Paleo Turkey Chili

For Christmas, my amazing sister bought me “OMG that’s Paleo?” by Juli Bauer, otherwise known as PaleOMG.  She’s an amazing blogger and also an amazingly creative chef.  I’ve made so many of her recipes and tweaked them to be my own.  For this recipe, I took her Smokey Bacon Chili recipe and changed a couple things.  The original recipe is also delicious, feel free to make either of them (or both), just make it, you won’t regret it!

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground turkey
• about 6 slices of thick cut bacon, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• sea salt & pepper to taste
• (optional) 1/2 sweet potato per person

 

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, cook your cubed bacon
2. While the bacon is cooking down, chop your veggies
3. When the bacon starts to crisp, add your veggies to the pot
4. Let cook for about 5 minutes and add the ground turkey and spices, mix it up good
5. Allow the turkey to cook for about 15 minutes and add the tomatoes and tomato sauce
6. Mix well and let it all together while cooking on low stirring occasionally
7. I eat this over 1/2 of a sweet potato (which i poke holes in and microwave to cook) or have had it with poached eggs for breakfast.  It’s so good you’ll want to eat it with every meal!
8. ENJOY!!!

Spicy Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Many of you know of my borderline addiction to soup and making soup.  I’ve been wanting to open a soup restaurant just don’t have the financial backing to do it…yet!  Last night was the perfect night to make soup here in New England, with a Nor’easter having just dumped a big pile of snow on us and temperatures in the negative numbers, what else are you supposed to have for dinner?!?  I posted a picture of the soup on Facebook so decided to put the “recipe” on here.  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cartons of chicken broth (no sugar added)
• 2 tablespoons Asian garlic & chili sauce
• juice of 2 limes
• 3 medium size carrots, sliced
• 3 celery sticks, sliced
• 1 package baby bella mushrooms, diced
• 2 leeks, cut in half and sliced
• 2 cups baby spinach, chopped
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Start out by pouring half a carton of chicken broth into a soup pot along with 2 tablespoons garlic & chili sauce and the juice of 2 limes
2. Cut your chicken breasts into chunks and add to the broth and cover
3. While your chicken is cooking, cut all vegetables and put to the side
4. Allow the chick to cook for approximately 10-15 minutes until completely cooked, then remove chicken from broth and set aside
5. Once the chicken is removed, add the remaining chicken broth, all vegetables and any spices to the broth
6. When the chicken is cool enough to touch, shred it with your hands and add it back to the soup
7. Allow to cook on a low to medium heat until the carrots and celery are tender.
8. ENJOY!!!

Spicy Tuna & Zucchini Cakes

This recipe came to me while on the elliptical at the gym this week. I had a piece of tuna marinating in the fridge overnight and had no clue what I was going to have with it when all of a sudden, this popped into my head! They came out delicious and are pretty easy and quick to make. Definitely one of my favorite things I’ve made, I hope you enjoy it! Following this recipe will make about 6 small to medium sized pancakes, you can enjoy them as a meal or a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 large zucchini
• 1 tuna steak
• Juice from 2 limes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons garlic chili sauce (found in the Asian aisle at the grocery store)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup (ish) chopped scallions

Instructions:

1. Start out by combining the lime juice, garlic cloves and the garlic chili sauce ( I use the Magic Bullet blender to mix). Marinate the tuna steak in the mixture overnight
2. When you’re ready to cook, put coconut or olive oil in a skillet and heat to a medium temperature
3. Dice the raw tuna and put it in a large mixing bowl, add a little of the marinade to keep the flavor
4. Shred the zucchini and add it along with the chopped scallions and egg to the tuna
5. Mix everything together with your hands to thoroughly combine everything
6. Make mixture into small pancakes and put in the skillet. Cook until golden brown then flip (about 5-7 minutes per side)
7. ENJOY!!!

Sweet Potato Hash

This has quickly become a crowd favorite!  I’ve made it multiple times and each time, everyone LOVES it!!  It started out one Sunday morning, I didn’t want to make boring eggs and fruit or bacon, saw a sweet potato in my vegetable basket and the rest is history!  This can be served for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.  I made a big pan of it (minus the eggs and goat cheese) for a pot luck at work this week, everyone loved it!

Ingredients:

• 2 medium size sweet potatoes
• 1/2 – whole red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions
• 4-6 links spicy turkey sausage (remove casing)
• goat cheese crumbles
• eggs (1-2 per person)
• enough coconut oil (or olive oil) to coat the pan)

Instructions:

• Heat a large skillet to a medium heat with coconut oil in the pan
• Dice sweet potatoes and red onion and add to skillet (this is the longest part)
• In a separate frying pan, get your turkey sausage cooking.  Once it starts to cook, chop up the links so it’s more of a ground sausage consistency
• Make sure to mix the sweet potato/onion mixture frequently so it doesn’t stick but it will probably need to cook about 30 minutes before the potatoes become fork tender
• Once the sausage is cooked, add it to the sweet potato/onion mixture and cook until potatoes start to caramelize
• While everything is cooking, chop up some scallions (amount depending on you, I like a lot)
• Get another frying pan out (I use the one the sausage was cooked in) and fry your eggs.  I like mine to have a runny yoke, feel free to cook them however you like
• When the potatoes are nice and lightly browned, put a scoop in a bowl, top with a little scallion, goat cheese then your egg on top.  I then put a little more scallion and goat cheese on top of the egg
• ENJOY!

Paleo Apple Banana Pancakes with Apple Cider Syrup

You may have noticed I don’t post a whole lot of breakfast recipes.  Truth is, I’m not a huge breakfast person.  Ok, that’s not entirely true, I’m not a morning person (gasp! I know that’s shocking)!  However, some of us in my family have a monthly pancake breakfast in honor of a family friend who passed away very young while serving our country.  We have been doing the breakfast each month for about 7 years now and never repeat a flavor.  While this is one of my favorite days each month, since going paleo this year, it’s been difficult to resist these amazing pancakes (although I have definitely resisted). Last month, I decided to make some paleo pancakes and bring them with me.  After about 4 failed attempts, cursing and throwing batter away, they came out awesome, I hope you enjoy them!

Ingredients

Pancakes:

• 1 medium banana
• 1 medium apple of choice (I prefer Gala)
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup cinnamon
• Coconut oil

Apple Cider Syrup:
Equal parts fresh maple syrup and apple cider

Instructions:

• Heat skillet to medium heat and melt coconut oil
• In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients for pancakes to make a batter
• Place about a tablespoon of batter in the skillet for each pancake
• Let cook for about 5 minutes then carefully flip and allow to cook for another 5 minutes until both sides are golden brown
• In a saucepan combine maple syrup and apple cider
• Cook on a low heat until warm stirring frequently
• ENJOY!

Paleo Lemon Pepper Chicken & Brussel Sprouts

I know I have another recipe for Lemon Brussel Sprouts and I still stand by that being an awesome recipe.  However, I like to tweak my recipes and usually the more times I make it, the better it gets.  This is one of those examples, from the Lemon Brussel Sprouts came Lemon Pepper Chicken & Brussel Sprouts.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

 

Ingredients:

• Package stir fry chicken strips
• Juice from 2 lemons
• 1/4 red onion diced
• 4-6 strips turkey bacon diced
• Teaspoon coconut oil
• Cracked black pepper
• Garlic powder to taste

Instructions:

• Start by cutting brussel sprouts in half and removing the gross stems and boil them until fork tender
• While brussel sprouts are boiling, heat a large skillet and melt coconut oil in the pan
• Once skillet is heated to a medium heat, start cooking diced turkey bacon and diced onion with crushed black pepper and garlic powder
• In a separate pan, cook chicken strips with the juice of one lemon and plenty of cracked black pepper
• Once chicken is cooked, add it to the bacon and onion mixture (including the juice)
• Cover ingredients with cracked black pepper
• Let cook for about 7-10 minutes mixing ingredients together
• Drain brussel sprouts and add to skillet
• Add juice from the other lemon and a little more black pepper
• Mix everything together and cook until brussel sprouts start to caramelize
• ENJOY!

Spicy Veggie & Turkey Burger Soup

I make this soup when I have extra veggies in the house that I don’t want to throw away.  I’ll list what I used for this specific batch of soup (because it came out freakin amazing!) but feel free to use whatever  veggies you like!

Ingredients:

• Package of Ground Turkey Burger
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1 cup baby carrot cut in about 4 pieces
• Bundle of asparagus
• 1 leek
• 1 cup brussel sprouts cut in half
• 2 cartons of organic chicken broth
• 1 jar of hot salsa (make sure to check ingredients, no added salt or sugar)

Instructions:

• This recipe is super easy!
• In a soup pot, combine chicken broth, salsa and veggies (except onion) and let simmer on low
• In a skillet, cook onion and turkey burger together until turkey burger starts to brown
• Add burger to your soup and let simmer for about 30-45 minutes until veggies are cooked thoroughly
• ENJOY!

Guacamole Stuffed Turkey Burgers

Here’s a super easy recipe that combines protein and a good fat with a ton of flavor.  It’s a tasty alternative to normal turkey burgers which I love, but can be a little bland at times.

Ingredients:

• My Easy Paleo Guacamole
• Ground turkey

Instructions:

• First step is to make my Easy Paleo Guacamole, one avocado is enough to cook for two people.
• Make patties from ground turkey burger (about 1.5 oz each)
• Place about 1 tablespoon of guacamole in the center of one patty
• Put another patty on top and seal around the edges
• Heat a skillet to a medium heat and cook until browned (about 5-7 minutes per side)
• ENJOY!!!

Lime Marinated Flank Steak

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE steak.  They also know that I never cook steak.  Honestly, I have no clue how to cook it without it being super well done but I like mine medium…nice and pink.  So, about a month ago I went to a local Mexican restaurant and had “Lime Marinated Flank Steak,”  it was cooked a little too much for my liking but damn was it good!  I thought to myself, I can totally make this at home!  So I did just that and guess what, mine was better!

Ingredients:

• 1 flank steak (size depends on how many you’re cooking for, mine was about 1.25lbs)
• juice from 4 limes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• handful of fresh cilantro
• couple tablespoons olive oil
• black pepper to taste

Instructions:

From what I’ve read and seen on Food Network, flank steaks tend to be a tough cut of meat.  You need to “pound the hell out of it” and HAVE to marinade it.

• Place your flank steak on the counter between 2 pieces of parchment paper
• Using a meat tenderizer tool, start pounding out your steak.  Make sure to pound both sides
• In a blender or using a hand mixer (I use a Magic Bullet Blender) blend the juice of 4 limes, 4 cloves garlic, cilantro, olive oil and black pepper.
• Taste it, if you like more of a certain ingredient, add it.
• Take a plastic storage container coat the bottom with your marinade
• Put the flank steak on top and stab a few holes in it
• Pour the rest of the marinade on top
• The longer you can let it sit in the fridge marinating, the better.  I did mine for about a day.
• When you’re ready to cook (grill it if you like, I don’t have a grill), place steak in a hot skillet
• Cook about 5-7 minutes each side depending on how you like your steak
• Now for the most important step, once the steak is done cooking, thinly slice it against the grain
• ENJOY!

Coconut Crusted Chicken

Coconut Crusted Chicken

Ingredients:

• Small boneless skinless chicken breasts (keep portion size smaller, if they’re too big cut the piece in half, make extra and eat it tomorrow)
• Organic unsweetened coconut flakes
• Sea Salt
• Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Egg (I used 1 for 3 pieces of chicken)
• Coconut Oil

Instructions:

• Mix coconut flakes, sea salt, black pepper and garlic powder together in a bowl (I use a good amount of garlic powder because I love it, if you aren’t a fan feel free to not use it.  If you prefer a different spice, throw a little of that in the mixture)
• In a separate bowl, crack open the eggs and use a whisk or fork to blend it.
• Heat a skillet on a medium heat and coat the pan with coconut oil (maybe a tablespoon or so depending again on the size of the pan and how much chicken you’re cooking)
• Dip the chicken in the egg bowl then in the coconut flake mixture.
• Once the pan is heated, put the chicken in the pan and let ‘em cook until both sides are golden brown.
• I’m terrible at telling how long to cook chicken because I’m so afraid of under-cooking it so I usually cut into the middle to make sure there’s no pink.