Not Your Typical Snack

Smoothie topped with a chia, buckwheat, and hemp cereal

For the smoothie:
-Frozen acai
-frozen mango
-frozen pinapple
-apple juice

For the smoothie toppings:
-agave nectar
-chia cereal
-fresh strawberries
-fresh kiwi
-unsalted, roasted pumpkin seeds

Zucchini Ribbon Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 full size zucchini
• 2 tbsp of finely chopped garlic
• 1 full tomato, diced
• 10 basil leaves
• 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil

Peel the zucchini into thin slices (ribbon-like). Mix all the ingredients together and you're done! 

Potato Nests with Eggs

Ingredients: (makes 4)

• 1 full size Russet potato
• 1/2 tsp of freshly diced garlic
• sea salt
• ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the salt, garlic, and grated potatoes in a bowl.

*Butter the walls of the pan before filling.

 Fill the outer walls in a cupcake pan with the grated potatoes. Bake for 12 minutes. 

Add one egg to each of the nests. Lower the oven heat to about 365 degrees and let the eggs cook for about 10 minutes. Let the dish cool for 2 minutes afterwards.

Sprinkle the ground black pepper over each of the nests and they're ready to be served!

Ricotta Bread Spread

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups of Ricotta (I used whole milk)
• 1/4 cup of milk (any type)
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tsp of ground black pepper

Finish off with an olive oil drizzle and fresh thyme.

*I highly recommend you eat this with fresh figs for some natural sweetness.

**The bread I used is a cranberry raisin walnut bread from a farmers market.

Keep in mind, these are first attempts

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Greek Yogurt Bowl

This is literally the easiest thing to make when you're craving a fairly healthy snack or breakfast.

• Non-fat greek yogurt
• ANY fruit you're craving
• Sunflower and pumpkin seeds
• plain granola
• honey
• Goji berries

Salmon with Mashed Red Potatoes

Tomato Risotto

Ingredients: (serves 4 to 6)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut full size tomatoes in half lay them face-up on a sheet pan. Sprinkle the ingredients listed below on top of the tomatoes. Bake tomatoes for about 45 minutes. 

• 7 tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp of salt and coarse-ground black pepper
• 1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tsp of finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 clove garlic, chopped into small pieces

For the rice:
Boil chicken stock/veg stock/water. Melt butter and olive oil together in another large pot.  Add onions and stir until soft.  Add red pepper flakes to the butter/oil mix.  Add arborio rice to the butter/oil mix and stir for about 1 minute.  Add white wine to the rice mixture (make sure none of the rice sticks) and stir for 1 minute.  Add the boiling stock and chopped baked tomatoes to rice mixture.  Keep stirring often until rice has absorbed the liquid.

• 5 cups of chicken stock/veg stock/water
• 1 Tbsp of butter
• 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 cups of arborio rice
• 1/2 cup of white wine

Last step:

Remove risotto from the heat. Add the mascarpone, Parmigiano-Reggiano, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Mix well until the risotto becomes rich.  If the risotto is too thick, add water and mix until satisfied. 

• 2 Tbsp of mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 grated Parmigiano-Reggiano 
• 1 Tbsp of chopped rosemary
• 1 and 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of course-ground black pepper

Apple Spice Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of butter (melted)
• 2/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/3 cup of milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 Tbsp of vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 1 apple, chopped in fine pieces (should fill 1 cup)

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup of whipping cream
• 3 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/2 cup of butter