Month: March 2014

Sponsored by my very own juicer, Samson, check out this video where I make my personal go-to green juice recipe!

Feel free to find more information about the Samson Juicer I use in the video here or my book Juicespiration ( all about creating your own juice cleanse) here.

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“By letting go, it all gets done.” – Lao Tzu

This quote has really been resonating with me the past few days. I’ve got “to-do” lists longer than my legs and all sorts of obligations. Sometimes I meditate multiple times through out the day just to keep my stress level in order. And then it hit me the other day, to just let it go and trust that it will get done. Now this may not work when you are trying to eat healthy and make new habits for yourself but as far as work goes, I really think it helps. I’ve opened up the window for more inspiration, been guided towards certain opportunities and felt more in flow with my professional desires. When we are taking right minded action, not sitting on the couch eating potato chips, but also not forcing and pushing ourselves to finish our to do list at the expense of our well being, we get into a groove.
I have joked around for a while now with some of my girlfriends that I will spend all day sending out emails and pitching different ideas and it’ll be that random Thursday morning email from someone I didn’t even reach out to that will be a game changer. This quote was a reminder to me to let go and allow the universe to take over. To trust that we don’t have to PUSH so hard, we can flow.

What areas of your life are you pushing in right now? How might you be able to let go and let it flow? Comment below and let’s get a conversation going!

It’s always a blast spending time in the kitchen with my bestie and team ludo teammate, Chef Jeff Kawakami. What a lot of people don’t know about Jeff from watching The Taste is that he’s a pretty killer healthy cook as well. Jeff makes some vegan dishes that are out of this world and has celebrity clients that require him to make really healthy food, really delicious on the daily. Naturally, I asked him to share with us, an easy, go-to snack that’s both delicious, healthy and ‘man-friendly’. This healthy, crispy cauliflower recipe is sure to be a guilt free crowd pleaser.

Crispy Cauliflower

1 cauliflower cut into florets
1 egg
1 egg white
1.5 tbsp of dijon mustard
hot sauce to taste
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 cup of parmesan cheese
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Cut your cauliflower head into florets and place in a large bowl. Add eggs and lightly toss the cauliflower in them. Add you mustard, hot sauce , garlic powder, parmesan and bread crumbs and toss till cauliflower is covered in mixture. Salt and pepper to taste and then spread out the cauliflower on your baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, they are finished when the edges are light, golden brown and crispy.

                Currently, I’m training for the More/Fitness Magazine half-marathon in NYC as well as recipe testing for my upcoming Sweet + Skinny Summer Detox. I have been on a mission to find some delicious, protein packed foods that are light Senough to keep you slim but substantial enough to power you through a long sweat session. It’s safe to say almond butter has become my new best friend!
I scoop it into my smoothies, add it to my oatmeal and love having it on some sliced green apples before my morning run. It’s packed with protein and good for you fats that my body needs to keep up with all my training. Almond butter satiates me and gives me a great, clean energy for the day. You can count on it being all over the recipes for my new detox and upcoming blog posts.
To make things even more exciting, I decided to go out on a limb and make it at home with my new Samson Juice Extractor. I had seen in the manual that it was possible but hadn’t really thought to give it a go till recently when my almond butter habit had been getting a little expensive. To my surprise, making homemade almond butter was incredibly easy with my Samson and it came out so delicious that I had to share the recipe with you!

Sweet + Skinny Raw Homemade Almond Butter
If you’re using a Samson Juice Extractor like mine, simply switch to the mincing head from the juicing one. Turn it on and toss your almonds in the head at the top. (I’m sure this would be possible in a food processor if you don’t have a juicer as fancy as mine – definitely don’t try it on a regular juicer, you will break it!)

¾ cup of raw almonds
2 tsps of coconut oil
1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
1 tsp of pumpkin spice

Put your almonds through and you should have a slightly dry ground almond paste. Mix in the rest of your ingredients and feel free to knead it with your hands like sugar cookie dough. It will be slightly drier than the stuff you buy in a jar, if you prefer it a little creamier feel free to add additional coconut oil to your liking. Macadamia nut oil also works well if you are not a fan of the coconut.

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For those of you who love being festive with your food as much as I do, here is a fun little smoothie you can whip up in the morning to show off some Irish pride! It’s also equally delicious, if you just need to satisfy a mint chocolate chip milkshake craving.. 😉

 

A Healthy Shamrock Shake (aka. my mint chocolate chip smoothie)

Simply blend 1 banana, 1/2 an avocado, 4 leaves of Romaine (or a handful of spinach), 1 cucumber (seeds out/skin off), 3/4 cup almond milk, a couple fresh mint leaves (if mint’s your thang – if not skip it!), a tbsp of cashew butter (any nut butter will do though!) and blend it all together! If you’re a mint chocolate chip fan – mix in some small vegan chocolate chips after it’s all blended. Enjoy your dessert for breakfast treat and skip all the green dye colored food during the day! 

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                One of the most frequent questions I get is,”what kind of juicer do you use?” or “What kind of juicer should I buy?” So I figured it was about time I write a blog dedicated to letting you know just that! My first response to most of these questions about finding the right juicer is that the right juicer is the one you will use!! There are so many different types of juicers and you can certainly argue for some over others but at the same time, a fancy juicer with all sorts of amazing features that you can’t afford right now and discourages you from buying a juicer all together helps no one. Get what you can with in your budget when you are just starting out, it’s more important to start getting into the habit of making delicious fruit and vegetable juices at home. Once you have a little more experience with juicing and get as addicted to that pure, clean, boost of energy that it provides as I am, then you will feel better about investing in a higher quality juicer.

               As for me, I use a Samson Multipurpose Juice Extractor and I absolutely love it! My Samson operates at a lower speed (80 rpm) which means that the original nutrients and flavor are preserved when I’m making my juices. Some juicers tend to operate at higher speeds (7000-10000 rpm) where a lot of the vitamins in the fresh juice start getting destroyed. This was extremely important to me when I was selecting a juicer because I want to get as much nutritional value from juices as possible especially for when I’m juice cleansing! My Samson Juice Extractor is also great at juicing those dark leafy greens I love so much. A lot of juicers can clog up if you’re as much of a kale monster as I am. My first juicer would waste so much kale and spinach, it would go straight to the waste bucket and I would get just a drip of juice from a massive handful. Once again, if you have to buy a more basic model when you are starting out, just take the leafy green waste and put it through the juicer a second or third time to get as much juice as possible but it is such a beautiful thing to not have to do that with this juicer. Lastly, I love my juicer because it does so much more than juice! When I first started juicing, I was completely unaware that you could find juicers that can also make nut butters, mince, make noodles, puree for salad dressings and sauces and even make nut milk. I use it for everything! It has become my best kitchen buddy. Can you tell I’m a little excited by my favorite kitchen toy? Don’t worry I’ll be posting even more about some of the other wildly handy things my juicer can do this month! Feel free to check out more information about the juicer I own here as well as all it’s brothers and sisters.

 

Made this for myself right before I left on my trip to Cali and ended up packing it up to go with me for the airplane! Roasted veggies and rich, creamy noodles make for a hearty dish to nourish you in the crazy NY cold! Super simple and very hearty.

Creamy Tofu Noodles
1 bag of tofu shirataki noodles
3 tbsp of go veggie Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp of chopped or powders garlic
1 tbsp parsley
2 tbsp olive oil

Rinse and drain noodles. Place olive oil in a sautée pan on the stove along with the noodles. Keep on low heat and watching, stirring to move around noodles while adding other ingredients to taste. Noodles will hear quickly, the whole process should take 5-10 mins max.

Glazed brussel sprouts and carrots
1 cup of shredded carrots
1 cup of chopped brussel sprouts
2 tbsp of olive oil (or coconut oil)
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp of Dijon mustard
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder

In a large sauce pan on medium heat, add olive oil and vegetables. Stir constantly while adding balsamic, Dijon and spices to your taste. I like to cook them till the vegetables are hot and roasted.

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It’s national pancake day!! Why not make yours BOTH delicious and healthy for you by using quinoa as the flour! Quinoa is a superfood loaded with protein, iron and tons of nutrients you won’t find in typical pancake flour. I do warm that this recipe requires a food processor and you won’t get that “pancake-like” texture with out it.

Pumpkin Quinoa Pancakes
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup pumpkin purée
2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice
1 egg or a flaxseed ‘egg’ substitute
1 tbsp coconut oil

Filling:
Tofutti cream cheese
2 tbsp date syrup
A sprinkle of nutmeg, cinnamon
A touch of vanilla extract

First cook your quinoa: place half a cup of quinoa and a full cup of water into a soup pan, let the water come to a boil and stir till only quinoa is left in then pan and all water has evaporated.

Now place drained and rinsed quinoa into your food processor with all the other ingredients at the top and pulse till you get a pancake like batter consistency.

In a frying pan on the stove place a tiny bit of coconut butter and scoop a tbsp of batter to get the cute little stacks shown in the picture. Flip when the middle bubbles and edges start to crisp.

For the filling, simply whip up the tofutti and date syrup and the. Season to taste! Spread in between pancakes and drizzles with maple syrup of desired! These are adorable, delicious and so satisfying!

We all have those mornings that are hard to wake up to. The morning after something in our life goes terribly wrong. Maybe it’s just a bad review at work, maybe it’s a break up, maybe it’s something as earth shattering as someone you love passing. Regardless of the degree, at the moment we usually don’t want to eat anything or we want to eat everything just to comfort ourselves. Both paths will leave us empty and feeling horrible. So this morning, when I was having one of those dreadful mornings you never want to wake up for, I decided to treat myself to something delicious and nourishing for my body, my brain and my heart. Chocolate covered strawberries are one of my favorite things in the world and so I decided to make myself a chocolate covered strawberry smoothie! Even though I have no appetite and it would have been super easy to skip breakfast all together, I know that right now my body needs me to take care of it. This smoothie was SUPER yummy and helped brighten my other wise gloomy day – I hope it can do the same for you- or just make your already awesome day even better! xo

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie
1 cup of chopped organic strawberries
1/4 cup vegan choc chips
1 tsp of almond butter
6oz container of plain coconut yogurt
1/2 cup of chocolate nut milk
2 pitted dates
5 ice cubes

Blend it all together and enjoy! 🙂