ROASTED POBLANO & PAPAYA PICO

As we saw last week, there is this lovely plate of pan seared Mahi-Mahi which I prepared, but what really pulls the entire dish together is this Roasted Poblano and Papaya Pico (de gallo)! It is full of wonderful flavors and textures and the color really adds to the plate as you can see.

Ingredients for the Pico:
1 medium tomato seeded and diced
1/2 medium white onion diced
1/3c (each) diced red and orange bell pepper
1/2 papaya seeded and diced
1 medium sized poblano pepper, roasted, diced (poblanos have a wonderful mild flavor)
1 jalapeno, diced very small (add a little at a time until the salsa is as spicy as you like)
1 lime
cilantro, chopped, to taste (I like a lot of cilantro)
sea salt to taste
olive oil

**TIP** Jalapenos get hotter towards the middle of the pepper, take this into account as you add it in!

I'm not sure I've ever seen a papaya, and what do I do with it when I find one?

This is a papaya

It's flesh is similar in color to a mango but it is softer and less tart. Simply cut the papaya long ways, scoop out the seeds in the middle with a spoon and then carefully take the skin off with a sharp knife. Now dice the fruit!

How to roast a poblano pepper:
 
Set your oven to broil and bring it up to temperature. Take your poblano pepper, coat it with about a tablespoon of olive oil and place it on a pan. When your oven is ready, put the pan in the oven and roast the pepper for about six minutes, turn it over, and roast it for another 4-6 minutes or until the outside of the pepper has turned dark and the skin has started to peel away from the pepper.

It will look like this!

You are now done with the oven (unless you are making the dish above and then I broiled a slice of FRESH pineapple about 1/4-1/3 inch thick until the edges started to turn brown). Let your pepper cool for a few minutes and then run your fingers over the skin and it should peel right off! 

Now you are left with a roasted poblano pepper. I used about 2/3 of mine for this recipe as it was a little on the large side.

Putting it all together:
Put all of your ingredients in a bowl, drizzle lightly with olive oil, squeeze in the juice from 1/2 of the lime and add a pinch of sea salt. Stir together GENTLY until combined. 

Yields: about 2 cups

This pico is great on fish or chicken and it great to serve with anything you would normally use salsa for. A sure hit at any party! (I just eat it with a spoon)

SPICY ORANGE GLAZED CHICKEN

Having passed on the Chinese food samples at the mall, I decided to come up with an Asian inspired chicken dish that gives you that same sweet and savory taste! Even better, it's easy to do!

You will need: A sauce pot, a skillet

THE SAUCE:

Ingredients:

1c orange juice (you can squeeze it yourself or use a brand that doesn't have added sugar)
3 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (add more or less to taste)

Put all of these into your sauce pot and reduce until it is 1/3-1/2 it's original volume. You want it to thicken.

**Reducing sauces is an easy way to accent the ingredient's natural sugars and to thicken a sauce. Just heat over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally until it is the consistency you want. If you reduce it too much, just add a splash of water and stir.

Just a minute longer!

THE REST OF IT:

Ingredients:
2 large chicken breasts, cubed
1/3 each orange and red bell pepper, sliced thin then halved
1/4 onion julienned (add more if desired)
1/2 small navel orange, sliced thin then halved again (with peel)
1 clove garlic sliced thin

Just added the veggies

Put a little olive oil in your skillet and preheat pan over medium heat. Add diced chicken and cook until done all the way through. Add in the onion, bell peppers, garlic and orange slices and cook until almost done. Pour your sauce into the skillet and stir until everything is coated. Cook until vegetables are done. Serve hot.

Stirring it all together with the sauce!

Yields approximately 3 servings

I recommend serving this dish with a hearty portion of green beans!

*Note: Due to the natural sugars in the balsamic vinegar and orange juice, the orange slices will actually "candy" themselves and the peel will become soft and sweet. The best orange chicken I've ever had included orange peel in its sauce and the little bit of bitter with the sweet was a wonderful flavor and texture combination.

 

(Mostly)

First things first! I'm having a wonderful day. I don't get these very often but I'm making the most of my three day weekend and after working some over-time I have a little extra pocket money so I'm doing some things for me!

My morning started off with an hour long deep tissue massage (thank you Groupon!). It feels even better after having hit the gym a little harder than usual last night. So shoo, go treat yourself! And here's a tip: Groupon takes up to 50% of what you spend on a service, so if you call up a local self-owned place, they will often give you the Groupon price right in the store. No coupon needed! This even occasionally carries over after the coupon is no longer available. Not everyone will be on board with this but it never hurts to ask!

Let's see, what next? That's right, shopping!

I started out at our local whole foods grocery store which happens to be Sprouts. It's not a big store but if you know where to look and when, you can usually find what you need. I picked up another container of fresh made toasted almond butter and I can't wait to use it for lunches and maybe a dessert! I also picked up some black plums and red pears. Mmmm.

Then I went to the mall, walked around the food court and looked at all of the stuff that I don't even want to eat! I just wanted to check my mentality which I do every month or so. If I have a whopping craving for something "bad" it's usually because I did a little more than "cheat". Nothing happened, I passed on samples of battered, deep fried, Asian chicken with super sweet sauce made from who knows what with no problems. Go me!

Then I went to my local World Market which is probably my favorite store of all time and I even ran into someone else who is Paleo! That really made my day! (Hopefully he'll check out my blog and pass it on). I went in, as usual, for ONE thing. Well, that NEVER works out, but who cares? I love their stuff! I went in for a plate, ended up with a plate, a bowl, and a personal crock which looked really nice, plus it was all on sale. Who can beat that? I also left with two bottles of pinot noir, a Sea Glass and a Castle Rock. Both of them are great wines and both are under $10.

Now back to the title of this post.

What am I that (Mostly) Paleo girl? I do try to follow Paleo all the time. However, I am one of those Paleo people who occasionally eats dairy. Many people do, some of it drop it all together. I would consider myself middle ground on this one. If I can find good, high quality cheeses that are minimally processed then I don't mind adding those to what I eat. But my other rule of thumb is that if it doesn't contribute to the experience of the meal or if you can't even taste it, why add it? What a waste of good cheese! I also occasionally use some whole fat milk in a recipe. Now you know!

This week I have come across several people who are not Paleo but do not eat gluten for one reason or another. Because of that I may occasionally put up a gluten-free-not-paleo recipe. I will do my best to add tips for substitutions to make it Paleo if I can.

My mother has gone "low gluten" over the last few weeks and has noticed that her blood sugar is much better controlled and she has to take less insulin. She also says that she feels less bloated and she has more energy. I'm so happy for her! (Now let's see if we can get her to drop the rest of the gluten!)

Why do people who don't have celiac disease drop gluten?

"Our data shows that the gluten-containing standard diet modifies the cytokine pattern of both Foxp3(-) T cells and Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells towards a more inflammatory cytokine profile."

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=22913724

What does that mean? It says that gluten actually modifies the body (at the cellular level) in a way that causes increased inflammation.

Other major causes of increased inflammation are processed sugars, hydrogenated oil, and grain-fed meats.

Also, with fewer ready-to-go carbs like those you get with grain and processed sugar based foods, your body will use more of its own fat for energy and you will get less severe sugar/insulin spikes which will actually decrease your appetite over time.

So, after all of that, the moral to the story is I got new plates which means more recipes are coming soon! Yay!

"BREAKFAST CAKE" aka GINGER CARROT CAKE

It's funny because it's true

This ginger carrot cake is rich so you may want to start off with a slightly smaller piece than you would otherwise. It is great for breakfast, a snack, or dessert, and pairs well with a cup of black coffee or hot tea. Certainly curl-up-with-a-book worthy.

There are a lot of ingredients but it's pretty easy to make.

You will need: 9"x9" cake pan, parchment paper

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/4c butter (melted but not hot enough to cook the eggs!)
1/4c walnut oil
1/4c pure maple syrup
1/3c molasses
1/3c almond meal
1/3c coconut flour
1/2 tsp salt (I used sea salt)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp H20
1/3c raisins
3c shredded carrots

Preheat your oven to 350

#1: Beat eggs together in medium-large sized bowl until well combined. Add the melted butter, walnut oil, maple syrup, molasses, water and vanilla extract. Combine.

#2: Add in all of your dry ingredients (coconut flour, almond meal, salt, baking soda, spices. Whisk well until smooth. 

#3: Add in the raisins and shredded carrots.

*TIP: I cheated and used pre-julienned carrots that come in a bag. I didn't feel like wrestling with the mandolin today (actually I just didn't feel like cleaning it!). If you have a food processor with an attachment that shreds vegetables this would be ideal as it is quick and simple to clean. Because I DID use "bag carrots" I put about a half cup at a time on my cutting board and gave them four or five coarse chops because some of those pieces are REALLY long.

#4: Line your baking pan with parchment and brush the parchment with a little melted butter, walnut oil or something similar to help with the non-stick part.

#5: Pour your batter evenly into the dish.

#6: Place in oven for 25 minutes, rotate and cook for another 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. 

Smells amazing!

Now just let it cool and serve!

It's great drizzled with a little bit of raw honey.

Planning ahead for busy folks like me

So every couple of weeks I do BIG cooking. I completely fill up the freezer with precooked meals that I can just snag and place in my lunchbox to take to work. I pre-jumble the selection in the freezer so I don't end up with the same meal back to back. It's a big time and hassle saver and I recommend this approach to anyone with a busy schedule! I spend about six hours two days in a row and get roughly 2-3 weeks worth of work meals ready to go. (As I work long shifts it is not uncommon for me to eat two or even three meals while I'm at work! I'm currently on 16 hour shifts and I'm not always ready for breakfast at 0430 so some days I take it with me.)

It is important to know what freezes and what doesn't. (Well, everything freezes but not everything thaws or reheats well!) It's also good to know things like, "If I pull something from the freezer and put it in the fridge it will take 16-24 hours to defrost." Plan ahead. If you pull something out of the freezer for lunch the morning of that same day, you may want to leave your container out on the counter for an hour or so before putting it back in the fridge.

Last night I prepared a gorgeous Mahi-Mahi meal with a slice of broiled pineapple and some papaya pico (It was fantastic!) but things like my papaya pico just won't freeze well (and then unfreeze again). If I were to do that it would just be mush. Alas, I'll just have to eat the left over pico before it goes bad! Where's my spoon?

Pan seared Mahi-Mahi with broiled pineapple and papaya pico

Before I start my big cooking, I usually have something along the lines of this:

Look at all of those amazing colors!

And by the time I'm done it looks like I should have gotten stock options with Tupperware.

This week I'm cooking with beef, chicken, pork, mahi-mahi and maybe some ahi tuna. We will see if there is any room left in the freezer :)

So hopefully I will be bringing you several new recipes this week! (I even made dessert, or we could call it "breakfast cake" if that makes anyone feel better. Either way I made it because it's yummy and I wanted cake!)

PUMPKIN PANCAKES

Yield: 10 medium sized pancakes

(I should also mention that I just splurged on a nice non-stick pan because I was tired of having my pancakes come out greasy after being cooked in coconut oil just to keep them from sticking to the pan!)

My recipe:

3 whole eggs + 2 egg whites
2/3c canned pumpkin
2 Tbsp maple syrup or 1 Tbsp raw honey *optional, I don't use this in mine
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp coconut flour

I had noticed that a lot of pumpkin pancakes were a little on the "eggy" side and so I sought out how to make a fluffier pancake that had a little more "cake" in it. This is why you see the extra egg whites for "body" and the coconut flour is high in fiber and adds that "cake" feet to it. 

Beat your eggs until they start to lighten in color. Add in all of your other ingredients and whisk until smooth. Let batter sit for 3-5 minutes. The coconut flour will continue to thicken the batter.

Using a non-stick skillet add just a little butter, you really don't need much at all. I put my pan just under medium heat and let it get nice and hot. Spoon your batter into the pan and make as thin or as thick as you want them (the batter may be thick and might need a little "help" spreading, I just use the back of my spoon). Brown on one side, flip! Brown on other side, done! I found that I could fit about five medium pancakes in my large skillet. 

Just a little bit!

Storage: These pancakes freeze really well, so go ahead and make a double batch! I simply lay them out on a cutting board and put them in the freezer. Once they are frozen I transfer them to tupperware or a ziplock. You can reheat them in the microwave, oven, or a pan.

This is a great breakfast sprinkled with a little extra cinnamon and slices of fresh banana! Pair this treat with a slice of grilled ham for a hearty breakfast!

Tip #1: Some paleo recipes are notorious for being on the "eggy" side of things. They taste fine, but the texture isn't what you were used to. Adding a tablespoon or two of a nut meal (such as pecan or hazelnut) can help change the texture of your baked goods. 

Tip #2: Try topping your pancakes with sliced fruit instead of honey or syrup as a lower carb option (I say this because who actually uses one serving)! In the top picture I used cooked apples sprinkled with cinnamon. Since you didn't add any extra sugar, as your apples break down there will be liquid - pour it on! - your pancakes will soak this up!

FRESH FRUIT SHAKE

If any of you, like me, live in the South, you will know two very important things:

1.) Summer doesn't end just because someone starts using the word "September".

2.) We still have a couple of weeks of peach season left and right now they are awesome!

So I woke up this morning (okay, okay, this afternoon - hey, it's my weekend) and decided I wanted something refreshing for breakfast! I've been having "shakes" for breakfast since middle school. My father and I always rushed to the kitchen to see who could hog the blender first.

You want the unflavored. Vanilla, chocolate and other flavors will have non-paleo additives like "rice protein" and other funky stuff. TRUE grass-fed whey protein IS more expensive, but man, it's tasty!

This is a 100% Paleo recipe, though not low carb which is why I usually only have these on my "weekends" when I'm out and a about more, running errands. Lots of fuel in a glass!

To make this Non-paleo simply use traditional milk and any kind of protein powder you want (soy, whey, hemp, rice, whatever...) Either way, a high quality blender makes all the difference in the world. You don't want to end up with lots of large chunks of ice in the bottom of your glass!

#1 - I start with about 2/3c or so of almond milk. I don't really measure this as it depends on how juicy your fruit is, whether or not you add a splash of orange juice, and you can always "thicken" it up with the addition of an extra ice cube or two.

#2 - I almost ALWAYS add 1/2 banana as this makes the shake nice and creamy. You can peel, cut in half and freeze banana's in a zip-lock bag which will stay great to use for about a month. (Great for shakes as they are already frozen so you use less ice.) Then I added 1/3 of a fresh peach and 1/2 of a seedless orange. 

#3 - I added in a serving of whey protein powder (from grass-fed cows).

#4 - Then I added a dash of cinnamon and a cap full of vanilla extract.

#5 - Next I put in about 5 ice cubes made in a generic ice cube tray. (This is the PERFECT opportunity to use those almond or coconut milk ice cubes that I talked about somewhere below.)

#6 - Blend! If it is a little on the thin side add one or two ice cubes at a time until your desired thickness is achieved.

***NOTE: Lots of different kinds of fresh fruit such as peaches, nectarines, strawberries, blueberries, ect. can be sliced and frozen in advance if you drink these shakes often like I do. I also don't peel my fruit, I just wash it very well. Why get rid of extra vitamins and fiber?

***Also Note: Whey protein does contain saturated fat because it comes from cows rather than a plant.