Lemon-basil pound cake

Ingredients
2/3 c Coconut Flour
6 Eggs
1/2 c Coconut Butter
1/3 c Honey
1/2 t Salt
1 t Baking Soda
Juice and Zest of 1 Lemon
1/3 c Chopped Fresh Basil
Instructions
Beat the eggs and add coconut butter, honey, salt, baking soda, lemon zest and juice, and basil.  Add the coconut flour a bit at a time, beating all ingredients until well combined.  Batter will be thick.
Bake in a loaf pan at 350 for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Bistro Hamburger au Poivre with Fresh Tomato Leek Sauce

Ingredients
2 lbs ground round
4 shallots, chopped
2 tbsp capers
6tbsp red wine
1 tsp salt
4tbsp Dijon mustard
4 tbsp ground peppercorns

Tomato leek sauce:
$ tbsp butter
2 small leeks
6 plum tomatoes
4 tbsp brandy
2 1/2 tbsp fresh tarragon
6 tbsp cream
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix ground round, shallots, capers, wine and salt in a bowl.
Divide into 6 burgers.  Coat outside of each with Dijon mustard and crushed peppercorns.
Let sit for 30 mins and cook on grill
Melt butter and cook leeks until soft.  Add tomatoes and cook for 3 mins.  Add brandy, tarragon and cream and cook until sauce thickens.

Cantonese Roast Pork and Fried Rice

The Cantonese roast pork is something that I haven't made in a long time. We used to eat it all the time, not sure why we went off it. Maybe because Sam isn't too keen on pork any more. It is easy to make though. I mixed chopped shallots, Chinese five spice, crushed garlic and crushed ginger with some sherry, soy sauce, Hoisin sauce and oil. I poured over the cut up pork tenderloin and left in the fridge overnight. Then, I cooked in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes. For the fried rice, I cooked some bacon in the wok, then added green onions, mushrooms and asparagus and cooked them in the bacon grease.  Then I added the grated cauliflower and cooked until done.  It was yummy and Sam ate the leftovers for the rest of the week.

Sweet potato and kale chicken patties

2 green onions, finely chopped
1/2 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into tiny little cubes
2 1/2 cups kale, finely chopped (leaves only)
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 egg
2 tablespoons coconut flour

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with 1 teaspoon coconut oil or avocado oil (or bacon grease) add green onions and cook until tender, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add sweet potatoes and cook for 4 to 5 more minutes, until barely tender. Add kale and cook until wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
Add chicken to a food processor and process on pulse until ground. Transfer meat to a large mixing bowl. Add salt, garlic, paprika, Dijon mustard, rosemary, egg, coconut flour, and sweet potato mix. Mix together with hands until well combined.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or even better overnight.
Divide your chicken mixture into 6 to 7 even patties.
Coat a large non-stick pan with coconut oil or even better bacon grease to just coat the bottom (not a lot). Add patties and cook until golden crust forms, about 5 to 6 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook until golden and cooked through.

Trying to get out of the paleo comfort zone

I think I'm in a "paleo comfort zone".  To me, that means that I eat paleo when it's convenient and relapse when it's not.  I am pandering to my sweet tooth and eating a lot of fruit, muffins and no-oat oatmeal just because they are technically paleo.  However, they are definitely not optimal.  We are also eating the same limited repertoire for dinner, I need to explore some new recipes.  Luckily, Leeny is starting a new Whole30 challenge in August.  I am beginning to see why you need to do a challenge a couple of times a year to stay on track.  I'm looking forward to getting out of this comfort zone.  It's amazing how easily you can fall back into old habits.  We went to Crave for coffee for a special occasion the other week and now we're going almost every day-after I didn't have any coffee from there for over 5 months.....

Taro chips

• Taro root, peeled
• Coconut oil
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Thinly slice the peeled taro using a mandoline slicer.
3. Brush the slices lightly with coconut oil and sprinkle with salt and any other seasonings you are using.
4. Arrange the slices in a single layer on a greased baking tray and roast for 12 minutes. One taro root can make a lot of chips. Because of the single layer, it is necessary to use several baking sheets or work in batches, greasing pan again if necessary in between batches.
5. After 12 minutes, check to see if they are crispy all the way through and no longer soft in the center.
6. Remove to cool and sprinkle with salt.

Leeny's watermelon salad recipe

Ingredients

 1/2 Watermelon
1 cantaloupe
1/2 Jicama
1 English cucumber
cilantro
1 lime

Fresh cracked pepper

2 t. Tajin seasoning (or 1 t. chili powder and 1 t. salt)

Cut jicama in half and peel away the thick skin. Cut into thin, medium length pieces, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Place in large bowl.

Cut watermelon in half. Remove rind and cut melon into thin, medium length pieces.

Chop cucumber into smaller, bite size pieces. 

Cut cantaloupe and cucumber into bite sized pieces and add to the bowl. 

Mix up the fruit in the bowl and add the juice of one lime and about 2 Tablespoons of chopped cilantro.  Sprinkle Tajin seasoning over the top and mix again. If you don't have Tajin, use salt and chili powder instead.   Finish with a few shakes of fresh ground pepper.

Healthy lunch with Walk to Madrid team

We are in the middle of our Walk to Madrid challenge at SLU.  Our team is currently in 6th place.  One of the challenges during the program was to take a picture of the team having a health lunch. We got lunch from Bread Co.  I think we all had salad.  It wasn't as good as I was hoping, I think the salads are much better when you eat there rather than getting to go.  Still, it was fun to get us all together.

Chicken Fried Rice

1 small head of cauliflower, riced

 4 chicken breasts

3 slices of uncured bacon, cut into small dice

2 large eggs

grated ginger

1 small onion, minced

4 ounces of sliced mushrooms

bunch of green onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro leaves

2 tablespoons of chopped basil

1 tablespoon of chopped mint

1-2 tablespoons of coconut aminos

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Splash of fish sauce

Cook bacon in the wok until it is crisp.
Cook chicken in the bacon grease
Remove from chicken wok and cook scrambled eggs
Cut up scrambled eggs and set aside.
Cooked onions and mushrooms in the wok.  Add riced cauliflower and cook until tender.  Add everything else and toss thoroughly

Hot wing dip recipe

Paleo comes NOWHERE near this, but it's completely addictive & absolutely my favourite dip recipe

HOT WING RECIPE
2 C red hot hot sauce
3 8 oz cream cheese
2 cans of the either 12oz or 8 oz chicken
Blue cheese dressing
Blue cheese crumbles
Green onions
2 cups of mozzarella cheese

Put cream cheese in bowl and pour in hot sauce. Then take chicken make sure you drain it but still leave a little juice then put it on top of the hot sauce and cream cheese. Then mix together. Then pour in blue cheese dressing however much you prefer( depending on your taste buds). Then add blue cheese and mozzarella. I usually take one bundle of the green onions and chop it up and put it in the dip. POUR dip in a oven save bowl and add mozzarella cheese on top. Heat oven to 415 cook dip for at least 25min or until you see it bubbling real good..

Sunday cooking

Wow, I am really behind, I'm writing about last Sunday's cooking spree today!!!! I made two different clafoutis-one was cherry (our favourite) and the other was chicken curry (for Maggie to eat for breakfast in the week)

Then I cooked a bunch of chicken chunks for Sam to eat in the week (yes, we eat a lot of chicken)

I made chicken noodle soup for the kids to eat in the week

Then, I made Ben's favourite-sausage with cabbage noodles-for dinner

Took me 3 or 4 hours to make all this, but it pretty much sets us up for the whole week