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White Chicken Chili {Keto, Paleo, Whole30, Nightshade-free}
This comforting and hearty low carb White Chicken Chili cooks in under 30 minutes and in one pot. It’s perfect for a delicious fall or winter weeknight meal! It’s keto, paleo, whole30 and nightshade-free. With a few simple tweaks, AIP-compliant, too.
It’s about that time of year, soup, stew and chili season. My absolute favorite!!! I adore the comforts of these foods, I crave them. This is the food that makes my soul happy.
I also REALLY love meals that are ready in 30 minutes or less on the stove top, one pot, no special tools or equipment, just a straight-up, easy, hearty meal.
This particular White Chicken Chili recipe is low carb and keto-friendly, it’s paleo, Whole30 compliant and made without any nightshades. With a few minor changes you can also make this White Chicken Chili AIP compliant.
What are Nightshades?
Nightshades are a botanical family of plants, more technically called Solanaceae. The most common nightshades are tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplant. These plants all have certain characteristics in common (like the shape of the flower and how the seed is arranged within the fruit–Wikipedia has a good description). There are more than two thousand plant species in the nightshade family, the vast majority of which are inedible and many of which are highly poisonous (like deadly nightshade and jimsomweed). Tobacco is a nightshade, and is known to cause heart, lung, and circulatory problems, as well as cancer and other health problems (although, clearly some of this has to do with the other toxins in tobacco products derived from the processing.) The reason why nightshades are problematic for many people is due to the glycoalkaloid content. Over-consumption of these edible species can actually be poisonous to anyone, and it is possible that the low-level toxic properties of nightshade vegetables contribute to a variety of health issues over time.1https://www.thepaleomom.com/what-are-nightshades/ Read more here about the potential concerns with nightshades for those with autoimmune disease.
Why Nightshade-free?
While I am not 100% nightshade-free, 100% of the time, I have discovered in this last year that in abundance, nightshades can trigger my autoimmune symptoms and cause noticeable joint pain for me, it can cause migraines and allergy-like symptoms, so, I have been careful about how much I consume them and the amount. If I am struggling with an autoimmune flare-up or digestive flare-ups, I will cut nightshades out completely until things calm down a bit. On the regular, when my autoimmune symptoms are managed, I still prefer to avoid them in whole food form, like tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplants, but usually in pretty small amounts, as a garnish or in spice blends, etc – nightshade do not trigger a noticeable response for me, so I don’t overly concern myself with obsessing over it, in that sense. I know folks who have to be 100% nightshade-free and it can certainly be challenging, in a lot of ways I think even more than having to avoid gluten, since they can hide in spices, seasonings, sauces, etc.
References
1. ↑ https://www.thepaleomom.com/what-are-nightshades/ -
100+ Low Carb Keto Thanksgiving Recipes
There is absolutely no need to feel deprived or left out on Thanksgiving, just because you are following a low carb, keto approach to your eating. Here are 100+ low carb keto Thanksgiving recipes, from drinks and apps to sides, sugar-free desserts and everything in between.
100+ Low Carb Keto Thanksgiving Recipes
Dietary Legend
Absolutely ALL of the below recipes are gluten-free! Some are vegan, almost all are paleo and dairy-free, etc. Use this key to easily select the recipes that will work for you:V – Vegan
Veg – Vegetarian
P – Paleo
DF – Dairy-free
NF – Nut-free
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Low Carb Keto Biscuits {paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free}
These low-carb Keto Biscuits have become a bit of a staple around here. A bit of a legend, if you will. These low carb Keto Biscuits work amazing for savory recipes like breakfast sandwiches or biscuits and gravy or you can easily go sweet with my keto strawberry shortcake or just a smear of homemade berry chia seed jam. However you serve them up, these low carb Keto Biscuits are a breeze to make, whether you eat low carb, or not.
While I’ve personally been eating keto since January 2017, for therapeutic reasons while I seek to get my autoimmune disease into total remission, hubby isn’t necessarily exclusively low-carb all the time – so I am always working on recipes that will please us both. I created these delicious Low Carb Keto Biscuits for my Paleo Biscuits and Gravy Recipe, which also happens to be keto/low-carb, as well. That recipe is already a hit with so many of you, but also a lot of you have simply made just the biscuits just on their own, for epic breakfast sandwiches topped with fried eggs and some sausage or bacon. It’s a favorite around here, for sure. So, I felt these perfect little Low Carb Keto Biscuits deserved their own recipe post.
These low carb biscuits are a really great way to switch up breakfast and get those classic egg sandwich vibes I feel like you might be craving. I know I crave an epic breakfast sando, now and then. Beyond breakfast sandwiches, or a side to a comforting bowl of soup, these Low Carb Keto Biscuits are lovely toasted up and slathered with a little grass-fed butter or homemade ghee, maybe a drizzle or honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon, or just give them a spread with your favorite nut butter or maybe even coconut butter. For a sweeter treat, try my Keto Strawberry Shortcake, they are amazing, you can also top your Keto Biscuits with chia seed jam or honey sweetened marmalade. (obviously this won’t be quite as low carb) Shoot, guys, I feel like you could also smash a fabulous grass-fed burger into your face with one of these biscuits. Just sayin’.
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Keto Strawberry Shortcake with Balsamic Roasted Strawberries and Basil Whipped Coconut Cream {gluten-free, paleo}
What? Low Carb Keto Strawberry Shortcake? Yup, you read that correctly. This dreamy, classic summer treat gets a bit of an update with grain-free, low carb biscuits, tasty balsamic roasted strawberries and a basil infused whipped coconut cream. Real food, no weird ingredients. Just some tasty, clean whole foods.
Let’s start off by saying, if you think I’ve lost my mind and if you want to keep this classic dessert more simple and traditional, you can very very easily follow this recipe, opt simply for fresh strawberries or just roast the strawberries without the balsamic, but if you’ve never had balsamic roasted strawberries, yet, you truly aren’t living. And as for the basil infused coconut cream, will change your life. That has to be said.
This recipe is quite fuss-free, despite the amount of characters required to accurately describe it. Make the easy, grain-free low carb biscuits ahead and while they are baking you can prep the strawberries to go into the oven next and then finally, whip together that delicious, basil infused whipped coconut cream while the berries roast.
As far as I am concerned, strawberries are the quintessential summer fruit. They have such fond memories attached to them, for me. From strawberry picking with my mom and my sisters, to bowls of fresh berries being brought outside out for dessert after a delicious summer meal, enjoy al fresco. My mom loves to bake and she made an incredible strawberry shortcake, with fresh baking soda biscuits, which she always made to seem so effortless. Strawberry shortcake reminds me of backyard meals, towels wrapped around our chilly bodies from spending the entire day in the pool. It brings back memories of no school, being outside all day and late sunsets.
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Paleo Buffalo Chicken Salad {Gluten-free, Keto, Dairy-free, Whole30}
All the flavors of classic Buffalo Chicken Wings that I grew up on get packed into this more healthful Paleo Buffalo Chicken Salad. This can easily be made ahead, it’s great for meal prepping for the week and it’s a perfect use for leftover chicken. Served in lettuce cups over a big salad, it’s a simple recipe bursting with flavor.
After a week back home in Buffalo, New York with my family, it felt appropriate to share this recipe with you as I return home to California. My Paleo Buffalo Chicken Salad has become a bit of a staple food around our house. With making a big batch of shredded chicken each week for meal prep, I always save a bunch of the chicken specifically for this flavor-packed chicken salad.
Making a batch of this salad fits into out meal prep plan, because we make a bunch at once to be eaten throughout the week. It’s a great make-ahead recipe, great for batch cooking and the perfect use for leftover chicken.
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Chocolate Coffee Keto Granola {grain-free, gluten-free, paleo}
This wholesome, crunchy, nutty Chocolate Coffee Keto Granola is low carb, made from nutrient-rich nuts and seeds, it’s loaded with flavor. Great for topping your favorite yogurt, as a topping to your smoothie, in a bowl with a little coconut milk – or a small handful on-the-go for a quick bite.
Cravings are a strange phenomenon. Many times cravings are driven by a nutritional deficiency of some sort, for example, often when people are craving super dark chocolate it can indicate a magnesium deficiency. For some, craving a soda can indicate a calcium deficiency, craving sweets (beyond blood sugar disregulation) can be a sign of deficiencies in chromium, carbon, phosphorus, sulphur and beyond. And the cravings to deficiency list goes on and on. But, if you can really listen to your body and the many cues it send, often times these cravings also come from a highly emotional place. Food memories can certainly impart their own cultivation of cravings, foods that remind us of our childhood, things that bring back a flood of times gone by.
Weirdly one of those cravings for me, that happens a few times a year – I get a highly emotional craving for a bowl of cereal. The comfort of a crunchy bowl of cereal, drowned in milk, eaten on the couch. It reminds me of being a kid. Of mornings before school. That time before the day got busy and hectic, to look forward to what lied ahead, to go over the flashcards for that day’s tests.
I didn’t grow up eating sugary cereals. My mom had it all pretty dialed in. The extent of our cereal selection was generally things like Kix, Corn Flakes, Honey Nut Cheerios, there weren’t marshmallows and colorful characters. In fact my mom was so mindful that we never drank milk and while milk was allowed on cereal, since I spent a great deal of my childhood not well, my mom went through a period of not allowing us any milk on our cereal an rather apple juice was the liquid of choice (surprisingly quite delicious on Honey Nut Cheerios I might add).
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Strawberry Basil Almond Flour Muffins – Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-free
Before I get into chatting about muffins, I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you for your amazing, inspiring and humbling comments on my two year blogiversary post. Besides hearing about how many of you read Tasty Yummies and have been inspired by it, reading all of your touching comments about what makes you happy, seriously moves me. I have read each and every comment and so many of them brought tears to my eyes. So, even though I haven’t responded to all of you, thank you all from the bottom of my heart!
The last week has been a really great one for me, between all the inspiring comments about happiness on my post, meeting a new friend and the wonderful week of yoga I had, I am seriously on cloud nine. I have managed to get to a ton of yoga classes this past week (6 in the last 7 days) and despite my injury a few weeks back, I seem to have found a really sweet spot in my yoga practice, at least it really feels that way to me. Every time I think I couldn’t possibly enjoy the practice of yoga and everything it brings, any more than I already do, I have a breakthrough week. This week that feeling came a few different ways, the first is that I got to spend some time with a fellow student that I have practiced alongside many times. Upon hearing the news that she would be moving back to Rochester tomorrow, after nearly a year of living in Buffalo, before heading off to Africa to teach yoga, we decided we had to get together before she left. We grabbed some food and had a couple drinks and just hung out and got to know each other better. I rarely meet people whom I feel that instant of a connection to, and it was yoga that brought us there. I know that although Lyndsey will be far away and I am relocating to California later this year, we both agreed we will stay in contact and who knows where that connection will take us. I feel there are people in this world that we are meant to meet and even though we wish the circumstances would be different or that they lived closer, etc, it is incredible how powerful it can be that we find one another despite all that. Life is pretty amazing. Besides all of the amazing teachers at East Meets West Yoga that I have gotten to know and love, there are so many other great people that are there, like me, to practice, that I have shared such meaningful conversations with, or even just a warm hello! I feel like I have never ever felt that sense of community anywhere else in my life.
The other thing that made this week of yoga a special one is that I was able to get into three different arm balances that I hadn’t quite been able to master before. I had gotten close on all three in the past at different times, and maybe popped up into them once or twice (likely in happenstance), but it was like I hit a light switch this week and found something that I hadn’t found before. It felt amazing! That is what I love most about yoga, it is ever changing and ever growing. I can’t believe there was ever a time I told myself that I would never be “better” then where I was at that point and that I just couldn’t get into certain poses. Once I let go of that frustration and fear, it not only became so much more enjoyable, but I also found myself doing things I never thought I could. I can honestly say that yoga has changed me both on the mat and off and I will be forever grateful for that.
OK, let’s talk muffins! Strawberry basil is one of my absolute favorite flavor combos! I discovered it a few summers back when I was obsessed with mojitos. I started playing with basil instead of mint and adding in strawberries instead of lime. It makes for a great adult drink if you add rum, or a refreshing non-alcoholic drink if you just muddle the two together and top it off with a little sparkling water. They are so perfect together, the tart and subtle sweetness from the strawberries paired with the sweet, almost peppery flavor from the basil. If you aren’t a fan of basil, you can add in fresh mint to these muffins, or just skip it altogether. But I highly recommend trying the two together if you haven’t yet, it is a wonderful surprise for your palette.
These muffins are bursting with flavor and are also quite healthy for you. They are not only gluten-free, but they are totally grain-free, they are also dairy-free and refined sugar-free. I haven’t yet played with using an egg replacer to make these vegan, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. If you do try it out, please do let me know what you think. This recipe makes 6 large muffins. I fill the batter all the way to the very top and as you can see in the photos, that gives you the lovely puffy muffin tops, if you want more muffins, just fill the cups up less and keep an eye on your bake time, it may take a little less time.
Thank you again guys for your wonderful blogiversary wishes and if you haven’t yet entered the contest, please do. You have 5 different opportunities to enter and the giveaway closes on Wednesday.
[print_this]Strawberry Basil Almond Flour Muffins – Gluten-free, Dairy-free (vegan option)
makes 6 or 7 large muffins- 2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 local farm fresh large brown eggs (you can try an egg replacer here, I haven’t yet however)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Add in the honey, vanilla and oil and whisk until well combined. Add the dry mixture to the wet, stirring until combined. Carefully fold in the strawberries and basil.
Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, filling to the top if you want a nice muffin dome, or as us ladies know it “muffin tops”. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the muffin pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Gently pop the muffins out to continue cooling on the rack (don’t cool them longer than 5 minutes in the hot pan they’ll definitely get soggy). Enjoy a muffin after they have cooled 10 minutes, you know you want to.
I find storing muffins covered tightly in the refrigerator or freezer to be the best. Just pop one out as you want it, heat slightly in the microwave if you want to take the chill off and go.
*Something I have learned from baking on my own and from reading Elana’s Pantry, is that not all almond flour (or meal) is created equal. Bob’s Red Mill makes an almond flour, though easy to find, that doesn’t seem to react quite the same as other almond flours. It doesn’t seem to rise as much and it just seems to leave recipes flat. On Elana’s recommendation I now buy Honeyville brand almond flour in a 5-lb bag from their website.
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