It’s the start of a new week and that means there’s a new ingredient challenge. And this week it’s the most basic fall ingredient of them all. Hello, pumpkin! Pumpkin’s incredibly versatile and I urge you to explore with it this week. It’s great in sweet and savory dishes and it’s rich in vitamin A, potassium, vitamin C, and fiber. You can’t go wrong with this one.

The ingredient challenge this week was black beans so I decided to work on my baking skills. I’ve never been the best at baking with protein powder, and I gave up for some time because it gets quite expensive if you have to continually throw away batches and batches of food. But I decided it was time to experiment again.

Sometimes, folks are so busy that can’t spend a few hours in the kitchen a week to food prep. Or, they aren’t Master Chefs (yet). I went scouring through the frozen foods section of a few grocery stores and found some quick go-to options. My hope is that these options alleviate some stress and help you guys with time management.

Anyone can benefit from this guide, whether you are vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or you just want to incorporate a meatless Monday.

Who doesn’t like Chicken Pad Thai?! Check out this easy recipe!

Quick, easy, and yummy Chia Seed Pudding.

Another recipe… this time it’s Vanilla Greek Yogurt Fruit Dip!

Tex-Mex and American Mexican food was not part of my childhood. My parents were not a fan of it. Weird I know. The closest thing I got to Mexican food was the pre-packaged hard shell Ortega meal kits. They had bright yellow cheese, taco seasoning packets, and this watery red salsa/hot sauce packets. It was delicious! I could easily take down 5 or 10 tacos. I was a growing boy and needed lots of fuel ok! We rarely had this treatment as it was an expensive item for our family. It took a few meal kits to provide one meal. It was a once in a while treat that I truly enjoyed. This was my entry point. I had no idea there was so much more to the cuisine.

When you’re in a deficit liquid calories can be a killer. I’ve removed pretty much all liquid calories from my daily meals. Which means protein shakes are no longer in the rotation. I needed a way to add more protein to my day instead of eating more steak or chicken. Don’t get me wrong, I love steak but ya know its expensive and I need some variety. Enter protein yogurt.

We decided to have a pumpkin recipe challenge at work with our Black Iron Nutrition clients. I was excited and up for the challenge. I decided I wanted to make a high protein pumpkin bar. We got all kinds of healthy delicious ingredients, and then Krissy and I went to work in the kitchen trying to develop the perfect fall treat.