3 Quick Recipes to Spice up Your Spring

By Ashley Reut, Contributing blogger

After a long winter of eating nothing but soups, casseroles, and carbs, as soon as the sun comes out we start to crave something really fresh and GREEN!

Enter this delicious roasted fennel salad… The fennel can be shaved and added raw, but roasting it makes it nice and nutty and almost melt-in-your-mouth. Fennel has a very characteristic licorice-y taste, and it’s full of fiber, vitamin C, and it is commonly used as a digestive aid.

Roasted Fennel Salad with Parmesan and Citrus

Ingredients:

4 bulbs fennel, halved,  roasted

2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T balsamic vinegar, or balsamic glaze

Salt and pepper

*optional- parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cut long tops off of fennel, leaving just the bulb, halve the bulb and set on cooking sheet
3. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic, and salt/pepper. If you are adding cheese, sprinkle the tops with a solid coating of parmesan.
4. Roast until fork tender, about 45 minutes.

While the fennel is roasting, prepare the base of the salad→

3 c Arugula, or Spring Mix

½ c. pomegranate arils

⅔ c pine nuts, toasted

½ orange or cara cara (grapefruit works too!), peeled and segmented

Dressing:

Combine ½ c EVOO, juice of 1 lemon, salt/pepper, splash of balsamic vinegar and fresh mint leaves, torn into fine pieces

Toss the arugula and toppings in the dressing, then top with 1-2 bulbs of roasted fennel and enjoy!

Spring time means we are almost to Cinco de Mayo, and that means we are ramping up Taco Tuesday! This spicy beef mix can be used for tacos or quesadillas, and easily made gluten/dairy free.

Spicy Chipotle Beef Tacos

Ingredients:

1 lb grass fed ground beef

1 medium yellow onion, julienned

1 jalapeno pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, julienned

5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 can (7.5 oz) of chipotle in adobo; peppers chopped

½ c water

1 c Red Cabbage, julienned

1.5 T rice vinegar (any white vinegar is fine)

½ T Agave

1.5 t salt

Juice of 1 lime

Siete almond flour tortillas (or tortillas of choice)

VioLife Vegan cheese Mozzarella (or cheese of choice)

Directions:

In a skillet over medium-medium high heat, cook the ground beef about half way through. Add onions, garlic, and peppers and continue to cook until onions and peppers are soft. Prepare the chipotle in adobo by removing the peppers from the sauce (keep the sauce!) and roughly chopping them. Add chipotles peppers and sauce + ½ c of water to the pan, reduce the heat the medium and stir to incorporate.

While the meat mixture cooks, combine cabbage with vinegar, salt, lime, and agave. Let sit.

Once the water has evaporated and everything is combined, set aside.

For tacos, briefly heat the Siete tortillas in a non-greased pan on med-high for about 1.5 minutes per side. Add cheese, meat, and top with cabbage slaw and any other toppings you like- avocado and  dairy free sour cream are our favorite! Enjoy!

Raspberry/Coconut Cream Ice Cream

Ingredients:

Can of full fat coconut cream- do not get light version!

1 cup frozen raspberries

OR ½ c rasp, ½ c peaches or other favorite fruit, frozen

½ c Coconut water (from the bottom of the can!) or other liquid of choice

*Optional: collagen powder or protein powder of choice 

* makes 3-4 servings

 Directions:

Depending on if you want to eat this like a bowl of ice cream or drink it more like a smoothie, you can vary the amount of liquid you add. We like to keep it on the thicker side, so we can blend it up and throw it in a bowl and top it with my favorite toppings.

We usually go for some mini dark chocolate chips and some coconut flakes, but you can add anything from granola to nuts of your choice to more fruit or even cut up a protein bar and garnish with that!

This is a sweet treat with little to no added sugar, depending on what you top it with. It’s great to have it in the evening before you go to bed to get a little serving of good, healthy fat from the coconut cream which supports healthy hormone levels through the night, and just a little bit of carb from the fruit to replenish your muscles as you sleep. Raspberries are also a great source of Vitamin C and antioxidants, so you might notice some skin benefits as well!