Yummy Food!

Burgers for Lunch - Gluten Free Hamburger Bun Recipe

My lunch

Lily's Lunch

Ryan's Lunch

Gluten Free Buns

In a large bowl whisk together to blend

1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup each ground flax seed, arrowroot flour, sweet rice flour and white rice flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar

In a small bowl mix together and let sit for 5 minutes

1 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons of hot (potato) water (see below)

Add gelatin water to flour mixture.  Add the egg, olive oil and enough water to make the dough into a pancake like consistency.  

1 egg
2 Tablespoons first cold pressed olive oil
1 cup + warm water or potato water (the leftover water used when boiling potatoes)

Cover with a towel and let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour.  Preheat your oven to 400 F with cast iron mini cake pans inside.  After dough has risen to about double the flour will have absorbed a lot of the water.  Add more water until the dough is once again like a pancake batter.

When the oven is hot, take the pans out and grease with olive oil or bacon grease so the crusts won't stick.  Pour about 1/4-1/3 cup of batter into each cup and bake 6-7 minutes until firm, cool on a wire rack while you are getting your toppings ready, or for a more crispy crust flip and bake another 6-7 minutes on the other side.  Cool.

Maple and Sage Breakfast Sausauge

This is one of my all time favourite breakfast proteins.  So easy to make requiring just a few simple ingredients.  I really love how they taste warmed up so I often double the recipe to have a quick to warm up protein for breakfasts and snacks.  

Maple and Sage Breakfast Sausage

In a small bowl combine all ingredients.

1 lb ground pork

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp  salt

1 Tablespoon dried sage

2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

Mix well with hands until spices are spread evenly throughout meat.  Scoop into a frying pan by the tablespoon with a little bacon fat.  Flatten with a fork and fry until both sides are golden.

I bought a small stainless steel scoop from Pampered Chef a few years ago and I just love it.  I use it all the time for making sausage, salmon patties and cookies.

Breakfast on the go.

Chicken Sandwich Using Lettuce for Bread

I love roasted chicken, I make it every other week.  I get so many meals out of one chicken, we eat it for 3 days!  Roast chicken dinners, chicken sandwiches, chicken and gravy over homemade fries and don't forget the chicken soup.  Today my chicken sandwich was so tasty I had to make a second one.

Roast chicken on romaine lettuce.

Some salt and pepper, a paper thin layer of butter and a couple pieces of bacon.

Don't forget the cucumber.

A chicken sandwich with a side of carrots.

For dessert I had a gala apple and 2 squares of Cocoa Camino 80% Dark Chocolate.

Oven Roasted Carrots

This is Ryan's favourite way to eat carrots.  After roasting they end up so sweet he says they are like candy!  Tasty and great for you, the best combination.  When making this recipe remember the carrots shrink so make more than you think you'll eat, they taste great reheated the next day as well so don't be afraid to make a lot.  When I take these out of the oven I tip the dish to the side so I can collect the extra carrot enriched butter which I eat on my other vegetables.


Oven Roasted Carrots

Preheat oven to 400 F.

1) Peel and cut carrots and place them into a cast iron pan or an oven proof dish with 2-3 Tablespoons butter and a pinch of salt.

2) Cover and bake for 30 minutes.

3) Uncover and turn carrots, return to oven uncovered for 15 minutes.

4) Turn carrots and return to oven uncovered for up to 15 minutes until carrots are done to your liking.

Super Easy Spicy Baked Chicken

This recipe is so simple.  I buy frozen chicken breasts from a local farmer and for this recipe I just throw the frozen breasts into the oven and within the hour dinner is ready!

Super Easy Spicy Baked Chicken

Preheat oven to 400 F

1) Place 2 frozen chicken breasts in a cast iron pan and bake for 15 minutes.

2) Make a sauce from 2 tablespoons THAI Kitchen's Red Curry Paste, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper.

3) Take the chicken from the oven and using a pastry brush, spread half sauce onto the chicken and bake another 10 minutes.

4) Take the chicken from the oven and spread the remaining sauce onto chicken.  Bake 10 minutes more and test internal temperature of chicken to make sure it it done 180 F.

Delicious Homemade Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries and Garlic Herbed Potato Fries

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Preheat clean cast iron pans in oven as well.

Scrub potatoes until clean.  Cut potatoes into 2.5 cm/0.5 inch cubes and slice sweet potatoes into wedges about 2.5 cm/ 0.5 inches at the widest part.  Soak in cold water for a few minutes.  Note:  I have read the longer you soak the fries the crispier they will be.  I however usually don't plan that far ahead.  Soak up to 24 hours.

Drain excess water on a clean tea towel.

Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries

Toss potatoes in half butter and half olive oil with a pinch or two of sea salt.

Spread fries on a preheated cast iron pan.  Bake at 400F for 15 minutes.

Finely grate some parmesan cheese.

Turn fries and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.  Bake another 10 minutes until golden and cheese is crispy.

Garlic Herbed Potato Fries 

Toss potatoes in half melted butter and half olive oil, a few cloves of garlic, 1 Tablespoon dried oregano, a pinch or two of salt and some pepper.  These are all to taste.

Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes, toss, bake 10 minutes, toss, bake another 5 minutes until golden.

Grain Free Salmon Loaf

Everyone in our family likes salmon loaf so it is a big go to protein dish for me.  I will often turn this recipe into salmon patties which are a great take along snack for a busy family.  This recipe is easily doubled.

Drain water from a can of salmon and reserve.  Mash up the salmon with a fork or a pastry cutter.

Add 1/4 cup almond flour.

Add a small onion chopped, 1/8 cup chopped celery and a pinch of salt and pepper.  (I subbed 1 Tablespoon of dried parsley because I was out of celery.)

Mix it all together and add 1 beaten egg.

Add reserved salmon water and 1/8 cup cream or milk.

Mix and press into a 5x7 inch pan.  Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

I will post the fry recipes tomorrow.

Taco Salad

 Grass fed beef, onions, celery, carrots.

I use a little coconut oil because the grass fed beef is very lean.  Fry everything on medium until the meat is cooked.

Add some chopped garlic and jalapeno peppers.  Add chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.

I add about 1-2 cups of crushed tomatoes and spinach for the last few minutes of cooking.

Make a salad with your favorite veggies and throw some taco filling on top.  Voila taco salad!

My Food Journey

Born and raised in Canada I have been very active all my life.  Growing up my mom liked to cook from scratch at home and we always sat down to eat family dinners.

I have fond childhood memories of eating bacon, eggs and home fries regularly as well as 2 slices of toast dipped in a very, very chocolaty hot chocolate for breakfast.  Cereal was also very big in my house.  Bowls of chips and diet pop were a regular Friday and Saturday night treat.

As a kid I had lots of digestive troubles.  Chronic constipation combined with bouts of very painful diarrhea.  Diagnosed as lactose intolerance.  My skin has always been very dry, with bumps which I now know are keratosis pilaris.

I was a bit of an anomaly in my family in terms of exercise.  I was the only one that was good at pretty much any sport or exercise I tried and exercise has always made me feel really good.  As a teen I started smoking and drinking.  My diet was terrible, corn chips for breakfast and a burger and fries for lunch, a lot of junky fast food but in spite of that I never lost my love of sport.

I married young at 20.  I quit smoking and drinking and had my first baby at 21.  My daughter was born and at 6 weeks we were told she was blind.  Shocked but resilient I made the best of what life gave me turning the focus of my life to being as healthy as I can be.

I started cooking everything I could from scratch.  Luckily for me I have never believed all the low fat mantra.  I've always preferred to use real ingredients like butter over margarine, thank you Mom.

I went on the blood type diet for a while in conjunction with a 40/30/30 plan and it worked well for me.  I worked out out a few times a week lifting weights and interval running and got in great shape.  Then somehow I went off that eating plan, I can't remember when or why.  Probably because trying to keep track of the ratios proved to be a pain.

Fast forward 5 years and I was pregnant with my second baby, working at Tim Hortons (a coffee and donut shop) to make extra cash while my daughter was in school.  I gained quite a bit more weight with my second pregnancy than my first.  Damn you bagels and donuts!  I went from 125 to 160.

I lost most of the baby weight though and then after watching a few videos on the PITA website I decided to become a vegan for humane reasons.  Such a bad idea for me in retrospect, I was a horrible vegan and I gained 10 lbs in a year while still exercising at the same level.

For Christmas that year I was given Nourishing Traditions by my mother in law and a lot of what I read in the book made sense to me.  I was unhappy with my weight gain and constantly hungry on my vegan diet so I started sourcing out humanely raised, grass fed local dairy and beef and pastured eggs and chickens.  I wanted to eat meat because my body craved it, but it had to be from animals that were treated well.

So I started eating meat and dairy again.  I found and joined the website Sparkpeople and put myself on a restricted calorie diet to lose my extra weight and as someone who had never paid attention to calories before I was shocked to discover that breads, pasta and grains all contain a ton of calories. But not only that, the nutrition they provide in terms of vitamins and minerals was so low that to me they became not worth eating because I considered those calories wasted.

I guess I am considered low carb now, I usually eat under 100g of carbs a day.  Although I don't track my foods anymore.  I found not only was constantly tracking a huge time suck it also isn't necessary when I eat the way I eat. A whole food diet consisting of lots of vegetables, meats, fats and some fruit.  I have also come to discover that this way of eating is Primal/Paleo although I do make some treats for the family that are not 100% Primal/Paleo.  What can I say, kids like muffins and cookies (husbands like them too), so I make some tasty gluten free ones that have all real food ingredients to satisfy those needs.

So that has been my journey so far.  It feels really natural to eat this way and I am feeling so good right now I can't imagine changing how I eat.

Thanks for reading,
April