Cauliflower Crust Pizza, by Cheryl

I've been wanting to make this for a while. Well, really anything with cauliflower as a base, be it pizza or breadsticks. The taste of this was very good. It looks like pizza, it smells like pizza, BUT it doesn't fill you up like pizza, as Jon and I quickly noticed when an hour later we were standing in front of the fridge wondering what else we should eat. I wouldn't make this again for dinner and if I made it for lunch it would need to be accompanied with something else. It would make a great snack! Yum!

Ingredients (recipe from here):

2 pounds cauliflower florets, riced

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup goat cheese (I used a four cheese mix)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

pinch of salt

Directions: 

1) Preheat oven to 400.

2) Pulse batches of cauliflower in a food processor until riced. I learned the hard way and tried to stuff it all in there and I had to take out some florets in order for it to continue processing.

3) Bring some water to a boil and cook the cauliflower for 4-5 minutes. Strain, then transfer to a thin dishtowel or cheese cloth. Wrap the cauliflower up, squeeze, and drain as much water as you can to get all of the water out. Squeeze it out! You want it dry.

4) In a large bowl mix the cauliflower, egg, goat cheese, and spices. Use your hands if you need to!

5) Press the dough out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Keep the dough about 1/3 inch thick. 

6) Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. 

7) Load on your toppings (sauce, cheese, veggies, etc.) and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. 

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, by Cheryl

Wowsers this was good! The spiciness of the buffalo chicken was cut by the sweet potato and blue cheese, and they all went together so smoothly. Letting the chicken sit in the sauce on the stove for a little bit made it very tender and juicy. I couldn't even wait until lunch time the next day to finish the leftovers... I had them at 9:45 in the morning! Yum!

Ingredients (recipe modified from here):

6 Sweet potatoes
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, shredded
Blue cheese dressing
parsley

Buffalo Sauce:
2/3 cup Frank's Original Sauce
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1.5 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water

Directions:

1) Bake the sweet potatoes until tender (I microwaved them).

2) Boil the chicken breasts for 30 minutes in a large pot. Drain and transfer the chicken breasts to a cutting board. When cool, shred the chicken breasts with a fork and your fingers.

3) In a large pot over medium heat, combine hot sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder. Add butter and whisk until melted. Stir in cornstarch with water. Add the shredded chicken and mix thoroughly.

4) Stuff sweet potatoes with the shredded chicken. Drizzle desired amount of blue cheese dressing on top. Top with parsley.

Speedy Weeknight Meatballs, by Diane

I came across this recipe on instagram from The Body Book, and was intrigued because the recipe did not call for breadcrumbs of any kind. Since I typically pick high protein, low carb meals I thought I would give this one a try. It came together in less than 5 min, and cooked for 20 in the oven. The result was so easy and so tasty, I'll definitely be making these for lunches, dinners, and snacks! I was pretty amazed that you didn't need any type of filler to make this recipe work!


Ingredients:

2 pounds grass-fed beef
1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley OR 1 1/2 tablespoons dry parsley
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 a medium onion, minced (use whatever kind of onion you have on hand)
1 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 large egg


Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Time to get messy! Using your (freshly washed) hands, mix the ingredients until everything is well blended.
3. Gently roll the meat into golfball size portions. Arrange the meatballs on baking sheets.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until meat is cooked through.
5. Enjoy warm or store leftovers in fridge for up to 5 days or in freezer for a month.

Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing, by Diane

At our recent healthy potluck for work, a coworker brought this amazing salad recipe. It was an instant hit, and strangely addicting for a salad. I have eaten this salad for about 3 weeks straight since the party, and each time it is so good that I get to the bottom of the bowl before remembering that I need to take a photo of it for the blog! And, Cheryl and I know what happens when you take a photo at the very bottom of the bowl!!! The above photo is just about the 104th time I've eaten this salad since I made the draft of this blog entry, but I was finally successful in remembering to document it before diving in!

My favorite combo of ingredients in here include cabbage, radishes, carrots, green onions, cilantro, avocado, and green beans. But the original ingredients as posted below are really great (plus avocados!). It goes really well with chicken too! The dressing, which is the key to this addictive dish, would be amazing on just about anything so I'm going to experiment with uses for that as well!

Ingredients:
  
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, from one lime
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2-1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1-inch square piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
4 cups chopped Napa cabbage, shredded red cabbage, or shredded coleslaw mix

1 cup prepared shredded carrots

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 small English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
1 cup cooked and shelled edamame
2 medium scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup loosely packed chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. For the dressing, combine all of the ingredients except for the cilantro in a blender and process until completely smooth. Add the cilantro and blend for a few seconds until the cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. For the salad, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine. If serving right away, drizzle the peanut dressing over top and toss; otherwise, serve the dressing on the side so the salad doesn't get soggy.

Garlic Spring Zoodles with Crunchy Almonds, by Diane

This side dish was created out of leftovers that I had on hand, and it was such a delicious concoction that I have made it three times this week including one occasion for a dinner party side and it was a complete hit! It's easy to customize and quick to make. For the first time I created this dish, I pulled all the veggies out of a batch of chicken zoodle soup so they had been soaking in my homemade chicken broth, but you can use fresh veggies on hand as I did the next two times I made this dish.


Ingredients:

4 tbsp EVOO
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 cup slivered almonds
2 large zucchini, spiralized into zoodles
4 carrots, shredded/spiralized/chopped
1 cup frozen sweet peas
Sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes


Directions:

1. Heat EVOO in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add in garlic and almonds, cook until garlic becomes fragrant and both garlic and almonds brown slightly. Remove garlic and discard (or chop finely and throw it back in at the end).

2. Add in remaining ingredients, cook until softened.