Too Good to be True Tilapia

4 ingredients, 15 minutes, this is my favorite last minute meal. My kids devour this fish and always ask for more.

• 4 fillets tilapia, defrosted
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• a couple glugs white wine
• 4 pinches dill (fresh is best but dried will do)

Preheat oven to 425F. Coat an 8×11 glass baking dish with cooking spray or olive oil. Lay fillets in trying not to overlap. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over each of the fillets. Pour a couple glugs of white wine over all 4, not too much, you don’t want to drown them. Sprinkle a pinch of dill over each fillet.
Bake for 15 mins or until the fish flakes easily and is no longer opaque. Hmm, tasty.
I usually like to serve this with a simple spinach salad and Quinoa Pilaf to fill up extra hungry stomachs.

Black Bean Chili

Here is what’s on the menu tonight. These are the basic ingredients, but I like to play around with them. Ground turkey or beef instead of chicken, white beans for black, chopped chilies for salsa.

• 1 lb chicken, cooked and cubed
• 1 med onion, chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seed
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 cans black beans, rinse and drain
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 tsp chili powder (if you have chipotle chili powder, that’s the best)
• Sour cream/dripped yogurt and cheddar cheese for garnish

In a medium size sauce pan, heat oil over medium heat. Saute garlic and cumin seeds until sizzling. Add onions and saute until soft and golden. Add chicken, beans, broth, salsa and remaining seasonings except sour cream and cheese. Simmer for 20 mins. Remove from heat and garnish with sour cream and cheddar cheese.

Nutty Pumpkin Pie

Nut crust

• 2 1/2 cups walnuts, finely chopped in a food processor
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted.

Combine nuts, cinnamon and sugar. Stir in butter. Press into the bottom and sides of a 9″ pie crust. Bake at 350 for about 12 mins. Watch it since nuts burn easily. Cool and fill with pie filling.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

• 2 cups pumpkin puree or 1 can, 15 oz
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cardamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

Spinach, Chevre and Walnut Pasta

This is a take on the Chevre Pasta I posted earlier. We had it for dinner tonight and I just had to share. So tasty!
1 cup of pasta per person, we used Tinkyada Fusilli
1 large handful of fresh spinach per person
1 oz chevre per person
1 tbsp chopped walnuts per person
1 tbsp olive oil
Cook pasta according to package, drain and set aside. Heat oil in the pasta pan and toast walnuts for a couple minutes. Turn heat off and toss in spinach until wilted. Add chevre and heat until just starting to melt. Toss with pasta and enjoy.

Chicken Tacos to Die For

Man, I impressed myself with this one. This is my favorite kind of meal, few ingredients, fast and tastes unbelievable!

• 2 lbs chicken breast, bone in or bone out, I actually used some of each
• 3 chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce (if you want more of a punch, add more chilies)
• 1 large onion sliced
• 2 cups salsa or a 15 oz can of chopped stewed tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• Taco shells (omit for a GAPS legal meal)

In a crockpot, place chicken breasts (no need to defrost if frozen). Pour in the tomatoes. Mix in the chipotle chilies and and adobo sauce, garlic and cinnamon sticks. Top with the slices of onion. I give it a bit of a stir to make sure the chicken is coated. Cook on high for about 4 hours (low for 8). You’ll want the meat to be tender enough to just fall off the bone.

Remove the chicken pieces, chipotle peppers and cinnamon sticks. Shred the chicken, I do this using two forks. Throw out the peppers and cinnamon (you can chop the peppers up and leave them in the mix, but it will be hotter). Put the chicken back in the crockpot with all the yummy juices and mix thoroughly.

This tastes great on tacos or as a taco salad. Add your favorite taco toppings like cheese, sour cream, more salsa and salad.

Balsamic Green Beans with Roasted Red Peppers

I wanted to make a green bean dish for Thanksgiving, but not the typical cream of mushroom soup/fried onions dish. Not one of my favorites. I looked around for a while to see if I could find a good one but wasn’t struck by any I found. I knew what I wanted so I just came up with this myself. I think I might be making this for more than Thanksgiving.

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar (or honey)
• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 tbsp coconut oil or butter
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds would be good)
• 1 large sweet onion, sliced lengthwise into slivers
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 roasted red pepper, 1/2 a jar if using jarred, sliced
• 1.5 lbs of fresh green beans

In a small saucepan, heat balsamic vinegar and brown sugar and reduce by about half. When it’s done the sauce will coat the back of your spoon nicely.

In a skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until nice and crispy. Drain and set aside. Reserve just enough of the fat to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add coconut oil and heat up over medium heat. Toast the walnuts until they start smelling yummy and are browned. Remove nuts from skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add garlic and saute for 1 min. Add onion and saute until carmelized, browned and very soft. Chop up bacon and return to the skillet. Add red peppers and walnuts and heat through. Pour reduced balsamic vinegar sauce over the mixture.

Steam fresh green beans until bright green and still crispy. Toss together with balsamic vinegar mixture.

Beans and Rice

• 1 cup chopped green and red bell peppers
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin seed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cans black beans, 15 oz each, drained and rinsed or 4 cups cooked black beans
• 1 cup broth (or water)
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (optional)
• salsa

Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add cumin, saute until they start to sputter. Add garlic and saute 1 min. Add peppers, onion, oregano and chili. Saute until soft. Add beans and broth, simmer until liquid is mostly evaporated. Add apple cider vinegar (optional). Serve with rice and top with salsa.

I will drizzle flax seed oil over the top of this for additional nutritional value.

Mmm…enchiladas…mmm

I love enchiladas and I’m forever on a quest to find the best. So far, these are it. This sauce can be used as you would use enchilada sauce from a can (but tastes infinitely better!) Next time I make this I’m going to add a square of baking chocolate to make more of a mole sauce. This is not dairy free, but with the right ingredients it can be lactose free. To make this more kid friendly, I add cayenne and chipotle chili powder to my own serving just before eating.
Sauce:

• 3 tbsp coconut oil, butter or lard
• 1 tbsp flour (I use gluten free)
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne (optional for those who want more heat)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 6 oz tomato paste
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Heat oil in a med sized saucepan. Stir in flour, chili powder, oregano, cumin and salt.
Stir continuously until mixture is nice and bubbly, about 3-5 min.
Slowly whisk in chicken stock. Whisk in tomato paste. Continue stirring until mixture thickens slightly.
Remove from heat and whisk in sour cream.
Chicken Enchilada Casserole

• 1 lb chicken breast, cooked and shredded (or cubed)
• 8 oz shredded cheese (I prefer a Mexican cheese blend)
• about 9 corn tortilla shells (sprouted corn tortillas from Food for Life are the best!)
• 1 recipe enchilada sauce

Heat oven to 350F. In a 8×11 casserole, ladle in enough sauce to cover the bottom. Layer 3 tortilla shells on top, breaking them apart as needed to fill in space. Spread 1/4 of the chicken over the tortillas, ladle sauce on top and then sprinkle cheese on top of that. Continue layering in this manner until all ingredients are used up. On the last layer, if you have extra sauce, ladle extra along the edges. End with a thick layer of cheese. Place in oven for about 20 mins or until cheese is melted.
Feel free to substitute ground beef, shredded beef, pork or beans.

Fresh Veggie Pasta

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• 2 cups diced zucchini
• 4 purple potatoes, diced (regular would work fine too)
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 chili, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup red wine or chicken broth
• 1 lb sauage, pastured
• 1 lb pasta, rotini (wheat free for us!)

Cook pasta according to the package and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan. Saute onions, garlic until onions are translucent. Add red peppers and potatoes, saute until browned. Add tomatoes, zucchini, canned tomatoes and chili. Add red wine and simmer for 30 min.
While sauce is simmering, brown the sausage. Add sausage to sauce.
Toss everything together and enjoy.

Feel free to mix and match veggies.  The above pictured contains yellow squash, spinach, red onions and red peppers.

Killer Grain Free Pancakes

Oh so good!  Many times, gluten free/grain free foods for me are a notch below their gluten full counterparts.  These pancakes are in the running for the best pancakes I’ve had.  Even the boys liked them!

• 1 1/2 cups walnuts (chopped or whole)
• 1/2 cup cream or sour cream
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter or coconut oil
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

In a food processor, chop nuts very finely, almost to the point of making it a nut butter.  Add remaining ingredients and process thoroughly.

Heat a large skillet (I love my cast iron!) on medium heat with a little bit of oil to coat the bottom.  When nice and hot, turn down to med-low (nuts tend to burn quickly).  Spoon mixture out, about 1/4 cup per pancake.  When the pancakes are all bubbly, flip them.