The Unbaked Cookie

 These cookies are so easy, and the kids love making them (largely because they can start popping them into their mouths the second they are done rolling them).  I like them because the mess is minimal, they are packed with good fats and protein, use no refined sugars, and are flourless.  Oh yah, and of course they are GF/DF friendly.  Once you get this recipe done, you can begin to explore the millions of different variations to try in the future.  It's pretty hard to screw these up.

The ingredients:

(Please soak all nuts 8-12 hours to remove enzyme inhibitors, then dehydrate or slow roast at low temp to achieve crispness again - your gut thanks you)

1 cup Raw Organic Walnuts
1 cup Raw Organic Almonds

1/2 cup Raw Organic Pumpkin Seeds (you could toss in some Ground Flax Seeds also)

6-8 Organic Pitted Whole Medjool Dates (Deglet would work also)

2 tbsp Organic Coconut Oil (just softened)

1 tsp Gluten Free Almond or Vanilla flavor (you could scrape a vanilla bean to achieve this also!)

1/3 cup Gluten Free Organic Crunchy Rice Cereal (unsweetened or fruit juice sweetened)

1/2 cup Organic Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

Put the first 6 ingredients in a food processor and blend just until it starts to ball together.  If it seems a bit too dry still, add a tiny bit more oil and give it another whirl.  The oil from the walnuts makes it so you don't need much.  When it is balling together nicely, put it all in a separate bowl and squish in the Crunchy Rice Cereal until blended.  Then start rolling small handfuls into balls, and then cover/roll in the coconut.  Put them all on a pretty plate and enjoy now, or store them in your fridge for later.  They are delicious cold!

Other ideas for added interest, adding cinnamon and currants, or organic dried blueberries, or fruit juice sweetened organic cranberries, or even dried cherries or pineapple or mangos.   Always be sure your dried fruits are sweetened with only fruit juice, not sulphured,  and organic if possible, for your health's sake.  :-)

Greek-ish Spinach Salad (No cheese needed)

Organic Baby Spinach - I used about 6 large handfuls

Organic Red Onion - sliced and diced or in strips (you could probably saute it quickly in a pan real quick if you want a warmer salad)

Organic Hass Avocado - I used a whole large one, diced and scooped from the rind

Organic Pitted (or pit them yourself) Kalamata Olives

Organic Cherry Tomatoes, or Roma (quartered)

Lots of Organic Fresh Basil (roll up the leaves, then slice the roll in 1/4 wide pieces, sprinkle on salad)

Artichoke Hearts - marinated and quartered (I used Native Forest brand in small glass jar) - I chopped them up so they would distribute throughout the salad better

Something I did not add, that would be lovely in this salad, is some diced Organic Baked/Grilled Chicken Breast. If you have any leftover cooked chicken in your fridge, now's the time to use it up!

For the dressing:

I poured about a cup of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil into a cup, added a large clove of Garlic that I had pressed in a garlic mincer, about 1/4 cup of Organic Balsamic Vinegar, and Fresh ground pepper to taste.  Stir it all up, taste, then drizzle over salad to your liking.  I see no need for salt in this recipe.  The artichokes are already marinated in some sea salt, and the garlic gives the salad a lot of zing too.  Adding more salt is less healthy, and redundant in my opinion.  You do what you like though!  Enjoy!

Waffle Heaven!

Ok, so I've been a little (a lot bit) food depressed lately.  Haven't posted anything in quite a while, that should be the first sign.  Then there's the stacks of unwashed dishes that grace my counters as of late, and I know I'm in deep.  So Saturday morning, since the sun was shining and the sky was blue, I decided to pull my chin up, and I began my emergence from the GF/DF pit of breakfast despair with just a tiny bit of naughtiness.  The kids and husband agree, these waffles are heavenly....you would never notice that they are GF/DF.  Try them, you'll thank yourself.  Fresh from the iron, they just can't be beat.

1 cup Organic Brown Rice Flour (I used Fairhaven Flour Mill - from Bellingham, WA)
1/2 cup Potato Starch (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 cup Organic Coconut Flour
2 tsp Aluminum Free Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Sea Salt
2 tbsp Organic Honey
1/4 cup Organic Coconut Oil (VERY gently melted)
2 Organic Free Range size Large eggs
1.5 cups Unsweetened Original Hemp Milk
(I used Tempt brand, but you can use any other non-dairy milk w/out any Xanthan or Guar Gums, and of course cow milk works fine for the non-allergic)
1 tsp Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

These are best mixed by hand with a whisk, in a nice big bowl.  Old school style.
Put in all dry ingredients, and kind of push them all to one side of the bowl. 
In the other side of the bowl, add in all of the wet ingredients, and quickly whisk to mix them.
Then simply whisk the wet and dry together until a nice batter is achieved, and pour into your waffle iron as necessary.
Enjoy!

Sometimes I'll throw a bunch of frozen berries in my cast iron skillet on the stovetop while the waffles cook.  I toss in about 2 cups of frozen Organic berries, 1 freshly squeezed Lemon or Orange, and about 2 tbsp of Honey.  Heat it over medium, stirring as needed to create a lovely warm berry compote (do not overcook, you want them warm, but not sad and droopy).  The kids will love it, and so will you!

The 'good enough to eat it everyday' Cereal.

In a large breakfast bowl (lunch/dinner, etc. - I often eat this for lunch with my pre-k son) add:
roughly 1/2 cup Gluten Free 'Perky's' Crunchy Rice Cereal (find at your Natural Foods Store)
1/4 cup Organic raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup Organic unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup mixed Organic raw almonds and walnuts, pulsed 2 or 3 times in a food processor, but still chunky enough for some crunchy texture
1/2 cup mixed frozen Organic Blueberries and Strawberries, pulsed in the same processor, left just chunky enough to give good flavor to each bite
stir the above ingredients all together until distributed somewhat evenly, then add some Unsweetened Original or Unsweetened Vanilla Hemp Milk (I use Tempt brand, largely because it seems like they add the least amount of "stuff" to it)
finally, I like to drizzle about 1tsp Pure Organic Grade B Maple Syrup to the top - no more than that though, because I enjoy the tartness/sweetness that the fruit gives off and don't want to lose that at all.


Now, this afternoon, we were just screaming with the munchies, and my preschooler and I demolished our bowls of cereal long before I could run downstairs to grab the camera...so you'll have to wait just a little while longer for a photo.  boo.  It's great, just trust me.  Well...I say that, but maybe I'm more of a healthy eating nut than you are.  In that case, It's nothing like being Crazy for Coco Puffs, Lucky Charms, or even Raisin Bran.  I guess that's what I like about it.  It tastes real, and I like how it makes me feel after eating it.  Plus, my young ones love it too, and you can't beat that when it's super healthy.  Can you?

Brussels Sprouts? Seriously? Why?

God Bless my In-Laws for stocking our freezer with fresh, beautiful, Wild Salmon, not just once, but several times each year! Yesterday was one of those days, and tonight, we ate well!   But that aside...this post isn't really about the Salmon, it's all about the side dish - the vegetable portion of our meal.  Brussels Sprouts.  Now, before you go running from the room..let me explain.  These darned little things have been staring me in the face every time I've perused the produce section of our Co-op for the past 4 years.  I've stopped on occasion, looked, even reached towards them...then veered right -- to get a fist full of Green Beans.  I know Green Beans, we are good friends.  There's a stigma attached to Brussels Sprouts, and I'm not sure where it came from exactly.  For me, it has been gained from movies, or whatever...but I'll call myself on it... and chalk it up to a very sad case of ignorance, and food fear.  Ouch!  I'm 36 now dammit, and a self-proclaimed disciple of all things healthy eating, so what's up with this silliness I ask myself?  So, Alas, this morning - I hit the brakes hard and fast in front of those darling little Brussels Sprouts...and bravely shoved handful after handful into the bag, and into my basket.  And then I paid for them, and brought them home with me, afraid no more.

They really are the cutest little things.  Trim the bottoms of the stems, rinse them off really well, then halve them.  At least that's how I did it - after consulting zero recipes.  I'm a bit of a terror in the kitchen, rarely measuring anything, but rather - "keeping with the romance" of cooking I say.  Measuring everything just seems to kill it for me, unless of course it's someone else's recipe, then I'll at least attempt to keep on track - but often still go my own way.  My husband and kids will attest to that fact for certain.  There are failures, but many and most times - great tasting success!

So I cut those Brussels in half, coated my Cast Iron (I use only cast iron for stove top cooking) pan with my go-to cooking oil, Coconut Oil, tossed in about 3 cloves of fresh pressed garlic, a few pinches of Celtic Sea Salt, Fresh Ground Pepper, and a few shakes of red pepper flakes.  Stir it around for about 5-7 minutes on medium heat, then add half of a Red (or orange or yellow) Bell Pepper for the last minute, and you are done!

See!  Doesn't it just look Beautiful!  My husband and I had never eaten these before, and both were very curious. He made a funny face at me when he snitched one from the pan.  He likes to make me nervous.  Then he proceeded to gobble it down, and gave me that satisfied smile, that lets me know that I don't completely suck.  :-)

Here is the finished product.  Kinda pretty, eh? And we now have a new friend in the vegetable world.  If you'd like to learn more about our new friend, Google Brussels Sprouts, and find out more reasons why they might be awesome for you and yours as well!  Cheers!

  

'Tweaked Even More' Chocolate Cupcakes

I used the Black Bean Chocolate Cake recipe from the "Healthy Indulgences" blog as my base.  Then I dropped out 2 of the eggs by substituting in a flax/chia seed slurry (1tbsp seeds ground and whisked well with 3tbsp warm water = 1 egg).  On my first batch, which I threw to the garbage can Gods - I had attempted to sub out ALL 5 eggs, but for some reason it didn't work out well and they fell after rising, and left a gooey middle.  Subbing out 2-3 of the 5 eggs seems to work fine though.  I'll do more experimenting to figure out if there's a surefire way to eliminate the eggs altogether in the future.  Anyhow - the Frosting is the real success here!  This frosting is made of Strawberries, Coconut Oil, Organic non-hydrogenated Palm Oil Shortening (Spectrum Naturals brand), a few tablespoons of honey, and about 1/2 cup of Tapioca Starch.  It is Light and Fruity and pairs nicely with the Chocolate Cupcake.  My mother-in-law and husband kept swiping "test" licks from the bowl until I got the cupcake batter to cooperate with me.  Soon, it was to a point where I could share some progress with you.  I'll keep working on it though, and until the next time...I've got a super messy kitchen to clean up.  :-(

A little update for y'all.  I decorated all of the cupcakes with the super delicious and mostly guilt free Strawberry Frosting..then packed them away in the fridge for the rest of the day.  Tonight after dinner, hubby pulled one out, and let out several big happy sighs after taking his first bite.  Raving wildly about how much more amazing they taste after the flavors had melded all day, and how serving them chilled was definitely the way to go.  Just a tip!  Enjoy! 

Turkey Meat..Roll?? of My Dreams (Yes! quite literally!)

So I laid my head down to sleep the other night, and this is what came to me.  Wow!  I should preface by saying that we eat meat VERY minimally anyhow, and meatloaf has not entered my mind in a very very long time, so this is quite odd, but I'm so happy that it entered my mind that night!  I pulled that notepad and pen off my nightstand and started writing it all down, and it turned out so completely Delicious!  I had a table of 4 adults tonight to confirm it's awesomeness! So here are some photos of how I pulled it all together! :-) Enjoy!

I used a Giant 3lb block of Shelton's all natural/nitrate/additive free Ground Turkey (find it in the freezer section of your Natural Foods Store - let it thaw for about 24 hours).  I sliced the block up with a Fillet knife and put all the pieces into my KitchenAid Stand Mixer bowl, with the paddle attachment for stirring it around.  I ground an entire package + 1/2 of organic plain/unsalted thin rice crackers in my food processor and dumped them in with the turkey.  A small handful of Dried Organic Rosemary, Thyme, and Basil got tossed into the mix next.  Let it all mix thoroughly, then dump it all out onto about 1.5 feet of parchment/natural wax paper.  Then put another piece the same size over the top, and roll (with a rolling pin) the meat mixture out into a large rectangle about 1/2 thick, using the edges of the papers as your guides.  I then took about 15-20 Kalamata Olives (pitted and without liquid) and pulsed them in the food processor and spread the mixture onto the surface of the meat, leaving 2-3 inches of one end uncovered (this is the end that will seal the roll before baking - just like rolling sushi).  After spreading the olives, I took a jar of Organic Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil, drained most of the olive oil out, and pulsed the Tomatoes in the food processor until most of the big chunks were gone.  Spread this mixture out on top of the olives.  Then spread a nice thick layer of Organic Baby Spinach leaves on top of all that, and start rolling (starting at the side where the olives/tomatoes/spinach touch the end)! 

Ok, so here I am using the bottom piece of parchment paper (just like a sushi mat) to roll it all up. Once the ends are sealed (meat to meat), place the roll gently into either a very long loaf/bread pan, or like the one I baked it in - seemed to work just fine also.  I believe the ingredients are what makes a dish truly unforgettable, a nice pan is just the icing.  In my case, I used what I had that was clean! :-)  Oh yes, no matter what you might think you see in the photos....be certain that NO paper ends up in your rolled product - it's just a tool for rolling it up friends, not a secret ingredient!

Paint the top with Unsweetened Organic Tomato Ketchup (did you know that most Ketchups have sugar or corn syrup in them?  So completely unnecessary, and bad for you to boot! Just drives me crazy!!), dust it with Freshly ground black pepper, and plop it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour, the aroma will melt you!

This is what it looks like after baking, with a fresh coat of the Ketchup (i used a silicone basting brush to paint it on - great job for the kids in your house - if there are any)  I used a sharp Fillet knife to cut the slices, it works really really well.  I think all of my other knives have been with me since the year I got married, and are sorely in need of replacing, so the Fillet knife is undoubtedly my sharpest.

The fresh green beans were sauteed in EVOO (normally I'd have used Coconut Oil because you aren't actually supposed to heat Olive Oil - ruins it - makes it unhealthy for you), but I was in a hurry and couldn't take the 2 seconds it would have taken to reach into the cupboard behind me to get the good stuff :-( Lame I know.  Excuses Excuses.  Anyhow, I tossed in the sliced Orange Bell Pepper in the pot for the last 30 seconds of cooking, and added a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt and fresh ground Black Pepper, stirred it around, and Done!  So easy, still crunchy, and such a perfect pairing!

We all agreed that the ingredients I rolled inside the loaf, upon cooking, turned into this super tasty almost Tuscan BBQ like sauce.  I can't describe it quite yet, you'll just have to trust me, it's VERY worthwhile and I was licking my fingers after cutting the pieces, and everyone noticed the happy little sighs I was making while working away getting the servings ready for the table.  Tonight, I 'll be dreaming of the leftovers I get to eat for lunch tomorrow!  Oh yes, did I mention...Gluten Free, Egg Free, Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Yeast Free, Casein Free, and Nut free?  Most meatloaf recipes call for an egg or two, but I found that it isn't needed - at least not in My recipe.  :-) 

Spring Salad

Spring Salad Topping: Diced Hass Avocado, Diced Strawberries, Diced Mango, Diced Apples, and diced English Cucumbers.  All drizzled with a fruit based Vinaigrette, and gently tossed until evenly distributed.

Pile your plate high with either a 50/50 Baby Greens/Spinach mix or all Mixed Baby Greens. 

Add one whole delicious Organic Strawberry to the top, and leave as is....OR...top with Pine Nuts, Maple/Cayenne Glazed Walnuts or Pecans (so easy to make yourself! - I'll give you the recipe in another post!).  If you are not dairy intolerant (I am), this salad is terrific sprinkled with crumbled Feta cheese.

Veggie Rolls

Veggie Rolls!  Toasted Nori, Lundberg's Organic White Sushi Rice, Sliced Cucumbers, Spicy Sprouts (use Daikon Sprouts if you can find them!!), Hass Avocado, with Spicy Miso Mayo, Sonic Wasabi (Not nearly hot enough for my tastes unfortunately) mixed with Wheat Free Organic Tamari.  These are so incredibly easy to make, and delicious!  You could create so many different and pleasing combinations of veggies.  My only, and I mean ONLY complaint...is that finding a truly excellent, additive free, and hot/spicy Wasabi is really tough where I'm at.  I'm on the hunt though!  Will update this post when I find that perfect pairing!

'Tweaked' Black Bean Chocolate Cake

This is the Black Bean Chocolate Cake from the "Healthy Indulgences" blog.  I changed it up a little bit here and there, and will have even more fun with it as time goes on, sharing other ideas I have about how to make it even more Allergy Friendly.  First thing, I'm going to try to omit the eggs altogether.  Should be fun to try!  This was a test run, and overall I'm happy with the result.  I used the honey/stevia combo for sweetening the cake, and it was plenty sweet.  I also used Peppermint flavoring, and it was a great idea indeed.  I equate it to a frothy mug of Cocoa with a Candy Cane shaved on top.  Lovely!  I used 1/2 Spectrum Naturals Shortening, and 1/2 Unrefined Coconut Oil mixed with honey and cocoa and a smidge of Hemp Milk for the Frosting.  I also added Unsweetened Shredded Coconut, and it gave a great texture as well as flavor.  Check the recipe out on her blog, she's doing a wonderful job over there! Cheers!

Cajun Spiced Shrimp Dinner

Cajun Spiced Wild Shrimp sauteed in Coconut Oil, Baked Asparagus with Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Celtic Sea Salt - Fresh Crushed Black Pepper, and Fresh Red Bell Peppers atop a bed of Horseradish Mashed Red Potatoes (used Unsweetened Hemp Milk for cream).  Garnish is Spicy Miso Mayonaisse  ---- Update:3/5/11  - Father/Mother-in-law were served this recipe last night and confirmed - it is highly enjoyable, and it sits very well in the tum tum.  :-)  Yay!

Crunchy Mixed Greens Salad

50/50 Mix Organic Baby Greens & Baby Spinach, Thinly sliced Mini Sweet Peppers, Crushed Raw Walnuts, Avocado, and Crunchy Rice Cereal (Fabulous Crouton Replacer - these are NOT the rice crispy type), all drizzled with a homemade and very Delicious Honey Miso Vinaigrette.

Easy Tostada Pizza

Cilantro Lime Brown Rice, Black Beans, Salsa, and Homemade Guacamole atop a crunchy Coconut Oil fried Corn Tortilla.  Mini Sweet Peppers and Cilantro for a colorful and very tasty garnish.  I don't even have to say this, but had I found the time to make my usual fresh Pico de Gallo, and added some shredded cabbage or baby greens...the awesome factor would have gone up exponentially.  Everything is Organic, Gluten/Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Casein Free, Baker's Yeast Free.