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Pumpkin Spice Bites

Pumpkin Spice Bites are super quick to throw together, and you'll have the perfect fall snack for the entire work/school week! | savorandglow.com

Pumpkin Spice Bites are super quick to throw together, and you’ll have the perfect fall snack for the entire work/school week! These bites are even better if you put a little orange zest on top. Oh man!

I put the recipe deets into MyFitnessPal because I wanted to make sure these weren’t a total calorie bomb (not that I even think you should care about calories, but I digress). Each bite has 99 calories, 7 grams of fat, 8 grams of carbs, 2g of fiber and 3g of protein. From a nutritionists point of view, this is a somewhat balanced snack. I wish it had a little more fiber and protein, but overall I would bless this snack!

These bites kind of remind me of the Pumpkin Spice RX Bars – but the best part is that they are significantly LESS sweet! But – if sweet is your thing, you can always add an extra date or two.

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Pumpkin Spice Bites are super quick to throw together, and you'll have the perfect fall snack for the entire work/school week! | savorandglow.com

Pumpkin Spice Bites
 
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Serves: 20 bites
Ingredients
  • ½ cup cashews
  • ½ cup almonds
  • 5 dates, seeds removed
  • ½ cup almond butter
  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • 1½ tbsp pumpkin spice
Instructions
  1. Roughly chop the cashews and almonds. Put the dates in a food processor and pulse until a puree has formed. If you don't have a food processor, you can finely chop the dates, but keep in mind this will change the texture of the final product.
  2. In a bowl, mix the almond butter, pumpkin puree, chia seeds, vanilla, pumpkin spice, and chopped nuts and dates. Once it's mixed well, form tablespoon sized balls. Refrigerate on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for at least one hour. Then you can either eat them, or store in an air tight container in the fridge!

 

Garlic + White Bean Spaghetti Squash

Deliciously sinless, creamy and garlicky! It can be made vegan and is a yummy and healthy equivalent of alfredo! Less than 8 ingredients and easy to make! | savorandglow.com

This White Bean + Garlic Spaghetti Squash recipe yields a creamy, garlicky and completely sinless dish. I love it because it can be made vegan, and includes less than eight ingredients!

My typical diet framework most closely resembles paleo. But lately, I’ve been trying to figure out ways to include legumes and grains that my body can tolerate. And boy, I can definitely tolerate (and enjoy!) white beans! I love including legumes and grains into my diet as it allows me more flexibility to limit and/or completely eliminate animal protein from some of my meals. With the white bean in particular, it allows me new, fun ways to make food creamy. Move out of the way cashew cream, white bean is here to stay!

Deliciously sinless, creamy and garlicky! It can be made vegan and is a yummy and healthy equivalent of alfredo! Less than 8 ingredients and easy to make! | savorandglow.com

This recipe is great for weeknight meals and is a cinch to throw together! Use my ‘How to: Spaghetti Squash’ blog post to help you prepare the spaghetti squash.

Pin this recipe for later!Deliciously sinless, creamy and garlicky! It can be made vegan and is a yummy and healthy equivalent of alfredo! Less than 8 ingredients and easy to make! | savorandglow.com

Garlic + White Bean Spaghetti Squash
 
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Serves: 2-4 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 16oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 32oz container of chicken or vegetable broth
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 medium spaghetti squash, cooked and shredded. Click here for my 'how to' guide!
Instructions
  1. Peel and mince the garlic. Add the beans plus one cup of broth to a food processor or blender and blend until it becomes a smooth puree. Alternatively, you can add the beans to a large bowl and use a hand beater or a potato masher; add broth as necessary to create a smooth puree.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat and add the garlic. Once fragrant (about 30 seconds), add the bean mixture, the rest of the broth, the salt, garlic powder and nutritional yeast. Bring to a simmer, and then lower the heat to medium low.
  3. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. While waiting, chop the kale into one inch strips. After 10 minutes, add the kale and shredded spaghetti squash strands. Allow to simmer until the kale wilts and reduces, about five minutes. Taste test and add more salt, if necessary.
Notes
Cook and shred the spaghetti squash ahead of time. I like to do it either during my meal prep over the weekend, or when I'm baking something else. So for example, if I'm baking potatoes the night before I want to make this recipe, I'll throw in the spaghetti squash after I'm done cooking the potatoes. I like this method because it saves energy (you only have to turn the oven on once and you cooked for two different meals), and it saves you time.

 

Shake and Bake Chicken + Buffalo Aioli

This paleo/Whole30/keto shake and bake chicken makes healthy chicken tenders quick and easy to throw in the oven! It'll take five minutes from individual ingredients to the finished product ready to go in the oven! And the buffalo aioli is the perfect dip - it's tangy and drool worthy! #paleo #whole30 #keto #chickentenders #buffalo | savorandglow.comOut of all the recipes I’ve posted so far, I’m most excited for Shake and Bake Chicken! This recipe was developed out of a insatiable need for healthy “fried chicken” that was quick and easy to make. Instead of dipping each individual tender into egg, and then into the breading mixture, this recipe just has you shake it up! You can literally go from individual ingredients to the finished product ready to go into the oven in like five minutes. If that’s not winning then I don’t know what is!

To avoid using plastic unnecessarily, I only recipe tested using a container to do the “shaking” part. I’m SURE you can use a plastic bag and yield the same results! But if you have a container, might as well use it!

This paleo/Whole30/keto shake and bake chicken makes healthy chicken tenders quick and easy to throw in the oven! It’ll take five minutes from individual ingredients to the finished product ready to go in the oven! And the buffalo aioli is the perfect dip – it’s tangy and drool worthy! #paleo #whole30 #keto #chickentenders #buffalo | savorandglow.com

This paleo/Whole30/keto shake and bake chicken makes healthy chicken tenders quick and easy to throw in the oven! It'll take five minutes from individual ingredients to the finished product ready to go in the oven! And the buffalo aioli is the perfect dip - it's tangy and drool worthy! #paleo #whole30 #keto #chickentenders #buffalo | savorandglow.com

And then the BUFFALO AIOLI! OH. MY GOSH. This is the best! For some reason any time I want to make something with Frank’s Red Hot, I assume I’m out of it and buy more. So now I have like four huge containers of Frank’s Red Hot in my pantry! Because of the excess Frank’s in my possession, I found myself sitting around literally trying to dream up delicious ways I could use the stuff. And I thought to myself… would it be good in aioli?

And oh man! IT IS!! I’ve made it three or four times since the first time and it’s the best! And so amazing with these thick coated chicken tenders. I’m seriously drooling right now just thinking about it.

I even gave the recipe to my mom, and her and her husband love it as well! If you don’t make the chicken tenders, at the very least try the buffalo aioli. You won’t regret it!

Pin this recipe for later!SHAKE AND BAKE CHICKEN + BUFFALO AIOLI: This paleo/Whole30/keto shake and bake chicken makes healthy chicken tenders quick and easy to throw in the oven! It'll take five minutes from individual ingredients to the finished product ready to go in the oven! And the buffalo aioli is the perfect dip - it's tangy and drool worthy! #paleo #whole30 #keto #chickentenders #buffalo | savorandglow.com

Shake and Bake Chicken + Buffalo Aioli
 
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Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
Shake and Bake Chicken
  • 2 pounds chicken tenders (or chicken breasts, cut into chicken tenders)
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup coconut flour
  • ¼ cup almond flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • Pinch of cayenne (omit if you don't like spicy)

Buffalo Aioli
  • 1 cup avocado oil
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tbsp Frank's Red Hot
  • ½ lemon, juiced
  • 1 tsp garlic
  • ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
Shake and Bake Chicken
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. You'll need a medium sized container with a lid - I use a 6 cup Pyrex. Crack an egg into your container and whisk it. Then place all the chicken tenders in the container and mix them up with the egg.
  3. In a small bowl, mix the coconut flour, almond flour, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika and cayenne. Dump the flour mixture into the container on top of the egg drenched tenders. Put the lid on the container and shake, shake, shake! It doesn't take long for the flour to coat the chicken tenders, I'd guess about 30 seconds.
  4. Place each tender onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Put into the oven for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, take the baking sheet out of the oven and flip each tender over. Put back in the oven for 5 more minutes.

Buffalo Aioli
  1. While waiting for the tenders to cook, prepare the aioli! Place all of the ingredients large/tall container or mason jar.
  2. Use a stick blender to emulsify. Start emuslifying with the stick blender on the bottom of your container. Very slowly work your way up until all of the oil has been emulsified.

    !If you want to use a whisk or a food processor to make the aioli, refer to my Best Ranch Ever post.

 

Sandwich Bowl – Paleo, Whole30

Miss eating sandwiches on your #Whole30? The sandwich bowl is a tasty nutrient-dense option! Easy to throw together on the weekend for a busy workweek! #paleo #grainfree #nutrientdense #sandwich | savorandglow.com

This is an incredibly versatile recipe – you can do make what you want out of the Sandwich Bowl! The key here is lots of veggies both cooked and raw, some sort of lunch meat, and a tasty aioli!

In my version, the base is spring salad mix. I top it with roasted brussel sprouts and golden beets, tomatoes, shredded carrot and roast beef. BUT, you can do whatever you want! You can switch out the carrots for microgreens, the beets for sweet potatoes, and if you can tolerate grains – definitely add it! It’s maybe a little weird, but rice would go lovely in the sandwich bowl. And don’t forget about legumes! If you can tolerate them, I think roasted chickpeas or lentils would be a good addition.

This is the perfect work-week lunch. You can roast the veggies and build your bowl ahead of time. Easy peasy! Read the notes in the recipe for tips on dressings/aioli and sourcing the lunch meat and veggies.

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Miss eating sandwiches on your #Whole30? The sandwich bowl is a tasty nutrient-dense option! Easy to throw together on the weekend for a busy workweek! #paleo #grainfree #nutrientdense #sandwich | savorandglow.com

Sandwich Bowl
 
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Serves: 5
Ingredients
  • 5-10 cups spring salad mix (amount dependent on preference)
  • 1.25 cups shredded carrot
  • 2.5 cups diced golden beets or one 10 oz package frozen golden beets
  • 2.5 cups shredded brussel sprouts
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
  • ½ tsp black pepper, plus more to taste
  • 15-20 oz of lunch meat or rotisserie chicken
  • Aioli or dressing
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350. Toss the beets and brussel sprouts with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and put in the oven for 25 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, start building your bowls! In each lunch container (I like to use Pyrex) put one or two cups of spring salad mix. Then put ¼ cup shredded carrot, and three to four ounces of lunch meat/rotisserie chicken in each container. Put the lid on each container and store in the fridge while you wait on the roasted vegetables.
  3. After 25 minutes, or when the brussels and beets are nicely browned, take the pan out of the oven. After the roasted veggies cool completely, take the lunch containers out of the fridge. Divide the brussels and beets equally into each container, then replace the lid and put the containers back in the fridge.
  4. During the week, just add your aioli or dressing of choice and enjoy!
Notes
If you can find frozen veggies, I highly recommend purchasing! Veggies are frozen at their peak and rival fresh veggies when it comes to nutrition. PLUS, you won't have to deal with dicing yourself. Be sure to read the oven instructions on the bag in case it differs from what I have listed here.

I have a couple of great aioli/dressing recipes for you: ranch dressing, basil aioli, cilantro lime dressing and buffalo aioli (coming soon!).

It's difficult to find store-bought dressings that don't have junk in them. They're pricey, but I recommend either Primal Kitchen or Tessemae's if you don't want to make it yourself. Alternately, you could make your own simple dressing of extra-virgin olive oil and some sort of acid like red wine vinegar or lemon juice. It's so simple yet so yummy!

Lunch meat brands can also be tricky as well. If you're Whole30-ing, you need to look out for added sugars. And just in general, you want to look out for excessive sodium, nitrites or nitrates, carrageenan and MSG's. Here are a few of my favorite brands: Trader Joe's (you'll have to check the ingredients, but they have some good ones!), Applegate and True Story. Unfortunately, better for you lunch meats are more expensive, so sometimes a rotisserie chicken or roasting your own chicken might be a good option!

 

How to: Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash three ways! Instant Pot, oven w/ a whole squash & oven with a halved squash! So simple and a meal prep staple for easy and healthy meals! | savorandglow.com

This is a recipe/non-recipe for prepping spaghetti squash. People – cooking spaghetti squash is EASY and it’s so yum! I have three ways to prepare spaghetti squash here: the oven both halved and whole, and the Instant Pot.

Spaghetti squash three ways! Instant Pot, oven w/ a whole squash & oven with a halved squash! So simple and a meal prep staple for easy and healthy meals! | savorandglow.com

My favorite way to prepare spaghetti squash is in the oven. It provides a lovely roasted sweet flavor that you just can’t beat. PLUS, you don’t even need to preheat the oven! The InstantPot is fabulous in a pinch, but cannot replicate the same flavor, sadly!

I remember the first time I tried spaghetti squash. A girl at work told me she used it in place of pasta and that it was a good substitute. When I eventually tried it I didn’t like it – because I was expecting the same exact texture and flavor as real pasta! This was before I ever learned anything about nutrition, and I simply wanted my food to taste good (and probably processed!) and not make me fat.

After the Whole30, I embraced the spaghetti squash (and really, ALL THE SQUASH!) and I love to use it in casseroles, pasta dishes, Asian cuisine and so much more! What I wrote below is simply my method for preparing spaghetti squash. There are so many ways you can make it. If this is one of the first times you’ve ever prepared a spaghetti squash, follow the directions to the T until you figure out how you like your spaghetti squash to taste. You may find you like yours cooked longer for softer strands, or less cooked for more firm and crunchy strands.

 

Spaghetti squash three ways! Instant Pot, oven w/ a whole squash & oven with a halved squash! So simple and a meal prep staple for easy and healthy meals! #mealprep #spaghettisquash #whole30 #paleo #grainfree #squash #fall | savorandglow.com

How to: Spaghetti Squash
 
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Ingredients
  • Spaghetti squash - I typically do one pound per serving. So if I want my meal to serve 6, I'll get a spaghetti squash that is around 6 pounds (or multiple small spaghetti squashes to equal about that weight).
Instructions
INSTANT POT DIRECTIONS
  1. Carefully cut the spaghetti squash in half and use a fork to scrape out all of the seeds.
  2. Put one cup of water and a stainless steel steamer basket/trivet (I use the one that came with my InstantPot) in the InstantPot. Place the spaghetti squash inside however it fits best. I haven't noticed a difference between face up/down/sideways.
  3. Put the lid on the pot and switch to 'seal.' Press the 'steam' function and toggle to 8 minutes.
  4. When the 8 minutes are up do a quick release. Allow the spaghetti squash to cool for about 20 minutes before shredding the spaghetti squash.

OVEN DIRECTIONS - WHOLE SQUASH
  1. Poke holes all over your spaghetti squash with a knife or fork, then place on a cookie sheet.
  2. Set the oven to 400 and immediately place the spaghetti squash in the oven. Set a timer for one hour.
  3. When the timer goes off, put on an oven mitt and gently squeeze the squash. If it's easy to squeeze, your squash is done. Take it out of the oven and immediately cut it in half (make sure to use an oven mitt so you don't burn yourself!). You want to cut it right away otherwise the steam will make the squash very liquid-y.
  4. Allow to cool slightly before shredding.

OVEN DIRECTIONS - HALVED SQUASH
  1. Carefully cut the spaghetti squash in half and use a fork to scrape out all of the seeds.
  2. Place the squash cut side down on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Set the oven to 400 degrees and immediately put the squash in the oven. Set a timer for 45 minutes.
  3. When the timer goes off, put on an oven mitt and gently squeeze the squash. If it's easy to squeeze, your squash is done. Take it out of the oven and immediately flip the squash over so it's cut side UP. This will allow the steam to release and you won't have a big watery mess.
  4. Allow to cool slightly before shredding.