MInt Chocolate Chip Smoothie // Dairy Free & Gluten Free

Smoothies have a special place in my heart because they are piqued my interest in how healthy food can taste like a real treat! It all started when I was 14 and got a job babysitting. I would go every Thursday morning where the family was just finishing breakfast and the mom would set aside a cup of whatever smoothie they were making for me! it was awesome and helped me to learn that breakfast could be more than just cereal. Their family always had healthy treats around and near the end of work the mom and I would usually chat for a bit about life over a piece of dark chocolate.
It was one of the best jobs I have ever had and helped me learn about how to care for other people, but also how to care for my health with food!
As you guys might know, once life hit college life got tough and the idea of living a healthy and balanced life changed. I was at a job that made me miserable, my fiance lived in another country, I was convinced I would fail college, and felt a lack of control. What I knew I could control was what I put into my mouth, which made my love for living a healthy and balanced life, just an unhealthy obsession.
Thankfully after many years of recovery I have learned that intuitive eating was what I needed to get back to. It’s what I did in high school and I knew that if I wanted to regain my love for food I needed things to change.
I had all the rules beforehand that stemmed from me having to restrict my diet for medical reasons, that carried over into a “healthy diet”. it took months and months to break the cycle and to test the waters. For me it was having carbs in the morning. I loved smoothies, but the ones I was making were not what I genuinely loved or enjoyed. Even though I was eating enough food, I wasn’t satisfying my emotional connection with food. This leads me to overeat the Sonya approved food, leading me to an unbalanced diet.

After acknowledging these issues, and consistently working to break the bad habits and mindset I was stuck in I noticed things started to change.
I began eating dessert, every day, sometimes twice a day! But I also started doing my favorite exercises, having fun, and switching it up. I wasn’t focused on the calories I consumed or burned, I was simply enjoying the things that I loved! I felt like I did in high school were my favorite activities were ether doing something active or eating great food with the people I loved.
I stopped obsessing and started living again.
Thankfully living included eating a lot of yummy things, and that’s when this page truly began to change for the better!

Now I can bring to you fun recipes like this Mint Chocolate Chip Smoothie that you can conveniently enjoy for breakfast or dessert! All you have to do is switch up the ingredients and voila! You have a tasty meal that brings joy!
If you want this Mint Chocolate Chip Smoothie for Breakfast all you need is…

If you want this Mint Chocolate Chip Smoothie for Breakfast all you need is…

• 1 Frozen Banana

• 1 Cup nut milk (I like almond)

• 1 scoop collagen of vanilla protein powder

• 1 Tbsp. Cocoa powder

• 1 Tbsp cacao nibs

• 1 Tbsp sunflower butter

• handful of spinach

• 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 3 ice cubes

• pinch of sea salt

• 1 Tbsp. avocado (optional)

• 1 Tbsp. Flax meal (optional)

  And if you want to enjoy it as a tasty dessert…

• 1 Frozen Banana

• 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder

• 1 Tbsp. cacao nibs

• 1/4th to 1/2 cup milk (less milk = thiccc like ice cream)

• 1 Tbsp. sunflower butter

• pinch of sea salt

• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

• 1/3 tsp vanilla extract

  Directions

  FOR BOTH**In a blender pour the almond milk in first and then add in all other ingredients and blend away!
  

Banana Bread Smoothie

Nothing beats waking up to banana bread during the star at home orders…thankfully you can now enjoy banana bread in several forms thanks to this rending food item right now. For me I a big fan of smoothies in the morning, so when everyone was baking away, I remembered a recipe that I had come up with last year and totally forgot about! Let me explain…

Last year I spent some time in South Africa to see family and there is this smoothie place that is over the moon delicious! One of my favorite smoothies I had there was one that tasted exactly like banana bread! I figured that since I am in America now, and couldn’t get my hands on a smoothie made to perfection, I would have to make one at home!

When you freeze your bananas they should be ripe, none of this green banana business. Remember you want this to taste like banana bread & when it comes to banana bread spots = deliciousness! Just make sure they aren’t at that stage of the peel looking completely brown, that flavor is a little too intense for this smoothie…

If you would like to make this a vegan smoothie feel free to omit the collagen and instead replace it with vegan protein powder. Just keep in mind that this will change the taste and texture a bit. Try to stick with unflavored or vanilla protein powder.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Almond Milk

• 1 Tbsp Tahini**

• 1 Tbsp Cacao nibs

• 1 Tsp Cinnamon

• 1 Frozen banana

• 3 to 5 ice cubes

• 1 scoop Collagen

Directions

• combine all the ingredients into your blender, making sure to pour in your almond milk first! This helps to ensure that your dry ingredients don’t get stuck at the bottom of the blender.

• Sip and enjoy it!

  **If you don’t have Tahini on hand, the next best thing is cashew butter or 2tbs soaked Cashews.

Paleo Zucchini Bread // GLuten-Free & Dairy-Free

I don’t know about you, but when It comes to Zucchini Bread I take things VERY seriously. Zucchini bread is one of those foods that is a win-win for both adult and child. Offering a sweet bread that kids and adults love while sneaking in some much appreciated green vegetables! Now even though it’s a winner, some of the more traditional recipes usually call for a good amount of gluten, dairy, sugar, etc. that usually put the zucchinis hard work down.

I was trying to figure out a way to make zucchini bread healthier without taking away all the good things it had to go for it. Things like a perfectly moist (don’t you just love that word?) and its sweet caramel taste!

Well, I have done it, folks, this Zucchini bread is Refines sugar-free, dairy free, gluten free, and can be made without oil if you substitute it for Applesauce! So here’s the recipe you and your taste buds have been missing out on!

Ingredients

• 1 &1/4th cup Almond Flour

• 1/3rd cup Coconut Flour

• 1 & 1/2 Cup Shredded Zucchini

• 6 Soaked Dates

• 3 large Eggs

• 1/4th Apple Sauce of Coconut oil

• 1 tsp Vanilla

• 1 & ½ tsp Baking Powder

• 1 & ½ tsp Cinnamon

• 1 tsp Maca root powder (optional, but gives the recipe more caramel flavors)

• Pinch of salt

Instructions

Soak the dates in hot water for about 10-15 minutes and then drain

Put the Zucchini, Melted Coconut oil, Dates, Eggs, and Vanilla in a blender or food processor and blend until liquid.

Mix together the dry ingredients and then combine with the Liquid Mixture. Put in a bread tin and sprinkle cinnamon and coconut sugar or cacao nibs on top!

Bake in the oven at 350 F for to 45-55 Minutes.

Let cool for about an hour and then enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Sonya Expert Zucchini Bread Baker.

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5 Minute Nutella Pudding // Paleo, Vegan, & Refined Sugar free

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to pudding I am a big fan. When I was little I specifically asked that if the circumstances arose that I was to live with my grandparents, I requested I be fed only chocolate pudding, Jell-O, and chocolate milk. I was 5 and there was no reason I would have gone to live with my grandparents. I just wanted to make sure I had everything in line just in case.

As you can probably guess I was a little dramatic and hopeful when it came to unlikely situations. Who would have known as an adult I wouldn’t be able to drink milk and have o desire to eat Jell-O. Thankfully my determination to enjoy the things I love has brought me here, making recipes out of thin air…or so people tend to think when I mention the fact that I can’t eat gluten or dairy. I came up with this recipe after dreaming of my favorite foods while staring into a near-empty fridge.

Once I realized there was a jar of coconut cream that demanded my attention I started to think about the possibilities and came to the conclusion that I really needed chocolate pudding in my life that wasn’t made from an avocado.

SO I used the coconut cream straight from the fridge, and it is important to do this as the coconut cream will be thicker and you can serve this treat immediately because the coconut cream will keep it cold!

The banana I used in place of sugar, so make sure it is ripe, but not so ripe that it tastes like, well an old banana.

I also used dry roasted hazelnuts to get the Nutella to feel, but you can use hazelnut butter if your that boujee.

If you do not have the benefit of a high powered blender, feel free to use a food processor, and If you don’t have one of those, omit the hazelnuts for any type of nut butter you have on hand. This will change the flavor of course, but it will be just as tasty! It will feel more like peanut butter, banana vibe, but who doesn’t love that?

SO okay, done with all the chit chat, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 & 1/4th cup Cold Coconut Cream

• 1 ripe Banana

• 1/4th cup Dry Roasted Hazelnuts, or any nut butter you might have on hand

• 2Tbsp cocoa powder

• pinch of salt

Directions

In a high powered blender or food processor combine all of the ingredients and blend for 1-2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of your machine.

Chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Serve, top with hazelnuts, coconut chips and enjoy!