Chili Lime Turkey Burgers

When it comes to nutrition, I like to be sneaky.  Not in a malicious way, but I get a thrill out of serving food that has a lot of nutrition but is also damn delicious, because I like food.  It doesn’t matter how healthy something is, if I don’t like it, I’m not eating it.  I assume most people feel the same way.  I also like secret ingredients, not creepy stuff, just things you wouldn’t expect or wouldn’t know you were eating unless someone told you.  In the case of these burgers, the secret ingredient is mushrooms!  These burgers would be tasty without the mushrooms, you could substitute in shredded zucchini or carrots in place of the mushrooms, but I urge you to try it as written.  These burgers are gluten free, paleo friendly and are great on a bun, with a salad or served with my Baked Carrot ‘Fries’ with Cumin.  Enjoy!

A chili lime turkey burger warmed up and chopped into a salad.  The possibilities are endless!  Well, maybe not endless, but there are lots of ways to enjoy these.

Chili Lime Turkey Burgers

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 c finely chopped mushrooms (they are going in your burgers, so make ’em pretty small and choppy… You know what I mean)
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions (about 1/2 a bunch)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
Zest of 1/2 lime
1 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbs coconut oil for cooking burgers

1.If you have time, let your meat come to room temperature for a few minutes as you assemble your other ingredients.
2.Combine all ingredients and form into 4 equally sized patties.
3.Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat and add coconut oil to coat the bottom. I highly suggest using a cast iron skillet. Add 2 burgers to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes on each side, until cooked through with no pink remaining inside.
4.Serve with greens and Baked Carrot ‘Fries’ with Cumin.

Paprika Roasted Butternut Squash

It’s winter time here in Colorado, and that means I’m looking for excuses to turn on my oven.  Roasting squash, or any veggie for that matter, is a great reason to use your oven and this recipe only takes up one rack so you can easily roast this while something else also bakes.  Or you could easily double this recipe for a crowd.  Team squash!

Paprika Roasted Butternut Squash

1 medium butternut squash
2 Tbs coconut oil
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Equipment you’ll need:  A decent heavy handled knife to chop through the squash, a vegetable peeler, a decent sized cutting board, a mixing bowl, parchment paper (optional), a baking sheet.

Let’s get started!

1. Set your oven rack to the middle position and preheat your oven to 375° F.  Line your baking dish with parchment paper, or use a little extra coconut oil to coat the bottom well. Rinse and dry your squash then carefully chop off the ends.  Then chop the rounded end off.  Take out the seeds and peel the skin away.
2. Chop your squash into roughly 1″ cubes. Put your chopped sqaush into a mixing bowl.
3. Melt your coconut oil and pour it over the squash and add the spices, mix everything together. The coconut oil will solidify as it cools on the squash, but that’s ok, it will melt and coat the squash when it warms up in the oven.
4. Spread your squash evenly across the baking dish and place in pre heated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, be sure to check it halfway through the baking time and rotate the baking dish  or flip squash if it’s geting too brown on the bottom for your liking.  It’ll get kinda brown on the bottom, that’s going to give it that yummy roasted flavor you want.
5. Allow it to cool a few minutes before serving.  It makes a great side dish and is great the next day on a salad at lunch.

Enjoy and let me know how it goes if you try it!

 

Simple Braised Cabbage and Garlic

Another simple recipe because during the week I like recipes that don’t take a lot of time but that do taste good and make enough to use for another meal.  Also, cabbage is pretty inexpensive and easy to find pretty much anytime.  This recipe is gluten free, low carb, vegan and paleo friendly.  It’s a great substitute for pasta, or as a base for my Slow Cooked Chicken with Salsa.  Enjoy and thanks for following along!

See, it’s a huge pile of cabbage in my pan.  It cooks down every time, I swear! 🙂

 

Simple Braised Cabbage with Garlic

2 tsp virgin coconut oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium head of green cabbage, sliced into ribbons

Equipment: You’ll need a large skillet with a lid for this recipe. You can improvise a lid if your pan doesn’t have one, a plate (just be sure to remove it with a hot mitt, the plate will get hot!) or even a smaller pan can work just fine. I used a lid for a wok since my large pan doesn’t have a lid.

1. Be sure to have your veggies chopped and ready to go into the pan before you start this recipe, the garlic cooks FAST.
2. Heat your large skillet over medium heat. When the pan is warmed up, add your 2 tps of coconut oil and give it a swirl. Add your minced garlic and give a good stir, cooking for only about 30 seconds before adding your cabbage. It’s going to look like a massive pile, that’s okay! I promoise it cooks down. Add a few sprinkles of sea salt, black pepper and about 1/4 cup of water to the pan and cover.
3. Allow to cook covered for about 10-15 minutes, and be sure to give a good stir to the cabbage to give the cabbage on the top to get incorporated. If it starts to brown, add more water to the pan and lower the heat.
5. When your cabbage is crisp-tender remove from heat and taste. Add more salt or pepper as needed.
6. Serve with my Simple Slow Cooked Chicken with Salsa or with my Indian Spiced Paleo Beef Meatballs. It’s also a low carb, paleo friendly substitute for pasta!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, let me know how you use it in your meals!

Here’s the cabbage with my Indian Spiced Paleo Beef Meatballs, Roasted Butternut Squash, Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette and avocado.

Here’s the cabbage paired with my Slow Cooked Chicken with Salsa and some avocado.

 

Slow Cooked Chicken with Salsa

This recipe is almost too easy to be considered a recipe.  It has only 5 inexpensive ingredients, cooks in  the crockpot, is extremely versatile and has a lot of flavor.  It is also paleo, gluten free and low carb friendly.

Slow Cooked Chicken with Salsa

3 lbs chicken legs (approximately 9-10 chicken legs) You could the same amount of chicken thighs or breasts, but your cooking time may vary depending on the cut of meat.
1 cup 505 medium hatch chili salsa (or your favorite salsa)
1 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper

For the sauce:
2 tsp arrowroot starch (aka arrowroot powder), or cornstarch
Reserved sauce after cooking chicken

1. Place chicken legs in the base of slow cooker so that they cover the bottom, it’s okay if they overlap or if they don’t all fit on the bottom. Give them a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper. Pour the salsa and oregano on top to cover the legs. If they are not all perfectly covered, that’s okay.
2. Set your crockpot for 6 1/2 hours on low. If you get your chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temp (around 30 minutes) before you add to the crock pot, they will cook in about 6 hours.
3. Check your chicken at the end of the cooking time, it should be falling off the bone and cooked through. Give it more time if needed or if you are making a larger batch.
4. Carefully remove the chicken legs from the crock-pot and reserve the leftover sauce. Allow the legs to cool slightly and then remove the skin, bones and cartilage (pretty much remove anything you don’t want to eat). You can keep the bones in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for later use in bone broth, if desired. Break the chicken meat into chunks and set aside.
5. Warm up a non-reactive skillet over medium heat. Cast iron and copper pans are reactive, so don’t use them here. Stainless steel,enamel or a non-stick pan would be best. Add the reserved sauce from the crock-pot.  In a clean bowl, add the 2 tsp of arrowroot starch. When the sauce begins to simmer, add a little bit of the sauce to the bowl of arrowroot and whisk until it is smooth and no clumps remain, it will be a bit thick.
6. Pour arrowroot sauce mix into the cooking pan of sauce. Stir it to incorporate and allow it to continue to cook for up to 10 minutes more, turning down heat as needed until it begins to cook down and get thick.
7. When the sauce is your desired thickness, add the chicken and stir to cover with the sauce. Allow it to warm up and serve with the braised cabbage recipe below. It is also great on a salad, over rice or in a tortilla.

Chicken + salsa + spices. Could this get any easier?

 

Tangerine and Tart Cherry Cocktail

I’ve recently discovered the magic that is adding kombucha into cocktails. In case you are under the impression that alcohol can’t be a part of a healthy lifestyle, I’ll give you a few reasons why the ingredients in this cocktail are actually relatively healthy.  Kombucha contains probiotics, which are great for digestion while tart cherry juice helps reduce inflammation, promotes muscle recovery and helps with sleep.  This cocktail is made with potato vodka, which is gluten free.  So, if you needed some convincing, you’ve got it now. Cheers!

Tangerine and Tart Cherry Cocktail

1/5 oz potato vodka
2 oz tart cherry juice
2 oz tangerine kombucha (ginger kombucha would be a good substitution)
sparkling water (or seltzer)

Add ice cubes to your desired cocktail glass. Pour in your vodka, tart cherry juice, kombucha and top off with sparkling water, to taste.

Give a quick stir and enjoy!

References if you want to read more about tart cherry juice and it’s many benefits:

7 Ways Tart Cherry Juice Benefits You

5 Promising Health Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice

Chicken Cilantro Frittata

I’m feeling a cilantro-y southwestern theme to my cooking this week.  That is because 1. It’s January and I like to spice things up (literally) when it’s so dang cold out and 2. I bought a lot of cilantro this week. I realize that featuring 2 cilantro filled recipes in my first week of blogging may not appeal to everyone, it’s a very polarizing herb. If you’re in the ‘cilantro tastes like soap’ camp, I don’t take it personally and suggest you check out I Hate Cilantro, you might even find your soul twin.

But if you’re on Team Cilantro, you’ve come to the right blog. I’m kind of obsessed with frittatas, I make one nearly every weekend to have for grab and go weekday breakfasts. Frittatas (or crustless quiches, or egg bakes if you’d prefer) are the perfect make-ahead meal, they store well, are easy to customize and are a great way to use up leftover meat and veggies. This recipe can easily be doubled for a family, or you could make a half batch if you only want a few servings or don’t have as many eggs in the fridge as I always have. I’m a little crazy about my eggs.  This recipe is paleo, gluten free and low carb friendly.

(I used leftover rotisserie chicken, but you could use any chicken you have leftover. If you’re planning ahead you could even cook extra chicken the night before at dinner and use it in this recipe the next day.)

I used about 1/4 of a medium sized head of cabbage, but you could also use the bagged shredded cabbage that is usually used for cole slaw. Think outside the cabbage box!

Note to self: research if there is such a thing as a cabbage box…

Chicken Cilantro Frittata

1 Tbs cooking oil (I recommend coconut oil, butter or olive oil)
1 cup finely chopped onions (about 1/2 of a kind of big onion)
1 cup chopped mushrooms
3 cups finely chopped green cabbage (or a mix of red and green cabbage if you have it)
1/2 bunch of cilantro, washed and chopped, stems removed, set aside
2 cups cooked and chopped chicken
8 eggs, beaten in a large mixing bowl with 1 Tbs of water added and a sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper.
Mix all spices together in a small bowl:
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 375º F and chop all veggies. Preheat an 8″ oven safe skillet (or any medium sized skillet you have) over medium heat and add the 1 Tbs of cooking oil. I prefer using a cast iron skillet for this recipe, but if you don’t have one use what you’ve got.
2. Add your chopped onion, stirring occasionally and cook til soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the cabbage, mushrooms and a few sprinkles of the spices you mixed in a small bowl. Give it a good stir and cook til soft, another 4-5 minutes.
4. Add your chopped chicken to the veggies, along with the rest of the spice mix and give another good stirring. Let it get warm for a few minutes.
5. Ok, at this point if you’re not using an oven safe skillet then it’s time to get out a baking dish. A 9×9 would be appropriate, or even a pie pan. Be sure to oil your baking dish well so your frittata doesn’t stick. Pour your veggie and chicken mixture into your baking dish and just spread it out evenly. Then follow the directions below.
6. If you’re cooking in an oven safe skillet, spread out your veggie chicken mixture and just pour the beaten eggs on top. Keep on the stove top for a few minutes to let the bottom set a little and then put into the oven, being sure to use an oven mit on the handle! If you’re using a baking dish, just put it into the oven after you’ve added your eggs.
7. Set your oven timer for 10 minutes and when the time is up, remove from the oven (the handle of your pan might be pretty dang hot, be careful!) and sprinkle the cilantro on top. I bet you thought I forgot about the cilantro, huh?
8. Return your frittata to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until set. This means the edges are a little brown and it’s solid in the middle. If you’re using the skillet method, check it around 10 minutes since the skillet was already hot before going into the oven. If you’re using the baking dish method, give it a few minutes longer.
9. Let it sit a few minutes and then cut into 4-8 slices. It is great served with some salsa, avocado and tortillas, if that’s your thing. Or some spicy black beans, as in my photo.
10. Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it and how it turns out! Thanks for following along!

Indian Spiced Paleo Beef Meatballs

Source: Indian Spiced Paleo Beef Meatballs

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

You know what makes you feel like an adult-y wizard? Making your own salad dressings. Stay with me on this one, it sounds simple but it’s a game changer. Homemade salad dressings are so simple to prepare and add lots of fresh flavor that really bring a pop of complex flavor to simple salads. Make up a batch of this vegan, gluten free and paleo friendly cilantro lime dressing the next time you bring a salad to a family get together or potluck and feel like a real adult.

Here’s the finished product on a salad topped with the Indian Spiced Paleo Meatballs in the recipe below.

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette 

1 bunch of Cilantro, washed and roughly chopped (No need to remove the stems for dressing, just be sure to chop ’em up a bit to make it easier to blend.)
Juice of 2 limes (pro tip: save the leftover lime rinds in the freezer to use as lime zest in a future recipe)
1 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
1 clove of garlic
1/2 Cup plus 2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp of Sea Salt
1 tsp Honey
1/2 tsp Cumin
A dash of Cayenne

Put your chopped up cilantro into the blender with the lime juice, garlic clove, honey and apple cider vinegar. Blend up while slowly adding the extra virgin olive oil in a stream. When the dressing is a uniform consistency, add all spices and blend to incorporate. Sample your masterpiece and adjust seasonings as needed.

After your dressing has been stored in the fridge, the olive oil will solidify but don’t despair! When you want to use it again just set out your dressing a little bit ahead of time (30 minutes or so) to let it become liquid-y again. Or if you’re short on time, place sealed bottle of dressing in a sink of warm water to help it liquify a little faster.

Indian Spiced Paleo Beef Meatballs

Hey, you guys!  Can you hear me saying that in Sloth’s voice?  Cause that’s the voice I was using.  Anyway, here’s my first recipe post, I hope there aren’t too many glaring errors as this is new to me.  I was just too excited to not post.  These meatballs are paleo and gluten free friendly, great to make ahead and freeze and the recipe can be doubled with ease. Enjoy!

See the speckles on the lemon rind?  That’s cause I had it in the freezer, yes it’s a little frost on there.  Keep your leftover lemon rinds in the freezer and make people think you’re fancy and prepared when you add some lemon zest to literally anything at any time.  Also, you can freeze ginger and turmeric root for fresh flavor anytime.  It doesn’t even need to thaw out or be peeled.

Zested up lemon peel, ginger and turmeric root.  Have I mentioned how much I love my microplane?  It’s one of my favorite kitchen tools.

If you want to freeze these, then put the rolled raw meat into the freezer on parchment and put into a freezer bag once they’re frozen.  To cook later, simply bake frozen meatballs on parchment lined or oiled baking sheet at 400 degrees F until cooked through.

Indian Spiced Paleo Beef Meatballs

1 lb. Grassfed ground beef
1 TBS fresh turmeric root, grated (or 1-2 tsp turmeric powder.  Or if this isn’t in your cupboard, just use an extra tsp of curry powder)
1 TBS fresh ginger root, grated (or 1-2 tsp of ginger powder.)
1 TBS fresh lemon zest, grated (about 1/2 lemon)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp coriander
Dash of cayenne
2 TBS water

1. Let your beef come to room temp if you have time, this means letting it sit out on the counter for 30 mins or so. If you’re like “I need to eat NOW!” then don’t worry about that step.
2. Assemble your ingredients, find your microplane zester, your cutting board, a sharp knife, a mixing bowl, get out a baking sheet and put some parchment on it (or oil it up), preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Zest your turmeric, ginger and lemon zest with your amazing microplane (I always have fun with this tool) and mince your garlic. Measure your spices.
4. Mix all ingredients into your beef. The 2 TBS of water is just there to help mix things around. You can omit the water or add a little extra if you need. Using a Tablespoon measuring spoon, an ice cream scoop or large serving spoon, measure out hunks of the beef mixture. Place evenly spaced on your oiled or parchment-ed baking sheet and roll lightly to get uniform-ish shaped balls. I don’t like to make these too perfect, but that’s your call.
5. Bake at 400 F for 20-25 mins. Check after 20 mins and flip if getting brown on the bottom.
6. Let cool a little and enjoy!

Keys to Keeping Up the Good Work

I have been on a personal journey in search of a diet and lifestyle that best sustains my energy, elevates my mood, brings mental clarity and helps me maintain a healthy weight. Friends and family seem to think that I stick with my healthy eating and workouts 100% of the time, but the truth is I have my share of days when I have to convince myself to stick with it and some days when I honestly know I need to I give myself a break. I skip workouts, eat sugar and stay up too late, I’m human and I don’t ever expect to be any other way! For me, cultivating an outlook that allows for me to not be perfect is what keeps me going. In my studies, I’ve discovered a few tools that have helped me, what I like to call my Keys to Keeping Up the Good Work. I want to share these tools with you so that they may help you as well.

• Have an open mind and heart. Think of yourself as a researcher or scientist. You are trying to learn what works for you and this may take some experimentation and trial and error. Honestly, your experiment will last the rest of your life! If you can get curious about yourself, your journey and your motivations you will open up the possibility of discovering what works best for you. If you realize you were able to resist the box of cookies in your cabinet all week until you had an argument with your sister and then devoured all of them, if you can tell yourself, “that’s good information to have about myself, I was able to resist the temptation until I was upset” rather than, “I have no willpower! I give up and am gonna go ahead and order a pizza now!” you will be able to use your mis-steps as clues about what works for you rather than as fuel to feel bad about yourself. Being curious about your experience will help you be aware of yourself when you are tempted to sabotage your progress without being too hard on yourself about it.
• Tap into your determined nature. Are you feeling hopeful and determined to succeed in finding a healthy lifestyle that works for you? If you aren’t feeling this way (it’s okay if you aren’t feeling that right now, this process can seem overwhelming!), think of a time you felt determined to complete a task or accomplish a goal. No matter what the outcome was, tap into that feeling of determination or intrinsic motivation. No matter how big or small the task at hand may have been, you motivated yourself and you still have that ability! You have the determination within you right now to get you through the tough times during this process, and remembering that about yourself will help you to be successful in the future. There isn’t some special strength that some people have that you are lacking, you have the innate ability to succeed with your health goals. Inner resolve isn’t something you inherited at birth, it is something you cultivate and strengthen over time.
• Be kind to yourself! You may have things you want to change about yourself or your life (we all do, it’s human nature!) but if you aren’t friendly with yourself about it or constantly push yourself to be ‘perfect’, you may feel discouraged when you aren’t able to live up to your own high standards for yourself. Being kind to yourself can also help you to be realistic when setting goals, if you tell yourself “I’m going to the gym every day this week, will cook all of my meals at home, will stay away from all sweets and get 8 hours of sleep each night” and all of these are new to you, you may find it hard to keep up with all of it. Sometimes being kind to yourself may mean giving yourself a break when you need it, or it may mean pushing yourself to keep at your goals when you know you are making excuses and just need a little motivation. Giving yourself credit for your progress and for meeting goals, no matter how small you think they may be, is a way of showing yourself kindness. Being kind to yourself will look differently depending on the context of your life, but it will help you in many situations.
• Find the humor. When a recipe doesn’t turn out as expected (or you have left out a key ingredient of a recipe and it’s too late to add it, speaking from experience here), you drop the pot of chili on the floor or you show up to the gym without your workout shoes, it can be frustrating and make you want to give up. In frustrating situations, remind yourself that it’s not the end of the world, take a big sigh and tell yourself, “Oh well, I tried!” or tell yourself something else that sounds a little less like Charlie Brown, if that’s When you can have a sense of humor and not take yourself too seriously when things don’t go as planned, you will be better equipped to continue on with success rather that to see challenges as failures or reasons to give up.
• Remember that life is workable. The fact is that our existence is temporary and always changing, which means that nothing is permanent. If you have a rough day, week or month, remind yourself that what you are currently experiencing won’t last forever. If you are avoiding certain foods for a period of time to see how your body will feel without them, remember that your favorite foods will still be there if you choose to have them again in the future. Rather than telling yourself, “I can never have a cupcake again! This is terrible!” (that would be terrible, if you ask me), telling yourself “I am choosing to not have cupcakes right now”* will help you to continue in your journey. Also, knowing that life is workable means that you also know that it’s never too late to make a change or take better care of yourself, even if your efforts feel small and incremental.

*I’m not trying to call out cupcakes as ‘bad’, they are not ‘bad’ and neither are you if you’re eating one right now. Seriously. Enjoy yourself.

These are my main keys to keeping up the good work, there are many other tools that you already may have in place that you might not be giving yourself enough credit for. Is there anything else you’d add to this list? Have you tried any of these techniques I’ve mentioned? Have they helped you in your day to day life? I’d love to hear your feedback. Thanks for reading!