Homemade Onion Soup Mix

Love to use those convenient Onion Soup packages (generic, store brand, as well as national brands)?  Head to the bulk spice aisle of your local store and mix up your own soup mix without added chemical-based preservatives, trans-fats, MSG, nightshades, starches, or other ingredients. If you dehydrate, you can even dehydrate some of these ingredients from your own home garden and/or when things are on sale at your local market.

NOTE: You can cut this recipe in half (if needed) or double it. Put it in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and store in the cupboard or fridge depending on how quickly you use it up.  Use 2-4 Tablespoons to replace one package of onion soup in your dip, soup, and other recipes.

• 1 cup dried Onion Flakes
• 2 teaspoons Onion Powder
• 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
• 2 teaspoons dried Parsley
• 2 teaspoon Real Salt
• 1 teaspoon Celery Salt (half and half mix of Real Salt and Celery Powder)
• 1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon turmeric (optional)

Want a simple recipe using this mix? Try one of your favorites from your favorite onion soup mix or one of these below.

SOUP: Reheat 2 cups of  veggie, turkey, chicken, or beef bone broth on the stove top.  Add 2-4 Tbsp (to your tastes) of the mix from the jar above.  Cook until dissolved.  Enjoy.

DIP: Add 2-4 TBSP to standard-size sour cream. Mix. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

BURGER:  Add 2 TBSP per lb of ground meat/beans when fixing meatballs, hamburgers, or meatloaf.

Mock “Beef Stroganoff”

This dish is so versatile in terms of adapting to nutritional, diet, and allergen-friendly meal plans.  You can make it low carb, AIP, Paleo, low fat, vegan, nightshade-free, soy-free, dairy-free, pasta-free, grain-free, gluten-free as you desire.  Switch up the veggies to add more nutrition and phyto-chemical value to your meal.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.  I’ve also shared this recipe on SparkPeople.com-where you can sign up for so many other fabulous receipes, weight loss tips, and so much more!

Ingredients

• 1 head, large (about 7″ dia) Cabbage, fresh, chopped in the shape/size of egg noodles.

• 16 oz Beef, 90% Lean Ground Beef from Sirloin, drain (or use chickpeas for a vegan option)

• 1 medium (2-1/2″ dia) Onions, raw 1/2 chopped, 1/2 sliced, divided

• 2 stalk, large (11″-12″ long) Celery, raw, chopped

• 1 tsp Pepper, black

• 1 tsp Garlic powder

• 0.25 tsp Celery Salt

• 1 cup Bone Broth – homemade (or use veggie broth for vegan option)

• 1 pat (1″ sq, 1/3″ high) Butter, unsalted, or use veggie oil for vegan option.

Tips

Soy free, dairy free, egg free, noodle free, pasta free, grain free, gluten free, nightshade free

Directions

1) Begin browning the ground beef in a separate pan over medium heat.

Toss in with the beef freshly chopped onion and celery. Once the beef is browned on one side, flip and cover the browned side with celery salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt to taste. Once the beef is finished cooking and there is no longer and pink spots, turn off the heat, and drain the grease–discarding it or saving for another purpose, as you see fit. If you want this to be vegan–simply use chickpeas in place of the beef. You can cook the above veggies with the cabbage below if you’re making the vegan option and skip this step entirely.

Meanwhile, in another skillet with a cover, spread the butter around the pan so nothing will stick. Next, add the cored and rough chopped (like egg noodles) cabbage, sliced onion pieces and bone broth (beef, chicken, turkey or veggie broth all work). Cover and cook on low for approximately 20-30 minutes. Be certain that you do not cook away all of the broth. Check closely.

Serving Size: 4 servings

Grain-Free Bread (Single Serving Size)

So you’re not able to eat grains and it has been a while since you’ve enjoyed a nice slice of…(dare I say it without sending anyone into fits?) B R E A D!   No doubt you miss the convenience of grabbing a sandwich and heading out the door, or how butter melts into the bread, or even a yummy grilled cheese alongside your favorite soup.

Introducing a single-serving size recipe of grain free bread!

Recipe:

2 TBSP almond flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

dash Real salt

1 egg, beaten

1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar

Greased ramekin.

Directions:

Pre-heat your toaster oven by letting it run, empty, through one toaster cycle.  Meanwhile, grease a ramekin and set aside.  Grab two small bowls to mix the dry and wet ingredients separately (yes, it is worth the effort).

In one bowl, beat the egg.  Add the vinegar.  Set aside.

In the second bowl, mix the baking soda, salt, and almond flour together.  Break up any lumps.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix thoroughly until well combined.   Using a spatula, scrape all of this combined mixture into the previously prepared  ramekin.

Bake in your toaster oven for approximately 10-15 minutes.  Remove from toaster oven carefully:  the ramekin will be hot.  Allow mixture to cool.  Carefully loosen your bread’s edges from the sides of the ramekin.  Remove from pan.  Cut in 1/2 to make 1 bun shaped bread.

Serves 1.

Serving Suggestions:

• This bread will hold butter and other favorite toppings. Enjoy!
• Toasted
• Make into a toasted cheese sandwich by toasting the split bread in the toaster oven.  Removing and adding a small amount of butter to each 1/2.  Adding the cheese.  Toasting again in the oven until the cheese is melting.
• Breakfast sandwich: fried egg with or without an added protein such as  turkey sausage,   turkey bacon, or turkey ham, cheese.
• Tuna or egg salad.
• Cheese burger.
• Let your imagination run wild!

Cons:

• Almond flour is expensive, however this recipe uses a very small amount.
• The time it takes to bake in this in the toaster oven provides sufficient time to fry an egg for the breakfast sandwich and clean up from making the recipe.
• Too many almonds are high in calories, so its not a recipe that can be used frequently.
• Tastes a little bit “eggy” so it might need some spice adjustments depending on your taste buds. I recommend adding cinnamon if you’re going to be using the bread for sweet toppings or garlic salt in place of the real salt if you are going to be using the bread for savory toppings.
• Taste–I don’t recommend making this grain-free bread-substitute recipe, or any other, until you’ve gone a sufficiently long period of time without the “real” thing as all substitutes taste far better the longer it has been since you’ve had the item your missing.  However, having said that, the taste is not horrible, can be tweaked with spices or herbs, and this recipe is very functional for its intended purpose of having something you can pack for lunch, grab and go, or use to enjoy a sandwich.

Pros:

• Single serving size.
• Nice texture.
• Can be baked in any shape depending on baking dish used.
• Quick.
• No left overs to spoil.
• Holds butter, mayo, mustard well without condiments falling off the bread.
• Once cooled, the bread holds together well so that it can be picked up and eaten like a sandwich.
• Easy to make, Easy to clean up.  Not labor intensive.
• Not made with coconut.  Doesn’t have that coconut taste or flaky texture.

Free Cookbooks

Like new recipes?  Then you’re going to love Encore Book Club.  I signed up for Encore’s book club at their website.  You can find the link here.  Want to know more details?  No problem, I bet your wondering what you’ll get if you sign up for their newsletter.  Typically, they send out their newsletter every Friday and it typically includes six free cooking Kindle Books.  The free eBooks are normally available all weekend, but then return to normal pricing on Mondays. Today’s free ebooks included the following free titles: Pickled, Cucumber Recipes, Pineapple Recipes, Raw Food, Quinoa Recipes, Oreo Recipes.  You can choose as few or as many titles as you wish.

Don’t have a Kindle book reader?  No problem!  Amazon makes an app for your android device, has downloadable software for your computer, and if none of the above methods work, you can choose to send the free books to your “Kindle Cloud Reader” which is accessible to you from any internet connected web browser, or purchase a Kindle Book reader.   I have the free Kindle book reader on my tablet and enjoy being able to take wonderful recipes to the kitchen with me while I’m cooking.

Lemon Chicken

One neat source for new recipes is SparkPeople. It has a place for everyone to upload their favorite recipes, as well as a collection of existing recipes, with more chef-added recipes added regularly.  There are special diets (diabetic, gluten free, low-carb, paleo, etc.), standard fare, as well as entertaining and treat ideas too.  Signing up is absolutely free and it gives you access to making your own recipe cookbook collections, as well as the ability to track your daily calories too.  Here is an example of one of their great chef-created recipes.  Click through to find this recipe, nutritional data, and surf around to find other tasty treats.

Pico de Gallo

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• leaves from 2 sprigs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp real salt

Instructions:

1. Mix everything together in a glass bowl.
2. Cover and refrigerate.
3. Allow flavors to blend for at least 30 minutes.
4. Use as a garnish or dip with tortilla chips.

Tortilla Strips (for Tortilla Soup)

Have you ever been to those restaurants, like Chilis, who serve their soups with those fancy tortilla strips atop and ever wonder how to make those?  The cool part of this recipe is you can make your own tortillas, using the ingredients which work for your body/allergies and still enjoy an old favorite without the issues associated with eating things outside of your optimal eating plan.

1.  Begin my preheating your  oven to 400 F.
2.  Brush both sides of tortillas with oil.
3.  Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4.  Bake in preheated oven until crisp. Ovens vary, watch closely but this should take about 10 to 15 minutes.
5.  Use to top soup or store in an air tight container.

This method can be made low-carb by using HEB Carb Control tortillas or Mission Low Carb tortillas in place of regular tortillas.  You can also use the same method with home-made (gluten-free, AIP friendly, low carb, keto, flour, or corn) tortillas.

Another great option?  Use “dorito dust”, lime, lemon-lime or other flavorings.  Just add them along with the oil before baking.  These can be made in a toaster oven.

Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 tsp Organic Cornstarch
1 container orange juice frozen concentrate, undiluted
4 TBSP Brown Sugar
2 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
3 TBSP Organic Ketchup (MSG-free, high fructose free)
2 TBSP Soy Sauce or Liquid Coconut Aminos (Soy Sauce Alternative)
2 TBSP Honey
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
1 each: green, red, orange, yellow bell pepper (sliced)

Instructions:

1. Begin by chopping the raw chicken breasts into cubes.
2. Place chicken cubes either in a ziplock freezer bag or in the bottom of your slow cooker.
3. Sprinkle cornstarch over chicken cubes and stir to coat.
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken cubes.
5. Add the entire container of undiluted orange juice concentrate, honey, soy sauce (or alternative), ketchup, vinegar, and brown sugar.
6. If desired, add up to 1 tsp red pepper flakes.
7. Add sliced bell peppers and stir.

To use as a freezer meal: remove air from zip lock and seal and freeze until ready to cook. On the day you wish to cook this meal, remove it from the freezer, open the bag and place contents into your slow cooker, and follow the directions below.

To enjoy now: cook on low 8 hours.

Serving suggestions: Tastes great over rice, with or without chopped green onions or fresh orange slices as a garnish.

Probiotic Fruit Drink

 

One of the blogs I like to follow is Primally Inspired because Kelly is upbeat and shares a lot of great recipes and ideas.  This video highlights one of them–her yummy, easy to make, fermented probiotic fruit drink.  She happens to use strawberries but other fruits are equally delicious.  Give your favorite a try.  One of the great things about this drink is there aren’t any strange chemicals or bugs making it red, and there isn’t any high fructose corn syrup.

Bourbon BBQ Sauce and Brisket Video

Thanks Avi for the juicy brisket recipe and great video.  This BBQ Sauce from Avi’s brisket also works well on other items too and is worth making all on its own.

For the Bourbon BBQ Sauce:

12 oz organic tomato paste

10 oz white vinegar or apple cider vinegar

8 oz of pure maple syrup

½ tsp salt

1 Tbs. brown sugar

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. arrow root

1 or 2 shots of fine bourbon

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a blender. Blend well for about thirty seconds. Now you’re done. That was easy. However, you should taste it. If it’s not quite sweet enough or bourbon enough for you, adjust to your taste. Please remember though that you will not be eating this sauce by itself, it will combine with the fats, juices and strong flavors of the meat. The sugars and the bourbon will also caramelize while cooking, so it will just get better. I put the left over sauce in a plastic squeeze bottle and use it on burgers, fries, roasts etc.