gluten-free – Page 44

Butternut Squash Mash (paleo, whole30)

October 3, 2013December 29, 2014Life, RecipesLeave a Comment

Mmmmm….. comfort food. A nice heaping bowl of warm is perhaps my favorite thing about the colder months and meals featuring this side (or a side very like it) sustain me through the cold and the dark like none other.

Try it: under a moroccan tomato ragu with sausage and a fried egg, as a base for a nice thick meaty traditional-style tomato sauce, under some firey shrimp & bacon in place of grits, as a sturdy starchy side for a steak, with a bright gremolata & crunchy almonds, as the “anchor” for a topping of crisped veggies, or pretty much anywhere else you need something substantial to make up a meal.

Butternut Squash Mash (paleo, whole30)

1 lb. butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1.5-inch pieces
Good quality stock (vegetable, chicken or turkey)
1 Tbsp. grass fed butter (or vegan butter substitute)
1 tsp. ras el hanout (optional)
Kosher salt & black pepper – to taste

Place your peeled butternut squash into a medium pot and add enough stock to cover by an inch or so. Bring to a boil over high heat. Drop the heat and simmer 10-15 minutes or until tender.

Drain, reserving half a cup or so of the cooking liquid. Add the drained squash to a large bowl, along with the butter, 2 tsp. salt, a few twists pepper and ras el hanout (if using). Mash, adding splashes of stock, until the mixture is smooth and almost soupy. Re-taste and add salt & pepper as needed.

Serves 2-3 as the main anchor of a dish.

My Fall Addiction – Pumpkin Spice Latte (paleo)

September 28, 2013October 24, 2013Life3 Comments

It’s fall, and here in NYC the mercury is finally sort of starting to agree with that statement. Not that I’m complaining about the lack of brisk coolness (much), since I’m dreading winter, but fall is my favorite season. No more blazing hot sweat fests! Boots! Jackets! Cute Scarves! Not freezing to death!

And with all of that comes my love and my nemesis … the pumpkin spice latte. I have a seriously love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with the mermaid coffee shop. Their coffee on its own sucks. It’s bitter and burnt and undrinkable without a metric ton of sugar and other fillers, and that’s just no good and not what I desire to be putting into my body. But … they’re everywhere. And they have pumpkin. And the pumpkin. Lucky/not lucky for me, they have never made a “skinny” sugar-free version of the syrup they use & the sugar content of their full fat/sugared coffees makes me sick, so for the last few years I’ve limited my consumption drastically.

This home made version, I’m happy to say, is tasty. Really tasty. I’m still working on the sweet ratio – for me, 1 tsp. of maple syrup is a bit too sweet — I may drop it completely from subsequent batches — but it is solidly good. And it has a vegetable in it, so score there.

For my inaugural run, the version in the picture, I used Earl Grey tea as the base – mostly because I was too lazy to grind coffee. Feel free to use coffee instead. 🙂 The amounts of tea to coconut is also scaled to fit my tea container, which I think is 12 ounces.

Pumpkin Spice Latte (paleo)

1 1/4 cup brewed Earl Grey tea
1/2 cup coconut milk
1.5 Tbsp. canned 100% pumpkin
1 tsp. 100% Maple syrup
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (equal parts cinnamon, ginger, allspice & nutmeg)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Brew the tea. While the tea is steeping, heat the coconut milk + all other ingredients in a small pan until just bubbling, whisking to combine fully.

Combine the brewed tea with the milky mixture and go to town. If you’re looking for a fancier drink, top with whipped cream and extra grated nutmeg. I drink all hot beverages out of a travel mug (sippy cup for grownups – don’t let me fool you; that pretty latte in the picture went right into the mug), so whipped cream is a no-go. But, were I having company similarly obsessed with pumpkin, whipped cream would not only be a go, but a necessity.

Serves 1

Roasted Beet and Avocado Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette (paleo, Whole30)

September 22, 2013December 29, 2014Life, RecipesLeave a Comment

Reformed beet-hater now occasionally craves the color and majesty that is a perfectly roasted beet every once in awhile. When I have those days, I’m happy someone in the health food biz decided to offer pre-roasted beets for sale at Whole Foods.

The recipe is written with a single lunch serving in mind. Feel free to scale up to feed your desired number.

Roasted Beet and Avocado Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette (paleo, Whole30)

1 small roasted beet (I took the lazy way out here and bought some pre-roasted beets)
1/2 avocado
1 Tbsp. slivered almonds
3-4 ounces leftover rotisserie chicken (optional but delicious)
1/2 grapefruit
Citrus salt (or other flaky finishing salt)

Grapefruit Vinaigrette

2 Tbsp. almond oil (or other neutral oil like grapeseed)
1 tsp. grainy mustard
1/2 tsp. organic apple cider vinegar (Braggs ftw)
1 big squirt grapefruit juice

Slice your beets wafer thin, shred the chicken, slice the avocado thin, and toast the almonds in a dry pan until lightly brown. Supreme the grapefruit.

Either add all to a bowl or lay out pretty for a composed salad. Both are equally tasty.

Whisk all vinaigrette ingredients and pour over the top. Finish with some tasty salt and eat.

Serves 1 for lunch, but can easily be scaled up to feed more.

Steak with Shaved Asparagus Salad (paleo)

September 15, 2013October 24, 2013Life, RecipesLeave a Comment

Some nights it’s good to be in the house alone. I’d been seeing talk of shaved asparagus on the interwebs for weeks and developed a hankering. Turns out, raw asparagus makes a tasty salad. A finicky, fussy, tasty salad.

This dish serves one, but can be easily scaled up to serve two. The salad could actually possibly serve two as it stands if you’re having something other than just steak and asparagus, but I happily ate it all in one go.

Steak with Shaved Asparagus Salad (paleo)

1 tsp. grainy mustard
1 tsp. wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. almond oil (or other neutral oil like grapeseed)
Big pinch citrus salt
12 oz. asparagus
Nice thick steak
1 tsp. coconut oil
Your favorite steak seasoning
Aged balsamic vinegar

First, prep your asparagus by snapping off the woody stems. Now shave. I’ve found the best way to do this with my particular vegetable peeler is to hold the tip and kind of balance the asparagus over something – like the jar of grainy mustard – and carefully go to town. I was left with a bunch of tips + some thicker pieces I couldn’t shave down enough and a few broken stalks from overzealous peeling. Save those rejects for a frittata. Add your asparagus curls to a medium bowl.

In a separate bowl, make the vinaigrette by whisking the mustard, wine vinegar and oil to form an emulsion. Hit with a big pinch of citrus salt and set aside.

On to the steak. Heat the coconut oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. While that is going, pat your steak dry and season with your favorite steak seasoning + salt if it doesn’t already incorporate it. Cook your steak until the desired doneness is reached. I had a 1/2 inch thick strip steak and like my steak rare, so I cooked 4 minutes on 1 side, flipped, and cooked an additional 3 minutes on the other. Remove the steak to rest 5 minutes and cut the heat. Chuck in your asparagus tips and let soften and cook using the residual heat in the pan.

To serve, give the vinaigrette another whisk and toss with the asparagus. Drizzle with some nice aged balsamic for a little extra kick.

Serves 1, with a large portion of the salad.

Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boats (paleo, whole30)

September 7, 2013December 29, 2014Life, Recipes6 Comments

Yum. This recipe took care of my burgeoning buffalo chicken craving handily, and in a healthy manner. This recipe feeds 1 for dinner but can easily be scaled up to feed your number of choice.

A little note about the zucchini: The cooking method in the recipe below yields just slightly cooked zucchini with some crunch left to it. If you want your squash softer, blind broil before stuffing and broil some more after adding the filling.

Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boats (paleo, whole30)

1 large zucchini
2 small carrots
1 rib celery
1 tsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1 breast leftover cooked chicken
2 Tbsp. aioli
2 tsp. Louisiana (or other) hot sauce
1 scallion

Put your oven to broil on high.

Halve the zucchini and scoop out the middles with a spoon. If you want softer zucchini, blind broil now for a few minutes while everything else cooks.

Dice 2 small carrots & 1 rib celery (you’re looking for about 1/4 to 1/3 cup filling per zucchini, depending upon the size of your squash).

Sautee the diced veggies and zucchini guts if you want over medium in coconut oil until softened; adding the garlic powder, salt & pepper about half way through.

Chop the chicken finely. Add to a medium bowl with the aioli and veggies once they’re done. Add the hot sauce and stir to combine.

Pile the mixture into your two hollowed out zucchini halves and broil 5-7 minutes until browned.

Top with sliced scallions and avocado crema if you’re feeling fancy and you have some. I did not.

Serves 1 for dinner.

Whole30 – Recap

September 1, 2013December 30, 2014Life, Whole305 Comments

Whole 30 Recap

What I learned

Eating out while doing Whole30 isn’t as all-fired scary as I thought it was going to be. It can be done and well. It might take a little planning – menu researching and avoiding places where it would be hard (but still not impossible) to control yourself (like Mexican restaurants) – but it isn’t that much more effort than finding a restaurant to eat at in the first place. And you don’t even have to eat joyless dry salads with questionable lettuce or teeny tiny little appetizers that will never fill you up and cost 97 bigillion dollars each like I was afraid.

Whole30 itself wasn’t as much of a burden as I had anticipated, either. Sure, I occasionally missed an adult beverage with a meal out and the biological corn imperative occasionally caught me in its fevered grip, but things really weren’t that bad. Not near as much whining about the lack of booze/corn/ice cream in my life as I had thought there would be. And lots of good food. Score!

Results

I’m hesitant to post results here, since your mileage will definitely vary; but here they are.

Weight: Down a good sustainable 2 pounds, fluctuating to 3 or even 4 every few days.

BMI: Down a full point, point and a half.

This might not sound like huge losses; but they’re good for one month and solid, sustainable losses. And better than numbers on a scale, I feel stronger this month – and I *feel* like I’ve lost mass in places where I want to lose mass. It also now looks like changes happen in my arm when I flex my biceps. I’m not up to having guns yet, but I see some definite movement there. Way to go, me.

The reduced BMI and scale number results I got were not achieved in a vacuum. I work out 5-6 days a week for 10-30 minutes a day (I’m on Week 6 of the Warrior 90 program from HasFit) and I wouldn’t have achieved any good results at all without diligence. Before this crazybananas business, I had hit a few month long plateau — my food was decent except for the aforementioned adult beverages + few “splurge” non-paleo items I allowed myself per weekend and I was working out four times a week (power/active yoga twice and cardio/strength training twice – both for half an hour each). But the scale and the tape measure weren’t budging (I’m down 4-6 pounds since starting my new workout routine) and I was starting to lose enthusiasm for the rut I was in. I’m happy to report that with the new workout regime and diet clean up, that I officially broke through my plateau and am doing the happy dance on the other side.

Takeaway

I went into this experiment thinking I didn’t really have that much to gain. I broke my carb addiction months ago, and never really had a sugar monkey on my back. I’m happy to report that I *did* get a lot out of this experiment. I learned just how damn much sugar and other undesirables sneak into food at every opportunity and how to be more mindful of what is actually going into my body. It’s another tool (aside from paleo) I can use to ensure my body is getting nutritious food without a lot of junk on the side.

The Food – What I Ate

The Recipes

A collection of recipes I posted during the month that are not only Whole30-compliant, but damn tasty as well.

30 Minute Meatballs & Red Sauce (paleo, Whole30)

August 31, 2013December 29, 2014Life, Recipes1 Comment

What?! Meatballs in marinara sauce in under 30 minutes? Blasphemy! Well, I’m here to tell you it can be done. It won’t be a leisurely 30 minutes puttering around the kitchen, but it can totally be done if you have a craving and not much time to satisfy it.

30 Minute Meatballs & Red Sauce (paleo, Whole30)

Quickie Tomato Sauce

1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1/4 onion
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. granulated garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. + water
1 Tbsp. grass fed butter

In a medium pan over medium heat, add the tomato paste and stir to break it up some. While the pan comes up to temperature, slice the onions wafer thin and halve the cherry tomatoes, dropping each into the pan and stirring as ready. When the paste starts to sizzle (a little scorching here is ok), add the water and spices. Stir to combine, drop the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently and adding water when things get too dry (I ended up adding two batches of 1/4 cup each) about 20 minutes. Add the butter and stir to distribute.

This would be fantastic with wine, but since wine is a Whole30 no-no, I had to forego. If you are using wine, sub in 1/4 c. for half the water in the first addition.

Quickie Meatballs

1/2 lb. grass fed ground beef
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley and basil – the ratio is up to you
1-2 cloves garlic
1 egg (optional)
Salt & pepper

While your sauce is doing its thing and trying to burn (seriously. stir frequently or you will end up with a hot mess), address the meatballs. Break off about a third of the meat and get into a medium pan. Brown, breaking into small bits as you go. Add to a bowl with the rest of the beef, the herbs & garlic which you’ve chopped, salt and pepper. You might want to add an egg, too. I didn’t and my balls were fine; but could have been less dense with an egg. The browned meat helps alleviate some of the denseness as well. Don’t forget to salt & pepper. Form into 6 balls and sautee over medium heat until browned on all sides.

And there you have it – a long lunch/quick dinner meal that’s satisfying, meaty and hits (at least for me) the right ‘comfort’ spot. And obsession button. I got addicted to ‘red gravy’ this past winter and have never looked back. To be fair, my talented DH started this addiction years ago with his spaghetti, but since I don’t eat pasta any more, I’ve been eating meatballs & sauce like they’re going out of style.

Serves 1 for lunch with enough sauce left over for ‘pizza burgers’ the next day.

Whole30 – Day 30

August 30, 2013December 30, 2014Life, Whole30Leave a Comment

Aah. The last day of Whole30 is here. And what do I do? Skip dinner & have a jacked-up breakfast.

Breakfast

The smoothie this morning was a disaster – the avocados were too hard to use, so the DH tried swapping for coconut oil (which kinda worked once before, I think when banana was involved) – gross. Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross. I got about 3 sips in and couldn’t take it any more. Tasted like vegetable vomit.

Had 1 ounce sea salt dusted almonds instead at about 11:30 when I couldn’t deal with being starving any more.

Lunch

Heirloom tomatoes + Saturn peaches + chicken breast + scallion + macadamia nuts with a Whole 30 sriracha/lime juice/organic apple cider vinegar dressing. Fresh, delicious, really quick and light feeling.

But I was starving again about 10 minutes after eating.

30 minutes after that, magically not hungry.

Dinner