Paleo & Whole 30 Cucumber Salad

17 Sep

Fast, simple, and an excellent side dish for any BBQ!

Paleo and Whole 30 cucumber salad

Paleo and Whole 30 cucumber salad

Ingredients:

2 cucumbers, sliced on the thinner side.  Garden fresh that aren’t too large/seedy or English.

1 small shallot, minced

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tbl. olive oil

2 tbl. fresh dill, minced

Kosher salt

Pepper

Method:

In a medium size mixing bowl whisk together red wine vinegar and olive oil.  Mince shallot and dill and add to bowl.  Slice cucumber (I peeled mine first), toss into bowl.  Season entire mixture with salt and pepper to taste.  Can serve immediately, but the longer it sits the deeper the flavor will become.

 

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Paleo & Whole 30 Coconut Red Thai Curry Chicken Soup

3 Sep

I’m back!  It has been a while.  Working full time, planning a wedding, buying a new house, moving, and breaking your leg = serious lack of recipe creation.  Tonight I successfully recreated a soup that I fell in love with at a restaurant near work.  I realize the current 80-something degree humid weather doesn’t make someone go “I want soup!” but I really love this flavor.  Plus I’m still on crutches.  I would have waited even longer to attempt cooking, but working from a phone and computer day in and out and doing basically nothing else is making me stir crazy.  Hey, don’t break a leg!  It isn’t fun.  Perhaps you will wait until the autumn chill is in the air, but you must try this recipe!

Whole 30 paleo Coconut Red Thai Curry Chicken Soup

Whole 30 paleo Coconut Red Thai Curry Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

2 tbl. grape seed oil

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 1/2 tbl. Thai Kitchen red curry paste

5-6 cups organic low sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups full fat coconut milk

1 tbl. coconut aminos

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced

2 red bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced

2 large carrots, peeled and then sliced into noodles using a vegetable peeler

Juice of half a lime

Kosher salt

Pepper

Method:

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  When hot add your onion, season with some kosher salt, and sauté until soft, 8 minutes.  Add garlic and curry paste, stir together with onions and sauté for 2 minutes.  Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, coconut aminos, cover and bring to a boil.  Remove the cover, add the chicken and simmer for 3 minutes.  Add the red bell pepper and simmer for an additional 3 minutes.  Chicken should be cooked through.  Add the carrot noodles and season to taste with lime juice, kosher salt, and pepper.

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Paleo & Whole30 Cashew Chicken

12 Feb

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to have coconut aminos!  I ordered mine from amazon and plan to use them in any dish that would normally call for soy sauce.  Not only is soy bad news (pro-inflammatory), but my sister-in-law to be is allergic.  Nice to finally have a true substitute!  This dish is easy, fast, and delicious!  Even John had two servings.  Win!

Paleo & Whole 30 Cashew Chicken

Paleo & Whole 30 Cashew Chicken

Ingredients:

3-4 tbl. grape seed oil

1 1/2 pound thinly sliced chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

1 cup raw cashews

1 sweet onion, sliced thin

2 green bell peppers, chopped

1 head broccoli, cut into florets

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbl. raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup + 2 tbl. raw coconut aminos

Kosher salt

Pepper

Method:

Mix together unfiltered apple cider vinegar, coconut aminos, and 1 tsp. salt and set aside.  Heat grape seed oil in a large pot over medium high heat.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  When oil is hot add chicken followed by onion.  Add a little salt to season the onion and help it sweat.  Add the garlic and sauté the chicken with the onion until the chicken is no longer pink.  Add the coconut amino sauce, cashews, peppers, and broccoli.  Season with salt and pepper and sauté until peppers and broccoli are crisp tender.

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Paleo & Whole30 Chicken Cacciatore

12 Feb

Just because our Whole 30 challenge is over doesn’t mean we aren’t still eating mostly Whole 30.  It just means there are once again paleo baked goods in my house 🙂  This is an easy flavor packed recipe that you will love!

Paleo & Whole30 Chicken Cacciatore

Paleo & Whole30 Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:

Olive oil

4 pounds of bone in skin on chicken (split breasts and thighs would be ideal, I used all split breasts because they were out of all natural thighs at the store)

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

10 ounce package baby Bella mushrooms

1 cup chicken stock

28 oz can diced tomatoes

Kosher or sea salt

Pepper

1 tbl. + 1 tsp. dried oregano

2 tsp. dried parsley

Method:

Season all sides of your chicken liberally with salt and pepper.  Coat the bottom of a large pot (with lid!) or dutch oven with olive oil and heat over medium heat.  When hot add your chicken (work in batches that fit in the pot) and sear 5 minutes on each side.  Set seared chicken aside.  Add the onion, peppers, and mushrooms to the pot, season with a little salt and pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and sauté for another 3-5 minutes.  Deglaze pot with chicken broth and let vegetables simmer in broth for 5-10 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, oregano, parsley, and seared chicken to the pot.  Cover and simmer over lower heat for 40 minutes.

 

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Paleo Sticky Buns

12 Feb

I did the Whole 30 (super strict paleo) for over 30 days and it was great!  Better measurements for my wedding dress are always a nice outcome 🙂  And I don’t need to sweeten my coffee anymore.  Not that I drank much coffee anyway, if you’re lucky I might drink a 60z cup of it.  Normally I just like a little for the flavor, that’s it.  But no stevia meant I couldn’t sweeten it during the Whole 30.  And now I like it with just a little cream (coconut milk creamer or normal organic cream when I cheat).  Unless of course I’m drinking coffee from someone/somewhere who can’t make coffee, then out comes the emergency stevia packet!  I won’t torture myself with bad coffee.

Now that I’m totally off topic, this creation was my first treat following Whole 30.  My fiancé was complaining that I don’t make him breakfast ever (apparently frittatas don’t count) and I decided to see if it would be possible to make plaeo sticky buns.  Figured if it worked it would be a yummy breakfast, but still paleo.  Success 🙂  This recipe is a little more complicated than most of my baking recipes so if you are tackling it make sure you have some time.

Paleo sticky buns

Paleo sticky buns

Ingredients:

Dough:

4oz container unsweetened applesauce

1 large egg

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt

2 tbl. honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour

1 cup arrowroot powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

Filling:

5 pitted dates

1/2 cup raw pecans

2 tbl. cinnamon

1 tbl. maple syrup

2 tbl. coconut oil, melted

The icing:

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/8 cup arrowroot powder

1 tbl. maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:

For the dough:

In your stand mixer combine the wet ingredients followed by the dry ingredients.  Mix until a wet/sticky dough forms.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Spread the dough over the parchment paper and cover the dough with a second sheet of parchment paper.  Using a rolling pin spread the dough out between the layers of parchment paper until it is about the size of the baking sheet.  Now chill the dough until it is firm.

While your dough is chilling prepare the filling:

Add dates, pecans, cinnamon, coconut oil, and maple syrup to your food processor and process (scraping down sides as needed) until you have a finely ground sticky filling (it will begin to ball up in the food processor).

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Peel the top sheet of parchment paper off the dough and ensure that the dough is stiff.  Using the back of a large spoon, spread the filling in a very thin even layer over the dough.  Carefully, while using the under layer of parchment paper to assist you, roll the dough along the short side (so your rolled dough will be shorter and thicker).  If any cracks form (mine did at the beginning) just press the dough gently together where it cracked.  Once the dough is rolled cut it into eight even pieces.  Place the pieces cut side up in a round cake pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.  While the rolls are still int he oven raise the temperature to 400°F and bake an additional 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool.

Icing:

Blend coconut oil, arrowroot powder, maple syrup, and vanilla in your stand mixer.  Spread icing over cooked and cooled sticky buns.  Warning: my icing absorbed sometime between taking the photo and finally eating one.  To try to prevent this chill your sticky buns before icing them and store them in the fridge as well.

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Paleo & Whole30 Paleo Wraps

3 Feb

Lookie what I found!  Paleo Wraps from Julian Bakery!  The ingredients are…drumroll…coconut meat and coconut water.  That is all!  They are actually dehydrated coconut so they have a long shelf life (9 months according to Julian Bakery) and do not need to be refrigerated.  Now you are probably thinking exactly what I was thinking, I do not want my wraps to taste like coconut ewww!  Right?  The reviews suggested the coconut flavor is mild so I ordered just one pack of 7 wraps to test out.  I got mine at Amazon (because I had a gift card) but you can buy direct also.  The wraps arrived and I decided the fastest and easiest filling would be tuna salad.  Plus I knew if it didn’t work out I’d be happy to eat the tuna salad with a fork, or even some plantain chips.  Figured I was safe.  I opened the package and the first thing I noticed was the scent of coconut.  Smelled just like a bag of Bob’s Red Mill unsweetened flaked coconut….exactly.  I was worried, but willing to try.  The texture is a little stiff (compared to a wheat tortilla), but still very pliable.  Whipped up some tuna salad, put it on the wrap, wrapped the wrap around the tuna, and took a bite.  The verdict?  The flavor of the ingredients overpowers the coconut flavor of the wrap!  Thank goodness!  As long as you fill this with something flavorful you will be good to go.  The wrap held up perfectly to the last bite, it did not break or crack!  In the past I have used both lettuce or homemade bacon cups as a delivery devices, both of which work perfectly, but these wraps are a nice alternative.  As they are made from dehydrated coconut there is a slight crunchiness to the texture, so if you are expecting the same texture as a flour tortilla you will be disappointed.

Julian Bakery Paleo Wraps

Julian Bakery Paleo Wraps

Ingredients:

Julian Bakery Paleo Wrap

Your favorite filling

Paleo tuna salad

Paleo chicken salad

Paleo taco salad

Paleo grilled steak, peppers, and onions

Paleo grilled chicken, peppers, and onions

Paleo saussage (check out Aidells chicken apple saussage, perfectly Whole 30), peppers, and onions

Paleo pulled pork

BLT (uncured and nitrate free bacon of course)

etcetera

Method:

Prepare your filling as desired and wrap your paleo wrap around it and enjoy!

Julian Bakery Paleo Wrap filled with Paleo Tuna Salad

Julian Bakery Paleo Wrap filled with Paleo Tuna Salad

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Paleo & Whole30 Chicken with Butternut Squash Carbonara

31 Jan

Totally craving a creamy Italian dish right now.  Since I’m not up for a cheat meal I figured I’d come up with a clean equivalent.  This dish absolutely hit the spot!

Whole 30 Chicken with butternut squash carbonara

Whole 30 Chicken with butternut squash carbonara

Ingredients:

10 oz. uncured nitrate free no sugar added bacon

1 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups cubed butternut squash (I cheated again and bought a big back of cubed butternut squash from BJ’s Wholesale and measured out 3 cups.  If buying fresh, whole squash a 2 pound squash should be the right amount: peel, seed, and cube)

2 cups organic low sodium chicken stock or broth

5 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

1 pound thin sliced chicken breast

2 eggs

Olive oil

Kosher or sea salt

Pepper

5 zucchini, peeled and julienned (julienne until you reach seeds then stop, do this on all sides of zucchini)

Italian nutcrumbs

1 cup almond flour

2 tsp. dried parsley

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. kosher or sea salt

2 tsp. pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Lay bacon in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F until crisp, about 20 minutes.  When bacon is cool to handle brake into tiny pieces.

For the sauce, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pot over medium heat.  When hot add onion and sauté for 3 minutes.  Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes.  Add butternut squash and sauté 5 minutes.  Add chicken stock or broth and bring mixture to a boil.  Once boiling reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender.  If you don’t have an immersion blender transfer to a regular blender.  Once sauce is smooth season to taste with salt and pepper and add bacon and sage.

Whisk eggs together in a large bowl.  Combine the nutcrumb mixture on a large plate.  Dip the thin chicken breasts in the egg then coat with the nutcrumb mixture.  Shake off any excess nutcrumbs from the chicken.  Coat a large skillet with olive oil and heat over medium high heat.  When oil is hot add the chicken, you should be able to fit 3-4 pieces at a time, and cook up to 3 minutes.  Flip and cook the other side for 2-3 minutes.  This is sufficient cooking time for THIN sliced chicken breasts.  If you are using regular chicken breasts you can finish them in the oven at 350-375°F for 10 minutes.

Heat a few tablespoons olive oil in a pot over medium heat.  Add the zucchini “noodles” and sauté for approximately 3 minutes until they are crisp tender.  Toss the noodles with the butternut squash sauce and serve with chicken.

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Paleo Strawberry Cheesecake

29 Jan

Ok technically this could probably be considered Whole 30 (no baking, just nuts, seeds, fruit, coconut, a splash of juice…), but the people at Whole 9 Life might call it “sex with your pants on”.  So I won’t call it Whole 30, but it is absolutely Paleo!  Today is Lauren’s birthday (Lauren is the girlfriend of my brother-in-law to be) and she has a dairy intolerance.  In her honor I decided to create this new dessert.

Paleo strawberry cheesecake

Paleo strawberry cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust

2 cups raw macadamia nuts, soaked

5 Medjool dates, steamed and pitted

1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt

1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

Filling

1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked

5 Medjool dates, steamed and pitted

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1 tbl. full fat coconut milk

2 tbl. lime juice

1 vanilla bean, scraped

Strawberry sauce

1 cup strawberries (I used frozen, which I thawed)

1 tbl. chia seeds

2 1/2 tbl. water

2 Medjool dates, steamed and pitted

Method:

In a large bowl cover your macadamia nuts with water, let soak 3+ hours.  In another large bowl cover your cashews with water, let soak 3+ hours.  Thaw your strawberries at room temp (if you bought frozen ones).  Place your dates in a steamer basket over boiling water and steam, covered, for 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and let dates sit until cool.  Remove pits.

For the sauce:  Mix together chia seeds and water and let sit for at least 10 minutes.  Add the soaked chia seeds, thawed strawberries, and 2 pitted and steamed dates to your food processor and blend until smooth.

For the crust:  Drain the macadamia nuts and add them to your food processor with 5 pitted and steamed dates, flaked coconut, and salt.  Process until the mixture is sticky and slightly coarse.  Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a glass pie plate.

For the filling:  Split the vanilla bean pod in half, scrape out the seeds, discard the pod.  Drain the cashews and add them to your food processor with 5 pitted and steamed dates, melted coconut oil, coconut milk, lime juice, and the vanilla bean seeds.  Process mixture until smooth.  Spread filling onto crust in pie plate.

Spread the strawberry sauce over the filling and place in the freezer for 1 hour to set.  When ready to serve thaw at room temperature for up to 30 minutes.

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Paleo & Whole30 Bacon Wrapped Butternut Squash

29 Jan

Have no fear an easy, delicious super bowl treat is here!  People doing the Whole30 challenge or eating strict paleo are probably starting to wonder: what will I do for super bowl snacks?!  This one is super simple and really yummy.  Why am I wrapping butternut squash in bacon?  Because I hate scallops.  Hate.  So what else might go well wrapped in bacon?  Well, everything I guess 🙂  But I was looking for something that would be a little sweet and cook soft to compliment the salty crisp bacon.  Experiment success!

Whole 30 bacon wrapped butternut squash

Whole 30 bacon wrapped butternut squash

Ingredients:

20 oz Butternut squash – I totally cheated and bought a package of precut cubes!  Saves a lot of time!  If you buy a whole squash, peel it, deseed it, and cut it into 1-2 inch cubes.

20-24 oz. uncured nitrate free no sugar added bacon

Olive oil

Kosher or sea salt

Pepper

Toothpicks

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Toss the butternut squash with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Wrap each cube of butternut squash with half a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick.  Place on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake at 400°F for 25 minutes, until bacon is crisp.

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Paleo & Whole30 Beet Dip

25 Jan

Don’t you just love colorful food?  I really really wanted to make this with goat cheese, but as goat cheese is not paleo and goat cheese is definitely not Whole 30 I was good .  I didn’t buy any goat cheese 🙂  This dip is great for any raw vegetables and will add an amazing pop  of color to the appetizers at any party.

Whole30 beet dip

Whole30 beet dip

Ingredients:

3 beets, greens removed

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 cup paleo mayonnaise

1 clove garlic

2-4 tbl. lemon juice

1 tbl. olive oil

Kosher or sea salt

Pepper

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400°F.  Wash the dirt off your beets and wrap them in foil.  Place the foil containing beets on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F until fork tender, up to 2 hours depending on size of beets.  Once beets have roasted and are cool enough to handle peel off and discard the beet skin.  Place skinned beets and remaining ingredients in your food processor and blend until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

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