365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 33 - Cucumber-Lemon Water

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was tauted as way to speed up weight loss, but I never believe that. I just thought it looked quite refreshing, I needed to mix up my water repetoire. I added and extra lemon to the original recipe. It's quite good, and tastes just like it sounds - like cucumber water with a splash of lemon.

Ingredients:

2 quarts of water

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

2 lemons, sliced

10-12 mint leaves

Fill a large pitcher with 2 quarts of water and add cucumber, lemons and mint leaves. I suggest crushing the mint leaves or tearing them to release the oils. Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to mingle. Serve chilled or over ice.

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 32 - Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers

I had big plans yesterday to make spaghetti squash "spaghetti" with meatballs, but alas, the grocery store didn't have a single squash, much less spaghetti squash. Instead, I decided to make stuffed bell peppers with italian seasonings (I was craving italian and I figured the flavor would be the same). 

Typically, stuffed bell peppers have rice or breadcrumbs in them to bind the meat together. Mine does not, obviously, so while the egg helps, I typically serve mine by placing the bell pepper over a bed of vegetables. Then I slice it open and just mix the meat, pepper and veggies together before I eat it. It's just as good. 

Ingredients:

4 green bell peppers, top removed and hollowed out

1 lb ground beef

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 egg

2 jalapenos, seeds removed and diced fine

1 ten oz can of petite diced tomatoes (I like the garlic, oregano and basil flavored), drained of excess fluid

salt and pepper

Prefeat oven to 375 and arrange bell peppers on a baking sheet, cut side up. 

In a medium sized bowl, combine meat, onion, jalapeno, tomatoes and egg until mixed thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper. Fill bell pepper "cups" with meat mixture. If there's any left over, you can form patties and bake them on your baking sheet.

Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 31 - Ultimate Grilled Veggie Platter

Since the 4th of July is right around the corner, and as we all know, cookouts are a paleo eater's dream (meat, fruit and veggies abound), I thought this would be a perfect time to introduce a great dish for grilling - the ultimate grilled vegetable platter. I found this recipe on a display at the local supermarket, and figured I'd give it a try. I did not realize just how massive a dish it made until I started prepping all of my vegetables, but they are delicious, so I'm cool with leftovers. If you normally take salads to cookouts, try this one out instead. Just prep the veggies ahead of time and take them with you to grill wherever you're at. 

NOTE: If you've never grilled veggies before, there are several methods. You can use a vegetable basket, tray or flip basket that you set on the grate, but I prefer grill marks rather than just heat, so I like to lay a sheet of aluminum foil (thicker works better) over the grate and just dump the veggies on that. Then I can stir them around or flip them and they don't fall. 

Ingredients:

2 zucchini, sliced into 1/2" slices

12 asparagus spears, fiberous ends snapped off

1 lb fresh green beans, ends snipped off

1 red onion, thinkly sliced

1 yellow onion, thinkly sliced

1 pint button mushrooms, sliced

1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

5 carrots, sliced and chopped into 2" chunks

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Heat your grill to med-high heat. (If you choose to use aluminum foil, put it on the grill before lighting the fire). Divide the vegetables in half, and toss each half in a collander with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and pour onto the aluminum foil or grilling tray. Close the grill lid and cook until vegetables are cooked through and have nice char marks - if using aluminum foil. Make sure you stir and flip them frequently to ensure they cook evenly. Remove from the grill and cook the second batch the same way. Arrange on a serving platter and dig in.

I chose to cook mine alongside a simple grilled steak that I seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic. Then I sliced it served it atop the veggies.

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 30 - Chicken and Vegetable Soup

I love soup. I mean LOVE it. I'm not sure what it is, whether I like it so much because it warms me up and fills the soul, or because I'm lazy and I can eat leftovers forever. Whatever the reason, this is my favorite of my soup recipes, because it's simple and tasty. I made it for my sister and her husband the other day, and it was a big hit. (as you can see from one of the pictures, where my sister is devouring the pot)

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 parsnips, peeled and chopped

12 asparagus spears, chopped

32 oz of chicken stock

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1/4 tsp ground thyme

salt and pepper

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add carrots and parsnips, sprinkle liberally with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened - about 10 minutes. Add chicken stock, reduce heat and simmer.

In a large skillet over med-high heat, heat 1 tbsp olive oil and add your onions and chicken. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently until onions have begun to turn translucent and chicken has browned. 

Add chicken and onions to the stock pot as well as chopped asparagus. Season with salt, pepper and thyme. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Serve.

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 29 - Spinach, Pepper and Bacon Scramble

I know, I know.. ANOTHER hiatus. I was spending a few days with my sister. I managed to get two new recipes out of the trip though - three if you count the one I haven't made yet. 

When I got back into town today, I stopped by my stepmom's house to check on my little veggie garden (I have lettuce and spinach growing), and harvested some of each. I was pretty pumped to try out the spinach, so for dinner, I whipped up an easy, vitamin-packed egg scramble.

Ingredients:

1/2 c spinach leaves, torn

1/4 c diced bell pepper

3 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped

3 eggs, beaten

In a skillet over med-high, heat bell pepper, bacon and spinach. Pour beaten eggs over them and cook, stirring continuously until eggs are fully cooked and spinach has wilted. Season with salt and pepper.

 

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 28 - Blueberry Banana "Ice Cream"

Sorry for the hiatus; my sister got married last weekend and the past few weeks have been CHAOTIC trying to get everything ready. Now, however, things have calmed down and I can get back to this recipe project! Lucky you ;P

The recipe for this "ice cream" is not a new concept, but I'm always surprised by how many people still haven't heard about this, so I'm spreading the word. You can make a faux ice cream by just blending up a fozen banana! My 3 year-old actually thinks it's ice cream; that's how convincing it is. lol The only "must" for this is that banana. You can add whatever you want to it. I love the flavor combo of banana and blueberry, so that's what I went with. It's also great with a tbsp of almond butter or some dark chocolate.

Handy note: If you have bananas that are starting to get over-ripe, throw them in the freezer and save them for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana, sliced and peeled

1/4 cup fresh blueberries

In a food processor, pulse frozen banana slices and blueberries until well blended. Scrape contents into a bowl. 

 

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 27: Pepper Stuffed Portabella Burger

Ok I know I initally said this project was going to be 365 in 365, but stuff keeps seeming to arise that prevents me from making a new recipe EVERY day. Therefore, it will still be 365 paleo recipes; it just might take me awhile to get there.

The following recipe, I made a couple of days ago and meant to post it, but then I had to go out of town, so I never got around to it. Well, I'm doing it now!

I was at the grocery store and had the idea of using a portabella mushroom cap as a type of burger bun. I tinkered with it, and this was the result.

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef (grass-fed, of course)

3 large portabella mushroom caps

5-6 small sweet peppers, diced

salt and pepper

Divide your ground beef into 1/3 lb patties. Flatten your patties as much as possible and add evenly divide your diced peppers between them, spooning them into the center of the patty. Fold the patty around the peppers to enclose them and pat down.

Heat your grill to med-high. Season both sides of each patty with salt and pepper and place on top of a portabella cap. Lay burger-side down on the grill and cook for 3-4 minutes. Flip and continue cooking for 3-4 more minutes. If the mushroom side of the burger patty is still pink, you may want to remove from the mushroom cap and grill directly for 2-3 minutes before replacing onto the mushroom.

Remove from heat. Allow to rest for 5 minutes and serve, mushroom side down.

 

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