French Dijon Chicken and Green Beans

Since learning of the paleo lifestyle, I have been a fan of Melissa Joulwan at www.theclothesmakethegirl.com. I am an even bigger fan since getting my hands on her cookbook, Well Fed. She presents two ideas in her book that have been just as valuable to me as the recipes themselves. First, she talks about a weekly cookup: spending time every weekend preparing food for the week. This has become a Sunday morning ritual in my house. Each of us picks out a dinner recipe to make through the week, set a timer, and spend the next hour laughing and having fun in the kitchen. The girls are responsible for cutting veggies for packed lunches and the dinner recipes we selected while I roast and fry up meats and prep some of the more complicated items. Her second concept is then using these prepped meats and vegetables to create super quick meals by simply heating and adding seasoning or a sauce.

I'd love to take credit for this creamy delicious dish, but Melissa's "Hot Plate" ideas inspired my 10-year old Sunshine to create this recipe all on her own.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 1 T coconut oil
• 3 chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 4 cups fresh green beans, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup baby tomatoes
• 1/4 cup spicy dijon mustard (check ingredients to ensure it's paleo-friendly)
• 1/3 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 tsp tarragon
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Stir chicken into the hot oil. If chicken is pre-cooked, continue to the next step. Otherwise, stir fry chicken until cooked through.
3. Add green beans, carrots, and tomatoes. Fry 3-5 minutes. 
4. While veggies are cooking, mix remaining ingredients together to make a sauce.
5. Pour sauce over chicken and veggies. Mix well.
6. Cook until vegetables reach a desired softness. (We prefer them still crunchy!)
7. Serve immediately.

French Country Curry

I think I first tasted curry in college, when my friend's French mother made us a deliciously rich and sweet and spicy gravy served over chicken and mashed potatoes. I loved the flavor from the moment it hit my tongue and soon after searched all my cookbooks (a very limited collection at the time) looking for something similar I could replicate. Finding nothing among my mostly Betty Crocker and Good Housekeeping recipes, I devised my own curry gravy of curry powder, chicken broth, cream, and honey. It was warming and comforting and tasted divine; my foray into a twenty year (and counting) love of curries. This recipe is a recent experiment inspired by that first curry fed to me by Mrs. O. and has quickly become our "new favorite" curry.

 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 T coconut oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 pound chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 pound paleo-friendly smoked sausage, sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 Japanese eggplant, cut in half length-wise and thickly sliced
• 1 zucchini or yellow squash, cut in half length-wise and thickly sliced
• 1 cup green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2-4 T Thai yellow curry paste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)
• 1 cup sugar-free applesauce 
• 1-2 tsp fish sauce
• 2-4 tsp lime juice

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a dutch oven or large pan over medium-high heat.
2. Fry the onion until it turns golden brown and begins to carmelize.
3. Add the chicken and sausage and fry until the chicken is done. Frying the meats together will impart a nice savory flavor on the chicken. Remove the meat and set aside, leaving any liquid in the pan.
4. Add curry paste to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes. The paste will become fragrant and may begin popping and sizzling.
5. Add about 1/3 can of coconut milk and mix well with the curry paste. Fry for 5-10 minutes or until an oil sheen appears and the coconut milk begins to separate.
6. Add the vegetables and fry 5 minutes, ensuring the veggies are covered with the curry paste and coconut milk mixture.
7. Stir the meat back into pan.
8. Add the remaining 2/3 can of coconut milk and chicken broth. Bring to a boil.
9. Add applesauce, fish sauce, and lime juice and mix well. Reduce the heat and simmer 20-30 minutes until the veggies reach a desired consistency.
10. Serve immediately.

Cran-Balgar Roasted Chicken

We're kicking off a fresh start and new school year with a strict Whole30 challenge! The summer has been hectic but the girls and I are ready to get back on track with better eating habits. In addition to my commitment of providing "real" food meals in my home, I am getting back into the habit of posting our fab recipes online.

This dinner was a complete experiment that turned out phenomenal! Sunshine wanted me to make a sweet-and-spicy sauce for the roasted chicken I was preparing. I wouldn't exactly call this sweet and spicy, but the gravy was so rich and delicious that we were fighting over who got to lick the pan!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup coconut aminos (or wheat-free tamari/soy sauce)
• 1 T frozen cranberry juice concentrate (100% juice)
• 1 T hot chili sauce (paleo-friendly)
• 1 T coconut oil
• 12 chicken drumsticks
• 8 garlic cloves, skin-on
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 bag cabbage and carrot "coleslaw mix"

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix the balsamic, coconut aminos, cranberry juice, and hot sauce in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium heat.
4. Sear chicken legs on all sides then add to the marinade sauce.
5. Fry whole garlic cloves until lightly browned.
6. Add the sliced onion and fry 3-5 minutes, until onions begin to brown.
7. Place chicken legs back into the dutch oven, over the onions and garlic.
8. Baste chicken with the remaining marinade.
9. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
10. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
11. Serve over cabbage. 

Chicken Pancakes with Cucumber Salad

The Reality and the Beauty Shot

Twice in the past few weeks I've tried recipes off the backs of packages. The first was "Authentic" Indian Curry. (Which turned out really well - but I can't top Angie's Indian food so I won't even try.) And the second was "Chicken Pancakes with Cucumber salad" from the back of Ayam's coconut mild powder. It was pretty close to paleo as-is, and looked pretty good.

The reason for the 2 very different pictures? Well, if you've ever tried, you know how tough it is to make anything usually flour based without flour, and food blog pictures are supposed to be pretty... but when your next idea flops in the artistic photographs department, ya still gotta eat~ and this tasted really, really good.... Another egg and some careful flipping saved the day, but I wanted to post the first attempt as a reminder that the whole point of eating this way is be healthier and the reasons we share these recipes is to show that you can eat healthy and have some darn good food in the process...even if it sometimes falls apart!

Cucumber Salad (good for this recipe, or as a side for anything Thai!)

2 Cucumbers

1 Tablespoon fish sauce

1 Tablespoon tamarind puree (recipe called for plum sauce)

1 Tablespoon lime juice

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Cut cucumbers in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Slice sideways in thin slices. (you'll end up with half-moons.) Mix with all remaining ingredients...adjusting as needed to taste. Set aside while you make the pancakes.

Chicken Pancakes (or scramble!)

400 grams leftover chicken, or turkey... finely chopped. I used a hand chopper and ended up with around 2 cups of diced meat.

1/3 cup coconut flour

1 cup coconut milk

1 heaping tablespoon chopped red chillis-- from a jar. (Know thy palate ~ adjust to taste.)

2 green onions, sliced uber thin

2 eggs

Mix all ingredients well... grease your fry pan and scoop out mix 1/3 cup at a time to form pancakes. You will be much more successful if you use a medium heat and WAIT at least 3-4 minutes before attempting to flip. Don't be shy with oil in the pan. (I used coconut oil of course, but you don't have to.) If you are in a hurry, lack patience, or have anger management issues--- go for the scramble! Which really means, try making pancakes but don't stress when you go to flip them and they completely fall apart... OR--jump right to my salvage step-- add another egg (or two,) adjust seasonings, take your time, and go for the pretty pancakes. Either way, serve the cucumber salad over or next to the pancakes... Enjoy!

Curry Chicken Satay and Garlic Broccoli Stir-Fry

Skewers! I could take my kids' least favorite food, stick it on a skewer, and they would gobble it up like a birthday dinner. This summer, I've spent a lot of time experimenting with paleo-friendly marinades and sauces for grilled items. Surprise, surprise... this one with Indian flavors has risen above the others as a family favorite. My oldest daughter is not crazy about cooked vegetables... except for this stir-fry. She can make an entire meal out of the garlic broccoli alone!

Curry Chicken Satay Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 T fresh ginger, grated
• 2-3 T curry powder
• 2-3 T lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts or thighs, cut into strips

Garlic Broccoli Ingredients:

• 2 T coconut oil (or oil of choice)
• 6-10 garlic cloves, chopped (yes, this recipe is for garlic lovers only!)
• 1 bunch cilantro - stems only, chopped
• 2 bunches broccoli, chopped
• 2 T coconut aminos

Curry Chicken Satay Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a glass bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
2. While chicken marinades, soak wooden skewers in water to prevent burning.
3. Put chicken on skewers and grill until done. I use leftover marinade to baste the chicken during the first few minutes of cooking.

 Garlic Broccoli Directions:

1. Heat oil in a wok or pan over medium-high heat.
2. Add garlic and cilantro stems and fry until golden brown.
3. Add broccoli and stir well to distribute the oil, garlic, and cilantro throughout. Fry 3 to 5 minutes or until broccoli begins to soften.
4. Add coconut aminos. This should slightly steam the broccoli.
5. Remove from heat when broccoli reaches a desired tenderness.

Cilantro-Lime Grilled Chicken

One of the toughest challenges I find trying to cook healthy is when I'm visiting family and am out of my own kitchen. Over the weekend we were headed to a cookout, so I took a family trick of dumping a jar of salad dressing over a bag of frozen chicken and made my own version from what I could find in the fridge. When I first tasted the mix I had some doubts, but after marinating and cooking it turned out fantastic!

Cilantro-Lime Grilled Chicken

Juice of 2 limes

large handful cilantro, chopped fine

small bunch of basil, chopped fine. (10-12 leaves)

½ red onion - chopped fine

olive oil (same amount as the juice you got from your limes.)

½ teaspoon (or more) ground cumin

I finely diced hot chili. (jalapeno, Serrano, ect… I used a Hungarian wax pepper from my dad’s garden and left the seeds in.)

S&P to taste.

Chicken breasts or tenderloins to serve 4 (usually I get free-range chickens from the Saturday market down the street - but in a pinch I'm willing to use frozen!)

Mix all ingredients and marinate at least 30 mins, or until chicken is thawed. Remove chicken from marinade and grill. While chicken is grilling, boil down the remaining marinade until liquid is almost gone and the mixture is like a chutney. (If that bothers you, then absolutely make extra to boil down, the taste was worth the effort.)

I served the chicken with avocado slices, the reduced marinade, and a side salad. I asked for criticism to help me out, but all I got were rave reviews!