Real Food

Green Beans with Bacon

Sauteed Green Beans with Bacon

Plain, steamed vegetables do not taste good. I recently ordered sauteed spinach at a restaurant, with no butter, please. Guess what they brought me: steamed spinach without a hint of oil, seasonings or flavors of any kind. Guess how it tasted: absolutely terrible! Note: In my experience, the chef at any decent restaurant will know…

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make your own chocolate chips

Make Your Own Chocolate Chips (and my favorite brand of chocolate)

Making these chocolate chips is not exactly rocket science, but I thought it might be helpful for those who are anything like I was at the beginning of our Strange New Dietary Journey: needing all the help I could get!

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World's Easiest Guacamole

World’s Easiest Guacamole

I love guacamole. Until Little Brother arrived on the scene, I was, alas, the only avocado-lover at the Yankee Homestead.  So sad. I made guacamole only for guests, because I was incapable of eating a whole batch on my own. Now I can whip up a small batch and even Mr. Native Texan will pitch in and…

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Pumpkin Nut Butter Brownies | Roots & Boots

Pumpkin Nut Butter Brownies

One of my favorite easy recipes for a healthy treat, these yummy Pumpkin Nut Butter Brownies are gluten-free, dairy-free, and Paleo.  They’re a staple at my house!

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Gingerbread Cookies (Babycakes Graham Crackers)

This recipe is adapted from BabyCakes Covers the Classics: Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes from Donuts to Snickerdoodles.   (Clicking on the book’s title, above, will take you to googlebooks where you can view the contents of the book online, purchase the e-book or click through to a variety of online retailers to buy a hard copy.  You can…

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raw cranberry sauce

Raw Cranberry Sauce (and more)

I love Elana’s Pantry! I do NOT love agave (more on that another time), which is heavily employed in many of her recipes.  Her recipes are a great springboard, however, although some recipes-with-agave are harder to adapt than others. We’ve used her recipe for Raw Cranberry Sauce for several major holiday meals now and really…

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Tender Marinated Steak Bites

Marinated Steak Bites

Marinated Steak Bites are a new favorite amongst the menfolk here at the Yankee Homestead.  Older Brother refers to it as “that steak cooked in lard.”  Mr. Native Texan calls it “perfect.” And to think, just a few years ago I was still refusing to eat red meat, let alone buy it or cook it for…

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Whole Chicken in the Crockpot

Whole Chicken in the Crockpot

Whole Chicken in the Crockpot is one of my go-to recipes for simple, real food meals.  With only the chicken plus four additional ingredients, I could probably make it in my sleep!

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Chunky Monkey

Chunky Monkey: a frozen, sugar-free treat

  This is one of Mr. Native Texan’s favorites, but we all love it here at the Yankee Homestead.  We relied heavily on this recipe at the beginning of our Strange New Journey.  Sometimes we’re too impatient to chill (ha!), but the chilling really does make a big difference.  The ingredients and amounts are suggestions; we…

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Coconut Crusted Salmon

Coconut Crusted Salmon

While there’s nothing wrong with simply prepared salmon, this Coconut Crusted Salmon brings a fun twist.

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