Chipotle barbacoa tacos

Tacos...yummy!! I just love tacos. Funny thing is, as a kid, I hated them. Whenever we would go to a mexican restaurants, id just or a cheese quesadilla that was just the tortilla & cheese, but sometimes they didn't have that, so I'd just eat nachos. What a healthy eater I was - ha!  Anyway.. A few years ago my palate started growing & I really started loving tacos; well actually I loved all the ingredients of tacos on a salad with the shell crunched on the top. :) So you will probably notice a lot of posts on my blog that deal with some type of shredded meat. What can I say - I love my salads :) 

Back to these delicious barbacoa tacos. We were having a friend over for dinner as well as my parents, so I doubled the recipe just to make sure we had plenty and enough for leftovers. I know some people don't like leftovers, but with a baby, it makes lunches that much easier for me. I was in a hurry this day because I had baby food to make, laundry to do, errands to run, get a workout in, plus make the tortillas and a dessert. 

You know how they always say, read the whole recipe before you start, well DO IT! I somehow always forget this step and end up having to frantically try & fix things because I missed a crucial step. Today's recipe was one of those days. I thought I'd read everything carefully, but obviously I didn't because once you cut the fat off the meat and mixed all the sauce ingredients in a desperate bowl - it says to purée it and then put it in the crockpot. Well I just dumped everything in & set my timer for low. After I finished cleaning up the prep, I went back through the directions to see what all I needed to do next and thats when I read over the entire step 2 and saw that somehow I missed the last part of it. Too late now though, but before I panicked I decided once the meat was done, Id dump the sauce into my blender (taking out the bay leaves & as many cloves as I could find) and purée it, then stick it in with the now shredded pork then turn it on to low again & hope that those flavors would infuse into the pork. I'm not sure if this step would've changed my flavors or not because I don't know that much about cooking, but either way it turned out super tasty. Once I got the pork shredded and sauce puréed & back into the crockpot, I started on my tortillas. I've made ones like these a couple times now, but every time, it takes me at least the first 3 or 4 until I do it right. I always seem to pour too much batter or get too impatient & try and flip it to early and thus break them. Thankfully there was enough batter to make at least 12 of them, so my guests could have good ones & id just eat the broken ones. While I was working on the tortillas, my mom got started on our desert - a shortcake bread to eat with strawberries, blueberries, and some truwhip. The shortcake was an easy recipe - mix dry ingredients, cut in the butter, then add the wet, and then bake them. I wanted something easy & light for a hot day. All together this dinner was a winner. We had steamed green beans & watermelon on the side. Hope you try these out. Definitely will make all three again :) 

Chipotle Barbacoa Tacos

Ingredients

• 3 pound center cut shoulder roast
• 3 to 5 large dried chipotle peppers, seeds removed
• ½ yellow onion
• ¼ cup lime juice
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• ¾ cup beef or chicken stock
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves

Instructions

1. Cut the roast into two pieces and trim any fat. Place in the pot of a slow cooker.
2. Combine the chipotle peppers, onion, lime juice, tomato paste, garlic, vinegar, cumin, salt, and oregano in a food processor. Process until smooth.
3. Pour over the roast and add the stock, bay leaves, and cloves.
4. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
5. Remove the beef and shred with two forks. Return the meat to the slow cooker and continue cooking for 1 to 2 hours, until really tender.
6. Serve with your choice of toppings. We like avocado, tomato, red pepper, lettuce, cilantro, and red onions.

I totally forgot to take a picture the day of, so this is a leftover taco with only avocado. 

Recipe is from: http://www.againstallgrain.com/2013/06/14/chipotle-barbacoa-tacos/

Tortillas

• 6 egg whites or about ¾ cup
• 3½ tablespoons coconut flour
• 4 tablespoons almond milk
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix all of the tortilla ingredients in a small bowl. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes so the coconut flour can soak up some of the moisture, and then whisk again. The batter should be runnier than that of pancakes, about the same as a crepe batter.
2. Heat a cast iron or non-stick skillet over medium high heat and spray with olive oil or melted butter. Pour the batter into the pan in a circular motion, making the tortilla about the size of a pancake. Give the pan a little turn with your wrist a few times to help the batter spread out evenly and into a thin layer. Keeping the tortillas thin and small helps to make sure the egg taste doesn’t overpower the tacos.
3. Let the tortilla cook on the first side for about a minute until it starts to firm up. There won’t be air bubbles like when you’re cooking a pancake. Loosen the sides with a spatula then slide it under and flip the tortilla over. If you can’t get your spatula under, try cooking it just a little longer. Cook on the second side for 30 seconds, then remove and set aside on a plate. Continue cooking the remaining batter, spraying the pan in between.

Recipe is from: http://www.againstallgrain.com/2012/05/03/

paleo-fish-tacos/

Strawberry Shortcakes 

16 ounces fresh strawberries

1-2 teaspoon honey (optional)

2 cups blanched almond flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons cold grass-fed butter or coconut oil

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Wash, hull, and slice the strawberries as small as you desire.
2. Mix in a bowl together with honey, if desired, to somewhat macerate the strawberries.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
4. Line a sheet pan with some parchment paper.
5. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Using a fork or knife, cut the butter into the almond flour to form and mix, so that you’ve formed some small beads of the butter in the dough.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry.
7. Using a spoon or measuring cup, drop the dough onto the sheet pan into 8 evenly sized cakes, leaving room in between each cake.
8. Bake for 15–20 minutes until golden brown.
9. Allow cakes to cool, then slice horizontally, and spoon some of the strawberry mixture into the middle, and some extra on the side.
10. 
    
    

Recipe is from: http://spryliving.com/recipes/strawberry-shortcakes/

Loaded turkey stuffed twice baked sweet potatoes

Say what??? That sure is a mouth full. Basically it's like a twice baked potato, but this is so much better & healthier :) this dinner was on Wednesday night & normally on Wednesdays I have my little girls team, but I am co coaching with a girl because there is no way I can balance being a wife, working mom, and my own personal time if I did this little team by myself. I wish some days there was more time in the day for me to do stuff like that, but there's not, so I do what I can, when I can, and well today was one of those days that I didn't stop going once the alarm went off at 5. We are headed out of town this weekend for Daves next Xterra, so not only did I need to get laundry going and finished, I needed to start prepping our snacks & meals for it - we tent camp at these, so I have to plan all the meals for the days we are gone. By the time I got home from running around I only had an hour before practice was supposed to start, so I decided to stay home to get things finished and let Jaedyn roll/crawl around since the poor thing had been in her car seat all day. 

Thankfully for me, she is a good baby & is such a trooper, I'm able to do a lot still.  I was craving my turkey mixture that I love to make, but needed to put it with something. The meat has cinnamon on it as well as other spices, and so I thought cinnamon goes on sweet potatoes, why not make a baked potato. I almost was going to attempt creating my own recipe, but then stumbled across this recipe and decided to follow it instead. It definitely did not disappoint AT ALL!! It had great flavor with a little hint of sweet (my add on) followed by a kick of heat. I love spicy things, however, my acid reflux on the other hand does not. I still make spicy things, I just have to be careful not to overdo. :) As the meat was browning, I decided i needed a veggie side dish to go with.  I knew i had some squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and a red onion in the fridge, but decided instead of sautéing my favorite veggie mixture, I'd roast them.  :) I actually found a recipe by rachael ray - I was just trying to figure out cooking temperature & time when i stumbled upon her recipe. I love how that happens to me :) 

you may be thinking how are you going to roast veggies when you are already using your oven for the potatoes? Well see i knew the potatoes had to go back in the oven to cook for a second but only for 3-5 minutes, which would give the veggies just enough time to cool. So that's what I did. Got my veggies ready then once the potatoes came out the first time, I put the veggies in, and then while those were baking, I stuffed my potatoes, and finally after the veggies came out, put the potatoes in one more time and 5 minutes later dinner was ready :) 

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 large sweet potatoes (I had extra stuff so I made a small one too)
• ¼ cup Red Hot hot sauce (or another kind you like)
• 1 tablespoon fat (I used duck fat)
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (my addition)
• 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut your sweet potatoes in half, lengthwise and put them face down on a cookie sheet. Put in the oven to cook for about 25-30 minutes depending how thick they are. You will know when they are done if they are easy to push on, on the skin side. If you pull them out early and the inside doesn’t come out easily with a spoon, you’ll need to cook them a bit longer.
3. While your sweet potatoes cook, put out a pot or skillet over medium-high heat. Add a bit of fat to the hot pan then add your garlic and onions to start cooking down.
4. Once the onions are translucent, add the ground turkey and use a large spoon to break it up to help cook it a bit quicker.
5. When the turkey is half way done cooking, add the spices. Let the turkey cook until no longer pink or until completely cooked through, take off heat.
6. Now pull your sweet potatoes out of the oven and use a large spoon to scoop out the insides. Be careful to not go totally to the skin or it may tear and be pointless to add meat to.
7. Put the insides of the sweet potatoes directly into your pan of turkey and mix thoroughly to combine.
8. Now scoop out the new mixture and put into your sweet potato skins. You can go as high as you want. Think of it as a loaded bake potato…load that sh*t on!!
9. Now put those loaded sweet potatoes back on the cookie sheet, face up, back into the oven and cook for 3-5 more minutes just to meld the flavors together and harden the top a bit
10. Enjoy!

Recipe is from: 

http://paleomg.com/loaded-turkey-stuffed-twice-baked-sweet-potatoes/#comments

Ingredients 

1 medium zucchini, cut into chunks
1 medium yellow squash, cut into chunks
1 medium onion, halved then cut into chunks
1/2 pound button mushrooms, quartered or halved
1 tablespoon olive oil or cocunut oil
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine zucchini and yellow squash pieces with onions and mushrooms in a mixing bowl. Add oil to the bowl, 2 turns of the bowl in a slow stream. Toss veggies until they are coated lightly and evenly with the oil.
Combine poultry seasoning with salt and pepper and sprinkle evenly over the vegetables. Toss them again to combine and spread them out on to a baking sheet. Place veggies in a hot oven and roast 20 to 25 minutes until tender. Toss and turn the veggies with kitchen tongs half way through cooking 

Recipe is from: 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/roasted-squash-vegetable-medley-recipe/index.html

Crock pot coffee roast

Crock pot Tuesdays! Most Tuesdays will be crock pot dinners because after I work a little in the morning, I drive to sandy to train my parents and thus have no time to make dinner. Today I decided that we needed some red meat. Wasn't really feelin like a meatloaf, so a roast it was. I was in a hurry deciding what to make, so I settled on the first thing I found - a coffee pot roast. Honestly this had one of the easiest preps too. Slice an onion & dice some mushrooms and chuck on the bottom of the crockpot. Take your seasonings & rub on the roast, the place in crockpot. Then finally dump your coffee and a little balsamic vinegar on it and set it on low for 10 hours. It was that easy! When I got home from training my parents, the house smelled sooo good and I couldn't wait to eat it. I decided to have some fresh steamed  green beans on the side and a baked potato for Dave and a sweet potato for me. As I went to serve it the meat, it immediately just fell apart - I love when meat is that tender. :) 

the roast was super tasty too although I think I'd want to add a few more spices to my rub next time. I'm not quite sure what, but something. I think probably a little red pepper flake and some cinnamon. I really enjoy a sweet and spicy flavor :) enjoy! 

Ingredients

• 1 5-6 lb. beef roast ( I used a chuck roast)
• 1 large onion (thinly sliced)
• 8 oz sliced mushroom 
• 8 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed)
• sea salt, pepper, marjoram
• 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Cooking Steps

1. Place sliced onion, mushroom, and smashed garlic in the bottom of your crock pot.

2. Generously (but not too generously) sprinkle your roast with salt, pepper and marjoram. Be sure to rub the spices into the meat on both sides. Place roast on top of onions and garlic.

3. Brew your coffee and pour over the top of roast. Add vinegar as well.

4. Cook on low for 10 hours or so. I cooked it on low all night and then switched it to warm all day long (until dinner time).

Recipe is from: http://fastpaleo.com/crazy-good-coffee-pot-roast-2/

Pumpkin Alfredo Casserole

Today is Monday which means it's my crazy day. I work from 6-11 and then pick up Jaedyn & by the time I get home and feed her and eat myself, it's close to 1. This leaves me not much time to get dinner ready because I coach on Monday nights as well and leave around 5. I know you'd think she has 4 hours, plenty of time right? Wrong! When you have a 7 month old to entertain, feed, and diapers to change, plus other household tasks such as laundry, it really puts you in a time crunch. That is why I didn't want to start the food blog but decided I wanted an easier way of finding things I've made and is also why I'm so far behind. :) unfortunately for me, our oven doesn't have a time bake, so I can either make things ahead of time and just have Dave reheat it or prep everything & have him throw it in the oven when he gets home. Almost every night of the week dave gets home later then normal because he's out training for his xterra's, I don't mind at all because it gives me more room to get dinner done & all my dishes cleaned up. This way we can sit and enjoy each others company after dinner instead of me being back in the kitchen cleaning everything up. :) So since neither of us were going to be home, I wanted an easy casserole dish that I could easily make before and then just have Dave reheat it in the oven when he got home. When I was looking for a casserole dish Sunday night, I stumbled upon one that said pumpkin Alfredo. I thought it sounded interesting, so I checked out the recipe and saw that I had all the ingredients which included spaghetti squash (score!) and also read the reviews to make sure others thought it was good and any additional add ins they thought added to the dish. Everyone seemed to love it, so I asked Dave to see what he thought about it and knowing him all to well, I knew he'd say sounds interesting, lets give it a try. And sure enough, that's what he said. So glad I have a husband who is willing to try my crazy recipes :) did I mention that this recipe also has bacon in it?? That would be the other reason for trying it. Everything's better with bacon right? :) 

This dish did not disappoint AT ALL!! We both loved it. Only thing I'd change is I'd make the bacon beforehand and crumble it up, so you get a bite of bacon in every bite. With the bacon just resting on top, as soon as you'd cut it, the whole piece would fall off, and so either you rip off some and place the rest on top or just eat the whole thing and leave pretty much the rest of your portion baconless. It's not that the casserole wasn't good without the bacon, it's just the bacon added so much to it. :) 

Hope you try it because its a winner! Definitely will make this again. :) 

I didn't get a picture of the whole casserole because Dave ate before I got home because he was teaching guitar at 7 and I didn't get home until 7:30 from practice. So my apologies :) 

Dinner! Yum! I think I also had some type of raw veggie on the side, but I don't remember because I was so hungry, I scarfed my food down.  :) 

INGREDIENTS:

2 T Olive Oil

2 Cloved Garlic, minced

2 Shallots, sliced

1 can Organic Pumpkin Puree

1 can Full Fat Coconut Milk

2 t Dried Sage

1/2 t Marjoram

1/2 t Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Spaghetti Squash, baked and innards removed

6 Pastured Eggs

8-10 Thick Slices of Pastured Bacon

INSTRUCTIONS

Brown the garlic and shallots in the olive oil.  Whisk in your pumpkin, coconut milk, sage, marjoram, thyme, salt, and pepper.  Bring to simmer, then cover for 15 minutes over medium-low heat.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Place the spaghetti squash in a large mixing bowl with the sauce and eggs.  Mix well and pour into a greased 2 QT baking dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until firm to touch and lightly browned.

Remove dish from the oven and arrange the bacon on top as the “crust.”

Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until bacon is browned and crispy.  Enjoy!

Recipe is from: 

http://www.tgipaleo.com/2012/12/20/baked-pumpkin-alfredo-casserole/

Father's Day pizza!!

Yes you are reading that title correctly. I made & ate pizza. For those of you that know me, know that I don't like pizza. Well it's not that I don't like it, but its so greasy & fatty that if I do eat even just one piece I get sick. So thus I avoid pizza at all costs. A few months ago I made a cauliflower pizza that turned out great & was super tasty but making it took a little longer and I just didn't have that kind of time between church and taking care of Jaedyn. Thus began my good blog scavenger hunt to find a healthy, gluten free, easy pizza crust. Surprisingly I found many different kinds, but finally settled on one that also included the toppings (I didn't want to have to think about it - I'm lazy like that ha!) Anyway I chose a meat lovers pizza because I know my man loves his meat & well it was his special day so he deserved to have his favorite :) 

I changed some things up a bit. The original recipe called for salami, which neither of us like, so I decided to use two different kind of sausages (mild & spicy) & a little bacon crumpled on top as well. Served with a side salad. Hope you enjoy! :)

If you look close only half the pizza has olives because i can't stand them :)

Ingredients

• Crust
• ¾ cup whole raw cashews (or 1 cup cashew flour)
• 3 tablespoons almond flour
• ¼ cup coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• dash teaspoon garlic granules
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons almond milk
• ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon cold water
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil
  Pizza
• ½ cup marinara sauce (no sugar added)
• ¾ cup USWM Raw Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
• 2 USWM Italian Sausage (i did one mild & one hot) casing removed and pre-cooked - I actually didn't use exactly 2, I had some leftovers
• around 2 pieces USWM sugar-free bacon, cooked and chopped
• ¼ cup mushrooms sliced 
• ¼ cup black olives, pitted and sliced

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a food processor, pulse the cashews until a fine flour has formed.
3. Add in the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, salt, and garlic granules, then process the mixture for 30 seconds.
4. Add the eggs, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and water and process for another 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and pulse a few more times until you have a very smooth dough.
5. Add the parsley and basil, and pulse two more times to roughly chop and incorporate the herbs.
6. Let the dough rest for 2 minutes to let the coconut flour absorb some of the liquid.
7. *It is a fairly wet dough, so don’t be alarmed that it doesn’t come together into a dense ball like most doughs.
8. Sprinkle a piece of parchment paper with a little almond flour, then turn the dough out onto the counter. Sprinkle a little more flour on the top of the ball of dough, then place another piece of parchment on top.
9. Use your hands to flatten the ball into a disc, then lightly roll out the dough into a circle that is ¼ inch thick.
10. Remove the top piece of parchment and carefully by gently tugging from one corner. Slide the other piece with the crust onto a pizza pan.
11. *If you can’t remove the parchment without taking half of the dough with it, just bake the crust with the top piece intact. You can remove it once the crust has baked and before you add the toppings.
12. Bake the crust for 12 minutes, or until it has puffed up and is golden brown around the edges.
13. Top with marinara sauce, cheese, salami, sausage, bacon, mushrooms and olives and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Recipe is from: 

http://www.againstallgrain.com/2012/08/07/meat-lovers-pizza/

Fathers Day Breakfast

Again I've gone about a week without a post and there are a few reasons for that. One, it's been really nice out, so we've been grilling a lot.  Then secondly Dave went out of town last week and since we had so many left overs, there wasn't really a need to do much cooking.  So thus the pause in posts, but I promise to post as much as I can this week. It's a busy week & we are going out of town again for another one of Dave's Xterras but ill do my best to post what I make :) 

Anyway for Father's Day I really wanted to make it a special day for Dave as he does so much for our family - plus he was in a tiny town in North Dakota last week where the food was basically pre made frozen stuff ...blah! If any of you know me, I'm a food blog junkie. I check probably around 15-20 food blogs a day, trying to find new things to make. Well awhile back I had seen this strawberry rhubarb baked oatmeal recipe & I knew that I would save that recipe to make for Father's Day because that is one of Dave's favorites - baked oatmeal and strawberry-rhubarb.  However, there is really no protein with that and knew we needed something that was protein dense and was more then just your plain old scrambled eggs.  I thought an egg muffin would be fun and thus the food blog hunting began. I finally stumbled upon this prosciutto wrapped egg muffin. Not only did I think it sounded tasty & looked fun, I also just so happened to have prosciutto in the fridge that my mom had given to me. Yay! Score for me. 

Dave had to lead worship yesterday, which meant he would leave the house at 7 and would need to have breakfast around 6:30. I knew that meant I'd have to get up early, but my man is totally Roth getting up early for :) To help make things go a little faster, I prepped everything the night before, so I could just mix it together & throw it in the oven. Since the baked oatmeal was the easiest to make and required the longest time to bake, I did that one first. Once I got that in the oven, I started on the egg muffins. They took a little longer to make because the sautéed mushrooms and onions had to cool before combining with the eggs - a...duh me, hot veggies with uncooked eggs will scramble them. Ha! Anyway. I actually finished up the eggs just before the timer went off for the baked oatmeal & hurried and got the muffins in so everything would be ready before Dave had to leave. While waiting for the eggs to finish up, I made the coffee, pulled out the heart plate :) and coffee cup I had made Dave a year ago, and finished cleaning up the dishes as the eggs finished up. I tried to cut his oatmeal into a heart shape, but the bottom was a little too gooey so it fell apart as I tried to serve it. Oh well...it's the thought that counts :) 

I sampled the oatmeal as I was waiting for Dave to eat and boy was it ever tasty! It was more like a desert then a breakfast food, but either way it was yummy. I grabbed a muffin and hurried and ate that before I had to go feed Jaedyn. And again...it was another winner! So happy that both things turned out and that Dave agreed as well. Hope you give these a try sometime, you won't be disappointed!!!

STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB BAKED OATMEAL 

• 2 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 3/4 cup rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 medium ripe banana, sliced thin
• 1 tbsp arrowroot 
• 1/3 cup honey

For the Oats:

• 1 cup uncooked gluten free quick oats 
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp honey
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Lightly spray a 9 x 9" ceramic baking dish with cooking spray; place banana slices on the bottom of the baking dish and set aside. Combine the strawberries and rhubarb in a large bowl. Add honey, sprinkle with cornstarch and toss until fruit is well coated and place in prepared baking dish over the bananas.

In a medium bowl, combine the oats, half of almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; stir together.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining honey, milk, egg, and vanilla extract, then add to the oats.
Pour the oat mixture over the strawberries and rhubarb, making sure to distribute the mixture evenly.  Sprinkle the remaining almonds over the the top.
Bake the oatmeal for about 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the oatmeal has set. Serve warm from the oven.

Recipe is from: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/05/strawberry-rhubarb-baked-oatmeal.html

PROSCIUTTO WRAPPED MINI FRITTATA MUFFINS 

• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• ½ medium onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• ½ pound of cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• ½ pound frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 8 large eggs
• ¼ cup coconut milk (the fatty stuff at the top of the can works best)
• 2 tablespoons of coconut flour 
• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 5 ounces of Prosciutto di Parma
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• A regular 12 cup muffin tin

Directions

preheat the oven to 375°F and prep your veggies. Heat half the coconut oil over medium heat in a large cast iron skillet and sauté the onions until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook them until the mushroom moisture has evaporated. Then, season the filling with salt and pepper and spoon it on a plate to cool to room temperature.

For the batter, beat the eggs in a large bowl with coconut milk, coconut flour, salt, and pepper until well-mixed. Then, add the sautéed mushrooms and spinach and stir to combine. Brush the remainder of the melted coconut oil onto the muffin tin and line each cup with prosciutto, taking care to cover the bottom and sides completely. Spoon the frittata batter and top each muffin with some halved cherry tomatoes. Pop the muffins in the oven for about 20 minutes, flipping the tray at the halfway point. Remove from oven & let them cool slightly before serving. Enjoy! 

Recipe is from: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/7486819479/prosciutto-wrapped-mini-frittata-muffins

Finally...I cooked again!!

Well it's been almost a week since my last post. It's not that I haven't cooked but between soccer practices (I'm coaching again) packing for our trip, working, & lots of leftovers... I just haven't made a full "meal" in awhile. 

Anyway.. Yesterday was yet another  crazy day between work, dr's appointment, and soccer practice, BUT I wanted to make something especially since Dave was leaving Tuesday for the week & headed to a very small town in North Dakota & who knows what kind of food he'll find there. So out came the handy dandy crock pot - I seriously love that thing. I wasn't sure what I wanted to make but I knew I didn't have much time in between work & the doctor, so I settled on salsa chicken. It was super tasty & a little spicy too - just the way I like it! :) you can tone the spice down by using a mild salsa & either omitting the jalapeños or replacing with a green or red pepper. I served it over spaghetti squash and had a sweet potato & steamed green beans on the side. Delish! Hope you enjoy 😀

CROCK POT SALSA LIME CHICKEN

Ingredients:

•        6 chicken breasts
•        2 cups of organic mild salsa (make sure no sugar is added)
•        1 lime (juice of)
•        1 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
•        2 jalapeno peppers (finely chopped)
•        3 heaping Tbsp taco seasoning
•        ½ cup water

 

Steps:

1. Prep all of your ingredients. Turn on your crockpot and set it on low.
2. Add salsa, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, taco seasoning and water to your crockpot.
3. Add your chicken to the crockpot and using a spoon, make sure you coat the chicken with the sauce.
4. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Servings: 6

Recipe is from: http://www.amazingpaleo.com/2013/03/02/salsa-lime-chicken/

Creamy chicken zucchini fettuccine

I am so excited about tonight's dinner. The big reason was because I got to use my new vegetable slicer/peeler. 

I've been so excited to make vegetables into noodles & make some sort of pasta dish. I figured because the recipe called for fettuccine like noodles I'd use the second size slicer - definitely a little too thick & will use the skinnier slicer next time. I also was excited tonight because I was going to make cauliflower breadsticks - you know what goes better with "pasta" then breadsticks :) I've made a cauliflower pizza crust before that was tasty, but not breadsticks. So I thought it was worth a shot. I got started on prepping for dinner early this morning when I got home from work, thinking it would take me a long time. Well turns out, cleaning up the dishes took longer then the food processor took to rice the cauliflower and the vegetable slicer took to make zucchini noodles. Ha! So with my extra time I made baby food!!  

That's sweet potatoes, carrots, then a combo of sweet potato & carrot, apple & carrot, and finally banana & apple. 

Anyway back to tonight's dinner. I made creamy chicken zucchini fettuccine and boy was it tasty. Definitely glad I decided to try this. I hope you will too because like I said, it really doesn't take long to prep if you have a vegetable peeler (bought mine on amazon for $25) and a food processor. 

CREAMY CHICKEN ZUCCHINI FETTUCCINE

 INGREDIENTS

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp Himalayan or fine sea salt
• ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 large head (600g) cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• the juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 tsp capers
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 1lbs leftover cooked chicken, chopped (I used baked Italian chicken I did this morning - Italian seasoning, salt, pepper bake @400 for 25min)
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped (to garnish)
• 2-3 large zucchinis, peeled and julienned

Peel the zucchini (or not) and either use a vegetable slicer or cut them into wide julienne strips with a mandolin. Set aside.

 INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add onion, garlic, salt and pepper to a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for one or two minutes, until fragrant and slightly softened.
2. Throw the cauliflower in and continue cooking for a minute or two.
3. Add chicken stock, cover and bring to the boil; lower heat and continue cooking until the cauliflower is tender, about 5-7 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms in a large skillet until nice and golden. Add chicken and continue cooking until heated through; Reserve.
5. Ladle the cauliflower mixture into your blender; add Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, balsamic vinegar and lime juice and process on high speed until super smooth and silky in consistency. Throw in capers and pulse 2-3 times just to mix them in and break them down a little. Pour that cauliflower mixture over the reserved chicken and mushrooms and bring to a simmer over low-medium heat.
6. Divide the julienned zucchini between serving plates and ladle the chicken sauce on top.
7. The heat from the sauce alone will soften the zucchini some, but it you want your "pasta" to be even softer still, you can also add the zucchini to the pan, stir until well coated and cook over low heat for a minute or two.
8. Top with chopped parsley & enjoy! 

RECIPE IS FROM:  

http://thehealthyfoodie.com/2013/05/18/creamy

-chicken-zucchini-fettuccine/

CAULIFLOWER BREADSTICKS 

These definitely did not disappoint. Felt like they tasted just like pizza. :) I wish I would've doubled the recipe because it was so easy and it only made enough for one serving. Oh well there is always next time :) 

 

1/4 of a large fresh head of cauliflower (about 5 1/2 oz/160 g)

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, grated or minced

1 large egg, lightly beaten

4 oz mozzarella cheese, freshly grated and divided (I used fresh which was hard to shred but definitely worth the taste)

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning, divided

1 pinch each salt and pepper

Misto

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper so that the excess paper hangs over the sides; lightly spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.

To “rice” the cauliflower, you can either use a food processor which will "rice" it in seconds but is a pain to clean up or grate it on a cheese grater which I think takes too long; you should have about 1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) of riced cauliflower.  Put the riced cauliflower into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave (uncovered) until softened, about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally (don’t add water or anything else); cool slightly.  While the cauliflower cooks, heat the oil in a small skillet over low heat; add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute, stirring constantly; cool slightly.

To the bowl with the softened cauliflower, add the garlic, egg, 3/4 of the cheese (reserving 1/4 for topping later), 1/4 teaspoon of the dried Italian herb seasoning (reserving 1/4 teaspoon for topping later), and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Stir to combine and then spread in the prepared loaf pan.

Bake until the loaf is set and starting to turn golden, about 30 minutes.  Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper; use the parchment paper to lift the loaf out of the loaf pan and carefully flip it over onto the lined baking sheet (so the bottom is on top).  Bake until golden, about 10 minutes.

Preheat the broiler.  Cut the loaf cross-wise into 8 pieces.  Slightly separate the pieces and sprinkle the cheese on top along with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning.  Broil a couple minutes until the cheese is melted and golden in spots.  Serve hot or warm.  (If you let it cool for about 10 minutes after taking it out of the oven, the crust will harden a bit so it’s easy to hold like a thin-crust pizza.) 

RECIPE IS FROM: http://www.anediblemosaic.com/?p=10576

DINNER!! Yum! Don't judge the picture- tastes amazing! (Forgot to top with parsley -oops)