Chipotle Black Bean Lettuce Wraps

   

As much as we love cooking together as a couple, we’re at our happiest cooking with or for other people. There’s something about chatting away while chopping veggies that just feels right. The past few years, we’ve involved friends in our cooking process for A Couple Cooks, inviting them over to cook, taste test, hang out while we shoot (and if they’re lucky, hand-model), and finally, eat — though it’s usually cold by that time! Adding community to our cooking process and sharing it with others makes it many times more enjoyable.

Our friend Russell has participated in a few cooking and shooting sessions with us (here’s his hand), and he claims he’s our “biggest fan” — though we’d argue it’s the reverse. He’s an engineer, a runner, and a passionate cook who’s always whipping up something new, always healthy and many times vegetarian. We joked a while back about him contributing a recipe to our blog, and several weeks later, he cooked it with us in our kitchen. This guy delivers.

These are Russell’s lettuce wraps, and it would be no exaggeration to say these are one of the best lettuce wraps I’ve tried. The combination of guacamole, spicy chipotle black beans, and mango salsa is an explosion of flavor and textures. For a lettuce wrap, they’re surprisingly filling, and you can’t beat the health factor: full of nutrients and accommodating for many diets (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and dairy free). While it did take a bit of time in the kitchen to put together all the components, it was time well spent. It’s a great option for a dinner with friends, or just a night

Easy Guacamole

What’s a good Mexican-style meal without guacamole? We don’t work with avocados often, since we tend to focus on local Midwestern foods. Plus, guacamole is so popular that we get our fair share of avocado just attending social events, which always seem to have a dish of the green good stuff. Perhaps that’s why we’ve never developed a recipe in our own kitchen. (Crazy, we know.)

This version of guacamole comes to us from our friend Russell, who shared it as a component of a recipe he developed for us (coming tomorrow). We’ve tasted quite a bit of different guacamole recipes over the years, and this version stands out. The ingredients are simple, but the meld of flavors is balanced and smooth. I’m also partial to guacamole without tomato chunks, which makes for a smoother overall consistency. The recipe is easy to whip up; the vegetables are chopped in a food processor, and then mixed in with mashed avocado and lime juice.

RAVISHINGLY RED JUICE | POMEGRANATE, BEET, RED CABBAGE JUICE

RAVISHINGLY RED JUICE | POMEGRANATE, BEET, RED CABBAGE JUICE 

Ingredients

2 small beets or 1 large beet plus beet greens
Pomegranate seeds from a small to medium pomegranate
1/4 of a medium sized red cabbage
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger root

Raspberry Scallop Spring Salad Recipe

No doubt, spring is here! It is time for spring cleaning! And I don’t mean your house either, spring is the time for detoxification of your body. Nature is pushing up an abundance of fresh tender raw greens, sprouts and edible flower blooms. It is the time of year that you should focus on eating fresh raw food while it still tastes good. Once summer comes, the greens will get bitter and it will be time for cooking. Enjoy this salad, scallops and raspberries, two of my favorites!

Raspberry and Scallop Salad Recipe

Ingredients

-7 oz. of spring mix salad (optional, forage the fresh spring dandelion, violet, chickweed, watercress etc. greens!)
-1 cup raspberries
-1 mango, cut into slivers
-1 hass avocado, cut in slices
-1/2 red onion, sliced
-1 teaspoon lemon juice
-2 tablespoons honey (reduce to 1 if you are losing weight-use a bit more vinegar and olive oil)
-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-1 lb scallops
-coconut oil or ghee for cooking pan
-sea salt and pepper

Directions

1.  Add spring salad greens to a large bowl. Toss in raspberries, mango, avocado and red onion.

2. Preheat a large skillet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sea salt and pepper the scallops and add to hot pan. Brown on each side and place on top of salad. Be careful not to overdo the scallops.

3. Add the honey, red wine vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice into a bowl. Mix well to combine. Drizzle this dressing over salad and serve.

Feel free to share your ideas on how this spring salad could be improved!

5 Day Clean Eating Challenge

Eating clean is something I committed to a little over two years ago and I haven’t looked back since!  It literally changed my life for the better and the way I look at food.  Now don’t get me wrong, living a completely clean lifestyle doesn’t mean I’ve given up sweets and the occasional pizza completely, but I believe in living life by the 80/20 rule.  This means 80% of the time I choose to eat organic, non-processed healthy foods aaaaand 20% of the time I allow myself to splurge.  This not only allows me to keep my sanity because YES I still love indulging in some of my favorite meals I grew up on, but it also helps me stick to this chosen lifestyle.  Truth be told my skin has never glowed more, I’m in a much better mood (so say my friends haha), my workouts have gotten stronger and, believe it or not, I sleep better too!  Oh and of course I can’t leave out the added bonus of needing new jeans which is always a plus.

So when two of my favorite girls Jamie and Kristen from the blog I Don’t Go to the Gym reached out to me about their 5 Day Clean Eating Challenge – I totally had to jump on board!

Beginning Monday, March 2nd, these girls will be kicking off this challenge by providing a full shopping list, meal plans, delicious recipes and daily check-ins all to make it oh so easy to start your journey to eating clean.  If you’re not new to clean eating then that’s okay too!  This is still a great way to maintain your healthy lifestyle, try new recipes and seek out motivation from others doing the challenge.  So how do you join??

Well Jamie and Kristen have started a private Facebook page that anyone can join that is SO helpful because this is where you’ll find your weekly meal plan and recipes as well as everyone else that has joined the challenge for awesome accountability and support!  Best part??  This is completely FREE!!  All they ask is that you “LIKE” I Don’t Go to the Gym on Facebook to begin – it’s THAT easy!!

So whether you had some New Years resolutions you haven’t been sticking to or you’re simply ready to kick start your healthy eating plan for that summer bod, what better way to start than with a bunch of girls all with the same goal! Remember clean eating is a lifestyle, NOT a diet so if you approach it head on with that mindset then you’re already off to a really great start.  Here are some helpful tips to stay on track:

• Always stock your fridge with fresh produce
• Eliminate added sugars from your diet
• Try sticking to the outside of your grocery store where all the fresh produce is
• Drink TONS of water!
• Don’t eat foods with ingredients you can’t pronounce
• Focus on nutrients, not just calories
• Cook your own meals and try to plan out the whole week ahead of time
• Portion control!