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Bacon Apple Butter

4/30/2018

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One of the big things that separates a good meal from a great meal is a sauce!  If you like to eat out at nice restaurants like we do, that is something that they all have in common, a fantastic sauce pairing that goes along with the main course.  

It can provide a balance of flavors, it can tie a dish together, and it can provide a needed level of moisture/fat with a leaner cut of meat.  After years of watching cooking shows and a little experimentation myself I've learned some basics in sauce making and how to combine flavors.  If you are novice learning some basic skills in this world will certainly help.  
Here is a link to an article talking about the 5 French Mother Sauces.  Might sound a little fancy but most sauces that exist in the world are a spinoff of these base sauces.  From this you can play with flavors that pair with your main dish.  Another thing I would recommend is a book that I pull out on occasion, The Flavor Bible.  

This book is fantastic in that it allows you to look up a food, say pork, then it gives you a list of other foods, veggies, and spices that pair well with it.  So combine that with the basics of how to make a sauce and you are pretty much set!  
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The cool thing about The Flavor Bible is that it highlights the ingredients that work best.  For this Bacon Apple Butter, I knew we were making pork so take a look at pairings above...
  • Apples; in ALL CAPS means it is great
  • Bacon; highligthed
  • ​Butter; also highlighted
  • Cinnamon; also highlighted
  • Lemon; ALL CAPS
  • Onions; can't see it here but ALL CAPS
You could call me a good cook/chef but I'm just a rule follower!  Pick things that pair well together and it is a lot harder to screw up flavors.  

Ingredients

  • 4 strips thick cut bacon, chopped
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 apple, skinned and diced
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • ​1/4 cup water
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Add the bacon to a medium saucepan, and render out the fat.  
  2. Remove bacon bits and most of the bacon grease, leaving behind about 1 tbsp.  
  3. Add onion and apple and cook for 6-8 minutes until onion is softened.  Add the remaining ingredients, including 1/2 the bacon bits, cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes or up to 45 minutes.  
  4. Use the remaining bacon bits as a garnish on top of your finished dish.
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Curry Meatloaf with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

2/5/2018

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East Meets West...

All the comfort of my grandma's homemade meatloaf combined with all of the flavor you would get from some of the best Indian curry dishes that I've had.  Sounds about perfect, right???

This dish is pretty straightforward to make, nothing fancy, unless you want to make your own curry powder.  If you do make your own curry powder with fresh roasted spices, please let me know how you do it or let me know where I can buy it.  Even without your own curry powder this is one of those dishes that you can make and impress the heck out of some friends or family.  

Don't take my word for it though.  If you like meatloaf but love some ethnic food, this is a great combo.  Pair it with one of your favorite veggies.  We did some roasted asparagus but anything will work.  Can't wait for you to try.  After you do, we would for you to come back and let us know what you thought.  

Ingredients

Meatloaf Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 pounds of ground turkey
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 medium carrots, diced
  • 1 celery stalk, diced
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
  • 3 tbsp curry powder
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 2 eggs, beaten

Yogurt Sauce
  • 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
  • Juice of one lime, roughly 2 tbsp
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon, roughly 2 tbsp
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • Pinch of salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a skillet add your coconut oil and sautee the onion, carrot and celery for roughly 10 minutes until softened and mostly cooked through.  
  3. In a mixing bowl add the remaining meatloaf ingredients and mix thoroughly before adding the cooked veggies.  
  4. Stir to combine well.
  5. Spay an 8" x. 8" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Transfer meatloaf mixture to the baking dish and spread out to an even thickness.
  6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the meatloaf begins to pull away from the edges and is cooked through.  
  7. While the meatloaf is cooking, you can add all of the yogurt ingredients to a small dish and stir to combine.  
  8. The meatloaf should make 6 decent size portions once cooked.  Serve each piece with a tbsp or 2 of the yogurt sauce and garnish with some fresh cilantro.  
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Roasted Brussel Sprouts

1/16/2018

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I know some people that begin to drive heave if they are threatened to eat a brussel sprout.  A couple are in my immediate family.  Growing up my mom on occasion would make them but they were usually either steam or boiled with some butter on them.  Although I could probably stomach that now, at the time it was one of the most disgusting flavors.  The smell was similar to what a Band-Aid smells like and I could only imagine what they taste like.  

Had my mom prepared sprouts this way, I'm guessing there would have been a 50/50 chance that I would have actually eaten them.  I mean they are still green and green food in our house was immediately met with rejection, unless it was Jello.  That stuff was delicious!  Just don't ruin it by putting fruit in it!  

The process of roasting brussels is pretty straightforward.  One key is making sure you start with fresh brussels not the frozen version.  If you get the frozen ones, they will be more apt to just steam and bring you and I back to that Band-Aid flavor and smell.  So start fresh!  Then all you need to do is trim a little bit of the chewy stem off of them if there is some.  We like to half or quarter ours from there depending on the size.  You could roast them whole but they would take a LONG time so that's not advised.  Once you halve them, spread them out evenly on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with roughly 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil per pound of brussels.  Season generously with salt and I like a little pepper also but not always.  

Once seasoned, put them the oven that was preheated to 425.  Depending on the size they should take anywhere from 20-30 minutes and I like to stir them half way through.  What you are looking for is for them to start turning slightly brown if not black.  In the cooking world that's called carmelization!  Do it!  They aren't burnt, they are perfect that way.  It will bring out some of the natural sugars that are in a plant that is inherently bitter and if prepared poorly can taste like Band-Aids! 

Try it this, I bet you will like brussels for the first time!  Or at worst you won't hate them.  
Want to take this next week off from planning your own Healthy Meals?  Let us do the work for you!  Follow the link below and we will give you are 5 Day Meal Guide for free!
YES, PLEASE!!!
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Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Sausage with Maple Crema

11/8/2017

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Simple.  Delicious.  Sweet.  Spicy. Hearty.  

If you've made soup before you've probably tried version of this soup.  I see it on menus all the time especially this time of year.  I've made it a handful of times and this version is by far my favorite.  Call me a sucker for some good sausage.  Or maybe just the simplicity and letting the fresh veggies and quality stock.  

This recipe only has a few ingredients but it is built on a solid chicken stock.  We have our recipe over here on how you can make your own.  I think some of the keys to a good stock is getting a good pressure cooker, because who has time to cook stock for 48 hours.  Also chicken feet!  Yup I said it, chicken feet.  The collagen from all the connective tissue in chicken feet add a richness that nearly impossible to get any other way.   Just try and thank me later.  You can find chicken feet at most groceries.  I've seen them at every Asian market that I've ever been to also.  

To make this soup even better and because we like pretty pictures, we added a maple crema.  Sound fancy but it basically is just a dairy product mixed with something else that is liquid.  Calling it that is just my inner chef coming out.  Or maybe it is from watching too many episodes of Top Chef!  Either way it is delicious and makes this dish well rounded.  Sweet from the apple and maple, slightly smokey from the sausage, and a hint of spice from the cayenne.  So good!

We would love to hear from you if and when you try this and what you think.  

Ingredients

Soup Ingredients
  • 1/2 pound pork sausage
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • Medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
  • 2 apples, seeded and chopped
  • 6 cups of chicken broth or enough to cover soup ingredients
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt and pepper
  • Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
Maple Crema Ingredients
  • 3 tbsp greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp almond milk
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

  1. In a large dutch oven add your sausage and cook over medium heat.  Cook for 8-10 minutes or until cooked through and a lot of the fat has rendered out.  
  2. Remove the sausage from pot, add the onion and cook until transucent, roughly 6-8 minutes.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients other than the cayenne pepper to the pot and bring to boil.  Once it is boiling reduce heat to medium and simmer for 25 minutes.
  4. While the soup is simmering, mix the Maple Crema ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
  5. Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick.  Transfer the soup to a blender and blend to remove all chunks from the soup.    Make sure you remove the top plastic piece of your blender when you are blending hot items to ensure you don't have an explosion of soup.  Our Vitamix is naturally vented.  
  6. If you are eating right away go ahead and pour directly into bowls.  If not go ahead and return to the pot and simmer as long as needed, stirring occasionally.  
  7. Add 1/4 cup of sausage to each bowl then drizzle with Maple Crema and if you like a little spice add a dash of cayenne pepper.  
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Pumpkin Spice Protein Pancakes

11/1/2017

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It wouldn't be fall if we didn't throw a pumpkin recipe at you.  Since we love pancakes here you go!  We've been making a variation of these pancakes for the longest time.  However the texture on those other ones just wasn't quite where I would like it when it comes to a pancake.  So just a couple little tweaks and we have this new one which I think will be our go to pancake recipe for a quite some time.  

If you are wondering what the hell the broccoli is doing in the picture, I thought this was a pancake recipe, you aren't the first one to think that is a weird combo.  This combo is a great a solution for a number of people that we work with on a regular basis.  Two staples that people usually fall short of on a daily basis is protein and veggies.  Why not start your day with a healthy dose of both?  

Why are protein and veggies important?  Particularly for people trying to lose weight these two things will likely be your biggest help in seeing measurable progress in a short period of time.  By getting adequate protein, 20-40 grams, per meal you will fill yourself with bulk but with lower calories.  Same goes for the veggies, due the high fiber in veggies you are adding bulk without adding calories.  It's because of this that you are able to eat to the point of being full all while staying in a calorie deficit.  

If you are curious how much protein and fiber you should specifically be eating head over to our Calorie Calculator page and submit some information and I will get you a customized plan to let you how much of each you should be eating.  This will be based on your size, activity level, and your goals. 

Otherwise enjoy the heck out of these pancakes, we sure did!

Macronutrient Information

Calories: 95
Protein: 10.9 g
Fat: 4.4 g
Carbs: 3.5 g
Sugars: 0.9 g
Fiber: 1.6 g

Ingredients

  • 1/2 can of pumpkin pie filling, roughly 3/4 of a cup plus a little bit
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup of unflavored whey isolate protein powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (omit if using a vanilla protein powder)
  • 3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 cup ground flax seed
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • Dash of ground clove
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ​1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp of salt

Directions

  1. Add the wet ingredients, pumpkin, eggs, almond milk, vanilla to a bowl or blender and mix to combine.  We like to use our Vitamix to mix these in.  
  2. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  I've found different flax and almond meals tend to absorb liquid at different rates.  You may need to a little more water or almond milk to an appropriate consistency.  What you are looking for is something that easily pours and spreads out on a griddle.  
  3. Heat a griddle to medium heat or 300 degrees if you have an electric one like us.  Spray with a nonstick spary, we use a coconut oil variety.
  4. Pour batter onto griddle making about 4" pancakes.  With this recipe you should get about 10 pancakes out of 1 batch.  
  5. Enjoy!
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Parmesan Turkey Meatballs

9/19/2017

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One of Laura's favorite things on the planet is a good meatball!  One of my favorite things on the planet is some good pasta!  Being gluten free now for almost 3 years I don't nearly get good pasta all that often.  One item that didn't make the cut on things to bring in our RV was my pasta roller and cutter!  So we have to stick to store bought GF pasta which isn't always the best.  W'eve had pretty good luck lately with the Barilla GF pasta.  It's a corn based pasta which obviously isn't health food but every once in a while we are all for having a good pasta meal.  

I know you didn't come here to learn about GF pastas, so let's about this meatball!!  One challenge with meatballs is they traditionally have breadcrumbs in them which unless they are made from GF bread is off limits in our house.  Some things that I've used as that binder substitute in other recipes are sweet potatoes, quiona, ground up GF crackers.  With this recipe I opted to skip the binder.  It did make the meatballs a little stickier when rolling them into balls but is was manageable and still made a good meatball, texture-wise.  If you want to alleviate that stick meat batter, go ahead and add a 1/2 cup of bread crumb or any other binder to the mixture.  

We also like to find any opportunity to sneak greens into our food.  Feel free to follow suit and add some like we did or leave them out.  If it would have just been Laura and I eating these we would have likely added more.  We were able to sneak these in and Eli still enjoyed the meatballs which is a big bonus. 

We paired this meal up with our basic marinara sauce that you can find here, just leave out the ground beef since you are doing the meatball.  

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 handfuls of spinach
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 1/4 lb ground turkey
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 c shredded parmesan
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • Fresh parsley
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Saute onions and garlic in a pan along with the olive oil.  After a few minutes and the onions start to turn translucent, add your greens and continue to cook until those are thoroughly wilted and the onion is cooked through.  
  3. In a separate bowl add remaining ingredients, minus the fresh parsley and mix thoroughly.  Add the sauteed veggies and mix those in too.  
  4. Once you have that mixed together, roll into 1 inch balls or maybe slightly larger.  Place on a baking sheet.  
  5. Bake for 15 minutes.  Enjoy on their own or with some delicious pasta and marinara sauce.  Top with some fresh parsley and grated Parmesan for added boost of flavor!
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Deconstructed Egg Roll

7/30/2017

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One food that I have yet to find since going gluten free is a fried egg roll...they just don't exist out in restaurants and we didn't opt for the RV with the deep fat fryer.  We've had a number of our challengers post in our accountability groups about creating different versions of this dish.  I finally got around to make some myself and have to say it hit the spot.  

We were a little spoiled too, since the two days before this my aunt picked most of the veggies that went in this dish straight out of her garden.  Fresh cabbage, fresh carrots, and fresh onions!!!  The only thing we added to the dish was some red pepper, garlic and the pork.  Oh and a few spices and some asian sauces!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound pork sausage
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced 
  • 3 large carrots, sliced
  • 3 tbsp minced garlic, roughly 3 cloves
  • 4 green onions, sliced
  • 1 small head of cabbage, grated or sliced, roughly 5 cups
  • 1 inch of ginger, minced or 2 drops of ginger essential oil
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup tamari, coconut aminos or low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp coconut nectar or brown sugar (optional)
  • ​1 tbsp siracha (optional)

Directions

  1. In a large skillet or dutch oven add the sausage and cook over medium heat until cooked through.
  2. Remove sausage from the pan leaving the drippings behind.  Add the carrot, bell pepper, ginger, and onion and cook for 8 minutes until carrots begin to soften and onion is translucent.  
  3. Add garlic, cook for 2 more minutes.
  4. Add the cabbage along with all the other ingredients, cook over medium heat for 5 minutes stirring frequently.  
  5. Cover, and reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes stirring once or twice. 
  6. Serve and eat as is if you are wanting a low carb meal or you can serve over the top of some prepared rice.  Garnish with a little cilantro and enjoy!
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Simple Homemade Pizza Sauce

6/28/2017

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Pizza... everybody loves it!  Even those of us that are living a healthier life love to indulge in it.  It's actually one reason why I bought the domain, www.healthierpizza.com.  Don't try heading over there yet, at this point it is just an idea in my head.  The idea came to me because a healthy life shouldn't be one that is absent of pizza.  

Upgrading some of the ingredients is the place to start.  We have other posts on upgrading the crusts with whole wheat flour or using cauliflower.  We have a fun recipe where we eliminate dairy and add some extra veggies with this Thai pizza.  We even love the pizza so much we incorporated the flavors into this lentil dish.  

With all of these, I had yet to create a delicious and healthier option for one of the most basic components, a good red sauce.  Last night while Laura was away, Eli and I decided to make some pizzas.  We tried out a new premade gluten free crust from Mikey's.  The crust is made from paleo friendly ingredients and was pretty tasty!  We topped that with a homemade red sauce that took 2 minutes to mix up then just a little time to simmer on the stove.  

Check it out and let us know what you think.  If you end up tweaking it feel free to comment below with what you did.  This is one thing I'm always playing around with and improving.  
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Ingredients

  • 1 Can of Organic Tomato Sauce
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp dry basil
  • 2 tsp dry oregano
  • 1/2 tsp fennel seed
  • Salt and Pepper

Directions

  1. Add all the ingredients to a small sauce pan and simmer covered for a minimum of 10 minutes, up to an hour for more flavor.  
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What Weighs More... 1 LB of Broccoli or 1 LB of Nachos?

3/15/2017

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If you've followed us for a while you know we aren't big fans of counting calories.  It's not that we don't think they matter because they do 100% when it comes to weight loss.  The thing that people get confused about though is just doing straight up math with calories in versus calories out and if those numbers tip a certain direction your weight will also change.  Your metabolism is a bit more complicated than what your fitbit tells you that you burned during your exercise session that day and what My Fitness Pal tells you that you consumed.  

What's our approach then to help people lose weight!  It comes down to nutrient density and calorie density.  Our bodies are pretty intelligent and for most people they know when to stop eating in order to maintain our weight.  The thing that happens when people eat processed foods, the triggers that tell us to stop eating don't get tripped.  The other way that these triggers don't go off is when we consume food at a fast pace!  

So our approach is to consume high quality, whole foods at a slow pace and stop when you are close to being full and you will likely lose weight.  If you are trying to maintain, then you eat to being full.  Yeah there is certainly some nuance that can come into play around macronutrients and timing but for the most part this strategy works.  

This is where the question of, what weighs more... a pound of broccoli or a pound of nachos?  Let's breakdown this comparison:  
Nutrition Facts - Broccoli
Serving Size: 1 Pound
Calories: 150 
Fat: 1.5 g
Sodium: 147 mg
Potassium: 1404 mg
Carbohydrate: 30 g
Fiber: 11.4 g
Protein: 12.6 g
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Nutrition Facts - Beef Nachos
​Serving Size: 1 Pound
Calories: 861
Fat: 44.1 g
Sodium: 710 mg
Potassium: 439 mg
Carbohydrate: 76 g
Fiber: 8 g
Protein: 47 g
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I took the challenge myself of eating both a pound of nachos and pound of broccoli in one sitting.  Let's just say it was an interesting experience.  Overall both "meals" filled me up equally and the rate at which I ate definitely slowed down towards the end of both.  

I mentioned it was an interesting experience... what that means is I actually became physically ill by consuming one whole pound of broccoli.  My stomach and GI tract just couldn't handle processing that amount of broccoli.  The nachos, no problem... I was eating again in a few hours.  Why this happened I don't know the exact answer.  Fiber content maybe, but I've consumed 11 grams of fiber in one sitting before this.  Vitamin or mineral overdose, possible but not probable.  If you have an answer let me know, I'm curious.  

To put things in perspective a bit on whether or not this is a lot of food.  The average American eats between 3 and 5 pounds of food per day, we will call it 4 on average.  So, a one pound meal probably isn't that unusual.  To break things down a bit further, the average American consumes around 2,700 calories per day.  So doing a little math the average pound of food that an American consumes is around 675 calories (2,700 calories divided by 4 pounds of food).  Based on the nutrition facts, you can see that broccoli falls WELL below that average and the nachos a fair amount above that number.  Can you see how eating whole foods and especially non starchy veggies can help a person consume fewer calories?  

The reason a lot of diets fail I believe is because our body is naturally satiated by a certain poundage of food.  If all you are doing is eating smaller portions of your current foods your body is going to crave more food to fill itself up.  I wrote up a whole other post on this topic, Are You Smoking Shorter Cigarettes to Get Healthy?  If you aren't filling your body with a certain poundage of food you either need to resort to some incredible willpower or you will likely binge a time or two.  

If your goal is weight loss and you don't want to micromanage every gram of food that goes into your body here's what we would recommend:
  • Fill half your plate with nutrient dense, non-starchy vegetables at each meal
  • Eat a palm size portion of protein with each meal
  • The remainder of your plate can either be a starch like potatoes or rice or it can be a fat like avocado or cheese
  • Sit at a table and slow down when you eat and don't forget to chew your food
  • Stop eating when you feel that first sign of being full
  • DO NOT eat a pound of broccoli by itself!  
If our approach to losing weight seems like something you would like to try, we are constantly running online support groups where we teach people about how they can have a healthy relationship with food and use it to support your weight loss and not as the enemy.  
I'm interested in your next Support Group
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Gluten Free Turkey Meatloaf with Savory Mushroom Sauce

1/13/2017

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Meatloaf... it was a staple in our house growing up!  My mom would always make it with beef and slather on the ketchup sauce on top.  It was actually quite tasty, except for the onions.  I despised onions when I was a kid.  Not the flavor as much as the crunch that you would occasionally get from one that wasn't cooked enough.  

Times have changed quite a bit!  The breadcrumbs that you would normally add to meatloaf would now make me breakout in a rash.  The high fructose corn syrup in the ketchup, yeah... we are just going to avoid that if we can.  That's the backstory on how this recipe got created.  

I suppose with mushroom sauce this maybe is closer to the salsibury steak that we would occasionally have in our tv dinners.  No matter what you call it, I hope you call it delicious!  We certainly enjoyed it!  

Ingredients

Meatloaf
  • 2 1/2 lbs of ground turkey
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 1 tbsp grassfed butter
  • 1 cup of mashed sweet potato
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Savory Mushroom Sauce
  • 3 cups sliced bella mushrooms
  • 2 tbsp grassfed butter
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp tapioca starch
  • 2 tbsp sherry wine
  • 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 -1  cup water or broth
  • 1 tsp galic powder
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Meatloaf
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. In a skillet saute the onions in butter and season with salt and pepper.  Cook until it they become slightly caramelized.  
  3. In a large bowl combine the other ingredients along with the cooked onion.  Make sure to not throw your hot onions on top of raw eggs otherwise you end up with scrambled eggs.  Either mix the eggs or onion into the meat first.  
  4. Once everything is thoroughly mixed transfer to a large baking dish or loaf pan.  We used a 6" x 9" baking dish and it fit right up to the top!
  5. Bake for one hour or until the inner temp gets to 170 in the center of the meatloaf.  The ends cook faster.  
  6. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes.
Savory Mushroom Sauce
  1. In the same skillet you cooked the onions, add butter, oil and mushrooms and cook over medium heat until the mushrooms have reduced in size and started giving off some liquid. 
  2. Add the sherry wine and cook for 2 minutes.  
  3. Add the tapioca starch and stir until the starch dissolves into the liquid in the pan.  Add 1/2 cup of water or broth and stir until well incorporated.  You should have a gravy-like texture at this point.  
  4. Add in the remaining seasonings and stir occasionally.
  5. The sauce will take 15 minutes or so to make.  You can start cooking it when your meatloaf has a few minutes left to cook.  Feel free to add more water to the sauce if the texture starts getting too thick.  The longer you cook it the thicker it will get.  
  6. Once your meatloaf has rested, cut and serve with a spoonful of the sauce over the top.  We enjoyed it with some grilled asparagus and side salad!  Hope you enjoy and let us know if you try it.  
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Bacon Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Orange and Pecan

12/20/2016

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We are creatures of habit.  When we find something we like we don't change.  Brussel sprouts and the way we prepare them is a prime example.  Our normal preparation is clean, cut, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and roast in the oven.  If we are feeling crazy we might add a little bacon, balsamic or galic.  I've learned to not mess with Laura's brussels!

This past weekend we did a Chrismtas dinner with my side of the family and my mom had found some beautiful brussel sprouts.  I've tried exposing to my family to brussels before and other than my mom and sister in laws haven't had much luck.  So I figured what the heck let's try something different in the hopes they will try it.  It got a couple more to try but I don't know if I turned them to be brussel fans.  

This recipe was simply inspired by what was in the kitchen.  We had brought some fresh pecans home from Texas.  We had an orange that we didn't eat on our flight up to Minnesota and I had saved some bacon grease from our breakfast that morning! 

The orange definitely livened the dish up quite a bit and pecans added a nice texture contrast, so I would say this is a win and we would love to hear what you think if you make it yourself.  

​One variation you could certainly try would be to add bacon to the dish.  We didn't since we had it for breakfast that morning.  But if you wanted to, just chop and cook the bacon in your skillet until the fat is rendered out, remove the bacon and start the brussel sprout process listed below.  Then just re-add the bacon pieces the same time as the pecans.  

Ingredients

  • 1 lb brussel sprouts, cleaned and halved
  • 2 tbsp of bacon grease
  • 1 orange, zested and juiced
  • 3/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 tbsp of vinegar of your choice, we used red wine because that is what we had but balsamic probably would have paired better
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Clean and prep your brussels
  2. In a large skillet, add the bacon grease over a medium high heat.
  3. Add brussel sprouts and cook for 10-15 minutes until they begin to carmelize.  You will need to toss them frequently to keep from sticking.  
  4. After brussels are carmelized add the zest, juice of the orange, and vinegar, cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Stir once or twice during this time.
  5. Add the chopped pecans and toss with brussels over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until the brussels are cooked the whole way through.
  6. Season with salt and peper and serve!  
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Flax Pancakes with Orange, Pecan Sryup

12/4/2016

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We are currently parked in a campground in central Texas between Houston and San Antonio.  There isn't anything super fancy about this park or its location.  One upside though is that there are pecan trees everywhere and it's pecan season!  If I had the patience I could easily fill up a 5 gallon bucket in less than hour.  We've been snacking on them a bit but decided to try to use them the other morning in combination with a new pancake recipe.  

​If you follow us you know that we love our pancakes and they are a weekend tradition.  You also know we need gluten free options since I can no longer eat anything glutenous!  I wouln't consider these pancakes health food but they are close.  The flax in them provide a ton of Omega 3 fats which are super good for you.  You also get a decent dose of protein and fiber too!  
The sauce/sryup that I made is the thing that turns a fairly healthy pancake into a bit of a treat!  Enjoy it though because it's delicious and a much better way to enjoy pancakes then use a boxed premix.  

Ingredients

Pancakes
  • 3/4 cup ground flax seeds
  • 3/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp coconut sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups almond milk
  • Pinch of salt

Syrup
  • 1/3 cup toasted pecans
  • 2 tbsp grassfed butter
  • Juice of 1 orange
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 1/2 cup real maple syrup

Directions

Pancakes
  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender or mixer and mix! 
  2. I would recommend adding the liquid last and 1/2 cup at a time until you get a good pancake batter consistency.  It took me right around 2 1/2 cups.  
  3. Cook on a 325 degree griddle for 5 minutes then flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes until fully cooked.  
Syrup
  1. Since we had raw pecans I add them to a small saucepan and cooked over a medium heat for 5 minutes until you could start to smell the toasted nut flavor.  Make sure to stir often, if you are toasting your own.  
  2. Add the orange juice and zest next, followed by the butter and syrup.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  The skin on my orange was a little nasty so I opted for using some 1 drop of orange essential oil to up the organge flavor instead.  
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Ham, Lentil and Pea Soup

11/15/2016

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Cooler temps equal soup season!  Although we are staying in warmer climates this winter we have still seen temps dip into the 40's at night and not get much past 60 during the day.  I know, I know it could be so much worse.  This year I guess it is all about perspective and it is cold to us!  
We are also in a season of trying to save some money and our food budget is one area where we can save some money.  Soups are a great way to stretch your dollar, get loads of nutrition, all without starving yourself.  

Just in case you aren't convinced on soups yet, they are also super easy to make.  This one could easily be a crockpot meal where you just throw everything in and forget about it.  Also when we make soup, we always have leftovers, which means even easier, healthy meals for days.  

Ingredients

  • 3/4 pound ham, cubed
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
  • 4 stalks of celery, diced
  • 2 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 cup dry lentils
  • 1 cup dry split peas
  • 1 tbsp dry thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 8 cups water or chicken broth
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. You can cook this a number of ways.  We used our pressure cooker but you could use a large pot on the stove top or a slow cooker.  If you are using a slow cooker, just throw everything in for 8 hours on low and you should be good.  
  2. If you are using a pressure cooker or stove top start by adding your olive oil and sautee the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic for 6-8 minutes until everything begins to soften.  
  3. Add the remaining ingredients and cook as directed.  Your lentils will likely be the thing that takes the longest, roughly 30 minutes on the stove top or 18 minutes in a pressure cooker.
  4. Serve and enjoy!
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Crispy Baked Sweet Potatoes

10/19/2016

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I've tried a couple dozen different ways to make baked sweet potato fries and most of them haven't turned out until now!  The two things that have typically happened are either horribly burnt fries or soft squishy fries.  Been there?  

I wish I could remember where I saw this trick but it made all the difference.  I know I saw it on some Facebook cooking school type page.  They talked about the differences in sweet potatoes vs regular white potatoes.  The thing that separates the two is the starch to sugar ratios.  White potatoes are higher starch less sugar and sweet potatoes are just the opposite.  If you are somewhat experienced cook you know that sugar burns.  It's because of this and this balance that makes sweet potato fries harder to get that nice crispy texture without burning.  

You could approach this problem a few ways.  Cook them incredibly fast so they don't have time to burn, aka fry them.  Not the worst thing in the world if you are using a quality oil like coconut oil, but that becomes a pretty expensive batch of fries if you are using a whole jar of coconut oil to make them.  The next option is to reduce the sugar content, that's not really an option as far as I know.  The last one would be to up the starch content.  That can be done! 

The process of adding starch is pretty simple.  You could use a number of different starches to do this but I would recommend tapioca, arrowroot or corn starch/flour, I used tapioca.  You create a slurry of the starch plus a little water and toss the potatoes in the slurry while they are warm and slightly softened from boiling.  That way the starch mixture gets absorbed into the potato.  

I'm going to continue to experiment with this process and hopefully fine tune it a bit more.  For now, we hope you enjoy this little tip.  I would also love to find the perfect fry seasoning to add to these.  If you have any suggestions drop them in the comments.  
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Boiled potatoes covered in tapioca starch slurry

Ingredients

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes cut into wedges
  • 2 tbsp tapioca starch
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Get a pot of water boiling and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Peel and cut your sweet potatoes into wedges.
  3. Add potatoes to salted, boiling water for 6 minutes.
  4. While potatoes are in water add tapioca starch and water to a large bowl and whisk until fairly smooth.
  5. After potatoes cook for 6 minutes add them directly to the bowl with starch slurry in it.  Toss in the slurry until all wedges are fairly well coated.  Try to be fairly gentle during this process in order to not create mashed potatoes.  
  6. Place potatoes onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  
  7. Bake for 40 minutes, or until some brown spots start to show.  Rotate halfway through the baking.
  8. Once they are finished baking, season with salt and pepper or whatever seasoning you wish.
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Chicken Tortilla Soup

10/10/2016

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I don't know why I don't always have a batch of this soup in our fridge.  So good!!!  Five years ago I would have laughed at you if you would tell me that soup can be an entire meal. I guess I was used to terrible canned soups or the tiny cup of soup that you get at restaurants.  Oh how the times of changed.  

Now my view of soup is basically it is liquid salad!  Seriously though if you make a good soup it should resemble a salad.  So if you don't like to eat salad, I suggest you try soup instead.  This version of chicken tortilla soup is loaded up with veggies, quality protein, and of course some amazing chicken stock.  

When I make soup I love to make a huge batch because it tastes better the next day!  Feel free to scale this recipe up or down but it makes about 6 large bowls of soup.  Also as a little bonus here is a how I like to make my chicken stock at home which is super simple.  

Homemade Chicken Stock

Ingredients

  • 5-6 pound whole chicken
  • 1/2 pound chicken feet (optional but not really but this is where you get all that amazing gelatenous goodness!)
  • 2 large carrots, chopped
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 celery stalks, chopped
  • 4-5 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tsp dry thyme
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • Water

Directions

  1. We use our pressure cooker if you don't have one you could do this in a stock pot or even in a slow cooker.  It will just take longer.  
  2. Put your chicken and all your vegetables in your cooking vessel along with 2 cups of water.  If you using a pressure cooker you will need to cook for approximately 45-60 minutes depending on how big your chicken is.  Similar on a stove top and multiple hours in a slow cooker.  
  3. After the chicken is cooked, remove it from your pot.  You can let it cool or if you are tough feel free to dig right in and start removing the meat from all the bones.  Add the bones back into the pot that still has the vegetables in it.  
  4. Set your meat aside for later and discard the skin and gristle.  
  5. Add the remaining seasonings and ingredients and fill up your pot with water.  We have a 6 quart stockpot and this amount of vegetables and spices works well with that amount of liquid.  
  6. Pressure cook for 2-3 hours depending on how much time you have.  If you are using a stovetop or slow cooker you are looking at more like 24-48 hours.  
  7. After cooking, strain it so you are just left with the liquid, store in the fridge for up to a week.  

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of shredded cooked chicken meat
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 0-3 jalepenos, seeds removed
  • 2 tbsp of minced garlic
  • 4 cups of pureed tomatoes
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • Cayenne pepper to taste
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Garnishes/Toppings
  • Green Onion
  • Cilantro
  • Corn Tortilla Chips
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
  • Hot sauce

Directions

  1. In a large pot add the oil, then add the onion, peppers and garlic and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes or until softened.  
  2. Add tomatoes and stock to the pot along with spices and bring to a boil.
  3. Reduce to a low, add the chicken and simmer for minimum of 15 minutes or up to an hour.  
  4. Your done, add with some of your favorite toppings and enjoy!
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Flank Steak Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette

8/30/2016

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​Ladies if you need a way to get your husbands to eat a salad, start with this one.  I mean what guy doesn't like steak, then you combine that with mushrooms and gorgonzola cheese, it's a win!  The asparagus and tomatoes are there  as a way to sneak in some more veggies! The dressing is super simple and adds a fun punch of flavor.  It's crisp, it's herbacious, it's delicious.  

We would love to know if you try this one out!  Leave us a comment below.  If you love it don't forget to Pin It so you can save it for later!  

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients - Makes 3 salads
  • 6 cups of of mixed greens or spinach
  • 1 lb of flank steak, grilled and sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups of dry mushrooms, sauteed
  • 1 1/2 cups of asparagus, grilled and cut into 1" pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups of cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 6 tbsp of gorgonzola cheese
​Dressing Ingredients
  • 1 cup fresh parsely
  • 1/4 cup white wine vineager
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1-2 tsp minced garlic
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Season the steak and asparagus with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Grill until the steak is medium rare- medium and the asparagus is soft but still has a little crunch.
  2. Sautee the mushrooms in a skillet with a little olive oil or butter.  
  3. For the dressing, all all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high for 20 seconds or until the everything is well combined.  
  4. Put your salad together, 2 cups of greens on the bottom, then layer 1/2 cup of each of your veggies; mushrooms, asparagus, and tomatoes, top with your sliced steak.  If you've never cooked flank steak make sure you slice it perpendicular to the grain of the steak.  
  5. Top with 2 tbsp of cheese, dressing, and some extra fresh parsley if you still have some.  
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Classic Lemon Vinaigrette

8/25/2016

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One thing we really encourage a lot of our clients to work on is to be more veggies, especially greens.  One of the easiest ways to get more greens in is to eat more salads.  We love our salads, and try to it one 5 days a week.  We aren't just talking about a little side salad with dinner.  We are talking full on, stuff my face and stomach salad that is loaded with greens and veggies.  We see a lot of people that grasp that concept which is awesome, but then they douse all those quality veggies with some low quality salad dressing.  

A couple of tips if you do buy store bought dressings;
  1. Avoid "Low Fat" dressings!  Low fat usually just means high sugar or as one of my favorite memes out there states, Low Fat = Chemical Shit Storm!  
  2. Try to find dressing with fewer ingredients.  Most salad dressings should contain a vinegar and an oil and maybe some seasonings.  Avoid artificial colors, sweeteners, and flavors.  
  3. Avoid veggie oils, canola and soyben are the big ones used in cheap dressings.  These easily oxidize and will likely cause inflammation in your body.  Not to mention most canola is genetically modified.  
Sound like a lot of work to follow those rules?  Well the easy solution is to buy some of those base ingredients and keep them on hand so you can make your own dressings.  Here is a simple one to get you started.  

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp raw honey
  • Season with salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients other than the oil in a blender and mix until well combined.
  2. Drizzle the olive oil in slowly over the course of 30 seconds while the blender is running.  
  3. Serve over your salad, and store the extra in the fridge.  This should be enough dressing to last an entire week at least.  
If the idea of eating more veggies and cleaning up your eating sounds like something you would be interested in, we will be hosting a special group on Facebook in a little over a week.  The group will revolve around having a salad a day for week.  We will provide recipes like the one above and some more tips on how to put together an amazingly healthy salad.  If you are interested click on the image below and RSVP.  
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Fish and Veggie Red Curry

8/17/2016

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Laura loves curry!!!  So what do you do when your wife loves curry, you make curry for her.  Sometimes I'm all about doing things from absolute scratch.  In the case of curry, it would be fantastic to toast my own spices then grind them fresh and use my mortal and pestle to make a paste.  But let's be honest that takes time and energy.  
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Instead we found a pre-made curry paste, added in some fresh veggies and fish and a couple other ingredients and we had a delicious dish in under 30 minutes.  This was my first time ever using fish in a curry and it turned out pretty great.  If you are completely scared of fish or don't like the flavor, too bad, try it anyways.  I think you will be surprised that the curry is the dominate flavor and not the fish, so it is a good way to give fish a try.  

Feel free to add your favorite veggies to this dish.  You don't have to use what we used, we just had these on hand and that is why we love curry dishes so much, because they are so versatile.  You could also sub out the quinoa for rice or even zoodles or sweet potato noodles if you want to go grain free.  The possibilities are endless.  We hope you enjoy this one as much as we did.  

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of your favorite white fish, we used flounder but you could easily use cod, haddock, pollock, even walleye
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 large carrots, chopped into bite size pieces
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen green beans
  • 3 tbsp Red Curry paste from Thai Kitchen
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar, palm sugar, or brown sugar
  • 1 15 oz can of coconut milk
  • 1 1/2 cups of water
  • 1/4 cup fish sauce
  • 2 cups dried quinoa
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro

Directions

  1. In a large saucepan or dutch oven add the coconut oil and melt over a medium high heat.  
  2. Add the carrots, peppers, and onions and cook for 8 minutes.
  3. Add red curry paste and cook and stir for 1 minute, then add the coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, and water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.
  4. This is where timing things out comes in handy.  Depending on the type of grain; quinoa or rice, you should possibly start that before you start cooking any of the veg and curry sauce.  For me I started the quinoa in our pressure cooker when I was cooking the veg.   If you are doing it on the stovetop you might need to start sooner.  When your grains have approximately 8 minutes left add your fish cut up into 1-2" pieces and your green beans or any other frozen veg.  
  5. Simmer the sauce with the fish and all the veg for that final 8 minutes with your pan covered.  Try not to cook the fish for much longer than 8 minutes otherwise it will just start to fall apart. 
  6. Once your quinoa or rice is done, serve a couple large spoonfuls in the bottom of your bowl and top with the curry sauce.  Finish with some freshly chopped cilantro and enjoy.
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Fixate Cooking Show

8/5/2016

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So unless you are living under a rock you've most likely heard of the program 21 Day Fix.  The concept behind the program is that you combine exercise with a portion control system using color coded containers.  The difficulty that some of our customers have had is how to you go from ingredients to meals using the containers.  Fixate is the answer to that.  

Fixate is a cooking show that will air on Beachbody On Demand.  The show will be a cooking show where Autumn's brother who is a professional chef will teach you how to put together meals in a healthy way using the container system.  I'm a sucker for cooking shows so I'm pretty excited about this plus I know it will help so many people have more confidence with the container system that is proven to work if it gets used.  Each episode/recipe will be 4-7 minutes long and include downloadable instructions and grocery lists.  This is scheduled to go live on August 19th, 2016.
“It’s so easy to get stuck in a cooking rut,” Autumn explains. “We designed Fixate to help people get more creative with their healthy, portion-controlled eating plans, so they can try new recipes as well as learn to make and containerize the foods they already love.”
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We want to help people get healthy and lose weight and we know sometimes a little incentive is a great way to get people started.  Let me explain in a little more detail what we are offering.  If you purchase any Challenge Pack (workout + month's supply of Shakeology) you will also receive a free copy of Autumn's cookbook, Fixate.  With this Challenge Pack purchase you will also receive a free 30 Day membership to Beachbody On Demand which will give you access to Autumn's new cooking show!  Oh and over 400 different workouts if you feel like dabbling with something else.   

The other option if you aren't sure if any of this is right for you is to sign up for a FREE 30 Day Club Membership.  For 30 days you will have access to 400+ workouts, Autumn's new cooking show, and some other great resources.  If on day 30 you haven't used it or didn't like it you can cancel no questions asked.  Well we might actually ask you why you didn't like it but just for feedback purposes... :)  If you choose this option you will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of Autumn's cookbook Fixate!

We believe in these products and know that they can change lives but they can only do that if you have them and use so hopefully this will be that little push to get you started.  
ENTER TO WIN
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Gluten Free Blueberry Chia Pancakes

6/16/2016

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Laura almost didn't let me make these for her.  Apparently she has a thing about eating chia seeds because they get stuck in her teeth.  I get it... kind of.  I was able to twist her arm and get her to try them and I'm pretty sure she was glad she did.  We all loved these pancakes, even Eli.  Another bonus: zero chia seeds stuck in her teeth too.  Talk about having your (pan)cake and eating it too!  

Seriously if chia seeds aren't part of your diet you need to consider adding them.  Even if a few stray seeds end up in your teeth the benefits far outweigh any social anxiety from being caught with something in your teeth.  Even if you do get caught it also gives you an excuse to share this amazing seed story with someone new!  
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Let's talk about just a few of the benefits.  Gram for gram it contains more Omega 3 fats than salmon.  That means lowered LDL and VLDL cholesterol, reduced inflammation throughout the body, improved brain health, lowers cancer risk, and reduces your risk of heart disease.  Sounds pretty good, right?  It doesn't stop there.  In one serving (1 oz or 2 tbsp) you also get 11 grams of fiber.  Compare that to a whole wheat pasta(4 grams of fiber) that is often touted to be high fiber and it doesn't even compare.  How about micronutrients... these seeds are loaded with vitamins and minerals.  I love that they have 30% of your daily recommended amount of magnesium.  Magnesium is a mineral that is often referred to as the the mineral the people are deficient in the most yet is responsible for over 300 different chemical reactions in your body.  It's important in getting quality sleep, energy production and even your mood.  
When you pair up all of these awesome benefits plus the antioxidant power of blueberries, these pancakes will actually make you healthier!  How awesome is that, to get to eat pancakes and improve your health.  Just don't drown them in maple syrup made from high fructose corn syrup ;)
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Ingredients (Makes 12 medium pancakes)

  • 2 Bananas
  • 4 Eggs
  • 2 Tbsp Chia Seeds
  • 1/2 cup, Coconut Flour
  • 3/4 cup Almond Milk 
  • 1 cup Blueberries
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • Pinch of salt

Directions

  1. In a small dish or cup add a 1/2 cup of the almond milk and the chia seeds.  Let this sit for 15 minutes and stir them occasionally.  (This is the trick to not getting them stuck in your teeth)
  2. Meanwhile add the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT the blueberries, to a blender or mixer and mix to combine.  Add the chia seed mixture after the 15 minutes.
  3. Fold in the blueberries.
  4. Cook on a skillet at 300 degrees.  It will take roughly 4-5 minutes on the first side and 2-3 minutes on the second.  
  5. Eat them plain or serve with a little grassfed butter and real maple syrup and enjoy!
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Enchilada Stuffed Sweet Potato

5/30/2016

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I think I first heard of Danielle Walker on one the podcasts I listen to on a regular basis.  She has a pretty incredible story of beating an auto immune disease, ulcerative colitis, through dietary changes she made.  It's a great story that really shows the power of food.  I would encourage to check out her blog or book Against All Grain.  

Danielle has a recipe for this same dish that was my inspiration for making this.  It was super simple and even Eli ate it.  You can pretty easily scale the spice up or down depending on if you are feeding kids or you just don't like spicy food.  Eating healthy food doesn't have to be flavorless which I think a lot of people fear.  You just need a well equipped spice cabinet.  You could easily sub out the ground beef in this recipe for ground turkey, shredded chicken or beef if you happen to have those on hand instead.  

Ingredients

  • 4 medium sweet potatoes
  • 1 1/4 lbs of ground beef, we use the organic beef from Costco, if you buy by the pound, just scale the spices up or down.
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 tbsp of diced garlic
  • Peppers, choose any that you like, we used bell peppers because we had them, but you could use poblano, jalepeno, serrano.  A combination of some of sweeter pepper and savory pepper would be my recommendation, You'll want about 1-2 cups diced total
  • 2 tbsp of grassfed butter
  • 3 tbsp of tapioca starch
  • Approximately 1 cup of chicken stock, add 1/2 cup at a time until you get the consistency that you desire
  • 6 oz can of tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp of dried oregano
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp of cumin
  • 1 tsp of coriander
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 avocado, cubed
  • Cilantro

  1. Bake sweet potatoes in a 425 degree oven for roughly 45 minutes.  I usually wrap in aluminum foil to make clean up easier.  
  2. In a large saucepan or skillet add your butter, then add your beef, onions, peppers and garlic.  Cook for 10 minutes or until the beef is browned.  
  3. Add the tapioca starch and stir for a minute to let the starch soak up all that good fat in the pan.  
  4. Add in the remaining ingredients and let it simmer for 15 minutes or longer.   Feel free to add more or less liquid to make the sauce thinner or thicker.  
  5. Top with cubed avocado and cilantro and enjoy!
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Paleo Cream of Asparagus Soup

5/18/2016

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This dish was totally inspired by leftovers.  To be honest a lot of the meals we make are throw together at the last minute.  We try our best to just keep healthy ingredients in our fridge, freezer and pantry.  Then I (Dan) find inspiration either from Pinterest, Google, a random cooking show or something I've made before to dictate what we eat.  I'm not the most creative person when it comes to other things, but food, that's my jam - pun intended!  

Seriously this soup was so easy to make and you could easily scale it up if you wanted to make it for a larger group.  Like most soups the key to flavor is using a flavorful broth/stock and letting it simmer for a long time.  I recently made up a batch of chicken stock in our pressure cooker.    Homemade stock makes a huge difference in my opinion both in flavor and quality of ingredients.  I probably need to write up a post about our stock recipe.  Very simply we just add water, old chicken bones, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, apple cider vinegar, peppercorns and a little salt into our pressure cooker.  We pressure cook it for about 3 hours and it turns out great!  

We hope you enjoy this soup!  We always love to hear if you try out our recipes, so if you give it a try, drop us a comment on the post or shoot us a message.   

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of asparagus, we used leftover grilled asparagus.  You could use raw
  • 1 can of coconut milk
  • 2-3 cups of broth depending on how thick you like your soup, we used chicken but if you wanted it to be a vegan dish you could use veggie broth
  • 1 tbsp onion powder, or you could use 1 small onion diced - we were out
  • 2 tsp garlic garlic powder, you could use 2-3 cloves of garlic, I was on a powder kick since I didn't have onion
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp of olive oil

Directions

  1. If you are using whole onion and garlic, saute that first in a saucepan with a little olive oil for a few minutes to soften.  
  2. If you are powdered onion and garlic, add everything to a saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes.  
  3. Add all the ingredients to a blender, be careful if you have a blender that isn't vented that you remove the top circle piece and cover with a towel.  The steam needs to come out somewhere otherwise you have a huge mess and potential burns.  
  4. Return the blended soup to the saucepan and simmer as long as you would like.  We simmered for about 22 minutes.  I know that because I did my 22 Minute Hard Corps workout.  
  5. At this point season if needed.  We needed a little more salt and I added some more broth because it had reduced a little too much.  
  6. Drizzle with a little olive oil and enjoy!
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Lemon Ginger Shrimp and Zoodles

5/5/2016

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Citrus and summer go hand in hand in my book.  I know it isn't technically summer yet but the weather in South Alabama has felt like it is the middle of August.  I'm sure if you were to talk to locals they would tell you how great the weather has been.  For this Minnesota boy it's a different story.  Temps were in the 80's everyday and the humidity was above 90% everyday.  That's hot!  

Being in South Alabama we had the benefit of getting some really good shrimp and it was cheap.  This has definitely been one of the things that I've enjoyed about traveling so far, local food!  Getting to eat food that was picked, farmed or fished recently is so fun and adds so much more flavor.  We've tried to take in local markets wherever we are and get some fresh veggies and proteins, then fill in the gaps with some food from the big box stores.  

I made this while in Gulf Shores, Alabama and it was super light and perfect for a warm day.  We hope you enjoy it!!  If you have a shellfish allergy you could easily leave out the shrimp and do a piece of baked whitefish.  

Ingredients

  • 3/4 lb of raw shrimp
  • 1 large carrot cut into matchsticks
  • 1 red bell pepper cut into matchsticks
  • 1 medium onion cut into matchsticks
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1" piece of ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup broth of your choice or water
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 3 small zucchini cut into zoodles using  spiralizer
  • 1 tbsp dried parsley or 1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Prep all of your veggies ahead of time.  Once you start cooking it goes pretty quick.  
  2. In a wok or large skillet add the oil then carrot, onion, pepper, ginger and cook for 5 minutes or until the onion starts getting a little translucent.  
  3. Add the garlic, parsley and shrimp and cook for an additional 3 minutes.  Stir regularly.  
  4. Add broth, lemon juice, zoodles and toss for 2 minutes until everything is coated and the zoodles start to soften.  
  5. Season and serve!  There will likely be some liquid in the bottom of the pan, feel free to drizzle your food with this or let it be.  
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Meal Replacement Shake Comparison - An unbiased look at the most popular shakes on the market

4/28/2016

165 Comments

 
Due to formulas changing and requests for additional shakes, we've updated this post as of 9/18/17.
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​This subject comes up ALL THE TIME with people we work with and the coaches in our community.  People are always trying to compare different shakes that are on the market.  There is so much skewed information since the people that are usually telling you the benefits of a particular shake are also selling that shake.  Full disclosure: we are Beachbody Coaches, drink Shakeology daily and also sell it.  BUT...unlike a lot of other posts that attempt to compare these shakes, I want to share the facts: calorie information, macronutrient information, nutritional information, added ingredients, cost and let YOU decide what makes the most sense for you situation.  

The only bias that might show up in this post is that I put a huge emphasis on long term health over short term weight loss.  I believe lasting weight loss and finding your ideal weight is a side effect of being healthy.  I also don't believe that meal replacement shakes should be used as a way to restrict calories.  They should be used to give you quality, convenient calories that promote health.  If you want to know why I don't believe in calorie restriction we have a couple other posts about that, Calorie Deficit Diets, The Truth Revealed and Stop Eating Less and Exercising More.  I also have a bias towards restricting artificial foods, flavors, and preservatives.  

I compared the chocolate shake from the following companies:
  • Beachbody's Shakeology
  • Isagenix Isalean
  • Herbalife Nutritional Shake
  • GNC Lean Shake
  • IdealShape IdealShake
  • DoTerra Trim Shake
  • Advocare Meal Replacement Shake
  • Thrive Lifestyle Mix
  • Vega One Nutritional Shake
  • Arbonne Essentials
  • Sanford Profile Meal Replacement Shake
  • Invigor8
  • Shaklee
  • Garden of Life
I chose these shakes because they are the ones we get asked about most often.  If you have a shake that you would like me to analyze that isn't on this list feel free to email us a nutritional label and I can take a look at it.  If my information is incorrect about any shake, please let me know that also. My goal is represent every shake fairly with accurate information.  

Calorie and Macronutrient Information

When I first started looking at these numbers I originally didn't include the serving size.  I then realized that it is needed to accurately look at nutritional density.  The idea is to compare gram for gram, which shake packs in more nutrients.  When looking at all of the numbers keep in mind the serving size.  For example if you look at total carbs and compare IsaLean to the Herbalife Shake you would think that Herbalife is way better but the serving is less than half, so gram for gram, IsaLean has fewer carbs.  
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A few other things to pay attention to in this graphic:
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Calories. Like I mentioned earlier, shakes shouldn't be a way to restrict calories, so I like to look at the shakes that contain slightly higher values, 150+.  All of these shakes if made without adding any extra ingredients would still be pretty low in calories to "replace" a meal, in my opinion.  Obviously meal size will be determined by the size of the person but I usually recommend 400+ calories per meal.  

Carbohydrates... these have a bad reputation in the weight loss world.  I would say the average person probably does consume too many calories from carbohydrates, but that doesn't mean you need ZERO to lose weight.  The main idea when it comes to carbohydrate management is to avoid carbs that quickly gets transformed into blood sugar or have a high glycemic load.  The lower the total carbohydrate, the higher the fiber, and the higher the protein will all lower the glycemic load of a food.  One thing you will want to cross reference regarding carbs is whether a shake is artificially sweetened.  If they are artificially sweetened the sugar to fiber ratio will be skewed and as I mentioned earlier, I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners.  Keeping that in mind the shakes that I like based on their carbohydrate content and sugar to fiber ratio include; Vega One Nutritional Shake, DoTerra Trim Shake, Beachbody Shakeology, Isagenix Isalean, Garden of Life.  I like these because of the higher fiber content and lower % of sugar in regards to total carbohydrates.
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Overall, fat is pretty negligible across the board.  Protein strictly by the numbers, most of these shakes have a good percentage of their calories coming from protein.  The only one that is pretty terrible is GNC Lean Shake.  We will talk about quality of ingredients later.  

Vitamin and Mineral Content

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This first graphic shows the percentages of the vitamin content in each shake.  One thing to consider with this graphic is nutritional density in relation to total grams consumed or total calories.  A shake like Thrive Lifestyle Mix is a pretty low calorie shake at 123 calories but has a number of RDA values of 50% or more, so overall pretty nutritionally dense.  

The 4 shakes that standout as the ones containing the highest concentration of vitamins per calorie would be IdealShake, Shakeology, Vega One, and IsaLean in that order.    Invigor8, Advocare, Arbonne and DoTerra shakes would rank among the worst when it comes to nutritional density.   
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This second graphic shows the percentages of the mineral content in each shake. The top 4 shakes from a mineral density are IdealShake, Thrive Lifestyle Mix, Shakeology, and Sanford Profile Meal Replacement.  

The other thing to consider when it comes to vitamin and mineral content would be where those vitamins are coming from. Are they synthetically created and added?  For example if you read IdealShake's ingredient list it would say Niacinamide and Potassium Chloride.  Those things aren't bad for you.  However, when you get vitamins and minerals from whole food ingredients your body is able to absorb those nutrients more effectively.  So when you read your ingredient list, make sure you look for ingredients that sound like foods rather than chemicals.  If you are getting these nutrients from food, you are also benefiting by getting the phytonutrients that come along with those foods.  These are lost entirely when you are consuming a shake that was made using lab created vitamins and minerals.  

Shakeology, Garden of Life and Vega One are the three shakes that have the most comprehensive list of foods that go into their shakes.  Isalean, Thrive, Invigor8 and Arbonne include some whole foods that make the vitamins and minerals more easily absorbed.  The remaining shakes from what I can tell use synthetic vitamins and minerals to get their nutrient content.    

Pre and Probiotic Content

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If you are new to the world of prebiotics and probiotics let me explain what they are very briefly.  Probiotics are bacteria that populate your gastrointestinal tract.  We have about 10 times the number of bacteria living in our GI tract than human cells.  So essentially we are more bacteria than we are human.  These bacteria provide a whole host of benefits to our bodies from metabolic regulation, immune function, cravings, and improved digestive issues to name a few. The science is still pretty new around how our gut health affects the health of our entire body but we know it is important to have a healthy gut.  

Prebiotics are essentially food for the probiotics to eat and therefore survive.  Nearly all the shakes include prebiotic fiber in them.  It's important to feed the good bacteria in our gut the stuff it needs, rather than feed the bad bacteria which can lead to conditions like SIBO and candida overgrowth.  Only 7 of them contain probiotics, so it makes it pretty easy to pick out the best ones in this category.  
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Digestive Enzymes

Staying on the theme of gut health, let's talk digestive enzymes next.  Essentially what these can do is help break down our food into smaller pieces so our body can more easily process it.  
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There are a few standouts when it comes to this category.   Isalean and Garden of Life have the most comprehensive mix of enzymes.  After that Thrive and IdealShake have a pretty good mix.  Shakeology has a heavy focus on carbohydrate enzymes but lacks protein and lipid enzymes.  All the other shakes fail in this category.  (Make sure to click on the image to enlarge)

Adaptogens and Herbs

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This category might seem a little strange to the average health conscious person.  Adaptogens are foods that "adapt" to their current environment.  Things like ashwagandha and astragalus are herbs that can regulate your immune system.  If your immune system needs help fighting off disease, these will ramp it up.  If your body is having an auto immune response and it needs to calm down, these herbs will slow it down.  They adapt!

Other items on this list help with energy production at the cellular level.  Things like schisandra and maca are great for this.  Many of these adaptogens also have a incredibly high antioxidant properties like reishi and cordyceps mushrooms.  Antioxidant rich foods are powerful for your immune system and reducing inflamation throughout your body.  

​I won't go into a ton of detail about these specific ingredients, but the clear winner when it comes to adaptogens is Shakeology.   A few other shakes have included a single adaptogen which is great that they recognize the value in them.  

Additional Ingredients and Certifications

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This is one of the most important graphics I think when comparing shakes.  ​Like I said, I have a few things on my non-negotiable list, especially when it comes to something I would be consuming daily.  First, I'm gluten sensitive and therefore this is a must.  If you are also I would recommend testing any of these shakes out or running it past your doctor.  There are only a couple that are "certified" gluten free but a lot that claim that they are but just don't have the certification.  After that I prefer to avoid products that contain GMO's, soy, artificial anything and hydrogenated oils.  I don't claim to be perfect with all of these but I certainly don't consume anything daily that contains any of these items.  

With that, there are only 7 shakes that meet my criteria and would benefit a person's health; Shakeology, Isalean, DoTerra, Vega One, Arbonne, Invigor8, and Garden of Life.  This is actually where I would personally start, and then work my way back up the blog post looking at these  shakes as my options for a daily shake.  That's why I've highlighted them in this graphic.  If you aren't as strict as I am when it comes to these added ingredients then by all means use all of this information however you would like to find the right shake for you.  

Cost

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I should note that all of these shakes are priced out at the retail value.  A lot of the companies that sell these shakes have member options that get you reduced pricing but to keep it consistent I wanted to share the retail.  If you decide to drink one of these shakes regularly I would encourage you to look into some of those discounts.  

Hopefully by now you've realized that comparing a lot of these shakes isn't an apples to apples comparison and the price reflects that.  The price of these shakes tend to reflect the ingredient list in them.  For the most part I would say as the price of the shakes go up so do the nutritional benefits and quality of ingredients.  For the shakes on the higher end with a higher nutritional value, you are still coming out ahead of what it would cost you to order a healthy meal at a restaurant and would be very comparable to making a healthy meal at home.  For some of the cheaper shakes I would argue that you are just buying calories.  It's something to consume to hold you over until your next meal but they aren't making you any healthier.  ​

Unfortunately a lot of people will begin their decision making process with this chart.  I would encourage you to look at all the other categories above and pick the shake that will help you in the way that you need it.  Then figure out a way to make that dollar amount work in your budget. It might mean giving up a night out a week at a restaurant, or forgoing the daily Starbucks trip or giving up cable TV.  Your health is like an investment that you can start building up a positive or negative balance at a young age.  Most people don't see the benefits or the negative side effects until they are much older and often it's too late to make big changes.  

Final Thoughts

I hope I've laid out enough information that you can make an educated decision on your own and not have to sort through a bunch of crap out there on the internet to get a straight answer on what is included in these shakes.  I also hope I presented the facts in a fair manner and highlighted the things that you would want to know before choosing a shake.  I'm happy to answer questions about any of my views and why we have chosen to drink the shake that we do.  

I'll close with this thought... A lot of people scrutinize the safety of these shakes which is great and is why I put this post together.  I would also encourage you to use that same level of care and concern when it comes to the other foods you eat regularly.  None of these shakes are either toxic enough to make you sick on their own or nutritious enough to keep you healthy on their own.  It's a combination of everything you put into your body.  

Thanks for reading!
165 Comments

Gluten Free Gumbo and New Orleans Food

4/20/2016

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Currently we are in New Orleans.  When we travel we like to eat what the locals eat.  We avoid chain restaurants and try to find the off the beaten path places to grab some food.  A couple places we checked out while we've been here are  Blue Line Sandwich Co.  We did breakfast here last week and it was really good.  Definitely was a local hangout.  Cochon was another place we checked out which I believe is in the Uptown area.  This place was great, we shared some oysters and their traditional dish and namesake, the Cochon.   Both were great!  

​We also checked out John Besh's restaurant Lüke for breakfast yesterday.  A little bit on the spendy side but the food was fantastic.  I had the southern breakfast and instead of the grits they gave me some roasted potatoes that were just awesome!  Laura had the egg white frittata which was also delicious!  We also made a stop at Cafe Du Monde and had some coffee and Laura and Eli had some beignets.  
As you can see a big piece of what we like to experience when we travel is FOOD!!!  Both of us would rather spend $100 on an awesome dinner, then go to a concert or a show.  We don't mind those things but we just love food and experiencing the different preparations and flavors is so fun.  This has definitely helped me in the kitchen too.  I get to see how dishes are made and assembled.  I get to taste different combinations of that I would never have thought of on my own.  In the traditional version of gumbo, you make a roux from wheat flour, so I had to modify that a bit and I think it worked pretty well.  

My goal with a lot of the food we come across is to find great local ingredients, do a little bit of research on what the base of a dish is, then make it your own!  For those of you that follow us on Facebook you might have actually seen me make this entire dish on a Live Broadcast.  If you want to watch that you can click HERE, then go the videos section.  We've also had a lot of people ask about how they can Live Subscribe and get notified when do our live videos.  I finally figured it out!  If you click on the image below, it will take you to our page, from their click on the videos section, then then in the upper right hand corner click the arrow then choose Turn On Live Notifications.  This works if you are on your desktop.  From a phone, go to our page, The Cook and the Coach, the select to Follow Us, not just Like our page, then scroll down a few posts and find our last live broadcast and in the upper right hand corner you should see an option to Live Subscribe.  

From a Computer

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From a Phone or Tablet

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So finally the recipe! If you are like me, you probably just skipped to this section!  Hope you enjoy this recipe.  If you want, you could certainly modify it to your taste, by adding things like shrimp or crawfish.  You can also tailor the spice level to what you like and how spicy your andouille is that you buy.  

Ingredients

Gumbo Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3/4 lb of andouille sausage, chopped
  • 1 pound of chicken, can you use thighs or breast meat
  • 2 medium onions, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 tbsp of butter, we use Kerrygold brand
  • 4 tbsp, gluten free flour blend.  If you don't have a preblended mix I would recommend 2 tbsp rice flour and 2 tbsp tapioca starch
  • 3 oz of tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp cajun/creole seasoning, I used Emeril's Essence seasoning mix
  • 2 tsp gumbo file 
  • 32 oz or so of chicken stock
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Rice - Multi-Cooker Instructions
  • 2 cups brown rice
  • 2 1/2 cups of water

Directions

  1. In a dutch oven over medium heat add your oil and the andouille sausage.  Cook until some of the fat starts to come out and it begins to brown. 
  2. Remove sausage from the pan using a slotted spoon, trying to get all the sausage drippings in the pan.  Then add the chicken and cajun seasoning.  Cook for 7-8 minutes until chicken is almost cooked through.
  3. Remove the chicken from the pan leaving as much fat behind in the pan.  
  4. Add butter and let it melt.  Then add your flour mixture and whisk for minimum of 10 minutes.  The longer the better and the more flavor you will get out of it.  This is your roux.  It should be slightly runny and shouldn't seize up.  If it does add more butter or oil of your choice.  DON'T WALK AWAY DURING THIS PROCESS.  If you do your flour will burn and you have to start over.  Trust me it will be worth it.  
  5. After you have whisked that sufficiently, add the onion, celery, pepper and garlic.  Stir that for 2 minutes.
  6. Add your tomato paste and cook for another minute.  At this point it should be getting pretty clumpy.  
  7. Slowly pour in your chicken stock about 8 oz at a time and raise your heat to high.  You want to get this up to light boil.  Your sauce will begin to thicken.  Keep adding liquid until you have a fairly thin gravy consistency.  You might need less stock or more, there is no perfect amount here. 
  8. Once you get it to a boil, reduce your heat to low, add the gumbo file.  Also add back in your sausage and chicken.  Cover and let simmer for 25-30 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile cook your rice however you prefer, we like using our multi-cooker.  You could start this the same time you put the lid on your gumbo or if you have a helper have them start it while you are making the gumbo.   
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Dan and Laura Suedbeck have embraced an entrepreneurial lifestyle.  They are constantly challenging the status quo and challenge others to do so too.  They believe that you don't always have to change your situation, sometimes you just need to change the lens you view the world through.  Their focus is helping people  find purpose and passion with their lives all while getting healthy.   Click here to find out more about them.  

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