My Favorite DIY Posts

June 8, 2016May 24, 2016 / ktbuchs87

Since I’m still on vacation, I thought that instead of a new DIY post I would share some of my favorites so you can get in on the DIY action. These are a few of the things that I constantly make so that I always have them on hand. They’re quick, easy, and most of all save me money since I don’t have to buy them at the store!

Coconut Milk

Seriously, I can’t stop making this and why should I? It’s cheap, the easiest non-dairy milk to make, and doesn’t have the additives that most store bought coconut milk contains. You also don’t need a high-speed blender and can even use an immersion blender to get awesome results. My coconut milk has been making its way into curries, my coffee, and my morning smoothie bowl. Speaking of which….

Smoothie Bowls

My Favorite DIY Posts | Life Healthfully Lived

Now that it’s starting to get warm, smoothie bowls are hitting the spot. You can make them with your favorite ingredients and get your daily fruit and vegetables. Here’s a simple guide to building a smoothie bowl.

Lemon-Ginger Tea

I have this every morning and I love it. Since I’m not a huge fan of plain water, this is a great way to get some water first thing in the morning without choking down a glass of plain water. Plus it’s good for your digestion and your skin!

Dairy-Free Ranch and Basil Dressing

Summer means more salads and fresh vegetables and what better way to eat them than with delicious dressing?! As much as I love my vegetables, I love my dressing even more. Don’t buy dressing at the store because not only is it more expensive but it can quickly turn your healthy salad into a calorie and chemical bomb. Whip up one of these dressings yourself and thank me later!

Caramelized Onions

This is the definition of an easy recipe. Your slow cooker does ~~most~~ all of the work and you end up with delicious caramelized onions that you can put in everything. I freeze the onions in ice cube trays and then just pull out what I need when I’m making dinner.

Coconut Chips

These are the best snack ever. A little sweet, a little savory, and all delicious. I actually made a huge batch of these before we left for Michigan because they make a great road trip snacks. I may have even shared a few with Adam… Maybe.

I have a ton more DIY recipes over on my recipe page so if you’re feeling the DIY vibe check it out!

Health Vs. Wellness

May 23, 2016May 23, 2016 / ktbuchs87

These two concepts are so intertwined that it’s very easy to think that they are the same thing. If you’re healthy you’re well and if you’re well you’re healthy. Health Vs. Wellness | Life Healthfully Lived

That can be true but it can also be a lie and so many of us are busy chasing healthy that we often forget about the wellness. I know I did.

Healthy is eating the “cleanest” or “best” food available even if you don’t enjoy it.

Wellness is eating in a way that you can sustain and brings you joy AND good health.

Healthy is slogging through another draining workout even though you hate it because it’s what you have to do to in order to be healthy. Health Vs. Wellness | Life Healthfully Lived

Wellness is finding the movement that your body loves and makes you feel full of energy and allows you to do what you want the most.

Healthy is ignoring the voice in the back of your head that is telling you you’re miserable doing this even though it’s “what’s best for your health”.

Wellness is honoring all of your thoughts and feelings and making a change in order to not only be the healthiest you but the happiest you. Health Vs. Wellness | Life Healthfully Lived

Health is so personal and we all have different versions of it. What looks healthy for me won’t necessarily look healthy for you. It’s important to find your healthy though so you can also find your wellness.

And don’t forsake your wellness in a dogged pursuit of health.

Your body will let you know what works and what doesn’t, you just have to listen and make adjustments. And it’s ok if what makes you feel your healthiest isn’t what everyone else is doing. You aren’t a failure and you aren’t doing it wrong. This journey is going to be life long and you’ll change and adjust and tweak as you go. Roll with this changes and give yourself what you need in that moment and your health, and wellness will thank you for it. Health Vs. Wellness | Life Healthfully Lived

Sweet Potato Caprese Pizza

May 20, 2016May 20, 2016 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

Sweet Potato Caprese Pizza | Life Healthfully Lived When I was coming up with the recipe for these tasty pizzas I had such a great idea/method. I was going to make a hashbrown like crust and then broil some delicious melty cheese, tomatoes, and basil on top. It was going to be awesome because I was going to use my waffle iron to make this wonderfully crispy crust and then pop everything under the broiler for the final touch.

My waffle iron is now in a garbage dump somewhere in Illinois. Sweet Potato Caprese Pizza | Life Healthfully Lived

Long story short, if you have an awesome waffle iron that you love you can still make these the way that I intended. If you have a waffle iron that is literally the spawn of Satan you can use my alternative method and still have pretty delicious results.

Also, just a quick reminder to myself and anyone around me: Don’t decide to test a new recipe on a Saturday night when you’ve completely lost track of time, haven’t eaten in like 5 hours and it’s almost 9 p.m.

Yes, this really happened.

Yes, Adam had to deal with a hangry wife.

The things I do for you guys. 🙂

Sweet Potato Caprese Pizza

2 large sweet potatoes, shredded (I used my food processor and it was super easy but you can also use a box grater)
1 batch of my No Mozzarella Mozzarella
8 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
small bunch of basil, stems removed
2 large eggs, beaten (or 3 tbsp flax seed mixed with 6 tbsp water)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
olive oil or coconut oil for the pan/waffle iron

Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper and place the shredded sweet potatoes, eggs, and seasonings into a large bowl and mix together until everything is well combined.
If you are using a waffle iron (lucky duck), grease the iron with a little oil and scoop about 1/4 to 1/2 cup (depending on the size of your iron) of the sweet potato batter into the iron and cook until the edges are crispy. Or your waffle iron goes ding. Move the finished crust to the baking sheet and continue until you have used all the batter.
If you don’t have a waffle iron, you can cook this in a skillet (I used this one) or on a stovetop griddle. Use a little oil, scoop about 1/4 cup batter onto the skillet and let if cook for about 5 minutes on each side or until the edges are crispy and brown. Move to the baking sheet and repeat until you’re out of batter.
Once your crusts are complete, top each pizza with a dollop of mozzarella, a few tomato slices, and basil leaves. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top and then move the pizzas to the broiler for about 5 minutes or until the cheese starts to get a little brown and the tomatoes have crisped.

The fun part about this recipe is it can be dinner or it can be breakfast! Or lunch. Or a snack. Or if you’re a bit odd, dessert! I guess what I’m saying is eat this whenever the heck you want and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. You don’t need that negativity in your life. Sweet Potato Caprese Pizza | Life Healthfully Lived

Happy Friday friends and enjoy your weekend!

*There are affiliate links in this post. If you click on them and buy the product through that link, I get a percent of the sale. Any money I get from affiliate links goes back into the blog to make it better for you, so thanks!

DIY Wednesday: Homemade Gluten-Free Flours

May 18, 2016May 18, 2016 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

For those of you that bake and cook with gluten-free flours often, you know that it can be a pricey endeavor. You can get five pounds of all-purpose flour for like a nickel but 2 ounces of any type of gluten-free flour costs all the gold in China as well as your firstborn child.

Ok, maybe it’s not that dramatic, but you get the idea.

For awhile, I had relegated myself to shelling out the extra dough when it came to gluten-free flour but then I started to think about it. Most of the flours I bought weren’t blends, they were just straight up one-ingredient flours. Almond, brown rice, quinoa, oat, buckwheat, corn, coconut… all flours made with just one thing.

I can make things with just one ingredient in my own kitchen.

I have a blender/food processor.

Why am I paying an arm and a leg for these things again?

So I started saving money and making my own flour at home. If you have a decent blender or food processor you can do the same thing. Heck, if you have a pretty crappy blender or food processor you can get by making a few of these on your own. I did until I got a new food processor.

Here are four of my favorite flours to make at home and a few ideas on how to use them!

Oat Flour

This is probably the easiest and cheapest flour to make. All you need are regular rolled oats and you can make your own oat flour.

1 cup regular rolled oats = a little less than one cup of flour.

Pulse oats in a food processor or blender until you have a fine flour like texture.

Uses: Great for cookies and quick breads. I like to use it as a binder in lentil meatloaf or meatballs too.

Buckwheat Flour

Even though it has the word heat in the name it’s still gluten-free. You will want to find plain buckwheat groats, not roasted.

1 cup buckwheat groats = about 1 cup of flour

Toast the plain groats in a dry pan over medium-high heat until nutty and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
Pulse the groats and then blend into a fine powder.

Uses: I like using it to make pancakes, bread, and crackers. It also makes a nice crispy crust for pork or chicken if you mix it with a few spices, salt, and pepper.

Quinoa Flour

You might need a little bit more powerful blender or food processor to grind up the tiny quinoa seeds. A smaller bowl or pitcher work better if you have one of those. You can use any color quinoa you like but I like to use white quinoa because it has a more neutral flavor.

1 cup quinoa = less than 1 cup of flour

Toast the quinoa in a dry pan over medium-high heat until fragrant and golden, about 2 to 3 minutes
Blend in a food processor or blender until you have a flour consistency. This might take a bit longer than other DIY flours.

Uses: I have been using this a lot in rolls and breads because it gives a nice nutty flavor, you can also use it for my cauliflower pizza crust!

Coconut Flour

Perhaps the best smelling flour in the bunch, I like this because it lets me use up the leftover coconut from my coconut milk!

1 cup coconut shreds = less than 1 cup of flour
If you are using leftover shreds from making milk let them dry out on a pan completely before continuing.

Preheat your oven to the lowest setting (mine is 200 and it worked just fine) and toast the dried coconut shreds until golden. About 20 to 30 minutes
Let the shreds cool then pulse them in the blender or food processor until you have a flour-like texture.

Uses: I use coconut flour a lot around here for things like pancakes, avocado fries, and desserts like these chocolate PB bars.

So there you go! You can make your own gluten-free flour for a fraction of the cost at the store. Just make sure to store all these flours in an airtight container to maintain freshness.

Homemade Banana Pudding

May 13, 2016May 13, 2016 / ktbuchs87

Homemade Banana Pudding | Life Healthfully Lived Ok, so I learned some new things while making this recipe. First, I have to tell you about my inspiration for this one because it’s weird and who doesn’t like weird stuff? No one. That’s who.

I was making a loaf of my gluten-free banana bread (which you should make immediately because it’s the bomb. Side note: I’m bringing back “the bomb”) and as I was blending the banana and avocado together I thought to myself, “Antoinette, (I call myself Antoinette NBD) that kind of looks like pudding. I wonder if it would be any good as pudding? I wonder if there is banana pudding?” So I set about to research banana pudding.

This is my life people. Homemade Banana Pudding | Life Healthfully Lived

I remember pudding snack packs used to have a banana flavor but I doubt that there was any actual banana in that pudding. My google searches told me that banana pudding was indeed a thing. A southern thing. Which means it’s delicious because it has all the fat and sugar. All delicious things have fat and sugar. Most recipes called for making a vanilla custard type deal and adding sliced bananas, vanilla wafers, and in one case merengue. While it wasn’t a difficult process, it was more steps than I wanted for my pudding. And by more, I mean this is pretty much just one step.

There are no eggs in this so you don’t have to cook anything but because of the addition of avocado, stick with me, it is creamy and delicious without the eggs. And depending on how ripe your bananas are, it’s pretty sweet too. You can add maple syrup if it isn’t sweet enough but mine was totally delicious without it. See? Fat and sugar. Just a better version of fat and sugar.

I know you’re probably getting tired of me putting avocado in things but I’m not, so get over it 🙂 It’s delicious and I can’t stop, won’t stop. You can get creative with toppings like coconut whip cream, pecans or walnuts, crumbled up graham crackers, or in my case cacao nibs because, chocolate.

Banana Pudding

As I was making this I started singing the part about figgy pudding from We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Adam asked me if I was singing a Christmas song and I said no, I was singing a pudding song because how do you make pudding without singing about it? So feel free to sing about pudding while making this because I think it enhances the flavor.

2 very ripe bananas, sliced (about 2 cups)
1/2 avocado, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup coconut cream (you can buy coconut cream from Trader Joes or just put a can of full-fat coconut milk in the fridge overnight and scoop off the solid cream)
1 tbsp maple syrup, optional if your bananas aren’t super ripe. I didn’t need any extra sweetener for mine
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp maca powder, optional but adds a nice caramel-y flavor

Toppings (optional)