gluten free – Total Wellness Health Coaching

Tag: gluten free

August 17, 2023

What We Ate Last Week

Shall I be ambitious and say that I am going to start posting twice a week? My homeschooled daughter has started classes (some at home and others at community college) and we are about to move my son into college so I really don’t have …

July 26, 2023

What We Ate Last Week

Hey there! First of all, I apologize for the lack of posting lately. My excuses are summertime travel and the fact that I don’t have any perfected recipes to share with you. As I’ve mentioned, I’m experimenting with a carnivore diet and it truly has …

July 10, 2023

Chocolate Delight (No Sugar Added, Keto, Gluten Free)

This recipe is such a treat on a hot, summer day! It does take a little work and is best after a little chill time in the fridge, but it makes enough for a crowd (or lots for you) and is well worth every bit of effort.

I make this sugar free, but with real, full fat dairy. You can substitute almond cream cheese for the regular cream cheese and non-dairy whipped topping for the whipped heavy cream, but my goal with this recipe was to make something delicious, with no added sugar and that did not taste like any sort of diet food.

I think I nailed it and would love to hear your thoughts!

A couple notes:

You can make all of the components of this dessert ahead of time and compile it on a separate day if needed.
I like to make the crust and chocolate pudding on one day and then make the whipped cream and cream cheese layers the next morning.
Then I put it all together, refrigerate and it’s ready for my party that evening.
In the picture shown here, I split this recipe into two pie pans rather than one 9×13 pan so that I could give one away. That worked perfectly!
This is a longer recipe, but don’t be discouraged! It’s not hard and I know you can do it! The hardest part is the homemade pudding. It’s so worth it, but if you want or need a shortcut, I’m not here to judge! Use a box of cook and serve sugar free chocolate pudding. The instant kind is not nearly as good so really use the cook and serve kind if you want this short cut.

Chocolate Delight (No Sugar Added, Keto, Gluten Free)

Print Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Comfort Food

Ingredients

Crust

2 Tbsp. grass fed butter room temperature
4 Tbsp. powdered monkfruit/erythritol blend I used Lakanato Brand
3/4 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1 cup almond flour
1/8 tsp. salt

Chocolate Pudding

1 cup whole milk or use one can of coconut milk in place of the milk and cream
3/4 cup heavy cream eliminate if using the can of coconut milk
1 Tbsp. gelatin Great Lakes Brand, orange can
6 Tbsp. cocoa powder
4 drops liquid stevia
1/4 cup powdered monkfruit/erythritol blend
1 tsp. real vanilla

Cream Cheese Layer

8 oz. cream cheese room temperature
1 tsp. real vanilla
1 Tbsp. powdered monkfruit/erythritol blend

Whipped Cream

1 pint heavy cream
additional powdered monkfruit/erythritol blend or liquid stevia if desired I ran out of the monkfruit and added four drops of liquid stevia to the cream and it was perfectly, slightly sweet

Instructions

Make the Chocolate Pudding

Begin by mixing about 1/3 cup of the milk with the collagen in a small bowl. You want to add enough milk so that the mixture does not immediately solidify. Set aside.
In a heavy duty sauce pan, add the rest of the milk and cream plus the cocoa and monkfruit. Whisk well. A flat whisk works really well for this.
Cook this mixture over medium heat until it comes to a slight boil. Stir constantly. Remove from heat.
Stir in the gelatin/ milk mixture and sweeteners. Whisk, whisk, whisk until no lumps remain.
Make an ice bath by adding ice cubes and cold water to a large bowl and transfer the pudding to a bowl that will fit inside the ice bowl. Continue to whisk the pudding so that it begins to cool and thicken. It will be very thin at this stage.
Taste the pudding and add sweetener to your taste. I ended up adding five drop of liquid stevia and that was just right for my family. You may need more or less.
Once pudding is cool and beginning to set, place parchment paper or plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding and refrigerate for at least two hours before proceeding with the recipe.
When ready to proceed with the recipe, you will need to whisk the pudding again. If there are lumps, run it through a fine mesh strainer or mix well with a mixer. You should end up with a very smooth texture.

Make the Crust

Add pecans to a dry skillet over medium heat. Toast, stirring constantly until nuts are fragrant and slightly browned. Chop finely and allow to cool slightly before adding to other crust ingredients.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with avocado oil spray, grease with butter or line with parchment paper – whichever you choose.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter, monkfruit, almond flour and salt. Once nuts are cooled, add them to this mixture and combine well.
Combine all ingredients well. Mixture will be crumbly. Pour into prepared baking dish and pat into a crust. It will hold together once baked.
Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before adding the toppings.

Make the Cream Cheese Layer

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in the sweetener and vanilla and mix well. Set aside.

Make the Whipped Cream

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat cream, starting on low speed and gradually increasing speed until stiff peaks form. Mix in the sweetener if using.
Take about a third of the whipped cream and add it to the cream cheese mixture. Mix that well.

Make the Chocolate Delight

Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the cooled crust.
Whip the chocolate pudding with a whisk to loosen it up a bit. Add in about a third of the whipped cream. Spread this over the cream cheese layer.
Top all this yumminess with the remaining whipped cream.
Sprinkle on additional chopped pecans and/or chocolate chips for garnish.
Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours before eating. You CAN eat it now, but it's better after it's all chilled together for a while.

Notes

Options: If you’re not so worried about a few more carbs, my family enjoys this when I add some mini chocolate chips to the crust. You can also add a few dark chocolate chips to the pudding mixture for extra chocolatey-ness! I use Enjoy Life or Nestle Dark Chocolate chips. You can also sprinkle a few on top for a tasty garnish.

Keyword anti-inflammatory diet, Carnivore, Gluten Free, keto, Low Sugar, Primal, sugar free

June 5, 2023

Banana Pudding (Gluten Free and Low Sugar) + A Family Update!

I’ve been following a mostly carnivore diet for about a month now and feel amazing. I wish I were one of those people who could eat two or three items forever and not miss the treats of the “good old days,” but alas, I am …

May 1, 2023

Keto Carnivore Chicken Tenders

When most people start a new eating plan, they are so enthusiastic and motivated that they can be successful with very simple meals. But after a while, boredom starts to creep in. If you’re not careful, this is when that desired eating plan can go …

April 3, 2023

Heavenly Eggs and Baconnaise (yes, two recipes in one post!)

It’s the little things that you miss when you start eating Paleo. On the surface, it seems that if you give up gluten, peanuts, soy sauce and cheese, you’ll be all set. But if you dig into the details of the paleo diet, you’ll see that there really is much more to it.

Among the list of “no” foods for the paleo diet, there will certainly be some that are more bothersome to you than others. This is why it is highly recommended that you do an elimination type diet when you first begin. Take everything out and slowly add back in. You’ll learn where you can stretch the rules of the diet and where you can’t.

For example, I can handle a little dairy, but I do not tolerate legumes at all. I am fine with a small amount of grains, particularly white rice, but industrial seed oils send me reeling.

Which is how I came to this recipe for bacon mayonnaise, or baconnaise for short. Mayonnaise helps so many recipes come together. I did not want to live without it forever.

I have to give credit to Diane Sanfilippo and her baconnaise recipe in Practical Paleo because I would not have thought of this on my own. I have tweaked the recipe a bit to suit our tastes, but I got the idea from her. I think I’ve recommended her book about a zillion times, but I’ll do it again in a heartbeat. If you buy one paleo cookbook, buy this one.

The marketplace has changed a lot since my early paleo days when we had to make everything from scratch (and when I first created these recipes). There are now several good mayonnaises on the market that use non-inflammatory oils. Primal Kitchen brand, Chosen Foods, Sir Kensington’s and Thrive Market are just a few. If you decide to buy one of these mayos rather than make your own, just read the ingredients list carefully and make sure they are not mixing avocado oil with canola or some other inflammatory oil. The big manufacturers have been making “olive oil” mayo for years, but they are still primarily made of canola or soybean oil and so that doesn’t count.

My most frequent uses for this baconnaise are in my heavenly (deviled) eggs and bacon and egg salad, but I’ve used it to make salad dressings too when I’ve been out of my homemade avocado oil mayo. But don’t let these two little ideas hold you back. Use this baconnaise anyplace you would use mayonnaise: broccoli salad, turkey sandwiches, coleslaw, and on and on. The applications are endless!

Baconnaise

Like mayonnaise, but with bacon!

Print Recipe

Cook Time 10 mins

Ingredients

1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1/2 cup bacon fat, melted and cooled
1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, combine egg yolk, lemon juice and dijon mustard.
Slowly drizzle bacon fat into the egg yolk mixture, whisking continuously. This takes coordination! Pour with one hand, whisk with the other.
Taste! Depending on the salt content of your bacon (or lack thereof) you may or may not need to add salt to your baconnaise. Add it now if you need to.
Sometimes when I make this, it whisks up nice and thick. Other times it does not thicken well and I need to refrigerate it for a few minutes. If your bacon mayo is a little too thin, don't worry. Just pop it in the fridge and it will thicken up.
Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Keeps for about a week.

Keyword Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Paleo

Heavenly Eggs

Like Deviled Eggs, but More Virtuous

Print Recipe

Prep Time 20 mins

Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American, Comfort Food

Servings 12 deviled eggs

Ingredients

6 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. dijon or yellow mustard, your choice
3 Tbsp. baconnaise
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp. sweet relish, pickle or zucchini* drain some of the liquid

Instructions

Hard boil your eggs. My favorite way is with the Instant Pot. Pour about 1 inch of water in the pot, set in the rack, set eggs on rack, seal pot and set for 3 minutes on high.
As soon as the Instant Pot is done, quick release the steam and remove the eggs to a bowl of ice water.
Once chilled, which only takes about 5 minutes, peel eggs, rinse them and pat them dry.
Slice eggs in half, placing whites on a serving tray and the yolks in a mixing bowl.
Break up the yolks with a fork or a whisk. Add the other ingredients and mix well to combine. Give it a taste for seasoning and add anything you'd like more of.
Either spoon the yolk mixture into the whites or create a piping bag with a ziptop bag and pipe in the filling. You can garnish with a little extra relish, a sprig of fresh herbs or a sprinkle of paprika. I left mine plain and they're still beautiful.
I would never use my Instant Pot to cook only 6 eggs. I would either double this recipe if I were serving a crowd or at least cook more eggs and simply keep them in the fridge for snacks.
If not serving (or eating) these right away, store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

Notes

I use homemade zucchini relish. It’s delicious and well worth the effort to make it every summer. If you want to see how to make it, I have a video here. Otherwise, use whatever pickle relish you like.

Keyword Carnivore, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, keto, Paleo

March 20, 2023

Ultimate Paleo Chicken Salad

For years and years, we ate strictly paleo in my house. Then we were all feeling so well (and the kids got older) and we started easing up a bit. We ate more dairy and we ate more gluten free foods like bread and pizza. …

March 6, 2023

Luscious Lemon Cookies

When the weather starts to warm, I want everything in my life to feel like spring! I want a fresh, bright color on my front door, a wreath with pretty flowers, pretty colors in my wardrobe and light and luscious foods on my table. To …

February 6, 2023

Teriyaki Chicken Wings – For Super Bowl or Any Day!

*This recipe is a blast from the past – 2016 to be exact. That little wing taster pictured below can now legally drive a car. Yes, this breaks my heart a little. She is the number one fan of these wings now and begs for them often!*

The original write-up of this recipe is below. Everything still stands so I thought I’d just paste in the original post from my old blog. I did update the recipe to add Instant Pot instructions as that’s what I use now instead of a crock pot.

My husband loves chicken wings. Me, not so much. But because he loves them so and I love him so, they are a *must* on our Super Bowl menu. I used to buy those Tyson wings in the bag in the freezer section. You know the ones I mean. They were so fatty and slimy and just gross. That’s what he wanted for this year’s feast, I mean game. I knew I could do better.

Years ago, I read an article in my local paper all about chicken wings. There was a side comment about America’s Test Kitchen and how they like to slowly cook the wings for a long time to render out all the water and fat before crisping them up. I thought this was a brilliant idea. It was all that extra moisture and fat that made most wings so ick.

A few hands-off hours in the crockpot (or a mere 30 minutes in a pressure cooker) and then a few minutes in a really hot oven, a simple sauce and you have the perfect chicken wings. I prefer a sweet-ish, Teriyaki type sauce over a traditional hot sauce, but you could sauce these up any way you choose.

What sort of sauce you choose is not as important as the cooking method. Don’t skip that crock pot/Instant Pot part.

The sauce I chose for these wings is AIP friendly and also acceptable on a Whole 30 diet. If you want hot wings, I recommend Frank’s Original Hot Sauce combined with some ghee, the amount of ghee varying depending on how much you need to neutralize the heat of the hot sauce.

As you can see, even my little fellow chicken wing hater loved these! As soon as these came out of the oven, I suddenly had such generous and selfless taste testers available.

Seriously, if you have a wing lover in your crowd, make these! The skin is crispy, not soggy. The sauce has just the right amount of sweetness. These are wings that even I will devour!

P.S. I apologize for the absolutely dreadful picture. This recipe is from my very earliest blogging days. I’m about to make these again for our Super Bowl party this year (2023) and I’ll get some new photos. The wings are still delicious though!

Teriyaki Wings (Paleo, Grain Free, Dairy Free)

Delicious, Easy, Healthy!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. water or more if using Instant Pot
3 lbs. chicken wings
1 Tbsp. ghee or olive oil
2 Tbsp. coconut aminos
1 orange, zest and juice
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. fish sauce
crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Instructions

Check wings for excess fat or feathers. I don't know why, but whenever I buy wings, they tend to have feathers still attached! You don't want to eat those so pick them off.
Add water to slow cooker and toss in the wings. If using an Instant Pot, add enough water to cover the bottom of the pot. I like to use the rack as well just to keep the wings up out of the water.
Put the lid on, crank it up to low and forget it for 4-5 hours. With the Instant Pot, use high pressure for 20 minutes. The purpose of this step is to render most of the fat and excess water out of the wings, which will give you a finished product with crispy skin and without all that slimy, fatty yuck.
At this point, you can refrigerate your wings until you're just about ready to serve them or proceed right away to the next step.
When ready to serve, preheat oven to 475 degrees.
Cover a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack over top. Spray the rack, top and bottom, with cooking oil spray (olive oil or avocado oil). Lay out your wings on the rack so they are not touching.
Bake for 10 minutes, flip, bake 10 minutes more.
Turn your broiler on high, place tray of wings on the top rack of your oven and broil for 2-3 minutes per side. Watch them carefully as they will go from perfect to black very quickly. Once they are crispy on one side, flip them over.
Remove from oven to large bowl and toss to coat with sauce.

To Make Sauce

While the wings are baking, make the sauce. My family loves this sauce so I usually double it, but as it's written, the recipe makes enough to coat the wings sufficiently. For normal people, anyway. 🙂
In a small sauce pan, combine orange zest, orange juice, coconut aminos, fish sauce, ghee, garlic and ginger. Add red pepper flakes to taste if you want a little heat.
Simmer this mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently, until reduced to a thick and syrupy sauce. This should take 5-7 minutes at a rapid simmer.
Place sauce in a large mixing bowl and set aside until wings are finished. If making this ahead of time, which you totally can, refrigerate in a small covered container until ready to use.
This sauce will taste salty all by itself, but because there is no seasoning on the wings themselves, it comes out just right once they've been married together.

January 30, 2023

Italian Meatballs (Gluten free, Dairy free option)

Who doesn’t love a meatball? On top of spaghetti (sing along with me now…), in a crusty hoagie roll (yes, there are gluten free ones in the grocery store now), on the ends of little toothpicks with a yummy sauce at your party. Meatballs are …