Italian Sausage, Peppers & Onions

Dinner tonight. Delish. Simple, healthy, and low carb. I have a Sprouts Market around the corner and they make their own sausage fresh daily. Italian, Andouille, Brats, Chicken Apple (yum!) etc....Tonight I picked up 4 links of spicy italian, and some colorful peppers & red onions. Taste the rainbow!

Isn't that beautiful?? And this:

I left the sausage whole but you can slice it up for quicker cooking. Brown the sausage in a little olive oil:

Remove from pan and add a little more olive oil. Add the peppers & onions and saute for a few minutes. Then add some diced garlic and saute another 30 seconds:

Mix 1 cup low sodium chicken broth, 3 TBS coarse ground mustard and 2 tsp red wine vinegar. Pour over vege's and stir for about 2 minutes:

Return the sausage to the skillet and simmer another minute or two. And here you have heaven in a skillet:

Mr. H loves mustard so we had an assortment of mustards on the side for dippin (Jack Daniels Dijon, Spicy Brown, Coarse Ground, and good old fashioned yellow). Enjoy!

Coconut Carrot Pecan Muffins

Changing your eating lifestyle to lower your carbs can be difficult. Breakfast and desserts seem to be the hardest to find replacements for. I recently made these muffins which were hearty and actually tasted like carrot cake. A good breakfast muffin or dessert with only 13g carbs per muffin.

I live near a Sprouts market and they have all of these ingredients. Whole Foods likely does as well.

Here are the cast of characters:

Combine coconut flakes, almond meal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl.

In a separate large bowl mix together carrot and applesauce. Isn't that pretty?

Make a paste out of the dates. In a small glass bowl put dates and 3 TBS warm water. Microwave for 30 seconds on high. Mash dates with a fork until they become paste-like. Add 1 more TBS water and microwave another 30 seconds. Add coconut oil and vanilla. Mash some more and it should look like this:

Mix the date paste into carrot/apple bowl, then mix the dry ingredients in a little at a time, followed by the eggs:

Grease a muffin tin with coconut oil then spoon mixture into pan. Top with coarsely chopped pecans (press them in just slightly or they'll fall off the top easily):

Bake 19-21 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan about 15 minutes. Loosen the edges well with a butter knife.

Yummy.


1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup almond meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 heaping TBS cinnamon
1 cup baby carrots shredded extra fine in a food processor
1 single serving unsweetened organic applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS coconut oil
5 medjool dates pitted
2 Omega-3 eggs whisked
Raw pecans coarsely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

Combine coconut flakes, almond meal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl. In a separate large bowl mix together carrot and applesauce.

Make a paste out of the dates. In a small glass bowl put dates and 3 TBS warm water. Microwave for 30 seconds on high. Mash dates with a fork until they become paste-like. Add 1 more TBS water and microwave another 30 seconds. Add coconut oil and vanilla. Mash some more.

Mix the date paste into carrot/apple bowl, then mix the dry ingredients in a little at a time, followed by the eggs.

Grease a muffin tin with coconut oil then spoon mixture into pan. Top with coarsely chopped pecans.

Bake 19-21 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan about 15 minutes. Loosen the edges well with a butter knife. 

Hearty Beef Stew

I love The New Best Recipe cookbook from Cooks Illustrated.

Here's the link on amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Best-Recipe-All-New/dp/0936184744/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298240068&sr=1-1

If you know someone who likes to cook or is learning to cook this is a great book. It's big and heavy and is like a combination cookbook, science book and encyclopedia. They have tested, tested, and retested every recipe. You learn exactly how and why each ingredient and each step is important.

It was cold and rainy here in AZ yesterday so the Hearty Beef Stew was just the ticket. This recipe has the stew cooking in the oven instead of the stove top. Fortunately Mr. H got me my awesome Le Creuset dutch oven which is the perfect pot for this recipe. This is the first time I have made beef stew in the oven and I must say the beef melts in your mouth and the sauce is wonderful.

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 300. Starting with the beef, they found that a chuck roast trimmed and cut into cubes was the best choice (3lbs pre-trimmed).

Dry the cubed beef thoroughly with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 1 TBS vegetable oil in dutch oven over med-high heat til shimmering. Add half of the meat and cook, not moving the pieces until the sides touching the pot are well browned, 2-3 minutes:

Using tongs turn the pieces and cook til most sides are well browned, about 5 more minutes:

Transfer the beef to a bowl, add another TBS of oil and brown the remaining beef. Transfer to the meat bowl and set aside. Reduce heat to medium, add TBS of oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add 2 chopped onions and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook, stirring frequently and vigorously with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits until the onions have softened, 4-5 minutes. Add 3 garlic cloves minced or pressed and cook for 30 seconds:

Stir in 3 TBS flour and and cook until lightly colored, 1-2 minutes. Add 1 cup of wine, scraping up the remaining browned bits from the bottom and edges of the pot and stir until the liquid is thick. The book says choose a fairly inexpensive young Chianti or Zindanfel.

Gradually add 2 cups low sodium chicken broth, stirring constantly and scraping the pan edges to dissolve the flour. Add 2 bay leaves and 1 tsp dried thyme and bring to a simmer. Add the meat and return to a simmer. Cover and place pot in oven for 1 hour.

About 15 minutes before the hour is up I diced the carrots (1 lb sliced 1/4 inch thick) and potatoes (4 medium or 1 1/2 lbs peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes).  Make sure the carrots aren't too thickly sliced-mine were a little thick and had a bit of a crunch in the center.

Remove the pot from the oven and add the potatoes and carrots. Cover and return to the oven. Cook until the meat is just tender, about 1 hour. Remove from oven. The recipe calls for adding 1 cup frozen peas thawed here but we are not big fans of peas in stew. So it's up to you. If you do add them just drop them in, cover and and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley and serve with a good crusty bread. (oh and don't forget to fish out the bay leaves unless you have a tradition of giving a prize to the person who finds one). Here it is:

 Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Breasts

Mr. H grilled some boneless, skinless chicken breasts tonight. Marinating all day is the key to juicy chicken. I throw together this simple marinade the night before and pour it over the chicken in a ziploc in the morning before I leave for work. I like to trim the chicken well and pound it with a kitchen hammer to even it out so you don't have one big fat end and a little skinny end that ends up getting overcooked. It is also a good way to get your frustrations out on the poor helpless chicken....bang bang...take that you inattentive driver on the cell phone that cut me off!...bang bang.....take that you...ok, I digress.

For the marinade pour some olive oil, white wine (or red wine or whatever floats ur boat) vinegar, diced garlic, diced shallots, fresh squeezed lemon juice (another shout out to Sue for the incredibly juicy home grown lemons) and some coarse ground mustard into a jar and shake well. Notice the war wounds inflicted on the helpless chicken (this is after they have marinated all day):

Grill over medium heat about 5-6 minutes per side. These were real fatties but if you have smaller breasts (chicken I mean) adjust cooking time:

Here they are in all their grilled juicy glory:

Ooops, one got away to the plate:

And how.

Chili (no beans)

This is a good hearty chili with no beans for those who are trying to eat less carbs. The diced carrots actually come out with a nice consistency after the long simmering and are a good replacement for beans. Here are the cast of characters:

Pretty simple ingredient list (i forgot to put the bacon in the picture). Start by dicing up about 3 slices of bacon and over medium low heat cook a few minutes until slightly brown and some fat is rendered out. Add the red pepper, carrots, onions, and garlic and increase to medium heat:

Pretty! Add the spices: chili powder, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, cayenne, oregano:

Saute for about 10 minutes. Oh man, this is absolute goodness. Your house will be smelling delish:

Add 1/2 the ground beef and cook for 3-4 minutes on med-high breaking beef into chunks then add the other half and cook another 3-4 minutes. The store had some Kobe ground beef on special and boy was it good. Organic grass fed beef is great also. I really notice the difference with grass fed beef. If you have a Sprouts near you watch their ads as they occasionally have great deals.

Check out the steamy goodness. The smell is amazing at this point (p.s. have I told you Le Creuset how much I love you lately?):

Add diced tomatoes and tomato puree. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer another 30 minutes to an hour stirring occasionally. You can add a little beef broth or water if it starts to get too thick. And the winner is:

It's really good. Add your choice of toppings (fresh tomatoes, avocado, scallions, red onion, sour cream, shredded cheddar) you get the picture. And enjoy.

2-3 slices bacon chopped
1 onion diced
4 cloves garlic diced fine
1 red pepper diced
2 carrots peeled and diced
3 TBS chili powder
1 TBS cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 Lbs ground beef
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes undrained
1 28 oz can tomato puree

Cook 3 slices of chopped bacon over medium low heat. Cook a few minutes until slightly brown and some fat is rendered out. Add the red pepper, carrots, onions, and garlic and increase to medium heat. Add the spices: chili powder, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, cayenne, oregano. Saute for about 10 minutes.

Add 1/2 the ground beef and cook for 3-4 minutes on med-high breaking beef into chunks then add the other half and cook another 3-4 minutes.

Add diced tomatoes and tomato puree. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer another 30 minutes to an hour stirring occasionally. You can add a little beef broth or water if it starts to get too thick.

Add your choice of toppings (fresh tomatoes, avocado, scallions, red onion, sour cream, shredded cheddar)  and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Chips

When we cleaned out the pantry for the new primal eating lifestyle I tried to find substitutes for some of the things we enjoy (like the mashed cauliflower to replace mashed potatoes). Pre-pantry-clean-out there was always a big yellow bag of good old fashioned Lays potato chips. And I could sit and eat half a bag at a time, no problem. There's nothing better to satisfy that crunchy salty need. So I found a recipe for Sweet Potato Chips and they are just the ticket.

It helps to have one of these handy-dandy kitchen tools. The mandolin:

I think they realized that most of us can't read Chinese and wanted to save some finger tips so added the english warning: Watch your fingers! If you don't have a mandolin just thinly slice with a nice sharp knife.

Heat the oven to 250. Peel 1 or 2 sweet potatoes and very thinly slice into chips. The first batch I made were extremely thin so I adjusted them a bit but it's up to you. I think the next batch will be just in between.

Brush baking sheets with a little EVOO and arrange on baking sheets:

I brush the tops with a little more EVOO then sprinkle a little sea salt:

Here you can get creative. I like the simple salted chips but you can sprinkle garlic powder, cajun spice or anything that floats ur boat.

Put in the oven and about every 25 minutes take them out and flip them over. Cook until crispy and turning a nice slightly dark brown. The total time will vary depending on the thickness. The really thin chips took only about 40 minutes and the thicker ones about 1 1/2 hours total. They crisp up even more after you take them out of the oven and set them aside to cool.

Here is the finished product.....perfection:

Beautiful, crispy, salty goodness. They are very hearty and I only need a handful as opposed to the Lays where I had to (mind you had to) eat a half of a bag at a time. Yummy! And good for you!

1 or 2 sweet potatoes peeled and thinly sliced
EVOO
Sea Salt or flavoring of your choice

Preheat oven to 250. Brush baking sheets with EVOO. Arrange chips on baking sheets in single layer. Brush with EVOO and sprinkle with sea salt. Place in oven and about every 25 minutes take out and flip them over. Bake until they are slightly dark brown. Enjoy!

Grilled Salmon

I love fish. Mr. H does not. But when we grill some steaks (I love steak) I like to throw a piece of salmon on the grill. I found that this method works like a charm every time. This way I don't have to worry about the salmon sticking to the grill and it comes out beautifully moist and tasty.

Place the salmon skin side down on a piece of foil large enough to wrap it up with all the goodies. Top with fresh chopped garlic, a few pats of butter, sliced red onions and then squeeze a fresh lemon over it (thank you Sue for the fresh lemons from your tree, they were so full of juice!!!).

Wrap it up in the foil then wrap it in another layer of foil. Place skin side down on the grill. Grill for 7 minutes a side and voila:

Tender, juicy, delicious salmon. Yummmm.

Cauliflower Mash

Me and Mr. H have embarked on a nutritional journey to transition to a more "primal" way of eating and (mainly lean protein, nuts & seeds and fruits & vegetables) from our normal and "conventional" high carb and grain way of eating. I wish I had taken a before and after pic of our pantry when we cleaned it out. But it went from being packed full of cereal, pop tarts, bread, crackers, pasta, potatoes, rice and beans to a much more lean and mean pantry (thank you Sprouts).

It's hard to give up all the favorite and comforting high carb foods but I am working on some alternatives. I found a recipe for mashed cauliflower and it really does an awesome job of replacing mashed potatoes as a side dish.

Who woulda thunk that this:

Some cauliflower and smashed garlic could become this smooth and creamy dish:

Seriously. I roasted a nice lean cut of pork and steamed a head of cauliflower, mashed it in the food processor, a little gravy on top, and voila.

Mr. H said it was pretty much like eating mashed potatoes.

Just take a whole head of cauliflower, chop off the flowerettes, and steam with a few smashed cloves of garlic. Put it in a food processor with a little butter, salt & pepper and tumeric (if you like) and mash away.

It was delish.