Tag: recipe

Gluten-Free French Toast

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I love breakfast. Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation perfectly described my feelings on the matter by stating, “why would anybody ever eat anything besides breakfast food?”

Truly, breakfast is the best meal of the day that sadly not all of us eat. I know I’ve personally made up for this fact by making pancakes at midnight or whipping up an egg scramble for dinner. But one of the things I’ve deprived myself of is French Toast. This mostly stems from my sheer laziness in making a paleo-friendly bread. However, my dad recently came to visit me and took me grocery shopping where he insisted I pick-up some gluten-free bread. I try and stay away from grains in general, but I couldn’t say no to having a loaf of (gluten-free) bread in my apartment.

And with gluten-free bread in my apartment comes one of the things I love the most: French Toast. So #treatyoself to some French Toast this week for breakfast/lunch/dinner and bask in its glory.

*I’m really not adding any measurements here since how much batter you make is going to depend on how many slices of French Toast you’re going to make. I made two slices of French Toast for myself, so I just used 2 eggs and a splash of milk until it got to a good consistency, so use your best judgment

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Gluten-Free French Toast

Ingredients
– Gluten-free bread
– Milk of choice such as almond, cashew, or cow’s milk
– Eggs
– Vanilla extract
– Cinnamon
– Butter
– Maple syrup, for topping

Method
– Make your batter: In a large bowl, add the eggs and the milk. Mix these together and add a touch of vanilla and some cinnamon. This is what is should look like (with some bread in there)

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– Heat the pan and add the butter. Start soaking your bread in the mixture.
– Once the pan is hot, add your bread slice and sprinkle and bit more cinnamon on the top part of your bread and start soaking another slice in the batter. Flip the slice to cook the other side and allow each side to brown. Place the French Toast slice on a plate and repeat the process. If you’d like, warm your oven and put the cooked slices on a plate in the oven as you’re cooking the rest of your French Toast (that way they stay nice and warm).

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– Plate your French toast and top with maple syrup and more cinnamon if you’d like
– Enjoy!

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If you can’t tell, I really like my maple syrup. I’ve found that adding the vanilla and cinnamon in the batter really gives my French Toast a wonderful flavor. Hope you try it out! If you really feel like getting crazy, you could create a stuffed French Toast by putting a cream cheese filling between two French Toast slices – but I’ll let you be the judge of how crazy you get. 😉

xoxo,
Paige

Steak with Mushrooms and Broccoli

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As a self-taught cook, there are several food items that scare me – steak being one of them. I’m not sure if any of y’all feel that way, but it’s always something that I avoid cooking. That is, until now.

I was walking through Whole Foods (as I typically do) and stopped by the butcher. I was between two things – seafood, which I had already passed, or beef. I thought to myself “screw it” and bought a beautiful cut of grass-fed beef, New York Strip to be exact. I picked up some veggies, as well as some gluten-free chicken nuggets (it’s okay to treat yourself!) and went home to cook.

Since I’ve never made a steak, I watched a few videos to get the hang of it. Being from East Texas, all the steaks I’d ever seen be cooked were done on a grill. In fact for a long time, I thought that was the only way to cook a steak. However, I don’t have a grill and I actually really hate food cooked on a grill. I don’t know, something about the smokey taste really turns me off. Anyway, I found this video of the great Gordon Ramsey showing how to cook a steak and followed that method exclusively.

As always, feel free to customize this to your liking! I will say, I apologize for the lack of care I took into make the Bearnaise sauce, which is why there’s a runny yellow substance under the steak, but why there’s nice fresh herbs on top (which was lovely).

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Steak with Mushrooms and Broccoli

Ingredients
– Steak, warmed to room temperature
– Mushrooms, chopped
– Broccoli, cut into florets
– Avocado oil
– Rosemary, fresh and chopped + whole sprigs
– Chives, fresh and chopped
– Tarragon, fresh and chopped
– Butter
– Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce (for mushrooms, optional)
– Salt and pepper
– Garlic, I used garlic powder but fresh is always best

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Method
– Prep everything: chop all vegetables and herbes, make sure that the steak has been set out to reach room temperature
– Cook the broccoli: heat a pan and add a fat of your choice, I used butter. Let get hot and add the chopped broccoli and season with salt, pepper, and garlic. Cook to desired tenderness and set aside on a plate.
– Cook the mushrooms: in the same heated pan, add butter and rosemary sprigs. Let the butter melt and the rosemary cook. Add the chopped mushrooms and season with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook the mushrooms. Once cooked to desired doneness, put on the same plate as the broccoli and put in a warm stove to they stay warm for serving.
– Heat a cast iron pan and add avocado oil
– Take the steak and season with salt and pepper on each side
– Once the oil is smoking, add the steak
– For a rare steak, only sear each side for 2 min – this is where Gordon Ramsay’s video really helped me – and only flip once
– Flip steak to other side and cook for 2 min for rare, more for other doneness
– Add a knob of butter to the pan and some of the chopped rosemary, let it melt and coat the steak with the butter, herbs, and juices
– Transfer the the steak from the pan to a plate and let it rest for at least 5 min; add chopped chives, tarragon, and rosemary to the top of the steak
– If desired, make a bearnaise sauce or hollandiase sauce
– Take the vegetables from the oven and add to a plate
– After the steak has rested, cut into slices and transfer to the plate with the veggies
– Top with more herbs or the bearnaise/hollandiase sauce
– Enjoy!

Let me know how you like it! I’d also love to hear any modifications you made to this. Happy cooking!

xoxo,
Paige

Bacon Mushroom Cauliflower Risotto with Scallops

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I have a rule: anytime I go out to eat I just eat gluten-free. This mostly comes from me just not wanting to be a burden to the people I’m going out to eat with as well as my waiter/waitress. Since I live in Austin, it’s pretty easy to eat gluten-free at just about every restaurant, including Italian. Lately I’ve been going to a place called Taverna that has amazing gluten-free options including pizza and pasta. But my favorite has to be the risotto.

Well – I reimagined risotto in a more paleo-friendly way. And let me tell you – it’s amazing. I kind of just did it on a whim and I honestly don’t even know if this is the proper method for risotto, but screw it – I’ll do it how I like haha. So I hope you enjoy this recipe! It sure was tasty!

10691791_1701047506799467_1593905315_nBacon Mushroom Cauliflower Risotto with Scallops
Ingredients
– Cauliflower, riced
– Butter/olive oil
– 1 Shallot
– Strip of bacon, cut in pieces
– Mushrooms, I cut mine into really small pieces, but you can chop them to your desired size
– Cashew cream
– Scallops
– Garlic powder (or you can add fresh garlic, I didn’t have any on hand)
– Salt and pepper to taste
– Parsley for garnish
* Depending on how big your head of cauliflower is will determine how many people this will serve – adjust your ingredients accordingly.

Method
– Prep everything! Chop your mushrooms, bacon, shallot, and rice your cauliflower in a blender or food processor. If you don’t know how to do this – cut your cauliflower into florets and then pop them in the blender or food processor and process until the cauliflower resembles rice. As well, be sure you’ve made your cashew cream – which you can find a recipe for here.
– In a pan, heat the butter/oil and add the shallot.
– Add the mushrooms and bacon and let them cook.
– Once everything is about cooked, add the riced cauliflower.
– While the cauliflower is cooking, heat another pan and add oil to sear the scallops – this shouldn’t take long at all.
– Cook the scallops until seared on each side and set them aside.
– Add the cashew cream and incorporate it into the cauliflower. I don’t have an exact measurement for this, but make sure to not add too much.
– Add the salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
– Plate the risotto and top with scallops and parsley.
– Enjoy!

Xoxo,
Paige

Cashew Hot Chocolate

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Good morning! As my first recipe, I wanted to share something I’ve discovered that I absolutely love. I call it Cashew Hot Chocolate, but really you can use any type of nut milk that you like. To keep it fresh, I usually switch between homemade cashew milk and homemade almond milk – which I am happy to post recipes for! If you’ve never tried cashew milk, you’re really missing out.

This drink was inspired by buttered coffee. Personally, I love coffee, but sometimes it can make my stomach feel a little off. I try to limit my coffee intake to just two mornings a week (but coffee is really good for you, so don’t feel like you can’t have it all the time). So on the other five mornings of the week, what am I supposed to drink?! Cashew Hot Chocolate – seriously, you’ll love it. With the energy boosting power of MCT, healthy fats from grass-fed butter and coconut oil, and trace minerals from Grade B maple syrup, this is sure to become one of your favorite morning drinks. Hope you enjoy!

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Cashew Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
– Cashew milk or your favorite nut milk
– 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
– MCT oil (as much as you can tolerate, this is different for everyone. If you have never used MCT before, stick to 1 teaspoon)
– 1 tablespoon coconut oil
– 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of unsalted grass-fed butter (I like Kerrygold)
– 1 to 2 teaspoons of Grade B Maple Syrup (add more or less depending on how sweet you like things)
– 1 1/2 tablespoons of cacao powder
– scoop of collagen powder if you have it

Method
– In a mug, pour the cashew milk into it leaving a bit of space. If using cashew milk, add a bit of water to thin it out, unless you’re a fan of the creaminess.
– Heat in the microwave for 2 min. Alternatively, you can heat this on the stove, but it’s in the morning and I don’t have the time for that.
– Remove mug from microwave and pour the hot cashew milk into either a blender or a larger cup, I use the measuring beaker (apparently that’s the name for it) that came with my immersion blender. You just want something bigger than the mug.
– Add all of the remaining ingredients into the cashew milk.
– Blend the ingredients until well incorporated, about 30 seconds.
– Pour back into the mug and enjoy!

This process takes less than 5 min and is a perfect replacement for coffee! Let me know how you like it! Feel free to play with the flavors – this would be wonderful with a dash of cinnamon or a little bit of peppermint extract.