Guaranteed Kid Pleaser!

Every family has an all-time favorite meal and at our house it is most definitely my "Coconut Crusted Salmon" recipe. But the salmon aren't running right now so tonight I decided to try the same recipe on chicken breasts.  All the kids loved it so I'm convinced I can put this topping on just about anything and they will eat it with joy. I wish you could see them fighting over who gets to scrape the last of the buttery coconut off the bottom of the casserole dish!

Coconut Crusted Chicken

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 t. paprika

1 t. sea salt

4 T melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Butter the bottom of a pyrex casserole dish and add chicken breasts. Mix melted butter with salt, paprika and shredded coconut in a small bowl. (I usually add more butter and coconut because we like extra topping!) Bake for about 30 minutes until crust is lightly browned.  If your topping starts to brown before the chicken is done, just turn down the heat a little and keep an eye on it! 

Pureed Sweet Potatoes

1-2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2" pieces

4 T oil

4 shallots, diced

1/4 t. pepper

2 T roughly chopped fresh rosemary (if you use dried, be sure to chop into small pieces!)

1/2 cup of chopped almonds, walnuts or pecans

Place sweet potatoes in a large pot. Add enough cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Add 1t. salt, reduce heat, and simmer until tender 14-16 min. Reserve 1/4 c. of cooking water, drain. Mash in the pot or transfer to food processor.

In a skillet, heat  4 T of oil over med-high heat. Add shallots, rosemary and pepper. Cook, stirring until shallots are tender (3-4 min.) then add nuts and stir another 1-2 min. Serve over the sweet potatoes. Sounds like a lot of work but it's super easy and oh, so worth the taste!

Mashed What??

No, that's not a bowl of hot mashed potatoes. Can you guess what it is?? It's a bowl of pureed cauliflower with butter and a little cinnamon sprinkled on top. My older kids won't eat this as a side dish yet but they sure don't know the difference when I use it in Shepherd's Pie!

Low carb, very tasty and super easy to make. Just break apart one whole head of cauliflower and steam until soft. Then throw into a food processor, add butter, cream and salt (or whatever you'd normally add to mashed potatoes) and serve! The mouth feel is excellent and you will love the taste. 

And by the way, cauliflower also makes a great rice substitute! Very lightly steam, then throw into a food processor and blend until it resembles rice texture, then saute in a pan with oil.

Fast & Easy Teriyaki Chicken

Fast and Easy Teriyaki Chicken

If you only have 30 minutes to prepare dinner, here's a surprisingly tasty twist on Teriyaki Chicken!  It's savory, filling, and even the kids ate it.  Just don't forget to take your chicken out of the freezer the night before!

Ingredients (to serve 6):
2 lbs. of chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
2 T olive oil
2 C. diced pinapple
1-2 C. chopped onions (depending on how much you like onions)
1-2 C. chopped peppers (I used a mix of green and yellow)
Buttercrunch lettuce or other greens
Wheat-free Tamari sauce

Instructions:
1.Heat the chicken and olive oil in a pan on medium heat until nearly cooked.
2.Add Tamari sauce midway through cooking so it cooks into the chicken. (I just splashed the Tamari over the chicken, probably about 3 tablespoons worth)
3.Add onions, peppers and pineapple.
4. Cover and cook another 10 minutes and serve over a bed of lettuce or other greens.

Very Simple Chili

Dinner tonight was long on flavor and very short on prep time.  One of the easiest, fastest, heartiest home cooked Sunday night dinners you can make is CHILI!  It's so simple you don't even need a recipe. Just follow your taste buds.  Here is what I did:

This makes a lot, but we like leftovers!

2 lbs of grassfed ground beef (browned in my cast iron skillet and liberally doused in Spike and garlic granules)

3 or 4 cans of beans (kidney, black, pinto....whatever you like. I always keep a supply of beans in the pantry so I have lots to pick from) btw-I don't rinse the beans, just throw the whole can in.

1-2 cans of diced tomatoes (Muir Glen basil and garlic is best!) 

1-2 cans tomato sauce or tomato paste (you'll need to add water if you use the paste). 

Chili Powder and Chili Pepper to taste (with 5 young kids, I have to really take it easy here)

Combine everything in a pot and let it simmer until you like the taste (20-30 minutes, the longer the better) then serve with whatever toppings you like: shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro, chopped onions etc..  Tonight the kids convinced me to serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches so they had something to dip in the chili.