Savory Paleo Butternut Squash Latkes

So what to eat when you are grain free and recoverying from a Rota-virus and the recommended 'BRAT DIET' of bananas, rice, applesauce and toast ends up being the BA diet of Bananas and applesauce! 

Look in the fridge and throw together what you think might be 'safe' to digest from the leftovers there so you do not to spend too much time standing at the stove and yet will still have lots of healthy benefits to get you back on your feet!

Butternut squash  packs a lovely punch of vitamin B6, essential for the proper functioning of both the nervous and immune systems so lets use up t hat!

Parsley  is rich in many vital vitamins, including Vitamin C, B 12, K and A. This means parsley keeps your immune system strong, tones your bones and heals the nervous system, too. It helps flush out excess fluid from the body, thus supporting kidney function.

Garlic which helps to boost immunity and detoxify the body so is an awesome aresenol in the diet to fight off sickness! 

Ginger has a long history of use for relieving digestive problems such as nausea, loss of appetite, motion sickness and pain. 

Onions improve the working of Vitamin C in the body, thus gifting you with improved immunity.

Bacon  ~ well everything tastes better with bacon but it is actually GOOD for your health too!

So put them together with a couple clean eating staples like an egg, almond flour and coconut oil and what can you make?  

Savory Paleo Butternut Squash Latkes

Makes approximately 6 Latkes how many that serves depends on your appetite!

What You Need

• 2 cups of cooked butternut squash ~ scooped out of the skin.
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of almond flour
• 2 slices of cooked bacon very finely diced to help with digestion
• 1/2 an onion finely diced to help with digestion
• 1 Garlic glove minced for its antibacterial punch
• 1 pinch of ginger for its soothing tummy affects
• Few sprigs of fresh parsley 
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

What You Do

• In a bowl beat the egg well and add the remain ingredients to mix.
• Melt coconut oil over medium heat and drop a 'patty full' scoop onto the frying pan and flatten even with flipper. 
• Brown on each side for about 4 minutes until heated through.
• Serve as a meal on their own or as a side with some meat and veggies!

Nutritional Breakdown  

Based on the recipe making 'six' latkes ... the coconut oil and bacon gives it a bad 'saturated fat' rating but you need to decide for yourself if you feel this is a 'healthy fat' option or a 'bad fat' option cause IMO their analysis does not discriminate between fats when I put nuts in there they say they are bad too and nuts are full of healthy fats!

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much!

Be  Totallyawake4-life

Savory Paleo Butternut Squash Latkes

BBQ Squash French Fries and Poco Picante Chicken

BBQ Butternut Squash Fries with Poco Picante Chicken

BBQ Butternut Squash Fries

Used the process from here but used different flavoring ~ the Epicure BBQ chip seasoning however  you can easily DIY your own BBQ seasoning for this as well I just prefer having the guess work taken out.

Epicure BBQ Chip Seasoning

DIY BBQ Seasoning


What You Need

• 1/2 cup paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
• Salt ~ optional most recipes call for this but I personally do not add salt to any recipe

What You Do

• Mix all spices into a air tight container ~ use to taste in your recipes

Poco Picante Chicken

What You Need

• 4-5 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts
• 4-5 teaspoons Poco Picante Spices ~ again lazy chef I use Epicure blend because it is quick and easy but if you do not have access to Epicure Selections representative you can DIY using Salsa spice 
• 1 tsp Coconut oil

What You Do

• Grease your casserole dish with coconut oil
• Rinse your meat and sprinkle each piece of chicken with 1 teaspoon of the poco picante seasoning
• Bake in the oven at 350F for 30-45 minutes until no longer pink in the middle or if using a meat thermometer the temperature of 165 F is reached when inserted in the middle.

 DIY Poco Picante DRY Seasoning

What You Need

Epicure Selections Poco Picante

• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp red chili peppers
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper or more to taste for 'hot preferences'
• 1 tbsp garlic seasoning 
• 1 tsp black pepper 
• 2 tsp ground cumin 
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp ground oregano 
• 1 tbsp coriander
• 1 tbsp onion flakes

What You Do

•  Mix all spices and store in air tight container labelled 'Poco Picante spices'

 

Poco Picante Chicken with BBQ Butternut Squash

This is one of my favorite meals cause it packs a lot of flavor but is low sodium, low carb and high protein and full of awesome nutrients and ready in under 45 minutes from start to finish most of which the time spent 'cooking 'is very low maintenance so I can be multi tasking other things! 

Have an amazing day!

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Totallyawake4-life

Tasty Low Carb Fries no BS

Photo shared from Low-Cholesterol.com

When I first saw the photos like this of 'low carb' french fry options I thought those have to be BS trick photography ... there is no way that they can be low carb because they look so tasty just like a real french fry does and all crispy and well just YUMMY FOOD PORN .... so I went on to do some investigating cause with removing 'grains' from my diet that means no potatoes either and no french fries on burger night with the family.  Turns out technically I was right  about them being BS cause when I clicked to find out HOW they were low carb I found out they are made of wait for it ... Butternut Squash!

 

French Fry comparison chart

Working in my field 'flavorless baby food' is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of butternut squash so when I found out that it could be a health version of a FRENCH FRY  I was admittedly a little skeptical cause fresh fries are CRISPY on the outside and well squash got its name because it is well SQUASHY! 

However that said the 'low carb' claim for them held true compared to other popular french fry mediums over here on the right that I looked up online the butternut squash is the lowest calorie and carb option and still packs a punch of some fiber, protein and vitamins. Over all a nice sound choice nutritionally specially for someone like me who struggles with glucose issues! 

So the next question of course was how do they TASTE? Cause they looked lovely enough to fool the eye into accepting them HOWEVER the taste buds need to be convinced too!

What You Need

• Butternut squash ~ size depends on how many people you are feeding we chose a small one 
• 1 tablespoon Coconut oil melted (optional)
• Seasoning of choice ~ I used Epicure Chipolte Ranch  
•  Parchment paper

 

Low Carb French Fries? Tell me more!

What You Do

• Peel the squash. I found it easiest to cut it in half at the fat part so it was 'flat' and I peeled it with a sharp knife by hand.
• De-seed the large end of the squash
• Slice the squash into 'french fry size' pieces.
• In a bowl toss the squash with coconut oil I opted for this to help my spices evenly coatc an stick but the original recipe that inspired me did not have oil. Add your seasoning of choice in the quantity to taste. We eat a low sodium diet so not add salt but you could add salt only or spices of choice.  I used 1 tablespoon of the Epicure Chipolte Ranch seasoning for the whole squash 
• Lay out evenly on the parchment paper covered stone or pan.
• Bake at 400F for 20-30 minutes depending on how crispy you like your 'fries'. When we are in a hurry I put them on broil for the last 3-5 minutes to help get that crispy edge.
• Serve as a side with your favorite burger recipe. We had them with bunless Cheddar Bacon burgers. 

BS Fries & Bunless Burger

Definitely MY new favorite way to make french fries and my spouse enjoyed them as well. However in the interest of honesty the teenager in the house decided after about 3 fries that he prefers his McCain's frozen french fries after all and well he's old enough now to cook his own meals cause I am not a restaurant ... one meal on the menu like it or leave it ;-) 

ETA I have since tried these with the daycare kiddies ~ so my guess based on experience is hook them young before they get too addicted to the frozen french fry. Based on how well they were accepted I do not think they noticed a difference between these and other 'french fries' cause they gobbled them up! Gives great peace of mind knowing that these were a nice healthy version that were quick and easy to make!

So what's your favorite French Fry medium? The Potato, the Sweet Potato or are you wiling to give the BS Fries a try?

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live well, Laugh Often, Love Much!

Totallyawake4-life.com