Showing posts with label healthy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy. Show all posts

Thursday, March 7, 2013

"BB&B"- Brussel Sprouts, Beets and Bacon

I love beets. I love eating beets and how I feel after I've eaten them. Beets make me feel whole and healthy.
Beets carry a near exclusive phyto nutrient, glycine betaine and help your body remove some specific toxins from your blood stream.




 So yes, I really like how I feel when we eat beets, and since my local grocer had some beauties this week, I jumped right in. Next to the beets was a beautiful bin of fresh brussel sprouts, one of my favorite companions for beets!! AHhhh Spring is near!

"BB&B"

Ingredients;
3-4 small to medium sized fresh beets
1lb fresh brussel sprouts
4 slices bacon, diced
1/4 cup quality balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic powder, or one clove minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of cayenne pepper *optional
small glob of coconut oil

First off you'll need to prepare the beets. Cut the greens off an inch or two from where they meet the root. Gently place the beets in a glass baking dish and put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. Remove them and set them aside to cool until you're ready to cook the rest of your meal.

Next, take the diced bacon and get it cooking in a med-hot skillet so it renders and gets crispy around the edges. Now I realize that a picture of sizzling bacon is not necessary here, but really, who doesn't love bacon?
                                                               MMMmmmm Bacon...


Quarter the brussel sprouts while the bacon is cooking, when the bacon is just right, add them to your skillet. At this point I put in a spoonful of coconut oil just for good measure, and because my sprouts soaked up the rendered bacon fat. I seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Then just let them sautee until the sprouts are nicely browned and as tender as you'd like.

                                           One peeled beet with whole and quartered sprouts


While the sprouts are cooking, you'll need to peel the beets. Slice off both the top and bottom of the beets and use a knife to remove the peel. If they're roasted well this is very easy. After the peels are removed, dice them into small chunks.

When the brussel sprouts are as tender as you'd like, add the beets to the pan and stir. Add the balsamic vinegar and allow it to sizzle and heat through. You don't want the beets back on the heat more than to reheat them, so wait until the end.

Voila! This is the only way I can get my husband to eat brussel sprouts thus far. This also works soaking the beet greens and some swiss chard and using those instead of the brussel sprouts. I've done it with broccoli. The bacon is optional obviously if you want vegan, otherwise the bacon is NOT optional.

We had our "BB&B" with simple herb seasoned chicken legs, cooked in a skillet on top of the stove. Since hubby decided to have a glass of wine last night, we added a splash of Sweet Red wine to the pan. He also wanted "sauce" and proceeded to make our replacement for Ranch Dressing. It tastes nothing like Ranch Dressing, but its delicious. Its Safflower Mayo, a dash of almond milk, some dried Dill Weed and Cayenne pepper whisked together. Originally formed as a sauce for fish tacos.
~Jamie

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Who Are We?

We are Stacey and Jamie, stay at home moms who share a passion for real nutrition from real food sources. Each dealing with our own set of food intolerance's, we share common intolerance's of gluten, dairy and soy and a love for all things coconut.



We "met" through an online forum in 2009 when we were both expecting babies in November of 2009. We found through general chatter that we had a few things in common, but it wasn't until a bit later that we discovered we had much more in common that we first thought.

Our girls were born 5 days apart, and actually share a common name. Among sharing a love for natural birth, cloth diapers, breastfeeding and attachment parenting, we soon realized that was just the tip of the ice-burg. Shortly after our girls were born, we celebrated their first holiday.

                                                                   Thanksgiving

AHHH Thanksgiving; dressing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cakes and 4 or 5 different pie varieties. Vegetables are served drenched in butter, heavy cream and cheese. If you HAVE to eat vegetables, hide their true flavor as much as possible so no one has to actually TASTE a green bean. The beautiful green salad, sits there because someone felt there should be a salad, and it goes un-touched. Was there a turkey? Who can even remember?

                                                                "The Last Supper"

That Thanksgiving is where Jamie's journey into real food began. Stacey's journey began much earlier, but that's a separate post entirely. At that time, Stacey was dairy and egg free. Food intolerance's discovered through her eldest girl a few years before. The day after Thanksgiving, un-affectionately known in the retail world as "Black Friday" seems rather fitting. The day after our girls first Thanksgiving, after nursing tiny newborns at the dinner table and eating leftover pie for breakfast, The girls were fussy. Very fussy. Then came the diapers. This wasn't right, it was so far from right there was something drastically wrong. At this time in Jamie's life, the term "food intolerance" had never entered her frame of mind.

                                              It doesn't seem like much of a pyramid anymore 

Fast forward a few months and Stacey's life has been turned upside down by intolerance's and dealing with an infant who had a severely damaged digestive tract. Jamie has discovered that by removing dairy 100% she had a different child, but still had a long way to go.

Another year, and both Stacey and Jamie have taken their families gluten free, doing it because of the needs of the children, and realizing their own intolerance's along the way. Stacey's diet consisted of grass at this point, and she began a journey into the world of gut healing. A world that helped open Jamie's eyes to the bigger picture of what was happening within her own family.

Through their separate journeys, they came together as friends, and co-conspirators into developing recipes that were not only delicious, but healthy. With an added bonus of not feeling ill after eating. What an amazing concept!

                                                             Green Bean Casserole
          Gluten free, grain free, dairy free with the added bonus of bacon. Who doesn't love bacon?


Stacey has a degree in Special Education, mother to 3 beautiful girls, ages 5, 3 and Newborn. She lives in Connecticut and enjoys knitting in her "spare" time. She is currently a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) and spends the majority of her time making muffins and playing My Little Pony.

                                                                        Stacey

Jamie is a homeschooling SAHM to two children, a boy age 7, and girl age 3. Due in late July 2013 with #3. In her "spare" time she enjoys reading, Facebook, gardening and sewing. The most favorite of her pass times is gardening, or "playing in the dirt" Jamie also spends a large majority of her time in the kitchen.

                                                                        Jamie