Category Archives: Randoms

Harissa Garlic Cauli Fried Rice

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I only recently learned about harissa, and I’m thinking its better late than never because it is jam packed full of flavor from fresh ingredients. It can be made many different ways, spicy, as a paste, sauce, etc. but the kind I use is a mild Moroccan red pepper sauce, the brand is Mina. I actually found it at Target and was curious so I bought some – amazing!

I had a bag of riced cauliflower that needed to be used so I decided to make a new cauli fried rice recipe with what I had on hand, the result is a new recipe I’ll be making again and again. Warm, comforting, and important for me super low-glycemic! Little impact on blood sugar is a major win.

Harissa Garlic Cauli Fried Rice

  • 1 bag of riced cauliflower
  • 1 large red onion, diced
  • 3 TBSP minced garlic
  • Avocado oil
  • Sea salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Crushed red pepper
  • Coconut aminos
  • 1/2 cup black olives, halved
  • 1/4 cup harissa sauce

I started with a drizzle of avocado oil in a large saute pan, adding the diced red onion, minced garlic, sea salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper. I let the onion and garlic cook down until the onions were transparent, then added a dash of coconut aminos (gluten free soy sauce alternative) and the bag of riced cauliflower. I continued stirring to incorporate the moisture into the cauliflower so it’d start to “fry” a little bit – feel free to add additional avocado oil for the frying aspect being careful not to add too much or you’ll have an oily mess. I let all of the ingredients cook for about 20 minutes stirring constantly and then added the black olives and harissa sauce. I cooked about five minutes more just to distribute heat to the olives but preventing mushiness.

I ate two bowls with coconut aminos sprinkled on them – very flavorful and filling. Harissa, my NEW FAVORITE!

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I hope you enjoy as much as I did! 🙂

Artichoke and Tomato Vegetable Bake

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I decided to make use of what vegetables I had on hand after coming home from our holiday trip to Iowa as well as use some of my Penzey’s spices (I love them!) I’d been gifted to add a different flavor than the typical salt/pepper/oil roast.

I had 3/4 of a red onion in the fridge, 1/2 a container of cherry tomatoes on the counter, some open artichoke hearts, and a couple different kinds of mushrooms waiting patiently.

Artichoke and Tomato Vegetable Bake

  • Cherry tomatoes, halved
  • Artichoke hearts, water squeezed out
  • 3/4 large red onion, diced
  • 1/2 package crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 package button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 TBSP minced garlic
  • Avocado oil
  • Penzey’s Northwoods Spice

Add a little avocado oil (high smoke point) to a large saute pan and add onion and minced garlic, sauteing until onions start to turn transparent. Add mushrooms and artichoke hearts and continue sauteing until vegetables are warm all the way through. Drench in Penzey’s Northwoods Spice (I used the rest that I had, roughly 3 TBSP) and toss to mix. Dump the vegetable saute in a large glass baking dish and add halved cherry tomatoes. Gently toss everything together and put in a preheated 400 degree oven. Roast until done to your liking – I left mine in for about 40 minutes until they were starting to brown and the tomatoes were shriveling – that’s how I prefer my vegetables.

Side note: I didn’t measure the cherry tomatoes or artichoke hearts. I’d say roughly about 2-3 cups of halved cherry tomatoes, I used the rest of what I had in a large Costco clamshell container. Similar with the artichoke hearts, I had an open large 33oz size jar from Costco in the fridge that needed to be used, probably 3/4 full. Best tip I’ve received when squeezing water out of artichoke hearts? Literally squeeze them to death with your hand (make a fist), I don’t even cut them anymore because they come apart so easily. Kind of like a mash.

I’ve scrambled some of the leftovers with eggs for breakfast, reheated some last night for dinner with coconut aminos, etc.!

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Onion and Mushroom Soup

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It’s really starting to feel like winter here in Minnesota, and it makes me crave warmth. French onion soup is something I’ve rarely ate throughout my life – why? No clue (possibly because it typically has a giant bread crusty on top…)! But it’s rich, comforting and so flavorful. There’s a local restaurant we frequent, and I asked recently  if I could order their french onion soup without the bread on top and it was exactly what I was wanting. Now I crave it. On a recent particularly chilly and windy day I decided to try my hand at throwing together a french onion-esque soup for dinner with mushrooms, because mushrooms.

Onion and Mushroom Soup

  • 8 medium yellow onions, sliced
  • 1/2 package sliced baby crimini mushrooms
  • 1/2 package sliced white button mushrooms
  • 1/2 stick Kerrygold garlic herb butter
  • 3 TBSP minced garlic
  • 2 32 oz containers beef stock
  • 2 TBSP sherry
  • 1 TBSP worcestershire sauce
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • Sea salt
  • Black pepper

In a stock pot, add the sliced onions, garlic, butter, 1 TBSP sherry, salt and pepper and saute until onions are transparent, add mushrooms. Continue sauteing until mushrooms soften and the onions are starting to brown. Add remaining sherry, worcestershire sauce, fresh thyme and both containers of beef stock. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to medium heat and let cook for another 20 minutes.

Very easy soup to make, full of flavor and reheats easily. Feel free to garnish with additional fresh thyme, cheese, etc.IMG_6034[1]IMG_6033[1]IMG_6035[1]IMG_6036[1]

The Date Jar

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Nope, not actual dates you eat and use in paleo cooking 😉 Dates you actually go on!

Life has been pretty crazy for oh, the last 14-16 months with pre-deployment prep, Seth making Chief last fall, a major deployment, moving from San Diego to Minneapolis, my job transitioning to remote, regular business travel, getting settled in our new home, and family events – phew. We’re exhausted. I honestly don’t even feel like I’ve seen Seth for more than three weekends in over a year. Last week Seth and I were talking about how we need to make more of the time we do spend together. I thought, let’s go on dates! I already had a few ideas in my head of super fun (we can still be kids, right?) types of things and I knew he’d have a bunch, so I thought, let’s each write down ideas and toss them in a jar and take turns drawing. What we draw, is what we do!

We each wrote down eight ideas and threw them in a mug that has special meaning, and drew our first one this past Friday. Tip: this is also a fabulous way to actually decide on something. We are king and queen of saying, “let’s go out to eat,” and then driving around for an hour indecisively not having eaten, grumpy and hungry. With this, there’s no question!

We enjoyed the drive-in this past Friday, reminded me of the last time we went to the drive-in, when we were first married and living in San Diego in 2003!! 🙂

Make a date jar and enjoy spending some time together!

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