Garlic and Herb Baked Chicken

4 pieces chicken
3-4 Tbsp. wheat-free tamari soy sauce
4 large or 6-8 small garlic cloves
lots of dried parsley and paprika
1/2 tsp each basil and thyme
sea salt

Put washed chicken in a baking dish with about 1/4 to 1/3 inch water in the bottom.  Pour the tamari over chicken pieces.  Sprinkle each chicken piece very generously with crushed, dried parsley, covering the entire surface of each piece.  Next, sprinkle on just as much paprika.  Sprinkle about 1/8 tsp of basil and thyme over each piece of chicken and add sea salt as desired.  Crush the garlic and place it in the water surrounding the chicken.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-4- min.  After the first 10 min, baste the chicken with the garlic and juices from the bottom of the dish.  Baste every 10 min until crispy and done.

Pesto-Coated Baked Chicken

1 pound boneless skinless chicken cutlets (1/2 inch thick)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon prepared pesto
1 1/2 tsp sour cream
1 1/2 tsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
1 tbsp pine nuts

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Arrange chicken in single layer in shallow baking pan.  Combine pesto, sour cream and mayo in small cup.  Brush over chicken.  Sprinkle with cheese and pine nuts.

2.  Bake 8 to 10 min or until chicken is no longer pink in center.

Makes 4 servings.

Quick Ground Beef and Celery with Kidney Beans

After living with ranchers for three months it is now time to finally post a beef recipe!  All the beef we eat here is grass-fed and butchered here on the farm, and it's so much better than most other beef I've had.  We are so lucky!  If you can get your hands on good beef I think it's really worth it, although I suppose you might as well splurge and get some steaks or a roast if you're going to go to the trouble.

Anyway, this particular recipe is one of the simplest things in the world to make, which is exactly how I like my cooking.  This realization was reinforced today while perusing some rather fancy-schmancy gluten-free blogs.  There are some amazing GF blogs out there, filled with baking galore and all kinds of ways to reinvent the glutenous favourites we all once had.  This blog is totally not that!  So, in summary I have decided that my niche market is gluten-free folks who want to make relatively simple, mostly health conscious, delicious food.

That being said here's my latest creation:

Ingredients:

2lbs lean ground beef
one head of celery
one white or yellow onion
a splash of oil of your choice
whole bunch of seasonings: dry mustard, garlic powder, dried parsley, basil, and cayenne
one can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Start by chopping onion and celery into fairly small pieces.  Toss the veggies in a pan with just a bit of water and cover to steam and soften.  Remove lid and add a bit of oil.  Saute for a few minutes with the lid off so the water evaporates.  Set cooked veggies aside.  Then, cook ground beef in the same pan on medium heat until completely browned.  Stir in the veggies and add many dashes of the seasonings to taste and mix in the beans.  Serve on a bed of quinoa or rice.

Serves 4.

Pork or Chicken with Cabbage and Sesame Seeds

As some of you may have noticed, I try to incorporate alot of veggie and fish dishes into my meals, since meat can be contribute to inflammatory problems.  I do eat some lean meats though, including beef, pork, chicken and turkey.

Here's a recipe I invented a few weeks ago when looking for a yummy way to cook cabbage.  I love how inexpensive cabbage is, and it's been used to help people lose weight since it is low in calories.  Along with other cruciferous vegetables, they are high in idoles, which have been found to help prevent cancer.

Ingredients:

Lean pork or chicken breast, sliced
1/2 cabbage, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp tamari
1 onion, sliced (optional)

Cook pork or chicken in oil over medium heat in a large pan on the stovetop.  The pan should have a lid, as that will be needed to steam the cabbage in the next step.  Once meat is cooked through, add cabbage and onion to pan and cover.  Turn heat down slightly and cook until cabbage is wilted.  Once cooked add tamari and sesame seeds.  Mix so that cabbage and meat is lightly coated.  If necessary add more oil and tamari.

Serve with brown or basmati rice if desired.  Makes 4-6 servings, depending on amount of meat used.

Easy Tuna or Salmon Bake

When I stopped eating gluten a few years ago I needed some easy lunch ideas that would work in place of a sandwich.  This recipe was a great option.  It can be baked in a toaster oven, and only takes a couple minutes of prep.


Ingredients:

1 can tuna or salmon - drained
3-4 tbsp. mayonnaise
Vegetable salt to taste
Several dashes each of cayenne and kelp
Optional: 1/4 cup of green onion tops, chopped fine

Serves 2.

Mix everything together and pat it into one or two small, oiled baking dishes about 1/2-1/3 inch thick.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes or until browned on top.  Serve immediately, with rice crackers or raw veggies for dipping, or a side salad.

Tamari Baked Salmon

This salmon recipe is one of our very favourites for so many reasons.  It's fast, easy, and it's good enough to serve to company.  My brother once told me that if I wanted to impress a date that this is what I should cook. I've also cooked rainbow trout this way and it was great too.

If you're not familiar with tamari, it's a type of soy sauce you can find easily in health food stores or the healthy section of some grocery stores.  There is a wheat-free type, which is what I use.  If you don't have a problem with gluten you can substitute regular soy sauce.

The recipe was published in a booklet put out by the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition called Healing Leaky Gut.  Doesn't sound too appetizing, does it?!  But trust me, this recipe is fantastic!

Ingredients:

4 salmon filets
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup tamari sauce
1 tbsp. olive oil

Place washed salmon filets in baking dish.  Mix remaining ingredients and pour over salmon.  This dish works best if the dish fits snuggly around the filets, so the fish is "swimming" in the sauce.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 min on each side.  Put it in for longer if the fish still looks shiny inside.  As soon as it's opaque though, it's done.  It will be very tender and delicious.

Serves 4.

Fish and Sauteed Greens for Breakfast

So here it is, my first published recipe.  I am a pretty new cook, mostly motivated by my desire to get healthy in a natural way.  The thing is though, I LOVE tasty food.  I also crave variety, as my partner has helped me to notice.  I like all types of food, but I limit certain foods due to sensitivities.

This recipe was born from a desire to incorporate more dairy-free, calcium rich foods into my diet.  Both sardines and spinach are good sources of calcium, and they're cheap and easy to store.  I usually keep frozen spinach on hand, but fresh spinach is great too.  If you don't have either on hand I've found frozen mixed veggies to be great in it as well.  I've also substituted leftover fish for the sardines.  Salmon and rainbow trout are both fantastic.

Also, a note on the spices.  Powdered or flakes of kelp can be found in health food stores, and is a good thing to use in combination with sea salt, as it provides iodine that is usually found in standard iodized table salt.

Ingredients:

1/2 bag of frozen spinach (or other mixed veggies if preferred)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 can of sardines
1 tsp olive oil
A few dashes each of turmeric, cumin, chili powder, kelp
Sea salt and pepper
1 onion, chopped (optional) 
1 lemon wedge (optional)

Saute garlic, spinach and onion in oil.  Drain sardines.  Place desired amount of cooked veggies in bowl, and using a fork, mash sardines with veggies.  Add turmeric, cumin, chili powder, kelp, salt and pepper to taste, and mix again.  Use fresh squeezed lemon for added flavour if desired.  Enjoy!

Serves 2.