Paleo Brownies...Dessert has arrived!

Yeah, no joke….Paleo brownies! I first encountered the brownies sitting on a conference table at work.  I assumed they were regular sugar-laden brownies.  Then a co-worker, who made the brownies, informed me the brownies were Paleo!!!  I was offered a brownie, which was an offer I could not refuse.  I know what you are thinking….are they really that good?  Hell to the yes!  In fact, within seconds of eating the soft and chewy morsel, I did the happy dance.  I was in brownie heaven.   These particular brownies are not as sweet as your from-the-box brownie, which is fine in my book.  In fact, these brownies are bitter-sweet, moist and chewy. 

I did a web search for Paleo brownies and, as you would guess, there are tons of Paleo brownie recipes in cyberspace.  Some Paleo brownie recipes are date-based, some are almond-based, and yet others are fig-based.  This particular recipe is walnut-based.  In comparison to some of the recipes out there, this recipe is fairly simple to follow and has a minimal number of ingredients with maximum return in flavor. 

In case you are counting calories, each brownie is approximately 168 calories (26 g of carbs (21 g of which are sugar), 8 grams of fat and 3 grams of proteins).  I don’t recommend eating the whole batch of brownies in one sitting.  As with anything in life, moderation is key.

This particular recipe came from www.crossfitelpaso.com but I took liberties and modified the recipe to my liking. 

Ingredients

16 ounces of walnut butter (throw walnuts in a food processor until buttered)

1 egg

1 cup of light agave nectar

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (pure)

0.5 cup of cocoa

0.5 teaspoon of sea salt (I used a fine grain sea salt)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

3 slices of crispy bacon (chopped into bits)

What to do

Mix together walnut butter, vanilla extract, egg and agave nectar in a large bowl.  Once completely mixed, add in cocoa, sea salt and baking soda.  Mix until the batter is smooth.  You may need to make sure all lumps of cocoa are mixed in completely.  Lastly, fold in bacon. 

Instead of pouring into a greased baking pan, I spooned the batter into cupcake tins, which yielded about 12 cupcakes.  Bake at 325 degrees for 30 min.  

Happy Eating, 

Flowers

Tasty Bison Stuffed Bell Peppers

If you have never had bison before and were curious about using bison as a part of your Paleo diet, this would be the perfect recipe for you to try!  Incase you didn’t know, Bison (Buffalo) is high in protein (84% protein and 16% fat) and is one of the better meats to consume.  FYI, Bison is sustainable too.  I found this recipe in “The Paleo Diet Cookbook,” by Dr. Loren Cordain.  However, as usual, I modified the recipe to my liking. 

I chose this recipe because: 1) Prep time is minimal, 2) its easy to make, 3) makes a perfect all-in-one meal for lunch (I only have 30 minuet lunch break) and 4) this recipe makes about 4 stuffed bell peppers, which I can have through out the week for lunch. 

I case you are counting your calories, each stuffed bell pepper is approximately 249 calories (5 g of carbs (2 of which are sugar), 14 g of fat and a whopping 24 g of protein).  As you can see this is a low glycemic index meal.  Yay, no diabetes for me.

If you are going to have this tasty treat for dinner, try it with a kale salad or even sautéed spinach and kale.

Ingredients:

4 bell peppers (make sure all bell peppers are about the same size and can stand upright.  Use red, yellow and/or orange bell peppers for fun and presentation)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 pound of ground bison

1 egg

3 scallions, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic (normally I would add more garlic but I want to taste the bison. Thus I limited the garlic usage)

2 slices of chopped, crispy uncured bacon (Did I mention that I love everything bacon?)

Thyme, finely chopped, to taste

Cayenne pepper, to taste

Don’t be bound by these ingredients.  Be creative, use other veggies, like mushrooms, shredded carrot, or, for an added kick, jalapeño. 

Building your bell pepper monstrosity:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Chop off the tops of the bell peppers and remove all seeds.  Rub the outer surface of each bell pepper with olive oil and place in a baking dish.

Next, combine bison and egg in a medium sized bowl and mix together with your hands (time to have some fun).  Add, scallions, garlic, crispy bacon, thyme and cayenne pepper.  Again, mix with your hands.

Lastly, stuff each bell pepper with an equal volume of bison mixture.  Stand bell peppers upright on baking dish (I used a cookie sheet) and cover lightly with foil.   Bake for approximately 1 hour, remove and cool. 

Happy Eating, 

Flowers

Coconut Chicken Nuggets with Dipping Sauce

http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2011/09/coconut-chicken-nuggets-with-paleo-bbq-sauce/paleo_nuggets/

Our vast number of avid readers must be wondering where we went! It's been a few days! Here's a new recipe to add to your Paleo repertoire.

This right here is a great party appetizer. It's definitely a kid-friendly dish as well! Portable and delicious. Honestly, the real reason I tried these was because of that picture right up there. Don't they look delicious?! I wouldn't consider myself a chicken nugget girl but those look GOOD. And they look deep fried. The dipping sauce is alright. I didn't LOVE it but everyone else that tried it liked it. It does add some good flavor to the chicken so I would recommend trying it. It's definitely not difficult. I found this recipe on http://www.multiplydelicious.com/. Here you go!

Ingredients:

Coconut Chicken Nuggets:

1 lb. ground chicken
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup + 1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup coconut oil
Salt & Pepper

Dipping Sauce:

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (If I make this again I will use half the recommended apple cider vinegar. It seemed to overpower all of the other tastes.)

10 tbsp. tomato paste

4 tbsp. shallots, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. mustard powder

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 tbsp. coconut oil

Instructions:

Coconut chicken nuggets:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl combine 1/4 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup coconut and salt & pepper.  Mix to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the ground chicken, 1/2 cup almond flour, onion powder, garlic powder, egg yolk and salt & pepper.  Mix well until everything is incorporated. In a sauté pan, melt coconut oil on medium heat. Take about 2 tablespoons worth of the chicken mixture and roll into a ball and then coat with the coconut and almond mixture. Repeat with the remaining chicken.  You should make about 15 to 18 chicken nugget/balls. In small batches place nuggets into heated coconut oil and cook on each side for about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer balls to a parchment lined bake pan and place in oven for 4 to 5 minutes to allow the chicken to cook through.  Repeat with the remaining chicken nuggets. Allow nuggets to cool and serve.

Dipping sauce:

Heat coconut oil in a saute pan over medium heat.  Place minced shallots and garlic in sauce pan until soft.  Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Let me know if you liked the recipe! I wonder how well they would do frozen? I'll keep you updated.

Becca

Apple Bacon Sweet Potato Cakes With Poached Eggs

Okay this one is gonna be a quickie because this girl is sick. Almost said sicky but reeled it back in. Anyways...the original recipe for these use just regular white potatoes. However, since we don't use those, I used sweet potatoes! And they turned out wonderfully. If you're not confident in your potato cake flipping skills, feel free to make this more of a hash than a cake. This recipe was found on www.evilshenanigans.com.

http://www.evilshenanigans.com/2011/11/apple-bacon-potato-cakes-with-poached-eggs/ 

Ingredients:
Sweet potato cakes:

1 large sweet potato, peeled

1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
1/4 medium onion finely chopped, about 1/3 cup
5 strips thick cut bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
2 tablespoons almond flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Fat of choice, for frying

Poached eggs:

Water for poaching
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
4 eggs

Instructions:

Sweet potato cakes:

Shred the sweet potato and apple. Either dry with a towel or use a salad spinner (the more exciting option). Combine all cake ingredients in a medium bowl (minus the oil). Place a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add two tablespoons of oil. Scoop golf ball sized scoops of the mixture into the oil and gently flatten them until they are no more than 1/4-inch thick. Cook until deeply golden on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.

Poached eggs:

Bring a wide pan filled 3-inches deep with water to a simmer over medium heat. Add the vinegar and stir to combine. Break the eggs one at a time into the water. Immediately turn the heat down to medium low and poach until the eggs are your preferred level of doneness. For a very runny yolk poach for 2 minutes, for a firmer yolk poach for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon to drain.

These are so delicious. If you're too afraid to attempt the poached egg, a fried egg will do just fine! Enjoy. =)

Becca

Paleo Mayo /Dip

Making Paleo Mayo was a lot easier then I anticipated. Baconnaise seems to be very popular lately, but I just can't bring myself to use my leftover bacon grease and turn it into mayo.. It just seems so wrong to me! SO.. I came up with something quite tasty and if you really have it set in your heart to make Baconnaise feel free to substitute the Grapeseed Oil for your bacon grease :/ 

Ingredients:

2 cups of Grapeseed Oil (I like using grapeseed oil in this recipe just because it has a much smoother taste then olive oil)

3 Tbs of Spicy Brown Mustard

2 Tbs of Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Eggs

1 tsp of Sea Salt

1 tsp of Dill (you can also use fresh chopped )

Place Spicy Brown Mustard, Apple Cider Vinegar and eggs in a blender. While mixture is blending, slowly pour the grapeseed oil in. When I say slowly, I mean ssssslllloooowwllyyyy like in drips. Once it thickens up you can pour the rest of the oil in and last but not least mix in your salt and dill.

You can even use it as a veggie dip, it's just that good. 

Kristy 

BLT Wraps

Made these today and they were a definite hit for all ages. Ok, usually when bacon is involved it will most likely always be a hit in my family. Inspired by out very own Flowers, BLT Wraps are great for any time of the day not to mention they are a quick and easy favorite.

Ingredients:

Romaine lettuce leaves
Sliced tomatoes
Nitrate free bacon
Paleo Mayo (see recipe for Paleo Mayo on our blog)
* if you're an onion lover, adding sliced onion is also an option.

Enjoy!

Kristy

Paleo Meatloaf with BACON

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-meat-loaf/

So let's begin with the statement "I hate meatloaf!" It's true. The only meatloaf I ever used to eat was my mom's. It wasn't even in loaf form though. We called it "meat blob." I think the only reason I ate it was because it WASN'T in loaf form. Because really...meat in loaf form is just weird. Then a couple summers ago I volunteered on a project that required 8 hours a day of hard labor outside in the scorching sun. More than a few times, we were welcomed inside for lunch to a freakin' "meat brick" and piping hot mashed potatoes! Needless to say, I was not too excited to try this meatloaf. But all I can say is that it is REALLY good. It's gotta be the bacon. This recipe was taken from the Paleo Diet Lifestyle blog and modified by our dearest Flowers. By the way, he claims it tastes better and better every day. So you can make it and have some throughout the week for lunches.

Ingredients:

Meatloaf:

2 lb. of ground beef
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 egg
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups mushroom, finely chopped
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 tsp. fresh thyme, minced
1 tsp. fresh oregano, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb. bacon, uncooked, minced

Ketchup topping (this should make more than the 1/2 cup you will need for the meatloaf):

1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
2 tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground allspice
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, optional
1 tbsp. raw honey, optional

Directions:

Ketchup topping:

Mix all ketchup ingredients together and refrigerate overnight if you want the flavors to mix. I bet you can just put it on without refrigerating it but don't quote me on that. If you want a generic Paleo ketchup, just don't add the honey and Worcestershire sauce. You can use it as ordinary ketchup!

Meatloaf:

Mix all meatloaf ingredients together. Make sure mushrooms are mixed well (its the binder). Place in bread pan. Bake for 15 min at 350 degrees. After 15 min, slather on 1/2 cup of the ketchup. Bake for 40 more min at 350 degrees.

Ta DA! Definitely puts "meat blob" to shame. Sorry mom. Enjoy!

Becca =)

Stuffed Bell Peppers

This is a great dinner option and it's so easy! There is many ways to make stuffed peppers you really can't go wrong. The following ingredients is what I just happened to find in my fridge and pantry and it came out perfect.

Ingredients:

3 Bell Peppers cut in half
20oz Ground Beef or Ground Turkey
1 Jar of Tomato Sauce or Marinara Sauce (which ever you prefer)
1/2 c. Onions chopped
3 Large sticks of celery chopped
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp 21 Seasoning Salute (from Trader Joes)
1 tsp Sea Salt
2 dashes of ground pepper
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Large eggs
1c. water

Directions:

In a large frying pan pre-cook ground beef (or turkey) with onions, celery, olive oil, eggs, and seasoning. Pour water at the bottom of a baking dish, this will keep the peppers moist, then lay bell peppers upright. Place a spoon full of tomato sauce (or marinara) in each pepper followed by the meat mixture (pack it in). Top with another dab of tomato sauce and a dash of the 21 seasoning salute and there you have it! A gourmet paleo meal!

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 40 min.

Hope you like it:)

Kristy

Cucumber Salad

This cucumber salad is a great side to any dish and it only takes about 5-minutes to whip up.

Ingredients:

2 Large Cucumbers
4 Slices of a large white onion cut into longer pieces
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 of a lemon Juiced
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste


Directions:
In a medium bowl combine olive oil and lemon juice. Add onions, cucumbers, salt and pepper to taste and there you go!

Enjoy!

Kristy :)

Crispy Garlic Kale Chips

Here's a popular snack in the paleo world...Kale chips! For some reason my husband is terrified of these things, all I have to say is....his loss. My 9 year even loves them. A quick piece of advice: you may not want to eat a bunch of these before an important meeting, for some reason they stick to your teeth and lips and you look pretty scary. I had some at the gym for everyone to try last week and between classes I stuffed some in my mouth. Apparently my camouflage teeth were quite entertaining. Thanks Becca..

Ingredients:

• Kale
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (you can also use avocado oil)
• Sea Salt, Garlic, any other spice.

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Wash kale and cut into medium size pieces taking the middle stem out.
3. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and toss lightly with olive oil.
4. Season to taste. Just a pinch of salt goes a long way, kale will shrink and it's easy to over salt. You can always add more after you bake it.
5. Bake for about 30 minutes.


Enjoy!

Kristy