• 1 red beet (peeled and cubed)
• 2 potatoes (Nicole used a white potato, but a sweet potato would be great too! Cut into cubes, leaving the skin on is optional)
• 1 red onion (sliced thinly)
• 3 large carrots (peeled and cut into slices)
• 1 red cabbage
• 1 package of mushrooms (sliced)
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Spices:

• 1 1/2 tsp Chilli powder (or to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander (or to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin (or to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic (or to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp onion (or to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)

Toppings:

Cashew Cheese Sauce 

Cashew Sour Cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a large bowl, combine carrots, potatoes, oil, chili powder, coriander, cumin, garlic, onion, red pepper flakes and mix well. Spread the veggies evenly onto an 18×13 cookie sheet.
3. Cut up the onion and add 1/2 of it to the pan that you’ve started the other roasted veggies. The other half is going to be cooked with the mushrooms so just set them aside. Add beets last the 18×13 pan.
4. Pop the veggies in the oven and start a timer for about 25-30 minutes.
5. While the veggies are cooking start to sauté mushrooms in a pan for about 5 minutes, then add the onion that you set aside earlier. Continue cooking for about 5 more minutes.
6. Make the Cheese sauce and Cashew Sour Cream to top the “Nacho” with.
7. Start building your Nachos! Your Red Cabbage is your “tortilla chip”. Peel the leaves off and then add the roasted veggies, mushrooms/onions, cashew cheese sauce, and cashew sour cream. Yum!

**Optional- Amy’s Vegan Refried Beans! Add them to the “nacho” 🙂

The post Vegetable Nachos appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

Hi all! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! Check out this healthy and hearty Stuffed Peppers recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Trader Joes Wild Rice (or any rice) 
• 2 cups of water (for rice)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 package Cremini Mushrooms (Chopped)
• Splash of Veggie broth (to cook your veggies in)
• Vegan Kale Cashew Basil Pesto (From Trader Joes)
• Pre-packaged Slaw
• 2 Bell peppers (whatever color you want 🙂 today, we used red and orange)

1. Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cook the wild rice by bringing 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rice to a boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until the water has all been absorbed. While the rice is cooking you can start cooking your mushrooms and other “pepper stuffing”.
3. Add cut up mushrooms and 3 cloves of garlic to a separate pan. This will be sauteing for roughly 12 minutes.
4. In (another) separate pan (while the mushrooms are cooking) add the pre-packed slaw and start sautéing for about 6 minutes. We are looking really to just warm this up for a few minutes!
5. Once the mushrooms are done, combine the slaw with the mushrooms. 
6. Nicole added to the mushrooms some tofu scramble (w/ nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes), cannellini beans, and cauliflower because it was all leftover in her fridge! These are all optional! Feel free to get creative- add anything you have left in your fridge. Continue cooking for 3-5 minutes.
7. Add the Vegan Kale Cashew Basil Pesto to the rice once the rice is done cooking.
8. Start stuffing your peppers- Cut the tops off and rinse the seeds out. Fill up a pepper with 1/2 rice, and 1/2 mushroom blend.
9. Bake in the oven for roughly 15-20 minutes and it’s ready to be served!

The post Stuffed Peppers with Pesto Rice appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic
2 avocados
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1/4 of an orange
3 tablespoons salsa
Sprinkle of Onion Powder

Directions:

Combine everything into a big bowl and mash! It would be helpful to have a guacamole bowl, however not necessary! You can simply use a spoon or even a potato masher! Whatever you have on hand. Enjoy 🙂

The post Simple Guac! appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

Ingredients:

For Quinoa-

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 TBSP Cumin
• 1 TBSP Onion Powder
• 1 TBSP Nutritional Yeast

For Stir-Fry

• Splash of Veggie Broth (to cook your veggies in)
• 3 Bell Peppers (Sliced) (we used yellow and red)
• 1 Large yellow onion (chopped however you like)
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 bunch of kale (de-stemmed)
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 1 tsp Rosemary
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 Pomegranate
• Juice from ½ a lemon

Directions:

1. Start cooking quinoa by bringing water and quinoa to a boil. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until all of the water has been absorbed.
2. Add onion to a separate pan with veggie broth and cook for about 4-5 minutes, then add your garlic.
3. Cook for another 2-3 minutes and add peppers.
4. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until the veggies are cooked to your desired texture.
5. Add spices and then kale. Cook that for about 1 ½ minutes or until the kale turns a pretty green.
6. By this time your quinoa should already be completely cooked. Add the spices into the quinoa last.
7. Combine quinoa, with stir-fry and your meal is complete! Top it off with Nutritional Yeast.

The post Easy Pomegranate Quinoa Bowl appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

To you use carrot greens in this recipe, simply cut (or just tear) it off the carrot piece by piece.

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz can organic northern beans
• 1/3 cup basil
• 1/3 cup carrot greens
• 1 TBSP tahini
• 2 TBSP nutritional yeast
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon (you can add more to taste)
• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ cup water

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend until creamy! Add whatever spices you would like to adjust the taste. We used this pesto to top on our Pesto Creamy Stir Fry.

The post Creamy Pesto Sauce appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

• 1 yellow onion (chopped)
• 5-6 cloves Garlic
• 2 chopped up portabella mushrooms
• 2 cups sliced bella mushrooms
• 2 cups Shiitake Mushrooms (you can take the stems out)
• Veggie broth (to cook veggies in)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 shallot (diced)
• 1 cup sprouted green lentils
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp Chili powder (or to taste)
• 1 tsp Cayenne (or to taste)
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin (or to taste)
• 1 tsp Oregano (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup Nutritional yeast (or to taste)
• ½ lemon
• 1 bunch of kale

Directions:

1. Add onions and garlic to a pot and start cooking with a splash of veggie broth. Saute for 5 minutes.
2. Add all mushrooms and coconut milk. Cook covered for about 15 minutes.
3. In a separate pan, add your shallots with some veggie broth.
4. Add green lentils to the pan with the shallots with water and cook for 20 minutes or until cooked.
5. In the pot with mushrooms, add chili powder, cayenne, ground cumin, oregano and nutritional yeast.
6. Slowly add in the kale into the mushroom soup and let it cook until the kale turns a bright color and is wilted in the soup.
7. Add lemon
8. Finish cooking the lentils.
9. Combine and mix all together to create a nice mushroom soup! 🙂

You can also make an additional meal out of this by heating up some portobello mushrooms and top the mushroom with the Lentil Mushroom soup.

The post Lentil Mushroom Soup appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

For the zoodles, we used zucchini and beets. We spiralized them ourselves, but you can always buy them pre-packaged 🙂

Ingredients:

• 5-6 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 yellow onion (chopped)
• Veggie Broth (to sauté veggies in)
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water (to boil the quinoa in)
• Oil-Free Hummus recipe
• 4 Zucchini Spiralized
• 1 Beet Spiralized
• 1 Avocado
• Cilantro to taste (optional to top)

1. Bring water and quinoa to a boil. Once you see it start boiling reduce it to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, start sautéing onions in veggie broth for about 5 minutes and then add garlic! Cook for another 5 minutes. You will want to just eyeball the amount of veggie broth, start off with about 2-3 tablespoons and keep adding when you see it’s all absorbed so it doesn’t burn. You will have to stir it more often than you would if you were cooking with oil. Add more as needed 🙂
3. Make your hummus while the onions and garlic are cooking.
4. Once your quinoa is cooked combine with onions and garlic.
5. The last step is to make your zoodle bowl! We put quinoa first, then added our zoodles and topped it with avocado and cilantro 🙂 Enjoy!

**Optional Nutritional Yeast or Hot Sauce!

These are a couple of the brands that we like to use for Cooking Day.

The post Quinoa Zoodles Bowl appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

We used an herb called Chaga Mushrooms. Chaga mushroom is a type of fungus that grows mainly on the bark of birch trees in cold climates. They are considered to be a nutrient-dense superfood, slows down the aging process, helps lower cholesterol, helps prevent and fight cancer, lowers blood pressure, supports the immune system, fights inflammation, and lowers blood sugar. This ingredient is optional in our recipe however it’s health benefits prove to be worth a try!

You can find Chaga mushrooms at this website here.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups Kale (de-stemmed)
• 1 white onion (chopped)
• 2 cups mushrooms (use your favorite kind!)
• 1 yellow bell pepper (chopped)
• ¼ of an inch of ginger (minced)
• 1 tbs curry
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 1 tbs oregano
• 1 tbs rosemary
• 1 tbs thyme
• 1 tbs garam masala
• 1 13 oz jar of chickpeas (we used Jovial Organic)
• 1 13.5oz can organic coconut milk (we used the brand Fair Trade)
• Splash of veggie broth (to cook your veggies in)
• 2 pinches blended chaga mushroom (optional)

Directions:

1. Start sautéing mushrooms in a pan on medium-low heat for about 4-5 minutes
2. Add onions to the pan and start sautéing until it’s caramelized (almost burnt, but not quite!) We cooked ours for about 6 minutes. You might need to add more vegetable broth.
3. Add your coconut milk and cook for 2 minutes
4. Mix peppers, ginger, Chaga, curry, and garlic. Cook for about another minute and then add the chickpeas
5. Turn the heat up to high and then add the rest of your spices and kale.
6. Cook for about 1 minute. When you see the kale turning a really pretty green then you know it’s done!
7. Wa-la. Enjoy 🙂 This dish is best served right away however you can still keep it in the fridge to eat later.

The post Mushroom Kale Masala appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

Nicole made this super easy Mexican Quinoa Bowl that is PERFECT for a family Mexican night! One thing Nicole keeps in mind as inspiration for our Cooking Days is thinking about the foods that are common to eat on the go, like Chipotle or Qdoba, and finds a way to make it healthy! Enjoy 🙂

Everything for our cooking day Nicole bought from the Royal Oak Farmers Market. She got organic mushrooms (shitake & cremini), raspberries, steel-cut oats, organic lettuce, sweet leaf kale, cabbage, garlic, green beans, and beautiful flowers! (not all used in this recipe) Check out the recipe below.

Ingredients:

• Lentil Taco “Meat” (click the link for ingredients, or see below to Express Recipes)
• Grapefruit guacamole (click the link for ingredients, or read below to Express Recipes)
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 red onion chopped
• Splash of veggie broth (to cook your veggies in)
• 1 cup green beans cut in half
• 3 cups kale (or 1 bunch)
• 2 diced peppers (we used red and yellow) 

Directions:

1. Start making your Lentil Taco “Meat”.
2. While the lentils are cooking for your Lentil Taco “Meat”, make your grapefruit guacamole (we substituted the tomatoes for red pepper, this makes it detox friendly!)
3. Next, you’ll start cooking your quinoa in a pan for about 10-15 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water.
4. Once the quinoa is done, add your kale! Let that cook just for 1-2 minutes. The base for your Mexican Bowl is now complete. Next move on to cooking the veggies 🙂
5. Add your onion to a pan with some veggie broth and cook for about 13-15 minutes. You want to make sure that you add enough veggie broth so the onions don’t start burning! We want it to caramelize, but not burn.
6. Add green beans to the onions and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes or until the green beans are cooked to the desired texture.
7. Combine quinoa, onions, green beans, lentil meat, grapefruit guacamole to a bowl and top with your peppers!
8. Mix it all together and enjoy 🙂

Express recipes:

Lentil Taco “Meat”

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown lentils
• 2 cups of water
• 1/2 tsp. of cayenne, garlic, red pepper, chili, onion powder, paprika, oregano, and cumin combined to make your own taco seasoning (often store-bought taco seasonings will have added sugar, preservatives, or artificial flavors).
• 1 cup walnuts

Directions:

1.  In a cooking pot combine water and lentils and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes.
2. Once lentils are cooked through (you can taste test), drain out water and place into a saucepan. Heat on medium to toast the lentils for about 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently to ensure that they don’t burn.
3. Place walnuts and spices into a food processor or blender, and do a very light pulse to slightly chop the walnuts. Then add in the toasted lentils. You may have to do this in batches. You should have close to an even amount of lentils and walnuts.

Grapefruit Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 2 Avocados
• Juice of 1/4 grapefruit
• 1 jalapeno chopped fine
• 1/2 yellow onion chopped fine
• 1 tomato chopped fine (we used red pepper to make it detox friendly)
• A handful of cilantro & basil chopped fine

Directions:

• Combine all ingredients and mash with a fork 🙂 

The post Mexican Quinoa Bowl appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

A lot of people have been telling us lately that they can’t do plant-based because it’s too hard and it takes too much time. For this weeks cooking day, we wanted to debunk that myth 🙂 Nicole made a spaghetti-like dish using spiralized veggies, and a new dip Nicole found at the Royal Oak Farmers Market. The dip is plant-based and oil-free, so it was a great alternative to other dips with additives in it. The total time from start to finish for the dish was only 17 minutes!

Radical Plants it the company that is the creator of these plant-based dips. They have 3 different flavors: Chipotle Lime, Better than Ranch, and Basil Alfredo… ALL PLANT-BASED! 

Where can you find Superdip? Check the list below for a store near you 🙂

• Arbor Farms Market, 2103 West Stadium, Ann Arbor
• The Better Health Store, 42875 Grand River, Novi
• Royal Oak Farmers Market, Royal Oak
• Eastern Market, Detroit
• Zerbos Health Foods, 34164 Plymouth Rd, Livonia 48150
• Western Market, 447 West Nine Mile, Ferndale
• The Pantry in City Market, 401 Central Ave, Bay City
• Johnny Pomodoro’s, 32906 Middlebelt Rd, Farmington Hills
• The Better Health Store, 14105 Hall Road, Shelby Township
• The Better Health Store, 19151 Mack Ave, Grose Pointe Woods
• Green Space & Go, 32867 Woodward, Royal Oak
• Kingmas Market, 2225 Plainfield Ave NE, Grand Rapids
• Market Fresh, 31201 Southfield Rd, Beverly Hills
• Bridge Street Market, 405 Seward Ave NW, Grand Rapids

You can also visit their website by clicking this link.

Ingredients:

1. Spiralized veggies (we used zucchini, squash, butternut squash, cabbage, red pepper)
2. 2 containers of cremini mushrooms
3. 1 cup Basil Alfredo Superdip
4. Splash of Veggie Broth (for sauteing the veggies in)
5. 1 Tbsp Paprika
6. 1 Tbsp Thyme
7. 1 Tbsp Oregano
8. 1 Tbsp Rosemary

1. Start by filling a big pan halfway up with water and bring to a boil. This is going to be for your spiralized veggies.
2. In a separate pot, add a splash of veggie broth and start to saute all of your mushrooms. This will take roughly 8-10 minutes. Remember when you are cooking with veggie broth you may have to keep adding some in the pot every once in a while. Continuously stir your mushrooms too 🙂
3. While the mushrooms are cooking add spiralized veggies to boiling water and boil until it’s cooked to your liking. For more al dente, cook for 5-6 minutes. For softer, cook for 10 minutes. We cooked our veggies for roughly 10 minutes.
4. Add paprika, thyme, oregano, rosemary to mushrooms and mix.
5. Combine veggies together with the mushrooms
6. Add Basil Alfredo sauce and mix.
7. Wah-La! Your meal is complete:) Enjoy!

**Optional- Nutritional Yeast for a cheesy flavor. 

These are the spiralized veggies we used:

Another option is to spiralize your own veggies 🙂

The post 17 Minute Dinner appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.