Ingredients:

two bars of (dairy/soy free) chocolate (I used the dark chocolate truffle bars from Trader Joe’s but Theos is another good safe brand).

1/4 cup coconut oil

One cup creamy (natural) peanut butter

1/4 cup powdered sugar (or you could use three Tbs. honey)

3Tbs milk (more to get desired consistency) I used coconut cream instead, but any milk or milk sub would work

Directions:

In a double broiler melt cut up chocolate with coconut oil.

Fill mini muffin tins half way with chocolate mixture.

Mix together PB, Sugar (or honey), milk.

Drop small spoon fulls into the chocolate in the muffin tin.

Top with more chocolate.

Chill for at least two hours (freezer works too)

Enjoy!

(Recipe from our Acme box)

salmon, fingerling potatoes, sunflower sprouts, bread crumbs, olive oil, lemon, honey mustard, garlic, S&P

Preheat oven to 400. Remove skin from salmon, cut into 1/2″-3/4″ sticks. Beat one egg in a shallow bowl with Salt and Pepper. Fill another bowl with bread crumbs (we have had GREAT luck using ground up corn tortilla chips to make this a GF meal! Just omit the salt from your egg mixture). Dip each fish stick into the egg and then breading. Place on foil or parchment (best luck with parchment at our house). Slice the fingerlings length wise into 1/4″ planks. Toss with olive oil S&P and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Bake both fish and fries  at 400 till crisp (about 20-25min).

Top with Sunflower sprouts (also good with arugala, or kale!) and if you would like a quick DF caesar to top it with (and, you do! yum!)….

Pulse in your blender – two (I do three! for health!) whole garlic cloves, the juice from half a lemon, a Tbs. honey mustard. Then pour in 1/4-1/2C Olive oil and some salt. It becomes creamy and just perfect Faux Caesar.

Enjoy!

Last week was the first week of eating all dairy/soy/gluten free. I sat down and poured over two trusty recipe books, highlighted the dinners that seemed the most doable, not outside of our comfort zone, affordable. And it was a roaring success.

I want to share this Coconut Curry Veggie recipe for two reasons- one? It is so tasty. Warm, comforting, filling, healthy, and super delish. And two? It came together in about half an hour/less. And if there is one huge shift with this lifestyle of eating, it is the Prep Time component. I go to bed each night (mostly) with dinner for the following day already being prepped. Whether that means beans are soaking, or meat is thawing, the convenience foods are gone, so prep is the name of the game. But, this meal is a zero night before/morning of prep. Just throw it together in your pot and you are set. I served it over red quinoa, the suggestion was over rice but we prefer quinoa. But, in all honesty, this soup could stand alone no problem. It was so tasty and even the littlest got in on the action and was eating the veggies as quickly as we could lay them down for her!

 Whole Life Nutrition- Coconut Vegetable Curry with chickpeas

Serves Four;

2 T coconut oil or olive oil

1 T finely chopped fresh ginger

1.5 t cumin seeds (I used ground cumin)

1 t black mustard seeds (I omitted these but I am sure it would be even better with them)

3 small red potatoes cubed

3 medium carrots diced

.5 t turmeric

2 t coriander

1 T curry powder

1 T tomato paste

1 can coconut milk

1/4-1/2 cup water

2 small zucchini diced

1 cup frozen peas

2 cups cooked chickpeas

2 t sea salt

1/2 cup cilantro

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add ginger, cumin seeds, and black mustard seeds; cook for 1-2 min, or until the seeds begin to “pop”.

2. Add potatoes, carrots, turmeric, coriander, and curry powder. Stir well and continue to cook for another minute or so. Add the tomato paste, coconut milk, water; stir well.

3. Simmer, covered, for 5-10min until potatoes and carrots are almost done, but still a little crisp (this took a little longer for us, closer to 20min). Add zucchini, peas, chickpeas, sea salt; cover the pot and simmer till veggies are tender, about another 6-7min. Remove from eat and stir in chopped cilantro.

These cookies are big milk boosters, thanks to the brewers yeast, oats, and flax seed. They promote lactation, are nourishing and filling, make for a great snack or (I do this often) a really awesome breakfast. I am eating these like it is going out of style, and Charlie has eaten so many I think he will take over the night feedings soon!

I have a more typical recipe, but have evolved it into this one- Diary Free, Egg Free, Soy Free, and gluten Free.

Lactation (milk) Cookies

One cup melted coconut oil
2tbs chia seeds with four tbs hot water (this could also be substituted with two eggs if you don’t need to be egg free)
2tbs flax meal with 2tbs hot water
One cup brown sugar
One cup oat flour (I just ground up my own rolled oats in a coffee grinder)
One cup garbanzo bean flour (or any other gluten free flour, or you can use regular flour)
2 heaping tsp brewers yeast
1heaping tsp baking soda
3 cups thick rolled oats
One bar of theos chocolate chopped up 

Mix wet together then add to dry, stir in oats and chocolate and form into balls or grease and press into a pan. Bake at 350

Then, try not eat them all up!

Happy Milk Making!

So, these are shortcut  muffins to the umpteenth. Pumpkin Gingerbread is a fabulous combo and not too horrible for you or crazy sugar loaded. This morning Nolie asked to make muffins and I just didn’t have it in me to do the whole shebang. So instead we just mixed up some tasty stuff we had and it came out SO great! They aren’t pretty but they are super moist and tasty. Just enough sweet and spicy to be a perfect holiday treat.

One box of gingerbread mix

one can of pumpkin

1/3 cup melted coconut oil.

Bake at 350 for 25min. They would be incredible topped with cinnamon whipped cream too!

Ever is sick, and that means lame-o for Nolie. We are stuck staying at home, bouncing a baby and not much else. So today Nolie and I made a little treat together. This is healthy enough to have for lunch (less sugar and crap than a PB&J!) and festive! Nolie is really into talking about seasons, seasons changing, leaves blowing, and holidays (she is my girl, through and through). Nolie is also pretty picky, but the more involved she is with the making/baking of our meals the more likely she is to try them. We made these to celebrate the blustery day, the end of Halloween (so we roasted her pumpkin!) and made a few Thanksfulness cards and talked about Thanksgiving (and her birthday!) coming soon.

So this tasty treat was born, with input from the littlest baker.

Pumpkin Roll (Nolie named it!)

One sugar (or tiny pie) pumpkin, roasted with one Tablespoon coconut oil and lots of cinnamon.

One egg

One Tbs. eggnog (or heavy cream!)

1/2Tbs honey

1/2 cup coconut cream (we buy ours at Trader Joe’s)

lots of cinnamon!

Puree all ingredients till smooth, bake in ramekins (we split it between two and shared it during Ever’s nap), at 350 for 35-40 min.

Toddler Approved!

Eating in season is one of the best ways to save. We were gifted an acorn squash and some onions recently and out of those two ingredients the best soup ever was born. I am writing this down for our own sake, I want to recreate this again and again (and again!).

Enjoy.

One acorn squash

1t curry powder

1t cinnamon

4 whole garlic cloves

1t salt

1T coconut oil

{roast all above ingredients at 350 till tender and scoopable)

saute one small yellow onion in coconut oil in the bottom of a soup pot  

add in scooped squash and garlic

three T butter

2 cups milk

bring all ingredients to a simmer, then use an immersion blender to puree (or blender)

Serve with biscuits, black pepper and (important!) a drizzle of honey.

I am always on the hunt for filling, cheap and family friendly meals. This one is perfect and will even work well once Ever is eating food; this lentil mash would be a perfect early food!

Crockpot Lentils 

3/4 cup red lentils

one can whole black beans

half cup green salsa (or to taste, however much you want. We use the TJ’s Salsa Verde.)

2 cups water

Cook for a 2-3ish hours on low.

Fill corn tortillas with lentils, top with feta and pico de gallo. YUM and super filling!

Apple Strawberry Crisp

three apples sliced thin, skins on

big handful of strawberries

one cup oats mixed with two tbs butter and a heavy handed shake of cinnamon

bake at 350 25-30min

top with fresh whipped cream and a little honey (if you like it sweeter)

Our strawberry plants have been working over time! Each week we have had a pretty significant haul – enough for this crisp and some fresh berries with cream for breakfast this morning. And the apples were picked from a neighbors tree on a walk tonight (sanctioned, of course. I always wonder about that. . . is it ok to pick a few plums from a tree on a walk with out permission? people with fruit trees, weigh in!)  and immediately plopped into this crisp!