Barbacoa Birria Tacos

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Barbacoa Birria Tacos – 8 Servings

Suzy Lewis

This rich and delicious specialty can be enjoyed year round and you can top it with your favorite garnishes! Feel free to add dried guajillo chilis for a bit more of a spicy kick. It’s a great make ahead dish for meal prepping and freezes well too. Using chuck roast with marbling will give you a more tender meat, however, you can use other cuts as well to lower the fat content. 

*Note you can cook the meat in a Dutch oven or heavy pot for about 3 hours if you do not have a crock pot.

Ingredients:
4 lb chuck roast, cut into 4-inch chunks
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
6 ancho chilis, rinsed, stemmed, and seeded
5 garlic cloves
½ C crushed tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
¼ tsp ground cloves
2 C beef broth, low sodium, divided
1 onion chopped
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
Juice from 2 fresh limes, or ¼ C vinegar

Tacos:
24 soft corn tortillas
1 C mozzarella cheese
1 C fresh cilantro, chopped
½ Diced red onion

 

Instructions:

  1. Season meat with salt and pepper and heat the oil in a large pot over med/ high heat. 
  2. Sear the meat on all sides until brown. Transfer to crock pot. 
  3. In a saucepan combine chiles, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, onion, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, peppercorns and cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. 
  4. Add chile combination, broth, lime juice, garlic, cumin, oregano, and cloves to a blender. Bend until completely smooth. 
  5. Strain blended sauce through a fine mesh strainer into the pot with the meat. Discard solids.
  6. Stir to combine and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred meat and remove a cup of the sauce to make the tacos. 
  7. To make tacos heat a skillet to medium heat. Dip a tortilla into the sauce and add to the pan. 
  8. Top half the tortilla with cheese, beef, red onion, and cilantro.
  9. Fold in half and cook on both sides until slightly crispy.
  10. Serve tacos with remaining sauce for dipping and other garnishes.

Arugula Mango Chicken Salad

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Arugula Mango Chicken Salad – 6 Servings

Suzy Lewis

Baby arugula is a tender, mildly spicy green, with a distinct flavor. Mature arugula tastes “angry” and is better used with other greens to balance out the flavor, or in sandwiches. It’s good to add a variety of greens into your diet to get a wider variety of plant nutrients. For a little extra crunch, try adding Romaine lettuce with the arugula. Feel free to use other sweet fruits if mangos are not available, some suggestions are pineapple, apple, or blueberries.

Ingredients:
4C Baby Arugula
1C Diced Mango
½C Chopped Pecans
½C Sliced Red Onion
1C Cubed Grilled Chicken
1C Fresh Basil

Dressing:
½C Balsamic Vinegar
½C Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Agave Nectar

 

Instructions:

  1. Toss Salad ingredients into large shallow bowl.
  2. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour onto salad, toll thoroughly to coat evenly.
  3. Serve immediately and enjoy! If making in advance wait to add dressing until serving.

No Bake Apple Crumble

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Transcript:

Hi, welcome to ShineHealth.

I’m so excited to talk to you about a new topic today call “culinary medicine”.

It’s a really important topic because I think so much of the time we feel like if food is going to be delicious, it can’t be healthy and if it’s nourishing, is it gonna be satisfying.

So, with knowing the fact that eighty percent of all disease is preventable or at least helped through better lifestyle, don’t you think it’s an important place to start with food as medicine.

Today, we’re gonna be talking about doing the dessert flip! And I’m gonna show you how to make a really good dessert called “No Bake Apple Crumble”.

We’re actually goona make it right now together.

Ok, we’re gonna get started with our dessert flip no bake apple crumble.

So I’ve got four apples – these are honey crisp apples and I boiled about a quarter cup of water here so I’m just putting uhm… these apples that I’ve cut into small to medium sized little  uhm…pieces… uhm… that’s from  three of the apples and now I’m gonna cut the fourth one with y9u.

So when I get this going uhm… I’ve got my water boiling just a little bit, just a light boil, and we’re gonna put our apples in there and just cook them down ever so slightly.

We’ve also got in our other pan, I have got this heating up and it looks like it’s going a little bit hot so let me go ahead and turn it down.

And what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna add 2 tablespoons of a plant-based butter which I like to use Earth Balance organic butter it’s made from coconut oil. So I’m gonna put that 2 tablespoons into both my pan that I’m heating up there and my dish that’s got the apples in there.

And then you go ahead and stir and we’re gonna go ahead and let those kind of uhm… shrink down just a little bit. Then we’ll just gonna soften the apple chops and then in here we’ll gonna be making our crumble mixture.

So I’m just cutting out my apple… in really small size pieces. You make these into slices, you can really make them however you like. I definitely recommend leaving the peel on you apple when you cut it because there’s a lot of really important fiber in there and phytonutrients. And you can use whatever apple you like. I do recommend getting organic apples if you can because they’re gonna be higher in nutrients and I think they taste better too!

Healthy Pumpkin Spice Latte

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Level: Easy
Time: 10 Mins
Serves: 1

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup unsweetened plant milk
  • 1 Cup brewed coffee or 1-2 shots of espresso
  • 1 Tbsp unsweetened canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 Tsp fresh grated ginger
  • ½ Tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • ½ Tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ Tsp monk fruit or other sweetener of your choice

Instructions

Step 1

Make coffee

Step 2

Whisk milk, spices, pumpkin, and sweetener in a small saucepan

Step 3

Pour milk over coffee in a mug and top with a cinnamon stick or dash of grated ginger

Step 4

Enjoy your budget friendly beautiful creation!

 

Holiday Beverages

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Healthy Pumpkin Spice Latte

Suzy Lewis

Enjoy your favorite fall treat and nourish your body at the same time! Real pumpkin has many health benefits and is wonderful for your digestion and complexion. Use a sweetener of your choice like stevia, monk fruit, maple syrup, or coconut sugar. I like to use unsweetened coconut milk, but any plant milk will do, or dairy milk if that is part of your diet.

Ingredients:
1C unsweetened plant milk
1C brewed coffee or 1-2 shots of espresso
1 Tbsp unsweetened canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp monk fruit or other sweetener of your choice

Instructions:

  1. Make coffee
  2. Whisk milk, spices, pumpkin, and sweetener in a small saucepan
  3. Pour milk over coffee in a mug and top with a cinnamon stick or dash of grated ginger
  4. Enjoy your budget friendly beautiful creation!

 

Vegan Spicy Hot Coco

Suzy Lewis

Here’s your new cozy and decadent comfort drink. Use your plant milk and sweetener of choice in this vegan drink. Make sure to get pure vanilla extract, and not artificially flavored vanilla. A large batch of the mix can be prepared ahead of time and stored for easy hot chocolate anytime, it’s easier and healthier than the packaged one and a fraction of the price!

Ingredients:

2 C unsweetened plant milk
2 Tbsp Cacao powder
1 Tbsp coconut sugar
Dash of cayenne pepper
½ tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt

Instructions:

  1. Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat
  2. Whisk in cacao, spices, and coconut sugar
  3. When desired temperature is reached pour into two mugs and serve with a cinnamon stick straw.
  4. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days

 

Cherry Mojito Mocktail

Suzy Lewis

I love mocktails, however, I miss drinking out of a wine glass. A perfect solution is to enjoy this beautiful festive mocktail in your favorite celebration glass. Substitute cherries with any berry of your choice for variety and ease. Cheers!

Ingredients:

1.5 C unsweetened carbonated water
¼ C frozen cherries
A few leaves of fresh mint
¼ lime
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
¼ tsp stevia

Instructions:

  1. Muddle cherries with lime, mint, stevia, and ginger
  2. Divide between two glasses
  3. Pour over carbonated water and add ice if desired.
  4. Top with a slice of lime for decoration

 

Making Mindful Food Choices

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I want to ask you, how are you taking care of you?

Today more than ever our personal wellness is a top priority, and for most of us, it’s up to us to maintain our health. Nutrition, stress management, and mindfulness are crucial aspects of our health that we have control over. Can you identify an area that you want to put more focus on to improve your overall wellness?

Be mindful to include these categories of superfoods into your diet…

Go Green – Choose organic salad greens and herbs.

Go Blue – Eat a variety of organic berries for the richest source of antioxidants.

Go Nuts – Include raw, unsalted nuts and seeds into your diet. A serving size is a handful.

Go Fish – Eat 2 6oz servings of Wild Pacific Salmon each week for sufficient Omega 3. Or you can add a plant-based Omega supplement.

Simple Snacks

Keeping your blood sugar in the zone of willpower can keep stress at bay. Have smart snacks at your fingertips to grab. Making a nibble tray with cut up fruits and veggies along with some raw nuts is a great way to get a variety of healthy foods into your diet. Include healthy, clean dips like hummus and nut butter for more variety. Shakes make a great breakfast or snack throughout the day also, packed with lots of produce!

Super Food Brain Boosting Smoothie

1 C unsweetened plant milk
1/2 C frozen blueberries
1/2 peeled frozen banana
1 Tbsp nut butter
Handful of spinach
Dash of cinnamon

Scoop of plant-based protein powder (I use Complete by Juice Plus+)

Blend and sip throughout the morning for an immune boosting, gut healthy breakfast, or recovery meal.

Eating with mindfulness exercise inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh

Every time we eat can be an opportunity to embrace the gifts that surround us. When we allow ourselves to slow down and have gratitude for our food it naturally reduces stress and brings more joy into our lives.

  1. When you eat or drink recognize the food you are ingesting as nourishment for your body and a miracle.
  2. Consider all that went into this food, the people who prepared it, and the plants & animals that it came from.
  3. Observe gratitude for this food and moment that you are experiencing.

Now, can you feel the freedom and joy that comes from being supported and nourished by this food?

A great place to start is by taking notice of the food you are eating and recognizing how you feel when you eat.

Are you mindlessly shoveling food into your mouth between meetings or in the car before pick up? My wake up call was when my 10 month old said “french fry” as one of her first words because we were running through the drive through so often out of sheer desperation.

The first step for me was to realize that fake food and poor nutrition was zapping my energy and contributing to constant colds for my family. Once I got a handle on the importance of a diet rich in a variety of plants and clean protein and gained some skills like making smoothies regularly everything began to shift. This personal shift eventually led me to become a health coach because of the power that I found in lifestyle and nutrition. I wanted to pay it forward in hopes of impacting another busy mom’s life. Reach out if you would like to chat about your specific health concerns and feel free to check out the blog for more ideas to make health simple.

Best of health,

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About The Author

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Suzy is a Nationally Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, researcher, and a mom who specializes in empowering busy professionals and families who lead fast paced lives to have optimal health. She has worked in the field of nutrition for the past 18 years and bases her coaching on the 4 pillars of health L.E.A.N. Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude and Nutrition. Suzy has expertise in pinpointing the causes of work-related stress and how it impacts health markers. She incorporates nutritional healing into her plans with clients to heal from the inside out.

Positivity Works

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Check out my take on how positivity works with regard to our health and how to put it into practice in your everyday life.

With my science background I like to geek out on research and found it interesting that there are numerous studies published talking about the benefits of allowing positivity to guide your life.

In a study done at the Mayo Clinic they found that positive self talk was correlated with enhanced cardiovascular health, longer lifespan, and improved immune function.

Can you think of an area in your life that could use a positive reframing?
Best of health!
Suzy

Chocolate Vegan Freedom Balls

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It’s the season when celebrations of freedom abound! One of those freedoms that we get to protect personally is our health freedom.


Do you ever feel like throwing up your hands and just getting into the whims of summer and indulging in familiar yet not so healthy treats?

Here is a fun recipe to try out at your next celebration.

 

In this demo, I will show you how to make Freedom Balls, a true crowd-pleaser and easy to make ahead and freeze.
Chocolate Vegan Freedom Balls
1 C dried unsweetened coconut
2 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 C dried cranberries sweetened with apple juice or unsweetened
3/4 C chopped walnuts
1/3 C chocolate vegan protein powder
dash of salt

Mix all ingredients, reserving 1/4 C of coconut.
Roll into 1 Tbsp sized balls, adding 1/2 Tbsp of water as needed if the mixture seems dry.
Dip the balls into the remaining coconut and you’re ready to serve!

When I first learned about the power of nutrition 18 years ago I was so grateful to have a community to get inspiration and support from. If you are searching for that sort of link, please reach out for a complimentary session or check the blog for more recipe ideas. How do you plan to protect your health freedom this summer?

Best of Health!
Suzy

 

Peanut Ginger Buddha Bowl

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Serves 4
Suzy Lewis

My eyes were completely opened to the power of plants when I read “The China Study” by Dr. Colin Campbell analyzing the results of a massive compilation of data on lifestyle and nutrition trends that documented the benefits of  the traditional Asian plant based diet.

This Buddha Bowl recipe captures a rainbow of colorful plant foods and makes for a simple weeknight meal,  also ideal for prepping ahead of time. Here’s the recipe…

These bowls are a great way to meal prep for the week or use as a fun dinner with the family where everyone gets to personalize their bowl. Loaded with immune boosting superfoods that will keep you satisfied and your blood sugar steady. The dressing makes them irresistible!

Ingredients:
1C cooked quinoa
1 large sweet potato, cooked and cubed
1 C riced cauliflower
1 bell pepper sliced
2 C fresh greens like spinach or romaine lettuce
1 C shelled edamame
1 C shredded carrots
1 C diced cucumber
Optional cubed chicken or tofu for extra protein

Peanut Sauce:
¼ C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ C apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp coconut aminos
1 tsp Asian chile paste
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp creamy natural peanut butter

Additional toppings:
Sliced Nori
Pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
Avocado sliced

Instructions:
1.     Divide greens between 4 bowls.
2.     Mix quinoa and cauliflower and put onto greens
3.     Top with sections of sweet potato, beans, and veggies
4.     Mix dressing by whisking together oil, vinegar, coconut aminos, chile, ginger, and peanut butter and divide between the 4 bowls
5.     Top with seeds and enjoy!

Power Smoothie Bowl

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Smoothie bowls are a great alternative to drinking your breakfast. Sometimes it’s nice to chew your smoothie and it even makes for a great dessert. You can use your imagination with the toppings, as well as use up bits and pieces that you have in your fridge. Make it colorful, beautiful, and fun!

Here’s how to make it!

Base Mix:

1C frozen berries
Frozen banana, peeled
3/4 Cup unsweetened coconut milk
Handful of spinach

*** optional 1 Tbsp nut butter, or ¼ avocado
*** optional Maple syrup or sweetener of your choice to taste
*** optional 1/3C vegan protein powder if desired for extra protein and nutrients

Topping Ideas:
Coconut flakes
Sliced kiwi
Diced apple
Walnuts
Hemp seeds
Flax seeds
Diced pear
Pineapple

Instructions:

Blend base mix ingredients until smooth, pour into 2 bowls.
Top bowls with fruit, nuts, and seeds to your liking

Enjoy!