Inspired by creamy turkey and wild rice soup recipes, this vegetarian mushroom soup recipe is a whole lot lighter and gets a rich flavor boost from caramelized leeks. Serve with a green salad with sherry vinaigrette and crusty bread to sop up any bits left in the bowl –  from AARP.

A Healthy Recipe

Prep/Cook Time: 1:50 Hours, Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cups sliced leeks (4-6 medium leeks)
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups sliced celery
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 6 cups mushroom broth
• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup wild rice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons sour cream
• 6 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add leeks and cook, occasionally stirring, until starting to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking, often stirring, until the leeks are golden brown and very tender, 5 to 10 minutes more.
2. Add sherry and cook, often stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in mushrooms and celery and cook, frequently stirring, until the mushroom liquid evaporates, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add broth, water, and rice; cover and bring to a simmer.
3. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, occasionally stirring, until the rice is tender, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Season with pepper and salt and serve each portion topped with 1 tablespoon each sour cream and almonds.

Nutritional Information

Per Serving: 309 calories; 13 g fat (3 g sat, 8 g mono); 6 mg cholesterol; 39 g carbohydrate; 0 g added sugars; 6 g total sugars; 9 g protein; 5 g fiber; 566 mg sodium; 749 mg potassium

Eating well & exercise, a healthy combination!

If you are looking for help in creating your own healthy habits, check out our 21-Day Longevity and Strength Program? We will help you extend the length and quality of your life by restoring your strength, improving your balance, and reducing your joint pain.

Join our 21-day longevity and strength program today! <<<

​​​​Who knew you could make a high protein pizza crust that tastes this good?!

We all love pizza, but we also want to be fit and healthy. The traditional pizza crust is loaded with processed ingredients and simple carbs that promote weight gain, BUT THIS PIZZA CRUST is different!

This pizza crust is made with CHICKEN, QUINOA, and EGG!

It’s incredible that ingredients that are this full of protein and wholesome nutrition can come together to create a legit pizza crust! You’ve got to try this recipe if pizza and protein are two things that you love.

Courtesy of RealHealthyRecipes.com​

What you need
Servings: 4

For the Pizza Crust

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup uncooked quinoa (Soaked for 8 hours)
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

Optional Toppings

• ½ cup pesto
• ½ cup baked, sliced chicken breast
• ½ cup Fresh mozzarella in water, grated

Instructions

1. Combine all of the ingredients in the food processor until the chicken is fully ground and the ingredients are fully combined.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Place the chicken dough in the center of your pan and spread into your desired pizza crust shape. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees F.
4. Load up your crust with your favorite sauce and toppings. Place back in the oven for 5-8 minutes, until your cheese has melted and toppings are warmed. Serve immediately and enjoy!

In the spirit of the holidays, here is a wholesome cookie recipe that is packed with the flavors of the season.

These cookies are made with grain-free flours and coconut sugar to make it more fitness-friendly so that you can stay on track while enjoying a treat.

Keep in mind that the dough expands while baking, which is why you’ll need to space the cookies at least 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Don’t flatten out the balls when you put them on the pan, either. Let them expand naturally in the cooking process and enjoy the pretty cracks that come as a result.

Courtesy of RealHealthyRecipes.com

What you need
Servings: 50 Cookies

• 2 cups Raw Pecans
• ¼ cup coconut flour
• ½ cup blanched almond flour
• ½ cup arrowroot starch
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅓ cup coconut oil
• ¼ cup coconut cream
• 1 cup coconut palm sugar
• ⅓ cup molasses
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Toast the pecans in a dry skillet over medium heat, often stirring, for 5 minutes, until fragrant and golden. Set aside to cool.
3. Pulse the pecans in a food processor until finely ground. Add the coconut flour, almond flour, arrowroot, baking soda, salt, ginger, cardamom, pepper, oil, cream, 3/4 cup of the sugar, molasses, and egg. Pulse until thoroughly combined.
4. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap it with plastic wrap, and place it in the freezer for 20 minutes.
5. Place the remaining 1/4 cup coconut sugar in a bowl. Form the dough into 1-tablespoon-size balls and roll them in the sugar. Arrange the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet about 3 inches apart and do not press the dough down. Bake for 8–12 minutes, until golden.

Nutrition
Four Meatballs equals: One cookie equals: 84 calories, 5g fat, 88mg sodium, 9g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 6g sugar, and 1g protein.

Make the most of fall produce like butternut squash and kale in this hearty vegetarian soup. Pasta and beans make it especially filling.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 2 1/2 cups (3/4-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
• 2 1/2 cups (3/4-inch) cubed peeled baking potato
• 1 cup (1-inch) cut green beans (about 1/4 pound)
• 1/2 cup diced carrot
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups chopped kale
• 1/2 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
• 1 (16-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 2 1/2 minutes or until tender. Add broth and the next 7 ingredients (broth through salt); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes. Add kale, orzo, and beans; cook 5 minutes or until orzo is done and vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with cheese.

Nutritional Information

• Calories 212
• Fat 5g
• Protein 9.6g
• Carbohydrate 36g
• Fiber 3.9g
• Sodium 961mg
• Calcium 164mg

Yes, this is happening! Real healthy fries that taste AMAZING and are made with BAKED PARSNIPS!

Most people love fries, however, regular fries really are so bad for our fitness. All that unhealthy fat and all of those calories are hard to justify eating very often. And having a belly full of greasy fries never feels too awesome.

Nothing comes as close to tasting like real, authentic fries than these baked parsnip fries. If you are a fry lover, please try this recipe and let me know what you think!

What you need
Serves 6

• 2 large parsnips
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper to taste
• ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
• natural ketchup

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line an 18 × 26-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Peel the parsnips and trim the ends. Cut each parsnip in half horizontally, then make 2 cuts in each direction to create 9 sticks out of each half. In a large bowl, toss the parsnip sticks with the rosemary, garlic, olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and sweet paprika.
3. Spread the fries over the prepared baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes, flip, and then roast for another 10–15 minutes until browned and crispy. Serve with the ketchup.

Nutrition
One serving equals 128 calories, 8g fat, 37mg sodium, 15g carbohydrate, 15g fiber, 3g sugar, and 1g protein.

Let’s face it, we live in a world where food temptations are everywhere…which leads to cravings, which lead to you eating things that you shouldn’t. Again. And again. And again. Until you’re so fed up with your body that you don’t even know where to begin to get yourself back on track.

Stores display the most tantalizing junk food items right where you could easily reach them. TV commercials for greasy, fattening foods portray them so scrumptiously that you literally salivate. Sugary snack items have full-page, glossy pictures in your favorite magazines. And as if all of these weren’t enough, the people in your daily life are another, constant source of food temptation.

To make matters worse, you’ve been conditioned since childhood to have a positive association with the act of indulging in your cravings. You use food as a reward. You use food as a source of emotional comfort. You use food as a way to relieve stress. And quickly these associations and uses of food become a habit. A habit not easily broken.

New Technique to End Food Cravings

Food cravings don’t need to have the upper hand on you anymore. Here’s how you can fight back using your most powerful asset: your brain.

Remember that your mind is an amazing thing. Once your mind is made up about something it’s nearly impossible to change it.

Try This Powerful Mind Exercise: Imagine that you are peacefully floating down a river on a raft. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and you are having a fun, relaxing time.

You feel wonderful about the river because it’s making you feel happy.

Now change perspectives for a moment. You’re now in a plane flying over the river and the raft. Instantly our eye is drawn to an enormous rocky waterfall. Then you look back to the person floating on the raft, having a wonderful time, headed straight for the treacherous falls.

With this new perspective of the river, do you think that you’d agree to get on a raft and take your chances floating toward the falls? Laughable, right? You’ve seen the hidden danger of the river. You know it leads to pain and suffering.

Now your negative association (watery death) with the river has replaced your initial positive association (relaxing fun).

This is the key to overcoming food temptations and putting an end to food cravings: building negative associations in place of existing positive ones. I’ll break this process down for you in two steps:

Step One: Create a STRONG Negative Association with Unhealthy food you may not have realized it, but up until this point you’ve placed unhealthy, fattening foods on a pedestal in your mind. As long as the wrong foods are on that pedestal you’ll continue to give into your cravings and will continue to gain fat.

• Take the wrong food off that pedestal by listing off everything negative about them…
• These foods make you unhealthy.
• These foods cause weight gain.
• These foods drain your energy.
• These foods kill your confidence.
• These foods lessen your quality of life.
• These foods damage your love life.

Every time that you feel tempted to eat unhealthy food, focus on your list of negatives. Kick the junk off the pedestal and put something healthy in its place.

Step Two: Create a STRONG Positive Association with wholesome foods

Now that your mental food pedestal has been cleared, put truly wholesome food items on it. Juicy fresh fruit, crispy vegetables, and savory lean meats are the place to start.

List off the things that you love about healthy food…

• These foods make you healthy.
• These foods promote fat loss.
• These foods boost your energy.
• These foods build your confidence.
• These foods improve your quality of life.
• These foods enhance your love life.

I encourage you to immerse yourself into the world of healthy, wholesome foods. Browse the aisles of your local natural foods store. Stroll through a farmer’s market. Pack healthy snacks to bring to work. Clear your kitchen of junk.

Use the technique above consistently and you will soon find that healthy, wholesome foods are your favorite.

And craving the wrong foods will be a thing of your past.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup dry-roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup green onions, finely chopped
• 4 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped
• 1 lb chicken breast tenderloins, thinly sliced
• 1 spaghetti squash (about 2–3 lb)
• 6 tablespoons water, divided
• 1 (12-oz) package fresh broccoli florets
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Prep

• Chop peanuts, green onions, and garlic (2 teaspoons each).
• Slice chicken (wash hands).

Steps

• Cut squash in half across the middle from end to end; scrape out seeds and discard. Place 1/2 squash cut-side down in microwave-safe dish; add 4 tablespoons water, then cover and microwave on HIGH for 12–15 minutes or until easily pierced with a wooden skewer or knife. Remove cover; let stand 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining half. Pull spaghetti strands out of the squash gently using a fork, then discard skin.
• Microwave broccoli following package instructions. Place cornstarch in small bowl; whisk in soy sauce, sugar, sriracha, and remaining 2 tablespoons water. Preheat large, nonstick sauté pan on medium-high 2–3 minutes. Add oil, then chicken, and cook 5–6 minutes or until brown and 165°F. Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm.
• Add peanuts, onions, garlic, and soy sauce mixture to the same pan; cook 1–2 minutes, stirring constantly, or until very thick. Add chicken back to the pan and toss until coated in sauce. Stir in broccoli, then remove the pan from heat. Divide spaghetti squash among 4 bowls; top with Kung Pao chicken. Serve.

Nutritional Information
Per quarter recipe

• Calories, 340
• Fat, 2g
• Sodium, 490mg
• Carbohydrates, 32g
• Fiber, 7g
• Protein, 30g

Working out hard is an essential part of any fat loss plan. It sculpts your muscles, raises your resting metabolism, whittles down your waist, and gives you functional strength and endurance.

The only catch is that you can seriously slow, or even reverse, your results by eating poorly. There’s nothing quite as frustrating as when you are working out like a champ only to face the same belly rolls each morning.

To keep you from giving up in frustration, I’ve put together the following 3 Dieting Hacks to amp up your results.

Why am I calling these hacks? A hack is used to get results faster. These hacks will fool your taste-buds and your mouth into thinking that you’re eating your regular favorites, when, in fact, you’ll be eating a meal with fewer calories, fewer carbs, and more fiber.

Recipe hacks mean quicker fat loss and smaller belly rolls.

That sounds fantastic. So let’s dig right in.

Dieting Hack #1: RICE

Rice is a big part of many a meal. There’s white rice, brown rice, stir-fried rice, sticky rice, wild rice, and the list goes on. All of these kinds of rice (yes, even brown rice) come packed with carb and calories. Higher calories are ok if you are a growing child or an athlete, but not so great for someone with a fat loss goal.

Rather than give up rice completely, because that would make your veggies and meat look lonely on a half-empty plate, let’s turn to Dieting Hack #1.

CAULIFLOWER RICE: Now, don’t get skeptical on me until you give this food trick a try. To make rice from cauliflower first wash it and trim the leaves and stems. Chop into small pieces and then run those pieces through a food processor with the grating attachment. This process will result in a rice-like consistency. Place the cauliflower rice in a large skillet with a Tablespoon of olive oil and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and you are good to go. Serve your usual vegetable and meat dishes over a bed of cauliflower rice just as you would traditional rice.

Dieting Hack #2: NOODLES

Have you ever noticed that when you crave your favorite pasta dish, you mostly want the sauce? Noodles alone are bland and unspectacular. The magic, as well as the protein, is in the sauce.

Noodles, like traditional rice, are packed with calories and carbs that get in the way of your fat loss results. So, rather than just eating a bowl of sauce, try Dieting Hack #2.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES: Again, try this trick before you knock it, I’m guessing that you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Wash zucchini, and then run a vegetable peeler down its sides, creating long, wide noodles. Stop when you reach the inner, seedy part of the zucchini. These raw, zucchini noodles do not require any cooking, throw them onto your plate and top with your favorite pasta sauce. (Of course, I’m assuming that you’re not going to use a white, cream-based sauce, but that’s another article for another day.)

Dieting Hack #3: BREAD, BUNS, TORTILLAS

Cauliflower rice and zucchini noodles are all fine and dandy for those meals that you prepare at home, but what about your meals that are eaten out? Many restaurant meals revolve around bread, buns, or tortillas. These things are tasty, yet filled with calories and carbs that add to those annoying belly rolls.

That’s when you turn to Dieting Hack #3.

THE LETTUCE WRAP: This trick is more popular than the first two, so you may already be familiar with it. How does it work? When ordering your meal, be it a sandwich, burger or tacos, ask for it wrapped in lettuce in place of the bread, bun or tortilla. Most restaurants are cool about it, and you end up getting to eat the right part of the meal – the meat and flavors—without the carb-filled extras. If for some reason the restaurant is unable to wrap it in lettuce for you, then ask for the filling to be placed on a pile of greens and eat it with a fork.

Try these 3 Dieting Hacks out for the next 30 days, and see how quickly your fat loss results ramp up. The improved outcomes will motivate you to work out harder and more consistently, which will then add to an even higher level of fitness.

If you aren’t yet one of my clients, now is the perfect time for you to start. My focus is to get you to your goals using my results-driven method.

Call or email me today to set up your first workout.

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch kale, trimmed and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup Caesar dressing, or to taste*
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 6 ounces smoked salmon, flaked
• 1 cup croutons
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions
Place the kale into a large salad bowl. Pour the Caesar dressing over the kale and firmly massage the dressing into the kale using your clean hands to coat and tenderize the kale, about 30 seconds. Top the salad with Parmesan cheese; slices of avocado, smoked salmon flakes and croutons. Serve with lemon wedges on the side.

*Kale can require more dressing than a typical romaine Caesar salad does.

From the Anchorage Daily News

When striving towards a fat loss goal it’s important to limit the amount of bread that you eat, due to all the simple carbs. The recipe below is a great way to enjoy some bread while still maintaining your clean diet. It’s gluten-free and uses flax meal and egg whites to create a soft, fluffy texture.

What you need
Serves 20

• 2 cups blanched almond flour
• 2 cups flax meal
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons raw honey, melted
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 8 egg whites

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl combine the almond flour, flax meal, and baking soda. Mix well and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
4. Mix the honey and oil into the flax mixture, then quickly fold in the egg whites. Be careful not to over mix the egg whites, so the fluffiness remains.
5. Use an ice cream scooper to drop mounds of the batter on a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Enjoy!

Nutrition
One serving equals 186 calories, 14g fat, 64mg sodium, 8g carbohydrate, 4g fiber, and 6g protein