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!

Vegan Mac & Cheese With Butternut Squash

Full disclosure: I am not vegan, nor would I like to be (no offense to all you that are, I just really enjoy a good, grass fed hamburger on occasion). The reason I attempt vegan or vegetarian recipes sometimes though, is because I don't like to eat meat at every meal and I really try to limit my intake. Also, when I'm craving some bad food, like mac and cheese, I try my very best to give it a healthy twist so I don't feel like crap after eating it. This one was a huge success!

We love doing some type of yummy comfort food on Sunday's, whether it's pancakes (paleo and gluten free of course), quinoa bowls, or this time, vegan mac and cheese. I honestly have to say, I wasn't sure this one would work. How could you fake mac and cheese? Let's just say I was super doubtful. I got on my computer and searched for some recipes, and stumbled across this one, by one of my favorite food bloggers. 

Now this recipe has a slight twist... It's not your typical "cashew cheese and nutritional yeast" vegan mac. This one uses butternut squash as the main cheesy ingredient, and it was freaking good. A little garlic, a little dijon mustard, some almond milk and nutritional yeast, and the result was a creamy, cheesy sauce. I do have to say though, I used a really high quality, organic, grass fed butter instead of Earth Balance in this recipe. I can't stand that stuff! I also went with trader joes quinoa and brown rice gluten free pasta, which is my absolute favorite. I added some peas for a little extra protein and flavor, but you can add anything from kale to sausage. 

I doubled the recipe below as I wanted to have some leftovers. It's Thanksgiving week, and we have barely any groceries in our house and are heading out of town in a couple days, so this was the perfect Sunday meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 bag Trader Joes gluten free brown rice and quinoa pasta (or whatever pasta you prefer)
• EVOO (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 tbsp organic grass fed butter (or Earth Balance for vegan)
• 3/4 cup unflavored and unsweetened almond milk (I think cashew milk would be amazing in this recipe though)
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder (or flour if not gluten free)
• 6 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp himalayan salt & pepper to taste 

Directions:

1. Preheat the over to 425 degrees F.
2. Peel and cut the butternut squash in half. Scoop out and remove the seeds. Chop the butternut squash into little cubs and toss in the EVOO, salt and pepper. Place on a baking tray and bake for about 35 minutes or until it's soft to the touch.
3. While the butternut squash is cooking, start on the cheese sauce. Heat the butter in a pot over low/medium heat, and whisk the almond milk and arrowroot powder in a separate bowl until there are no clumps. 
4. Add the almond milk mixture to the pot and stir. Add the remaining ingredients (dijon mustard, garlic and onion powders, nutritional yeast, lemon, salt and pepper) and mix over low heat until the mix thickens.
5. Cook the pasta according to the package.
6. Once the butternut squash is done cooking, mix 1.5 cups of the cubed butternut squash with the cheese sauce in a blender. Puree until smooth.
7. Add the butternut squash/cheese mix to the pasta and stir until it is well blended. You can also add in the peas, broccoli or whatever mix in you want at this point. 
8. ENJOY!!

The Ultimate Quinoa Bowl

This is my most frequently made dish by far - we do them at least once a week. Quinoa bowls are super easy and fast to make, plus they're healthy and delicious. I'm a fan of adding a fried egg on top, as well as avocado (always!), but you can do a ton of different combinations depending on what you prefer. 

To prepare my favorite, you'll need the following: 1 avocado, 1 sweet potato, a bunch of kale, 1 fried egg, and quinoa. Cook the quinoa according to the package (I believe it's one cup of quinoa to two cups of water or broth). I highly recommend using broth to cook the quinoa over water, because it makes it much tastier. I'd even go a step up and cook it in bone broth for a little extra nutrition and health benefits! I also love to add some turmeric to my quinoa once it is cooked for a major anti-inflammatory boost.

While the quinoa is cooking, bake the sweet potato and kale in the oven. Peel and dice the sweet potato and toss the cubes in 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tsp rosemary, salt and pepper. Place them on a tray lined with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until soft. As for the kale, remove the stalks and rip the kale into smaller pieces. Toss the pieces in 1 tbsp olive oil and salt and bake on another baking sheet for about 15 minutes or until crispy. Finally, heat a little bit of coconut oil in a frying pan and crack 1 (or however many eggs you want) in the pan and fry them. Another option would be to do poached eggs if you want to get really creative.

This is my absolute favorite quinoa bowl combination - it's warm, hearty, and savory, plus it's extremely filling and yummy. The fun thing thing about these bowls is that you can pretty much throw anything into them, depending on what you have in your fridge. Broccoli, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, corn, pretty much any kind of meat, cheese, and so much more. You can also make a more refreshing bowl with mint, fruit, avocado and corn - this makes a great summer salad!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 avocado
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• a bunch/handful of kale
• coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• tumeric
• salt & pepper to taste

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