CHICKEN AND SPINACH BURGERS FOR WHOLE 30

I've now made it a little over two weeks on the Whole 30 plan. I have to admit this diet has been really hard for me. Cutting out my favorite food groups has not been easy. I've been trying to get more creative with our meal planning to give me incentive to keep going strong, and this is one of the easy meals I put together for us last week that turned out really tasty.

Our drink was just a little grapefruit and lime squeezed into water.

The tomato salad was just chopped up tomatoes, cucumbers, purple onions, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeño. I squeezed a lime over it and added salt and dill weed to taste. I also added leftover salad dressing that I shared in this previous post.

The recipe for the Chicken Spinach Burgers is as follows:

Mix together

1 lb ground chicken
2 c chopped fresh spinach
1/2 c cooked and mashed sweet potato
1 egg
1/2 t salt

Mold into patties and then cook in about 2T of coconut oil about 5-7 minutes each side. Serve with homemade mayo or (my favorite) a potato/garlic mash (mashed potatoes blended with garlic, salt, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and olive oil).

Enjoy!

Homemade Salad Dressing for Whole 30

My go to salad dressing is simply plain olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but now that the mainstay of my diet has become salads (thanks to the Whole 30 diet that I'm still plugging away on), I'm trying to put a little more effort into my salad dressing. 

This isn't always easy when many vinegars contain chemicals or sugars, and any normal brand salad dressing contains all sorts of ingredients I'm trying to avoid. 

Here is my recipe for one of the various salad dressings I've been making lately . . . 

In a blender or food processor, blend these ingredients:

1 clove of garlic

2 small red sweet peppers

1/4 bunch of fresh cilantro

The juice of one lemon squeezed by hand

2 dried apricots (the natural organic kind without any additives)

1/4 c organic white wine vinegar

2T apple cider vinegar

1/2 c olive oil

1t real redmond salt

This dressing has tang from the vinegar, a freshness from the cilantro and lemon, a spicy bite from the garlic, and yet still sweet from the peppers and apricots.

My Two Favorite Foods - Dark Chocolate and Raspberries

As a chocolate addict, I'm always looking for ways to curb my cravings, and or indulge without the high price of calories and unhealthy fats. I've been meaning to try the avocado chocolate mousse recipe that's been all over Pinterest for forever, but only last night finally got around to it.

I didn't even follow the directions exactly or even blend it very well (do you see that tiny spot of avocado to the left of the photo below?) and yet it was still so rich and creamy! Definitely hit the spot!

There are plenty of variations of this recipe out there already. I patterned mine after (this) one.

Here is my altered version of the recipe in the link above:

1 ripe avocado
1 over ripe, freezer burned banana zapped for 20 seconds in the microwave (hey, it was all I had on hand)
4 heaping Ts of raw organic cacao powder
4 T maple syrup
3 T extra virgin organic coconut oil
1 pinch of redmond real salt

Blended it all in a blender, refrigerated it for 10 minutes, and ate with a heaping portion of fresh raspberries. If you haven't tried this already, you really should!

Eggless Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

I tried a few years ago to incorporate food into my blog. You know, like all of those other professional lifestyle bloggers who blog about everything effortlessly - beauty, fashion, faith, fitness, food, parenting, diy, and travel all in one perfectly written html. Sometimes I think that's the direction I want this blog to head in. I imagine glorious baking days and hours of food styling for the photographs.

But then, so much of what I dream up for this blog never actually transcends from my brain to the blog because of time or motivation. Food posts especially will never make it on here consistently simply because I dislike cooking and baking. Sure, I bake sometimes, and I cook all the time. But it's only out of necessity. 

 However, just a few days ago I knew it was time to make banana bread since I had some overripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter. My son offered to make it. I went to look up a recipe for him and then thought, what the heck - let's try something different. I told my son what ingredients to get out based on what I knew I had on hand, and then told him what to mix in and when. It must have been my lucky day because, voila! they came out perfectly! The best banana bread I've ever had. Rich, moist, and just the right flavor.

 In that moment of tasting this gooey, chocolatey banana bread goodness, I imagined this blog to be riddled with Martha Stewartesque blog posts with numerous original recipes by yours truly.

But that moment is already gone. Enjoy this one food post while it lasts.

I doubt the stars will align perfectly again any time soon for future original Domestic Sophisticate recipes, but until then, I give you picture #37 of my attempts at food styling and taking photos with my new camera.

 And now the moment you all have been waiting for (drumroll please) . . . 

 The Eggless Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Recipe:

Two ripe bananas

1.5 sticks of softened butter

1/2 c honey

1/4 c maple syrup

1 c of plain nonfat greek yogurt (I used the stuff from Costco Fage brand)

Cream above ingredients.

Stir in the following:

Dash of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup of whole wheat flour*

1 cup of unbleached white flour

2 cups of dairy free dark chocolate chips* (low sugar – 51% cocoa) I used the Costco Kirkland brand

Bake for 50 minutes at 350 in a floured/greased pan (I floured mine).

*If you add nuts instead of chocolate chips, or sugar free chocolate chips – it would be sugar free. You could use all whole wheat flour and all organic ingredients to make it even healthier. 

Delivering A Meal

 I made a big pot of sausage lengtil soup for dinner one evening, and because there was so much of it, I decided to freeze all of the leftovers and use it as the main entree of a meal I had planned to bring to a friend from church who is going through chemo treatment. My problem was that the soup was just so unattractive, even though it tastes so good. I decided I needed to dress it up.

 I cut out muslin cloths to cover the caps of the Mason jars, and then took a bit of jute to tie around it.

 A little pink rosebud and a recycled card added just the right touch. On the tag I listed the website of the recipe I used so the recipient could check ingredients and/or use the recipe herself.

 Corn muffins dressed up the soup even more, as well as a white grosgrain ribbon and another recycled card tag listing the recipe for the muffins.

 Clothespins, recycled cards, and brown bags were perfect for the chocolate chip cookies.

 And a basket and pretty dish towel wrap everything up in an easy to carry and deliver little package.