Quick Lunch

I always like to keep salads on hand because it is an easy meal for myself to put together when my days get busy. Usually cut up romaine lettuce and throw in a bag of Trader Joe’s organic broccoli slaw.  Costco also carries a kale salad mix that I love. I toss the dressing and keep the seeds/cranberries for my boy.  I top the kale salad mix with raw nuts/pepitas and my favorite Tessemae’s salad dressing.  I can then add leftover meat or sliced ham to complete my meal.

I prep the salad in a large airtight container so that way it is ready to go during the week. We tend to eat a lot of salad in our house. A great way to get in some extra greens!

Today’s lunch for me was just that. Mixed kale salad! I topped it with pecans, pepitas, and a little bit of goat gouda cheese. I added in sliced ham and cracked pepper dressing. Served it with my favorite Kombucha!

Simply refreshing and delicious. It doesn’t take a whole lot of work to throw together either.

Make purposeful choices…for your every day living…on this journey called life

Cauliflower ‘Pop’

When making some health changes several years ago, I needed to find a replacement for popcorn for myself. My kiddos still enjoy some organic popcorn that we make in the cast-iron from time to time, but I needed to find something to replace it. I loved adding hot sauce to my popcorn (if you eat popcorn, you seriously need to try it). My alternative was cauliflower pop. Even my kiddos enjoy this as a side dish for meals. Easy to throw together, but takes about an hour to bake.

Cauliflower ‘pop’

Ingredients

1. 1 head of cauliflower
2. 1/4 cup of coconut oil-melted
3. 3+ TBSP of Franks Red Hot or Tessemae’s Buffalo Sauce (add more to liking)

Chop cauliflower into small pieces and set aside. I am using a big bowl (there is approx. 8 cups of chopped cauliflower in here).

Mix the coconut oil and hot sauce together in a small bowl. Today I used Tessemae’s Buffalo Sauce. 

Pour the hot sauce mix onto the cauliflower and toss until mixed.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and heat oven to 400 degrees.

Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 60 minutes. I start checking at about 45 minutes as bake times may differ depending on your oven. It will start to brown when finished. This may not be the best picture, but it is delicious! 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Meals for the Week-UGH

My wonderful world of menu planning for the week to come has approached. I have totally been unmotivated to write up my menu. Even the thoughts about shopping and cooking, and I just want to tap out!  Seriously, I would love to have someone come plan my menu, shop, and do all my cooking this week. Now that seems like a dream come true to me! Since that is not going to happen, I guess it is to the board I go to plan out my next six days of meals.  The only way I keep my sanity, plus I am picky!

With a crazy week in store, I am making it easy on myself. Really there is nothing wrong with having the same breakfast every morning. I planned out to do breakfast casserole Saturday and Sunday, but I plan to just stay with hash casserole. With my fridge already maxed out, it will be easier to make as I go instead of trying to find more room for leftovers at this point. Breakfast these next six days will be eggs and potatoes. I will add in either ham, kolbassa sausage, or bacon to the morning mix. Also since going shopping today, I switched my granola to Larabars instead. Kind of bummed out that Trader Joe’s changed their cashews to being made in facility with wheat, eggs, soy, etc. So now those are out of the question. The importance of reading labels even when you pretty much get the same things over and over. Without further ado here is what my next six days will look like…

With two kids in tow, off to the three stores I went. Since Trader Joe’s is the furthest away I start with that one. I pack a cooler so I can keep things cold as we go; especially in the hotter months. Next stop I hit was Costco. Costco is where I get the majority of my meats/protein. Today it was Kolbassa sausage, organic ground turkey, organic chicken breast, pork belly, and eggs. Final stop was Sprouts for just a few odds and ins, like mini enjoy life chocolate chips.  I already had a few veggies at home including our salad so I didn’t have to buy those this time around. Also Nick Sicks we typically have on hand, although our stash is in need of a restock!  We buy our Nick Sticks online here. They are 100% grass-fed beef and free-range turkey. Simply made with real ingredients.  I buy organic when it’s available and also when my budget allows. For the most part I can get what I need!  So after $288.42 later here is what I walked away with.

The makings of a CRAZY BURGER

We enjoy burger nights in my household. We either have organic turkey burgers or grass-fed beef hamburgers. Really just depends on if grass-fed beef is on sale. The great thing is you can fancy up your burger to your liking. My family serves them up with a bed of lettuce or in a lettuce wrap; just depends on what we are in the mood for.

Tonight we did organic grilled turkey burgers. I served the burgers on a bed of mixed kale salad. Toppings were canalized onions, sautéed mushrooms, goat gouda cheese, guacamole, curly fries, and parsnips. You can certainly add whatever toppings your family loves. Sometimes we add salsa and sweet peppers to the mix.

I seasoned the turkey burgers with salt and pepper and that was it. Prepped them for the grill. I used our spiralizer and spiraled the potatoes and sliced up the parsnips. Then I heated up my cast-iron and sliced up my onion. Added some coconut oil to the pan and added in my onion until caramelized.

I dished out my onions and added a little more coconut oil to my pan. Sliced up my portobello mushrooms and sautéed them until done. 

As the burgers were on the grilled, I heated up the other cast-iron pan outside with avocado oil and added the curly fries. 

Fry until done. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.

Then added a little more avocado oil to the pan and added the parsnips.

Fry until done. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.

Placed all the food on the table and let the kiddos build their own crazy burgers!

Tummies are satisfied with this quick and easy dinner. Enjoy!

Paleo Banana Pancakes-Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour

I received a bag of Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour (review coming soon) and have been doing some recipe testing. Seriously this flour is a game changer, so much so I just bought myself a bag.  They just came out with a 5lb bag and I couldn’t pass it up! Their flour is Paleo certified, gluten-free, grain-free, and NUT-FREE!  Made with 100% Yuca Root. You seriously need to get yourself some of this.

I whipped up some of my Paleo Banana Pancakes using Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour. I am excited to share this recipe with you. I now have another option I can send to school with my kiddos!

Ingredients:

Dry

1. 3/4 cup Ottos’ Naturals Cassava Flour
2. 2 Tbsp Coconut Sugar
3. 2 tsp Baking Powder
4. 1/2 tsp Himalayan Salt

Wet 

1. 1/2 Mashed Banana
2. 1 Egg
3. 3/4 cup Coconut Milk
4. 2 TBSP Melted Coconut Oil (Click on the link 45% off 1-gallon Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil until 5/5/2016 on Tropical Traditions)

Instructions

1. Mixed all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
2. In a separate bowl mash the 1/2 banana
3. Add the egg to the mashed banana and mix.
4. Add the Coconut Milk and whisk until frothy
5. Add in Melted Coconut Oil to the egg mixture
6. Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. You may have a few small lumps and that is okay!
7. Heat griddle and add 1tbsp of coconut oil to griddle. Add approximately 2 TBSP of pancake batter per pancake to griddle and spread out. Cook 5 minutes per side.
   

   

   

   

    

8. Served with Kerrygold unsalted butter and Pure Maple Syrup. Topped with bananas or any fruit of your choosing.  Also can serve with sunbutter and honey for school lunch sandwiches.

Enjoy! Keep it simple…With Purpose….With Love

Packing a disposable sack lunch

It is only Tuesday and I feel like it has already been a full and busy week! School year winding down, school testing, and field trips are in full force. Life is keeping me busy and makes the days go by fast. Seriously, how do other busy parents do it?!? I just pick and choose what I am going to do for the day and what is going to get done. I figured before I know it my younger ones will be off to school and then I will have all the time in the world to do household chores. So I will just stick with that, and enjoy my time during the day with my kiddos.

With school field trips we have to send a disposable lunch. I can send their water containers that they can carry and take along which is great! I typically send them in a paper lunch sack, but I ran out. I didn’t want to go a purchase more right now since we are at the end of the school year. My Trader Joe’s bag with a clothes pin concoction worked out just fine. I packed her lunch and then cut off the top of the bag and rolled it down. Clipped a clothes to hold it close. Easy Peasy!

 

This is what we packed today for her lunch:

Jello and oranges. Sunbutter Ball. Banana. Hard Boiled Egg and Hotdog. Wholly Guacamole and Plantain Chips. Carrots. Honest Kids (special occasion only) drink.

I grabbed some freezer bags and filled them with ice. Wrapped them in a plastic bag and then packed up the lunch. Her lunch stayed cold until it was time to eat. 

Quick and easy to put together. She was still able to enjoy a very healthy wholesome lunch.

Cheers to another successful school lunch!

Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry

I love cooking wholesome meals for my family. Now that soccer season is over, it is more meal times as a family. With all the hustle and bustle of today’s world, I am trying to slow things down with more family time. Seriously, life is too short to miss out on this precious time. I love that Rob is so involved with our kiddos. The kiddos really look forward to having some dad time on the weekends. Just makes my heart melt watching them love on him! So he headed out with all 5 and took them to the pool while I made dinner. They all played and had fun. I got to enjoy some quite time and prepare dinner for when they got back. Win…Win…

Active kiddos means hungry kiddos and that is exactly what happened when they arrived back home. So I dished up my favorite meal of Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry.

Chicken Broccoli Stir-Fry with Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients

1. 3 heads of broccoli-cup up
2. 2-3 large carrots-diced
3. 4 cups of cut up chicken
4. 1 onion-sliced
5. 2 tsp fish sauce (this is the kind I use-Red Boat)
6. handful of baby portobello mushrooms-sliced
7. unrefined coconut oil
8. coconut aminos – 1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup
9. 1 Tbsp Otto’s Naturals -Cassava Flour
10. himalayan salt/pepper
11. red pepper flakes-optional
12. 1 lime-juiced
13. 2 tbsp minced ginger
14. 1 head of cauliflower “riced” or 1 bag of riced cauliflower ( I get mine from Trader Joes)

Heat pan on med-med high heat and add 3tbs of coconut oil. Add chicken and sprinkle with himalayan salt and pepper. Sauté until done. Place chicken in bowl and cover to retain juices. Drain rest of the juice from pan. 

 

Add 1 Tbsp of coconut oil to the pan. Add the sliced onion and sauté. Add in 1/4 cup of coconut aminos and 2tsp of fish sauce to the pan. Add in the broccoli and carrots and sauté for about 5 minutes. 

 

Whisk together 1/8 cup of coconut aminos with 1 Tbsp of Otto’s Naturals – Cassava Flour Add to the broccoli mixture and stir. This will make a thickener for the sauce. 

 

Add in the mushrooms and sauté for 1 minute. 

 

Add back in the chicken. Sprinkle with a little bit more of himalayan salt and pepper. Stir and remove from heat. 

Cauliflower Rice

Heat pan to med-med high heat. Add 1 Tbsp of coconut oil. Add in 2 Tbsp of minced ginger.

 

Add in juice of 1 lime. 

 

Add in package of cauliflower rice. If you want to rice your own cauliflower (which I do sometimes) click here and it will show a video how to. Sprinkle some more himalayan salt and pepper. Cook and continue to stir for about 4 minutes.

Dish up and serve with chicken and broccoli stir fry.  Top with crushed red pepper flakes – optional.

 

Quick and easy to put together. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Keep it simple…Keep it clean

Mastering Hard Boiled Eggs

I enjoy a great hard boiled egg. They are great on salads, in lunches, stuffed with tuna, topped with hot sauce, or even with just himalayan salt. I have tried over the years to make an ideal hard boiled egg. I think I have tried it all, including baking them. I remember when I was in my younger years, if the hard boiled egg wasn’t completely cooked (almost green yolk) I wouldn’t touch it. Wow has my food adventures grown!

Here is my favorite way to cook my Hard Boiled Eggs:

Add a single layer of eggs to a sauce pan. Fill the pan with water until it is about an inch over the eggs.

Bring water to a boil and boil for only 1 minute.

Remove from heat and cover with lid. Set a timer for 9 minutes. Get a bowl and fill with some ice and cold water and set aside.

When the 9 minutes is up transfer the eggs immediately to the cold water ice bath.

Let them cool down. Peel and serve, or store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Makings of Taco night

We love tacos and they make great leftovers also. The nice things about tacos if you can play with it how you see fit. We like to do tacos almost once a week. It is an easy meal to throw together. Some of our favorites are chicken tacos, turkey tacos, pork tacos, or even beef tacos. They can be great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can serve them on lettuce, in paleo friendly tortilla, plantain chips, or even on sweet potatoes.

If grass-fed beef is not on sale, then I will pick up organic ground turkey at my Costco which goes for about $4.99/lb here. Otherwise we will get a pork shoulder/butt and make shredded pork and can use some of that meat during the week for pork tacos. From time to time we will do chicken tacos, but not often. Just not something my kiddos are huge fans of. They would rather have grilled chicken or chicken and bone broth gravy.

For the beef and turkey tacos we season them the same. Try making your own seasoning, it is simple and better than buying the packets.

Ingredients:

1. 2 lbs of meat
2. 1 tsp oregano
3. 1 tsp thyme
4. sea salt or Himalayan salt
5. ground cracked pepper
6. 2 tbsp cumin
7. 2 tbsp chili powder
8. cayenne pepper – dash
9. paprika – couple dashes
10. onion – optional

Heat pan add a little avocado oil or coconut oil and chopped onion if using. While I brown the meat I had 1 tsp oregano and 1 tsp thyme and cracked pepper. Once the meat is cooked I leave the juices in the pan and add in the remaining ingredients and bring it to a slight simmer for a few minutes to allow seasoning to mix in. If you don’t have enough meat juices then you can add in a little bit of water.

Now incorporate how you want to serve it.

Toppings are endless, but here are a few of my favorites:

1. Salsa
2. Guacamole
3. Mango
4. Romain lettuce with broccoli slaw
5. Sweet Potato
6. Plantain chips – nacho style
7. Tortilla using Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour (Review coming soon)
8. Tessemae’s Southwestern Ranch for dressing instead of using a taco sauce.
   

   

   

   

   

Keep it simple…Keep it clean and wholesome!

From our taco style to yours…Cheers

Healthy Snack Ideas

Snacks…Snacks…Snacks…

My kiddos always seem to be snacking! Snacks for me depend on if it is a school snack or at home snack. As those will change since I don’t send nuts into school with my kiddos, but they will have them at home. If you have a hard time coming up with healthy snacks, I suggest you make a list to keep on hand. I keep an excel sheet with a list of snacks that I like to do. I continue to add to the list from time to time. It is something for me to reference to when I want to change things up. I have shared a small list below with you.  Certainly there is more then what is listed here, the list truly could go on and on! Remember you are in charge of your own health and the food you put into your body. Change starts with YOU. You need to be willing to do it for you and/or your kiddos.

HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS

• Grass-fed Beef Nick Sticks or Turkey Sticks from Wallace Farms– You can find where to buy them here
• Any raw veggies
• Fresh fruit with our without nut butter/sunbutter
• Dried fruit without added sugar
• Wholly Guacamole cups with plantain chips
• Plantain chips and salsa
• Chicharrones
• Enjoy Life Bars
• Organic Fruit Strips
• Homemade jello- Can find the recipe here.
• Organic Cheese Sticks
• Organic Fruit Snacks
• Fresh fruit cups
• Sunbutter Balls – My recipe here.
• Raw Pepitas
• Crunchy Rice Rolls with or without nut butter/sunbutter
• Organic or Greek Yogurt (plain greek yogurt with nut butter and mini enjoy life chocolate chips)
• Larabars
• Trail mix (mixture of nuts with or without dried fruit)
• Paleo pumpkin muffins – find recipe here.
• Chocolate Avocado Pudding- find the recipe here.
• Organic Popcorn- I pop it myself in a cast iron pan
• Dates or Dates stuffed with goat cheese
• Paleo granola – My recipe coming soon to this blog!
• Deviled eggs or hardboiled eggs
• Almond Date Truffles- find the recipe here.
• Smoothies
• Paleo pancake sandwiches – find pancake recipe here.
• Paleo banana bread
• Paleo zucchini muffins- find the recipe here.

I have put together a sample slide show of 39 snack variations I have done for the kiddos. Some of these are school snacks and some are at home snacks.  I use a BPA free tupperware for their snack bucket at school.  I can also attach an ice pack to the lid for when I send a snack that needs to be cold. I hope this list will provide you with some snack ideas you can enjoy.

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