Pumpkin Risotto with Pancetta and Sage

Gotta love a yummy comfort food, especially a "healthified" option! This isn't in the post holiday detox plan really (it's a little too carb heavy, plus there is some dairy), but it's a good recipe to save for those nights where you're just craving something warm and comforting... Or if you aren't detoxing post holidays, then whip this up right this instant! Honestly, all the ingredients in this are pretty darn good for you. I didn't use any cream, milk or butter for the risotto, and it still came out delicious and creamy. 

As usual, this dish is gluten free and could be dairy free if you want to omit that too. I usually don't see anything wrong with adding a little high quality/organic cheese to a dish every so often. Just don't make it a daily occurrence! Recipe below. Let me know how you like it!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice (I use Trader Joes organic wild, sprouted rice)
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• Chopped pancetta (however much you want really)
• 1 red onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• Large bunch of fresh sage
• Organic chicken or bone broth
• 1/2 cup grated or shaved parmesan cheese
• Ghee
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt & pepper (Himalayan) 

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil & ghee in a large pan and add the onion. Cook until translucent. Add garlic cloves (minced or chopped very fine). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the rice and sauté for a couple more minutes so rice is slightly toasted. 
2. Pour the chicken broth into the pan and cook per instructions for rice (for the rice I used, I believe it was 2 cups of broth for 1.25 cups of rice). Stir occasionally until all liquid has been absorbed (about 25 minutes).
3. While the rice is cooking, in a separate pan, fry the pancetta until crispy. Remove from the pan, but don't remove the leftover fat. Use that to cook the sage and make it super crispy!
4. Once the sage is done cooking, I threw the pine nuts into the pan and cooked them just a bit so they were crunchier.
5. Once the rice is almost done cooking, add the canned pumpkin to the mixture and cook for a few more minutes until everything is heated and mixed well. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.
6. Once everything is ready, add the rice mixture to a bowl. Top with parmesan, pancetta, sage, and pine nuts, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Cake Cookies

I'm back with yet another delicious (and surprisingly healthy), pumpkin recipe! This one is, as most of my recipes are, extremely easy. Just a few ingredients, no special tools needed. These are moist, fluffy, delicious little cake cookies that you can eat pretty much any time of the day. Yes, I do eat them for breakfast occasionally... Oops!

To make these it is super simple: mix all the wet ingredients together (pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, coconut oil (melted), and honey). Make sure that there are no clumps and everything is mixed well - a whisk works great for this. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (coconut flour, spices and baking powder). Add this mixture to the wet ingredient bowl, and mix well. Finally, add in the dark chocolate chips. 

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper, and scoop about a tablespoon size for each cookie onto the sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes (sometimes, I leave them in a little longer to get them a bit firmer). Cool for about 10 minutes. These are best served warm, but like I said, I also eat them for breakfast on occasion... 

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup coconut oil melted
• 5 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

*I usually make a double recipe - the original recipe is pretty small.

*Adapted from Paleo Grubs

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