Glimpses of Life – Page 40

Paleo Veggie Burgers and Root Vegetable Casserole

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 MuhammaraÂ (the orange-looking dip) for the burgers which helped to add a little flavor to the 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!

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

(For a list of recipes by categories, clickÂ here.)

Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower

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.

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

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!

Paleo Ginger Beef Stew with Kale-Strawberry Salad

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!

The side salad we had was a Kale and Strawberry SaladÂ and was interesting in flavor because of the combination of strawberries, kale and jicamaÂ (aÂ paleÂ brownÂ turnipÂ withÂ crispÂ sweetÂ flesh). It was crunchy and good!

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

Pineapple Chicken Teriyaki

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.)

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).

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.

Paleo Turkey Meatloaf with Asparagus

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?

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

Not to be outdone by the meatloaf, the Browned Butter Roasted AsparagusÂ 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!

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

What kind of vegetables are your favorite?

Persian Eggplant Stew

This Persian Eggplant StewÂ 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.”

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.

I loved the macadamia nuts in it. Â 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.

Downy Woodpeckers

With spring arriving, the birds have made their way back to our property. The peck, peck pecking always rouses my curiosity and this time I was in for a treat.

A male and female downy woodpecker were pecking and flitting through the trees.

Here are three views of the male. His coloring is so pretty!

He isn’t very large, is he? The female is smaller and not as colorful.

I wonder what kinds of birds there will be in heaven …

Baked Salmon with Assorted Vegetables

This is a very simple recipe to make: Baked Salmon with Assorted Vegetables. Simple is always good, right?

The only change we made in this recipe is replacing the Yukon Gold Potatoes with sweet potatoes which made the recipe more paleo friendly. And it was good and healthy.

There are many fish paleo recipes out there. Some of them have salads as a side and others, like this one, use vegetables. You can link to other recipes I’ve tried below.

If you have any recipes you’d like to share for us to try, please let me know.

Chicken Broccoli Bake

This paleo Chicken Broccoli Bake was a good one-entree meal (no sides). It looks like a conglomeration of food, eh? Chicken, broccoli, sweet potato and spices. Simple enough.

It’s easy to make — just slap all the ingredients together, drizzle olive oil over them and bake. Wahlah!

Thanks to Our Paleo Life for sharing this simple, filling and great tasting recipe.

Paleo Breakfast Sausage

Here’s another bison recipe we tried … Breakfast Sausage. The prep time is quick (about 10 minutes) and the sausage is good although this one came out a little dry.

We did not add pork (as the recipe calls for) but used more bison and ground beef to offset that change.

I like that the ingredients can be made ahead of time for up to 1 week and/or frozen for 3 months. So make lots so you can make them as you need them.

An interesting ingredient in this recipe is nutmeg. I never would have, even in my wildest dreams, thought to put nutmeg with any kind of meat. Okay, okay, I don’t normally dream about meat but you get my drift.

Breakfast is one meal that I like to be as simple as possible as it sets the tone for the rest of the day.