Nuts, No-Bolts

Do you remember "nut & bolts"?  How about "bits & bites"?  Oh, I remember.  They were home made, and they were around for decades before you could buy them in a cello-bag.  They were usually made of cheerios and shreddies, pretzels and peanuts.  They were finger-licking salty little buggers that you could not stop eating.  So you ate your way to the bottom of the bowl at every party, and you didn't poop after that for about a week.

Or was that just me?

Well, I miss those tastly little tidbits.  I started thinking about them a couple of weeks ago and could not get them out of my mind for a week before I caved and had to create some likeness of them.  It occurred to me--it was the Worchestershire sauce and garlic salt that I loved, not the actual shreddies or the cheerios.  So I bought myself a couple of cups of peanut-free unsalted mixed nuts at the local Bult Barn and took a stab at it.

Wow.  Got it first try.  That almost NEVER happens for me.  So here's what I did (and BTW, this recipe is STUPID-easy)  You'll laugh at yourself for not making them, and make them tonight.  And eat them all.  And you won't be thanking me, because they're so damned good you can't stop eating them until you hit the bottom of the bowl.

Nuts, No-Bolts

Ingredients:

2 cups unsalted, peanut-free nut mix, or make your own
2-3 tbsp butter, melted
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder

Instructions:

Preheat your own to 275 degrees.  I find that roasting nuts any hotter than this blackens the flavour of the spices and just kills it.  Melt your butter, and then in a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients and mix well.  Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.

That's it.  Take it out and let them cool.  Pack in an airtight container if they mke it to the cool stage before you gobble them up.  Serve at parties and to anyone who comes over.

Quiche Me



Isn't it beautiful?



I have a thing for casseroles.  Anything that involves putting all the ingredients into one big dish/pot/pan, really.  I love all those comfort foods like shepherds pie and chicken potpie and anything with gravy on it.  Heck, anything with thick, creamy sauce at all.  Maybe it's the time of year.  Maybe it's my heritage, though if you ask anyone to define Canadian food, you'd get a perplexed stare.  

So my love of comfort foods also includes quiche.  Like the kind bought in the food court in a mall from the "healthy food" place.  Yea, you know what I mean.  It comes in a little tin pie plate with salad on the side.  Quiche Lorraine.  Classic quiche with ham and swiss cheese--none of that fancy broccoli and roasted red pepper kind.  Ok, you could put whatever ingredients you wanted into it.  Me, I like my meat (eggs) with meat (ham/bacon.sausage).  That's just me.

So I made a classic quiche, nothing too fancy because it's already pretty primal, and made a simple almond-meal crust to go under it.  Because a quiche without a crust is just baked eggs.  You could change and/or substitute whatever fillings you want in it.  I used a 1/2 cup of real whipping cream and a 1/2 cup coconut milk because I was afraid of making it taste too coco nutty, but now that I've tried it, I don't think the coconut milk would make any flavour difference, if you're looking to reduce the amount of dairy that this recipe uses.  You could substitute goat cheese for the regular cheeses I use.  But I don't recommend using no cheese at all, because then all you've got is baked eggs.

So, here's what I did:

Pastry (makes 2 pie crusts)

• 3 cups almond meal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp cold butter

First, make your pastry.  Don't worry, this is fast and easy.  Crack your egg  into a large mixing bowl and beat the egg.  Then add all of the other pastry ingredients.  With your bare hands, pinch the butter into the mixture until it is all incorporated evenly throughout.  Form into a large ball and then drop it in a large ziplock baggie and stick it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.  You can forget it there  all day if you want to.  But if you do, let it sit on the counter again for at least 5 minutes before attempting to roll it out.

Quiche Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
• 1/2 cup full fat cream
• 1/2 cup spanish  onion, chopped
• 4 slices bacon
• 1/2 cup chopped ham
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1  9" pastry
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425.  Alright, cut your dough ball into 2 halves, and put half back into the baggie and toss it into the freezer for some  other day.  Now, roll out your remaining pastry between 2 sheets of waxed paper.  It comes out really nice this way.  Make sure your circle is wider than the pie pan you're going to use.  When you're done rolling, carefully peel off one side of the waxed paper and flip your pastry shell into the pie plate.  Now carefully peel off the other side of the waxed paper.  Don't worry if you've made a mess.  If anything crumbles or breaks, just press it right back down onto the plate.  No one will notice.  Break off any excess pastry that hangs over the top of the pan.  Bake the empty shell for 8 minutes, until it is just starting to change colour.

    Now, while this happening, fry up your bacon.  Once its done, fry up your onions in the bacon grease.  Chop your ham and set it all aside on a plate.  Grate your cheese--any kind you like.  I didn't have a full cup of swiss, so mine's a mix of swiss, cheddar, and mozzarella.  In a large bowl, wisk your eggs and milks together, add salt and pepper.   When your partially-cooked pie shell comes out of the oven, reduce oven temp to 375.  Sprinkle the meats and onions into the bottom of  the pie shell.  Then sprinkle the cheese over it.  Then pour your egg mixture over everything.  Add more salt and pepper.  Return to oven for 40-45 minutes, until fully set and golden on top. 

You can eat this warm, but it's just as good cold the next day, and the next day, assuming you stick it in the fridge after letting it cool.  Enjoy!



Homemade Greek Yogurt

When I started this journey, I thought I could already cook.  Maybe I wasn't a pastry chef, but I could follow a recipe.  I could take tomato sauce from a can and add seasonings to make it better.  I could make stew without a recipe.  I could make a decent yorkshire pudding once a year.  I didn't make my own pastry--it was a chore and you could buy it ready to go!  And I didn't make my own lazagna--it came from the store in a box and if you bought the good stuff, it tasted like homemade!!

Boy, was I wrong.  I've learned so much.  If you'd have told me a year ago that I would be making my own mayo, I'd have laughed at you (and said I preferred miracle whip).

Well, nothing drives the need to learn how to do something like not being able to find what you want in the store.  I keep reading Mark Sisson explaining how raw milk is ok, and plain full-fat yogurt is delicious and good for you.  It is?  Wouldn't know.  You can't find it here.  Sure, Greek Yogurt is all the rage, it's everywhere--in fat-free and 1%, in every flavour you could imagine--except plain and full-fat.  I found a 10% fat, organic yogurt at one grocery store, but no one else carries it so I HAVE to go there,  and its $10 a carton.  That just isn't right.  It isn't fair.  I wanted plain, full-fat yogurt so badly!  The good one I occasionally picked up at the grocery store was thick enough to cut with a butter knife.  It was mildly sour, but not sharp, and it tasted dreamy with a tiny drizzle of honey and a spoonful of homemade nut butter--or coconut creme and finely chopped cherries and a handful of pecans.  Oh, now I'm drooling about it.

So  on a whim, I thought I'd try to make my own; I googled how to make yogurt.  There's a lot of info on the internet about this.  There are crock-pot versions, slow-simmer versions, no-simmer versions, Greek versions, versions that use a heating blanket, an actual yogurt-making machine version...  A whole lot overwhelming, really.  I needed simple.  I needed to hear that you can't screw it up.  So i went to the local pro--my Indian co-worker.  As most Indians do, she makes just about everything from scratch, including her own yogurt (you should taste her samosas).  And she apologises if she didn't make it from scratch.  Here's what she said, loosely translated, and with real measurements added in because we like measurements, don't we?

You will need:

• 1/2 gallon of milk--use regular, homo or organic, but not the super-filtered kind or it might not "ferment" right
• 2-3 tbs yogurt as a "starter"--make sure it's fresh and that it has live, active cultures, it will say active on the ingredient list
• candy thermometer, or some kind of thermometer--I used a meat thermometer and it was fine
• large, heavy pot
• large casserole dish
• a clean towel
• empty containers to put it in when done

You start with a big, heavy-bottomed pot--I used a dutch oven.  You could use a double-boiler, I'm told, but mine wasn't nearly big enough for a 1/2 gallon.  Measure out all but 2 tbs of the milk (set aside the 2 tbs--I'll get to that in a minute) into the big pot and heat it over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it reaches 180 degrees.  Try not to burn it.  In JP's version, she sais "j'you boil it first."  Say it with a thick Indian accent.  If you like to forget about it, you want to stick a thermometer into it.  And if you're too lazy to hold onto a thermometer, find some rubber bands!

While the milk is heating, mix the 2 tbs milk with the 2 tbs yogurt and let it sit on the counter going warm.  it's ok.  JP said "And then, not in the pot, j'you mix in a little yogurt".


So, no candy thermometer, but I have a mini-wisk??

 When the milk reaches 180 degrees, turn off the stove and very carefully pour the hot milk into a casserole dish.  Do not cover it!  Move the thermometer into the casserole dish and then just leave it alone until it cools to 110 degrees.  This is the hardest part--I kid you not.  Mine took about 45 minutes to cool that much.  Don't stir it, don't move it.  As JP tells it "J'you just leave it until it cools, j'you know?  Until it feels like your finger"  I think she meant it feels barely warm to the touch.  I love JP.  She rises at 4 am, every day, just to cook for her family.  And if you laugh at her accent, she will hit you.  Hard.

Alright, so once its cooled enough, remove any skin that has formed.  It won't be thick yet.  It will be warm milk, nothing more.  Wisk in the milk and yogurt mixture thoroughly.  Put the lid on the dish and wrap the whole thing up tightly with a bath towel.  Put the whole thing into the cold oven.  Some people think turning on the oven light will keep the oven a bit warmer.  But do not turn on the oven.  You can't possibly set the oven low enough.  Make sure the towel isn't touching the oven light if you're going to turn it on.  I didn't want to screw my yogurt up, so I turned mine on.  In hindsight, I might have a CFL bulb in there.  But it worked anyways.  JP said, "no light.  Wrap it tightly in a towel and stick it in the oven and go to sleep.  In the morning, put it in the fridge.  Warm yogurt does not taste good."  So leave it in the oven for around 8 hours.  If you leave it longer, it will get more sour as it sits in the warm oven.  Go to bed.  Forget about it.

In the morning, take your yogurt out and upwrap it, uncover it.  It will be thick now.  Mine was.  I like mine thick, so I spooned off the little bit of whey that rose to the surface.  Spoon the yogurt into clean, empty containers and refridgerate at least 2 hours.

You should be able to fill 2 large yogurt containers with the yogurt you just made.  It will thicken more after it cools.  This is the time to add stuff, if that's what you want to do.  But adding fruit will make it spoil faster.  This stuff should stay fresh for about 2 weeks.

After cooling, mine was already thick enough to stick to the spoon.  But I like greek yogurt, aka yogurt cheese.  So the fun continues...

So, to make yogurt cheese, you take 2 coffee filters and a rubber band, you suspend the coffee filter in a clean, empty dish, and spoon the yogurt into the coffee filter.  Over about 12 hours, the water/whey will drain out of the coffee filter and pool in the bottom of the dish, leaving dense, thick, tart yogurt cheese that is a bit thicker than room-temp butter.

Traditionally, the greeks ate their yogurt drizzled with honey and crumbled nuts, maybe a bit of chopped dates.  For a real treat, try it with honey and nut butters--I used PaleOMG's coco-cashew nutbutter.  It's awesome!

Stovetop Beef & Cabbage Enchilada

Now, I found this recipe originally on Healthy Living How-To here http://www.healthylivinghowto.com/1/post/2012/01/winner-winner-beef-enchilada-dinner.html#comments 

This is how the idea started out...

The picture looked delicious, and I'm a complete sucker for all things Mexican.  Oh, how I have tried to re-create a grain-free tortilla, really I have tried.  But they always come out....dry as the sands of the desert, or just eggy like an omlette and it's just not right.  Then I found this recipe, and thought--hey, wrap the enchilada filling in cabbage?  That sounds brilliant!  So we tried it (and perhaps we are kitchen-disabled), but it took us an hour to get the cabbage cooked soft enough, to get them out of the pot without burning ourselves or shredding the cabbage leaves, and then rolled around the meat without tearing them even more.  They baked up fine, but then, with two of us in braces, we could not easily cut and chew those tough cabbage leaves and the kids, despite liking cabbage, just removed the meat from the filling and ate the filling because, well, because they could...

 ...And then I remembered.  I've seen this game before.  My kids were masters at de-cabbaging a cabbage roll.  But then I also remembered (I can play this game, too)--I have a recipe that we all love and ate frequently before going paleo/primal--"Cabbage Roll Stir-Fry" by using shredded cabbage.  Good luck seperating the cabbage from the meat when it's shredded and cooked down!!  My cabbage roll stir-fry recipe is totally convertable to paleo-approved eating by just omitting the rice.  (Maybe I'll post that recipe sometime soon--it's my favorite take on the cabbage roll with only a half hour worth of effort...)   Was it possible to make this a half-hour meal?  You betcha!  I'm all about the speedy cooking.  I work a regular full-time job--and don't we all come home tired at the end of the day?  Who wants to spend hours in the kitchen after a full day of work??  So this idea for a one-pot stovetop beef enchilada with cabbage began...

Just a quick note--if like Mexican flavours, but you don't like spicy, the enchilada sauce that Vanessa makes (follow the link) is absolutely perfect.  It is delicious and she gets it dead-perfect.  But me?  I can't resist messing with a recipe.  I like fire.  My son dares me to make something hot enough that he'll actually admit is hot.  Even with everything I added to this, he still doused it in X-tra Hot Frank's Hot Sauce (and discovered the next day, for the first time, what happens when you eat something THAT spicy...lol)

Serves about 5 large meals.
Takes about 1/2 hour

The Enchilada Sauce:

1 5-oz can tomato paste

1 cup beef broth

2 tbs chili powder

1 tbs liquid from jarred jalapenos

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp chipotle

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp mexican coriander (optional)

2 tbs olive oil

Add all ingredients except oil to pot and bring to boil over medium heat.  Once it comes to a boil, remove from heat and stir in oil.  Set aside.

The Meat Mixture:

2 lbs ground beef

1/4 spanish onion

1 clove garlic

4-5 jarred jalapeno rings, minced with garlic press

2 tbs lime juice

1 tbs chipotle hot sauce

4-5 cups cabbage, shredded

1/3 c fresh cilantro/coriander

cheese, full-fat yogurt and avacado for garnish

In very large skillet or in a dutch oven, on med-high heat, cook beef, onion and hot sauce until beef is no longer pink.  Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for 1 minute more.  Add cabbage and enchilada sauce, stirring to combine.  You may want to add about a cup of water to keep everything moist until the cabbage begins to cook down.  Cover, reduce heat to med-low, and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is tender.  Remove from heat, taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary, stir in lime juice and chopped cilantro, serve and add garnishes.

  

Enjoy!  Add more hot sauce if you like things spicy, like I do!  Just not too much.  Or you'll regret it the next day.  You know what I mean....

Zucchini-Stuffed Flank Steak (Mock Duck)

Alright, so this was a really old recipe in my cooking "binder".  I'm sure you all have one of those binders--a combo of recipes torn out of magazines and glued onto pieces of paper and stuffed into plastic page-protectors, some hand-written recipes from friends and families, scraps of paper so old you don't know where they came from anymore, and many loose clippings floating around that fall out every time you touch the binder...  It's normal to have one of those, right?  Ok, so I actually have 2.  One is for dinners, the other is for everything else.  I have been called a recipe whore on more than one occasion.  I like alot of variety.  So I collect these recipes like a hoarder, but unless its a dinner idea, I rarely get around to trying half of them.  Fortunately, this is a dinner recipe, and I've cooked it many times. 

At least 10 years ago now, I was brave enough to have my grandparents over for dinner and without knowing that they both had dentures, I fed them this.  My mom told me about the dentures just as I was serving it and I had one of those "oh, crap!"  moments.  And held my breath.  And watched my grandfather carefully chew for a moment, before he declared, "Good mock duck--we never get this anymore.  Enid, how come you don't cook us mock duck anymore?"  And I stared at my mom, wondering, what the heck--I didn't cook duck!  This is beef!  He can't even tell the difference between duck and beef?  But eventually they clarified it for me, and we had a really good meal.  Sometimes these lean cuts of beef can be really hard to chew, but not this one.  Maybe I did an excellent job beating the crap out of it with the meat tenderiser, maybe I just happened to slow-cook it for long enough--either way, it came out great.

There is dairy in this recipe, but you won't actually be able to find the mozzarella once it's cooked.  It seems to become one with the meat and act as a kind of tenderiser, disappearing altogether.  Like how Parmesan does in tomato sauce.

Ingredients:

1 medium flank steak
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbs olive oil
1 medium zucchini
2 tbs dried parsley or 1/2 c fresh
1/2 c grated mozzarella
3 tsp Parmesan
1-2 cans crushed tomatoes or diced, stewed tomatoes
salt and pepper
1/2 tbs Italian seasoning

2 cups (or more, your choice) cubed butternut squash--you could use frozen



Ready to cook, just sitting in my crockpot...



Directions:

Spread meat out on cutting board and pound meat thoroughly.  You want to break down all the connective tissues that could make this meat tough.  Get all your frustrations out on it!  Rub garlic on one side of meat, brush with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.

Slice zucchini into long, thin strips.  Graze mozzarella.  Cube squash if you are using fresh.  Arrange zucchini down middle of flank steak, sprinkle with mozzarella, half of the Parmesan and half of the parsley.  Carefully roll the flank steak so that when you cut it up later, you are cutting across the grain.  Tie or pin with toothpicks or skewers to hold it closed.

Oven version:
Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Place rolled flank in middle of roasting dish, spread cubed squash around the meat and pour 2 cans of tomatoes over squash and meat.  Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan, parsley, and add Italian seasoning.  Cover and bake for about 1 1/2 hours.  Baste 2 or 3 times.

Crockpot version:
Place tied meat in crockpot, arrange squash cubes around the meat, pour 1 can of tomatoes over everything, add remaining Parmesan, parsley, and add Italian seasoning.  Cover and let cook for 10-12 hours on low, or 4-5 hours on high.  Crockpots vary; check guidelines that came with crockpot.

It was the oven version I fed to my grandparents.  It came out plenty tender enough for them to chew.  You will notice that the crockpot version only requires 1 can of tomatoes because of the amount of juices that remain in the crockpot when you cook it this way.

Cocoa and Pebbles

OMG, the food-gasm continues even as I think about this now....  But let me start from the beginning today...

So the very, very strange winter continues.  In all my life, I can't remember a milder winter.  It was 0 degrees today, not entirely unusual, but there's no snow to speak of and it's been like this so far all winter.  This is not a singular exceptional day.  this is every day this winter.  The light breeze coming off of Lake Ontario felt more like late March than early February.  Now, with the wooded trails iced over (as we discovered last weekend), we thought it would be a good day to head down to the waterfront and let the dogs splash around in the water. 

Apparently, after WW2, there was a man-made sandy beach here in Ajax.  Old pictures suggest it was beautiful until one powerful winter, the water came up high and washed the whole beach away and it has never since been rebuilt.  I would love it if they'd rebuild the beach.  This time, it would be prudent to build a man-made breaker-wall, creating a cove to protect the beach.  It would take many, many tonnes of sand to make this beach sandy once again, and probably not the best thing to do to mother nature, but it certainly would be awesome for the residents here.  There are many spectacular natural beaches along the toronto waterfront.  We got short-changed out here in Ajax.  We got pebbles and cliffs--scenic, but not swimmable.

Boy, the dogs were in heaven.  Chinook took the opportunity to sniff around looking for mischief, but Zephyr felt the need to lead a full-scale assault on the little waves rolling into the pebbly shore.  She always chases the waves like a maniac.  She exhausts herself doing this, and then about an hour later, has to pee, like, 15 times. 

But the weather was spectacular.  So spectacular, in fact, that I found this little guy on the pathway just a little ways from the beach.  I'm not sure he knew what he was doing.  I kid you not, this is a live caterpillar, crawling across the pavement.  This is probably the sign that comes before the apocalypse or something, but it was strange to see, for sure.  He shouldn't be out until about April or May.  He's a little confused.  He's not going to find much green stuff to eat--there's no leaves on the trees or grass growing anywhere.

Eventually, the wind picked up and it started to get colder so it was time to head home.  I was pretty hungry and chilled by then.  Warm as it was, it was still a couple of hours spent by the lake in the wintertime, so the cold can get into your bones pretty good.  What I really needed was some hot chocolate to warm me up.

Just this morning I found a recipe in my email from Chatelaine for Mexican Hot Chocolate.  So what is a hungry, cold paleo girl to do?  Paleo-ify herself some hot chocolate, of course!

This is, hands down, the thickest, richest hot choloate I have ever tasted.  Steve and I both had food-gasms and had to go sit down to enjoy this for a little while.  If you're having a chocolate craving, this is waaay richer than just eating a piece of dark chocolate.. Guaranteed you will not need more chocolate for some time after this gem.  If you have good-quality dark chocolate, use that in place of the Bakers chocolate and chocolate chips--you want about 160-200 grams or about 6 squares of the chocolate bar.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

Makes 3-4 servings

1 cup canned coconut milk

2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or plain, it won't make a difference)

1 square Baker's unsweetened chocolate

1/3 c semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

4 tsp cocoa

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp arrowroot powder

splash of vanilla

Directions:

Do not shake coconut milk can!  Using a spoon, lift 2-3 tbs of the fatty coconut milk cream out of the can and set it aside.  Stir in a splash of vanilla.  Heat remaining coconut milk and almond milk in a saucepan until it begins to steam.  Add chocolates, cinnamon, arrowroot, and cocoa.  Wisk frequently as chocolate melts and mixture will thicken (alot!).  When it's hot enough to your liking, pour out into mugs.  Add a dollop of coconut-vanilla cream to each mug.  It will sink slightly, adding a flavour burst to the middle of each mug.  This drink will be almost thick enough to drink with a spoon.  Believe me, you will be hard-pressed to drink a full cup of this.  It's like liquid pudding.  It is absolutely spectacular.  If you've never had a food-gasm yet, this may very well be your first.  Trust me.  You won't regret it.  You don't even need to feel guilty.  Its dairy-free, sugar-free hi-fat goodness in a mug.

Crockpot Meatloaf

Ok, so I seem to make meatloaf kinda often.  It's funny; to me, meatloaf is total comfort food, but I'm not particularily fond of meatballs at all.  It's weird, I know.  I should just be able to make meatballs with my fave meatloaf flavours in there and voila--but no.  Not the same.

So this recipe idea originally came from the Wellness Mama, who did an entire month of blogging crockpot recipes (my hero--I love things I can throw in the crockpot and come home to a house full of good food smells and dinner waiting for me whenever I'm ready for it...).  But I was feeling saucy (aka cranky and tired and difficult) two nights ago, when we were trying to assemble whatever ingredients we could in advance so we could just stick it in the pot and turn it on the next morning.  I wasn't feeling particularily helpful, so when Steve asked me what I wanted in the meatloaf this time, I said, "I dunno, I don't care, get creative."  Hmm.  So he scowled for a minute while I emailed him a copy of the crockpot recipe to his laptop, and then he pulled out the dog-eared "Company's Coming Crockpot Recipes" book at the back of our cookbook cupboard and began asking me questions about which ingredients are paleo and which aren't.  So this is what ended up going into the meatloaf...

I'll be the first to admit that anything cooked in the crockpot, while delicious, comes out looking like crap.  It does not make food look pretty.  But slow cooking meat with spices draws out so much more flavour, all flavour, that less spices are needed, and the meat is fall-apart tender no matter what cut you use.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground meat--I used beef
1 egg
3 tbs worchestershire sauce
1/3 c salsa
1 small cooking onion, or 1/4 large spanish onion, finely diced
1 5-oz can tomato paste

Directions:
Combine everything except tomato paste in the crockpot.  Steve literally packed it down to the shape of the crockpot and didn't even try to make it a loaf shape or anything.  Spread tomato paste all over top of crockpot.  Cook according to crockpot instructions--in my crockpot, its always low 10-12 hours or high 4-5 hours.

Now, the Wellness Mama suggested her kids liked their meatloaf with applesauce (whatever made them think of THAT?)  But the British in me loves anything even more if there's a sauce involved, so I thought, why not?  I have unsweetened applesauce in the back of my fridge--and wow, it IS better yet with applesauce.  I have a new love:  Applesauce with my meatloaf.  Who'da thunk it?

Cabbage Chop Suey

Woo-hoo--not only did this recipe "primalize" with ease, but I finally found the perfect taste to serve it with--Melissa Joulwan's Egg Foo Yong from her new e-cookbook "Well Fed". 

I've had this recipe for aeons.  My grandmother passed it onto me when I was just a teen.  She says she ripped it out of a newspaper that was featuring ways to cook cabbage--she suggested she'd gotten it sometime "around the war".  See the bacon?  There's no shortage of bacon, and at the time this recipe was created, the world wasn't on their low-fat craze, either.  Back then, people were smart enough to know they cook things with bacon.  Bacon makes everything better.

This recipe is ridiculously easy.  And tasty.  And just too unusual to serve with meatballs or roasted chicken.  Make the egg foo yong.  Surely you have leftover chicken somewhere?  It's like this savoury giant egg-pancake full of cooked chicken and shredded cabbage and spices.  Melissa is brilliant with flavors and spices.  Sure, Melissa used a pancake mould for hers, but I just whipped out my cast iron skillet and made one big one to serve over the chop suey.  Eggs and bacon for dinner.  It's economical and creative!!

Alright, makes enough side-dish for about 5 people.

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon, about 1/2 lb, chopped
1 onion (or 1/4 spanish onion), chopped
1 1/2 c celery, chopped

1 c mushrooms

2 c shredded cabbage

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1 1/2 c water

1 1/2 tbs arrowroot powder + 1 tbs water

1 1/2 tsp soya sauce

1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce

Directions:

Alright, so once you're done chopping everything into bite-sized pieces, and shredding your cabbage, whip out your frypan and cook up the bacon.  If there is tonnes of fat, you can drain some off, but you don't actually need to if you don't want to.  Add onions, mushrooms and celery.  Once onion is translucent, add your cabbage and green pepper along with water.  Simmer for 10 minutes until cabbage is tender.  While that is simmering, mix arrowroot and water in a small dish.  Measure out your soya sauce and worchestershire sauce in another little dish.  When your cabbage is soft enough for your liking, add the arrowroot and water, stirring as it thickens and coats the cabbage/vegetables.  Then add soya sauce and worchestershire sauce, stirring just until blended.  Remove from heat and serve!

Serve egg foo yong directly overtop, and don't forget to make her special sauce!  Have I said it enough?  Don't sweat the marginal amount of soya sauce I use.  Unless you have a soy allergy.  Then use coconut aminos.  Voila.

Flattened Garlic-Lime Chicken

Flattening a chicken makes it cook waaay faster--this bird cooks in about an hour and fills the kitchen with beautiful aromas.  This is adapted from a Chatelaine recipe that I tore from the magazine many years ago.  While the recipe calls for whole chicken, rubbing the seasoning over chicken pieces would work just as well.  I've heard you can put the lime slices in a tinfoil roasting pan and roast your chicken in the bbq this way, too, but I haven't tried that yet.

Ingredients:

3-lb whole chicken
2 limes
2 whole heads garlic
1 tbs butter at room temperature
1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp chili flakes

olive oil

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  On a cutting board, with strong scissors, lay chicken breast-side down.  Starting at neck, cut down entire length of both sides of the spine.  Don't worry, that section of spice will make good broth.  Then flip bird over and flatten with hands.  Don't worry, you can't hurt it.  It's already dead.

Grate rind from 1 lime and place in small bowl.  Add soft butter, salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes.  Rub the mixture all over the chicken.

Cut both limes into thick slices and lay on bottom of a large casserole dish.

Lay your chicken over the limes.  Cut the tops off the heads of garlic and lay them in the dish, too.  Drizzle olive oil over the garlic, then cover just the garlic heads with tinfoil.   

Roast uncovered in oven for 30 minutes.  Then begin basting periodically while continuing to cook for another 20 minutes.  Then turn oven heat up to 400 degrees and continue to roast for 10 more minutes.  Check for doneness.  Let "rest" for 10 minutes before carving.  You can rub the garlic cloves all over the done chicken, if you want.  I think it's delicious without, but I love roasted garlic so I tend to hog all the garlic to myself.  No one comes near me all night after that.

She's beautiful, no?

Now, there's going to be pan drippings.  Do NOT, really do NOT use the pan drippings.  The lime has made them taste bitter.  But if it makes you feel better, do use the carcass for broth later on.  Any leftover garlic cloves go great in the broth, too...

Serve with veggies of choice.  Me, I steamed broccoli, then lightly sautee'd it in bacon grease and gave it a quick splash of lemon juice at the end.  Enjoy.

Zucchini Spaghetti with Chicken in Cream Sauce

Why am I so effin' hungry lately?  Hungry, headachy, achy, crappy, really.  Ok, achy because I keep hurting myself.  But we'll talk about that one later.  I think the body wants carbs.  Not grains, heck no, but 1 1/2 fruit a day just ain't cuttin' it, and neither is a handfull of nuts.  (Though that half cup of homemade coco cashew butter did it--but let's not do that one again or I will grow some cottage cheese thighs, ok?)  Pardon me while I go pop a B vitamin and hope that makes it all better. 

Anywhooo, many years ago, when I was in college in the little town of Lindsay, they had this awesome and corny restaurant called the Grand Experience and they made the best fettuccine Alfredo "Grand Style" ever--with deli ham and green peas and fresh tomato.  Everywhere I travelled around the province after that had me tasting fettuccine Alfredo in every tiny little mom-and-pop restaurant in every backwoods town.  (BTW, Wiarton used to have an awesome little place that not only did a great alfredo, but escargot as well... but I haven't been there in forever.)  So it spawned a love of fettuccini alfredo that came to a grinding hault when I became lactose intolerant.  Oh, how I missed it.  It wasn't the noodles I missed, but the silky, creamy texture. 

I found the original recipe idea for this on Family Living Simple, and I'm sure to adapt it again and again until I can make it "Grand Style" just like I remember (without the gut explosion that would surely come from that now).  So here's where it's at right now--

Serves about 5

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs chicken, light or dark, de-boned and cut up into small pieces
fat of your choice for poaching with chicken--I used chicken fat
3-4 zucchini
1/2 large spanish onion, chopped
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 cloves garlic
1 tbs butter
1 can coconut milk
1-2 tbs arrowroot powder, dissolved in a bit of water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp mustard powder
red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions:

Do you have a mandolin yet?  Because you should.  It's really important.  Set the blades to cut the zucchini into really thin noodles--as thin as you can go, really.  Cut up all the zucchini and set on paper towels, add some sea salt to help dry them out a bit so they don't cook all soggy. 

Next, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken, fat, and broth, then cover and simmer chicken until cooked through.  Move chicken to a plate and turn the heat down to medium.  Put the onions in the pan, stirring, until they become translucent and most of the liquid is absorbed.  Then add your garlic (not whole, silly--through a garlic press!)  And stir just until you begin to smell it cooking.  Now add your coconut milk and bring it to a slow simmer.  Now add your spices and pepper and salt.

Once it's simmering a bit, begin to add your arrowroot and water mixture, stirring it in and letting it thicken the sauce.  If you over-thicken it a little, that's ok, because the zucchini will thin it back dow a little bit.  But get it thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.  Add your zucchini and chicken to the sauce and heat through, stirring frequently, just until zucchini is hot and beginning to soften.  Don't let it go soggy.

Serve, and add more nutmeg and red pepper flakes if you think that's necessary. 

If you're feeling fancy, garnish with green onions and chopped fresh tomatoes.  One day, I will get it perfect, and rename it Zoodle Alfredo "Grand Style".  But not yet.  It's very tasty, don't get me wrong, but not quite like the "Grand Style" I remember just yet.....

Blackened Fish and Mashed Celery Root

This recipe was adapted from a site called "The Refined Chef"--to see the original recipe, go here http://www.refinedchef.com/recipes_details.php?rec_title=Blackened_Catfish_over_Parsley_Mashed_Celery_Root

I clearly did not use catfish.  I don't know if I'd even like catfish.  But I like tilapia (and basa)--so that's what I used.  If you're not a fish know-it-all, tilapia and basa are firm white fish, mild in flavour but not bland as sole is.  The meat holds together well (haddock and sole can be pretty delicate and hard to flip over).

I love spice.  Really love spice.  The kids, not as much, but I'm slowly burning their taste buds off so they can join us in my love of spice.... 

This recipe feeds 4, with a bit of leftover fish if you're not greedy....
Takes about 1/2 hour

For mashed celery root you will need:

• 1 celery root
• 1/4 c fresh parsley
• splash of coconut milk or real milk
• butter for mashing
• salt and pepper to taste

Peel and cube celery root.  Place in pot, cover with water and bring to boil.  Simmer/boil for about 15 minutes until tender enough to mash.  This will not stink up your kitchen like turnip and cauliflower.  Once softened enough, drain water off, and mash in pot with milk, parsley and butter.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  BTW, if you do dairy, a bit of cream cheese is really nice mashed in here in place of the milk.  But shhh, I didn't say that....

For 1 1/2 lbs fish fillets of your choice you will need:

• blackening spice (see previous post for recipe or use your own)
• melted butter

Move rack in oven to highest setting.  Use crappy baking trays--don't warp your good ones!  Set oven to broil.  Pat fish dry with paper towels.  Place on baking sheets, baste with butter and sprinkle with blackening spice.  Do this to both sides.  Go a bit easier on the spice for the fillets you plan on serving the children.  Place fish under broiler for 3-5 minutes per side.  Keep an eye on them as they will cook fast.  Burn fish is not blackened fish.

Serve fish over mashed celery root, dollop with butter and sprinkle with lemon juice.  Trust me.  Butter makes everything better.

Blackening Spice

Funny how my blackening spice isn't black.  Ok, granted, most things "blackened" are cooked on a bbq or under the broiler, but black?  No.  This mix has kick, but not too much kick.  You can still taste the food that's under it.  It's best for chicken and fish.  But get creative--what about shrimp??  Calamari??

Mix the following in a jar and keep sealed out of sunlight:

4 tsp tried thyme
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 scoop stevia (or equivalent sweetener to 1 tsp sugar, or skip it)

Stuffing Pot Dinner

I found the original recipe to this "stuffing" on Caveman Strong, and even though Josee, the author, had not even tried it herself yet, I was determined to try it at my Thanksgiving dinner.  But then my appendix burst and I was in no shape whatsoever to start cooking up a storm, so I let my family all bring dishes of food, my husband made the turkey and stuffed it with old-fashioned bread stuffing (he makes an awesome turkey...) and promptly forgot all about this recipe.  Until Christmastime.  I was determined that I would have a paleo-approved dinner (in between stuffing my face with chocolates) so I hauled all the ingredients with me up to the cottage and cooked it up there.  It got the stamp of approval from several non-paleo family members, but the comment over and over again was, "there's so much in there that it could be a meal unto itself."  Well.  I freakin' love stuffing.  So why not?  It is a one-pot half-hour hastle-free dinner.  And it has everything but the kitchen sink in it.  So of course, me being me, I needed to go ahead and add a kitchen sink.  Ok, maybe not a sink, but I added even more stuff.  So here it is....

 

Serves 4 (as a main course)
Takes about 1/2 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 5 slices nitrate-free bacon
• 1/4 spanish onion, chopped
• 1 c mushrooms, sliced
• 2 ribs celery, sliced thinly
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 2 tsp dried rosemary
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 apples, peeled and chopped
• large handfull unsweetened dried cranberries
• large handfull pecans, broken up

Instructions:

Chop bacon and saute in pan over medium-high heat until it begins to brown.  Crumble pork into the pan and continue to cook until pork is no longer pink.  Add thyme, rosemary, sage, onion, celery and mushrooms and continue to cook until onions become translucent.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add apples, cranberries and pecans, stirring frequently until apples just barely begin to soften.  

Serve with gravy, if you have any leftover from the holidays.... 

Ok, it is so darned flavourful that it simply doesn't need the gravy.  The gravy is distracting from the goodness.  Oh, you didn't have gravy, anyways?  I do.  I freeze mine in ice cube trays then move them to ziplock baggies for flavour bombs later.  Well, good thing you don't need them here.  There won't be any leftovers.

Big-Ass Pancake

This recipe originally came from the Paleo Periodical, but like all things, I have altered it to suit my tastes.  the texture is in between egg and pancake, moist but sturdy enough to handle with a spatula, and for the first time, is acceptably very close to the real deal.  I would serve this one again and again.  It serves two as is, but could be easily doubled, and could be made into traditional pancakes.  The addition of fillings is necessary, I think, but filling can be adjusted to suit what you have in the fridge.  I've also tried this with shredded butternut squash that I sauteed in butter and pumpkin pie spice, and it comes out very tasty that way, tasting like pumpkin pie.  You could probably try carrots and cinnamon and nutmeg for a carrot-cake flavour, too.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 tbs coconut flour
• 1/3 cup canned coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla
• cinnamon and salt to taste
• 1 apple
• 1/2 banana
• handful of nuts of choice--I used sliced almonds

Directions:

Peel, core and slice apples.  Saute in oven-proof pan with butter or coconut oil and cinnamon just until they begin to soften.  Meanwhile, peel and slice banana.  In blender or magic bullet, mix eggs, coconut milk, coconut flour, baking powder and vanilla.  Turn on your broiler.

Remove apples, re-oil pan and pour in batter mixture, sprinkling apples, banana and nuts over top.  Cover if you have a lid, and continue to cook over medium heat until almost set all the way through and slightly puffy.  Move pan to oven, placing about 6" below burner and broil until slightly golden on top.

Divide between 2 people and serve with butter, nut butter, honey or syrup, whatever you like. 

Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore

I first learned how to make Chicken Cacciatore in an "International" home-ec class in high school.  We had some pretty creative classes at my high school.  Know what else  I learned how to do in that class?  Debone a chicken.  And we used fresh ginger in the "asian" part of the course, something I would have never, ever seen at home since in my family we ate "foods from a box" with meat on the side.  Yea, I don't come from a foodie family.

Anyhow, I liked the Cacciatore so much that it became one of the first things I cooked for my family at home, over and over, because it was so damned easy.  It translates perfectly into the crockpot, too.  Now, when I made this on sunday, we gobbled it up so fast that I failed to take a picture of it.  So this very artistic photo is not my photo.  I wish it was.  I need to learn how to take such great photos...

Serves 4-6 (6 if you make paleo bread)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken (I used boneless skinless thighs this time, because that is what was on sale, but bone-in is actually better)
• 1 pkg muchrooms (I used cremini; they were on sale)
• 1 sweet pepper (I like to use yellow or orange because they're sweeter)
• 1/3 spanish onion
• 1 28-oz can tomatoes, drained
• 1 5-oz can tomato paste
• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c red wine, your choice (I'm a shiraz fan)
• 1 tbs italian seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 of my chicken "flavour cubes"

Directions:

Throw it all into the crockpot, stir, close lid and set at 5-6 hours on high or 10-12 hours on low.  You might be looking at the red wine and thinking of omitting it, and you CAN add more balsamic vinegar to compensate, but traditional Cacciatore uses red wine and it does impart an important part of the flavour.  Your choice.  The alcohol will cook off in the crockpot.

We decided to make some paleo irish soda bread to go with it, just for a bit of nostalgic bread-dipping.  It was totally unnecessary.  The food was awesome on it's own.  The kitchen was full of all these great aromas.  I love my crockpot.

Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Roasted Spiced Rhudabaga

How many times can I type rhudabaga and spell it wrong?  Speller doesn't even know what it is.  It's winter turnips, silly!  I used to make great homefries, baken in the oven all low-fat but spicy.  Well, so many things have changed, but I missed the flavour of the spices, so I thought, what if I toss cubed turnip in some fat, and add all those familiar spices?  Tasty goodness, that's what.  But there was no dipping these in sugary ketchup like I would have in the past...  Lucky thing I had home made mayo and mixed in a little bit of curry paste, voila, good dippin' too!  (Because with my British-Canadian background, all foods must be in sauce, gravy, or dip--it is in the National Charter!!)  Ok, there is no such charter, but there should be.  BTW, I use this dip for fish, sweet potatoe and squash fries.  I like Patak's Curry Paste, but use whatever you got, it's all good. 

Repeat after me, "Bacon makes it better".  It just does.  We all know this.  So wrap your meatloaf in bacon and rejoice!  It will taste awesome.  Here's what I did to mine...

The uncooked meatloaf--see the bacon lattice?

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground meat--I used beef
5-6 strips bacon
2 eggs
1/2 cup almond flour/meal
1 can tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix eggs, meat, spices, almond meal and half of tomato paste together and form into a loaf shape in a large casserole dish or on a cookie sheet.  If you use a loaf pan, it may increase cooking time.  Spread loaf with remaining tomato paste, then lay bacon over top.  Steve thought he'd be creative and spread the tomato paste ontop of the loaf.  Both ways work, but your bacon is crispier if its on top.  Bake, uncovered, 1 hour to 1 hour, 10 minutes, checking for doneness after an hour.  We like our ground meat well done, so we gave it 1 hour, 10 minutes.



My food photography is lacking...

Roasted Spiced Rhudabaga

1 medium rhudabaga, peeled and cubed
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
fat of choice--2-3 tbs

Toss cubed rhudabaga with melted fat--I used chicken fat that I'd saved by freezing in ice cube trays.  Then toss cubes with spices.  Lay on cookie sheet and bake alongside meatloaf, for about 45-50 minutes.  Great dipped in curry-mayo.  Now if only I could figure out how to make these tasty guys crispy...  then I will never miss home fries again.