EASY
FAMILY FRIENDLY “TWEAKS”:
it’s
not about RESTRICTING; it’s about REPLACING
SPAGHETTI (GLUTEN FREE!):
Buy an organic Spaghetti sauce from Trader Joes or Ragu LIGHT (the
one that contains no sugar). GLUTEN FREE OPTION: switch to spelt
or brown rice noodles. Rice noodles take a tad longer to cook but
are very good and taste just like normal pasta.
PALEO MEATBALL RECIPE: CLICK
HERE for recipe
HOMEMADE PIZZA NIGHT:
This is a favorite b/c its quick, easy and delicious.
GLUTEN FREE CRUST
OPTIONS:
Pamela’s Gluten Free
Pizza Crust Mix: this is so awesome and so easy. You can
buy at HyVee or Natures Pantry/Whole Foods. You just add
oil/water. Consistency is more like cake batter. WET HANDS OR
SPATULA WHEN SPREADING ONTO PAN FOR EASIER SPREADING. It takes a
bit to get this down since it doesn’t feel like regular
dough…but so easy and my family LOVE LOVE it.
PORTABELLA MUSHROOM
“CRUST”: buy the large portabellas and turn upside
down (gill side up, brush w/ olive oil and top w/ whatever you
would your pizza. Sauce, cheese, veggies, etc. Bake at 350 until
cheese is melted. Delicious!
SPELT OR BROWN RICE
TORTILLA PERSONAL PIZZA: Take a tortilla, top w/ normal pizza
toppings, stick in oven and bake about 10 minutes. Super quick
and easy.
PIZZA SAUCE OPTIONS:
SPAGHETTI SAUCE: We
usually just use whatever spaghetti sauce we have on hand. Our
favorite sauce? Trader Joes Organic Marinara Sauce.
PIZZA SAUCE: you can
buy pizza sauce. Our favorite is Trader Joes. It’s $1.99 and
makes 2 large pizza’s.
HOMEMADE: you can
easily make your own w/ tomato paste. (we buy our organic tomato
paste from Costco) Add about 1 tsp of EVOO and toss in Italian
seasonings like basil, oregano, parsley. I add a TINY amount of
honey and a little salt/pepper.
ROTISSERIE CHICKEN:
CROCK POT VERSION:
toss in organic red potatoes, big chunks of yellow onion and
carrots in bottom. Add some water to cover veggies. Sprinkle on
some sea salt (NOT table salt which strips salt of everything
wonderful) and Pepper. Take your whole chicken, pull out gizzards
if any, and pat dry w/ paper towel. Stuff cavity w/ anything you
think would be good flavor: half onion, apple, carrot, celery,
herbs like rosemary and/or oregano/sage, etc. In a small bowl mix
about ¼ cup of EVOO and any spices you want. I love to mix it
up…sometimes I use just salt/pepper with some lemon juice and
sage. Sometimes I use Italian type seasons. No right or wrong.
Using clean hands, rub the oils/spices all over chicken. Turn on
low and cook 6-8 hours. SO easy and good.
OVEN VERSION:
Preheat oven to 350. Using a large casserole dish, grease it
first then toss in some veggies like organic red potatoes, onion
chunks and carrots. Sprinkle on some sea salt (NOT table salt
which strips salt of everything wonderful) and Pepper. Take your
whole chicken, pull out gizzards if any, and pat dry w/ paper
towel. Stuff cavity w/ anything you think would be good flavor:
half onion, apple, carrot, celery, herbs like rosemary and/or
oregano/sage, etc. In a small bowl mix about ¼ cup of EVOO and
any spices you want. I love to mix it up…sometimes I use just
salt/pepper with some lemon juice and sage. Sometimes I use
Italian type seasons. No right or wrong. Using clean hands, rub
the oils/spices all over chicken. COVER CHICKEN W/ FOIL AND BAKE 1
HOUR 15 MINUTES. Remove foil and turn on broil and cook for an
additional 10 minutes until skin looks brown and crispy.
FAGE ENCHILADA’S (FREEZER
FRIENDLY!)
***FREEZER FRIENDLY*** (freeze BEFORE baking)
- 12 wheat tortilla's (highly recommend Costco's raw wheat flour tortilla's)
- 1 can (20 Ounce) Enchilada Sauce: CHECK INGREDIENTS. I love an easy homemade recipe off of weelicious.com. It only takes a few extra minutes to whip up my own. For her recipe, click HERE.
- 2 cups FAGE (strained greek yogurt...can find anywhere but now selling at WalMart and Costco!)
- 3 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Grated (DO NOT BUY ALREADY SHREDDED CHEESE)
- 1 cup Sliced/chopped Green Onions
- ½ teaspoons Ground Cumin
- ¼ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
- Fresh Cilantro (optional...but YES)
5. ALMOND BUTTER SHRIMP PAD THAI
FOR FULL RECIPE AND INSTRUCTIONS, CLICK HERE.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce OR BETTER: coconut aninos
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp almond butter (or organic creamy peanut butter)
1 Tbsp sucanat (original recipe called for brown sugar)
1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar (I use raw/unfiltered but I'm sure whatever would work)
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp of minced ginger root (Yes, buy the real root and stick what you don't use in your freezer. they freeze GREAT)
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup finely sliced red pepper
1/4 cup finely sliced yellow pepper
12 medium sized shrimp, cooked (i cooked mine before hand in a little EVOO and set aside on a plate)
1/4 lb of whole wheat pasta...thin, spaghetti, rotini, pick your fav
crushed red pepper to taste
a little cilantro (OPTIONAL) to garnish
sea salt IF NEEDED
6. CHICKEN SALAD W/ GRAPES,
APPLES AND CURRY
2 chicken breasts, boiled and cut
into cubes
1/2 cup-3/4 cup of grapes cut in
half.
1-1 1/2 stalk of celery, sliced
1 granny smith apple cut into chunks
(or whatever apple you have on hand, but I like Granny's)
2 tbsp or so of green onion
*optional
juice of 1/2 lemon (or 1 tsp of
lemon juice)
a handful of chopped walnuts (or
slivered almonds would work) *optional
a handful of raisins or dried cherry
or dried cranberries *optional
2 heaping tbsp of PLAIN GREEK YOGURT
OR FAGE...add more if too dry but always start w/ less than you'd
think, stir and then decide if you need more or not.
A generous squirt of dijon mustard
Sea salt/Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp-1 tsp of curry...I'm always
conservative but end up adding more at the end.
**If you love the mayo taste but
wanna skip the fat, just add a heaping teaspoon for the best of both
worlds. DO NOT use Miracle Whip.
Toss everything into a big bowl and
stir. LET SIT FOR AT LEAST 3 HOURS, OVERNIGHT IS EVEN BETTER.
These measurements are APPROXIMATE
since I just toss it all in and call it a day. I love serving this
w/ A brown rice or spelt tortilla. Delicious!
SAM’S BREADED CHICKEN
FINGERS
Ingredients:
3 boneless,
skinless chicken breasts (or more if you want leftovers), cut into
nuggets or strips
1 1/2 cups almond
meal, cashew meal, or GF flour blend
Paprika
garlic powder
sea salt
freshly ground
black pepper
ground cayenne
pepper
paprika
dry oregano
milk
a little vinegar
Ok. This is super
easy but it's done in STEPS. So stay w/ me.
1. Make some
buttermilk. About 2 cups of milk and 2 tsp of vinegar in a large
bowl. stir and let sit while we fix everything else.
2. In a medium
bowl, combine almond meal (or flour) w/ whatever spices you want. I
used APPROXIMATELY 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp
oregano, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp salt and a little pepper. I
didn't measure anything...just tossed it all in, so this is a guess.
:)
OK...let's make an
assembly line and bake these babies!
ORDER OF BOWLS:
1. Chicken Fingers 2. Buttermilk 3. Almond meal/Flour/spices 4.
Cookie sheet WITH WIRE RACK SETTING INSIDE.
Dredge chicken in
buttermilk, roll in Almond meal/flour, place on wire rack/cookie
sheet.
Bake 20-25 minutes
at 400 degrees.
**We didn't have
any left over chicken fingers, but if you did, I would suggest
freezing them and you could reheat.
**make some honey
mustard...take out your spicy brown mustard from frig and add a
little honey until desired sweetness.
**check your bbq
sauce for High Fructose Corn Syrup
CREAMY CHICKEN BURRITO’S
(Serves 4)
INGREDIENTS:
1 tbsp EVOO
1 garlic clove
2-3 oz
neufchatel cheese or goat cheese
1/3 cup FAGE
3/4 cup (or
more) salsa (for my favorite recipe, click here)
1 tsp of freshly
squeezed lemon
1/2 can black
beans (or you could use a whole can if you want)
1/3 cup organic
Yellow corn (could be scraped off fresh cob or frozen) *optional
Sea salt and
freshly ground pepper to taste
Fresh Cilantro
(*optional)
2 Chicken
Breasts, shreeded
Some shredded
cheese (please, buy blocked and shred yourself!)
SPELT OR BROWN
RICE Tortilla's
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat EVOO in
large skillet over med heat. Add garlic and cook just a minute.
Turn down heat to simmer and add salsa, Fage, Neufchatel cheese,
lemon, beans, corn, and chicken, salt and pepper and simmer just
until heated through. If it's too thin (runny) just turn up the heat
a tad and let it simmer a little longer to evaporate some of the
juices. If it's too thick, just splash in a little chicken broth or
water.
2. Fill flour
tortillas w/ chicken mixture and sprinkle on some cheese and
cilantro. Wrap it up, and TWAH-LAH! A really REALLY tasty burrito.
TACO NIGHT
TWEAK: use grass fed ground
beef if possible. Add puree’d black beans and Quinoa for
nutritional boost.
Skip the Sour Cream and opt
for FAGE instead.
Make your own salsa or buy a
freshly made one in the produce section.
We will use Organic Tortilla
Chips from Costco or Spelt/brown rice tortillas.
CHICKEN SAUSAGE AND VEGGIES
Amylu's CHICKEN W/
APPLES AND GOUDA CHEESE SAUSAGES: We buy a huge pack of these at
Costco. This is the PERFECT “I have no clue what to cook for
dinner” meal! Just pull what you need out of freezer and
broil…or even microwave! I serve w/ steamed veggies. (we buy
organic frozen veggies during winter) I love to serve yogurt w/
dinner too. You can find these at HyVee and most organic/whole
foods stores.
ORGANIC/EASY HOMEMADE FRIES:
Cut/slice Organic Red Potatoes
however shape you want. Toss in a large bowl. Drizzle some EVOO,
salt/pepper and another other herbs or spices. (I’m partial to
parsley and a little Cajun)
Spread evenly on cookie sheet.
I cover my sheet w/ foil and grease well.
Bake at 425-450 for about 20
minutes or until crispy.
SOUP and “Sandwich”
TRADER JOES/WHOLE
FOODS/NATURES PANTRY/COSTCO/HYVEE all have PRE-MADE ORANIC BOXED
SOUPS that are delicious. Pick from a variety of choices and
simple pour into pan and heat up.
“SANDWICH”: take a brown
rice or spelt tortilla, fill it w/ sliced meat and freshly grated
cheese, (and even a little spinach or kale!) fold over like on
omelet and heat on stove top until cheese is melted. A perfect
side to your soup!
EASIEST LASAGNA EVER!
Simply replace your traditional noodles w/ sliced zucchini or
Brown rice lasagna noodles! The recipe below uses ricotta or
cottage cheese and step by step instructions. Freezer friendly,
too!
SWEETS/DESSERTS
Homesteads Favorite chocolate Chip Cookies:
For full recipe and instructions, click HERE.
1/2 cup of
almond meal or oat flour...or a mix of both!
2 cups of flour
of your choice (please, avoid white!) Homestead pick: NAMASTE
Gluten Free Perfect Flour blend (purchased at our local Costco or
health food store) Your choice of flours will vary the consistency
of your cookies so if you are trying some "new" flour
blends like spelt, amaranth, buckwheat, etc it takes some trial and
error. I recommend looking up flour blends with a higher protein
content.
1 1/2 tsp of
baking soda
1 tsp of sea
salt
1/4 tsp of
cinnamon *Optional. I LOVE cinnamon w/ chocolate, but if you aren't
a fan leave out.
2 Tbsp of milled
flax seed
1/2 cup of real
organic butter, softened to room temp (1 stick)
1/2 cup of
coconut oil TIP: use all butter if you wanna.
3/4 cup of
sucanat (this is organic unprocessed brown sugar which you can buy at
health food stores)
3/4 cup of
organic sugar or turbinado sugar, such as Sugar in the Raw
1 1/2 tsp of
pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of
organic lemon juice
2 farm fresh
eggs
3 handfuls or so
of choc chips (or use dried cherries or raisins) We use Soy Free
Enjoy Life brand.
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES (w/
Avocado or Sweet Potato Puree)
For FULL recipe and instructions, click
HERE.
1 Cup of Sweet
potato Puree OR avocado puree
1 Cup of Sucanat
(found in sugar section of health foods store...or use Sugar in the
Raw for a less clean version)
1 tbsp or so of
honey...I don't measure, I just squeeze a "generous squirt"
:)
1Cup of Milk
(whatever you have in your frig) I'll be using a mix of
coconut/almond
1/2 tsp of
balsamic vinegar (I like to use flavored BV...today I used
pomegranate balsamic vinegar)
2 large egg
whites
2 cups of GF
flour or Spelt, or mixture of both
1/4 cup of
milled flax (you COULD leave this out...but why??)
1/2 cup of
unsweetened cocoa powder or carob powder
1 tsp of alum
free baking soda
1/2 tsp of
sea/kosher salt
RAW COOKIE DOUGH BITES
2 1/2 cups
almond meal (feel free to use Gluten Free Oat Flour mixed w/ Almond
Meal, too)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup EVOO or
Coconut Oil (I use a mix of both)
1 tbsp vanilla
extract
1/4-1/2 cup of
agave nectar, maple syrup, (or raw honey) (start w/ 1/4 cup, taste
dough and add more until you reach preferred sweetness. I usually
end up using about 1/4 cup plus 1-2 tbsp)
1 cup dark
chocolate chips OR dried cherries
1/4 cup of raw
chia or ground flax
*Optional:
unsweetened coconut flakes
Combine dry
ingredients. Stir wet ingredients together in separate bowl and then
add to dry. Form balls and chill...or just put in an air tight
container and form balls when ready to serve.
These are
delicious and my kids can't get enough! Love all the raw goodness
they are getting when they snack on these!
ALMOND BUTTER HONEY
WRAPS
Easiest “sweet fix” of
mine: take a spelt or brown rice tortilla. Warm up just a little
in microwave or on stove top. Smear almond butter all over it and
drizzle on Honey, Maple or Organic Agave Nectar. If desired,
sprinkle on some cinnamon. Roll up and wow! A GREAT GO-TO FOR
SWEET CRAVINGS.