Pineapple Salsa

This super simple salsa has the twist of balsamic vinegar that offsets the sweetness perfectly! Perfect for summer BBQ's and potlucks. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh cut pineapple, cut into cubes
• 1 cup fresh cut strawberries
• 1 tbsp of fresh mint
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Toss together and enjoy! 

Love, 

Jen

Self Care Sunday - Restorative Yoga

Welcome back to Self Care Sunday. This week let's talk about some restorative yoga. There are many styles and types of yoga, all used for different things. Restorative yoga is a practice more about allowing the body to relax and rest. There is minimal effort put into postures. You take some time setting yourself up in comfort and then relax into it for a few minutes at a time. 

Some of the benefits of restorative yoga are:

• It stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. Turning off the flight or flight response (stress) and tapping into the rest and digestion cycle of the body. This is calming in the mind and physiologically in the body. 
• Helps create body awareness. Slowing down for a few minutes and noticing the sensations in the body is helpful for the rest of our day. Noticing something like tight shoulders and neck, make us more mindful when we sit down at our desks of our posture.
• Improves immunity
• improves respiratory and blood circulation
• Anyone can do it, nearly anywhere!

The beauty of this weeks self care, is that it can be as short or as long as you would like. 10-15 minutes on a lunch break at work, half an hour before bed or whenever you'd like.  Make sure to schedule this time though. We often have wonderful intentions of doing something and put it off until "tomorrow". So plan your time this week to practice restorative yoga once or twice. 

Tips to get the most out of your practice:

• Turn off your phone and other distractions.
• Grab a sweater and/or blanket in case you get cold. 
• Grab a pillow or two.
• Find any other comfort items available given the space. Candles, eye covers, bolsters, yoga blocks or straps. 
• Put together some calming music to listen to. 

You can set a gentle timer to remind you to move after 5 or 10 minutes to the next pose or back to work, in case you fall asleep. Below is a few poses you can try or you can search the internet for a few more. 

After a few poses, end in savasana, by lying on your back without props, take note of how your body feels, taking a few big deep breaths and moving on with your day.

Legs Up The Wall

Seated Forward Fold

Morning Brooke

Childs Pose

Love, 

Jen

Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas

Ooooo I love roasted chickpeas. I make them in a few flavors, but the honey and cinnamon are hitting the spot today for a bit of sweetness! These are fairly simple to make, high in fiber and easy to put in containers for on the go snacks. 

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• optional 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Rinse chickpeas under water in a strainer. 
3. Place chickpeas on a cookie sheet or pan and cook for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and set temperature at 350 degrees. 
5. Mix cinnamon, honey and optional salt in a bowl. 
6. Stir in the chickpeas and coat evenly. 
7. Spread chickpeas back out onto the sheet and in the oven for an additional 10 minutes.
8. Enjoy!

As my daughter says "they start sweet and then nice and crunchy!" A nice healthy snack and they make the house smell soooooo good while cooking.

Love, 

Jen

Nutrient Packed Smoothie

I'm a busy lady. As most of us are. I also love smoothies, but I sometimes despise pulling out 5 million ingredients to make a simple healthy and nutritious smoothie. 

So here is the easiest way to pack some nutrients into your day without the pain of finding and pulling out ingredients. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup frozen pineapple
• 1/2 cup frozen mango
• 1/2 - cup coconut water depending on if you like your smoothies thicker or not. If you do not have coconut water, plain ol tap water will suit you just fine. 
• 1 scoop concentrated greens - I used the Balance Diet Spa Boost 

Blend everything together and back you go to your busy day!

I like to use this as a pick me up in the afternoon especially since I find myself liking something a little sweet mid day. If you wanted to make this more into a meal replacement I would add some protein powder and your favorite milk instead of water. 

I like using the concentrated greens since its an easy and quick way to get in a bunch of health benefits in one little drink! The pineapple is a great anti-inflammatory and the coconut water a wonderful hydrator, so drink them all summer long, staying full of energy.

Love, 

Jen

Coconut Rice

This is a super simple recipe meant to give a little extra something to boring old every day rice. My family gobbles it up without hesitation, even the kids! I like to make it along side chicken I've put some curry or spices on and voila a jazzed up regular old family dinner meal.

What you need:

• 1 cup of uncooked white rice.
• 1 can of coconut milk (equal to 2 cups), additional liquid will need to be added if using brown rice
• Optional: 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut, teaspoon of lime juice.
• Salt to taste

Directions (you know in case you're new to rice cooking):

1. Put rice, coconut milk and optional coconut into a pot.
2. Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until liquid is all absorbed. (10-15 minutes)
3. Don't stir it, seriously just leave it until the liquid is gone. 
4. Add salt and/or lime.
5. Serve and enjoy!

It's that simple! Do you have a special way of spicing up otherwise boring foods?

Love, 

Jen

What's In The Fridge Stuffed Peppers

I love recipes that allow me to throw whatever is in the fridge into a meal, especially if it can be healthy. As we all do I believe. So loosely take what I have for ingredients and use whatever you'd like. 

What you need for this recipe:

• 3 bell peppers (more or less depending on the amount of people you have.
• 1 cup of precooked rice. This is great to do if you have leftover rice from the day before or food prepping. I used leftover brown rice.
• half an onion
• 2 tbsp garlic
• Olive oil
• 1 cup of kale/spinach
• 1 cup of kidney beans. Other options could be cooked ground beef or chicken or any other bean you have on hand. 
• 1 cup of cheese of choice. We used marble, but mozzarella or goat cheese would be fabulous. 
• salt and pepper and/or any other seasonings you love. 

Directions:

1. Preheat he oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Heat oil in the pan and add the onions and beans until tender. Or you can add your meat of choice until cooked.
3. Add the garlic and the greens until wilted.
4. Add the rice to warm it up, if it's been cold in the fridge from leftovers.
5. Cut the peppers in half and scoop out the seeds.
6. Add cooked mixture to the inside of each half.
7. Top with cheese.
8. Put the peppers on a cookie sheet and pop in the oven until the cheese is melted and the peppers are soft. I like to put on broil the last minute to get the cheese to bubble. 
9. Enjoy!

What's in the fridge that you will put in yours?

Love, 

Jen

What's In The Fridge Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

I've had this spaghetti squash on my counter for a bit. My daughters hate spaghetti squash and I love it. Usually I would cook it and save some to be eaten later but this squash was a little on the bigger side and I just know I wouldn't have eaten it all. So I cooked it up with what I had in the fridge for a vegetarian, gluten free side dish at a potluck I was heading to.

I hate opening recipes and finding what seems like a million ingredients or finding I'm missing a couple and there is no way to make it. Really use what you've got. Use your veggies or maybe you'd prefer to have ground beef or tofu instead. Use your favourite cheese, they all get that gooey crust on top when you hit the broiler for a few minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 Spaghetti Squash
• Olive oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Vegetables - I used carrot, zucchini and bell pepper
• Pasta Sauce
• Cheese of choice - I used Gouda, could use traditional mozarella or a lower fat version.
• Seasoning, italian seasoning, garlic powder (I really like garlic) and fresh basil from the garden (dry will be fine too)

1. Cook the squash. I'll give you two methods depending on your time. Cut the squash in half lengthwise.

   -Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. . Roast cut side down for abour 30-40 minutes. Or until your fork goes into the squash with relative ease.

   -You can also stick it in the microwave, cut side down for 5-10 minutes depending on your settings.

2. While the squash cooks you can cook your vegetables or protein. For the vegetables I started with the carrots because they take longer to cook, then added the zucchini and bell pepper. Cook until soft and remove from the pan. Put the cooked veggies on a cutting board and cut up. This makes it easier to have the consistency of say ground beef without having to make sure all the veggies are the same size before cooking.
3. A little more olive oil in the pan and cook the garlic and onion. Cook until soft and starting to brown.
4. Add the pasta sauce to the pan with the garlic and onions and turn the temperature down low. Add seasoning to taste.
5. Add the vegetables back into the pan with the sauce. Remove pan from heat.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees if you didn't use the oven to cook the squash.
7. Now assemble like a lasagna! Little bit of sauce at the bottom, layer of spaghetti squash, layer of sauce, layer of cheese and repeat. Mine had two layers, but I had a longer shallow dish. Do with what you've got.
8. Bake for 45 minutes. Then hit broil for 3-5 minutes just until you have some browning on top. Watch this carefully, broil can go from perfect to burnt quickly.

Macros for 1/8th of the recipe. (That's very filling!)

Calories: 165, Fat 8.6g, Carb 15.4 g, Protein 8.3g, Fiber 3.4g