Olive Garden Healthy Copycat of Zuppa Toscana

Once upon a time I worked at Olive Garden and unsurprisingly their Zuppa Toscana is a pretty popular item. There is just something about a creamy bowl of steaming potato, kale and sausage that invites people to sit down and enjoy. I wanted that taste, that feeling, but without all the heaviness, which is how this recipe was born. Made in the crockpot so you can throw it together before work and enjoy at dinner time, here is my take on a healthier (and dairy free) Zuppa Toscana.

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb Turkey Italian sausage (mild or hot, it's up to you)
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 3 medium russet potatoes, skin on and cut into rounds then like a pie so you end up with triangles
• 3 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 carrots, diced (optional - carrots are not in the original soup, but I like the color so I add them)
• 3 cups fresh kale, veins removed and cut into ribbons
• 32 oz organic chicken broth
• 2c water
• 1 can Coconut milk 

Directions:

1. Heat a pan with the olive oil on the stove top. Remove casings from sausage and brown.
2. To your crockpot add browned sausage, onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, chicken broth and water.
3. Turn crock pot to low and allow to cook for 6-8 hours.
4. 20 minutes before serving stir in coconut milk and kale. 

Homemade Elderberry Syrup Recipe

Monday the kids and I made the trek to my husband's grandparent's house to celebrate Grandpa B's 85th birthday. We had a great time celebrating a wonderful man, eating way too much and hanging out with family in the back yard.

Towards the end of the party some of the cousins and Aunt Ruth started to raid Grandpa's elderberry bush. Aunt Ruth and I got to talking about the immune boosting powers of the elderberry and my recipe for homemade elderberry syrup and the next thing I know I'm heading home with all of the berries - not that I'm complaining! ;)

Aren't these babies gorgeous?!

Elderberries are packed full of good stuff, but most notably the elderberry contains flavanoids, which are thought to reduce swelling and inflammation, as well as vitamins A, B and C. Given these immune boosting components elderberries are often made into a syrup or tonic that is taken as a preventative to illness as well as to reduce and ease the symptoms of a cold or the flu.

Most health food stores carry elderberry syrup and you can certainly buy it ready made for around $16 per 7.5 oz bottle. Orrrrrr, you can use my super easy recipe to make your own 8 oz bottle of elderberry syrup for around $5. Yeah, that's right, you can make your own elderberry syrup for about a third of the cost of store bought brands. If you're lucky and manage to snag fresh elderberries for free the cost comes down even lower to about $2.50 per bottle. Aside from cost savings, making your own elderberry syrup allows you to use local honey for added health benefits as well as avoid any nasty sweeteners and additives that may be in ready made syrups.

No brainer, right? Right. So, let's get started!

DIY Elderberry Syrup

What You Will Need:

• 1c fresh or 2/3c dried elderberries (like these)
• 3c water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves
• 3/4c honey - raw and local if possible
• 1 8 or 9 oz container for storage
• potato masher
• saucepan
• fine sieve, coffee filter or cheese cloth

 Combine elderberries, water, cinnamon stick and cloves in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid reduces by half - approximately 1 hour.

Remove pan from heat and use a potato masher to mash the berries to release the berry juice.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, discard the pulp. Allow liquid to cool until barely warm to the touch before stirring in the honey. The syrup will still be fairly liquidy, but don't worry, it will thicken some as it cools. 

Pour the syrup into an air tight container and refrigerate. Keeps for 2-3 months and can be taken once daily as an immune booster or up to 4x a day at the first sign of cold or flu. The general suggested dosage is 1/2-1 tsp for children and 1/2-1 tbs for adults.

Sweet Potato Enchiladas

There's something you should know about my family. We love Mexican food. Like, a lot. It's generally quick and easy to make as well as inexpensive. And did I mention it's fracking delicious?! Yeah. It is. So, I wasn't really surprised when my sister started talking about how she's been craving enchiladas. Being the awesome sister I am, I came home and rooted around in my pantry and fridge for enchilada ingredients.

How exactly did sweet potato enter the picture, you may ask. Well, sweet potato made an appearance for a few reasons. First, sweet potatoes are vegetables and vegetables are good for us. Second, I don't eat dairy and I needed a binder in place of cheese. The texture of mashed sweet potato works perfectly to hold the enchilada innards together and the background of sweetness to the sharp spicy notes in the enchilada sauce are perfect together. Lastly, the sweet potato is cheaper than the organic grass fed meat I buy and it works excellently to stretch the more expensive ingredient into a few more servings. 

Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 6 tortillas
• 1 large sweet potato, baked until soft
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1/2 small green pepper, diced
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 lb ground meat of your choice
• 1 c shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
• 12 oz enchilada sauce (I used Wildtree brand sauce, but you can use whatever you have on hand.)

1. Brown ground meat in a large pan. Drain.

2. Return the same pan to medium heat. Add in chopped shallot and green pepper. Saute for 1-2 minutes before adding the drained ground meat back into the pan. Mix all that up and remove from heat.

3. Peel and mash the baked sweet potato. Throw that in with the ground meat mixture and mix well. 

4. If you want cheese in your enchiladas, add 1/2c. Otherwise, skip to step #5.

5. Lay your tortilla on a flat surface, scoop about 1/3c of the meat and sweet potato mixture onto the tortilla and roll. Lay seam side down in a greased pan. Repeat until all your tortillas are in the pan. 

6. Pour all of the enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas, making sure to cover each one. If you're using cheese, top the enchiladas with the remaining 1/2c of cheese. 

I was nice and made a special pan of enchiladas with cheese for my sister.

7. Pop in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and enjoy warm.

The best part of this recipe is its versatility. Everything from the ingredients right on down to the toppings can be played with to cater to your tastes and needs. For example, my husband is gluten free. No problem, I'll just use corn tortillas. Dairy free? Skip the cheese. (I did!) As for the meat component in the recipe, I've used 50/50 mix of ground beef and venison, all ground beef or all ground turkey and they all worked well. Or, if you're going for a vegetarian dish, just forego the meat all together. You could eat the enchiladas plain or top with avocado, sliced black olives or sour cream. Like I said, super versatile. 

Added bonus, this recipe can be made ahead and kept in the fridge. Just follow the recipe until you have the filled and rolled tortillas in a pan then put in the fridge. 30 minutes before you're ready to eat remove the pan from the fridge, pour on the enchilada sauce and pop in the oven. Or, you can make extra and freeze in single portions for a quick lunch. The possibilities are deliciously endless!

Sweet & Spicy Summer Relish with Zucchini, Corn and Peaches

This week our CSA brought an abundance of zucchini, corn and peaches. I always try to cook with the fresh fruits and vegetables I have on hand, even if I don't exactly have a recipe. Sometimes what ends up on the plate is a hit ... and sometimes not so much. Luckily, this relish turned out awesome.

Sweet & Spicy Summer Relish

Ingredients:

• 2-3 ears of corn, kernels removed
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 medium zucchini, diced 
• 2 almost ripe but still firm peaches, skin removed and diced
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1/2 tsp Wildtree Spicy Carne Asada Seasoning
  OR 1/2-1 tsp of your favorite bought or homemade taco seasoning
• Salt to taste (optional)

Heat oil over medium heat in a cast iron or other heavy skillet. 

Add chopped onion and saute until translucent. Crank the heat up to medium high and add zucchini, loose corn and spicy seasoning. When zucchini is heated through and starting to soften add in diced peaches. Continue stirring for one minute then remove from heat. Salt to taste and serve. 

This relish would also be pretty dang awesome if you grilled the corn, zucchini and onion to get a little char on it. If you do that, just chop vegetables to the appropriate size after grilling. Then combine veggies,  peaches, olive oil, spicy seasoning and salt to a bowl and mix.

Serve alone for an easy, light (and vegan) lunch, as a side dish, or on top of grilled chicken or fish.

For real ... YUM!

DIY Baby Wipes (Cloth or Disposable)

I have already admitted I am not crunchy enough to cloth diaper. I'm just not that brave. (Bravo to you mamas who do cloth diaper!) But, I have been trying to avoid chemical and alcohol filled wipes and this recipe makes that goal super easy. 

What You'll Need:

1 Roll of paper towels, cut in half

   OR flannel squares for reusable cloth wipes

1 1/2C Distilled Water

1 TBS Coconut oil

1 TBS Castile soap

10 drops essential oil (I recommend Gentle Baby or Lavender)

1 gallon size resealable bag or large container for storage

OR 1 spray bottle for cloth wipes

1. Cut your paper towel roll in half. I used a serrated knife. A little messy, but it works.
*Cut your flannel to wipe size.

2. Place ONE half roll of paper towels in a gallon sized resealable bag or storage container of your choice. (Put the second half of the roll away to use another time.)
*If making cloth wipes, skip this step.

3. Combine distilled water and coconut oil. Heat on the stove top or in the microwave just until mixture is warm enough to melt the coconut oil.

4. Add 1 TBS Castile soap and 10 drops essential oil to the luke-warm water and oil.

5. Pour all of the liquid mixture onto your paper towels.
*Pour mixture into spray bottle. 

6. Let sit for a minute, then remove the cardboard tube in the center of the paper towels. The tube should slip right out and pull up your first wipe so it is ready to use.

 
7. Seal the reusable bag and use as needed.
*Spray, wipe, wash and reuse. 

* denotes cloth wipe instructions.

Simple enough, right?

Cost Comparison:

• The local grocery store has a 64 pack of conventional disposable wipes for $1.97 which breaks down to about $0.03 per wipe.
• My recipe made 88 wipes (I used the select-a-size paper towels and my roll had 88 sheets.) for $3.17. If I had used Lavender essential oil (which is slightly cheaper than Gentle Baby) the cost would have been $2.37. That means you can make homemade, chemical-free wipes for even less than the store bought price of $0.03 per wipe.

That, to me, is a no brainer. This family will be sticking to the homemade version. ;)

Thieves Kettle Corn

My family loves popcorn of all varieties - buttered popcorn, sweet popcorn, basil parmesan popcorn ... you get the idea. My husband and daughter love to eat it and I love that popcorn is easy to make (thanks to our Whirley Pop) and it can be fairly healthy depending on how you prepare it. Currently our favorite recipe includes a few drops of Thieves essential oil. It's sweet, salty, cinnaminy (That's a word, right?!) and delicious!

Thieves Kettle Corn:

3 TBS Coconut oil

2 TBS White Sugar

1/2 Cup Popcorn 

4 drops Young Living Thieves Essential Oil

Salt to taste

Place your Whirley Pop* over medium heat and place first four ingredients in the pot. Twirl handle slowly but continually while the oil heats and the popcorn pops. To avoid burning the sugar and scorching your popcorn, make sure you remove the pot from heat promptly when the popcorn is finished popping. Pour popcorn into a large bowl and salt to taste.

*If you don't have a Whirley Pop you can cook your popcorn in a cast iron pot with a lid or another popcorn machine. Melt coconut oil, add sugar and Thieves oil, and pour over popcorn before salting. 

It's that easy. And, did I mention it's DELICIOUS?! Yeah, okay ... I'm going to go make some now. (Seriously.)

Lemony Thyme Zoodles

My birthday is next week, and this year my husband got me a Spirelli Slicer. My joy at the prospect of trying Zoodles was maybe a little bit ridiculous, but I'm happy to report that they lived up to my expectations.

Gorgeous, right?! Here's my recipe.


Lemony Thyme Zoodles:

2 Zucchini
1 small Tomato, diced
Drizzle EVOO

Juice from half a Lemon

Leaves from 2 sprigs of Thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste

Using a spiral slicer, make Zucchini noodles aka Zoodles.(If you don't have a spiral slicer you can use any vegetable peeler to make thin slices of zucchini.)

Toss zoodles, EVOO, lemon juice, thyme, salt and pepper together. Split the noodles into 2 portions and plate. Top zoodles with diced tomato. 

Super quick, easy and delicious! This recipe is completely vegan and was perfect for a light lunch, but for a more hearty meal you could add grilled chicken breast on top.

My husband said it was, "better than he expected" and my kids were begging for my "special" noodles. Total win in my book!