Simple Paleo Jerky

***I wanted to get this posted before I forgot!  I will be back to add pictures later tonight!***

Since I discovered this recipe, beef jerky has become a staple of my paleo day.  Before, I wasn't at all tempted by the plastic packaged stuff in the store.  Let's face it, it is marketed to men and the idea of unrefrigerated meat sitting in a bag for weeks on end in a store isn't so appetizing.  But I am psyched to eat it if I made it myself.

So, depending on the meat you choose, it can get pricey.  I bought flank steak that wasn't on sale the first time I made jerky because I wanted to try it.  It was around $8 a pound.  Add the coconut aminos which are around $12/bottle (and you use half a bottle per 2-3 lbs of meat) and the spices and it becomes one of the pricier snacks.  But totally worth it as a treat or if you see a good deal on meat (I recently got an organic rib eye that was discounted because it was on its last "marketable" day for $2/lb and it made GREAT jerky!).

The "best" cuts for it according to my extensive googling are london broil, top round or flank steak.  Basically that is because they are very lean.  But as long as you don't mind a little extra elbow grease, any cut will work provided you trim off any visible fat.  Leaving fat on the meat makes it take longer to cook and increases the chances it will become rancid (yuck!) after a few days.  Plus, it isn't good for you anyways.....

Recipe

3 lbs lean beef (place in freezer for an hour or two for easier thin slicing)
3/4 cup coconut aminos (I have cut this down a bit when using spicier spices and it still works.  Plus aminos are expensive!)
1/4 cup water (increase the water in an equal ratio to the aminos you remove if you do)
3 teaspoons granulated or minced garlic (I prefer fresh minced but powered will work fine)
1 tbs dried ginger*
1/2 to 1 tbs fresh cracked black pepper
1 tbs sea salt

Slice beef very thinly, approximately 1/4 inch thick and across the grain.
Place big in a large glass bowl or zipper bag.
Premix all of the above ingredients.
Add the liquid to the meat bag and mix well (I prefer the bag because I can squish it around easily)
Marinate for at least 4 hours (I prefer at least overnight and have left it as long as 48 hours).

Dehydrator: Place in dehydrator for 4 to 5 hours at 160 degrees or until it looks done.

Oven: Place strips on cookie sheets (metal) with no overlapping.  Cook on 170 degrees for 4 to 5 hours (might be longer if your meat is thicker and dependent on your oven so leave yourself extra time just in case).  Leave the oven door cracked open (you can prop with a wooden spoon).

*Note: I don't use the ginger.  We like our jerky spicier so I used one tablespoon either Jamaican or Indian style curry powder.  Even my coworkers who don't love curry love the jerky with curry so try it!  I am eating some right now....

Curry Bacon Brussel Sprouts

It really bothers me that I have no idea if it is "brussel" or "brussels". Googling produces results for both and I prefer to use proper English. Regardless these sprouts are divine!

I have a bit of an obsession going with curry. The curry I am using was purchased on our trip to Grand Cayman last November and is a Jamaican style yellow powder. I am sure the recipe would also work well with an Indian style yellow curry as they are very similar. I will have to try it out with Thai before I give that my blessing though!

Recipe

Brussel(s) sprouts, cleaned - 2 cups
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs curry powder
1 tsp minced garlic
3-4 strips bacon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the olive oil and curry together until well combined.

Toss the sprouts in the garlic and then toss them in the oil mixture (right in the dish you are going to roast them in so you don't lose a drop of yummy curry oil!).

Arrange in a tightly packed single layer in the baking dish.

Drape the slices of raw bacon over the top.

Pop in the oven and cook until both the bacon is cooked and sprouts look a bit browned and crispy (30-40 minutes depending on your oven).

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Carefully (ouch, it's hot!) break the bacon into bite size pieces and mix it into the sprouts.

Serve and enjoy!

Paleo Friendly Italian Dressing

I posted this recipe the other day on the Working Paleo Facebook page.  Hubby and I love it and it is so much cheaper than the commercially prepared dressings.  I have stored it in the fridge for about a month now without an issue.  I make huge batches (quadruple the below recipe) and fill several jars so it is ready to go for salads and marinades.  I substituted a little crushed mustard seed for the mustard and even left it out completely in one batch and it was still fabulous!

Recipe

1 cup olive oil
1 cup red wine vinegar (can substitute other vinegars and mix in some lemon juice too)
2 1/2 tsp garlic powder (I added minced garlic instead)
1 tsp onion powder or dried minced onion
2 1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 1/2 dried basil (I have used fresh as well)
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried or prepared mustard

Combine all ingredients and shake well.  Store in a jar with an airtight seal either in the fridge or at room temperature.  Keep in mind that the oil and vinegar will separate so it will need to be shaken prior to use and, if refrigerated, might need too warm up a bit.

Fritatta of Paleo Love

One of the first recipes I came up with on my own after hubby and I started our Paleo journey was a gorgeous and delicious fritatta.

Doesn't it look good?  Ok, so maybe it isn't the most attractive dish in the world but it was DELICIOUS.  And really really filling.  It made enough for us for dinner one night and lunch each the following day and we were stuffed.  Plus it is absolutely packed with vegetables.

This recipe makes a huge amount of food but if you cut it in half, this fritatta would likely fit into a pie plate and be a bit thinner.  I made it in a Corningware dish that is fairly deep (4" or so) - you know, the white ridged baking dishes with the clear glass tops?  It is very quiche like but no cream or cheese or crust so I hesitate to call it a quiche!

Recipe

A dozen eggs
1 lb loose breakfast sausage
5 strips bacon, cooked crispy
1 onion, chopped
1 zucchini, halved and sliced
1 summer squash, halved and sliced
2 cups broccoli
1 tbsp garlic, minced or chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

In a fairly deep saute pan, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil for about five minutes.

Add the sausage and cook until sausage is well browned.

While the sausage, etc. is cooked, crack your eggs directly into the baking dish and add your cooked bacon.    Mix well (breaks all egg yolks, etc.)  Set it aside.

Once the sausage is sufficiently browned, add your zucchini and summer squash to the pan and stir well and frequently, allowing it to cook for about five minutes.

Add your broccoli to the pan and stir well and frequently, allowing it to cook for three minutes.  In order to get the veggies to cook up quickly, you may need to cover the pan depending on your pans and cooking source (gas or electric).  I usually cover because my pans don't heat evenly and we have an electric stove.

Remove the sausage and vegetable mix from the heat and allow it to cool a bit - around 10 minutes or so.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees while you are waiting.

Once cooled, add to the egg mixture and stir well.

Pop in the oven for thirty minutes or until the center is cooked through (do the clean knife test).

The leftovers of this dish (if there are any!) reheat really well in the microwave.  Enjoy!

Cooking Paleo

I have been trying out a lot of new recipes lately, both my own creations and ones I find on the internet and tweak a bit.  Some ideas are born of desperation and the few ingredients left at the end of the week and others to find healthier solutions that even my three year old will eat.

Just a little preview of what's to come this week and next for recipes:

Homemade ketchup (I made it but want to try it first before I share it.  It could be gross.)

Homemade italian salad dressing (see above)

Curried brussel sprouts with bacon

Fritatta full of Paleo love (a.k.a. meat and veggies)

Quick chicken salad extraordinaire (this was so amazingly good for something thrown together for a 9 p.m. dinner)

Paleo "ice cream" (Trying a few different flavors out over the weekend.  Planning to share the hits and misses!)

Also, check out Working Paleo on Facebook for daily status update and a great community of people sharing and working hard together to be healthy!

Hate Spinach?

So, I realize that not everyone like spinach.  But they may have been intrigued by this recipe.  So I thought I would give the same thing a shot with brussel sprouts.  Guess what?  Delicious.  I will be trying a few other vegetables over the next few weeks and will let you all know how it goes!

Braised Short Ribs

Not only did hubby and I share a cow with a few other families, but we also are participating in a winter meat farm share with Truelove Farms.  We had beef short ribs from both.  I had tried making short ribs from a Food Network recipe several years ago and completely struck out so I was leery to try again.  This recipe is definitely one for a weekend and isn't quick like many of the others I post but it was delicious.  I found it here and made it more Paleo friendly.  If you are avoiding alcohol altogether, you might try some unsweetened grape or apple juice for your braising liquid but not sure how that will taste (let me know if you try it!) or some beef broth.

 Recipe

8 beef short ribs (recipe says about 6 ounces each but mine were wacky sized and it all worked fine)
2/3 cup almond flour
2 tbsp onion powder
3 tbsp salt (I used sea salt which is less salty so I upped this to 4 tbsp)
2 tbsp black ground pepper
4 chopped/diced garlic cloves
4 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cups of chopped carrots
2 cups organic red wine
2 sprigs fresh rosemary with the pieces picked off the stem
2 cans of either low sodium chicken broth or beef broth (don't open both - just have on hand as you may or may not need that much depending on your pan)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

In a shallow dish or bowl (I used a glass pie plate and it worked PERFECTLY), combine the almond flour, salt, pepper and onion powder.

 Dredge each beef rib through the the dry mixture and shake off the excess.  Shake fairly well as almond flour absorbs moisture more readily than regular flour.

Heat olive oil and garlic in a large skillet.

Cook ribs on medium high heat until all sides are browned.  Because it is easier and I didn't have a pan large enough, I did two to three ribs at a time.

Place the browned ribs in an oven safe baking dish.

Reduce the heat to medium low and add the carrots and onions to the skillet and cook until they are soft and slightly browned.

Add the red wine and rosemary to the skillet and simmer until the liquid reduces by about one half.

Pour the mixture carefully over the ribs.

Add broth until the ribs are just covered by the liquid.  I failed to plan ahead on this step and my baking dish wasn't deep enough so, PLAN AHEAD.  The liquid needs to cover the meat.

Braise covered in the oven for three hours or until the meat is literally falling off of the rib (it might take longer than three hours or shorter - I would start checking them at the 2.5 hour mark).

Once done, take the ribs out and you can simmer the remaining liquid on the stove top for a "gravy" of sorts. I just served it "as is" on the side and it was delicious, especially the carrots!

Party Pleaser - Zucchini Hummus

When you think about hummus (if you think about it - I do!), you generally think chick peas.  Which are a major Paleo no-no.  But the rest of the ingredients in hummus are all healthy and Paleo friendly.  So what the heck do I dip my vegetables in?

And then, on Pinterest (I am an addict, follow me!), I came across this recipe from SkinnyMs.  And I gave it a shot in my Ninja blender.  Party perfection!

Recipe

(I doubled the recipe and it made way more than I needed!)

2 medium zucchini, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup lemon juice (you can up this if you like a more lemony flavored hummus)
1/2 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves (next time I am going to roast these first and then make the recipe)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in a blender and food processor and mix until smooth.  Serve with raw veggies for dipping!

Sweet Italian Sausage Saute

In my pre-Paleo days, I loved ordering a hearty pasta dish with Italian sausage.  These days, pasta is a no-no but, thankfully, sausage isn't!  I get my sausage from Truelove Farms.  Tom, the owner is young and really nice so if you are in the Connecticut area, the farm is definitely worth a trip and he has some great ideas and products there.  But his sweet Italian sausage is my favorite!  So I figured I should create a dish to highlight it and satisfy my sausage and pasta craving.

Recipe

One onion, diced
Two roma tomatoes, chopped
1 Tbs diced garlic (or more!  I love garlic)
2 Tbs Olive oil
1 lb sweet Italian sausage
Italian seasoning
1 large spaghetti squash, roasted (don't know how to roast one?  Go here!)

Start cooking your squash first because it will take longer than the saute.  Before you even start dicing the onion and tomato, have the squash in the oven.

Saute the onion, tomato and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until the onion is cooked through (but not clear).

Add a good amount of Italian seasoning and mix it all together.

While that is all cooking, carefully cut the sausage links into 1/2 inch to 1 inch chunks (totally up to you on size - whatever you prefer!)

Add those to the pan and continue to cook over medium heat for about ten minutes or until the sausage is cooked through.  You can cover it to help it cook a little faster or if you think there isn't enough "sauce" to adequately coat your squash.

While it's cooking, hopefully your squash is done or close to done so you can start pulling the strings with a fork.  With this recipe, it might be a good idea to put the "spaghetti" strands into a strainer in the sink to strain off some of the extra moisture since you are going to be adding a "sauce" of sorts.

Once your sausage is cooked and your squash is ready, just top the "spaghetti" with the sausage saute and you are ready to eat.  So yummy and hubby approved!

Enjoy!

Paleo Pancakes...yes, pancakes!

Yes, you read that correctly...PANCAKES!  In the WP house, pancakes are almost a daily request from the little guy.  And I still have that big bag of Krusteaz mix from Costco for him.  But he will also gladly eat the paleo version and they are so much healthier for him.  Super easy recipe, made even easier with a good blender (I love my Ninja!).

Recipe

1 banana
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of almond butter (this is somewhat optional - I made them without the first time and they were just as delicious so if you have nut allergies in your house, leave it out!)
Shake of cinnamon

I throw all of the ingredients in my Ninja and blend until smooth.  If you don't have a great blender or don't feel like dragging it out, you CAN do this by hand but I would strongly suggest mashing the banana up really well first or you will have lumpy pancakes.

Once mixed, proceed like normal - big or small pancakes both work although if you want to do letter shapes (we are learning our letters!), I would maybe add an extra tablespoon of almond butter to thicken it up.

The mixture will be thinner than a normal pancake mix and therefore more runny.  Have no fear!  The consistency is very similar once cooked.

Important to note that I usually at least double the recipe to feed the three of us on the weekend.  I actually like to triple or quadruple it and then save the leftovers for during the week.  30 seconds in the microwave and they are ready to eat again (although they taste good cold!).

Enjoy!

Coconut Curry Scallops and Swordfish

The local fresh fish store has become a go-to place for me on the weekends.  I usually end up taking my three year old which means I don't get a lot of time to peruse and plan and end up just randomly picking stuff to keep the counter guy from staring at me blankly for longer than three minutes.  Which is how I ended up with chunks of swordfish and sea scallops.  I made coconut bread earlier in the day and needed something to compliment it.  A friend suggested a curry dish and this was the result!

Recipe

One pound of sea scallops
One pound of swordfish chunks
Roasted spaghetti squash
Two cups of broccoli
One onion
One can of full fat coconut milk
Garlic - fresh chopped or jarred
Jamaican or Indian curry - whichever you prefer

Add the coconut milk, onion, garlic and curry (about 1 tbs - adjust to your preferred level of heat) to a medium saute pan over medium heat.

Cover and let cook together for five or so minutes.

Add the scallops and swordfish and cover again and let cook for five minutes.

Add broccoli and cover again and cook until broccoli is cooked through, stirring frequently to make sure all ingredients are coated in the coconut curry sauce.

Serve alone or over spaghetti squash.

Note: I think this would work well with any kind of fish or shellfish.  Maybe even chicken.  You can also substitute low fat coconut milk.  I used the Jamaican style curry for mine because I had some we had purchased in Grand Cayman in November.

Spaghetti Squash

One of the best things about Paleo was my discovery of spaghetti squash.  I seriously cannot get enough of the stuff!  I use it as a base for everything I used to eat with pasta and rice or eat it on its own.  Super simple to make and great for you.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Get out your muscles!

Using a large, heavy knife very very carefully, cut the spaghetti squash in half length wise.  This takes a good deal of force so please, please be careful.  I will sometimes use a meat tenderizing hammer over a dish towel on the back of my knife and tap the knife in and through.

Clean out all the seeds and strings (I am saving the seeds to grow but you can roast them like pumpkin seeds too!).

Place the squash halves skin side up in a glass baking dish.

Drizzle olive oil over the skins.

Roast for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the squash.  If it is softball size, go for 30 minutes.  Two softballs together, better off with 45.

Once done, use a fork to scrape the "spaghetti" strings out.  Top with olive oil, garlic and seasonings or your favorite other recipe (I will post a few soon!).

YUM, enjoy!

Dessert Idea

One thing that has been super difficult for me is to give up sweets.  I have a MAJOR sweet tooth and I love ice cream, among other things.  I thought that I would be giving up sweets completely because I was pretty much giving up all processed foods which includes sugar.

Thank god for my friends!

My new favorite dessert - dates smeared with almond butter.  YUM!  I love this to the point where we have four boxes of Girl Scout cookies (ordered pre-Paleo).  I tried one cookie from each box and they just didn't taste very good.  All I wanted was my dates.

Shopping Tip: both dates and almond butter can be really expensive.  Luckily, Costco carries both - stock up!

First Recipe - Braised Bacon Spinach with Olives

I must admit, I am not a huge fan of spinach.  But hubby likes it and I know it is good for me.  So we bought a big old bag of it at Costco.  I hit up the local fish market for some wild caught Artic Char and got creative.

Here an "in progress" picture

Recipe

A few handfuls of raw spinach
Mixed kalamata and green olives, chopped
Very fatty bacon with the fat separated from the meatier parts - 6 or so slices
Chopped fresh or jarred garlic
Sea salt to taste

Put the bacon fat in a medium skillet over medium heat and cook until it melts.

Add the garlic and desired amount of sea salt.  Cover and cook over medium for two minutes.

Toss in the olives and bacon and cook until the bacon is cooked through.

Add the spinach and toss to coat in the bacon fat and other ingredients.

Cover and remove from heat.

Let sit for ten minutes or so until the spinach is wilted.

I served the artic char on top of the bed of spinach.  To prepare the fish, I cut slits in the top and inserted small pieces of bacon fat.  I added italian seasoning and garlic and broiled for 20 or so minutes.

End result was delicious!