Zoodles and Meat Sauce

Spaghetti used to be a staple around these parts.  My fiance is not much of a cook, but man could he boil some pasta and add a jar of sauce like nobody's business.  Since I took all his fun away by ridding the house of grains, he's been missing a good bowl of spaghetti.  

If you've tried to find pasta sauce in the grocery store that doesn't contain odd ingredients or sugar, you know that can be a difficult task.  It really is simple to make at home.  

Zoodles and Meat Sauce

Prep: 5 minutes, Cook: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

14 oz diced tomatoes

6 oz tomato paste

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp oregano 

1 tsp basil

1/4 tsp sage
8 small zucchini (use about 2 zucchini per person)
olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef and saute the onions and garlic, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasoning to the skillet and stir to combine.  Let simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes.
3. While the sauce simmers, run the zucchini through a spiralizer to create zoodles.
4. In a separate skillet on medium heat, add the spiralized zucchini and drizzle with olive oil.  Toss the zucchini to evenly coat with the oil.  Saute for about 10 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender.
5. Serve the meat sauce over the zoodles, and enjoy a new version of an old favorite!

Serves: 4 hungry people

  

Orange Creamsicle Smoothie

Remember those popsicle with the vanilla ice cream in the middle with an orange outer layer?  I loved those when I was a kid.  Which is odd since it doesn't contain chocolate...  

This last weekend, I decided I needed those flavors in my life again. 

Orange Creamsicle Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 medium oranges

1 can full fat coconut milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup of ice

Directions:

1. In a blender, add one pealed and sectioned orange, juice from the second orange, coconut milk, vanilla and ice.  If you're not a fan of pulp, just juice both oranges.
2. Blend the ingredients until all the chunks are gone.  I'm sorry I just said "chunks" in a recipe.  Twice.

Serves: 2

Enjoy!

Sausage, Sweet Potato and Apple Hash

Hey there!  Hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!  

I'd say we had a successful weekend!  Along with celebrating the birth of my fantastic Bavarian dude, and Mother's Day, we also figured out the dessert for our August wedding!  On Saturday, we headed down to Seattle to visit Jodee's Desserts near Greenlake.  Jodee is such a sweet lady, and wow, her desserts are amazing!  Jodee's Desserts is an organic, gluten free, vegan bakery.  We sat down for a tasting and were blown away.  Her pies have a cheesecake-like consistency with a nut crust.  Her truffles are to die for!  It was really hard to choose what desserts we wanted to have for the wedding, but really, we couldn't go wrong with any selection.  Now we're set!  Feels good to check another item off the list!

If you're near Seattle, do yourself a favor and stop by for a treat.  You can find Jodee's here: http://www.jodeesdesserts.com/

Dessert tasting at Jodee's in Seattle.  So much yumminess!

Today, I'm happy to share with you one of my favorite things to make for breakfast!  Every weekend, you can be sure I'm cooking this one up.

Sausage, Sweet Potato and Apple Hash

Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork sausage, mild seasoning

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 orange sweet potato, diced

1 granny smith apple, diced

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, add the ground sausage and onions.  Break up the sausage and cook for about 10 minutes or until cooked through.
2. Add the diced sweet potato and apple to the skillet.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon and salt, and stir to combine.  
3. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.  Stir the hash occasionally to release the yummy brown bits from the bottom of the skillet.  

Serves: 4

What's your favorite thing to make for breakfast?

Two Steps Back, and Recipe: Asian Chicken Slaw

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!  We celebrated early this year, since Mondays are workout nights in our house.  While we were at the butcher shop on Saturday, we picked up an awesome looking flank steak to make carne asada.  It came out great!  Super tender and great flavor from the marinade I threw together.  We paired up the carne asada with Mexican cauliflower rice, and some grilled bell peppers and onions.  I whipped up some guacamole and shoveled it into our mouths with some sweet potato chips.  Delish!  To top it all off, we had some fresh margaritas.  Great way to end a very rainy day in the northwest.  Seriously.  So much rain. 

Are you cooking up something special for Cinco de Mayo?

Cinco de Mayo Celebration for Two!

Feel free to hop on down to the bottom if you’re looking for that recipe!

Well friends, I thought I’d share a bit of what’s been going on with me these days.  Life has been a bit unpredictable lately.  I have been dealing with some monster abdominal pain for about a month.  It actually started over a year ago, but had faded in and out over that time.  Numerous doctor visits and scans, and we thought we had an answer, but it turns out that wasn’t the case.  It came back last month with a vengeance.  So once again, back to the drawing board to hopefully figure out what could possibly be causing all this pain.  It’s been rough.  I’ve missed work, I’ve had to cancel plans, and frankly I feel like I haven’t accomplished much of anything.  I’m happy for the times when I’m not in pain, but I am always on guard for when it might rear its ugly head again.  I think we’re getting closer to finding the cause, but I need to wait patiently for word from my doctor. 

It’s frustrating when you feel like you’re doing everything right, and yet these problems still come up.  Instead of focusing on what’s going wrong, I’m trying to remember the progress I’ve made in other areas of my health.  I have reduced my medication for my rheumatoid arthritis and, in general, I have more energy than I ever used to.  I’m actually amazed by how much I can accomplish in a day now, compared to my former life.

This is just a bump in the road, and I know I’ll get through it, just like I've gotten through everything else I've faced.  I'm ready to do what needs to be done to get back on track.  If I need to restrict the foods I eat, so be it.  I know I will get those creative juices flowing again, and it won’t feel like a restriction anymore. 

When I’m feeling well enough, I’m still getting in the kitchen to work on new recipes.  With my recent low energy though, I’m spending more time resting than cooking.  If you don’t hear a lot from me in the near future, just know I’m still here.  I’m thinking about all of you that visit here every week, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.  I love doing this, and I want to keep sharing with you all.  Sometimes the things you want to do, get overruled by the things you have to do.  Right now what I have to do might look more like rest, work (that “real” job) and doctor’s appointments,  rather than spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  If only I could cook from the couch…

With all that said, and sorry that was pretty wordy, I did get a chance to step in the kitchen and create something new this week.  Summer is just around the corner, and BBQing is getting into full swing (if it would just stop raining!!).  Having an easy salad or side dish to take to your next BBQ is always a must.  This dish goes together perfectly the day before.  Give it time, and the flavors get more and more intense!

Asian Chicken Slaw

Prep: 2 hrs/ 15 minutes, Chill: Overnight

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast halves, skinless

1 ½ cups broth (water, or combination of both)

½ green cabbage, thinly sliced

½ red cabbage, thinly sliced

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

6 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

6 Tbsp coconut aminos

4 drops fish sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp almond butter

1 clove garlic

1” piece of ginger

½ tsp salt

Directions:

1. Place the chicken in the bottom of your slow cooker and cover with broth.  Cook on high for 2 hours, or low for 4 hours.  Chicken is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
2. When the chicken is done, use two forks to pull the chicken apart.  Place the pulled chicken in the fridge to let cool.
3. In a large bowl, add the green cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, and cooled chicken, and stir to combine.
4. In a food processor or blender, combine the remaining ingredients and pulse until well combined.
5. Pour the mixture over the vegetables and chicken and toss to coat evenly.
6. Cover and store in the fridge for at least one hour.  I recommend to let it sit overnight to really get the flavors intensified.