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Grain-free Thai Beef Bowls {Paleo, Whole30, Keto}
Grain-free Thai Beef Bowls. This is an easy, one-pan meal, ready in just over 15 minutes, and it’s a weeknight staple in our house. Garnish all pretty-like to create colorful masterpiece, serve over cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles or go with regular rice or noodles. This recipe is paleo, whole30 and keto friendly.
I know for many of you with families and busy schedules, though the summer is supposed to be about relaxing and chilling, somehow before you know it, the schedule fills up and you are going non-stop. Dinners are eaten on the run and you are quite literally setting up your digestion for a rough go. While it’s far easier said then done, to slow down, I think much of this action can take place with meal planning and preparing meals that can me made start to finish in under 30 minutes.
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Super Quick Coconut Red Curry Soup {paleo, keto, Whole30 Veg Options}
This Super Quick Coconut Red Curry Soup is ready in just about 15 minutes and it’s highly adaptable. Add chicken or shrimp, drop in whatever veggies are in season and you have on hand, add noodles, or don’t. It’s creamy, rich and a breeze to make.
In continuing with the simple weeknight meal ideas, I bring you one of my go-to, super quick meals. I make and share this often on my Instagram stories and I am constantly receiving messages for the recipe. It hardly seems like a recipe to me, given what a breeze it is and how I rarely even measure, but here we go.
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Grilled Watermelon Salad with Arugula, Feta and Charred Limes
Fruit and I have certainly had our ups and downs over the years. I like to describe our tumultuous connection using the Facebook relationship status of “it’s complicated”. In the past couple of years as I have worked very, very hard to get my gut issues under control, despite the usual suspects, I have come to find that many fruits, especially those highest in fructose to be one of THE biggest triggers in my chronic bloating, gas and general gastric upset.
This isn’t exclusive to me and it’s actually quite common with folks that struggle with bacterial imbalances in their gut, SIBO, leaky gut, etc. Fruits high in fructose can cause fermentation in the gut, which can lead to some not-so-pleasant after effects.
It took me some time to discover that fruit was one of the biggest culprits and more, it was hard for me to understand how a nutritious, healthful whole food, like fruit could be create such gnarly side effects. Seemed wrong. It was in experimenting with a low FODMAP protocol that I found some of the greatest relief and while there are still some fruits today, that I have to be careful with and mindful of how much I consume, it has changed so significantly over the last few years as I have worked hard to heal my gut and get my gut bacteria in better balance.
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Sheet Pan Steak Fajitas
You guys have probably noticed a lot more simplified, entree-based recipes here on Tasty Yummies over the last few months. Much of this is due in large part to me having more nutrition clients and being able to speak one-on-one to the average, busy working person, who is oftentimes just beyond overwhelmed by the concept of making better choices with their food. This feeling of being unsure and overwhelmed can lead to failing before they even try. I hate hearing and knowing that. I also feel incredibly grateful to have this opportunity to step away from myself and see things from a different perspective. Food is my life but I know for many, even just one home cooked dinner a week is already more than what they are doing!
My first and foremost goal with this website has always been to inspire and empower, in the kitchen and with nutrition. I want everyone to know that eating well and making your health a priority, these things are totally accessible and possible. Read the rest of this entry »
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Crock-Pot® Chicken Chili with Squash and Kale
Disclosure: Post sponsored by Crock-Pot® brand slow cooker & Mirum Shopper, but all opinions are my own. Please see below for additional disclosure.
With the new year upon us, for many people this month is about a reset. This can take on so many different faces and applications, depending on the person. Working as a Nutritional Therapist and seeing clients, it is never my job to tell anyone what their diet should be. I work together with each of my clients to devise a plan and a course of action that works for them based on foundational nutritional information and of course, their own health needs. We are all bio-individuals who each need very different things. What I love so much about the work that I do, both here on the website and with my one-on-one nutrition clients, as well as when I am teaching yoga, is the distinct privilege I have in helping to empower people! To educate and provide them with the tools to make the very best choices for themselves, whatever that looks like for them and whatever they are ready for.
Whether it be in the kitchen with cooking, on the mat with their yoga practice or when it comes to making decisions about their health and their highly individualized path to healing, it’s an incredible honor that I never take lightly and am constantly beyond grateful for having the opportunity to share.
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How-to Make Salad Dressing
“The usual proportion of vinegar to oil is one to three, but you should establish your own relationship.”
Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French CookingA well-crafted dressing or vinaigrette is a thing of profound beauty. Delicate, yet prominent, understated while still making a statement. To me, the finesse found in the subtleties of a good dressing says a lot about someone’s skills in the kitchen and on that same note, it is one of THE most simple tasks to master. Ready in under 5 minutes, homemade dressings and vinaigrettes are one of the best ways to start the process of ditching store-bought, processed foods – making it a very budget and health conscious option.
Since they only really require three main ingredients, base (oil), acid and seasonings, you can pretty much make any flavor profile you can think of, with any combination of ingredients available in your kitchen. From here, knowing this simple formula and the any options, you can get creative, adjust to your preferences and you can come up with an unlimited supply of varying staple dressings.
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Grain-Free Chilaquiles with Salsa Verde {Paleo-friendly}
If you have read Tasty Yummies for some time, you guys have definitely heard me speak of my love of balance. For me the concept of individualized moderation is important, to not feeling trapped by my dietary restrictions (whatever they may be at the current moment), but also to being able to live my life normally, despite my autoimmune conditions and said restrictions. But, the word “moderation” can be a loaded one and I am very keenly aware that for some this word it can be very much overused, it can be a scape goat and an excuse to over indulge. Moderation can be the place where we dwell without self-judgement, 100% yes, without feeling trapped by rules and to just live and enjoy life. But, if the need for restrictions in our diet comes out of necessity (whatever the reason) than this concept of “moderation” just might actually be a detriment to our health, even in all it’s innocent and fleeting goodness. It might be the overlooked moments in your week that are causing that still lingering distress, as much as you don’t want to admit it. Why work so hard 80% of the time to, in the other 20% undo all of your hard work, only to have to work that much harder the other 80% to undo that damage? There has to be a better balance. To enjoying life without doing harm. To me that balance is honoring your individuality and not just following others’ paths.
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Grain-free Baja Fish Taco Bowl {Paleo-friendly}
For most of my life, I have always had a (totally rational) fear of fried foods, something I can say I happily accepted and followed. It wasn’t until this past year or so that I finally experimented with for-real frying at home, beyond a simple pan-fry. Besides the occasional french fry indulgence, I never really found myself drawn to deep-fried anything. It just was never my thing. But to be totally honest, beyond the fact that I intuitively never liked how fried foods made me feel, it was mostly because of the scary calories and fat. And while calories and fat should absolutely be a valid concern, in excess, after spending time truly learning about fats and oils in nutritional therapy school program, I have learned what we should really fear more than these numbers, instead are the oils themselves and the havoc that they can wreak on our bodies and our health. That old saying ‘quality not quantity’, has really never been more appropriate.
At most restaurants, even the nicest of places and honestly in most people’s homes, fried foods are generally cooked in denatured vegetable and seed oils. These are usually highly refined polyunsaturated fats that are highly unstable, especially in high heats. Often they are hydrogenated and when exposed to heat they oxidize and go rancid very quickly and form free radicals. “These chaotic, skewed fatty acid molecules, now in the form of free radicals, wreak havoc on the body attacking and damaging DNA and RNA, cell membranes, vascular walls, and red blood cells, all of which cascade into deeper physiological damage such as tumor formation, accelerated aging, arterial plaque accumulation, autoimmune imbalances, and more!”[1] WOAH – just woah, right? My life-long intuition-led opinion on fried foods was definitely not for nothing.
Now, before we get into this recipe, I am certainly not advocating that fried foods, even in healthful oils, are something we should consume often. Like sweets and treats, even of the more healthy variety, this type of cooking falls into the category of once-in-a-while eating. But, being totally afraid of something and never being able to enjoy it, that doesn’t really feel good either and it certainly isn’t a lifestyle I ever want to live or promote. However, these curiosities for a better option, this is usually how I manage to come up with an alternative, a new way to enjoy something one-in-a-while that I never get to, but in a much more health-minded approach.
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Seared Tuna with Wasabi Citrus Aioli
Seafood has become a staple in our house. At least once a week I serve up some type of seafood. Scallops, salmon, tuna, halibut, shrimp, and many others are on regular rotation around here. Since we moved to the West Coast I have found that my love of seafood has reached new heights. Driving by the ocean daily, will do that to you. Additionally, by way of nutritionist school, I have gained an even deeper awareness of the many nutritional benefits of wild caught seafood, including it’s abundance of omega-3 essential fatty acids, obviously quality protein and of course, fat soluble vitamins A and D and various macro and trace minerals including iodine, selenium, zinc and magnesium. Our soils may be depleted of certain trace minerals, but every mineral we need is in the oceans and seafood is our only sure source for obtaining them all. These are just some of the many reasons high quality seafood at the top of the list for our protein choices, around here.
Why Sustainable, Wild Caught Seafood is Your Best Choice:
Regardless of the long list of nutritional benefits, it so very important to always harbor concern for overfishing and sustainability. Selecting your fish should comes with a responsibility, and hopefully, a commitment to supporting sustainably managed fisheries with a focus on best practices and ethics. I personally want to know the fisherman are using ethical catch methods (hook and line) and that at the heart of the business I am supporting, are small boat fishermen who really care and have a high level of pride in what they do. Those nutritional benefits listed above, you can be sure those will only come with wild cause fish. Just an FYI for those who still don’t know, farm raised fish, often receive antibiotics and inappropriate feed, including soy meal containing pesticide residues. Oh and pssst, farm raised salmon are actually given a dye to make their flesh pink!
One Hook, One Fish at a Time
Only a small percentage—less than 5%—of Alaska seafood comes from hook and line methods, but what line-caught fish lack in quantity, they more than make up for in quality. Using a small boat, hook and line fishermen catch and process One Hook, One Fish At A Time. This is a traditional way of fishing that results in an extremely high quality fish. Additionally, the knowledgable fishermen who know where to fish and can pinpoint species with the right lures, results in minimal by-catch.
A line-caught fish is a superior product and is the most premium quality fish on the market. No fish is handled with more care from the time it leaves the water until it is delivered to a customer than a line-caught fish. With these practices come the belief that each fish deserves to be treated with a singular devotion to quality and the respect due to a wild creature, all the way to the consumer.
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Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Maple Turmeric Roasted Pepitas
Looking at the foundations of optimal health and overall well-being, it is safe to say most of us, whether having endured chronic illness or not, understand that it’s more than just the food we eat and the exercise we choose. Our physical body and the structural state of our person, the environment we reside in, our emotions – they all play a role in the delicate balance within our body. Just as important and often underrated, the subtle body, or our energetics, also contribute to our health and vitality. In a perfect world, these factors all come together in harmony, to allow us to be the healthiest version of ourselves. Balanced, happy, well and at peace.
When our health is out of balance, we can’t expect to simply change our diet, take some supplements and hit a yoga class or the gym and BAM we’re back to 100%! Sadly, it is never that simple. We are complicated beings, with many layers and levels of complexity that come together to create a unique and very special bio-individual. Ultimately, we seek to maintain balance within our body, but if we are holding onto anything, energetically, it can create blockages which keep the free-flowing nature of our truest self, challenged.
As part of my current healing plan, I have been approaching my health from all avenues, honoring every modality presented to me and every opportunity to heal. Beyond my yoga and meditation practices, recently I have added reiki to the energetic side of my healing protocol and I am so very fortunate to have an incredible friend and reiki master, Brook Albrigo living very nearby. I have been spending time celebrating the moon cycles each month, at Brook’s sound healing ceremonies here in Long Beach and now seeing her for one-on-one reiki sessions.
What is Reiki?
Have you ever noticed that your first reaction to an injury or pain is to put your hands on that area? Or that when a loved one is suffering, you automatically hold their hand, touch their shoulder or embrace them? We all have this instinct to use our hands to comfort, heal and console.
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Thai Pumpkin Curry with Salmon and Shrimp
There is something so comforting about a warm bowl of homemade curry. Though it isn’t a food I grew up with eating, I often find myself craving it, seeking that warm hug in a bowl feeling. More importantly, one of my very favorite things about homemade curry, beyond the delicious flavors, is that it’s a quick meal that can be whipped up in under 30 minutes, tops! Great for using up whatever seasonal vegetables you have on hand and super versatile when it comes to your protein choice.
This is a good fool-proof, quick meal to whip out on those busy school/work nights, when you can’t be bothered with too much else. Like many of the recipes I share, you can also be quite liberal with the substitutions on this one, choose your favorite squash (just adjust cooking time as need), opt for sweet potatoes instead of squash, add broccoli, greens or whatever you have on hand. If you aren’t a fan a seafood, leave it out, add more veggies, try chicken or tofu. (FYI chicken will take much longer to cook, so adjust accordingly)
I serve this in a big cozy bowl on it’s own. You can also serve it over rice, if you’d like. It’s unique, beautiful in color and full of robust and well rounded flavors. The creaminess of the coconut milk, the vivid color and texture from the pumpkin puree, the hint of brightness from the lime, a subtle heat from the red curry and the aromas will have you drooling before you even sit down to eat. Read the rest of this entry »
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Spiced Apple Cider Margarita – Two Ways
I have a very serious question for all of you… how in the heck is September almost over? Actually, make that two questions, I also want to know where the summer has gone? The Autumnal Equinox is just two days away and I honestly feel like summer just began. It probably doesn’t help that it has been a very busy summer and I have been traveling for most of this month. 12 days in a row were spent away from my home as I explored Maine, visited my family in New York, then returned home to quickly leave a mere 12 hours later, to visit a ranch and explore the adorable small town, Julian, CA.
I always find the end of September and the start of October to be a highly charged time for me, with lots of energetic shifts. Not only is change in the air with the start of a new season, but the fall equinox celebrates the equality of light and dark. As the sun shines directly on the equator, we experience (nearly) equal hours of daylight and darkness, all across the world! How cool is that? Because of this, the shift into fall focuses our energies on balance and as a libra, this equanimity is vital to my very existence. I thrive in the balance and I find myself at my best, most aware and most creative at this time.
Over the past few weeks I have had many reminders, presenting themselves in many different forms, to “honor yourself”. It’s easy in the busy time of summer to get lost in a sea of plans, to constantly be honoring promises to others and to fill the long days with socially-charged commitments. Summer is so focused on putting ourselves and our creations out into the world, feeding them and encouraging their flourishing growth in all the light surrounding us. I find as we transition toward darker days, the need to pause, to go within and to harvest our creations from these previous months. This time of rebalancing of our lives is the best for shifing our focus toward honoring our self. Armed with this knowledge of this time, the readings, reminders and messages, I have been able to focus on my energy inward these past few weeks. I have started to give myself the room to honor me and it has given me the space to see much more clearly.
Beyond this balance and the start of this energetic shift, with this new season I also very much enjoy the very literal harvest taking place, of the foods we eat and are creating. Apples and winter squashes, warming spices, stews, soups and baked goods. After our trip to Julian, CA at the end of last week, a town known for it’s apples, I was feeling inspired to create an apple pie with the beautiful apples we brought back. I planned to create a grain-free pie reminiscent of the slice of delicious gluten-free Apple Boysenberry Crumb Pie I had from a small bakery off Main Street. As I finished the last few bites of this pie, I dreamt of filling my own kitchen with the spicy, comforting aroma that filled this tiny little gold-mining town. Sadly, mother nature had other plans for me with her 100 degree summertime-like temperatures. While I really wanted to create this pie to share with you, I couldn’t imagine turning my oven on and slaving over peeling apples and rolling out dough. I chose to instead create another recipe, honoring the swing season. This special, but brief time where summer and fall meet.
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Pineapple Coconut Energy Bars
It’s quite fitting that my fifth and final recipe for this series of healthy travel snacks, I created with Albertsons, is being written from around 37,000 feet in the air. I am flying from California to the East Coast where I will be spending a total of 10 days between Maine and New York. As usual, I have a large selection of healthy snacks packed away for my travels. While I find when flying I have to be a bit more selective with my snack choices, homemade energy bars are always a must. They are super travel-friendly and so simple to whip up the night before my trips.
By now I am sure you’ve caught my tutorial on how-to make your own homemade energy bars, but if you haven’t get to it. It’s the perfect formula to create the perfect bars for your favorite flavors. These bars were one of the few that I have made more than a few times and inspired the ideas of the adaptable tutorial.
These tropical-inspired bars are a great, healthy snack for bringing along on your vacation, but they are also a wonderful way to bring the vacation to you at home. Coconut and pineapple always summons the tropics. Think fancy frozen drinks with umbrellas on the beach.
These particular energy bars are made nut-free, but you can certainly add nuts to fill them out a bit more, if you prefer. Almonds, walnuts, pecans – these are all great options.
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Grain-free Veggie Enchiladas with Roasted Hatch Chile Cashew Cream
Is there anyone out there that doesn’t like Mexican food? I mean really! I feel like there’s a reason that every Taco Tuesday is celebrated with such enthusiasm and why Cinco de Mayo has turned into a way bigger deal here in the US than it is even in Mexico.
But, I digress, I think it’s just a given that everyone loves the food. Though oftentimes most Mexican food is naturally gluten-free, if you prefer to avoid grains, if you like to limit your corn and dairy, if you tend to avoid beans, or if you are mindful of where your meat comes from and how it is raised – it can leave very few options when dining out at traditional Mexican joints. A lettuce wrapped taco is good, but it’s just not the same. I pack my own plantain chips if we are going out for Mexican, but ya know – they are no tortilla chips. So, of course, I am always looking for other ways to enjoy delicious, healthy Mexican food, grain-free and dairy-free, at home.
I was craving enchiladas recently and I thought it was time I created some, with my spin on it. You may remember I created and shared a tutorial on How-to Make Plantain Tortillas a while back and while I absolutely love them, I just wasn’t sure they would hold up in this recipe. So instead I turned to the Urban Poser’s amazing Cassava Flour Tortillas. These tortillas (made with cassava flour), they are serious business, chewy and flexy, they hold up incredible well and they aren’t too much work to make – once you get into the rhythm. They held up fantastically well in this recipe. No breaks and no splits. Clearly you can opt for any tortillas you’d like here, I just love that these allow for grain-free enchiladas. Read the rest of this entry »
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Coconut Mango Chia Seed Pudding
How is it Friday already? Where has this week gone? Busy weeks mean the time is just flying by. Among the usual weekly things, teaching yoga, events in LA and all that good stuff, Wednesday night I taught another free cooking demo at Whole Foods here in Long Beach. I shared 4 delicious seasonally-inspired recipes that were of course, gluten-free as well as all being plant-based and grain-free, too! It was another full room and everyone left with full bellies and I hope lots of fun tips and recipes. Thanks to all that came, it’s so fun to be able to share the message that real food heals and I love being able to cook simple, seasonal food that anyone can make in their own kitchen.
Being that mangoes are in-season right now, the final dish I created at the Whole Foods cooking demo, the sweet of the bunch, was this super simple Coconut Mango Chia Seed Pudding.
Perfect as a breakfast ready to eat when you wake up in the morning, a naturally-sweetened dessert or a quick snack, this creamy, sweet pudding is also the perfect energy boost. Chia seeds have a high density of omega-3 fatty acids (more than a serving of salmon or flaxseeds), they are high in fiber, protein, they are full of antioxidants and minerals, like calcium (surprisingly up to 3 times more than a serving of milk), and they are naturally anti-inflammatory. Chia seeds can absorb up to 10x their own weight in water, which means they are known to prolong hydration and improve our absorption of electrolyte nutrients. The best part is this also slows digestion and keeps you fuller longer, which makes these parfaits great fuel in the morning before a busy day. Talk about a superfood. Read the rest of this entry »
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Grilled Leeks with Spicy Grilled Corn Salsa
Summertime eating, for me, is all about salads and grilling, ok and maybe ice cream and popsicles. I try to get pretty much all of my meals to fit into one of those categories. I have to say, I do a fairly good job of it.
With an abundance of leeks coming in our weekly organic produce boxes, I’ve been looking for ways to get creative with them. I used to think of leeks more as a cool weather food, I love roasting them with other root veggies or adding them to a hot soup, but since they seem to be very much in season locally right now, when it comes to leeks in the summer, what’s better than grilling?
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Green Mojito Smoothie
It’s pretty typical of me to start every day with a smoothie. It’s a big part of my morning rituals most days. On a typical morning I kick off my day with some sort of movement, whether that be yoga, the gym, a bike ride or a long walk. Smoothies are the best post-movement meal, they are the right amount of food to refuel and recharge me, they just get me and they work seamlessly with my lifestyle! Typically, I have my staple base ingredients that I always start with, but generally I let what is most in season and what I happen to have in my kitchen guide my smoothie adventures. It’s rare that this methodology fails me, but it is also definitely easy to get stuck in a smoothie rut, too.
Sometime last year I met the firecracker of a woman, Tess Masters. Tess, AKA “The Blender Girl”, is my smoothie guru, my smoothie sherpa, she is my smoothie Jedi Master and I, her young Padawan. OK you get it, Tess knows her way around a blender. (But you probably remember me telling you all that last year). Without exaggeration I can tell you that any time I have tasted a smoothie Tess has made or whenever I have recreated one of her recipes, I always find myself thinking ‘Ahhh! This is so good and so simple, why didn’t I think of this?’ I have learned some of my favorite smoothie recipe tricks from her. Basically most of Tess recipes come with a built in hand to forehead whack – each one just so brilliantly simple, yet so creative, that you too will be thinking ‘DUH, what haven’t I been doing this all along?’, as you sip on one of the tastiest smoothies you’ve ever had.
If you hadn’t guessed it, she’s at it again. My friend, Tess, has put out another incredible collection of recipes: The Blender Girl Smoothies – 100 Gluten-Free, Vegan, and Paleo-Friendly Recipes. The Blender Girl Smoothies book is based on The Blender Girl Smoothies app that launched in October 2014.
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Strawberry Lime Sorbet
It’s been a while since we’ve had a Foodie Friend Friday post, I can tell you this lapse in sharing definitely isn’t for lack of having incredibly talented friends put out incredibly talented books.
We are back at it today with this gem of a book, Everyday Detox, from Megan Gilmore, AKA The Detoxinista. I absolutely love Megan, her website and recipes and now this incredible book. She just “gets it”. Rather than the all-or-nothing approach of extreme short term detoxes, fasts and cleanses, diets that can set us up for failure, Megan is all about making healthy choices everyday, living life in a mindful way that we can maintain without intense deprivation followed by the post-diet binging.
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Grilled Cilantro Lime Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Mango Cucumber Salsa
Sometimes in life we can’t have things just as we want them. Concessions have to be made or we have to just miss out. We have an opportunity even in these littlest of moments to make a decision, we can either wallow and whine, feeling sorry for ourselves, or we can suck it up, make a new plan of action and be inspired to create something that works for us, in the here and now.
Back when I was doing the Autoimmune Protocol last month, I was feeling quite sad as Cinco de Mayo was approaching and every single other human (at least all the ones in my various social media feeds), were posting about tacos and margaritas, chips and salsa, burritos and the like. When you can’t have nightshades (so that’s no peppers of any kind or tomatoes, so basically salsa), any grains or corn, cheese, alcohol plus no meat for me at that time, either, all this stacks up making tacos or really any Mexican food at all, seem quite impossible.
It was time to get crafty and creative and put my brain to work! Honestly, I could have lived without tacos that day, but then I got to thinking about all of you that live with these dietary challenges and restrictions outside of just 30 days, maybe it’s part of every single day for you. That was the perfect motivation to come up with a taco recipe that could easily be adapted to whatever you need it to be.
Enter these amazing Grilled Cilantro Lime Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Mango Cucumber Salsa. Here’s the deal, I am sharing this recipe as I made them, to be totally Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) Friendly. This also makes them gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, night-shade free, nut-free, seed-free and they also are meat-free (DUH). These tacos are the real deal, so much flavor, so many great textures and gorgeous colors. You won’t miss a thing.
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Peach Cherry Frozen Limeade
Oh my, it’s such a busy and energetically charged time right now. There is something about the start of summer, we are surround by so much abundance and many reasons to celebrate. There are many fun and exciting things happening right now, so much going on and so much to share with all of you. First and most importantly, my parents are here visiting, which of course wins for the best thing ever. Also, super exciting, the first episode of our brand new podcast, the So Let’s Hang Out Podcast, officially launched, yesterday (eeek!!). On this premiere episode, my co-host Gina and I chat about “first times”, we share some juicy gluten-free gossip and we even offer some actual constructive advice about healthy snacking. Our podcast is all about not taking yourself or your life very seriously, we just want to create a virtual space for hanging out, laughing and having a good time. We hope our little podcast can help brighten up your days and maybe offer a little helpful advice, once in a while, too!
We have also announced the June Yoga and Yummies event. Saturday, June 20th, we will be getting together once again here in Long Beach for an afternoon of yoga, delicious gluten-free food, friends and community. We will be celebrating the summer solstice with a flow-based, all-levels yoga class celebrating the abundance of the earth and the sun’s blessing of warmth and light.
Extra exciting, every attendee of Yoga and Yummies will receive a reusable napkin made from recycled & salvaged materials plus a set of beautiful bamboo cutlery from OUR friends at Yellow 108. Be sure to RSVP so that you can receive your set.
Last, but definitely not least, this evening I am hosting a cooking demo at the Whole Foods here in Long Beach, CA. This FREE Summer Eats inspired demo features some of the best of what the season has to offer! Plus, not only are all of the recipes gluten-free, but they are also paleo and vegan-friendly, too! A little something for everyone. Come on out, if you are a local – I’d love to meet you.
So, what does all of this have to do with Peach Cherry Frozen Limeade, you ask? Well not a whole ton, exactly, but my seasonal-loving friends, I will be making this frosty limeade this evening at my Summer Eats Cooking Demo at Whole Foods. Peaches and cherries in ice-cold, slushie form. Could it get any more seasonal right now?
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How-to Make Plantain Tortillas
Whether you to avoid consuming corn and grains because have an allergy/intolerance or maybe you just prefer to limit how often you eat them, either way we all know this makes eating Mexican food a challenge. I am next to certain this life isn’t worth living without tacos – I’m just sayin’. OK that may be a bit dramatic, but I for one don’t actually love the idea of never having a taco again, just because I want to make healthier choices.
With Cinco de Mayo and several trips to Mexico falling within a one-month period, tacos have definitely been on my mind and in my dreams! I decided rather than cry while everyone around me was indulging in all the tacos, I used this as inspiration to come up with an alternative.
Plantain tortillas are certainly not something I invented, I have seen plenty of adaptations, some call for eggs, some use the plantains uncooked. I have played around with many variations, but these seem to be what works best for me (lightly adapted from this recipe). The key is green plantains. The greens ones are starchy and less sweet than the yellow. For my money, these produce the most authentic tortillas. I also recommend cooking them first, it softens them and when you add some water the mixture feels just the way traditional masa feels when making homemade tortillas.
There are a few steps here, but they are well worth it, you’ll think so too, especially as you are enjoying epic tacos. Plus you can make the tortillas ahead of time, store in the fridge and cook up anytime within 3 days, or so.
I find adding the fresh lime zest to really tone down any sweetness and bring out the traditional tortilla vibes. I have also been known to add a pinch or two of chile powder or garlic powder, for extra flavor.
Let’s get to it…
