Monthly Archives: June 2015

Salads

Bacon and Broccoli Slaw

Leave a comment

Bacon and Broccoli Slaw - Healing and Eating

This bacon and broccoli slaw is perfect for a summer picnic. It’s made with a homemade dijon lemon mayo, that uses coconut oil and olive oil. I love the pre-shredded broccoli stems from Trader Joes. It makes this dish really easy to pull together. You could even make it ahead of time. The mayo will keep for about a week in an airtight container. This is one of those dishes where the flavors meld together in the fridge and get better with time.

Bacon and Broccoli Slaw
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 8 oz uncured bacon (pork shoulder)
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 2 egg yolks
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup coconut oil
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 1 package of organic broccoli slaw from Trader Joes (contains 12oz shredded broccoli stems and shredded carrots)
Instructions
  1. Chop bacon into cubes and saute until fat is rendered and they start to brown. Remove them from pan onto a dish with paper towels to drain excess fat.
  2. Then to make mayo, separate the egg yolks and add them to a food processor. Then add sea salt, dijon mustard, and juice of 1 lemon. Then pulse a few times.
  3. Then melt coconut oil until it is in liquid form and slowly pour in coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil until it emulsifies.
  4. Then in a large bowl combine shredded broccoli slaw (or broccoli stems) with mayo and bacon. Mix throughly and enjoy.

Desserts

Avocado Honey Ice Cream

13 Comments

Avocado Honey Ice Cream - Healing and Eating

I know avocado honey ice might seem like a crazy flavor, but it was actually really delicious. The avocado taste is very mild and healthy fat gives this ice cream a nice rich texture. Make sure you use a high quality honey, since the flavor of the honey really shines through in this recipe. I’m obsessed with Honey Pacifica Creamy Wildflower Raw Honey. It’s local sourced and raw, plus the wildflower gives it a nice floral sweetness.

To preserve the lovely green color from the avocados, I made sure this ice cream is never exposed to air unnecessarily. I couldn’t help it when it was being churned in the ice cream maker (only for 18 minutes!), but when it comes to chilling the ingredients and then storing the ice cream in a freezer, use some saran wrap and push down into the mixture so there are no pockets of air. I use the same technique for storing guacamole. No air equals no browning.

Overall, I’m really happy with the way this recipe turned out and I would definitely make it again. I’m also really satisfied with my ice cream maker. It’s a Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, and I’ve been really happy with the way my recipes have been turning out and how easy it is to make ice cream. There is just one on and off button for churning ice cream, and as long as you have the right volume of ingredients and enough fat in your recipe, the results are awesome! You need the right volume, because the churning causes the ice cream to expand and if you overfill your ice cream maker things will get messy. Without enough fat, your ice cream will have the texture of sorbet, which I don’t enjoy as much. Especially, when my goal is to make a smooth and creamy ice cram.

Avocado Honey Ice Cream
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 1 quart
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups of full fat coconut milk
  • 1 cup of mashed avocado (about 4 small avocados)
  • ½ cup of honey (Honey Pacifica Creamy Wildflower Honey)
Instructions
  1. In a blender combine all ingredients, until smooth and silky.
  2. Then cover mixture with saran wrap, pressing into the mixture, to eliminate any pockets of air.
  3. Chill for one hour, then remove saran wrap and add mixture to ice cream maker.
  4. Follow directions on ice cream maker. Normally I have to churn the ice cream for 20 minutes, but this mixture finished sooner at about 18 minutes. The saturated fat caused it to solidify quickly.
  5. Then store in a freezer container, and again cover with saran wrap, eliminating any air pockets.
  6. Freeze overnight. When ready to serve, defrost tub for half an hour.
Notes
Use chopped raw pecans for a healthy topping.

Salads

Antipasto Salad

Leave a comment

Antipasto Salad - Healing and Eating

This antipasto salad is really easy to make and will definitely impress your guests. I used my Mom’s Dressing to marinate the veggies, which includes green and black olives, artichoke hearts, peppadews, and roasted red peppers. I also chopped in a few cucumbers … I couldn’t resist a little crunch, and put everything over some wild arugula.  I have some slices of genoa salami and rolled proscuitto on the side, but of course you could use whatever Italian cured meat you prefer. I skipped the cheese, because I’m intolerant, but if you can handle it, go for it.

Antipasto Salad - Healing and Eating

You can easily make most of this ahead of time, and assemble everything when you are read to serve. Or have guests assemble it themselves so they can add what they like.

Antipasto Salad
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 container of wild arugula
  • 1 cup of pitted mixed green and black olives
  • ½ cup of chopped artichoke hearts
  • ½ cup of chopped roasted red peppers
  • ½ cup of chopped peppadews
  • ¼ lb of salami
  • 3 oz prosciutto
  • 1 chopped cucumber
  • ¾ cup of Mom's Dressing(or Italian Dressing)
Instructions
  1. Chop artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and peppadews. Combine with olives and add ¼ cup of salad dressing. Marinate for a couple hours, two at least.
  2. Then when ready to serve, arrange salami and prosciutto slices. Add some wild arugula to the side and add marinated vegetables and chopped cucumbers over greens.
  3. Then drizzle some more salad dressing over salad and serve.

Condiments

Mom’s Salad Dressing

Leave a comment

Mom's Salad Dressing - Healing and Eating

This recipe is very near and dear to my heart. My mom used to make this every time she cooked dinner, which was often, so we had a side salad with our meal. It’s a very garlicy Italian dressing, that depending on the balsamic vinegar you use, can also taste pretty sweet. She also used a tsp of sugar in her recipe, but I substituted honey. The balsamic vinegar and honey give this recipe a nice sweet and sour flavor, and the garlic adds a spicy note.

In this photo, I’m using this dressing as a marinade for some veggies for an antipasto salad I’m making for dinner. I chopped up some roasted red peppers, peppadews, green and black olives, and artichoke hearts and I’m going to let all the flavors develop before I assemble the salad with the remaining ingredients: wild arugala, salami, and prosciutto. Here is the full recipe for the antipasto salad as promised.

Mom's Salad Dressing
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: ¾ cup dressing
Ingredients
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp dried basil
  • 2 large cloves of garlic, pressed (use 3 if on the smaller side)
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients together in a jar with lid.
  2. With the lid on, shake then serve over your favorite Italian salad.

Desserts

Easy Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream

2 Comments

Easy Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream - Healing and Eating

This easy vegan chocolate ice cream is made with only three ingredients – full fat coconut milk, cacao powder, and dates. The fiber from the dates and the fat from the coconut milk give this ice cream a rich and smooth creamy consistency. When it came out of the ice cream maker is looked and tasted exactly like chocolate soft serve. I kept it frozen over night to get the nice round scoops, but if you love soft serve, why wait?

For healthy toppings, I added some chopped pecans, which I consider a “dessert nut” and some in season raspberries. However, the sky is the limit and you can easily get creative and throw on whatever you like.

Easy Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 1 quart
Ingredients
  • 3 cups of full fat coconut milk
  • 18 medjool dates (12 oz)
  • ⅓ cup of cacao powder
  • (optional) a handful of fresh raspberries
  • (optional) a handful of chopped pecans
Instructions
  1. Blend coconut milk, dates, and cacao powder in Vitamix.
  2. Chill mixture for at least one hour.
  3. Take out frozen freezer bowl. This should be stored in your freezer.
  4. Assemble ice cream maker according to instructions.
  5. Turn on ice cream maker and pour in mixture slowly.
  6. Turn on for 20 minutes for soft serve.
  7. (optional) Transfer to a freezer friendly container, when finished and let harden.
  8. (optional) Add toppings such as raspberries and chopped pecans

Condiments

Lemon Garlic Aioli

2 Comments

Lemon Garlic Aioli - Healing and Eating

Although Lemon Garlic Aioli might sound intimidating to make, it is actually pretty easy. If you’ve ever made mayo, it’s a similar process to achieve the emulsification and that desirable creamy texture. I used the same oil base as my favorite coconut oil mayo, which is half a cup of extra virgin olive oil and half a cup of coconut oil. You could honestly do it with any oil, but these are my favorite paleo oils for health reasons. You don’t really taste the coconut flavor either, since the lemon and garlic easily overpower it.

The strong lemon flavor will taste delicious with any kind of seafood, although it could be eaten with anything. Lemon and garlic are flavors that are pretty common across a lot of different cuisines, and I know they are staples in my pantry. Seriously, when in doubt, buy a bag of lemons. A little bit of lemon juice makes food taste way better in my opinion.

Lemon Garlic Aioli
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2 eggs yolks
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup of coconut oil, melted
  • 2 pressed cloves of garlic
Instructions
  1. Separate eggs to get yolks, add to food processor.
  2. Then add lemon juice, sea salt, and pressed garlic.
  3. Turn on food processor and very slowly drizzle in olive oil, then coconut oil.
  4. Store in an airtight container for 3 to 7 days
Notes
yields 1½ cups