Long Time No See...

Well hey all!  I know its been a while... but you know how things go.  Life tends to get in the way of the things we love to do sometimes!

So, let me catch you up on where I've been and where I am going.  I went through a skin fiasco last year... about the time I slacked off on the blog.  Seems a product I was using for "13" years, that was labeled as botanical I might add, seems to have contained steroids that were not listed in the ingredients.  Skin still hasn't quite gotten back to normal... but it looks so much better.  This is a little sample of what I dealt with for 6 months!  Yikes!

Then of course there were the holidays... and you know we are always the hostests with the mostests... so that was a few months of crazy!  

Oh and I totally have to fill you in on the animal situation.  Remember the cat that we inherited from Gram's? Well she ended up picking fights with Beazie (our spoiled cat)... started spraying in Beazie's litter box, and Beazie didn't want to go in there anymore.  One morning I heard Beazie crying so loud in the dining room... I went in there to find that she pooped... in the floor... 3 DAYS BEFORE THANKSGIVING!!!!  I didn't know why she was doing this, until one night when we were going to bed... The Hubs walked past Gram's cat and caught her spraying the wall with urine!  The cat has been in the garage ever since.  I spent 3 days searching Pinterest for ways to get rid of cat urine smell, being that all the family was on their way, and to top it off had to figure out how to get Beazie back to her litter box.  Got Beazie a new litter box, and put it in a totally different location... everything worked out, and we had no surprises in the dining room for the holidays.  Shew!  3 months later... the sprayer is still in the garage.  We take good care of her... but won't let her in the house.  Cat urine and my obsessive compulsiveness  just don't jive well together!  

As for the new year... well it's still sunny and warm here in Cali.  I'm still able to wear my flip flops most days!  We are in a drought you know.  I want some rain and cold weather... we got jipped this year.  I have come up with some really good recipes that will be making their appearance over the next few weeks.  I have decided to do weekly posts for now instead of daily, so I can still share food and thoughts, but not overwhelm myself.  I've gotten back to my workouts too!  I actually took before pictures... but you won't find those on here until I have amazing after pictures to post as well.  Since my diet is clean... I don't have to worry about falling off the wagon... but my wagon needs a lot of work.  I've gotten fluffy!  That's all I am going to say about that!   A friend of mine posted this on Facebook and I keep reminding myself of it daily! 

What no skinny Fairy?  Say it isn't so!!!  Glad to be back!  Recipes Soon!  Promise! 

Parsnip Crisps!

Two days in a row... I know, I know.  I just couldn't pass up this moment to share the birth of my new Scoby with you.  As I told you yesterday... my second batch of Kombucha was a total FAIL!

So, first I ordered a new little critter from KombuchaKamp.com, and while I await it's arrival, I decided to try to start my own.  So for those of you who don't know what a Scoby is... Scoby stands for Symbiotic
Culture Of Bacteria &Yeast!  Good Bacteria of course... the kind necessary for maintaining a healthy environment in your tummy tum tum!  It has a detoxifying effect and boosts immunity! It also tastes amazing!  

I read that you can use an already made up Kombucha to grow a new Scoby!  So I sacrificed one in my fridge for the experiment.  Hopefully it will bring me many more batches to come! Here's the birth of my baby booch!  1 Day old!  Ahhh... look, it already has growth!  Yummy!  

I really wasn't going to blog about last nights dinner today... because we just had hamburgers with guacamole and bacon.  Not anything out of the ordinary... however.  I saw an instagram picture posted by the Urban Poser the other day, where they had made some parsnip fries!  On the way home yesterday, I decided to stop and grab a few to give it a try.  When I got home, I stared at the parsnips.   I just didn't feel the mojo with them... we weren't jiving!  I wanted to make them... but not into fries.  So I pulled out my handy dandy Zyliss Julienne Peeler, (which you can find in kitchen gadgets under my favorite things tab), and made shoe strings out of the parsnips.  

Dropped those bad boys into hot coconut oil and made toppings for our burgers. Make sure to sprinkle some sea salt on them as they come out of the oil!  Yum Yum!  Added a nice crunch to the burgers, and snuck in an extra veggie for our meal!  

Oooh La La Orange Chicken!

Well, it's been a bit since my last post.  I wish I could blog everyday peeps, but I have this thing called a
J-O-B, that just happens to suck the life out of me at times.  Unfortunately, it pays for all the food that I blog about and put in my family's bellies!  We also purchased a new home and took a mini vacation.  This...

I love her!  Ain't she a beaut?  We had a good time using her, and I hope we make time to use her more.

Since we chatted last... I started a new venture... making home brewed Kombucha!  First batch, I crashed and burned.  Second batch, grew mold.  I read this doesn't happen often... of course it would happen to moi!  So... I am doing two things!  Ordering a new scoby, and going to try to grow my own.  A scoby is a very interesting thing... so I will take pictures, explain about them and introduce you to them in my posts to come.

A few nights ago while trying to go through some old recipes... I realized that I hadn't made orange chicken in a while.  I have never honestly been a huge fan of traditional orange chicken, but this one really fills the void of Chinese food for me.  Hit's the spot.  The last few times I made it, I couldn't get the chicken crispy enough... so I tweaked the recipe.  Let me know what you think...

Oooh La La Orange Chicken

1 lb Chicken Breasts

1/4 cup Arrow Root Powder

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 cup Unsweetened Orange Juice

4 Tbsp Coco Aminos

Zest from 1 Orange

2 Tbsp Agave Nectar

2 Cloves of Garlic (Chopped)

1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Chives

Toasted Sesame Seeds

Salt and Pepper

Cut chicken into cubes, toss with Salt, Pepper and Arrow Root Powder.  Heat Olive oil in a pan and brown chicken on all sides.   While chicken is browning, combine Orange Juice, Coco Aminos, Orange Zest, Agave, Garlic and Pepper flakes in a bowl and mix well.  Once chicken is cooked, add sauce mixture and cook until sauce thickens and chicken is crispy.  Serve with chives and sesame seeds on top.  This is really yummy sitting on Cauliflower Rice.  

Pork... It should be what's for dinner!

Pork is a funny subject for me.  For the longest time I thought that Pork was giving me stomach woes.  I swore it was.  After we would make up a batch of Carnitas, I would be hunched over in pain for days.  Did I have a problem digesting pork?  Well, one day, looking at a gluten free recipe I found somewhere, it said to make sure the chipotle peppers were a certain brand, because some contained gluten.  My eyes almost popped out of my head.  (This was shortly after my diagnosis, so we weren't as savvy at label reading as we are now).  Here is what the label said:

Ingredients
Chipotle Peppers, Water Tomato Puree, Vegetable Oil (Corn or Safflower), Wheat Flour, Salt, Vinegar, Starch, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Caramel Color and Spices.


First, I was angry.  Why was the food industry trying to kill me I wondered.  After I calmed down... a light bulb went off!  

I CAN EAT PORK AFTER ALL!!!

Speaking of pork... I am so excited that yesterday my copy of Beyond Bacon arrived in the mail.   I have been patiently awaiting this book for months.  I will do a full review after I read it cover to cover!  

On that note and in honor of the almighty oinker... here is a recipe with one of my favorite pork products... Prosciutto!!!  The chicken turned out to be the side dish that night... these peaches rocked!

Prosciutto Wrapped Peaches

1 package of Prosciutto

2 Large Peaches

1Tbsp Olive Oil

Balsamic Reduction

Pit peaches and cut into spears.  I cut each piece of Prosciutto in half since they were kind of large and wrapped each half around a peach spear.  In a hot skillet add oil and cook wrapped peaches until Prosciutto is browned and peaches are soft.  I tossed some spinach in a bowl with some olive oil to give the peaches a place to rest, and add some greens to the plate.  If you didn't catch the Roman Summer Salad Recipe... the way we make a balsamic reduction is simply by cooking some balsamic vinegar down until it gets a thick consistency.  (We make this up in large batches and keep in a bottle for times when we might need it.) Drizzle your peaches and spinach with the balsamic and bam!  Instant Yummo!  The chicken was pretty easy as well, and even though it's not being featured here, I think I should tell you how to make it.  I took 2 avocados, a handful of basil, garlic, salt and chopped in the food processor.  While this is chopping slowly drizzle some olive oil in until it becomes a slightly thick liquid.  In a bowl, put some chicken thighs and this mixture in... mix well, and let sit for a few hours in the fridge.  When ready, place chicken in a Pyrex pan, and cook on 375 until browned and bubbly.     

Happy 4th!!!

Well, the 4th of July has now come and gone.  It was a whopping 108 degrees in Northern Cali yesterday!  Yummy!  NOT!!!  We stayed in the house until it got dark, set off fireworks with the Fam and off to bed.  The hubs had to work today!  

Today is going to be my productive day, so this will be a quick post!  The weather is changing and it's going to be in the 90's today!  After a week of triple digits... that is a welcome surprise.  However, my doors will be shut, air turned up and I am going to do some much needed cleaning today.  I just love four day weekends!  It gives me time to catch up on things that I have to do, and things that I want to do.  Love it!  

Recently, my oldest and dearest friend (If she's reading this she is going to say that I am older... by a month, because she always does)... but by oldest I only mean that she has been the craziest person to stay by my side since we were 14 years old.  We will be 42 this year... enough said.  Anyhoo...we were reliving old stories of our past, and we have this wonderful, yet disturbing memory of making a heaping bowl of spinach dip, grabbing a loaf of sourdough bread and devouring it in one setting.  All those years of having Celiac disease and not knowing it... devouring loaves of bread... no wonder my gut is so F-ed up!  

During my Pinterest time yesterday... and yes, I schedule time in for Pinterest now, sad but true (Everyone should)... I stumbled across a recipe for Spinach Dip, Paleo Style of course!  I found it here, "Virginia is for Hunter Gathererers"... I felt as if the pearly gates of heaven opened up and the choir was singing!  I wanted to grab my friend, make a bowl and relive old times, minus the bread of course.  But she is in Oklahoma... so we had to share in spirit.  Between you and I... I probably ate enough for the both of us.  

First thought... what the heck am I going to dip in this delicious find that the good Lord sent my way today.  Well, the night before the 4th...I told the hubs that I planned on not leaving the house at all on the 4th, and to his surprise, I bounce downstairs yesterday morning with a shopping list.  This dip was going to happen... oh yes it was!  So back to what to dip in it?  Why, sweet potato chips.  Yes, let's make sweet potato chips.  Now, sweet potato chips are my nemesis.  No matter how I try... I can't seem to get the perfect sweet potato chip, but I attempted once again... and I must say, I am getting better.

So here's what I did... and make sure you check out the blog post above where I found this recipe.  They have much better pictures of the process.  I was to interested in just getting it done... so you get what you get!  Hope everyone had a good holiday!  

Spinach Dip and Sweet Potato Chips

3 oz Packed Spinach

1 Can Artichoke Hearts

3 Cloves of Garlic

1/2 White Onion

1/2 Can Coconut Milk

5 Slices of Uncured Nitrate Free Bacon

Bring some water to a boil and blanch your spinach for a few seconds.  Place in colander and let drain.  Drain artichokes in colander as well.  I did mine with the spinach.  While these are draining, begin cooking chopped bacon, use food processor to chop onion and garlic, add onion and garlic mixture to bacon and let mixture soften up.  Place spinach and artichokes in food processor and chop to desired consistency.   Add spinach/artichoke mixture to bacon mixture in pan and cook for a few minutes for flavors to meld.  Place mixture in a dish and allow to cool.  I put mine in a Pyrex and placed in the fridge for an hour or so.  Take mixture out, once cooled, add coconut milk and mix well.  Place back in fridge to cool, about another hour.  Make chips while this is taking place and get ready for yumminess!  

Chips

2 Sweet Potatoes

Coconut Oil or Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Peel potatoes.  Using a mandolin, thinly slice potatoes and set aside.  Heat oven to 375.  On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper... place potatoes in a single layer.  Spray with oil and sprinkle with salt.  Cook for 6 min, take out, turn chips, spray with oil and sprinkle with salt on other side and cook an additional 6 minutes.  Take chips out and let cool on a separate piece of parchment until they crisp up!  One batch I did required an additional 6 minutes.  Watch you chips and use your judgement.  Once the edges get brown .. the little suckers can brown up quickly.  Yes, I had a few black chips on my first batch.  

Learning to love Liver!!!

Ok... so I have been reading a lot about the importance of organ meats for people who suffer from autoimmune disease.  Recently I posted about making bone broth and drinking that... but I wasn't so good about it honestly.  That same day I made a chicken liver mousse but couldn't get myself to eat it!  Bleck!  I am still struggling with trying to get myself back to good since I let my crazy life get a head of me...but I am still having other inflammation issues.  Particularly, my skin.

Back in the days of yore...(Ok, it was the year 2000, but it seems like forever ago), I found this facial cream that became a staple of mine from that point on.  You see, my skin is the driest skin ever!  And I do mean ever!  I use to get eczema patches on my face and body and was using cortisone cream on them for the longest time.  Looking back now, that's probably a big part of my adrenal problem today!  This wonder cream that I found, claimed to be natural, and honestly the ingredients were very minimal.  I even started my daughter using it years ago on her dry skin.  It was a miracle... and we were never without it.  However, around Easter time this year, I bought a new bottle, and within a week my skin and my daughters were on fire.  Blisters, burning, itching!  We were a mess.  I contacted the company and what do you know... they had a supplier change for one of their ingredients.  Well, the company had sent me some samples of things they were working on, but I never heard back from them again.  The product has been pulled off their web site and shelves of stores that were carrying it.  Hmmm... very interesting.  Long story short... my mom had an old container of it under her sink... so that kept my daughter and I good for a while.  All of our big events are over, so I decided to go off the sauce so to say.  I am now calling it "The Sauce", because I think it had to have some addictive steroidal properties of some kind.  It has honestly caused my whole body to flare up!  My face is dry, crackly, and I feel like a pile of you know what!  I still can't get over the fact that I read every label, of every product I come in contact to, and yet, I didn't really research this product.  It was working that's all I knew!  Stupid me!  Onward and upward.  Heal from within... EAT LIVER!

Chicken liver just wasn't for me, so I decided to give beef liver a shot!  I called around town to track down some organic, grass fed liver... and we found it!  Next step... scour the internet getting ideas on how to cook these suckers!

I found a recipe for a beef liver pate' with bacon!  Everything is good with Bacon!  This would be the winning recipe to try!!!  I found my inspiration from Mickey over at Autoimmune Paleo... she has a great blog.

Beef Liver Pate'

1 lb Organic Grass Fed Beef Liver

1 Onion

2 Cloves Garlic
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

Fresh Rosemary

Fresh Thyme
1/4 Tsp Salt

6 Pieces Uncured No Nitrate Bacon

Cook Bacon, chop and set aside.  Soften onions and garlic in Bacon grease.  Add Liver, herbs and cook until no longer pink.  Put Liver mixture, salt, and half of the chopped bacon in food processor and mix well.  Drizzle coconut oil, while mixture is mixing.  At this point it was still a bit thick for me... so we added water until it reached the desired consistency.  Place in bowl and add remaining bacon and mix... (I wanted some chunky bacon in it... help me to forget it's liver)

It has been a treat!  I actually love it!  Been eating it everyday!  I have to admit, I still have to try to keep my mind off of the fact that it's liver.  Oh, and be careful while making... we had a little mis-hap and my IPad suffered the consequences.  Looks like the IPad made a little poo!  

Roman Summer Salad!!!

Ok... so summer is officially here!  Yuck!  Double Yuck!  Today will be a whopping 104 in sunny California and it's only going to get hotter as the week goes by!  Gag!  To top it off... our air conditioner decided to take a poop last night, leaving us with a super hot house... go figure right?  Which leads me to this recipe I am going to share today.  One of our favorite meals is to throw some chicken on the BBQ, and make this salad.  No heating up the kitchen!  Yay, that's always good!  It's quite tasty as well.

Roman Summer Salad

2 Heirloom Tomato's (We've used regular ones too)

1/2 cup sliced black olives

1/2 cup sliced green olives

1 Chopped Garlic Clove

3 Chopped Anchovies

2 Tbsp Capers

8 Julienned Basil Leaves

Black Pepper

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Place some balsamic vinegar in a saucepan and simmer to reduce to a syrup and set aside.  Just an FYI... we make up a big batch and store it in a container so we don't have to do this step each time we need it.  It's just a basic Balsamic reduction.  Slice Tomato's and set aside.  Mix Olives, Garlic, Anchovies, Capers, Basil, Black Pepper and Olive oil in a bowl.  Top sliced Tom's with mixture and drizzle balsamic reduction on top!  Yummmmy!  

Have a great weekend all!  Stay Cool!