"I'VE GOT A SLIGHT FIZZ" DRINK

Summer is almost here. My skin is still flaking off from the cold weather. It's funny how this time of year works. As if we've all been creepy, little ghosts who stay in our houses and hibernate until it's time for s#!t to get real. Then the sun shines or the weather warms up past 40 degrees and we all come out and greet the neighbors and talk about what we're planning on doing with our yards this year.

...or we worry about the size of our butts and if they will fit into shorts and/or swimsuits.

Well, I accidentally made a really refreshing, nutrient rich, slightly fizzy, slightly tart, drink. . I'm sure I'm not the first person to discover this, but it's worthy of sharing this week. Think of it as my "you're welcome for getting ready for summer".

Thats me, The Leggy Lemon herself. Drinking it in a stemless wine glass to trick my emo brain into thinking there's alcohol in this. But, there's not. 

How to Make it Happen:

Get a fancy glass. Trust me this helps. Don't use your everyday water glasses that you leave on your bedside. Fill it up with some ice cubes. Fill the glass with 1/2 club soda/seltzer 1/2 with water. Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice, orange juice, and mix it around. If you want to get WILD like I do, throw in 1.5oz of vodka or gin. (Remember, if you do that, you're completely destroying the benefits of this citrusy fizzy water--but at least when you're finished, you probably won't care anyway. Until tomorrow.)

CRUNCHY WHITE BEAN FRITTERS

These little patties will make you want to twist and shout and let it all out.

There's a few ways to eat these easy little numbers : A) just patty them up and pop every, last one of them in your mouth like my husband did, or B) pile two or three on top of each other, top it with a perfect piece of salmon, chicken or petite filet and dress with some arugla or fresh parsley and a slice of lemon, you little FANCY PANTS, you.

The Components:

1 can of organic, great northern beans, drained (See "Oh Yea" tip at the bottom)

1/2 cup (or less) of freshly grated parm or romano cheese

1/2 white onion (minced)

3 tbsp either : cold pressed, organic extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil (See "Oh Yea" tip at the bottom)

2 tbps of fresh, squeezed lemon juice

1 cup of either: organic, unbleached flour or almond flower* (See "Oh Yea" tip at the bottom)

Nice handful of finely crushed Late July Sweet Potato Chips - optional

Dash of salt and pepper to taste

How to Make it Happen:

Sautee minced onion in about 1 tbps of oil of choice and place in medium bowl along with beans, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice. Dash a little salt and pepper. Mash together until it forms a chunky paste consistency. Place flour  of choice + sweet potato chip crumbles in shallow bowl or dish and mix together.

Next, spoon mixture and roll into golf ball sized balls. Once rolled, it's ok to smash them lightly with your hand (on top of the flour + sweet potato chip mixture) so they form cute, little patties and dredge them with the flour mixture. Not too much, though! Dust them off.

Heat oil of choice on MEDIUM and place patties in pan and sautee each side until golden brown. Use your judgement here. The middle will be cooked, I promise. Love.

Oh Yea's: 

• Canned items freak me out what with the BPA crap going around. So, look for the sign on the can that says, "NON-BPA LINING" lots of companies are headed in this direction (including some Libby's products,  Muir Glen, Eden Foods and more)!

• Buy the GREAT, PACKED IN ITALY here's why: Cute, little EVOO Cartoon.

• Whole Wheat flour is great but not for this recipe. It's a bit too thick, just trust me.

HONEY BANANA PANCAKES (made with ALMOND FLOUR)

Sunny, Saturday morning. 7:30am, my husband said ,"Pancakes sound nice." As much as I didn't want to leave my cozy bed, I couldn't deny that pancakes, in fact, sounded like angel pillows. So, I go and sift through the kitchen and make sure I have what I need to whip up something. I haven't bought regular white, processed flour in like, forever, but I did have almond meal/flour.

I got creative and the angel pillows were born.

The Components:

1 1/2 cup almond meal/flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of ground Pink Himalayan sea salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup (+ more for topping) crushed almonds (optional)

3 large eggs (or 1 1/2 ripe bananas, if you're going dairy-free!)

1 ripe banana, chopped

1/4 - 1/2 cup of coconut milk

3 tbsp honey (plus more to drizzle)

1 tsp vanilla

How to Make it Happen:

This recipe is such a doozie. (Enter sarcasm.)

In a medium bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients very well. In a large bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients very well. Dump the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir together with a spoon. Add more coconut milk if you need to wet it more, but the batter should be thick and banana/almond chunky. 

Turn your burner on medium, heat up some coconut oil in the skillet and pour the cakes to 6" circles. Cook until the cake starts bubbling (keep your eye on this), turn the heat up just a bit and let it cook for about 30 more seconds and flip, baby, flip!

Do the same on the other side. When cakes are done, stack, top with more banana and crushed almonds if you want, drizzle more honey and dust with cinnamon.

CROWD PLEASER. GLUTEN FREE. DAIRY-FREE (if you substitute the eggs). 

ANGEL PILLOWS. YOU'RE WELCOME.

CREAMY WILD MUSHROOM + CHICKEN SOUP

We ate this beast for 2 days.

It's one of those "feel good" soups that you can eat on a cold night with a glass of wine, or hot day with a cold beer. Yes, I said beer--I love beer, I'd gladly fight about it. For all of the wild reasons, it's a pretty rustic dish, so I felt like flocking on my "Frodo Baggins" waistcoat and strapping up my elvish leather boots while making and eating this.

Packed with all kinds of vegetables and thickened up with unsweetened coconut milk. I found this recipe from a bunch of other sources, but lightened it up and made it my own version. You can eat it as a normal soup, or top it on some wild rice--whatever tickles your little fancy. 

The Components
1 1/2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken breast
1 cup water
1 1/2 tbps cornstarch
1 cup chicken broth
4 cups of unsweetened coconut milk (or dairy milk)
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/2 large onion, diced
8-12oz of wild mushrooms, sliced
10oz of frozen veggie mix

Optional:
2 small potatoes, diced

Seasonings:
Salt, pepper, pinch of thyme, fresh parsley (chopped)

How to Make it Happen:

Prep your chicken however you wish. Boil and shred it, or get lazy and go buy one of those rotisserie guys from the store. I think Whole Foods carries the organic versions. But for my weird meat requirements, I buy organic, grass fed chicken breasts and do it myself. Put it aside and wait to dump it in.

In a teeny, tiny bowl mix the cornstarch and about 1/2 cup of water and put it aside also and wait to dump it in. 

Next, in a huge pot, dump the coconut milk the rest of the water and the chicken broth and bring to a slight boil. >> If you're using potatoes, add those in now. Add the rest of the components including the chicken, seasonings and cornstarch mix, return to a rapid boil and let it simmer on low for 1 hour (or more). The longer it sits, the better it is. You may add more cornstarch mix and/or milk for a creamier consistency, especially if you're eating over rice. 

At the end, season with more salt/pepper for taste and if you want to impress the socks off of whoever you're feeding this too, add more chopped parsley once it's served. 

Oh Yeah:

I made my entire meal "organic everything" and we ate this for a couple of days. If you're concerned with pesticides and such as much as I am, the extra $5 is worth it. All in all, it's still a great, hearty meal.

CHOPPED DETOX TACO SALAD EXPLOSION!

(Say that 5x really quickly!)

Toss out your Thousand Island dressing and Doritos, Baby, it's time for some REAL ingredients in this salad! There's a little sweet, there's a little tang and even though there's no meat--you won't miss a THANG!

This salad is full of color, flavors, and pure health. Yes--it's a crowd pleaser and yes--it takes a little elbow grease in the kitchen. But again what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. So get over it and go get on it because this is de-frickin'-licious.

The Components

3 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup purple cabbage, chopped
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup raw broccoli florets, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, finely chopped
1/2 cup red beets (canned is fine!), chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 ripe avocado
Handful of Late July Organic Sweet Potato Chips, crushed up

Dressing:
3 tbps extra virgin olive oil      1 tbps red wine vinegar 
3 tbps raw, liquid honey           1 tbps chia seeds
2 tbps whole grain mustard

How to Make it Happen:

In a large bowl, toss all of your veggies together but save the sweet potato chips for last so they stay crunchy.

For the dressing, just mix up all of the ingredients really well. For this, I use one of those hand-held latte frothers from Ikea. It just makes it mix up that much more. Also, you may want to add more or take away honey and mustard depending on your liking.

Toss the dressing on the veggies and mix, Baby, mix. C'mon, now Mix, Baby, Mix!

*Serves about 2-3

SUPER SERIOUS VEGGIE (+ chicken if you want?) PASTA

This pasta is out of control. I love it because I fool myself into thinking I'm eating a crap-ton of carbs when I'm really only eating a little. Or, "The more fresh veg you put in your whole grain pasta, the better! Trick your brain (and totally EMO heart) into eating more of the good stuff with that pasta!" The creaminess of the coconut milk mixed with the flair of the seasonings melt together perfectly. There's quite a few ingredients in this beast, but a little work in the kitchen won't kill ya. This will make enough for 4-5 people, or make it as a side dish and serve more!

I'll shut up now.

The Components:

1lb whole grain spaghetti (see my "Oh Yeah" below on this, and gluten-free pasta works on this too!) 
1 chicken breast (optional), sliced into thin pieces 
1-2 tbps organic, unrefined coconut oil
1 small/medium red bell pepper, diced
1 small/medium yellow bell pepper, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic
8oz of fresh baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 cup of unsweetened, original coconut milk
1 cup frozen broccoli florets
2-3 roma tomatoes, diced
Mix in small bowl:
2 tsp salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper seed
2 tbsp cumin, chili powder
Save some of that pasta water, about a cup will do before straining!

How to Make it Happen:

If you're using the chicken breast, place it in a small bowl and add the seasonings and mix it all up. Saute chicken for a few minutes, until cooked and set aside.

Prep your veggies and fill a huge pot (enough for a pound of spaghetti) with water and salt until boiling. Throw in the pasta and in the meantime, saute all veggies (except for tomatoes) in large pan/pot (preferably with a lid so the broccoli steams well, it's ok to add it in while it's frozen). Let it all cook until the veggies are soft but soggy. You'll know when they are done. It takes a bit. Add tomatoes last.

Add in the coconut milk and mix around. Let it simmer for a few minutes. If you used chicken, you can add it in at this time.

Make sure spaghetti is cooked and toss all together in a large bowl. You may want to add some of that saved pasta water (or if you forgot like I do ALL of the time, add chicken or veggie broth) to moisten more.

Oh Yeah:

Three ways to determine if a pasta is 100 percent whole-grain (from TODAY HEALTH):

• Check the ingredients list. All grains/flours should be preceded by the word “whole.” Brown rice and oat flours are automatically whole-grain. 
• Check the front of package. It should clearly state “100 percent whole-grain” or “100 percent whole-wheat.” Make sure you specifically see “100 percent” on the label!
• Look for products that contain the orange WHOLE-GRAIN stamp.

CILANTRO + CARAMELIZED GARLIC CHICKEN

Ok. This chicken? Total crowd pleaser. Unless, of course, someone in your crowd doesn't like cilantro. WHAAAAT? The sweet and saltiness of the garlic meshes so perfectly with the cilantro and cumin. I swear, the first time I came up with this, I ate it 3x in one week. Pair it with some cilantro-lime brown rice and/or red quinoa for a colorful, powerful healthy, tasty explosion!

The Components:

1-2 tbsp organic, unrefined coconut oil

2 chicken breasts (cubed)
1/2 cup chopped, fresh cilantro (more for sprinkling)
3 cloves (or more?) minced, fresh garlic

Squirt of fresh lemon half
1/2 tsp of each mixed in small bowl: sea salt, black pepper, (more or less of salt + pepper), ground cumin
THAT IS IT, PEOPLE!

How to Make it Happen:

Melt half of the coconut oil in medium bowl and toss cubed chicken breast, cilantro, seasonings in one bowl.

Toss in the remaining coconut oil to the skillet. I like to use a cast iron skillet for this recipe because it gives it the delicious charred flavor but any heavy skillet will work great.

Cook chicken for a few minutes per side (6- 8 minutes depending on how big you cubed the chicken) or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. It's ok to toss the chicken around, too and sauté it instead. 

Once cooked, lay it out in it's beautiful glory and sprinkle with remaining cilantro and a squirt of fresh lemon. You're welcome. 

Oh Yeah:

You'll notice that I also use A LOT of organic, unrefined virgin coconut oil when I cook. I have 50 million reasons why I use it (heart healthy, makes food taste amazing, immediate source of energy, aids digestion, brain-boosting, butter replacement, and the beat goes ON!).