Cassie DeNisco

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My Simple Pizza Recipe

If you’re anything like me, pizza is one of your favorite meals. I swear I could eat pizza for almost any meal and this makes it so easy. I was in search of a pizza recipe a little less carb heavy and I stumbled on the pita in my fridge. Using these as a crust leaves the pizza almost like a flatbread. The size of the pita also makes it perfect for personal pizzas or to mix and match the toppings. In this post, I’m sharing my go to pita pizza recipe.

Ingredients:

Pita Bread

Olive Oil

Tomato

Fresh Mozzarella

Basil

Balsamic glaze

Directions:

  1. Start by putting the 1 teaspoon of olive oil all over your pita
  2. Thinly slice your tomatoes and layer them around your pizza
  3. Add your fresh mozzarella & basil to the top
  4. Bake at 350 for about 8-9 minutes or until cheese is melted
  5. Once out and cooled sprinkle balsamic glaze over

This pizza recipe is seriously so good. I love how healthy it makes pizza night and makes it quick and easy to make. Some other toppings that I love to use are ricotta cheese, zucchini and even red onions and barbecue sauce. Pizza night is awesome with pita because you can make everyone their own flavor and don’t have to worry about trying to find one everyone loves.

Another really yummy way to make pizza is with flatbreads. I buy mine at my local stores and its similar to the pita. Of course it has more carbs but sometimes you just really want that great slice of pizza.

What are some of your favorite pizza toppings?

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Plant Base Meat that I Love

I definitely don’t like food labels however I generally live by a plant based diet. With that being said. I enjoy not eating too much dairy or animal products but I like to have plant base meats to supplement that. I have been eating this way for awhile now with my mom so we both have brands and plant base meat products that we love. This guide I hope is interesting and helpful to share with you so let’s dive in!

Morning Star Farms Veggie Hot Dogs
plant base meat

These are so yummy and I love them so much! They definitely taste similar to a hot dog and are a great option to have. Regular hot dogs somewhat gross me out in reading all of the ingredients but these are so good and a much healthier option. I like these with a bun and a little ketchup and you are good to do.

Morning Star Chicken Patties

I love having these patties with a little vegan mayo, vegan cheese, and a hamburger bun. It is like a fast food sandwich but so much healthier. These do not really remind me of breaded chicken but to be honest, they have a better flavor. I know Morning Star also makes veggie chicken nuggets which have a similar texture and are also great!

Gardein Veggie Burgers

So this is one of my newer favorites. I used to love the Morning Start Farms veggie burgers but I realized the patties were just so thin. These patties are thick and seriously give off a beef burger vibe. I love these veggie burgers so much. They remind me of an Impossible burger but to be honest, might even taste better!

Gardein Veggie Meatballs

I can’t say enough about these Meatballs!! They have so much more flavor than a regular meatball could ever have and my boyfriend most of the time can’t even tell the difference. These are great in red sauce with pasta for dinner or even a roll for a sandwich. Highly, highly recommend these meatballs!

Boca Meatless Ground Beef

This is seriously game changing. I had never realized you can get meatless ground beef and now my chili is seriously elevated. It’s awesome way to sneak in even more veggies to your chili because you really can’t tell the difference once everything is seasoned. This is a really great meat alternative product.

If you notice there’s on thing I didn’t add to my list and that is the Impossible brand. I think their burgers are great when I go out to eat but I haven’t been able to cook them successfully for myself at home. Let me know if you have any tips because I definitely want to like them, but they just fall apart when I cook.

I hope this list of my favorite plant base meat products is helpful whether you are plant base or just looking to supplement in some healthier alternatives to meat in your diet. I plan to do some recipes with these products so that you can see how I cook with them so be on the lookout for that.

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My Favorite Summer Salad Recipe

There is no better feeling than eating a salad made entirely from your own garden. I’ve been really obsessed with knowing exactly where my ingredients are coming from lately so this salad recipe is a culmination of that. There’s a secret ingredient to this summer salad ingredient and it’s a chopper. Getting salads into bite size pieces not only makes it easier to eat but I swear it makes it taste that much better.

The salad chopper I have is from Amazon and you can find it here. I absolutely love it because you literally throw everything into a bowl and then just take the chopper and go to town. Chopped salads are so good and a great way to get all of your nutrients in without feeling like you’re eating too much. Here’s the recipe!\

summer salad recipe
Ingredients:

Greens of your Choice (I love spring mixes with spinach)

Hard boiled egg

Tomatoes

Avocado

Red Onion

Cucumber

Protein (sometimes I add chicken, or bacon, or chickpeas)

Pepita Seeds

*fun add in is cheese (I like a cheddar)

Dressing of your choice

Directions:

I started off chopping salads by just trying to chop everything whole however it is good to cut everything up a little. This really helps to even out everything and make it all the same size. I also was a huge over-chopper. I would just keep going until it was small pieces but everything lost its integrity. Make sure to use a big bowl so there’s room and just put everything in and chop. Add in your dressing last, mix and enjoy!

I love making chopped salads like this one. It’s a great salad recipe if you have produce that’s starting to look iffy so you’re not wasteful. Another awesome thing about salad in general is you can really customize it so that everyone in your house can make their own! The more toppings the better for a salad in my opinion so happy chopping!

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Find more summer recipes from me here!

Green Juice Recipe You Need to Try

I have been on my fresh green juice game these past few weeks so I am so excited to share my recipe with you. This green juice recipe is so good and just leaves you feeling great. There are so many health benefits to getting your greens in everyday and the perfect way to do that is through this green juice recipe. To create these juices, I use my NutriBullet. I don’t have a juicer and just found that even though it takes a little longer because of straining, this works just as well as a juicer would’ve.

Ingredients:

1 Celery Stalk

Handful of Greens

1/2 a lemon

1 inch chunk of ginger

1/2 a cucumber

Handful of Carrots

Directions:

This is seriously so simple! Just add everything into your NutriBullet and blend. Depending on the day, sometimes I add a little water just to thin it out if it’s too thick. Next comes the straining. I just take very fine holed strainer and start to pour the juice through it into another container. I do this again, but this time straining it into whatever I plan to drink it out of. I love these reusable cups from Amazon!

I’ve been really working hard to get my greens in everyday during quarantine and making a juice has seriously helped. When I started making juices, I literally almost couldn’t drink them because I thought they were so gross. I would add apple or watermelon to them to sweeten them up and make them interesting to eat. Now, I am literally obsessed! I have this juice every. single. day!

Let me know in the comments below if you try this and be sure to follow me on Instagram @cassiedenisco!

My Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

vegan chocolate chip cookies

I love to bake and have sweets but I know that when traditionally made, they aren’t always the best for me. I love to make vegan recipes, like my vegan lemon loaf, because they often are at least a little healthier for you. I made the switch to these vegan chocolate chip cookies and I will never go back! Whether you are vegan or not, these cookies are so chewy and delicious they will please whoever you’re making them for!

Ingredients:

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c canola oil

1/4 c water

2 tsp vanilla

1 c chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and chocolate chips. Set this aside.
  2. In another bowl, break up the brown sugar and then add sugar, oil, water and vanilla. Combine the flour mixture with this mixture and mix until it’s crumbly.
  3. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and make little balls of dough. Freeze for 30 minutes in order to keep the mixture together.
  4. Heat oven to 375 and bake cookies for 12 minutes total but turning them halfway through so they get crisp on each side.

Not only are these vegan chocolate chip cookies so easy to make but they are also so yummy. Most of us have all of these ingredients already in our homes so it makes making these cookies even easier. You wouldn’t even guess they don’t have the normal ingredients because they are so crisp and chewy. I love this vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe because these cookies are to die for!

If you try out this recipe tag me on Instagram or let me know in the comments below how you liked these cookies.

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My Hello Fresh Review

In today’s world, if you scroll through Facebook you’re almost guaranteed to see an ad for Hello Fresh or even a Hello Fresh Review. I’m not going to lie, Hello Fresh does seem like a great meal solution. The fact that it all comes pre-measured and in one package makes life so simple so who wouldn’t want to give it a shot?

I received two free box coupons from my cousin so I decided to choose one veggie box and a meat & veggie box. There are no dietary restrictions in my house or kids but I did appreciate the types of box options. Once I chose the box, I chose a delivery day and got to pick the meals. I would give the app and overall 10 out of 10. It was easy to use and made what I was looking for accessible.

As for delivery, both boxes came on the designated day and were in the iconic Hello Fresh box. I like that everything was labeled out and I only got the necessary ingredients. It definitely helps to not be wasteful. I can’t tell you the amount of times that I’ve been at the grocery store for a recipe and did not use the full amount of stuff I got. It also is nice because it really helps with portion control and not having too many leftovers.

All of the meals I had were yummy. I loved the Couscous Bowl the most and my least favorite was definitely the Sausage Gnocchi. Whether you like a meal is based on personal preference so definitely no lost stars here. I LOVED the recipe sheets. They were so clear and informative. Not only did it give you step by step directions but it also said all of the pans and other things that you would need to use. The amount of time that you would need to complete the meal was also right on the front and it made meal planning so easy.

As for the negatives, one of the things I found was that the packaging is pretty wasteful. There’s plastic covering most of the foods because they are pre packed so I would like to see Hello Fresh maybe use eco friendly containers. I also thought that for two people, 60 for 3 meals seemed a little expensive. I can go to the grocery story for 60 a week and get enough meals for a week. I think to solve both problems of plastic and cost, it might be useful for them to make 3 meals out of the same ingredients for that week. It would probably cut down on the plastics and maybe the cost.

If you can look past the expense and plastics, I do think Hello Fresh is useful if you’re too busy to put together healthy meals for yourself. For an overall rating, I think I would give my Hello Fresh Review an 8 out of 10. I definitely would sign up and purchase my own boxes here and there when I know I’m having a busy week. I’m not sure if I would use it every week but I must say I am impressed overall with the company!

  • Veggie Rissotto
  • Japanese Beef Tacos
  • Couscous Bowl
  • Gnocchi with Sausage
  • Mac n Cheese
  • Kickin’ Penne

*This is not an ad or sponsored, all opinions are my own*

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My Quick Dinner Recipe

quick dinner recipe

I’m back with a super yummy quick dinner recipe. This is probably one of my favorite meals for fall and winter because its a one pan meal. This means you literally chop it all up and then put it on a pan in the oven and you have a meal in no time. This quick dinner recipe can be made vegetarian. You also can easily swap out any of my ingredients for something that you love. I love meals like this that you can easily swap out ingredients for whatever is in season. It helps to make healthy eating that much easier. Let’s get into my favorite quick dinner recipe.

Ingredients for Quick Dinner Recipe:

Brown Rice

Sweet potatoes

Carrots

Broccoli

Brussel Sprouts

Chicken breast

Olive Oil

Directions: (it’s literally so easy!)

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
  2. Start by chopping everything up into cubes or just smaller pieces.
  3. Place veggies on one side of pan and the chicken on the other. Sprinkle the olive oil over just the veggies.
  4. Put it in the oven until the chicken is fully cooked and the veggies are to your liking. It’s usually about 25-30 minutes for me.
  5. Plate with brown rice and top with salt, pepper, or any other seasonings you love.

Guys I wasn’t joking when I said I had a recipe by Chef Cass. I’m so so obsessed with making this because it makes great leftovers. This quick dinner recipe also can be meal prepped on a Sunday night and used throughout the week. I absolutely love this recipe because it’s so yummy and easy to make! Let me know if you have any other easy one pan recipes that you are obsessed with in the comments below!

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Winter Workouts I Love

winter workouts

Major disclaimer here: I am definitely no fitness coach but I do love to workout it unconventional ways. Most of my favorite workouts are outside but during the winter workouts are way too cold for that. I hate going to the gym so I like to make sure that whatever workout I do is one that I can either do at home or do somewhere else that’s not a traditional gym. Here is my list of winter workouts that I love.

Kayla Itsines Program

I actually have been through this program twice and I love the results. It’s for 12 weeks and it gives you set workouts to do. Most of them don’t require equipments but some just need like a medicine ball or dumb bells that you can grab at Target. I definitely think this program is perfect for winter workouts because you don’t have to leave your house but you’re also pretty much guaranteed a great bikini body in summer.

Pilates/ Yoga

Depending on where you live, you might not have a stand alone studio to do pilates or yoga in so you might have to go to your local gym. Luckily for me I have a studio near me and I love going to classes here and there. Pilates will always leave me with that really sore feeling that I love. I feel like I got an awesome workout in that really toned my body. Yoga on the other hand I love because it keeps me nice and flexible as well as somewhat toning me up. For a challenge, try a hot yoga class!

Home Gym

I know this one might not be feasible for everyone but investing in a spin bike or a tread mill at home might make all the difference. You have the comfort of your own home to workout however and whenever you want. I find that in winter I crave a better workout but I never want to actually leave because it’s so cold. I found my equipment for super cheap on Amazon and I am absolutely obsessed!

Winter workouts don’t need to feel like a chore. Just find something you love and stick with it. I hope these winter workouts will inspire you to stay healthy even in the hardest and coldest months to do so. Let me know in the comments below your winter workouts.

Check out my last blog post here and follow me on Instagram: @cassiedenisco !

Acai Bowls at Home

acai bowls

It might be fall but I still love acai bowls for breakfast! Not only are they super delicious but they also keep me full all morning. The real key to acai bowls are the consistency. My recipe is guaranteed to make you the perfect bowl each and every time. Feel free to alter my recipe however you’d like or use it as is. I absolutely love acai bowls and I even have included a hack to making them even easier.

Ingredients:

Frozen acai packets

1 Banana

1 c mixed berries

1/2 c almond milk

1 scoop collagen peptides

1 scoop of protein power (any flavor)

Directions:

  1. In a blender, I prefer the Nutri bullet, blend the acai, 1/2 of the banana and the mixed berries.
  2. Once somewhat blended add the collagen, protein powder, and blend.
  3. Gradually add the milk. Make sure you only add it a little at a time so that you can ensure it stays as a bowl and doesn’t turn into a smoothie.
  4. Put it in a bowl and add whatever toppings you’d like. I love banana, granola, honey, and coconut flakes!

Acai bowls can take awhile in the morning but if you pre make a huge bowl of it and freeze it, you can defrost a little each morning and just add your toppings. I also find that if you are still hungry after having a bowl, you can add some type of nut butter to increase your protein which will help you stay fuller longer.

I love acai bowls and they can be such a fun treat in the morning or at any point during the day. You can make them exactly however you’d like which makes it the best and easiest way to switch up your morning breakfasts.

Don’t forget to check out my pinterest for more recipes and check out my last recipe for apple crisp here!

My Vegan Apple Crisp

Chef Cass is back with a yummy fall dessert: vegan apple crisp. This dessert is perfect for a post apple picking treat and its vegan. I love vegan apple crisp and when I found this recipe, I fell in love. Add a little bit of vanilla ice cream or whip cream (vegan or non) to this you will be in vegan apple crisp heaven.

Ingredients:

Filling

4 Peeled Apples

1/2 c Brown Sugar

1/4 c Flour

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1tsp Vanilla Extract

Topping

1 c Flour

1 1/2 c Oats

1 c Brown Sugar

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

3/4 c Vegan Butter

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

  1. Cube the apples and add to mixing bowl with all of the other filling ingredients. Be sure to mix the apples so that they are properly coated and add to a 9 x 13 in greased pan.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  3. In a separate bowl, prepare the topping by adding all of the dry ingredients first then add the melted butter and vanilla.
  4. Use your fingers to crumble the toping over the filling so that it is evenly spread across.
  5. Bake for 50 minutes until the top is golden brown and the inside is all gooey and yummy.
  6. Cool for 10 minutes and then add whatever toppings you’d like.

I’m literally so obsessed with fall and eating yummy desserts like this really help me get into the fall mood. I hope you enjoy this recipe and if you try it out let me know!

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