Good Food, Better Mood?

If you follow me on instagram, you’ve probably seen that my friends and I are away in Park City, Utah for a girls getaway. You have probably also seen that we have been eating like the queens that we are. You all have asked for more recipes so I’ll share some of the group faves.

Zoodles & Shrimp

First up, our absolute favorite. Zucchini noodles with pan seared shrimp.

Ingredients

• Zucchini

• Yellow Squash

• Olive Oil

• Garlic

• Coconut Aminos

• Salt + Pepper

• Broccoli

• Onion

• Kale

I’m not even gonna lie, we cheated and bought the zoodles already pre cut into noodle shapes. Live your truth.

Ok, so this is how I made it. Broccoli takes the longest out of all the ingredients to cook and I hate when it’s still crunchy from being raw vs crunchy from caramelizing — yes, there’s a difference. Boil the broccoli in salt water until it’s soft enough to stick with a fork without much force. Real technical, I know. This translates to about 10ish minutes? I don’t know actually, can’t quite remember. Whatever, google how long to cook broccoli for if you’re really that concerned. Cover that bad boy and start on your zoodles.

In a large pan, preferably a wok, begin to sauté your zoodles and onions in olive oil, coconut aminos and add garlic after they begin to soften up. This should be done at like a medium to high heat — your kitchen is going to start smelling amazing at this point. Even when it looks like your zoodles have been in there too long, leave them in there. This is your cue to add kale (can sub with spinach or any leafy green like that to add another veggie).

Simultaneously, once your broccoli is soft, drain the water and blanch it if you want the florets to remain bright green. Do this to stop the cooking process, though this is not critical here as we are going to put those into the zoodle pan to caramelize a bit and so the flavors marry together.

In a separate pan or once your zoodle mixture is done, cook shrimp until they are pink and careful not to overcook them. Nobody likes overcooked shrimp. I recommend doing this on high heat and flipping the shrimp only once. We had leftover chicken from lunch so we added that in there too. To make it vegan, you can substitute this with tofu or seitan or any other vegan protein.

In a big bowl, we put the zoodle mixture in first and then the cooked shrimp on top. Top it off with fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt. Ta-da. Low carb, very filling and super yummy.

Vegan Lettuce Wrap Tacos

Another low carb meal. We had tofu, vegan sausage and portobello mushrooms caps as our fillings and butter lettuce leaves as our wraps. This can easily be substituted with chicken, fish, shrimp, steak, whatever you want.

Ingredients

• Wrap — Butter lettuce (can use romaine leaves too)

• Fillings —

  • Vegan: tofu, vegan sausage, mushrooms, peppers, onions

  • Non Vegan: Chicken, steak, shrimp, fish, etc.

• Toppings —

  • Avocado

  • Tomato

  • Onion

  • Cilantro

  • Vegan Cheese

  • Cholula Hot Sauce

  • Microgreens

These are just healthyish tacos tbh. They are good when you have had a lot of heavy meals throughout the day and you need something light and refreshing. This was our second dinner one of the nights because we ate our first dinner, then played tennis, and got home and needed more food. Yolo.

Cook your filling however you want to. We have this fajita seasoning at Olga’s house so I just put that on everything. The mushroom caps were my favorite because they genuinely feel very meaty and they are so delicious. If mushrooms are not your jam, Lightlife’s Vegan Ground Sausage and it was very good. It tasted more of like a chicken sausage because in my opinion beef or pork sausage are a bit greasier. I like to cook whatever filling I choose with onions and peppers because it adds a bit of extra flavor.
For the tortillas, if you have a stove with an open flame, I highly recommend heating up the tortilla directly on the fire. It will add char marks and it’s another layer of texture and flavor to elevate your tacos. In this case, we just used butter lettuce leaves so nothing to do here except wash and dry the leaves.

Then, build your own tacos!

Cedar Plank Salmon with Roasted Veggies

Last but certainly not least, we tried to make the salmon that Jordan made for us last week at the Hamptons. Below is the link to the salmon recipe and on the side, we had roasted vegetables and a salad. You can literally have these sides with anything. because they compliment every meal so well. We often have them for dinner and then have the leftovers for lunch in a grain bowl.

Ingredients

• Salmon Recipe (Shout out to Jordan Brown)

• Brussel sprouts

• Orange bell peppers

• Onions

• Avocado Oil

• Salt + Pepper

• Mixed greens

• Tomato

• Cucumbers

• Red onion

• quinoa (leftover)

In an oven friendly baking dish, add the chopped veggies. I like to add as many green veggies as possible because these tend to have the most fiber and that means I will be full for longer, which means less snacking. Add the avocado oil and salt + pepper and coat all the vegetables evenly.

Roast them in the oven @ 375* or 400* F and take them out after about 30-45 mins. The thinner/smaller your vegetables are cut, the quicker they will cook. I like to do medium to large pieces because it makes me feel like I’m eating more? Idk, trick your brain. Do whatever needs to be done to get those veggie servings in.

Serve with a salad using the mixed greens, quinoa, tomato, cucumber and red onion. Delisssshh!

Eating so clean this past week has made such a difference in my mood and overall energy levels. In the past, I always thought I had to have rice or pasta with everything but lately just having a ton of veggies as my side dish have been super filling! Remember, eating well does not have to be time consuming and it most certainly does not have to be boring.

Let me know which one is your favorite recipe in the comments below!