Bulletproof Hot Chocolate

I drink bulletproof coffee which you can read about here.  It is yummy and decadent and fills me up.  But a friend on the paleo facebook page I like posted about Bulletproof Hot Chocolate.  Be still my heart.  What a great alternative to the sugary bedtime treat.  And something for my kids that would actually help them.

This is her original recipe
12ox hot almond milk
1 oz butter
1 oz coconut oil
1 oz raw cocoa paste
sweetener to taste

I didn't have cocoa paste and we drink raw milk...so, here are my changes.

12 oz hot raw milk
1 oz cocoa butter
1 oz coconut oil
1 egg yolk
1/2 T cocoa powder
1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate
sweetener to taste
dash of vanilla

Heat milk and egg yolk whisking regularly till steaming.  Remove from heat and add cocoa butter, coconut oil and unsweetened chocolate.  Once melted or near melted (about 10 min) add cocoa powder, sweetener, and vanilla and blend.  Yummy, filling, creamy hot chocolate.

I think next time I will also add an ounce of butter.

The Meat Muffin

Now that we are working on eliminating grains from our diets, I have become a big fan of meatballs.  I use them to 'hide' veggies.  It is not that the veggies are hidden per se, but more that the kids get bored with trying to pick them out and just eat.  Oh, and there is sauce to dip it in. 

Today I tried something a little different.  I used ground chicken and made some reminiscent of chicken parmigiano.  Here's what you need

1 lb ground chicken
1 egg
3 T almond flour or 1 T coconut flour
Italian seasonings to taste
1/2 t salt

Red Sauce (marinara, spaghetti, whatever)

Parm cheese

Mix the first set of ingredients together.  Mush into 12 greased muffin cups.  Top each with sauce then cheese.  Bake at 350 for about 20 min.

What I will do next time to change this.  Add a little cheese, shredded carrots and spinach into the meat.  And triple the recipe.  This fed me and 3 young kids.  It would not have worked it my hubby was home.  It almost didn't feed all of us as it was.

Other ideas I have.  Take the basic ground chicken recipe and instead line the muffin cups with ham, put chicken in middle and top with mozzarella or provolone cheese.

Prepackaged Foods

Its not all bad.  So the other day someone had asked me why I never have prepackaged snacks for my kids.  Now, Never is a strong word...I would use rarely.  Like when I give my 5 yr old a few bunny grahams and some carrot sticks.  After all, bunnies eat the carrots and we eat bunnies.  (Don't judge...it works for him so I am totally down with that logic when 5 bunnies can get him to eat 10 baby carrots).

I started thinking about it and we do eat a lot of prepackaged foods and I am ok with it.  We usually take bananas, apples, oranges, snow peas, baby carrots with us.  None require me to do much with them.  All fruits and veggies are prepackaged.  Call it mother nature or god, evolution or creation...doesn't really matter.  But this is the way food should be.  Fresh and ready to eat. 

So, when the school asks for prepackaged foods for snacks...offer bananas or apples or peaches or baby oranges (mandarins).  If you want something a little more mainstream...applesauce, beef stix, fruit cups packed in juice.  The thing to remember for prepackaged is to think outside the box.

Been a While

I know, but I am making a lot of changes in our eating habits to include cutting grains left and right. Rob is less than thrilled, but the boys are doing fine for the most part.

Tonight I made a ton of chicken tenders for the week to send in lunches instead of sandwiches.

I stole from this recipe at Health-Bent but I have vilified the nugget so much to my children in the past, they would touch one with the consistency that ground chicken would give it. So here is what I did.

1 package of chicken breasts, sliced, or tenders (mine was 3 lbs)

Bowl 1:
1/2 C almond flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
Pinch of cayenne

Bowl 2:
1 egg + 2 T water beaten

Bowl 3:
Dessicated Coconut or just whirl up coconut flakes in the processor

Process:
Dip chicken in Bowl 1, shake off excess, dip in bowl 2, dip in bowl 3 then fry in a pan. I just browned each side then finished them in the oven at 350 for about 10 min.

Yummy!!!!

Chocolate-Walnut Cupcakes

From My Martha Stewart Cupcake book.

These are an amazing gluten free/grain free muffin. They are also pretty low in sugar so they make a great snack.

6 large eggs separated
1/2 C sugar
1 3/4 C finely ground toasted walnuts (or pecans or any other tree nut)
3 oz bitter sweet chocolate finely chopped1/4 tsp salt
1 TBSP orange zest

The directions are IMPORTANT!!! I screwed this up on the first round. Read carefully.

1. whisk yolks and 1/4 c sugar until pale and thick.
2. in separate bowl toss together nuts, chocolate, zest, and salt. sprinkle over yolks but do not stir in.
3. place egg whites in heat-proof bowl over simmering water, whisk until room temperature (not hot!!!). Remove from heat, whisk on high until soft peaks form (it's meringue)
4. then add remaining sugar and whisk until peaks are stiff and glossy.
5. fold egg whites 1/3 at a time into the yolk mixture...do not over stir!!!

put batter into muffin cups and cook at 300 for 30 min.

Peanut Butter Banana Cookie

These are awesome! And almost not terrible for you. They are modified from a Sesame Street Cookie Cook book my mom picked up at the dollar store. The book was surprisingly not full of sugary terrible recipes. They have one for a carrot cake cookies (yes, with lots of carrots) and another for granola cookies. I am right now looking for things to send the kids for snack and lunch treats that will be yummy and nutritious. I figure these have a lot of good protein to help their little minds function and not so much sugar that they will crash later (approx 2g per cookie added not counting the sugar from the banana).

1 C flour (I used wheat with no probs)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 C butter (I used coconut oil since I am out of butter)
1/2 C /1 banana
1/2 C peanut butter (unsalted, no sugar added)
1/4 C unsweetened apple juice concentrate (I had a pear juice one that I used)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla


Beat wet ingredients, mix dry then add to wet. Scoop on to baking sheet and cook at 375 for about 8 min.

Mine were a little soft so I would probably add about another 1/4 C flour and maybe a little less concentrate since they were plenty sweet.

Day 17 and Day 18: Remodeling is getting in the way

With all the projects, we have been less than interesting. On Thurs a wonderful friend make us dinner. It was lovely for us to sit and have dinner while the kids ran around like crazy people.

Friday was of course...chicken on the bone. We grilled chicken legs and had tomatoes and mozz cheese to celebrate the 70+ degree weather we are having. I love Feb in Georgia.

Back to remodeling.

Day 16: Not a meatless dinner

We had sausages from a local butcher. They don't use local meats, but they at least make the sausage them selves. Mac and Cheese, Broccoli, Corn, roasted peppers, onions and mushrooms...and my kids eat like horses.

Day 15: The Middle East

One of the things I love best about my husband is that he loves food, really good food. He lets me experiment. But he also loves to eat food from other cultures. He loved being in the middle east, especially when he was a company commander and he got out into the cities. He still dreams of the lamb roasted on a spit in some guys back yard.

While I have not perfected lamb (but will happily keep trying), I have a pretty good falafel recipe. Falafel is basically a chickpea 'meatball'. We like ours with naan (also called lavash). The key to the naan is to either grill it or pan cook it so it is nice and hot and sears the outside. I usually make a chutney to go with it, but Rob doesn't like that.

Tonight I am adding bacon wrapped dates...mmmm....bacon.

To answer your question: Yes, my kids eat this stuff and yours will too. Maybe not the first time, but after a few tries.

As an update...Rob worked late, and we didn't do the date :-(

Day 14: Half Way

Heading into the home stretch. Trying to get a post a day is a challenge to say the least.

Tonight is pork chops Parmesan

Lightly fried chops, topped with some parm cheese and sauce.

Spinach fettuccine

Veggies (salad, beans, corn)

I really wanted to make Mayan Chocolate Truffles but didn't make it to the store due to a dr appt for the kids running 1.5 hours behind. Oh well, will make for another day...maybe tomorrow :-)

Day 13: Pizza

That's all!

Day 12: Steak...mmmm

This morning the older ones let us sleep a little late (that is after Gabe woke us all at 5am looking for Anthony...who was in the room with him already). They had cereal. The we had sandwiches. Then we broke a water pipe. Then we fixed it. Then we went to friends.

Ate Steak, hamburgers, salad, queso, cupcakes, and homemade ice cream.

We put the younger boys to bed and let the older ones watch a movie. Then for a first...the adults played cards and had adult conversations. Progress.

Day 11: A great day to be a Rossi

The boys woke up to pancakes. I have found a great recipe that allows me to do most of the work the night before and gives us beautiful tasty pancakes. They are super flavorful and are great in the summer with just a little butter and fresh berries.

The recipe calls for soaking...but if you don't want to, you don't have to. But, it does make the batter supper yummy.

We also made cookies with a friend. I use Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookie Recipe (she rocks). Usually I am a sugar cookie failure, but these always turn out good.



For lunch we made our own lunchable with crackers and ham I cut into hearts. Are you feeling the love?

Finishing off dinner with Turkey (not veal) scallopine and leftover scalloped potatoes.

Day 10: Back in the Saddle

I cooked a real meal tonight. It was GREAT!

Meatloaf:
1-1.5 lbs ground beef
1/2 bell pepper
1/2 onion
1/2 C bread crumbs
1/2 C (ish) tomato sauce, ketchup, spaghetti sauce (my choice this time since I had some left but not enough for a meal)
1 egg

Squish together, put in pan, cook at 350 for about 45-60 min. I like a little ketchup on top too!

Potatoes Au Gratin

I added some spinach to the potatoes in the the middle layer.

Day 9: Almost meatless Wednesday

Again, Rob was gone at dinner time, so I made a lazy dinner of leftover chicken on a big salad for me and quesadillas for the kids. Since I work out in the evenings most days, this was a nice easy dinner that we all scarfed down. The best part was the fresh bread that I baked this morning.

Day 8: Roasted Chicken

OK. Many of my friends talk about making chicken this or that, but still my favorite way is to roast a whole chicken. I melt about 2 T of butter and mix with 2T olive oil. Add seasonings (this time salt, pepper, garlic and sage). The trick is to rub some of the mixture in the layer between the skin and the meat. Put in pan and cook appox 20 min per pound plus about 15 min. I also put a lemon in the carcass to add a little something extra. If you like to eat the skin, roast without a top for about 3/4 of the time. If you want to take the skin off, cook covered the entire time.

We are side dish lazy most of the time. I did fresh broccoli and salad and some left over sweet potato and regular potato fries.

Day 7: Loosing Steam

Must refocus. Today was a rough day at the Rossi Household. We had water 'issues.' But at least the city was responsible for this one, so it didn't cost us any money.

For dinner, we did kitchen sink risotto. Pretty much I take leftovers and put it in with risotto and serve. I just use the directions on the back of the container, then add my stuff in with the last of the water. The boys eat it, but they have never been big fans of stuff mixed together. They will get over it, or starve...whatever!

We also had spinach salad and bacon wrapped dates. And the best part...Gabe liked the dates. My picky eater tried it without whining then announced, "Now that I am 4 I like dates." Woohoo!!!!

Day 6: I love my...

Baby Back Ribs. Especially when my favorite man is cooking them. He marinates them over night, then slow roasts them, then grills them...MMMMM




Now I know many of you think that surely the Super Bowl means we will eat junk...and we do, a little.

But, we made our own fries

and chips

and dessert (homemade ice cream)

and queso with chips.

Day 5: Pizza

This morning my favorite husband made me bacon and eggs. I fail at cooking bacon, and my eggs are just descent. But Rob can cook great bacon. MMMMM....bacon!

Tonight Rob and I are headed to the Chart House with friends. But the boys have requested pizza. I make my own crust...not that it is any better for you, just fresh from the oven pizza tastes AWESOME.

Day 4: Chicken on the Bone

My kids have an affinity for eating chicken on the bone. They like to talk about where the chicken lived before, how it runs, and then thank the farmers for giving us the dead, yummy chickens. So we had chicken legs with a bbq rub on the grill. I love my baby for grilling in the rain for us.

For sides, we do a lot of prepackaged plain vegetables. Tonight was broccoli and a veggie mix of carrots, green beans, and zucchini. Also made tarragon potatoes (boil diced potatoes, add butter, olive oil, and tarragon...stir).

Many ask what I feed William...all of the above is the answer. He loves carrots and zucchini. Any meat is a winner. And he hasn't met a carb he didn't like. I do use jarred food to add in things that he would still have trouble eating if not pureed, but for the most part, he feeds himself.

Sorry no pics, the boys just eat way too fast.