Fighting Flare

12 Scary Good Halloween Lunches (Paleo & SCD)

Yah yah yah... I know Halloween is SO last week, but you didn't think I'd let it pass without sharing some spooky lunch ideas, did ya?   I actually intended to post this last week, but you know how life goes...I'll fill you in on all the drama in the next post.  If you follow me on Instagram, you already know I was busy crafting Halloween lunches for the two weeks leading up to Halloween, but for those of you who don't, I'm recaping my favorites in this post.

As you can see from the photos, I had a lot of fun making lunches for Halloween. I tried to plan ahead and mostly focused on the colors of the food and my trusty silicone muffin cups to keep things looking Halloween-y.  I also have a small stash of 1" cookie cutters that make quick work of slicing foods into pumpkins, bats & cats. 

You'll notice some little toys and props in some of the lunches...I collect stuff like that as I find it and hoarde it in a rarely used stock pot in the back of my kitchen cabinet...then I raid my stash when I want to add a little treat.  

You'll also notice that I was a wee bit obsessed with eyeballs this year.  Somewhere along the way I saw some cute bento picks with goofy little eyes, but they were like $6 plus $8 shipping...not gonna happen.  I made my own with plastic cocktail pics, google eyes and my hot glue gun.  Easy Peasy.

So let's look at the lunches!  This was a monster inspired lunch...the colors were inspired by the little finger puppet.  I got the idea for the apple monster mouths and the ham tongue from the geniuses on Pinterest.

This lunch is all about the eyes and vibrant Halloween colors.  We were testing mozzarella during this time, which is not SCD-legal, but made excellent eyeballs.  The eyes were inspired by this post, which uses straws to cut the little circles. I didn't have any straws on hand, so I used the end of a tiny funnel to punch a little circle in the cheese and then cut matching black circles out of black olives.  After that, it was easy to pop out a circle of cheese and replace it with the black olive.  You can easily do this with any SCD legal cheese, or other ingredients for that matter.  Colorful produce made it all really pop. (Side note: The mozzarella test was not successful...caused stomach pains and lethargy.)

This was my attempt at a "starry night at the pumpkin patch" scene.  It features a variety of foods in traditional Halloween colors of black, orange, green and yellow.  The star fruit is naturally shaped like a star, so that was fun to play with.  We also started testing rice crackers along with the mozzarella cheese, so that is what is shown under the bat cheese.  Rice crackers are not SCD-legal, but my daughter tolerates rice well and hasn't had any trouble with them. 

Here is another monster puppet inspired lunch.  I made the eyeball skewers with 3" plastic cocktail picks and giant googley eyes.  On the eyeball skewers, I speared little waffle sammie bites which are basically a ham and cheese sandwich made on waffles and then cut into little squares.  Yummy!

This is the lunch I made for Mummy Day at school.  (You can read my sob story about Mummy day and get the recipe for the Grain-Free Mummy Cookie you see in this lunch here.)  The yellow mummy-ish things in the top left are carrots with a little melted cheese...I got the idea off Pinterest (shocker!) but they were stupid.  They were fiddly to make and my daughter didn't eat them, so don't waste your time on those.  The mummy apple was another Pinterest idea, but the mummy brie bite was all mine...LOL.

More eyeballs!  And a Frankenstein rubber duck...that glows in the dark and swims in applesauce!  I made the egg eyes using the same technique as the cheese eyes and then sprinkled a little paprika around to make them look bloodshot.  The green stuff in the top left is mashed avocado with a bit of lemon juice and a sprinkle of salt. 

Sorry for the poor quality of this photo...not sure what happened.  This lunch is all about traditional Halloween icons with a brie ghost, provolone bats and cheddar pumpkins.  The eyes & mouth on the brie are black olives and the pumpkin leaves are basil, which for some reason my daughter loves to eat.

Back at it with the eye balls in this one...these are the tiny eye ball picks I made...only about an inch long. The skeleton hand was part of a pack of 4 hair clips that I got out of the dollar bin at the drug store.  I popped the clips off, gave them a good wash and voila!  I love hands coming out of the food!!

This lunch was my ode to vampires.  I used 3" eye ball pics that I made with pink eyes...whoooo ooooo.  I borrowed my color scheme from the little vampire duck...primarily black, white, red and pink with a smidge of green. The pomegranate seeds are supposed to be drops of blood.  ;)

This lunch is all about the creepy crawlies...spider rings with the rings snipped off and a plastic cockroach up the creep factor of an otherwise pretty normal looking lunch.

Here is where I totally started to lose steam...running out of ideas!  I had intended for this skeleton lunch to be much more black and white, but I didn't plan ahead and didn't really have enough to fill it, soooo...it became a hodge podge, with a skeleton finger puppet and some bone-shaped food thrown in for good measure...LOL.  The little treat in the cupcake liner is a peppermint-patty-ish treat that I made to have for post-trick-or-treating...these turned out AWESOME.  Will definitely be sharing this recipe soon because it will be perfect for the holidays too.

And, last, but not least, a zombie lunch on Halloween day to go with my little one's zombie Katy Perry Halloween costume...LOL.  The zombie finger puppet inspired the colors of black, green, pink and red. I saved up all the gross looking food I could including the moldy-looking sage derby cheese with green veins running through it, some guac and spinach feta chicken sausage.  You'll recognize the skeleton hand from a few lunches back.

That's all folks! I hope you enjoyed this post and found some ideas you can use to jazz up your lunches.  As you can see, it's really pretty fun to play with your food!  I won't lie though, I'm happy to be moving on from Halloween.   Time to come up with some fun ideas for turkey day.  ;)

If you want more information about my lunches and the lunchbox I use, check out my Planetbox Lunchbox Review and my tips for How To Pack SCD Lunches Kids Can't Resist.

Thanks for stopping by!  XOXO, Cindi

 

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3-Ingredient Breakfast Sausage

If there's one thing I can't keep stocked at our house, it's this homemade breakfast sausage. If you've never made your own breakfast sausage, you're in for a big treat.  It is ridiculously easy to make AND it tastes great.  You'll wonder why it took you this long to learn how to make it.

My secret to success is to bake sausage patties in the oven instead of frying them.  I've tried several methods and have decided that baking is, by far, the fastest and easiest method...not to mention a bit healthier than frying. 

I usually make double batches of itty bitty bite-sized sausage patties to freeze for school day mornings.  They are super easy to heat in the toaster oven and my family loves them.  You could also cook up this recipe in a frying pan as a bulk sausage for use in breakfast casseroles, omelets, etc.

So, you ready for this?? 

 

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. ground pork (or pork/turkey blend)

2 T. fresh sage, chopped

2 T. salt

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix your ingredients in a bowl.  (I use my hands to get it really well mixed.)

2. Make your patties and place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.  (You can make them however large you like, but I use a tablespoon to make little ones.)

Makes 36 1.5" patties

OPTIONAL:

If you like your sausage in fun shapes, let your child help make them...hearts, butterflies and smiley faces, oh my!

NOTES:

• I've decided I like these better with all pork, but if you want to use ground turkey, I suggest using dark meat because it does not dry out as much.  And if you're watching your pennies, pork is way cheaper than ground turkey.

• If you don't have fresh sage, you can substitute 2 teaspoons of dried.  (Dried herbs are more potent than fresh, so you don't need as much.)

• If you like your sausage a bit sweet, add 1 T. of honey and turn the temperature down to 375...honey burns quickly.

• If you like your sausage hot, add some red pepper flakes.

• When your sausage has cooled, pop these babies in a ziploc and toss them in the freezer...on busy mornings, all you need to do is heat a couple in the toaster oven.   I like to serve them with my Easy Peasy Custom Coconut Breakfast Cookies, fresh fruit, cheese, or scrambled eggs.

That's all there is to it.  Couldn't be easier.  I hope you enjoy the recipe and many happy breakfasts to come!  XOXO, Cindi

Making SCD Yogurt in Your Crockpot

As promised, I'm finally going to talk about making SCD yogurt in a crockpot.  In Breaking The Vicious Cycle, Elaine Gottschall talks about the benefits of properly prepared yogurt and it's effectiveness in helping to balance out the microbes in the gut.  The process of making yogurt is very simple and when done properly, will remove nearly all of the lactose present in milk, making it safe for people who are on the SCD to consume.  When and how to introduce yogurt depends on the individual and for that I will refer you to your health care provider.

In the book, Elaine provides detailed directions for how to make yogurt, however, she uses a stovetop method, which I find troublesome because I get too distracted in the kitchen and find it physically impossible to heat milk without scorching it.  And therein lies the beauty of crockpot yogurt making...it's really hard to mess it up.  You pour the milk into the crockpot, turn it on, set a timer and go about your life for the next few hours without having to stand and stir or worry that if you blink you'll ruin your yogurt.  It does take longer to complete the entire process, however, the amount of hands-on cooking time (if you can even call it that) is onlyy 5-10 minutes tops. 

I started making homemade yogurt a few years ago, long before I had ever heard of Ulcerative Colitis or SCD.  It's easy, cost effective and tastes better than store bought.  If you do a search on Pinterest, you'll find lots of blog posts about how to make yogurt in a crockpot, but my favorite is from The Girls' Guide to Guns and Butter which details very clearly how to make yogurt in a crockpot.  Blog author, Sofya, also has an excellent post about the science of yogurt and how to troubleshoot problems. (The whole blog is actually really well written and has a lot of information about country life, homesteading, hunting and guns...if you're into that kind of thing...LOL)

There isn't much I can add to her excellent posts, but I will reiterate a few key points and will share a few time saving tips I've discovered.  

• Full-Fat vs. Non-Fat Milk: Prior to starting the SCD, I always made my yogurt with non-fat milk, but now I always use full-fat.  I think it's really important to get those extra fats and calories into my little one, so I never skimp on fat. 

• No Bifidus: Make sure your yogurt starter does not contain the bifidus bacteria.  I have only been able to find one brand of commercially made yogurt that is appropriate for making SCD yogurt and that is plain, unsweetened Smari, a wonderful Icelandic-style yogurt carried by Whole Foods.  Beware of added pectin in some yogurts.  Greek Gods makes a plain yogurt that does not have bifidus, but does contain pectin, which is an illegal ingredient.   (If you use a different yogurt, please leave a comment to let us know what kind you use.)  You can also use Yogourmet freeze-dried yogurt starter which is usually found in the dairy section of grocery stores or you can find it on Amazon.  

• Confession: I had been making SCD yogurt for months before I realized that I wasn't supposed to be using anything with bifidus. (Oops!)  During that time, I used a number of different plain, organic yogurts as my starter and my daughter never had a problem.  I tell you this, not to lead you astray, but to remind you that this diet is different for everyone.  Do what works for you.

• Calibrate Your Equipment: Every crockpot is different, so when you make yogurt for the first time, watch your clock and your thermometer carefully to figure out how long it will take to heat up and cool down milk in your crockpot. I have learned that it takes exactly two hours for milk that is fresh out of the fridge to come to 185 degrees on the high setting in my crockpot and about three hours to cool down with the lid on. Once you do this, it becomes very easy to time your yogurt in the future.  If you have a thermometer with an alarm on it, so much the better...just set it and then walk away until it beeps.

• Time Saver: Pour your heated milk into a pan to cool.  Because the crockpot is so well insulated, it can take 3+ hours for the milk to cool down enough to add your culture. This is fine if you don't have anywhere else to be or aren't trying to finish up so you can get to bed. But, if you got a late start or have errands to run, speeding up the cooling process can be helpful.  You can also put the milk in the fridge for a little while.

•  Important! Be sure to let your yogurt ferment at 100-110 degrees for a full 24 hours.

• Flavoring: Let your yogurt do it's fermentation thing before adding any sweeteners or flavorings. 

So that's all there is to it!  Once you've made a batch of fresh yogurt, you can use it in a million ways. I find that it keeps for at least two weeks in the fridge.  I make smoothies for my daughter almost every morning with frozen fruit, yogurt and a little SCD-legal juice.  It also works well in savory applications and makes a great sub for sour cream or mayo in many recipes.  You can strain it and get something closer to a Greek yogurt or go even further and get a yogurt cheese.  Yogurt can be flavored with fruit, herbs, mustard, spices...you name it.  Just remember that in order to gain the probiotic benefits, it has to be eaten in it's "raw" state...meaning if you mix it into a casserole and cook it or freeze it into a popsicle, you'll kill all that good bacteria.  It'll still tastes great and is a good source of protein and calcium, but you want to get that probiotic benefit too.

I hope this was helpful and makes your SCD cooking a little easier.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  If you want to stay in touch, you can find me at the following links: 

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Jamabalaya-yaya!

Some families have a Sunday Night Supper tradition, where friends and family gather to feast and relax.  My family does Friday Happy Hour.  Every Friday, and I do mean every Friday, we take turns hosting or being guests of another family on our block.  Sometimes it's just cocktails, sometimes we invite the whole block, but most of the time it turns into dinner for two families.  Back when we started, dinner was usually take-out, but that got expensive, so we started potlucking it.  My girlfriend and I would often pow-wow over text or a phone call on Friday morning to see what was left in our fridges that we could contribute to the meal.  Since starting the SCD, this tradition has continued without a hitch...we've just adjusted our recipes accordingly.   More often than not, one of us will just plan a main course and the other will kick in a side or dessert.  We still take turns hosting.

Over the years, this has become a treasured ritual that I look forward to all week.  Gathering with friends to kick off the weekend and share a delicious meal is a fabulous way to unwind after a long week and definitely sets the tone for the rest of the weekend.  I think it's important to share this with you on my blog because I want you to see that you can still have a robust social life while on the SCD. (Assuming you are up for company.)  I won't lie, eating out at restaurants is hard to do on the SCD.  It's not even that much fun anymore, but gathering in the comfort of your own home with good friends and good safe food is easy and satisfying to do. 

This week, I had a wicked craving for Jambalaya, so I hounded my girlfriend (who is from Louisiana) for a good recipe.  I also picked my mom's brain for hers. (My parents have had a house in the French Quarter for over 20 years, so I knew she had a good one.)  Between the two, I came up with my own SCD-version that I absolutely LOVE.  The ingredients are simple and preparation is basically, just a bunch of chopping and then throw it all in a pot. Easy. And the best part?  The recipe can be made with white rice or cauliflower rice.  I've made it both ways and both are delicious.  Look for my notes at the end about how to use the cauliflower rice.

INGREDIENTS

2 T. butter (or ghee or coconut oil if you prefer)

4 T. olive oil

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

12-16 oz. smoked keilbasa, chopped (optional if on SCD)

2 onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1-2 bell peppers, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 c. white rice

32 oz. chicken stock (or water)

16 oz. crushed tomatoes (or SCD-legal tomato juice)

1 t. salt

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

24 shrimp, peeled

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Melt butter and oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. 

2. Add chicken and sausage...cook, stirring, until browned.

3. Add all veggies and cook, stirring often, until softened...about 3-5 minutes.

4. Stir in rice and cook 2-3 minutes.

5. Add seasoning, stock and tomatoes.  Bring to boil, then simmer for 25 minutes.

6. Add shrimp just before serving.  Turn off heat, cover pot and let shrimp cook 1-2 minutes.

 

NOTES:

• I make my own chicken stock and canned tomatoes, but water will work if you don't have stock.  You can also substitute SCD-legal tomato juice instead of canned tomatoes or buy fresh tomatoes and just chop/crush them yourself.  If you can't stomach tomatoes, just leave them out, but increase your water or stock accordingly.
• I use Applegate Smoked Pork Keilbasa...the only questionable ingredient is celery powder.  We have been using Applegate sausages since starting the SCD 6 months ago and have not had any problems.  That being said, just leave it out if you don't want to risk it.
• To make cauliflower rice, rough chop 1 large or 2 small heads of cauliflower and pulse them in a food processor until they resemble grains of rice.  Do this in small batches so that all of the cauliflower is uniformly chopped...if you over fill the machine, the top pieces won't get chopped.

• If using cauliflower instead of white rice, reduce the amount of chicken stock by half.
• If you want to make both versions at once, just follow the recipe up until the point where you add the rice, then scoop half into another pot and follow the directions to complete each version, reducing the quantity of rice by half for each recipe.
• I like to serve the cauliflower version with a pat of butter on top to give a little added richness.

That's all there is to it.  I promise, this dish is a winner, so give it a try and see what you think.  Next weekend, I'll be pulling out all the stops to celebrate Mardi Gras with all the fixins'....including my first attempt at a grain-free, sugar-free King Cake, so I hope you'll check back for the results. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Keep in touch at any of the links below.  XOXO, Cindi

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Coconut Lemon Meltaways

Sometimes you get lucky and stumble on a great recipe that works well and tastes great.  These Coconut Lemon Meltaways are one of those recipes.  I found them on Pinterest a while back and made them for my daughter when we first started the SCD.  She loved them!  Recently, she asked me to make them again, so I whipped up a batch and thought I'd share the recipe with all of you. 

The recipe comes from a blog called Addicted To Veggies.  It's primarily a raw foods blog, so if you are into that kind of thing, definitely check out the rest of the site.  Otherwise, you can find the link to the cookies here: COCONUT LEMON MELTAWAYS

They are grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, vegan & paleo-friendly.  They are not, however, taste-free...LOL!  The only variation I make is to add an extra 2 T. of butter to the wet ingredients...I just melt it with the coconut oil and stir it in at the same time...makes them just a bit "meltier".  I also prefer to bake them, rather than eat them raw, so I follow the directions for dehydrating them a little.  They really do sort of melt away in your mouth.  Enjoy!

If you're looking for more great SCD-legal desserts, be sure to check out my Pinterest board, SCD Sweets. I write up mini-reviews in the comments as I make the recipes, so you can see what works and what doesn't.  I also share pics of the things I'm making on Instagram @FightingFlare, so you can always leave a comment if you want more info. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Baking!  xoxo, Cindi

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Cinnamon Cookies

With Valentine's Day rapidly approaching, I'm feeling like I better take a break from Super Bowl snacks and get some SCD-legal sweets up on this blog, so today we're going to talk cinnamon cookies.  Sweets are a little tricky for a holiday like Valentine's Day where everything revolves around chocolate and candy hearts because, unfortunately, chocolate is not SCD-legal and neither are candy hearts.  That being said, there are still some amazing SCD-legal sweets to be had and these cookies fit the bill.  They are delicious.  They are the ones I made for the Super Bowl and everyone devoured them. 

I like these cookies because they taste great and the recipe always works.  I wish I could say I was the genius behind this wonderful recipe, but alas, I'm just a follower.  You can find the recipe, and lots of other great SCD-friendly recipes on Comfy Belly at this link here: COMFY BELLY CINNAMON COOKIES

For the Super Bowl party, I wanted to make a big batch, so I used my melon baller to scoop dough for lots of teeny tiny cookies.  I used a fork to press a cross-hatch pattern into half of them and decided to try a "thumbprint" cookie with the other half.  I used the back of my melon baller to make the "thumbprints" and then filled them with homemade blueberry jam.  So good!  For Valentine's Day, you could make the thumbprints with strawberry or raspberry jam to bring in some red.

At Christmas time, I rolled the dough into a log and kept it in the freezer so I could make slice-and-bake cookies on demand...'cause sometimes you need a cookie on demand.  This worked extremely well.  All you do is roll the dough into a log, wrap it in parchment and then seal it with plastic wrap.   When you're ready to use it, just cut slices and bake. (You may need to thaw the dough a little to make cutting easier.)

The recipe calls for blanched almond flour, so for best results I use Honeyville almond flour.  It makes a nice chewy cookie.  I've also made these with Bob's Red Mill almond flour which is much easier to find, but it makes a more chunky cookie with an oatmeal cookie texutre.  Both are delicious.  I keep meaning to try them with the cheap Trader Joe's almond meal to see what happens...I bet they will still work.  I'll keep you posted.

The only other change I make from the original recipe is in the baking process.  The recipe says to bake the cookies at 275 degrees and then flip them and continue baking at 175 degrees.  I haven't found this to be necessary and just bake them at 275 without flipping.  I do sometimes leave them in the oven after I've turned it off to crisp them up a bit more, but they are awesome no matter what I do.  Can't seem to mess them up. I love recipes like that.

So, there you have it.  The best SCD-legal cookies I've come across so far.  My daughter and all of her friends love them, so I can't ask for more than that.  :)

I hope you'll give them a try and let me know what you think.  Do you have a favorite SCD cookie that you'd like to share?  Feel free to leave links or recipes in the comments!   XOXO, Cindi

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Spinach Artichoke Dip with Mushrooms, Onions and Roasted Red Peppers

Whew!  What a week...still recovering from Super Bowl mania.  As promised in my Deceptively Decadent Super Bowl Snack round-up last week, I'm sharing recipes for all of the delicious SCD-legal Super Bowl snacks that I made for the big day.  Better late than never, right?  You can enjoy these year-round, so don't wait for the next Super Bowl to dig in.

I'm starting off with my favorite recipe of the bunch...my version of Spinach Artichoke Dip.  This has to be my favorite hot dip of all time. I love how it turned out.  I was inspired by a spinach dip recipe I found on I Wash...You Dry, which unlike many dips, did not have cream cheese as a base. 

Among my many tweaks, I used fresh swiss chard instead of frozen spinach....cause that's what I had in my fridge.  I also used a bag of frozen artichoke hearts instead of canned...per SCD rules.  I wanted more veggies in this dip, so I added a chopped onion, chopped mushrooms and chopped roasted red peppers.  For the cheese, I kept the parm, but swapped in provolone for mozzarella and used fresh garlic instead of garlic powder.  The results were hot, cheese-y and supremely gratifying.  I served it with pork rinds, but it was equally delicious with raw veggies to dip in.

And it was really easy to make!  I started off by sauteeing mushrooms and onion in butter and olive oil over medium heat until soft.  Don't like mushrooms?  Just leave them out.  It's your dip.

Then I added garlic and stirred it in until I could just smell the garlic.  (Never let garlic burn or it will turn bitter.)  On top of that, I piled on the greens and cooked just until they wilted.

Finally, I piled on the artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers, mixed it all together and took it off the heat to cool.  Doesn't that look yummy already??

While my veggies were cooling down, I stacked, sliced and finely chopped some provolone slices into "shreds." (Again, cause that's what I had in my fridge and I was making it work.)

 Finally, I mixed in the cheese and mayo and poured it all into a glass baking dish.  I sprinkled some extra cheese on top and popped it in the oven.

About twenty minutes later, I had this...

And this is what it looks like on a pork rind, heading towards your mouth...

Now if you aren't already hungry enough, I will tell you that this stuff was amazing slathered on top of broiled salmon and makes a great pilaf if you mix it with rice or "riced" cauliflower...just sayin'...not that I ate a ton of it or anything.  Now go make some yourself and let me know what you think!  Next up, I'll share my mini "corn-dog" recipe, so check back again soon!  XOXO, Cindi

 

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. butter

2 T. olive oil

1 onion, diced

12 mushrooms, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch fresh greens (spinach, shard, kale), washed, de-stemmed and finely chopped

1 bag (12 oz.) frozen artichoke hearts, finely chopped

1 roasted red pepper, diced.

1 c. mayo

1 c. Parmesan cheese, grated

1 1/2 c. provolone cheese, shredded

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Sautee onions in olive oil and butter until just sweating.  Stir in mushrooms and cook until soft.

2. Add garlic, stir just until you smell the garlic, then add the greens and cook until wilted.

3. Stir in the artichokes and roasted red pepeprs, remove from heat and let cool.

4. Mix in mayo and most of the cheese - set aside a few tablespoons of parm and about 1/4 cup provolone to sprinkle on top.  Salt to taste.  Pour into 8x8 glass baking dish, sprinkle with reserved cheeses.

5. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.