Saturday, November 6, 2010

Oven roasted broccoli and garlic green beans

So tonight for dinner we had a fabulous mixture of protein and greens. The meat was all grass-fed and delicious! We just sprinkled it with sea salt and grilled. It came out wonderfully. Then there were the veggies. I could have eaten those all night. I was sick to death of steamed broccoli so I decided to try oven roasted broccoli. For the green beans I made my Mom's famous recipe. :)

Oven Roasted Broccoli (recipe from www.elanaspantry.com)

Broccoli (I did the bag of broccoli, but feel free to cut your own)
olive oil
sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the broccoli in olive oil and sea salt. Spread on baking pan (I used a jelly roll pan). Bake for 12 minutes. Enjoy!

Garlic Green Beans

1 bag of green beans (once again, do your own if you are motivated. I prefer haricots vert)
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
Sea salt

Place green beans in microwave safe dish. Toss with garlic, olive oil, and sea salt. Microwave until done (about 4 minutes, depending on microwave strength). Enjoy!

Saturday Morning Cinnamon Muffins

Since this morning is my son's actual second birthday, I decided to make a special breakfast treat. We had a nice serving of scrambled eggs and some of these delicious cinnamon muffins. Good luck not eating the entire batch.

Paleo Cinnamon Muffins

2 cups almond flour (I used Honeyville)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 almond oil
1/4 walnut oil
1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)
6 eggs
2 egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks

Topping
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup agave (or honey)
2 tbsp walnut (or almond) oil

Mix together topping ingredients in small bowl and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners. Mix together almond and coconut flours and salt. In separate bowl mix oils, agave and eggs. Combine wet and dry ingredients until well blended. Fold in beaten egg whites. Fill muffin cups until about 3/4 full. Top with a heaping teaspoonful of the topping mixture. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

(this recipe was adapted from www.elanaspantry.com, she has a great website, not quite Paleo, but easy to adapt to Paleo)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

All hail Caesar! A paleo Caesar!

So my dear friend Kelly asked me to create a Paleo Caesar dressing for her. She adores Caesar salads and was having a very difficult time giving them up in the name of health. So this recipe was made for her, with her help taste testing. Just be sure that if you like a spicy caesar that you add extra garlic and black pepper.

Paleo Caesar Dressing

6 cloves of garlic
3-5 anchovy filets
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 egg yolks
2 cups olive oil
2 tbsp almond meal (make sure its a little grittier...like Bobs Red Mill, or make your own)
Sea salt
Black pepper

Blend garlic and anchovies in blender or food processor until finely minced. Add seasonings, vinegar, lemon juice and egg yolks. Blend until well combined. Slowly drizzle olive oil while blender/processor is running. Add almond meal and blend lightly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Put on a nice mix of lettuce and salad greens. Enjoy!! :)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Yummy Thai Noodle dish!! Totally Paleo!

I ordered Sea Kelp noodles a while ago after reading Robb Wolf's book. Boy, did they look weird. They came in these packages and they were soft, with some liquid in with them. Ok, to say I was hesitant to eat these things would be an understatement. Tonight I decided to bite the bullet and make a dish with them. So here is the outcome. It was quite delicious, yet felt like it was missing something. (Since we did not use any soy sauce, that could very well be it). I may try adding some vinegar next time to get some zip to it. It was a hit with the boys, since they finally got to eat some noodles. And my hubby enjoyed it too. :)

Thai curry noodles

Mixture of olive oil, almond oil and coconut oil
2.5 lbs chicken, cubed
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
5 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
sea salt
pinch of chinese five spice (not sure this provides much)
pinch of chili powder
1/2 can of coconut milk
1/2-3/4 cup almond butter (nice and smooth stuff)
2 packages sea kelp noodles

Put oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken until nearly fully cooked. Add ginger, garlic, curry, salt, spice and chili. Saute until chicken is full cooked. Add almond butter and coconut milk. Cook over low until well blended. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly. Add kelp noodles and cook until softened. Stir to combine, serve and enjoy!

Pierson's Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes!

Since my younger son turns two this week, I decided that I needed to develop a Paleo cupcake recipe so that we could celebrate his birthday like the average family. These cupcakes came out so delicious. Light, airy, lightly sweet, nice and vanilla. I sweetened mine with agave nectar, since my allergies do not appreciate honey. But feel free to sub the honey for the agave. I am sure it will make a tasty treat. You could make these then top them with a berry compote (berries blended together) or you can make the chocolate ganache that I am making.




Pierson's Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes

1/2 cup coconut flour
pinch of sea salt
6 eggs
1/2 cup agave
1/2 cup almond oil (or other mild flavored nut oil)
1 whole vanilla bean (scrape the seeds out of the pod), or tablespoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (or use cupcake papers) muffin tin using coconut oil. Mix together salt and flour in large bowl. In small bowl, mix eggs, agave, oil and vanilla seeds. Pour wet mixture, into dry. Stir until fully combined. Fold in beaten egg whites. Fill each muffin cup until 3/4 full. Bake in oven 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from tin and cool on rack.


Chocolate ganache

1 can coconut milk (not lite)
16 oz 85% dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

Put chocolate in large bowl. Heat coconut milk over medium heat in sauce pan. When milk starts to bubble, pour over chocolate. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir to combine. Taste, if too bitter you can add agave or honey to sweeten. Cool to desired consistency, or for a nice smooth top, pour over the top of the cupcakes before mixture thickens.

Monday, November 1, 2010

how to do a paleo burger

So we may all miss some of our past-life foods...such as the fabulous cheeseburger. No bun, no cheese...just a slab of meat? How boring. I decided to jazz up the Paleo burger a bit so it would not just be a slab of meat on a plate. First, I made the paleo ketchup (see below a few entries). Then I decided to make some additions.

Paleo Burgers (done yummy)

2-4 hamburger patties (depending on your appetite or your guests. Try to keep them lean and when possible grass fed beef)

Grill patties however you see fit.

1 package of bacon (search for a kind without sugar...probably going to have to go to whole foods for this one)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place bacon on broiler pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until white foamy bubbles appear (that means its yummy and crispy).

4-8 portabella mushroom caps (2 for each burger patty)
olive oil

Prepare the mushrooms by removing the stem and cleaning out the inside. Then lightly clean the tops with a damp paper towel. Heat skillet with some olive oil over medium high heat. Add mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms shrink a bit and are done cooking.

Begin layering! Mushroom on the bottom, burger patty, plenty of bacon, any veggies you see fit (tomato, lettuce, ect), and paleo ketcup! Yum!!!

(The idea for the mushroom cap bun came from http://everydaypaleo.com, a fantastic little site)

Herb roasted chicken

You will notice that I do a lot of roaster chickens. You could easily buy an already cooked rotisserie chicken at the store, but then do you really know what has been put on that chicken? I prefer to just buy a big ol' raw chicken and start from scratch. I like to always have a bag of chicken in my fridge. That is one of my biggest recommendations for anyone trying to go Paleo. Have healthy protein on hand and ready to eat. My usual go to recipe just involves sea salt, but tonight I decided to herb-ify my chicken. The results were yummy! And very kid-approved! Once again, I did two chickens, feel free to cut the recipe in half if you aren't cooking for a bunch of men like I am. :)

Herb Roasted Chicken

2 Roaster chickens
6 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 shallots, sliced
1 onion, quartered
1 bag of carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
2-4 tbsp herbs de provence (you can buy this in the spice section or make your own http://homecooking.about.com/od/allherbrecipes/r/blherb9.htm)
Sea salt
1.5-2 cups water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare the chicken buy sprinkling with sea salt, be sure to put salt in the interior too. Take some of the garlic cloves, place in the cavity and place the rest in the area between the skin and the breast meat. You can form a little pocket to put seasoning into. Put some shallot into the cavity and the pocket. Put 1/4 onion in the cavity. Sprinkle the herbs into and around the chicken. Place chicken in roasting pan, surround with remaining onion, carrots and water. Put in oven and cook for 15 minutes. Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees, and continue to cook until the chicken's internal temperature is 165 degrees. (this is where an oven probe comes in real handy, if not use a good ol' fashioned meat thermometer). Remove pan from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice and enjoy! Store any extra chicken in a plastic bag in your fridge...so good for lazy lunches or even breakfasts!

My mojito water

Well when I decided to go Paleo, I needed to find alternative to sweetened beverages. I could always do tea, but who needs all of that caffeine. So I decided to start experimenting with homemade flavored waters. My favorite one reminds me of one of the best alcoholic beverages. :) However, with this concoction I can drink a whole pitcher and not get hung over. The other favorite water I developed was strawberry water. I have some extra strawberries on the verge of going bad so I used those. You can use any fruit here. So pick your favorite, let it soak and enjoy a cold glass.

Mojito water

1 pitcher of fresh water
1 lime, sliced
10-20 fresh mint leaves

Put the lime and mint into the water. Place pitcher in the fridge and leave for 8-12 hours. Remove lime and mint after 12-24 hours or the lime will make the water bitter.

Strawberry water

1 pitcher of fresh water
4-5 strawberries

Put strawberries in the water, place in the fridge. Leave for 8-12 hours. Remove strawberries after 12-24 hours.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

paleo ketchup

Mmm. Ketchup is one of those non-paleo foods that I miss. I used to put ketchup on everything. Eggs, fries, burgers, you name it! I love ketchup. So I decided to find a paleo version that I could live with. This one seems like a pretty good option. I used agave to sweeten mine, but you could always use honey.

Paleo Ketchup

1 12oz can of tomato sauce
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
3 tsp cider vinegar
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
pinch of cloves
1/4 tsp all spice
2-3 tsp agave
1-2 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan. Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes. Cool in airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy!
(This recipe has been adapted from http://www.crossfitxlr8.com/watercooler/?p=1059)