Mashed Butternut Squash and Sprinkles!

I am getting stressed. We have to move out in a week and I have so much to study it's insane. I cannot wait until my last final is over and we can enjoy our new place!!!

This past week flew by and I have a lot of yummy food pictures to share.

First up, mashed butternut squash. I grabbed a container of pre-cut butternut squash at Whole Foods to make the process 10x easier.

I put all of the cubes in a boiling pot of water for about 35 minutes to make sure they were totally soft.

I then mashed up all of the cubes, added 1 Tbsp of olive oil and about 1/2 cup of coconut/almond milk and mixed it all up. And that's it! Super easy and they were awesome. I had them for dinner with salmon and asparagus and then again the next day on a tuna salad.

I added some garam masala on top of the squash for lunch which gave it a kick! Garam masala is this new spice I got, it's a mixture of coriander, green&black cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, and cumin. I just saw the word cinnamon and knew I'd like it. 

Saturday night was date night as usual! Cort and I headed to Beverly Hills to have dinner at a french bistro called Bouchon. The restaurant was really pretty and I loved that they gave us pistachios to snack on while we waited for our meal.

 However, I was pretty bummed with my dish, it tasted good but it was super plain and I'm all about creativity.

See what I mean? And the whole head on the fish thing was definitely freaking me out. But the fish itself was cooked perfectly so I can't complain! 

Cort ordered the escargot which is his absolute favorite so he was a happy camper. 

I couldn't get over the little puff pastries on top, too cute!

=)

So naturally we couldn't leave Beverly Hills without making a stop at Sprinkles. It was about a half mile away and it felt really nice to take a walk after dinner. 

Sprinkles Ice Cream is so cute inside and their flavors are delicious. We both went with a double scoop of the red velvet. 

Oh yeah and right outside there was a "Cupcake ATM". This just cracks me up. 

Okay well I am off to study Anthropology and Drugs and Ergogenic Aids in Sport and Weight Control, sounds super interesting right? Summer where are you?!?

Grain Free, Sugar Free, Vegan Brownie Bake!

Hello!

I'm going to start off this post with this picture, simply because this cupcake was amazing...

That beauty is the s'mores cupcake from Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills. Cort and I stopped by Saturday afternoon and it did not disappoint. As soon as I read the description for this I was sold... "graham cracker-lined Belgian dark chocolate cake filled with bittersweet chocolate ganache and topped with toasted marshmallow frosting." Yeah I'm not sure how you could say no to that. 

So there is less than 2 weeks of classes left and I am totally overwhelmed with the amount of information I am expected to memorize for finals. And on top of that Cort and I are moving out in 12 days so we are trying to get everything together. We did end up finally ordering a really awesome couch and dining room table for our new place so I am SO excited to move in and set everything up!!

Anyways, when I don't feel like memorizing facts that I will most likely forget in a month, I procrastinate with baking. I decided to try and make a healthy brownie recipe that includes absolutely NO artificial sweeteners or added sugar... no maple syrup, agave, stevia, protein powder etc.

For the wet ingredients I ended up using a nice ripe banana for some sweetness, half of an avocado to make it nice and creamy, unsweetened applesauce to replace the egg, and some almond milk. All natural ingredients all the way baby!

For the dry ingredients I used coconut flour, almond flour, flax meal, cinnamon, unsweetened cocoa powder, and baking powder.

 Mix it all together and you have yourself a grain free, sugar free, vegan brownie bake! (At this point I was tempted to just eat all of the batter because there is no egg and it tasted like chocolate pudding).

Grain Free, Sugar Free, Vegan Brownie Bake Recipe 

Serves 4

Ingredients: 

1/2 of an avocado

1 ripe banana

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup almond milk 

3 Tbsp coconut flour

2 Tbsp almond flour

1 Tbsp ground flax meal 

2 Tbsp cinnamon 

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder 

Directions:

1. Mash avocado and banana together with a fork until relatively smooth

2. Mix in applesauce and almond milk

3. Mix in the rest of the ingredients 

4. Put in cupcake tins, a cake tin, or a bread tin and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 min 

It came out of the oven looking pretty fabulous, but I will admit the texture is a bit gooey so you may want to add more flour. 

I had a huge piece with some frozen greek yogurt, and chocolate PB2 mixed with almond milk to get a thick peanut-buttery sauce to put on top! Perfect!

Dinner was also quite delicious. I made myself a mixture of cauliflower rice, lentils, steamed broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, and kale.

And for all of the meat lovers out there, Cort's dinner will probably be more appealing...

He made a stir-fry with sausage, orange peppers, sweet potato, avocado, tomatoes, and cauliflower rice. Quite the Chef, I was impressed! 

Okay well that is all for now, I hope everyone has an awesome week! 

Paprika Cauliflower Rice

Ever since I saw this post on Delighted Momma's blog, I have been obsessed with "cauliflower rice". It is hands down the easiest recipe I've ever posted, so even if the only thing you know how to make is a bowl of cereal, you can handle this with no problem at all!

You can either buy a head of cauliflower, or if you want to make it even easier just buy the pre-cut cauliflower florets like I did.

Put a few pieces of the cauliflower into your food processor or blender and blend until it is the consistency of rice. I did a few pieces at a time because it seemed to get clogged if I added too much at once.

                         

  Scrape it out into a microwaveable safe bowl.

Microwave for 5 and a half minutes. No water added. You'll see how much moisture the cauliflower creates on it's own.

That's it!! You will have perfectly cooked cauliflower rice. I added in some smoked paprika, along with some roasted zucchini, tomatoes, and carrots.

I roasted the vegetables in the oven at 375 for 30 minutes.

It's like a healthy version of veggie fried rice. Same awesome flavor without the frying part, and it's grain free!

Last night I enjoyed mine with baked cod...

...but I've also made it with shrimp and it was the bomb!

If you don't have paprika, my mom really enjoys hers with just a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Work With It Oatmeal

I went to Whole Foods in a rush on Sunday, and when I got home it showed. I meant to grab Chia seeds and Almond milk and instead ended up with Chia Powder and Almond Coconut milk. 

I've never used either of these, but they were close enough so I figured I might as well work with it, and I ended up with a delicious bowl of oats for breakfast this morning!

The chia powder cooked into the oatmeal just as well as the chia seeds. In fact, the health benefits are even better... I found on their website that the powder is actually a "sprouted, finely milled powder" and the "chia seed's nutritional benefits are even more enhanced by the process of sprouting. This germination of the seeds increases the nutritional profile and enzyme content, and allows the food to become more easily digested and assimilated within the body."

I'm all for that! So I added in two big spoonfuls, as well as my favorite ingredient, lots of cinnamon!

I added the water and Almond Coconut milk, and while this cooked down, I cut up some bananas,

strawberries, and blueberries.

After about 10 minutes, the oats had a great thick and creamy texture from the chia powder. I added in the fruit as well as a spoonful of crunchy almond butter.

(Then I mixed it all up into one big delicious mess)

Chia Powder Oatmeal 

Serves 2

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 cup of oats 

- 2 tbsp of chia powder (or chia seeds)

- As much cinnamon as your heart desires 

- 2 cups of water

- 1/2 cup of almond or coconut or almond coconut milk 

- Sliced fruit of your choice

- 1 spoonful of nut butter 

Directions

Mix together the oats, chia powder, and cinnamon. Add in the water and milk and let the oats come to a boil. Turn the stove down to low and allow them to cook for 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add in the fruit and nut butter and enjoy!

 

Sunshine Smoothie

This smoothie is one of my favorites. It is a great way to brighten your day.

Sunshine Smoothie 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/2 cup frozen mango

1/2 cup frozen banana

1/2 cup frozen peaches

1container of non-fat FAGE Plain Greek Yogurt 

1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder

Blend and enjoy!

I use Vega Sport protein powder, but any vanilla protein powder will do. 

Thick, creamy, and delicious as every smoothie should be! 

=)