Sweet Potato and Sausage Hash

One pan skillet dinner, meet real food. What mom doesn't love a one pan dinner that can be made in less than forty-five minutes? This can be done in thirty minutes easily, if you have the potatoes chopped ahead of time.

My family has recently discovered its love of sweet potatoes. I'm frying them, baking them, making fries with them. Yum! A little off topic, but did you know there are also white sweet potatoes? They're delicious too! Everyone should get to try them.

This recipe can be for breakfast, lunch, or supper. You choose. It's good at any time of the day!

Sweet Potato and Sausage Hash 

Coconut oil
1 lb pork or turkey sausage
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
Salt and cinnamon, to taste

Optional add-ins:
Greens
Carrots
Broccoli

In a 12" skillet, brown the sausage. When there is no pink left in it, move it to a bowl, but leave the grease. Add chopped sweet potatoes (and carrots or broccoli, if using) to pan, adding coconut oil if needed. Season with salt and cinnamon. Once potatoes are soft (15-20 minutes), add sausage (and greens) back in and continue to cook for a few minutes to let flavors combine. Remove from heat and enjoy!

(I ran my spinach through the food processor first. It makes it easier for the kids to eat, and they can't pick it out!) :)

Creamy Broccoli Soup (Dairy-Free, AIP)

You may have noticed I took an unexpected break from the blog. Silly me thought I could keep up with blogging while raising two toddlers and moving to a new house! Obviously, that was not the case.

Last night, I whipped up some creamy broccoli soup for my husband's lunch for work. Just smelling it made my mouth water. Onions, garlic, broccoli, butter. Mmm! I decided it was time to make some I could eat too. Lucky me, it turned out pretty tasty! Lucky you, I'm going to share my recipe. :)

**I currently have my daughter on the Autoimmune Paleo diet to heal her gut and food allergies. This recipe is compliant with this diet.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced 

2 carrots, diced or sliced

1 stalk celery, diced 

4-6 cloves garlic (According to taste. I used 6.)

4 cups broccoli, chopped

2 tbsp arrowroot (or corn starch, if not AIP)

3 cups chicken broth or stock 

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp thyme

Handful of greens, optional

2 tbsp grass-fed gelatin, optional for protein and health benefits

Heat olive oil in a medium-size pot on low/medium heat. Add onion, celery, and carrots, cook until tender. Add garlic and sauté for about one minute more. Add the arrowroot or cornstarch and continue stirring until bubbly. Pour in broccoli, stock, and coconut milk. Add the rest of the ingredients and let the soup simmer for 20-30 minutes. 

*For the record, I haven't tried this yet...BUT I think 2-4 tbsp of nutritional yeast would be absolutely delicious in this soup. Nutritional yeast has a cheesy flavor, so you'd have cheesy-tasting, creamy broccoli soup!*

Gluten/Dairy-Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

Green bean casserole is one of my favorite vegetable casseroles! How about you? It's really easy to make…just a jar of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, milk, and French-fried onions.

Since I've cut out dairy and soy for my daughter, I've gotten very picky about what's in our food. We're eating healthier now than we ever have. No processed food--almost everything is made from scratch. A lot like clean eating, but I can't claim that we eat 100% clean. Here's the list of ingredients from a Campbell's cream of mushroom soup:

WATER, MUSHROOMS, VEGETABLE OIL (CORN, COTTONSEED, CANOLA, AND/OR SOYBEAN), MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, WHEAT FLOUR, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF: SALT, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, DEHYDRATED CREAM (CREAM [MILK], SOY LECITHIN), YEAST EXTRACT, FLAVORING, DEHYDRATED GARLIC.

Yuck. Really, all you need for a soup would be milk, broth, flour, and seasonings, right? That's so simple!  It probably only took ten minutes to throw together. You'd never have to buy condensed soup again! Here you go…

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/4 cup chopped mushrooms

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried minced onion

2 tbsp arrowroot powder, tapioca starch, or corn starch

1/2 cup beef broth

1/2 cup almond milk

Pour oil into small saucepan, add mushrooms and seasonings. Sauté until mushrooms are tender. Add arrowroot or starch, milk, and broth. Stir until thick. 

For a cream of chicken variation, replace the mushrooms with finely diced chicken and the beef broth with chicken broth.

See how simple it is?! Now you can make your favorite casseroles without any unnecessary additives and gluten and dairy free!