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!

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Pasta with Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce

Ingredients
2 Zuccini's Quartered and sliced
2 Yellow squash Quartered and Sliced
1/4 Onion, chopped
2 Boneless skinless Chicken breasts-cut into bite sized pieces
1 Bag Pasta
1/2 Stick Butter
3 Tbsp+ 2 Tbsp Canola Oil
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/2-3/4 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Cloves Garlic- Minced
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

MMMMMMmmmmmm this turned out wonderfully. It was just something I threw together after seeing The Pioneer Woman 's baked Lemon pasta dish. Mine isn't much like her's but I feel like I should say that seeing that inspired me to make my own.

Hubby absolutely loved this, he gave it the highest rating of anything so far. He couldn't stop commenting on how good it was. It makes a wife feel good for sure, I'm glad God paired the two of us together.

So first things first. Chop up your chicken into bite sized pieces. While you are doing that warm up a big skillet over medium high heat and put your 3 Tbsp canola oil in there.
Transfer your chicken pieces and salt and pepper generously. Cook for about 3-5 minutes each side or until cooked through and then remove and put in a bowl for later.

While your chicken is cooking cut up your zucc's and squash, I sliced and quartered them because I wanted them to be small-ish. I had some leftover onion chopped up from the other night so I used that too (but it was only about 1/4 cup).

Take your pan that is now over medium heat add your butter and 2 Tbsp canola oil. Once combined add everything you have chopped. Toss around so that it is coated and cook for 10 minutes or until they are tender.

Mince 2 cloves garlic and zest 1 lemon. Add this in at the end of the cooking of the zucchini and squash and cook together while you make the sauce.

In a pot combine sour cream, milk, parmesan cheese and the juice of one lemon. Add the chicken back in and cook over medium heat to warm.

Once it is warm combine the pan of veggies to the sauce.

Ladel over cooked pasta and enjoy! Yum!

Have a great Monday and God Bless!

Christina's Mexicali Dip

Ingredients
1/2 Jar Salsa- I used Medium Pace
1 Can Refried Beans (I used lime flavored)
3-5 Tbsp Sour Cream

Now don't let the picture fool you, I know it doesn't photograph that well but it tastes GREAT!

Heat your Refried beans in a pan until they are smooth, pour them in a bowl and add your other ingredients.

Stir to incorporate and enjoy!

So easy, very good AND pretty healthy yay!

Have a great night and God Bless!

Spicy Peanut Sauce

Ingredients
1 Cup Dry Roasted Peanuts
1/3 Cup Water
1 Clove Garlic Minced
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp Soy Sauce
2 tsp canola (or sesame) oil
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp Chili Powder
Juice of 1 lemon. (or a couple good squeezes of the stuff outta the bottle that is shaped like a lemon ;) )

Last weekend we had dinner with some friends of ours on a whim, she and I had made tofu wraps with peanut sauce one time for lunch. So we made Tofu stir fry and I told her I would make the peanut sauce.

This is easy and very good. You can adjust the Chili powder to your desired heat. This had a nice heat to it but it is very muted. I think to overcome the peanut taste you would have to add quite a bit of chili powder and then I don't think it would taste so good.

In your blender pour in your peanuts.

(see that beautiful red blender? Now, if I could only win one of The Pioneer Woman's giveaways then I could have a matching RED Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer *swoon*)

Add your water.

Add all your spices.

Blend. Alot.

Then add your oil while the blender is still going.

And Blend.....and blend.....is it smooth?

No? Keep blending.

(yes, I know, this is a crummy picture. It was after the fact. We were hungry, we ate)

Done? Good, now eat!

That was easy!

Have a great weekend and God Bless!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

I'll be the first one to tell you that I've never like homemade mac and cheese. I'd prefer the stuff in the blue box any day. Well until this day. This was great and was super easy. For the basic recipe I used this from the food network and then made my changes from there. It turned out great!

Truth be told I was a bit under the weather the day I planned to make this so my dear hubby told me I was not going to do the cooking (I've got a wonderful man I know!) So he was gracious enough to let me sit next to him in the kitchen and let him know the steps to making the mac and cheese!
He did great and it's nice to cook with him.

Ingredients
1 1/2 bags of pasta ( we used penne and tri colored noodles)
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Flour
2 Cups Milk
2 Cups + 1/2 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 cup Sour Cream

Serves: 8-10 as a side, 6 as a meal.

Preheat oven to 350*

Boil your pasta for about 10 minutes so it is cooked just slightly less than Al Dente since you are going to put it into the oven later. Then drain it and toss it with a few tablespoons of butter in the pan so that it doens't stick together. You will thank me later.

In a medium sauce pan, melt your butter over medium heat. When melted add your flour to make a roux (see picture below). Once it is golden brown add your 2 cups of milk. Cook on medium until it starts to become thick, this will take a while (6+ minutes) but you have to keep stirring so yummy stuff doesn't get stuck to the bottom of your pan. This will not make you happy if this happens.
Now you are going to add your seasonings while it is thickening. Add your pepper, onion powder, salt and garlic powder (you can add whatever you like, this was what we decided to add). And keep stirring.

Yup, keep stirring I said. This is my dear hubby, still stirring, and stirring. He's looking like he's having fun huh? He was ;)

Ok now you aren't done stirring yet. Once it is starting to get thicker you are going to add your 2 cups of cheese, 1/2 Cup of Sour Cream and your 1/3 Cup of Parmesan. It's ok to drool, we were about there at this point. I'm saying to him that I think I'll actually like this homemade mac and cheese, sweet.

(hubby wanted his hand in the picture with the finished cheese sauce)

Now you are going to spray the bottom of a 13 x 9 glass pan and dump your buttered pasta in there. Now pour that beautiful sauce on top and toss so that it is coated with cheese. Now stick it in the oven, but really 5-10 min is all you need. No more or you will start to have a dry, sticky mac and cheese and who likes that?
Pull it out when it's done and top with your last 1/2 cup of Sharp Cheddar and voila. You're done!
We took this to a pot luck dinner and got lots of great comments on it and even I the blue box loving mac and cheese lady liked it. It's definitely a keeper and so easy that we will definitely make again.

Hope you are having a great weekend and God Bless!

Homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce

Ingredients
2 Cloves Garlic- Minced
1/2 Onion- Chopped
1 Roma Tomato- Chopped
4 Tbsp Butter
4- 8 oz cans Tomato Sauce (2 no salt added, 2 regular)
2 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Pepper
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 Tbsp Salt

for Meat
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/2 T pepper

In a medium frying pan, sautee ground beef with salt and pepper until thoroughly cooked. Break into small pieces as it is browning. Reserve for sauce.

In a medium saucepot on medium heat start to melt butter. Add onions and cook, covered for 8-10 minutes or until they start to get soft. Add the garlic, lemon juice, tomatoes and all seasonings and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the garlic starts to smell sweet. Then add the tomato sauce and meat and simmer for 10 minutes. During this time taste test it, salt/pepper to your taste.

Add to cooked pasta and enjoy. (At some point I'd like to make homemade pasta, so hopefully in the future (maybe over spring break) I'll get to try it). Yum.

Have a great day and God Bless.