Tag:

Foodie Friday

Reid has been craving ice cream, but we’ve been trying to cut back on refined sugar lately. Luckily, I’ve found an incredible recipe that satisfies our sweet tooth without all the guilt!

This recipe has become one of my absolute favorites, and it reminds me so much of the famous Hailey Bieber coconut ice cream sundae from Erewhon—seriously, it’s THAT good! The best part? It’s creamy, decadent, and made with simple, wholesome ingredients.

The secret to getting that rich, velvety texture is to use coconut cream—not coconut milk. Coconut cream is thicker and makes the ice cream super creamy, whereas coconut milk can leave it a bit watery. Trust me on this one, it makes all the difference.

If you have an ice cream maker, this recipe becomes even easier! Just blend everything up in a Vitamix, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, and let it do its magic. Don’t have an ice cream maker? No worries! You can still freeze the mixture, stirring it every 30 minutes until you get that perfect, scoopable texture.

Whether you’re a coconut lover or just looking for a refined-sugar-free dessert, this recipe is a must-try!

Let me know if you give it a go—I’d love to hear what you think!

Strawberry Coconut Ice cream

2 cups of frozen strawberries

14 ounce can, coconut cream. (Not coconut milk)

1/4 cup maple syrup

Add ingredients to a Vitamix and blend well. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour strawberry cream mixture into a frozen loaf pan for 1 hour. Take it out at the 30 min mark and mix. Otherwise, pour the cream mixture into the ice cream maker and enjoy once it hardens. Garnish with strawberries.

5 Minute Ramen

by Shalice Noel

At our house, we go through moods with food. Is yours similar? We’re in a major RAMEN mood. Brooks, age 10 has been making it a lot so I asked him to join me in my latest reel making the ramen. We made it at my friend Nikkia’s kitchen. It was fun and did I mention fast?

1 1/2 cup water

1Tb butter

1/2 T ramen seasoning I use clean monday meals

1/2 T chicken broth or bouillon

1 pack of ramen I use the Trader Joes one [we don’t use the sauce]

Instructions: Add 1 and 1/2 cup water then add a 1 tablespoon butter, add 1/2 teaspoon chicken broth or bouillon, bring to a boil. When thats done boiling, add the ramen noodles and the 1/2 teaspoon of ramen seasoning. Cook on high for 1 minute. Turn on low and cook for 3 minutes. Enjoy.

This recipe makes about 40 cookies.

Our family is obsessed with these cookies. I knew about this chewy delicious recipe, but always put it off because vanilla pudding mix is full of junk! I finally found an instant vanilla pudding that had 4 simple ingredients, sugar, cornstarch, natural flavors and sea salt. Win! I make it ahead into balls, freeze it for an hour and put in the oven. It is difficult to get to 7 “WOWS” in my family, but these do the trick. Be prepared for the best cookie you’ve ever tasted.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use food nanny kamut flour)
  • 1 box (3.7 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix or this one
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I use this one)
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Pre hear over your 350. Mix the wet ingredients and then the dry ingredients. Bake for 13-14 min. 

How was your Memorial Day? We were invited to a BBQ yesterday for Memorial Day and she asked me to bring a side dish.

I love a challenge.

I was craving a greek salad with a twist. I left out any meat since we were attending a bbq with lots of yummy grilled meat. The feta has protein and a delicious kick. Let me know what you think!

GREEK ORZO SUMMER SALAD

1 16 oz package orzo pasta, (I use the one from trader joe’s) cooked and put aside

1 package cherry tomatoes

1 can, black olives

1 package of feta cheese

1 whole bunch of Dill, chopped

1/3 cup red onion, sliced thinly

Drizzle with 1/4 cup avocado or olive oil and 1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions: Cut the tomatoes, onions, dill, and feta. Finally, drizzle with oil and salt. Toss and serve.

Our family is just a little bit gummy bear obsessed! We love them and buy them daily, so why not make our own? We have done SO many variations. Wanna know some of our family favorites? Phyto reds blend and lemonade blend. I use stevia drops instead of honey and fresh lemon juice as the juice, but it’s totally up to you. Here’s where you can buy the phyto reds – HERE

If you do use the phyto reds, I use one scoop to one cup of water and double the recipe.

Here is the recipe below. I love that it is only 3 ingredients and no bad ingredients! Enjoy and let me know if you make them.

FRUIT JUICE GUMMY BEARS

INSTRUCTIONS 

  • Pour 1/2 cup juice into a sauce pan set on low heat.
  • Add 1 tablespoon honey.
  • Add 2 tablespoons of gelatin.
  • Mix until all dissolved and then remove from heat.
  • Using the dropper, add into your mold.
  • Place in fridge for 30 minutes to cool and form or until solidified. 

I shared these cookies on my stories and so many of you wanted the recipe.

I love these! They’re so yummy, I had 3 today!

I attended a women’s bridal shower, and my sister’s friend Brooke brought these cookies. Immediately, I had to ask her for the recipe. They were melt-in-your-mouth delicious and equally soft yet crispy.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Cowboy cookies

This recipe makes two dozen


1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening (or substitute for 2 sticks of butter)
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
Mix dry ingredients
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 package of semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix thoroughly, bake at 350 F for approximately 8 minutes.

I discovered this recipe off the King Arthur flour website and fell in love. It reminds me of a melt in your mouth cinnamon and sugar muffin I used to make for brunch about a decade ago in Chicago.

Good memories.

I tried to recreate that very muffin by under cooking it. I came VERY close to recreating them and they may just be better than original inspiration.

What are you waiting for, make these and let me know what you think!

Click here for 3 ingredient dinners, broccoli salad, chickpea dinner (my kids love) and Amy’s pancake we make on weekends.

Buttery Snickerdoodles

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
                3/4 cup granulated sugar
                1 large egg
                1 teaspoon baking powder
                1/2 teaspoon salt
                1 1/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

              2 tablespoons sugar
                1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, to taste

               

                To make the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
                Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth.
                Add the egg, beating until smooth.
                Beat in the salt, and baking powder.

  • Add the flour, mixing until totally incorporated.
  • To make the coating: Shake together the sugar and cinnamon in a medium-sized zip-top plastic bag.
  • Drop small (1″-diameter) balls of dough into the bag; a teaspoon cookie scoop works well here. Roll/toss the cookies in the cinnamon sugar until they’re completely coated.
  • Space the cookies at least 1 1/2″ apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a flat-bottom glass to flatten them to about 3/8″ thick; they’ll be about 1 1/2″ in diameter.
  • Bake the cookies for 8 minutes (for soft cookies) to 10 minutes (for crunchier cookies). 

Do you have 3 rotten bananas at home?

Those rotten bananas can easily be made into yummy gluten free and dairy free banana muffins. I made these last night to go with our dinner and I got requests for seconds and thirds, a rounding success! Here’s the recipe for the blueberry version of this recipe.

Read on . . .

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups almond flour (I have the one I use on my Amazon page)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (I use aluminum-free)

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup avocado oil or coconut oil

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

3 eggs

3 ripe bananas, smash and mix them in.

A dash of cinnamon (optional, but I love the added flavor)

Mini Chocolate Chips (optional but wow this adds tons of flavor)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients, bake for 20-25 min. They’re ready when the toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden brown. Enjoy!

Sweatshirt in medium // Biker Shorts // Bag

I keep getting asked, what’s in my salads? I love love a good salad to the point that I get excited to eat it! Here’s the ingredients give or take a couple extra items I have in the fridge.

Organic Spring mix (I place a paper towel in the plastic container so it doesn’t rot the next day)
1 ripe Avocado
Green (I like manzanilla don’t get low sodium) and black olives (I liked sliced in a can)
Roasted sunflower seeds
Homemade balsamic vinaigrette (see recipe below)

Balsamic Vinaigrette (recipe can be doubled)

Mince 2 cloves of garlic and add the following ingredients in a small jar with lid:

1/3 cup avocado oil (or canola oil)

2 T balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar or 1 tablespoon of agave

1/2 t. salt (I use pink salt)

Shake vigorously and serve. Store in fridge up to a week.

Let me know what you think or any variances you add. Have a great weekend. We’re having friends over this weekend and grilling out on Reid’s new grill. The kids are trying to talk us into a beach morning, but we shall see. What are you up to? Have a great weekend!

My amazon and shop page are open 24/7.

Things change but I wanted to give you an update of what I eat regularly. I tend to go in cycles. Just ask Reid, as he rolls his eyes. Ha! Sometimes I omit the toast and go for a fab4 smoothie. Lunch is basically a soup and salad and dinner is chicken and rice. As a general rule, I try and stay away from refined sugars and bread simply because I don’t feel great when I eat them. I also believe “everything in moderation,” so an occasional sweet treat is totally game! Additionally I try to drink 8 glasses of water.

Getting personal

I hesitated sharing this story here, but here it is! I hope it can serve as an encouragement to a reader who may have suffered similarly.

I had an eating disorder in college. I felt pressure to be “perfect.” Perfect grades, perfect body. While I was only an average student, I felt pressured to control what I ate. I deprived myself and deep down wasn’t happy. While I’m grateful this disorder didn’t last long for me, I learned a lot about myself and what real health looks like. It isn’t the seemingly happy skinny 4.0 GPA sophomore but accepting oneself as you are, as God intended you to be. I did a lot of research at the library (before laptops were everywhere!) and studied how our body works with food and how it can affect how you look and feel. From there, I started a healthy relationship with food and I discovered how much I enjoyed researching food and diet. I never shied away from a healthy food just because it didn’t taste good. If it was good for me, I’d learn to like it. I’m here to report that deprivation doesn’t work. When I feed my body healthy food, am active, giving myself grace in my imperfection and being grateful for the body God has given me, I FEEL MY BEST.

“Deny your weakness, and you will never realize God’s strength in you.”
― Joni Eareckson Tada (the kids and I studied more about Joni’s journey with quadraplegia and I encourage you too!)

A note about fats which is contrary to what you’ve believed or been told. And the opposite of the food pyramid.

Healthy fats (i.e. avocado oil, almond butter, organic peanut butter, avocados)

1. These fats keep you fuller, for a longer period of time. Studies have found that healthy unsaturated fats (like monounsaturated or polyunsaturated omega-3 or omega-6 fats) have a positive effect on satiety and help to regulate your appetite by controlling the release of appetite hormones. More on this discussion HERE.

With that in mind, I try and sneak good fats into my diet. Like breakfast! Many of you AREN’T getting the amount of fat you need in your diet. I know I wasn’t, and it left me craving more SWEETS and SNACKS.

Breakfast

16oz or more of celery juice. Here is the recipe for the celery juice. Our juicer broke, so I’ve been using my Vitamix. I let the celery juice settle for 30min to 1 hr.

coffee – almond milk latte –

Ezekial bread toasted with almond butter or coconut oil or gr8nola with almond milk

OR

Fab4 smoothie


#FAB4Smoothie: Protein (20g minimum) + Fiber (10g minimum) + 1 Tbsp. Fat + Handful Greens + 1/4 Cup Fruit + Superfoods + Liquid

1 TB almond butter// 1 frozen banana // 1 cup frozen pineapple // 2 cups frozen organic spinach // 1 TB chia seeds // unsweetened almond milk // 2 meyer lemons (add at the end) //

Directions: blend till smooth in a vitamix or blender. I add the lemons at the end and drink immediately.

I explain more in this post about how I am changing the way our family eats.

Lunch

Protein salad – whatever veggies I have on hand blended with butter lettuce, sunflower seeds, feta cheese, olives. Coupled with 2 almond flour blueberry muffins, or a (no corn) veggie burger.

Also, for lunch, I usually have bean chips and a smashed avocado. Depending on how busy I am!

Dinner

Sample dinner: Stir Fried Veggies, bok choy soup (always use this chicken broth)

I had coffee ice cream as dessert yesterday and I had the worst stomach ache. The night before that, Reid made me a glass of celery juice after dinner and I slept amazing, no stomach aches. I think it’s important to listen to your body, see what agrees with it and go from there. I eat healthy because I want to feel good. After so many years of trial and error, I’ve figured out what foods make me feel horrible. It’s not worth it to me to not feel great after enjoying 10min of consuming sugar.

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

Hippocrates

Dessert

Here’s a recipe for Vegan Coconut ice cream I’m trying today. It has two cans of full-fat coconut milk in it. We ate it right out of the container last night. AMAZING. Making it again today.

  • 2 14-ounce cans coconut cream* or full-fat coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup organic cane sugar (sub up to half with agave nectar or maple syrup)
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • 1 vanilla bean pod (split and scraped // or 1/4 – 1/2 tsp vanilla powder per 1 pod)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

  • The day or night before, place your ice cream churning bowl in the freezer to properly chill (see notes if you don’t have an ice cream maker).
  • The following day, add coconut milk, organic cane sugar (sub up to half with natural sweetener), sea salt, scraped vanilla bean and vanilla extract to a high-speed blender and blend on high until completely creamy and smooth for 1-2 minutes to fully dissolve the sugar. Add more cane sugar or agave if it needs more sweetness, or more vanilla if it needs more vanilla flavor.
  • Add mixture directly to chilled ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions – about 45 minutes. It should look like soft serve.
  • Once churned, transfer the ice cream to a large freezer-safe container (such as a loaf pan) and use a spoon to smooth the top.
  • Cover securely and freeze for at least 4-6 hours or until firm. Set out for 5-10 minutes before serving to soften – a hot ice cream scoop also eases scooping.
  • Will keep in the freezer for up to 10 days, though best when fresh.

Thank you for reading and coming to my blog!

For more food items that we buy, see what our family buys from Amazon HERE

Newer Posts