I am so nervous right now. I am waiting on a batch of gluten free muffins to come out of the oven that for the first time ever contain REAL egg and REAL milk. Honestly it grossed me out to even buy the milk, after not hardly touching the stuff for 3 years. But…I digress. Tomorrow we will find out if my 3 year old will be able to tolerate milk and egg after they are baked into an item. His tests still show a positive reaction to egg as of last week and we haven’t received the results of the latest test to milk so that makes my anxiety climb even more. His wheat allergy is still high so passing this for baked milk and egg will only open up a few more options for gluten free baking, but any openings are welcome when you live in the restrictive world of food allergies. I literally just cried while mixing the batter. Intentionally putting ingredients into a food for your little one to eat after 3 years of it being a deadly poison for them is nothing short of terrifying. I am so thankful that he has no idea what will be happening other than me trying to get him to eat very small increments of a random muffing throughout the morning and watching him like a hawk. I pray that my anxiety will not be evident to him, and that I will be able to relax and realize that my God is bigger than this and is able to do far more than we could ever have asked or imagined. I pray that a small part of his world will be expanded tomorrow, and that not even a questionable reaction will occur. I can’t say I am fully confident of this as I type, but it is a prayer for a reason. Stay tuned……
Author Archives: KR
Paleo Almond Crusted Pork Loin and Cranberry Chutney
Before my son came along and we were forced to eat according to food allergies, my husband and I tried to eat Paleo in an effort to reduce our intake of processed foods and refined sugars and improve our health and lifestyle. While it can be a big lifestyle change and a huge challenge, it’s great to stretch out of the box, find new family favorites and use REAL FOOD!
Here is one of the recipes that we love, though we’ve had to cut since due to severe nut allergies. Please forgive the vague measurements but I was ‘improvising’ as I went. The spiced Chutney makes a wonderful flavor for the holiday season!
Almond Crusted Pork Loin
- 1 package of thin cut boneless pork loin chops (much thinner than regular pork chops)
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 c. coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp honey
- about 1 cup whole raw almonds
- thyme, rosemary, black pepper, parsley
combine beaten egg, coconut milk and honey in a shallow pan
grind almonds in mini food processor until finely chopped, add spices to almond mixture/
sea salt and pepper the pork loin if desired
dip pork loin in egg wash, then coat in almond mixture
place coated pork loin on greased foil lined baking sheet and bake at 450 for appx 15-20 min (cooking time may vary so do not overcook)
Cranberry Apple Chutney
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 granny smith apple, cored and finely chopped
- white cooking wine
- white vinegar
- balsamic vinegar
- ground ginger, allspice, cinnamon, cloves
while pork is cooking, heat about 1 cup water in saucepan and bring to low boil
add cranberries and apples and cook until tender
while cooking, add some (appx 2 Tbsp each) white wine, white vinegar & balsamic vinegar along with a dash of all the spices
when apples are tender, pour mix into food processor and blend to desired consistency
spoon chutney onto almond crusted pork loin and serve
I served this dish with olive oil roasted asparagus. Let me know if you try it and love it as much as we did!
Chocolate Molten Lava Cake
I desperately wish I had come up with this recipe on my own and would be able to take credit for it’s divine qualities, but alas, I did not so I feel I should be generous and pass it along. This recipe has transformed my entertaining and is definitely THE recipe I now go to when serving guests. It never fails to impress and on top of that, it’s quick and easy! My husband used to claim he wasn’t a big chocolate fan, but that all changed with this cake and he now requests this above all else.
Here it is, only slightly adapted from the original by Emeril.
- 1 1/2 teaspoons butter, plus 1/4 pound (1 stick)
- 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
- 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
(I prefer 3 oz of extra dark 60-80% fine chocolate such as ghiradelli, etc & 3 oz milk chocolate) - 2 tablespoons cold heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 1/2 cup cold heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon amaretto (or nut-flavored liqueur) -or- 1-2 drops of your favorite essential oil (doTERRA wild orange is phenomenal)
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Grease and flour 4 (6-ounce) ramekins or baking dishes with the 1 1/2 teaspoons of butter and 1 teaspoon of flour in each, tapping out the excess flour. Set on a baking sheet.
In a double boiler, or a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the remaining 1/4 pound of butter with the chocolate, cream, and powdered sugar, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt until thick ribbons form, about 3 minutes. Sift 2 tablespoons flour into the egg mixture and fold together. Carefully fold the chocolate into the egg mixture. Divide among the prepared dishes and bake until the sides of the cake are set and the tops are puffed but still soft, about 10-12 minutes.
NOTE: do NOT overcook! This one will take some practice. My oven is 10 min MAX or you will have nothing more than a soft brownie, not liquid center…..so if in doubt, take it out!
Remove from the oven and let cool in the ramekins for 2 minutes, then carefully turn them out onto dessert plates.
Meanwhile, in a bowl whip the cream until beginning to form soft peaks. Add the sugar and oil or liqueur and beat until stiff peaks start to form. Spoon a dollop of the whipped cream on each unmolded cake, and garnish each plate with raspberries and a sprig of mint. Sprinkle cocoa over the cakes, and serve.
The amaretto or orange whip cream is amazing alongside any type of fruit, but I personally prefer a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with a dollop of the whip cream to counteract the warm oozing chocolate cake. There’s nothing better!
I regret not having a photo as they do not stick around long enough to capture them, but I next time I make these I will be sure to post one!
<3 My Vitamix!
We just finished up week 2 with our new Vitamix and I really feel like this thing has revolutionized our meals and taken our nutrition to a whole new level. I know, it’s just an appliance, but I can make things now that I really could not have made before. The amount of fresh produce that we are consuming is outrageous, and my 1 and 2 year old boys are regularly consuming things like kale, spinach, flax and celery….and LOVE it! Ok, I’ll stop before I sound like an infomercial 
I needed to make this list before I forget to jot down these recipes, so here are some of the things I’ve made just in the past 2 weeks…
- Kale Green Smoothies
- Banana Blueberry Smoothies
- Strawberry Watermelon Smoothies
- Coconut Kale Smoothies
- Carrot Spinach Smoothies
- Mustard Green Smoothies (Ok, so this one was a bad bad idea)
- Cream of Celery & Spinach Soup
- Carrot Ginger Soup
- Mashed Potatoes
- Pureed Sweet Potatoes
- Banana Oat Cookies
- Vegan Cream Sauce
- Peach Sorbet
- Frozen Basil Lemonade
PS – these are ALL completely dairy/wheat/egg/nut free. With the exception of chicken stock (which could be substituted with vegetable broth) in the soups, these recipes are all vegan or could easily be made vegan.
So fun. Can’t wait to keep experimenting and better our health at the same time!
quiche 1000 ways
I have been making quiche a LOT lately – mostly due to my husband\’s love of it that has only increased after our recent trips to France. The quiche in France is a must-have. The French have a way with cooking that I would say can not be replicated, but it may only be that in order to replicate it we would not want to eat it seeing as how there’s no way to get all that flavor without a LOT of bad-for-you ingredients : )
Quiche is one of my favorite ways to use up random ingredients in the fridge, especially veggies that aren’t going to last if they don’t get used ASAP but the last thing you feel like eating for dinner is a random steamed veggie medley. Some may think quiche is a breakfast food, but we usually make it for dinner and then have it for breakfast or lunch the next day! It reheats well and is good ANY time of day.
I have settled into this recipe that we love and hope you will enjoy it too.
I apologize for vague quantities, but it is quite forgiving which gives you plenty of room to play around and experiment. You can make quiche 1000 ways – this one is my preference.
I use an 11″x 2″ deep round stoneware dish so all quantities are appx for that size
- 1 lb roll Jimmy Dean HOT sausage OR appx 2 cups diced spiral cut ham
You can use any type of meat, but the stronger the flavor the better - appx 1 cup chopped onions
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 5 or 6 whole mushrooms, chopped
- 2 handfulls of spinach leaves
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- *1 zucchini, squash (I only add if making veggie quiche w/out meat)
- 1 – 8oz block of cream cheese
- appx 1 cup shredded white cheese (I use a white jack mexican blend, but you can use swiss, gruyere, or whatever suits your flavor preference)
- appx 1/3 cup crumbled feta
- 2 Tbsp heavy cream (optional, but helps cheese melt smoothly)
- 6-7 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 – 9 in pilsbury pie crust roll
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
If not pre-cooked, COOK meat it thoroughly and chop into small pieces. In a separate pan, sautee onions and garlic in pan until softened. Dice mushrooms or other veggies into bite sized pieces and cook thoroughly. Remove from heat and add spinach leaves and stir in until wilted. Add chopped tomato.
In another pan, combine all cheeses and cream and melt over med heat until smooth. Remove cheese mixture from heat immediately after melted and let cool. I prefer to break the eggs into the cheese mixture one at a time to incorporate for smoother texture. **MAKE SURE the cheese has been removed from the heat and cooled enough that it will not cook the eggs.
Place pie crust into your quiche or deep pie dish. Stir cooked veggies & meat into egg/cheese mixture until well incorporated. Pour entire mix into the crust and bake at 350 for appx 45 min or until center of quiche has set.
Enjoy!
My favorite Gorgonzola sauce
my favorite gorgonzola sauceThis stuff is SO good and is the PERFECT sauce to top a nice steak , but I like it on almost anything. I often slice up steak pieces into fajita size strips and grill them in olive oil, salt, pepper. Meanwhile I cook up some veggie rotini pasta, grill whatever vegetables I have to grill and mix it all together with a batch of this sauce. It’s like gourmet mac and cheese!
Here’s the recipe:
Gorgonzola Mushroom Sauce
adapted from a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 clove chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 Tbsp white wine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces (about 3 tablespoons) Gorgonzola
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2-3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
While grilling steak to desired doneness, prepare sauce.
Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook until tender, (wait a few minutes on the mushrooms as they cook faster). Add the thyme, white wine, salt, and pepper and continue to cook until all of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 more minutes.
Meanwhile, put the Gorgonzola, mayonnaise, yogurt and mustard in a food processor and combine until smooth. Transfer the Gorgonzola mixture to the skillet and gently stir it into the mushroom mixture.
So long Starbucks….yeah right
In my obsession to save money and be as thrifty as possible I decided there’s not much out there we can’t do ourselves or make ourselves so why not apply that to our fru-fru coffee? I got to the bottom of my fave – the caramel macchiato. Turns out there’s not much caramel in it. They should probably call it a vanilla macchiato but oh well. So here’s what I’ve found, and after a few attempts my husband even agrees the taste is spot-on. You should try it for yourself…
Ingredients: double shot of espresso (or a really strong cup of coffee) + 4 pumps of Vanilla flavored syrup + hot frothy milk or cream + caramel sauce
Caramel macchiato recipe
Step by step method without having a big fancy machine:
1) make espresso using a french press or you can make a really strong cup of coffee
2) add 4 pumps Torani (or any other brand) vanilla syrup
3) pour about 1/4 cup of milk or cream into a separate cup and microwave it for about a minute or until hot
4) use a nifty gadget like the aerolatte to froth your milk
4) pour frothed milk on top and drizzle with caramel sauce
That’s it!