The Frickin Chicken

Sour Cream Chicken

2012-02-13T16:04:00.000-08:00

I know this photo isn't anything to write home about, but I've been really bad about taking any pictures of my recipes lately, which is why this blog hasn't gotten much attention lately! I've been very inspired by the many recipes that have paraded across Pinterest and this is my latest adaptation from a Pinterest recipe. It was called Sour Cream Chicken, but since I used seasonings that are found in ranch dressing it is almost like a "Ranch Chicken."

-Amanda

Sour Cream Chicken

8-10 chicken tenders
1 cup sour cream
1.5 cup bread crumbs
1 stick of butter
salt & pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dill
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp celery seed

Oil the bottom of a baking dish. Lay chicken tenders out in one layer across bottom of your baking dish. Then scoop out sour cream, dotting it around on top of the chicken. With the back of your spoon, smooth it out in one layer. Sprinkle spices and seasonings over the sour cream. I pulsed some bread in a food processor for fresh breadcrumbs, but either way, sprinkle them liberally over the cream cheese. Cut stick of butter into small squares and dot them all over the dish. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Sesame Ginger Salmon Pita Pockets

2012-01-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yum. Ginger Sesame Salmon Pitas. I just signed up to be part of a 10 week personal development seminar (through Landmark Education) that starts at 5:30 and goes to 10:30pm (normally their seminars are from 7-10, but I'm actually being trained in a leadership role around the seminar and need to be there early. The center is about 30-40 minutes away so that puts me pretty much eating dinner in the car. In the past I would have probably gone through a drive through and grabbed a hamburger on the way to class. This time I'm committed to eating healthy homemade meals before class. Pita pockets are very handy at being portable so that is what I came up with to make before my first session. Let me tell you, last night as I drove and ate my pita pockets full of omega rich wild caught salmon, I felt really great about my choice and commitment to health! (Not that driving and eating at the same time are recommended, but I'm in a "make it work" situation.

Sesame Ginger Salmon Pita Pockets

*NOTE* Most of my recipes are close approximations. I rarely ever measure in my kitchen. This time, I really did just throw some stuff together, so please taste as you go to adjust to what makes sense for your taste buds. If it is too sour, add more sweet, if it is too sweet add more vinegar, etc.

8-10 wild caught salmon
Marinade:
1.5 tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp saracha or chili sauce
1 garlic clove, grated
2-3 tbsp Unrefined (and not toasted) Sesame oil

Marinade the fish for a few hours, not over night or the vinegar will *cook* the proteins in the fish and make it tough.

Heat grill pan to really hot, cook salmon until it flakes apart easily.

Asian Ginger Slaw

1/4 head of cabbage
1 carrot finely grated
1/8 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup Unrefined (and not toasted) Sesame oil
1/2 tsp grated ginger
pinch of salt

Shred cabbage and mix in grated carrot. In a separate bowl, mix the honey, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger and salt. Pour over cabbage. Toss in sesame seeds. Let sit for a couple of hours so the vinegar has a chance to break down the cabbage.

Assemble pita pockets by stuffing with salmon and cabbage.

Chicken Stroganauff

2012-01-12T06:23:00.000-08:00

Last night my mom and I were talking and she said something about making beef stroganauff for dinner. I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner too, and really needed to start something soon if dinner was going to be on the table at a decent hour. Luckily I had some chicken breasts thawed out, but no inspiration for them. When Mom said she was going to make beef stroganauff, that got my wheels turning. I wondered how the sauce we use would taste on chicken. So I used the stroganauff flavors of sour cream, dill and paprika as a launching point for this dinner. And since all four family members wanted seconds, I say it was a hit.

-Amanda

Chicken Stroganauff

3 chicken breasts
10-15 button mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup white wine or chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sour cream
2-3 tsp dill (depending how much your palate likes)
1 tsp paprika

Slice mushrooms and mince garlic. In a large skillet, saute them in butter. While they are sauteing, cut chicken into bit size cubes. Add chicken and cook almost all the way through. Remove everything from the skillet to a bowl. Add wine or chicken stock to deglaze the pan. When most of the alcohol has cooked away or the chicken stock reduces, add heavy cream. Stir for about 10-15 minutes on high until cream thickens. Add dill, paprika, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium low and add chicken. Gently cook until chicken is cooked all the way through in the sauce. Do not boil the chicken or it will get tough. When chicken is just cooked through, remove from heat and add sour cream. Stir until incorporated. Serve with pasta, rice or just eat it by itself!

Creamed Spinach and Shrimp

2011-12-30T06:14:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks I haven't been posting near as many recipes as in the past. I haven't been in a creative food space. I've mostly been cooking variations of favorite dishes that have been on this blog already. A few times in this crazy busy time of year, I just didn't slow down to take a photo and I don't like posting recipes without photos. This dinner was good enough to post, but I wouldn't call it a top favorite. It did feel like it was missing the rice or pasta, but even so, it was good and the entire family ate it up.
-Amanda

Creamed Spinach and Shrimp

1 bag of frozen spinach
1.5 cups of shrimp
1 cup heavy cream
parmesan cheese
1.5 cups finely chopped mushrooms
1/4 of an onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 pieces of bacon cooked & crumbled
pat of butter or bacon grease

In a large skillet, melt butter or bacon grease. Saute mushrooms and onions until well cooked. Add garlic and cook for a minute longer. Pour in cream and cook on medium high, stirring constantly until cream thickens. Thaw out spinach and squeeze excess water. Add to the creamed mushrooms. Salt and pepper and keep cooking spinach. Add shrimp and cook until shrimp turns pink. Grate some parmesan cheese in the dish.Taste seasoning and adjust. Sprinkle cooked bacon on top.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac N' Cheese

2011-12-06T09:22:00.001-08:00

Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac N' Cheese. Say it with me. Yum. Seriously my favorite flavors all wrapped up in one yummy casserole. I think this may be my new potluck dish.
-Amanda

Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac N' Cheese

3/4 pound of pasta
1 large chicken breast
3 pieces of bacon
8-10 button mushrooms
1 tbsp flour
1. 5 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8-1/4 onion
2 cups grated cheese
1/2 cup grated cheese for top
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp garlic powder

Cook your noodles to package directions.
Butterfly open your chicken to make it thin so it'll cook quickly. Get a grill pan hot and grill chicken that has been salted and peppered. Set aside.
Cut bacon into 1/2 inch pieces and put them in a medium size pot. Cook on medium heat stirring frequently. When bacon is about half cooked add chopped mushrooms. When bacon starts to get crispy, remove it and the mushrooms from the skillet and set aside.

Sprinkle flour over the bacon grease adding butter if you don't have enough grease to cook bacon. Whisk to remove all the lumps. Add milk and heavy cream. Add dill and garlic powder, salt and pepper. Keep on medium to medium high heat and whisk until the sauce starts to thicken. Add grated cheese and stir to blend the cheese in.

In a casserole dish put the cut up chicken and mushrooms. Drain pasta and add it to the casserole dish. Pour in cheese mixture and stir to get all the noodles cheesey. Sprinkle with bacon and extra cheese. Put under the broiler for 8-10 minutes until cheese gets bubbly and brown on top.

Squash Gratin

2011-11-30T18:35:00.001-08:00

I don't think this is really a gratin. I think gratins have more cheese and maybe cream added, so I'm not sure what this is really, but it good!
-Amanda

Squash Gratin

1 large potato
1 yellow squash
1 zuchini
hanful of grape tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
plenty of salt and pepper
herbs if you like: rosemary, thyme, oregano whatever your favorite!

In a nice baking dish or pie plate, pour a bit of oil and rub it all around. Peel and slice your potato in very thin rounds. Make a layer of potato around the bottom. Sort of like a crust. Slice squash and zuchini in equal size rounds. Carefully place them artfully around your dish. Top with sliced tomatoes, the rest of the olive oil, the parmesan and seasonings. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes until top is nice golden brown and potatoes are cooked through.

Chocolate Ganache Coconut Pie

2011-11-25T18:45:00.001-08:00

If you like coconut and chocolate you will love this pie. It takes like a Mounds candy bar, except oh, so much better. It's really as easy as pie to make. Haha. But you'll have to forgive me because this is a "cooks" recipe. I'm not a baker and I don't do well with measuring. So realize that this pie was NOT measured, just a guess here and a taste there. But it'd be really hard to mess up, so dive in and please, don't forget to lick the bowl. I used coconut oil in the recipe, simply because coconut oil is really, really good for you. If you don't want to use coconut oil, then just use a bit extra butter in the crust and omit it in the ganache. No harm done.
-Amanda

Chocolate Ganache Coconut Pie

Crust:
2 cups of UNsweetened coconut flakes
4 tbsp of butter*
2 tbsp of coconut oil
drizzle of honey to taste (use local, raw honey!)

Filling:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
honey

*I used salted butter because the salt adds a bit to balance the sweetness. If you use unsalted butter you might add a pinch of sea salt to the crust. I actually added a tiny pinch extra to the crust anyway.

Spread coconut flakes on a cookie sheet and place in the middle of your oven. Broil on high, watching VERY closely. Stir a few times until nicely toasted. While coconut flakes are toasting, in a medium size bowl melt the butter and coconut oil in the microwave. (You can use the stovetop and transfer to a bowl also.)

Add coconut flakes to butter and coconut oil and stir until well moistened. Drizzle in a very small amount of honey and taste. You want the crust slightly sweet, but not too much!!

Press coconut flakes into an ungreased pie plate, pushing them up the sides. Then drizzle a thin layer of honey on top of the coconut flakes.

In the same bowl (as to reduce the amount of dirty dishes!) Heat the heavy cream until warm to the touch, but not boiling. (Or again, use a pot and transfer to the bowl.) Add in chocolate chips and stir. At first it'll look like milk chocolate. Keep stirring, suddenly it'll get darker and glossy looking. Add vanilla.

Pour chocolate into the crust and refrigerate for at least two hours. Enjoy! This pie was rich enough that we cut it into about 16 pieces and everyone was satisfied!

Pecan Sweet Potato Casserole

2011-11-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

On the Thanksgiving Table, I'm not sure if you should put this sweet potato recipe with the savories or the sweets. If you are being honest, it really is a dessert. And it is oh so good. And to think, growing up, I hated sweet potato casserole. Truth is I thought it looked funny because it was orange, I don't think I actually tasted it. Hopefully my sweet potato casserole will have a nut topping on it by tomorrow. The nuts are so good, I keep pinching a few here and there. Definitely double the nut part of the recipe if you want any left over for your sweet potatoes!
-Amanda

Sweet Potato Casserole

3lbs of sweet potatoes - I happened to have grown my own, but I'm sure the supermarket variety would be just fine!
4 tbsp oil
4 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 beaten egg
about half a bag of marshmallows

Peel and chop sweet potatoes in big chunks. Toss in oil. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until they are very fork tender. Place sweet potatoes in a baking dish. Add melted butter, brown sugar and vanilla. With a big fork, or a wire potato masher, mash potatoes in big chunks, keeping texture. Beat egg and stir it in to the potatoes, tempering the egg if the potatoes are still hot. Top with one layer of marshmallows. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until marshmallows start to brown. Sprinkle candied nuts on top and push into the marshmallows.

Chili-Candied Nut Topping

2 cups of pecans
1/4 cup honey
4 tpsp butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Melt butter in a skillet. Add honey, brown sugar, chili powder and cinnamon. Stir until mixed. Add pecans and stir to coat. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, but be careful not to burn the sugar. Pour out in a single layer on a silpat or parchment paper to cool completely. If making a day ahead once cool store in a zip bag or air tight container.

Originally posted on 11/26/09

Quinoa Burgers

2011-11-12T10:09:00.001-08:00

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, because it is SO good. Maybe it is just something "different" and I'm in the mood for new foods right now. I found a photo of these burgers on Pinterest and clicked on the link which took me to Eating Well, Living Thin's blog. Not a real food blog, but most recipes can be turned back into real food. I ditched her suggestion for low-fat cottage cheese for whole milk cottage cheese and got rid of the sugar in the recipe completely. It was only 1/2 tsp and I don't use Splenda anymore. I can't believe how much of that stuff I used to consume. I read the other day that they were trying to invent a new type of rodent poison when they discovered Splenda. Yum. Blah! But I digress... these burgers were delicious, especially fried in lard rendered from a humanly raised pig.
-Amanda

Quinoa Burgers

2 heaping cups of cooked quinoa*
3/4 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 medium carrot, finely grated
1 clove garlic grated
3 eggs
4 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
pinch of salt
oil that is stable for frying, such as lard, peanut or coconut oil.

In a large bowl (I started out too small and had to go up a size which is always annoying!) combine the cooked quinoa, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, carrots, eggs, flour, cumin, salt & pepper and grated garlic.

Heat frying pan with about 1/4 cup of oil and dollup out the batter. It's pretty mushy. Let fry for about 5 minutes per side before flipping. Remove when golden brown. Homemade tzatziki sauce was a great topping!

*Basic Quinoa

1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

Melt butter in a pot. Add quinoa and stir toasting it a bit. Add water, bring to a boil, stir really well, cover, lower to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

**Not to self, something crunchy would be good in the batter. Perhaps finely diced cucumber or celery??

Squash & Leek Soup with Feta & Bacon

2011-11-11T06:36:00.001-08:00

Now that cooler weather is here, I was really wanting a hearty soup to make. I love roasted butternut squash with feta so I thought sprinkling it on top of the soup would be tasty and I was right. I love creamy soups but only if I can sprinkle in enough toppings to give texture to the soup. So I went a little crazy adding bacon, pine nuts and feta cheese!
-Amanda

Butternut Squash & Leek Soup with Feta & Bacon

1 large butternut squash
olive oil
2 leeks
3 cloves garlic
1 lb bacon
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 tsp cumin
feta
pine nuts

Peel the butternut squash and cube it into large pieces. Rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast at 425 for 15 minutes, flip the pieces and continue roasting for another 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up bacon into small pieces and cook in the bottom of a large soup pot. Remove bacon but leave the bacon grease in the pot when it is crispy.

Wash leeks really well and cut into small pieces. Cook them in the bacon grease along with the minced up garlic. Add nutmeg and cumin. Put the squash cubes in the pan and add your chicken stock. Using either an immersion blender or by pouring the soup in batches in a stand blender, puree until smooth. Add cream until the consistency you like. You can also add milk/water or more chicken stock if you like. Serve with toasted pine nuts, feta crumbles and reserved bacon.

Chicken Spinach Dip Served 3 Ways

2011-10-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

Original Chicken Spinach Dip "Casserole"

Chicken Spinach Dip Frittata

Chicken Spinach Dip Pizza (half and half with a supreme pizza.)

This was so good! I'm trying to think of more casseroles that are low-carb, but it's hard because the carb is sort of what holds the casserole together. I don't think it really is a casserole without rice or noodles! Even so this was made like a casserole and it tasted great. I did make pasta on the side for my kids and hubby. The great thing is that the first night I ate it in a bowl by itself, the second night we had it as part of a fritatta and the third night we had it as a pizza. This was spread out over the week, not back to back. I even just served some of the leftovers over fried eggs one morning to jazz up my eggs. Basically this was very versatile and delicious!
-Amanda

Chicken Spinach Dip "Casserole"

1 pint of mushrooms
1 bag frozen spinach, defrosted and drained well
1 yellow onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated mozzerella, fontina or other favorite cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 block of cream cheese, room temperature

In a big bowl, mash the cream cheese, heavy cream, cheese and cottage cheese (or ricotta.) Add in the frozen spinach and mix well. Meanwhile saute mushroom and onion in a large skillet in some olive oil or butter until nice and caramelized. After it's cooled down, add to the cheese mixture. Mix in the shredded chicken. Pour in a casserole and bake at 375 for 20 minutes until cheese gets browned and bubbly.

Salsa Seafood

2011-10-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

Have you discovered Pinterest yet? I heard friends talking about it a while back and didn't really think too much of it. Then I got an invite and have become a Pinterest Addict. I love the inspiration it provides across the board. Whether from new dishes to try, new crafts, new ways to organize your house, inspirational quotes, humorous and beautiful photos, whatever your interest, Pinterest has it covered. All this to say, I came across an appetizer on there that was the inspiration for this dish. Following it's link back took me to some diet website, but since we don't do low-fat here on this blog, I glammed it up a bit... I mean, I want a dish that'll keep me full until breakfast, not have me searching the fridge for snack food at 10pm. Adding real, healthy fats to your diet, keeps you satisfied and keeps you away from sugary cravings. (Except chocolate... just kidding... sort of.)

(By the way, this made extra salsa, but I didn't really know how to scale back, and salsa is great on a lot of things, so it's okay to have extra in my book! It'll probably make an appearance on my eggs tomorrow.)
-Amanda

Salsa Seafood

Salsa
4 roma tomatoes
1/4 red onion
jalepeno (how ever much you want)
cilantro
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp avocado oil (or olive oil)
1/2 lime juice
salt

Cut tomatoes really small. I got rid of the juice from 3 of my tomatoes and left the juice of the last one. Mince up the garlic and the onion. Mix the tomatoes, garlic and onion in a small bowl. Add finely chopped jalapeno. Squeeze lime juice over top and the avocado oil. Stir, add salt as needed and refrigerate to let flavors marry.

Seafood

4 filets of fish, I used flounder. Cod or Orange Roughy would be good too.
1/2 lb of shrimp
lime juice
ground cumin
salt

Marinade the shrimp and fish in a few pinches of cumin, salt and lime juice for 15-20 minutes. Grill fish in a non-stick pan until it is firm and starts to flake off. Cook shrimp until plump and pink. Place on a plate, top with salsa, avocado and drizzle more avocado oil and lime juice on top.

Gyro Salad

2011-10-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

I love gyro sandwiches and crave them every once in a while. I love lots of green flavors, but they are usually so strong that I only want them occasionally. Well, gyro meat is a creature all in itself and I don't think it'd be too easily recreated in the home kitchen, but I decided to use the main flavors of the dish and make a salad. I was going to make some soaked wheat pita bread, but well, I'm back on a low-carb kick today so I skipped the bread and just served up a salad. Okay, this looks complicated, but it literally took 15 minutes to cook! You can make the spice mixture ahead of time.
-Amanda

Gyro Salad

Meat:
1 lb of ground lamb (I got mine from Sloane Creek Farm.)
2 tbsp Greek Spice Mixture*
1/2 lemon

Spice Mixture*

1 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp curry
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder

Tzatziki Dressing:

1/2 cup Greek yogurt, strained to thicken
1/2 juice of a lemon
3/4 of a cucumber grated
1 tbsp fresh mint, minced
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 tbsp olive oil
salt

Salad:

Lettuce
feta cheese
cucumber
tomato
red onion
kalamative olives

Mix spices together. Use 2 tbsp and sprinkle on raw lamb meat. Squeeze in 1/2 a lemon. Mix well and let marinate in fridge for 1-2 hours. Saute in a pan on medium high heat until done. It was pretty greasy, so I just drained a bit of juice out when I scooped onto the salad.

While meat is cooking, mix up the tzatziki dressing and chop up vegetables for the salad.

Quick Brownies

2011-10-06T11:12:00.001-07:00

Now, quickly made food often has lots of nasty chemicals and preservatives. However, lately I have caught the train for brownies in a mug. A quick chocolate fix with no nasty scary stuff. I bet you could experiment with this and switch out the white sugar with a more wholesome unprocessed sugar. This recipe is from Food & Whine, however the original recipe calls for 4 Tablespoons of sugar and I find that two is sufficient. I also find that if you use whole wheat flour the end result tastes just as chocolaty and delicious.

-Jules

Brownie in a Mug
4 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. sugar (I'd substitute palm sugar, which is less processed)
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2 Tbsp. canola oil (I'd substitute out coconut oil for a Real Food recipe)
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Put everything in the mug and mix well. Put it in the microwave for about a minute. It should still be wettish looking. Feel free to get creative. I found peanut butter chips mixed in or peanut butte spread right on top before microwaving is especially yummy. Get crazy Ya’ll!

Grain Free French Toast Muffins

2011-10-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Those that know me, know I don't bake. So why I decided to try and make up a muffin recipe all by myself is beyond me. And then to make the leap to making it grain free? Crazy I tell you. But it worked! I think next time I'll go for 20 minutes instead of 25, because they got a little too brown on the bottom, but the middle was light and fluffy, slightly sweet and hit the spot. I am right proud of myself if I do say so!
-Amanda

Grain Free French Toast Muffins

3/4 cup of almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
5-10 drops of stevia
1 tbsp palm sugar

Mix everything together in a big bowl EXCEPT the palm sugar. Scoop into paper lined muffin tins, about 3/4 full. Sprinkle a bit of palm sugar on the top of each muffin. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. While still hot, add a pat of butter to the top of each muffin to soak in. This made 8 muffins.

Please if you try this, let me know what you think and if you made any changes!

*I submitted this post to Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday!

Another Seafood Chowder

2011-10-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

I had shrimp scampi on the menu for this week, but when I got to the store the shrimp wasn't too cheap but the wild caught haddock was on sale for $3 a pound! I got a bit of shrimp anyway, some haddock and then picked up some clams from the frozen section. This is a very simple seafood chowder. Mostly seafood, potatoes, cream, milk, spices and chicken stock. A bit of parsley for color. Here is a different recipe, I posted a while back.

Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Stuffed Baked Potatoes

2011-09-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Menu Planning night for the week. But instead of going to the grocery store after the girls were in bed, I took an opportunity to go before dinner. But I didn't have anything planned or prepped and I walked in the house with all the groceries with t-minus 30 minutes until our very prompt 5:30 dinner. I walked in, popped 4 potatoes in our convection oven, quickly put away the groceries with hubby and whipped together a fast cheesy bechamel sauce to make this fast and tasty dinner.
-Amanda

Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli stuffed Potatoes

4 baking potatoes
3 slices of bacon
2 tbsp flour
1.5 cups of milk
3-4 oz cheese
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup shredded leftover chicken

Bake your potatoes in a convection oven at 400 for 35 minutes (yeah, dinner was a bit late tonight.) Or you can microwave them. A regular oven you'd probably have to add another 10 minutes to the baking time.

Cut up bacon into thin strips and cook it in a small pot over medium high heat. Stir frequently until crispy. Remove the bacon but leave the grease. You need about 3 tbsp of grease, if you don't have enough add some butter or other oil. Sprinkle in flour and whisk for a few minutes. Add milk and continue to whisk until sauce starts to thicken. Add shredded cheese. Stir until cheese is melted and remove from heat. Steam broccoli in another pot or in the microwave. In a small bowl, add shredded chicken, broccoli and enough cheese sauce to coat. Reserve the rest of the cheese sauce to pour on top of potatoes. Cut potatoes open, dallop with butter and salt. Smoosh in cheesy chicken broccoli. Pour extra sauce on top and then sprinkle reserved bacon. Enjoy!

Easy Roast Chicken

2011-09-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

Best ever Roast Chicken. Juicy and succulent. This is a free range chicken and they are known for being a bit more tough than the poor little chickens that don't get any exercise. But if you cook them low and slow, they are moist and perfect. I got this recipe from Nourished Kitchen, and I've made it several times. I never have slowed down to take a photo though because we all devour it so quickly! Since it takes a few hours to cook, your house smells heavenly. I don't take the time to truss up my chicken, so it doesn't look as fancy. This time I seasoned it with butter, orange and rosemary (and salt and pepper). In the past I've just done butter, salt and pepper and it's been super good too.
-Amanda

Easy Roast Chicken

1 Free Range Chicken
few tbsp of butter
salt and pepper
any other seasonings you want

Wash up your chicken and pat it dry. Smear butter all over and under the skin between the skin and breast meat. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and any other seasonings you want. I cook mine in a stonewear casserole pan with a lid, I think the stonewear keeps an even temperature. Eitherway, make sure you have a lid or at the minimum foil. Cover and cook for 3 hours at 275 degrees. Low and SLOW. Then uncover and cook at 375 for 30-45 minutes to get the browned affect. Delicious!

What's for Dinner at my house: Coconut Lime Shrimp

2011-09-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

This was a sort of strange dish I concocted. It did not get raving reviews from the family so I won't post the recipe. Everyone did eat it though, even while sort of complaining about it. I actually liked it and went back for seconds. Basically I sauted some shrimp, red bell pepper and garlic and set it aside. Then I mixed part of a can of coconut milk, lime juice, chicken stock, a bit of fish sauce and arrowroot and simmered until thick. Then I added chopped and steamed cauliflower and the shrimp back in. It looked like shrimp and grits, but had a coconut-lime flavor. Anyway, it's what we had for dinner, I guess they can't all be winners!
-Amanda

Grain Free BLT

2011-09-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

For me, a BLT (Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato) Sandwich is comfort food. Of course, since I usually don't like tomatoes, I'd normally just fix me a BL. But I do like cooked tomatoes, so today when making this sandwich, I took the time to grill some cherry tomatoes while the bacon was cooking. Using homemade "bread" and homemade mayo made with healthy fats makes this a pretty awesome, nutrient dense sandwich! For the bread, I borrowed the Paleo Bread recipe from Elana's Pantry, but instead of cooking it up as a loaf, I made savory pancakes out of it. They came out so delicious!

-Amanda

Paleo (Grain Free) Pancake Bread

1 ½ cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
¼ cup golden flaxseed meal
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
5 eggs
¼ cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Mix the almond flower, coconut flower, flaxseed meal, salt and baking soda together. Melt coconut oil, if your oil is solid and whisk it together with the eggs, honey and apple cider vinegar in a second bowl. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry. Ladle about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter on a medium heat griddle. I found I need to smoosh the batter down a bit with my ladle and even finger tips, because it was pretty thick. When the first side sets, flip over and cook the second side. Let cool on a cooling rack and store in a zip bag in your fridge.

Fried "Rice"

2011-09-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

I'm so funny about carbs lately. One day they are fine and the next I'm all about eliminating them. Overall, I'm definitely trying to reduce the amount of carbs, especially grains. The more I read about wheat the more concerned I get. The wheat we eat today is not the same wheat our great grandparents ate. It physically is a different plant not by natural selection, but by genetically modifying the plant to something a lot of people think is not truly digestible for humans. And as for other grains, like rice, I hear conflicting things about too! Only eat brown rice, wait! Too much phytic acid, white rice is actually better. But white rice is more processed, eat brown! And back and forth. Anyway, all this is to say, that I am trying to make more recipes that are grain free, and this is my latest addition.

Using a trick I've read about here and there on the internet I decided to try a "rice" replacement, you take cauliflower and pulse it in your food processor raw until it makes small rice sized pieces. Then you steam it and use it in place of rice. Everyone in the family ate this meal last night, it was really good! And I did not taste a strong cauliflower presence. While I'm not a huge fan of substituting an ingredient, using a whole food like this didn't bother me. The meal may or may not feel like Fried Rice to you, but it was still a good bowl of American-Asian flavored vegetables and ham!
-Amanda

Fried "Rice"

1 large head of cauliflower
1 tsp soy sauce
2 carrots
1 cup of peas
1/2 cup bean sprouts
5-6 button mushrooms
4-5 oz ham
2 eggs
2 green onions
2 tbsp lard
1 tbsp butter

sauce:

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 freshly grated garlic clove
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tbsp arrowroot powder

Pulse cauliflower in a food processor until you get rice sized crumbles. I found doing 1/3-1/2 of the head at a time gets the best results. Place in a bowl and put a pat of butter and a 1 tsp soy sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat lard. Chop carrots to bite size pieces and start cooking them in the skillet on med-high heat. Add mushrooms, peas, bean sprouts and ham. Beat eggs with a tbsp of water and pour them in a smaller non-stick skillet on high heat. You don't want them to scramble, but make more like an egg pancake. When it starts to brown, flip it over. Remove from heat to a cutting board and cut into strips. Reserve.

Mix together sauce in a small bowl with a whisk. Taste and adjust to your preferences. Add steamed cauliflower to vegetables and add the sauce. Pour sauce over vegetables and stir gently until thickens. Add eggs and mix together. Last add chopped green onions.

This post is linked using The Healthy Home Economist Monday Mania.

What's for Dinner Tonight: White Bean Chicken Chili

2011-09-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

Friday night I made some homemade tortillas and reserved some for today. Sunday night I sat my beans out to soak. Monday I cooked the beans, put some in the refrigerator for this recipe and then I stored the rest away in the freezer for future meals. This afternoon I'm making a roasted salsa for tonight's meal and I'll ferment some for a Taco Salad meal later in the week. But for dinner tonight, with a bunch of thought and love put together, I'm making a White Bean and Chicken Chili.

Easy Cheese Bacon Chicken

2011-09-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

File this recipe/idea under easy, fast and tasty! It was perfect for tonight where I didn't want to do anything super complicated. Took less than 10 minutes to assemble and then it cooked in the toaster oven for another 20 minutes, not even having to heat up the entire house with my big oven. Win/win!
-Amanda

Easy Cheesy Bacon Chicken

Chicken tenders (or chicken breasts cut into thin strips)
1 piece of bacon per chicken
1 slice of cheese (I used colby jack) per chicken
avocado

Salt and pepper each chicken breast. Wrap with bacon and place in a very hot skillet for about 3 minutes per side. If you are using an oven proof skillet, top each chicken with cheese and place in the oven to cook all the way through and cheese gets bubbly and browned at 350 for 20 minutes. I transferred my chicken to a small brownie pan (one layer of chicken) and cooked it in my toaster oven for the same heat and time. Serve with sliced avocado and homemade ranch dressing to dip!

Pork and Plantains

2011-09-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe on The Mango Duck, and took the idea and ran with it. What I got was a super tasty dish, that was unlike any flavor profile I've cooked before in my kitchen! I love that!
-Amanda

Pork and Plantains

For the Pork Filling:
1 lb of pork (I used pork chops)
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 c orange juice
juice from a lime
1/2 cup of chicken stock
1/2 can of coconut milk

Cut the pork into tiny pieces. Place in a cast iron skillet or other heavy bottom skillet and cook on medium high heat until almost cooked through and remove to a bowl. Cut onion into same small pieces and add to the now empty skillet. Cook it and diced garlic until translucent. Add pork back to the skillet and then put in all of the dried herbs and seasonings. Go ahead and salt, but go lightly because the dish will reduce down and get stronger. Add orange juice, lime juice, coconut milk and chicken stock. Simmer for 30-45 on a med high to high heat to reduce the liquids down. Taste and adjust salt.

For the Plantains:

3 plantains
oil (I used lard)

Cut plantains in about 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Get oil hot and fry until golden brown. Place each fried plantain in a mini muffin tin and while it is still hot, smash down with a spoon or I used these sauce cups which fit perfectly in the mini muffin tin.

Fill each plantain cup up with the pork mixture and enjoy!

Lobster Pizza

2011-09-05T08:14:00.001-07:00

Growing up in New England there are several foods that indicate summer is upon us…One of those foods is the LOBSTAH! Oh Lobster, how I love thee..
Now if you are ever lucky enough to have left over lobster, there are many things make with the left over deliciousness, such as the Lobster Roll or Lobster Bisque, or even Lobster Chowdah. However a lobster pizza is a great option, especially if you want to stretch a little left over lobster pretty far.

Lobster Pizza
Pizza Dough
1 Tablespoon of yeast
1 Cup of medium hot water (105-115 degrees F...hot to the touch, but not scalding)
1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 salt.
3Cups or more of flour

1 Tablespoon of yeast dissolved in 1 Cup of med-hot water, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. When it "proofs" (20 +- minutes), add 2C flour with a spoon then add, by kneading, 1C or more of flour.
Grease the bowl, turn dough in bowl, cover and let rise. Place in warmish room. Several hours later punch down the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin or with hands pressing into pan.

Let rise again then add the fixings.

Pizza Fixings
After the first amazing lobster dinner, or just with cooked lobsters, removed all meat from the shell, including the tail, claws, smaller claws and around the belly. Chop up the lobster into bite size chunks. Reserve tasty meat for later.
After the dough rises in the pan, spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce on dough and sprinkle on shredded cheese. For a nice rich blend of cheese, use mozzarella, cheddar and a little parmesan. Throw on some thinly sliced Vidalia onions. Cook pizza until 3/4 done, about 20 minutes at 425 F. Remove the pizza from the oven and sprinkle Lobster meat on pizza. Put the pizza in the oven for about 10 minutes more until the cheese is bubbly, crust is golden and lobster meat is hot.
Then gorge!
-Jules

Green Salsa Chicken

2011-09-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

I made up a pretty terrific slow cooker meal today. Wanted something low carb so instead of serving this on tortillas, I served in in lettuce leafs. The other great thing was the girls loved helping make the salsa. They peeled all the garlic and tomatillos and they helped brush on the avocado oil. The salsa could be made up the day before without any problems making it a super simple crock pot meal the next day. And of course, you could stuff burritos or tacos with this juicy tender meat!

-Amanda

Green Salsa Chicken

Roasted Green Salsa
1 white or yellow onion
1-2 hot peppers of your choice, preferably green ones
8-10 tomatillos
4-5 cloves garlic
3-4 tablespoons of oil (I used avocado oil, but olive oil would work too.)
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Peel garlic and tomatillos. Cut tomatillos in half. Cut onion in quarters. Cut pepper in half and discard stem and seeds. Toss everything with oil (or use a pastry brush and brush it on each vegetable.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes. Let cool complete, and then blend in your blender until you have a chunky consistency.

Shredded Chicken

4 chicken breasts
1/2 can of coconut milk
zest of one lime
juice of one lime
salsa recipe from above
salt to taste

Pour half the salsa in your crock pot. Place chicken breasts and sprinkle with salt. Pour in the rest of the salsa, the lime zest, lime juice and coconut milk. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Take chicken out 30 minutes towards the end and shred. Place back in sauce and stir. Adjust salt as needed. Serve with cheese and lettuce for the photo above, otherwise use as a stuffing for tacos or burritos.

I just saw MAGIC

2011-08-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

Get ready people, this blog is about to go on a little adventure. What was "The Frickin Chicken: A Cooking Blog" may just become "The Frickin Chicken: Natural Living, or Home Adventures" or something of the like. When I started my Real Food Adventure I had no idea where it was going to take me. I just was fed up with feeling tired all the time. I seriously dreaded going up and down the stairs in my own home because it just took too much energy. And so I'd go on a diet (low-fat/high fiber) and I'd work out, but I'd be starving and miserable and it just wasn't working for me.

Then I heard from a friend to try her diet. She ate bacon and eggs and butter. Real butter. Golden yellow butter. And she said she never felt better in her life. I was at a point where I was gaining weight steadily and I was frustrated and felt I had little to lose. So I read some books. A lot of books. Nourishing Traditions, Real Food, What to Eat and Why, The Liberation Diet, Wild Fermentation , Food Rules and more. I started reading blogs of people who ate this way. And the theme was the same. They felt great, they were healthy, and a lot of them lost weight, lost or helped health problems such as diabetes, lactose intolerance, Chrons disease, ADD, ADHD, it has helped autistic children and tons more. It all made sense to me. The basic principle was to eat Real Food as close to nature as you can get. There is still so much to learn and people disagree about, but that makes it fun. Some people of the Real Food movement say low-carbs, some say no-grains, no-gluten, and some say eat any food as long as it prepared the way your ancestors would have eaten it. There is a group called Paleo eaters that don't eat dairy or grains, they eat the way cave men would have as hunters and gatherers.

Even though I consider myself a "real foodie" for about a year now, I am still a newbie and I've tried on a bunch of these different theories, sticking to the main core. Eat healthy fats that have not been hydrogenated. Real butter from grass fed cows, nitrate free bacon, coconut oil, avocados, farm fresh eggs from hens that get to roam around. I eat lots of vegetables, a few fruits, some carbs. I try to limit my sugar and what I do eat is raw honey, grade B maple syrup, palm sugar and stevia all in limited amounts. I've learned to ferment some of my foods and drinks. I make kombucha, kefir, fermented hot sauce and salsa. I've tried my hand at making homemade yogurt, fruit chutneys and more. The fermented foods are full of probiotics that keep you healthy and fight off colds and stomach viruses. They also help you digest your food. Staying away from soy (a food that should only be eaten fermented), processed oils like vegetable oils, soy oils and hydrogenated oils is hugely important. Trying to eat more organic (all would be the best scenario), and stay away from GMO (genetically modified foods.) Also, eating meat that is humanly raised the way they were meant to live. (Cows that get to eat pasture instead of soy and GMO corn, chickens that roam around, that kind of meat.)

I personally have not lost much weight on this diet. I did lose a good chunk (about 30 or 35 lbs) in the very beginning. I was very gung-ho and I stuck VERY strictly to eating REAL food only. I didn't go out to eat for about 3 months, and when I ate at friends houses I brought my own food. It was hard to stay that strict in today's world of processed foods. It's easy for me to follow the diet at my own home with my homemade condiments, healthy food choices and no soda. Outside my front door, it's a bit harder for me. When I started getting less strict about eating out, I stopped losing weight. But I did see the benefits of eating Real Food at home. When I get sick (which in the past 10 months has been twice) I get over it in a quarter of the time I used to. I'm bounding up the stairs, I'm keeping my house clean, I'm doing more with my kids, I'm happier. I feel like I'm doing good things for my body and my family. I would like to lose weight on this lifestyle and I do think it can be done. I just haven't figured out exactly what my body needs.

But back to the reason why I started writing this long story (that I didn't know was going to be so long.) Real Foods got me thinking about other Real things. I'm appreciating the small things in life lately. Everytime I grab a paper towel, I am thinking of the tree that went into making it. I never used to pause as I ripped 10 off the role to clean up a small spill. But getting closer to your food, I think gets you more in tune with nature. I've started using cloth around the house to replace paper products. I've stopped buying paper plates and taking a few extra moments to clean the kitchen. When you have more energy, it's not that big of a deal like it used to be. And now, I've started making my own cleaning products. It's been just as fun as whipping up a new recipe to eat. It is awesome knowing exactly what is cleaning my house and it feels empowering to know that I made it. So, as I experiment, I want to share some of the recipes I try out for homemade/DIY cleaners and house hold products. I hope you don't mind seeing some homemade deodorant slip in next to a post about Chicken and Forty Cloves!

And for the magic show I got to watch today. I am embarrassed to show you this photo. It is the inside of my refrigerator. Something spilled behind the drawer and it dried on. Who knows how long it was there. And then, I went to clean the drawer one day and I pulled it out and I saw the horror of this dark brown GOOP. And I scrubbed at it with 409 and it did not budge. I did not want to use anything too harsh, I mean, I didn't want the odors and chemicals around all my food. So I stuck the drawer back in the fridge and figured I'd think on it awhile. And time goes on. And I forgot about it. Until a few days ago when it was time to clean out the drawers again and I saw it. And then I saw a post on Crunchy Betty's website about oven cleaner. And I thought... if it will work on ovens, surely it'll work on my refrigerator. So I mixed up a batch, crossed my fingers, and prepared myself for some elbow work.


Yeah, it is VERY ugly. Shudder!

And I sprinkled some baking soda like she (Crunchy Betty) said to do. But I'm not patient and did not leave it overnight. Maybe 5 minutes. And then I used the oven cleaner and MAGIC happened. There was no elbow grease. It was like wiping up a puddle of water. It just wiped up like... well MAGIC. I'm not even exaggerating here. I was so excited I wanted to clean the entire fridge except that I was too excited and had to take a second picture and come blog about it and then clean the rest of the fridge later. Which I now know I won't have to dread (except for moving all the food out, which is a pain) but the shelves and everything are gonna just wipe down like a breeze.

Magic Deep Cleaner
(for use on ovens and really sticky refrigerator messes. Please check out Crunchy Betty's website, she's got a wealth of info on there about natural beauty products and products for your home.)

1 tbsp borax
1/2 cup vinegar
1/8 cup dish soap (I used liquid castile)
1 cup boiling water

Mix all ingredients together and put in a spray bottle or a bowl. I didn't have an empty spray bottle so I put mine in a bowl and dipped my towel in it. Sprinkle the messiest parts with baking soda and then spray the Magic Spray and wipe up. Simple.

The after:

Yes, this was the same refrigerator!

-Amanda

Pea Salad

2011-08-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe from my childhood. I do not know if it is a southern dish or a northern dish that traveled south. My memories of this dish are from when my Grandma Bettie made it. And, it was the ONLY way I would eat peas as a kid. No kidding. I normally would use a red apple for contrast but I was out of apples and my neighbor, being an awesome neighbor, lent me an apple and it was green, and so that was a perfect apple. Thank you Andrea! Oh, and I made this from a childhood memory so I don't know if it is the "right" way to make pea salad, but I'm pretty sure this was a popular dish in the 1970's. It should make a come back. It's good. Plus, it might get your kid to eat peas.
-Amanda

Pea Salad

1.5 cups frozen peas
1/2 tbsp butter
salt & pepper
1 apple
2-3 oz cheddar cheese, cubed
3 tbsp mayo (I make mine homemade)

In a small skillet, bring peas to a boil and cook for a few minutes. Drain, return to pot. Add butter, salt and pepper and allow peas to cool completely. Chop one apple, leaving the skin on. I try to cut it as close to pea size as possible. Do the same with the cheese. Mix the cooled peas, the apple and the cheese in a bowl with the mayo. Refrigerate and serve cold.

What's for Dinner at My House: Sausage, Potato & Coleslaw

2011-08-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is a bit (okay, more than a bit) carb heavy for a girl who is supposedly going low carb. I keep waffling on that. One day I'm low-carb, one day I'm moderate carb and the next I'm just "grain-free" but not actually low carbs. That's how I can justify potatoes, which are like one of my favorite food groups. (Potatoes should be their own food group, should they not?) Now, the loaf of white french bread hiding under the (nitrate free) sausage, slathered in homemade mayo? Yeah, um... no excuses for that lovely crunchy carb on my plate. The main thing for me is to try as hard as possible to stick with real food ingredients.

The coleslaw is a bigger portion than it looks, it's called perspective. I did NOT have three times as much as potatoes as cabbage... or maybe I did. Anyway, it's what we had for dinner and it hit the spot. By the way a few twists to mention: the coleslaw I used up the rest of the homemade Caesar Salad dressing I made the other night. The other twist is that the potatoes are the Salt & Vinegar recipe I tried out from Noble Pig's blog and man are they GOOD.

So... what's for dinner at your house?
-Amanda

My version of Coconut ChickenCurry

2011-08-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, I finished up making a batch of chicken stock, and with the chicken from that stock I made Chicken Tacos. There was enough meat for two more meals. Tonight I used part of it to make a Coconut Chicken Curry.
-Amanda

Coconut Chicken Curry

1/2 onion
1 small bell pepper
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups fresh cut up pineapple
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp lard/coconut oil
1 tbsp flour
1 can of coconut milk
2-3 tbsp curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cooked chicken

Saute diced onion and bell pepper in lard or coconut oil. When onion starts to soften (about 10 minutes) add garlic and pineapple. Then put about a tbsp of butter in the skillet followed by the flour. Stir the flour in until it coats the vegetables and fruit. Add coconut milk and stir until the sauce thickens a bit. Last put in the curry and chicken and cook until chicken is heated through.

Best Ever Chicken Tacos

2011-08-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a big pot of homemade chicken stock simmering away, smelling up the entire house. I knew that some of the chicken that was making the stock was going to make chicken tacos for dinner. Sometime in the morning I cut up some tomatoes, peppers, onion and a few cloves of garlic, tossed them in some salt and pepper and olive oil and roasted them for 25 minutes at 425. Then I pulled them out to cool. At my kids naptime I pulled the chicken out of the stock and set it on a cutting board to cool. Just as they were waking up, I pulled off a big bowl of meat that will be enough meat to make 3 meals. Blending up the tomato mixture makes a delicious roasted tomato salsa/ sauce. With all this homemade salsa & slow cooked chicken I figured it'd be a shame to wrap it up in a cardboard (I mean, store bought) tortilla, so while the chicken was cooling, I quickly tossed the ingredients together to make homemade tortillas.
-Amanda

Chicken Taco Filling

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese
2 cups slow cooked shredded chicken
3/4 cup salsa (see above for a quick homemade version)
salt to taste
oregano
ground cumin

Melt butter in a skillet and add flour. Whisk until the flour is coated and cooked a bit. Add milk and whisk all the lumps out. Add cheese and keep whisking until sauce thickens. Add chicken, salsa and seasonings. Just cook enough to warm the chicken through. I added a ladle of my homemade chicken stock just for the extra nutrients and simmered that until it thickened up again, but that is optional. Serve on warm tortillas with chopped lettuce, dollop of sour cream and extra salsa.

Leftover Breakfast!

2011-08-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

Last nights leftovers made a great breakfast! There was a teeny tiny piece of steak and a good portion of the hash left. Topped with a fried egg and some of the poblano pesto, what a hearty steak and eggs breakfast, that took hardly any time to prepare!
-Amanda

Grilled Sirloin with Poblano Pesto Sauce

2011-08-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

This dinner really hit the spot! Bold, juicy, spicy, earthy, salty and a bit sweet it hit all over the palate. Definitely worth trying out! I got the recipe/idea from watching 10 Dollar Dinners with Melissa D'Arabian on Food Network. I did not follow her pesto exactly, but took it as a launching pad for my own. One tip, taste the pesto sauce as you go, and adjust as needed. It isn't finished until it tastes good on the tasting spoon. It may need a bit more acid (lime juice) or perhaps it's too acidic and needs more olive oil... just adjust to your preferences! I served it with Sweet Potato and Beet Hash.

-Amanda

Grilled Steak with Poblano Pesto

Sirloin Steak
2 limes
salt and pepper

2 pablano peppers
3-4 tbsp fresh grated parmesan
small handful of pecans
1-2 cloves garlic
3-4 tbsp olive oil
lime juice from one lime
parsley or cilantro (I was going to add this and forgot!)
salt and pepper

Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper and the juice of one lime. Let come to room temperature. Grill about 3 minutes per side for a 1 inch steak. Let rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

Char the poblano peppers. On a gas stove you can put them directly on the burner. If you don't have a gas stove you can char them under a broiler turning every few minutes either way you go. When the skin is completely black all over, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let steam/cool down for 10 minutes or more. Peel the skin off under running water and then cut away the stem and scoop out the seeds. In a small food processor put the poblano peppers, nuts, parmesan, salt, pepper, a few tbsp of olive oil and half the lime. Pulse a few times, trying to leave it a bit chunky. Taste as you go, adding more olive oil or lime juice to balance the flavor. Chop some cilantro and add it last. Serve over hot sirloin steak.

This post was linked to The Healthy Home Economist: Monday Mania Blog Link Up.

Sweet Potato & Beet Hash

2011-08-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

I was needing some inspiration because I've been stuck on the "what's for dinner" question. I've even been making menus but if you aren't excited about your menu, then cooking it isn't thrilling either. Luckily this morning I was watching Food Network and caught 10 Dollar Dinners. I like that show for Real Food, because most of the time, Melissa D'Arabian uses Real Food ingredients, and when she doesn't they are usually easy to sub out. To save money she is a bit carb heavy, but a lot of her dishes I either make less of the carb or just go without it and it is still great. Today she made this Sweet Potato and Beet Hash that looked intriguing to me. I've been trying to eat more beets because they are so good for you. So, sure the sweet potatoes have carbs, but they still have lots of good vitamins so, in moderation not a bad thing. Hubby and I really liked this side dish. One of my twins ate almost all of hers and my other girl ate a few bites without any complaints (but she filled up on steak, because she is my MEAT eater!) As for the recipe, I linked to her recipe, but when I made it, I just went off my memory of what she did. Here is my version.
-Amanda

Sweet Potato & Beet Hash

1 sweet potato
1 beet
1.5 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
3 pieces of nitrate free bacon
1/4 yellow or white onion
2-3 cloves garlic

Peel the sweet potato and the beet. Cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Toss in the olive oil, salt and pepper and place in one layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for about 25 minutes, flipping halfway through.

In a skillet, cook bacon that has been cut into small pieces. As the bacon is cooking add very small diced onion. Saute on medium high heat until onion is carmelized and bacon is crispy. Add minced garlic and cook for a minute or two more. Add the sweet potatoes and beets to the bacon and onions and stir.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2011-08-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

I made up this quick Sweet and Sour Chicken dish for my girls. I used a sweet and sour sauce recipe based off of Sarah, the Healthy Home Economist blog. The girls loved it! I used a small skillet and only made up enough for their lunch. I should have double the batch because they licked their bowls and asked if they could have it for lunch again tomorrow.
-Amanda

Sweet and Sour Chicken

1 chicken thigh (or breast)
1 tbsp arrowroot
2 tbsp coconut oil/lard
1 carrot
handful of peas
sauce:
1/4 cup ketchup (I used homemade)
1 tbsp of grade b maple syrup
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar
1 tsp grated ginger (not in original recipe)

Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Place in a bowl and sprinkle arrowroot, salt and pepper and stir until well coated. Get oil hot in a skillet and then place the chicken in it, shaking off extra arrowroot powder. When browned on one side, flip over and cook the other side. When chicken is about halfway cooked, add vegetables and continue stirring. Add sauce and bring to a boil. The arrowroot powder will help thicken the sauce and have it cling to the vegetables and chicken.

New Cousins!

2011-08-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

I just wanted everyone to know that I haven't abandoned the blog! I've spent the past week in College Station, Texas for the birth of my identical mirror twin cousins Darianne Mae and Daylynn Joy Hill. They were born on July 25th and spent six days in NICU. Now they are happily home with my Aunt Rebeca and Uncle Darrin. It was a fun but exhausting week as I helped Aunt R travel back and forth to the hospital to help her breastfeed those two babies. Now I'm back at home and the new Mom and Dad are doing great! My identical twin daughters, Madeline and Isabelle are super excited to have (second) cousins that are also twins!

Frittata

2011-07-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last nights dinner was a simple frittata. I love making things with spinach incorporated because my girls like spinach that way. If I give them a side dish of spinach they turn their noses up though. This was super easy to put together and tasted delicious. It was one of those dishes that will be hard to recreate since I used leftover potatoes from a chicken roast from a few nights ago. The potatoes had soaked up all the chicken juices and they were divine. You could sub in some boiled potatoes that are mashed with butter, but they wouldn't taste exactly the same.
-Amanda

Frittata

6 eggs
1 cup of diced ham
1 cup of cooked spinach, drained
4 cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper
sprinkle of parmesan
2 cups of cooked diced potatoes
olive oil/butter

Preheat oven to 350. Fry the ham in your oven safe skillet in a bit of butter, bacon grease or olive oil. While that is frying, in a large bowl, whisk your eggs together. Add cream, salt and pepper. Add the cooked ham and cooked (drained) spinach. In the hot skillet, press down/smash your potatoes to form a crust. Let them brown for a few minutes and then remove the skillet from the heat. Pour egg mixture in the skillet. Slice your tomatoes and lay on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan and drizzle with some olive oil. Bake for 25-30 minutes until eggs set. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting.

Rood Vegetable Slaw with Cinnamon and Maple Syrup Dressing

2011-07-22T19:57:00.000-07:00

I wish I was creative enough to have come up with this side dish, but since I've hardly ever eaten most of the root vegetables in it, I needed a recipe to follow. I found a recipe on a Raw food site that sounded really good. Her version was a bit different (she cut the vegetables differently and served it on lettuce) But it gave me a jumping off place to start. She also had some different vegetable choices. Use what you can find and go with it! I served this with fried haddock and butter. I had a bit of batter left at the end so I tossed in a few zucchinis too.
-Amanda

Root Vegetable Slaw with Maple Syrup Dressing

2 carrots
1 beet
about half a cup worth of rutabega
about half a cup worth of daikon radish
handful of dried cranberries

Cinnamon and Maple Syrup Dressing:

1/2 cup oil of choice (I used olive and coconut)
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup grade B maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tbsp dijon mustard (I got to use my homemade!)
1/4 tsp salt
water, if needed

I used a food processor to grate all of my root vegetables after washing and peeling each one of them. You could also use a mandolin to slice them if you want bigger pieces, use a hand grater or cut by hand if you really feel like your knife skills need that much work. I did wear gloves when handling the beet because I did not want red hands. Put all the vegetables in a large bowl along with the dried cranberries and toss well.

In a small bowl mix all the ingredients for the dressing. Taste and adjust as needed. I did not think mine needed the extra water that the original recipe called for, but I might have done less vegetables than she did. Pour over the vegetables and stir everything together. Let sit for a couple of hours in the refridgerator to let the flavors develop. This is really good!

Egg Rolls

2011-07-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

Oh yum! I was totally craving egg rolls. The thing is whenever I order them they don't taste as good as I think they should. So, I decided to make my own. I did buy pre-made wonton wrappers, because I think that is probably out of my skill reach. But now that I think about it, I do have a pasta roller, and really, they are kind of like pasta... I wonder if they are made the same way? Something to ponder. In the meantime, egg rolls are sort of labor intensive even without making your own wrappers so I'm not sure that it is something I'll ever do. (Uh, oh... do I hear a challenge?) Since I wanted the egg rolls to be the star of the dinner instead of an app or a side, I kept the side dish pretty simple. Just a quick stir fry of sesame ginger carrots and broccoli. One neat trick was to use the rest of the egg that I needed to seal the wonton wrappers in the vegetable stir fry. When you are buying pasture raised eggs, you don't want to waste them!

I made two quick dipping sauces a simple sweet and sour and a soy-sesame. I use an organic, traditionally prepared soy sauce that has been fermented. Be wary of soy sauce that is made from GMO soy that was not fermented. Non-fermented soy sauce is very hard to digest. (Read more here: Dangers of Soy.)
-Amanda

Egg Rolls
(very approximates on the ingredients!)

package of won ton wrappers
1 lb of ground pork
3 cloves garlic
1 cup of finely shredded cabbage
1 cup of finely shredded carrots (I used my vegetable peeler all the way through the entire carrot, and then ran my knife over the shreds.)
2 scallions, cut fine
3/4 cup bean sprouts
handful of parsley
soy-sesame sauce (recipe below)
1 egg for wash
lard/coconut oil for frying

In a medium size skillet cook pork and grated garlic cloves. In a large bowl, mix the cabbage, carrot, bean sprouts, scallions and parsley together. Add cooled pork. Mix well. Pour sauce, mix and let sit for at least one hour. Lay out wonton squares. Put about 3 tbsp of pork mixture in the bottom of one corner (drain as much of the liquid as you can.) Fold over and roll to the middle. Wrap the left and right sides in. Brush the top corner with egg wash and finish the wrap. Set aside and roll all egg rolls. Fry in hot lard. I only had enough to half cover the egg rolls, so I had to roll them in the oil carefully until golden brown all around. (I had enough mixture to make 16 egg rolls)

Soy-Sesame Sauce:

1 tsp arrowroot
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 cloves grated garlic
4 tsp honey

Whisk all ingredients together except for arrowroot. Remove half for dipping sauce. Whisk arrowroot into remaining sauce for egg rolls.

Easy Sweet and Sour Sauce

1/4 cup of apricot jam (no sugar added, all fruit)
1/8-1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar (taste as you go to your prefrence.)
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tsp grated ginger

Ginger-Sesame Carrots & Broccoli

3 carrots
1/2 head of broccoli
splash of soy sauce
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp ginger
leftover egg wash (optional)
sesame seeds
scallion
olive oil

Put olive oil in pan. Pour egg and let it cook like a pancake. Remove. Chop carrots and broccoli and saute in olive oil. Grate in some ginger, add a splash of soy sauce. Add in egg, scallion, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Apple & Bacon Salad

2011-07-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to add a few more salads into the rotation because they are usually pretty quick to make and for summer, salads just seem right. This was a very hearty and tasty salad that was approved by everyone. John said he thought the avocados were a bit odd in it and I think my girls were just going to eat the bacon until I encouraged them to taste a bit more! I think some dehydrated cranberries would be good in this too!

-Amanda

Apple and Bacon Salad

1/2 head of lettuce

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

1 package of bacon

1 avocado

1 large apple, chopped

1 cup of slivered, freshly toasted almonds

1/2 a cucumber, sliced

1/4 purple onion

homemade honey mustard dressing (see below)

Cut bacon into bite size pieces and cook until crispy. Chop lettuce and spinach into bite size pieces. Wash and dry thoroughly. Add to a very large salad bowl. Add diced apple, avocado, toasted almonds, chopped cucumber, thinly sliced onion and drained bacon. Toss. Serve with honey mustard dressing. Made enough for two adult portions.

Honey Mustard Dressing
(these are NOT exact amounts, I just eye balled it!!)

1 tsp mustard (I got to use my homemade mustard!)

2 tsp honey

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup avocado oil

1/4 cup olive oil (If you don't have avocado oil, just use olive oil)

1 grated garlic clove

salt and pepper

pinch of dried herb such as thyme, tarragon or oregano (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk honey and mustard together. Drizzle oils in slowly whisking continuously. Add rice wine vinegar, garlic and salt. If it is too thick and the flavor is good, add a bit of water. Otherwise adjust oil and vinegar until you get the acidity level that is good for you.

Grain Free Casserole

2011-07-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

This was a winner in the house tonight! I don't know if I was super hungry from swimming or if it was just that good, but I went back for seconds! Good thing the recipe makes enough for two casseroles so you can freeze one. Just remember if you plan on freezing one, line your casserole dish with aluminum foil. Place the ingredients in the casserole and bake. Then you can cover and freeze. Once it is frozen solid, remove the foil "casserole brick" from you pan, wrap it with plastic wrap, label and put back in the freezer. That way you can use your pan for other uses. When you want to reheat, unwrap the plastic, put the "brick" back in the pan you cooked it in, and reheat in the oven.

I got the recipe for this casserole from Family Living Simple, but it was Paleo. I added cream, cheese, more tomato paste and an extra egg.
-Amanda

Grain Free Casserole

2 zucchini
2 carrots
1 sweet potato
1 can of tomato paste
2 lbs of ground beef
10 button mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
4 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
lots of mozzarella and parmesan
oregano, basil, salt and pepper

Cut your zucchini and carrots into thin noodles using a mandolin. If you don't have one, slice into thin slices and then cut each slice into small strips. Use a cheese grater or food processor to grate the sweet potato. Put the zucchini and carrot strips and grated sweet potato in a very large bowl. Toss to mix. Start cooking your beef and add chopped mushrooms, onion and garlic to it as it cooks. Add tomato paste, herbs and seasonings and mix well. Allow meat mixture to cool down.

Grate cheese into the vegetable mixture and toss. When meat mixture cools, add it to the vegetables and mix well. Beat four eggs and heavy cream together and pour into meat mixture. Using your hands, make sure everything is well incorporated and transfer to two oiled baking dishes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 20 minutes covered and 20 minutes uncovered.

Spinach Dip Omelet

2011-07-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

If you use a bit of imagination, this photo is a perfect looking omelet. I think I sort of overstuffed it, but it was no matter, because it was a really good omelet. Last night I made the Spinach Dip Stuffed Chicken Breasts, and I had a few tablespoons of the stuffing leftover. I was going to throw it away, because it wasn't enough to do much with, but I hate throwing away any good food. Then it came to me, make an omelet! A fancy omelet. Oh yum. I actually sauted some bacon, mushrooms and artichoke hearts for the omelet too. (I was going to put the artichoke hearts in dinner last night, but since my husband doesn't care for them, I left them out.) Anyway, I'm not going to post a recipe, because omelets are pretty straight forward, but I just wanted to put the idea in your head, that sometimes a few tablespoons of leftovers can be transformed into a fun and different omelet the next day!
-Amanda

Spinach Dip Stuffed Chicken Breast

2011-07-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, this is good. Ooey and gooey in the middle, crisp bacon up on top. Yummy! Next time, I'll flip them over and broil the underside too, so that both sides of bacon get crispy. I'm posting this recipe to "Traditional Tuesdays" go check them out!
-Amanda

Spinach Dip Stuffed Chicken Breast

3 large chicken breasts
6 pieces of bacon
1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and strained really well
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup fresh grated jack cheese
salt/pepper/chili powder

I brined the chicken breasts overnight, which is optional, but will help keep the breasts flavorful all the way through, tender and moist. To brine them, just cover them with water, add a splash of apple cider vinegar, a few cloves of garlic and a couple of tablespoons of salt. Cover and refrigerate. You can also make the stuffing ahead of time.

Stuffing: Mix cream cheese, sour cream, jack cheese, and spinach in a bowl. Add seasonings. Stir until everything is well incorporated.

Cut each chicken breast lengthwise in half and pound out flat with a mallet. Mound about 3 tbsp in the center of breast and then roll them closed. Secure with a toothpick. Wrap 2 slices of bacon around each chicken, sealing off the ends that are open to the stuffing. Place on a rack and then over a cookie sheet or other dish. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Broil on high for 5 minutes, then flip them over and broil for 5 more minutes.

I did a simple sauce of reduced heavy cream, parmesan and chicken stock to pour over the tops of the chicken. I plan on freezing the leftovers for future meals.

Mustard

2011-07-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

My first batch of homemade mustard hits the fridge... (it's sitting next to some homemade yogurt and strawberry flavored kombucha.) Of all the condiments, this should be the first to make homemade because it is so easy it's hardly a recipe. My friend Nicole Rice of A Life Well Nourished, shared the method with me and I had to call her twice to make sure there wasn't "anything" else to it. All it really needs is a bit of patience! I made a bunch, because I know we'll go through it fairly quickly and because it is fermented it will last a long time.
-Amanda

Probiotic Mustard

about two cups of plain very strong kombucha
8 oz of mustard seed
3 cloves of garlic

Pour mustard seed in a jar that is twice as tall as the seed, to give it room to rehydrate. Add garlic cloves. Cover with strong kombucha. (My timing worked out perfectly for this recipe because right when I wanted to do it, I had some kombucha that I'd been ignoring in my pantry for about 2 months that was very strong!) The first day or so watch the mustard and as it starts to expand (rehydrate) keep covering with kombucha, you want all the seeds to be under the liquid. Set on your counter and let ferment for 5-7 days. Pour in a blender and puree. You've got mustard. Nicole likes to add horseradish while pureeing, but I found it was pretty spicy on its own. I added honey because we love honey mustard.

A Real Food Reflection

2011-07-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

As I was driving along today running some errands, I was thinking about my real food journey and how far I've come in the past 8 months or so. I'm really proud of the way I eat (for the most part) these days and I'm still excited to learn more new things every day. I know I still have a long way to go to get to where I want to be. Sometimes the allure of the convenience foods, still pulls me. What I am starting to learn though, is that after I eat the food that I thought was convenient, I don't feel as well. I'm more tired, or more bloated. Not to mention going to get a fast food, really isn't as fast as you'd think.

The other night, I was pretty worn out from a very busy day. Dinner plans had gone awry and in the past it would have been a perfect excuse to call out for Chinese or pizza delivery. Instead, I just made a simple dinner of bacon and eggs for everyone. It was Real Food, and took less time to make than it would have taken for the pizza to arrive. The meal only dirtied one skillet and I felt good after eating them. That night I went on a bike ride, which I know I would not have been up for if I'd eaten delivery pizza. It really got me to thinking.

I've also noticed how far I've come in deprogramming myself from the grips of commercial food conglomerates as far as snack foods go. In the past, I felt like I needed a granola bar, a peanut butter cracker package, a small bag of mixed nuts (that I now know has MSG added) or other pre-packaged snack foods with me at all times. I used to be hypoglycemic and if I didn't have food on me at all times, I'd get dizzy, irritable and light headed until I ate something. Now, I rarely ever get that way. I still keep a bag of soaked and dehydrated nuts (to get rid of the phytic acid) and dried fruit in the diaper bag, but when I eat Real Food meals, full of real fats, I don't usually need a snack in the middle of the day. I was cleaning out my pantry the other day and I found a few packages left over from 8 months ago when I last bought boxes of those pre-packaged snacks I mentioned before.

At first I felt like I should save these packages as a "just in case" I needed them for something. Then it dawned on me, that even if I did need a quick snack, I no longer would choose to eat those kinds of foods. I read somewhere, "I can not unlearn the things that I have learned." And that quote has really stuck by me in my Real Food adventure. When you are really present to the chemicals and genetically modified foods that do harm to your body, you really don't want to eat them any more. In the past 8 months instead of grabbing those packages, I grab a hunk of cheese, a glass of raw milk, eat a small bowl of yogurt or many other foods that don't come in cute packages with bright graphics.

The other day, I had to pack a lunch to go for my twins. In the past I would have packed a sandwich, some crackers and maybe a string cheese. Not horrible, but not great. Instead I packed a hard boiled egg, a few soaked & dehydrated almonds, a small serving of raisins, a hunk of real cheese broken into bite size pieces and a banana. It just looked healthier. There was a naturalness about it. Plus, without filling them up on carbs, but more protein, it gave my girls the energy they needed to get through a big day.

These days, when I'm at the grocery store filling up my cart, I actually am proud of my food choices. I no longer cringe at myself as a case of soda rolls across the conveyor belt knowing it wasn't good for me but feeling helpless and powerless not drink it. As time goes on, I want to get further away from a conventional grocery store and learn to buy most of my foods from local farmers and ranchers, but I'm still working through the baby steps. I'm starting to think for myself and not just grab the closest food-like item to shove in my mouth. I'm taking the time to learn traditional methods of food preparation and learning to really appreciate foods for their own unique flavors, not a chemical approximation of what a consumer "should" like, coated in sugar.

Hot Wings with a Fermented Hot Sauce

2011-06-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not posting a recipe tonight because these still need a bit of work. That doesn't mean they weren't delicious! But the sauce did not "cling" the way I had hoped so I want to try some different ideas out. I cooked the chicken wings using Alton Brown's method, and then after they were cooked, I tossed them in the lacto-fermented hot sauce/butter mixture. I served them with homemade ranch dressing and store bought chips that had three ingredients: potato, avocado oil and sea salt. I let the kids taste the hot wings but since they don't like spicy foods yet, I just served theirs plain with the ranch dip. They ate all of their wings and wanted more!
-Amanda

Hamburger Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing

2011-06-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry I did not take a photo! Tonight I made hamburgers for the family but I ate mine sans bun. I made a big salad for everyone to enjoy with their hamburger, but I broke my patty up and incorporated it into the salad. It was actually really good and I didn't miss the bun. The salad was romaine lettuce (I wanted bib lettuce but they didn't have it at the store), boiled eggs, avocado, cucumber, bacon, colby jack cheese and the hamburger for me. Topped with homemade ranch dressing, it was very satisfying!
-Amanda

Homemade Ranch Dressing

There are lots of versions of ranch dressing on the internet. You can get really complicated or keep it simple. I take the time to make my own mayo as the base because I think that is important. This way you get healthy oils instead of rancid factory oils like canola, soy or vegetable oils. I actually made this batch of mayo with a bacon grease/sesame seed oil base! Make sure your bacon is nitrate free, of course. For the ranch, I like about equal parts mayo and sour cream, but you can play around with how tart you like it with what ratio you add.

1 part mayo
1 part sour cream
sprinkle of dried garlic, or fresh grated garlic
pinch of dill, fresh or dried
salt and pepper

Mix and serve!

Homemade Ginger Ale

2011-06-25T07:32:00.001-07:00

I saw these recipes the other day and knew they were right up Amanda’s alley! My dad is undergoing some really hardcore chemo, and has been suffering from nausea. He told me that Ginger Ale helped, but I didn’t think that Canada D*y would have a ton of actual ginger in it (which is actually scientifically proven to combat nausea.) So I decided to whip up a batch myself. On the Crumpets and Cakes blog I found two great recipes. One instant and without yeast, and one with yeast. I decided to avoid the fermented recipe for my dad, instead I made the second, faster Ginger Ale recipe. I will report--it seemed to help with the nausea, which is good for everyone now and again. However I will also point out that I loved it too!! It was a little spicy, just a little sweet and really refreshing. The best thing is that you can adjust how much of the ginger syrup to put in the soda water—so it can be as spicy or mild as you would like!

-Jules

Recipes from Crumpets and Cakes

Ginger Ale: Instant version:
1 cup fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
club soda
juice of one or two limes, juice from half lemon
mint for garnish

Directions:
Combine ginger, sugar and water in a saucepan. Simmer slowly for 10 minutes, until sugar is dissolved and ginger is softened.

Strain warm syrup and allow to cool. Fill a tall glass with ice, add 1 part(used 2oz shot glass) of ginger syrup and 3 parts of club soda.
Squeeze lime and lemon wedge into glass. Use more syrup if desired. Garnish with mint. Stir and enjoy.

Ginger Beer:
1c sugar
freshly grated ginger root (1 1/2-2 tablespoons), use the fresh ginger root you can find, it really makes a difference
juice of one lemon
1/4tsp baker's yeast
cold fresh spring or filtered water

special equipment:

clean 2L plastic bottle, funnel, patience
Directions:
Through a funnel add sugar and yeast to a plastic bottle. Mix grated ginger root and lemon juice and then transfer it to a bottle, add water to fill it half way and shake well to mix all ingredients. Add more water, leaving about an inch head space, screw the cap on and shake again. You can also mix all the ingredients in a jar and then transfer to a plastic bottle. Leave in a warm place for about two days and then transfer to refrigerator, to stop fermentation process. Refrigerate overnight. Pour it through a strainer and enjoy!

What's For Dinner at My House: Strawberry Walnut Salad

2011-06-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

This is the Strawberry/Walnut/Chicken salad that I made tonight. The dressing recipe is right here: http://thefrickinchicken.blogspot.com/2010/09/walnut-salad-dressing.html.

And the way that I did my menu planning this week, it made it really easy to do a break down of the cost of the meal. So for grins and giggles I did. For four portions it ended up being $2.11 per serving! Not too shabby for a delicious healthy meal!

Real Food Menu Plan

2011-06-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

I am not one for planning. But in an effort to simplify my life and perhaps do a bit of budget control on food items I agreed to give menu planning and grocery listing a chance. Most people know I like to just look at what I have on hand and create a dinner. I also don't normally have a set day to do my grocery shopping, I just go on a whim. Sometimes that means a few times a week. Which gets expensive. So this morning I sat down and took about 45 minutes to lay out a menu plan, list out ingredients, figure out which ones I had and which ones I needed. At first I was so focused on dinners I forgot to add in grocery list items for breakfast and lunch. My goal is to hopefully eat leftovers for lunch, but I also made sure there were some easy lunches to have available too. The grocery list is for what I need at Sprouts (my local small health food grocer.) A lot of the meat for the meals is either in my freezer or I get from a local rancher through a meat-buy club. I buy about half of my meat that way these days. Perhaps the more I control the budget the more I can buy from the rancher instead of from the supermarket.

Anyway, I want to share my menu/list with you. I know it isn't anything new, I'm probably the last person on the planet to get on board with menu planning but it's new to me. This week I did not plan any new dishes for The Frickin Chicken. I actually went through my archives and pulled up some old dishes. One (the salmon) dish, I'm reworking to have heavy cream instead of fat-free half and half. I mostly planned low-carb, but I did include one dish with white rice. I also decided on two salads because it is summer and it's getting hot here in Texas. How do you do your planning/shopping??

Click here for a link to the PDF.

Update: The menu planning is going so great this week! I even costed out a a few of the dinners and found that each serving was from $2.50-3.00 per person! People think eating real food is expensive, but it doesn't have to be. For instance I know going out to dinner for most of these meals would be a $12-$14 plate of food per person. I'm linking this post to Kelly the Kitchen Kops Real Food Wednesdays!

Pizza Stuffed Bell Peppers

2011-06-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks we've been trying to do some menu planning around here. It's not my normal way of cooking, but things have gotten so busy this summer that it really has helped to at least scratch out a semblance of a menu on a scrap of paper before heading to the grocery store. (I also rarely use a grocery list.) I just normally buy what looks good and then come home to "create." Well this week I had "stuffed bell pepper" on the menu. I normally make these with green bell peppers because they are cheaper but the red ones were on mega sale and they are so pretty. I also normally make stuffed bell peppers with rice, mushrooms and sausage. But this time I decided to make them "pizza" style. Although I did forget to add the olives which bummed me out when I remembered as we were eating! The good thing was that I had leftover stuffing. You can serve it on the side or freeze it to make a quick spaghetti dinner another night, which is what I did.
-Amanda

Pizza Stuffed Bell Peppers

4-5 bell peppers - look for ones with pretty flat bottoms
1 lb of hamburger meat
2-3 cloves garlic
1.5 cups of your favorite Italian seasoned tomato sauce- I had some leftover that I'd made for pizzas.
Block of mozzarella, cubed up in 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 onion
8-10 button mushrooms
basil, oregano, salt and pepper

Cut the tops off the bell peppers and scoop out the insides. Rub with oil and set either on a cookie sheet or in a casserole dish.

Saute onions in a bit of bacon drippings. Let them get really good and caramelized and then remove from the skillet. Add in hamburger meat and some seasonings. Cook about halfway and then add garlic and mushrooms. When meat is almost cooked through add the tomato sauce.

Add a few cubes of mozzarella in the bottom of each bell pepper. Fill each bell pepper half way with the meat mixture. Add more mozzarella. Then fill to the top with the meat. Add a few more pieces of mozzarella to the tops of each one. Put the "lids" back on the bell peppers and cook at 375 for about an hour. Scoot the tops off and cook a bit longer until cheese browns. (We didn't have the patience for that!)

**Olives, diced (nitrate free) pepperoni or any other favorite pizza topping would be great in this!

Sausage and Cabbage Stew

2011-06-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

I have to give credit to my friend Nicole Rice for this dish. I went over to her house the other day to pick up my latest buy from the meat buy club. (She works with a local rancher to get us grassfed beef, pasture chickens, eggs and more!) Anyway, she was in her kitchen, like usual, and she was chopping cabbage and sausage and throwing it in a crockpot. She said she normally does the recipe in the oven, but she was trying it for the first time in a crockpot. I decided to go with the oven today, since I wanted to cook it faster than how the crockpot would do it. This also reminds me of a dish my mom made growing up. She'd do sausage and sauerkraut on the stove top. Mom's dish was more caramelized, this was more of a stew. I'm not sure what seasonings Nicole uses, I just took her method and ran with it. I loved this dish because it took less than 10 minutes to throw together. You do need to plan in advance since it needs to bake for at least an hour though.
-Amanda

Sausage and Cabbage Stew

1/2 head of cabbage
4-6 links of sausage or bratwurst
2 carrots
1 stick of butter
2-3 cups of homemade chicken stock
sprinkle of fennel
salt and pepper

Chop cabbage very fine and add to a oven proof casserole dish. (I used the stoneware baker from Pampered Chef.) Grate the carrots and add to the cabbage. Cut sausage into rounds and then brown it in a hot skillet. (You can skip the browning stage if you are in a hurry.) Add it to the cabbage. Cut the stick of butter up and place it around the casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and fennel. Add the chicken stock and cover. Bake for about 45 minutes covered at 375, and then 15 more uncovered. Enjoy!

Tequila Lime Salmon Packets

2011-06-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

I was super excited to find wild caught salmon on sale for $6.99 a lb a couple of weeks ago at my grocery store. It often goes for double of that. I only wish I had bought double what I did! Even so, I still got quite a bit of salmon and so now it's time to eat it all up. Luckily it was frozen, so I just brought it home and stuck it back in my freezer and didn't have to worry about freezing thawed out pre-frozen fish. (If that makes sense!) Salmon is also one of my kids favorite proteins. I think because it is pink and they are three year old girls. Whatever, it's a super good for you protein so I'll take whatever the reason is! Cooking fish in packets is a very easy way to prepare fish, so give it a try if you have never done it before!
-Amanda

Tequila Lime Salmon Packets w/mixed vegetables

Tequila Lime Marinade:

(all measurements are close approximations and can be tweaked to your liking!)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
zest of one lime
juice of one lime
2-3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp tequila
1/2 cup olive oil

Vegetables:
2-3 carrots
1 zuchinni
2 handfuls of snow peas

Salmon:

4 filets

In a small bowl, grate the garlic and ginger. Add lime zest, soy sauce, lime juice, honey, tequila and olive oil. Whisk until mixed well. Taste and adjust, although it will be a bit strong because of the tequila. Pour in a small sauce pan and bring to a rapid boil for 15 minutes. Carefully (it's hot!) taste again, it should be more mellow. Adjust as needed. Set aside to cool down.

Cut carrot and zucchini into small sticks. Place in a small bowl along with the snow peas. Pour half of the marinade over the vegetables, cover and refrigerate.

Make packets about 1-2 hours before cooking. On a large sheet of parchment paper, place 1/4 of the vegetables in a pile, draining the marinade away. Place one salmon filet on top and season with salt and pepper. Add a bit of the marinade to the fish and rub it in. Seal the packet by crimping/folding all the way around. Do the same to the remaining 3 packets. Let marinade for 1-2 hours, no longer because the acid in the marinade will make the fish tough if you go too long.

Preheat oven to 400 and cook for 12-15 minutes. Before you cook the fish, press the fish gently with your thumb to see how much give is in the fish. After 12 minutes, press fish again through the packet with your fingers, it should be firm when done. Cook for a few minutes longer if it doesn't feel firm enough. Do not overcook or it will be dried out!

Chicken in Garlic Gravy

2011-06-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

This was a very simple, quick and easy one pot meal to throw together. It would have been terrific over egg noddles, but leaving out the carb made it a one pot super quick meal. I used bacon drippings from breakfast to cook my vegetables and chicken in. If you don't have bacon grease leftover, you can either crisp up some bacon fresh, remove it and crumble it back into the dish for some extra wonderful taste, or use another fat of your choice. Coconut oil, non-hydrolyzed lard, or even olive oil would be good choices.
-Amanda

Chicken in a Garlic Gravy

2 chicken breasts
2 zuchinnis
10 button mushrooms
3-4 garlic cloves
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp flour
3-4 tbsp of bacon drippings

Dice garlic up into very small pieces and put in a skillet add about 2 tbsp of bacon drippings and cook the bacon on low. This gives garlic flavor to the fat. Meanwhile, cut the ends off your zucchini and slice in half lengthwise. Then chop into one inch half slices. Cut mushrooms in fourths. Add zucchini and mushrooms to skillet and saute on med-high heat until they start to brown. While they are cooking, cut your chicken breasts into bite size pieces. Remove vegetables to a large bowl using a slotted spoon. Add chicken, add more bacon drippings if needed. Again, cooking on medium to med-high heat, cook the chicken until it is almost done all the way through. Remove to the bowl with the vegetables. Add thyme to the skillet that only has bacon drippins in it now. Add the flour and whisk quickly. When flour has cooked, add the heavy cream and stock and cook until it thickens. Season with salt and pepper. Add vegetables and chicken back to the sauce and cook for a few extra minutes until chicken is cooked all the way though. Serves 4.

Greek Chicken Wraps

2011-05-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

Well these were really great, even if they were a bit kludged together. And by that, I mean instead of the cucumber I wanted to use, but didn't have, I used zucchini. And the olive jar that was in the door of the fridge ended up being jam instead. The jars look similar I guess and I didn't look close enough. I forgot that the garlic was going to be used raw and I was visiting while prepping the dressing so I used three cloves instead of one. I added a touch of honey to balance out the heat of the garlic. All this is to say that, do try this recipe because it really is good! (Even my two toddlers ate it!) And that feel free to sub as necessary, it seems to be pretty forgiving! And if you don't have any tortillas, make it a big salad.
-Amanda

Greek Chicken Wraps

2 chicken breasts
1 cucumber (or um... zuchinni as the case may be!)
handful of olives
2-3 oz fresh feta cheese
1/4 red onion sliced very thin
chopped lettuce
tortilla wraps

Dressing:

1 tbsp anchovy paste
1 clove of garlic, minced/mashed
zest of one lemon
juice from half a lemon
1/4 cup really good olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp of honey if needed
salt (careful, the anchovies are salty)
fresh cracked black pepper

Cut the chicken into scallopini. That is, when they are partially frozen (it is easier that way) take your knife and carefully cut down the thickness of the chicken to make thin big pieces. I did each breast twice this way resulting in 3 pieces of chicken from each breast. On a very hot grill pan, grill the chicken until cooked through and remove to a plate to cool.

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing in a large bowl and whisk well. Taste and adjust as necessary. Slice chicken into thin strips and add to the dressing bowl. Add sliced onion and thinly sliced cucumber. Crumble up the feta cheese and add olives. Cover and set in fridge for 1hr all the way up to 24 hours. Just before serving chop up some lettuce and put it in your tortilla. Add cold chicken mixture on top, wrap and serve!

What's For Dinner at My House: Pork Ribs!

2011-05-27T13:27:00.001-07:00

I'm visiting a favorite tonight. I just put these ribs in the oven!

What's For Dinner at My House: Nachos!

2011-05-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

No recipe, but a quick and easy dinner idea. Homemade nachos really hit the spot for us tonight. I bought the corn chips, store bought tortilla chips are a treat for us lately, but when I do buy them I get the organic ones now because GMO corn is just scary. I topped them with some grass fed beef that I seasoned with a homemade taco seasoning blend of oregano, cilantro, chili powder and cumin with sauted onions and garlic too. Added in some of the roasted tomato salsa I just made and then whipped up a very quick "queso." The queso was basically a very thick bechamel sauce with lots of cheese! A dallop of sour cream on top and it was a yummy quick dinner. John added a bit of lettuce to his, but I went just ooey gooey tonight. The girls ate this UP.
-Amanda

Roasted Tomato Salsa

2011-05-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

First off, I know this isn't the best photo. But I was so busy eating it, I didn't want to slow down to photograph it! I really want to write down this recipe so I can repeat it in the future but I didn't really count everything so it's just sort of a guess. I plan on adding whey to what we didn't eat tonight and fermenting the rest to make it last longer (ha!) and to add probiotics to it. That is if it can sit on my counter for 3 days without being gobbled up... we'll see.
-Amanda

Roasted Tomato Salsa

8-10 tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
3 pablano peppers (you can throw in a spicy pepper or two also, but I just wanted the flavor, not the heat this time.)
1 large onion
5-6 cloves of garlic (paper still on)
Olive oil
sea salt

Line a cookie sheet (that has edges!) with foil. Lay the peppers out. You can keep them whole or go ahead and cut them in half and seed them. I seeded my bell pepper but kept the pablanos whole. Toss the garlic cloves still in their husks on the tray. Quarter the onion, removing the outer skin and place it on the tray. Cut each tomato in half and with a melon scooper, scoop out all the seeds and juice. Place cut side down on the tray. Liberally drizzle olive oil on everything and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until everything starts to brown a bit.

Add vegetables to your blender, removing the skins from the tomatoes and peppers as much as possible. They should peel right off. Pulse a few times to keep things chunky but blended. Add salt as needed. Enjoy!

To ferment add 3-4 tbsp of whey, put in mason jars and let sit out on counter for 3-4 days until bubbles form. Refrigerate when done fermenting.

Sausage and Chard

2011-05-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

I needed a quick and easy dinner last night and I needed to use up some of the fresh greens I had in the refridgerator. I thought that this simple dinner would be terrific. And it was pretty tasty. I actually liked the leftovers this morning with a farm fresh fried egg on top better though...
-Amanda

Sausage & Chard

1 lb of your favorite pork sausage (I used one from a local farm)
3 stalks of chard
4 handfuls of fresh baby spinach
8 oz button mushrooms, cut
1 small onion diced
2-3 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
1 tsp of maple syrup (Grade B is the best)

In a large skillet, cook diced onion and garlic in either a dab of lard or butter. Stir until they are translucent and soft. Add sausage, turn up the heat and brown. Add chopped mushrooms. When mushrooms are browned add chopped chard and cut up spinach. Drizzle in the apple cider vinegar and maple syrup. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serves about 4, but leftovers with a fried egg on top are really, great!

Enchilada Suiza

2011-05-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

I have a confession. Enchilada Suiza used to be one of my favorite tv dinners back when I bought those things. This is SO much better than any tv dinner. I wish I had tripled the recipe and froze it though. It'd be great for taking to a new mom. This was a project though. I did not end up making my own tortillas, but that would have just made it that much better. I did cook the chicken for 24 hours to make stock from it. Chicken pulled from the bone after being simmered for that long is so moist and it shreds so easily. Plus I got about 6 quarts of rich stock to use for another recipe. The roasted tomatillo salsa that went into the recipe was really great too! I used anaheim peppers for flavor and no heat, since I wanted my toddlers to eat this and they don't like spicy foods (yet!) I made the salsa the day before. It'd be a great one to make and lacto-ferment and serve with chips, but I didn't ferment this batch since I knew it'd be baked in the oven which would kill of any beneficial bacterias that I would have gained from fermenting it. Then I stirred together a quick white sauce to pour over the enchiladas with the green sauce and they went into the oven. Here is the method broken down a bit more:

-Amanda

Chicken Enchilada Suiza

Tomatillo Salsa

6-8 tomatillos, huskes removed

3-4 cloves of garlic with skins still on

4-5 anaheim peppers or a mixture of your favorite peppers. If you go with a hotter pepper you can either add it with the anaheims, bell peppers or just increase your amount of tomatillos so you get the same amount of salsa at the end

1 small white onion, peeled and quartered

cilantro (optional)

olive oil

salt

On a baking sheet, spread out the tomatillos, garlic with skin still on, onion and peppers. Liberally drizzle olive oil on top and sprinkle with sea salt. Put in a 425 oven for about 25-30 minutes until everything starts to turn a bit brown.

In a blender, place the onions and tomatillos in the blender, add the garlic removing the skins at this time, they should just squish out. Cut the top of the peppers and squeeze out the seeds and add them to the blender. Blend on high for a minute or two until everything is well blended. The tomatillos should have enough liquid that you don't need to add water, but you can add a bit if needed. Add cilantro if using and blend one more time. Store up to a week in the fridge. Makes about 1 quart.

Cream Sauce

1 cup of sour cream

1/4 cup heavy cream

1./2 tsp cumin

salt

Mix together and set aside.

Enchiladas:

1 quart of tomatillo salsa

1 recipe of cream sauce

3 cups of shredded chicken meat

12 oz (ish) of shredded cheese, I used colby jack

10 tortillas

Spread about half of the tomatillo salsa on the bottom of a large baking dish. Roll up each tortilla with a bit of shredded chicken and shredded cheese and roll it up. Place with the seam down in the salsa. Finish all 10 tortillas squishing them together. Top with the rest of the salsa. Pour white sauce over the green salsa and top with leftover cheese. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes until cheese gets all nice and bubbly.

A Seafood Chowder

2011-05-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the temperature dipped into the 40s and it was pretty darn chilly for May in Texas. With the added rain, I was really craving some sort of warm chowder for dinner. But I didn't really have all the ingredients to make a chowder and I sure wasn't going to the grocery store in the downpour we were experiencing. This morning the girls and I made it to the store and I decided to make this chowder up for dinner, even though today the weather was already back in the high 60s and it was bright and sunny outside. A couple of weeks ago I bought a package of clams in their shells in the freezer section. I figured it'd be a good beginner way for me to learn to cook with clams, since I love them but have never cooked them. I also figured a soup would be a foolproof way to start. I'm not going to list a specific recipe here, since I just added a bit of this and that. I will list the ingredients in the order that I threw them in the pot and the method for an idea of what I did. Oh! And I also have to add, the green English peas? They came from my garden! (I'm so proud!)
-Amanda

Seafood Chowder

bacon
onion
celery
garlic
carrot
potato
curry powder
thyme
salt & pepper
butter & olive oil
flour
cream
milk
chicken stock
shrimp (frozen)
clams (frozen)
cod (fresh)
peas
parsley

I basically, cut up the bacon and fried it. Added minced vegetables and sauteed until soft. Threw in some curry and thyme. Then I added a bit of butter and olive oil and flour. Cooked that for a minute and then added my liquids. Tasted what I had to make sure the base was good. Then I added my seafood, peas and parsley. Served with another drizzle of olive oil and it was terrific!

I posted this on Kelley the Kitchen Kops Real Food Wednesday!

Yoğurtlu Pancar Salatası—Beet Salad

2011-04-30T12:03:00.001-07:00

Oh, not only is this pretty, but it is amazinly tasty! I have made it with skim yogurt and whole fat. Let me just tell you, it tastes fine with skim yogurt, but decadent with whole milk 0r cream yogurt! This salad is served cool or cold and is considered a side dish or a meze.
--Jules
Yoğurtlu Pancar Salatası—Beet Yogurt Salad
3 to 4 large beets boiled and cooled
1 cup of yogurt
1/4 of water
2-4 cloves of mashed garlic
1-3 teaspoons of dill
salt to taste
First shred the beets. I used a food processor because I did not want to stain my hands. Then whisk the yogurt, mashed/pressed garlic, water and dill together. Finally, fold everthing together and salt to taste, about a 1/2- 1 teaspoon. Serve cool or cold as a side salad. Yum!

Dallas Morning News

2011-04-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

I've got some great news to share! I've been featured in the Dallas Morning News with my girls. Nancy Churnin a reporter for the DMN interviewed me last week on Real Food and eliminating processed foods, especially artificial dyes from our diets. I had a great time talking with her, and chatting about how much Real Food means to me. I told her how I found the Real Food movement with Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and that the Weston A. Price Foundation is a great resource for learning about our food supply and how to make the right choices. Nancy was interested in tips on how to eliminate harmful dyes from kids (and grown ups!) foods.

Studies show that these dyes are causing hyperactivity in kids among other very startling side effects. Scroll through a website like the IATP Food Coloring Database and you'll be SHOCKED at how many foods use dyes in them, when it is completely unnecessary for the flavor of the food. As I talked about in the article, Real Food doesn't need any help, it tastes good and looks great. It's only by conditioning that we expect foods to look "unnaturally" colored.

Please take a moment to read Nancy's article (and see photos of the girls and I cooking, taken by Stewart House, Dallas Morning News photographer) The link is right HERE. (You do need a subscription to read the entire article.)

Here is a link to the Real Cheese Crackers I shared in the article.

Yeast Free Pizza Dough

2011-04-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today at the grocery store, I splurged and bought a ball of REAL mozzarella. Then I bought some roma tomatoes and had an idea in the back of my mind to make a homemade pizza for dinner. I love homemade pizza because the possibilities are endless. I went in the kitchen to make the dough while my twins were taking a nap, knowing the dough needed to rise for at least an hour. I was so frustrated when I opened the pantry and didn't have any yeast. It's one of those staples I always keep, and I guess I didn't realize I had used up the last of it. So, now, having my taste buds set on pizza, I decided to take a risk and make a yeast-less pizza dough. Crossing my fingers I wouldn't hit disaster, I was actually pleasantly surprised. My husband actually liked it better than some of my yeast dough recipes!

Yeast Free Pizza Dough

2 cups of flour (I use wheat in most of my recipes)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano (or Italian herb mix)
1/8 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 egg
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp olive oil (reserved)
cornmeal (optional)

In a food processor (I'm sure a stand mixer would work just as well) mix all ingredients except olive oil. Process for 2-3 minutes until dough forms a tight ball. Place dough in a clean bowl and cover. Let stand for an hour. The dough will not rise much, but giving it time to rest will make stretching it out to make a pizza easier.

Preheat oven to 425º. While oven is preheating, stretch pizza on a stone. I put down cornmeal so pizza doesn't stick. It adds a crispy texture, also. Top with your favorite toppings, tonight I chose: pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, thinly sliced garlic and fresh basil. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is toasted. Let stand for 10 minutes (if you can) before cutting.
-Amanda

I'm bumping this recipe since it's a fan favorite! Originally posted 5/26/09.

Low Carb Avocado Ham Cheese Sandwich

2011-04-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

I was surfing the web and came across a blog about grilled cheese sandwiches. Which of course got me in the mood for a grilled cheese sandwich. While this open-faced sandwich is good, and definitely post worthy, it is not what I had in mind. The bread I used is a low-carb coconut flour savory waffle bread. And it is okay. But it tastes too eggy to me and too spongy. Considering the recipe is mostly eggs, that makes sense but this sandwich needs a crusty bread, which I'm just thinking can't be achieved with coconut flour. (If anyone knows of a recipe, please do share!) But basically I took the waffle bread, buttered one side and put it on my griddle. I sprinkled a bit of balsamic vinegar, layered on a piece of fresh, whole milk mozzarella, a piece of msg/nitrate free deli ham. When I took it off the heat, I added the avocado and a sprinkle of sea salt. Below is the recipe for the coconut flour savory waffle bread that I got from Living Gracefully.
-Amanda

Coconut Flour Savory Waffle Bread

4 tablespoons melted butter
6 eggs
2 tablespoons yogurt
2 T Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoons honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup coconut flour

1. Melt the butter.
2. Add all the ingredients minus the coconut flour into the melted butter.
3. Using a sifter (or a sieve like I do!) measure out and add the coconut flour to the butter mixture
4. Using your hand mixer, mix on high for one minute, scraping down the sides
5. While you are letting your mixture rest, heat up the waffle iron.

Their recipe says it makes 16 waffles. I've made it twice and both times I've only gotten 8, even trying to stretch the batter.

Ham Zucchini Rolls

2011-04-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

I really get a lot of my inspiration from Food Network. Ever since my teen years, I have been a Food Network junkie. At one time, I used to know the names of every single show on the network. I could name celebrity chefs like most people could name the top bands on the radio. These days, I don't keep up as much as I used to but I still watch a show at least every few days! One of my recent favorites is $10 Dinners by Melissa D'Arabia. One thing that I like about her is the fact that she has twins, just like me! While I don't agree with some of the cheap shortcuts she makes, for the most part I really get inspired by her dishes. For the most part she uses Real Food ingredients. If she'd get rid of the boxed stocks full of MSG that would go a long way!

The other day she made a stuffed endive dish that looked really enticing. I didn't have endive, which I think she mentioned is a winter vegetable, so I decided to try the dish with zucchini instead of endive. I know that zucchini tastes nothing like endive, but sometimes it's all about the cooking method and not the ingredients. This came out pretty good! I wish I had a bit more patience so that the cheese would have browned more on top, but it still was really tasty.
-Amanda

Ham Zucchini Rolls

Bechamel Sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cream
1 tsp dijon mustard
sea salt
1/4 freshly grated cheddar cheese

4 zucchinis
sliced cheddar for stuffing
4 pieces of shaved ham off the bone from the deli counter
1/2 cup grated cheddar for melting on top

Cut the ends off the zucchini and cut a slice lengthwise down each vegetable. Carefully squeeze slices of cheddar cheese in each zucchini. Wrap with a piece of ham and place in a baking dish.

Melt butter in a skillet. Add flour and whisk well. Cook the flour for a minute. Add milk and cream. Whisk in dijon mustard, salt and grated cheddar cheese. Boil to thicken. Pour over wrapped zuchini. Add remaining cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 covered for 15 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 15-20 minutes more.

Balsamic Chicken Drumettes

2011-04-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

The other day, I was literally flipping channels and I heard a commercial for Giada of the food network say, "Balsamic Chicken Drumettes" the title of that dish stuck with me enough that when I was at the store the other day I picked up a package of chicken wings. I prefer to buy my meat at a local farm these days, but I still buy some at the health food store. This package was of whole wings which is a better deal than buying just the drumettes. You do have to cut each wing into three pieces. The tip usually doesn't have enough meat on it to serve, but save them in your freezer and add the wing tips to your next batch of homemade chicken stock. So I used the drumette and the "middle" piece of the wing (not sure if it has a name?)

Also the original recipe called for 1/2 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of brown sugar for 10-12 drummettes. I had about 26 drummettes, I did NOT double the marinade and I cut out all of the brown sugar and only used 1/4 cup of the honey. These wings were a huge hit with my three year olds. They were precious trying to get all the meat off the wings and they kept asking for more.
-Amanda

Here is the original recipe, with notations of what I changed:
Original Link

Balsamic Chicken Drumettes

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup honey (I only used 1/4 cup of honey)
~~1/2 cup brown sugar~~ (I did not use any brown sugar)
1/4 cup soy sauce
5 sprigs of rosemary
5 garlic cloves, halved
10 to 12 chicken drumettes (I used about 26 chicken pieces)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I did not have parsley)
(I added 3 tbsp of butter to the sauce when it was reducing)

Combine the balsamic, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, rosemary sprigs, and garlic cloves, in a large, re-sealable plastic bag. Shake and squeeze the contents of the bag to dissolve the honey and the brown sugar. Add the chicken drumsticks to the bag and seal with as little air as possible in the bag. Place in the refrigerator and marinate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the chicken drumsticks on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake until the skin is caramelized and very dark in spots, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the marinade in a small saucepan. Bring the marinade to a boil (in order to kill bacteria). Reduce the heat to simmer and cook over low heat until thick, about 15 minutes. Reserve.

Use a pastry brush to brush some of the cooked marinade on the cooked chicken. Place the chicken on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and the chopped parsley.

Cook's note: I like the rosemary and garlic flavors in the background. Brushing the cooked drumettes with the reduced marinade helps the flavors along. Also, re-moistening helps the parsley and the seeds to adhere.

Fish with Fermented Strawberry Mango Salsa

2011-04-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the Fermented Strawberry Mango Salsa that I made almost two weeks ago? I finally got around to serving it. The strawberries really made the entire salsa a bright red color. It's nice to see the vibrant colors. I think it's a sign of spring. I think this past winter, a lot of my foods were brownish with nice deep roasted colors but it was fitting for the season. A lot of times we get out of touch with what foods are grown in what season. You expect to find strawberries in the grocery store year round, but at least here in Texas they should just be making fruit right about this time. The strawberry plants in my front flowerbed are starting to put out little baby strawberries. Eating foods that are season is a goal I strive for, I'm not there all the way yet though. For instance, the broccoli on my plate isn't in season I don't think. I'm pretty sure broccoli is harvested in the fall. But like I said, it's all part of the journey to eating real, local foods!

Dinner tonight was flounder that was gently poached in a butter/olive oil combo. I served it with the salsa on top and steamed broccoli with butter. My husband I really liked the fish and the fruit salsa, but it was a bit too spice for the girls. They ate fresh strawberries with plain fish and the broccoli which they helped me cook.
-Amanda

What's For Dinner at My House: BBQ Chicken Pizza

2011-04-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

For dinner tonight I used Almond Flour Crust Pizza and the BBQChicken Pizza I had made before and combined to make one dish. I did make my own honey bar-b-q sauce this go around from some homemade fermented ketchup. Of course the probiotic aspects of the fermented ketchup get nixed when you heat it over 110 degrees, which I did while making the BBQ sauce, but still knowing it is a BBQ sauce without high fructose corn syrup, msg or other weird chemicals made me feel good about the dish.
-Amanda

Lacto-Fermented Strawberry Mango Salsa

2011-04-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not an expert at fermentation yet, but so far, I really love almost everything that I've fermented. It's also amazing to be able to preserve fresh food so easily and know that you are adding in probiotics while doing it. My plans for this salsa are to put on top of a pan seared tilapia or other such fish. I just mixed it together tonight so I need to let it sit for 3-4 days to ferment. By the way, I got the idea for this salsa at a blog called How Sweet it Is.
-Amanda

Lacto-Fermented Strawberry Mango Salsa

2 ripe mangos
1 pint of strawberries
6-8 basil leaves
1/4 cup of finely diced red onion
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup of whey*
1-2 tbsp of chopped fermented jalapeno or 1 jalapeno finely chopped

Dice up the mangos and strawberries and place them in a medium size bowl. Finely chop the red onion and add it in. Add the jalapenos, salt and pepper. With your hands, gently mash the fruit to bring out some of the juices (this helps with the fermentation.) Add 1/4 cup of whey and the basil leaves. Stir until everything is well mixed. Place inside a quart mason jar. If there doesn't seem to be enough liquid to cover the salsa, add just enough filtered water to cover. Cover the jar and let sit until you start to see small bubbles form (3-4 days usually.)

*One easy way to get whey is by draining plain whole milk yogurt. I put a coffee filter in a fine mesh strainer and put the yogurt in the strainer. I then let it sit over a bowl until the whey collects in the bottom of the bowl. Return yogurt to the container and you have extra thick yogurt to use in another dish. If you collect more than 1/4 cup of whey, save the extra whey in your refridgerator. It'll keep for months.

What's For Dinner at My House: Toddler Hors d'œuvres

2011-04-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

We had a fairly big lunch today, followed by a late snack. I wasn't anywhere near hungry so I made up a quick plate of toddler hors d'œuvres. A few grapes, cubes of cheese, black berries, nuts (already eaten before I photographed it) and deviled eggs made a quick dinner. Presented on a fun tray in the toy room while they are allowed to play while eating(!?!) made it a special treat instead of a boring and sparse looking dinner.
-Amanda

Green Chicken Coconut Curry

2011-04-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

This dish was actually more green in person. I told my girls it was a late St. Patty's day dish and they ate it all up. Never mind that it isn't Irish by any means. It was green and that was cool. They are three. Sorry the measurements aren't very precise tonight.
-Amanda

Green Chicken Coconut Curry

2 chicken breasts
2-3 cloves of garlic
handful of sugar snap peas
2 handfuls of broccoli
1 green bell pepper
4-6 button mushrooms
parsley
couple tablespoons of curry powder
1 can of organic coconut milk
couple of tablespoons of coconut oil

Melt some coconut oil in a large skillet and saute chopped mushrooms, garlic, bell pepper and chopped broccoli. When the mushrooms start to brown and the bell pepper gets tender add curry powder. Stir, cooking the curry powder a bit to develop flavor. Add chicken and cook haflway. Add coconut milk and simmer on low until chicken is all the way cooked. Add sugar snap peas and cook a bit longer until they are tender. Remove from heat and stir in chopped parsley. Either eat brothy as an almost soup/stew or serve over rice.

Buttered Leeks

2011-03-31T14:48:00.000-07:00

The first time I heard about leeks as a side dish, I thought how could that possibly be good? Leeks are part of the onion family after all. But the leeks come bundled together in bunches of three and the Potato Leek soup I made the other day only need half a leek. I didn't want the rest to go to waste. I decided to try out this easy side dish and discovered I really, really like it! Then again it uses a lot of butter so what isn't to like! But don't worry, Butter is actually good for you, despite the reputation it has gotten in the past couple of decades. Real butter from grass fed cows is high in vitamins A, D and E. And despite what our culture tells us, you don't get fat off fat. Well, real fat that is. People gain weight from margarine, canola oil and other industrial oils. Real fat is used as energy and doesn't get stored in your body as fat. Gotta hand it to those marketers at Crisco for misleading the public about Real Fat! So make this yummy dish, and use a high quality real butter and enjoy every delicious bite. By the way the darker yellow your butter the healthier it is. By the way... Land O'Lakes may make "real" butter, but it isn't a grass fed butter.
-Amanda

Buttered Leeks

1-2 leeks (I used 1 and the half one I had left over)
6 tbsp of butter
1/2 tsp thyme
sea salt and pepper

Cut your leeks up, I cut mine in half lengthwise and then cut them in half again. We decided that the pieces were too big, so cutting them smaller would probably be better. However you cut them, after cutting you need to put them in a big bowl or sink of water and swish them around. Leeks grow up through dirt and dirt gets trapped in their tight leaves. Shake, pat or salad spin them dry.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Place leeks in and stir until they start to get wilty on medium heat. Add thyme, salt and pepper and cover. Cook on low for about 10 minutes until they are soft. Serve!

Homemade Dog Biscuits

2011-03-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

I like having the girls in the kitchen with me cooking when I'm not in a hurry trying to get dinner on the table. Making dog biscuits is just like making cookies (actually these are completely edible for humans.) But making them for your dog, the dog gets to eat them instead of having a ton of cookies for your kids to eat (or you!) And believe me, the thought of making a special treat for their puppy and giving it to him was enough of a treat for the girls they weren't even thinking of cookies for themselves! For more pictures of the girls making the cookies check out Ditt & Dott.
-Amanda

Homemade Doggie Treat Biscuits

1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
lemon zest from 1 lemon
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp coconut oil (or olive oil)
1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Mix flour, brown sugar, and lemon zest together in a large bowl. If you are using coconut oil, melt it in a small bowl. Pour into the flour. Then melt the peanut butter in that small bowl. The oil will help the peanut butter slide right out into the flour bowl. Add vanilla and 1/4 cup of the water. Stir with a wooden spoon. Add a bit more water if needed until a ball of dough forms. Roll out and cut into cookie shapes. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes.

Thank You to my Followers!

2011-03-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my cooking blog has 39 followers. It is so exciting to see that number grow. Every time I get a comment and every time I get a new follower I get excited. I started this blog mostly as a documentation of the foods I eat and the recipes I made. The joke in my marriage is that I can't cook the same meal twice. And it is true! Everytime I make something I'm always tweaking it or subbing some ingredient or other. A few times my husband would tell me, "This is GREAT just the way it is! Please write it down so you can make it this way again!"

Well I never would take the time to write it down and the next time I'd make that dish hubby would sigh and say this is good, but man, last time it was so great! (Of course sometimes the new version really was better!) So I decided one day to finally start writing things down. Then I got a few followers and that was fun. Next I had friends and family tell me that they loved getting recipe ideas from me. I started this blog almost exactly 2 years ago and it is fun to look back at all the fun I've had and how much I've learned with cooking over the past two years. It's neat to see the phases I have been through too. From following a low-calorie/high fiber diet (read here why I no longer believe that is healthy) to being lost about health and just cooking whatever I wanted, from learning how to make homemade breads (here was my first bread!) and now following the principles of the Real Food movement set forth by the Weston A. Price Foundation.

I want to let out a big thank you to all of my followers. You all mean a lot to me. Like I said, I love reading your comments and hearing if you've made some version of one of my meals. If I've inspired you to try something new, I love hearing about that too. Even if you tried something and it failed (I've had plenty of failed experiments too!) please take a moment to share with me! If you enjoy reading The Frickin Chicken, I'd love for you to share it with your family and friends. And I did start a Facebook page a bit ago. Please join me on Facebook where the conversation is picking up! If you haven't ever read about how The Frickin Chicken got its name, it's a funny short story and you can read it here.
-Amanda

Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce

2011-03-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Ever since learning about Lacto-Fermented foods and the nutritional benefits that fermented foods provide, I've been so excited to learn new recipes. Creating lacto-fermented foods is so incredibly easy, the hardest part is to get over the fact that most of us were raised to fear bacteria. For some reason we all know that yogurt is good for us because it has "live-active cultures." Well, I'm learning how to put those "live-active cultures" in ketchup, hot sauce, mayonnaise, pickles, pickled vegetables and more. Those live-active cultures are also known as probiotics and they help keep the flora in our guts in balance. They aide in digestion and they help fight off common colds.

I got this recipe from The Nourished Kitchen, where she made her sauce with scotch bonnets. Her hot sauce is just that HOT! I used jalepenos so mine should be called more of a "mild" sauce. I also passed my sauce through a very fine sieve so it is more liquidy than hers. All of this is to your preferences and it is fun to experiment. You are left over with chili paste, that would be great to use in marinades, stir-frys and such. Remember heating anything that you lacto-ferment over 110 degrees kills the good bacterias and enzymes, but sometimes lacto-fermenting is just used as a way of preservation. The chili paste, once fermented will last months in your fridge.
-Amanda

Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce

3 lbs of chilis (I think I only used two, but these types of recipes are very forgiving!)
3-6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of sugar
2 tsp of sea salt
1/4 cup of whey

Cut off the stems of your chilis and place them in a food processor. Throw in your garlic cloves and pulse until you get a pasty texture. Add the salt, sugar and whey and process a few more times to mix. Transfer to a glass jar and let sit on the counter for 4-5 days until you see some bubble action. Strain using a mesh strainer and you have hot sauce and chili paste!

10 minute Creamy Chicken Soup

2011-03-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

This was a fast soup to throw together. I did already have a grilled chicken breast in the refridgerator so that is what made it so fast. When I make homemade stock, I like to store a lot of it in ice cube trays (after they freeze I tranfer to a freezer safe bag.) This way I have small portions of stock to add to sauces and gravies easily! I only made one portion of this soup, but feel free to double as necessary!
-Amanda

10 minute Creamy Chicken Soup

1-2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp butter
4-5 button or cremini mushrooms
handful of frozen peas
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (or a few ice cubes) of homemade chicken stock
1/2 chicken breast, cooked and diced
freshly grated parmesan
1 tbsp fresh parsley
salt and lots of pepper (I actually added more pepper after the photo was taken, I liked the kick it gave the broth.)

Quickly mince some garlic and throw it in a small pot with the butter on medium heat, you don't want to burn the garlic. Chop mushrooms and add to the garlic. Turn up heat a bit and saute until mushrooms are nice and brown on the edges. Add handful of peas. Pour in your cream and chicken stock. If you are using stock in ice cube format, go ahead and throw them in frozen and just cook until they blend. Add cooked chicken and continue to cook until chicken is warmed through. Salt & Pepper and garnish with parmesan and parsley.

Garlic Snapper

2011-03-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

I've got fish on the brain since it's lent. Last Sunday I was shopping at Sprouts and I saw this fresh snapper on Managers Special and I grabbed it up. I wasn't thinking it all the way through. One being there was only two fillets in the package and my girls LOVE fish so they'll eat an entire fillet between the two of them. Second it was fresh fish, and Friday is a long way off from Sunday. So I cooked it up tonight, I gave it to the girls and my hubby and I made a smoothie for myself, which I was kinda craving anyway. I'm sure this would taste great with catfish and tilapia too!
-Amanda

Garlic Snapper

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2-3 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp finely minced fresh parsley
1/4 tsp cajun seasoning
salt and pepper

Melt butter in a skillet. I use cast iron which is pretty much non-stick. Add garlic, worcestershire sauce and cajun seasoning. Salt and pepper the fish fillets and add them to the skillet. Cook about 8 minutes per side on med-low. Covering the pan to help it cook through. Serve when fish flakes easily apart with a fork.

Breakfast Blueberry Crepes

2011-03-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

(This is not my photo, but it looked just like my crepes, minus the powdered sugar.)

I made the girls breakfast crepes this morning. Although they are so good they could be dessert crepes too! For two crepes I took about an two ounces of cream cheese, a big dollop of cottage cheese, a tbsp of honey and a tablespoon or two of heavy cream. I put all of that in a mini food processor (I love my magic bullet!) with a splash of vanilla and a few sprinkles of cinnamon. After blending it, I added a couple handfuls of blueberries and stirred gently. Divide the filling between the two crepes and fold. Serve cold or warm in microwave for 30-45 seconds.
-Amanda

Homemade Hamburger Buns

2011-03-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

This is not a soaked wheat recipe, I haven't gotten too great at soaked wheat breads yet. I've managed pancakes and the crepes I did the other night were awesome. Even still, making your own bread is usually better than store bought because you know what the ingredients are and they won't include high fructose corn syrup. I based this off of the homemade hotdog bun recipe I made last summer, but I updated the oils to be healthy oils (vegetable oil is NOT a real food, it is a highly processed oil that is not good for you.) I also used whole wheat instead of white flour which means these buns are a bit more dense than the hot dog buns, but you can either half it or use white-wheat.
-Amanda

Hamburger Buns

1 tbsp honey
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (1 packet or 1/4 ounce)
1/4 cup warm water (105-110F)
1 cup warm milk (105-110F)
2 tsp coconut oil/non-homogenized lard
2 tsp sea salt
3-3 1/2 cups whole wheat
1 egg white (for egg wash)
sesame seeds (optional)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar, yeast and warm water. Stir to dissolve and let set until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Add in milk, vegetable oil and salt. With the mixer on a low speed with the dough hook attached, gradually add the flour. Once 3 cups have been incorporated, add the remaining flour a tablespoon at a time until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 2-4 minutes, until smooth and supple. The dough should be soft, but not sticky. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, 1-1 1/2 hours.

Punch down the dough and make a log. Cut the log into four pieces. Cut each piece into two more pieces. Using your hands, form each piece of dough into a little ball, pinching the dough to the bottom so that the top is very smooth. Let the buns rise for 30-40 minutes covered with a towel. Brush the dough with egg whites. Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds, if desired. And bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

I made little sliders for the girls. I took their dough pieces and divided again so it was half the size of a regular bun.

Sausage Stuffed Pablano Peppers

2011-03-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

This isn't a very glamorous looking dish I'm afraid. I'm made shrimp stuffed pablano's a while back that were very delicious, but tonight I wanted to try sausage. They came out great too! I wish I had taken a photo of my girls dish, but I forgot. I used a cookie cutter to cut out a heart shape sausage patty and heart shaped bell pepper. I cooked the sausage and bell pepper and stacked them with a bit of cream cheese smeared to hold them together. They ate the sausage and took one tiny bitty bite of the bell pepper... obviously a vegetable that we need to work on around here.
-Amanda

Sausage Stuffed Pablano Pepper with Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce

2 pablano peppers
1/2 cup freshly grated cobly jack cheese
4 oz cream cheese
1 tbsp heavy cream
4-6 oz breakfast sausage
1/2 small onion

Blacken the outside of the pablano peppers. You can do this either by sitting them over the open flame of your stove or under the broiler turning every few minutes. When they are completely blackened remove to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let them steam until they are cool enough to touch. Remove skin (which peels right off) and cut a slit into each pepper. Remove seeds carefully and set aside.

Saute breakfast sausage and onion in a small skillet until onion is carmalized and sausage is cooked through. In a medium size bowl, mix grated cheese, cream cheese and heavy cream with a fork. Mash it up to combine, the heavy cream helps mix it together. When the sausage and onions have cooled a bit, add them to the cheese mixture. Stuff each pepper with half of the mixture. Place in a baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350. You can wrap them in foil to help keep them together or use toothpicks. I didn't bother this time around.

Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce

1 can of Fire Roasted Tomaotes (I use Organic because the non-organic kind had some ingredient that I don't want to eat... MSG or some chemical, I don't remember)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp fresh oregnao or 1 tsp dried
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tbsp olive oil

Combine everything in a pot and simmer until tomatoes break down and make a nice sauce.

Soaked Wheat Crepes

2011-03-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

I've talked before about why soaking grains, legumes and nuts is good for you. So I wanted to learn how to make soaked wheat crepes. Crepes are excellent recipe for soaking since most recipes tell you to "rest" the batter for awhile anyway. This time you are just "resting" it overnight! These crepes are so tasty and light. I am doing a (mostly) low-carb diet right now, so I actually made this for the girls and my hubby. I did taste a few bites though! I stuffed them with a mixture of grated cheddar cheese, cream cheese, a splash of heavy cream (to help mush the cheeses together) and shredded chicken. They got a thumbs up from the family!
-Amanda

Soaked Whole Wheat Crepes

2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup of raw milk (you can use yogurt instead of milk too.)
1 cup of water
4 tbsp of yogurt or milk kefir
3 eggs
1/2 stick of butter
1 tsp salt

Stir the whole wheat, milk, water and yogurt together in a large bowl. Make sure that there is no dry flour left. You can add more liquid if need be, you want a loose batter. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and sit out at room temperature overnight (or approx. 8 hours.)

Add eggs, salt and melted butter. Stir until well incorporated. I used a crepe pan to make my crepes, but a small non-stick skillet would work also. Very lightly grease your pan with butter and pre-heat it to medium heat. I think the first crepe has to be a throw away, I've never made a pretty first crepe. Using a ladle, scoop out 1/4 cup of batter in the center of your pan. Pick it up off the heat and make a large swirling motion with your wrist. You are trying to make the batter into a large, very thin circle in your pan. When the edges start to curl up a bit, flip it over and cook the other side. It takes about one minute per side for each crepe. I got 16 crepes out of my batter.

Loose batter

Swirling the batter around the pan.

Ready to flip!

Done!

Shrimp in a Cream Cheese Sauce

2011-03-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

This dish tasted good, but I learned a lesson today. Cooked spaghetti squash does not freeze well. I had this meal planned out in my head for tonight dinner and the flavors came together except for the squash which didn't taste bad, but it disintegrated into mush. So if you make this dinner, either serve it over noodles, freshly cooked spaghetti squash or even brown rice. And if you make too much spaghetti squash in the future, well... don't freeze it.
-Amanda

Shrimp in a Cream Cheese Sauce

2 cloves of garlic, minced
8-10 button mushrooms, sliced
1 lb shrimp
8 stalks of asparagus, cut into one inch pieces
10 tablepsoons of butter, divided
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup of water
1 tsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp of dried basil or a few leaves of fresh

Saute garlic in a tbsp of butter in a large skillet. Remove to a large bowl before it browns. Add mushrooms and a bit more butter, and them until they are almost browned. Put in your cut asparagus and saute them with the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper. Remove mushrooms and asparagus to the bowl with the garlic. Put your shrimp and more of the butter in the skillet and cook almost all the way through. Again, remove it to the bowl with the vegetables. Put the rest of your butter and cream cheese into the skillet on medium and stir it to help it melt. It will look like a curdled mess. Once it is all mostly melted whisk the arrowroot into 1/2 cup of water. When it has dissolved pour it into the cream cheese and it will magically come together. Add some fresh or dried basil. Pour vegetables and shrimp back into the sauce and simmer until shrimp is all the way cooked through. Serve over noodles, rice or freshly cooked spaghetti squash! Serves about 4.

What's For Dinner at My House: Spaghetti with Liver (?!??!)

2011-03-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

Why in the world would I make spaghetti with liver? Well, liver is a super nutrient dense food.

It can help boost energy, libido, muscle growth, brain power and general health. Liver is an abundant source of nutrients difficult to obtain elsewhere such as vitamin A, arachidonic acid, DHA and the B vitamins. (from Chris Masterjohn)

Sign me up! So right now, I've been trying to include a bit of liver in any dish that I make with ground beef. I've used it in chili, spaghetti meat sauce and in meatballs. Liver is a strong flavor that takes getting used to. To me it is sort of an earthy kind of flavor. So for dinner in my house tonight we had a typical meal of Spaghetti with Meat Sauce.... the only difference from a lot of spaghetti's being served up was the addition of liver!
-Amanda

What's For Dinner at My House: Chicken Cheddar Hoagies

2011-03-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

It's been another busy week so far, and it's only Tuesday! I guess spring is that time of the year where things get crazy. Today I had a St. Patrick's day party planned for my twins' playgroup and I was trying to think of what to serve the moms for lunch. We typically do a "mom" lunch and a kids "lunch" even though I really think that the kids should be eating what we eat. Most days that's what my girls do. I decided to make these Chicken Cheddar Hoagies, a dish I made the first time almost two years ago. I think I've only made them once or twice since then even though they are really quick and super tasty!

Back then I was on Weight Watchers so I put a scant amount of low-fat cheddar cheese on each one and I sprayed my pan with a tiny amount of cooking spray. Now I follow the Real Food movement and I've learned that fats such as lard, coconut oil, olive oil, butter and other traditional fats are actually good for you. So this dish went through a bit of a revision. (Which is so funny since I used to take full fat meals and make them low-fat for Weight Watchers!) These days recipes still go through revisions. I don't cook with fake fats like margarine, canola or vegetable oils. I don't buy products that have MSG or any "natural flavors" listed. I've learned that "natural flavors" is not the same thing as REAL food, and that "natural" usually means some derivative of MSG.

So I sauted my onions and bell peppers in MSG, Nitrate free bacon grease and I grated a bunch of Real, raw-milk cheddar cheese on top. Ideally I would have used a bread that had been made with soaked or sprouted wheat, but I'm not perfect, and since I wasn't at the health food store when I shopped I did buy "regular" rolls. I haven't found sprouted rolls yet, and I haven't gotten adventurous enough to start sprouting and grinding my own wheat (yet!)

The Chicken Cheddar Hoagies seemed to be a hit with my friends and they were a hit with my girls too. I've never seen them down onions and bell peppers without inspecting them and whining a bunch. If you are looking for a good fast meal to put together, give this recipe a try!

This post was linked at Kelly the Kitchen Kops website.
-Amanda

Cheddar Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken

2011-03-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

Here was an easy dish to throw together. I served it with a modified version of THIS broccoli salad. I used homemade mayo. And for this time around I used half the amount of mayo and the rest pure bacon drippings. I also switched out the refined white sugar for backstrap molasses. I served a homemade ranch dressing on top of the chicken.
-Amanda

Cheddar Stuffed, Bacon Wrapped Chicken

1 chicken breast per person
2 slices of (nitrate and msg free) bacon per person
few slices of cheddar cheese per person
salt & pepper

Cut chicken breast almost in half and stuff with the cheddar cheese. Pat dry and sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Wrap two slices of bacon around each chicken breast. Bake on a rack at 375 until chicken is all the way cooked through. You may need to broil the bacon a bit at the very end to crisp it up further.

What's For Dinner at My House: Chicken Nuggets

2011-03-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

I think for the first several years of our marriage I rarely cooked the same meal twice. I was always fiddling and adding or coming up with something completely new. Well now, I've finally come to a point where I do recycle meal ideas (I mean, we have been married 8 years!) But I still tweak away. I figured occasionally I'll do a post called "What's for Dinner at My House." That way I can show you some of the tweaks I may make to recipes. For instance tonight I served homemade chicken nuggets, homemade fermented ketchup (full of probiotics!), sweet potatoes, and asparagus; bacon. I thought it was funny when I kept encouraging my kids to "eat their ketchup!"

Dinner around here isn't always fancy, sometimes it's just whatever happens to be in the fridge; but eating Real Food doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. Usually simple is better, the flavor of real, fresh ingredients shines through.

Recipes:
Chicken Nugget Recipe (tweak: instead of bread crumbs I rolled them in ground up almonds to make it low carb)
Ketchup (I made this about a week or so ago, but tonight was the first time I served it.)

I added this post to the Healthy Home Economist Monday Mania Blog Carnival.

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs with a Balsamic Gravy

2011-03-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

This dish was relatively easy to make, even though it took a long time to cook. Most of the cooking time was low and slow in the oven. The gravy is complex; with layers of flavor. The pork was fall apart tender, juicy and scrumptious. I served it with bright green peas and potato pancakes. And for those who are fairly new at cuts of meat, country style pork ribs is the cut of meat, not a "style" of cooking the meat. This recipe would be equally good with a brisket, a pork shoulder or other big cut of meat that needs a long slow cooking method.
-Amanda

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs with a Balsamic Gravy

2 lbs of country style pork ribs
3 pieces of bacon
1 onions
2 stalks of celery
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
6-8 large mushrooms
2 cups of balsamic vinegar
2 cups of beef stock

Cut bacon strips into thin pieces and brown them in a very large skillet.

Chop onion, celery and garlic and add it to the skillet. Stir until tender. Add mushrooms and continue cooking. Add some olive oil if mushrooms absorb too much of the bacon drippings and start to stick.

Season with salt and pepper and add a bay leaf. Add beef stock and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, while vegetables are cooking, brown pork in a separate skillet. When the meat is nice and brown, move it over to the vegetable skillet. Cover and bake for 1 hour hrs at 350. Uncover and cook an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour, flipping meat half way through.

Potato Pancakes

2011-03-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

Tonight for dinner I made a wonderful braised pork dish and when I was thinking of side dishes these potato pancakes came to mind. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. And while these don't exactly fit into my low-carb diet right now, my family enjoyed them. And they are fried in (non-homogenized) lard, which contrary to popular belief is actually good for you!

-Amanda

Potato Pancakes

1 Idaho potato, peeled
1 small sweet potato, peeled
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour or arrowroot
1/2 cup lard for frying

Cube Idaho potato and place it in a small pot. Just barely cover with water and bring to a boil. When it is very fork tender, drain all the water away.Meanwhile, grate sweet potato in a large bowl. Sprinkle apple cider vinegar over top to prevent browning. When Idaho potato is done, either use a ricer, a food mill or a mesh colander to push the potato through for a very fine mashed potato. Add it to the sweet potato and mix thoroughly. Crack two eggs in the bowl and sprinkle with flour or arrowroot powder. Mix everything together. Bring lard up to a frying temperature and form small 3 inch pancakes in a skillet. Drain on a paper towel.

Chirizo Chicken

2011-03-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

This is a very intensely flavored dish. I tried to make cauliflower and cheese pancakes to serve along side but they didn't turn out that great.
-Amanda

Chirizo Chicken

2 large chicken breasts
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 links of chirizo sausage
1 bell pepper
1/2 pablano pepper (spicier pepper if you wish!)
2 stalks of celery
1 rounded tsp of arrowroot
1 cup homemade beef stock made from bones
1 cup homemade chicken stock made from bones
1 can of organic fire roasted tomatoes

In a large heavy bottom skillet, melt the coconut oil. Brown two chicken breasts on both sides and remove from skillet. Remove the casings off chirizo sausage and brown in the skillet, breaking up the sausage as it cooks. Dice bell pepper into small squares and put it in the skillet with the cooking chirizo. Next add diced pablano pepper and celery. Cook a few minutes until vegetables start to get tender. Sprinkle over the arrowroot and then add chicken and beef broth. Stir to incorporate all ingredients. Add the roasted tomatoes. The skillet will be very liquid-y. Turn your burner on high and let it come to a hard boil. Stir every five minutes or so to make sure it isn't sticking. Cook until it has thickened and reduced by half. About 20 minutes. Bring back down to a simmer and add chicken. Cook an additional 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Serve with avocado slices or sour cream.

Sarma (Stuffed Grape Leaves)

2011-02-24T05:50:00.001-08:00

I apopogize for the lack of posting on my end. Between the longest chest cold known to man, exams, starting a MA and transcontnentail travel I have been doiong the bare minimum to keep us from staving to death, and a lot of take out.

I am back…cooking and posting. Which is good because this recipe is extremly time consuming. I love sarma, sometimes called dolma. Grape leaves stuffed with rice and beef, served with yogurt on top. It is worth every minute.

-Jules

Sarma

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
3 onions diced finely
1 tsp of salt
2 cups of uncooked short grain rice
1/2 cup of water
5 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 1/2 of black pepper
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 teaspoons of mint
75 to 100 medium grape leaves
If you can’t find fresh, brined will do.
1 lemon

Take all of the ingredients above and combine, except the grapeleaves and the lemon. Mix thoroughly. The seasoning will be most evenly distributed if you knead it with your hands.

Set the mixture aside. Wash the leaves, then place them in a boiling pot of water for 5 minutes, until tender, but not too soft. If the leaves were brined soak them in cool water and rinse before use. Firmly squeeze out any water, but be careful not to rip the leaves.

To Fill

Gently separate each leaf, (I recommend readying several at once then rolling assembly style) tear off the steam. Holding the leaf vein side up, place a small amount of filling horizontally

1. Looking at your left palm, turn down the right corner of the leaf

2. Now the left corner.

3. & 4. Bring first the right then the left sides of the leaf in, in a parallel fold

3. Fold

4. Fold

5. Now the tricky part. Using your thumb to keep the roll tight, start rolling the filling down towards the bottom of the leaf.

Keep it Tight (or it will spill all over the place)

Whew! Finished!

Now, go make a hundred more. Make sure not to stuff them too much or when the rice expands during cooking it will burst the grape leaf. When you are finished, take a heavy bottomed pot with a lid, cover the bottom with grape leaves(the ones that ripped or seemed tough), then carefully place your sarmas inside, seam side down, close together but not tightly packed. Place them in concentric circles leaving the middle of the pot open.

Add enough water to cover the sarmas (I used the water I cooked the grape leaves in, because it has all the nutrients from the grape leaves.) Juice the lemon and add it to the water. Cook on the stovetop on a low heat, for about an hour, until the rice is done. At 50 minutes, check on the rice, if it is not done, give it another 10 minutes or so. When serving, it is great with yogurt on top. I love to add mashed garlic to my yogurt, and then spoon it on top.

Parmesan and Almond Crusted Chicken with Tomato Cream Sauce

2011-02-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

This was a relatively easy dinner to throw together in under thirty minutes and it was very tasty. I also served some broccoli with it, I meant to pull out a salad but forgot. Just as the dinner was finishing the girls got a bit cranky and I lost my train of thought. It's how it goes sometimes! With the title I gave it you almost don't need a recipe!
-Amanda

Parmesan and Almond Crusted Chicken with Tomato Cream Sauce

2 large chicken breasts
1/2 cup lard
1 cup of "crispy*" almonds, processed into flour with a food processor
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Italian Season blend of spices
sea salt and pepper

Sauce:
1/2 can of tomato paste
3/4 cup of cream
sea salt
3 ice cubes worth of homemade chicken stock (or about 1/2 cup)
basil to taste

Slice chicken into very thin scallapini and pound with a meat hammer. In a shallow dish, mix the almond "flour" which is just almonds processed in a food processor, parmesan cheese, sea salt, pepper and italian seasonings.

In a cast iron skillet, melt the lard until it is very hot. Dredge chicken into almond, parmesan mixture and shake off excess. Place in skillet and pan fry until golden. Flip and cook the other side. Work in small batches to not crowd the pan.

For tomaoto cream sauce, in a small pot, whisk the cream, tomato paste, chicken stock (I just threw the cubes in frozen) and season with salt and basil. I have frozen pesto in ice cubes and one cube of that would have been really good too. Bring to a boil and serve over chicken.

Crispy Nuts- a recipe by Sally Fallon. Soaking your nuts in salt water gets rid of the phytic acid in the nuts, an anti-nutrient that is very hard to digest and isn't good for your body. Use about 1 tsp of salt per cup of nuts. Cover the nuts with filtered water and stir in salt. Let them soak for 24 hours. Drain, and spread out on a cookie sheet and bake at 150 (or as low as your oven goes) for 12 hours. Or use a dehydrator until they are completely dry and crispy.

Homemade Yogurt, updated

2011-02-23T12:54:00.000-08:00

(Not my photo: I'll replace soon.)

Homemade yogurt isn't as scary as it sounds. I'm not an expert, I've only made it a handful of times, but it is easy to make. If you are using raw milk, it will be runnier than store-bought yogurt. The time I made it with raw milk it was more like drinkable yogurt, just a bit thicker than heavy cream. This is still really good for you as it has all the probiotics that yogurt has and all the healthy enzymes that raw milk makes available to you. To make your raw milk yogurt thicker it is suggested to bring it up to a boil. This will break down some of the good enzymes, but it is still healthier than buying pasterized homogenized milk to start with. Another trick I heard to make raw milk yogurt thicker is to do half raw milk and half heavy cream as your base. I haven't tried that either. I have made yogurt with raw milk and store bought organic pasteurized/homogenized milk. Do not use Ultra Pasteurized, which is a DEAD product and the good bacteria that make yogurt litterally has nothing to eat in the milk to make it into yogurt. (Think about that.... if a single cell bacteria cannot live off of ultra pasteurized milk, why put it in our bodies?? It offers us nothing nutrition wise!)

Process:
Bring 1 quart of whole (raw) milk to 110 degrees. Like I said before you can do half milk/half cream (or any percentage you choose.) If you bring the milk up to a boil, then cool it to 110 before proceeding.

Add a mere 2 tbsp of yogurt from a previous batch OR store bought. Buy a high quality whole milk, no additives, plain yogurt. I like to start with a Greek yogurt. You can also buy starters from websites like Cultures for Health.

Whisk the 2 tbsp of yogurt into your warmed milk. Then pour into either several small containers or one large container. Whatever your prefrence is. Then you need to incubate the yogurt for 10-12 hours at 110 degrees. You can go further but any extra time makes the yogurt more and more tangy.

Incubation methods:
1.Expensive yogurt maker.
2. Dehydrator with trays removed set to 110 degrees is the easiest way that I've found.
3. Crock pot brought up to high temperature and then unplugged, wrapped in a towel for extra insulation.
4. In an empty oven with oven light on.
5. Sat on a heating pad on low, wrapped in towels.

(The only two methods I've tried are 2 & 3, but I've heard great success with the others.)

After the 10-12 hours move to refridgerator. You can add honey and fruit to sweeten. I like to puree fruit and then gently stir the yogurt. I find if I try to puree the fruit into the yogurt it gets even more runny. Or I chop the fruit and stir yogurt in with a drizzle of honey or pure grade B maple syrup.

Salmon with Avocado Sauce

2011-02-17T17:12:00.000-08:00

Last time salmon went on sale I bought some. Now I wish I had bought more, because I forgot how much I love it and my girls really love it! I also bought avocado. The thought was that the avocado would go with taco meat or something during the week. Well weeks go like they do and the tacos never got made, but the salmon got thawed out and the avocado was ripe. I got to thinking and wondered if an avocado sauce would be good on salmon. I usually do a dill lemon thing with salmon. Well for all those wondering, avocado and salmon do go good together. At least my family thought so! Sorry for no photo, I hate posting recipes with no photos, but as things sometimes go, dinner was over half an hour late and my family was chopping at the bit... not time for pictures!
-Amanda

Salmon with Avocado Sauce

4 portions of salmon
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
1 avocado
1/2 lemon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small clove of garlic
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp real maple syrup
pinch of cumin
salt

Pat fish dry and add seasoning. preheat a cast iron skillet and add 1 tbsp olive oil. When it is very hot, add fish and cook about 4 minutes per side.

In a food processor put the onion and garlic. Pulse to chop. Add avocado, lemon, olive oil and maple syrup. Add enough salt to taste and the cumin.

Spoon avocado sauce on plate and place fish on top. The green and pink are very pretty together!

Maddie's Recipe

2011-02-10T17:38:00.000-08:00

Not the best photo, but I was in a hurry to leave for a meeting. Last Tuesday, I had a PAMOM meeting to go to and I was looking to make a quick dinner for the kids. John was going to eat leftovers so I didn't have to worry about him. Izzie was off in the other room playing and Maddie was with me in the kitchen. As I was staring in the refridgerator for inspiration I asked her what she wanted for dinner. She said, "I want broccoli, carrots, hot dogs, cheese, and bananas. Mix it all together. Okay... that's what I want."

So I quickly chopped up the carrots, broccoli and hotdog. I sauted the carrots and broccoli in a pat of butter until soft. Then I tossed in cut up hotdog. I added a tbsp of flour, a bit of cream and half a cup of freshly grated cheddar cheese. Luckily I was able to convince her that the banana would taste better on the side. So here you go, my three year old's first recipe! Enjoy!
-Amanda

Homemade Texas Chili

2011-02-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

Just so you know, authentic Texas Chili is not cooked with beans. Some may argue, but it really is true. It's not made with ground beef either. There is a lot of mystique around Texas Chili and it sounds all complicated (and it can be) but most of the time, it really is easy to make as long as you've got patience on your side. The results are so worth it, so kick back and stir you up a big ol' pot of Texas Chili, hold the beans, please! (Like usual, I didn't measure so adjust to your preferences, these are all guesses.)

This recipe has been submitted to Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival.

-Amanda

Texas Chili

1.5 lbs of stew meat
1 onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
3-4 slices of bacon
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
3-4 cups of homemade bone beef broth
1/2 - 3/4 cup of minced beef liver (okay, this is not traditional to Texas Chili*)
1/4 cup Braggs apple cider vinegar**
1 tbsp of chopped ancho chili in adobe sauce
2 chopped fire roasted anaheim chilies
3-4 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp ground cumin
salt

garnish:
Sour cream
Raw milk cheddar cheese
Diced green onion
1 tbsp coconut oil per bowl***

Cut bacon into small dice. Place in a large pot (cast iron dutch oven is traditional, I didn't use my tonight though) and cook until almost crispy. Meanwhile chop one onion into a small dice. Add it to the bacon and cook on a medium low heat until the onion is very translucent. Do not rush this step. When onions are translucent, add minced garlic. Then put in your anaheim chili and ancho chili (or any chilies you want, really.)

Next go in the spices. Add the chili powder, oregano, cumin and generous amount of salt. Stir well to "toast" the seasonings. Add the tomato paste, and again stir in well. You want to actually get "color" on the tomato paste developing flavor. Stay on a medium heat, you want color, not burn. At this point you want to deglaze the skillet. That means add a liquid to pull up the brown bits that are starting to stick to you pot. Traditionally you'd use a beer, but I grabbed apple cider vinegar instead.

This is a good time to add the liver. Make sure the liver is chopped extremely well or even puree it in a food processor. Next goes in the stew meat. Stir to coat the meat with all of the spices. Add 3-4 cups of homemade bone-beef broth. The chili will be very soupy at this point. Lower the heat and let simmer for hours. I started my soup at 1pm and we ate at 7pm. The longer it just sits and slightly bubbles the better, just walk by and stir it every once in awhile. Somwhere after about 4 hours or so you can start to tear apart the beef. It'll start to shred and fall apart. That is why there is no flour in this meal. The broth will slowly reduce from simmering and the beef shredding will soak up the additional broth. You will be left with a thick and delicious chili. Enjoy!

* LIVER: From the Weston A. Price Foundation website: So what makes liver so wonderful? Quite simply, it contains more nutrients, gram for gram, than any other food. In summary, liver provides:

An excellent source of high-quality protein
Nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A
All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
One of our best sources of folic acid
A highly usable form of iron
Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
An unidentified anti-fatigue factor
CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
A good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA.

** APPLE CIDER VINEGAR: I've been using Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar more often because of it's health benefits. I'm sure cooking it all day, probably rids some of the nutritioun, but I needed something to deglaze the pan with and figured it wouldn't hurt. Here are some of the benefits of a REAL apple cider vinegar, such as Braggs brand:

Rich in enzymes & potassium
Support a healthy immune system
Helps control weight
Promotes digestion & ph Balance
Helps soothe dry throats
Helps remove body sludge toxins

*** COCONUT OIL: I try to add coconut oil to anything I can. It is very healthy for you. Among other things, it aids in metabolism, helping to lose weight. (More info here.)

How to fix messed up Homemade Mayonnaise

2011-02-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

I've been making homemade mayo for a few months now. The taste doesn't even begin to compare to store bought. One day when I was making it the girls asked what I was doing. I told them I was making mayonnaise and of course they wanted to taste it. I stuck the tip of a spoon in the mayo and let them taste it. They then wanted to eat it by the spoonful! We use it like a dip, using it sometimes instead of ketchup on our hotdogs and sausages. And when you make it with pastured chicken eggs, healthy oils and even ferment it a bit for probiotics, it's good to eat by the spoonful if you so wish to! Evey once in awhile something goes wrong when you make homemade mayo. Usually you don't get an emulsification going with your egg yolk before you start pouring in your oil. Well this has happened to me twice, and I just wanted to let you know... it can be fixed!!!

The recipe is here: How to make Homemade Mayonnaise. I don't use the whites every time. Sometimes I save them back for other recipes, by freezing them.

Yuck... didn't emulsify when I used my food processor today.

If your mayo isn't emulsifying correctly pour it from your processor/blender into a pourable mixing cup. I actually had about a little over a cup of oil/mustard/egg/lemon here before I realized it wasn't going too well!

Clean out your blender or move onto another device. Today I messed up twice. (Last time this happened to me I fixed it on the second go, today it took me three total tries.) I moved from my processor to my blender, but when that didn't work, I pulled out the metal bowl and whisk.I wasn't going to give up! Doing it by hand can be harder but it is easier to see how the emulsification is going.

In a clean bowl (or clean blender) break one new egg yolk and 1 tsp of mustard. Whisk and whisk until the egg yolk barely starts to get fluffy. Then slowly, slowly, slowly drizzle a bit of the "ruined" mayo into the egg. Set it down and whisk until it is completely incorporated. Pour a couple of tablespoons in at a time, whisking the entire time. I found it was easier to pour, sit the oil mixture down, and whisk again. Then repeat.

Eventually it will get thick and yummy! Taste and add more lemon/salt as needed. The yolks from pastured chickens will make the mayonnaise more yellow than store bought. Add a couple of tablespoons of whey (strained from yogurt) and set the mayo out at room temperature for 7 hours. This will ferment the mayo (adding probiotics!) and preserving it so it will last for weeks in your refrigerator instead of a few days. When I first heard about this I was a bit skeptical too, but sure enough it works!

(I entered this post in Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesdays!)

Kombucha

2011-02-03T20:10:00.000-08:00

I wrote a few months ago that I was going to start making Kombucha and I was nervous about how it would turn out. These days besides a bit of water, Kombucha and Water Kefir are all I drink. I'm finally rid of soda in my life and I don't miss it a bit! Now when I drink kombucha I know I'm doing something good for my body instead of feeling guilty everytime I used to drink a soda. Kombucha is naturally carbonated and it is full of probiotics. My favorite way to flavor it is strawberry, but tonight I decided to try blueberry and raspberry for the first time. You can flavor it with whole fruit or juice, but I found that the whole fruit is better. I use frozen fruit for convenience. One thing I've learned is that this is pretty hard to mess up! The SCOBY, converts all the sugar into something that isn't bad for you. You add sugar for a "second" fermentation (or the fruit) to help with the carbonation.

-Amanda

Kombucha

about 1 gallon of filtered water
6-8 black tea bags, preferably organic, for the healthy of the SCOBY
1 cup of organic white sugar, turbanido or rapadura. Succant isn't preferred.
1-2 cups of plain kombucha from previous batch (your SCOBY will come with some.)
1 SCOBY, acquired on line from a place like Cultures for Health or from a friend.

Make a batch of sweet tea, using the filtered water. A Brita filter system works fine. You want something that will remove the choline, or it will kill the SCOBY. When tea is room temperature, add SCOBY and Kombucha from previous batch. Cover with a tightly woven cloth (I used a t-shirt doubled over) and a rubberband. Fruit flies and gnats are attracted to kombucha I hear and you don't want them laying eggs in your SCOBY! I haven't had any problems, but it isn't exactly the season for them either.

Leave your covered Kombucha in a darkish place where it will be undisturbed for 7 - 10 days. Then bottle it. You can add fruit when you bottle it or add 1 tsp sugar per cup for plain Kombucha. If you use fruit, I'd say 1-2 whole strawberries per 16 oz. So it isn't much. If you use fruit juice you are only going to use about 1 oz to flavor 15 oz of Kombucha, it isn't much. Let sit at room temperature for 1-3 days (you can go longer, it will just get stronger.) Refrigerate and enjoy!

Top view, SCOBY floating on top of tea (now Kombucha.) By the way if your SCOBY sinks, that is okay!

The SCOBY will regenerate after 7 days. You can kind of see the old SCOBY hanging down, and the new one is on top. The old SCOBY you can give to a friend or put in your compost pile. (I throw mine in my garden)

My "new" SCOBY, the old one is floating in the Kombucha still. Holes are okay.

My bottled Kombucha, now sitting for it's second fermentation. I did blueberry, 2 strawberries and a raspberry. Sometimes I bottle it in individual bottles using old store bought Kombucha bottles, old beer bottles or swing top bottles. (I bought a beer capper at Amazon for $15.) This time I just poured it in old yogurt containers, old juice bottles and a pickle bottle! Don't store Kombucha in plastic, it will kill the SCOBY.

UPDATE 3/17/11: My SCOBY (also known as a Mother) gave birth... I gave my first SCOBY away to my friend Wendy so that she can now make Kombucha at her house. Read more about her Kombucha project at her blog: Just One Momma.

Kale Chips

2011-02-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

Why haven't I tried this sooner? These are so good! Next time you are craving a savory salt treat, try these. Kale is super good for you and you won't even know you are eating something healthy when you munch into this crispy treat. As a matter of fact, my three year old twin daughters who have been known to turn their noses up at a vegetable or two literally couldn't get enough of these tonight. I should have made twice as many!

-Amanda

Cristpy Kale Chips

1 bunch of kale
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
garlic powder
sea salt
splash of apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 with your cookie sheet in the oven. Cut the stems out of the kale leaves and cut the kale into smaller pieces. Place them in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil, garlic powder, sea salt and apple cider vinegar. Coat really well, make sure the olive oil is on each part of the leaves. Remove cookie sheet from oven and pour kale onto hot sheet. Spread in one layer. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove before they start to turn brown. The brown parts are a bit bitter. Enjoy! I've known people to crumble this up on their popcorn, it's that good.

Low-Carb Lasagna Muffins- Work in Progress

2011-01-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

I love the idea of meals in muffin tins. I've successfully made meatloaf in a muffin tin, which is sad, since I really don't even like meatloaf... but it was good. I've tried twice to make macaroni and cheese in muffin tins (which I know can be done, since I've seen it before!) But the two times I'm made the mac'n cheese muffins, they fell apart. And tonight I was going for lasagna in muffin tins. This was REALLY tasty, but they did not hold their shape either. I think the starch in a noodle would help hold them together. Or maybe the meat should have gone on the top or bottom instead of the middle? I'll post what I did, and if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know! You do need a mandolin (you can buy them as cheap as $20) to get the slices as thin as possible on the zucchini.
-Amanda

Maddie and Izzie's plate.

Low- Carb Lasagna Muffins (Work in Progress)

3 zucchini
ball of fresh mozzerella (I used half the ball)
6 tbsp cottage cheese or ricotta cheese (I prefer cottage cheese in my lasagna, but ricotta is more traditional)
melted butter to grease muffin tins with
Meat Sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb ground hamburger or ground turkey
6 cremini mushrooms, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 small can of diced tomatoes
Bechamel Sauce
1.5 tbsp butter
1 tbsp arrowroot
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of nutmeg
salt & pepper

Start browning your meat in a small skillet with the olive oil. Add seasonings, garlic, mushrooms. Continue cooking until mushrooms are cooked. Add diced tomatoes and simmer on low while you prepare the bechamel sauce.

In a separate small pot, melt butter and add arrowroot. (I no longer use cornstarch*, since it is a processed food.) Whisk the arrowroot into the butter until incorporated. Whisk in the heavy cream, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Boil until thick, remove from heat.

Slice the zucchini as thin as you can with your mandolin. Crisscross three slices in the bottom of each muffin tin. The zucchini will go up the sides and over a bit. Put 1 tbsp cottage cheese, 1 tbsp meat sauce and 1 tbsp of bechamel sauce. Then cut the next layer of zucchini into 1 inch squares. Layer the cut zucchini over the bechamel. Top with thinly cut mozzerella. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until mozzerella is bubbly and brown. (I recommend putting a cookie sheet under the muffin tin so you don't boil over and make smoke in your house. I'm just talking from experience here!) Let cool a bit before trying to remove.

Mine got saggy in the middle, so if anyone has any advice for making them more firm, I'm all ears!

*The majority of the corn starch on the market is GMO (genetically modified organism) and cornstarch is a highly processed food ... here's an excerpt from an article on the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) website: "Corn starch is processed and refined from the kernels of corn by using a series of steeping (swelling the kernel), separation and grinding processes to separate the starch from the other parts of the kernel (which are used for animal feed.).The starch is hydrolyzed using acid, acid-enzyme, or enzyme-enzyme catalyzed processes