March 2013 – BIG EATS tiny kitchen

Paleo Pad Thai (Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Paleo)

Published on March 26, 2013March 26, 2013 by Alissa5 Comments

This past weekend, while a blizzard was slamming into KC, we visited my family in Oklahoma City. The only thing this cold weather is good for is staying inside, cuddling, and cooking. However, my middle sister and I ventured into the cold blustery winds for a long training run in preparation for the OKC half marathon. Running with her made it worthwhile. I was also able to get some great cooking time in with my brother (who makes the BEST salsa) and my youngest sister. My youngest sister is such a great cook and she’s only 14! We made a butternut squash and lamb stew and some paleo cobbler. MMmmmmm. The recipes should show up soon.

But seriously…April is next week. Easter is this weekend. Spring has not sprung. It’s on vacation and evidently it is having a great time not showing up anywhere around here! Winter is sticking around like a cold-hearted and deceptive ex girlfriend that just WON’T GET THE HINT.

No one needs your cold wind, 10-foot snow drifts, one lane roads, icy sidewalks, gloomy skies…

We’ve moved on. We want something new.

I want green grass!

I want to grill out!

I want patio weather!

I want to see the tulips that I planted and not all this stupid snow!

I want to show off my super dayglow white legs, people! *STOMP STOMP STOMP* Gimme it!

My grumptastic attitude was especially fueled this morning when I slipped and fell hard on my back, elbow, ass, and shoulder after getting home from an early morning workout. This just added to my ailments. I was already walking around like a fight gone bad from shoveling 1,000 pounds of snow from the loooooongest driveway in the world and hauling half a cow (dead, butchered, and frozen into steaks, roasts, and other deliciousness) down into our basement and into my deep freezer. I hurt. So. Bad.

I guess I should quite being such poop bomb and just embrace it. If only I could sit around all day and drink hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps, then I would be OK with crap weather. GRRR.

If you are also fighting the persistent winter doldrums, then I suggest you embrace it and make some comfort food. This Paleo Pad Thai is the best thing to amp up that attitude. Using spaghetti squash in place of noodles turns this comfort food dish into a healthy anytime dish! The Thai Nut Sauce is addictive and would be great as a dip. Enjoy!

Paleo Pad Thai (adapted from The Clothes Make The Girl)

Serves 6

1 medium-sized spaghetti squash (yields 3 to 4 cups of squash noodles)
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
2 lbs chicken meat (breasts or thighs), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium carrots
4 to 6 cups of mixed veggies (such as broccoli, green beans, mushrooms, bell peppers)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped green onions, green and white parts
Thai nut sauce (recipe below)
fresh lime slices for serving
salt to taste

Thai Nut Sauce

1/3 cup almond butter (smooth or chunky)
1/3 cup canned coconut milk (light or full fat)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 inch piece of fresh garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1 to 2 tablespoons siracha sauce
salt to taste

Instructions

Microwave the spaghetti squash for 1 1/2 minutes. Cut in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the halved squash cut-side down into a large glass casserole dish with 1/4 cup water. Microwave for an additional 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from microwave and allow to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until you can handle it. Once it has cooled, use a fork to scrape the inside of the squash and remove the squash flesh or “noodles” from the skin. Place into a medium bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine all of your sauce ingredients. Set aside or place in the refridgerator.
In a dutch oven or large pot, heat coconut oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken pieces until no longer pink, stirring frequently. Add carrots and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add remaining vegetables and cook until warmed through (about 5 to 10 minutes). In the winter, I use an assortment of frozen vegetables. Reduce heat to medium-low and add squash “noodles”, green onions, and Thai nut sauce, stirring to combine. Allow to heat through and add salt/pepper/Thai chili paste to taste.
Serve with additional lime wedges, green onions, and cilantro.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust (Grain Free, Gluten Free, Paleo)

Published on March 21, 2013March 20, 2013 by Alissa11 Comments

Pizza, beer, and a movie is my idea of a perfect date night. I’ve been hunting around for a good grain free pizza crust recipe. Who knew cauliflower would come to the rescue!

Cauliflower is like the working mother of five or even fifteen. It can transform into so many different things…mash it, roast it, puree it, rice it, grill it. And now I’m adding one more thing to the list…crust it…that is, pizza crust, my friends. I was really amazed at how much this tasted like pizza.

Get out your handy dandy food processor and rice that cauliflower. Combine the riced cauliflower with eggs, seasonings, and some almond flour. Preheating a pizza stone and applying the cauliflower pizza “dough” onto the preheated stone helps produce a crisper crust. Prebake to get a golden crust. Then top with whatever toppings you choose. I have included my easy homemade pizza sauce recipe as well. Friday pizza night is back on!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust (slightly adapted from Love and Lemons)

1 cauliflower, diced in 1/2-inch pieces
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder, onion powder, salt
1 teaspoon each of oregano and parsley
3/4 cup almond flour

Homemade Pizza Sauce

1 6 oz can of organic tomato paste
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon each of oregano, basil, and parsley
1 teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a pizza stone in the oven and allow to preheat.
Chop cauliflower into 1/2-inch pieces. Place cauliflower flourettes into the food processor and pulse for a “riced” consistency. Don’t go too far or you will puree it. Remove from food processor and place the riced cauliflower into a microwave save bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients and mix to form into a wet ball. If it is too sticky to handle, add more almond flour. Gently knead it a few times to help it come together. Remember…this is cauliflower, NOT all purpose flour so it will not resemble typical pizza dough.
Remove the preheated pizza stone from the oven or use a baking sheet. Place parchment paper on top of the stone or baking sheet. Press the cauliflower “dough” ball onto the pizza stone or baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Gently mold it into a 1/4-inch thick circle.
Bake at 450 F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
For the pizza sauce, combine all ingredients into a medium bowl. Top the baked pizza crust with the homemade pizza sauce.Then top with your favorite ingredients. We topped ours with cheese (not paleo, but I really wanted some melty cheese), pepperoni, jalapeño, and mushrooms.
Bake for about 10 minutes.

Poached Eggs on Broiled Portobello Mushrooms

Published on March 16, 2013 by Alissa5 Comments

Let’s get fancy….but not toooooo fancy.

This recipe is adapted from Sophie Dahl’s cookbook “Voluptous Delights”, a beautiful cookbook that features sexy, delicious, and seasonal food! This cookbook makes easy food look sophisticated and sexy.

She uses Portobello mushroom caps in place of english muffins in a lighter version of an Eggs Benedict. Portobello mushroom caps are huge and meaty and a great way to rock your breakfast world. This breakfast makes you feel like you are at a top class brunch spot.

But what really takes the breakfast to the next level is the perfect poached egg! Check out the tutorial here.

This breakfast is fancy enough to serve to a group for brunch. It is also easy enough to make for just yourself on a lazy weekend when you would rather just sit around in wool socks drinking coffee, filling out the crossword puzzle, staring at the dust on your shelves that just does not go away by itself…uuugh…, wondering when your taxes will just do themselves, dreaming about cabins that you want to build when you win the lottery, watching reruns of HGTV and wishing that maybe someone will come “crash” your home, and helping yourself to another mimosa because hey you need your fruit serving for the day!

Poached Eggs on Broiled Portobello Mushrooms (Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Paleo) (adapted from Sophie Dahl)

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 Portobello mushroom caps, stems and gills removed
2 eggs
2 to 4 cups of fresh spinach, cleaned
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cleaned Portobello caps stem side up on the parchment paper. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon of olive oil each and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
While Portobello caps are roasting, poach eggs as shown here or cook as desired.
Add about 1 teaspoon of olive oil to small skillet placed over medium heat. Sauté spinach until slightly wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.
Remove mushroom caps from oven when done. Place one mushroom cap on each plate. Divide wilted spinach between the two mushroom caps. Top with the poached egg. Season with salt, pepper, and fresh thyme.

Grain Free Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Published on March 10, 2013 by Alissa2 Comments

Sometimes we all just need a cookie.

Sometimes nothing else cures a long day or a rough week like homemade chocolate chip cookies.

But being gluten free, warm chocolate chip cookies became a ghostly memory that haunted me with melty goodness. Were they that good? Maybe not. Maybe I just beefed it up in my imagination. Like ALF…I mean really…that show could NOT have been as great as I remember it. A hand puppet alien? Really. Anyone?

And then my girlfriend Tessa made a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies made with almond flour. I was floored. It was like a hug wrapped up in a cookie. It was soft. It was chewy. It tasted like the real thing! Like the kind that my mom would make on cold winter days.

And then it happened…

I snapped. I couldn’t stop thinking about those COOKIES. Those amazing cookies.

I woke up in the middle of the night. COOKIES.

I smelled them in my dreams. COOKIES.

I kept coming up with bad excuses to make them. HEY, Let’s celebrate me getting gas in my car! COOKIES? Hey honey, you look great in plaid…COOKIES??? I’m so sorry that you worked on a Saturday….COOKIES?????

They solved all my problems last week. I had to hide a few in the freezer so that my cookie-monster husband didn’t eat them all. So for special occasions I will warm a few up….like “hey, I organized my sock drawer and found most of the missing socks”….Time for a cookie and a milk stout!

Grain Free Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies (slightly adapted from Against All Grain)

Makes 2 dozen small cookies

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter or ghee
1/3 cup honey
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (such as Honeyville)
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (use Enjoy Life chocolate chips for dairy free)
1/4 cup walnut pieces

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine melted butter, eggs, and honey. Whip with a fork until combined and creamy. Add almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until a dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chip pieces and walnut pieces until combined.
Using a tablespoon, scoop out dough and place on parchment paper or silpat mat on prepared baking sheet. Flatten out cookie dough slightly with either the back of the spoon or your fingers. The cookies won’t spread during the cooking process. Therefore create the shape that you want before you bake the cookies.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F until lightly browned on edges. Remove from baking sheet and allow to cool on wire rack.

Almond Flour Biscuits (Grain Free, Gluten Free, Paleo)

Published on March 2, 2013 by Alissa3 Comments

In most diners in small Oklahoma towns, B&G…that is biscuits and gravy…is a standard side that comes with your breakfast. You typically can get two eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes aaaaand B&G for under $7. Oh I forgot hash browns…you always get hash browns. Oh and you will get a stretcher to roll yourself onto and go into a food coma.

But ooooh that B&G. I dream about it. Even though it is presented as a mere “garnish” to that HUUUGE breakfast, it so amazing. The gravy is so thick. The biscuits are so light, so fluffy, so buttery. Sure it packs a huuuge caloric and carbalicious load on the badunkadunk. But let’s not ruin my B&G dreams.

After realizing that I had a gluten intolerance, I thought I would never have a soft, flaky, buttery, amazing, warm biscuit again. I have tried making grain free biscuits using coconut flour, but I was less than impressed. Tropical flavored biscuits are a far cry from flaky biscuit heaven.

But I couldn’t give up. I found this basic almond flour biscuit recipe on Elana’s Pantry. Victory!!!! These almond flour biscuits are much closer to my beloved southern biscuits…flaky and buttery. I made the basic biscuit recipe and also adapted a batch by adding cinnamon and raisins. Mmmmmm.

Don’t expect these to taste like real buttermilk biscuits, people…once you give up gluten…those suckers are gone. But these grain free biscuits are the closest I have tasted. I just have to remember that by giving up gluten, I have gained so much in the way of health, tummy comfort, and hormone balance! So with that in mind, these come in really close to the read deal in taste. Plus they stand head and shoulders over the “real deal” when it comes to health, protein power, and the fact that they don’t pack on the poundage on the budunkadunk.

Now I just need to tackle a gluten-free gravy….I’m not so sure that is going to be possible. But challenge accepted!

Almond Flour Biscuits (adapted from Elana’s Pantry)

Makes 8

Basic Ingredients

2 1/2 cups almond flour (I use Honeyville)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter or ghee (or coconut oil)
2 Tablespoons honey
2 eggs (at room temperature)

Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits Add-ins:

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper (or silpat mat) on a baking sheet and set aside.
Combine all the dry ingredients (almond flour, baking soda, salt, and optional cinnamon) and blend well with a fork. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients (honey, butter, eggs) and combine with the dry ingredients. Mix until a dough forms. (If making cinnamon raisin biscuits, stir in raisins now).
For easier handling, roll the dough into a ball and place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
Take the dough out and form biscuits with your hands using a 1/4-cup scoop, rolling into a ball and flattening to about 1 inch thickness. Or place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it to a thickness of about 1 inch and cut the biscuits with a cookie cutter.
Place the biscuits on the prepared parchment paper on the baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for about 12-15 minutes, or until they’re browned on the outside and a toothpick stuck into the center of the biscuit comes out clean.