Moroccan Melts In Your Mouth Chicken

I have heard the term "melts in your mouth" before, I had never actually experienced it until I made this dish. The original recipe is from Bon Apetite (fancy right) I just adapted a few things to make it clean and viola, you have the most moist, flavorful and yes, melt in your mouth chicken ever! I would imagine that this recipe would be easy to make in the crock pot. My sister Nicole is always looking for quick easy crock pot meals being a busy mom of 2 crazy cute boys, I have been trying to work on her request of more crock pot recipes! If you try it in the crock pot, post a comment and let me know!

Moroccan Chicken

1 Medium to Large Chicken

2 TBSP Olive Oil

2 Lemons

3 Cinnamon Sticks

6 Shallots thinly sliced (you could substitute red onion)

6 Carrots peeled and chopped into 1 1/2 inch pieces

12 dates halved

1 C. Chicken Broth

1 1/2 tsp Ginger

1 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Turmeric

1/2 tsp Paprika

1/8 tsp Cayenne

Salt and Pepper

1/2 C Cilantro

1/2 C. Sliced Almonds Toasted

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. In a dutch oven heat 1 Tbsp of the oil over medium-high heat. Put the chicken in breast up and cook for about 5 minutes to brown the skin. Flip it over and cook for 5 minutes on the breast side. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over the chicken and put the rind into the cavity. Scatter the veggies and dates around the chicken, squeeze the other lemon on top and slice into a few pieces. Scatter the pieces of lemon in with the veggies. Pour over the other Tbsp of Olive oil. Mix all the spices together and sprinkle over the chicken and veggies. Nestle the cinnamon sticks among the veggies cover the dutch oven and cook for 1 hour. Raise the temperature to 425 remove the lid and cook for 45-1 hr more, or until the internal temperature reads 180 degrees. There will be the most amazing sauce on the bottom, this is the part that melts in your mouth, take the chicken out and slice it into pieces, serve the veggies on the side and spoon the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with cilantro and a few toasted almonds.

aren't the veggies so pretty?

Here is the look you are going for when browning the chicken

Wait until you smell all the spices! Your house will smell amazing!

I forgot to take a picture with the almonds and cilantro, it is a very pretty dish and worth making for dinner company.

This recipe is a little more work than most of the recipes that I make, but it is well worth the work!

Red, White and Blueberry Muffins

Here is the perfect recipe for the 4Th of July, and patriotic to boot!

Red, White and Blueberry Muffins

1/2 C Coconut Flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 Eggs

1/3 C. Honey

1/3 C. Coconut Oil *revision*

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 C. each Raspberries or strawberries and Blueberries

Mix all ingredients excluding the berries. Mix well, it will seem like a very thick batter. Add the berries last and mix carefully so you don't mash up the berries.

Put the batter into cupcake liners 2/3's of the way full. Bake at 375 degrees for 24 minutes.

A Gluten Free Kids Snack

I know that as an adult it is hard to give up tasty little treats when I went Primal, I would imagine as a child it would be even harder. After all, they are tempted with junk food at school and at friends houses and they lack the will power of knowing the effects that gluten/sugar can have on our bodies. I was trying to think of a Paleo treat to make for my niece when I was babysitting, it has been so nice these last few days I wanted something like a Popsicle... Here's what I came up with last minute with the ingredients I had on hand. Banana Pops.

This is also the perfect little project for the kiddo's to help with! Make it a fun time in the kitchen and teach them the importance of eating healthy while your cooking. They will thank you for it some day!

Frozen Banana Pops

desired amount of bananas, peeled and cut in half

1 Recipe Fully Paleo Chocolate the recipe can be found here:

http://cflcfood.blogspot.com/2010/08/fully-paleo-chocolate.html

Popsicle sticks or sticks of some kind

Toppings, I used coconut and chopped walnuts

After you have peeled and cut the bananas, put a stick into the bottom of each one

I didn't have enough chocolate to dip the bananas so I just used the back of a spoon and smeared the chocolate all over the banana


Roll in your favorite topping and freeze for an hour

Fathers Day Blueberry Pancakes

Maybe you want to make dad breakfast in bed to celebrate Fathers Day, if that's your plan then definitely include these on the menu. They have a really nice consistency, they are very similar to traditional pancakes.

Blueberry Pancakes

1/4 C. Coconut Flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

A Pinch of Salt

1/2 C. Coconut Milk

2 Eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 C. Blueberries (or any other berry your heart desires)

100% Maple Syrup for serving

Mix all the ingredients excluding the blueberries together in a bowl until smooth.

Heat up a griddle and use some non-stick spray, wait until the pan is nice and hot to ensure your pancakes stay together. Sprinkle a few blueberries on each pancake.

Flip

Serve

A New Business Coming To Town

I am very excited about this new business that will be coming to our area soon! It is based out of Blanchard, Idaho (supporting locals is so cool) and it will be run by a woman named Melissa and her husband Seth.

The company is called Fresh Steps. It is an organic produce and healthy food delivery service. They feature as much local produce and products as possible. The products are the best of the best because they offer what is in season. They also offer coffee, nuts, local honey and farm fresh eggs; they want to eventually offer quality meats, which pretty much makes this a one stop shop! The prices haven't been set yet, but I'm told by the owner that they will be comparable to or less than the prices at the local grocery stores! They figure out local delivery spots and will have a pick-up on certain days. They will offer a 10% discount if you are part of a group of 10 people or more who order boxes.

Basically, they make up boxes according to what you want, the boxes weight an average of about 15 lbs, and the best part is that it will be different stuff every time you order! Oh think of the variety and inspiration! I CANT wait for my first box! They will have a list of likes and dislikes so you wont be getting things that you wouldn't use. Like no mushrooms or potatoes for my boxes!!!

They will also sell boxes at local farmers markets, I will keep you up to date on when and where as I hear about it. If anyone is interested in more info or wants to try a box, leave me a comment and maybe we can get on with a group to get that 10% off!

Candied Walnuts

Disclosure: These nuts are addictive!

k having said that, I made these as a topping for the strawberry spinach salad,you can find the recipe here: http://cflcfood.blogspot.com/2010/07/strawberry-spinach-salad.html. I used them instead of the toasted pecans. I must say it was very good! You could make this recipe with any kind of nut, and use them as a topping or just for a little treat! Go ahead, you deserve it!

2 C. Nuts

2 Tbsp Coconut oil

1 tsp Sea salt

1 tsp Vanilla

2 tsp Cinnamon

Toss to coat, bake on a cookie sheet at 350 for 5-8 minutes

Genetically Modified Cows

This is a featured story on the news this morning. Cows are being genetically modified to produce milk that is similar to human milk. Ok, I don't eat dairy and boy am I glad that I don't! Basically what they are doing is cloning Holstein dairy cows and adding a little bit of human DNA to surrogate cows and then implanting genetically modified embryo's into the surrogates. Thus producing a cow that will have 20% more milk fat and their milk will include some of the milk proteins that occur NATURALLY in humans.

I hope that I never see the day that mothers are encouraged to use milk from a pseudo human-cow to feed their babies. God gave us our own milk makers, lets use them whenever possible!

I also have to wonder, if they are doing this testing, who is drinking the final product? What is their outcome going to be? And most importantly, what are we eating and drinking that has been tampered with that we don't even know about? All for the sake of science and people trying to change the perfect creations that God has made.

Why do we drink cows milk anyway? Human milk is for baby humans, cat milk is for kittens, shouldn't cows milk be for baby cows?

SCARY!

Read the entire story here: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/03/scientists-genetically-modify-cows-produce-human-milk/

Making The Perfect Bacon

I don't know anyone who doesn't like bacon. Whats not to like? Its crispy, salty, fatty, yummy and piggy all at the same time. I do not however like the mess that it leaves all over my black appliances (black shows everything, it looks, nice but not worth it!). The solution, bake it! It is so easy and you can pop it in the oven and leave it to do its thing. Another perk, line the pan with foil for an easy clean up.

1 Package nitrate and nitrite free bacon

Line the pan with foil or parchment, put the bacon on the pan, put in the oven and set for 400 degrees. Make sure you start in a cold oven! Bake for 17-20 minutes depending on your oven and the desired crispness.

Simple Spinach Salad

Nothing too fancy here, I needed a salad for a last minute lunch guest and pulled this one together in a hurry. The nice thing is that you only need to dirty one dish to make this, so clean up is a breeze!

Spinach Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

1/2 a red onion sliced into rings

6 C. Spinach

1 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar

1/2 tsp. Dijon Mustard

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/8 tsp. Pepper

2 Cloves Garlic pressed

Make the dressing right in the bottom of the bowl, mix well. Add the spinach and red onion. Your done!

Make Your Own (You'll be glad you did!)

At times in the past I have used pre-packaged taco seasoning in my cooking, I am vowing here and now to N-E-V-E-R never do that again. I will not be lazy and take the extra two minutes to make a healthy choice for me and my family! Ok, I'll admit that was a little dramatic, but check out the ingredients for a typical pre-packaged taco seasoning:

Say what? Do you really want to be eating all that junk? My rule of thumb is that if you can't say it, don't eat it! Plus did you see that it has MSG? Millions of people suffer from allergic reactions to MSG and aren't even aware of what causes their symptoms.

Now take a look at the ingredients below. Wholesome, healthy, I can say all the names and it is actually more cost effective to make your own. Plus, as a bonus the taste doesn't even compare. How long do the pre-packaged ones stay on the shelf anyway? Winning!

I Can Read The Words Taco Seasoning

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Onion Powder

1tsp Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Red Pepper (or crushed pepper flakes)

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Cumin

This Just In

Breaking news! The government now has changed the food pyramid AGAIN... It started out like this:

Then it went to this:

Now it looks like this:

This is what my plate looks like:

(and there is nothing the government can do about it nener nener)