This salmon recipe made me laugh … it’s called The Most Delicious Salmon Recipe in the World. Whoa! That’s a tall order, isn’t it?

So, is it the most delicious salmon recipe in the whole world? Well, not quite. It was good, yes.

The recipe uses chili powder and cumin so it had a nice kick to it (but not too much of a kick). I would make this recipe again but it really comes down to personal taste — I like cumin and chili powder. We did leave out the brown sugar that the recipe calls for.

Best Salmon

My son served this with Broccoli with Carmelized Onions and Pine Nuts on the side. Yum! It sure beats having plain steamed broccoli.

Broccoli with Carmelized Onions and Pine Nuts

A pretty simple dinner, no?

I believe I could have beef stew every day and be happy even though I do have the knowledge that eating red meat a lot is not good for you. What I haven’t seen in the studies on the dangers of eating too much red meat is discussion around what else people are eating while eating red meat that can contribute to health problems. Have you heard of any discussions?

On to the review of this Burgundy Beef Stew. As you can see, we used a slow cooker for this recipe and it can cook slowly on low for 5-12 hours or on high for 5-6 hours. Using a slow cooker sure makes life easy. Just plop everything in the cooker, turn on the heat and let it cook until its ready.

Burgundy Beef Stew

We did not use the bacon that this recipe calls for — I think it would have made it too “fat” tasting. (Is there such a thing?) The stew was pretty good. We did use the wine but I’ve never really understood how much difference there is when wine is used versus when it’s not used. Next time I think I’ll try it without the wine just to see the difference. (Well, hopefully I’ll remember what the original recipe tasted like … hahaha)

To complement the stew, we had Maple Glazed Yams with Pecan Topping. This is a good paleo Thanksgiving “side.” I loved it! My husband thought it was too sweet. You’ll have to make it and decide for yourself.

Maple Glazed Yams with Pecan Topping

It does take 1/2 cup of maple syrup so one could put less of the maple syrup in to make it less sweet. We did not use the brown sugar — that would have definitely made it way too sweet for me.

Now we have a paleo yam dish to make for Thanksgiving. Woohoo!

So, I wish these Paleo Veggie Burgers would have come out like the original recipe — well, at least like the picture. Boohoo! They tasted quite bland and really needed something to give them spice (even though I don’t like my food spicy). I think we’d try them again but I would definitely have to add spices to add flavor.

My son made Muhammara (the orange-looking dip) for the burgers which helped to add a little flavor to the burgers.

Paleo Veggie Burgers

On the other hand, the Root Vegetable Casserole came out pretty good. The recipe is basically a bunch of vegetables (my favorite parsnips are included) flavored very lightly with rosemary, sea salt and pepper. This allows the flavor of the vegetables to come through. Very nice!

Root Vegetable Casserole

The casserole bakes for about 30 minutes in the oven and whala! it’s done. This will make your heart happy and healthy.

So, this was not one of my favorite paleo dinners. I’m pretty sure the cauliflower was the cause of my, shall I say, “undoing.”

First, I am not a cauliflower fan. Just saying the name “cau-li-flow-er” makes my head shake. Second, I’m starting this post with cauliflower so that should tell you that it’s in the forefront of my mind. It’s not that cauliflower is bad — I just haven’t been able to acquire a taste for it.

Well, let’s talk about the “Chicken Country Captain” recipe that we trialled first. Several ingredients started with the word “sweet” so that’s always a good thing for me. Sweet onion, green sweet pepper, yellow sweet pepper — so, what’s not to love? But, you do have to love peppers as this recipe is chockfull of them.

Chicken Country Captain

Now the cauliflower. I took a great picture of the Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon, Garlic and Capers Dressing.

Roasted Cauliflower

Alas! For me, this recipe couldn’t be saved because I simply don’t like cauliflower. But I’m sure all you cauliflower fans will love it!

My son is so good at cooking various foods for us as we continue trialling the paleo diet. Even when we tell him that we don’t particularly enjoy eating a certain food, he’ll try to find a recipe that might change our mind. That’s a good thing, no?

So, we’ll keep trying new recipes and let you know how we like/dislike them. And if you ever make one and change it to something you think enhances it, please share!

Beef stew, again! There are so many variations of stew that one can make, aren’t there? This one is called Grandma’s Ginger Beef Stew.

I’m afraid our stew days might be over soon as the days are getting warmer. Although … if the house is air conditioned it shouldn’t matter, should it? Our house stays cool because of all the trees surrounding it.

We did “cheat” a little on this recipe and used the soy sauce that it called for (but not the corn starch) and we replaced the white potatoes with sweet potatoes instead. It was deeee-liiiii-cious!

Beef Stew

The side salad we had was a Kale and Strawberry Salad and was interesting in flavor because of the combination of strawberries, kale and jicama (a pale brown turnip with crisp sweet flesh). It was crunchy and good!

Kale Strawberry Salad

Doesn’t it look delicious? I’m guessing we’ll be eating more and more salads as the summer nears.

Pineapple Chicken Teriyaki was the day’s dinner which was nice and light.

The skinless chicken breasts are marinated from 30 minutes to overnight in a soy sauce/pineapple sauce. (Yes, I know — we don’t normally have soy sauce on a paleo diet but did make an exception for this recipe.)

Pineapple Chicken Teriyaki

It’s pretty easy to make also as it takes only 20 minutes or so under the broiler.

To complement this light entree, we had a Kale Salad with Pecans and Radishes. Some of you might be saying “kale, yuck.” Actually kale tastes pretty good. I even include a couple of leaves in my fruit smoothies as it’s high in iron and vitamin K which can help protect against certain cancers. It also helps to prevent blood clotting (make sure to check with your doctor if you’re taking certain medications that could reverse natural clotting you might need).

And, kale is a great anti-inflammatory. Just a few kale “fun facts.”

Back to the salad now. This is one pretty and healthy salad. We did not use the goat cheese that the original recipe called for (as you can see).

Kale Salad with Radishes and Pecans

The dressing is also very light — olive oil, white white vinegar, Dijon mustard … yup, nice and light.

Since the kale is more “hearty” than lettuce, you can mix the dressing in with the salad (instead of serving it on the side) as it holds up pretty well.

This recipe — Turkey Meatloaf — tasted good although the loaf didn’t hold together very well. Perhaps it should have sat and cooled longer than it did.? The texture was a little different than the beef meatloaves I’ve had in the past — more “soft” — so it was a nice change.

Kind’ve looks like a “regular” meatloaf but green, no?

Turkey Meatloaf

Zucchini, bell peppers and basil are what give it the “green” look.

Not to be outdone by the meatloaf, the Browned Butter Roasted Asparagus that was served on the side was delicious! It’s amazing to me how I’ve grown to like asparagus. As a child, the only “green” food we ate was iceberg lettuce. To this day, my mother serves iceberg lettuce as a “salad.” Occasionally, we have a tomato thrown in but not usually. Oh — we do have sliced avocados also so that counts as a “green” vegetable.

I believe one has to acquire a taste for asparagus — it took me many years.

Oh — I almost forgot to show you a picture of the asparagus. Um, um, good!

Roasted Asparagus with Browned Butter

I’ve read that asparagus is a good antioxidant. I’ll let you google for more info on that if you’re interested.

Turkey Meatloaf

What kind of vegetables are your favorite?

This Persian Eggplant Stew with beef was very good and the amount of curry used in the recipe was not too spicy. The original recipe calls for having the stew served over cauliflower rice. We didn’t do that. I have a hard time calling anything with cauliflower “rice.”

Beef and Eggplant Stew

The stew was nice and thick so we didn’t really need to put it “on” anything. We did have a side salad though — a recipe from Pottery Barn!!! I didn’t know that they had recipes, did you?

It was a Butter Lettuce with Mango Salad with Mint Vinaigrette. The original recipe calls for goat cheese but we left that out. This was one good and “pretty” salad.

Mango Mint Salad

I loved the macadamia nuts in it.  And I can eat mangoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner when they’re in season.

I’m glad summer is just about. Time to head out to some of the farmer’s markets in the area.