Hi, hello, hey! Happy 420! I “celebrated” by making some protein hemp heart cookies but I haven’t quite perfected them yet so unfortunately those will not be debuting today. But I will provide you with TWO pudding recipes that will make your taste buds high.

First up is Chocolate Avocado Pudding.

What You Need In The Kitch:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 ripe bananas
• 6 heaping scoops of cacao or cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon

In a food processor or blender, blend together the avocados and bananas until it becomes a nice and smooth mixture. Add in the cacao powder, vanilla, and cinnamon and blend again. Place in fridge and let chill.. if you’re patient enough! Dipping strawberries into this pudding is also extremely yummy!

Next up is Chocolate Banana Chia Pudding.

What You Need In The Kitch:

•  1 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 tbsp cacao or cocoa powder
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1-2 packets stevia
• 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

In a bowl, mix together all of the ingredients with a whisk until all the lumpy clumpys are gone. Place in the fridge for 1-2 hours until the pudding is thick. I won’t lie sometimes I just straight up eat it after I mix everything. Some of the seeds are still crunchy but I don’t mind, still tastes good to me. But if you want the full effect of this pudding I recommend letting it chill for a couple hours.

I hope this inspires you guys to chuck out the processed puddings you buy in the stores. Those are literally just garbage. Plus come on, these recipes are so easy it’s not even funny! So, no excuses! Oh but you want a pudding you can take to work or school? That’s what tupperware is for ;) With the avocado pudding you are getting in some healthy fat, woo hoo! And chia is just an amazing little seed that is so beneficial to our bodies. I mentioned Joy in the last post and I’m going to mention her again because she has an amazing post on chia that you guys should check out! Click here!

Happy Weekend everyone! Keep it happy and healthy :)

Love From The Kitch,

Kirstie

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If you say no to pizza I don’t think we can be friends. Or we will at least have difficulty being friends. I LOVE PIZZA! And I’m thinking I might even make this again tonight for dinner. You might think making a pizza is time consuming and it takes a lot of work but it really isn’t that bad plus if you’re attempting it with a positive attitude you’re going to have a lot more fun. If you’re strapped for time though or you just really don’t feel like making your own crust you can always pick up a frozen crust at the grocery store just make sure it’s not loaded with crap!

I originally adapted this recipe from my lovely friend Joy over at Joyous Health, check her out she is such an amazing woman and definitely one of my role models. But I’m wanting to also experiment with gluten free flours such as brown rice and buckwheat. Although I’m not completely positive I’m celiac, when I do eat quite an amount of gluten I do see that it affects my skin so I’m trying my hardest to stay on the gfree track but for now spelt flour is what I’m dealing with :) If any of you have made pizza dough with gfree flours please, please, pleaaaase comment below, tweet, or facebook me and let me know!

Also, sadly this is not vegan.. So my goal is to make a perfect gfree and vegan dough for next time! Fingers crossed.

What You Need In The Kitch:

• 1 1/2 cups spelt flour – preferably stone ground organic
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup water or coconut milk
• 1/4 cup EVOO

Get your oven hot and ready at 425°.

In a bigger bowl, combine your flour, salt and baking powder. Now in a smaller bowl beat the egg and add in HALF of the oil, as well as either the water or milk. (I used coconut milk, you can also use your choice of dairy free milk) Add the combined wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and mix until you get a nice good ol ball of dough.

Sprinkle flour onto your counter and knead the dough 3-4 times then roll out in to a circle or square, whichever shape you prefer. The picture above was taken before I rolled the dough out. Once you have it rolled out spread the remaining oil onto the dough and top with toppings. I used kale, spinach, roma tomatoes, basil, oregano, rosemary, red onion, and garlic.

This is what it looked like before putting into the oven. I have a pizza stone so that’s what I used to bake it but you can just put it on an ordinary pan as well. It should take about 20 minutes for the pizza to cook.

Voila! Ok, I just realized the pictures don’t even look that much different, haha! Oh well. This is really good to eat topped with nutritional yeast as well. I rolled mine out into a thin crust but it’s ultimately up to you on how thick you want it to be. Wow my mouth is watering blogging about this…

I hope you guys are having a wonderful week! Let me know if you’ve been making any yummy treats or meals in The Kitch! Sharing is caring :)

Just one more quick thing! For my readers who are fitness focused – I challenge you to do a plank a day and either facebook me with your times, tweet me, or comment bellow :) My goal is to get to 5 mins a day!

This was my time today

Planking!

Love From The Kitch,

Kirstie

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HI! Holy, yet again I have not posted in almost a week. Someone come kick my ass. I’ve made a lot of repeat recipes lately actually, like the other day I did the yummy Sweet Potato Curry and have been having that almost repeatedly because of leftovers. It almost tastes better left over because I’m assuming that maybe all the flavour does like a little dance when sitting in the fridge. That’s just my theory though. What do you guys think?

But now I can’t remember what else I’ve been gnawing on. Green smoothies in the morning, that’s for sure! Oh, and lately I’ve been adding in berries so they’re more to the purple side sometimes. Kinda like this..

Go Nucks!

Clearly that glass hasn’t brought us any puck luck on the ice.. Hoping and praying for a big W on Wednesday!! I still believe in my babes :D

Okay so the point of this post is that I’ve been on a muffin baking binge! I just get the urge to make muffins! These banana coconut muffins I’m about to share with you were literally gone within a couple of hours. They are to die for and guess what? They’re vegan! Woo hoo! Go team :)

Pre Oven

What You Need In The Kitch:

• 2 cups spelt flour (brown rice, almond flour, etc if you want completely GF)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1/3 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1 tbsp ground flax (optional)

Get your oven hot and ready at 350°.

These make 12 medium sized muffins. So you’ll most likely only need one muffin tin.. unless you have a teeny tiny muffin tin. Make sure you line your muffin tin with liners or save paper and use oil to coat your tin. I used liners this time but I think from now on I’m going to go liner free.

Next, mash up your bananas in a bowl. In another bowl mix together sugar and EVOO and then add in the banaynays you just mashed. Now add in coconut milk and vanilla extract and mix together. This is now known as your “wet mixture.”

In ANOTHER bowl mix together all your dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and coconut flakes. Also if you’re adding in ground flax, do so now :) Okay, okay so now you can add your dry mixture into your wet and mix it all up! Make sure not to over mix though, this may cause the muffins to peak when they are baking. You can also top the muffins with coconut flakes like I did as well if you would like.

Now you are ready to pour the batter into your muffin tin friends! and lick the spatula, spoon, bowl, etc…

Pop in the oven and bake for 20-30 mins :)

Voila!

Okay, so I have yet to perfect equal muffin shapes. But let’s just accept that each of these muffins is unique in shape in their own special way. I wish I had these right now.. I have blueberry ones sitting downstairs but I’m just such a lover of anything banana. Oh and yes, if you would like to substitute blueberries for bananas go right ahead! It works fabulously.

So now that I’ve shared this yummy treat with you all I have to figure out what the F is going on with my RSS feed. I’m so challenged when it comes to this stuff :( Still a newbie!

One other update! I’ve committed to the Tone It Up Bikini Challenge again this year! Woo hoo! This is such a fun way to get in shape and keep motivated. If you have not checked Karena & Katrina out yet you must do so NOW! I heart these girls so much and the community of wonderful ladies.

Here’s my road to abs thus far! I’m getting there!! Get fit or die trying, is kind of how I’ve been feeling lately. I did a great tabata workout this afternoon. Wow I am now in love with tabata! Such an amaze workout in such little time. Never use the excuse you don’t have time, because girlfriend you DO have time!

I’m delivering you all pizza tomorrow! Stay tuned ;)

Love From The Kitch,

Kirstie

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Hi darlings! How is everyone doing? As promised I am posting the apple crisp recipe today, yay! This recipe isn’t gluten free but you can substitute the spelt flour for brown rice or almond flour and I’m sure it would taste just as good. I’m going to try using brown rice flour next time. I had spelt had on hand so that’s what I used.

What You Need In The Kitch:

Filling:

• 4 medium organic apples (I used spartans)
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp  100% maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Topping:

• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/3 coconut sugar
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (solid)

Preheat oven to 375.

You can choose whether you would like to keep the skin on your apples or not, I chose to keep the skin. Chop up the apples and place in a baking pan. Pour the lemon juice over the apples and add the 1 tsp of maple syrup as well as the spices and vanilla. Mix around to get the apples nice and coated in that yummy goodness.

In a separate bowl combine your choice of flour – spelt, brown rice, almond, etc. So many choices! Okay so combine the flour, coconut sugar, oats and maple syrup. Cut in the coconut oil so that the mixture resembles a crumbly consistency (pictured above).

Now sprinkle this over the apples. Careful not to “taste test” all the topping! I had a hard time trying not to.. After you’ve topped the apples with your crumbly, drizzle with the remaining 1/2 tsp of maple syrup.

Bake for 30-40 mins, until apples are tender!

Serve warm over vanilla coconut ice cream. Dairy free yee yee! Oh and hello, this is VEGAN! Seriously, this is theeeee treats!

Today my mom and I took a drive on the highway out to her physio appointment and it was gorrrrgeous! The sun was shining with barely a cloud in the sky.. I will let you virtually admire my view :)

She also made me pump the gas.. DIVA!

Have a wonderful night babes! XO

Love From The Kitch,

Kirstie

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So since I’ve been struggling with spring allergies lately it’s inspired me to step out of The Kitch for this post and bring to you wonderful people some tips on how to battle the dreadful achoos and itchy eyes that come with the blossoming of spring. I mean I could always just turn to Benedryl, Reactine, or Aerius but by now you’re probably aware that I like to choose more of a natural approach and I want to share what you can do to avoid putting those little pink or white pills into your beautiful bodies.

1. Everyone just needs to chill the heck out. Did you know that stress and anxiety can make allergy attacks last longer and make them even more worse? I came across an article today done by Ohio State University that did a study on this. 28 men and women who had hay fever and seasonal allergies spent two and a half days in a research unit at Ohio State. The volunteers were pricked several times to determine their reactions to various allergens. They were then given psychological questions to determine their stress levels, anxiety, self-confidence, etc. And the findings obviously have proven that stress levels affect allergy attacks. So take a deep breath, preferably inside, away from the pollinated air and just relax. Also look at #10, that will help you relax too.
2. Change your clothes after being outside! Your clothes, shoes and other garments all collect pollen after you’ve been outside. If your allergies are extremely bad make sure you do a wardrobe change once you get home. Pollen can even come into the house via your furry friends aka dogs. It’s a good idea to wash off Buddy’s paws as well.
3. I know it’s spring, the sun is shining and the air is finally warm but if you have spring allergies – be smart! Close your windows. Having your window open allows pollen to enter your humble abode and settle on furniture, fabric and your clothes. This goes for when you’re driving too, keep you window rolled up. I don’t know about you but an allergy attack while you’re driving sounds seriously dangerous to me.
4. Shower and wash your hair before bed. Personally, I find this one helps A LOT! Wash that luscious hair up so you don’t spread the pollen to your comfy pillow and bed. You don’t want to wake up in the morning stuffed up and sneezing, do you?
5. Are you used to going for a morning run outdoors? You might want to think twice and switch that to an after work run. Pollen counts tend to be higher during the early morning. If your allergies are super bad I suggest hitting the treadmill at the gym during the weeks when pollen concentration is crazy high.
6. One of my favourite tips – EAT CLEAN! One thing that really helps with the stuffy nose and mucous is cutting back on dairy or cutting it out of your diet altogether. Dairy is horrible for increasing mucous level. When I stopped eating dairy I noticed a major difference. Eating clean also betters your immune system which in turn helps to keep your body strong against hay fever.
7. I’m not one to preach supplements but when it comes to spring allergies I’m all about Quercetin. It’s a natural supplement hence why I support it. I’m not going to go into all the heavy stuff about quercetin but you can sure as heck check out this page hereif you want to learn about how and why it is so great for allergies. Even if you are not having an allergic reaction it’s smart to take this supplement everyday with along with your vitamins. I have also read that Vitamin C and grape seed extract are great for allergies as well.
8. The Neti Pot! People swear by this little tea pot looking contraption. I have yet to try it but my parents have one so once I fly back on Thursday I will be trying that! Have you tried the neti pot? What’s you verdict?
9. I’m not 100% sure on this one but hey if acupuncture is covered under your benefits then go ahead and give it a shot! I would definitely be willing to try it.
10. Last but not least RED WINE. Ok, you guys aren’t aware yet of how much I love but wine but.. I l-o-v-e wine. Red wine contains both quercetin and grade seed extract both of which I mentioned above in point #7. So I’m going to say try red wine. If anything it will give you a good night’s sleep void of sneezing and itchy eyes ;)

The Balanced Platter is a great blog that has also done a similar post to this but also includes tips on useful herbs and nutrients – check the post out here!

I hope some of theses tips help you guys outs.. Is there anything I missed? What tips can you guys add to this post? I would love to know!!

Love & Less Sneezes From The Kitch,

Kirstie

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Make that vegan curry me! Hey friends :) You should be happy you stepped into The Kitch today because I am about to share one of my favourite recipes with you! While I was back home visiting during Christmas, my family and I joined my best friend, Sarah’s parents for dinner at their lovely home. Sarah’s mom made an amazing dinner for all of us, seriously SO good! Anyway one of the dishes she served was this vegan curry that I fell in love with so I got her to e-mail me the recipe and it is now made quite often in The Kitch! Everytime is different depending on what vegetables I have in the fridge, that’s what’s so great about this recipe you can always change up the ingredients and experiment with different veggies/spices. I apologize beforehand, I didn’t take very many pictures.. Holy who knew curry was so hard to photograph. So not photogenic.

What You Need In The Kitch:

• 2 cups chickpeas – You can use either dried or canned. If you are using dried make sure to soak them overnight then simmer them the next day until tender.
• 1-2 yellow onions, diced
• 5-7 cloves of garlic, diced
• 4-6 small yams, cubed
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• salt & peppa to taste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 can tomato soup or you can just used diced tomatoes if you don’t have tomato soup. When I made this the other day I just used a diced heirloom tomato.
• 3 tsp cumin
• 4 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp tumeric
• Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb
• Dash of red chili flakes (optional)
• 1 can sweet peas

That’s just the basics but like I said you can also add in other veggies like carrots, zucchini, red peppers, mushrooms, etc. It’s also very good when you mix in steamed broccoli at the very end.

Saute the onions, garlic, yams, ginger, salt and pepper in coconut oil for about 15-20 minutes and then add the 1 can of coconut milk and the tomato soup or diced tomatoes. After combining that you can add in your cumin, curry, tumeric and Mrs. Dash. You can also add in the red chili flakes now as well if you want some spice. Let it simmer until all the flavours are blended and the vegetables are tender. Just before serving don’t forget to add the 1 can of sweet peas.

You can eat this curry on it’s own but it’s best served over quinoa or rice! Is your mouth watering because mine sure is.. I wish I had still had leftovers! That’s another thing, this curry is absolutely amaze as a leftover.

See how unphotogenic that is!? I swear to you though it is to die for and you HAVE to try it! I’m so happy I got a chance to post this today before the madness of packing starts again. I’ve taken all my clothes out of my drawers now and kinda just threw them on my floor in a pile. I picked out some stuff that I don’t wear that often that I’m either going to give to the salvation army or my Lola can bring them to the Philippines. But the following pile needs to be packed into my suitcase ASAP. I only have today and tomorrow to get my sh*t together! Yikes..

This picture does not even do the pile justice! It’s so overwhelming and intimidating in real life and there’s even more added to the pile now that I’ve finished doing all my laundry.. As my mom would say, “soos nalang!” So Filipino, haha! SO ya that will be what I’m doing today. I will probably just have a salad for lunch, keep it nice and light. The past week I’ve been making an amaze bowl of raw oats and chia for breaky! Yum, yum, yum! My lovely friend Emma, @roxyfull, has asked for an oats post so that will be coming soon I promise ya girl! Here’s a sneak peek..

Ahh, so yummy, so easy, so fast! You guys will love this one ;) Hope everyone is off to a good Tuesday! I’ll be on and off Twitter today.. come say hi and motivate me to pack!! XO

Love From The Kitch,

Kirstie

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Hi guys! I have to apologize for the lack of posts lately – I’m sorry!! Things around here have been a bit nuts lately.. I was sick with a cold for about 4 days and I’ve been struggling with spring allergies (tips on how to deal later in the week). On top of that I made the decision to move back to my hometown to get my sh*t together. Long story short I’m in my early twenties and need to save money badly. Right now home feels like the best answer plus my mom has a BOMB kitchen with a kitchen aide and lots of other fun gadgets. Get ready mom, I’m taking over your kitch. That being said the blog has been on hold for a bit but it has been bothering me so I decided to sit down and quickly update you guys on what’s up.

I lived off The Hulk when I was sick so I had to mix it up and get some variety in. This one right here was my favourite over all.

This baby was made up of kale, spinach, strawberries, a banana, chia and hemp seeds. Hello goodness! I swear to you I could live off this one for weeks. I’m going to try making smoothies sans banana soon and use avocados to get the smooth texture. I know Choosing Raw has been successful with this so I’ll have to try out some of her recipes and experiment.

Also, notice my massive water bottle. ALWAYS keep hydrated when you’re feeling under the weather. That and eat a lot of ginger and garlic either raw or in a supplement form. I do raw because I always choose the real deal over supplements cause that’s just how I roll. Both garlic and ginger have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties that can help kill that nasty bacteria that’s making you sick and help reduce the swelling of your sinuses. And of course I loaded up on the well known Vitamin C. So within 3 days I was feeling better without taking any meds whatsoever and on the fourth day I was gold.

I haven’t been up to much in The Kitch lately.. It’s been a lot of salads, steamed/roasted veggies so I don’t have any exciting recipes to share with you my friends! Except for hopefully tomorrow I can post a great vegan curry recipe that is one of my faves! I didn’t want to mix it in with this post because it deserves it’s own.

There’s the roasted broccoli that I indulged in the other day. Have you guys tried roasted broccoli? Oh my g! It’s definitely one of the best ways to eat broc. It’s so simple too. I lined a baking sheet with tinfoil, covered the broccoli in coconut oil and seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. YUM!

I hope you guys had a great weekend and have kicked off this week strong. I’m going to go snack on something yummy.. Maybe some baked apple with cinnamon and shredded coconut flakes. Ya, that sounds perfect! Have you guys been up to anything exciting in The Kitch or out of The Kitch? Better yet, has anyone been to Whole Foods lately? Any fab new finds? I’m going through withdrawals!

It’s also Music Monday! I’ve been bumping this tune all day.

Love From The Kitch,

Kirstie

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