Oxtail Bone Broth

I've had a package of oxtail in the freezer for some time now. I also had a collection of other beef and pork bones from roasts, chops, steaks..etc. that we have eaten the last few month weeks/months along with vegetable scraps in the freezer. I put the oxtails and other bones my cast iron pot and tossed a whole quartered onion in the pot along with some baby carrots and roasted everything at 450 degrees for 30 minutes (turning once). *note: this makes your house smell amazing!


Meanwhile, while the bones & veggies were roasting, I quartered another onion and tossed it in the crockpot along with some of the frozen veggie scraps, more carrots, some garlic cloves (slightly crushed, but not peeled), dried parsley* & oregano*, a bay leaf, course ground black pepper and some sea salt.  I added the roasted bones & veggies along with the drippings in the pan and then poured filtered water in to cover everything. I added 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar and let it all sit for about 30 minutes before putting the lid and turning the crockpot on low. Let cook for 12-24 hours (or longer) and then strain out the broth. This is going to make a fabulous beef veggie soup, I just know it... ;)


*Before putting the dried herbs in, I rub them between my palms to sort of "wake them up"

Also, note that my bones didn't fit in my crockpot, so I transfered everything over to a stockpot and put it on the stove top.  I brought it to a boil and then turned it down to the lowest setting and let it simmer covered for about 27 hours. About half-way through (when I got up in the morning after it simmered most of the afternoon and overnight), I took the oxtails out and pulled the meat off and then put them back in. I plan to put the meat in my beef veggie soup!

This stuff is delicious! 

Some of the broth will be put in the freezer for future use. I've heard of freezing it in ice cube trays so that you have measured amounts to use, but I am currently short on ice cube trays, so I will just freeze it in the jars (I left room at the top to keep them from cracking).

Autumn Recipes - Chili

When you adapt a paleo style of eating, some of your favorite recipes will undergo a major overhaul. One of those recipes is most certainly your chili recipe. Previously, my chili consisted of meat & beans along with macaroni noodles, spicy V-8 juice and other ingredients. We would often top a bowl of chili with sour cream & shredded cheese or buttered saltine crackers! My how times have changed! Now we top our chili with slices of avocado or eggs fried over easy!

Chili is one of those recipes that I make a little different every time, but here's (roughly) what I did today (adapted from this recipe):

Ingredients:

Splash of Olive Oil

2lbs of Grass Fed Ground Beef

1 chopped Onion

1 chopped Hot Banana Pepper

1 chopped Jalapeno Pepper

1 chopped Yellow Bell Pepper (small)

2Tbsp Chili Powder

1Tbsp Cumin

1tsp Salt

1tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

1/2tsp Allspice

1/2tsp Black Pepper

6oz can of Tomato Paste (I use Muir Glen Organic)

28oz can of Diced Tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Organic)

14oz can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Organic)

Directions:

Splash oil in the bottom of a heated pot and add the onions & 3 different peppers. Next add the meat and cook until the meat is no longer pink inside. Then add all remaining ingredients and let simmer for 1-2 hours. 

Then have fun playing with toppings..etc. I've heard of topping a sweet potato or squash with paleo chili. Bacon is another popular topping... Or just top it with some over-easy fried eggs like I did!

NOT a very pretty photo, but it was so very tasty!

Tip of the Day

Save small glass containers such as herb/seasoning containers
and baby food jars to store single servings of dressing for salads!

This week's menu is simple and requires very little cooking. We're having a lot of salads.

I bought iceberg lettuce, organic spring mix and organic baby spinach for the greens.

We've chopped up radishes, bell pepper, red onion, cucumbers & tomatoes for veggie toppings.

And we've got taco seasoned ground beef, tuna mixed with homemade mayo, nitrate-free ham cold cuts from the farm,  grilled or buffalo chicken & hard boiled eggs for protein.

And most importantly, we've got dressings!  I've made a fresh batch of ranch dressing and bottled them in baby food jars and glass herb jars. I've also got a bottle of Tessamae's Italian Dressing!  

Paleo Coleslaw (with a kick!)

Hey everybody! The weather is starting to cool off and everyone is getting into their fall recipes and I'm over here making summer salads! I never really cared for coleslaw and the only one I've ever REALLY liked was the jalapeno slaw at Chili's.  I don't even know if they still have it and I honestly can't remember what it tasted like, but I've been craving coleslaw lately and I got to thinking about that slaw at Chili's with jalapeno in it, and then this happened:

Ingredients:

14 or 16oz. package of coleslaw mix (or you can shred your own cabbage & carrots)

1/2 - 1 Jalapeno Pepper, seeded and chopped

1 tsp Fennel Seed

1 Cup Paleo Mayo

1 tsp Vinegar

1/2 tsp Lime Juce

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

Directions:

In a large bowl, toss the slaw mix with the jalapeno and fennel seed. In a smaller bowl, mix the remaining ingredients to make the sauce. Pour the sauce over the slaw mix and blend everything together well. Place in the refrigerator for a while to allow the flavors to blend.  

Oh yeah, and Whole30 5.0 week 1 is in the books!  

Chicken Bacon Ranch Zoodle Salad

Are you looking for an alternative to the typical summer cold pasta salad?  Well, have I got the perfect recipe for you!  This one is simple and fairly easy to make.  I like it best the next day, so it's perfect to make it ahead of time and then carry it to your next picnic or family gathering.  

Ingredients:

1lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1/2 TBSP Homemade Ranch Seasoning* 

1 TBSP Butter

4-6 slices of cooked & crumbled Bacon

5-6 cups Zoodles (I used 3 large zucchini) 

1/4 Cup diced Red Bell Pepper 

1/4 Cup diced Red Onion

1/4 Cup Homemade Mayo* 

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Cut chicken up into bite-sized chunks. Heat butter in pan and add chicken and ranch seasoning to pan.  Cook until chicken is no longer pink. I put my chicken in a bowl in the fridge while I finished the rest of the recipe. While the chicken is cooling, you can start boiling a large pot of water and create your zoodles by using a spiralzer or julienne peeler. I salt the water and the zoodles. Once the water is boiling, toss the zoodles in and put a lid on it. It will only take 3-5 minutes for your zoodles to soften up, so keep checking them. As soon as you can easily cut one with a fork, put them in a colander in the sink and run cold water over them. While they are draining, you can cook and crumble your bacon and cut your onions & peppers. Squeeze all of the excess  water from the zoodles and put them in large bowl. Mix in the chicken, bacon, peppers, onion and mayo. Add salt & pepper to taste. As I said, this dish tastes great after the flavors have blended in the fridge for a few hours (or overnight).  

*I always have mayo & ranch seasoning made and on-hand.

My New Obsession

My latest obsession is ZOODLES! See how my first attempt with them turned out below (and stay tuned for some more experimentation with zoodles coming soon!).

I've been dying to try making zoodles since spaghetti squash is out of season in the summer.  I didn't discover the previous link before my first zoodle experience so, mine were a little watery. I might try the salt, sit & squeeze method next time!

I didn't want to invest in a fancy spiralizer until I knew if was even going to like this stuff. So, I ordered a Pampered Chef Julienne Peeler and gave it a whirl!  I was pleased with how easy it was to peel the zucchini using this peeler.  I don't see a need for fancier one (yet!).  

I was recently disturbed by own willingness to pay over $5 for a jar of spaghetti sauce at Kroger that was sugar (and offensive oil) free. I did decide that I need to can my own sauce this year. 

Anyway, I was pretty pumped when I found this brand at Walmart for a little over $3. You can see it has a good, clean ingredient list!

So... here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

4-6 Zucchini 

1lb Grass-fed Ground Beef or Italian Sausage

1 Jar of Sugar-free Spaghetti Sauce

Onions, chopped

Garlic, sliced or minced

Directions:

Turn the zucchini into "noodles" using your julienne peeler and place in a glass bowl.  I salted mine and then started a pot of boiling water.  Once the water is boiling, pour it over the zucchini in the bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes (to soften the zucchini).  You may want to try this method.  While I was waiting for the water to boil, I cooked my ground beef with some onion and garlic and then added the sauce and let it simmer.  After draining the water off of the zoodles, I topped them with the meat sauce an promptly stuffed my face!  I also had this left-over for lunch the next day and it was just as good reheated.

Pizza!

Boy, it's been a while, eh?  Sorry for the long absence.  I've been busy, busy, busy!  

So... I haven't had pizza in over a year and I really miss it.  I don't miss a lot of the foods that I no longer eat, but I do miss pizza!  I even make pizza inspired bowls when I go to Ghengis Grill (pepperoni & other meats with peppers, onions, spinach, garlic...etc. and I use the tomato based sauce).  Yes, I know there are ton of "gluten-free pizza crust recipes" out there.  I'm really not interested in those.  

I found this recipe for Primal Eggplant Pizza from The Domestic Man, I really wanted to try it.  Yeah, I know dairy isn't paleo (it's primal!), but I thought a small amount of high-quality cheese might not hurt me (it didn't).  

So, I bought a nice looking eggplant from the farmers market and then picked up my favorite toppings:
Italian Sausage (from my fave farm!)
Pizza Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Pepperoni



You'll also need some olive oil and salt & pepper.  You can include any toppings you like.



As the recipe indicates, you want to slice your eggplant and then salt both sides of the slices.  These need to sit for 30 minutes.  You'll see the moisture drawing out of them. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425.  

I cooked my Italian sausage while this was going on.

After 30 minutes, rinse your eggplant slices and pat them dry with a paper towel.  Then brush both sides of the slices with olive oil and add salt & pepper (I just liberally added the S&P, didn't measure).  I put them on my cooling rack over my baking sheet and stuck them in the oven.  It took closer to 10 minutes for mine to start to brown.

Then I added the sauce and toppings and cheese (I tried to go light on the cheese) and baked them again until the cheese was bubbly and the pepperoni was starting to crisp.

Overall, this recipe really hit the spot!  I like that the "crust" is made of a vegetable (vs. a bunch of nut flours...etc.).