Hey guys, sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve posted a meal, but between a pretty busy summer and, well, some other stuff going on, my cooking has been less than creative. Anyway, I wanted to make something with this Costco Organic Chicken (yay for Costco and saving money!) I got the other day and needed something different.
Years ago, when Scott and I lived in Philly and I was working full time to help to put my hubby through grad school, once in awhile, I would come home from work and find this wonderful (not gluten free, we weren’t super healthy pre-kids) meal waiting for me!! It was such a treat! Anyway, I really don’t think we’ve had it since Philly, which was over 8 years ago, so thought it would be fun to try out a gluten free, healthy version of the Chicken Piccata.
Here’s what you need:
1-1.5 lbs chicken
1 lemon
capers, 3 tbsp
garlic, 4-5 cloves
dry white wine, 1/2 cup
chicken broth, 1/2 cup
sweet onion, 1 medium
scallions, 3 chopped
ghee (or butter), 2 tbsp
almond flour or meal (use coconut flour if you have allergies), 1/3 cup
celtic sea salt to taste
Here’s what you need to do:
1. Chop the onion and press about 4-5 garlic cloves. Then, heat a large pan on high with about a tsp of ghee and saute until brown. Then set aside.
2. Cut the chicken breasts in half and pay dry and set aside.
3. In a flat bowl, add about 1/3 cup almond flour/meal and 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt, mix and set aside.
4. Now reheat your large pan on high and add about 1 tbsp ghee. Then put the chicken with the almond flour/salt and pat so it covers the chicken and sticks. Then, place chicken in the hot pan and let cook about 3-4 minutes or until it is brown. If you flip it too soon, the almond flour might come off of the chicken so make sure it’s brown.
5. Now, add another tsp or two of ghee and flip the chicken and allow to cook for another 3-4 minutes or until brown.
6. Next, turn the stove down to low and add in the onions/garlic, about 1 tsp salt, the white wine, chicken broth, juice from 1 lemon, and scallions if you use them.
7. Lastly, simmer for 15-20 minutes until the liquid thickens and the chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Serve and enjoy!
By the way, this last picture was before the liquid evaporated and the onions were fully saturated with the yummy sauce. It tastes so much better than it looks, I promise!
Jacquleine -hi!
You may have already talked about this, but what does “sprouted grains” or “ancient grains” mean… does it still have gluten?ReplyCancel
landriav -Hey Jacqueline!
This is certainly better for you than the typical super processed grain but the two remaining issues are that these grains still have gluten and that they also contain Lectins. Here are a couple of articles that might be helpful:
Today we had a “Smoothie Off” with some friends and it was so much fun!
Here is how it worked: Each challenger (child) had to come up with their own smoothie concoction. Then, everyone would taste test each one and rank (on a scale of 1-10) according to preference. In the end, the smoothie with the most points won!
Here’s where the taste testing and ratings battle ground took place…
We must have had over 20 ingredients for the smoothies! There are so many different things you can use but some of our basics included coconut milk, coconut water and coconut oil, almond milk, avocados, berries and other fruit, nut butters, raw cacao, honey, stevia, vanilla, cinnamon and chia seeds.
One of our goals was to make “fat smoothies”. Kids need good fats for brain development and growth so we wanted to find smoothies the kids liked but also add some healthy fats to each one.
Here’s how it started with some less than optimistic eyes on the first smoothie. Well, except for sweet Hayes guzzling his down…
The kids really got into making their own…
And more so, I think they enjoyed using a loud, somewhat dangerous handheld tool, especially the boys!
Let’s start with Brown’s smoothie which included:
strawberry, handful
raspberry, handful
banana, 1 banana
chia seeds, 1 tbsp
coconut milk, 1/2 can
honey, 1+ tbsp (I think)
ice, handful
This next one actually came in first place! It’s called the Raspberry Lime Smoothie and it is made from, well, you guess most of it:
juice from 1 lime
handful of frozen raspberries (Trader Joe’s has organic frozen ones. They make for a great snack alone too!)
coconut water (to almost the top of the berries but about an inch below)
some honey (about 1 tbsp)
handful of ice
almond milk (60 calorie) optional
They loved it!
Next was the Super Chocolate Almond smoothie:
avocado, 2 tbsp (kids never knew it was there)
coconut oil, 1 tbsp
almond butter, 1/4 cup
honey, about 1-2 tbsp
stevia, 5-10 drops
cacao, 1 tbsp
coconut milk, 1 cup
70 % cacao dark chocolate chips, handful
ice, handful
Helen’s Berry Fun smoothie included:
strawberries, handful
cinnamon,a dash
coconut oil, 1 tbsp
chia seeds, 1 tbsp
honey, 1 tbsp
coconut water (to just below the fruit line)
ice, hanful
Then lastly we had what we called the Chocolate Covered Strawberry smoothie. It included:
some (low sugar, 7 grams per serving) coconut chocolate milk (could also use Justin’s chocolate nut butter)
strawberries
raspberries
blueberries
coconut oil
honey, 1+ tbsp
ice, handful
And then the rankings for the five smoothies. Looking good, huh?! I think Helen was just plain hungry…
Overall, I have to say the competition was a success! They all did great and honestly, they all tasted delicious. And for me and Ann, not only did we find out what the kids loved, but we also learned that you can add in avocado and/or coconut oil (if you use Spectrum that has virtually no coconut smell or taste) in all of these smoothies to give the kids some extra goodness.
As I’ve said before with the kids, it’s about making food fun, getting them involved, and then of course using yummy wholesome ingredients! Thanks Ann, Brown, Helen and Hayes for this great idea! Everyone was a winner today!!
I know, I know, there haven’t been a lot of “meal” recipes lately and for that, I apologize. But with summer here, I’ve just been sticking to some quick basics. I think things will slow a bit in July and then will be back on it, but for now, I’m just having fun making treats with my kids.
So my daughter used her own money to purchase an American Girl doll, Kanai, awhile back. According to Kanai’s book, she is from Hawaii and her family owns a snow cone shop. Well, after reading about it, it just kind of makes you want one, so Alice decided to make her own. It is going to sound too simple, but really it was so good and refreshing. It doesn’t have to be hard to make or time consuming or bad for you to taste good!!
Here’s what you need for 2 servings:
3-4 lemons
stevia
ice
blender
Start cutting lemons in half and squeezing into a small bowl. If kids are helping, you may want to chop lemon into 4 pieces so it’s easier to squeeze.
Add 10 drops of stevia per lemon so for 3 lemons we probably used about 1/8 tsp in all.
Next, throw about 2-3 cups worth of ice into a blender. You may need a lot more for snowballs if you have two little boys running around your house like we did.
Then, once your ice is finely blended, scoop into 2 cups, pour your lemon stevia mixture over the ice, stir well, and enjoy.
My proud girl. Thank goodness! Honestly, I thought these weren’t going to be all that good, but turns out, she knew what she was doing!
Oh, and it’s actually better after about 10 minutes once the ice has started to melt, so wait, if you can!
My husband, Scott, loves his coffee and a good homemade muffin. I have been actually waiting for an excuse to bake Elana’s zuchinni muffins ever since I tried them at a friend’s house about a year ago. And now, I don’t know why I waited so long! These things are so so good, and thankfully, he liked them so much he ate six for breakfast! Besides the Cinnamon Bun Muffins, these are his other favorite.
I used Honeyville Farms (my favorite almond flour) for these, which I’m almost out of, again. Luckily, I just received an email from them today stating that now thru tomorrow (6/19) 6pm PCT, they are offering 10% off everything. The email says to use the code “PAPA” when checking out. I need to get on this!
Here’s what you need for the Zucchini Muffins:
This is a double recipe so feel free to cut in half, but you can always freeze if you have extra. We did not, even though it makes 18! My son loved them too, for what it’s worth…
3 cups almond flour (Honeyville is our favorite)
1 cup Flax Meal (You could mix the two “flours” in any proportion you want, or just use almond meal)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup dark raw honey or coconut palm sugar
4 large omega- 3 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini (approximately two small – medium sticks)
1 cup chopped raw walnuts (or pecans)
1/2 cup currants or dried cranberries (I used Eden’s sweetened only with fruit juice from Whole Foods or online)
Mix the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl and set aside. Then, mix wet in a small bowl. Combine the two bowl, stir until smooth, and, then put into paper lined muffin pans, and bake for about 25 minutes at 350. Allow to cool, and enjoy!
After some scrambled eggs and muffins, he was off to show the kids some Jujitsu moves, which is a part of their weekend tradition. Notice he even pets the dog while Alice is doing the “crazy horse” move and Tate is joining in the fun of whooping dad. What a good guy…
Happy Father’s Day to my sweet, patient, kind, and loving husband.
Laura E Currey-Taseva -So these were a staple in our house but my oldest just got diagnosed with a sensitivity to eggs (and gluten, wheat, bananas, pineapple, and dairy). I made them last night with a chia/chickpea egg sub and they were not bad but I wondered if you had any other tricks up your sleeve? The egg-free business is going to be harder for us than gluten-free! Thanks!ReplyCancel
Landria Voigt -Hey Laura! Have you tried the chia seeds? I have used them before in my squash cakes but not sure how they are in baked goods. So sorry to hear about all of the sensitivities! Also sometimes eggs in baked goods are okay as they are broken down when baked and digested differently. Might be worth asking your doctor about it!ReplyCancel
Laura E Currey-Taseva -Update – I used aquafaba tonight in a batch and they turned out really well. Rather moist so a couple fell apart as I removed them from the mini-muffin pan but had I been more patient and let them cooled more it might have been better. I will try chia seeds next time! Thank you!
landriav -Nice! So great to know. I really appreciate you sharing that Laura!!
My family loves toasted pumpkins seeds! And I love that they love them because they are so good for us.
There are so many reasons so I’ll try to keep this short but for starters, they are natural anti-inflammatory. That’s always big in my book. They are also a good source of vitamin E, selenium, tryptohan (helps fight depression), glutamate (relieves anxiety), and zinc (boosts immune system and fights osteoporosis).
They also have lots of vitamins to make our hair and nails strong and healthy like B-complex and Biotin.
And lastly, they are full of manganese, phosphorous, copper, vitamin K, vitamin E, B vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B-6 , folates, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, and more. That’s a lot of benefits for such a little seed!
So why do we really love them? They taste delicious, they’re easy to make, and they are a great snack!! Here’s how to make Halloween pumpkin seeds, year around!
Here’s what you need:
You need a handful of raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds) from Trader Joe’s and some Kerrygold butter.
Melt a pat of butter (about 1 tbsp or a little less) in the microwave for about 20 seconds or until melted. Then add in the raw seeds (about 3/4 cup) and stir until covered evenly. Next, heat your toaster over to about 350 and let them cook for about 3-5 minutes, stirring every minute or so so they cook evenly. They will cook fast and as soon as you hear them start to “pop”, you know they’re just about done. They will turn from a green color to brown. Pull them out of the toaster (or oven), let them cool, and then enjoy!
And they are even better on a salad. Mmm warm, salty, and crunchy makes for popular salad around here!
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7. Lastly, simmer for 15-20 minutes until the liquid thickens and the chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Serve and enjoy!.jpg "_DSC2184c")
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Jacquleine - hi!
You may have already talked about this, but what does “sprouted grains” or “ancient grains” mean… does it still have gluten?
landriav - Hey Jacqueline!
This is certainly better for you than the typical super processed grain but the two remaining issues are that these grains still have gluten and that they also contain Lectins. Here are a couple of articles that might be helpful:
http://wellnessmama.com/575/how-grains-are-killing-you-slowly/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/lectins/#axzz20Smg8Ptx
If you want to talk about it in greater detail, call or email me. I’d be happy to discuss! 🙂