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TouchStone Health Photo
TouchStone Health Photo

Archive for the ‘gluten free’ Category

Healthy Banana Oat Cookies

Posted on: April 5th, 2022 by Anna Totzke

By Anna Totzke, R.Ac.

I love making these cookies….They are perfect for a snack or for breakfast!

Easy, delicious, healthy and are free of: sugar and flour. The can easily be made gluten-free with GF oats. I usually don’t measure the ingredients when making these cookies but they always turn out!

Base:

2-3 Bananas

3-4 Medjool Dates with pits removed

2 C. (approx.) Rolled Oats

2 Tsp. Cinnamon

Optional Ingredients:

Add desired amounts of:

-Flax Seeds

-Walnuts or other nuts

-Raisins

-Chopped Dried Apricots or other dried fruit

-Hemps Seeds

-Cloves, Ginger, other other spice

Instructions:

Add the Bananas, Dates, 1/2 Rolled Oats, and Cinnamon into a blender. Blend until all ingredients form a thick paste. Pour this batter into a medium bowl.

Add the rest of the Oats and other optional ingredients. Fold the ingredients together. The batter should be a little sticky but should be able to be formed into 1/2” thick patties. If they are too sticky, add more rolled oats. Feel free to make large cookies or smaller, if you like.

Bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes at 350 F on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Eat right away or after they are cooled, store them in a container for several days.

5 Ingredient Watermelon Feta

Posted on: June 21st, 2021 by TouchStone Health

Hello friends! This recipe creation is a new favorite of mine!! It is perfect for cooling off in the summer heats. It is crisp, fresh and light with still an abundance of flavor. Since I like to keep things simple, this recipe is only 5 easily accessible ingredients. It is also gluten and grain free. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 4-5 people

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups of cubed watermelon
  • ¼ cup of olive oil (preferably a lighter tasting oil)
  • ½ cup of crumbled feta
  • 1 generous handful of basil
  • Juice from 1 large lime (or 2 tbsp of lime concentrate)
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions:

  • Begin by cubing watermelon into bite sized cubes. Place in a medium to large bowl.
  • Next, crumble in feta and add in basil either whole or torn into smaller pieces.
  • In a separate small bowl add olive oil and lemon juice, whisk together until well
    combined. If you have a mason jar with a lid, vigorously shaking the olive oil and lemon
    juice together in the jar works as well.
  • Season with a salt and pepper, pour dressing over salad and mix all ingredients together
    till watermelon is evenly coated.
  • Plate and enjoy! (Tastes best chilled)

In Wellness,
Jill Jackson, CNP, NNCP

Meal Plans to Help Make your Life Easier

Posted on: August 21st, 2017 by TouchStone Health

Do you find it intimidating or overwhelming to prepare healthy foods for yourself or your family?  This is a common reasons why most people struggle with clean eating.  We all know the basics of eating better – lots of vegetables, added fruits, healthy proteins and clean carbohydrates work for many but it’s hard to actually do this on a consistent basis.

Diet meal with friends

Many people’s lives are full…full of many things and eating healthy foods generally falls off the priority list or is forgotten.  By the end of a busy day/week, it’s hard to make good decisions that are in alignment with how we wish to be eating.  Check out this article on Decision Fatigue by The Harvard Business Review.  Do you ever find yourself eating well and clean for the first part of your day but by the end are eating foods you wish you hadn’t?  We make dozens, some studies report hundreds of food-related decisions throughout our day and after deciding many things throughout the course of a day, we are tired and start making easier decisions which usually results in poorer choices for our health.  I know for myself, I have ideals of eating healthy foods but sometimes the inspiration falls short and I’m eating the same thing over and over or eating rice crackers and hummus at the end of a long day which although is an ok food, not a match for my constitution which does better on vegetables and a light protein.

So, we have begun a new program to help you eat clean and take away the work of deciding what to eat and when.  We are now developing Healthy Meal Plans to suit your specific dietary needs.  Weekly or Monthly recipe plans are put together for your specific needs.  Foods can be avoided specific to your needs and menus can be created specifically for your health goals (example: dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo, FODMAP, Anti-inflammatory, PCOS, Thyroid, Autoimmune, etc).

What’s included:

-a detailed shopping list is given for your plan

-a to-do list for the week of prepping food

-all the recipes

-micro and macronutrient breakdown

-caloric breakdown

And…we can make it for whatever serving size you want.  If you have a family of 5 we can ensure all recipes are specific for your 5 people or for one person. Prepping your week/month is incredibly easy as we do the work for you.

We started this program a month ago as many people were sharing their desire to eat well but that more support was needed to stay interested and consistent.  We hope this is the solution to help.  Pricing is located on our Meal Plan page and ask Dr. Cressman, N.D. if you have any other questions.

Attached is a sample 3-day eating plan to let you know what a plan would potentially look like.  sample-diet

This helps make eating delicious, healthy foods easier.

 

My Favourite Gluten Free Recipes to help you create your Menu

Posted on: July 6th, 2016 by TouchStone Health

Going Gluten-free (GF) can be intimidating and many people don’t know where to start.  Whether you’re trying it out to see how you feel, needing to do so for health reasons or trying to cook/bake for someone who is GF…it can feel overwhelming.

Here is a list of some tried and true recipe ideas that I have enjoyed.  If you know me, you know I’m not a great cook…I don’t enjoy spending a lot of time in the kitchen and the last thing I want is needing to go to various stores to get different ingredients.  These recipes are generally – easy to make and you can buy most ingredients from either your local grocery store (Zehrs health section is usually the best match for me) and Bulk Barn.

See what you think and I hope these recipe ideas taste great for you too. (And most of these recipes are dairy free as well or allow for dairy-free substitutions.)

Breakfast Ideas

Grain-free Berry Granola – Healthful Pursuit

Banana Oat Blender Pancakes – Kitchen Treaty

Coconut Flour Chocolate Crepes – Healthful Pursuit

Sweet Potato Hash – Healthful Pursuit

Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal – Oh She Glows

Soft and Chewy Sugar Free Granola Bars – Oh She Glows

Almond Flour Pancakes – Comfy Belly

Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes – Comfy Belly

Quinoa Granola – Comfy Belly

Blueberry Syrup – Nourishing Meals

Gluten Free Raspberry Scones – The Roasted Root

Mochaccino Chia Breakfast Pudding – Joyous Health

The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread – My New Roots

SMOOTHIES – here are Greatist’s 54 Top Smoothie Recipes

SMOOTHIE BOWLS – here are Greatist’s Top Smoothie Bowl Recipes  and some more that are Dairy Free Top Smoothie Bowl Recipes

Lunch Ideas

Spiralized Thai Salad Recipe – Against All Grain

Sea Salt Rosemary Zucchini Chips – Joyous Health

 My Favourite Detox Salad – Eat Yourself Skinny

Veggie Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce – Avocado Pesto

Soft Gluten Free Sandwich Bread – A Little Insanity

10 Minute Grain Free Paleo Bread – Shiny Happy Food

Dinner Ideas

Coconut Cauliflower Rice – Healthful Pursuit

Sweet Potato Chickpea Buddha Bowl – Minimalist Baker 

Spicy Buddha Bowl – Crazy Vegan Kitchen

Sweet Potato Pizza Crust – Blissful Basil

Cauliflower Pizza Crust – Detoxinista

Zucchini Noodles with Creamy Avocado Pesto- Eat Yourself Skinny

Curried Cauliflower Soup – Cookie and Kate

Dessert Ideas

Black Bean Chia Brownies – Joyous Health

One Bowl Jumbo Chocolate Chunk Cookies – Oh She Glows

Fudge-tastic Brownies – Healthful Pursuit

Grain-free and Vegan Flourless Fudge Cookies – Healthful Pursuit

Raw Chocolate Cheesecake – Comfy Belly

Real Deal Chocolate Chip Cookies – Against All Grain

Fudgy Chocolate Tarts – Against All Grain

Banana Bread – Comfy Belly

Flourless Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins – Running with Spoons

Flourless Banana Bread Muffins – Running with Spoons

Fudgy Paleo Beetroot Brownies – The Roasted Root

Chocolate Avocado Pudding – Pop Sugar

Cassava Banana Bread – Paleo Running Momma

Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips Paleo – Paleo Running Momma

Sweet Potato Brownies – Paleo OMG

Snacks

Chocolate Gelatin Bars – The Healthy You Project

Crunch Raw Protein Balls – The Healthy Family and Home

Homemade Gummy Candies – Healthful Pursuit – Use a juice of your choice

Date Energy Balls – Detoxinista

Mint Chocolate Truffle Bites – A Virtual Vegan

Classic Almond and Cacao Energy Balls – Deliciously Ella

Dr. Amanda Cressman, N.D.

564-572 Weber Street North, Unit 3A
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L5C6