Vegan Low Sodium French Toast

• 4 slices of whole grain or whole wheat bread (make sure it's low-sodium if available)

• 5 tablespoons of flour

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk of your choice)

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• A pinch of nutmeg (optional)

• Coconut oil or any other vegan cooking oil for frying

  Instructions:

  1. Whisk flour, cinnamon and nutmeg

  2. Add the almond milk. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined.

  3. Preheat a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add a little coconut oil or vegan cooking oil to coat the surface.

  4. Dip each slice of bread into the flour- almond milk mixture, making sure both sides are coated evenly but not soaked.

  5. Place the coated bread slices on the preheated skillet or griddle. Cook each side for about 2-3 minutes or until they turn golden brown and slightly crispy.

  6. Once the French toast slices are cooked, transfer them to a serving plate.

  7. Top with fresh fruit, if desired, and drizzle with maple syrup or a low-sodium vegan syrup.

Fitting in Fitness

Fitting in fitness is something most people struggle with on their nutrition journey. As a fitness instructor and nutritionist, I see this happen all the time. Currently, I am balancing grad school, work, and everyday life. I run a tight ship. My hours are odd, so time and schedules are crucial. Here are a few ways I am fitting in fitness.

• Workout Clothes and Gear where I can see them. This isn't the most 'aesthetic' thing on the planet. My weights, yoga mat, and running shoes are visible. My spouse, is super great about this. My yoga mat and weights are rolled out every morning. I’m dressed and ready to go. This helps me remember to 'just do it'. I set out my workout clothes right along with my work clothes. No choices, easy access. I put on my clothes, grab my pre-workout, a snack and go.

• Exercise Apps to keep me accountable. I'm a bit of an exercise fanatic. Burnalong is one of my favorites. This keeps my goals clear, and I always have a trainer basically in my pocket. Exercise apps offer workouts from 5 minutes to 45 minutes on varying scales of intensity.

• Showing up - Most successful people will tell you this. Alarms don't help if you don't let your feet hit the floor. 90 percent is showing up. Fitness is a lifestyle for me; it's a part of my routine. I work out in the morning before starting to talk to my students and clients.

• Resting when needed - A built-in rest day is a must for folks with a fitness lifestyle. My rest days tend to be Wednesdays. Why? I cannot resist the thrill of a cool sporting event on the weekends!

• Team Rocket - No, not the evil Pokémon team. When my alarm goes off, I count down: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. By 'lift-off', I'm moving and working out.

• Just 5 minutes - If I only have 5 minutes for movement, I give myself 5 minutes for movement. Yoga, Pilates, or even a quick walk around my home.

• I commit to my non-negotiables. Nourishment, education, hydration, and rest are non-negotiables for me. Most of my clients know I have been sober for close to 6 years. I decided to stop drinking one day. I had to stay committed. The challenging (and hilarious) thing about things like running a marathon, getting sober, or getting healthier is that you just do it. My mantra is 'I become what I do consistently'.

Sweet potato Fries

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into thin fries

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

• 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning

• 3 teaspoon ground black pepper

• Fresh fennel fronds for garnish (optional)

Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C)

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the sliced sweet potatoes and fennel.

2. In a separate small bowl, mix ground cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, Italian seasoning , and black pepper.

3. Drizzle the olive oil over the sweet potato. Toss them to ensure they are evenly coated with the oil.

4. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the sweet potato . Mix well.

5. Spread the seasoned sweet potato fries .

6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes, flipping the fries halfway through the cooking time to ensure even browning.

7. When the sweet potato fries are crispy and golden brown, remove them from the oven.

Golden Beet Srriacha Bowl

Golden Beet Srriachabowl 

On Monday’s…we stir fry. It’s super fast, easy and so yummy. You an use whatever spirals you like. I used golden beets because they look like “regular” chow mien noddles. Beets are high in fiber and iron. They are easy to prepare. Gather up your favorite vegetables for this bowl. 

I used what we had! 

1 zucchini 

handful of cherry tomatoes

1 bunch Red chard

shredded carrots

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

container of your favorite spirals

baby red and orange peters

1 jalapeno pepper

1 block of tofu

seasoning:

2 tablespoons of cumin

2 tablespoons of curry

1.5 tablespoons of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

lemon zest

juice of one lemon

**sriracha optional

1. Roughly chop your zucchini, cherry tomatoes, carrots, pepper ginger and red chard. Drain and chop your tofu. Chop the red chard and include the stems (those are very good for you). Combine your seasonings. 

1. On medium heat cook your retables until tender. Add your seasoning mixture, if it’s clunky at a little more lemon juice or water to smooth it out. Then stir well. Place your vegetables to the side and cook your tofu until brown. To prevent the tofu from sticking spray your pan with non-stick spray and salt, pepper and garlic powder. 

1. Saute red chard until warms and slightly softened!  Don’t over cook. Cook your spirals to your liking. Add your srriracha at the end. 

4. Plate everything.

Quinoa Bowl

Quinoa Breakfast Jars

I created this recipe while I was totally in a bind! I was all out of oats and I was meal prepping. All I had was berries, my Cute Nutrition protein and various unsalted roasted nuts. What’s a busy person to do when they are preparing for morning meals? 

Improvise. It’s easy. Quinoa is a grain you can do anything with, plus it’s high in protein. It’s changes up your overnight oats just a smidge.  You can check out my instagram from Sept 5 for a really cool hack for this one! 

2 cup uncooked quinoa

10 Tablespoons of chia seeds

5 scoops of your favorite protein

1 large container of your favorite berries rinsed and chopped 

1/3 cup of nuts

1. Boil your quinoa until fluffy. 
2. Layer your quinoa, chia seeds, protein, and berries in each container. That’s 1 cup of quinoa, 2 table spoons of chia seeds, 1 scoop of protein and berries per container. 
3. When you're ready to eat it add your steamed non diary milk. You can use water, but milk will give you more of a breakfast feel. It’s very filling, but enough to fill you up throughout your day. 
4. Add your nuts on top and stir. 

Zucchini Rolls

Okay, so I like zucchini. Shoot me. This recipe is inspired by the way I see people wrap everything in an all to popular animal product that’s super high in fat and sodium.  You’ll need a manual potato peeler and some hardy vegetables. Talk to you produce person, go for your bigger veggies. Grab some firm tofu. If tofu isn’t your thing, you can place this with sweet potato. There are a lot of pictures in this one. 

4 large zucchini cut into ribbons, set aside neatly

2 sweet potatoes cut into ribbons, set aside neatly 

1 package of extra firm tofu cut, drained into rectangular cubes 

3 baby eggplant

your favorite spices

1 bag of stir fry 

1 lemon juice

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Place 3-4 Zucchini ribbons, next to each other, they should over lap a little. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to your ribbons. 
2. Then place your rectangular cubed tofu on the top of the zucchini, add your sweet potato ribbon, tofu, favorite seasoning salt and pepper. 
3. Keep everything packed really well. Slowly roll your zucchini. Keep everything packed tight.  It’s very similar to rolling sushi. For more help, click here.  
4. Repeat. It’s not going to be perfect, mind weREN’T. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and add your seasonings. Place in the oven for 15-20 MINS. Don’t touch your rolls! 
5. The last 5 mins your rolls are cooking follow the directions on your stir fry. Take the rolls out of the oven, place them on top of the stir fry (throw in your extra tofu)  and enjoy. Add some quinoa for extra plant based protein. 

Get the bag of stir fry from the produce section. Nix the added high sodium seasoning. Make your own seasoning with sesame oil, lemon, white rice wine, minced ginger, and garlic. Add chill oil for extra flair! 

Zucchini Burgers

It’s the last of the “yummy” zucchini before the go out of season. Bummer. I decided to whip up these burgers for Labor Day. They were easy and really yummy. I love these burgers because they are high in fiber, iron, B6, vitamin A and a ton of other important nutrients. 

The key to veggie burgers that stick together is getting the ingredients rid of access water and not touching them! 

2 yellow summer squash

2 zucchini

1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

2 tablespoons of cumin

3 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

lemon zest

1 tbsp sesame oil

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Then chop up squash and zucchini. Blend them in your blender for 30 seconds. Take mixture out and drain it when a cheese cloth.  Add to a bowl with nutritional yeast, bread crumbs, cumin, minced garlic, lemon zest and sesame oil. Mix with your hands. 
2. Cup the mixture into small burger sized patties. If it’s super dry, at a touch (and I mean a touch) of olive oil or you can use hummus. Sprinkle on some chia seeds, flax seed or sesame seeds for extra crunch. 
3. Spray a non stick pan with oil. Place the patties on the pan. Depending on the size you can have sliders (cook for shorter time) or you can have big burgers.  Place them in the oven and cook for 15-20 mins. DO NOT TOUCH THEM. When the top side is brown and the edges a
4. Flip, carefully. Place back in the oven for 15-20 mins. Add your favorite veggies and try to use a bun alternative.  Lettuce, sandwich thins, or portobello mushrooms work great as buns!
5. Top with hummus, roasted peppers, kale and a little salsa. 

Squash Spiral Bowl

I love this recipe. It’s fast, versatile and quick. I can always customize to the vegetables that inspire me when I go to the grocery store. Most recently, I have been inspired by a squash called: chayote. It’s originally from Mexico and it’s a funny looking green thing that totally caught my eye in the store. Google it! :) 

It’s mild in flavor and you can eat it raw or cooked. Raw it tastes like a cucumber. Cooked it tastes more like a regular summer squash. If you can find one try it, if not replace it with your favorite squash. 

Ingredients:

2 cloves of chopped garlic
1/2 chopped shallot
1 pack of Spiralized Squash
1 tablespoon of cumin
2 cups of broccoli or your fave Cruciferous veg
1 pack of firm tofu
1 large sweet potato cubed and peeled
1 summer squash
1/4 cup of flax seeds
1 cup of black beans

 Sauté shallot, garlic and a DRIZZLE (and I mean drizzle) of olive oil. Add your broccoli. Throw in your chopped squash.

Cube and bake your sweet potatoes (400 degrees for 15 mins), roast your drained, cute and cubed tofu on a none stick cookie sheet with salt and pepper. Rotate for optimal browning. 
 Saute your sprialized squash with two tablespoons of water, when it’s softened to your liking add your cumin, add to a bowl and enjoy. 

Sprinkle flax seeds or a seed of your choice. Chia seeds are another great option.