Clam Chowder

Photo courtesy of thewellseasonedcook.blogspot.ca--sorry, loaned my camera to one of my teens...

I thought I hated clam chowder when I was younger.  Of course, I had only ever tasted the canned versions which were sweet and full of corn and red pepper chunks.  Ewww.

So of course, more than a decade ago now, when visiting a friend over a lunch hour and she offered me clam chowder I said "no thank-you" as politely as possible.  But she looked me square in the eye and called me out on it, saying, "That's because you've only ever had the canned soup kind of chowder.  That stuff is pure crap.  Try this,"  And I did, because she was my friend and I was a guest and all that, and....she was right.  Her chowder was creamy but not sweet, smooth and silky and did not have a hint of corn in it.  The secret, she swore, was bacon.  Yup.  She said that it helped to mask the texture of the clams, for those who weren't used to it's slight...chewiness.  I was sold.  And, she added, don't add the actual clams until the very end, or you'll get a lot more chewiness than you can handle.  Fair enough.  Don't need to tell me twice on that one.

It took me a while to wrap my head around how I was going to make this one a little more healthy--that chowder I'd fallen in love with (and had converted the rest of my clam-chowder-hating family into loving) had both white potatoes and navy beans.  Let's just say there were some disappointing early attempts.

But the other day, when my CSA veggie box arrived with Jerusalem Artichokes, I finally had an idea...  This was going to work out after all.  And it did.  It was awesome.  (The box also included parsnips and fresh sage, so into this recipe they went...)

Ever cooked with Jerusalem Artichokes/sunchokes?  Me neither.  Never even seen them before this.  That's one of the things I love about getting a food box--you get things you have never cooked with, and you have to Google them just to know what you can do with them.

So I learned that sunchokes are related to sunflowers, that they are tubers (like potatoes are), that they can be eaten raw or cooked, peeled or unpeeled, that they are slightly sweet, mild-tasting, and waaay less starchy than potatoes.  They can be boiled and mashed, made into french fries, roasted, shredded and served in coleslaw or over salads.  But more importantly--they are full of the prebiotic inulin.  In plain English, that means that they can cause a bit of extra gas.  Yup.  So at first, a little can go a long way.  That is why I used a blend of sunchokes and cauliflower for the base of this soup.  If it weren't for that gassy side-effect, I'd say they were a perfect substitute for white potato for the starchy-carb-adverse population out there.  Don't let that one thing put you off trying them, though.  They are tasty little gnarly things.  And this is pretty awesome chowder.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped small
3-4 slices bacon
3 c chicken broth
1/2 c parsnips or carrots, chopped into coins
1/2 c onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cans baby clams
1 tsp ground celery seed
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs fresh sage (or 1 tsp dried)
1 c full-fat cream (can substitute coconut milk, but will effect flavour a bit)

Method:

First, chop all your veggies.  Open your can of clams.  Saute bacon until crispy.  Chop bacon into bits.

While bacon is frying, pull out your dutch oven or large heavy-bottom pot and heat it up over medium heat.  In fat of choice (I used butter), saute onions, parsnips, and celery.  When onion is translucent, transfer veggies to a plate and set aside.

Add broth and juice only from canned clams.  Add celery seed, garlic powder, and sage IF using dried sage.  Add sunchokes and cauliflower and bring to boil.  Simmer over medium heat until cauliflower and sunchokes are tender.

Use either an immersion blender to puree, or move carefully to a food processor and puree until smooth.  Return to pot, reduce heat to med-low.  Add sauteed veggies back into the pot now, add canned clams, bacon, fresh sage and cream.  Stirring frequently, heat through but do not let it come to a boil.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Chili Verde

I finally got it right!

This is one of those recipes that pre-paleo, my family ate often--which is saying a lot since we rarely ate the same dish twice.  Of course, pre-paleo, this recipe required that I fry the cubed up boneless chicken in italian salad dressing, and it was chock-full of white navy beans.

When I first switched to a paleo-type diet, I tried really hard to convert this recipe to something I could still eat.  I tried to "paleoify" it several times, several ways, and each time the results were less-than-great.  Without the salad dressing, the flavour was flat.  Without the beans, the chili was thin and watery--not very sustaining at all.  But when I tried to fill the chili out with turnip or celery root, the taste of root vegetables overwhelmed the delicate flavour of this dish.  When I filled out the dish with green peppers, the texture went all wrong.  Everything about it just went wrong.

Until the other day.

It suddenly dawned on me to try it one more time--and this time I think it tastes just like the old recipe, only without all the crap that I no longer eat.

There's something really delicious about green chili.  Even though it is much more mellow than traditional chili, it can still be quite fiery, and is much more about the unique flavour of cilantro upfront.  The flavour is so delicate that only chicken will do, as far as I'm concerned.

So give it a try, and let me know what you think.  I use bone-in chicken in the recipe, but you could just as easily de-bone the chicken first.  I just find that wasteful, personally, since boiling the meat off of the bone gets the bones cleaner, and allows you some of the benefits of the minerals in the bones, too.

You will notice that I use salsa verde and canned green chilis interchangeably.  While I slightly prefer the taste of salsa verde in this recipe over canned green chilis, the two taste close enough to be used the exact same...

So here's what I did.
Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 lbs bone-in chicken (skinless--fry that chicken for cracklin's instead!)
2 cups chicken broth
1 green pepper, chopped
1 Tbs zesty italian dressing spice mix
1 tsp cumin
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 cup salsa verde (or 2 cans green chilies)
1/3 cup fresh or frozen cilantro

optional garnishes:  cheddar, yogurt, olives, avocado

Method:

On medium heat in heavy dutch oven, saute onion, celery and parsnips in fat until onions are translucent.  Add spices and cook 1 minute more.  Add chicken to pot, along with broth, salsa verde and vinegar.  Add green pepper.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 1/2 hour until chicken is cooked through.  Using tongs, carefully remove chicken from pot and de-bone it, returning chicken to pot to heat back through.

Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.  Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.  Garnish with cheddar, avocado, and plain yogurt, if using.

Enjoy!

Tortiere, Two-Way

Ah, and so begins my Ode to Canadian Food.  Once I figure out what Canadian food is, anyways....

Tortiere (tor-tee-ay) pie is a very traditional French-Canadian meat pie.  It was typically served on Christmas eve, but due to it's ability to be made ahead of time and it's sheer simplicity, it seems to be served a whole lot more in many households around here--spreading well beyond the French-Canadian border and into Anglo-Canadian homes everywhere (and is one of the most available foods-in-a-box at any grocery store in any part of Canada).

So, tortiere is typically made with a mixture of ground meats.  Beef, Veal, and pork, most often, but sometimes game meat is in there, too, for an extra punch of flavor.  My mom made this a lot when we were growing up.  With all 3 kinds of ground meat.  Funny thing is, even though we ate almost nothing but pre-packaged box foods from the freezer aisle, THIS she made from scratch.  In our house, it was served at any time through the winter on a weekend, but especially Christmas eve, Boxing Day and New Year's Day because it could be prepped ahead of time, leaving my mom free to entertain/socialize with the rest of us.  My mom was no slave to the kitchen; she was (and still is) a social butterfly that to this day outshines anyone else in the room at a party.

When I grew up and moved out, I started buying the frozen-boxed variety of it because I couldn't stand making pastry.  Or being a social butterfly at a party.  It was never as good as home-made.

Turns out this stuff is ridiculously easy to make.

And I've found that I like mine made with nothing but pork like Montrealers do it.  Easy-peasy.

Now, I've made this recipe two ways--the "traditional" way, paleo-ified up, for when you have guests coming, for special occasions, for pleasing a family that feels robbed of their comfy carbohydrates from your pre-paleo days...  And I've made a simple pared-down low-carb weeknight version for those days when you just want food.  Real.  Simple.

Classic Tortiere

Pastry:

• 1 c almond meal
• 3/4 c tapioca starch
• 1/4 c butter, coconut oil or lard, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1Tbs cold water, to bind

Meat Filling:

• 2 lbs ground pork
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 tsp savory
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground celery seed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbs tapioca

Method:

First, get started on your meat.  In a big dutch oven or heavy-bottomed saucepan, add all ingredients except the tapioca.  Bring it to a boil and simmer it for 30 minutes, frequently breaking it up with a spoon.  Use tapioca, dissolved in a bit of water, to thicken into a gravy at the very end.

While you meat is simmering, work on your pastry.  Mix all dry ingredients in bowl first, then, using bare hands, work in butter until pastry is crumbly.  Add egg and cold water.  Form into a ball and set in fridge for at least 5 minutes, preferably 15 minutes.  Don't skip this step (like I did)--you'll be fighting with your pastry if you skip it.  I had to re-roll mine twice before I realized what I'd done.

Now pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.

Ok, after it chills for a while, pull it back out and divide it onto 2.  Roll out your pastry between 2 layers of waxed paper or parchment paper.  Paleo pastry is definitely more crumbly to work with, so save yourself the aggravation and use some paper.  After your first piece is rolled out about 1 - 2 inches bigger than your pie dish, carefully loosen the top piece of waxed paper and then put it right back on, loosely.  Flip the whole thing over carefully, loosen the other side, then try to transfer it to the pie dish.  Don't worry if it STILL crumbles a bit.  It's the bottom and no one will see it.  Just press the crumbles back into place.

Pour in your prepared filling.  Then do the same pastry routine with the top layer, press the edges together, cut a few slashes into the pie to let steam escape, and stick it in the oven.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Sometimes paleo pastry darkens faster around the edges than traditional pastry.  You can carefully place a few narrow strips of tinfoil around the edges to cover them when they start to get brown, or just ignore it like I do.  It still comes out great.

Now, if you want the simple version, just follow all the meat steps the exact same, but skip the pastry.  As soon as you get your meat simmering in the pot, throw some cauliflower into another pot and simmer it up for some classic mashed cauliflower.


Know any other traditional Canadian foods?  How do you define traditional?  Canada is such a mixture of cultures that anything goes, and it varies by region.  Let me know what you think!  

Creamy Tomato Chicken Spaghetti

Thank you again Kraft Kitchens for giving me so many neat ideas and inspiring this recipe...

Sometimes the best food is fast and simple.  This recipe is creamy and filling, but deceptively easy and fast to whip up.  I love dishes that can be prepared in a half hour or less.  And I love recipes that use only a few ingredients. 


























So first things first.  Do you have the Zesty Italian Dressing already whipped up?  No?  Ok, so that's step 1.  Don't worry.  It takes like 3 minutes to prepare.  And its the simplest, tastiest "zesty" Italian dressing you will ever make. 


Zesty Italian Dressing:

1/2 Tbs garlic salt
1/2 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs dried oregano
1 Tbs Cajun spice
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/8 tsp ground celery seed

Mix spices in a small spice jar.

In a 1-cup mason jar, or any old glass salad dressing jar you have saved from your past life, mix

1/4 c red wine vinegar (purists can use ACV)
1/3 c light-tasting EVOO
1-2 Tbs water
2 tsp honey
2 Tbs of the spice mix you just made

Tastes even better next day.  This will keep in your fridge for a long time, but its so versatile, it won't last that long.  Use the extra/leftover spice blend in any recipe that calls for Italian seasoning.  This blend has a bit more kick; I think you'll like that.

Alright, now onto the real thing....

Creamy Tomato Chicken Spaghetti

makes 5-6 hearty servings
ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash
1 green pepper, chopped
1/3 onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped
5 Tbs "zesty Italian dressing", divided
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
small pkg goat cheese
Parmesan, to taste

Method:

Stab spaghetti squash all  over and place in microwave-safe dish; cook in microwave for 8 minutes.  Uncover, open up to cool slightly, and set aside.

Heat 2 Tbs of zesty Italian dressing in large fry pan over med-high heat.  Saute chicken, onions and green pepper until chicken is no longer pink.  Stir in tomatoes and the remaining 3 Tbs zesty Italian dressing.  Simmer on med-high for about 10 minutes, until tomatoes begin to break down and begin to turn into chunky sauce.

While your sauce is simmering,  take a fork to your spaghetti squash and separate it into spaghetti threads.  You may need to wear an oven mitt to hold onto the hot squash peel.  Set spaghetti aside.

Reduce heat to med-low, add goat cheese to skillet and stir until cheese melts and sauce becomes a creamy pink.  Stir in spaghetti squash and remove from heat.

Serve with a tiny bit of Parmesan, if you roll that way.

Enjoy the quiet dinner.  Everyone will be eating.  No one will be complaining.  About anything.

Korean Beef with Cauli-Couscous

I was going through my old cookbooks, trying to "thin the heard" and I came upon this recipe that I used to cook for my kids.  I just couldn't throw this one out, so I tore out the pages and threw the rest of the book out.  I do that.  Alot.  I have a binder full of torn pages containing recipes of all sorts, just waiting for the day that I feel inspired and confident enough to translate them into something more primally appropriate.  I'm not exactly an "intuitive" cook--I need the idea of a recipe as a jumping point to get started.  So I collect these ideas and I hoard them.  A friend once called me a recipe whore because I always seem to collect these recipes, but I never actually get around to cooking 90% of them.  At least not the dessert recipes, because I'd weigh 300 lbs if I did.

So anyways, the original recipe called for thin strips of fast-fry steak, something I could never cook right and have it still be tender.  But what if I used ground beef?  Less expensive, tender....  A few tweaks to make it more primally-acceptable...  And this is the result.  It has a slightly sweet, but mild flavour and it pulls together in no time (something I MUST insist on).  Despite the addition of hot pepper flakes, this dish is not hot at all and will not alarm small children's taste buds....  S'alright--I added sriracha sauce after the photo anyways, because I ALWAYS do that.


Now for the rice--who doesn't want a new way to cook rice?!  If you are at all like me, you cook mashed cauli, make cauli rice and put cauliflower into just about everything (we buy 3-4 heads of cauliflower per week).  But really, any other veggie in this recipe might overwhelm the delicate flavour, so a new cauli idea was needed.  I've roasted cauliflower before, whole florets, and loved it (not so much roasted broccoli).  So why not shred them before roasting?  The shredded cauli takes on a nutty flavour as it roasts in the oven, even more so since I tossed my cauli with sesame seed oil first.  I never liked real couscous, but this cauli-couscous I really liked.  Easy.  So here it is:

Serves approx. 5
Ready in 1/2 hour or less

Ingredients:
(For the Beef)

2 lbs ground beef*
5-6 green onions (scallions)
5 cloves minced fresh garlic
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp hot pepper flakes
1/4 cup beef stock
4 tbsp soy sauce** + 1/8 cup water
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp tapioca
3 scoops stevia powder (equiv of 3 tsp sugar)

(For the cauliflower)

1 head cauliflower
1 tbsp sesame oil

sesame seeds, for garnish

Method:

First, prep everything; shred your cauli in a food processor with the grating tool.  Move it to a big bowl and toss it with the sesame oil.  In a separate, small bowl, mix your soy sauce, beef stock, honey, stevia and sesame seeds, set aside.  Chop your green onions.  Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Spread cauli between 2 cookie sheets and bake 10 minutes.  Stir.  Return to oven and cook for another 5 minutes, until browning in places.

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add beef and cook, stirring, until no longer pink.  Add garlic and pepper, cooking for another minute until fragrant.  Add the bowl of soy sauce and whatnot you already mixed up.  Bring to boil.  In that now-empty small bowl, mix your tapioca starch with an equal bit of water to dissolve.  Throw your green onions into the skillet, then while stirring, add the tapioca and allow to thicken for a few seconds.  Remove from heat. 

Taste and adjust for sweetness. 

Serve over cauli-couscous and garnish with extra sesame seeds. 



*if you choose to use beef strips, slice your meat across the grain diagonally into 2-inch strips.  Cook steak with garlic and pepper for scant 2 minutes, allowing it to remain slightly pink.  Remove from heat before adding sauce to skillet, continue with recipe above... Add meat back in at end.  Do not overcook it.

**I hear that coconut aminos is slightly sweeter than soy sauce, that it is not a perfect substitute, but in this recipe, the sweetness might actually come through very nice.  Thought I do not own coconut aminos, if I can get my hands on some, I will definitely try to sub it in this recipe and see how it goes.

Mustard & Rosemary Pork with Glazed Bok Choy

The inspiration for this recipe, oddly enough, originally came from a free "Our Compliments" magazine.  You know, the ones at the checkout that use recipes to pump up sales of their own brand of ingredients.  But hey, a little tweaking to make it paleo-friendly, and a fast, tasty pork dish was made! 

Ever eat bok choy?  It's a household favourite.  Taste-wise, it's somewhere in between spinach and celery.  The stems are very mild and stay a bit crunchy, the leaves hold a bit more of their shape than spinach--maybe more like swiss chard.  It's a mild green, great in stir-fries, and cheap year-round.  It's tougher, too--it doesn't wilt in your fridge after only 2 days the way spinach does.  So here we go:

Feeds 5-6
Takes about 1/2 hour

Ingredients;

Pork:

2 lbs boneless pork chops, about  1/2" thick (Mine were fat, so I butterflied them)
salt and pepper
1 tbsp butter, for sauteing
2 tbsp Dijon (I like to use spicy, grainy deli mustard instead)
2 tbsp fresh rosemary,  or 2 tsp dry rosemary
3 tbsp ground almond meal

Bok Choy:

1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch bok choy
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp lemon zest


Move your oven rack to its highest position and heat the broiler to high heat.  Mix almond meal with rosemary.  Butterfly your chops, if needed, and salt and pepper both sides.  In a skillet on medium-high, melt butter and brown pork chops on both sides until almost done.  Move to a baking sheet.  Spread mustard on the face-up side of the chops, then sprinkle with the almond meal and rosemary.  Broil until golden and finished cooking through.  Move to lowest rack in oven until bok choy is done.

Meantime, wash and chop your bok choy.  Chop your onions.  In a large skillet on medium heat, saute the onions, garlic and the stems of the bok choy until onions are translucent.  Add water and green leaves, cooking just until they begin to wilt.  Add honey, vinegar and lemon zest, stir and serve.

Gourmet Thin-Crust Pizza

Yes, I said thin crust, and you can eat it with your hands.

This is the best pizza crust I've made so far.  I've been searching for a pizza crust that feels like real crust, and most recipes for almond-flour crust DO feel right, but they all have a cup of cheese in the crust, then even more on top of the pizza, and while I do eat cheese, my lactose-intolerance means I can only eat small amounts of it.  So it there's going to be cheese on a pizza, I want it ONTOP of it.

The inspiration for this one came from "Everyday Grain-Free Gourmet" by Jodi Bager and Jenny Lass.  I can't take all the credit on this one.  It took only some minor changes.  Here's what I did:

Feeds about 3-4

Crust:

2 c almond meal
2 eggs
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheet or pizza tray with parchment paper.  Mix all ingredients for pizza crust--it will have the consistency of cookie dough.  Gently press flat onto parchment.  This should make about a 14 inch round.  You could easily increase the almond meal, egg and oil to make this a monster pizza crust.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until set firm and edges have begun to brown.  Remove, and proceed as below.

Sausage-Topped Pizza:

Sauce:

1 5-oz can tomato paste
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
pinch salt
pinch hot pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients and set aside.

Topping:

1 lb italian sausage
1/2 onion
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 c cheddar
2 tbs parmesan cheese

Brown meat, onions and spices in skillet until meat is cooked through.  Move oven rack to highest setting and turn on broiler.  Top pizza crust with sauce, parmesan, meat mixture, then cheddar, then place whole under broiler just until it begins to bubble and brown slightly.  Remove from oven.  It should slide right off the parchment for easier slicing.  Cut into 1/8ths and serve. 


The pizza dough is firm enough that you could actually top the whole thing before cooking the crust and the toppings will slightly cook into the base, making it a bit softer.  If you choose to do this, the oven needs to be set to 500 degrees, with the rack at it's lowest position, for about 10 minutes.  If you were using a cake pan for this and wanted a more deep-dish effect, this is the route to go, but you'll have to experiment alittle as I haven't tried it this way yet.

Smokey Paprika Paella

Ok, so here's what inspired me to try to cook paella this week.  This lovely picture came in the Insider's Report flyer.  The Presidents Choice makes such awesome sauces.  They've been making them since the first Sechewan Peanut Sauce came out (and rocked my boxed-foods world way back when).  The caption stated it contained "pure olive oil, smoked paprika, cumin, chili peppers, lemon, garlic and fire-roasted tomatoes".  Oh, I could so make that.  Who doesn't love that flavour combo?  They had me at smoked paprika and cumin.  Heck, I'd poach fish in that combo.  But I didn't this time.  Because I was making paella.

Serves: 5
Time: about 1/2 hour Sorry for the grainy shot, but this is the picture they stuck with it.  I chose to skip the green peas, you're welcome.  And I could have barbecued all of my ingredients, too, it would've looked this fabulous, but would it have tasted fabulous?  No, because the flavours would not have had time to "mingle."  So I didn't, and I spared both you and me a lot of time fussing around in the kitchen.  Sometimes they do this stuff to make a good photo without taste in mind.  I like simple and tasty, presentation isn't a priority for me.  So here's how it went down:

Ingredients:

Smokey Paprika Sauce

1/3 c EVOO

1/4 c sun-dried tomatoes (packed in olive oil)

2 tsp fresh garlic

1 tsp dried cumin

1/2 tsp dried lemon zest or lemon peel

2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes cayenne

1/4 tsp salt

3 tsp lemon juice

1 fresh tomato 5-oz can tomato paste

The Rest

1 lb boneless chicken (white or dark)

1/2 lb cooked shrimp

2 large tomatoes

1/3 large spanish onion

1/2 c shelled pistachios

1 red pepper*

1 head cauliflower

Ok, first throw all of the ingredients for the Smokey Paprika sauce into a blender--I used my magic bullet-- and just puree everything together.  Set aside.  **(see notes below on added uses)

Rice your cauliflower. Chop your tomatoes and onion.  Chop your chicken into bite-sized pieces (and if you buy your chicken skin on, make cracklin's in another frypan at the same time as you cook dinner to snack on while you cook....)

Alright, in a large skillet, brown chicken on all sides (chicken may still be a bit pink in the middle).    Add onions, cooking just until the onions begin to turn translucent.  Reduce heat and add cauliflower, red pepper, sauce and tomatoes.  Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until cauliflower begins to soften.  Add shrimp, stirring and allowing to heat through.  Remove from heat and add pistachios.  Eat!

   

Your sauce will be thicker and more red than mine is here; I used a fresh tomato in the sauce the first time around.  Using tomato paste will make for a far richer, fuller flavour and thicker sauce that coats the "rice".

This has a hint of heat to it already due to the cayenne, but feel free to add sriracha sauce if you're anything like me.  My family agreed this was a keeper recipe; they'd eat it again and again.  No one argued that it was too spicy, but no one else added extra heat, either.  Hmm.  Must be just me.

**You could throw this sauce into the fridge and it would stay fresh for weeks because of the olive oil base. This sauce would be very good on many things; fish, pork, ribs, sauteed okra...  On a lazy night, just stir-fry some chicken and shrimp with a couple of chopped tomatoes, add this sauce and serve it over top of steamed cauli-rice.
*I used a fresh red pepper because that's what I had.  If you have the time or happen to have one on-hand, use a roasted red pepper for a more intense sweet.

Sweet Potato Cheeseburger Pizza--Ver II

Ok, so this is a variation on my Crazy Sweet Potato Cheeseburger Pizza, and I totally got it perfect this time.  First time was great, this time perfect.....And then my teen refused to eat another sweet potato--ever--again.  And as far as I'm concerned, paleo with teens is hard enough, heck, paleo for any unwilling party is challenging enough.  No need to shove foods they hate down their throats.  That is a war that cannot be won.  Instead, you gotta win them over with foods they love.  And my kid does not love sweet potato, so I'm going to have to take a break from them for a while.  So much for this idea.  S'alright.  Next week, I will try again with a different base (since this pizza top is too perfect for forget).  But for now, and for those of you who don't want to eat nuts or excessive cheese, or are just cauliflowered-out, this base is a great alternative.  Heck, this topping is so good that you could leave the cheese off altogether and it just becomes Hamburger Pizza.  So here's the recipe:

The Sauce:

1 5-oz can tomato paste

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp italian seasoning

1 tsp honey

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

splash of water, to thin down

Meat Mixture:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground beef

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp chipotle powder

1/2 large spanish onion

Pizza Base:

3 large sweet potatoes

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 egg

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Chop and boil your sweet potatoes (don't bother peeling).  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  When sweet potato is soft, drain and  puree with other base ingredients.  Carefully roll out between 2 pieces of parchment paper and transfer to pie plate.  I didn't bother leaving the parchment under the base--I was using a perforated pizza pan, but it did stick to the pan.  You may want to leave the parchment under the base.  Bake for 17 minutes, until set and beginning to slightly brown on bottom.

Once pizza base is in the oven, brown your beef with all the meat mixture ingredients.  Mix up all your ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl.  When base is set, remove from oven and turn oven up to broil, carefully moving the rack to its highest setting.  Spread the base with the sauce, top with meat mixture, top with cheese and broil until the cheese is melted and it begins to brown a bit.  Remove and let it sit for about 5 minutes (this helps loosen the base from the pan)

Country Comfort Pie

 
I love ground beef.  It is by far the most economical cut of meat out there right now.  It is also the most versatile meat.

The inspiration for this one came, of all places, from Kraft Kitchen's What's Cooking.  I know.  Gasp.  Kraft is the ultimate evil.  They are the masters of "add this processed product to this processed product to feel like you've made your family a home-cooked meal".  So needless to say, this recipe has been altered and adapted.  All I was really searching for was simple, comforting, hearty and kid-friendly.  This is it.  And tasty.  Don't forget tasty.

Serve this out with a slotted spatula, as there will be extra liquid on the bottom.

Total: 1 h 25 m
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb lean ground beef

1 680ml can tomato sauce (read labels; avoid cans with sugar added)
1 head cauliflower
2 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp and 2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cheddar cheese, divided (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine raw meat, 1/2 tomato sauce and all spices except 2 tsp oregano.  Pat into a greased 9" pie dish.  Bake, uncovered, for 1/2 hour.




Meantime, mix rest of oregano with rest of tomato sauce.  "Rice" your cauliflower in a food processor.  Mix the cauliflower into the sauce and oregano mixture.  Mix in half of the cheese.






After the 1/2 hour is up, remove from oven.  Spread the cauliflower mixture over the meat and cover with tinfoil.  Return to oven for another 35 minutes.  Uncover and sprinkle with remaining cheese, return to oven for the last 10 minutes.

If the cheese is not browning at this point, turn on the broiler for a few minutes.

Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Sloppy Joes & Squash fries

Alright, it's official.  We eat nothing but comfort food at my house.  Casseroles, stir-fries, foods covered in gravy and slathered in glaze and dipped in sauce.  It's teen-friendly food to the max.  Last night was Sloppy Joe night, because my daughter asked for it over a week ago so it was written onto the menu--and neither teen was even home to eat with us last night!  Did we change the plan?  No.  We make a menu and we stick to it.  Its called budgeting.  We are on a very tight budget, my friends, and we eat more ground beef than anyone else I know.  But, hey, I like ground beef.  It's easy on the braces.

I discovered this awesome secret when making the squash fries last night.  I was so totally excited to try it out.  You know how squash and sweet potato fries tend to scorch a bit when you've cooking them on a baking sheet in the oven?  I went out and bought a wire cooling rack, like the kind you use to cool cookies, that fit perfectly into the baking sheet.  I baked the fries on that cooling rack set ontop of the baking sheet.  Did not turn them once.  Check out how sexy they cooked up!  Man, were they ever delicious.  I know, I know, I'm a superhero for telling you all this.  But squash fries are my favorite food right now.  You may see them alot in the near future.  I'll try to avoid posting pics of myself eating them dipped in home made mayo and hot sauce.  I said I'll try.  Not sayin' I'll succeed.

Ok, onto the recipe.

Ingredients:

Fries:
1 whole butter nut squash
olive oil for coating

Sloppy Joes:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/2 onion, finely chopped
5-oz can tomato paste
1/2 can water
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard powder
1/8 tsp ground cloves
3 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tsp honey

Method:

Alright, heat your oven to 400 degrees.  Peel and slice your squash into medium-sized fry shapes.  Toss them in a large bowl with a bit of olive oil to soat.  Lay the fries out on a cooling rach placed over a baking sheet so they are not touching.  Salt the fries.  Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes.  Don't even bother turning them.  Set them and forget them.






Now, get out a big frypan and heat it to med-high.  Brown up your beef and onions, breaking it up with a spatula, until it's no longer pink.  While this is cooking, mix all your other ingredients together in a small bowl.  When the meat is cooked through, reduce heat to low, add your sauce and stir it in to coat everything, then cover it and let it simmer until the fries are done.

Serve your meat over top of the fries.  Garnish with avocado (or cheese is you're a rebel).  This food is best eaten in front of a tv, for authentic "teen comfort food" if you're going for the whole experience.


And if you're the parent, and not the teen, and you've worked really hard in the yard all day long, the recommended wine pairing is beer (but only if you've really earned it).  This isn't sophisticated enough for wine.  I got my pool opened today, but I didn't own any beer.  Dang.  Well, dinner was delicious.  I added some hot sauce and I barely chewed mine.  It was that good.

Tandoori Fish & Chips

This is a simple, fast  recipe for fish.  You can use 1 full cup of mayo instead of mixing yogurt and mayo together if you are avoiding all dairy, but most Indian recipes use yogurt because the enzymes in the yogurt actually penetrate the meats and act as marinade and tenderiser all at once.  With fish, tenderising doesn't matter, though.  You can use whatever mayo you have on hand.  To make this really, really special, saute a half onion in a bit of butter over very low heat for 20 minutes first, then puree the onion and add it to the fish glaze before smearing on fish and cooking.  I skipped that step this time, I often do when I just want something fast and easy, but it really does make it even more awesome when you have time for it.

If, like me, you want to serve this with chips, make all your chips first.  They taste just great cold.  You can find the recipe for Micro-Chips here.  The fish cooks in less than 10 minutes.

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup home made garlic-basil mayonnaise
1 tbsp curry paste
1 1/2- 2 lbs firm fish (I prefer tilapia or basa)

Mix yogurt, mayo and curry paste.  Set aside about 1/4 c to use as dip for your chips, if you're making chips to go with this.  Add a splash of hot sauce to the dip for extra zip.

Move oven rack to medium-high position.  Turn on broiler to high heat.  Thoroughly dry your fish on paper towels.  Brush a baking sheet with  some kind of oil to prevent sticking.  Lay out your fish on the baking sheet and smear the glaze all over the fish.  Place under broiler, keeping an eye on it, until it has begun to brown on top and flakes easily with a fork.

Its that easy.

Asian Pork & Cabbage

I always add hot sauce.  Always.  That s#@% goes with everything.

Serves 6
Takes about 1/2 hour

Meat:

2 lbs pork tenderloin
2 tbsp tapioca or arrowroot starch
1 tbsp soya sauce (or coconut aminos)

Veggies:

half large spanish onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp fresh gingerroot, minced
4 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 sweet red/yellow/orange pepper, thinly sliced

Sauce:

3 tbsp chicken broth
3 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp curry paste
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp chili sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil
Light-tasting olive oil for frying

Cut up your pork into thin slices.  Salt and pepper the meat.  In a large bowl, mix tapioca starch, 1 tbsp soya sauce and 1 tbsp water together and stire in your sliced pork. While this sits in the "marinade", prep ALL your other ingredients. Slice the veggies, shred the cabbage, mix your sauce.  Heat your wok.

Add a splash of oil into the wok, and before it scorches, add some of your meat.  Cook meat in batches until seared on all sides, but still a bit pink in the middle.  Set aside.  Add onions to the wok and cook until they begin to turn translucent.  Add garlic and ginger for a minute.  Then add rest of veggies.  As soon as they become tender enough for your taste buds, add the pork back into the wok.  Add your sauce and continue to cook until sauce thickens and pork is no longer pink and warmed through.

Remove from heat and drizzle with sesame oil.  Taste and add more salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste, if necessary. 

Crazy Sweet Potato Cheeseburger Pizza, Unite!

Do you ever wonder what would happen if you mixed pizza, cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries all together?  No?  Oh, I did. 

I wanted to make a pizza crust that wasn't almond flour, and wasn't totally full of cheese (you know who you are, cauli-crust pizza).  And I had a hankering for sweet potato fries.

Sorry, camera focused wrong.....

And I wanted to make a really hearty cheeseburger-flavoured pizza.

And I guess I just kind of make them all at once.  Oops.

Either way, it's definitely kid-pleasing food.  The recipe sounds fussy, but it's not.  You just need to get those sweet potatoes baked ahead of time if time is an issue.

You will need:

2 lbs sweet potatoes
olive oil

Sauce:
1 5-oz can of tomato paste
2 dashes garlic powder
2 dashes onion powder
2 dashes or a big pinch Italian seasoning
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 scoop stevia powder or 1 tsp honey
pinch hot pepper flakes



Cheeseburger Meat Topping:
2 lbs ground beef
1/2 onion
2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp chipotle sauce

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 325.  Pierce sweet potatoes with fork all over, wrap tightly in foil, and bake for 1 1/4 hours or until tender.  Unwrap and allow to cool enough to handle.  While they are cooling a bit, cook meat and spices until meat is cooked through and beginning to brown.  Set aside.  Mix pizza sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

When sweet potato is just cool enough to not cause burns, turn oven up to broil and move rack closer to element.

Cut the sweet potato in half.  Score an x in the middle of the potato, then gently use fingers to open it up and flatten it slightly.  Lay it between two sheets of oiled parchment paper and gently flatten with hands or a rolling pin if its too hot.  Transfer to baking sheet and continue with other sections.

Brush flattened sweet potato with olive oil and put it in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes, watching it closely, until it begins to brown slightly around the edges.

Remove from oven, brush sweet potato with pizza sauce, divide meat between potato patties, then top with cheese.  Put them back under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Enjoy.

Real food, real simple.

For a real taste treat, mix some of your home made mayo with some hot sauce for "dipping".  I love dipping sweet potato fries, and I love dipping pizza.

Enchilada Pie

I owe a HUGE thank you and debt to Mrs PaleO for creating a tortilla recipe that is perfect for this.  The tapioca starch adds a certain elasticity that no paleo bread substitute has had to date.  She makes some really great recipes.  If you haven't seen her stuff, you HAVE to go to her blog and check it out.  Until then, the recipe for the tortilla bread can be found here. 

As soon as I saw her recipe blog with the flexible tortilla bread, I had a million ideas for it.  But first and foremost--a stacked tortilla!!  Don't you just really crave neolithic food from the old days sometimes?  Not the real thing--who misses bloated belly?!  But some of the flavours...  I checked out Chowstalker and Foodee and FastPaleo and I could not find a stacked enchilada anywhere.  I knew it had to be done.  Reading through the tortilla bread ingredients, I knew Orleatha had really hit the nail on the head with this one--she uses lard in this recipe, and in my pre-paleo days, the best home made tortillas were always made with lard.  The recipe is so easy, any husband can make it (my husband made the tortillas, and he's never made or rolled pastry before or anything like this.  He did just fine.)

So this is what I did.

First, go here and make the tortilla bread per Orleatha's instructions, except you need to make 3 large tortillas (instead of 4 small), as large as you can and still be able to get them to the fry pan.  Cook them lightly in a non-stick pan without any added oil.  Set aside, in layers of waxed paper.

Alright, now onto the stack!

Makes 6 servings.

Enchilada Sauce:

Ready to go into the oven

1 5-oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup medium salsa
2 tbs chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mexican oregano (optional)
1 tbs olive oil

Meat:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 cup onion, finely diced
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1 green pepper
3 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 cup cheddar, grated (optional)

Method:

First, in a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for your enchilada sauce.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In skillet on medium-high heat, brown beef and onions until meat is no longer pink.  Add green pepper and enchilada sauce and reduce heat to medium-low, allowing it to simmer for 5 minutes so the flavours can develop.

Divide your meat into 3 equal parts in the skillet.

In a pie dish, lay one tortilla.  Spoon 1/3 of the meat mixture over the tortilla.  Sprinkle with 1 tbsp lime juice.  Sprinkle with 1 tbs chopped cilantro.  Sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheddar.  Repeat 2 more times.  Sprinkle entire dish with green onions.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and whole pie is heated through.  Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting.  We cut this into 6 equal portions, but it was so good, I really wanted to go back for more.  You've been warned.  there was not one scrap of food left on either teen's plate tonight.

Serve with shredded lettuce, yogurt, and guacamole or sliced avocado.  My homemade guacamole is just 2 avocados, 1 tbs lime juice, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp garlic salt, 1/4 tsp onion powder.  That's it.

You could totally omit the cheese in this.  I used a small amount, very sparingly, but the flavour was so full, you wouldn't notice if it wasn't there at all.

Cabbage Roll Stir-Fry

This recipe was one I used to cook my family over and over.  Of course, that was pre-paleo, so in order to keep  the recipe, some changes had to be made.  But the recipe had great potential; it cooked up in a half hour or less - and I'm a lazy cook, it wasn't fussy, it was stick-to-the-ribs hearty, everyone liked it and since the cabbage was shredded, it cooked up much easier on my teeth which meant I could still eat it with my braces.  The original recipe came from Chatelaine Magazine ( if you read these blogs regularly, you know I have a recipe-hoarding habit).  Before Pinterest (which I still haven't joined), I would tear out recipes from magazines, then glue them onto good paper and keep them in page-protector sleeves in a binder.  Then email became the more popular choice, so I have 2 email accounts--one is my regular email, and the other is for emailing myself recipes that I then move into email files under Breakfast, Dinner, Snack,  etc.  My email file storage is HUGE.

You can omit the honey if you're doing a Whole30, but if you're not, you'll find the tiny bit of honey really brings out the flavour nicely.

This recipe makes about 6 hearty servings
Takes about 1/2 hour
This recipe re-heats even better next day


Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground pork or beef
• 1 cooking onion, or 1/3 spanish onion
• 1 green pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 head of cabbage
• 28-oz can chopped tomatoes
• 5-oz can tomato paste
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbs apple-cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• salt and pepper to taste 

Method:

Using a food  processor, shred your cabbage really fine.  Set aside.  Slice up your onions and green peppers.

In a very large skillet on med-high heat, cook your meat with your onions (about 5 minutes).  When meat is almost cooked through, add your tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, honey and spices, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes to allow flavour to develop.


 Now, add your pepper and cabbage to the pan.  Cover and simmer until cabbage is tender (aboout 10 minutes--I like my cabbage soft).  You may need to add a splash of water now and then to keep things moist until cabbage beginns to soften.

Taste, and add red pepper flakes as needed.

It really was that fast and easy.

For variety, you could add mexican spices in place of the thyme and basil, making it into Beef Enchilada Stir-Fry.