Lee Hersh

Vegan Cookie Dough Banana Soft Serve

May 3, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Vegan Cookie Dough Banana Soft Serve

There’s really no words that are sufficient enough to describe how much love I have for this nanner soft serve.

So I shall make my own word up: yummy + delicious = yummicious.

Cookie dough + ice cream = love.

It really is a match made in heaven and no one would even know this delicious dessert for two is vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and full of love.

This was another one of those recipes I hid from Blake. I find myself doing that more often than none lately

frozen bananas
milk
vanilla extract
Cookie Dough Bites
coconut oil

So- you start off with some very ripe frozen nanners. I like to peel my nanners before I put them in a plastic bag and into the freezer for freezing.

Then, you place the nanners along with a handful of Vegan Cookie Dough Bites and a splash of almond milk inside your food processor. **Note: tis works best if you let the bananas thaw a little bit before processing.

Process, process, process. Pulse, pulse, pulse.

MAGIC.

Top with more Vegan Cookie Dough Bites and, uhm…..

The easiest slash best ever chocolate sauce on this planet.

New favorite summer treat right here ladies and gents!

Winner winner, I’m eating ice cream for dinner!

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Vegan Cookie Dough Banana Soft Serve

Author: Lee Hersh
Total Time: 5 minutes

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Ingredients

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2 frozen bananas, medium, slightly thawed
~3 tablespoons non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 Vegan Cookie Dough Bites

1 tablespoon chocolate chips, non-dairy
1 teaspoon coconut oil

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a small food processor and process until smooth. You may have to stop and scrape the sides a few times.

For the Chocolate Sauce

In a small microwave-safe container, melt chocolate chips and coconut oil for about 30 seconds to one minute.. Stir until smooth. Pour on top of ice cream. Note: Once this sauce touches the cold ice cream, it will harden like Magic Hardshell Chocolate Topping!

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Healthy Maple Sea Salt Hot Chocolate

May 3, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Healthy Maple Sea Salt Hot Chocolate

Lighten up and flavor up your hot chocolate with this delicious Maple Sea Salt Hot Chocolate. It’s paleo, vegan, and made with just 5 ingredients!

Looking at how the weather played out this week I’m laughing inside a little bit that this hot chocolate is live today. We had 5 days in a row in the mid/upper 60’s. That is INSANE for Minnesota in November. Three cheers for El Niño.

People think it’s cliche to talk about the weather, but I am actually obsessed. Ask Davida or Linley, they will tell you that if I’m not snap chatting myself dancing to 90’s music, I’m checking the weather. AND I’m not just checking the weather in Minneapolis, I’m keeping an eye on the whole country Toronto, too. Gotta make sure my Canadian bestie is safe and sound.

Fun Fact Friday- Linley and I met in Geology class on the first day of college. We bonded over our professor Larry and rocks.

Nonetheless, this healthy hot chocolate was scheduled to go up today and HERE IT IS! Plus- who said that hot chocolate can only be drank when it’s freezing cold out?

Lighten up and flavor up your hot chocolate with this delicious Maple Sea Salt Hot Chocolate. It's paleo, vegan, and made with just 5 ingredients!

Please tell me you guys are on Snapchat. If you are, ADD ME!!! Tonight is FFF’s 5th birthday party and I’m going to be snapping live updates of the entire thing Plus, it’s also Fun Fact Friday and that’s just something you don’t want to miss

Ingredients for Healthy Maple Sea Salt Hot Chocolate

dairy free chocolate
cocoa powder
maple syrup
almond milk, unsweetened
sea salt

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Healthy Maple Sea Salt Hot Chocolate

Author: Lee Hersh
Total Time: 5 minutes

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1 ounce dairy free chocolate
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 cups almond milk, unsweetened
pinch of Himalayan sea salt

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Turn to medium/high heat and stir for 5-7 minutes, or until all of the chocolate has dissolved.
Serve with dairy-free whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and more sea salt!

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

May 3, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These healthier chocolate chip cookie bars are made with an almond butter base and are paleo-friendly! Did I mention they’re epically gooey and irresistible?

I get asked all the time what kind of diet I follow. My response? I EAT EVERYTHING. Seriously I will pretty much eat anything unless it’s a cricket dipped in chocolate or something weird. And even then, I’d prolly do it for 5 bucks. I prefer to eat gluten-free and as healthy as possible…but I would also die if I didn’t allow myself to eat ice cream. I LOVE ICE CREAM. Fun fact: I don’t remember a day where I didn’t eat dessert. Yup. I think dessert deserves to be eaten every single day and sometimes…multiple times per day. Why? Because it’s good for the soul.

LIKE THESE BARS. My mom makes these epic cookie bars called Congo Squares. These remind me a lot of those except this recipe is WAY healthier. If you follow me on Snapchat…you know that I made about 142 batches of paleo chocolate chip cookies before giving up and turning the recipe into bars. GRAIN-FREE BAKING IS HARD PEOPLE and I have no idea how paleo bloggers do it!

You only need a few staple ingredients to whip up a batch of these bars.

ER MER GERD. Could you imagine these with peanut butter? or cashew butter? I should rename this recipe to Better Than Sex Bars. But then FFF haters would get mad and say that’s inappropriate.

almond butter, unsalted
eggs, large
pure vanilla extract
coconut palm sugar
coconut flour
baking soda
sea salt
chocolate chips

It’s is very important that for this recipe you use DRIPPY almond butter. Why? Because the almond butter counts as a liquid, meaning that if you use rock hard almond butter- there’s not enough oil, which is what helps thin out your batter. I suggest using the Kirkland brand or Trader Joe’s. In the end, your dough should be very similar to cookie dough.

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Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Author: Lee Hersh
Total Time: 25 minutes

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Ingredients

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Wet Ingredients

1 cup creamy almond butter, unsalted (if you’re using salted, omit additional salt from recipe)
2 eggs, large
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients

⅔ cup coconut palm sugar
3 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of teaspoon sea salt
½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Instructions

First, preheat your oven to 350ºF and spray a 9×9 inch cake pan with coconut oil cooking spray.
Place almond butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Mix until combined. Place coconut palm sugar, coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt in a medium bowl and mix until combined.
Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until combined. Add in chocolate chips and mix again. Your batter should have a cookie dough consistency.
Transfer dough into a 9×9 inch pan and use your fingers or a spatula to evenly spread out into the pan. If you notice that there is a lot of oil on the top of your dough, this is normal! Simply use a piece of paper towel to blot as much of it off it as possible.
Bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes.
Let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Nutrition

Calories: 276
Sugar: 18
Fat: 17
Carbohydrates: 24
Fiber: 4
Protein: 7

Healthy Orange Sesame Chicken

May 3, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Healthy Orange Sesame Chicken

I think I finally created my new favorite Asian dish. It calls for simple ingredients, a whole lotta flava, and a double thumbs up from Blake! …I got the “THIS IS THE BEST THING YOU’VE EVERY MADE” statement from him. #winnerwinnerchickendinner

The sauce has SO MUCH FLAVOR and I can’t even believe how little ingredients were involved. I had a little OMG moment when I realized I didn’t have cornstarch to thicken the sauce(which I ended up finding in my cabinet 2 days later), but was able to substitute flour just fine. I felt like a scientist.

The base of the sauce is fresh squeezed orange juice. Freshly squeezed out of the oranges is kind of necessary. Plus- then you get to eat the pulp for a snack while your making dinner The sauce also calls for a few tablespoons of soy sauce (gluten free), white rice vinegar, ginger, and honey.

I’ve never tossed my chicken breast in flour before browning and baking, but I love the texture it created. It also helped the chicken absorb the sauce better. I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Mix, but feel free to use any kind or brand. You just need a light coating on the chicken before browning both sides on the stove.

To brown- you just heat a tablespoon or two of EVOO to medium/high heat and cook both sides for about 4 minutes or until golden brown. Then they go into a square baking dish, topped with your fresh orange sauce, and into the oven for about 20 minutes.

It will look like there is a whole lot of sauce…almost like your chicken breasts are taking a bath. But this is going make your chicken extremely flavorful. You may also notice that your sauce is pretty runny, things will thicken up in the oven, I promise!

Ingredients for Healthy Orange Sesame Chicken

oranges
soy sauce
white rice vinegar
honey
ground ginger
chicken breast
flour (I used gluten free)
corn starch or flour (to thicken sauce, I used flour)
EVOO
sesame seeds

Once your chicken is done. Let sit for a few minutes, slice, and top with additional sauce (which should thicken even more if you let it sit after baking), then sprinkle on some sesame seeds.

I paired my chicken with a a simple Orange Sesame Kale Salad and Coconut Sticky Rice —> both of these recipes are below.

I took your advice from the last time I used kale in a recipe, and cooked my kale in EVOO for a few minutes, and then massaged the rest of the dressing into it in order to get some of the tartness out and make it more digestible.

The kale salad was inspired by the sauce from the Sesame Orange Chicken.

Simple
Citrusy
Green

Citrus Sesame Kale Salad

Author: Lee Hersh

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Ingredients

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5 cups of chopped kale (washed and patted dry)
juice from ½ orange or about ¼ cup
2 tablespoons EVOO
1/2 cup carrots, minced and raw
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Instructions

Begin by washing and patting dry kale. Next, finely chop the kale, removing the stem if desired. Set aside.
In a large sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoon EVOO to medium heat. Place chopped kale on pan and sauté for about 2-3 minutes, just enough so that the kale because a darker green and is more flexible. Remove from heat, place in a large bowl and into the refrigerator to cool for about 30 minutes.
Once the kale is cooled, add in about ¼ cup of orange juice, a tablespoon of EVOO, and ½ cup minced, raw carrots. Toss lightly. Finish off with a tablespoon of sesame seeds.

As for the Coconut Sticky Rice. SO SIMPLE! 1 cup of rice + 1 cup of coconut water (I used a full fat can and used only the liquid part) + 1 cup water + 1/4 cup unsweetened dried coconut. Really perfected this entire dish.

– – – – – – – – –

Not to change the subject abruptly, but Blake and I are actually headed to Texas tomorrow for “Spring Break.” Blakester works full time, but is also in a part time MBA program and has a week off of school. Coincidentally, so do his little sisters. So? We are going to Lake Texoma (on the Texas/Oklahoma border) for the week! Blake grew up in Kansas and will fish/hunt at any chance he gets. Well- we are going to have a full 6 days of fishing and sunshine. The weather is suppose to be in the mid/upper 60’s and we will be near a National Preserve with lots of trails. I am just pumped to be away from work for a bit and to get some Vitamin D!

So my question for you is- has anyone ever been to or near Lake Texoma? Texans- I’d love some foodie recommendations!

Happy Sunday!

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Healthy Kung Pao Chicken

May 2, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Healthy Kung Pao Chicken

Got 20 minutes? Make this Healthy Kung Pao Chicken with just 8 simple ingredients for a dinner packed with protein and that’s paleo-friendly, too!

So,last week Blake spent the entire week visiting his family in Kansas. I stayed back in the cities GSD. And get shit done is what I did. I realized a few things. 1. I work a lot. 2. I work a lot. and 3. I lovvvvvve the show House. Blake and I started watching LOST (or re-watching because I’ve seen most of them) a few weeks ago, and I decided to be a big girl and wait to watch those episodes with him. Thus- I started watching House. House is one of those shows that can turn any frown upside-down. It reminds me of my family…all 5 of us, because we used to watch it together as a family way back when. Plus- I have a slight older man crush oh Hugh Laurie. I love the story line and most of all, I love the raunchy humor. Any other House fans out there?!

Long story longer, I realized that I work a lottttt especially when the Bster isn’t home. The first thing I do when I get up is grab for my phone and then I make me the coffee and then the oats. Then, I get right to work! I pretty much only break to workout and then I stop when I realize I need to go to bed.

And wow 2 giant paragraphs later I realize this is just a pity fest. Enough!

So I feel bad that Blake didn’t get to try any of this recipe. He would have love love loved it! We both have a thing for Asian food. This recipe is actually inspired by one of the dishes we had on the cruise last month! We went all the way to the Carribbean to eat Asian food

I love that this dish mixes spicy and sweet all in one. It’s also great that you can modify the heat. Just add more sriracha or chili paste if you like it hot hot hot.

This makes for a great afternoon snack…just like on the ship…when Blake was on the 10 meals a day plan. Ohhhhhh the all you can eat buffet.

Ingredients for Healthy Kung Pao Chicken

chicken breasts
garlic
sesame oil
green beens
coconut aminos
sriracha
chili paste
honey
salt and pepper, to taste
sesame seeds
optional: crushed peanuts/cashews

For you paleo frands out there…this recipe is paleo-friendly! Minus the brown rice of course. Idea. What you could do is make it with my Paleo-Fried Rice. Yes, yes. That would be a great idea.

Speaking of paleo friends. There were some great meat-filled options on the ship as well! The carnitas were TO DIE FOR. And all the fresh fish in the restaurants was finger-lickin’ good, cooked to perfection.

If you like things really saucey, feel free to double the sauce in this recipe! Many readers have done so and loved it.

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Superfood Taco Bowls

May 2, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Superfood Taco Bowls

This is meal prep at its finest! Prep everything for these delicious superfood taco bowls at the beginning of the week to have a healthy fulfilling meal all week long!

Meal prep.

You love to hate it.

You hate it when you gotta do it, but you love it when it’s all over and dinner is already made for you during a crazy week.

I am super duper excited to be partnering with Greensbury Market today, a new FFF partner. If you’ve never heard of Greensbury Market, it’s like the best way ever to purchase organic meat. They’re an online organic meat retailer bringing Americans the best quality and local meats to their doorstep. I try to support small, American farms as much as I can and I love that at Greensbury Market, it’s one of their primary focuses.

Greensbury Market has an array of products featuring beef, pork, chicken, and seafood. You all know that I am a big meat eater, so their value packs are my jam. Anything in bulk is the way to go because it brings prices way down and makes the good stuff affordable.

This superfood bowl features their organic grass-fed ground beef.

Sometimes (I mean all the time) I’m in the mood for Mexican flavors, but I don’t want to deal with tortillas or shells. I’m all about the bowl. I’m also all about mixing in as many superfood ingredients as possible into my bowls, so that I can get as much good stuff in my as possible.

Brown rice > white rice
Kale > lettuce
Hummus > sour cream
Sprouts > cheese

Making the ground beef is super easy. All you need is your Greensbury Market Organic Ground Beef + taco spices (chili powder, cumin, garlic, etc.). It literally takes like 6 minutes to cook. #nobrainer

I could eat this every. single. day.

And that’s the truth.

I’d most likely change up my add ins and use guacamole, avocado, black beans, corn, and cilantro.

This post is sponsored by Greensbury Market. I was compensated and all opinions are my own.

Basic Ingredients

For the Beef

1 lb. Greensbury Market Organic Grass-Fed Beef
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1.5 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon paprika
teaspoon sea salt

For the Bowls

1 lb. Greensbury Market Organic Grass-Fed Ground Beef (recipe above)
2 cups cooked short grains brown rice
½ cup hummus
2 cups raw kale
1 cup sprouts
1 cup diced tomatoes
½ cup salsa

How to make Superfood Taco Bowls

First, preheat skillet to medium/high heat. Then, cook ground beef and stir continuously until slightly browned. Add in apple cider vinegar and spices and continue cooking until fully cooked.

For the Bowls Separate out the ground beef into 4 servings. Then add in ½ cup cooked brown rice, 2 tablespoons hummus, ½ cup raw kale, ¼ cup sprouts, ¼ cup diced tomatoes, and 2 tablespoons of salsa to each bowl.
EAT!

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Ingredients for Vegan Cookie Dough Banana Soft Serve

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For the Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients for Healthy Maple Sea Salt Hot Chocolate

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Ingredients for Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition

Ingredients for Healthy Orange Sesame Chicken

Ingredients

Instructions

Ingredients

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Ingredients for Healthy Kung Pao Chicken

Description

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition

Basic Ingredients

How to make Superfood Taco Bowls

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition