Tag Archives: dairy and soy free

Healthy Pad Thai | Peanut Free + Gluten Free

This is one of those recipes that I repeat A LOT!! In it’s most basic form, I posted it here, but I mix it up all the time with what I add to it. The sauce is just so good!! And SO EASY!

Sadly, Maya can’t have peanuts or gluten anymore, so I made a few tweaks and made it work! I sold it as a healthy Pad Thai, and even our 18 year old son had seconds! Basically a gold medal on healthy cooking there!

Ingredients

For Sauce

- 1/2 cup Almond Butter (use Sun Butter for Nut free or any nut butter if you don’t have any dietary restrictions!)
- 3 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
- 3 tablespoons Coconut Aminos (used in place of Soy Sauce)
- 1 tablespoon Pure Maple Syrup (used in place of Brown Sugar)
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I cheat and use this)
- 1 Cup Water

For the rest of the dish…

- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
- 1 Tablespoon crushed garlic
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger
- 1 of each of a yellow, orange, and purple carrot (or really any veggie)
- 8-10 Mushrooms diced
- 2 blocks of Rice Noodles (or can use any noodle, quinoa, or skip it!)
- 1 Rotisserie Chicken Shredded (or you can cook chicken separately and shred)

Directions

Pull chicken off your rotisserie chicken and shred. We always buy two chickens every week. Eat one, then pull all the meat off both to use for another meal!
Add a couple Tablespoons of olive oil, ginger, and garlic to a large pan
Add diced onions, mushrooms, carrots, and sauté til soft (5-8 minutes)
Add back in shredded chicken

Make Sauce…

In a blender, combine 1 cup water with the whatever nut butter you choose, rice vinegar, coconut aminios, maple sugar, and ginger. Blend until smooth.

Cook noodles….

These particular noodles cook in less than 5 minutes!
Add the sauce and noodles to the pan, stir, and let sit for 2 minutes to soak in all the flavor of the sauce.
You could leave out the chicken for an amazing vegetarian Pad Thai!

Another healthy variation of this recipe here

Enjoy!

Chia Pudding with Blueberries + Rasperries + Almonds

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“Brilliant Breakfasts”

How many of your girls read #FancyNancy? Maya is a big fan, so when I saw @redtricycle was doing a @disneyjunior Photo Challenge, I thought it would be the perfect thing for Maya and I to do together!

No, this isn’t an ad. Yes, it was somewhat staged. But also yes, we had fun! AND…ate some yummy chia pudding.

That’s where the “brilliant” comes in! #ChiaSeeds are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, rich in antioxidants, and they provide fiber, iron, and calcium.

Omega-3 fatty acids help raise HDL cholesterol, the “good” cholesterol that protects against heart attack and stroke.

#RTDisneyFancyNancy

Ingredients

1/3 cup chia seeds (or more depending on how many people you want to feed-this would make about four to five 1/2 cup servings)
2 Cups unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (or whatever milk you want to use)
1 Tablespoon raw honey or agave, plus a little additional for drizzling.
Handful of Blueberries, raspberries, and almonds.

Directions

Mix, chia seeds and Honey/Agave in with the milk and let it sit overnight, or do it first thing in the morning, if you want to have it for dessert. It will plump up, and ends up looking like tapioca pudding.
Scoop out into bowls. Top with berries, almonds and drizzle a little more honey over the top.

Enjoy!

4 Ingredient Protein Packed Pancakes (gluten free)

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These were a total spur of the moment “I have stuff that’s going bad, and I should probably make something!” recipe.

I had made a quinoa dinner earlier in the week that I’ll hopefully post soon (practically a one pot easy meal!) So…why am I posting this before that? was that good!! And more importantly…THAT EASY! Oh, and should I mention-HEALTHY?!

Because this was that good!! And more importantly…THAT EASY! Oh, and should I mention-HEALTHY?!

When it’s a trifecta, I know I should blog it! Ok, when it’s a trifecta, and I actually take pictures, I know I should blog it 🙂

What you need… (makes 20 mini pancakes or 10 medium)

One overripe banana
One cup cooked quinoa
2 eggs
2 tablespoons unsweetened Almond Milk
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

What you need to do…

Mash the banana, add everything else, and mix a lot (baby got back! ok, nevermind…)

blog-4-ingredient-protein-packed-gluten-free-pancakes-2 She’s usually up for being my baking assistant, but not always the willing photography assistant. Totally understandable since it was first thing in the morning 🙂 Above are Tablespoon mini pancakes for Maya, which she’s flipping (and are pictured stacked later)

Below are the 1/4 cup pancakes that I ate (as well as a few of her mini ones :)).
blog-4-ingredient-protein-packed-gluten-free-pancakes-6 The mini ones were easier to photograph, and….could she be a better assistant???!!

Just for kicks, I entered everything into VeryWell.com. If you eat the entire batch, it’s less than 500 calories and has 20 grams of protein! Honestly, they were so filling, I ate half the batch myself, and then worked out. I was totally satisfied until lunch! Normally, I eat a lot more of-to be honest…processed calories usually, and am not as satisfied. Lesson to be learned. But, let’s be real. This was super simple, easy, and quick to do, but…it wasn’t as quick as grabbing something with no clean up. I GET IT! I’ll let you know if they toast well haha.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 (423g)
Per Serving	% Daily Value*
Calories 458
Total Fat 13.6g	21%
Saturated Fat 2.9g	15%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 327mg	109%
Sodium 160mg	7%
Potassium 564mg	16%
Total Carb 66.9g	22%
Dietary Fiber 8.2g	33%
Sugars 15.1g
Protein 20.5g

Enjoy!! dit-elle-Lauren

Popcorn Ball Snowmen!

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Blog DIY Paleo Healthy Popcorn Ball Snowman-1 I posted last week how to make these Healthy Popcorn Balls.

To be honest, I always had these envisioned in the back of my mind. Weird? Yes, but that’s me!

This was one of those times that I actually thought of an idea, and it ended up turning out pretty close to what I envisioned!! Because obviously…that doesn’t always happen-proof here. 😉 Blog DIY Paleo Healthy Popcorn Ball Snowman-2 What you need…

Healthy Popcorn Balls
Pretzel Sticks
Chocolate Chips
Baby Carrots (cut into tiny slivers)
Seaweed (you could also use fruit leather!)

What to do…

Tightly pack 3 balls in varying sizes. Stick all the various body parts in, and then pray he doesn’t fall over or fall apart hahaha. Truth be told, mine kept falling over, and eventually fell apart. Maya didn’t care! She thought it was super cool and fun…so I’m still counting it as a WIN!!

Enjoy! dit-elle-Lauren

Mini Pumpkin Cake with Maple Pumpkin Frosting and Caramel Glaze // Paleo

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This base of this cake is the same as the Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Maple Pumpkin Glaze that I posted the other week. In fact. I did the doughnuts in one pan, and then had a muffin top pan that I used to make these at the same time! It’s a two-fer recipe-WIN!!

How perfect would this be for a smash the cake session for a 1 year old?!! Ok, the photographer in me is coming out 😉

For a size reference. The cake is about 4″ in diameter 🙂 Ingredients

(for Cake-will make 6 doughnuts and 5 muffin tops/cake layers or 10 muffin top layers for multiple mini cakes!)

5 large eggs
½ cup Almond Milk (you could use cocunut milk too)
½ cup Pure Maple Syrup
½ cup Organic Pumpkin Puree
¼ cup Coconut Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 ¼ cup Coconut Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
¼ teaspoon Sea Salt (I did 20 grinds on my grinder :))
½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce

For the Frosting

1/4 Cup Coconut Cream (refridgerated)
1 Can Full Fat Cocunut Milk (refridgerated)
1 Tablespoons Organic Pumpkin
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour
1/4 Cup Honey

Glaze

Maple Pumpkin Glaze (recipe here)

What to do

(For the Cake)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and oil the insides of your muffin top pan really well. I put coconut oil on a paper towel and rubbed it around.
Mix all the wet ingredients until eggs are fully blended
Add the dry ingredients, then mix until dough is formed
Fill muffin top tins to the top (the dough is dense and doesn’t rise very much)
Bake for 20 minutes. Let them cool for about 10 minutes, then pop them out and cool on cooling rack.
Once cool. Drizzle with glaze. Best eaten right after glazing. Or…skip the glaze and eat as is!

(For the Frosting)

Scoop out the hardened part of the full fat coconut milk and place in a bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Whip everything with a high speed mixer for about a minute-scraping down the sides a few times as you go.
Put into a pastry bag and decorate as you want! Or slap it on with a spoon and knife and call it good 😉

Drizzle glaze and eat right away. Or…refrigerate frosted cake, and let sit for about 20 minutes. Then glaze and eat. Glaze will harden after about 15 minutes.

NOTE

The frosting isn’t as flavorful as I imagined it would be, and I honestly thought it would be a flop. UNTIL…I drizzled the glaze over everything. The cake base and the glaze are so flavorful, that the frosting being not as flavorful is perfect. The creamy texture of it is a nice balance to the dense cake, and creamy decadent glaze. Enjoy!

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Maple Pumpkin Glaze // Paleo

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I’ve been dying to make baked pumpkin donuts. We finally did this last week, and they were so good! I couldn’t really find a recipe that matched up with the ingredients I had on hand (no time to go to the store ;)), so I kind of made it up as I went along using Against All Grain‘s “Baked Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts” as my guide and changed/added things here and there from what I had on hand and what I thought it needed.

These are baked instead of fried, are paleo, and have no refined sugar. No guilt, yet delicious-WIN!

I drizzled the Paleo Maple Pumpkin Sauce/Glaze that I posted yesterday over them, and…YUM!!!

Ingredients

5 large eggs
½ cup Almond Milk (you could use cocunut milk too)
½ cup Pure Maple Syrup
½ cup Organic Pumpkin Puree
¼ cup Coconut Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 ¼ cup Coconut Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
¼ teaspoon Sea Salt (I did 20 grinds on my grinder :))
½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce
Maple Pumpkin Glaze

What to do

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and oil the insides of your doughnut pan really well. I put coconut oil on a paper towel and rubbed it around.
Mix all the wet ingredients until eggs are fully blended
Add the dry ingredients, then mix until dough is formed
Fill doughnut tins to the top (mine didn’t rise very much)
Bake for 20 minutes. Let them cool for about 10 minutes, then pop them out and cool on cooling rack.
Once cool. Drizzle with glaze. Best eaten right after glazing. Or…skip the glaze and eat as is!

Having a cute assistant isn’t necessary, but it helps 🙂

The batter is pretty dense and only rises slightly, so you can fill the molds up to the top. And then…you wait 🙂 Enjoy!

Eggs and Bacon Tart

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No gluten, no grains, no dairy.. just a pure protein power breakfast tart. Served with some sautéed veggies and fresh fruit and you’ll have a great meal!

Ingredients

1 lb organic bacon
1 cup thinly diced scallions, leaks or onion
8 large eggs
salt and pepper to taste
Fresh chives for garnish

Directions

Oven to 350*
Cook bacon in skillet until browned, ~5 minutes
Remove and cool and then mince or finely chop
Pour off and discard fat from skillet
Return bacon with onions or scallions and saute for a few minutes
Beat eggs, pepper and salt
Put bacon/onion mixture in a round glass pan (8″ or 9″ works well) and pour egg mixture on it
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until firm
Let cool a bit and garnish with fresh chives

Baked Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa, Apples, and Chicken Sausage

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I’m an equal opportunity gourd lover! I’ve been itching to make an acorn squash meal, and when I saw them at Costco when was there earlier this week, I pulled the trigger. I honestly just made this up as I went along with ingredients that I had on hand. I ended up adding the Craisins and avocado in at the end because I wanted more color for the pictures haha. BUT…it tasted amazing, so I’m so glad I did!Ingredients (feeds 4)

3 Teaspoons Coconut Oil (half for the squash/half for the quinoa mixture)
3 Teaspoons Organic Pure Maple Syrup (half for the squash/half for the quinoa mixture)
2 Acorn Squash
1 Cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 medium size sweet onion
1 medium apple- I used HoneyCrisp because they’re on SALE at Costco for 1.27 per lb!!
1/2 Teaspoon crushed garlic
Sea salt and Pepper to taste
4 Aidells Chicken and Apple Sausages
1/4 Cup Craisins
1 Small Avocado

Directions

For Squash

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Fill baking pan with about 1/2 inch of water
Cut Acorn Squash in half, and lightly coat each with 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil, 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup, and freshly ground sea salt/pepper
Place in oven for an hour

For Quinoa Mixture

Place the uncooked quinoa, 2 1/2 cups of water, 1 tsp coconut oil, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic, diced apple, and 1/2 diced onion and a few grinds of sea salt and pepper all in a rice cooker (I tend to use my rice cooker like a “fast” slow cooker-dump a bunch of stuff in and voila haha.) Start it cooking, and dice up the Aidell’s sausages. Towards the end of the quinoa cooking (about 20 minutes), dump the sausage in as well as the 1/4 cup craisins.Enjoy!

Chia Pudding with Blackberries + Coconut

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One of the many things I love about social media is the creativity it sparks. It can also spark feelings of inadequacy, but that’s another post for another day 😉 I’ve seen a lot of posts about chia pudding/porridge/smoothies around Instagram, and it got me thinking about the ginormous bag of chia seeds in our cupboard. The Huz goes online and buys various things to put in his after work out smoothies. This was one of them, yet he wasn’t putting it in the smoothies. Not sure why, but I hate for things to go to waste! So…I thought I’d make some pudding!

I am always looking for easy healthy desserts, and this totally fits the bill! I haven’t tested it out on the boys yet (who would be harsher critics), but Maya gobbled it up and asked for more 🙂 And, with a little extra drizzle of raw honey, I did too haha. Ingredients

1/3 cup chia seeds (or more depending on how many people you want to feed-this would make about four to five 1/2 cup servings)
2 Cups unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (or whatever milk you want to use)
1 Tablespoon raw honey or agave, plus a little additional for drizzling.
Raw Unsweetened Coconut shavings to sprinkle on top (got mine for totally cheap at the bulk section of PCC)
1 cup of blackberries (or whatever berry you’d like to use!)

Directions

Mix, chia seeds and Honey/Agave in with the milk and let it sit overnight, or do it first thing in the morning, if you want to have it for dessert. It will plump up, and ends up looking like tapioca pudding.
Scoop out into bowls. Top with berries, coconut and drizzle a little more honey over the top.

Enjoy!

Keeping it Real…

This is not a decadent rich dessert. It’s a relatively healthy option when you are craving dessert, but don’t want to feel too guilty 🙂

Paleo Warm Peach Salad with Apple Cider Dressing

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I used the dressing from the Warm Butternut Squash Salad recipe, and basically just threw some perfectly ripe peaches in there instead of the butternut squash. It was easy and delicious!

Ingredients

1-2 Ripe Peaches (depending on their size and how many people you need to feed)
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
3/4 C Pure no sugar added Apple Cider
2 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Diced Shallots or I’ve also used 1/3 C diced red onion
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4-5 cups (or really, you choose depending on how many mouths you have to feed!) of spinach or arugula. I personally LOVE arugula, but our boys don’t. When I make this for friends, it’s arugula. When I make it for the family-spinach. It wilts down a little when you pour the warm dressing over it, so put in more than you think you need.

Directions

Combine cider, vinegar, onions/or shallots, and a little salt and pepper in a small sauce pan. Bring that to a boil and stir for about 6-7 minutes so that it reduces. Take off heat and whisk in mustard. (original recipe calls for adding a 1/2 a cup of olive oil now, but I forgot to do that once. It tasted fine, so I’ve left it out ever since :)) You choose!
Place salad greens in a large bowl. Toss in peaches and dressing. Pepper to taste.
You can also toss in nuts of your choice and sprinkle with a cheese of your choosing.

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