Author Archives: ebchr

Grain Free Lasagna

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This lasagna uses zucchini for noodles! Yes, it’s true, and what’s even better? It’s super yummy and tastes like lasagna! You slice the zucchini into thin noodles, layer with a hearty meat sauce, ricotta, and cheese, and voila – not only gluten free, but grain free lasagna! 🙂

Blog grain free lasagne

Ingredients

  • 1 very large or 3-4 small zucchinis
  • 1 lb hamburger meat
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large can of tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes or marinara sauce
  • 1 16oz tub of ricotta
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tsp dried parsley
  • 2 cups of cheese
  • Oregano, salt, pepper – to taste (optional)
  • Bay leaf (optional)

Directions

  1. Wash and peel zucchini
  2. With a mandolin slicer, a cheese cutter, or a sharp knife (this is the hardest) – slice the zucchini lengthwise
  3. Heat olive oil in pan and add chopped onion
  4. Sautee until fragrant and soft and add hamburger
  5. Brown meat and then add tomato sauce and some oregano, let simmer on low heat
  6. Beat egg and mix with ricotta until well blended, add dried parsley
  7. Now you are ready to layer and bake the lasagna – alternating meat sauce, noodles, ricotta, extra tomato sauce (optional) and cheese on top
  8. Bake for 45 minutes on 350
  9. Enjoy with a fresh green salad dressed with olive oil & vinegar and chopped veggies!

dit-elle-Esther

Soup Season – Some Fall Favorites!

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Feeling the shorter days, longer nights, chilly and damp weather? Nothing like a steaming bowl of soup to warm from head to toe! Here’s a collection of soups that Lauren and I have posted over the past year – lots of yummy autumn inspired soups (think pumpkin, squash, mushroom) and more!

Blog pumpkinsoup1

Steamy vegetable based soups

Hearty meat soups and stews

Seafood soups

Super Mom Tip: most of these soups and stews freeze very well! Make a big batch and freeze in smaller portions for easy re-heating later on! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Taco Scramble

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Leftover tacos? Scramble them up with some eggs for breakfast!

Blog Taco scramble

Ingredients

  • Eggs
  • Leftover taco fixings (cooked beef or chicken, chopped tomatoes, onions, salsa, cilantro, cheese)
  • Butter or oil for frying eggs

Directions

  • Whisk eggs
  • Pour into greased frying pan and scramble
  • When almost done (no longer runny) add your taco leftovers (meat, tomatoes, cilantro, cheese)
  • Toss with a fork until heated through
  • Serve hot!

 

dit-elle-Esther

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

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Wonderful golden cheesy muffins with pumpkin, cornmeal and cheddar! Not paleo, but gluten free and perfect with soup or chili for a cold fall night!

Blog savory pumpkin cheese muffins (2)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 3 Tbsp whole milk yogurt or coconut milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 2 Tbsp minced shallot
  • 11/2 cups gluten free flour (or wheat flour if you’re not making this GF)
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1 1/2 tsps. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric (optional – it’s not enough to add flavor, but it does add beautiful golden color and turmeric is good for you!)
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
  • dash salt and pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
  • 2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 400° F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners.
  • In a bowl, whisk together pumpkin, yogurt, eggs, butter and shallots. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined. Fold in 1 cup cheese.
  • Evenly divide batter in the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle each muffin with remaining cheese and pumpkin seeds.
  • Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and muffins are golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool in the tin 10 minutes before cooling on a wire rack. Best served warm.

Thanks PCC Natural Markets

dit-elle-Esther

Happy Little Ghosts Kid Craft

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Looking for a super cheap, super fun Halloween craft that you can involve the kids in? My soon-to-be 4 year old and 18 month old had a blast making our “Happy Little Ghosts” craft. All you need is a box of tissues, cotton balls, thread and a needle (you do the thread and needle part, kids can do the tissues and cotton balls part)! 🙂

Blog DIY ghost craft-2 Blog DIY ghost craft-3 Blog DIY ghost craft-1

Supplies (makes 10 ghosts)

  • 10 tissues
  • 10 cotton balls
  • Spool of white sewing thread
  • Needle (for sewing thread)
  • Scissors (for cutting thread)

Directions

  • Thread needle with 2 feet+ of thread, and center the needle in the middle of the thread
  • Tie the ends together in a knot, so that you now have a double thread
  • Lay a tissue on a flat surface (kid activity!)
  • Place a cotton ball in the center of the tissue (kid activity!)
  • Gather edges and pick up tissue, holding it so that the cotton ball is completely covered and cinch up the tissue where the ghost neck will be (kid activity!)
  • Stick needle just below covered ball and make two circles around head and cinch up (parent activity here and rest of craft! :))
  • Stick needle into ‘neck’ and up into cotton ball, so that it comes out on the top of the head
  • Pull upward, cut needle off string, tie strings together with a knot
  • Voila! One done! On to the next one! Ava was running such a little ghost craft factory that I could not keep up. Anders meanwhile was having lots of fun pulling tissues out and tossing cotton balls all over.

Tip:  You get a different effect if you wrinkle the tissues a bit (which is why this is such a great kid craft) and you can do this at the first step or even after the ghosts are hung! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Savory Delicata Squash

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Not only are pumpkins in season, but there’s an abundance and huge variety of beautiful squash out there. This recipe calls for “Delicata” squash and you can eat the peel – which is full of good nutrients too.

A dusting of curry powder and freshly chopped cilantro make this a wonderful, subtly flavored, side dish! Actually, I could probably eat this as a main dish! So yummy! 🙂savory squash

Ingredients

  • About 6 cups of your favorite squash cubed (I used Delicata squash, including skins, and it was delicious!)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp curry powder
  • 2 Tbsps fresh chopped cilantro
  • Salt/pepper

Directions

  • Oven to 425*
  • Toss cubed squash in oil and season with salt & pepper
  • Place in a large pan
  • Bake for 30 minutes or until soft enough to easily spear with a fork
  • Remove from oven and toss with remaining ingredients
  • Serve hot or at room temperature

Super Mom Tip: Cube the squash a day ahead and store in a bag in the fridge until ready to use.

dit-elle-Esther

Pumpkin Season – a collection of fall favorites!

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The leaves are brilliant, the mornings are misty, apples crisp.. it’s scarves & boots weather.. oh and pumpkins! Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie… well, I could go on and on, but instead, here is a collection of fall (pumpkin) favorites to help you enjoy Pumpkin Season! 🙂

Blog Paleo Pumpkin Bread

Paleo Pumpkin Bread

Blog Paleo Pumpkin Muffin Cupcakes with Paleo Pumpkin Frosting-1

Lauren’s amazing Pumpkin Muffin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Frosting

Blog pumpkinsoup1

Pumpkin Soup topped with bacon and chives

Breakfast & Breads

Sweet

Soup

Savory

dit-elle-Esther

Salmon with Dill Cream

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One of our weekly staples is baked salmon as the kids still like and eat it (yay! :)). Salmon and dill are a Scandinavian specialty (think Lox and dill), and the flavors work very well together. Here’s a quick and easy salmon dressing!

Blog dill cream salmon

Ingredients

  • 1/4-1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
  • 2-3 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice or till you reach desired consistency
  • 1-2 lb slab of salmon

Directions

  • Whisk together dressing ingredients
  • Lather on slab of salmon
  • Bake for 25-28 minutes
  • Garnish with fresh dill and lemon wedges

dit-elle-Esther

Cinnamon Rolls

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These are the real deal. Doughy, sweet and fragrant Cinnamon rolls!

Making cinnamon buns is an art and science! There are many variations. Here is a basic recipe – non-paleo and definitely not gluten free.. but you could totally substitute the flour with some GF flour.. I’m still experimenting and will be posting this recipe again! 🙂

Blog cinnamonbuns_nonpaleo (2) Blog cinnamonbuns_nonpaleo (1)

Ingredients

  • 1 packet (2.5 tsp) dry yeast
  • 1.5 cups milk (cows milk or almond milk)
  •  stick (1/2 c. butter)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1-2 tsp cardamom
  • dash of cinnamon
  • flour (3-4 cups?)
  • Topping: 1-2 Tablespoons melted butter, cinnamon, sugar

 

Directions

  • Melt butter in warm milk and add sugar – cool it off so that it is just warm (not hot! this is very important so the yeast doesn’t die)
  • Add yeast and stir until dissolved, add cinnamon/cardamom
  • If using a Kitchen Aid mixer, use the dough hook, and start adding the flour until it is well blended. I do not measure the flour, I just add it while watching the dough until it forms an elastic round mass. Make sure you don’t add too much flour at once or the dough can become tough.
  • Let rise in a warm place with a towel over bowl for an hour or so
  • Punch down and roll out, making a large flat pancake
  • Brush with butter, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar evenly
  • Roll up the dough, starting at one end until you have a long sausage shape
  • Cut 1″ thick slices and lay flat on greased or baking-paper covered cookie sheet
  • Let rise for 30-60 min
  • Bake at 350* for 15 minutes or until edges of buns are golden

dit-elle-Esther

Tiramisu

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A few days ago, I posted a Paleo Lady Finger Cookies recipe for this fabulous Tiramisu! Light crunchy Lady Finger cookies are soaked in coffee and rum and then layered with whipped cream, rich golden custard, and dusted with cocoa powder. Yum! There are a few steps involved here, but they are pretty straight forward. It’s worth it! And this dessert refrigerates well so you can enjoy it for breakfast and (lunch and..) dessert for several days! 🙂

Blog tiramisu (1)

blog tiramisu (2)

Ingredients

  • 6 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pound mascarpone cheese
  • 1/4 cup strong brewed coffee, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons rum
  • 2 (3 ounce) packages ladyfinger cookies (or see my Paleo Lady Finger recipe here)
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil gently for 1 minute, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Cover tightly and chill in refrigerator 1 hour.
  2. In a medium bowl, beat cream with vanilla until stiff peaks form. Whisk mascarpone into yolk mixture until smooth.
  3. In a small bowl, combine coffee and rum. Split ladyfingers in half lengthwise and drizzle with coffee mixture.
  4. Arrange half of soaked ladyfingers in bottom of a 7×11 inch dish. Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers, then half of whipped cream over that. Repeat layers and sprinkle with cocoa. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours, until set.

blog tiramisu (3)

Thanks Allrecipes.com for the tips!

 

dit-elle-Esther