Veggie Pork Soup

Nothing warms me up in winter like a delicious soup. And with busy evenings full of cross country skiing, girl scouts, and swimming nothing beats walking in the door and having a hot meal ready to eat. My idea for this soup came from a recipe I saw for sage pork chops. The seasonings go well with the ground pork and vegetables and taste even better the next day. Make extra for packed lunches; my girls ate it all week!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup green beans
• 1 cup cabbage, chopped
• 1 cup roasted winter squash or sweet potato, cubed
• 4-6 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1 1/2 tsp sage
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Fry ground pork until cooked through.
3. Add the meat and all remaining ingredients to a slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
4. Serve hot.

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.

Baked Smoothie

I recently followed an interesting online conversation regarding the tagging of recipes as Whole30. In many cases, recipes that contain non-compliant ingredients were incorrectly tagged as Whole30. Duh... they shouldn't be. However, the more controversial recipes were those than contained all compliant ingredients but did not necessarily meet the intent of the Whole30 program.

This is where my interest in the conversation suddenly increased.

When my daughters and I complete a Whole30, our intent is to spend 30 days ridding our bodies of toxins and eating the best we can by eliminating all the "illegal" foods prohibited during this program. My kids are 9 and 10. The promise of better health is not quite good enough motivation for them to want to eat this way. So my challenge, as mom and head chef of our household, is to entice them so that they want to adhere. Show them that I can take some of their old favorite dishes and turn them into Whole30 compliant dishes and usually, make them taste even better than before. I'm not talking paleo-ized mac-n-cheese and fried chicken. But do I look at recipes I've been making for years and seriously consider how I can improve them in a way that makes them healthy to eat? Heck yeah! And I don't feel I'm straying from the spirit of Whole30 by doing so.

So I apologize if I'm one of "them"... one of the people who has been tagging recipes as Whole30 that don't meet the intent of the program. I thought I've always made good judgement of what is or isn't. But maybe my perception of the program differs from what it is meant to be. I'm sorry and I will try to be more conservative in the future.

Like now... (tempted as I am, I will forego the Whole30 tag)

My daughter came home from school one day last week and proudly relayed to me how she turned down cupcakes being passed out for a friend's birthday. This is my sweet-tooth kid and I know the willpower it took for her to say no. A LOT. And so when she ended that story by asking if we could make a treat over the weekend, I gladly agreed.

I've seen many "cake in a cup" recipes and at some point realized they look suspiciously similar to our favorite PB Cup Smoothie. So here's my take on it... They're delicious and contain only Whole30 compliant ingredients.

Makes 9 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond butter
• 2-3 T 100% pure cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add all ingredients to a blender and mix until smooth.
3. Grease cupcake pan or fill with liners.
4. Divide batter evenly to make 9 cupcakes. Tins should be about 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 15 minutes.
6. 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.

Easy Asparagus Soup

My best soups get made when I clean out my refrigerator.  And this was no exception.  I had too much asparagus, (I blame Costco!) some slightly wilty mushrooms that were on their last legs, and not a whole lot else.  That's fine, not much else needed.  Beware the blending process...always a hazard.

Easy Asparagus Soup

1 onion, chopped
2-3 T of your favorite cooking oil
1 Cup (heaping!) chopped mushrooms

1 liter of stock or broth

3 cups chopped asparagus, woody ends removed

Several cranks of good fresh ground pepper
Salt or a squeeze of lemon juice to taste

Chop onion and cook in oil in your favorite soup pot for a few minutes while you chop the mushrooms.  Toss those in and let them cook for a few minutes while you prep the asparagus.  Keep a few of the prettiest tops if you want for a garnish.

Pour in stock and bring to a simmer.  Blanch the tops if you'd like for a minute or two, then scoop them out and set aside.  Add the rest of the asparagus and pepper, and cover.  Simmer until the asparagus is tender, 15-20 minutes.

With extreme caution!!!!! Blend small batches of the soup until smooth.  Taking the center hole cover off your blender lid and covering it with a towel helps.  Or use an immersion blender.  Or let it cool some first... but never underestimate the crazy disaster that blending hot liquids can become...

Right before serving, add a pinch of salt and/or a tiny bit of lemon juice.

***My kids do like soup, but they would look at this and declare "YUCK!" without hesitation.  So I called it "Invisible Soup" and had them cover their eyes while I fed them a taste.  They loved it. I wouldn't let them see it until they declared me master chef of the universe. :o)  Enjoy!***

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

What to do with the yummy "Pumpkin brains!!!" as we were calling them while we carved the pumpkins with the kids... Well, you can't waste them.  I had enough seeds to try 3 different flavors... its easy enough to do... the one thing I read about after that I didn't do was to soak them in salt water overnight.  Apparently it makes them a lot less tough, and I will definitely add that step next time.  Depending how often you want to check on the seeds, a variety of oven temps will work.  I used 325F and checked about every 5 mins. for a total of about 20-25 mins.  There was one recipe that called for balsamic vinegar that sounded good....maybe we need another pumpkin?

S&P:

2 teaspoons melted coconut oil OR olive oil OR clarified butter

Teaspoon coarse ground salt, about as much pepper...

-mix with 1 1/2 cups cleaned pumpkin seeds and roast until lightly brown and crunchy.  Stir every 5-10 mins.

Warm Spice:

2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of cloves
salt to taste
-mix with 1 1/2 cups cleaned pumpkin seeds and roast until lightly brown and crunchy.  Stir every 5-10 mins.

Hot Spice:

2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
mix with 1 1/2 cups cleaned pumpkin seeds and roast until lightly brown and crunchy.  Stir every 5-10 mins.

I couldn't pick a favorite!

Pumpkin Joe

I wasn't sure what to call this... but it was just so scrumptious!  It almost ends up the consistency of mashed potatoes... I had it on lettuce, by itself, and here with a little avocado on top.

Pumpkin Joe:

1 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 spoon chopped garlic from a jar...

brown all the above in a pan with your go-to oil...

add:

1 small can tomato paste
1 small can chopped green chili
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
S&P if desired
1 1/2 cups of water.  (Yes, that much water!  Or beef broth, or more or less to your liking... but even with 1 1/2 cups its pretty thick.)

Simmer stirring pretty much constantly for 10 mins or so, adding water as needed to get the consistency you want.  That's it!  Enjoy.

Italian Wedding Soup

I have two tweens. And we have been striving for a paleo lifestyle after many years of eating grain-ful, but otherwise generally healthy meals. I think one of the keys to keeping the girls "on board" with paleo is our ability to re-create past family favorites within this new paradigm. Today's challenge was to paleo-ize a commonly requested cold-weather Saturday lunch: canned Italian Wedding Soup. The girls have asked me to attempt this before but they couldn't decide on a replacement for the orzo or couscous usually found in this soup. I suggested we try veggies cut into tiny pieces and cooked al-dente and by some miracle, they agreed! I let the girls pick which veggies to try and they decided on carrots and zucchini. I julienned them with a mandolin slicer then further cut them into tiny orzo-sized pieces. We added the veggies at the last moment so they would maintain some of their texture and resemble a grain. This soup was an instant hit!

 

Serves 4-6

Meatball Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 T dried Italian seasoning
• 8 ounces ground beef
• 8 ounces ground pork
• salt and pepper 

Soup Ingredients:

• 10 cups homemade chicken stock or paleo-friendly chicken broth
• 1 egg
• 1 cup spinach, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrot, julienned and cut into tiny pieces*
• 1/2 cup zucchini, julienned and cut into tiny pieces*

*I use a mandolin slicer to julienne the veggies into thin matchsticks.

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the meatball ingredients and season with salt and pepper.
2. Use a spoon to scoop the meat mixture and roll into small 1-inch balls. Set the meatballs aside.
3. Pour stock/broth into a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
4. Add the meatballs, one at a time, and simmer for 10 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.
5. Beat the egg in a small bowl and pour very slowly into the soup.
6. Reduce heat and add the spinach. Simmer for a few minutes.
7. Add the carrot and zucchini and serve immediately.

Apricot-Cranberry Ginger Balls

If you haven't yet made your own homemade version of Lara bars... what are you waiting for?  The best site with the most versions I have seen is at Chocolate Covered Katie's blog.  This is NOT a paleo blog!  She's Vegan and does a lot of raw...and its all desserts.  BUT - her fudge babies are great, and they are paleo--well, most of them! The original recipe is very good, much like a chocolate brownie.  My kids love the "hot chocolate" flavored ones the best.  But today I wanted to use up some dried apricots, and was in the mood for something spicy.  

The basic recipe and procedure is really easy... almost equal amounts of dried fruit and nuts...add spices or cocoa... and blast it all in the food processor until it looks like coffee grounds.  See her site for more, but here is my recipe for today:

Apricot-Cranberry Ginger Balls

6 dried apricots

2 dried dates (big medjool ones, 3 or 4 if you have really small dates.)

1/2 cup dried cranberries.  

(Total amount of dried fruit is 1 cup!)

2/3 cup almonds

1/4 teaspoon dried ginger

pinch allspice

pinch ground cloves

pinch of salt

Dump all ingredients into a food processor and run it until it looks like coffee grounds.  Takes a while, but pay attention so you don't get paste.

Form into balls, or press into an 8"x8" pan and cut into squares.

Makes 16

(When I make these, I dump the finished mix onto cling wrap...form into a log, wrap the log in the plastic wrap and squeeze it together... then I unwrap the log and cut it into 16 pieces.  Then take the chunks and roll them by hand into bite sized balls.  The first time you try these you may think there is no way the mix will stick together, but it does!)

Alaskan Sourdough Pork

In local slang, a Cheechako is someone new to Alaska while a Sourdough is an Alaskan old-timer. This tangy and spicy barbecued pork is delicious enough to satisfy even the most crusty of old sourdoughs. Pre-paleo, my family loved the yummy barbecued meats grilled up at Sourdough Mining Company, a replica of an old mill house filled with gold mining memorabilia. Since it's impossible for me to eat there without indulging in their corn fritters and honey butter, we have steered clear from there for quite a while. This dinner was my successful attempt at serving the girls a Sourdough worthy meal!

Serves 4-6

Pulled Pork Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 1/2 pound pork loin roast
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 slices bacon
• 2 cups chicken broth
• salt and pepper 

BBQ Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 cup liquid, reserved from the cooked pork
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 T fresh ginger, finely grated
• 1/4 - 1 T sambal olek (or another paleo-friendly hot sauce)
• 1 T spicy brown mustard
• 1 T rice vinegar
• 1 T frozen pineapple juice concentrate (100% juice)

Directions:

1. Place chopped onion in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Add the roast. Cut slits on the roast and embed a garlic clove in each one.
3. Pour chicken broth over the roast.
4. Cover with slices of bacon and season with salt and pepper.
5. Cook meat on low for 6-8 hours, or until meat is cooked through and tender.
6. Strain pork, reserving liquid and set aside.
7. In a sauce pan, add all ingredients for the BBQ sauce.
8. Simmer for 20 minutes, until sauce thickens.
9. Stir pulled pork into the sauce and serve immediately.

For a complete sourdough dinner, serve with paleo coleslaw and sweet potato fries.

Paleo Coleslaw: Chop cabbage and carrots or use a pre-packaged coleslaw mix. Whisk together a dressing made with olive oil, rice vinegar, and spicy brown mustard.

Sweet Potato Fries: Peel 2 sweet potatoes and cut into fry size pieces. Soak in cold water for 20 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Drizzle with olive oil and spicy spice mixture (I like using berbere, an Ethiopian spice mix). Spread onto a cookie sheet and cook for 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees.

Beef Enchilada Stew

It's Labor Day. Woo hoo... time to put away the white pants and pull out the slow cooker! OK. That's a lie. I don't own white pants AND I use my slow cooker year-round. But now that it's September and cool weather is upon us (at least in Alaska), I feel much more obliged to make slow cooking part of my weekly routine. Even on a holiday when I'm not coming home from a busy day at work and wanting dinner ready to go, there's something comforting and cozy about a slow cooked meal.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 T coconut oil
• 1 1/2 pounds stew meat, cubed
• 3 slices bacon
• 1/2 to 1 T cajun seasoning
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can (28 ounces) El Pato enchilada sauce

Directions:

1. Add 1/2 T coconut oil and meat to the slow cooker.
2. Cover with slices of bacon and sprinkle with seasoning.
3. Cook meat on low for 4-6 hours, or until meat is cooked through and tender.
4. Heat remaining oil in a pan over medium-high heat.
5. Add garlic and fry until frangrant.
6. Add onion and fry until it turns golden brown.
7. Add enchilada sauce and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes.
8. Stir in contents of slow cooker, including the liquid. Cook 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
9. Serve over roasted or stir-fried vegetables.

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. 

Dairy-free lasagna, with zucchini...Lee-Zeehini?

One of my daughters insists on the name, lee-zeehini. (lee-zee-nee) I don't know why, but whatever works! (and I apologize for the bad lighting!)

I've tried the "substitute zucchini for pasta" route several times...and it usually works. But for some reason I had put off making lasagna for a looooong time. Not sure why, its easy and most love it. Oh wait! Now I remember--- my kids don't. I may have the only kids on the planet who didn't like lasagna, but they didn't...until now! (and I've always made really good lasagna!)

I've done this twice before with my usual lasagna ingredients. Well, except noodles! ha ha But my usual stuff included cheese, and I wanted to try without the cheese. And what's not to love about pumpkin? Yum!

K's LeeZeehini

2 zucchini, sliced thin (1/4 inch or less... a mandolin would be perfect here. Thinner is better, but there is no need to go vegetable-peel thin.)

1/2 of a small pumpkin-peel and slice to approx the same thickness as your zucchini

10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and squeeze ALL the liquid out

1 lb. ground meat

1 small onion, chopped

few cloves garlic, minced

teaspoon or more of mixed italian herbs

about 3 cans of tomato sauce - or more depending how saucy you like it.

(if you have the time, salt the zucchini slices and let them sit to remove excess moisture - then rinse and pat dry)

Brown the meat, onions, and garlic, then add herbs and sauce. I like to simmer it for a while if I have the time, it just tastes better-but you don't really need to if you're in a hurry.

Spoon a little sauce in the bottom of your pan, then layer 1/3 the zucchini, 1/2 the pumpkin, 1/2 the spinach, and 1/3 the sauce. Repeat. Finish with the last of the zucchini and top with the remaining sauce.

Bake in a moderate oven approx. 45 minutes. Much better if it sits a bit... if you can wait.

***My pan was a little smaller than the usual 13x9 I would normally use. May be thin in a 13x9-- can always add more veggies, or make in two loaf pans. And pumpkins and zucchinis vary so much in size, this is why I'm not a fan of following recipes, there are always so many variables! Use as much of those (and tomato sauce) as you need or want. The amount of the rest should be fine.***