Almond Flax bread

My cousin posted this recipe on facebook and it peeked my interest so I thought I would give it a try.  The recipe is from http://www.healyrealfoodvegetarian.com/almond-flax-bread/

Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1 tbsp whole flax seeds
1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 eggs beaten
2 tsp honey, optional
1/2 tsp raw cider vinegar
butter, to grease a loaf pan

Preheat the oven to 300°.
Grease a loaf pan.
Mix all ingredients together until thoroughly combined, then pour into a greased standard sized loaf pan and bake at 300° for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread’s center comes out clean.
Cool completely before serving.

I don't have whole flax seeds so I added a tbsp on oats instead because I love oat bread and the texture it has.  I also don't have raw cider vinegar so I just used regular apple cider vinegar and I greased the loaf pan with coconut oil instead of butter.

It smelled so good while baking, but after cooling for a little while it smelled a bit like turtle food.... 

it tastes pretty good though.  Really good after being smothered in honey butter :) ( I was this <---> close to drizzling buttermilk syrup on it but at the last second decided against it... would've been good though! 

Paleo Chili

I know, I know... It's summer, but this paleo chili is awesome. Also, it makes a lot, so you will have more time to play outside instead of being stuck cooking. I got this recipe from Everyday Paleo, but I've added more veggies! I also occasionally use ground turkey instead of beef to make it leaner. Change it up however you would like, but it will be delicious and flavorful no matter what!

2 lbs ground beef

1 lb mild or spicy Italian sausage

7-10 celery stalks diced

6 carrots diced

6 zucchini (I'm no chef...just cut 'em up somehow)

4 yellow squash (cut up)

1 white onion diced

6 cloves garlic crushed

4 tbs olive oil (I use less usually)

1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes with juice

16 oz of chicken broth (I usually use more so the vegetables cook. It should be soupy)

Salt to taste

2 tbsp dried oregano

2 tbsp dried basil

1tbs cumin

3-4 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicy)

Use a giant pot...this makes a lot. Sauté carrots, celery, and garlic in olive oil. Add meat and brown. Add the rest of the veggies. Add all spices. Then add chicken broth and diced tomatoes. Simmer for 35 mins or until the veggies are cooked. 

Paleo Breakfast Bread

Found this here on Pinterest last night and tried it this morning!  Has to be one of the weirdest things I've made - from the list of ingredients I never would have guessed you'd get this delicious tasty "bread" for lack of a better word!  We loved it!  Kind of like a less dense, brown, cinnamon-y German pancake.  We had ours with scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon.  I have a feeling this will make a regular appearance at breakfast.

1/2 cup almond butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a whisk.  Pour into a greased (with coconut oil) 8x8 glass baking dish. Bake for 12-15 minutes.  13 minutes did it for me, but all ovens vary!

*UPDATE* This is also awesome with 1/2 cup of shredded zucchini thrown in.  takes a few minutes longer to cook.  Kind of like breakfast zucchini bread!

Yummiest Fruit Dip EVER

This recipe is a surefire crowd-pleaser!  I go through phases where I'll make it several times over a few weeks because I just can't get enough of it.  Be careful if you have small children....they tend to double (and triple) dip just to get more of the creamy goodness.

1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese - at room temp'
2 teaspoons orange zest (however much you get off one orange)
3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate (not an exact science, just put in a few spoonfuls)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow cream

Beat cream cheese in a bowl with a hand mixer.  Add orange zest, orange juice, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth and creamy.  Add marshmallow cream and beat until smooth.

This works well to make the night before you need it and just stick it in the fridge.  I like it best with strawberries.

Orange-Mustard Glazed Pork Chops

This is a super quick and easy recipe that tastes delicious and presents well for company.  In fact this is the recipe that convinced my husband that pork chops do not have to be dry and tasteless as he was previously led to believe!  Credit goes to my Uncle Steve for coming up with it years ago and making it a family favorite.

Pork chops resting.

6 pork chops
olive oil

Dry Rub:
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Glaze:
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Combine the ingredients for the dry rub and grind them up using a mortar and pestle.

Glaze cooking.

Prepare the pork chops (trim off visible fat and make sure they are a uniform thickness).  Lightly cover them with the dry rub and let them sit while a very lightly oiled pan heats.  Cook the pork chops in the pan, turning once while cooking.

When the pork chops are done, let them rest and deglaze the plan with the orange mustard glaze (in other words dump the glaze ingredients in the pork chop pan and cook).  The glaze will thicken and turn darker as it cooks.  As you stir, scrape up anything stuck to the bottem of the pan and mix it in.

Serve the pork chops with the glaze on top or on the side.  We like to serve with rice and the glaze is delicious on it as well!

Buttermilk Syrup

Buttermilk syrup. Sounds weird/maybe gross. Ohhhh noooo. It is the best thing you will ever eat! The first time I tried this it was at a Memorial Day breakfast at our Bishop's house last year.  His wife is an amazing cook and she had a little pourer full of this weird, pale, foamy syrup.  I was a little apprehensive because I love normal maple syrup and I hate change.  I decided to pour a little on the side of my plate and try it.  Well, after I sat down and ate my first bite of pancake cautiously dipped in the buttermilk syrup it was like in one of those cartoons or cereal commercials where your head kinda explodes and your eyes get all big and out of your head and you see stars and hearts all around you.  I then proceeded to stand up, walk back into the kitchen, and drown my pancakes in the buttermilk syrup. So ya. Its good.  I had her write down the recipe before we left and have treasured it ever since.  I brought the recipe home last summer and I think we made it 3 or 4 times.  (This was before we were gluten free.  We ate A LOT of pancakes, french toast, waffles, anything that can be smothered in syrup.)

Well, school just ended for me (I teach 2nd grade) and today I woke up feeling hungry. For syrup. I was excited to have the time to actually make a nice breakfast on a weekday because its summer! So I whipped up a batch of Natalie's lemon poppyseed pancakes and had the best intention of serving them with fresh fruit or yogurt like she so healthily did.  But, with the buttermilk sitting there on the counter taunting me to make the buttermilk syrup, I caved and made it.  Here is the recipe:

Buttermilk Syrup (Holiday Syrup)

Above the pot you can see my two bowls:
one with vanilla and one with almond

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. extract (vanilla, maple, or almond)

Cook the sugar, butter, and buttermilk over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat for 1 minute then add the baking soda and the extract. Mix to combine.  Serve warm.

When you add the baking soda it gets all foamy and frothy.  Its really fun :). I have made it with the vanilla extract every time and it tastes like melted cookie dough. Today I couldn't decide between the vanilla and almond so I took two bowls and added 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract to one and 1/2 tsp almond extract to the other and then poured in the syrup and had both! It was a good idea.  The pancake with the almond syrup seriously tasted like an almond poppyseed muffin from Costco.

As I sat there, eating my delicious breakfast by myself, I was like OMG why is no one here to taste this with me! It's so unbelievably good I want to share it with everyone! So here I am, typing this to you with the taste of buttermilk syrup still in my mouth.

Super Easy Sweet Sticky Rice w/ Mango

The mangos we've been getting lately have been so sweet and ripe and delicious that I knew we had make this for dessert one night!  There are tons of mango sticky rice recipes out there and I've tried a few different ones, but have decided for the time and effort involved this is simplest way to go if you're in the mood for this flavor combo.

2 cups uncooked sticky rice
4 cups water
1 can coconut milk
1 cup sugar (more or less - adjust to taste)
2-3 ripe mangos (or more if you like lots of mango!)

Bring the water and sticky rice to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until done.  Meanwhile combine the coconut milk and sugar in a bowl large enough to contain the rice.  Once the rice is done, stir it in to the coconut milk sugar mixture.  Let sit, stirring occasionally, until the rice comes to room temperature.  Dice up the mangos, place them on top, and go to town!

Kale Chips

It seems like kale chips are all the rage right now.  I know Jessica tried to make a batch once that ended up a disaster, so I was intrigued to try them myself.  I had a beautiful bunch of kale just sitting in the fridge so I decided to see what all the fuss was about.  After reading through countless recipes online (all of which are basically the same), here is what I came up with:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wash and dry the kale.
Tear it into bite size pieces.
Coat the pieces with extra virgin olive oil.  I wish I had a misto sprayer to assist with this step, but alas, I don't.  I drizzled some on the kale and tossed/coated them all by hand.
Set the pieces on a foil covered (b/c I enjoy easy clean up) baking sheet.  It works well to set them curly side down so they form little tents.
Sprinkle with salt/pepper/seasoning of your choice.  We went with Salt'n Spice - it sounded fun for the maiden voyage.
Bake for 10-15 minutes
WATCH THEM CLOSELY!  Smaller pieces might be done faster so you'll want to pull them out.  You DO NOT want them to get brown at all - it will make them taste yucky instead of delicious.

Fresh out of the oven!

They turned out AMAZING!!  All crispy and yummy.  Even 3 year old Jenna loved them.  In fact she and I sat there and ate the entire first batch in no time flat.  Good thing we had enough for a second batch so we could take some pictures and share with Joey!  Just writing about them makes me want more...better run to the store...

Cilantro Buttered Corn on the Cob

It's summer and that means corn on the cob! My Kroger had 6 corns for 2 dollars so I got 'em, took 'em home and boiled 'em.  I wanted them to be a little spiced up (more so that Taylor wouldn't be upset that the only thing I was making for dinner was corn on the cob (it was just one of those days...))
So I found a nifty recipe for Cilantro Butter which was perfect since I had a little tupperware full of chopped cilantro left over from some fresh salsa I had made earlier in the week.

Cilantro Butter (enough for 6 ears of corn)

2 Tbs room temperature butter
1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 ground chipotle pepper (I left it out since I didn't have it)

Mix it all up in a little bowl and shmear it all over your hot corn.  Mmhmm mhmm good!

Make you banana pancakes, pretend that its the weekend now...

(Jack Johnson anyone?)
                                    

Sorry for the blog post hiatus. (reason pending) But I have some things to add! First off, Banana Pancakes! I made the Yummy Muffin recipe yesterday with my newly acquired almond flour, and loved them but I still had some over ripe bananas to use and with it being Fast Sunday today, I was craving some good hearty breakfast-for-dinner food.  So I headed to the web for some banana pancake recipes.  A lot of recipes were 3 ingredient banana pancakes made with just egg, banana, and peanut butter or vanilla or salt, and I was like ummm I need a little more substance than that.  I found a great recipe called Gluten Free Banana Pancakes and just tweeked it a bit.  Here is my version:

1 1/2 cups oat flour (I just ground some up quick oats in my little food processor)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 banana, mashed
1 cup milk, and a little more if the batter gets too thick
1 egg
1/4- 1/2 tsp cinnamon (to taste)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(makes about 15 medium sized pancakes)

In medium bowl mix together oat flour and baking powder and salt Add the mashed banana, milk, egg, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Mix until combined.  Melt a little butter on the griddle and spoon the batter one.  Cook 3-4 minutes on one side and then flip.  I kinda pressed them down with the spatula once I flipped them to make them a little thinner because they were looking quite beefy.  I had to add a little milk to the batter in between batches because it thickened up as it sat there.  Serve with syrup, peanut butter, yogurt or applesauce.  Or, if you are my husband, top them with texas sheet cake. *eye roll*

I quickly snapped a picture before he was able to destroy the evidence!

Tuna Patties and Sweet Potato Pancakes

Dinner in the Round

Natalie sent me a recipe for sweet potato pancakes that we were excited to try--KC's favorite food is sweet potatoes.  We paired them with tuna patties and the result was what we ended up calling "dinner in the round." 

Paleo Sweet Potato Pancakes

• 1 Giant Baby Yam (or several normal yams…whatever)
• 1 onion finely diced
• 3 eggs
• 1-2 Tbls of Coconut Flour (This is just a binder- you can use whatever flour is on hand)
• Dash of Nutmeg (for a different flavor try smoky paprika or chili powder)
• Salt and Pepper
• 1/4 cup of coconut oil

Instructions

1. Bake the yam at 350 for about 45 mins (varies depending on size). You do not want it to get soft all the way through. You want it cooked soft enough to pierce but staying firm enough that a knife will not go all the way through easily (think al-dente pasta)
2. Place the yam in the fridge until it is cool enough to work with.
3. Peel the yam. Use a box grater or the grating attachment to a mixer to grate the yam into "hashbrown" style strings. (Be careful- it mushes easily but this recipe tastes better with some texture.)
4. Season the grated yam with the coconut flour, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.
5. GENTLY mix in the diced onion
6. Beat the eggs and pour into the yam mixture. Use a fork to gently toss the egg into the yam.
7. Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
8. Spoon 1/4 cup of yam mix into the coconut oil gently pressing to spread and flatten into a pancake shape. Repeat for as many pancakes as your skillet will comfortably hold.
9. Flip when the first side is crispy and browning.
10. When both sides are done remove onto paper towels and sprinkle with sea salt.

These were so delicious.  I used regular size sweet potatoes.  I peeled them first and put each one in the microwave for four minutes, and then put them through my food processor.  Worked great.

Tuna Patties

2 cans of tuna (7 oz.), drained
2 eggs
1-2 Tablespoons pickle relish
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise (enough to kind of hold it together)
coconut oil

Mix ingredients together, except for the coconut oil.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Form patties and cook in the oil for 2-3 minutes per side.  We served them with Garlic Lemon Aioli.

Garlic Lemon Aioli (from Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook)

1/2 cup Mayonnaise
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix and serve.

Chicken Pillows are Back!

Chicken pillows are kind of like a dirty little family secret--we all love them, but hate to admit that we love something made of cream cheese and chicken wrapped in a crescent roll and dipped in butter.  It just doesn't seem right.  We were afraid that this family favorite had not made the jump to our gluten-free lifestyle, but surprise--it's back!  My friend, and mom to one of my favorite kindergartners, Emily, came up with this gluten-free reboot of the chicken pillow.  Her filling is a little more fancy than mine (really--sauteed mushrooms in a chicken pillow?), but I just went with 8 oz. cream cheese, chicken and chives.  Either way, they are great!

Biscuit dough
2 1/4 c flour (I used king Arthur's GF flour mix)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 c butter
1 egg
3/4 c milk
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Combine egg and milk and stir into flour mixture until combined. Knead 10 times.

Chicken filling
4 oz. softened cream cheese
2 Tbs melted butter
3 c cubed cooked chicken
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbs milk
2-3 Tbsp chopped green onion
Blend butter and cream cheese. Stir in remaining ingredients. Roll out dough thinly, but thick enough that you can work with it not tearing too much. Put a spoonful of chicken mix in the center of the dough and fold the remaining dough around it. Turn folded side down onto a baking sheet, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with crushed glutino pretzels. (You can season the pretzel crumbs to add flavor, if desired). Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes.
Variation- I like mine with both chicken and mushrooms. Chop and sauté mushrooms and add to the chicken mixture.

I used Corn Chex for the topping.  When I do it again, I think I will splurge and get some gluten-free corn flakes. We also like ours with a little gravy on top.  I made this gravy with some of my own chicken stock, cornstarch and a little sour cream.  Yum!