Orange Salmon

Really tasty salmon recipe, to bring summer to mind during the cold citrus season of winter.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 navel orange, peeled and cut cross ways

2 rinsed salmon fillets, 8 oz total

Celtic gray sea salt

Other seasonings are optional

I used my great new pressure cooker, the Instant Pot. I set the P.C. to the meat/ stew setting, salted the rinsed salmon, put everything in the pot, saving the salmon for last. I turned the salmon over to get the juice and oil on, then set it skin side down. I cooked it for 5 minutes, using the quick release at the end. 

Serve over veggie of choice :) yum yum!

Best AIP Brownies

This brownie recipe has Carob instead of chocolate or cocoa, no white sugar and is made from a combination of food pastes and flours. This is out of order, as far as recipes go, but I find that okay at times. It reminds me of Oreos uncooked, and I'm pretty confident that I'll also use this batter to make truffles :). This is a treat, not to be eaten everyday, but only on occasion. Think birthday, holiday, etc. or freeze and eat a small piece every few days. Just don't eat the whole batch at once, even though you may be tempted to. ;)

1/2 cup sweet potato

1/2 cup date paste

2-4 TBSP organic honey (domestic, if possible)

3/4 cup toasted carob flour/powder

1/2 cup organic coconut oil

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup arrowroot flour

1/2 cup coconut milk (I made my own for AIP, but you can choose whichever kind)

1/2 tsp fleur de sel or any fine ground sea salt

1/3 tsp baking soda

 

Mix powders together in a bowl or mixer bowl, then add everything else and combine well.

Bake at 300-325 F for 20-25 minutes, store in fridge after they cool for best keeping. They taste best room temp or slightly warm though.

*carob burns at a lower temp than chocolate, so watch your oven temperatures 

Cooking Ahead

Today is a Tuesday...you might be wondering so what, Kati?

Well tonight is our weekly trash night, so I have found it to be good day to cook ahead, since I will be producing more waste than normal. Recently I have gotten out of the weekly habit of cooking and prepping ahead, so I'm going to give it another chance, albeit slowly. 

I am starting with some simply boiled organic waxy red potatoes and parboiled rice. The potatoes were pretty straightforward, as I just rubbed clean under water and set in water to cook, but the rice took a little effort. I rinsed 4 cups of rice several times until the water ran clear, then gave it a good soak for an hour to cut down on cook time. I added a little less water than called for, due to the soaking and put salt and about a third cup of coconut oil in the cooking water. 

 

The rice looks pretty good! And it tastes perfectly al dente and chewy, with the right amount of give. 

I am planning on washing and chopping some additional food such as the veggies romaine lettuce, green onions,radishes and broccoli, plus whatever else I can find that needs using.

That's all for now! Not too exciting, but it will help me to not be in the kitchen with 3 hot pans on the stove every night this week. 

BBQ Beef Baked Beans

Instead of paying a huge price per pound for deli bbq beef baked beans, try this delicious and adaptable recipe. I came up with this recipe from adapting two recipes to suite what we had in the house already and our tastes, from  http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-pork-and-beans-slow-cook-method-gf-86381 and http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/the-best-baked-beans-ever/  .  

 

To cook together in a very large skillet:

4 tbsp butter or bacon grease

1 medium onion, diced 

.5-1 lb leftover cooked roast chopped small, with drippings (or alternately, use an equal weight of bacon)

Cook until onions are translucent and fragrant.

Mix together in bowl (or you could just do what I did and put in the pan while stirring a bunch!):

3/4 cup favorite bbq sauce

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup palm sugar (or brown)

6 oz can of tomato paste + one can water

2 tsp dry mustard powder

1 TBSP molasses

2 TBSP tamari sauce (which is gluten free soy sauce)

1 tsp liquid smoke 

1/2 tsp liquid stevia extract (or add more brown sugar to taste)

Few shakes of garlic salt

3 cans of half drained bean of choice *or an equal amount of home prepared beans with an additional 1 cup water

Add mix to skillet and stir a bunch, on medium high heat for 5-8 minutes. 

Transfer to buttered

baking dish, and bake for about an hour at 325 F, until the liquid is syrupy. 

These babies aren't the most low carb thing out there, but watch your portion if you're into that kind of thing and you'll come out all right. 

Stupid Easy Puffed Rice

This really is so very easy, to make your own puffed rice without all the extra stuff. There is no need to ever buy expensive puffed rice cereals again once you get this simple process down. And it's instantly gratifying!

What is needed:

*As much parboiled or converted rice as you want to puff up (it will say this on the label. Do not use any other kind, as I'm not sure it would work the same. The box of rice I purchased was about $10 from a big box store, and I got 25lbs...you do the math) :) 

*Enough high oleic sunflower oil (or another high heat stable and low PUFA oil) to make a couple inches in a small pot. I used a quart sized pot, which my strainer 

Fits into nicely, as you can see. 

 Method:

Heat a small pot of oil to about 380-400f. You can use a candy thermometer to check oil temp. Put a tablespoon of parboiled rice into the fine mesh metal  strainer and lower into the oil. The rice puffs up and floats to the top in a matter of seconds, so it doesn't take all the long to make a considerable amount of puffed rice. Gently tap excess oil off over the pot, and dump out onto paper towel lined plate or pan. You can sprinkle whatever you like on at this point or leave as is.

Tips: Only leave rice in the oil long enough to puff up, or it will become overdone. You can use a spoon to help dislodge puffed rice from strainer if it gets stuck. 

This is crunchier than the name brand, which I love. I hope you do too!

The uncooked rice compared to the puffed... Yummy yummy. (:

Chocolate Mini Loaves

I adapted the carob brownie recipe from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook into a quick chocolate bread. My version isn't as sweet and includes cocoa instead of carob, as I believe cocoa is a healthy food when procured from a good source. It is also gluten free and can easily be made dairy free with substitutions of coconut oil and alternative milk. 

*I recommend soaking the buckwheat flour overnight with the half and half and a tbsp apple cider vinegar or yogurt, and then mixing as normal, but being in a pinch, I skipped it this time.

Preheat oven to 350F to get started.

Mix these ingredients together in a large bowl with a whisk:

1.5 cups whole buckwheat flour

.5 cups arrowroot flour/powder

.5 cups cocoa powder

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

 In a stand mixer bowl (or separate bowl with hand mixer) cream together:

.75 cups butter 

.75 cups turbinado sugar (brown or sucanant sugars would work also)

.5 cups dextrose (or more sugar)

 After creaming butter and sugar, add 

4 eggs (or just 3 for a denser brownie-like bread)

2 tsp vanilla extract 

When mixed, add:

1 cup of half and half (or milky liquid of your choice-  subbing half amount of milk for cold strong coffee might be tasty!)

Then slowly add in the flour mixture until it comes together. Don't forget to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. :) 

Bake in well oiled mini loaf or jumbo muffin pans for 15-25 minutes, checking for desired level of doness. You can also bake in a regular loaf pan, just adjust cooking time up accordingly. 

I made this recipe in a Duncan Hines brand pan that had 8 mini loaf cavities. I got about 13 loaves from it, and so based the nutrition facts on them. I put estimated nutritional information on My Fitness Pal, with the name of Kati's Chocolate Bread. 

Overnight GF Buckwheat and Oat Waffles

Gluten Free Buckwheat and Oat Over Night Waffles (big freezable batch)

These are filling and full of protein, fiber and healthy fats, especially if you melt butter to drizzle on top like we did! And you can omit the oats for more buckwheat or another flour/grain of choice if you wish. I think these are pretty exciting, since they seem to be more satiating for the sons than similar waffles made exclusively with coconut or nut flours, and they may be less expensive to make. 

*You will want a blender or food processor, and a waffle iron for this recipe (you can make pancakes too, just add about a half cup more buckwheat for that). 

To do the day before (morning, noon or night)

Take:

4 cups buckwheat flour (pre-milled or ground from groats)

2 cups of gf rolled oats (I used Trader Joe's)

2 tbsps raw apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice, just add an acid medium) 

Enough filtered water to just cover

Combine in a ceramic or glass container, then set on counter with a towel covering the top or put in the oven to soak (This is really easy, because you can mix it, then forget about it until the next day)! I turned my oven light on during the soaking for a more stable temperature. The grains should soak up most of the water. You can give it a stir every once in awhile to make sure it isn't drying out. You may notice bubbling, which is fun to see as it means everything is doing what it is supposed to do. 

The next day:

The mixture should be the consistency of thick porridge, but not clumpy and dry. If this happens, you could add a small amount of your liquid of choice, until the desired consistency is reached. If your mix is a bit too soupy, carefully pour off excess liquid. 

For the waffle baking, you use:

12-14 eggs 

2 tsp aluminum free baking powder

Dash of salt ( I used Himalayan pink salt)

Soaked mixture

Optional:

Splash of vanilla

10 drops of stevia 

 

Preheat your waffle iron and oil it with butter, olive or coconut oil. Then, put half the eggs in the blender, along with half of all the other ingredients. Mix for a few moments or so, until everything is combined well. 

Pour into waffle iron and follow the usual baking instructions. Repeat with remaining ingredients. 

If you are planning on freezing extras, wait until the waffles are cooled completely

before putting in the freezer. 

Notes:

You may soak the mixture in the refrigerator if the thought of leaving stuff out bothers you. I would just start it in the morning (or even two nights before!) as the breaking down of the grains will take a bit longer in a colder environment.

This recipe should yield around 12 deep style waffles. I have calculated the approximate nutrition information (using 14 large eggs) over at Fitness Pal for those tracking stats like me. 

Hulk Cereal and Bar option

Today I gave the sons some trail mix as breakfast cereal, with coconut milk and blueberries on top. My eldest asked for more about five minutes after I told him that was all he would get (it was a lot!) I explained to him that the cereal had lots and lots of energy (calories- I am not afraid of calories, but I believe they should not be ignored completely) in it and he said "like the Hulk has lots and lots of energy?" I told him yes, it was the kind of cereal the Hulk would eat since it had so much energy in it. I offered a mandarin or some carrots if he was still hungry and he declined. 

What I put in our "Hulk" cereal:

*Dry roasted salted almonds (from Trader Joe's)

*Roasted and salted shelled sunflower seeds (also from TJ's)

*Coconut flakes (from the bulk bags at Natural Grocers) 

*Generous handful of chocolate chunks (once again, from TJ's)

For the proportions, I probably used an equal weight of almonds and coconut flakes, with a little less sunflower seeds. I just rolled and shook the mix around in a sealed jar. You can eat it dry or turn it into Hulk cereal with a bit of milk! You could even soak it overnight in yogurt or kefir for some grain-free muesli.  

You can sub out the chocolate for raisins, diced apricots, banana chips or even pecans or walnuts. It is a versatile type of thing.  Yummy, very filling and energy dense, to keep those little Hulks going full power until lunch! 

Recipe option: taking the mix, slowly add some type of liquid sweetening syrup and/or plant protein butter until it holds together. Press into a parchment lined pan with some overhanging on the sides and bake on 250 F for 25-30 minutes (or use a food dehydrator after shaping in a pan, but it may take longer). Be careful not to burn! Cool and cut into bigger bars for meals and smaller bars for snacks on the go.