Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Pear Apple Crumble – Gluten Free

Pear Apple Crumble – gluten free

We got 20 pounds of local, organic apples and pears and I wanted to use some for making desserts for the family. Found a number of recipes I played around with until I came up with this. It’s delicious and was a big hit with everyone.

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 large organic pears – I had bosc, so I peeled them and cut into little chunks

2 large organic apples – left the skin on and just sliced to match the size of the pears.

Organic lemon juice – squeezed half of a lemon

2 Tablespoons Swerve, or erythritol or organic sugar

 

Topping:

1 cup organic almond flour

¼ cup organic gluten free oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup organic walnuts, chopped

¼ cup Swerve or erythritol or organic sugar

4 Tablespoons organic butter, melted

Pinch Celtic sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

I used a 8×8 casserole with a glass lid.

Put the chopped fruit in the casserole and squeeze lemon juice over the fruit and sprinkle sweetener on top – mix it up with a spoon.

For the topping, mix all the dry ingredients, then pour the melted butter on them and mix until they’re all mixed up and make a crumbly topping. Crumble the topping over the fruit as evenly as you can.

350° oven for 30 minutes until lightly browned on top – Then I put the lid on and cooked for 20 minutes longer to make sure the fruit is nice and soft. 50 minute total cooking time. Cool and enjoy with some cream poured on top, or a bit of whipped cream or ice cream. Yum!

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Homemade Mounds Bars

Homemade Mounds Bars

I had some coconut cream that needed using up and I found a few recipes making homemade Mounds type bars. They were easy and very delicious. You can adjust the sweetener to taste, if you like them more or less sweet.

Ingredients for center:

2 cups organic unsweetened, shredded coconut

1/4 cup sweetener of choice – I use swerve

1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

1 cup organic coconut cream (this is different then milk or oil)

Ingredients for the topping

¼ cup organic unsweetened cocoa powder

4 oz. organic cocoa butter

¼ cup sweetener of choice – I use confectioners swerve

Instructions

Mix shredded coconut with coconut cream, vanilla extract and sweetener with a spatula or a spoon

I made little squares and put them in the brownie tray, linked below.

Place in the freezer for 2 hours, until frozen soli

Prepare the chocolate coating, I melt the cocoa butter in a double boiler until melted. You could also microwave it for a minute at a time until melted.

Add cocoa powder and sweetener and mix until everything is blended.

Let cool to room temperature, but still liquid

Now dip the bars in the cocoa mixture, and turn to all sides to coat evenly. It helps if the bars are frozen solid, I use a spoon and dip then on all sides.

I put the finished bars on a plate with wax paper on the bottom and between any layers. Once done and cooled you can store them out, but as it’s summer I store them in the fridge.

Enjoy!

 

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Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting – low carb and gluten free

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I was looking for a really good chocolate cake recipe to make for my sons birthday. I tried and lot and finally came upon this one, which I changed up a bit. Added a chocolate buttercream frosting and it was SO good. Got raves all around.

For the cake:

8 organic pastured eggs

1 cup swerve, erythritol, or organic sugar

1 1/4 cups organic almond milk or coconut milk for dairy free

2 cups organic almond flour (I make my own, it’s easy)

3/4 cup organic coconut flour, sifted

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

7 Tb. organic cocoa powder

1 stick unsalted organic butter, melted or coconut oil, melted for dairy free

2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions for the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350°

Grease a 9″x13″ baking pan.

Dough may be mixed with a spoon, with a hand-held mixer, or a standing mixer. You’ll get a smoother batter using a mixer, although I’ve made it both ways.

Beat eggs, in a bowl large enough to hold all of the ingredients. Add sweetener and milk and combine. Add all of the other ingredients and combine well.

Pour batter into pan, it’s a fairly stiff dough so I usually smooth the top.

Bake at 350° for about 30-40 minutes. Cook until cake is just set.

Do not overbake. Slightly underbaking is better than overbaking.

Oven temperatures and cooking times vary. The best way to test for doneness is by lightly touching the center of the cake. The cake should feel just set.

Let cool completely before frosting.

 

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) organic butter, softened, OR 7 tablespoons non-hydrogenated shortening

1/4 cup confectioners swerve, erythritol or powdered organic sugar

5 tablespoons organic unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons half and half OR coconut milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch of sea salt

Optional addition for a glossy finish:

1 fresh organic egg yolk

Directions:

Cream the butter in a small bowl until fluffy. I use a mixer with the regular paddle.

Stir sweetener into butter with a spatula, then beat until smooth.

Slowly blend in the cocoa powder, vanilla, and sea salt.

Beat in the half and half and egg yolk, if using.

Then frost your cake and enjoy!

 

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Whole Chicken and Broth in a pressure cooker

Electric Pressure Cooker

I got an Instant Pot for Christmas. I actually got a few gift cards and used them to buy one for myself. I do use a pressure cooker for canning in the summer, but have never cooked a meal in one.

Originally, I was looking at another brand and saw the Instant Pot as another option. I had never heard of this brand but once I started reading the reviews on Amazon, I was convinced. LOL

I’ve been using it for over a month and just love it. I’ve made the best beef stew we’ve ever had in an hour. I also cooked a whole spaghetti squash in eight minutes.

It makes amazing rice, yogurt, oatmeal, cooks veggies quickly and meats tenderly. I don’t eat pasta, but people are making it in here in minutes too. It’s a slow cooker too!

There’s a Facebook group with over 30,000 people on it sharing recipes and tips daily. I really excited to be able to use this to cook in the summer and not heat up the kitchen.

The pot itself is stainless steel and it’s six quarts. You can make a quick and wonderful bone broth in it.

I’ve also adapted Nigella Lawson’s Praised Chicken recipe, cooks a whole chicken in 30 minutes (plus add 20-30 for pressure to come up and release). It’s easy and delicious.

Whole Chicken recipe

Ingredients:

1 whole organic chicken

1 tlb organic garlic olive oil

1 tsp organic Herbs de Provence

1 tsp Celtic salt

½ tsp organic pepper

½ cup vermouth or white wine

1 cup water

 

Directions:

Brown chicken in oil for a few minutes per side (using the sauté option) – turn off sauté and place the trivet (also stainless) under the chicken. Pour vermouth and water in the bottom and put the seasoning on top of the chicken.

Set the pressure cooker for 6 minutes per pound, plus four minutes – I usually round up just a few minutes as I’m at 1400 feet altitude.   When the pot beeps that it’s finished, turn it off and let it sit for 20 minutes or so to come down to pressure.

This chicken is SO good and you’ll end up with two cups of amazing broth at the bottom of the pot. Save that!   After we’ve eaten the chicken, I save all the bone and put it back in the pot, with some onion, carrot, celery and a bay leaf. Cook for 30- 60 minutes. Let the pot come down to pressure on it’s own.

Strain and you have a pot of chicken broth. Enjoy!

If you google ‘Instant Pot Recipes’ there are many links and so many more I plan to try. Click the link below to buy. (affiliate link)

Gluten Free Blueberry Crumb Cake

Blueberry Coffee Cake – Gluten Free

I’ve been trying to make a coffee cake that was close to Ina Garten’s recipe that I put up a few years ago, but that was gluten free. This one comes very close! If you’re blueberries are frozen – let them warm up or it will take longer to cook.

Ingredients

Topping

  • 1 cup organic almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon organic cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup Non-GMO Erythritol or Swerve or organic sugar
  • 1/8 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
  • 4 tablespoons organic or pastured butter, melted

Cake

  • 2 cups organic almond flour
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon organic cinnamon
  • ½ Celtic sea salt teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup
  • 1/2 cup organic sour cream
  • 2 Tablespoons organic or pastured butter, melted
  • 2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract
  • 2 organic pastured eggs
  • 1 cup organic blueberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch cake pan.

Topping:

Mix all topping ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.

Cake layer:

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately – I use a large measuring cup for the wet ingredients and stir together until well blended. Once well mixed add the blueberries. If they’re frozen, let me defrost or your cake will take longer to bake (learned that the hard way!)

Spread the cake batter in the pan, and then sprinkle the topping over the top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool and slice.  Enjoy!

 

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Slow Cooker Osso Buco

Slow Cooker Osso Buco

I had some grass fed beef shanks in the freezer that I wasn’t sure what to do with, when I found a slow cooker Osso Buco recipe on the Cuisinart site. Perfect! I adapted it to beef, organic and instead of using canned tomatos used some of my San Marzano’s that I had frozen this summer. Just chopped them and added in.

It was delicious and we had enough for a few dinners. First we served it over baked Spaghetti Squash and when we ran out of squash ate it with fresh salad and sauerkraut. It takes a little prep work as you start but the flavors are worth it. So easy to make in the slow cooker! And would be wonderful for company too.

This recipe was for my six quart cooker. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

Grass Fed Beef Shanks, about 4 pounds total

1 tsp. Celtic Sea Salt

¾ tsp. organic black pepper, freshly ground

2 tsps. organic olive oil

6 organic garlic cloved, peeled

1 large organic onion, chopped

2 medium organic carrots, chopped

1 organic celery stalk , chopped

1 tsp. pastured organic butter

2 fresh rosemary springs (or 1 tsp dried rosemary)

1 sprig fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)

1/3 cup dry white wine or vermouth

Either:   Six cups fresh or frozen organic Roma type tomatoes, roughly chopped (I used this!)

Or:    2 – 28 ounce cans of organic plum tomato’s drained and roughly chopped. (if you don’t have fresh/frozen)

1 tablespoon organic tomato paste

1 organic bay leaf

¼ cup organic chopped, fresh Italian parsley

 

Directions:

Season the shanks on all sides with ¾ tsp of the salt and all of the pepper.

Put the oil into a sauté pan on medium/high heat, add the shanks and brown on both sides, at least 6 to 10 minutes per side, until deeply browned. Once they’re done, place them on a plate.

While meat is browning, put the garlic into the work bowl of a food

processor fitted with the chopping blade; process to finely chop. Scrape down

and add the onion, carrot, and celery. Pulse 8 to 10 times, until

vegetables are roughly chopped. Remove vegetables and reserve. Add the

drained tomatoes to the food processor and pulse 5 times to chop. Set aside. (If you don’t have a food processor just chop everything a bit more fine to start)

Lower the heat to medium and add butter to the pan, add

vegetables, garlic, rosemary and thyme and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Cook until vegetables are softened and slightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the wine and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot.

Simmer until wine is completely reduced, about five minutes.

Put the sautéed veggies in your slow cooker, stir n tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaf. Nestle shanks in the liquid. Switch unit to Slow Cook on Low for 8 hours. Stir in parsley just before serving.

You can serve this on baked spaghetti squash, zoodles, any type of pasta you want. Also, sprinkle with organic crushed red pepper and organic parmesan cheese if desired.

Delicious and my husband said it was the best Osso Buco he ever had.

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Four Ingredient Chicken Bake

Four Ingredient Chicken Bake

I actually saw a version of this as a video on Facebook. It looked good and as I had pesto in the freezer and fresh tomatoes that needed using, I tried it and it’s great! Very easy to make and it was a hit.

Four Organic Chicken Breasts or Six Organic Chicken thighs – boneless and skinless

Organic pesto – if you don’t have any blend basil, almonds or walnuts, garlic, salt, Parmesan cheese and a bit of olive oil – and it’s pesto

4-8 organic Roma Tomatoes – I have San Marzano’s from the garden and it was about 2 per chicken breast to cover.

1 to 2 cups shredded organic Mozzarella Cheese

Layer ingredients, in order, in a baking dish.

Bake at 400° for 40 minutes and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

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Curried Zucchini Soup

Curried Zucchini Soup

 

My garden has been growing more zucchini then we can eat, and almost more then we can give away. LOL

I found this soup recipe and have made it twice already. My husband said he would be happy to eat it all summer.

It’s quick and easy and you can eat it either hot or cold.

Ingredients:

 

1 tablespoon olive oil (or half oil half pastured butter)

1 cup organic yellow onion, chopped

1 teaspoon organic garlic, minced or chopped

½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt

2 teaspoons organic curry powder

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced

2-3 pounds of organic zucchini, ends trimmed off and chopped

3 ½ cups organic stock (I use beef bone broth – you can use chicken, beef, veggie)

½ cup organic heavy cream (substitute coconut milk or cream for dairy free)

 

Directions:

In a soup pot, heat the oil/butter over medium high heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook, stirring until soft for about 3 minutes.

Add the curry powder, salt and cayenne and stir for about a minute.

Add the chopped zucchini; reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the stock and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the zucchini is tender, about 20 minutes.

Then blend the soup. The easiest way to do this is with an immersion (aka stick) blender. They are not expensive and are the best for soups, and making mayo and whipped cream. Either remove from heat and use your immersion blender until blended or put the soup into a blender and blend.

Then return to heat and add the cream, stir and simmer for another 2-3 minutes and either serve (we love it hot) or refrigerate until chilled. Enjoy!

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Gluten Free Blueberry Cobbler

 

Gluten Free Blueberry Cobbler

 

We have a local blueberry farm that has really good prices so I stocked up. I was looking for a cobbler recipe and this one is amazing. Only take a few minutes to prepare and is delicious.

 

Ingredients:

3 cups organic blueberries

1 tablespoon organic lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum – optional but it’ll help thicken

1 cup organic almond flour

2 tablespoons organic coconut flour

½ cup sweetener of choice, I used non-GMO erythritol.

1 pastured organic egg, beaten

6 tablespoons organic butter, melted

 

Instructions:

Pour berries into greased pan. I’ve use a 9 inch square and also have used a    pie pan

Sprinkle with lemon juice and xanthan gum. I also pull out a tablespoon of the sweetener from the topping and sprinkle it directly over the berries.

Stir almond flour, coconut flour, sweetener and egg until mixture resembles        coarse meal.

Sprinkle dry mixture over berries.

Drizzle melted butter over topping.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until top is browned.

 

For an extra special treat, serve with homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

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Eggnog Ice Cream

Eggnog Ice Cream

 

My son had to have a tooth pulled and was on soft foods for a week or so. One of his favorite things was for me to make him an eggnog in the blender – 2 cups of fresh milk, 2 eggs, a few drops of stevia, a little vanilla and a bit of nutmeg – so good and it kept him very nourished while he healed.

 

I love eggnog and decided I wanted to make and eggnog ice cream. Found a great recipe in the Ben and Jerry Ice cream book that I adapted. Easy to make (no cooking) and delicious – enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

 

2 cups organic heavy cream

1 cup fresh organic milk

2 whole organic eggs

8 pastured organic egg yolks (you can freeze the whites – I made macaroons)

¾ cup sweetener of your choice – I use non-GMO erythritol

½ tsp nutmeg

 

Directions:

Whisk the eggs and egg yolks until light and fluffy – for one to two minutes. Add sweetener and whisk together.

Add milk and cream and nutmeg and whisk until combined.

 

Pour into ice cream maker and follow instructions. Enjoy!

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