Recipe: Lola's Chicken Meatball and Kale Soup

Lola's Chicken Meatball and Kale Soup

Lola's been experimenting with kale lately, and here's one she posted to our Face Book group!

1. Cook until tender:

• 3 chopped carrots
• 3 ribs chopped celery
• 1 large onion diced
• red pepper flakes
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced

2. Mix together: 

• 1 package (about 1 lb?) ground chicken
• Garlic powder
• 2 palm fulls (about 1 1/2 oz?) grated Parm. Cheese
• Salt and pepper

3. Add 2 cartons of chicken broth to tender vegetables. 

 

4. When broth is very hot, with melon scooper (that's right!), drop chicken meatball mixture into hot broth. They will cook in the broth and they will float and be opaque when they are done.

5. Add several handfuls of cleaned, chopped kale, cook until tender.

Recipe: Lola's Turkey Sausage Ratatouille

Lola's Turkey Sausage Ratatoille

*Fair warning, I do not measure. I eyeball it and just add whatever I want. The following recipe is wrote with loose measurements. I added 2 zucchini because that is what I had.. and I bought summer squash on the sale shelf.. so that is how many I used. LOL

• Turkey Sausage removed from their casings
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 onion (I used a sweet onion) diced
• 2 small zucchini diced
• 5 small yellow summer squash diced
• 1 bag (about 2 cups?) mushrooms sliced (I had bought a mixed variety bag on clearance at my store)
• dash of olive oil
• 1/2 jar of your preferred pasta sauce
• parsley
• basil
• salt and pepper
• red pepper flakes

Technique!!! For me, its all about technique.  Removing the casings and browning the sausage is key. The little yummy flavor bits that stick to the pan will lift when you add the squash and mushrooms. The moisture from the vegetables will de-glaze the pan and flavor the entire dish. (this is also the technique I use when making a soup that contains sausage.... always brown sausage first or you are basically "steaming" the sausage in the vegetables.... which doesn't sound appealing to me.. blarh!)

1. Brown the crumbled sausage. 
2. Add all vegetables and spices and and cook on low. 
3. Stir thoroughly and cook on low until vegetables are crisp/tender (I don't like them completely mushy..).
4. When vegetables are the consistency you want, add 1/2 a jar of pasta sauce or a can of diced tomatoes if you prefer. 
5. Mix through and heat thoroughly.
6. I served with a bit of finely shredded Parmesan cheese on it.

Use whatever vegetables you want: Zucchini, onions, eggplant, peppers, whatever you have on-hand.

Ideas: Serve with spaghetti squash as a "pasta", or mix the spaghetti squash and ratatouille together and bake like a casserole.

Maybe stuff a zucchini boat and bake ? Stuff peppers with this mixture? Serve over riced cauliflower?

Let me know how you vary it and make it your own!!!

Recipe: Sara's Bison & Pork Mini Meatloaves

Bison & Pork Mini-Meatloaves
  
Mini meatloaves (meatloafs?) made from bison & pastured organic pork from Whole Foods Market. Thanks go to Cavegirl Cuisine, for hosting the contest where I won a gift certificate that enabled me to buy the meat for this recipe. :)

These were AMAZING!

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground bison
• 1lb ground pork
• 5 baby bella mushrooms
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 egg
• 1/4c ground flax

Directions:

1. Blend the mushrooms and the garlic in a food processor
2. Remove from food processor and add to bowl with both meats, egg, and flax seed meal. 
3. Mix thoroughly. Shape into patties.
4. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.    

 
 This made exactly one dozen "muffins," or mini-meatloaves.
Nom nom nom!

New Week, New Challenge!

This week's challenge is multi-part, and a combo of other mini-challenges or ideas we've had lately.

1. Prepping - Fortify yourself against the Holiday Season, by making yourself yummy Paleo/Primal Snacks ahead of time for the week. Veggies and a dip, paleo crackers, Fruit, nut butters, etc. Whatever you think you will need to be able to keep yourself satisfied against the onslaught of Holiday sweets and treats while you are out doing your thing away from home.

2. Exercise at least 5 times this week. Do what you can within your own limits. I know that for me, it will be walking, either outside or to Leslie , or the stationary bike for about 15 mins at a time. Do what you can. Push yourself a little or a lot.


3. Say "No," at least once this week, and feel good about it. Someone is bound to offer you a cookie or something. You need to learn to politely decline. Do it. :)

So what say you? Are you in??

November's Clean Eating Challenges.

If you have joined our Companion FaceBook Page, you know that some of us are attempting a 5 day clean-eating challenge.

Those of you that are successfully paleo remember what it's like when you are starting out, trying not to cheat.  Some of us were having difficulty getting thru a straight 30 day challenge, so I proposed going slower, and thru the month of November we started with a one day challenge, the next week a 2 day challenge, etc.

Starting Monday 11/26 we are doing a 5 day challenge.  I've been cheering our peeps along, reminding them to prep early and often, providing tips like eating lots of beneficial fats to keep us satiated so that we aren't tempted to processed foods.

Have you thought about eating clean, whole foods, and slowing down or giving up processed foods?  Does the idea of a 21 day or a 30 day challenge scare you?

How about you try the 5 day challenge with us? It can't hurt, and I can pretty much guarantee that you'll feel better because of it.

Come on over to our FaceBook Page and join in on the conversation...we give great support!

from prevention.com

Rachael: This Week's Blog Round-up

I read a ton of blog posts every week. If you following me on FaceBook, you know this, because I share a lot of what I read.

What can I say? I'm a giver. :)

 But I thought it might be nice to gather the truly inspiring ones, new and old, and put them up here once a week or so, and give you a one-stop shopping spot. So here's some of what I've read this week:

7 Shades of Paleo, from Robb Wolf's site. A slightly humorous title, but a pretty ingenious breakdown of the types of peeps who choose to try the Paleo Lifestyle.


How the Primal Blueprint Helped End My Struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, from Mark's Daily Apple. Definitely worth the inspirational read.

 My Paleo Slump and 6 Simple Ways to Bounce Back from Cheats,  from SimplyPaleo. This woman is proves that falling off the clean-eating wagon isn't only for losers or the weak-willed, it just happens.

And this picture is pretty eye-opening, isn't it?  All are 159lbs, all are different heights, and all look entirely different.

 

Apologies in advance, here's a little social commentary on GMOs....

 

But I will leave you with a little aggressive inspiration:

 

Ta!

~Rachael

Recipe: Joie's Primal "Granola" or "Cereal"

Joie's Primal "Granola" or "Cereal"

Adjust amounts as needed or wanted.   (Use nuts that YOU like)

½ cup almonds. 

½ cup pecan pieces.

½ cup walnut pieces.

½ cup pumpkin seeds.

½ cup sunflower seeds.

½ cup cashews.

½ cup dried fruit – craisins, raisins, diced prunes mix

2 cups finely shredded unsweetened coconut.

½ cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

¼ cup flax seed  (optional)

1-2 scoops of egg white powder (optional)

• In a small bowl, mix a large dollop of coconut oil
• Maybe ½ cup (more or less depending on taste) raw unfiltered honey
• A good splash of vanilla (or other extract as desired)
• Melt it down in double boiler or microwave to blend and liquify
• Pour over nuts.
• Mix till coated.   
• Taste for flavor and check for consistency, adjust as needed.
• Using a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper,
• Bake in oven at 350F for 20 min
• Check often to make sure you don’t burn it.  
• Allow to cool.  
• Crumble into an air tight container.

And a Word of Warning:
Take care to keep watch while baking, as this recipe can scorch easily. If your oven runs hot, lower the temp and check often. You might want to discard any charred bits as they get rock hard and milk won’t soften it up and you end up with a broken back tooth on the upper right side of your jaw.
(Yes, that happened to me recently. It’s ugly. I see $$$$ at the dentist coming up)

Recipe: Susan's Breakfast Casserole

Susan is a newer member to the Paleo Lifestyle in the Real World Face Book Page but she's been a friend for a lot of years. She's a mean cook, and she described her newest creation on the boards, which I'm sharing with you (with her permission, of course):

"This morning I found myself without a plan for breakfast, so I decided it was time to make a Breakfast Casserole for the week.

 I sautéed up:

·         an onion

·         bell pepper

·         zucchini

·         shredded sweet potato 

·         ground turkey 

 With copious amounts of:

·         cumin 

·         chili powder 

·         oregano

·         salt and pepper

 Spread it in a casserole dish and topped it off with:

·         10 eggs

·         a small can of spicy tomato sauce.

  

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes until cooked through.

 

This is key for me as I don't wake up early enough to make breakfast each day before work. So when it comes out of the oven, I'll go ahead and cut it into 8 squares and put each one in Tupperware, so I can just grab one out of the fridge each morning as I leave the house. It's ok cold, or I can heat it up in the microwave at work.

Picture from "What's Cooking America" website.

Thanks, Susan!

Recipe: Joie's Autumn Fruit Compote

Joie doesn't post much, but that doesn't mean she's not out there working the clean eating. We speak daily, and I'm starting to just take some of her ideas and post them here (with her permission, of course), because she has some *Rawkin!* ideas for clean-eating chow.

 Take this one for example: 

 Joie's Autumn Fruit Compote

·         1 very ripe pear or apple, diced

·         Several very ripe strawberries, sliced

·         A couple of shakes of pumpkin pie spice.

·         Stir to blend.

·         Put in a baggie and let marinate several hours for afternoon snack.

HOLY NOM!

*licks spoon*

 

Recipe: Primal Beef Stew in the Crockpot

I really, really need to learn to take more profesional pictures.Because this stew really deserves someone better than me snapping a phone pic of the stew in the crockpot.

No. Really.

This has to be the best stew I've ever made, and I've made plenty of beef strew before going paleo/primal.

 I ain't just whistling dixie here, y'all.

My hubby asked how I was going to make stew without potatoes. I said I just wasn't going to put any in, and he gave me the hairy eyeball.

Our blogging compatriot, Lola, asked me how I was going to thicken the sauce for the stew without using corn starch (normally I'd use potato starch anyway), and I said arrowroot powder. And got a thumbs up.

See?  These little things are easy to overcome.

So let's get on with the recipe, shall we?

Paleo/Primal Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 1 lb beef, cut into chunks. Use your favorite cut, or what you have on hand.
• 1-2 onions chopped
• 1 cup chopped bell pepper (colors of the rainbow, peeps! Get those vitamins!)
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 stalk chopped celery
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 2-4 cups beef stock or low sodium beef broth
• 1 cup red wine (I used Chiraz, because it was what I had on-hand) or 1/4 cup red wine or balsamic vinegar (don't go nuts with the vinegar unless you like things *really* tangy)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup arrowroot powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder and/or onion powder
• other seasonings to your taste: dried parsley, cayenne pepper, sea salt

Directions

1. put the chunks of beef into a baggies and dump the arrowroot powder and the granulated garlic or onion powder  in there as well.  Shake to coat. (great job for the kids, make them shake the bag and then get them to say, "And I helped!" in their best southern accent) (sorry, I couldn't help myself) If 1/4 cup of the arrowroot powder doesn't coat the beef thoroughly, then go whole hog and put in another 1/4 cup.
2. put a little bit of oil oil in a hot skillet and immediately throw in the onions and peppers. Cook until they start to soften and become fragrant. Take out of the skillet and put into the crockpot.
3. add a little bit more oil into the pan and place the coated chunks of beef into it. Don't crowd them, do it in batches if you have to.  Brown each side of the beef, and place them into the crockpot with the onions and peppers.
4. add the carrots and celery to the crockpot and cover with beef stock.
5. add the spices of your choosing, put on the lid, and cook for 2 hours on low.
6. after 2 hours, add the wine. Stir it well. Cover and cook for another 2 hours.

Viola!  Beef stew that's fit for a king. Or a caveman.

P.S. The only thing I could possibly add to this stew would be mushrooms. When I make this again, and oh yes, I will, I will add them when I add the wine, so they aren't cooked down to nothing.

Enjoy.

Rachael: Meal Ideas: What Do You Do With Scrambled Eggs?

Crazy egg chairs that I had to share. From www.wilwheaton.tumbler.net

Is it the breakfast of Champions? Is it a quick way to get some protein in your gut first thing in the morning? Are you getting sick of eggs for breakfast?

I go through bouts of eggs / no eggs for breakfast. My go to when I do want eggs is scrambed with cut up chicken, chopped bell peppers, broccoli if I have it, and if I'm feeling primal instead of paleo, a pinch of Parmesan cheese.

I put out the question on our companion FB page: What do you put in your eggs?  I didn't get much of a response, but here is what I did get:

• smoked ham, green peppers and sweet spanish onions
• whatever's in my fridge. The best things are usually leftovers. 
•  Almost anything, as long as it's topped with salsa/Shriracha!!
•  I was in the mood for something sweet today so my one son made a very thin egg pancake and topped it with apple slices, a few chopped grapes and a bit of cinnamon. Then he folded it over like an egg crepe and finished cooking it. It was very good actually because without spices the egg was basically tasteless. 
•  I'm pretty boring with my eggs, I think. Love spinach, sausage, onions, peppers, etc. Add a little feta, Romano or Parmesan cheese. 

Here's an article on Making Great Scrambled Eggs, from The Paleo Diet Lifestyle.  It's a basic tutorial on making the eggs themselves, and leaves you to your own imagination as to what to put in there.


So what do you think? Have you got a great way with eggs that you'd like to share?


For those of you that do not want to eat eggs every morning for breakfast (we all get tired of the same thing, trust me) here's 20 egg-less paleo breakfasts, a very thoughtful blog post from www.paleononpaleo.com.

Rachael's Recipe Review: TPM's Paleo Fudge

Hello,

if you folow us on the the Face Book companion page, you know that I've been talking a lot about this recipe for Paleo Fudge.

I was (and still am) a wicked sugar addict and a chocoholic from waaaaaay back, and I was hoping to find a recipe that would allow me to have a bit of the evil monster, and yet, not break the glucose bank, so to speak.

My fellow blogger, Sara, had found this recipe for freezer fudge (from The Paleo Mom), and tried it out on herself and her family. It was a hit. She's made it several times in the last couple of months, and every time cuts back a little bit on the honey. No one seems to notice.  She also adds things like almond butter, coconut flakes, nuts, etc.

I decided to give it a try myself, but I made it plain, no add-ins of nuts, coconut flakes, etc.  I am usually not a fan of fudge in general, especially not with nuts in it. Call me a purist. And that's my mistake.

Because I have to say that I at first I was disappointed. It tasted like eating chocolate flavored butter.

Alone.

The coconut oil was very rich, and with nothing to break it up, like the nuts I eschewed, it was really not very appetizing.

At first.

I kept the batch I made in the fridge.  I decided that I'd eventually melt it down and make something else out of it, but DaMan and I kept nibbling on it. Usually after dinner, when the sugar monster rears it's ugly head.

I found that in small pieces, it was tolerable.  And it did help me from craving the sugary stuff. I grew to appreciate the fact that a small piece would do me well for the night.

That same batch is still in my fridge. We still nibble off of it. And I still plan on melting it down and doing something else with it. I just haven't figured out what yet. But I'm happy with it, and grateful to The Paleo Mom for blogging about it.

Then my other compatriot who also is involved with this blog, Joie, tried it earlier this week. Joie isn't addicted to the sweets like Sara and I are. But I got this message from Joie after she made her batch:

Ok, holy crap. Did the Paleo Fudge/Chocolate thing. OMG.
Coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa, raw honey, a splash of vanilla, lots of unsweetened coconut, assorted chopped nuts and a little dried fruit.
This will take care of my dark chocolate fix!
Why didn't you force this down my gullet earlier?????

 So, I think that we can all safely say that the Paleo Freezer Fudge is a hit.

Picture from www.thepaleomom.com

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Wings

DaMan loves hot wings. Unfortunately, he prefers the breaded kind, not the buffalo sauced kind. He loves a spicy breading on deep fried wings.

This is so not compatible with the Paleo/Primal lifestyle that we are trying to emulate, but I thought that I might try to work something out as a "Once in a While" treat, while still keeping it gluten-free, and trying to cut down on the badness that happens when you deep-fry foods.

What I came up with probably isn't for day to day clean eating. Most certainly not when you are doing a cleanse, or a 21/30 day challenge, but it does boast to not having any wheat flour, and it was pretty delicious.

I was having a hard time coming up with an egg wash and "breaded" coating that stayed on the chicken wing through the cooking process. I had a moment of genius inspiration and decided to try tahini as way to  thicken the egg wash in to a more batter-like consistency, and it worked pretty darn well! If you don't have or cannot obtain Tahini, you might try an unsweetened almond or other nut/seed butter, but it might be more difficult to incorporate into the egg wash without using a food processor.

In an attempt to keep calories down, I only pan-fried the wings for a short time, just enough to set the coating, and then finished cooking in the oven. I wanted the breading to be crunchy, yet have the same mouth-feel as a deep fried wing.

*Note, work in batches. Fry a few wings at a time, then put on a cooling rack with paper towels or aluminum foil underneath to catch the excess oil.  Then carefully move the wings to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to finish in the oven. You might want to double line it.

So here you go. I hope you enjoy it as much as DaMan did:




Spicy Breaded Chicken Wings

(this recipe coated about 20 wings)

Wet Ingredients for the egg wash:

•  3 eggs
• Spicy Hot Sauce, a few dashes, to taste
• 2-3 Tablespoons Tahini
• 2-3 Tablespoons Almond or coconut milk (if needed to stretch the egg wash)

Dry Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/3 cup almond flour
• 1/3 cup almond meal (dried leftover almond paste from making your own, if you keep it)

Egg Wash with Tahini (the secret ingredient!)

Spices, these are optional, but highly recommended for flavor and for beefing up the "breaded coating":

• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Mrs Dash
• Seasoned pepper
• Paprika
• Sea Salt
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Put all the dry ingredients and your chosen spices into a gallon-sized ziplock baggie. 
3. In a large bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients well.
4. Heat a large skillet with your preferred oil. I ended up using veggie oil, because the coconut oil smoked too quickly. If you can make it work, great.
5. Drag your chicken wings through the egg wash, then coat with the dry ingredients by shaking them in the baggie with the dry ingredients.
6. Place in skillet and let brown for 2-3 minutes on each side. 
7. Place chicken on cooling rack with paper towels underneath to catch excess oil. Let drain for a few minutes.
8. Place drained chicken on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven until the chicken reaches 165 degrees.



Fry in batches, don't overcrowd the skillet.







9. Let wings cool for a few minutes, then serve.

Enjoy!

Here's a Primal Ranch Dressing Recipe that you might use a dipping sauce,it's from Mark's Daily Apple.

place quick fried wings to a cooling rack before transferring them to the oven for finishing.

 

Recipe: Paleo/Primal Crockpot Chicken Chili

It's getting to be that time of year again. When the weather cools, I get to thinking about soups, stews, and chili.

Here's a super easy chili recipe that takes almost no time to prepare, and is yummy, and makes for great leftovers to take for lunches for a few days afterwards.







Paleo/Primal Crockpot Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

• 1lb of ground chicken, turkey, beef, or lamb
• One large onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped
• Green, Red, Orange, or Yellow bell peppers chopped, to equal 1 cup
• Large can of petite diced tomatoes
• Large can of crushed tomatoes or 1 quart of homemade tomato puree
• 1-2T of honey (to cut the acid in the tomatoes) 
• Chicken stock (I usually freeze my stock in ice cube trays, and I used 3 cubes = 6 tablespoons)
• 1 cup diced zucchini
• Spices: Cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste

Here's the wicked hard instructions:

• Through everything into the crockpot
• Turn on low
• Wait 8 hours.

See?  I know!!!

And it really is yummy.

I topped with a pinch of mozzarella cheese and some pickled banana peppers. That makes the dish more Primal than Paleo, but it was definitely YUM!