Nutritional Yeast

Have you ever heard of nutritional yeast?  I hadn't until last April when I went to our local Natural Living Expo.  My husband and I attended a cooking demonstration put on by a raw food chef.   She made us Cheesy Cauliflower Popcorn.  It was delicious!  The star of the show was nutritional yeast.

You might be wondering WHY I would want to eat yeast?  Well, nutritional yeast isn't really yeast.  It is a great source of protein, amino acids, iron, B vitamins, and potassium.  Can I just tell you how much this stuff rocks?!

My favorite way to eat it is sprinkled on popcorn.  Nutritional yeast has a cheesy taste and is great to use as a cheese replacement.  We also like to add it on top of our pasta sauces.  

I cannot find it in my local grocery store (my small town organic store closed), so I order mine on Amazon.  Their are several different brands, but I use Red Star.  This is the brand the chef used in the demonstration, so I have just stuck with it.  

If you are trying to get healthier, lose weight, live a cleaner lifestyle, ect then I would recommend trying nutritional yeast as a cheese replacement for certain dishes.  

 

Let me know what you think of nutritional yeast!

Side Note:  If you live in the middle of nowhere, like me, then it might be hard to find some of these products in your local grocery store.  Amazon is a GREAT way to get these food products.  If you don't have Prime I HIGHLY recommend getting it.  We get free two day shipping on almost everything we buy!  And we buy a lot from Amazon.  I hate having to drive 30-50 minutes (one way!) to get to a store that carries what I need.

Fresh Orange Juice

Have you ever bought a bag of oranges and they just didn't meet your expectations?  I have been on a HUGE orange/clementine kick since I got my heartburn meds back.  :)  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cuties (those tiny super sweet clementines), but there are times when I just want an orange.

I bought a large bag of oranges recently and they just were not good.  They weren't as sweet as I like and they were not very juicy.  I put them on the counter and forgot about them.  When I was cleaning the kitchen this past weekend I thought I better use them up.  I hate seeing money being thrown away and that was what was going to happen with these oranges.  

What does one do when they have a large quantity of oranges?  You make orange juice!  We drink a lot of OJ in this house and the organic OJ is $5.99 a half gallon at my regional grocery store.  It is EXPENSIVE.  

Eating organic is really important to us, but it is hard.  I do not live near a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.  I have to rely on my local grocery stores to provide organic foods.  With that there is a large price tag.  This means I do make a lot of our foods from scratch.  I'm not saying I will be making our OJ every week, but this was a great way to use up oranges that just weren't up to my standards for eating.

I do not have an actual juicer, but I do have a Vitamix.  It is super powerful and juices things just fine.  I would not recommend doing this in a  normal blender though.  You could squeeze them by hand (this is the one I have), or you could use an actual juicer. 

I peeled all my oranges.  I was not worried about getting all the white bitter stuff off because this is where all the nutrients are.  Plus the Vitamix will pulverize it. 

I added half my oranges, a splash of water, and a few ice cubes.  Then I turned it on high and let it work for about 45 seconds.  

The end result....fresh OJ!  I then repeated this process to use up the other half of the oranges.  

It is so simple, tastes delicious, and didn't take long.  This OJ is full of pulp (which we like), but if you don't like pulp then I suggest straining it through a cheese cloth.

Do you make your own OJ?  I got just under half a gallon of OJ and only spent $3.50 (the cost of the oranges).  That is way cheaper than the $5.99 I usually pay for organic OJ. 

Paleo Stuffed Peppers

Do you currently have peppers coming out of your ears?  Garden produce is in full swing, so this is the perfect time to stock up on peppers of all colors and varieties.  Peppers actually freeze REALLY well!  I just wash them in my Basic H2 veggie wash (just add 1/4 teaspoon in a shallow sink of water), let them dry, cut the tops off, and clean out the seeds.  This is the PERFECT method for stuffed peppers throughout the year.  Otherwise, you can dice them up and freeze them too.  Both ways work great.  Definitely take advantage of any free peppers you might get.  If you can't get them for free stock up at your local farmers market. 

My husband LOVES stuffed peppers.  I am not joking when I say he could eat them every week.  Me, not so much.  I don't mind them, but I do not have a deep love for them like he does.  :)  For several months we were eating a Paleo diet.  We still do to a certain extent and I want to get us back to eating mostly Paleo in the upcoming weeks.  We feel better and have more energy when we do!

When searching for Paleo recipes I came across Paleo Parents and their recipe for stuffed peppers.  I think my husband wanted to marry me all over again, or he might of wanted to marry his plate.  This is still TBD!

Doesn't that just look good?  

Paleo Stuffed Peppers

6 large bell peppers, tops, seeds and ribs removed
2 Tbsp lard
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs. ground red meat (I often use venison, but beef or lamb would also work)
1 C cauliflower, ground or mashed or pulsed into rice sized bits
1 13.5oz canned diced tomatoes, drained (or 1 cup fresh tomato, diced)
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning (or, alternatively, 1 tsp each dried basil, parsley and oregano)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 C tomato sauce

1. ♥ A little trick: Stand your peppers up in a muffin tin. Trying to even the bottoms with a knife will often lead to leaks, but the muffin tin will hold them up without altering the pepper.
2. Melt lard over medium high heat in a large skillet
3. Saute onions and garlic for three minutes, stirring frequently
4. Add ground meat and stir to brown, about 5 minutes
5. Add raw ground cauliflower and diced tomato, stir for about 10 minutes to cook off liquid
6. Add salt, pepper and seasonings, stir to incorporate
7. ♥ Stuff each pepper to the top of each pepper, spread tomato sauce on top of that
   You will likely have leftover meat, don’t worry – it makes a great pre or post-dinner snack!
8. Bake the peppers for one hour at 350 degrees until pepper is fork-tender
9. Serve with extra tomato sauce!

These make great leftovers for lunches the next day!  If you are interested in more Paleo recipes you should check out Paleo Parents.  They have some great meal ideas.