Winter Vegetables

Christmas is almost over, and we have successfully pulled off a gluten free Christmas that was mostly Paleo. Last year when we started the diet, this would have been an impossibility for us to successfully pull off. It seems easier this year, thanks to all the wonderful bloggers out there, who have contributed to expanding the world of Paleo diets. This Christmas instead of dreading the menu, and feeling it was hard to stay gluten free, I found myself looking forward to planing a menu that would be fun, and creative. And, yes, perhaps to many sweets…

This is a healthy dish that is hearty and goes beautifully with meat, particularly Prime Rib. 

Ingredients.

• 14 Thyme sprigs
• 2 large beets, one gold, one red beet (peeled and quartered)
• 3 carrots (peeled and quartered)
• 1 Parsnip (peeled and quartered)
• 2 turnips (peeled and quartered)
• 1/3 cup of Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of Himalayan Salt
• pinch of pepper
• 4 garlic cloves (diced)
• 1 onion (sliced)
• 1 fennel Bulb, cored and diced

Preheat to 325.

In a casserole dish coat Olive oil on the bottom of the dish. Add all veggies and spices, and toss , coating olive oil on the vegetables. Feel free to add extra olive oil to drizzle on top, and cover with foil.  Bake for 

90 minutes.

For more flavor add Romano Cheese, and two tablespoons of butter.
Serve and enjoy.

Lime Fiesta Salad!

• 2 cups of Herb mix, or Spring mix
• 2 vine tomatoes
• 1 lime
• 2 mushrooms, 
• 1 Avocado
• 1/4 green pepper,
• Feta Cheese as a garnish
• Dressing ( Martha Stewart)
• 1 Lemon
• 1 lime
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 tsp of Koasher salt
• 1/4 tsp of ground white pepper

Squeeze the lemon and lime in a bowl, and mix with olive oil, salt and pepper. Dress salad, and serve!

Serve with Zesty Chicken Soup and enjoy!




Pin It

Sweet Potato Carrot Soup

Nothing reminds me more of autumn, than warm bowls of delicious stews and harvest soups. Now is a great season for carrots and Carrot soup is one of my favorite soups to make. It is a hearty soup that is sure to satisfy your taste buds, fill your belly up, on the first serving. Best of all it is a quick dish to make and fairly inexpensive. This dish made around 20 servings for my family, and we have eaten for lunch for several days now. I am unsure if it can be freeze due to the Yogurt? If anyone does know the answer to this feel free to leave a comment below.

• 2 1/2 pounds peeled or scrubbed, chopped carrots
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup of water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped (optional, for heartier soup)
• 3-4 tablespoons Kerrygold butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1-2 small cloves crushed garlic
• 1/3 cup Almond Flour
• dash of Kosher salt
• 1 cup of Greek Yogurt, plain
• 1 tbsp of Honey
• 1 tsp of nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon dried mint (I bought mint tea at the grocery store, and cut open the bag)
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• and 1 tbsp of grated ginger (optional)

1. In your dutch oven melt butter and saute onion, and garlic for 6 minutes or until onion is clear. Add salt, and potatoes and carrots, and saute for five more minutes.
2. Add stock and water, and bring to a boil. Should take 15 to 20 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are tender. 
3. Mix soup in a blender, by transferring carefully, I would probably cool the soup if I were to use this method. Or you can carefully mix with a handheld mixer if you are in a hurry. Definitely wear an apron for this, and do not burn yourself!
4. Stir in Almond flour, Greek yogurt, honey, and all the rest of the dry ingredients. 

Serve and enjoy!

Quick facts about the health benefits to this soup..

• Carrots are rich in antioxidant nutrient beta-carotene, and polyacetylenes as phytonutrients that can help inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells, provides cardioprotective benefits, vision health, Anti-Cancer Benefits,
•  Sweet Potatoes have Anti-Inflammatory Nutrients. They can also regulates blood sugars, and has beta-carotene, an antioxidant that converts to vitamin A in your body and switches on DNA that's in charge of producing new skin cells and shedding old ones.
• Garlic, acts as an natural antibiotic, which has allicin and dilly sulfides. Again garlic is a powerful antioxidant.
• Greek Yogurt has twice as much protein as regular, packed with calcium and live bacterial cultures.
• Almonds are high in monounsaturated Lower LDL-Cholesterol and Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease, full of vitamin E. Almonds Provide Double-Barreled Protection against Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease
• Eating Nuts Lowers Risk of Weight Gain
• Manganese, Copper & Riboflavinâ Provides more assistance with energy production
• Daily consumption of almonds help you eat a healthier diet
• Almonds Help Prevent Gallstones

Roasted Tomatoes

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

I hate to admit that I have been sort of lazy this summer, and not wanting to cook much. I have been staying away from the more complicated dishes and trying to stick to the basic easy to cook dishes.

This recipe was so simple, and can turn ordinary dishes into the extraordinary dishes! Add it to salads, pizza, marinara, scrambled eggs, or my sun-dried-feta-cauliflower ,or even soups! I found myself snacking on them, because they store easily!

Loaded with tons of Antioxidant goodness!

• 16 Vine-ripened tomatoes 
• Two tablespoons of olive oil
• Kosher Sea salt

Preheat oven to 275.
Slice tomato's 1/2 inch each and place tomatoes on to parchment paper on a baking sheet. Lightly drizzle olive oil on top, and sprinkle lightly salt. Roast for 3 hours.

Make sure to chill the tomatoes before refrigerating. You can easily store these for up to a week, in a Ziploc bag.

Banana Pancakes

Banana Pancakes

I am pancake snob. You have coffee snobs, wine conesures and then me the pancake-connoisseur-snob. I am on the search for the perfect Paleo Pancake, and have yet to find one or make one. Out of all the recipes that we have tried so far none of compared to my beloved Saturday morning pancakes. 

This recipe is close to my liking! Out of all the Almond Flour recipes that I have tried online so far, the consistency of the batter is closes to pancakes. They are not to salty, the do not fall apart, no crumbling. What I would do next time is take out the Apple Cider Vinegar. My kids and their friends asked for seconds, so it does past the kid test.

As a pancake-conesures-snob, I rate this pancake recipe at a 7 out of 10. So far the other Almond flour recipes I have tried rated at a 3, so that is not to shabby! 

• 2 cups Almond Flour 
• 2 Whole eggs
• 2 Egg yokes
• 1/4 teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of Baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of Maple extract
• 1/2 cup of Pure Maple Syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar (optional)
• 1/2 cup of Almond Milk
• 1 mashed Banana!!
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter ( optional)

When measuring with a 1/4 cup Makes 14 to 15 pancakes. 

Takes a while to cook on each side, I would recommend 3 to 5 minutes, on low to medium heat on each side. If the heat is too high, almond flour will burn easily.

Fluffy! 

Stacked and ready to eat

Garnished or accessorized? 

Notice if heat is too high, almond flour easily burns

Pin It

Broccoli Bacon Soup

It has been a while since my last post. We have been cooking, and taking photos, and chasing our kids! Mainly chasing kids! Which is why I love this recipe that I am about to share with you today! It is fast, and loaded full of vitamins. It took me under 35 minutes to prepare the whole dish.

Green Goodness!

Recently, I went over to a girlfriends house for a fun night of Bunco, and indulged in a delicious blueberry muffin. The recipe, was from the new cookbook My Father's Daughter, by Gwyneth Paltrow. Everyone knows that I have a deep love of cooking and cookbooks, I would consider it more of an obsession, to be honest.

Last week, I bought the book, and made an amazing broccoli  soup. Broccoli soup was more of an experiment to see if my daughters would eat the broccoli, with no complaints. It was a pleasant surprise when they devoured their bowls with no complaints. They loved this soup, so much they had two servings. I did modify it, it a little. Next time to add more life to the soup I will add diced tomato. We will be making more of it this week, and freezing it.

• 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, Napa
• 2 teaspoons of Granulated Garlic, or you could use 3 fresh garlic cloves sliced
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 3 Medium Broccoli stalks, cut into small florets
• 32 ounces of Chicken Broth, or Vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon of Celtic Salt
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 5 slices of cooked bacon (omit for vegan option)
• 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese, or sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (optional, if dairy free)

This recipe is really simple. In a skillet add olive oil, and then toss in onion, broccoli, granulated garlic. Cook on medium high for ten minutes to fifteen minutes, until broccoli is green and tender but firm. In a dutch oven, add the broccoli mixture, broth, salt and pepper. Then use the skillet to fry up the bacon. While bacon is cooking simmer soup mixture on a medium high for ten minutes, and then add bacon and heat at a medium for ten more minutes.

Pour soup into a large bowl, and puree. I use my Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender. 

Serve and enjoy!

Messy looking, but tasty

Two thumbs up from our picky eater!

Thumbs up from V

My family loved this recipe so much it was gone as quickly as it was made.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Many people turn their noses up to Cauliflower, thinking that it is flavorless. However, this vegetable is highly versatile, low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, water and vitamin C, and an excellent source of carotenoids. With phytochemicals, indole-3-carbinol, cauliflower is known for aiding and blocking growth of cancer cells, and can actually prevent and slow the grown of cancer and tumors. Cauliflower also may assist the liver in detoxing carcinogenic substances. Feel free to play with this recipe, it can easily be made vegetarian, dairy free, and of course gluten free!

• 1/2 stick Butter or olive oil
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 3/4 of a cup of Green onion, sliced and divided in half
• 2 whole Carrot thinly sliced
• 1 stalk Celery, well Diced
• 1 whole Cauliflower Heads
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Or Dried Parsley
• 32 ounces of organic Chicken Broth Or Stock or vegetable Broth
• 2 cups Almond milk ( or milk)
• 1 cup Half-and-half (optional)
• Sprinkle of salt and Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
• 1/2 cup of Sour Cream (optional)
• 4 slices of Turkey Bacon (Applegate) (optional)
• 1/2 cup of red Bell Pepper diced
• 1/2 cup of tomato diced

In a Dutch oven brown bacon.Remove, and then melt butter or add 1/4 of a cup of Olive oil.

Add minced Garlic, whites of onions, reserve the green Chives Saute for 2 minutes

Add carrots and celery and continue to saute for 5 minutes then add Cauliflower and cook for 10 more minutes.

Add Chicken or vegetable Broth, cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Add 2 pieces of diced Bacon

salt and pepper. And 1/2 teaspoon of paprika.

Now you can either get your blender and Puree, or what I find easiest is to pour contents into a bowl and puree with my Smart Stick Blender. Once the soup is pureed, pour it back into the dutch oven and add Milk/ Cream, and sour cream, perhaps more pepper if desired or even better a pinch of RED Pepper! Stir well.

Spoon into bowls, and top with the remaining 2 pieces of diced Bacon, a tablespoon of red bell pepper, some chives and parsley. The tomato is optional.

This dish is pretty filling, and very delicious.

Tracey Original Egg

The Tracey Original Egg mixture for Lunch

So delicious, you will eat it every morning!

My husband always teases me that if I call something a Tracey Original, that it will be an enjoy only one time meal. A "Tracey Original" so we like to call it, is a dish that I randomly throw together, with no direction. It is items that we happen to have on hand that are selectively chosen by me and thrown into a dish. Typically these dishes are amazingly delicious, to where everyone will savor the dish, and ask me to make sure to write it down. Which I never have time to do, and they are a once in a life time meal!

The Tracey Original Egg mixture is not a one timer. It is my lunch on most days. Very Filling, and satisfying! Sorry Vegans, this a Vegetarian recipe.

• One sliced Mushroom
• 3 egg whites (or)  2 whole eggs
• Granulated Garlic ( a sprinkle)
• Paprika ( a sprinkle)
• Pepper ( a sprinkle)
• Garlic ( a sprinkle)
• Olive oil ( a spray)
• Feta Cheese ( tablespoon)
• Spinach or spring mix ( one hand full)

In a medium sized skillet spray olive oil. First add the mushroom saute for a minute or two on medium heat. Next add Egg and spices. Scramble until almost done and then add Feta, continue to scramble for another minute, and then add Spinach, and saute until the consistency you like!

The Health benefits to this meal is found in the Eggs, mushroom, olive oil, garlic powder, and spinach mix. 

Simple spices

Toss and scramble  

Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream Pie

Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream Pie
Yum Yum!

Pie crust

• 2 cups Almond flour
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of Cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of Irish creme Agave
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons of cold butter 

1. In a medium bowl mix Blanched Almond Flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa powder.
2. Mix in Agave, vanilla extract and butter with a fork.
3. Spread into pie pan with hand
4. Chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes
5. Preheat oven at 350
6. bake for 10 minutes
7. Cool and place in freezer

Pie crust mix

I had a hard time getting the butter to mix in. I am thinking about leaving the butter out and letting it soften to room temp.

Ice Cream Filling

Ice Cream Filling

• 1 tablespoon of bowling water
• 2 teaspoons of coffee instant
• 3/4 cup of chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons of coconut milk
• 1 Pint Naked Coconut 
• 1 pint Dark Chocolate  Luna & Larry's Organic Coconut Bliss

1. In a small bowl heat a tablespoon of water in the microwave for a minute, and dissolve a packet of Via coffee. 
2. On stove top heat in a saucepan 3/4 cup of chocolate chips, and add 2 tablespoons of coconut milk. 
3. Add melted chocolate mixture into a small bowl with the coffee that has now dissolved into the water.
4. In frozen bowl mix the two variety of ice creams and add 3 Tablespoons of chocolate/ coffee mixture. 
5. Spoon ice Cream filling into the Pie, 
6. then cover and freeze for 3 to 4 hours.

I told my husband two Chocolate and this is what he brought home! So we improvise!

Chocolate goodness!

After filling Pie with Ice Cream, I smoothed top with a Cake smoother tool, and drizzled on a little of the extra melted Chocolate.

Sun-dried Feta Cauliflower

Sun-dried Feta Cauliflower

• 2 cups of Cauliflower
• 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomato
• 1/4 cup of feta cheese or goat cheese
• Sprinkle of oregano, basil, garlic powder, and thyme

1. Steam cauliflower.
2. In sauce pan add Cauliflower, Sun-dried tomato's, feta and spices,
3. Serve and savor!

Berry Summer Salad

I love summer Berry Much. What better way to celebrate warmer temperatures than by enjoying a light summer salad, topped with natures antioxidant goodness!

• 1 Cup of Rasperries
• 1 Cup of Blackberries
• Avocado
• several sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 6 cups of Fresh Spring Mix or Spinach
• 1/2 cup of Goat Cheese or Feta Cheese
• 3 Tablespoons of Napa Valley Naturals Olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons of Oilerie Balsamic Vinaigrette aged 25 years
• a dash of salt

This is a simple recipe.

Toss leaves in a bowl. Toss on top the rinsed fruit and diced avocado. Add Cheese. In a small bowl add Olive oil, and balsamic, and a pinch of salt. Stir well and add to salad.

This can be topped with any not that you choose. Goes excellent with Chicken as well!

Serve and Enjoy!

Mexican Spinach

This Mexican Spinach, is oh so delicious alone, or could be added to eggs or you could do as we did tonight and use as a topping on the Fajita Mexican Pancakes! 

• 1 teaspoon of Cumin
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 tomato deseeded and diced 
• Defrosted of 10 oz frozen organic spinach
• 4 oz of Goat cheese

Throw all ingredients in skillet and cook for ten minutes on medium high! 

Fajita's on Mexican Pancake

Greek Strawberry Salad (Tracey Original!)

Today was a perfect day in Portland! A high of 70 degrees, with the sun shining all day. My daughter had a play date and had been playing all day long. They were playing Cinderella, and cleaned the kid table outside off, and placed fresh picked flowers in a bowl. 

The simplest joys in life are the best!

For snack I made Fresh Greek Strawberry salad for the girls! And of course they loved this sweet and cool snack after playing outdoors all day long!

4 cups of Fresh Sliced Strawberries

1 Tablespoon of honey, or Maple Syrup

1 tablespoon shaved coconut

6 tablespoons of Greek Honey Yogurt

1 Banana

Slice the strawberries and toss in a medium sized bowl, stir in sweetener, Yogurt, coconut, and sliced banana.

Chill for twenty minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Strawberry Walnut Spinach Salad drizzled in a White White Vinaigrette

The sun has magically appeared in Portland Oregon, and the days has become warmer and are now lasting longer! It has been amazing weather, and the farmers market is right around the corner and so I am of course inspired to prepare dishes that are seasonal delights here in Oregon!

So I thought what better way than to celebrate late spring in Oregon, than with delicious strawberries!

 Strawberry Walnut Spinach Salad drizzled in a White White Vinaigrette, is a light salad that can be prepared in no time, and you do not even need to turn on the oven! Of course we did serve this with a chicken that was seasoned with Thyme, Oregano, and salt!

• 4 cups of strawberries
• 3 cuties or 1 orange
• 10 cups of fresh spinach
• 1/3 cup goat cheese
• 2 tblsp crushed walnuts
• 1 tblsp maple syrup (or Local Honey)
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbps white wine vinegar   
• sprinkle of salt 1/4 teaspoon

In a bowl toss 10 cups of prepared or (fresh farmers market) Spinach. Squeeze one whole cutie, or one tablespoon of orange into the spinach and toss.

In a separate bowl mix all the rest of the wet ingredients. Squeeze Orange, maple syrup, olive oil, white wine vinegar and the sprinkle of salt, all together.

Coat spinach, and then add strawberries, sliced goat cheese, and walnuts. Toss and serve!

One Thumbs up 

One Thumbs up 

One Thumbs up