Baking A Whole Chicken

I love to regularly bake a whole chicken. This time I got a special "Poultry Seasoning" pack filled with fresh rosemary, thyme, and oregano at our local grocery store and put most of the herbs inside the chicken with sliced lemons.

I cut some of the rind off the lemons, but not all of it. Then I added the rest of the herbs around the chicken.

This is the process I follow usually over a two day period...

• Brine the raw chicken, to get the crispy skin. Get a big pot filled with water and add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sea salt (enough to cover the chicken once immersed). Let it sit up to 4 hrs. or over night. I like to make sure the chicken is on its back in the water so it's in the salt water.
• Then pour out the water and pat the chicken dry. Put it back in the pot, on it's belly, and let it sit in the refrigerator for a few more hours.
• When I'm ready to bake the chicken I drizzle butter or oil over it and sprinkle sea salt, garlic powder, and black pepper and rub it all in.
• Stuff inside the chicken all the herbs and sliced lemons.
• Bake at 375 deg. for 1 hr. and 45 min.
• Internal heat should be 165 deg. before done.

Nice and crispy skin.

We love serving it with roasted or steamed veggies, mashed cauliflower, and salad. The chicken is reflecting light from my bright orange shirt.
There is also plenty of meat for leftovers for the next few days.

Breakfast Carbonara

This Breakfast Carbonara found at Paleo Cupboard was really good. Sweet potatoes, uncured turkey bacon (Apple Gate), and a poached egg. I prefer poached to fried. The yolk was nice was nice and creamy. Check out her website for instructions.

Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients

4-5 peeled and diced carrots

1 med onion

1/2 tsp fresh ginger

1/2 tsp Geen Curry Paste

Juice of orange

2 cups chicken stock

Small handful of almonds

Fresh Spearmint leaves

Salt & Pepper 

I got the inspiration for this soup from this recipe at My Whole Food Life. I changed it up a bit.

I really enjoyed it!

Directions

1. I peeled and diced the carrots, onions, and garlic.

2. Steamed them until tender.

3. Put them in my vita-mix with the ginger, curry paste, chicken stalk, fresh squeezed orange juice, soaked and de-skinned almonds, spearmint leaves. 

4. Blend until smooth.

5. Salt and pepper to taste.

Simple soups are fun, easy, and so tasty!

Mashed Cauliflower Dinner

 

Cauliflower makes an awesome "mashed potatoes" dish. Potatoes are very starchy and turn into sugar quickly. So, mashed cauliflower is a great low carb, low glycemic, low calorie substitute for potatoes. 

Steam it until tender. Throw in some garlic and salt.

 Add butter if desired and mash it up or use a blender to puree it. I used my blender.

Garnish it with herbs or anything that sounds good!

Starting The Day :)

Being that we live right across from the beach I love to get up before the sun and watch the incredible Hawaiian Sunrises. The morning air is so calm, quiet, and heavenly. It makes me feel that I'm not on this earth. I love soaking my feet in the water, taking long deep breathes, focusing on the positive, being grateful!

Then coming home to stretch, breakfast, and my morning juice makes starting the day off right! I've been on a lime kick because a friend gave us a bag full of fresh limes off of her tree. And they are so so good! It gave the perfect taste to my juice this morning of...2 carrots, 1 celery, small bunch of parsley, 1/2 thumb size of ginger, 1 six inch chunky cucumber, and 1/2 a lime.

Chicken Lime Salad

Organic greens, carrots, cucumbers, & celery. Shredded chicken from a whole chicken I baked.

With freshly squeezed lime juice.

These limes are oh so good!

They are straight off our friends tree!

After spending some time in Mexico I came to appreciate lemons and limes. At every meal they were placed on the table to go with our meals. Lemons and limes are also have amazing alkanizing  effects on our bodies.

Breakfast :)

Chocolate chip quinoa pancakes w/maple syrup + potatoes and eggs + morning juice = A Happy Family!

Butternut Chicken Soup

I really love cooking with all kinds of winter squash. Butternut is especially one of my favorites. It was also my kids favorite baby food that I would make. I made my own bone broth with 11 organic chicken drumsticks and over a two day period let the bones boil. I added garlic, onions, and salt. Then the last 30 minutes I added...carrots and celery. Butternut squash cooked quickly, so add it in about the last 10 minutes. Add the zucchini noodles very last. They are thin and will cook very fast.

I used a whole butternut squash and peeled it, scraped it out, and cut it up in cubes. One of the best things about winter squash is that they can sit on your counter for a really long time, or even months in a cool dark place.

Lastly, I julienned zucchini to make "noodles." I love my Titan Peelers that used to peel the impossible butternut squash outer layer and the handy julienne tool.

I added oregano, sea salt, and pepper to taste.

So Yummy!

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp oil

3 Cloves Garlic, sliced

4 Ribs of Celery, sliced

4-5 Carrots, diced

1 Head of Cabbage, shredded

2 boxes of Organic Chicken Broth

Or Homemade Bone Broth

Precooked 3-4 Chicken Breast or

5-10 Drumsticks (meat off the bone)

1 Tbsp Onion Powder

1 Tbsp Garlic Powder

1 Tbsp Oregano

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Chop up garlic, celery, carrots, and cabbage.

2. Heat oil, I used grapeseed oil, in large soup pot, then add garlic and cook/stir 10-20 sec. Add celery and stir for 1 min.

3. Add carrots and 1 cup of broth. Cook for 5 minutes.

4. Add the rest of the broth, all of the cabbage, cooked chicken or thinly sliced raw chicken breast, and onion, garlic, and oregano.

5. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat accordingly. It doesn't take very long to cook.

*This was a fast process for me because I already had a reserve of finely chopped garlic and cooked and shredded chicken meat in the fridge. Earlier this week I baked a whole chicken and used the meat throughout the week. Also, when I bake a chicken I like to put lots of onions at the bottom of the whole chicken and then scoop it all out with some of the fat and juice to store with the meat. I think this soup came out so tasty because I added all the onions and fat to this soup.

**This is an altered recipe I came up with from a previous recipe. I'm doing a cleanse that is restoring the health of my gut. Lots of good soups to make. Check out www.livehealthwise.com for other good recipes. 

Coconut Vinegar Chicken

This chicken came out so so good.  

Marinade (roughly):

4 Tbsp Coconut Vinegar

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 Lemon Juice

3 Garlic Cloves minced

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1 Tbsp Oregano

Fresh Thyme

I can't remember the exact measurements I used, but this is close enough. With the oregano I like to pinch and rub it between my fingers to release more flavor. I poked holes in the chicken breast with a fork and flipped it over and over in the marinade. Let it marinade for 10min to 1 to 2 hours. I baked it at 350 deg for about 42 min. Used my meat thermometer to check when it was done, I don't like to overcook it because then the meat is too tough. Chicken should be cooked to 165 deg. 

 Served it with baked asparagus

And mashed potatoes

Also, some onions, zucchini, and squash.

And, sweet potatoes for me.

My kids ate it all up without even making a peep, well except fighting over who got the last pieces of asparagus. Our youngest kept stealing asparagus off his siblings plate. 

**This is an altered recipe I came up with from a previous recipe. I'm doing a cleanse that is restoring the health of my gut. Lots of good soups to make. Check out www.livehealthwise.com for other good recipes. 

Simply Steamed

Organic broccoli & stems, carrots, onions, real salt, and olive oil makes a really simple meal. Especially, when I look in my fridge and this is all the veggies I have left! I like using all of the broccoli and like the taste and texture of the broccoli stems.

Grass-fed Cow Liver

I'll admit liver isn't my favorite meal, but it is a necessary one for me. I'm anemic and oh man I'm tired of feeling tired! According to The Weston A Price Foundation, Grass-fed cow liver has a long list of...

A LONG LIST

So what makes liver so wonderful? Quite simply, it contains more nutrients, gram for gram, than any other food. In summary, liver provides:

• An excellent source of high-quality protein
• Nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A
• All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
• One of our best sources of folic acid
• A highly usable form of iron
• Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
• An unidentified anti-fatigue factor
• CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
• A good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA.

EXACTLY what I need. 

I have discovered all I need to accompany my palate, when eating liver, is pickled ginger. It does the job for me to "cleanse my palate" and makes it easier to eat. Plus, I just really like ginger.

Coconut Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp coconut oil

4 cloves of garlic

1 med. onion

3 ribs of celery, sliced

2 in. ginger, peeled, grated

4 carrots, shredded

1 tsp. Fish Sauce (opt.)

1 Tbsp. Tai Kitchen green curry paste

1 cup green beans

1 can coconut milk

1 box chicken broth

1 head of cauliflower

1 lb cubed chicken

Leaves of fresh basil, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large frying pan on Medium high.

2. Add garlic first and stir for 10 to 20 seconds before it burns. Add onions stir for 1min. Then add celery stir for 4 min until crisp-tender.

3. Add carrots and ginger. Stir for 5min.

4. Add Fish Sauce, curry, 1 cup of broth, and green beans. 

5. Cover and let cook for 5 min. 

6. Shake can of coconut milk then add to pan. Next add the remaining broth. 

7. Bring to low boil then add meat and caulifower. Reduce heat to medium. Cover and let cook for 15-20min.

8. Put into bowl with fresh sliced basil and rice noodles or rice. Sprinkle with sea salt to taste.

I enjoyed it as a soup (w/out grains) and my family enjoyed it with Vermicelli Noodles. Or it would be great over rice, quinoa, or whatever you prefer.

*There is very little heat (just about none) I prefer more heat, so add some kind of peppers, for more flavor don't go easy on the garlic or ginger. Add or change any veggies to your liking. Something like this is always better the next day after all the flavors have time to soak in. I really enjoyed our leftovers for breakfast...I couldn't wait to save it for lunch!

Green Curry paste with simple and flavorful ingredients.

If you don't make and use your own homemade broth, then this is a very fast and easy alternative. Ingredients are good and a box of this at Costco is a great buy.

I make sure to buy coconut milk with no preservatives. I really like this brand, plus it's a BPA Free can. Another good brand is Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk Unsweetened (coconut milk, water, guar gum). Many other brands of coconut milk, especially the inexpensive kinds contain metabisulfites. Read about it here. I also put the can in the fridge to use the cream that separates to the top to use in my smoothies and also to make coconut whip cream.

**This is an altered recipe I came up with from a previous recipe. I'm doing a cleanse that is restoring the health of my gut. Lots of good soups to make. Check out www.livehealthwise.com for other good recipes. 

Chicken Avocado Lettuce Wraps

Avocado Chicken Salad

Cooked & shredded 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 avocado

 1/4 chopped onion

 juice of 1/2 a lime

 2 Tbsp cilantro

 salt and pepper to taste

(I just add however much ingredients I want)

Then wrap it up in some lettuce!

Quinoa Pancakes and Eggs

This kind of breakfast makes my family happy! 

I ground my own quinoa flour in my vitamix dry-grains container, then found a recipe online (with no other grains), added chocolate chips, and served it with chicken sausage and eggs.

Good Moring Sunshine

The kids love this for breakfast...organic whole fat plain yogurt, peaches, and coconut granola.

More Chicken Soup...

I make homemade chicken soup almost weekly. Making the broth from chicken bones is really healthy and provides our bodies and gut with good nutrients. I'm always adding in different things to change it up a bit. For my kids I put in some cooked quinoa.

Another day with julienned zucchini. This is my favorite.

And lots and lots of freshly chopped kale right from the garden.

Pizza & Cheezcake

 I absolutely love all the health foodie places here on the island! Maui Kombucha has some incredible kombocha and raw food creations. I was very curious about how this "Raw Pizza" would taste and oh my goodness it was so tasty!

 Nut and seed crust

Raw means it's still alive...no cooking. Also, it was vegan...no diary, no meat. And gluten/grain-free. Just what I needed!

Can't beat the goodness of raw pies!