Category: Glimpses of Life

This recipe, called Veselka’s Cabbage Soup, was exceptionally good even though it had sauerkraut. Yes , you heard me right — sauerkraut. Now, before you move on from this post, let me tell you that I don’t like sauerkraut but this soup surprised me and was really delicious.

When my son gave me this recipe to try, I wrinkled my nose and automatically knew I would hate it. But I was wrong. So — for those of you who don’t like sauerkraut, I say “give it a try.” You can be proved wrong also. (We won’t tell anyone though.)

And look how easy it is to make — not too many ingredients.

Hey! How did the marjoram get turned around?

I used 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of pork.

Cut the breasts into small bite size pieces.

Slice the cabbage thinly …

Everything will be going into a large pot … but not all at once (see directions below).

This is what happened to me while I allowed the soup to simmer … my liquid evaporated so I had to add more water to cover the ingredients.

Ahhhh … this is much better.

It was perfect!

Now that I’ve got you hooked, here’s a list of all the ingredients and the directions.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
• 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons allspice
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
• 1 cup sauerkraut, plus around 4 tablespoons juice
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 carrots, minced
• 3 stalks celery, minced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cups fresh cabbage, shredded thin

Directions

1. Place the chicken in a large pot with the chicken stock, water, allspice, bay leaves, and marjoram.
2. Bring this all to a boil and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours.
3. Remove the chicken and set it aside on a plate to cool. Skim fat from the stock, leaving a little bit of fat for flavor.
4. Add sauerkraut and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Add the sweet potato and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and cabbage and simmer for another 20 minutes.
7. Add the cooked chicken and simmer for 10 more minutes.
8. Season with salt and pepper then add the extra sauerkraut juice.

Keep your eyes on the pot to make sure your liquid doesn’t evaporate like mine did. You can add more water or chicken stock — whatever your preference.

Give it a try though. I really believe you won’t be disappointed. This recipe has been adapted to be paleo friendly.

Besides posting reviews on paleo recipes that our family has tried, I will be posting some new ones that I am making. (As you recall, my son was cooking for us before but he’s off to new adventures now.)

This entree and salad are very simple to make. The chicken does take a little time to bake (40 minutes or so) but it’s well worth it. Even though you use few ingredients for the chicken, it is quite tasteful.

Here are the recipes for both …

Ingredients for Baked Chicken Thighs

• 4 chicken thighs, with skin and bones
• 1  shallot, peeled and sliced thin
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed into a paste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Simple, just like I said, right?

I used a mortar and pestle to make my garlic into a paste.

My paste wasn’t too pasty though …

Directions

1. Preheat oven to bake at 425°F
2. Rinse chicken thighs and place in a baking pan
3. Pat the thighs dry with a paper towel
4. Using your finger gently separate the skin from the thigh to create a pocket on top but make sure you don’t remove the skin
5. Combine the shallot and garlic then use a butter knife or small spoon to spread the mixture under the skin
6. Sprinkle the skin with salt and pepper
7. Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

The chicken will look like this after its prepped.

And like this once it’s baked …

These were absolutely scrumptious. The original recipe calls for 8 chicken thighs but I don’t think there would have been enough of the pasty mixture to fill them and have them taste good.

Oh yes, the salad. (Don’t worry, I didn’t forget.) My husband used to make this salad when I would allow him into the kitchen. It’s easy, nutritious and quite goodly to the palette. It’s called a Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad and here are the ingredients you need.

Ingredients

• 2 cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 roma tomatoes (original recipe calls for pint cherry tomatoes) sliced thickly
• 1/2 Vidalia onion, sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper (to your taste)
  

Directions

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine the cucumbers, tomatoes, onion and parsley
2. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Add half of the oil mixture over the salad and toss lightly
4. Refrigerate for approximately 10 minutes
5. Set out the rest of the oil mixture to add if you need more dressing.

That’s it! And it’s a pretty salad.

This combination was perfect. I think it will become one of my staples.

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A couple of days ago our son, who has been cooking for us for a few months, left to pursue life’s adventures. So, it’s time for me to get back on the cooking bandwagon. For the next few days, I’ll probably be using some of the paleo recipes that we’ve already tried and enjoyed. Occasionally I’ll throw in a new salad or entree recipe. We’ll see how it goes.

I am a couple of weeks behind in posting some of the recipes we’ve tried already so you will see some of those also.

To date, I’ve lost 20 lbs (almost 21 but I won’t count the extra lb until my scale shows it for 3 days). Not bad for eating paleo and not exercising, eh?

Yesterday we had Crock Pot Lamb Stew that we had before and it was a hit again. I cooked it on high for 4 hours and it was perfectly done.

I made a new salad to go with the stew — Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad. It was quite good! One gauge I use besides my own taste buds is my husband who took all of the leftovers with him for lunch today. Yea for me in finding a simple but tasty salad.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb broccoli (with stems)
• 1 large apple (I used a medium one)
• 3 leaves of lettuce (original recipe calls for mixed greens but I had lettuce at home so that’s what I used)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard (sugar free if possible) – I bought the spicy brand so used 1 tablespoon instead of the 3 tablespoons that the original recipe calls for)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• salt & pepper (to taste)
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

Directions

1. Clean the broccoli and slice it into medium sized florets. (The original recipe says you can use the stems too but they are normally too chewy for me so I left them out.)
2. Steam the broccoli for approximately 2 minutes (the broccoli should look “bright” but you don’t want it soggy).
3. Remove the broccoli from the stovetop and immediately immerse it in cold water until cooled. Drain it thoroughly and then pat them dry with a towel so the florets won’t hold onto the water which will dilute the dressing.
4. Core & slice the apple thinly then add it to a large bowl along with the broccoli and lettuce.
5.  In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the dressing ingredients (mustard, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.) Taste and add more of any of the ingredients depending on what your preference is.
6. Pour 1/2 of the dressing over the salad and toss everything together to blend it.
7. Refrigerate the salad for 30 minutes.
8. In a small bowl, toss the raisins with 1/4 tsp. salt and set aside.
9. When you’re ready to serve the salad, add the raisins over the refrigerated ingredients and serve.

The reason I saved half of the dressing is because I don’t like to toss my salads in the dressing as most times it becomes soggy. This salad does need to marinate in this dressing so that’s why I added half of it. In addition, my husband likes spicy foods but I don’t so this gave him the option to add more dressing to the salad whereas I kept mine more mild.

This was quite simple and I would definitely make it again.

The highlight of my paleo diet was this Sweet Potato and Leek Soup. Really and seriously. This was fantastico! I loved every bite of this soup and later had it for breakfast also. It has a smooth texture to it that reminded me of cream of rice. What?!!! Yes, it had the texture of cream of rice and I love that texture on my palette.

I will make this again and again, although my husband, who is not a fan of sweet potato, was not too thrilled with it, so we’ll see where life leads. What are we going to do with such husbands?

My son served the soup with Ratatouille. An odd combination, no? I’m beginning to believe I’m not a fan of ratatouille. I mean, it was okay but it’s not on my “let’s make it again tomorrow” list.

Both entrees are chockfull of vitamins though so I say — go for it! But definitely try the soup — you won’t be disappointed.

Trialling this recipe that our son made was interesting. I’d never thought of making a casserole, aka Chicken Potato and Vegetable Bake, and adding potatoes and carrots. It’s certainly simple enough — I just wouldn’t have thought of it.

The casserole was a little bland. We didn’t use the Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing as my son made his own dressing nor did we sprinkle it with grated parmesan. Perhaps that’s what made the difference, you think?

Although a little bland, it tasted okay as it was served with Pan Roasted Asparagus and that really did make a difference. I am a huge fan of asparagus these days. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I’d say that but life brings interesting changes and this is one of them.

If you decide to make the casserole and you use the Zesty dressing or something else, let me know how that works for you.

There are some simple foods that don’t need much to please the palette. This Spicy Beef Sloppy Joe is one such food. It reminded me of the “old” days when my mother would take out a can of sloppy joe, heat it and serve it, although this was much much better than a can of sloppy joe.

Because we’ve been eating “paleo” in our family, we did not serve it on a toasted kaiser roll as the recipe suggests. Instead, we served it on lettuce. Turned out pretty good!

Our son served it with fried sweet potato fries — one of my favorite sides.