Oven Baked Okra

What you need:

A few heaping handfuls of fresh okra (You could probably use thawed frozen too)
Just under a cup of almond flour
A couple TBSP of ground flax
A drizzle of oil
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder OR some kind of seasoning - I used Adobe seasoning.

Cut up okra and put in a plastic bag with seasoning and drizzle of olive oil. Shake it around and let it sit for a few minutes so the seasoning draws some more of that sticky moisture out of the okra.

Pour the almond flour and flax in the bag and shake it around until all covered. Let it sit again for a few minutes.

Pour okra out through some sort of sieve. What I did was I put my cooling rack on top of my cookie sheet, poured out the okra, and then put the extra 'breading' that fell through in a baggie to reuse another time.

Spread breaded okra out on cookie sheet. I did not use more oil, but you could coat it, if you thought it might stick to cookie sheet.

Cook on 375 or so for about 15 to 20 minutes or until it starts to brown on top. Flip the okra over as best you can and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Take out and enjoy with a dipping sauce or just pop 'em like popcorn! Super yummy. I'll get a picture up next time I make this!


I made the following sauce and it was 'okay.'

Sour cream, sriracha, dash of soy sauce, a good shake of dried dill seed. It had a nice bite but not quite the balance I was looking for. I wanted something a little more horseradishy, I think, but have fun with it!

Mexican peppers

I got this recipe on Pinterest so I copied and pasted it here. I used vegetable broth in place of water when making the quinoa and added cut up chicken to ones not for Jessica. I did the red sauce which also came from a Pinterest link. It is very spicy with the red sauce.

4.9 from 29 reviews

Mexican Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa & Black Beans

 

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Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 4 bell peppers (any color), sliced in half stem-to-tip, seeds removed
• 1c quinoa, uncooked
• ½ medium onion, diced
• 1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 roma tomato, seeded and diced
• 1 (4oz) can diced green chiles (don’t drain)
• ¼c cilantro, minced
• ¼tsp salt
• ¼tsp pepper
• olive oil, if desired
• ½c Monterrey Jack, grated
• ½c cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 recipe red enchilada sauce (or 1 (28oz) can)

Instructions

1. Add quinoa and onion to a large saucepan with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil 5 minutes, cover, turn off heat and let steam 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
2. In the meantime, microwave pepper halves 2-3 minutes to soften slightly. (Prepared this way, the peppers should come out crisp-tender. If you want them crisper, you can omit this step.)
3. Pour quinoa/onion mixture into a mixing bowl. Stir in black beans, tomato, green chiles and their juices, cilantro, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper. If the mixture seems to dry, drizzle in a bit of olive oil (I didn’t need any).
4. Pour enchilada sauce into a 9×13″ baking dish. Divide filling among peppers. Nestle stuffed peppers into the enchilada sauce. Sprinkle with cheeses.
5. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 375 degrees 25-30 minutes. Remove foil and cook about 5 minutes longer. Serve peppers drizzled with enchilada sauce.

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5.0 from 2 reviews

Red Enchilada Sauce

 

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Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• ½-1 canned chipotle chili (packed in adobo), rinsed and minced
• ½tsp cumin
• ¼tsp garlic powder
• ¼tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
• 2c water

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and chili powder. Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
2. Bring sauce to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer about 10 minutes.
3. Makes about 3¼c sauce.

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Pancakes

I can only eat pancakes at home because of the eggs and of course today I wanted pancakes but knew I couldn't make them like usual so I experimented. They were really good but not sweet so if you need that then maybe some honey or Agave syrup added would help with the sweetness.

1/2 cup ground oats ( I just ground oats in my mini chopper)
1/2 cup almond flour
2 tablespoon flaxseed
1 tsp vanilla (or almond flavoring may also be good)
1 cup almond milk
Dash of salt
Dash of cinnamon to taste
Dash of nutmeg

Mix all together and then cook. Made about 4 pancakes.  They do take a long time to cook since they are fairly dense. I think adding eggs, for those who can, would make them lighter. Maybe next time I will add olive oil to flaxseed and whip that to see if I could make them a tad lighter. The fun of this is experimenting so go for it!

Portobello, Avocado, and Mango Stacks with garlic, basil, roasted pepper and balsamic vinegar

So I made this tonight on the fly, but it was super yummy and actually pretty easy.

You need:

2 bell peppers, any color
1 mango, medium ripeness (if it's already too mushy, it will end up super mushy)
1 avocado
a handful of basil leaves
3-4 cloves of garlic
2-4 portobello mushroom caps
Fresh ball of mozzarella cheese

I also made 1/3 cup of brown rice and split it halfsies with Greg.

What you need to do:

Quarter the bell peppers. I cut off the ends so they lay more flat and save the raw tips for a midday snack.
Put on tin foil with some salt and pepper and a spritz of oil and broil until the tops are black and bubbling. Set aside to cool. When cool, peel off skin.

Put mushrooms in a pan in oven with a little oil to cook. I did this on 350 degrees. I flipped them once while I prepared the other veggies.

Slice mango thin lengthwise. Do the same with the avocado. See pictures.

In a frying pan, sautee garlic with salt and pepper and some oil or butter. Once you can smell it cooking, add in the slices of avocado and mango. Let it sautee for a decent while and flip the mango and avocado at least once.

Add in a handful of full basil leaves and sprinkle with 1-2 TBSP of balsamic vinegar. Turn the heat low and let it cook more until the basil leaves wilt. Feel free to add more balsamic if you need more moisture. Toward the end, sprinkle with a dash of salt and a nice amount of fresh black pepper.

When all items are cooked, stack your portobello however you like! I used 1 slice of mango, 1 slice of avocado, 1 slice of mozzarella, 1 quarter of each of the bell peppers, and some basil and garlic for each. Top with a fresh basil leaf, and you are good to go.
I added another mango, pepper, avocado, and mozzarella to top the rice.

Greg had his plate with a filet of fish as well. I found this yummy and pretty satisfying. I did snack on a bit of almond flour cornbread after dinner though, so maybe a bit more rice would have hit the spot... Enjoy!

Flax Seed Mug Muffin

There are many versions of this around on the web - I think the recipe originates with Dr. Oz?  It's easy, and tasty, and you can make many variations of it.  I often mix all the ingredients together in a mug or mini corningware and take it to school to microwave for breakfast or a mid-morning snack.

Basic Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 3 Tb. flax seed
• 1 tsp. coconut oil, grapeseed oil, or olive oil
• 1 tsp. powdered stevia
• 1 tsp. baking powder

Optional Add-Ins:

• 1/4 banana
• scoop of pumpkin puree
• cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices
• dark chocolate chips
• berries or other fruit
• omit stevia, and add it garlic salt, a bit of shredded cheese, and chopped bell pepper

Directions:

1. Melt coconut oil in the microwave if it's still solid.  Add egg and whisk.  Add dry ingredients and whisk again.  Add any add-ins you'd like. 
2. Microwave at full power for 1 minute.  If egg isn't cooked through, try another 15 seconds or so.
3. Once cooked, you can pop it out onto a plate if you'd like, and top with butter or fruit-only jam, or this morning I used leftover Berry Sauce. For Leah, I use a bit of maple syrup.

Flour Free Cinnamon Crepes with Berry "Syrup"

This is a yummy breakfast for egg-eating folks!

Ingredients:
These amounts will make one serving, with some leftover berry syrup.

Crepes
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder

Filling:
1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 tsp. cinnamon
sprinkle of stevia

Berry "Syrup":
1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen berries (or peaches work well, too)
1/2 c. water
5 drops liquid stevia
1/4 tsp. xantham gum

Directions:

1. Whisk all the ingredients for the crepes together in a bowl.  Then, pour into a frying pan over med-high heat.  Cover the egg mixture with a lid from another pot so it sits right over it (see below).  Cook until egg cooks through - only several minutes.  (No flipping necessary.)

1. For the filling, mix cottage cheese with cinnamon and stevia.  You can also use cream cheese or mascarpone. 
2. For the berry sauce, place berries, water, and stevia in a small pot over fairly high heat.  Cook until begins to bubble and thicken a bit.  Add xantham gum if you'd like to thicken it more.  You can add more water at any time to thin it out if necessary.
3. Place crepe on a plate, fill with cottage cheese and berry mixture, the fold over and put a bit more berry mixture on top. 

I've made this using uncooked bananas with the cottage cheese filling and topping it with melted almond butter too, which requires less prep for a busy morning. 

The berry "syrup" is good over almond flour pancakes, or mixed with plain Greek yogurt too.

Roasted chickpeas

These are delicious as a snack or as a substitute for croutons on a salad.

I copied the recipe from allrecipes.com

Original recipe makes 2 cupsChange Servings

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 dash crushed red pepper
• 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

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Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Whisk the oil, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, sea salt, black pepper, and red pepper together in a small bowl; add the chickpeas and toss to coat. Spread into a single layer on a baking sheet.
3. Roast in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned and slightly crispy, about 45 minutes.

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Baked Avocado Breakfast

So I made this this morning, and it was super yummy! I've included a picture.

Here are the ingredients for the main part:

1 red pepper
2 poblano peppers
1 avocado
2 cloves of garlic
butter
salt
pepper
a handful of spinach leaves

What to do:

Cut the tips off poblanos and cut in half.
Clip red peppers so they lay mostly flat

Put both types of peppers under the broiler with a little oil, salt, and pepper. Broil until the skins are black and bubbling. I sometimes flip the peppers if they are thicker (red pepper usually) so they are more soft and roasted through.

Let cool and then pull off skins and slice however you like.

With the avocado:

Pre-heat oven to 350 or 375.
Cut avocado in half and de-pit.
I then cut a slice off the top of each half that was about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Scoop out a little of the remained center on the 'bowl' parts to have a deeper bowl.

Use a tab of butter and cook 2 cloves of garlic (I use my garlic press, but you could chop) with some salt and pepper. Then add all parts of the avocado (the bowls face down). Cook, flipping the 'flat' pieces over.
After a couple minutes, take out the bowl parts of the avocado.
(I placed them in little tart tins and then put the tins in a corning ware dish with some water in it so that the egg didn't drip when it got added.)

Pour an egg each in the centers of the remaining flat parts of the avocado (you may have wanted to make the hole a little bigger so not as much spills out).
Let cook until the bottom of the egg is white and you can slip a spatula underneath without it breaking and dripping through.
Place the 'flat' avocado with egg on top of their respective half.

Add spinach into pan to sautee.

Put in the oven. I cooked for probably at least 10-15 minutes, but I just looked for the eggwhite to turn white and the yoke to darken just a little.

For plating:

I ate this with a sauce that I make for spaghetti squash, so I'll include that too....

Sautee garlic and basil leaves in a saucepan.
Add in a small can of tomato paste and the juice of 1 lemon.
Add a bit of cream (probably about 1/4 cup).
Stir in 6 oz of goat cheese.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Taste. I added in some apple cider vinegar (I think) to add liquid.
Crushed red pepper adds a little heat which is nice.


I had some of this left over and I spooned it onto the place. Sauteed spinach on top of sauce.
Pepper around.
Slice of Ezekial to help soak up the egg yolk.
Avocado nearby. :)

I cut it all up and ate a bit of everything with each bite. Super yummy.

And I think this may be tasty, even without the egg, though for that you may want to de-skin the avocado and slice it so you can really get the garlic and all the flavor on all sides since you won't have the egg.

You also don't need to use the above sauce.

Anyway, play around with it! It really was very tasty!

Veggie Lasagna

This will be dinner today! It is a good alternative to lasagna with noodles and the beauty of it is you can use any veggies you have. Jessie actually made this first but I have been making it since it is so good! Even Jerry loved it more than noodle lasagna when he came for dinner.

Ingredients:
Veggies (see suggestions below)
Ricotta cheese (@2lbs) (I like  it cheesy, so adjust according to your taste)
2 - 3 cups mozzarella
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Kale and or eggplant
Salt and pepper to taste
Spaghetti sauce


For a large 13 x9 pan, I use 2 peppers, one eggplant (can be used chopped in veggies or as replacement for noodles- will explain later), large squash, large zucchini, about 2-3 cloves of garlic, broccoli, snap peas, spinach, and package of frozen corn.  Take all the sliced veggies and roast for about 20 minutes @350 to remove moisture. This is where you can use eggplant in veggies or if you want to use eggplant as replacement for noodles, you slice eggplant length wise (@1/4 in thick, and roast separately so it will get crispy. If you want to use kale as noodles then you clean and devein kale and spread out on cookie sheet and roast until crisp.
Once the veggies are roasted remove from the juice created. In separate bowl mix ricotta and Parmesan cheese. Spread sauce on bottom of 13 x 9 pan and begin layering kale or eggplant, veggies, ricotta and Parmesan mixture, mozzarella cheese, sauce and repeat until all ingredients are gone. I try to end with layer of kale/eggplant and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes, until bubbly. Let sit for about 15 minutes before cutting or scooping.

I usually have homemade sauce in freezer, but you can either use jar (check ingredients so as natural as possible) or make a small batch with tomato paste, tomato purée, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, garlic, onions, and salt and pepper.

This is really yummy and quite filling! Bon appetite!

Portobello Mushroom Pizza

Preheat oven to 350. Clean the mushrooms (I do leave the gills in just rinse well) and then sprinkle with olive oil and Italian seasoning on both sides. Put foil down on cookie sheet and place mushrooms on foil, gill side up. Add crushed garlic, pizza sauce, thinly sliced onions, peppers, zucchini, and spinach leaves. Sprinkle some more Italian seasoning and then top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for @ 30 minutes. Very yummy! Even Dad liked them.

I used 4 mushrooms, 3/4 of a pepper, 1/2 small onion, 1/4 of a zucchini, and 1 cup of spinach leaves.
Picture below. The ones on the right are before cheese.

Almond Flour Corn Bread

I love to make this during no processed time! It is soooo yummy. I am doing this from memory, so if it is too wet or too dry when you make it, just adjust flour or sour cream accordingly.

Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour
1/4-1/3 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
chopped chive/green onion (I usually do 2-3)
a good sprinkling of corn (I usually use frozen organic)

2 eggs -- Now here is the tricky part. I have made this 3 different ways, and I think it is too 'eggy' with real eggs. Since we have egg allergies on both sides, I suggest the following:

2 Tablespoons of ground flax mixed with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil for EACH egg

In a bowl, mix all wet ingredients first - sour cream, butter, and flax seed+oil.

Add chives and corn.

Mix in almond flour.

This will be a somewhat pasty batter, not super creamy, but it should not be drippy.

Scoop and smooth out into a square pan and bake at 350 degrees until starting to turn golden brown on top and around the edges (usually 30-45 minutes).

Enjoy! SOOOOO yummy!

Stuffed eggplant

This is yummy and filling.

Stuffed eggplant:

Take an eggplant and cut off end and then slice in half length wise. Scrap out insides leaving about 1/4" area on peel. Rub the shells with olive oil and set aside in a baking dish with about 1/4" of water. In a pan sprayed with olive oil sauté onions, peppers, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, and inside of eggplant. While cooking add adobe seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. You can either add bread crumbs made from Ezekiel bread, cooked brown rice, quinoa, or lentils if desired. Once veggies are cooked through, but not too soft, add spinach leaves and feta cheese and stir until spinach is wilted. Stuff the eggplant shells with the mixture and cover with foil. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes and then remove foil for last 10 minutes. You can add additional feta on top at this time if you choose. Enjoy!

The best thing about this recipe is you can add any veggies you want and could even add cooked chicken or cooked turkey meat.

Mom!

Mexican Quinoa Salad

We made this quinoa salad last week on Sunday and ate it for lunch for several days in a row.  (The recipe makes a big batch, so cut in half if you'd like a smaller one!)  It's good warmed up or cold, and you could make it vegetarian by omitting the chicken and using vegetarian broth instead of chicken broth.  The ingredients are approximate, and you can subtract or add vegetables and adjust proportions.  For lower-carb, make this recipe with 1 cup of quinoa rather than 2.  For a kid-friendly portion, leave some quinoa, beans, chicken, and veggies off to the side so you have a less spicy version.  Omit any ingredients that make the kiddos you'll be serving squirm.  Like avocado.

Ingredients:
2 cups quinoa
4 cups chicken broth
1 rotisserie chicken shredded, or 1 package chicken breast cooked and shredded
2 cans black beans or pinto beans
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 orange or yellow bell pepper, diced
1 large tomato, diced, or 1 package grape tomatoes cut in half
1 jalapeno, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, sliced thinly
1 bunch cilantro, chopped up into small pieces
1 or 2 small limes, juiced
5 Tb. olive oil (less or more depending on how sticky you'd like your salad to be.)
cumin
chili powder
salt
pepper
optional: avocado
optional: shredded cheese


Directions:

1. Rinse and cook the quinoa in chicken broth according to directions on the package.  We used a tri-color quinoa, but any kind will do!  You could use rice if you prefer.
2. While quinoa is cooking, shred the chicken and dice up veggies.
3. Rinse beans.
4. When quinoa is done cooking, allow it to cool down a bit.  Then add the lime juice and olive oil to quinoa and mix.  Add spices to taste.  (I probably added around 1 Tb. of cumin and 1 tsp. of chili powder, salt, and pepper.)  Finally, toss quinoa with beans and vegetables.  Lastly, stir in the chopped cilantro. 
5. Serve warm or cold on its own, on lettuce wraps, or over salad greens.
6. If you want to serve w/avocado, I cut that up daily and added it just before eating it.  Even with the lime juice, it would begin to turn brown fairly quickly if added right away.

-Nikki & Ryan

Welcome to Our Family Cookbook!

Welcome to the online Dainty family cookbook!  The purpose of this blog is to share recipes and meal plans with each other as well all strive to eat well this year.  We are trying to eliminate processed food, and then we have other specifications as well.  Some of our meals will bre egg-free, or vegetarian, or low-carb... Happy Eating!