Crockpot Chicken

Prep Time: 0 hr 0 min

Cook Time: 6 hrs on high (chicken just falls apart)

Servings: 4-5 

Ingredients:

1 large onion, thinly sliced4-5 boneless chicken breasts2 cans (6ounce ) tomato paste8 ounces fresh mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon pepper (I used a little cayenne)2 cloves garlic, minced1 teaspoon oregano1/2 teaspoons basil1 bay leaf1/4 cup white wine1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

Directions: 

Place onion in crockpot. Add chicken pieces.

In a separate bowl stir together tomato paste, mushrooms, salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, bay leaf, wine & water. Pour over chicken. Cover, cook on low 7-9 hrs. Serve chicken over spaghetti squash. 

Fried Chicken Fingers

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

2 large chicken breasts

½ cup of almond flour

2 eggs

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp Penzey's Tuscan Sunset (A nice salt free Italian-style seasoning, http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeystuscan.html) 

dash of cayenne pepper

3 tbs olive oil (I used garlic infused)

Cut chicken into long strips.  Make sure that they are equally thick. You may need to use the flat part of the knife to pound some of the fatter pieces down a bit. Put the chicken pieces in a ziploc plastic bag with spices. Shake to coat.

Dredge in almond flour, then eggs, then flour again.

Lay on a plate to set up for 10 minutes. This will make sure the crust really sticks to the chicken. Pour olive oil in the bottom of a skillet.  Heat to medium high heat. Add chicken and cook for about 3-5 minutes per side, turn only once. Tongs or a fork work the best for turning the chicken so you don't disrupt the crust. 

I paired mine with sauteed mushrooms, because I just had a taste for them, but you could really pair with any veggie. The crust added enough flavor that you really don't need any dipping sauce with these! ENJOY.

Chicken Avocado in Green Chile Sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes (I did a bit of prepping as I went)

 

This recipe appealed to me, because I LOVE chile peppers, all kinds, shapes and sizes. The ancho chile, is a poblano pepper, dried. Should be in the produce section of any grocery store. It has a very unique smoky scent and flavor.

 

2 chicken breasts

Put in pan with water and cover on med high heat for 15 minutes. Pull chicken out and shred. Set aside.

Sauce:
2 cloves garlic minced
dice your ancho chile (take your seeds out, I left mine in, because I thought it might add flavor, but I don't think it did and the seeds were hard to chew)
4-5 diced tomatillos

2 ripe avocados

1/2 cup organic chicken broth

juice from 1/2 of lime
cilantro to taste

Put in saucepan with 1 tbs oil (I used garlic infused olive oil) and heat over medium heat until tomatillos start to break down. Once sauce is cooked, add in: 2 ripe avocados mashed with 1 tbs lime juice

Mix chicken into sauce

I served with:
Butternut squash, peeled seeded and diced that I boiled and smashed with a little garlic olive oil. 

The butternut squash was the perfect compliment to the slight tartness of the tomatillos. The only seasoning I used on them, was the garlic infused olive oil. Really simple and really tasty.

Super meaty Chili

It's that time of year again.....break out your chili pan and hooded sweatshirt. Chili is such an easy, fun dish to experiment with. Every time I make it, I do something differently than the last time. My family's chili is heavy on the tomatoes and tomato paste, so when I came across this one on paleomama's website, I thought I'd give it a try. Here is the original recipe, I made some modifications, because I wanted more veggies and more spice. It turned out real nice :)

http://paleomama.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/my-infamous-paleo-chili/

2 lbs lean ground beef (grassfed)
1 lb grassfed stew meat
1 large can crushed tomatoes (look for the one where the only ingredient is tomatoes)
10 whole tomatillos
1 large onion diced

1 yellow pepper diced

1 orange pepper diced

1 poblano pepper diced (1/2 de-seeded)

1 jalapeno pepper diced (1/2 de-seeded)
1/8 cup almond flour (this is optional for thickening, omit if you have a nut allergy)
about 2 cups of beef broth

4 cloves garlic minced
2 tbs ground cumin
3-4 tbs chili powder

red chili peppers to taste
chipotle infused olive oil

Put about 2 tbs olive oil in a pan and get it screaming hot. Sear the chunks of steak. It doesn’t have to be cooked at this point, just brown and pull it out. Add a little more oil if needed and add diced onion to kind of brown a bit, then add peppers one by one. Add the beef stock and let it cook until it is reduced by half (this gives a really meaty base). While the stock was reducing, I  peeled the tomatillos and cut them in half, then placed them in a cast iron  skillet to brown. Once they are browned on both sides, I put them in a blender with some cilantro. Blend to a chunky liquid and add to chili pan. Next, add in ground beef and almond flour. Stir until it browns a bit. Add garlic, spices, tomatoes, and steak chunks. Simmer on low heat for a couple of hours. It gets better the longer it cooks.

Curried Shrimps and Kale (or spinach)

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15-20

2 lbs shrimps, peeled and deveined
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp tomato paste
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup full-fat coconut milk
1/2 bunch of Kale (you can also use spinach)

Heat a large skillet over a medium-low heat and cook the onion in the coconut oil until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes.
Stir in the curry powder and continue cooking for a minute.
Place mixture in a blender or a food processor, add the tomato paste as well as the chicken stock and coconut milk. Process or blend until smooth.
Pour the mixture back in the skillet and bring to a simmer.
Add the shrimps and kale (or spinach) and cook, covered, for about 5 minutes, until the shrimps are just cooked.

I added crushed red peppers to this recipe, because I just love spicy.....this is a good one! ENJOY

Chorizo Stuffed Peppers

Photo: dish shown pre-cooked

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
 
4 green, red, yellow or orange bell peppers (I used all four colors)
1 lb pork chorizo sausage, out of casing 
1 cup onion, chopped 
1 cup carrot, chopped
1 tsp oregano 

I bought the pork chorizo at whole foods butcher counter, it's so flavorful already, you don't need a whole lot of additional seasoning, which is great. 


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the top off of each pepper; discard the tops and seeds. Chop the onion and carrot and add it to a bowl. Add the chorizo, plus spices. Mix well. Stuff the meat mixture into each pepper. Place the peppers upright into a baking pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the peppers have softened.

Let cool for a couple minutes and serve. 

I found this recipe on Crossfitcenturion.com, but modified it slightly by subbing pork sausage for chicken, adding carrots and oregano. It's still cooking, but I think I'm going to like it!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

We got rhubarb in our csa this week, so I thought I would try a new recipe.....this turned out really good and was super easy to throw together before dinner tonight! Wish I would have snapped a photo before we taste tested it......piggys over here :)

Ingredients

2 cups fresh stawberries
12 tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup Pecan halves
3 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 cups rhubarb

Directions


Chop rhubarb, halve/quarter strawberries, place in bottom of 8x8 pan. Melt coconut oil in separate bowl. Mix in unsweetened coconut and crushed pecans. Spread mixture over top of fruit and bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Fluffy Coconut Pancakes

Got this recipe from Jess and just had to share! It is the first paleo pancake recipe I've tried that actually tastes like a pancake! So so good. I made the same subs that Jess suggested, but here is the link to the original recipe from Nourishing Days: http://www.nourishingdays.com/2010/07/fluffy-coconut-flour-pancakes/

I used coconut milk and left out the honey/stevia and added a couple pinches of cinnamon instead. I also added a little extra coconut flour to thicken the batter and topped them with honey, walnuts and blueberries. I can't wait to make these again!


Ingredients
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk (raw cow’s or coconut both work)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey or a pinch of stevia
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
coconut oil or butter for frying

Directions

1. Preheat griddle over medium-low heat. In a small bowl beat eggs until frothy, about two minutes. Mix in milk, vanilla, and honey or stevia.
2. In a medium-sized bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt and whisk together. Stir wet mixture into dry until coconut flour is incorporated.
3. Grease pan with butter or coconut oil. Ladle a few tablespoons of batter into pan for each pancake. Spread out slightly with the back of a spoon. The pancakes should be 2-3 inches in diameter and fairly thick. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the tops dry out slightly and the bottoms start to brown. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
4. Serve hot with butter, coconut oil, honey, syrup, or fruit.

Sausage “Spaghetti" in Creamy Tomato Sauce

I think Karen Cason said it best, when she said, "most paleo recipes are just a mixture of meat and vegetables!", and while that is exactly what this is.....it's got a bit of zip because of the spicy sausage, which I like. This recipe makes a TON of food, so make sure you have a crew or are in need of lunch for the week. 

Ingredients
1.25 lbs mild Italian pork sausage
1 large leek, diced
½ red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 can of artichoke hearts packed in water, cut into quarters
1 tablespoon coconut oil
5 zucchini squash, sliced thin like noodles (I sliced mine by hand, so had to be very patient to get it as thin as I wanted. Everyday Paleo, where I got the recipe, sliced their zucchini thin with a mandolin slicer and then used a knife to slice the thin noodle strips into “spaghetti” like noodles.  You can also make it easier on yourself and use a julienne slicer. I'm not quite that fancy yet!!

Sauce
1 can of organic diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons coconut milk (EP called for coconut cream concentrate or sub with coconut milk, or grass fed heavy whipping cream)
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced
Black pepper to taste

In a large skillet or wok heat the coconut oil.  Brown the meat in the coconut oil and add the onion, leeks, and bell peppers. In a small sauce pan mix together the can of diced tomatoes with the juice with the coconut cream concentrate.  Bring to a simmer and add the remaining sauce ingredients and mix well.  To the meat and veggies add the zucchini and artichokes and pour the sauce over.  Mix well and cook for another 5-6 minutes, just until the zucchini al dente – careful not over cook or they will turn to mush!

Like I said this is a LOT of food. I actually didn't have room in my pan for the last zucchini! I enjoyed this dish, it was a nice switch from ground beef, chicken and turkey AND the sausage seasoning pretty much took care of the flavoring. yum.

Roasted Root Veggies and Chicken

I love the Everyday Paleo lady. She's amazing. Found this one when I was looking for new recipes.
The link to the original recipe is here:
http://everydaypaleo.com/2010/11/10/it-can-be-this-easy/

I made some slight modifications:
1 rutabaga (fresh as opposed to frozen)
1 parsnip (fresh)
1 turnip (fesh)
4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons coconut oil
Penzey's Tuscan Sunset spice mix (great mix with basil, oregano, garlic, red bell pepper, salt free)

Preheat oven to 450. Original recipe calls to bake at 400 for a total of 65 minutes, but I was cooking this after the 7pm class, so I didn't want to have to wait over an hour for this to be done. Chop all your root vegetables. In a large mixing bowl, toss the root veggies with coconut oil.  Add the veggies to a large glass baking dish and top with the 4 chicken breasts.  Season the chicken with your spices. Cover tightly with the tin foil and bake for 35 minutes. Take off the tinfoil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

It's really that easy and tastes really really good. This is definitely going in the rotation!

1-2-3 Eat...aka "Easiest recipe in the world"

Per Rudy's request :) I am posting the easiest recipe I make. This is the grab your meat and veggies and eat!
Apparently, Rudy is this really busy guy! 

Here is what you will need:

1lb. pasture raised, grass fed beef
1 head of kale
4-6 tablespoons of low sodium/or salt free fresh salsa

Cook ground beef on medium in large skillet. Drain grease and add the salsa. Rinse kale and tear apart with your hands into the skillet. Mix, cover and cook on low for another 8 minutes or until kale is tender.

Enjoy!

Halibut with Zucchini Salsa Verde

Not my best photography here, but I swear this tastes better than it looks! Got this recipe from my mom.
Tomatillos are usually the star of salsa verde, but pureed zucchini makes a surprisingly convincing stand-in.

Halibut with Zucchini Salsa Verde
10 ounces zucchini (about 2 medium), trimmed, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro plus leaves for garnish
1/3 cup chopped white onion
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 clove of garlic chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped seeded jalapeño chiles
1 1/4 teaspoons finely grated lime peel
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons ground coriander
6 6-ounce skinless halibut fillets or cod fillets

Combine zucchini, chopped cilantro, and next 5 ingredients in blender. Puree until salsa is smooth. I did this ahead, can be made 2 hours before. Transfer to small bowl. Cover and chill.
Preheat broiler. Line broiler pan with foil; coat foil with nonstick spray. Combine 1 1/4 teaspoons pepper, coriander in small bowl; stir to blend. Pat fish dry. Sprinkle fish on all sides with seasoning mixture.
Arrange fish on prepared pan. Broil until just opaque in center, 3 to 4 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

Transfer fish to plates. Spoon some salsa over. Garnish with cilantro leaves. Serve with remaining salsa.

I had a taste for rutabaga tonight, so I paired it with rutabaga and turkey bacon. 

I think I'll use the leftover salsa in eggs tomorrow for breakfast! 

Egg Cupcakes

If you are anything like me, your mornings consist of hitting the snooze 3-4 times - usually getting ready as quickly as possible, because you slept as long as you could push it, without the risk of being late to work! This is why egg cupcakes are SO great! One batch leaves you with a quick, easy, paleo solution for an entire week. Here is my latest version. When you get sick of this, just add different ingredients, i.e. sub turkey bacon for chorizo, spinach and onion for red pepper, etc.

Egg Cupcakes
10 -12 eggs whisked well
1 dash of coconut milk
1-2 red peppers (to taste)
cilantro to taste (the more the better in my opinion)
1lb. of COOKED Pork Chorizo


Preheat oven to 350 and grease with olive oil two muffin pans. In a skillet, cook your chorizo over medium heat until browned. Add in diced red pepper until soft. Drain the grease from your skillet. Add  the chorizo mixture to the bottom of your cupcake pans, filling them up 1/3 of the way. Whisk all your eggs in a big bowl, I added a dash of coconut milk this time, just cuz. Take the egg mixture and fill the muffin pans (you’ll be able to make 18-20 cupcakes). Sprinkle your cilantro (I usually tear apart with my hands) onto each cupcake, to taste. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the eggs are set in the middle.  These are great to take on the go and I like mine heated up or sometimes cold (I know, that sounds weird, but it isn't bad!).

Pulled Pork

This recipe was AH-Mazing! 

I made it back in March when it was still chilly outside. I'm a little behind on the blog, don't judge me! 

I pulled the recipe from two separate sources. The slow cooked pork recipe, I've been using for year's, is a variation of my mom's: 

Serves 8-10 

Ingredients

Pulled pork ingredients

• 1 pork shoulder or butt roast, about 5-6 lbs
• 3 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp fresh sage
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp dry mustard
• 1 medium size onion diced in larger slices
• 1 bay leaf
• Dash of pepper

1. Prepare the dry rub by combining the paprika, sage, mustard, pepper and chopped garlic in a bowl.
2. Rub the pork roast all over with the spice rub. If you have time, you can place in the refrigerator for the flavors to penetrate the meat for a minimum of 1 hour, but up to overnight. If I don't have the time, I'll just place immediately into slow cooker on high for 3 hours, then low for 2 hours. 
3. I typically add a little water, or chicken broth in the bottom of the slow cooker so nothing sticks, place your chopped onions (sometimes I'll add mushrooms too) around the pork. Once these start to simmer, they will help with flavoring the meat. 
4. While pork is cooking, make your sauce from the recipe below. 
5. Once pork is cooked, pull apart with two forks and allow to simmer in the sauce for another hour.

BBQ Sauce ingredients

The Paleo BBQ sauce (zesty, just the way I like it) I grabbed from "Son of Grok".

http://www.sonofgrok.com/2009/06/sog-zesty-bbq-zauce/

It did not disappoint! Good BBQ is all about the sauce. I paired with a side of sauteed Kale. Yummo.

The Lam-urkey loaf

Found this recipe randomly....it was originally a greek style Lamb meatloaf, but I modified a few things to make it paleo and left out the tzatziki sauce. Serve with a fresh salad. It was very yummy!

Ingredients
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced

1 can artichoke hearts, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. pepper

3 dashes of dried basil

3 dashes of turmeric

2-3 dashes red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup milk (I used coconut milk)
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup almond meal 

1 lbs. ground lamb 

1 lb. lean ground turkey

2 egg. slightly beaten

Directions 

In large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft. Add celery and garlic and cook until celery is soft. Stir in the artichokes, pepper, basil, and cinnamon.
Stir in milk and tomato paste. Remove from heat and let cool. In large bowl, combine the vegetable mixture and almond meal with the lamb and turkey and egg.
Place in a large loaf pan. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Drain any juices. Let rest another 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Spicy Bacon and Sweet Potato Frittata

This Frittata recipe was so good it brought me out of my blahhg hiatus. I instantly felt the need to share!! I'm back and full of yummy Frittata goodness at the moment.

Spicy Bacon and Sweet Potato Frittata
(Makes 1 frittata)

-1/2 c (heaping) diced sweet potato (keep them small--1/2" or so--to keep the cooking time down)

-2 strips lean bacon, chopped (I subbed Turkey Bacon)

-2 eggs

-1 generous tbsp coconut milk

-2 tsp coconut oil

-1 to 2 tsp cinnamon

-A healthy dash of cayenne pepper

The original recipe calls for sea salt, but I omitted because there is enough salt in the bacon. 


Whisk together eggs and coconut milk in a bowl, and set aside. Heat oil in a large, non-stick pan over medium heat. Add sweet potato and cook until it begins to soften, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Add seasonings. Push potatoes to one side of the pan, add bacon, and cook until it begins to brown, 2-3 minutes. Stir potatoes and bacon together and continue to cook until bacon is crispy and potatoes are soft, about 5 minutes. Make sure potatoes and bacon are equally distributed in the pan, then carefully pour egg/coconut milk mixture around the circumference of the pan. Tilt the pan in a circular motion to distribute the eggs evenly. Cook until eggs are set, about 3-5 minutes. Carefully slide frittata out of the pan and onto a plate, and enjoy.