Tag Archives: Gluten Free

Cherry Lemon Biscotti

Delicious Cherry Lemon Biscotti

Good Morning Everyone! I am so happy Summer is here! It is so relaxing having the kids out of school and having extended hours of daylight! We are spending time in Northern Michigan this Summer, and it is staying light until ten p.m. I love this time of year! I get so much fresh air because I am outdoors a lot more!

This is the Cherry Capital of the world, so what better time to make some Cherry Lemon Biscotti cookies to dunk in a cup of delicious coffee or tea?

Grain Free Cherry Lemon Biscotti Cookies

Here’s the recipe!

Cherry Lemon Biscotti

Preheat your oven to 350º degrees. Lay out a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

1 Tablespoon of Coconut Flour

Zest of 1 Lemon

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

2 Pastured Eggs

1/3 Cup Good Honey

1 Tablespoon of Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

1/3 Cup of Dried Tart Cherries

Directions:

Sift together your dry ingredients in a medium to large bowl. In a separate bowl with an electric hand-held mixer, blend your wet ingredients. (The cherries are last, so don’t add them yet). Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with your mixer until fully smooth and incorporated. With a spatula, fold in the cherries evenly. Mound the dough onto your prepared, parchment lined baking sheet. With wet hands, form the dough into a 1 1/2 inch high rectangle like this:

Biscotti Ready for first bake!

It looks fancy with the cookie cutter design on the top, but it disappeared during baking, so no need to do this! 🙂

Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes on the cookie sheet.

With a serrated bread knife slice the biscotti on a diagonal, starting at a short corner. Make the slices approximately an inch thick. If some fall apart or break, at this point you can pat them back together. Lay cut side down back on the cookie sheet. Bake for seven minutes on one side, then remove from the oven and flip them to the other cut side and bake 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Enjoy these sweet and tart lovelies!

Cherry Lemon Grain Free Biscotti

I couldn’t resist adding a picture of me with my daughters this Summer, and also a picture of my Ming Ming enjoying a Summer Evening! Blessing to you! Have fun!

My Two Youngest Daughters and I

Ming Ming enjoying Summer!

Greek Salad with Grilled Skewered Salmon

I just returned from a very relaxing time in South Palm Beach Florida. I was traveling with my husband, Doug, for his President’s Club business/pleasure trip, and we stayed at The Breakers Resort where I found it very easy to eat clean, healthy food much to my delight! We also went snorkeling and saw many colorful fish including Barracuda.

Greek Salad with Skewered Grilled Salmon

Greek Salad with Grilled Skewered Salmon

One of my favorite restaurants in the resort (they had ten to choose from) was The Ocean House, which was casual dining overlooking one of the pools and the ocean. It has a wrap around porch with seating on the porch in the shade.

The Ocean House Restaurant – Doug

The Nitrogen Infused Cold Brew Coffee was so creamy and refreshing it was hard to believe that it was just coffee, and the nitrogen imparts a creaminess. See the picture below. It was soooooo good! Wish they had it locally where I live. I could become totally addicted to the stuff. It is so mild and delightful!

Nitrogen Infused Cold Brew Coffee

However, the Greek Salad was so delicious, and you had the option of adding Skewered Salmon to the salad (my favorite) or chicken, steak or shrimp. The Salmon was simply grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper and was so tender and flaky. I wanted to recreate the recipe at home.

Throughout the resort, you could also get fresh pressed raw juices that had just a touch of honey in them and were made daily by the staff. My favorite was the green detox and the second runner up was fresh watermelon juice with lime and ginger. Here is a picture of the pineapple coconut water juice I had. I tried them all. 🙂

Fresh Pressed Pineapple Coconut Juice

We walked to beach every morning and saw the beautiful sunrise. There were other sunrise lovers on the beach and locals with their dogs. One dog in particular was hilarious. He was a hot dog dog, more properly called a dachshund, and he was digging for soft shell crabs and eating them. He had a hole dug as deep as he was with just his rear end sticking out. His owner told us he regularly did this and had a love of crab.

Sunrise at Palm Beach

Waiting for our Guide to go Snorkeling!

Here is my version of this delicious main course salad! Sadly, I cannot pass on the sun, sand and water to you along with it, but I would if possible!

Greek Salad with Grilled Skewered Salmon

Ingredients for Salad:

4 Cups of Leafy Lettuce

1/2 of a Red Bell Pepper, Diced

1/2 of an English Cucumber, Diced

1/4 Cup Finely Diced Red Onion

1/4 Cup Pitted Kalamata Olives

1/4 Cup Scallions, sliced thinly

Place all the ingredients for the salad in a medium bowl, and set out dinner plates.

Greek Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

1 Garlic Clove, minced or garlic pressed

1/2 Teaspoon of Dried Oregano

1/4 Teaspoon of Dried Parsley

1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Teaspoon of Black Pepper

1 Teaspoon of Djon Mustard

2 Tablespoons of White Wine Vinegar

1 Tablespoon of Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

1/2 Cup Good Olive Oil

Whisk it all together until emulsified, and set aside.

Grilled Salmon

2 Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon Filets

1/3 Cup Good Olive Oil, plus more for the grill pan

Generous amount of Sea Salt and Black Pepper

6 Bamboo Skewers.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350º degrees. Preheat your grill pan on the stove top on medium heat, dry, for five minutes. Slice each salmon filet into three strips. Brush generously all over with olive oil. Then season with salt and pepper. Place a generous additional amount of olive oil on your grill pan, brushing to coat it so the salmon will not stick. Thread the salmon on the skewers. Grill the salmon three minutes, basting with more of the olive oil, then turn for an additional three. Then place the grill pan in the oven and finish off the salmon for five minutes, or until the center has reached 145º degrees. This will happen quickly.

To assemble the salad. Toss the greens and other salad ingredients you prepared previously with a generous amount of Greek Vinaigrette. Divide the greens between two or three plates. Top with the hot salmon skewers!

The Breakers Palm Beach

Won Ton Shrimp and Pork Meatballs

After traveling in China a couple times about 14 years ago, I had a whole new appreciation for authentic Chinese cuisine, and when I returned home I searched for a cookbook that could help me recreate the flavors I had enjoyed while traveling in the beautiful country with such friendly and fascinating citizens. It was a magical time not only because we were adopting our two youngest daughters, but also because their cuisine was much, much different than the Chinese restaurants here in the states.

Won Ton Shrimp and Pork Meatballs

I found a book by Eileen Lin Fei Lo entitled The Chinese Kitchen. I consider her the Julia Child of Chinese Cuisine and Technique, and I started frequenting Chinese Markets back home and working my way through her cookbook, making delicious and authentic tasting dishes. It was a huge learning curve at first, and then I got better and better at it, and my family was thrilled. My little baby girls loved Congee and Steamed Egg Custards, and I was able to make them for them. Then I became gluten sensitive, and the book sat forlornly on the shelf collecting dust.

Won Ton Shrimp and Pork Meatballs

This week, I pulled it off a gluten free, wrapper-less, won ton that I think you will love regardless of your food preferences. I was craving those little won tons I used to eat, and I was determined to make a Paleo version of them. I was pretty gleeful after I mixed up the meatballs and let them refrigerate for a couple hours before forming them, because the meatballs were too soupy……… until I sprinkled in a couple teaspoons of gelatin at the very end and mixed it up again, then said a little prayer and popped them in the refrigerator.

When I took the mixture out of the refrigerator to form the balls, I could tell when I started rolling them that they were the perfect texture and were going to be silky on the tongue.

This meal is grain-free, so I made julienned carrots and zucchini sauteed in fat our your choice. I like olive oil, which is not traditional, but very healthy. My kids and hubby gobbled them up. The only sad part is there are no leftovers for lunch today. Next time I will make a double batch!

Won Ton Shrimp and Pork Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 Pound Pastured Ground Pork

1 1/2 Cups Cooked Baby Shrimp, finely diced

1 Tablespoon of Coconut Aminos (this is a fantastic soy substitute)

1 Tablespoon of Fish Sauce (I used Red Boat)

1 Teaspoon of Honey

1 Teaspoon of Toasted Sesame Oil

1 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/2 Teaspoon of Onion Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger

1/4 Teaspoon of White Pepper

2 Teaspoons of Grass Fed Gelatin (the kind that thickens like Vital Choice Green Label – see In My Pantry)

For Cooking:

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl with your hands, except the gelatin, until very thoroughly blended. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the mixture, and quickly incorporate thoroughly with your hands. Place in the refrigerator for at least two hours and up to 24.

To make the won ton. Preheat the oven to 350º degrees. Form the won ton into tablespoon sized balls. Place the oil in a large non-stick skillet, and melt over medium high heat. When melted, evenly distribute in the skillet, and add the won ton. Cook on one side until lightly browned, then turn them and cook a few more minutes. Then place the pan in the oven for ten minutes to cook through the center.

Serve.

Eat Your Nutrients!

Bistro Lemon Chicken Dinner Salad

If I go several days without a salad, I start having salad withdrawals. Salads are like a surprise grab bag, there is so much variety. I never get bored with them. If you find them boring, maybe you are eating the same old one every day. One of the best things about salads is they can be an eclectic blend of different ingredients that go well together. The possibilities are vast.

One of my favorite establishments to eat in is a bistro. Bistros have an innovative, electric kind of happy buzz about them. The food isn’t fussy, but it is creative and pretty, and the ones I’ve been to have several kinds of freshly made enticing salads to choose from and many healthy options.

Bistro Lemon Chicken Dinner Salad

Here’s a Bistro Lemon Chicken Dinner Salad recipe you can make at home.

Bistro Lemon Chicken Dinner Salad

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Chicken Breasts

8 Cups Mixed Baby Romaine Lettuce

1 Can Mandarin Oranges in Their Own Juice (I Used Native Forest Brand)

1/3 Cup of Raw Sliced Almonds (Omit for AIP)

1/4 Cup Fruit Sweetened Dried Cranberries

3 Scallions, sliced

For the Marinade:

Zest of 1 Lemon

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Honey

2 Cloves of Minced Garlic

1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano

1 Teaspoon Dried Tarragon

1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Teaspoon of Black Pepper (Omit for AIP)

The Dressing:

1/4 Cup of Good Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons of Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

2 Teaspoons of Honey

1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Teaspoon of Black Pepper (Omit for AIP)

Directions:

Preheat the Oven to 400º degrees. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and brush all over top and bottom with the marinade. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the chicken is browning and has reached 165º degrees. Remove the breasts from the oven and let sit at least 15 minutes to retain their juice and cool.

Chicken Roasted for Salad

Now you can assemble the salad. Slice the chicken breasts thinly.

Sliced Lemon Chicken Breasts

Layer the romaine, chicken, oranges, almonds, cranberries and scallions in a large bowl. Whisk the salad dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad. Toss until well coated.

Bistro Lemon Chicken Dinner Salad

Bistro Lemon Chicken Dinner Salad is Gluten Free, Paleo, and a Big Salad. It is perfect for making ahead and having leftovers to pack for lunches on busy workweeks.

Makes 4 Large Dinner Salads

Eat Your Nutrients!

Cherry B’Nice Cream

I spent the first 25 years of my life as an ice cream “addict”. I grew up eating bowls of it. My father was a lineman for a power company, and he ate a large bowl quite frequently in the evenings and had no trouble burning it off the next day, and staying slender.

Cherry B’Nice Cream

Look No Hands!

My dairy filled ice cream daze ended when I could no longer tolerate dairy. This has led me to a finding a healthier and dairy free version of a treat that I can make fast and enjoy when the craving hits. Thus, this recipe for Cherry B’Nice Cream, aptly named to B’Nice to ones belly. 🙂 It is also figure friendly!

Cherry B'Nice Cream Recipe

Hope your belly likes it too! 🙂

Sam

Eat Your Nutrients!

Great Resource When You Don’t Have Time To Bake and For Ingredients When You Do

When You Just Want To Put Your Feet Up!

Have you heard of Wellbee’s, buzzing back to health?

It is a fabulous online bakery and food shopping experience for those on the SCD, GAPS or Paleo Diet. They are also Gluten Free, Grain Free and Refined Sugar Free.

They have a bakery completely dedicated to making food that is SCD Legal using honey for their sweetner. They are an invaluable resource for people who can’t just go anywhere to buy pre-made food. There products are good. I have been ordering from them for two years. What is also so nice about them, is you don’t have to spend hours reading ingredient labels and figuring out what products you can buy that aren’t going to mess with your digestion. They also offer prepacked portable snacks for travel, and when you are on the go, or don’t want to cook.

Some of my favorite items are their homemade croutons (I am a huge salad fan!), nut flours, a seasoning called Paleo Powder (this is a spice blend with all clean ingredients and no fillers), Lemon Infused Avocado Oil, Fermented Pickles, Pizza Crusts (Baked in their Bakery), Pecan Bread (Ditto on the Bakery), Duck Sauce, Ketchup, Hot Dog Buns (baked by them too), Granola and Apple Butter.

Switching your diet can be overwhelming at first. It is a huge learning curve, and they make it easier. I do want to point out, when you are beginning to heal your digestion, you will get the best results by spending time in phase one of a gut healing protocol. That means sticking to meat, vegetables, bone broth, healthy fat and a limited amount of fruit. Once you are seeing improvement and feeling much better, then is the time to add in nuts, seeds, honey, and grain free baked items one at a time and see how you do. This includes adding in dairy and legumes if tolerated. I want to mention that I don’t receive any payment at all from promoting them. They are just fantastic, and you should really know about them if you don’t already. Shout out to Donna! I am sure there are many that would benefit from this resource. I know it makes things so much easier for myself!

Check them out. Here’s the link!

Wellbee’s Prepared Food

Wishing you Happy Digestion!

Sam

Eat Your Nutrients!

Chocolate Banana Quick Bread (Grain Free)

Who doesn’t love a portable quick bread that you can pack? My kiddos like a slice in their lunches, and I can feel good about the great ingredients in this recipe knowing it is good for them, and me, and sweet at the same time. It’s mostly those bananas with a touch of good quality honey baby! Quick breads are supposed to be soft, but not mushy, and I totally consider them a comfort food. How many of you had Mom’s or Grandma’s that made quick bread when you were young? My favorite, and it’s a classic, is banana bread.

Chocolate Banana Quick Bread Slices

Here is a healthy spin on Banana Quick Bread. It is chocolatey too with the addition of magnesium rich raw cacao! It also contains nice amounts of potassium, protein, and uses unprocessed, real food ingredients.

Chocolate Banana Quick Bread (Grain Free)

Preheat your oven to 350º degrees. Line a 8 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. This keeps the loaf from sticking and helps it lift right out of the pan, so leave some edges sticking out to grab on to.

Chocolate Banana Quick Bread Batter Ready for the Oven

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Superfine Almond Flour

2 Tablespoons of Coconut Flour

1/2 Cup Raw Cacao

1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon of Allspice

1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

4 Ripe Bananas with black spots

4 Eggs (I used soy free eggs due to a sensitivity)

1/4 Cup Honey, I used raw honey

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil, melted

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

In a food processor, add all the wet ingredients and blend until completely smooth. Alternately, using a hand mixer, do the same. It will just take longer to incorporate, making sure the bananas are completely smooth.

Add in the Dry Ingredients, and continue to mix until completely blended. Pour into your prepared loaf pan. Bake in the preheated 350º oven for 60 to 75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean with just a few crumbs attached. Cool in the loaf pan five minutes on the counter before removing the loaf to cool completely before slicing.

Chocolate Banana Quick Bread Baked and Ready to Remove from the Pan

This bread keeps for three days at room temperature. For longer storage, refrigerate the loaf well wrapped.

Sliced Chocolate Banana Quick Bread

Eat Your Nutrients!

Celeriac Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Side Dish

I simply can’t get enough of this side dish! It is my new favorite potato replacement, but really in is unfair to Celeriac to call it a substitute for potato, like it is second best. Celeriac is an under appreciated root vegetable. Maybe because in it’s unpeeled state, it is unattractive (sorry celeriac).

Celeriac, Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Side Dish

However, the inside of the celeriac is a beautiful creamy white, and it loves to soak up flavor! In addition, it offers those who partake of it a nice dose of Vitamins C, K, B6, Phosphorous, Potassium, Magnesium, Manganese and Fiber.

You can make this side in under 30 minutes on the stove top. Let’s go!

Celeriac Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Side Dish

Ingredients:

2 Medium Celeriac Root (peeled and cubed into about 1 inch dice)

1/2 Cup Chicken Broth

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons of Oil Packed Sun Dried Tomatoes (finely minced)

2 Tablespoons of Fresh Basil, sliced

1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

Directions: With a large heavy fry pan on the stove top, add your olive oil and warm over medium high heat. Add the cubed celeriac, and sprinkle with salt. Cook the cubes until just starting to brown, which will take approximately 2 minutes, turning once or twice. Add the broth and minced sun dried tomatoes. Cover the pan, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer covered for 20 minutes, until the celeriac is fork tender, but not falling apart. Remove lid and cook until the liquid is mostly evaporated, and there is just enough left to make a nice sauce. Sprinkle the celeriac with sliced fresh basil. Toss to incorporate the basil and serve!

Celeriac, Sun Dried Tomato and Basil

Eat Your Nutrients!

Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread (Grain Free)

Pumpkin Pecan Bread Loaf

This loaf of Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread is moist and delicious! It is also grain free. The structure of the loaf is fantastic. There is 24 grams of protein in this recipe from the eggs, as well as healthy Omega 3’s and Vitamins A, D, E and K from the yolks, along with 36 grams of protein from the Almond Flour. I used soy free eggs since I can eat eggs without problems if they are soy free. I consumed a fair amount of soy in the past and developed an intolerance to it, and it is present in the eggs of chickens who are fed soy. You can read more about this topic here. You can use any egg you like in the recipe. I recommend a good quality, pastured one.

The bread comes together quickly, just like a quick bread should! It is great for breakfast, a snack, or packed in lunches!

Let’s bake a good quick loaf!

Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cup Superfine Almond Flour

1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Cardamom

1/8 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/8 Teaspoon Cloves

1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans

1 Cup Pumpkin

4 Eggs

1/4 Cup Honey

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil, melted

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions: Preheat the oven to 375º degrees. Line a 8″ loaf pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients through the cloves. Set aside. In a small bowl, with a hand held mixer blend together the pumpkin, eggs, honey, coconut oil and vanilla on high speed for 1 minute.

Pumpkin Pecan Bread Batter

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and blend with a handheld mixer until completely smooth on medium speed. Fold in the chopped pecans, reserve a few pecans to sprinkle on the top.

Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread Ready for the Oven

Place in the preheated oven, and bake for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven. Use the sides of the parchment paper to lift the loaf from the pan. Cool completely before slicing.

8 to 12 Servings

Go to In My Pantry for where to buy ingredients and my favorite brands

Eat Your Nutrients!

Easter Recipes Roundup!!!

Easter is this weekend. What plans do you have? Have you been preparing for a celebration?

My daughters are on Spring break this week, and yesterday, we colored eggs, planted pansies in the garden, and visited our local bookstore. The girls are avid readers and wanted to stock up on new releases. It is so nice after Winter to see some color! Colorful eggs, flowers, and Spring pastels everywhere! I love it!

I have put together a roundup for you of recipes from the blog that would be perfect for Easter, starting with these kid favorite, Grain Free Bunny pancakes! (For the young in all of us! You know you want your pancakes in bunny shapes!) Find the recipe by clicking the link below. They are a joyful way to start your morning!

Grain Free Bunny Pancakes

For a healthy and beautiful Easter Dinner spread, I suggest a starter of Bacon Wrapped Asparagus.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

As a main course, make this Bacon, Tomato and Basil Spaghetti Squash Casserole with a Spring Strawberry Sugar Snap Pea Salad.

Spagehtti Squash Cass 5

Bacon, Tomato, and Basil Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Strawberry Sugar Snap Pea Spring Salad

Spring Strawberry Sugar Snap Pea Salad

For a stunning seasonal dessert, serve this gorgeous SCD Paleo Strawberry Pie with Toasted Hazelnut Vanilla Orange Ice Cream, and everyone will be thinking you are the Hostess with the Mostess!