Spinach Muffins!

So this is a fun new twist on egg muffins!  I once again found inspiration on Pinterest, and I'm so glad I did!  I make egg muffins every weekend that everyone snacks on during the week, but once in awhile you just have to switch things up.  The recipe I originally found was a little fancier than I needed it to be, I just wanted to make something nutritious and yummy that would be a good grab-and-go breakfast item for M during the week, and also an easy way to get little miss hippopotamus to eat her veggies.

Spinach Muffins

12 ounce bag of frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 cup cottage cheese

2 eggs

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Blend everything together in your blender, then distribute evenly into 12 muffin cups.  I love my silicone muffin cups, they make clean-up super fast.  I baked mine for about 35 minutes in a 350 oven because I wanted them to brown slightly.  As you can see this is a very simple recipe that you can tweak and adapt as you like.  Serving these for din?  Add parm, mozzarella, garlic, or even some chopped sun dried tomatoes! But for an easy breakfast or toddler veg, these are awesome.  

Gluten/Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

I've made a similar cookie before- these.  But this time they are so very much better.  I am calling them chocolate hazelnut cookies, but that doesn't mean they are nutella cookies- because they most definitely aren't.  They just use ground hazelnuts rather than almonds for the base.  Best of all, you use raw hazelnuts, skin on, no toasting!  If you like the taste of toasted hazelnuts, by all means, go ahead!  But I much prefer them raw.

Gluten/Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
1 cup hazelnuts
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
6-8 pitted dates
3/4 cup sugar-free chocolate chips (mine are hershey's but you can make your own by melting baking chocolate with some coconut oil and your sweetener of choice)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp coconut oil

In your cuisi, ninja, vita, etc, process your nuts, cocoa powder, salt, soda, and dates until you get a sticky, crumbly mixture.  Melt your chocolate chips with your coconut oil and vanilla extract and combine with your crumbly mixture.  Incorporate well.  Bonus- you can absolutely eat this raw!  (But not too much- if you're using SF choc chips beware they are probably made with some sort of sugar alcohol, malitol, sorbitol, that can give you tummy problems.)

Spoon onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 360 for 15 minutes or so.  Check on them at 10 minutes because if these babies start to burn you won't know as they're so dark.  They'll be soft when you take them out of the oven but will firm up after a few minutes cooling.  They'll be pretty crumbly when cool but so so so good!

Homemade Ranch Dressing made with Yogurt

AAaaarghhh I had a whole post finished and then I accidentally deleted and have to start over!  Ugh!  Oh well.  Today's post is about a super easy recipe for homemade ranch dressing- I cannot understand why it took me this long to make some.  No cooking involved, just stirring.  I have been searching high and low for an acceptable ranch dressing that I could feel good about giving S, but they either have a bunch of gross preservatives, sugar, HCFS, starch, or are made with soy derivatives or some other such product.  Ick.

Perusing Pinterest as I am wont to do, I found many a recipe that were almost what I was looking for, but not quite.  They all called for sour cream, for one.  Finally, after giving it some thought, I came up with this delightfully creamy, thick, tangy, and decadent tasting ranch dressing, that is made with YOGURT!  Yogurt folks.  No one would ever ever know.  I promise.  If I were a real rock star I would make this with homemade mayo- but I haven't gotten there yet.  If you have the balls to make some, here is a great recipe.

Homemade Ranch Dressing with Yogurt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup yogurt (I used plain non-fat european style from TJ's
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp mayo (mine is reduced fat canola oil mayo from TJ's)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried chives
1 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp seasoned salt

Stir to combine and pour into your jar/bottle.  This makes 2 1/2 cups.  My jar only held 2 cups so the rest I'm bringing to a friend.  This is super tangy and tastes so.... fresh!  Seriously.  When I think about all that processed junk they call dressing, all I can think about is chemicals and plastic and god knows how long it was sitting on the shelf.  Honestly- if the individual ingredients aren't actually food, and for some reason it can sit on a shelf at room temp for an eternity at the grocery store- how on earth do we just universally accept it as food?  It's not food!  It's an engineered chemical edible product.  Barf.  However, this probably will not last too terribly long, even in the fridge.  Well, it shouldn't anyways.  But no way would I throw this out in two weeks if it still smelled and tasted good.  Uh uh.  I made a big batch of ketchup like, months ago, and after defrosting some a month ago it's still in the fridge, and I'm still gonna use it, and I don't care. It's not bad, I think people get really super conservative about telling you when to throw stuff out.  You can throw out your half-eaten perfectly good homemade condiments whenever you want!  But me, I'll hang on to 'em until they start to look/taste weird.

S is starting to get a wee bit pickier about eating her veggies, so I figure this ranch should do the trick when her green beans are causing a tantrum.  Spinach has become a recent new fave when I add a touch of cream cheese and some kosher salt.  I do like ranch a lot, although I've never been one to slather it on pizza, sandwiches, french fries, tater tots etc, not that I eat that stuff anymore anyways.  What's your favorite way to eat ranch?

Happy eating GFG's, xoxo!!

Tomato Pesto No Carb "Flat Bread"

After my success with Mexican Chicken Dip, the canned chicken was once again forgotten in my pantry.  There just had to be something else I could do with it right?

Maybe you're familiar with the site- Your Lighter Side.  On this website there are kinds of low-carb recipes, probably the most famous being her oopsie rolls which I tried once but failed to whip the egg whites long enough- anyways- she has a few different uses for chicken that result in either a cracker-y or bread-y type finished product so I thought- what the hell, I'll try it!

It seemed too easy and too good to be true that by simply pulsing some chicken and cheese in a cuisi could result in something that would ultimately come out like a cracker- but it's true!

All I did was pulse a can of chicken with two slices of cheddar until crumbly, then press into a giant circle on a parchment lined baking sheet and baked at 425 for about 25 minutes.  It was crunchy and browed like flatbread!

After slathering with some organic pesto and chopped tomatoes- it was exactly like one of those yummy flatbreads I used to order.

Try it!  So easy and a great use for an otherwise forgotten food item that would probably languish in the pantry forever.  I'm looking forward to trying it again with different flavors!  I bet even some string cheese would work well and be mild enough in flavor to go pretty much any direction you wanted.

XoXoGFG

Tangy Slaw with Baked Lime and Cumin Spiced Fish

I loooooooooooove cabbage.  Napa, chinese, red, plain old green, whatever.  It is so dang good.  I could eat it plain.  But in this tangy slaw, it's sooooooooooo much better.  I wanted fish taco flavors without the taco, and this dish definitely delivers.  The fish was really just a protein thrown in for good measure, the real star of this meal is the cabbage for sure! 

Tangy Slaw
1/2 a head of cabbage, chopped
juice of one lime
3 green onions, sliced
3-4 tbsp mayo
1 tbsp (more or less depending on your preference) vietnamese chili garlic paste
kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well- let it sit in the fridge a few hours if you can.  Great served with this simple and no clean-up fish.

Baked Lime and Cumin Spiced Fish
3 fish fillets (tilapia, roughy, whatever mild fish you have)
zest of one lime
kosher/sea salt
sprinkle of cumin on each fillet

Place one fillet each on a square of aluminum foil and sprinkle liberally with your zest, cumin, and salt and wrap them up tightly.  Bake 20 min at 400.  Dunzo!  Serve atop your slaw and add a few slices of avo if you have 'em.  Or don't.  Yum!  S ate her fish without the lime zest, it's quite mild on its own so you really want a nice flavorful slaw with it. 

We aren't in to Mardi Gras and we don't do lent, but this would be great for a Friday night meal if you abstain from meat on Fridays.  I have a feeling there will be lots of fish recipes circulating starting about now.  Any good ones to share?  I usually have a boring white fish in the freezer, what's your favorite way to spice up mild frozen fish?  XoXoGFG

Sugar Free Nutella Popsicle!

Shopping at Target yesterday I spotted some cute heart-shaped popsicle freezy things on clearance from Vday- and I quickly snatched the last one.  With spring around the corner and zillions of popsicle recipes on the interwebs, I just had to give it a shot!  So easy and way better than buying those gross sugar free fudgsicles in the freezer case.  You could make this just as easily with almond or peanut butter or cashew or sunbutter!

Sugar Free Nutella Popsicle
4 tsp homemade nutella
2 small overripe bananas, or one large and half of another one, etc
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/3 cup (nut)milk

Blend everything together and transfer to your popsicle thingies.  Freeze for four hours.  Mine need to be thawed under lukewarm water for the popsicle to slide out.  Enjoy GFG's!!! 

What's your favorite popsicle recipe??

MKG's Giada-Inspired Meatball Stoup

S and I are lucky girls.  On Tuesday night M treated us to a culinary delight, his famous Meatball Stoup.  Well, it's famous now anyways.  Many nights I fall asleep with Giada or Ina playing in a continuous loop, and one day last week M came in as Giada was making this.  Being the thoughtful guy that he is, of course he decided to GFG the recipe.  Here's what he did:

MKG's Giada-Inspired Meatball Stoup
2 lbs ground meat, half sausage half ground beef
1 egg
handful dried parsley
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper

1/2 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
carton of mushrooms, chopped
couple cups of green beans, trimmed and chopped
15 oz drained diced tomatoes
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
S&P
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Form your meatballs and brown in a large dutch oven.  Remove from DO.  In same pot, throw in all your veg and cook for 10 minutes-ish.  Then add broth and tomatoes and season to taste.  Bring to a simmer then put your meatballs back in and cook for 20-30 minutes. 

The stoup was awesome and we eventually even got the baby hippo to eat some veggies!  Lately all the girl wants is cheese, meat, or fruit.  Or cauliflower, or maybe some broccoli, or anything with hummus.  Anyways.  It was great.  Good job M!!!!

Zucchini Noodle (Zoodle) Pad Thai

Like Thai food?  Sad you can't eat noodles, like pad thai?  Have no fear, the great Zoodle is here.

This recipe is dope.  Tastes SPOT on.  It was inspired by this recipe.  I've adapted it slightly as I eat a modified paleo diet- I'm not a full-blown cavegirl quite yet. 

Zucchini Noodle (Zoodle) Pad Thai
3 medium zucchinis, julienned with your fancy shmancy julienne peeler that costs $9 from BBB and is the best kitchen gadget EVER
4 green onions, chopped
1 inch of ginger, minced (did you know you could buy fresh ginger and freeze it, and break off little amounts as you need it?)
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp fish sauce
juice of half a lime or a couple squeezes from the green lime-shaped bottle (I won't tell)
4 tsp natural peanut butter
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
kosher salt
some filtered water nearby
*sprinkle of some stevia is optional if you want to sweeten it up just a bit like a more traditional pad thai

In a large saute pan, saute your green onions in some EVOO or coconut oil for a few minutes, then throw in your minced garlic and ginger.  Add a bit of salt, then add in your fish sauce, chili garlic sauce, lime juice, and PB.  At this point, I added probably 2 or 3 tbsp of water because I wanted a thinner sauce.  Taste your sauce and see what it needs more of at this point, because bland pad thai would suck, and because zucchinis taste like nothing so you better have some yummy sauce!  Throw in your zoodles and cook in sauce for about 10 minutes.  This dish rocks.  Would be great with some chicken.  I was lazy and didn't make chicken.

Instead, I made M this fun kimchi and cucumber salad with a fried egg.

Weeknight dinner done in no time at all folks.

Paleo Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

It's hard to believe that this is like, our seventh valentine's day together or something, and that we'll be celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary this summer.  I still remember our wedding so vividly.  One thing I do remember particularly well was our super yummy but definitely NOT GFG acceptable carrot cake wedding cake.  So what better treat to make on Vday than some yummy paleo carrot cake cupcakes?!

As far as gluten/grain/sugar free baking goes, I am totally blown away by how these turned out.  Scratch that, as far as baking goes in general, I'm totally thrilled by these.  I don't think anyone would know that these are gluten, grain, and sugar free.  They turned out awesome and don't have that really dense, puck-like consistency that so many paleo treats do.


Paleo Carrot Cake Cupcakes
1 cup almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3 room temp eggs
1/4 cup of your preferred liquid sweetener*
1 tbsp filtered water or nutmilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated carrot (4 medium carrots should do it)
2 tbsp oil, like melted coconut, or walnut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat your oven to 325 and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.  In a large mixing bowl combine your flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Stir well with a fork and make sure to get all the clumps out!  Or whisk it, even better.  In a separate bowl, mix your eggs, vanilla, liquid sweetener, and oil together.  Then add in your raisins, carrots, and walnuts.  Pour wet into dry and incorporate.  Depending on your coconut flour, you may need to add a tbsp of water or nutmilk to this mixture.  Using a tbsp scoop, scoop 2 tbsp of the batter into each cupcake liner.  I got exactly 12 cupcakes.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

*Liquid Sweetener Options:
1/4 cup unrefined honey
or 1/4 cup maple syrup
or 1/4 cup coconut nectar
For SF:
1/4 Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup (which is what I used)
or 1/4 cup unsweetened nutmilk with 3 or 4 packets of stevia or equivalent amount of erythritol or stevia in the raw
or about 40-45 drops vanilla creme liquid stevia mixed with 1/4 cup nutmilk

Now IMO, no carrot cake is complete without cream cheese frosting.  Cream cheese is certainly NOT a paleo food but there are many many good paleo cream cheese frosting approximations out there.  The easiest and best option for a yummy frosting would be to simply open a can of full-fat coconut milk, leave it in the fridge overnight, and the whip it with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sweetener.  If that doesn't do the trick, there are all kinds of cashew cream cheese frosting recipes to choose from.  For me personally, I wanted the real thing.

Sugar-Free Cream Cheese Icing
3 oz neufchatel or whatever you got
2 tbsp organic pastured unsalted butter
3 1/2 tsp erythritol (I use ZSweet brand)
splash of (nut)milk

Whisk everything together (I used an electric whisk) until it fluffs up a little, and spread over cooled cupcakes. 

These cupcakes are divine.  I shit you not.  They are really really good.  I think I underbaked mine a tad, I'd leave mine in for a few extra minutes next time, but they are still phenom.  They certainly made for a fun Vday treat, and while not chocolate, they definitely get the job done.  Happy baking and happy eating- XoXoGFG

Happy Valentine's Day GFG's!

Vday was never really my thing.   To me, it's right up there with Secretary's Day (or worse, Bosses Day) or Groundhog Day or something.  But since having a family and a little dolly who is my Valentine 365 days of the year, I have come around a little bit.

Valentine's Day used to mean plenty of chocolates, followed by a stomach-ache.  And I loooooooooove chocolate.  There has got to be a way to still have some chocolate candy on Vday, right?

Right.  Ok now maybe these candies don't look quite as pretty as the kind that come in a red heart-shaped box (ok so they look like ass) but who cares?  They're homemade.  And I suppose if I took more than three-seconds to form they'd look halfway decent.  Whatever.  They are chocolate, and they are candy, and I'm stoked!  Here's what you do-  first, make this.  That gives you sugar free chocolate, which can be made into bars, bites, or even chocolate chips.  Rather than use agave or stevia drops, I used my trusty sugar free vanilla syrup.  Ok- got your chocolate all ready?  If it's not melted already, re-melt it.  Then, you'll another tablespoon of coconut oil, and another tablespoon of SF vanilla syrup.  Quickly, dump in some shredded coconut, chopped pecans, and cut up dried fruit- like cherries, or apricots, or whatever.  Mix everything together, then form into little shapes on a piece of wax paper.  Let cool a few hours et voila!  Chocolate candy.

Pecan Chocolate Candies
melted SF chocolate, recipe here
1 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tbsp SF vanilla syrup
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup chopped dried fruit

If you wanted to make them really special- you could dust them in some cocoa powder, or shape them into little hearts.  Or make a chocolate ganache to drizzle over.  Super yummy, no cooking involved.  Happy Vday, XoXoGFG

Sugar Free Tart Peach Frozen Yogurt

As you can see, this pic is not of sugar free tart peach frozen yogurt, though equally delicious if I may say so myself.  Isn't it funny that by 10AM you've already had a pretty full day, in toddler time?  We took a trip downtown to a cute little kiddo exhibit, and little miss hippopotamus had a grand old time.  So far it's been a pretty nice weekend, which kicked off with a relaxing shabbat dinner Friday evening.  A shabbat dinner of... bacon wrapped hot dogs!  Hmmmm, probably not the best thing to make for shabbat dinner, but whatever.

Have you ever had a bacon wrapped hot dog?  In my former life on the CW diet, I would never in a million years have dared to eat such a thing- but now- I don't bat an eye.  A little heavy on the nitrates but what the hell.  So easy.  Take a strip of bacon and wrap it around your dog- place on a cooling rack  over a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 400 for 20-ish minutes or until your bacon starts to crisp up.  Pretty yummy folks!  For a veg we had:

Nothing crazy.  Peppers, onions, and grape tomatoes with a little sea salt and cumin and paprika.

What was crazy, crazy good that is, was my latest experiment with the ice cream maker.  OMG!!!!  I am really psyched about it, and the best part is how much it makes (and for a fraction of the cost of going to the yogurt shop.)

Get to the g-store and get yourself some plain 0% Greek Yogurt now!

Sugar Free Tart Peach Frozen Yogurt
-3 cups plain greek yogurt, I used 0%
-4-6 containers of peach baby food (I used 4 but would use 5 or 6 next time.  Or go crazy and do 3 peach and 3 banana, berry, whatever!)
-4 tablespoons or your preferred sweetener (I used Z-Sweet which is a mixture of erythritol and stevia which is amazing- from WF)
-juice of one lemon

In a large mixing  bowl, combine yogurt with baby food, sweetener, and lemon juice.  If you want to bump up the tartness, use the zest as well.  Combine well and refrigerate for 3-4 hours so it's nice and chilled.  Prepare the yogurt according to your ice cream maker's instructions and in 20min you'll have awesomely peachy frozen yogurt, or pop it in the freezer for 2 more hours and it'll be a bit harder.  Just note that the next day, it'll be rock hard straight out of the freezer.  You'll need to let it sit out on the counter for a bit first.

I loved this yogurt because it's packed full of protein, and has less carbs than other yogurt because greek yogurt has less lactose and carbs as the whey has been removed (right?) and it has a great tart flavor and a hint of sweet.  Plus, no gross chemicals or weird ingredients like when you buy the stuff at pinkberry or wherever.  You know exactly what's in there and it is GOOD stuff!  And it tastes incredible.  Not like some sad diabetic imitation but like the real thing- if not better!  And we have tons left over.  Yum!

Do you have an ice cream maker?  I'd like to try plain old vanilla too.  Just some erythritol and vanilla extract.  What's your favorite way to make ice cream or frozen yogurt?

Fancy Crab Dip

Super Bowl shmooper bowl.  Honestly, who cares.  The one and only reason I was looking forward to Sunday was because I wanted to try this crab dip recipe.  Someone pinned a Paula Deen crab dip recipe- upon further inspection it was about a gallon of mayo and a brick of cheese.  Eh, no thanks.  So I improvised and came up with something much more my style.  This dip was very easy to throw together- I did not use a mixer and it took only a few minutes, not counting bake time.  Totally delish and a fabulous app for a party.  Next time you need a quick dip recipe and don't feel like making guac, give this a try.  You'll be glad you did!

Fancy Chive Crab Dip
1 16 oz. can crab meat
8 ounces (at least, I used about 9) softened cream cheese, or neufchatel
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup chopped chives
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp (give or take) Old Bay seasoning

Grease a small baking dish.  Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Serve with crudite and you've got a dip touchdown!  Sorry.

Banana Vanilla Protein Pancakes

I've had some vanilla protein powder in the pantry for quite awhile.  I had first purchased Jay Robb vanilla, which I really liked a lot- but then got this brand as it was wayyyyyyyyy cheaper.  There are only a couple completely sugar free whey protein isolate powders out there, with the minimal additives I was looking for, and this was one of them.  It's ok, but not great.  I really prefer Jay Robb- but I am not going to waste this stuff!  But it's tough to get motivated to make an "ok" shake when I know that is basically my meal, so I hardly ever use it.  Not today!  These Banana Vanilla Protein Pancakes were awesome, and I felt even better about serving them to my family than usual because of the added protein punch. 

Banana Vanilla Protein Pancakes
1 overripe banana
2 tbsp coconut flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 scoop protein powder
3-4 tbsp milk, or water

Mash your banana then add in your eggs and vanilla and incorporate.  Then add your dry ingredients.  Pour a little water or milk into your pancakes until it has the nice pourable consistency you want.  This made 10 small to medium sized pancakes.  Yum!

A No Recipe Recipe- Chickpea Poppers

I'm sure everyone has already made these, I've made them a dozen times, and they keep getting better.  This doesn't really qualify as a recipe, it's just too darn easy.

Rinse and drain three cans of chickpeas and spread them out on a baking sheet.  Pour 2 tbsp of EVOO over and then another 2 tbsp of sea salt, plus whatever seasonings you like.  For instance, a sprinkle of cayenne, chili powder, cumin, or go herby and use some oregano and rosemary.  Toss everything so that all the little duded are well coated.

400 for about 25 min should do it.  I like mine crisp and crunchy, but if you want them a bit softer reduce your baking time.  These make a great snack and can help you reduce your nut intake, if you're so inclined.  What's your favorite way to make chickpea poppers??

Tangy Grilled Flank Steak

I make a lot of flank steak, and top round.  They are lean, and cheap, and for whatever reason I prefer the chewier cuts than a more tender filet for example.  But they do need a nice long marinade, that's for sure.  Usually I go asian with marinades but that can get redundant.  This was an awesome marinade that went great with my spicy chickpea poppers.  Try it out next time you need a quick marinade!  And also- if you don't have a nice heavy cast-iron grill pan, get one!  I must use this thing 4 times a week.  It is awesome!  Little smokey though.

Tangy Grilled Flank Steak
1 large flank steak
4 tbsp lime juice (i actually only had bottled which worked out great)
2 tbsp meyer lemon EVOO
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Combine juice, oil, and seasonings in a bowl and mix well.  Place your steak in a ziploc bag and pour over.   Don't worry that it doesn't look like very much marinade, you don't need a whole lot.  Seal bag and leave it in the fridge for 3-7 hours.  Grill steak 5 minutes per side and you're done!

What's new with everyone?  I bet there are some awesome super bowl recipes floating around out there!  I have a crab dip recipe I'm going to try.  I haven't been posting too many recipes lately.  One- I've been making a lot of the usual standby recipes, and two- I haven't been making any treats lately.  I don't really miss them or feel like making them, although I know M wishes otherwise.  If I want a treat I'll have some dried cherries, or a piece of dried mango, or some SF chocolate from TJ's.  So, my pinterest board is kind of sad right now as a result.  Oh well.

Have a great Super Bowl weekend everyone!