by Caroline | Jan 23, 2016 | Recipes
Ok, I’m just gonna say it… Balls are all the rage right now! (*giggles*) I know how it sounds, but it’s true. Everywhere I look there are recipes for various kinds of superfood balls. I just wish we could come up with a better name, otherwise I’d be shouting from the rooftops “I love balls!” but I people might get the wrong impression, and I’m a classy gal.
But seriously, I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with different combinations of nuts, seeds, and other superfoods to come up with a healthy snack I can take with me on the go. Most have been pretty good, but this is by far my absolute favorite. This recipe captures the flavors and scents of the season with cardamon, orange and cinnamon, but can be enjoyed any time of year.
What you’ll need:
- 1/3 cup walnuts
- 1/3 cup almonds
- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
- 10 dates
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 2-4 drops of orange essential oil (theraputic grade). If you don’t have orange essential oil, you could substitute with 1-2 tbsp of orange zest.
- Self Control *This is optional, but I found that I very much needed it when making these!*
Put everything in a food processor until it’s all ground up and evenly mixed. If it seems too dry add a very small amount of water while it mixes. It should be crumbly, and a little sticky.
Refrigerate for an hour or two, then roll into bite size balls.
THAT’S IT! Now, how easy was that?
They are to die for!!! I ate like 5 right away, but I had to control myself so I could have it during the week.
Please let me know in the comments section, what your favorite combinations are!
xo,
by Caroline | Jan 3, 2016 | Recipes
Every year my family celebrates New Year’s Day with a delicious lunch at an old friend’s house. Our friends cook an amazing meal of traditional southern cuisine that’s meant to be eaten when celebrating the new year. We feast on collard greens, black eyed peas, pork, sweet potatoes and corn bread. These foods are meant to bring in good luck and prosperity for the new year. Black eyed peas represent coins, collard greens represent paper money, and corn bread represents gold. Whether or not you believe this will actually bring prosperity, it’s a longstanding cultural tradition, and a really yummy meal.
Being so inspired by this meal, I decided to create my own spin on it. This time of year I love cooking soups. Warm, full of veggies, and great to make in a large batch to have throughout the week. I thought this meal would be great in soup form.
What you’ll need:
- 1 can black eyed peas
- 1 sweet potato cubed into bite size pieces.
- 1/2 large onion chopped
- 2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
- 1 bunch of collard greens, chopped or ripped into small pieces
- 1 carton of vegetable stock
- Pork or Chicken for added protein *optional*
Directions:
- Sautee chopped sweet potatoes, onion and garlic in a large pot with some olive oil, or another oil of your choice, for about 10 minutes just to soften.
- Add vegetable stock, black eyed peas, collard greens, and meat. (I added some water during the simmer process as some of the stock boiled off)
- Bring to a boil then let simmer for about 15-30 minutes.
- Season with black pepper if desired.
*Note, if you are adding meat to the soup, cook it before adding it in. I used leftover pork from our New Years Day feast. This step is optional, if you don’t prefer to have meat in your soup.
It really couldn’t get much easier than that!
Please enjoy and have a happy and prosperous new year!
It really couldn’t get much easier than that!
Please enjoy and have a happy and prosperous new year!
xo,
by Caroline | Dec 7, 2015 | Lifestyle, Recipes
I am so happy to have back guest blogger Kiley from One Healthy Hamptons to share with us her picks for healthier alternatives for holiday cocktails.
There’s LOTS to celebrate this time of year! With holiday parties left and right, it’s important to be aware of what you’re sipping on. Good old champagne and wine are great options, but who can resist a tasty holiday cocktail?! Unfortunately, these festive bevs can pack more calories than Christmas cookies. Here’s a few delicious recipes for holiday cocktails you can enjoy. Your guests will love them too! “Clink” to that!
Red & Green Sangria:
- 2 apples
- 1 pear
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 1 large sprig of fresh rosemary, extra for garnish
- 1 bottle white wine
- 1/2 cup of white grape juice
- 1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup, stevia, agave, sweetener of choice)
- 2 cups club soda/sparkling water
Mix ingredients and serve chilled.
Candy Cane Martini:
- 1 cup vodka
- 1 cup peppermint Schnapps
- 1/2 cup milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 teaspoon honey or sweetener of choice
- ice
Garnish with a candy cane and sip chilled.
Spiced Crock-Pot Cider: (adopted from Food Network’s Slow Cooker Hard Cider)
- 2 quarts natural apple cider
- 1-2 inch piece ginger root
- Two cinnamon sticks
- 2 teaspoons cloves
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1/2 cup sweetener (light brown sugar, honey or maple syrup)
- 1 orange, sliced
- 1 1/2 cups gin
Put all ingredients in crock-pot and cook for about an hour. Strain solids and serve warm in mugs. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
One Healthy Breakdown: cheers to a healthy, happy holiday season and a happy new year!
Kiley DeMarco, MSW, NLC, is the founder of One Healthy Hamptons website, community, and e-magazine for all things healthy in the Hamptons, and co-founder of Hamptons Wellness Week. Kiley is Nutritious Life Certified in Nutrition and has a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She lives in Sag Harbor with her husband and their Swiss Mountain Dog, Sammy.
by Caroline | Nov 14, 2015 | Lifestyle, Recipes |
If you’re anything like me you score the internet for the best healthy living and food blogs, so I’ve simplified the process for you!. I want to share with you my top health food blogs. Enjoy!
Deliciously Ella– Deliciously Ella is a site that I truly go to on a regular basis for recipes that I actually cook, in real life. I love going to aspirational sites that show beautiful pictures of perfectly crafted culinary art, but there’s nothing better than a real site you use evey day, like your mom’s favorite stained cookbook with the pages ripped and stuck together from the years of use. Well, to me, this site is both. Not only is Ella adorable and unintimidating but she feels like a girlfriend I would call up to borrow a recipe from. And her recipes manage to be healthy while looking scrumptious and satisfying. Aside from the amazing food, Deliciously Ella has posts on happiness (one of my favorite topics), advice for living a healthy life, inspiration, fitness and beauty. She also has two cookbooks and an app. Ok, I kinda just want to be Ella, or be her best friend.
Image via www.delicouslyella.com
Sprouted Kitchen- The husband-wife team behind the Sprouted Kitchen bring a focus to healthy, seasonal foods, while maintaining a sophisticated yet rustic flare to their images and recipes. One of the things that Sprouted Kitchen does that sets them apart from other health food blogs is their food photography. It’s hard not to get inspired while poring over the images of their recipes. The vast recipe collection includes just about everything you’d want to find when trying to be the hostest-with-the-mostest, or just making a relaxing dinner at home. Looking through their recipe archive makes me feel like I’m at an elegant yet cozy farm-to-table restaurant and I want to order everything! It’s websites like this that make me say to myself, “I love food so much!!!”
Image via www.sproutedkitchen.com
Peachy Palate-Peachy Palate, run by Michelle, a nutritional health coach, has recipes as well as nutritional information and workouts (pretty much a one-stop-shop for everything healthy). The workout page is great for finding any workout you may be looking for. The recipe page is extremely well organized! You can search by cooking method, course, dietary needs, or key ingredient. I love this because if you don’t know what you want to make but are looking for something specific like grain-free, vegetarian, or paleo, everything is sorted for you. My favorite is the section on nutrition. She has posts on pretty much everything you might want to know about nutrition. Definitely a great site for finding well-rounded health information and inspiration.
Image via www.peachypalate.com
Cookie and Kate- Cookie and Kate has a whole slew of healthy plant-based recipes, many of which are gluten-free. But don’t get the idea that you’ll be eating twigs and berries. The recipes are all extremely diverse and appealing, you’ll want to become vegetarian just looking at this food. I’ve made several recipes from Cookie and Kate in the past, and they’ve always turned out to be major successes in my house. The recipes are creative, yet flexible so if you don’t have every single ingredient you can wing it and it will turn out great!
Image via www.cookieandkate.com
Lexi’s Clean Kitchen- Accessable clean eating is the goal in Lexi’s Clean Kitchen. Lexi, a passionate recipe creator, develops creative, tasty, and nutritious recipes using healthy ingredients. Her recipes encompass all needs and tastes from dairy-free, to gluten-free, sugar-free, and paleo; so everyone can find something that works for them. I can totally relate to Lexi’s story because she decided to make major liestyle changes to live a happier and healthier life, just like I did, and has found major success with eating a cleaner diet and leading a more balanced life. To that I say, right on girl!
Image via www.lexiscleankitchen.com
From The Land We Live On- Rustic charm perfectly describes the feel of this blog. Sophia, the brains and heart behind the recipes, shares her experiences in urban gardening, foraging, and food preservation, and focuses on the importance of eating food that is found close to home. Recipes include gluten-free, vegan and paleo options, and they all look beyond appetizing. I pretty much want to make everything I see here. Even if you don’t plan on making any of these delicious meals, just browsing the site will be a delightful experience because the visual component is so appealing.
Image via www.fromthelandweliveon.com
I hope that you find some wonderful ideas and inspiration from these sites. I have found them to be the tried and true sites that I keep going back to again and again.
Leave a comment with your favorite healthy recipe sites!
xo,
by Caroline | Nov 1, 2015 | Lifestyle, Recipes
I find that the easiest way to consistently eat healthy is to have a well stocked pantry. Having the staples on hand will always simplify meal prep, as well as spontaneous whip-it-up meals. Here are my must-have healthy pantry staples to always keep in my kitchen, no matter what I’m making that week.
Healthy Pantry Staples
- Almonds
- Almond Butter
- Cashews
- Walnuts
- Dates
- Sunflower or Pumpkin Seeds
- Coconut Flour
- Almond Flour
- Coco or Cacao Powder
- Coconut Oil
- Chia Seeds
- Lentils
- Canned beans
- Canned crushed tomatoes
These ingredients are so important to have because they can be used in so many different ways. Many of these are used every day in my kitchen, whether it’s for smoothies, snacks, main dishes, or desserts.
Spices
- Hymalayan Sea Salt
- Ground Black Pepper
- Turmeric
- Cinnamon
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Oregano
- Cayanne Pepper
These spices are versatile and most commonly used in recipes. I’ve found that in making many different recipes over the years, the spice rack has seemed to grow…a lot. Random spices that have been used once, unfortunately fade to the back of the cabinet. These basic spices end up being the only ones I really use, and the only ones worth having.
Produce
- apples
- avocados
- bananas
- lemons
- oranges
No matter what I’m planning on making each week, I always get these produce items. Mainly becuase they are portable, don’t need refrigeration, and don’t go bad that fast. I like to call them low-maintenance fruit.
Of course there are many others that I didn’t include here. I haven’t even begun to talk about my love for goji berries! But this is a great place to start if you want to incorporate more clean foods into your pantry.
I hope this helps simplify your healthy lifestyle!
xo,
by Caroline | Oct 17, 2015 | Recipes
This is the perfect smoothie for those chilly fall mornings when you want something healthy, but a pineapple and kale smoothie just feels too “July” for this time of year.
My Orange Spice Breakfast Smoothie with essential oils captures the flavors of the season while still being a super-charged breakfast. The added essential oils also provide a boost to your immune function. Huzzah!
I have to be honest, this recipe came out of pure despiration because I had almost nothing in my refrigerator. I had to get a little creative but it turned out better than anything I could have planned. That’s usually how it works.
Get ready for amazingness:
- Take handfull of almonds (or cashews if you prefer) and a cup or so of water and pulverize in the blender for about a minute until it’s as fine as can be. (If you already have nut milk made just use that)
Add:
- half a banana
- spoonful (you decide how big) each of chia seeds, almond butter, coconut butter, coconut oil, chia seeds for some nice healthy fats
- dash of honey, cinnamon, and vanilla
- one drop each of orange and Thieves essential oils
Adding the essential oils is optional, as it will still be delicious without it, but I mean, WOW! Adding essential oils was a smoothie game changer for me. Thinkin’ outside the box.
xo,
