Monthly Archives: September 2024

Gluten-Free Chocolate Tahini Truffle Cups You’ll Love

**Chocolate Tahini Truffle Cups in Hedgehog Dish**

When September comes rolling around, I often find myself craving rich, indulgent treats, especially sweets that remind me of decadent chocolate truffles. I like to think I manage to behave pretty well around sweets. A big part of that self-control comes from my experience with food sensitivities—I’ve learned to be mindful, or else I pay the price later with feeling less than my best. After eliminating the troublesome culprits and getting serious about relearning what works for my body, I began healing my leaky gut. Through lab and genetic testing, I discovered my gluten intolerance. Since then, I’ve been able to reintroduce nearly all food groups—except for gluten. We constantly hear—and deep down, we all know—that too much sugar isn’t doing us any favors. But complete deprivation? That’s not an option for me. These two-bite chocolate cups are the perfect solution when those sweet, chocolatey cravings hit—they satisfy my sweet tooth without overindulging.

Keep these delicious, creamy, nutty tasting, melt in your mouth chocolate cups in your freezer. Enjoy Life chocolate chips are my go to since they are so allergen friendly and excellent quality.

Can we talk cute woodland creatures for a minute? Isn’t this the cutest hedgehog dish? I am obsessed with cute hedgehogs and other woodland creature home decor. It’s so cozy, and bringing the nature theme indoors is so relaxing. These hedgehog dishes are so playful. I love their delicate little faces. I was gifted a set of four of these nesting hedgehogs. I love using them for company!

Chocolate Tahini Truffle Cups

1/2 Cup of Tahini (I used this kind)

1 Cup of Chocolate Chips (you can use dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet)

You will need a mini muffin cup pan and approximately 20 mini muffin cup paper liners.

This recipe is Super Easy and much better for you than a store bought nut butter cup! In a double broiler, melt the Tahini and Chocolate Chips together, whisking until all the chocolate is melted. Using a teaspoon cookie scoop or spoons, evenly fill the muffin cup liners about two thirds full. Place the pan in your freezer. These will be solid in about 30 minutes. After they are firm, you can store your Chocolate Tahini Truffle Cups in an airtight container in the freezer. These yummy cups are a great little pick me up! Speaking of pick me ups, self care is huge for well being. When we get busy, run down or overloaded, it can be a recipe for disaster….(pun intended).

Many of you remember Perfectly Posh! Well, this pampering company is back in a BIG way! I couldn’t be happier to have all their natural based, quality bath, body and skincare products back in my life! It’s like a dream come true for many who these products were their go to favorites. They were a big part in reminding me to slow down and take time for self care. They have the best quality products at really good price points. I have a link to them at the top bar of my homepage. They don’t include nasty additives and ingredients, just good clean fun, and you can find a lot of the products rated in EWG Skin Deep! I am a Posh Advocate and am sharing my love of helping people through all areas of well being, in addition to healthy recipes. Perfectly Posh is the absolute BEST pampering company that has amazing products for self care and pampering! We can’t be there for others until we are there for ourselves first. Self Care is not a luxury, not a nice to have. It’s necessary. Self care is an essential daily practice that reminds us that we are alive and that we matter. Every person matters and deserves self care. It’s true you can’t pour from an empty cup, and it’s not just for girly girls. If you shower, Posh is for you! This includes the guys in your life.

**Perfectly Posh Because You Deserve Self Care! We All Deserve to be Pampered.**

You can find all their products here. I also have started a sample of the month club for free. Each month I send you a fun sample! But, you need to opt in by filling out this form for me.

Have a wonderful day! I hope you make and enjoy this new recipe! I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Sam

Easy Compounded Fresh Basil Garlic Butter

Basil is an amazing herb. It is like sunshine in a plant, the flavor of it is beautiful and mild enough to eat the leaves tossed in a salad. It is my favorite fresh herb. I have a very large plant that keeps giving and giving, and it is more difficult to find after summer in large bunches. You can’t do a whole lot with a little plastic container that you find at the grocery store. I start craving fresh basil mid-winter after the crunchy autumn maple and oak leaves are covered by white snow, and my fresh basil has long been killed by frost. Up here in Northern Michigan that is about January.

I like to go to my local food coop to find large bunches when it’s too cold to grow it outdoors myself so I can make and freeze pesto. I also have grown it indoors in the wintertime with an Aerogarden Hydroponic System that is tabletop sized. This year, I have been making a compound butter with my fresh basil and freezing it into tablespoon sized cubes to keep the fresh basil flavors going in my kitchen long after Summer is gone.

Here is my easy and incredibly delicious recipe to add pops of flavor to vegetables, proteins like steak, eggs, and meatballs, pasta, and breads. I like to use this butter 50/50 with a drizzle of olive oil and a pat of this compounded butter over steamed vegetables. Try it with steamed Brussels sprouts! It’s delicious. For even more salty savory flavor, grate some fresh Parmesan over them too. Top a steak cooked on a Blackstone grill with this butter for a restaurant quality T-Bone or New York Strip. A cast iron pan stove top to oven works well also. I also like to use it for spiralized zoodles, and add it to halved baked squash fresh from the oven with a drizzle of honey. It’s excellent on beets, broccoli, carrots and potatoes. Here is my recipe:

Easy Compounded Fresh Basil Garlic Butter

2 Cups of Fresh Basil Leaves

1 Pound of high fat butter like Plugra or Kerrygold (cubed) You can use salted or unsalted.

2 Tablespoons of Garlic Infused Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon of Salt

In a food processor, add the fresh basil leaves and pulse until they are finely chopped. When the basil has been finely chopped, add in the remaining ingredients, and pulse in your food processor until it is blended and incorporated. You will have to stop the processor and scrape down the sides a couple of times. Lay out a parchment lined baking sheet and scrape your compounded basil garlic butter onto the sheet. Using an offset spatula, form the butter into a square block, and place it in the freezer overnight. The next day lay the frozen butter onto a cutting board and cut into 32 squares. Place your butter pats into a zipped freezer bag or sealed container, and keep them in the freezer. Use as needed!

**Basil Garlic Compounded Butter on Gluten Free Bread Ready to Broil**

Let me know how you like to use this butter. I’d also love to hear what your favorite fresh herb is and how you use it.

Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce: A Versatile and Delicious Recipe

Hello! Can you believe how fast Summer went by? We still have plenty of gorgeous weather coming our way in September, and my tomato plants are producing like they are on steroids. I made the most delicious spaghetti sauce with them, and I wanted to share the recipe, because it is incredibly delicious, and a great way to take advantage of all the benefits tomatoes offer and use the bounty of fresh tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes are delicious, but when you are growing them, they are quite a bit like zucchini in their abundance when they start ripening. I don’t like to waste food, and the tomatoes need a good recipe. Now I’m a girl who loves a yummy sauce not just for pasta and spaghetti, this sauce is so good over vegetables, lentils, polenta, zoodles, and more. I have two options for you too. You can make it meatless, or as a last step in the recipe, you can add ground pork, sausage, beef, chicken or turkey.

Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce: A Versatile and Delicious Recipe

In this recipe I removed the skins from the tomatoes, but left the seeds. I have a variety of tomatoes, and you use what you have. If you don’t grow your own garden, you can get fresh tomatoes at a local farmers market and produce stands. Trust me, it’s worth it.

I’d love to hear what fresh produce you have enjoyed most over the last few months in the comments. It has been a very busy season here, and the Summer was wonderful and fleeting. I tried to soak up as much outdoor activities and sunshine as possible. My son got married in August, and I had the pleasure of being in the company of my grandchildren quite a bit while they were off school. This included taking my granddaughter to swim lessons at the lake two days a week in the mornings. and taking all three of them boating and swimming. We’ve had lots of beach time and backyard BBQ’s, and I’m not quite ready to give it up! I will also be sharing this month another new recipe for a compounded butter using fresh basil that is a smart time saver that bumps up the zing factor. It is freezable into tablespoon pats! A delicious flavor boost!

So, enough gabbing, here is my recipe for Spaghetti Sauce using fresh tomatoes! But first here’s a photo of the sauce adding a combination of ground pork and beef. The hands on time for this sauce is about 45 minutes. It simmers for a few hours, and you just need to stir it a few times.

Spaghetti Sauce Using Fresh Tomatoes

Ingredients:

3 Pounds of Fresh Tomatoes

5 Cloves of Garlic (Peeled and Smashed) Low FodMap Option substitute 3 Tablespoons of Garlic Infused Olive Oil)

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil (if you are making Low FodMap, this would be part of the garlic oil above.)

8 Ounces of Tomato Paste (I like this organic brand.)

4 Cups of Water

1 Tablespoon of Dried Parsley

1 Tablespoon of Dried Oregano

1 Teaspoon of Dried Basil

1 Bay Leaf

2 Teaspoons of Salt of Choice (I used Himalayan Pink Salt here. I like that you get trace minerals in this salt)

Ground Pepper to taste.

To begin this recipe we need peeled tomatoes. It is very easy to do with a pot of boiling water. The skins slip right off after plunging them in the water for 3 minutes. Bring a large stock pot up to a rolling boil. Add a tablespoon of salt. Now, carefully add half of your tomatoes into the boiling water and set a timer for 3 minutes (Alexa is my best friend). After the time is up, remove the tomatoes to a bowl with a mesh strainer and cool slightly. Meanwhile, add the remaining tomatoes to the boiling pot and set a timer. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins using a knife when necessary for the little bits that stick and remove the core. Slice the tomatoes in half. There is not a lot of chopping here. They will deconstruct with the cooking….easy! After all the tomatoes are peeled and halved. Prepare a large saucepan (I love my Martha Stewart Red Dutch Oven. It is heavy and built for a long simmer.)

Add the olive oil to the Dutch oven, and turn the burner on medium high. Peel and smash your garlic cloves. Leave them whole. They will infuse the sauce as it simmers. Add them to the just hot oil and cook until they are fragrant, about one minute. Now, add in your prepared tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients, including the tomato paste and 4 cups of water. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn it to a low simmer and simmer uncovered for 2 to 3 1/2 hours. When the sauce is getting to be a nice thick consistency, it is ready. Taste it for salt and pepper. If you want to add ground meat, now is the time to saute your meat of choice and add it to the sauce. It is ready to serve over anything you want. It is so delicious! Enjoy. It’s a very good thing!