Paleo Chinese Sesame Noodles

Hello Blogworld!

It's been a while...but better late than never!? Right? In any case, I will share this recipe with you.

Ever since I can remember, when my family ordered take out Chinese food "Cold Sesame Noodles" were always on the list. They were my favorite, by far! This peanut-buttery sweet and savory noodle was always what I looked forward to when the Chinese take out bags came into the house. Anyway, now being paleo I cannot have noodles..I cannot have peanut butter. Honestly, the peanut butter has been SO difficult for me to give up, thank god for all the other nut butters out there. So thanks "No.1 Chinese" for giving me this obsession and now forcing me come up with a paleo version of this meal.
Recipe: Chinese Sesame Noodles
Ingredients
- Spaghetti Squash (is it sad that i still have to spell check for Spaghetti.. both times)
- Chicken
- Garlic
- Sesame Oil
- Coconut Oil
- 2 tbsp Coconut Aminos
- Ginger
- 1/2 c Almond Butter
- Salt/pepper
- Sriracha (optional)
- Onion powder

For the Noodles:
Cut the spaghetti squash in half and clean it out. Drizzle with sesame oil, add salt and minced garlic (or garlic powder is fine). Preheat oven to 350 and put it in the oven for 50 minutes. Once its cooked scrape the noodley squash into a bowl.

For the Chicken:
I personally liked cubing the chicken to nice nugget sized chunks. You can cook the chicken whole if you like that better...In a sauté pan, melt some coconut oil and sesame oil together (enough to cover the bottom of pan) on medium heat. Season the chicken liberally with powdered ginger, garlic powder and salt. Once the pan is heated put the chicken in the pan and cook it through. The last couple minutes I like to add fresh garlic and some lemon juice for flavor (this is optional as well) Take the chicken out of the oil and place to the side

For the Sauce:
Theres 2 ways we can do the sauce. The quick way..or the long way. I always go for the quick way, but the long way may enhance the flavor. The quick way involves microwave and a small bowl or coffee mug. The long way involves the stove and sauce pan. THIS IS UP TO YOU :) Okay so, combine the following ingredients into the pan or mug.. Almond butter, sesame oil, coconut aminos, salt/pepper, tsp of fresh garlic or shake in some garlic powder, and tsp of fresh grated ginger or shake on some ginger powder. Place in microwave for 15 seconds, then mix, another 10 seconds, and mix.(or heat up on stove) If the mixture is too thick add a little water to it. You can also add some sriracha if you would like a little heat. You can double this if you need more sauce depending on the size of the squash or if you're like me you like to drench everything in the sauce.

Incorporate the sauce into the "noodles" and add your chicken. Drizzle extra sauce on top...and enjoy :)

-Kim

Paleo Chinese Sesame Noodles

Recipe: Primal Eggplant Rollatini

Long time no see blog followers!

It's been such a busy couple weeks and thankfully Patrick has been stepping up on the cooking front. Finding the time to blog these wonderful meals that have been prepared the last 2 weeks has been difficult!! Finally I have a second to blog about what I made last night: Primal Eggplant Rollatini stuffed with Ricotta and Italian Sausage topped with a home made marinara and a creamy béchamel sauce. Yes my mouth is watering just typing it. Lately we've been continuing with our ketosis phase and being more "primal" than paleo using lots of yummy grassfed creams and cheeses. I can say I miss eating fruit SO MUCH!! This weekend we both caved and ate some frozen grapes and strawberrys that we brought to hold us over at the Mets game. Now we are focusing back on being in ketosis until May 18 so Patrick can make weight for his Jiu Jitsu competition. Then I'm totally eating all the pineapple and water melon in sight..watch out!

Back to the eggplant. We obviously wanted something high in fat and protein that would help kickstart our ketosis phase. With a few ideas in mind I went to the grocery with my list of things needed for the week and stumbled upon the 'reduced price produce' section that had everything I needed for this meal and then some!! Feeling extremely inspired I grabbed some plum tomatoes and onions along with my eggplant to make this dish extremely tasty and 'from scratch'.
Recipe: Primal Eggplant Rollatini

Filling
1/2 lb ground sweet italian sausage
8 oz Ricotta (GF if you can find it)
Shredded Italian cheese blend (parmesan, romano, mozzarella, provolone)
1 egg
2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbsp basil (fresh) chopped
1 Tbsp oregano (fresh) chopped
Salt/Pepper

Start by sautéing the ground italian sausage in a pan until its almost cooked through (I leave it barely pink inside to allow for 'rest' and baking time). In a mixing bowl mix the Ricotta, cheese, egg, garlic, herbs, and salt/pepper thoroughly. Once the sausage is done I added 1/2 of it into the cheese mix.

Marinara
1 Sweet yellow onion
2-3 cloves minced garlic
GF Butter or Bacon fat (I actually used fat from the italian sausage after cooking it)
15-20 Plum Tomatos
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 Tbsp red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp basil (fresh) chopped
1 Tbsp oregano (fresh) chopped
Italian sausage (cooked from above)

Salt/Pepper

Started off by sautéing the onions and garlic on low heat in the sausage fat until they were near caramelizing. Then I added the tomatos and turned put the lid on it. Checked it maybe 15-20 min later and the tomatos were ready to burst! Using a hand blender ( you could also transfer this to a regular blender) I blended the tomatos to the consistency I wanted. If you like chunky sauce vs well blended sauce its all up to you!! I chose somewhere in between. Then I tossed in half of what was left from the italian sausage above (leaving 1/4 of the cooked amount left over) along with the tomato paste and red pepper flakes. Last I added in the basil and oregano and left the heat very low to simmer as I prepared the rest of the meal.

Rollatini
1 eggplant
Filling from above
Marinara from above
Italian cheese blend
Salt/pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Using a mandoline (or a very steady hand) slice the eggplant "length wise" in to thin slices. I chose to make my slices extremely thin, about the thickness of a quarter, however if you want a more beefy eggplant flavor feel free to go a little thicker -- not too thick though you want to be able to easily roll it. Using the filling I made above I placed a nice dollop and rolled the eggplant around it. In a baking pan I coated the bottom with a thin layer of the marinara sauce and carefully placed the rolled eggplant into the sauce. Once all of the pan was filled (or the filling ran out) I painted a little more marinara on top of the eggplant and sprinkled with some of the left over italian cheese. Placed in the oven for 15-20 min.

Béchamel Sauce
1 stick GF Butter
1-2 Tbsp coconut flower
2 Tbsp cooking wine
GF Heavy cream
Minced Garlic (to taste)
salt/pepper

While the eggplant is in the oven I melted some butter in a sauce pan. Add the coconut flower and stir around until its a golden brown color (making a roux) Pour in the cooking wine and Add enough heavy cream to get the consistency of the sauce you want. I added some minced garlic and salt/pepper to it for enhanced flavor.

Final Product
Once you take the eggplant out of the oven, I plated the rollatini on some marinara and topped it with the béchamel sauce. I sprinkled the remaining sausage over top of the rollatini along with some fresh herbs for extra flavor.

Hope you guys enjoy!!!

Kim

30 Days complete and Easter Brisket

Hi!

Wow..the past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind! Im finally able to sit down for a blog update! It was nice going home to visit family and friends but definitely nice to get back home into the swing of things. Another fun update is that Patrick and I have officially made it to our first "no cheating" 30 day paleo challenge. I was so excited that I made this commitment and stuck to it. I feel like with a lot of 'diets' it's so easy to break for the oreos in the break room or the starbucks white peppermint mocha during my cold walk to work in the city, but I did it! I think for a number of reasons I was able to be successful -- First and foremost my blog partner in crime Patrick. Honestly having someone to check in with on a daily basis and make meals with and just get excited about food with makes life MUCH easier when it comes to sticking to eating right. Next -- this blog. I feel like even though I may be talking to absolutely no one other than my mom or dad (hi mom and dad) I feel like if I cheated before day 30 I would be cheating on everyone! So thanks for keeping me in check :) The last major reason I feel like I stuck to my paleo lifestyle the past 30 days is because I believe in it. I believe in the science behind it and I can truly say I FEEL better in every way!

After day 30 I of course had a cheat meal or 2 and when I came back from NC Patrick and I chose our 'cheat' meal to have together. I'm not even going to talk about what we had so that I don't torture anyone who may be also doing some type of diet challenge, but after the couple of days...I felt slower, bloated, and just plain gross. So Patrick and I jumped right back in to our diet. This time we're trying a more Primal approach. Both Patrick and I have some fun recipes to share soon for sure! I've already seen a preview of some of the things he's cooked or planned to cook.

Meanwhile I figured I would share the Paleo Easter I prepared for my family. I really feel like when I went home I wanted to prove that "paleo food" tastes just as good as "normal food". The funny thing about this is Paleo food IS normal food. Its just better ingredient, less processed, more from scratch, which has the potential for better flavors! One of my favorite things to cook for my family holidays is Brisket. I'm half jewish and though I've always celebrated the Christian holidays with my family I always like to bring a recipe that my dad is proud of especially since we didn't celebrate passover.
Paleo Easter Brisket Recipe
4 lbs Beef Brisket (not corned)
2 Sweet Yellow Onions (thin Sliced)
5 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbsp Paleo Ketchup (tomato paste + red wine vinegar salt/pepper)
1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Place onions in bottom of slow cooker. Add the brisket (fat side up) on top of onions. Rub garlic on top of the brisket. Combine ketchup, vinegar, and maple syrup in small bowl and then rub into beef. Add enough water to coat the bottom of the cooker. Cover crockpot and cook on Low 8-10 hours. The meat literally falls apart and melts in your mouth ughhh!

Once its done I took the broth and used arrow root to make the gravy. The steps were taking a sauce pan add 2 Tbsp Grass-fed butter melted and then added arrow root -- enough to make a roux. Once it was golden brown i started adding the leftover broth from the crock pot until it was the consistency I wanted. I added some salt pepper and rosemary to finish it. 

The final dish was Brisket with a side of Roasted Green beans (with garlic) and super creamy and garlicy cauliflower mash !!

 -Kim

Recipe: Paleo Eggs Benedict

Only two more days until I start my 8-9 hour trek back to NC to visit with family for the holidays. As I mentioned two blog posts ago, I spent my weekend trying to prep a few recipes to share with them. One of my favorite things about going home other than the obvious (warm weather..jk) is when we do family breakfasts. At least one morning per time I visit we make time to do one! Lately, between my sisters better half JP and myself -- our obsession with Eggs Benedict has totally dictated what we have been having on these mornings. Except we don't do it the traditional way. Typically we substitute the usual canadian bacon with extra crispy regular bacon and a nice buttery country style biscuit. Okay, stop drooling, keep reading!

My challenge this weekend was not how to poach the egg, or how to make the bacon extra crispy, or even to make a super amazing savory hollandaise sauce...but to perfect a biscuit that will compliment these layers of flavor...that is paleo. I'm no baking expert so I began searching around different paleo blogs to see if there was a recipe that popped out at me. I found it. I have to give credit to "Simply Living Healthy" blog for the recipe I used for these biscuits. 

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The Perfect Paleo Biscuit

Makes 9 biscuits
6 egg whites
3/4 cup blanched almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil, chilled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Cut in cold coconut oil with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. In a medium bowl whisk egg whites until they are very frothy. Fold the egg whites into the chilled flour mixture until well combined. Scoop about 1/4 cup of dough onto the baking sheet and smooth the top to form each biscuits, an ice cream scoop works well in this step. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

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Above is the recipe (and link) to where I got this recipe. I actually totally screwed up a few of the steps which only proves how important it is to follow them! My first mistake on my first mini batch is I combined all the ingredients together without pre-whisking the egg whites. MISTAKE! (which is why i bolded it above) I realized I misread the recipe and decided why not make another and compare the difference (since naturally I was curious to see if it really mattered) IT DEFINITELY DID. The 'mistake batch' was totally flat and not fluffy where as the other batch as fluffier and better textures. I think when I make it for the family I'll use grassfed butter to take away from the coconutty flavor. I also bought some coconut flour that was more finely ground that I feel will give it even better texture. 

Hollandaise Sauce (blender)

6 Egg Yolks

3-4 Tbsp Lemon Juice

dash of Cayenne Pepper

dash of salt

1c Grassfed butter (warm and melted)

I put egg yolks, lemon juice and cayenne in a blender and turn it on high. Slowly stream the warm butter into the mix. This will allow for a thick and savory hollandaise sauce. 

With the bold flavor of the egg bacon and hollandaise it came together great. With the leftover biscuit I made a almond butter and banana sandwich..ughhhh so good.

Can't wait to share this with the family!!

Kim

Fusion Steak Guisado

So with conflicting schedules we had to push the typical Tuesdays dinner for two to Thursday. It was totally worth the wait. Patrick started texting me earlier on in the day to tell me about this meal he was making which of course made me extremely hungry the entire rest of the day! He started by sending me pictures of 2 shell steaks in this broth he made.

Ugh!! See what he does to me while I'm at work. As I'm getting hungrier he starts talking about how he wants to turn this dish into a pulled beef type meal so he started experimenting with tortillas using almond flour and egg whites....

My stomach continues to growl at me as he sends me these updates! Finally I'm heading home and I'm on the train. He tells me "OMG Kim, its FALLING off the bone!!"

...Seriously? Kill me now that just looks way too good! I was so excited to try it! He mentioned he added curry to it which made me slightly nervous since I have such little experience tasting or cooking with that ingredient. But I trusted that this meal would be as good as it looked. When he got to my house we starting prepping together a basic cauliflower rice (raw cauliflower blended nicely) with some garlic and olive oil and put into a sauté pan. Meanwhile I realize I have these super brown skinned plantains that needed to be used. Patrick slice them up and started searing them in a pan with coconut oil.

Let me tell you..If I could post a "smell" onto this blog, I would have won you over by now! The kitchen smelled amazing. Once everything was completed he dished things up for us and we devoured..and I mean..devoured the food. I had a huge helping of seconds (I don't even think he realized I had gone for seconds I ate my first helping so quickly)

Recipe: Paleo Fusion Steak Guisado

1 onion
1 green pepper
2 shell steaks
1 head of garlic
Few bushels of fresh thyme
3 olives
1 cup tomatoe puree
1 cup beef broth
1 tsp of curry
1 tbs respectively of salt, pepper and garlic powder

Sauteed veggies till translucent and set as side. Seared high heat the steak on both sides after seasoning (salt & pepper). Added rest of ingredients and slowly cooked at low temperature roughly two hours or until meat is pulling apart easily. To thicken the sauce Patrick used tempered egg yolks leftover from making the tortillas but he says you can skip it :)

Recipe: Paleo Tortillas
4 Egg Whites
Coconut or Almond Flour
(Coconut flour works better because it absorbs the moisture)

Whisk in coconut flour to get the desired thickness and pour onto a skillet. Kind of like a crepe.

Seriously this dish is awesome..You should definitely try it!

Kim

Recipe: Paleo Chocolate Almond Butter Eggs

Happy Monday!

This weekend has been busy with experimenting with different recipes to show my family when I come home to visit! One of the fun things I worked on this weekend was replicating and paleo-fying a Ross Family Tradition "Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs". For years my mother and now sister and I have been making these as an easter tradition. This year I wanted to try to see if I could make a paleo friendly look (and hopefully taste) - alike to try to continue with the tradition.

Recipe: Paleo Chocolate Almond Butter Eggs
2 cups Powdered Stevia
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Arrowroot starch
1/8 lb GF butter (or coconut oil)
1/2 lb Almond Butter
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4 sq unsweetened bakers chocolate
1/4 cake parafin wax (optional)
2 tbsp GF butter (or coconut oil)
liquid stevia for sweetness

For the first half of ingredients: Mix together all ingredients with a hand mixer. With this we're going to form little egg shaped balls. If the mixture is too 'wet' try adding some almond flour (or coconut flour) to dry it out a little (my mixture was a little on the wet side)..if for some reason it's on the dry side and you're unable to keep the egg shape to stick, add a little almond or coconut milk to moisten the mixture.

For the second half of ingredients: Melt the ingredients in a double boiler or small crockpot. Keep chocolate warm

Once egg shapes are formed and the chocolate is nice and melted, dunk the eggs into the chocolate and put on wax paper or foil to cool. With the remaining chocolate you can drizzle more chocolate on top if you want to be fancy or maybe use it for fruit (I decided to dip some strawberries I had in the refrigerator YUM!)

Kim

Paleo Rockin' Shrimp

One of my favorite types of food is Japanese food, sushi to be specific. My brother and I used to get dinners together when he was living nearby to this awesome sushi restaurant and we would always order an appetizer of Rockin' Shrimp. It was Rock shrimp, tempura battered on top of lettuce with generous drizzles of spicy mayo dressing all over it. THIS was AMAZING. UGH! I crave it a lot actually. So yesterday was one of those days that I was craving this flavor intensely. I decided I can make a paleo version to subside the craving. It turned out to be almost as good if not better! And healthier!!

Recipe: Paleo Rockin' Shrimp
Raw Shrimp (peeled and de-vained) -- However much your heart desires
Paleo Spicy Mayo 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sesame Oil
Powdered Ginger
Garlic Powder
Salt/Pepper

I personally don't have the time to grocery shop too often so I typically buy the bag of raw frozen large shrimp. So I start out by thawing the shrimp in warm water for 5-10 min. Once I've peeled the shrimp i put them on a paper towel to pat them dry to remove the excess moisture. Meanwhile in a pan put a light amount of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of pan) along with maybe a teaspoon of sesame oil and shake it around so that its all incorporated. Then I put the heat on medium - medium high heat (dependent on your oven). One the excess moisture is patted off the shrimp I season both sides with powdered ginger, garlic powder, salt and pepper -- not to heavy just sprinkles of all of the above :) Once the pan is ready drop the shrimp and listen to them sizzle!! 2-3 minutes per side should do it! Take it off the heat and toss in some of that wonderful spicy mayo (see the blog on my Spicy Mayo baked Salmon for recipe) until its nicely covered.

I decided to pair my shrimp with some coleslaw which was very basic -- shredded cabbage, spicy mayo, rice vinegar, and salt/pepper. Add a little stevia for sweetness if you need it!

So goodbye Fried Tempura Rockin' shrimp and hello to Paleo Rockin' Shrimp!! And yes..it IS as good as it looks.. I think Patrick is totally jealous that he didn't get to try it!! :)

Kim