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Butternut Squash Lasagna

Sweet mercy. This is GOOD.

Lasagna that is good for me. Yes! Love filling my body with healthy, TASTY food!

  • 1 lb hot Italian sausage, casing removed
  • 1 red onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 15 oz can pizza sauce
  • 1/2 c roasted red peppers
  • 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
  • couples leaves of fresh basil (leave it out if you don’t have it, just freshens up the sauce a bit)
  • 1 small butternut squash

Get your oven to 400ºF. In a saute pan crumble the sausage and brown it, along with the onions & garlic. While that’s going, cut the top and ends of the squash off and peel it. Split it into 1/4′s. What I mean by that is, right where the squash starts to turn bulbous, cut it in 1/2, width-wise. Split those two halves in half, lengthwise. This will make it much easier to cut into planks. Pull out the seeds. Don’t be anal about getting out all the strings, as you won’t even notice those when they’re cooked. Slice the squash into the aforementioned planks.

Make the sauce by pureeing the pizza sauce, red peppers, olive oil and basil. If you don’t a contraption that will puree (blender, food processor, immersion blender), chop up the red peppers and just whisk everything together.

Using a 9×9 oven safe baking dish, put down enough sauce to lightly cover the bottom of the dish. (This keeps the squash from sticking to the pan.) Next add the squash, trying not to overlap the pieces, then spoon on the sausage mixture, followed by the sauce. Repeat until all your ingredients are used up…trying to reserve enough sauce to cover the top of the lasagna.

Bake for 45 minutes. You’re looking for a bubbly pan with a crispy, browned top. Right out of the oven, the lasagna may by liquidy, let it set for a good half hour before cutting into it, as it will solidify.

happy heart day

So fun to be overly gushy one day a year. It gives me another excuse to makes some Pinterest crafts I’ve been eyeing!

#1 – Heart Waffles & Strawberries

#2 – Lucky In Love scratch-offs for the hubby

#3 – Class gifts for Noah’s classmates

#4 – Treats for Noah’s teachers at school

What in the world did I do before Pinterest?

celebrate love

Eight years ago I married my prince. My knight in shining armor.

He is my soul mate. The one who points me to Jesus. The one who loves me with much grace and mercy. Who selflessly gives and serves. The one who makes my heart still skip a beat. My best friend. He gets me. He leads our home and our children to the cross.

Who am I to have received such a gift? Jesus thank you for this man. Thank you for eight years together.

Happy anniversary to my love.

melanzana margherita pizza

My picture is not NEARLY as amazing as the pizza was. This was absolutely to die for. You MUST try this for dinner this week. You will not regret it.

“Melanzana” is the Italian word for ‘eggplant.’ The crust is made up of eggplant, almond meal, flax seed meal, and egg. You can choose any topping you desire but I went for our favorite margherita (tomato, mozzarella, basil) flavor.

Again, I’m going to send you straight to The Food Lover’s Primal Palate where I found this recipe. Their photos are so much prettier and tastier looking.
Hope you enjoy their site. Lots of fun recipes!

Melanzana Margherita Pizza

 

dark chocolate coconut mousse

Too good to be true.

I must be dreaming…

I stumbled upon this dessert recipe on Mark’s Daily Apple and figured I’d try it since I had the ingredients. Oh my. Maybe my favorite new dessert times a million. All you need is a can of coconut milk (refrigerated) and 4 oz of dark chocolate. That’s it. Mark does a great job detailing the process so I’ll just send you to his site to explain it. Oh and you can also do a variation of Coconut Milk Whipped Cream with Berries.

Click to view recipe: Dark Chocolate Coconut Mousse

whole30 challenge

Whole30

It’s been a week since I completed my first Whole30 challenge. Honestly not much has changed since. I did add full cream to my coffee and we had a date night splurge… but we are continuing eating paleo/primal. Looking to balance life with 80-90% compliance, with a little room for date night and special treats.

I have had a lot of people ask why in the world we would give up sugar and grains and dairy if we don’t medically have a reason to. Well I think it’s because we now know what normal, clean living feels like! Before I didn’t realize that the fog, exhaustion, headaches, bloating, addiction to coffee were not normal. I was used to feeling like crap because I had always eaten crap. Once I allowed my body to be free of all the chemical laden, processed junk and eat clean foods, my body began to work properly. The ailments disappeared and in place came clarity of mind, energy, and a love for real food. We cheated with cheese enchiladas on our date night and instantly I felt bloated, lethargic, and absolutely awful. Learned my lesson… never want to feel like that again. We have decided that we will not be ingesting grains right now, especially gluten. We have also decided to stay away from sugar and carbs, while adding only beneficial dairy (such as raw milk, full fat cream & butter, raw milk kefir, and Greek yogurt) back into our diet.

One entire month of eating whole, real foods. Not once ounce of processed junk. It was quite a stretch for me. I had to learn my kitchen in a whole new way. I emptied my pantry and fridge almost entirely. I learned how to plan meals ahead and prepare foods the day before. I discovered the joy in providing nutritious food to my family. My entire family now enjoys meals around the table instead of chcikfila in the car. I discovered that all I need in the grocery store is located on the outside of the aisles… all the processed junk is in the aisles. Even at Whole Foods.

Our family lifestyle isn’t the only thing that changed… our bodies did too. In one month I lost 16 pounds and my husband lost 12 pounds.from changing food alone! I also lost 3.5 inches around my waist, 3 inches around my hips, .5 inches on my upper arm, and 1.25 inches from each thigh. Amazing how our bodies were built to function properly with real food. Our bodies don’t want to be fat. It will melt the fat off if you give it the right full. God designed our bodies so intricately.

I hope that you are encouraged to try the Whole30 Challenge. I love that it doesn’t hold your hand and give you every step. It gives you boundaries and guidelines… you search out recipes and meals that suit you. You find what works in your lifestyle. It’s about empowering YOU!

I also encourage you to pour over Mark’s Daily Apple. He is the author of The Primal Blueprint and has amazing articles that explain everything in depth. Also lots of great recipes on his site.

Enjoy life!

Grain-free Granola

In L.O.V.E. with this granola. Simply in love.

My heart broke when my daughter caught me eating this for breakfast and proceeded to scarf down half of it before I could tear the bowl away from her.

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups crispy nuts, we used raw sunflower seeds, raw pecans, raw walnuts, raw pumpkin seeds, and raw sliced almonds
  • 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 1 cup chopped medjool dates
  • 1 cup raisins

** This recipe can be scaled to any size you desire. However, if you’re taking the time to do this, you might as well make more rather than less. You may also prefer to make the batch of crispy nuts and split the batch in half to use half for granola, and half of the crispy nuts just for snacking, or another future recipe.**

For the crispy nuts-

  1. Soak nuts in warm water and a tablespoon of salt over night for 10-12 hours.
  2. Drain nuts and spread onto a baking sheet (oven method) or onto dehydrator racks.
  3. Dehydrate in a food dehydrator as directed, or in your oven at 110 degrees for 10-12 hours (if your lowest oven setting is higher than 110 degrees, leave the oven door ajar).

For the granola-

  1. Coarsely chop crispy nuts and place in a large bowl.
  2. Mix in shredded coconut, chopped dates, and raisins.
  3. Toss lightly to evenly distribute all ingredients.
  4. Keep in an airtight container.
  5. Serve granola with unsweetened almond milk, or coconut milk.

Recipe found here.