Chocolate Magic hard shell ice cream topping

I am a sucker for hard shell ice cream. Before I realized that I was lactose intolerant Dairy Queen's dipped ice cream cones was my favorite treat in the world. A weakness of mine during pregnancy. My husband would take me to get one almost everyday when I was expecting my daughter Emma. 


It was kind of sad when we gave up chocolate syrups, and hard shell dipped ice creams. I had a sigh of relief when coconut ice cream showed up to my local grocery store. Perhaps, I even sang some hallelujah's out loud in the grocery store isle in my head!


This month in my bon appetite magazine I found a recipe for BombeBasticks. They looked so good I had to make them, and best of all they fit into our allowed non gluten/ non dairy cheats.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate. ( I used a bag of dark chocolate chips)
• 1/3 cup of coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Directions:


Combine dark chocolate and coconut oil in a medium metal bowl, and set over a medium saucepan with boiling water. Stir Chocolate until melted. Remove from hear and add cinnamon and lemon zest. Let slightly cool and pour on top with a spoon on your ice cream. Garnish with pistachios, or almonds!

Note: The recipe called for 8 sugar cones and 2 pints of ice cream. In which she coated the scoops of ice cream. We did not do this. With the excess, I made little chocolates. Pouring the melted chocolate in molds, and then we froze the molds to let the chocolate set! 

Fried egg on sweet potato hash

Seeing that it has been a while since my last post, I thought thought that I should post something up really quickly. 

This recipe is one that we made several weeks ago. The inspiration came from a food magazine, of coarse in my quest to make it healthier, the mayonnaise is homemade, and the salsa is a fresh organic brand from whole foods.

This dish is a perfect Saturday, or Sunday brunch, and would the perfect crowd pleaser!

Ingredients:

Mayonnaise~

• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise (homemade if you like)
• 3 tablespoons of salsa
• 1 teaspoon of lemon

Hash~

• 3 small to medium sweet potatoes
• 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, or coconut oil
• 1 cup of onion (diced)
• 2 Anaheim Chilis, cored, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup of red bell pepper (diced)
• 2 tablespoons of minced fresh garlic
• 1 jalapeños
• 2 tablespoons of cilantro
• 2 teaspoons of oregano
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 6 eggs

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix all ingredients for the mayonnaise.
2. Peel sweet potatoes and dice them. Cook in boiling water until firm/tender. About 3 to 5 minutes. Dreain and set aside and in a large nonstick skillet heat 3 tablespoons of oil on medium heat. Cook onion, red pepper, and diced chiles. Stir frequently on medium heat for 15 minutes. Add in garlic and jalapeños. Cook for about 2 more minutes and then transfer to a plate.
3. Increase the heat to medium high, and add the rest of the oil. Add in potatoes and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes until brown. Return onion and pepper to mix, stir in cilantro, oregano, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Remove from heat, and mix in mayonnaise mixture. Stir in transfer to a plate. 
4. Fry 6 eggs, that will top servings of hash. 

Serve and enjoy!!

Spaghetti Zucchini Squash Limone Parmeggiano.

I am completely obsessed with zucchini and squash, the God sent replacement to pasta. Everything italian has recently been making the rounds at our house, thanks to this super vegetable that subs as a great pasta. Best part about it is that the kids actually love the taste and ask for more. So no complaints here, except that it does not nearly make enough to go around for seconds.

The recipe that I made tonight is an adaptation from Gwyneth Paltrow's "my father's daughter"  cookbook. For me it is fun to adapt recipes to fit my gluten free life style. Recently, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's so eating healthy has become not just important to our family, but vital for the health and happiness of my family. This diet is strict, no iodine salt, no gluten, no sugar, no coffee, no caffeine, and the list goes on. My choices have been greatly limited, but it has been nice to finally have an answer to so many health problems that I have had over the years. (no ranting here, seriously it is fun to give up coffee)

Spaghetti Zucchini Squash Limone Parmeggiano.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of fresh leaf spinach
• 4 zucchini
• 2 squash
• 1 juice of a lemon
• a dash of pepper
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup of fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher Salt
• 1 1/2 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese (optional) Paleo friends just substitute chicken or shrimp :-)

Directions:

Wash zucchini, squash, and spinach. Slice off the end of the zucchini, and then use your vegetable peeler to peel length wise on the zucchini and squash. While you are peeling, sauté spinach in a large skillet, with the olive oil. Add noodles, juice of the lemon, salt, pepper, and cook for 8 minutes on medium. Add basil, and remove from heat. Transfer into a serving dish, then add Parmesan cheese, and toss until the cheese has melted. 


Serve and enjoy!

Chicken Deviled Egg Salad

Who doesn't love Chicken Salad and Egg Salad!!! There are foods that I have craved after giving up gluten and chicken salad was one of those! Although, this version is served in eggs, it was a great lunch and the our kids loved to snack on them through the week. Chicken salad is a great source of protein, and full of omega 3's and 6's, which are essential fatty acids building blocks that the body needs. This recipe is great for lunch dinner, or a snack! Just make sure to double up this recipe, it is sure to disappear fast!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups diced poached chicken,
• 1 teaspoons of fresh dill
• 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• Dash pepper
• 1 tablespoon of honey Dijon mustard, plus one teaspoon of Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, plus one tablespoon of mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup thinly diced celery
• 2 green onions diced
• Dash paprika
• 7 eggs

Directions:

• Fill a sauce pan with water and add 7 eggs. Boil eggs for 10 minutes to 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Run under cool water and peel shells, and slice length wise. In a small bowl spoon egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, paprika and 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Mix thoroughly, as you would deviled eggs. 
• 
  
• Dice chicken, celery, green onions and dill. Toss in a medium sized bowl, and add Mayonnaise, Dijon, lemon, salt and pepper. Stir in egg mixture, and spoon into the hard boiled eggs. 

Serve and enjoy!

Rainbow Carrots

 Several weeks ago, I was surfing the internet as I usually do, looking at photos of food blogs that are a joy to look at, primarily for the gorgeous photos of yummy food that makes you crave it that second! Primarily I go, just to look at the photos of course. All the love and skilled creativity that goes into food blogs. The staging of the meal, the lighting, and how some dishes seem to pop out and say Make Me Now and then Eat Me!


While looking for our Easter Dinner, (I had decided that carrots would be the best themed menu for this year), I found the most amazing photos of Rainbow Carrots at Family Fresh Cooking. And yes these carrots screamed Eat Me, ASAP.


So off to the market I went to buy my own batch of Rainbow Carrots, and to my surprise my trustee whole foods market did not have them in stock. Sadly, realizing that rainbow carrots would not possible happen for Easter Dinner, I headed to my corner grocery market for some last minute items, and there they were. Flashing the brilliant colors of purple, red, orange, and yellow. In my head I was singing hallelujah.


Yes, I know it may seem funny, or even trivial, that I get this excited about food, and carrots for that matter. But I do. And it was fun taking the photos. The colors were gorgeous, and they tasted amazing. With just a touch of garlic to the melted Kerrygold Butter, and then slow roasted to perfection.

Ingredients:

• 1Batch of Rainbow Carrots
• 2 Tablespoons of melted Kerrygold Butter
• 2 teaspoons of Garlic Seasoning
• Fresh Thyme (optional)

Directions:

Set to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt butter and add in spices. Wash/ dry, and cut off the tops of the carrots. Place carrots on parchment paper, and with a rubber brush, start to brush on butter mixture on to the carrots. Make sure to turn the carrots while brushing. I roasted mine for about 45 minutes, but times may vary. 


Serve and Enjoy!

Gluten Free Waffles

On Saturday and Sunday's we love to cook brunch at our house. This normally consist of bacon, sausage, and eggs for my husband and I, and pancakes or waffles with eggs for the girls. When we started eating Paleo we tried several versions of pancakes and waffles, but none compared to what we had been used to eating. We had been buying Pamela's mix for the girls, but I wanted to try something different, and a little bit more healthier than the normal mix you find in the stores. We have made this recipe twice, and has been a hit with my girls and we even cheated and ate one each. Although, this is not at all the normal "Paleo" recipe I would post, it is a more healthier of an option for a gluten free waffle that you will find online, or buy in the store. They are also the best out of all the recipes that we have tried so far! 

Ingredients:

• 3 teaspoons of baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Himalania Pink salt
• 1 cup of brown rice
• 1/2 cup of Potato starch
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cup of Coconut Milk
• 2 tsp honey
• 1/2 teaspoon of Baking soda
• 3 eggs

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl, and slowly mix in wet ingredients. Cook on low in waffle machine. 

Serve and enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Spinach Smoothie

Spring is in the air, or should be at least. All the updates on Fb from around the country keep telling me that it is. People are grilling, and drinking fruit smoothies as the weather gets warmer. Portland has yet to warm up. The only signs of spring are the birds, and the slow bloom of our cherry blossom trees, and tulips. Of course it is still cold, and we are prepared for the cooler weather and rain until early July, which then we will join the rest of the country in summer weather, and the joys of warm summer grilling parties next to the pool. 

When my friend posted a similar recipe, "Green Monster Spinach Smoothie" that she made, it only reminded how much I loved the warmer weather, and sipping on smoothies. Immediately, I sliced and froze my bananas. This recipe is packed full of nutrients, and could serve as a meal. I tweaked a few ingredients, to make it more Paleo friendly, and added strawberries, and a hint of cocoa. 

Every ingredient in this recipe, is a power food, and good for you. It was a great afternoon treat for my girls too. All three, drank it up and have been begging for more. Perhaps, breakfast tomorrow will be served with an egg, and this tasty treat!

Ingredients:

• 1 sliced frozen banana
• 1 cup of sliced Strawberries
• 1 tablespoon of Almond Butter
• 1/2 cup of Plain 0% Greek Yogurt
• 1 cup of Coconut milk, unsweetened
• 5 cups of baby spinach
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 1/2 tablespoon of 100% pure Maple Syrup
• 1 heaping spoon of Cocoa Powder

Directions:
In a blender combine all ingredients, and puree until desired consistency.


Serve and Enjoy!