Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls - 6g carbs

Makes 5 cinnamon rolls

It may look like a lot of ingredients, but really, a lot get repeated! Don't get overwhelmed yet! 

Ingredients: 

Dry

3/4 C (70g) Blanched Almond Flour (mine was purchased in bulk, 2g carbs per 1/4 C)

1/3 C (28g) whey protein 

20g arrow root powder

2 Tbsp (20 g) psyllium husk powder

4 packets stevia

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

Wet

2 tsp yeast

1/4 warm water

1 Tbsp (22g) pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 Tbsp melted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Filling

2 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp pumpkin puree 

1 Tbsp Cinnamon

(any additional pumpkin pie spices you'd like)

1 packet stevia

Cream Cheese Icing

4 tbsp Cream Cheese (60 g)

1 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp pumpkin puree

1 Tbsp almond milk (unsweetened)

2 packets stevia

cinnamon/nutmeg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

To begin, melt your butter in medium bowl, and add the warm water, pumpkin and yeast. Mix together and set aside for 10 minutes. Mix in 1 egg and vanilla.

In a larger bowl (while waiting for the 10 minutes with the yeast), combine the dry ingredients. 

Once the wet and dry ingredients have all been added to their bowls, combine the two in the larger bowl and mix together. Let this set aside for another 15 minutes or so (while you assemble the next few ingredients).

In a small bowl, melt the butter for the cinnamon filling. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. 

Last, combine 60g of room temperature cream cheese, melted butter, and the remaining icing ingredients and whip with a whisk or hand held mixer until all the lumps have disappeared. 

Because the dough is more batter than bread dough right now, I decided to go with muffin tins for mine, and 'layer' instead of 'roll' the cinnamon filling. Make sure to spray each muffin tin with cooking spray! 

Now, begin to layer, using roughly 1tbsp of batter at a time - spread it out among the surface of the muffin tin, and then add about 1tsp of the cinnamon filling. I got 3 layers of dough and 3 layers of cinnamon out of mine! (As seen below)

Bake the cinnamon rolls/buns/what have you, for 15-17 minutes or until the tops begin to golden up. 

Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, then flip the rolls out and transfer to a plate.

Icing time!! (No need to use sparingly, you've got pleeeenty of icing for these 5 rolls if you followed the recipe) 

Avo-nana Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

83 calories per cookie. I repeat. 83 calories per cookie! Chocolaty, fudgey cookies... How can you go wrong?!

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado (100g)
1 ripe banana (100 g)
1/4 C egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp honey
1/2 C dark chocolate cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, blend together the avocado, banana, vanilla and honey. Puree until smooth.

Next, add the cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Blend until all the dry ingredients are incorporated with the wet.

Last, add your chocolate chips and manually stir them in. (Trust me, if you try to pulse them, you'll just spray your batter all over the food processing bowl...)

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Spoon out 9 cookies worth onto the sheet and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Once they've been out of the oven for 5 minutes or so, and had a chance to cool, I find that your best bet of getting them off the baking lining all in one piece is to pop them (baking sheet included) in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes - this will harden them up, and allow you to peel the cookies off the paper.

I'd suggest storing them in the fridge for safe keeping! Plus, who knows, you may just inhale them all if they're staring at you on the counter for too long... ;)

Autumn Souffle

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash (or similar) - cooked
1/2 yellow onion - chopped
10 sage leaves - chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp butter - melted
4 egg yolks (separate & set whites to side in another bowl)
salt
pepper

1 1/2 C beyond-meat ground beef (for vegetarian, or use real ground beef for not)

4 egg whites

1/4 C almonds - chopped
1/4 C walnuts  - chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Steam the butternut squash in the microwave, or cook in the oven, until it is very soft. I added a little salt free veggie broth to mine while it steamed!

Saute the onion and olive oil on medium heat until translucent.  Add the sage and garlic and cook for another minute or so. Divide the onion mixture in half - add half to the 8X8 baking pan to be mixed with the ground beef, and half to a mixing bowl to be combined with the squash.

In the large mixing bowl, scoop out the flesh of the squash and combine with the sauteed onions, melted butter and egg yolks. Use an immersion blender to puree the ingredients together. You could also use a blender instead in order to get a smooth, creamy texture.

With *clean* hand mixer, beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form.

Add the egg whites to the bowl with the rest of the squash mixture and fold together carefully - you don't want to mix too much or you'll mix out all of the stiffness of the egg whites!

In an 8x8 baking dish, cover the bottom with your meat mixture & onions. Top gently with the squash mixture and spread evenly around. Sprinkle top with chopped nuts. Bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees.

Eggplant 'steaks' & pulled 'pork'n'beans - Vegan

Ahhh... Labor day weekend. Fire up the grill, put on the suits, and crack open a beer - vegan style!

Steak Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant
oil
liquid smoke
Montreal steak seasoning

Pulled 'pork'n'beans Ingredients:
1 small sweet potato, shredded
1 can pinto beans, rinsed
4 tbsp your favorite (vegan if you choose) BBQ sauce
*liquid smoke, onion powder, garlic powder to your liking...

Slice eggplant to a thickness of about a 1/4 inch. Sprinkle with salt on both sides and let 'sweat' for about 30 minutes (this part isn't necessary, but the more liquid that remains in the eggplant, the longer it will take to cook on the grill & the mushier it will taste).

Once you've blotted your eggplant with a paper towel, brush each side lightly with olive oil, and on one side, brush with liquid smoke, the other side, sprinkle with steak seasoning!

Grill on medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side.  (I also sliced up some potatoes to throw on the grill - as seen pictured above)

Meanwhile, mix the ingredients for the pulled pork on the stove top, and let cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes - stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.

Serve either together or separately!

Serves 2 @ roughly 400 calories per serving!

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies - Vegan & Gluten Free

Ingredients: 

2 1/2 C black beans (rinsed, no salt added)
1 1/4 C pumpkin puree
5 1/2 Tbsp Coconut Nectar (or honey, for non-vegan)
1/2 C dark cocoa powder
1 1/4 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp water
1 (+) tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

*1/2 C (vegan) chocolate chips*

Makes 16 brownies at 87 calories per serving! (only 50 calories without the chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x16 baking pan.

In a food processor, combine all ingredients (omit the chocolate chips) and puree until smooth.

Pour batter in baking pan and sprinkle in chocolate chips. Smooth over (covering the chocolate chips so they don't burn on the top) and bake in oven for 30 minutes.

Let cool and cut into 16 brownies.

One Bite at a Time...

I think about food. A lot. Just the other night, I kept thinking to myself "Oh, I'll just have 1 bite..."  Well, one bite of this, one bite of that, and 3 pounds later, I really did some damage!

The damage inspired the following poem:

One Bite...

One bite at a time

It helps or it hurts

One bite at a time

It tempts and it flirts

One bite at a time

but the bites add up

One bite at a time

til you can't coverup

One bite at a time

Feed your body or brain?

One bite at a time

And both you can train.

One bite at a time

Choose this or choose that

One bite at a time

building muscle or fat

One bite at a time

which bite will you choose?

One bite at a time

how much will you lose?  

Chipotle Slaw - Vegan

Ingredients: 

1 small head cabbage

1 medium red onion

1 large red bell pepper

15-20 baby carrots

1 cup black beans

Sauce: 

1 avocado

juice of 4 limes

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp fresh cilantro

1 tsp salt

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp chipotle powder

Shred all veggies to slaw consistency. Mix in a large bowl, and add 1 cup black beans. 

In a food processor, combine the last 8 ingredients and puree until smooth. 

Mix the sauce with the veggies and refrigerate before serving. 

4 servings  

Per serving:

212calories

36carbs

6fat

8protein

12fiber

13sugar