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Easy Pantry Staples {options for Paleo, Whole30, Gluten-free, Keto}
Today we are chatting all about how to stock a nutrient-dense pantry with easy pantry staples for paleo, Whole30, gluten-free and keto/low carb. But also a little spoiler alert for you…. these pantry staples are NOT exclusive to any one nutritional or dietary approach, this pantry list is all about a focus on real food, easy, budget-friendly shelf-stable nutrient-dense proteins, healthy fats, smarter snacks and foods that will support your vibrant well being!
Having a well stocked pantry is the best way to stay ahead, be prepared and have what you need to throw together easy meals, no matter what life throws your way. I’m sharing some of my favorite real food pantry must-haves along with the best and most affordable ways to stay stocked up! So this way your pantry will be full and your wallet won’t be empty.
Keep this list of healthy pantry staples handy, this is the list I share with all my nutrition clients looking to have a well-stocked pantry with the best-of-the-best real food basics!
Most importantly, I want to show you that eating healthy and eating well doesn’t have to bankrupt you. We know the cost of health foods is an investment in our future and our health, but sometimes if feels like we need a second job just to pay for it all. But, by planning ahead and having a system in place to stock your healthy pantry, you can keep these healthy foods on hand, and keep your costs down.
EASY PANTRY STAPLES – A HOW TO GUIDE TO STOCKING A NUTRIENT-DENSE, BUDGET-FRIENDLY PANTRY:
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How-to Stock a Healthy Keto Pantry
Today we are chatting all about how to stock a healthy keto pantry and just a little spoiler alert for you…. these pantry staples are NOT exclusive to those eating low carb or taking a keto-focused approach to their diet, truly this pantry list is all about a focus on real food, healthy fats, smarter snacks and foods that will support your vibrant well being!
If you aren’t stocked with the right foods, if you don’t have the healthful options easily accessible to you, it’s really hard to make the right decisions for your health. I’m sharing some of my favorite keto pantry must-haves along with the best and most affordable ways to stay stocked up! So this way your pantry will be full and your wallet won’t be empty.
Keep this list of healthy keto pantry staples handy, this is the list I share with all my nutrition clients looking to have a well-stocked pantry with the best-of-the-best real food basics!
Most importantly, I want to show you that eating healthy and eating well doesn’t have to bankrupt you. We know the cost of health foods is an investment in our future and our health, but sometimes if feels like we need a second job just to pay for it all. But, by planning ahead and having a system in place to stock your healthy pantry, you can keep these healthy foods on hand, and keep your costs down.
I am partnering with Thrive Market to show you in my latest video, how I stock my healthy keto pantry, sharing my actual most recent order to stock-up, PLUS we have a special deal for the Tasty Yummies community, where you can save an additional 25% off your first order, a FREE 30 day trial membership, plus FREE shipping on orders over $49. This is all on top of their already discounted prices of 25 – 50% off standard retail.
HOW-TO STOCK A HEALTHY KETO PANTRY:
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Bone Broth Braised Greens {Paleo, Gluten-free, Whole30, AIP}
These Bone Broth Braised Greens are a nourishing addition to any holiday table or just a perfect, comforting side dish, for anytime. Bone broth, onion, garlic, lemon and red pepper flakes add flavor to this side dish that can be made with whatever hearty green is in season. Collard greens, Swiss chard, kale or a mix of your favorites.
I find that at holiday tables (shoot many dinner tables year ’round, for that matter) the veggies are often an afterthought. The thing people throw together and half-ass, because they “have to”. Veggies deserve more love than that. A little respect and honor, ya know? After all, nutrient-rich veggies should be the backbone of any real food diet, or any diet really. We should be shooting for some green stuff at every single meal. Non-negotiable.
I know veggies can get boring and if you’re like me, in the cooler months, salads get less and less enticing, so getting those greens in can be hard. Steaming works, but let’s be real, it can be ‘blah!’ and when you serve ‘blah’ veggies, it’s a fight to get them down and the chances are you aren’t going to do it at every meal.
These slow cooked greens, bring the flavor and nourishing, healing goodness of the bone broth, we get a little heat from the red pepper flakes and the onion, garlic and lemon, round it all out with classic, simplicity.
It’s a pretty fuss-free recipe and at the end of it, you get a bowl of goodness that your beautiful body sooo deserves! Every time I share that I am whipping up this recipe on social media, I get so many messages that you want the recipe. So I finally wrote it up to share with you. Just in time for the holidays.
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Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Vegetable Soup {Gluten-free, Paleo, Dairy-free}
Having a for-real winter here in Southern California has been especially exciting for many reasons. For the first time since we moved out here from the East Coast 4 years ago, I have been able to really get down with cozy, comforting winter food. Soups, stews, roasts and all the best wintery, soul-warming foods.
Soups have been especially exciting to me this year. This one in particular, this Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Vegetable Soup, has become one of my personal favorites. Reminiscent of a pot-pie filling, with a bit more broth, it’s creamy and rich, without dairy or grains. Best part, it can be made in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker and it’s ready in about 30 minutes, start to finish, but it tastes like it’s simmered away all day. If you want to use already cooked, shredded rotisserie chicken, this soup is ready even quicker. It pressure cooks for just 6 minutes!!
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How-to Make Bone Broth
What is Bone Broth:
Bone broth truly is one of the greatest superfoods. A soul-warming, healing, mineral-rich infusion found in many traditional households across many diverse cultures, bone broth is rich in amino acids and minerals and it’s healing properties run the gamut. This nutrient-dense, inexpensive magic elixir provides minerals in a highly bio-available form, meaning that the body can absorb easily them. Calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. As the cartilage and tendons breaks down, you’ll also receive chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, both sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain. The long cook time of bone broth allows the maximum release of nutrients. Bone broth contains collagen and gelatin, providing great healing value to cartilage and bones but also to the skin, digestive tract, immune system, heart and muscles.
Bone broth is a liquid made by simmering bones for an extended period of time, between 4 and 24 hours. Any bones can be used: chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, pork, bison and even fish. Vegetables, herbs and spices are often added to enhance the flavor and the bones and vegetables are strained and discarded before serving. Typically, the bones will have some connective tissue, like joints and tendons, and some meat attached.
Additionally bone broth and stocks is a wonderful way of letting nothing go to waste. The nose-to-tail concept of sustainability.
You’ve probably heard the terms Bone Broth, Broth and Stock all used fairly interchangeably, but there are actually some differences between them. Each is made using meat and/or bones, cold water, vegetables and spices / seasonings. Cooking remains similar but the time of simmering varies between them. Bone broth is different from traditional stocks and broths in that it typically is made just from the bones and whatever small amounts of meat are adhering to those bones. Bone broth is simmered for a very long period of time, upwards of 48 hours. Stock is made generally with bones and a small amount of meat and is simmered for much less time, just several hours, 3-4. Meat broth is generally made mostly with meat and sometimes a small amount of bones, simmering for usually under 2 hours. Meat broth and stock still have great health benefits, however it’s a lower nutrient content then long simmering bone broth. For some, bone broth vs stock also means the presence of meat and veggies vs. just bones. Bone broth usually does not contain these and stock usually does. That said, those clear definitions have definitely blurred as bone broth has become more prevalent and people find their own ways of making it, so don’t get too hung up on the words.
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How-to Make Vegetable Stock
This week’s Tutorial Tuesday post is a simple one, it’s hard to even call it a recipe. It requires very little work and it’s really hard to mess it up. You can make easily create your own signature vegetable stock with whatever your favorite ingredients are.
I find most store bought vegetable stocks to be lacking. They always taste flat and they all have this strange aftertaste, to me. I have never found one that I love. Most leave me wanting for more. I started making my own homemade vegetable stock a long time ago and it’s one of the easiest things you can make yourself at home. You can control the ingredients, the level of salt, the spices and it’s also a great way to use of vegetable scraps.
In the event you didn’t know, (I didn’t learn this until quite recently) there is a difference between a stock and a broth and that difference is usually just salt. Broth has salt added, stock does not. See, you learn something new every day. Actually, I think it is more than just the salt that makes them different, I believe that it’s seasoning in general, spices, salt, wine, etc. Essentially you are looking for a stock to be somewhat neutral in flavor, almost to where when you taste it, it’s missing a little something. Instead it’s about letting the dish the stock ultimately goes into dictate the spices and the levels of salt. Either way, I prefer to make a vegetable stock over a broth, so I can control the saltiness with each recipe I use it in. I do, however, still add simple, yet somewhat neutral spices, that will work with virtually any recipe my stock would go into.
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How To Stock The Perfect Winter Pantry
The time has come, at least where I live, when the local fresh produce has dwindled down to very little and we are hunkering down for a long and cold winter. Just because fresh local produce isn’t quite as plentiful around here as it is in the summer, doesn’t mean that I cook any less. I just find I need to get more creative with what I do have and be very smart in stocking my pantry with healthy staples to get me through. Additionally, I still make sure to buy and eat as many veggies as possible and though they may not be local, I do try to at least select organic and as seasonal as I possibly can.
Here is a quick list of some of my favorite pantry staples, I am personally gluten-free so this list reflects that. Use this list as a guide, keeping in mind your own intolerances and preferences to create your own pantry staples list and make sure you are well stocked through the entire winter and all year, for that matter.
How To Stock The Perfect Winter Pantry
Winter Pantry Staples Shopping List
- Dried and canned beans – black beans, garbanzo, lentil, sprouted mung beans, kidney, white beans, pinto etc.
- Whole grains – brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, wild rice, oats, etc (couscous, barley, bulgur, etc., if you aren’t gluten-free)
- Oils – coconut oil, olive oil, sesame oil, etc.
- Soy sauce or Gluten-free tamari, coconut aminos, etc
- Spices and herbs – bay leaves, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, turmeric, curry powder, italian blend, herbs de Provence, etc.
- Dried fruit – dates, raisins, cranberries, cherries, currants, etc.
- Rice noodles and other pastas
- Sugars and other alternative sweeteners – raw sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, honey, coconut nectar, stevia, etc.
- Nuts and seeds – almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, etc.
- Nut and seed butters – almond butter, peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, etc.
- Vinegars – balsamic, apple cider, red and white wine vinegars, rice vinegar, etc.
- Potatoes and sweet potatoes
- Garlic
- Onions
- Winter squash
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Avgolemono Soup
This classic Greek soup reminds me of both my Mom and my late Yia Yia (Grandma), this is one of my all time favorite comfort foods. The perfect dinner on a cool night or when you have the sniffles. My husband, Mark, swears this is an acquired taste, I have been trying for 7 years to get him to like it, but he just isn’t a fan of the lemon. I personally think the lemon is what makes this soup and the more the better. Growing up in a Greek family, this soup was a winter staple and definitely something I would beg my Mom for when I was feeling under the weather.
I find some soups taste good enough made with store-bought stock, if you don’t have time to make your own, this soup isn’t one of those. It needs homemade stock, made from scratch, cooked for a few hours. It’s the only way. Whenever we make a whole roast chicken, I freeze the bones for stock, I love being able to make my own stock. I usually go very simple with the spices on my roast chicken so whatever is leftover is perfect for making stock with. I personally prefer to make each stock specific for each soup I make, since most times the ingredients that I add to the stock varies to each recipe.
This soup is a very simple to make, only a few ingredients. I like mine with a lot of fresh ground pepper and the perfect amount of rice. Too much rice and it isn’t brothy enough, too little rice and it’s just not quite right. Some people prefer orzo to rice, but I like the classic white rice much better. If it were possible, I would always have a fresh pot of this soup in the fridge, ready to be warmed up whenever I wanted it. Thickened with eggs and brightened with the lemon, there is really nothing like this. This is my family’s recipe and honestly, have tried other people’s Avgolemeno before and it just isn’t nearly as good, in my opinion.
Chicken Stock
2-3 quarts of water
Bones from a whole roast chicken 3-4 lbs (I prefer organic, free range and without hormones or antibiotics)*
1 large onion, quartered
2 garlic cloves, halved
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons pepperIn a large stockpot, (use the strainer that fits in your stock pot if you have one) combine all the ingredients and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 2 1/2 hours, skimming the surface occasionally to remove any foam that forms on the surface. I added a bit more water as it was cooking to keep the chicken and vegetables covered. The longer you cook the stock, the stronger the flavor will be, but 2 1/2 hours was more than adequate and the stock had a fantastic flavor to it.
Remove the meat and bones and reserve, any meat on the bones can be separated and added back to the soup. If you didn’t use the strainer when making the stock, strain the stock to remove all the vegetables and other bits and add back to the pot. Throw out the bones and vegetables. Use the stock immediately or let the stock cool completely, and refrigerate overnight. Skim any fat that forms on the surface. Keep refrigerated in airtight containers until ready to use, up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months. Since I was using the stock immediately, I skimmed any visible fat off the top, made sure that it was strained of everything, and kept it on a low heat while I prepped everything for the soup. You will probably end up with about 48 ounces of stock when making it homemade (give or take). Use all of it.
*You could also use a whole chicken or chicken parts. Whatever you have and whatever works best for you.
Avgolemono Soup
serves 4-66 cups homemade chicken stock*
1/2 cup rice
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
2 eggs
juice from 2 lemonsBring the stock to a boil, stir in rice, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.
Meanwhile, separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whip the egg whites until peaks form. Add in the egg yolks, stir until well blended. Add lemon juice, barely mix, just enough to combine (you don’t want to break the whites).
Slowly ladle the hot soup into your egg mixture until the mixture is warm, stir constantly. You want to do this slowly so as not to cook the eggs to fast. Pour the mixture back into the pot of soup very gently. Taste the soup, salt and pepper to your liking. Ladle into large soup bowls with a lemon wedge on the side, top with freshly ground black pepper.
*If you absolutely must use store-bought chicken stock, you most definitely can. The soup is still very good.
