Recipes

It’s finally beginning to look and feel like spring. The temperature is rising and people are getting outside. My family has been out more enjoying this warmer weather. Have you?

Like most people, my family is on a budget. So we save money wherever possible. One way to do that is by making our own snacks and bringing those snacks with us when we go out. Having three children, someone is always hungry. Having healthy snacks on hand helps prevent us from having to stop at a store or restaurant every time hungry cries begin.

The recipe I’m sharing today is for our Chocolate Cherry Adventure Snack Bars. These are similar in taste and texture to a Lara Bar. They are gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy free, and 100% delicious! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup almonds
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup sweet and tart dried cherries
• 30 pitted dates
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the almonds in a blender or food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
2. Add the cocoa powder and salt. Pulse a few times to incorporate.
3. Add the cherries, dates, honey and vanilla extract. Pulse until a dough forms.
4. Line a 8X8 baking pan with parchment paper. (Note: If using a silicone baking pan, you do not need to line with parchment paper.)
5. Remove Lara Bar mixture from blender or food processor and press down into the pan. Be sure to pack it in firmly.
6. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
7. Slice into squares and eat. Any leftover bars can be keep in the refrigerator.

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If you’ve been following my Whole30 posts you know that I can’t have any sugar or other food additives. If you are a label reader you know it’s nearly impossible to find sausage from the store that doesn’t have sugar. Other frequently seen ingredients include mechanically separated turkey ( the cousin of  “pink slime” ), soy protein concentrate (soybeans, so they can use less real meat), sodium phosphates (another salt that’s been associated with kidney damage), dextrose (a form of sugar), sugar (more sugar), MSG (another salt), sodium diacetate (still more salt!), BHT( a preservative ) and caramel color (an artificial coloring containing two substances believed to cause cancer).

That is NOT what I want in my body! What’s a girl to do for breakfast that can’t have eggs, due to an allergy, or breakfast meat for breakfast? There aren’t a lot of options.

The addition of breakfast into my daily routine has been one of my hardest struggles this last month but it’s a Whole30 requirement.  The plan calls for eating something within an hour of waking. I was always a coffee not food kind of girl I started out by re-heating leftovers. This is a great option, especially if you’re short on time or you don’t have anything prepared. However, it’s not always satisfying to someone that enjoys breakfast food. I had to rethink my idea of breakfast and come up with something delicious and compliant to get me excited about breakfast.

Over on the Whole30’s website there is a forum for people thinking of or currently doing a Whole3o. It’s a fantastic resource. Connecting with people all over who have gone through this journey and have great ideas. Someone mentioned making their own sausage patties using ground pork or chicken and seasonings. I jumped on that idea! Next time I was at the store I went to pick up some ground pork. I couldn’t find any pork that wasn’t made with a “signature solution”. I’m not sure what that means, but it doesn’t sound appealing or compliant. I just went to my old stand-by, lean grass fed beef. I googled breakfast sausage seasonings. What I like to do when I’m trying a new idea or recipe is look at a lot of them, see what they have in common, and then come up with my own based on what I like. This recipe has been tried a few times, been added too, and tweaked. Honestly I’ll probably continue to make it differently every time.

Jessica’s Sage Breakfast Sausage Patties

• 4lbs lean grass-fed ground beef (feel free to use pastured pork or chicken)
• 1 onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 4 cloves of garlic
• sage
• garlic powder
• onion power
• paprika
• salt and pepper
• smoked chipotle (optional)

Chop your onion, garlic and bell pepper very finely, I use my food processor and pulse until it’s a consistency I’m happy with. In a nice big bowl put all 4 pounds of your ground beef and add your veggies. I used about a tablespoon of each of my seasonings, less of a the chipotle seasoning. You would want to add more or less for how much heat you want. Mix it up well with your hands.

Then form into patties. Make them a decent size, think hamburger patties, but thin, they will puff up when you cook them. I lay them on wax paper, layer them up and  freeze. Once they are frozen I tore each stack out and put them in individual bags. This made me 42 patties and I froze 6 together so I have sausage for 7 days.

Whenever you’re ready to eat take them out of the freezer and microwave for 30 seconds. This will make it easier to break them apart. Cook on a medium to medium-high heat for about 4 minutes on each side. I serve them up with a roasted green veggie and sweet potato hashbrowns. Yummy!

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You know what my favorite recipes consist of? As few ingredients as possible! When I look in a cookbook or a recipe to try on Pinterest, I’m always intimidated by recipes that have a mile long ingredient list. No one has the time or the money to scour their grocery store for 35 things, 12 of which they’ve never heard of and then pay out a ridiculous amount of money for a dinner you have to cook yourself. Have no fear my friends, I have a super simple, amazingly fast, healthy recipe for you today. Oh, and did I mention delicious?! It’s also Whole30 and paleo friendly, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Things you’ll need:

• 1 lb of chicken tenderloins (or any cut of chicken cut into smaller pieces)
• 3-4 florets of broccoli
• 1 sweet red bell pepper
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3T. of extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper
• lemon (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 350
2. Cut up your broccoli into bite-sized pieces.
3. Cut your red pepper into strips and then in half or thirds.
4. Smash and chop your garlic
5. Now throw all of your ingredients into a gallon sized bag or a large bowl with a lid. Add 2 T of your oil, salt and pepper. Toss well, until everything is coated with oil. Place on a cookie sheet or in a glass baking dish.
6. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Remove your chicken and wrap in foil to keep warm. Turn the oven up to 400 and cook your veggies for another 10 mins or so. The tops will start to brown a little.
7. Take the veggies out of the oven, add the chicken. Drizzle another tablespoons worth of oil over it all and squeeze half the lemon, toss lightly and serve.

This takes about 30 minutes from start to table. It’s one I tend to cook when I’m tired and I just need something quick and easy. I generally have all the ingredients on hand but I have modified in different ways. I’ve subbed sirloin for the chicken, cauliflower or fresh green beans for the broccoli. Basically what I’m telling you is toss anything in a decent quality olive oil and bake it for half an hour and it’s delicious. I promise!