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.

Egg Masala and Tuna Curry

It's the day after Easter and I have this in my fridge:

We could have spent the next week or so having crazy-faced, hard-boiled eggs in our lunches... but I'm not that much of a hard-boiled egg fan to begin with. So instead of prolonging their life, I went about making a list of recipes where I could get rid of all the eggs in one go. My very uninspiring list consisted of egg salad. Not exactly what I was hoping for. Then I recalled that years ago, I came across an Indian curry calling for hard-boiled eggs. I have to admit my first reaction to seeing that was "why in the world would I waste a perfectly good curry sauce with eggs?" But over the years, the recipe has caught my attention more than once. That curiosity combined with the dozen plus eggs smiling at me from the fridge finally caused me to take action and give it a try. Fearing a big thumbs down from everyone in the family, I made a backup dish to accompany it: our favorite tuna curry, which I usually serve over a cabbage salad.

The results? Pretty amazing. Not only did the girls gobble it down and beg for more, I surprised myself by going back for seconds! And... it was divine with the tuna! I will be adding this to my list of school night "quick fixes", for sure!

Serves 4

Egg Masala Ingredients:

• 2 T coconut oil
• 1 cup onion, finely chopped
• 2-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
• 3 cups tomato sauce
• 4 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp hot curry powder
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 T cilantro, finely chopped
• 8 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half

Egg Masala Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. 
2. Add onion and ginger and fry until onion begins to carmelize. 
3. Stir in tomato sauce, spices, and lemon juice and simmer for 10 minutes. Add a little water if the sauce becomes too thick.
4. Stir in cilantro. 
5. Gently place eggs in the pan and spoon sauce over top. Heat until eggs are warmed through.

Tuna Curry Ingredients:

• 2 T coconut oil
• 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 3 small cans tuna, drained
• 2 T curry powder
• 1 T cilantro, finely chopped
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Tuna Curry Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. 
2. Add onion, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno pepper and fry until onion begins to carmelize.
3. Stir in tuna, curry powder, and cilantro and cook until tuna is hot. 
4. Squirt with lemon juice and serve immediately.

*Both these gorgeous dishes are inspired by recipes in cookbooks from Madhur Jaffrey.

Scotch Eggs

I have no idea what reminded me of these. I had one a dozen or so years ago when I was in England... But WOW-- how perfect for paleo? Well, minus the breadcrumb crust. So, in my experimentation I fried them without any coating, and then the last few I did roll in egg then some gluten-free crumbs. I liked the crumb coating, and considering a few tablespoons of gluten free crumbs was it for the day it was well within the 80/10 guideline I try to follow. I also tried deep frying only, versus a few minutes of deep frying followed by about 8-10 minutes in a medium oven. These could easily be baked in oven without any deep-frying, or made into a meat loaf... but having the meaty grenade shape is fun and makes them super easy to grab on the go or stuff in your lunch bag. They're good hot with a salad, or just as good -if not better- cold the net day.

Scotch Eggs

6 boiled eggs, peeled and set aside.

1 medium onion

2 cloves of garlic

S&P

(any and/or all of the following)

1 or more fresh chili pepper - with or without seeds, your choice.

1/2 red pepper... (I did this for the kids, then added the hot chili and spices after I made theirs.)

fresh or dried herbs... at least 2-3 Tablespoons total fresh, or at least 2-3 teaspoons total of dried. I used dried sage, mixed italian herb blend, red pepper flakes, and cayenne.

1 raw egg

1 pound ground meat--- beef or pork (or emu, lamb, deer...doesn't really matter.)

**even easier - do you have a paleo sausage you love? Use a pound of that - or any sausage recipe you like**

1. Peel the onion and garlic and toss in the food processor with the S&P, and herbs and spices. Whirl until the onion and garlic are pretty small chunks...

2. Add the ground meat and egg and process until pretty smooth - this makes it easier to form around the egg and it stays together in the deep fryer.

3. Divide the mixture into 6 portions. (approx 1/2 cup each.)

4. Flatten one portion of meat out in your hand, and place 1 hard boiled egg in the middle...carefully form the meat around the egg making sure to seal all seams. Set aside and repeat with the next 5 eggs.

If you like - at this point you can either dust them with some gluten free flour, or roll in a beaten egg followed by anything you've used for a paleo breading . (almond meal, ground pork rinds) Or not!

5. Heat oil in a deep fryer and deep fry one at a time approx 5-6 minutes. OR Fry them like meatballs in a shallow pan until browned completely all around and pop them in a medium oven for 10 minutes or so to finish... or really, any way you'd like to cook them works. You may have to experiment. The first one I deep fried with no coating for 8-9 minutes. Recipes I found on the web said to deep fry them for 10 minutes but that was too long, and the oil was about 325 - 350F. The best ones I made were deep fried for about 2 minutes @ 350F, then finished in a 350 oven for not quite 10 minutes...and they were even better for breakfast the next day.