Monthly Archives: February 2014

Gluten free zucchini-chocolate chip muffins

breakfast, gluten-free, recipes

My son loves muffins but seems to detest zucchini so I like to hide it in mini muffins. I just add a few chocolate chips and he doesn’t even know the zucchini is there.  These are quick to make for an easy snack. I love the combination of buckwheat for flavor and brown rice for lightness. I always keep ground flax seed on hand in the fridge so if I run out of eggs, I can always substitute.

Gluten free zucchini-chocolate chip muffins
 
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Recipe type: Gluten free zucchini chocolate chip muffins
Cuisine: breakfast snack
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup buckwheat flour
  • ¾ cup brown rice flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 apple sauce packet
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 egg beaten or (2 TBLS ground flax to 6 TBLS warm water)
  • ½ cup vegetable oil or coconut oil
  • 1 TBLS lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup shredded zucchini
  • ¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • ¼ cup chopped walnuts or slice almonds
Instructions
  1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
  2. Combine egg, oil, milk,lemon juice and vanilla. Mix well
  3. Stir into dry ingredients adding chocolate chips and zucchini
  4. Fill greased mini muffin tin or regular tins to make 12 or 36 mini muffins
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes depending on which tin.

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Caribbean squash soup

candida, dinner, gluten-free, recipes, Uncategorized

This soup is so delicious and nutty. I love to make it on a snowy winter day and spice it up with some caribbean hot sauce.

Caribbean squash soup
 
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Recipe type: Squash soup
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 roasted acorn squash
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 2 chopped onions
  • 2-3 bay leaves
  • ½ teaspoon celery seeds
  • 2 fresh chopped fresh tomatoes
  • 5 cups kitchen basics chicken stock ( or vegetable stock)
  • ⅓ cup dry white wine
  • 1 TBLS honey
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
  1. Cut squash in half and roast at 400 degrees until soft in the center. Let cool
  2. Throw chopped onions,garlic and tomato in a pot
  3. Scoop out squash and add to pot
  4. Add box of chicken stock
  5. Add wine, cinnamon,honey and salt and pepper
  6. Simmer for at least 30 minutes until onions are soft
  7. Remove bay leaves and use hand stick blender to puree all ingredients
  8. Add cream and a dash of carribean hot sauce just before serving.
  9. Delicious!

hotsauce

You’ve got to get the West Indian Hot sauce..it really makes the soup! enjoy.

 

Natural face powder blush

Natural makeup,

I looked around the internet for making blush and discovered I had everything in my cupboard for this simple mix.  I have an olive toned skin and found this color was very nice and smooth. I don’t have beetroot powder at home at the moment but I’ll be adding that next to my blush for that rosy glow.

Natural face powder blush
 
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Recipe type: Natural makeup
Ingredients
  • 2 tsp arrowroot powder
  • 1 TBLS coco powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
  1. I mixed all these ingredients in a jar and apply with a makeup brush

 

Lemon roast chicken

dinner, gluten-free, recipes

For years, I didn’t seem to understand how to keep the chicken moist while baking. Fortunately, my intelligent husband showed me that stuffing the chicken with lemons keeps the meat moist and delicious everytime. It’s easy , fast and works everytime. Of course, the secret to great tasting chicken is buying an organic, hormone antibiotic chicken that is vegetarian fed. There is such great flavor in these  little chickens, I can even roast the carcass up and make great tasting stock for soup the next day.
First rinse and pat dry chicken. Cut up 2 lemons into quarter and stuff chicken. If you have fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme, you can stuff that in the chicken cavity as well. Next, cover the  body in olive oil, salt and pepper and paprika if you have it. I particularly like smoked paprika as it has a great flavor and helps to make the skin a beautiful golden brown.

chickenchicken3

In a preheated oven of 425 degrees, I place the chicken in the center rack and leave in for 1 1/2 hours. The timing seems to be about the same as these little roasters aren’t that large. If you want to be sure the chicken is cooked, try pulling the leg away a little and poke to see if the juices run clear. I like to heat up 2 cups of the kitchen basics chicken stock in a pot with a little brown rice flour to thicken it. When the chicken is out of the oven, you can pour the remaining juices from the chicken into the stock and you’ll have great gravy. Add a little salt to taste. This time I served it with roast potato fries and green beans with a beautiful homemade garlic mayonnaise. These recipes will be listed soon.

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http://handmadehealth.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/roastchicken2.jpgLemon roast chicken
 
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Recipe type: dinner
Cuisine: chicken
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 hormone free fryer or roast chicken..serves 2-4 people
  • 2 lemons
  • Sprig of rosemary
  • salt and pepper
  • smoked paprika
  • kitchen basics chicken stock
  • brown rice flour
Instructions
  1. Wash and pat chicken dry
  2. Remove any innards and stuff chicken cavity with quartered lemons and fresh herbs
  3. Cover outer chicken with olive oil, rock salt and ground pepper and smoked paprika
  4. Place in middle oven rack and bake for 1½ hours
  5. Pour 2 cups chicken stock in pot
  6. add 2 TBLS brown rice flour to thicken stock
  7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Remove chicken from oven and drain juices into gravy pot
  9. Carve and add gravy

 

Kimchee inspired sauerkraut

gluten-free, recipes

After reading about the amazing health properties of fermented cabbage, I looked to Kimchee for inspiration. I have to admit I’m not a big fan of any soya sauces or fish sauces so I omitted the fishy taste and still got the kick of the hot chilies. Traditionally, you’re supposed to use korean chili powder but I found using chili flakes just as satisfying. This really is easy to make once you have a big jar to make it in. I went to super store and found a large jar with a rubber seal lid for about $10 that seems to be just the right size for one smaller savoy cabbage.

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The traditional recipes call for radishes but I discovered firm pears have a similar quality in texture and also add a little sweetness. The first thing you have to do is cut up the cabbage in rough chunks and salt it with water. It has to be fully submerged in the water for the salt to really soak in. I left my cabbage soaking for a bout 2 hours before I rinsed it off.

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I used a plate to weigh down the cabbage. Most recipes say to use unchorinated water but I found mine worked with tap water..it just took a little longer.

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Once rinsed, I added 4 TBLS of red chili flakes, 2 sliced pears and grated ginger. They suggest using gloves to mix it up but I’m brave and got in there with my hands(just don’t rub your eyes!) Once mixed, I stuffed it as tightly into the jar as possible leaving about 1/2 inch of airspace at the top. I added water pushing it all down until it was all submerged in water.

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I sealed the jar, put a plate under it and everyday used a clean finger to push down the cabbage. This helps the cabbage to ferment. You’ll notice some action on about day 3. Some people seem to have sauerkraut in less than a week but I found it took almost 2 weeks in my cold house for the cabbage to acquire that lovely sour taste.

Kimchee inspired sauerkraut
 
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Kimchee inspired sauerkraut
Cuisine: fermented
Ingredients
  • 1 small savoy or chinese cabbage(bok choi)
  • 2 TBLS grated ginger
  • 4 TBLS chili flakes if you like it hot
  • ¼ cup sea salt(don't used iodized)
  • 2 firm pears
Instructions
  1. Roughly chop cabbage and put in a large bowl
  2. Sprinkle with salt and fill until covered with water
  3. Cover with a plate and let soak 2 hours
  4. Rinse cabbage and add chili flakes, sliced pears and grated ginger
  5. Mix well and stuff tightly into jar
  6. Add extra water until all cabbage submerged
  7. Leave ½ " space at top to allow gases to escape
  8. Leave on counter up to 2 weeks until acquired taste.
  9. Refrigerate and eat with everything