Chocolate Banana Chia Pudding is a delicious and easy snack or dessert recipe! Naturally sweetened with banana & bursting with rich chocolate flavour. Only 4 simple ingredients and 5-minutes needed to prepare this chia seed pudding recipe! Plant-based, low-carb, keto & paleo.
DID YOU KNOW? Chia seeds are a great plant-based food to help with weight loss.
Chia seeds rank high on the list of plant-based protein foods, making them great for putting on lean muscle, burning fat, and managing hunger and appetite.
Studies show that increasing your intake of protein can promote weight loss by curbing cravings and therefore reducing your caloric intake. Additionally, other research shows that following a high-protein diet rich in foods like chia seeds could reduce the hunger stimulating hormone, ghrelin.
So, if you’re looking for an easy and delicious way to add chia seeds into your diet, I highly recommend chia seed pudding. It makes for a great snack or dessert!
Chocolate Banana Chia Pudding is a delicious and easy snack or dessert recipe! Naturally sweetened with banana & bursting with rich chocolate flavour. Only 4 simple ingredients and 5-minutes needed to prepare this chia seed pudding recipe! Plant-based, low-carb, keto & paleo.
1.5cupsunsweetened almond or coconut milk, use canned full fat coconut milk for a more rich & creamy pudding
1largebanana, ripe
6tbspchia seeds
2tbspcacao powder
1tspmaple syrup, optional
TOPPINGS: (optional)
Cacao nibs
Sliced banana
Dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Add milk, banana and cacao powder to blender and blend until smooth. Taste for sweetness, add maple syrup if desired and blend again to combine.
Pour into glass container, add chia seeds and whisk until well combined.
Let pudding thicken in fridge for a minimum of 1-hr before consuming. The longer you let the chia seeds soak the more thick and delicious the pudding becomes (I like to soak my chia seeds for at least 8 hours before enjoying).
Transfer to small serving bowl, add toppings and enjoy!
Notes
Use canned full fat coconut milk for a more rich & creamy pudding.
The longer you let the chia seeds soak the more thick and delicious the pudding becomes.
Turn this recipe into a satisfying breakfast by mixing in 1-2 scoops of Whole Body Collagen.
It’ll be love at first bite with this Tostone Taco Bites recipe! This dish is packed with all the good stuff including healthy fats from grass-fed beef and avocado, PLUS loads of fiber thanks to plantains and avocado, once again. So whether it’s Taco Tuesday or just a regular night, you’ve got to try this paleo & AIP friendly dish!
You know that feeling when you try a recipe for the very first time and after just one bite you can’t wait to make it again and again?!
Well, that’s the feeling you’ll get when you try this dish!
These bite-sized tostone tacos are to die for and super fun to eat. I replaced the traditional taco shell with tostones since they are grain free, gut friendly and so delicious!
Just in case you’re wondering what tostones are, they’re slices of unripe plantains that are fried, flattened, then fried again (in heat stable oil, of course!). Learn more about plantains and tostones here.
You can find plantains at most grocery stores. They look like big green bananas and tend to be located next to regular bananas. I’ve been able to find them at stores like Walmart, Fortinos & Longos.
How to assemble Tostone Taco Bites:
Spread guacamole on tostone.
Add beef on top of guacamole.
Grab with your fingers (or use a fork) and bite into your delicious creation!
This meal is packed with all the good stuff including healthy fats from grass-fed beef and avocado PLUS loads of fiber thanks to plantains and avocados, once again. I highly recommend adding this recipe to your list of “must try”, it’ll be love at first bite!
It'll be love at first bite with this Tostone Taco Bites recipe! This dish is packed with all the good stuff including healthy fats from grass-fed beef and avocado, PLUS loads of fiber thanks to plantains and avocado, once again. So whether it's Taco Tuesday or just a regular night, you've got to try this paleo & AIP friendly dish!
2largegreen plantains, peeled and cut into 1 inch slices
1-2avocados
½lime, juice only
Avocado oil
Sea salt & black pepper, to taste
TACO SEASONING:
2tspdried oregano
1tspgarlic powder
1tsponion powder
½tspground cinnamon
½tspsea salt
Instructions
Sauté onion and garlic in 1 tbsp avocado oil until fragrant, then add in zucchini and mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add ground beef and taco seasoning. Break a part meat and cook until liquid evaporates and meat is browned.
While beef is cooking, use another large pan to cook the plantains. Cover bottom of pan in avocado oil, heat oil then add plantain slices and fry on both sides until golden (roughly 2-minutes per side). Season with salt.
Remove plantains from pan and gently smash until flattened (I smash my plantains between two pieces of parchment paper with a mug or can).
Add smashed plantains back to the pan and fry again on both sides until golden brown. Now you have tostones!
Mash avocado in a bowl, add lime juice, sea salt, black pepper and a pinch of garlic powder.
Place everything onto a dish, as shown in photo, and assemble your tostone tacos as you eat them!
Tiger Nut Lemon Cheesecake Bars are rich & creamy with a hint of tartness and tiger nut crunch. The perfect cheesecake recipe if you’re following an AIP, plant-based, nut or dairy free diet.
DID YOU KNOW? Tiger nuts are recommended for healthy skin, weight management, and fertility—all because of vitamin E!
One serving of tiger nuts provides you with 278% of the daily recommended value–that’s 3mg of vitamin E!
Vitamin E is important to our health due to its powerful antioxidant properties that may help reduce free radical damage and slow the aging process of your cells.
Free radicals not only weaken and break down healthy cells, but these molecules may also contribute to heart disease and cancer.
It’s important to have a diet rich in antioxidants to protect yourself from oxidative damage over time, and tiger nuts are a great source of antioxidants.
If you’re looking for tasty ways to add more tiger nuts to your diet, check out some of my tiger nut recipes (including the yummy cheesecake below!).
What you need for Tiger Nut Lemon Cheesecake Bars:
Tiger Nut Lemon Cheesecake Bars are rich & creamy with a hint of tartness and tiger nut crunch. The perfect cheesecake recipe if you're following an AIP, plant-based, nut or dairy free diet.
2tbspcrushed tiger nuts, use a food processor for this
Fresh berries, raspberries, strawberries or blackberries
Instructions
Put tiger nuts in a jar, fill with water and let soak in fridge for 12+ hours. Drain well.
Process all filling ingredients in a high-powered blender until completely smooth. Note: Tiger nuts are not easy to breakdown, so you may need to blend for a while, scraping the sides of the blender along the way.
Transfer cheesecake filling into small glass container (~5"x 5") lined with parchment paper and smooth out.
Freeze for at least 5 hours. Remove cheesecake from container and slice into bars. Thaw out briefly, decorate with toppings and serve. Keep remaining bars refrigerated for up to a week or in the freezer for longer.
Green Pea Soup is made from frozen peas and other wholesome ingredients! It’s a creamy & filling soup that’s dairy free & plant-based.
DID YOU KNOW? Green peas are part of the legume family and contain beneficial nutrients and fiber (which feeds the gut flora), BUT they also contain antinutrients.
Antinutrients are substances found in many foods, including legumes and grains, that may interfere with digestion and mineral absorption.
While these generally aren’t a concern for most healthy people, their health effects are still important to keep in mind. They are more likely to impact those who rely on legumes as a staple food, those with IBS or other gut issues, and individuals at risk of malnutrition.
Two antinutrients found in legumes:
PHYTIC ACID: May interfere with the absorption of minerals such as iron, calcium, zinc and magnesium.
LECTINS: Associated with symptoms such as gas and bloating and may interfere with nutrient absorption.
How to help prevent adverse effects from antinutrients in legumes:
LIMIT CONSUMPTION: It’s best to limit consumption of legumes to 3-4 times a week. Also limit the quantity you consume in one sitting since a larger amount is more likely to cause problems (I recommend 1/3 to 1/2 a cup as a max).
PREPARE PROPERLY: Soaking and/or sprouting may be helpful in reducing the amounts of antinutrients in legumes. At the very least soak your legumes for 18-hours before cooking.
COOK THOROUGHLY: Antinutrient levels are higher in raw legumes, which makes them more likely to cause digestive issues. Cooking legumes helps to reduce antinutrients.
In summary, while legumes do contain beneficial nutrients and fiber, they are not as nutrient-dense as other foods—like meats, fish, shellfish, eggs and vegetables—and, as mentioned above, some of the nutrients they contain are not bioavailable due to antinutrients. For this reason and others mentioned above, legumes are not a staple in my diet and I only consume them once in a blue moon.
If you choose to consume legumes, I recommend that you pay attention to how you feel when you consume them. If they don’t energize you or if they cause digestive problems, it’s best to avoid them for a period of time and try reintroducing them at a later date.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Levels of antinutrients tend to be lower in peas than in other legumes, so they are unlikely to cause problems unless you eat them frequently or in excess.
Now that we got all the important stuff out of the way, it’s time to try my Green Pea Soup. It’s absolutely delicious–and a great side dish for the spring & summer.
Green Pea Soup is made from frozen peas and other wholesome ingredients! It's a creamy & filling soup that's dairy free & plant-based. Enjoy during the spring and summer--or anytime of the year!
Sauté onion and garlic in avocado over medium heat until onion is translucent.
Add dill and parsley and sauté for another minute.
Add all remaining ingredients, cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, uncover and reduce the heat to low. Let the soup simmer for 15-minutes.
Transfer the soup to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend on high until smooth and creamy.
Transfer to bowls and serve. Store leftovers in a mason jar in the fridge for up to one week.
Notes
Turn your soups into a complete and nutrient-rich meal in one easy step ...Add 2 scoops of collagen powder into your bowl of soup and stir to combine. Collagen is loaded with nutrients that support skin, hair, nails, joints and the gut lining. Boost all your soups and smoothies with this powerful ingredient!
Paleo “Spaghetti” alla Vodka is a spin on a classic Italian penne alla vodka dish. Spaghetti squash is the perfect gluten free & low-carb base for this dish– and coconut milk, tomato, bacon & vodka come together to make a delicious dairy free sauce to go with it!
Penne alla vodka is traditionally made with penne pasta, vodka, heavy cream, crushed tomatoes, onions, and bacon or pancetta.
This dish became very popular in Italy and in the US around the 1980s, but the origin of the Penne alla Vodka recipe has been disputed between Italy and the United States: both claim the creation of this recipe.
According to The Ultimate Pasta Cookbook, penne alla vodka was invented in the 70s at Dante, a restaurant in Bologna, Italy.
The Williams Sonoma Essentials of Italian cookbook states that it was invented in the 1980s by a Roman chef for a vodka company that wanted to popularize its product in Italy.
To support the creation of this dish in the United States, we have two tales: Luigi Franzese, the Italian American chef of Orsini Restaurant in New York and James Doty, a graduate of Columbia University.
As you can see, it’s not clear whether or not Penne alla Vodka is an authentic Italian recipe. BUT based on the ingredients, the technique, and the mark it left on Italian cuisine, the answer should be yes!
Since this dish is liked by many (including me), I decided to put a gluten & dairy free spin on it so those with dietary restrictions can enjoy these amazing flavours of Italy (or the US).
This recipe is also great for those following a low-carb, keto or paleo diet.
"Spaghetti" alla Vodka is a spin on a classic Italian penne alla vodka dish. Spaghetti squash is the perfect gluten free & low-carb base for this dish-- and coconut milk, tomato, bacon & vodka come together to make a delicious dairy free sauce to go with it!
Cut spaghetti squash lengthwise and remove seeds with spoon.
Bake at 400F for 30-40 min (first 10-min bake with flesh down, then turn so skin is down for remaining time). Fork should pierce skin easily when squash is cooked.
Use a fork to scrape out the strands of squash.
For the vodka sauce:
Finely slice the shallot or onion and place in large frying pan with olive oil. Sauté for 2-minutes over medium heat.
Slice bacon into small chunks and add it to the pan. Cook over low heat until the bacon becomes slightly crispy.
Raise the heat to medium-high and pour in vodka. Let the alcohol evaporate. This may take a few minutes.
When alcohol is completely evaporated, add tomato passata. Season with salt, stir and cook for 8-10 minutes over medium-high heat without a lid, stirring occasionally.
When the sauce is cooked, add the coconut milk and cook until you get a fairly thick and creamy vodka sauce. Turn off the heat and let it rest.
You can add spaghetti squash strands into the pan with vodka sauce and coat OR place spaghetti squash strands into a bowl and top with vodka sauce.
Notes
Time your spaghetti squash so that it’s done cooking around the same time as your sauce, so your noodles don’t cool.
Cooking time varies depending on the size of the squash. Check regularly to avoid overcooking the squash. You want the noodles to be ‘al dente’.
Chang’s Spicy Chicken is crispy tender pan-fried chicken coated in a delicious & spicy sauce. This gluten & soy free Chang’s Chicken recipe is a healthier take on the classic takeout dish. It uses whole food, high-quality ingredients, PLUS heat stable oil for frying. A true guilt-free pleasure for those living a healthy lifestyle!
This recipe is not only super yummy, but it’s also fun to create! So, gather your family or significant other and plan a date night in the kitchen where you can have some fun creating the most delicious Asian-inspired recipe you’ll ever taste!
Enjoy on its own, with a side of steamed veggies or on top of cauliflower “rice”.
When making Asian-inspired dishes (like this one), I coat my chicken in arrowroot powder and then fry in heat stable avocado oil. This creates a crispy coating on the chicken that absorbs sauce and tastes delicious!
Want more healthy Asian-inspired recipes? You’re going to love these …
Chang's Spicy Chicken is crispy tender pan-fried chicken coated in a delicious & spicy sauce. This gluten & soy free Chang's Chicken recipe is a healthier take on the classic takeout dish. It uses whole food, high-quality ingredients, PLUS heat stable oil for frying. A true guilt-free pleasure for those living a healthy lifestyle!
Cut chicken into 1-inch cubes and place in a large bowl with arrowroot flour, salt & pepper. Toss until chicken is coated. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients (or use a blender to combine ingredients). Set aside.
Cover the bottom of a large frying pan with avocado oil and heat until it begins to sizzle. Add coated chicken cubes to the hot oil. You may need to do this in two batches if your frying pan is not big enough. Cook each batch for about 10 minutes, turning mid-way through, until all sides are golden. Set chicken aside.
Once all chicken is browned, add back into the hot skillet. Whisk sauce once more & pour into the skillet with chicken. Add 3/4 of the green onions (save the rest for garnish) & cook, stirring until sauce thickens & chicken is well-coated.
Top with remaining green onions and enjoy on its own, with steamed veggies or on top of cauliflower "rice"!
Keyword arrowroot flour, asian food, avocado oil, chicken, coconut aminos, grain free, healthy asian recipe, healthy dinner
My mission is to help women heal their gut, lose weight and feel great through simple and delicious smoothies, whole food nutrition & healthy lifestyle habits.
