Garlic-Herb Turkey Burgers

This recipe is great for those of you who are on an Elimination Diet as it is very easy to make, and when paired with plenty of vegetables, it becomes a very nourishing, anti-inflammatory meal. We like to use lettuce leaves or napa cabbage leaves as our "buns" for burgers, though sometimes my children like the extra carbohydrates of a gluten-free bun (they are so active and hungry all the time)!

Look for organic ground turkey at your local food co-op or health food store. Sometimes it is in the freezer section. I make turkey burgers about once a week (especially now with the warmer weather). Sometimes I omit the chopped fresh herbs and add a tablespoon or two of a good quality Thai curry paste. I also replace the parsley with cilantro. My children really love this Thai-flavored version too!

Serve burgers with baked sweet potato fries if you are on the Elimination Diet. If not, try some potato fries. My kids love homemade baked oven fries using russet potatoes that are seasoned with smoked paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, sea salt, and avocado oil. In the summertime I also like to grill summer squash from my garden using my cast iron grill pan on the stove to serve with these burgers. Serve burgers with a garden salad and a homemade dressing for a balanced, nourishing meal!

Asparagus, Leek, and Mushroom Frittata

Frittatas are just about one of the easiest, nutrient-dense meals you can make....and they can be whipped up in minutes! Serve a frittata for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I frequently make frittatas to use up the odd bits of leftovers or random veggies in the fridge. I love using leftover salmon and roasted potatoes in a frittata. Green onions, chives, sausages, red bell peppers, yellow or red onions, olives, zucchini, basil, and broccoli are also wonderful ingredients to add to your frittata!

A frittata is made by first sautéing some vegetables in a little butter or olive oil in a 10-inch cast iron skillet, then you add 8 to 10 whisked eggs (sometimes grated cheese too) and pop the whole pan in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. It will puff up as it bakes, then fall as it cools. Cut your frittata into wedges and serve with a salad. So easy!

This frittata recipe uses some in-season spring vegetables, plus fresh tarragon to create a complex-flavored meal that will remind you of French cuisine! Asparagus and tarragon pair so well together! Yum! Serve it for Mother's day brunch with a salad and some sparkling mineral water.

If you or a family member cannot tolerate eggs then I would suggest baking a salmon fillet and serving it with a salad for Mother's day brunch. Salmon for brunch is a great egg-free option!

Easy One-Pan Oven Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots

I love super easy meals on busy weekday evenings, don't you? This recipe (including the variations below) is one of my go-to weeknight meals. I wanted to share it with you because we all could use more ideas on how to create doable, nourishing family dinners. 

In addition to this meal, here are some more of my favorite weeknight meals: Baked Wild Salmon with Steamed Potatoes, Kale and Pesto. Slow Cooked Chicken Curry over cooked quinoa. Soothing Red Lentil Soup served with cooked quinoa or basmati rice and a dollop of Raw Cilantro-Lime Chutney. I also have plenty more recipes for easy weeknight dinners in my Nourishing Meals cookbook and Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook!

I love to serve this baked chicken and potato dish with a big green salad or some sort of raw kale salad. 

I know potatoes have received a bad rap for years, but did you know that potatoes contain high levels of potent antioxidants similar to levels found in dark cherries, strawberries, plums, and apples? In fact, the darker colored potatoes like the purple varieties contain the highest level of antioxidants....not surprisingly! All potatoes contain anti-inflammatory antioxidants like phenols, carotenoids, flavonoids, and anthocyanin compounds. Potatoes are also an excellent source of easily digested complex carbohydrates. Including something starchy with dinner can help induce restful sleep. I've seen many people (and experienced this myself) reduce their carbohydrate consumption too much to the point where they cannot fall asleep or stay asleep. For some, including potatoes with dinner might be just the thing! True comfort food! 

Chocolate Walnut Brownies (Grain-Free, Gluten-Free)

I thought you might like a simple gluten-free brownie recipe to share with friends and family this holiday weekend. This recipe is unique in that it contains NO flour at all. Walnuts and cocoa powder make up the bulk of the recipe! You can find these brownies in my Nourishing Meals cookbook along with many other healthy gluten-free and grain-free recipes.

If you need more visuals other than the photos here, you can check out a recent cooking video we did making these brownies! Just scroll down....it's the last video on the page. There are plenty more recipes and ideas on our new and improved website for living GMO-free and gluten-free. Check it out and let us know what you think. There is also much more to come!

Simple Slow-Cooked Chicken Curry

The days are getting shorter, colder, and busier! Having simple, nourishing meals ready to eat when you get home from work or school is so important. Now that the weather has changed, I've been using my slow cooker more often. This chicken curry recipe is so simple that I almost didn't post it! I've made it a number of times in the last few weeks. Too many actually, because now my children are starting to complain!

Today I forgot to add the tomatoes which caused the stew to lack some flavor and "oomph!" Adding something acidic, like tomatoes, helps to balance flavors. A little freshly squeezed lime juice can remedy a lack of tomatoes though!

You can add different vegetables to the pot if desired, just make sure to cut them large enough so they maintain their shape and don't turn to mush during the long cooking time. Try sweet potatoes, rutabagas, potatoes, or chunks of peeled and cubed pie pumpkin! If you want to add zucchini or red bell pepper then add them in during the last 30 to 60 minutes of cooking (less time if you have your slow cooker set on high, more if it is set on low).

Butternut Squash, Kale, & White Bean Soup

There is nothing more nourishing than a bowl of warm vegetable bean soup on a chilly autumn evening! This simple soup can be made in about 30 minutes, perfect if you are crunched for time on a busy weeknight. I like to keep small containers of cooked beans in my freezer so I can pull them out and whip something up in a hurry! You could of course use canned beans, and if you do, the best brand to buy is Eden Organic. They use BPA-free cans and also cook kombu seaweed in with their beans, which helps to make them more digestible.

If you are not yet in the habit of cooking beans from scratch, here is what I do: after the kids go to bed I will sort through a couple of cups of dry beans (usually about 4 cups) and pick out any rocks or clumps of dirt, then rinse the beans in a colander. Then I place them into a large glass bowl and cover them with a few inches of warm water. Be sure to add enough water! Whenever I ask Tom to soak beans or nuts, he never adds enough water and in the morning they will have all expanded and be exposed to air. He's learning, slowly. ;-)

Homemade Seaweed Snacks

Have you ever tried those salty seaweed snacks you buy at places like Trader Joe's? I know, they're addicting, we've tried them before and my children loved them! I won't buy them because they have so much packaging and because canola oil is listed as one of the ingredients (which is often genetically engineered). My 10 year old daughter has been thinking about a way to make them for months and she finally decided to figure it out last week. I asked her to write a "guest post" for me but she didn't want to. She did, however, write the recipe below but wanted me to "introduce" it. 

When she makes these, the other children hover over the pans as they come out of the oven and devour them ALL in one sitting. She will then proceed to make another batch and quickly hide some of them for her lunch. Seaweed, with the addition of unrefined sea salt, is a very nutritious trace-mineral snack! 

Here is Lily's recipe. I was amazed that she knew how to organize and write a recipe....must be from using my cookbook and cooking on her own. She asked me quite a few times what she should say next and I would reply: "what was your next step?" Then she would realize that she already knew the answer and proceed to type it up.

Slow Cooked Beef Stew

I don't think I've shared a beef recipe yet on this blog. It might be because we rarely eat it. To eat meat or to not eat meat is an interesting subject and heated debate among many. Beef is a concentrated source of protein, minerals, fats, and vitamins. For the deficient person, beef can be extremely beneficial. For someone dealing with diseases of excess, beef may lead to more health issues. Eating beef raised on corn, which is most likely GMO-corn, leads to the need for medications for the cattle, different types of fat deposited in the meat, and a reliance on a type of agriculture that is not sustainable for our planet. Plus, most feedlot cattle these days are pumped full of hormones to grow and plump up quicker, making the business of raising cattle more profitable. If this isn't enough, it has now been found that a quarter of all ground beef is now tainted with drug-resistent bacteria, such as staph aureus.

When cooking with beef, look for a source of locally raised organic grass-fed beef. Grass-fed beef is lower in saturated fat and higher in Omega-3 fatty acids, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), and vitamin E. In fact raising cows on grass is what nature intended. It has only been in the last 70 years that farmers began feeding grain (corn) to cattle. Eating beef with green leafy vegetables, especially cultured vegetables, helps digest the meat, making the meal even more beneficial.

I feel best revolving my diet around plants and eating beef on occasion, only when I feel I really need it. The end of pregnancy creates an extra demand on a woman's body. I found that eating red meat about twice a week in the second and third trimester of my pregnancies was very beneficial. Now breastfeeding a busy, scooting, almost-crawling five-month-old, I feel good having beef in my diet a few times a month. Of course you'll need to decide how often, or if at all, eating beef is right for you.

Macadamia Nut Cheese Recipe

This vegan nut cheese recipe is perfect for topping homemade gluten-free pizza or for using in between layers of lasagna noodles, vegetables, and sauce. It is easy to make using a high powered blender, such as the Vita-Mix.

I find the flavors of this dairy-free "cheese" sauce are best balanced with the acidity of tomatoes, such as my Homemade Pizza Sauce recipe.

Macadamia nuts are expensive and exotic, I know. Just think of this sauce as a treat. A little goes a long way, macadamia nuts are very rich.

Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe

Pizza! Yay! Today I am sharing my recipe for homemade pizza sauce. And do you know what that means? Yes, a gluten-free pizza crust recipe to come soon!

This sauce is so easy to make. I use a 7-ounce glass jar of Bionaturae organic tomato paste to start. Then I mix in olive oil, honey, salt, and herbs. That's it! Pictured here is a triple batch. We are visiting with family right now so large batches are the norm these days.

Our two girls and their two cousins played restaurant tonight complete with hand written menus, aprons, and wine! This pizza sauce with a Gluten-Free and Yeast-Free Buckwheat Crust, Homemade Gluten-Free Seed Crackers with apples and french sheep cheese, a large Pear Pomegranate Salad, Whole Grain Flatbread, freshly made butternut squash lasagna with Macadamia Nut Cheese, Vanilla Tapioca Pudding, and a sparkling hibiscus cooler were all on the menu! It was quite a feast for all 12 of us.

Luckily the adults got to relax while the girls busily took orders and ran back and forth from the dining room to the kitchen carrying plates of food!

Orange-Wasabi Cabbage Salad

I absolutely love raw cabbage. I love the crispy crunch with every bite. I love the way it makes me feel...healthy and alive, my digestion strong. It feels cleansing. Luckily my children like cabbage too, though my girls have decided they like their cabbage plain, no dressing please. I gave this salad to my twin boys who turned two yesterday and one of them loved it while the other one spit it out (photo below).

I have found that the first three years of life is the most important time for introducing foods. Offering toddlers a wide variety of foods is key to their eating habits for the rest of their lives. They will most likely go through phases where they turn their nose up at foods they loved just a month ago. For example, our first daughter, Lily, decided around 3 years old that she didn't like beans. She was almost 4 until she ate them again. I just kept offering and didn't give up. One trick I have found to be helpful is to offer a child a "try-it bite" of a new food or flavor. I tell my girls they can spit it out if they don't like it. Every time we have that food I offer anther "try-it bite" and sometimes, but not always, they decide they like it. The key is to not give up on your children just because they don't like something at first.

So if you have young children, you may want to save some of this salad before dressing it. They can munch on the cabbage and carrots with their meal and then try some with the dressing too.

Fun Food Fact: Did you know that the phytochemicals in cabbage signal our genes to produce enzymes involved in detoxification? In addition, the phtyochemicals in cabbage are cancer-protective. So eat up! :)

Soy-Free Tamari Roasted Nuts

For those of you following a soy-free diet, and who are desperately missing your tamari, I have found a fantastic alternative! The South River Miso Company makes a wonderful gluten/wheat-free and soy-free tamari! How do they do it?

Here is what they say on their website: In Japanese, tamari means "little puddle" and refers to the savory liquid that collects in a vat of miso. Our genuine tamari is similar to its cousin, soy sauce, but much sweeter and lighter in taste. Friends who buy directly from our shop come back year after year, declaring that there is no seasoning comparable to South River Miso Tamari. Gathered from the vats of AZUKI BEAN MISO -- Made from deep well water, organic brown rice, organic azuki beans, sun-dried sea salt, organic sea vegetables, and koji culture. Aged in wood for a minimum of 3 months.

I was so happy to recently find this soy-free tamari alternative on Kim's Affairs of Living Blog! Kim writes a great blog full of recipes and ideas for Elimination Diet-friendly meals. If you are doing the Elimination Diet, then her site will be a big help.

If you have a chance to try South River's chickpea miso or adzuki miso please do! They are simply delicious. The miso is made using rice koji instead of barley koji. If you live in Bellingham you can find this fabulous miso at Terra Organica. They don't sell the tamari though...at least not yet!

Thai Coconut Fish Sticks (Gluten-Free + Egg-Free)

Here is a yummy recipe I created a few weeks ago for gluten-free fish sticks using halibut. This is one of my super-quick-and-easy meals! I use shredded coconut for the breading and a unique slurry to dip them in....you'll see in my recipe below. I also like to serve these with a Thai Peanut Dipping Sauce (recipe to follow).

I find these fish sticks very filling and only eat about 2 or 3 before I am done. I like to serve them with plenty of fresh, organic greens. I usually just drizzle some of the peanut dipping sauce over the greens for a dressing.

I haven't been posting much lately and the truth is that my 22 month old twin boys are really difficult right now. Last Sunday they figured out how to climb out of the crib at nap time. The daily two hour nap is forever gone I am afraid. I have not figured out how to get them to sleep otherwise. Usually I read them a few books, nurse them, and put them in the crib. Then I blow kisses and close the door. They normally just go to sleep. Not anymore! Evenings are much more difficult now because they are just so darn tired by dinner time...and so am I! They were asleep by 6pm tonight. We had an early dinner that took about 10 minutes to prepare. Got to love that!

Along with the fish sticks and greens, we had leftover brown rice, quinoa, lentils, and green smoothies (for the twins). Tom made his own vegan coconut curry with the Thai red curry paste, coconut milk, peanut butter, lime juice, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, napa cabbage, collard greens, onions, garlic, and Kaffir lime leaves. Hope you enjoy my recipe....

Coconut Sugar Apple Crisp

We really are not just about sweets here. Really we're not! But this week it seems we are, huh. Hope some of you enjoyed the White Nectarine Ice Cream I posted last weekend. More main dish recipes to come next week I promise!

Since I will be going out of town for four days I thought it was high time for another delicious giveaway. This awesome giveaway is for 2 pounds of coconut sugar! I used coconut sugar from Essential Living Foods to make this fabulous gluten-free apple crisp.

What is Coconut Sugar?

Coconut sugar is a low glycemic granulated sweetener with a glycemic index of 35. Compare that to honey of 75, agave nectar of 30, pure maple syrup of 54, or sugar (sucrose) of 95. Coconut sugar or coconut palm sugar as it is also called is made from the dried sap of the coconut palm blossom. Sounds lovely doesn't it? But what does it taste like?

I find the taste mild with slight molasses undertones, possibly even a little like maple syrup. The flavors marry well with spices, which will be quite perfect for your autumn baking needs. Coconut sugar can be substituted 1 for 1 in baking. Use it where you would use brown sugar, Sucanat, or white sugar. I used it in my apple crisp recipe with absolutely delicious results! I have used it before in cookies and muffins and it works great. I have also used it to proof yeast with great results as well. Those with cane sugar allergies will find this sugar suitable for their needs.

To be entered in this drawing, leave a comment below with your name or initials and a brief note if you would like. It is always fun to hear from you! The giveaway will be open until 11:59pm PST on Monday the 28th of September, 2009. I will announce the winner in my next post. So please keep an eye out for your name sometime early next week! Enter twice for more chances to win. Either add a link to this post on your blog or share this on Facebook or Twitter. Have fun! :) Please note, this drawing is now closed.

Gluten-Free, Vegan Apple Crisp Recipe

I am a big fan of just about any type of cooked apple dessert. This is a great recipe to add to a weeknight meal because of the ease of prep time involved. You also do not need to have much experience in the kitchen to make this. So go ahead and enjoy! My favorite variety of apple to use here is Granny Smith though the Gingergold variety works great too!

Filling:
3 to 4 baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin (⅛-inch thick)
2 to 4 tablespoons honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Topping:
1 ½ cups rolled gluten-free oats
½ cup sweet rice flour
½ to ¾ cup coconut sugar*
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup melted virgin coconut oil (or butter)*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place all ingredients for the filling into a 7 x 11-inch baking pan. Gently stir together with a large spoon. A good gauge for sufficient fruit is to fill your pan almost to the top with sliced fruit. It will cook down quite a bit. See the photo below.

In a small mixing bowl stir together the oats, rice flour, sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt. Add oil and vanilla and stir together with a fork. Using your hands, crumble the topping evenly over the filling.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the juices are bubbling up and the topping is lightly browned.

*Notes: Use organic brown sugar, Sucanat, or maple sugar in the topping instead of coconut sugar if desired. Sometimes I add 1 to 2 tablespoons more oil to the topping if the mixture seems to need it.

Lemon Juice can be omitted if you are sensitive to citrus.

Italian Plum Variation: Use 4 to 5 cups pitted, halved plums in place of the apples or a combination of the two. Toss with 3 to 4 tablespoons arrowroot; increase liquid sweetener to 4 tablespoons; omit lemon juice. Source: www.nourishingmeals.com

Other recipes where coconut sugar would work:

Spiced Teff Cookie Bars

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Chocolate Chip Teff Banana Bread

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Balsamic Roasted Chicken with Figs and Sweet Onions

Every now and then I will bake a whole, organic chicken for dinner. Since figs and sweet onions are in season right now I am finding more creative ways to use them!

Roasting the figs and onions with the chicken brings out mouth-watering sweet and savory flavors in the juices. The onions practically melt in your mouth after 2 hours of roasting. To serve, slice the chicken and drizzle with the juices, onions, and figs. I serve this over brown rice but cooked quinoa or steamed, mashed winter squash would be equally as delicious. We also like to add a few green olives on the side as a treat. :)

This recipe would also be delicious served with my Zucchini Bake and a green salad with my Everyday Salad Dressing. Or try it with this Soaked Whole Grain Flatbread recipe.