Homemade Salsa

Finding a store bought salsa can be so frustrating when you are trying to find one without sugar and strange, hard to pronounce ingredients.  It is salsa for goodness sake!  Salsa should be made from simple ingredients.  Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands and do it yourself.  The added benefit to this "do it yourself" method is the wonderful aroma that will fill your house. 

Homemade Salsa
written by Rebecca Lane

Ingredients:

• 3 14 oz cans Organic Diced Tomatoes
• 1 Medium Onion; diced
• 5 Cloves Garlic; whole
• 2 Cayenne Peppers OR 4 Jalapeno Peppers; tops cut off
• 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 TBSP Honey
• 1 heaping TBSP Sea Salt

Here's what ya do:

1. Puree all ingredients in a food processor or blender until it reaches your preferred texture.
2. Pour salsa into a large skillet or stock pot and boil over a medium-high heat for 45 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. Store in a mason jar in the refrigerator.

Almond Flour Biscuits

    These biscuits came about when I ran across an old recipe that I had for a spicy chicken thigh on a biscuit (you will be able to find that recipe in a link below).  I keep telling myself that I need to lay off the almond flour in my recipes but then I turn around and find a way or a need to keep it coming.  I actually went out and bought a handy dandy coffee grinder and made my own almond flour for the first time this past week.  Sadly, I was shocked when I saw it takes about 90 almonds to make 1 cup of flour. Experts recommend that we eat somewhere between 7 - 10 raw almonds a day.  My friends and family all know that I am no where near a mathematician, but even I know that the math just doesn't work out in our favor for this one.
   Since I am a weight loss journey as well as an all around "get your whole self healthy" journey I will have to use this new found information and cut out the baking for a few months.  What a horribly sad realization to come to right?  I've already dealt with the realization that gluten-containing grains, legumes, sugar and laboratory-concocted junk foods cause systemic inflammation which wreck our guts and derails our natural metabolic process.  I can deal with the fact that eating almond flour everyday, while it won't cause havoc to my guts, will not allow me to lose weight as quickly as I would like.
     With all of that being said (now that you are probably turned off before I ever get to the recipe), these Almond Flour Biscuits have a very similar texture and taste to cornbread.  To most of us from the South, that is a very welcoming notion!  I enjoyed these biscuits the first morning with a little honey butter to sweeten things up.  As I mentioned before, the following day I made a Sweet and Spicy Chicken Biscuit with them.  However you enjoy them, keep in mind that they should only be consumed in very small doses!

Almond Flour Biscuits
From Kelly Smith of The Nourishing Home
makes about 1 dozen biscuits


Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Almond Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
• 3 TBSP Grass-Fed Butter; melted
• 1 TBSP Honey
• 2 TBSP Coconut Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Here's what ya do:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cover a cookie sheet with either parchment paper or foil.
3. Combine all of the ingredients, except the vinegar, in a medium bowl.
4. Once your oven has fully heated to 350, stir in the vinegar.  Just like in the kids volcano science experiment, the vinegar will react with the baking soda to create tiny foaming bubbles.  These foaming bubbles with give you the lift and a fluffy texture in your biscuits.  As you know from the science experiments, these bubbles don't last forever so you need to move fast to get those suckers in the oven as quick as possible!
5. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough per biscuit on lined cookie sheet.  These biscuits will rise just a bit but not too much.  Form the biscuits to just about the size you are looking for.
6. Cook biscuits for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Enjoy

Louisiana Crab Cakes

After trying plenty of different recipes over the years I have finally figured out crab cakes!  Thanks to the traditional Cajun spices, these guys have a fantastic spicy punch that will have you yelling "aayyeee".  Personally, I prefer my veggies chopped so finely that I can barley tell they are there.  If you prefer the larger bits or just don't want to take the time to pulverize your veggies you can just do a regular dice at the chopping block. (I am finally learning to embrace quirky things that make me happy and tiny bits of veggies in my crab cakes is one of them.)

Louisiana Crab Cakes
Written by Rebecca Lane
Makes 10

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP Grass fed Butter or ghee
• 1 TBSP Coconut Oil
• 1/2 Shallot; finely diced
• 1/2 cup Green Bell Pepper; finely diced
• 1/2 cup Red Bell Pepper; finely diced
• 2 cloves Garlic; finely minced
• 1/4 cup fresh Parsley; minced
• 1/4 tsp Hot Sauce (I use Louisiana Hot Sauce)
• 1/2 tsp Gluten Free Soy Sauce (I use Tamari)
• 1 1/2 tsp Crab Boil Seasoning (I use Zatarain's Shrimp & Crab Boil)
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp White Pepper
• 1 6 oz can White Crabmeat
• 1 6oz can Lump Crabmeat
• 1/2 c Grain-free Bread Crumbs ( click here for my favorite paleo recipe)
• 1/2 cup Mayo
• 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 2 Eggs; lightly beaten
• 4 TBSP Coconut Oil

Here's what ya do:

1. Melt butter and coconut oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
2. Add shallots, bell peppers, garlic, parsley, hot sauce, soy sauce, crab boil, salt and black and white pepper. Sautee until veggies are very tender; about 15 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, mix crab meat, bread crumbs, mayo, Dijon mustard and eggs in a medium sized bowl. 
4. Let veggie mixture cool for about 10 minutes and then add it to the crab meat mixture.  If you skip the cooling process you will end up with scrambled egg bits in your mixture.  That texture would just be nasty!
5. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Melt 4 TBSP Coconut Oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. (The heavier the material of your cookware, the crispier the crust will be.)
7. Remove from fridge and get ready to get your hands dirty! (i.e. wash your hands please!)
8. Toss mixture with your hands to redistribute the liquids evenly.
9. Form cakes about the size of your palm pushing in the sides and top so that it is firm.
10. Carefully place cakes into hot oil and fry for 3 minutes per side or until you get a lovely golden brown crust.
11. Enjoy hot or room temperature!

Tortillas... Crepes... or Noodles

This is yet again another versatile ingredient for a lot of my dishes.  I am so grateful to Danielle Walker of Against All Grain for inventing this recipe!  I like to make sure my fridge is always stocked with a few so that I can make a quick turkey and salsa roll up for lunch.  Here are some other ideas to do with this lovely:

• Beef Stroganoff
• BBQ Pork and Slaw in a Blanket

Ingredients:

6 Large Eggs

1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

3 TBSP Coconut Flour, sifted

2 tsp Coconut Oil, melted

1 tsp Arrowroot Powder

 1/4 tsp Sea Salt

Here's what ya do:

1. Whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Heat a crepe pan or skillet with enameled surface over medium-high heat.
3. Melt a small amount of oil or ghee in the pan, swirling to coat the bottom and sides.
4. Pour ¼ cup of the batter into the hot pan, turning the pan in a circular motion with one hand so to spread the batter thinly around the pan.  Make sure the bottom of the pan is fully covered.
5. Cook until it the edges are brown and egg mixture on top has set and no longer runny.
6. Gently work a spatula under the wrap and flip it over. Cook on the second side for 15 seconds and turn out on a clean dish towel.
7. Continue with the remaining batter. Add a little more oil to the pan every 3-4 wraps or if they begin to start sticking.

Nut Crunch Topping

This stuff is so amazingly versatile! You can eat it with a handful of raisins when you just can't shake that snacking mood or top many sweet treats with it.  You will see it in many of my recipes!

Nut Crunch Topping

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup each - pecans, walnuts and almonds
• 1/2 cup Medjool Dates
• 1 TBSP Coconut Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

 Directions:

1. Place nuts in a food processor and blend until you have small chopped pieces (about 15 seconds)
2. Add pitted dates, coconut sugar, vanilla extract and salt.
3. Blend until a sticky meal is formed.