Tag Archives: healthy

Crustless pesto mini-quiches with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes

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I’ve never been a huge egg fan, but they are pretty much the perfect food, so I am learning to like them, especially since we eat them pretty much every day. For our household of 3 adults, we usually go through about 4 dozen eggs a week! In my quest to cook some things out of our normal routine, I thought that making mini pesto quiches would be a good idea. And you all know I love pesto. Making these quiches was also a good way to use the leftover goat cheese/pesto/spinach mixture from the stuffed chicken breasts I posted yesterday.

I looked up a million different quiche recipes, all different, yet all very similar, so I just winged it. One recipe said to add Parmesan cheese at the bottom of the cups, as it acts like a little crust, but I was all out. I meant to add a little heavy cream, but I totally forgot about it and they turned out fine. So fine I actually ate two out of the oven the night I made them instead of waiting until the morning. My favorite were the ones with the sun-dried tomatoes. These were great to make ahead. I wish I would have made a few different kinds for Lenten Fridays. The next morning I popped a few in the toaster oven and they were just as good as they were fresh! I really loved the ones with the sun-dried tomatoes, so I think I will make another batch and put in the freezer for weekends we don’t feel like making breakfast… or if we don’t feel like cooking dinner, either.

mini quiches

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Chili-lime chicken with mango and avocado salsa

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Today’s dinner was one of my favorites: thin chicken breasts seasoned with chili, lime, and other spices, then grilled and served with a mango and avocado salsa. It really hit the spot!

I could also eat the salsa by itself. I had to stop eating it by the spoonful or else there wouldn’t be enough for dinner! The salsa lasted us about 3 servings, but it could be more if I didn’t eat half of it just myself. It probably makes about 1 cup of salsa.

Chili-lime chicken with mango and avocado salsa recipe

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Gazpacho Recipes

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We picked up our CSA box yesterday; it was full of an assortment of vegetables and fruit and even a very tasty watermelon. The weekly newsletter included two recipes for gazpacho. I’ve never made gazpacho before, but it seemed like a great way to use several different vegetables at once.

There was a recipe for Watermelon Gazpacho from All Recipes, and a recipe for Gazpacho Soup from Raw Foods Diet Center.

The Watermelon Gazpacho had a lot more ingredients so I decided to try the Gazpacho Soup.

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Summer Berry Goodness Part 3 – My Favorite Muffins

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Muffins: a very-much-loved breakfast food for kids and adults alike. Unfortunately they don’t give much love to your waistline (or maybe they give too much love). Store bought muffins or prepackaged mixes are filled with sugar and preservatives and other chemicals; even if some of them do taste pretty tasty.

I like to eat grain-free or only sprouted grains and I love almond and coconut flours (as you can see from the past). I have some friends who are on the Paleo diet and don’t eat wheat flour either. One of them posted a link to Banana Nut Muffin Loaf and I knew I had to try it.

I made a few changes and the results were stellar. These muffins do not taste like any diet or health variety. They are moist, sweet, and hard to resist. Even my brother absolutely loves them and he likes to commit himself to junk-food-only meals.

Banana Nut Blueberry Muffins

Soooo tasty!

Makes 12 muffins
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Grease muffin tin with coconut oil or use muffin papers

Ingredients:
3/4 C Almond Meal
1/4 Cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 super ripe, large bananas – mashed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp honey (optional – really doesn’t need it)
3/4 cup walnut halves – then put in food processor or chop finely
1 cup blueberries

In one bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients and mix with hand mixer until well blended. Add blueberries and walnuts and mix again. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Spoon into 12 muffin cups. Bake 8-12 minutes or until firm to touch toothpick comes out clean when inserted into muffin.
Serve with butter or as is!

Summer Berry Goodness Part 2

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Blackberry Season!

I went over to a friends house yesterday and helped garden and pick blackberries. Blackberries are very protective of themselves – they like to grow large thorns and try to persuade you not to pick them. But you have to tell yourself the the blood, sweat, and tears is all worth it. And usually it is.

Because I loved the blueberry compote so much, I decided to make some blueberry-blackberry compote and some lemony shortbread tart crust. My husband thought there was too much lemon – but I thought it was perfect.

The crust is made with almond and coconut flour and gluten-free like the muffins I made a couple of days ago, but the crust is crisp and tart and not sweet and soft.

I made half the crust recipe and just broke the crust into pieces and covered them in compote. Here is the recipe to make a full tart:

Blueberry Blackberry Lemon Tart

Makes about 8-10 servings

Blueberry-blackberry compote

2-2 ½ Cups of berries (any mixture of the two will do)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp stevia
1 tsp honey
(or sweeten to taste)

Combine ingredients in saucepan and simmer over low-medium heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally and smashing berries to release juice. While berries are simmering, prepare the tart crust.

Lemon Tart Crust:

1 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut flour
1 stick of butter, softened at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3-6 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a tart pan

Combine flours, then add in chunks of butter and blend with a fork, to make crumbs.  Add vanilla and lemon, and continue to stir. Add 1 tbsp of water at a time until your dough reaches a consistency where you can roll it into a ball and it does not crumble. Press into a tart pan. Take a fork and poke holes around the crust before you put it in the oven, to prevent crust from rising. Bake 8-12 minutes or until it starts to brown and is firm to touch.

Let crust cool. Pour berry mixture over tart and serve warm or refrigerate and serve chilled.

My "deconstructed tart" with yogurt drizzled on the top

*This dessert is quite tart. It would probably be best served with something sweeter – vanilla yogurt or ice cream. I prefer the muffin top cookie things with the compote than the lemon tart and compote combo.