Pumpkin Chili

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Andrea

Here’s a great chili, I’d make it for Halloween, but I think I’m kinda over pumpkin already! The thing that I really like about this chili is that the pumpkin makes it super thick.

1 Tbsp. EVOO
1 organic chopped onion
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 clove organic garlic, minced
2 lbs. grass-fed ground beef
1 can (14.5 oz) organic diced tomatoes
1 can (the big can) organic pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder
Celtic sea salt & pepper to taste
toppings, optional: sour cream, cheddar cheese, lime, jalapenos

Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and sautee onion, peppers, and garlic until tender. Crumble in beef and cook until browned. Pour meat mixture into a slow cooker. Add tomatoes, pumpkin, chili powder, s & p. Cover and set on low for 4 to 5 hours. Add toppings, and serve!

D-Wayne massages his kale Salad

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Andrea

This is my friend, D-Wayne, killin it on an epic hill at CFS’ Epic Labor Day Retreat 2011 at la Casa de Grossenbacher’s (yes, he’s carrying weight up the hill). The hill wouldn’t have been the same without him. And neither would the food. I’m sure his inbox was packed with requests for his kale salad recipe he brought. He was nice enough to share his source, and it’s funny! The site is called Cookus Interruputus, their motto is “How to cook local fresh organic whole foods despite life’s interruptions.” Don’t miss the video, every cook will relate to the person teaching us the recipe.

1 LARGE bunch organic kale
1 teaspoon ce;tic sea salt
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted

¼ cup diced red onion
1/3 cup currants
¾ cup diced organic apple, (½ apple)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Kombucha (oh yes I did!)

1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Be sure to choose a large bunch of kale (or two small ones) or the salad will be overly
salty and over-dressed. By large, I mean 16-20 leaves that are at least 12″
long.

De-stem kale by pulling leaf away from the stem. Wash leaves. Spin or pat dry.

Stack leaves, rollup and cut into thin ribbons (chiffonade).

Put kale in a large mixing bowl. Add salt, massage salt into kale with your hands for 2
whole minutes. The volume of the kale should reduce by about 1/3.

To toast seeds, put in a dry skillet over low to medium heat and stir constantly for a
few minutes until they change color and give off a nutty aroma.

Put kale in a fresh bowl and discard any leftover liquid.

Stir onion, currants, apple and toasted seeds into kale.

Dress with oil and kombucha and toss. Taste for salt and vinegar, adding more if
necessary. When at desired flavor, toss in cheese.

my notes: the original recipes calls for apple cider vinegar, since we had a few batches brewing I thought kombucha would be good, it was! I best friend from one of the Carolina’s gave me the idea to start adding kombucha to collards, thanks Brooke!

Product Review: Pumpkin Spice coffee

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Andrea

For all of us who prefer an IV coffee drip in the morning, here’s a great fall coffee courtesy of Trader Joes. The reason why I appreciate this coffee is because it’s flavored with orange peel, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground vanilla beans, and pumpkin spice oil. Looking around, you’ll find other flavored coffees have added syrups and “flavor drops” to achieve their distinctive tastes.

This coffee gets a two thumbs up at the Stein household. Interestingly, once we ran out we couldn’t buy another can, it was time to go back to our normal coffee.

Anyone else tried this coffee yet? Let me know.

Pumpkin Ice Cream 2.0

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Andrea

I know, I know, more pumpkin recipes. So annoying. I agree. I would say this is my last pumpkin recipe of the season, however I just made a pumpkin chili that was delicious, so we may see more in the future. This recipe is an update from last year’s version, both are equally good. Last year’s pumpkin ice cream is dairy free, this year’s is not. Since Joey’s ice cream is the best, I used it as a base and just combined it with last year’s pumpkin. It’s GOOD!

1 1/2 cups organic heavy cream

1 1/2 cups coconut milk (or just 3 cups heavy cream)

1 1/2 cups organic pumpkin puree

1 tbs organic vanilla

3 pastured egg yolks

1/3 cup organic 100% maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

pinch of celtic sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn until ready.

Pumpkin Muffins

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Andrea

You know fall is here when Starbuck’s releases their Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Though it sounds amazing, you won’t catch me drinking their syrup. So, we find ourselves turning to other real foods pumpkiny favorites to take its place. You won’t believe how surprisingly moist they are for how tight the batter is, which is shocking considering how coconut flour dries anything out! These little guys were inspired by Bruce Fife’s “Cooking with Coconut Flour” cookbook (one of my faves).

6 pastured eggs (thank you, Cheeks)

4 tbs pastured butter, melted

1/2 cup organic canned pumpkin

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Blend all ingredients together, whisk extra long until clumps are gone. Bake at 400 degrees until done. Makes about 26 mini muffins.

My hints: When using quality ingredients I always make smaller little muffins. For one, portion sizes are a lot smaller. Second, it looks like you’ve actually made a lot of these little guys. Lastly, when I tell my kids they can have one muffin we actually have muffins for days! I also poured this batter into my doughnut pan and made pumpkin doughnuts out of it. Cute!

Here’s some past pumpkin favorite recipes I’ve blogged about. Totally worth the revisit:

Pumpkin Bread, Chicken Pumpkin Patch Soup (delicious, we’re putting this back on the rotation), Pumpkin Ice Cream

Herb Oil

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Andrea

My new favorite oil! Not only does this oil taste great, it leaves a delicious smell floating throughout your house. Super, super easy!

1/2 cup Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 sprig rosemary leaves

Bring all ingredients to a simmer over medium, then cool to room temperature.

Ways to use this delightful oil: make a primal pizza. Make your dough, pour oil on the crust, then top with mozzarella, sausage and olives. (Sorry I forgot to take a pic, it was too delcious and we had to eat it ASAP). Marinate salmon in it, then grill it. (Sorry I have no proof of this either, also delicious and we gobbled it up fast!)

Variations of this delightful oil: I would like to try coconut oil melted, instead of EVOO and see how it turns out.

Here’s one thing we had to do this summer: food allergy tests. Not fun at all, but the results were negative!

Jerk Chicken

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Andrea

Our weekly rotation seems to get stuck with lots of chicken. We can’t help it though, our chicken recipes are that good! This recipe along with brushetta chicken have kept us on track to healthy eating. I originally found it from Martha, but I changed it up to fit our lifestyle.

2 tablespoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1/2 fresh pineapple cut into chunks

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 organic free range whole chicken

3 tablespoons organic evoo or coconut oil, melted

Have your husband (because I don’t cut up whole chickens) cut up the chicken. Prepare the spice mixture, first 5 ingredients, and set aside. Rub oil on chicken, sprinkle spice mixture on top. Grill until done.

To make pineapple topping: combine pineapple, lime juice, and scallions. Let sit to mesh flavors together. Serve ontop of chicken! Refreshing!

I serve my jerk chicken with our tropical gazpacho. They work perfectly together! See why we have chicken every week?

Spatchcocking

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Andrea

To spatchcock a chicken means to simply remove its backbone by butterflying it, or splitting it down the middle. It’s a great technique to use when your husband isn’t home and you need to cook a whole bird on the grill and don’t want to chop up the whole thing. Being someone who will do everything instead of touching a raw chicken, I was very proud of myself that I touched it and started to dismantle its backbone. It’s very easy, just kind of primal.

1. Place the bird breast side down.

2. Use kitchen shears or a very sharp knife and cut straight down the backbone until it’s cut free.

3. Turn the bird over and flatten the breasts (I didn’t do this, but technically its supposed to help).

4. Rub oil, salt and pepper and cook it (I like it on the grill).

When grilling, always start rib side down as it helps lock those juices in. Another benefit to spatchcocking is that it cooks the chicken a lot fast than cooking it round (and you don’t have to touch it as much).

Here’s my chicken chillin on my back porch, isn’t it serene?? The weird thing was that my daughter said our chicken looked like our 6 year old baby!

Watermelon Salsa

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Andrea

I picked up a good lookin watermelon from TJ’s this week and knew exactly what I was going to do with it: make one of my favorite summer salsas! I love this salsa because it’s sweet and savory and crunchy all at the same time. It works well with any grilled proteins, in fact I just ate some with a burger and it was good!

3 cups watermelon, diced

1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, diced

1/2 small red onion, diced

1/4 cup cilantro

1 lime, juiced

1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

sea salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, serve room temperature or chilled. Anyway you serve it, it’ll be delicious!

I now have a watermelon and a cherry salsa on my blog, what others am I missing?

Carby Granola

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Andrea

There was a day where I pounded the carbs, hence my thunder thighs. Who am I kidding? There were months where I pounded the carbs! This recipe was one of my family’s favorites! We ate it for desserts, snacks, breakfast, and everywhere in between. It’s a staple recipe amongst the paleo community, I’m not sure who invented it, but it’s plagiarized all over the Internet. Here’s where I’ve found it. It’s delicious, and if you have tons of nuts sitting around this is a great way to use them!

5 cups nuts and seeds (I used slivered almonds, pecans, and sunflower seeds, walnuts, junky nuts; you can use whatever you want, but make sure you use at least 2 – 3 cups slivered almonds, as these take the place of what is normally oats)
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup which in my HO is the best)
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 tsp pure vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup raisins (or any other dried fruit. You can omit the fruit too)
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Mix honey, oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small saucepan and bring to a slight boil on the stove. Spread the nuts and seeds out on a greased baking sheet and pour the cooled honey mixture over the top. Mix it around to get everything covered, and bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Allow the pan to cool slightly and then put the mixture into a bowl. Mix in raisins and coconut.

There’s many different things to do with this granola: pour some raw milk over it in a bowl, mix it in with some greek yogurt, mix almond butter in with it and press into a pyrex dish to make bars. The possibilities are endless and delicious! The nutmeg will absolutely trick your taste buds into thinking your eating ginger. Heck, why not toss some of that in there too?

Pragmatic Paleo

Down-to-earth, easy-to-make Paleo (+dairy) recipes