Baked Apples

I cannot describe how good my home smelled last night. I love when my mother comes to visit! After the chicken-veggie dish, we had this for dessert!

The recipe listed a few kinds of apples that would work best, such as Granny Smiths.  These are commonly used for baking but because there is no sugar in this recipe we found that they were pretty tart. However, I liked the tartness combined with the sweet raisins. So find a kind you like best and enjoy!

2 tablespoons raisins

2 tablespoons chopped raw walnuts

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 small apples, peeled and cored

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Evenly divide the raisin mixture into four portions and stuff into hollows of apples. Place upright in glass or ceramic baking dish and add 1 inch of water. Bake for thirty to forty minutes. Apples are done when soft and easily pierced with a fork. Cool for five minutes before serving.

Chick-Veggie Heaven

My mother came to visit this weekend. She was able to stay a few days and while here, got to reading Loren Cordain's Paleo Diet Cookbook.  She made this last night and it was awesome! This is our take on his recipe Chick-Veggie Heaven

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks

8 ounces leftover chicken, shredded

8 ounces fresh, raw spinach

Juice from ½ lemon

We added a couple strips of chopped bacon for even more flavor and a handful of chopped mushrooms we had in the fridge.

The recipe calls for 8 ounces of fresh asparagus also if you wish to add.

In a cast iron skillet over medium flame, saute onion and garlic for about five minutes or until tender. Add asparagus and carrot and continue to saute for an additional five minutes. Mix in chicken and stir for one minute.

Fold in spinach, remove from heat, and cover. Spinach will wilt from the steam. Remove cover and drizzle mixture with fresh lemon juice.

Apologies for the poor picture quality. I snapped it on my phone before I quickly scarfed this down!

Stuffed Red Bell Peppers (primal style)

Stuffed Red Bell Peppers (primal style)

This is a spicy, hot, south of the border dish…..that brought my house down!!  Using the idea of a traditional stuffed bell pepper, I turned it inside out and upside down and came up with this recipe.  Enjoy!  Feeds 2-4 depending on the appetite.

Preheat oven to 350.

1 lb. ground pork

1-2 red bell peppers

1 apple (peeled, cored and minced)

½ of a yellow onion (diced)

3-4 cloves of garlic (minced)

Leftover bacon grease

3 good sized Poblano Peppers (seeds removed and diced, I did my chopping in the food processor to save my hands, but to each their own)

Seasonings – I used fennel seed, sage, salt, black pepper, and chili powder…..lots of chili powder, say a tablespoon.

In a large pot, I melted down, over medium heat, 3 heaping tablespoons of bacon grease; it gives this dish a nice smoked flavor.  Add to this the apple, onion, garlic and poblano pepper.  Add in seasonings, being generous with the salt and pepper.  After this mixture has cooked well for about 15 minutes, remove from pan into a holding bowl.  Add ground pork to this pot (no rinsing).  Brown meat until nearly done, then add in cooked veggie mixture.  Cook for about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile in a baking dish of some sort (I used a glass pie plate), grease the bottom, slice your bell pepper (s) in half and place in dish.  Once your meat mixture is ready, stuff your bell pepper halves, and then pile all the rest of the filling in around and over the stuffed peppers.  The above ingredients I used for one bell pepper, it can be spread out to two peppers…..there just won’t be much of the filling to bake with the peppers, so you could easily just double everything and have plenty. 

I grated some aged parmesan cheese over the top, just for a little crunch.

Bake for 15 minutes.  I cut up some asparagus to accompany this dish, and put them in the oven with some olive oil and S&P for the last 5 minutes of cooking time. 

Serve and enjoy. 

FYI – I have a somewhat low tolerance for spicy heat, but once the poblanos are de-seeded, their heat is not bad at all.

Primal Blinis

Makes 8-12 blinis

§  4 tablespoons butter

§  4 eggs, separated into whites and yolks

§  1/4 teaspoon salt

~I used some vanilla, agave nectar (honey) and cinnamon for a sweeter blini.

~You could use, other spices to change it up however.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt two tablespoons of butter and let cool.

Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, melted butter and salt by hand.

Gently fold egg yolks into egg whites

Melt remaining butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat.

Spoon egg mixture evenly into the pan.

Let the eggs cook untouched for two minutes then move the pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool, then cut however you like.
These could be topped with tomatoes, basil and garlic, eat like a pizza....topped with fruit for something sweet.  It's soft, not very rigid.....but can be very versatile.

Chicken, Onion and Cabbage Soup

Chicken, Onion and Cabbage Soup

4 cooked chicken thighs, skinned and deboned, and chopped up.

4-5 slices of ham (optional)

1 onion – chopped

½ a head of red cabbage

6-8 asparagus spears – cut up to bite size pieces

4 cloves of garlic sliced

2 – 3 cups of chicken stock

3-4 sprigs of rosemary

Various seasonings – depends on your tastes.  Below is what I added….

In your soup pot, add some olive oil and/or bacon grease….just to coat the bottom.  Once heated (medium heat), add, onion, ham, cabbage, garlic and asparagus.  Strip rosemary sprigs and chop if desired and throw into the pot.  Add cooked chicken and some salt, black pepper, marjoram leaves and 2 bay leaves.  Mix all together and cook for about 10 minutes.  Add chicken stock.  Cover and cook for about 30 minutes at a simmering heat.  Remove bay leaves and enjoy!

Chicken Burgers

     For these Chicken Burgers, we used one pound of organic ground chicken, 2 handfuls of fresh, chopped spinach leaves, 4 cloves of garlic, chopped, 1/2 a red onion chopped, one farm fresh egg, and about 2 tablespoons of organic plain yogurt.  We used for seasonings a variety of things.....kosher salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and ground cloves.  We found the ground cloves really brought the flavors all together.  These were attractive little burgers that we grilled on the grill, but could just as easily be baked in the oven for about 30 minutes at about 350 degrees. 
     We ate them on a bed of red and green leaf lettuce, with a slice of tomato.  Never missed the bun!  I really wished I would've taken a picture, because this was a pretty dish as well as being tasty.

H.A.M.

When I saw ham for under $1.50/lb I had to buy it. Now I have a 10lb ham and need to figure out how many different ways I can cook it, and freeze portions until I do so.

Much harder than it looks. Ham itself is okay occasionally, but it’s always secretly paired with non-primal foods. Planning meals is like getting a Q in Scrabble with no U to lay it down. I grew up with leftover ham in cheesy potato casseroles, chopped ham spread on Ritz crackers, ham sandwiches, ham and beans, sugary BBQ goodness… So here’s my list so far, of ways to eat this ham differently than I have the past 30 years.  Double. Word. Score. Check it.

Ham and eggs.

Ham and green beans.

Ham & summer vegetables.

Chopped ham on iceberg salad with tomatoes and hard boiled eggs.

Chopped ham on spinach salad with strawberries and slivered almonds.

Chopped ham and pineapple bits in lettuce wraps.

Broccoli, ham, and egg bake.

Ham and asparagus frittata.

Ham and julienned stir-fry veggies (minus the corn starch).

Heat a wok or large skillet with oil on medium heat. Place carrots, onions, green beans, green peas, broccoli, green peppers and red peppers. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Make a well in the center of vegetables. Place ham in and stir to moisten. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes.

In a small, lightly greased skillet, scramble the eggs until firm. Cut eggs up into small pieces.

Stir vegetables, ham and eggs together. Mix the soy sauce, water and cornstarch in a bowl and pour into center of wok or skillet. Stir quickly until it begins to thicken.

Pork and Apples.

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 stalk celery, chopped

2-3 C. ham, cut into cubes

Dash of oil of choice

1 red apple, cored and chopped

Add cubed ham, celery, and onion and stir fry until near-tender. Add apples and heat through. Serve.

Whats your take on ham? Please leave us your comments!