If you haven't already, take a look at some of the websites I have linked on the right side of the blog. I'm not just posting random blogs that might have the word 'paleo' in them, but ones that I check out frequently, have good recipes, and have useful information.
For recipes, I go to The Foodee Project, Everyday Paleo, Health-Bent, and Jen's Gone Paleo.
For information, I go to Mark's Daily Apple, Robb Wolf (good podcast every Tues), and the Whole 9.
If you have a favorite that isn't listed, let me know and I'll include it. It's a great way to centralize the 'good' so you're not wandering around the internet.
Additionally, check out the recipe link to the right. Sure, there might only be a few recipes, but I've added recipes people have made, recipes that I like (and make often), and recipes that look good that I'm hoping you will try out.
If you're not sure about trying them out, here's my analysis on the ones that I've made.
- Breakfast Sausages- Doubled the recipe and used both 1lb each of the ground turkey and pork. Made w/o spice sage and it was a little too heavy on the thyme. Maybe the sage would've washed it out a little, but will make sure to use sage next time and/or cut back on the thyme. Don't flip them too early and get them nice and golden brown on both sides. Store in a container in the fridge and reheat in the microwave or in a skillet. Good taste to them.
- Scrambled Eggs and Veggies - My staple just about every morning. I usually have half a pepper (red or green), whole squash (yellow or green), half an onion, a few grape tomatoes, and spices (basil or just 21 seasoning salute from TJ). A little EVOO in a skillet, add onions and then rest of veggies, then crack the eggs into the skillet and mix until cooked. Can use the hot pan to warm up the sausage patten when done w/ the eggs.
- Roasted chicken - Usually make this every week or every other week. It's super easy, but watch out for grease splatter; make sure the bird is nice and dry. Nice to have easy access to meat for lunches, salads, snack, etc.
- Butter chicken - I've made a version of this, but this recipe is very similar. The spices are a tad different, but the great thing about a recipe like this is that you use what's listed as a guide and adjust to what you have on hand and what you like.
- Spaghetti and meatballs - So easy and sooo good. I'm sure you could also make it with shrimp, but I've never tried that. Get a good size squash, maybe double the meat, and you'll have plenty of leftovers. Dried basil works well, too, but try it with fresh basil if you can get it.
- "Everything" Stew - I made this the other night and it worked well. I threw in what I had in the fridge and just guessed on the spices and it worked out nicely. A lot of times stews are 'trial and error' so make one that's your "own".
- Meatloaf - I like his music, too. I've made this a couple times and every time has been different - different combination of meat, different spices, and in the crock pot. Yes, the crock pot. The stove was smoking and everything was mixed, so I found some instructions online and followed it, and it turned out great. And all the times I've made it I save it to eat the next day. For some reason it tastes better chilled/reheated.
**Combine w/ the cauliflower mash.
- Pork loin - Even non-paleo Betsy can attest to the deliciousness of this recipe, or she was lying and being nice. I'm not a fan of mustard but liked this recipe. A must to use the fresh spices instead of dried.
-Lime Crusted Mahi Mahi - I'm making this tonight (assuming the stove won't smoke again), so I'll let you know how it turns out.
**Here's my review. "holy cow that's a lot of cumin!" My mouth was on fire and I had to drink coconut milk to douse the fire. Whew! I had a sweat 'stache and goatee going on. I still enjoyed it and ate everything, but had to chase each bite with a bite of acorn squash. Next time I might thin it out a tad more (even though it's a 'paste') or not spread it on as think. The mahi mahi was a great, mild fish. I'm looking for other recipes to make with it. It was easy to thaw (in the fridge all day) and took a total of 10 minutes under a low broiler.
- Cauliflower mash - Many variations of this recipe. I've made one that uses turmeric and EVOO (no coconut milk). A good side for any meat.
- Sweet potato rounds - I made these over the weekend (pictured in a previous post), and they turned out okay. Only seasoned one side a second time after putting them on the parchment paper, and sliced them a little too thin. And they only took 30 min, so check on them depending on the thin/thickness. Next time I'll slice them a little thicker and be sure to season both sides. I might try flipping them half way through.
(And if you've made (or made and submitted) a recipe, give me a short review I can include here so others have and idea of how it turned out and what changes they could/should make.)
So there is PLENTY you can make so you won't 1.) snack all day, 2.) starve to death.
Also, I'm planning to have a paleo potluck (location, time TBD) near the end of the challenge so we can share our recipes, maybe make some paleo-fied treats (pumpkin pie, 'meat candy', etc), and discuss ups and downs of the challenge. This would include changes to the program, how to adapt it to your everyday lifestyle, slowly adding back in 'bad' foods, etc.
And the video (and transcript) I said I'd be posting will be delayed until the weekend. I need to do a reshoot. Hold tight!
7 comments:
I tried and submitted the recipes for the herb roasted chicken thighs and paleo chicken curry and both of those are favorites of mine. I sometimes have the herb chicken for breakfast because it's so delicious. If you don't have a lot of spices and don't want to spend the $$ to get new spices to try these two recipes I can put them together in a small tupperware container and bring it to the AM CF.
Today for part of my lunch I had (from the recipe list) Texas chili and mashed cauliflower. I cooked up a whole chicken a few weeks ago and still am eating the meat from that as part of my breakfast and/or lunch. I was looking at The Foodee Project website earlier today and am looking forward to trying their General Tso's chicken. If it goes well it will be posted in the Google doc link with the others.
The Zesty BBQ recipe you have in the recipes section is similar to a recipe I took off the Paleo... Just Do It section. I tried the BBQ sauce and both recipes from this page: http://paleojustdoit.blogspot.com/2011/02/one-sauce-two-recipes.html
Reviews:
1. The BBQ sauce was deeeelicious when first cooked and later, cold right out of the fridge. I made a double batch and I swear, I ate it by the ladleful as I was prepping the two other recipes (pork shoulder and salmon).
2. The pork shoulder: I made a huge mistake in not listening to my inner voice and getting pork loin instead of pork shoulder. The sheer amount of fat in the shoulder I bought was just depressing. I spent an hour with kitchen shears, but couldn't get one-fourth of the fat out. Cordain's book says pork shoulder is 45% meat and 55% fat. No wonder. I'm never buying it. Cooked, the recipe wasn't that great, partly because the thought and greasy mouth-feel of the fat bothered me. The BBQ sauce was also sort of ruined in the cooking process. It just tasted like heavy, non-sweet ketchup - nothing like the refreshing, zesty flavor it had when it left the refrigerator. I'm going to throw out the half of the pork shoulder I couldn't fit into my crockpot.
3. Salmon with that bbq sauce: Ugh. The salmon flavor was entirely overwhelmed by the heavy ketchup taste. Both the salmon and the sauce would have tasted better if I'd eaten them separately, and the sauce cold. I won't do this again.
I also tried another recipe (that I didn't submit to Jen) - found this somewhere and absolutely loved it - some sort of chicken salsa verde recipe. Can't remember where I found it but this is what I did:
Preheat oven to 450. Sea salt and fresh ground pepper all over chicken breasts (no, don't coat - I mean on both sides). Drizzle tops with olive oil. Spread minced jalapeno and onion thickly across the tops (the original recipe called for spring onion but I didn't have any). Spread Trader Joe's salsa verde, which is SO good, as thickly as you want over the tops. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
This was amazingly good and I consumed a total of four breasts over the course of this week. For more on various uses of that salsa verde - http://everydaypaleo.com/2009/12/21/paying-homage-to-trader-joes-salsa-verde/
I am going to have to make something just to try out the BBQ sauce recipes based on Myra's review.
A few recipes I submitted are:
Herb Roasted Chicken Thighs - these are to.die.for! I was a bit leery at first since I'm not a big fan of mustard, but I just used 1T of the dijon instead of 2T and it was enough to give it a nice hint of mustard w/o overpowering it. I also cut back a little on the sage and thyme. This recipe works fine if you use chicken thighs or breasts - I've done both. When I make these they usually don't last very long since I'll have some for dinner and maybe a small piece for breakfast as quick protein after CF.
Another recipe I submitted is the paleo chicken curry. I cook this with either chicken thighs, breasts or tenders. I think the serving size suggestion is 2 but I can make that recipe last for 4 meals. I cut back on the following spices and use only half of what it calls for: cloves, coriander, cayenne and cardamon. I didn't have cloves when I made it the first time and it tasted fine, but otherwise followed the recipe as is. It was spicy which is why I cut back on the cayenne.
I'm also experimenting with finding a good, fatty coconut milk so if anyone has suggestions I'm open to hearing them. What I've found is the light Trader Joe's brand is OK, Goya is HORRIBLE, and Chaokoh is very good but I've only been able to find it at Giant.
Myra - I'll add your recipes and review, but with a hint of caution for the salmon and the pork shoulder for the next person who dares to attempt them ;)
As for coconut milk, the cheapest I've found is the 365 brand at Whole Foods. The TJ brand is lite, and that's all they have. If you want something thick (I mean, it's super thick!) go for the Thai Kitchen brand. However, I've only seen it around or even over $2/can. I think the 365 is $1.79, which is the cheapest I've found. Might have better luck at an Asian market somewhere. The Harris Teeter kind has unpronouncable stuff in it.
Veggies & scrambled eggs is one of my favorites too--I like it with peppers and onions, also spinach and mushrooms.
I made Em's herb crusted chicken, but didn't have most of the spices it called for-so I added TJ's everyday seasoning to the almond flour. It was delicious!! I also made Em's curry tonight- only had a little taste. Added acorn squash and peppers to the recipe.
Tonight I marinaded some fajita-style chicken--will let you know how it goes!
Em, thanks for the glowing review of the herb-crusted chicken. I made it yesterday, using the full amount of mustard since that's a flavor I like. I ended up eating four! My boyfriend, who usually refuses to eat brown meat, went for three too.
Next time I make it, I'll use bone-in chicken breasts instead - I didn't really like the oily taste of the thigh meat. The topping was what made me go back for more.
Jen, I know... four! In my defense, the particular thighs I got were tiny little things, no more than 2x3 inches each. The almond meal was my fat. Unfortunately, I was too full for veggies (which I should have eaten first) so the parsley had to serve as my greens.
Myra, if you're a fan of mustard and pork, try the herb roasted pork loin. It calls for 1/2c of mustard.
Post a Comment