Ramble On

Every day at 11:30ish I make this smoothie. Why 11:30? I have no idea. I've never been good at eating breakfast. I usually just have tea, feed my kids, and do a bit of house work then I might have another cup of tea and check my email. It never fails that by the time I'm actually feeling hungry and wander out to the kitchen it's about 11:30 *shrug*

Banana Sunrise Smoothie

2 frozen bananas
1/2 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed, no pulp)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (homemade)
honey to taste - honestly I sometimes don't put any honey in it at all, the OJ and bananas are enough to sweeten the yogurt.

blend until smooth. Yum!

My favorite way to make burgers in my previous life (before SCD) was to throw in a packet of french onion soup mix. Well that's not allowed anymore so I came up with a recipe that tastes pretty dang close to what I remember them tasting like. Instead of fries I served some roasted carrots and cauliflower on the side. It was so good. I'm actually drooling a little bit right now thinking about it.  If you want to make this full meal you need to prepare the veg first so I'm going to go into that recipe first.



Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots (serves 8, depending on the size of your veg)
1 whole head of cauliflower
4 large carrots
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Break apart the cauliflower into florets. These will shrink a bit so don't worry about making them bite size. Peel your carrots and cut them down to baby carrot size. Toss in olive oil, sea salt, and pepper.
Spread the veg out on a jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with a rim) and bake for 40 minutes.

French Onion Burgers
(makes 8 burgers)

2lbs ground beef
1 tbs dried onions
1 tsp parsley
2 cloves grarlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Mix everything together and form into patties. Grill until you're happy with them. Top with legal cheese, lettuce, tomato, anything you can tolerate!

Apple Cider Raisin Bread
Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Nut free, SCD Legal

3/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/2 c apple cider (if you're following SCD make sure it's legal apple cider)
2 tbs coconut oil, melted
 1/4 cup raisins 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment paper or use a stoneware that is non stick. Go ahead and melt your coconut oil in the microwave and set it aside to cool slightly.  In a small bowl combine the coconut flour, sea salt, and baking soda, combine well and set aside. In a large bowl combine the eggs and the honey. With an electric mixer blend these together. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and continue to blend until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet slowly beating as you go, keep mixing until all the lumps are gone. Fold in the raisins. Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes.

Raisin Filling
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup honey

when it looks like this, you're done! Turn off the stove!

Combine in a sauce pan and cook over low heat stirring occasionally until the raisins plump and most of the liquid is gone.

While your raisin filling is going prepare the cookie dough:

1/2 cup honey
4 eggs
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup coconut flour + 2 tbs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone baking sheet. Combine the honey, eggs, olive oil, and vanilla in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer (I use my kitchen aid stand mixer for this) until well combined. Whisk the coconut flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Add the dry to the wet ingredients and mix until a dough forms.

Scoop the cookie dough onto your prepared baking sheet (I use a 1 1/2 tsp cookie scoop). Get yourself a little bit of olive oil in a little dish, now press your thumb into the oil and then into the cookie making a small indentation. Don't push all the way to the bottom of the cookie! Fill your indentation with some of the raisin filling. I did not use all the filling (I just allowed it to harden all the way and ate it, it was delicious).

Bake for 15 minutes.

You remember those stands at the mall? The ones with the orange drink? Well they had banana too, which was my absolute favorite. This is a knock off that is actually good for you!

Sweet Vanilla Banana Smoothie
makes 2  servings 

2 med frozen bananas
4 tbs honey
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla

Combine everything into a blender and puree until smooth.

I had a conversation the other day with another mom who told me that she loves to eat baked goodies for breakfast. As I thought about I realized that I use to do the same, there's something really comforting about having something you can eat with a fork along with your cup of morning tea. So I decided to make something that wasn't overly sweet but would satisfy that craving. This isn't as heavy as a coffee cake, will fill you up, and won't make you feel guilty about eating cake for breakfast.




Apple Raisin Breakfast Cake

4 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs cinnamon
1 cup chopped, peeled, apples
1/4 cup raisins


Grease an 8in square pan or line with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a large bowl combine eggs, olive oil, vanilla, and honey.With an electric mixer blend the dry ingredients into the wet beating until there are no lumps. Fold in the chopped apples and raisins. Spread the batter into your prepared pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, allow to cool completely before eating!

The only thing I can liken these to is cheesecake. The texture is very light yet filling. The coconut flavor does come through on them, then lemon, and just a hint of ginger in the after taste. My husband ate half the batch (I ate the other half) they were gone within two days, just because we tried to pace ourselves.







 
Coconut Lemon-Ginger Cakes (gluten free, nut free, SCD legal) 
makes 12 regular-sized muffins


1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup coconut oil melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup honey

Line a regular sized muffin tin with papers. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the coconut flour, ginger, baking soda, and sea salt together in a small bowl, whisk together well. In a large bowl combine the eggs, lemon juice, honey, and coconut oil, blend together. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well with an electric hand mixer until all the lumps all gone. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins dividing evenly into each cup. Bake for 23 minutes. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate for at least four hours before eating to allow the flavors to fully develop.

Lunch here has to be quick, especially on the weekdays when I'm trying to navigate house work, a 2 year old, and trying to steal a few moments each day to write. Maybe that doesn't sound like much but I don't want to get into the whole "what to stay-at-home moms actually do all day" just trust me when I say, I'm very busy. So back to lunch, I have to eat, and I have to make something quick that is hearty enough to get me through until dinner.





Tuna Burgers (makes 2 patties)

1 can tuna in water  (be sure there are no additives like vegetable brother, which contains soy)
approx 2oz rosemary garlic bread, crumbled
1 egg
pepper to taste

Open and drain the tuna. Combine tuna, bread, egg, and pepper in a bowl. With a fork mash it all together and shape into a patty with your hands.

Heat a pan over medium heat and cook the patties for about 2 mins per side until well browned. Serve them topped with cheese, lettuce, onion, anything you can tolerate.

covered in cheese!

My two year old's favorite food is chicken, she'll eat it for every single meal if we let her. We have it at least once a week and we use to just roast it with a bit of olive oil sprinkled with salt and pepper, which is delicious but gets bit boring week after week. So I've started marinating it and now my 9-year-old can not get enough. He loves the lemony flavor and the crispy skin. I usually double this and make 4lbs of chicken thighs since we like to have left overs. If you're going to double it go ahead and double everything except for the olive oil!


Lemon Marinated Oven Roasted Chicken

2lbs of bone-in chicken thighs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp honey
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Combine marinade in a large freezer bag, add the chicken and seal the bag. Mush it around a bit and place the sealed bag into a bowl just in case it leaks. Place the chicken it in the fridge for at least 3 hours, turning the bag over half way through.

When you're ready to cook the chicken preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Retrieve your chicken from the fridge, remove the chicken from the marinade and put it into a large baking dish skin side up. Discard the marinade. 

Bake the chicken uncovered at 425 degrees for 20 minutes then lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes until the internal temp reaches 180 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh. I usually go ahead a serve it with pureed cauliflower, my rosemary & garlic bread, and another steamed veg.

Sometimes, I just want some ice cream, specifically, a milk shake. I have an ice cream maker somewhere (it's still packed up from the last time we moved...three years ago) but I can fake a shake with my blender and yummy SCD legal ingredients. This shake is full of things that are good for you and won't make you feel all bloated and gross after you drink it (or maybe that's just how I felt after drinking a traditional milk shake).

SCD Legal Banana Peach Shake

1/2 cup SCD legal yogurt, or regular plain yogurt if you're not doing SCD
1/2 cup coconut milk (or another milk you tolerate)
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup frozen peaches
3 teaspoons of honey (add more if you like it sweeter)

In a blender combine yogurt, banana, peaches, coconut milk and honey in that order. If your blender has an "ice crush" button I recommend using that. Some blenders just can't handle frozen fruit, if that is the case try to use a food processor. Blend until free of lumps and enjoy. This makes approx 16oz of cool yummy goodness (yield will depend on the size of the fruit, if you think it's too thick, add some more liquid, too thin, add some more fruit).

Here's what I had for dinner last night: Zucchini pasta with fresh parm and a piece of roasted garlic and rosemary bread. Zucchini pasta is really quick and easy it's become one of my favorite meals as of late. I bought a jullieann peeler so it makes the process a whole lot quicker, I recommend getting one! Now the Garlic & Rosemary bread takes a little advanced planning but it really doesn't take long to put together.  I wanted to try to make a savory bread, and I happen to have a rosemary bush in my kitchen at the moment. I love garlic and can tolerate it so I added that as well. It's perfect with the zucchini pasta and I imagine it would be great with SCD legal spaghetti sauce, I wouldn't know that for a fact yet because I have not tried tomatoes (I'm nervous!).  Why did I bake it in a cake pan? Well I thought a nice round loaf would be a fun. It doesn't rise very much but it's still yummy and light!



Zucchini Pasta (SCD legal, nut free)

Ingredients:
1 fresh zucchini per person
1/2 tsp sea salt
water
fresh parm cheese

Directions:
On the stove top boil a small pot of water. In the mean time peel the skin off the zucchini and then jullieann it into thin ribbons. I only scrape down to the seeds since I'm avoiding seeds right now.
When the water comes to a boil sprinkle with sea salt and add the zucchini. Boil for approx 2 minutes. Strain the noodles, throw into a bowl, and sprinkle with fresh parm.

Grain Free Garlic & Rosemary Bread (SCD legal and nut free)




4 large eggs
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a metal pie plate with parchment paper, greasing the sides with olive oil. Combine coconut flour, baking soda, garlic, and rosemary together into a bowl and combine well, set aside. In a blender, a food processor, or another bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Add the dry to the wet ingredients and combine until the batter is thick and lump free. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before serving, it's good right out of the oven but if you allow it to come to room temp the flavors are just awesome.



Just pulled from the oven



I think one of my favorite things in the world is mini muffins, cause I can eat four of them at once and that's okay in my mind because they are mini muffins. I also like small things, like tiny pumpkin printed cupcake liners that I had left over from baking my daughter's class corn muffins for Thanksgiving. Use what you have!

Grain Free, SCD Legal, Nut Free Winter Squash Muffins (yes that's a mouth full!)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/4 SCD legal yogurt
1/2 cup winter squash puree (i used butternut but pumpkin will work too)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a mini muffin pan with your little mini muffin liners.  Combine the coconut flour, sea salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a small bowl mixing well to combine. Combine the remaining ingredients in another bowl, mixing well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until they are no more lumps with an electric mixer. You can also use a blender or a food processor to do this, add the liquid first and then the dry or it just won't mix. Pour into your prepared muffin tin filling 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 15 minutes.



How do you get you minis out of their tins? I usually use a spoon to sort of scoop them out, you know after I burn my fingers a couple of times trying to lift them out.

Since I started SCD I always had some issues with nut flours which, I've recently discovered, was an allergic reaction. The doctor took my complaints very seriously and I am now a proud epi-pen carrying member of the nut-free club. However, now I had to go figure out how to bake again with a new flour. I chose coconut flour because, well, really, what is there other than nut flours that are allowed on this diet? Good thing coconut flour is yummy and I've found it to be cheaper than the almond flour that I was using. Don't worry, this doesn't actually taste like coconuts. It's moist, filling, and everything you'd ever want from a banana bread. 

Ingredients:
2 mashed bananas
6 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
3 tbs coconut oil melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. What I usually do is throw all this into a blender going in order of the ingredients (if you put the flour on the bottom it just won’t blend) as let it blend until all the lumps are gone. If you don't want to do that, combine all the wet ingredients together, mixing well. Set aside. Mix the coconut flour and baking soda together. Add the dry to the wet ingredients and really mix it well. Coconut flour tends to clump so really keep on it or use an electric hand mixer. After everything is mixed pour it into a parchment lined bread pan and bake for 50 minutes.

right out of the oven

yum