May 19, 2012
i love to cook, i love to try new recipes and create new dishes, but let’s be honest…i am a busy self-employed mom. i don’t sit around all day and dream of the meal i am creating that evening. more often than not, i will be busily working away editing photos or designing something (my kids afternoon naps are my main office time) and i will realize that it is approaching 4:30 and i don’t have a clue what we are having for dinner and that’s my daily “oh, crap” moment. we have been facing this even more in the last 2 weeks (and can foresee it getting worse for a bit) as we just randomly sold our house (which we had taken off the market 6 month ago) and don’t have a clue at the moment where we are moving to. three years ago, when we faced busy (or busier) waves in our lives, we would simply grab a pizza or fast food, so how do we avoid that now? how do i keep healthy, wholesome meals in my kids when i don’t have time to spend in the kitchen?
my simple rule: don’t keep junk in the pantry or house or it is way to tempting when you are on the go. instead, i make sure my freezer is stocked with grass-fed beef, free-range chickens and a supply of wild caught fish. i always have a variety of organic frozen veggies and every weekend we stock up on fresh veggies/fruit for the week.
here is a typical last minute dinner in our house:
- grass-fed burgers topped with tomatoes (we typically lettuce wrap them, but of course i was out of lettuce)
- frozen organic broccoli (lightly steamed and topped with coconut oil and sea salt)
- grilled zucchini spears (drizzled with olive or coconut oil, sea salt & pepper)
- and dessert? well that was a jar of unsweetened applesauce that we canned last fall (we were a bit ambitious with our canning) and applesauce makes a frequent appearance at dinner
all of this was prepared in less than 15 minutes, (quicker than a drive-thru run) and easily for less than $10 for our entire family. yes, it is not a culinary masterpiece, or an amazing and unique combination of flavors, but it is simple, fast and still delicious.
May 15, 2012
i love eggs. or rather, i “loved” eggs. you see, our little family is on a break from eggs (one i hope will only be temporary). we used to be a part of a bi-weekly egg service, that supplied our family with fantastic cage-free, free-range eggs. i loved them. i miss them.
our first few attempts at feeding our youngest son eggs didn’t go well. his reaction to eggs is violent. even though we don’t all need to be egg-free, i am still not baking any items with eggs. the challenge of remembering who can have what or worrying about cross-contamination isn’t worth it to me, so for the time being, i am working on mastering the art of cooking without eggs. i have had a good number of flops, but i have gotten pretty good at judging what a recipe will need.
i have learned that there are limitations to this substitute. if a recipe calls for 6 eggs…you most likely will not get the desired results. typically, if a recipe calls for more than 3 eggs i don’t attempt it.
| flax seed egg replacer |
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Recipe Type: baking
Author: the sprouted life
this recipe is equal to 2 large eggs
- 6 Tbsp. water
- 2 T. ground flax seed
- 1-2 tsp. of coconut oil* (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder* (optional)
- heat water in sauce pan and whisk in ground flax seed & coconut oil
- heat until mixture begins to bubble (stirring constantly)
- as soon as it begins bubbling and starts to gel up, remove from heat
- let cool down slightly and add to recipe in place of eggs
- ***coconut oil and baking powder are optional
2.2.6
so what do i typically use?
- ground golden flax seed + water + coconut oil
why do i add coconut oil?
- most recipes just call for flax seed and water, but i find that they always seem to be a little dry, so i add a small amount of coconut oil to mimic the fat in the egg yolk.
what about baking soda? chia seeds?
- i add baking soda if i am baking something like a lighter cookie that needs more lift and for 2 eggs usually add ½ tsp. to the dry ingredients.
- a lot of times, i also add 1-2 tablespoons of chia seeds to my baked goods. they gel up and add more lift (plus a lot of other nutrients). this is not a necessary step, but just one we prefer.
- chia seeds can also be used in place of flax seed though the ratio is half of what the flax recipe is and it doesn’t need to be heated, just stir in and let set.
what are my major egg-free flops?
- paleo almond flour pancakes, we are on round 2 and though we have “eaten” them…i couldn’t exactly call them edible and they are definitely not “pancake” like.
- recipes with coconut flour. i love cooking with coconut flour, but not with much success egg free. if anyone has successful egg-free, coconut flour recipes… i would love to try them!
- salmon patties. i try and try to make them stick together without egg, but we always just end up eating salmon hash.
i thought that i would share a photo of our last attempt at paleo almond flour, egg-free pancakes, because i am determined to figure this one out. they were far better than our first attempt, but still need a lot of work. so here is my work in progress (when i figure this one out, i will share a recipe). don’t be deceived, they look awesome, until you attempt to flip them…and then the big stuck mess begins.
shared on: fat tuesday, allergy free wednesdays & food renegade
May 8, 2012
we do taco night a lot in our house. the simple beef type with tomatoes, green chilies and cumin. it is one of our “go to” meals if i am in a hurry. i love tacos, my husband loves tacos and most importantly, my little boys love tacos. we almost always have the ingredients we need on hand, especially since we have been canning our own pinto beans (yeah, i bought 50 lbs of organic dry pinto beans). that turns out to be a lot of canned beans. mexican food is my “comfort food.” my mother is mexican and i grew up in a family where homemade tortillas were a staple (one of the only gluten filled foods i miss). i promise i will share some of the recipes i learned from my grandma and how we have adapted them to be gluten free.
i had been planning on having tacos, but by accident pulled out a round steak to thaw. sidenote: {i love, love having a huge supply of grass-fed beef in our freezer & we love farmer jack who we were introduced to by our friend lindsey, from the blog enjoying healthy foods.} anyway, as i was prepping for my day, i realized that i had the wrong cut of beef dethawed. so i went hunting around my kitchen to see what i could switch dinner to and i eyed a half of a bottle of red wine and a yellow pepper…perfect for fajitas! i make a similar type of marinade for kabobs, so i just swapped a few ingredients to be more “mexican” in flavor. i then served the fajita meat over slowly sautéed yellow peppers and onions and served with a blue corn refried bean taco topped with raw cheddar. we will be making this recipe again!
| red wine marinated fajitas {gluten free} |
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Recipe Type: entree
Author: the sprouted life
- 1 lb. of grass-fed flank or round steak
- 1 c. dry red wine
- 1/3 c. olive oil
- 3 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. gluten free worcestershire sauce
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground pepper
- whisk all the marinade ingredients together in a glass dish
- submerge meat in marinade and let set for 8-12 hours in the refrigerator
- grill on high heat until medium (or desired doneness)
- let meat rest for 15 minute before cutting into thin slices
- serve over sautéed yellow peppers and onions
2.2.6
shared on: slightly indulgent tuesdays, allergy free wednesdays & real food wednesdays
May 7, 2012
i remember when i used to see people drinking green smoothies or juices and the thought of “drinking” a vegetable sounded horrible to me. trust me, i have come a long way….yesterday, i drank a huge glass of cabbage apple juice (that would have never happened a few years ago). ever since we invested in a vita-mix
and an omega juicer
, both green juices and smoothies have become a staple in our household. i don’t follow specific recipes necessarily and a lot of times i am kinda “cleaning out the fridge”, but i thought i would share a recipe for one of our favorites. this peach banana spinach smoothie is great for people that are just starting out with green smoothies, since it does have a lot of fruit in it to cover the spinach.
this picture of the full vita-mix was when i was making a batch for 4 people….that is about half of the amount of spinach i typically use, but i had to blend it down before adding more. we also have the ease of using our canned peaches. every year we can a ton of jars of peaches with my husband’s family, which is wonderful since i always have them on hand.
| our favorite green smoothie {peach banana spinach smoothie} |
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Recipe Type: drink
Author: the sprouted life
- 1 banana
- 2 peaches (de-pitted)
- splash of fresh squeezed orange juice
- 2 large handfuls of spinach
- {optional} 1/2 cup of yogurt or almond milk
- throw everything into a high powered blender (we prefer our vita-mix)
- blend until smooth.
- enjoy!
2.2.6
shared on: monday mania
May 2, 2012
one of our goals as a family for 2012 is to eat fish twice a week. we are actually doing a better job at it than i had expected and one reason is that we have been buying the trader joe’s wild caught tuna. it is frozen, it is very cost effective & not too fishy. this was the first time i had tried this style of marinade and i was very happy with the final results. i haven’t worked much with tuna and marinades, so i read about 100 recipes online and then just merged ingredients by what i had on hand. super easy prep, 30 minutes in the marinade and then a few minutes on each side on the grill and bam, dinner is done.
i served the tuna with green beans topped with bacon and the side carrot salad from one of my favorite bloggers {the nourishing gourmet} cookbooks. the cookbook is called {fresh: nourishing salads for all seasons
} and is full of fantastic salad recipes. it was my first time making the carrot side salad and it was wonderful! check out her cookbook!
an added bonus – this entire meal for our family of 4 cost less than $12!
| citrus marinated tuna steaks – {gluten-free} |
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Author: the sprouted life
fresh, crisp citrus tuna
- 1 lb. wild caught tuna steaks
- juice of one orange
- juice of one lemon
- 1/4 c. gluten free tamari (soy sauce)
- 3 Tbps olive oil
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
- in a glass bowl, juice orange & lemon
- whisk in remaining ingredients
- submerge tuna and let marinate for 30-45 minutes
- remove tuna from marinade and place on a hot grill (high heat) for a few minutes on each side (or until desired doneness)
2.2.6
this post was shared on: simple lives thursday & pennywise platter
May 1, 2012
a few months ago i was making one of those “mad dash” shopping trips at whole foods around lunch time. i have learned that i should never, ever shop when i am hungry. i have zero self control. anyway, i managed to get out of the store without grabbing a lot of extras except for a bottle of cranberry chia seed lemonade. it looked interesting & bonus, it was on sale. i loved it. the texture is a little odd the first time you drink it, but other than that you never notice the chia seeds
. our family is already a lover of fresh squeezed lemonade, so why not add more fiber & omega fats? we always have fresh lemons in our house (i buy 10 lbs of organic lemons every month in my azure standard order) and those only last us about 2-3 weeks. so if you are looking for a refreshing summer drink, definitely try some chia seed lemonade. we typically just make ours by the glass & raspberries are not necessary…the plain lemon is wonderful also.
| raspberry chia seed lemonade |
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Recipe Type: drink
Author: the sprouted life
a quick refreshing summer drink, packed full of nutrients
- 2 organic lemons
- handful of raspberries (or any desired fruit)
- 3 Tbps. chia seeds
- 16 ounces of water
- splash of maple syrup (per desired sweetness)
- use a citrus juicer or hand squeeze the lemons
- juice the raspberries or crush up with a mortar.
- mix lemons, juiced raspberries & 16 ounces of water
- add a splash of maple syrup and stir
- taste to check sweetness, add more maple syrup if needed
- add in chia seeds and stir throughly
- let set for about 5 minutes before drinking (chia seeds need to hydrate)
we like our lemonade tart, so i use just a splash of maple syrup, but you can mix it to desired sweetness. *maple syrup will settle on bottom, so make sure to stir it in well.
2.2.6
the sprouted life’s favorite products & appliances used in this recipe:
this post was shared on: real food wednesdays, allergy-free wednesdays & simple lives thursday
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