superfitbabe

If you already watched this video by going on my YouTube channel, reading my last post, or just browsing online on my social media with the link, then you are AWESOME. But if you haven’t, then no worries, you can do so right now while reading the entire layout of all of these fantastic recipes that I’ve provided in the video, along with my morning workout!

The reason why I love this video so much is not only because I love all of the recipes in it, but because it captured one of the only days where my family and I cooked lunch and dinner all together. I don’t know about you, but I love cooking with a group of people or another person. It’s a great way to bond, to have fun, to make a mess and to taste great food! Plus, these dishes are all completely wholesome, plant based, and if you omit the soy sauce and almond milk, free from gluten, soy, wheat and nuts!

You don’t have to make these recipes vegan, either. If you’re vegetarian, you can use dairy and eggs, or add some meat to your pasta and salads if you’re a die-hard carnivore!

CHOCOLATE AND STRAWBERRY VEGAN BLENDER-FREE ICE CREAM

I don’t know about you, but breakfast has to be my favorite meal of the day, because it’s the first, I get to make sweet treats, and I also feel the hungriest so I enjoy the food even more. Post-workout, I whipped up some blender-free soft serve that I actually found on one of my favorite fitness blogs and YouTube channels run by Josie Mai, who is an incredible role model on not only living healthily, but living balanced and intuitively–following your body’s cues and listening to what you want rather than what you feel obligated to. Highly recommend her, and I give her all credits to this recipe right here, but you will probably remember doing this as a science experiment when you were in elementary school!

Her soft-serve recipe actually originally called for protein powder with almond milk, but you don’t even have to use protein powder! The almond milk I actually used was already infused with protein (Orgain unsweetened almond milk), so I basically just made two flavors: a rich dark chocolate ice cream and a sweet strawberry and cinnamon ice cream, both of which taste amazing and can also be really customizeable.

You can also use peanut butter, peanut flour, maca powder, matcha powder, spices, coconut sugar, blueberries, chocolate chips, nuts; you can also switch up the milks and use coconut milk, rice milk, soy milk, hemp milk, cashew milk–cashew and coconut will probably be the creamiest–or even regular milk if you’re not vegan or lactose intolerant. Yes, the texture of the ice cream isn’t like a smoothie bowl or nana ice cream, but it is a fantastic alternative if you have that serious soft-serve craving and your blender just so happens to be broken or absentee from the kitchen.

If you want to make only one flavor, simply use one sandwich bag and double the recipe; if you want to make five flavors, use five sandwich bags and divide the milk quantities (not that I recommend doing all that work). However, I love making different flavors because you get multiple levels of sweetness and multiple types of flavors!

RECIPE (for both ice creams)

• 1 large Ziploc bag
• 2 sandwich-sized Ziploc bags
• 2 cups ice
• 1 cup salt

RECIPE (chocolate ice cream)

• 1 cup plant based milk of choice; I used Orgain unsweetened protein almond milk
• 1 1/2 TBSP cacao powder (you may reduce or increase the quantities depending on how strong of a flavor you like your chocolate ice cream)
• Sweetener to taste; I recommend a dry sweetener to blend better such as Stevia, coconut sugar, brown sugar, etc.
• Opt: chocolate chips, dates, nuts, seeds, fruit, nut butter, coconut, protein powder, etc.

RECIPE (strawberry cinnamon ice cream)

• 1 cup plant based milk of choice
• 1/3 cup strawberries, chopped; you can use more or less
• Cinnamon to taste; I used 3/4 tsp because I LOVE cinnamon 🙂
• Sweetener to taste; I used Stevia, but again, use a dry sweetener
• Opt: protein powder, cacao powder, nut butter, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, fruit, coconut, etc.

PROCEDURE

1. Place dry ingredients (protein powder, cacao powder, sweetener and/or strawberries) in a sandwich-sized bag.
2. Measure out 1 cup of almond milk and pour in the sandwich bag.
3. Seal the bag tightly, removing all air out of the bag.
4. Carefully mix the dry and wet ingredients together until smooth and there are no dry clumps.
5. Add the ice in your large Ziploc bag and place the tightly sealed sandwich bag with your mixture inside.
6. Measure out your salt and pour all over the sandwich bag and ice.
   1. Note: the more salt you use, the quicker the chemical reactions will occur and the quicker your ice cream freezes!
7. Close the large bag tightly.
8. Shake the two bags for 4 minutes or more depending on how quickly your ice cream starts to solidify.
9. Pour your ice cream in a bowl and enjoy it right there, or you can mix it around, freeze it for a little, and use an ice cream scoop to serve with toppings.

VEGAN EDAMAME SPAGHETTI WITH KALE, MUSHROOMS AND BELL PEPPERS

Now this recipe is absolutely incredible and has to be one of my favorite pasta recipes in the world! I love it because it is so flavorful, so simple and so full of different tastes and textures from the vegetables and spices molded into the edamame noodles.

Just like the soft-serve recipe above, you can customize the ingredients to your liking with the edamame pasta as the base. This pasta is actually quite mild, but it has a slight buttery, savory and very delicious texture and flavor that makes it so hearty and versatile! I would highly recommend a fresh avocado and basil pesto, raw marinara sauce, a peanut sauce, or if you’re not vegan, a classic, comfort meat sauce! Note that if you do use meat sauce, you’ll be getting in a lot of muscle-building protein 😉

You can also keep the vegetables raw if you like them that way, but I like my vegetables a little bit soft and hot from the pan, especially because of the weather during the winter time, even though it really depends on the vegetables. For instance, I prefer raw spinach but I also prefer cooked broccoli (onions and tomatoes are the only two that I have no preference for). We’re actually getting a lot more rain which is perfect for the California drought, but that does mean bundling up and eating more warming foods!

Now I know that soy sauce isn’t the healthiest out there, because firstly, it’s soy, an ingredient that is so highly processed in America that there are way too many unnatural components in it to outweigh the present nutrients in the soy. Be very careful where you get your soy products: I always make sure my soy ingredients are organic and certified non-GMO, free of any weird additives I can’t pronounce. Secondly, soy sauce is high in sodium, but you can easily get a low sodium soy sauce. For those of you who are gluten free, simply omit the soy sauce or swap for another gluten free sauce.

RECIPE

• Half a box of Explore Asian Organic Edamame Spaghetti (or Edamame Fettuccine)
• 1 white onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 stalks of kale
• 2-3 cups of mushrooms; we used three because we love mushrooms 🙂
• Low sodium soy sauce to taste, or any other complementary sauce
• Boiling water for the pasta
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Opt: garlic, cayenne, broccoli, kale, spinach, sweet potato, squash, zucchini, carrots, etc.

PROCEDURE

1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot and add a pinch of salt.
2. Chop up kale, mushrooms, onion and bell peppers.
3. Saute onion on a nonstick pan with garlic
4. Add pasta to the boiling water and stir around frequently.
5. When the pasta wilts, let simmer at the lowest possible heat.
6. Add bell peppers, kale, mushrooms and soy sauce to the onion nonstick pan and saute around until cooked. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Drain pasta until all water is extracted and serve in a large bowl and mix with the sauce and vegetables.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

My family wasn’t always a fan of butternut squash. In fact, it was almost unheard of even after I introduced sweet potatoes in the house. Heck, they even gawked at my kabocha (“What is that even?!”) and now they love eating it in savory dishes!

I don’t know if you can tell but I have an obsession with squash of all kinds. I love it because it’s warm like a comfort food but also very filling and very nutrient dense. Plus, you can enjoy it so many ways, whether in a stir-fry, salad, soup, cut into wedges, or even sweet in oatmeal, with cinnamon, in baked goods or even blended in my favorite chocolate pudding!

This is something I’ve had during my winter break and it’s actually been a staple in my house for this cold weather. You don’t even have to use vegetable broth–this soup has been successful with just water too, so as long as you add plenty of delicious spices to make it tasty! It’s also a great way to sneak in some vegetables to stubborn sisters kids who hate eating them.

RECIPE

• 5 cups of peeled and chopped butternut squash
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• Vegetable broth to desired thickness and taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Opt: coconut milk, cayenne, cinnamon, curry powder, etc.

PROCEDURE

1. Saute the onion, garlic, butternut squash and salt and pepper in a nonstick pan until soft and aromatic.
2. Blend all ingredients with the broth in a food processor and season to liking.

BRUSSEL SPROUTS ARUGULA SALAD

Similar take on my winter grains and black bean salad, I absolutely love arugula in salads. It’s a very bitter but refreshing green that goes so well with a lot of things–eggs, tomatoes, Mozzarella, lemon, berries, figs, pecans, avocado, and many more.

You can honestly do whatever you want with a salad, but just make sure it’s packed with plenty of variety. If you have a plain salad with a few tomatoes, cucumbers, and then a tablespoon of dressing, you’re going to want to finish that dressing when you’re on the brink of starvation and not any time sooner. You need whole grains for fiber and protein, more vegetables for a wider array of nutrients and an alkalizing dressing such as lemon juice and olive oil. Please try this out–you cannot go wrong with it!

RECIPE

• 2.5-3 cups of Brussel sprouts, destemmed
• 1 box of wild arugula
• 1 cup of butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• 2/3 cup quinoa, cooked (can use more if you want to)
• Lemon juice and dressing to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Opt: avocado, vegan cheese, figs, cranberries, pecans, olive oil or coconut oil for Brussel sprouts

PROCEDURE

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Chop Brussel sprouts in halves or in pieces.
3. Line a baking tray and roast the Brussel sprouts for 25-30 minutes or until crispy on the outside.
4. Saute butternut squash in a nonstick pan until soft.
5. Mix arugula, salt and pepper, dressing, quinoa, Brussel sprouts and butternut squash together in a large bowl and serve.

ARTICHOKE AND TOMATO STEW

RECIPE

• 1 can of artichoke hearts
• 1 can of organic plum tomatoes
• 1.5-2 cups of cherry tomatoes (can use more)
• 1/2-1 white onion
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Opt: vegetable broth, water, more veggies, more spices, olive oil, etc.

PROCEDURE

1. Drain can of artichokes and rinse the artichoke hearts.
2. Drain can of plum tomatoes.
3. Slice the cherry tomatoes in halves.
4. Chop the onion finely.
5. Heat a nonstick pan on medium heat and stir-fry garlic and onion until fragrant.
6. Add in the plum tomatoes, artichoke hearts and cherry tomatoes, as well as salt and pepper and mix well.
7. Let simmer until the stew is well-cooked and bubbling.

Whelp, I hope you enjoyed this full day of new recipes! Let me know if you love this video format where I basically filmed myself cooking, typed the recipe on the screen and then used pretty angles to piece everything together! It’s also been a while since I’ve actually talked on YouTube as well, so I don’t know if I may or may not have another one of those out. But have a lovely weekend–TGIF FINALLY–and I’ll have a new video up soon! ❤

PRODUCTS FEATURED IN THE VIDEO (no sponsorships!)

I highly recommend all of these products. I mean, ALL of them. If you don’t have these in your life, then what is wrong with you–TRY THEM!

• Orgain Almond Milk, unsweetened vanilla: http://orgain.com/products/organic-almondmilk/
• Love Grown Foods Power O’s, honey: http://lovegrownfoods.com/products/power-os-honey/
• Evoke Foods, super muesli: http://www.evokefoods.com/store/super-muesli/
• Kith & Thyme granola, cherry lavender: http://www.kithandthyme.com/products/copy-of-cherry-lavender-granola
• Lily’s Dark Chocolate, almond: http://lilyssweets.com/dark-chocolate-bars/
• Wild Friends peanut butter, pumpkin spice: https://wildfriendsfoods.com/peanut-butter/
• Explore Asian Organic Spaghetti, edamame: http://www.explore-asian.com/products/edamame-spaghetti.html