Jan 30, 2015
2015 for me, is all about simplifying. So far in January, I have already downsized every closet in our upstairs, organized my pantry and am starting to work on clearing every unused item out of our basement. I have also, consolidated nutritional supplements and am working hard to actually do a meal plan each week, just to make my life simpler, grocery shopping easier and to waste less. Meals are also becoming more one pot style and I am loving the reduced cleanup.
This recipe is one that we have made regularly for the past few years. It is quick, simple and can feed a lot of people and we will often make this when we vacation with friends. I am not actually sure where the origin of the recipe began at. I learned it from my sister, but it’s one of those recipes, that you can be fairly flexible with and add and omit items easily.
Here is our favorite version of Pork Lettuce Wraps. You can easily substitute, gound beef, turkey or chicken, but ground pork was on sale the other day at our local Earth Fare and we like these best with pork.
Pork Lettuce Wraps – a Gluten Free, Quick Dinner
Author: The Sprouted Life
- 2 lbs of ground pork
- 2 bags of broccoli slaw (or 4- 6 cups of shredded broccoli, carrots and red cabbage)
- 16 oz portabella mushrooms
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 2-3 Tbsp. Gluten free soy sauce (we use San-Jay Organic Tamari)
- Pepper to taste
- 2 cups white basmati rice + water or bone broth
- Head of Romaine Lettuce
- Make 2 cups of dried rice in a rice cooker with bone broth or water (can be made on the stove).
- Wash and tear off romaine lettuce leaves and set aside.
- Brown ground pork with fresh garlic cloves in large skillet.
- Add in sliced portabella mushrooms and reduce down for 3-4 minutes over medium heat.
- Add in broccoli slaw and cook for an additional 5 minutes, until vegetables are starting to wilt, but remain slightly crunchy.
- Stir soy sauce in and cook down for a few more minutes. I always start with about 2 Tablespoons and slowly add more to taste (this really is determined by how salty you want the dish).
- Serve meat mixture on top romaine lettuce and white rice.
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Dec 29, 2014
I get asked a lot how we handle the holidays being gluten-free. Let’s face it, most holiday memories include big fat crescent rolls, sugar cookies, casseroles, pies and many more gluten filled items.
My new motto: simplicity.
I simply do not try to recreate all those items…I find that all that does is stress me out, leaves me in carb and sugar shock and a lot of the items will never compare to their gluten- filled counter parts. So instead, my husband and I came up with a simple holiday menu that included items that we could prep the night before.
I thought I would share what our Christmas day menu looked like. It was fresh and not over-loaded with carbs, but yet included items like a paleo date-pecan cinnamon roll that my three boys absolutely loved. We ate a late breakfast and an early dinner, cutting our meals down to two instead of three. And I ran out Christmas Eve afternoon to our local Earth Fare to get any remaining fresh ingredient. We has ordered their holiday deal that featured a beautiful cut of fresh standing rib roast, so we had to run in already to pick that up.
Breakfast was fully prepped on Christmas Eve and included a breakfast casserole and paleo cinnamon rolls.
Potato-Egg Breakfast Casserole:
The breakfast casserole was made with shredded potatoes, instead of bread. I first boiled the potatoes, chilled them and ran them through my food processor with the shredder blade. I layered the potatoes on the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan and topped with 12 whisked eggs, 1 cup of almond milk, 2 cups of shredded cheese, bacon pieces and chopped green onions. All I had to do Christmas morning was pop it into the oven at 350 for about 45-50 minutes.
this is what my youngest son, thought of the cinnamon rolls!
Paleo Date-Pecan Cinnamon Rolls:
*Recipe below.
We also made these the night before and had them on a baking sheet in the fridge ready to pop into the oven.
Dinner Menu:
- Standing Rib Roast
- Grilled Zucchini and Asparagus
- Roasted potato wedges with Italian herbs
- Sparkling cider just for fun
We have made it a tradition to buy a nice cut of meat; either steaks or prime rib and either grill veggies or roast them (depending on Indiana weather). It makes dinner, simple, yet full of flavor.
What a “gluten-free” holiday looks like in our house + paleo date-pecan cinnamon rolls
Recipe Type: Dessert/Pastry
Author: The Sprouted Life
Serves: 12
- Dough:
- 2 cups of almond flour
- ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. coconut flour
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 2 Tbsp. honey or maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- pinch of sea salt
- Filling:
- 6-8 large Dates, Soaked in hot water for 30 minutes
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
- Soak your dates in hot water for about 30 minutes.
- Add hydrated dates a few teaspoons of date water and cinnamon to a mini food processor and puree. Set aside.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients (egg, coconut oil & vanilla) in a medium bowl.
- Add the combined dry ingredients (almond flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt) and stir well to combine.
- Roll out the dough on parchment paper and create a long rectangle.
- Spread the date and cinnamon mixture evenly across the rolled out dough and sprinkle with finely chopped pecan pieces.
- Using the parchment paper to help, carefully roll up the dough into a log.
- Using a sharp knife cut 1-inch thick rolls.
- Preheat oven to 325
- Place sliced cinnamon rolls on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
- Bake for about 15-18 minutes until begin to lightly brown*
- Remove from oven and drizzle with glaze and more finely chopped pecans. (For the gaze, I just whisked a little almond milk with coconut sugar).
- Best served warm!
- *Our rolls took a little longer to bake, because I refrigerated them over-night and put them into the oven still cold.
- **These will not rise and puff up like a traditional cinnamon roll.
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Nov 30, 2014
I have never really been someone who runs out and buys cranberries for Thanksgiving. I don’t mind them, but I don’t have many recipes that I typically use them in. The last few weeks, every time I have walked into our local Earth Fare, I am greeted by a big tub of “scoop your own” cranberries. They are bright, fresh and just look cheerful, so I bought a bag (which ended up being a lot), because my almost 4-year old helped scoop them.
I was then left trying to find creative uses for fresh cranberries, so I decided to test out a smoothie. The only sweetener in it, is from the bananas and the orange juice, so it makes a crisp tart tasting smoothie that became a family hit and is perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday. Seriously, my 17 month old, downed his smoothie faster than any smoothie I have ever made for him.
I used full fat coconut milk (Native Forest is our favorite) and added chia seeds to give it a boost of fats and make it super filling. I love the addition of vanilla to this smoothie, as it give the cranberries and orange an extra pop. Definitely will become a regular in our favorite smoothie recipes!
Holiday Smoothie – Cranberry Vanilla Orange Chia
Author: The Sprouted Life
- 1 heaping cup of fresh cranberries (frozen work also)
- 1 cup of full fat coconut milk
- 2 bananas
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1-2 tsp vanilla
- 2 T. chia seeds
- 1 cup of ice
- Throw all your ingredients in your high-powered blender and blend until smooth.
- If smoothie is to tart, you can always adjust by adding a little honey.
- Enjoy!
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Oct 29, 2014
One of my favorite things about fall baking/cooking is fresh pumpkin. I roast quite a few pumpkins each year and use some right away for baking and then freeze the rest to use throughout the winter. Yesterday, I roasted 3 sugar pumpkins and have yummy mason jars full of pumpkin puree just begging to be used. Our local Earthfare had sugar pumpkins on sale + I got three from one of our local apple orchards/pumpkin patches (tuttles). So tonight I set out to create a pumpkin scone (which quickly turned into drop scones because the batter was way to soft). One of the things I was attempting, was to create a grain free scone that wasn’t full of cups and cups of almond flour. Recipes I have used in the past have used 3-4 cups of almond flour and I have been trying to balance my families consumption of nuts. I also wanted to include more pumpkin then most recipes called for. While, I really liked the extra pumpkin, it definitely made the batter only scoopable.
The batter is combination of eggs, coconut flour, almond flour, tapioca starch, pumpkin and spices. I used a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and fresh ground ginger for my pumpkin spice flavor. Ginger is actually a spice that I tend to overlook. but I happened to have a big, fresh container sitting out on my counter. I had just stocked up on some bulk spices & herbs at Earthfare, the night before when I made my first batch of herbal cough syrup for my husband (I will share my experiences with those recipes later). I am glad I added the ginger because it gave a nice kick to the spice combination.
For the glaze on the pumpkin drop scones … I don’t really have a recipe to share. I honestly just started adding ingredients to a bowl and kept adjusting along the way. I used approximately 2 Tbsp of almond butter, 2 Tbsp of almond milk, 1 Tbsp of brown sugar, a little cinnamon and a little vanilla all mixed and just spooned on top while the pumpkin scones were warm.
This will definitely be a recipe that I will add into our fall rotation!
Pumpkin Drop Scones (gluten free, dairy free, grain free)
Recipe Type: dessert, baked goods
Author: the sprouted life
- 3/4 cup of fresh pumpkin puree
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 c. coconut sugar
- 2 T. coconut oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 c. almond flour
- 1/2 c. coconut flour (sifted)
- 1/2 c. tapioca starch
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2-3 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
- 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- pinch of sea salt
- Preheat your oven to 350 and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the pumpkin puree, eggs, coconut sugar, coconut oil and vanilla into a mixing bowl and cream together until well combined.
- In another bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients and slowly mix into the wet ingredients.
- Using a 1/3 of a cup scoop, scoop out batter and flatten a little on the baking sheet.
- Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes, until firm to the touch.
- Remove from oven and let cool a little before topping with your glaze of choice.
- Enjoy!
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Sep 28, 2014
It’s that time of year, where apples are abundant everywhere. They are the feature sale item at most grocery stores (our local Earth Fare has had multiple varieties on sale for $0.88/lb). I currently have a batch of apple butter cooking in the crock pot, am planning on canning apple sauce this weekend and spent a morning earlier this week at one of our favorite local apple orchards (tuttles orchard) for my middle sons field trip. My favorite apples to cook with are golden delicious.
One of my favorite desserts to make is apple crisp. Actually, I make all sorts of crisps…they are a quick and easy gluten free dessert and many times people will have no idea they are gluten free. I rarely make them the same (and typically just throw unmeasured ingredients together), but this version, happens to be one of our favorite combinations. It is a very simple combination of gluten free rolled oats (I use Bob Red Mills), ground pecans, tapioca starch, chia seeds, coconut oil, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. For people who are intimidated by baking a gluten free dessert, I always suggest trying a crisp first, because many combinations of ingredients will work. I use my nifty little apple corer/peeler only a few times a year (I just usually forget I have it), but my kids love helping slices the apples with it.
gluten free pecan oat apple crisp
Recipe Type: dessert
Author: the sprouted life
- 8-10 medium golden delicious apples (enough to make a thick layer in 13 x 9 pan)
- 2 cups gluten free rolled oats
- 1 cup pecan pieces
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted) or butter
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- 1 cup water
- 2 T. cinnamon (divided)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup cane sugar (divided)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp celtic sea salt
- Peel, core and chop your apples.
- Layer in bottom of a 13 x 9 pan.
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cane sugar and 1 T. of cinnamon on top of the apples and then pour the 1 cup of water and 1 tsp vanilla in.
- In another bowl mix together the oats, pecans, tapioca starch, chia seeds, remaining cinnamon, sea salt, brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup of cane sugar.
- Mix together well and then pour 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil over the top.
- Work together with you hands and little crumbles will start to form.
- Spread crumbles across the top of the apples.
- Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then reduce to 300 and bake for 45-60 minutes, until topping is lightly brown and apples are tender.
- *Hint – we like our topping ground a bit finer, so I run my oats and pecans through my vita-mix grain bin. (a food processor works well also).
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