Skinny Taste’s Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Veggies

Tonight I recreated Skinny Taste’s Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Vegetables and man was it good. I even got lucky that 2 red peppers and some onions were ready for harvest out of the garden!

These are the first peppers I’ve grown and I was amazed how deep red they were – yum!

Here is what it looked like going into the oven and I was already excited…

And the beautiful healthy end result!

This is definitely going to be a new go to recipe, and it is so easy to swap out veggies based on what is fresh, in season, and on hand.

Lunch Today: Gluten & Dairy-Free Quesadilla

I wanted to try out my new cast iron skillet and a quesadilla sounded like a good lunch!

Luckily I had picked up my favorite tortillas during my last Whole Foods run – Engine 2’s Brown Rice Tortillas. As someone who tried to stay away from corn products finding a worthy non-flour/non-corn tortilla has been a process, but these are a great solution.

After the paleo cheese success of last week, I made another batch over the weekend so all I had to do is put some avocado oil in the cast iron and put cheese slices between the tortillas and griddle it up.

The results were yummy, and it was a nice change of pace since gluten and dairy free quesadillas don’t usually exist.

Nailed it! Lentil, Chard, & Sweet Potato Curry

Tonight I tried yet another new recipe and it was a huge success!  Forks Over Knives’ Lentil, Chard, & Sweet Potato Curry was flavorful, vibrant, and oh so healthy.

I followed the recipe almost exactly except my store didn’t carry yellow lentils so I subbed red, and since I am dairy free I subbed coconut milk instead of yogurt.

I even took some over to a friend who wasn’t feeling well, and she texted back “Oh my gosh- this is so so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” – I will take that as a thumbs up.

I am not a vegetarian, but could definitely become one with foods like this…although I would need some bacon slipped in here and there 🙂 because well I am bacon obsessed #funfactsaboutme

Craving IKEA Swedish Meatballs?

Giving up red meat 6 or so years ago combined with the preservatives and unknown ingredients (I’m sure gluten and dairy among them) all meant that I’ve not eaten Ikea Swedish Meatballs in many years.

I saw this Paleo Swedish Meatball recipe version online and finally got around to making it tonight – http://www.platedwithstyle.com/2014/10/24/paleo-swedish-meatballs/  

Considering it was paleo meant I didn’t even have to alter any ingredients so I made it almost exactly as written by Plated With Style except I subbed ground turkey in place of the ground meat.

All in all a good meal that I will repeat again.  Sorry for the crappy photo 😉 Weeknights are tough to make it look pretty with everything else going on…let’s be honest, cooking a new recipe from scratch on a weeknight should get me a sticker 🙂

Paleo French Dressing

This is by far my favorite made from scratch dressing. I typically make a half recipe and it’s good for me for the week kept in the fridge.

Recipe from paleospirit.com.  Visit here to make your French Dressing!

Gluten Free Banana Bread – Kid Tested & Approved

With my food issues, and a picky eater kid in the house, finding recipes we both like is few and far between. When I can adjust recipes and find a middle ground that works for us both I do a happy dance 🙂

Today’s banana bread muffins are a tried and true recipe I have adjusted from another blogger –  http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/best-gluten-free-banana-bread/

Ingredients

• ½ cup Maple sugar
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
• ½ cup applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1½ cup gluten free flour mix (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp xanthum gum

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease muffin tin
3. In large bowl, beat together sugar and oil
4. Add eggs, bananas, applesauce and vanilla to oil & sugar blend; blend well
5. Add flour, baking soda and salt to wet ingredients; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened
6. Scoop into muffin tins
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes clean
8. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan

Today my mix made 12 muffins and 1 small loaf.

Test Kitchen Afternoon

When you live with food allergies or intolerances, but are a foodie you “pin” a lot of recipes that ultimately take your time and money but return you no satisfaction and hit the delete & fail pile. But every now and again I get lucky and things work…sometimes really well! Test kitchen days are for those opportunities that are out there – the diamonds in the rough.

Today, I tested two new to me recipes from Jennifer Robins – PredominantlyPaleo.com: LEGIT Grain-free Bread and Paleo Cheese. (I also whipped up some quacamole because I needed a snack – yum).

Both recipes worked as intended – 2 for 2 is an amazing test day! I admit the cheese was a bigger win for me than the bread, but I feel the bread is worth playing around with to find my right recipe as it does many things better than other “breads” I’ve attempted.

LEGIT Grain-free Bread

Pros: It looks great, cuts well, and is nice and moist but not sticky moist.

Cons: For me, the taste and texture are more of a dessert bread style. I plan to reduce the maple syrup/honey in the next batch and see if that makes it more savory tasting although not sure it would adjust the texture.

  
Paleo Cheese

I made the nut version and have yet to try the nut free recipe variation.

Before I tasted it or cut it, it reminded me of Velveeta, and honestly I feel like Velveeta is a great description – cuts like Velveeta, texture and softness of Velveeta, dare to say a similar taste (in a good unprocessed way).

I cut cubes at first and just ate them straight – tasty and a great taste I hadn’t enjoyed in some time.

THEN…a brilliant idea came to me – see how it does for grilled cheese!

The LEGIT Bread toasted perfectly, but it still had that sweet taste that didn’t do it for me. However, as you can see below the cheese melted and worked really well 🙂

 

I am now wishing I had some of my favorite gluten free breads in my house so I could make a perfect grilled cheese (gluten and dairy free of course). I just might have to order some Bread SRSLY real soon!

Sounds like a review post about my find with Bread SRSLY is coming soon…

My Top Picks – San Diego Area Restaurants

I’m not sure there is any way I can rank these 3 restaurants I happened upon with my research and googling – they are all amazing in their own right and each offer a little something different. I could honestly eat at these 3 places only for the rest of eternity and be a happy camper 😍

Cafe’ Gratitude:

 From the plates, to the menus and the overall decor (seriously every little detail) – this place hits the nail on the head and delivers an all encompassing experience.

The food we had didn’t disappoint and I was in awe at the large selection. My favorite was their chocolate banana cream pie (drooling just remembering it) – and for me, someone who eats Paleo   predominately, finding desserts that hit most of my eating restrictions in dessert form doesn’t happen often.

It’s just a place you feel at home and you could curl up with your best friend and a coffee and chat all day. My only request would be offer decaf coffee options please!

I will be back and can not wait to try more. #cafegratitude

2Good2B :
 We drove out of our way when I came across this gem – a fully gluten, corn, and soy free dedicated food facility that had a bakery and cafe! We drove in just before they closed as they tend to serve the day crowd and were closing at 6pm, but it was our last night and I had to try it.

I’m so glad we did…

I ate like royalty and lots of it. Pictured was my dinner plate – chicken pot pie, sweet potato au gratin (using coconut milk), and a salad but my that dressing was yummy. Everything is made from scratch without all the preservatives and of course without gluten, corn or soy. I can’t tell you the last time I could eat pot pie and man it tasted good.

There was so much more I wanted to eat but opted to take a baguett and lemon bar back to the hotel with me so I could try more of their stuff the next day. My husband grabbed a cupcake and my son a chocolate chip cookie sandwich – both amazing as well (I had to try them). The sweets tasted traditional and if I didn’t know better I would have been worried they weren’t gluten free…even my husband and son wanted more.

Once again I wish I had found it sooner so I could have tried the multitude of options that all fit my food restrictions. #2Good2B

Burger Lounge : Who doesn’t love a burger? Well in my case a turkey burger since I gave up red meat 6 years ago. Seriously best burger I’ve had in easily 10 years, and with quality products that make it easy to love the mission and the flavor.

The gluten free bun was great – not the cardboard gluten free bread of the past. Turkey burger was nicely cooked with great steak burger type flavor. Offered grilled onions and trust me order it this way! Fries were also nicely cooked and not greasy. And to top it off they have organic craft soda, in a fountain – bestill my heart. I don’t do soda anymore since I gave up caffeine and refined sugar but I had to try this since it had ingredients I could read and feel ok having as a treat. Root beer was so worth the treat, wow!

I loved being able to have burger night so much we found another location up the road a different day when we needed to grab lunch. I need this place in my life weekly – please come to Florida! #burgerlounge

You have to read about all of these places and each of their missions.  I had no idea that anything like these businesses existed. It was like finding a soulmate in food form!

When you find yourself in the greater San Diego area please do yourselves and your body a favor, and go visit these businesses. I can only hope that one or all of them find the desire to open locations in Central Florida soon.

California Lovin’

I got to spend a lovely 10 days with my family in California this month…man it was beautiful and fun.

As someone who cooks almost full time to assure I can eat, going to live out of a hotel and not be cooking for that long was overwhelming, but I learned California was an easier place to find good healthy food than most. Can’t wait to share my special finds and pics with you…soon I promise!

Till next time.

Wishing you Sunshine 🙂