Immersion Mayo and Resistant Starch Potato Salad

Have you read about resistant starch yet? If not it's worth your research time. You can read about it in depth here. The theory behind it is that the good guys in your gut feed on a certain type of starch making it indigestible by your body similar to the indigestible properties of fiber. This type of starch can be found in green plantains, green bananas and cold potatoes. Try this potato salad recipe and your gut bacteria will thank you!

Ingredients

1 bag red potatoes

1/4-1/2 cup homemade mayo

2 tbs mustard 

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tbs garlic powder

1/4 cup chives

1 tsp dill

1/2 lb bacon

Boil your potatoes and chill in the fridge until cool enough to handle. Cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. Set aside in a large bowl. Finely dice the chives and add to the potatoes. Finely chop the bacon and add to the bowl. Coat the mixture with mayo and mustard to desired creaminess. Add the spices and stir everything until well combined. Chill in the fridge to let set. You can serve immediately, but the flavors will be better once the salad sits in the fridge. 

I have an earlier recipe for mayo but here's a simpler version:

1 cup of extra light olive oil 

1 egg

2 tbs white vinegar

1 tsp sea salt or more to taste

1 tsp yellow mustard

1 tsp cayenne

Using an immersion blender blend all ingredients together until thick and creamy. (I like to put my ingredients in a wide mouth mason jar so I can use it as storage after it is blended.) The immersion blender saves you from having to meticulously pour in the olive oil when using a food processor or large blender. Plus, it is easier to clean! Store in the fridge for up to a week. 

Kale Chips

I am a chip fanatic...who doesn't love a good crunch?! I've been really in to kale chips lately because they are guilt free, super crunchy and packed with nutrients.  If you haven't had them try my favorite version:

Ingredients

3-4 leaves of kale

1 tsp Lemon pepper seasoning

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 tsp sesame seeds

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Melt the coconut oil in a large glass bowl in the microwave for 30min. or in a small saucepan on the stove. Tear the leaves off the kale stems and add them to the bowl. Tear the larger pieces down to chip size. Using your hands, coat the kale with the coconut oil. Transfer the kale to a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning or another seasoning of your choice. For a spicy version add some red pepper flakes. 1/4 tsp should do the trick. Lastly sprinkle on the sesame seeds. Bake in the oven for 6 min. Remove and stir around on the pan. Return to the oven for 2-4 min. Remove from the oven and let cool. They will crisp as they cool. Store in a non air tight container to keep them crisp. Ours usually don't last that long!!

Paleo Poppers

I adore jalepeño poppers!! I could eat them by the dozen. Bacon, cheese, jalepeños...doesn't get much better than that. Dairy isn't a part of my life right now but bacon and jalepeños sure are! So this is what I came up with as an alternative.

Ingredients

5 jalepeños 

5-10 strips of bacon (you can cut these in half or use the whole piece. I'm a whole piece kinda girl.)

1/2 half avocado

Cut the jalepeños in half and remove the seeds. Slice the avocado to fit one piece inside each jalepeño half. Wrap the avocado filled jalepeño in bacon and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes or until bacon is crispy!

Pickles

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

3-4 Pickling cucumbers

2 cups water

1/2 cup vinegar

2tbs salt

1/4 tsp ginger, turmeric, dill weed

1/2 tsp dill seed, ground mustard, crushed red pepper

4 garlic cloves

1 bay leaf

Slice pickles and add them to a mason jar (20 oz. works).Add the bay leaf and garlic. Add the salt to the water and stir to dissolve. Add spices, then salt water and vinegar to the pickle jar. Place the lid on the jar and invert or shake well to mix up the spices. If you seal the jar you can store outside the fridge, if not store in the fridge for about a week, so the pickles can ferment.

Mango Avocado Salsa

1/2 a large avocado diced

1 mango diced

10 grape tomatoes halved

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp basil

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

Pickled jalepeños diced to taste 

Cut up all your ingredients and then mix together gently in a bowl. This would be great with chips but we don't eat those around here so we just ate it with a fork! It was the perfect mix of sweet, spicy and savory!

EZ Eats: On the Road

Eating healthy while on the road is tough! Especially if you're trying to limit your carb intake (limited amount of fruit as an option). I like to eat a large meal before we leave, have 1 or 2 snacks for the car, and try to eat at our destination. (To be honest I actually ate my bacon and cantaloupe salad on the way to pick up E from work.) E on the other hand can't and shouldn't go that long without a meal. The food I bring is mostly for his benefit ;) and to battle my boredom.

Here is what I packed for our 6 hour road trip:

6 Lara Bars (check the ingredients, not all flavors are Paleo friendly, but all flavors have wholesome ingredients!)

1 bag pistachios

2 apples

Almond butter

1 dark chocolate bar

Raw carrots and cucumber

Dressing and cashew hummus for dipping

Cantaloupe

Hard boiled eggs

Date bars

Homemade Coconut milk

Paleo Brownies

(We did not eat all this, but I like to have it just in case! On our last trip to Dallas we were stopped in traffic for 3 extra hours)

Things we didn't bring but that pack well and last the day in the car:

Almonds, pecans, walnuts etc.

Roasted turkey or other nitrate free lunch meats (this is not the optimal choice for health since there are usually other additives)

Cooked, diced chicken

Celery

Bananas and other fruit 

Red Bell Peppers

Beef jerky (the only ingredients should be meat and possibly pepper and salt)

Baked sweet potato

Are there any healthy snacks you can't live without while traveling?

All Things Coconut

When looking through budgeting tips, I found that its cost-effective to make your own almond milk, meal, butter etc....I never thought I could apply this to coconut! Coconut flour is pricey and I was pitying myself for not having a store that sells it here. But guess what! I made my own! And a delicious by product from it was sweet coconut milk. I also realized that I could make coconut butter. Here's how its done ;)

Printable Recipe

Coconut Flour & Milk

Soak 1 cup of dried coconut flakes (unsweetened!) in 4 cups of water for at least 4 hours. You can soak longer if you like. Give the flakes a spin in the blender after they soak. Strain through a nut milk bag keeping the liquid. The liquid is the delicious coconut milk! Keep the coconut milk in a container in the fridge. The pulp that is left in the nut milk bag is your coconut flour. Spread the coconut flour on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for an hour at 200F. When its finished baking, put it into the food processor and spin until it is a fine powder. That's it!

Coconut Butter
For this you will need shredded coconut, not the desiccated kind used above^^. You can find this in the bulk aisle of whole foods, central market, etc. Process the shredded coconut in a blender or food processor until it forms into a butter! Voila!

Nutrition Notes: The benefits of coconuts are endless! They have vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They are great for immune health due to their antimicrobial properties. Consuming coconut products can help with various skin conditions, give you fuller hair, and improve bone health! They only thing to worry about with coconut overconsumption is the carbohydrates, and that's only if you are concerned with weight loss.

Roasted Red Peppers

I love roasted red peppers, man are they expensive at the store not to mention all the unnecessary ingredients added in.  Our grocer had a sale on fresh red peppers this week so I scooped some up and roasted them for later! 

Cut your peppers in half and lay them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until the skin starts to blacken. Remove from oven and place in a sealed container until cool. This takes at least 30min. When cooled remove from container and peel off the skin. Discard the skin. If the skin doesn't come off easily, cook them longer next time! Slice the peppers to the desired size and store in a jar. You can add white vinegar and olive oil in a 3:1 ratio if you want. I just leave mine plain because I eat them too quickly!

These pictured are not done! They need another 10minutes to get blackened skin. 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I had never tried brussels sprouts until visiting my sister Rosita in Seattle. She made them and they were delicious!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 bag of brussels sprouts
bacon or bacon grease
sea salt
garlic

How to:
Cut the brussels sprouts in fourth and spread on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with bacon grease (you can use melted butter or coconut oil as well). Add chopped uncooked bacon. Season with salt and garlic. I used garlic powder, fresh minced is better. Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes until some of the outer leaves brown and look crispy.

Cauli-Rice

White rice is ok on occasion on the Paleo diet since it doesn't have the same inflammatory properties of other processed grains. I choose to not eat it often because it is high carb. Carbs tend to promote fat storage and weight gain. Carbs are great for endurance athletes, but not for the average person who spends most of their day on their booty in front of a bright screen like I do :). "Riced" cauliflower makes the perfect substitute for rice and its extremely easy to make.

Printable Recipe

Here are 2 different ways to make it:

Microwave
1. Cut cauliflower into florets and discard the stems and leaves.
2. Toss in a food processor or blender.
3. Blend until the consistency of rice.
4. Pop in the microwave for 3 minutes.
5. Remove and serve!

Stove-top/Steamer
1. In a pot of water boil the cut cauliflower until soft. You can also use a steamer and steam the cauliflower if you have one!
2. Remove from stove and drain.
3. Transfer to a blender and process until rice like.
4. Remove and serve!

Fried Cabbage

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 small head of cabbage

4 strips of bacon

Tbs garlic

Tsp salt

Chop the bacon and toss into a pan on the stove. Cut the cabbage into strips and add to the pan once the bacon is crispy. Add in the spices and sauté until the cabbage is soft. 

Nutrition Notes:

Cabbage is a great source of Vitamin C, fiber and potassium. Bacon adds a good dose of protein and garlic is high in vitamins and antioxidants. 

Now What? Mayo Sequel

So you have all this heart healthy mayo and you're wondering to yourself, "How will I use this all in a week?" I have the answer for you!

Here are some options:

Egg Salad
2 hard-boiled eggs
2-3 tbs of mayo
1tsp Sriracha (this can be left out and doesn't have the best ingredients, but for the minuscule amount used, your body should be able to tolerate it)

Combine ingredients and serve on gluten free bread (we do not eat grains around here because they are inflammatory food, and carbs are directly linked to clogged arteries and weight gain, but if you are a freak of nature who the rules don't apply to, i.e. my husband get on with your bad self. i do recommend avoiding gluten/wheat products at all costs.), eat it all by its lonesome, or make a lettuce wrap using my personal fav, butter lettuce. Serves 1 person

Chicken Salad
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
2-3 tbs mayo
1/2 medium avocado

We grilled last night, so I threw on some extra chicken. You could also bake, or cook in a skillet on the stove. To shred the chicken, my momma says to use 2 forks, my sister would say throw it in the food processor. I chose the 2 forks because there is less clean up. Mix all the ingredients together until well mashed. Serve the same as the egg salad. Serves 1 person

Spicy Mayo
3 tbs mayo
1 tsp Sriracha

You can tailor this to increase or decrease the amt. Serve with stir-fry or homemade sushi rolls.

Coleslaw
1 cup shredded cabbage mix
1-2 tbs of mayo
1 tsp Sriracha

Mix all ingredients together and serve chilled. I added chunks of avocado and cherry tomatoes to this and ate it as a salad for lunch.

Ranch Dressing
1 cup Paleo Mayo
1/2 tsp dried parsely
1/2 tbs dill
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp salt (or more to taste)

Combine all ingredients and whisk together until well combined!

Wholesome Mayonnaise

Growing up I used to order a turkey sandwich with fries and a side of mayo. I would dip the sandwich and the fries in the mayo! Yuck! My mom also used to make my bologna and mayo sandwiches on white bread to take to daycare. Little did she know, I would take the bologna out and throw away the bread. As I got to high school, I decided I hated mayo (and bologna which I still refuse to eat). What a strange kid I was! Now I'm back on the pro-mayo team as long as it is wholesome! I also love Ranch dressing and Spicy Mayo, so I needed a healthy option to make. You should see what ingredients they put in the mayo that is on the shelf. And Miracle Whip is even worse.

***Update: The best/easiest way to make this is with an immersion blender, so if you have one skip over to here to see the easy recipe.

What you need:

2 eggs at room temp. (try to buy organic, vegetarian fed. they also offer omega 3 enriched)
4 tbs white or apple cider vinegar (this is a great remedy for acid reflux when diluted, so if your hesitant to buy a whole bottle, go for it! its worth it!)
2 tsp salt or more/less to taste
1 tsp cayenne
1 3/4 cups of olive oil (this was a lot of olive oil, so be prepared. also make sure to buy a very light olive oil or it will overpower everything else)
1 tsp mustard

How to get it done:
Combine all ingredients in a blender except the olive oil. Blend on a low setting until well mixed. I used the dough setting on my Ninja blender with the blade attachment. Slowly trickle in the olive oil while still blending. You don't want any oil to gather at the top while it is mixing. Continue until all the oil is added. The mayo should start to thicken and will be yellow in color. It looks just like yellow custard. Remember to taste test! I started with 2 tbs of vinegar and then added 2 more because I couldn't taste it at first. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. It makes 3 cups.

Mayo on the shelf has canola oil which used to have a healthy Omega 6/ Omega 3 ratio, but due to unnatural genetic modifications it is no longer healthy and should be avoided. Most Mayo also contains some form of MSG which I have found causes migraines, headaches, and addiction to food. Msgtruth.org has a whole list of reasons why MSG is detrimental to our health and gives a list of all its secret names.

This recipe is adapted from Sarah Fragoso at Everyday Paleo. She is amazing and you should stop by her blog. I tweaked it a bit to cater to my personal taste, so feel free to do the same with my recipe!

Update: I tried this with white vinegar and liked the taste much better. I also reduced the oil amt. from the original post.

**contains raw eggs: You can pasteurize your eggs (kill any buggers that might be growing in them even though this is a rare occurrence) by letting them come to room temperature and placing them in 145 degree Fahrenheit water. Leave them for 3-5 minutes, remove and let them come back to room temp. You will need to use them that day.

Enjoy!

Fresh Pureed Pumpkin

As I mentioned before, the Iowa Farmer grew lots of yummy stuff this year. He has a huge lot of cinderella pumpkins so we turned one into a stagecoach. Just kidding, but we did turn it into soup, crunch cake, muffins, and added it to applesauce. We even used the seeds too!! We started out by making into a puree...

Pureed Pumpkin

What you'll need:
1 large pumpkin (the baking kind not for carving; I actually never really knew the difference)
1 heavy duty knife, and maybe a nice strong man to cut it for you

Preheat the oven to 375. Cut the pumpkin into fourths and poke with a fork like you would a baked potato. Put the pumpkin in a 13x9 baking dish with a 1/2" layer of water at the bottom. Bake for 1-2 hours until the pumpkin is soft in the middle (poke with a fork). Remove from the oven and let cool. After is has cooled separate the flesh from the shell and place into a food processor. Blend until smooth. There you go now you have pureed pumpkin for all those Fall and Holiday recipes. Super simple, a little time consuming but totally worth it based on the difference in taste. Check back to see what other recipes we used it in.

Note: 1 can of store bought pumpkin equals 2 cups, also fresh pureed pumpkin has more water in it than store bought.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

As I mentioned we even baked the seeds at the same time as the pumpkin...yummy!!

Preheat the oven to 350-375. Place foil on a baking sheet. Mix the pumpkin seeds with olive oil and a garlic seasoning mix. Pour everything onto the baking sheet and bake for 2 minutes, check on them and stir 'em around. Bake another 2-4 minutes until you hear them pop!

How to Pickle Jalapeños

The Iowa Farmer has grown some amazing things on his farm this year. I never made it out to the farmer to see his garden, but I've seen all of his produce. Tons of pumpkins, chilis, jalapeño peppers, fresh garlic, carrots, squash and many more. They had a lot of jalapeños hanging around in the fridge when I got there so we decided to pickle some. I never realized how easy pickling can be!

Here is what you'll need:
A Mason Jar for storage
1 part water
1 part white vinegar (I read somewhere that cider vinegar is yummy too)
Salt
Garlic (we used a dried version from the garden)

Slice the jalapeño's into 1/4-1/2" circles. You may want to remove some of the seeds depending on how hot you want them to end up. Most of the heat is in the seeds. Toss into the mason jar. Boil the water and vinegar we used about 1/2 cup of each for 8 peppers. You just need enough to fill the jar. Add the salt and garlic to the peppers. Boil for a minute and then pour over the peppers in the jar. Screw on the lid and watch as the peppers slowly lose their bright green color. Let cool and put in the fridge over night. Our peppers turned out super hot (the farmer liked them, but me and my sis could only eat half at a time). Less seeds for me next time please!!!

Amazing BBQ Sauce Update

Rosita's friend that we BBQ'd with last weekend was nice enough to share her bbq sauce recipe! I'm excited to document it so I can reuse it all the time!! hehe...The ingredient list is super extensive, but believe me it is completely worth it.

Ingredients:

2 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

4 garlic cloves minced

3 medium jalepeño peppers, seeded and minced

1 cup packed brown sugar (our hostess toned this down to about 1/2 cup and tossed in some golden raisins)

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup chili sauce

1 cup bottle bbq sauce

1 tbs mustard powder

1 tbs paprika

3 tbs fresh lemon juice

2 tbs Worcestershire sauce

2 tbs hot sauce (our hostess added a bit more hot sauce to make it spicier!! ok by me!)

2 tbs molasses

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Melt butter and oil in a Dutch oven on medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, cloves, and jalepeño peppers and saute for 5-6 minutes until onion is tender. Stir in brown sugar and remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes. Pour ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Recipe says to strain out the solids and discard, but our hostess informed us a blender works just as well and saves you from wasting all those tasty ingredients. I absolutely despise onions (their texture makes me gag), but the sauce was smooth so they were completely undetectable.

Does cooking oil go bad?

A few years back, EZ made me brownies for our anniversary and they were delicious. The next year for my birthday he made them again and they were awful. We couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe the oil was bad? Maybe he messed up the directions? Who knew. Well as I attempted to make the cake mix cookies that my mom used to make me everyday after Elementary school, I realized the oil had gone bad. I tasted the batter, and yuck! They tasted just like those brownies. It just had an off taste about it. I tried to bake it out of them, but that didn't help. And I knew it wasn't something wrong with the recipe because I've made them millions of times before and never had this problem. So I taste tested the oil and identified that as the yuck factor. Who knows how long my roommates and I have had it in our pantry, something just get forgotten. So yes cooking oil does go bad! I'm so upset though because it was my only box of cake mix and I wasted ingredients and now I don't have any cookies! :'( Guess I'll have to move onto another recipe.

Roasted Bell Pepper Sauce

EZ bought some bell peppers at the store a couple weeks ago, and we used them in various dishes, the pasta salad, different variations of mixed vegetables, etc. Well the last bell pepper was starting to look a little sad, so I wanted to use it before it went to waste. I had planned to have left over tamales for dinner. The Louisiana folk have no idea what tamales are, but they are one of my favorite foods! My roommate's grandmother actually made them and they've been hanging out in the freezer. I saw a good recipe for some easy to make tamales and plan to try that in the future. Back to the peppers. I thought it would be a great idea to use them for a sauce to cover the tamales.

I had no idea how to make such a sauce, so I did a little research. Here is where I got the recipe, but it was extremely vague, so I had to google again, and find a little more information here. The video makes it so easy. I followed the first recipe, btw a clove of garlic is just one of the segments in a bundle of garlic ;)

another picture proving how amazing my camera is...

Here's what you will need:

1 Bell Pepper per person

1 clove of garlic per pepper

Spoonful of jalepenos

tbs of jalepeno juice

Directions:

Set your oven to Broil

Cut the bell pepper in half, removing the seeds and stem

Lay it flat on the pan

Remove the garlic clove from its friends and take off the flakiest out layer

Place in the oven for about 10min or until the skin is blackened

Immediately toss everything into a container with a lid, or a bowl covered with foil or plastic wrap

Steam until room temp, then carefully remove the outer skins

Place the garlic and bell peppers into a food processor (I used my blender) and blend into a puree

I burnt the garlic the first time around, so I had to remake it.

Add garlic salt to taste

I also added some jalepenos for some spice

We put the sauce on tamales, but it would be great on pasta, over chicken, or even as a salsa or salad dressing

Let me know how you try it!