This is a vague nod to the strawberry grain pot from Starbucks – ala @fitmenchef on Instagram. It’s hearty, packed with protein, and quick to whip up in a batch.
gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan
Strawberry Breakfast Grains
First, set the grains on to cook by combining:
1c quinoa
3C water
And cooking like you usually cook quinoa. I put mine on the “rice” setting of my slow cooker.
While that is working, make the strawberries.
To do so, combine:
800g frozen strawberries
100ml orange juice
6tsp cinnamon
4t butter
Sprinkle salt & black pepper
1 tsp vanilla powder
Sauté over medium until most of the water evaporates and the mix gets syrupy.
While those are both cooking, make the crème by combining:
350g soft tofu
10Tbsp collagen protein
1c oat milk
1tsp vanilla powder
Blend to combine.
When the quinoa is finished, mix in:
1.5c rolled oats
Let sit to cool.
When all is done, mix the crème into the grains and divide into 7 portions. Top with the strawberries.
To serve, you may want some added sugar – I ended up adding about a teaspoon and a half of maple sugar to each portion. I also added some of my favorite seed mix, though shaved almonds would be even better.
This is a killer weeknight crispy potato recipe that comes together quickly and requires zero added fat.
gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo
No Added Fat Crispy Air Fryer Potatoes
1 large baking potato, cut into bite-sized pieces
Lots of salt
A seasoning – I used chicken salt, but your current favorite potato seasoning would be perfect
Generously salt a pot of water.
Add your potatoes and bring up to a boil.
Boil until fork tender, about 8 mins.
During the last few minutes of cooking, preheat your air fryer to 400F.
When the potatoes are tender, drain and chuck back into the pot you cooked them in. Vigorously shake to break the potatoes up a bit and get them messy. Toss with your seasoning and air fry about 12 minutes, shaking a couple times during cooking, until your desired crispiness has been reached.
This is a blind stab at recreating the show-stopping salad served at Heenat Salma Farm last month during the yoga/Pilates day retreat I went to.
It’s not perfect – by far – and I meant to “fix” the issues the original had (too sweet dressing – needed acid and/or heat), but I’m not sure this hit the mark. It’s been like a month since I’ve tasted the original, and all those ingredients were organic farm fresh – so I did what I could.
This rendition is fantastic. Not the same as the other, but definitely craveable.
gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan
Heenat Salad
2 nectarines, chopped
8 dates, seeded and chopped
200g feta (I used vegan feta from Sheese), cubed
~2c kale, chopped
~4c red lettuce, chopped
~1/4c red onion, sliced into wafer thin moons
~1/2c walnuts, chopped
~1/2c (roughly 20) black olives, chopped
~1/4c cilantro, chopped
Dressing:
3Tbsp date syrup
2tsp cardamom (ground)
3Tbsp lime juice
6Tbsp olive oil
1tsp smoked paprika
Salt & pepper
Whisk dressing ingredients in a large bowl. Add all the salad ingredients (minus the feta) and massage in. Add the feta, generous salt & pepper and toss to combine.
This is a quick-n-dirty stir fry I threw together the first week back from vacation inspired by Thai flavors – without having to source a few specialty ingredients.
gluten-free, paleo
Simple Stir Fry
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
Zucchini, sliced into half moons
Bell pepper, chopped bite sized
Yellow onion, sliced into thin half moons
Green beans, chopped bite sized
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp fish sauce (check your labels for paleo & gluten free)
1 Tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
2 tsp chili garlic sauce
2 tsp ketjap manis (check your labels)
2 tsp molasses
Chop your veg. You are looking for about 5 – 6 cups total veg in whatever configuration you’ve got. Add to a large bowl.
Chop your chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the bowl.
In a small bowl, combine the sauces. Pour over the veg & meat and toss.
Preheat your air fryer to 400F for 3 mins.
Air fry your mixture for 8 or 9 minutes (I did 2 batches for a total of 19 minutes), tossing once or twice per go.
Serves 3 – 4 with no carbs; can easily stretch with carbs
We’ve been eating one of these steaks most nights we have been home these last few months – DH has perfected his method to a science. I just tried it and smoked the damn house out (again) 😂🙄🤷♀️.
gluten-free, paleo, keto
Air Fryer Steak
A steak – preferably ribeye or strip of about 12 – 14 ounces and an inch thick
A little butter
Your favorite seasoning (we use Lowry’s Seasoning Salt)
Preheat your air fryer on 400F for 3 minutes.
Season 1 side of your steak, add to the basket of the air fryer seasoning side down and season the other.
Let cook 3 minutes.
While that’s cooking, get a pan ripping hot. When DH does this, he uses the center burner of our stove – which apparently doesn’t get as hot as my favorite burner, which smoked the house out.
Cook 1:30 per side.
Remove from the heat, pop your little bit of butter on, and let rest a few minutes.
We slice ours into bite-sized pieces because we are heathens and have been having great fun with ‘kitchen steak’. Seats are for sides. 😆
These babies are a riff on Lions Head meatballs and use up a chunk of the bounty pork belly my wonderful DH brought home last week. One can only have so many days of pork belly slices in a row.
gluten-free, paleo
Pork Belly Meatballs
Meatballs:
500 – 600g pork belly, skin off
1 Tbsp soy sauce or coconut aminos
1 Tbsp oyster sauce (check your labels!)
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 inch ginger, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp sichuan pepper (I mashed 6 – 10 peppercorns with the butt of my knife to crush)
To form the meatballs, chuck all the ingredients in a food processor and work into a paste. Form into ping pong sized balls and set aside.
Simmer Sauce:
1.5 Tbsp oil
1 cube sugar
2 Tbsp ginger, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sichuan pepper
2 tsp 5-spice powder
2.5 c water
2.5 Tbsp soy sauce or coconut aminos
1/4 c mirin
2 tsp sweet soy (check your labels!)
1 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbsp water
Bring all simmer sauce ingredients but the cornstarch to a hard simmer in a large pan. Let simmer 5 minutes to reduce a bit and get the flavors to start working together.
Add the cornstarch slurry and let cook, stirring, a minute or so until you think it’s beginning to thicken.
Nestle the meatballs in the pan and cook, covered, 5 minutes.
Add 1/2 a package snow peas, halved, and a couple bok choy, chopped.
Pop the lid back on and let go 3 minutes. Take the lid off and continue cooking another 2 – 3 minutes.
Serves 3 – 4 for dinner as a stand-alone, if fleshed out with a carb could stretch another serving
This is a decadent dinner and can stretch – we found the fattiness of the pork meant we didn’t need a huge hunk for dinner. I expect this piece we did to last 4-5 servings, depending on what else we do with it.
gluten-free, paleo, keto
The back half looks a little brown – this was after the first smoking incident, caused by the oven. With a little more smoke. Still damn good though.
Air Fryer Pork Belly
500-600g pork belly
2 Tbsp rice vinegar, divided
1 tsp Chinese 5-spice (or any 5-spice kind of situation, really – I think mine isn’t strictly Chinese, but that is what I was going for)
Salt & pepper
Score the skin of your pork belly about every half inch or so.
Add to a shallow dish (I used one of my largest Tupperware). Sprinkle with half the rice vinegar and dust with the 5-spice. Add some pepper.
Flip, pat the skin dry and let sit uncovered in the fridge 4 hours to overnight.
Preheat your air fryer to 180C.
Flip the pork belly again, sprinkle with the rest of the vinegar and add a healthy amount of chunky salt.
Put on tinfoil, and fold/tuck the sides up to make a little tray.
Add to your air fryer and cook :45 – 1 hour.
Note: This may cause life to become smoky. I smoked the house out and have no idea why; the fat didn’t leak and nothing was burned.
Either way, brush the salt off the top.
If your life is smoky, finish off in the oven at 400 until the skin cracks.
If you managed to avoid such drama, crank the air fryer up to 400 and do the same. This should take 5 – 10 mins.
Enjoy! We have eaten this as-is alongside some parsnips one night and drizzled with a little sweet soy the next. I’m scheming a jammy wine sauce for a third night.
Gastography 