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.