Tag: Protein

Chickpea Stir-Fry

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I know it’s a Monday, but what better way to start off the week than with a delicious stir-fry? This is not a rhetorical question. Go ahead and search your soul. I’ll wait.

Couldn’t think of anything else? THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT. This Chickpea Stir-Fry is full of veggies and flavour, two of my favourite things✌️ We’ve got onions, cabbage (or kale if you’d prefer), carrots and chickpeas in a realllllly simple sauce that brings everything together. But the real flavour bombs are the peanuts and fresh cilantro that go in during the last minute of cooking for some extra freshness😍 Want to take it to the next level? Throw some more of that stuff on top along with some green onion as a garnish. Yup🙌 That’s what I’m talking about.

If you’ve got under a half hour to whip something up, then this stir-fry is for you. With a 20 minute total time and super easy prep, this is one no-fuss meal idea! Double or triple the recipe, and you’ve got meal prep for the whole week. Pretty convenient👌

Finally, I’m going to let you in on a secret. You can use any vegetables you have around to make this stir-fry. ANY. I was running low on veggies myself when I made this, but luckily I had some carrots, onions, and cabbage ready to go. However, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, mushrooms and peppers would all be great in here; customize to your heart’s desire! The important thing is that you’ve got the sauce ingredients and the peanuts and cilantro, because that’s what makes this dish sing. I like serving my stir-fry over quinoa, but you can cook up some white or brown rice, or even couscous, if you’d like.

I hope you enjoy this quick, healthy and delicious meal idea! Let me know what you think🥰

Chickpea Stir-Fry

Serves: 2-3

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 of a large white onion, sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup shredded cabbage or kale
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
  • 1/4 cup ground peanuts
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • Cooked quinoa for serving
  • Sliced green onions + more cilantro and peanuts for garnish (optional)

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add in the onions and carrots and cook until the onions are slightly translucent, about 5 minutes.
  2. Add the shredded cabbage or kale, as well as the chickpeas and garlic, to the pan. Continue to cook for about 8 more minutes, until the carrots can be pierced by a fork.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, maple syrup, and rice vinegar. Add the mixture to the pan and give everything a good stir. Allow the stir fry to cook for about 5 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Keep stirring.
  4. Mix in the fresh cilantro and peanuts and cook for a final minute. Remove from the heat, and serve over cooked quinoa. Garnish with green onions, more cilantro, and more peanuts!

Have a great week everyone!:)

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

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It seems too early to be transitioning from fall to winter, but it’s kind of already happening. Why the heck is it so cold? And why is the sun rising at like nine and setting at like six? These are questions we have yet to answer, my friends. But in the meantime, we might as well embrace the freezing darkness that is winter and enjoy these stuffed peppers.

Stuffed peppers are an amazing comfort food🥰 They’re hearty and delicious, perfect for a cold winter night. These ones also happen to be super healthy, as well as vegan and gluten free. I used lentils and quinoa for the meat substitute, and it makes a filling that is INCREDIBLE. My advice is to double or triple the recipe so you can have tasty peppers for lunch all week long.

Also, if you don’t feel like cooking for hours or washing a TON of dishes, these are for you! I used canned lentils and already cooked quinoa for increased simplicity. You just need to fry up some onions and basically mix everything tightest in the pot. Then stuff your peppers, pop em in the oven, and let them get nice and soft on the outside, warm on the inside, and crispy on top😍 (Those crispy bits are the best part). You’re left with a meal that is so flavourful and filling that you’ll be like, take that, stupid winter. So yeah, the season might not be too bad if you’ve got these hanging around!

Hope you enjoy this recipe!:)

Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Serves: 2

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 large bell peppers, any colour
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 can of tomato paste (6 oz)
  • 1 cup cooked lentils (I used the brown canned variety)
  • 2/3 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 cup packed spinach
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil. Add in the diced onions and cook for 6-8 minutes, until translucent.
  2. Add the minced garlic to the pot and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Then dump in the tomato paste, lentils, quinoa, balsamic, soy sauce, herbs and spices, and stir to combine.
  3. Let the mixture cook for about 5 minutes, then add in the spinach and continue to cook until it’s wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then remove from the heat.
  4. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut out the tops of your peppers so that a round hole is left. Full each pepper with half of the lentil and quinoa filling, then place in a glass baking dish.
  5. Bake the peppers for about 15 minutes in the oven; then reduce the heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the peppers are soft and the top of the filling is crispy.
  6. Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Hope you guys are having a great week! I have another great pumpkin recipe for you guys on Friday. We’ve got to milk this pumpkin and apple stuff before fall is over, am I right? See you then!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Fall Harvest Bowls

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A part of shifting into fall mode for me is roasting all of those awesome fall veggies and making some hearty bowls. And of course I had to throw some sweet potatoes into this one- you know me and my sweet potatoes. Bowls are just a simple, healthy dinner idea that are quick to make and great for meal prep and busy evenings. Today I’m featuring a bunch of delicious fall ingredients, tied together with an apple cider vinegar dressing. Yum!

You guys like Brussels sprouts, right? I love them, and so I roasted a bunch of them up with my sweet potatoes till they were nice and crispy. I also got out my frozen corn. Frozen corn is like the most underrated thing. It’s so tasty and it’s ready in less than five minutes! Sometimes I just eat it as a snack. So so far we’ve got Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, corn, and some delicious dressing.

Next is quinoa, some avocado, and a soft boiled egg. I’ve been big on eggs lately too. They’re fast to cook and are a great source of protein.When you’ve got that golden yolk just bringing everything together in your bowl it’s just perfection😍 On top of all that I sprinkled some pumpkin seeds for an extra touch of fall, and then voila! You’ve got the perfect fall bowl that’s simple, healthy and so yum.

Hope you enjoy!

Fall Harvest Bowl

Serves: 2

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Bowl:

  • 1 medium sized sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes a couple of centimetres big
  • 8 Brussels sprouts, washed with the outer leaves removed, and cut in half
  • 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 cups frozen corn, defrosted
  • 1 avocado
  • 2 eggs
  • Handful of pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

For the Dressing:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Toss the cubed sweet potatoes and halved Brussels sprouts in a bowl with the olive oil and some salt and pepper. Dump them on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast for 25-30 minutes, until soft and caramelized.
  3. While the veggies are roasting, bring the quinoa and water to boil in a small pot. Lower the heat for a simmer, then cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit until needed.
  4. In another pot, bring water to a boil and add in the eggs. Depending on the egg size, I boil my eggs for 7-8 minutes for a runny yolk. If you have small eggs I would do 5-6 minutes. Transfer the eggs to a boil of cold water after boiling to prevent them from continuing to cook.
  5. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients, then set aside.
  6. Build your bowls! To each bowl, add in half the quinoa, corn, roasted veggies, avocado, and an egg. Drizzle with the dressing and then sprinkle with pumpkin seeds to finish.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:)

No Powder Protein Smoothie

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Hey guys:) I got a cool new blender over the weekend that makes single serving smoothies, so I thought I’d whip up a smoothie for breakfast this morning, and I could drink it on the drive to school. This morning was Upper Body day💪💪 so I wanted sone protein in there. Protein powder is my first choice, and for a while I was using some that we just had in our pantry. But now we’re out, and it’s so dang expensive! I’m not about to spend sixty five bucks on a thing of protein powder. This is where we get creative, people.

I tried adding black beans into one of my smoothie bowls a few weeks ago, and it may sound gross, but you can’t even taste them. Plus, they help thicken things up. Boom, 6 grams of protein. Then you’ve got a tablespoon of peanut butter, which adds great flavour. Another 4 grams of protein. Then some spinach and kale for the vitamins. 1 more gram. And finally, a cup of almond milk. 1 gram. So then you’ve got yourself a smoothie with 12 GRAMS of protein without using any powder whatsoever!!

This smoothie is not only full of vitamins and protein, but it tastes great👌 The peanut butter gives it some nuttiness, and the strawberry, banana, and peaches make it sweet🥰 This is a recipe that I will definitely be remaking, because it’s a quick, portable, protein filled breakfast that satisfies my sweet tooth! Definitely give this one a try😊

No Powder Protein Smoothie

Serves: 1

Total Time: 7 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 banana, frozen and chopped
  • About 5 fresh strawberries
  • 1/2 cup cooked black beans
  • 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup packed spinach
  • 1/2 cup packed kale
  • 1/2 cup chopped frozen peaches
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

  1. Add all of the ingredients into a good quality blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Enjoy!

Such a quick and easy breakfast recipe!! Hope you enjoy:)💪💪

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Mini Berry Protein Muffins

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Hey guys! My phone broke down the other day and so I couldn’t really take and edit my pictures like I wanted, so I decided to just postpone this post for a bit. But don’t worry because the next week or so is STACKED with bullet journal stuff and new recipes (like this one) and a reading challenge update. Make sure that you’re checking in every day because I’ll have new posts going up daily until the end of the month!

To kick off this posting extravaganza, I’ve got these awesome Mini Berry Protein Muffins. I’ve been trying out some protein powder recently, and I actually really like it! I don’t just mix it with milk or water and drink it straight though, I usually throw a scoop into my smoothie bowl which makes it super creamy. I find that it’s a good way to incorporate some protein into my breakfast. The brand I use is Vega and I have their Protein and Greens powder in vanilla flavour. But if you decide to buy some powder to try out for yourself, do some research to find out what the ingredients are and where the protein is coming from. There are all kinds of protein powder; some are vegan, some get protein from animal collagen, and some have some artificial ingredients. Just make sure that your powder is right for you. If you don’t have any protein powder on hand, you can try and sub it out for whole wheat or all purpose flour, although I haven’t tested those out.

Anyways, I needed some new ways to use my protein powder. So why not make some muffins? And mini muffins, while I’m at it! Everything is cuter when it’s smaller. These muffins are naturally sweetened with maple syrup, and I find that the protein powder gives them a really nice flavour, like cake batter or something. There’s also an egg in here, which does give some extra protein and also acts as a binder. All of this protein and some whole grains from the oats, paired with a great taste, makes these muffins the perfect way to start your day! I used them to top a smoothie bowl, because, come on, mini muffins on a smoothie bowl? Does that not sound like the BEST THING EVER?

And I forgot to mention that these muffins have berries in them! I used saskatoons because I still have a whole ton frozen, but blueberries would be great as well. Now that it’s summer you might even be able to throw some fresh ones in there. So yeah, those are all of the delicious details of these cute lil’ muffins. Go find yourself a bowl (that’s right- this guy right here is a ONE BOWL recipe), mix some stuff up, pop these babes in the oven for like 15ish minutes and you’ve got yourself a snack that be lookin like a SNACK! Enjoy;)

Mini Berry Protein Muffins

Serves: Makes about 20 Mini Muffins

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder
  • 1 cup oats (I used quick-cooking steel cut oats, but rolled oats also work)
  • 2 tbsp melted coconut oil (mine was pre-melted by the summa heat lol)
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup fresh or frozen Saskatoon or blueberries

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line 20 holes in two mini muffin tins with paper liners, or grease with coconut oil.
  2. Mix together all of the ingredients in a large bowl.
  3. Scoop the muffin batter by tablespoon into the lined or greased mini muffin tin. Bake the muffins for 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the centre comes out clean.
  4. Enjoy on smoothie bowls, oatmeal, as a snack, in cereal, or with yogurt!

Have fun with these mini muffins! Don’t forget about the army of blog posts coming your way. See you tomorrow!!

Yours Truly,

Olivia;)))