Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

Hanukkah is just around the corner and today we wanted to share one of our favorite Hanukkah recipes with all of you – Root Vegetable Latkes with Apple Pear Sauce! These latkes are a tasty and festive way to get some extra veggies in, and pair deliciously with our homemade apple pear sauce. The perfect addition to your family’s Hanukkah traditions! This recipe is one of the many delicious healthy holiday recipes you’ll find in the extra special bonus Holiday eCookbook we’ve put together this year as a FREE instant download when you purchase our new cookbook. We’ve included all our personal faves that we love to cook up for our families during the holiday season. We hope you love them as much as we do!

Years ago, I’d do anything for a box of Junior Mints or Peppermint Patties. I’d fallen prey, like many of us, into the low calorie, nonfat mindset of the 90’s where Snackwells and Fig Newton’s were all the rage. ​As I’ve transitioned into a healthy lifestyle and new way of eating, I’ve found myself looking for healthy sweet treats. I’ve realized that the packaged so-called “health foods” just fed my sugar demons, leaving me with an artificial sense of healthy and a sugar hangover to boot. Instead of going cold turkey, I started looking for other options to satisfy my sweet tooth, something delicious and decadent that could replace, if not outperform my old guilty pleasures. Below is one of my favorite new recipes. It’s so rich and creamy you’ll hardly believe it’s actually good for you!

Vegetables are good for you. I am sure everybody knows this. But still, people usually don’t eat enough of those. I hope you are an exception and eat at least five handfuls of vegetables every day. But if you are struggling, here is a good recipe that counts towards the five servings a day. If you also add a salad to the side, it might very well be that you’ll cover all your official vegetable need for one day with only one meal. Of course, I am not stopping there – I like to keep all my meals bright, light, and naturally colorful – some purple cabbage here, a few orange carrots there, a red apple as a snack, and many greens throughout the day. I like to think that the more colors we eat, the more necessary nutrients we get from food. Healthy or not, these cabbage patties are just plain delicious. I usually eat them straight from the pan, but they are even more filling next to a green salad or a rice bowl.

I just counted, and I have 7 different pancake recipes up in my blog. And I have at least the same amount written down on post-its and waiting to be on the blog soon. Why so many? The answer is pretty simple. I often make pancakes on Sunday mornings, and since I usually do my weekly shopping on Sunday evenings, I often have run out of an ingredient, so I just replace it with something different, and voila – a new recipe is born. Usually, it works out well (there have been some disasters too, but these will definitely not be featured anywhere)! These chocolatey pancakes are a big success, and I have made these many times by now. As a bonus, the cottage cheese gives these pancakes an extra boost of protein compared to “regular” pancakes. If you want the recipe to be dairy-free, you can substitute the cottage cheese with a vegan yogurt instead.

Pizza is one of those fast food items that I don’t necessarily find unhealthy, especially when prepared at home, keeping the bottom thin and making good choices on toppings. Of course, homemade pizza is really not very fast food either as the dough's resting time is quite long, but in my opinion, every minute is completely worth it. As I bake sourdough bread at home, I always use sourdough as a pizza base, but if you don’t spend a few hours every week on bread baking, you can use any other recipe with yeast that you like. OR if you wish to get even faster results, just use a large flatbread or tortilla as a base, and you will get the whole recipe done in 10 minutes!

Ramen is one of those dishes that everybody loves. Homemade delicious broth, slurpy noodles, and all kinds of toppings you can imagine - what is not to like! Perfect for windy, cold, and dark autumn weather. Ramen can be extremely simple if using store-bought broth and noodles. It can be even more effortless by ordering in from your favorite takeaway. BUT if you want to create something truly special and have a few hours to spare, give this recipe a try. And imagine the amount of packaging you can avoid using by preparing the broth and noodles from scratch (I hate excessive packaging and always try to buy free from plastic to reduce my ecological footprint as much as possible).

There are never too many healthy snack ideas out there. The same can not be said about overgrown zucchini, and even if I always try to pick all the zucchini while they are still nice and firm, it sometimes happens that I am away from home for a few days and coming back, there are a few overgrown beasts out in my zucchini bed. I never recommend using too large zucchinis, but once you have them, this is one of the recipes that helps to use them up and does not suffer much from the zucchinis to be overgrown. For the first time in my 36 years of life, I had too many zucchinis for my own plants, and I am actually pleased about it. I gifted a few of them and ate around a ton of zucchini throughout the summer. Even today, mid-September, if the temperature is only around 14 degrees and it has been raining for the past 2 weeks, some of the plants are still flowering. Therefore, I still plan to eat zucchini flowers this year and maybe even get a few more baby-zucchinis.

In today’s soup, the sweet nectarines meet up with ripe homegrown tomatoes. It may seem a bit strange at first – especially with the onion in the mix, but I promise – it is so so so delicious! As there is no real cooking involved, all the ingredients must be at their best ripeness. During the wintertime in Estonia, where I live, this kind of soup would be impossible to enjoy as the store-bought winter tomatoes taste like plastic. So at the moment, I am enjoying as much fresh produce as possible. This recipe here is one of those where it is not important to follow the ingredients' exact amounts. I give you a recipe, but feel free to play around – if you only have 5 tomatoes, go with 5. If you have 3 nectarines waiting to be used up – use them here. The same with seasoning – just make sure to taste the soup after the first seasoning and decide if you may like a little more vinegar or little more salt. With seasoning, I recommend adding a little at the time as it is easy to add in more, but once you add too much, it is not possible to remove the extra seasoning.

As you probably know by now, then most of my recipes are extremely simple and seldom require a precise measuring, but here is one exception. Baking is a science, and this is the only type of cooking where not following the exact amounts can have catastrophic results. Believe me – I am the type of cook who loves playing around and changing up at least half of the ingredients, also when baking, and let’s just say that all of the changes do not work ☺ So follow the given amounts here, please. I originally planned to make a regular round cake with the same ingredients, but as I wanted to take the cake to a friend's place, carrying around a roll seemed more comfortable. And it was! To make the roll more interesting, I wanted to make a green base. I have baked a peppermint cake before, but as it was too strong in mint the last time, I decided to reduce the amount this time. I am very happy with the taste this time, but the result is not as bright green as I would have liked so that I will add a little spinach for extra greenness for the next time.

One of the core tenets of the Conscious Cleanse is removing common inflammatory foods from our eating rotation for 2 weeks to allow our systems to detox and find underlying food sensitivities. Tomatoes fall under the category of nightshades, so during our 14-day cleanse, we keep them off our plates because they can cause inflammation. Just like many people are sensitive to gluten, dairy, soy, and other common allergens, some people have a reaction from eating nightshades, including tomatoes.

Sometimes it happens that you have been planning to cook a particular recipe for days, but once you get to cooking it, you find out that one of the main ingredients is missing! This is what happened with my plan to make sushi today. The missing ingredient was nori sheets, and as I realized I am all out of those only when the rice was already cooking, I got creative and made sushi bowls instead! No nori needed here, and even if I say so myself, the result was even better than the sushi would have been. I never add edamame or wakame to my sushi, but they worked amazingly as the toppings for this bowl.

We often get asked for tips to help with meal prep and sticking to your clean-eating goals, so we decided to start a series of blogs with tips to help you thrive in your new clean-eating life! Today we’re focusing on how optimal refrigerator organization can simplify your meal prep. One of the most common things we hear from people all the time is, “I don’t have enough time to make healthy food.” We totally understand! Many of us have this idea that grabbing food from a restaurant or salad bar will be quicker than eating at home.

This simple pasta dish takes a maximum of 20 minutes from start to finish – basically, just the time you need to boil the whole wheat pasta once you need to bring the water to boil. I usually always prepare pasta from scratch. Yes, it does take a little time, but for me, rolling out pasta is therapeutic, and I don't mind taking the extra time. However, I also always have a packet of dried whole-wheat pasta in the cupboard. We are enjoying beautiful weather right now in Estonia, where I live. It makes sense to spend all these beautiful days outside, so what better time to save time on cooking!

I love cooking, I really do, I love doing pastry too, but honestly, it makes sense to buy some things ready-made. One of these things is puff pastry, and I proudly use it in this recipe. Summer is the best time to use the fresh ingredients – tomatoes in this recipe are from my grandmother's garden, and I have been indulging in them for the past few weeks. Summer tomatoes are something else and love them in every shape and form. Of course, you can use other fillings for these squares too – I like to use sliced mushrooms, zucchini, and even beetroot, but if using beets they need to be parboiled first as they take longer to cook.

There are two types of people - those who like peppers and those who hate them. I am definitely a pepper lover, and enjoy them in every shape, color and form - raw as a snack, stuffed and baked (my favorite filling is lentils with seasonal veggies), and in salads and wok dishes. In today's recipe, red peppers are used as one of the sauce components, and the result is simply fascinating. The sauce is reminiscent of romesco, but since my version is whipped up to taste, using the ingredients I had at home (which means that half of the ingredients used for authentic romesco sauce are replaced) I don't dare call it fancy names. I believe calling it roasted pepper and almond sauce paints a good picture of this sauce.

This warm salad is a nice nutritious main meal that, in my opinion, does not need anything else, but for meat lovers, it can also be served as a side next to meat or fish. I occasionally do eat fish and meat, but I never add it to this salad myself. The carrots, avocado, and seeds are filling as they are. The dish is approved by omnivores, and even my boyfriend who never likes vegetables (and weirdly enough is a vegetarian) is always happy to eat two portions of this one. The creaminess of the avocado, crunchiness of toasted seeds, and earthiness of carrots combined is a perfect plateful for a little chillier summer night. Like many of my recipes, this salad uses a ton of coriander. If you are one of those who don’t like it, feel free to substitute for arugula. But if you have only tasted coriander for a few times, I recommend to give it another go as it is one of those flavors that needs a little getting used to. I remember when it wasn’t my favorite, and today I add it to almost every recipe!

It’s peach season here in Colorado, and it wouldn’t be summertime in Colorado without some fresh peaches from our local farmer’s market. In honor of one of our favorite stone fruits, we thought we’d share a recipe today that is just ‘peachy!’ Nothing says summer more than biting into a fresh, juicy peach, and this green smoothie recipe is the perfect way to use all those perfectly ripe peaches that start popping up in local farmer’s markets this time of year. Peaches are a relatively low-sugar fruit, so they won’t spike your blood sugar and leave you crashing in a few hours. Peaches are also high in dietary fiber to help keep you regular, and a great source of immune-boosting Vitamin C.

This recipe is absolutely beautiful and even my partner, who is vegetarian, and at the same time, definitely doesn’t like cauliflower, is a big fan. I am confident that once the food is served nicely, it tastes better too, so today I put on my artist-glows and set a beautiful plate – something that I usually don’t do at home if it is only two of us eating. So maybe this is what made the difference, but for me, this recipe is delicious in any shape or form! I especially like that if the cauliflower is roasted like that in the oven, it keeps the structure and integrity of cauliflower. Of course, it is nothing similar to a real steak, but in my humble opinion, it is better! Paired with the silky smooth mash and topped with dukkah, pomegranate, and coriander, it is a very nice dish that I would happily even enjoy dining out (but since it only takes a little over 30 minutes to cook I still rather prepare it myself).

One of the staples of the Conscious Cleanse eating plan are great big meal-sized salads! When the weather heats up, standing over a hot stove to cook a meal is not ideal. So we wanted to share some of our favorite summertime salad recipes with you today! We love salads, but it’s easy to get tired of the same old salad day in and day out. The best way to keep coming back for more greens is to get creative with the salad dressing and toppings! All these salads use flavorful dressings plus unique and tasty toppings to upgrade your summer salad experience. This brand new recipe that’s exclusive to our online cleanse program. That’s right – if you become a Conscious Cleanse On Demand member, you’ll get access to recipes that are available just to YOU!

Summertime weekends are our favorite times to dedicate to family – we love gathering together with our families for a big hearty breakfast or brunch before embarking on all those warm-weather outdoor adventures. That’s where this recipe comes in! Jo’s daughter Ilse LOVES these pancakes – they’re the perfect special weekend brunch treat. They’re super easy to make and take less than 15 minutes of prep and cook time. A great recipe to whip up for a weekend breakfast in bed or laid-back stay-at-home brunch.

In the heat of mid-summer here in Colorado, no one wants to be spending time in a hot kitchen! So we’ve been looking for more ways to add cooking-free recipes to our meal planning rotation. That’s where today’s recipe comes in. This delicious spicy slaw is the perfect hot weather recipe that features one of our new favorite veggies – Kohlrabi! Kohlrabi is a funky looking veggie but don’t let that deter you – it’s super tasty and easy to eat! It has a sweet-peppery flavor similar to a cross between an apple and a radish and its texture is comparable to broccoli stems. It also has great nutritional value – Kohlrabi is high in fiber, essential vitamins and nutrients, and it can help aid in weight loss, support healthy digestion, and help regulate blood pressure. All in all, this unique veggie makes a great addition to your regular rotation.

The summer is upon us here in Colorado. We’re looking forward to relaxing at home with small (socially distant) gatherings of friends and family. Summers are notorious for being filled with food and fun (sometimes too much!). It can be tempting to over-indulge in less healthy foods and drinks until you wake up the next day inflamed, hungover, and hurting.

Salads have a reputation for being bland and boring. This is not how it should be because, in reality, they can be juicy, crispy, vibrant, and delicious – very far from boring. This bright watermelon salad here is a perfect example of an exciting salad. It is juicy and sweet from the watermelon, crunchy from the toasted pumpkin seeds, zingy from the lightly marinated red onions, and has enough substance to stand out as a main meal from the halloumi. In fact, I would never serve this salad as a side dish; it is way too perfect for giving it a supporting role instead of being a hero on its own. In case you wish to keep the salad fully vegan, feel free to swap out the halloumi to firm tofu, the dish might need a little more salt in this case, because tofu tends to be bland compared to salty halloumi. Watermelon Salad with Basil and Halloumi

Summer is here in Colorado, and as we’re heading into week 1 of our June Group Cleanse, we’re looking for quick, veggie-based meals that don’t heat up the house. When the temperature rises, we reach for refreshing, water-rich summer veggies like cucumbers, and this is the perfect recipe! This soup is the ideal meal for a hot summer day. The avocado adds a creamy texture and the cucumber, lemon, and dill make the flavor light and refreshing. Pair it with a massaged kale salad and grilled chicken or salmon, top with hemp seeds or pumpkin seeds to make it a meal – or just enjoy it as is as a snack or a lighter lunch/dinner!

When embarking on a new fitness regimen (like our upcoming June 3 Group Cleanse plus Daily Workouts), you may look for a way to supplement your protein intake. Though we generally believe that most of our nutrients should come from the whole foods we eat, we understand that when you’re exercising more frequently, you might need to find ways to add more protein to your diet. When paired with regular exercise, a protein supplement can help reduce soreness after working out and aid in quicker muscle recovery.