Spaghetti Squash "Noodles"

I've heard of spaghetti squash noodles before and always wanted to try them. Ever since I found a great sauce to go with it I finally decided too!

Ingredients:

1 Spaghetti Squash, cut in half

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp of coconut oil/butter
salt and desired spices to taste

What you will need:

Glass baking dishes

Oven ;)

Skillet

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After you have cut your squash in two go ahead and scrap out the seeds and stringy stuff with a spoon until it is clean. Place the squash, cut side down in glass baking dish & add about a 1/2 inch of water to the dish. Place in oven for about 35 to 40 minutes.

You want the squash to be a little under cooked. With an oven mitt you want to hold the squash and scrap out the inside with a fork. ( I found it easier that way).

TADA!

Next you want to warm up your skillet to about medium heat & melt the coconut oil/butter. Once melted add minced garlic and let saute for about a minute or so. Add spaghetti squash & spices and saute until desired texture. I sauteed it for about 15 minutes. You can pair it with spaghetti sauce and add ground beef or meat balls for some yummy protein! Enjoy my friends.

Mezzetta Sauces

Since moving to the Sheridan area I was sad there were no New Seasons around to do our shopping. But Roth's came to the rescue! They have some great choices and natural alternatives. For instance Mezzeta Brand has some sugar free options for their sauces! I was so excited to find a good brand. BE CAREFUL! Not all their sauces are sugar free. Also they don't use anything, but good old olive oil! GREAT FIND!

Fresh Asparagus Salad

Ingredients:

asparagus, 6 spears

1/2 tomato, sliced

Cilantro, small handful, minced

2 strips of bacon

a couple ounces of steak, sliced & cooked

salt to taste

I had left over steak and asparagus that need to be eaten and came up with this! Cook bacon first to use the bacon fat to cook the asparagus. Once bacon is cooked set aside and saute asparagus until done & warm up steak. 

Add cooked asparagus to plate and pile on steak, bacon, tomatoes & cilantro. I like to sprinkle a little salt on my tomatoes and asparagus .Done! Refreshing & satisfying. 

Makes one serving.

Banana Pops!

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas, cut into thirds or fourths

1/4 cup of coca powder

3 Tbsp of coconut oil

3 handfuls of your favorite nuts, diced (I used almonds,pecans & filberts )

What you will need:

6 wood skewers , cut in two

Cookie Sheet

Small Pan 

Small Bowl

On a cutting board or clean surface stick skewers in bananas, set aside.Throw in your favorite nuts in a food processor or dice by hand. Set aside in small bowl.

In a small pan warm coconut oil until melted. Add coca powder. Mix until there are no lumps and coca powder is well blended with oil. Turn off stove top, but keep pan on burner. 

Tilt pan and dip banana in coca mix and coat evenly on all sides. Put banana in nut bowl and sprinkle on nuts and pat on if needed for them to stick better. Set on cookie sheet and put in the freezer over night or until bananas are fully frozen. 

My husband and I made up this creation with the inspiration from paleoplan.com 's paleo candy bar recipe. We were on the Paleo challenge at the time and couldn't use honey in their recipe so we added diced fruit and one day just decided to make this. Very delicious! Perfect balance of flavors. 

Here is the link to their recipe. http://www.paleoplan.com/2009/12-03/paleo-candybars/

Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken, raw (thighs,drumsticks, breasts..whichever)

About a quart & 1/2 of water

1 1/2 cups of chopped carrots

1 cup of chopped celery

1 whole onion, diced 

2 cloves of garlic, mined

2 Tbp of bacon fat (for flavor)

a couple of dashes of Italian Seasoning

Garlic & Onion powder

Salt & Pepper to taste

In a 2 quart pot put in raw chicken and fill with water until about 1 inch from rim. Just enough so when it boils it doesn't over flow. Set on stove at high and boil chicken for about 15 to 20 mins until done. Once water is boiling you can set it to medium heat. Add salt and desired spices (onion & garlic) to make a nice chicken broth. I had to actually keep two drumsticks out of my pot because it was to small (left my big pot at my parents) and just grilled in on a skillet with some bacon fat until done. 

While chicken is boiling you can cut up your vegetables & onion and saute on skillet with bacon fat and minced garlic. This will bring out the flavors of the veggies.Set aside. When chicken is done you want to leave the now chicken broth in the pot and take our your chicken pieces. Leave pot on low heat. Shred the chicken, careful ! Don't want to burn your fingers! Once chicken is all shredded put on skillet with bacon fat and add Italian seasoning, salt & pepper to flavor your meat. Cook for a couple minutes to get the flavors in. 

Put shredded chicken and veggies in pot with the chicken broth. Simmer for 10 to 15 mins and add salt & pepper to taste. 

I got my inspiration for this recipe from my cookbook Paleo Comfort Foods. Here is a link to their website. http://paleocomfortfoods.com/a-look-at-our-book/ . I had to improvise since I didn't have a big enough pot, but we are just a family of two so it was great. Made about 4 helpful servings.

Chicken Bacon Avocado Wrap

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce, washed & dried

Cooked shredded chicken

Cooked Bacon

Avocado, diced

Cheese*

Pace salsa*

*not in photo, but added to mine...this was CJ's and hes staying away from cheese for the month. Paleo challenge and all.

Prepare:

Set down lettuce on a plate and pile on...simple as that haha. ;)



Grain-Free Pizza Crust

Cooked Pizza Crust

I started the Primal challenge the first of Jan and was craving pizza...so I searched the Internet for a good recipe I could enjoy & eat. I came across this recipe http://www.lifeasaplate.com/2010/08/30/grain-gluten-free-primal-pizza-crust/. Which looked amazing.... I tweaked it a bit because I didn't have sour cream & also sour cream has corn starch which I cant have on the challenge. Any who I just substituted it for cream cheese & added water to balance the thickness of it & also used olive oil to help spread out the dough with my fingers(very sticky).


What you need:
 •3 c. almond flour (blanched)
 •6 oz of cream cheese
 • 2/3 c. cold water
 •1/2 c. grated Parmesan
 •pinch salt
 •1 egg
 •1/2 tsp baking soda
 •pizza spices (parsley, basil, oregano, garlic, & onion powder)
 • olive oil
What you do:
 • Preheat oven to 350.
 •Mix dry ingredients in med. size bowl. Don't be shy with the spices, almond flour has a very   powerful almond taste.
 •Blend egg with the cream cheese & water in food processor and add in the the dry mixture.
 • Blend together well.
 •Mixture will be batter-like and not dough-like, so you must SPREAD this with a spatula onto parchment paper, about 1/4-in thick. Use parchment paper!
 • I found spreading the dough with my palms and fingertips really helped. I put olive oil on my hands to help the dough from sticking to my hands.
 • Once spread add additional spices if you like (i did :)...).

Bake for 30 mins or until golden brown. Once the crust is browned add toppings and put back in oven until toppings are hot & cheese is melted. I sauteed my veggies & sausage then added to my crust just so I made sure the crust wouldn't burn on me.

tada!

Almond Meal, Almond Flour & Blanched Almonds

Raw Almonds

photo from www.kettleofnuts.com

Blanched Almonds

photo from www.thefloweringgarden.com

Almond Meal: Ground up raw almonds with the skin. Just pop into a food processor or blender and blend until it turns into almond meal.

photo from tkithealth.com

Almond Flour: Usually made with blanched almonds (raw almonds with the skin removed). Removing the skins makes the flour better for baking, I think. Once the skin is removed and almonds are dry you can blend to make almond flour. A lot of recipes call for "almond flour" since it seems to bake better & have a more softer consistency instead of a more coarser texture that almond meal brings.

photo from www.pastrypal.com

   Making baked goods with almond meal I have come to not like the texture of the baked good, since it seems like the almond meal doesn't really fuse with itself. Its more gritty...hate to say. My taste has changed I guess. So I decided to try to "make" blanched almonds to make almond flour. I used it for the pizza crust and I must say I do like it much more! Very satisfied. Can't wait to try it with my recipes where I used almond meal. Here are directions on how to do it yourself. I got the steps from cookinggodsway.com , great website & has some good recipes that are grain-free.

"You will need:
 Raw (shelled) Almonds
 Saucepan
 Strainer/Colander
 Paper Towels

How to do it: 1.In a saucepan large enough to hold the almonds, add plenty of water and let it come to a boil. Remove from the heat.
 2.Add the raw (shelled) almonds and let sit for 1 minute.
 3.Drain the almonds and run under cold water immediately, until cool enough to handle.
 4.Hold an almond between your thumb and fore-finger, squeeze to slide the skin off.
 5.Let drain on paper towels.

Important Note: Do not soak the almonds in the boiling water too long, or they can become soggy."