Paleo Veggie Quiche

Here it is! My take on a paleo veggie Quiche! (I am not saying it whole30 for sure since I’m not sure if its ok to make a paleo-fied pie crust on whole30. See SWYPO. (shoving old unhealthy foods into a paleo mold. For me, I think this is just a new way to eat eggs, but what do I know?)) Anyway I am excited about this and it’s so good! As soon as I’m done with whole30 I plan on making a paleo apple pie with this crust for 4th of July, yay ‘Merica! I had pinned a few different version of paleo pie crust on pinterest, but I wanted to make my own version and incorporate almond flour and coconut flour. It turned out way better than I thought it would for a first attempt at paleo pie crust. Heck, pie crust in general! I am usually a pillsbury roll and bake crust kinda girl, but no longer! This was really easy even for a novice crust maker. The fillings were just my whim and what I happened to have in the fridge, but I’m pretty sure as long as you have a similar amount of veg you could make this with just about anything. Keep in mind water content in your veggies, like tomatoes, since they can make a soggy mess if not precooked. I ate this as a side dish today, but you could always add some cooked meat (chicken, sausage, bacon, ground turkey, whatever) and up your protein content and eat it as a meal. The crust held up really well as I was picking up my slices and shoving them into my face, so that’s a plus for if you want this as a quick breakfast on the go. Don’t be intimidated by the steps and ingredients, it wasn’t that hard, go make this!!

Paleo Veggie Quiche

Yield: 16 small or 8 large servings/slices

Nutrition per small (1/16^th) serving

Calories 134

Fat 9.2

Sodium 300 mg

Carbs 6.3 g

Fiber 3 g

Sugars 1.1 g

Protein 7.2 g

Ingredients

For Crust

*I always weigh my flours for consistency, especially since I don’t ever sift them

1 ½ cups (168 g) blanched almond flour/meal

½ cup (56 g) coconut flour

½ tsp arrowroot powder

½ tsp kosher salt

2 TB coconut oil + extra for the pie plate

6-9 TB ice cold water

For Filling

6 extra large whole eggs, preferable farm fresh (they taste better I swear!)

6 extra large egg whites

¼ cup water

½ tsp coconut oil

272 g or 2 large leeks, diced

81 g or 1 large carrot, spiral sliced or shredded

121 g or 5-8 asparagus spears, diced

6 oz or 5 large florets broccoli, diced

1-2 tsp kosher salt, to taste

cracked black pepper to taste

Assembly:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a pie plate with coconut oil, about 1/2-1tsp.

• To make the crust: Weigh/measure out your flours, arrowroot starch and salt into the bowl of a food processor or large bowl. Pulse a few times or mix to get everything incorporated. Add in the 2 TB of room temperature coconut oil and pulse again. Or use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the oil into the flour mix, making pea sized crumbs. Add in ice water a TB at a time, pulsing after every addition to check consistency. At 8 TB mine had gathered into a solid dough and I was able to take it all out of my processor in one ball. Place the dough ball between two sheets of wax paper and use a rolling pin to roll into a 9-10 inch circle, or whatever fits your pie plate. Peel off the top layer of wax paper and flip the crust into your prepared pie plate. Peel off the remaining layer of wax paper and gently press your dough into the pie plate. Pinch the edges or use a fork to create a decorative edge. At this point I put my crust into the fridge to await its filling. Not sure if that necessary, but it worked great for me.
• For the filling: Dice your veggies while heating a saute pan with ½ tsp coconut oil. Saute the veggies until tender crisp, seasoning with 1 or 2 tsp kosher salt and cracked black pepper. I did this to get rid of any excess water in the veggies so I wouldn’t have a soggy quiche. While the veggies are cooking crack your eggs into a large bowl and add a scant ¼ cup water, some kosher salt and pepper (always season every part of your dish, especially eggs, because they can be bland). Whisk eggs vigorously until yolk and white are mixed and a bit frothy.
• Take crust from refrigerator and spread veggies evenly over the bottom. Pour eggs over the top of the veggies and use a spatula to spread into any drier areas.
• Put your quiche into the oven and set your timer for 20 minutes. Your quiche will not be done but you want to keep an eye on the crust so it doesn’t burn. Mine needed a pie shield after 20 minutes but aluminum foil around the edge works fine too. The quiche should be done in 45-60 minutes, or until the middle has lost its jiggle and a knife comes out clean. You may need to cover the whole top with foil if it cooks too quickly and the middle isn’t done.
• Let your quiche rest outside of the oven for about 5-10 minutes so everything has time to cool and set properly. Cut into desired amount of slices and consume!

I already have so many more veggie and meat combos in mind-spinach artichoke bacon anyone?? I also think the addition of herbs would be great, maybe some fresh thyme or rosemary in with the eggs or some fresh basil over the top once its out of the oven. I can’t wait to make this again!

Whole 30 Thai Inspired “Noodle” salad

veggie “noodles”

My date paste is trying to escape its container, sorry date paste

Woo hoo! New kitchen gadgets make me so happy! I got my new veggie slicer and have been going crazy with it! I made an awesome “spaghetti” recipe from my friend Laurie and now this veggie noodle salad! Not sure whats up next, but I’m contemplating making sweet potato noodles for something crazy! Anyway, this’ll be quick since I need to wake my sleeping son before it’s too late in the afternoon. So no going on and on about how good this slicer and salad are. Just trust me, they are.

Whole 30 Thai-ish “Noodle” Salad

Yield: 10 Serving of 84 grams (3oz)/serving

Nutrition per serving

Calories 43

Fat 2 g

Sodium 211.2 mg

Carbs 6.2 g

Fiber 1.5 g

Sugars 3.5 g

Protein 1.5 g

mmmm dressing

 

smooth dressing

Ingredients

 

Salad

183 g or approx 1-2 medium zucchini julienne/shredded/spiral noodle cut

317 g or approx 1-2 medium yellow squash julienne/shredded/spiral noodle cut

200 g or approx1-2 large carrots julienne/shredded/spiral noodle cut

5 basil leaves chiffonade/minced

¼ cup fresh cilantro minced

 

Dressing

2 cloves garlic minced

2 Tb almond butter

1 oz date paste or 1-2 Tb sweetener of choice

¼ fresh squeezed lime juice

1Tb-1tsp grated fresh ginger (to taste, I like mine gingery!)

1 Tb light coconut milk, or full fat, your choice, I happened to have light today.

1 tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

My method when I cook: yellow pad and scribble frantically between measurements and weighing

pretty salad!

I used my new veggie slicer to cut my veggies into noodles and then made a yummy Thai inspired dressing to toss them with! Put your cut veggies into a large bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl whisk together all dressing ingredients. Drizzle your dressing on top of the veggies and toss everything together. Garnish with the basil and cilantro for a pretty presentation, or just toss it all in together. Tastes great either way! I don’t happen to have any fish sauce, but I’m pretty sure this would be a great recipe to use it in if you happen to have some in your pantry. This dressing would also make a great dipping sauce for some Thai/Vietnamese lettuce wraps. Hmmm that sounds good. Maybe I’ll be having lettuce wraps for dinner!

Whole 30 Greek Turkey Tomato Sauce with Spinach

My mom is great at sharing. She always buys in bulk and ends up giving me half of what she bought! And sometimes she gives me things she doesn’t like. She had a big bag of Penzeys Spices Greek seasonings that she (thinks) she didn’t enjoy. So she gave it all to me! To my delight I love it! And I love my momma. I have been using the new spice mix in some yummy recipes, like my new spinach burger and this recipe here, greek turkey tomato sauce. It’s basically a greek spiced ground turkey spaghetti sauce, or Bolognese as the italians call it. The spice mix is nothing crazy, just salt, oregano, marjoram, lemon peel,  and ground pepper. It gives great flavor though, similar to gyro meat. mmmmmm. Check out Penzey’s spices if you never have, they’re awesome! My mom lives right one of their shops and I love stopping in there. This sauce is easy to make and you can get it on the table quickly if you are hungry. Add some spaghetti squash or veggie noodles and you’re set! My husband really likes this recipe and he eats it plain. Generally right out of the fridge in its storage container, cold! Our microwave is broken or he might bother to heat it up. But turning on the stove and putting things into a pot is such a pain, right? Oh well, its his food!

Whole 30 Greek Turkey Tomato Sauce with Spinach

Yield: 10 servings of 5.5 oz

Nutrition per serving

Calories 130.6

Fat 6.1 g

Sodium 527.4 mg

Carbs 4.6 g

Fiber 1.2 g

Sugars 2 g

Protein 16 g

 

Ingredients

about 1 ¾ lbs ground turkey, 93/7 fat content, mine was actually 26.9 oz of meat

3.3oz yellow onion, diced, or one small onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups fresh spinach leaves

one 28 oz can organic whole peeled tomatoes in juice (crush by hand before adding if using these), or two 14 oz cans diced tomatoes in juice

½ Tb coconut or extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

Cracked black pepper to taste

2 tsp Penzey’s Greek seasoning spices, or Greek seasonings of choice. The penzeys blend is delicious and includes lemon peel!

 

In a large dutch oven or skillet heat oil and add in onions and garlic. Saute until onion starts to soften and turn opaque and the garlic is toasty and fragrant. Add your turkey, pepper, salt and Greek seasonings. Cook the turkey through until there’s no pink left and the juices are dried up. Add in the tomatoes with their juice in a hot spot in the pan. Tomato juice should bubble and cook a bit. At this point mix everything together and add in the spinach leaves. Let the spinach wilt then taste for spicing and add more if necessary. You can let the sauce simmer for a bit if its too wet for your liking. I leave mine wetter since its not uncommon for me to put mine straight into the refrigerator for future meals. When I do this the meat tends to reabsorb some of the juice and get drier, so I leave more juice in mine. I love this served alone or over spaghetti squash. I have a new veggie slicer that makes noodles out of almost any veggie! I can’t wait to make some zucchini noodles and serve this sauce over it!

 

veggie noodles from my new slicer!

 

Whole 30 Avocado ChickenSalad aka yesterdays lunch

this whole 30 thing really isn’t so bad when you get to eat stuff like this.

I love when lunch just comes together quickly from things you have in the fridge. This is much easier to achieve when you have lots of options in the fridge ready to go! It is much, much harder when you need to go grocery shopping and have been avoiding it due to laziness and the knowledge that once you shop you must then prepare your foods before they go bad. And I am usually an overzealous shopper and purchase half the produce in the store. Then I get home and panic, realizing that I will never be able to eat/use it all in time. I have been a million times better about this since starting whole 30, and I haven’t had to throw out old produce in a few weeks, huzzah! Aaaanyway, I love chicken salad and here’s the version I made myself for lunch yesterday. It was so good that I then had it for dinner. And wished I had some for breakfast today pre-wod. I now must go grill some chicken breasts so that I have chicken for my chicken salad.

Whole 30 Avocado Chicken Salad

Yield: two 7.15 oz servings

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 160

Fat: 5.5 g

Sodium: 548.4 mg

Carbs: 7.3 g

Fiber: 3.4 g

Sugars: 2.2 g

Protein: 19.5 g

 

Ingredients

6 oz grilled (cooked somehow) boneless  skinless chicken breast

46 g (1/8^thcup) diced white onion

50 g (1/8^th cup-ish) diced celery

59 g (see above) diced grape tomatoes

2 oz avocado, diced or mashed

juice of one lime

kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste

fresh cilantro to taste, about 2 Tb chopped for me

 

Take all your ingredients and toss them into a bowl, minus the avocado (unless you are a genius and mashed yours beforehand-which I am not and did not.) Mash up your avocado until smooth, then toss it into the bowl with the rest, stir until all the ingredients are uniformly covered in delicious avocado. Salt and pepper to taste. I ate mine over a bed of spinach leaves with nothing else on it. It was amazing! It would also be great as a wrap or sandwich for anyone not following paleo/gluten free/whole 30.

My chips before they cooked.

PS Kale chips are amazing right out of the oven. I used this recipe from nomnom paleo and its freaking fantastic. I used smoked salt after they came out of the oven and wow! Delightful. No post oven picture because Christian and I then consumed them all as fast as we could!

 

Whole 30 Tomato Herb Salad

As of today I am on my 5th day of whole 30. Yay me! I am feeling awesome about it, especially the fact that I have been able to resist eating things from Christians plate that he doesn’t finish! That’s a pretty huge accomplishment for me, really. The reason I have gotten this far with a program that has you cook pretty much 100% of your food is having premade things around. I made Costco run on Tuesday and then cooked my butt off for the next few hours until I had to go to work. I managed to get a lot of food prep done, including this delicious tomato herb salad. I have been using it alone, or as a topping or filling and it’s great however you have it. Even though I am doing Whole 30 and you don’t have to/aren’t supposed to calorie count I am anyway. I really don’t like not knowing how many calories I am eating, and it helps me get an overview of my other nutrition as well. Such as how much fat, carbs and sodium I am getting with my meals. Not eating sweets is a pretty big deal for me since I almost always eat a little something sweet after every meal. EVERY MEAL. And now I can’t even have a smidge of honey or one chocolate chip. This is a pretty intense way to break yourself of a sweet addiction! That being said, I have started to really be able to taste the natural sweetness of other things. Roasted sweet potatoes have been amazing, and even the little tomatoes in this salad have their own sweetness along with the bright acidity. I love that I got to use herbs from my own backyard and can’t wait till my basil is a little bigger and I can use all basil for this salad! If you aren’t doing whole 30 this dish would be so good with the little pearl fresh mozzerella balls in it for a summer cookout. Pair that with a sizzling steak off the grill and don’t forget to lick the plate when you are done.

Tomato Herb Salad

Yield: Makes about 691 g total, and I divided mine into ~49g portions for 14 portions

Nutrition per serving

Calories 26.5

Fat 1 g

Sodium 103.1 mg (I used about ¾ tsp)

Carbs 1.1 g

Fiber 0.4 g

Sugars 0.6 g

Protein 0.4 g

Ingredients

1 bunch Green onions, sliced thinly, white and green parts

1 lb Zima (orangy-yellow grape size) tomatoes, quartered

5 oz red grape (cherub) tomatoes, quartered

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 TB extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

fresh herbs of choice minced, mine were basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano from the herbs my momma got me for my birthday!

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and adjust seasonings to taste. I put mine on salad greens with some kalamata olives for a super fast salad. Delicious in a lettuce wrap with grilled chicken, and on top of just about anything. Also great alone as a side dish.

Pecan Butter changed my world.

I went on a nut butter rampage recently. Ever since I saw a post on Pinterest a few months ago about doing it yourself I’ve had it on my to do list. If that’s how you are, push that sucker right up to the top of your list! I started with Almond butter and put a little salt and honey in it. delightful, but not overwhelmingly better than my store bought Mara Natha brand. Then I tried roasted Pecan butter. Ohhhhhhhh my lord. I can.not.stop eating it! I’ve been putting it on anything I can think of. Like a spoon. I have two versions, one with honey, and one without. I just started Whole 30 yesterday, so am only eating the one without honey currently. If you aren’t restricting your sugar intake though I highly recommend the pecan butter with honey. I seriously think about it all the time. Put it on a baked sweet potato. It’s sweet potato pecan pie. This recipe isn’t really a very strict one. I am not sure of my measurements, and didn’t calculate the nutrition data for myself. I just figure that the one without honey is about the same as a store bought pecan butter (213 cals/2 TB) and that the one with honey is just a bit higher since I only added 2 tsp of honey in about a cup and half of pecan butter. I tried pistachio butter also and its really yummy too! My problem with that one is that its too salty. I made the mistake of using pre roasted and salted pistachios! sadly a bit too much salt, so I don’t eat it quite as often as my other butters. I will be trying that again. And I want cashew butter too, and macadamia nut butter… the list goes on and on! Either way, whatever nut you like, go make yourself some nut butter! Because it tastes good, and its fun to say “Would you like to taste my nut butter?”

Ingredients

about 2 cups raw pecans

kosher salt to taste

food processor, I think you can use a blender but I wouldn’t want to try.

• Roast your pecans on an ungreased cookie sheet at 320 for about 10 minutes, or until your nuts are toasty and fragrant. I even like mine to have a few burnt nuts, (not charred, just a bit burnt) it really adds a great depth of  pecan flavor.
• Put your nuts into the food processor and let it go. The nuts go through several stages in the processor: chunky, chopped, finely ground powder, then a big ball clump, then it smooths out into a nice butter. Mine is usually done in about 10 minutes, but sometimes needs longer to really get the nuts to release their oil and become super smooth like I like it. Some nuts never get that smooth though, so beware of burning out your processors motor! sometimes the machine needs a little break.
• Anyway, after the butter is all smooth and gooey, add in a bit of salt and whatever else you want. Some people use cinnamon or other spices and honey or maple syrup. Spread the nut butter on whatever you have handy and enjoy! My favorite snack right now is some fresh berries with a drizzle of pecan butter. Heaven.
  

  Why is there so little left!! Oh yeah, I ate it all. That thing was full not too long ago…

  

  so smooth and yummy

  

  Favorite snack. the pecan butter container kinda looks like a creeper back there.

  

  74 g blueberries, 83 g raspberries, 1/2 Tb Pecan butter.
  138 cals, 6 g fat, 19 carbs, 9 g fiber, 2 g protein.

Dutch Oven/Crockpot Lime Cilantro Shredded Chicken

Dutch Oven/Crockpot Lime Cilantro Shredded Chicken

Yummmmmm. That’s what I have to say about this recipe. I love finding new ways to make chicken since I eat it a looooooooot. My family is addicted to all things tex mex, we ate homemade mexican about 2-3 times a week growing up and we all loved it. We usually had ground beef however and I never even questioned it! I am branching out in my adulthood =) This recipe was spur of the moment but it happened to turn out Gluten free, (bonus!) and super easy as well. The lime and cilantro skillet sauce is fantastic alone, but I like to up the flavor factor by adding in my own spices, onion and garlic. Since I love spicy food I did use 1/2 tsp cayenne and that might be too spicy for some. Feel free to add or subtract from this recipe according to your taste and how convenient the ingredients are. I’ve only made mine in the dutch oven, but I imagine its just as good in the crockpot. My only warning is- don’t skip the sauteing steps! I hate the way onions taste cooked in the crockpot from raw. blech. Follow the steps and you’ll have yourself one delicious dish that everyone will enjoy!

yield: 10 servings, 4.2 oz each

Nutrition

Calories: 147

Fat: 3.1 g

Sodium: 434.6 mg

Total Carbs: 4.4 g

Fiber: 1.6 g

Sugars: 1.6 g

Protein: 26.1 g

Ingredients

½ Tb coconut oil

2.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

8 oz onion, diced. 1 med-lg

4-5 garlic cloves, diced

1 tsp each: cumin, coriander, chili powder, smoked paprika, kosher salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp fresh cracked black pepper

1lime, juiced and zested

1 pouch Frontera skillet sauce Key Lime Cilantro flavor (gluten free!)

• If using a dutch oven preheat oven to 310°. If not, get your crockpot out of storage and plug in!
• Heat coconut oil in a large skillet or your dutch oven.
• Add in diced onion and garlic and saute until onion is almost translucent, 7-10 min.
• Measure in all the spices and salt and pepper and let them cook with the onions and garlic to develop flavor.
• Nestle chicken breast into the bottom of the pot, move them around a bit first to get them coated in the spices.
• Cook a few minutes, them turn them over to cook and coat the other side. They don’t need to cook through.
• Once the chicken has cooked about 7 minutes total add in the juice and zest of the lime, and the skillet sauce. You can substitute salsa if you cant’ find the Frontera sauce, but the sauce is delicious!
• Stir in the sauce, juice and zest.
• If using your dutch oven, put the lid on and place the pot in the oven. Cook in the oven for about 50 min to an hour.
• If using a crockpot, pour everything in your skillet into your crockpot and cook on high for an hour, or on low for 2 hours. You want it cooked through, but not overly done to where the meat loses its juices and gets dry.
• Once the chicken is cooked, shred it with two forks and let it sit and absorb the sauce for about 10 minutes.

This was amazing over quinoa with avocado slices. It is also great wrapped in a corn tortilla with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt! Pretty much anything you can do with shredded meat this would be wonderful with. (Taco bar for a Mexican themed party!) When I’m heating up leftovers I usually am picking at the cold meat and it is also delicious! I hope you enjoy this recipe, its easy and tasty as heck!

Spring Vegetable Bulgar ‘Risotto’

No, this is NOT a real authentic style risotto. Please don’t be too dissapointed! I Love real risotto, but didn’t even think about making a risotto style dish until my bulgar was already cooked. I had planned on making it into a cool grain salad with fruit and herbs, but then became inspired while staring into the depths of my fridge to use up some veggies and make a risotto. I know I say this about all the dishes I make, but, holy cow is it delicious! I am in love with the nuttiness of the bulgar and the bright flavors of the veggies. Peas and asparagus (asparagi?) is one of my favorite veggie combos but I tend to forget this fact until I am tasting them!

I rarely cook bulgar, but happened to have some in my pantry and as it happens I am trying to do some spring cleaning on my pantry and use up old items. Sometimes I wish I did this more often as I tend to come up with some gems! Bulgar is great as a side dish, and if you add some protein in it can be a great main dish as well. If you’ve never tried it I encourage you to buy some and check this risotto recipe out, I plan on maing this every week now, or some variation thereof!

Spring Vegetable Bulgar Risotto
Yield 5 servings 6.8 oz each

Nutrition

Calories: 175

Fat: 4.4

Sodium: 153.5 mg

Total Carbs: 29 g

Sugar: 1.3 g

Protein: 7.4 g

Ingredients:

1 cup bulgar wheat, dry *(use quinoa for Gluten Free option!)

2 cups water

1 tsp kosher salt, divided

freshly cracked black pepper to taste

4 oz asparagus, diced

4 oz zucchini, diced

2 oz white onion, diced, about ¼ cup

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

2/3 cup frozen peas

1 cup chicken (or vegetable) stock

1 tsp butter

2 Tb grated Parmesan cheese

 

• First, cook the bulgar wheat. Heat water and ½ tsp salt to a boil and add bulgar. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed. Mine was nice and fluffy by the time it was done cooking. Set aside until later.
• Add the olive oil to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add diced onion and remaining ½ tsp salt and pepper and saute til the onions start turning opaque.
• Add in the asparagus and zucchini and saute for 5-7 minutes, or until veggies are tender-crisp.
• Add the peas in and saute briefly to heat them.
• Turn heat to medium high then add bulgar into the saucepan along with ½ cup of the chicken stock.
• Stir until chicken stock is absorbed and then add the remaining stock.
• Let most of the stock be absorbed by the bulgar then remove the pan from the heat and stir butter and Parmesan in.
• Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper for taste.
• EAT.

Jalapeno Gorgonzola Turkey Meatloaf… now thats a mouthfull!

 

I’ve made very few meatloafs (meatloaves?) in my life. I like them, but it never pops into my head when I’m thinking “what the heck am I going to make for my dinners this week?” I would like to start changing that. Growing up I always had the standard ground beef meatloaf with ketchup on top. Don’t get me wrong, I love it that way! However since I’m trying to be a health conscious person, I figured I would try to make mine a bit less fat and cholesterol laden. I also happened to have gorgonzola cheese, quinoa and jalapenos sitting in my fridge getting old. (does gorgonzola even get old? I mean, it’s already moldy, right?) My first attempt at this was made with ground chicken breast, and though the flavor was great, the texture was off. Next attempt was more succesful with ground turkey. So much better! I also made the cheese chunks a bit larger this time so it didn’t just blend into the meat. With larger pieces you really get the flavor of the cheese in every bite. Unless you search around and eat all your chunks of cheese at the beginning. Which may have happened. Have I told you I have a problem with cheese? It’s really a problem with loving all food, but cheese is hard for me to resist. Also, peanut butter. I can’t stand it when Christian abandons his peanut butter sandwiches. It feels like sacrilege to throw them away. Sorry about that tangent. Back to meatloaf. Try it. Enjoy it. Try it with a different cheese, such as feta, if you aren’t a fan of blue cheese. I will probably try it without the mexican spices next time. Maybe an italian version with italian herbs and chunks of fresh mozzarella or parmesan? Hmm I’m getting hungry. Enjoy this picture of Christian as you peruse the recipe.

 

 

 

 

Jalapeno Gorgonzola Turkey Meatloaf

Yield: 8 servings, around 132 g each (see note below)

Nutrition

Calories: 217

Fat: 11.1 g

Sodium: 212.8 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 4.4 g

Fiber: 0.9 g

Sugar: .4 g

Protein: 27.5 g

I put a small plastic sandwich size baggie on my hand while dicing and seeding my jalapenos. I had some super spicy ones once that burned my hands for a few hours after cutting! It was terrible, so I now recommend gloves or the bag method.

Ingredients! Onion powder not pictured. It doesn’t like the papparazzi. also, I forgot about it during the photo shoot.

Ingredients:

2 lb 93% lean Ground Turkey*

½ of a medium Onion, diced (3.8 oz)

2 medium Jalapenos (2 oz), seeded and diced (or not seeded, whatever your heat level preference)

1 whole Egg

4-6 cloves Garlic, minced

2 oz Gorgonzola or Blue Cheese, crumbled, but not too small

½ cup cooked Quinoa

1 tsp each: Kosher Salt, Pepper (fresh ground preferred), ground Cumin, Onion powder, Garlic powder, Smoked Paprika, Chili powder, ground Coriander, Worcestershire sauce

dash of Cayenne pepper (again, to your preference. I like spice, so I mayyyy have done a large dash)

2 tsp Franks RedHot hot sauce, or hot sauce of your choosing.

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Spray a loaf pan with non stick spray, or coat with ¼- ½ tsp Coconut oil.
• Put the ground turkey in a large mixing bowl and add all the spices, minced garlic, diced onion, diced jalapeno, Quinoa, and Gorgonzola.
• In a small bowl crack egg and whisk together with the Worcestershire and hot sauces.
• Add the egg/sauce mixture to the turkey and slowly incorporate all ingredients. Try not to over mix, as the meatloaf can get very dense and brick like!
• Once all the ingredient are mixed together, and you can no longer see large streaks of spices, put the meatloaf onto your prepared loaf pan. You may need to use a spatula and spread it out a little if it doesn’t by itself.
  

  Into the oven you go!

• Place into preheated oven and bake for a little over an hour, or until internal temperature reaches 155°-160° F.
• Let the meatloaf rest until it reaches the recommended temperature of 165°.
  

  Looks like a brick, tastes like heaven.

• Slice into 8 equal portions and devour. I couldn’t stop taking little pieces from the sides of the pieces as I was portioning it out!
  

  Mmmm.

Side dishes for Meatloaf. Steamed Brussel Sprouts and Roasted Squash(es).

*I did make this the first time with ground chicken breast and it turned out much too dense and solid. I like my meatloaf tender and the fattier turkey was perfect. You could certainly trade out the higher fat meat for lower, just be aware that the texture will change.

Paleo Pumpkin Brownies with Date Paste

Pumpkin Paleo Brownies with Date Paste

I get a recipe and immediately want to change it. With paleo things I like to tweak them to make them more calorie counter friendly. They usually have waay too much oil or nut butter in them for me to eat. I love chocolatey things but was never a big fan of traditional brownies. Probably because all I’d ever had were boxed brownies that were overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. not my favorite. These have made me a brownie believer. They are super moist and intensely chocolatey. Very satisfying even though they aren’t a large portion. Some days you just need a few bites to calm the craving. Some days you need the whole pan 😉

Yield: 16 small squares

 

Nutrition

Calories: 121.5

Fat: 7.5 g

Sodium: 162.3 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 15.6

Fiber: 3 g

Sugar: 11.3 g

Protein: 3.7 g

 

Ingredients

¼ cup Honey (raw or regular, or agave)

¼ cup (2 oz) Date Paste (see overnight oats post for recipe)

¼ cup Water

1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa powder

½ cup Pumpkin Puree

½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce

½ cup Almond butter (or nut butter of your choice, mine was 90 cal/TB)

2 tsp Vanilla extract

½ tsp Kosher Salt

¾ tsp Baking powder

90 g (½ cup) Chocolate Chips (I prefer dark, but milk or semisweet are fine too, milk just aren’t as flavorful)

1 Egg

 

• Preheat oven to 325°
• Grease and 8×8 baking dish with ¼ tsp of coconut oil, or nonstick spray. You can also line the dish with parchment paper if you don’t wish to use oil.
• In a medium/small saucepan heat the honey, date paste and water over low heat, until warm and flowing.
• Add in cocoa powder and stir until combined, be careful not to burn the cocoa powder so keep the heat very low!
• Take the pan off the heat and add in all of the rest of the ingredients. Leave the egg and chocolate chips until last. You don’t want to cook the egg and you don’t want to melt the chips. They are a yummy little pop of chocolate when you bite into the brownie.
• Using a spatula scrape every last drop of yummy brownie batter into your prepared pan. If you like you can sprinkle a little more kosher salt over the top of the brownies, the sweet and salt contrast is really lovely.
• Pop your brownies into the oven and prepare to wait the longest 40-45 minutes of your life.
• Take the brownies out and let them cool for a few minutes. This will help them to finish cooking if they aren’t quite done. I’d rather an underdone brownie than an overdone one though, so I usually can’t resist trying it immediately!
• Slice into 16 equal squares and enjoy!

I usually weigh the entire batch and then divide by 16 for my portion size. Well I used coconut oil in the pan this time instead of parchment and then couldn’t get the brownies out without breaking them into a million pieces. So I didn’t weigh them and don’t know to the gram how large a piece should be. Next batch I’ll make sure and use parchment and weigh them out. Oh well, I think I’ll live without knowing precisely how big my piece of brownie should be!