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Ingredients Archives: Avocado Oil

Healthy Curry Stir Fry

By on April 22, 2016 in Main Dishes

I have another stir fry recipe today. I love stir fry because it’s a great way to use up excess or about-to-expire vegetables and meat. Plus you can flavor the mixture to fit your mood. This day, I felt like curry. This isn’t surprising since I could eat curry every day.

As is the case with most my stir frys, this comes together quickly in one pan. This serves one very hungry person or two people who are just sort of hungry. I tend to fit in the category of a very hungry person, so this is a great lunch for me.

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Homemade Sugar-Free Marinara Sauce

By on April 1, 2016 in Main Dishes

20150814_192438Prepare yourselves for a rant. As I’ve mentioned one, two or a million times, I get so angry when companies add sugar to things that don’t need sugar. Fruit is my biggest pet peeve (and why do we need to add sugar to nature’s sugar?), but sauces drive me crazy. A few weeks ago, I was making spaghetti for my family. I tried to buy some marinara sauce only to find they all had added sugar. Most have 5-7 grams of sugar per serving. As I was slamming jars back on teh shelves of the grocery store, I said to myself, (or possibly aloud. Going shopping with kids gives you a good excuse to talk to yourself while making it look like you’re talking to your kids) “I’ll make my own marinara sauce!” And I did. But my marinara sauce has less than two grams of sugar per serving. That’s just my way of sticking it to the man; or at least, sticking it to Ragu.

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Healthy One-Pot Italian Sausage Soup

By on March 25, 2016 in Main Dishes

2016-01-14 17.59.03It’s spring and I live in the Rockies. That means one day it will be 70 degrees and the next day, 30. And when it’s cold, I want soup. And this soup totally delivers on flavor. It has two, yes TWO different sausages. This is an important component in our house as my 5-year-old daughter’s favorite food is either sausage or bacon, depending on the day of the week. This also comes together in one pot which makes clean-up much easier.

Start by cooking the pepper and onion in avocado oil in a large pot. Then add in some ground Italian chicken sausage and cook it through. Add in some diced tomatoes and chicken broth and now sliced smoked turkey sausage.

Now the part that really makes it fabulous: pesto. Stir in 1/2 C of basil pesto. I use a pre-made pesto but feel free to make your own.

Let this all simmer together and then throw in some zucchini at the end and let if cook a bit longer. This keeps the zucchini from going mushy.

 

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Quick Asian Chicken Stir Fry – Without the Sugar

By on March 4, 2016 in

I love stir frys. It’s just a fancy way of throwing everything you want in a pan and cooking it together in delicious seasoning. It comes together in one pot, is full of veggies and protein, and can be customized to for every person. Last week, I had some leftover, cubed chicken breast I needed to cook before they went bad. I decided to make a stir fry for lunch.

This was so good! It had that deliciously addictive flavor you get at a Chinese restaurant, but I didn’t have to add a ton of sugar. I love those small victories. I’ve included what I added (completely based on what I had in my fridge), but add what you want/have.

2016-02-13 12.51.46Start by cooking the chicken breasts and then adding the rest of the veggies. Add the sauce at the end and then serve the whole thing over a large bed of spinach. I love putting hot stir fry over a bed of spinach because the spinach welts down a bit but still has a great crunchy texture. This adds some great variety with the cooked veggies.

 

 

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Egg and Veggie Breakfast Hash

By on February 19, 2016 in Breakfast

It’s kind of ridiculous how much I love breakfast. It’s really my favorite part of the day. So I’m not going to have a tiny breakfast that leaves me hungry an hour later. I’m going to eat a hearty meal that takes at least 15 minutes to eat.

This is my go-to breakfast. I eat it at least three times a week. I feel guilty calling this a recipe. It’s more of a delicious hodge-podge of things thrown together. I’ve listed approximate measurements for the ingredients, but I don’t measure. I just add the amount I feel like at the moment. I also change up the ingredients based on what I have on hand. I generally add zucchini, but I was out this day. So the point is, add what you have and what you like. This recipe looks very different for me than it does for my husband.

I sautee 2-3 cups veggies in avocado oil. This may sound like a lot, but because veggies have so much water, this shrinks down as it cooks, especially if you add leafy greens.

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I also try to pick an array of colors. Vegetables get their colors from the vitamins and minerals they contain so if you eat more colors, you get a bigger variety of health benefits.

I always add one half an onion and one clove of garlic, but then it’s open to whatever sounds good. I often add zucchini, peppers, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes spinach and kale.

I heat a pan with 2T avocado oil and add all the veggies except the garlic, cherry tomatoes and kale, seasoned with a good amount of salt and pepper. I let this cook until I see charring on the onion and peppers. This takes about five minutes. Then I add the garlic and tomatoes and let this cook for another minute. Then I add the leafy greens and let them wilt down for another minute or two.

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Scoop this all into a bowl and then add more avocado oil to the pan and fry two eggs.

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Once the eggs are done, put them on top of the veggie mixture. The veggies taste fabulous on their own but when you break the egg yolks over them, it’s heavenly.

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If you make this, breakfast is likely to become your favorite part of the day too.

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Slow Cooker Pesto Chicken

By on January 22, 2016 in Main Dishes

Every year we try to grow basil. I have dreams of jars and jars of homemade pesto and Caprese salad. I plan to spend the summer sprinkling basil on everything. I’ll look like the cover of a magazine, smiling as I harvest my basil surrounded by my perfectly dressed children who never fight and always obey me.  Sadly, I generally kill everything I plant. Luckily, jarred pesto is getting healthier and tastier than it once was.

I love to use pesto for salad dressing, veggie dip, mixed with mayonnaise for a spread and a topping for chicken. This pesto chicken is one of my favorite uses for pesto. And it comes together in the slow cooker, which just makes life better in general.

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Just drizzles avocado oil in the bottom of your slow cooker, top with chicken breasts and top each breast with jarred pesto and cook on low 4-6 hours. It’s hard to think of a recipe that’s easier.

The oil keeps the chicken moist and cooking it slowly allows the pesto to really penetrate into the chicken and give it lots of flavor. Maybe one day I’ll make this with my pesto made with home-grown basil. Then when I serve it to company and they “ooh” and “aah,” I can tell them I grew the basil myself and act like it’s no big deal. Yeah. I want to be that person.

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Healthy Slow Cooker Chuck Roast

By on January 15, 2016 in Main Dishes

Few things are as comforting on a busy day as coming home to the smell of a roast in the crock pot. Throw some whole wheat bread in the bread maker as well and the comforting smells are right up there with world peace. Plus, using a slow cooker always makes me feel like someone else made me dinner. Life doesn’t get much better.

In my opinion, the best roast for a slow cooker is a chuck roast. They’re not as thick as other roasts so they cook more evenly.

The secret to cooking tender beef is to brown the meat before putting it in a slow cooker and to cook it low and slow.

2015-10-08 09.37.41Before you brown your meat, rub it down with a spice mixture.

Then place the browned meat on a bed of root vegetables. I use carrots and sweet potatoes. If you don’t like sweet potatoes, russet potatoes are fine. I just like the flavor and health benefits that come from sweet potatoes.

Then top the meat with sliced onions and a can of diced tomatoes and cook the whole thing in a flavorful broth for eight hours.

Cooking it this way makes the meat just fall apart. This is perfect on a cold night. Or a warm night. Or a Tuesday. Whatever. There’s no reason not to make this for dinner.2015-10-08 18.01.39

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Creamy Cauliflower Soup

By on November 13, 2015 in Main Dishes

I love to trick my family by adding healthy things to their food. I add beans to their brownies, avocado to their frosting and now cauliflower to their cheese soup. I gave them the soup, listened to them “ooh” and “aah” and never said a word about what was in it. Mwa ha ha! I love the small victories.

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Start by steaming the cauliflower. I got this lovely steaming basket at Ikea years ago. It’s one of my favorite kitchen tools because it fits in any pan and is dishwasher safe.

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While the cauliflower steams, cook the onion and garlic in the butter and avocado oil. Do this right in your soup pot. Add the salt, pepper, almond milk and chicken broth and heat this all together.

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Add the steamed cauliflower and puree with an immersion blender. I love my immersion blender for the same reason I love my veggie steamer. It’s extremely versatile and dishwasher safe.

Add the cheese and continue to cook the soup until the cheese melts.

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Top each serving with green onion, turkey bacon and more cheese.

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Power Breakfast – Egg and Veggie Stir Fry

By on October 2, 2015 in Breakfast

I don’t understand people who say they’re not breakfast people. How can you not be a breakfast person? After not eating since dinner, doing a workout, taking the kids to school, and having to do a very picky 4-year-old’s hair, I’m starving. Breakfast time is pretty much the best time of day. So I don’t want to waste this fabulous meal on a sugary, processed cereal. I want something healthy and delicious that will give me the energy to make it through the rest of the day. This hearty stir fry is the key.

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Start by heating up some avocado oil in a large skillet. I use avocado oil because it performs great at high temperatures and is good for you. Brown the onion and garlic first. Add in the pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, cauliflower and saute until the veggies are tender but still have a bit of crunch. Make sure to season your veggies with plenty of salt and pepper.

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Add the halved cherry tomatoes last and cook them until they are slightly shriveled and have released some of their juices.

Because I’m lazy and don’t want to dirty extra dishes, I just push the cooked veggies to the side before adding the eggs. I like to keep the two separate for a while so I still have distinct pieces of veggies and eggs. If you just toss the eggs in and mix it all together, it’s a bit mushy and just not as good.

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Once the eggs are cooked, stir it all together for a bit.

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This recipe is easy to customize. Add any seasonings or vegetables you like. Leave out any you don’t like. Even add leftover chicken or sausage. Either way, I’m sure this recipe will make anyone a breakfast person. If not, go ahead and make it for lunch.

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