Gazpacho!

So this was the first time I've made gazpacho, I don't know why, given that there are a bazillion recipes out there, and it always seemed like I was out of one or two things, but today, faced with a bevy of veggies and not enough time/appetite to eat them all, gazpacho came to mind.

My ingredients:

• Fresh from the garden tomatoes (yes, it's almost September and I FINALLY have ripe tomatoes)
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Carrot (only one carrot, that's all that was in the fridge)
• Celery
• Onion
• Lemon Juice
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Hot sauce
• Horseradish
• Minced garlic
• EVOO
• Salt & pepper to taste

Roughly chop all veggies and place them in a food processor and pulse for a moment until everything is blended.

I added the following:

• 2T lemon juice
• 1T Worcestershire
• 1T Hot sauce
• 1/2T horseradish
• 1/2T garlic
• Drizzle of EVOO
• Salt & Pepper

Blend again until everything is combined.

The result?  Pretty good!  It's got just a little bit of heat to it, but I want to see how it tastes tomorrow before I decide to add anymore.   (And the jury is in, it's got the perfect amount of heat for me.  You may want to cut back if you don't want a lot)  What a super simple way to use up veggies, have a super delicious meal and feed a crowd!

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.

No sugar needed!

First off, I apologize for the crappy picture quality, I didn't feel like lugging out the good camera...

Anyway, sweet tooth strikes again, and this whole no sugar thing throws a damper on that, but I came up with an amazing solution.  I say no sugar needed, because this is plenty sweet on its own.

Preheat your oven (or toaster oven if you have one, no sense in heating up the whole oven just for this) to 350.

In a bowl, combine a handful of cherries (pitted), blueberries and 1 banana, sliced.  Drizzle with some extra virgin coconut oil (I seriously cannot get enough of this stuff!!  Just ordered 2 jars from Amazon for a great price).  Sprinkle with some unsweetened shredded coconut and a few shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Stir to get the coconut oil over everything.

Next, get a piece of aluminum foil big enough to hold everything and put the fruit in and loosely wrap it (make sure the sides are closed!) and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the bananas are tender (they will probably take the longest to bake, they were still pretty firm after 10 minutes).

The result?  Warm, sweet, rich dessert with no sugar, no chocolate and virtually guilt free!  I'm trying to watch my fruit intake this month but I figure with the heavy lifting I did earlier some extra carbs aren't a bad thing ;)

Serves 1

Got berries?

So it's July here in Michigan and that means blueberries are abundant.  Everywhere I'm at lately I see blueberries on sale, 2 pints for $3 or 2/$4 so last week when they were $1/pint I bought 3.  I've never been a big fan of blueberries, I didn't mind them in a fruit salad or something but since switching my diet, I love things I never really cared for (like blueberries).  Unfortunately, one can only eat so many berries before they go bad and when I bought 2 more pints when I still had another in the fridge ready to go bad, I started wondering what to do...

Blueberry compote came to mind.

Unfortunately, most recipes for compote have you adding half a cup of sugar (or more!!) and during the 30 day challenge I'm doing, no sugar.  Fear not, if you get some super ripe berries like I did, you won't even miss the sugar.

• 1 pint blueberries
• 1/4 cup of water (or less, I used about 1/4 cup and it was a bit too much, made it a little too thin for my taste)
• Several dashes of cinnamon (maybe 1/2 tablespoon?)
• Few dashes of nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, gradually bringing to a low boil, and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until thickened to your liking.  You can mash some of the berries (I used an avocado masher that worked well) but after the berries heat up, you can easily mash them up with a rubber spatula.

Now, what to serve it with?  I think this would work really well in some homemade ice cream, or mixed in some yogurt, or just to dip some apples in, but I used it on the almond berry pancakes I made (the exact recipe is in the cookbook but you can find a very similar one here).  Perfect when you want something sweet.

Makes about 1.5 cups

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!)

Paleo stir fry

Okay, technically I guess this is more paleo-ish because of the oyster sauce I used, but it's what I had and I don't know of a paleo alternative.  Anyway.....this little creation came out pretty tasty!  Super easy to throw together, and you can really use whatever veggies/seasonings you have on hand to come up with your own creation.  This re-heats really well and will make 3-5 servings (depending on what your idea of a serving is :)

• 3T extra virgin coconut oil
• 2t garlic powder
• 1/2t paprika
• 1t crushed red pepper (more or less depending on your level of heat you like)
• 1/2t chili powder
• 1/4t sea salt
• 1/4t black pepper
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 8 ounce package of baby portabello mushrooms, rinsed and sliced
• 2 cups frozen chopped broccoli (or fresh if you've got it)
• 1/2 head cauliflower, shredded into "rice" (use the shredding blade of your food processor)
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 2T oyster sauce

In a large skillet melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (if it's not already melted) and combine the ground beef and spices.  Cook thoroughly and drain beef and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of coconut oil and saute the mushrooms and broccoli until the broccoli is tender.  Add the beef back in and the pan along with the cauliflower rice (it's fine raw, since it's chopped so small it will cook pretty quickly).  Add the 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and cook for about 5 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender, and then add the bean sprouts.

This had the perfect amount of heat (for my liking), plus tons of veggies and a great dose of protein and healthy fats!

Hot Dog Salad

The original recipe came courtesy of Rachael Ray, but thanks to me not having some of the items (granulated sugar, cabbage, yellow mustard) I decided to improvise it and make it more paleo-friendly (although the original recipe is pretty close!).

My version came out pretty good, the dressing was tangy, but not too tangy, and the addition of the sauerkraut really helped add some flavor.  I didn't even realize that the original one called for salt and pepper, but I don't think you need it.  As far as the hot dogs, I used Coleman Natural Beef Hot Dogs, no added chemicals :)  Although you might want to rinse them off first, they were kind of goopy, gross.  My recipe is below:

Hot Dog Salad (Serves two)

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons deli style mustard (I just had the brownish, tangy stuff on hand, but you can use yellow mustard too)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, whisk the above ingredients together until blended.  Set aside.

Salad:

• Romaine lettuce (I just used up the little I had left, maybe 2 loose cups, shredded)
• 1/4 red onion, sliced thin
• Banana peppers (just toss in what you think you want)
• 1 cup sauerkraut, drained
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 4 hot dogs, sliced

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients but the hot dogs.  In a skillet over medium heat, arrange the hot dogs in a single layer (you can cook these in two batches as well) and cook until browned on both sides.  Drain on a paper towel and add to bowl and toss with salad.  Top with dressing and enjoy!