Category: Food

Greek Salad, anyone? This one went perfectly with the Greek Lamb Chops that I made. And so easy! I did use feta cheese although we haven’t introduced too much cheese into our paleo diet yet.

The ingredients are simple enough …

And for the dressing …

It all looks so healthy, doesn’t it?

Then you’ll just follow the directions (which are few), toss everything together and … whala! A wonderful Greek Salad.

And here’s the recipe for you to try …

Ingredients (for the dressing)

• Red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon
• Olive oil, 2 tablespoons
• Salt, 1/2 teaspoon
• Oregano, 1 teaspoon
• Garlic, 1 clove, chopped

Ingredients (for the salad)

• 1 cup of Spinach
• 2 medium Tomatoes
• 1 Green pepper
• 1 Cucumber
• 1/4 cup chopped Red Onion
• Olives, 10
• Feta cheese, 1 oz

Directions

1. Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together.
2. Peel and remove the seeds from the cucumber.
3. Chop all the vegetables coarsely.
4. Toss the vegetables, cheese and dressing in a large bowl. (Side note: I usually serve my dressing on the side so people can add as little or as much as they want.)

That’s pretty much it! Positively, absolutely delicious!

The title of this recipe, Spicy Drumsticks, is a misnomer, at least the way the ingredient amounts are listed. There is chili powder used but I think you’d have to use more than the 2 teaspoons in order for it to be really spicy.

But, don’t get me wrong — they tasted great! I’d make them again and again because, quite frankly, I continue to enjoy easy to make recipes since I like to work outside in the yard. In winter when I’m more indoors, I like the more “complicated” recipes.

I served this with roasted asparagus and a Balsamic Heirloom Tomato Salad. So good!

Here’s the recipe for you …

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp butter, melted (you can also use coconut oil)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 10 chicken drumsticks (I only used 7 drumsticks as that’s what came in the package)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the garlic, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and butter.
3. Add the chicken to the mixture and mix well to ensure all the meat is evenly coated with the seasonings.
4. Place the chicken drumsticks on a large baking sheet with space in between to prevent overlap.
5. Cook for about 1 hour, until the chicken is well cooked turning the pieces once during the cooking process.

That’s it! What a fun and easy paleo chicken dinner!

It’s breakfast time! Well, you could make this for a light dinner also but I served it for breakfast. This Asparagus, Dill, Onion and Egg Casserole recipe is light and healthy. Yes, it does take a lot of eggs (one dozen) but we had this for leftovers the following day and the day after. It reheats beautifully.

And not too many ingredients which is my kind of recipe …

You could add more “spice” to this dish like sausage or bits of turkey bacon — let your imagination go wild. I decided to make the original recipe then play with it later.

Ready to try it? Here it is …

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions (I used one large)
• 1 pound asparagus
• 1 dozen eggs
• ¼ cup loosely packed dill leaves, roughly chopped
• ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and lightly spray a casserole dish with olive oil.
2. Slice the onions thinly.
3. Wash the asparagus, cut the bottoms off then slice into 1 inch pieces.
4. Roughly chop the dill leaves.
5. Put the cracked eggs in a bowl, add the dill, pepper and salt then beat this all together.
6. In a large frying pan, add butter or olive oil and once hot add the onions.
7. Cook the onions until they are translucent. (side comment: I love the word translucent!)
8. Add the chopped asparagus to the frying pan with the onions in it and cook through until the asparagus is tender (just a few minutes).
9. Put the onion and asparagus mixture into the greased casserole dish.
10. Pour the beaten egg batter over the onion and asparagus and stir it around.
11. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until the eggs are set and just starting to brown on top.
12. Allow this to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting.

And that would be it!

Yum! What a great paleo breakfast!

This Balsamic Heirloom Tomato Salad is a great summer salad to make as it can be quickly and easily made.

You need just a few ingredients to get you going …

The original recipe calls for green, yellow and red tomatoes. I used what I had (although it would be a lot prettier with the other colors).

You’ll be draining the tomatoes in a colander with a bowl underneath …

And, that’s pretty much MOST of the steps. Here’s the recipe so you can try it …

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 to 2 pounds Heirloom Tomatoes (of different color and variety or just red)
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 pinch of dried oregano
• Fresh black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Wash the tomatoes and remove the stems.
2. Slice tomatoes into halves, quarters or eighths depending on the size of the tomato.
3. Toss the tomatoes into a colander that sits over a large bowl.
4. Generously sprinkle the salt over the tomatoes then gently toss and let them sit for 20 minutes. (The salt removes some extra water from the tomatoes and seasons them.)
5. In another bowl, combine the sliced green onions and garlic.
6. In a measuring cup combine the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and oregano and whisk this together until blended.
7. Put the tomatoes in a bowl then pour the balsamic mixture over the tomatoes.
8. Toss, season with fresh black pepper and serve.

Quite easy, eh? Yes, yes — easy and simple is always good.

I can’t say enough about salads — especially those with nuts and … cheese. Yes, there I said it again. Cheese. I don’t have cheese very often but this salad called for blue cheese and I thought I’d try this Arugula Salad with Orange Dressing.

This was so delicious but I have to confess that I changed the recipe up a bit. The original recipe for the salad calls for a pear and I didn’t have one handy so I left it out and replaced it with dried cranberries and radishes. For the dressing, I used olive oil instead of vegetable or canola to make it paleo friendly along with replacing the sugar with honey. The recipe you see below includes my changes.

It was so delicious! The orange dressing ingredients make quite a bit so I’d half it next time or save some to use in another salad (remember to serve it on the side).

I used pecans and “candied” them. Click here to read how to do that the “paleo” way.

So, here’s this easy salad recipe.

Ingredients (for the salad)

• 12 ounces (total) of arugula/baby spinach leaves (I used spinach and kale instead of arugula)
• 4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
• 4 ounces caramelized pecans
• 3 radishes sliced thinly
• Dried cranberries

Ingredients (for the dressing)

• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 2 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Add all the salad ingredients together in a large bowl and toss to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the dressing ingredients then serve the dressing on the side.

Whala! There you have it — easy, delicious and healthy!

Here’s a really really simple recipe for Pineapple Chicken Teriyaki and it requires very few ingredients which is wonderful! I used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos instead of soy to be more paleo friendly.

Since I had a can of pineapple chunks instead of crushed pineapple, I simply chopped mine up into smaller pieces.

Now to combine everything together to make the teriyaki sauce …

The chicken is marinated in the teriyaki sauce for 30 minutes to overnight in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. This will help the chicken to absorbe the flavors.

Next, you’ll be broiling the chicken …

Ready to try this paleo recipe?

Ingredients

• 1 – 8 ounce can crushed pineapple
• 3 tablespoons Braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions

1. For the teriyaki sauce, place the crushed pineapple, soy sauce, honey, ginger and garlic in a bowl then whisk to combine.
2. Pour half of the teriyaki sauce in a resealable plastic bag and reserve the other half.
3. Add the chicken breasts to the resealable bag then seal it and give the chicken a good massage to coat with the sauce.
4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight.
5. When ready to cook, turn the broiler on and place the rack in the middle position.
6. Put the marinated chicken breasts on a foil-lined baking sheet and spoon some of the chunky pineapple/ginger from the marinade on top of the chicken to help keep the chicken moist.
7. Broil for 8 to 10 minutes on each side for a total of 16-20 minutes.
8. Discard any remaining marinade in the bag.
9. While the chicken is broiling, heat the reserved teriyaki sauce in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer for about 3 minutes or until slightly thickened.
10. When the chicken is cooked, slice the chicken, pour the teriyaki sauce over the top and serve immediately (or you can leave it whole).

Simple, eh? I like simple recipes.

Well, I’m not sure exactly what went wrong with this Sweet Plantain Drop Biscuit recipe. Everything was going smoothly and I was hoping that these biscuits would turn out because I absolutely love sweet plantains AND biscuits … but, the biscuits came out more like a cookie.

Check it out and let me know if you can tell what might have gone awry. The ingredients were simple enough — and yes, my eggs were at room temperature (that’s something I learned a long time ago in baking).

The plantains were quite ripe also — yes, just like the recipe says, they have to be very ripe even to the point of the skin being all black (as long as they aren’t moldy).

You’ll be frying these beautiful plantains on a skillet until they’re browned on both sides.

Then adding them to a food processor and pureeing them.

So far … so good. I could hardly wait. Next, you’ll be adding the maple syrup, coconut oil, eggs, and coconut milk and pureeing this until its all smooth and not clumpy. Looks smooth to me …

Next add the stuff that helps thicken it, i.e. coconut flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt then puree it one more time to blend it all.

Looking beautiful!

The recipe asks you to use an ice cream scoop to plop them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper but my ice cream scooper is odd shaped so I had to use two plops. At this point, my hopes are still high.

Alas! They flattened and never recovered. I checked the underside of the biscuit and had I left it to bake longer they would have burnt. And I watched them (I really did!) but they never puffed up.  Sigh …

So — I’ve renamed them to Sweet Plantain Cookie until I can figure out what went wrong.

Anyone have any thoughts? By the way, I did use the canned coconut milk which I found delightfully thicker than the boxed one I’ve been using from Trader Joe’s.

Here’s the recipe for you to try …

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 brown plantains
• 3 tablespoons Grade B maple syrup (I used grade A)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon canned coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the ends off the plantains then use your knife to cut them in half lengthwise to peel the skin off. The browner the plantains are the sweeter they will be and the easier the skin is to take off.
3. In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat the coconut oil then add the halved plantains to the skillet.
4. Cook on both sides for about 3-4 minutes until browned.
5. After browning, remove them and add them to the food processor.
6. Puree until they begin to clump together.
7. Add the maple syrup, coconut oil, eggs, and coconut milk to the plantain mixture then puree until smooth and there are no clumps.
8.  Next, add the coconut flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt to the food processor then puree one more time to blend everything together.
9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and, using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter out to form balls then plop them on the baking sheet keeping them about 1 inch away from each other.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly brown and completely cooked through.
11. Allow them to cool before eating.

That’s it! Let me know if you try them and if you make any changes.

A special thanks to PaleoOMG who has an amazing website if you’re looking for more paleo recipes.