Ingredients

• 1 c almond flour
• 2 small bananas, about 1 c*
• 1/4 c dark chocolate chips
• 3 T almond butter
• 2 T brown sugar or coconut sugar, optional
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 1 t baking soda
• pinch of salt

Method

In a mixer, mix the following ingredients together until smooth:  bananas, almond butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt and baking soda.  Add the almond flour and chocolate chips.

Bake at 350ºF for about 11 minutes. As you can see from the picture, I used a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop to form the cookies. Use a spoon if you gotta, but if the cookie dough “ball” is larger than an inch and a half, you’re going to need to adjust the baking time. These bakies do stick a bit to the pan, so use gentle force to remove them–or try lightly greasing with baking sheet.

*Your bananas MUST have brown spots on them! When I say 2 small bananas, I mean: when you roughly tear the bananas into a measuring cup, you get about one cup, do not puree the banana and then measure.

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin, about 1 1/2 lbs.
• 1/2 lb. thinly sliced deli ham
• 1/4 lb. swiss cheese, optional
• 1/2 c. dill pickles, sliced into long strips
• 4 T yellow mustard
• 2 T honey
• S&P

Method

Get your oven to 450ºF. To prepare your pork, watch this video:

Please notice right around the 1:40 mark of the video he shows the front side of the pork. Here you can see, on the left side of the pork, what is called the “silver skin” …it should be removed with your knife. Don’t worry about all the fat, that will cook away, but DO DO DO remove the silver skin. Salt and pepper both sides of the pork.

Mix together the honey and mustard in a small bowl.

This is the easy part, in whatever fashion you’d like, layer the ham, cheese and honey mustard into the pork loin.  When you’ve gotten about half way through, add the pickle slices (going long ways). Make sure to put the pickles long ways so when you slice the meat, you get a little bit in every bite. I suggest putting the pickles in half way through the stuffing process because otherwise it’s likely to cause the pork loin to be over stuffed and not roll up properly. Once you’re finished, roll the pork up. Using about 4 pieces of butcher’s twine, tie the pork together–don’t worry about the ends.

Sear the pork loin over medium high heat (in an oven safe pan) in a bit of fat, until you see a nice brown crust on both sides.  Stick the pan in the oven and cook until the center of the pork loin measures 140ºF– about 25 minutes. Let it rest for around 10 minutes, then slice and serve. You may want to make another batch of honey mustard to serve as a dipping sauce.

Alright, alright, I know, you’ve probably made this before. BUT…here’s our twist, we have found the PERFECT oil for homemade mayo, mixed it with a pile of easy to find ingredients and you’ve got an easy, fast, refreshing and flavorful meal.

Per a request, I’ve finally integrated a ‘Print This’ printer-friendly button. I’ll be updating all the old recipes soon! If you have any suggestions or recipe ideas, please email us. We love to hear from you!

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 c avocado mayo*

2 t yellow curry powder

1 t garam masala**

1 1/2 c raisins

2 T mango chutney***

1 1/c c slivered almonds, toasted

handful of cilantro, roughly chopped

S&P

Method

Place the chicken on a baking sheet and bake until cooked through, about 25 minutes on 350ºF.

While the chicken is baking, take out a large bowl and  mix together the rest of the ingredients. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, chop it into bite sized pieces and place into the large bowl. Mix to incorporate.

Serve cold.

*So here it is, drum roll please….

Avocado oil makes the perfect mayonnaise.

With most oils we’ve tried to make mayo with, the flavor is quite bitter or very, “POW! in your mouth.” Bacon mayo, tastes like bacon and coconut oil mayo tastes like coconut. Think about this way, I wouldn’t want coconut oil mayonnaise in my egg salad. The avocado mayo flavor isn’t bitter, but creamy and rich–quite buttery, really. The flavor is ideal to mix with almost anything. For the chicken salad, take this recipe and double it. We sourced the oil on Amazon.com. Please notice, you get 2 large bottles.

**Garam masala is an mixture of equal parts hot and and sweet curry. You can find it at at most grocery stores.

***Mango chutney, also sometimes called Major Grey’s Chutney, is a like a sweet and spicy mango jam. You can find it at most grocery stores, on the ethnic aisle.

I roasted a spaghetti squash one night, with no actual plan to include it in a meal–I had just neglected it for a few weeks, and started to feel like I was going to waste it if I didn’t hurry up and do something with it. I pulled out the “threads” and WHAM! I had an epiphany of sorts. I thought the “threads” looked a bit like shredded potatoes. These hash browns don’t have the same texture as a traditional potato hash. The squash “threads” will caramelize and stay slightly crunchy, so you get a very similar effect. This isn’t really a quick meal, but it’s definitely a cheap one with lots of variation possibilities. I served this particular hash brown with an over easy fried egg.

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash

1 yellow onion, finely diced

2 T rosemary, finely chopped

Olive Oil

S&P

Method

Get your oven to 450ºF. Line a baking sheet with foil. Split the spaghetti squash in 1/2. Use a fork to remove all the seeds. Like I’ve said before, don’t be too anal about getting out all the gunk, you won’t even notice it once the squash has roasted. Lightly drizzle some olive oil inside the cavity of the squash and lay it face down onto the baking sheet. Roast for approx. 20 minutes, flip the squash over and roast for another 15 minutes. I decided to roast the squash at a ridiculously high temperature so it wouldn’t take as long and I wanted to see some caramelization on the squash. You’ll know it’s done when you take a fork to the squash and it “threads” very easily. Remove from the oven and let cool so you can handle it.

While the squash is roasting, heat some olive oil over medium heat and add the diced onion. You don’t want to hear a sizzle when you add the onion. Turn the heat down if this happens. We don’t want burned onions! Let the onions cook until they’re translucent and slightly golden. Add the rosemary and some S&P.

Once the squash is cooled. “Thread” it and add to a large bowl. Add the onions and mix around to roughly incorporate.

Turn the burner up to medium high heat and add more oil to your saute pan, if you need it. Take a spoon (or my favorite tool, your hands) and patty up some of the squash mixture. Saute it until it’s carmelized and golden brown, about 10 minutes on each side. Repeat until all the squash is gone.

WE’RE ALIVE! I hope you weren’t worried (or starving). Summer=Vacation. Wanted to say a BIG thank you to all the Facebook and website comments about our recipes. I’m at a crossroads about commenting on every single comment to say ‘thank you’, I just feel like that seems a little silly, but believe me, we cherish EVERY single comment–good or bad!

So onto the recipe…

This is actually 3 recipes, hence the title  “Feast”. Here’s the breakdown: Mediterranean spiced meat kebabs, tafooleh salad and roasted garlic baba ganoush dip. You can make all 3 or just one and you’ll be eating like a king. We’ve made this so many times, in fact, we’ve made this for a dinner party (+ a few other accoutrements), our grandparents, my parents, kids –and had huge success. I don’t know why I’m just getting around to posting it.

Ingredients

Meat Kabobs

• 1.5 lb. ground meat (we’ve used lamb, beef and buffalo with great success)
• 1 T ground cumin
• 1 T ground corriander
• 1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 t garlic powder
• S & P

Tafooleh Salad

We posted this recipe way back in the day…well, it was one of our first posts anyway.

We grow tomatoes and this salad is a great way to use them up, if ya got ‘em.

Roasted Garlic Baba Ganoush Dip

• 2 medium eggplants
• 7 cloves garlic, skin kept on!!
• 1/2 c olive oil
• 2 T sesame oil*
• 1 lemon, juiced
• S &P

Method

For the Kebabs

Turn the grill onto HOT and keep it there! Completely submerge 5-6 wooden skewers (if you have metal skewers, skip this step) in water for about 30 minutes. You’re trying to wet the wood so it doesn’t burn on the grill. In a medium sized bowl, combine all the ingredients for the kebabs and mix together with your God given forks, yo hands!

Form the meat around the water soaked skewer, like you’re be making a lollipop, or perhaps a meat-sicle. Haha! Place the meat-pops on the grill and cook for about 5 minutes, turn and cook another 5 minutes on the other side.

For the Roasted Garlic Baba Ganoush Dip

Get your oven to 350ºF. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Cut the stems off the top the eggplants and split them in 1/2. Place them on the baking sheet and give them a light drizzle of olive oil. Grab a small sheet of foil and place the garlic cloves in the middle (DO NOT remove the skin of the garlic!), drizzle with olive oil and close up tight, like a little bundle of love. You’re making roasted garlic baby–some of the tastiest stuff on Earth! Place in the oven and roast until the eggplant can easily be pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Once the garlic is cool enough to handle, remove the skins. The garlic should be nicely golden, brown. In a food processor, add all the ingredients and blend until smooth.

*Typical baba ganoush uses Tahini, which is sesame seed paste. It’s expensive and a mono-tasker kind of ingredients–I only really make one recipe with it. It’s just not worth it, so I use sesame oil instead, something I use a lot in Asian recipes.

More sausage! Brandon was supposed to make dinner tonight and well, I kind of took over. He wanted breakfast for dinner and I’m totally in to that, don’t get me wrong. Problem is, we’re going out of town, out of the country actually, for the next 5 days and I had some stuff I wanted to use up in the fridge.  So we melded our ‘wants’ and came up with this beauty.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. link sausage*
• 6 eggs
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 avocado, chopped
• Salsa**

Method

For the sausage, use a knife to split the link 3/4 of the way through and use your fingers to split it flat. Cook the sausages in a saute pan, that’s on medium high heat, with the casing side down. Why? Because the casing needs to render out otherwise the sausage will curl up,  won’t crisp up and will taste oddly chewy.

While the sausage is browning, whisk together the eggs with a bit of salt. Remember, the salt helps keep the eggs tender. After the sausage is done, scramble the eggs in the sausage renderings, however you like–runny, slightly runny, hard and rubbery.

To serve, lay a few sausage links down on your plate, top with eggs, spoon with salsa and then sprinkle the green onions and avocado on top.

*We used plain, breakfast sausage, simply because that’s all I had in the freezer. Crumbled sausage or Chorizo would be fab-u-lous here too. I’d be interested to hear how a smoked sausage, like Andouille would be.

**We used a chipotle salsa and it was magical. If I had green salsa, that would have been on there too!

The grocery store I most frequent, 14 Carrot in Lexington, SC (for those of you local readers), makes a few salads and what-nots for the ready-made deli case. They’re really those wacky kind of foods like tofu, wheat grass quiche and mock chicken veganaise salad. Bleh! They never, ever look appetizing.  I took a look at the ingredients of their Kale salad, cringed, and then decided I’d try to riff it. The result: literally 10 minutes from prep to mouth, made and served in one bowl, and tastes like the seaweed salad we order (and pay $4/serving for) when we go out for sushi. It’s a refreshing, cold, crunchy bowl of happiness.

Ingredients

• 2 bunches kale, torn into bite size pieces, no stems (something the kiddies can do)
• a little bit of water
• 1/4 c sesame oil
• 2 T wheat free soy sauce or coconut aminos (my newest acquisition, pretty cool, ya?)
• 2 T sesame seeds

Method

Place about 1/4 c of  of water in a large, microwave safe bowl. Add the torn kale and seal the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Place in the microwave for 1 minute increments, peeking into the bowl during each cycle. What you’re doing is creating steam from the little puddle of water and a light, semi-permeable plastic wrap seal. It’s done when the  kale has steamed and wilted, this should take around 3 minutes.

Unwrap the bowl and be careful not to steam-burn yourself. Once the kale is cool enough to handle, pour out the water and squeeze the kale until most of the water is gone.

Add the rest of ingredients and mix to combine. Serve at room temperature or cold.

To us, the USDA food pyramid has a few problems. The most obvious one and the one most commonly written about is the danger associated with the high carbohydrate/ high grain and low fat recommendations they promote. The second, and we think less obvious one, is that the pyramid does not represent visually what benefits eating well can help you obtain and what detriments it can help you avoid. It also does not represent the major underlying principles that drive the decisions on what foods should take precedence on your plate. With the Health-Bent Umbrella we set out to address both of these issues. Because to us, to create a sustainable lifestyle of healthy eating requires more than just a list of foods….knowledge of how your food can truly be used as medicine can help you stay the course.

The Umbrella Handle

The Health-Bent approach is founded in collective Paleo diet methodology and supported by modern science. As the handle of the umbrella lets us grasp it and postures it overhead, evolutionary biology and evidence of what our ancestors ate is the theory that allows us to grasp all the other aspects of the lifestyle and see how science supports them.

1. Evolutionary Evidence/ Paleo Diet

Our hunter-gather ancestors enjoyed lean/muscular physiques and lives largely absent of many modern diseases. Their pre-agricultural diets were free of grains, beans/legumes, vegetable oils, and refined sugars but high in animal protein and fat. Modern science supports that eating this way helps your body work the way it was designed to work.

The Umbrella Fabric

The fabric of our umbrella is made up of the foods we mindfully choose to eat. These foods provide the shelter to protect from the perils above in the clouds.

The Umbrella Ribs

The ribs of the umbrella support the structure and allow the fabric to stay taut and open. The ribs of our diagram are some of the major principles that guide our decisions about food and support the decision to eat the way we do.

2. Challenge CW

Conventional dietary Wisdom (think USDA food pyramid…high carb, low fat) has been linked to the increase in obesity and health problems prevalent in our country. CW recommendations are based on questionable data and are perpetuated by government and industry with suspected special interests other than optimal health.

3. Eat Low Carbohydrate

Chronically elevated insulin levels from high carbohydrate intake can break your metabolism and lead to fat storage coupled with the inability to burn it. Your body’s regulatory hormones and energy can suffer. This imbalance is tied to inflammation and a host of diseases. Carbohydrate intake also blunts satiety and causes those dreaded blood sugar crashes, which can lead you to overeat more of the wrong foods.

4. Omega 3 to Omega 6 Ratio

An ideal ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids would be around 1:1. The standard American diet has been said to approach 1:30. The culprit is largely modern vegetable oils. Processing and refining these oils has required sophisticated manufacturing processes that have only been available very recently. These oils trend toward very high Omega 6 levels. Omega 6 fats are pro-inflammatory (although we need some) while Omega 3s reduce inflammation. The imbalance is what can create a dangerous environment in your body harming your immune function. Do your homework on these oils, apart from being high in Omega 6 they are also highly susceptible to oxidation (damage).

Approved: Coconut, palm, olive, avocado, some nut oils – cold pressed is best

Avoid: Soybean, peanut, corn, sunflower, safflower, canola, flaxseed oil, and most others that are not on the approved list

5. Truth about Grains

Grains have evolved to possess a host of compounds designed to discourage consumption. They don’t want to be eaten! When you consume grains you are ingesting toxins. These “anti-nutrients” wreak havoc on your gut lining (can block absorption of nutrients you need) and are associated with auto-immune disorders among other things. Beans and legumes contain many of these compounds as well. Grains have only been an available food source for humans for about 10,000 years…a mere blink of the eye compared to our 2+ million years of existence.

6. Quality

Extra effort to find organic produce and pastured or free ranging animal products is worth it. Local is generally better as well.  Conventional produce can contain harmful pesticides and fertilizers and frequently is grown and harvested in such a way that compromises nutrient levels. Industrialized meat is typically fed a diet foreign to the species, lives in unsanitary conditions, and is bolstered with hormones and anti-biotics. Animals should eat what they would eat naturally and live in a spacious environment, these products in turn will be healthier and bio-accumulate less toxins.

Imagine eating a chili dog with slaw, onions and yellow mustard. Now imagine taking off the bun and eating it in a bowl with a fork and you’ve got the idea behind this recipe. Another way to look at it, we’ve taken off the sour cream, avocado and cheese from chili and added hot dog toppings.

Ingredients

Chili Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground meat* (I used ground chicken, but anything would work)
• 1 package hot dogs, chopped (I used sugar-free beef franks from U.S. Wellness Meats)
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes, juice drained, chopped small
• 1 c tomato sauce
• 2 chipolte peppers in adobe sauce, chopped finely
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t cumin powder

Slaw Ingredients

• 1 red cabbage, sliced thinly (The cabbage should quite small–weighing about 1 lb., you won’t need more than that)
• 1/2 c mayo
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 3 T pickled jalapenos, finely chopped**
• 5 T pickled jalapeno juice**
• 1 T yellow mustard

Method

In a medium sauce pan, cook the ground meat all the way through and then add the cut up hot dogs. Throw the rest of the ingredients in the pot and let it simmer while you make the slaw.

For the slaw, get out a large bowl and add all the ingredients, except the cabbage, and whisk to combine. Add the cabbage to the slaw base and mix to combine.

To serve, place the chili on the bottom of the bowl, then add some slaw and top with whatever hot dog fixings you like. Yellow mustard is an absolute must!

*If you’re pinching pennies, you can definitely leave out the ground meat and just use hot dogs. Chop the hot dogs rather small so they go further.

**Don’t be afraid of the pickled jalapenos or the juice. It’s not nearly as spicy as fresh jalapeno…but as always, add a little at a time and taste as you go–because you can’t take it away after you’ve added it.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c almonds, raw and unsalted
• 2 eggs
• 3 oz coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 c sugar
• 4 peaches, skin removed, chopped small

Method

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Put the rack you’re going to bake on in the center of the oven.

In your food processor, combine all ingredients, except the peaches. Blend the ingredients until they make a smooth-ish paste. Ta-Da…you’ve just made frangipane. Use a spoon to evenly portion the frangipane into a muffin tin. This should make 12, almost perfectly.

Top each muffin with peaches and bake for 30 minutes. Put the oven on broil to get the tops of the muffins nice and golden. If your peaches are a little blah (as mine were), you can add a pinch of sugar to the top of each muffin so the peaches will make a little bit of juice.