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.

Easy Carnitas (AKA Meat Candy)

4-6lb Pork Shoulder (or boneless Pork Butt)
1 Large Onion
4 Garlic cloves
1 TB Cumin
1 TB Coriander
1 TB Oregano
2 bay leaves
2 tsp sea salt
1 jar of Chipotle Salsa
1 carton of chicken broth (aprx 4 cups or 1 litre)
olive oil

Cut the onion into large chunks, mince the garlic, and cube up the pork into 2" chunks. Place them in a large stock pot or slow cooker and add the cumin, coriander, oregano, and bay leaves.

Add the chipotle salsa and the chicken broth. The liquid should cover the meat, but if it doesn't just add a bit more chicken stock or water.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let it cook uncovered for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally. When it's done all the liquid should be gone and the meat should be falling apart.

Heat the oven to 400F and transfer the meat to a foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, tossing to coat. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the meat gets just a bit crispy.

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.