Guilt-Free Friday-Turned-Saturday: Pop-Tarts / Breakfast Pastries

Here's little man with Daddy at the Red Bud Lighted Parade

I was doing good for awhile there, posting Guilt-Free FRIDAY recipes on FRIDAYs.  But, I've been on a slight bit of overload lately, and yesterday just slipped out from under me.  The new house has finally been picking up a little more momentum and Harlee started potty training - he's been at it for a little over a week now and he has been doing AWESOME - spent the last two days going potty all by himself without me having to ask him.  Goodbye diaper days!!  I can honestly say I don't understand those parents who get all teary about their kids growing up - I LOVE it.  I love all these new phases and next steps he enters into.  Like lately his imagination has been developing.  He'll sit at the stove with me and play with utensils over an empty pan and say he's cooking eggs.  He'll ask me to "taste" them but warn me that their "too hot".  THIS is what I've been waiting for.  I'm not really a newborn kind of person.  But this imaginative toddler thing?  LOVE it.  I don't miss those baby days at all but I made sure to savor them while they were there, just as I am doing with these days, and I can't wait for all the new adventures his little life brings us.

But on top of all that, I've been needing to get ready for the Christmas home tour put on by the Red Bud Chamber of Commerce.  No, the new house is not on the tour - that seems to be the popular question - the current house we live in is on the tour, in hopes that somebody might be interested in buying it, as it's for sale.  Since we have to move and all.  But I wasn't sure if the move would happen before Christmas or not, so to be on the safe side (and not have to unpack and repack and unpack and repack a whole bunch of Christmas decorations) I decorated for Thanksgiving.  But before we did that we had to pack up the majority of our junk and start hauling it out to the new house.  It's insane how much stuff a small family can accumulate through a few short years.  So many boxes are moved out to the new house and I don't even miss any of it... I think I'm just going to have a huge garage sale or something just so none of it has to come into the new house once it's finished.  But anyway.  It was a lot of work, balanced amongst Justin working 13 hour shifts 7 days a week for a month and a half, me picking up more clients at my business, and trying to run the household as we know it.  Craziness!  Needless to say I rejoiced when Justin got laid off from this last job.  Whew!  Mostly because he cleans better than I do... :)  We packed and moved and cleaned and scrubbed and I got it all pulled together today while Justin sat in a tree waiting for the right deer to walk by, and I must say I'm pretty pleased with it.

Last night was the Run Rudolph Run 5k and the Red Bud Lighted Parade (see picture above of my cute hunters watching the floats go by), on top of a busy day at the office and preparing for the tour Sunday.  So needless to say Guilt-Free Friday did not happen.  But it's happening now!  Better late than never!  I have so many recipes... double chocolate cake cookies, cranberry orange brownies, peanut butter birthday cake with chocolate fudge icing - all big hits with requests to share the recipes - but this has been sitting in my archives the longest, and since creating the first recipe I've come up with two flavor options, so I figured I better get this one out of the way first.  Plus everyone who's sampled these have begged me to post, so here it is!


Okay so sticking a Kellogg's Pop-Tart in the toaster and eating it is really WAY easier than making these guys by hand, but they're sooooooo bad for you... I'm so embarrassed at the thought that I'd consider Pop-Tarts an actual breakfast even into my early adult years.  Thank goodness I discovered Paleo/clean eating and put a stop to that thought process!  Yeah they're pretty tasty, I'll give them that, but NOT breakfast.  Processed pastry crust with processed sugary "fruit" filling with artificial colors and ingredients... why would anyone want to start their day on that?  Why is that considered okay?  Probably because it's quick and easy.

Unfortunately, these are not quick... they're not too difficult but I still can't say they're easy either.  But they're REALLY good, and they're WAY better for you than those totally unhealthy Pop-Tarts.  So just make up a bunch of them when you're feeling ambitious and stick them in the freezer to save for those rushed on-the-go days!  Because they can't get any easier if they're already pre-made!

So, set some time aside, clear some space in your kitchen, and get cracking!

Crust: (adapted from a sugar-cookie recipe from Elana's Pantry)

3 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup honey
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a hand mixer (or whatever you've got on hand) until a dough forms.  Press half the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out to about 1/8" thin.  Cut with a pizza cutter into 2"x3" rectangles and place in the freezer.  Don't skip the freezer part - this dough is super sticky and impossible to work with unless it's set up in the freezer a bit.

Filling:

4 cups fruit (berries, diced apples, etc)
3/4 cup water
3-4 tbsp maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
*If you're using apples, add 2 tsp cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until thick and bubbly and jam-like.

Pop-Tarts / Pastries:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Take your crust out of the freezer, place one of the sheets of parchment paper on a baking sheet and carefully transfer half of your cut rectangles onto the sheet.  Spoon a bit of filling onto each rectangle, take one of the remaining rectangles and place over top and pinch the edges down with a fork.  Place in the oven a bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Eat warm or let cool and enjoy!

 Or you can press the dough into muffin cups and fill them that way - they make cute little mini pies!  Bake about 10-15 minutes.

Guilt-Free Friday: Paleo Pie Crust + Paleo Mayo/Ranch Dressing = Veggie Pizza

Four recipes in one post?? Jackpot!  All at once you're going to learn how to make a pie crust, how to make mayonnaise, how to turn that into ranch dressing, and how to combine all those to make the popular party food, veggie pizza!  Which is rather convenient considering all the family gatherings you have coming up with the approaching holidays, right?

A bunch of us moms got together one evening for some social time for us and playtime for our kiddos, and turned it into a potluck-style dinner, which worked great.  Chili, hot dogs, and dessert were all accounted for, but I've come to a point in my life where if I don't have a veggie with my meal then I feel all out of sorts.  It's weird.  I realized this the night my whole family was all together after Granny's funeral helping polish off some of the donated food.  Huge pan of lasagna, huge pan of spaghetti, and lots of garlic bread.  I felt so lost.  So many carbs... no balance... agh...  I'm pretty certain that was when my body decided to revolt and make me sick.  So now I'm being careful when I attend gatherings.  Sure I'll indulge and eat crap but it's nice to have some balance.

So I volunteered to bring some sort of veggie to this gathering, and of course my mind wandered to the classic veggie pizza - you know - Pillsbury biscuit crust, ranch dressing loaded with processed junk and preservatives, shredded cheese (did you know that stuff also has a bunch of additives that help keep it in shredded form and not clump together? yum yum...), and veggies on top to make you feel like you're eating something totally healthy.  But not really.

I needed to switch up the crust and the dressing.  Cheese, eh, I'd throw it on there even though dairy is still gray area in my book, but I shred my own cheese so I know it's ONLY cheese that I'm eating.

So I found this pie crust recipe on Elana's Pantry  and I doubled the recipe plus added some baking powder to fluff it up a bit.  Here's what we've got:

4 cups almond flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp melted coconut oil (refined so you don't have the flavor, unless you want that)

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine all four ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand or with a hand mixer until a dough forms (you might have to get in there with your hands too).  Place between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out into a rectangle, about 1/4" thick.  Trim the edges smooth if you're OCD about that.  Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes.  Let cool before adding any toppings.

Then for the mayo, which is so crazy easy I know I'll be making it all the time, I found this recipe on Eat Live Grow Paleo, and here's how it goes:

1 egg

2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

3/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

 

Combine egg, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and pepper in a food processor.  Once thoroughly combined, keep the processor running and begin pouring a very SLOW, THIN stream of oil into the mixture.  It should begin to emulsify.  Keep the stream slow and steady until all the oil is incorporated.  Mine is actually a lot thinner than I would expect mayo to be when it's done, but after refrigerating it for a bit it thickens up and acts just the way I want.  Yummy!  Bring on the chicken salad!  This recipe makes one cup.

 

Okay so turn that into ranch dressing with:

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp dill

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

Mix it all together with your cup of mayo and voila!  If you'd like it a little thinner, add some unsweetened coconut milk to it, about 1/4 cup is probably about all you need, and pour that over a salad!

THEN, chop up some cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots, take your cooled crust, slather it with ranch dressing, shred some cheddar cheese on top of it, and top with the veggies and take it to a party!  Ta da!

Guilt-Free Friday: Strawberry Chicken & Spinach

I'm not very creative when it comes to naming dishes.  So if anyone has a better idea, do share!  But for now, I'm naming it pretty much what it is.  It is also super delicious.  Sometimes I just impress myself!  I love strawberry or raspberry vinaigrettes anyway, and I was kind of in the mood for something like that but also wanting something simple, plus I had a bunch of spinach to use up.  So, voila, this happened!  And I am rather proud of it!  I'll be making this again, for sure!

I'm currently working on a ranch dressing, and ultimately a veggie pizza, so stay tuned for that, I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out!

Here's how today's recipe goes:

1/2 cup refined (preferably expeller-pressed) coconut oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups spinach, stems removed,
1 cup strawberries, divided
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
crumbled blue cheese (optional)

Cut about 3 strawberries into small pieces and place in a medium saucepan with the chicken, coconut oil, and vinegar and cook over medium heat.  Just before the chicken is cooked all the way through, add in the spinach and walnuts and stir until chicken is thoroughly cooked and spinach is wilted.

Remove from heat and serve hot topped with remaining strawberries (sliced) and blue cheese crumbles (optional).  Enjoy!

Seizing the Moment and the Irrelevance of Age

It's late at night and I'm awake thinking about aaaalllll kinds of things.  I decided instead of lying there listening to Justin and Harlee breathe while staring at the ceiling processing my thoughts (or attempting to, anyway), I'd just start writing them down here.

It all started with my thoughts on moving my business to a ground-level location (I'm on a second floor - not good when you're wanting to help fix people but the people you want to fix are too injured to make it up the stairs...) and all the different options that come with that, to new promotional ideas for the business, to continuing my education in a different field later on down the road and where I want to take that, and then I went off on a different tangent thinking about our new house and how I feel pretty determined to start fresh when we move and convert, officially, to chemical-free, meaning making my own cleaners, detergents, and personal products, and then I must say I got kinda excited at the thought of making my own lotion bars and experimenting with different scents and healing properties with essential oils.  Then I thought about how I could blog about that once I get it all underway, which got me thinking about this blog and how I'd like to publish a cookbook with the recipes I've shared on Guilt-Free Fridays and design meal plans and stuff like that...

And there's your glimpse into my crazy mind, which usually resembles a busy intersection at rush hour most of the time.  My brain needs a traffic light or something.

This jumbled mess of thoughts led me to think about how grateful I am to only be almost-28.  There's so much I want to do, so much I'd like to achieve, and being young gives me the chance to get to all of it eventually.

But then I thought about Granny, and how we all thought she could at least have another 5-10 years left in her.  And I thought about Justin's dad, who passed in his 40s.  I thought about a recent tragedy of the death of a wonderful young guy in town not long ago, at the young age of 25.  I thought about a good friend of Justin's who passed in high school.


And suddenly I realized, being 28 has nothing to do with anything.  Sure, I could assume I'm just over a quarter of the way through my life, but I don't know that.  I could be halfway through.  I could only have a quarter left to go...  We just don't know when our time is up.  I can't just go about my business right now being grateful I'm young and assuming I'll get around to doing stuff later.  What if there isn't a "later"?

So, out of all these thoughts going in all different directions, I did pull from it the valuable realization that age is irrelevant, and that if I want to achieve something, then I should just do it now.  Well, within reason - it's really not feasible for me to start over with school at this point in my life, and that IS something that will need to wait awhile (and I'm totally okay with that).  But why assume I'm going to start making lotions and soaps when I move to the new house?  I could start experimenting with it now.  Why decide I'm not going to put a cookbook together until next year or the year after?  I could just do it now, or at least get a start on one.  I don't want to get wiped out tomorrow and have people say, "Poor Jami, so many dreams and goals she could have achieved right away if only she had just done it instead of assuming she had time to get to it later..."  Or worse, I don't want to all of a sudden find myself in my 50s or 60s and think, man, I wish I had done that when I was younger instead of putting it off assuming I'd find time for it later.

And so here I am, instead of lying in bed staring at the ceiling hoping to drift to sleep, putting off sharing these thoughts in a post for some other time, I'm writing these thoughts out to share with you now so that maybe I can help motivate you to stop putting things off too and grab life by the horns and live in the now.  Stop thinking you don't have time and instead make time.  If you want to learn to play the guitar, then make time for it and do it.  Think of how grateful you'll be in a few years from now that you decided to take the plunge and just go for it.  If you want to run a marathon, then just start training now instead of saying, oh, maybe next year.  If you've been following this blog and like all the recipes I post and the information I share and want to make the change to living a healthier lifestyle, then just do it now instead of assuming it'll be a New Year's resolution or something.  Just go for it.  Dive into life.  Set yourself up so that you won't have any regrets in the future.  And if you are in your 50s or 60s and you happen to be someone who's thinking, "Man, I wish I had taken up mountain climbing years ago, I could be climbing mountains now," then go take up mountain climbing now, there's no reason you can't!  Remember, age is irrelevant.  What if you wind up being someone who'll magically live to be 150?  I know that's far-fetched but seriously, think about it, suddenly 50 or 60 isn't very old anymore, is it?  We don't know when our time is up.  So just live life in the moment and make every moment count.

And that's my motivational speech for the night, thank you overactive brain.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Now go do something productive that you can look back on when you're 80 and say, "Man I'm glad I did that!"

The Cure for Cancer - Part II

Yeah, I'm back with more to say on the cancer topic, and I apologize in advance if I climb higher and higher on a soap box again this time, but, sorry, I kind of feel a little strongly about the subject after recent events.  I've had a few friends lose loved ones to cancer as well recently, so it hits even closer to home.

It was mentioned to me that I could have possibly come off as offensive in my last post, referring to breast cancer research fundraiser items as "pink junk".  And suddenly I've become hyper-aware of this "merchandise" - I'll drive through town and see signs outside of shops saying their "breast cancer jewelry is 20% off" and I can usually count at least 5 people a day, if not more, wearing shirts that have pink ribbons on them.  So, yeah, with that post boasting over 200 readers (yikes when did this blog become so popular?), I guess it's possible I could have offended somebody.

So I'll just take this moment to apologize to any of you that I may have offended.  I honestly didn't intend for anything I said to be taken that way.

I just don't want to see any of you keep pouring your money into this billion-dollar-a-year industry that doesn't seem to be making any headway with "finding a cure".  I'm sorry, it's been around since at least 1913, and we haven't gotten anywhere yet?  We just keep poisoning cancer patients with chemo, time after time after time.  For over 100 years.  A good friend of mine's sister had breast cancer, and after beating it she did all the walks and participated in all the fundraisers and sported her pink merchandise, and suddenly it dawned on her - where is all this money going?  Look at all these people doing the walks - wearing the pink - donating, donating, donating... Where is that cure, already?  She stopped donating, feeling as though she finally saw the light.

If you truly believe your money is going towards helping the "doctors" "find a cure" and donating towards the "research" makes you happy and feel good about yourself, then by all means do it.  I do feel good intentions are worth something great in the long run, and filling your heart with the good feeling that you did your part to help out is definitely worth something too.  So I'm not stopping you if this is the case.

Actually, I just found a great article written by Barbary Jacoby, a breast cancer survivor herself, who is irritated by all the "pink stuff".  Here's an excerpt from it:

 "Here is my suggestion.  Why not take a portion of your company’s profits and make a direct contribution to the breast cancer organization of your choice.  Let me know what you have done by posting signage at your venue or in your advertising.  I don’t need to buy a T-shirt that says that I am a breast cancer survivor but I do need to buy T-shirts and I will buy from you because of what you are doing to help this cause.  I will still watch my favorite football teams but they don’t need to run up and down the field in pink uniforms to let me know that they support breast cancer awareness.  I don’t know of a single survivor who wants to wear the pink ribbon all of the time.  Everyone who knows us knows that we are survivors and they don’t need to be reminded of it on a daily basis.  And as a matter of fact, I don’t want to be reminded of it all the time myself nor do I want to be defined by the fact that I am a survivor.  And for those who have lost the battle to breast cancer, believe me when I say that is not the reason that they want to be remembered.  They want to be remembered for the loving, caring, giving and wonderful mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers or friends that they were."

My heart goes out to anyone who is battling any kind of cancer, and to the people who have lost loved ones to it.  I know multiple people personally, have several relatives, and I can only begin to imagine not only the physical strain it puts on the body, but the emotional toll it must take too.  It's an ugly thing to have to deal with.  So, truly, I don't mean to offend anyone with my views on the organizations trying to raise money to put a stop to this.  I hope that's really what they're doing.  But I don't trust them enough to donate, and that's just my opinion.  I do know I want to take matters into my own hands when it comes to my health and my family's health, and prevent this ugly illness in the ways I trust and believe in.

But I'm not telling you to stop donating, I'm just telling you to think.  Here's what I do feel like I want to tell you to do though: Look out for yourself and your loved ones and prevent cancer from happening in the first place.

As some of you may have seen on my recent Facebook status, I had a great conversation with a lady that started out with her giving her sympathies about my grandma, and saying that she's got several friends who recently lost loved ones to cancer, and pancreatic cancer in particular.  "What is going on?  Why does this keep happening?  What causes this?" She asked.  It was so refreshing to hear.  I hardly ever hear anyone question the cause, it's always about curing it after it's already happened.  So I took the opportunity to give her my two cents.  "I'll tell you my thoughts," I said.  "I feel it's a mix of different causes, the two main ones being too many medications with damaging effects on our organs, blood, and cells, and the other being the kind of diet we eat, which is filled with processed junk, synthetic ingredients, and artificial additives.  We should not be putting chemicals in our body, and we should be eating food that originated from the earth and not a factory."  She wholeheartedly agreed with me when I told her diet soda and artificial sweeteners were probably a HUGE factor when it comes to cancer, in particular pancreatic cancer (which is the organ in charge of regulating blood sugar).  We talked about vitamins, how they're full of synthetic ingredients too.  I said you need to be careful which ones you take, and I proceeded to tell her to STOP taking her Women's One-A-Days, that they're just as bad for her as diet soda.  I don't know if she did that or not... but it felt good to at least raise her awareness.

I guess we can't really be safe from anything in the long run.  I mean, there's toxins in the very air we breathe, and in the end those toxins could cause us to develop cancer, too.  But it doesn't hurt to try to do what we can to reduce our chances of getting it.  What are cancer cells?  Defective cells our bodies made by accident.  What could make those cells get out of control?  A weakened immune system, and further damaging our cells by consuming junk that is full of crap our systems don't know how to process or digest.

I know I'm repeating a lot of the same things I said in my last post.  But I feel so strongly about this.  And there are so many people in my life that I care about, and now I and so many of my friends have kids of our own, I just don't want to see any of you head down this road, and I don't want to lose any of you the way I lost Granny.  Don't set yourselves up for it.

And again, I'm sorry if what I said about the pink junk was offensive, but it's simply how I feel.  I don't want to hear people complain about not being able to afford to eat clean but then turn around and donate to cancer charities.  The cure lies in your pantry, in your choices in how you care for your body and your loved ones around you.  Stop waiting around for a "cure", we've been waiting for it for over 100 years, take responsibility and prevent it from happening to you in the first place.


http://truth-out.org/news/item/9716-jobs-for-the-cure-does-your-donation-go-to-cancer-research-or-salaries-and-overhead   ← this is a very interesting read, just saying...

Guilt-Free Friday: Honey Mustard Chicken Stir-Fry

Well, no cute Halloween or Fall-themed recipe here.  So I figured I'd pull one out of the archives.  I hope everyone else had a better Halloween than Harlee did.  Our little construction worker was all ready to go, I spent the afternoon at the sewing machine making his vest and his tool belt, only for him to crash at 4pm, curled up in a ball on the couch watching a movie... and feeling rather warm :(.  His fever never got higher than 100, so I left it untreated (here's why), loaded him up with essential oils, and sat on the couch with him to snuggle.  I tell you what, there is some wicked junk going around, seems like there's no escaping it this time around.  I was feeling a little queasy a few days ago, shortly after spending a long day at my grandmother's wake hugging or shaking the hands of hundreds of people, so I'm thinking one of those well-intentioned hugs shared a little more than just sympathies with me..... added to the fact that my immune system was down because of all the junk I'd been eating the past few days, it's no wonder I caught something.  So apparently I had to share it with my son too.  What a nice mom I am!  He insisted on going to Oma and Opa's house and Grandma's house, so we shifted our plans of visiting all the different family members down to visiting just two houses and then going home to watch The Great Pumpkin.  Fortunately he's getting back to being his perky self this morning, so whatever it was that he had was short-lived.

So this is a dish from a previous night.  I was in the mood to cook something, but it was turning out to be another late night with Justin's crazy work schedule, so I decided I'd try out a stir fry.  Then I'd only have to think about one dish, no sides, because all the meat and veggies are right there having their own happy little party together in one bowl.  Easy.  I like easy.  And this is actually the first stir fry I've made in my Paleo life, so I'm pretty proud of myself, and I believe there will definitely be more to come, and probably soon!  This tastes amazing and smells amazing as it's cooking, too.  I honestly can't wait to make it again.  Maybe I will, I do have more of those veggies to use up!


3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1/2 cup refined coconut oil (so it doesn't have the coconut flavor) or 1/4 cup butter
1 large carrot, cut into small sticks
1 1/2 cups cut green beans (about 1 1/2" long)
2/3 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced width-wise
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp yellow mustard

Prepare ingredients first.  Place chicken and coconut oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.  Let cook for about 5 minutes and add carrots and green beans.  Cook for about 5 more minutes and add the mushrooms a yellow onions.  Stir together for a few minutes and add remaining liquid ingredients and combine.  Cook until chicken is cooked through, carrots and green beans are tender, and onions are translucent.