Roasted butternut squash with stuff

While in Charlotte, NC, my buddy, Jeff threw together another Paleo dish.  It wasn't until Jeff was making the roasted butternut squash that I realized it would fit neatly into the Paleo category.

  

This is an excellent side dish what will feed am swarm of CrossFitters after a Chipper WOD. 

Like most recipes I post, it super easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (cubed/chopped)

1 large yellow onion (chopped)

1 bulb of fennel (chopped)

1 bundle of Kale (chopped)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

¼ cup of apple juice (no sugar added)

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat and toss butternut squash in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place in a baking dish.   Then, pour ¼ cup of apple juice into baking dish and bake at 350 for one hour.

Fifteen minutes prior to butternut being done, sauté onion and fennel over low heat until onion almost translucent.  Then, toss in chopped kale.  Continue to sauté until kale is cooked down (limp).

Toss and combine sautéed mixture and roasted butternut squash.  Add, 1 tablespoon of mixed dried herbs and a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (optional). Serve hot.

Flowers

Kabobs

Summer is in full swing, bust out the slip-n-slide and spark up the grill in the backyard because it’s too damn hot to cook in the house.   This summer food item is brought to you by, my buddy, Jeff in Charlotte: K-A-B-O-B-S.   Jeff, literally, threw together this recipe and rarely ever measures anything.   Thus the measurements are approximate. 

Easy to marinade, grill and eat.  After all, who doesn’t love meat on a skewer?  AKA, meat on a stick.   Sounds extremely caveman (Paleolithic) to me.   Right?

Ingredients:

Skewers

1 pound of cubed beef (can use chicken too)

1 yellow onion

Cherry Tomatoes

(any veggie you can impale on a skewer)

Marinade

Handful of chopped Pecans (or almonds)

1/3 cup Pomegranate juice

1/3 cup Olive oil

2 tablespoons of balsamic

1 clove garlic (Chopped)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large bowl mix, thoroughly, marinade ingredients. Add beef cubes to marinade, ensuring all cubes have been coated with the marinade.   Let beef soak in marinade for a minimum of 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Assemble kabobs and grill meat to your liking.   

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Pesto

Tired of using spaghetti sauce on your spaghetti squash?  Well, here is an easy alternative to spaghetti sauce: Pesto.  

Can you throw ingredients into a food processor?  Then you can make pesto.

Ingredients:

2 cups of fresh basil

½ cup of olive oil

1/3 cup of toasted pine nuts, walnuts or cashews

2-3 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Salt

Directions:

Place basil, nuts, garlic cloves and red pepper flakes into food processor.  Pulse until chopped.  Slowly add olive oil until a smooth consistency is achieved.  Add lemon juice…pulse until incorporated. 

Add salt to taste

Flowers

Sweet Potato Fries

Here's a simple side dish that will go with any of your BBQ favorites. Ok...Simple you say?  I'll be honest it's A LOT of cutting! So use a sharp knife and pray you don't lose a finger. The homemade version may be time consuming but well worth it.

Ingredients:

2 Super large sweet potatoes

Grape seed oil

Sea salt

Fresh ground pepper

Smoked paprika 

* you will need 2 baking pans, one for each cut up potato. 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel potatoes and cut into 4 quarters. Cut each of the quarters into thin fries. Place cut up potatoes into both pans. Toss in grape seed oil and sprinkle with pepper, sea salt and smoked paprika. Spread coated potatoes evenly into both pans and bake for 30 minutes turning fries over half way through. Depending on your oven and how crispy you like them you may need to bake a few minutes longer. 

Option: Cook fries on parchment paper for easy clean up and extra crispness. 

* Feel free to change it up and instead of paprika and pepper, sprinkle cooked fries with cinnamon and drizzle with honey. 

Yum!

Kristy 

Paleo Spaghetti Basil Casserole

Here's a super easy recipe that is sure to impress. My husband and I live a pretty busy life of kids and long hour careers and I admit we rarely eat dinner together as a family during the week. What!!?? I know, I know its not ideal but I do try to be a good wife every once in awhile and make a large paleo dish that will last him a few days and this just happened to be this weeks concoction. The basil really brings it all together and makes it so flavorful and delicious. 

Ingredients:

1 Large Spaghetti Squash

24oz Pasta Sauce (no sugar added) 

8oz mushrooms

4oz sliced black olives

20 Fresh basil leaves

1lb ground beef 

Garlic, garlic powder, sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Degrees

In a large frying pan brown ground beef with garlic, sea salt and pepper to taste. 

Poke several holes into squash and place in microwave for 10 minutes. Turn squash over and microwave an additional 3 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes cut in half and scoop seeds out. Scrape squash out with a forks and spread evenly in a large baking dish. Sprinkle squash with garlic powder and a little sea salt and then place basil leaves on top. 

Add mushrooms and pasta sauce to ground beef mixture, lightly stir and pour evenly over basil and squash. Sprinkle olives on top and bake for 15 minutes.

Hope you like!

Kristy

  

Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream

As far as Paleo goes, this dessert is a total change of pace and perfect for summer.  Though it tastes more like a sorbet than ice cream, its still worth making.  Up until I made this, I thought ice cream was difficult to make but, really, it requires an ice cream maker and a few ingredients. After that it's as simple as saying, “3-2-1 Go!” 

With this recipe it’s easy to experiment.  You can be a purist and just make a Paleo chocolate ice cream or you can go hog wild and add berries of your choice.    Its summer, go buy some berries from the farmer’s market.  

Like most everything I make, it’s so easy and simple to make.  The ingredients are minimal and easy to find. 

Ingredients

1.5 cups of coconut milk (don't use reduced fat coconut milk)

1/3 cup of honey

2 tablespoons of molasses

1/3 cup of cacao powder

2 cups of berries

Directions

Using a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed.   Refrigerate mixture for 2-3 hours.   

Pour mixture into ice cream maker and run for 30 min-1 hr, depending how soft you like your ice cream.   

Options

1) Use other berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc) or totally omit the berry option  all together.  

2) If using berries like raspberries, use a cheese cloth to separate seeds from the liquid.

Avocado Egg Cups

Whoever was the genius that thought about making Avocado Egg Cups should be knighted by the Queen of England.  Not in a million years would I ever think to bake an avocado.   Avocado egg cups are definitely in the category of something different yet delicious. 

If you have too many avocados, then you might want to try these egg cups as an option to reduce your stockpile before they all go bad.   As a breakfast item, the egg cups are perfect.   I do have to admit, it’s a bit decadent and rich eating an avocado for breakfast.  Thus, I could only eat half of an avocado. 

Some of you may opt for egg whites instead of a whole egg.  I’ve tried it both ways.  Admittedly, I like using a whole egg.  The yolk adds so much more flavor and “juices” to the egg cups.

Ingredients:

1 Avocado (ripe)

2 Eggs (whole egg or egg whites)

Salt/pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut avocado in half and remove the pit.  If necessary, scoop out enough volume from avocado to accommodate each egg.  Place halved avocados on a baking sheet lined with foil.  Crack egg into each halved avocado.  Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.  Yes, you can use paprika too!  Why not?  Bake for approximately 25 minutes. 

Allow the avocado to cool.  Don’t make my mistake and dive right in to the egg cup!  You will burn the roof of your mouth!