Avocado Lime Dressing

One of the simplest ways to healthy-up your salads is by skipping store-bought dressings. Even the "healthier" ones seem to have extra ingredients to create texture, color, or flavor that we'd never dream of using in our own kitchens. My take on a super-simple "green-goddess" dressing is tangy and smooth.

Ingredients:

1 avocado, peeled, seed removed
1 clove garlic, peeled
Juice of one lime (or lemon)
Dash of dried minced onion
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional, depending on taste preference)
Salt to taste
Water

Add first six ingredients to blender and puree, adding water if necessary to reach desired consistency. Use dressing to top salads, noodle dishes, on tacos, or as a dip for veggies and (healthy!) chips.

Elly Haddad is a healthy life-style coordinator, combining her certifications as an Integrative Nutrition Coach and yoga instructor. She's the owner of Elemental Fit and founder of The NashWell Group, both based in Nashville, TN. She helps individuals and groups understand the important influence that diet & lifestyle have on health, happiness, and overall wellbeing. Elly is also a freelance writer and public speaker, conducting workshops and seminars throughout the midwest and southeastern US. She can be contacted directly via email here. 

Dark Chocolate Vegan Truffles

Normally, I am not a huge fan of sweets. Primarily, the turn-off for me is the warm, buzzy feeling that I get when I eat a sweet that is quickly followed by a case of the blahs - the queasy, sleepy, give-me-another-one-quick-before-I-completely-crash type of feeling. Since I've become more in-tune with how foods affect how I feel, I tend to avoid sweets.

A few weeks ago, in anticipation of a weekly girls' night get together, I was browsing through some cookbooks trying to find a healthy treat. While the recipe that I settled on was OK, I felt that it could be TONS better. Using dates as the primary sweetener and base, that recipe tasted, well, like dates, and I am not a huge fan of dates. Their appearance alone turns me off, but if disguised, I am willing to overlook that fact and eat them. The recipe that I tried made it difficult to pretend that they weren't there, so I set out to make a better version, and this is what I came up with.

These truffles are rich tasting, yet don't leave a heavy feeling in your stomach. They are packed full of antioxidant-rich cacao (raw chocolate), healthy fats and flavor!

Ingredients:
1 cup raw almonds
3/4 cup dates, pitted
1/4 cup flaxseeds
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 Tablespoon grade B maple syrup (use REAL syrup, not the pretend stuff)
2 teaspoons vanilla (use REAL vanilla extract, NOT vanilla "flavoring")
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup coconut water (or nut milk)

6 Tablespoons cacao powder
1/2 cup quick oats (or rolled oats that have been slightly pulverized in your blender)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (UNSWEETENED)
2 Tablespoons nut butter

Directions:
In blender* or food processor combine first seven ingredients and pulverize, beginning on very low speed and gradually increasing to medium speed, using a tamper to push ingredients into blade. Add the coconut water (or nut milk) to blender as you are doing this (if the mixture is too dry, add slightly more liquid). Blend until nuts are pulverized and have been incorporated with the dates.

Scrape contents of blender into large bowl and add the cacao, oats, coconut and nut butter. Using your hands, kneed the mixture as if you were making meatloaf, mixing all ingredients together until well combined and uniform in color. The mixture will be sticky and clumpy (it will firm up once it is chilled), and should resemble sticky biscuit dough. At this point, you are ready to roll the truffles into 1-inch balls. If this is impossible due to the consistency of the mixture, add a little more oats and shredded coconut. After shaping the truffles, place them into a flat container lined with waxed paper and place in freezer for several hours. Makes approximately 3 dozen truffles.

Truffles can be served frozen, chilled or at room temperature (they will retain their shape at room temperature, and will be the consistency of fudge).


*I HIGHLY recommend using a powerful blender or food processor for this. My tool of choice is a VitaMix (which you can purchase through my daughter Sarah here)!

Elly Haddad is a certified holistic health coach (through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition), mother, grandmother, and avid yogi. She works with clients and groups to help them understand the impact that diet and lifestyle has on their health, happiness and overall wellbeing. You can get more information about her health coaching services by visiting her website, ElementalFit.com.

Can't BEET This Smoothie

Forget what you think about beets if your only association with them is as warm, mushy, pickled red balls of weirdness! Instead, think tart, tangy and refreshing! This beet smoothie is a great-for-what-ails-you elixir when you've over-indulged on the Christmas goodies or the holiday beverages. Beets are also  helpful in correcting digestive issues resulting from the use of oral antibiotics. I like to consider this smoothie to be a great 'insurance-policy' when I know that I will be out celebrating. Drinking one of these babies is a fantastic way to fortify myself with some powerful antioxidants, protective micronutrients, and satiating fiber BEFORE I hit the parties (why on earth it's the norm to starve oneself prior to being surrounded with tempting goodies is beyond me . . . of COURSE you're going to over-indulge then!).

Ingredients:
1 medium apple, washed, cored and cubed
1 small/medium raw red beet, peeled and cubed
1/2-inch piece of raw ginger, peeled
1 lime, peel removed, halved
6-8 ice cubes
1/2 cup frozen blueberries OR 6-8 large frozen strawberries
1/2 − 1 cup water (or more, depending on desired consistency)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in blender and puree until smooth, adding 1/2 cup water, then more if necessary. Optional additions include 1 Tablespoon flaxseeds and/or 1 scoop whey or plant-based protein powder (just be sure to add the protein powder AFTER completely blending the smoothie, and then blend it for only a few seconds - otherwise, your smoothie will be fairly frothy).

Makes one large, or two small servings.

Grilled Veggie Salad and Baba Ganoush

Whenever I grill vegetables, I always try to make extra to use over the following few days. Cook once, eat twice (or three, or even four times).

Since I don't eat much pasta, but still LOVE a good marinara sauce, I like to grill peppers and strips of eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash to top with sauce for a pasta-less "spaghetti" dinner. Even though my CSA has been struggling with the drought here in the south, I've managed to get a good supply of these grilling-vegetables this summer. This week I used my grilled left-overs to make this beauty of a salad, which took, literally five minutes to assemble and dress:

(Those are cannellini beans [aka: white kidney beans] that I simmered with some rosemary and crushed red peppers the night before, and the salad is topped with a little bit of herbed goat cheese. Everything was dressed with a little tiny drizzle of olive oil, some champaign vinegar and a bit of oregano, salt & pepper.)

Since I still had some leftover grilled vegetables after I made the salad, I turned the rest into a super-easy version of baba ganoush:

1 1/2 - 2 cups grilled eggplant (I used mostly eggplant, but threw in a piece of zucchini and yellow squash, too)

2 Tablespoons tahini

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lemon (peeled [by just cutting off the peel] and seeded)

1 teaspoon salt (more or less to taste)

Add all ingredients to blender and puree until desired consistency. Serve with pita bread, crackers, or - my favorite - fresh veggies. This also makes a great sandwich spread or dressing for wraps.

Cherry-Lime Treat

I've been craving tart cold foods now that Mother Nature has decided we need a good long hot dose of early summer.  One of my favorite recent creations came when I was digging around in the kitchen looking for ways to satisfy my tart-tooth.

For this super-delish recipe you only need a few ingredients and just a little bit of time.  It's a win/win!

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen cherries (or raspberries or strawberries, or whatever fruit you've got in the freezer)
1/2 large banana (I like to keep banana slices in the freezer, but non-frozen ones will work, too.  Your treat just won't be as frozen if bananas are at room temp)
Juice of 1 - 2 limes (depending of the size/juiciness of the limes)
1-2 Tablespoons of water

Place frozen fruit, banana and lime juice in blender or immersion cup.  Add just a little bit of water at a time as you blend to create very thick milkshake consistency.  Pour into favorite cup and enjoy with a spoon, or spoon into popsicle molds and freeze!

No Cream Ice Cream

Imagine how your kids would cheer if they came to the breakfast table and saw that you were serving them ice cream for breakfast... or how indulged you would feel if you treated yourself to a decadent dessert of ice cream and a piece of dark chocolate...

You can indulge without any of the "guilt" if you get creative and make the healthiest versions of your favorite foods.

I used to love ice cream, but I didn't love the bloated feeling in my stomach and increased congestion in my throat that usually accompanied this indulgence.  My super-simple No Cream Ice Cream recipe give you the cold creaminess of ice cream without the side effects of dairy...

Ingredients:
1 1/2 banana, sliced and frozen
1 cup frozen fruit (I used frozen raspberries and mangoes for this version)
juice of 1/2 lemon
<1/2 cup water

Directions:
Place first three ingredients in blender, food processor or immersion blender cup.  Add enough water to allow for blending without being too watery.  Blend just until smooth, aiming for a soft-serve ice cream consistency.  Use as a topping for waffles or pancakes, or as a dessert.  Pour into popsicle molds for creamy popsicles.  No one HAS to know it's "good for you"!  To get the swirly top, spoon mixture into a plastic baggie, snip off bottom corner and squeeze into dish.  Makes approximately 4 small servings.

Stay tuned for some of my other favorite flavor combos!

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Smoothie

I don’t mean to brag, but I think I may have just come up with one of my best smoothie recipes yet – a chocolate covered cherry smoothie!  

Think Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, minus the usual stomach bloat that comes from eating ice cream.  This smoothie is dairy-free, high in potassium and packed full of antioxidants and phytochemicals.  Other than the naturally occurring sugars in the fruit, the almond milk brings along 1 ½ teaspoons of sugar from organic cane syrup – and that’s it!  The “chocolate” comes from cacao powder – cocoa before it has been roasted.  This raw cacao contains protein, iron, phosphorus and lots of polyphenols.  I get my cacao from Whole Foods, though you can order it from Amazon.com if you do not have a healthy food store nearby.  Many grocery stores now carry frozen cherries.  If yours does not, substitute frozen raspberries instead.  Adding the banana is key in order for your smoothie to be smooth and creamy.  Give this a try!

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana, frozen

¾ cups frozen cherries

1 Tablespoon cacao powder

1 cup almond or hemp milk (avoid brands that contain the additive carrageenan)

Directions:

Place all ingredients into an immersion blender cup (or regular blender) and blend until smooth & creamy.  For extra fiber and some valuable Omega-3's, add a spoonful of flaxseed meal.  

Makes one large serving.  For an extra-special treat for the kiddies (or yourself!), try pouring the smoothie mixture into popsicle molds to make delish popsicles!
FOR A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE, CLICK HERE!

Sweet Potato Hash

      Some people feel that eating "healthy" equals not enjoying life.  I beg to differ.  Eating "healthy" has opened up a huge world of wonderful foods, awesome energy, and great mental/emotional/physical balance that I never experienced prior to really understanding the effects of food on my own health, happiness and overall well-being.  Treating myself and my family to a special weekend breakfast used to involve pancakes, waffles, biscuits or pastries, with fried potatoes and some form of eggs (usually with some cheese) accompanied with a salty processed meat like sausage, bacon or ham (think about the colors of these foods:  tan, brown, golden...).  We'd eat these breakfasts and then go back to bed to recover.

     I am not a big fan of these sodium-filled, starchy, insulin-raising breakfasts that leave you feeling bloated and lethargic for several hours, anymore.  Today my ideal special breakfast is tasty and colorful with a variety of textures, and leaves me feeling satisfied and energetic for hours.  By eating a variety of foods with different textures and colors, prepared in various ways, we ensure getting the biggest nutritional bang for our bucks.  Getting stuck in a “food rut” can cause us to miss out on lots of valuable nutrients that we simply can’t get from a supplement (since scientists and researchers believe that, as yet, they have only been able to identify - and attempt to replicate - about 50% of the elements in our foods). 

     I came up with this breakfast entrée yesterday morning after perusing the fridge and trying to figure out how to combine some random vegetables that I found:

Ingredients:

Some oil to coat bottom of pan (canola or olive oil)

½ medium sized onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 medium sized sweet potato, cubed

1 small zucchini, cubed

1 small bunch of kale, cleaned and chopped in fairly small pieces to resemble whole parsley leaves (this is a great way to trick the kiddies!)

salt & pepper

Directions:

Heat oil in large skillet on medium to high heat(canola works better than olive oil for this because it has a higher heat-point – meaning that the olive oil may get smoky or burn when trying to get it hot enough to make your hash).

Sautee onions for about 5 minutes then add red pepper.  Sautee for another 5 minutes, or until onions become transparent and begin to slightly brown.

Add sweet potato to skillet and allow to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add zucchini and stir well to heat, about 1-2 minutes (I don’t like to cook the zucchini too long because it will become mushy).

Add kale, stir to combine for approximately 1 minute.  Remove skillet from heat but keep turning the vegetables for another minute or two.  The hot vegetables will wilt the kale, barely cooking it, thus keeping it from becoming bitter.

Makes approximately 4 smaller servings, or two larger ones (may get more or less, depending on size of vegetables you use).

We topped our hash with eggs (local free-range, organically fed), over-medium.  Poached or soft-boiled eggs would be good, too.

Speedy Greek-Style Ragout

I love a good stew.  Any time I can prepare an entire meal in one pan (and it turns out tasting good) is time well spent (or saved, actually).  Last week I needed to make a quick dinner before heading out to an open house for Local Matters (a great organization from what I can tell, so far) and had some vegetables I needed to use before heading to the other side of the country, so I came up with this super easy, quick dinner.  Ragout refers to a stew that is slow cooked for a long time, resulting in a rich, thick stew type of dish that can be served over pasta, however, my quick version turned out thick and hearty without the time commitment.  This dish would be good on its own, served over traditional pasta, or over pretend pasta made out of zucchini:

Ingredients:
1 medium sized zucchini
1/2 onion, cut in chunks

5 cloves of garlic, halved

1/2 red pepper cut in chunks

1 cup mushrooms, thickly sliced

1/3 cup dry red wine

1/2 medium sized eggplant (cut in 1 inch cubes)
2 medium tomatoes cut in wedges
1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
1 tsp oregano
salt & pepper to taste
feta cheese

Directions:
*Julienne or shred the zucchini (I used my handy-dandy spiralizer to turn the zucchini into "pasta") then lay on a paper towel lined plate to dry a bit while you prepare the "ragout".
*Saute onion, garlic and red pepper in a little bit of olive oil on medium heat for about 10 minutes (until onion starts to become transparent).
*Add mushrooms.  Sprinkle some salt on everything in pan to help draw out the moisture in the mushrooms.  Stir.  Add the red wine.  Cover pan with lid and allow to simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes.
*Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT for the feta cheese.  Return to simmer, replace lid and cook for about 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
*When stew has thickened, remove from heat and serve on bed of pasta or zucchini.  Garnish with feta cheese.  Leftovers would make a great Greek-style bruschetta.
Makes approximately two large servings.

Spaghetti?

Nope. Look again. It's zucchini!

The most popularly consumed vegetables in the US are potatoes (in the form of french fries and potato chips) and iceberg lettuce. We've got to get more variety in those diets!
If you are looking for ways to incorporate more veggies into the diets of anyone "unwilling", try this little trick I've learned from the Raw Foodists:
Get a spiralizer (it's most commonly used as an Asian food garnishment-maker - you can find them at gourmet kitchen stores, or on-line. Prices range from $25-$125 ... mine cost under $30), and turn raw zucchini into "spaghetti noodles". You will want to peel the zucchini first, in order to take away any traces of green-ness (if you are trying to trick the kids). The spiralizer actually shreds the zucchini into long thin noodle shapes!

This is a great way to get the enjoyment of "pasta" without the starchiness or insulin swings of noodles.
I have had fun playing with my spiralizer and experimenting with various raw veggies.

You could serve your "pasta" with 50/50 noodles and zucchini, or go all the way, and serve all zucchini, then top with your favorite sauce. The warmth of the sauce will warm up your "pasta". Do not attempt to cook the spiralized zucchini or you will end up with a slimy mess that will fool no one!

This would also make a great base for a "pasta" salad.
The sauce I made for the dish pictured at the top of this entry is simply some onions, garlic and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, to which I added some red wine, halved grape tomatoes and a few handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, seasoned with some sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Give it a try!

White Bean Pâté

Fancy sounding name for something very, very simple. This little spread makes a great vegetable dip, cracker spread or sandwich condiment.

Ingredients:

1 can cannellini beans (rinsed thoroughly and drained)

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme

salt & pepper to taste

water

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except for the water.

Blend with an emersion blender or in a standard blender.

Add water to create desired consistency.

Sunday Brunch: Millet, Spinach & Eggs

     This morning I was trying to come up with something other than my standard steel-cut oats for breakfast, but still wanting something more substantial than just fruit, and more exciting than a hard boiled egg.  While packaging up some giveaways for a new client, I'd come across the millet and realized that this could be just what I was looking for, for breakfast this morning.

     Millet is a gluten-free grain.  In the US, we most often see it as a part of bird feed, but this grain was once a staple in Europe and remains so in Africa, China and India.  Millet is an easy to digest grain, containing iron, and a good source of zinc, calcium, manganese and those nerve-soothing B-vitamins.

     A simple, basic way to prepare millet is to toast some in a pan, on the stove-top for about 10-15 minutes (I used 1/2 cup), then add to a pan of boiling water (I used 1 1/2 cups) with a pinch of salt, and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes (until all water is absorbed).  Then remove from heat.  To make a sweeter breakfast cereal, you could substitute some of the water for almond milk (or regular milk), and add some raisins or other dried fruit, then top cooked grain with toasted walnuts and some brown rice syrup.  You can also use the millet, at this point, for anything you would normally use cooked rice or couscous for. 

     For my meal this morning, while cooking the millet, (in a separate skillet), I sauteed some sliced mushrooms (about 1 cup) in a little olive oil, then added two large handfuls of fresh spinach, seasoned with a little grey sea salt and ground black pepper, and allowed it to cook for just a few minutes (until the spinach was slightly wilted).  At the same time, I boiled two eggs for just about 5 minutes (I considered making poached eggs, but did not want to clean the pan from that).

     To assemble the final product, I made a nest of the spinach & mushroom mixture in the middle of my plate, filled it with a heaping scoop of millet and topped it off with the boiled egg.  It was a savory, warming, satisfying dish that will become a regular part of our weekend brunches, or even a quick weeknight dinner.

(I think that the cooked millet would also make a great wheat substitute in tabouli, too)

Wheatless Tabouli Salad

Recently, I made a tabouli-style salad with the main ingredients from my own backyard (oh, how I am going to miss summer!), omitting the wheat. 

2 Large Bunches of Parsley, washed and finely chopped

2 Large Red Tomatoes, diced

1 Large Yellow Tomato, diced

¼ cup Purple Onion, finely chopped

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 TBSP Dried Mint (fresh mint is great, if you have it on hand)

2 TBSP Olive Oil (right now, we are enjoying ZOE, Diva Select Koroneiki Greek EVOO)

Sea Salt & Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste

Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl.  Top with lemon juice, mint, olive oil, salt & pepper.  Stir well. Refrigerate for several hours to maximize flavors.

Summer Vegetarian Tacos

     Summer is a great time to experiment with vegetarian meals since there is an abundance of fresh vegetables offering a variety of colors, tastes and textures to experiment with.  This summer I have been focusing more efforts in creating some interesting vegetarian meals since my oldest daughter and her fiance have been living with us, in preparation for their up-coming wedding.  While she is a fairly strict vegetarian, her fiance, is not.  Everyone else in the house seems to fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.  Needless to say, meal planning can be a little tricky.

     I came up with these super-easy vegetarian tacos that also happen to be GF (gluten-free) and CF (casein-free), if you so choose, while offering great taste and meaty texture.  Also, by omitting the tortillas and taco shells, this dish contains no "bad" fats, and is a great, nutrient-dense, calorie-light meal.  They are similar in assembly to lettuce wraps:

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch leaf lettuce, washed and separated
• 1 can black beans, rinsed & drained (you could also use garbanzo beans, pinto beans or kidney beans)
• 1 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tomatoes, diced (I used one red and one yellow tomato)
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 small zucchini, shredded
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lemon (or lime), or more or less to taste
• a couple of shakes of garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp sea salt
• crushed red pepper (to taste)
• pepper

Directions:

• In large bowl, combine black beans and all of the vegetables.
• Toss with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, cumin, salt & peppers.
• Chill completely
• Serve as if you were serving lettuce wraps:  A large plate of cleaned lettuce leaves and the bowl of filling.  Kids especially enjoy being able to "make their own" food, and this is an easy way for them to do that right at the table.  Garnish could include pepitas for crunchy texture, some shredded cheese and plain yogurt, and some salsa or hot sauce.  This could also be used in tortillas or taco shells, as a topping for super-simple nachos, or simply as a black bean salad.  

Easy Guacamole

Guacamole is not the "bad-for-you" scary food many people think it is.  Avocados are actually very high in MONOUNSATURATED fat (the kind that has been shown to help lower cholesterol).  In spite of it's creamy texture, avocados contain no cholesterol.  Watch out for "Guacamole DIP", however ("DIP" usually indicates that sour cream has been added to the guacamole...always read ingredients when shopping for this at the grocery store, or inquire about ingredients when ordering at a restaurant...).  To stay on the safe side, simply make your own at home.

This recipe contains healthy fats and the immunity boosting benefits of garlic, lime juice and chili peppers.

Ingredients:

2 avocados

2 Tbsps finely chopped red onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

juice of 1/2 lime (more or less depending on preference)

1 medium tomato, diced

1 tsp dried crushed chili peppers

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Halve avocados, remove pit and scoop insides out of peel, place in large mixing bowl.

Add remaining ingredients to mixing bowl and blend using hand blender just until combined.  You still want to have a semi-chunky texture.  If you don't have a hand blender, simply mash ingredients with a fork until desired consistency.