Recipes

If you love cheesy, creamy soups but want a simple, healthy option, this Cream of Broccoli & Chickpea Soup recipe is for you! Incredibly quick and easy to make, the addition of nutritional yeast adds an almost “cheesy” flavor mimicking a broccoli cheese soup, while finishing with Greek yogurt adds a creamy feel and subtly tart note, giving this soup all the best characteristics without all of the unhealthy additions!

Speaking of healthy, let’s discuss broccoli for a second because it has taken on quite a reputation as a “superfood.” While what we believe is “super” is eating a variety of different foods, broccoli undoubtedly contains an impressive wealth of nutrients and antioxidants that support many aspects of our health. Just one cup of this cruciferous vegetable contains 135% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin C and 116% of your Vitamin K. That same cup comes packed with 2.4 grams of fiber, showing that this veggie isn’t just a one-trick pony. Learn about Mountain Trek’s nutrition tenants.

Perhaps broccoli’s greatest benefit, however, is something called sulforaphane. This unique plant chemical is not only responsible for the aroma and flavor (hello sulfur smell!), it has also been shown to protect cells from DNA damage, inactivate carcinogens, and have antibacterial and antiviral effects.

This soup can be enjoyed as is, half-pureed to create more of a smooth texture, or fully pureed for an even more silkiness.

Note: 12 guests recently made this recipe alongside our chef and nutritionist in a virtual Basecamp Weekend Retreat.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1 yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 heads broccoli
• ¼ C nutritional yeast
• ½ t Kosher salt
• 1—15.5 oz can chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
• ¼ C Greek yogurt

Cooking Instructions

1. Small dice 1 yellow onion, mince 3 cloves garlic, and place in a large saucepot with 1 T olive oil over medium-low heat.
2. Rough chop the 2 heads of broccoli into ½ – 1” pieces, reserve about 1 C of the chopped florets to finish the soup with later. Place the remainder into the pot with the onions and garlic. Let cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Add 1 Q water, ¼ C nutritional yeast, and ½ t salt.
4. Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas. When broccoli stem pieces are tender, add the drained and rinsed can of chickpeas and the reserved broccoli florets. Cook until broccoli florets are just barely tender (al dente).
5. Add ¼ C Greek yogurt and enjoy!
6. Enjoy!

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

This full meal combines unique flavors and ingredients brilliantly. Let’s start with endives—when was the last time you had endives? Perhaps never. If so, you’re not alone, but you’ve been missing out; endives are packed full of vitamin K, which helps to make various proteins that are needed for blood clotting and the building of bones. Endives are also rich in fiber and contain kaempferol, a flavonoid that has shown promising anti-cancer benefits. Pairing beautifully with the endives is celery, a low glycemic index food (won’t cause blood sugar to spike) rich in vitamins and minerals as well.

This dish also features a parsnip and carrot mash, the healthiest version of mashed potatoes you will ever come across. Adding a bit of greek yogurt to the mash gives it the creaminess you’re used to but with added protein and without the calories from butter.

Topped with a homemade apple chutney that brings everything on your plate to life, this Filet with Pan Apple Chutney, Carrot Parsnip Mash & Braised Endive & Celery recipe might become a go-to winter classic in your kitchen. It will certainly mix up your standard routine, if nothing else!

Finally, a note on red meat, since it’s a hot topic right now. We don’t eat a lot of it at the retreat (learn about Mountain Trek’s nutrition tenants), but when we do, we make sure it’s grass-fed organic beef, and ideally from a local farm that is practicing regenerative farming. These cuts can get a bit expensive, but they are worth it; packed full of minerals (iron, zinc, and selenium), vitamins (A, E, B12, and B6), and healthy fats like Omega 3 fatty acids. In fact, replacing saturated fat in grain-fed beef with unsaturated fat in grass-fed beef has been proven to reduce your risk of heart diseases. And further, organic grass-fed beef that comes from a regenerative farm is free from added hormones and antibiotics and has significantly less impact on our environment. For these reasons, we highly recommend maintaining the quality of your meat and reducing the amount, if necessary to work within your budget. And as always, consume red meat in moderation, balancing your diet with plant-based protein as much as possible. A good plant-based substitute for a nice grass-fed filet would be extra firm tofu. We recommend freezing your tofu and then pressing out the moisture. This will allow it to absorb marinades or juices much better, bringing often less-than-exciting tofu to life!

Notes:

• 12 guests made this recipe alongside our chef and nutritionist during a recent Basecamp Weekend Retreat.
• This is the second dinner in our 48-Hour Anti-Inflammatory Meal Plan.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 2 Parsnips
• 2 Carrots
• 4 Belgian endives
• 4 stalks Celery
• Avocado oil (1 tsp. + ½ tsp. used in recipe)
• Apple cider vinegar (1 tsp. + ½ tsp. used in recipe)
• 1 tsp. liquid aminos
• Water (1 C + ½ C used in recipe)
• 1 Shallot
• ½ Apple
• 2 Grass-fed petite filet mignon*
• Kosher sea salt ( ¼ tsp. + ¼ tsp. used in recipe)
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp. Greek yogurt

Cooking Instructions

1. Prepare carrot and parsnip mash— Peel and small dice 2 carrots and 2 parsnips. Cover with water in a small saucepot and bring to a boil.
2. Prepare endive and celery— With 4 endives, remove leaves (use them in our Orange & Fennel Salad with Endives) and a thin slice of the stem to rid of any dryness at the root. Cut the endives in half lengthwise. Now, slice 4 celery stalks on the bias (diagonal). Heat 1 tsp. avocado oil in a medium sauté or straight-sided pan over high heat. Place endives in cut-side down and add celery. Flip endives when browned. Toss to achieve brown on all sides and then add 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp. liquid aminos, and 1 C water. Bring to boil and return to high simmer to braise until tender and liquid is reduced.
3. Prepare pan apple chutney— Small dice 1 shallot and peel and small dice ½ apple and reserve.
4. Finish carrot and parsnip mash— When tender, remove from water and mash together with ¼ tsp. salt and 1 Tbsp. Greek yogurt.
5. Sear Beef— Heat oven to 350 F. Heat sauté pan over high heat. Season both sides of your filets with ¼ tsp. salt. Add ½ tsp. avocado oil to the pan and sear on each side until browned. Place on a sheet pan to finish in the oven. Cook to desired temperature (remove at 135 F in center for medium-rare).
6. Cook pan chutney— place prepared shallot and apple in a small pot or pan with 1 ½ tsp. apple cider vinegar, ½ C water, and 1 tsp. Dijon mustard and bring to a boil. Simmer on high until reduced to a light sauce consistency.
7. Enjoy— plate mash, braised endive, filet, and chutney together.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

If you’re looking for a delicious, nutritious, and healthy meal plan to reset your metabolism and energy levels, you’ve come to the right place. Designed by our classically-trained chef and certified nutritionist, this 48-hour plan covers the entire day, from waking to sleep, and teaches you how to treat food as fuel, eating nutrient-dense ingredients in the correct portion sizes at the optimal times. The result is reduced inflammation, increased energy, weight loss, improved gut health, and balanced hormones.

Notes about this Meal Plan:

• This meal plan is based on a 1,200 calorie/day template for women and a 1,500 calorie/day template for men. The dinner and lunch meals serve 4 so you can share with family or save
• It has been specifically designed to repurpose ingredients across multiple meals to reduce your shopping list and food waste.
• All meals have been crafted so they are easy to make in any home kitchen, yet still full of flavor and beauty.
• The meal plan starts with your first dinner, allowing you to batch-cook some ingredients for use in future meals.
• A shopping list is linked at the bottom of this meal plan.
• A schedule for optimal meal and snack timings is also included at the bottom of this plan.
• This meal plan was made during a recent Basecamp Weekend Retreat, an immersive at-home self-care experience expertly designed and guided by our award-winning team.

Our Healthy Approach to Nutrition

For two decades, we have refined and evolved our approach to nutrition. But the fundamentals remain the same.

1) We treat food as fuel, consuming the right ingredients at the right times to ensure a high metabolic rate, balanced blood sugar levels (energy levels), reduced inflammation, and a healthy, detoxified gut and microbiome. This approach also produces secondary benefits such as improved sleep, reduced cortisol (stress hormone) levels, enhanced fitness, and a stronger immune system.

2) Our meals are properly portioned, with each day’s plan starting at 1,200 calories for women and 1,500 for men. Each meal is what we call a Superplate—an optimal combination of proteins, carbs, and fats that evolves throughout the day dependent upon our energy needs. The ingredients we use are packed full of nutrients, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, and we avoid inflammatory foods.

3) We practice Intermittent Fasting, eating for the first 12 hours of our day, and then not consuming anything other than water for the second 12 hours. Two-thirds of your calories are consumed in the first 9 hours of your waking day, providing ample fuel to your brain and body when it needs it, but allowing your metabolism to taper off as you become less active and prepare for sleep. Aligning our fast around sleep optimizes both our metabolism and natural healing functions. Three primary meals are consumed each day—the traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner—along with two snacks and a morning smoothie. The morning smoothie is consumed immediately upon waking, which breaks our fast, fuels our body and brain, and kick-starts our metabolism. Eating six times in the 12 hour period balances your blood sugar levels, preventing energy crashes (which is when we turn to coffee) as well as blood sugar spikes that lead to diabetes.

We hope you enjoy this 2-day healthy eating meal plan. If you want to experience an entire week eating this way, please consider joining us at our award-winning health retreat.

2-Day healthy eating meal plan

Our 2-day healthy eating meal plan starts by cooking dinner. This allows you to cook a primary meal and batch-cook certain ingredients to be repurposed in subsequent meals. This makes follow-up meals significantly easier, shrinks your shopping list, and eliminates food waste.

This plan will help you produce food that is amazingly delicious, healthy, and beautiful while dramatically increasing your energy, reducing your weight, and calming inflammation.

Dinner #1 – Tomato Braised Chicken Thighs with Spaghetti Squash & Baby Green salad with Nut Butter Vinaigrette

This recipe is a great way to start off the meal plan. It’s easy to make, packed full of nutrients and flavor, and utilizes chicken thighs, which are often overlooked for the breasts but are more forgiving and pack more flavor. In this recipe, you will make a  simple tomato sauce that is packed full of nutrients—when you cook tomatoes, you increase their lycopene content, which is a powerful antioxidant—and is used again for tomorrow’s breakfast, simplifying your morning. To round out this dish, we cook spaghetti squash rubbed with olive oil and serve a simple baby green salad with a homemade nut butter vinaigrette. The nut butter vinaigrette is wonderful to make extra of to use as a vegetable dip or topping. The healthy fat in the nut butter helps support the absorption of the vitamins in the vegetables.

Meal Plan Notes:

• Reserve and store remaining spaghetti squash, tomato sauce, and chicken, separately, for tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch.

Break-the-fast Energizing Morning Smoothie

Drink 1 serving within 30 minutes of waking up. Even though this smoothie is consumed immediately upon waking, it is not your breakfast (we actually recommend drinking it a full hour before eating your actual breakfast). That is why it’s called a break-the-fast smoothie, as it breaks your overnight fast, ignites your metabolism immediately upon waking, and infuses you with nutrient-rich, brain-fueling calories first thing in the morning—all without the hassle of a full-blown breakfast.

Meal Plan Notes:

• You will have this smoothie both mornings. The recipe is for two servings so store the second half for day two.

Breakfast Day 1 – Shakshuka with Sprouted Bread

Trying to eat healthily for breakfast typically results in a lot of repetition. Break the mold with this Shakshuka, a unique, healthy, and simple breakfast that is packed full of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. The spiced tomato sauce works as a tasty vessel to cook your eggs in while sprouted bread on the side is perfect for dipping into the sauce and egg. A truly great way to give your tastebuds a break from the ordinary.

Meal Plan Notes:

• You will size down this recipe, using 2 eggs per serving.
• Use the tomato sauce you made during last night’s dinner.

Lunch Day 1 – Spaghetti Squash & Chicken Salad with Nut Butter Vinaigrette

Now is when we start to reap the rewards of batch-cooking. All you need to do for this beautiful, and healthy lunch is slice some cucumber, place it atop some baby greens and then top with leftover spaghetti squash and chicken from last night’s dinner, and top with the nut butter vinaigrette you have already made, and presto! A healthy lunch in less than 5 minutes.

Dinner #2 – Coconut Curry Shrimp/Whitefish with Buckwheat and Cabbage Slaw with Lemon Vinaigrette

Perched beautifully atop a soft bed of buckwheat, this coconut curry shrimp (or other whitefish) recipe will delight your tastebuds and your metabolism. Packed full of minerals and vitamins, shrimp is also an excellent source of protein. Coupled with a bright and fresh cabbage slaw that isn’t like any other slaw you’ve ever had, this meal has it all.

Meal Plan Notes:

• Reserve and store remaining cooked buckwheat for tomorrow’s breakfast.
• Since you’re already in the kitchen, make tomorrow’s lunch, Beef & Black Bean Chili, at the same time as this recipe.

Breakfast #2 – Warm Buckwheat Breakfast Bowl with Fruit and Nut Butter

Batch-cooking scores another point here. All you need to do for this beautiful, and healthy breakfast is warm up 1 cup of buckwheat, leftover from dinner last night, with some coconut milk and then top with fruit and nut butter. Easy, healthy, and ready in less than 5 minutes.

Lunch #2 – Beef and Black Bean Chili

This simple, healthy chili recipe will not only warm you up but will pack your body full of nutrients and minerals. Black beans are an excellent source of magnesium, an important mineral for many processes in the body, including regulating muscle and nerve function, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure, as well as making protein, bone, and DNA! Cumin and chili powder add a nice dose of flavor to this chili which comes together in minutes.

Meal Plan Notes:

• This recipe makes 4 servings, so you will have leftovers. But don’t fret, this recipe freezes well! Tip: store in pre-portioned containers before freezing for easier reheating and serving.

Meal Plan Snacks

With this meal plan, you eat two snacks each day. These snacks are balanced between carb and protein, portioned correctly, and timed perfectly to ensure your energy levels stay elevated all day long and you avoid any crashes! You can see what the snacks are and when to eat them on the meal plan timing chart below. The snack ingredients are included in the shopping list.

Meal Plan Timing & Portions

We all know that how much you eat is important. What we undervalue is that when you eat is just as important as what you eat when it comes to your health. Spacing your meals across the first 12 hours of your day will balance your blood sugar levels, supplying your body and brain steady energy. You will no longer feel a 2pm energy crash or random cravings eating this way. Below is a chart that will give you proper potion sizes and an idea of how to time your meals and snacks for optimal results.

Shopping List

This plan reuses ingredients in multiple recipes, shrinking the size of your shopping list.

When shopping, you are always presented with a choice between conventional and organic. And now, you are presented with additional options like free-range and grass-fed. We always recommend choosing organic, sustainably-grown ingredients from a local farm. These ingredients have less toxins from fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, and have more nutrients from healthy soil. While these ingredients are often more expensive, they give your body much-needed nutrients and offer you the best chance of living a long, healthy, and happy life—something that is hard to put a price tag on.

Cook these meals alongside our chef and nutritionist

If these meals intimidate you, consider joining one of our Basecamp weekend retreats, where you can cook these meals alongside our chef and nutritionist! From Friday afternoon through Sunday, our expert team, including our chef, nutritionist, yoga instructor, kinesiologist, and program director, will guide you through an immersive program specifically designed—and proven—to dramatically improve your health physically, mentally, and emotionally. Through proper nutrition, movement, nature immersion, and more, you’ll spend the weekend reversing the effects of aging, stress, and overworking, and emerge feeling refreshed, recharged, and back in control.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

This recipe is the first lunch in our 2-day Healthy Meal Plan, a 48-hour nutrition plan developed by our chef and nutritionist to give you a metabolic reset. The plan covers the entire day, from waking to sleep, and teaches you how to treat food as fuel, eating nutrient-dense ingredients in the correct portion sizes at the optimal times. The result is reduced inflammation, increased energy, weight loss, improved gut health, and balanced hormones.

Ingredients (Serves 1)

• ⅓ C reserved roasted spaghetti squash
• 4 oz women/5 oz men reserved tomato braised chicken thighs
• 1.5 – 2 C baby greens
• 6-8 slices cucumber
• 2 Tbsp. nut butter vinaigrette

Prep Instructions

1. Slice cucumber (6-8 slices). Place atop a bed of baby greens (1.5 – 2 C).
2. Pull chicken apart (4 oz women, 5 oz men), and add to salad with 1/3 C spaghetti squash.
3. Drizzle 2 Tbsp nut butter vinaigrette on top and enjoy!

Notes:

• This recipe does not stand alone. Please enjoy it as part of our 2-day Healthy Meal Plan.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below: