No Wheat

California Chicken Lettuce Wraps

These wraps are not only delectable, but nutritious, satisfying, and quick and easy to assemble. If you have a green thumb, use as many fresh ingredients from your garden. The greens, oregano, radishes and green onions all came from our garden! Still too early for tomatoes! I encourage you to try these delicious wraps!

2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled and sliced (marinated with olive oil, lemon and seasonings to taste)
Large lettuce leafs, such as: swiss chard, dinosaur kale, green leaf or romaine
3/4 – 1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved (marinated with 1 T. olive oil, lots of fresh oregano, garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste)
1 mashed avocado, mixed with 1/4 chopped jalepeno, squeeze of lime and garlic powder, & sea salt
Toppings: Chipoltle ranch dressing, green salsa, sliced radishes, chopped cilantro, green onions, feta cheese

Assemble by placing lettuce leaves on a dinner plate and layer with the above ingredients. Serve with tortilla chips to scoop up the filling that has fallen out of your lettuce leaf! Every bite is deliciousness times one thousand! Bon Appetite!

Zucchini Pasta with Avocado Cream Sauce

A low carb dish that satisfies your taste for comfort food without adding the “comfort food” calories onto your waistline!

4 small zucchini
1 – 2 handfuls of grape tomatoes, halved
1 avocado
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Handful of fresh basil
2 T. olive oil
Optional: 2 grilled chicken breasts

Cut the zucchini into noodles. You can use a mandolin or I use a potato peeler, so my “noodles” are a bit wider. Toss the zucchini with a little salt (this will help dry it out a little).

In a good processor or blender, add avocado, juice of half lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste and blend until creamy. Add basil and more olive oil, if needed.

Heat pan with olive oil and toss in halved grape tomatoes and cook until your preference (less for firm, more for softer). Toss in zucchini. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat. When “noodles” are done to your liking, add to the pan and mix.

Top with Parmesan cheese.

We like to grill 1 or 2 chicken breasts (marinated in lemon, olive oil and Italian hebs) and top the pasta with sliced chicken.

Serves 2 – 4

Spaghetti Squash Pasta

Spaghetti Squash

This delicious and nutritious dinner is a family favorite, in fact, this pasta loving family is easily becoming as fond of this special “faux” pasta as much as the real deal! I encourage you to think “outside of the box” when cooking pasta dishes and add whatever veggies, meats, and sauces you have available.

Heat your oven to 450.

Cut a spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Brush it with olive oil, sea salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and roast your squash flesh down for 40 minutes and then let cool. In this particular dish, I added chopped broccoli and 2 cups grape tomatoes to my cookie sheet the last 10 minutes to give them a roasted texture.

I then made my sauce, but here is where you can make it your own depending on your taste preference. You can heat up a jar of marinara or open up a container of store-bought pesto. In this case I decided to do a light olive oil sauce. I warmed 1/3 cup of olive oil and 4 T. butter in a medium pan and then added 3 chopped garlic cloves and 1/4 tsp. red pepper and sautéed until garlic was golden. I then added broccoli, tomatoes, and a couple of handfuls of chopped spinach to the sauce. I also squeezed half a lemon to this mixture and then brought my sauce to a low simmer. While making the sauce, Mark threw a chicken breast on the grill and then chopped it up.

Here’s the fun part. When squash is cool enough to handle, take a fork and shred your squash separating it from the shell (it will have the look of spaghetti) and then add to your sauce mixture. I then added a bunch of finely chopped fresh basil and mixed the squash and sauce together. I added the chopped chicken and topped with Parmesan. Serves 4.

Enjoy carb-free Italian!

Ingredients:
1 Spaghetti Squash
Seasonings of choice
Sauce of choice (marinara, pesto, olive oil)
Veggies/meats of choice
I used:
1 broccoli crown
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 handfuls chopped spinach
1 grilled chicken breast
Chopped fresh basil
Parmesan cheese
(for my sauce: 1/3 c. olive oil, 4 T. butter, 1/2 squeezed lemon, 3 chopped garlic cloves, 1/4 tsp red pepper)

Eggplant Lasagne

I absolutely love this dish and so will your eggplant challenged family as well as all of you that are wanting to lower your carb intake! Think lasagna without the noodles. Still with me?

Eggplant is absolutely delicious, but only if handled properly! If and only if, you can’t stomach it, then zucchini or yellow squash would be an excellent alternative.

As you can see by earlier posts, I am not an exact cook – I give lots of options depending on tastes. I will add to recipes or leave things out depending on either what I have on hand, what I’m trying to get rid of, or what I think would sound good. So when I give you either/ors below, don’t get frustrated, just see what option sounds the best and go with it because any combo works!

Grilled Eggplant Lasagna
1 cup or so – EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 large or 1 large and 1 small eggplant (this depends on how much eggplant you like – eggplant shrinks when you cook it)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 small onion chopped
4 garlic cloves minced
1 – 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 jar of your favorite marinara sauce
A handful of any fresh Italian herbs minced, such as: basil, thyme, oregano – or you can use jarred – it’s up to you!
1/2 pound deli-sliced capicola hot ham or your favorite sliced deli ham or leftover chopped chicken or a combo of the two
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
6 pieces deli-sliced provolone
16 oz package shredded mozzerela
6 cups mixed greens with your favorite vinaigrette dressing or 2 tblsp. red wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 450.

Eggplant*
Lightly brush the eggplant with the EVOO on both sides and arrange on a baking sheet.

Season with salt (lightly) and pepper and place in the oven. Salting eggplant takes out the bitter taste. You may need to overlap your eggplant on the baking sheet and that is ok, or you may have to use a second baking sheet if the eggplant doesn’t fit on one sheet. Roast for 15 – 18 minutes, turning once until eggplant is lightly brown. Remove your eggplant from the oven and set your oven to 350.
*If you are using zucchini, the instructions are the same, though cooking time may be closer to 10 – 15 minutes.

Sauce
Heat 2 tbsps. EVOO in a medium sauce pan over medium to medium high heat. Add the chopped garlic and onion. Cook for 10 minutes until soft, stirring frequently. Add the marinara, crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste and heat through. Simmer for 5 – 10 minutes.

Here’s the fun part!
Get out a 9×9 square pan and ladle a little of your tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan to cover. Add a layer of eggplant, capicola/ham/or chopped chicken, 6 slices of provolone or 1/2 cup of mozzarella, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan and your handful of herbs. Repeat your layer of eggplant, then cover with sauce, sprinkle with shredded mozzarella to your liking and grated Parmesan and whalla, it’s oven ready!

Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes. While it’s baking, prepare some salad greens and right before the eggplant lasagna is heated through, drizzle your salad with your favorite dressing and serve with a slice of your delicious eggplant lasagna! Fabuloso!

This serves 4 – 6 servings (small eaters) or 4 servings for bigger appetites or for 4 – 6 meals for single people that don’t mind eating the same thing every night!

White Chili and Salad

On a cold day, one of my favorite meals is a bowl of hot something! It just seems to warm me up from head to toe! I also especially love to start a homemade soup or chili on a Sunday afternoon so we can “take in” the smells as we go about our day.

Today’s recipe is white chili. Some Paleo’s would “tan-my-hide” posting this, but remember, I am not a total Paleoite! I am a blend of paleo/low-carb/Mediterranean/no wheat. I guess you could call me a Palee-locarb-med-nowheatarian!

Beans do have carbs in them so are not easy to digest for some, but they are full of fiber and healthy protein as well as a vegetarian option. They are also inexpensive, so if you are on a budget, beans are your food! What’s cheaper than opening up a can of beans and serving it over brown rice or quinoa? All of you that think that healthy eating is insanely expensive, think again!

White Chili
2 T. olive oil
1 store bought rotisserie chicken, shredded*
1 medium yellow onion, diced
5 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & chopped (make sure you DO NOT touch the 7 holes in your head after chopping)
2 T. cumin
1 T. coriander
1 cup mild or hot tomatillo green salsa
4 cups chicken stock or broth (I like stock because it adds a richer flavor)
2 cans (15 oz) cannellini or Great Northern beans
1 handful fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Toppings: chopped cilantro, shredded Monterey jack cheese, tortilla chips, chopped avocado or guacamole**

* I use rotisserie chicken as a short cut when I make soups and Mexican food. It eliminates an entire step of cooking the chicken in recipes and eliminates chopping raw chicken, getting out another cutting board and cleaning-up. Rotisserie chickens are also seasoned, so that extra seasoning adds additional flavor to your recipe.
** Easy Guac – Mash one or two avocados and add fresh lime juice (start with a quarter of a lime and add from there), chopped cilantro, onion & tomato. Add as much or as little of the cilantro/onion/tomato as you like. That’s it, it’s that easy!!!

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, cumin and coriander and cook until onions soften and turn translucent, about 5 – 10 minutes. Add the tomatillo salsa and the chicken stock. Bring the chili to a simmer. Add 1 can of whole beans and the other can smash them up a little bit, which will thicken the chili. Simmer on low all day or 10 – 15 minutes if you want to EAT NOW! Add your shredded chicken, cilantro, and lime and heat through. Top with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!

6 servings – If you are cooking for one, this will make meals for the week OR you can freeze half of it and save it for a rainy day! Nothing healthier than coming home to a home cooked meal!

Side Salad with Healthy Dressing
I almost always start dinner with a healthy salad. Eating a salad with dinner provides 2 necessary ingredients to healthy eating: it fills you up so you don’t eat as much AND it adds health enhancing nutrients to your daily dietary intake. There is no rhyme nor reason to a salad. Just tear up a mixture of greens, if you have them, and any other delicious veggies in your fridge. Top it off with a vinaigrette and wallah . . . a salad is born!

The pictured salad has a mixture of kale, romaine and arugula, red and yellow grape tomatoes and feta cheese sprinkled on top. My favorite dressing is: 1/4 c. lemon juice or your favorite vinegar or both, a heaping T. of Dijon mustard or anything creamy (like ranch dressing), a good sprinkle of Good Seasons Zesty Italian Dry Packet Mix, and a 1/2 cup of olive oil. Shake it, but don’t break it and enjoy! This dressing offers heart healthy fat (olive oil) and is low in sodium, unlike many store bought dressings that load up on the sodium and preservatives.