Who says you can’t have spaghetti on a Paleo diet?  Well ok, you can’t have what most of America calls “spaghetti” (you know the one with not so good “pasta”), but you can have a pretty close 2^nd.  At least in my opinion, which may not be winning you over yet.  Maybe if I tell you that when my husband took a bite and said to me what type of noodles are these and then proceeded to tell me how good they were….would that win you over?  How about when I actually told him that the noodles were zucchini “noodles” and he proceeded to stick by his claim and even said “those are good”.  Am I getting closer to winning you over?  I have to tell you if the husband approves then I know I have succeeded especially in the Paleo aspect.  He’s still not 100% on cutting out things in his diet (like beer) but he’s not afraid to give it a try.  So if he likes something and says it should be added to the list of must haves again, then that’s saying something.   

I promise you won’t miss the pasta in this spaghetti dish.   And your tummy won’t feel like a big bolder is sitting in your stomach after eating it either.  And if you are a Crossfitter then your workout may just be easier….ok that may not be a totally true statement but I felt a whole lot better in my workout the next morning after having this for my dinner. 

Paleo Spaghetti

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1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil

2 large zucchini, cut into julienne strips

1 tsp garlic, minced

3 to 4 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

1 pound ground chicken, turkey, or beef (grass-fed preferred)

2 cups Homemade Veggie Tomato Sauce

Additional fresh basil for topping pasta

Instructions:

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Place zucchini and garlic in skillet and heat until zucchini is slightly softened.  In the last 30 seconds toss with fresh basil.

 In a separate skillet cook meat of choice until cooked through, making sure to crumble into small pieces.  Once meat is cooked through mix in tomato sauce and stir to combine.

 To plate dish, place zucchini “noodles” in bowl or plate and then top with meat sauce and sprinkle with additional basil.

Enjoy!

I’ve always check labels on foods, but recently more than ever.  I have seen more things added to foods that I have no idea what they are or why they would be even added.  I’ve always cared about what goes into my little ones body but sometimes I think I neglected to think about what goes into my body.  Since going Paleo my mind is even more focused on what we as a family are putting into our bodies.  Because what goes into our body helps us in more ways than one.  After standing in the aisle of tomato sauce I became frsutrated with almost every jar I picked up having not one but several things in the list of ingredients that just didn’t belong or that weren’t good.  And it’s sad to say a lot of jars contained sugar or some form of sugar.  So on a rainy day this weekend I decided to make my own homemade vegetable tomato sauce with real “whole” and clean ingredients and I have to say I now have three jars in my refrigerator and won’t have a need for the stuff on the shelves at the grocery store!  And I’ll feel a whole lot better giving this to my kids and my family.  Tomato sauce seems a little scary to make, but I promise it isn’t.  This sauce took about 30 minutes to make and that’s with me making other things in the kitchen at the same time.  And if you are looking for ways to use the sauce I’ll have a recipe to share tomorrow.  See you then!

Homemade Veggie Tomato Sauce

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1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 sweet onion (or yellow onion)

39 ounces crushed tomatoes (1 – 25 ounce can plus 1-14 ounce can)*

2 zucchini

2 yellow squash

2 cup fresh spinach

1 – 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes*

1/2 baked sweet potato

1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped

3 to 4 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

1/2 cup Vegetable (or chicken) broth

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Steam zucchini and yellow squash until soft. 

In the bowl of a food processor, blend zucchini, yellow squash, 2 cups spinach, diced tomatoes, sweet potato and herbs. 

In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil until soft.  Add crush tomatoes to the pot and stir to combine.  Then stir in the blended veggie tomato mixture and broth and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bring sauce to a simmer and use with vegetables or protein. 

Makes about 3 - 28 ounce jars of sauce.  Sauce can be placed in freezer bags and frozen for later use.

*I used Eden Organic which used nothing put tomatoes, no additives or added salt.  Just plum tomatoes as the one and only ingredient.  I found it in my local Whole Foods.  Another great thing is the tomato sauce comes in a glass jar so you can reuse to place the finished sauce in.

Recipe adapted from Whole9

I hope everyone is having a great week.  I’m back with another Paleo recipe that is a great lunch or dinner option.  The best part of this recipe is you can change it up any way you like.  Especially depending on what type of meat you prefer.  Here I used ground chicken, but you could easily swap out the chicken for turkey or beef (of course grass-fed being the preferred meat).  As far as vegetables you can get creative here too if you want.  I stuck with the Mexican theme here and went with onions and bell peppers but tossed in carrots since I had a lot on hand and it never hurts to have a little more vegetables in the mix.  You could even go Italian with this recipe and use tomatoes, onions, spinach, and basil and skip the peppers, chili powder and parsley/cilantro.  Have fun and get creative.  That’s what I love about being in the kitchen….you get to fun and get creative with your meals using ingredients you love the most.  After the chicken veggie mix was done I put them in lettuce cups and topped them with guacamole.  It was a great lunch time meal.  But it even works for dinner because the following night I reheated in the skillet and had it for my dinner.  It was just as delicious then as it was the day before for my lunch.  Enjoy!

 I hope everyone has a fabulous Labor Day weekend!  Enjoy those last days of summer and those cookouts.  Here in South Florida I have a feeling the summer temperatures will be around a lot longer so this weekend won’t be the last of our cookouts.  Anything you have planned for your grill this weekend?  Our grill plans are still up in the air, but I think ribs may be something my husband would opt for if asked. 

 Enjoy everyone and have a safe and Happy Labor Day! 

Chicken Vegetable Lettuce Cups

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4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or coconut oil)

½ cup yellow onions, diced

½ cup green onions, chopped

½ cup red bell pepper, diced

½ cup yellow bell pepper, diced

½ cup carrots, shredded

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground chicken (or turkey or beef)

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 to 3 tablespoons fresh parsley or cilantro

Salt and Pepper to taste

Lettuce leaves (such as Bibb), washed and dried

Additional toppings of choice: Avocado, Guacamole, Salsa, etc.

 

Instructions:

Heat 2 tablespoon oil of choice in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add the onions, green onions, bell pepper, and carrots and cook until all are softened, about 2-4 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.

While the vegetables are cooking heat another large skillet on medium heat and add one to two tablespoons of oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Crumble chicken into the pan and sprinkle with salt and chili powder.  Cook the chicken without stirring until it is browned on one side, then turn the pieces over to brown the other side.  At this point you can also make sure the chicken is broken into small pieces or crumbled.  Once the chicken is just cooked through, stir in vegetables and sprinkle with more salt and chili powder to taste.  You can also add a little ground black pepper too.  Remove from heat.  Stir in fresh parsley or cilantro. 

 To serve place the chicken vegetable mixture into lettuce cups and serve with toppings of choice.  I used avocado or guacamole and salsa.  Yum!

 Enjoy!

Here is one of my new favorite lunch time salads.  Since going Paleo, a little over a month now, I find myself in the kitchen a lot during the weekends planning my lunches for the week.  Of course towards the end of the week the cabinets are a bit bare and the only option left is a spinach salad, you know the typical salad…great but boring!  I needed a little change this week which meant I needed several lunch options to avoid the spinach salad come Thursday and Friday.  This weekend I got in the kitchen and got creative.  For example, this salad came about by looking in my refrigerator to see what I had and what I could make.  Sometimes these can be a hit or a miss.  Luckily in the case of this chicken salad it was a hit.  The roasted peppers add a slight sweetness to the salad and the almonds add a slight crunch.  The best of both worlds.  The dressing I adapted from my Chicken Salad with Peas and Herb Vinaigrette, one of my first recipes on the blog, but I changed it up to make it Paleo.  So no honey, no rice vinegar, no honey mustard, etc.  The dressing turned out great and it was the perfect balance with the other ingredients in the salad.  For a fun idea to serve the chicken salad, you can cut an avocado in half removing the pit and place a scoop of salad carefully in the hole where the pit was.  I saw this idea in the Food Network magazine a few months ago and knew I had to try it.  Yum!  Of course that is totally optional.  I have also made “wraps” out of the salad by wrapping it in lettuce leaves.  Another option to enjoy the salad.  I have to say this was meant for this weeks lunch but I found it hard not to eat the whole thing this weekend.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

And just a note to all those that were in the path of Irene this weekend.  I hope you and your family weathered it out ok and there wasn’t too much damage to your homes and towns.  It was hard seeing some of the images over the weekend as I know first hand what a hurricane/tropical storm can be like.  Thoughts are with you all!

Chicken Salad with Roasted Bell Peppers in Avocado Cups

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4 skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds total)

4 bay leaves

1 quart organic low sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth (or half of each, which I did here)

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 cup unsalted, roasted almonds, finely chopped

1/2 large red onion, diced

1/2 a bunch asparagus, roasted and diced into small pieces**

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped

2 roasted bell peppers (red or yellow peppers), skin removed and diced (recipe below)*

salt and pepper to taste

Mustard Herb Dressing:

1/3 cup fresh parsley, tightly packed

1/3 cup fresh basil, tightly packed

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon gluten-free Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

fresh ground pepper to taste

Instruction:

*To Roast Bell Peppers:

Preheat oven to 45o degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with coconut oil, set aside.  Cut the peppers in half and clean out the seeds and innards. Place them on a baking sheet skin side up.  Bake peppers for 15 to 20 minutes. Once the skins are brownish-black, remove from the oven and immediately place the peppers in a large ziploc bag. Close and let sit for 20 minutes or so (or until the peppers have time to cool and “sweat”). Once they have cooled you will be able to peel the skins right off. What you will have left is a moist, wonderfully cooked pepper. Yummy!
**To roast asparagus, toss asaragus in a little olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper.  Roast in the 450 degree oven for 5-10 minutes, depending on size of asparagus, while bell peppers roast.  Remove and allow to cool before cutting into small pieces.

For Chicken Salad:

Put the bay leaves and the chicken broth in a large pot with a lid and bring stock to a simmer.  Add the chicken breasts to the pot.  Return the broth to a simmer.  Cover the pot.  Turn off the heat.  Let the chicken steep in the stock for 30 minutes to an hour.

While the chicken is cooking, chop the other ingredients – garlic, almonds, onion, asparagus, basil, parsley, roasted bell peppers – and add to a large bowl.  Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

When the chicken breasts are cooked, remove them from the broth and let them cool.  When they are cool enough to handle, shred the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces by hand.  Mix the chicken pieces in with the rest of the ingredients.

To Make Dressing:

In the bowl of a food processor combine parsley, basil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, garlic, and salt.  While food processor is running slowly add olive oil in a small drizzle.  You may have to stop the food processor to scrape the sides.  You want the mixture to come to a liquid consistency.  Add fresh ground pepper to taste.

Add dressing to chicken salad and toss to combine.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.  Or inside a halved avocado.  Take an avocado, remove pit, and place chicken salad in the inside. 

Makes about 6 to 8 servings of salad

This morning after heading for my morning workout I turned on my TV to see there may be a possible visitor making her way toward the Florida coast….Hurricane Irene.  It is the first hurricane that has come close to threatening South Florida for several years.  It’s actually the first to possibly threaten us since we had the girls too.  A lot can happen in the next few days but all thoughts and careful eyes are on what Ms. Irene will bring and if she may make a visit to South Florida.  Fingers are crossed she stays out to sea where she belongs.  In the meantime we are all preparing for the worse.  Grocery store here I come!  Batteries….check….Water….check….Flashlights….check….

Before I head off to prepare, I have to tell you about this Salmon….I’m in love with it.  I’ve made it several times.  It’s a great balance between sweet and spicy.  It’s really a quick and easy recipe too.  Most of the time I marinate the fish all day then I pop the salmon in the oven and within 15 to 20 minutes dinner is ready.  And I can’t leave you without talking about this cauliflower rice….I know scary thought….cauliflower as rice?  Since going Paleo I’ve had to come up with alternatives to side dishes (it’s actually been quite fun).  This cauliflower rice had now become a favorite in my house.  The hubby was actually pleasantly surprised how good it was, he continued to clean his plate after the first time we had it.  The best part about the rice is you can add different spices to change it up.  Or just keep it simple with no spices at all.  Your choice….which is always fun to me.  And let me tell you, I have since made cauliflower mash and it’s my new obsession. I hope to share that recipe with you soon.  I had to test it this weekend to make sure it was good enough to share.  And just thinking about it makes me want to jump in the kitchen and make another batch. Yum!  Ok back to this dish, you could serve any sides of choice with the salmon.   We happen to serve it with the cauliflower rice and grilled zucchini.  It was yummy and is now one of my quick go to Paleo dishes.

Enjoy!  And hopefully I’ll see you back here soon….all depending on what Irene decides to do out there in the Atlantic.  I’m really hoping she doesn’t come knocking on our door. Fingers crossed!

Salmon with Sweet Spicy Rub

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1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

4 – 5 ounce wild salmon fillets

Instructions:

Combine the maple syrup, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Brush salmon with 1 tablespoon of the spice mixture, coating the top of the fish.  Continue to brush the remaining salmon fillets.  Place fish on a plate and wrap with plastic wrap and allow to sit in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375.  Place salmon on a prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until salmon is cooked to desired.

Cauliflower Rice 

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4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or coconut oil)

1 medium onion, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 head cauliflower, trimmed and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper 

Instructions:

 In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.

Sauté onion over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until soft.  Add celery and garlic to skillet and sauté for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place cauliflower in a food processor.  Process until the texture of rice.  Add cauliflower, thyme, and rosemary, cover and cook 5-10 minutes, until soft.  Then add salt and pepper to taste.

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