Tag Archives: protein

California Power Bowls

I am truly Californian – born and raised at the beach, a lover of summer, a practitioner of yoga and meditation, and a lover of fresh, healthy cuisine.  Most of my food is inspired by the Mediterranean and created with a California sensibility.  My California Power Bowls are a prime example of this – a perfect blend of Mediterranean and Californian ingredients and flavors designed to at once satisfy the nutritional needs of an active lifestyle and the desires of the taste buds.

These bowls have everything going for them – tuna for lean protein, quinoa and brown rice pasta for complex carb fuel, greens and veggies for vitamins, fiber, and hydration, and avocado and avocado oil based dressing for heart healthy fats.  They are satisfying without being too filling, cooling and hydrating, and of course, tasty as hell!

The dressing I like to use for these bowls is Primal Kitchen’s Ranch Dressing.  Primal Kitchen produces salad dressings, mayos, marinades, and sauces all made from real food, organic ingredients without the nonsense you find in many other store bought options.  While many store bought dressings, mayos, and the like are made with refined oils like canola oil, Primal Kitchen’s products are made with avocado oil which is a superior oil rich in good fatty acids and vitamins.  All Primal Kitchen products are Paleo and Keto friendly and they have Vegan options as well.  Their ranch dressings have all the savory, cool flavors of classic ranch without the dairy and other processed ingredients and are the perfect topping for my California Power Bowls.  Order Primal Kitchen here!

ORDER PRIMAL KITCHEN

Now, let’s make the California Power Bowls –

California Power Bowls
featuring Primal Kitchen’s Ranch Dressing

Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 10 minutes | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • ½ can to 1 can of tuna in olive oil
  • 1 ½ cups salad greens
  • ½ cup tomato, chopped
  • ¼ cup cucumber, chopped
  •  ¼  cup red onion, sliced
  • ¼ cup shredded carrots
  • 1 cup quinoa, brown rice, or other gluten-free pasta, cooked and chilled
  • ½ medium avocado
  • 2 tablespoons Primal Kitchen Ranch Dressing

Directions:

Assemble ingredients tuna through pasta side by side in a large bowl.  Drizzle with Primal Kitchen Ranch Dressing.  Top with avocado.  Eat and enjoy!

Rise Bar Partnership

Need a snack? I got one for you! Rise Bar’s new Mocha Almond Protein Bar tastes like an afternoon pick-me-up from your favorite coffee shop but with the nutrition you need to stay strong and keep on throughout your day.

It’s made with only 5 real food ingredients:
Almonds 
Honey
Whey protein
Carob powder
100% Arabica coffee beans

Rise Bar’s are:
Non-gmo
Soy-free
Grain-free
And have no artificial sweetners

With Rise Bar’s Mocha Almond Protein Bar, you can trust you’re giving your body wholesome fuel while also enjoying a boost of caffeine.

Find this flavor as well as Rise Bar’s other delicious flavors at a store near you or order online by tapping the link below.

https://risebar.com/

Paleo Turkey Meatballs

Ciao friends! It’s been a minute since I shared a recipe with my readers; but after posting a picture of my Paleo Turkey Meatballs on Instagram and receiving a hoard of requests for the recipe, I figured it was time. I created this recipe a few years back with the goal of combining rich, comforting Italian flavors with the health conscious focus of California cuisine. These meatballs are nutrient packed and flavorful – the best of both worlds! This recipe is easy to make and relatively inexpensive. I suggest serving these Paleo Turkey Meatballs with your favorite marinara sauce and zoodles or spaghetti squash for a California coast version of an Italian dinner.

Full written recipe and visuals below.

Click through the gallery below to learn more about the recipe’s process.

Paleo Turkey Meatballs

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

    • 1 lb ground turkey
    • 1 egg
    • 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
    • ¼ cup almond or cassava flour
    • 1 small onion, chopped
    • 2 tablespoons crushed garlic
    • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
    • ¼ cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
    • ¼ fresh parsley, chopped
    • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
    • 2 teaspoons ground fennel seed
    • 1 pinch red pepper flakes
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • 2 teaspoons black pepper
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Combine all ingredients, except turkey and olive oil, in a large bowl and mix well. Add the turkey to the bowl and using your hands mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed through the turkey. Take small handfuls of the turkey mix and roll into 2-3 inch meatballs. Place the meatballs on a greased baking sheet evenly spaced apart. Drizzle the meatballs with the olive oil.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through (no longer pink inside).
Serve with your favorite sauce over pasta, rice, polenta, spaghetti squash, or zoodles.

Tip: Fill up a large bowl with warm water and have nearby. In between rolling meatballs, dunk your hands in the water to avoid them getting sticky and causing difficulty making more balls.

Notes:
*If desired, substitute ground chicken for ground turkey
*If desired, substitute quinoa or chickpea flour for almond or cassava flour – the recipe will no longer strictly be Paleo with these flours but still close

If you make ( and enjoy) this recipe, please tag me at @johnnylapasta on Instagram and Twitter with a photo of your completed meal!

Snack Time!

Since I am the resident foodie and nutrition-nut in many of my friend circles, I am constantly asked about what I eat, where I buy it, and what brands I support. Thus, I figured it was about time I created a post or two in order to answer these questions and provide some sought after recommendations. This post is dedicated to my favorite snacks!

I need my snacks, in fact, I would be extinct without them. Living the active life that I do, I need to eat every 2.5-3.5 hours or I feel like my stomach starts cannibalizing itself and as though my muscles are eroding. And it is at that time I become a major B. So it is best that I always have my nutrient dense and satisfying snacks, like the ones below!

Continue reading →

Slow Cooker Vegan Lentil & Spinach Stew

It’s been awhile since I created and shared a new recipe with you all. I have been in a bit of a culinary rut as of late, mostly cooking tried and true classics for the past couple of months. Today, however, I felt the urge to create something new on impulse and thus this Slow Cooker Vegan Lentil & Spinach Stew was born. I love a good plant-based soup, and particularly one that you can make entirely in the slow cooker, minimizing the active cooking time to almost nothing. This recipe ended up hitting all of the marks with its five minutes of prep and incredibly warming, earthy flavors and feel. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Slow Cooker Lentil & Spinach Stew

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: Absurdly Easy
  • Print

  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 1/2 cups green lentils
  • 1 15oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons pepper
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1 tablespoon turmeric
  • Pinch cayenne
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups Spinach
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Directions:

Combine all ingredients onion thru bay leaf in a slow cooker. Stir to combine. Cook on low 6 hours or high 3 hours. When ready to serve, stir in the vinegar and spinach until wilted. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo

My Slow Cooker, Carlotta, is the best. She makes me all sorts of delicious foods from soups and stews to braises and poaches, she can do it all! One of my favorite dishes that I like to have Carlotta the Slow Cooker whip up is this Chicken Adobo. It is an incredibly simple dish, requiring few ingredients and only minutes of minimal effort to prepare.

It is rich with a flavor profile that is at once lightly spicy and subtly smokey. Additionally, the small shopping list for this recipe makes it quite cost effective.  It is also fit-fam friendly; it is completely gluten and dairy free and low in both fat and sugar. Combine all this with the fact that it is such an absurdly simple recipe to prepare and you will soon find this dish in your regular rotation.

I like to serve my chicken adobo with some zesty Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice and seasonal vegetables or zoodles. You can also shred the slow cooker level tender chicken to incorporate into tacos, enchiladas, or on top of a salad. Once the slow cooker has produced this great main dish for you, the world is yours to do with it as you please!

So whip out your Slow Cooker, name it like me, and get cooking!

Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
  • 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
  • 3-4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce *see note*
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 pinches salt
  • 1 pinch pepper
  • Cilantro for garnish

Directions:

Lay the chicken pieces at the bottom of the slow cooker. Pour over the tomato sauce. Add in the remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours. Option to shred chicken with forks or serve in whole pieces.

*Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce Note 1* You can find these peppers in small cans in the ethnic foods isle of your local grocery store. See picture below.

*Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce Note 2* The more peppers, the spicier the recipe. The use of 2 is quite mild, the use of 4 is decently spicy but nothing crazy. You pick your level of spice!

 

 

Place chicken in slow cooker…
Key ingredient! Found in your ethnic foods isle.
Pour and sprinkle everything on top of the chicken.
Cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2 hours….
Serve and enjoy!

Healthy Food Swaps

Another year, another bunch of resolutions to be healthier! At this time of year, I know that many of you are researching ways in which you can make more healthful, fitness forward decisions. I’ve published several posts to help you with this: “Moderation – Balance – Lifestyle”, “Quick Health Tips”, and “8 Things Fit People Do”. Today, I publish another! This post is all about healthy food swaps; foods you can substitute in for other foods that are on the leaner side. So here we go!

Continue reading →

Honey Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup

One of the best parts of travel is indulging in the foods of the lands in which you are visiting. You enjoy the distinctive flavors and cooking styles, and maybe even receive a little culinary inspiration to take home with you! When I was in Scotland this past October, my mum and I stopped in at a little place that had been recommended to us by several locals: Clarinda’s Tea Room. Clarinda’s Tea Room is a truly quaint establishment with soft tea-time-like décor, serving up affordable, comforting, tasty breakfasts and lunches along with a bounty of cakes, scones, biscuits, and of course, tea.

We enjoyed lunch at Clarinda’s, opting for the half sandwich and soup special. That day, the soup du jour was a Honey Roasted Parsnip Soup, and it was delightful. Being Scotland in the autumn, the weather is quite gray, cool, and rainy, and so many seasonal dishes feature hearty root vegetables that are warming and comforting; this soup was exactly that.

Clarinda’s Tea Room – Honey Roasted Parsnip Soup

parsnip-soup-clarindas-tea-room

Whilst eating the soup, I received the inspiration and came up with the concept for my own root vegetable soup. Just over a week after returning to America from the United Kingdom, I put that culinary inspiration to the test and this was the very tasty result!

My version! Honey Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup

carrot-parsnip-soup-20

This Honey Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup is both sweet and savory, soulfully warming and superbly comforting. It reminds me of that Parsnip Soup I had at Clarinda’s, and is in many ways a colorful cousin to that soup. Sweetly roasted carrots and parsnips, savory sautéed onions, pungent garlic, and woodsy thyme and rosemary give this soup great depth of flavors that contrast and complement one another. The addition of cannellini beans makes this soup even heartier with a boost of protein, but also helps the soup to become creamy when pureed without the addition of any dairy products. This soup is completely vegan, requires very few ingredients, and can be put together in a pinch!

I’m really proud of how this recipe has turned out, and am even more taken with it as it was conceived in Scotland; now, anytime I make it, I will always remember my incredible journey there. And all of us can eat this soup for its great and cozy flavors that are perfect to be enjoyed all fall and winter long!

Honey Roasted Carrot & Parsnip Soup

Serves: 4-6 | Prep Time: 50 minutes | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • 2 large or 3 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 3 large or 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 5-6 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Arrange the parsnips and carrots on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the honey, half of the salt and pepper, and the thyme leaves. Toss until all the carrots and parsnips are coated well. Roast for 30 minutes until tender and slightly caramelized. Remove from the oven.

Over medium-high heat, heat the remaining olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion and season with a pinch of salt and pepper, cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the roasted parsnips and carrots, toss all together. Add the beans, vegetable stock, rosemary, and bay leaf. Season with remaining salt and pepper. Stir. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Uncover and remove the bay leaf. Puree by use of immersion hand blender or by transferring the soup to a food processor in small batches. Puree until completely smooth. Serve and enjoy!

Like this recipe? Let me know in the comments! Did you make this recipe? Tag me on Instagram @johnnylapasta!

Quick Health Tips

As we continue forward into the New Year, there is an extreme emphasis on health and fitness with many, many people resolving to pursue better health and fitness for themselves in 2016. Now, if you have read my latest post MODERATION-BALANCE-LIFESTYLE, you will know that I believe in finding a kind way to get one’s self into a greater state of wellness with a more healthful lifestyle that one can sustain over a long period of time. If you hadn’t read that post, please do.

I am, however, fully aware that many of you would like quick health tips to adopt into your life to obtain a better shape and hopefully build a healthier lifestyle overall. And so, I am happy to share some of those with you here. Many of these will be tips that you have heard before, but I repeat them here because in my experience, they work. I will keep them short and sweet so that they are easy to remember and refer to.

Continue reading →

Moderation – Balance – Lifestyle

Ciao friends and a very Happy New Year to you! And with it being the New Year, I know that there is a definite focus and even craze around New Year’s Resolutions; specifically health and fitness based resolutions. It seems to be the same story every year. On the one hand, it’s great; it’s wonderful that folks can look at the beginning of a New Year as a time of renewal and a time to make changes. On the other hand, however, I find that New Year’s resolutions, especially those around health and fitness, lead people to be unkind to themselves in the pursuit of their goals and more often than not end up abandoning the journey towards those goals a month or two into the year. I mean not to sound arrogant, but because I do appear to live my life, eat well, and remain in good shape, every year around Christmas and New Year’s my friends and family, my colleagues, my students, and even complete strangers ask me for advice about how to become fitter, healthier, and remain that way. So today, I am going to talk a little bit about how I have found success and offer you some tips into how you may as well!

Continue reading →

1 2
Blog at WordPress.com.