I've been meaning to post about this one for a while now! I typically eat oatmeal for breakfast everyday, but there are times where I need to eat it on-the-go or at a super early time in the morning, and that's when these overnight oats really come in handy. I prefer to blend a scoop of protein powder in with my coconut milk before adding to the oats just to get protein into this meal. If you skip that option, then I do recommend pairing this with some type of protein in the morning! I personally like to add Trader Joe's salted almond butter and sometimes the whole banana, but that is just what I prefer. You can literally add whatever you enjoy to this mix - berries, seeds/nuts, etc. - and you can either eat it cold or heat it up in the morning if you prefer. For those who have a hard time prepping or eating breakfast in general, I recommend giving these overnight oats a try! It is extremely quick and easy to throw this breakfast together the night before, plus a perfect option for those with busy and hectic lives! It's awesome to have a delicious breakfast already prepared and ready to grab-and-go in the morning. Start your day right with these blueberry banana overnight oats and let me know how you like it!

​Blueberry Banana Overnight Oats
​Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup GF oats
• 1/2 cup coconut/almond milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds (optional)
• 1 teaspoon honey (optional)
• 1-2 Tbsp nut butter (optional)
• 1 scoop protein powder (optional, but blend with milk before adding to oats!)

Directions:

1. Add GF oats to your container of choice and pour in milk* and vanilla.
2. Add a layer of blueberries and then a layer of banana slices.
3. Top with chia seeds, drizzle of honey, and/or nut butter, if desired.
4. Place in fridge and enjoy in the morning or a few hours later!

Notes:
*If adding a scoop of protein powder, blend or mix in a shaker bottle with milk before adding to the container. 

Original recipe found here

I've been prepping my moms meals for over a year now with the goal to just help improve her overall health and quality of life. Well just like in my own nutrition journey, once you find your groove with one thing you never stop and live there satisfied. Instead, this is a point where you ask yourself, "how can I make this better?". Now I'm not looking for something drastic to implement, but rather just find one small thing to improve on. With my mom, it's easy to pack her lunch and dinner with vegetables, but breakfast is more difficult. I mean really, how many vegetables can I pack into egg muffins? I decided a Super Greens supplement was worth the try to get more nutrients into her diet. I personally enjoy the original version, but I purchased the berry one to hopefully mask the "green" taste. Unfortunately, even the flavored ones are super strong tasting, so I came up with the smoothie recipe below to help mask the taste and make it a delicious smoothie she enjoys each morning. Side note, I never tell her when I implement these nutrition changes (err experiments), so she has no idea I did this, and she didn't complain once! My mom is not one to hide her distaste for foods either, so this was a huge success and indicator that the smoothie was indeed delicious!

I'll probably continue to experiment with adding other nutritious ingredients like chia seeds, berries, spinach, or even some avocado. Just use the recipe below as an outline and swap ingredients for ones you know you enjoy! I love the Vanilla Nut Paleo Protein because it has a probiotic blend in it, but I have used both the Vanilla Nut and Double Chocolate in these smoothies. Note, the chocolate flavor does cover up the green color of the smoothie better, so I might do a combination of half and half in the future. As for the Amazing Grass Super Greens, the product is organic, vegan, and free of soy and sugar. The main ingredients include wheat grass, barley grass, spirulina, a blend of antioxidants, and a blend of digestive enzymes and probiotics. For the quality and price, I prefer using this brand, but there are a ton of other super green products out there to choose from. I typically will prep the recipe below and store in mason jars in the freezer. I recommend taking one out of the freezer and leaving in the refrigerator the night before to thaw out, or you can defrost it in the microwave for 5 minutes the morning of. For those interested, I also included a snapshot of the nutrition facts below with the ingredients that I used and indicated. Let me know if you try a version of this out and what you think!

Super Green Strawberry Banana Smoothie
(Servings: 5)
Ingredients:

• 1 Can of Coconut Milk** 
• 1 Cup Water
• 5 x ½ ripe frozen Bananas (or 2½ bananas, frozen)
• 10 oz bag frozen Strawberries
• 3 Tbsp Almond Butter (or your favorite nut butter)
• 4 Tbsp Flaxseed (I used this Golden Flaxseed) 
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 5 scoops Protein Powder (I used this Paleo Protein)
• 5 scoops Super Greens (I use Berry)

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients to your blender. Place the lid on and puree (use the “smoothie setting” if your blender has one) until smooth and desired consistency is reached.
2. Serve immediately, or portion into freezer safe canning jars and store in the freezer for later use.
3. Enjoy!​

**Canned coconut milk is more rich in flavor, but you can also use boxed coconut or almond milk if you prefer, just check the ingredient label for one with no unwanted additives and sweeteners.

Showing you guys how simple and easy it is to make a nutritious and delicious breakfast casserole for your week with very little prep on your part! My good friend makes these casseroles like every week for breakfast, and I never realized how much easier it was to just use pre-prepared frozen vegetables, so I am spreading the word. All you need to do is go to the store, pick out 1 lb of your favorite ground meat (I chose 365 Pork Breakfast Sausage), 2 bags of your favorite pre-prepared frozen vegetables (I chose Stahlbush Sweet Potatoes and Cascadian Farm Riced Cauliflower Blend - Bell Peppers & Onions), a carton of eggs, and unsweetened coconut or almond milk (I used So Delicious Coconut Milk Sugar Free Original). Only 5 ingredients, plus some spices! Next, take your frozen veggies out in the morning to thaw, or let them thaw out while you make your lunches for the week. When you're ready to make the casserole, just cook your 1 lb of meat on the stove top until done. Then, oil your casserole dish, and throw in your cooked meat with your frozen veggies. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and spices together, then pour over the meat and veggie mixture. Last, bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, and done! This casserole makes 6 servings, and with the specific ingredients that I used (mentioned above), each serving had 17g Fat, 13g Carbs, and 23g Protein.

Unsure about where to start with changing your health and lifestyle around? Setting aside 20 minutes of prep time to make a super easy breakfast casserole (like this one) is all I recommend for now! You now have a pre-made delicious and satisfying breakfast full of whole food sources to start your days for the next week. Pick ONE daily habit (or meal) to change, and implement! Only ONE! No need to do anything more until you have consistently implemented that ONE daily change overtime, and are confident you secured it's spot into your life. Focusing on less helps you achieve more. Reach out if you need help or have any questions! 

​Easy Paleo Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients:

• 1 pound Italian sausage or breakfast sausage (no added sugar)
  • (I  like to use Jones Dairy Farm Pork Sausage found in Wegman's frozen meat section, or 365 Pork Breakfast Sausage from Whole Foods) 
• 2 bags of Frozen Veggies (below is a list of my favorites):
  • ​Stahlbush Sweet Potatoes 
  • ​Stahlbush Colorful Sweet Potatoes 
  • Cascadian Farm Fire Roasted Sweet Potatoes
  • Cascadian Farm Root Vegetable Hashbrowns (Yukon Gold Potatoes, Carrots, & Sweet Potatoes)
  • Cascadian Farm Riced Cauliflower Blend (Bell Peppers & Onions)
  • Cascadian Farm Riced Cauliflower Blend (Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Kale)
  • Green Giant Riced Cauliflower 
  • Green Giant Riced Veggies Cauliflower & Sweet Potato 
  • Green Giant Riced Veggies Cauliflower with Lemon & Garlic
  • Green Giant Riced Veggies Cauliflower Medley
  • Green Giant Riced Veggies Cauliflower & Broccoli
• 8 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk or almond milk (no added sugar) 
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder

Directions:

1. Take frozen bags of vegetables out of freezer to thaw.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Cook and crumble sausage. Drain excess grease and set aside.
4. If your vegetables are still pretty frozen and you wish to cook them some first, throw some ghee or coconut oil in the skillet, and toss the vegetables until soft. However, if your vegetables have thawed out enough you can skip to the next step.
5. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish with ghee or coconut oil. Pour all vegetables and cooked sausage into the dish, and mix around evenly. 
6. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper (a few shakes of each), garlic powder, and onion powder. Pour evenly over sausage mixture.
7. Bake for 45 minutes, or until eggs are cooked.

Inspired by this recipe here

Another breakfast casserole for my mom to enjoy all week long! This recipe was originally for egg muffins, but I changed it up some to make sure my mom was eating enough for breakfast. Plus, she is not a huge kale fan, so I added spinach and kale together, and even ran it all through the food processor to make it real tiny, so I can get her to eat more vegetables. It's like I am feeding a child or something ;-) just kidding, sort of, love you mom! Anyways, I followed the directions below, but instead of using a muffin pan, I filled the casserole dish. I greased the dish down with some ghee too, just to make sure that spinach and kale mixture tasted even yummier. This came out looking and smelling delicious, as these casseroles always do! I snuck a couple bites too and it really did taste some good. 

Sausage, Spinach, and Kale Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients:

• 1 pound berakfast sausage (find gluten free and sugar free if possible)
• 1-2 cups kale, roughly chopped 
• 6 oz bag baby spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 shallot, finely chopped (or onion)
• 10 eggs, scrambled, seasoned with salt and pepper
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line a muffin pan with parchment paper liners or spray with oil and set aside.
3. In large pan over medium high heat, brown sausage until cooked through.
4. Reduce heat to medium. Remove sausage from pan, reserve about 1 tablespoon of the fat from the sausage to cook the shallot. If there is not enough fat from the sausage, add about 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the shallot and cook for a few minutes, until starting to soften, about 2 minutes.
5. Add the kale and a pinch of salt, carefully stir to mix with the shallot. Cook until kale is wilted down but still bright green, about five minutes. Remove from heat.
6. Evenly divide the shallot and kale mixture between the muffin liners, then top each with some sausage. Each muffin liner should be about halfway filled with the kale and sausage.
7. Pour the scrambled eggs into each muffin liner, evenly dividing between each. It is OK to fill them to the top, just be careful not to go over the edge.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the muffins are puffed up and set on top (they may be shiny, but will no longer be liquid).
9. Remove from oven and immediately remove from the muffin tin and cool on a wire rack.
10. Allow to cool completely before transferring to the refrigerator. Store in the refrigerator for up to five days.
11. To reheat, microwave for about 30 seconds.

Original recipe found here

This looked like a delicious and fun new casserole recipe to try out! This is a serving size for 6 per the original recipe, but I used a larger 9x13-inch casserole dish and increased the sauce some, which then gave me 8 servings. Since I used a larger casserole dish I used 10 eggs instead of 6 and also threw in a tiny bit of coconut milk to make sure the sauce covered the entire casserole. Other then that though, I made the recipe below as is and only had to bake it for 30 minutes since I used a larger dish. If you don't see white sweet potatoes at your local store you can just use a regular sweet potato. Also, I prefer to throw cubed sweet potatoes in the food processor to "shred" instead of using a shredder. That is just mush easier, in my opinion, and it doesn't leave my forearms sore. I made this for my mom's breakfast meal prep, so I only taste-tested a couple tiny bites, but those bites were tasty and sure made me wish I was eating this for breakfast all week! Let me know what you think if you give this one a try!

Whole30 Breakfast Lasagna 
Ingredients:
Base

• 2 1/4 cup white sweet potato shredded (about 1 medium potato)
• 1.50 cup spinach
• 1 small minced onion, sauteed
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil

Turkey Sausage

• 1.50 lb ground turkey
• 3 Tablespoon chili powder (I only used 1 1/2 Tbsp)
• 1.50 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1.50 teaspoon sea salt
• 1.50 teaspoon olive oil

Sauce

• 6 large eggs (I increased to 10 eggs since I used a 9x13-inch casserole dish)
• 3 Tablespoon fresh sage chopped
• 3 Tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
• 1/4 Teaspoon sea salt or to taste
• black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease the bottom of a 8" by 5" casserole dish with olive oil (about 1 teaspoon).
2. To saute the onions, bring a skillet to medium heat and pour 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Add chopped onions and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula.
3. Mix all ingredients for sausage together in a separate skillet (or same skillet as onions once the onions are done) and cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes until cooked through (undercook slightly so it can finish cooking in lasagna).
4. Layer shredded white sweet potato, sautéed onion, spinach, and sausage into the casserole dish.
5. Beat eggs until smooth and mix in the herbs for the sauce. Pour eggs over the layered ingredients into the casserole dish.
6. Bake on 350F for about 50 minutes until baked through- when cooked, the middle of the casserole should spring back when you press your finger into the middle. **Note, if you use a larger 9x13-inch casserole dish like I did, this only needed to bake for 30 minutes. 

Original recipe found here

This came out tasting amazing! Don't be scared away by the list of ingredients and long winded directions. Whole Foods has sugar free bacon, pre-cut sweet potato cubes, and chopped Brussels, which will make your life in the kitchen easier. Actually, most grocery stores these days sell the pre-cut vegetables if you want to save some time in the kitchen, but spend a little more money. I didn't end up adding the nutritional yeast simply because I've never bought it before and didn't think I would use it enough if I did purchase it. That ingredient would give the casserole a cheesy flavor though without using cheese. As for the directions, I just used them as a guide and ended up baking the bacon on a sheet pan in the oven for 10-12 minutes. I then removed and set the cooked bacon aside, and poured half the bacon grease into the casserole dish (leaving the other half on the sheet pan). I then put the sweet potatoes and onions in the casserole dish and the Brussels on the sheet pan, mixing both around with the bacon grease. I then cooked both in the oven for 20 minutes, and mixed everything around at the 10 minute mark. Since baking everything in the oven does not require a lot of attention, I preferred preparing everything this way instead of closely following the directions below. Plus, I was able to meal prep my Instant Pot meal at the same time while everything was being prepared in the oven. After the sweet potatoes and Brussels were done in the oven, I followed the rest of the directions below as is. I accidentally used majority of the can of coconut milk though, which actually turned out working pretty well, so that makes me think you can add more coconut milk if you want to. Anyways, I just wanted to detail how I made this for those who looked at the recipe below and thought it was was too much for them. This was a delicious meal to mix up the breakfast meal prep! 

Paleo Breakfast Casserole 
Ingredients:

• 12 slices nitrate free bacon sugar free for Whole30
• 2 large sweet potatoes peeled and sliced into thin rounds approximately 1/4"
• 1 tbsp melted cooking fat** + sea salt for roasting the sweet potatoes
• 3 cups Brussels sprouts tops removed and either quartered or chopped, plus about 1 tbsp cooking fat** plus a pinch of sea salt for roasting
• 1 large onion or 2 small sliced thin
• 12 eggs
• 1/3 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp salt plus to suit your taste
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (I omitted this - it is for a cheesy flavor though, so you can also sub Parmesan if you include dairy in your diet)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 F and grease a 9x13" casserole dish with coconut oil, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cut the bacon into 1" pieces and cook in a large heavy skillet, over med/hi heat, stirring occasionally for even browning, until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towels and set aside. Reserve at least 3-4 tbsp of bacon fat to caramelize your onions*
3. Now it's time to roast your sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. Toss the sweet potato rounds with your cooking fat of choice and sea salt to taste (generous pinch for me) and arrange, (overlapping since they will shrink after roasting) over the bottom of your casserole dish.
4. Now do the same with your brussels sprouts, this time arranging them on the parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer. Place the casserole dish and baking sheet in your oven to roast. The sweet potatoes will roast for about 30 minutes until soft and the brussels sprouts for about 20.
5. Meanwhile, it's time to caramelize the onions. Heat the pan you cooked your bacon in over low/medium heat and add the onions, tossing with the leftover reserved bacon fat*
6. Add a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, adjusting the heat if any onions begin to brown too quickly. Your goal is to cook the onions long and slow (about 25 minutes) to bring out the most flavor! Once they're deeply caramelized and very soft, remove from heat.
7. While the onions cook, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
8. Now it's time to assemble the casserole! Lower your oven heat to 400 F, then layer your roasted brussels sprouts over your sweet potato rounds in the casserole dish. Remove the caramelized onions with a slotted spoon and layer over the brussels sprouts, follow with the cooked bacon. Finally, pour all the whisked egg mixture over the casserole to evenly cover.
9. Bake in the 400 F oven for about 25 minutes until the center is just set and edges begin to turn light brown. Allow to cool for a bit in the baking dish before cutting into pieces and serving warm. Leftovers can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days*** Enjoy!

Notes:
*If you want to use a different cooking fat to caramelize the onions, coconut oil or ghee are your best bets!
**Melted coconut oil, ghee, or light-flavored olive oil will work well here
***If you wish to freeze this casserole to make ahead of time, cover tightly and freeze before the final baking step.

Original recipe found here

Anyone else notice that Birch Benders came out with a couple new paleo pancake and waffle mixes!? Along with their original Paleo version that I use pretty frequently to make these Paleo Blueberry Pancake Muffins, they now have a Paleo Banana and Pumpkin Spice mix! The Birch Benders website lists that both new products can be found at Whole Foods, and after looking at my local Whole Foods store all month I finally found the Banana Paleo Pancake & Waffle Mix! These mixes only require adding water, but I also always add a scoop of Paleo Protein to get some more protein in the meal, 1 egg (though I have experimented with 2 as well) to make the muffins more fluffy, and some fruit. Since this was a banana mix I figured I'd stick with the banana theme and add a few slices of banana on top of each muffin. This is a super easy meal prep recipe to throw together and they came out smelling and looking amazing! I unfortunately didn't make enough to taste test them myself, but my mom enjoyed them for breakfast and my mother's approval is not easy to get haha! Let me know if you try this new mix out and what you think. 

Paleo Pancake Muffins
Serves: 10-12 muffins
Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup Birch Benders Banana Paleo Pancake & Waffle Mix! (found at Whole Foods, but can also purchase online)
• 2/3 Cup Water
• 1 egg
• 1 Scoop Protein Powder (optional) (I used a scoop of this Paleo Protein)
• 2 Tbsp 100% Maple Syrup or Honey (optional)
• Optional mix-in ideas:

          o Sliced bananas, or other fruit
          o Enjoy Life Dairy-Free Mini Chocolate Chips
          o Chopped nuts
Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix together all ingredients, minus the optional mix-in’s
2. Spray muffin tin pan with nonstick spray or use muffin liners. Fill ⅔ way full. Top each muffin with your choice of mix-ins.
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (It took me 20 minutes for 10-12 muffins.)

One of my very first blog posts was my Protein Pancake recipe that I used to make every week for breakfast. I seriously loved eating those every morning, but after I started prepping my mom's breakfasts and lunches along with my own, I unfortunately didn't have much time anymore to prep my pancakes too. Anyways, I decided to bring it back for my mom to try and I experimented with this muffin version. The only additional ingredient I used was Flaxseed and that was solely to sneak in some extra nutrients into this meal for her. The recipe below makes 9 muffins and if you are enjoying this as a meal I recommend having at least 3, which puts the meal at 20g Carbs, 8g Fat, and 19g Protein. I personally like using the single serve blade assembly on my Ninja blender because it's easier to clean up, so I ended up just making two batches of the recipe below to get 18 muffins for the week. If you are using a bigger blender though you can easily double the ingredients below. Of note, I ended up filling the muffin tins a little above 2/3 of the way full and although they alarmingly rise in the oven, once they were out of the oven and cooled down they shrunk back down. The bottoms actually shrunk in a lot more then the top, so they turned out looking a little odd, but they still tasted delicious! I'm curious if I need to add more oats of flaxseed to prevent that issue, so I'll most likely be experimenting with this one again. Anyways, this was not only an extremely easy recipe to prep for breakfast, but now my mom is enjoying chocolate muffins all week for breakfast. Happy mom, happy life! Let me know if you try these out please! 

​Protein Pancake Muffins
Servings: 3 muffins = 20C/8F/19P (Makes 9 muffins)
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Gluten-Free Oats (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Quick Cooking Rolled Oats)
• 2 Tbsp Flaxseed (I used Bob's Red Mill Golden Flaxseed Meal)
• 2/3 cup Egg Whites
• 1 1/4 Scoop Protein Powder (I used 37g of this Paleo Protein)
• 1 Banana
• 2 Tbsp Almond Butter (or other Nut Butter)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix together all ingredients in blender.
2. Spray muffin tin pan with nonstick spray, oil, or use muffin liners and fill ⅔ way full. 
3. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

A Nom Nom Paleo recipe! My sister has made this a couple times and loved it, so she suggested I make it for our mom too. This batch ended up making me 14 muffins, and after talking with my sister we both agreed that the extra 1/3 cup of sweet potato was definitely too much. Other then that though, this recipe as-is turned out pretty tasty! Since I didn't actually eat this though, I am going off my sister's opinion, who doesn't even like sweet potatoes, and my picky mom who devoured these every morning without complaint despite the visible "green things." Anyways though, I asked my sister for her review, and this is what she had to say... "The tuna cakes were the perfect lunch. They were easy to make and they had a sweet-spicy combination. I am not a fan of sweet potatoes at all, but in this recipe they were the perfect combination with the tuna." Let me know if you give them a try and what you think! 

​Spicy Tuna Cakes
Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons melted ghee, divided
• 10 ounces canned albacore tuna packed in water, drained
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced (about ⅓ cup)
• 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh cilantro
• 1⅓ cup mashed baked sweet potato
• finely grated zest from ½ medium lemon
• 1 tablespoon minced jalapeño pepper
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 medium lemons, cut into wedges (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, and use a brush to grease a 12-cup regular sized muffin tin with one tablespoon of melted ghee. (Or skip this part and just line the tin with parchment muffin liners!)
2. In a large bowl, mix together the tuna, scallions, and cilantro. Add the mashed sweet potato to the tuna mixture, and gently combine.
3. Then, mix in the lemon zest, jalapeño, the remaining two tablespoons of ghee, eggs, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I normally use 1½ teaspoons of Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt, but your taste may vary. (Not sure if you’ve added enough S&P? Take a small portion and fry up a little pancake to see if the seasoning is right!)
4. Use your hands to mix everything together because that way you can make sure that the fish chunks aren’t overly broken up.
5. Scoop a ¼ cup of the mixture into each greased muffin tin cup and flatten with the back of a spoon.
6. Bake the tuna cakes for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out cleanly.
7. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool. The easiest way I’ve found to get them out is to put the wire rack on top of the muffin tin, flip everything upside-down, and tap them gently on the counter. 
8. Grab a lemon wedge and squeeze some juice on your tuna cake before your pop it in your mouth. They’re fantastic right out of the oven. Alternatively, store them in the fridge in a air-tight container for up to four days, and when you’re ready to eat, skillet-fry the cakes in some melted fat over medium heat. Crisp the edges, and you’re good to go.

Original recipe found here