Walnuts

Oil-free, no added sugar, gluten-free, Flourless Oatmeal Banana Nut Muffins made with only a handful of basic ingredients.

Paleo Banana Coffee Cake made grain-free with coconut flour and sweetened primarily with bananas (and a touch of coconut sugar!). This sinfully delicious coffee cake recipe is a something-for-everyone treat! Oh hello, hunk of everyone’s dreams… If you’re wild about coffee cake, banana bread, and/or anything cinnamony, sweet, and/or delicious, you’re going to go berserk …

7-Layer Paleo Magic Bars include seven layers of bliss! A grain-free version of classic magic bars, these easy to assemble bars are great for entertaining guests any time of year, and are magnificent for holiday cookie exchanges.

Seven Layer Magic Bars are a MUST in my family around the holidays. My mom has made them every single year since I can remember.

If you’ve never had a 7-layer bar (a.k.a. Magic bar), you’re in for a real treat! They are exactly how they sound – Seven layers of actual bliss. Traditionally, magic bars are made with a graham cracker crust, condensed milk, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, walnuts, and sweetened coconut.

We’re taking the same concept, but cleaning it up a tad. Just enough to make you feel like they’re “healthy…” which makes them extra dangerous, muuuuhahaha!

Anyhoo.

I have to admit, these Paleo Magic Bars require more actual work than I usually put in to desserts, but they are so, so worth it!

The process itself is simple: you’re just creating multiple delicious layers to form a multi-layer bar o’ bliss. We have a crust layer, a layer of chocolate ganache, chopped walnuts, maple tahini, caramel, shredded coconut, and chocolate chips. In that order 😉

Cod salad with basil-walnut pesto is so easy to make and a quick and delicious dinner that can be prepared any night of the week. This healthy recipe is all-things low-carb, low-FODMAP, paleo, keto, and Whole30.

As we all know, I’m a major salmon lover. Just check out my extensive salmon archives! 

In spite of the fact that I can put my Teriyaki Salmon Bowls, Mediterranean Salmon, and Pesto Salmon in Parchment Paper on repeat over and over, I’ve made it my mission to branch out to the other fishies.

Enter: Cod.

It’s no salmon, but it’ll do 😉

What I love about cod is it absorbs flavor of marinades really well, as it has a subtle, buttery flavor. For this recipe, I whipped up an easy coconut milk-based marinade using full-fat canned coconut milk, fresh basil, ginger, and lemongrass.

The result is magnificent! If you have your own favorite marinade, you can always whip that up instead, or just drizzle the fish with some avocado oil and lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt and call it bueno.

Serving the cod salad  with cherry tomatoes, avocado, and roasted pumpkin seeds, along with a homemade basil-walnut pesto as the dressing takes this fishuation (<- get it? fish…situation…buhdumching…??) up another 17k notches.

So let’s do it already!

Energy balls with dried blueberries, dark chocolate, almonds, walnuts, dates, pumpkin seeds, flax seed oil, and more. This easy and nutritious snack recipe is a great low-sugar alternative to packaged snacks.

You may have noticed a theme with my snacks section of this site. Let’s face it – they’re mostly nut-based and they’re mostly balls. The  amount of snack recipes I share in comparison to main dishes is pretty dismal by virtue of the fact that I’m not a big snacker.

But when it comes to nuts, seeds, and dried fruit all balled up together in an energy bite? Sign me up.

When I head out of town for a long road trip or go for a long jaunt in the mountains, I’ll often snag some balls in case I have to go more than a few hours between meals. I don’t rely on store-bought snacks, as I find they contain too much sugar and/or contain ingredients I try to avoid.

For this rendition of energy balls, I used all superfood ingredients to generate a ball that is jam packed with healthy fat, antioxidants, minerals, and all sorts of health benefits. PLUS they taste like blueberry chocolatey goodness, which is a major win in my book.

Let’s chat about superfood.

Tangy, nutty, zesty cranberry orange protein balls made with all whole food ingredients. A healthier grab-and-go snack option.

Moist and fluffy paleo coffee cake banana bread with walnut struesel topping! This healthy grain-free quick bread recipe is the perfect mashup of classic banana bread and coffee cake for a stellar breakfast or snack.

If banana bread and coffee cake swaddled each other in a tender warm embrace…

This Coffee Cake Paleo Banana Bread would be the result.

Combining two of my favorites: coffee cake and banana bread, this grain-free loaf is topped with a cinnamony walnut streusel topping. You inquire about the flavor? Butter. It tastes like heavenly, silky butter.

Quick and easy sheet pan salmon and carrots with homemade carrot top pesto is a goof-proof healthy weeknight meal. This recipe comes together in just 35 minutes!

I had a reader request sheet pan recipes recently and I am so thrilled to help out in this department. One-pot or one-pan meals are my jam, because let’s face it: I love keeping meal time as quick and easy as possible. Of course, that includes the post-meal cleanup.

If you’re a regular here, you have probably surmised salmon is my favorite of all the animal proteins. I eat it multiple times per week every single week with some form of roasted or sauteed vegetables, but of course! You can take a look at my salmon archives to feast your eyes on all the salmon-ness!

Simplifying my own approach to salmon and roasted veggies as much as possible, I thought it would be nice to whip up a super straight-forward meal that requires few ingredients yet still has the appeal of a fancy date night meal.

Quick, easy pesto chicken pasta with mushrooms and broccoli is a comforting, cozy meal that is fast enough for whipping up any night of the week, and fancy enough for a date night in! Whaaaat’s this? Pasta?! It has been a long, long time since I’ve posted a gluten-free pasta recipe. Probably because it isn’t …

Crunchy warmly-spiced pumpkin spice granola made with gluten-free oats, nuts, seeds, pureed pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and pure maple syrup. This cozy, flavorful granola makes a lovely fall and winter breakfast. Looking for something that is both crunchy and pumpkin-y? You’ve come to the right place! I had a fall-inspired pumpkin granola recipe on my …

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad with roasted sweet potato, carrots, butternut squash, walnuts, and maple-cider vinaigrette. This colorful, hearty salad is a marvelous side dish for fall and winter.

This post is sponsored by Thrive® Culinary Algae Oil.

One of my favorite side dishes to make in bulk and share this time of year is a hearty quinoa salad. Starchy winter vegetables roasted to perfection and mixed in with quinoa, nuts, and fresh herbs is all-things nutritious, inviting, and filling.

If you’re already on the prowl for recipes to make and share over the holiday season, this one’s a keeper! It’s so easy to prepare and is an awesome option when you’re serving guests with dietary restrictions because it is clean as can be.

Light, flavorful pesto quinoa salad with avocado, walnuts, feta cheese, asparagus, and kale. This nutrient-packed dish is perfect for packing up and taking for lunches or to barbecues and picnics. I’ve been on quite the quinoa kick lately (did you check out my Mango Edamame Quinoa Salad a couple of weeks ago?? It’s pretty magical!), …