Real food with vegetables for breakfast.

Hash browns, I love them, but according to some, white potatoes are not Paleo.  I have my own thoughts on that, but they are a night shade and those tend to cause me issues, some more than others.  I wanted something, not a sweet potato to try instead.  Spaghetti squash to the rescue, again!  I will have to say I was very happy with my results.  They were not at formed as the potato, but they worked and what I cooked them with made them taste awesome!  I will try and tweek them out a little more to see if there is a way to help them keep their form better.  Maybe using the dehydrated spaghetti squash would work better. 

I made the “hash browns” to go with my eggs and bacon.

 

Ingredients

1 cup cooked spaghetti squash

2 shallots chopped

1/2 tsp garlic ( I love garlic)

salt and pepper to taste

bacon grease to cook with

melt bacon grease in a pan, add chopped shallots, cook until just tender.  Add chopped spaghetti squash,garlic,salt and pepper.  Cook until browned.

They do try and fall apart when you put them on the plate, but they are darn tasty!!

Trying to make them square.

Nice and brown

If you try these and are able to keep them from falling apart let me know how you did it. If you try them and just want to let me know what you thought, please do.  All comments welcome, I love feed back!

 

21 DSD Day 11, Busy, busy,busy!

Gallon of goodness

Today I spent all day cooking for something called a meal train.  There is a family, man wife and two children.  He is undergoing Chemo treatments and mom is busy working and taking care of two kiddo’s 6 years and 3 months.  A meal train is something that someone sets up and people volunteer to make and take a meal.  I volunteered and wanted to take enough over so there would be a good amount for left overs as well.  I made Paleo Turkey Pot Pie Soup.  It’s been a little cold here so I wanted to make something comforting, warming, filling. nurturing, tasty and above all healthy.  I just have to say, Turkey’s have HUGE wings!  I got one wing and it weighed 2 pounds.  Their thighs are pretty darn spectacular as well, huge heavy and very meaty weighing it at over 3 pound each.  The night before I make the soup, I put in my crock pot the turkey parts, 3 carrots to line the crock pot, 1 onion whole, one large bunch of garlic whole, 2 tsp sea salt, black pepper and 2 TBS Apple Cider vinegar.  I woke up at 4:00 am and I had turned my handy crock on to defrost to start off, so I switched to to low at 4:00 am.  When I got to the nitty gritty at 8:00 am the house smelled divine.  I turn my crock off and let pulled the turkey meat and parts out to cool.  I strained the broth into my largest soup pot and began chopping and dicing vegetables.  I use cauliflower puree and full fat coconut milk to thicken my Pot Pie soups.  This gives it a very creamy thick gravy like consistency and a extra few servings of vegetables.  The best part is you can sneak the hated cauliflower past children and husbands easily without their knowledge.  

I also decided to make a roll to go with this hearty soup and decided on the Herb drop biscuits in the 21 DSD book.  I will tell you, you need these biscuits in your life!  They are now on my Thanksgiving list!  I will have to tell you though, if you want the recipe you will have to by the book, sorry I can’t give it out.  But what I can do is show you a picture of mine.

 

Herb drop biscuit form the 21 DSD Book.

I was so busy running around and cooking that I was not hungry again.  I don’t know if this is good or bad, but I’m just going to let my body choose when it wants to eat.  I really didn’t have much today.

Breakfast was a Bullet Proof Coffee\

Lunch was 1 cup of  fut fat organic Kolona cottage cheese 

snack was 2 ounces Grass fed Cheddar cheese and small handful of pistachio’s

Dinner

turkey pot pie soup and herb drop biscuits.

I will post the recipe for the soup as another post, so this one doesn’t get too long

 

21 DSD Day 8 It seems all I do is cook, prepare and buy food!

I’m starting to feel like I am consumed with nothing but preparations for the 21 DSD so I don’t slip up or fail!  Yesterday I had a case of the I don’t want to do anythings.  That put me leaving the house to go to Costco at 4:30 p.m.  I had taken out the eggs I needed to make one of the recipes in the 21 DSD book and it was so late by the time I got home, I ate them for dinner.  I will say though I got side tracked at J.C. Penny’s buying Christmas gifts.  I am happy to say, all the females on my list that are in Texas are done!!!  And a bonus two guys are taken care of as well.  I did get my DH something for his birthday, December 8th 🙂 , now I only have the DH, my sister and husband, mom, mom in law and two brother in law’s left.  And last but not least the 3 teen nephews and one new nephew!  The teens get cash, so they are pretty much taken care of as well.  Not a lot of food pictures for the 8th day, but I will list what I had where there is not pictures.

Carrot pumpkin muffins topped with Kerry Gold Butter and Almond butter , BACON!!!!!

Not very hungry, so I had Kalona full fat cottage cheese and Greek tomato cucumber salad.

 

Dinner was 4 scrambled eggs and Brussel sprouts Tiffany gave me.  I snacked on 1 ounce of cheese and pistachio’s when I shopped.  That’s it for today.

21 DSD Day 5, still hanging on!

I haven’t really noticed anything different, no major mood swings, no carb flu, no break outs.  I do tend to not be as hungry as I was.  What I did notice is when I finally do get hungry I am HANGRY, ( hungry and angry) and a little, okay a lot mean.  I tend to get caught up in what I’m doing and since I don’t get little hunger pains, when I am hungry it’s really late.  

I have my bullet proof coffee every morning one hour after I take my thyroid medication.  Which has been 16 ounces of hot coffee 2 TBS unsalted Kerry Gold butter, 2 TBS Raw cream and either cinnamon or cacao powder.  Today just plain, no added spices.   I will usually have some breakfast around 10:00 to 11:00 which I have been on a smoothie kick lately.  I have pictures and will list ingredients.  Then I get errands and chores done.  The last week almost two, that has included taking care of a sick husband and some really fun dogs I have been dog sitting.  I have been letting my time management skills go to the dogs!  I have been having a lot of fun playing and loving on these three sweet pups and time has just swooshed by.  I’m going to miss my daily visits with them!  Then after playing with the bff’s gang, I have to show my own rotten children extra love, because they can smell that I have been cheating on them.  I notice wow, it sure seems late.  And that’s when it hits.  It’s 8:00 p.m. and I need to eat before I start gnawing on my own leg.  I muster up the umph to cook myself some dinner.  Let me tell you my inner brat is screaming, just go to Chipotle and get food!  I even heard the call of McDonald’s and I can’t eat McDonald’s without getting very, very sick.  But the lazy brat in me doesn’t seem to care.  I usually shut that little bad girl up by nibbling on a 1 ounce piece of grass fed cheese while I throw dinner together.  Because believe it or not, throwing together some real food and cooking it is a lot faster than, getting in your car, driving to what ever bad for you and expensive drive through you can get to is.  

I will admit, I don’t know if I will be posting every day or every other day like I said I was going to try to.  Life is full of surprises and sometimes we all just get busy.  I am making myself take pictures of most if not all of my meals.  That is what helps keep me accountable and reminds me of what is good and not so good.  Okay, here comes the pictures of food I ate for day 5.

2 eggs fried in bacon grease and my now favorite smoothie Coco Monkey Smoothie.  The recipe is in the 21 DSD book.

here’s how it looks going together.

Avocado and frozen green tipped banana.

Almond milk, cacao, Almond flour and cinnamon.

Grass fed ground beef stir fry.  Fast easy and leaves a lot of left overs.

1 cup snow peas

1 pound grass fed ground beef

1 cup sliced mushrooms

3 cups Tri-colored coleslaw mix

1/4 cup finely diced white onion

granulated garlic

black pepper

sea salt

Red Boat Fish sauce

Coconut Aminos

brown beef until almost done, just a little pink left, then add the rest of the ingredients.  Cook until ground beef is done, no longer pink.  Continue to cook until vegetables are crisp tender or however you prefer them.  Drain off excess water from vegetables and add Coconut Aminos and Fish Sauce.

easy peasy fast quick and in a hurry stir fry.

Dinner was left overs and a epic steamed Artichoke served with garlic butter for dipping.

 

Pumpkin crazy I am and as promised a new pumpkin recipe!

I will admit it, I love pumpkin.  I love the taste, texture and how it smells while cooking and I wait for pumpkin season like a child waits for Christmas.  Pumpkin season doesn’t last very long and I wanted to get as much as I could out of it and that is how I came up with my new recipe.  I wanted something I could eat any time of day, something to replace maybe cereal in a mug.  Pumpkin soup, creamy, full of flavor and yet not to sweet.

I give you my Paleo Cream of Pumpkin soup.

 

Ingredients

1 Sugar Pie pumpkin (baked)

32 ounces of vegetable broth

1 tsp Pink Himalayan sea salt

1 can Trader Joe’s Light Coconut milk ( you can use full fat)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp Pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 cup Grade B Maple Syrup

Place cut cooked pumpkin and vegetable broth into Dutch oven or other large soup pan turn heat on high, add spices and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until pumpkin starts falling apart.  Let cool about 20 minutes.   Use a stick blender to puree mixture and slowly add coconut milk and Maple syrup.  You can puree in a blender, just make sure to do it a little at a time or cool longer so the hot mixture does not expand in the blender. and spill over.  Serve hot as a side or dessert.  Top with a swirl of coconut milk, a little more cinnamon, pecans and maple syrup.

Steaming hot

 Simmering pumpkin, broth and spices.

Blending pumpkin mixture in a blender with coconut milk and maple syrup.

Soup for breakfast

 

All things pumpkin, yes it’s that time of year!

I was messing around in my kitchen the other day and fell into a tasty and satisfying Paleo/Primal treat.  It’s very easy and has only a few ingredients.  Pumpkin Maple spice Chia pudding.  It makes a great evening snack and a awesome breakfast, just add a side of bacon!  I know it make a great breakfast because I am eating it for my breakfast right now.

With out further adieu here is the recipe and some pictures for your enjoyment.  As always if you try it please leave me a comment on how you like it and if you added any extra’s.

Ingredients:

2 TBS Chia Seeds 

1/4 – 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup coconut milk ( I used Trader Joe’s reduced fat)

6 TBS pumpkin puree

1 – 2 TBS Grade B Maple syrup

Mix coconut milk, maple syrup and pumpkin together well. Add Chia seeds and pumpkin spice and mix very well, making sure Chia seeds don’t clump.  Put into a glass Mason jar and chill over night.  I added pecans and Enjoy Life chocolate chips to mine.

 

Bacon,bacon,bacon!!

Something to tie you over until I’m not so busy! My best friend of 30 years is in town for a visit.  I have to take her to all the cool new stores that are in DFW that she hasn’t been to. I give you the best way to cook bacon!! No mess no fuss. Line a baking sheet with foil making sure you cover it completely. Put bacon on the cookie sheet and put into the oven and then turn oven on to 400. Bake for 20 minutes. That is it. And once you remove the foil from the pan there is nothing to clean!!! I drain my bacon grease into a glass jar and store it in the refrigerator. Crispy, no mess bacon!

 

Bacon on cookie sheet

baking bacon

 

baked bacon

 

Valentine’s Day Tasty Paleo Friendly Treat

Orange cranberry scone with bacon

I wanted to make a epic Valentine treat for my husband and not feel bad about feeding it to him. So my search began. He’s not a big fan of chocolate, but I am and this is for him not me.

Orange and cranberry  is one of his favorite flavor combos, I used to make him orange cranberry bread, pancakes, and anything else I could think of. I decided on scones, not too sweet, but pastry-like. It seems a lot of different people make scones, cranberry, orange, lemon, blueberry, but with my days of searching I didn’t find a cranberry orange one. That makes me happy because I made an epic cranberry orange scone that two of my poor friends had to be tortured with by trying it.  Friend two said I had the texture down perfect and you would think it was a regular SAD (Standard American Diet) scone. The recipe will follow the pictures. If you don’t use dairy you could sub the Ghee for coconut oil in the glaze and it would turn out just as good.

 

Pre-heat oven to 350

Ingredients for scones

2 cups almond flour/meal (skinless/blanched)

1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup Arrowroot flour

1 farm fresh egg brought to room temperature

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

2 TBS Grade “B” maple syrup

zest from 1 orange

3/4 cup dried cranberries

Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside

In medium bowl add egg, maple syrup, melted coconut oil (make sure it’s not hot), mix with hand mixer until well blended. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Mixture will be very wet and sticky, add orange zest mix well, add cranberries and mix well. Add an additional 2 TBS of Arrowroot flour to help dry batter out and make it less sticky so you can handle it easier. Form your batter into a ball and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, flatten slightly. You want to cut your flattened ball into eight pieces, I used coconut oil spray on my knife to help the knife slide through the batter better. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until just turning golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet with a cooling rack. While your scones are cooling make the orange honey glaze. Don’t eat a warm scone, even though you will be tempted by the orange cranberry smell. (full disclosure, I ate one)

Ingredients for the glaze

4 tsp Ghee melted

4 tsp raw honey

zest from 1/2 orange

Mix honey, and ghee together very well.  Add orange zest and mix well. I heated mine a little to help the flavors marry. Let the glaze cool until it gets a little thick, drizzle 1 tsp over each scone, then add a little more to each scone. If you don’t do dairy you may substitute coconut oil for the ghee.  If you don’t have ghee and do dairy use unsalted grass fed butter. You can also sub honey for the maple syrup.  If you make these, please leave me a comment and let me know how they turned out for you.  Please notate if you tried any other fruits or zest like lime or lemon.