Healing chicken soup

Christmas came and went, but so did my family's health 😢 both dave & Jaedyn got a nasty cold right after Christmas. I've felt so bad for both of them. I asked dave what he wanted for dinner one night & he said chicken soup. I was going to make an easy chicken & vegetable soup I've done a lot until I stumbled on this healing soup. I decided this was what we needed since we were on day 5 of being sick. Not sure if this really worked or not but the next day, dave was feeling a lot better then he had. So I'll definitely make this again the next time someone gets the flu. I did double the recipe, used coconut aminos instead of fish oil, and added zucchini noodles. 

 http://stupideasypaleo.com/2014/08/17/healing-chicken-soup-paleo-whole30/

Taco shepherds pie

I know I made that tex mex casserole a week or so ago but this recipe tasted completely different. For one it has mashed sweet potatoes on top instead of shredded and it also doesn't have parsnips in it & the seasonings are a bit different. Either way it was still really good and really easy to make. 

http://www.theluckypennyblog.com/2013/11/taco-shepherds-pie-paleo-and-gluten-free.html?m=1

Slow cooker chicken & bacon

Can I just tell you how much I love my crockpot? Whoever invented it is a genius. Have I also ever told you how much I love easy recipes? Well I do and this one couldn't be any easier.  Put chicken in the crockpot. Top with olive oil and seasonings. Then put in the bacon and you are ready to go. It's that easy. I'm warning you now that this will make your house smell so good that you better be gone most of the day otherwise you'll be salivating for a long time. Lol. 

I served this with cauliflower rice and wrapped in lettuce bibs. Then I also had steamed snap peas & green beans on the side. 

 http://paleomagazine.com/slow-cooker-bacon-chicken/

Asian "peanut" sauce noodle bowl

Yum yum YUM!!! This sauce is to die for. I'm glad I made extra to put on my steamed veggies for later in the week. 😃

If you like peanut type sauces then make this recipe and double the sauce so you can have leftovers like me :) 

http://paleomg.com/asian-peanut-sauce-noodle-bowl/

Crockpot zucchini lasagna

Oh my. This was the best lasagna I've had since I stopped eating grains. The sauce is made from the yellow squash, onions, and coconut milk. You wouldn't think it would be cheesy but it was. I did top mine with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. My only complaint of this recipe is when you have to ladle out the liquid from the zucchini and put it in a saucepan to thicken it up. Really I'm just lazy and Iike it when I can just come home from work and everything for dinner is all done in the crockpot. But this step isn't hard and doesn't take long and is definitely worth it. Anyway. You should make this now 😃 it's that good. 

http://www.mynaturalfamily.com/recipes/paleo-recipes/paleo-crock-pot-lasagna/

Tex mex casserole

I know I haven't posted lately. I've been lazy and have been doing a lot of things I've posted already on here 😜 but I'm finally sick of seeing all these web browsers open with recipes, so I'm going to get my favorites posted :) 

This casserole was really easy & super tasty & comforting. The sweet potatoes in this dish really help bring the heat of my taco seasoning down. Plus the parsnips give it a different but tasty flavor from my other casseroles. I highly suggest making this and using the parsnips:) 

http://popularpaleo.com/2013/11/05/paleo-tex-mex-casserole/

Ground beef coconut curry

Tonight I was craving curry as well as beef. I needed something easy and fast because I had planned a mommy daughter day for the afternoon. I stumbled upon this recipe and not only was it quick & easy. It tasted amazing. I added about a heaping 1/8tsp of red pepper so it had a little heat but not too much for Jaedyn. Although I did put a little sour cream in hers just in case. The flavors of this is so amazing. I thought when I was stirring the spices in the bowl before adding it to the meat that it would be to overpowering but it wasn't at all. Definitely a keeper for me.

http://justenjoyfood.com/2013/02/ground-beef-coconut-curry/

Sweet potato buffalo chicken casserole

All I have to say about this recipe is YUM!! 

The fun thing about this recipe is the flavor can change each time you make it based on how much hot sauce you use and what kind as well as if you do half bbq sauce and half hot sauce like I did. Since Jaedyn isn't fond of spicy foods (what toddler is) I decided to do 2T of buffalo hot sauce and 4T of a sweet bbq sauce. The result was amazing. I wish i could remember exactly which sauce I used but I don't. I do know that it did not have any added sugar in it. It was sweetned with pineapples. 

Anyway this recipe is a definite winner. Need to make it again soon :) 

http://paleoleap.com/sweet-potato-buffalo-chicken-casserole/

Crockpot shredded tacos

Normally I don't post things unless I have tried them, but when my husband raves about it, I better do it, so I can make this one again. 

The reason I didn't eat this was because I made it for him the day my brother and I left for Arizona. I knew it would make a lot of leftovers which would be perfect for him since I was gone for a week. 

I really can't tell you more then that I followed the recipe to a T and my husband loved it. 

Hope you try it. It's an easy toss & dump recipe :) 

http://theculturedcavewoman.com/2014/01/07/crockpot-shredded-chicken-tacos-with-paleo-tortillas/

Pumpkin waffles

Yes it's another pumpkin recipe. I'm sorry. I love pumpkin & so does Jaedyn. I need easy breakfasts and instead of doing my usual pancakes, I decided to switch things up a bit and go with waffles. I found this recipe and saw that I had everything for it so I decided to try it out. These turned out so yummy. My sitter even had a bite of Jaedyns this morning and loved them. :) the only thing I did differently was instead of the honey I took a medium sized ripe banana and put in a few drops of stevia & it was still yummy. 

http://www.justmeandmyrunningshoes.com/2013/09/pumpkin-pecan-waffles-paleo-version.html?m=1

Easy breakfast sweet potato casserole

I've been trying to change things up lately and wanted to make a large breakfast casserole so I could take it the next few mornings to work. I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs. It was super easy & tasty. My familyloved it & so did I. It doesn't take much prep so I'll definitely make it again. 

http://paleomg.com/easy-breakfast-casserole/

Best pancakes ever!!

This last weekend I was down at my mom and dads as we had a very dear family friend, who was more like family, pass away. I wanted to be there to help out as much as I could and one of the ways I know how to do that, is to make food. We had some of the family staying at my moms house so I figured breakfast would help the most. I wanted something easy but also something that had good reviews - my mom had warned me that one of them was pretty picky. The title of this blog post was the best ever pancakes, so I figured how could I go wrong with that. I tasted the batter and decided it was good but needed some vanilla & cinnamon. Then I tasted it again & was amazed at how good it was. The pancakes turned out even better.  Everyone loved them, so much so that they wanted the recipe. So I have to say that their blog post title was correct and this recipe will definitely stay in my rotation. Enjoy!! 😃

Blend (in a blender):
1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (optional, but helps for rising)
5 large eggs
1/4 cup -packed- almond flour (any brand)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup arrowroot or tapioca flour (see note that follows*)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

*i added a 1/2tsp vanilla & cinnamon 

*Flax or chia meal won’t work in place of the arrowroot/tapioca here (I’ve tried). You can use another 1/4 cup of coconut flour in place of the arrowroot/tapioca, but just know that the recipe will not be the same.

To make:
1. Add some coconut oil to a pre-heated skillet.
2. Drop some of batter into the pan. Swirl the batter out with the back of the spoon to make the pancake larger. (I usually make four pancakes at a time in my largest skillet.)
3. Cook each side until pancake is cooked through.

http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/2014/03/paleo-pancakes/

Paleo breadsticks

Well back in the day when I ate bread, the one thing I did love at Olive Garden was there breadsticks. I mean who are we kidding here, we all loved them & ate way more then we should have. 😜

Well if you saw my last post, on that blog, a recipe for breadsticks was linked to it, so I just had to make them. 

These were really easy to make, even rolling & twisting them. Although I'm sure if you didn't want to twist them you could just have single breadsticks. 

These turned out really tasty & I think you should make these to go with any soup 😃 

http://www.paleocupboard.com/paleo-breadsticks.html

Paleo Zuppa Toscana Soup

Tonight was supposed to be another cold day so I wanted to make an easy soup. I've never been a fan of Olive Garden, but over the past few years, I've been given a lot of gift cards to there, so Dave and I will go just to get soup and salad. They actually have some pretty tasty soups and have always really liked the Zuppa Toscana so when I found this recipe I knew I had to try it. 

My husband was hesitant because he doesn't like cooked spinach or kale but he actually liked this. I do think next time I do half the red pepper and use coconut milk instead of almond. It was really good but I think coconut milk will make it creamier and that's one thing I love about that soup. 

I did use sweet Italian turkey sausage and not pork but other then that I followed this to the t. 

http://www.paleocupboard.com/zuppa-toscana-soup.html

Paleo bacon zucchini red pepper frittata

Oh my goodness was this ever good! I'm so glad my husband decided to have people over to watch the NFL game that was being played in London (7:30am our time) because I may not have discovered this deliciousness that I'm about to share. The key ingredient for this to me is the coconut milk. It gives this casserole a creamy, cheesiness, without any milk or cheese. 

Next time I think I'll sauté some cherry tomatoes and spinach in the bacon fat just to add more veggies to it 😃

http://www.paleonewbie.com/paleo-bacon-zucchini-red-pepper-frittata/

Best chili ever!

Today we had a chili cook off at church for our harvest party. I wanted something easy, saw this recipe, and thought sweet just brown the meat, dice an onion, toss in spices & some canned stuff and you're done. That to me is a winning recipe. 😃 I ended up browning the meat then tossing it in the crockpot & setting it on low for 6 hours. 

My chili didn't win even though I thought that it was the best. Had I rendered to take my guacamole, I know that would've topped things off and would've made me first. Oh well. 

The pumpkin adds a nice texture to this and the cocoa mixed in gives it a good flavor. I'm making this again this week because there was none left to have as leftovers and I only had a 1/2 cup of it 😢

http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/the-best-paleo-chili-ever/

Stuffed acorn squash

Tonight I wanted to make a stuffed squash. I had two acorn squashes because did you know Costco sells them right now?? Best thing ever!! 

Anyway found this recipe and it sounded amazing because again his can you go wrong when it has bacon!! Plus I had all ingredients on hand so I didn't have to make an extra stop for ingredients which for me is always a huge plus. 

This recipe was so delicious and we all really liked it. I ended up using ground turkey because that's what I had in hand, as well as Granny Smith apples from my clients tree. Definitely will make this again soon since its squash season. 

http://stupideasypaleo.com/2012/10/07/stuffed-acorn-squash/

Pumpkin banana swirl bread

Ok I know, I know. Enough with the pumpkin already. Well I'm sorry you have a whole month until I stop making things pumpkin all the time. 😉

Well on this occasion I had two super ripe bananas but was wanting to make pumpkin bread. I decided to see if there was such a thing as banana pumpkin bread and bam - there was!! 

This thing was amazing. I should've turned it into French toast instead of hogging it all and eating it for my snack and/or dessert. 

Guess I'll just have to make it again😃

http://paleoly.com/pumpkin-banana-swirl-bread-paleo-grain-free-dairy-free-gluten-free/

Super fluffy vanilla coconut protein pancakes

In case you want another snack/pancake recipe or you don't like pumpkin, try this one because it is really good too. 

These turn out so fluffy. I again used my gnarly vanilla whey (which you have to try out because it's not natural with no added crap, its grass fed whey and the taste is amazing!!) 

Anyway the fun thing about these pancakes you can change them up by adding fruit & some other spices or extracts. This just gives you a good base. 

Enjoy! 

http://fastpaleo.com/recipe/super-fluffy-coconut-vanilla-protein-pancakes/

Pumpkin spice smoothie

This smoothie is amazing & very filling. In the last week I've made it at least 4 times. Because not only am I obsessed with pumpkin, so is Jaedyn. 

I used liquid vanillacreme stevia as well as light coconut milk & it still was amazing. I'm going to try it with almond milk soon just because it cheaper  then canned coconut milk😜

A side note: use fresh ginger because that makes a huge difference in flavor. If you want to be lazy they sell a tube kind in the produce section by the spices you could use. But trust me, use fresh! 

 http://elanaspantry.com/pumpkin-spice-smoothie/