Category Archives: Food

No Bake Almond Quinoa Balls // Gluten Free

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Here’s my 3rd recipe using quinoa in “baking”.   FYI, I made the  Banana Quinoa Muffins again but doubled them this time! 🙂  Not to leave the No Bake Lemon Coconut Quinoa Balls out, but they weren’t as big of a hit in my immediate household (sorry Mom!)  My 17 year old said “These taste like healthy cake pops.”  I’ll take it!! 🙂

Once again, the best part of this next recipe is that after you have made a batch of quinoa, the rest is no bake/aka easy!!Blog No Bake Gluten Free Almond Quinoa Balls-1 Blog No Bake Gluten Free Almond Quinoa Balls-2

Ingredients (Made 15 Balls)

  • 1 Cup cooked Quinoa
  • 1/2 Cup Almonds (for rolling)
  • 1/2 Cup Natural Almond Butter (could also use peanut butter)
  •  2 Bananas
  • 4 Medjul Dates

Directions

You can do all of it in the Cuisinart.  One dish-easy clean up-WIN!!

  • Pulse almonds until they are the size of half a grain of rice (or look like quinoa! :), sprinkle on a plate for rolling later)
  • Blend Almond Butter, Bananas, and dates.
  • Add in quinoa and pulse a few more times, just to mix it all together.
  • Take a heaping Tablespoon and form balls in your hand (mine were about 1.5 inches wide).
  • Roll in crushed almonds and place in the freezer.  You can eat them frozen, but they are best after warming up a few minutes.

ENJOY!

Nutritional Facts (I entered all the ingredients into Calorie Count)

Serves 15 //  Calories per ball-114 // Total Fat- 6.5g // Saturated Fat- .6g // Total Carbohydrates-12.4g // Dietary Fiber-1.9 // Sugars- 6.2g // Protein-3.1g

dit-elle-Lauren

Paleo Lemon Poppy Seed muffins

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Ava has been super interested in cooking projects and so we’ve been spending some time learning to measure, mix and stir, crack eggs, etc. This recipe yields 12 mini muffins or 1 large muffin (or small 5″ diameter cake like we did in this little spring form pan). 🙂

Blog paleo_lemonpoppyseed1

Blog Paleo Poppy Seed

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup coconut flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 eggs
  • ¼ cup agave nectar
  • ¼ cup grapeseed oil (I used canola)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Directions

  • In a medium bowl, combine coconut flour, salt and baking soda
  • In a large bowl, blend together eggs, agave, oil and lemon zest
  • Blend dry ingredients into wet
  • Fold in poppy seeds
  • Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each greased mini muffin cup
  • Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes
  • Cool and serve
Makes 12 mini-muffins

Thanks Elana’s Pantry

dit-elle-Esther

No Bake Lemon Coconut Quinoa Balls // Gluten Free

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Here’s my 2nd recipe using quinoa in “baking”.   Btw, I’m totally making the Banana Quinoa Muffins again this week!!  Maya’s been asking for them every day haha 🙂  They disappeared so fast!

The best part of this next recipe is that after you have made a batch of quinoa, the rest is no bake/aka easy!!Blog No Bake Gluten Free Lemon Coconut Quinoa Balls -1 Blog No Bake Gluten Free Lemon Coconut Quinoa Balls -2 Blog No Bake Gluten Free Lemon Coconut Quinoa Balls -3

Ingredients (Made 15 Balls)

  • 1 Cup cooked Quinoa
  • 1/2 Cup Almonds
  • 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon shredded lemon rind
  • 1 Cup Medjul Dates
  • 2 Tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut (can get super cheap in the bulk section of a health food store)

Directions

You can do all of it in the Cuisinart.  One dish-easy clean up-WIN!!

  • Pulse almonds until they are the size of half a grain of rice (or look like quinoa! :))
  • Add in Dates, lemon rind, and coconut oil and pulse until mixture clumps together.
  • Add in quinoa and pulse a few more times, just to mix it all together.
  • Take a heaping Tablespoon and form balls in your hand (mine were about 1.5 inches wide).
  • roll in unsweetened coconut and place in the freezer.  You can eat them frozen, but they are best after warming up a few minutes.

ENJOY!

Nutritional Facts (I entered all the ingredients into Calorie Count)

Serves 15 //  Calories per ball- 65 // Total Fat- 3.1g // Saturated Fat- 1.3g // Cholestererol- 0mg // Sodium- 0mg // Potassium- 43mg // Total Carbohydrates-10.8g // Dietary Fiber-1.3 // Sugars- 6g // Protein-1.3g

dit-elle-Lauren

Banana Quinoa Muffins // Gluten Free and DELICIOUS

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I’ve been dying to try some recipes out using quinoa in baking.  I am not sure why, except that I love quinoa (it’s a superfood!), and thus far, I’ve only used it in savory dishes.  I cooked up a batch yesterday in my rice cooker and experimented with 3 different treats.  No recipe, just throwing in things I thought would taste good.  All three desserts got different votes for “favorite” from the 7 taste testers.  Overall, a success I think!  I’ll be posting the other recipes soon.

This one was my favorite.  It’s super moist, delicious, and healthy too.  It has no added sugar, but is plenty sweet due to the dates and bananas.  Oh, and it is so incredibly easy to make!  I will never make another banana bread again!  Add a cream cheese frosting and it would be DECADENT!!  Mmmmm….Blog Gluten Free Banana Quinoa Muffins-1Blog Gluten Free Banana Quinoa Muffins-4Ingredients (Made 6 muffins, or might make small loaf)

  • 1 Cup cooked Quinoa
  • 2 brown spotted bananas
  • 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 Medjul Dates
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure Vanilla
  • 3 grinds of Sea Salt (aka not very much :))
  • 1 Tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut (can get super cheap in the bulk section of a health food store)

Directions

You can do all of it in the Cuisinart or mixing bowl.  One dish-easy clean up-WIN!!Blog Gluten Free Banana Quinoa Muffins-2

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Throw everything into a Cuisinart/Mixer and blend until creamy.
  • Put into muffin tins, greased loaf, or greased ramicans (that’s what I used)
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes or until top is firm and lightly golden.  I’m a firm believer in undercooking when baking.  It will continue to bake after you take it out, so if you wait until it’s completely firm it’s too done.  You can always do the toothpick test.  Insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it’s done.  If it has batter still on it, not yet done.
  • Sprinkle with unsweetened coconut flakes.
  • These are really moist.  I’m not sure why.  They don’t do well if you seal them up in a container, so just leave them out and they will not dry out.
    Blog Gluten Free Banana Quinoa Muffins-3ENJOY!

Nutritional Facts (I entered all the ingredients into Calorie Count)

Serves 6 //  Calories per muffin- 120 // Total Fat- 4.1g // Saturated Fat- 2.5g // Cholestererol- 55mg // Sodium- 99mg // Potassium- 198mg // Total Carbohydrates-20.2g // Dietary Fiber-2.1 // Sugars- 9.6g // Protein- 3.4g

dit-elle-Lauren

Endive Salad with Bacon, Blue Cheese and Pears

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Bacon, Blue Cheese and Pears, oh my! This tasty salad could be served as a side, but it’s so yummy you may want to make it an entrée with optional roasted chicken as extra protein!

What’s endive? I didn’t know either. It’s a slightly bitter tasting leaf vegetable that is perfectly balanced in this salad with the sweetness of the pears and salty bacon.

Blog Endivebaconsalad (1) Blog Endivebaconsalad (2)

Ingredients

Directions

  • In a large bowl, combine vinegar, mustard, honey, shallot and garlic. Let sit 15 minutes to soften shallot and garlic and to infuse flavor. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to create an emulsified dressing. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Add endive and arugula to the bowl; toss to coat. Divide salad between 6 plates and sprinkle with bacon, blue cheese, pistachios and sliced pears.

Thanks PCC Natural Markets for the inspiration!

dit-elle-Esther

Grilled Chicken Salad on a Portobello Mushroom // Paleo // Whole30

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I saw these gorgeous Portobello mushrooms at Costco and had to make something with them.  The Huz was out of town, and we didn’t have the boys, so I had my parents over for a taste test.  I’m posting the recipe “as is”, but am noting things at the end I might do/add differently next time 🙂  All that said, I thought it was really good.  Maya chowed it down and asked for more 🙂

Blog Paleo Whole30 Grilled Chicken Salad on Portobello Mushroom-2Blog Paleo Whole30 Grilled Chicken Salad on Portobello Mushroom-1 Blog Paleo Whole30 Grilled Chicken Salad on Portobello Mushroom-3

Ingredients (Serves 4)

  • 4 Portobello Mushrooms
  • 1 Large Sweet Onion (sliced into four 1″ thick slices)
  • 4 Chicken Breasts
  • Handfull (about 8-10) cherry tomatoes
  • 3-4 small sweet peppers or I used 1/3 of a yellow, red, and orange pepper
  • 1 Shallot or thick slice of red onion diced
  • 4 Bay leaves (or you could use cilantro)
  • 1 large avocado
  • 2-4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (basically whatever you need to marinate the chicken and drizzle on the onion and mushrooms)
  • Sea Salt and Pepper to taste (rosemary-optional)

Directions

You can do almost all of it in the Cuisinart if you are pressed for time (which I was).  In my mind I did thicker chunks of everything, but I ran out of time and just threw it all in the food processor :{

  • Marinade the chicken in olive oil, salt and pepper, and dried rosemary (optional)
  • Drizzle a little olive oil on the onion and mushroom and salt/pepper
  • Grill the chicken for 8 minutes each side (can do it on BBQ or on a grill pan inside)
  • During the last 8 minutes of the chicken, put on the onion and the mushrooms-turning after 4 minutes.
  • Toss red onions/shallot, tomatoes, and peppers into a Cuisinart and pulse a few times (or cut into 1/4-1/2″ pieces if you want a more chunky salad)
  • Add in Avocado (salt and pepper to taste.  I barely used any)
  • Once chicken is done, cut into 1/2″ cubes.  Can toss them into the Cuisinart too (which is what I did), or fold into cubed mixture.
  • Layer one onion slice on top of each mushroom and then pile on the salad!  I added Sriracha to mine for some added heat 🙂

What I might do/add next time…

I really liked it, but it was probably too healthy for the Huz and teenage boys… I think a few slices of diced bacon would be amazing!!  Or some freshly grated Parmeson… Maybe some finely diced jalepenos (not in Maya’s though!)?

If anyone makes it, I’d love to hear what you did differently!

Enjoy!

dit-elle-Lauren

Halibut Tacos with Cilantro Lime Crema

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Fresh Halibut is in – and it’s delicious! We suggest serving these fish tacos with Lime Cilantro Coleslaw.

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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 Tbsp grated orange rind
  • 1 Tbsp grated lime rind
  • 2 Tbsp tequila
  • 1 tsp honey, agave syrup or coconut sugar
  • 2 tsps. warm water
  • 1 lb halibut fillet
  • salt & pepper
  • butter or olive oil for frying
  • 8 corn tortillas

Crema

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne (optional for added heat)

Directions

  • Combine first 5 ingredients (grated citrus rinds, tequila, sugar, water) and cover halibut
  • Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes
  • Remove halibut and discard marinade
  • Heat skillet with oil or butter and add halibut
  • Cook for 4 minutes on each side, or until fish flakes easily with fork
  • Break fish into chunks
  • For Cilantro Lime Crema, combine mayo, cilantro, lime juice and spices

Serve with warm tortillas, Lime Cilantro Coleslaw and drizzled with the Crema.

dit-elle-Esther

Blueberry Popsicles

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A friend of mine gave us some popsicle molds a few months ago, which was so cool because I’ve been meaning to make popsicles forever!  Maya goes cuckoo for popsicles, and I love the idea of making some with her 🙂  Plus, you can totally control what you put into them, and they are so easy!  Really, any fruit would work.Blog Blueberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles-1 Blog Blueberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles-2Ingredients (Made 6)

  • 1 carton of Yogurt (any kind-I used Greek Vanilla, but you could also use Almond or Coconut Milk Yogurt if you need to go Dairy/Soy Free/)
  • 1 Cup unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (or whatever milk you want :))
  • 1 Cup Frozen Blueberries

Directions

  • Pay very close attention, because this can get tricky… 😉
  • Toss everything into a blender, pour into popsicle molds, then freeze.
  • Any leftovers can be enjoyed as a smoothie!

Blog Blueberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles-3These were the perfect texture.  Hard enough that they didn’t melt too fast/drip, but the yogurt added a little soft/creaminess. Blog Blueberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles-4I think she liked them 🙂 Blog Blueberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles-5 Blog Blueberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles-6 Blog Blueberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles-7Enjoy!

dit-elle-Lauren

Lime Cilantro Coleslaw

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With a hint of cilantro and lime, this coleslaw is fabulous with Chicken Chilaquiles!

blog coleslawcilantrolime

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onions
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 12 oz coleslaw mix (or a 1/2 cabbage, shredded)
  • 1/2 cup carrots, shredded (optional)
  • Fresh chives for garnish (optional)

Directions

  • Combine lime juice, olive oil, honey
  • Toss green onions, cilantro and shredded cabbage
  • Drizzle dressing over coleslaw and toss to coat

dit-elle-Esther

Salmon Salad with Avocado Dressing

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I’ll reiterate that I am in no way consistent with the Paleo diet, but the idea totally intrigues me.   Even more so since Esther eats mostly Paleo.  If you have questions about Paleo eating, for sure check out her other blog post here.  I don’t have any health issues, but I do love the idea of eating clean and obviously healthy.  That said…with teenage boys that split their time between households…paleo eating is not going to happen full time.  I’m already too healthy for their tastes 🙂Blog Paleo Salmon Avocado Salad-7Ingredients

  • Salmon (amount depends on how many people you have to feed)  I may have cheated and used leftover salmon that my dad smoked, but I’m including a marinade and instructions for what I would have done had I not had that 😉
  • Tomatos (I used Costcos cherry variety pack-so colorful and delicious)
  • Yellow, Red, and Orange Bell Peppers
  • 1 shallot or half a red onion
  • 1 Large Avocado (if small use two, use half/one for the salad, half/the other one for the dressing)
  • I do a mix of organic greens and Costco’s Kale, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts Salad (hold the dressing, craisins, and seeds for this)

Salmon Marinade

  • 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Pure Organic Maple Syrup (some debate if this is Paleo, but could use raw honey too)
  • 1 lemon sliced
  • grind sea salt/pepper over

Salad Dressing

  • 1/2 large avocado (or one small)
  • 1 Tablespoon Pure Organic Maple Syrup (some debate if this is Paleo, but could use raw honey too)
  • 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Aged Balsamic Vinegar (also some debate if this is Paleo-can skip and still be tasty!)
  • 1/3 Cup Water
  • Freshed cracked pepper to taste

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 450
  • Marinate Salmon for at least 30 minutes, skin side down, and place sliced lemons on top.
  • Bake at 450
  • Cut all the veggies/avocado (I usually precut 3 peppers and keep them to toss in salads throughout the week)
  • Dump all the ingredients for the dressing in a blender and mix (the consistency will be thick, but it coats the salad pretty well)
  • Toss salad and dressing and then top with shredded bits of salmon. 
  • We added Sriracha for some added heat, but not for Maya 😉

Enjoy!dit-elle-Lauren