All posts tagged: recipes

Anti-Aging, Fat Blasting Blueberry Smoothie

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All these low-carb/no-carb diets are giving fruit a bad rap, but the truth is carbs aren’t evil. It just depends on the kinds of carbs you’re consuming. The brilliant thing about berries is they have a lower sugar content than other fruit, so you can eat them without experiencing a potentially drastic sugar spike. Blueberries reign supreme as a not only a power food, but also a beautifying food. When you eat beautifying foods, the ingredients work from the inside out, creating total body change. You can slather the most expensive lotions and potions and magical ingredients on your skin, but the saying “skin deep” exists for a reason. These ingredients literally mask the results of poor health and/or an unhealthy diet, but it’s impossible for those expensive ingredients to really penetrate the deeper layers of skin. All the creams in the world don’t do anything for your total body wellness. Blueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity of all commonly consumed fruits and vegetables.  If that’s not enough to convince you to try out this …

(Best Ever) Gluten Free Chicken Noodle Soup

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I’ve had a lot of chicken noodle soup in my day, and I do believe nothing cures the common cold except a big bowl of hot soup. That was before I went vegetarian, of course, but I still make it for the carnivorous people I heart. My husband is about 80% vegetarian, and what meat he does eat is usually more in the style of Asian cuisine, where the meat is an accent–not the main dish. Whenever he gets sick, he always special requests my chicken noodle soup. I love cooking up a big batch of this soup whenever I make it. It smells soooo good, and it takes me back to so many happy childhood memories. To me, childhood smells like coming in from a snowy day and finding a big pot of chicken noodle soup simmering away on the stove. My mom is pretty awesome, for sure. Except she refused to let my sister and I eat Captain Crunch, which I think is ethically questionable and highly cruel. Aaaaaanyway. I can’t take credit for …

Nutrient-Dense Delicious Pho Recipe

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The only good things about winter are snowboarding, snow, hot chocolate and soup. In no particular order. Everything else is just meh. Ok, ok, those aren’t the only good things. Some people hate on winter (like the Starks a la Game of Thrones…I’m still weeping over Ned Stark. Oh, and Rob Stark. And Catelyn Stark…basically, all the Starks and the long list of characters which fell prey to the GOT bloodbath), but I actually love all the seasons. I’m a hippie at heart, and each season brings with it some amazing outdoor playtime. D.C. winters are pretty mild (now that I’ve written that, the weather gods are probably going to send a raging snowpocalypse on the DMV area), but my husband Samuel and I get our fill of winter, because we usually go skiing at least two or three times a month to some of the surrounding resorts in-between our trips to Colorado. We love the snow so much, we would build an igloo and camp out if we could. I’m probably going to be featuring non-stop …

Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese Two Ways

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I don’t know about where you live, but the weather is moody AF here in Washington, D.C. What’s up, mama nature?! While I tend to prefer meals that are heavily plant-based, sometime life calls for some good old Southern comfort food. My mom has a collection of the best southern dishes, and while they taste ah-maaaazing, they certainly aren’t healthy. The good news is just about any recipe can be modified to fit your dietary needs. I adjusted my mom’s mac & cheese recipe two ways: 1) gluten free noodles using organic milk and cheese, 2) vegan using creamy cashew sauce Both of them tasted so delicious, I almost forgot we’re in the clutches of winter. Almost. But not quite. MAC & SMOKED GOUDA CHEESE  _________________________________________________________________ SERVES: 6 PREP TIME: 10-15 minutes COOK TIME: 35-40  INGREDIENTS: 4 cups dried GF macaroni 1 whole egg 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 1/2 cups ORGANIC whole milk 2 heaping teaspoons dry mustard (more if desired) 1 pound Gouda cheese, grated (not pre-grated cheese) Seasoned salt …

Breakfast Tacos with Sun Dried Tomatoes

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Working peeps, I don’t know about you but I need a six month holiday, twice a year. I don’t think that’s an unresonable request, quite frankly. In the meantime: FOOD. Or, more specifically, the breakfast of champions: Texan champs that is! My ICU work schedule has me even more excited about our upcoming London vacation. We’ll be living in London proper for a month while I do yoga training with Kino MacGregor and her husband Tim Fieldman. Since life is happy but hectic right now, my meal plans are easy. And nothing is as effortless than breakfast tacos (well, ok, cereal is prob a tad easier), so that’s what’s on the menu this weekend. It turns out, eggs + tacos are such a happy match. I first fell in love with breakfast tacos when I moved to Dallas, Texas which has perfected that art form of tacos in all their splendor. After long, crazy night shifts in the ICU, my nursing friends and I  would go out for breakfast tacos and mimosas. It was the …

Delicious + Healthy Sweet Potato Tots

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Gimme some tots! My love for sweet potatoes extends far back to the days when I was a wee lass and my mom could fool me into thinking a sweet potatoes weren’t healthy; in fact, they’re so ridiculously good for you, that sweet potatoes deserve a farmer’s market medal of excellence. I’m pretty sure this doesn’t exist, but I think we should make this a legitimate thing. DC Farmer’s Markets: Imma coming at ya, faux medal in hand! Just what makes sweet potatoes such a winner in the health halls of fame? Well, as you might have seen in my spicy rosemary sweet potato fries recipe, sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene). They’re also an amazing source of vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6. Additionally, they are a good source of potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and phosphorus. This is one vegetable you do want to splurge on and get organic, because many of the important nutrients are found in the skin. Organic …

Easy Southwestern Baked Eggs

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Sunday, i.e., e.g., aka The Day Before Dreaded Monday (or more appropriately in my world known as Sunday Funday), is the giver of many wonderful things. Sunday kinda makes all the other days of the week look just a bit shoddy; it’s the show girl day of the week, all frills and fun! Not only do I heart Sundays, but I also love sleep, because it’s like a time machine to breakfast. And I enjoy brunch even more, since it’s basically breakfast for lazy people who can’t get out of bed on time. It should be no surprise, therefore, that I practically live for Sunday Brunch. Please tell me I’m not the only weekend hedonist out there! Since I follow the religion of yoga + brunch on Sundays, I feel it’s my sacred duty to uphold this tradition each and every week. We either go out to bottomless boozy brunch (thank you D.C. for you’re endless list of restaurants who participate in this debauchery) or have friends over. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: …

Japanese Ramen Noodle Soup

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Despite my southern upbringing (with a dash of east coast flare), true comfort food to me isn’t the traditional heavy American fare most of us have come to know and love. Maybe it’s the result of my world-wide travels and love of all cultures and people, but nothing beats Asian cuisine for me when it comes to terms of comfort. Give me a big bowl of noodle soup, a book, and a rainy day, and I shall give you the definition of bliss. And if you throw some baby animals in the mix to cuddle, I’ll probably die of happiness. One of my personal loves in learning about other cultures and people. It’s what motivated me to be a globe trotter, and I count my travels as my richest investment. Both my husband and I have a particular respect for Asian culture, which is incredibly diverse and varied from across the Asian continent. It’s as much an unfortunate mistake to lump all the cultures together as it is to group all Asian cuisine in the same …

Veggies on Mexican Lime Rice + Handmade Tortillas with Cilantro-Jalapeño Sauce

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GOD BLESS TEXAS…. I’m a Texas girl, y’all, and you know we do tacos, tortillas and football on the reg. In my home city Dallas, Tex-Mex is practically a revered as a sacred art. I myself have devoted endless hours to “studying” said art by way of eating non-stop Mexican cuisine and drinking many a margarita. I just wanted to make sure I left no stone unturned in my quest to find the perfect burrito. I’m very devoted to my research, obviously!  I have yet to experience a mambo taxi (a frozen marg that maybe should be illegal) I didn’t want to add to my list of Possible Last Supper Options. I really do keep this list, because you just never know. The Boy Scouts only think they came up with that motto. Not so fast, Eagle Scout! I was born touting that as my personal mantra! But I digress. Anyway, D.C. offers many great food experiences, but sometimes a girl likes to get back to her roots and go a little wild, Wild West on dinner. And so I did. …

20 Minute Veggie Bibimbap

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If you’re a lucky duck, at some point in your life, you’ve enjoyed eating bibimbap. Firstly, it has THE world’s most awesome name perhaps ever, and secondly, it’s insanely delicious and healthy. Since moving to DC, my husband and I have a little tradition of taking an evening walk over to a restaurant called Mandu, where we first discovered this little bowl of yum. After ordering it no less than a million times give or take, it finally dawned on me that I could make this easy recipe (light bulb moment!). One of my amazing Korean friends taught me how to cook it, and the rest is history. Dinner got easier, my husband thinks I’m amazing (the credit goes to the bibimbap), and everyone is happy—including our pocketbook. While the traditional way to cook this meal uses meat and a lot of sesame oil, my variation is lighter on the cooking oil by using an oil mister; it’s also vegetarian. I added how to prepare and cook the beef, in case you’re more into clean eating and less …