Fall Recipes

I love Fall. I absolutely love it —especially all of the warm comforting flavours of Fall.

Here are some of my favourite Fall recipes from previous posts:


Pumpkin Spice Smoothie

Curried Sweet Potato and Lentils

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Pumpkin Donut Holes

Ginger Toffee Cookies

Oatmeal Molasses Brown Bread

Mac 'n' Cheese

Morning Glory Muffins

Roasted Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Soup

Maple Banana Bread

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

Super Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Fall is certainly in the air here in Newfoundland and we're embracing all things pumpkin including this delicious but healthy pumpkin spice smoothie. It's superhero approved, which means no refined carbohydrates and no added sugars.

Honestly, this smoothie tastes like pumpkin pie without bring overly sweet.

Here's what you'll need:
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (you can also use regular milk)
1/2 banana
3 ice cubes
2 medjool dates (pitted)
1 Tbsp crushed pecans
1/2 tsp stevia or 1-2 tsp of honey (I used stevia for mine and honey for Dan's; both tasted great)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
pinch of cloves, nutmeg, and all spice


Throw everything into your bullet or a blender and voila, you have yourself a yummy fall smoothie. You could top it with some crushed pecans and/or chopped dates, or whipped coconut milk. YUM.

Enjoy!

 

Gluten-free Chia Pizza Crust

This recipe has been slightly adapted from Nyoutritious. It's a really healthy gluten-free alternative to traditional pizza crust, and unlike the frozen store-bought gluten-free crusts, this crust is packed full of nutrients with no additives or sugar. I found it surprisingly simple to make and super tasty —it even had a "crunchy" crust! 

I topped my pizza crust with a tomato sauce, roasted tomatoes, red onions, and green peppers; fresh mozzarella cheese; fresh basil and oregano (that I grew!!); and a sprinkle of garlic and fresh cracked pepper. I kept my pizza simple because of the fresh mozzarella and herbs. It was SO yummy.


Here's what you'll need:

1/4 cup chia seeds
3/4 cup water
3 Tbsp gluten-free buckwheat flour
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp hemp seeds
sprinkle of sea salt


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (I rubbed mine with a little bit of olive oil because I was out of parchment paper).

Combine the chia seeds, water, buckwheat flour, oregano, garlic powder, and sea salt in a bowl, and stir until it begins to thicken. Stir in the sunflower and hemp seeds. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Pour the dough onto the parchments paper and spread out to form a circular pizza crust (make sure it's about 1 cm or so in thickness).

Bake for 40 minutes or until the dough is set and the edges are a light golden brown.

Let cool for a few minutes, then put on your favourite pizza toppings and bake for an additional 10 minutes at 425 degrees F.

Enjoy!!

A Sweaty Workout and Great Post-Workout (or Anytime) Fuel

This morning I had a nice and sweaty workout on the bike. It looked something like this below, and then Dan and I did a strength circuit workout together.

Afterwards, I chowed down on this lovely breakfast/snack/brunch.

It's plain greek yogurt topped with PB2, rolled oats, unsweetened coconut flakes, crushed walnuts, and chia seeds. I've been loving this snack lately. It's super satisfying and jammed pack full of yummy nutrients. The greek yogurt, PB2, coconut flakes, walnuts, and chia seeds are all full of protein and fibre, which full contribute to you feeling satisfied for longer. Also, all this protein helps rebuild cells, and maintain healthy tissues and muscles.

I always have a bowl of fresh fruit sprinkled with cinnamon on the side that I mix into my yogurt as I eat it.


So, basically it's:

1 cup of Oikos Plain Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp PB2 or nut butter (more or less, depending on your preference)
1 Tbsp gluten-free rolled oats
1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes
1 Tbsp crushed walnuts (or other nut)
1-2 tsp chia seeds
1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen fruit, sprinkled with cinnamon

Our Canada Day in Photos

Family Photo 

My Boys!

Someone has learned to stick out their tongue...

"Squinty McGee"

Loving his new "big-boy" carseat. It's hard to believe he no longer fits in his old one. When Finley was first born he was too SMALL for his carseat.

Visit to the Salmonoid Centre

Canada Day brunch

Exploits River (view from our table at brunch)

Trying to keep a little one amused while waiting for brunch...

Whatever works, right?

Overtired kisses and giggles

They melt my heart

What I'm Loving Lately II

1. Every single moment that I get to cuddle with my little man. Finley likes to be on the move (or at least free to move), so I cherish every opportunity that he'll lay in my lap or falls asleep on my chest. I have a feeling that these are going to start becoming few and far between.

2. What They Don't Tell you About Motherhood. Some of these points are certainly interesting and very true. When you're pregnant, everyone tells you all the positive things about motherhood, but no one tells you how challenging and stressful it can be at times. I love Finley to death, but he has certainly given me a whole new bucket of worries.


3. Brighton Jogger from Fabletics in black. These pants are super lightweight and comfy, but I don't find they necessarily look like "work-out" pants —win-win! I just got this outfit from Fabletics for $25.00 plus shipping :)

4. These Gluten-free Morning Glory Muffins. I've been eating one every night after Finley goes to sleep. They're healthy, flavourful, and jam-packed full of nutrients.

5. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. I'm SO into this book right now that I have my nose in it every spare moment I have. I also really enjoyed her latest book, My Husband's Secret. 

6. Kayla Itsines's Bikini Body Guide. I just finished Week 1 of this program and it's no joke. Initially when I looked at the workouts I thought they would be relatively easy to get through, but boy was I wrong! 28 minutes of sweat-dripping torture. 

7. Why Fat Shaming Doesn't Promote Health and What you can do Instead.

8. "I Quit Sugar... and Nothing Happened"