Gluten Free Banana Bread

November 28, 2014Leave a comment

I am so excited to share this recipe!

I’ve been working on a gluten free bread recipe book with Yuri and I’m going to give you a little teaser/gift here. Shhh don’t tell him, ok? This was my first priority when we ventured into creating these recipes. 1) because I love banana bread and 2) we had a surplus of overripe bananas.

So, here is another recipe from my childhood. It’s been changed up quite a bit from the original version, but surprisingly “tastes like memories,” which is what I say any time I hit the nail on the head with respect to recipe creation!

If you don’t have any coconut palm sugar you can substitute brown sugar.

babanabread

Gluten Free Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas
2 well beaten eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup palm sugar
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 tbsp coconut flour
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a silicone or glass bread dish by greasing it with coconut oil.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas and mix in the eggs and melted coconut oil.

In a separate bowl, mix the almond flour, coconut flour, sugar, sea salt, and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.

Pour into prepared baking dish and bake at 350F for one hour.

Let cool in pan before cutting or just when you simply cannot wait any longer!

Pear Crisp with Salted Caramel Sauce

November 18, 2014October 27, 20143 Comments

Our family loved apple crisp growing up. I can still recall the taste of it – So sweet. When I got older and started making it myself, I started to cringe at the amount of sugar is used in recipes these days. This revamped recipe calls for pears for the sole reason that I didn’t have any apples and didn’t want to go to the store. This recipe has 3 tbsp of maple syrup instead of the TWO CUPS of sugar the original called for…yikes.

If you choose not to make salted caramel sauce, I would recommend doubling the amount of crumble. I went light on it knowing that I was going to pour a little extra sugar on top, and the result was perfect.

Pear Crisp

Filling:

6 cups chopped organic Bosc pears
1 tsp cinnamon

Topping:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup almond four
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp coconut milk powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1/4 tsp almond extract

Salted Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup almond butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla powder
1/4 cup canned coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt

Cut up the pears and mix in 1 tsp cinnamon. Pour into an 8×8 inch pan.

For the topping, place all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well, melting the coconut beforehand in a pan if need be.

Using your fingers, drop the topping mixture on top of the pears.

For the salted caramel sauce, if you’re lucky enough to have runny almond butter, just mix the ingredients in a bowl. Otherwise, place all ingredients in a blender. If your sauce isn’t runny, add more coconut milk to thin it out.

Lamb Zucchini Boats

November 15, 2014October 24, 2014Leave a comment

Lamb, rosemary, and mint. The perfect combination to sail away in a zucchini boat!

Yes, it is a little annoying to hollow out the boats, but I love the presentation of it and it really doesn’t take that long. If you aren’t partial to boats you can just chop up the zucchini and add it to the pot with the lamb mixture. I won’t take it personally.

Lamb Zucchini Boats

4 medium zucchinis
1 lb ground lamb
1 tbsp butter or coconut oil
1 red onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
4 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Wash and cut the stalk end off of the zucchinis. Cut them in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Place the zucchini on a baking tray and set aside.

Set oven to 400 F.

In a pot over low/medium heat, cook the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the ground lamb and cook until no longer pink.

Add the mint, rosemary, lemon juice, spinach, salt and pepper, and cook until the spinach wilts.

Carefully spoon the lamb mixture into the zucchini.

Cook at 400 F for 20 minutes.

Roasted Garlic Hummus

November 10, 2014October 22, 2014Leave a comment

Here is my go-to recipe for snack day at my kids’ school. It’s simple enough that you can make it even when a baby is crying for a bottle, and up to two other kids are driving you nuts – and you need to get them all in a car 20 minutes from now. GO!

Roasted Garlic Hummus

5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil for frying
1 can chick peas (19 oz), liquid reserved
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
½ tsp salt
olive oil to garnish

Put the garlic cloves and coconut oil in a pan over low heat and cook until fragrant but not burned. About 5 minutes

Place garlic, chick peas, lemon juice, tahini, and salt in a high speed blender with about 1/4 cup of the chick pea liquid to get the blender moving. Blend until smooth, using the temper as much as needed to push the blending mixture around.

Add as much or as little liquid as you would like to get the thickness you desire. Pour into a serving dish and garnish with a good quality olive oil.

How to Succeed

November 5, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

Today has been a stellar day, but it didn’t start out that way! I was wide awake half of the night, finally falling asleep around 3am, and up again before 7am with the 3 little clones. I gave Arlo a bottle, made the big kids oatmeal, and finished making enough snacks for 33 kids since I had double snack day duty, and somehow managed to get the big guys to school on time for the first time in awhile!

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Kid-Friendly Snack: Roasted Garlic Hummus and Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I’ve been battling insomnia for a couple of weeks I came home and laid down to take a well deserved nap. An hour and no sandman later, I got up and drove to the forest for some well needed clarity. I walked for 2 hours while listening to an audiobook, while walking amongst the raining leaves. Why sit at home and read when you can enjoy this?:

My fitness goal is set. I’m just as persistent now as when I initially set the intention. I take daily action, eat well, and my success is written in the stars. However, I have yet to set a concrete goal with respect to my career. I’ve found myself floating in an ocean of possibilities, slowly moving along. So I started narrowing down my goals today while walking in the fresh misty air. I’m already getting really excited about working toward them each and every day. I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and start learning, writing, and plugging away at a book that I’ve officially taken out of the “someday” pile and placed on the top of my goal list. The audiobook I listened to was called “How to completely change your life in 30 seconds” by Earl Nightingale, and it was the perfect walking companion. I had heard it all before, but this time it really got my attention.

One of my favourite lessons is this: as long as you keep working toward your goals, you cannot fail. You may fall – that’s ok. Falling isn’t failing. As long as you get up, you’re still in the game. You’re successful. Momentary setbacks cannot harm you. Even if you’re in the lowest possible place you have ever been, a year from now, it will be just a distant memory, and you will be one year closer to your goals! If you set a clear goal and work toward its fruition every single day, the universe has no choice but to grow the seeds into future success. Our minds are extremely fertile, and whatever we plant in our minds will grow. Positive or negative the mind cannot discern the difference. It’s up to you to plant the seeds you want to cultivate. It’s easier to be negative. But know that your returns will be in direct proportion to what you focus on. Replace any fearful thoughts with a positive goal worthy of your time.

There is no need to worry about how something will come about. Worry is one of the lowest vibrations that we can find ourselves in. There is no sense worrying about something you cannot control, nor is there any sense in worrying about something that happened in the past, or things that most likely won’t come to pass. There is very little that we need to really worry about. Most worries are situations that we create in our own minds. It’s been said that 92% of things we worry about are in the aforementioned categories. Only 8% of our worries are legitimate.

I know I was always afraid of failing. What I really should have been worried about was my inaction. My fears that held me back. You cannot fail if you don’t give up, but you certainly can fail if you never do anything to shape the life you want. Most people are caught in a stage of quiet mediocrity. They want success, but they don’t want to work for it. They get distracted by 1000s of things and never really get anywhere. What do you want?

Don’t let events hold you back. Don’t give away your power by making excuses. It’s not what happens in life, but how you react to events that determine the result. A famous psychiatrist interviewed the sons of an alcoholic man, and when asked how they came to be on their current paths, they both answered something like this: “What would you expect having had an alcoholic father?” One of the men was what you would call a success. The other, an alcoholic like his father.

Brussels Sprouts

November 1, 2014October 20, 2014Leave a comment

These are one of our favourite sides. I have yet to get the kids to eat them, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t like them as a kid either so I’ll let them off the hook.

Brussels sprouts

3 tbsp butter or coconut oil
4 cups Brussels sprouts
sea salt and pepper to taste

Cut Brussels sprouts in half. Cut off the base and remove the outer leaves.

Melt the butter or coconut oil over low/medium heat, and add the Brussels sprouts. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.

They’re a bit tricky to stir so you may have to individually flip them from time to time to make sure both sides get cooked evenly.

Toss them with some salt and pepper and serve!

How to Love Yourself

October 30, 2014November 19, 2014Leave a comment

How are you? What’s new?

How would you answer these questions? I used to answer them with responses like “fine, well, ok, not much, same old… etc.” but I’m aiming higher these days. I refuse to let “good” get the best of me. I’m in it for great. Revolutionary. I want to wake up every single day and have to pinch myself because surely I must be dreaming. I want to stay up late and wake up early because I get to be me.

Life is in a constant state of change. We’re always moving from A to B to C to wherever. There are about a zillion ways to get from A to B but I want to get there in a flying car doing 150 at least. I’m fully in it for the ride, wherever I go and whatever I do, I do it with joy. I try to find acceptance in everything. While cleaning up the kitchen for the 50 millionth time isn’t my favourite thing to do, I accept that it must be done, and I look for the joy. It gives me an opportunity to check in with myself in a sort of moving meditation kind of way where I get to hang out with one of my favourite people: Me.

I wasn’t always this way. There was a time when I was completely unsuccessful at loving myself. I didn’t think I could do anything right and I disliked myself for not being smarter, thinner, and more outgoing. I was withholding love from myself, and I was suffering for it.

I don’t know what happened in my childhood to make me think I didn’t deserve love. Maybe I’ve been holding onto this indoctrination from a past life. I’m actually certain of it. Wherever I picked it up from, I am incredibly glad that I have come to know that I deserve an epic love story. My Aha moment came during a soul shattering breakup in which I finally learned my lesson: Love yourself. I kept ignoring the signs that told me to put myself first, but my angels were persistent with this lessen. I couldn’t ignore them anymore. My oxygen mask was finally on and my sole focus became making myself happy.

Your Ideal Best Friend: What Qualities do They Have?

What qualities do you look for in a best friend? Write them down. Here is my list: Supportive, communicative, authentic, honest, keeps in touch, inspiring, passionate, appreciative, funny, easy to talk to, good listener, not too serious, kind, loving, generous, trustworthy, adventurous, driven, joyful, understanding. Now, look at your list and ask yourself if you’re being a good friend to your friends. Now ask if you’re being a good friend to YOURSELF. What areas do you need to put a little more work into? What areas are you doing a good job in? Journal about your successes and what you can do to improve in certain areas. I certainly had a lot to write about after I did this exercise.

Words of Affirmation to Love Yourself

Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself: “You are worthy of great love. You are loving. You are loved. Thank you, body, for being an amazing place to live. I give you nourishing food and plenty of water so that you may keep me healthy and energetic. I love you.” Feel free to change this and add some personal touches. Make it perfectly and authentically yours, and make it full of love.

Support yourself every single day. Every time you see yourself in the mirror, give yourself love. If you ever start getting negative toward yourself, remind yourself that you have always done the best you could do. But now your best is better, so you can do better!

Traditional Greek Salad

October 28, 2014October 22, 2014Leave a comment

I LOVE Greek salad. What I don’t love is ordering it in a restaurant and being incredibly disappointed pretty much every time. Greek salad doesn’t have lettuce in it. It’s full of chunky vegetables and kalamata olives! They should be the star of the show, and not just a garnish atop iceberg lettuce! Rant over. Here’s how to make a simple Greek salad that surely won’t disappoint!

Greek Salad

4 tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 cucumber, cut into chunks
1 green pepper, cut into chunks
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
5 oz goat’s milk feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
¼ cup sliced red onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Serve immediately.

If serving a large number of people, you can cut up all of the vegetables ahead of time. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, black pepper, and garlic in a separate bowl and set aside. Mix in the dressing just before serving.

Salted Caramel Sauce

October 24, 2014October 27, 2014Leave a comment

This happened today, and I can’t keep it to myself. It’s probably my most favourite recipe ever.

I have always loved caramel. I still sneak a few of those little square caramels every Halloween, even though I know they’re going to make me feel sick. Last year I even attempted making my own caramel covered candy apples – from scratch. Don’t do it. It’s painstakingly annoying and health destroying.

The alternative? This caramel concoction that takes about 2 minutes to make. It’s like apples were made to be dipped in it. No more fighting with plastic to open little caramels, and no more caramel sauce filled with dairy. I’ll be dipping apple slices in this from now on! And obviously, it’s kid approved.

Salted Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup almond butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla powder
1/4 cup canned coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend! Done.

Now cut up an apple, dip it in the caramel sauce, and eat it.

You’re welcome.

Creamy Chicken Soup

October 20, 2014October 14, 2014Leave a comment

There are a lot of soups that I used to enjoy as a kid that came out of a can. Cream of chicken soup was one of them. I’m almost certain that I would feel ill if I tried to eat them today. And while making soup from scratch take a little more effort, you are rewarded with amazing flavour and quality that you can feel good about feeding your family!

Creamy Chicken Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 tbsp coconut oil or butter
½ cup gluten free flour
6 cups organic chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh thyme
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup canned coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste (I think I used approx a tsp of sea salt)

Chop up the onion, celery, and carrots and place in a large soup pot with the coconut oil or butter over medium heat. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook an additional 1-2 minutes.

Add the flour and cook for an 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the chicken broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Chop up the raw chicken breast into bite sized pieces and add to the boiling soup. Turn down the heat to low/medium and simmer for 10 minutes, until chicken is cooked.

Transfer soup to a high-speed blender and add the coconut milk. Blend until smooth. Return soup the pot and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve.