Sensational Tuna Salad

Look what my children surprised me with for lunch today!  It was absolutely SENSATIONAL!  I think they are ready to use our summer vegetables and couldn’t pass up this colorful, scrumptious combination!

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: approx 15 min
• Difficulty: super easy
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Sensational, super easy tuna salad.

Credit: The Functional Perspective
Inspired by: Family original!

Ingredients

• 2 cans of Tuna
• 1-2 Apples – diced
• 5-6 Sweet Peppers – diced
• 3 Stalks of Celery – diced
• 1/2 can of Olives – chopped
• 1/8 cup of Onion – chopped
• Olive oil or other oil to taste
• optional: Sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cranberries

Directions

1. Rinse and chop vegetables and mix all ingredients in a bowl. Serve with lettuce for a great lunch during hot summer months!

Breakfast “pudding”

Another delicious breakfast, comfort food 🙂

Delicious Breakfast 'Pudding'

• Servings: 1
• Time: 15-20 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Delicious Breakfast 'Pudding'

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 1 T grass-fed butter
• 2 cup coconut or almond milk
• 3 T chia seeds
• 3 T ground flax seed

Optional Toppings:

• chopped pecans
• chopped almonds
• hemp hearts
• fresh berries
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. In a medium sauce pan on medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 cup of coconut milk, chia seed and flax.
2. Stir Continuously, adding in the remaing coconut/nut milk until thick (around 3-4 min)
3. Pour in bowl and top with berries, nuts and/or other seeds
4. Enjoy!

Super easy grain-free “Oatmeal”

There is nothing like a warm breakfast that is filled with scrumptious flavors!!!

• Servings: 1
• Time: 10-15 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Super easy grain-free 'oatmeal'

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup raw nut mixture of almonds and pecans soaked
• 1/2 cup coconut or nut milk
• 1 pitted medjool date, soaked for 10 minutes in hot water
• 3-4 tsp chia seeds
• 1/4 cup fresh berries
• 1 tsp grass-fed butter (optional)
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. In high powered blender blend up coconut flakes, chia and nuts
2. add in date and ‘milk’ blend well
3. serve warm or cold – topped with berries

Incredible “Insant” Soup!

Well – I purchased another kitchen gadget, one of the latest crazes, an Instant Pot.  It is my first pressure cooker and I have been rather amazed at the results!  Today we needed some broth quick so decided to see if this new gadget could deliver as it claims… I will go ahead and let the cat out of the bag I was VERY pleased! I forgot to add salt but have to say this was the most flavorful basic broth I have had!

• Servings: 3-4
• Time: approx 30 min
• Difficulty: easy
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A tasty QUICK soup when you are in a pinch.

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 1 Leek
• 5-6 Celery Stalks
• 1 Small Onion
• 1-2 TB Ghee

Directions

1. Chop veggies
2. Pre-heat instant pot with the SAUTE setting
3. When it turned “HOT” then I added the ghee and sauteed veggies
4. Once veggies were just under being fully cooked I added water to the 1/2 mark inside the pot
5. Then chose the SOUP setting – adjusted to “LESS”
6. Closed the lid and let it do its thing!

Delicious, Mayo-Free Tuna Salad!

One of my favorite quick dishes is egg salad, tuna or chicken salad.  The problem which I have encountered is I am not a fan of mayonnaise.  When we changed our diet it became one of my quests to find an alternative. Well – here is one of our favorite replacements.  This works for chicken or tuna, I happened to make tuna today:

• Servings: 3-4
• Time: 15-20 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Delicious Mayonnaise Free Tuna Salad

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 1 Boiled Egg
• 1 Can Tuna
• 3-4 Small Stalks of Celery
• 1/2 large Cucumber – diced
• 1/4 c diced Onion
• 1/2 Avocado
• pinch of Salt (optional)
• 1 TB Olive Oil
–

Directions

1. Either start your egg first to boil it while you prepare the rest – or go ahead and move on to the next step. Put egg in pan of water and turn on high heat – keep covered, when water is boiling remove from heat and let sit for about 10 minutes.
2. Rinse and chop Celery and Cucumber – add to mixing bowl.
3. Chop, dice small amount of onion – add to mixing bowl.
4. Add Tuna to mixing bowl.
5. Mash up boiled egg in a small separate bowl, IF making fresh boiled egg let cool just a tad. Then add Avocado and Olive Oil and mix together well. Can add salt at this step.
6. Once the avocado and egg are blended up add to the rest of the ingredients and mix well. This is wonderful when served on a bed of lettuce with a few apple slices! We love to sprinkle our favorite herbs on top.
7. TIPS: Keep a couple of boiled eggs on hand to use to make a quick snack with left over chicken, turkey or for a day when you just don’t want to cook!

Super easy grain-free banana pancakes

There is nothing like a warm breakfast that is filled with scrumptious flavors!!!

Super Easy Flourless Banana Pancakes

• Servings: 1-2
• Time: 15-20 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Super yummy grain-free, flourless banana pancakes

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 1 Egg
• 2 Bananas
• pinch of Salt (optional)
• Butter or Oil to grease pan

Directions

1. Peel and mash Bananas
2. add Egg & stir well
3. Grease hot griddle or skillet and Pour small amount onto hot griddle (medium heat, not too hot) or into a hot skillet
4. Cook approximately 3-4 minutes on each side (varies depending on skillet temperature)
5. Serve warm!
6. TIPS: You don’t want the heat too high or they get done on the outside too fast.  They seem to cook better on medium to medium-low heat.  I sprinkle just a touch of salt on pancakes after finished cooking.  Also- they can be difficult to flip, highly recommend a very thin metal spatula for flipping.  And when you grease your skillet or griddle use a cold oil, such as butter straight out of the refrigerator or cold coconut oil from refrigerator.

Celeriac Surprise Soup

We really enjoyed the Celeriac Creamy (or Not) soup that I made last week and decided to try our hand at another celeriac combination! So, I looked in our refrigerator to see what I could throw together and thus I present:

 

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 2hr 30mins
• Difficulty: easy
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Tasty combination of celeriac, leeks, asparagus and mushrooms.

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 1 Celeriac Root
• 10-12 stalks of Asparagus
• 1 small Leek
• 5 ounces Shiitake Mushrooms
• 1 tsp salt (I use Himalayan or Real Salt)
• 1 TB Coconut Oil or Grass-fed Butter
• 1 TB of Olive Oil
• 6 cups Water
• Optional: 1-2 cups homemade beef or chicken broth (I used some beef broth, a little over a cup)
• Optional garnishes: Spoonful of Chilled Coconut Milk, Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Parsley or other Herbs

Directions

1. Rinse, peel and chop Celeriac
2. Melt oils, on medium heat, in large stock pot and add Celeriac
3. While Celeriac is sauteing rinse and chop Leek, Asparagus and mushrooms.  Occasionally stirring Celeriac.
4. Add Leeks, Asparagus and Mushrooms.  Saute and stir about 3-4 minutes.
5. Add water and bring to a boil. Then cover and turn down to a low boil/simmer for about 2 hours
6. After almost two hours add optional broth and simmer another 10 minutes
7. Garnish with spoonful of coconut milk, parsley, pumpkin seeds or other favorite garnishes!
8. TIPS – I will often add a cup or two of beef or chicken broth during the remaining 10 min – especially the broth that is saved from a roast.

‘Pearfectly’ Steamed Cinnamon Pears

Yet one more delicious item from my Azure Standard order… We have two cases and my darling husband came up with this recipe!

• Servings: 2
• Time: 10-15 min
• Difficulty: easy
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'Pearfect' blend of cinnamon with delectable pears.

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 4 small pears
• freshly ground Ceylon cinnamon

Directions

1. Rinse and peel pears(can leave peel on if preferred)
2. Steam pears for about 10 minutes
3. Sprinkle with Cinnamon
4. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Skillet Salmon w/ Lemon & Butter Sauce

Today was a very busy day!  Which is one of the reasons I love this dish so much.  It is super easy, no prep needed and provides us a way to get in those much needed omega-3s!

• Servings: 4
• Time: approx 20 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Savory Salmon with just the right amount of zesty lemon.

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 4 Salmon portions – fresh or thawed if previously frozen
• 2 TB +1 tsp Cold Grass-fed butter
• 1/2 Lemon
• Salt & Pepper – to taste
• Dill(Optional garnish)

Directions

1. Pre-heat skillet on medium heat
2. Once skillet is hot spread 1 TB of butter around bottom of skillet to lightly coat skillet, it may take less than the 1 TB depending on size of pan.
3. Place Salmon in skillet with skin side down (or if no skin the darker side where the skin was)
4. Cook for about 5 minutes then add in about 1 tsp of butter before flipping. If using salt sprinkle salt on top of salmon just prior to flipping this first time. As you flip spread some of the newly melted butter so it will be under the flipped salmon.
5. IF your salmon has skin, you can remove the skin at this point with a fork or two, peeling it off with edge of fork.
6. Squeeze a bit of Lemon over the salmon while it is cooking. Let it cook for 3-5 minutes and check for any pink in the middle. If there is pink you can continue to cook or flip one more time.
7. Once the salmon flakes and finished cooking remove from skillet and place on plates.
8. In same skillet melt the remaining butter, once butter is melted squeeze most of the 1/2 lemon. As you squeeze allow the juice to drizzle around the pan. It should sizzle. Let it sizzle for about 30 seconds then drizzle the lemon butter on the salmon.
9. Garnish with pepper and/or dill as desired.
10. TIPS: I only use stainless or cast iron pans. To keep foods from sticking I will heat up my pans before adding any oil. When I do add oil I make sure the oil is cold. Cold butter or cold coconut oil seems to work best at keeping things from sticking.

Scrumptious Leek & Spinach Stew

If you saw my post yesterday we made a fabulous leek dish which proved to be a hit with the family! I had a few more leeks and decided to see what I could come up with in the soup department… So with a few modifications I present Leek & Spinach Stew

• Servings: 3
• Time: approx 1 hour
• Difficulty: easy
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Flavor packed soup that warms the tummy and satisfies the taste buds.

Credit: The Functional Perspective

Ingredients

• 3 Large Leeks
• 3-4 cups Baby Spinach
• 3 Cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp salt (I use Pink Himalayan or Real Salt)
• 3-4 cups Broth (I used homemade beef 3 cups plus 1-2 cups of water)
• 1 TB Coconut Oil or Grass-fed Butter
• 2 TB of Olive Oil
• Optional garnishes: Parsley, Yogurt spice blend(Parsley, Oregano, Marjoram and Salt)

Directions

1. Rinse and slice Leeks
2. Melt Butter & Oil in stock pot, add in Leeks.
3. Lightly saute while chopping up Spinach and Garlic
4. Add Spinach, Garlic and Salt – continue to saute about 3-4 min
5. Add broth, bring to boil then simmer for approximately 30-40 minutes
6. Serve as is or garish individual servings with spices of choice or plain yogurt with spices.
7. TIPS – I purchase big containers of fresh baby spinach and put the container directly in the freezer. The spinach freezes without sticking together and is very easy to crumble when I am ready to use it.