Monthly Archives: July 2018

Toasted Coconut and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Toasted Coconut and Chocolate Ice Cream.jpg

I have this slight obsession with toasted coconut ice cream with chocolate bits. There is this extraordinary ice cream shop where we vacation every Summer, and they have the Best ice cream……..Toasted Coconut is my favorite. It’s been around for years, but since becoming dairy intolerant, I haven’t chosen to partake. It is their #2 best seller. Of course, the ice cream has dairy (It is gluten free) which totally does not agree with me, and I don’t want to spend my vacay time with a belly ache and bloating because I couldn’t resist.

Toasted Coconut and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

So, I was thinking “Dang Girl, aren’t you a food blogger and recipe developer?” Me to self, “Well, Ya”…… So, I made my own, getting as close as possible. This is a recipe to replicate my favorite Vacay Ice Cream without the refined sugar and dairy. It’s delicious, it’s got some crunch, and a whole lot of yum factor!

Toasted Coconut and Dark Chocolate Dairy Free Ice Cream Gluten Free

Toasted Coconut and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

1 Cup of Dang Coconut Chips (this kind, already toasted for you)

1/3 Cup of Dark Chocolate Chips (I used Enjoy Life)

1 Can of Full Fat Coconut Milk, chilled

1/4 Cup of Pure Honey (local tastes best)

1/4 Cup of Coconut Butter, Softened

1 Teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

1 Tablespoon of White Rum (I used Bacardi it’s Gluten Free)

1 Tablespoon of Grass Fed Collagen

1/8 teaspoon of Sea Salt

Directions:

In a mini food processor, process your coconut chips until they are fine in texture. Lay them out in a single layer on a parchment lined sheet. In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips for 30 seconds at a time until smooth and creamy. Stir them with a fork in between 30 second increments until they are completely melted and creamy. Drizzle the melted chips over the coconut. Toss the coconut and chocolate with forks on the sheet to coat about 75 percent of the coconut. Let sit for a couple hours at room temperature until it has solidifying and can be broken into bits with your hands.

chocolate coconut

Once your coconut chocolate bits are ready, you can make your ice cream.

In a blender, blend the coconut milk, honey, coconut butter, vanilla, collagen, salt and white rum. The rum makes the ice cream softer. Add it to an electric ice cream maker and churn. At the end of churning time, add the coconut chocolate bits. This will be the last few minutes. Let the machine incorporate the chocolate coconut bits.

Serve!

Toasted Coconut and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream that is Dairy Free Crunchy Chocolatey Deliciousness!

Back to School Survivial

teacher survivial

It’s coming! If you don’t want to think about back to school, you can just skip this……but if you want to get prepared! Ha, this is for teachers, parents and students!!! I don’t know about you, but my kids work hard all school year. My daughter Jessica has been working her behind off this Summer at her job, but loving every minute and making new connections. Imagine how pleased I was on her evening off when she came over to tell me…..”I hope you don’t mind Mom, but I raided your Perfectly Posh Face Masks and used a couple for a mini facial. I really needed it!” She is learning early how to take good care of her face for beautiful skin for a lifetime! Happy Mama here!!!
All the products in this photo are especially nice for Back to School.

You can shop for your own bundle and find these natural products here:

https://sandrashields.po.sh

I sincerely appreciate your support in bringing you safer beauty and skincare products!

Sandra

Italian Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin and Vegetables

Italian Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin Dinner.JPG Sheet pan meals are a quick and easy way to get a full meal on the table. This Italian dish has lean pork tenderloins, butternut squash and red cabbage! The tenderloins are tender and juicy, and the secret ingredient that’s not so secret is truffle salt! If you have never used it before, it is a fantastic way to add umami. I am obsessed with it lately! Also, the combination of Three salts……a pink, a smoked, and a truffle salt, all used judiciously, makes this pork crusty and oh so good!

plated pork dinner

You can serve this as a meal in itself! It is Plenty! But, you can also bump it up real fast by adding some cooked leafy greens on the side like the Swiss Chard shown above and some Kelp Noodles! Your choice! Keep going! The recipe is next!

Italian Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin and Vegetables

Italian Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin and Vegetables

Ingredients:

2 Pork Tenderloins

1 Small Red Cabbage (shredded by hand with a knife)

1 Medium Butternut Squash (peeled, seeded and cubed)

4 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, divided

1/2 Teaspoon of Pink Salt, divided

1 Teaspoon of Dried Marjoram

1 Teaspoon of Dried Thyme

1 Teaspoon of Dried Parsley

1 Teaspoon of Dried Oregano

1/2 Teaspoon of Truffle Salt (I use this brand)

1/2 Teaspoon of Smoked Salt (here)

1/4 Teaspoon of Pink Salt

1/2 Teaspoon of Onion Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400° degrees F. On a Large Sheet Pan, toss the shredded cabbage and cubed butternut squash with two tablespoons of good olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon of pink salt.

Place the vegetables in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the remaining herbs, spices and salts, including the second 1/4 teaspoon of the pink salt. Make sure to crush your smoked salt before blending in the other spices, because it is a little chunkier salt. Coat the pork tenderloins with the seasoning you just prepared. In a non-stick skillet, add 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil. Sautee the pork tenderloins over medium high heat until browned on both sides. Set aside until the twenty minutes have passed for the vegetables in the oven.

Now, add the browned pork tenderloins to the top of the vegetables that have been roasting. Roast an additional twenty minutes, or just until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 145°F. Remove the sheet pan from the oven, and let the tenderloins set for ten minutes before slicing.

Serve!

Best Cranberry Chicken Salad – My All Time Favorite Chicken Salad

Best Chicken Salad Paleo Gluten Free

This is my family’s favorite chicken salad recipe. It has two kinds of onions in it, dried cranberries, crunchy celery, high quality mayonnaise and a little white pepper! It is requested, especially in the Summer, when I have guests coming to stay.

Best Chicken Salad So Yummy

The Wild Sweet Peas are profuse this year Up North! I couldn’t resist including some in this post! They are carpeting the fields and roadsides this time of year and are extra gorgeous this Summer!!!

Sweet Peas

Cranberry Chicken Salad

6 Boneless Chicken Breasts

1 Cup of Finely Diced Celery

1/2 Cup of Dried Cranberries (I use apple juice sweetened like these)

1/2 Cup of Diced Red Onion

1/2 Cup of Sliced Scallions

Sea Salt to Taste

1/4 Teaspoon of White Pepper

1 1/2 Cups of High Quality Mayonnaise (I used Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Mayo here)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400° degrees F. Lay the chicken breasts on a rimmed baking sheet, and brush them with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake the breasts in your oven for 30 minutes or until they just reach 165° degrees F. You don’t want dry breasts! Set aside to cool.

Chop and prep the celery, onions and scallions. When the chicken is cool, chop it into nice bite sized pieces on the smaller side.

Best Chicken Salad Recipe

This is a large recipe perfect for a potluck or picnic! It also keeps well in the refrigerator for three days.

12 Servings.

Best Cranberry Chicken Salad Healthy and Delish

Banana Crunch Cookies

Banana Crunch Cookies - Grain Free

Make these crunchy cookies reminiscent of banana cream pie and pecan sandies.

They have a wonderful caramel banana flavor and the texture of a pecan sandie.

Banana Crunch Cookies Grain Free AIP Paleo

Using banana chips is they key to the crunch! I crushed the banana chips to resemble chopped nuts, and stirred them into the dough. Then I sprinkled some extra crushed banana chips on top.

You can use honey or maple syrup in this recipe.

plate of banana crunch cookies - AIP Paleo

Banana Crunch Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup of Banana Chips (I use these. The ingredients are just bananas and coconut oil)

1/2 Cup of Coconut Flour

1/4 Cup of Avocado Oil

3 Tablespoons of Coconut Butter (softened)

2 Tablespoons of Coconut Sugar

2 Tablespoons of Honey or Maple Syrup

1 Tablespoon of Grass Fed Gelatin (I used this kind)

1/4 Teaspoon of Vanilla Powder (Vanilla Extract if not strict AIP)

1/4 Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon of Ground Mace

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Cream of Tartar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350° degrees F.

Lay out a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Crush the banana chips using a small food processor (or you can put them in a ziplock back and pound them with a rolling pin until they resemble small chopped nuts).

In a medium mixing bowl, add the avocado oil. Then, sprinkle the oil with the grass fed gelatin, and beat with an electric hand-held mixer. Add the coconut sugar and honey, beat. Soften the coconut butter in the microwave for a few seconds, then add it to the bowl and beat until creamy and incorporated. Add the coconut flour, vanilla powder, cinnamon, mace, sea salt, baking soda and cream of tartar and mix until combined. Add 3 tablespoons of crushed banana chips to the cookie dough and mix. Reserve the remaining crushed banana for the tops. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop up the dough, then pack it firmly into the scoop before releasing it onto the prepared cookie sheet. You will have 9 cookies. Flatten each cookie with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle the remaining crushed banana chips evenly onto each cookie. Bake in your preheated oven for 9 minutes.

Cool completely on the cookie sheet.

Makes 9

Banana Crunch Cookies - Nut Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, AIP Paleo

Beef Liver Pate

Is liver my favorite? No. But the benefits of grass fed liver cannot be ignored, and my favorite way to eat it is a pate, which is quite delicious. Those who try it unknowingly, for instance on a platter of cheese, crackers and dips, have been known to say “Mmmm! What is this?” Yes, it’s perfectly true!

I remember a similar experience with squash substituted for pumpkin in pie. When I was a child, we would play with our neighbors outdoors almost daily all Summer long. One of my friends swore up and down that he thought squash was disgusting and never to be touched with a ten foot pole! Until one day he tried My Mother’s “pumpkin” pie which she had made with winter squash from our garden. He said “Man, this is the best pumpkin pie I have ever had!” I couldn’t wait to tell him, with relish, that it was squash! Beef liver is a nutritional powerhouse packed with vitamins. It is a powerful superfood and has been included in traditional diets for thousands of years. Liver is the best source of B12. It is also high in active Vitamin A (retinol) that our bodies don’t have to convert like we do plant based Vitamin A (carotenoids). Liver is also high in Iron, B6, Folate, Biotin, and small amounts of copper, chromium and selenium.

I have flavored this pate with herbs, spices and aged balsamic. It is anything but plain. I used US Wellness Meats Grass Fed Beef Liver in this recipe. You can also find good grass fed beef liver locally at Farm Markets or from your local Farmer.

Beef Liver Pate

Beef Liver Pate

Ingredients: 1 lb. of Grass Fed Beef Liver, sliced

2 Cups of Chopped Red Onion

1/4 Cup of Aged Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon of Dried Rosemary

1 Tablespoon of Dried Marjoram

1 Tablespoon of Dried Thyme

1 Tablespoon of Turmeric Powder

1 Tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/2 Teaspoon of Dried Lemon Peel

Directions: In 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil, Sautee the Beef Liver sprinkled with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt over medium high heat. Cook on one side for five minutes, then flip the liver and cook on the other side until it is cooked through.

Remove the liver from the pan and set aside. Add the other tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and the chopped red onion. Cook until tender. Sprinkle the rosemary, marjoram, thyme, garlic powder, turmeric, and lemon peel over the onions. Then, cook, stirring until the herbs, spices and onions are fragrant. Add the apple cider vinegar to the pan and deglaze, scraping all the brown bits off the bottom. Add the 1/4 cup of aged balsamic and stir and cook for 30 seconds.

In a food processor, add the cooked liver and the onion mixture. Process until you have a smooth spread, being sure to scrape down the sides a few times. Put your pate in a pretty serving dish, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Before serving, add a pretty spring of fresh herbs to the top like parsley or basil.

Nutrient Dense Superfood, Beef Liver Pate