Cauliflower, Parsnip, Carrot Puree

Vegetables cooking....

Puree!!!

Whipped this up to accompany roasted chicken. Try it out. It makes a great side dish. 


Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower (chopped)
- 3 parsnips  (peeled and chopped)
- 3 carrots (peeled and chopped)
- 1/2 yellow onion chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic ( peeled and sliced)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup of water
- generous sprinkle of salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons ghee


1. Prepare all vegetables. 
2. Melt ghee in dutch oven on stove top.
3. Toss in vegetables, water, broth, salt and pepper. 
4. Bring to boil for 2-3 minutes, reduce heat and cook covered for 25 - 30 minutes. 
5. Puree in a food processor in batches. 

Book Recommendation: The Flavor Bible

I recently received this book as a birthday gift from my roommate.  The Flavor Bible is a great guide to building ANY original recipe. I can almost never follow a recipe exactly because I like to improvise.  TFB allows me to improvise a recipe using the guidelines of some of the best chefs in the country. I would recommend this book for more experienced cooks who want to experiment with new flavor and texture combinations. I also have been able to explore less common ingredients without spending hours clicking through a million Google search results, many of which offer unoriginal recipe suggestions. TFB is also a great resource for Paleo eaters who want to come up with new Paleo ingredient combinations.  Consider it for your next cookbook purchase! You won't be disappointed! 

Mushrooms and Onions Sauted in Beef Tallow

 Ingredients
- 20- 30 mushrooms cut into fourths
- 1/2 red onion chopped
- 1-2 spoonfuls of beef tallow


1. Place onions and half the beef tallow in a pan over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. 
2. Add mushrooms and a small amount of additional beef tallow. Cook until the mushrooms are done. Sprinkle with a salt and serve. 

Making Beef Stock

Beef broth ready to be frozen and beef tallow

I try not to waste anything in the kitchen. One of the best ways to get the most out of your meat and veggies is to use left over bones and veggies to make broth.  I made beef stock for the first time this week and as an added bonus, you can also render the beef tallow off the top of the stock to use as delicious cooking oil. Here's how...

Ingredients
- 6 rib bones (I used left over ones from dinner)
- 2 1/2 - 3 pounds  beef knuckle bones (basically any bones with a lot of marrow, I purchased mine at the butcher for very cheap.)
-1 white onion (cut in fourths, with skins on)
- 1/2 red onion (cut in half, with skins on)
- 2 large carrots (cut into 2 in. pieces)
- 2 stalks of celery (cut into 2 in. pieces)
- 4 cloves of garlic ( crushed)
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 8 whole peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- tomato paste

1. Brush the knuckle bones with tomato paste and roast for 30 mins at 350 F rotating once. When the bones are done, place them in the crock pot and add all other ingredients.
2. Pour water into the crock pot until the all the ingredients are covered. Set crock pot on low and cook for 24 hours. 
3. When the broth is done cooking, strain the broth so that only the liquid remains. Place broth in fridge and let sit over night. 
4. The next morning the broth will have separated from the fat (beef tallow). The fat will have rose to the top and formed a hard yellow layer. This layer can be scooped off with a spoon.   I place the beef tallow in bowl and reserve as cooking oil. I freeze the broth for later use. 

Gluten- Free Donuts!!!

Donuts with Caramel topping (Admittedly, I should have let them cool more before I put on the topping!) 

I've seen soooo many adorable homemade donuts on Pintrest that I just had to try some of my own. The problem is that most of these recipes contain gluten.  What's a gluten free girl to do? After some research, I found some promising gluten free donut recipes. True to form, I changed them a little bit.  I swear I can't follow a recipe from start to finish without making my own substitutions. I always want to change something but that's part of the fun of cooking, making it your own. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did! Before you get started make sure to buy a donut pan.  Shockingly they weren't available at the Williams-Sonoma in Los Gatos (Isn't that place supposed to have everything??!!?!) but they were in stock at Sur La Table for only $10.95 for a 6 donut pan.  I'm actually glad they weren't available at William-Sonoma because the average half dozen pan at Williams-Sonoma goes for over $30.00 so Sur La Table is way better bet.

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut flour plus 1 1/2 tablespoons
- 1/4 cup almond flour

- 1/4 salt

- 1/4 baking soda
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted in the microwave)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla poaste plus three drops vanilla creme stevia

Icing recipes after the dough instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a donut pan with coconut oil.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk to combine. In a separate bowl whisk all wet ingredients to combine.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir to combine. Let sit for 3 minutes to thicken. If the dough is too runny add coconut flour by one teaspoon at a time. Coconut flour absorbs moisture a lot quicker than any other kind of flour so it should make your dough thicker when even a small amount is added.
4. Place the batter in a plastic bag and cut a small hole off the corner.
5. Use the bag to squeeze dough into donut pan.
6. Put in oven and bake for 18- 22 minutes. Rotate pan once during the baking time.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Flip pan onto a cooling rack and allow to cool before spreading icing on the donuts. If they do not cool down your icing will melt off the donuts. This is especially true with the type of icings featured on my website so let them cool!!

"Caramel" Topping 

Ingredients

- 6 tablespoons raw honey
- 2 tablespoons nut butter (I used almond butter)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste

1. Place honey in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir for 4 minutes. Honey will begun to bubble.
2, Add nut butter and vanilla and continue stirring for 1-2 minutes. The longer you cook the mixture the thicker it will get.
3. Remove pan from heat and spread on donuts.

Vanilla Cream Icing

- 1 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for three hours, water discarded

- 3/4cup fresh apple juice

- 3 Medjool dates, pitted removed

- 1 ½ TBS honey

- 4 drops vanilla crème stevia extract
 - ¼ teaspoon vanilla paste

The Vanilla Creme icing is featured in my Harvest Cake Recipe Post.  If you liked it on the cake you will probably like it with the donuts too. 

Dijon Marinated Chicken Legs

Threw this together for a last minute dinner. Used up a lot of leftover veggies too!

Ingredients
-3 chicken legs with thighs attached
- 2 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Rub chicken legs with all ingredients. Allow to marinate for at least 20 minutes, preferably for a few hours.
2. Grill on medium-high for 3 minutes on each side.
3. Finish in the oven at 375 F.


Served above with kale sauteed in balsamic vinegar, steamed broccoli, and baked carrots!

Crab Salad Wrapped in Nori with Veggie Noodles

I decided to make an Asian inspired meal for our Friday night dinner. I also splurged on some fresh Dungeness crab since it's in season. This can also be made with canned crab meat which is much cheaper.

Ingredients (For Crab Rolls)
- 1- 1.5 pounds (cooked) crab meat (shredded and water squeezed out)
- 4 scallions (chopped)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)
- squeeze of lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons mayo (I made my own Paleo mayo which I will include a recipe of ASAP)
- sprinkle of salt and pepper
- Nori sheets (available at Safeway and WholeFoods)
- 2 avocados (sliced)
- 1 Bell pepper (sliced)

1. Combine crab meat, scallions, parsley, lemon juice, mayo, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss to combine.
2. Arrange a large spoonful or two of crab salad in the middle of a nori sheet. Place sliced veggies (in this case red pepper and bell pepper) on top of crab. Add additional mayo if desired. Roll up into a hand roll.

Serve with zucchini noodles and top noodles with sriracha. 

Vanilla Coconut Cookies

Sorry for the break in posts.  I've been sick the past week and there's no point in making delicious food if I can't enjoy it! I made these last night and they are all almost gone already. With only five ingredients, these cookies are fail proof.

Ingredients
- 2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (the only place I can find the unsweetened kind is Whole Foods)
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste or vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
3. Grab about 1/4 cup of dough for each cookie. Roll into a ball and use your palms to flatten each ball into a patty. Lay each patty on a cookie sheet prepared with parchment paper.
4. Bake for 15- 18 minutes, rotating pan once during bake time.
5. Serve warm!

Mashed Garlic Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts with Bacon!!

Top Left: Mashed Garlic Cauliflower , Top Right: Brussels Sprouts and Bacon!

These are two delicious sides that are pretty easy to whip up. Hope you enjoy them as much as Dano and I did. 




Mashed Garlic Cauliflower

This is actually a cauliflower puree recipe but I like to call it mashed cauliflower because it is a great substitute for mashed potatoes.

Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 4-5 cloves of garlic (peeled and sliced)
- salt
- 1-2 tablespoons butter
- a pinch of nutmeg

1. Chop cauliflower and garlic. Toss with some salt. Steam cauliflower and garlic for 10 minutes- I steamed mine in a pot with a steamer insert.
2. Transfer cauliflower and garlic to a food processor. Add butter and a pinch of nutmeg. Process for 30 seconds until pureed.
3. Serve warm!

Brussels Sprouts roasted with Bacon

Ingredients
- 15- 20 brussels sprouts (bottom stems and outside skins removed, halved)
- 3-4 slices of good bacon
- olive oil or avocado oil
-salt and pepper

1. Prepare brussels sprouts. Toss them in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Dice bacon. Toss with brussels sprouts.
3. Prepare a baking dish with foil. Spread brussels sprouts and diced bacon evenly in the dish.
4. Bake for 30 mins at 375 F.
5. Make sure to toss the brussels sprouts 2 or 3 times during the baking time. This will ensure that they cook evenly.
6. Serve with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. 

Banana Crunch Muffins

My mom used to make these delicious muffins when I was in high school that we called Banana Crunch Muffins for their lovely Crunchy top made out of Kashi Chocolate coconut Granola.  I loved those muffins but they don’t fit into my gluten free baking so I decided to make up my own version.

Ingredients
-3 cups almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup oil (olive, grapeseed or ghee)
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste + 3 drops vanilla crème stevia
- 2 bananas (peeled)
- pinch of salt
- your choice of gluten free granola (I am fortunate enough to have a roommate who makes a delicious batch of homemade gluten free granola every few weeks so that’s what I used)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts

1. Combine honey, oil, eggs, vanilla and bananas in a food processor.
2. In a large bowl whisk together almond flour, baking soda and salt. Pour wet ingredients into the large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Add walnuts and ¼ cup granola stir.
3. Prepare muffin tins with coconut oil or butter. Divide batter evenly among 6 muffins tins.
4. Bake at 350 F for five minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the top of each muffin with granola.
6. Bake for an additional 20- 25 minutes. If the muffin tops begins to brown too quickly you can put a sheet of aluminum foil over the muffins and put them bake in the oven to continue baking.

Almond Power Bars

 These delicious bars are easy to make and require no bake time. They taste great and have no gluten or refined sugar.

Ingredients
- 2 cups raw almonds
- 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
- 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 almond butter
- pinch of sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
- 4 drops liquid stevia
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
-1 tablespoon vanilla paste
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (melted)

1. Place almonds, flax seed meal, shredded coconuts, almond butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse for ten seconds.
2. In a small pan, melt coconut oil over low heat. Remove pan from stove and stir in stevia, agave, and vanilla into oil.
3. Add coconut oil mixture to food processor and pulse until it forms a paste.
4.Prepare an 8 x 8 baking dish with coconut oil.  Press mixture into the baking dish. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
5. After the mixture has chilled, spread the melted dark chocolate over the chilled bars. Use the back of a spoon to spread evenly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to harden chocolate.
6. Cut into bars and serve.

Egg Bakes Revisted!

The Egg Bake I made for Dano (w/o Tomato Sauce)

Egg bake with tomato sauce served with avocado slices and grilled sausage

I've been experimenting with egg bakes after reading an article in Bon Appetit about how egg dishes can be elevated to a lunch or dinner option with a little creativity.  I've made a few different versions but I always start the same basic way. The recipe below is for a single serving egg bake since they are each made their own individual dish. 

Ingredients
- one small handful of spinach (chopped)
- 2 eggs, one beaten with a spoonful of Greek yogurt.
- 1 tablespoon chopped onion
-cheese of your choice
- other toppings of your choice (chopped)

1. Prepare your baking dish with coconut oil or butter.
2. Place chopped spinach at the bottom of the dish. Top with one egg beaten with yogurt.
3. Top with chopped cheese, onion, and other toppings of your choice. In the picture above I used chopped queso anejo, cheddar,green onion, and poblano pepper.
4. Crack an egg over all the toppings. It may help to make a dent in the center of the toppings so that the egg rests in the middle. Top with a sprinkle of cracked pepper and sea salt.
5. Bake at 375 F for 14 minutes with the top of the dish off. 
6. After 14 minutes the egg white should be mostly cooked but the yolk will still be runny. Add some tomato sauce around the yolk. Place the lid over the dish and finish baking for 3-5 minutes, depending on how cooked through you want the yolk to be. I make this dish without the tomato sauce for Dano.

Variations: I have also made this with chopped sun dried tomatoes, feta and sausage. Add whatever toppings you like in an omelet and enjoy!

Coconut Bars!!!

Found these delicious gluten free treats on elana's pantry. Great blog, I encourage everyone to check it out. I changed the recipe a little and loved the results.

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk (the kind you get in a can. Use as much as of the solids in the can as possible. I ended up getting a little over 1/2 cup solids.)
• ⅓ cup coconut oil
• ⅓ cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or 6 drops stevia vanilla creme
• ⅛ teaspoon stevia
• ½ cup blanched almond flour
• 2 1/2 tablespoon coconut flour
• 1 ½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a baking pan with coconut oil.
2. Mix eggs, coconut milk, oil, honey, vanilla and stevia in a food processor.
3. Transfer egg mixture into a large bowl and mix in almond flour, coconut flour, shredded coconut and salt.
4. Transfer ingredients into an 8x8 inch Pyrex baking dish
5. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes
6.  Allow to rest for 30 minutes before placing in the fridge. Serve chilled.
   
   Note: I think the bars would've stuck to the pan less if I had used a glass baking pan.

Yummy Breakfast Squash Bread

I made this with left over squash puree.  It turned out very moist and sweet. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups almond flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup butternut squash puree (see note below)
1/2 cup honey
3/8 cup olive oil
2 large eggs beaten
1/4 cup coconut milk
(other mix in ingredients included in the note below)

1. Mix all wet ingredients in a medium size bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.
2. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir until combined.
3. Pour batter into a loaf pan (prepare with coconut oil) and bake for 45 minutes at 350 F. Rotate loaf half way thru.



Note:
I made this bread in two different ways. The first time I baked this bread I added the extra step of stirring in chopped walnuts and chopped almonds (1/4 cup of each) before pouring the batter into my loaf pan. The second time I added the zest of one orange and 1/2 cup of currants to the batter before pouring it into the loaf pan.  Both ways turned out amazing and I encourage you to experiment with this recipe too! Send me any interesting twists you come up with.

They also turn out great as muffins!

Two Easy Dinner Ideas

Above was one of the dinner's I made shortly after my surgery. I bought pre-marinated ribs for a steal (4 pounds for $10) right after xmas because that's when you get the best deals for prime cuts! Tossed the ribs in the oven and meanwhile made a very simple chopped salad (spinach, tomatoes and onion) and sauteed some broccoli on the stove.  The veggies took me less than 10 minutes and the ribs required no prep work since they were marinated by the butcher. Yummy meal that only required 10 minutes of active time.

Easy Bistro Steak Salad! This is another meal I made the week after my surgery. Recipe below

Ingredients
2 Steaks (plus dry rub for marinating)

1 heirloom tomato
1/4 red onion chopped
1/2 avocado
2 large handfuls of spinach
cheese of your choice
dressing of your choice

1. Day before- marinate steaks in your favorite dry rub as well as some Worcestershire sauce, olive oil and a little bit of sweet balsamic vinegar.
2. Remove steaks from fridge an hour before cooking. Grill on a grill pan for 3 1/2- 4 minutes on each side (my steaks were thin).
3. While the steaks cook, chop spinach, heirloom tomatoes, avocado and onion. Arrange on plates.  Sprinkle cheese on top.
4. Top the salad with your preferred dressing. I made one out of really good olive oil, a sweet balsamic vinegar, a little Dijon, fresh cracked black pepper and lemon juice.
5. When steaks are done let them sit for a few minutes so the juices soak in. Cut steak into slices and arrange on top of salad. Serve!

Chocolate Custard

Sorry I've been so bad about posting. My hand still hurts when I type a lot. Promise to have more consistent posting again soon!! I'll post some of the easy meals I've been making the past week.

This is a very simple chocolate custard that even a beginner can make.

Ingredients

- 1 can of coconut milk

- 1 cup dark chocolate chips or a dark chocolate bar chopped to yield 1 cup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- a splash of rum or kahula

1. Heat a 2/3 full pot of water over medium high heat. Place a glass bowl over it which is big enough to not fall into the pot. 
2. After the water has heated for ten minutes, pour the coconut milk and dark chocolate chips into the bowl. Whisk constantly until the two are combined.
3. Remove from heat and stir in cinnamon and liquor.
4. Pour into small dishes and place in fridge to chill for at least 3 hours.

Herb, Chard and Feta Soup

I stole the pic from Bon Appetit magazine because my picture didn't turn out very pretty.

I made this recipe from Bon Appetit for the starting course of Christmas dinner.  Don't be fooled by the fancy picture. Accomplishing this level of presentation is very easy and the garnish actually contributes to the flavor and texture of the soup so don't skip on the pretty finishing touches. 

Ingredients
2  tbsp olive oil
1 large onion (chopped)
1 bulb of whole roasted garlic (skins removed)
1 lb. Swiss Chard leaves (removed center ribs)

3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup flat leaf parsley (chopped)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves (chopped)
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 large carton of Greek yogurt
a large pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes
1/2 cup mixed chopped herbs (parsley, cilantro, & mint)
4 oz. feta, crumbled
salt and pepper
olive oil

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often for about 7 minutes.
2. Stir in chard, broth, parsley, cilantro, fresh and dried mint, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until chard is tender, about ten minutes.
3. Stir in lemon juice, roasted garlic, salt and pepper.
4. In small batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth.  Since the soup is hot, you need to leave the vent at the top open.  Cover the vent at the top with a paper towel to prevent spills.
5. Spoon soup into bowls.  Add a large spoonful of Greek yogurt and a tablespoon of feta to each bowl. Whisk to combine. 
6. Sprinkle chopped herbs on to top of each dish. Top with feta and sprinkle with pepper.

Note: I accidentally used Swiss chard with red ribs instead of Swiss chard with white ribs.  The BA recipe didn't specify which to use.  You will get the same taste with either but your soup will turn out brown if you used the red ribbed chard.  Using white ribbed chard will produce the color of soup shown above.  

Mini Cranberry Upside Down Cakes

I made these twice in the last two weeks.  They turned out better when I made them in California for some reason.  When I made them in Floridia the cranberry layer floated into the middle a little but I think it might have been because I used a different size of pan.  My advice is to use a muffin pan when making these.  A muffin pan has larger cups than a cupcake pan so they produce a more substantial breakfast goodie.

Ingredients
(For the Cakes)
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour
- pinch of salt

- 1/2 tsp of baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup of oil (I used ghee in one of my batches and coconut oil in another)
- 1/2 cup honey

(For the cranberry layer)
- 1 1/2 cups cranberries (rinsed)
- 1 tbsp grated orange zest
- 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
-1/4 cup of honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a small bowl combine all the cranberry layer ingredients and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl combine dry cake ingredients: almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and all spice. Mix to combine.
4. In another bowl combine wet ingredients: eggs, oil (warmed so that it is liquid in consistency) and honey. Whisk to combine.
5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients bowl and mix to combine.  Set aside.
6. Oil muffin tins so that batter will not stick. Arrange cranberry mixture in the bottom of each muffin tin so that there is an even layer of cranberries.
7. Pour batter over cranberry layer in each tin.
8. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the bake time. 
9. Remove from oven and let cool for five minutes before flipping the pan over to remove cakes.  You may need to loosen the cakes along the edges with a knife before removing them

note: Mix 3/4 cup plain greek yogurt with a little honey and vanilla stevia extract.  Top each cake with a small dollop of the sweetened yogurt mixture.