Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream {Dairy-Free, Vegan}

Pumpkin Pie. Coconut milk. Ice cream. Warm "autumn" spices.

I can't even pick which of those four things is my favorite, I love them all. So, when all four were combined into an incredibly tasty, cool dessert during the heat wave we experienced earlier this month, I was a happy camper.
And it explains why I have not one photo, not even a cell phone pic, of this frozen treat. We devoured each serving in such a happy daze of ice cream bliss, that no one thought to get the camera. We even made a second batch recently - no physical evidence of that either.
Enough said?
Try this ASAP!  :)

Homemade [Dairy Free, Vegan] Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

What you need:

• 2 cups pumpkin puree - I used canned Libby brand. Trader Joe's is another good option
• One can full-fat coconut milk - approximately 2 cups
• 1/3-1/2 cup pure maple syrup (sweeten to your liking)
• 1-2 teaspoons each: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger or 1-2 TB pumpkin pie spice (season to the flavor intensity you prefer)

What you do:

Pour pumpkin puree and coconut milk into blender or large food processor, and mix for 20-30 seconds to combine well. Drizzle in maple syrup through the top while it continues to mix. Stop machine, add in spices and blend another 20 seconds to ensure all the flavors are evenly distributed.
Pour into ice cream maker and process for 25 minutes (or otherwise noted in instruction manual).
Enjoy!

Red [Brown] & Blue Berry Muffins!

Just in time for the 4th of July, here is a recipe for Red and Blue colored muffins, free of gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, refined sugar, legumes, and very low in grains...

These muffins are delicious. Soft, moist (though a bit crumbly) in texture, the chestnut flour gives them a warm nutty flavor while the blueberries sweeten and the raspberries give a little tang. They are an achievement I'm most proud of!

I have tested this recipe three different times, changing at least one ingredient each time. The last test was done using mini-cupcake liners and my new mini cupcake tin I purchased in prep for Victory's first birthday.
They turned out well each time, which tells me that they are nearly foolproof muffins. It helps (and somehow feels more decadent) to eat them with a spoon in a little bowl; this way you're sure to get every last crumb in your mouth too!

This version I'm sharing with you was my third experiment. It uses the highest ratio of Chestnut flour, I'm guessing this is why these were the darkest in color of the three versions. It also uses the lowest amount of grains, so that's why I picked it to share. If you're interested in the other two (just as delicious) versions using rice flour and tapioca flour, comment and I will post them.

This recipe came about a few weeks back, when there was literally nothing to eat in our kitchen but a few ingredients. A few gluten free flours I wanted to get rid of, frozen berry blend mix from Costco, and part of a bag of Chestnut flour leftover from my birthday Carrot Cake Cupcakes. I pulled my Flying Apron Baking Book off the shelf and found a recipe for "Maple Berry Muffins." I modified it to be as Primal, grain-free and low-sugar as possible, and three baking sessions later, here are these muffins.

These taste so good, and look so pretty, that they may be making an appearance at Victory's 1st birthday party next month, complete with fresh blackberries from our garden! I hope you enjoy them as much as we have (that includes me, Hubs, my mom, our friends, our friends' kids, our neighbors... they are crowd pleasers)!

Red (Brown) & Blue Berry Muffins

Makes 10-12 traditional size muffins, 24+ mini muffins

What you need:

1 1/2 cups chestnut flour, such as Dowd & Rogers
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1+ cup water
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup grapeseed oil or olive oil
1/3 cup pure organic maple syrup OR 1/4 cup maple sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger, optional
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup fresh/frozen raspberries
1/2 cup fresh/frozen blueberries

*I have been reading Michael Ruhlman's Ratio, and I have to say, it pains me to list out these measurements for you, knowing that if they were weights instead, you'd be essentially guaranteed a perfect muffin. My blog may turn into a recipe-by-ratio, baking-by-weight destination in the future, because I am really loving that concept. In the meantime, go with your gut. Baking without gluten really isn't so intimidating or risky, just pay attention to the texture of your batter and have fun! That is what it's really about :)

What you do:


Preheat oven to 365 degrees. Prepare your muffin tin, using festive paper liners.
In small-medium mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Using stand mixer, whisk together liquid ingredients on low until blended.
Slowly add dry ingredients to liquid mix, on medium speed, until smooth. Add water if mixture seems to need more liquid. Batter will be runny, similar to pancake batter, or a slightly watery brownie batter.
Scoop 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Depending upon how much water used, you will get 10 to 12 traditionally sized muffins.
Drop berries (can be frozen still) on top of batter in each muffin cup.
Bake until golden and tops are slightly firm to touch. It took 20 minutes for my traditional size muffins to bake (check at 15), and less than 10 minutes for the mini muffins (check at 5 minutes).

Note: Don't stress too much about getting them perfectly done. The beauty of baking without eggs is that even if your muffins turn out to be not quite done, they won't hurt you!

Enjoy! (I know you will!)

These would be delicious set on top of a small bowl of coconut milk ice cream... Excuse me while I steal away to my kitchen to see if I have what's needed to make that happen ;)

Have a festive 4th of July with family, friends, fireworks, or whatever else helps you celebrate all that our nation's freedom has given you. We are so blessed to live in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Happy birthday America!

California Summer Avocado Pie

Today I am featuring a recipe from an outside source: the above pictured California Summer Avocado Pie via the  California Avocado Commission. It comes from their website, avocado.org. I got their monthly email this week, and it is chock full of summer recipes using beautiful California Avocados. Don't worry, you can be in the loop too! Sign up for their emails and check out more recipes here.

Source: avocado.org

Okay, does this summer pie not look absolutely decadent and creamy - and yet also light and refreshing? The perfect treat for the summer ahead- reward yourself after a day of hard work in the yard, or share with friends at an afternoon BBQ. Whatever the occasion, with the right substitutions this pie won't hurt you; it's full of good things!

First, let's establish a fact: Avocados are wonderful. You can cut one open and snack on it in slices or with a spoon, just plain like you would any other fruit. Make guacamole in minutes (delicious on top of a burger or chicken) by mashing one with a bit of water -or lime juice if you can eat citrus-, minced jalapeno, and a dash of salt. Avocados are a lovely and satisfying replacement for dairy in your diet - they add smooth, cool flavor to spicy Mexican food and provide a delicious creamy topping to burgers ... they thicken and enrich the texture of smoothies... Avocados make all sorts of desserts, even pudding! (Have you seen this tip before? Blend avocado, banana, and cocoa powder, and you've got chocolate pudding that's the perfect texture, nutritious and free of gluten, dairy, eggs and sugar!)

Best of all, avocados give you a healthy dose of anti-inflammatory, good fats. For this reason, avocados have been a God-send to me while I've been exclusively breastfeeding and experiencing occasional malabsorption issues from UC flares.Thank you, avocados! Read more about the nutritional benefits of these green beauties here: Alligator Pear Benefits.

Avocado Pie

I won't write out the ingredients or full recipe, because they are quite simple and listed clearly - just follow the link to the recipe. However, I am thinking the recipe needs just a few tweaks to make it Paleo - here are my suggestions:

• Replace sweetened condensed milk with full-fat coconut milk
• Lime juice and zest could be more delicious than lemon!
• You can omit the graham-cracker crust altogether and pour the avocado mixture right into a glass pie pan or individual ramekins, and rename this "Avocado Custard" :)
• or, make a Paleo-approved crust. You can make up your own very easily by trying different ingredients. One option is to blend coconut oil, almond or hazelnut meal, and maple syrup until you have the right consistency, pack mixture into pie pan, bake for a couple minutes to crisp and brown.
• Nix the whipped cream
• Garnish with nuts if desired and lime zest curls for a pretty decoration!

Now it's time for pie :)

Jumping Off the Wagon

You guys, I've jumped off the wagon for a few days. No, not by eating gluten, dairy, or even soy or eggs - I can't ever eat those things. Still no garlic or citrus or pineapple - that would not be good. Nothing I know will outright cause allergic reactions. I went to the store and bought a basket full of treats and snacks, and some of them are very definitely NOT Paleo. I needed some help getting me through this hungry/exhausted/frustrated/completely baffled week. Here's what I got:

Yes there are some grains in there (rice). And some outright un-Paleo, unhealthy, completely junk-filled Swedish fish. But the rest is not half bad right?  :)

See? I'm not perfect in any respect, and eating Paleo full time while trying to take care of your family and home, breastfeeding a nine-month-old, dealing with chronic illness daily "stuff," and freakish allergic reactions - well it just doesn't always work out.

Do you know how hard it is to find grain-free snacks that do not contain garlic? I would be all over some beef jerky, but it's got garlic. I ran into garlic or the vague "spices" term listed on so many ingredient labels. What is the deal with that?

Somehow, I got "glutened" or ingested some other allergen the other day. I am still completely baffled as to what it was. I know something happened because I had the worst reaction I've ever had - brain fog, complete and total exhaustion physically, emotional ups and downs, itchy, sinus stuffiness, joint pains, headache... Oh was it HORRIBLE! Hubs and I have been calling and looking up the manufacturer information for the foods we ate and still haven't come across a clue. (By the way, Kraft customer service is VERY nice! We called them about some uncured Oscar Mayer bacon -nope, it wasn't that-, and Hubs was on the phone for fifteen minutes including speaking with an executive! Go Kraft, you really are trying hard to be accommodating and sensitive to those with food restrictions!)

But it's been a tough couple of days. Whatever this was it threw my guts into a flare up and I have felt more than ever before that I am not absorbing anything from what I've been eating. Just getting up and walking across our tiny house feels like dragging a cart full of boulders behind me. I don't know how much it affects my energy level when in a flare like that, but I am still breastfeeding as well and I was dreading feeding Victory each time, because of how exhausted I felt. And that's not something I want to be feeling!

So.

I jumped off the wagon. I bought some food I can grab right out of the cupboard. And a few treats to boot. And I'm only sharing this so you see that I too, am human. I am learning that, particularly with Autoimmune disease and following the Paleo AIP, it doesn't matter as much that you're eating "perfectly," as much as it matters that you are dealing with stress and not putting unhealthy pressure on yourself. So this is my little vacation off the perfect Paleo highway, and I'll enjoy it, and get back to grain-free, crap-sugar-free soon.
I'm okay with that :)

Do you ever take a break from something in your life? "Jump off a wagon" that you intentionally were on to pursue health?
Sometimes it's more important to give ourselves grace and a little break, as long as we're still keeping health in mind. Pursuing health, especially when you have autoimmune disease, is a life-long journey, full of ups and downs and adjustments. What is important is to keep moving forward and brush off the guilt and tough moments.

Easy Egg-Free Turkey Loaf

It's finally the month of May! I love May, I always have. It's my birthday month, it's my second birthday [liver transplant] month, and now I get to celebrate Mother's Day in May too! And I remember as a kid, knowing when May rolled around that the sun was going to return to the Northwest and the school year was winding down. Happy thoughts!
But apparently the sun didn't get the memo this year... We have been having a terrible run of rain, wind, and COLD weather here. It's been a little disappointing. One of our local farmers' markets opened yesterday, and I kept looking out the window thinking of those poor vendors in the blustery cold wet street. Come on, spring, we need ya!
Anyway, this weather has called for some comfort food. I made a simple turkey loaf (egg-free!) the other day that has flavors hinting at Thanksgiving. Ironically, as soon as it was out of the oven the sun came out for a bit. That made me see that while this dish is hearty enough to be satisfying and warming, it is light enough for a picnic lunch in the spring and summer time.
Enjoy slices hot or cold, with a salad and sweet potato fries on the side. Yum!

Easy Egg-Free Turkey Loaf


What you need:
1+ pound 99% lean ground turkey breast*
2 leeks, white parts only (save green parts for making stock)
2-4 celery stalks, ends cut off (save leaves and ends for stock)
dried marjoram
ground sage
dried thyme
fresh ground black pepper
sea salt

*I suggest Trader Joe's brand. It tastes great and has NO additives. Be very careful when buying pre-ground meats; I've noticed many brands have "natural flavorings" listed in tiny print on the label, and that often means they have GLUTEN and other icky stuff!

What you do:
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Get out your favorite (smallish) loaf pan - I used my glass Pyrex 8.5x5.

Wash and trim your celery ribs and leeks. Slice the leek whites into small 1-2" sections. Do the same with the celery ribs. Put sections into food processor and pulse until minced and mixed together. If you don't have a food processor, simply mince by hand. Transfer minced veg into a large mixing bowl.

Grab your spices and start adding them in the mixing bowl. You guys know, I am not a stickler for precise measurements; I believe you should adjust seasonings to your own tastes and experiment - it builds confidence in the kitchen. You won't mess it up, because every time you cook it's a learning experience!
But to give you an idea, I'd say I added approximately 1/2 tablespoon each of marjoram, thyme, and sage, and about four turns of the pepper mill and a pinch of sea salt.
Note: When you add the marjoram and thyme, scoop the leaves into one palm and rub your palms together over the bowl. This releases the flavors.
Give everything in the bowl a good stir to blend.

For this next step, you'll want to remove any rings and bracelets you are wearing. Unwrap your ground turkey and transfer it to the mixing bowl. With both hands, start blending the turkey, minced leek and celery, and spices. Knead and mash it together gently until the turkey seems evenly seasoned.

Transfer the turkey to your loaf pan. Gently press it down to make the top surface flat - there is your turkey loaf! Put the pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes; check; continue to bake for 10-15 more minutes as needed.* It is done when the top is starting to brown and the juices are running clear. Remove from oven, cover with foil and let sit for 10 minutes. Slice, serve, and enjoy!



*Note: Because I used a glass loaf pan, which conducts heat differently than metal, if you are using a metal pan your baking time will probably differ. When you make this for the first time, you'll want to stick nearby the kitchen and keep an eye on the loaf to assure it doesn't over cook.


Other Suggestions: This dish is perfect as one of those "cleaning out the refrigerator" recipes because you can add a variety of vegetables and seasonings to take it in different flavor directions...

• To enhance the Thanksgiving flavors, add some small dice of butternut squash or sweet potatoes and top with turkey gravy (homemade turkey stock + coconut flour)
• If you can tolerate nightshades, perhaps try an Italian version with minced bell peppers, small dice eggplant, shredded zucchini and Italian seasoning, with homemade Marinara tomato sauce
• Pesto version with pureed basil, garlic, chopped pine nuts and olive oil
• The possibilities are endless... What ideas do YOU have? Please share :)

White Wine Roast Chicken and Vegetables

There's nothing like the smell of roast chicken permeating your home to get your appetite going. My family enjoyed this experience last night. I had a whole chicken in the refrigerator that needed to be used, and white wine gravy was calling my name. I made up a recipe, and thought I'd better share it here because it turned out a success.
If you're home today enjoying a relaxed family day, or tomorrow will be your slow-paced Sunday, try roasting a chicken. The smell and taste won't disappoint! You can save the bones and make a batch of nutritious, tasty bone broth - great way to get the most out of your food budget!


What you need:

Whole chicken, giblets removed and rinsed in/out
Sea salt
Black pepper
Sage
White wine like Chardonnay (nothing fancy, I love using the $2.49 "Two Buck Chuck" from Trader Joe's)

What you do:

Preheat oven to 450. Place chicken in a roasting pan with wings and legs tucked underneath. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a dash of sage. Pour white wine around chicken in pan, about 1/3 bottle.

When oven reaches 450 degrees, put the chicken in the oven and let it brown and crisp on top for fifteen to twenty minutes.

It will look like this. Beautiful!

Now lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Grab a pot holder/oven mitt, pull the oven rack out a bit [carefully!], and baste the chicken all over with the white wine/drippings. I like to baste it five times or more. Close the oven and let it go for twenty minutes, then pull out the oven rack and baste, again.
Repeat this once more - twenty minutes of roasting, then baste. Check the thigh temperature with a meat thermometer. If it reads 170 or higher, you can take the chicken out of the oven. If it's not, put it back in for ten more minutes, and check again.
Once temperature is 170 degrees, take out of the oven, cover the roasting pan with foil and let sit for fifteen minutes. Remove the foil and check the temp. The thigh should be 180 degrees.

Voila! You roasted a beautiful delicious chicken!

At this point you can cut up the chicken into eight pieces - 2 thighs, 2 legs/drumsticks, 2 breasts, 2 wings. For help in doing this, check out this step by step: How to Carve a Roasted Chicken
Also, there are many videos demonstrating this culinary skill on YouTube.


This chicken can be served with steamed vegetables and if you like, white wine gravy* for a lovely dinner. Enjoy your meal!

Chicken and veggies - one of the best

*To make gravy, pour the wine/drippings into a small saucepan over low heat. In a small bowl, make a "slurry" with one teaspoon cornstarch and 1/4 cup water. Mix slurry with a fork, and add to the saucepan of warm drippings. Continue to whisk this mixture together while it heats. When it is thickened to the consistency you like, it's ready. Pour over your chicken and veg, and enjoy.

"Samoa" Cookies

A few months back I saw a great recipe at beautiful Real Sustenance blog: Gluten Free Samoa Cookies. (Grain/Egg/Corn/Soy/Dairy/Refined Sugar Free). Samoa cookies have always been my favorite, dating back to my year as a Junior Girl Scout. If you've ever read the label though, like me, you know that they are not very good for you. So I was very excited to find Brittany's recipe over at Real Sustenance, and saved it for a later date. Check out the recipe here.

I finally had the chance to make these cookies yesterday with a good friend. They weren't exactly like original Samoa, but they were EXCELLENT cookies, even compared with traditional cookies made with wheat flour and butter. We used spring themed cookie cutters - a flower, a tulip and butterfly. If I get the chance to make these again some day, I will just keep it simple with a circle cutter, because the shapes get covered by the blobs of caramel and you can't tell what they are underneath the delicious toppings. The shapes made it more festive though, so I'm still glad we did that.

The caramel is so delicious, the fact that you can't tell these are tulips, flowers and butterflies doesn't really matter!

First, I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Shortbread mix to make the base cookies. It was one of the last grain items left in my kitchen, so it needed to be used up. This made my cookies gluten free but not grain free. However, they are free of soy, dairy and egg.

I made the shortbread cookies with substitutions for the ingredients called for on the recipe on the bag, which called for butter, water and an egg yolk.

I used the new Spectrum butter flavored palm shortening in place of butter or soybean oil shortening, and instead of egg yolk I mixed a heaping tablespoon of golden flax meal with 1/8 cup warm water, into a yolky-textured gel. I had to add water throughout mixing the dough, to get it to the right texture to roll out flat, but they turned out very well - if a bit hard. The golden flecks of flax meal in the white cookies looks pretty.

Once the shortbread cookies were cooled, I made the caramel. The original recipe had several options for each ingredient - what a blessing when you have dietary restrictions! I made it with the following:

• 3/4 cup organic virgin coconut oil
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar (another item in the small "gotta get rid of this" section of my cupboard!)
• 1/4 cup agave
• half can of canned, preservative-free coconut milk (I LOVE Taste Nirvana!)

I was surprised at how long it took to get the caramel past 200 degrees; it was a stubborn pot that didn't want to boil! But finally after about 30 minutes, the candy thermometer was creeping up and we had our caramel. It was delicious! I think it's pretty neat that you can make caramel dairy-free, and I want to make it again for a special occasion to top coconut ice cream.

For the chocolate topping, we used Enjoy Life allergen-free mini chocolate chips (those things are AWESOME!) and my unsweetened coconut flakes were organic, small shreds from the bulk section of Whole Foods that we toasted on parchment paper in the oven for about 5 minutes

A tulip

It was definitely worth it to finally try out this recipe. I would love to repeat it every year around Girl Scout Cookie time, so I feel less left out. It's good to treat yourself once in a while :)

Happy Spring! Are you as thrilled as I am that it's finally here?!

A Very Hypoallergenic Afternoon :)

Recently, my husband and I received the gift of an afternoon out together, just the two of us. And how did we choose to spend it? We were out of town, and took the opportunity to visit some places we don't have at home: first, a stop at a gluten-free, vegan bakery for coffee and a treat, and then: wandering the aisles of Whole Foods for several hours, filling our cart with beautiful and hard to find where we live whole foods. (No pun intended!) Can you tell by our choice of date locales, that we love food AND eating this way?

The afternoon was so ... wonderful!

At the bakery, it took me a good ten minutes to decide what to get, as I told the clerk "I'm so overwhelmed that I can eat all of these things; I can't decide!" That was a wonderful problem to have :)
I finally decided upon a Linzer cookie, because it had more hazelnut meal flour than anything else - the closest to grain-free that I could get. I ordered a gingerbread hemp milk latte to go along with my cookie. Hubs ordered an almond milk latte and a berry scone. We sat at the bar in the window and thoroughly enjoyed our desserts and coffee. Oh, was the Linzer cookie a delight. Crispy crunchy sugary melt-in-your-mouth bites, and sweet sticky raspberry jam. Recreating that cookie is now on my ever-growing list of food to-do's!

I am so grateful for people who get inspired - either by personal necessity or for the people they love - and start businesses catering to us Celiacs and allergic. They possibly don't know how much it means to be able to enjoy an afternoon in a coffee shop or bakery with no worries of having a reaction to the experience. That's something I took for granted until I couldn't do it anymore!

My favorite picks from Whole Foods are:

• two jars of ghee (casein- and lactose-free clarified butter, made from organic cow's milk). I've heard that many dairy-allergics like me can safely have ghee. I have high hopes I'll be in that category too!
• two types of bulk dried coconut - organic medium shred, and conventional unsulphured wide chip. I love sprinkling these on my sweet potatoes and orange winter squashes
• organic chicken livers - Hubs gave me the O.K. to grind these up and add to a meatloaf, so he won't know they are in it but will get the nutritional benefits. Can't wait to try that!

What a fun and totally hypoallergenic afternoon it was. One for the happy-memories bank in my head :)

Fast Food Mondays: Breakfast Scramble

I've had Fast Food Mondays (my first themed series!) on the brain since it debuted way back at the beginning of February. (Did anyone try making those salmon croquettes? They are delicious. We've made them somewhere around ten times at our house since that first try. Yum!)

Today we're back looking at another way to prepare good, fast food on the most hectic day of the week - Monday! This recipe is a breakfast-y meal but it can be eaten morning, noon or night and you'll be satisfied. It is like an omelet, but without the eggs!

My husband gets the credit for coming up with this. One day I needed to eat before an appointment, and was racing around the house getting ready. Hubs knows I need protein in the morning and like to get started on my daily veggie intake with breakfast (he also obviously knows that I cannot have eggs). He came up with this "scramble" idea, and I just made a repeat to test out for all of you. Mix up the components according to what meats are in your 'fridge and what veggies are in season.

Egg-less Breakfast Scramble

What you need:

Zucchini, washed and sliced*

Baby spinach*

Basil (dried works fine; fresh is a treat)

Onion, diced

Black Forest ham (nitrate/nitrite free, gluten free) or other favorite meat, sliced/shredded

EVOO or grapeseed oil

*preferably organic, as these are two things that tend to have high pesticide levels when grown conventionally

What you do:

Heat oil in a skillet over medium low to medium heat. Toss in zucchini slices to get them cooking. Sprinkle with basil (about half a teaspoon to start; add more as you cook, to taste). A couple minutes later, when zucchini slices start to soften, add in diced onion. Toss everything together and continue cooking. When the onions are turning translucent, add in the ham and spinach leaves (tear them if you want truly bite size) and give everything a good stir to blend the flavors.

It is done when everything is warm, the zucchini and onion is tender, and the spinach leaves have wilted. Give it a taste. Sidenote: you should always taste while you cook; seasoning food is not science, and unless you're baking, there are no hard and fast rules ;)

Add more basil if you feel it needs it, and a sprinkle of sea salt to bring out the flavors - but not much when using ham, because it's already salty!

Did I forget anything? I hope not. I've been dealing with a hefty amount of brain fog for a few days. 

So here you go: a complete breakfast (lunch or dinner) meal from pan to plate in ten minutes or less.

Here's a picture of my breakfast plate, of course sitting next to my usual almond-almond latte and my morning meds and supplements...

...Don't judge me - most of that is Vitamin D, which does wonders for us up here in the Pacific NW  :)

I hope this helps someone out there that, like me, misses omelets terribly due to an egg allergy. Just take your favorite omelet components and try it without the egg as a "scramble." And let me know how it turns out; I'd love to hear your ideas!

Happy [Fast Food] Monday everyone!

Buffalo Buorguignon

Have you seen "Julie & Julia?" Remember the cute story about Bouef Bourguignon, and the scenes where Amy Adams is cooking the dish and it just looks so beautiful and delicious? The movie played it up to be so romantic. Well, I won't lie: I want to make some. It's on my "cooking bucket list." Anyone else have one of those? No? I know, I'm a food nerd. I like it that way  :)

When I saw a recipe for slow cooker "Beef Bourguignon" at Crock Pot 365 [my favorite place to find gluten free, slow cooker inspiration] and saw that it was completely do-able as a gluten free, dairy free, paleoish meal, I got excited! I knew I'd found a simple way to see if I liked the flavors of a Bourguignon roast before attempting the more intense Julia Child recipe, and it just so happened that we had buffalo stew meat in the freezer. I gave it a whirl and I have to say, I was delighted at how much the Hubs and I enjoyed it. The flavors came together very nicely in the slow cooker, the meat was tender and not gamey in the least. Delectable! You must get your hands on some buffalo stew meat and try this!

Slow Cooked Buffalo Bourguignon

adapted from Crock Pot 365's Beef Bourguignon

What you need:

1 pound buffalo stew meat pieces (grass fed beef would work)

4 slices uncured bacon

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 cup chopped carrots

2 tsp Tuscan style Italian seasoning (Herbs de Provence if you're a stickler for the traditional)*

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

2 cups red wine (I used "Two Buck Chuck" Charles Shaw Merlot from Trader Joe's)

*I looked up Herbs de Provence planning to make my own. It is a blend of basil, fennel, marjoram, rosemary, savory, thyme, and sometimes lavender. When I got to my spice cabinet I discovered that the McCormick Tuscan Style Italian Seasoning from Costco was very close and used that instead. It is a blend of thyme, garlic, marjoram, onion, rosemary, oregano, basil, savory and sage.

What you do:

I used my 3 quart slow cooker. Make whatever size you have work; this is casual slow cooking :)

Lay two slices of bacon in the bottom of your slow cooker. Top with onion slices. Put stew meat into crock on top of onions and bacon, and sprinkle on seasonings.

Lay remaining two slices bacon over the meat, and top with the carrots.

Carefully pour red wine over everything in the crock.

Cover and set to "High," and let it heat up until you can smell the wine in the air. Change the temp setting to "Low" and cook until meat reaches desired doneness (it took 3 to 4 hours here - I forgot to write down the exact time). If you like, you can take the lid off partway through cooking and stir everything, but then you will need to plan on some more time for cooking. Dish is ready when the carrots are tender and the meat is cooked to your desired doneness.

Serve with steamed Normandy vegetables drizzled with olive oil, and gravy. Make gravy by whisking together a little bit of juice from the slow cooker with a tablespoon of thickener such as cornstarch in a small bowl, then add it to the rest of the juices simmering in a small saucepan and whisk until thickened.

As Julia would say, "Bon apetit!"

Dinner

Leftovers for lunch

Speaking of Julia, here she is, cooking her famous Bouef Bourguignon on the very first episode of "The French Chef." So much cooking wisdom in these twenty eight minutes. What a neat lady she was...

How to: Spaghetti Squash

Whether you're going Paleo or simply deciding to pick up more whole, colorful foods every time you shop - your choosing to do that opens up many new windows of opportunity to try new or forgotten foods you probably wouldn't have picked up otherwise. On that note: have you experienced Spaghetti squash?  If not, I think you should give it a try.

Hello sunshine!

It's popular in the diet crowd [sigh] as a substitute for pasta noodles. I don't like to think of it as a "substitute." I want to embrace it for what it is: a unique, delicious vegetable, full of nutrients and beautiful pigment. It happens to resemble a man-made creation (noodles) but squash was here first. So... the real truth is that pasta wants to be spaghetti squash, right?  :)

Another selling point of squash - it is very affordable! I picked up two HUGE spaghetti squashes a couple weeks ago for just $2, because they were down to 20 cents a pound at the produce stand! Score!

Once cooked, the squash strands ("noodles") are moist and soft but have a delightful "crunch" when you're chewing. 

I have tried it several different ways, and they are all winning combinations. So, let's get cooking. First we'll prepare the squash and then try a few serving suggestions...

The fastest way to prepare this is to cook it in the microwave. Rinse and dry your squash(es). Poke holes all over the skin with a strong fork or knife. Pop it (them) in the microwave and cook on full power for at least ten minutes. You can tell it's ready when your fork or knife goes into the skin without much fuss. Use oven mitts to take it out of the microwave, and let it sit to cool for a few minutes. Once cook enough to handle, cut it in half around the "waist." Be careful of steam! Use a spoon to scoop out the stringy innards and seeds. You can save the seeds, clean them up, sprinkle on a baking sheet with chili powder and roast them for a few minutes at 350 for a great snack!

Unedible strands and edible seeds

Once you have two clean halves, you can cut them again the other direction if you need better access to the squash "meat." Take your fork and start to pull at the yellow cooked stuff. Squash "noodles" will start to come off, and you can put them into a bowl. Do this with each piece of squash until they are all clean, and you'll have a bowl of spaghetti squash ready to eat!

You get a lot of "noodles" from one squash! Put it into containers to refrigerate or freeze

A "breakfast option"

Here are a few ways I like to enjoy this squash:

Breakfast - Scoop a bowl of spaghetti squash and top with organic raisins and raw pumpkin seeds (optional to add a drizzle of maple syrup or sprinkle of sucanat)

Sweet Treat - Lay a base of spaghetti squash and top with homemade unsweetened applesauce, a scoop of coconut cream and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Yum!

Hearty Dinner - First, cook up some chicken Italian sausage (I like Isernio's because their products are made here in the Pac NW and have no icky preservatives or questionable ingredients). Lay a base of squash and top it with the cooked sausage, sauteed onions, zucchini and/or bell peppers, and marinara sauce. Ooh!


So are you going to give this great veggie a shot? You really should. Don't be a wimp. ;)
If you already love spaghetti squash, leave a comment sharing your favorite way to enjoy it. Have a wonderful President's Day, friends!

Slow Cooking: Spicy Coconut Chicken

Slow cookers, a.k.a. Crock Pots. Do you have one? If so, do you actually use it? Confession: I have three slow cookers. Actually, four if you count our GIGANTIC Nesco roaster. They were all gifts-I'm not an addict. However, now five years into my "homemaking career," if you will, I use all of them. It just took me a while to get into slow cooking.

Truth: Slow cookers are not the most glamorous kitchen tool, and the food they produce isn't always beautiful for photos. However, it is always delicious, and so simple and easy to get it that way. I think slow cookers are making a comeback with savvy cooks. In some cases, you can have a delicious hot dinner ready in the evening after just five minutes of prep work in the morning. Slow cookers save money because they can make just about any cut of meat moist, and it's hard to overcook something. And they are rumored to be one of the best ways to cook with a low energy cost - as low as two cents per day!

This recipe evolved from a recipe for Tandoori Chicken over at Crock Pot 365. I only made that dish once, with Greek yogurt. After a few weeks post-partum, all my food allergies came back in full force, and I couldn't have dairy at all. I wanted to make it again sans yogurt, so I did a little thinking and came up with a new twist to the dish: canned coconut milk as a yogurt sub. I also modified the spices (I'm allergic to garlic, so that went away with the yogurt). After cooking this on four separate, but all delicious, occasions, and playing around with the spices each time, I've landed upon what I think is the perfect combination of flavors. I also think my creation is unique and tasty enough to deserve it's own name. I'm calling it...

Spicy Coconut Chicken

What you need:

3-4 quart slow cooker (If you have a larger one, simply double the recipe. Leftovers of this dish are WONDERFUL!)
Fresh/thawed boneless, skinless chicken pieces. Try this combo: 4 small chicken thighs and 2 medium chicken breasts (I like Trader Joe's fresh organic, free range)
One can of coconut milk (Go for a brand without preservative chemicals, such as Taste Nirvana or Trader Joe's)
Bag of frozen broccoli or cauliflower pieces

1/2 to 1 tsp* of the following ground spices:
turmeric
curry
smoked paprika
cumin
coriander
ginger
crushed red pepper flake

*Use your taste as a guide. We love spicy around here, so for the real heat I recommend 1 full teaspoon of each spice.

What you do:

Put chicken pieces into the slow cooker (I used my 3 quart Hamilton Beach). Gently -to prevent splashing- pour half a can of coconut milk on top. Scoop each teaspoon of spice right on top of the chicken and coconut milk. Once everything is in the slow cooker, take a fork and start turning the chicken pieces, working from the bottom to the top. Get both sides of each piece coated. The spices will mix together on their own while you do this. When everything looks good and well coated, put the lid on, set the heat at Low, and cook for three to four hours, depending on thickness of chicken and power of your slow cooker.

At this point, add your frozen veg and keep the heat on Low. If the veg pieces are small, it won't take long to finish - less than twenty minutes. Dish up a plate: a piece of chicken, a few scoops of veg, and some extra sauce as there will be plenty. You can serve this on a bed of "riced" cauliflower for something extra. This is a great, convenient Paleo meal, it is super easy using the Crock Pot, and it has plenty of the three components we need: 1) lean protein (chicken), 2) healthy fats (coconut milk) and 3) vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower)!

Like I said, the slow cooker doesn't always produce aesthetically pleasing dishes, but this really tastes wonderful. Give it a try tonight!

Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts!

This morning was one of those special ones - I got up and the sun was shining, my body wasn't flaring, and I was ready to take on something new! (Don't you love that?) So, I baked some doughnuts. And oh my goodness, are they good. Stay with me here...

A few days ago I came across a recipe for Apple Cider Paleo Doughnuts over at Paleo Spirit. With a few modifications, I soon had six gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, egg-free, soy-free, Paleo, (vegan,) Apple Cider doughnuts on my counter top.

Now there's only one. And I'm trying to save it for my hubby. But I don't know if I will make it!

What a wonderful sight!

Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts

adapted from Paleo Spirit

What you need:

1/2 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of fine sea salt
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2/3 cup warmed apple cider (I used a locally produced unsweetened, unfiltered, fresh pressed apple juice)

For the sweet sprinkle topping:

1/4 cup sucanat

1 tablespoon cinnamon

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare your doughnut pan. I used canola oil spray, but I don't condone this for regular use! Next time I'm going to grease the wells with coconut oil and see how that works.

First, make your egg substitute. Put 3 tablespoons of flax meal in a bowl, cover with 1/3 cup warm to hot water. Whisk with a fork and let sit to gel.

Another option is to use homemade cinnamon applesauce* - it would add the binding capabilities of egg, plus more apple and cinnamon flavor! (I'm doing this next time!)

Next, get out two mixing bowls. In one bowl, use a fork to mix together the coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and sea salt. In the other bowl, stir together maple syrup, melted coconut oil, and egg substitute. Add the dry ingredients to the liquids and fold together. Pour in the warm apple cider and mix well.

Spoon dough into the doughnut wells, enough to be level with the pan surface. I used a full size doughnut pan with 6 wells, and the amount of dough was exactly perfect to fill each one to the top. Put pan into preheated oven. After 15 minutes have passed, check on the doughnuts. They will be soft to the touch even when done, but when they are ready, the edges will be browned and when you tap the dough with your finger, no batter will come off. My doughnuts were ready after 20 minutes of bake time.

Let sit to cool and "firm up" for a bit, 10 to 20 minutes. I had to feed my little one, and when I returned after 20 minutes the doughnuts were spongey-soft but firm enough that most of them came out of the pan in one piece when I turned it over onto a cutting board. 

For the finishing touch, use a silicone/pastry brush to moisten the doughnut tops and sides with melted coconut oil, and sprinkle on a mixture of sucanat (or coconut sugar, or whatever pretty crystallized sweetener you like) and cinnamon.

These doughnuts are very soft, almost spongey, and remained that way all day. Absolutely no problems with coconut flour-drying out issues here! They have a moist coffee-cake-like texture, but they are fragile; don't expect to pick one up and eat it like a "crap-filled Hostess" doughnut (ok, that quote was from my husband just now). My taste tester said they remind her of old fashioned Dunkin Donuts - the cake style ones that had cinnamon sugar topping. If you are comparing these to that kind, I'd say they are as good if not better! I’ll play around with it some more to see if I can get them firmer (maybe less liquid?), but the taste is in need of NO upgrades! Another day, another reason to be thankful for the food we're meant to eat! :)

30 Minute Meal: Valentine's Edition! "A Night in Spain"

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Uh-oh. Did you forget?! It's not too late! Grab a few things on your way home from work today, and you'll be set for a lovely night in with your love/bff/munchkin/whoever you're blessed to spend time with this evening. Hopefully they (and you) like fish, because you're about to get an easy-peasy, delicious way to prepare one of the ocean's best inhabitants: Red Snapper.
Wow, I didn't realize until just now how fitting that is for today - RED snapper for a day full of RED hearts and roses :)

So here we go. A couple weeks back, I bought red snapper for the first time. I needed it to make a Rachael Ray "night in Spain" meal I've had my eye on for a while. I finally took the fish out of the freezer and made the meal this week. It was super easy for how pretty it looks.

I can't seem to find the recipe anywhere in Rachael Ray's impressive online index of recipes, so I will give you the quick version. By the way, it's from a 30 Minute Meals episode that I have on DVD. Yes, I have a Food Network DVD, and I want more! Watching other people cook beautiful food is so much fun, and helps me stay motivated and creative in the kitchen. Now you have one of my secrets...

"A Night in Spain" Menu
-Sunset Sangria
-Spanish Spice Rubbed Red Snapper with Green Olive Salsa
-Roast Asparagus with Toasted Walnuts
inspired by Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals

First off, if you'd like sangria to go with your meal tonight, put this together before you head off to work. (Hopefully you have a bottle of red wine in the house. According to Rach, a Spanish Rioja or a Chianti is best, but use whatever you've got.)
Get out your prettiest glass pitcher, give it a rinse because it's inevitably dusty from disuse (don't we all need to get out our pretty dinnerware more often?) and dry. In the show, Rach explains that sangria works in a ratio of 3's. Here you'll see that: Pour in 3 spoonfuls of sugar, 3 "glugs" of dark spiced rum, and 3 spoonfuls of orange liqueur. Toss in 2 cinnamon sticks. Pour in enough Rioja (etc) to cover and mix these things together. Next, slice your fruit. Any combination of fruit you want or have in your kitchen works, especially leftover fruit salad. FYI, Rach used 1 lemon, 1 orange, 1 freestone peach, and 1 plum. Drop fruit into the pitcher. Top off the pitcher with wine, and place in the refrigerator to "marinate" all day. By the time dinner is ready, you'll have sangria!
To serve, pour into your glasses and top off with club soda or seltzer water. Now get some Spanish music going on iTunes, and you're ready for your international culinary adventure!

Here's what you need:
One pound red snapper - with or without skin (FYI: Red snapper skin is edible!)
EVOO
Spanish spice rub*
Roma tomatoes
red onion
can of green olives (or fill a container at your grocery's olive bar)
lime
cilantro/flat leaf parsley
sea salt and black pepper

Optional:
fresh asparagus
walnuts
avocado

*Mix ahead of time - one palmful each of: coriander, cumin, sweet paprika, plus coarse salt and black pepper

What you do:
First, make the salsa. Seed and chop the Romas, chop the onion, slice the olives (of course pit them first if needed). Mix everything in a bowl, then drizzle with lime juice, salt, pepper, and cilantro or parsley as you like. Add some crushed red pepper if you like heat. Set aside to "let the flavors marry" - as Rach would say :)

Preheat your stovetop grill to medium-high heat. If your fish has skin, make several diagonal scores on each side. Drizzle EVOO onto both sides of the fish and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the spice rub and work into the fish (again, on both sides). Once the grill is hot, place the fish presentation (skin) side down and cook for about four minutes. Flip, cook about four more minutes, then plate (skin side up). That's it! See? Easy peasy!

Rach makes a side of steamed green beans with toasted almonds to go with the snapper, and piles everything (beans, nuts, salsa) on top of the fish. As we've learned recently, green beans are not a vegetable but actually a legume and therefore not Paleo-friendly.
As an alternative, I suggest a side of roast asparagus with toasted walnuts. You can easily work that into your dinner prep. Start by preheating your oven to 375, get the asparagus washed and trimmed and into a baking dish with a drizzle of EVOO and dash of sea salt and pepper. Just check on it a few times and give the dish a gentle shake to move the stalks around. You can toast the walnuts in a pan on the stovetop while you make the salsa. See? Easy peasy!

That's all there is to it. Plate your Red Snapper and spoon salsa on top or alongside the fish. Put some asparagus on each plate and a sprinkle of toasted walnuts. If you feel like you need more fat with the meal, add some slices of avocado to your plate. The creamy texture will be wonderful with the firm fish and salsa bites.

Voila!

I know, the food doesn't look super appetizing in this photo. But hopefully it gets you in the mood for a nice candlelit dinner at home!

I whipped up this meal in thirty minutes, including mixing the rub and making the salsa, while home alone with the little one and dealing with an autoimmune flare. So no excuses! ;)
And just think: No crowds or street parking to navigate, no reservations needed, no stress. A lovely night in with a perfectly date-worthy meal, for not a lot of time or money. You can't go wrong.

I wish you a wonderful Valentine's Day. Whether you have found your life's true love or not, soak up the truth that you are dearly loved by the One who created it all. And that makes you wealthy and whole!

Best Brussels Sprouts

After you make this dish, you may just join the veggie nerds club my husband and I are in, and instead of craving the usual suspects (chips, cake or caffeine?) you'll crave roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon. These are truly delicious. The sprouts get tender with an al dente bite, while the outer leaves crisp up and add a delightful toasted crunch. Oh, these are good.

I had been hearing about "roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon" as a general food concept for a while, and this past Thanksgiving I decided we needed to experience them. I found a recipe from the Food Network Kitchens, and Hubs and I tag teamed it. Since then, we've had these more times than I care to count. (Definitely nearing ten...) You need to make these today.

Is it weird that I never tasted Brussels sprouts until a few years ago? The first time I did, they were simply frozen sprouts steamed in the microwave, and I was an instant fan. These "mini cabbages" are treasures of the garden. Brussels sprouts are part of the cruciferous vegetable family, which means they are in the elite class of nature's cancer preventive, cancer fighting foods. For more Brussels sprouts nutritional trivia, look here

Best Brussels Sprouts
adapted from Food Network Kitchens

What you need:

• 4-6 slices bacon (uncured pork, turkey, or beef bacon <---from Trader Joe's)
• handful (1/4-1/2 cup) walnut pieces or sliced almonds 
• 1-2 pounds fresh Brussels sprouts, washed and halved or quartered
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 12 to 15 inch cast iron skillet (any oven safe skillet will work but cast iron is truly best for this)

What you do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Set skillet on the stove at medium-low heat (4/10). Cook the bacon until done, but not crisp. Remove from pan to a paper towel to cool and absorb grease.

Keeping the skillet at medium-low heat, add the nuts and toast for five minutes, stirring occasionally. While nuts are toasting, cut or break bacon into bite size morsels (approximately 1/4 inch).

When nuts are toasted, remove them to plate with the bacon pieces. Turn off the stove burner. Add Brussels sprouts to the skillet, sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper, toss together and get it into the oven. Roast for ten minutes, pull out skillet, give them a gentle stir and add in the bacon and toasted nuts. Put back into the oven for ten more minutes, or until the loose leaves on the sprouts look crisp and starting to brown. Taste test a sprout (after it's cooled a bit!) to make sure they are cooked through. Do NOT overcook the sprouts.

I would give storage tips, but we've never had leftovers and you probably won't either. So, there you go :)

Beet and Sweet Chips

I have been trying to appreciate beets for two years, and I finally found a way.

Baked beet chips.

How do they look?

I love how some of the chips carmelized into shimmering candied bites. Beautiful and delicious!

Beets are wonderful for our bodies. They have antioxidants and phytonutrients that are unique to a small group of plants, they are anti-inflammatory, and give your liver a boost. Go here for some specific nutritional info.

Beet and Sweet Chips

What you need:
beets
sweet potatoes (the potatoes with light brown skin and orange flesh)
mandolin or good chefs knife
EVOO

What you do:

*Important note: Before you begin, realize that beet juice is a very potent natural dye. It can stain your kitchen equipment and clothing, and temporarily stain your skin. Take any precautions you need to keep your special/expensive kitchen tools, cutting boards, etc. free of deep red stains, and if working with children, get out the play clothes and painting smocks. I sincerely apologize to those of you who tried this recipe before I posted this warning!

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Get out your largest baking sheet.
Wash and peel the beets and sweet potatoes. Using your mandolin or knife, cut them into thin slices, keeping the thickness as uniform as possible. Arrange the slices in a single layer on your baking sheet. Using a clean pastry brush (I like the silicone kind), cover the slices with a layer of extra virgin olive oil.

Put the baking sheet full of chips in the oven, set the timer for twenty minutes, and go about your day. When the timer goes off, pull the sheet out and check on them. Depending on how thick you've cut the chips, they may take upwards of forty minutes to cook, so don't feel like you've failed if they need more oven time. They are done when the edges are starting to crisp, and if you're lucky, the beet chips look shiny and have a chewy bite like taffy. The sweet potatoes don't turn shiny but their color will darken. Both kinds of chips will be soft when you take them out of the oven, but they'll crisp up as they cool.

Eat them right off the baking sheet for a delicious, nutritious snack. If you give them a fair chance, I think you'll really love beets prepared this way. A sweet treat from a roasted root vegetable. Who knew?

Storage: I put the chips in a plastic Snapware container with the lid on overnight and they softened a bit. I kept them in the refrigerator that way for several days. For best texture, eat these on the same day you bake them up.

Thanksgiving!

I cooked an entirely gluten-free, soy-free, processed-food free, and nearly refined-sugar- and dairy-free Thanksgiving dinner. It was a blast. We spent the day together as a family, relaxed, no chores, no errands, just watching the Macy's parade, cooking and enjoying each other.

Our Menu

GF Roasted Butterball Turkey, rubbed with poultry seasoning blend and roasted in a Reynold's roasting bag with a tablespoon of rice flour
(Next year we're going to go for a local farm raised turkey and do the brine thing, but we appreciated this because it was free!)

GF Turkey Gravy - made from GF cornstarch and the turkey drippings

GF Wild rice dressing with celery, onion, poultry seasoning, veggie broth and pepper,

GF quinoa dressing with celery, onion, poultry seasoning, veggie broth and pepper

GF Sauteed French cut green beans with walnuts sauteed in GF EVOO, S & P

GF Slow roasted garnet yams cooked in the Crock Pot all day with a splash of water, and a sprinkle of GF mini marshmallows melted before serving

GF Roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon and walnuts recipe from Food Network Kitchens - Hubs says this is a MUST REPEAT EVERY NIGHT dish :)

GF Cranberry Pear sauce recipe from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen - Brilliant because the pears sweeten the sauce you need almost no added sugar! I doubled it and added an organic Gala apple, and a cup of sucanat instead of coconut sugar

GF Mashed Potatoes (from GF instant potato flakes, to save time and because we had some to use up). Hubs made them with chicken stock, Silk refrigerated plain coconut milk, butter and Kosher salt. With the delicious GF turkey gravy topping them, you could hardly tell they were instant.

To drink:
Knudsen's Organic Sparkling Apple Juice and Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider

For dessert:
GF CrockPot Pumpkin Cheesecake, recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. I substituted sucanat for the white sugar in the filling, and brown sugar for the crust.
No Picture because whenever it's out of the fridge it's being eaten - no time for photos! :)

This afternoon, Hubs and I are enjoying some of the last pieces of the cheesecake, along with decaf Rice Dream Rice Nog lattes. Don't you love autumn and Christmas season flavors?