Flavorful Roasted Almonds

I love nuts as a mid afternoon snack, just a handful has enough protein to keep a belly full and fight fatigue. Salted nuts are good but I've been really digging the "flavored" nuts I've been seeing around. Well I love them until I read the ingredients label and realize they are loaded with "extras" so I decided to give it a go. For this batch I started with raw almonds and roasted then for 10-13 minutes at 425. Basically I pulled then out of the oven when I started to smell the sweet fragrance of almonds in my kitchen.
After they cooled I tossed them with a little sesame  oil, Bragg's liquid Amino's and sprinkled with brewers yeast.
Delicious!

How to Make Delious Healthy Muffins

If you google "blueberry muffin" there's an estimated 4,540,000 search results that come up for recipes. It's kind of a thing :) and I'm not so sure these muffins are super unique but they are "healthy" as far as muffins go and I take great pride in using ingredients and methods that result in delicious food & can be eaten for breakfast or snacks alike. The key here is substitutions and I'm not talking about subbing applesauce for oil or butter, because let's face it a little fat makes things YUMMY! Here's the original recipe I pulled from "The Joy of Cooking" cookbook. I use their recipes for a starting point most of the time because it's classic, simple and I like the fluid layout. However once I'm finished it doesn't look much like this at all, but baking is a science more than a free flowing art form like cooking can be so I try to stick to the dry/wet ingredient ratios.

Let's start with the flour  I always use a mix of unbleached all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. Using all whole wheat flour makes baked goods too dense but you can go a 1:1 ratio and it works out great. Enriched flour is basically flour stripped of all it's nutrients and pumped full of "nutrients" usually of a very questionable quality level.So I opt for the OG flour and trust I'll get my iron & vitamins elsewhere. You can read more about enriched flour at The Global Healing Center blog. Ok, enough of that tangent! 

The next thing I always substitute if possible is Greek yogurt for milk or cream, now since I'm baking with it the pro-biotic quality diminishes but the cup this recipe calls for adds a whopping 22 grams of protein!

 Coconut oil has been getting a lot of attention lately, and for a good reason it's an amazing product. Aside from putting it on my hair as a leave-in conditioner and on my skin as a fabulous moisturizer I also eat it for many health benefits. If you don't like the taste of coconuts, don't worry it's undetectable when it's cooked. Dr. OZ has a great explanation of coconut oil on his website. 

The last major change is ditching the sugar, raw organic or otherwise and using maple syrup instead. I promise it doesn't make your muffins taste like maple syrup just a hint of maple flavor if you have a refined pallet or if you're like me you probably won't taste it at all. Including all of maple syrups health benefits I love it mostly because it doesn't spike the blood sugar the way straight sugar does.

Now that all of that is out of the way, let's get to the how we make these awesome little fluffy balls of goodness!

Preheat oven to 400
Grab a helper


Sift together

1 C whole wheat flour
1 C unbleached all purpose flour 
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

In another bowl whisk together

2 eggs
1 C yogurt
3/4 C maple syrup
6 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix in flour mixture until there are no more clumps but it will be kind of thick, almost like play dough. At this point you have what I like to call a "master recipe" you can add various things you love (nuts, fruit, mini chocolate chips) and make a plethora of combinations. In this case I added a healthy cup of blueberries we had left in the freezer from our blueberry picking trip earlier last summer. It's that's about it easy breezy, just oil or line a muffin pan fill those bad boys up (about 3/4 the way) and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on top and when they come clean when poked with a toothpick.

Try to share!!!

What are your favorite substitutions for classic recipes?!

Easy Chicken dinner

It's a lovely Sunday here in Raleigh, and by mid-September there's a plethora of family friendly activities going on every weekend. The last couple weekends we've went out and by the time we get home it's almost 6 and we still have to make dinner! So after two weekends of chaotic Sunday evenings I've decided to think ahead a little & have the main part of the cooking finished by the time we get home.

I've been getting organic chicken from whole foods but after seeing a terrifying video of how organic chickens were being "processed" in an industrialized manner, I decided to see what my other options were. Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting, Jan Campbell of Homestead Harvest Farms in Wake Forest, NC. She assured me that cooking half a chicken in a crock pot was an easy, painless process. Not only was Jan right about it being easy, she also has the best chicken we've been able to find. I also love, love, love the fact that all her chickens are loved, have great lives and are processed as she puts it "the way grandma raised poultry". Everything about this chicken boasts superiority to its grocery store cousins- it looks, smells, feels and tastes better. My husband who swears all dark chicken meat tastes "gamey" will eat every part of this chicken, win!

Here's what to do:

Place whole or half chicken in a crock pot ad 1/2 C of water for half chicken and 1 C for a whole chicken 

Sprinkle with salt & pepper (or spices of choice)

Turn on low and walk away. That's right, walk away!

Its honestly that easy, the meat pretty much falls right of the bone so disassembling it later isn't a huge chore. Oh and did I mention the delicious and I mean delicious chicken broth you get out of this bargain?!! Whatever we don't eat right away I store in the fridge for salads and quick meals.

A Meal Born From Compromises

I do most of the grocery shopping around here and I've noticed lately we've gotten into a dinner time rut and there's nobody to blame but me! In an effort to eat as local as possible I shop at the farmers market every week, sometime twice. I realized this morning that I have my "routine" there and I haven't ventured from it much recently. Today I  challenged myself to get something I have never bought before, which I thought might be a trial since I am a huge veggie lover. When put to the test, I found there were whole booths I mindlessly pass up on a regular basis. Today I found beautiful oyster mushrooms from Old Milburnie Farm and even though I'm not a fan of mushies, my husband loves them so I bought a few ounces. Later on when I went to Whole Foods to find a friend for the mushies I by chance started talking to one of the guys at the fish case (I never buy fish) he suggested that a pecan crusted tilapia would work fabulously with the mushrooms. I love fish but the hubby isn't a huge fan but I thought since I bought those lovely mushies it might be ok. The results exceeded my expectations, I now can no longer say I don't like mushrooms and fish might make more of an appearance at our house!

Here's my Recipe for Pecan Crusted Tilapia with Asian Inspired Stir Fry

For the Fish

I kind of cheated here because I'm not familiar with cooking fish so I bought the pecan crusted tilapia from the fish case at whole foods. If you wanted to DIY it would be pretty easy I'm going to do that next time. I cooked it on a metal rack, the rack allows air flow so both sides are crispy instead of one crispy and one soggy side. Place the metal rack on top of a cookie sheet and bake @ 375 for about 10 minutes on each side.

I sliced up the oyster mushrooms, sauteed them on medium heat with butter  and set aside

While the fish is in the oven I cut up the Veg. I used the following veggies, but anything could be added or left out.

Red Peppers, sliced into strips
Bock Choy (I chopped the bottoms and tossed those in first and reserved the greens for later since they cook so fast)
Carrots cut in matchsticks
Thin green beans

Pea shoot sprouts (for garnish) 
 
On medium to high heat warm up some oil just enough to cover the bottom of the pan (I used coconut oil) brown 2-3 cloves of garlic and fresh ginger then toss in all veggies (except greens and mushrooms) and cook until soft but not mushy. Then toss in the greens, mushrooms add a swirl of rice vinegar, sesame oil and a smidge of Bragg's liquid aminos or light soy sauce.  And there you have it a quick easy meal fit for royalty!

Last of the Tomatoes

Chewy Granola Bars (gluten free!)

A few weeks ago we had a tie dye party at our house and all the moms were kind enough  to bring a snack to share. Between you and me there's always that one mom (or dad) who brings the "WIN" and this time it was my friend, Tara with this scrumptious recipe from the Paleo Mom blog. I have made these about a dozen time in the last two months and as I sit here and savor the smell of the most recent batch cooling on the oven I decided these little bars of heaven must be sang about!The paleo diet basically is the absent of grains so instead of being filled with carbs these nut, coconut and chocolate delights boast loads of protein and fiber, making them a great on the go snack. The ingredient list is kind of long but most (if not all) depending on the store you go to can be found in the bulk section. Also it's stressed on the website but I highly recommend reading all the directions first then following them to a T. These little pups are a science but Oh Oh Oh SOOOO WORTH it!