Chocolate Buckwheat Granola {gluten free}

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Berries are in season right now so what better way to enjoy the season’s best than with some crunchy homemade granola!

Granola can be a crunchy and satisfying breakfast with fruit or afternoon snack. Most packages granolas a full of sugar and additives your body would prefer to skip. Buckwheat is used as a crunchier alternative to oats. Toasted with pumpkin seeds and flax in this recipe then coated in a simple chocolate glaze, divine!

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Chocolate Buckwheat Granola {gluten free}

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole hulled buckwheat
  • 2 T. ground flaxseed
  • ¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds
  • Chocolate glaze:
  • 1 T. cacao powder
  • 1 T. grapeseed oil
  • 1 T. raw honey
  • Pinch of pink salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Grease an 8x8 glass baking pan, set aside.
  3. In a bowl, combine buckwheat, ground flaxseed, and raw pumpkin seeds.
  4. In a separate smaller bowl, combine cacao powder, raw honey, oil, and pinch of salt. Mix together until thoroughly blended.
  5. Pour chocolate mixture over buckwheat and seeds in medium bowl. Stir to coat evenly.
  6. Pour granola into baking pan, spread evenly then back 25 minutes, stir halfway through baking time.
  7. Remove from oven when pumpkin seeds are toasted.
  8. Allow to cool then store in glassware in fridge.
https://www.totalhealthcounseling.com/2014/chocolate-buckwheat-granola-gluten-free/

See my recipe featured on Vitacost:

http://blog.vitacost.com/recipes-2/non-gmo-recipe-chocolate-glazed-buckwheat-granola.html

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Serve up in a fancy parfait glass and enjoy!

Using Leftovers to Make Lunches

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Bringing lunch to work doesn’t have to be boring. Pack up leftovers and you’ll be looking forward to this mid-day meal right after breakfast!

Once of my favorite kinds of lunches are comfort foods like sweet potato and beans. I baked up sweet potatoes for a dinner, then sliced up leftovers for a few lunches. I made a pot of black-eyed peas which make great leftovers, you can use canned if you don’t want to soak and cook the beans. Be sure to use BPA free canned beans such as Eden Farms.

Creamy avocado is a great addition to this meal for some healthy fats and extra protein along with protein from the beans.

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Other great leftover combinations:

  1. Sweet Potato and Black Bean Stew
  2. Leftover balsamic chicken with garlic-lime broccoli (Recipe in my E-cookbook!)
  3. Red Quinoa and Black-Eyed Pea Salad  – Recipe featured on Vitacost.com
  4. Spinach and Zucchini Lasagna
  5. Espresso Roasted Pork with Brussels Sprouts

For a sweet treat try my No-Bake Cacao-Hemp Protein Balls!

What are your favorite leftovers to bring for lunch at the office?

#MuffinMadness with Driscoll’s Blueberry Muffins! {gluten free, dairy free}

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It’s March Madness for college basketball in some circles and it’s #MuffinMadness when it comes to Driscoll’s Berries.

Driscoll’s Berries was very gracious to send me coupons for their berries and a Whole Foods gift card (!!) to make their gluten free blueberry muffins. Thank you!!

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The original recipe is posted here: http://www.driscolls.com/recipes/view/6938/Gluten-Free-Blueberry-Muffins

It’s gluten free and looks glorious! I made my version dairy free as well and they came out super moist and delicious! I also cut a third of the sugar so they are perfect for breakfast but not overly sweet, just the way I like them. I hope you’ll make this great recipe too for your favorite gluten free and dairy free eater or yourself.

Disclosure of material connection: Driscoll’s Berries provided me with coupons and a gift card to purchase their product. All opinions expressed here are completely my own.

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#MuffinMadness with Driscoll’s Blueberry Muffins! {gluten free, dairy free}

Yield: 12 regular size muffins

#MuffinMadness with Driscoll’s Blueberry Muffins! {gluten free, dairy free}

Enjoy with a spoonful of coconut oil or pumpkin seed butter on top!

**Muffins freeze very well!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Gluten free all-purpose flour (I use Bob’s red mill)
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1/2 cup raw honey (local if possible)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsp. lemon zest
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups Driscoll’s Blueberries

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin pan with paper liners or grease lightly with coconut oil.
  2. Mix together flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, and sea salt in a large bowl.
  3. In a small bowl, beat eggs then mix together with coconut oil, honey, lemon zest, and vanilla.
  4. Pour wet ingredients in with dry ingredients and mix to combine.
  5. Fold in blueberries.
  6. **Note batter will be relatively thick.
  7. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter in each muffin cup.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.
https://www.totalhealthcounseling.com/2014/muffinmadness-with-driscolls-blueberry-muffins-gluten-free-dairy-free/

picmonkey muffins image

What is your favorite muffin flavor? I love blueberries in the spring and pumpkin raspberry in the fall.

Spinach and Zucchini Lasagna {Dairy Free, Gluten Free}

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If you love lasagna, but don’t tolerate gluten or dairy very well, this is the recipe you will want to make asap.

Great tasting homemade lasagna you can feel great about feeding your family.

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Spinach and Zucchini Lasagna {Dairy Free, Gluten Free}

Spinach and Zucchini Lasagna {Dairy Free, Gluten Free}

Ingredients

  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1 t. sea salt
  • 1 t. oregano, dried
  • 16 ounces non-GMO tofu, extra firm (tofu from refrigerated section is best)
  • 2 small cloves garlic, peel and crushed
  • 1 T. nutritional yeast*
  • 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and excess liquid drained
  • 1 box No-Boil Lasagna noodles (Gluten-Free, if desired)
  • 1 medium zucchini
  • 1 – 16 oz jar pasta sauce

Instructions

  1. Drain tofu by pressing down onto it with paper towels. Pat dry.
  2. Crumble tofu into bowl of a food processor or high-speed blender along with olive oil, sea salt, oregano, garlic and nutritional yeast. Process on high until smooth and ‘ricotta-like’.
  3. Add thawed and drained spinach to tofu mixture and blend thoroughly. Set aside.
  4. Shred zucchini (about 1 cup) and combine into bowl with pasta sauce.
  5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour ½ cup pasta sauce into the bottom of a 8 x 8 inch glass pan, enough to cover bottom of pan.
  6. Place one layer of lasagna noodles over sauce, do not overlap noodles.
  7. Pour ½ cup sauce over noodles, spread evenly.
  8. Dot ricotta mixture onto sauce covered noodles then spread an even layer.
  9. Repeat layers, starting with noodles, then sauce, and ricotta. Last layer should be noodles covered with sauce.
  10. Cover pan with foil, loosely enough so top layer of sauce does not touch the foil.
  11. Bake for 50 minutes or until noodles are soft.
  12. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes before serving.
  13. Save leftovers for lunch and serve with simple green salad. Tastes great the next day too!
  14. Serves: 4
https://www.totalhealthcounseling.com/2014/spinach-and-zucchini-lasagna-dairy-free-gluten-free/

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*Nutritional yeast is a great source of B-vitamins, often used by vegans because it contains B-12, a nutrient commonly lacking in their diet. Nutritional yeast also contains fiber, protein, selenium, and zinc. Nutritional yeast does not contain active yeast. It’s often used to boost the nutritional profile of healthy dishes and compliments the flavor of certain foods by adding a cheesy flavor. It can be found in the bulk section at Whole Foods.

Source: http://www.bestnaturalfoods.com/nutritional_yeast.html

Tamari Maple Salmon

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Salmon is a great fish to thrown on the grill or you can simply broil in your oven or sear on a skillet. It won’t fall apart like more delicate fish.

Tamari (soy sauce without the wheat) always pairs well with salmon. I like to add a touch of sweetness to and I did so by adding real maple syrup.

While you’re grilling the salmon, throw some sweet local corn on there as well. I get mine from Bedner’s Farm on 441 (that’s where the spinach and strawberries came from too!). Check out your local farm for fresh veggies and grill them up with a good piece of fish.

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Tamari Maple Salmon

Tamari Maple Salmon

Ingredients

    For the salmon:
  • 1 # salmon filet
  • 1/4 cup tamari (this is gluten free soy sauce)
  • 2 Tablespoons organic pure maple syrup
  • fresh ground black pepper, to taste
    • For the corn:
  • 2 ears of corn on the cob (look for non-GMO corn)
  • juice of half lime
  • 1 Tablespoon chili powder

Instructions

    Method for Salmon:
  1. Measure tamari and maple syrup, then pour into small glass pan to marinade salmon. Top with fresh ground black pepper.
  2. Place salmon filet, flesh side down into marinade. Allow to soak for 20 minutes to 2 hours.
  3. Grill salmon skin side down on grill for 12-15 minutes until flakes easily with a fork.
    4. Method for Corn:
  4. Peel back corn husk, but keep attached to corn, you can tie it with butcher’s thread. Remove corn husk silk.
  5. Soak corn for 20 minutes in bath of water with 1/2 cup vinegar to clean. Remove then rinse thoroughly.
  6. Roll corn in chili powder then squeeze lime juice over it.
  7. Grill about 12 minutes or until done.
https://www.totalhealthcounseling.com/2014/tamari-maple-salmon/

What is your favorite meal cooked on the grill?