nuts

Almond Butter Coconut Bars (Clean & flourless!)

Posted on by Ashley Phillips

Finally able to post a new recipe! I have been trying a few original recipes over the last couple of weeks and have bombed big time. Yikes. Throwing away such high quality organic ingredients makes me sad, but I don’t want to post anything here that I wouldn’t recommend making on your own.

Also, I know this blog is food related but I have to share two exciting updates on my end.

  1. Today is my FIRST anniversary with my husband! I’m officially an old married lady and couldn’t be prouder!
  2. Today is also my first day of starting a one year program to become a certified health coach. I’ll be looking for clients in about 6 months so stay tuned!

Ok, now on to the food.

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As you all know, I work for Pinterest, which means I am on Pinterest a LOT. I see an ad for Thrive Market frequently that advertises getting one free product and have always been a little skeptical (although, side note – our ads are highly monitored by a policy team, so I’m not sure why I was so hesitant to believe it. Just assumed it was too good to be true!) A coworker of mine came over my desk and said “Get this free Justin’s almond butter and make us something please!” So, I did. And it actually was free! Do it!

These bars have pumpkin and almond butter as the base and require no flour – healthy win!

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Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup Justin’s Almond Butter – I used the plain kind but any of the flavors would be great and give some good variety!
  • 1/2 cup organic pumpkin (actual pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix)
  • 1 large egg or one flax egg
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla (or less, but I personally prefer more)
  • 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes + 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes for topping
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
    • Nuts, walnuts, pistachios – any other nuts or dried fruit that you want! I only used chocolate but you could get creative here!

How to:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees, prepare an 8×8 pan (I’m currently liking this) and set aside
  • In a Vitamix or blender, pulse together almond butter, pumpkin, egg and vanilla
  • Add in baking soda & spice and pulse again for a few seconds
  • Once combined, hand mix in coconut flakes and chocolate chips – don’t overmix, but just allow the batter to cover the flakes
  • Pour batter into pan – sprinkle the rest of the flakes on top
  • Bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and coconut flakes are golden brown
  • Let cool or dive right in!

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Pumpkin Chia Pudding (Keto-friendly, clean)

Posted on by Ashley Phillips

 

Who’s ready for pumpkin season!?

I’m not scared to admit it. I love pumpkin, and I’m ready for pumpkin season.

I know it’s still August and I’m not saying I’m ready for fall. I’m just ready for pumpkin. Pumpkin everything (except for PSLs…those should never be considered real pumpkin!)…let’s get it going.

This is a super easy dessert to throw together. And it’s keto-approved. (More to come on keto!) The hardest part is making sure you make this ahead of time so the seeds have time to soak. After dinner, I always need one sweet bite or something and this really does the trick.

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Pumpkin is full of fiber and chia seeds are full of healthy fats. The two together make this a totally healthy, fun snack or dessert.

This is another one of those throw-everything-together-and-just-let-it -do-it’s-thing” type recipes.

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Do you guys use chia seeds? I had a weird aversion to them for a while. I didn’t like the texture and didn’t really understand why anyone would even bother. They seemed tasteless and just silly. After reading more about them, they’re now a staple for me every single day. If nothing else, I just throw them in my AM smoothie (which reminds me, I should totally do a blog post on my favorite AM smoothies!)

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup organic pumpkin puree (actual pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mixture)
  • 1/2 cup chia seeds
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie seasoning
  • 1.25 cups of organic unsweetened cashew milk

How to: Combine everything in a bowl. Mixture will be watery before the seeds have time to expand. Set the mixture in the fridge for 3-4 hours, mixing every hour or so. Once they have set a bit, scoop 1/4th of the mixture into a cup. Top with whipped cream, pecans, or walnuts.

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Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies (Clean!)

Posted on by Ashley Phillips

Hi!

When I was younger, pretty much the only fruit I would eat was apples. Other than that, no thanks! Now, I have at least an apple a day (my doctor would be so proud!) so I thought it might be fun to bake them into some healthy cookies.

These are clean and could almost pass for breakfast cookies, since they’re packed with nuts, oatmeal and fruit!

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Like my other recipes, these are pretty simple and come together in about 15 minutes. The toughest part is chopping the apples. After that, it’s smooth sailing.

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup oatmeal (gluten-free works fine!)
  • 3/4 cup of almond flour or coconut flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (you can do more or less depending on your preference, but I LOVE cinnamon so the more the better!)
  • 1/2 cup of chopped nuts (I used pecans)
  • Dash of Himalayan sea salt
  • 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup agave or honey (I used honey)
  • 2 cups diced red crisp apple

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How to:

  • Prepare a piece of parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a medium bowl, mix together all dry ingredients and set aside.
  • Separately, beat egg in a small bowl. Add in vanilla & honey and mix well.
  • Dice red apple into small chunks.
  • Add wet ingredients to bowl with dry ingredients and mix well.
  • Add apple pieces of mixture and combine well.
  • Scoop into 1 inch balls and bake for 12-15 minutes.

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Let cool for a minute or two after you take them out of the oven, but I liked these best warm! These are not the most beautiful, I admit, but they taste good!

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These can totally pass as breakfast cookies, right!?

Green Superfood Smoothie Bowl (Clean, gluten-free, paleo)

Posted on by Ashley Phillips

Ok, you know how oats are my “thing?” I may have discovered a new “thing”.

Smoothie bowls.

Most mornings, I have a green drink to go alongside my oats, but I have recently discovered smoothie bowls that bring in some of my favorrrrrite superfoods. This is my very first smoothie bowl and it was delicious. I had to stop myself from making 10 more after this first one because I got so excited thinking about everything I could create!

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One of the most fun parts about these is how beautiful they are! I mean… LOOK!

I started thinking/dreaming about smoothie bowls after my recent trip to Tulum, where I stumbled upon the most amazing raw vegan smoothie restaurant – Raw Love.  My husband made fun of me for discovering one of the healthiest restaurants in Mexico while on vacation, when everyone else we were with was more focused on finding the best margarita. But seriously, this place was legit. Ahhhh, I want to go backkkk.

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Ingredients:

  • Smoothie Bowl:
    • Small handful of kale
    • Small handful of cabbage
    • Small handful romaine
    • 1 cup almond milk
    • 10 ice cubes
  • Toppings: 3 large sliced strawberries
    • 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
    • 1/4 cup chia seeds
    • 1/4 cup blueberries
    • 1/8 cup pistachios
    • 1/8 cup cashews
    • Anything else your little heart desires!

How to:

  • Add all ingredients from smoothie bowl to Vitamix and blend until well mixed
  • Top with any toppings & enjoy immediately!

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Protein Packed Superfood Oatmeal Raspberry Cups

Posted on by Ashley Phillips

More oats. Can you blame me? They’re just so good and so filling.

These are easy to eat on the run – perhaps in a cab on the way to work from an intense Soul Cycle class? 🙂 Or maybe thats just me.

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Either way, these  breakfast bars are a variation of one of my favorite superfood breakfast concoctions ever made. My coworkers absolutely love these, mostly because of the health factor and the fact that they taste absolutely delish. You can have a 2×2 inch square and be full for breakfast because they’re loaded with so many nutrient dense superfoods. I chose to make these in a muffin tin so that they are perfectly portioned and easy to throw into a Ziploc bag in the morning.

You can make a batch of these and freeze them and they will last for weeks but they’re better warm or at room temp, so make sure you take them out of the freezer the night before you want them.

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Ingredients: (Base)

  • 2 cups of old fashioned oats
  • 1 cup of silvered almonds
  • 4 tablespoons agave
  • 1/2 cup of whole almonds
  • 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamnom
  • 2 very ripe bananas – the more ripe, the better!
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 scoop whey protein or any type of protein you like

More ingredients: (Topping)

  • 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup silvered almonds
  • 2 cups of raspberries – or whatever fruit you’d like! Blueberries are also good!
  • 1/2 cup of almond milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

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How to:

  • Preheat oven to 350. Spray a muffin tin quickly or grease with coconut oil.
  • Add all of the “base” ingredients to a food processor or Vitamix. Blend until a creamy consistency forms. This could take a few minutes until the mixture is blended well.
  • Scoop the mixture into the muffin tin. This recipe should make at least 12 breakfast cups.
  • Bake for 10 minutes.
  • While they’re baking, combine the ingredients for the topping in a medium bowl.
  • Once the timer for the base goes off, add the toppings to each cup.
  • Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Let cool before eating.

I could see these being really good with some added nuts – pistachios will be my next addition! Also, almost any berry would work. Blackberries, you’re next 🙂

What other type of berry would you use?

Pecan Pie Petites (Vegan, Raw, Clean, Paleo-friendly)

Posted on by Ashley Phillips

Ok so we all know that the desserts that the family brings to Thanksgiving are loaded with sugar and extra processed (and unnecessary!) ingredients – right? Personally, I can hardly ever eat a meal without needing a sweet ending but I hate the idea of eating a dessert made from a box with loads of unhealthy…who knows what! nut4

Juuuuust in time for Thanksgiving, meet my Pecan Pie Petites. You can feed these to pretty much anyone with special diet restrictions and keep them happy, because they’re clean, paleo-friendly, raw & vegan!  (Except they are pretty nut heavy, obviously, so keep these away from the nut-allergic uncle.)

These took about 20 minutes to make in total and were super easy. The worst part? Waiting for them to freeze overnight when all you want to do is shove 0f them in your mouth at once.

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Basically, this is another one of my cococtions where you can just put in a food processor, layer it, freeze it and eat it. Done.

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Crust Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup Pecans
  • 1/2 cup cashews
  • 2 tablespoons of Agave or Maple Syrup
  • 1 Cup Pitted Dates
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla

Pie Layer Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup Pitted Dates
  • 1 Medium/Large Banana (The more ripe, the better!)
  • 2 Tablespoons of Agave or honey
  • 1.5 cups pecans
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 tablespoon nutmug
  • 1/2 cup No sugar added Almond Milk (optional)
  • Extra pecans for topping – crushed or whole, totally your preference

How to:

  • Mix all of the crust ingredients in your food processor for about 45 seconds, or until it looks chunky but not blended all the way. You’ll want it to be chunky enough to taste the pieces, but ground enough to hold together as a curst.
  • Grease a 8×8 or 9×9 pan and press mixtures into the bottom of the pan. You might want to use your hands to spread it out but make sure it’s level across the entire bottom of the pan.
  • Wash the food processor.
  • Next, add all ingredients from the pie filling into the food processor and mix well. Add in Almond Milk if necessary to make the it a thick pie texture.
  • Pour pie filling over the crust.
  • Don’t forget to lick the spoon 🙂
  • Freeze at least 5 hours – I froze mine overnight.
  • Cut them into 1 inch bites and top with a a mini piece of pecan or pecan crumbs.
  • Lastly, don’t forget to thank everyone who gives you endless compliments on how much these taste like Pecan Pie. 🙂

Whats your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? Have you ever tried to make a clean version of it?