Paleo Pigs in a Blanket

What kids (or adults for that matter) don’t love pigs in a blanket??  I know my family does, so when a friend tipped me off to these Applegate uncured cocktail franks, I knew what had to be done.  I found them at Whole Foods, and they were pretty pricey (about $7-8), but worth the splurge.  If you can’t find these in a store near you, you can always buy the Applegate hot dogs and cut them into many smaller pieces.

For the bread portion, I decided to modify a recipe from the amazing Against All Grain cookbook to see if it would work.  The original recipe is for Rosemary Breadsticks.

1 1/4 cups almond flour

1 egg

1 TBSP olive oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

Applegate cocktail smokies

Combine all ingredients (except smokies) using a mixer.  Roll dough out between 2 sheets of parchment paper.  You will want them to be thicker than crackers, but not by too much.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough.  I cut the dough into triangles as you can see below.  I was trying to mimic how Pilsbury crescent rolls are when you take them out of the tube.

Then I cut the triangles in half.

Is any of this making sense?  Ok, good.

Then you roll the smokies up in the dough (start at the wide end and roll up towards the narrowest part of the dough).  Place finished product on a baking sheet.  I like to line mine with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes.

Enjoy your kids’ squeals when you tell them you are having pigs in a blanket for dinner!

 

Savory Pumpkin Soup (Paleo, SCD)

Don’t everybody go having a heart attack.  I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted.  Life is good, but busy!  Fall happened somewhere since the last time I posted, and that officially makes it soup weather.  So far this season, I’ve made creamy tomato basil soup, french onion soup (which without the crusty bread and massive amount of cheese is ridiculously lacking), and this amazing chicken soup.

I could go on for days about how much I loved this chicken soup.  It is a bowl of comfort, and I am thinking of making another batch this weekend.

Yesterday, I had planned on us just having leftovers for dinner.  It was a cold and rainy day and I had promised the boys we could have a family movie night.  Soup just felt right, so I googled up “paleo pumpkin soup”.  This lovely recipe was the first thing to pop up and I had all the ingredients on hand.  I changed it up a little to make it more savory, and I liked it so much I’m going to share it with you!

Savory Pumpkin Soup (serves 6)

2 cans of pumpkin (30 ounces total)

1 can of full fat coconut milk (have more on hand if you want to use it as garnish)

2 cups of chicken bone broth/stock

1 8 oz. package of bacon (I use Applegate)

1.5 tsp salt (less if you are using store bought broth/stock)

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp onion powder

ground pepper to taste

1 bunch chopped green onions

Start by chopping up your bacon into tiny pieces and then cook it in a stock pot.  When it is crispy, set it aside, but reserve the bacon grease in the pot.  Now add to the pot your pumpkin, broth, and coconut milk.  Stir until smooth and then add the spices.  Let simmer for 15-30 minutes.  I wanted it to thicken up a bit, so I let it simmer closer to 30.

Top your soup with a drizzle of the canned coconut milk, crunchy bacon, and green onions.  Because even though this only took you a half hour, you want people to think you are fancy.

Enjoy and stay warm!

Smoked Salmon, 2 Ways

Fall is coming soon, and these last few weeks of summer are a great time to start experimenting with healthy lunchbox options for the school year!  Today, at lunchtime, I looked in my fridge and saw some smoked salmon.  I knew it could be a quick and tasty lunch, but racked my brain to find a way to make it fun for the boys.  They were delighted with what I came up with and each of them agreed that they would like to take these in their lunchboxes this fall when school starts.

First I made some salmon and cucumber “sandwiches”.  I kept it simple for my oldest son, by just placing the smoked salmon between 2 slices of cucumber.  Paired it with some fruit and cheese cubes, and it was a super simple lunch!

For my younger son, who is a bit more adventurous, I mimicked a sushi roll (without the rice of course).

Started with small sheets of seaweed, and added smoked salmon and cucumbers.  Cream cheese and/or avocado would also be delicious additions here.  Maybe some grated carrots if you don’t have cucumber.  That would add a nice crunch and some color!  For my husband and I, I added some goat cheese.  I have to say, these were a bit messier than making a PB&J, but when it comes to lunch packing, they are so much healthier and didn’t take any time at all!  If you are good at rolling them up, and have a better presentation than me, you might even be able to serve them as little appetizers at a get-together!

So tell me…..would your kids eat this?

Cheeseburger Pie (Primal, SCD)

Back in the day, I bought Bisquick.

True story.

When my husband and I got married 10 years ago, I had no idea how to cook.  My repertoire was meatloaf and spaghetti and meat sauce.  That was about it.  So when I discovered that the Bisquick box, had recipes….it was ON.  There was a recipe on the box called Impossible Cheeseburger Pie.  Now that I think about it, I think it’s kinda funny that they called it “impossible”.  Especially since tonight I recreated it (grain-free) without a second thought.  But back then, I thought it was magical.  I’ve come a long way, baby.

So tonight when I was wondering what I would do with my thawed out pound of grassfed beef, I remembered that cheeseburger pie, and realized….it wasn’t so impossible after all.

Here’s the secret, y’all:  it’s basically a fritatta.  Of course, this info would not have helped me 10 years ago, as I had no idea what a fritatta was.

I didn’t really take any measurements for this recipe, but trust me, you’ll do just fine.

Cheeseburger Pie

1 pound ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

any veggies that you have on hand

5 eggs

cheddar cheese (optional)

salt, pepper, garlic powder

Preheat your oven to 350.  Brown your ground beef and onions in a skillet.  I also added mushrooms to mine.

 

Drain the grease.  Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (or any other seasonings that sound good to you!)

Grease a glass 8×8 pyrex dish (I used coconut oil) and add your meat to the dish.

If you are using cheese you can sprinkle it on top of the meat.  I used between 1/4-1/3 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

Then because I had spinach on hand and I wanted to make it colorful, I sprinkled spinach on top.

Next just beat 5 eggs and pour on top.  (You can certainly use more, I just didn’t want it to be overly eggy!)

Now bake for about 20 minutes or until the egg is firm.

Serve with whatever sounds good!  We had roasted carrots, seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg, and raw veggies.

And there you have it.  Cheeseburger pie–no bisquick required.

 

Paleo Salmon Cakes and Sweet Potato Chips

I made a simple summer supper last night.  It was delicious, healthy, and didn’t require me to thaw anything out or turn on the oven.  If you are like me, you need to have a few easy go-to meals for those nights when you wait to late to thaw anything out or if your brain is just too fried to think straight.  Hopefully your days of ordering a pizza are over.  Our go-to meals on days like this are Applegate Farms all-beef hot dogs and omelets.  But these salmon cakes are just as easy and much more delicious.  I buy canned wild salmon at Costco, which makes it easy for me to grab a couple of cans out of the pantry when I can’t decide what to make for dinner.

The recipe for salmon cakes is ridiculously simple and basic, which is the point.  Feel free to add any of your favorite flavors or spices to personalize it!

Salmon Cakes (makes 8 small/medium cakes)

2 (6 ounce) cans of wild salmon, drained

1/4 cup almond flour/meal

1 egg

1/3 cup onion (I prefer white onion, but last night I used green onions, because that is what I had)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand.

Heat up some olive oil in a skillet (I use medium/medium high heat) and place the formed patties into the olive oil to cook.

Brown both sides.  Depending on how warm your pan is, the total amount of cooking time will probably be about 8-10 minutes.  Serve warm.

Much to the delight of my family, I also made sweet potato chips–a simple and delicious treat.  I slice my sweet potatoes using my food processor.

Then I add them into a cast iron skillet that has about 1/2 of heated coconut oil in it (I keep the temperature very close to medium–4–while frying these).  Turn as needed and fry until the chips begin to darken.

I place them on a paper towel on a plate and add salt.

We had some leftover slaw on hand and I added some raw veggies and we ended up with a very easy and delicious summer meal!

Paleo Pad Thai Sauce (tastes great on Kale!!)

You know one thing I miss from our days of eating processed foods?

Condiments!  I love sauces and dips and dressings and there are literally almost no “clean” condiment options out there.  I have found a few gems, but for the most part have just done without.

But this week, I was making some coconut chicken tenders (a favorite around here!  Just follow my recipe for coconut shrimp but use sliced chicken breast instead of shrimp!!), and was feeling a Thai vibe.  I also had some kale that I really needed to prepare while it was fresh–as my mom would say, the kale “needed to be eaten”.  I, myself, wasn’t feeling overly enthusiastic about the kale, so I thought I would try to liven it up with some dressing.  In keeping with a Thai theme, I tried my hand at making a Pad Thai-type of sauce, and to my delight, my family gobbled up every last bit of the kale!!

First I tore the kale into pieces, discarding the stems.  I heated up coconut oil in a skillet and then sauteed the kale in the oil, just until it started to soften up.  I removed it from the heat and stirred in about half of the sauce–just enough to coat the kale.  It was delicious!

Paleo Pad Thai Sauce

1/4 cup almond butter

1 TBSP rice vinegar

1 TBSP coconut aminos

2 tsp honey

1/2 tsp minced ginger

1/2 tsp minced garlic

zest of 1 lime

a few dashes of salt

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let sit for a few minutes for the flavors to meld.  Store unused portion in the refrigerator.  Use within a week.

This sauce is really awesome–you could use it to make Pad Thai with spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles.  I may even try to make Pad Thai with the cauli-rice!  You could thin it out a bit with a few teaspoons of water and use it as a salad dressing.  It makes a great dip for the aforementioned coconut chicken tenders.  And I just drizzled it over an avocado and sprinkled with sesame seeds for a delicious afternoon snack!

The only question is–what will you do with it?

 

Liver

Last month, I bought a 10 lb. box of local pastured lamb.  All different cuts of delicious lamb.  I was so excited when I came home and unloaded my box.  I spread out all of my meat to decide what cut to prepare first.  To my surprise, there was a lamb liver included.

To my knowledge, I have never had liver.  But I know that it is healthy.  Liver is full of vitamins and minerals, and organ meats are said to be very healing and nourishing.

So I decided that today was the day.  I didn’t tell the kids outright that we were having liver, not that they would have even known what liver was.  I told them we were having lamb…..which technically was true.

I followed a recipe that someone on my Facebook page recommended to me.  Because once you add bacon, how bad can it be?  I served it with their favorite carrots (roasted with coconut oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg) and french fries.  Yep, I gave ’em straight up white potatoes.  It was like a mental bribe to get them to eat.

So the liver was cooked and served with cut up bacon, onions, and portobellos.  I thought it was okay.  If I cut the liver up small and made sure to get bacon and onions in with each bite, I didn’t notice it at all.  My husband felt the same.  Luigi gobbled it up, no questions asked, which was no surprise–that kid is a carnivore extraordinaire.

But Mario has such a sensitive palate.  I made it a point not to draw any attention to the liver, but noticed that he was making a face when eating it.  Finally, he said sadly, “mom, I don’t think I like the lamb.  Can I just eat my other food?”.  I picked all of the pieces of liver out and set them to the side on his plate and left the bacon, onions and mushrooms in another pile.

Much to my surprise, he picked up a piece of liver and said, “Let me just try the lamb and see if this is really the part I don’t like”.  I was stunned when he said, “Hey, this is the part I LIKED!!“.

So my pickiest child gobbled up all of the liver and left the bacon, onion and mushrooms on his plate.  (I think it was the mushrooms that were grossing him out.)

I would have never predicted 4 clean plates on a night when I made liver.  So I had to share that testimony.  Don’t ever assume that you know what your kids will and won’t eat.  And don’t project your preconceived notions onto them.  No kid is born thinking liver is gross, but if they grow up hearing you talk about how gross it is, then guess what?  They’re not going to touch it.

I am so proud of my son for wanting to “confirm” which ingredient was bothering him!  Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought to ask him to do that.  When liver is involved, it’s easy to assume that’s the culprit.

Will I ever make liver again?  Probably.  And I might even tell my kids that’s what it is……next time.

Korean-Inspired Fried Cauli-Rice (Paleo, SCD)

As some of you may know, my younger son was born and spent the first 2 years of his life in South Korea.  When we were in the process of his adoption, we began experimenting with Korean food, and found that we love it!  When we started our dietary shift last summer, we didn’t eat Korean food for awhile.  Rice was no longer an option and neither was soy sauce.  Even the gluten-free tamari wasn’t considered “safe”.  Lately, I’ve been doing more experimenting and testing to see what ingredients our family can “handle”.  For instance, I have found that no one has any kind of obvious negative reactions when I use the gluten-free tamari.  (I do still tend to use coconut aminos for the most part, but some Korean dishes like bulgogi are just so much more flavorful with the GF tamari.)  Unfortunately, using the traditional japchae noodles (made of sweet potato starch) greatly upsets Mario’s stomach.  This was a real bummer, because japchae is one of our favorite Korean dishes.

Recently, I got up the nerve to try to prepare cauli-rice.  Confession–this was my first time even buying cauliflower!  I know–craziness.  I thought that we would all stomach it the best if I made it into a fried rice and I remembered a recipe from the Urban Poser’s blog for fried cauli-rice.  When I went to look at it, I thought it sounded good, but I decided to make ours with a Korean flair.  I chose all the veggies I would normally use for japchae and seasoned them accordingly.  As for the final product–the kids went nuts for it.  They thought it WAS japchae.  Luigi took leftovers in his lunchbox for 3 days straight and Mario asked me to make it again very soon.  I made it again tonight and made it a point to measure out all of my ingredients so I could share the recipe.  So here it is!

Korean Cauli-Fried Rice (makes 5-6 servings)

1 head of cauliflower

1 8 oz package of mushrooms, sliced

1/2 onion, diced

3 medium carrots, grated

2 cups of baby spinach

1 tsp. minced garlic

4 TBSP coconut aminos (separated)–Soy sauce or Gluten-free tamari may also be used, but your dish will not be completely paleo.

1/2 TBSP honey

1 TBSP sesame oil

2 eggs

1 TBSP roasted sesame seeds

coconut oil

To “rice” your cauliflower, you will put it through the grating attachment on a food processor.  Do NOT cook it before hand.  You could grate it by hand, but I suspect that would be maddening.  Here are before and after pics:

Before

After

You will need 2 pans for this recipe.  I used my cast iron skillet for the veggies and a large flat-bottomed wok for the rice.  If you don’t have enough pans, you can cook your veggies first, and then set them aside and then cook your rice.

Begin by sauteeing your onions and garlic in coconut oil (approximately 2 TBSP).  Once the onions begin to soften and turn translucent, add the mushrooms to the pan.  When the mushrooms are about halfway cooked through, stir in 2 TBSP coconut aminos and 1/2 TBSP of honey.  Continue stirring.  When the mushrooms are done, add the grated carrots and the spinach.  Continue cooking and stirring until the spinach is wilted.  Remove from heat.  Drizzle veggies with 1 TBSP of sesame oil (do not leave the sesame oil out–it is very important to the taste of the dish).  Let sit.

In your flat-bottomed wok, heat up more coconut oil.  When the coconut oil is hot, add your cauliflower.  You want to spread it out nicely so that it all gets toasty and “fried”.  Add more oil if necessary, and stir/redistribute the rice every minute or so.  I let it cook for probably around 10 minutes.  I like for the rice to just begin to brown.  After the rice has cooked for about 5-7 minutes, stir in 2 TBSP of coconut aminos.  When the rice is almost cooked to your liking, crack 2 eggs into the pan and scramble them in to the rice.

When the rice is complete, remove it from the heat and stir in all of the veggies.

This was my first batch. I didn’t have spinach in this batch, but I did have scallions.

Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.  We had ours with grilled flank steak and cucumber kimchi.

Enjoy!

Adventures in Veggies

We all find ourselves falling into food ruts.  Eating the same thing, day in and day out.  I find myself falling into a rut with vegetables most often.  My kids will always gobble up bell peppers, cucumbers and carrots so I keep them on hand at all times.  Green beans and peas are tolerated, so I keep those on hand in the freezer.  Spinach is pretty good.  Other than that, sometimes it feels like too much effort, when I know there might not be a lot of payoff (the kids turn their noses up).  But when I stay in the rut, I deprive us all of diversity, of the possibility of finding new foods that we love.  So this week, I set out to try some new veggies.  Or in some cases, try the same old veggies in new ways.

My first goal was to make some cucumber kimchi.  I am not a huge fan of cabbage, but I do love Korean food, and I know that fermented foods are a fabulous addition to a healthy diet.  Also, my Korean-born son loves kimchi, but the traditional cabbage kimchi I can get at our local Korean market is way too spicy for his Americanized taste buds.  I used this easy recipe, and it turned out great!  He and I enjoyed some with dinner last night and I even had some with my breakfast this morning!

Another goal I had was to eat more cruciferous veggies, which include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts.  These are my least favorite veggies, so I wasn’t too excited about this.  I decided that my best bet was to try to camouflage them.  Some people view the paleo side dish of cauli-rice as a great way to imitate rice, but for me it was actually a way to trick my family into eating cauliflower.  I remembered this recipe for Vietnamese fried cauli-rice from the Urban Poser, and it gave me the idea to create a Korean-inspired fried rice.  It turned out fabulously and I will share the recipe soon once I make it again and write down all of my ingredients and amounts.

Last night, I decided to give kale a try.  I had just purchased some local hickory smoked bacon and I cut two strips of that into small pieces and when it was just about finished cooking in the skillet, I added a chopped shallot.  Once the shallot was cooked through, I added the kale and cooked until soft.  My younger son and I both enjoyed it very much.  My husband and older son tolerated it.  But every last bit of it was eaten, so I call that a victory!

Next up is going to be eggplant.  Costco had some lovely baby eggplant and I bought a pack of 4.  Right when I got home, I wondered what in the world I was going to do with 4 eggplant?!?  So I chopped one up right then and roasted it for myself for lunch.  I topped it with pesto and goat cheese, because I could eat a shoe if it had pesto and goat cheese on it.  And I actually quite enjoyed it!

Tonight, I am going to try this recipe, which uses eggplant and lamb.  As always, when I serve new things to my kids at dinner, I try to include side dishes that I know they love.  It makes the new dishes seem much less scary and overwhelming.

So far, I’ve been very impressed with all of these new veggies.  And my family has been very receptive, which makes trying new things much more fun!

What veggies do you need to eat more of?  Did this post give you any ideas or inspiration?

Satisfying Everyone (Without Becoming a Short Order Cook)

Today, I was thinking about what to make for dinner.  As I perused my fridge and freezer, I got a great idea that sounded delicious to me.  The only problem is, I knew that I was the only person in our family who would really like it.  In the past, I would have just told myself to forget it.  As you parents know, making dinner is hard enough without making multiple meals for multiple people.  Or even worse, putting a lot of time into something that you find delicious, only to have the rest of your family complain about it.

Please understand that I do think it is important to have your family try new foods.  Or even new ways of eating foods that they already enjoy.  But sometimes you just know that your efforts are going to be in vain.  For instance I know my kids hate casseroles–all those foods mixed up together, it just doesn’t always fly.  But what if I know that they like 75% of the ingredients that are in a particular casserole? I could reserve some of the cooked meat and veggies from the casserole and serve those to the kids separately, but make the casserole for the grown ups.  See what I mean?

The difference for me lately is that now I am a little more creative in the kitchen.  I also have a lot more ingredients on hand, which allows me to put together a few variations on any dish.  So tonight, I made myself that dinner I was dreaming of.  And with very minimal effort, I made sure that everyone had a dinner they were happy with.  Here’s what I did…..

First of all, what sounded good to me was a portobello mushroom stuffed with chicken, artichoke hearts, olives, bell peppers, prosciutto, and smoked provolone.  But I knew that wasn’t going to fly with the rest of the family.

So I cooked some chicken breasts on the stovetop.  Just seasoned them with salt, pepper and garlic powder and cooked them on both sides in ghee while the oven was preheating.  While they cooked, I prepared the portobello by scraping out the gills and rubbing it with olive oil.  Then I cut up some raw veggies to serve with dinner (I set aside some diced bell peppers for my meal).

I took one cooked chicken breast for myself and diced it up and mixed it with all of the other ingredients I wanted to add to my portobello, then tossed it in the oven at 400.  Then I topped 2 other chicken breasts with prosciutto and smoked provolone because I knew my husband and youngest son would like that.  I topped the last chicken breast with pesto for my oldest son.  Easy as that!

Everybody got a meal that they enjoyed and my effort was very minimal.  Obviously this doesn’t work with every single meal, but if you think ahead, you can handle it.  I think we can all agree my meal was the most beautiful and delicious.  But it tasted even better knowing that everyone was happy.