Category: recipes

No Excuses Roasted Chicken

1 Whole Organic or Hormone Free Chicken

• 1 Tablespoon Sea Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
• Optional 1 Tablespoon Rosemary

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine your spices and rub your chicken down.  Place your chicken in a covered pot for a very juicy chicken.  Bake until the juices in the chicken run clear when pierced with a knife or the interior is 165 degrees.

That juice at the bottom of your pan can be used to make gravy or set aside to add to your bone broth.  It is gold, do not throw it out.  You can just drink it hot out of the oven like the broth that it is.

If you are short on time, buy a rotisserie chicken precooked and ready to eat.  There are hormone-free versions and even organic at health food grocery stores.  You can use the bones to make a delicious bone broth.

1 bunch Kale
1 grated purple carrot

1 Tablespoon Miso
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1 Tablespoon Mirin
1 Tablespoon fresh Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Tamari or Coconut aminos
1 teaspoon Maple Syrup

1/4 c chopped raw almonds

Remove stems from kale and finely chop. Put in a bowl. Grate the carrot into the kale. In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients. Toss with the kale and carrot and sprinkle almonds on top.

Enjoy!

Garlicky Green Beans

Fresh green beans, garlic, grass-fed butter, and sea salt are the main attractions of this dish. Easy to make, nutritious, and delicious.  Knowing the timing of these simple steps makes a dish that you will crave.

1 lb green beans

4 cloves garlic. 

2 T Kerrygold butter 

1/2 tsp sea salt

Prepare green beans by cutting the stems off and cutting them in half. 

Boil a pot of water with a tablespoon of salt (not listed above to avoid confusion and possibly over salting the green beans).  Throw the prepared beans in the boiling water for a few minutes until they just start to soften but are still crispy. 

In a frying pan, have ready the melted butter and garlic that is slightly sautéed until it smells fragrant.  Set it aside. 

Drain beans and toss them into the butter mixture. Toss in the 1/2 tsp salt.  Serve immediately.  Enjoy!

Some days you just need a sweet treat.  A great afternoon snack for the kids after school or a mini dessert in the evening.

1 c. soaked dates

1 c. soaked almonds

1/2 c. coconut flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 c. coconut oil

1/2 c. grated carrot

1 grated apple

1/2 c. dried fruit (blueberries, cranberries, and raisin mix)

1/2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes

Place the cup of almonds in the food processor and blend until ground.  Add dates, cinnamon,  and coconut flour, and pulse until blended.  Add coconut oil and vanilla, and pulse.  Change the blade to a grater and grate the carrot and apple into the bowl with the date mixture, and pulse.   Mix the dried fruit in.  Take a small scoop roll into a ball and roll into shredded coconut.  If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the fresh apple and carrot separately and chop the nut and dates in a bowl, mix in by hand.  Drop the mixture in with a spoon and coat with the shredded coconut.

Enjoy!

Mirepoix of onions, carrots, and celery is a good way to start a delicious soup and simplify the meal plan when making a big batch. Soup need not be complicated as you can saute any veggies, add broth and you are golden.  You can even just wing it with what you have in the fridge.

Use a good cooking fat like avocado oil,  lard, or coconut oil, just enough to saute your veggies.  Soften then add your broth.  I save the leafy greens until the end and the hot will wilt them. Season broth to taste.

Simple Soup:

2 carrots diced
4 celery sticks diced
1 onion diced
1/2 red cabbage diced
3 small zucchini diced
Bone Broth
1 Veggie bullion cube
4 basil leaves
Handful julienned kale

If you are on a Restart or Whole 30 New Year’s diet, this dish is for you.  Clean eating never tasted so good!

The flavor is off the charts on this rich and delicious grain-free, air-fried chicken.  Creating healthy homemade magic that is grain-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegetable oil-free does not have to be bland and tasteless.  This updated fried chicken is quick and simple to cook and can be baked in your home oven at a high temperature.

I splurged on a Breville air toaster oven when my little toaster oven died.  It has an air fry feature that you can also find in air fryers at any big box store.  It cuts down on time and the expense of frying in large amounts of more expensive oils like avocado oil or lard. I think it tastes better than conventional fried chicken.

Fun salts can easily bump up the flavor.  I happen to live near the home of Jacobsen’s sea salt.  They have a warehouse location in SE Portland with many flavors. This steak seasoning was just as yummy on the chicken as it was on the steak.   https://jacobsensalt.com

Adding the chicken to a bed of super greens makes this a full meal for me.  I have my protein, healthy fat in the olive oil, and wilted greens for my carbs.  Partially wilted greens have some crunch, and are bathed in the juices of the chicken, which makes them filled with flavor.

Recipe:
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (skins would be yummy too)
1/4c arrowroot flour
1/4c coconut flour
4 tsp Jacob’s Steak salt

I bunch kale
Cold-pressed olive oil
squeeze of lemon
sea salt

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Dredge chicken in the flour mixture.  Lay in a single layer in the air fryer at 450 degrees for 22-24 mins.   Lay cooked chicken on a bed of chopped kale with a splash of olive oil, lemon, and sea salt.   Wait a few minutes for the juices to wilt and drip into the kale, and serve.

This anti-inflammatory crowd pleasure is sure to warm you up on a blustery winter day.  It aligns with a detox veggie soup but is very satisfying.  You will appreciate the richness if you have been eating simply so far for the month of January.  It is paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, AIP friendly and vegan.

Don’t let the colorless vegetable cauliflower fool you because it  contains Vitamins C, K, B6, Folate, choline and minerals like magnesium and potassium.  It is antioxidant rich and fiber rich.  Veggie soups bring our nutrients down to the colon and feed a whole host of beneficial gut bacteria.

Herbs and spices are a great way to boost your nutrient capacity, increase digestion, anti-inflammation, and bump up the flavor of simple foods.  Cauliflower, Cumin, and Turmeric are great detoxers.

Coconut Cauliflower Curry Soup

1 large head of cauliflower roughly cut

3-4 garlic cloves crushed

2-4 Tbsp cold pressed EVO to coat cauliflower

1 tsp turmeric

1tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp pink salt

1c onion minced

1/2 c minced carrot

1 Tbsp cold pressed EVO

6 c vegetable broth

1/2 c coconut milk

2 Tbsp Parsley garnish

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Put cauliflower into a bowl and coat with olive oil and garlic.  Mix the dry spices together and sprinkle them over the top.   Bake for about 20 mins or until they pierce easily with a fork.

Saute the onion, carrots in the remaining olive oil until tender, add the vegetable broth.  When the cauliflower is ready, toss into the pan including all of the juices for flavor.  Bring to a low simmer for 10 mins and coconut milk.

With an immersion blender in the pot or any blender, pulse until desired smoothness.   Garnish with parsley and enjoy