I came up with this cornbread recipe on a whim.  I wanted something that was delicious and able to cater to a variety of dietary needs with just a few mild tweaks.  Most of my recipes take a few times to get down, but this one came out perfect on the first try! 

Savory Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 cup ground cornmeal
1/2 cup quinoa flour*
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 tbs baking powder
1 tbs Herbs de Provence**
2 tbs ground flax meal
6 tbs water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup agave nectar

Method:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients and mix together.  In a small dish, mix your flaxmeal and water together and allow to sit for about two minutes.  In a small bowl, combine the rest of your wet ingredients and then your flax/water mixture and beat together.  Pour into dry mixture bowl and beat until your cornbread batter is combined.  Allow to sit for about 5 minutes.  Pour into a greased baking pan and bake for approx. 30-35 minutes.  Serve while hot!

*Don’t waste your time trying to hunt down and then pay for quinoa flour.  You can easily take raw quinoa grains and dry toast them on the stove for a few minutes and then grind them up into a flower in your blender or food processor!

**Don’t have herbs de provence?  That’s ok!  It’s a blend of savory, fennel, basil, thyme, and organic lavender flowers.  You can easily create your own blend or almost-blend at home!

This recipe is gluten free, soy free, egg free, vegetarian, and if you use a rice or almond milk, can easily be both dairy free and vegan.

Remember my post awhile back on the greatness of parsnips and how many health benefits they bring?  I warned you that you’d be seeing more recipes featuring parsnips!  Today I bring you a recipe that my husband called a “top ten!”  I cannot claim it as mine, though.  I made some mild tweaks to Emily Levenson’s parsnip and sweet potato latkes.  Be prepared to make extra so people can go back for seconds!

(Note: The recipe below is Emily’s original.  I will make mention of my changes below it.)

Parsnip and Sweet Potato Latkes

Ingredients:

1-2 sweet potatos (or yams)
2-4 parsnips, peeled
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 red onion, chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
oil for cooking (safflower, canola)

My changes:  I substituted brown rice flour for the whole wheat, I used a yellow onion, 3 eggs instead of two, and I added about 1 1/2 tbs dill seeds.

Method:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Peel potatos and parsnips and grate/shred in a food processor or food grater — drain if watery.  Stir potato and parsnip mixture together with flour, eggs, onions, baking powder, salt, and pepper (and dill seeds!) till combined well. Heat oil on a nonstick skillet in moderate heat till hot but not smoking.  Spoon latke mixture into skillet and flatten.  Add as many as the pan will hold and cook till golden brown.  (about 2 minutes on each side.)  Transfer latkes onto paper towels to drain.  Keep warm on a rack set in a shallow baking pan in the oven. 

With my substitutions, this recipe is gluten free, vegetarian, soy free, and dairy free.

I can pretty much guarentee you that you’ll see the basis of this recipe coming back again on the blog in a few different twists and varieties.  Because it’s that good.  Quinoa puts a spin on a traditional quiche and gives it not only a health boost, but a bit of flavor variety as well. 

Quinoa isn’t a word you hear tossed around in many homes, but it’s becoming more popular — and rightly so!  It looks like a small grain, but actually — it’s not!  It’s actually a seed and a relative of leafy green veggies like spinach. (!!!!)  What’s wonderful about quinoa is that it is a complete protein.  That means it has all of the essential amino acids.  (This is especially good news for people looking to get their protein intake from non-animal sources.)  One cup of quinoa contains 9 grams of protein which is more than an egg! 

This little health beauty is a complex carb with a low glycemic index which is great for people watching their blood sugar.  It has a decent amount of folic acid/folate and it’s very high in magnesium, calcium, iron, and various B vitamins.  Fluffy in texture and slightly nutty in flavor, quinoa is a non-grain that is gluten free and an easy replacement for rice, wheat, corn, and other grains.

Quinoa and Egg Breakfast Bake

Ingredients:

10 strips of bacon, cooked and torn to small pieces
8 eggs
5 tbs butter
1/2 cup stock (vegetable or bone)
1 onion, finely chopped and diced
1 pepper, chopped and diced (I used an orange one)
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
3/4 cup goat cheese crumbles
1 tsp sage
2 tbs thyme
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
salt
pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking dish with butter or coconut oil.  In a bowl, melt about 5 tbs of butter and add in your eggs and stock.  Whip till blended.  Add in all the aditional ingredients except for the goat cheese and whip till blended again.  Gently stir in the goat cheese.  Pour into your greased baking dish and cover with foil. Gently jiggle the pan to help the quinoa seeds sink to the bottom.  The quinoa should mostly settle to the bottom making a “crust” and will cook while in the oven.  Place in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool a bit before cutting and serving.

This recipe is gluten free, grain free, soy free, and could easily be made vegetarian by omitting the bacon.

Who doesn’t love soft, gooey, warm brownies?!  About a year ago, I learned about black bean brownies.  Like most people, I was initially skeptical.  Beans in a dessert?  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.  But after giving it a go, I discovered that black bean brownies are decidedly delicious — whether you need to eat gluten free or not!  While they’re not the most healthy of all desserts, they’re still a step up from traditional brownies on the health and nutrition factor.  Plus, they’re relatively inexpensive, allergy friendly, and super easy to make!  I made these brownies with my friend Katie and here’s the recipe we came up with:

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients:

1 can (or 15 ounces) of black beans, drained and rinsed
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
dash of salt
1 tbs maple syrup
3/4 cup sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Oil or butter an 8×9 inch baking pan.  Mix all ingredients together into a bowl and beat for 5-8 minutes with a hand mixer.  You can use a fork to mash up the black beans some more.  If you don’t like the idea of any black bean texture in the brownies and want it completely smooth, you can blend in a food procesor instead.  (We didn’t have one on hand, so that didn’t happen.  Otherwise we probably would’ve!)  Pour batter into your greased pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes or till set in the center.  Allow to cool, cut, and serve!

These brownies are gluten free, grain free, soy free, vegetarian, and could be dairy free with the appropriate substitutes. 

Parsnips are an absolutely wonderful root vegetable and one of the least appreciated!  It is packed with health benefits just waiting to be taken advantage of.  Parsnips are lower in calories than carrots and potatoes.  They’re naturally sweet and their calories come more from natural sugars vs starch like in a potato.  High in folic acid and vitamin B6, they’re an excellent food choice for women who are trying to conceive or pregnant.  Other vitamins and minerals that parsnips provide are vitamins C and E, copper, maganese, lots of potassium, fiber, and niacin.  Parsnips have been known to be used as a diuretic, antioxidant, aid in reducing obesity, a treatment for kidney disease, and is beneficial for those dealing with asthma. 

What is not to love about this superfood?  For all its benefits, it’s worth incorporating into the diet.  Last night, we made soup from parsnips that is easily vegan/vegetarian friendly. 

Parsnip and Toasted Walnut Soup

Ingredients:

2 med sized or 1 giant carrot, chopped into small pieces
3 large parsnips, chopping into small pieces
(the two should equal roughly 4 cups when chopped up)
1 med onion, chopped and diced
1/2 cup olive oil
3 generous handfuls of walnuts (maybe 1 1/2 cups?)
4 cups broth (vegetable or bone)
2 1/2 tbs potato starch (or other thickener of your choice)
3 1/2 tbs thyme
2 tbs nutmeg
1/2 tbs corriander
salt
pepper

Method:

Chop up your carrots and parsnips and set aside.  Heat 1/4 cup of your olive oil in a large skillet/sauce pan and sautee diced onion till soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add in walnuts, stir, and toast/sautee another 5 minutes.  Add in your chopped carrots and parsnips and remaining olive oil and sautee for approx 10-15 minutes.  Add potato starch and stir well into the mixture and allow to soak in for about 3 minutes.  Pour in your broth, stir, and simmer.  Cover and simmer, stirring every few minutes, for another 10 minutes.  Make sure the carrots and parsnips are soft and well cooked.  Set aside and allow the mixture to cool down enough to pour into a blender or large food processor.  Pour entire mixture into your blender/food procesor and pulse till liquified.  Return the liquid soup back to the pot/skillet and add in all your spices, stir and blend.  Heat through for about 5 minutes to allow the flavors to absorb.  Serve.

This recipe is gluten free, grain free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, and can be vegetarian and vegan if you choose vegetable broth.

I was a little hesitant about posting this recipe because I didn’t quanitify ANY of the spices — just tossed it all in there, but two personal friends of mine asked me to post it, so here goes!  I’m not very experienced in cooking with lamb, but the hubby loves it, so I thought I’d give it a go.  Off the fly, I came up with this recipe.

Lamb Shanks with Rice and Lentils in a Yogurt/Butter Curry Sauce

Ingredients:

2 lamb shanks
2 1/2 cups bone broth (I used chicken)
2 stalks celery
2 extra large carrots
4 tbs garlic powder
3 tbs oregano

1 cup brown rice
1 cup red lentils
1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup full fat yogurt
4 tbs butter
3-4 tbs curry powder
2 tbs ginger powder
1 tbs onion powder
2 tsp corriander powder
1 tsp nutmeg
(the amounts of the spices are guesstimations — taste test to your liking!)

Method:

In a crock pot, slow cook the lamb in the bone broth with roughly chopped celery and carrots, garlic powder, and oregano on high for 6.5 hours.  Prepare your rice and red lentils in separate pans as you normally would.  When the red lentils are cooked, mash them up with a fork, add to the rice, add olive oil, and mix together.  In a separate sauce pan, melt your butter and add in all spices.  Stir and toast till fragrant.  Add in yogurt, stir and heat through.  Plate your lamb shanks and rice/lentil blend and top with the curry sauce. 

This recipe is gluten free, egg free, and soy free.  The curry sauce and rice/lentils blend is vegetarian and can easily be served with vegetables instead of meat. 

Yes.  It does exist.  Let me explain:

Coconut oil is a fantastic substance that is known to provide all sorts of health benefits.  The key here is to not be afraid of the word “fats.”  Mainstream culture has given us the idea that fats are bad and that natural fats in food will make YOU fat.  Not true.  Eating refined sugars, refined carbs and junk food and not living an active lifestyle can make you fat.  Eating natural, whole, healthy fats can actually help you maintain your weight and help the foods you’re eating deliver their health benefits to you much more effectively.

Coconut oil is pretty easy to digest and it aids the body in absorbing minerals, fat soluble vitamins, B vitamins, and some amino acids.  Many people also say that coconut oil helps you LOSE weight because it increses your energy, boosts your metabolism, and helps improve thyroid function — all of which are beneficial to losing weight.  It doesn’t negatively effect your blood cholesterol and it is a known anti-inflammatory with antioxidant properties. 

This is a semi-raw, dairy free healthy fudge recipe because one of the main ingredients is coconut oil as well as cocoa and one of the most natural sugars you can find — honey. 

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut oil
1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup raw honey (may add a bit more if you like your fudge sweeter)
1/2 cup peanut butter
dash of salt

Method:

Place your coconut oil in a glass or heat-proof container.  In a sauce pan, boil some water.  Place the coconut oil-filled container in the water and allow about 1/3rd of the coconut oil to melt.  Do this to help preserve the “raw” qualities of the coconut oil, thereby, preserving its nutritional benefits. Once partially melted, pour all the coconut oil into a blender or a bowl for a hand mixer.  Add in the rest of your ingredients and blend or beat till mixed together.  Important: I’m not sure why, but if you mix the ingredients too long, the coconut oil will separate as you can see that mine did a little bit.  Be careful to get your fudge JUST mixed and not overmixed to avoid separation.  Take a small baking dish and line it with parchment or wax paper and pour your fudge into the dish and spread it out equally.  Chill for 1 hour.  Cut and serve.

This recipe is gluten free, grain free, egg free, soy free, dairy free, and vegetarian.  While I’ve not used agave nectar, I’m sure some experimentation could be done to make this recipe vegan as well.

Oh yeah.

This is where it’s at.  I love pizza and it’s something that I’ve missed about being gluten free.  My wonderful friend, Sarah, who has her family on the GAPS diet introduced me to the idea of a grain free pizza crust.  Other gluten free pizza I’ve had seem too spongey and chewy.  But after seeing her recipe and researching a few others, I was able to come up with one of my own for a grain free pizza crust that I’m in love with.  It’s pretty versatile — put on whatever toppings suit you.  Last night, I tried an entirely new pizza — butternut squah and goat cheese pizza.  Mmmm….

Grain Free Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 1/2 cup full fat plain yogurt
1/3 cup olive oil (I used my herb infused olive oil again for extra flavor)
1/2 cup plus 3 tbs coconut flour
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tbs oregano
1 tbs basil
salt
butter for greasing a pizza pan.

Method:

Preheat oven to 375.  Whip eggs till beaten and bubbly in a bowl with a hand mixer.  Add in garlic and yogurt and blend some more.  Pour in olive oil and spices and beat again till well blended.  Pour in coconut flour to the liquids and beat till well mixed.  You want your batter to be around the consistency of chocolate chip cookie dough — it won’t be thick enough to roll or form like traditional pizza dough and it shouldn’t be soupy like pancake batter.  Right in the middle is perfect.  Grease your pizza pan (I like stones the best) VERY liberally with butter.  Spare no butter on the stone!  Spoon crust batter onto the pan and with a spoon or spatula spread it out onto the pan.  It will be more of a thin crust pizza, but not TOO thin!  Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes till the edges brown and the dough is cooked through.  Take the crust out, place your desired toppings on it, and bake the pizza again till done.

Butternut Squash Goat Cheese Pizza

Ingredients:

1 prepared pizza crust
1/2 medium to large butternut squash
1/4 cup butter
olive oil for sauteeing
1 small to med size onion, chopped and diced
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
1 to 1 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
sage
salt

Method:

Bake your butternut squash. (I do this by slicing the squash lengthwise in half, placing it meat side down in a baking dish with 1-2 inches of water in it and baking it in the oven for about 1 hour on 350.)  Once squash is baked, scoop out the meat into a mixing bowl and add in your butter.  With a hand mixer, beat until mashed.  (I cooked the whole squash and just kept the remainder of what I didn’t use as leftovers. If you want to just cook what you need, I used about half a squash on one pizza.) While squash is baking, chop up your onion.  Pour olive oil into a pan and allow to heat.  Saute onion in the olive oil till just caramelized.  Spread mashed squash onto the pizza.  I like mine pretty thick since it’s the main ingredient, but don’t overload it either!  Sprinkle sauteed onion over the pizza.  Pour crumbled goat cheese over everything and dash it all with sage and salt of your desired amounts.  Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15 to 20 minutes, till ingredients are heated and goat cheese is mostly melted.

This recipe is vegetarian, gluten free, grain free, and soy free.

Brinner.  Breakfast for dinner.  I can’t think of anything more delightful.  It’s become a Sunday tradition in our house — something you just expect to happen!  I decided to switch up the normal menu though by adding in Emily Levenson’s breakfast hash.  Well, more like improvise upon it.  Her recipe calls for black beans.  Which I have.  Except they’re dried.  I forgot to soak them.  Oops.  So, I just left them out, but everything else turned out awesometastic. On our food menu this week we have two of Emily’s recipes, actually.  This one and another that you may see later on.  What can I say?  The woman knows food!  I’ll post her original recipe here below:

Breakfast Hash

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato peeled and cubed
1 sweet onion, diced
2-3 cloves fresh garlic
1 tbs dried oregano
3/4 cup broth (Emily’s calls for vegetable, I used bone broth)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
2 tbs fresh chopped parsley
salt and pepper
olive oil

Method:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet — add in onions and saute for about 5 minutes.  Add sweet potatoes and saute another 5-7 minutes until they brown.  Add garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper and saute till fragrant (1-2 minutes).  Add broth and cook till all liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.  Add black beans and corn and cook till heated through.  Toss in and stir fresh parsley.  Serve.

I served this with bacon and scrambled eggs prepared with galic, oregano, and topped with fresh goat cheese.  It all made a delicious breakfast trio!

The breakfast hash can be both vegetarian and vegan if made with vegetable broth.  It is gluten free, wheat free, egg free, and soy free.

It was only last year that I got into eating fish.  Before then, I’d just never explored it.  But now, fish — expecially salmon — is one of my favorite foods.  And wild caught salmon is SO good for you with its healthy fats and omega 3′s!  I must confess, I didn’t cook this meal in its entirety — in the middle of chopping carrots for our side dish, I cut my finger.  And I mean, I CUT my finger! So a big thanks to our roommate, JR, for helping me finish dinner and making some executive decisions on how the salmon should turn out while I tended to my wounds!

Lemon Herbed Salmon over Rice

Ingredients:

1 Salmon fillet (ours served five people!)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lemon
Herbs de Provence
(note: this is a French spice blend that includes thyme, rosemary, basil, tarragon, and lavender flowers, if you’d like to make your own.)

1 cup brown rice
1 cup wild rice
1/4 cup herb infused olive oil (optional)

Method:

Prepare your rice as normal and add in herb infused olive oil for some extra flavor if you wish.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat liberally a baking pan/dish and place the salmon skin side down in the pan.  Drizzle olive oil onto the salmon to your liking.  Sprinkle the Herbs de Provence onto the salmon — about 1-2 tbs. (The lavender created such a wonderful and interesting dimension to the flavor!) Thinly slice rings of lemons and place them on top of the salmon.  Bake in the oven for approx 18-20 minutes, till the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.  Slice into individual portions and serve over a bed of the cooked brown/wild rice with your choice of side dish.  (We chose candied carrots)

This recipe is gluten free, egg free, and soy free, and the salmon alone is grain free.