Category Archives: Food

Pork Meatballs with Apples, Onions + Toasted Walnuts

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If you would have told me a year ago that I would now be cooking and eating meatballs, I may have thought you were crazy. But, here we are and that is exactly what I am doing. I have been buying local ground pork almost weekly and these meatballs are one of my favorite creations using it. They are a combination of ground pork, onions, apples, toasted walnuts, dried thyme, nutmeg, salt, pepper and eggs. That’s it.

So, they’re definitely different than a traditional meatball. There are no breadcrumbs in these. I did a bit of research and found several recipes that didn’t use breadcrumbs successfully, so I decided to leave them out. Out of everything in these meatballs, not one ingredient or flavor stands out in particular to me – it all just sort of comes together very well. They taste like warming fall nourishment. As far as how to serve them, we have done them several different ways – with spaghetti squash and a healthy serving of pecorino Romano cheese, with a lemon tahini sauce and plain with a side of roasted cauliflower. When I was testing these, there were so many days when I packed a few of these meatballs with a bunch of roasted veggies for my lunch – no sauce, no cheese and they were just amazing. Flavor-wise, I don’t know how they would be with a red sauce, but I think that they would taste amazing with a garlicky alfredo-ish sauce. That’ll be next on my list.

One other note on this recipe – I only tested this with ground pork, so I’m not sure how these would be with another type of ground meat. I do feel like the pork lends itself very well with the other flavors going on in this recipe.

Enjoy this fall nourishment!







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Pork Meatballs with Apples, Onions + Toasted Walnuts

Ingredients

  • 1 cup walnuts,
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 onion
  • 2 small apples
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 pounds ground pork
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons thyme
  • 2 teaspoons nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • Juice from one lemon

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

  2. Roughly chop onion and apple. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a pan over medium high heat and add onion, apple and minced garlic. Cook until slightly softened and slightly caramelized.

  3. Remove onion, apple and garlic mixture to a bowl and let cool slightly.

  4. Add walnuts to the pan, and cook over medium high heat until toasted. Remove from pan and place walnuts in a food processor. Process until crumb like in texture. Remove and set aside.

  5. Add onion, apple and garlic mixture to the food processor and process until slightly pureed, but with chunks remaining.

  6. In a large bowl, mix together ground pork, eggs, salt, thyme, nutmeg, black pepper, lemon juice, walnuts and onion, apple and garlic mixture. Mix until well combined.

  7. Form meatballs and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, or until internal temperature is almost at 160 degrees. Broil for 5 minutes to brown the top of the meatballs and to finish cooking.

 

Grain Free Peach Crisp Bars

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These peach crisp bars were created out of my desire to have a dessert/snack using end-of-summer peaches, and that were free of white sugar and flour. This recipe is for all of you like me, who want dessert, but also want to be healthy. These peach crisp bars:
-are grain free
-have no added sugar (they’re naturally sweetened with dates)
-utilize delicious end of summer peaches
-are tasty and filling
Let’s talk about what makes them so excellent.

The crisp
The crisp part of this dessert is made simply out of five main ingredients: whole pecans, almond flour, (unsweetened) coconut, coconut oil (you can use butter, too) and dates. There’s also a bit of salt and vanilla in there. It’s extremely easy to prepare – all of the ingredients are added to a food processor and mixed until crumbly.
A note on the dates – here are the dates that I use and highly recommend. These dates are perfectly textured and the pits are easy to remove. They blend up into a perfect date paste which is what I use in this dessert. To make the date paste, you simply place the dates in your food processor and process until they come together to form a ball of paste. That is the only sweetener used in this recipe.

The peaches
I kept the peaches super simple for this – they are diced and then mixed with just a bit of arrowroot starch, in order for the peach layer to thicken while baking. I use arrowroot starch but you could just as easily use another starch, like corn starch. You don’t have to do this, but I like smashing the peaches up a bit with the back of my spoon while mixing together the peaches and arrowroot. 

I love this dessert because it’s wholesome, it’s healthy and I can eat it without consuming lots of sugar. It’s a great dessert but would also make a wonderful snack, or even breakfast!










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Grain Free Peach Crisp Bars

Ingredients

Peaches

  • 4 cups peaches, diced
  • 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch

Crust/Crisp

  • 6-8 dates, depending on your preferred sweetness
  • 1 cup pecans
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 tablespoons coconut oil, or butter

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish by lining with parchment paper or greasing well. Set aside.

  2. Add the diced peaches to a bowl and sprinkle the arrowroot starch on top. Mix well, even smashing some of the peaches with the back of your spoon. Set aside.

  3. Add dates to a food processor and process until they form a ball of paste. Remove and set aside.

  4. Add pecans, almond flour and coconut to the food processor. Pulse a few times. Add the salt, vanilla extract, coconut oil and date paste and process until mixture is well combined and crumbly.

  5. Add about 2/3 of the crisp mixture to the bottom of prepared baking dish. With a spoon, smooth out the crust evenly. Top the crust with the peaches. Crumble remaining crisp mixture over peaches.

  6. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until peach layer is bubbling and the top is slightly browned. I recommend letting it cool completely before serving.

Five End of Summer Recipes

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I’m trying my best to make the most of the end of my favorite season. For me that looks like spending as much time outside as possible, taking extra moments to be grateful for warm weather, and cooking with as much fresh produce as I can. In case you’re looking for a bit of end of summer cooking inspiration, here are five recipes from my site that are perfect for this time of year!

This peach + cucumber fresh lemonade. I haven’t made this lemonade in years, but looking back on the post has me craving it like crazy. This combination of peach, cucumber and lemon is so, so delicious and refreshing.

This peach + blueberry pico de gallo. This is an awesome appetizer, is so easy to make and would be so good right now with end of summer produce. Use this as a dip with tortilla chips or top your favorite tacos with it!

This late summer pasta: homemade noodles with pesto + tomatoes. This would be the perfect dish to cook on a summer day when all that you want to do is stay at home and cook a wonderful meal. There is something so special about making noodles from scratch and then adding fresh, seasonal produce to them. This is definitely on my end of summer cooking bucket list.

These herbed zucchini noodles with grilled shrimp and tomatoes. We’ve got lots of tomatoes right now in south central Pennsylvania, and they would be perfect in this light and summery dish. We are also trying to grill as much as possible right now, and this light and healthy dish is cooked completely on the grill.

This blueberry crisp. This recipe is not mine – it is from Shauna Niequist’s book Bread and Wine. I love this recipe so much that I shared it a few years ago on my blog, and I still love it the same. This crisp is made with olive oil, almond flour and nuts and makes a perfect snack, dessert or even breakfast. It’s wonderful with summertime blueberries – either fresh or frozen.

Happy end of summer cooking and eating!

Mustard Potato Salad

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I know that potato salad does not sound overly exciting, but to me, this recipe makes it exciting. I love the idea of potato salad, but I’m just not in love with traditional mayo-based versions. This one is everything I’d want in a potato salad and satisfies that craving – it’s full of tangy, mustardy flavor and is still creamy but with no mayo. Here’s what makes it so great:

The potatoes
The potatoes are roasted for this dish rather than boiled like a lot of other potato salads. Roasted potatoes are sturdy and slightly crispy so they make a great base, and they just take potato salad to a whole new level. To add even more flavor to this dish, the potatoes are tossed with a bit of oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary before roasting. I used a combination of mini purple and gold potatoes for this, but you could really use any potatoes that you would like.

The dressing
The dressing is a simple but flavorful mixture of grainy Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, lemon and a bit of salt, pepper and oil. Everything is added to a jar and shaken until well combined. I used this mustard and think it worked just perfectly.

The extras
We decided to add hard boiled eggs and thinly sliced red onions to our potato salad and could not have been happier with that combination. The eggs add great flavor and almost a creaminess to the potato salad once everything is mixed together. The red onions – if sliced thin enough – add amazing flavor and just a bit of crunch. 






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Mustard Potato Salad

Ingredients

Potatoes

  • 2 pounds potatoes, diced
  • 2 tablespoons avocado oil, or oil of your choice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 4-5 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup avocado oil, or oil of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the salad

  • 5 hard boiled eggs, chopped
  • 1/4 of a red onion, thinly sliced

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

  2. Toss potatoes with avocado oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary.

  3. Arrange potatoes on baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, or until soft on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside.

  4. For the dressing, combine avocado oil, mustard, lemon, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper in a jar and shake until well combined.

  5. Once potatoes are roasted, let cool slightly. Toss potatoes with chopped hard boiled eggs, sliced red onion and dressing.

  6. Enjoy warm, at room temperature or cold.

Herb + Garlic + Lemon Baked Chicken

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When I first started cooking meat back in January, I definitely did not know what I was doing. I didn’t think there would be any way that I’d be coming up with my own recipes any time soon, but after lots of time in the kitchen, this chicken recipe came to be and is one of our new favorite things that I’ve made.

It’s so easy to make and is so incredibly tasty – all that you do is rub the chicken with salt, pepper and a little homemade rub, and then bake it until cooked through.

The rub
The rub is a mixture of fresh herbs – basil, sage and rosemary – fresh lemon juice and zest, fresh garlic and just a bit of oil. You could definitely mix up the herb mixture depending on what you like/have, but this combination is just so delicious. And a note on the lemon – the end result of this recipe is not overly lemony, but if you aren’t a huge lemon fan, you could definitely use less. I use avocado oil in this but I think that most oils would work just fine.

The chicken
I have been getting all of our chicken locally, and I buy whatever is available that day. Usually, it’s a whole chicken, chicken quarters, or like in these photos, chicken legs – always skin on. You can definitely use any type of chicken that you like, using the same rub and method and just adjusting the cooking time depending on what you’re baking. The amount of rub that this recipe makes is enough for about 6-8 average servings of chicken, no matter the cut. While this recipe is very easily modified depending on what you have, made as is, the flavor and texture of the chicken is just so delicious.

One other note – the side dish that is shown in these photos is worth mentioning – it’s something that Greg and I make all of the time and is so delicious. It’s collard greens and kale, cooked in butter with fresh garlic, salt, pepper and lots of fresh lemon juice. For this batch, we added fresh Romanesco cauliflower because we had some that needed to be used.  I will think about sharing the recipe at some point :).







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Herb + Garlic + Lemon Baked Chicken

Ingredients

  • 4 large garlic cloves minced
  • 1 bunch fresh basil chopped
  • 1 bunch fresh sage chopped
  • 1 bunch fresh rosemary chopped
  • Zest from one lemon
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons avocado oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 6-8 servings chicken, about 3-4 pounds

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

  2. In a small bowl, combine minced garlic, chopped herbs, lemon zest, lemon juice and avocado oil. Stir well to combine.

  3. In a large bowl, toss the chicken with salt and pepper. I usually use about 1/4 teaspoon of both salt and pepper per serving of chicken. Add garlic, herb and lemon mixture and toss to completely coat the chicken.

  4. Arrange chicken on a baking sheet and cook until internal temperature reads 165 degrees, about 20-30 minutes.