Spring and a Super Simple Recipe

The first buttercups have arrived!  Spring is here.  Our new chicks are huddled in the barn and these two are snuggled down in the hay, awaiting even warmer weather!

They are small and oh so cute! 

So, spring has sprung.  The pigs have arrived.  Indeed, it is my favorite time of year.  Each day is waiting for me to discover something new.  Like yet another rooster trying to get into my chicken coop.  Believe me, the scary lady running through the barnyard dressed in pink fleece jammies and muck boots is enough to scare anyone.  He hasn't been back.  The other two, just to keep you updated, haven't been spotted for the past week or so.  The red one disappeared first.  Now weeks later the beautiful green one is gone too.  I suspect there are some fat coyotes in the neighborhood.

I wanted to share a super easy and yummy recipe with you today.  It is the perfect combination of simple and delicious. 

 BREAKFAST EGG CUPS:

Veggies, chopped  (Use what you have on hand.  I have used broccoli, mushrooms, red onion, green, red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, and celery)
Cooked, crumbled sausage or bacon or even chopped ham (Again use what you have on hand!)
Eggs (1for every egg cup you want to make), beaten

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease a muffin tin (I use coconut oil). 
Place chopped veggies and meat in each muffin tin.  Fill the muffin tin about 1/2 full.

Beat your eggs and gently pour them into the muffin tin.  Leave a bit of room to allow you to stir and incorporate the ingredients.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

So simple and easy!  These are great for a brunch or special breakfast.  They even freeze well and can then be eaten any old time.  If you are not dairy free, you can even add cheese to the mix. Or try topping them with sour cream and salsa.  The variations are up to your imagination.

Simple Summer Fare: Crab Stuffed Avocados

I like to keep things simple when I can.  If I can get by with just a few ingredients to make something lickity-split, I'm your gal.  This recipe came about simply because it was lunchtime and these were the ingredients on hand.  Oh, and the fact I was playing with paleo ingredients which makes this dairy free and gluten free, as well.  After eating it though, I will definitely make this on purpose next time.  It is great for summer and delicious!

Crab Stuffed Avocado:

1 can of crab meat (or you can use fresh crab)
Handful of grape tomatoes, cut in quarters
2-3 mini peppers, chopped
1 avocado, halved
Salsa (I used Trader Joe's Garlic Salsa.  YUM!)

Mix crab, tomatoes, and peppers together.  Add salsa (according to your taste) and mix together.  Top avocado halves.  Add one tablespoon of salsa to the top.  Serves two.

See!  EASY!!!  And yummy!  You could change this up depending on the ingredients you have on hand.  Instead of crab meat you could use chicken or tuna.  Vegetable choices could include celery and cucumbers.  Add some basil, garlic, a little mayo and Dijon mustard instead of the salsa for a creamy topping.  The choices are up to you!

Simple summer fare. Quick and easy.  Delicious!  I love it!  I hope you enjoy.

Salmon Scramble

I am really trying to eat healthier these days.  I am even trying to start the day off right with a good breakfast.  That can be hard to do when you are not overly fond of the usual breakfast fare.  I have been experimenting with other options.  Today I made a salmon scramble which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It was so easy and it left me feeling satisfied and ready to start my day!

Salmon Scramble
serves 2

1 tsp coconut oil
1 clove of garlic minced
1 can of salmon drained (I use Bear and Wolf Pink Salmon and get it at Costco)
4 mushrooms sliced
4 green onions chopped
4 eggs beaten
handfull of grape tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Place the coconut oil in a skillet.  Add minced garlic and green onions and heat until fragrant.  Add mushrooms and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Add salmon and mix together.  Add eggs and cook until done.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with grape tomatoes.

This could also be served for a quick and wholesome dinner or lunch.  It is definitely quick and easy.

Caribbean Citrus Salmon and Cauliflower Rice

I love baked salmon.  It is so easy, not to mention delicious and good for you.  I usually make it with a brown sugar glaze, but I am trying to cut out sugar.  I decided to try something new and it turned out wonderfully!  I thought I would share it with you.

Caribbean Citrus Salmon

Salmon
Olive Oil
1 lemon
Mrs. Dash Caribbean Citrus Blend
8-10 Cloves of garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place the fish on top (this makes for an easy clean up).  Drizzle the fish with olive oil.  Rub the fish with the oil, so the entire fish is covered.  Squeeze 1/2 of the lemon over the fish.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Generously cover the fish with the Mrs. Dash seasoning.  Add minced garlic to cover the fish.  Cover fish with a tent of foil making sure it is secure to the baking sheet, but not touching the fish.  Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.  Cut up the remaining lemon to serve with the fish for added flavor.

I served this with cauliflower rice.  If you have never tried "ricing" your cauliflower, you should.  It was great.  I had never tried it before, but decided to give it a try.  I used the cauliflower rice recipe from the Make It Paleo cookbook by Bill Staley and Haley Mason.  There are some great recipes in that cookbook!  I borrowed it from the library, but it is on my wish list to own!  I added basil and oregano to the recipe and was more liberal with the garlic.  I will definitely make it again and look forward to using this recipe when I need rice.

Coconut Aminos and Fried Rice

A few months ago I discovered that I could not eat beans.  I am not talking about green beans, but the legume variety: kidney, black, pinto, lima beans.  I cut them out of my diet completely.  Well, almost.  I forgot to include soybeans in my little list.  Maybe that was why I was still having stomach issues: soy milk in smoothies, soy milk in baked goods, Earth Balance made with soy, soy creamer in my coffee.  You get the picture.  So I cut out soy.  Much better, that is until I went to grab that bottle of GF soy sauce….SOY sauce!  Bummer.  I did some research and found a substitute that sounded interesting: Coconut Aminos.

Interesting, maybe.  Weird, for sure!  It is actually made out of organic aged coconut sap and blended with sea salt.  Sounds yummy!  I bought a bottle from a local grocery store (it was cheaper than Amazon) to try. 

First, let me say it does not taste like coconut.  It tastes like soy sauce, acts like soy sauce, cooks like soy sauce, without the soy.  I tried it out on my family to see if they could tell.  I made a Vegetable Fried Rice using the Coconut Aminos.  Delicious.  No one would have guessed that I didn’t use soy sauce.  In fact, Dan repeatedly told me how much he enjoyed the rice.  Seriously!  Multiple times!  About the fourth time he told me how good it was and how much he liked the taste, I began thinking that he was angling for a new power tool, but no, he just really like it that much.

I am sure we will be having this dish again soon.  It is perfect when you have leftover rice and need something quick.  You could easily add other favorite vegetables or even a protein like shrimp or pork.  I am also excited to try the Coconut Aminos in other recipes too.  I will keep you posted.

Vegetable Fried Rice

4 stalks of celery minced

5 cloves of garlic minced
3 small carrots finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
3 eggs, beaten
6 cups cooked rice
½ cup Coconut Aminos or GF Soy Sauce
Olive Oil

Add a small amount of olive oil (you could use butter if you prefer) to a large frying pan.  When the oil has heated, add your eggs.  Fry the eggs until cooked through.  Chop into small pieces.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add about 2 Tbsp of olive oil to the pan.  Add the celery, garlic, carrots, and onion.  Cook until the onion is translucent.  Add the rice and mix together.  Pour the Coconut Aminos or soy sauce over the rice and stir until the color of the rice is uniform.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes (longer if you like your rice crispier.)

Hope you enjoy it as much as Dan :)

Pepper Steak Using Leftover Roast

I made a venison roast on Sunday with polenta.  On Monday, I fried the leftover polenta and served it with chunks of roast in the gravy.  On Tuesday, I cooked slices of the roast with garlic and onions and served it with mashed potatoes.  Today, Thursday, there was still roast, even after several roast beef sandwiches had been eaten, but I was kind of tired of that familiar “roast” taste.  So, I decided to try something new and completely different.  I used the leftovers to make a pepper steak to serve with rice.  It was great!  The meat was so tender and it had a completely different taste.   I will keep this recipe in mind next time we have leftovers.  It was a big success.

Pepper Steak Using Leftover Roast

Leftover Roast cut into pieces

¼ cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 Tbsp Coconut Aminos or GF Soy Sauce
½ cup water
1 tsp garlic salt
½ tsp pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 chopped onion
4 stalks of celery sliced
2 Cups of peppers (red, yellow, orange, or green)
2 cups of water
4 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder
Chili sauce to taste

Heat oil in a deep skillet.  Add garlic.  Add leftover roast, soy sauce, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and ½ cup of water.  Cook until meat is heated through.  Add onion, celery, and peppers.  Cook ten minutes.  Stir cornstarch into the two cups of water until blended.  Add to the meat and vegetables.  Add chili sauce to taste.  Cook five minutes.  Serve with rice.

Quick and Easy Lenten Fixes

Thought I would share with you a couple of yummy quick Lenten fixes that are easy and healthy.  The first is a simple crab salad served on romaine lettuce leaves.

Crab Salad on Romaine
1 can crab meat
avocado (cut into chunks and drizzled with lemon juice)
1/2 can of black olives
grape tomatoes (halved)
cucumber  (chopped into bite sized chunks)
2 celery stalks chopped
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Blend to taste
Freshly ground pepper
Olive oil
romaine lettuce leaves
lemon wedge

Mix crab meat, avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, and celery in a mixing bowl.  Break the whole olives into the mix letting the juices run into the bowl.  Season with Mrs. Dash and freshly ground pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Serve on romaine leaves and a lemon wedge to squeeze on the salad.

Quick Fix #2:

When I was in college, I decided that eggs were a fairly cheap way to incorporate protein into my diet.  The problem was that I didn't like the taste of eggs.  I didn't mind hard boiled eggs, but I did not enjoy scrambled, fried over easy, used in quiche, or really any other way.  Then I tried beating eggs and frying them flat like a pancake adding various seasonings and I liked it.  I decided to top it with minute rice and sauteed mushrooms.  I really liked the taste and it quickly became a staple when I needed something cheap and easy. 

I have become much more creative over the years, but the foundation of the recipe is the same.  Start with an egg fried flat and top it with what you have on hand.  I topped this one with zucchini, portabello mushrooms, a small amount of a left over wild rice medley, and shrimp.  You could use all sorts of vegetables: peppers, onions, garlic, squash, tomatoes, you name it.  You can make it with a Mexican flavor by topping it with hamburger, cheese, and salsa.  The varieties are truly endless.  The end results are the same: in ten minutes you have a quick, easy, delicious meal.



Both of these meals are great for Lenten Fridays.  I hope you enjoy.

What's for Dinner? It Better Be Quick!

We made it!  We are at the half way point of driver's education and I am still alive and kicking!  I even rode with Cinnamon while she drove and am happy to report that there were no casualties.  All kidding aside, they are both doing quite well actually.  I, on the other hand, am definitely feeling the impact of the additional days of driving into town.  The class is right smack in the middle of the day, so I rush around in the morning trying to get a few things done and by the time I get home I am already faced with the thought of, "what in the world am I making for dinner?"  On these days it better be quick and easy!

Tonight's dinner fit that request perfectly!  We had Baked Honey Mustard Chicken, a Rainbow Vegetable Salad, asparagus, and a wild rice medley.  Quick......check.  Easy.....check.   Delicious.....double check!  Perfect!

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken

Chicken (I used boneless, skinless thighs.  You could use a whole chicken cut up, but I was going for quick and easy.)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 Tablespoons of butter, melted (I used Earth Balance)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place chicken in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  Salt and pepper the chicken.  Mix together honey, melted butter, and mustard.  Spoon over the chicken.  Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour.  Baste the chicken every 15 minutes while cooking.

The results are a deliciously moist chicken that combines the sweet with a bit of twang.  Yummy!

The Rainbow Vegetable Salad is  a combination of what I had lurking in my fridge waiting to be used up!    I used two mini cucumbers, several mini sweet peppers (red, yellow, and orange), grape tomatoes, and an avocado.

I chopped the avocado and tossed it with a bit of lemon juice.  I chopped the rest of the vegetables and placed them in a bowl adding the avocado.  I used a garlic sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and then drizzled the salad ingredients with a red wine vinegar and olive oil.  Simple, quick, and healthy.  The flavors really do pop in your mouth! 

So there you have it.  Fast and furious.  I sometimes feel like all I do is run from one fire to the next, but I do take time to stop and enjoy life along the way.  Or at least pose for a dozen pictures Paprika tried to take of the two of us together while I was making dinner.  I liked the first one, but apparently Paprika was not satisfied with the first, or second, or third, or fourth.  Not really sure which number this one was, but I thought it was great, but then again, I liked all the others too.

The Best Thing I Ate All Week

I know it is so simple, but it was absolutely delicious!  I simply used a baby cucumber, grape tomatoes, avocado, and canned wild Alaskan salmon.  I then added a bit of sea salt and freshly ground pepper and then drizzled it with garlic olive oil.  The flavors were incredible.  Definitely the best thing I ate so far this week!

Survival Mode and Baked Curried Chicken

Adding three or four days of driver's training a week has completely turned my world upside down.  I thought I was busy before, but now I constantly feel like I am in emergency survival mode trying to get to everything.   Let me give you an example.  I was trying to throw in a couple of loads of laundry today.  Paprika happened to walk by and ask what load I was doing, to which I replied, jeans.  She said, "Wait," only to run off and return with the jeans she had been wearing.  "I am so glad you are doing jeans.  I have been wearing these jeans for like three weeks since you haven't done that load!  I just keep waiting!"

Okay.  Now wait just a second!  First of all, I can promise you I have done the laundry and that "three" week estimate was off.........significantly off!  Second, did my precious, silently-waiting, TEENAGE daughter ever offer to do that load of three week old jeans herself?  My incredulous look must have said it all, as she quickly smiled, said thanks, and skedaddled. 

So, it is obvious by my lack of laundry efficiency and lack of posting, that I truly have been busy.  Tonight I thought I would stop and take a quick breath and post the recipe of the Baked Curried Chicken we had tonight.  This is super easy and was delicious!

Baked Curried Chicken

Chicken (I used boneless, skinless, thighs, but any kind or amount would work)
5 cloves of garlic minced
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Basil
Curry powder

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place chicken in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle chicken with a liberal amount of basil and Curry powder.  Top with minced garlic.  Bake 35 minutes.

Simple and delicious.  While the chicken was in the oven, I made a quick salad and steamed asparagus.  It was so easy, I would definitely make it again. 

I am off for now.  The dryer just buzzed and I think Paprika has some jeans to fold!

Mini Corn Dog Muffins

One of Paprika's favorite "treat" foods as a younger child was a corn dog.  When we went to the fair and were surrounded by food vendors selling just about anything you could imagine, Paprika was in the corn dog line.  When we went occasionally to a restaurant, the first question from Paprika was, "Do they have corn dogs?"  When we shopped the frozen food aisle at Costco, invariably I would feel that tug on my sleeve as we passed.....yep...the corn dogs.  This kid loved them.  So when we went gluten free and we begin to learn the foods on the "do not eat list," Paprika was disappointed that her beloved corn dogs were on that list.

Last Christmas Paprika asked if I could figure out how to make corn dogs.  The recipes I found at the time all used wheat flour.  Then I thought what if I just used cornbread mix.  Thus evolved these mini corn dog muffins.  We ate them on Christmas Eve for the first time and since then they have been a staple in my freezer for a quick lunch or snack.  I have since found recipes that make "real" corn dogs, but these are easy and delicious!

Mini Corn Dog Muffins

1 package of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix
1 1/2 cups milk (I use soy milk to make these dairy free)
1/3 cup oil or melted butter
2 eggs
1 package Hillshire Farms Lit'l Smokies (I used regular.  The beef smokies are a bit greasy.)

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Generously grease a mini muffin tin.

Place entire package of cornbread mix in a large bowl.  Add milk, eggs, and oil (or melted butter).   Mix with an electric mixer on low speed until blended.  Then beat on high for approximately 30 seconds.

Spoon enough of the cornbread mixture to cover the bottom of each mini muffin cup.

Place one Lit'l Smokie into each cup and press it into the mixture.  You might have to cut them to make them fit.

Spoon enough of the cornbread mix to cover your Lit'l Smokie.  You want this to be even with the muffin cup because it does puff up while baking.  Bake for 12 minutes at 375 degrees.  Tops should be lightly browned.  Cool on a wire rack. 

This recipe made 55 mini corn dogs to stock my freezer!

Today, Paprika smiled when she entered the kitchen.  "Hey, you made corn dogs!  Can I have one?"