Fall Harvest Recipes | Clean Eating With Biokleen

ARTICLE POSTED BY ROBIN PLOTNIK OF @WHATROBINEATS

Robin Plotnik is the founder of What Robin Eats, as a certified nutritionist, and personal trainer she chronicles her passion for a healthy lifestyle. When she's not writing nutrition plans for her clients or creating recipes in the kitchen, she can be found spending time with her daughter and husband. For a daily dose of family fun, healthy recipes, and mommy tips, follow her on Instagram at @WhatRobinEats. 

The funny thing about cooking two epic fall recipes in one day with a toddler is the amount of mess that is created. I like to encourage Poppy to get involved with the cleaning process of cooking just as much as I do the actual cooking itself. We even have a fun song that we sing when we’re cleaning. It gets goofy real quick around here but it makes us all so happy! Plus the mess gets cleaned up so I’ll sing all the songs she wants. Ha!

Poppy and I teamed up with Biokleen to create two new fall recipes for you to make this season. We made the most delicious Roasted Sweet Potato, Date, and Kale salad topped with Pumpkin Seeds and baked an Apple Cake with Cream Cheese frosting. Both are packed with nutritious ingredients and are sure to please the whole fam!

Biokleen cleaning products are at the top of my list when cleaning my home. For these recipes I used their Biokleen Produce Wash to wash all our produce, Biokleen Free & Clean Dish Liquid to clean our dirty dishes, and Biokleen All-Purpose Cleaner Concentrate to clean the counters for that sparkly clean feeling. All Biokleen products are packaged in numbers 1 (polyethylene terephthalate) and 2 (high-density polyethylene) plastics, since they are the most commonly accepted by curbside programs and have a low risk of product leaching. Their products are plant and mineral-based plus they are free of phosphates, chlorine, ammonia, petroleum solvents, alcohol, butyl, glycol ether, brighteners, artificial colors, artificial fragrance. All of these things I try to avoid when choosing products to clean my home and wash my produce, especially when Poppy is involved! Now who’s ready to feast?! Let’s get to cooking.

ROASTED SWEET POTATO, DATE, AND KALE SALAD (MAKES TWO SALADS):

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat your oven to 425F Line a small baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray or a little olive oil. Set aside.
• Wash all your product in the Biokleen Produce Wash as directed on the back of the bottle. This was fun for Poppy to get involved with too. I let her place the produce into the water filled with Biokleen Produce Wash and we talked about what was going on while the produce soaked.
• After this process is finished, chop your sweet potato into small chunks. In a large bowl, toss the chopped sweet potato, dash of sea salt, dash of pepper, and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil together. Evenly spread out sweet potato chunks onto the prepared baking sheet and roast for 40-45 minutes, or until the sweet potato chunks are crispy. You’ll want to toss the sweet potatoes half way through cooking.
• In the same large bowl, add the kale, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, pepper, and ½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. Massage the kale with your hands until the kale becomes nice and tender. This should take 2-4 minutes.
• Once the sweet potatoes are done cooking, let cool slightly before tossing it together with the massaged kale, chopped dates, and pumpkin seeds. Use as a side dish or as the main course.

Now onto my favorite part of any meal, dessert! Don’t be fooled, this cake is packed with nutritious ingredients and you’ll be so proud when your toddler and husband ask for seconds.

APPLE CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup almond flour
¼ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup coconut sugar (or more light brown sugar)
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon turmeric
Pinch of sea salt
1 cup shredded apple (roughly two small apples), moisture removed
¼ cup nonfat plain greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup milk of choice
⅓ cup maple syrup
2 tablespoon coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs

FROSTING:

½ cup nonfat plain greek yogurt
½ cup fat-free cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons monkfruit powdered sugar
 

OPTIONAL TOPPING:
 

• Crushed nuts of choice, I used raw pumpkin seeds
   

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat your oven to 350F and spray an 8x12 pan with nonstick spray. Poppy and I used a circular spring form pan but you can use a rectangular pan. I also suggest lining the bottom with parchment paper.
• Wash your apples with Biokleen Produce Wash as directed on the back of the bottle. Dry after cleaning and shred the apples. Place the apple shreds between a few paper towels to soak most of the moisture out. We had to do this a few times!
• Add all the dry cake ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.
• Combine all the wet ingredients in a separate mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet.
• Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Make the frosting while your apple cake bakes. Place all frosting ingredients in a medium size bowl and use an electric mixer to whip all the ingredients together until smooth.
• Remove your apple cake from the oven and let cool completely before frosting. Top the frosting with your favorite crushed nuts if desired and enjoy!

Now for the fun, or not so fun part, cleaning up our cooking mess! I try to clean as I go but with a toddler by my side it doesn't always happen. I do the dishes using Biokleen Free & Clear Dish Liquid while Poppy uses a clean rag to wipe on random surfaces of our kitchen. This distracts her long enough until I’m ready to clean our counters with Biokleen All-Purpose Cleaner Concentrate. Poppy helps wipe the counters after I spray the cleaner and it’s so cute to see how excited she gets to “clean like mama”. Make sure to click the link to find out more about Biokleen products! The products are not only safe to use around children and pets, but they actually work. That’s a winning combo in my book!