Recipes

Fresh and Savory Quinoa Salad

by Neil on May 15, 2013

in Paleo, Recipes, Salads, Sides

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Happy Wednesday! I’m still major de-load from my trip to Adobe MAX (which I’m still writing about — slowest blogger ever award please), but I wanted to pass along the recipe for the awesome quinoa salad Neil put together for our BBQ at CrossFit this weekend. It was a complete hit, so much so that we made another batch the next day and took it to my parents for Mother’s Day dinner.

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We found the original recipe via Pinterest, and then tweaked it a bit to make it more “us.” I think the other version would obviously be equally as good, but I’m partial to the addition of bacon in ours.

Ingredients

¾ cup uncooked quinoa
5 or 6 strips of uncured bacon, cooked and chopped
1-2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ red onion, diced
1 cup shredded carrots
½ cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup diced green onions
½ cup cashew halves
Squeeze of fresh lime

Dressing:
¼ cup all natural almond butter
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
3 tablespoon Dr. Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
Water to thin, if necessary

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Directions:

  1. In a mesh strainer, rinse quinoa thoroughly with cold water until the water runs clear. Bring a 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil and then add quinoa. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water. After 15 minutes remove quinoa from heat and put in a large bowl and toss to help cool. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
  2. If you did not cook the bacon beforehand, now is a good time to fry it up until crunchy/chopp-able.
  3. Heat dressing ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until smooth. Mix dressing in with the cooled quinoa until thoroughly combined, adding water to thin if necessary.
  4. Add all of the vegetable ingredients and bacon to the dressed quinoa and fold over to mix so that the dressing coats evenly.Add cashews and fold over again until combined. Cool thoroughly in the refrigerator before serving.

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It’s the perfect summer cold salad. It’s packed full of veggies and flavor and it complements other dishes as well. I haven’t made a ton of things I’ve found via Pinterest, despite pinning nearly everything in sight lately, but I’m so happy I gave this a try. So with that being said…

Have you found any Pinterest gems lately?

{ 1 comment }

Chicken Ballotine, or “Stuffed Chicken”

by Jessica on April 30, 2013

in Food, Main Courses, Recipes, Weekend

Sometime last week, Neil woke me up to watch a YouTube video of Chef Jacques Pepin deboning a chicken. Before you ask, this is totally normal for us. Despite being groggy, I was completely enthralled by how little time it took for him to completely debone a chicken making minimal use of knives. When the video was over, Neil was all “we are so trying that this weekend.” I nodded, still staring at the screen in a daze.

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So on Friday night, we picked up the chicken and watched the video several more times. On Saturday we decided what we wanted to stuff it with, and went back to the store and picked up those ingredients. On Sunday, we prepped, deboned and baked the chicken. Somehow this little ‘experiment’ spanned our entire weekend and required two trips to the store. It was both hilarious and somewhat embarrassing that the grocery store cashier knew what we were making for Sunday dinner. We definitely amuse them sometimes.

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Deboning a chicken was actually as easy as Chef Pepin made it out to be — with the exception with our added stops along the way to clear more countertop space and wipe down areas affected by the chicken.

I’ll spare you a full tutorial since working with meat isn’t exactly picturesque, but here are a few highlights of the deboning:

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Removing the lollipops…

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Fancy!

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Separating the meat from the rest of the carcass…

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The filets..

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Butterflying the meat..

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Trimming the filets…

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Removing the last of the bones…

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We salt and peppered the chicken both inside and out.

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We then turned our attention to the stuffing…

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We stuffed it with:
4 strips of cooked bacon, roughly chopped
5-6 cups of spinach that we sweated in the pan after cooking the bacon (adds great flavor)
1 1/2 cups mushrooms, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
salt and pepper to taste for both the inside and outside of the chicken and the mixture

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We then tied it together as Chef Pepin instructed and placed it in an oiled roasting pan

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We baked it for…

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To die for. We’ve made stuffed pork loin before, and don’t get me wrong, I love it. But this chicken was life changing. And despite the fact that our process looked a bit more like a felony than preparing a meal, it really wasn’t that bad. We could have spent the same amount of time and effort removing the meat from a baked whole chicken (bone-in). Deboning it ensures the flavors and stuffings you choose get closer to more of the meat.

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Served with a little asparagus!

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And completely Paleo!

Have you amazed yourself in the kitchen recently?

{ 1 comment }

Snow Day? Make Tater-Tot Hotdish

by Jessica on February 26, 2013

in Family, Food, Gluten-free, Main Courses, Recipes

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I feel like there are few things more synonomous with being from Minnesota than loving hotdish. It may just be this author’s experience, but as hotdish was at every holiday, family picnic and gathering of more than five people growing up I can’t imagine it escaped the fond memories of many others as well. Heck, its even achieved “on a stick” status at the State Fair.

Hotdish is simple comfort food, the best kind. Grab some frozen veggies, brown a little beef and add some starch and you’ll be ready to brave another winter day. While I haven’t experienced many Minnesota-like winters since moving to Missouri, I have almost a Pavlovian craving for hotdish at even the slightest chances for snow in the forecast.

My mom used make it in huge batches, filling our large roasting pan and feeding us for days. Her version was more traditional, using both cream of celery and cream of mushroom soups and cheddar cheese. It was super creamy, and I wanted to capture that while still getting as close to being Paleo as possible. While it’s not perfectly Paleo, it is both dairy and gluten-free.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup almond flour (or other GF flour/mix)
1 cup almond milk
1 cup water
3 cubes beef bouillon
2 teaspoons arrowroot + 3 tablespoons water (thickener)
Seasonings of choice to taste (Italian seasoning, garlic salt, etc.)
1 package frozen mixed veggies (it’s gotta be the mixed bag with the lima beans to be legit)
1 large package of Tater Tots (We used Cascadian Farms Spud Puppies)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Brown ground beef, onions, and garlic in a skillet (seasoning to taste as you cook). Drain off the grease and return to skillet.
  3. Add the almond flour and mix until the flour is well incorporated. Then add almond milk, water, beef bouillon and more seasonings if desired to taste. Stir until well mixed and bouillon is dissolved. Add the arrowroot and water slowly while continuing to stir, and continue stirring until sauce begins to thicken.
  4. Add frozen veggies and stir again until incorporated.
  5. Place mixture in a casserole dish and spread until evenly distributed. Cover the top with Tater Tots.
  6. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until heated through and Tater Tots are browned.

Makes 4-6 servings, depending on your appetite.

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So so perfect. And even better on the second day. I won’t lie though, I did miss the cheddar cheese my mom used to sprinkle over the top just a tad. Feel free to add it back in if it suits you.

Do you have a favorite “hotdish”?

{ 5 comments }

Sourdough Chocolate Swirl Bread

February 10, 2013
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This breadmaking stuff is ADDICTIVE. Immediately after making my last loaf, I came across a tutorial for a babka twist technique that I absolutely had to try before I left for my business trip. So I woke up super early Saturday morning before my flight to Orlando and put together this loaf while it was still [...]

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No-Knead Sourdough Cinnamon-Raisin Swirl Bread

February 7, 2013
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In the midst of what has to be one of the craziest weeks ever, I made my second loaf of sourdough two days ago. Sometimes a little baking is just the ticket to turning a week around. It’s just such a happy hobby — and the perfect distraction! The flavor of the starter (“Kenny”) is [...]

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Paleo Orange Chicken

January 31, 2013
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Happy Thursday! I had the best time at an event I attended last night. We have a  group of women in town that meet every so often called Girls in Tech (or is it women?) They throw little mixers or structured informative events. This was the latter,  so  it was so cool to not only [...]

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“Kenny” The Sourdough Starter

January 25, 2013
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I’ll premise this quickly by saying that I know Sourdough bread isn’t Paleo. Not even mostly Paleo, or Primal. Making it is just something I’ve always wanted to do, never had the guts to, and am finally excited to say I’ve done. That being said, based on what I’ve read from Mark Sisson, if you’re [...]

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