Veggie Tots Casserole

Here's a super quick and easy weeknight casserole to warm you up on cool autumn nights.  The recipe is based on some good ole-fashioned Cowboy Tater tot casseroles...minus the fried tots and minus the cream of mushroom soup/mayo sauce!  What you'll find here is still creamy and delicious but way more nutritious.  

*Tip to take*   

Swapping out plain greek yogurt for the cream of mushroom in any favorite casserole not only reduces the processed junk in your meal but packs an additional protein punch!  Water it down a tad with plain, unsweetened almond milk and you'll have a perfect substitution.

Top everything with fresh avocado...because...why not?!

I love keeping these Green Giant veggie tots on hand! 

Veggie Tot Casserole

2 pkgs Green Giant Veggie Tots (I like to do one broccoli, one cauliflower)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 small red pepper, diced

2t Pepper

Salt to taste

1 pound grass-fed ground beef or ground turkey

½ C Plain Greek Yogurt

1/3 C Plain, unsweetened almond milk

1 C shredded cheese, optional

Heat oven to 375. Spray a 9x13 Casserole dish with cooking spray. Cover the bottom of the dish with 1 package of veggie tots. Save the other for later.  In a pan, heat 1t oil and cook the minced garlic for 1 minute. Add the diced onion and cook until transparent.  Add the peppers and spices.  Mix thoroughly.  Add the ground meat and cook thoroughly. Meanwhile, in a bowl mix together the yogurt, milk, salt & pepper.  Once cooked, top the first layer of veggie tots with the meat and vegetables.   Pour yogurt mixture over all ingredients.  Top the cream layer with the second package of tots.  Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!

#HubbyApproved

Fajita Casserole

We're heading into these cold November days and all I want is cozy comfort-food. It has ignited my imagination as I attempt to satisfy my cravings without falling into the unhealthy trap of classic-"Child of the 80s"-casseroles.  You won't find any Cream of Mushroom Soup here.

Last night's creativity resulted in an absolute keeper that I'm excited to share with you, my friends. :)

Here's tonight's gluten-free, grain-free, flavorFUL dinner:

 Mama's Fajita Casserole

 Here's the base layer of riced/shredded veggies.  I'm still working through the freezer stash of zucs' from my summer bumper-crop, but if you don't have any on hand, feel free to use a second package of riced veggies!

 Once the garlic, onions, and peppers are cooked, 

combine with the beans and a touch of the cream sauce.

 I had leftover pork tenderloin I diced up from the night before which made the recipe even faster! You could very easily pre-cook chicken breasts on the weekend to speed this up on a weeknight!

 I swear I was not trying to be all fancy with this lattice. I simply didn't have any shredded cheese on hand so I sliced my pepper-jack cheese slices that Hubby loves on sandwiches into strips so we could have the pretty top layer.  Next time it will be a nice sprinkling of the shreds. 

 OMG. I was so excited to pull this out of the oven. My daughter's friend was over and gave me major props on the smells wafting from our kitchen.  I'll take what I can get. #Imnotlikearegularmom #ImacoolMom #meangirlsforever

¡Buen Provecho!

Fajita Casserole

1 pkg Green Giant Cauliflower Rice (2 pkgs if you don’t have zucchini)

2 C shredded zucchini 

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 yellow onion, diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

2t Cumin

1t Chili Powder

1/2 t Coriander

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 can black beans, drained

2/3 C Plain Greek Yogurt

1/3 C plain, unsweetened almond milk

1- 10oz can Green Enchilada Sauce

2 cups diced chicken breast or pork 

1 C Monterrey or Pepper Jack Cheese (optional)

Heat oven to 375. Spray a 9x13 Casserole dish with cooking spray. Combine the Cauliflower rice and shredded zucchini.  Cover the bottom of the dish with the rice vegetable mixture.  In a pan, heat 1t oil and cook the minced garlic for 1 minute. Add the diced onion and cook until transparent.  Add the peppers and spices.  Mix thoroughly.  Add the beans.  Meanwhile, in a bowl mix together the yogurt, milk and enchilada sauce. Add 1/4c of the liquid mixture to the cooked vegetables.

Layer the cooked vegetable and beans on top of the veggie rice. Add the cooked, diced chicken or pork as the third layer.  Top all the ingredients with the yogurt cream. Finally top with shredded cheese. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbly. Top with Fresh avocado and enjoy!

Tasty (Paleo!) Cranberry Orange Scones {Grass-Fed Dairy}

Paleo: so hot right now. Let's talk cavemen.

In the strictest sense, some would say that a Paleo diet would not include dairy at all. Some camps argue that as long as the dairy comes from a grass-fed source and is full fat, its acceptable and could provide benefits. Whichever side of the debate you find yourself on, the beauty of Paleo is that is does not have to be one-size-fits-all. You do you.

That said, I love scones. They are maybe one of my favorite baked goods and I looove baked goods. One of the keys to making good scones, of course, is cold butter. So for today, I am on the side of "have your grass-fed-butter and eat it too."

I found a great sounding clean-scone recipe here and thought that with just a few tweaks I could take an already awesome looking recipe and make it Paleo. So, yesterday I gave it a whirl and its definitely worth sharing. The recipe, that is. I'm not sharing my scones. 

Paleo Cranberry Orange Scones

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Adapted From Amy's Healthy Baking

1 1/2 C Bob's Red Mill Paleo Flour Blend*

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

Minced Zest of 1 orange, juice saved (about 1/4C)

2 T Grass-fed Butter or Ghee, cubed (Chilled or frozen until use)**

1/2 C plain, full fat, Grass-fed Yogurt

3T Honey

1t Mexican Vanilla

1/2C Cranberries

1T Egg white for egg-wash, beaten

First things first: Heat Oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in orange zest. Cut butter cubes in with forks or pastry cutter.  Once butter is cut in, blend in yogurt and orange juice until incorporated. Blend in honey and vanilla. Fold berries into the batter. Batter should be a moist bread dough that you can pick up with your hands. Shape into a ball and place onto a pan lined with parchment paper. Flatten the ball into a circle and with a brush or clean fingers, brush the egg white in a thin layer on top of the circle.  Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.  Cut into 8 pie slices and enjoy with your coffee. The cavemen had to drink coffee or they were most definitely a different species. AmIright?!

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*You'll see that I'm pretty specific on the flour choice and that is because if you went with all almond flour, your scones would be really soft. All coconut flour, and they might turn out really dry. The alternative/clean baking flours are all very fickle and serve well in certain instances - so I think the benefit to using Bob's Red Mill Paleo BLEND is that it combines attributes of many different alternative flours without you having to worry about ratios and blending. Its a little crazy expensive though so feel free to experiment and let me know what you try out!

**I'm almost always someone who has no problem substituting coconut oil for butter but not here...don't mess with scones and their butter.