CITRUS SALAD DRESSING

For Christmas Eve I made a salad to contribute to the lovely meal my sister in law prepared. Thought I'd share the new recipe with you-it was a big hit!

photo & credit

Citrus Salad Dressing

1. • 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons orange juice
   • 6 tablespoons dried cranberries
2. • 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
   • 2 tablespoons Apple Cider vinegar
   • 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
3. • 2 bags of mixed baby greens
   • 3 oranges, peel and white pith removed, segmented
   • 3/4 cup pecans, toasted
4. 1. Bring 1 cup orange juice to simmer in heavy small saucepan. Remove from heat. Mix in dried cranberries. Let stand until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain well; discard soaking juice.
   2. Whisk oil, vinegar, orange peel and remaining 3 tablespoons orange juice in small bowl to blend. Mix in cranberries. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
5. 1. Place greens in large bowl. Toss with dressing, then top salad with orange segments and pecans.

Delicious Kale Chips Recipe (Gluten free and gaps legal)

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I haven't tried these--but plan to this week. My mom made them over the weekend and really liked them. I want to do these, and the Zucchini chips too! Let me know if you try them! (or, if you've already tried them!)

 

How to Make Awesome Kale Chips

1. Turn oven on to 350 degrees**.  When the oven has been preheated, turn it off.  Seriously, this is the trick!
2. Get a bunch of kale – you’ll need more than you think.  They shrivel up quite a bit once cooked.
3. Break it up into pieces about the size of your palm.  Use only the leaves.
4. Put into a bowl, sprinkle with olive oil and shake. (I will probably use coconut oil)  You don’t need a lot of oil.  I read somewhere that it’s best if you massage the oil into the leaves.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil.
6. Spread kale evenly.
7. Put into warm oven.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes.  You can just check in on them.  If they’re crispy, they’re done.  They should be a bright green with little to no brown.  Brown = burnt.
9. Sprinkle with salt.

*You can also sprinkle w/parmesan cheese after they come out of the oven
Link to nutritional information on kale chips
**Here’s the trick: turn the oven on to 350, let it heat up, turn it off, and then put the kale chips in.  The oven stays hot and the kale chips cook slowly, without being scorched.

Baked Zucchini Chips Recipe (Gluten-free and Budget Friendly)

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This is a budget friendly gluten-free recipe!
(easy too!)

Baked Zucchini Chips Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• Olive Oil
• 1 Zucchini thinly sliced (1/8 inch)
• 1 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Farenheit
• Line Cookie sheet with parchment paper
• Slice Zucchini very thin and lightly coat with olive oil
• Bake for 2 hours, rotating cookie sheet after 1 hour
• After 1 hour and 30 minutes, check your zucchini every 10 minutes to avoid burning
• Remove from oven and place zucchini on cooling rack
• Serve warm or cool
• Store in airtight container

White Bean Chili (Gaps Legal and Gluten Free)

Recipe and photo credit

White Bean Chili

Serves 8, or 4 with lots of leftovers!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter or ghee
1 whole medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Anaheim chilis, seeds removed, diced
1 pound white navy beans, soaked overnight and drained
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups filtered water
1 whole Jalapeno, Sliced
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Sea Salt to taste (start with 1 tablespoon)
1 cup yogurt
2 egg yolks
3 cups cooked chicken, diced
½ pound grated Monterey Jack cheese
Yogurt for Garnish
Guacamole (optional)
Directions:
The egg and yogurt mixture thickens without using flour.  If you are not on SCD or GAPS, you can use cream in place of the yogurt.
In a skillet over medium heat (or in a large pot if using a pot to make chili- I use a crockpot) cook the onion and garlic in butter until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients through Sea salt. Cook in the crock pot all day on low, or 4 hours on high.  After the beans are cooked through, 20-30 minutes before serving, stir in the chicken.  Whisk the egg yolks into the yogurt and stir the egg mixture into the chili as well.  Add Monterey Jack cheese to the pot just before serving and stir to melt.

Gluten Free Crustless Spinach Quiche Cups

Gluten Free Crustless Spinach Quiche Cups!

Photo and recipe credit

 A little coconut oil, butter, or olive oil (for cooking the mushrooms)
1 (10 oz) package fresh spinach (I used the baby)
4 eggs (if the yolks are quite small I use 5 eggs)
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice
1 (8 oz package)  mushrooms, chopped

1-2 Tbsp, heavy cream or half-and-half (optional)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

 

*Variation - , try asparagus or bell peppers with the spinach. Also, add some onions to the mix. I add some when I do not use mushrooms.

 

Preheat the oven to 375F or 190C.

 

Heat a little oil in a large skillet. Saute the mushrooms until they are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Set Aside.

 

Place the spinach in a deep pan or in the skillet that you used for the mushrooms. Add a little water, 1/4 cup should do it. Using medium heat, cook the spinach just until wilted, about 3-4 mins. Use either your hand or a spatula to pack in the spinach. Drain the excess water really well (especially if you decide to use frozen spinach instead).

 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until combined. Add the cooked mushrooms, spinach, cheeses and cream (if using) to the eggs. Mix well. Season to taste. 

 

Divide evenly among the 12 muffin cups. The muffin tray was slightly bigger than usual so I only filled about 10 cups-this was a flexi-muffin tray. (However, if you don't have this pan, don't fret, either just use muffin liners or grease your muffin pan.)

 

Bake for about 20-23 minutes, or until it's well set and a tester/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

Leave in the pan for a few minutes or just until it's cool enough to handle. It was so easy to remove them from the pan! They practically pop-out!

Sprinkle with a little more cheese on top, if desired.

 

Healthy Gluten-Free Wrap for Lunch Recipe

I'm kind of on a recipe-kick, and thought I'd share some here.

The recipes I'll be sharing are for the Gaps-diet. Which

among other things means that they are gluten-free.

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I have Celiac disease (which means I cannot have any gluten at all--I even

have to avoid cross-contamination) and so my interest right now is

in gluten-free recipes.

I shared one yesterday for Bacon and Egg Avocado breakfast...
 

Today I'm sharing a simple lunch recipe that looks sooo yummy!

(and EASY!)

photo credit

 Healthy wrap: 1/2 cup chopped chicken, 3 Tbsp Fuji apples chopped, 2 Tbsp red grapes chopped, 2 tsp honey, 2 Tbsp almond butter. Mix and wrap in a Romaine lettuce leaf.

 

Be sure to give me feed-back if you try it! :)

Bacon & Egg Stuffed Avocados

Best Breakfast EVER! Bacon & Egg Stuffed Avocados (just scoop a bit of the avocado out, crack in an egg, sprinkle with bacon and bake 425 for 15 min.)
This is a great, healthy, gaps-legal recipe! Enjoy!

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What I've Been Up To...

I really love cut flowers in the house! My husband and son sometimes bless me by

buying me some (my husband brought me some yesterday as a matter of fact!)

But, I also love to cut them from my yard--one of my fav things to do!

I recently had these lovely pink peonies and sage that I cut and brought in.

Alongside them you see the blessing of a bumper-crop of strawberries!

I held one so you could see how huge they are!

Don't these look pretty in the vase below?

Also, I am still on the Gaps diet...and here is my typical lunch...

salad, fruit, and kefir. It's so nice to have lettuce from the garden,

and the strawberries too--makes life easier!

When we went to visit our friends in Ohio last year, one of them made "Garden Tea" for us to drink.

I have an abundance of mint as you can see below, so I made some...

Basically, I just took filtered water and put it in my Vitamix--then I took washed mint (mine is apple mint)

and put it stems and all in the vitamix and blended it.

I strained it into the pitcher--and drank it.

It is really good!

Here's another batch of strawberries, and some snow peas too.

I really enjoy these fresh garden blessings!

If you read my previous post here, you know that I've been cleaning and decluttering for over a month.

It culminated today with our yardsale (our community had one) and since our son Brad is the president

of our civic assoc., we wanted to participate.

Everything that was left was loaded in the back of Brad's truck and the guys took it

all to Goodwill.

Phil and I also worked hard last night (it was pouring outside-so a great time to do it) cleaning out our attic.

We spent less than 1 1/2 hours, but we got alot done! And, I feel so much better now!

And, we made a little extra money to boot! :)

June is always a busy month for us, and ours is getting cranked up already!