coconut macaroons lynnette astaire eat with tom

Coconut Macaroons Recipe – Lynnette Astaire

Tom Breakfast, Desserts, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Party Food, Recipe, Snacks, Vegan, Video 0 Comments

Lynnette Astaire’s Coconut Macaroon Recipe

Let’s face it when you get hungry, you gotta eat something… And you can’t just bake a chicken or make a fresh kale salad every time the HUNGER strikes! These coconut macaroons sweet, filling and store well for at least a week. That is if you can resist eating them all at once…

Recipe Inspiration: Lynnette Astaire – LiveLynnette.com

lynnette astaire featured on Eat with Tom chicago food blogFor this post we’ve brought in the lifestyle expert and healthy food queen Lynnette Astaire to help us out with a healthy snack recipe. She is a true health fanatic and loves to share her tips and tricks for a great life on her site www.livelynnette.com. The content is raw, real and super funny! Her recent Beyonce 7/11 parody video had me cracking up as her and a friend lip-sync the song on the beach in Mexico.

This recipe was inspired by one of Lynnette’s favorite snacks from Whole Foods. The only problem was, she loved them so much that the pre-packaged price tag was eating a hole in her pocket. With a bit of ingredient list research and a few Google searches, voila Coconut Macaroons on the CHEAP!!

This recipe includes almond flour (or meal) to keep it gluten free and gives it nice nutty flavor.  This is a new ingredient for me, but it is a fun one!  Angela the Baker first introduced almond meal to me with the Peach Crumble recipe where she combined it with ground up quinoa for a tasty grain-free topping.

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Step-by-Step Coconut Macaroons Recipe Instructions

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how to make sausage from scratch - illustrated recipe Eat with Tom

Chorizo Recipe – How to Make Pork Sausage

Tom Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Paleo Friendly, Party Food, Recipe, Techniques 2 Comments

How to make Chorizo Recipes

A wise man once said: “When life gives you big ole pork butts, make Chorizo sausage”

Here we turn our pork butt into Chorizo, a dynamic and delicious team player in the kitchen. This sausage brings a strong spicy and rich flavor to any dish. (Check out the Seafood Stew!) Chorizo can also stand on its own, I’ll even throw a link on the grill and top it with some ketchup. Shoot, Chorizo can even take the lead on your next conference call, really just a great team player…

When picking out your next piece of butt, choose a nice big one with plenty of marbling. Good fat content is paramount to a successful sausage. Or if your local grocery does not have whole butts, grab a large pack of pork steaks, it is the same meat.

All spices our local shop The Spice House in Old Town

We shot this recipe when my parents were visiting and my Dad Jerry is the true sausage aficionado who got me started with this whole idea. I like to be a conscious eater, and sausage is terribly hard to find without NASTY chemicals. Soooo I am learning to make it at home without the monster toxins!  Additionally you know that the ingredients include good quality meat with the proper fat content (approximately 20% with a pork butt), compared to store-bought sausages that can go as high as 50% fat!

Making Sausage at home is a bit of a project, but it saves super well and you will love spicing up all kinds of dishes with a bit of sausage. Add a bit of chorizo to Kale and Eggs or a frittata to give it a uniquely Spanish taste.  Also you can simply poach these sausages in fry pan with a bit of water or pan fry to an internal temp of 165F for a quick lunch.

The Tools for Sausage Making

Kitchener Sausage Stuffer - Harbor Freight Meat Grinder ReviewYou need a few tools for this project, but seriously, you can afford these! The grinder is $50 and the stuffer is $100. Combined, about equal to the price of a pair of decent dress shoes. Of course you could get it done with the KitchenAid Grinder Meat Grinder attachment, but you likely won’t have as much fun. Believe me, I was bit skeptical on this investment, but I am diggin’ it now!

Electric Meat Grinder
Harbor Freight grinder is a great cheap grinder for the foodie. It is perfectly capable of grinding any meats without bones. It is a simple,  small and light enough to easily put away. It seems that this grinder will run for quite a while as long as you do not feed it rock solid frozen meat.

Although the grinder can stuff your casings it can be a real mess and take a long time to stuff and clean up. A true stuffer is a key tool for success.

Kitchener 5-Lb. Stainless Steel Sausage Stuffer
At $100, this is the least expensive route to a great sausage stuffing experience. The tool is finely manufactured and works great. The speed that you force the meat through the tube can be finely adjusted. The ability to control all that raw meat moving around your kitchen will go a long way toward enjoying your sausage making experience and keeping your food prep safe.

Chorizo Homemade Sausage Recipe and Stuffing Tutorial

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Bacon wrapped dates recipe pictures how to make healthy party food

Bacon Wrapped Dates – Bring a Hot “Date” to Your Next Party!

Morgan Paris Appetizer, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Paleo Friendly, Party Food, Recipe, Side Dishes 0 Comments

Bacon wrapped dates recipe pictures how to make healthy party food

**Guest Post from Morgan Paris Fitness**

Do you love hearing people comment on how awesome the dish you brought to the party is? I know I do!  These delicious Bacon Wrapped Dates will delight your tastebuds with the rich sweetness from the dates contrasted by savory, salty bacon.

I’m exited to share this recipe with you because it’s kinda become my “thing.”  I always bring my ” Dates”   ;)   to parties and secretly I can’t wait to hear, “oh my gosh, these are so good! Who brought these?!”

Now that my secret is out …

Not only are these delicious, they are SO EASY to make! I recommend getting the Uncured Bacon from Trader Joe’s because it is nitrate and nitrite free. You can also pick up a package of their Fancy Medjool Dates there, too. It ends up being analmost perfect ratio (sometimes there are a few dates left over that you can use in another recipe).

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But wait, there’s more! These are also pretty healthy! So they have a high sugar content, but the protein and fat in the bacon helps slow down the absorption of the sugar into your bloodstream allowing it to disperse and digest normally. Dr. Mercola shares these various health benefits:

  • First and foremost, dates are easily digested, allowing your body to make full use of their goodness.
  • Dates contain 6.4-11.5% of fiber which helps move waste through your colon and helps prevent LDL (bad) cholesterol absorption by binding with cancer-causing chemicals in your body.
  • Dates contain iron, potassium, B-vitamins, Vitamins A and K, copper, magnesium, manganese, niacin, pantothenic acid and riboflavin.
  • Together these factors help your body better metabolize carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Eating dates in moderation can contribute to many additional health benefits including stroke prevention, protecting against damage to cells from free radicals, as well as less chance of coronary heart disease and the development of colon, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers.

Bacon Wrapped Dates Recipe

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