The easiest, best beef roast, ever!

Some days the crockpot is your best friend. Today is that day in my house. I taught Spin this morning, my parents are in town (yay!) and tonight both girls have Dance which means a late night for us.

So in the Crockpot goes my Favorite beef roast recipe

Beef Roast (3ish lbs)
1 Jar Sliced Pepperoncini
Salt and Garlic

Yep, that's it. How easy is that.

Put your Roast in the bottom of the crock pot, pour the whole jar of Pepperoncini's on top (including the juice), toss a little salt and garlic on top. Cook on low for 8 or on high for 4. Shred and make beef tacos or Beef sandwiches. So easy and very flavorful. And it isn't spicy at all for those of you who have sensitive taste buds!

Serve with some blanched broccoli or a salad to keep it short and sweet in the kitchen. Easy on time/effort but full of flavor.

Sauces: Day 3

Ok, so we have covered Mayo (Link), Ranch Dressing (link  ) and now today Chimichurri sauce!
We used this on Turkey Meatballs the other night, yummy and fresh and bright!

Chimichurri Sauce
½ cup Peas (cooked from frozen fine)
½ cup cilantro leaves (torn from 1 bunch, some stems ok)
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

2 drops Young Living Lime oil or Zest of 1 lime

Get out your Food processor for this one. Place your peas/Cilantro and spices in first, then add your oil and vinegar. Pulse 10-15 times, then turn it on for 30 seconds or so. You want it to be incorporated but not completely smooth.

Use with Chicken/Turkey/Steak or over your veggies!

Sauces: Part 2

Ok, yesterday homemade mayo, today homemade Ranch....tomorrow The World, or maybe a day off. Back with another awesome sauce on Monday ;)

Basic Ranch:
2/3 cup avocado oil or light olive oil 
1 room temperature egg (IMPORTANT)
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 tbsp dried herbs or handful chopped fresh herbs (I use Dill, Cilantro and Parsley)
2 Tbsp full fat canned coconut milk or coconut cream

Put all ingredients in a 16oz Wide mouth ball jar, starting with herbs and working up the list. Use your immersion blender and blend it all together. After you have made it into a dressing add the 2Tbsp of Coconut milk. 

Ta-da- Serve on your salad or as a dipping sauce!

I have been missing out!

Ok ya'll, we are in the thick of the Whole30 over here! Day 12 over here, I am actually feeling really good, my clothes are fitting better, and I feel more calm. All good things!

Not gonna lie, Tuesday night I doula'd (did I just make up a word? was a doula....) for a friend, Wednesday night when it was bedtime I REALLY wanted some dessert. Some serious cravings. Part of Whole30 is to identify triggers, well I could tell that me being tired definitely made my sweet tooth come out. Good to know going forward.

What this post is really about is SAUCES and how awesome homemade sauces are. Seriously, I have been missing out. Homemade mayo- amazing. Homemade ranch- does not even compare to store bought, Chimmichurri....Red Pepper sauce, yep all amazing.

So, I'm going to share some of my favorite Whole30 approved sauces over the next few days!

Today we are going to go with Basic Mayo

It Starts With Food Basic Mayo:
 1-1/4 cup of light olive oil
 1 egg (room temp, this is important!)
 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
 1/2 teaspoon salt
 1/2 to 1 lemon, juiced 

Use an immersion blender (if you don't have one, get one, for real). Add all ingredients to a wide mouth 16oz ball jar. Make SURE your egg is room temp, to do it quickly place in warm water for a few minutes. Put your immersion blender in the bottom, turn on and in about 30 seconds you have delicious home made mayo!

If you want to change it up, add some garlic or onion powder, cilantro, jalepeno...there are a ton of options!

Tomorrow, come back for Ranch dressing!

DIY Pumpkin Spice Creamer (and Whole30 friendly)

Soooo.....my husband says that I like a little coffee with my cream and sugar. He may or may not (may) be right. One of the most challenging things for when I start my Whole30 next week will likely be my coffee. So in the weeks leading up to it, I've switched to coconut milk for my creamer and have been reducing the sugar in it.

Then I found this little recipe. So I whipped up some this morning.

I did make some changes, because, well we all know how good I am about following recipes (I'm not).

1 Can Coconut milk (Whole30 Compliant)
about 1/2 can Pumpkin Puree
2 drops YL Cinnamon Bark EO*
1 drop YL Clove EO*
1 drop YL Ginger EO*
1 drop Nutmeg EO*

--I left out the Vanilla extract because that has alcohol in it, therefore rendering it NOT Whole30 compliant, if you aren't doing Whole30 I'm sure it would be a great addition

I mixed in my stand mixer and added to my morning coffee. It's like a pumpkin spice coffee but with no sweetener but lots of flavor! So if you are looking for a way to "slay the sugar" dragon and make your coffee a little more like coffee, here is a great way to do it.

Enjoy!


*I personally use Young Living oils because of their purity and Seed to Seal process, please do not ingest any oils unless they are listed as a dietary supplement or are on the GRAS list from the FDA,  but the choice is yours. This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This blog is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Free Martha Stewart Cookbook

Sirius is offering a Free Martha Stewart Cookbook, it may only be for today so go get it!
Free Cookbook Here

Have a great day and God Bless!

Homemade Peanut Butter

So my hubby and I both love peanut butter, specifically Laura Scudder's Natural Nutty PB. But at $4-5 a pop and one a week that can take a chunk out of your grocery budget.

Lately hubby has been having an apple & PB with breakfast or Toast with PB and raisins, so we have been blowing through it.

It was the end of the grocery budget this week and no room for PB...
*whoops*
So I took the peanuts we had and made PB!

Plain Peanut Butter Ingredients
1 Cup Roasted Salted (or unsalted) Peanuts (we get ours in the bulk bin at Sprouts)
2-3 Tbsp Canola or Peanut Oil
1/4 tsp (to taste) Salt

Honey Peanut Butter Ingredients
1 Cup Roasted Salted (or unsalted) Peanuts (we get ours in the bulk bin at Sprouts)
2 Tbsp Canola or Peanut Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp Honey
1/4 tsp (to taste) Salt

Now *sigh* I only have a blender, if you have a food processor and are much cooler than I, please, by all means use it.

Pour the Peanuts and 2 Tbsp Canola/Peanut oil into your Blender/Food Processor. Pulse a few times and then blend to combine. Add a pinch of salt, blend for about a minute then taste. Then you can decide if you need more. 1/4 tsp or so worked out well for me.

If you want it to be crunchy (like me) then you don't have to blend as long. If you need to add more Canola/Peanut oil go ahead until you reach the consistency you would like. I used 2-3 depending on the batch. If you want Smooth PB just let it keep blending (it will take quite a few minutes)!

For the Honey PB just add 1.5 Tbsp of Honey and you are golden.

This turned out SO great! It made about 5 oz of PB, so we have 2 flavors to choose from and we enjoyed some Honey PB on some wheat bread for a snack!


The whole process to make 2 batches took me about 15 minutes, but that was with figuring out the ratios and using a blender. So, next time I'm sure it will be quicker and if you have a food processor it should go even faster!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Sweet and Sour Swiss Chard

I used up the last bunch of our Swiss Chard from Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op. I think I like this recipe more than the Sauteed Swiss Chard I made earlier.

I adapted it from HERE.

I didn't have any raisins in the house (we usually do!) so I had to omit those, I think they would have been great, but I didn't miss them.

Ingredients

1 Bunch Swiss Chard- stems chopped / leaves chopped (separate the two)
1 Medium onion Diced
Pinch of Salt
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Canola oil
3 Tbsp White Vinegar
3 Cloves Garlic
1 1/2 tsp Sugar
1/4 Cup Raisins ( I didn't add)

Start by adding the butter and canola oil to a pan that you have a lid for. Heat on medium high then add diced onion and a pinch of salt and cook until they just start to brown.

***note to self, reset your camera back so that you can take better pictures :( ***

Then add all other ingredients BESIDES the Swiss Chard leaves.

Cover and cook over Medium or Medium high heat for 8 minutes.

Then add the Swiss Chard Leaves but do NOT stir. Cover and let steam for 3-4 minutes.

Mix around and serve!

This turned out very well, I actually think that it could have used a bit more of a kick (more vinegar). But it balanced out the Swiss Chard nicely, I would like to make it again with the raisins I think they would really be nice with this.

I'm so excited that I get to try new recipes because of Bountiful Baskets!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Sauteed Swiss Chard Recipe

So I told you yesterday about Bountiful Baskets Food Co-Op. I hope you checked them out!

Since there were two bunches Swiss Chard and I had never had it before I looked up a recipe on Simply Recipes. com. I made something similar to THIS recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard
• 1 small clove garlic, sliced (I used 1 tbsp chopped)
  
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (I used enough to coat the pan)
• 2 Tbsp water
• Pinch of dried crushed red pepper (I used about 2 pinches)
• 1 teaspoon butter (I used 1 tbsp)
• Salt

First I cut off the hard ribbed part of the Swiss Chard (this is the very red part) it was about 1/4-1/3 of the whole piece. Then I chopped it into smaller pieces.

In a sautee pan I put enough canola oil in to lightly cover the bottom and heated it over a medium heat.

After it was warm I added about a tablespoon of chopped garlic and about 2 pinches crushed red pepper. I let this sautee for about 1 minute.
Then I added all of the Swiss Chard, covered it and cooked it for 5 minutes.
After it had cooked covered for 5 minutes, I flipped it over, added a few tablespoons of water, covered it and cooked it for 5 more minutes.

Then I dished it up and we had it with Hamburgers and Garlic Toast for dinner.
It was pretty good, it had a buttery spinach flavor to it. Not something I'd put on my top 3 list but it is definitely something I would eat again.

If anyone has another recipe, I have 1 more bunch to use up!

Have a great day and God Bless!