Green beans with caramelized onions and bacon

Super quick and super easy side dish alert!

I'm having dinner tonight with two girlfriends, we've started monthly paleo dinners and it's really nice to have other people who eat how I do, so we can get together, eat some healthy, delicious food and catch up with each other :)  Juliana is hosting tonight so I threw together a side.

• 1 bag frozen (or fresh if you've got them) green beans.  I bought the frozen french cut green beans, they just look a little fancier ;)
• 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 4 strips of bacon
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet over medium heat fry up your bacon.  When it's finished removed and put on a paper towel to absorb grease.  

Turn the skillet down to medium low and add the garlic and onions and saute until the onions start to caramelize (and your kitchen smells completely delicious)

Add the green beans and stir to combine everything.  You can use the beans straight out of the freezer, or you can let the beans thaw in the bag and drain the excess liquid.  I did an in between and there was some water in the pan, so if you have that problem, then just let it simmer until it's absorbed.

Meanwhile, turn your broiler on to high.

When the beans are almost finished, toss in the bacon (that you have no doubt crumbled while you were waiting for the onions to caramelize).  Then, wrapping the skillet handle in foil if it's not oven/broiler safe, stick under the broiler for 5-10 minutes or until the beans get crispy and slightly browned.

Season with salt and pepper.

Zucchini pasta

No grains?  No problem!  Vegetarian?  This is the meal for you!

This is one of those creations where I am kicking myself a little for not properly measuring things out, but I guess that's when some of the best stuff happens.  And I didn't want to wait to post it until I made it again, so here you go. Obviously you can use whatever you have on hand and play around with the seasonings, this is what I had.

Ingredients:

• Zucchini (I got an awesome julienne peeler and I love it!  I sliced 3 zucchini the other day and used a little more then half of it for this dish)
• Mushrooms, rinsed and diced
• Red onion, thinly sliced (I used about 1/4 of one)
• Kale (there was some kale ready to be picked in the garden, so this was a great dish for it)
• Sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced
• Capers (a couple of forkfuls) 
• Lemon juice (I used about 3 capfuls)
• Lime juice (another 3 capfuls, so maybe a teaspoon each?)
• EVOO
• Coconut oil
• Salt, pepper and lemon pepper seasoning

In a large skillet, add a couple tablespoons of coconut oil and add the zucchini, mushrooms, onions, kale and tomatoes.  Saute for a few minutes until everything is tender.  Add the capers, lemon juice, lime juice, a drizzle of EVOO and season to taste.

Makes 2 servings.

Anything goes slaw

Just like the title says, anything goes for this dish.  I picked up a head of cabbage from the store and when my original recipe didn't quite work out, I played the "let's scavenge in the fridge" to come up with a dish.

First, assemble your ingredients.  I used:

• 1/2 head purple cabbage (about 3-4 cups)
• 1 large cooked, diced chicken breast (about 1-2 cups)
• 1 diced mango
• 1 diced granny smith apple
• Chopped sundried tomatoes (about 1/4 cup)
• Blueberries

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix.  For the dressing, I just used equal parts of extra virgin olive oil and blueberry pomegranate vinegar.  I thought about adding a little bit of honey but the mangoes and blueberries added just the right amount of sweet, and the cabbage and apples gave just the right amount of crunch.

This will make about 5-6 servings as a side (I'm guessing, really didn't measure it out, as usual!)

Meatza!

Call it what you want, fancy meatloaf, bunless burger, but like many others, I call it meatza.  Very simple, get yourself some meat, some veggies and anything else you want and assemble.  Below is my recipe.

Base

• 1 pound ground beef (I used an organic 80/20 that I got from Costco)
• Your choice of seasoning (I did garlic powder, crushed red pepper, Montreal steak seasoning, a little bit of salt, and a few sprinkles of shaved parmesan cheese)
• Mix seasoning in with beef and spread out into an 8x8 baking dish (I didn't have one that was clean so I used a rectangular dish)
• Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes, then stick under the broiler (on hi) for a few minutes until it is cooked to your desired doneness and set aside while you work on your toppings.

Toppings
You could really use anything you wanted, but I did the following:

• 8 ounce package of white mushrooms, stems removed, sliced
• 1/4 red onion sliced thin
• Handful of spinach, shredded
• Minced garlic
• Double cream gouda cheese
• Shaved parmesan cheese

In a pan melt some butter and coconut oil (I probably used a tablespoon total) and saute the garlic, mushrooms and red onion until the onions start to caramelize and the mushrooms are tender.   Top the beef with the mushroom, garlic and onions and saute the spinach until wilted then add to the rest.  Top with cheese and bake at 450 for 5-10 minutes (or until the cheese is melted)

The combination of coconut oil and red onion made it just sweet enough to give it a really pleasant flavor, plus, you can't go wrong with mushrooms, beef and cheese!

Serves 4 (or two if you're really hungry)

A Two-fer! Steak and cauliflower

I must give credit where credit is due, and because I'm too lazy to copy/paste/type out recipes, links you shall receive!

First, when I switched to the primal lifestyle, I was worried "what will happen to all of the food magazines I subscribe to and all of my cookbooks?!" but the more I transition it into my daily life, I realize that, for the most part, it's very simple!  Granted, the recipe for pretzels I pulled out just because they looked so good fall NOWHERE in my new way of eating, but rules were meant to be broken, right?  ;)  Besides, if I make (and subsequently) eat homemade pretzels even once a year, eh, it's not going to kill me.  And flipping through months of unread magazines the past few days has given me some new ideas, two of which I used to cook a fantastic, and primal-approved, meal.

First up, Rachael Ray's pinwheel steaks.  I followed the recipe except instead of using jarred peppers (because I'm not going to spend money on a jar of peppers when I only need 1 pepper and I don't like roasted peppers, so I made my own (super simple, btw, just slice a pepper in half and place the cut side down on a baking sheet brushed with olive oil and place under the broiler for about 15 minutes or until the outside is charred, then place the peppers in a bowl and wrap with plastic wrap and let it steam until the skins easily peel off), and I added goat cheese.  Why, you ask?  Umm, because it's goat cheese, duh!!  The steak was fantastic, and while I don't really like arugula, the pesto came out nice except it was super thick, despite adding more EVOO, but still good.  Will definitely make this again.

Next up is roasted cauliflower with dates and pine nuts.  Yes, I'm that strange girl who doesn't have ketchup in her fridge (eww, HFCS!) but has dates and pine nuts.  Originally I was going to use the cauliflower to make cauliflower pizza again, but saw this recipe and was intrigued.  I could have cut the cauliflower a bit smaller, and maybe brushed it with some EVOO before roasting for extra flavor, but it was good, and while the pine nuts got a little bit more toasty then I would have liked, thankfully they didn't burn (those things are expensive!!) and the dates?  Gave it a wonderful flavor. 

Very happy with both of these dishes and will definitely make again!

Zucchini chips

**Please excuse the crappy iPhone camera quality here.

Okay, so I was inspired by this post for zucchini chips, but obviously, my chips didn't come out nearly as large as the ones the reader made.  Perhaps they used the oven instead of the food dehydrator?  Anyway, these are still delicious, and I had about a pound of small zucchini, so maybe large won't shrink up as much?  But now I have another great use if I get a boatload of zucchini this summer!  My recipe is below.

• 1 pound zucchini, sliced into 1/2" slices
• EVOO (about a tablespoon?  I don't measure)
• Cayenne pepper (a few dashes)
• Sea salt (a few grinds of the shaker)
• Butter flavor popcorn seasoning
• White cheddar flavor popcorn seasoning  (obviously you don't have to use these but this is what I had on hand so I tossed some in)

In a large storage bag, combine all ingredients and shake well so everything combines.  Place in a food dehydrator and run until the chips are crunchy and crisp.  I had mine going for about 12 hours and it seemed to come out fine.

I didn't make the salsa to accompany this, and kind of glad I didn't based on the tiny size of these things!  But, the EVOO gave it a smooth flavor, the cayenne added a little bit of heat and the other seasonings came out great.  Will definitely be making these again, and a larger batch as I could easily eat this entire bag in one sitting (but a pound of dehydrated zucchini doesn't amount to much ;)

Veggie lasagna

First, make the creamed spinach (if you buy an 8 ounce container of the Boursin or whatever you use, just use half, I'll tell you what to do with the other half in a few...)

Then, get about a pound of zucchini, peel it and slice it lengthwise, not super thin but not super thick either and when you're done, drizzle it with some EVOO, and season with whatever (I used salt, italian seasoning and a few shakes of crushed red pepper for a little heat).

Then, get an 8x8 baking/casserole dish and put a layer of the zucchini in (I greased mine with a little bit of bacon grease ;) then top it with some of the creamed spinach, not a super thick layer, then add another layer of zucchini, then spinach, you get the idea.  (I got 3 full layers with mine).  Top with spinach, then drop small spoonfuls of the leftover Boursin (if you've got it) over the top.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven, I did 20 minutes loosely covered with foil and 20 minutes without (or until the zucchini is tender).

SO GOOD!!

Healthy summer salad

I'm trying to get more veggies in, but lettuce isn't exactly my friend sometimes (and a lot of it goes bad before I make my way through a head of it), so I'm trying more lettuce free salads. And one of my clients gave me some homegrown cucumbers, and my tomato plants are exploding in my garden, so it's perfect for salad! But, trying to get my protein in too, so I came up with this simple and yummy salad.

• Cherry tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Hardboiled egg
• Goat cheese (or whatever cheese you may have on hand)
• Greek dressing

Mix and enjoy!