Easy paprika carrots

I came home the other night and the only fresh vegetable I had on hand was a bag of carrots. I could have eaten them raw, but that was not that enticing, especially at dinner time, so I decided to make something up on the spot. 

I have a lot of nice sounding spices in my cabinet, but to be quite honest, sometimes I don't know what to do with them and it comes down to trial and error when making meals. My goal in creating this recipe was to keep it simple. 

You can roast most veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper and it will taste delicious. I took this recipe to another level and added garlic (pre-grated) and hot smoked paprika to the mix. After 30 minutes, they came out beautifully cooked and absolutely flavourful. 

Paleo Choco Love Cookies

These are my favourite Paleo cookies and I have made them time and time again. The weather in Toronto has been pretty poopy lately and the lack of sun really has affected my mood. The other morning before going to work, I decided to whip up a batch. These babies take around 10 mins to prep and 12 mins to bake. They are a great treat when you are looking for an gluten free, processed sugar free alternative. They are firm on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside.  I promise when you eat them, they will make you feel as happy as I felt after making them. :) 

Bliss Balls: Playa Coconut

Lately 'Bliss Balls' have been on my radar for a fun and easy treat to make. For those of you who have never heard of them, or really don't know what they are, they are raw, naturally sweet, dessert balls. Bliss Balls can be eaten as a great afternoon snack or a light dessert when you feel like something sweet, or even before a workout when you need that extra pick me up.

Since they are raw, they are full of live enzymes, a great source of fat, antioxidants and make a great energizing snack.

Your family, friends, guests, will love this decadent treat (which was proven this past weekend when I served them at two parties)! The recipe below is vegan, paleo, gluten-free, and very easy to make!

Fruity toast for breakfast

My toast has almond butter, banana, cinnamon, blueberries,
goji berries and pumpkin seeds.

We all enjoy toast for breakfast, but we are usually in such a rush, or too lazy to make it fun, tasty, and to be quite honest, filling.

Try out this fruity toast which has a balance of the macronutrients we need to provide us energy! These macronutrients are fats, protein, carbohydrates and amino acids.

After toasting your bread (I recommend bread that has no preservatives or fake ingredients), the extra steps to make this fruity toast takes less than two minutes. And the best part, you can use any combination of ingredients you have in your kitchen so you don't have to buy each listed below! Best news ever!

To complement this breakfast, a green 

smoothie will round it out leaving you full

for hours! 

Cauliflower pizza...what?

Oh yeah, Cauliflower pizza! Eating Paleo consists of approx. 80% of my diet. My choice to go out and eat pizza is normally at the very bottom of my list, so finding an alternative is music to my ears.  

The first time I ate cauliflower pizza was a couple weeks back when visiting my friends Aleem and Farrah for dinner. Aleem’s wife Farrah is such an amazing cook and freestyles the crap out of every meal. Since she knew my boyfriend and I were coming over, she made cauliflower pizza.

It was honestly such a perfect substitute to a thin crust pizza. The consistency, the taste and texture replicated a regular pizza crust and I knew I had to try it out for myself.

I adapted my recipe below from this website, tweaked it and made it simpler to follow. I do not provide a recipe for the toppings since there are a million ways you can top a pizza! I want you to be creative but have a great veggie base to start with. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Knock your socks off Paleo Banana Brownie Cups

So it has been a while since I have blogged. Back in August I received a promotion at work and I have been busy ever since. I have taken a couple trips, one to Kelowna for my friends Craig & Julie's wedding and to NYC to support my boyfriend and his client who ran the marathon. 

Since working late hours, more lately especially, I get home and need to find a way to get my mind off of work and NOT dream about it, which I have been doing a lot of lately! Last night I got to chat with my sister on the phone for an hour which was awesome because I don't make phone calls that much anymore, cooked breakfast for dinner, then baked!

My go-to “Green Smoothie”

I love green smoothies, and if you want to know why you should too, read here.           

Here is my favourite go-to recipe:

Makes approx. 5 cups (i.e 2 servings)

Time to prepare: 3 minutes

1 cup water

1 cup almond milk

2 big handfuls of spinach

2-3 leaves of kale

1 cup frozen berries

1 – 2 tbs goji berries

1 tbs almond butter

1 tbs coconut oil

1 tbs raw walnuts

1 tbs raw cacao nibs

1 scoop chocolate (or vanilla) Vega protein powder (not pictured)

Vegan Chia Pudding

Looking for a fun breakfast, that does not consist of grains? The this vegan, paleo, chia pudding is for you. Very easy to make and can be prepared the night before.

Ingredients
1-2 tbs chia seeds

1/4 cup almond milk
1 banana mashed with a fork
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tbs vanilla extra
1 tbs raw cacoa nibs (optional)
Fresh fruit





Directions
1) Mix all ingredients except fresh fruit the night before and allow to set overnight in the fridge. 

2) Fresh fruit can be added before serving. 

3) Keep in mind the banana browns but it does not alter the taste. You can always mix the banana in before serving instead of the night before. The chia seeds will plump up either way because it will be soaking in the almond milk.

Eat this as breakfast, or as a dessert. This is a great way to get in Omega 3's, protein, and tons of vitamins and minerals. See why Chia Seeds are so good here. 

Paleo Bread (that is bread without the use of grains)

I love, love, love this bread recipe! I started eating Paleo mid February, and as part of the diet, I had to give up all grains. I didn't each much bread before, but sometimes I like to have a slice with a breakfast. I found this recipe from Elena’sPantry called Bread 2.0. I know this recipe is good because my boyfriend loves it.

It’s easy to make, it toasts well, and is also great as part of an open faced sandwich. I changed the recipe ever so slightly but it tastes the exact same way!

Paleo Eggplant Lasagna/Shepherds Pie

Last week I invited my girlfriend over for dinner. I didn’t have much in my fridge, but had eggplant, veggies and ground lamb and thought I would to try my hand at a lasagne. After many searches online for an eggplant lasagne, the only thing I took away from it was how to prepare the eggplant, and that was mainly because I was too lazy to read the recipes (you will know why when you read the steps below, however, making the recipe is worth it!). So with the ingredients I had at home, I came up with this beauty. The recipe below is written in steps because this recipe is a little bit labour intensive. Lastly, I also call this a Sheperds pie after a debate with my boyfriend. He said it looked more like a pie than a lasagne with the sweet potatoe on top, hence the two names. See below for recipe.

Chocolate Chip Date Super Bar

By special request, I was asked to put this recipe up. I made these at Julian’s 100km fundraising event, and have also made it for my friends at work who test out my treats on a regular basis (which is one of the many things I love them for). This recipe was adapted from various other recipes, but I added a little power to it with the super foods :) It is really easy to make and if you don’t have any of the super foods, they are totally optional. However, I do recommend spending the extra money on at least a couple super foods since putting them in makes it a fuel packed pre-workout snack or a healthier treat for kids (and adults) vs. the processed crap desserts. Happy food processing!

How about a Date for Dessert?

Dates can be overly sweet, but they can also be overly awesome when you add some fun ingredients to make it all come together.

Here is what you need:

Ingredients

10 Medjool Dates

1/4 cup organic extra virgin coconut oil

1/3 cup raw cacao powder

3 tbs raw cacao nibs (optional)

Almond butter (or peanut butter, sunflower butter, pumpkin seed butter)