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.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

October 16, 2014October 13, 2014Leave a comment

These muffins took a few weeks to perfect but they were worth the wait! The recipe makes 15 muffins because each time I tried to change the amount of batter, the muffins didn’t turn out as well as this exact recipe. I ended up just placing the 3 extra silicone muffin cups on top of the filled muffin tin (each at a joint between 4 muffins in the tin). I hope that makes perfect sense to you… If I overfilled the silicone cups, the muffins would cook over the edges and were impossible to remove.

I happen to have xylitol in the pantry, so if you don’t you can either skip it or use a pinch of sugar. I love the extra hint of sweetness on top since cranberries are quite tart.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

1.5 cups + 2 tbsp almond flour
3 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla powder (vanilla extract works also)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 ripe banana
1 tbsp orange zest (zest of 2 naval oranges)
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 large eggs
3 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup fresh cranberries
xylitol for garnish

Line a muffin tin with silicone cups.

In a large bowl, mix together almond flour, chia seeds, baking soda, vanilla powder, and sea salt.

In a separate bowl, mash the banana, and add the orange zest, orange juice, eggs, maple syrup, and coconut oil. Mix well and add to the dry mixture.

Mix in cranberries.

Scoop the muffin batter into the silicone muffin cups, filling them each 3/4 of the way.

Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool completely in pan to avoid muffins falling apart!

Enjoy!

Candied Walnuts

October 12, 2014October 12, 2014Leave a comment

A quick easy snack to cure the hangry monster in those “I’m starving and can’t wait for dinner” moments. If you don’t like cayenne, just leave it out!

Candied Walnuts

1 1/2 cups walnuts
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp maple syrup

In a very small bowl, combine sea salt, cayenne, and cinnamon.

In a frying pan, lightly roast walnuts over medium heat until they become fragrant – just a few minutes.

Add butter and mix well.

Sprinkle spice mixture over top and mix well.

Add maple syrup and stir well once again until syrup candies (about 30 seconds).

Remove from heat and dump the mixture on a non-stick surface and let cool.

Roasted Tomato Salmon

October 10, 2014March 23, 2015Leave a comment

On a day when I thought I had no food in the house, this recipe was born. I’d never attempted a fish recipe before because admittedly, I am NOT a fish person. Historically, the only fish I’ve ever really liked is smoked salmon, and even then it had to be accompanied with loads of cream cheese, capers, red onion, dill, and lemon juice.

SO, when I came up with this recipe it was a pretty big shock at how amazing it is. I think it’s probably the new house favourite. It was so good that I had seconds. Everyone had seconds – even the kids. I would go so far as to say that this is probably my new favourite dinner recipe, so if you’re reading these words I kindly ask you to make it asap and report back here!

Roasted Tomato Salmon

2 lbs salmon (3 fillets)
1 14 oz can organic diced tomatoes
1 red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp coriander seeds, milled (or powdered coriander)
1 tsp fennel seeds, milled (or powdered fennel)
1.5 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 400F.

Place two large pieces of tin foil side by side on a baking sheet and fold them together accordion style so they make one large piece of tin foil.

Chop up the onion and garlic and toss it in a large bowl along with the diced tomatoes (including the juice).

If you have coriander and fennel seeds, place them in a coffee grinder and grind until fine. I like to grind my seeds myself so they are fresh and aromatic. I find buying seeds in their powdered form don’t have quite as much flavour. Add the fennel, coriander, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper to the tomato mixture and stir well.

Spoon 1/4 of the tomato mixture onto the middle of the tin foil and place the salmon on top, pink side up.

Spoon the rest of the tomato mixture over the salmon and then fold the foil together on top followed by the sides so that it is airtight.

Place in the oven and cook for 25 minutes at 400 F.

When you take the salmon out of the oven, the salmon should be slightly pink/raw in the middle. This is exactly what you want. Let it sit and rest for 5-10 minutes so it can rest/finish cooking and then enjoy!

Banana Chocolate Walnut Muffins

September 22, 2014September 22, 2014Leave a comment

Photo 2014-09-14, 10 30 07 AM

I have finally found the perfect recipe base for muffins! I am so excited for where my Saturdays are going. This recipe was first on my list to tackle and I am proud to say that the recipe is finally finished!

If you love walnuts you can add a few handfuls to base of the recipe as well. I was scared the kids wouldn’t eat them if I loaded the recipe with them but several test batches later and apparently they love walnuts as much as we do. Though I do measure chocolate chips/chunks generously so maybe that’s why they don’t have a problem with it!

Banana Chocolate Walnut Muffins

Makes 12 muffins