Simply Norma

This Asparagus with Mushrooms and Hazelnut recipe is a really nice paleo side dish. I was a little hesitant about the vinegar mixture as I was afraid that it would be too bitter but it came out great!

Here are the ingredients you’ll be needing (minus the olive oil, salt and pepper):

Next you’ll be prepping your vegetables by cleaning and trimming the asparagus and cleaning and chopping the green onions.

Then — clean your mushrooms.  Give them a nice shower! (Note: I like to prep and wash my veggies first so they can air dry while I work on everything else.)

Next — chop the hazelnuts. (Notice the Minnesota chopping board in the background? Pretty cool, eh?  That was a Christmas gift.)

After chopping the hazelnuts, you’ll be toasting them.  I did this on the stovetop.  Keep an eye out on them though as you don’t want them to burn.

Now, you’ll want to combine the red wine vinegar with some salt and pepper. It will look like this:

To prepare for the next few steps, you’ll need a colander, a medium pot of boiling water (enough to put your asparagus in), a large skillet and a medium sized bowl of ice water.

Once your water is boiling, put the asparagus in for about 4 minutes or so. It should be a “soft” boil not a roaring one. You want your asparagus to blanch (should be crisp when you take it out).

Okay so — things are moving quickly now. In a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and when it’s heated, add the mushrooms. You want them to be semi-soft.

Next you’ll be adding the green onions to the mushrooms and tossing it all together. Ahhh, so pretty!

By now you should be checking the asparagus as it should be done. Drain the asparagus in the colander and quickly cool them off by tossing the ice water over the asparagus. A nice cold shower for them!

Make sure the asparagus is drained well then add them to the skillet with the mushrooms and green onions …

Looking good!  Toss it all together now. The mushrooms should be getting nice and soft. Next you’ll be pouring your red wine vinegar mixture into the skillet.

Combine it all together and put it in a nice bowl then toss your hazelnuts on top. Ready to try it?

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 pound fresh asparagus, washed, ends trimmed and cut in half
• Olive oil
• 1 pound of mushrooms, washed
• 1/2 cup green onions, washed and sliced
• 1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped

Directions

1. Prep your veggies and lay them off to the side.
2. Prepare a medium sized bowl of ice water (I used a salad bowl but you can use any container) – lay this off to the side til needed.
3. Chop the hazelnuts and toast them on the stovetop or in the oven (they don’t take long to toast so keep an eye on them) – then lay this off to the side.
4. Add the vinegar, 1 tablespoon of the oil, salt, and pepper to a small bowl and lay this off to the side.
5. Fill a medium sized pot with water and boil it. Once boiled, add the asparagus for approximately 3-4 minutes to blanch them.
6. While the asparagus is blanching, put a 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet and heat on medium high.
7. Add the mushrooms to the skillet and saute until they are almost soft.
8. Add the green onions to the skillet with the mushrooms.
9. At this point, the asparagus should be ready. Taste one to make sure — it should be crisp but not raw.
10. Drain the asparagus in a colander, pour the ice water over them immediately then drain the cold water from the asparagus.
11. Add the asparagus to the skillet mixture, toss then cook for another 3 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft.
12. Turn the skillet heat off then slowly add the vinegar mixture into the skillet. Toss everything together.
13. Put the vegetable mixture in a bowl and sprinkle the toasted hazelnuts over the top.

Whala!!! You’re finished and it tastes absolutely delicious!

I found this recipe at Paleo Plans which has a really neat section that includes recipes they have tried — very similar to the page I have that has a list of recipes.

Hope you enjoy this one!

So, this Chive Baked Sweet Potato came out surprisingly good.  The original recipe calls from a regular potato but I paleo-ized it (somewhat). Instead of using a regular potato I used a sweet potato. And instead of soy cheese, I used grated aged parmesan cheese.

This recipe is a keeper — it’s easy, filling and quite tasty. It also uses few ingredients.

So — here’s what you’ll be needing:

You’ll be making a sauce with the cashews and a little bit of water. I was a little skeptical as to whether or not I would like the taste but it turned out quite well.

So … let’s try this simple recipe, shall we?

Ingredients

• 2 Sweet Potatoes (you could also use yams)
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 cup of raw cashews
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (I used freshly squeezed)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt (to taste)
• Handful of Aged Parmesan Cheese, grated
• Chives, chopped

Directions

1. In a blender, add the cashews, water, lemon juice, garlic and salt then blend it all until it’s creamy.
2. Poke holes on the top of the sweet potatoes.
3. Wet 2 paper towels and wrap your sweet potatoes in them.
4. Put the potatoes with the towels on a microwave safe dish and microwave them for 6-8 minutes (mine took 8 minutes but I had thick potatoes).
5. After removing the potatoes from the oven, poke them with a skewer or fork to make sure they are cooked all the way through (the skewer/fork should go through easily).
6. Put a large slit in the top of each potato and add some of the cashew sauce along with some grated parmesan cheese on top.
7. Put the potatoes back in the microwave (without the towel) for 2 minutes to melt the cheese.
8. Remove from the microwave and top with chives if you wish.

That’s pretty much it!  Here’s the finished product:

Yum, yum, yum! Special thanks to the Vegan Stoner for the original recipe.

This Roasted Parsnip Pear Soup has two of my favorite ingredients. Can you guess what they are?  (laughing)  You’d be right if you guessed parsnips and pears.

Although I love pears, they don’t like me very much. It’s not the pear really — it’s the pesticide they use on the pear. I can scrub the pear well, peel it and still have a tingly feeling on my tongue.

This time what I experienced was a tad different.  I actually had bumps that came out on my hand from handling the pear. Isn’t that odd? Here’s what it looked like:

You’re probably wondering why I’m making a recipe with pears if I’m allergic to the pesticide they put on them, right? Well, I have found that when the pear is cooked it doesn’t bother me. Another odd thing, no?

This soup was a surprise in some ways and not so much in another.  First, my husband did NOT like it. He’s not a fan of creamy type soups anyway and this one looks like Farina/Cream of Wheat. It also has the same texture and came out very very thick. I added some light coconut milk to make it creamier and that seemed to work well.

So — here’s what you’ll be needing (olive oil, salt, pepper and coconut milk not shown):

You’ll be preparing your vegetables …

After chopping the onions you’ll be putting them in a pot with a little bit of olive oil and cooking them until they are clear.

After preparing the pears and parsnips, you’ll be adding them, along with everything else, into your large pot.

You’ll also need to caramalize your nuts — I used pecans.

Let’s get started on this, shall we?

Ingredients

• 1 lb. parsnips, peeled and chopped
• 4 ripe pears, peeled, cored and chopped
• Olive oil
• 1 medium white onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups vegetable bouillon
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• Cinnamon
• Salt
• Pepper

Ingredients for the caramelized pecans

• 3/4 cup pecans, chopped
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
2. Place the prepared parsnips and pears in an oven-proof baking dish.
3. Drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss well to evenly coat.
4. Place the baking dish in the oven15 minutes to roast the parsnips and pears.
5. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large soup pot and add the onion.
6. Sauté the onion until its soft and clear.
7. Add the vegetable bouillon and stir to mix.
8. When the pears and parsnips have roasted, add them to the vegetable bouillon in the soup pot.
9. Add the rosemary, sage and cinnamon to the soup.
10. Allow everything to cook together until the parsnips are soft.
11. When the parsnips are soft, puree the soup in a blender to a creamy mixture.
12. Prepare the caramelized/candied pecans. Click here for instructions on how to do that (very simple).
13. Season with salt and pepper.
14. Serve the soup with some caramelized pecans on top — a nice touch!.

The soup was not bad — not scrumptious but not bad. It was “heavy” in the belly. Next time I would strain the soup to make it more liquid-y and I wouldn’t serve it as the main dish but as a side to another dish.

If you decide to try it, let me know if you make any adaptations. I did adapt the original recipe, i.e. didn’t use white wine, used pecans instead of walnuts and added a wee bit of coconut milk.

And this is the final product … (I took the picture late in the evening so the natural light was all gone — thus the strange lighting.)

Served with a salad, this would make a nice light lunch or dinner.

I bought a large container of tomatoes because they were on sale and then got home and thought “What do I do with a bunch of tomatoes?”

Some of my options were –

• Slice them and eat them raw
• Slice them and add them to a salad
• Make a stir fry and include them in it
• Make homemade salsa
• Make homemade spaghetti sauce

All of those options were good but instead, I decided to bake them as a side dish. And, they came out pretty good.

The recipe calls for aged grated parmesan cheese which is not really paleo but more primal (the primal diet allows cheese). It’s quite interesting reading about the difference between the paleolithic diet and the primal diet. There are so many opinions and variations on these diets — it’s enough to make your head spin.

Despite this, I’m putting this recipe under the paleo category and you can choose whether to add the cheese or not —

First, you’ll need a few ingredients …

Next, you’ll be combining the oregano, cheese, salt and pepper. It will look like this …

You can use basil (dried or freshly chopped) or any other herb you like.

Next, you’ll be slicing your tomatoes lengthwise and putting some of your herb mixture on top of each tomato. Then you’ll be pouring a little bit of olive oil over the tomato halves.

Next they’ll go in the oven … Are you ready to try it?

Ingredients

• 4 large oblong-shaped tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
• 1 teaspoon oregano (I used dried)
• 1/4 cup freshly grated aged parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Ground pepper
• 4 teaspoons extra virgen olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450° Fahrenheit
2. Place tomatoes cut-side up on a baking sheet
3. In a small bowl, combine the oregano, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper
4. Top the tomatoes with the herb/cheese mixture
5. Drizzle the olive oil on top of the herb/cheese mixture
6. Bake the tomatoes until they are tender, about 15 minutes (but set your timer for 5 minutes earlier in case they get done sooner)

And that is pretty much it. They are juicy and great tasting!

This recipe was adapted a tad from Food.com.