Pineapple and Prosciutto Pizza with Cauliflower Crust

SCD Legal  Hawaiian Pizza

SCD Legal Hawaiian Pizza

Game night is not game night without pizza.  For the past year, I have tried over ten different ways to recreate our past carb loving, cheese indulging, gut wrenching, no holds barred game night with very little success.  While our game closet continue to over-floweth with pretty much every Euro game (and expansion) out there, we usually opt for ordering Papa John’s for Mike and the guys while I eat something awesome.  Like a salad.

The problem with SCD legal pizzas is almost universally the crusts.  Almond flour is too dense, has the wrong texture and gets too soggy in the middle even if it is pre-baked.  A combo of different nut flours gives a dry, lifeless crust that tastes bland and biscuitty.  I honestly thought I just wouldn’t be able to enjoy pizza ever again.

Not any more!  I’ve also been reading about cauliflower crusts for the past year but been too skeptical to try it out.  Shame on my doubting heart, it is AWESOME!  This recipe is by no means terribly original as I’m sure it’s an amalgamation of other recipes but it is incredibly tasty, crunchy, and crusty.  Welcome to my version of Hawaiian pizza!

Ingredients (cauliflower crust):

  • 3 cups finely grated cauliflower (about 1 medium sized head)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup cheese (I used 1/2 adagio and 1/2 muenster)
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon Italian blend (I mix evenly basil, thyme, sage and oregano)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients (pizza filling):

  • 1/2 cup pizza sauce (I used SCD legal Lucini’s.  They carry it at Whole Foods)
  • 1 cup cheese (again, I used 1/2 adagio and 1/2 muenster)
  • 1 can pineapple (make sure they are SCD legal and canned in their own juice)
  • 6 strips of prosciutto (make sure to look at the ingredients as many contain illegals.  Trader Joe’s carries a legal type)

Instructions:

    1. After washing the cauliflower, use a hand grater to grate three cups of cauliflower into an oven safe bowl.  You could use a food processor but I find that it makes the cauliflower “wetter”.
    2. Pre-heat the over to 450 degrees and put the cauliflower in until it is tender but not mushy (about 5-7 minutes once oven is warm).  You could use a microwave for this but I think microwaves are weird so…
    3. Take cauliflower out and combine all ingredients in the bowl until well mixed.  Grab a pizza pan and spread out your parchment paper.
    4. Scoop your cauliflower mix onto the parchment lined pizza pan.  At this point, don’t expect it to feel like dough.  It won’t really be sticking together enough for you to form it into a ball and that’s ok!  Using your hands, fashion it into a circle on the parchment paper so that it looks like a pizza crust.
    5. Pop it into the over for 15-17 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
    6. Remove it from the oven and spread pizza sauce and the rest of the ingredients over the pizza.

Turn the oven up to broil and put the pizza in for 3-4 minutes until the cheese is bubbling.  Remove and serve right away

Before the oven

Before the oven

After the oven

After the oven

Before the cheese

Before the cheese

After the cheese

After the cheese

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It turned out delicious.  Both Mike, Kara and I thought that if you didn’t know it was cauliflower, you wouldn’t have been able to tell!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy gaming and happy pizza night!

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Surviving February: Slow Cooker Pineapple and Chili Pulled Pork

February is hands down, the worst month of the year for mid-westerners.  It manages to simultaneously never end and speed by, giving the poor chump stuck in a mid-west induced haze of flu, stress, and blizzards, the feeling of slow motion whip lash.  You know it’s happening, but you can’t do anything about it.  Mid-westerners, we are the true survivors.

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Fortunately, February also gives me this frenzied craving for all things tropical.  I window shop for dresses without sleeves and blush inducing lengths.  At work, I keep my sanity while holding on the phone by clicking on EVERY SINGLE travel “get-away” package that I see.  And I make a series of tropical inspired dishes that give me the illusory feeling of controlling my own destiny.  Maybe if I eat enough pineapple. I too will win Travelocity’s “Romantic Caribbean Get-Away” sweepstakes.

It hasn’t happened.  But March is here.  It’s sunny today and I am happy to post pictures of mouthwatering Caribbean spiced pork turned mid-western by virtue of the crock-pot.  I snagged the recipe off of paleopot.com and was glad I did.  The sweetness of the pineapple and the heat from the chilies made me ignore the blizzard outside.  I was so absorbed in the meal I didn’t even notice the snow plow, dutifully stacking snow around my little Vibe, making it impossible to leave.

Maybe getting stuck inside isn't such a bad thing after all...

Maybe getting stuck inside isn’t such a bad thing after all…

Homemade Mayo and the glory that ensues

This is the part of the story where the hero decides that enough is enough and it’s time to kick some butt!  If you like that part of the story, read on.  Disclaimer, I am the hero in this story.  Well, me and my kitchen aid mixer but that’s a given.

When I started the Specific Carbohydrates Diet back  in May 2012, I was used to eating lots of creamy, delicious dressings and spreads and I was determined that changing my diet wouldn’t change that.  This was illogical for a number of reasons, the biggest being that I was brand new to this kind of cooking and pretty unconfident in the kitchen.  Still, two weeks in I decided to try a ranch dressing that called for 1/2 a cup of mayo.  The result was a running, eggy tasting mess and a sugar-withdrawal, prednisone induced cry.  About a month and a half later I tried a garlic aioli.  Aioli is mayo made with olive oil.  The running, non-cohesive result led me to the conclusion that mayo was not in my wheelhouse and that I should stick to apple cider vinaigrette.

This February, a promotion at work has left me scrambling for time to cook.  I think I have been more of less living off of almond thyme crackers and cheese.  And, the salad bar at Whole Foods where the most delicious tuna salad in the whole world gave me the courage to try again.  Here is how I did it.

Ingredients:                                                                              

Lenten Celebration.

Tuna Salad

  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1/2 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Pinch of cayenne (optional)
  • 1 cup canola oil*

Instructions:

  1. I separated the egg yolks from the whites.  I froze the egg whites for use later.  To the egg yolks I added the lemon juice, water and honey and carefully whisked in a small porcelain bowl.
  2. I used my sauce pan to heat about 3 cups of hot water until it was simmering.  I placed the porcelain bowl with the egg mixture into the sauce pan.  From here, I whisked the egg mixture constantly, heating until the egg mixture reached 135 degrees, measured with a candy thermometer.  Also, around 130 it started to thicken.  From here, I removed it from the heat and dipped the bottom in cold water to stop it from cooking and let it sit for 5 minutes to cool.  I think it’s pretty important to temper the eggs.  At 135, it will kill any bacteria present.
  3. I transferred the egg mixture to my kitchen aid mixture and started to whisk at a slow speed.  From here, I added the mustard, salt and cayenne.
  4. Now comes the tricky part.  Increasing the speed of the mixer, I slowly, almost drop by drop, added the oil down the side into the egg mixture.  The egg mixture has to “hold” the oil and so it needs to be slow.  Continue until the oil is gone.
  5. Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes until cold.  And you’ve got some homemade mayo!

*I know there is a lot of debate in the SCD community about canola oil and its safety.  If you have concerns, feel free to substitute peanut oil or olive oil.

So creamy!  So fluffy!  So delicious!  And best of all, it enabled some truly awesome meals this week!  First out much further ado:

Tuna Salad Ingredients:

  • 2 cans of tuna, packed in water with nothing added
  • 4 T. diced celery
  • 5 T. high quality mayonnaise
  • 2 T. Dijon or other good mustard
  • 1-2 t. finely chopped dill
  • 1 T. honey
  • 1/4 t. cayenne (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1.  So simple.  Just mix it up and chill.  Serve with lettuce, on a sandwich or by itself!  Yum!

I followed 101 Cookbooks recipe for Egg Salad and served it with Almond Flour and Thyme Crackers.  It was great!  I would have loved it on cashew bread as well.

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Bacon Wrapped Dates and Chipotle Mayo Ingredients:               

This little piggy had bacon wrapped dates

This little piggy had bacon wrapped dates

  • 1/4 cup mayo
  • 1/4 t. chipotle chili mayo
  • 1 T. lemon
  • 2 t. finely diced jalapeno pepper
  • 1 small clove of garlic, minced
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 5 strips bacon
  • 10 medjool dates

Instructions:

1. Blend all mayo ingredients together and chill.  Delicious!

2. Cut 5 strips of bacon in half.  Wrap ten medjool dates in the bacon and cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

To conclude.  The hero succeeded and was not defeated by soul-less food and made many delicious dishes and lived happily ever after.  The End.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Butternut squash lasagna isn’t terribly original.  In fact I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Rachel Ray do it, which means I usually pass but in this case I decided I’d give it a go.  Every gluten-free, paleo, low-carb blogger seems to have their own recipe.  I wanted to try and incorporate some signature “SCD” foods into mine, such as my homemade goat milk yogurt and favorite store bought (but still SCD legal) marinara.

I was really happy with the result!  It was hearty and the squash “noodles” held up very well.  Mike and I both agreed that similar to pasta lasagna, it actually tasted better re-heated!  I’ll definitely be making this again soon!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Butternut Squash Lasagna– cook in 10.5 by 7.5 inch pan

 Ingredients:

  • 1 medium butternut squash (Try to get one with a long “neck”)
  • ½ cup SCD Yogurt (Goat milk yogurt is my favorite for this recipe)
  • ½ lb. ground beef
  • 2 cups shredded cheese (I like havarti, aged cheddar, and goat cheddar)
  • 1 TBS basil
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 2 tsp thyme
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp ground black pepper
  • ¼ tsp chili powder
  • 2 cups SCD legal marinara sauce (I use Lucini)
  • 2 TBS coconut oil

 Instructions:

    1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place squash in oven for 10 minutes to soften before removing.  Continue to heat oven.
    2. Mix together all spices.  This will make about 4 TBS of spice.
    3. Combine ground beef with 1 TBS of spice mixture.  Mix well, using hand to combine if necessary.
    4. Heat 1 TBS of coconut oil in a 10-inch skillet.  When hot, add ground beef and brown, stirring to prevent burning.  Decrease heat to medium to avoid burning if necessary.  Once it has finished cooking, drain oil and fat.  Keep warm.
    5. Remove squash from oven.  Use mandolin to slice squash into long pieces, approximately ¼ inch thick and 4-5 inches long.  If you don’t have a mandolin slicer, use knife to slice thinly.  You will need enough slices to create 3 layers of “pasta”.  How many slices you need will vary, depending on the size of your squash.
    6. Use the second TBS of coconut oil to coat the bottom of your pan, so that the first layer of “pasta” does not stick to the bottom.
    7. Assemble your lasagna!
      • First a layer of butternut squash
      • Next, spread a thin layer of yogurt followed by a layer of cheese
      • Sprinkle 2 tsp of your spice mixture
      • Add a portion of the ground beef
      • Top with about ¾ cup marinara
      • Repeat!
      • After you have three layers of squash, conclude with adding a final layer of cheese after the marinara
    8. Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  Serve while hot or refrigerate and re-heat.  The advantage of refrigerating and reheating is the squash will have absorbed more of the marinara, making it less saucy and more like lasagna.  Delicious either way!

 

Birthday Brunches and Almond-Flour Banana Cupcakes

There is something magic about opening up your home for entertaining.  Whether it’s the cleaning up the “lived-in” qualities of your rooms, planning the menu, considering the food restrictions of the guests, buying flowers for the vases or just anticipating the arrival of the guests, it’s magical!  It fills my thoughts for days before and drives me to spend way more time than I have preparing food.

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This past fall, my younger sister Anna moved to my town!  I wish I could say it was to be with her cool older sister, but really it was so should could get an awesome education, explore Chicago and make great new friends.  Check, check and check!  For her birthday this year, I decided to throw her a brunch!  Because I am a selfish cook that wants to eat all of the food that I make (and because I fear cross-contamination) I made all foods either SCD legal or Paleo.

A is for Anna!

A is for Anna!

I wanted to serve a variety of foods so after weighing my options, I settled on this menu:

  • Crust-less quiche made with SCD goat milk yogurt (Find my recipe here)
    • Broccoli, sautéed onion and swiss chard
    • Bacon, sautéed onion and kale
  • Grain-free granola served with fresh fruit and coconut milk (Find Danielle’s recipe here)
  • Fresh fruit with Paleo chocolate fondue (Find my recipe here)
  • Paleo chocolate cupcakes (Find the combo of recipes I used here)
  • Annie’s Blend Tea (A mix of two of her favorite teas in fill-able tea bags)
  • Anna Banana Cupcakes (Recipe below!)
Grain-free granola with coconut milk and topping options

Grain-free granola with coconut milk and topping options

When we were growing up, we would celebrate our birthdays at our Grandma Beth’s house and she would inevitably make us her famous Banana Chocolate Cake for our birthday cake!  Sweet, almost to the point of being too sweet, it was sheer birthday indulgence and we always look forward to it.  Since being diagnosed with Crohn’s, I haven’t been able to tolerate sweets as well and since beginning SCD, there has been no Banana Chocolate Cake for me.  I decided to try and re-create one of our childhood favorites in Paleo form.  I experimented with several different versions of this recipe before settling on this one.

They are light and moist with a lovely fruit driven sweetness.  Topped with rich Paleo chocolate, they brought a rush of nostalgic childhood memories for me and smiles for us all!

The original Anna Banana and her darling friends!

The original Anna Banana and her darling friends!

Anna Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients: Cupcakes 2

  • 2 1/4 cups of  almond flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or a mix of cinnamon, ginger, allspice and clove in diminishing proportions
  • 3 medium bananas (Make sure they are over ripe or they won’t mash and give you the texture you want)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup raw honey
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Icing:

For the frosting, I launched from this recipe of Elana‘s at Elana’s Pantry.  However, I made some alterations.  First of all, I halved the recipe.  I used 1/2 of the Ghiradelli 100% Unsweetened Pure Cocoa Baking Bar (about 1/2 cup).  Second of all, I added 1/3 cup of raw honey and kept the 1/3 cup of coconut oil.  I decreased the vanilla to 1 tsp.  I followed all other instructions.

Instructions:

1.    Preheat your oven to 300.  Line a cupcake/muffin tin with paper liners.

2.    Mix together all dry ingredients until well mixed.

3.    Blend eggs, honey and bananas in an electric mixer until smooth with no large chucks of banana.

4.    Fold in dry ingredients.

5.    Fill the tin about 3/4 of the way with batter.  They won’t rise a lot but aren’t too dense.  (I use an ice cream scoop to fill mine).

6.    Cook at 300 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

7.    Top with Elana’s icing after letting the cupcakes completely cool.

Me posing with empty plates and feeling soooo smug.  :)

Me posing with empty plates and feeling soooo smug. 🙂

Indian fried “rice” with Chicken Coconut Curry

At least two times a week I am surrounded by the delicious, pungent and seductive smells of Indian spices.  As a medical social worker at a refugee resettlement agency, I work with a lot of Bhutanese clients.  These are the Lhotshampa people, ethnically Nepali people who were forced out of Bhutan and have lived for over 20 years in refugee camps in Nepal.  I just love working with them.  They bring with them an incredibly tight knit community, amazing hospitality, great work ethic and amazing cooking (among other things).  A couple of times a week I will go to do a home visit and spend an hour or so inhaling the most incredible smells of their cooking.  They share a lot of the spices I commonly associate with Indian cooking.  B.C (before Crohn’s), I ate my weight in Nepali food– huge mounds of white jasmine rice,  Aloo Achar (potato salad) and lentil curries.  So delicious!  Now I have to refuse the hospitality of my hosts using my limited Nepali to explain that I’m so sorry (mauf garnus) but I have food allergies!  Explaining the SCD bacteria theory is a little beyond me for now.

A post by Jenni from Urban Poser on Indian “fried” rice made me think about trying to recreate a basic Nepali curry recipe.  I followed her instructions for making the rice pretty closely.  More Nepali delicacies to follow but for now, try this out!  Make sure to look at Jenni’s original recipe as well.  Her photos are out of this world!

Indian “Fried” Rice:

  • 1 medium head cauliflower
  • 3 tsp coconut oil
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1 serrano chili, finely chopped
  • 1 medium sized carrot, chopped in small pieces
  • 1 cup peas
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp whole yellow mustard seed
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp corriander
  • 1/8 tsp chili powder
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground pepper
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 2 TBSP cilantro, finely chopped
  • 1/2 lime, squeezed

Instructions:

  1. Wash and chop cauliflower and put it in food processor.  Pulse until it resembles rice.  See Jenni’s recipe for recommendations on hand grating.
  2. Heat 1 TBSP of coconut oil in 10 inch skillet.  Once it’s hot, put a layer of the pulsed cauliflower over the oil.  Watch it carefully and scrape to keep from burning.  When it starts to brown and almost burn, remove from heat and put on the next layer, adding coconut oil as needed.  Keep warm.
  3. Once finished, add 1 TBSP of coconut oil.  Once hot, add carrots and serrano chili.  After 2 minutes, add chopped onion.  Stir to keep from burning.  After 5 minutes, add peas and lower heat.  Add the “rice” back in.
  4. Mix all the spices together and stir.  Once well combined, add to the hot “rice” mixture and stir in 1 tsp honey.
  5. Finish with 2 TBSP of cilantro and squeeze lime over it.
Indian fried "rice"

Indian fried “rice”

Coconut Chicken Curry:

  • 1lb boneless skinless chicken breast
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 1/2 medium onion
  • 3 peppers (I use 1 yellow and 2 smaller red)
  • 2 tsp curry powder*
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 1 can coconut milk (Make sure it is SCD legal.  I use Aroy-D, Trader Joe’s or Natural Valley)
  • 2 tbsp cilantro (or more!)

Instructions:

  1. Cut chicken into 1 in pieces.
  2. Combine salt and pepper.
  3. Coat chicken in 1/2 of it.
  4. Cook chicken in skillet with coconut oil.  Set chicken aside.
  5. Add more oil to skillet and saute carrots, peppers, and onion for 5 minutes or until tender crisp, stirring occasionally.
  6. Stir curry powder, raisins, coconut milk, and remaining salt/pepper mixture and add to skillet.
  7. Add chicken and simmer for 3-5 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken.
Simmer for a few minutes to thicken

Simmer for a few minutes to thicken

*Curry powders can very from company to company.  Make sure that you know all of the ingredients in yours!  I recommend Penzey’s or The Spice Hunter.

Serve while hot!  The cauliflower rice will absorb the coconut milk so don’t combine, rather pour over to keep the rice texture.  Dari Ramro (so good)!

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Raw Walnut Tacos, Spiced Melon Soup and Watermelon Mojito Popsicles

I’ve been waiting for a good night to blog about these particular recipes.  We tried them almost a month ago and I took pictures, intending to put them up but then got distracted by other dinners!

Well, I got my chance tonight because I BOMBED with a pizza.  The sauce was too sweet, didn’t go with the aged cheddar and was all around average.  But the Greek Vinaigrette that I whipped up was notable so we didn’t starve and I’ll post that recipe later.  BUT, it’s a good night to flaunt someone else’s recipes since mine averaged a B- for the day.

Ever since Coco of Roostblog posted this, I’ve been dying to try it!  Her meal included the following recipes:

Tacos- made with lettuce wraps and walnuts, chopped and spiced to taste like meat.

Spiced Melon and Avocado Shooters- Notable here is the combination of avocado, nutmeg, ginger and cayenne.

Cashew Sour Cream- Tasty on both tacos and chilled soup!

Watermelon Mojito Popsicles- Made by squeezing watermelon through a cheesecloth and mixing it with SCD legal light rum and fresh mint (fresh from my garden)!

In addition, I whipped up some easy guacamole and pico de gallo.  I think Coco bought hers from Whole Foods and while I love their stuff, it’s a lot less expensive to make my own.  The only real substitution I made was honeydew melon for cantaloupe since I really don’t like cantaloupe.  (I know, weird).

The whole meal was incredible and such a joy to consume.  The tacos were so filling.  I bought butterball lettuce from the Logan Square Farmer’s Market and was overjoyed at how good it was!  Pre-soaking the nuts is always annoying but the cashew sour cream and walnut filling made it worth it.  The whole meal is raw and incredibly good.

Loved sharing it with my loved ones.  Peace and health to us all.


Crust-less Quiche with Grain-Free Apple Spice Coffee Cake

Brinner!  It’s one of my favorite meals to make!  My friend Kara has informed me that brinner is a colloquial midwestern thing so just for clarification, brinner is breakfast for dinner.  And it’s great!

I made an old favorite and a new favorite for brinner.  The first was a crustless quiche with as many veggies as I could squeeze in.  The second was Danielle’s Grain-free Apple Spice Cofee Cake.  It was so delicious!  Dense and moist, better than the best bakery.  I made it without the coconut glaze because I couldn’t find any coconut milk without the guar gum.  Companies add it to keep the milk from separating but it’s a Sdkjfdkjg for people trying to follow the SCD.  I’ll admit, I ate a whole slice (and a half) before I mustered the necessary self-control to actually take a picture of it.  Reason #472 why I can never actually be a hipster.

Ok, the quiche.  The basic recipe is as follows:

Crust-less Quiche

5 eggs

1 cup SCD legal homemade yogurt

whip these two ingredients together and add salt and pepper to taste.

Ok, but here’s the deluxe version:

Alli’s KICKIN’ Crust-less Quiche

5 eggs

1 cup SCD legal homemade yogurt

whip these two ingredients together and add salt and pepper to taste

1 onion- chopped and sauteed

1 head broccoli- steamed and chopped

1 cup kale- chopped without the branches

5 strips SCD legal bacon (read: fried very crispy!)

Add these ingredients after you have whipped the first two.  Save the bacon grease and use it to grease the pan.  It infuses the whole dish with the sweet, salty taste of bacon.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and cook for one hour.  Use foil on the edges to keep them from burning.

All in all, it was a dining success!  My sister told me I needed to add pictures of people enjoying my food (I assume so everyone knows it was actually edible).  My two favorite recipe bunnies sat with me in the fading light of this summer day and between the three of us, we demolished almost everything!  There was definitely a point during the last third of the coffee cake when my husband and I looked at each other across the table and agreed to finish it instead of saving it.  High-fives for occasional indulgences!

The last piece of coffee cake!

Pretty Kara and my awesome quiche!                                Proof that brinner makes everyone smile 


Teriyaki Pork Marinade

So here’s the thing.  It would be great if I could average around 2 hours of cooking every day and try multiple times before serving the recipe to my husband.  But, with a full time, stress-filled job, church stuff, vague attempts to stay in shape and you know, other things in my life- I can’t usually spare the time.

This Teriyaki Pork is an awesome, low maintenance recipe perfect for Wednesdays where everything but the weather is going slightly wrong.  (And I’m still blaming the weather, as the downed trees from last week’s storm is creating road chaos and annoyance).

I looked at a bunch of recipes and picked the best of each to create an SCD legal, flavorful marinade.  I whipped up the marinade over my lunch break and let the pork sit for 6 hours.  It was well saturated but I suspect another two hours wouldn’t have done it any harm.

Teriyaki Pork Marinade

1/2 cup Coconut Aminos

1/4 cup Water

2 TBLS SCD legal hard cider*

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 clove mined garlic

Mixed the marinade and let the pork sit for up to 6 hours.  We used butterfly cut pork chops- my favorite cut!  Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and let cook for 35-40 minutes.  I cooked it in my corning ware and kept the glass lid on to protect the meat.

*For the cider, I used J.K Scrumpy, which we buy from Binnys.  Check out what Elaine has to say about it if you’re concerned or this explanation for a better understanding of what makes hard cider SCD legal. Don’t trust all brands!  Make sure it contains less than 1% of sugar added and that you understand the fermentation process or that it’s fully dry.

We ate it over-looking the lake behind our house.  My husband ate yummy rye bread from an awesome polish bakery in Chicago.  He’s a hard working dude, and pretty exceptional so I don’t begrudge him the occasional non-SCD item.  A great easy meal for a crazy day!

Cabbage Salad

Cabbage Salad

Cabbage Salad

We’ve needed to add a little tang to our summer and Coco’s Cabbage Salad has been an awesome way to do that! We made it over the fourth as a compliment to our burgers and again this past weekend. Even my dad ate it, which given his proclivity to cheese sandwiches and pepsi, is a pretty large feat.

It has a vinaigrette with a nice zip to it. The toasted sesame is really evident but isn’t overwhelming. The honey makes it just sweet enough and is complimented well by the fruit.

The one difference in my recipe is that I substituted oranges for ripe nectarines and added lemon juice (1 TBS) to the dressing. I also added raisins. Make sure you pre-soak the almonds!

Coco’s pictures are so pretty! Check out the recipe! http://www.roostblog.com/roost/cabbage-with-almonds-blood-orange-and-ginger-vinaigrette-a-v.html

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