Pipcorn Dessert Bars

I was recently introduced to Pipcorn, delicious, mini popcorn that is all natural, gluten free, and non-gmo just to name a few. It's so delicious (like please hide it from me or I will eat it ALL delicious) and not to mention cute! So I decided to play around with it.

Instantly I thought to go the savory route because that's just how I'm wired, but then I thought maybe I should challenge myself a little. I pretty much never share dessert recipes on here (something I need to change), so I figured why not! The Sea Salt Pipcorn would pair perfectly with some sweet goodies, so why not make it all into a bar. This bar is packed with flavor and the perfect snack or dessert. Bring it to your next party, and it'll definitely be a crowd pleaser!

Here's What You'll Need:

-4 cups Sea Salt Pipcorn
-1 cup dried (sour) cherries
-1 cup Purely Pecans roasted pecans, chopped
-1/4 cup Wedderspoon Manuka Honey
-8 squares Alter Eco Dark Salted Burnt Caramel Chocolate, separated

Instructions:

1) Chop up 5 of the chocolate squares.
2) In a bowl, mix together the Pipcorn, cherries, pecans, and chopped chocolate pieces.
3) Add in the honey and mix completely so that it is evenly dispersed.
4) Line a rectangular baking sheet or dish with wax or parchment paper (using a smaller dish/pan 7-8" by 10-12" is the way to go because you want to the mixture to entirely cover the bottom).
5) Pour the the mixture into the dish, and evenly ditribute it with a spatula.
6) Pop the dish into the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
7) Melt the remaining dark chocolate pieces on the stove top or in the microwave. Be very careful not to burn it.
8) Remove the dish from the freezer, and drizzle the melted chocolate all over the top.
9) Place back in the freezer for at least another 30 minutes.
10) Remove from the freezer, cut the mix into bars, and serve.

This combination of flavors is just perfect, and it really gives a different, healthier dessert option. They're also a great snack! if you let the bars warm at room temperature for a bit, they also turn into a delicious trail mix-like snack. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Gluten Free Almond Crusted Chicken Tenders with a Spicy Honey Mustard Sauce or Dressing

When I was a little kid my favorite food was chicken tenders and french fries. Great, I know (that was sarcasm). But that's literally the food I remember loving most for the majority of my childhood. To this day, I'm still a sucker for both, but I've found a way to health it up quite a bit without sacrificing the taste at all. I honestly think this tastes better than standard chicken tenders, and it won't leave your tummy hurting. Plus this spicy honey mustard dipping sauce is literally heaven in sauce form.

Here's What You'll Need:

-1 chicken breast, cut into strips about 1 cm wide
-1/2 cup almonds
-2 tbsp quinoa flour
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-1/4 tsp Himalayan sea salt
-1/4 tsp chili powder (you can skip it if you don't like spicy, but it really doesn't add a lot of heat)
-2 tbsp olive oil
-1 egg
-1 egg white

For the Sauce:

-1 tbsp Bushwick Kitchen's Bees Knees Spicy Honey
-1 tbsp German Mustard
-1/2 tsp Just Mayo

Instructions:

1) Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
2) Spray a baking sheet with coconut oil cooking spray.
3) Toss the almonds into a food processor and pulse until they're finely chopped. It took mine about a minute.
4) Toss the almonds with the quinoa flour in a bowl, and add in the salt, pepper, and chili powder.
5) Add in the olive oil to the mixture, mixing regularly as you do so. It will become a bit clumpy, but try to mix thoroughly.
6) Mix the egg and egg white together in a separate bowl. 
7) Dip each chicken strip into the egg mixture and then the almond mixture. Use your hands to spread the almond mixture over the strips, and add each to the baking sheet.
8) Toss the chicken into the oven and cook for about 12 minutes until the tenders are thoroughly cooked through. In the meantime, you can mix together the sauce ingredients.
9) Serve and enjoy with the spicy honey mustard dipping sauce.

It's SO GOOD, right?! It surpassed my childhood memories, so obviously I had to have it again. I decided to throw my second serving in a salad (spinach, arugula, heirloom cherry tomatoes, avocado, red onion) and top it with a spicy honey mustard vinaigrette this time. Just switch out the 1/2 tsp of Just Mayo for 1 tsp of Bragg Live Foods' apple cider vinegar. You can thank me later. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Healthy Cobb Salad with a Spicy Honey Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Cobb salads are a combination of some of the most delicious things. Their only downfall is they generally aren't particularly healthy. I was craving a Cobb but wanted it to fit into my normal eating habits without sacrificing flavor. So I decided to give it a little remix of my own.

I wanted to include most of the normal, delicious components. So this salad is all about moderation and healthier alternatives. I kept most of the whole, healthy ingredients, switched out bacon for turkey bacon, and still managed to get some blue cheese in there. I also decided to skip on the blue cheese dressing and replace it with a seriously delicious spicy honey apple cider vinaigrette. Trust me, the dressing makes the salad.

Here's What You'll Need:

-4 cups spring mix
-1 medium tomato, chopped
-2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
-4 pieces turkey bacon, cooked and chopped
-1/2 avocado, sliced
-4 tbsp blue cheese crumbles
-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (with mother)
-1 tbsp Bushwick Kitchen's Bees Knees Spicy Honey
-1 tbsp water
-1 tbsp olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Mix together the apple cider vinegar, honey, water, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
2) Split the spring mix between two bowls.
3) Top each bowl with 1/2 of the tomato, egg, bacon, avocado, and blue cheese.
4) Drizzle 1/2 of the dressing over each bowl.
5) Enjoy!

If you aren't a fan of spicy, you can switch out the spicy honey for traditional honey. But if you are a fan, you really need to try this. Spicy honey is SO good! Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Honey Sriracha Salmon Over Spiralized Broccoli Stems and Bell Pepper

So I have about a billion thoughts I want to get across in the post, and they're all a little jumbled in my head so bare with me. 

I'm a HUGE fan of spiralizing! And over the past year or so, I've come to realize how many different, amazing things you can spiralize. Two of these perhaps not-so-predictable things are bell peppers and broccoli stems. I've touched on broccoli stems with a couple other recipes and I think bell peppers once before, but I want to do a quick recap of how to spiralize each.

Broccoli stems are easy. Cut them off and shave off the side nub parts with a knife. The idea is to get the stem as cylindrical as possible, but don't go too crazy. It will be fine, trust me. Just try to get anything that's jutting out a ton off the sides. Cut the ends so they're flat, and spiralize as if it's a zucchini. 

Bell peppers seem complicated, but they really aren't. Cut off the top of the bell pepper, maybe about a centimeter below the stem, and remove the seeds from the inside. Have the open top part facing the blade when you spiralize, and the bottom of the pepper will attach the spiky end. Spiralize as you would any other vegetable. I've found that peppers tend to have a lot of juice, so just be aware you may want some paper towels nearby.

Okay, so now that we've covered how to spiralize them, I'm going to briefly touch on spiralizers. Every time I post a spiralized recipe, I get a lot of questions about which spiralizer I suggest. My major suggestion is to invest in a good one. I wouldn't settle for a small hand one, honestly, because you really won't use it that much because you just can't use it on as many things. My suggestion would be the Inspiralizer. It's comparable to some other, good quality spiralizers, but it reduces the amount of wasted vegetable which is actually a huge deal. For more information or to buy one, feel free to click the link below.

So onto the recipe. I've had the fortune of coming across Fix Hot Sauce lately, and it has literally be a game changer. It is by far the best sriracha I have ever had. They are not paying me to say this, I am not endorsed by them, it is JUST THAT GOOD. So I've pretty much been putting in on or in anything and everything. So I figured why not a nice, simple recipe with sriracha and throw in honey for a touch of sweetness.

Slight tangent here, I buy broccoli a lot. And if I buy broccoli, you pretty much know that there's some sort of broccoli stem concoction coming your way because they may be very high up there on my favorite vegetables to spiralize list. I also may or may not shop for broccoli by broccoli stem size now (insert embarrassed buldgey eyed emoji here).

So I had my broccoli stems laying around, and I thought they would be the perfect compliment to an Asian-ish salmon. Bell peppers came into my mind next, and the rest is history really.

Here's What You'll Need:

-3 red bell peppers, spiralized
-6 broccoli stems, spiralized (may need more or less depending on size)
-1 lb of salmon, cut into 3 equal pieces
-1/4 cup water
-1/4 cup Tamari (or low sodium soy sauce or liquid aminos)
-2 tbsp sriracha
-2 tbsp honey
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 tbsp coconut oil

Instructions:

1) Mix together the water, Tamari, sriracha, honey, and garlic in large bowl or container. Marinate the salmon pieces in the sauce for at least an hour covered in your fridge.
2) Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
3) Cook the marinated salmon for about 12 minutes. The rule of thumb is 4-6 minutes per half inch thickness, so times may vary. DO NOT THROW OUT THE REMAINING MARINADE. You'll be using it as a sauce. 
4) In the meantime, heat up the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Toss in the broccoli stems and cook for about a minute.
5) Add in the bell pepper and cook for another minute or so.
6) Add in the leftover marinade and let it cook for 3-5 minutes.
7) Once the salmon is cooked, remove it from the oven.
8) Plate the pepper and broccoli stem mixture and top each with a piece of salmon.
9) Enjoy!

Not a fan of spiralizing or not want wanting buy a spiralizer at the moment? Feel free to make the salmon alone. I served mine in a variety of ways over on my Instagram, and you can still save the marinade to use as a sauce.

Let me know what you think in the comments below!