Paleo Lemon Bars… sugar & gluten-free lemony goodness! (gf)

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Hey, all! We’ve been cooking a TON over the past few months, and I have been horrible and terrible and not posted ANY of it! So, so bad and so selfishly full of good food, I am. I managed to snap a few pics of these amazing paleo lemon bars we made this weekend (actually, Dave did the work on these, I was just the happy chow hound), so here we go…

looks like a lemon bar... tastes like a lemon bar...

looks like a lemon bar… tastes like a lemon bar…

We don’t follow a paleo diet but we do enjoy sweets and I try to avoid gluten. These lemon bars seemed like a good compromise, and they turned out really well! I was surprised at how well they set up in the oven, and how tasty the crust was. The recipe also calls for 11 (eleven!?!*) eggs, so if you need another rationalizing point before you make a pan, they’re high-protein. A bit of honey replaces the traditional white sugar in the filling and crust, and coconut flour, almond meal, and coconut oil replace the flour.

DISCLAIMER: eat and store this dessert at room temperature. I refrigerated a single portion to bring with me to work today, and the texture was mushy. Eat. And store. At room temp. That is all.

Happy baking, and let me know what you think!

PALEO LEMON BARS

Adapted from The Primal Home

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup almond meal: just grind up a cup of almonds in a blender until they form a flour
  • 1 cup coconut flour (we used Bob’s Red Mill, available at most grocery stores- check the gluten-free and baking sections)
  • 1/2  tsp freshly grated nutmeg or 1 tsp dried
  • 1 tbsp honey + 1/2 cup honey– try raw honey. In addition to the health benefits raw honey provides, it’s easy to find; Archer Farms has a wildflower version that’s easy to pour and available at Target, and Whole Foods offers at least 3 kinds.
  • 3 eggs + 8 eggs
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1/3 cup coconut milk
  • juice from 6 lemons, strained for seeds
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup or more unsweetened shredded coconut to top

Directions:

This is a mix and dump recipe- first, the crust ingredients, then the filling. So simple. Preheat your oven to 350 and grease an 11×7 inch cake or baking pan with coconut oil. We used a slightly smaller Corningware dish and the recipe turned out just fine.

CRUST: In a large bowl, mix the almond meal, coconut flour, nutmeg, 1 tbsp honey, 3 eggs, coconut oil, and coconut milk. Combine completely and press into the bottom of the pan:

follow the fork marks

follow the fork marks

FILLING: then, in another large bowl (or the same one, cleaned out, if you’re dish-saving freaks like we are), combine the lemon juice, remaining 8 eggs, vanilla, and 1/2 cup honey. Whisk of this together well and pour over the crust, like so:

filling poured over the crust

filling poured over the crust

Then toss into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bars comes out clean, and the topping is firm and fully cooked. Top with the shredded coconut, let cool, and serve, relatively guilt-free!

all done, cooling and topped with coconut!

all done, cooling and topped with coconut!

 

*

Quickie: Chicken and Vegetables, Roasted in Cast Iron (gf)

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This is a lovely and impressive dish that involves very minimal effort, and can be made with (more or less) what vegetables you have available. And I’ve included a pan gravy recipe below! Since this is a quickie entry, let’s get to it:

chicken veg

CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES, ROASTED IN CAST IRON

Ingredients:

  • 3 chicken leg quarters, washed and split into a leg and a thigh
  • a cast iron pan or deep, heavy casserole dish
  • 1/2 bag carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
  • 4-5 stalks celery, washed, ends trimmed, and cut in half
  • 1 small yellow onion, peeled and quartered
  • 4-5 fresh thyme sprigs
  • olive oil
  • kosher salt
  • cracked black pepper

Directions:

Heat your oven to 400 degrees, placing rack in the middle of the oven. Arrange vegetables and thyme in the bottom of your cast iron pan, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil.

Place your washed, dried, and split chicken pieces over the vegetables, and sprinkle those with salt and pepper. Coat your fingertips with about a teaspoon of olive oil, and rub the chicken pieces well, rubbing some oil (and salt) under the skin. Repeat until pieces are well-coated, using 3-4 teaspoons of oil. Pop the pan in your hot oven and roast for 45 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. So easy! So pretty! So delicious! Enjoy.

Here’s a little brainstorm of substitutions that could be made:

  • rosemary sprigs or dried thyme instead of thyme
  • cut potatoes or sweet potatoes instead of veggies listed
  • leeks or ramps instead of yellow onion
  • add a halved lemon to the pan

Also, you’ll have some delicious pan juices left from this recipe. Here’s a simple formula for pan gravy:

Pour pan drippings into a measuring cup, let sit for a few minutes, and  pour off all but 1/2 cup fat.  Add 1/2 cup fat back to pan, whisk in 1/2 cup flour over medium heat, and cook until hot and thick. In a large measuring cup, measure remaining juices (fat has been discarded), and add chicken stock to equal four cups. Add to pan and allow to cook- when it bubbles, cook for 1-2 minutes to cook off floury taste, then remove from heat. Taste and season accordingly.

All Hail the Sweet Potato!

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With all of the Thanksgiving-themed lists of pie recipes, variations of green bean casserole, and turkey tips/methods/instructions/hotlines(!) we’re bombarded with this time of year, I was thrilled to see Mark Bittman, with his front-and-center positioning in the world of food blogging, writing about the humble, beloved, and often overlooked: sweet potato! And published the day before Thanksgiving, no less!

I will sing the praises of the sweet potato every chance I get. You’d be hard-pressed to find a vegetable bursting with more nutrients, that can be prepared in so many different ways, from breakfast to dinner to dessert, and from sweet to savory to spicy. And for CHEAP.  Take a look at what Mark has to say about them here– and try a departure from their traditional baked or casserole preparations.

Since I’m not technically posting a recipe, I’ll link back to a few from the a!g archives:

I’ll also type the word LOVE. Love, love, love. I love them, and they love me back.

From the Mark Bittman piece- simple, glorious sweet potatoes:

All hail!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes with Chopped Almond Syrup (Best. Weekend. EVER., pt. deux) (v)

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The morning before I made the  delicious migas, we worked up big appetites with a nice long swim at the Y, which consisted a slow and steady swim for me, with glimpses out of the corner of my goggles of Dave passing me back and forth for a solid hour, like something out of shark week. He was going so fast, I thought he was going to swim up and body slam me or thrown me in the air like an orca with a baby seal. Didn’t happen (WHEW… chalk one up for team seal).

ermahgerd

Anyway, we swam a lot and were hongray when we got back. What to make? Uh, how about every breakfast item we could name? There was a “you bought healthy bacon?” debacle recently (grounds, so the menu definitely included full-fat, old-school bacon, scrambled eggs, and biscuits along with the pumpkin pancakes (which are pretty healthy). Here’s what I came up with, and this recipe includes a basic homemade pancake mix you can keep on hand*:

WHOLE WHEAT PUMPKIN PANCAKES WITH CHOPPED ALMOND SYRUP

Ingredients:

  • 1 recipe whole wheat oatmeal pancake mix: 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup ground oatmeal, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 can Libby’s pumpkin
  • 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 cup soy or skim milk
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar-free syrup
  • 1/2 cup chopped almonds
  • canola oil

Directions:

Mix everything in a bowl. Woo hoo! Easy peasy. Everything except canola oil, of course, but you didn’t do that, did you? You knew better. I knew you would! Add milk in third-cup increments, blending well each time.

first side…

Heat a nonstick skillet just under medium heat and add 1 tbsp canola oil per batch of pancakes. These do best when the batter’s a bit thin and the skillet is hot- the pumpkin is so dense it impedes the cooking process with a lower heat or thicker batter. Using a 1/3 c measuring cup as your guide, scoop three servings of batter into the hot pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes on the first side, or until bubbles form in the batter and the edges appear set. Flip and cook the other side another 2 minutes, then remove to a paper-towel lined plate.

flipped!

Pour the syrup of your choice and the chopped almonds into a microwave-safe creamer or small pitcher for serving. Microwave for 45 seconds and serve with the pancakes. These are mm-mm good, especially with real bacon.

*First, a note on the pancake mix. I keep this pre-mixed in a canister at home, about 4 batches worth. It’s really great to have on the weekends. To make pancakes from the dry mix recipe above (which was inspired by this FitSugar recipe), scoop 1-2 cups mix into a bowl, add an egg, 1 tablespoon of something sweet (honey’s a good option), and a cup of milk or more, depending on your taste. Some variations we’ve enjoyed: replace part of the mix with a scoop of vanilla protein powder, add berries, peanut butter, nuts, strawberries, or bananas. Good stuff!

Vegetarian Migas & The Best Weekend. EVER. (veg, gf)

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This is the first in a flurry of recipes I’ll be posting from the Best Weekend Ever. Somehow, the planets aligned and Dave and I had not only a banking holiday tacked on to our weekend, but we had no plans to leave town. And we had no guests coming in. And we had no solo obligations. And the only things we did have on the books were FUN. And both of us were home. And the weather Saturday was insanely pretty. And we got to eat a lot. While this might sound boring, and while we do love our out-of-town loved ones and house guests, this kind of Dave-and-Lauren long weekend never happens. It’s been months or maybe a year since we had time like that with each other that we didn’t enjoy a plane ride away (stressful in itself). And even then it wasn’t just the two of us. This weekend was like a second honeymoon!

We swam, got a bike ride in (on The Windiest Day Ever), saw the new James Bond- two thumbs up, went bowling, went to dinner with friends twice, went for a long walk around our neighborhood, watched movies and took naps every single day. And I furiously cooked my way through the whole thing. For every calorie burned on the bike or in the pool, I’m pretty sure I cooked two to replace it as soon as we got home. But I probably burned half of those off from intense and loving, Pepe Le Pew-style smiling.

le sigh

I made my sweet potato and black bean burritos on Saturday night, and we headed to Illinois to ride on Sunday morning. My ride was shorter and I beat Dave home; I wanted to make a hearty and healthy brunch for when he got back, and I thought the quickest way to do this was to combine the leftovers from saturday and a dish we love- migas. The migas we order in the Midwest are a Tex-Mex version of a Spanish dish. Scrambled eggs, strips of fried corn tortillas, tomatoes, chorizo, chile peppers, onion, and cheese. I health-ed this up a bit (surprise!!) by starting with the veggie and bean mixture and by baking the tortillas.

SWEET POTATO AND BLACK BEAN MIGAS

Ingredients:

  • half recipe sweet potato and black bean burrito filling, AG! recipe found here
  • two corn tortillas, cut into 1-inch pieces
  •  1 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
  • 6 eggs, beaten with: 1/4 cup milk and 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 bunch scallion, sliced
  • 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped 
  • 1/2 avocado, sliced
  • salsas, cheeses, sour cream for serving

Directions:

Heat your oven to 350 and spread the remaining teaspoon of olive oil on a foil-lined baking sheet. Cut the tortillas into one-inch pieces and spread onto the oiled baking sheet. Pop these into the oven for 5-7 minutes be sure to check them 5 minutes into cooking. When they’re slightly browned and crispy, remove them from the oven. We’ve been hooked on Mission’s Artisan whole wheat and corn blend tortillas– they have the earthy taste of corn and the addition of wheat makes them pliable. Best of both worlds!

Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet (preferably cast iron), heat the tablespoon of olive oil. Add the sweet potato and black bean mixture, and cook over medium for about 5 minutes, until heated through and browned more than it was when you put it in the pan. Add the crispy tortillas at this point, and cook for another 3 minutes.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk with the milk and kosher salt. Pour the eggs over the veggies and tortillas and lower heat, stirring the mixture frequently. The eggs will cook quickly! Once they’re set, top with cilantro and scallions and serve with avocado and salsas. Kiss your significant other. Ta-da! Brunch is served!

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya with Brown Rice (gf)

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MAN! Temperatures have dropped and it is, somehow, late fall… i.e., almost winter. Happened out of nowhere! While I love winter (a little bit, sometimes- I mean, Christmas is part of winter), my Dominican blood has me patiently and politely waiting out the next few months until tree buds appear and the birds come back. It will be summer again someday… right?

Cajun nom noms

Until then, I’m occupying myself with cooking healthy, hearty meals and trying to get back into another winter habit/necessity… dragging myself to the gym. Almost gone are the sweaty days of running and biking outside, and swimming in the morning with the sun out. Welcome to the days of going to the gym early in the dark, cold mornings to stare at cinder block walls and run asfastaspossible from the locker room to the pool. BRR. Made this jambalaya last night to carb us up for this morning’s workouts and to satisfy our cold weather comfort food cravings (without expanding the ol’ waistlines). Like to hear it, here it go**:

CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE JAMBALAYA WITH BROWN RICE

Adapted from Big Girls, Small Kitchen– a fantastic blog

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pkg Jennie-O turkey Kielbasa sausage, sliced
  • 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
  • holy trinity mirepoix: 1 onion, 1 green pepper, 2 stalks celery, in small dice
  • 1-2 tsp crushed garlic, or 2 cloves, minced
  • 3/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
  • 1 8oz can tomato sauce
  •  1 large bay leaf
  • 2 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1/2-1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 3 cups chicken stock (or 3 cups water with 3 tsp chicken base)
  • 2 cups uncooked, long-grain brown rice (1 16oz bag)
  • 1 stalk green onions, sliced
  • Tabasco or other hot sauce, to taste

Directions:

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large stockpot and add the sausage slices. Brown the sausage slices on both sides and remove. Reduce heat to medium and add the holy trinity, scraping up the yummy browned sausage bits form the bottom of the pot. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.

veggies, pushed to sides of pot

Push the vegetables to the sides of the pot and add the chicken, browning for 5 minutes. Add the spices (cayenne, paprika, thyme, allspice, pepper, oregano) and toss the mixture to combine. Add the garlic, sausage, canned tomatoes and sauce, and the bay leaf; simmer this mixture, uncovered, for 5 more minutes.

add them thighs

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the rice, stir to combine, cover the pot, and reduce heat to medium-low, cooking for an hour. Since you’re using brown rice, it may take longer to cook- try at the end of your cooking time and if it still needs a few minutes, add a bit more water, stir, and keep cooking. This dish can handle a lot of cooking. Let cool  for a few minutes and serve with scallions and Tabasco. Carb up! Enjoy!

getting ready to simmer

Before I let you go, a note on chicken thighs: they get a bad rap for being fattier than chicken breasts, but research shows that they contain more nutrients (and not that much fat at all, especially when skinned and trimmed). Much of the fat they do contain is monounsaturated. My tastebuds’ reasearch has shown that they’re much more flavorful and moist, and I prefer them to dry, bland chicken breast any day of the week. Need more convincing? Thighs are about half the price of breasts! So even if you’ve been a breast guy your whole life, take a walk on the wild side. Give thighs a try.

**Calhoun Tubbs has a song to share. Like to hear it, here it go:

Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie, or: To Feed an Ironman, or: M Dot Pot Pie

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Hello, all!! Dave had two things to celebrate this weekend: a great race result and a few days of leniency within his diet. We both watch what we eat, but he’s been watching his intake like a hawk for quality and quantity approaching his last tri of the season…. and it paid off!! Now, time to undo all of the hard work.

Ironpie

To welcome him home from his out-of-town race, I wanted to make some hearty and comforting meals without completely blowing his clean-eating efforts (or contribute too much to my recent lazy gal on the couch syndrome). This was the richest of the dishes I made, due to the double pie crusts. If you want to lighten this up, feel free to make a different crust, use only one, or serve this filling over brown rice or with mashed potatoes. If you do make a double-crust pie, though, congratulations! Your dish is delicious.

DEEP DISH CHICKEN POT PIE

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lbs chicken breast
  • 1 tbsp canola oil 
  • 2 lb bag frozen mixed vegetables
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dried sage
  • 2 cups skim milk, divided
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • 3 tbsp chicken base or bullion, to taste
  • 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional)
  • 1 pkg Pillsbury Pie Crusts (2 ready-o-use roll out crusts), at room temperature 
  • several dashes white pepper

Directions:

In a large stockpot, boil chicken breasts in 6 cups of water until they are cooked and no longer pink. Reserve about 4 cups of the cooking water. Set chicken aside and let cool. Open a beer with a favor from your cousin’s wedding. Yum. Dont’ you feel better?

you’ve got to cool it now… oooh, watch out

When the chicken is cooling, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Set your crusts out in their packaging and let them come to room temperature. Heat oil in the same large stockpot over medium heat, and add onion, thyme, and sage, cooking for 3-4 minutes, until onion is translucent but not browned. Add the frozen (stay with me here) bag of vegetables to the pot, the chicken base or bullion, and about a half cup of the reserved cooking water.

chop chop chop

While that mixture is thawing and cooking, chop the parsley and cooked chicken. In a small bowl, whisk the 3 tbsp flour into one cup of milk, and add the flour slurry, along with the chicken and parsley, to the veggies. Stir well. This is going to get very thick very fast. As soon as the flour mixture and chicken are incorporated, add the other cup of milk and another cup of cooking water. Stir this all together and give it a taste for seasoning. You may add more milk or water at this point to reach the filling the consistency that you’d like. Remove this mixture from heat and set aside.

filling, ready to go

Remove your first pie crust from its packaging, draping across the bottom and pressing up the sides of a deep-dish pie pan. I used a disposable foil pan and it worked perfectly. Pour the filling right into the crust, smoothing out with a spatula and leaving a slight buffer near the top of the crust. Drape the other crust over the filling, crimping to meet the bottom crust. Vent this top crust in any design you’d like using a butter knife. Allow me to suggest the Ironman logo… ha! Cover the edges of the crust with some foil strips so they don’t burn, and put the pie on a foil-lined baking sheet.

unbaked, vented pie

Bake at 350 for 55 minutes, removing the foil strips at about 45 minutes. Bake until the crust is a beautiful golden brown and until your kitchen smells amazing. Let cool for 15 minutes and serve to all hungry athletes under your roof.

Carrot Apple Muffins (veg)

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Mmm, breakfast!! Dave loves baked goods in general, and these muffins are a tasty and healthy option that can be eaten in the morning or as a snack. They’re great toasted and buttered too. Next time I make them, I want to use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free baking mix in place of the whole wheat flour. Until then, here you go:

CARROT APPLE MUFFINS

Adapted from Whole Foods

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
  •  1/4 c sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 cup shredded carrots, chopped through several times (you may instead grate whole carrots)
  • 1/4 c walnuts and/or raisins
  • 1- 3.9 oz container unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/4 c milk
  • 1/4 c canola oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla

my sweet whole wheat flour canister, a $2 antique shop find

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a muffin pan. I always use shortening to grease cake and muffin pans- it has a neutral flavor and a little goes a very long way. I dip a paper towel into the container and swirl a bit into each cup, then flour with the type of flour I’m using in the recipe at hand.

wet & dry

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In another mixing bowl, combine chopped shredded carrots, walnuts and/or raisins, oil, milk, eggs, and applesauce. Stir half of the wet ingredients into the dry ones; combine well and then add the rest of the wet ingredients.

my sous chef

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way full (1/2 for a large tin)- this will make a dozen muffins. Bake for 20 minutes, and you’re done. Very good buttered, served with scrambled eggs, or as a coffee snack. Such a nice treat for fall!! Enjoy.

all done!