The Tasty Alternative: February 2012

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Allergy-Free Wednesdays Blog Hop Week 6: February 29, 2012

Hello and welcome to Allergy-Free Wednesdays (AFW).

AFW is a weekly blog hop where folks can share their allergy-free cuisine, gain knowledge about allergy-related topics/issues, and connect with others living or caring for someone with food allergies.

This is a weekly blog hop hosted by myself and five other fabulous allergy-free bloggers. Your weekly submissions will be shared on all 6 blogs! Check back each week for reader favorites and recipe highlights.

Meet your AFW hostesses

(1) Tessa @ Tessa the Domestic Diva

(2) Michelle @ The Willing Cook

(3) Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry

(4) Nancy @ Real Food Allergy Free
(5) Janelle @ Gluten Freely Frugal

(6) and me, Amber @ The Tasty Alternative

What can I link-up on AFW?

*We welcome allergy-free cuisine in any shape or form

*Tips & allergy related articles/information welcome

*Food allergies, intolerance, and sensitivities all welcome
*Please provide a description of your recipe, such as Dairy Free (DF), Gluten Free (GF), etc.

Rules & Guidelines

*Please provide the URL link directly to your post (not your homepage).

*Please provide a link back to our weekly blog hop somewhere in your post.
*In order for your recipe to be featured, your post must contain a back link to our blog hop.

*Past and current recipes welcome.

*Recipes are not required to be free of all common allergy foods, just allergy-free in some way.

*Two weekly submissions max please.

*Please leave a comment after you link-up and tell us about your weekly submission(s).

*Entries that don't comply with stated rules and guidelines will be respectfully removed.

_________________________________

Featured Recipes & Highlights

Each week AFW features the three most popular recipes from the previous week, and the six AFW hostesses will highlight their favorites. Please note that your submission must contain a link back to our Allergy-Free Wednesday's Blog Hop in order to be featured. Click HERE for last week's entries and the appropriate back link.

So without further ado...

May I present you with the three most popular submissions:

Allergy-Friendly Doughnuts
A quintessential allergy-free recipe here!
From: The Freak Food Gourmet

10 Whole Food Snacks That You Can Pack
A terrific and practical post - you'll be drooling all over your keyboard!
From: France @ Beyond The Peel

Two Ingredient All Natural Deep Chocolate Pudding
So cleaver...and delicious!

From: Veggie Wonder

And here are the three fabulous recipes/posts I chose to highlight:

Sweet: Dairy Free Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

A beautiful, brilliant, and healthy recipe.
A blog full of true culinary inspiration.
You must check this one out!
From: Against All Grain

Savory: Sweet Chicken and Parsnip Balls
I love chicken. I love parsnips.
Check out how Lisa brings these ingredients together in a wonderful
allergy-friendly (and fun) dish. Perfect for little fingers too.
From: Lisa @ Allergy-Free Vintage Cookery

Beauty/DIY: Homemade Lip Balm and Solid Hand Lotion
You know I love making my own lotions, being environmentally mindful, AND organic, so this post and recipe immediately caught my eye. I will be making this lip balm for sure!
From: Faye @ Green Organic Mama

Thanks for visiting Allergy-Free Wednesdays!
And thanks for being awesome and reading through our guidelines before linking up!
_________________________________

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Super Simple Super Tasty Marinara Sauce - and a funny for your Monday.

I've been working on a SCD lasagna recipe. Almost there! Can't wait to share the recipe with you soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share my homemade marinara sauce. I have trouble with store bought pasta sauces, as they are just too salty for me. So with homemade I can control the seasoning. Plus making your own sauce is a great way to cut down on your kitchen waste (no cans or jars to throw out). There are a zillion recipes for marinara sauce out there. What I have for you today is a base sauce, this is delish on its own, but from here you can add in a variety of other ingredients. See below in notes for some suggestions. A quick word about tomatoes. It's very important to choose meaty tomatoes, or the sauce gets a bit watery. I find that little slicer tomatoes are very meaty with little juice. And in the summer it's all about those gorgeous heirlooms. I've also made marinara with Romas, but the sauce was awfully acidic and watery (see notes below about how to make a less watery sauce, especially if making this sauce for lasagna). If you find your sauce too acidic, add in a little honey or other sweetener of choice. Or add in some cashew milk, other thickened nut milk, or full fat coconut milk (just a few tablespoons or until desired taste/texture). This will create a creamy sauce and cut down on the acid factor. It's fun to experiment with marinara. I hope this recipe will serve as a nice base and get you going.

Ingredients

-1 medium yellow or red onion, chopped

-3 stalks celery, chopped

-2 1/2 lbs organic tomatoes, chopped*

-A big handful of fresh basil (about 1 1/2 cups)

-1 teaspoon celtic sea salt

-1 tablespoon garlic granules (or 3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped)

-1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
-1 tablespoon coconut sugar (SCD use honey)

-2 bay leaves

-Oil of choice

-Fresh ground pepper

How To

1. Coat the bottom of your favorite pot with oil, add onions and salt and saute for 3-5 minutes. Add celery and saute for additional 3-5 minutes.

2. Add chopped tomatoes, stir and add in garlic granules, Italian seasoning, and basil. Stir until well combined.

3. Mix in bay leaves and fresh ground pepper

4. Cook uncovered on med heat/low heat until tomatoes release their juice (about 10 minutes).

5. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes.

6. When tomatoes are cooked down, remove bay leaves and blend. I use an immersion blender. This yields a thick and slightly chunky sauce. For a smooth sauce, blend with high speed blender or any other counter blender.

Notes:
*Find small slicers during winter and big fat meaty heirlooms during the summer). If using this sauce for a lasagna, make sure you squeeze the juice out of each tomato. This yields a thicker sauce. I don't recommend Romas. Round slicers or any meaty heirloom works the best - they are lower in water content and have more tomato meet.
*If you are making this sauce for a lasagna, be sure to squeeze all the juice out of the tomatoes before you put them in the pot. A watery tomato sauce will not work well with lasagna.
*Here are a few other veggie suggestions for your marinara sauce.
-Red, green, or yellow bell pepper
-Zucchini
-Mushrooms
-Yellow winter squash
-Roasted cauliflower
-Carrots
-Celery root
-Fennel
-Roasted Parsnips

I always say: start the week (or day) off on a funny note. I love this girl - she always makes me giggle! So awesome. I've said like 99% of this stuff at one point or another. Come on, you just have to laugh!!

Just Another Meatless Monday, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Monday Mania, Ruth's Real Food 101 (Mondays), Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Fat Tuesdays Real Food Wednesdays, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, , Whole Food Wednesdays, Wellness Weekend, Freaky Friday, Fresh Bites Fridays, Friday Food Fix

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Vegan Coffee Flavored Whipped Cream/Mousse

So a fun, weird fact about me. I love the idea, smell and flavor of coffee...but don't drink the stuff. And I come from a looong line of coffee drinkers. Listen, I would love to be one of those cool sophisticated retro hip moms never to be seen without a cup of Joe in my fun, whimsical coffee mugs but what can I tell you, I'm a hippie tea drinker at heart. Once upon a time I worked in a coffee shop and can you believe I never once had a cup of coffee! Okay, I would have a latte now and then (and thus wouldn't sleep for like 3 days), but never just a straight cup of coffee. But I seriously LOVE everything about coffee, it just doesn't agree with me (and by me I'm referring to my weak little stomach). Scott doesn't drink it either - he's my tea loving partner in crime. During my coffee shop days my beverage (drug) of choice was Oregon Chai Tea. Amazing! After Scott and I moved in together, we made our own Chai teas and would sip them together in our tiny little apartment and have deep conversations about Dawson's Creek, and deliberate over which band we were going to see downtown on Friday night.

Ah, those were the days.

So I was craving a coffee flavored something and created this incredibly satisfying whipped dessert. This is crazy good! It tastes like a creamy, delicious mousse. This would be fabulous on top of your vegan ice creams or milkshakes, on a cookie, or as an icing on a cake. I have several thoughts on the matter. So stay tuned!

Vegan Coffee Flavored Whipped Cream/Mousse

Ingredients:

-Cream from one can full fat coconut milk*

-2 tablespoons grade B maple syrup

-1 teaspoon coffee flavor

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

How To:

1. Scoop out all of the coconut cream from can and add to your favorite mixing bowl. Do not add the coconut water.

2. To the cream add the maple syrup, coffee flavor, and vanilla.

3. Whip with a hand mixer until well incorporated.

4. Transfer to glass storage and allow whipped cream to cool and set up in fridge before use.

Notes:
*Keep several cans in the refrigerator for several days and find the one with the thickest coconut cream.

{affiliate links in post)
Shared on: Just Another Meatless Monday, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Monday Mania, Ruth's Real Food 101 (Mondays), Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Fat Tuesdays, Allergy-Free Wednesdays, Real Food Wednesdays, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Whole Food Wednesdays , Pennywise Platter Thursdays, Wellness Weekend, Freaky Friday, Fresh Bites Fridays & Allergy Free Fridays,

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Allergy-Free Wednesdays Blog Hop Week 5: February 15, 2012

Hello and welcome to Allergy-Free Wednesdays (AFW).

Meet your AFW hostesses

(1) Tessa @ Tessa the Domestic Diva

(2) Michelle @ The Willing Cook

(3) Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry

(4) Nancy @ Real Food Allergy Free
(5) Janelle @ Gluten Freely Frugal

(6) and me, Amber @ The Tasty Alternative

What can I link-up on AFW?

*We welcome allergy-free cuisine in any shape or form

*Tips & allergy related articles/information welcome

*Food allergies, intolerance, and sensitivities all welcome
*Please provide a description of your recipe, such as Dairy Free (DF), Gluten Free (GF), etc.

Rules & Guidelines

*Please provide the URL link directly to your post (not your homepage).

*Please provide a link back to our weekly blog hop somewhere in your post.
*In order for your recipe to be featured, your post must contain a back link to our blog hop.

*Past and current recipes welcome.

*Recipes are not required to be free of all common allergy foods, just allergy-free in some way.

*Two weekly submissions max please.

*Please leave a comment after you link-up and tell us about your weekly submission(s).

*Entries that don't comply with stated rules and guidelines will be respectfully removed.

_________________________________

Featured Recipes & Highlights

So without further ado...

May I present you with the three most popular submissions:

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars
What a fun spin on your traditional granola bar.
From: Against All Grain

Valentine's Tiramisu (DF, SF)
What a sweet treat for Valentine's Day.
From: Canned Time

Peanut Butter Protein Balls
These would be a great snack on the go.

From: Veggie Wonder

And here are the three fabulous recipes/posts I chose to highlight:

Sweet/SCD: Cinnamon and Raisin Bread Rolls (GF, SCD)

Vicky creates such incredible SCD recipes, always an inspiration. In this post she discusses the medicinal uses and nutritional benefits of cinnamon.
From: Gluten Free, SCD, and Veggie

Savory: Curried Lentil Love Burgers
A delicious heart full of heart healthy ingredients.
What a fun way to get your savory on Valentine's Day (or any day for that matter)!
From: Heather @ Gluten Free Cat

Informational: Everything You Wanted to Know about Sugar
This is a brilliant post - very comprehensive! The comments are a great read too, lots a good feedback and interesting opinions on this topic.

From: Dawn @ Small Footprints Family

Thanks for visiting Allergy-Free Wednesdays!
*Due to our growing blog hop, we are now allowing two weekly submissions max (no longer three).
Thanks for being awesome and reading through our guidelines before linking up!
_________________________________

Monday, February 20, 2012

Sweet and Sour Chicken Awesomeness

Ah, sweet and sour chicken. As a young girl I learned how to use chop sticks eating sweet and sour chicken. This was a dish my Gramie made quite a bit (and served with my own set of chop sticks of course - how exciting). To this day I refuse to eat Asian cuisine with a fork - just can't do it. I had the pleasure of living with my grandparents for many years growing up, so I was exposed to my Gramie's fantastic cooking, all from scratch and all amazing. Although not the healthiest at times (my Gramie was a lot like your Paula Deen with the butter and salt and the beef and the butter and the butter...). Considering she grew up on a farm, I give her credit for incorporating some really creative, fresh dishes. And every single night we had a salad. And I ate my salad like a good little girl, and thus rewarded generously with a big hunk of cake for dessert (yes, there was always fresh baked cake, muffins, pastires, etc., in the house). I will always remember Gramie's sweet and sour dish. My grandparents and father lived in Japan for several years during the Korean War. I do believe she was greatly inspired by the food and culture, as this was definitely reflected in her cooking.

Your traditional sweet and sour dish is loaded with sugar and salt, not to mention gluten. My version differs greatly in this respect, but is not lacking in flavor a bit. However, I feel it's important to not expect a toned down version to taste like the original. We must appreciate the simplicity and goodness for what it is: wholesome and real in its own right. This is a quick, easy dinner that delivers on health as well as on taste.

Ingredients:

-1 yellow onion, chopped

-1 large red bell pepper, chopped

-1 can of pineapple chuncks (or fresh if you can find it)

-2 cooked chicken breasts (great way to use leftovers)

-1/2 cup cashews

-3 tablespoons pineapple juice

-2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

-1 tablespoon low sodium, gluten free soy sauce

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon garlic granules

-Oil of choice

-Fresh ground pepper

-Red pepper flakes (for mom and dad)

-1 teaspoon grated ginger (optional)

How To:

Rice:

-I used white basmati. Really nice flavor. 1 1/2 cups rice to 3 cups water. In a medium sauce pan, bring water and rice to a boil, add in a drizzle of oil. Turn down to low and cover. This rice cooks pretty quick. When all the water has cooked away, turn off heat and let rice sit covered until ready to serve.

Sweet and Sour Chicken:

1. Coat a large saute pan with oil, heat on med/low, and add onion, pepper and salt. Saute for a few minutes.

2. Drain pineapple juice from pineapple chunks and add pineapple to pan along with chicken and cashews. Saute for a few minutes.

3. Add soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, pineapple juice, and garlic granules (and optional ginger). Keep pan on medium low and cook down liquid, stirring occasionally. Cook veggies until desired tenderness.

4. I didn't add any thickener to this dish, as there was a minimal amount of liquid. If you like more of a sauce, then simply add more oil, pineapple juice and soy sauce and mix in your thickener of choice.

5. Serve with red pepper flakes and black pepper to taste

Notes:
*If you are avoiding rice, quinoa or millet would be great
*For vegetarians, use tofu or mushrooms in place of meat.

Shared on: Fat Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Traditional Tuesdays, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Whole Food Wednesdays, Pennywise Platter, Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Lunch Box Love Fridays, Freaky Friday, Fresh Bites Fridays, Friday Foodie Fix

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Homemade Coconut Shea Butter Lotion: for dry sky and eczema

After I made my first batch of lotion, I've been experimenting with different ingredients for different aliments. For example, using colloidal oatmeal as an anti-itch relief. It's super fun and easy to make your own lotion. It takes just a few minutes to mix the ingredients together and there you have it. Today I'm sharing another variation for the dry/eczema prone skin. I keep everything raw when making lotion. I never heat the ingredients, which I feel is very important. This batch includes shea butter as the base, with coconut oil, calendula oil, jojoba oil and a dash of eucalyptus (for its healing properties and fragrance). Raw shea butter has a very interesting smell, almost smokey, and in the many batches I've purchased (on amazon) they have all varied in color and smell. This is to be expected. So have fun and experiment with essential oils!

Ingredients:

-4.5 ounces raw organic unrefined shea butter here or here

-1/4 cup raw, organic coconut oil

-3 tablespoons jojoba oil

-1 tablespoon calendula oil

-3/4 teaspoon eucalyptus oil*

Purchase the glass amber jars HERE

How To:

1. Mix ingredients in bowl, initially by hand, then with electric mixer.

2. Fill small glass jars and use within 2 months.

3. Final product can be stored at room temperature during use, as it has great self life! Store remaining unused shea butter in the refrigerator, or you could also store leftover lotion in the fridge if you won't be using it right away (it will keep for months in the fridge). This stuff is resilient and you're good either way, no matter where you keep it.

Notes

*Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a powerful anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory essential oil that can help control eczema flare-ups. Eucalyptus oil works by stimulating blood circulation and has a calming and cooling effect on irritated skin. And like echinacea, eucalyptus also stimulates your immune function. Before applying eucalyptus oil (or any essential oil) to the skin, the oil should be diluted in a carrier oil (i.e. sweet almond oil, olive oil, jojoba oil, etc.) to avoid further irritation and burning. Eucalyptus can be applied throughout the day as needed for itch relief. Eucalyptus is also great for treating a baby eczema rash.

Use hand mixer OR food processor. Both work well. I tend to use a hand mixer with soft ingredients. When I make lotion with cocoa butter, I always use a food processor. It's difficult to incorporate cocoa butter with a hand mixer. Something else that's important to consider is that the heat from the friction (from running the food processor a while) will help melt the small chunks of cocoa butter and incorporate all the ingredients nicely.

Additional Homemade Lotions from The Tasty Alternative:

1. Jojoba Shea Butter Lotion
2. Cocoa and Shea Body Butter
3. Shea Cocoa Avocado Oil Body Butter
______________________________________________________________________
{affiliate links in post}

Shared on: Healthy Second Wednesday

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Chicken Cabbage Soup (SCD, AIP, GAPS, Paleo)

Oh boy I love cabbage - especially in soup! Have you tried it in soup? It's a must. I used a special broth in this recipe (made from leftover vegetable pulp from a vegetable drink) and wow what a burst of flavor. Any broth would be great - or even water. Whatever you have on hand.

Ingredients:

-1/2 yellow onion, small chop

-3 tablespoons oil

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-4 carrots, peeled and chopped

-4 celery stalks, chopped

-3 cloves garlic, chopped

-3 cups green cabbage, shredded

-2 1/2 cups mushrooms, chopped

-1 bay leaf

-2 cooked chicken breasts (I use up leftovers)

-4 cups broth + 2 cups filtered water (add more if needed, just make sure you cover the ingredients)

-A few turns of the pepper grinder

How To:

1. Add oil to pot and saute onions with salt until translucent. Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds.

2. Add mushrooms, carrots celery and cabbage, saute until veggies start to wilt.

3. Add chicken and mix well.

4. Add broth, water, bay leaf and pepper.

5. Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer and cook uncovered until vegetables are soft.

6. Remove bay leaf, check for seasoning, and serve .

Shared on: Pennywise Platter, Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Lunch Box Love Fridays, Freaky Friday, Fresh Bites Fridays & Sunday Night Soup Night, Gluten-Free Wednesdays

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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Allergy-Free Wednesdays Blog Hop Week 6: February 29, 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Super Simple Super Tasty Marinara Sauce - and a funny for your Monday.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Vegan Coffee Flavored Whipped Cream/Mousse

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Allergy-Free Wednesdays Blog Hop Week 5: February 15, 2012

Monday, February 20, 2012

Sweet and Sour Chicken Awesomeness

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Homemade Coconut Shea Butter Lotion: for dry sky and eczema

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Chicken Cabbage Soup (SCD, AIP, GAPS, Paleo)

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