Alfredo  is something I have been craving since going dairy-free in 2012. I haven't found a substitute or recipe that satisfied my in almost TEN years.

For a while, a local restaurant had a vegan alfredo that was AMAZING and I was in cream sauce heaven. That was until they decided to discontinue it from the menu, leaving me longing once more. 

I finally got into the kitchen with Grey and together we made this creamy, cheesey, nut-based sauce that was EASY and is now an Italian food staple on our menu. 

*I have had a lot of readers who can't do cashew or nuts and you CAN make this with JUST coconut cream and dairy-free milk. The taste is sweeter than I prefer but it's still creamy and delicious. Always feel free to comment with substitution ideas and I'll get back to you.

This one was the closest to a traditional alfredo when I tried multiple recipes in the kitchen, so I decided to share the cashew based cream sauce. 

​Bon appetite! 

Ingredients
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• 12 ounces gluten-free fettuccini noodles
• 1 chicken breast, cooked and cut up into bite sized pieces
• 1 1/2 cups raw cashews, unsalted
• 1-2 tablespoons olive or avocado oil
• 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups unsweetened dairy-free milk
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (more for a cheesier/stronger flavor)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (add more for saltier sauce)

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Directions

• Cook and chop one chicken breast. Keep warm until sauce and pasta are ready.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the pasta and cook according to package instructions. Drain, then add it back to the pot and cover until the sauce is done.
• Boil 4 cups of water and pour over cashews. Soak 5-10 minutes. (Do not skip this step! If they aren't soaked or soaked long enough your sauce won't be as creamy!) 
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes, until fragrant and the onion is translucent.
• Drain the cashews and discard the soaking water. Add them to a blender (I use the Ninja) along with onions, garlic, unsweetened dairy-free milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and salt.
• Blend until very smooth.
• Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir. If the noodles are still hot, serve immediately. 
• If the dish needs a warm up, cook when combined over low heat until ready to serve. 

Happy New Year ladies + gents! Woof - 2020 was a doozy for so many reasons, but it was also one of our most blessed years because we welcomed our sweet Lexi to complete our sweet little family of four. The Lord knew we needed her because for a time, our family felt complete with Grey. SO happy that God knew better. Now almost three months old (that went craaaaazy fast BTW), she is a dream and we are so smitten by her.

I've been on a new recipe kick lately as I test run recipes for season 2 of The Clean Plate with Mandi as well as feeding my face all the things because hello #postpartum and #breastfeeding.

Mama is hungry and this Vegan Instant Pot LoMein is FAST, EASY, HEALTHY and SUPER DELICIOUS. 

Which equates to this becoming a weekly or bi-monthly staple on our meal plan.

We got an InstantPot shortly before moving into our ranch house renovation and I've yet to really get into the groove of using it regularly, so I thought I'd start with some noodles. Whenever the fam grabs asian food I can never get the noodle dishes because #gluten, boo. So this allows me to satisfy that craving in a way that won't cause me pain. 

​Kids ALSO love it because long noodles are fun to slurp and twirl on forks and its a great recipe to get veggies into those little bellies. 

Ingredients

• 1 TBSP sesame oil 
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• ½ C diced white onion
• 1 C julienned carrots
• 1 C organic snow peas
• 2 TBSP rice wine vinegar
• 1 ½ cup vegetable broth (you may use bone broth if not vegan)
• The juice from 1 Lemon
• 3 TBSP gluten-free soy sauce
• ⅓ C brown sugar or coconut sugar
• 8 oz. rice lo mein noodles
• Sea salt
• Pepper to taste

​

Directions

• Set your InstantPot to saute and with the lid open, saute sesame oil, garlic, and onion until translucent. 
• Add rice wine vinegar, vegetable or bone broth, lemon juice, soy sauce and brown sugar or coconut suagr  and mix well.
• Add uncooked noodles.
• Add carrots and snow peas. (you can also add mushrooms or baby corn as well if you wish)
• Lock lid and set vent to sealing
• Press manual button and set to high for 5 minutes
• Quick pressure release carefully once done.
• Serve and Enjoy!

We also made teriyaki chicken and homemade fried rice with this for a family dinner and it fed us for THREE whole days. Such a great meal for families with new babies, who like to batch cook or who are under the weather. 

What are YOUR favorite InstantPot recipes? Leave me inspiration below! 

How is everyone out there doing?

Like, really doing? Not passing small talk, but really doing a big heart check and reaching out if you need to. We've had our ups and downs with so many thoughts, theories, big feelings, grief over "normalcy", being pregnant during a pandemic, raising a toddler who is sad his world has changed. It's a lot to process. 

So very much. 

I have faith in a big, big God that will get us all through this. Praise, because I don't know how any of us could get through times like this without his provision, strength and promises. 

But until we can resume normalcy, if ever, we can stay fervent in prayer, draw close to those we love (even if from a distance) and make lots of delicious food. 

This Roasted Red Pepper Sauce is so delicious and amazing that it would be great on vegetables or meat as well if you're watching grains. Or you may swap out the pasta for a grain-free variety such as almond flour pasta, garbanzo bean or edamame. 

I poured it over piping hot rice pasta and topped with chopped basil for a comfort meal I was craving. 

Grab the recipe below, comment your favorite food and reach out if you need! I'm always here to lend an ear. :) 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box of gluten free or grain free pasta of choice
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers in water 
• 4 oz. vegan cream cheese
• 1/4 c. fresh or dried basil 
• 2 TBSP. vegan butter
• 1 shallot
• 2 tsp. minced garlic 
• 1 C. vegan cream of choice (I used unsweetened coconut cream, almond, cashew or oat work as well) 

DIRECTIONS 

• In a large sautee pan, over medium heat, place in your butter and shallot and warm for 3-4 minutes. Add in garlic and saute for an additional minute.
  
• Boil water for pasta and cook pasta to directions and set aside. 
• Add cream cheese and cream to pan and mix well until creamy.
  
• Drain jar of peppers and add peppers into the pan to warm. 
  
• Carefully transfer all ingredients to a blender or food processor (I use my Ninja and it works amazing!) and blend until creamy and no chunks remain.
  
• Pour over pasta, top with basil and enjoy!

Well. Here we are. Back on the AIP diet.

As hard as this is to work in with a busy schedule, a career and a toddler, I am SO thanfkul to the holistic professionals who found out that this diet is SO healing and SO beneficial to calming our inflammation and auto-immune issues. And PRAISE THE LORD for meal prep. You NEED to be meal prepping. If you ever need help, reach out! I can talk to you about some easy tips. 

I've found for me, it's 100% needed to come back to this from time to time when I feel myself more sluggish, carrying excess water, inflamed or reacting more from cross-contamination. I haven't put many AIP recipes on the blog, because honestly, when I'm on AIP it means I'm not at my best and the energy for recipe creation and promotion usually isn't there. However, I am trying to turn a new leaf. 

I was so blessed in 2012 when this blog really started to take off because of the connections I was making with so many women, men and children who were needing to go gluten free, dairy free or soy free and it made my heart so happy to know I could provide safe and yummy recipes to those who needed them in their season or life of food restriction.

I want to make it a point to add more healing foods, more AIP options and more whole choices when it comes to entrees in 2019/2020. 

The baked goods are pretty and fun guys, but they have their place. And unfortunately their place isn't in my home or body right now. 

For this recipe, I've found it's hard to find organic ground chicken in the stores. If you invest in a meat grinder, you'll be able to grind higher quality poultry to make this recipe.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb organic ground chicken
• 1 medium uncooked sweet potato, finely grated (I peeled and cut it and put it in my Ninja)
• 2 Tbsp. grain-free flour (cassava, coconut, tigernut)
• 2 Tbsp avocado oil 
• 1/8 c. chopped chives
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp sea salt 

Optional: You could also add a small amount of grated apple, to make Chicken Apple Nuggets. 

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment. 
• Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix until well incorporated. 
• Wash hands and using your hands, roll meat and potato mixer into nugget shapes and place on baking sheet. (I needed two baking sheets to fit them all)
• Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.
• Serve with AIP friendly guacamole or vegan AIP coconut sour cream.

Have you incorporated an AIP lifestyle? What health changes have you seen? 

If you haven't, leave any questions below and I'd be happy to assist you! It's hard, but so so so so so so so worth it! 

This summer we are alllllllll about the bowl. 

Healthy grains, veggies, fruits, herbs and protein make up well-rounded meals that are so easy to throw together.

This can be found almost every week on our meal plan as it's surprisingly a hit with our toddler too. He gobbles it right up! 

I've always loved weekends. My husband (my favorite human) works a corporate Monday-Friday position so our weekends have always been a blissful time to connect, travel and pursue passions side by side.

Now that we are parents to our little guy, weekends get sweeter the older Grey gets. We play, shop, travel, dress up, read, watch movies and cook together. Simply making sweet memories. Now that it's summer, I have flashbacks of my own childhood summers daily and I just love these little moments with my guys. 

Always one to want to mix it up in the kitchen, making different new dishes EVERY night, EVERY week was wearing on me. It was taking time from my family and made meal planning and grocery shopping stressful each week. So a couple of weeks ago Doug and I made a new plan. We would make a seven day meal plan and stick to it EVERY week until we got bored. We are on week four of one rotation of seven meals and it's the best decision we've made in a while. 

For our Sunday night meal we decided stuffed potatoes are a win because they are quick and we want time to really soak up the end of the weekend before my husband goes back to work. It also allows us to be creative and mix up different flavors. We made these Vegan Chili Cheese Potatoes tonight and they came out SO yummy and so pretty that I had to grab my camera and share them with you guys too! 

Share your favorite potato toppings below to inspire us and keep these babies in our weekly rotation! 

Ingredients:
2 Russet Potatoes
1 Can Annie's Black Bean Chili (its sweet + savory! Not spicy.)
2 Slices Follow Your Heart Vegan Provolone
Sea Salt 
Chives, washed and diced

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. 
Wash potatoes and pierce 3-4 sections with a fork.
Sprinkle sea salt on skins and bake for 45 minutes-1 hour until tender. 
While potatoes are cooking, cook chili over medium on the stove until bubbling. Remove from heat and set aside. 
While still warm, cut open carefully and insert vegan cheese to melt. 
Top with chili and chives. 
​Enjoy! 

Last week we had one of those moments.
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You know those idyllic parenting moments you dream about and then you become parents and sometimes the moments you pictured in your head don't quite turn out because #reallife. Well this wasn't one of those. It was one of those beautiful, just-as-I-always-pictured-it moments and I am so thankful for God for the memories we got to make when we took our one year old to the pumpkin patch this year. 

Grey adored EVERY part of the day at the "Pum Pum" Patch, that he so affectionately calls it, which in turn made ME enjoy every part of the day and made my mama heart extremely happy. He played in corn (yay sensory activity I didn't have to clean up, haha), fed a goat, rode a massive tire swing, slid down a huge slide with me and Mr. Charming, picked a baby pumpkin and ran until his cheeks turned pink and his legs grew tired. 

Yes, it was a beautiful Fall day indeed. And for those of you in Arizona, we drove up to Dewey (just outside of Prescott) to Mortimer Farms and its by far my new favorite fall spot. 

We've been trying to be more intentional this season. Intentional about our quality time together as a family, intentional about how we care for our marriage, our home, our bodies. 

I've been doing a life changing Proverbs 31 Study this month and it's motivated me to spend more time with God, purge our home of things we don't need and up my game again in the kitchen to get nutritious, home cooked meals in me and the boys. 

Even as a nutritionist, I was falling short (and can totally admit it) when it came to putting the best food on the table when I was in new mama territory. 

This Quinoa bowl was ACTUALLY a total accident, as I had white quinoa in the freezer and my husband was on his way home for lunch and I wanted to give him something healthy as we're trying to keep our immune systems boosted and our calories down and this bowl was born.

And. It. Was. Gosh. Darn. Amazing. 

The flavors came together SO beautifully. I love when you throw together what you have left in the fridge and you make an epic creation. This bowl needs to be made and enjoyed. The hot quinoa and roasted sweet potato with the crunchy cool tomatoes and avocado play with your senses, while the olive oil, sea salt and pepper enhance the natural flavors in the dish. 

A simply and easy meal for any weeknight or lunch hour. Recipe below per usual. 

Yesterday was just one of those good days.

When you wake up feeling super sunny after a good nights sleep (even with a new baby!) and you get good news throughout the day (like my French Toast being featured in the Today Show's weekly newsletter and that your mom is on the mend and going home soon) and you get to take the day at a slow pace and end it with some of your best friends who you haven't seen in months and enjoy good, good food.

Thanking the Lord for a soul refresher for sure. After a week of stress at work and my mom being in the hospital, it was just what we needed. 

Mr. Charming and I adore the couple we had over for our Friday Night Dinner last night. Our friends Karly and Zach and their adorable kiddos no longer live in AZ and we miss them terribly and soak in every moment we get to hang out with them. Karly and I have been friends for years. Before marriage. Before babies. And they are just those people who you just want to hug and beg to move back every time you see them because you just love doing life with them and love seeing their kiddos grow. 

Friends like that, I've found as I get older, are harder and harder to come by, which is why nights like last night are so very special.

And speaking of special, I wanted to cook them something SUPER yum to warm our bellies as we let the kiddos play and caught up on what was going on in our lives. I TOTALLY meant to get photos of the evening, but we were having too much fun and the food was just too good and so after snapping photos of the food post-enjoyment, the cameras and phones were pushed aside and we just enjoyed.

Which I believe needs to happen in social situations more often. I don't even think I knew where my phone was all night. Which was a very refreshing break for me. 

Their family eats like we do (gluten-free, dairy-free and clean) so it was easy to know that the ingredients I use are the same foods they eat at home. I was going to go easy at first and whip up a big pot of spaghetti, but then I found gluten-free breadcrumbs and vegan cheese, thus birthing my Reinvented Baked Ziti. SO good. 

I made food enough to feed an army. You should see how much we had leftover, haha. So I cut my recipe in half to make a more normal family dinner amount. Just double it if, you too, want a truckload of ziti to feed your family for a week. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Bag of Gluten-Free Penne or Rotini (Penne is traditional, we opted for Rotini for tiny hands)
• 1 lb. Organic Ground Turkey
• 1 Jar Organic Pasta Sauce (more if you like it extra saucy)
• 1/2 package of Daiya Mozzerella Shreds
• 2/3 C. Gluten-Free Panko Breadcrumbs
• Fresh Basil
• Sea Salt 
• Olive Oil 
• Minced Garlic

Directions: 
​

• Brown turkey in a pan with minced garlic and sea salt to taste. 
• While meat is browning, bring water to a boil for pasta. Add a small amount of olive oil to the water to help keep the noodles slick. (I know this is an Italian no-no, but it helps keep the pasta slick to not stick together in the bake)
• Once meat is browned, set aside and warm sauce. Cook pasta per package directions in a LARGE pot and drain.
• Brown bread crumbs with 1 TBSP. of olive oil in a small sauce pan and set aside. 
• Add meat, sauce and fresh basil leaves, 2/3 of your Daiya Mozzerella shreds and drained pasta back into large pot and mix. 
• Add mixture to a large baking dish and top with remaining cheese shreds and browned bread crumbs. 
• Heat under broiler on low until cheese is melted and breadcrumbs are toasty. 
• Serve immediately with a spring mix salad, wine or sparkling water. 

It's amazing how delicious something can become when you literally just throw things together.

Still under the weather, I've been scrambling to make hearty, healthy meals without having to hit the store in this windy, chilly weather. Enter my Teriyaki Chicken Apple Bowl. Which not only took literally less than 10 minutes to make, it was actually AMAZING and I suspect will be something I now crave on the regular.

Funny how that happens isn't it?

The sauteed spinach MAKES this bowl, as does the teriyaki drizzle. And if you're not into teriyaki sauce loaded with soy and sugar and all that bad stuff, you're in luck because this is a teriyaki sauce made from coconut aminos and is clean and delicious. 

I also suggest making a double batch of this, which the recipe below reflects, because...  leftovers. 
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