Honey Mustard Chicken Wings

 

Honey Mustard Chicken Wings

Honey Mustard Chicken Wings

If you are craving some tangy, succulent wings that are easy and everyone will love, this recipe is a great choice!  The sauce is quick to mix together.   They smelled so good when they were baking in the oven, I could hardly wait to dig into them!  They would be great the next day in a lunchbox, but we didn’t have any left, so next time, I will need a double batch.  They are baked and then finished off under the broiler to get them nice and crispy.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Chicken Wings

2 TBS. Garlic Infused Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Clear Honey

1 Tablespoon Garlic Free Yellow Mustard

1 Tablespoon Djon Mustard

1 teaspoon Ground Cumin

1 teaspoon Chipotle Chili Powder

1 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

1/8 teaspoon White Pepper

two dashes of Habanero Pepper Sauce

2 Tablespoons Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

Preheat oven 375 degrees.  Lay wings on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle with a little extra Himalayan Pink Salt and Black Pepper (pre-season your meat to build flavor) and bake ten minutes. Meanwhile whisk up the rest of the ingredients for the sauce.   After ten minutes of baking, remove wings and brush with some of the sauce…coat them well.  Bake another ten minutes, remove from the oven and turn the wings over and brush again and return to the oven ten more minutes. Repeat once more for ten minutes. Keep an eye on your wings.  (Depending on the size of them the time will vary.  My wings were medium sized and took 40 minutes.) Turn on broiler and broil the wings until they are at your desired crispiness, coating again and turning once.  This will only take a minute or two.  Serve!

Can't Resist Them - Honey Mustard Chicken Wngs

Can’t Resist Them – Honey Mustard Chicken Wings

 

What’s So Great About Himalayan Pink Salt?

Himalayan Pink Salt

Himalayan Pink Salt

You may have noticed I use Himalayan Pink Salt in my recipes.  I think it is the bomb, because it has 84 trace minerals in it, it is unprocessed, we need salt for our thyroid and many other body functions, and it makes things taste so good!  It also helps us stay hydrated, which may be why it is one of the reasons it claims to reduce the signs of aging, for that glow!  It also helps keep your bones strong and your circulation flowing.  There are other great salts out there as well, another favorite of mine if Redmond Real Salt, but I am partial to the Pink!

Kelly Bejelly of A Girl Worth Saving recently posted a very informative article, The Amazing Benefits of Himalayan Pink Salton her blog.  Just click on the above link to read it.  This salt is amazing!

SCD Paleo Strawberry Lemon Tea Cookies

These are bite size, or maybe two bites, depending on how large your bites are, shortbread tea cookies with freeze dried strawberries and lemon zest.  They have just the right amount of strawberry and lemon flavor, and they are egg free if you have difficulty with eggs.  They are really pretty when plated to serve.  You could include them as part of a luncheon, take them to a spring picnic, or serve them as an after school snack for your kids.

 

Strawberry Lemon Tea Cookies

Strawberry Lemon Tea Cookies

So, here we go! Let’s whip up a quick cookie!

Preheat Oven 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

Mix together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl including lemon zest.  Melt shortening then stir in the honey.  Gently but thoroughly incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in the strawberries.  Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake 8 – 9 minutes until the tops are just starting to show a touch of golden brown.  Cool a bit before popping them in so you don’t burn your tongue. 🙂

Scooped Strawberry Lemon Tea Cookies

Scooped Strawberry Lemon Tea Cookies Read to Bake

Makes approximately 16 cookies.

 

Thick and Rich Italian Tomato Sauce

 

Italian Tomato Sauce with Zucchini Noodles

Italian Tomato Sauce with Zucchini Noodles

This recipe for Italian Tomato Sauce is thick and rich with a lot of flavor.  You can make it in larger batches and freeze it too ,so you always have good sauce on hand.  You need a food processor or immersion blender for this recipe.

Thick and Rich Italian Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

2 – 25 oz. cartons or cans of Strained Tomatoes

1 orange bell pepper, diced (they are the sweetest)

1 Tablespoon Garlic Infused Olive Oil

1 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tsp. ground fennel

1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning (I used Spicely Organics certified gluten free)

1/2 Cup Dry Red Wine

Place garlic infused oil, diced orange bell pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of Himalayan Pink Salt in a dutch oven or large stock pot and cook on medium high heat until soft and starting to brown. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer on stove top with sauce partially covered with the lid for approximately 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The sauce will reduce, thicken up, and get infused with all the seasonings you added to it.   Using a food processor or immersion blender blend the sauce until smooth incorporating all the orange pepper so there are no chunks.  Serve!  The sky is the limit.  I served it over zucchini ribbon noodles.

Spring Strawberry Sugar Snap Pea Salad

I am so happy to see the Spring produce start to come in at my local organic market. This week, I picked up some beautiful organic sugar snap peas and strawberries that inspired me to make this bright and colorful salad.  I paired it with an orange vinaigrette, and it was a big hit!  I sliced the sugar snap peas into 1 inch pieces and lightly sauteed them in olive oil and Pink Himalayan salt before adding them to the salad, so they are still crunchy.

Strawberry Sugar Snap Pea Spring Salad

Spring Strawberry Sugar Snap Pea Salad

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 Head of Organic Iceburg Lettuce

5 pieces of Sugar Free or Honey Sweetened Bacon cooked until crisp

2 Cups Organic Sliced Strawberries

1 Cup Organic Sugar Snap Peas

1/2 Cup Marcona Almonds (chopped), or Slivered Almonds

1/4 Cup Sliced Scallions, Green Part Only (the white part is a FodMap, so if you are low FodMap Avoid White Part)

Orange Vinaigrette (See Recipe Below)

Saute the one inch sliced sugar snap peas in olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon of salt until tender, crisp, just 2 minutes.  Add other ingredients except dressing to a large serving bowl, top with sugar snap peas, then toss with Orange Vinaigrette, sprinkle with a little more Himalayan Pink Salt (Kelly Bejelly of A Girl Worth Saving just wrote an informative article on the benefits of this salt), pepper, and serve.  A delicious spring salad! This is one of my favorite salad dressing at the moment.  I love the bright orange flavor.

Orange Vinaigrette

Orange Vinaigrette

Orange Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Teaspoons Organic Orange Zest

2 Tablespoons Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

1 Tablespoon Clear Honey

1 Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper

2/3 Cup of Blood Orange Olive Oil or Unflavored Olive Oil (the blood orange gives it an extra orange boost.)

Whisk Together the ingredients and serve!

A Quick Snack That is Portable and Healthy – Sardines….Yep!

Some days are crazy and I don’t  have time to “fix” a snack, or my homemade snack stash has run out. It is challenging if you have a couple crazy busy days doing errands, appointments and just life in general.  This is when I grab a tin of sardines or mackerel, drain it, and put some mustard on it, sit down for a minute and refuel.  I love the benefits of sardines and mackerel…..Calcium, Omega 3’s, Protein. It is a power snack.  The last few days have been crazy.  My daughter is getting married, and I am wedding planning.  The other day we had dress fittings, piano lessons, pick ups, drop offs.   I had a minute to sit down outside in a comfy chair and eat a can of mackerel, listen to the birds, and look at the sky. It was just right.  I also find that eating a snack like that holds me over just fine until the next meal, and no sugar crashes. So, here’s to sardines!

A Quick Snack - Mackerel with Mustard

A Quick Snack – Mackerel with Mustard

Ming Loves To Hike!

I love Northern Michigan in the Summertime, and so does Ming.  There is a gorgeous hiking trail we love to take with Ming in the mornings.  It is about 45 minutes and you go through woods, fields, some wooden stairs to climb…. it is gorgeous and dog friendly, so Ming can run. She gets to greet a few doggy friends and happy, friendly people. It is funny, because when I take her for a walk around the neighborhood, she is only interested in walking one lap, and then she plops down and refuses to go any further. But, take her to the trail and she is like the Energizer Bunny!

Here is Ming after we make it to the top of the stairs and take a moment to enjoy the view.

Ming Loves Her Morning Hike!

Ming Loves Her Morning Hike!

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

I love really good sauces.  They add a lot of flavor and interest to food and can be used in so many ways.  It is hard to find commercial sauces that have clean ingredients.  Here is one loaded with nutrition.  It is actually fun to make.  It is good served with meat and drizzled on vegetables. It also makes a good dip for homemade Paleo/SCD crackers.  The red peppers makes the sauce sweet and loaded with Vitamin C,  and it has good fats from olive oil and walnuts or pine nuts.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

 

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Red Bell Peppers
  • 3 Tablespoons Toasted Walnuts or Pine Nuts
  • 3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon 18 year old Balsamic (SCD Legal if Aged 18 years)  or 2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

Roasted Peppers: Cut the peppers in half, remove seeds and sprinkle with Himalayan Pink Sea Salt. Place cut side down on parchment lined cookie sheet and roast 15 – 20 minutes or until they start to blacken.  Make sure they blacken so the skins peel off easily and you get the roasted flavor. Cool the peppers for a few minutes, then carefully remove outer skin.  Meanwhile toast your walnuts or pine nuts over medium  heat in a dry saucepan on the stove top. It should take 2-3 minutes. Pine nuts toast faster so keep an eye on them.  If you are eating SCD make sure your balsamic is 18 year old (so there is no residual sugar) or use red wine vinegar.

Add skinless peppers to a food processor with the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.  That’s it!  Serve it warm over grilled chicken, fish, vegetables, lamb.  Use your imagination!  Below I put some leftover leg of lamb on a scallion carrot pancake and drizzled it over the top for an afternoon snack.  This keeps in the refrigerator for a week.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce Drizzled over Lamb and Scallion Pancake

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce Drizzled over Lamb and Scallion Pancake

Honeyed Vanilla Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

The weather is getting warmer, and I am craving ice cream.  Yummy, missing nothing ice cream.  This recipe is dairy free, SCD, Low FodMap and Paleo.  It is really pretty to look at,  and the swirls of raspberry add just the right amount of flavor burst in your mouth.

Cold & Creamy Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream!

Cold & Creamy Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream!

The recipe uses pastured egg yolks for a custardy creaminess and nutrition.  Yolks have fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K2) and those important Omega 3’s.  It is churned in an ice cream maker.  If you happen to have any left over, you can freeze it and let is set on the counter for 5 or 10 minutes until it softens enough to scoop.  

There are a few steps, but it is worth it, and you can do it ahead!  So, if you are having company,  you can refrigerate the mix up to 24 hours, then just before you set down to dinner, put it in your ice cream freezer.  It is done in 30 minutes while you eat your main course.

Ingredients:

——————————————————-

Swirl:

  • 10 oz. frozen Raspberries
  • 1 Tablespoon Clear Honey

Mix Egg Yolks and 6 Tablespoons Clear Honey in a stand mixer or use a hand mixer.  Beat until thick and light.  Scald the coconut milk in a saucepan over medium heat.  Then, slowly pour hot coconut milk into egg mixture while beating on low.  Place the mixture over a hot water bath (double broiler) and heat stirring constantly until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Stir in Vanilla Extract. Chill until cool and up to 24 hours.

To Make Raspberry Swirl: Heat the frozen raspberries with the honey until they thaw and simmer.  Press the mixture through a mesh strainer to extract the seeds.  Refrigerate this separately.

When ready to make the ice cream.  Freeze the vanilla ice cream in an ice cream freezer.  After the vanilla is finished, swirl in the raspberry sauce, but do not mix completely, leave it swirled.

Makes: 4 generous or 6 moderate servings

Honeyed Vanilla Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream - I Dare You To Take Only One Bite!

Honeyed Vanilla Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream – I Dare You To Take Only One Bite!

 

 

 

Ming Loves Good Food and Naps

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I have always loved cooking since I was around ten years old.  Cookbooks are better than novels to me, so it is natural that a discerning pug like Ming would share her best friend’s enthusiasm for them too.  Since I have become a nutrient seeker, I get inspiration from some of my older cookbooks and favorite dishes.  I make them rockin’ healthy to get the most energy, vitality and just feeling great every time I put something in my body.   So, Ming and I were having a very relaxing cookbook session.  When I was ready to get up and put some of the inspiration into action in the kitchen, Ming was ready for a long nap on my cookbook.  She likes to be where the action is, even if she is inactive!

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