Again, Strawberries top the list!
If it’s on the Dirty List, try to buy the organic version. If it’s on the Clean List, save money and buy conventional!!
Category: Food & Drink
Tabbouleh Salad
I had a dinner party this weekend with some close friends and I wanted to share with you one of the recipes everyone enjoyed, my Tabbouleh salad. Usually, this traditional Middle Eastern salad is loaded with parsley (almost 3 cups) but I prefer my salad to be a little lighter on the parsley side. Parsley has a mild bitter flavor and a little goes a long way. So in my version, I used both equal parts parsley and mint making it very summer-y, refreshing, and still high in vitamin A & C.
Serves: 6 people, 1/3 cup servings
Ingredients:
- 1 cup bob’s red mill red bulgur
- 1-3 sprigs of parsley (2 tbsp chopped)
- 1-3 sprigs of mint (2 tbsp chopped)
- 2-3 medium organic plum or vine tomatoes
- 1 medium organic seedless cucumber
- Redmond’s Real Salt
- Black pepper
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp fruity extra virgin olive oil
Instructions:
- Bring one cup of water to a boil; add the bulgur, cover, turn off heat, and let sit for 1 hour. DO NOT remove the lid for that 1 hour
- After 1 hour, remove lid, divide cooked bulgur evenly into two glass containers, and place in frig to cool off
- Remove the stems from the parsley and mint and put all the leaves in a mini food processor. Blend until the herbs are small, minced pieces. It should yield about 1/4 cup
- Chop up tomatoes and cucumbers into a small dice, removing all seeds from tomatoes and some from cucumber if necessary
- Add the herbs, 1 cup tomato, and 1 cup cucumber to one of the bowls of bulgur
- Season with salt and pepper; add salt, stir, then taste; keep adding salt until it’s to your liking
- Add the lemon juice and stir all the ingredients together; put back in the frig so all the flavors come together
- Right before you eat/serve it, stir in the olive oil
Turkey Fennel Meatballs & Quinoa Pasta
Cooking for someone who doesn’t like the taste or texture of onions? Try substituting with fennel! Raw it has a slight licorice taste however when you cook it down it doesn’t taste like much. It’s refreshing and adds a nice crunch!! In addition, fennel is high in vitamin C, B vitamins, and fiber as well as being soothing to the stomach and intestines. My recipe below has both onion and fennel but you can simply omit the onion and double the fennel if need be. Also, adding veggies to your ground meat can help you extend the serving sizes and feed more people. This is a good tip if you’re wanting to buy organic on a budget.
Fennel bulb, sliced
Yields: 7-8 meatballs
Ingredients:
- 1 pound organic turkey breast (90-94 percent lean)
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa (instead of bread crumbs; provides extra moisture and protein)
- 1/2 cup chopped fennel bulb
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 3-4 chopped fresh garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp dried or fresh Italian parsley
- 3 tbsp good olive oil plus a bit more for brushing meatballs
- 1 organic large egg, lightly beaten (optional)
- Celtic sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- One jar marinara sauce, preferably organic
- One box dried quinoa pasta, preferably Andean Dream
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients with a fork or gently with your hands
- Lightly roll the mixture into 2 inch round meatballs and place on a parchment lined baking sheet
- Spray or brush the meatballs with extra oil (I use my Misto olive oil sprayer or Kelapo coconut oil cooking spray)
- Bake meatballs for 30 minutes or until tops are brown and center is completely cooked (or bake for 25 minutes and broil on high for the last 5 minutes to brown tops)
- While the meatballs are baking, place the marinara sauce in a sauce pot on low to warm through and in another pot boil about 4-6 quarts of filtered water
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions, 6-8 mins, and drain
My favorite pasta brand!
Great Target find! So good
- Serve about 3/4 cups of pasta, 1/2 cup sauce, and 2-3 meatballs for each person
- I also served mine with roasted eggplant
- Top with Parmesan cheese, parsley and enjoy!
Served on an 8.5″ salad plate
Beef Turkey Tacos
Organic and grass-fed meats are pricier than conventional meats so the best way to get more meals out of each package is to add veggies! Adding in veggies like peppers and onions can almost double the yield you would get if you just browned up the meat. Do you have a picky eater that doesn’t like the taste or texture of veggies? Blend the green peppers and onions in a mini-food processor instead of dicing them. The veggies should just melt into the ground meat mixture and they won’t even know they are in there!!
Serves: 8-15 people 4 oz portions
Ingredients:
- 1 pound grass-fed ground beef
- 1 pound organic ground turkey
- 2 organic green bell peppers
- 2 medium yellow onions
- Kelapo spray coconut oil
- I head organic Bibb lettuce (Boston lettuce)
- Salt, pepper, granulated garlic to taste
- Optional- Organic carrot chips; Wholly guacamole; Sky Valley Sriracha sauce; Siggi’s Plain Greek Yogurt
Instructions:
- Wash your Bibb lettuce in running cold water and pat dry with clean paper towel
- Dice up both your onions and green peppers
- Spray coconut oil in your cast iron skillet and brown turkey meat. Season with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic; put aside
- Spray more coconut oil in skillet and brown ground beef. Season with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic; put aside
- Put the diced green peppers in the skillet and sauté in coconut oil until soft; put aside
- Put the diced onions in the skillet and sauté in coconut oil until translucent
- Put everything- ground turkey meat, ground beef, and green peppers- back in the skillet with onions to warm through
- Place two Bibb lettuce leaves on a plate and add about 2 oz portions of the ground meat mixture in each leaf
- Top with you favorite toppings! (pictured with Sky Valley Sriracha with a side of organic carrot chips and Wholly Guacamole)
My Organic Greek yogurt is a fake!
I made taco lettuce cups last night and I wanted to add to the usual topping choices, salsa and guac, with some greek yogurt. I had to make a special trip to the store because greek yogurt isn’t something I keep on hand (I usually don’t eat dairy). I wanted to be in and out so I went to the refrigerated dairy section, got my usual organic brand, and I also picked up a brand I have been hearing so much about.
When I got home, I realized I picked up Vanilla Greek yogurt instead of plain! I know some of you have done the same thing lol. Not only did I pick up the wrong flavor, I also picked up a fake!!
Ingredients: Cultured Pasteurized Organic Nonfat Milk, Organic Cane Sugar, Non-GMO Corn Starch, Organic Natural Vanilla Flavor, Organic Carob Bean Gum, Organic Vanilla Bean Specks, Gellan Gum. Live Active Cultures.
Why is it a fake? Because real Greek Yogurt has two ingredients, milk and live cultures. Greek yogurt starts by warming up the milk, adding in live cultures (good bacteria) and then straining the milk to remove the whey. What is left is a thick, dense, protein rich yogurt. This process usually takes a lot more milk (4x’s the amount of regular yogurt) and is more time-consuming. We all know the saying “Time is Money” so that is why most companies skip the straining process and choose to add in these thickeners instead because it saves time and money; but you’re paying more for an inferior product. Since there is no government labeling requirement for Greek yogurt, companies can simply add these thickeners to regular yogurt and call it “Greek”.
Let’s breakdown the ingredients listed above in bold:
- Non-GMO Corn Starch– is the middle part of the corn kernel that is ground into a fine white powder typically used as a thickener. It is a highly processed starch/carbohydrate, rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream, and has 7 grams of carbs per tablespoon. It has no nutritional value (no vitamins or minerals) and it is one of the first five ingredients so it may contain a good amount of starch.
- Organic Carob Bean Gum– comes from the pods or beans of the carob tree and acts as a stabilizer so the whey doesn’t separate from the yogurt. The verdict is still up in air about this ingredient being a gastrointestinal irritant and slowing down the elimination process.
- Gellan Gum– is a powder made from “the microbial fermentation of sugar and is used as an anti-settling agent, thickener or stabilizer” (source). In this case, it would keep the vanilla specks suspended throughout the yogurt and not settle to the bottom. The verdict is still up in air about this ingredient being a gastrointestinal irritant and slowing down the elimination process.
Now, let’s look at the other brand I picked up…
4 ingredients!
Pasteurized Skim Milk, Organic Agave Nectar, Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla, and Live Active Cultures.
No rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone)
Milk from grass-fed cows
No aspartame
No sucralose
No gelatin
No artificial colorings
No preservatives
No high fructose corn syrup
This yogurt is the real deal. It’s icelandic-style skyr which is simply strained non-fat yogurt; the same as Greek yogurt but the recipe is from Iceland. This brand is not yet certified USDA organic but the milk comes from grass-fed cows so it contains more favorable fatty acids- more omega 3’s, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and less omega 6’s- than conventional milk.
Want to see if your yogurt stakes up to its claims? Check the Cornucopia Institute’s Yogurt Scorecard rating: http://www.cornucopia.org/yogurt-scorecard/
Check out this link for a 20% off coupon for icelandic-style skyr: Target Cartwheel
Bottom line: always read the label, the fewer ingredients the better, and organic doesn’t always mean it’s a superior product
My recommendation: buy plain and just add in the ingredients you want, especially if dairy or gastrointestinal irritation is already an issue for you
Cuban Spring Rolls
This was the most random creation and it turned out to be so good! It was Super Bowl and I really wanted cuban sandwiches to serve alongside our wings and grass-fed burgers however I didn’t want all those carbs!! So this was my solution…a low carb cuban sandwich creation. All the flavors of a cuban but with 75% fewer calories.
Serves: varies on how many you make (1-2 per person)
Ingredients:
- 1 pack of spring roll wrappers
- 2 cups of green cabbage
- Applegate ham
- Applegate swiss cheese
- Dill pickle slices
- Yellow mustard
- Mayo
- 1 lemon
- Coconut oil spray
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Saute about 2 cups of cabbage in a pan, add salt and pepper, and place aside
- Place 2 cups of water into a glass bowl (wide enough to dip the wrappers in) and heat in the microwave for about 1 min or until warm
- Put all your ingredients on a counter with a good amount of space so you can make an assembly line to create the spring rolls
- Dip one spring roll wrapper into the warm water to soften and place wrapper on a clean, damp dish towel
- Begin assembling the spring rolls- put about 1/4 cup of cabbage on the wrapper end closest to you, place 1 slice of ham on top of cabbage, place 1/2 slice of swiss cheese on top of ham, and place pickle slice on top of cheese (I cut the pickle slice in half so i had two halves)
- Roll the wrapper end closest to you over the ingredients then roll in the right and left sides of the wrapper then roll the ingredients to the other end of the wrapper; you should now have something the resembles a spring roll
- Repeat process for as many spring rolls as you need
- Put spring rolls on to a parchment lined baking sheet and spray rolls with coconut oil spray
- Put spring rolls into the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes on each side (20 mins total)
- Mix 1 tsp of mustard for every TBSP of mayo to create the dipping sauce; squeeze some fresh lemon juice into the sauce to thin it out
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition Per Serving: Calories 135 Protein 9g Fat 8g Carbs 8g
Green Curry Pineapple Stew
I love keeping curry pastes on hand for an easy weeknight meal. If you’ve never tried curry before, this is not the taste you are thinking of! This green curry is a paste that looks like blended chimichurri (Argentinian green sauce) and is slightly bitter with hints of lime and lemongrass. In this recipe, the curry adds a little warmth and citrus flavor while the pineapple adds just the right amount of sweetness to balance out the flavors.
Serves: 6-7 4 oz portions
Ingredients:
- 6 chicken breasts, trimmed and cubed
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1/2- 13.5oz can full fat coconut milk
- 1- 20oz can pineapple chunks, in juice
- 3 tbsp green curry paste
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- Salt, pepper, granulated garlic and onion for seasoning
- Cilantro, avocado and lime slice for garnish
Instructions:
- Add the avocado oil to the slow cooker and toss in the cubed chicken breasts
- Season the chicken and give everything a good stir so the chicken is coated with the oil and spices
- Toss in the diced red onion and 1/2 can full fat coconut milk
- Turn on the slow cooker and let cook for about 2 hours
- Strain pineapple chunks and set aside
- At about 2 hours, open the lid carefully and stir in the green curry paste, diced green pepper, pineapple chunks (without juice), coconut aminos, and lime juice
- Cover and simmer on low for about 30 minutes or until the flavors come together
- Season to taste, squeeze fresh lime juice on top, and serve
- Garnish with cilantro, a fresh lime and avocado slice. Enjoy!
Nutrition per serving: Calories 344 Protein 27g Fat 14g Carbs 26g
Apricot Chicken
This recipe is a new favorite in my house! Making this dish was a bit of a gamble, being that my husband doesn’t prefer fruit in savory dishes and doesn’t care for Dijon mustard. But I had a good feeling about it and it was DE-LI-CIOUS!! It was so good I made it twice this week. It’s simple, easy, and you probably already have everything in your refrigerator.
Serves: 4 4oz protein portion
Ingredients:
- 3 chicken breasts, diced
- 1 Spanish yellow onion, diced
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp organic apricot fruit spread
- 1 tbsp organic Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp raw honey
- Salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder to taste
Instructions:
- Mix together the apricot spread, mustard, and honey in a bowl; set aside
- Melt the coconut oil in a sauté pan and brown the diced chicken breasts in batches; season the chicken as it cooks and set aside when browned on all sides
- Put the diced onion into the pan and let it cook for about 5 mins or until the onion is translucent
- Return the chicken to the pan and pour in the apricot mixture
- Stir to mix all the ingredients together
- Let cook on medium-low heat for about 7-10 mins
- Season to taste and enjoy!
Nutrition per serving: Calories 243 Protein 26g Fat 7g Carbs 18g
Thai Stew
This is my all time favorite recipe for the crockpot or stove top dutch oven! The original recipe is on Danielle Walker’s Against All Grain Crockpot Paleo Thai Beef Stew. I change this recipe around often because I usually don’t have all the ingredients on hand or my husband doesn’t want something spicy. The base of this recipe (protein, onions, garlic, coconut oil, and coconut milk) is so versatile that I’ve made a dozen spin-off recipes from it. This could also be a great side dish…leave out the meat, throw in your favorite bag of fresh or frozen veggies, and voila!!
Serves: 5-6 4 oz protein portion, 1/2 cup coconut mixture, 1 cup veggies
Ingredients:
- 1-1.5 pounds grass-fed or Greenwise beef stew meat; or 2.5 pounds organic chicken breasts
- 2-3 cups julienned carrots
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
- 1 spanish onion
- 1-4 garlic clove (I like more)
- 1/3 cup Pomi strained tomatoes; or 2 tbsp tomato paste for a more intense tomato flavor
- 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste (use 1 tbsp to make less spicy)
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp organic granulated garlic
- 1 tbsp Thai basil
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp anchovy paste (optional)
- 1 tsp light grey celtic sea salt (or more to your taste)
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Place the coconut oil, onion, and garlic in the pot
- Cut the meat into cubes and place in the the pot
- Stir to coat the meat evenly with the oil
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot
- Stir everything again to make sure everything is mixed well
- Place the instant pot lid on, close, and place the pressure valve on ‘sealing’
- Place on the ‘manual’ setting for 25 mintues
Stove top Instructions:
- Brown the meat, in batches, in 1 tbsp coconut oil
- Place the meat aside, use the remaining tbsp of coconut oil to sauté the onions and garlic
- Add in the ginger, anchovy paste, granulated garlic, curry paste, and can of coconut milk
- Stir to mix well then add in the browned meat, strained tomatoes, and salt
- Let the stew boil on med-low for 2-4 hours
- Add in the lime juice, coconut aminos, carrots, and veggies of your choice
- Simmer on low for 30 mins
- Serve and garnish the top with Thai basil
Nutrition per serving: Calories 495 Protein 29g Fat 25g Carbs 18g (Beef)
Calories 415 Protein 30g Fat 21g Carbs 18g (Chicken)
One Pan Chicken Meal
One Pan Chicken Meal
Serves: 8 4oz chicken portion, 3oz broccoli, 1/3 cup butternut squash, 1 onion slice, evoo
Ingredients:
- 8 organic chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup California Olive Ranch Rich & Robust Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp Frontier Adobo Seasoning
- 1-2 tsp light grey celtic sea salt
- 1 yellow onion
- Frozen veggies of your choice
Instructions:
- Marinate chicken breasts in olive oil, adobo seasoning, and salt for 8-12 hours in the refrigerator
- Place marinated chicken breasts on a parchment lined baking pan (I placed parchment in between the aluminum foil and chicken)
- Top chicken breasts with sliced onions
- Place frozen veggies of your choice along side chicken breasts (organic broccoli and butternut squash pictured)
- Season everything with black pepper, granulated garlic, and onion powder
- Bake for 45 mins on 375 degrees fahrenheit on bottom rack uncovered
- Remove from oven, season, and enjoy
Nutrition per serving:
Calories- ~235 kcals
Protein- ~32 grams
Fat- ~8 grams
Carbohydrates- ~11
Andrea Fernandez, RDN 
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