Julie's 'Sticky' Hawaiian Chicken

My friend Julie gave me this recipe and it is now a staple recipe in our house! We use chicken drumsticks with it, and we can get organic grass fed chicken for $1.29/lb. The only thing I did different was the sugar (see below), thanks Julie for the yummy recipe!

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 garlic clove or use garlic powder

1/2 cup MSG free soy sauce such as San-J Tamari

3/4 cup sugar (or a good squeeze of raw honey (about a 1/4 cup)- which is what I do)

1/2 cup organic ketchup

Organic free range chicken drumsticks (I remove the skin, but Julie keeps it on)

Mix ingredients and pour over chicken in a glass pan. Cover with foil and marinade in fridge for 2 hours or overnight, flipping once. Bake at 350 degrees, foil covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Remove foil last 15 minutes. Remember to baste or flip once during baking.

If you serve this with brown rice, you can pour the extra sauce on the rice- so good!!

Melt In Your Mouth Good Banana Muffins

This is the best recipe ever. It's from a Family Fun cookbook I own, and I have been using it for years. The problem is the shortening, refined sugar, white flour, etc.....so I changed it! And let me tell you I think the new version is even better than the last. Try it! You will LOVE it!

1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil

1/4 cup raw honey or 1 1/4 cup xylitol (you choose!)

2 free range eggs

5 overripe bananas

2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

60 % cocoa baking chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease pans with grapeseed oil spray.

Cream the oil and your choice of sweetener. Add eggs and bananas and blend until bananas are thoroughly mashed. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips if you choose. Divide among pans and bake: About 15 mins for mini muffins, about 18-20 minutes for larger muffins, and about 50 minutes for a loaf pan.

If you double the recipe, you should have enough to make one of each. I added the chocolate to only my mini muffins for variety. SOOOO YUMMY!!!!!!

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

My Mother in Law gave me this recipe and we all love it. It's super easy, super healthy, and who doesn't like a warm bowl of soup on a chilly day?

Put together in a stock pot over medium high heat:

3 cups free range organic chicken stock

1 cup water

5 carrots, peeled and choped

4 stalks celery, chopped

1 small/medium head of cauliflower, chopped into small pieces

1 bunch of kale, stemmed and torn

Season with pepper, garlic salt (or be better than me and use fresh garlic! It is flu season after all!). Add 2-4 cups milk depending on how creamy you like it, and 4 teaspoons of butter.

Add 1-2 cups of cubed uncured turkey or uncured ham deli meat if you choose to. Cook until veggies are tender.

Fall Pumpkin Muffins!

Pumpkin Bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie....I love fall! Here is a great and healthy recipe for pumpkin bread and or muffins that is not super sweet and super delicious.

1 15 oz can organic pumpkin

1/2 cup raw honey

2/3 cup unrefined coconut oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 large free range eggs

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup raisins or chopped nuts if desired

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease bottoms of loaf or muffin pans with grapeseed oil spray.

Mix first 6 wet ingedients. Stir in remaining dry ingredients. Divide batter evenly among pans.

Bake loaves for about 45-1 hour, mini muffins about 15 minutes, large muffins about 20 minutes. Just check them if you're unsure- no one likes a crunchy burned muffin!

You can also use this same recipe for zucchini bread, just exchange the pumpkin for 3 cups shredded zucchini.

Broccoli Soup

I love broccoli so this soup is heaven for me! I double the recipe so I can have leftovers.

Makes: 5 cups

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups free range organic chicken broth
1-2 packages (10 ounces) frozen chopped organic broccoli OR fresh broccoli, one good size bunch (I use fresh- so much better! Yum!)
1/2 cup water
4 large potoatoes, organic with skins attached
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1-1/2 cups milk

2 cups shredded monterrey jack cheese or white cheddar cheese (I use raw)

Directions
1. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in broth, broccoli, water, potato, pepper, salt. Heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low, and simmer until potato is cooked, about 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.
2. Puree soup in blender until smooth OR if you prefer a more chunky soup like I do, use a hand mixer and just puree it some right in the pot OR doing half and half works great. Half in the blender pureed and the other half just use a potato masher to mash it a little, then add the pureed half back to it and mix. Pour back into saucepan (If using blender). Stir in milk and cheese, and warm soup over low heat. Perfection.

Healthy Red Beans and Rice

This is my creation. And I will admit I am pretty proud. I think it's pretty darn good, for a beans and rice dish!! ;)

Cook 1/2 chopped onion, 3 chopped celery stalks, 4 chopped carrots and 1 chopped red pepper in 2 Tbsp's coconut (refined) oil until tender. Add one can organic red beans and one lb ground organic free range turkey, cook thoroughly (You could do 2 cans beans and no meat if you prefer). Season to your liking with (depending on how spicy you want it):

sea salt

pepper

garlic salt

cumin

turmeric

paprika

cayenne pepper

and chili powder

Serve over brown rice. You could cook fresh garlic in this dish too.

Amazing Chicken Curry Recipe From My Friend Rachel!

I got this recipe from my friend Rachel who grew up in Africa. It is an amazing and healthy recipe for chicken curry. It has become one our our staple meals we love it so much! Our favorite toppings are sour cream, tomatoes, avocado and onion. The picture possibly looks like puke...lol...but trust me, it is TO DIE FOR! I changed only a few things to make it suit us. Everything else is just as Rachel gave it to me!

Rachel and her mom's yummy recipe for Chicken Curry. Nothing has to be too exact and you can really make it your own by adding other ingredients that you like.

Chicken Curry

1-2lbs cut up organic free range chicken breasts

4-5 big potatos cubed

1/2 or 1 onion diced small

1-2 cloves garlic diced small

2-4 T grapeseed oil

2 Cups organic chicken stock

1-2 T tomato paste (can substitute with ketchup,leftover spaghetti sauce,etc.) I use organic ketchup

2-3T curry powder(the more you add the spicier)

1T paprika

Sea Salt and pepper to taste

4T whole wheat flour

Start out in a pot with the oil on medium heat. Saute the onions and then garlic after they are clear (couple min.) add the curry powder and paprika and saute for about a min. Get 2 cups of Chicken stock measured and ready. You might need to add a little more oil to the pot before you add the flour. Once you have done that use a wisk and gradually add in the flour to the olive oil mixture stirring constantly. The texture should be pretty creamy to thick. Continue stirring for a couple of minutes to cook the flour. Then begin to add the chicken stock. Keep stirring with the wisk the entire time the chicken stock is being added to the oil,spices, flour etc. Add the tomato paste and salt and pepper.

Phewph the hard part is over!

Cover and let the curry heat up to simmer turn heat down and cook for as long as you have time stirring occasionally(1 hour is good, but a few minutes is fine too.)

Then add the cut up chicken and potatoes and simmer for about 20 minutes until the chicken and potatoes are cooked through and the curry has a nice consistency. If you want you can add a cup of sour cream at the end, it adds some creaminess but isnt necessary. I have found that the longer the curry cooks, the more the tastes change of the curry. When you start at the beginning the curry may taste a little off and not salty enough, but then by the end it may be much spicier and salty as everything cooks, so less is more and you can always add curry/salt later if you need too. If you want the curry to be spicier you can always add a little cayenne pepper and more curry powder.... beware...!

Serve over brown rice.

Topping ideas:

dicedtomatoes

cilantro

sour cream

diced onion

avacado

salsa

nuts

anything that sounds good!