Shaved Zucchini Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts

Another amazing shaved salad courtesy of the wonderful mandolin!

(this version without cheese)

Ingredients:

2 regular Zucchini or 8 to 10 Mini Zucchini (as pictured)

Herbs: Dill, Parsley, Mint (whatever you have)

1-2 Thinly Sliced Scallions (to taste)

Pine Nuts

Ricotta Cheese

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Lemon Juice

Lemon Shaving (Optional)

Directions:

1. Wash zucchini and shave into thin ribbons with peeler (or you can use a mandolin)!

2. Toast handful pine nuts

3. Arrange zucchini on plate nice and loose, top scallions on top, then chopped herbs

4. Salt & Pepper it

5. Add a couple of dollops of ricotta cheese (if you don't have ricotta, you can shave parmesan on top)

6. Grate lemon on top

7. Squeeze half a lemon (2 TBSP, to taste) onto salad

8. Add toasted pine nuts

9. Drizzle good generous amount of extra virgin olive oil on top

Cold Mediterranean Spinach Dish with Olive Oil (ZEYTİNYAĞLI ISPANAK)

This is one of my favorite traditional family meals. My grandmother and mother used to and still make this delicious treat. I have recently started making it myself and realized it is super easy to make! It is a mediterranean olive oil dish and can be enjoyed warm or cold. My favorite is cold with a dollop of yogurt. Enjoy! Rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and iron!

Ingredients: 

Big Costco Size bag of Spinach (regular or baby)
Medium Size Onion
2 Large Carrots
2/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup Water

tsp. Salt
Plain Yogurt (optional)

Directions:

1. Chop onion and carrots
2. Put chopped onion, carrots, salt, olive oil and water into large pot
3. Cook uncovered at medium to medium high for about ten minutes until onions are almost translucent
4. Throw in washed spinach, cover, bring heat to medium low and continue to cook for another ten minutes
5. Once spinach shrinks, stir up ingredients
6. Let it cook a little more (about 5 to 10 minutes, keep an eye on it) until water has slightly evaporated and sauce has thickened somewhat
7. Enjoy warm or serve cold (will last in refrigerator a couple days)

* Tip: I enjoy eating with some plain yogurt. Yum, Yum!!

Shaved Golden Beet & Asparagus Salad

If you don't have a mandolin, I suggest you invest in one now. It is an amazing kitchen tool that helps you turn any vegetable into an amazing shaved salad! Not only does it look pretty, but it allows you to easily eat many vegetables raw!!! This includes asparagus, beets, artichokes, carrots and more! Please buy one. If you don't have one, you can also use a peeler, but it will be harder with some of the veggies.

Here is what you will need:

1-2 Golden Beets depending on size

5-6 Asparagus (I used baby)

1 Baby Bok Choy

2 Small Israeli Cucumbers

Bunch of Fresh Basil, Parsley and/or Mint

Bunch of Arugula

Juice of 1/2 of Juicy Lemon

1/2 Clove of Garlic

1 tsp. Dijon Mustard

4 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Vinaigrette:

1. Combine Olive Oil with dijon mustard and lemon juice

2. Grate garlic and add to mixture

3. Add salt & pepper to taste

4. Mix well

Salad:

1. Prepare your herbs: wash them, chop the arugula, bok choy, basil, parsley and mint (or rip them into smaller pieces)

2. Mandolin your washed vegetables very thinly (beets, cucumbers and asparagus)

3. Toss vegetables, herbs and vinaigrette together

4. Enjoy!!

Savory Herb Coconut Pancakes with Cream Cheese and Lox

I used to love Lox & Cream Cheese on a Bagel. Ooh the creamy texture combined with the salty lox on a crunchy toasted bagel. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I definitely had been craving this for a few weeks until I decided to try something new. I used a simple coconut pancake recipe, which I tweaked for extra savory-ness and used it as a base for my new "Lox & Pancake." I hope you enjoy as much as I did. Yum yum. This recipe will make two large pancakes or multiple smaller pancakes.

Here is what you will need:

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of coconut flour (more or less depending on density of pancake desired)

1 tablespoon of butter

Salt 

Dill

Smoked Salmon

Cream Cheese

Capers

Herbs de Provence

Directions:

1. Wash and chop your dill (save some as garnish_
2. Beat together eggs and flour with a pinch of salt
3. Add desired amount of dill and herbs to mixture
4. Melt enough butter over medium heat to account for size of desired pancake
5. Pour batter into pan (if making small pancakes, there will be room to pour two or three)
6. After about 1 to 2 minutes (depending on pancake size), flip over and cook another minute to finish it off
7. Repeat steps 4-6 until batter is complete
8. Once ready to enjoy, spread desired amount of cream cheese onto pancake
9. Add smoked salmon and garnish with dill and capers
10. Most importantly, enjoy!!

Chia, hemp, walnut yogurt delight!

Here is a wonderful and healthy concoction that is perfect for breakfast or any time of day. Full of healthy seeds, nuts and berries... try your own combination. Helps keep you full and feel good about yourself.

Here's what you'll need:

Chia Seeds

Hemp Seeds

Buckwheat Groats

Cinnamon

Walnuts

Raisins (I used golden)

Dried Apple

Blueberries
Yogurt

Now put some plain yogurt into a bowl (I use Trader Joe's European Style because it's thinner in consistency, but you could easily use greek for more protein). Then sprinkle on this ingredients to your heart's desire. No need for extra sugar or honey because the fruit and cinnamon give it enough sweetness. But if you want a little more, honey or agave syrup could work!

Enjoy!!

Tough Mudder

Where it all started...

I know I haven't posted in awhile. I assure you though I have many pictures and recipes waiting to be added and I will soon! I am in the process of moving and finishing up some projects. I did want to share this photo though of me and my girlfriends at this year's tough mudder. It was so much fun, just like last year!! Woo hoo!! I cautiously recommend this type of adventure. It is tough, so make sure that you are mentally and physically prepared!

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Mashed Coconut Sweet Potatoes

Let me just begin by saying... Delicious! I was very pleased with how this dish turned out. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make some Corned Beef and Cabbage. I can't take credit for the Corned Beef, because I bought it from Trader Joe's. All I had to do was add some water and throw it in the oven for 25 minutes! But isn't that what most people do... I love that this brand was nitrite/nitrate free, therefore migraine free. :)

(This is a grain-free, gluten-free, Paleo diet friendly meal)

Anywho, here are the details...

Buy a Corned Beef Brisket (most come ready in a brine to be cooked according to directions. Trader Joe's had one pre-cooked that just needed some warm up time in the oven/microwave. I was looking for the kind that had to cook, but my Trader Joe's store is small. What I found was Pocino Naturals Uncured Corned Beef Brisket). The directions call for placing it in an oven proof dish, pouring one cup of water over the meat, covering with foil and sticking it in a pre-heated to 400 degrees oven for 25-35 minutes. Not ideal for throwing in cabbage towards the end. So I had to think fast... Here is what I came up with for my side dishes (mind you with ingredients that I already had at home, which was not much).

Sautéed Mustardy Cabbage

What I used (4 servings):

Half of a head of green cabbage (cut into slices and then broken up with hands)

2 Scallions (chopped up)

Tsp. of Dijon Mustard

1 TBL of butter

Water

First heat up your pan and add the butter. When melted, add the scallions and mustard. Cook until you have a nice aroma and add the pieces of cabbage in and mix until nicely coated. Pour a quarter cup of water over. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding additional water as necessary until cabbage is nice and tender. Yum!

Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I recently had a version of this at Mill Valley Kitchen, a great restaurant in St. Louis Park with a gluten free (plus many grain free options) menu. I decided I must recreate this amazingly sweet concoction. I admit I had no idea where I was going with this, but my gut led me to the perfect combination!

What I used (3-4 servings):

2 Yams/Sweet Potatoes

1 TBL Coconut Oil

1 tsp. Cinnamon (as much as you like)

Dash of Shredded coconut flakes (unsweetened)

Butter to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

I baked my sweet potatoes until tender (see recipe here for baked sweet potato - basically rub clean potatoes or yams with coconut oil and place on open foiled pan, poke holes throughout and stick in pre-heated oven for 45 min to an hour at 400 degrees). Once my sweet potatoes were done, I let them cool a bit, and then scooped out the insides into a bowl (you could use a food processor or blender to make them uber creamy, but mine turned out just fine with a little elbow grease). I added the coconut oil, coconut flakes and cinnamon and mixed well until smooth and creamy. I then added salt and pepper to taste. You can also add a little butter if you like.

So there you have it, two super simple side dishes to a simple corned beef dinner. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!! Happy St. Patty's Day. Don't forget to pair it with a nice Gluten Free Green Beer!

Note: I definitely have plenty of leftovers!!