Flourless Brownies

They're really good.

Inspired by my recent post about cutting down on junk food by making your own, these brownies are YUMMY.  They do not have the consistency of regular brownies, but are a low sugar, healthy alternative to packaged cookies and are also a great way to use your extra summer zucchini!  Inspired from a recipe from Fast Paleo.






1 cup almond butter or peanut butter
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini, packed tight
1/3 cup raw honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1-3 tsp 5 spice powder
6 oz of high quality dark chocolate, 70% or higher, cut into chunks
oil for greasing a pan (I used coconut oil)


Preheat Oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Grease a pan and pour mixture in.

Bake 25-35 minutes or until fork or toothpick comes out clean.

Asparagus with Lemon Butter Sauce

Pastured Butter and Fresh Lemon
bring out the best of the Asparagus

Asparagus is in season!

This recipe is excellent.  Even my non-asparagus loving husband asked for seconds.

To get all of the benefits of the healthy fats, choose grass-fed butter and grass-fed cheese.








1 bunch fresh, organic Asparagus
1 lemon
2-3 tablespoons pastured butter (I use Kerrygold or Kate's)
sea salt
black pepper
1/4 cup grated or finely shredded Parmesan Cheese




1)Melt the butter over low to medium heat.  As the butter melts, cut the lemon into small chunks.  Remove the seeds, squeeze the juice from the lemon wedges into the pan and then put the whole wedge in.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  Let the lemon wedges sizzle and soften for 2-5 minutes.


2)Trim the bottoms off the asparagus and put the asparagus into the sizzling lemon butter sauce.  Toss the asparagus to coat in the sauce and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until asparagus are tender, 5-7 minutes.


3)Plate asparagus and sprinkle with cheese.


Enjoy!

Sunny-Side-Up and Greens over Flatbread

Inspired by my most recent post about eggs, here's an easy recipe inspired by one I found in whole living magazine. (Thanks, Martha Stewart!)  Collards can be bitter, but the lemon juice cuts through the bitterness and instead makes this recipe zesty and delish.

2 medium sized whole wheat pita or flat bread
4 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 cups thinly sliced greens.  I used collards, but kale or chard would also work.
1/2 an onion, sliced
a handful of chives
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste.  I used sage, thyme, basil, and red pepper.
4 farm-fresh, pastured eggs


Heat the oven to 425.  Line a baking pan with parchment paper.  Brush both sides of pita with olive oil.  Mix greens, onion, and chives in a bowl.  Add the remaining olive oil, the lemon juice, and the seasoning to the bowl of greens.  Toss them all in the bowl until evenly coated.  Mound the mixture onto the pita and bake for 5 minutes.  Then, pull the pan out of the oven, crack the eggs over the greens, and bake until the eggs are set, about 6-7 minutes.

Healthy Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Store bought and fast-food created Chicken Nuggets are some of the worst perpetrators of horrible food additives. I confess that I nearly gagged when I read about the ingredients in a mickey-d's nugget in Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Besides most chicken nuggets being made with ingredients that are distinctly not food, they are fried in industrial vegetable oil.  The oil itself is bad enough, but the high temperatures and re-frying of a fry machine actually change the oil's chemical makeup and give it carcinogenic properties.

These nuggets are made with sesame oil and chicken thighs. To keep all of the health benefits of the oil, make sure that you never heat the oil above it's smoking point.  In this case, the oil needs to stay heating at medium heat.  Chicken thighs have natural fat in them, which make these nuggets juicy and rich.  For more on healthy fats, check out this blog post.

I had mind with a salad and
 local honey as dipping sauce.

Healthy Homemade Chicken Nuggets
1 pound chicken thighs: farm raised, pastured chicken is best (organically raised would be the next best choice)
2 pastured eggs
1/4 cup white flour (to make GF, use GF flour instead)
1/2 cup spelt flour (to make GF, use GF flour instead)
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
seasoning to taste (I used sea salt, black pepper, and oregano)
Unrefined Sesame Oil for cooking


Lay the chicken thighs flat and pound them with a meat tenderizer.  Cut the chicken thighs into bite-size pieces.  There is no need to remove the fat, unless you see a piece that is particularly large.

Mix the flours, flaxseed, and seasoning in a large bowl.  Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, and stir them with a fork.  Pour the sesame oil into your frying pan and heat the pan on medium heat.

Once the pan is hot, dip the pieces of chicken into the egg, and then coat in the flour mixture.  Place in the hot pan and cook until the sides of the chicken are completely white and the top is starting to cook.  Flip nuggets once and finish cooking the last side.  Nuggets can be stored in a warm oven.

Chocolate Oat Apricot Nut Bars

Adapted from a recipe from Whole Living Magazine.  These bars are REALLY YUMMY.

Fruit, nuts, chocolate, coconut, oats and salt.
What could be better?

2 c dried apricots
1/2 c raw pecans halves
1/4 c unsweetened coconut + more for sprinkling
1/4 c quick oats (If you need this recipe to be gluten free, choose GF oats)
sea salt
1 1/2 oz melted dark chocolate (80% or more cocoa content)


Preheat the oven to 350 and break the pecan halves into pieces.  Pour the oats and the coconut onto a cookie sheet and then pour the pecan halves on top.  Bake for 5-6 minutes until toasted and aromatic.  Be careful not to burn.  When done, take out of the oven and cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, put the apricots in a food processor with a dash of the salt.  Pulse until sticky and ground. Cool the toasted stuff and then mix into the apricots until well blended.

Line a pan with parchment paper and then press the mixture into the pan until flat.  (In my household, thinner bars are more popular, so I use a large pan.)

Drizzle the chocolate over the bars and then sprinkle with coconut.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until firm.  Remove and slice into bars.  I store these in an airtight container in the fridge.

Spicy Curried Quinoa and Greens with Semi-Caramelized Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is amazing.
I can honestly say that the meat lovers in my home don't miss it in this one at all.

I make the quinoa with homemade pastured chicken stock so that we can get the nutrients from the pastured chicken, but for those of you of the vegan or vegetarian persuasion, you can easily make it with water or vegetable stock.  Keeping the skins on the sweet potatoes retains the nutrients and fiber of this delicious root. Remember, the best vegetables for your body are ones grown without chemicals, so try to get veggies from a farmer or source that you trust.  This recipe has been adapted from one I found on the Boston Organics website.  Enjoy!

If you want a vegan version of this,
use mango chutney instead of yogurt.

Spicy Curried Quinoa with Greens and Semi-Caramelized Sweet Potatoes

4 medium sized sweet potatoes
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 chopped onion
2 cloves shallots or garlic
2-3 inches fresh ginger, chopped
2-4 tablespoons spicy curry powder
3 cups leafy greens (such as kale, chard, collards, dandelion greens) cut in thin strips
2 carrots, chopped
11/2 cups quinoa, rinsed in cold water
3 cups water or stock
3 tablespoons olive oil
Squeeze of lemon
Organic Yogurt or Mango chutney on the side

Wash the sweet potatoes and slice them 1/4 inch thick.  Then cut them in half so that you have half-circles.  Toss them with salt, pepper and olive oil.  Place them on a baking sheet covered with tin foil or parchment paper. Put the dish into a cold oven (this is important, as the gradual rise in temperature helps bring out the sweet potato flavors and gives the roasted veggies the semi-caramelized quality).  Turn on the oven to 450 Bake for about 30 min. until dark orange and soft.  At this point, you will start with the quinoa on the stove. Flip them and bake another 15-20 minutes until the other side is done as well.

While the potatoes are roasting, in a medium pot heat up the olive oil and sauté the onion in it. Then add the garlic or shallots, ginger and the curry powder and saute until sizzling and fragrant. Now add the carrots and the greens.  Add the quinoa to the pot along with 3 cups stock or salted water. Simmer under a lid until all the liquid is absorbed about 15 minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork, season to taste and add the olive oil.  Add a squeeze of lemon. Put the quinoa on a platter, top with the sweet potatoes.  Serve with chutney or yogurt.

serves 6.

Maple-Pecan-Coconut Granola

This granola is delicious, and even popular among the folks I know who are not into health food.  If you need this recipe to be gluten-free, just be sure that you get your oats from a gluten-free source.  

If you like your granola to have chunks of oats and nuts, the key to keeping that consistency is in the turn between bakes.  Use a flat spatula and simply flip the oats once, keeping the chunks intact.  Stirring the oats instead of turning them will separate the oats and get rid of the chunks.  

This recipe was adapted from the Whole Foods Market Anniversary Cookbook.

Maple-Pecan-Coconut Granola

Serves 6-8

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup unsweetened organic coconut, finely shredded

Pinch of sea salt

2/3 cup maple syrup

6 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil plus enough to grease the pan

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Blend the oats, flour, coconut, and salt together in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, oil, and vanilla until completely incorporated.  Add to the oat mixture, stirring well to coat.  Place mixture on a large pan that has been greased with coconut oil.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Pull the granola out of the oven and add the pecans, turning the granola once to mix them in.  Continue to bake for an additional 30 minutes.  Allow the granola to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place or in the refrigerator.