Tag Archives: vegetables

Strawberry, Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad

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Celebrate the longer evenings and sunnier days with a hint of summer kind of dinner – spinach salad with strawberries, warm chicken and goat cheese! 🙂

Blog chickenstrawberryspinachsalad

Ingredients

  • Large bunch of spinach (~5 cups, washed & dried)
  • 1 1/2 cups strawberries, sliced
  • 3 oz goat cheese
  • 1-2 cups cooked and shredded or diced chicken (GREAT use of a leftover roast chicken)
  • Dress with vinegar & olive oil, poppy seeds, salt & pepper
  • Slivered almonds (optional)

Directions

  • Toss the spinach and strawberries with the dressing
  • Lightly mix in goat cheese and almonds and chicken
  • Serve immediately – excellent with cold or still warm chicken!

dit-elle-Esther

Cream of Artichoke Soup

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Artichoke soup – yum! Full of veggies, delicate herbs, and rich with a splash of cream. This would be a great paleo soup if you substitute coconut milk for the dairy. 🙂

Blog artichokebisque

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence (found it at PCC in bulk – it’s basically a blend of savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme oregano and sometimes lavender)
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less to adjust the heat)
  • Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 3 (14-ounce) cans artichoke hearts, drained
  • 2 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock
  • 2 cups 2% milk
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 1 bay leaf

Directions

  • Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.
  • Cook onions, celery, carrots, garlic, thyme, Herbes de Provence, celery seed, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper until soft, 8 to 10 minutes.
  • Add artichoke hearts, vegetable stock, milk, cream and bay leaf.
  • Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
  • Remove bay leaf and carefully blend soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a blender or food processor. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Thanks PCC!

dit-elle-Esther

Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus

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Bacon & Asparagus Spears! This is a wonderful paleo appetizer/snack! 🙂

Blog baconasparagus

Ingredients

  • 1 lb fresh asparagus (16-20 spears)
  • 8-10 strips bacon

Directions

  • Wash & trim asparagus spears
  • Cut bacon strips in half crosswise
  • Wrap one half strip bacon around 1 or 2 asparagus spears (depending on how fat/skinny they are), leaving tip and end exposed
  • Lay on cookie sheet or large baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bacon is cooked
  • Serve warm or at room temperature

dit-elle-Esther

Beet & Walnut Salad

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This combination of beets, oil & vinegarette and toasted walnuts is delicious! Great as an appetizer, side or salad. 🙂

Blog beetwalnutsalad2 Blog beetwalnutsalad1

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds beets
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • dash of salt and pepper
  • 1/4 cup olive or walnut oil
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 3/4 bunch green onions, sliced
  • 1/4 red onion, sliced into thin half-moons (optional)

Directions

  • Steam or boil beets until fork tender, it will really depend on their size, but about 20-40 minutes. Cut off root and stem ends and slip off skins under cool, running water while beets are still warm (easiest way to do this is to sort of ‘massage’ the beets and the skin will come right off). Cool beets.
  • Whisk together vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and oil until dressing is blended.
  • Cut cooled, peeled beets into 1-inch wedges and toss with dressing.
  • To toast walnuts, preheat oven to 350° F. Spread nuts on a cookie sheet and toast for about 4 to 5 minutes. Let cool. Roughly chop toasted walnuts.
  • Add walnuts, green onions and red onions to dressed beats; toss to combine.

Super mom tip: Beets can be cooked days in advance and stored in the fridge. Just keep them unpeeled until you are ready to use.

Thanks PCC deli and recipes! :)

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

Carmelized Onion Tart

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This is a delicious onion tart. Not quite paleo with the dairy, but great for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Blog oniontart1 Blog oniontart2

Ingredients

  • 3 onions
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream, half’n’half, milk or plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup Swiss or cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

  • Melt butter in large frying pan
  • Thinly slice onions by running them through the food processor on the slicer blade (takes <60 seconds)
  • Saute onions in butter for 30 mins on medium heat, stirring once in a while, until onions are translucent, soft, and started to brown and caramelize
  • If they have not started to brown, turn up heat and caramelize them a bit, stirring so as not to let them burn
  • While onions are cooking, whisk eggs and milk or yogurt
  • Cover glass pie pan with cooking spray, add onions, cheese, and pour egg/milk mixture evenly over it
  • Bake for 30 minutes on 350* or until golden brown around edges, bubbly and hot
  • Serve warm, great paired with soup and salad!

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

Carrot Soup with Avocado, Lime and Cilantro

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It’s a damp October evening in Seattle. Get your cozy on with this hot soup that is so bright and cheery you will forget about the rain!

Fresh ginger, lime, cilantro, coconut milk and carrots.. create a delicious fusion of flavors! I won’t say this is super easy as there are some steps to prepare this soup, but it’s worth the effort!Blog Carrot Soup-1 Blog Carrot Soup-3

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 lbs carrots
  • 1 lime, divided – grated (for zest) and squeezed for the garnish
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • salt, pepper
  • 1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 avocado
  • Cilantro
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk or heavy cream

Preparation

  • Melt butter in large pot
  • Chop the onion and the ginger into small pieces and grate the lime zest, and add to pot
  • SautĂ© the onion, ginger and lime zest in a pan with the butter
  • Add the carrots and some pepper and then sautĂ© for another 2 minutes
  • Add the broth and bring to boil. Simmer for 20 minutes
  • Puree the soup with a hand blender and add the cream

Garnish

  • Cut the avocado into pieces, chop the cilantro add some lime juice, salt and pepper and toss together lightly. Set aside.
  • Serve soup w/2-3 spoons of avocado mixture in each bowlBlog Carrot Soup-2

Paleo tip: use coconut milk, not cream, that’s it!

Super mom tip: Use a 2lb bag of peeled baby carrots – who has time for peeling or scrubbing carrot skins anyway? If you are peeling them, consider that there are good nutrients in carrot skins and just scrub them with a vegetable brush to clean.

Baked garlic-lemon cauliflower

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Tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper and topped with grated parmesan, cauliflower florets are baked to the point of being juicy yet still have a little crunch. The flavors meld together to make this a tasty side dish! I picked a yellow cauliflower (hence the bright color), you could also use a traditional white head or they even come in purple!Cauliflower

Ingredients

  • 1 large head of cauliflower, washed and cut into 1″ florets
  • 1/2 c olive oil
  • juice from one squeezed lemon
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • parmesan cheese

Directions

  • Combine olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper and toss with cauliflower florets
  • Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes, stirring to turn once or twice
  • Top with parmesan cheese and broil for a couple minutes to melt and toast the cheese

Paleo tip: omit the cheese for a truly delicious paleo dish!dit-elle-Esther