Healthy cranberry sauce

Want to enjoy the holidays and your indulgences, but leave the guilt at home?  Last year around the holidays I was doing a special cleanse and had a very limited nutrition plan, and cranberries were the only fruit I could eat, ironically.  So I found this awesome sugar free healthy cranberry sauce recipe on recipes.steviva.com and it tasted awesome!  I thought I had posted it last year but apparently not, so here it is now for you to enjoy for the holidays!

Healthy Cranberry Sauce

 

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Prep time

2 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

17 mins

 

sugar free cranberry sauce

Author: recipes.steviva.com

Recipe type: side dish

Cuisine: holiday

Ingredients

• 4 cups fresh cranberries
• 2 cups water
• 1/16 tspn stevia
• 2 tablespoons orange zest

Instructions

1. Fine grate orange peel and set aside.
2. Place cranberries and water in a medium saucepan. Over high heat, cook until the cranberries burst.
3. Lower heat to simmer.
4. Stir in orange zest and stevia.
5. Continue cooking 15 minutes.
6. Allow to cool and serve.

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It never ceases to confound me. What would normally be considered health conscious, nutrition minded people who would never touch canned veggies any other time….suddenly the holidays roll around and they are making all their recipes with canned pumpkin…and saying “here’s a healthy nutritious recipe!”

Wait….didn’t you miss something? You’re using a canned veggie! Besides sulfites, sodium, etc…you can easily google and find all the issues with eating canned food. It’s just getting to be common sense these days, especially with vegetables, to go fresh or frozen. Plus, with pumpkin, it’s SO EASY to create the same thing using fresh pumpkin, and it tastes SO much better!

Years ago my mom finally made the switch, and it made SUCH a difference in her pumpkin pies! I’ll never go back, and I’ve become a one man fresh pumpkin advocate each fall and winter! Want to see how easy it is? Here ya go:

Just Say No to Canned Pumpkin!

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Simple way to get fresh pumpkin meat for any use!

Author: John Hays

Recipe type: seasonal

Cuisine: pumpkin

Ingredients

• 1 small pumpkin
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 dash himalayan sea salt

Instructions

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. 
3. cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds and stringy part using a spoon (seeds can be roasted separately)
4. either leave in halves, or cut into 1 inch thick strips (more slices, faster cooking)
5. place pieces on large roasting tray, drizzle olive oil
6. add sea salt (and any other desired spices - cinnamon, pumpkin spice, etc)
7. roast slices for 20-30 minutes, checking for firmness. Puncturing skin with a fork helps speed cooking
8. remove from oven, dig meat out of shell with spoon
9. store meat in airtight container
10. freeze until needed
11. 

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What would YOU do for a completely healthy, yet incredibly tasty chocolate bar? That’s JUST what I have for you today with this amazing recipe! This will CRUSH your cravings, you’ll never have to stop by the grocery store to pick up that little chocolate bar that sets you on the sugar roller coaster ever again! Plus, you’ll never get bored with it because you can do almost any variation on a chocolate bar and still remain healthy!

Want a Mr. Goodbar? Add almonds! Want something spicy? Add cayenne pepper! Want something minty fresh? Add peppermint oil! Want a sweet and salty treat? Add Himalayan Sea Salt! Want a caramel gooey texture? Add honey! Go wild and stay on your meal plan!

Healthy Chocolate Candy Bar

 

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Prep time

3 mins

Total time

3 mins

 

Your ULTIMATE solution to your sweet tooth dilemma!

Author: John Hays

Recipe type: dessert

Ingredients

• 1 scoop vegan chocolate Shakeology
• 1 heaping spoonful coconut oil
• Optional Ingredients
• ----------------------------
• 6-8 almonds
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 dash Himalayan Sea Salt
• 1 oz peppermint oil
• 1 tsp local organic honey

Instructions

1. Melt coconut oil
2. Stir Shakeology and coconut oil together into a smooth mixture should be almost runny
3. Mix in any optional ingredients desired
4. Pour into small container
5. Freeze for 5-10 minutes
6. Remove from container and enjoy!
7. -----------------------------
8. For cayenne, blend the cayenne into the mixture and then lightly dust on top after removing from freezer
9. -----------------------------
10. For honey, pour half of Shakeology/coconut oil mixture into container, freeze 5 minutes
11. Remove from freezer, add honey, freeze for 5 more minutes
12. Remove from freezer, add rest of mixture on top, freeze for 5 more minutes
13. Remove from freezer and enjoy!

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Sometimes simplicity is all that’s needed for a delicious meal! This is definitely a KISS recipe. Easy to make, easy to duplicate, and super tasty and healthy! Enjoy!

Chicken and Cabbage

 

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Prep time

2 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

22 mins

 

Serves: 1-2

Ingredients

• organic chicken breast
• cabbage
• cholula sauce
• ginger
• Himalayan sea salt

Instructions

1. Chop up quarter of a head of cabbage
2. Chop up one chicken breast
3. Place chicken and cabbage in wok on high heat
4. Add ¼ water or chicken stock
5. Halfway through cooking, drizzle cholula sauce
6. Add ginger, sea salt

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This recipe comes from our good friend Melissa Costello at KarmaChow.com!  Head over to Karma Chow and get the Karma Chow cookbook for tons of amazing healthy tasty vegan recipes!  Ever since doing the Ultimate Reset, I’ve discovered that I LOVE kale!  It’s hearty, you can sauté it, you can make chips out of it, add all kinds of flavor to it…it’s versatile and tasty!  As you already know, I’m a HUGE onion fan, especially caramelized onions, so this sounds like an incredibly tasty treat!

Kale + Cherry Salad with Caramelized Onions

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Hearty tasty summery salad

Author: Melissa Costello

Recipe type: Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 head curly Kale, stems stripped, broken into small pieces and massaged with drizzle of olive oil
• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced into ¼” round
• 2 teaspoons olive or coconut oil
• ⅓ cup walnuts

Instructions

1. Heat olive or coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions. Saute until translucent and then turn heat to low and continue to cook about 7-10 minutes or until lightly brown and caramelized. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Place kale and walnuts together in a large salad bowl. Toss with Dressing and top with balsamic onions

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 4

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Cherry Balsamic Dressing

 

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Prep time

2 mins

Total time

2 mins

 

Tasty salad dressing

Author: Melissa Costello

Recipe type: Salad Dressing

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup black cherry juice (unsweetened)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon grade B maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Blend all ingredients together until smooth.

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Stir Fry Bowls.  Delicious, health, easy ways to get your 5-6 healthy meals in each day and not take up too much time or effort!

I have recently begun a new very restricted meal plan that comes from working with clinical nutritionist and Body Beast trainer Sagi Kalev.  Together through various test, blood, saliva, etc…we have discovered some interesting things my body is dealing with at the moment, and thus some foods I need to be avoiding as well as some specialized supplements I should be taking.  It’s all temporary, just to detox my body and heal it so I can get back to eating my regular clean meal plan and doing my regular workouts again.

As is the purpose of FitDudeFood.com, when faced with a limited food list, I do what I do best…I get creative.  In this case, I came up with the idea of stir fry bowls.  I’m doing a very low carb plan, so I am upping my healthy fats a bit, thus allowing cashews into most of my meals (yay!).  The two meals you see above are variations on the same recipe, which I will give you now.

Stir Fry Bowls

 

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Prep time

2 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

7 mins

 

Simple fast healthy tasty meals!

Author: John Hays

Cuisine: Asian

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 8 ounces Protein (chicken, lamb, beef, pork, etc.)
• 1 cup veggie (broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc)
• 3 ounces cashews
• 1 tsp olive oil
• dash turmeric
• dash cayenne
• dash ginger

Instructions

1. Dice protein
2. Dump protein, veggie and cashews into skillet or wok with olive oil
3. Cook on medium high, stirring frequently until meat is cooked through, adding spices as you go

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Since my nutrition plan is limited, I do this for 3 of my 5 daily meals every single day, switching from lamb to chicken breast to chicken thigh and swapping out the vegetable.  SUPER tasty, super simple, super healthy!  Try it yourself and let me know what you think!

Spaghetti squash.  It’s the one you always heard about and wondered why it was called that.  Growing up, I didn’t like any squashes.  My mom overcooked them, they were slimy and gross.  Years later when I did the Ultimate Reset, I learned the art of appreciating the greatness of vegetables as they are, and cooking them simply and delicately to retain their natural textures and flavors.

When a friend introduced me to this spaghetti squash recipe, I kicked myself for never trying it before, since spaghetti is my absolute favorite meal.  Plus, I had never really tried pesto, so that was a welcome addition as well.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do, and share it with your friends who love pasta.

Spaghetti Squash

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Healthy tasty alternative to pasta!

Author: John Hays

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

• spaghetti squash
• olive oil
• Himalayan seasalt
• cilantro bunch
• lime juice
• garlic clove
• jalapeno pepper
• avocado
• pine nuts
• mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Cut spaghetti squash in half
2. Place both halves on a cooking tray
3. Cover each lightly with olive oil and Himalayan sea salt
4. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until squash is easily scraped with fork
5. Use food processor to process avocado, jalapeno, garlic, lime juice, cilantro and sea salt and handful of pine nuts into pesto.
6. Scrape spaghetti squash out of skins with fork
7. Place spaghetti squash and pesto in saucepan and saute until warm
8. Serve with more pine nuts on top and sprinkling of fresh grated mozzarella cheese
9. Other veggies can be added to saute pan such as mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, etc...

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Fast & easy healthy tasty lunch.  Sounds to good to be true, right?  It’s really not that difficult.  It fascinates me to look at social media posts, especially on Twitter, and see SO many people complaining about “healthy eating is so hard” or “I just don’t have time to eat healthy” or “junk food tastes so much better”!

When you put forth the smallest amount of effort, you can easily make incredibly tasty dishes in a short amount of time that are very healthy!  For instance, this is my lunch during the week, it’s simple, it’s affordable and it’s incredibly tasty AND healthy!  I recommend you give this a shot and see how easy it is to eat healthy and love it!

Fast & Easy Healthy Tasty Lunch

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Easy Healthy Tasty Lunch!

Author: John Hays

Recipe type: Lunch

Ingredients

• 6 oz chicken breast
• 10 asparagus tips
• ½ avocado
• hot sauce
• liquid aminos
• turmeric
• cumin
• coriander

Instructions

1. mix all ingredients in wok and sauté until done. Enjoy!

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Garlic.  Sure, it wards off vampires and unwanted advances from suitors, but it has many other uses and attributes that will cause you to want to add it to every meal!

Originating in Asia, today there are 7 different types of garlic in Europe alone, and 5 or more forms in which to purchase it.  Though most people are familiar with eating the bulb, the leaves and flower can also be eaten and are milder in flavor.

Fermented garlic gloves, or black garlic, is sweet and syrupy and is made in Korea and sold in the US.  Garlic bread, garlic oil, aioli, and garlic powder are quite popular culinary uses of garlic.

Garlic has many medicinal and health uses.  It is claimed to help prevent heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and cancer.  It’s been shown to regulate blood sugar levels, increase testosterone, fight off scurvy due to high vitamin C levels, and enhance thiamin absorption.

Plus, at the end of the day, it just makes your food taste really good!  It’s highly popular in Italian cooking, no spaghetti dish is complete without garlic, and I for one use it in my nightly salmon stir fry meal every chance I get!

So, next time you’re at the grocery store, pick up some cloves of garlic! You’ll enjoy the taste, and you’re likely to feel healthier as well!