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