We love BBQ and prior to my discovery that gluten is death, we used to hang out at Famous Dave’s BBQ. I can’t eat there any longer as they use wheat in their sauces and every dish seems to be contaminated, but we loved Famous Dave’s Salmon Spread, before I also found out that dairy is death for me!
I can’t even eat this version of Famous Dave’s Salmon Spread, but it’s a favorite with my other half so I reverse engineered it from the menu and I do make it for him on occasion.
This is one of my favorite ways to use up leftover salmon and for those of you who can eat dairy, it’s a real treat! Awesome snack to take to parties as well. Once people get past how it looks and give it a try it tends to go pretty quick.
Back on 12/21/12, I competed at an End of The World Chili Cook-off. I made an awesome venison chili! I would have taken first place if I hadn’t over salted the chili, but other than that, it turned out so flavorful and delicious. I mean, venison chili!
Today’s a rainy and cold day here in Phoenix, so I thought I’d make a batch of this chili to warm us up. Why not share the recipe with you guys while I’m at it!
We’re really big on chili around here. What other dish is so hearty, meaty, delicious, and so incredibly easy to make in large quantities?
I usually put beans in chili, but this time I’ve omitted the legumes simply because I ran out of room in my crockpot! The absence of beans makes this recipe 100% keto and paleo friendly!
This recipe made a huge batch of chili and filled my 6-quart crockpot to the brim, so if you’ve got smaller appetites, no more room in the freezer, or you’re just not in the mood to eat chili every meal for a week you can cut the recipe down.
So, you know the bakery section of the grocery store? You know, where the brownies flirt shamelessly with you! Ugh, if only there were ultimate fudge keto brownies to rescue you from those sugar-filled store-bought devils.
Anyway, my husband is drawn to that bakery section. Every week we go shopping together as part of our Sunday ritual and every week he oggles the baked goods. The last couple of weeks those brownies have been catching his eye.
Cream cheese frosting is the easiest recipe on the planet. If you have a hand mixer and a few minutes of time to cream some stuff together you can make it. So, I’m not surprised that keto cream cheese frosting is also super easy. Just swap out the sweetener.
You can use this keto cream cheese frosting recipe for anything you want. I’ve seen people roll a dollop up inside a keto pancake or waffle. You can obviously top cakes, brownies, cupcakes, and donuts with it. Blake loves to frost my ultimate fudge keto brownies with it!
I’ve learned that it also freezes well. Since I’m dairy-free, I only make this for my husband. I usually end up using half a batch for whatever sweet it is he’s craving and then toss the rest in the freezer. When you thaw it out just mix it really well and it’s as good as new.
Taco night is the best night! Especially when you make clean tacos with this paleo taco seasoning recipe.
I dunno about you guys, but some days cooking is the last thing I want to do after a long day at work. I’d rather hang out with Mr. Rogue on the couch or spend some time outside! Right?
That means quick, easy, and tasty meals are my primary goal when planning out my menu. I always make sure I plan at least one or two quick and easy meals for the week (usually one for Monday night, cuz…ugh, Mondays). Hey, who said tacos only happen on Tuesdays?!
Anyway, here’s my go to spice mix for awesome tacos without all the modified food starch, gluten, and other nasties. This seasoning mix is great on beef, bison, chicken, turkey, whatever you want to put in your taco, taco salad, or lettuce taco wrap.
I love to add this spice mix, half of a minced onion, and roasted green chilies (The Pioneer Woman will show you how to roast green chilies, I keep these in the freezer at all times) to my taco meat for awesome flavor!
Oh, and don’t forget to use your leftover taco meat for an awesome Omelet a la Enchilada!
During my healing journey, I had many reactions to food. As my gut healed the foods I would react to would change. At one point I was even reacting to beef. That was one of the hardest dietary restrictions I’ve suffered through. I wanted a burger or a ribeye steak so bad I would have sold my soul!
However, this does mean that we’ve experimented with different game meats. We still eat a lot of wild game bison, venison, elk, and turkey are regulars on our menu. Tonight we tried quail for the first time. Blake has been trying to bag quail for a couple years now on his regular hunting trips and these little buggers are elusive. When I stumbled across a stack of frozen quail at Sprouts I snapped them up immediately.
I wasn’t sure how to cook these tiny birds at first but I decided that a bird is a bird and I made them the same way I would make a Cornish game hen. I decided since I need to take it easy on black pepper too, that I’d add a little cayenne pepper and they turned out pretty tasty.
These would pair well with any veggie, check out my grilled fennel recipe. The naturally sweet grilled fennel goes fabulously with the spiciness of the cayenne pepper on the quail!
Making lasting change is tough. Especially when it comes to your health and well being. The paleo diet is no different. The diet is high in protein and natural vegetables, eliminates highly processed foods and foods that are high in refined sugar. The Paleo diet also excludes alcoholic beverages, coffee and dairy products. That means you have to cut ties with many of your favorite foods right off the bat. Which can be difficult and stressful.
If you’re struggling, you are not alone! Unfortunately, many people struggle with maintaining the guidelines of this diet, at least at first. To assist you with overcoming these common pitfalls, I have listed 5 ways to overcome common paleo diet struggles.
I was listening to a podcast this morning from the guys over at Fizzle.com and they were going on and on about Bulletproof or ‘buttered’ coffee in their intro. I’ve heard of bulletproof coffee a lot lately, especially with the boom of the ‘fat movement’ and popularity of Paleo and low-carb lifestyles. Which I’ve followed for several years but I’m not sure if everyone knows what bulletproof coffee is or why people drink it.
So I took the topic to Google and found some interesting articles on the topic. One good article was from Fast Company, What it’s Like to Drink Bulletproof Coffee Every Morning for Two Weeks.They actually talk about the benefits of bulletproof coffee, which are actually kinda cool and it totally makes sense for folks who are trying to live a Paleo, Keto, or low-carb lifestyle.
Among Bulletproof coffee’s listed benefits: It triggers weight loss by way of ketosis, a metabolic state triggered by a lack of carbs that kicks fat-burning into overdrive; it kills pesky cravings; and it boosts cognitive function, mainlining a shining dose of mental clarity into your foggy morning skull. Maybe it would even fold my laundry.
If you think about it, bulletproof coffee is actually the perfect breakfast for folks like who are interested in improved nutrition, few carbs, and peace of body. In one cup you get a good number of calories, the pleasure of coffee, and good fasts that keep you satiated and set you up for success for the day.
I’m always down to try something new and when the grill is hot, it’s the perfect opportunity to throw some veggies on and see what happens. This time I tried grilled fennel and it turned out pretty good.
I never would have thought to grill fennel. I hardly ever think to eat it raw actually. Fennel just isn’t a veggie I think about often. I don’t even run across it very often in the grocery store. I’ll be looking for it more often now!
I can never get enough ideas for side dishes or ways to spice up veggies so this was a pleasant surprise. I have heard of people grilling greens. I’ve seen grilled romaine lettuce on several menus but I wasn’t sure about grilling more than peppers, onions, and mushrooms myself. Now I’m going to try and grill every veggies I come across. Ha!
Fennel is something I don’t usually eat, but have recently started to experiment with. It’s got a black licorice flavor and a super awesome crunch. I’ve used it in salads and roasted it, but I decided to toss it on the grill and it was fabulous. Try it for yourself or add it to a plate of grilled veggies!
I send Blake with a healthy homemade lunch every day of the week. He’s got a long haul to the office, an hour commute, and he needs to have food ready to keep his brain running optimally to concentrate.
So every Sunday I prep his lunch for the entire week in one shot. He’s a big guy and it takes a lot to fill him up and satisfy him. He cannot be hungry or he either won’t be able to concentrate or he’ll lose his mind and go on the rampage. Which isn’t good for anyone. So we tend to do a lot of crockpot meals and casseroles.
Lately variety has been an issue. We tend to make the same thing over and over again and he’s getting bored. So this weekend we decided to try something different. Different for us that is, the meal we decided on is actually a very common meal. We decided on a hearty beef stew.
Weight loss is an arduous task that requires commitment, consistency, and agility. Maintaining weight loss can be just as difficult. If you successfully lost weight, congratulations you’re amazing. Studies indicate that approximately 30% of weight loss strategies adopted by individuals fail within the first few months. You’ve beaten the odds, now you’ve just got to keep those pounds off. So how do you maintain weight loss? Hopefully, these tips will help.
The health benefits associated with an effective weight loss plan are profound. aside from this health perspective, weight loss has a positive effect in improving one’s self-esteem, social strata, employment opportunities, and improved drive for completion of physical, mental, and psychological tasks that were previously difficult.
However, in spite of these positive weight loss outcomes, the most difficult tasks are maintaining a long-term weight loss plan. Majority of people who engage in long term plans usually fail due to a variety of factors that are both internal and external. Therefore, prior to engaging in a long-term weight loss plan, one needs to understand some of these barriers to sustainable plan execution and results outcomes. This means that the individual should engage in a self-realization strategy that strives to identify these barriers, and formulate ways and methodologies for countering their effects. However, there is a universal plan and set of guidelines for enhancing a sustainable long-term weight loss.
Yup! Sometimes the best recipes come from just playing in the kitchen when a craving hits. That’s exactly how I figured out that bacon grease makes an amazing sugar cookie!
I make a ton of bacon. At least a pound each week, and I always save the bacon grease in my nifty grease keeper that always sits on my stove ready to capture that liquid gold! If you don’t save your bacon grease, what are you doing with your life? I love this little ceramic container and I would recommend it to anyone who is living the high-fat life.
Soooo, when that bacon grease starts to pile up, you need a good way to use it up to make room for the new stuff. I got to thinking, I wonder if I could use bacon grease in place of butter for baking. Since I have to be dairy free or face a very slow and painful death, I thought maybe this would be a good idea. Turns out, it’s a pretty damned good idea!
These are a little different in terms of texture, but I think they taste just like a real sugar cookie. You might want to grab a cold glass of water or almond milk to have with them. Blake also gave them a rave review! You should definitely give them a try!
Keto Peanut Butter Cup Recipe from eatbefitexplore.com
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. That means an overload of chocolate, strawberries, roses, all kinds of sugar packed desserts.
I got your back though! I’ve gathered five delicious keto Valentine’s Day dessert recipes. You can totally have your keto and eat your sweets too this Valentine’s day!
We had a blast talking about all things keto, food allergies, cancer treatment, therapeutic keto for cancer, my healing journey, and my desire to help others.
Keto Chocolate Covered Strawberries from HeatherCooan.com
The very first thing I ever tried to make keto was chocolate covered strawberries. It turned out to be way easier than I had expected and they were yummy!
The texture was perfect using coconut oil to create a keto magic shell kind of substance. It was sweet and crunchy and was the perfect contrast to the tart berry.
The coating isn’t as thick as the traditional chocolate covered strawberry. I’m sure you could refrigerate and then add a second and third coat of the magic shell to build it up a bit. I didn’t bother, I thought they were good with one coat.
These would be a great follow up to a romantic dinner or a great way to surprise your love for Valentine’s Day or on a random Tuesday evening when you want to get all romantic!
There’s really nothing better than fresh salsa and if you’re like me and love Cilantro (I guess it tastes like soap to a lot of people), fresh cilantro salsa is the best.
I created this recipe back when I was dealing with leaky gut and I was reacting to garlic. So feel free to add garlic if you like, almost all of the conventional pre-made salsas have garlic.
I love cilantro (did I already say that?) and lime in salsa and I made sure to use plenty of both in this recipe, you’ll have to let me know what you think when you try it.
I love this stuff on top of a taco bowl or scooped up with a crispy pork rind.
I get a lot of questions from people who have a loved one recently diagnosed with cancer. They often want to know what my alternative cancer treatment protocol looked like or how to implement a therapeutic ketogenic diet and lifestyle to treat cancer.
The first time I got this question I was surprised. But then I thought back about my own emotional reaction to my diagnosis. As you can imagine, a diagnosis of this magnitude comes with every emotion and shade of emotion humans are capable of having not to mention emotional trauma.
Some of these emotional responses might manifest as pushing people away and it may help you to understand some of what your loved one may be feeling. Here are 8 difficult emotional responses to a cancer diagnosis you might run into.
Ok, I’m about to make a very bold statement…you ready?
Sugar is the number one killer in America and probably the world.
Sugar is the underlying cause of some of the biggest killers in the world like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity. Not to mention, it’s the cause of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is spreading rapidly in both children and adults.
There is absolutely zero nutritional value to be gained by eating processed sugar. Empty calories keep you slave to the highs and lows of a dangerous game of bouncing blood sugar.
Sugar is bad news, and if these weren’t reason enough to stay away from the white stuff, here are 78 more reasons why you should steer clear!
This Keto Chocolate Walnut Fat Bomb Ice Cream was a staple during my cancer treatments. Utilizing the ketogenic diet for treatment of cancer and chronic illness, it’s important to be in the therapeutic ketone range and to do so you have to get in 80-90% fat.
It’s surprisingly easy to get too much protein and not enough fat if you don’t supplement with additional fat. Since I live in Phoenix, and I was going through vulvar cancer treatment during the summer, ice cream was the obvious choice for adding more fat to my menu.
It made for a very refreshing treat that I would actually eat. It was hot and I was so deep into ketosis that I had zero appetite and some days I just didn’t want anything at all.
I love this stuff and Blake liked it too. It’s not just nutrient dense (full of fat) and complimentary of my style of ketogenic diet, it’s delicious.
You don’t have to stick with keto chocolate walnut fat bomb ice cream though, you can play with any flavorings or mixins you want. I’d probably steer clear of fruit flavors unless you are using flavored stevia just because of the added sugar. But Any keto flavor you can imagine is doable.
I have swapped out the nuts for macadamia or pili nuts and it was just as good. I even made a plain vanilla version that I put on top of the Flourless Avocado Brownie recipe from The Castaway Kitchen. So good! Tasted just like a brownie a la mode!
One of these days I’m going to make a bacon version!
Did you know that the amount of physical exercise that you get during the day is one of the key ingredients to helping you get a good sleep at night?
Yup! The more active your body is during the day, the more likely you are to relax at night and fall asleep faster. According to the 2013 National Sleep Foundation Sleep In America Poll people who say they exercise report better sleep than those who say they don’t exercise. More than three-fourths of exercisers said their sleep quality was very good or fairly good in the past two weeks, compared to just over one-half of non-exercisers.
Hi! I'm Heather, welcome to my little corner of the interwebs where I talk about holistic wellness, healing, and food as medicine.
I'm a lot of things! I'm a vulvar cancer survivor, marketing consultant, entrepreneur, autoimmune warrior, nutrition therapy student, nutrition consultant, nutrition counselor, nutrition and wellness educator, comic book nerd, recovering overachiever, and a lifelong rebel. :)
I'm passionate about nutritional therapies and lifestyle interventions when dealing with chronic illness, autoimmune disease, and hormone imbalance. I'm also very passionate about informed consent, bodily autonomy, and self-directed health care.
