Soups

Basic Butternut Squash Soup

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I happen to love butternut squash and think it tastes delicious by itself, with a little love from fresh ground black pepper and sea salt. Feel free to add your own flavors or ingredients. Sometimes, I also add in a white onion to bulk up the soup cheaply, add more nutrition (sulfur!), and because I’m crazy about onions. If you haven’t noticed, I add them to everything. Popular ingredients I’ve added into this soup at one point or another are cayenne pepper for spiciness, maple syrup or apples for sweetness, and apple cider vinegar for a tangy acidic flavor. I kept this soup strictly butternut squash, because it’s an awesome vegetable that really doesn’t need a lot of help to taste delicious. Feel free to experiment and let me know how it turns out.

Basic Butternut Squash Soup
 
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Ingredients
  • 2.5 cups of chopped butternut squash (trader's joes)
  • 1 cup of water (stock or bone broth if available)
  • 1 tsp of sea salt
  • 1 tsp of fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Steam and boil in liquid until soft about 20 minutes.
  2. Blend in Vitamix, or use immersion blender.
  3. Add sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. Add other spices if desired.
Notes
I kept the amount of liquid small so this soup recipe is very thick and could pass for baby food. Keep in mind, it's easier to add liquid, than to take it out.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1-2
Health & Wellness

You Know You’re a Health Nut … When Part II

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If you haven’t checked out the first part, I highly recommend it.

You know you’re a health nut

… when your heavy purse feels like it has bricks but it’s just a bag of apples.

… when you’re forced out to dinner you adjust the restaurant’s menu.

… when you wipe down your airplane seats with sanitizer wipes (it works!)

… when your family gets a grocery list for your special food before you visit.

… when you bond with your brother over his latest juicer.

… when all your food tastes like coconut oil.

… when your instagram is filled with food pictures.

… when you take home locally sourced offal in your luggage.

… when it takes at least thirty minutes to explain your diet.

… when your pinterest looks like tastespotting for diabetics.

… when your own health jokes leave everyone else confused.

 

Desserts

Dairy and Grain Free Thumbprints with Coconut Sugar

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For Christmas, we usually make this Thumb Print Cookie Recipe – from Favorite Recipes From Our Best Cook by Josephine Quagliana. This is an old cookbook from Nonny, my Italian grandmother, who gave this cookbook to my mother. My mom and I use this cookbook every year to make Christmas cookies. My mom and I decided to make an adapted version of this recipe that is gluten and dairy free.

Original Thumb Print Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 c. butter
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
2 c. flour
3 tbsp milk
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions
Cream together shortening and sugar. Beat in egg. Mix in salt, baking powder, vanilla and flour. Add 3 tablespoons of milk to dough. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in finely chopped nuts. Depress center with thumb. Bake on greased baking sheet at 350 degrees 8-10 minutes. Remove to cool. Depress center again. Fill with jam or jelly.

Dairy and Grain Free Thumbprints with Coconut Sugar
 
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Ingredients
  • ½ cup of coconut oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 cups of almond flour
  • 1 cup of coconut sugar
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups chopped walnuts
Instructions
  1. Chop walnuts in food processor.
  2. Mix coconut oil and coconut sugar with hand blender.
  3. Mix in sea salt, baking powder, vanilla extract and almond flour.
  4. Roll them in chopped walnuts, put on cookie sheet and add thumbprint.
  5. Refrigerate at least a half hour.
  6. Bake at 350 in a convention oven for 10 minutes.
  7. Move to cooling rack, redo thumbprint, and then fill with your choice of jelly. Our family always uses seedless strawberry jelly.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 4-6

Appetizers

Traditional Chopped Chicken Liver

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Traditional Chopped Liver - Healing and Eating

My mom found locally sourced chicken liver, and I really wanted to try this recipe with her. She got the liver from the Ramsey (New Jersey) farmer’s market. Bubby, my grandmother from my dad’s side, used to make this dish, so my mom had some idea what it should taste like and how to prepare it. It was really easy. I plan on making this recipe as often as I can find grass-fed chicken livers out in LA. I’ve had trouble tracking them down so far. I love eating this with cucumber slices. It adds a freshness to a a very rich food. Plus, I regularly snack on cucumber slices with sea salt and black pepper. Since there is quite a bit of both in this dish, I thought cucumbers would be a great paleo alternative to toast.

Traditional Chopped Chicken Liver
 
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Ingredients
  • 1.11 lb of chicken livers
  • 2 grass fed eggs (these were on the smaller side)
  • 1 tsp of sea salt
  • 1 tsp of black pepper
  • 1 sweet white onion
  • 1 tsp of coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Hard boil two eggs ahead of time.
  2. I greased a pan with coconut oil, I didn't want any coconut flavor so I used very little.
  3. Saute chicken liver until pink inside, about 5 minutes on each side. Feel free to chop them and check the inside. Set aside.
  4. Saute onions in leftover liver and oil bits until caramelized.
  5. Add onions, liver, and hard boiled eggs to food processor. Pulse until roughly blended.
  6. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste. Be generous. I used a lot of salt.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 4-6

 

This recipe is posted on Healing with Food Friday

Desserts

Raw Cashew Date Truffles

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I kept this recipe really simple because I love dates, and I think they taste great on their own. I normally try to keep them out of apartment, because I would snack on them all day and they contain a ton of sugar. So if you are seriously ill, consult your doctor or nutritionist before eating these.

I added some chopped cashews for texture and crunch. My fiance loves cashews so I thought I would make a lot and share them. If you like coconut, try using coconut flakes instead. Feel free to add some sea salt, cinnamon, or cacao powder to them if you want to mix up the flavors. I plan on keeping them in my purse when I fly back home to New Jersey, as a healthy alternative to sweets and granola bars. They would also be a great snack to take hiking, or when you need a little extra energy. This could also be a fun project with kids, as it is very hands on project and requires no baking.

Raw Cashew Date Truffles
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups of raw cashews
  • 12 ounces or 1 container of date paste
Instructions
  1. Blend or pulse raw cashews in food processor until you have a nice crumbly mix of cashews. (I ended up with extra cashew crumbs)
  2. Grab a small bit of date paste, mash some cashew crumbs into it and roll it into a ball in the palm of your hand, for best results.
  3. Then roll the ball in cashew crumbs again and roll again in palm, until cashews are pressed into truffle to reduce stickiness.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 8-10

Sides

Honey Mustard Glazed Brussel Sprouts

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Honey Mustard Brussel Sprouts - Healing and Eating
I wanted to experiment with my homemade Raw Honey Mustard, and was very happy with the way it turned out. In the future, I might try roasting this dish, instead of sauteing it, but I was crazy hungry and sauteing is quicker. Brussel Sprouts have a strong flavor, and I usually like to cook them with something sweet and savory. My roommate and I used to make them with pancetta and dried figs back in college, but that will be another recipe for another post.

Honey Mustard Glazed Brussel Sprouts
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups of brussel sprouts
  • 1 tbsp of honey mustard
  • 1 tbsp of coconut oil
  • 1 tsp of sea salt
  • 1 tsp of black pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat coconut oil in pan, and slice brussel sprouts in half
  2. Add brussel sprouts and honey mustard honey mustard to pan.
  3. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.
  4. Cook on high for 10 minutes, or until desired firmness. I like my vegetables very firm, cook longer if desired.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1

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