Warm kale and bacon salad

Check out a super, 5 min salad that goes great with just about anything!

3 cups of dino kale, washed cut and trim away the stem

6 slices of bacon

2 tbsp of cranberry citrus dressing

salt and pepper

1 tbsp of Nutiva coconut oil

Directions

Slice bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy in a large wok.  Remove bacon and set aside.  Be sure to give the pan a quick rinse, you do not want any bacon crumbles leaving you with a burnt after taste.  Cook the kale in the coconut oil for 2 minutes.  Once you kale has wilted down, add the 2 tbsp of cranberry citrus dressing, bacon, salt and pepper.  Be sure to massage and mix everyhting together.  Enjoy! 

Creamy Spaghetti Bolognaise

This was a recipe that happened by mistake.  I took 2 leftover dishes and threw them together and bam, creamy spaghetti was born!  We also happened to feature this meal at crossfit whistler this week to help feed our athletes.  This recipe is packed full of protein, fat, and the right carbs.  Creamy spaghetti is great for taking on the go, all your dinner is in one bowl!

Ingredients:

1 med-large spaghetti squash

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 lb of grass fed beef

1 medium yellow onion

½ pound of mushrooms

3 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1 tbsp of virgin coconut oil

½ cup of fresh basil

2 avocados

4 cups of spinach

2 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of fresh rosemary

1 tbsp of fresh thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven and cook spaghetti squash around 25 mins. (Depending on your oven, squash should flake away easy.)  Don't know how to cook a squash?  Check out this video.
• While your squash is cooking you start on the sauce.  Sautee the onions until transparent.  Add in your mushrooms and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
• Add in your garlic and sauté for under a minute; be sure not to burn your garlic!
• Add in ground beef, stirring occasionally, and cook meat through.
• Add in your chopped tomatoes and fresh herbs.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 1-2 hours.  The longer you simmer, the better it will taste!  Remember to simmer is to cook with love!  The more love, well, you get the point.
• Once your sauce has simmered down to about 3/4 of what you started, you are ready to add in the creamy sauce

  For the Creamy Sauce

• ·        Place avocados, olive oil and spinach and blend until smooth consistency.

• ·        add cream sauce into tomato sauce

• Now that you squash is cooked and has had time to cool down, flake away the squash making your spaghetti strands.  Add all of the squash to your sauce and mix thoroughly.  Add salt and pepper as you like it.

 ***Make a big batch of this as this is a really easy leftover and great item to freeze and eat for later!

Paleo Venison Stew

We were very lucky to get some wild venison stew meat from a friend of ours.  Local and wild, whew, I'm so paleo!  Ah, ok enough.  This is another great slow cooker recipe that can make you look like a paleo chef.  You can substitute the venison for pastured bison or beef. 

Ingredients

1.5 lbs. of wild venison stew meat

1 lb. of carrots

1 head of celery

1 medium yellow onion

6 heads of garlic (minced)

1 cup of homemade bone broth

1 can of crushed tomatoes

.5 pound of bacon

1 tbsp. of garlic powder

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

Directions: 

• Chop your .5lb of bacon into small pieces and fry.
• Removed cooked bacon from the pan (do not throw away that beautiful cooking fat, we are about to use it!)
• Making sure the pan is hot, we are going to quickly brown the venison. Cook for a minute or so on high heat, each side.  Remove and place aside.
• Add in the onion, carrots and celery and cook for 5-6 minutes.  Once your onions, carrots and celery have started to cook add in all the ingredients; garlic, tomatoes, herbs, etc.
• Bring the stew to simmer
• Pour the stew into the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
• Once complete, remove the sprigs and bay leaves. 
• Enjoy - and remember, this is a great recipe to part into 2 are freeze the second part and enjoy for later

Paleo Grass Fed Beef Bone Broth

I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  Currently we are experimenting, getting our line of paleo foods ready for the farmers market season.  When I am in the kitchen, I love listening to "latest in paleo" by Angelo Coppola.  If you haven't listened to his podcast yet, click here.  For those that have, you will know he is a huge fan of a good bone broth.  Our house too has jumped on the bone broth band wagon.  It's so great to have on hand in the kitchen.  Why eat bone broth?

-It's delicious and will become your base of soups, stews, chilis or even curries.  This stuff is even great to sip on.  Seriously, throw out that garbage you call broth you buy from the store, it's defintely not paleo!

-Its full of colagen, glucosamine and gelatin, minerals which are hard to find in our main diet.  Why should you eat gelatin?  Minerals such as collagen or gelatin help fix digestive problems, for example, leaky gut.  Collagen also helps in the aid of hair and nails.

-Because the caveman ate the entire aninmal, so should you! 

-It's cheap- ding ding!  There's a word I don't get to use to often when bloggin on the paleo subject.  As mentioned before, offal is not highly sought (yet, give it some time, you too will jump on the band wagon), so grass fed bones are going to be far cheaper, tastier and healthier than any organic, wolfgang whomever brand on the market.

Tips on your home bone broth

1. Grass fed bones are ideal - why grass fed bones over grain fed?  click here for mark's daily apple article on why grass is always best! 
2. Look for the gelatin - You are cooking the collagen out of the bone. You should see the fat and oil at the top of your broth.  This is good!  If you do not have an oil top or visible fat you may need to add a little more vinegar and try cooking longer.
3. fat- some broths will produce more fat on the top than others.  Depending on your preferred taste will be wether you leave it on there.  Wait for the broth to gel.  Ontop will be a hard crust.  Using a spatula, scrape off the top and place extra fat in a glass container.  Keep this fat to use for any need for a lard/oil.
4. Cool your broth right away - Most food borne illnesses come from food being improperly handled, which usually happens in the cooling period.  As soon as your broth is ready, submerge your pot in an ice bath, stirring occasionaly to realease your trapped heat.
5. Split broth into thirds - I split this broth three ways when I make it.  I use one part immediately (i usually drink on its own), and freeze other two parts in 2 seperate freezer bags for later.  You can also use an ice tray to make your own boiullon cubes and have small portions for use later.  If freezing any of your broth, remember to let the broth completly cool before to prevent freezer burn.
6. When making any soups, stews, or curries, always wait until the end of the cooking process to add salt and pepper.  When simmering you are condensing the liquid, adding salt and pepper at the beginning can leave you with to much!

Paleo Grass Fed Beef Broth Recipe

Inredients:

1 bag of grass fed beef bones (around 2kg)

2 lbs of carrots

1 head of celery

1 large yellow onion

6 heads of garlic (whole)

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 tbsp of coconut vinegar

 

Direcetions:

• Chop you carrots, celery and onion. 
• Take all of your ingredients and add to your crockpot.
• Fill with water, ensuring your bones are covered with water. 
• Set your slow cooker to 12 hours on low.
• After 12 hours you should have a caramilk like colour and lots of gelatin!  (If no gelatin, try cooking for an additional 4 hours.)
• Using a strainer, transfer into a bowl sepertaing the bones, veggies and herbs from the broth.  (some keep the veggies and eat them or puree into soups.)
• Cool soup in a large ice bath. 

Using a crock pot/slow cooker makes this recipe totally fool proof!  You can use a stove, but this will require you to be home all day.  I have also read that paleo blogger, Michelle Tam of "Nom Nom" is a big fan of the pressure cooker when making a bone broth.  I have yet to try this method.  I do know that I just love coming home to that sweet aroma!

Check out some helpful sites if you still need convincing:

Top 5 reasons why bone broth is the bomb

why bone broths support your adrenals, teeth and bones

Bone broth for health building

Grilled Pineapples with coconut butter

This is a super easy, super satisfying dessert.  It's main ingredients are also my new obsession which is probably why these two found eachother.

Ingredients:

Coconut Butter

Pineapple

Cinnamon

1 tbsp of coconut oil

Directions:

Cut and core your pineapple.  I prefer to cut my pieces into strips.  Take your cinnamon and sprinkle generously over your pineapple.  Heat your grilling pan, add coconut oil and then pineapple.  You will know your pineapple is cooked once it is soft and a fork can easily go through. 

Once your pineapple is cooked, top with coconut butter.  The butter will soften up and melt all over your pineapple.  Yummm! 

Grass fed liver and ground beef burges

Why should you eat offal?  Check out our blog

This recipe is a great way to hide offal.  We even taste tested this on a very picky six year old and she did proclaim "wow, this is a good burger!'  No, she did know what was in the burger.  The best thing about this recipe is getting creative with your toppings.  I chose bacon and pineapple (I seem to have a new obsession with pineapple).  You can top it with paleo ketchup, home-made mayo, saurekraut or even a fried egg. 

Ingredients:

1 lb of grass fed ground beef

1/2 lb of grass fed beef livre

1 egg

1/4 almond flour

1 onion- chop finely

2 heads of fresh garlic (minced)

1 tbsp of paprika

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp garlic powder

2 Tbsp of coconut aminos

1 tsp of cumin

salt and pepper

2 tsp of coconut oil.

Directions:

Take your livre and puree into your blender.  In a bowl mix all of your ingredients together, get your hands dirty!  The mixture will be wet, you are welcome to add more almond flour if your mixture isn't sticking together.  Take your mixture and make your patties.  I prefer smaller size patties as I can ensure even cooking throughout the pattie.  Make sure your grill is hot and be sure to cook through the patty.  Once cooked, feel free to add your bacon, egg, saurekraut, or whatever floats your boat!

Paleo Cauliflower Pizza

I am loving this pizza crust and can't believe it has only just come into my life now.  Pizza was the hardest thing to give up and every other paleo pizza crust out there I have tried has left me unsatisfied.  The crust will crisp on nicely!  Make sure to use parchment paper underneath or this will stick to the pan, no matter how much coconut oil you use.  You can add whatever toppings you like!  My favourite combination so far is bacon, pineapple and onion.  I did sneak on some goat cheese on these pizzas.  I couldn't help myself to a little treat, had I known how yummy this pizza would be, I would have known it didnt need it!

For the crust:

1 medium sized head of cauliflower

1 cup of almond flour

4 eggs

salt & pepper

rosemary

garlic powder

thyme

For the sauce:

tomato paste (make sure no sneaky ingredients show up!)

onion

garlic

salt and pepper

Toppings:

It's ur pizza, get creative!

Prepartion:

Preheat your oven to 425°

Remove the stems from the cauliflower and cut into quarters.  Throw your caulifower into your food process and blend until you get small pieces (similar to when you are making cauliflower rice).

Mix all of your ingredients for the crust together.  Depending on what size pan you have used will dictact how many pizzas you make.  Take the mix and press down into your pan, allowing for a thickness of around 10cm's (to precise for ya?)

Bake your crust for about 15-20 minutes until u see it just starting to brown.  Once your crust is baked, pull it out, add your pizza sauce and whatever toppings you like.  Put the pizza bake in the oven and bake for another 5 mintues.  Make sure to let the pizza rest for a couple minutes before you dig in.

Paleo Pad Thai

Paleo pad Thai:

Now the question is should I really be sharing this? The reception that we have had has been overwhelming and a part of me really wants to keep my cards close to my chest and keep it all to myself! We had this at the farmers market all summer and it was a big hit! We were asked to showcase the Paleo pad Thai at the taste of Asia night market at Cornucopia in Whistler. HOWEVER after much deliberation and a little bit of arm twisting (thanks Kara), here is the recipe for our Paleo Pad Thai.

Ingredients:

1lb Zucchini

1 Brown onion diced                      

2 crushed garlic cloves   

1tsp crushed ginger

1/8^th cup coconut oil

¼ cup almond butter

1 Tbs coconut vinegar

2 limes

1 Tbs Fish sauce

1 tsp Chilli

Preparation:

To make the zucchini “noodle” we use a spirooli but you can also use a mandolin or knife. If you are using a knife carefully cut the zucchini length ways nice and thin to make your noodle.

Heat coconut oil in a wok and add the onions, cook until opaque and add the ginger and garlic once they have cooked off slightly add the lime juice, coconut vinegar, fish sauce and chilli (add as little or as much chilli as you like!). Add the almond butter whilst continually stirring until you end up with a paste.

Add the zucchinis and mix through the almond butter paste continually to coat all the zucchinis. As the zucchini cook down they will release some of their water content and make the paste turn into a sauce. Cook for approx. 8 mins until the zucchinis are al dente.

Serve.Enjoy!

Note: Chicken or Shrimp make a great accompaniment to this dish! 

Cooking up our Paleo Pad Thai at the taste of asia night market for Cornucopia in Whistler.

Grilled Pineapple Burgers with Spicy Avocado Cream

 So I got this recipe from paleomg.com.  The spicy avocado cream has really changed my life.  I had no idea such an amazing paleo cream would exist.  I really do see myself putting this stuff on everything.  Though I must say, not quite sure what other combination is going to work so well.  This was another meal we used for making ahead.  I mixed the ground beef together and pressed out the patties.  I grilled the pineapples, and onions.  I put the onions and pineapple in a glass Pyrex and put in the fridge with another container holding the patties.  When we were ready to cook i just threw the patties on our grill pan and put the glass container in the oven to heat up the pineapple and onions.  While the burgers cooked, I made the avocado cream sauce, which was a snap!  Dinner was ready in no time and was delicious! 

• 1lb Grass fed beef
• 1 pineapple, cored and sliced (see my fantastic pics below)
• 1 yellow onion, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• For the cream
• 2 avocados
• juice of 1 lime
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce (your favorite will do)
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• pinch of salt

Banana Carrott Muffins

 Some of you may have read our previous post on the carrott banana pumpkin muffins.  While they are good and very low in sugar, they were looking for a little love.  Here is our revamped version.  Feel free to omit the coconut nectar.  I do recommend a little as it can act as a great binder when mixing the wet ingredients.

These are also a great option for a make ahead meal/snack as we like to make extra and save them in the freezer.  Its a super easy go to snack you can pull out of the freezer and throw into the toaster, throw a little cacao bliss and now were talking!  

Ingredients:

•  1 cup of almond flour
• 1 cup of coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 tbsp of cinnamon
• 1 tbsp of coconut nectar
• 3 ripe bananans
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of coconut vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded carrots
• 1 cup of walnuts

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 350°.

2.    Using your food processor, blend the bananas, coconut nectar, eggs and vinegar together. 

3.    In a separate bowl, sift in your almond flour and coconut flour - (This is an importnant step for flufiness and rounded flavouring.  When using almond and coconut flours they tend to bind together into clumps, just like other flours, so dont skip this step!)  

4.    Mix in the rest of  your dry ingredients and mix well.

5.    Pour wet mix into dry mix and fold in carrots and walnuts.

6.    Mix all together, we are looking for a cake like batter

7.    Line muffin tin with muffin cups and poor batter two thirds of the cup.  If you make your muffins to big, they well get quite doughy in the center and not cook through properly.

8.    Bake for 20-25 minutes.  You will know they are finished when you can put a toothpick in and it comes out clean.

9.    Enjoy - and don't forget to share with friends!