Since I love any soup that includes butternut squash, I wanted to try Joe’s recipe from the Winter Soups: Community Cookbook. Joe has an awesome site at the Wellness Punks that I highly recommend you check out. I’m really looking forward to catching up on his youTube channel. Most people don’t know this about me, but I love watching youTube especially for cooking and makeup tutorials. It’s also a great resource for health related lectures and interviews with health living authors. So, I’m happy to have some new material to watch. I’ve altered his recipe a little to be dairy free, since I have an allergy and I used bagged butternut squash that was already chopped so it would be less effort on my arms. Then I reduced the amount of ingredients to fit in my dutch oven.
1 package of nitrate, gluten, and casein free bacon
1 medium white onion
4 bags of butternut squash (1⅔ cups)
2 medium parsnips
4 cups of water
2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
1 chopped granny smith apple
1 tsp of sea salt
½ cup of coconut milk (I like Native Forest organic and unsweetened)
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp of ground cardamom
½ tsp of paprika (I used hungarian sweet paprika since that was what I had in my pantry)
¼ tsp of cayenne pepper
Instructions
Dice and saute bacon until crunchy in a large dutch oven. No oil needed bacon has saturated fat which is great for cooking. Remove bacon bits from pan.
Chop onion and carmelize in bacon grease.
In same pot add butternut squash, parsnips, garlic, apple, sea salt, coconut milk, and water. Water should just cover ingredients in pot.
Then add ginger, cardamon and paprika.
Bring pot to a boil, and let ingredients soften.
Add spices but remember to go slowly and start small, you can always add more and this soup has a nice kick, or you can wait until after blending to add in spices so you can monitor them by taste testing.
Then use an immersion blender or transfer to blender in batches.
Then garnish with bacon bits.
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For more delicious soups and awesome blogs check out:
I’m so excited to offer you an ebook I contributed to! I submitted my Paleo Asian-Italian “Abondigas” Soup recipe, which happens to be one my fiance’s favorite recipes. 51 other health food bloggers also contributed their soup recipe with information on their blog so that you can find even more great recipes and health information.
This cookbook emphases cooking real food from scratch with 45+ gluten free recipes, 25+ are GAPS friendly, 30+ dairy free, and 32 are paleo friendly. It comes in pdf form so you can easily be read on most devices and checkout is through ejunkie which uses paypal. Links to blogs and social media are active and will immediately send you to that site after you click the link. This makes this ebook a very efficient directory of health food bloggers that you can easily reference. Personally, I’m cannot wait to explore everyone’s site!
Original Price: $9.97
$3.97 until February 4th
I posted the table of contents so you can get an idea of how delicious it can be to eat healthy:
My fiance loves almond cake. Whenever we go to Rainbow Acres, which is a local health food store, he gets their almond cake. So when I got those cute little mini bundt cake molds, I wanted to experiment with some almond flour baking in my new food processor. Normally for my muffins, I use less sugar since they are a breakfast food. Since this was a cake recipe, I decided to be generous with the amount of coconut sugar I added. I wouldn’t consider this a health food, but a healthier alternative to store bought dessert.
Dairy and Grain Free Almond Cake with Coconut Sugar
I got this turkey leg over the holidays when I went to my mom’s regular farmer’s market. My farmer’s market only carries whole chickens and beef, so I was really excited to cook something different. We froze it along with another leg and two packs of chicken livers, then put it into a beach bag and my fiance carried it onto the airplane. Thank you Shameer! The turkey legs stayed frozen and kept everything cold as well.
When I went to cook the turkey leg, it didn’t fit in my slow cooker or dutch oven so my recipe would be much different if I had large stockpot and roasting pan. Since I don’t have these kitchen tools, what I did was a bit messy and complicated. Luckily, it still tasted delicious, even when my carrots turned the broth purple.
Turkey Leg Soup with “Cosmic Purple” Heirloom Carrots
Roast turkey leg on a cookie sheet that's been greased with coconut oil.
Pat top dry so skin get cripsy and season with sea salt and black pepper.
Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for about an hour.
Remove carefully from oven, there is lots of oil and juice in pan.
Let cool until safe to handle.
Then chop off as much as you can and add it to the pot. Keep the chopped pieces large, we take them out and shred later. Discard bones that will not fit in pot.
In a pot add turkey parts including skin and bones. Add water, and unchopped parsley and unchopped onion, sea salt and black pepper to pot.
Let it simmer for a couple hours. The longer the better.
When ready to serve, fish out skin and bones and discard. Shred meat and set aside. Fish out mushy parsley and onion, and discard.
To the turkey stock, add meat back in with chopped carrots.
I don't like mushy vegetables, so I let carrots simmer for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. (Broth will turn purple from cosmic purple heirloom carrots)
I was crazy excited when I received Cooking with Coconut Oil by Elizabeth Nyland. Not only am I a big fan of her blog guiltykitchen.com, but I’m in love with my new food processor from Cuisinart, so when I discovered you could make your own mayo in the food processor with healthy fats, I had to test her recipe. And it worked!!!
I haven’t had mayo in a long time, but I used to love a little bit in tuna salads when I made it for myself back in high school. In retrospect, that’s one of the first things I learned to make for myself. Anyway, I don’t consider myself a connoisseur of mayo. But I am one of fats, and this recipe combines eggs yolks, coconut oil, and extra virgin olive oil which are all amazing for your health. The recipe was really easy to follow too, and can easily be adjusted to suit your tastes or make flavored aioli. This recipe did use the juice of one whole lemon, which is great if you are eating it with seafood, but it could be too strong for some people. I don’t see why you can’t reduce or eliminate the lemon juice if needed.
2 tsp Dijon mustard (I used Cadia, which is organic, gluten free, and non gmo)
Juice of 1 lemon
½ tsp sea salt
½ cup of coconut oil, melted
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
In the jar of a blender or bowl of a food processor, combine the yolks, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and sea salt until smooth.
With the motor running at medium speed, begin to pour the melted coconut oil into the blender or processor in a very fine stream. You will almost be dripping the oil in. It should take a good 5 minutes to emulsify all the coconut oil. When you've finished with the coconut oil, continue the same process with the olive oil. Don't be tempted to pour the oil faster, or risk breaking your mayonnaise.
Once all the oil has been combined with the other ingredients, pour into a jar and store in the refrigerator.
I’m not the biggest fan of New Year’s Resolutions, as I’m always trying to improve my healthy lifestyle. But it is a good time for reflection on what we did right, and what we slacked in this year.
On a positive note, I’m really happy with my diet. I’m maintaining a healthy diet without losing weight, which means it’s sustainable. Most people view dieting as temporary deprivation, which is, why they yo-yo instead of looking for a long-term solution. I eat mostly paleo, although I do occasionally have small amounts of rice. I eat a lot of fat, and try to stay away from sugary food. Although, I do indulge on desserts on occasion, which I make or get from health food stores. My hair and nails are strong and grow like crazy, my skin loves it when I eliminate sugar, and dinners are more satisfying so I’m less likely to eat dessert. This past year I’ve tried raw vegan, vegan, gluten and nightshade free, and gluten and dairy free diets. I still avoid gluten and dairy, especially diary as I get flu-like symptoms from it.
On the down side, I’m not good at maintaining my exercise routines. I used to play soccer before I injured myself in a women’s league in Pasadena, and enjoy the structure of being on team. With my neuropathy, I prefer not to risk contact sports, as the last thing I need is an injury. I also have to be very careful when I do my physical therapy approved exercise routines so they don’t aggravate my arms. This makes for a very boring time at the gym, if that’s even possible. I don’t even have the added motivation to lose weight since my diet makes that unnecessary. So, I need to motivate myself properly this year, so that I will suck it up and get my ass to the gym. I found this cool image on pinterest (sorry the link was dead) that I’ve been meaning to try with this caption, “Workout tip jar. After each workout, tip yourself $1. After 100 workouts, treat yourself to new shoes or clothes or massage…” So hopefully the thought of going shopping this year will bring me to the gym. Cute jewelry that I definitely don’t need, here I come! No practical items, it decreases the motivation. This is supposed to exclusively be a reward.
I would love to hear what everyone is doing for the New Year. Feel free to leave a comment. Best of luck this year! Remember if you break your resolution, don’t quit, just do better tomorrow. We all have good and bad days.
