Superfood Hot Cocoa

Hot cocoa is one of my favorite holiday treats. What I'm not such a fan of is all the processed sugar in your average cup.

In addition to the loads of healthy ingredients that make up this hot cocoa (raw cacao, chia seeds and cacao nibs), it is sweetened with just a bit of maple syrup and some stevia.

Now, I know that any  nutritionist will tell me that a sugar is a sugar is a sugar and that maple syrup has the same impact on my body as other sugars and I'm certain they are correct. However, in my experience, using a reasonable amount of maple syrup does not send me down the sugar craving spiral that other sweeteners do. Additionally, I don't get that weird dehydrated feeling from maple syrup that I do when I eat too much sugar.

I've listed maca powder as an optional ingredient at the end. It adds a grassy flavor to the hot cocoa that a lot of people may not like, but with that flavor you get an added shot of energy. Give it a try if you're up for it, but this drink is even more delicious without it.

One final note - please don't drink this in the evening before you go to bed. You may find you have some trouble falling asleep!

Superfood Hot Cocoa

Makes 2 Servings

2 cups almond milk

1/4 cup raw cacao powder

2 tblsp maple syrup

1 tblsp chia seeds

1/2 tsp cacao nibs

10 drops liquid stevia

1 t maca powder (optional - see note above)

Heat the almond milk on the stovetop or in the microwave and place it in a blender. Add remaining ingredients and blend on high until the chia seeds and cacao nibs are completely blended into the liquid.

Kickstart Kale Salad

Still feeling the post-Thanksgiving bulge? This salad of kale, raw beets, fennel and carrots will help whip that system back into shape. Served with a basic lemon vinaigrette, I find it helps kickstart healthy eating.

A mandolin makes quick work of slicing the vegetables thinly, but if you don’t have one, just do the best you can with a sharp knife. Feel free to skip the drying step, but I think dehydrating the vegetable slices just slightly, gives them an unbeatable texture.

In my book, healthy eating is as simple as eating a wide range of veggies (and a lot of them). If you stick with this philosophy, you don’t have to spend time worrying about the specific benefits of each food. However, if you’re interested, here are a few of the good things you’ll be doing for yourself when you eat this salad:

• Beets are important for heart health and have a detoxification impact on the blood and liver.
• Raw beets are also high in folate.
• In addition to being a natural diuretic, lemons are alkalizing to the body.
• Kale is loaded with calcium.
• The phytonutrients found in fennel help prevent the absorption of toxins.

Kickstart Kale Salad

Serves 4 as a side salad, 2 as a main (ideally paired with a roasted chicken breast)

6 cups baby kale

4 large beets, cleaned, stems removed and peeled

4 carrots, washed and peeled

1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs, tough outer layers removed

If not already washed, wash and dry the kale and set aside.

Using a mandolin if you have it, thinly slice the beets, carrots and fennel and lay on wire racks to dry out.

Pour ¼ cup of the lemon vinaigrette into a bowl. Add the the kale and vegetables and toss gently.

If desired, serve salad with roasted chicken to make it a main.

Lemon Vinaigrette

¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)

½ cup best quality walnut oil

Kosher salt to taste

Add all ingredients to a jar and secure the lid. Shake vigorously until ingredients are combined.

Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

Still looking for a Thanksgiving side for tomorrow? Here's your easy and healthy answer. 

Hasselback potatoes are simple and delicious. They're an easy way to add interest and flavor to a simple potato and we're raising the stakes a notch by using sweet potatoes.

Two options are included for you to choose from - sweet with a walnut maple crumb or savory bay leaf and salt.

The difficult part of hasselback is slicing the potato without cutting entirely through. The trick is to lay a wooden kitchen spoon or a ruler with some height next to the potato to stop your knife cutting all the way down to the cutting board. Make a slice every centimeter or so and the hardest part is finished.

If you don't want to bother with the slicing process, the walnut maple crumb can also be spread over a dish of mashed sweet potato - equally good for you and equally delicious. Double the crumb recipe to ensure you have enough to cover an entire dish and bake for just 20 minutes to crisp up the topping.

Count on one large sweet potato for every two people. The recipe below assumes you will make two potatoes with bay leaves and two with the crumb.

Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

Serves 4, easily double or tripled

2 large sweet potatoes

20 - 30 bay leaves

Walnut Maple Crumb (recipe included below)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry sweet potatoes, do not peel. Lay a wooden spoon or ruler next to the potato and, using a sharp knife, slice most of the way through the potato, leaving at least 1/4-inch uncut at the base. Take care not to cut all the way through the potato. Repeat slices at 1-cm intervals until entire potato is sliced. Repeat with remaining potatoes.

Take two potatoes and fill every second or third slice with bay leaves. Repeat with the remaining two potatoes using the walnut maple crumb. Place the sweet potatoes in a baking dish with about a 1/2-inch of water or stock and place in the oven.

After 40 minutes, check to see if the crumb is starting to brown. If so, cover loosely with tin foil and cook an additional 20 minutes.

Walnut Maple Crumb

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats

2 tblsp maple syrup

1/4 tsp kosher salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined.

Coconut Butter

Coconut butter served in Michael Aram Honey Pot

Coconut manna (aka butter) can be a hard ingredient to track down. I find it is often sold out at health food stores and it has yet to make its way to general grocers.

If you're making the Spirulina Protein Bites from last week, or just want to try a new ingredient, fear not, it's super easy to whip up at home.

Grab a bag (at least 7 to 8 oz worth) of dehydrated coconut shavings and dump the entire thing into your high-powered blender. Process until it turns into a paste, scraping down the bowl as necessary. I have tried making this in a food processor and it just does not work as well. Food Processor = 10 minutes of pulsing and scraping. High-powered blender = 30 seconds.

Scrape the butter into a small bowl, and a pinch of Kosher salt if desired (you should desire) and chill until solid.

Once set, I keep the butter at room temperature so it stays spreadable. Use it on toast, in smoothies and in any way you might use another nut butter.

Spirulina Protein Bites

Spiru-what? You know! Spirulina – that free-floating filamentous cyanobacteria characterized by cylindrical, multicellular trichomes in an open left-hand helix!*

Obviously.

No doubt, an odd ingredient, but I have been adding it to everything lately. It is a complete protein and full of other good stuff like thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, potassium, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, selenium and zinc.

But let’s get real. I add it to recipes because it turns my food green and that must be good for me.

These bites have over 8 grams of protein in each serving. They are great to have on hand for an afternoon snack or even pre-workout for an added boost of energy.

If you want more protein per serving, try adding a scoop of your favorite protein powder. You may need to increase the amount of oil to get the mixture to come together. Add it slowly (no more than one teaspoon at a time) until the mixture resembles sand and holds together when pressed. If you don’t have MCT oil, use coconut oil as a substitute.

*Wikipedia

Spirulina Protein Bites

Makes 5 servings (two bites in each serving)

3/4 cup almond meal

1/4 cup hemp seeds

5 dates, pitted

2 tbs coconut butter

2 tbs maple syrup

1 tbs spirulina

2 tsp MCT oil

Pinch of kosher salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until fully combined. Roll the mixture into 10 balls and refrigerate until set.

Store in the refrigerator and try not to eat all of them in one sitting.

Dewy Skin Elixir

The hubs and I have been doing a lot of traveling lately. It’s been such a treat to take time out for ourselves and to visit family, but dry airplane environments and lots of time spent out in the sun have taken a toll on my skin.

I make this juice/smoothie when I need to whip my skin back into shape. All the healthy ingredients and the high water content of vegetables like cucumber really give my skin the boost it needs. I drink two servings a day for three days in a row and notice a healthy glow on my face every single time.

For this recipe, I make sure that my spinach and apple are organic and buy the other ingredients organic as available and affordable. The apple adds a little sweetness, but if you’re a green juice veteran, you can probably leave it out. Make this in a blender so you don’t miss out on the fiber.

Dewy Skin Elixir

2 servings

½ cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped

3 stalks celery, trimmed and roughly chopped

1 lime, peel and pith removed

2 - 3 handfuls of spinach

½ apple, roughly chopped (optional)

1 - 2 cups of water

Add the first five ingredients (through apple, if using) to a high-powered blender. Pour in one cup of water and process until smooth, adding more water as needed to reach desired consistency.