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My Favorite Banana Berry Kale Protein Smoothie

Sup? You work out?

I do. Which is why I need some protein to help rebuild my (ever expanding) muscles! Ha. But seriously, this is my go-to protein smoothie recipe that I crave every time after a tough workout. Maybe someday I’ll switch it up, but not until I get tired of this one. Which doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon.

My Favorite Banana Berry Green Protein Smoothie

You don’t need any extra sweeteners because of the banana and almond milk in this recipe! Pro tip: blend the kale with a little bit of water before adding the rest of the ingredients so it gets blended finely enough. You won’t even know it’s there! You can even trick your friends or kids with this and I bet they won’t know they’re eating kale.

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Banana Chia Seed Pudding

Waaaayyy back when I was a kid and I could eat anything I wanted without thinking twice about calories or sugar or nutritional value, I was very choosey with my desserts. I didn’t like cookies unless they were oatmeal raisin baked by my sister, I didn’t like cake unless it was funfetti flavored, and I didn’t like pie unless it was banana cream pie. Now that my sweet tooth is … more refined … of course as irony would have it I completely devour anything classified as dessert. But since I no longer run around like a crazy person most hours of the day and my metabolism decided it was getting old too and slowed to a jog, I have to choose healthy versions of my favorite childhood desserts.

3-Ingredient Banana Chia Seed Pudding

This Banana Chia Seed Pudding is no My Mom’s Banana Cream Pie, but it’s a good-for-me alternative I’d take any day of the week. If you haven’t tried a chia seed pudding recipe, you’re grounded. Just kidding you’re not grounded. Because if you were you wouldn’t be able to go to the grocery store, buy the ingredients, make this chia seed pudding, and fall in love with it like me.

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Paleo Spaghetti Squash Hawaiian Pizza Pie

It’s official. I’m re-entering the world of crossfit. Three months after moving to the city and adjusting to actually having real world expenses, I have committed to spending all of my shopping money on a 4-month membership at Bucktown Crossfit. Now, I’m not one of those fitness junkies that thinks, “You can’t put a price on good health.” You can, in fact, put a price on it. And I’ll probably be complaining about that price for the next 4 months.

Okay, enough about how cheap I am.

I actually do love crossfit and have not found any other workout regimen that produces such great results. Saturday was my first class at Bucktown, and while it was a miracle that I dragged my butt out of bed at 8, the fact that I completed (eerrr, half completed) a workout called the “Filthy 50” on a weekend without puking all over my trainer was a personal accomplishment I made sure to brag about for the remainder of the day. To give you an idea of the “suck” I endured, here’s the workout: With a partner, complete 50 each of these moves for time: Box jump, Jumping pull-ups, Kettlebell swings, Walking Lunge, Knees to elbows, Push press, Back extensions, Wall ball shots, Burpees, Double unders. Whew. “Difficult” is an understatement. “I wanted to die” is more accurate.

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Paleo Friendly Coffee Cake Banana Bread

Have you ever heard of PaleOMG? Well … she can pretty much convince anyone to adopt a paleo lifestyle with her delicious (and easy to make) recipes. I once spent multiple hours just scrolling through her entire archive of recipes and didn’t even regret it after. She also happens to be the queen of paleo banana bread recipes. When I came across her recipe for Paleo Coffee Cake Banana Bread, I all but ran to Whole Foods to buy almond and coconut flour. I mean, this bread combines my two favorite things and is healthy all at the same time. No-brainer.

The taste of this paleo banana bread is amazing. It has great sweet banana flavor (use those black nanners) but the cinnamon streusel on top sends it right over the edge. The difference between this paleo bread and normal banana bread is in its consistency. When I made this bread, it turned out VERY moist. Which isn’t a bad thing … just always be sure to have napkins when eating it. 🙂

 

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Paleo Coffee Cake Banana Bread
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Ingredients

  • 3 brown bananas, mashed
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup almond butter (or other nut/seed butter)
  • ¼ cup coconut flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • For the toppings
  • 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) grass fed butter, at room temperature (or coconut oil)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
  • 2 tablespoons almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ cup pecans, crushed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8.5×4.5 baking dish with oil then line the middle with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together bananas, maple syrup, vanilla extract, eggs, and almond butter. Add coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix well.
  3. Pour batter into baking dish.
  4. In a small bowl, add butter, coconut sugar, almond flour, cinnamon, and pecans. Use your hands to mix the toppings together.
  5. Sprinkle the toppings on top of the banana bread mixture.
  6. Place the bread dish on a baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes.
  7. Remove from oven, place on cooling rack and let rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.
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https://smilesandwich.com/2014/05/14/paleo-coffee-cake-banana-bread/

 

Paleo Beef Stroganoff

Things I’ve learned since moving out of my parents’ house to a humble apartment in Chicago’s Lincoln Park area: I. Was. Spoiled. Not only was I saving enough money to afford a $200/month crossfit membership, oh no, that’s just the beginning of it. I also had a 15-minute commute to work (now it’s an hour) so I had extra time to attend said crossfit classes about 5 times per week. Further, every single night I came home to a hot meal cooked by my step mom. Of course, she knew I was trying to follow a low carb, high protein diet, so dinner always, always included a meat, hot vegetable, side salad, and typically a starch I just didn’t eat. Oh, and that’s not all. Nine times out of 10 there would be dinner leftovers for me to take to lunch, so pretty much my life couldn’t be easier.

Since I’m a girl who likes to use her resources, I still go home for family dinner night about once every other week, sometimes more. Of course the main reason I go is to visit with family, but the free (always amazing) dinner doesn’t hurt. How lucky am I to be a part of a family with amazing cooks that adapt to my strange diet??

This Paleo Beef Stroganoff was repurpose recipe using leftover beef tenderloin from family dinner night. I always used to love when my mom made beef stroganoff with egg noodles, so I decided to create the healthy version of the comforting classic. Trust me, you won’t miss the canned soup or cream in this recipe! The coconut milk gives it a creaminess, but I promise you can’t taste the coconut. Serve it over a bed of your favorite veggie noodles and DEVOUR … er, I mean enjoy!

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Paleo Beef Stroganoff
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Ingredients

  • 1 lb top sirloin steak, cut into strips (I used leftover beef tenderloin)
  • 6 tbsp butter or other cooking fat
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat a large skillet over a medium-high heat and allow 2 tbsp of your cooking fat to melt. Add the beef strips and cook on each side for just one minute, until golden brown but not cooked through and then remove from the pan and set aside.
  2. Saute the mushrooms in the same pan, just enough time so that they begin to take a golden color. Remove and set aside.
  3. Saute the onions and garlic until tender. Leave them in the pan and add the white wine. Cook for a few minutes so that the alcohol burns off and the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan come up. At this point add the coconut milk and beef broth, stirring until a consistent creamy sauce takes shape.
  4. Return the beef and mushrooms to the skillet and allow them to simmer slightly for 5 to 7 minutes. You may need to turn the temperature down to prevent the sauce from boiling. Serve!
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https://smilesandwich.com/2014/05/09/paleo-beef-stroganoff/

 

 

Paleo Nachos

A month ago, if you would have told me that I could eat nachos while on paleo, I would have told you to get out of town. That was, until I came across a photo of Paleo Nachos on Pinterest and thought … duh, Jordan, nachos can be made clean if you just avoid the cheese and make your own sweet potato chips. So what else would I do with my Saturday than make said Paleo Nachos. And they …. were delightful.

Paleo Nachos

I got impatient and pulled my sweet potato chips before they really got crispy, but I was okay with them being  a bit softer (like fries) and I just ate the nachos with a fork. Think of it like …. Paleo Irish nachos. Sort of. But, if you prefer crispy chips, just be patient. Read a book. Do a puzzle. Anything to keep your mind off the fact that you will soon be devouring glorious nachos.

I made extra ground turkey taco meat and ate it for lunches with tomato and avocado. This can also be made with ground beef. Or chorizo. Get crazy with your bad nacho-eating self.

Paleo Nachos

 

Paleo Nachos
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Ingredients

  • For the sweet potato chips:
  • 1 skinny sweet potato
  • 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • For the taco meat:
  • 1 pound ground turkey (or beef, bison, whatever)
  • 1 jalapeño, minced
  • 3 teaspoon Cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon Oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • ½ teaspoon Onion Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
  • For garnish:
  • Tomato, chopped
  • Avocado, chopped
  • Cilantro, chopped
  • Green onion, chopped
  • Salsa
  • (lettuce, olives, or whatever else)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Use a mandoline or a knife to cut your sweet potatoes thin. Put some parchment paper down on a cooking sheet. Place sweet potato rounds on the parchment paper.
  3. Melt coconut oil and use a pastry/cooking brush to paint some coconut oil on top of each sweet potato round. Sprinkle salt and pepper.
  4. Place in the oven to bake for around 8-10 minutes. Flip sweet potatoes over and bake for another 5 minutes or until edges are brown and have curled up a bit. Set aside.
  5. In a large skillet, sauté jalapeño until soft. Add ground turkey and brown, stirring to break up the meat –about 10 minutes. Turn heat down to low and drain fat from turkey.
  6. Mix together taco seasoning. Add ¾ warm water to taco seasoning and stir until mixed. Pour on ground turkey and simmer 5-10 minutes.
  7. To assemble, layer sweet potato chips with taco meat and any toppings you'd like!
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https://smilesandwich.com/2014/04/15/paleo-nachos/

Clean Eating Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes

BIG NEWS: I have created a Smile Sandwich Instagram account. Instagram is super great because I can easily search Paleo recipes and scroll through thousands of delicious photos. BUT … it’s really, really not great in the sense that I probably spend multiple hours a day on the app, get a million different cravings each time, and my list of recipe ideas is ever expanding.

Enter: pancakes. An innocent weekend Instagram scroll presented multiple photos of healthy pancakes, and next think I know, I’m in my kitchen whipping up a batch of these amazing Clean Eating Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes. Because when your body wakes you up at 7 a.m. on Saturday, you really don’t have a choice.

chocolate chip paleo pancakes

I have a big bag of oat flour I got from an Amish grocery store, but all you have to do to make your own is grind old fashioned oats in a food processor. All I know is, you’ll never buy Bisquick again after tasting these delicious gems.

So go ahead and whip up a batch of these Clean Eating Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes next time you’re wanting a healthy breakfast that feels much naughtier than it is.

Clean Eating Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
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Ingredients

  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup oat flour
  • Chocolate Chips
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil
  • For the peanut butter drizzle:
  • 1/2 tablespoon peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil

Instructions

  1. Mash the banana and beat with egg and flour. Stir in chocolate chips. Heat coconut oil in a pan. Pour batter onto pan, carefully spread the batter out to desired thickness. Once it starts to bubble on top, flip the pancake over and cook about 1 minute more.
  2. For the drizzle: heat peanut butter and oil in the microwave until smooth. Drizzle over pancake stack.
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https://smilesandwich.com/2014/04/10/clean-eating-sugarless-chocolate-chip-peanut-butter-pancakes/

The Best Healthy Broccoli Salad

Deli salads are a strange thing. I grew up going to potlucks and family gatherings where people just loved to mix miscellaneous savory ingredients with mayonnaise and call it a salad. Of course, I’ve never been too much a fan of deli salads … that is until I tried my recipe for super awesome fauxtato salad with sweet potatoes! Since then, I’ve been on the hunt for lightened up versions of classic deli salads, and this is yet another success.

Basically, you can throw whatever random produce you have in this and it will be good. Trust me … these ingredients may seem like an unlikely combination, but the sweetness of the raisins and saltiness of bacon along with crunchy, fresh vegetables all mix together to form one heck of a delicious broccoli salad. Helllloooo spring.

Broccoli-Salad-2 Broccoli-Salad

 

The Best Healthy Broccoli Salad
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Ingredients

  • 1 head broccoli florets, chopped
  • 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup sliced celery
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrots
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup cooked crumbled turkey bacon
  • Honey Yogurt Dressing
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek nonfat yogurt
  • pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large serving bowl, add broccoli and all remaining salad ingredients.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together. Toss dressing with vegetables.
  3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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https://smilesandwich.com/2014/04/04/the-best-healthy-broccoli-salad/