Recipes from Make it Paleo

I made three more recipes from my copy of Make it Paleo (book review coming soon!).  These recipes can also be found on The Food Lovers Kitchen site and on the My Kitchen free app!

Bacon Wrapped Scallops
I had been anticipating this recipe for a while.  I finally decided to make it for the football game on Sunday.  I took it (prepared, uncooked) to a friend's house to watch the game.  They prepared broiled shrimp and homemade potato wedges to go with it.  We also snacked on raw veggies and dip.  It was a wonderful spread!

Ingredients:
1lb Bacon (I didn't use a whole pound, maybe half)
15 Scallops (I had purchased a pound of fresh sea scallops at the farmers market)
1tsp Smoked Paprika (I didn't measure, I just sprinkled)
Skewers (I used metal reusable ones)

Preheat oven to 425 (we used a toaster oven).  
Cut bacon strips in half (be careful with this, my scallops were large, so I needed more than half a strip of bacon on most of them).
Wrap each scallop in bacon.
Skewer 2-3 scallops on each skewer.
Sprinkle with smoked paprika, seasoning both sides.
Bake for 20 minutes, then flip and bake another 15 minutes.

These turned out delicious!  However, the bacon was thick cut and didn't crisp up as much as we would have liked.  Next time I'm going to try pre-cooking the bacon a little in the microwave first.

Tomato Basil Soup
I enjoyed this soup, but it was too peppery.  Next time I will cut the amount of salt and pepper in half and then, if needed, I will add more upon serving.

Ingredients:
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil
1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 C. Fresh Basil (I used some dried that I had on my spice shelf and I didn't use half cup, I just sprinkled a reasonable amount)
2 tsp. Salt & Pepper (I took this to mean 2 tsp EACH.  After further review, I think it should have been 1 tsp. each)
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3 Cups Chicken Stock
5 Tomatoes
6oz Tomato Paste

Tossed with oil, salt & pepper

-Preheat oven to 350.
-Clean and quarter tomatoes.
-Toss with olive oil, salt & pepper
-Roast on baking sheet for 30 minutes.
-In a large soup pot, heat coconut oil over medium heat.  
-Saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent.
-Add in the roasted tomatoes and continue to saute for 1 minute.

Onions & garlic sauteeing

-Add in 3 cups of chicken stock, the basil and tomato paste and stir continuously over medium heat until the tomato paste has dissolved.
-Season with salt & pepper.
-Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  
-Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
-Pour soup into food processor or high-speed blender and puree until smooth.

I prepared the broth with the basil and
salt & pepper while the tomatoes were
roasting and the veggies were sauteeing.

Ready for the food processor!

Root Veggie Hash with Poached Eggs
We didn't like this recipe.  The hash was too sweet and I'm not a fan of rosemary.  I don't know why I even added it.

1 Beet, chopped
1 Cup of chopped Turnips (mine were large, so I only needed one)
1 Tbsp fresh Rosemary (I used dried, but wish I would have left it out entirely)
1 tsp Coconut Oil
1 Cup chopped Vidalia Onion (this is not the season for these, so I just purchased some sweet onions)
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Egg, poached



Preheat oven to 400.  Toss rinsed, chopped beets, turnips & onions in olive oil and spread out on a baking sheet and season with salt, pepper & rosemary.  Roast for 20 minutes, then add minced garlic, stir and roast another 10 minutes.

Heat 1tsp coconut oil in frying pan over medium heat.  Crack egg into pan and cook for 30 seconds.  Then add 1/4 C of water and cover with lid.  Let egg steam until the yolk is pinkish on top and the white is no longer runny.

Serve with bacon, because bacon rocks!

Why Paleo?

This is a great post from Paleo/NonPaleo about staying motivated in a Paleo lifestyle.  It suggests that you do 3 things:

Make a list of why you're paleo.  
Put the list where you can see it.  
And read it at least twice a day. 

I made my list.  I hand-wrote it on a 8-1/2 x 11 piece of paper and put it in my desk drawer at work.  I hand-wrote it again on a note card to keep in my purse.  And I typed it out real pretty to tape to my bathroom mirror at home.  Here it is:

Please refer to the original post to get the full benefit of this action.  If you're already paleo or paleo-ish, why are YOU paleo?  If you're not, but you want to be, why do you want to be?  If you think paleo is crazy nonsense, I wouldn't mind hearing from you too! :)

Pumpkin Treats!

I bought a large can of pure pumpkin puree last week and then got busy using it up this weekend!  First, I made these pumpkin bars from Elena's Pantry:

Pumpkin Bars

½ cup pumpkin puree

½ cup agave nectar (I used honey)

2 eggs

1 cup blanched almond flour (I made my own and it wasn't blanched)

¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves (I didn't have any cloves, so I used some pumpkin pie spice)

1. In a food processor, combine pumpkin, agave (or honey) and eggs.  Pulse for 2 minutes.

2. Pulse dry ingredients into wet for a full minute, until well combined.

3. Pour batter into a greased 8x8 pyrex baking dish (I just rubbed a little coconut oil all over the inside of mine)

4. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes

5. Serve naked or with whipped cream (see what I did below)

I made a coconut whipped cream by refrigerating about 3/4 of a can of coconut milk (this Golden Star that I found at wal-mart is REALLY thick and works perfect for this!).  I put a splash of vanilla in a metal bowl with the chilled coconut milk and use my beaters to whip it into a whipped cream.  After the cake was cooled, I topped it with this whipped cream.  I wish I had taken picture, they were really good!  I was afraid with all that honey in it, that it would be too sweet, but the "frosting" wasn't very sweet, so the combination was PERFECTO!

Then I made these delicious pumpkin muffins from Balanced Bites.  These were a HUGE hit and I ended up making a second batch after the football game on Sunday.  We shared with some of our paleo friends!  

Ingredients

1/2 C butter or coconut oil, melted (I used coconut oil)

6 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C pumpkin puree

1/4 C honey or maple syrup (I followed the author's advice and used 2 Tbsp each to equal a 1/4 C of sweetener)

1/2 C coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1-1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp allspice/nutmeg (again, I used pumpkin pie spice in place of this and the cloves, 1/2 tsp)

pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Grease muffin tray or use paper liners (my first batch stuck to the paper, so I switched to the foil liners for the second batch and that worked MUCH better!)

3. Combine wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl together until well beaten (I used a whisk).

4. Measure dry ingredients into a sifter and slowly sift into the wet ingredients  whisking as you do so that you don't have lumps in the batter. (The batter got really thick as I added the last of the dry ingredients).

5. Divide batter evenly into the muffin tins and bake for apprx. 15-18 minutes or until slightly golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean.

I also made this pumpkin mug cake from The Preppy Paleo, but it was pretty bland :(

Fried Eggplant & Buffalo Wings

Dinner last night consisted of Buffalo Wings from The Food Lovers Kitchen.  I was wracking my brains to come up with a side dish/veggie to have with it.  I happen to have 3 large eggplants because I planned to try another recipe from The Food Lovers Kitchen this week.  So, I sliced one up and made this Fried Eggplant recipe from Marina's Primal/Paleo Cooking.  I forgot to take pictures, but she has some pretty pictures on her site.  It was very easy to make and tasty!  Of course, my hot sauce loving friend, Brittany put some of my Rubin's Red hot sauce from Horsetooth Hot Sauce on them and it was REALLY good!

Fried Eggplant:

1 Large Eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced (the recipe SAYS to peel it, but the picture shows it unpeeled.  I  tend to think that the peeling of any veggie contains important nutrients, so I left it on!)

2 TBSP coconut oil or palm oil (I used coconut oil)

3 Eggs, beaten (I used 2 and still had leftover)

I sprinkled a little salt on them after I removed them from the pan.  I put them on a paper towel lined plate to drain some of the oil off.

Bone Broth

It does kinda look like garbage...

While reading an article in this month's issue of All You magazine , I was directed to The Sweet Beet for directions on how to use your "garbage" to make vegetable stock.  I had already been collecting beef and pork bones in a bag in the freezer, but the idea of saving egg shells and veggie scraps was revolutionary!  I've told you how I've made chicken bone broth in the past, but I hadn't tried veggie broth or pork/beef broth yet.

So...last night I put my pork & beef bones in the crockpot (along with some tallow) with about a dozen egg shells and some veggies.  I poured warm water over it all and then a cap full of vinegar.  I covered it and left it turned off for about an hour and then turned it on low and went to bed.  When I get home tonight, there should be some delicious broth ready to be strained!

Recipe Recap

I've tried a few new recipes in the last week.  Today, I will feature the ones that I liked!  I'll save the ones that I didn't care for for another day.  

First of all, I've been making my own almond meal!  I purchased this cute little coffee grinder for around $10 (and we use it to grind our coffee now too!)  I just put a handful of plain almonds in it and grind it up.  Then I sift it through the colander (because I don't have a flour sifter yet) and add the big chunks back to the grinder again.  It's simple!  And it saves a TON of money!  I buy large bags of almonds at Sam's Club.

Next, I used my homemade almond meal to make some "chicken strips".  This was an experiment to make a more flavorful chicken strip than a previous attempt.   

I used approximately 1-1/2 cups of almond meal and random measurements of the spices pictured above (paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, parsley, red pepper, dry mustard & white pepper).  I blended it all together and then in a seperate bowl, I whisked 2 eggs and little bit of water.  I dipped each chicken strip in the egg and then covered it in the "breading".  I then placed them on foil-lined baking sheet and baked them for about 25 minutes at 350.

I served them with homemade paleo mayo, canned french style green beans and sweet potato fries.  They were good, but I still think they need more flavor.

Last night I tried two new recipes.  One being these buttery dill carrots from the pampered chef.

Then I made baked spiced yams from The Paleo Mom.  I served it all up with grassfed beef burgers on the grill!

Soups and Stews

Image Credits: 
http://www.mirileigh.com/2009/12/spicy-sweet-roasted-fall-vegetables/ 

It's that time of year... the weather is getting cooler and the fall fruits & veggies are coming into season.  I love to make soups & stews on the weekend and then eat them throughout the week.  I've recently made two recipes utilizing in-season produce.  

The first recipe comes from page 108 of the the Paleo Recipe Book:

Crock Pot Beef & Sweet Potato Stew

Ingredients:

1lb of beef stew meat

3C sweet potato, peeled & cut into 1" cubes (I used 3 medium sized sweet potatoes)

2 garlic cloves, minced

a pinch of allspice

1 bay leaf

1 Cinnamon Stick

1 Large Onion, cut into chunks (I quartered mine)

1 can (28oz.) of tomatoes (I used diced in a can)

8 dried apricots, cut in half, optional (I decided to add these and while I enjoyed them, others who ate my stew said they would have left them out)

Chopped Parsley for garnishing (I didn't use this)

cooking fat

salt and pepper

Season meat with salt & pepper and brown in cooking fat in a skillet.  Place browned meat, sweet potatoes, garlic, cinnamon stick, onion, tomatoes and all spice in crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours (or until beef is tender).  Add dried apricots and cook, covered, for another 20 minutes, until apricots are soft.  Remove bay leaf and cinnamon stick and serve, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

I cooked this overnight and I kept waking up all night smelling this WONDERFUL scent in my house!  I enjoyed this stew, but the flavors were definitely a strange blend for me.  I'm not sure I will make this one again.

Turkey/Beef and Cabbage Soup

This soup is very easy to make and easy to customize. The inspiration for this one comes from the Weight Watchers Zero Point Cabbage Soup recipe.  Of course, WW and paleo are VERY different, but I've always enjoyed the flavor of this soup.  I turned it paleo by adding meat to it and using stock with fat in it.

Ingredients:

1lb grass fed ground beef

1lb ground turkey

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

Half head of cabbage, chopped

1 zucchini, cut into half circle slices

2 carrots, cut into half circle slices

2 celery stalks, sliced 

1 small onion, chopped

3C chicken or beef stock/broth

1 6oz can tomato paste

any other vegetables that you want to add (green beans, tomatoes, squash...etc.)

cooking fat

Sautee the garlic and onions in cooking fat (I used chicken fat from homemade broth) until the onions start to become tender.  Then add the ground beef and ground turkey and season with salt & pepper.  Fry meat until it is cooked through.  Add all vegetables, broth and tomato paste to the pot.  Cover and simmer on low-medium heat for 30-60 minutes, until all vegetables are tender.  Add salt & pepper and any other seasonings to taste.