Stephan's Hungarian Mushroom Soup

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cubed

8 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs, cubed
Butter (or bacon grease)
2 med onions, finely diced
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp dried dill weed
1 TB paprika
1 TB Wheat-Free Tamari
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp sea salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 ripe avocados

Fry the chicken pieces in a large skillet, greased with butter or bacon grease.

In a large stock pot, melt 4 TB of butter. Sauté the onions in the butter for 5 min, then add the mushrooms and sauté for another 5 min. Quick tip: I dice the onions and mushrooms in my food processor because I don't really care for big chunks of either, and it's super fast! Stir in the dill, paprika, tamari, broth, and cooked chicken pieces. Simmer on low heat for 15 min.

Add the salt, pepper, lemon juice, and parsley. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove about 1/2 cup of the soup liquid and add to a food processor or blender along with the avocados. Blend until creamy. Add to that creamy goodness to the soup. Continue simmering or serve immediately.

Paleo Stuffing

My husband was suspicious that I could make decent stuffing without using any bread, but this recipe got thumbs up all around when I made it for dinner recently. It's only a slight variation from this recipe at PaleOMG.

1 Sweet Potato, peeled and cubed
5 Slices of Bacon, diced
5 Stalks of Celery, diced
1 med Onion, diced
2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and diced
1 lb ground pork
1-2 Cups of mushrooms, diced
2 TB White Wine Vinegar
2 eggs
1/2 cup dried cranberries (if you can find ones with no sugar added)
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup pecans, chopped


Preheat the oven to 375F. Place the sweet potato cubes on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then bake for 15-20 min.

While that's baking, fry the bacon pieces in a large skillet. When they begin to brown, add in the diced celery, onion, and apples.

When the onions become soft, add the ground pork, mushrooms, and white wine vinegar. Stir and cook until the pork is cooked through (no visible pink).

Transfer the mixture to a bowl to cool. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, then pour over the cooled pork mixture. Toss in the cranberries, raisins, pecans, and yams and mix well.

This makes a big batch! I stuffed a 10lb chicken and still had an entire baking sheet full left over. Bake the mixture at 375F on a foil lined baking sheet or in a large pyrex dish for about 15-20 min until it begins to brown. You can make this without needing to cook a giant bird. It's delicious all on its own!

Coconut Chocolate Pecan Cookies

These cookies are more moist than the last cookie recipe I posted. Next time I'm trying them with chunky peanut butter!

4 Eggs
2 TB Coconut Oil, melted
1 box of pure creamed coconut (170g)
1/4 Cup honey - eliminate this for the low carb version
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1 TB vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 Squares of Lindt 85% Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 Cup Pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F

1) Whisk the 4 eggs in a large bowl

2) In a medium bowl, melt the creamed coconut, honey, and butter together. Once liquefied, add the coconut milk and vanilla extract

3) Slowly incorporate the coconut liquid into the egg, stirring constantly

4) Sprinkle the coconut flour and baking powder over the wet mixture and mix until it forms a soft dough

5) Fold in the chopped chocolate and pecans

6) Roll into balls and pat down on a cookie sheet (aprx 24 cookies)

7) Bake at 350F for 15-17 minutes

Without the honey, these cookies have only 1.4g of net carbs per cookie!

Saskatchewan Fried Chicken

8-10 Chicken Drumsticks
8-10 Chicken Thighs
2 eggs
1/2 Cup Finely Ground Almonds (almond flour)
1/3 Cup Coconut Flour
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp sea salt teaspoons salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp tarragon
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground celery seeds
Bacon grease or coconut oil


1) Whisk the two eggs in a bowl


2) On a large plate, combine all the dry ingredients


3) Dunk each piece of chicken in the egg and dredge in the dry mixture


4) Melt a 1/4" layer of coconut oil or bacon grease (or a combo of the two) in your frying pan. Fry the chicken, covered, on low heat for 10-15 minutes on each side. Don't have the heat too high or the outside will burn before the inside is cooked through.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Here's my take on this recipe from Chocolate and Carrots

Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 eggs
1 banana, mashed
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup butter, softened (or coconut oil)
25g 80% dark chocolate (about 1/4 of a bar), roughly chopped*

Cinnamon

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350°.

2) In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking soda.

3) In another bowl, beat the eggs, coconut milk, butter and banana with a hand mixer.

4) Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and blend again with the hand mixer.

5) Fold in the chocolate chunks.

6) Pour into a greased loaf pan and sprinkle with cinnamon

7) Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*I'm thinking you could easily leave out the chocolate chunks and replace with walnuts or pecans for a lovely banana nut loaf

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 Cups Almond Flour
1 Cup Coconut Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter
50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (half of a bar, the less sugar the better)

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 375 F

2) Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl

3) In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla and beat with a hand mixer

4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until dough begins to form

5) melt the butter and add to the batter

6) Fold in the chocolate chunks

7) Form dough balls into cookie shape and place on a well greased cookie sheet or use non stick foil. The cookies don't rise or spread so form them into the shape you want and line them up as close together as you like.

8) Bake for 15 minutes until slightly browned at the edges.

Honey Nut Granola Cereal

mmmm.... cereal

1 Cup whole almonds

1 Cup sunflower seeds

1 Cup pumpkin seeds

1 Cup sliced almonds

1 Cup unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup raisins (or cranberries or dried blueberries)

1/4 cup ghee*

1/4 cup honey

1 egg white

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1) pulse the first three ingredients in the food processor

2) combine the food processor ingredients with the sliced almonds, coconut, and raisins. Then stir it up (little darling).

3) Melt the ghee and honey together and drizzle over the mixture

4) pour in the egg white and mix until well coated

5) sprinkle on the cinnamon

6) Pour evenly onto a large cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 min at 400 F, stopping frequently to stir

Enjoy with almond milk or coconut milk and you'll never miss regular cereal again!

*Ghee is just clarified butter, usually available with the Indian food in the international section of the grocery store. If you cant find it, just use butter.

Waldorf Salad Wraps

Per Serving:

1/4 apple, cored but not necessarily peeled

1/2 stalk celery

1 slice of onion (if you're into that sort of thing)

2 TB walnuts

1/2 cup cooked chicken (aprx 2 oz)

1-2 TB olive oil mayo

Roughly chop everything together or lightly pulse in a food processor/magic bullet. Waldorf salad also usually has grapes too, which I didn't include, but would probably be a tasty addition.

Serve wrapped up in one of the delicious Basic Crepes/Wraps.

Best lunch ever. Yum!

Basic Crepes/Wraps

This is a wonderfully delicious, yet neutral flavored base that works just as well with sweet toppings like jam, fruit, honey, or syrup as it does with savory flavors for lunchtime wraps.

Ingredients:

5 eggs

1/2 Cup + 2 TB almond flour

2 tsp honey (warmed)

pinch of salt

butter, for the pan to cook the crepes

1. Whisk the first 4 ingredients together.

2. Put in the fridge to chill for 10-15 mins

3. Heat an 8" pan (or crepe maker if you have one) on Med-Low.

4. Brush the pan with butter and pour in about 1/3 cup of the mixture. Tilt the pan around until it makes a thin layer

5. Watch closely as it will only take a short time for the bottom of the crepe to brown. Gently loosen the edges with a spatula and flip

6. Cool on a rack and enjoy! This recipe made 4 crepes.

Primal Stuffing

I saw this on the CrossFit Saskatoon blog and I am shamelessly stealing and re-posting it here :-)

Sausage and Apple Stuffing
10 slices bacon (6 oz), diced
2 pounds pork sausage meat
2 large onions, chopped
8 oz. medium mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 tsp dried sage leaves, crumbled
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pound tart apples, cored and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 cup chopped fresh parsley

Cook bacon until it begins to brown. Crumble sausage meat in same pan and cook till done. Add onions, mushrooms and celery, cooking until onions and mushrooms are wilted. Stir in sage, thyme, salt and pepper, then the apples. Remove from heat, add parsley.

I will do my best to talk my mama into stuffing our turkey with this tomorrow. Updates to follow... Happy Turkey Day!

Paleo Made Simple From Mama L

Here comes a variety of paleo food ideas with simple, delicious ingredients courtesy of David's mom, Leslie. Pictures and all! Thanks mama L for sharing your recipes!

Walnut Chicken Skewers
Slice up chicken, crush walnuts. Wet chicken with something you like (beer, oil, water). Dip in the crushed walnuts. Make a yummy sauce. Bring to potluck - instant popularity!

Roasted tomatoes
Delicious way to serve tomatoes, cooking sweetens them right up: cut tomatoes, coat with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, roast at 250 for 4 hours.

Roast chicken
Get a good hutterite chicken. Sprinkle with coarse salt and peppercorns. Roast. Enjoy and then make soup!

Breakie
Gotta love it when, for the entire summer, every carton of hutterite eggs have double yolks...served with fried green tomato salsa.

Canning Galore

20lbs of peaches, pears, plums, tomatoes and apples turned into... ...a winter stock of local produce! Just add a touch of sugar and lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove! The salsa is great!

Coconut Pancakes and Waffles

I found this video on Mark's Daily Apple. It was a user submission for a recipe contest held during a month-long primal challenge in September. It looks fabulous!

Fabulous Onion Bread

You may have heard me talk about this one before and anyone who's tried it raves about its awesome deliciousness. Seriously, this recipe is not a lame substitution for bread, but a gourmet variety, worlds above in terms of heartiness and flavor. BUT... and there is a but... it is really finicky and labor intensive to make, which is why I've been putting off posting the recipe. The original inspiration for this came from a raw food vegan cookbook (yes, I own one of those!) and was meant to be entirely dehydrated, taking upwards of 24 hours. I'm not opposed to cooking my food, plus my dehydrator doesn't have the nifty trays you would need to make items like this, or fruit leathers, or other paste-like treats. So I've been experimenting with different methods every time David talks me into dedicating an afternoon and sacrificing my eyeballs to make this. Here's the best I've come up with thus far, but I'm sure there will be updates to this one over time.

Ingredients
4 large sweet onions
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup organic tamari soya sauce
2/3 cup olive oil

Directions
1) Grind the sunflower seeds in a food processor. Buy pre-ground flax seeds if possible, but if not blend those babies up too!

2) Get read to weep! Peel and roughly chop the onions. Puree them in the food processor then transfer to a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Squish out as much of the liquid as possible. It burns! It burns! Perhaps I need these?

3) Combine the ground seeds with the onion mush and add the tamari and the olive oil. Mix well!

4) Spread the mixture onto a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Aim for a thin layer, about 1/4" thick. Bake at 350 for 60 min or until the top is browned. This picture was for a double batch.

5) Allow the bread to cool, then slice into squares and gently transfer to a food dehydrator. Dehydrate on low to medium heat for 6-ish hours.

Now you're ready to enjoy the best sandwich you'll ever have in your life.

Pumpkin Pie

This is another recipe sampled from Mark's Daily Apple in a post about primal pie fillings. It is rather high in carbs for an everyday food, but it is a delicious way to enjoy a traditional dessert for thanksgiving while staying allergen (ie grain and dairy) free.


Crust:
1 Cup Almond Meal
1 whole egg
2 TB coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt


Soften the coconut butter until it is soft or slightly melted. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Line a pie plate with with parchment paper and plop the ball of dough in the center. Brush the dough with a little extra coconut oil (so it doesn't stick) and use your fingers to spread it into the crust. Bake at 400 for 15 mins.

Filling:
1 Cup fresh or canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup maple sugar flakes
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp powdered cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger

Mix everything together and pour into the pre-baked pie crust. My pie plate was rather shallow, so this amount of filling turned out to be slightly too much and I didn't use all of it. Return to the oven and bake at 350 for 30-35 mins.

I found the organic maple flakes at sobeys. It's just dried maple syrup which makes it basically pure sugar. Whether this really qualifies as anything close to paleo, I can't decide...

Primal Magic Cookie Bars

This recipe is actually MDA's Energy Bar Redux. Thank you Mark for the awesome inspiration! BUT... My mom used to make an amazing square with a graham short bread base, topped with chocolate chips, coconut, and a sweet & condensed milk glaze called Magic Cookie Bars. Before she went primal, started doing CrossFit, and lost 80 lbs, that is. She's hung up her bakers hat for good, so those recipes only exist in our memory now. However, this one reminds me of those treats so much I am re-christening it from an energy bar to a delicious dessert!

Ingredients

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup almond butter (although cashew, hazelnut, walnut and even pumpkin butters will work well too!)

1/4 cup coconut oil (check your local health food store)
1/4 cup almond meal

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp of raw honey (although, this is really kind of optional)

1/2 cup unsweetened whey protein powder (I used vanilla flavored)

1 large egg

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup dried cranberries (or blueberries or raisins, look for unsweetened if possible)

1 TB unsweetened coconut to sprinkle on top

2 TB dark chocolate chips also to sprinkle on top

On a cookie sheet, toast nuts and shredded coconut until golden brown. In order for them to cook evenly, you need to shake up the tray at least once during cooking.

Once toasted, pour mixture into a food processor and pulse until nuts are chopped and the mixture becomes coarsely ground.

In a mixing bowl, melt coconut oil and almond butter. Remove from microwave and stir until smooth. Add vanilla extract, honey and sea salt. Mix thoroughly.

Fold in nut mixture, almond meal and protein powder until mixed thoroughly.

Add whole egg and mix thoroughly.

Fold in blueberries/cranberries.

Press mixture into an 8 by 8 loaf pan. Sprinkle with the coconut and chocolate chips. Bake at 325 for 10-15 mins. The top will look sort of foamy, but once you remove it from the oven and allow it to cool it will look normal. Spread the chocolate chips with a spatula while still warm and melty.

Pizza Update

I've experimented numerous times with the almond meal crust for the Paleo Pizza to find the perfect technique for a cripsy crust that holds together and doesn't stick to the pan. The secret seems to be to spread the crust out on non-stick parchment paper! Just thought I'd share a handy tip...

Hoisin Sauce Recipe

I was in the "Oriental" aisle at Sobeys comparing ingredient lists on bottles of Hoisin Sauce (for an upcoming pork tenderloin recipe) only to find myself horrified by all of them. For example, The Golden Dragon Hoisin Sauce ingredients are: Water, Sugar, Soy Beans, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Vinegar, Spices, Caramel Color, Wheat, Maltodextrin, Sodium Benzoate (a preservative). I thought, that can't possibly be the original, authentic recipe for this stuff. So I set off to find a recipe and make my own.

4 TB Organic Tamari soy sauce

2 TB black bean paste*

1 TB honey or molasses or brown sugar

2 tsp white vinegar

1/8 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp sesame oil

20 drops habanero hot sauce

1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper

*you can use peanut butter as a substitute if you can't find black bean paste

Mix well until everything is fully incorporated.