recipe

Cauliflower Garlic Bake

February 20, 2015 By Trudy Scott 27 Comments

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1 head of organic cauliflower
1 organic garlic head (yes it’s a lot of garlic but then I’m a bit of a garlic lover!)
3 T dried basil (or a handful of freshly chopped basil could also be used)
3 eggs, organic or pastured/free-range
2 T olive oil
1 T sea salt
1 T ground black pepper
½ cup grated organic mozzarella cheese (optional)

And another ½ to 1 cup grated organic mozzarella cheese for the topping (optional)

Butter to grease the casserole dishes (enough for 3 of them)

Chop the cauliflower finely (or place in a food processor) and steam until well cooked (about 15 minutes – longer than you’d typically steam it, so it’s quite soft). Once it’s soft, you may need to use a potato masher to get it really mushy and soft. Remove the garlic bulbs, peel and chop and add to the cooked cauliflower. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together: dried or fresh basil, eggs, olive oil, sea salt, ground black pepper and grated mozzarella cheese (if dairy is not an issue).

Grease 3 casserole dishes with butter and pour/spoon the mixture into them so it’s about 1 inch (or 2.5 cm) deep – this will make sure it sets nicely and has plenty of nice and crispy stuff at the bottom and sides. It’s purely optional to add some grated mozzarella cheese on top too.

Here you can see how deep the mixture should be to get the crispy stuff at the bottom and sides.

Place the 3 casserole dishes into an oven that has been heated to 350°F (175°C) and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until the mixture sets, the bottom/edges start to brown and the topping turns a nice golden color.

This makes a lot and the left-overs can easily be put in the fridge as is (covered of course) and heated up the next day in the same casserole dish at the same temperature (about 10-15 minutes seemed to work.

I love this recipe because you prepare once and get a super dish for at least 3 meals, plus there’s not a lot of washing of pots and casserole dishes to do.

This is a new recipe I created based on inspiration from another recipe I saw. I often do this – see something fun and yummy and tweak it to suit my needs and likes. Brad says it’s the best cauliflower he’s eaten and I must say that I feel the same way!

I hope you enjoy making it and enjoy eating it as much as we did!

Coconut-Lemon-Garlic Cauliflower recipe

November 21, 2014 By Trudy Scott 19 Comments

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Cauliflower is in the Brassicaceae family of vegetables together with broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage. It’s one of my favorite vegetables!

Enjoy this yummy recipe that I adapted slightly from a recipe from Nourishing Meals: Healthy Gluten-Free Recipes for the Whole Family.

by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre, MS, CN. I always seem to do this with recipes 🙂

1 medium head of cauliflower (i.e. a whole one)
1 cup of full-fat coconut milk
½ cup of chicken stock or water
1-2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice (the original recipe called for lime juice which I didn’t have so I used lemon juice and it resulted in a great taste)
6 large garlic cloves, crushed (the original recipe called for 2, I love garlic so added more!)
1 teaspoon powdered ginger spice (the original recipe called for 1-2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger – I didn’t have any on hand but will try it with this next time)
½ teaspoon sea salt
Garnishes: sliced green onions and chopped cilantro

Cut the cauliflower into small pieces and place in a food processor fitted with the “s’ blade. Pulse until it’s coarsely ground. If you don’t have a food processor, just chop it as finely as possible.

In in large pot, heat the coconut milk, chicken stock or water, freshly squeezed lemon juice, crushed garlic cloves, powdered ginger spice or grated fresh ginger and sea salt, over medium heat. Once the mixture is simmering add the cauliflower pieces.

Stir together and simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes or until the cauliflower is cooked to your liking. Garnish with sliced green onions and chopped cilantro. Serve hot.

Yields 4-6 servings.

Some of my favorite foods are coconut, garlic, lemon and ginger, and the combination of these ingredients with the cauliflower is just superb! It heats up nicely the next day and is actually delicious cold too so could serve as a “salad.”

I’m looking forward to trying other recipes in this book written by Tom and his wife Alissa. You may recall Tom’s interview from the Anxiety Summit: toxin exposures promote anxiety. We talked about the detox and health benefits, anti-cancer effects of sulforaphane in broccoli. And in my closing talk, I discussed broccoli sprouts and this study: Sulforaphane treatment of autism spectrum disorder. Well, cauliflower is a great source of sulforaphane too! So eat up and be sure to chew well.

Egg muffin recipe from Make It Paleo

October 17, 2014 By Trudy Scott 2 Comments

Low blood sugar can result in anxiety, mood swings, irritability and feeling easily overwhelmed, so it’s really important to get a good start to the day with good quality protein like eggs. And we’re seeing more and more research showing that eggs are ok, even the yolk!

Here is a deliciously simple and quick recipe from one of my new favorite recipe books called Make It Paleo: Over 200 Grain-Free Recipes for Any Occasion, shared here with permission from one of the authors, Hayley Mason.

If you’re on the go you will appreciate the simplicity of this recipe. These delicious little quiche-like muffins are easy to make ahead of time and grab at a moment’s notice. If you’re doing intermittent fasting, this delicious source of protein and veggies can be paired with a healthy fat like avocado and be eaten midday or later. When I travel I always make them ahead of time and take them with me for “padkos” (South African slang/Afrikaans for “food for the road”).

Egg Muffins

Ingredients:

½ tsp coconut oil
½ medium onion chopped
1 cup broccoli, chopped
¼ green pepper, chopped
¼ red pepper, chopped
8 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Prep time: 10 minutes; Cook time: 18-20 minutes
Makes 4 large muffins or 8 small ones

Process:

Preheat oven to 400 deg F
Grease muffin tin with coconut oil
Rinse and chop vegetables into ¼ inch pieces
Divide vegetables evenly between muffin tins
Whisk the eggs, then pour into the tins, dividing it evenly
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then stir the vegetable and egg mixture briefly to evenly disperse the vegetables throughout the egg
Bake the egg muffins in the oven for 18-20 minutes

Here are some pictures of my attempt at these while on my recent trip to South Africa. We were getting ready to head to the Natal midlands for an overnight trip to the cheetah breeding project and needed some healthy “padkos” (South African slang for “food for the road”) so my niece Tamara and I whipped up a few muffins just before we left for the trip.

Since raw onions were not a favorite in my sister’s family, I pre-cooked the onions in a little coconut oil. I think you could lightly steam the other veggies too if you don’t like them crunchy. It’s going to add to your prep time unless you use left-over veggies from the night before.

In our case, we didn’t have quite enough veggies so we ended up with two egg-only muffins! They were all delicious!

Muffin pan ready to go with an assortment of veggies: broccoli, peppers and pre-cooked onions

My niece Tamara helps to pour the beaten eggs into the muffin pan

egg muffin 3 — A quick peek shows the egg muffins rising nicely in the oven

Tamara sampling one of the egg-only muffins right out the oven

Make It Paleo is a wonderful recipe book with many simple and basic recipes as well as some pretty fancy ones too. One quick caution – I do think there are rather too many desserts and baked goods featured – so be warned and keep to recipes in the front! Enjoy!

Authors Hayley and her husband Bill Staley are the dynamic cooking duo behind Primal Palate. Their lifelong passion for food and cooking has led them to write an internationally recognized blog, three bestselling Paleo cookbooks, as well as create a widely popular app and website.

Vitaclay slow cooker beef stew recipe and why I love this slow cooker

January 23, 2013 By Trudy Scott 41 Comments

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I’ve been searching for a good slow cooker for some time. As well as convenience and of course taste, quality and safe materials are always a big factor when it comes to cooking materials. So when I came across the Vitaclay crockpot at the recent Weston A Price conference I was excited! And the more I read about this crockpot the more excited I got. Let me first share a yummy recipe and then I’ll share why I love this crock!

Vitaclay crockpot beef stew

Place 2 lbs (1 kg) of uncooked beef cubes into the bottom of the crock
Place 2 chopped onions and 4 cloves chopped garlic on top of this
Place 1 lb (1/2 kg) of chopped carrots and 4-6 chopped celery sticks on top of the onions/garlic
Don‘t stir but rather leave the veggies on top so they kind of steam and don’t get too mushy.

Mix the following and pour over everything: 4 cups water or beef stock, plus 2 T olive oil, 1T sea salt and 2 T paprika.

Place the lid on the crock, close the cover and hit SLOW COOKING. The default is STEW /2 hours. The clock will begin the countdown from 2 hours to 0. It will beep when the 2 hours is up and will switch to warming mode.

Cook for 2 hours – the meat will be super-tender and the veggies will be nicely cooked. You’ll start to smell the wonderful aroma of home-cooked stew after about an hour of cooking.

Why I love my Vitaclay slow cooker:

the ease of use and they look really great
the aroma and flavor of slow-cooked is awesome, plus those gorgeous home-cooked aromas get your digestive juices going
it is non-toxic and doesn’t contain Teflon or lead. I’m always looking for good products that I can share with my clients and wanted to be sure about this one. Of course I turned to Debra Lynn Dadd, author of Home Safe Home (one of my absolute favorite books) and found this very useful information about the best non-toxic slow cooker: “This is a nontoxic slow cooker”;“only one I know of that does not have a finish that could contain lead”; “made from zisha clay, which is a famous Chinese clay, known for its purity. It has been used for centuries to make teapots because of their ability to enhance the flavor, aroma and texture of tea. Zisha clay is also structurally strong without glazing and does not crack when subjected to large and sudden temperature differences.”
They are tested for purity after they are made. I did have some concerns about pollutants from China and found this comment by Dadd in the above blog: “The raw materials for zisha clay are buried deep underground, sometimes under heavy sedimentary rock formations. Processing of raw material involves removing the clay from the from it’s underground storage, drying it under the sun, and then pulverizing the dried clay pieces into fine particles. The clay powder is then passed through a screen to isolate clay particles of the finest grit size. The screened clay is mixed with water to a thick paste and vacuum processed to remove air bubbles and some of the moisture. The quality and quantity of water is critical in that it determines the quality of the stoneware products produced. After this processing, the clay is then ready to be formed into pots.

Because the clay is mined from underground, it would not be affected by air or water pollution in the region. However, the water it is mixed with could add pollutants to the finished product. Since the quality of the water affects the quality of the finished stoneware, it’s very likely that good quality water would be used.

I called Vita-Clay and was told that their pots are tested for toxics AFTER they are made, to ensure that no toxic substances are present that might leach into food.”

Since I am doing a review of this product I do have one negative comment: There is a definite new burning rubber smell the first time you use it. I did a quick google search and was told it’s typical. Fortunately the smell faded in about 10 minutes. I would have loved the supplier to have done something in the factory to prevent us having to smell this!

In the interests of full disclosure, the above Vitaclay link is my affiliate link but I only recommend products that I would use myself. I do hope you enjoy it as much as we are enjoying it!

Trudy Scott (CN), Certified Nutritionist is the founder of www.everywomanover29.com, a thriving nutrition practice with a focus on food, mood and women’s health. Trudy educates women about the amazing healing powers of food and nutrients and helps them find natural solutions for anxiety and other mood problems. Trudy’s goal for all her clients (and all women): “You can be your healthiest, look your best and feel on-top-of-the-world emotionally!”

Salmon Pate Recipe for Summer

May 29, 2012 By Trudy Scott 9 Comments

2 small cans of wild Alaskan pink salmon (totaling 12oz/340g)
1T gelatin
½ cup chicken stock, heated (home-made is best)
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 t lemon juice
4 small onions, finely chopped
½ cup fresh raw cream
Sea salt and pepper

Mix gelatin with hot chicken stock. In a blender, blend the following: gelatin/stock, undrained salmon, onions, mayonnaise, lemon juice and seasoning. Add cream and stir. Pour into lightly oiled fish molds (use one large or 3 small fish molds). Refrigerate and tip onto the serving plate just before eating. Serve with rice crackers, whole-grain wheat crackers (if tolerated) and fresh veggies like chopped carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and celery.

I’d like to give credit to Suzy for this wonderful recipe (which I have modified slightly). She is an old friend of mine and I’m so thrilled that we just reconnected on Facebook after being out of touch for 20 years! I was so impressed when she served it at a dinner party in Johannesburg, South Africa, a LONG time ago. In fact, everything Suzy served at dinner parties was amazing! Here’s to sitting down together at a dinner party in the near future!

May you enjoy this and other wonderful food with your friends and family!

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

March 12, 2012 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

Lentils are a good source of protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates, and they are packed with nutrients. They provide folic acid and tryptophan, and are also an important source of iron, especially for menstruating women, whose iron needs are greater. Eating lentils with foods rich in vitamin C, such as tomatoes, green peppers, broccoli and citrus fruits helps the body absorb iron more efficiently. The soluble fiber found in lentils is good for the digestive system, lowers cholesterol and decreases insulin requirements for people with diabetes. It will also help keep blood sugar levels stable if you are prone to low blood sugar (and low blood sugar can leave you feeling anxious and stressed with poor focus).

Lentils are also quick and easy to prepare since they don’t require soaking. They are also versatile and can be made into a soup or stew or loaf, and can even be sprouted.

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

1T butter or coconut oil	1 cup red lentils, rinsed
5 cups vegetable stock	2 sweet potatoes or yams
2 chopped onions	1 chopped green pepper
2 chopped garlic cloves	2 T apple cider vinegar
1 t ground coriander	1 t ground cumin
½ t chilli powder (optional)	1T chopped fresh ginger
Chopped cilantro	2 tomatoes or 1 can tomatoes

Heat the butter and sauté the garlic, ginger and onion. Add the spices (coriander, chilli, cumin). Stir in stock and lentils, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and bring to boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Blend in a food processor until smooth. Add vinegar and stir well. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve. Enjoy!