Breakfast Goodness

This is one of my most favorite low FODMAP breakfasts: Bok Choy, soft boiled egg, and sweet potatoes w/ some peanut butter. Yum!! It's super easy to make in my instant pot. Throw it all in for 5mins. and then it's done! I do have more sweet potato than pictured, but cut it up and didn't keep the fun flower shape. I have to stick close to fodmap safe foods and am really happy this one is a winner.

And this is THE BEST Paleo Pancake mix out there!

Sooo good!

Thank goodness I can order it on Vitacost.com and have plenty of it for me here in Okinawa.

I'll spread some peanut butter or almond butter on the pancakes with some really yummy organic vanilla strawberry jam by Stonewall Kitchen. 

I alternate between these two breakfasts, the photo at the top and this one.

I always look forward to breakfast!

Coconut Blueberry Chia Muffins

These gluten/dairy free Coconut Blueberry Chia Muffins are filled with lots of fiber and are very yummy!

My husband said, "These are definitely muffins to have around all the time!"

I love the taste of anything coconut and Nutiva has the best organic coconut flour...

Here's the recipe...

Coconut Blueberry Chia Muffins

by Nutiva

Gluten and Dairy Free

Makes 12 Muffins

1 cup Nutiva Organic Coconut Flour

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. raw honey (I subbed maple syrup)

1 cup coconut milk

6 eggs

4 Tbsp. Nutiva organic coconut oil, melted

4 tsp. vanilla extract

4 Tbsp. Nutiva organic chia seeds

1 cup organic blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Sift the coconut flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. In a separate bowl or blender, whisk honey, coconut milk, eggs, coconut oil, and vanilla. Gently stir wet mixture into dry ingredients and mis in chia seeds. Fold in the blueberries and pour batter into greased or lined muffin tins, until 3/4 full. Bake for 25 mins until muffins begin to turn golden brown and are cooked through. Immediately remove from tins and cool on rack.

*When baking with coconut flour you'll notice that it requires lots of eggs and that's because coconut flour recipes don't call for xantham gum like most other gluten free recipes. The eggs do the binding. 

Preheat your oven and mix it all together in a big bowl and drop them into the baking cups.

Which I love using large unbleached baking cups by If You Care and my Vollrath 1-1/3oz stainless steel disher. Click on the links. 

Pop them in the oven for 25mins.

Let them cool down.

And enjoy!

So Good Chicken Salad Wraps

These Organic Chicken Salad Wraps were so so good!

This is one of my fast and easy meals to put together because I always have plenty of quart size ziplock bags filled with organic shredded dark chicken meat ready to use. I regularly buy two whole organic chickens that I cook, separate the white and dark meat, and then use the bones to make broth. It's much less expensive buying organic whole chickens and using EVERYTHING, than it is to buy organic meat and broth separately. It can be a bit of a process, but it's easy and so worth it!

Ingredients:

Organic Sir Kensington's Mayonnaise

Organic Dark Chicken Meat

Organic Green Grapes

Organic Celery

Lemon

S&P

So after adding everything in a big bowl you know what to do...

Mix it all together.

Add extra sea salt, pepper, or lemon to taste.

Top it onto your favorite lettuce.

I love butter lettuce for its softness or iceberg for its crispness.

Add some veggie sides...

And enjoy!

Just one word on the Sir Kensington's Mayonnaise...

DELICIOUS

Good ingredients and so tasty.....

My hubby loves this Siracha Mayonnaise.

There are plenty of great ones right HERE that include Avocado Oil Mayo, Organic Mayo, their Classic Mayo, Chipotle Mayo, their Special Sauce, Dijonnaise, they also have "Fabanaise"a vegan mayor and from what I hear awesome ketchups and mustards. I bought this Siracha Mayo at my local Albertson's that costed $8. Yeah, expensive. However, thankfully I found it at my favorite online food/supplement company Vitacost. Yes!!! Check out their super good prices HERE!

: )

Beautiful & Bountiful Blessings...

I am so grateful for the Bountiful and Beautiful Blessings of this earth.

As I sit here and eat my lunch I can't help but be filled with love and gratefulness for all that our Mother Earth provides for us, for me, who has been struggling so much with my health. As I have taken my own digestive health struggles into my own hands, throughout the years I have found many answers and figured out many things that have made me so grateful for life. Yes, it has been so painful, hard, I wanted to give up, but I was never going to stop fighting and I am winning. Throughout these years I have read and read and read many many books about food, about our bodies, about good health, about being positive, about respecting and loving ourselves, about serving, about loving, about finding peace, about being strong, about having no more than we need.

This humble bowl of chicken soup means so much to me. For me to prepare food for myself I have to do most of it the old fashioned way. But, it's providing me with the best nourishment and strength that so many foods just don't do because my body can't digest and absorb the nutrients properly. At one point I was eating oatmeal for two months straight. Everything else hurt quite bad. I lost a crazy amount of weight, which for those of you who know me, would understand how bad that is and I love to make and eat all kinds of foods. 

But after much prayer, walking in faith, reading and learning, talking, and just plain going out and doing I am slowly making progress and can't wait for the day when I really take off because yes, one day I will be stronger than I ever have been because of this experience. One day I will reach the top of my mountain. I will look down and remember how hard I fought to get to the top, how much I struggled, how I wanted to give up, how I fell and fell and fell, but got up again and again and again, to keep moving, to keep putting one foot in front of the other and...

How beautiful my view is becoming each and every new day.

We have a such a beautiful earth and it provides all that we need. Just by glancing around I know that there is a Great Creator above and that He is all loving, knowing, powerful, and giving. As I make my own homemade bone broth out of organic humanely raised chickens to use the bones and meat and cut and chop the vegetables I can eat and drop the tasty herbs in I am so thankful! I have a deep love of this land and will continue to walk in beauty. 

Follow here on how to start learning and making your own bone broth at...The Wellness Mama.
The nutrients it provides our bodies is astounding, especially the things it does for small growing children.

My Soup:

• I bought two organic whole chicken and baked them, separated all the meat from the bones. Used some meat for dinner and then put then rest in the freezer for future meals.
• I use my awesome Instant Pot to make my bone broth: added carcasses and bones of the chicken, also added some carrots, parsley, sea salt, and a little bit of ACV (apple cider vinegar), and filled with filtered water.
• After my broth was done I let it cool down and when completley cooled I put in the fridge overnight to let the fat solidify at the top for me to take it off with a mini hand held strainer. (I can't handle that much fat, so if you can handle it enjoy it!)
• I chopped up a little bit of celery, some carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, and more parsley. (Put carrots in first to cook a little bit longer along with the parsley to get more flavor, and then add in other veggies according to how fast they cook.)
• Put chicken meat in near the end, so it won't over cook because rubbery chicken is never pleasant.
• I made some rice or you can add pre-boiled noodles in very last. They will soak up a ton of the broth if not cooked before.
• Add sea salt to taste. 

***You should add lots of other veggies like garlic and onions for more flavor. Sadly, these two things are on my no no list because they contain fructans in levels too high for my body to process. 

***Change up your herbs and spices to see which are your favorite. I love thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, turmeric, and much more. But just not all in the same pot ;)

Enjoy!

Banana Pecan Bread

This is Danielle Walker's Banana Bread (Paleo) from her Against All Grain cookbook.

It is super good! 

You'll have to get the recipe from her book, but I did switch out a few ingredients for my dietary needs...instead of honey I subbed with maple syrup, I didn't add any vanilla extract (I don't like the flavor), instead of AVC I used white vinegar, and instead of canned coconut milk I subbed with Unsweetened Coconut Milk, I also added chopped pecans (Yum!). To get the best results with this bread Danielle highly suggests only using Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour. Using other brands like Bob's Red Mill results in "overly moist products that will sind in the center or have a grainy texture." Which, Paleo breads do come out more moist and soggy, but you definitely want to avoid it being even more so, which from experience she is totally right. I buy this almond flour at Costco for $22, which yes, is very expensive, but it's what I can eat.

After I baked it and let it cool I put it in a ziplock bag and into the fridge.

The next day it always tastes a lot tastier :)

Enjoy!

Maple Peanut Sesame Chicken

This meal was awesome!

Following a low fodmap diet can be oh so tricky and confusing, but I'm working on it and finding some good meals to make. Kate Scarlata is a well know Fodmap expert and she has plenty of great recipes. Including this one...

Maple Peanut Sesame Chicken

By Kate Scarlata

From Well Balanced

Ingredients

• 1 pound chicken tenders (boneless, skinless)
• 2 Tablespoons all natural peanut butter
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 Tablespoons reduced sodium tamari (soy sauce)
• 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

Instructions

1. Wash and pat dry chicken.
2. In medium casserole dish, add peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, ginger and maple syrup whisking to blend.
3. Add chicken and toss to coat with mixture.
4. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes-several hours.
5. Keep chicken in 'marinade' and place casserole uncovered in oven.
6. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice vermicelli noodles or baby salad greens.
   
   
   I made this meal to feed to our sister missionaries and they loved it. We have them over often and finally I made something that we could all eat. Yay!
   
   
   I also make my own dressing, which I pour a little bit of this and that in.
   Depending on how much you need make accordingly and let call it...
   
   
   Garlic Infused Ginger Dressing
   
   
   

   -Garlic Infused Olive Oil

   -Coconut Aminos
   -Sesame Oil
   -Squeezed Lemon
   -Ground Ginger
   -S&P
   
   
   I've also added some vinegar, just a little bit, and maple syrup to sweeten it up for guests. Infused oils are delicious a must do in cooking! Add the most of the olive oil, then just a bit less of coconut aminos or soy sauce, a little bit of sesame oil for that toasted sesame flavor, as little or as much fresh squeezed lemon as you like, prob less though, about a pinch of ground ginger, and salt and pepper to taste.
   
   
   We also had this oh so good...
   
   
   
   
   
   Which I was also able to enjoy for the first time in who knows how long!!
   
   
   I made Against All Grain Paleo Pie Crust.
   (gotta buy her book for the recipe.)
   
   
   
   
   
   Beans are used as my "pie weights" while baking.
   
   
   Then find my previous Lemon Meringue Pie post for the filling.
   
   
   Oh happy day :)
   
   

Breakfast Scrambled Eggs

These are my favorite scrambled eggs to make!

-2-6 organic eggs

(depending on how many I'm feeding)

-Sm. amount rice/coconut/almond milk

-1tsp garlic infused olive oil

-1/2 tsp coconut aminos

(it's like soy sauce)

-Sea salt & pepper

- maybe some sesame oil

-chopped red/green/yellow bell peppers

-chopped cilantro

I first put some ghee or you can use butter to heat in pan. And then cooked the bell peppers.

Everything else I gently mix in a bowl and then add to the pan.

Good thing to remember when cooking eggs is...low and slow.

So, turn down the heat and cook 'em slow.

I put it over rice and might add a little bit more coconut aminos.

Yum!

Meatball Soup

This is a life saving leftover’s meal!

I make a lot of bone broth from chicken backs that I get at Wholefoods. After cooking it I let it cool overnight in the fridge and then put it in freezer bags and store in the freezer and get it out when need to use it. Easy peezy!

After heating up the frozen chicken broth I add my cut up veggies...carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash, which most of the time these veggies are pre-steamed or cut up and in a container already in the fridge. I make sure my rice is ready to go as well.

***Always make sure to clean your rice before you cook it!!! After measuring the rice put it in the pot and I like using clean purified water from our water filter to clean the rice over and over by grabbing it with my hands and rubbing it and then dumping the water out carefully to not let the rice dump out. Seriously, repeat this over and over until the water runs clear or is close to it. Rice naturally has arsenic, its in the soil, it can be reduced by cleaning the rice very well. Also, this is what Chinese people do...they always clean their rice!

Then I also used my leftover meatball to add in.

Add in sea salt, pepper, other spices to taste.

*** I also just learned that to make broths low fodmap you have to be careful about what types of bones you use. If it's from bones that still have lots of cartilage and remains it still has, I think, a good amount of polyols that will irritate your gut. It did mine, but it took awhile for me to finally discover it. So, for low fodmap Dr. Allison Siebecker suggests making bone broth that is from purely bones.

Super good!

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

These meatballs are Paleo and have no dairy (cheese) or grains (breadcrumbs) for fillers.

I know I know to not use the different variety of cheeses that can be put into meatballs is almost unthinkable, but I can't have dairy or breadcrumbs that have wheat in them, so non-traditional meatballs it is. *The meatballs are Paleo, but definitely not the mac&cheese and rice!

Luckily, Against All Grain always saves me and provides good recipes that I can mostly eat.

We made the sauce, but The Fish Fam didn't like it because it was too tangy and tart. I think if you used the tomato puree she suggests it might taste better. But, after having leftovers and still having lots of sauce and meatballs left we dumped the sauce and washed off the meatballs. And throughly enjoy the meatballs by themselves, great flavor.

The meatballs remind me of the flavorful meats in different dishes we had in Asia.

Here is Danielle's recipe for her Game-Day Sweet and Sour Meatballs...

AUTHOR: Danielle Walker - AgainstAllGrain.com

SERVES: 3 dozen

PREP TIME: 20 mins

COOK TIME: 45 mins TOTAL TIME: 65 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground beef, chicken, or pork
• 2 large eggs
• 2 small vidalia sweet onions, about 1 cup minced
• ¼ cup almond meal (with the skins) or 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1.5 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoon sea salt

Sauce:

• 3 cups tomato puree
• ¾ cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• ⅓ cup honey
• ⅓ cup coconut aminos
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon onion powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Make the sauce first by combining all of the ingredients in a wide pot. Bring to a low boil then reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, until thickened.
3. Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
4. Place the onion in a food processor and pulse until finely minced.
5. Add the egg, almond meal, beef, oil, ginger, and sea salt. Pulse until fully combined.
6. Roll the mixture into small bite-sized meatballs.
7. Space them evenly on two rimmed baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes, turning once.
8. Once the sauce has thickened, transfer it and the meatballs to a slow cooker set to low. Cover until ready to enjoy.

URL to article: http://againstallgrain.com/2014/01/23/game-day-sweet-sour-meatballs/

*We used organic beef and turkey meat. I wouldn't suggest the turkey meat with beef, but it's all we had in the freezer to make the 2lbs. Also, I made more meatballs, without the sauce and added some tamari sauce (gluten free soy sauce) in the mix.

**To make it Fodmap free for me I had to take out the onions in the meatballs. In the sauce I also had to void the honey and used maple syrup instead. Also, had to void the onion powder. I used white wine vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. I also only had organic canned tomato sauce in my pantry and not tomato puree.

The Fish Fam topped the meatballs over rice with organic mac&cheese and broccoli for sides.

*I had a bowl of rice with three meatballs and some steamed yellow squash and bok choy.

This was our leftovers for lunch today....

Enjoy!