Tag: healthy

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies!

Melissa King 55 Comments

I made you healthy oatmeal cookies! Just because I try to eat healthy doesn’t mean I stopped loving cookies. One of my favorite recipes before I started eating healthy was my grandmother’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The original recipe called for processed flours and processed sugars.  These healthy oatmeal cookies are much better for you.  So have a couple. 🙂

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I loaded mine up with spices so that I would need to add very little sugar.  Did you know that spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla make foods appear sweeter than they are.  It’s like a trick of the senses or something.

Official taste tester/beater cleaner.  🙂 What were some of your favorite cookies?

Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies!

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 15 min Serves 18 Cookies     adjust servings

The taste of the traditional recipe, with healthier ingredients!

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Mix all the wet ingredients in one bowl .
  3. Mix dry in another.
  4. Add wet to dry.
  5. Fold in chips.
  6. Bake on a lined baking sheet or greased pan for about 13-15 minutes or until edges come out lightly browned.
  7. These are so good that I eat at least 3 of them when they first come out of the oven. So does Meadow.

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Amazing 3 Bean Sweet Potato Chili (Vegan)

Melissa King 192 Comments

This Sweet Potato Chili recipe is fantastic!  I cannot take credit though.  My husband Marcus created it.  He is the chili guy in the family.  Actually, up until recently, he was the cook too!

I have learned a great deal from him. 🙂  Also, I should mention, this sweet potato chili is super easy to make.  You just throw everything in a pot and cook.

It would probably be extra good slow cooked in the crock pot.

 

sweet potato chili

 

We brought this healthy chili to a family member’s house on Thanksgiving.  Everyone that tried it, loved it.   This recipe also makes a large amount so you can freeze some for those busy days.  I freeze it in serving sized containers.

 

We just added an updated video for this recipe. You can view it below. For more videos, you can subscribe to my You Tube channel.

 

Amazing 3 Bean Sweet Potato Chili

Amazing 3 Bean Sweet Potato Chili

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Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 3 hr


Ingredients

  • 3 cups veggie stock
  • 2 cups black beans
  • 2 cups kidney beans
  • 2 cups pinto beans
  • 1 28 oz can organic diced tomatoes or about 7 cups diced tomatoes
  • 1 onion diced
  • 1 cup corn (please try to buy this organic)
  • 2 sweet potatoes diced
  • 4 med-lg garlic cloves minced
  • 1 T chili powder
  • 3/4 T cumin
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 T oil (we used grapeseed oil)

Instructions

  • We use dried beans and just soak them overnight. Boil them for about 10 minutes in the morning. Makes for a much cleaner taste.
  • Take all the ingredients and throw them in a large pot.
  • Cook on high for about 3 hours covered stirring every once in a while.
  • For the last 1/2 hour cook uncovered and you can also add about a T of flour to thicken the sauce if needed. We used brown rice flour.

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Recipe Notes

This makes a ton of chili. If you don’t eat it all, it should freeze nicely and then you will have a backup meal for a day when you don’t feel like cooking. This came out so well that we are probably going to make this for our family thanksgiving meal. After all, we are the weird vegans of the family.

sweet potato chili

Healthy Tropical Smoothie Peanut Paradise

Melissa King 4 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I LOVED Tropical Smoothie when I lived in Vegas.  I think I used to get one every week.  I would always get the peanut paradise because who doesn’t love peanut butter and bananas together? So one day I actually decided to look through the nutritional info they have at the counter.  I could not believe it!  It had 800 calories!  So, I decided to make my own version.  Mine only contains 315 calories and is super easy to make.

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I feed this to my daughter for breakfast sometimes and add the flax.  She has no idea she is eating something healthy!

What is your favorite Tropical Smoothie flavor?

Healthy Tropical Smoothie Peanut Paradise

Healthy Tropical Smoothie Peanut Paradise

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Prep Time 5 min

Ingredients

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 2 T fresh ground peanut butter ( I use Sprouts Organic)
  • 2/3 cup non dairy milk ( I use homemade almond milk , but soy would work fine too.)
  • If you wanted to make it even more healthy, you could add 1 T flax meal

Instructions

  1. Blend everything in a magic bullet until you get the consistency you desire.  I like mine thick so I can eat it with a spoon.  Sometimes, if I feel like getting crazy, I will through in some chocolate chips.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Melissa King 26 Comments

Hope you aren’t sick of pumpkin yet, because these pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes are delicious.  Full of flavor with very little sugar.  The secret is that if you add enough flavor through the spices and vanilla, they will trick your mind into thinking you are eating something sweeter than it is.   Even your kids will love them.  My kids devour these pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes.   Plus, they took almost no time to make.  I actually mixed the dry ingredients the night before.  That way, I could easily make them up in the morning.  Who doesn’t like fresh pancakes for breakfast?  Plus they make your house smell amazing!

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These pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes are vegan, dairy free and egg free.  I hope you enjoy them.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Pumpkin Spiced Chocolate Chip Spelt Pancakes

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 10 min Serves 10-12 pancakes     adjust servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. In a food processor , mix the milk, pumpkin, oil and egg until well combined. 
  2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, spices, vanilla and salt. 
  3. Stir dry into wet being careful not to over mix. 
  4. Fold in chocolate chips or any other ingredients you may want to add.  Pecans or almonds might be good too.
  5. Using a 1/4 cup measure, scoop batter into a lightly oiled pan and spread it out slightly with a spatula. 
  6. When you see the edges get brown, flip the pancakes over for another few minutes.

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Recipe Notes

This should make about 10-12 pancakes. Don’t worry about trying to eat them all at once. If you don’t, you can just freeze them in a zip lock bag and they should stay fresh for quite some time.

Tempeh Vegetable Stir Fry

Melissa King Leave a comment

Stir fries are a great way to use up any veggies from the fridge that may be going bad.  They don’t take long to make.  Often, I will cut the veggies the day before so all I have to do is throw everything in the pan for a few minutes. We also make a big batch of the sauce and refrigerate what we don’t use.  The sauce keeps for quite a while in a air tight container.

For those of you that don’t know what tempeh is (I didn’t until 6 months ago),  it is made from soybeans.  Unlike tofu, which is airy and spongy, it is made from fermented whole soybeans which are packed into a cake like form.  It has an earthy, nutty like flavor.  It packs twice the amount of fiber and protein than tofu does.

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It is my favorite vegan protein.

Vegetable Stir Fry

Tempeh Vegetable Stir Fry

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 20 min

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg tempeh (Please try to buy orgainic. Soybeans are usually filled with GMOs)
  • 1 large head of broccoli stalk removed (My 3 yr old calls them little trees)
  • 2 carrots shredded
  • 1 bell pepper cut into thin sliced
  • 1 pkg mushrooms
  • 2 T toasted sesame oil

For the sauce

  • 1/2 cup organic soy sauce (I use SanJ Organic Shoyu)
  • 2 T mirin
  • 1 T brown sugar
  • 1 tsp umaboshi vinegar
  • 1-2 tsp garlic

Instructions

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Pumpkin Spice Granola (Vegan and Gluten Free)

Melissa King 46 Comments

Pumpkin Spice Granola.  Fall is here and it’s time for pumpkin recipes! Perfect for this pumpkin spice vegan granola.

I love pumpkin and eat myself sick of it every Fall.  I also try to stock my freezer up with pumpkin in case I get a craving in the Spring.

Most people like granola, but sadly, the store bought versions are laden with too much processed sugar.  This Pumpkin Spice Granola recipe is made healthier.

 

Pumpkin Spice Granola - My Whole Food Life

 

This granola recipe is vegan and gluten free.  It can easily be made nut free if you omit the pecans.  They are really an optional ingredient, but I do think they add nice flavor.

Cranberries would be delicious in here as well.  This will also make your house smell awesome as it cooks!

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