Paleo Pizza (cauliflower & almond meal crust)

So this recipe came to me from my beautiful hair stylist, after a couple of "other" Paleo pizza crusts that I tried to like but just couldn't! Some of these other questionable crusts tasted what I imagine it would be like to bite into a cardboard box! Uh, my thoughts exactly! Give me the real thing if this is the alternative! So Lily saves my Paleo world and my husband's LOVE for pizza! And I mean LOVE!

We have made this pizza recipe a few times now and love it! The topping choices are endless... Get creative and enjoy making the pizza just as much as you will eating it.


INGREDIENTS:

2 C. steamed Cauliflower
2 Eggs
1/2 C. almond Meal
1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Use the cheese grating tool on the food processor (or you can grate by hand) to grate the raw cauliflower. Once you have approx. 2 cups of grated cauliflower, put into microwave safe dish and steam for approx 3-5 min. (I usually place a small glass of water in the microwave for moisture).

Combine the remaining ingredients into the steamed cauliflower bowl and mash/mix together with a fork.

Grease a pan with olive oil spray or use parchment paper, but be sure to spray the paper as well.

Pour crust mixture (make 1 large or 2 small/medium crusts) onto pan and form into pizza crust (it will be about 1/4" thick).

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown.

Remove crust from oven, top with sauce & desired toppings, then put back into oven for approx. 7-10 minutes.

SAUCE: I usually make my own homemade sauce, which I will eventually post to the blog, but a quick and easy pizza sauce is to combine an 8 oz can of organic tomato paste and 2 Tbsp. of Italian seasonings. EASY!

Chicken Zucchini Enchiladas

Paleo or not, this recipe is great! If you eat strict paleo you are probably against eating anything that contains dairy/cheese. My husband and I try to follow an 80/20 paleo lifestyle, so this meal falls into one of our not completely paleo meals, but we don't feel guilty about eating it.  My newest endeavor is to start using grass-fed cheese, but still limiting the cheese overall. I'm trying to find where to buy grass-fed cheese locally. I found a few places where I can order it online and I'm not opposed to that either.

I am becoming more and more conscious of the food we eat and where it comes from. I haven't gone to the extremes yet, but I can see it in my near future! :)  The excuse I use to have is that it's too expensive to eat healthy, but since starting CrossFit last September and being introduced the the Paleo lifestyle, I've quickly realized that it is not much more expensive and that meal planning is key. It is NOT too expensive to make small changes to the way you eat and prepare meals... if you're like me, this can be done in baby steps, slowly changing one or two things at a time. Sure, you will notice that buying organic, or grass-fed or gluten-free does cost a little more, so this is where budgeting and pre-planning meals for the week really helps. The results and the way you feel will speak volumes and encourage you to continue making these small changes. Afterall, this could be the difference between living a long life and still being able to enjoy that life.

Don't get me wrong, we still eat plenty of things that aren't Paleo... we try to plan out our "cheat" meal in advance which helps keep us focused on eating well until then, but we all have bad days and sometimes the "cheat" happens without planning. To be honest, we never feel good after a cheat meal... we seem to always be reminded that eating well and food without all those preservatives and chemicals, makes us feel so much better.

Now for some Chicken Zucchini Enchiladas...

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

• Zucchini (Approx. 4)
• Chicken, shredded (I usually cook 3-4 breasts in the crockpot for 2 hours on high)
• Enchilada sauce
• Shredded Cheese (I used mexican-blend)

**A little side note about the enchilada sauce: The first time I made this recipe I bought a really expensive can from Clarks Nutrition, it was about 4 times the amount of a regular can of enchilada sauce. This time I bought one from Von's, though I can't recall the brand and the trash already went out... oops! But I did check the labels of all of them and bought the one that seemed to have the least preservatives. Though I never have, I think making a home-made enchilada sauce is on my list of things to do. And of course, I will share that too!

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

1.  Prepare your chicken in advance (I usually throw 3-4 pieces of chicken into the crockpot with some seasonings and 1/4 cup of broth, cook on High for 2 hours, then shred with a fork)

 

2.  Cut zucchini in half, then slice lengthwise into thin strips

 

3.  Steam the zucchini briefly, just to soften slightly

 

4.  Start layering your ingredients in a casserole dish; zucchini, chicken, sauce, cheese. REPEAT until all ingredients are used (I usually do 3 layers total)

 

5.  Bake in oven at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

 

SERVE & ENJOY!

 

 

Cauliflower Fried Rice

This dish continues to be one of our faves! Who knew cauliflower could really taste like rice! No, really! It does!

If you haven't tried this recipe yet, it's a must! You can throw in whatever veggies you have, give or take what’s in the recipe below and it ALWAYS turns out amazing. I don’t have exact measurements, just an order of operation (I've always wanted to be a math teacher, ha!)

 
INGREDIENTS: (You can get creative and add so much more)

•  Olive oil
• 1 head of cauliflower (chopped into pieces that can fit in food processor—finely chop or "rice" in food processor)
• Chopped broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, green onion, maybe even asparagus
• 2-3 garlic cloves, pressed
• 3 eggs
• Trader Joes Everyday Seasoning or similar seasonings (it's basically a mixture of sea salt, peppercorns, garlic & other yummy spices)
• Sesame seeds

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

1.) Pre-heat WOK on medium heat (I’m sure you could use a regular pan, I’ve never tried—we just love our WOK)
 

2.) Add enough olive oil to cover bottom of WOK
 

3.) Add the finely chopped Cauliflower—attempt to brown it as you would rice, it will brown a little but mostly end up getting steamed (this process usually takes about 15-20 min)  ** SEE PHOTO BELOW**
 

4.) Add pressed garlic and chopped vegetables (any that you choose to use, except if you plan to use green onion, do not put in yet)
 

5.) Add the Everyday Seasoning and a few sprinkles of sesame seeds
 

6.) Continue to sauté for approx. 7 minutes
 

7.) Beat the 3 eggs together, then pour mixture into WOK—allow the egg mixture to cook and bubble, then fold into the cauliflower & veggie mixture
 

8.) Turn heat to low, add green onion (optional) and more sesame seeds—cook for another 2-3 minutes.

ENJOY!
 

 

OTHER VARIATIONS: I made the cauliflower rice with cilantro and lime, topped with green onion... perfect pairing for Chicken Zucchini Enchiladas, which happen to be on the menu tonight... so look for that recipe coming up soon!
 

** As you can see in the photo below, the cauliflower will brown a little, similar to rice **

Egg Muffins (or in this case, Egg Bake)

Quick and easy prep... Perfect for grab and go during your busy week.

I like to make these in muffin pans, but mine suck, (ooh, I know what to tell my mom to get me for my birthday!) so as an alternative I bake it as a whole in a casserole pan and then cut into squares and bag 'em up!

My husband and I absolutely love these. In fact I just got to work and heated mine and everyone was saying how good they smelled... Yes, but they taste even better!

For this particular one we used the following ingredients:

▪ Uncured applewood smoked bacon
▪ Uncured smoked sausage
▪ Veggies: zucchini, mushroom, baby peppers (red and orange) and fresh garlic
▪ Trader Joes Everyday seasoning (of course!)

We cooked the bacon, browned the sausage and sautéed the veggies. Then we poured into lightly greased pan, then we mixed about 7-8 eggs and about 1/2 cup of non-fat milk, beat together and then pour over the meat and veggies. Bake for approx 35-40 min at 350 degrees. Let cool, then cut into squares and save in baggies or containers.

I forgot to photograph the final product, so I took a pic of the baggie I brought with me to work today.

Bomb ass salad

Yep, Bomb ass salad! That is what I call a salad that has all the things that make a salad so perfect... spring mix, spinach, mushroom, cucumber, grape tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, raisins & craisins, sliced almonds and of course fresh homemade BACON-bits.

Tonight's dinner was not 100% Paleo... my husband is from Kansas and sometimes we just have to get our barbeque on! We made crockpot boneless pork ribs and they were UH-mazing! We sauced them with KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce which is definitely not paleo approved. While indulging we started brainstorming on how we could make a paleo bbq sauce and realized we could use Mom E's homemade recipe and make a couple of substituions and it would be paleo approved. Stay tuned... we will be trying that out soon and sharing in a future post.

The recipe for the boneless pork ribs is simple... trim the fat off the boneless pork ribs, put them in the crockpot and season (we use garlic and Trader Joes Everyday Seasoning), then pour 2/3 cup of apple juice, cover and cook on High for 3-4 hours (or low for 5-6 hours), then turn to low an hour prior to eating and sauce with whatever type of bbq sauce you desire. They were tender, fell apart and definitely worth it!

My husband was a good sport and allowed me to post his photo... after begging of course! :)

Almond Joy Pancakes... YES, it's Paleo!

Seriously, this is my new favorite paleo pancake... for those that don't know me I am always changing up recipes, thinking I can make them better... and well, sometimes I do and sometimes not so much. I get to test out my recipes on my husband... but as I always joke, he was use to being a bachelor and drinking expired milk! HaHa! (It's true!)

This morning (ok, more like noon... I slept in and lost an hour too with "spring forward"... don't judge me, yet!) I decided to throw in coconut flakes and gluten free chocolate chips in my standard paleo pancake receipe and OH-EM-GEE! Almond Joy! YUM!!! (This reminds me, one of my favorite paleo websites is www.paleomg.com, check it out sometime, so many great recipes and the author, Juli is hilarious too)

And whoops, I didn't take pics of the entire process... that is the part I forget to do often. I'm going to get better at it (but I can't guarantee they will be great pics, I'm definitely not a photographer).

Oh, and if you don't have a Ninja or a food processor, GET ONE! I have both and for paleo pancakes, the Ninja is awesome!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Bananas
• 3 Eggs
• 2 Tbsp. Coconut flour (or almond flour)
• 1 Tbsp. of Flax Meal (or just increase the coconut flour to 3 Tbsp. and exclude this)
• 2 Tbsp. of Almond butter
• 1 Tbsp. Raw Honey (optional)
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of Coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp. dried coconut
• 1/4 cup of Gluten free chocolate chips (I use "Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips")

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients,(except the coconut and chocolate chips) into food processor or Ninja. Mix well. Then add the coconut and chocolate chips and mix in by hand.

Heat skillet and spray with olive oil cooking spray and start making pancakes. The consistency is more runny than regular pancakes and I think the trick is to cook them on medium to medium-low and give them more time on the first side to cook than you would a regular boxed pancake.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: These taste awesome by themselves, but they are good with fresh berries or a berry puree or even some Grade "B" pure maple. The options are endless... okay that's not true! Excluding grains, refinded sugars and other non-paleo, really bad for your body ingredients!

Roasted Brocc-iflower Cheddar Soup (Crockpot style)

I found my inspiration for this recipe on another blog called shecookshecleans.net
(http://shecookshecleans.net/2011/09/17/roasted-broccoli-cheddar-soup). I tend to not follow recipes and make my own variations, so below is my variation of this recipe. And yes, it was tasty (otherwise I would not have posted it! :)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-1 1/2 lb. of Broccoli & Cauliflower florets (combined; not necessarily equal parts)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 3 baby peppers (I used a red, yellow and orange)
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 3/4 cup of heavy cream
• 10 oz. cheddar/jack cheese
• Trader Joes Everyday Seasoning (as much as you like)
• Smoked paprika (I don't measure... so maybe 1 tsp.)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place broccoli and cauliflower florets in the crockpot and toss with olive oil (enough to coat the vegetables), then sprinkle with the Trader Joes Everyday seasoning. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.

While the broccoli & cauliflower are roasting, chop the peppers and crush the garlic cloves; heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil in pan on stove, then add the peppers and garlic and sautee for approximately 3 minutes.

Add the peppers & garlic to the crockpot, stir the vegetables and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes. Add the chicken broth, heavy cream, smoked paprika & more Trader Joes Everyday seasoning (or any other seasonings you might like). Now place the crock with all ingredients into the crockpot warmer and cook on high for approximately 3-4 hours. Add the cheese at 30 minutes before serving. Soup will be ready to serve, but you can continue to cook on low or warm for upto another 2 hours.

We served ours with one of our favorites, Cauliflower-cheese flat bread (Recipe to follow)