It's time for maple syrup therapy! Stat!!! Today is a beautiful, blustery, blizzardy day...and buses are cancelled. No big deal except Friday was a p.a. day, and we had a busy weekend and I had counted on having today to recoup....alone! I have some whacko cold that is running into it's fourth week, and I just needed a "sick day" to sit around in warm and comfy clothes, drink a lot of tea, read something good, and attempt to give my body a chance to get better. No such luck. So, in lieu of having some quiet time, I think it just needs to be pancake time instead. These pancakes happened a few weeks back when I suddenly had the urge to eat pancakes, which I haven't had in a while, paleo or otherwise. I wasn't interested in wasting my time making some pancake that would end up flat, I needed me some big, fluffy pancakes! So, by using a mix of flours, baking soda activated by lemon juice, and a pinch of love (haha, I'm just kidding), these lovely dears came to be! Paleo Chocolate Monkey Pancakes (for one) Ingredients:
Method:
I forgot the lemon juice in that collage above....oh well... It seems like a lots of ingredients, but it honestly comes together in just a few minutes, and is worth every tiny effort! I suspect you could also make these with an avocado in place of the banana (perhaps just a half an avocado?), or maybe even some baked sweet potato (maybe 2-3 tablespoons?). I haven't tried either, but I could see it working well.
You don't taste the banana really at all in these (in my opinion), so if you're worried about that, stop it. :) I only really called them "chocolate monkey" so you would have an idea before reading the recipe that bananas were involved. No surprises! So, whatever this Monday has for you-make the best of it!!! Either with the people you're with, or the place you're in, and if nothing else, with the ingredients you have on hand to make a yummy treat! :)
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This is 100%, without a doubt, hands down the easiest crock pot recipe ever!!! Pinky swear! In this Crock-Pot Chicken & Tomato Soup, I talked about how it maddens me to have to cook meat before adding it to the slow cooker for recipes. If I wanted to dirty a pan and to take the time to cook the meat, I would just do it and forget the crock pot all together and throw stuff into a pot on the stove an hour before meal-time! So, this becomes the easiest recipe ever because I just put the super-frozen ground meat right into the crock pot and let 'er rip. I actually prefer the texture of the meat this way, really. It's a lot more tender, and I don't really like the taste of beef, so not cooking it before hand means I haven't cooked all that beefy flavour up. What else...? Oh, it saves a bit of fat too! I'm not a "low fat" gal AT ALL, but by not frying the meat up first I am just cutting out a bit of fat, so if you care about that sort of thing, then, hazaa! I more appreciate the fat saving for it's monetary value; one tablespoon of coconut or olive oil saved means I have it for something else! Ya see? Alright, well, let's move onto chili. I used to make it all the time, but then I started eating paleo and not just gluten free, and beans on paleo are a no-no. I generally follow the paleo 'rules', but I also believe in eating what's right for you, so if paleo says "corn is a grain, you can't eat grain!", but it's summer in Ontario and there is fresh corn growing up all around me, I'm gonna have me some corn! The real key is being mindful of how your body reacts to foods, no matter what you eat. Beans are a real, simple, one ingredient-type food which means they are pretty good. However, having excessive gas/pain from eating them? Not so good! I just figured it was normal to feel that way after eating beans (beans the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot....remember?). But it turns out how I felt was too much; I never enjoyed the feeling afterwards, but I thought it was normal, so I went with it! So dumb. If you eat something that makes you bloat up and feel awful afterwards, no matter how "good" it is, stop eating eating it! That there is a life lesson from a food idiot. Me. So, with beans out of my life, I thought chili would just be a distant memory.....until I realized I can make chilli however the heck I want! So, that's what I did here! I used a basic tomato and meat sauce, added lots of veggies, some great seasonings, and wham-o! My chilli craving are satisfied! You can customize this as you need/want to, and feel free to experiment with the flavour (more spicy, less spicy, adding a touch of maple syrup or something, etc.) Crock Pot Paleo Chili Ingredients:
Peppers (orange and yellow) Onions Mushrooms Jalepeno (just one) I have also used carrots & turnip before
Method:
If your meat is frozen....
*With both recipes (frozen or thawed), you'll want to take the lid off the crock pot for the last part of the cooking (any amount of time is better than no time, but I generally have the lid off for an hour). This helps some of the liquid to cook off so that the chili is thicker* I hope everyone had a good Monday! Ours was a busy one, and it had some surprises in it, but it was good.
I'm feeling pooped now, and may make a nice cup-o' decaf coffee and watch some IT Crowd. Never seen it? It's a semi-stupid, semi-hilarious show that's on Netflix now. It's a clever show, but it's British, so would you expect anything else? Thought not. Cheerio! :) Muffins! Sometimes you just want a good muffin to go with your coffee, am I right? Read that like you're from Brooklyn, it sounds way better. Anywho, I'm back with a paleo recipe today, a tasty, make-and-freeze kind of deal. I'm not saying you have to freeze them, just that you can, and that makes them a handy little snack you can pull out when you need it. Let's just get to it! Sweet Potato Chai Muffins Adapted from PaleOMG Ingredients:
Method:
My favourite way to make and eat these is to freeze them after they have cooled completely, then when I want one I will warm it in the oven and eat it like it's fresh and hot out of the oven. Which it is, sort of....?
Either way, I find that paleo baked goods sometimes have the tendency to be wet (just a hair past moist), and warming it in the oven dries it out perfectly. Not dry as in choke it down dry, but dry as in a nice crunchy top, and a warmed inside. That's all. I hope everyone had a good weekend! Mine was good, busy, interesting? I can't explain now, but perhaps I will some time! Anyway, I've still got little miss middle child home today with her chicken pox, and we went for a really nice wintery walk (I pulled her in a sled so she wouldn't get worn out and feel more sick, and I got some serious exercise!). It's the kind of beautiful, mild winter day where the snow if falling silently in big, heavy flakes. So lovely, and a great start to a week! I hope everyone has a great Monday! Hello! How are we today? Well, our holidays are finally over! After being away for 10 days we got back and had a day of rest before heading to a friends house for New Years Eve...where we stayed up late! Super duper late! The kind of late that reminds me I'm not as young as I think I am... We headed home and had a day to rest/tidy then we had my sister, brother-in-law and all their kiddos coming for a visit for a few days. In the midst of their visit our youngest had her 5th birthday party (which I'll share about later). I didn't send the kids to their first day back to school because we still had family visiting, and also because our middle child barfed the night before! Whomp whomp. So, to tally, since December 18th when we left our house for the holiday we had: 3 out of 5 of us barfing, one with chicken pox, one got diarrhea. Visited/met up with: 60-70 people (I won't lie, it could be more but I got tired of counting!). Ate: 3 Christmas dinners (we had to miss one), and a few Christmas get-togethers that weren't "dinners" but sure had a lot of food! Did: New Years Eve all nighter, had guests over, and threw a birthday party. The End. It's been a whirlwind few weeks, it was fun too, but I am glad to be settling down and getting back into real life. So, getting back into the swing of things and eating right often means soup! I love soup for a lot of reasons. 1. You can make it out of anything! 2. You can make it super healthy by packing it full of veggies. 3. You can make it in the crock pot. 4. It makes great leftovers for a quick and healthy meal. When it comes to crock pot recipes though, having to prepare meat before putting it into the slow cooker seems dumb to me. The point of the slow cooker is to make a meal as crazy simple as possible (thats what I think, at least!) So, I've started adding my meat un-cooked, and in many cases, completely frozen. With this soup, I find the chicken is actually more tender when I make it from frozen, so, all the better! You don't even need to remember to thaw the meat out! It's -18 degrees fahrenheit here today (that's almost -28 in celsius!), so I'm feeling the need for soup!!! Crock-Pot Chicken & Tomato Soup Ingredients:
*Add more veggies if you want, we were just low so I used what I had!* Method:
On a crazy cold day like today I like to add a splash of hot sauce to my soup to warm me up even more. Well, stay warm today! I'm wearing a big, multi-coloured knitted sweater my Mom got for me at the Salvation Army to keep warm. When it gets this cold, only a good wool sweater will keep you cozy, and all the better if it's just a bit ugly, ya know, so you look artsy and individual. :)
Hello one and all! I'm sitting drinking my coffee and eating a piece of warm, chocolate chunk banana bread. I had a serious problem that consisted of me having one million over-ripe bananas in my freezer, threatening to start a revolt and take over my whole kitchen! O.k, well, that may be a slight exaggeration, but only slightly. The truth is that I did have way too many bananas in my freezer, and I needed a banana something recipe to use some of them up. Preferably a large number of them! I have a paleo banana bread recipe already here, but it only calls for 1 cup of mashed banana, and that wasn't going to do! Then I found the Civilized Caveman Cooking and his banana bread recipe and I was sold! 2 1/2 cups mashed banana? Hot dog, we have a wiener! Yikes, that looks more strange typed out than when I just say it out loud. No matter, enjoy the recipe! Oh, I added chocolate chunks to it too, because, well, do I even need to explain why? Paleo Banana Chocolate Chunk Bread From the Civilized Caveman Cooking. Find his recipe here Ingredients:
Method:
I have made this loaf a few times, and to store it I cut it up, then stick it into an airtight container and put it into the freezer. My favourite way to eat it out of the freezer is to put it into the oven for 15 minutes or so (just on the rack, not on a baking sheet or anything), and let the outside get crisp while the inside get warm. Yumm-o.
Anyway, I hope you all have a great Wednesday! I hope to bake and bake and bake today! That's the plan, at least. I need to get a workout in too, as well as do my usual things like tidying/cleaning, making dinner for the fam, and doing the chores at the barn. The whole day is in front of me, and I'm ready to go! Well, after one more cup of coffee. Bonjour, I'm back today with a recipe from Dr. Chase. Sort of. I'm not sure he would recognize the recipe, or even approve of it, really. I took a recipe called "Chicken and Other Meat Pies", as well as a "Pastry or Crust" recipe and made them paleo (Dr. Chase say "what?"), and also added onion, broccoli, carrots, & celery to round it out. I didn't add potatoes...I didn't dare after reading this comment from the book, "Serve (the meat pie) hot, with mashed potatoes, made rich with milk and butter or cream, if you have it. Some put potatoes in the pie, but it is out of fashion, and, thank the Lord, there is one fashion, at least, which is conducive to health, as water-soaked potatoes are not". Yikes. So, add potatoes....if you dare!!! O.k, Dr. Chase has been dead and gone these last 130 years or so, but still, if you feel a pang of un-fashionability because you want to add potatoes, blame Dr. Chase. Meat Pie (Paleo Pot Pie) *The crust needs some cool-down time in the fridge before baking it, fyi* :) Ingredients: For the Crust:
For the filling:
Method for the Crust:
Method for the Filling:
Putting it all together!:
Just for fun, here's the original recipe I started from: Chicken and Other Meat Pies: "According to the number in the family, 1, 2, or more, young and tender chickens, cut up, washed and put into a stew-kettle with water enough to nicely cover, and a very little salt, and stew till perfectly done, and if pork or any small pieces of any cold meats are to be used, stew also with the chicken; when entirely tender, rub a spoon or two of flour smooth, in cold water and stir in as gravy; add salt and pepper to taste. Set back on the stove to keep hot while you make the pastry or crust". Pastry or Crust: "If for 1 chicken in a 2 quart basin or pie dish, use 1 pt. flour with 1 tea-spoonful of baking powder , and 1 table-spoonful of lard, and a little salt. It is designed to have a thick, but light crust when baked. Put the chicken, with it's gravy, enough to nicely cover it, into the dish, without a bottom crust; but roll out the pastry of such a thickness as to just cover the dish nicely, cut a few fancy slits through the top, to allow the steam to escape, and place in the oven at once, and bake about 30 minutes, or long enough to cook the crust nicely." I love it! I added water to the pastry because I didn't see how on earth the crumbly mixture I had from following the directions could possibly become a crust without some liquid. And making a usual crust requires some water....I think Dr. Chase forgot to a add the water in the ingredients (I said that like a snoody teenager, by the way) :) This pie, as with many pies, tastes great as leftovers. I always get stumped writing a closing......whomp whomp.
I had this post ready for Monday, but we decided to head out early to make a super-surprise visit to the most amazing, most beautiful, strongest and bravest woman I know (and love a lot!). It turned into a 2 day thing, and we just got back yesterday evening, but it was a wonderful time. The most wonderful time. So, have a good Wednesday! The kids have their Christmas concert tonight, which I am looking forward to! The kids have been really excited and practicing their own little part in the show; Abby feeling very grown-up and important for having lines to memorize, Keziah singing her song over and over, and if she forgets a part....she starts from the beginning, and Caleb singing his own hilarious version of the 12 Days of Christmas, which I am sure is not the version he is actually doing in the show, but it sure is amusing!! Ciao xo I was at the dentist recently to get (another) cavity worked on (whomp whomp), and while having holes drilled into my rotten tooth and filled, I was watching Chef Abroad. Chef Michael Smith was in Hungary in a small village and was involved in a day-long event that centred around the slaughter of a pig and all the work that goes into getting all the cuts prepared, and how nothing was wasted. The thing that really struck me was how he kept talking about traditions, and making traditional food that was simple, cost effective and tasty. It got me thinking about simple recipes, and how some of the most simple recipes I've ever seen are in a book I have from 1893 called Dr. Chase's Third, Last & Complete Receipt Book & Household Physician. They didn't really have the luxury of extremely complex recipes then, so (aside from not recognizing some of the ingredients because we just don't use them anymore!) most of the recipes are really do-able and un-complicated! Well, this recipe is not some sort of tradition from my family, but it sure is simple. The cold weather came suddenly, and I wanted me some soup! This soup was extra appealing because of how cheap the ingredients are. I added bacon to it because, well....why not? This soup is gluten-free, and if you're a white potato eating kind of Paleo follower, it's Paleo too. If you don't eat white potatoes simple replace with sweet potatoes, or maybe even turnip? Onion Soup Ingredients:
Method:
I've made this soup a day ahead, and it tastes even better on day 2. I've also made it with added garlic powder and paprika to up the flavour (it is a yummy soup, but tastes of onions and potato (well, and bacon, if you use it). So, it's simple, it's gosh-darned cheap, and really customizable too as far as adding different spices. As mentioned above, I've added garlic and paprika, but rosemary would be super-yum too.
Thank-you Dr. Chase for this soup, which if I was using my brain at all I could have thought up all on my own, but apparently onions are too obvious and I took them for granted! In closing (because this is an essay), here are Dr. Chase's words regarding this soup: "An onion soup nicely made is one of the most healthful, consequently the best soups made". Indeed Dr. Chase, indeed. I will admit that the soup in that picture doesn't look that great! I explain myself a little at the end of this post, but, photo aside, just trust that this soup is really tasty! The idea/recipe for this came from a friend, but after I had read the e-mail with the recipe and put it into a folder on my e-mail it vanished.....well, it's more likely that I accidentally deleted it, because I searched "soup" in the search field, and all I found was my response to the e-mail without the recipe attached! Duh. I guess I could have e-mailed my friend to get the recipe again, but I'm a weirdo and didn't do that! Another duh. Make this soup and enjoy it as it is pleasurable remedy for cool fall days! Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Ingredients:
Method:
So, the reason why I think the photo doesn't do this soup justice is because when I made this recipe most recently I had no blender and no food processor, so I made this with ambition and elbow grease, and mashed the squash, onions, and apples by hand with a potato masher! That's why my soup in the photo above looks a little lumpier than usual! If you make this soup, your finished product will likely look ten-times nicer!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Whether you are working, or have it off, or are hunting-have fun, be safe, etc., etc., etc. I am staying home with the kids as my husband will be off hunting, then after hunter-man gets back we have a "date" to meet up with some new friends on Sunday evening, and I'm looking forward to that! Au revoir, à bientôt! xo I am tiiiiiired!!!! :) But, I am tired because I stayed up late with some friends who we only ever seem to have a proper visit with once a year, so there is a lot of visiting to cram into one evening/early morning. So, it was fun...but man I'm tired! Anywho, being tired and cool autumn days calls for stuffed sweet potatoes! Well, I think that at least, so that's gotta count for something! Kale & Egg Stuffed Sweet Potato Ingredients (for one):
Method:
Some people don't care to remove the flesh from the potato and will just add whatever mixture they have prepared on top, but I much prefer the taste of the whole thing once it's been worked into each other. That's just my opinion though! :) I generally only make one stuffed sweet potato at a time because no-one else in my family enjoys them enough for me to want to share the sweet potatoes with them!
Anyway, I'm drinking my coffee hoping to suddenly feel revived, and also feeling pretty sure I will need to have some serious self-talking to get my workout in for today! Well, that's all for now! Happy Monday! Alright, so, eating paleo means you cut out things like sugar, dairy and beans, but another thing you cut out is grains. I really didn't care much about that last one because I've never really been a huge grain lover. Well, I loooves me some grilled cheese, but that's not just regular toast or a sandwich; it exists all by itself as a delectable food, so, yup. Anyway, not having bread and buns, etc., didn't bother me. But one day I had made some fantastic soup and thought, "....gee, something to dip into this would sure be swell" (o.k., maybe I didn't talk like that, but it makes a better story). So because the soup was ready before it was actually dinnertime I started to experiment. Truth time: my first 2 attempts at some sort of "roll" were terrible. I threw them into our "chicken bowl" (aka-our compost-aka-what we feed our chickens!). :) But, the second bun was better than the first, so I thought third time could be the charm, and it was! Oh it was!!! It was soft, but could hold it's own, and was just what my soup needed! So many exclamation marks in this post!!! Sorry!!!!! haha...oh man... I still don't crave bread and buns, but having a recipe to use when you do want it is awesome! I felt like eating a burger with my hands and not completely bun-free with a knife and fork, so I whipped a double batch of bun and it made my (grumpy, pre-period) day! Over share? My bad. The Amazing Paleo Bun Ingredients: (This makes one bun with 1/2 inch pieces when sliced in half. Double recipe for a thicker bun as I did in the photos). I like a double bun for a burger, but just a single bun if I want something to dip into soup. :)
Method:
The picture above shows how these buns are soft and flexible, and not crumbly and weird! Well, I'm off! I'm feeling kinda lazy, but laziness is not an option today, unfortunately! (thumbs down).
I hope everyone has a good weekend! xo |
Hi, I'm Amy-Lyn! I am the lady behind this here blog! I live in the sticks with my animals, my super handsome husband, and my
3 amazing kids! Here you'll find things from recipes (gluten-free, paleo, and strait up junk food!), DIY ideas, thoughts on raising a son with autism, and whatever else pops into my brain! : ) Read more about me by clicking here! Want to Stay Connected?
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