wear, eat and share your greens

Happy St. Patrick’s Day–yesterday! You all know me by now, I love, love, love holidays, and St. Paddy’s Day is one of my favorites (my favorite is next!). I know I owe you all a “catch up” post, since I have so many new recipes to post, workouts to blog about and life revelations to journal about, but holiday posts take precedence. So gear yourself up for a Pot o’ Gold Breakfast, Skinny Shamrock Shake, Veggie Roast and Vegan Grasshopper Parfait.

I have been on an omelet kick lately and for St. Paddy’s Day, I wanted to stick with my theme for the day “Clean and Green.” I made a Pot o’ Gold Omelet!

Ingredients:

♦ 1 egg

♦ 2 egg whites

♦ chopped yellow bell pepper

♦ handful of spinach

I may have gotten carried away with the veggies, if there is such a thing, but i still managed to fold and flip my omelet. It was quite tasty too!

Before going to Crossfit, I needed a quick snack an hour before–just a green granny smith and green tea. See the trend? ;)

After my workout, I decided to hop on the bandwagon and make my version of a Skinny Shamrock Shake. I feel this is a recipe every health/food blog needs to have in its recipe archives.

Ingredients:

♦ 1 small frozen banana

♦ 1 scoop Quest Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder

♦ handful spinach

♦ 1 cup unsweetened cashew milk (or milk of choice)

♦ 1 tsp peppermint extract

♦ a few mint leaves

♦ 6 squares Green & Black’s Organic Dark Mint Chocolate (chopped)

Just place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. If you see any leafy bits left, just keep blending!

This shake was so filling and delicious! It makes two 8 oz. servings. Each serving is just 165 calories and is good for you too! Packed with protein, fiber, vitamins, calcium, etc., so there is much to enjoy!

Now on to dinner! This post is packed with recipes. You can tell I am on Spring Break and had tons of time to cook during the day. For dinner, I made a Veggie Roast. It is such a simple recipe and will be perfect for Sunday meal preps and it makes a lot. Feel free to add meat or protein along with it, but I knew I was getting my protein in later during dessert (coming up next).

Ingredients:

♦ package baby carrots

♦ medium sweet potato

♦ small head of cabbage

♦ bag of white pearl onions

♦ drizzle of olive oil

♦ salt and pepper to taste

Begin by preheating the oven to 375°F. Chop the cabbage into wedges and line the bottom of two large rectangular pans lined with foil.

Throw the carrots on top. I like mine whole, but feel free to cut up.

Chop up your sweet potato in wedges and throw on top too.

I bought fresh onions, so I needed to blanch them first to make them easier to peel. You may skip this tip if you bought frozen onions.

After peeled and prepared, throw the onions on top too. Drizzle the veggie with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake to taste. I roasted mine for about an hour, but after a half hour, I added water to the veggies.

After preparing dinner, I shifted gears towards dessert. At home, my mom always makes Grasshopper Parfaits made with chocolate pudding, mint cookies and andes mints. I made my own, health-ified version. Prepare yourself for my Healthy Grasshopper Parfaits.

Ingredients

Pudding:

♦ package firm tofu

♦ 3 tbsp soaked raw cashews

♦ Green & Black’s Dark Mint chocolate

♦ ¼ c chopped spinach leaves

♦ few leaves fresh mint

♦ tsp peppermint extract

♦ ¾ c cashew milk (or milk of choice)

♦ ½ tsp lemon juice

♦ 1 tsp stevia

♦ 1 tbsp cocoa powder

“Brownie” Crumble:

♦ ¼ c chopped raw cashews

♦ 4-5 pitted medijool dates

♦ 1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Combine all pudding ingredients together minus the cocoa powder and chocolate in a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour half the pudding mixture into a bowl. Then add the cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate into the left over pudding and blend.

Pour the chocolate pudding into a separate bowl. Then, chill both bowls in the refrigerator.

For the “brownie” crumble, combine all ingredients in a food processor or emersion blender. Crush until desired crumble texture is achieved.

For assembly, layer puddings, crumble, chocolate shavings and Arctic Zero Chunky Mint Chip frozen treat (if desired) in a glass until full.

I was very satisfied with how this parfait turned out. It was full of protein and greens in an assortment of textures that mimicked that glorious-not-so-good-for-me parfait. In fact, I enjoyed this even more so because I knew it was green and clean!