Thai Green Chicken Curry with Veggies

I love curry and I can't seem to get enough curry these days (pregnancy cravings in full force). I've made 3 different curry dishes in 3 days. This one was really good. As well as the lentil curry I made today, maybe I'll post that one tomorrow.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs coconut oil
• 1/2 an eggplant, sliced into thin bite size pieces
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin pieces
• 1 red bell pepper sliced into strips
• 1 Tbs ginger, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 large chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 1/2 cups of kale, chopped into small pieces
• 1 can of canned coconut milk (use full fat not light)
• 3 Tbs Thai green curry paste
• 1 1/2 Tbs Thai fish sauce
• Fresh Thai basil or cilantro diced to garnish (I preferred it with cilantro, Tyler liked the basil)
• Serve over rice or rice noodles.

Directions:

1. Soak the eggplant in salt water for 10 minutes (this will take out the bitter flavor). Make sure the eggplant is completely covered with salt water. I had to put a bowl on top of mine to press it down in the water. Drain and rinse the eggplant.
2. Heat the coconut oil in a wok, or large skillet. Add the carrots, eggplant, red bell pepper, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Sauté for 5 minutes.
3. Add the chicken and Kale. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the meat is starting to color.
4. Pre-stir the coconut milk and then pour it in.  Stir in the curry paste.  Cover and let simmer  for 12 minutes.
5. Stir in the fish sauce and serve over rice noodles or brown rice. Top each dish with basil or cilantro.
6. *note, we added a little cashew milk to ours in addition to the coconut milk. We felt it needed more liquid. Any type of milk could be added to thin it out a bit. 

"Cream" of Chicken Soup

This is the perfect substitute for Cream of Chicken soup. The taste and texture are spot on! However the health benefits of this one includes high protein, high fiber, and no processed ingredients. Whereas a certain name brand contains processed ingredients like soy, oil, milk, and other filler chemicals that I'd rather not eat.

This recipe makes a large batch so I usually just freeze what I don't need and then thaw a container out before I need to use it. Sometimes I'll just put the frozen block and other ingredients I'm using in the crock pot and let time take care of the rest.

With this recipe a wheat grinder, blendtec, or dry container vitamix will be needed to make the white bean flour. I've used several different kinds of white beans and they all have turned out great. Cannellini, Great Northern, and Navy are all pretty interchangeable. One time I didn't have enough white beans so I did about half white and half garbanzo and the soup still turned out great! It's pretty flexible.

Also you will find this recipe on Kelly's site for Real Food Wednesday and Sunday Night Soup. Check it out for other healthy recipes!

 Bring chicken broth to a boil

 Whisk in white bean flour until thick

Cook your favorite dish using cream of chicken

  soup. 

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of chicken broth OR 4 cups chicken stock and 2 cups of filtered water
• 1 cup white bean flour
• Add in options: cooked chicken, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed onions, any cooked veggies, or herbs/spices

Directions:

1. Bring the chicken broth or stock/water mixture to a boil. 
2. Then whisk in the white bean flour. Lower the heat and stir for 3-5 minutes or until the "cream" of chicken is thickened to your liking. 
3. Now you can let the soup cool and freeze what you won't be using (this is what I do), or add in pieces of chicken, mushrooms, or veggies and then place into containers to freeze. I prefer to do my add ins later since I don't always know what I'll be making. 

Maui Zaui Pizza

Saturday was pizza night at my house growing up. We aren't talking grab the phone and wait for the pizza boy to deliver it. We are talking my dad would grind the flour, make some amazing dough, and we would have a plethora of ingredients to top the pizza's off with. Some of my favorites were BBQ Chicken, Vegetarian, Pesto n Shrimp with Feta Cheese, and of course my all time favorite Maui Zaui.

I had Maui Zaui at a friends house and I went home and told my dad he had to recreate it! So for a very rare dinner we went out to Round Table and ordered the Maui Zaui and we all agreed it needed to join our weekly pizza party menu. The secret is the sauce, which is just sweet chili sauce that you can get in the oriental section at the grocery store. 

 GF pizza dough waiting for some toppings

Maui Zaui Pizza, my all time favorite

Maui Zaui Pizza Toppings:

• Sweet Chili Sauce
• Mozzarella Cheese (regular or daiya if allergic)
• Canadian Bacon
• Bacon (pre-cook it before putting on pizza, but not too crispy)
• Green onion
• Red onion
• Tomato 
• Pineapple 

GF Crust: I found the best recipe at Gluten Free Day

• 4 1/2 tsps instant rise yeast
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Blend 1 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup brown rice, and 1/2 cup teff
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tbs psyllium Husk powder
• 1  cup warm water
• 3 Tbs olive oil

GF Crust Directions:

1. Whisk the yeast, sugar, flour blend, salt, and psyllium husk powder in a large bowl.
• Or you can soak the flour blend overnight  by mixing it with 1 cup of water with 1 tsp of lemon juice or vinegar to remove the phytic acid. It's an extra step but you will absorb more vitamins and minerals
2. Whisk the warm water and olive oil together.
3. Add the oil/water to the dry ingredients and mix for 5 minutes. You can use a hand mixer, Bosch,  or Kitchen Aid. If you are using your strong arm and a spoon mix for 10 minutes. 
4. Form a ball and place in a dark warm place for 20 minutes.  Get your toppings ready while the dough rises.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a pizza stone. Place parchment paper on a pizza sheet and use a greased rolling pin to roll out the dough. Add your toppings and place the pizza in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes for thin crust or until the crust has browned and the center of the pizza is bubbling. 

Note: I recommend rolling the dough out thinner than you think is normal. It rises significantly, and my family likes a thin crust. You can see in the two pictures I posted how much it rises. I rolled the dough out as thin as I normally like my pizza (I wasn't sure it would rise a whole lot.) Then if you look at the finished pizza you can see the crust puffed up quite a bit, it was thicker than we normally like. 

 

Buckwheat Hazelnut Pancakes

This recipe is originally from Whole Life Nutrition. I made a few changes. First I used EnerG-Egg Replacer instead of eggs since my body can't tolerate them right now. Second I soaked the buckwheat and hazelnut meal the night before in a mixture of 1 cup rice milk and 1 tsp of lemon juice. Read more about the benefits of soaking grains HERE. One last note is that I have made this same recipe by swapping out the buckwheat flour for a mix of teff and quinoa flour, it tasted just as good.

Quick note on soaking that I learned this week from my NTA course:
Soak, sprout, ferment, or naturally leaven all seeds, nuts, and grains.

• All grains contain phytic acid in the outer layer of bran.
• Phytic acid combines with calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, and zinc in the intestinal track and blocks their absorption.
• This can lead to serious mineral and bone loss.
• Soaking grains allows enzymes, lactobacilli, and other organisms to break down and neutralize the phytic acid, allowing us to access the nutrients in grain and digest them effectively.
• Did you know that the original instructions on Quaker Oats called for overnight soaking? Maybe I should start a petition to have them put it back on the label!

I tested some of the batter in the waffle iron as well. Turned out good as long as the iron was well greased with ghee/coconut oil.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups of freshly ground buckwheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups of freshly blended hazelnut meal
• 1/4 cup of tapioca flour
• 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3 cups rice milk
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsps egg replacer (or 2 eggs)
• 4 Tbs water
• 3 Tbs honey
• 3 Tbs melted coconut oil

Directions:

1. Mix 1 1/2 cups of rice milk with 1 tsp of lemon juice. Whisk this into the buckwheat flour and hazelnut meal. Cover and let soak overnight at room temperature.
2. In a small bowl whisk the tapioca flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt together. 
3. In a medium bowl whisk the egg replacer with water until frothy and then mix in the honey, coconut oil, and the remaining 1 1/2 cups of warm rice milk. 
4. Finally, mix the wet and dry ingredients into the soaked buckwheat-hazelnut mixture, just until combined. Add extra milk if batter seems too thick. 

My Favorite Corn Bread Recipe

I found this recipe at Whole Life Nutrition, it's the best corn bread recipe I've ever had. I tweaked my recipe just a little bit. Instead of sorghum flour I used a mix of brown rice and buckwheat. Instead of coconut sugar I used raw honey. T Also I soaked the corn meal, buckwheat, and brown rice flour in rice milk with a little lemon juice overnight to reduce the phytic acid.

This recipe has been shared with Real Food Wednesday, check out other real food recipes on Kelly's blog.

 They are light and fluffy

Cut in half and spread ghee and honey on for a tasty treat!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups organic corn meal
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups rice milk

Directions:

1. Whisk the corn meal, brown rice flour, and buckwheat flour together in a large bowl.
2. Mix 1 cup of rice milk with 1 tsp of lemon juice. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until damp. Cover let sit overnight or for 12 hours.
3. In the morning preheat the oven to 350 and grease muffin pans
4.  In a small bowl mix tapioca flour, baking powder, and sea salt together.
5. In a medium bowl mix together the flax meal, hot water, honey, coconut oil, applesauce, and 1/2 cup of rice milk.
6. Whisk in the wet ingredients with the soaked corn meal mixture. Then mix in the tapioca flour mixture as well.
7. Fill the muffin tins to the top and bake for 25-30 minutes, when the tops start to become golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the pan to cool further. 

End of the Week Crock Pot Soup

Towards the end of the week I often have a mix of different veggies and meat that I don't want to waste. So I throw it all in the crock pot and and have a delicious soup for dinner. It's a great way to get a lot of nutrients, use up leftovers, and take a break from cooking after a busy week. I make a lot of chicken stock that I keep frozen so I toss one that in with it and I end up with a great soup. 

 This picture was taken after we had eaten so there are plenty leftover for lunch the next day

Each batch is going to turn out a little different depending on what I have in my fridge, but so far we haven't had a batch that we disliked.

This particular batch had chicken stock, canned tomatoes, carrots, sprouted lentils, sprouted black beans, zucchini, kale, onions, garlic, basil, and chicken sausage.

Find more great recipes on Kelly's Blog,  Real Food Wednesday

Baked Oatmeal

I saw this idea of making baked oatmeal for breakfast over on Kelly the Kitchen Kop's blog. I made a few changes to make a version that I think my family would like (we aren't the biggest raisin fans). One of these mornings I'll make her original recipe though because I want to try it. The great thing about her recipe is it's quite versatile. Apples can be replaced for any other fruit of your liking and raisins can be traded out for different types of dried fruit. One of these days I want to make one with blueberries and black berries. Actually the more I think about it the more combinations I keep coming up with!

 Baked oatmeal in a 9x13 ceramic dish

Ready to eat! My husband pours milk on his and I enjoy topping mine off with walnuts or pecans

Ingrediants

2-1/2 cups oats (regular, steel cut, or both)

1-3/4 cups buttermilk, yogurt, or 1 Tbs lemon juice mixed with water

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup flax meal + water until it has the consistency of an egg (or use 2 eggs if not allergic)

1/3 cup real maple syrup

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup dates pit removed and chopped

2 cups unsweetened, chunky apple sauce

Pecans or walnuts to sprinkle on top (optional)

Directions

Soak the oats in buttermilk or lemon juice over night.

 In the morning Beat the coconut oil, flax meal mixture, and maple syrup together.

Add in baking powder, sea salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and apple sauce. Beat together until well combined. Then stir in the dates and oats.

Pour into a 9x13 baking dish and bake at 350 for 40-60 minutes.

Let cool for 10 minutes and serve.