Category Archives: Recipes

Kale & Quinoa Casserole Recipe + The Running Event

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It was a busy day visiting with old friends (like Altra, Nuun Hydration, Pocket Fuel, and others) and meeting new folks in the running industry at THE RUNNING EVENT conference right here in Austin. I have lots of new running gear and race fuel products to update you on —   and perhaps a giveaway or two coming up soon!

Bart Yasso & Jennifer Fisher at TRE14It was also fun to bump into Bart Yasso (aka the “Mayor of Running) who I threatened to track down if his world-famous “Yasso 800s” don’t pay off in my upcoming Dallas Marathon.In the meantime, I wanted to share a nutritious comfort food recipe that is perfect addition to a holiday potluck party or just as a make-ahead and bake later meal for a busy night – Ranch Kale and Quinoa Casserole.  Originally created for the Litehouse Food blog (please visit), this home-style dish a hearty yet healthy riff on broccoli rice casserole, one of my favorite Christmas side dish (but most versions I’ve seen have tons of butter, cream, or “cream of” soups).

Ranch Kale & Quinoa Casserole - TheFitFork.com

Ranch Kale & Quinoa Casserole Recipe

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 8 cups chopped kale
  • 1 large white onion (chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 3 cups cooked quinoa (from 1 cup dry)
  • 1 cup ranch dressing
  • 1 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (divided)
  1. Add olive oil to 12” to 14” cast iron skillet and bring to medium-high heat.
  2. Add chopped onion and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes until softening. Add half of kale and cook down for about 2 minutes. Add a couple tablespoons of water, if needed.  Add remaining kale to skillet and sauté for 2 -3 more minutes until completely wilted.
  3. Add garlic, salt and pepper to kale and continue to sauté for 1 minute.
  4. Remove skillet from heat and stir in pre-cooked quinoa, ranch dressing and ¾ cup of parmesan cheese.
  5. Sprinkle top with remaining cheese and bake in 350 F degree oven for 30 minutes or until bubbling and cheese browning on top.
  6. Serves 8.

 

cheesy quinoa bake

Using quinoa instead of rice or pasta in a casserole adds extra protein and can often stand alone as a vegetarian or Meatless Monday meal – check out another favorite of mine, Lightened Cheese Quinoa and Cauliflower Casserole.

 

Ranch Kale & Quinoa Casserole #recipe + #TRE14 mini recap

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What is your favorite comfort casserole?

What new running gear do you have your eye on?

Moreo Blondie Bars Loaded with Yum + Cookie Recipes

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Moreo Kitchen Sink Blondies - TheFitFork.comIf MORE means “a greater or additional amount,” then my Moreo Blondie Bars have more MORE! This delicious treat is overflowing with a greater amount of good things than I typically eat at once – like Oreo cookies, M&Ms, chocolate chips, lots of butter and sugar.  Even though I preach clean eating most of the time, the holiday season is not the time to say “NO” to festive, frivolous and nourishment of dubious (yet delicious) quality – Halleluiah!  You HAVE to read on after the recipe to see my brother’s awesome idea of MORE – it’s a Cherblumpkin!

Moreo Blondie Bar Cookies with Oreos and Candy - TheFitFork.com

So, if you’re making Christmas cookies at home, these Moreo Blondie Bars are very easy to make – just mix up the ingredients and plop in the pan. I highly recommend lining the baking dish in foil before adding the batter. When baked and cooled, simply lift out the by the foil edges and then neatly slice into bars. If you don’t want to go whole hog, check out my recipe for The Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie – it’s a classic.Moreo Blondie Cookie Bar with Milk - TheFitFork.com

Moreo Blondie Bar Recipe

  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 15 double stuffed chocolate sandwich cookies, coarsely broken
  • 1 cup broken pretzel pieces
  • ½ cup M & M candies
  • ½ cup dark chocolate chips
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
  2. Melt butter in microwave safe bowl. Add sugars and stir until combined and then mix in eggs.
  3. Stir in baking soda, salt and flour until combined, but don’t over mix.
  4. Mix in crushed cookies, pretzels, candies and chocolate chips until evenly incorporated.
  5. Line 9” x 13” baking pan with foil; spray foil with cooking spray.
  6. Add dough to pan, patting down with fingers or spatula.
  7. Bake on center rack for 25 minutes or until edges and top turning light golden brown and center looks set.
  8. Let cool completely in pan.  Remove contents from pan by lifting foil. Peel sides of foil back and cut into 12 bars.
Moreo Blondie Bars, Cherblumpkin Cake & #Fitfluential Cookie Recipes

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Cherblumpkin Cake - Cherry on Blueberry on Pumpkin

Here it is . . . .the Cherblumpkin! It’s a cherry pie stacked on a blueberry pie stacked on a pumpkin pie – frosted to look like a layer cake. The contest was for Cherpumpple (cherry-pumkin-apple),but my little brother shook up the system with his heart stopper of a pie-cake hybrid, so proud of him.

Cherblumpkin - Cherry Blueberry Pumpkin Pie Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Virtual-Cookie-Exchange-recipes-galoreIf you need more holiday goodie ideas, the Fitfluential ambassadors having a Virtual Cookie & Treat Link Up. Lots of goodness here, recipes to suit both sensible and sinful cookie bakers!

What’s your favorite holiday baked item — please share?

Wine, Olive Oil, Endive . . . Tastes Like a #HolidayMeal + #Giveaway

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All the good things are happening at my house this week! Good (make that great) food and drink to share with family, all with a home-warming, heart-healthy spin. I love spending time with family when there is no “this and that” to be done, the only thing on the agenda this Thanksgiving week is enjoying each other and digging into fine food – some of the intriguing edible details for the week include endive, olive oil and wine!  Oh, and I’m giving away gourmet olive oil, so read on! Platter of Red and White California Endive

California Endive Farms sent me a huge box of red and white endives, oh how this makes me swoon with salad dreams. But, time to think outside the box, so I decided to GRILL my first endive recipe even though it’s a pretty complicated and coddled veggie. Apparently, endive (a member of the chicory family) is one of the most difficult vegetables to grow – it undergoes a two-step process. The first step, takes about 150 days to grow green leaves from a deep tap root. The plant is then harvested and the tops are cut off and the roots are salvaged. Secondly, the roots are put into cold storage to go dormant and then are forced into a second growth – whew, there’s so much effort that goes into endive farming ; it makes me love it even more!  And, if you haven’t noticed, it’s beautiful enough to be used as a centerpiece. Grilled Endive with Blue Cheese, Walnuts & Balsamic Drizzle - thefitfork.com

My recipes for Grilled Endive with Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Balsamic Drizzle would make a sophisticated addition to your Thanksgiving or holiday table. It’s super easy to grill either indoors or outdoors and can be finished in less than 10 minutes from produce bin to plate. I have some other recipes that I will be sharing soon (think healthy alternative to chips), but in the meantime please check out this mouth-watering collection of endive recipes.

 Grilled Endive with Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Balsamic Drizzle Recipe

  • 4 red or white endives, cut in half lengthwise
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (I used Nudo Italia Garlic!)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 blue cheese crumbles
  • 1/4 cup walnut pieces
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic syrup
  1. Brush cut sides of endive liberally with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Place endive, cut sides down, on indoor grill pan or grates of outdoor pan. Cook over approximate 375 F degree heat for 4 – 5 minutes, or until grill marks are made and endive is beginning to soften (without getting overcooked – should be crisp tender).
  3. Remove endive from grill and place cut side up on serving platter. Sprinkle with blue cheese and walnuts; drizzle with balsamic syrup.
  4. Serves 4.

Rios de Chile Wine = thefitfork.com

Rios de Chile wine makes a delightful pairing for my grilled endive recipe.  I’ve heard that there are some great wines from Chile, and this one is definitely a winner – it’s light and lively and the perfect choice for seafood, poultry or a grilled salad!  The tasting notes on this one are “intense aroma of tropical fruits, fine mineral notes and citrus accents.” You’ll be the first guest on everyone’s party list if you show up with a bottle of this vino from an award-wining winery in the Cachapoal Valley.

Nudo Italia Olive Oil - thefitfork.com

Now, onto more goodness Nudo Italia Olive Oil – wow, is it wonderful.  Imagine kicking back with a glass of that Rios de Chile wine and dipping some crusty bread into a saucer of artisanal olive oil.  Now that’s what the holidays are all about, especially if you have your loved ones dipping and drinking by your side!  I am a new fan of Nudo Olive Oil, although it’s been around since 2005. Made by a pair who left careers as television producers to move to the Italian countryside, this line of olive oils makes a point of keeping traditional farming methods alive to produce some of the best olive oil in the world. Nudo even has an olive tree adoption program which allows anyone to adopt a tree in Italy and receive its olive oil – now that’s the gift for the foodie or fine living aficionado who has everything!

Not only have I been enjoying the olive oil with my bread and drizzled on my salad, it also makes a statement in recipes – they have amazing infused flavors, too many to name (but check out their online shop). But, I’m giving away three 8.4 oz. tins of the infused flavors-  the Olive Oil Stone Ground with Real Lemons,  the Olive Oil Stone Ground with Garlic and the Olive Oil Stone Ground with Basil. Enter below via the Rafflecopter App!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Apple Protein Pancakes with Sugar-Free Cider Syrup

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Apple Protein Pancakes with Sugar Free Apple Cider Syrup - TheFitFork.comThe kids have the whole week off school for Thanksgiving and they want pancakes for breakfast  . . . every day! My recipe for Apple Protein Pancakes with Sugar-Free Cider Syrup wins for convenience and taste. It relies on boxed pancake mix (you can use whole wheat) and jarred applesauce.  I originally developed this recipe for Litehouse Foods (they have the best apple cider), but later tweaked it for my own use by using a couple scoops of vanilla protein powder.  I just find that after eating pancakes, I get the “hangries” unless I’ve balanced it with a little more protein.  Oh, and the syrup doesn’t have any added sugar, a huge bonus considering the way my kids pour it on without discretion.  If you’d rather do the no protein powder version, get the recipe here.

Sugar Free Apple Cider Syrup for Pancakes - thefitfork.com

Apple Protein Pancakes with Sugar-Free Cider Syrup

For Pancakes:

  • 2 cups “complete” pancake mix (the “just add water” type)
  • 2 scoops (about 2/3 cup) vanilla or unflavored protein powder
  • 1cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 cup apple cider

For Syrup:

  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon liquid Stevia (or any sugar  substitute to achieve a ½ cup sugar equivalency) I used NuNaturals
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 cups  apple cider
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons butter

1. Heat electric griddle to 375 F degrees or skillet over medium high.

2. In bowl, combine pancake mix and protein powder with a whisk until blended. Stir in applesauce and apple cider until slightly smooth. If batter is too thick, stir in a scant amount of water or more apple cider to thin.

3. Pour batter onto hot griddle using 1/3 cup measure. Cook for approximately 1 to 1 ½ minutes before flipping. Pancake is ready to flip when edges are pulling away and bubbles on top have slowed down.

4. Flip pancakes with spatula and cook for approximately 45 seconds to 1 minute longer. Repeat for remaining pancake batter.

5. Meanwhile, prepare syrup by mixing cornstarch, sugar substitute and cinnamon together in a saucepan with heat off.

6. Gradually whisk in the cider and lemon juice and cook over medium heat stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until thickened

7. Remove syrup from heat and stir in butter. Serve warm over pancakes and store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Serves 6 (2 pancakes each)

Apple Protein Pancakes with #SugarFree Apple Cider Syrup #recipe

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 More pancake recipes for hungry people:

Pancakes made with Core Power - TheFitfork.com

Pancakes made with Core Power – TheFitfork.com

 My little secret trick — just swap out Core Power for the milk or water in your pancake recipe.

Bit of Pumpkin Pecan Oat Pancake theftfork.comPumpkin Oat Pancake – Yum, these pancakes are pure fall goodness from the griddle — I like to use Love Grown Foods Super Oats to add a little extra nutrition with quinoa flakes, amaranth flakes and chia.

Pre Race Paleo Pancake - The Fit ForkPre-Race Paleo Pancakes – This is my go-to super healthy pancake recipe from a CrossFit superstar friend, Stephanie from Missouri.

 

 

 

 

If you need to stock up:

Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Mash + More Healthy Recipes

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Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Mash - TheFitFork.com

Call me a clairvoyant, but I know you’re making sweet potatoes sometime in the next week. Everyone eats sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving Day, it’s the law. Even though my Kale & Caramelized Onion Sweet Potato  recipe was a huge hit at home, I really don’t like to make the same recipe for dinner twice in the same month!  So, tonight, I decided to cauliflower-ify my favorite tuber – and yum, yum, yum! Gosh, now what am I going to come up with for Thanksgiving dinner?

 Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Mash Recipe

  • 2 pounds sweet potatoes
  • 1 pound cauliflower florets
  • 3 tablespoons milk of choice
  • ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Fresh chopped parsley for garnish (or Instantly Fresh Parsley)
  1. Peel and cut sweet potato into 1 ½ -inch chunks.
  2. In large pot with steam basked, steam sweet potato and cauliflower with 1 inch of water in bottom of pot. Vegetables will be ready in about 10 – 12 minutes, or when fork tender.
  3. Place in large bowl and mash the potato and cauliflower with the milk. Stir in the Greek yogurt, garlic powder, salt and pepper. If too thick, add milk 1 tablespoons at a time, until desired consistency is achieved. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley.
  4. Serves  4 – 6

Bowl of Mashed Sweet PotatoesHere’s the Kale & Caramalized Onion Sweet Potatoes I was mentioning.

jennifer fisher thefitfork sweet potato ruffle

Last year, I made this recipe for Sweet Potato Skillet Stack with Srirracha Orange Glaze – delish!

 

Of course, you know Cooking Light knows how to do up a sweet potato right, check out this gallery for additional inspiration.

Cooking Light Sweet Potato Recipes

Best Side Dish Ever Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Mash #Thanksgiving #CLblogger

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So, how do you like to eat sweet potatoes best?