Paleo Treats!!

The one thing I have a hard time doing without on a Paleo diet is a sweet treat every now and then. I'm no longer in the habit of eating chocolate every day (DOH!) but I'd be lying if I claimed I was above needing a dessert every once in a while. I have seen a few different recipes circling the web as of late for this type of treat. I based my recipe off of one I found at www.crossfitkopnutrition.blogspot.com and changed it to the following:

*13-14 medjool dates
1.5 cups raw walnuts
4 Tablespoons raw cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened coconut
**6 dried figs

*Get the ones with pits and remove the pits yourself. I found that the pitted dates are too dry and end up blending into a powder instead of sticking together. The dates you buy should be a tad squishy.
**I like the figs because they add a little extra bite to the treats, but they aren't necessary

Remove the pits from the dates and drop them into a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until it all comes together. The walnuts will be ground up pretty fine. (Be sure not to overmix this though. If you let is blend for too long, the oils will start to release from the nuts and you will have a lot of oil in your hand when you try to roll them into balls. Watch the mixture and let it blend just until it begins to come together). Once it is blended up well, remove the blade from the base and form the sweet goodness into balls, about 1-inch in diameter or so. Try to refrain from immediately popping them into your mouth...Once you've formed it all into balls, place them into a tupperware container and into the fridge for a few hours to get cold. They will firm up a bit in the fridge and hold together better. These should be kep refrigerated and are good for about two weeks...if they last that long.

Roasted Veggie Assortment

I like to make a big batch of roasted veggies at the beginning of the week and eat them as part of my afternoon snack, all week long. When you roast up a good variety of vegetables it's hard to get bored of them. This recipe calls for seven different veggies because that's just what I had on hand this day. But you could add in or take out some of them if you don't like one or just don't happen to have them that day. You can't go wrong with roasted veggies, in my opinion. Roasting them gives them so much more flavor than steaming...you'll never go back!

1 pound Brussel Sprouts
1 cup of 1-inch square chunks of green cabbage
1 cup of 1-inch square chunks of red cabbage
1 cup baby carrots
1 cup snap peas
1 cup mushrooms, your favorite variety
2 cups broccoli, cut into florets
2-3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Sea salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven is preheating, chop up the veggies. Cut the nubby end off of each brussel sprout and slice in half, lengthwise. Toss all brussel sprouts into a large mixing bowl, throw away the nubs you cut off. Chop up the cabbage and add this into the mixing bowl. At this point I usually have enough veggies to just about fill my mixing bowl, so I drizzle in about 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle a dash of sea salt and pepper and toss well. Pour this onto a large, rimmed baking sheet and spread out evenly. (We're cooking the mother-load of veggies here so make sure you're using a large-and-in-charge baking sheet.)

Into the same mixing bowl, add in your baby carrots and snap peas. Cut your mushrooms into bite-sized pieces and add into the bowl. Cut your broccoli into bite-sized florets and add into the bowl as well. Drizzle another tablespoon or so of olive oil over these veggies, sprinkle in a bit of sea salt and pepper and toss to coat. Pour these veggies on top of the brussel sprout mixture and spread out evenly again. It's okay if they aren't all in one, flat layer.

Place the veggies in the oven on the middle rack and cook for about 12 minutes. At this point, grab a large spatula and stir the veggies around, trying to flip them over if you can. Put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so, or until the veggies just start to get a little brown and the brussel sprouts are just done. Take the veggies out to cool a few minutes before mowing down on a mecca of vegetable goodness!

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin

1 Pork Loin Roast - about 2lbs
8-10 pieces Applewood Smoked Bacon (I like the nitrite free goodness from Trader Joes)
Sea Salt and Pepper

Just two basic ingredients, folks. Paleo cooking could not get any easier than this! (Nevermind my colored toothpicks in the picture...it's all I had)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat. Cook just until cooked through, but still soft. DO NOT cook the bacon until it's crispy or it won't wrap around the pork loin well. After all the bacon is cooked, let it cool down a minute or two before handling it. Salt and pepper the pork loin if desired, but it's not necessary as you'll get some salt and flavor from the bacon. Begin wrapping the bacon around the pork loin. Affix one end of a piece of bacon to the loin with a toothpick, and continue with 4-5 pieces, lining up the bacon with the next piece. You should have 4-5 strips of bacon running vertically over the top of the loin. Afterwards, roll the pork loin over and affix another end of a piece of bacon on top of the last end, forming one continuous loop of bacon around the pork loin. Continue with the other half of the bacon, affixing all with toothpicks.

Place the bacon-wrapped goodness into the oven, in the middle rack. Cook for about 25-30 minutes. After 30 minutes or so, cover the roast with aluminum foil and continue to cook until a thermometer registers 165-170 degrees. This should be another 40 minutes or so. When meat has reached 165-170 degrees, take out of the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes before digging in!

Bacon makes everything better!

Chicken Soup! ...you knew it was coming!!

It is only right that you make a fabulous chicken soup with your freshly-homemade chicken stock. With a flavorful stock you don't need a lot of schmancy herbs and spices to jazz up the flavor. Feel free to add whatever your favorite spices are if you've got 'em, but again, not necessary to attain "Chicken Soup Nirvana".

Homemade chicken stock ~ about 2 quarts worth, give or take
2 medium carrots
1/2 medium onion, sliced thin
3-5 cloves garlic, depending on your tastes
2 bunches chard, rinsed
1 bay leaf
Sea salt and pepper if desired
5-6 chicken thighs
1 Tablespoon olive oil
**Can also add 1 zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise and sliced in 1/4 inch pieces

Lightly salt and pepper the chicken thighs (sometimes I also like to use cajun seasoning, get creative :). Place a large soup pot over medium heat and pour in the olive oil. When warm, cook the chicken thighs in the olive oil just until done, about 4-5 minutes per side. When cooked through, remove the chicken thighs and set aside.

Pour chicken stock into the same large soup pot (no need to clean it...keep the juices in there from the chicken!) and bring to a simmer over medium-low. While that's warming up, chop the carrots into 1/2 inch rounds, smash and chop the garlic; set aside. Chop the chard into 2-inch pieces. When simmering, add in the carrots, garlic, bay leaf and onion and cook for about two minutes. Next add in the chicken thighs and chard. Cover and let cook for about five minutes or so, just until the chard is tender. If you are adding zucchini into the soup... add it along with the chard. Salt and pepper the soup if necessary, but go easy on the salt. Dinner is done!

Chicken Stock - The best is homemade

This is part two of the three-part saga story of what you can do with a whole chicken. Hopefully at this point you've made your Roast Chicken per the recipe below. After eating all the meat off that tasty chicken, reserve the bones and any small pieces of fat/skin you may have not felt like eating (if any!!), and start making some stock!

Reserved bones and skin** from previously consumed, extra-tasty chicken
1 medium, white onion, skinned and quartered
2 carrots, cut into 3-inch pieces
1 celery stalk, cut into 3-inch pieces (use the frilly parts too)
3 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, chopped

**If you have any leftover skin, make sure to add it into the stock pot to cook. It will have all that awesome garlic and rosemary flavor from the chicken and will only serve to make your chicken stock better.

Add all the above ingredients into a large soup pot. Add enough water to the pot to cover the ingredients by 2-3 inches, depending on how much stock you think you'll want. I usually go with more...you can always save it for later. Side note...(I don't add salt to the stock because I'd rather salt it when I use it for making soup later on. But if you want to salt it you can, just be careful not to add too much.)

Put the lid on the pot and cook over medium-high head until the liquid comes to a boil. At this point turn the heat down to medium or medium-low and let simmer for about an hour. Crack the lid open a bit to let the steam out while it's simmering away.

After an hour has passed, turn the heat off and let cool to room temperature. Once cooled, remove the bones from the stock and pour the rest of the contents, veggies and all, into quart jars or a tupperware container. At this point you can use this stock to make soup (recipe coming in a few days!!), or freeze the stock to be used at a later date. When I freeze it, I just make sure to only fill the quart jars about 2/3 full as the liquid will expand as it freezes. Wasn't that easy?

Roasted Rosemary-Garlic Chicken

Everyone loves chicken, right? So when was the last time you cooked a WHOLE chicken? Sure, it takes longer, and it's easier to just pick up a bag of chicken boob and be on your way. But cooking a WHOLE chicken has more flavor, and more variety, plus you can use the chicken bones to make chicken stock, and then later a taste bud-tantalizing chicken soup. SO, this is part one of three of the uses of a whole chicken:

1 Whole chicken, about 4-5 lbs (I buy the organic, free range bird from Trader Joes)
5 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
2 Tablespoons chopped, fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

If there's a baggie of chicken parts like the neck and heart etc inside the chicken cavity, please remember to remove this...also feel free to cut off any excess fat at the main opening, just to keep it clean. Pat the outside of the chicken dry with a paper towel.

In a small mixing bowl, stir together the garlic, rosemary, oil and sea salt. Use enough oil to make it easy to spread, but not too liquidy. Place the chicken in a medium-sized baking pan (I used a 12x8 pan), with the back side up. Spoon about half of the oil and herb mixture over the top of the chicken and rub in with your hands. Make sure to get around the wings and all over the backside of the bird. Turn the chicken over and repeat with the rest of the oil and herb mixture, rubbing into the chicken once more, making sure to rub a teaspoon or two INSIDE the bird cavity...this really helps with the overall flavor.

Once you've used all the oil mixture, pop this baby into the oven (middle rack) for one hour. After the first hour, turn the temperature up to 375 degrees and continue to cook another 30 minutes or so, depending on the size of your bird. I used a 5 pounder and it took about 90 minutes. The skin will be a nice golden brown and the garlic will be cooked to perfection. Let sit at room temperature for a few minutes before carving into. Serves 6-8 depending in their appetite.

* I had this roast chicken on top of a nice, large green salad with lots of spinach and veggies. Just place the warm chicken on top of the salad greens along with some of the juices (OK it's really just fat but it tastes SO GOOD) that ran off into the pan, and no need for salad dressing!!

Roasted Asparagus with Sun dried Tomatoes and Garlic

I. Love. Asparagus.

I could care less that is makes your pee stink. It is best fresh from the Farmer's Market, of course, but I can never resist buying it when it goes on sale at the grocery store. I mean really, who could? I usually just roast it in the oven with a little olive oil and sea salt, but last night I wanted something a little different....and you can't go wrong with sun dried tomatoes, am I right or am I right? So try the following and let me know how you liked it!

2 small bunches asparagus** (about 15 stalks in each bunch or so)
2 Teaspoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1/2 small onion, sliced thin
5 whole sun dried tomatoes in oil, sliced thin
1/2 tsp dried basil
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Wash the asparagus spears making sure to wash the tips well. This is where sand gets collected, and trust me, gritty asparagus is not pleasing. Once washed, snap off the bottom of the stalks. Don't worry about how much snaps off, as it should break at the point where the stalk starts to get woody or stringy. I know cuz I watch the cooking channel. And trust me, you don't want to eat that part anyway. Once you've broken off all the ends, place the asparagus into a 13x9 inch baking pan. If they overlap that's fine.

In a small mixing bowl combine the rest of the ingredients. Pour in a little of the oil from the sun dried tomatoes if you like. Pour this over the asparagus and toss it around in the pan to get the sauce covering fairly evenly. Pop this in the oven for 20 minutes and check for done-ness. I like my asparagus just a tad crispy, but not raw. They should be just about done at this point. If you like them cooked longer just pop them back in. They may start to dry out, and if they do, feel free to cover the asparagus with tin foil. This will make them cook faster so check in another 4 minutes or so after covering. Remove from oven when done to your liking, let cool for a few minutes and enjoy!

Serves 4-5

**The cooking time here is for your average asparagus spear. If you can only find very thick, hulk-like asparagus, say more than 1/3 inch in diameter, then increase the cooking time. Similarly, if you find very thin (and therefore awesome!) asparagus then just watch them in the oven and make sure they don't overcook. No one likes a mushy asparagus spear.