Category Archives: Winter Recipes

1 Pot Three Bean Green Chili

This is a good recipe about balance. Its a hearty meal with lots of health benefits that I like to pair with tortilla chips and sour cream and shredded cheese. The warming nature of the chili itself along with the spices helps to counteract the cooling nature of the sour cream and shredded cheese. Because life is too short to skip the sour cream. 😉 Its also a quick and easy meal, 30 minutes or less to make. I’ve bolded the ingredients that especially benefit the kidney energy of winter.

  
What you need:

  • small onion
  • 1lb ground beef (preferably grassfed)
  • 1 red pepper chopped
  • 1/2 cup corn
  • 1 can red kidney beans
  • 1 can white kidney beans
  • 1 can pinto beans
  • 2 12 oz jars of salsa verde
  • sea salt (I use pink himalayan salt)
  • black pepper
  • cumin
  • shredded cheese
  • sour cream (or greek yogurt)
  • cilantro and avocado for garnish
  • tortilla chips
  1. In a stock pot brown meat and onions, season with salt, pepper, cumin. I eyeball this maybe a tsp each of salt and cumin and 1/2 tsp of pepper. Drain excess liquid.
  2. Add pepper, corn, beans and salsa. Simmer on low for 15 minutes.
  3. Pour into bowls and top with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, avocado and cilantro. Enjoy with tortillas as a side or crumble into chili.

Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Walnut Muffins

I came across this recipe from the Minimalist Baker and thought it was a perfect treat for the winter months. I often say food is the easiest and hardest thing to change when it comes to wellness. If food doesn’t taste good why would you want to eat it? That’s why I like to share a treat at yogapuncture especially when its made with whole foods that nourish the organs of the season. 🙂 Here is my version below, the bold ingredients especially nourish the kidney/urinary bladder system of winter.
  
** It is not vegan or nut free so feel free to use the original recipe if that works better for you

What you need:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup roasted beets (if you really don’t have time for roasting, Trader Joe’s sells peeled, roasted beets all you need to do is puree yourself)
  • 1/4 cup honey (local if possible)
  • 10 dates (soak for an hour before starting to prep muffins)
  • 1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt.
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1.5 tsp baking soda.
  • 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1/3 cup cocoa or cacao powder
  • 1 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup chocolate chunks + more for topping
  • 1/3 cup walnuts + more for topping

What you do:

  1. Preheat over to 375 and line muffin tin with liners
  2. Place beets, soaked dates (I tore into pieces before putting in), coconut milk and melted coconut oil in food processor or blender. Blend until smooth
  3. Mix wet ingredients and eggs with baking soda, salt, cocoa powder in mixer. Slowly add flour 1/3 cup at a time until all ingredients are well blended.
  4. Add chocolate chunks and walnuts and stir
  5. Pour batter evenly into 12 muffin tins. Top each muffin with a couple pieces of chocolate chunks and a walnut.
  6. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a fork comes out clean

  
Enjoy!

Homemade Protein Shake

I’ve been searching for a protein shake that tastes good, doesn’t have a whole lot of extra junk in it and isn’t super expensive. It can be hard to find. Here is what I’ve been doing. It takes a little getting used to because its not super sweet but it is for sure filling and I know exactly what goes into it. This recipe has a good amount of omega 3s in it which can have a lot of health benefits. If you have a clotting disorder or are on anticoagulants this might not be the best thing to add to your diet on a super regular basis as omega 3s can thin the blood and cause excessive bleeding with these conditions.

What you need:

2 tablespoons flax seeds

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/4 cup fresh fruit (I’ve been using raspberries alot lately)

1/4 cup frozen fruit (I bought a bag of organic mixed berries from Trader Joes)

1/2 banana (optional for a little extra sweetness and filling)

12 ounces of water

Directions:

Place flax and chia seeds into blender and blend first into powder. Add the rest of ingredients and blend until smooth.

In the winter I like to wait a little before drinking my smoothie so its not as cold. The chia seeds will expand and the smoothie will get thick. This also has lots of fiber so you can expect a good trip to bathroom at some point too. 🙂

Let me know what you think!

Green Lentil Curry

This is another great recipe with a foundation of spleen foods with a balance of winter and spring goodies to keep your body nourished, full and healthy. The inspiration comes from the shrinking kitchen, here is what I came up with.

what you need:

3 small yellow potatoes, cubed

1/2 cup green lentils, rinsed well

4 cups water

2 cups of cauliflower

1 yellow squash

1 small eggplant, cubed

1 medium carrot, slices

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon tumeric (eyeballed)

4 large cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon dried chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 c chopped cilantro

One small piece of ginger root

What you do:

Rinse lentils and then put into large stockpot with water and bring to boil over medium high heat.

Add potatoes and carrot to lentils, simmer uncovered for 5 minutes

Add cauliflower, squash, eggplant, salt and tumeric.

Return to a boil, cover and then turn to low to simmer for 10 minutes or until veggies are tender. Stir a few times.

Meanwhile add chopped garlic, ginger, cumin and chili paste to coconut oil until carmelized.

 

Add cornstarch into veggie lentil mix to thicken juices and turn eat up high for 1-2 minutes.

Add in carmelized garlic ginger paste and cilantro and stir to combine.

 

Hardy enough to eat alone or add to quinoa, rice or cauliflower “rice”.

Sneaky Cheesy Taco Macaroni

I recently came across The Shrinking Kitchen. If you are sick of cooking the same old things every week this site has some great meal plans and a printable grocery list. This was the first recipe I tried from the site and I already have plans to alter it a little more but I think this would be an awesome introduction meal for a child who is a picky eater or who won’t eat veggies. I thought it would be a perfect meal for my niece who says we only have “garbage” to eat at our house 🙂

The black beans are nourishing to the kidneys and the butternut squash and spices aid the spleen making it a good meal for these cold days as well as a meal to transition from winter to spring.

Here it the original recipe. Below are my adaptations and I share a few hints at the end too.

What you need:

1 pound of organic ground beef

1 can of black beans, drained (I would have added 2 if I had an extra)

1 can of diced tomatoes with chiles with juice (same as beans)

4 cups of water

4 cups brown rice penne pasta

DIY taco seasoning, thanks Mavis this is basically me throwing sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, and Chile coban and paprika onto everything 🙂

1.5 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoon flour

2 cups cubed butternut squash

1 1/2 cup whole milk

1 1/2 cup shredded mexican blend cheese

seasoning salt, pepper to taste

What you do:

In a stock pot brown meat over medium high heat. Add beans, tomatoes, spices, and water and bring to a boil. Add pasta, cover, and reduce heat to low. Let cook until most of juices are cooked down. In the mean time melt butter in a space sauce pan. Whisk in flour until lumps are gone. Add milk and bring to rolling boil stirring constantly. Add squash and cook until tender. Add cheese and stir until well blended and melted. Transfer to a blender to smooth. When pasta is cooked stir cheese sauce into pasta and serve. We topped with some avocado.

* As I was cooking I thought ditching the milk and adding a mix of cauliflower puree and chicken stock instead would be nice as we don’t normally have milk in the house. I also think you could ditch pasta altogether and use spaghetti squash instead and it would be just as lovely and even better for the spleen. If you get to it before me let me know how it turns out!

Homemade Lara Bars

My husband was out of town last week so my daughter and I enjoyed leftovers while he was away. I recently made homemade Lara bars that were a great success. I don’t have any pictures to show because they were eaten that quickly. So here is a picture of a happy belly post double chocolate bar instead.

Double Chocolate Almond Bars

what you need:

1 cup de-pitted dates (about 10)

1 cup almond meal (or whole almonds)

1 tablespoon cocoa

1/4 cup chocolate chips (we used minis)

what you do

If using whole nuts using a food processor or Ninja blender (that’s what I used) blend well. Add dates and blend again. Look for a sticky consistency. If you don’t have good clumps add a few more dates. Then add cocoa and chocolate chips. Press into wax papered cookie sheet and put in fridge or freezer for 15 minutes to set.

Walnut Cherry Bars

what you need

1 cup walnuts

1 cup dates

1/4 cup freeze dried cherries

Same directions as above.

Let me know what you think! 🙂

p.s I was inspired to try the recipe with dried figs instead of dates and it was a fail, a delicious fail but a fail anyway. I think a combo of fig and date would have worked better.

p.p.s We are giving a few of these recipes a try for inspiration this week. (got to love facebook) I’ll let you know how it goes. Of course I’m most excited about the chocolate chip cookie bites!

Mung Bean Stew with Eggplant and Mushrooms

If you came to the Oils and Herbs class for digestion and weight loss you know we talked about foundations of a healthy diet, sometimes referred to as the spleen diet. Mung beans are a great thing to add to your diet for both healthy digestion and weight loss.

Here are few other reasons to be excited about mung beans. Mung beans originally are from India and are also a staple to Chinese cuisine. They are cooling in nature and help to cleanse the body. They are thought to help with weight loss because of their ability to reduce swelling and can act as a diuretic. Mung beans can be used for food poisoning, diarrhea, painful urination, lead and pesticide poisoning, boils, heat stroke, conjunctivitis and edema. Mung beans can also benefit reducing high blood pressure, acidosis and ulcers. (Healing with Whole Foods. Paul Pitchford) 

I came acrossthis recipe and ended up with what you see below. This was my first time cooking with mung beans and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Even my husband thought it tasted great too. 🙂 This recipe at its core nourishes the spleen and the addition of eggplant strengthens the kidneys, celery and spinach strengthens the liver and mushrooms the lungs. Mung beans green color benefits the liver and gall bladder as well making this a perfect dish to help with transitioning to spring. (learn more about what all this means at this month’s yogapuncture class!)

What you need:

3 cups of mung beans

container of baby bella mushrooms

5 stalks of celery

1 small onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 eggplant (cubed)

2 cups of spinach

8 cups of vegetable broth

2 tablespoons cumin, more to taste

1 tablespoon tumeric

black pepper and sea salt to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

What you do:

Soak mung beans overnight. Strain mung beans and rinse. Chop onions and garlic. In a stock pot add oil, onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add eggplant and cook until tender, another 3 minutes or so. Add mung beans and vegetable broth. Bring to a rolling boil and then turn to low. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, celery, spinach, and spices then turn off heat and let stand for 5 minutes or so. Transfer to bowls. This is hearty enough to eat as is or you can add some rice. If you have one handy add some avocado slices and enjoy!

Let me know what you think! 🙂

Italian Baked Chicken with Green Lentil Mash

I was going to try out a new recipe that ended up pretty much nothing like how it started out. This was super easy, delicious and if you are trying to avoid carbs it was also super filling and didn’t feel like being deprived of anything.

What you need:

Chicken breasts

Red pepper

Italian dressing

Olive oil

Himalayan pink salt

Black pepper

Favorite seasonings or chicken stock (which ever you have available)

1 cup green lentils

8 cloves of garlic

5 baby zucchini

1 carrot

1 orange pepper

onion, diced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F Place chicken breasts in lightly greased (with olive oil) baking dish and soak in Italian dressing.

Bake for 40 minute or until cooked

Place chopped onion in sauce pan and cook until tender add the rest of veggies and garlic cloves, salt and spices and cook until veggies soften add water and spices or chicken stock and lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover until all water has been cooked out stirring occasionally if you light.

Transfer veggie and lentils to a blender and blend until smooth.

Steam broccoli as a side and enjoy!

White Bean Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe awhile back and finally got to give it a try after I received the Ninja blender for Christmas. Some of you asked for the recipe so I am posting it here on the day 1 of my sugar fast. (I tried to slowly work into giving up sugar so this recipe kind of helped) If you are looking to let go of the sweets for awhile you might also want to read this from my dear friend Anne it might get you motivated. 

Anyways, back to the recipe. You will need a food processor for this one or a super blender like the Ninja, Vitamix etc. If you use a regular blender you will most likely burn it out. Here are my adaptations to the original recipe.

What You Need:

1 1/4 cup of white kidney beans drained and patted dry

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter (you could use sun butter if there are nut allergies or almond butter)

1/4 cup local honey

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F

Put all ingredients into food processor except for chocolate chips and pulse until smooth. (I had to scrape sides twice)

Stir in chocolate chips until well mixed

Form small balls of dough and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. I gently pressed my palm into each ball and found that smaller cookies were better then bigger ones. No need to leave lots of space in between each cookie as they won’t melt down like a regular cookie does.

Cook for appx 10 minutes. They will be really gooey and don’t set like a normal cookie. Its best to let them cool on the parchment paper and then transfer.

Wassail Recipe

Wassail is an old English drink that is popular during the holiday season. Not only does it taste good, it has many health benefits. As you will see there are many reasons to drink Wassail as you celebrate and perhaps over indulge in the holiday season. Many of the spices used aid digestion and help to eliminate flatulence as well as regulating the blood sugar.


Allspice has long been used as a GI stimulant and to aid in the relief of flatulence. Several studies have shown allspice to have antibacterial and antifungal activity which is why it is a common herb to help with colds. The nature of allspice is warming helping to keep the body warm during the winter months.

Cloves have the highest antioxidant rating. The benefits of antioxidants include powerful protection against all types of degenerative diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease, and many more. Cloves have analgesic properties that can be used for treatment of various dental problems like tooth aches. They also boost memory and blood circulation, and are beneficial for the heart, liver and stomach. Cloves can effectively cure many digestive problems like stomach ulcers, flatulence and dyspepsia, since they stimulate your body’s enzymes and boost digestion. Because of the antiseptic and germicidal benefits of cloves, they help fight infections like cold, flu, bronchitis, arthritic pain and athlete’s foot. For more info on Cloves benefits and uses visit here.

Cinnamon: Studies have shown that just 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon per day can lower LDL cholesterol and may have a regulatory effect on blood sugar. Another study found that smelling cinnamon boosts cognitive function and memory. It is a great source of manganese, fiber, iron, and calcium. Cinnamon is also a common herb used in Chinese Medicine to help fight off colds and can reduce pain in people suffering from arthritis. For more info on the benefits of cinnamon visit here. 

Here is an easy recipe to make at home.

What you will need:
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 lime
2 lemons
2 oranges
1 quart of water
1 gallon apple cider or apple juice (or mix 50/50)
sugar to taste if desired

Directions:
Cut lemon, lime, and oranges in half and juice into a separate container. Leave juice aside for now. Bring water to a boil and add spices and fruit. Bring down to a simmer and add apple cider/juice. Let simmer for 1 hour. Add juice of fruit and sugar if needed. Enjoy hot!