4 chicken sausages (Publix has great chicken sausages!)
1 pound sweet potatoes or rutabaga- cut in to large chunks
1/2 pound carrots- feel free to use baby carrots or fresh carrots chopped
1/2 bell pepper- red or yellow pepper is best, chopped
1 large onion diced
1 fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves diced
2 tbsp oil
freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 tsp Italian herbs- parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, etc., chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Place all of the vegetables in a baking dish. Mix together chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic and Italian herbs in a separate bowl and pour over vegetables. Place in the over, uncovered, at 450 degrees.

In a skillet, sear your chicken sausage to a golden brown texture. Remove from skillet and chop in to large pieces. Remove baking dish with vegetables from the oven and place sausage throughout the dish. Also, if you have good drippings from the sausage add that to the pan as well. Cover with foil and place back in over for 45 minutes. Open the foil from time to time and stir around so that the tips of your vegetables do not burn. Feel free to bake it longer if your vegetables are not baked thoroughly.

• large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons clarified butter
• 5-6 cups cauliflower florets
• 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
• ½ teaspoon pepper (more to taste)
• ½ cup almond milk (more to taste) *be sure to use the unsweetened and unflavored kind*

1.  Saute the minced garlic with the butter in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. Cook for several minutes but do not let garlic burn. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Next, bring  water or vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7-10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender. Do not drain. You ca also steam your cauliflower.
3. Add the cauliflower to a blender or food processor. Add 1 cup vegetable broth or cooking liquid, sauteed garlic/butter, salt, pepper, and milk. Blend or puree for several minutes until the sauce is very smooth, adding more broth or milk depending on how thick you want the sauce. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Serve hot! If the sauce starts to look dry, add a few drops of water, milk, or olive oil.

Add spaghetti squash or almond flour noodles and its like eating a bowl of fettuccine. I steamed brocoli and seared chicken to mix with my noodles and could not tell that I was not eating a heavy cream and cheese sauce!

This is a recipe that was put together for Dalton’s mom for Mother’s Day. She has severe food allergies but this worked! I cannot take credit for the Vanilla Cake recipe. I got the recipe from The Paleo Mom. This dessert is an amazing layered dish of crumbled vanilla cake, fresh sliced strawberries and coconut cool whip!

Vanilla Cake from The Paleo Mom:

• 12 eggs, room temperature
• ¼ cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
• ¾ cup palm shortening
• 1 cup honey
• ½ cup arrowroot flour
• ¾ cup coconut flour, sifted
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp vanilla

1. Prepare your cake pan by adding some palm shortening to it and spreading it around your baking dish o keep the cake form sticking. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat eggs in the bowl of a standing mixer for 1 minute.  Add honey, palm shortening, coconut oil, and vanilla.  Beat to combine (don’t worry if they don’t really come together yet). I added a little more vanilla than the recipe called for only because I needed the sweetness for the dish I was making.
3. In a separate bowl, combine arrowroot powder, sifted coconut flour, baking soda and salt.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.  Beat on high for 1-2 minutes, until batter is smooth.  Allow batter to sit for 1-2 minutes to thicken.
4. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and back 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on the cake because time can vary depending on your type of oven, etc.

Then make your Coconut Milk Whipped Topping!

Place 3-4 cans of coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight. (You must do this because the coconut milk has to be cold!)

Also, place a metal bowl in the freezer so that it gets cold as well. Open the coconut milk, take a spoon on spoon out the hardened part of the milk. Do not shake the can or use the coconut water that is in the bottom of the can.

Place in your cold metal bowl, add vanilla and whip with a mixer on high for 2-3 minutes.

Next, slice your strawberries and begin assembly the dish. I used two cartons of strawberries for this recipe and layered it in a glass truffle dish.

First, remove your cake from the oven and let it cool. Then break it up and crumble some in the bottom of your dish, then add a layer of strawberries, then coconut cool whip, repeat. You will not regret making this awesome dish! It’s great for summer cookouts and graduation parties!

You can place the dish in the refrigerator for 2-3 days but I would not recommend eating it after that.

Made this omelette this morning and had to share!

OMELETTE FILLING:

1 Sweet Potato

1 small yellow onion

Bacon grease or 3-4 strips of bacon

Dice the sweet potato. Add to skillet with 2 tbsp. of bacon grease OR (if you don’t have bacon grease) cook 3-4 strips of bacon and use that grease. Slice the onion thinly and add to the potatoes. Cook both until soft. If you cook bacon, chop it up and add it when the potatoes have cooked…adding the bacon before that may make it soggy.

EGGS:

Beat 2-4 eggs for each omelette. 4 eggs=Dalton size omlette and 2 eggs=Kelly omelette. Add a splash of almond milk to your eggs to make them fluffy. Season with salt and pepper and place in the pan. Cook the eggs on medium low and once the top is no longer slimy, add the potato/bacon mixture and fold over.

Top with guacamole and/or salsa. You won’t regret making this on the weekends!

• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 8 large egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (optional, I like my tortillas thinner so I leave this out)
• 1/2 cup water
• Coconut oil

1. Whisk coconut flour, egg whites, water, and baking powder (optional) together in a large bowl.
2. Preheat small skillet on medium-high.
3. Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray
4. Pour about 3 tablespoons of batter into the pan. Tilt and swirl the skillet to spread out the batter into a round thin tortilla shape.
5. Cook until golden brown on one side and then flip.
6. Cook the other side until golden brown. Remove to plate.

**This recipe will make about 8 tortillas

Enchilada Sauce:

Paleo Enchilada Sauce

1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup organic chicken broth
1 tbs. chili powder
1 tbs. raw honey
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
2 14.5 oz. cans (preferably fire-roasted) crushed tomatoes

Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add garlic and onion and cook until onion softens. Add remaining ingredients, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Enchiladas:

• Coconut oil
• 1 poblano pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 pound chicken, chopped into small chunks or strips
• 3 cups paleo enchilada sauce

1. Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a skillet on medium-high. Add chicken, cook through and then set aside. You may also use frozen shredded crockpot chicken or fresh baked chicken. I have used both and they are great!
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, in a large skillet on medium-high heat add 1 tbsp coconut oil. Once the oil is hot, add the poblano pepper, garlic, and onion. Saute until onions are translucent.
3. Once the onions are translucent, add in cumin, chili powder, chicken and about 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce. Reduce heat and simmer to cook off any runny liquid.
4. Pour small amount of enchilada sauce into a small baking dish.
5. Carefully take one tortilla at a time and fill with some of the chicken mixture. Roll, or simply fold, and place seam side down in the dish.
6. Repeat with all the tortillas until the pan is full. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the enchiladas and then bake for 10 minutes.

Garnish with avocado and enjoy!

Made these tonight and had to share immediately!

1 banana

6 tbsp. natural peanut butter

2 tbsp. almond butter

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Mash the banana in a bowl. Add nut butters and spices.

**Feel free to use whichever nut butter you prefer. For those of you who do not eat peanut butter, use 6 tbsp. of almond butter and 2 tbsp. of cashew butter or sunflower seed butter…whatever you prefer.

The mixture should be at a consistency to roll into 1 in. balls. Place the balls on a greased cookie sheet and press down with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes and enjoy! They taste like my mom’s homemade peanut butter cookies!

2 sweet potatoes

1 clove of garlic, chopped

2 rosemary springs, chopped

1 c. walnuts, chopped

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Peel sweet potatoes and slice (if you like the skin, leave it on!). Place on a baking tray (or two) and coat with olive oil. In a separate bowl, mix together Rosemary, garlic and walnuts then sprinkle mixture of sweet potatoes. Add salt and/or pepper to taste. Bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until soft. So easy! This is a great side dish to a meal or something great to take to a party.

Stumbled upon this by accident because it was a few items in the refrigerator that we had to use before they went bad. Here it is.

1 yellow onion

1 bag of frozen Brussels sprouts or 1 lb. of fresh

2 small pork loins (i purchased mine on sale at Publix and there were two in the pack and they were very small)

1 pkg. of conecuh sausage (feel free to get the spicy if you are up for it)

Salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, etc.

Chop the onion in large chunks and place in crockpot. Take the sausage link and slice in large chunks as well. Place the porkloin and sausage on top of the onions. Then add the Brussels sprouts. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder or any other spices that you love! Place the crockpot on low, cover and let cook for 6-8 hours.

One thing that you can do is use the crockpot overnight. Prepare everything when you get home from work, put it in the crockpot and enjoy waking up to it in the morning!

It’s probably safe to say that we all love pasta! Here are some “pasta” substitute options to keep in mind when creating your next pasta dish!

Sweet Potato Noodles- This would be a great substitute when creating a “ragu” pasta dish or “pappardelle” dish which calls for bigger noodles. Wash and remove the skin from the sweet potato. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the flesh of the sweet potato into a bowl. The result will be wide “noodles” of sweet potato. You can even roll up the “noodles” cannelloni style.

Julianne Squash or Zucchini- Use this when creating that “spaghetti” noodle. You will start to love this option so much that you wont even miss regular pasta! Clean the squash and/or zucchini and cut off the ends. Slice the vegetables in thin, long, slices. You can even mix the two for an incredible flavor!

Spaghetti Squash- The fastest way to prepare a spaghetti squash (I think) is using the microwave. Take a fork and poke the spaghetti squash a few times all around. Place the spaghetti squash in a microwave safe dish (preferably a glass dish) and cover with saran wrap. Microwave for 15 minutes or until the squash is soft to touch. Let cool, slice open, remove seeds and begin shredding the squash with a fork.

• 4 cups grated unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup softened or melted coconut oil
• 2-4 tablespoons coconut nectar or you can use real maple syrup, honey, or agave (spring is a great time to use a local honey!)
• Slivered almonds
• 1 1/2 c. dark chocolate pieces (for topping)
• 1 tbsp. coconut oil (for topping)

1. In a food processor, put the filling ingredients and process for several minutes. The mixture should soften and heat the coconut oil and the coconut pieces should begin to break down and move smoothly.
2. Line an 8 x 8 or similar sized  pan with waxed paper or parchment.
3. Pour the coconut filling in and spread around evenly.
4. Sprinkle with sliced almonds and push them into the mixture. This adds a nice crunch!
5. Place the  pan in the fridge or freezer to speed the solidifying process.
6. Melt chocolate mixture down and spread over the top with a spatula

**There are recipes where you cut the solidified coconut bars and dip them in chocolate individually but that takes longer, however you can do that to if you are taking the bars to a dinner, etc. **