Cobb Salad and an Ode to Rx-Star Chic

It's Sunday again. Time to do a little refrigerator search and rescue. If you've read any of the other Sunday posts you know that Sunday is my bare bones day. I'm out of just about everything and I challenge myself to come up with a meal using what is left before I shop again.

Before I begin, I must take a moment to tip my hat to the ladies of Rx-Star Chic. I attended their clinic yesterday and had an amazing time. They are a newly formed group of ladies that focuses solely on women, teaching them all the "man things" at CrossFit. I got my first muscle up yesterday with their expert coaching. If you don't know what a muscle up is you need to look it up on youtube. Let me be the first to say it is not easy. It takes strength, balance, coordination and a huge dose of chutzpah (which is Hebrew for balls). If you live in the So Cal area, please check them out. I have included a link under my favorites.

Ok, back to the fridge. As usual, there are just a couple of things floating around in there so let's make a meal. I've got left over lettuce from last nights dinner, a couple of eggs, defrosted chicken breast, nitrate free turkey bacon (as usual), an over ripe - gettin ready to croak avocado, tomatoes, green onion... looks like the ingredients for a cobb salad to me!

What you'll need:

refer to list of items above plus:

garlic powder

herbs de provence

1/3 cup olive oil

1 lemon, squeezed

1tsp Dijon mustard

What you do:

Start by hard boiling a couple of eggs. While the eggs are cooking, cut up the raw chicken into bite size pieces and coat liberally with olive oil, garlic powder and herbs de provence. Saute the chicken in olive oil until it's nice and brown and cooked through. This is the same recipe as Herbed Chicken available under the "chicken button". Set it aside to cool. When the eggs are done run them under cold water to cool them off or plunge them in ice water.

Fry up the bacon in the same pan when the chicken is done. Too many pans going = too many dishes to clean. Chop the bacon, egg, tomatoes, green onion and avocado.

Put a couple of handfuls of lettuce on a plate and top it with some of each of the chopped ingredients and chicken.

Whisk up your olive oil, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and 1 tsp of Dijon mustard. Poor some over the salad.

Enjoy!

Italian Wedding Soup

I've been on kind of a soup roll lately. And I'm always on an Italian roll so this recipe fit the bill seamlessly. Italian Wedding soup is hearty and healthy and really easy to make. I've made a slight adjustment and taken the orzo out of the equation and added some carrot. You won't miss it at all.

Italian Wedding Soup is actually the missed English translation of Minestra Maritata. The true translation is "married soup" as in the marriage of the meat and vegetable in the soup making a great flavor. And you thought I was just another pretty face...

So if you've got 30 minutes you can make this great soup, which by the way, is even tastier the next day. You can make it your own as well by deciding which meat and veggie you want to put in it. You could easily substitute bits of sausage for the meatballs if you are in an extreme hurry. You can also substitute kale or escarole for the spinach.

Here's what you'll need:

2 boxes low sodium chicken broth

1lb grass fed ground beef

1 package Italian turkey sausage

1 egg

1T Italian seasoning

1/4 cup dehydrated onion flakes

1tsp garlic powder

1 package of fresh spinach

some chopped carrot

lemon wedges

Here's what you do:

Get the chicken broth boiling in a pot while you make up the meatballs. Take your beef, sausage, egg, onion and seasonings and mix them up in a separate bowl. Remember the golden rule: Use thine hands to mix. Yes, there are two golden rules. Don't make me have to get Lenny the Foot to persuade you. Mix away getting all ingredients well combined. Now start rolling up little meatballs (think bite size). Again I say, if you have children now is the time to turn your kitchen into a labor camp. If they can work an Xbox they can roll a meatball.

As your broth comes to a rolling boil, drop the raw meatballs in. Cook them for about 10 minutes. They will stay fairly light in color. If this freaks you out you can brown them in a little olive oil first. Add in your chopped carrot. After the meatballs have cooked, turn the soup down to simmer and add in the full bag of spinach. The spinach will cook down in just a few minutes. Serve the soup in bowls and add a squeeze of lemon over the top. This really brightens up the flavor.

If you are a fat phobic you may want to refrigerate the soup so the fat from the meat will rise to the top and you can skim it off. Then you can reheat it. If you are like me and take in no simple carbohydrates (grain, sugar, dairy) you need this fat for energy. So get over yourself and eat the fat. Just don't have a chocolate donut to go along with it.

Can you believe you are done already? What will you do with the rest of your day? I'm off to CrossFit!

Super Bowl Party-- Let's Eat!

First, I want to say Hey! to my friend Jen and her motley church group all the way across the country in Alabama (sorry about the Arkansas thing!). They are in the process of a "Biggest Looser Challenge" and have been including my recipe blog in their repertoire. I am excited to see their progress and results! Jen recently asked me how to navigate a giant eating fest like the Super Bowl. With a little preparation, it can be done. Let's investigate.

Most people will spend it drinking and eating WAY too much. It feels great going down but the voice of guilt is sure to rear its ugly head the moment you swallow the last hot wing. I say, "Don't do it!" It's not worth the five pound overnight weight gain followed by the internal flogging and shame. You can make an abundance of paleo snacks using the recipes already posted. They are full of flavor and won't leave you feeling bloated and remorseful.

Chili is an all time Super Bowl favorite. You can serve it in the pepper like the original recipe or to make it easier serve it in paper bowls. Just remember to double, triple, quadruple the recipe.

Make the crockpot meatballs for snacks. Follow the recipe but roll them smaller. You can put them out right in the crockpot with toothpicks for stabbing.

The big bowl of awesome yumminess is a great salad that goes with everything. You can omit the chicken since you will be serving lots of other protein. If you want a little splurge on this day you can add some feta to this salad and watch your guests faint one at a time.

Set out bowls of nuts in different varieties with dried fruit. Remember no peanuts (they are a legume, not a nut).

The herbed chicken is another good one to set out with toothpicks.

And finally, either make a nice fruit salad (or buy it from the deli) or if you want to get all Martha Stewart you can get some skewers and make fruit kabobs. They are really pretty. Just take some melon, apple, and grapes and thread them on to the skewers. Make sure you swish the apple in a little orange juice so it doesn't get brown.

If you want to put Martha to shame then make this watermelon basket. It's really simple if you have those child friendly pumpkin carving knives. If you don't you can still use the watermelon as a bowl but the wavy pattern will be a little more tricky to achieve.

These yummy snacks are all paleo (except for the optional feta). Your guests won't even know how healthy they are being! Chances are they will still overeat on this day but better to overeat paleo than down a pizza and feel sick for days.

Have a great party and a great weekend. Go Saints!

Pesto Stuffed Chicken

By now if you've been following this blog you know that I don't do anything bland. This dish is no exception. I am on a mission to prove that paleo style eating does not have to be all about eating the same boring thing day after day. There are infinite possibilities and I'm just starting to scratch the surface.

As usual, this recipe was not planned out. I was at Sprout's Market getting a few things. I was reaching for the kale and these giant trays of basil started flying off the shelf all over the floor. I think it was divine intervention. Either that or it was just me being extraordinarily clumsy with my reach causing a landslide of basil along with a few loathful stares from nearby patrons. I don't even like basil but after that showing I resigned to put a few in my cart while trying to make it look like I had planned the basil explosion all along. I don't think I pulled it off.

So I get home and I have all this basil along with a bruised ego. What does one make with basil that does not have a giant slab of fresh mozzarella along side it? My answer was pesto... Yuck... pesto. But by this time I was committed. I despise pesto. How can I change it up? And then it came to me. Spinach, pine nuts, garlic, sun dried tomato. You've heard those ingredients before. Well, that's cuz they're my favorites. I cut the "basily" strength way down by using spinach. My experiment worked. Not only did it work, this is my new favorite dish. I hope you will feel that way too.

What you'll need:

1 packed cup basil

1packed cup spinach

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

2 cloves garlic

1 jar sundried tomatoes in olive oil (8oz)

olive oil

4 free range chicken breasts

pepper

3/4 cup low sodium, gluten free chicken broth

1 lemon

toothpicks

What you do:

Place your pine nuts in a dry and hot skillet. Stir them around until they become toasty brown and then remove them from the heat. Pay attention! They burn easily. Prepare the pesto. It doesn't matter if you have a blender or a food processor, either work. Put the first five ingredients into the bowl of the processor and pulse/blend until you have a paste like consistency. You may need to stream in a little more olive oil than what is in the tomato jar to achieve a smooth pesto. Take a long, deep smell. Feel the stress of the day leave your body. Resist the urge to give yourself a pesto facial. You'll need every drop for the chicken.

Now for the chicken. Take one chicken breast and slice all the way through the center of it horizontally. You should have two very thin chicken breasts now. Repeat with the rest of the chicken. Take your meat mallet and with the flat side pound out the chicken to about 1/4 inch thickness. The trick here is to make SMALL chicken rolls (like the size of a roll of quarters). You want three or four on a plate so you may need to cut the chicken in half vertically to make small enough pieces. Ok, so you have your chicken all pounded flat and each piece is cut about the size of a deck of cards. Throw a little cracked pepper over the chicken. Take a heaping tablespoon of pesto and slather it all over one side of the chicken like you're buttering bread. Sorry, bad analogy. Now, ever so gently roll the chicken up like a jelly roll... oooh, did it again. Secure the seam with a couple of toothpicks.

Get your pan hot with olive oil and place the chicken with the seam side down into the pan. Yes, you can cook the toothpicks too. Brown it for a couple of minutes and then turn it over. After both sides are browned turn the chicken over one more time (seam side down) and pour 3/4 cup of chicken broth into the pan. Watch out for the sizzle. Cover the pan and turn down the heat to medium-low. Let those little babies simmer for about 6 minutes. When you lift the lid you will notice that some of the pesto that has fallen out of the chicken and the stock have made a heavenly sauce purely by accident. Do not... I repeat... do not go face first into the pan when you are overcome with desire for the exquisite meal you just made. First of all it's not polite to lick every one's meal and secondly plastic surgery is expensive.

Finish with a squeeze of lemon.

Enjoy!

Field Greens with Caramelized Onion, Avocado and Bacon Crumbles

Doesn't the title of this post sound snooty? You might find something like this salad on the menu of a five star restaurant with a five star price tag to go along with it. But I say, "Down with the five star price tag!" You don't have to spend a fortune to have a delicious, quality meal.

I actually made this one up on the fly. It's Sunday and Sundays for me are typically scrape the bottom of the fridge time. I'm usually out of just about everything so I rely on what's hanging out in the shadows. Let's see... bag o' organic greens ready to expire... check, lonely purple onion way in the back... check, preservative free and nitrate free turkey bacon...check, ripe avocado (oh crap... they're ALL ripe at the same time)... check. Sounds like a salad! The dressing is a simple vinaigrette that I get rave reviews for every time I make it. Yes... I'm using vinegar again. You'll have to turn me in and take away my caveman stripes.

What you'll need:

1bag salad mix of your choice

1package turkey bacon (we use Trader Joe's nitrate free, preservative free)

1avocado

1purple onion

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 - 3 T. balsamic vinegar

1T Dijon mustard

1tsp honey

What you do:

Start with the dressing. Mix all the ingredients together in a jar or Tupperware container and shake, shake, shake. If you have a child present, give the container to them to shake. Children are a wonderful source of manual labor.

Slice up your onion into thin rings. Get some olive oil hot in a pan and place your onion in the pan. Now here's the big secret. Turn the flame down low and let the onion cook down slowly. It's going to take a while(like 15 - 20 minutes) so don't rush it. Stir the onion around the pan occasionally and watch it start to turn soft, then golden, then a beautiful caramel color. They are glossy and a little sticky when they are done. The flavor of caramelized onions is just this side of bliss. I may be going out on a limb here but I think they're nearly equal to chocolate.

Set the onion aside and cook up your bacon in the same pan. Cube up the avocado.

And now for the finally: Put a couple of handfuls of lettuce on each plate. Divide the onion in half and put it in the center of the lettuce like you're building a little onion mountain. Put the avocado on top of the onion. Now sprinkle the bacon liberally all around the salad. Drizzle with the dressing. Pat yourself on the back and say this affirmation: Not only am I incredibly hot, I make a mean salad!"

Enjoy!

Osso Buco

I'm going to let you in one one of my secrets. I always promised myself that this one would go to the grave with me, but I can't do it. I need to shout it from the rooftops so everyone will hear:

OSSO BUCO IS EASY TO MAKE!

I don't know if it's the name of the dish that sounds intimidating or the fact that people aren't generally familiar with veal shank that puts them off. It could be the English translation which is literally "bone hole" (gross) but if you have skipped over this one time and time again you are missing out.

So, it's time to suck it up and make this dish. You'll need a little prep time because I promised my husband that I would stop butchering his heritage by taking short cuts like using jarred sauce. No jars in this baby! I do use canned tomatoes though. I refuse to boil, then peel, then crush my own tomatoes. Well, at least until the twins are old enough and I can run a little kitchen sweat shop.

Ok, so get in your kitchen and repeat after me, "I am not afraid of Osso Buco. I am going to make this and wow someone really special." When you are done you must tell the story of how you slaved in the kitchen all day long. Putting your hand over your forehead and faining exhaustion works well too. Wear an apron while you're at it... it helps with the drama.

What you'll need:

4 veal shanks

you may have to preorder these from the butcher

1 chopped onion

1chopped carrot

2 chopped ribs of celery

1 cup of red wine (sub beef broth if you are a paleo purist)

1 32oz package of low sodium chicken broth

1 big bay leaf

small can tomato paste

one can of stewed tomatoes 15oz

1 sprig of rosemary or 1 tsp dried

1 sprig of thyme or 1/2 tsp dried

1/4 tsp crushed, dried cloves

almond meal or flour

olive oil

What you do:

Get the oven preheated to 375. Use a heavy and large pan making sure you have enough room for all of the veal shanks to fit. Start with tying your veal shanks with kitchen string. If you don't tie them up your meat will flop all over the place. Trust me, it's not pretty. Just use a couple of lengths and wrap around the perimeter of the veal so it's nice and tight to the bone. Next, dredge the shank in a little almond meal. Dust off the excess. You aren't trying to bread it. Get out that heavy pan and put some olive oil in it. Get the pan hot. Sere the shanks in the olive oil until they are nice and brown about 7 minutes per side. Don't flip them back and forth a hundred times; just let them sit. That's what gives them the nice color and retains the moisture. Set them aside on a plate to keep them warm.

Now saute your veggies in the same pan until they are soft. Add in the tomato paste and stir quickly to coat the veggies. Add the stewed tomatoes WITHOUT their liquid. It's time for the wine... my favorite part. Poor in a cup of wine and get it bubbling really well. Boil it until its reduced by half. While you are waiting for the wine to reduce poor yourself a glass. You deserve it. It's been a long day. No one has to know that it's only 10 am. Heck, forget the glass, just drink it straight out of the bottle. I won't tell. When the wine is done reducing put the veal shanks back in the pan and add your chicken broth. You want to add enough broth to cover a little more than half way up the veal shank. Now add in the herbs. Bring it up to a boil and then cover it with foil or the pan lid and place it in the oven. Close the oven door and have another sip... the hard part's over.

You'll want to braise the veal for about 1 1/2 hours. Baste it about every 30 minutes. The delicious aroma should be filling your house by now causing family members to come out of the woodwork. When you see them coming toward the kitchen put a little tomato paste on your cheek and look as tired as you can. This will get you out of doing the dishes for sure.

There are a couple of ways you can finish the dish. When it is done you can simply plate the veal and poor the sauce over it with the veggies and all. If you want to get really fancy your can put the liquid through the strainer and discard the veggies which is the more classic preparation. I've never really been one for following the rules, but either is delicious.

And there you have it. A meal that is usually only ordered in a restaurant at an insane price. Only yours is better because you've left out the flour, lard (yes, they use lard), salt and whatever else they put in it. I hope you enjoy this one!

ps. If you're paleo to the extreme you can suck the marrow out of the bone. I can't do it but it's a really good source of fat.

Minestrone Soup

Nothing says "The Old Country" quite like Minestrone. It takes a few tweaks to make it Paleo friendly, but it can be done. Soup warms the soul, especially on days like these. My goodness, it must be 65 degrees outside! We are all going to freeze!

Like most of my recipes, this one is meant to be fast and flavorful. With just about 10 minutes of prep you can let this one go all day on low flame or in the crockpot. That means more time for the glamorous things in life like doing the dishes and folding clothes. Yep... livin' the dream, baby!

What you'll need:

1/2 pound of pancetta (Italian bacon) - or protein of your choice

Italian turkey sausage is a really good alternative

1 onion,diced

1 large zucchini, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

1/2 head green cabbage, diced

1 bag fresh spinach

2 -3 cloves minced garlic

6 cups chicken stock (low sodium, gluten free)

3 cups chopped tomatoes (low sodium)

1 cup water

1T Italian seasoning

1T basil

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped

For my non-Paleo crowd: you can add a cup of macaroni, some diced potato(you may need up to 2 cups more stock to counter the starch), chopped green beans, or anything else you can think of. Let your imagination run wild! No that does not include Hugh Jackman stirring the soup in nothing but a loin cloth. Get your mind out of the gutter!

What you do:

Chop the pancetta into small chunks. Get a large pot nice and hot with some olive oil. Put the pancetta in and fry it until crisp. Now add all your veggies except the zucchini and spinach on top of the pancetta. Saute them slightly, keeping their crunch. Add the garlic and saute a minute more being careful not to burn the garlic. Get a cup of chicken stock and poor it over the veggies. As it is sizzling away, take a wooden spoon and scrape the bottom of the pot. Get all those browned bits of yumminess off the bottom of the pot. That is pure flavor joy right there. Scrape away, don't be shy. Can you smell heaven unfolding before you? Ahhh, food is love*.

*Disclaimer: This statement has not been evaluated by the sane and in control. It should have read, "Some food is love". Example: Paleo Minestrone = love. Pizza = that bad stalker boyfriend that won't leave you alone and keeps showing up in your flower bed.

Ok, back to reality. You can do a couple of things here. If you are home for a while you can add the rest of the stock, water, tomatoes and spices to the pot and turn the flame down super low. Cover the pot and simmer forever. If you aren't going to be home transfer everything into the crockpot, put it on low and walk away.

10 minutes before you serve the soup bring it back to a boil (or high on crockpot) and add your spinach and zucchini. It will cook down quickly. Spoon the soup into a bowl while belting out the hallelujah chorus. If you sing like I do, make sure no one is listening and your windows are closed. Top with fresh, chopped parley. Inhale the glorious scent and know that you are nourishing yourself and your family from the heart.

Enjoy!