Salty Citrus Kombucha

We have been trying our hand at creating some new flavors of kombucha, versus our normal one fruit variety that we normally drink. This version was a take on a new flavor we tried at the store, and we really enjoyed the outcome.

You could use any variety of citrus juice that you like or have on hand. The orange juice helps balance the other, more sour, juices so I would definitely keep that one in this no matter how you alter it. The sea salt helps add some depth to the flavor and helps with electrolyte balance too, so it's a win-win.

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
1) 24-28 ounces of unflavored kombucha
2) 1/4 cup of orange juice
3) 1/4 cup of grapefruit juice
4) 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice, or lime juice, or 1 tablespoon of each (which is what I did)
5) 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt

Instructions
1) Add your citrus juices and sea salt to a 32 ounce jar, and stir.
2) Fill up the rest of the jar with kombucha and mix.
3) Put in the fridge to drink right away, or keep on the counter for a day to add carbonation before you refrigerate.

Green Beef Scramble

This recipe was inspired by an episode of something on the Food Network I happened to catch while browsing cable when we were staying at a hotel recently. The recipe was one of those late night specials that the people raved they would love to eat after a few drinks at 2 a.m.

So as soon as we got home from the hotel, I wanted to try and make the same concept and see how it tasted. Beef plus some chopped up greens and a few eggs. Simple enough! This came together really easily and ended up being a delicious lunch, but would be great for breakfast or dinner as well!

Ingredients
1) 1 pound of ground beef
2) 1 onion, diced
3) 4-6 cups of diced greens (kale or spinach)
4) 4 eggs
5) Salt & Pepper

**Servings: 3-4**

Instructions
1) Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add your ground beef and break up into small pieces with a wooden spoon.
2) Chop up your onion, and then add it to your ground beef mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes, until the onions are soft and beef is cooked thoroughly. Lower heat to medium at this time.

3) Chop your chosen green, and add to your mixture. Cook for 5 minutes, until wilted.

4) Mix your eggs together in a separate bowl, and add some more salt and pepper to them.
5) Pour the eggs into the mixture, and stir to combine. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the eggs have cooked up. Serve and enjoy!

Hawaiian Pizza Soup

Sometimes I really miss pizza. We've whipped up some gluten-free, Paleo crusts before, but it does take some effort and I don't have a lot of time these days. I decided to try and just throw some pizza flavors in the crockpot and see what happened. My boyfriend's favorite pizza is Hawaiian, so I improved with some sausage, threw in some pineapple, tomatoes, and some greens for good luck. The result was very tasty! I brought this to school and people got jealous, so you know it must be good!

Ingredients
1) 2 pounds of cooked sausage (I used chicken and apple)
2) 2-3 cans of diced tomatoes (15oz cans)
3) 2 cans of tomato sauce (15oz cans)
4) 3 cups of diced pineapple
5) 2-3 cups of chopped kale or spinach
Extra: 1/2 tablespoon of Italian seasonings, 1/2 teaspoon or so of salt

Instructions
1) Heat up a large skillet or cast iron over medium-high heat. Chop up your sausage and throw in the pan to brown up and get some color on it. Gordon Ramsey says color is flavor, so this step is important!

2) While the sausage is browning, add your diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and diced pineapples to your crockpot. If you want it extra tomato-y, then add the 3 cans of diced tomatoes, but 2 also works great. Your choice! Add the chopped kale or spinach at this time too. I added a lot of kale, because it cooks down 90%.

3) Once the sausage has browned to your liking, add it to your crockpot.

4) Stir to incorporate, then add your Italian seasoning and salt, stirring again.

5) Cook on low for 4-5 hours, and enjoy!

Coconut Kiwi Pineapple Kombucha

We drink kombucha every single day. It tastes delicious and is a great probiotic. We normally keep it pretty simple with our flavorings, but I wanted to try and recreate some of the tasty store-bought kombucha drinks that we have tried and loved. This one was a take on a brand we like, and I think the finished product tastes pretty delicious and the coconut water adds some extra deliciousness and health benefits!

Ingredients
1) 24 ounces of unflavored kombucha
2) 1/2 cup of coconut water
3) 1/4 cup of pineapple
4) 1 kiwi

Instructions
1) Add the coconut water, pineapple and kiwi to a blender or food processor.
2) Puree until smooth.

3) Add mixture to a 32oz jar, and then fill the rest of the way with the kombucha (about 24 ounces).
4) Store in the fridge immediately if you want to drink right away, or let sit on the counter for a day to add more carbonation and then refrigerate.

Easy Tuna Cakes

I've been a little lazy with my cooking lately. I've been eating a lot of tuna mixed with homemade mayo, or chicken mixed with mayo. Not sure if it's because it's so hot everyday here, or because I'm just a little overwhelmed in school and don't want to spend any time in the kitchen.

But I was really wanting a different texture the other day, and decided to try and whip up a tuna cake with my tuna, instead of just mixing it with mayonnaise. This recipe was super quick, simple, and tasted really great! I loved the crispy outside of it, and I have been making it pretty often ever since!

Ingredients
1) 7 oz can of tuna, drained
2) 1 egg
3) 1/4 cup of almond flour
4) Salt and pepper
5) A little oil for the pan (I used ghee)

Instructions
1) Heat up a pan or cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
2) Drain your tuna, and add it to a bowl, along with your egg and almond flour. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3) Stir all the ingredients together to fully incorporate.

4) Add a little oil to your pan to thinly coat and prevent sticking. Then form small balls of your tuna mixture, and flatten them out on your skillet. Mine made 4 small cakes.

5) Cook for 6-7 minutes, until starting to brown.

6) Flip over your cakes and cook an additional 5-6 minutes, until brown on both sides.
7) Enjoy!

Blueberry Frozen Dessert

My boyfriend refused to call this ice cream, but that's essentially what it is. He said it's a "frozen dessert", so I have named it as such! We've been doing a much stricter Paleo the past month, which means no ice cream for either of us. He's been wanting some lately, and so I was trying to figure out a way to make a version he would like. I've made a few before using our ice cream maker, and I thought they were really good! But my boyfriend said they just weren't the same as his beloved Blue Bell.

So instead of using a bunch of coconut milk and then using the ice cream maker to solidify it, I had seen some recipes just using frozen bananas as the base. My boyfriend's new favorite ice cream is a combination of vanilla, strawberry and blueberry ice cream. We just got a bunch of blueberries from his family and so I thought I'd try to at least recreate the blueberry part of the ice cream he loves so much.

.....and success! He loved it! Plus it's no sugar added, which is awesome. But if you like yours sweeter, you could add some honey to it as well. You could also add in some nuts or coconut flakes or whatever else you like!

Ingredients

1) 3 frozen bananas (best to peel them and chop them up, then throw them in a ziplock bag and freeze them. I bought a bunch of extra bananas at Costco and so now we have tons in the freezer)

2) 1 cup of frozen blueberries + 1/3 cup for topping

3) 1/2 cup of thick coconut milk (make your own or skim the top of a can of coconut milk)

Optional: 1T honey, coconut flakes, crushed nuts, other fruit...

Instructions

1) Throw the bananas, frozen blueberries and coconut milk into a food processor.

2) Blend for 2-3 minutes, until everything is smooth and combined. It should be thick!

3) Top with remaining blueberries (and/or other toppings too!) and stir in to incorporate.

Paprika Crispy Skin Chicken Legs

I don't know about you, but I seriously love crispy skin chicken. I cannot get enough of it! My future mother-in-law didn't really know this about me yet, but she made a delicious roasted chicken leg when we visited and I was in love! So this recipe is my take on her dish and I think I did her justice!

You could make this recipe with chicken thighs or chicken drumsticks if you don't have the whole leg, but it should be bone in and skin on for best results.

Ingredients
1) 4-6 bone-in, skin on chicken legs (thigh + drumstick)
2) 1 teaspoon of ghee, coconut oil, or olive oil
3) 1/2 tablespoon paprika
4) 1 teaspoon salt
5) 1/2 teaspoon pepper

**Servings: 2-4**

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Place your chicken legs in a 9x13 pan, or a 9x9 pan if they fit.

3) Rub each chicken leg with a little of your cooking oil.
4) In a small bowl, mix together the spices.

5) Rub the spices generously over each of the legs.

6) Place the pan in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
7) After 30 minutes, you will cook for an additional 25-30 minutes, basting with the liquid at the bottom of the pan every 5 minutes. This is the KEY to crispy skin! Don't skip this part!

8) Once the skin is nice and crispy, you are done! You can check this with a thermometer to ensure a greater than 165 degree internal temperature, but after 60 minutes it will absolutely be above that. Eat up! It's delicious!

Shredded Pork Hash Egg Bake (Paleo-Zone)

Our super amazing friends have been trading up grain-free cookies in exchange for them smoking us a bunch of pork. We are so lucky! I've been using the pork a lot just for salads, but wanted to try and make a breakfast-y dish with it. I used regular russet potatoes for this recipe, but you could substitute for sweet potatoes if you prefer. The result was delicious, and the apple added a nice sweetness in the background.

This meal is Paleo-Zone! Hooray! I haven't posted one of those forever. If you're not concerned with balancing your macro nutrients as much, you don't have to be quite as specific with your measurements.

Ingredients
1) 10oz pound of cooked, shredded pork (10P)
2) 10 eggs (10P, 20F)
3) 1 onion, diced (3C)
4) 1 apple, diced (2C)
5) 1.5 pound of potatoes, diced (15C)
Total: 20P, 20C, 20F -- 20 blocks

Instructions
1) Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Then, chop up your potatoes.
2) Add your potatoes to the heated skillet. If you had a pan that is not non-stick, you may need to add a little oil to ensure the potatoes do not stick.

3) Let the potatoes cook for 10 minutes, and during this time chop up your apple, onion, and your shredded pork.
4) After the 10 minutes, add in your apple and onion. Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are 90% soft. They'll cook the rest of the way in the oven.

**Now preheat your oven to 350 degrees**

5) Fold in your chopped shredded pork.

6) Transfer all of your food into a 9x13 cooking dish.

7) In a separate bowl, whisk together your 10 eggs. Then pour on top of your food, and stir to mix it all together.

8) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until the eggs are firm. Enjoy!

Cabbage, Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry

I will tell you what--the pre-shredded bags of cabbage that you would use to make coleslaw are seriously my favorite thing right now. So easy to just throw a bag in with what I'm cooking and add some delicious texture and a healthy dose of veggies! So this stir-fry essentially stemmed from me having some shredded cabbage and celery that were about to go bad. Decided to saute it all up and WOW it was delicious! I used coconut aminos to give it more flavor, but you could use a gluten-free soy sauce if you have one. The longer this cooks, the better, so try and do the whole hour if you can!

Ingredients
1) 2 pounds of ground beef
2) 1 head of cabbage, shredded (or 1 bag of pre-shredded lettuce)
3) 2 onions, diced
4) 1.5 pounds of carrots, sliced or diced
5) 3 cups of diced celery (about 10 sticks)
Extra: 1/4 cup of coconut aminos or soy sauce alternative
Also: Salt and Pepper

Instructions
1) Heat up a large pan over medium-high heat. Add your ground beef and diced onions and saute about 10 minutes, until cooked.

2) Add your chopped carrots and celery, and then add your coconut aminos. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on as well.

3) Stir in your cabbage. If your pan isn't big enough to accommodate all of the cabbage, add as much as you can and after 10-15 minutes it will cook down enough where you can add the rest. (This is what I did).

4) Reduce heat to medium and cover with a lid. Cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes to ensure nothing burns.
5) Season with salt and pepper to taste. I ended up about a teaspoon or so of salt until it was where I wanted it flavor wise.
6) Enjoy! Leftovers are fantastic!

6-Ingredient Chicken Fajita Enchilada Casserole

That name is a mouthful...

I am so busy with school lately, it's just crazy. So on the weekends I need to cook up a storm to try and make it so I don't have to worry about anything during the week. So I am becoming obsessed with my crockpot and with casseroles. I just keep throwing together meat, veggies and usually a few eggs to tie it together and then baking it for an hour. Luckily for me, they keep tasting great! I picked up a can of enchilada sauce a very long time ago and it just sat it our cupboard for months, until I thought I'd just throw it in with a chicken casserole I was attempting. The result was delicious! Enjoy! I added the bell peppers too, which made it technically 6-ingredients, but you could sub out or in any veggies you had on hand or wanted to throw in.

Ingredients
1) 20oz of cooked, shredded chicken (I had cooked up some in my crockpot, but you could use a rotisserie chicken or whatever you have on hand. This was 1.5 pounds raw and came out to 20oz cooked)
2) 3 eggs
3) 1 cup of enchilada sauce (read the label and make sure it's not full of junk!)
4) 2 cans (15oz each) of diced tomatoes
5) 1 onions, diced
6) 2 bell peppers, diced
Extra: 1 teaspoon of chili powder, salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
1) Heat up a large skillet over medium heat and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Chop up your onion and green peppers, and add to the hot skillet with a little cooking oil of your choice.

3) Saute for about 10 minutes until tender. Add optional 1 teaspoon of chili powder to the the veggies now, plus some salt and pepper.

4) In a 9x13 pan, add your shredded chicken and diced tomatoes. Then add your cooked onion and green peppers. Stir to incorporate.

5) Mix your eggs and enchilada sauce in a separate bowl. Add in some salt and pepper here as well to flavor the liquid.

6) Add your egg mixture to the pan and stir to fully incorporate.

7) Cook at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. Top with some guacamole if you'd like!

6-Ingredient Pork and Cabbage Stew

Pork and cabbage pair so well together! I had some leftover pork loin in the freezer and wanted to just throw a quick stew together to simmer all day while I worked on homework. This turned out amazing!


Ingredients
1) 2 pound pork loin, pork butt or pork tenderloin
2) 1/2 to 1 small head of cabbage, shredded
3) 1-1.5 pounds of carrots, sliced into discs or diced
4) 2-3 green peppers, diced
5) 1 onion, diced
6) 2 cups of beef stock, chicken stock, or water (I actually had 2 cups of leftover broth after making some ribs, so I used that)
Extra: Salt and Pepper

Instructions
1) Get out your crockpot.
2) Chop up your veggies.

3) Place all your carrots, onions, and green peppers in the crockpot. Add in 1/2 of your shredded cabbage (this should fill up your entire crockpot, basically). Mix to distribute the veggies.
4) Take your pork and bury it in the bottom of the mixed veggies. Season with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper.

5) Cook on low for 10-12 hours, stirring every 3-4 hours if you can, to help the veggies on top get cooked too.

6) After about half your cooking time is done, the veggies should have shrank and you should be able to add in the remainder of your cabbage if you'd like. You could omit this and it would still be delicious.
7) Continue to cook until you reach at least 10 hours. You could cook as long as you'd like, it will just get better and better! I started it first thing in the morning, around 7am and it was ready for a late dinner. Once done cooking, take two forks and shred your pork into your stew. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!