Tag: Paleo

Sunday Sup: Yummy Chicken

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

Good Morning!

Last night I made the best chicken. I swear the hubs and the kiddo were ready to fight a light saber duel over the last piece. Guess I should have made more.

Make your rub –

2/3 tsp cumin, 2/3 tsp dried Chipotle chile powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 8 grinds of sea salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp oregano. Stir. Slowly add olive oil and stir until you have paste. We’re talking tablespoons of oil, not cups.

With your fingers rub the paste into both sides of your boneless, skinless chicken thighs. It should be a nice gentle coating. You should still be able to see the chicken. Think a starry night and the stars are your rub. This amount of rub covers both sides of 6 large thighs.

Grill the chicken, both sides 5-6 minutes each until beautiful grill marks appear and the meat is cooked.

I served mine chopped over rice, baja black beans, and salsa. Jalapeno jack cheese for the hubs and I, none for the kiddo.

I couldn’t get pictures once the fill-de-beasts tasted the meat, I was lucky to get any for my bowl. LOL

Sunday Sup: Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

I have this recipe for Thumbprint cookies I adore (with modifications, LOL) from Primal Palate.

So when I decided chocolate raspberry would be awesome, I modified my modifications.

Large bowl: 2 c almond flour, 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 c gf flour – again I use TJs blend, but arrowroot, tapioca, or even potato starch would work here. Stir.

Add 1/3 c maple syrup, 1/4 c melted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir more.

Roll the mix into balls, a little smaller than golf ball sized. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Press your thumb into the middle to make a well to fill with raspberry jam. Fill each divot with jam. I use a fruit juice sweetened no sugar one but really, it’s your inflammation, use whatever you like.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. You want the jam fully melted and the cookie firm enough to be picked up. Let cool and yummy…

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Sunday Sup: Experimental Muffins

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

I bribe my students. I do. If they share an opinion about the reading or vocalize an answer to the homework, I toss them candy. I teach Junior High and High school students at a very small school.

But some of my students are all about the healthy. And some of my students are allergic to everything under the sun. So…I decided to bake them treats. I’ve made this recipe many times with less substitutions and they come out beautifully. The substitution ones worked as well although the texture was a touch off, the taste was superb.

Carrot Pineapple Muffins (Cupcakes)

These have no gluten, no refined sugar, no nuts, and no eggs. I don’t know where the original recipe came from, it is out of the binder of recipes on bits of scrap.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, whisk 2/3 c gf flour ( I like Trader Joes’s blend), 1/3 c coconut sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp allspice.

Melt 1/3 c butter and add to dry ingredients with 1/2 c cinnamon apple sauce. Stir to combine.

Gentle fold in 1 c shredded carrots and 1/2 c chopped pineapple. Chop finely if putting in muffin pans.

Pour into silicone muffin pan, each cup 2/3 full. This makes about ten muffins. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan, then they pop right out.

Now you can adjust this recipe several ways.

1/ The original calls for 1 c chopped walnuts. Add this if you like. It does add a nice flavor and texture to the muffins.

2/ You can also use 2 eggs in place of the apple sauce. If you do that, add 1 tsp cinnamon instead of 3/4 tsp.

3/ You can also bake this as a loaf cake. Or pour it into a train shaped pan. (Kiddo’s first birthday.) For a loaf pan the bake time goes up to 50 minutes.

4/ You can also substitute 1/3 c coconut oil for the butter.

5/ If using real flour, the amount stays the same. If using cane sugar however, increase to 1/2 cup.

Now then, to covert muffins into cupcakes you need frosting. I will give two recipes. Both are tasty it just depends on your life style choices.

Simple: 8 oz block good cream cheese, by which I mean NOT philly. Read the ingredients on that some times. It’s all chemicals. So buy a cream cheese made of cream and milk please. Let it sit out a bit so it’s easier to mix. Add 1/4- 1/3 c maple syrup and blend until smooth.

Complicated: One 8 oz block cream cheese ( see above diatribe), 5 tbsp soft butter, 2 tsp vanilla, beat until combined. Add 2 c powdered sugar.

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Sunday Sup: Spanish Rice Redux

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments
The original for today’s Sunday Sup comes from a cookbook entitled Eat Smart, Lose Weight. It was a gift. From my mother. Cough, cough, did you just say I was dumb and fat? Cough, cough.
It’s one of those awful books from the days where fat was the devil and eating as many carbs as possible created a nation of diabetics…yeah. I’ve made a few changes to this one.
Spanish Rice Redux
Chop a pound of pork chops, pork sirloin, pork loin, etc (your choice, what do you have on hand) into small cubes. Brown over medium high heat in olive oil in a largish pot.
While that browns, chop 2 small red onions, 2 red bell peppers, and one green zucchini. (I know they only come in green but I like balance.)
Remove the pork from the pot, add a bit more olive oil if needed. Put all the chopped veg in the pot with a teaspoon of minced garlic. Or use a couple of cloves if you’re old fashioned.
Give it 3-5 minutes. Stir a bit too. Let all the veg get softer and a bit of a tan.
Add the meat back.
Add 2 cans diced fire roasted tomatoes, the 15oz cans, or 1 1/2 cans and a fresh tomato if you forgot to buy more canned ones the last time you were at Costco.
Add 2 cups chicken stock and one 16 oz bag of riced cauliflower.
Bring to a simmer, then cover and lower the temp to low.
Simmer 30 minutes. Go take a nap or wash yesterday’s dishes now that your kiddo has finally unloaded the dishwasher.
Give it a good stir. Take the lid off and simmer until it is the dryness you desire. With no additional simmer it will be a bit soupy. I like to give it another 15.
Serve with sliced avocado on top.
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Sunday Sup: GF Chicken Strips

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

This is another obscenely easy recipe but people go crazy over it. So I’ll post it up here.

The original idea came from Danielle over at Against All Grain but of course, I’ve played with it rather a lot.

GF Chicken Strips with Dijon

Preheat your oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Set out a couple of bowls and a small plate. In the first bowl mix gf flour blend with ground mustard powder and garlic powder. I couldn’t really say how much of each but I’ll estimate for you. 1/4 c flour to 1 tsp each mustard and garlic.

In the second bowl, 2 eggs, whisked together.

On the plate, put a thin layer of shredded coconut, unsweetened. Have your bag of coconut nearby and open.

Cut up your chicken breast into tenders or buy precut tenders, whatever. I don’t dry my chicken. I know a lot of people do, I don’t. Maybe that’s the difference.

Dip chicken in flour mix, then in egg, then lay on the coconut plate and pour coconut over it until coated. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat until done. Three large breasts can be done with this amount of prep for the coating.

Slide it in the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Flip, bake for 10-12 minutes depending on how fat your strips are.  Broil on high for 2-3 minutes for a nice golden brown color.

While the chicken cooks, make honey mustard dressing.

1/3 c mayo, 3 tbsp dijon mustard, juice of one lemon (~3 tbsp), 1-2 tbsp honey, depending on how sweet you like it. Stir until combined.

Eat up honey bunch.

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