Tag Archives: paleo

Indian-Spiced Cocktail Nuts

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With hints of cinnamon, coriander, cumin and the heat of cayenne, these nuts fill your house with a savory warm aroma while baking and make a delicious snack (with or without cocktails). Garam masala is a fragrant Indian spice blend, often found in bulk.Blog indiannuts

Ingredients

  • 2 cups lightly salted mixed nuts
  • 1 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 325
  • Combine all ingredients and toss to coat
  • Spread in a single layer on a parchment paper lined pan
  • Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring once or twice during cooking
  • Store tightly covered, up to one week

dit-elle-Esther

Salmon, potato and spinach soup

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I’ve been making a lot of soups recently – especially since we are having this unusual cold spell with temps in the teens at night and barely above 32 in the day! Brrr…! Hot soup to the rescue – easy, yummy and quick!

Blog salmonspinachsoup

 

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 leek (white and pale-green parts only) — halved, rinsed and thinly sliced (or 1 onion, chopped)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4-8 small red or gold potatoes, scrubbed and halved (some paleo purists don’t eat white potatoes, so cauliflower would be a great substitute)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillet — skinned, boned and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half (or coconut milk for paleo)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill  (I used 1 tsp dry)
  • 5 ounces baby spinach

Directions

  • Melt butter in a heavy sauce pot over medium heat.
  • Add leek and garlic, stirring occasionally, until leek is soft, about 5 minutes.
  • Stir in potatoes and cauliflower; season with salt and pepper.
  • Pour in stock and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until vegetables are fork tender, 7 to 9 minutes.
  • Add salmon and simmer until just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Stir in half-and-half, dill and spinach and briefly cook until spinach wilts and soup is heated through.

You can make this paleo by substituting coconut milk for the dairy.

dit-elle-Esther

Paleo Spaghetti.. before the Italians even invented Spaghetti!

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I was inspired by Elana’s Pantry’s post on how to EASILY make Spaghetti Squash. It IS super easy, super fun, and makes super awesome paleo noodles! 🙂 Yes it takes a while to bake, but plan ahead, throw this squash in the oven while you are doing other things and the actual preparation part (scraping out the flesh into noodles takes <1 minute)! Serve with a hearty Bolognese meat sauce, like this Paleo Sloppy Joe’s sauce, or simply as a dessert with some butter (or coconut butter) and cinnamon! 🙂

Blog spaghettisquash2 Blog spaghettisquash1 blog spaghettisquash_cinnamon3 Blog spaghettisquash_cinnamon2 Blog spaghettisquash_cinnamon1

Ingredients

  • One large spaghetti squash (~3 lbs)

Directions

  1. Place whole (uncut) spaghetti squash on a parchment paper lined baking sheet
  2. Bake at 350° for 60-80 minutes
  3. Allow to cool
  4. Cut squash open (long side) with a knife
  5. Scoop out seeds
  6. Scrape the flesh out of the squash into stringy noodles
  7. Voila!

dit-elle-Esther

Spicy Pork and Sweet Potato Stew

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This is a wonderful hearty fall stew. Serve with a crisp apple cider!Blog spicyporkstew

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp high-heat oil like coconut
  • 1-2 lbs boneless pork shoulder or pork loin, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsps. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced, plus 2 Tbsps adobo sauce (look for gluten free as some adobo sauces have wheat as an ingredient)
  • salt/pepper, to taste
  • 1 (12 oz) bottle beer
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 2 large sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
  • Top with fresh cilantro and sour cream

Directions

  • Heat oil in large heavy pot over medium-high heat
  • Brown the pork and transfer to a bowl and set aside
  • Reduce the heat and add onion and cook, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes
  • Add the garlic
  • Add reserved pork, cumin, coriander, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, salt and pepper, stir to combine
  • Pour in beer and chicken stock and bring to a boil
  • Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for an hour, stirring occasionally
  • After 1 hour, add sweet potatoes and simmer until pork is tender and potatoes are cooked through, ~30 minutes or so
  • Serve with cilantro and sour cream (or omit sour cream and add avocado as a paleo option)

dit-elle-Esther

Spiced Honey Almonds

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A great snack for the holidays – or anytime really! 🙂Blog honeyalmonds

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1/2 Tbsp butter
  • 3/4 tsp garam masala (find in bulk section)
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup raw almonds

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 325* and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
  • Melt honey, butter, garam masala, sesame seeds and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat
  • Add almonds and stir to coat
  • Spread mixture on the baking sheet in a single layer
  • Bake for 10 mins, cool and serve or store in an airtight container for ~4 days

These store well in an air tight container for up to 4 days.

dit-elle-Esther

Pumpkin Bread Bars

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Perfect fall treats! Serve warm or cold, eat them as dessert or breakfast or a snack on the go. Inspired by Elana’s Pantry, these are delicious pumpkin ‘bread bars’! I call these pumpkin bread bars, because they are a sort of cross between bread and bars. I used raisins, but you could use chocolate chips (and or chopped nuts) as an other yummy variation! 🙂Blog pumpkinpaleobread3 blog pumpkinpaleobread2 Blog pumpkinpaleobread1

Ingredients

  • ⅓ cup coconut flour (1/3 cup is NOT a typo 🙂 – coconut flour is very different than wheat)
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup fresh roasted pumpkin or winter squash (I used acorn squash – excellent)
  • ⅓ cup honey or agave syrup
  • ¼ cup coconut oil
  • ½ cup raisins or chocolate chunks

Directions

  1. In a food processor, combine dry ingredients
  2. Pulse in eggs, pumpkin, honey and oil until well combined
  3. Stir in raisins or chocolate chips by hand
  4. Transfer batter to an 8 x 8 inch baking dish or a pie dish
  5. Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes
  6. Cool and serve

dit-elle-Esther

French Onion Soup

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French Onion Soup.. mmm, a classic, hearty fall soup. Dress it up with some protein or serve as is. Of course some toasted baguette and melted cheese would be amazing!

Blog frenchonionsoup

blog frenchonionsoup_venison

Add some protein to make this an even heartier meal (shown here with grilled and sliced venison).

Ingredients

  • 8-10 onions
  • Butter or other fat
  • One quart of beef stock
  • Splash of sherry (optional)
  • Sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Garnish with gruyere or cheddar cheese (if not paleo)

Directions

  1. Melt butter in large soup pot
  2. Thinly slice the onions (using the slicer blade on a food processor works well!) and add to pot
  3. Let onions sauté over low-medium heat until they start to sweat
  4. Cover the pan with a lid and saute for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes
  5. The onions will turn golden brown and while the bottom of the pan may be a dark caramel, make sure it doesn’t burn
  6. Add some sherry or stock if you are skipping the sherry and use this to deglaze the pan
  7. Add rest of stock and bring to a boil
  8. Let cool a bit and ladle soup into bowls, topping with cheese and some fresh thyme

dit-elle-Esther

Star Cookies

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Inspired by Elana’s Pantry, these Star (and Moon!) Cookies are a fun fall treat. I went to a Waldorf school a long time ago in a far away land.. and sun, moon and star cookies were an autumn tradition as part of the Moon Lantern Festival, which I’ll blog about another day. In the meantime, enjoy these high protein, not too sweet cookies.blog starcookies2

blog starcookies1

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
  • small dash of sea salt
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ cup coconut oil, melted
  • 5 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

  • In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients
  • In a smaller bowl, mix together coconut oil, agave and vanilla
  • Mix wet ingredients into dry, then chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour (or overnight worked as well)
  • Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper until ¼ inch thick
  • Remove top piece of parchment paper and cut out cookies with a small star cutter
  • Using a metal spatula, place stars on a parchment lined baking sheet
  • Bake at 350° until lightly browned around the edges, 5-8 minutes
  • Cool completely prior to handling cookies

Super mom tip: these are great as a frozen treat and thaw quickly in room temperature for a few minutes! They are a nice high-protein/low-glycemic snack for little tummies.

dit-elle-Esther

Paleo BBQ pork in the crock pot

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BBQ pork is one of the few recipes that does very well in the crock pot. Pair with *polenta (or riced cauliflower for a paleo alternative) and some sautéed spinach or steamed broccoli.

Blog pulledporkmeal1 Blog pulledporkmeal2

Ingredients

  • 2 pork loins
  • 1 onion, sliced in rings
  • 2 c ketchup (or contents of a 24 oz bottle) – HFCS/sugar free
  • 1/2 warm water
  • 1/4 c apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar (optional and omit if paleo)
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • 1 tsp Tabasco sauce (optional)
  • salt as needed

Directions: place meat into the stoneware with onion rings. Stir ketchup, warm water, vinegar, sugar, and sauces. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until meat shreds easily with fork.

*Nothing says comfort food like polenta! Especially with parmesan cheese. So not paleo, but so yummy. Polenta is super easy to make. 1 cup polenta to 3-4 cups water, a dash of salt, bring to boil, constantly stirring, simmer for 20-30 minutes or so. At end whisk in some olive oil or butter and parmesan cheese. Serve hot.

Love BBQ pork and want more recipes to try? Lauren posted an awesome looking Pulled Pork Sandwiches recipe as well!

Super mom tip: You guessed it – BBQ pork freezes well. Polenta does NOT though! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Roasted Root Vegetables with Pesto

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The sweet flavor of carrots and parsnips balance out the bite of Brussels sprouts and turnips. Hot and roasted and tossed with pesto – yum!Blog pestoveggies-1

Ingredients

  • 2 cups carrots (cut in 1″ slices)
  • 2 cups parsnips (cut in 1″ slices)
  • 2 cups turnip slices, 1″ cubes
  • 2 cups trimmed and halved Brussels sprouts
  • 1 shallot, peeled and quartered
  • 1 onion, cut in 8 wedges
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • Salt/pepper to taste
  • Pesto

Directions

  1. Oven to 425*
  2. Toss vegetables with olive oil
  3. Sprinkle w/salt and pepper, toss
  4. Bake @ 425* for 1 hour or until browned
  5. Toss vegetables with basil

Super mom tip: Make pesto in a big batch and freeze in 1/3-1/2 cup portions. Pull out and defrost in the fridge or microwave a day in advance for this type of recipe.

dit-elle-Esther