Baked Green Tomatoes and Zucchini

Fried Baked Green Tomatoes and Zucchini

I have never had fried green tomatoes and had no interest in trying them until I went through my Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) box from the Farmer’s Market.  With my box came four green tomatoes.  I briefly thought about exchanging them for something different, but one of the reasons we buy our CSA is to be more adventurous and try new vegetables.  So, I told Owen those would stay in our ‘home’ bag and he promptly plopped them in the bag.  I knew I wanted to make fried green tomatoes, but I also knew I wanted them to be clean and baked instead of fried.  I randomly chose a recipe from www.allisonskinnyjeans.com and began to adapt it to fit our dietary preferences and needs.  This meant omitting the Panko Bread Crumbs, parmesan cheese, egg beaters, and canned olive oil cooking spray.  I then began creating a recipe that turned out absolutely delicious, I could NOT stop eating the tomatoes and zucchini.

This is a MUST try recipe:

Ingredients:
2 green tomatoes
2 zucchini
¾ C almond meal (see my homemade milk post on how to make your own)
¼ C coconut flour
½ C Nutritional Yeast
4 whole eggs
Homemade olive oil spray or olive oil in a Mist-O

PLUS a secret ingredient, ¼ C of my homemade ranch dip seasoning

Homemade Ranch Dip Seasoning
2 Tbs salt
1 C dried onion

7 Tbs parsley

Mix together in a container so you can save it to have on hand when you need/want ranch dip or extra flavor (it's delish mixed in grass-fed beef for hamburgers)!

Bonus Recipe: To make ranch dip out of the seasoning mix 1 Tbs seasoning with 1 C sour cream and enjoy!

Process:

Preheat oven to 425

Prepare a cookie sheet by placing a cooling rack on top of it and spraying the rack with olive oil or use a broiler pan – something that will allow the zucchini to cook on both sides in the oven.  You may use a cookie sheet without a cooling rack, but you will need to flip the veggies halfway through the cooking process.

Wash and slice the tomatoes and zucchini; try to slice them evenly 

                I sliced my zucchini in half and then into thirds lengthwise

Wisk the eggs in a bowl or shallow dish

Combine the almond meal, coconut flour, nutritional yeast, and ranch dip seasoning in another bowl

Put a few Tbs of the dry mixture on a plate or in a shallow dish – add to it when needed

                If you use it all at once, it will become gooey and won’t stick to your veggies

Dip the tomatoes/zucchini in the eggs and then rolls in the dry mixture

Place coated veggies on the cooling rack/cookie sheet

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes and then either rotate the cookie sheet or flip the veggies depending on what you are using

After rotating or flipping, bake for an additional 10-12 minutes

Zucchini cut in half and then lengthwise into thirds

Breaded and ready to go!

These are on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet.

These are on our roasting pan.

Baked and ready to be devoured!

Mmmm..goodness!

ENJOY these tasty little veggie treats!  We thought they were so delicious that they are on the menu again tonight.  I’m also excited that I have two tomatoes left and am hoping we have more in our CSA next weekend!

To reheat, I put the veggies back on the cooling rack and into a 325 degree oven for 10-15 minutes!

Happy Days Cove BBQ Sauce

Happy Days Cove is a house on the north shore of Lake Travis, TX, where my husband spent many summers and weekends.  It's a beautiful home and my husband has fond memories of exploring the woods, skiing in the lake, sleeping in one room with his siblings, and family dinners.  My family now has the pleasure of visiting Happy Days Cove as often as we want/can; it's only a 45 minute drive from our house.  The memories our son creates there will be different from his dad's, the community has more homes and fewer woods, the lake is too low to launch the boat, and the bunk beds have been replaced by a home office.  Owen will remember riding his bike to the park, looking at the moon with his grandparents, sleeping in the back bedroom, and the family dinners.  We have smoked pork tenderloin with Happy Days Cove BBQ Sauce.  Today, I'm going to share with you all my father-in-law's wonderfully simple and delicious Happy Days Cove BBQ Sauce recipe (adapted to meet the dietary preferences of our family).

1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs ground black pepper
2 Tbs chili powder
3/4 C organic Coconut Palm Sugar
1/2 C Bragg Liquid Aminos
40 oz bottle of ketchup (we use organic ketchup with few ingredients) - save the bottle
40 oz water

In a five-quart Dutch oven, sauté the onions and olive oil over medium heat until plump.  Add ketchup, black pepper, olive oil, chili powder, and sugar and mix thoroughly.  Add the water and mix thoroughly.  Add the Liquid Aminos and, again, mix thoroughly.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes.

You can adjust the pepper and chili powder to your heat and taste preference.  We make this in large batches and can it using a water bath (even if you don't have a pressure canner).

Get out with your grill, this wonderful BBQ sauce, and make some memories!

Mmmmm....

Pizza Mania!

Pizza is one of our favorite dishes, but it is difficult to have pizza when one person has an intolerance to dairy and two are not able to eat gluten.  Tonight, I will share with you our favorite pizza recipe adapted from Food Babe's recipe http://foodbabe.com/tag/pizza-is-a-vegetable/  This is a quick, easy, gluten free, and clean recipe.  I even make Owen's with goat cheese or without any cheese for a dairy free version.  Get ready to have pizza mania again...finally, a healthy pizza!

Main Ingredients:
Ezekiel Brown Rice Tortillas (Food Babe use their whole wheat tortillas, I tried them and I like the texture of the Rice Tortillas much better) - they are with the refrigerated bread
Pasta or Pizza Sauce (I use homemade because it does not have added sugar or other ingredients)
Toppings of choice


Our typical toppings include mushrooms, broccoli, red/orange/yellow bell pepper, and cheese (organic dairy or goat cheese)

Other options include:
Nitrate/nitrite free ham, sausage, pepperoni
Vegetables of your choice: onion, spinach, tomatoes, kale...etc.
Olives (check your ingredients)
Jalapenos (check ingredients)
The list goes on

I am a stickler for 'traditional' pizza toppings, I usually don't like chicken or bar-b-que, but I promise the broccoli on pizza is very tasty.

 Tonight we had homemade sauce, broccoli, mushrooms, delicious sausage (Farmer's Market), and cheese











The process

1. Preheat oven to 45o
2. Place the tortillas in the oven (directly onto the racks) until they start to turn brown (3-5 minutes depending of if they were defrosted or frozen.  You should be able to take them out of the oven with tongs without them bending.
3. Chop veggies and/or meat while the tortillas are browning
4. Take the tortillas out of the oven and spoon 3-4 tbs of sauce on them.  *Do not put cold sauce on the tortillas or they will crack - I promise!
5. Put selected toppings on the pizza.
6. Place back in oven, directly on the racks, for 7-10 minutes (until the cheese is melted the way you like)
7. Remove from oven with a spatula.  Some pizzas will come out easily and others may be a little more difficult, I slide these onto a plate so they don't fall into the oven (yes, that has happened to us before).

Garnish as you see fit.  I add cracked red pepper to mine as well as Nutritional Yeast as a replacement for parmesan.  Owen gets Nutritional Yeast and Matt enjoys salt, pepper, and occasionally Nutritional Yeast.  

On a cutting board, cut the pizzas into quarters or eighths using a pizza cutter or knife, and transition to plates.  I usually eat one pizza as does Owen, my husband, however, can easily eat 2 in one sitting.  These pizzas are crispy and light; they do not leave you feeling bloated or stuffed.

Not sure what Nutritional Yeast is, check here http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/10/what-the-heck-is-nutritional-yeast.html  We often use this as a replacement for cheese, especially parmesan.  We eat it on veggies, eggs, pizza, pasta, just about anything.

Here are the pictures of my pizzas in the making.  

Tortillas crisping in the oven
 (450 degrees for 3-5 minutes)

A tortilla that is golden brown and crisp

Our pizzas with toppings, plus one for lunch

Add cheese!

Back in the oven to melt the cheese
7-10 minutes

Finished product, with goat cheese

Finished product with sharp cheddar cheese

Served on a plate with Nutritional Yeast and cracked red pepper!

DELICIOUS!!

Zucchini Nachos

In an effort to clean up our diet just a little bit, it's pretty clean, I joined a clean eating challenge a friend hosted on Facebook.  After 37 days, I was hooked because the group was full of individuals all with the same goal, get healthy, and so much support it was unreal.  I partnered with another woman to create  our own clean eating challenge and tonight I made one of the recipes from the challenge groups, zucchini nachos.  I was hesitant to try these but post after post people were raving about how good they were.  Tonight I took the plunge and I'm so glad I did.  Below is the original recipe (one serving):

¼ cup black beans, 

2 Tbsp greek yogurt,

1 tbsp shredded cheese, 

2 tbsp salsa, 

¼ avocado chopped, 

¼ lb ground turkey, ground bison, or grass-fed beef sautéed with cumin, sea salt, and paprika

    Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly mist one baking sheet with olive oil* spray.

    Slice one zucchini into 1/8"-1/4" thick rounds.

    Arrange evenly on baking sheet and lightly coat the tops with olive oil spray.

    Sprinkle on salt and pepper. Bake zucchini rounds until browned and crisp, about 25 to 30 minutes, flipping each over halfway through. Cooking times may vary (mine needed more time). Rotate the baking sheet, if needed.

    Cook ground turkey/bison in pan over medium high heat seasoned with cumin, sea salt, and paprika. Set aside.

     When the zucchini chips are ready, take them out and allow them to cool. While you wait, heat the beans.

    Use a spatula to scoop the zucchini chips up and over to your plate.

    Layer on the toppings.

    Put nachos back in the oven to melt the cheese.

    Enjoy!

*To make the olive oil spray:  Mix 1 part olive oil to 5 parts water in a spray bottle, put the top on, and spray.  Try to stay away from conventional oil cooking sprays as they can be full of chemicals and other processed ingredients.  OR you may use a mister (see picture)

I don't typically stick with recipes and it was the same for this one.  I did not use black beans, I used another Mexican bean and I cannot remember the name.  It started with a 'p' and they were mild and delicious.  We love black beans but they were on the bottom of my canning pile so I chose what was on top (convenience).  I omitted the greek yogurt and the meat so I doubled the amount of beans on the nachos.  I also added fresh lime juice and jalapeno.  I would have added cilantro but we didn't have any in the house.  When I built the nachos on the plates, I added a few (about 5-7) organic blue corn chips to help my son and husband transition to these new nachos.  I will add grass-fed beef from time to time, but tonight I wanted a vegetarian meal.  

I did not slice my zucchini evenly so some browned and some were still green or a little brown. I was worried that the brown ones would taste charred so I took them out and served them up. The brown ones were my favorite, not charred at all and provided a little crunch.  I will wait for them all to brown when I make these again.  This recipe makes one serving, I cut three zucchini for my family of three (two adults and one preschool child).  I'll cut two more zucchini when I make these again.  

These nachos were surprisingly delicious; I suggest you give them a try.  

Going into the oven

About 30 minutes in to roasting

The plate without the toppings, I promise the brown/black ones were the BEST!

With toppings

My son's plate with toppings.  He cannot have dairy so we put goat cheese on his.

Roasted Deliciousness

On any given night I have no idea what I'm going to cook for dinner until I get in the kitchen.  Today my husband sent a text with the word "Dinner".  He's a man of few words, at times, so I responded, "Yes, we will have dinner".  I knew he wanted to know what was for dinner and all I knew at that moment was that we would eat something for dinner.  He gave me a suggestion for protein and I figured out the rest.  Luckily, we have a variety of vegetables on hand most nights so it isn't too difficult for me to create something healthy for us.

Last weekend I picked up a bag of root vegetables from the local farmer's market and they became the side dish for dinner tonight.  

Tonight we had roasted root vegetables and they were DE-LISH.  Here's the scoop on what I made, but you can adapt based on your tastes and what you have on hand or what is in season.

1 large sweet  potato

1 bulb of fennel*, including the stems but not the leaves

several carrots (I used 7 small carrots)

3 parsnips

2 golden beets (peeled)

3-4 red beets (peeled)

2 small onions (or 1 medium onion)

Garlic to your liking (I used 4-5 bulbs

olive oil 

salt

pepper

fresh herbs (to your liking) - tonight I used fresh thyme

1. Wash the vegetables and preheat your oven to 425
2. Peel the beets with a vegetable peeler (you may peel the carrots, parsnips, and sweet potato as well but we don't)
3. Chop the vegetables so that they are about the same size and thickness (about .5 to 1 inch)
4. Put the vegetables on a cookie sheet and add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil (more or less depending on how many vegetables you use - make sure they are evenly coated)
5. Season with salt, pepper, and fresh herbs to taste
6. Mix everything together on the pan with your hands, coating all ingredients with oil
7. Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes depending on how you like them; using a spoon to stir and spread them every 15 minutes

*I typically do not like the flavor of fennel, but if you have not tried it roasted, you are missing out!  

• Other options for veggies: kohlrabi (peel first), rutabaga, turnips, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, butternut squash, acorn squash, pumpkin, potatoes 
• Other options for fresh herbs: rosemary, sage, bay leaves, parsley
• Other options for oil:  Coconut oil is another good oil you may use in this dish.  I don't use coconut oil when roasting vegetables because I like mine to have a little crunch (a.k.a. a little burned) and I have found that coconut oil makes the vegetables softer than I like.
• Sometimes I mix my oil in with a little dijon mustard for a different flavor.

We like spice at our house so from time to time my husband and I add a little crushed red pepper to our own serving of roasted vegetables.  I add goat cheese to my son's vegetables for an additional level of flavor.  

What vegetables are your favorite for roasting?  Herbs? 

Simple, Summer Pasta Recipe

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted, life this past year has been crazy to say the least.  We are still here, trying to make life as simple as possible for our little family.  We are still eating as clean as we feel is possible; there are times we eat  out or order gluten free pizza but 90% of the time our meals are clean.  We continue buying our food from the Farmer's Market and have tried new vegetables and meat, some to our liking and others not so much (wild hog sausage is not for us).  We are canning more and more with our new pressure canner and pressure cooker (I LOVE my pressure cooker).  It is a treat to have home canned beans, broth, jalapenos, and sauces at home.

Tonight I'm going to share a favorite recipe with you all that I hope you try.  It's a perfect clean recipe for a warm summer night.  Feel free to adapt it to fit your needs, I don't think I have made it the same way more than twice.

Simple Pasta and Veggies

Basic Ingredients:
A bag of pasta (we use rice pasta with rice and water as the only ingredients - use the kind of pasta you like but to make it clean, use pasta with limited, whole food ingredients)
A tub of Cherry tomatoes (cut into halves or fourths)
1 small onion
3 bulbs of garlic (more to your liking)
1-2 tbs fresh herbs (I used chopped basil and thyme)
1/2 cup broth (or the water you used to cook your pasta)
Chopped broccoli (to your liking, probably about 1 to 2 cups)
1/2 cup sliced black olives (or more if you like olives)
1/4 to 1/2 cup Roasted pine nuts or slivered almonds
Raw, organic cheese if desired

We add more veggies depending on what we get in our box at the Farmer's Market.  The last time I made it we had asparagus, mushrooms, bell pepper, and spinach.  Just chop the vegetables to your liking and add it to the mix.  The picture below is of all of our chopped vegetables.

1. Cook the pasta according to the package
2. Sauté all of the vegetables except the tomatoes and olives in a tbs or 2 of olive oil depending on how many vegetables you use. The length of time will depend on how crunchy you like your vegetables.  I put the onion in first and then the vegetables that take longer to cook go in, followed by the garlic, and the remaining vegetables.  I like my sautéed vegetables crunchy so I don't sauté more than 10-15 minutes depending on the amount of vegetables I have.
3. Add the tomatoes and black olives and sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes.  
4. Drain the pasta and add to the dish with half of the broth or water.  Stir for 2-3 more minutes and add more broth or water as needed.  
5. Add the pine nuts or almonds and you are finished.
6. We top ours off with a little nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and Louisiana Hot Sauce. 
7. You may add cheese to yours at this point if you want.

Mmmmm

 It's simple, beautiful, and delicious.

I hope this becomes a favorite in your family as well!