Summer Slaw Salad

Who’s excited for grilling, sunshine, and fireworks? I am. This is light and refreshing alternative to coleslaw that will go great with your celebratory BBQ tomorrow.

Summer Slaw Salad

1/2 head of cabbage sliced thin (~2 1/2 cups)

1/2 large zucchini peeled with a julienne peeler (my zucchini are enormous so you might want to use 2 small zucchini)

6 sweet mini peppers sliced thin

4 green onions sliced

3 garlic cloves minced

1 jalapeno minced

3 tbsp of rice wine vinegar

2 tsp of sesame oil

A few sprinkles of toasted sesame seeds

Mix everything in a bowl.

Just before serving sprinkle the seeds on top reserve these if you plan on refrigerating it over night. I made this the day before so the flavors would meld together by tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July everyone! Have a save and lovely holiday. If you are working tomorrow, thank you. We couldn’t do it without you.

Tuesday’s Meals of the Day

For lunch I ate a mess of different things. It was a clean out the fridge sort of meal. I had the chicken and cabbage from last night’s dinner. A Stuffed bell pepper primal and not paleo because of the addition of cheese. One meatball with tomato sauce homemade from the garden. Actually all the vegetables in this meal are home grown!

I snacked on some raw zucchini. Rawr!

Dinner was Tandoori chicken with sweet potatoes (canned and gifted from my lovely friend Sarah) and zucchini. If you are noticing a zucchini trend it’s because we have tons of it the size of small babies coming from our garden. The tandoori was a paste I bought at the store. It doesn’t contain any sugar so I can recommend it to my paleo pals. I used a few spoonfuls to marinate the chicken overnight then added coconut milk and let it slow cook while did Helen in the rain.

Paleo tip #2 – use what’s in season. It’s cheaper, it’s fresher, and better for you. My general rule is that if you are paying much more than $1 a pound, it’s not in season. This of course doesn’t apply to certain veggies. I can never find asparagus or artichokes that cheap. If you can’t find it fresh go frozen. They freeze it in peak freshness so it’s pretty close to being fresh. Canned is okay if you watch the salt content.

A Week of Meals

I have several friends that are new to paleo eating. In honor of them I will be posting my meals for each day. I usually eat twice a day with tons of water in the middle.

This was breakfast:

I had leftover zucchini noodles from meatballs last night so I thought they’d make a good breakfast. I served that with two eggs, some tomatoes from the garden and bacon. I made extra bacon and had a few slices as a snack in between.

This was dinner:

The unfortunate theme of dinner was “oops I burned it!” The cabbage and the chicken are both a little toasty. I had grilled chicken, braised cabbage, and raw zucchini slices. Again all the vegetables are from the garden.

I also had a few raw unsalted cashews, and a glass of kombucha (fermented tea) but that would make for a boring picture so I didn’t take it.

I hope that by posting my daily meals I can help inspire a few of you to try paleo too. It’s really not that hard. One of the biggest suggestions I have right now is to stop trying to find substitutes for your favorite grain food. Don’t look for a paleo bread or muffin. Instead think about making meat and veggies the star. Up there for I mentioned that I use leftover zucchini noodles. I just take a whole zucchini and peel it with a juiliane peeler.

Homegrown

I have 4 zucchini/summer squash plants that are producing about 3-5 large squash every day. I have eaten a lot of zucchini and squash lately. I’m going to have to start freezing some to make space for more. I’m so happy for my produce abundance!

The plants were so large I actually had to prune them back a bit. Those were all stalks of leave where you see the tubes.

I’ve eaten it in hash for breakfast.I’ve eaten it in noodle shape for dinner.

I’ve eaten it grilled at least 4 nights a week.

My cucumbers are also quite happy and productive.

Mostly they are eaten in salad. I’m looking for some new interesting ways to eat them because they don’t freeze well. Do you have any ideas?

My tomatoes are just starting to ripen. I can’t wait for those. I also have some peppers popping up. Peppers take forever though so I’m not really crossing my fingers for anything soon there.

With Lola on the pest control my collard greens and cabbage are coming back. Tonight I’m having my first harvest of collard greens in a few weeks. The caterpillars took their toll on the leaves.

I also am very excited about these.

They are weeds!

I started letting them grow two years ago because I thought they were pretty and I realized they were berry plants. This year they have had their first berries. These are not ripe yet but I can’t wait until they are!

mmmm homegrown.

Are you tending a garden? How are your crops looking right now?

Mary’s Stuffed Peppers

I was sent this message the other day. “I have a great recipe for stuffed peppers. How about we come over and make it at your house and drink sangria?” How in the world do you say no to that proposal? Someone wants to come over make me food and bring tasty wine? Uh why hasn’t this happened sooner? Hehe. Well Mary did come over. She brought delicious food and wine. It was a great time. It felt strange to do nothing but take pictures and drink, but it was worth it!

Below is her recipe and a few of my comments.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

1lb of ground beef
2 TBS minced garlic
2 TBS Basil
2 TBS Oregano
2 TBS Onion Powder
1 TBS Chili Powder
1 TBS Paprika
2 large bell peppers
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 medium zucchinni, chopped
6 small mushrooms, chopped
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 cup of parsley, chopped

Mix ground beef with half of the garlic, basil and oregano, all of the onion powder, chili powder, parsley, and paprika.

“Check out the proper crossfit wear on Stephen! Sicfit and meat. Goes great together.“
Cut the tops and bottoms off of the bell peppers, strip of seeds and membrane and slice into thick rings. You should get two rings from one large bell pepper.

You can cut up the tops and bottoms to saute in with the onion for the sauce, but if my kids are around, I just give it to them.

These kids loved veggies! I’ve never seen kids fight over peppers and guacamole.

Stuff the meat mixture into the peppers.

Put in a hot pan with olive oil to sear on both sides, and load into a baking dish.

Glass works best.

Get them as close to each other as possible. Saute the onion in olive oil until clear.

You can use the same pan. Add the zucchini and mushrooms and saute for a few minutes. Mushrooms will be soft and the squash may start to brown a little. Add the remaining seasoning and tomato products and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes, pour on top of the peppers, and bake at 425 for about thirty minutes.

You should be able to cut the peppers with a fork when they’re done.

This was a super tasty meal and so pretty!

Momma’s Stuffed Zucchini

My mom is awesome. I love her dearly and learned so much in the kitchen from her. Below is a recipe she sent me to share with you. I wish I was there to have eaten this. It sounds awesome. For the paleo kids you can use another egg or nut flour in place of the panko to make this 100% paleo.

Momma’s Stuffed Zucchini

What do you do when your neighbor comes by and so pleasantly offer you some lovely bounty from their garden?  You take it of course.  Invariably there are those freakishly large Zucchini amongst the bounty.   I am talking Squash the size of Grok’s Prehistoric Club. They were too big a vegetable even for a family of 12.  I’m talking really huge. You could tell your neighbor to go stuff it, but it’s always better if you stuff it yourself!  That’s just what I did – YUMMM MAY good stuff.

Here is what I did:

1 large zucchini (sorry should of taken a picture of it before hand)
1 LB ground beef
fresh spices from the garden – at least one handful each of the following: basil, thyme, sage & chives
1 diced sweet yellow onion
1 sweet bell pepper – diced
1 egg
1/4 C parmesan cheese
1/4 C panko crumbs (ok not paleo but needed to hold this together!)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut large zucchini lengthwise, but not in half, more like 1 /3 off the top.
Cut off stem end & bud end.
Scrape out seeds and some of the vast interior of this behemoth squash.  Leave about 1 inch of the squash for a shell.
Toss what you scraped out in to your compost.
Mix the meat mixture above, stuff in the cavity.  Salt and pepper the top as desired.
Place on a greased cookie sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour.
Check for done-ness.  Timing will vary as to size of zucchini and how much meat you have in the cavity.  I inserted a meat thermometer to verify it was done. (160 internal temp)

I also roasted the top of the zucchini I cut off at the same time I cooked my stuffed squash for eating later.  I love roasted zucchini; especially when it is well browned.  To do this I coated it sparingly with olive oil and a little salt and fresh ground pepper, placing it on a well oiled cookie sheet.
Great for a snack or meal later….

But back to the meal, slice the stuffed zucchini about 3 inches per person, I served mine with a side of quinoa & fresh garden green beans.

Basil Zucchini

School has been trying hard to steal my life. Lately I’ve been so tired that I don’t want to cook or blog. That is a sad day. I feel terrible that I’ve posted nothing here for so long. This weekend I have a few different recipes that I will type up so the week will have some noms in it. Today’s recipe is an easy but super tasty recipe for abundance of zucchini that is out there.

Basil Zucchini

3 zucchini diced

1 yellow bell pepper (or whatever color you fancy)

1/2 med yellow onion

3 tbsp of olive oil

a handful of basil ~2 large sprigs

salt and pepper to taste

Dice some the onion and pepper. Saute on medium high heat in olive oil until beginning to get tender.

Add the cubed zucchini and toss a few times to coat in olive oil.

Cook the Zucchini on medium high heat until almost tender. About 5 minutes. Mince some basil to add to the zucchini at the last moment before serving. Don’t cook the basil, just toss the herb in the dish at the last minute to draw out the flavors.

Then smell a fire and realize you lit your stove on fire from grease  not properly cleaned up. Calmly remove your zucchini so as not to ruin your vegetables or pan. Walk to the refrigerator and grab some baking soda. Pour copious amounts on burner until fire is extinguished. Proceed with dinner like nothing happened.

Serve with your choice of protein. T had mussels, ribs, and salmon.There will soon be a post about seafood that T cooked for this meal. Our roommate said it was good and T liked it so I will have to assume it was tasty water food. As for the vegetables, they are awesome and fresh. The simple ingredients really bring out the flavor of the fresh summer vegetable.

Sorry I’ve been gone for so long. I hope a short story about vegetables and fire will sate you while I get my hiney in gear and stock up on some posts!

Thai Stuffed Peppers part two

Friday I made the sausage to stuff these peppers with. Go check that post out first.

I said it on Facebook, but it bears repeating. I have had a lot of fun experimenting and coming up with all the flavors in this meal. I really think it has come together nicely. I used the sausage I made on Friday to fill the peppers. I also created a green sauce to put on top. I was trying to recreate the flavors you get when you have a green plate with your Pho. Pho is Vietnamese noodle soup (I know I’m mixing up my nationalities in this meal but trust me it works). All this is served over some saffron cauliflower rice. I told ya’ll on Friday that this would be an epic meal. This is not a meal that you can throw together quickly, sorry. It is a meal that is worth the effort for a nice dinner party like this one.

Thai Stuffed Peppers

6 bell peppers sliced lengthwise (one of mine was rotten so I only used 5)

Thai sausage

Cut the peppers and remove all the white ribs and seeds.

I kept the stems because I thought it looked pretty. Fill peppers with meat.

I overfilled them to compensate for shrinkage that is bound to occur during cooking.

Bake covered in a deep dish at 400 for 45 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 15 minutes. Make sure internal temperature is 170 before serving.

Green Sauce

1 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup cilantro

2 jalapenos (more if you want it spicier)

1/2 cucumber

2 tbsp yellow onion

1 tbsp fresh basil

1 tsp fresh ginger

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Blend all ingredients until smooth. I made a HUGE mess making this sauce.

Originally I thought I’d go with a Raita which is an Indian sauce that uses yogurt and fresh ingredients. (Thailand, Vietnam, and now India? Where are you taking this meal girl?) When I was done it was just too runny because coconut milk doesn’t have the heft that yogurt does. So I decided to blend it instead. It was a good call because the flavors really came together as a whole instead of being tasted separately. This can be refrigerated overnight with your sausage or made and served immediately. Spoon this over your baked peppers when they are done.

I served the peppers over saffron “rice”.  Most of you paleo kids out there already know how to make cauliflower rice. For those who are new to the lifestyle you can mimic the textures of rice with cauliflower. Just pass it through a food processor with a grating attachment, or use a cheese grater and do it by hand.

Cook on the stove top with some water or chicken stock until tender. Use as you would rice. I think the flavor is better than regular rice and don’t miss that grain one bit. T is more of a rice lover and says it’s a fair substitute.  For the saffron rice I heated up 1 cup of chicken stock with a pinch of saffron. Once I saw steam I turned off the heat. This is to let the saffron “bloom”. You can see here it is already starting to impart it’s amazing color and taste to the stock.

I let this sit for a few hours but if you are pressed for time give it at least 10 minutes.

Then cook your cauliflower in the beautiful stock. I think the flavor of cauliflower overtook the flavor of the saffron. So really, aside from a beautiful color, it is not a necessary step.  I wish it was as amazing as saffron rice, but cauliflower is just too much flavor for one little herb.

Plate and enjoy! I hope you find a good day with great company to enjoy this meal like we did.

Thai Sausage Part One of Stuffed Peppers

I’m going to blog this recipe in two parts. Mostly because there are a lot of ingredients and I don’t want to scare anyone away. Really most of these spices and ingredients are things that I have in my fridge on a regular basis and/or last a long time. Do not let the number of ingredients scare you away. This is on its way to becoming an epic meal.

I have a meat grinder for my Kitchenaide mixer. I love it. I’ve used it often and truly appreciate the results. The most important step that I’ve learned is you have to have frozen meat. The fat in defrosted meat ends up getting stuck in the grinder and it makes it nearly impossible to grind. I like to also freeze the metal parts of my grinder to help keep everything cool. The other thing I’ve learned is you want meat with some fat in it. If you grind something that has little to no fat it ends up tasting dry. You can add fat if you get a lean cut. I’ve added bacon fat with lots of success. Keep these tips in mind if you plan to grind your own meat. If you do not plan on grinding it find a sausage or ground meat with no added flavors or salt.

Thai Sausage

~2lbs of pork cubed and frozen

2 guallio chilies (leftover from the asado from last week)

1 red jalapeno (I kept the heat down on these but if you like spice, definitely double the chilies and jalapeno peppers)

2″ of ginger

1/2 yellow onion

5 cloves of garlic

1 orange bell pepper (red is fine too)

1tbsp lemongrass (I couldn’t find any fresh lemongrass so i used the kind in a squeeze tube)

1 tsp salt (if you’re not using kosher reduce this)

1 tsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp of each of these coriander, cardamom, cinnamon

1/8 tsp of ground cloves

2 zucchini shredded

Grind pork cubes in you meat grinder on the large setting.

Place ground meat back in freezer while preparing the spice mixture.

In a large food processor combine all ingredients from chilies to cloves.

Blend until smooth. Take meat from freezer and mix up spice and meat in a large bowl.

Grind the meat again the same setting. This helps to make sure the spice is evenly mixed in with the meat.

After the second grind, mix meat and zucchini by hand in the same large bowl (no one likes to dishes). Do not over work the meat. Just makes sure the zucchini is evenly distributed in the meat.

Now this next step is very important when making sausage. Make a test patty!

Eat said patty to make sure it is well seasoned. I made ground meat one time and it was so bland and boring that I ended up feeding it to the dogs. It really was that boring. Now I always make a test patty to make sure the meat tastes good.

I think this recipe gave the pork a lot of good Thai flavors. Stuffed peppers, we are go for launch!

I will cover the rest of the meat in plastic wrap and refrigerate it over night. Stay tuned for part two where we stuff them and bake them.

Coconut Curry Chicken

This was a pantry scraping recipe today. We are at the end of our fresh food and so I had to get a little creative with what I had available. Ginger is a great addition to many meals and has a long shelf life. I keep it in the cabinet with my garlic and onions. Ginger adds flare and spice, plus it is good for you. I served this over zucchini “noodles”. This is a good technique to hang on to for when you are craving that pasta. You can use a julienne peeler or a food processor.  The taste is not the same as pasta but the texture will satisfy the cravings and add some delicious zucchini flavor.

Coconut Curry Chicken

2″ of peeled ginger root diced

4 cloves of garlic diced

5 red jalapenos sliced thin

2tsp of coriander

2tsp of cardamom

1 tsp black pepper

7 chicken thighs (or piece of your choice)

1 can of coconut milk

Handful of fresh chopped cilantro, green onions, and cucumbers for toppings

2 grated zucchini for “noodles”

Add the first 6 ingredients to an oven safe pot with some olive oil. Cook on medium high for about 3 minutes. Add the chicken. Brown the chicken on both sides. Don’t worry if your spices are getting stuck to the pot, we will de-glaze it with coconut milk.

Pour in coconut milk and scrape the bottom of the pot to get all the tastiness up. This is called de-glazing. you can do this with wine or stock. It is the best way to start a good pan sauce too.

Leave uncovered and let cook on low in your oven for 2 hours. You can speed up the time if you prefer by increasing the heat to 400 for about 30 minutes (check to make sure it is cooked through before serving).

While that cooks make your zucchini pasta.

Remove the pot from the oven. Place the chicken pieces on a plate and set to the side for a few minutes.

Place the pot on a burner on medium heat. Toss the zucchini in the remaining curry sauce. You may need to add water if the sauce is too thick. I added about 1/2 of a cup of hot water.

Cook on medium for about 5 minutes.

Place chicken back in pot with zucchini. Serve the chicken with with cilantro, onions and cucumbers.