Roasted Lemon Chicken & Green Beans

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemons, 1/2 thinly sliced, 1/2 juiced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound trimmed green beans
2 chicken breasts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a 8x8 baking dish or cast-iron skillet with 3/4 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.
2. In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the green beans and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the green beans and arrange them on top of the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the same olive-oil mixture and toss to coat. Place the chicken in the same bowl with the olive-oil mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the chicken, skin-side up, in the dish or skillet. Pour any of the remaining olive-oil mixture over the chicken.
3. Roast for 40 minutes.
4. Serve warm.

I am always looking for different ways to cook chicken. I came across this recipe and did a little tweaking to make it Paleo friendly. I loved it so much I have made it twice this week. Green beans are in season and at the farmer's markets for only $1 per lbs. It is so quick, easy and makes for excellent left overs.

Enjoy! =)

Sausage Egg Muffins

Every weekend I spend some time preparing my meals for the week. Usually it's just putting together a big salad to take for lunch everyday.  Today I decided to make breakfast for the week as well.  It'll leave one less thing to do in the morning and I can sleep in a little later!  More importantly, I'll still get to enjoy a delicious, satisfying breakfast!!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 zucchini
• 3/4 lb of Italian Sausage
• 8 eggs
• salt and pepper

Process:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add eggs to a large bowl and scramble.

2.  Chop the onion and zucchini, and add to egg mixture.

3.  Heat a small skillet over Medium-High heat.  Brown sausage.
4.  Allow sausage to cool and make sure it's crumbled into small pieces. Add sausage to egg mixture. Add salt and pepper.

5.  Use paper liners and fill muffin/cupcake tin 3/4 of the way full.
6.  Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Easy, on the go breakfast for the week!

Tacos with Fresh Salsa

Who doesn't love tacos? I do! However, these aren't traditional tacos with the corn shells, flour tortillas, or piles of cheese.  These are paleo tacos.  A delicious, fresh tasting, healthier version of one of my favorite childhood meals.  When Carly and I ventured out to the Dane County Farmer's Market we brought home fresh onions, tomatoes, a jalapeno and cilantro for our homemade salsa!

Salsa Ingredients:

• 1 White Onion 
• 3 Roma Tomatoes 
• 1 bunch of Cilantro
• 1 small Jalapeno
• Juice of 1 lime

Taco Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef (grass-fed is better!)
• 1 head of iceberg lettuce (or any lettuce that will work well as a taco shell)
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tbsp oregano

Process:

1. Remove center seeds of tomatoes and jalapeno. Dice both the onion and tomatoes to equal size. Finely chop as much jalaeno as you'd like to add. The more you add the hotter it'll be!

2. Pull a few cilantro leaves off the stems, roll and finely chop.

3. Mix ingredients together and squeeze the juice of 1 lime over top.

4. Salt and pepper to taste. 

5. Chop head of lettuce in half, removing the first couple of layers to use as your taco shells.
6. Heat a skillet over Medium-High heat.  Brown the beef.
7. Combine all seasoning ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  Sprinkle 1 to 1 and 1/2 tbsp over the 1 pound of beef when almost fully cooked.  Mix until seasoning is well distributed and beef is finished.

Enjoy these delicious tacos!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Fall is by far my favorite season! It's that time of year where apples and pumpkins are in abundance everywhere you go!   Carly and I headed to the Dane County Farmer's Market early Saturday morning before we both had to work, just to get the good pick of produce!  I brought home delicious Honey Crisp Apples for this recipe!  Be on the look out... Carly and I plan to go apple and pumpkin picking soon and there will be plenty more delicious recipes to come!

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/4 cup almond meal
• 4 eggs
• 1 apple
• 1 banana
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cinnamon

Process:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Dice the apple and mash the banana. Put all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3.  Add the eggs, coconut oil, banana, water and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix.

 4. Fold in the diced apple.

5.  Use cupcake or muffin liners for easy clean up!
6.  Spoon the batter into the muffin or cupcake pan filling 3/4 of the way.

7. Bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy warm with some pure maple syrup!

Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey guys! Tons of recipes coming your way this week.  I had some extra time on my hands and decided to get creative.  One of the hardest parts of going Paleo is trying to satisfy the occasional sweet tooth.  Normally, I turn to fruit to take care of that.  This weekend I decided to experiment with my newly bought coconut flour!  I took a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe and made some substitutions. No white/wheat flour, no processed sugars, just good all natural ingredients!  Check it out...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup organic honey
• 4 eggs
• 1 banana (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; add both for more flavor!)
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life chips which are dairy, soy and nut free)

Process:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  In a small mixing bowl add honey and coconut flour.  Microwave until liquid consistency.
3.  Add honey, coconut flour, eggs, mashed banana and salt into large mixing bowl.
4.  Slowly add coconut flour while mixing.
5.  Add chocolate chips and stir.

6.  Shape cookies on a aluminum foil lined baking sheet. THESE DO NOT RISE AND SPREAD LIKE TRADITIONAL COOKIES. You have to shape them like cookies and flatten them out. 

** I find it's easier and tastier to make these in a small brownie pan and cut them into squares like cookie bars/brownies.

7. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Enjoy! (Maybe with some almond or coconut milk?!)

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

It is that time of the year when there is an abundance of zucchini available. After going to the Madison Farmer's Market I found myself with three zucchini's for only one dollar! Traditionally, I would use them to make breads and desserts. After a little research and found a wonderful recipe for stuffed zucchini boats on one of my favorite websites. Pinterest. I did do a little tweaking to the original recipe to increase the amount of protein.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium to large Zucchini
• 1/4 cup (34g) Feta ( I used a less to decrease the amount of dairy)
• 4 tbsp (66g) Tomato Paste
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp (5g) Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Sprinkle of Parsley
• 1/2 pound of Ground Turkey
• 1/2 chopped white onion

Process:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cut the Zucchini in half longwise. Scoop out the inside using a melon baller or tablespoon.

Chop any large zucchini pieces that you scooped out and place into a mixing bowl with ground turkey, feta, tomato paste, garlic powder, and oregano. Mix well to coat everything. The tomato paste, feta, onion, and ground turkey.

Put the zucchini mixture back into the zucchini boats. Top with parmesan and parsley. Bake for 25 minutes. Longer if you like a softer zucchini.

I doubled the recipe because I had one large zucchini and two smaller ones. I also baked for 35 minutes and they were perfect.

yummo! =)

Make Your Own TRAIL MiX

Nooo! The long holiday weekend is over and although I'm ready to start up work again, I know this time tomorrow I'll miss the time off!  I spent later part of today preparing my meals for the week- mostly salads for lunch and a few snacks.  There's one snack I'd specifically like to share with ya!  It's the easiest snack to prepare and is perfect around my 2:00/3:00pm slump!

MAKE YOUR OWN TRAIL MIX!! duh! It's that simple.

Ingredients:

• Walnut Pieces
• Sliced Almonds
• Macadamia Nuts
• Sunflower seeds
• Raisins

**Really you can add any kind of nut/seed/dried fruit and even chocolate you'd like!!

Process:

Pour all ingredients in a large ziploc bag. Close, shake, and store!

Banana Almond Butter Pancakes

I know I just posted a new recipe yesterday, but given the holiday I decided to get creative with breakfast this morning.  I've been paleo now for a little over a month and I haven't really craved pancakes, YET! That's not to say I won't when the weather starts getting colder!! So, I've been looking into paleo pancakes to see what I'm in for.  A lot of them call for coconut or almond flour.  This recipe is excludes flour all together and can be served a number of different ways.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• 1 tbspn almond butter
• cinnamon/vanilla optional

Process:

Mash the bananas and put in a bowl.  Add one egg and whisk until thoroughly mixed.

Add the tbspn of almond butter to the mixture.  The more almond butter you add, the more "cake-like" your pancakes will be. Make sure you mix it up well and don't leave any chunks of almond butter behind.

Heat some butter/oil in a pan over medium heat.  Pour a small amount of batter into the pan.  These tend to be delicate, the smaller you make them, the easier they'll be to flip.  Also, they need a few minutes on each side.  If the pan gets too hot you'll have to turn the heat down or you'll burn your last few!

Look how yummy this stack of pancakes look! Serve warm with organic honey, pure maple syrup, or fresh fruit! They're even good room temperature and they taste very much like banana bread!!

Enjoy! :)

Spaghetti and Meatballs... Paleo style

Yes-sir-ee! Exactly one week and a new primal meal as promised!

For our very first Primal Meal Post I wanted to do a comforting meal, most people love, but with a primal twist. So naturally I chose spaghetti and meatballs, yum!  As you may have guessed, pasta is not at all primal, but with this "pasta alternative" you'll be craving this version of spaghetti and meatballs week after week!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Large Zucchini 
• 1 Can No salt added organic diced tomatoes
• 1 Can No salt added organic tomato sauce
• 1 Can organic tomato paste
• 2-4 cloves of garlic (this depends on size and how much garlic you like!)
• 1lb. ground turkey (or meat of your choice- grass-fed beef would be delicious)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbspn italian seasoning OR oregano
• 2 tbspn garlic powder
• 2 tbspn onion powder

Process:

Start out by prepping your "spaghetti".  Use a sharp knife to cut the zucchini into thin spaghetti-like pieces.  You can also use a julienne slicer if you have one! I did not, so a sharp knife worked fine!  You want to cut your zucchini and let it sit out for at least 3-4 hours.  This allows the "pasta" to dry out so it won't be a mushy mess when you go to cook it later.

 

Start the sauce around the same time as you cut the zucchini.  Empty the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and paste into a big pot.  Add diced garlic, 1 tbspn of Italian seasoning/oregano, 1 tbspn onion powder, and 1 tbspn garlic powder. Bring sauce to a boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer for 3-4 hours.

To prepare the meatballs preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Put the ground turkey, 1 egg, and remaining spices into a bowl and mix until well combined.  Use your hands to form 1inch balls and place onto an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet.  Bake for 30-35minutes.

When your ready to eat, throw the zucchini noodles into a pan with some oil or butter and cook until tender.  Don't cook it too long; you don't want your pasta to be mushy!

Now put it all together and Enjoy!!