Gluten Free Fried Green Tomatoes

We had a ton of tomatoes grow in our garden during the late portion of the summer and they didnt get a chance to ripen, so I decided to try making fried green tomatoes. Ive never had them before, so I figured I'd try it!

Ingredients:
4 green tomatoes
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 eggs - beaten
Olive oil

Cut tomatoes horizontally into 1/2 inch slices.

Separate eggs, flour, and cornmeal into individual bowls. Place tomato slice into coconut flour first, then the egg, then the cornmeal. Heat skillet with olive oil until oil is hot. Place battered tomato sliced in oil and cook until both sides are a light golden brown. 

After tomatoes are done, place on a plate with a paper towl to soak up leftover oil, and serve! I used spicy mustard and Tabasco sauce as condiments, but Im sure you can get creative and use a couple different things. Enjoy!

Leftover Thanksgiving Mashed Potato Pancakes - Gluten/Sugar Free

Sorry its been a long while. I have been so busy! Anywho, heres a recipe for delicious leftover mashed potato pancakes.

Ingredients:
1.5 c mashed potatoes
1/4 c gluten free flour - I used potato starch flour, but Im sure any flour will do
2 tsp water
1 egg, beaten
1/3 onion, chopped
1/3 red bell pepper (but you can get creative with your vegetable choices)
Olive oil
Crushed black pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine mashed potatoes, flour, water, egg, onion, & pepper in bowl. Mix well until it looks like a mushy pancake mix. Oil skillet and turn flame on medium. Spoon desired amount into skillet. I like to make my pancakes smaller, so they get kinda crunchy on the ends. Cook until bottom side is slightly browned. Flip and repeat. Once pancakes are cooked, transfer onto a paper towl to let the excess oil drain out, and serve!
I put some leftover cranberry sauce on top of mine, but any delicious (but healthy) fruity or cheesy topping will do! Fresh applesauce is another personal favorite with potato pancakes. Enjoy!!

Lola's 'different' kinda hangover breakfast - SALAD

So I dont really know how, but I woke up this morning feeling pretty hungover. I only had a couple of glasses of wine so it didn't make sense...but whatever my body likes to play tricks on me. According to my interpretation of Chinese Medicine, alcohol is dry heat energetically - so I wanted to eat the opposite of this to feel better.
Instead of eating the "hangover cure" breakfast which usually consists of greasy eggs, bacon and potatoes, I made a salad! I know salad sounds so boring, but you know me - I cant just eat a regular salad...
So I made a spinach salad with fresh green beans, raw unpasteurized goat cheese, fresh radishes and cilantro with homemade lemon pepper dressing! Oh, and I also cooked up some organic turkey bacon and threw it on top.

I wanted to be sure to cool my body off (because I was hot, and had a wicked headache) while still nourishing my body with proteins, and veggies. Its super simple, ad it made me feel 10 times better than if I would have eaten some sort of grease bucket breakfast.
Ingredients:
Fresh organic baby spinach
2-3 slices of rinsed organic turkey bacon (I buy it from Trader Joes)
Fresh green beans, chopped in thirds
About 7 little cubes of raw organic goat cheese
Baby red/pink radishes
About a 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro
1/2 of a lemon, cut in 2
A pinch of black pepper

Rinse the veggies well, and chop up your beans and radishes. Throw your bacon in a skillet and cook on LOW for about 5-8 minutes, flipping once. Cut a slice of cheese about 1/3 an inch, and cube it up. Put your spinach in the bowl first, then the green beans, then the radishes, and then the cheese. Sprinkle your cilantro on top of it all. When your bacon is ready, you can either cut it up and mix it in, or place it on the side of your salad. Put in your black pepper, and squeeze your lemons all around the salad. Thats it! Its delicious, easy, and will cool off that hot head you've acquired after a night of partying!

Poached eggs without a Poacher! -Lola

Poaching eggs are one of the healthiest way to make them. Not to mention they are absolutely delicious! I never really would make poached eggs because I thought this whole time I needed a poacher, but I decided to give it a try without a poacher! Honestly, I dont even know what an egg poacher looks like. For all of you who also dont know -Here's a picture. So on to the egg poaching!
Ingredients:
*Eggs
*Apple Cider Vinegar
*Sea Salt
*A medium/large deep skillet w lid
*Little bowls/cups for eggs

Step one:

Get a medium to large skillet and fill it with 2-3 inches of water. Make sure your skillet has either a lid, or something else you can use for a lid. Bring the water to a boil. While you're waiting for the water to boil, crack your eggs into a little cup or bowl. I used a Chinese rice bowl for each egg.

Step two:

 Once the water is beginning to boil, add some sea salt and about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the boiling mixture. The Apple cider vinegar keeps the egg together, and is a healthy little additive as well. 

Step three:

Grab your egg cups and one at a time, lower the lip of the bowl into the water about and inch, and let the egg slide out into the water. Repeat with other eggs quickly!! Immediately cover the skillet and turn heat off completely. Set a timer, or watch your clock. I cook my eggs for 3 minutes so the inside is slightly firm but still gooey. You can change the time to 2 minutes or 4 minutes depending how cooked you like you yolk. 

Step four:

After your desired amount of poaching time, grab a spoon with slits or holes in it. Grab each egg one by one, let the water drip off the egg, and place it on your gluten free toast, english muffin, or bagel! I didn't use any type of bread, so I just ate it with bacon and steamed broccoli and spinach. 

Done and done!! Delicious, healthy poached eggs! 

Lola's Kale Chips *gluten/dairy/sugar free + vegan*

Kale chips are a delicious healthy snack that you can eat instead of your usual potato chips. I also have been snacking on these often since I cannot eat potatoes during my cleanse. I also don’t have a dehydrator, so I used my oven. They turned out almost exactly the same as ones I’ve eaten from a dehydrator.  

You will need:

A baking sheet

A bunch of Organic – locally grown kale

Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids or sea salt

Olive Oil

A pinch of cayenne pepper

A medium/large mixing bowl

Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees. Wash your kale and pull off sections of the kale. I usually was able to pull off about 4 to 5 sections off of each stem. Throw the kale leaves in the mixing bowl and discard the stems. Add about 2 table spoons of olive oil, throw in a squirt of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or sea salt, and a teeny tiny pinch of cayenne pepper.  Use your hands to mix everything together. Make sure that all the kale is pretty evenly saturated with the olive oil and seasoning mixture.

Grab your baking sheet, and spread the kale out. Some kale will be overlapping one another – that’s ok, it’ll shrink. Throw them in the oven at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, take your kale out and make sure none of the pieces are sticking to the baking sheet. You can also move them around a little bit. I noticed that the pieces on the outside edges cook quicker than the inside so sometimes I will switch some pieces around.  Throw the kale back in for about another 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the kale during this time, because everyone’s oven is a little different than the next.

Once your kale looks crispy, take it out – and enjoy! 

Lola's Veggie Congee

So there are a million congee recipes out there. I never really liked to stick to one particular recipe, so I decided to make up my own version!! Its delicious, easy and gluten/dairy/sugar free! Congee is great to eat in the winter. Its a rice porridge that originally came from China and is still served in homes and restaurants all over. Heres a random website i found about congee - what is congee?
Okay so on with my congee recipe! I like to not make it very specific because I like people to use their own creativity if they feel like.
You will need:
1 cup rice
2 cups veggie broth
6 cups (and maybe more) water or veggie broth
1-2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 large carrot
fresh ginger or 1-2 teaspoons ginger powder
black pepper - a few sprinkles
2-3 tbsp of Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Chopped green onions (enough to sprinkle on top of your congee)
whatever other veggies you desire - You dont have to add any other veggies to this if you dont want. I usually stick with just the carrots and onions/garlic. Sometimes Ill throw in some parsnips, kale, or spinach.

Wash rice, and put in a large pot with the 2 cups veggie broth. Let the stuff boil, then add 4 more cups of water and throw in a splash of Bragg's Liquid Aminos. Let that boil with a cover on, then reduce heat and simmer for a half hour. After a half hour, throw in your veggies, ginger, and sesame oil. Do not put the garlic in yet!! I like to keep the garlic as fresh as possible in my dishes, to keep the antibacterial properties from getting cooked out.
 Keep checking your congee to see if most of the water has evaporated out. If it has, throw in another cup of water, along with another splash of liquid aminos. I do this about 3-4 times throughout the cooking process. The rice soaks up the water and gets bigger and fluffier until it is thick enough to have the consistency of porridge! Brown rice also takes longer to cook than white rice, so expect the congee to take more than an hour or 2.
Okay so its been about 2 hours, and your congee should be almost ready. Throw in your chopped garlic, along with another squirt of liquid aminos, along with some black pepper. Let that cook for another hour or possibly a little less. Keep an eye on it. Cook until your congee has reached a desire consistancy - thick, yet smooth and creamy.
After congee is done, pour some into your favorite bowl, and sprinkle green onions on top, along with another sprinkle of black pepper and serve hot! Enjoy!