Refried Beans with Coconut Oil

Here is what I just did for refried beans :)

Taco Soup

olive oil or coconut oil

1/2 onion diced

4 cloves garlic,pressed

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

2 cups cooked black beans

1/2 lb browned grass-fed ground beef

2 Tblsp Frontier Mexican seasonings (or however you like to season your tacos)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

For garnish:

shredded cheese

tortilla chips

sour cream

avocado

lime juice

cilantro

Soften onion and garlic in a skillet with some coconut or olive oil. Add this mixture,tomatoes and beans to a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour back into skillet. Add ground beef and remaining soup ingredients. Heat thoroughly.

Crush a handful of chips into a bowl and then add soup. Top with your desired garnishes. The picture show avocado, cilantro and little lime juice.

Sneaky Tomato, Chicken Broth and Lentil Soup

This is sneaky because my kids won't eat chicken broth, so I hide it. They also won't eat lentils, so I hide them as well :)

Ingredients

2 pints chicken stock / broth.

1 large jar of passata (sieved tomato, you could just use tinned tomato if you don't have passata, 2 tins would do).

2 handfulls of red lentils

Salt, Pepper, sugar and bay leaf to season.

Chuck it all in a pan and boil it up until the lentils are soft and blend it or push it through a fine sieve to hide the lentils (or don't if your kids are not fussy little swines).

That's it, possibly the easiest tomato soup ever, of course you can jazz it up a little adding cream or whatever to make it extra yummy. It's nice just plain though and the best part is that it gets my children eating broth...mwahahahaha!

Cocktail Sauce

One cup chili sauce or ketchup (or if you have a DH who is so inclined, a cup of homemade ketchup)

1/2 cup horseradish (grind your own in the food processor and keep it in the fridge with a little white vinegar--enough to make a paste, and don't worry, it will discolor a bit)

2 T lemon juice

2 T worchestershire sauce

S&P, and tobacso to taste

Voila!

That easy. So much better than anything you can buy in the store!

It's better if you let it sit for an hour or two.

Homemade Ketchup

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  The Best Ketchup ever...of course doesn't have a "real" recipe.

  From Adam Nafziger:

  28 lbs of tomatoes, halved or quartered (I used roma and cut off the top stem)

  2 small onions, chopped

  1 red bell pepper, chopped

  4 cloves garlic, chopped

  A little water to coat the bottom of the kettle and make you feel good

  Cook the above until all the veggies are completely soft and mushy, about an hour or so.

  Run the mixture through a sieve to removed stems, seeds and skin.

  Put the veggie mixture back in a largish kettle and add:

  1/4 - 1/3 cup pickling spices, tied up in a cheesecloth bag

  1 generous cup of sugar (depends on how sweet and ripe your tomatoes were ... super fresh ripe ones won't need as much, any sweetener of choice would do the job. If you use apple juice or something similar, it will take longer to cook down, but will work just fine)

  3 cups cider vinegar

  1 or 2 palmfuls of salt

  Bring to a boil and cook. And cook. And cook. It may take 12 hours or more. This summer the cooking on mine went for two days, but not continuously; I stopped overnight. So, cook it down until it looks like ketchup. (One website says you can do this in a crockpot ... I'm skeptical).

  When ketchup has reached desired consistency, remove spice bag, adjust seasonings (some people add cayenne or white pepper or even mustard, apparently) and can it hot.

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Creamy Celery Chicken

1/2 meat from a boiled chicken, cut into bite sized pieces

1 cup dry brown rice, prepared as the Fluffiest Brown Rice Ever

1 can of Coconut Milk

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 to 1 Tblsp celery salt

sea salt to taste

3-4 stalks of celery, finely chopped

coconut oil for saute

Saute celery in coconut oil, until soft. Add remaining ingredients. Heat thoroughly. I didn't have any celery when I made this but I think celery and mushrooms would be great additions. It was an excellent taste without the celery so if you aren't a fan of the texture, feel free to leave it out.

I served this with Apple Raisin Carrots

Faux Frosty (No Sugar Chocolate Shake)

It's been years since the kids or I have had a Wendy's Frosty but I will say, these are NOT what I remember them tasting like. They were definitely much sweeter. The kids, however, SWEAR they taste just like a Frosty and I'm not about to burst their little bubbles. They are a decent substitute though. I have no desire to ever taste the corn syrup laden shake again. (Milk, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Cream, Whey, Nonfat Dry Milk, Cocoa (processed with alkali), Guar Gum, Mono and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan, Calcium Sulfate, Disodium Phosphate, Artificial and Natural Flavoring, and Vitamin A Palmitate to be exact.) It's much more fun when the kids and I come up with concoctions like this at home and with healthier ingredients.



3 ripe bananas (not overly ripe)
1 can of quality coconut milk (I use organic 365/Whole Foods brand)
2 tsp Dolomite (adds calcium but not necessary for the taste)
3-4 heaping Tbsp of cocoa powder (or more to taste)
Ice

Add all of the ingredients to the blender and fill to the top with ice. Blend until smooth and fill up with ice again and another time if necessary until the blender is nearly full of blended smoothie upon finishing.

You can use a milk/cream combination instead of coconut milk if desired. We just prefer coconut milk so that our dairy allergic family members can share, plus it's a much healthier fat and tastes awesome! (Though not coconutty at ALL for those wondering.)

The perfect treat for the upcoming warm seasons! We're ready when you are, mother nature!