Now to get off track a bit, I must mention that I recently signed up with a local farmers cooperative here in Chico called GRUB. Every Wednesday we go to the GRUB farm and for only $75 a month we get a weekly hook up of an amazing assortment of organically grown fresh vegetables.  It’s a great experience for the kids.  We get to visit the farm where the food is grown and meet the people who harvest and care for the land.  The harvest right now is so bountiful that I am sharing my portion with a friend and splitting the cost, so for around $9 a week we are feeding a family of 5 with fresh organic vegetables.  The moral of my story is, look for local resources and even on a tight budget it’s possible to find fabulous, paleo food!

So, this week we received everything from our GRUB share that is necessary for Ratatouille, and although this is a simple dish, my family gave it 5 stars!  We served the Ratatouille over grass fed ground beef hamburgers.  If time allowed that evening I would have made my meatballs to go with it, but the hamburgers worked just as well.  

Ratatouille

1 large zucchini

1 large red onion

4 garlic cloves

2 green bell peppers

4-5 tomatoes

2 Japanese eggplant

5-6 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

A pinch of cayenne pepper

6 stalks of fresh rosemary

Peel the garlic cloves and with the flat side of a chefs knife, press down hard on the garlic to crush the cloves.  Cut all other vegetables into large chunks.  In a large soup pot heat the olive oil over medium and add the onions and garlic.  Saute until the onions and garlic start to soften and add the remaining vegetables except for the tomatoes. Cook the veggies with the onions and garlic stirring often for 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, cayenne, and rosemary, mix well and bring to a boil.  Let the Ratatouille simmer for 15 minutes or until the eggplant is soft and the tomatoes are reduced down to a soup like consistency.  Serve immediately over the meat of your choice.

Enjoy!

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Ratatouille!! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Everyday Paleo Pizza

Crust:

2 cups almond meal

2 eggs

3 tbsp olive oil

¼ tsp baking soda

1 tsp garlic powder

1 ½ tbsp fresh rosemary chopped

Toppings:

1 cup organic marinara sauce from Trader Joe’s

1 lb Italian pork sausage nitrate free

2 crook neck yellow summer squash diced

3 green onions chopped

Handful of torn basil leaves

2 small tomatoes diced

1/2 cup roasted red peppers diced

Handful of sliced black olives

Preheat your oven to 350. Using a spoon mix all crust ingredients together until it becomes very thick.  Using your hands, form the dough into a ball.  Lightly grease a pizza pan or a cookie sheet with olive oil.  Place the ball of dough in the center of your cookie sheet or pizza pan and using your hands, push and pat the dough down into the shape of a circle (or an oval in my case…).  You want to make the dough as thin as possible.  Your pizza will be about 12 inches across.  Bake JUST the crust in your pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.  While your crust is cooking, prepare your toppings.  If you use sausage like we did, this is when you should crumble it into a large saute pan and brown.  After the crust if done, remove from the oven and evenly spread the marinara sauce over the crust.  Add the sausage and all remaining toppings evenly over the sauce and bake again for an additional 25-30 minutes.  Get creative and use whatever toppings you might like – ours was great but I also suggest trying chicken, artichoke hearts, and even broccoli!!  Go wild with it and as always: Enjoy!

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Everyday Paleo Pizza is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Ginger Shrimp Salad

1 lb medium shrimp (tails removed, cooked, and de-veined – I buy them frozen and already cooked)

3 green onions

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/2 tsp crushed garlic

Pinch of sea salt

Palm full of red pepper flakes

Juice from 1 lemon

Fresh Arugula

Olive oil to taste

1 Avocado

If you are using frozen shrimp like I did; thaw, drain, and pat dry with paper towels.  If using fresh shrimp, remove tails, de-vein, and toss into boiling water.  Bring the water back to a simmer.  Once the shrimp rise to the top remove them and place in ice water.  Then drain and pat dry with paper towels. Toss the cold shrimp with the lemon juice, ginger, garlic, onions, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  Serve on a bed of arugula garnished with sliced avocado and top with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Curried Hash

2 sweet potatoes

2 zucchini

2 shallots

2 omega 3 enriched eggs

1/2 tsp sea salt (optional)

1 tbsp curry powder

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

5 tbsp coconut oil

Peel the sweet potatoes and rinse.  Using a food processor or a cheese grater, shred the sweet potatoes and the zucchini.  Using a hand held chopper, finely chop the shallots.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the shredded potatoes, zucchini, shallots, eggs, and spices.  In a large skillet, heat the coconut oil over medium, add the hash, and cook stirring frequently until the potatoes are soft and start to crisp up.  Serve immediately.  This is a great post workout snack!!

Enjoy!

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Ginger Shrimp Salad and Curried Hash is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Grilled Chicken with Walnut Pesto Sauce

Chicken

3-4 Chicken Breasts

Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning to taste (or just some cracked black pepper)

Pesto Sauce

4 oz fresh basil (3 ½ cups)

1 cup walnut halves and pieces

6 garlic cloves

1 cup olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

Juice from ½ a lemon

Heat your grill over medium high heat for approximately 10 min.  Sprinkle both sides of the chicken breasts with either the Trader Joe’s seasoning or with just some black pepper. Turn grill down to low and place the chicken on the grill.  Close the lid and grill for 7-10 minutes.  Flip the chicken, close the lid, and grill for another 7-10 minutes.  Remove the chicken and cover with tinfoil and set aside.  Now it’s time for the pesto.  In a food processor add the walnuts, garlic, sea salt, and olive oil.  Process until smooth.  Add the basil and lemon juice and process again until smooth.  Slice the chicken and spoon the pesto sauce on top to serve.

Warm Arugula Salad

6 strips nitrate free bacon diced

2 shallots finely chopped

7 oz arugula

1/4 cup olive oil

Handful of chopped walnuts

Ground black pepper to taste

Place the arugula in a large salad bowl and set aside.  In a medium sized skillet brown the diced bacon.  Add the shallots and saute with the bacon until the shallots are translucent.  Add the olive oil to the pan and heat just until warm.  Pour the olive oil, bacon, shallot mixture over the arugula and mix well.  The heat from the bacon mixture will slightly wilt the arugula – this is what you want!  Add some fresh ground black pepper and serve immediately topped with a sprinkle of walnuts. 

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Grilled Chicken with Walnut Pesto Sauce and Warm Arugula Salad… is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Spice Rub Crock Pot Chicken

1 5-6 lb free range organic chicken - giblets removed, rinsed, and patted dry with paper towels

1 white onion sliced

1 tsp sea salt (optional)

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

Cover the bottom of the crock pot with the sliced onions.  Mix all spices in a small bowl and then rub the spice mixture all over the whole chicken.  Place the spiced chicken on top of the onions in the crock pot, cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours (depending on your crock pot).  No need for any liquid, the chicken will cook in it’s own juices.  Make sure you spoon the onions and a little bit of the juices over the chicken when you serve it.  I served my chicken with our favorite brussel sprouts, steamed for 5 minutes and then sauteed with a little olive oil, dried dill, garlic powder, and pepper.

Enjoy!

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Spice Rub Crock Pot Chicken is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

This dry rub recipe works well on burgers but is also bangin’ on rib eye steaks and probably on chicken too (haven’t tried that yet, but could imagine it would be tasty…)

Also, a big shout out to AJ at www.nutritionize.net for sharing the awesome sweet potato recipe, it’s simply delicious! 

Dry Rub Burgers

1 ½ tbsp chili powder

2 ½ tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

¼ tsp ground white pepper

2 1/2 lbs grass fed ground beef (makes about 7-9 medium sized burgers)

sea salt to taste

Mix all dry rub ingredients together.  Form hamburger meat into patties and cover both sides generously with the dry rub.  Let the burgers sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes before cooking.  Either grill or pan fry about 4 minutes each side for medium, less for rare, more for well… (sprinkle on sea salt once the burgers are in the pan or on the grill).

Sweet Potato Rounds

2-3 yams

3-4 egg whites

21 seasoning blend from Trader Joe’s or Oregon, Thyme, and Garlic Powder

ground black pepper

sea salt

olive oil

Slice sweet potatoes into round discs.  Separate eggs and add as much 21 seasoning spice blend and black pepper as you like.  Dip each sweet potato round into the egg mixture and lay flat on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Drizzle the rounds with olive oil and sprinkle on more seasoning – this is key – and then sprinkle on a little sea salt.  Bake at 350 for 30 -40 minutes.  The egg whites make these a little crispy, and I actually finished them under the broiler for about a minute which made them even crispier, but still soft and yummy in the middle. 

Enjoy!!

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Dry Rub Burgers and Sweet Potato Rounds is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Chicken mixture

4-5 chicken breasts

3 tbsp of Tamari Wheat Free soy sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth

garlic powder to taste

2 zucchini diced

6-8 mushrooms diced

sesame oil

Condiments

1 head iceberg lettuce cored and leaves removed for wraps

Shredded green or purple cabbage

1 red bell pepper finely chopped

3 green onions chopped

1 can water chestnuts diced

sliced or slivered almonds

2 – 3 carrots finely chopped

I like to cook the chicken in the crock pot on low for 6 hours or until falling apart.  Place the chicken in the crock pot and cover with garlic powder and cover with the soy sauce and chicken broth.  When the chicken is done, shred with a fork or throw it in the food processor and pulse it a few times.  In a large soup pan saute zucchini and mushrooms in a generous amount of sesame oil until the veggies are tender.  Add the shredded chicken and mix well.  Serve the chicken mixture in lettuce leaves and add your condiments.  Top with more sesame oil, hot chili oil if you like, and San-J  makes a good gluten free Thai Peanut sauce if your feeling crazy.  I have made my own  “Thai Peanut Sauce”  with almond butter that’s a tasty substitute as well but these wraps are also great just on their own.

Also pictured is lunch the following day: I sauteed the left over chicken, chopped veggies, and almonds with some left over steamed brussel sprouts that I found in the fridge.  It was a fast and delicious way to make the best of my leftovers!

Enjoy!

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Chicken Lettuce Wraps is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Roast Chicken

1 free range/farm raised 4-5 lb chicken

Sea salt

Preheat oven to 450. Wash chicken and thoroughly dry the chicken inside the cavity and out with paper towels.  Place the chicken in a roasting pan and generously sprinkle the entire chicken with sea salt (inside the cavity as well).  The recipe on epicurious said to “rain” the salt down on the chicken, maybe that’s the secret…. I did not tress it, add any butter, thyme, or even pepper, just the salt, and after about an hour in the oven, the chicken was crispy golden brown on the outside and incredibly tender, juicy, flavorful and delicious on the inside!  The best parts of the chicken is what we could pick right off the bones – my two year old ate most of his dinner before we even got the chicken to the table…

I served the chicken with mashed cauliflower that I seasoned with garlic powder and black pepper as well as a fresh arugula and spring mix salad with diced apples, olive oil, and lemon juice. 

Enjoy!!

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Easy and Amazing Roast Chicken is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Garlic Beef Stew

1.5 – 2 lbs of grass fed stew meat

1 yellow onion diced

4-6 carrots diced

4-6 stalks of celery diced

6-12 mashed cloves of garlic (I used the jarred crushed garlic from TJ’s)

palm full of ground marjoram

sea salt and black pepper to taste

1 small can tomato paste

splash of chicken broth

Throw it all in your crock pot, mix well, cook all day on low.  It’s a lot of garlic but it mellows from the long cooking time and your house will smell amazing! 

Savory Cauliflower Mash

1 giant head of organic cauliflower steamed until soft

big hunk of Kerrygold Irish butter

palm full of turmeric powder

sea salt and white pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients in a food processor.  I like to leave mine a little lumpy for texture. 

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Garlic Beef Stew and Savory Cauliflower Mash is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Pork Loin with Peppers, Mushrooms, N’ Onions

2 organic red bell peppers sliced

1 package of sliced porcini mushrooms

1 red onion sliced

1 thinly sliced pork loin

1/2 cup of Kerrygold Pure Irish butter

4 cloves of garlic minced

1/4 – 1/3 cup chicken broth

1-2 tbsp caraway seeds

sea salt and crushed black pepper to taste

2 tbsp of olive oil

In a large saute pan melt the butter and saute the peppers, mushrooms, garlic, and onions until the veggies are tender. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer, reduce down until it turns into a thick sauce.  Meanwhile, heat the 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat in another saute pan.  Place the thinly sliced pork loin in the oil and season with a little sea salt, black pepper, and caraway seeds. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side and make sure to season both sides of the pork loin.  Serve on a platter topped with the peppers, mushrooms, and onions.

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Pork Loin with Peppers, Mushrooms, N’ Onions is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Caraway Chicken With Belgian Endive

2 lbs boneless chicken thighs

8 strips of cooked and chopped bacon

1 apple sliced

1/2 cup apple juice

2 tbsp caraway seeds

3 Belgian endives

1 tsp sea salt

cracked black pepper to taste

Place chicken thighs in the crock pot and mix with caraway seeds, salt, and pepper.  Slice endives in half lengthwise, remove core, and slice into long strips.  Layer sliced endive on top of the chicken thighs, then sprinkle bacon pieces over the endive, and layer the apple slices on top.  Poor the apple juice over the entire dish and cook on low for 6 hours or until the chicken is tender and falling apart.

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Caraway Chicken With Belgian Endive is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Enjoy!

Chicken and Veggie Roll-ups

4 chicken breasts cut in half

3 carrots cut into strips

3 zucchini cut into strips

3 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

palm full of fresh minced rosemary

crushed black pepper to taste

8 slices of bacon

1/2 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a kitchen mallet, flatten the halved chicken breasts between two pieces of waxed paper. Toss the sliced carrots and zucchini with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary.  Place 2 zucchini and 2 carrot slices in the middle of the flattened chicken breasts, roll tightly, wrap with a piece of bacon, and secure with a toothpick. Place chicken in a baking dish and poor the chicken broth over the chicken roll-ups.  Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink in the middle.  Quick tip – cook bacon prior to wrapping the chicken, but do not cook it until it’s too crisp to wrap!  Also, make sure you thinly slice your veggies or they will not be cooked enough.

Sauce:

2 eggs

2 tbsp cider vinegar

1/2 tsp yellow mustard

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

a pinch or two of cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cups olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

Blend all ingredients except for olive oil and lemon juice.  Once the ingredients are mixed, continue to blend and slowly add the oil and lemon juice until the sauce is mayo consistency.  Add the chicken broth drippings from your pan and continue to blend until smooth.  Poor of chicken veggie roll-ups and serve.

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Chicken and Veggie Roll-ups is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

What you’ll need:

4 cooked and diced chicken breasts

1 head broccoli chopped

1 bag of baby carrots chopped

handful of green olives or garlic stuffed olives sliced

small handful of raisins

a few splashes of chicken broth

cinnamon

ground ginger

cumin

cayenne pepper

sea salt

olive oil

Cover the bottom of a saute pan with olive oil.  Saute broccoli and carrots until crisply tender and add chicken.  Cover chicken with cinnamon, add two or three big dashes of ginger, two or three dashes of cumin, a dash of cayenne pepper (more if you like it really spicy), a dash or two of sea salt, and stir.  Once the chicken and veggies are covered with the spices add the sliced olives and raisins and a few splashes of chicken broth to create a sauce.  Simmer until all the flavors meld together (about 5-7 minutes) and serve!!

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Rockin’ Moroccan Chicken is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Mix together (use your hands)

2lbs grassfed ground beef

1lb of pork sausage

chopped celery, onions, and carrots

3 eggs

1/2 cup almond meal

lots of dried oregano, garlic powder, cracked black pepper, and a little cayenne

small drizzle of raw honey 

Form into large meatballs and cover bottom of crock pot, you might have to stack them depending on the size of your crock pot.

For the sauce mix:

1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 can of tomatoe paste

a large handfull of torn fresh basil

5-6 coarsely chopped garlic cloves

a couple pinches of sea salt

cracked black pepper to taste.

Cover meatballs with tomato sauce and cook all day on low.  These were even better the next day for lunch!!

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Marvelous Meatballs! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Saute 2 cups of sliced mushrooms and one red onion in a bunch of olive oil.  Throw in a pound or two of grassfed ground beef.  Cook together until meat is browned.  Pour in your favorite marinara sauce (one with no additives or  sugar, like the Puttanesca sauce from Trader Joe’s).  Add two heads of chopped broccolli and simmer together for 10 minutes. 

Also pictured is another quick chicken salad: Diced chicken breast, diced purple cabbage, two diced hardboiled eggs, a big handful of sunflower seeds, olive oil, a little mayo, lemon juice, and cracked black pepper.

Enjoy!!

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Keep it simple. is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

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London Broil… is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License