Walnut Buttered Chicken with Broccoli

Broccoli: Steam it.

Chicken: pan fry it in a touch of oil (your choice but if you use Olive oil use a lower heat so it does not turn rancid) Just cook it enough so it's 85-90% cooked through then transfer to another dish and cover tightly with foil.

Walnut Butter: After you remove the chicken add 4-5 tablespoons of butter to the skillet with about 1/3-1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Cook until brown and the foam stops forming. Then stir in 2 chopped garlic cloves, a few fork fulls of drained capers, and a good squeeze of a quarter of a lemon. Stir for about 30-45 seconds. Stir in parsley flakes/finely chopped parsley and add salt and pepper to taste (but be careful tasting it because it'll be hot as all get out!

Serve: spoon the walnut butter over the chicken and serve with a slice of lemon.

Enjoy!

Pesto Chicken and Steamed Broccoli

Talk about EASY! Well, actually Austen made this one, she's fantastic: tending to the baby and making me dinner. I've pretty much got it made, eh!?

Seriously however, this one is pretty easy. I think a monkey could be trained to steam broccoli. For the chicken simply saute a few chicken breast tenders in some butter, add pesto (either homemade or jarred), then near the end Austen likes to toss in a few chick peas and sun-dried tomatoes (yeah, I know, not technically Paleo, but unprocessed and they do not affect us negatively and add a lot of flavor). In place of chick peas add: nothing. In place of sun-dried tomatoes either add regular sliced tomatoes or nothing. Just Pesto chicken is good enough on it's own!

We served this little ditty up with a huge dinner salad of mixed greens, carrots, etc.

Enjoy!

Paleo Beef and Root Vegetable Stew

Brown some good lean beef cubes. You can either buy cubed stew beef or cut a nicer piece into cubes for the stew. Brown the meat with finally chopped garlic and onion and other seasoning that you like. I used ground black pepper, garlic powder, and a touch of cumin. Once mostly browned on all sides place in slow cooker. Then add chopped vege: parsnips, mushrooms, carrots, onions, celery, etc. Add 2 cups of beef broth and 1/2 cup red wine. Allow to cook on low for about 6-8 hours.

I had mine with a side of steamed spinach, which I eventually just mixed into the stew and it was awesome!

Enjoy!

PS: makes great leftovers for lunch too!

A great Paleo eatin' gift

So, my wife's aunt and uncle, and cousin and her husband, bought us a great gift to celebrate the birth of our son, Spencer James. The company is called Instead of Flowers and they deliver gourmet meals, to your doorstep! They were also very VERY friendly on the telephone when ordering. They allowed us to substitute extra vegetable for a rice dish. Sure, they did pack the dessert and the dinner rolls, but we just didn't eat those (in fact, we didn't even know they were coming, else we probably would have asked for a piece of fruit or extra salad.

The meal we ordered was the "Meal of the Week". It consisted of 2 lamb chops (per person) in a fig demiglaze. As our side we got a seriously generous helping (leftovers for my breakfast scramble) of brocollini that was cooked perfectly. . They also brought a spinach salad with a side of warm bacon dressing. Everything was packages in a wonderful insulate bag (which you get to keep). You then simply put the meal in the oven for a few minutes (15 minutes in this case) and microwave the vege and salad dressing. The meal was absolutely awesome. Not only was it easy, taking a great burden off of us while we are changing diapers and what not, but it was truly gourmet tasting. I would recommend this service to anyone looking for an interesting gift, but especially my Paleo friends.

Enjoy!

Paleo Beef Stroganoff and Oven Roasted Asparagus

Stroganoff: Brown lean ground beef with onions and garlic and any other seasoning you like. Toss it in a slow cooker. Add some fresh smashed tomatoes and canned (or fresh) mushrooms (about 2 little cans). Allow to cook on low for about 4-5 hours. Then add some "cream". Your cream can be coconut milk, heavy cream or sour cream. No matter what you choose allow it to cook on low another 1 hour.

Asparagus: Drizzle with olive oil and seasoning/spices. Roast in oven at 475 F for 15-20 minutes (depending on thickness of spears).

Cajun Blackened Salmon

Pear Walnut salad

Atop mixed greens of your liking toss some sliced pears and chopped walnuts. Dress with olive oil and a splash, the tiniest splash of balsamic vinegar. If you are on Paleo + Dairy add sliced cheese as well.

Easy change up for a dinner salad. Add some protein (e.g. sliced chicken breast) and this would make a wonderful lunch salad as well.

Enjoy!

Salad Tilapia with Bacon Oregano Dressing

OK nothing too special about tossing a piece of fresh tilapia over some salad greens with a few almonds, but that's not the key item here: it's the dressing. It's a Bacon-Oregano 'creamy' dressing. It's very easy to make. Simply combine olive oil and coconut milk (if you "do" dairy then you could add heavy cream, hopefully from grassfed cows). Then add some fresh ground pepper, a dash of salt, a sprinkle or two of Old Bay seasoning, chopped warm bacon and chopped fresh oregano. Oregano is very easy to grow in an herb garden and is loaded with anti-oxidants! If you like your dressings spicy add some cayenne.

Enjoy!

Wild salmon and Brussel sprouts

Too easy not to post.

Enjoy!

Meatballs and "The World's Best Broccoli!"

Meatballs: Free-range, grass fed beef (1lb) mixed with 1-2 Tbs olive oil, 1 large egg, crushed/finely chopped fresh garlic (2 cloves), finely chopped onion (1/4-1/3 cup), Italian seasoning, and freshly chopped oregano. Mix well with hands and roll into 1.5-2 inch (diameter) meatballs. Heat on all sides, until cooked through in a pan with melted butter.

World's Best Broccoli: This is a recipe that was shared with me and so I am sharing it here and I have to say, it is pretty good! Place fresh broccoli florets on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, top with crushed/finely chopped garlic cloves (2-4 cloves, we used 3), salt and ground pepper to season. Bake in oven at 400 degrees F for about 15-25 minutes. It's done when the tips of the broccoli appear brownish.

Enjoy!

PS: Leftover meatballs make a great addition to breakfast the next morning! :-)

Roast beef and Egg salad

Grill some onions and fresh seasonal squashes. Then atop a bed of mixed salad greens throw the grilled vege, sliced hard-boiled egg, and rolled roast beef slices. You could dress this salad with olive oil (& vinegar if you do vinegar) or for a creamy salad dressing mix 1 raw egg with copious amounts of olive oil and spices (think salt, ground peppercorns, basil, etc). Blend until desired thickness. (can also use some coconut milk to fatten it up!)

Enjoy!

Salmon, Eggs, and Salad

Wonderful breakfast of pan-seared wild caught Atlantic salmon, 2 eggs, and a small side salad. Oh, and some green tea to top it off. Everything is seasoned fairly bland: a little salt and pepper on the salmon, cooked in butter and olive oil and garlic powder on the salad.

Enjoy!

Steak, Eggs & 6 grams of Carbohydrates!

Steak: Leftover filet mignon, cooked medium rare, as last nights dinner - it makes for a wonderful accompaniment to breakfast.

Egg Scramble: whisk together 2-4 eggs (I used 2 eggs + an egg white). If you want to add a little sweetness to your eggs add a splash of coconut milk, seriously, it's actually pretty good.

Serve with a side of steamed spinach.