Healthier Mud Pies / gluten and dairy free

I bought some Glutino oreo's for the boys. They love these cookies! I thought it would be fun to make them some mud pies with the cookies crumbled on top and a couple gummy worms. My mom sent them Albanese gummy worms. 

I found a chocolate chia pudding recipe on Pinterest. It was super easy to make. 

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup dairy free milk - I used almond milk

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix it all together and chill for 4-6 hours in the fridge. 

I crumbled up the cookies, sprinkled them over the top and put 2 worms in each bowl. George thought they were super cute and delicious. Cash would only eat the worms. lol

George ended up thinking it was a cute idea, but only ate about 3 bites. George isn't a chocolate fan. Cash loves all sweets, so I am not sure why he wouldn't even try them. Cash just kept yelling he wanted more worms. Next time I will just try to see if he will eat the pudding without worms. 

Air Fryer Eggs!

We eat A LOT of eggs in our home! We go through 4-5 dozen eggs every 2 weeks. I sent eggs to work with Art every day for breakfast. Some times it's just scrambled and some times I do an egg bake. 

One of my friends Caryl posted on IG that she bought these OXO silicone air fryer molds to make over easy eggs. She said she makes an over easy egg in about 10 minutes in her air fryer. WHAT!!!! Well like any good influenced person does I ordered the OXO molds from Amazon for $4. I made some over easy eggs a couple times. Then I decided to try other type of eggs.

I cut up some red onion and jalapenos to add to the bottom of the cups. I whisk 6 eggs and 1/4 cup of salsa in a bowl. I pour the whisked eggs over the onion and jalapenos. I place them in the air fryer at 400 for 10-12 minutes. They easily come right out of the cups without any oil. 

Ready to go into the air fryer

ALL DONE! 

I have been eating the eggs over a slice of turkey and a slice of Daiya cheddar cheese with some Franks Red Hot over the top! This is my favorite breakfast right now! 

Cash has been eating these eggs without jalapenos. He was on an egg strike for awhile. He ate one the other day and was yelling for more. 

The combinations for eggs you can make are endless! Let me know if you try these and what you think! 

Molds found HERE 

Twix Bars - Dairy, gluten and refined sugar FREE!

A new follow for me on Instagram is Stacy_simmons made these gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar twix bars. I had to try them! They looked really good. One thing about being home so much is I have been baking more. Baking is not my thing. I would rather cook a full meal over baking. Maybe I will become a baker now. lol

The boys love to bake with me. It's usually easier to let them bake then to have them help cook a meal. As soon as I pull the mixer out Cash comes running and pushing a chair over to the counter. 

Cookie Bottom:

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1/3 cup coconut oil

3 tablespoons honey warmed

Put in a small pan lined with parchment paper. You will need to pack this down tightly onto the parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

Completely cook before you add the next layer.

When I pulled it out of the oven I was afraid I forgot an egg or something because it seemed crumbly. Once it cooled it wasn't crumbly at all. 

Middle Caramel Layer:

1/2 cup almond butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

sprinkle salt

Stir in a sauce pan over low heat until it all liquefies. Let it cool before you add it to the cookie layer. Spread it evenly over the cookie layer and put it in the freezer for 2-3 hours. 

Chocolate Layer:

I used 1/2 cup of Enjoy Life dark chocolate chips

1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

Melt in a sauce pan over low heat. After the chocolate has melted pour over the top of the cookie and caramel layer. Sprinkle the top with kosher salt. 

I put these back in the freezer for about 10 minutes before I cut them into squares. After I cut them into squares I put them into a zip lock bag and keep them in the freezer. If you take them out for a couple minutes you are able to eat them. These bars melt quickly, so you don't want to leave them out. 

My final verdict is they don't really taste like a twix, but they are sure yummy! Let me know if you make these and what you think!! 

Gluten & Dairy Free One Pot Hamburger Helper

As a busy mom aren't we always looking for easy meals we can make for dinner?  I decided to remake The Defined Dish one pot hamburger helper for my family. I feed Cash dairy and gluten free foods. I also try to limit gluten for G. When I saw this recipe I thought it looked and sounded so yummy! This would be a great meal for a busy night too. 

This is one of Cashy's favorite meals. He will gobble this up! I love that I only have to get one pot dirty for a filling meal. It also makes enough that we have plenty of leftovers for 2-3 lunches. Art or the kids will eat it the next day. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 onion, chopped finely
1 pound ground beef or turkey - I use whatever I have on hand
1 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon tomato paste 
1-2 cups of spinach
1/2 cup of shredded carrots
1 package of gluten free pasta (usually around 8 oz)
2 cups bone broth 
2 cups of coconut milk
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

Instructions:

- heat your pot over medium heat

- melt the coconut oil

- saute your chopped onions and minced garlic cloves for 20-30 seconds

- brown your ground meat with the onion and garlic

- once the meat is almost all browned, add in the salt, paprika, nutritional yeast, spinach and tomato paste. Stir to combine in your meat.

- add the bone broth and milk to your browned meat. Bring the liquid to a boil. 

- add in your pasta and cook for the time amount on the package. It's usually around 8 minutes for 8 oz package. 

Serve and Enjoy!

I like adding spinach and shredded carrots to get some veggies in the meal. If I don't have spinach or carrots to add I will serve a side salad on the side or some cut up raw veggies. 

My tip to adding Liver to your Diet!

I started adding organ meat to our diet about 4 years ago. Growing up my mom use to make liver and onions. I loved it as a kid with some ketchup.

Liver is high in vitamin A, folic acid, iron and zinc. Liver is one of the most nutrient dense organ meat with a powerful source of vitamin A. Vitamin A is extremely beneficial for reducing diseases that cause inflammation like multiple sclerosis, arthritis and Alzheimer's along with great benefits for eye health. I am always looking for ways to reduce inflammation, since I struggle with it so bad from my multiple sclerosis. 

I have fried it with bacon grease and onions, but I struggle with the texture of it. I got an idea one day to buy some liver from a local organic natural market Victoria's Natural Market in Tomball, TX. I love going to Victoria's to get my chicken bones to make bone broth, liver, local honey and various other organic local items. 

I bought some liver and took it home to grind it up. I decided to add it to meatballs the first time. No one even knew it was in there and you couldn't taste it at all! I took the remaining ground up liver and put it in little baggies to freeze. When I make anything with ground meat I will add beef or chicken liver to it. I have found beef liver really gives ground turkey a lot of flavor! 

Ground up liver in my freezer

My family has no clue they are eating liver, but they are getting all the amazing benefits from the liver! I most likely wouldn't sit down to eat a plate of fried liver these days, so I can't expect my kids to eat it. I normally do not hide foods to get my family to eat them. I serve them the item and they decide if they want to eat it or not. To me adding the liver to ground meat is like adding in some extra vitamins. We all need to take vitamins, so let's add a little to what we are going to be eating.
Do you like liver? Have you ever ground it up to eat it? 

Monday Thrive!

I decided to change the title posts of my Monday posts to Monday Thrive! I didn't really like the last name, but I couldn't come up with anything else. lol 

1) I have struggled to find a pancake and waffle recipe that all of us will eat. G and I will eat most of them. I just wanted a pancake that tastes similar to what I use to eat, but that is Paleo. Recently I was at Sprout's and they had the Birch Benders buy 1 get one free. I decided to give them a try. All of us LOVE them! If you don't have a Sprout's near you Amazon also sells the mix. 

2) I have been struggling with my concealer under my eye creasing at times. I hate the way that looks. It makes you look like you have wrinkles and old eyes. I recently watched a blogger put on her make up. She mentioned she used powder under her eyes to avoid creases. I have had the Mattifying Powder by BeautyCounter in a box sitting in my house for months. I wasn't sure what to use it for or even why I would use it. Oh boy! 

I pulled it out to try it and let me just tell you it is a total game changer! No more creases and granny looking eyes! I put my concealer and cream blusher on my face. Then I take a brush and put the powder over the concealer and blush. It really helps set it to stay all day long. 

I then put on my eyeliner on the top of my eyelid. I have been lining the bottom with black eye shadow. I then take the powder and brush it over my eyeliner to help set it. I haven't ever had luck in the past keeping eye shadow on as an eyeliner! It always would wear off and look terrible by noon. Well with the Mattifying Powder it stays set ALL DAY LONG! 

I really like my eyes now that I started lining my waterline. I had to learn I have to do a thin line of eyeliner in order to not feel like a raccoon with my waterline lined. 

3) Do you buy much online? Have you signed up to use Ebates? I signed up with Ebates maybe about 5ish years ago. I will admit I don't always remember to use them. I kick myself when I make a purchase and don't use them. Over the years I have earned over $330.00. They will deposit the money into your Paypal account. Right now I have earned over $35 for the next payout. I downloaded the app to my phone, so it is easier to make purchases. I also log in when I make purchases on my computer. Use this LINK to earn $10 to sign up. Free money is always fabulous!

4) I love Target Tee's!!!! I feel I buy different styles and colors every season. They are just so comfy plus they are a great bargain. I bought the one below for $5. They have a purple color that I just LOVE! I have been looking for a purple tee for a long time. Regular price they are only $8. 

You can get the tee for only $8.34 with tax if you use your Target Redcard since they offer free shipping on all Redcard orders. I also used Ebates, so I will get 1% cashback. While the 1% isn't much it does add up over time. 

Find it HERE! 

5) I bought the Rubbermaid Reveal Spray Mop on Amazon recently. I buy too much stuff on Amazon! It is my go to place. I can usually get things within 2 days for a good price. I love this mop because I can fill it with non-toxic cleaners to spray on my floor. It's great for mopping your entire house or for a quick clean up. When you have a toddler you need to be able to mop areas quickly without having to drag out a mop, bucket, filling it with water, blah blah blah. This mop is fabulous! Sometimes I spray my entire kitchen with cleaner, let it sit then I go back into the room and mop it. My kitchen could be mopped twice a day. Now I feel I need to go mop my kitchen now. lol

I linked up with Hello Monday Linkup

Carylee & Jenna

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Monday Thrive appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant. 

Paleo Instant Pot Beef Stew

My mom makes this amazing stew that I love. It's so simple, but it's not paleo. I have been wanting to recreate it for awhile. The one ingredient I was stuck on was dry ranch dressing. Well I found a recipe online. I have been wanting ranch dressing to go with veggies too. I make this ranch dressing in double batches because we go through so much of it. I didn't take a picture of the stew from the other night because it was gone quick!

1 onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of tapioca flour
2 pounds of stew meat
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups of bone broth
1 tsp cumin
1.5 tbsp dry ranch dressing
1/2 small bag of baby carrots
1 small bunch of kale
4-5 small potatoes sliced

I sprinkled the tapioca flour all over my meat along with salt. I put a little oil in the bottom of my IP and turned it on sauté. I put the onion, garlic and meat in the IP to sauté for about 5 minutes. When it started to turn a light brown I turned it off. I then poured in the bone broth, cumin and dry ranch dressing. I turned it on high pressure for 30 minutes. When the timer went off I manually released the pressure. I put the veggies in the IP under high pressure for an additional 5 minutes. I manually released the pressure again.

It took about 60 minutes total to cook. It was AMAZING! We had plenty of leftovers too. The flavors were amazing! The meat was so tender it just fell apart.

You could easily make this in a crockpot. I would throw everything in the crockpot on low for about 6 hours

The flavors of this stew are just like the one my mom makes. I quickly wrote down all the ingredients I had used, so I wouldn't forget. I felt it was a very easy dinner to make. I love the IP! I love that I can throw things in there and go do something else while dinner is cooking.

Let me know if you try this recipe!

Disclaimer: This recipe was created by Becky Post. The post Paleo Instant Pot Beef Stew appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant.  

100 Pounds GONE!

Tomorrow we will celebrate 9 year of marriage. It was a few years into our marriage I felt I needed to do something about my weight. I was unhappy. I wanted to buy clothes in regular stores. I decided to go a drastic route with my weight loss journey. I did the HCG diet for about 5-6 months. I dropped 80 pounds. I felt that diet really taught me how to eat and that I HAD to exercise to keep the weight off. While people will talk crap about the diet it worked for me. I lost 90 pounds in a year. I felt happy and so much healthier. I could run, exercise, buy clothes in normal stores and felt good about myself. 

To me it's unhealthy to be obese. I don't think weight loss surgery is the way to go. I think over time there will be studies about how unhealthy people are etc after the surgeries. That's just my opinion. For me the HCG diet worked. It was super freakin hard!! I honestly couldn't do it now with a toddler. My husband almost buried me in he backyard with all my crankiness lol I knew it was only for a short period of time, so I could do it. I never could eat that way permanently. For me I felt it was safer to do the HCG diet then to have any type of surgery. This was something I could stop if I needed. It wasn't permanent. 

Over the past few years I've had a lot of health problems plus I've had a baby. I put on weight, but I knew I could lose it. I hate having to lose the weight again. I also have given myself grace when I'm going through crap. My goal was to get the weight off and officially lose 100 pounds from when I got married. 

My goal for 2017 was to lose the rest of the weight to reach my 100 pound weight loss goal by our anniversary. I accomplished this goal a much healthier way. I ate a paleo diet and exercised. I lost the last of the weight and reach my goal before our anniversary!!! 

Picture on left: 4-12-08

Picture on right: 4-4-17

G doesn't even know I am from our wedding pictures. He will name my parents, sister, Art's parents and Amber. When he gets to me he says I dunno. 

It was a year or so after we were married we did a 5K walk. I could barely make the last 2 miles. It was awful! A few years later I ran the same 5K. Thinking back on how I ate when we were first married to now it's like night and day. Just from May 2017 until now I have lost 40 pounds. I haven't done anything crazy. I ate a healthy paleo diet and exercised 3-5 days a week. My goal is to teach G to be active, eat healthy and enjoy life.

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Never Miss a Monday appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant. 

Lunch Time!

I packed my lunch when I worked all the time. I tried not to eat out more than once a week. An average meal out now costs about $10. It really adds up quickly eating out plus it usually isn't the healthiest. I pack Art breakfast, lunch and snacks for him to take to work. I set all his containers on the bottom shelf of the fridge in a neat pile. We have our routine down of where things go, so it's easy to grab as he runs out the door. 

Sunday I meal prep for the week. I make all Art breakfast, cut up all the fruit and make some containers of food for G. I like to have fruit and veggies G can grab from the bottom drawer of the fridge. He likes to get his own snacks. 

I need easy lunch things for myself. I love leftovers. I need to be better about making enough leftovers for 2 meals. I'm good about making enough for Art. I try to stay 1-2 meals ahead for him. He isn't a fan of eating leftovers the next day. Some times I throw leftovers in the freezer, so I have something to grab Art during busy times. 

I eat salad 3-4 days a week. I love Costco's kale salad mixes. The cranberries and nuts that come in the mixes G eats. I will put them in a little containers for him. I use just the salad mix, heat up some chicken, sprinkle sliced almonds and chia seeds over the top, slice some cherry tomatoes in half and top with honey Dijon dressing I make myself. I'm getting hungry for this salad now!  A bag of the salad mix will last me for about 3 meals. I eat a lot of it. I don't ever feel guilty having a huge salad either. Greens are good for you!  You need to be careful what you are topping the salad with and read the labels. If you are eating clean food EAT lol

In the winter I like to have soup. It helps warm me up and keep me full. I recently made PaleoMG Buffalo Chicken Chili. It was really good!  I did have to make something else for G when I made this because it is too spicy for him. G will eat some spice, but I thought this might be too much for him. 

What are some of your favorite items for lunch?

Put your Health 1st in 2017!

My life was changed in May 2016 when I was encouraged to start eating Paleo by my doctor. I was having so many health issues. I honestly thought within a couple years I would need a cane or wheel chair. I felt horrible! I could barely go for a walk without needing to rest for a couple days. I was barely able to get the normal daily tasks done. Chasing a toddler was extremely exhausting. 

The thought of never eating bread or dairy again was very overwhelming. I am German and Italian....seriously no pasta or bread? Do you know how I was raised? I was raised on flour based foods. Then I remembered when I did the HCG diet. I lost 80 pounds not eating foods with flour. I felt really great when I was doing certain stages of that diet which didn't have gluten or dairy. If I was able to do it before, so I could do it again. 

I had my entire grocery list made out on a Thursday when I was encouraged to change my diet. I told my doctor ok well I guess I will go home and make a whole new grocery list. And I did! I totally changed what I fed myself and my family. I am not going to make different meals for George or Art. If it wasn't healthy for me to be eating all these things then my toddler maybe shouldn't be eating those things either. 

During this time I came across Dr. Wahls. Another life changing event. I started following the Wahls Protocol. As I would read her book I just couldn't imagine how my body would even start to heal with just foods. I was willing to take the chance. If it worked for her then it might help me. She was a lot worse off then I was, but I felt my health was headed to a bad place like Dr. Wahls experienced. 

Fast forward to the present. Eating the Paleo diet has not changed my cancer at all. I have actually had additional growth on some of the cancer spots. My MS has changed drastically. If you have read previous posts and new posts that will be coming out you will see my fitness level has greatly improved. Right now I can see my life not needing a cane or wheel chair. 

Over Christmas I ate some non-Paleo food items. Oh boy! Usually I am SUPER careful about what I eat. I decided to allow myself to eat somethings I liked in the past. Lesson learned it isn't worth it. My body was achy, stomach hurt, bloating, and just feeling like garbage. I can't do dairy period! 

If you have any health issues I HIGHLY recommend you try eating the Paleo diet! It really has been life changing for me. I will say the first 4-6 weeks were super hard. It got boring trying to figure out what I could eat and getting sick of the same things. I felt I wouldn't be able to ever eat out at a restaurant. Over the past few months I have been able to change recipes to make them Paleo friendly. When a recipe calls for milk I use coconut milk. When it calls for butter I use ghee. Flour - I use tapioca starch or almond flour. You slowly start to learn what substitutes for things. You also learn to look ahead at menus and pick items you can eat when you eat out. You can ask them to hold certain ingredients and let them know your food allergies. 

Some people are able to add cheese and rice back into their diets without experiencing any problems. I think it all depends on your health and body. I can't add those things back in. I tried and it didn't work for me. I don't think you can expect to see a huge difference in how you feel within a couple days. When I look back to how I felt in April of 2016 to how I feel in December 2016 it is night and day. 

Getting to a healthy place isn't a sprint. You have to take it like a marathon. Slow and steady. 

1. Start to get some sleep! Your body needs sleep badly! So many people don't sleep properly. You need 7-9 hours of sleep each night. If you aren't able to sleep at night try to get a little nap. A 20 minute nap for me really helped heal my body. I use to nap 4-6 days a week for about 20-30 minutes. Now I rarely nap. I still love my Sunday afternoon nap while listening to a football game. Something so calming about those naps. 

2. Change the foods you eat! If you are eating processed food and feel terrible...shocker it's probably because it is processed. How can you expect your body to process these foods? If it has a package of dry ingredients did that come from a field? That is going to sit in your body for who knows how long trying to figure out how to process it. I could go on and on about this. 

3. Exercise! Even if it's for 20 minutes a few times a week. Find something you like. Take your kids for a walk to feed the ducks that crappy bread you shouldn't be eating. lol YouTube has a lot of free workouts. I love Chris Freytag workouts. You can find a lot of them on YouTube. 

4. Start reading the labels of the products you use. Look up ingredients on products to figure out exactly what is in the product. If your lotion has some strange things listed on it google those words. You will probably find out you are putting harmful chemicals on your body. 

You can't jump into this all head first. I did things slowly. I did the food, sleep, exercise and then products. I still struggle with sleep. It is midnight and here I am writing a blog post. Tomorrow I will probably need a nap. MS is a killer for messing with your sleep. Sometimes sleep aids work and something they don't. 

Missing Favorite Foods on Paleo

Someone recently asked me how do you eat Paleo when you are out and don't you miss certain foods?

It was really challenging at first for me to eat out. I just didn't think I could ever eat out again. Once I was able to easily cook Paleo at home I was able to go out to eat. I just had to think outside the box. If I am eating out and the meal comes with a carb/starchy food I will ask to substitute it. Or I try to pick meals where I can pick the sides. I order a steak then pick steam veggies and a side salad. I order a salad and ask them not to put cheese on it. For a dressing I will ask for oil. 

The best thing for me prior to going out to eat is to look at a menu online. If there is nothing on the menu I don't think I can eat then I ask to go some place else. I met some friends for lunch one day. They wanted to go to Round Table. Just the thought of that sounded like pure torture. They have a lunch buffet with a salad bar which is awesome! I was able to get salad and as much as I wanted. The salad bar had a lot of different veggies, bacon, seeds, and oil for my dressing. I don't even miss eating pizza. If I start to miss it then I buy myself a Diaya pizza from Sprout's. It just helps get rid of the craving. 

I recently discovered my love for spaghetti squash. There are times I miss pasta. Like I just want a big bowl of pasta with some butter. I have found spaghetti squash takes care of my craving. I have put homemade pesto, red sauce and ghee on it. I don't feel like I am missing anything. I actually feel like I am getting pasta. While I like zoodles it just doesn't take care of the pasta craving. 

Sweet treats! Now that is a hard one at times. No matter how long I go without chocolate I still crave it. I haven't eaten chocolate now since May. Still I crave it! RX bars and homemade chocolate out of coconut oil with nuts seem to fix the craving. The other night I wanted some ice cream. Once in a great while I will buy the coconut, cashew or almond milk ice cream. The problem with those is there is still sugar in them. I really try to avoid sugar. I even limit the amount of honey and maple syrup I use in things. Back to the ice cream craving. I had put 2 peeled bananas in the freezer. I took them out and put them in a food processor with a little coconut milk and some sunbutter. O-M-G!!!! It tasted just like peanut butter ice cream. There is some sugar in the sunbutter =( I need to pick up some almond butter at the store to have on hand to make my ice cream. However I felt it was a good substitute for the time. George ate that stuff up! I made enough for both of us. I know I can't make a little bit because he will eat half of it. So now I just make enough for 2 people knowing he will eat half of it. 

There are times I cheat. Chips are my downfall! Tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant are like being tortured. The problem is the day after I eat them my entire body is achy. The first time it happened I thought it was a fluke or I just was achy. Well I did it again. The next day my entire lower body just ached. Almost like I had done squats for an hour the day before. The problem was I didn't do ANY squats. lol 

I will pin things on Pinterest that are not Paleo, but I put them on my Paleo board. I look at a recipe and see what I can substitute. Most recipes you can make changes to make them Paleo approved. I bought some sardines recently. I couldn't figure out what in the world to do with them. I looked on Pinterest to find a recipe. It had spaghetti noodles, so I used spaghetti squash instead. I didn't put any cheese on my pasta like the recipe called for. 

Do I miss eating certain things? Sure I do! The couple times I have given in to eat foods I have felt so horrible for the next 2 days it isn't worth it for me. When I was in ND I did eat some German foods. I felt hungover, bloated and headaches for days. I have found eating Paleo is best for my MS, I am able to lose weight easily and I feel amazing. Even my skin is clearer. I don't feel I have sugar crashes either. I get less hangry. It has also made me much more aware of what I am feeding George. 

Kale Chips

I had a bunch of kale in my fridge a couple weeks ago. I washed the leaves, laid them on a cookie sheet, drizzled coconut oil over the leave and sprinkled parmesan cheese over the top. Baked at 400 for about 10 minutes. I had planned to have it along side of our dinner. Well half the pan was ate even before dinner was finished. They were AMAZING!!! 

I had to make them again just so I could get a picture. Art even loved them! Please do not used the powdered container of that so called parm cheese.  That is NOT parm cheese. It is a can of chemicals. Buy some REAL parm cheese in the cheese section of your grocery store. You will thank me later you used the real stuff on these kale chips! 

Creamy Potato Soup

I found this recipe here, but I made changes for it to work for me and the ingredients we had in the house. This has become our new favorite potato soup recipe! 

Creamy Potato Soup
Roux ingredients: 4 T flour, 2 T buter, 2 T olive oil (made separately then added to soup)
Soup ingredients:2 T butter
2 T olive oil
3 stalks celery (chopped)
3 carrots (chopped) or 1 cup of baby carrots
1 small yellow onion (diced)
4 C chicken stock
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups half & half
2 T chicken bouillon
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pepper
1 T parsley flakes
3 bay leaves
1/4 t turmeric
1/4 t garlic
5-6 medium size potatoes

Directions:

1. Make the Roux first in a separate pan. Melt olive oil and butter in a saucepan. Sprinkle flour over top and whisk together until smooth and bubbly. It should only take a few minutes. Set aside. If you wanted to make gluten free you can use a corn starch or gluten free type of flour. 

2. In a dutch oven, or large soup pot, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat.

3. Add vegetables and sauté until softened. 

4. Add the rest of the ingredients, including the roux, and bring to a boil. I don't add the potatoes until this point otherwise they get mushy. Make sure to stir every few minutes to keep the milk from scalding.

5. Once boiling, turn down to low and simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Taste test and add more salt or seasonings. Remember flavors develop over time, so don’t over do it!

Skillet Chicken Enchilada

Emily Bites had a recipe on her blog recently for Chicken Enchilada Skillet. The pictures looked really yummy. I decided to make some adjustments to it, so it is gluten free and sugar free. This recipe is also HCG phase 3 approved. Here is my alteration to the recipe. 

Chicken Enchilada Skillet

Source: adapted from Emily Bites

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon canola oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves - love my Pampered Chef garlic press!

3 tablespoons chili powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons sugar

15 oz can tomato sauce - I used my homemade sauce from last year

½ cup water

3 cups shredded cooked chicken - I used chicken thighs because that is what I had in the freezer

½ - 1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles

1.5 cupes shredded sharp cheddar cheese

2 scallions, chopped

Directions:

1. Saute onions until soft, add garlic, spices and saute. Add the tomato sauce and water, stir and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 5 minutes to thicken.

2. Add the shredded chicken to the sauce and stir together. Simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Turn the heat on the sauce mixture to low. Add the green chiles and about 1/2 the cheese to the chicken mixture and stir together until well combined and coated. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and place the lid onto the pan. Leave the lid on for 1-2 minutes until the cheese has melted. Remove from heat and sprinkle the diced scallions over top for garnish.

Crock Pot Potato Soup

I made crock pot potato soup last week. I looked for an easy receipt on Pinterest. Lately I have been looking for recipes and then making up my own. I take ingredients from a couple recipes and make up my own version. Here is my version of crock pot potato soup.

8 small potatoes
4 carrots
1 onion
4 cups chicken broth
1 package of cream cheese
1 cup rice milk
ground pepper

Cook in crock pot on low for 6.5 hours. Mash potatoes and carrots to thicken up the soup. Serve with green onion, cheddar cheese and bacon for garnish. 

This recipe is super easy. I had everything on hand. I cut up all the carrots, onion and potatoes the night before. In the morning I add the liquid ingredients, plug in, run out the door for work and when I come home fresh soup is waiting.