Sweet Potato Chicken Salad: Paleo Version

Last night I made a paleo version of our Tzatziki Chicken Sweet Potato Salad.  Instead of the yogurt based-dressing, I used the follow combination:
1/2 c olive oil
2-3 T dijon mustard
1 T lemon juice
salt, pepper, and dried parsley to taste

Depending on how "saucy" you want the salad to be, you might want to double the amount of dressing.  It's funny to think that not long ago I hated all types of mustard, but lately I've been adding dijon to a lot of my recipes.  I particularly enjoyed the zing the dijon gave to this dish.  It was also well received by some fellow CrossFitters!  For those of you who are vegetarians, you could leave out the chicken and add 1/2-1 cup of sunflower kernels, or even tofu.  Enjoy, and let me know if you try any new variations!

Paleo Apple Recipes and Things I'm Loving Right Now

Paleo Apple Recipes

When I went apple picking a few weekends ago I knew I would need tons of apples so that I could bake with them!  I love eating fresh picked apples, but I like them even more combined with cinnamon in baked apple dishes!  

The first recipe I made is a favorite of mine that I created this summer: paleo apple cinnamon muffins.  When I make these muffins I have to be careful not to eat the whole batch because they are that good.  Rem loves the Banana Blueberry Muffins we make, but these apple cinnamon ones are my favorite!  They are super simple to make and make your house smell heavenly.  

The second recipe I made was a new creation inspired by lots of research around the web on grain and refined-sugar free apple crisps.  My childhoood favorite had lots of oats, butter, and brown sugar.  It was delicious and highly addicting.  But I wanted a version that I could feel good about putting into my body, and even eat for breakfast!  This was the first time I made this particular apple crisp recipe and it turned out great!  Is it just me, or is the best part of making apple crisp eating the clumps of topping?  Somehow I managed to keep myself from eating all of the topping this time, but I did eat almost the whole pan of apple crisp.  I had to remind Rem to try a bite before it was gone, and I think one bite was all that he got!

Paleo Apple Cinnamon Muffins

1 c unsweetened applesauce

¼ c coconut oil

5 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ c coconut flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Brand)

1 tsp baking soda

2 T cinnamon

1 apple, chopped (with skin on)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line muffin pan with 12 muffin liners.  If your coconut oil has become solid, heat it in the microwave with the applesauce until melted (*don’t melt the oil by itself, because if you add cold applesauce to it it will harden).  Cool for a few minutes then whisk in the 5 eggs and the vanilla.  Sprinkle coconut flour, baking soda, and cinnamon on top and then stir with a spoon until well combined.  Then stir in chopped apple.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Spoon batter evenly into 12 muffin cups (I use a large ¼ c ice cream scoop).  Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 min or until toothpick comes out clean.  As soon as you take the muffins out of the oven, drizzle a very small amount of honey on top of each muffin (*optional).  Cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack.  Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week or freezer for up to 1 month. 

Paleo Apple Crisp

5 assorted apples (I used Jonathon, Jonagold, and Gala apples)

Lemon juice

Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger

2 T coconut oil

½ c almond meal

¼ c ground flaxseed

¼ c unsweetened shredded coconut

¼ c slivered almonds

Cinnamon

½ T vanilla

Drizzle honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Use apple, peeler, corer, slicer to core and slice apples, then cut each apple ring in half OR if you don’t have a peeler, corer, slicer, cut your apples into thin slices.  Toss apple slices with a few tablespoons of lemon juice, a generous amount of cinnamon, and a few shakes of nutmeg and ginger.  Place apple in 8x8 pan greased with coconut oil.  Melt the 2 T coconut oil in a medium bowl, then stir in almond flour, flaxseed, coconut, almonds, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Mix until combined but still crumbly.  Spoon over apples then drizzle honey over the whole pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min.  I recommend serving this with plain Greek yogurt! 

Things I’m loving right now… 

source: http://toucanfoods.com/healthy/2012/01/25/snowville-creamery-%E2%80%9Cbetter-than-organic%E2%80%9D-pasture-grazed-dairy/

Snowville Creamery Grass Grazed Milk

Based on a lot of our recent research and our values about the food we eat, we decided to be more proactive about buying and eating mainly grass fed beef.  In fact, we found a farm that sells grass fed beef and bought half of a cow!  In the same vein, we decided to start buying milk from grass fed cows.  We’ve been trying to find a brand of milk that is isn’t crazy expensive, and happily discovered that our local Giant Eagle carries milk from Snowville Creamery, an Ohio farm!  Milk from grass fed cows is better for the cows, for the environment, and for our health.  Visit the Snowville Creamery website to find out more about their company and the benefits of their grass grazed milk  

source: http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/29/dropbox-the-iphone-app-has-dropped/

Dropbox

Dropbox is a free online service that lets you save your files so that they can be accessed from any computer or mobile device that you use.  You set up a “drop box” account, download the service to your computer and a drop box folder becomes available on your computer.  Then you can save any document in the drop box folder.  When you go to use a computer other than your own, just sign in on dropbox.com and your files are there ready to be opened!  This is amazing for me as a teacher because I previously found myself sending tons of e-mails with attachments of the files I needed to print or work on at school.  Now I can just save everything to drop box and it’s available anywhere! 

source: http://willworkforfoodgirl.com/2010/09/08/the-great-peach-crunch-experiment/

If You Care muffin liners

These are THE BEST muffins liners ever.  They are coated with silicone so your baked good won’t stick to them.  They are also unbleached and made from 100% recycled materials, which makes them very environmentally-friendly!  I originally found these at Whole Foods, but after my first box was gone I ordered them from amazon.com.  I decided it would be frugal to just order them in bulk, so I ordered a package with 24 60-count boxes.  Yep, that’s 1440 muffin liners.  I think I’m set for the next 10 years or so!  

Tzatziki Chicken Sweet Potato Salad

We have a new favorite mid-afternoon/post-workout/whenever you’re hungry snack at our house - another weekend concoction that ended up being mighty tasty.  We have other sweet potato salads we like to make (if you still don’t know, we eat LOTS of sweet potatoes), but this one is refreshingly light with the tzatziki dressing and big chunks of veggies.  Also, the chicken adds enough protein to make it the perfect, well-rounded snack.  When Rem or I take it out of the fridge to eat, the other one usually sneaks over and steals a couple bites.  That’s usually how we tell a recipe is a keeper.

One tip when you make it: don’t cut the pieces too small.  Just smaller than bite size for each piece is good, so you can still eat the components together, but can enjoy each individually too (plus it maintains a nice texture that way).

Tzatziki Chicken Sweet Potato Salad

**Note: this was another one of our throw together recipes, so all measurements are approximate.  We went with the “that looks like a good amount” method of measuring.

2-3 lbs chicken (we use the frozen chicken thighs from Trader Joe’s)

4 large (2-3 lbs) sweet potatoes (skin on or skin off, your choice)

1 large cucumber

1 lb broccoli florets

Dressing:

1/2 c. plain greek yogurt

1/3 c. olive oil

1/4 c. lemon juice

Salt, pepper, and parsley to taste

Bake the chicken until done (will depend on what type of chicken you use; we just follow the directions on the bag).   Chop sweet potatoes and boil until just tender.  Dice chicken once it’s done cooking, and allow sweet potatoes and chicken to cool.

Chop cucumber and broccoli. Combine with cooled chicken and sweet potatoes.   Combine yogurt, olive oil, and lemon juice with whisk (start with the yogurt, add lemon juice, then continue to add oil until it reaches dressing-like consistency).  Pour dressing onto mixture and season to taste.

Noodles with Tahini Sauce

The other day, I noticed that the big jar of tahini in our fridge expires soon.  I’m sort of a stickler for expiration dates.  In high school, I made pasta for my sister and I but didn’t realize the sauce was expired.  Well, we both got pretty sick.  And she never let me forget about it!  Ever since then I have been hyper aware of expiration dates on jars or cans of food. 

We use tahini to make hummus, but that’s about it!  I wanted to find a recipe to use more of the tahini before it expired, and I stumbled upon a delicious recipe for noodles with tahini sauce.  It would be a great cold side to take to a potluck.  It’s very good eaten with hardboiled eggs too.  You could use regular spaghetti or soba noodles in place of the brown rice noodles, and could certainly use traditional soy sauce as well.  The noodles soak up a lot of the sauce, so the dish isn't as creamy as you might expect, but has a ton of flavor.  If you want it to be creamier, double the sauce recipe! 

Noodles with Tahini Sauce

adapted from Vegan Yum Yum

8 oz. Tinkyada spaghetti style brown rice noodles

8 oz. coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)

6 green onions, diced

¼ c tahini

2 T tamari gluten free low sodium soy sauce

3 T water

1 T honey

1 tsp sriracha

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 pinch salt

Lots of pepper

Cook noodles according to package directions.  While cooking, chop up green onions.  Mix up sauce.  Drain noodles, and while they’re still hot, mix together vegetables, noodles, and sauce.  Refrigerate.  Serve cold.  

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers

1 lb. ground bison

1 onion, chopped

½ bag frozen peppers

2 lb. fresh mushrooms, chopped

Salt, pepper, garlic powder

1-30 oz. can organic diced tomatoes, with juice

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

Oregano

1 c Minute brown rice

3 green peppers

Brown the bison in a very large stainless-steel (and oven-proof) sauté pan over medium high heat.  Keep an eye on the bison as it cooks, chopping and stirring occasionally.  Meanwhile, chop the onion.  When only a little pink is left on the bison, add the onion and cook 2-3 minutes, stirring as necessary to prevent sticking.  As the onion cooks, clean and chop the mushrooms.  Add the mushroom and frozen peppers, then season the mixture with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, stirring as necessary to prevent sticking.  After the mushrooms have cooked down, add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano and rice. Stir the mixture well.  Turn heat down to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Now heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Clean the peppers then cut the tops off.  Chop the tops to use for something else later.  Cut each pepper in half.  After the bison, veggie, and rice mixture has simmered, nestle each of the 6 pepper halves into the mixture and fill each pepper half with the mixture, leaving some around the edges (as pictured).  Bake the peppers, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes.

If you don’t have an oven-proof sauté pan, cook the meat, veggie, and rice mixture in a regular sauté pan.  Before baking, place the pepper halves in a 13x9 glass baking dish and spoon the mixture into the peppers.  Then bake the whole thing in the 13x9 dish. 

I have made and eaten countless versions of stuffed peppers, but this is the most recent version I’ve made and it was very delicious.  Feel free to change it up however you like!

Some variations include:

-Instead of bison, use ground turkey or lean ground beef.

-Instead of mushrooms, use black beans.

-Instead of green peppers, use red, yellow, or orange peppers for a sweeter flavor

-Top the peppers with feta, cheddar, or any or type of cheese you like during the last 15 minutes of baking.

-Add any other veggies you like to the onions, peppers and mushrooms.  Celery or carrots would be good!

Pork and Sauerkraut with Sweet Potatoes

I have another very tasty fall recipe for you today.  I used to make pork and sauerkraut with white potatoes, but I have since found out that my body does not digest them very well.  I have discovered that sweet potatoes are a great alternative to white potatoes in many recipes (and have more vitamins and fiber!), but had never tried them with pork and sauerkraut.  They added sweetness and richness to this recipe and became extremely tender and delicious.  In fact, this is my new favorite way to make pork and sauerkraut.  I think I could literally eat it every day… 

Pork and Sauerkraut with Sweet Potatoes

3-4 lb. pork loin, trimmed of fat and cut into 2 or more large pieces

3 large sweet potatoes

1 large onion

1 jar (2 lb.) sauerkraut

½ c unsweetened applesauce

Freshly ground black pepper

Celery seed

Wash and cut sweet potatoes into large chunks (1 cut them into 1 inch thick rounds, then in quarters).  Place in a layer on the bottom of a large crockpot.  Dice onion and put on top of sweet potatoes.  Put the pork in next and season with lots of pepper and celery seed.  Pour sauerkraut on top and tuck into open spaces on the sides of the pork.  Pour applesauce on top.  Turn crockpot on HIGH and cook for 6 hours.  

Pot Roast

We actually made this pot roast earlier in the summer.  Yes, it was probably around 90 degrees the day we made it, but that didn’t stop our taste buds from wanting to eat pot roast.   However, now seemed like a more appropriate time to post the recipe since it is getting a little cooler out.  I am excited that it is starting to feel like Fall!  Fall is definitely my favorite season.  I love being able to walk my dog without worrying about him overheating, wearing sweaters, making soups, stews, and roasts, going apple picking, smelling the fall air…  I’m happy just thinking about all of the things fall brings! 

Before making this roast I had never cooked with parsnips, but I’m glad I finally did!  Parsnips are root vegetables that are related to carrots.  They look like carrots but are a bit more waxy, like potatoes.  They become very tender when cooked in a crock pot and have an earthier, sweeter taste than carrots. 

There are so many variations on the traditional pot roast, but this is our favorite.  It will fill you up and keep you warm this fall and winter.  We hope you like it as much as we do!

Pot Roast

2-3 lb beef chuck shoulder

salt

pepper

1 c red wine

1 c beef broth or stock (I use Trader Joe’s beef broth)

1 diced onion

1 T dried thyme

1 T minced garlic

1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks

1 lb parsnips, peeled and cut into large chunks

Rub the roast with salt and pepper.  Place in a crockpot along with the red wine, beef broth, onion, thyme, garlic, and a little more salt and pepper.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.  *2-3 hours before you plan to eat, add the carrots and parsnips.