Six Recipes to Make from this Spiralized Veggie Salad

Spiralize It!

Spiralized Veggies are all the craze these days! Visually, the color, beauty and creativity was the first thing to catch my eye, but the health benefits of finding an alternative to noodles was enticing as well.

I don’t suffer from celiac disease, I’m not diabetic, and I do not have a gluten intolerance. But I have noticed that when I seriously limit pastas and breads from my diet, I feel so much better! I have more energy and less bloating. The inflammation in my joints goes away to the point that I don’t feel pain in my previously sore and arthritic areas. My ‘gut’ issues disappear and I do not experience indigestion any more.

Maybe that means I do have a bit of a “gluten sensitivity” after all. At any rate, I guess that at my age, (50+) my body just doesn’t process some foods like it used to. I can eat a little bit, occasionally, and not have any problems. But if they become a regular staple in my diet, my body is going to let me know it’s not happy with me.

I’m also looking to lose a few pounds, and 2 cups of spiralized veggies has far fewer calories than 2 cups of pasta! It’s also easier on the digestive system and will aid me in my quest for weight loss instead of sabotage me. You see, I also have a serious addiction to breads and pastas. I will almost always eat more than I should at any one sitting, and I will want more and more of it the more often I eat it. In short, if I don’t control it, it will begin to control me.

Maybe this sounds a little bit familiar to you, and you can relate. Or maybe you are one of those fortunate people who just love veggies more than pasta. Either way, hopefully you will find something new in this post to please your palate.

Sweet & Salty Appetizers to Please Everyone

Nothing is better than an explosion of sweet and salty all together in your mouth at once.

Nothing. Is. Better.

I haven’t met many people who will turn down that experience!

I have two incredible appetizers that will be a hit at any party or gathering you host or attend: Salty Lime Cashews and Maple-Bacon Wrapped Dates.

Unless…

Someone is allergic to nuts…or doesn’t eat pork.

But chances are fairly good that at least one of these recipes should work.  😉

For any recipe, it’s always best to start with the cleanest ingredients you possibly can. By that I mean always buy organic if you can afford it, and always buy the real, whole ingredient, not some processed product that comes in a can or a box with a boatload of ingredients that you can’t pronounce and wouldn’t find in your own kitchen cupboards to cook with.

Just Eat Real Food!

Chocolate Muffin in a Mug

Breakfast is served! Chocolate Muffin in a Mug and a smoothie.

Need a quick and tasty morning meal? You can pre-make the mix ahead of time to make this even quicker! Pair it with a fruit smoothie (pre-packaged ahead of time, as well) and you are good to go!

Some things I include in my smoothies. The green cubes are my potassium power soup frozen in an ice cube tray. But you could just toss in a handful of spinach instead.

To make the smoothie packs, just put your cut up fruit of choice along with a few cubes of your favorite yogurt (that you have frozen in ice cube trays ahead of time) in single serve sizes in baggies and toss them in the freezer. When you want a smoothie, simply dump the contents of one baggie in a high-speed blender along with juice squeezed from 2-3 oranges (or other juice of your liking) and a handful of spinach.

Individual servings of smoothie ingredients. Just add 1/2 cup of juice and a handful of spinach!

To pre-make the muffin mixture ahead of time you can prepare several little baggies of all the dry ingredients ahead of time. When you want a muffin, just add the egg, coconut oil, applesauce and banana. Easy peasy!

This is how I store my pre-packaged muffin-in-a-mug mix.

Muffin in a Mug (adapted from Trim Healthy Mama)

Yields 1 muffin

1 egg
1 flat Tbsp coconut oil; can be solid or liquid
1-1/2 Tbsp golden flax meal
1-1/2 Tbsp almond flour
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder heaping
1/2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp unsweetened organic applesauce (optional)
2 inches of a ripe banana (the banana really helps to add sweetness to the muffin)

Directions

Crack 1 egg into a coffee cup and whisk it well with a fork.
Add coconut oil and stir together briskly.
Add dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.
Add applesauce and banana, mash it against side of cup and stir it vigorously.
Microwave for one minute.
Muffin will pop right out of your mug onto a plate when tipped upside down.

Slice it open and top with a small pat of grass-fed, real butter

I don’t put any other sweetener in this besides the fruit. However, my taste buds have changed a bit since I cut refined sugar from my diet. I have had people add a little stevia to start with, and eventually they weaned themselves off of it as their taste buds changed. You could also try adding a tiny bit of honey or maple syrup in place of the applesauce. If you add both, your muffin will be too ‘wet.’

If you are diabetic and cannot have fruit, add a little stevia in place of the banana or syrup.

Kim’s Potassium Power Soup

It is important to your health to make sure you are getting enough potassium in your body on a daily basis. In my research on this nutrient, I have read that you need at least 4,000 milligrams each and every day. So, how do you know if you are getting enough? When should you start looking into taking a potassium supplement?

Personally, I will never take any kind of supplement or vitamin unless I know for a fact that I continue to be deficient in it after at least 4 months of trying to correct the problem naturally.

Using Real Foods.

Whole Foods.

Clean Foods.

It is always best to get your nutritional needs met through quality, whole food choices, and it can be as dangerous to take supplements you don’t need as it is to be deficient in an area.

There are ways to find out if you are getting enough of certain needed vitamins and minerals, as well as if you are consuming too much of a bad ingredient.

3 Ingredient Homemade Almond Milk

I started drinking almond milk in place of cow’s milk when I realized I have a bit of a sensitivity to too much dairy. So when I started cutting back on dairy products, milk was one of the first things to go. I liked the taste of the almond milk, so it was an easy switch for me. I had a few different brands that liked best, and was satisfied with the change.

Until…

I heard about an ingredient called carrageenan that was in most non-dairy milks. I did some research on carrageenan, and decided I wanted to avoid it. (you can also watch a really good video about synthetic ingredients in organic foods here) I checked the ingredient panel on my almond milk box and sure enough, carrageenan was on the list. After shopping around, I found only 2 brands that didn’t include it, and they weren’t in the stores that were most convenient for me to shop at. Then I came across a video of someone making their own almond milk and it looked so easy I decided to try it.

I don’t remember what video it was, and I have since seen many other posts about making it yourself. I adapted my basic recipe from Danielle Walker’s recipe in her book Against All Grain. I was hooked from the first batch I made when I realized how easy it was and how great it tastes. It’s not necessarily about whether it’s costing me less to do it myself, it’s more about the ingredient panel.

Here is the ingredient list for a store-bought almond milk without carrageenan:

This ingredient panel has fourteen ingredients, not including water. Fourteen! Some I try to avoid completely, and some I can’t pronounce and don’t even know what they are. This breaks my “5 ingredients” rule completely! Besides filtered water, my almond milk has three ingredients, and I know exactly what each of them are!

This morning as I was making my Almond Milk, I took a few pictures and decided to write a post for anyone who is interested. So grab your 3 ingredients, and let’s get started!