My garden is overflowing right now with berries, arugula, mint, and lettuces! This summer salad recipe was born out of a need to use up my garden produce. The flavors are perfectly balanced with spicy, bitter, sweet, salty, and sour. Serve this salad with grilled chicken and grilled zucchini for an easy and nourishing summer meal. 

Homemade enchilada sauce is so easy to make, and once you try it you'll never want to use a pre-made sauce again. Use it with your favorite enchilada fillings and tortillas! This recipe makes enough to use for one 9x13-inch pan of enchiladas.

I first made this recipe when I had a whole house full of hungry teenage boys and I needed to make a large meal to feed all of them. Making an enchilada casserole is so much faster that rolling each tortilla with filling. Just layer everything in the pan and bake! I initially made this recipe with more filling and three packages of tortillas in a 10x14-inch baking dish. The sauce can be stretched further if need be for a larger batch.

Serve this flavorful salad for breakfast with scrambled eggs and arugula. It is also delicious served for lunch over a bed of lettuce with some grilled chicken on top.

These grain and veggie bowls are great to prep in the morning before you head out for the day with your children, whether to the beach, mountains, or parks. Just pack individual servings in glass containers and put them into a small cooler. They also make a wonderful lunchbox main dish for your child!

This grain-free and vegan berry crisp is a great way to use up some of your freshly harvested blackberries! The filling and topping are just barely sweetened, so the berry and almond flavors really shine through.

When your digestion is weak, it's important to have puréed and well-cooked vegetables and meats so your body can absorb and utilize the nutrients in the food. Using anti-inflammatory foods as well calms the gut and immune system down so you can begin the healing process. Using an Instant Pot creates easily digested meat and vegetables, similar to slow cooking. Plus, this meal is very easy to make! 

Serve this vegetarian spaghetti dinner with a large green salad for an easy summer meal. You can roast your own red bell peppers in the oven or buy a 12-ounce jar of them to save time. 

I like to make this refreshing smoothie throughout the summer with the kale and berries growing in my garden. Sometimes I will use strawberries or blueberries in place of the blackberries. The amino acid powder and collagen peptides provide quite a bit of easily absorbable amino acids to keep you fueled for hours. I will often have this smoothie as my lunch, especially if I plan on exercising in the afternoon.

Growing up, my mom would almost always have peanut butter granola balls in the fridge for us to take out and snack on when we were hungry. She used granola, peanut butter, honey, chocolate chips, and raisins. I can still remember the taste of these! My version below is a little different, but just as good! Pack one or two in your child's lunchbox, or pack them with you for backpacking or hiking trips. 

This nightshade-free beef bone broth is so nourishing and wonderful to use as a base for soups and stews, or just for sipping on! It's also a great way for me to use up the abundance of fresh herbs, celery, and onions that I have growing in my gardens during the summertime. Bone broth freezes very well, so you can make a few batches and stock your freezer. I use an Instant Pot to make this because I can just press a button and walk away from it!

This egg-free and gluten-free recipe uses cooked rice and plenty of vegetables and dried herbs to create a flavorful and tender allergy-free meatloaf! Serve with dairy-free mashed potatoes and sautéed kale for a balanced, nourishing meal.

Serve these nutritious grain-free and dairy-free blackberry muffins for breakfast with scrambled eggs and sautéed kale. They also make a great snack for your child's lunchbox! Other fruits can be used such as blueberries, raspberries, chopped pitted cherries, or diced pears. 

This warming vegetable beef soup makes the perfect meal on a chilly evening! You don't really need to serve it with anything, although a scoop of raw sauerkraut tastes great with it and helps with digestion. An Instant Pot cuts cooking time down significantly and makes very tender meat! Use a good homemade beef bone broth for best results. If the broth you are using is already salted you may want to taste the soup after it is cooked and add salt to taste if necessary.

Make a big batch of this chicken on a meal prep day to use throughout the week. You can make chicken salad out of it, top blended vegetable soups with it, add it to a garden vegetable salad, or use it in quesadillas with your favorite tortillas (my children love bean, chicken, and arugula quesadillas).

Serve these spicy, probiotic-rich vegetables as a condiment on top of stuffed sweet potatoes, scrambled eggs and avocado, or rice and black beans! They are very versatile!

This is a great way to use up an abundance of summer produce with a simple, classic soup that everyone will enjoy! Serve with finely grated parmesan cheese as a topping if desired.

Make this easy chipotle-spiced chicken salad with leftover chicken from making roasted chicken, poached chicken, or Instant Pot shredded chicken. Serve the chicken salad over baby arugula with sliced avocado on the side, or use it to stuff large avocados for an easy and nutritious low-carb lunch!

Several years ago I posted my gluten-free and vegan bagel recipe and promised to post my buckwheat cinnamon raisin version, but never got around to it until now! This recipe is nearly identical to that one, with a few slight changes. These bagels are boiled before baking, just like traditional bagels. You may want to make a double batch and freeze half of them. This way, your children can take one or two out at a time for a quick breakfast or after-school snack.

This recipe and these photos were done by my oldest daughter, Lily (at 10 years old). In her words: I like to pack these in my lunch or make them when I get home from school. My brothers and sister like them too!

This healthy cake recipe uses oat flour, applesauce, coconut sugar, and olive oil, so you can enjoy a sweet treat once in a while without refined ingredients! Pack a slice in your child's lunchbox as part of a balanced lunch.

Serve this quick and easy vegan main dish with a simple napa cabbage salad. Use any variety of noodles that fits your diet. Here I am using organic brown rice noodles. The key to stir-fried noodles is to cook them al dente and let them completely cool before adding them to the stir-fry. I like to rinse them in the colander with icy cold water for a while to stop the cooking and cool them off, then toss them in a little avocado oil (while still in the colander) to prevent the noodles from sticking together. 

Serve this fresh and flavorful summer soup with grilled chicken for a nourishing, light meal. Fennel bulbs come with the fronds attached; reserve some of them to chop up and stir into the soup.

These gluten-free muffins have been designed for the low-oxalate diet. There are very few low-oxalate gluten-free grain flours, however, masa harina is low in oxalates. Although potatoes are a higher oxalate food, potato starch is very low in oxalates. White rice flour and sweet white rice flour are suitable for a low-oxalate diet as well. These delicious muffins use buttermilk and a touch of maple syrup, plus juicy antioxidant-rich blueberries to create a nutritious gluten-free and low-oxalate muffin! Serve with butter and raw honey. 

Serve this more traditional gluten-free cornbread recipe with a spicy chili for a warming fall meal. The cast iron skillet gets heated with butter before adding the batter, which creates a crispier crust on the cornbread!

Serve this fresh and flavorful low-carb chicken skillet casserole with a garden salad for dinner. This recipe is a great way to use up leftover cooked chicken. You can quickly cook up some chicken thighs or chicken breasts in your Instant Pot if you don't have and pre-cooked chicken on hand. 

This soup is a great way to use up your summer garden zucchini! Use a good homemade chicken bone broth if you have it, otherwise water can be used instead. Sliced Thai chili peppers can be used as a garnish, or they can be simmered in the soup during a nightshade/pepper challenge for those of you on an Elimination Diet. The extra spice balances out the creamy coconut flavors perfectly.

Serve this grain-free chocolate cake for a birthday celebration! It is also a great way to make use of overripe bananas. I like to top it with Hu Baking Gems, which are organic dark chocolate chips sweetened with coconut sugar. You can bake this cake in a 9-inch cake pan or 8x8-inch square baking dish. This recipe is a variation of the sugar-free Carob Banana Bars I posted to my blog about 10 years ago.

Serve this easy roasted vegetable dish with grilled steak or chicken and a light green salad for a balanced, nourishing meal. I like to top the vegetables with fresh herbs after roasting. Try parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, or basil!

This fresh and flavorful cabbage salad is quite addictive! Napa cabbage is much lighter with a milder flavor compared to green or red cabbage. If you are wanting to consume more raw vegetables, try adding napa cabbage into your diet. Serve this salad with sautéed tempeh, grilled chicken, or grilled steak. If you can't find Thai basil, use sweet basil, holy basil, lemon basil, or purple basil.

Tempura vegetables are made from cut raw vegetables that are dipped in a gluten-free and egg-free garbanzo bean flour batter and then lightly fried in oil. They are a fun appetizer to serve to a gathering of friends and family, and also a wonderful way to use up your garden produce! Serve them with an Indian-themed meal and a spicy cilantro dipping sauce. Use my vegetable combination below or use your own.

Sirloin tip steak is lower in fat and less tender than other cuts of beef, therefore marinating it in something acidic (like vinegar or citrus) before cooking will begin to tenderize the meat fibers. You can cook the steaks on a grill, or use a cast iron grill pan on your stove to sear it on both sides and then broil for a few minutes on high in the oven. The trick to keeping it tender is to cook it only to medium-rare or medium doneness.

Matcha powder is an antioxidant-rich green tea powder that can be added to smoothies, ice cream, or made into a delicious hot drink with hot water and dairy-free milk. There are many different grades of matcha powder available, and I have tried them all. The cheaper varieties will be bitter and a darker greenish-brown color, while the higher quality grades will be bright green and sweeter. Look for ceremonial grade matcha or latte grade; it should say "1st harvest" somewhere on the package. This is the brand I use.

Soaking buckwheat groats overnight in cultured buttermilk not only yields a light and fluffy pancake, but it also breaks down the phytic acid in the buckwheat, allowing for better nutrient absorption. Buckwheat actually contains some of the lowest levels of phytic acid compared to other grains and pseudo-grains, and it also contains high levels of phytase, the enzyme that breaks down phytic acid. Phytase "wakes up" when a grain is soaked. Serve these nutrient-dense pancakes with extra blueberries and a cup of herbal tea for an energizing breakfast.

Although this recipe may look complicated with its long list of ingredients, it is actually very easy to throw together for lunch or dinner. If you don't have millet, use quinoa or brown rice instead. I have many different varieties of basil growing in my gardens, so today I added fresh lemon basil to brighten the flavors even more! My children love this millet salad; it is perfect for school lunches or packed in a cooler for a trip to the beach.

Serve this easy and flavorful elimination diet meal with sliced avocados and a green salad! Other vegetables can be used, but they need to be able to cook thoroughly in the short cooking time. 

Soaking raw pumpkin seeds for a few hours can create a delicious and nutrient-dense creamy salad dressing that pairs well with a fresh lettuce and vegetable salad. Use whatever varieties of fresh basil you have growing in your garden. Holy basil, lemon basil, sweet basil, and purple basil all work well!

Chicken cacciatore is a classic Italian dish that can be made with whatever vegetables you have on hand. It is typically made with either chicken or rabbit. The long simmering and acid from the tomatoes and wine produces extremely tender meat. It can be serve with cooked rice, polenta, or pasta. It is also delicious served with roasted cauliflower for a low-carb, grain-free option. 

Serve this easy chickpea curry over brown rice. Other vegetables can be added, such as zucchini, cauliflower, or broccoli. If you don't have sweet potatoes you can use red or yellow potatoes instead.