Box of Asparagus

I decided I needed a little break.  I am always cooking and baking.  It is something I love to do and need to do for both my husband, myself and anyone that finds themselves at my kitchen table.

However, I have been on this painting kick lately that I just can’t seem to turn off.  I mean, I went to school for this!  It’s not like I just woke up one morning and thought that painting sounded like a fun thing to try.  It is so strange when I get this feeling.  I always try to get this painting bug out of my system so I can go back to my normal life and then it will hit me again a few months later until I try to brush it off again.

You would think I would learn my lesson and embrace it already.  It is OKAY to have one foot in the world of health and wellness and one foot in the world of art.  I forget how much more at ease I feel when I let myself paint.

Since this blog is called a bissel of this and that which means a little bit of this and that, it is only appropriate that I have exactly that!  I little bit of food and a little bit of art and we will see what else appears along the way.

My hope is to do a collection of boxes.  Enjoy!

Here is my recipe Asparagus Box:

 

Cookie Monster

Last week was Purim and all I wanted was to have some Hamentashen cookies.  I love those tasty triangular cookies so much, but haven’t been able to have those tasty treats for years.  My favorite two flavors are prune and poppyseed.  Any time I see them in a bakery, I getting mildly depressed knowing I can’t have them…moment of silence…

Moving right along, I decided to attempt them again this year.  I think I tried a few years ago and probably failed miserably.  This year the cookies came out rather delicious, but they were super messy to work with.  They went from Hamentashen to simple thumbprint cookies.  I wasn’t upset about it.  They still tasted delicious.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 3 duck eggs
• 2 scoops of marine collagen (optional)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1/2 cup honey (I KNOW I can’t believe I used honey too!)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zero sugar added blueberry jam I found at the healthfood store.

Directions:

Put everything into your food processor and pulse until all ingredients are blended well.

• Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour and let chill for a bit.

Put a dollop of dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet and then either press your thumb into it or a spoon.  Then, take a bit of your blueberry jam or whatever other filling your want and place it in the center.

Bake on 300 for about 15-18.

Try having just one…good luck haha.

 

Shake It Up

I always like to have a shake on hand for after my workouts.  What goes in them has been changing depending on my tastes and my needs, but lately I have found a combination that has been catching all the good vibes on my tastebuds!

I have been super into Vital Proteins Marine Collagen.  I was using chicken bone broth collagen for a while, but it was making my stomach super bloated.  The marine collagen is tasteless, easy on the stomach and my skin is super smooth.  This stuff dissolves easily.  I put it in vegetable broth, smoothies, any anything else that I might want to give a little protein boost to.

Ingredients:

• 1 semi green banana
• 1/4-1/2 avocado.
• 1/4 grapefruit
• 2 -tbsp of fresh mint
• handful of spinach
• tsp of maca powder
• 2 scoops of Vital Protein Marine Collagen
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Directions:

• Put everything in your shake blender and blend until smooth.  If you want it cold right away, add ice.  If you aren’t drinking it right away just blend and put in the fridge for later.

 

 

White Yam Cauliflower Pie Filling

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  I know I have been a little MIA.  I was took a week off the blog since I was away visiting my parents in South Carolina for my mom’s birthday.  It is always a wonderful treat every time I get to visit there!

My parents took me to this amazing Thai restaurant so we could get dessert.  I KNOW!  I never think to go out for Thai for desserts, but let me just say that I let my gaurd down that night when it came to sweets.  It was all about the Taro Coconut custard.  It was the perfect mix of dense and fluffy.  It was the perfect mix of sweet and salty.  I could have bathed in it.  That’s how good it was!

I decided I wanted to try to make something similar when I got home.  Okay, it really wasn’t similar at all.  I didn’t have taro root and I didn’t feel like making an extra trip to the store to get some.  However, I did have white yams and I had a bag of organic riced cauliflower.  I decided to suck it up and bring dates temporarily back into my life for the purpose of this recipe.

What ended up happening is that I made the filling of what tastes like sweet potato pie made with white yams and cauliflower.  In fact, you can’t even taste the cauliflower.  You just feel good knowing you are eating extra veggies.  Who doesn’t love that?

Ingredients:

• 3 small white yams
• couple pinches of sea salt
• 1 bag of organic riced cauliflower from Trader Joe’s
• 1 cup of pitted dates
• 1 can of organic full fat coconut milk from Trader Joe’s
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 1.5 tsp of cinnamon
• 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract

 

Directions:

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  Peel and cut the potatoes.  Boil them until soft.

 

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  Saute your riced cauliflower with one cup of dates, cinnamon, vanilla and coconut oil together until soft and fully cooked.

   

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  In your food processor, combine the cauliflower rice mixture, boiled white yams, coconut milk and possibly a tad more vanilla if needed.  Put in small bowls and plae in fridge to cool.  You should have about 5-6 servings.

 

Tandoori Masala Roasted Chicken

This chicken was oozing with flavor, crispiness skin, and juicy meat.  It smelled delicious, It was beautiful to look at and even more enjoyable to share with my sister!  I urge all of you to make this dish and share it with your loved ones!

 

Ingredients:

• 1 whole organic chicken
• olive oil for the bottom of the baking dish
• 2-3 tablespoons of green curry paste
• 1 Meyer lemon
• 4 chopped cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons of coconut aminos
• enough Tandoori Masala spice to cover the chicken
• 2 tsp of curry powder
• coconut oil or butter or ghee (aprox. 2 tablespoons cut up small enough to to place on top of the chicken evenly)
• 1 cup of chicken bone broth

 

Directions:

• Rinse your chicken.
• Place olive oil in the bottom of the baking dish.
• Squeeze lemon over the chicken.
• Place the chopped cloves of garlic under the skin of the chicken.
• Sprinkle the coconut aminos over the chicken.
• Spread the green curry paste evenly all over the chicken.
• Put the Tandoori Masala spice evenly over the chicken so that it is covered .
• Sprinkle the curry powder on the chicken as well.
• Cut up the coconut oil or butter or ghee in small pieces and place it evenly over the chicken.
• Pour one cup of chicken bone broth in the baking dish.
• Bake on the CONVECTION setting on your oven at 325 for 2 hours.  Baste half way through and then one more time 30 minutes before it is done.

 

Crispy Chicken

I think I have been living under a rock!  I was just introduced to the wonderful world of the convection setting on my oven.  I have been avoiding it like the plague, because for some unknown reason I was just scared of it.  A friend of mine assured me that it was nothing to fear.  I decided to get out of my own way and try this thing once and for all.  HOLY MOLY !!!!  I don’t think I could ever make a chicken using any other setting.

Happy Eating!

 

Ingredients:

• 1 whole organic chicken
• 3-4 cloves of garlic cut in big chunks
• 2 meyer lemons
• 2-3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar or pomegranate vinegar
• 2-3 tbsp of coconut aminos
• 1/2 cup of organic chicken bone broth
• 1-2 tbsp of coconut oil
• tandoori masala spice to taste
• 3 tbsp of unsweetened shredded coconut
• Trader Joe’s chicken Grilling seasoning to taste (I was a little heavy handed with this)
• olive oil

 

Directions:

• Put some olive oil on the bottom of a baking dish.
• Cut up one meyer lemon and put it up the tushy of the chicken.
• In a small bowl, squeeze the other lemon and add the vinegar and the coconut aminos and the bone broth.
• Pour this over the chicken.
• Cut up the garlic and put it under the skin of the chicken.
• Put the tandoori seasoning and chicken grilling seasoning over the chicken.
• Pat the shredded coconut over the chicken.
• Add some coconut oil on top of the chicken.
• Bake on the convection setting for 2 hours at 325.
• About halfway through spoon some of the drippings over the chicken.

 

Mashed Purple Sweet Potatoes

Don’t you love when the food you eat is not only delicious, but also so beautiful to look at?  I absolutely love the color purple and these purple sweet potatoes are the perfect shade!  They are a great carbohydrate that are filled with vitamins and antioxidants.  They are also sweet, but not overly sweet.  Just right!

Ingredients:

• 6-7 Organic purple sweet potatoes from Trader Joe’s
• 2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 1/2 cup of water or coconut milk or other non-dairy milk of choice
• 1 tsp of garlic powder or cinnamon (depending on your palette)

Directions:

Peel and cut your potatoes.  Boil them until soft.

 

Add all of your ingredients into a bowl.  With an immersion blender, blend until all the ingredients are smooth.

Enjoy…and yes that color is for real!

Baked Chicken with Olives

I love a really good chicken dish that is simple and has really healthy and beautiful ingredients.  This dish incorporates some lovely, heart healthy ingredients that get my taste buds buzzing!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs of organic boneless skinless chicken breast (if you want the skin and bone you can)
• 1 tbsp of coconut aminos
• 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup chopped organic black kalamata olives
• 1 chopped steamed red beet (I use the precooked package of red beets)
• 2  chopped cloves of garlic
• 1/2 squeezed lime
• Sprinkle of Spice Cave Sea seasoning (I know it says Sea, but it tastes good on everything)
• A bit of avocado oil for the baking dish

Directions:

• Put a bit of avocado oil in the baking dish.
• Lay the chicken down and squeeze the lime over the chicken.
• Put the balsamic and the coconut aminos on the chicken as well.
• Layer the chicken with the olives, beets, garlic and seasoning.
• cover with plastic wrap and let it soak up all the flavors for a few hours or overnight.

 

• When ready to bake, cover with aluminum foil and make a few dashes with a knife in the foil.  Bake on 350 for about 30 mins.
• If you have skin on your chicken, or you want to just brown a little on the top and make a little extra juicy, then the last minute or two, broil your chicken uncovered.

Ready to serve!

Quick when Sick

The last week and some change have been filled with some sinus infection nastiness, endless cups of tea and not much of an appetite.  I haven’t been feeling up to cooking much of anything and anything that I do make has to be fast so I could get my tush back into bed.

If you are anything like me and needed a quick fix to fight off being sick, but really have no interest in cooking, this has been my go to:

Heat it up together in the microwave or on the stove.

Sometimes I add some cauliflower rice for a little more substance.

 

I have also been totally into these lately:

Quick and easy protein.  Great omega 3’s.  Makes me feel a little lighter than poultry and meat sometimes.  The smaller the fish, the less toxins.  Get in on the goodness!

Stay warm and healthy!

Coconut Cod

HAPPY 2018!!

 

Sometimes I just feel a little lighter when I eat fish as opposed to poultry or meat.  I have been eating way more wild caught fish in the past few months for my protein source than anything else and I can definitely feel a difference.

This recipe is stupid easy and it tastes delicious!

Ingredients:

• Avocado or olive oil for the pan and a drizzle for the fish.
• one lime to squeeze.
• Spice Cave Sea seasoning
• Unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

• In a baking dish, drizzle some olive or avocado oil.  place your wild caught cod in the baking dish.
• Squeeze some fresh lime over each piece of fish.  You will only need one lime for 3 or 4 pieces of fish.  I used 3 pieces.
• Sprinkle some Spice Cave Sea seasoning on the fish (to taste).
• Drizzle a little avocado or olive oil on each piece of fish…just a drizzle.
• Sprinkle some shredded coconut on each piece of fish.
• Bake uncovered on 400 for about 15-17 minutes.

Fresh from the oven.

 

Served over sauteed greens.