Colorful Spinach Salad

Here's a statement I never would have dreamed of saying when I was much younger:

I love salad.

I eat salad every day - sometimes for breakfast lunch, and dinner. Huge mounds of veggies topped with an endless combination of ingredients, sign me up. I'm constantly trying to sneak more vegetables into our diets because veggies are to health what air is to breathing.

People who claim to not like salads don't know what they are missing out on. Not only do you get several servings of your daily fruits and veggie requirements, but they're easy to throw together and with the right combination of ingredients, they taste great.


Maybe I should clarify here. I love good salad. Mike always laughs at the way I say 'bagged salad' because of the way I emphasize the 'bagged' part to highlight just how offensive I find it. They are just so boring and unappealing and...bleh. I get that they're easy because all you have to do is open and dump (and hopefully wash), but I've never minded taking the extra little bit of time to make a so-so food actually enjoyable.

Now, if you take that Plain Jane bagged salad and add a few things to it, now we're talking. Those bland and tasteless leaves are now the perfect vehicle for delicious food combinations. Creamy avocados, crunch sunflower seeds, tangy apples - I could happily eat this everyday. Then add a little balsamic vinegar and/or olive oil drizzled over - that's decadence.

I could get all fancy here with vinaigrettes, massaged vegetables, and roasted veggies, but I figure why not just keep it simple with easy to source foods that take less than no time to make. I can save the fluff for another time because this recipe stands up just fine on its own.

Ingredients

6 cups baby spinach (or your favorite greens)

1 pint strawberries hulled and sliced

1 carrot julienned (this is what I used to julienne) 

1 apple chopped 

1 avocado sliced

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Method

After you've chopped and wash everything, just throw it all in a big bowl and mix it all together. That's another reason why I love salads - so easy.

Serves 3-4 people 

Tips For Maintaining a Diet That Works for You

Let's be honest. Eating clean isn't always easy. It's easy in theory, but in practice it can feel more than a little bit overwhelming - especially if you try to make too many changes at once. 

Every so often I get asked by someone with newly discovered food allergies for any tips that I could share to make the transition any easier. These are just a few things that I've found to be true when it comes to eating and cooking on a paleo-esque, gluten free diet.

 I think the key thing for people to remember is that eating for optimal health is a process of trial and error. It's important to try new things whether it be recipes or food groups. Unless you have a food allergy/intolerance it's ok to gradually ween yourself off of eating certain foods if you feel like cutting it out altogether is too overwhelming. Don't get caught up in diet dogmas saying that you absolutely can't have x,y, or z if you feel like you can benefit from it. On the flip side realize that there are some foods you might crave that are harming your health.

Just remember whatever your food/health goals are that it's all a process and it will get better as you get better. 

                           

Do any of you have any tips or reminders that you've found to be helpful in staying inspired to eat clean?

Baked Carrot & Courgette Fritters

There is a running joke between Mike and I that I don't actually speak English, I speak American. I say joke, but I'm pretty sure he is about 98% serious when he says that.

Usually this debate pops up whenever I say basil pronounced with a "bay" sound and not a "baz" sound. See also herb and "erb". Though I will give it to him that if we are looking at root words and origins, the English pronunciation is right in those scenarios, he is by no means faultless in the correct pronunciation of words - especially when they are of Spanish origin. I still laugh every time he says taco because it just sounds so wrong.

We also run into this debate whenever I ask zucchinis and not courgettes. Us Americans take after the Italian etymology 'zucchio' rather than the French 'courgette'. Though they are both right, if I ask for a zucchini from Bruce, our fruit and veg man, I'm sure to get a blank stare - not that I'm used to those anyways.

Long story short: to all of my American friends, courgette = zucchini.

In my eternal quest to pack vegetables into our diet, I decided to make some veggie fritters that can be enjoyed on their own as a snack, or with a main meal. I also have a load a fresh, organic herbs in the fridge that I bought at the farmers market last weekend that were calling to be used. Personally, I'm all about my fresh herbs and seasonings, but if you don't have on hand, feel free to use the dried spices.


Great thing about this recipe in addition to being Low Fodmap is that it can also be made vegan or Autoimmune Paleo friendly.

I think this recipe also lends well to playing around a bit depending on what you like or what you need using up in your fridge. Spare broccoli florets? Chop it up and toss it in. Don't have green onions? Oh well. Throw in your favorite spices and you can't go wrong.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter (55 grams) or coconut oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 2 eggs (to make AIP use gelatin eggs and to make vegan use flax eggs or egg replacers)
• 3 cups shredded courgette (about 2 small courgettes)
• 2 cups shredded carrots (about 2 small carrots)
• 4 spring/green onions chopped using only the green parts for Low Fodmap
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley (or dried)
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped oregano (or dried)
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 400F/205C
2. Melt your butter/oil then mix with your egg (substitutes).
3. Shred your carrots and courgette. You can do this in a high powered blender or food processor or grater
4. In a large bowl, add your vegetables and spices and then mix it all together.

    4.  In a large bowl, add your vegetables and spices and then mix it all together.

    5.  Stir in your melted butter and eggs into your veggie mixture and combine. 

    6.  In a small bowl, mix together your salt, pepper, and coconut flour. Once your dry ingredients              are mixed thoroughly, add them into your veggie mixture and combine.

    7. With a large spoon or ice cream scoop, scoop the batter onto a baking tray lined with parchment

        paper. Flatten with the back of the spoon to form the fritters. In my picture it's not lined, but then         I realized they would probably stick to the tray and lined the tray, but didn't get a picture.

    8. Once your tray is full, drizzle a small amount of oil over the top of each fritter and use the back          of a spoon to spread the oil over the top.

    9. Bake for about 13-15 minutes, or until the tops are golden.

    10. Flip each fritter over, drizzle the tops with a tiny bit oil like you did with the other side, and                bake for another 13-15 minutes. 

    11. Allow the fritters to cool on the tray for about 10 minutes, and then enjoy.

*Makes about 7 larger fritters or 14 small ones.

I ate like half of these before I was able to photograph them, whoops.

Let me know what variations you tried out in the comments below!

Grain Free Orange Cake

English weather is a mystery to me. This morning as I was taking Stan on his morning walk, I had a hoodie, a jacket, a hat and in desperate need of some gloves. It's what I used to call "smoking weather" when I was much younger because you can see your breath when you speak, as if it were smoke. I still call it that.  One day you'll have hail, the next you'll have sun.

Now as I write this, the sun is shinning, the birds are singing, and I can feel the warmth of the sun hit the back of my neck. Being the Arizona girl that I am, born and raised, I miss the sun. I miss the sun and I miss the heat. Especially after my first English winter, I am particuarly looking forward to the change of seasons to a time when the sun will make a more regular appearance on a day to day basis.

Don't get me wrong - I do love experiencing actual seasons. It gets boring having the same weather day in and day out. I'm also not missing the blistering hot July summer days where you can't leave the house until after 5pm because anytime before that is just too unbearable to be without air conditioning. Until you've cooked an egg on the sidewalk, you don't know what heat is.

That all being said, I could do with a little more Vitamin D in my life. I could also always do with a little baking. My solution to everything whether it be homesickness or actual sickness (Mike's got a bit of a cold this week), is usually baking. Hey - it's good for the soul. So after consulting my overly full fruit basket, I made this grain free orange cake because why not?

Ingredients

• 2 oranges
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (237 grams) or honey, but maple makes it FODMAP friendly
• 3 cups almond flour (300 grams)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Place both your oranges in a large pot with enough water to cover the oranges, and bring it to a boil. Allow the oranges to simmer for about 25 minutes.
2. While your oranges are simmering, mix together the eggs and maple syrup in a large mixing bowl. Once mixed, add in the almond flour and the baking soda.
3. Preheat your oven to 170C about 350F
4. Back to the oranges, drain the water and roughly chop the oranges. After boiling them, they should be easy to cut up. Discard the seeds and place the chopped orange bits in a food processor or high powered blender. I used my Blendtec for this and it worked beautifully. And yes, you are using the whole orange, so don't worry about peeling. Blend until smooth.
5. Once you've pureed the oranges, pour it onto the rest of your batter and mix it all together.
6. Grease a 10 inch round cake pan before adding your batter.
7. Bake for about 45-50 minutes - until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
8. Cool for about 10 minutes, and enjoy. 

Bonus

If you have any spare baking chocolate around, melt about 1/4 cup chocolate, a tablespoon of coconut oil, and the zest of one orange for a chocolate orange glaze that you can drizzle over the top.

Almond & Herb Crusted Salmon

Though it's not particuarly high up on the list of foods Mike's crazy about, Salmon has become one of our weekly go-to meals. Lucky for me, I really enjoy eating Salmon, so I relish every chance I get to try out new recipes. 

Recently, I've been working on getting more fish in our diet - particuarly, fatty, omega-3 rich fish like Salmon, Mackerel, Trout, etc. Aside from being delicious and easy to prepare, wild caught fish can often be a good source of nutrients that support whole body health. Good for your brain, good for your skin, good for basically everything else...yes please! Seeing as how I am in the business of jam packing every plate of food I give to Mike with as many nutrient dense foods as possible, this one is certainly one of my favorites with a salad and a lemon butter sauce drizzled over the top.

Ingredients

• 2 salmon fillets (preferably, wild caught)
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons almond flour
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped (or dried)
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped (or dried)
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano (again, can use dried)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400F/204C
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the salmon on the sheet, scale side down
3. Drizzle the lemon juice over both pieces of salmon. 
4. In a small bowl, mix together the almond flour, the herbs, and the salt & pepper. Sprinkle your mixture evenly over the fish.
5. Drizzle the melted coconut oil over the fish
6. Bake at 204C/400F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, set the oven to broil and leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes for a crispy finish. 

Paleo Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies

If you've never had chocolate chip cookie with candied bacon bits mixed in, I'm sorry, but you're missing out. (Sorry non meat eaters.)

They are the perfect combination of salty and sweet and they combine two of the most loved comfort foods.

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 3 cups almond flour (288 grams)
• 2/3 cup tapioca flour (81 grams)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate soda)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 egg
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 dark chocolate chips

For the bacon

• 5 thick slices bacon (if you're in the UK, you'll want to use streaky bacon - not the thick rashers because they won't crisp up as easily)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or sugar substitute of your choice

Method

1. First things first: prep your bacon. Preheat the oven to 400F/205C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
   
2. Place your bacon in a small bowl and pour the maple over it, mixing around to coat the bacon. I find the easiest way to get an even coating is to just use my fingers to spread the maple. Once they are all evenly covered, spread the bacon out flat on the baking tray and bake in the oven for about 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes is up, flip the bacon over and cook an additional 5 minutes on the other side. Remove from the oven after it's cooked, but leave the bacon on the trays to cool. They will crisp up on the tray which gives the cookies a nice little crunch.
   
3.  On to the cookies! Lower the oven temperature to 375F/190C.
   
4. In a medium sized bowl mix together your dry ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, mix together your wet ingredients until fully mixed. Once your wet mixture is thoroughly mixed, pour the contents into your dry ingredients and stir until combined.
   
5.  At this point, your bacon should be cooled enough to handle. Cut the bacon into chocolate chip sized chunks.
   
   
   
   
   
6. After you've cut everything up, add the bacon bits and the chocolate chips to the cookie dough. If you'd like, you can save a little bacon pieces to push into your rolled cookie doug balls for baking.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Roll your dough into 1 inch balls and place a lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. If you're oven is like mine, you may need to flip the sheet around about halfway through cooking. If you like a flatter cookie, using the back of a spoon, press each cookie down to spread them out slightly.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. This is the step where I should tell you to wait until the cookies cool before eating, but who does that?
   
   
   
   
   *Makes about 18 cookies

Honey & Ginger Asian Chicken

Chinese takeout....need I say more? 

Even as I write this Mike is reminiscing on a time before he needed to worry about gluten cross contamination and food allergies when Chinese takeout was a Friday tradition.

I, myself, love Chinese food. I love all things sweet, spicy, and sticky. I do not, however, love feeling like I've been hit with a truck after indulging in Chinese takeout. Between the soy, the sodium, and the MSG, even just a little bit is enough to make me feel terrible for the rest of my day. 

After salivating over a few too many Asian inspired dishes on Pinterest, I decided to come up with my own take on one of my favorite foods without the added junk.

Ingredients

Serves 4

For the Chicken Batter

• 1 pound chicken breasts cut up into 1 inch pieces
• oil for frying
• 1 cup rice flour
• pinch of salt
• black pepper
• 1 egg beaten (if you're intolerant to eggs you can use 1/4 cup of milk substitute, dairy or non dairy)

For the Sauce

• 2 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil*
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon coconut aminos (can sub with gluten free soy sauce, or tamari sauce)
• 1/2 cup chicken stock (can sub with water)
• 1 teaspoon arrowroot flour (or cornstarch) optional - this thickens your sauce

Extra

• 2 cups of cooked rice
• 1/4 cup spring onions diced
• sprinkle of sesame seeds

Method

1. Mix your rice flour, salt, and pepper in a large zip lock bag. Add your cut up chicken to the bag and toss your mixture with the chicken inside until each piece of chicken is coated in flour.
2. Once your chicken is completely coated, add the beaten egg (or milk sub) to the bag and continue to toss until the chicken is coated.
3. Ideally for frying you will need a large wok or stir fry pan. If you don't have a wok, you can use a regular frying pan, but you may need to use more oil. Heat your oil until your pan sizzle when you sprinkle water on it.
4. Add the chicken to the oil and fry on each side until golden brown. You may need flip the chicken halfway through depending on the depth of your pan.
5. As your chicken is frying, begin working on your sauce. Simply add everything for the sauce except for the rice and the sesame seeds to a small pot and heat on medium. Bring it to a boil and stir constantly until it's thickens.
6. Once your chicken is a nice, golden brown color, add the cooked rice to your wok and then pour your honey & ginger sauce over the chicken and rice. On low heat, stir together everything. Let the sauce absorb into the rice and the chicken for a couple of minutes.
7. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and spring onions and have at it. 

*if you don't have garlic infused olive oil, use regular olive oil and add 2 cloves minced garlic to your sauce.

Low Carb Tortillas

Since transitioning to a Paleoish diet, I have been on the constant hunt to find the perfect, grain free tortilla recipe. All I wanted was an easy to make wrap that didn't require the use of a tortilla press, didn't taste like egg, and didn't fall apart while I ate my breakfast burrito. (I have very strong opinions about people calling crepes tortillas....you just can't do that!)

Sure, you can buy Paleo wraps, but usually you end up having to pay an arm, a leg, and your first born child for it....maybe not that last bit, but paying £8 for 8 wraps just feels criminal to me. A months worth of Netflix should not cost less than a 

weeks worth of tortillas.

Finally...finally I have found just that after stumbling across this recipe from Ketodietapp.

Other than being an all around amazing recipe, I also really appreciate how well these last. One of the more challenging aspects of choosing homemade foods over store bought is the fact that many things don't last beyond a few days without going soggy and sad - the cost of not eating preservative filled food I suppose. That being said, these tortillas stay perfectly fresh stored in an airtight container for up to a week, which is just about the length of time they would last anyways between Mike and I. 

These are a life saver to have on hand for when you want something that requires minimal effort. 

Ingredients

1 cup almond flour (100 grams)

3/4 cup ground flax seed (110 grams)

1/4 cup coconut flour (30 grams)

2 tablespoons whole psyllium husk

2 tablespoons ground chia seeds

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup (235 ml) lukewarm water

coconut oil for greasing

*Feel free to play around with adding different spices. On their own, these tortillas can taste a bit plain. Because there are so many foods we have to avoid because of Mike's gut issues, I threw in various different Italian herb seasonings that were both Low Fodmap/Nightshade free. Garlic and onion powder (1/2 teaspoons each) are a great addition

Method

1. In a medium sized bowl mix together all of your dry ingredients, including your herbs/spices if you choose to do any. It's recommended to use whole psyllium husk for more flexible wraps. The chia seeds took a bit of elbow grease with the pestle and mortar, but these wraps are so worth it. 

2. Add the water to your dry mix, and use your hands to mix it all together. You may needs to add a little bit more water if your dough is too dry and hard, but try not to add to much to the point that the dough is too sticky. 

3. Roll your dough out into a log shape, and let the dough rest on the counter of in the fridge for up to an hour. Once your dough has rested long enough, cut up the log into 6 equal pieces.

4. Take one piece of dough that your just divided, and place between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out with a rolling pin until completely flat like you see below. You can also use a silicone baking mat and rolling pin if you have one.

5. Take an 8in/20cm round lid or bowl and use that to cut the tortilla.

Do this with every piece of dough and the excess dough you collect from around the lids until you're done. 

6. Grease your skillet and set on medium heat. Once your pan is fully heated, place a tortilla flat in the pan and cook for about two minutes on each side. Don't cook for too long if you don't want to lose the flexibility of the tortillas. 

Remember to add a little more oil between tortillas. Repeat until you're done. 

What more could you ask of a wrap that is Paleo, vegan, and low carb?

Strawberry Lemonade Muffins

You know you're getting older when you get excited about acquiring new kitchen appliances...or maybe that's just me. This week, Mike and I finally took the plunge and bought a new Blendtech Blender. We've been debating what type of blender to buy for the past few months, but any time we got close to making a decision, we'd see the sticker price and put it off for another time. 

Though we were able to snag one from Costco for a fraction of what we have seen anywhere else, I am determined to get my money's worth out of my 8-year warranty, blending up anything and everything I can get my hands on - including the strawberry lemonade glaze I made for these muffins.

 These muffins are light, fluffy, and just the right amount of sweet.

Muffin Ingredients

• 1/3 cup coconut four (40 grams)
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour (30 grams)
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup strawberries, chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 178C/350F
2. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the coconut flour, tapioca flour, chia seeds, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
3. In a larger mixing bowl, beat the eggs then add the almond milk, maple, lemon juice, zest, vanilla, and coconut oil until completely combined. 
4. Add your dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir together with a wooden spoon until you have smooth batter.
5. Fold in your chopped strawberries.
6. Line or grease your muffin tins and fill about 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Icing Ingredients

• 1/8 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup fresh strawberries
• 1 teaspoons arrowroot starch (can sub with tapioca flour)
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon melted coconut oil

Method

1. Place all of your ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
2. After your muffins have cooled, drizzle icing. If you drizzle too soon, the icing will melt into the muffins. 

Yields about 8-10 muffins