Tag Archives: Real Food

Grain Free Chocolate Graham Crackers

Looking for a chocolate graham cracker that is grain free and starch free? I have tested and developed this recipe for you, and after several attempts, I do believe it is perfect! 🙂

They can be used however you like, but my favorite is sandwich style! Look here for my Chocolate Blueberry Ripple Ice Cream Sandwiches! They will wow you! The flavor is amazing! What a lovely ending to a warm Summer’s day!

Grain Free Chocolate Graham Crackers

Grain Free Chocolate Graham Crackers

Preheat your oven to 325º degrees.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups of Superfine Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Raw Cacao Powder

4 Teaspoons of Gelatin like (Thrive Market Brand)

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Cup of Coconut Oil, melted

1/4 Cup Good Honey

1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

Directions: Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir vigorously with a fork until completely blended and a ball of dough has formed.

Place the dough onto a large cookie sheet sized piece of parchment paper. Flatten slightly.

Grain Free Graham Cracker Dough Ready to Roll

Place a second piece of parchment on top of the dough, and roll out evenly to almost fill the parchment, or the size of your cookie sheet. The dough should be about a half inch thick.

With a pizza cutter, make squares as shown below. Pierce the grahams with a fork’s tines.

Ready to Bake Grain Free Chocolate Graham Crackers

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool completely. Using a large kitchen knife, cut apart the graham crackers at the scored marks.

Enjoy!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Blueberry Spoon Fruit (Date Sweetened)

Making Spoon fruit is a delicious way to use Summer’s fruit bounty! It is a technique that purees and reduces the fruit on the stove top, without added thickeners or refined sugar, to a jammy consistency.

For this luscious Blueberry Spoon Fruit, I used dates and a bit of fresh lemon juice, along with wild blueberries.

I use this spoon fruit in my Chocolate Blueberry Ripple Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Simple is often the best!

Blueberry Spoon Fruit

Blueberry Spoon Fruit

Ingredients:

1 Cup Blueberries

1/4 Cup of Pitted Dates (Roughly Chopped)

2 Tablespoons of Fresh Lemon Juice

Directions: In a small saucepan, bring the berry mixture to a boil, and simmer for ten minutes on low, stirring occasionally. Add mixture to a blender (I used a small Ninja) and puree.

Making Blueberry Spoon Fruit

Yield: approximately 3/4 cup

Date Sweetened Blueberry Spoon Fruit

Eat Your Nutrients!

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

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!

Lacinato Kale with Garlic and Almonds

Lacinato Kale, also referred to as Dinosaur Kale, is a flat leafed kale with dark green blue leaves. This is my favorite kale to cook with. It has a slightly nutty flavor, and is less bitter than Curly Kale. I use Curly Kale to make kale chips, because the curls grab on to every bit of sauce you put on them. By now you would have to be hiding under a rock to not hear about all the health benefits in greens, and Kale has taken center stage in the past couple years.

Lacinato Kale with Garlic and Almonds

Kale is full of benefits, such as it is high in fiber, is a good source of Calcium, Iron, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and Vitamin K. It is fabulous for strengthening your immune system, bones and skin.

This recipe for kale is crunchy, garlicky and savory. It is important to eat greens with fat to help your body access the nutrients, plus it just plain tastes good. I have used Olive Oil in this recipe. There are endless ways to serve this dish. It makes a great side for fish and chicken. Add some protein, and you have a meal.

Lacinato Kale

Lacinato Kale with Garlic and Almonds

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Lacinato Kale, Stripped of Stems and Washed

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced (I use a garlic press)

1 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice (It brightens the dish)

1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Cup Sliced Almonds

Directions:

Slice the Kale into 1 inch strips by grabbing a bunch and using a sharp knife on a cutting board. Set aside.

Heat the Olive Oil in a large cooking pan over high heat. Add the Minced Garlic, and cook just briefly, just about 30 seconds. Add the sliced Kale and Sea Salt. Cook over high heat until the Kale is wilted, tossing frequently. Once wilted, add in 1 Tablespoon of fresh squeezed Lemon Juice. Toss just to coat.

Place the kale in a serving dish and sprinkle with the Sliced Almonds.

It’s Ready to Eat! It is so good!

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!

Hearty and Nourishing Vegetable Bison Soup

Winter storm Jonas is bearing down upon us here on the East Coast, and I decided there is never a more perfect time for making a big pot of hearty, nourishing soup! I wanted one that was easy to digest, nutritious, low in fodmaps, and tasty!

Hearty and Nourishing Vegetable Bison Soup

Put some favorite tunes on and lets get chopping. The vegetable prep is the longest part of making this soup, but it doesn’t have to be boring! Here’s the recipe!

Hearty and Nourishing Vegetable Bison Soup

2 Pounds of Ground Bison

3 Slices of No Sugar Added Bacon

4 Cups of Broth, Beef, Chicken or Vegetable

6 Endive, washed and sliced

2 Cups Carrots, peeled and sliced

6 Scallions, green parts only sliced

3 Small Zucchini, diced

1 Fennel Bulb, washed and diced

1/4 Cup Dry White Wine, optional

2 Tablespoons of Garlic Infused Olive Oil

2 1/2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt or Himalayan Pink Salt, divided

1 1/2 Teaspoons Black Pepper, divided

1 Teaspoon Dried Parsley

1 Teaspoon Dried Tarragon

1 Teaspoon Dried Chives

1/4 Teaspoon Dried Dill

2 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice, added before serving

Hearty and Nourishing Vegetable Bison Soup

Directions:

In a large sautee pan, cook your bacon until crisp, then drain on paper towel and set aside to cool. Drain off the extra bacon grease in the pan, and add your ground bison to the same pan. Add the salt and pepper, and cook over medium high heat until brown and crumbly, stirring often. Meanwhile prepare your vegetables by peeling and dicing them.

Add the cooked beef to a large stock pot, and crumble the cooled bacon on top. Dry the sautee pan the beef was in with paper towel, then return it to your burner, and add 2 tablespoons of garlic infused olive oil. Heat over medium high heat, and add your vegetables. Sprinkle the vegetables with an additional teaspoon of salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Cook the vegetables until the endive has wilted and the vegetables are just beginning to soften. Add the white wine and cook for one minute.

While the vegetables are cooking, add the dried herbs to the bison in the stock pot. Add the wilted vegetables to the stock pot on top of the bison and herbs. Pour in 4 Cups of broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer on low for 40 minutes.

This makes a large pot of hearty, satisfying soup for a cold winters day, and it feels good in your belly, warming you from the inside out! Enjoy!

Hearty and Nourishing Vegetable Bison Soup

Baked Proscuitto Topped Tilapia with Parsnip, Leek, Celeriac Mash

Are you looking to get more seafood into your weekly meals? Here is a flavorful, moist, and easy way to make fish that is pretty enough to serve for company, and fast enough to make for a weeknight meal!

Baked Proscuitto Topped Tilapia with Parsnip, Leek, Celeriac Mash

I like to serve the fish on top of a mound of Parslied Parsnip, Leek, Celeriac Mash. They go perfectly together! Find the recipe below!

Baked Proscuitto Topped Talapia

Ingredients:

9 Talapia Filets

3 Oz. Proscuitto (I used this one with just pork and sea salt in the ingredients)

3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 Teaspoon Parsley

Preheat the oven to 350º degrees. On two parchment lined cookie sheets, lay out the filets. Brush them with olive oil top and bottom. Mix the sea salt, garlic powder and parsley together in a small bowl, and rub all over the fish top and bottom. Lay one thin piece of proscuitto on top of each seasoned fish filet. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until the thickest part of the fish reaches 145º degrees.

Place the fish atop Parslied Parsnip, Leek, Celeriac Mash, (recipe below) or serve with your favorite sides.

Baked Proscuitto Topped Tilapia with Parslied Parsnip, Leek, Celeriac Mash

Parslied Parsnip, Leek, Celeriac Mash

Ingredients:

2 Large Parsnips

2 Leeks

1 Celeriac Root

2 Scallions, diced

1 Cup Bone Broth or Chicken Broth

1/4 Cup Coconut Milk (Full Fat no additives. I use this brand.)

2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1 Teaspoon Parsley, plus more for garnishing

Directions:

Peel and Large Dice the Parsnips, Leeks, Celeriac Root and Scallions. Add Olive oil to a heavy, 5 1/2 quart, coated cast iron pan. I used this one, which I can’t live without! 🙂 Add the vegetables and sea salt, and sautee over medium high heat, uncovered, for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook the vegetables for 15 minutes until fork tender.

Scoop the vegetables and broth hot into a food processor. Add the parsley and coconut milk, and puree until smooth. Place in a serving bowl, and sprinkle with additional dried parsley.

I suggest getting the vegetable mash started first, and then prepping the fish and baking it. Everything will then be ready at the same time for serving.

Yum! Delicious!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Festive Cranberry Sauce

Festive Crannberry Sauce

This is the Best Cranberry Sauce Ever!!! IMHO 🙂 Even if you don’t like cranberry sauce, you will like this one! It is that good!

It is bright, sweet, and tart, a gorgeous, gorgeous shade of berry, and the coconut sugar added at the final stage adds an earthy warmth like a cozy hug that can’t be described. After the sauce is poured warm into a serving bowl, it is sprinkled with toasted, coarsely chopped walnuts and chilled for the perfect accompaniment to your holiday table! It is definitely going on mine! Happy Holidays!

Festive Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

1 Pint of Fresh Cranberries

1/2 Cup Organic Apple Cider

1/2 Cup Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

1/2 Cup of Honey

Zest of One Organic Orange

1/2 Cup Toasted Walnuts

Directions: In a medium saucepan, add washed, fresh cranberries, cider, orange juice, honey, and orange zest. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until the berries pop and the juices have reduced by about half.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350º degrees, and place the walnuts on a cookie sheet. After the oven has preheated, toast the walnuts for five minutes. Remove from the oven and cool, then coarsely chop them and set them aside for sprinkling on the top of the cranberry sauce when it is ready.

Place the warm, simmered cranberry sauce into a blender. Blend until smooth and emulsified. Pour into a serving dish and sprinkle while warm with the toasted, coarsely chopped walnuts. This allows some of the walnuts to sink into the sauce so they are throughout and on the top. Chill at least four hours. This will keep in the refrigerator and can be made in advance!

Makes 2 Cups

Eat Your Nutrients!