes from plenty of vanilla extract. I think they are pretty wonderful and hope you will too!  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)

• 1/3 cup greek yogurt ( I used Fage 2%)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup milk

• 2 teaspoons lemon zest

• 1 heaping cup blueberries

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl combine, flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir and set to the side.

3. In a stand mixer or in a bowl with a hand mixer, combine butter, sugar, and beat until fluffy. Beat in yogurt, then eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Add in vanilla, lemon zest and milk. I grated my lemon zest right over the bowl! I wanted my batter to catch all of the oil that is released when grating! Stir together.

4. Slowly pour in dry ingredients into wet, mixing until just combined.

5. Add in blueberries and bring together.

6. Divide batter evenly in 12 lined and greased muffin tins.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and tops of muffins spring back when touched.

Summer Italian Pasta Salad

Meet the fridge-friendly lunch that is reframing how I see my midday meal! I am not a big lunch girl and generally have thought of it as “second breakfast.” As I am trying to add more greens into my lunch routine, the second breakfast mentality doesn’t exactly lend itself to that. So, I came up with this recipe to help meet that need—and it needed to be ready in a flash! This dish checks all the boxes. The only thing to cook is the pasta and you can do the minimal chopping it calls for while the pasta cooks! After the pasta is done, this dish comes together in under 5 minutes! What I love about this dish is that it can be modified to suit whatever you have on-hand or modified to your tastes. Need it to be gluten-free? Use a gluten-free pasta! Want to add olives or capers? Go for it, honey! Want a different type of cheese? Get mad with mascarpone or the ricotta! Watch these flavors come together in no time flat and voila your lunch is ready!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pasta, cooked and drained

• 1 cup San Marzano tomatoes, quartered

• `1 cup mozzarella (pearl size)

• 2 cups arugula, chopped

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

• 1/4 cup torn basil leaves (I prefer torn rather than chopped basil because the heat of your hand helps release the oils in the basil—making it more fragrant in the dish!)

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano

• Optional: shaved or grated pecorino, parm, or grana padano over the top

Method:

1. Rinse cooked pasta with cold water to help remove the starches—this will help keep the pasta from sticking together.

2. In a large bowl combine, pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella, arugula, and basil, toss to combine.

3. Add in olive oil and balsamic and toss again to thoroughly coat the pasta mix.

4. Once coated add in the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. (The oil mixture is going to grab our seasonings and help them stick!)

5. Optional: Add shaved or grated cheese of your choosing. Taste for seasonings and alter to suit.

6. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

7. Congratulations! Your lunch is made for the week! (Also makes a wonderful side dish for dinner!)

Crispy Salmon

Need a 30 minute dinner that tastes like it took 3x longer? Look no further! This salmon dinner and roast chicken have been my saving graces during these weeks at home. I deeply appreciate recipes that are greater than the sum of their parts and require little to no fuss. This recipe checks both of those boxes for me. And if that doesn’t inspire you to give it a try, maybe this will: I love salmon—I could eat it everyday—my husband, on the other hand, was not its biggest fan saying that it was too fishy. Now, he asks for this recipe once a week. See also: Hook, line, and sink(him!).

Serves 2-4 depending on the size of your salmon fillet.

Ingredients:

• 2, 8oz salmon fillets or 4, 4oz fillets

• For the paste:

  • 1 heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise

  • 1 tablespoon Sriracha

  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• For the breadcrumbs:

  • 1/2 cup of Panko breadcrumbs

  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon of pepper

  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest

  • dash of paprika

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix together ingredients for paste and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes to thicken.

3. In a small bowl, add in ingredients for breadcrumb mixture and combine until evenly distributed.

4. Over medium heat, add a drizzle of olive oil (or a spray of avocado oil) to coat the bottom of a pan. Pour in your breadcrumbs, toss with oil, and toast until lightly golden. Remove from heat and put back into the bowl, or they will keep browning.

5. Place your salmon on a foil-lined sheet (This will help clean up if there is spillage from the paste and the skin will stick to it so you can easily use a spatula to separate the meat from the skin once it is done cooking!). If you’re into fish skin, make sure you grease the skin and the foil before putting them down.

6. Pat the salmon dry with a paper towel—this will help the paste stick. Add a pinch of salt to each piece of fish.

7. Divide paste between your salmon pieces and coat each piece.

8. Add your toasted breadcrumbs on top to each piece. **Tip: I use an avocado oil spray when I cook so I add a spritz to the top of my breadcrumbs to help them crisp up a bit more in the oven before I put my salmon in the oven.

9. Bake for 12-15 minutes. For well done salmon, cook until the center reaches 145 degrees and for medium salmon cook until it registers 125 degrees. Smaller fillets will cook faster so check them more often!

10. Take out of the oven and serve immediately! You can add an extra squeeze of lemon on top!

GF Blueberry-Banana-Oat Muffins

Perhaps I should start calling these the law firm muffins? While I love the fictional law firms of Cooper-Banks-Mackenzie and Crane, Poole and Schmidt (shout out to you if you got the Father of the Bride 2 and Boston Legal references, respectively), these are my Gluten-Free-Blueberry-Banana-Oat Muffins, LLP. Yes, their title is a mouthful, but so is their flavor and heavenly texture. As the saying goes—if the shoes fits?

I digress.

While I am not 100% gluten-free, recently, I have parked it over to my weekend food consumption list. When I did my MRT testing earlier this summer, wheat came back as a yellow food for me. Meaning it could cause a reaction, so I took it out of my diet for 30 days, and I did notice a difference when I added it back in—sadly, noticed a difference I should say. Your girl still loves her some banana bread though, and I was not about to park banana bread on my weekend only food list. So I went back to my food science/nutrition knowledge from college, determined to give one of my favorite baked goods a makeover. As Galinda says to Elphie in Wicked, “We’re gonna make you pop-u-lar!” For this exercise, me being Galinda and the banana bread being Elphie. If you don’t know what song I’m referring you, please bless your day with this gem.

I’ve been testing out these muffins and recipe on both the gluten-free and gluten-full people in my life. Happily I can report that both populations have asked for second and in some cases a third.

The prosecution rests, your Honor. These muffins are in fact delicious. Recipe is below and can be amended to suit your dietary needs. Want to use coconut oil and sugar instead? Please do! Cut the milk, butter, and egg and make them vegan? Why not! Want to go full freight and use AP flour and white sugar, honey, you have my blessing!

Ingredients:

-2 cups of oat flour (remember you can make your own in a blender!)

-2 1/2 tsp of baking powder

-1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

-1 tsp salt (I use Diamond Kosher)

-3/4 cup of oats

-3 over-ripe bananas, mashed to your liking

-3/4 cup of brown sugar (or get coco-nutty and make it with coconut sugar)

-1 stick of room temp. butter

-1 large egg

-1/4 cup of milk with 1 tbs. of oil (oat flour and oats are thirsty girls—the oil helps keep everything hydrated)

-1 cup of blueberries, dusted in a flour

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin pan or put in muffin liners

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together oat flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together sugar, and butter. Add in milk, the egg, and then bananas last. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients then add in blueberries (Tip** dust your blueberries in a few teaspoons of oat flour before adding them in. This keeps them from sinking to the bottom.

4. Divide batter evenly between prepared cups, a full Tovolo scoop or about 1/3 cup to each. Bake until tops spring back when lightly touched, about 20-25 minutes. Cool in pans 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Green Goddess Dip

The weeknight version of chips and dip!

This yogurt dip is completely versatile, going from your veggie tray to your salmon and could not be more simple to throw together.

In a food processor combine:

-1 cup of Greek yogurt (unsweetened)

-1/2 an avocado

-1 handful of cilantro

Blend until combined. To thin it out and make a more dippable (or spreadable) consistency, add in a drizzle of olive oil, I did 4 tablespoons, add salt to taste, and then blend together again. I use the Breville Control Grip to make this and it literally could not be easier. See it here.

I like for the consistency to be similar to thick queso. Then I can turn on tejano music (Selena Forever!) and play out my fantasy that I’m actually eating chips and queso. And while this dip may not turn me into a goddess, it certainly makes me feel like one.

Vanilla Smooth-shake

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard… okay, maybe not my milkshakes.

My biscuits, perhaps?

I think we can all agree that while try our hardest to enjoy this culinary diverse world we live in, in moderation, it is very easy to overindulge. When you love sweets as much as I do, it can be hard to say no. What’s a girl to do?

Make a smoothie that tastes like a milkshake. The prosecution rests, your Honor and I dub thee a “smooth-shake.”

Before we get to the smooth-shake, if you have a sensitive stomach, like me, protein powders can be very hard on your digestive system. I have tried many over the years and figured out whey and soy protein powders are just not for me. Luckily, I stumbled upon Orgain Protein Powder while at Costco and it has been a happy union ever since.

Ingredients:

-1.5 cups of unsweetened, vanilla almond milk

-1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (I used Orgain here)

-1 banana (or naner if you are like me)

-1/4 tsp of cinnamon (documented to have blood sugar stabilizing properties)

-1.5 to 2 cups of ice, depending on how thick you like your smoothies

Method:

Starting with your almond milk and finishing with your ice (because it will jam the blades if you add it before everything else) throw all of listed ingredients into the blender. I use my blender’s smoothie setting. Let her rip and finish with a sprinkle of cinnamon to make it feel special. I give you a smooth-shake!