Thanksgiving Sides (Zesty Cranberry Sauce + Orange Basil Sweet Potatoes)

Its the beginning of the best time of year, holiday season!! Its Thanksgiving this week and I have been non-stop getting in the holiday spirit, baking, making recipes for Thanksgiving and spending time with friends and family. But, lets be real, the holiday season is one of the busiest times of year and who doesn't want an easy way out or a quick recipe to make! Thats why I am sharing with you these two amazing and incredible easy recipes that your friends and family will love. 
Push that can of already made cranberry sauce to the side and say hello to this fresh & zesty cranberry sauce that takes no longer than 10 minutes. Throw in some fresh cranberries, orange zest, some sweeteners and let boil, then you're ready to go! You can find the recipe and details, here. 

Moving on to my second favorite and technically more healthy item than your average mashed potato is this incredible orange, basil mashed sweet potatoes from Andie Mitchell's recipe book Eating in the Middle.  Throw a few whole sweet potatoes in the oven for an hour. When the sweet potatoes are soft in the middle scoop the insides out and transfer to a bowl. Add 2 Tbsp of butter, 1/4 cup of maple syrup, nutmeg, salt & pepper and mash together well! Before serving add some chopped fresh basil and serve!! 

Duh, these are the two easiest side dishes you could make on this crazy day of cooking, prepping, traveling, or just relaxing. Make prepare these ahead of time and reheat as well to ease your stress away! 

Thanks again for following and have the best Thanksgiving day!  

Pesto Chicken Caprese Salad

I am so happy to be getting back into the swing of things and picking back up creating recipes, shooting and writing blog posts and sharing them all with you. These past 3 months of student teaching have been crazy and I couldn't be happier to finally be a license/certified Elementary Teacher here in Minnesota! It is definitely time to celebrate and there is no better weekend to go out and enjoy friends, family and the summer weather than over Memorial Day weekend. 

I was trying to think of how I could get back on track with my healthy eating, while still keeping the recipe flavorful and filling and I knew that this Pesto Chicken Caprese Salad would be the perfect thing! Light, healthy and full of variety, this salad will have something everyone can enjoy & share! 

To make this recipe even better, it is super quick easy to throw together and can be done in a variety of ways, with or without meat, add veggies, etc. To simplify, you can use already made pesto sauce, but I have made my own! 

I can't wait for all of you to try this recipe out and bring to your Memorial Day get togethers this weekend...or just eat it all to yourself! Why not? :) 

Salad Ingredients: 

Shredded Romain Lettuce
Arugula
2 chicken breasts (cubed)
Cherry Tomatoes
Shredded parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Salt & pepper (to taste) 

Dressing Ingredients: 

1 cup Basil leaves
3 Tbsp EVOO
Pine Nuts
1 garlic cloves (or minced garlic)
Juice of 1 lemon 

Directions: 

1. Cut chicken breasts into cubes and put onto wooden or metal skewers
2. Grill for 3-5 minutes on each side at 250 degrees
3. Shred romain lettuce and add to the large bowl along with the arugula
4. Cut cherry tomatoes into halves and add to the salad along with the mozzarella and add to the bowl
5.  Add cooked chicken to top of salad and shred parmesan cheese over
6. For the pesto, add pesto, pine nuts, lemon juice, garlic cloves and EVOO together in a food processor and blend until creamy. 
7. Add dressing to the salad to your liking. 
8. Enjoy! 

Coconut Cream Protein Cookie Sandwich

Lately I have been on a coconut kick and can't get enough of its creamy, delicious taste. This morning I wanted to make something quick, easy and relatively healthy. Something which was gluten-free, low in sugar and filling. Thats when these coconut cream protein cookies were brought to my attention and I knew I had to make them. They are made with all-natural sweeteners and are packed with protein from my favorite Vega protein powder. 

Also, this recipe is vegan, making them perfect for anyone. The coconut cream filling gives these cookie sandwiches the perfect sweetness and makes them fun to eat. They're the perfect anytime snack or for breakfast or an after workout snack. 

Lastly, these protein cookie sandwiches take less than 20 minutes to make with only a handful of ingredients required. The recipe calls for sunflower seeds, but I didn't have any in my pantry so I added pumpkin seeds and walnuts instead. You can find the recipe here. 

To make the Coconut Cream filling, you need 1 can of coconut cream, 1/2 cup of coconut flakes (or enough to thicken the coconut cream mixture), 1/4 c. maple syrup and 1 tsp. of vanilla. 

Maple-Roasted Hasselback Butternut Squash

Lets just say this is one of the most impressive dishes I've come across and it actually looks much harder than it really is. Oh and with a maple syrup glaze mixture to highlight the beautiful flavors of the butternut squash, this dish will be a reoccurring staple for all of your future thanksgiving meals or week night dinners! This recipe was inspired by Chez LaRae and the recipe can be found here! 

The best part about this recipe, is that it doesn't require much assistance. Throw it in the oven, pour the glaze on here and there & after 45-55 minutes, its done and ready to serve! 

Make sure to share the love on social media and tag me @oliviasobjectsofobsession 

Watermelon Feta Arugula Salad

Happy Monday!! We are still going strong & are on our Motivation Monday Week 5 post & recipe!! I just returned home from New York and am definitely needing something light, healthy & filling to eat throughout the week! 

I'm pretty much obsessed with watermelon & usually eat is all summer long & this watermelon, feta & arugula salad is the most delicious thing you will ever make! I know the flavor combination may sound odd, but there is a perfect hint of sweet, and zesty and the feta goes perfectly with the arugula and watermelon. Oh and its extremely light and refreshing as well as low in calories...bonus!! 

So what you'll need is arugula, feta cheese, blueberries (optional), watermelon, honey, salt, an orange, a lime and fresh mint leaves. First whisk together the juice of the orange, lime, honey and salt. You can also add a little olive oil to the dressing if you want to tone down the sweetness and zest of the other ingredients. Then cut the watermelon into pieces and add to the arugula and blueberries. Finally, sprinkle the feta cheese all over the salad to your desired amount. 

After you have combined all of the dry ingredients, drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss thoroughly together. You will absolutely LOVE this salad. It is the perfect thing for a picnic, lunches or a BBQ. 

I can't wait for you to try it! Make sure to post a picture & tag me on Instagram or leave a comment below!  

Serves 2-3
 

Ingredients: 
1 orange
1 lime
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup feta
2 cups of watermelon
3 cups arugula
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of blueberries (optional) 
Handful of mint leaves

Chicken Quinoa Arugula Salad + Feta

Happy Monday!!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! I can’t believe how fast it went by. If you were anything like me, I tried to spend most of my day outside on Saturday, because the rest of the weekend was just dreary! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Minnesota Spring rain and thunderstorm, but I am ready for more sun!!

So over the weekend, I decided I wanted to make something really healthy for the upcoming week ahead that stayed well for a couple days and was perfect for lunches! Meal prepping is SO important for me, otherwise I tend to resort to eating something that is quick & probably not the healthiest! So from now on, get ready for ‘Motivation Mondays!!’ I will be making healthy, quick & easy meals for your Monday mornings to bring to work or eat throughout the week!

For the very first week of Motivation Monday meals, I decided to create my own spin on a quinoa salad that I’m pretty much OBSESSED with!  Here’s what you need to do:

Salad: First take a cup of quinoa + two cups of water and bring it to a boil, then simmer for 10-15 minutes until the water is gone.

While the quinoa is boiling, take 2-3 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt & pepper, and broil/grill/bake, them in the for at least 15-20 minutes. I really like to get my chicken at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, because they have a great variety of free range, non-GMO chicken breasts!

In the meantime, while both the chicken and the quinoa are cooking, slice one red bell pepper, 3-4 Persian cucumbers (the little ones), 1 jalapeño, 1-2 cups of Arugula, some feta cheese and of course, some avocado to mix together. If you are looking for some amazing feta cheese, go to Trader Joe’s and get the Feta cheese that is still soaking in the brine! I am so obsessed with it!  After the quinoa and chicken have finished cooking, cut the chicken breasts into pieces and mix together all of the ingredients with the quinoa.

Dressing: The dressing is SO simple, all you need to do is get some EVOO & a lemon. Drizzle about a ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil over the quinoa salad and squeeze the half of a lemon over as well. I also like to zest some of the lemon peel to give the salad even more of a fresh citrusy flavor. And that’s it for the dressing, so easy!!

If you make this recipe, please tag me on Instagram and share with me OR feel free to leave a comment or suggestion of any alternative ways to make this salad with other ingredients! If you have suggestions or ideas for other Motivation Monday recipes you’d like to see me make, let me know!! I hope you enjoy this amazing Chicken Quinoa Salad!

Serves 5

Preparation: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

2-3 chicken breasts

¾ cup feta
3-4 Persian cucumbers

1 red bell pepper

1-2 cups Arugula

1 avocado

Handful of cilantro (optional)