Super Easy High Protein Snack!

We sometimes shop at NPS for groceries and though they often are not known for healthy meats in their frozen section, we were fortunate enough to find these thin cuts of beef by Simple Truth that had no weird additives that I can't eat. (I.E. MSG, Gluten, Sugar Etc.) They were about $0.50 each or something, so we bought a bunch of them and I depended on them as my source of meat for a couple of weeks. They are as thin as lunch meat though, so finding ways to eat them took a little extra thought since sandwiches are not really an option. (If you wanted gluten free meat, why would you want it in a sandwich anyway? I mean, I guess you could use gluten free bread, but I'm personally not a fan. Hmm, maybe that's why these ended up at NPS.)

Anyway, so most of the time I'd warm these cuts up on the griddle, season them according to my mood and tear them up to eat over a salad. However, on this particular day, I think I was out of salad greens, or maybe just feeling lazy; (Possibly both). So I warmed them up as usual, (though I think I just stuck to some simple salt and pepper this time,) and then topped them with some goat cheese and green onion spears. I thought they were pretty tasty, and were a great easy high protein snack so I thought it might be worth a share.

Hopefully it will at least inspire someone to the possibilities that come with a no bread diet. You wouldn't have to warm them up, I just prefered that method since they still had a little blood on them. I prefer my meat a tad more well done.

Hope this helps someone out somewhere, and if you try it, I'd love to hear what you thought!

Have a fabulous day!

~Julie :}

Breadless Butter Snacks Part 2

Here is another great way I've found to get more butter in my diet without involving bread or grains.

Some of you might remember my old nostalgic snack from childhood; basically a banana based "ants on the log". Well, it occurred to me about a year ago that I could try eating a banana with regular butter instead of peanut butter . . . I'm not entirely sure how it all came into my head, but I'm thinking it has something to do with banana cream pie, and also, coconut cream pie.  Back when I used to eat regular pies, like at Thanksgiving, those two flavors were my absolute faves. Especially the coconut cream one. So one day I decided to try putting (non-sweetened) coconut on a buttered banana.

It was so tasty! Quite a different experience from the peanut butter banana, but really good . . . possibly better!

I do still like the peanut butter version, but most of the time I will choose a coconut banana over the former recipe because it really does remind me of coconut cream pie! I usually like to sprinkle just a touch of sea salt on top to enhance the coconut flavor and also because the banana is already so sweet and the butter so mild, it's nice to add a bit of contrast.

 My husband and kids all approve of this snack too, so if you miss coconut cream pie (or banana cream); or if you are just looking for a new way to add some more butter to your diet, I would highly recommend this snack!

Totally delicious! Light, sweet, and creamy and with nothing but benefits!

I recently also bought some clean toasted coconut flakes from Thrive Market and the lightly toasted flavor really added to the experience!

For more great butter snacks check out my other post here.

Strawberry Season Snack! (Plus, PB'n'J . . . Salad!)

I love strawberry season!  There is no fruit that makes me quite so happy as a fresh springtime strawberry! This fruit is so versatile in recipes as well as fantastic all on it's own!

We were able to get 2 lbs of fresh strawberries over the weekend from Costco and I am greatly enjoying them!

My absolute favorite way to enjoy strawberries is to stuff them/make them into little 'sammies.'
We like to use softened cream cheese sweetened with a little local raw honey. Sooooo, good!

These snacks feel like an luxurious indulgence, yet they are so healthful and easy that there's really no reason why they couldn't become a regular thing! At least during strawberry season.

Another way that I enjoyed them this past weekend was on a salad. Now I have been eating strawberry spinach salad for over a decade, but this time I decided to try a little experiment based on my Peanut Butter and Honey Salad.

Since I had strawberries available, I figured it was about time I tried out my favorite sweet salad with a strawberry "jam" twist! I didn't actually make jam though . . . All I did was crush some of the berries in a bowl with my potato masher and stirred in a bit of honey (which proved to be unnecessary because the berries were already plenty sweet.) and then I drizzled this raw strawberry goodness over my salad along with my usual peanut butter dressing and some sliced strawberries.
It was lovely!

 If you love strawberries as much as I do, and/or if you miss having a good ol' PB'n'J sandwich because you cannot digest bread anymore; I recommend you try this salad! It's superbly refreshing!

Julie Surprise: Chicken Pumpkin Curry

When I had limited ingredients in my house recently, I was looking through the pantry and saw a big can of pumpkin that I had purchased in bulk back in November, but I'd only ended up using one or two of the cans and still had two left. I thought to myself, "There's got to be a way I can use this for something other than treats." Then it occurred to me that people often make pumpkin squash soup and similar things. So I started looking up recipes and stumbled across one for a pumpkin curry soup. Some of the people who commented mentioned that they'd added chicken to it which that got me thinking . . . Chicken curry is already good, and pumpkin curry soup sounds good. Who's to say that I couldn't combine all three things and just make a chicken pumpkin curry to serve over rice? So combining the soup recipe with my favorite chicken curry recipe, here is what I came up with.

Julie Surprise: Chicken Pumpkin Curry

Ingredients:
About half a 19 ounce can of pumpkin*
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoons coconut oil*
1 small onion,* chopped (I actually used dried minced* 'cause that's what I had.)
2-3 cloves garlic*, minced (or a tablespoon of garlic powder.*)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon,* or to taste.
1 teaspoon paprika*
1 bay leaf*
1/2 teaspoon ginger*
1 teaspoon coconut sugar (or other sweetener of choice)
2 cups chicken stock*
3 tablespoons curry powder*
A splash of lemon juice (if desired)
1 cup plain Greek yogurt*
3/4 cup coconut milk* (opt)
1/4 cup shredded coconut* (opt)
Salt* and pepper* to taste

Cook and shred chicken in a skillet; when cooked through, or nearly cooked, add onion and garlic with the coconut oil, saute until the onion is translucent. Add the remaining ingredients to the chicken. Stir and heat until combined and warmed through. Serve over rice or quinoa.
This three year old approves!

She filled her tummy till it was full! Check out this curry filled cutie!

*Julie Surprise is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com