The Secret to my Famous Avocado Toast!

This is my all time favorite meal, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. I'll happily make breakfast for dinner too, which we do frequently in our household. Avocado toast is nothing new, nor is it complicated, but there are some small tweaks that I do to mine to make it exceptionally good. 

The most important part is the egg on top. The way you cook the egg is what makes the toast! My favorite way is the crispy fried egg, or soft boiled, neither of which are shown here unfortunately. The crispy fried egg gives it a little extra crunch that is oh so satisfying.

To do so, heat oil (I use coconut oil or olive oil) in a pan over medium heat until almost smoking. Crack the egg in the pan and turn the heat down to low immediately. The egg will sizzle and cook pretty quickly because of how hot the pan was when you first dropped the egg in. Cook until the yolk is cooked to your liking - do not flip. 

For the soft boiled egg, bring a small pot of water to a boil (the water level should be just enough to cover the egg or eggs). Drop the whole egg in (inside shell - do not crack open) while the water is boiling, and cook for exactly 7 minutes on high. Remove the egg promptly, and rinse with cold water. Peel and cut in half or in pieces and put on top of avocado toast!

The toast and avocado mash is the easiest part! I always go for gluten free bread, because Nick can't have gluten, and it usually tastes just as good if you buy the right kind. A couple of my favorite brands are this and this. I toast the bread in a toaster or in the oven for extra crispiness, and then slather it with coconut oil. Next, you add the avocado and mash it with a fork (or you can mash it before you add it to the toast, depending on how soft your avocado is). Top with whichever egg you chose to cook!

As for additives, I love sprinkling some hemp seeds on top, as you can see from the photos. Gives the toast a little extra superfood kick as well as extra protein. I always season with Himalayan salt and pepper too. 

So that's it! That's how I make my favorite meal. The coconut oil on the bread, hemp seeds, Himalayan salt, and way you cook the egg is what takes the toast up a notch. Let me know how yours turned out - Tag me on Instagram or comment on this post!

Perfect Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Raise your hand if you're in favor of chewy cookies vs. crunchy cookies! Good. Because I found the recipe for the PERFECTLY chewy, delicious, sweet yet salty, paleo chocolate chip cookie. And I'm even going to claim that these are better than the original flour, butter, crisco, filled chocolate chip cookies that your grandma made. Yea, they're THAT good.

My pictures aren't all that great because I made these at night and took the photos immediately since I was so excited, but trust me, they taste 100 times better than they look. Plus, I have to add of course, that they're grain free, refined sugar free, gluten free, paleo, and all that jazz. I just cannot get over how good they tasted either - blew me away!

As you can see, it's been a while since I've baked cookies, and I forgot the whole "make sure you leave space between each blob you place on the tray", but even though I pretty much baked one large cookie, they still tasted just as delicious.

And guys, these are simple to make. I promise. You will need to have a good amount of almond butter, paleo flours (I ALWAYS have coconut and almond flours in my pantry) and of course chocolate chips on hand, but those are things you should be keeping in your pantry anyway! I mean, who can live without almond butter and chocolate chips!? I chose this dark chocolate option from my favorite Thrive Market, but you can grab any brand you'd like. I actually get ALL my baking ingredients from Thrive, but I provided some other great alternatives from Amazon below too, especially if you've got that Amazon prime membership like I do.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 6 tbsp coconut oil or unsalted butter (room temperature). Coconut oil should be a softened butter consistency - not liquid. Throw it in the fridge for a bit if it is. 
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 6 tbsp almond butter (room temperature) 
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg (room temperature) 
• 1 cup (or more) chocolate chips (I use the Thrive Market brand)

Directions:

1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Stir all the dry ingredients (almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda & salt) together in a medium bowl.
3. Using an electric hand mixer in a larger bowl, beat together the coconut oil and coconut sugar for about 1 minute. If you don't have an electric mixer, you could use your hands, but it needs to be mixed very well.
4. Add the almond butter and vanilla extract to the wet ingredients, and mix until well combined. Add the egg and beat for about 1 minute.
5. Stir in the flour mixture until everything is mixed well and forms a dough like texture. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Roll the dough into small balls and place on the baking sheet. Press down slightly with your hand. You can also add more chocolate chips to the tops of the balls.
7. Bake for about 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are nicely browned and the surface no longer appears wet.
8. Let cool completely before storing!

A Light Summer Salad

The other day I grabbed some random ingredients from my fridge/pantry, threw them in a bowl, and ended up making the best salad I've ever made. So of course, I had to share this super simple and delicious recipe with you guys. Let me preface this by saying that this is a seriously basic salad... You can dress it up, dress it down, switch up the ingredients, and pretty much do whatever you want with it to make it to your liking though. You guys are going to LOVE this salad and how easy it is to make.

I love using arugula, because it's so fresh, light, and has such an incredible taste. Throw a little parmesan cheese and avocado on top and dress it with my favorite homemade lemon olive oil dressing (recipe below), and you have a delicious salad. I added some lentils and of course topped it with a couple fried eggs, which just brought it to the next level. 

I frequently cook a large batch of something like lentils or quinoa and store it in the fridge so that I can add it to meals or throw it on top of a salad like I did here. I always make sure to get my protein in (2 eggs just doesn't do it for lunch), and lentils are an excellent source of protein. The cheese on the other hand, is totally optional especially if you can't do dairy. I can tolerate dairy (luckily), so I love to add cheese to the occasional meal for a little extra flavor. Nutritional yeast is a great alternative option if you can't do cheese though.

As for the dressing, it is so incredibly simple and one that I make for most of my salads. You can make an extra big batch (which I recommend), and keep it in the fridge to use at later dates. Recipe below!

Ingredients for salad:

• Bag of organic arugula
• Half avocado
• 1/2 cup cooked sprouted lentils
• Pinch of shredded parmesan cheese
• 2 organic, pasture raised eggs

Ingredients for dressing:

• Juice from 1 full lemon
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. For the dressing, throw all the ingredients in the bowl and whisk until well blended.
2. Wash the arugula and put into a large salad bowl. Top with shredded parmesan cheese, cooked lentils, and diced avocado.
3. Pour the dressing over the top of the salad and toss to mix.
4.  If you want to add the eggs, my favorite way to cook them for the top of a salad is fried (crispy fried). To do so, heat olive or coconut oil in a pan on high until it is almost smoking (key word, almost). Add the eggs to the pan and let them sizzle for a little bit. Once they are almost cooked through, turn the heat off and let them continue to cook until they are no longer runny on top. You can also flip them and cook the other side for a few seconds if you'd like.