Sweet Potato Biscuits

Sweet Potato Biscuits
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Oh, Pinterest, How do I love thee. It's such an awesome website to view. Go check it out because that's where I get several of my recipes like this one! When my family and I lived in NC, there was this tiny bakery in the city of Camden that made THE BEST sweet potato biscuits. It's the only place I've had them but it's the best piece of bread I've ever eaten. This recipe was close, but no cigar compared to Camden, NC!

This is where I got the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup whole milk

1 cup baked, mashed sweet potato (about 1 medium potato)

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), frozen

Heavy cream for brushing the tops (I did not use heavy cream)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside. In a separate large bowl, mix together milk and mashed sweet potato until evenly combined.

Grate frozen butter through the large holes of a box grater and toss with dry ingredients until butter is coated. Add milk mixture and mix lightly until dough forms a shaggy mass. (Shaggy mass? Uhm, okay! haha)

Turn out mixture onto a floured surface and knead just until it comes together. (The dough will not be smooth.)

Pat into a circle and use a floured rolling pin to roll dough to a thickness of about 3/4 inch. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, or glass, cut the dough into rounds. Gather leftover dough into a circle, reroll, and cut until you have 8 large biscuits.

Place biscuits on a baking sheet, brush tops with heavy cream, and bake until the bottoms are golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Serve with lots of butter inside or make your own honey butter and heap it on top! These are good for breakfast sandwiches, eggs and bacon or ham and cheese.

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Serve and Enjoy!

Uber Chocolate Brownies

Uber Chocolate Brownies
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All I have to say is, thank God for awesome dessert websites like MBA. She had a Valentine's Day dessert round-up and I found an awesome brownie recipe here. I, of course, tweaked it to what I had in my pantry and used a different sized baking dish because my 8x8 has something else in it. Ya'll have got to check out the original recipe here. I must admit, mine taste amazing but hers look absolutely gooey and delicious!

This brownie looked simply amazing and it was so easy to make, too. It's in the oven cooking and this will be the first "bad" thing I've eaten since my Whole30 Challenge. I wanted to treat myself to a homemade brownie. I was not going to sit down with a few oreo's and call that a treat. I haven't ever frozen left over brownies so I'm going to try it this time, because, gosh-darn it, there will be left overs! The best part about these brownies is they don't make you feel sick to your stomach from it being too sweet. It's a great recipe!

Ayden wanted ice-cream so that's what he got. Me, I'd rather just have the brownie and leave the dairy out!

Ingredients:

1cup all-purpose flour

1tsp baking powder

1/2tsp salt

1/2cup butter (unsalted. = 1 stick)

1/4cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

1cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

*For the middle of the brownie*
3/4cup-1cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat over to 350F.
In a large bowl, stir the flour, salt and baking powder together.
In a microwave safe container (I used a 2-cup glass measuring cup), melt the butter and 1/4cup chocolate chips. I did 1 minute and it melted together just fine. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted. If needed, zap it another 10 seconds.

Stir the sugar into the butter/chocolate mixture.

In another small dish, scramble the eggs and vanilla and then mix thoroughly with the butter/chocolate/sugar mixture.

Once thoroughly combined, incorporate into the dry mixture but don't over mix.
Spray an 8x8 pan and add 2/3 of the mixture then sprinkle the 3/4-1cup extra chocolate chips. Cover with remaining brownie batter.

Bake 20-30 minutes until the top is set. Toothpick test won't work well here since there's chocolate chips in the middle.

Don't forget to let your cute kid lick the bowl!

 

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Eat and Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Flank Steak

Slow Cooker Flank Steak
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I've never tried flank steak but darn that Rachael Ray for cooking it the other day on her show. Her and Bobby Flay seem to use it a lot so I figured I'd give it a go. It's a tougher protein so low and slow is the way I'm approaching it today. When I make new dishes, I try to find a recipe online with a lot of positive reviews and tweak it to what my family would like and that's what I did today. It was so moist and juicy and fell apart like a roast does when it's cooked just right. I had my sister and her kids over for dinner and it was a hit!

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds flank steak, a.k.a. London Broil

2Tbsp cooking oil of choice, I used olive oil but you can use coconut oil too

1 large onion, I used yellow

1.25tsp chili powder

1tsp garlic powder

1/2tsp salt

1/4tsp pepper

1/3cup water

2Tbsp white vinegar

Handful mushrooms of choice, I had buttons on hand

The recipe here shows adding sugar and peppers.. Two things I didn't do. I chose not to add sugar and didn't have peppers on hand.

Directions:

Remove silver skin and excess fat from the meat. In a skillet set to medium-high heat, heat oil to almost smoking. Make sure the pan and oil are nice and hot and brown both sides of the meat. I cut mine in half and browned separately since my pan was too small. I placed it into my slow cooker so that it would have all the juices instead of adding to another pan or plate. Think ahead, think smart!

Once it's browned one both sides, move it to the slow cookers and add the sliced onion to the pan. Add more oil if needed. Directions said to cook about 1 minute but I cooked it 3-4 minutes while I was gathering my spices. Add the water, vinegar and spices and bring to boil then cover the flank steak with this mixture. At this point, I added the mushrooms.

You'll cover without removing the lid on your slow cooker. Trust me, don't peek inside! It needs the moisture especially with a tough cut of protein like flank steak.

The instructions given in the link says to cook 7 hours but all the reviews say 4 hours and it comes out perfect so I set mine to 4 hours, which is a high setting on my cooker and it did come out perfect!

Get up and make something healthy to eat today! This is a great recipe to start with.

Oh, my pound-and-a-half was about $13.00 but it's a lot of meat and will feed me and the two kids several meals. This would be enough for several adults with enough delicious veggies on the side.

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Paleo Chocolate Bombs

Paleo Chocolate Bombs
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In the search for a paleo dessert for Valentine's Day, I discovered how easy it is to make a healthy dessert. Ayden says this dessert tastes just like brownie batter and is amazing; it really is amazing! I never, ever, ever, everrrrrrr thought that I'd be able to make a dessert without adding sugar, but I did! Say hello to my chocolate bombs!

Happy Valentine's Day all you paleo friends of mine. Give this a try! I'm sure it'll be a staple in your desserts from now on.

P.s. YOU CAN'T SAY "BOMB" ON AN AIRPLANE!

Ingredients:

8-10 dates (or any dried fruit, no sugar added), depending on how sweet you like desserts

1/2 cup nut butter, I used almond butter

1 handful nuts, I used cashews the first time and pecans the second time. Both ways are great. Gives it a nice crunch.

1Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder. Start with this amount and add more if you want a more intense flavor.

1 tiny pinch of salt. Omit salt if your nuts already have salt on them.

1/4tsp pure vanilla extract

Put everything into a food processor and pulse. I like the dates to be chewy still so I pulse it enough to still see a few chunky pieces. You do it however you like, though. This dessert is all yours!

Once your mixture looks like this, roll into small bombs (balls). I eye-balled it but you could do 1tsp or 1Tbsp sized bombs. If you want to roll it in more chopped nuts or coconut flakes, go for it. Want to add some mini chocolate chips, do it now!

Move to the fridge and let them set up. You can freeze these as long as your freezer bag holds up. I like it cold so I eat it right out of the fridge.

Earlier I said there was no added sugar, which is correct; however, the dates provide enough sugar to make it sweet enough. You can add apricots, raisins, cherries.. whatever dried fruit you have on hand would be fine to use. Just add a handful or so and you're golden!

So, Happy Valentine's Day to you all and start making the right decisions about your food. Desserts can be completely healthy if you just use your brain a little bit. I can honestly say I do not feel fat and bloated after I eat a few of these. I do want to eat the entire tray of bombs, but I must stay strong and have willpower! I can't wait to share these with my sister and mom!

Eat and Enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Stock/Broth

Homemade Chicken Stock/Broth

There's nothing better than eating 100% pure chicken stock/broth. If it's homemade, you know exactly what's in it. There aren't any weird fillers or preservatives inside, just wholesome goodness. Stock or broth can be used for soups, stews, sauces and many other ways. I'll show you how to make your own stock and it's as easy as throwing everything into a pot and simmer for an hour or two. Easy stuff!

Ingredients:

Chicken bones and any leftover broth from cooking a whole chicken

2 bay leaves

1Tbsp peppercorns

1cup coarse chopped carrots (wash but don't skin them)

1cup coarse chopped onions

enough water to cover all of the ingredients

(There's no salt since most of the time when you cook a recipe, it asks for salt. You can add it if you want, but I leave it out)

Directions:

Place everything into a large stock pot and bring to a boil. In my picture above, I had everything frozen and ready to go. If I have already cooked my chicken, I wait until I have the bones and broth from two whole chickens since it will produce more flavor. (So I freeze everything until I'm ready to start cooking.) Turn the mixture up to a boil and then reduce to simmer and cover for one to two hours.

Simply strain into a freezer container or go ahead and start cooking your soup or stew now. I place a strainer inside of a large bowl and make sure nothing except liquid gets transferred into the bowl for future cooking.

You can freeze for as long as it'll last in your freezer so keep an eye on it and don't forget it's in there. Before I freeze it, I place it in the fridge and let the fat come to the top and then I scrape off with a spoon and throw it away. You can transfer to the freezer after that. You don't have to, put that's how I prefer to do it. I think it would last 4 days in the fridge which is why I freeze mine.

The fat will be white and you can use a wooden spoon, spatula, or regular spoon to scrape it off and throw it away.. it really doesn't matter.

Use with my paleo chicken 'noodle' soup recipe. Or you can use it in my regular chicken noodle soup recipe. How about some cauliflower soup? Homemade gravy, anyone?

There's a lot of different ways to use chicken stock/broth so make some of your own and start cooking healthier. Give it a shot!

Spinach Smoothie

Spinach Smoothie

I love smoothies! My sister Chris came up with this smoothie cocktail.We both love shakes because they're easy to make and takes just a minute from start to finish. In this version, she came up with a drink that has spinach in it. Spinach is so healthy for you and has a very mild flavor, sometimes hardly no flavor at all. Her twin daughters love this shake as well. So, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Drink your spinach for breakfast and get a healthy fat and carb boost!

Ingredients:

A large handful of fresh spinach

About 1 cup of fresh or frozen unsweetened blueberries

About 1/3 cup unsweetened full-fat coconut milk

As much water that you'll need to make it into a shake

Vanilla extract (optional)

Cinnamon (optional)

Mix everything together in a blender and blend until smooth.

Drink and enjoy! There's no better way to start your day off right if you can get in some good carbs and fats. The blueberries are a powerful antioxidant so this is a Super Shake!

Enjoy!