Paleo Chicken Parm

Posted on May 15, 2015

For a diet to be maintained, you can’t feel deprived. That is the beauty of the Whole 30 is that you don’t have to feel like you are starving yourself! I wanted my friends to feel like they were being decadent during their first week of this Whole 30, so that they would stay excited and stick with it. To do this, I wanted to make sure I had this week FILLED with comfort food. We had a batch of chili, “spaghetti and meatballs”, “french fries”, “chips and guac”, and… “Chicken Parm”! I mean, who DOESN’T love chicken parm. It is delicious. But how could it ever be made healthy?

I’ve already shared numerous times my love of . They are the perfect paleo bread crumb substitute – so I knew I could get the breaded cutlet replicated. Marinara sauce is also pretty easily converted to paleo- tomato, garlic, onions and basil are all you really need. No, the difficult part to replicate would be the cheese. My favorite way to get a Parmesan flavor is using  – so I decided to try making the breading out of a combination of the pork rinds and nutritional yeast. While the texture of the cheese wouldn’t be there, the flavor would be.

I have to admit – this was pretty unreal. The marinara with fresh basil was fantastic, and the chicken was amazing. You really don’t even notice the lack of the cheese texture because all of the flavor is there. We served this over some cauliflower rice, which was the perfect compliment. The cauliflower just absorbed all the good tastes, and really helped fill us up. This was a huge win – and was just as good as leftovers. I am very excited to start mixing this into our dinner rotations more often!

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Paleo Chicken Parm

Paleo Chicken Parm

A no carb twist on an Italian Classic.

Ingredients

    Chicken Parm:
  • 3lbs chicken breast
  • 3 cups crushed pork rinds (or )
  • ½ cup
  • 5 eggs (whisked together)
    • Marinara Sauce:
  • 24 oz can Crushed Tomatoes (no preservatives, sodium or guck in it)
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1 yellow onion (chopped)
  • ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • bacon fat, lard or EVOO for cooking

Instructions

    For the Chicken:
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pound chicken breasts so that they are even and thin.
  2. Combine nutritional yeast and pork rinds in one bowl. Set up an assembly line to coat the chicken. Coat chicken first in egg mixture, then in the pork rind/ nutritional yeast mixture. Make sure to coat the chicken well.
  3. Lay the "breaded" chicken on an oven safe wire rack on top of a baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the chicken is done.
    4. Marinara Sauce:
  4. In saucepan on medium heat, sate onion in about 1.5 tablespoons of bacon fat until translucent (5 minutes).
  5. Add garlic and continue to sauté for 1 minute.
  6. Add in the tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper.

Notes

Serve on top of cauliflower rice, and topped with marinara sauce.

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Sweet Potato Sticky Pudding

Posted on May 15, 2015

Have you ever heard the saying “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade”? Well, when experimenting with recipes, you normally don’t have that option. Most of my epic failures result in the need to open all of the windows in the apartment, and a  remind myself where we store the fire extinguisher. However, every once in a while, magic happens – and while you might not end up with what you originally intended, you create something pretty yummy.

I have been trying to create a really good sweet potato roll for a while (sort of like a good challah bread). I’ve been adapting, and adjusting, but nothing is quite right. In one of my iterations, what came out was a little too “pudding” like, and not solid enough to be a roll, and had a sweeter taste than I wanted. While I was ready to chuck the batch, my husband tasted them and saw only potential. He quickly mixed up some melted ghee, cinnamon and maple syrup, and presented me with some really good “cinnamon rolls”. Now, these are NOT the typical texture of a cinnamon roll (I’m working on a paleo version of those). They are more like a souffle or a pudding – but very delicious. They also re-heat very well, and can be enjoyed cold!

The measurements for the topping weren’t very precise (typical for when my husband is in the kitchen), so tweak it as needed. I will probably be updating this recipe as well soon – so keep your eyes peeled for version 2.0!

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Sweet Potato Sticky Pudding

Sweet Potato Sticky Pudding

Ingredients

    For the sticky pudding:
  • 2 large sweet potatoes (baked and peeled)
  • 7 eggs
  • 2 cup homemade Tigernut Milk
  • 1/4 cup +2 tablespoons , melted
  • 2 cup
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon Maple syrup
    • For the topping:
  • 1/4 cup melted (use regular, or try
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Combine all of the pudding ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
  3. Using metal muffin tins, place a dollop of each of the cups in the tin. Place tin in the oven for about 2-3 minutes (or until the shortening is melted and sizzling).
  4. Remove tins from the oven and immediately pour the pudding batter into each of the muffin cups. The batter should sizzle slightly when it hits the boiling palm shortening.
  5. Place tins in oven and cook for 55-65 minutes. Use a knife to pierce the top and make sure the buns are cooked (knife should come out clean).
  6. Let the buns cool slightly before removing from the muffin tin. While the buns are cooling, combine the melted ghee, syrup and cinnamon. Taste and adjust as needed. When buns are cool, drizzle topping over and serve.

Notes

These buns can "dribble" over the muffin tin when cooking sometimes. To avoid having burning palm shortening on the bottom of your oven, you should bake the muffin tins on top of a baking sheet.

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Whole30 Mini Quiche

Posted on May 13, 2015

Breakfast is normally the hardest meal to adapt to when you start a Whole30. Most of us are used to a quick meal on the go, and don’t have time to cook. This is probably why bagels and muffins are so popular in the mornings – they are easy. When I have done a Whole30 in the past, I would typically just bring my leftovers from dinner the night before (I don’t need breakfast to consist of “breakfast foods”). However, I knew that most people would be turned off by this idea. To make this Whole30 work, I had to come up with an easy breakfast option that FELT (and tasted) like breakfast. Most of all, it had to be easy (i.e. involve no more prep than a quick minute in a microwave).

I’d seen some Paleo egg muffins floating around the internet and on Pinterest, and wanted to see if I could make them work. My main concern about trying this, was that I wanted them to re-heat well. I was worried if they were just egg, they would get dried out and rubbery. Ideally, I wanted to replicate the texture of a quiche – but without the dairy.

Quiche is one of my favorite breakfast treats. I love to throw in as many veggies as possible, load it up with bacon or ham and then douse it with cheese. There really is nothing better. However, to make this Paleo friendly, I knew I would need to get creative. To replace the heavy cream used in a traditional quiche, I was going to use Tigernut milk. The Tigernut milk I make at home is normally the consistency of skim milk – not as thick as I wanted for the quiche. Luckily, Organic Gemini makes a fantastic unsweetened Tigernut Milk that has a bit thicker consistency, and was exactly what I was looking for. To replace the cheese in the quiche, I added in nutritional yeast. While it won’t give the texture the cheese does, the flavor is perfect.

Once I had figured out the dairy replacements, the rest of the ingredients did not need to be altered. All that was left was to choose my veggies and meat options, and see how they turned out. The egg muffins that inspired me on Pinterest used prosciutto as a “cup” for the egg mixture. Since I was going to be packing these in my purse to go to the office in the morning, I also used a muffin liner. One thing I learned was that the eggs get very soggy in the oven when cooking. I made the mistake of cooking these in silicon muffin pans, and the paper liner fell apart on a few of the muffins. Next time I will see if a metal pan will reduce the moisture, or if I need to switch to the silicon reusable muffin liners. I haven’t tried freezing these yet, but they are delicious cold or reheated in the microwave. Give them a try and see what you think! 

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Whole30 Mini Quiche

Whole30 Mini Quiche

Ingredients

  • 12 eggs
  • 10oz Tigernut milk (I used Organic Gemini Unsweetened)
  • 1 package frozen chopped spinach (thawed)
  • 1 cup mushrooms (chopped)
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • ½ yellow onion (chopped)
  • 1/4 cup
  • 4 slices thick cut bacon (in cubes)
  • 15 slices prosciutto
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 2 tsp EVOO
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix eggs and milk together in large bowl. Set aside.
  2. In pan, drizzle olive oil. Saute the onions, garlic and bacon for about 3 minutes (or until onions are translucent). Add in rosemary and mushrooms and continue to cook until they are soft. Drain the spinach, and add to the pan with the nutritional yeast. Continue to sauté for another 2 minutes, and remove from heat to cool.
  3. While cooling. Line a muffin pan with liners, and place prosciutto in the liners to form a “cup”. With the veggie filling now cooled, whisk it into the egg mixture. Add some salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture into the prosciutto cups and bake for 20 minutes, or until eggs are firm.
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Whole30 Chili

Posted on May 13, 2015

This week marks the first 7 days of a Whole30 challenge I am doing with some friends at my office. Since the goal of this challenge was to help show my friends how easy cooking Paleo can be, I wanted to choose a dish that was going to be satisfying, easy, and could be frozen for a simple grab-n-go meal. Though the weather is getting warmer, I knew that both of my friends were fans of spicy food and loved Chili. This seemed like the perfect item to put on our week 1 menu. Chili is such a simple dish, but incredibly satisfying. The great thing about Chili, is that you are starting out with a recipe base that is almost Paleo, so you only need to make a few adjustments. While a typical Chili may call for beans, cheese and sour cream, the real satisfaction comes from the flavor. The Whole30 Chili I came up with substitutes extra veggies for the beans, and is served with Guacamole to supplement the sour cream.

I have made this Chili at least a dozen times for big gatherings, or just as a great meal to take with me throughout the week for lunch. It is a hit every time! It also freezes really well – so portion it out into Ziploc bags and keep it in your freezer for an easy grab-n-go meal option. Serve in mugs or as a topper for your baked sweet potato.

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Whole30 Chili

Whole30 Chili

Ingredients

  • 6 slices bacon
  • 2 pounds ground mean (combo beef, pork and veal is best)
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 large bell pepper, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • Kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 28-ounce can tomato puree
  • 1 cup diced tomato
  • 3 cups beef broth, plus more if needed
  • 2 zucchini, diced
  • 1 tablespoon hot sauce

Instructions

  1. Using a large stock pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove the cooked bacon and set aside. Pour off all but about 1 Tablespoon of the bacon fat - and reserve the remainder for later (this is liquid gold).
  2. In the same stock pot, brown the ground meat in the bacon fat over medium/ high heat. Once all of the meat is cooked, remove it from the pot and set aside in a covered bowl. Make sure the pot is empty, but you don’t have to worry about wiping it down (if there are small bits left in there it will just add flavor).
  3. Heat about 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat in the stock pot, and add in the onions and bell pepper - cooking until the onions are translucent and soft. Add in the garlic and zucchini and cook for another 3 minutes. At this point, add in the chili powder, cumin, paprika and tomato paste. Keep stirring for another few minutes until the mixture in the pot looks covered evenly. Add in 1.5 cups of the beef broth, and let simmer for about 2 minutes.
  4. Add back in the ground beef you set aside, cocoa powder, tomato puree, diced tomatoes and remainder of the beef broth. Reduce to a medium/ low heat, and let simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
  5. Add in salt and hot sauce to taste. If the chili looks too watery, keep simmering. If it is too thick, add more broth.

Notes

Serve topped with the reserved bacon crumbles and guacamole. Can be divided into portion sizes and frozen.

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