African Sweet Potato Almond Stew

I have fond memories of an underground dinner in Buenos Aires where the first course was an African Peanut Soup. It was creamy with a defiant touch of peanut butter. This recipe is a play off of what I remember that soup to be, subbing in almond butter for a healthier boost of good fat and protein and adding in sweet potatoes and kale to really add to the veggie count.

Served as a stew, my version is chunky and hearty with a rich and creamy sauce, slightly less sweet without the use of store-bought peanut butter. A blend of sun-dried tomatoes and an ancho chili pepper give more depth and flavor than using just plain tomatoes. A touch of vinegar at the end adds just a hint of brightness; sub a squeeze of lemon or just skip this step if it makes you nervous.

It's the perfect stew/soup for those still riding out freezing temperatures; just cup your mug, close your eyes and let the flavors take you to a warm sunny spot south of the equator.

Super Tasty and Yummy Acai Bowl

This recipe has moved to the Happy Eats Healthy website:

Yummy Acai Bowl 

Turkey and Veggie Green Curry

There is something so tasty about curry and coconut milk. It's creamy with complex flavors of lemongrass, chilies and spices. And it goes with anything from veggies to meats to noodles.

It's true that homemade green curry is better and it's not hard to make, but I understand now that not everyone wants to make their own everything (yup, that was shocking for me learn!)... and sometimes we just want things to be just plain simple.

Enter this flavorful Turkey and Vegetable Green Curry. Cook the meat, add in roasted veggies with a few spoons of prepared green curry and coconut milk and you have a meal in less than 20 minutes. I do like to roast the veggies separately but you could just add them directly to the pan and skip that step. Use what you have on hand too- no broccoli? Add in squash, or sweet potato or zucchini - what ever you have. You could even skip the turkey and go straight veggies. If you like extra spice in your dishes, add a few slices of jalapenos to really bring zing.

Roasted Veggie Tortilla Pizza with Kale Lime Pesto

Pizza is a funny thing - most people love it and would say it's their favorite thing ever in the whole world! And there are a few who actually don't like it. What's left is someone like me. I like the idea of pizza, but prepackaged, sugar laden sauces, cheap cheese and mile hi crusts don't do it for me.

A thin crust loaded with veggies and bursting with flavor sauces are more my style. One of my most popular cooking class is my Grilled Flatbread class. But the grill is not always accessible (especially it it's covered under 19" of snow!) and sometime you need an even quicker back up. Enter the tortilla. Tortilla's aren't just for tacos anymore. I've been making a pizza crusts out of them for years and it's time you started too.

Sickness (and vampire) Fighting Creamy Garlic, Sweet Potato and Avocado Soup

Garlic soup. One of my favorite soups from my former restaurant. They were all my favorites, we rocked our soups. But something about the idea of a few dozen garlic cloves, some bread and water combining to make a super creamy, sickness fighting soup that warms the cockles.

The garlic soup urge hit me the other day after feeling a tickle in my throat - but I'm currently staying away from gluten so I needed a substitute for the bread.  Scrounging around my kitchen I found half a sweet potato, figured it might work. But it was the toasted, blended bread in the original recipe that created the creaminess, I wasn't convinced a little potato alone would cut it. So I tossed in an avocado- never hurts to add in a bit of good fat!

Absolutely delicious. Addictive really. We each ate two bowls and I wanted more. The toasting of the garlic deepens its flavor, the sweet potato offers a subtle sweetness while the avocado brings a rich and creaminess to the soup. It's again one of my new favorites; betting it becomes one of yours too.

Finger-licking, Stupidly Yummy Chocolate Pudding with Whipped Coconut Cream...and it's good for you!

Sitting at my computer with a belly so full from this pudding it's hard to breath, but so worth it. I wondered what to call this. I thought about how I licked the spoon two, three, eight-hundred times, then dug my whole fist into the blender to scrape out every last little drop. The whipped coconut beaters got licked before they were even off the blender (luckily I still had enough wits about me to unplug it before my tongue met the wrath that my morning eggs do). I thought I was in heaven at this point, but then, my spoon of chocolate fell into the whipped coconut cream and it was like I stepped into the VIP cloud.

Yes, it's that good. And the best part is that I don't even feel guilty- it's all good, clean food! We are talking avocado, raw cacao powder and coconut milk. No refined sugar, no funny chemicals or preservatives, no gluten, not even any dairy. Disclaimer- this should still be considered a treat and not eaten every day because we are still adding in natural sweeteners, and even those need to be kept in check. Plus if you eat anything every day it's will lose its appeal.

Cauliflower Rice with Middle Eastern Flare

January is the time of year to clean up our eating, ease up on our digestion system and undo some of that Holiday heaviness. Clean doesn't mean flavorless. Let me say that again - clean doesn't mean flavorless. It does mean you have to get creative.

Take a head of cauliflower- a very simple vegetable that can become a vessel to absorb other flavors. It's a great to thicken soups and even make a cheesy sauce out of. Today we are letting the cauliflower come alive with the addition of dried apricots for sweetness and toasted almonds for crunch.

It's so simple yet so satisfying and delicious. Perfect on it's own or serve it as a backdrop with grilled meats or a Moroccan tagine. Eat up, be delicious and get happy with no deprivation. The best part that you could use this happy healthy recipe year round!

Yummy Walnut Butter and Banana Toast

Seems 99% of know what peanut butter is, in fact many of us grew up with it in our cupboards. It's a simple formula, grind nuts to a smooth, spreadable paste. Maybe add a touch of salt, but nothing more is needed. A pretty simple concept really. But have you looked at the ingredients in PB lately?

Take a look and you'll find sugar and hydrogenated oil, both are terrible for our health. Hydrogenated oils are chemically altered, containing unsaturated fats that have had hydrogen atoms added to their structure, making them more solid and turning them into trans fats which are linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Our bodies don't recognize this as food, all it can do is try to fight the free radicals clogging your bloodstream and damaging your cells.

So, what to do instead? Make your own nut butters in minutes. The benefits of making your own nut butters far outweigh a jarred variety. You can control the ingredients and what goes into your butter. For instance, how much salt and sugar, if any. But even better, you can make nut butter from any nut. AND you can add additional flavorings - like cinnamon and raw cacao! Genius.

Today we are making a simple walnut butter and then slathering it on warm toast with touch of honey, cinnamon and a few banana slices. So good and nourishing- it's great as a snack or breakfast.
Blend up a walnut nut butter today, it's one small step to healthier and giant step to yummy!