Super Porktastic Meatloaf

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Katherine

This is another recipe from the NomNomPaleo ipad app ! Awesome. Like usual, I kind of improvised the recipe, but you can see my trusty ipad in the photos to prove that I actually kind of read the recipe this time. You can see the full recipe on nomnompaleo.com too!

Bacon topped meatloaf. Pork on pork action with a side of spinach. Yum. Yes, I burnt the bacon because I got distracted. Whoopsie.

Super Porktastic Meatloaf from Nomnompaleo.com – Serves 4-6

1 pound frozen chopped spinach
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or coconut oil)
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion (from 1/2 medium onion)
1/2 pound Cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 cup coconut cream or coconut milk
1/2 cup small-dice celery (from about 2 medium stalks)
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 pound ground pork (the original recipe calls for 1 ¼ pounds of pork, veal, or beef but I only had 1 pound of ground pork defrosted)
¼ cup coconut flour
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3-5 bacon slices
Tomato sauce, warmed, for serving (optional)

Chop your celery, shrooms and onion. Don’t get your iPad dirty.

Frozen spinach is your friend. One of the store-brands (Compliments) packages it in these nuggets rather than a brick. It is very handy to just use half a package instead of the whole thing.

Frying the chopped shrooms and onions

Coconut flour, nutmeg, spinach, pork

Added in the eggs and the blend of coconut milk, celery, that you mixed with your immersion blender

I baked it in mini loaf pans. With bacon on top. Mmm bacon.

And when I broiled the bacon I got distracted by a phone call. ARGH. So it burnt a bit.

I would venture a guess that this would freeze well uncooked and you could just pop it in the oven once thawed.

Italian Sausage Stew

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Katherine

I love sausage. A lot. Italian, bratwurst, Polish, chorizo, garlic, fresh, cured, pepperoni, pepperettes… links, patties blablabla. I loooove sausage. Now, get your minds out of the gutter. I’m talking about the delicious, flavorful meat! My professed and unabashed love for sausage has been the butt of many jokes and many awkward moments.

Looking in my fridge the other day I had half a pound of ground beef, and half a pound of ground pork. I needed a recipe to use it up. Because I’m obsessed with Well Fed, I flipped through it in hopes of inspiration. Bingo. Italian Sausage Seasoning. Well Fed has this uncanny knack for making the simplest ingredients (lonely abandoned ground meat) into a flavour party. Seriously, what are you waiting for? Go buy it or at least read the 30 page free sampler.

Using these delicious sausage flavours, I created a thick stew, almost like a chili. Now, given that we got a dump of snow last night (ugh), it feels like this is an appropriate dish for today! Warm, spicy and stick to your ribs goodness.

Italian Sausage Seasoning from Well Fed

4 teaspoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons coarse (granulated) garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed (listed as optional, but in my humble opinion this ingredient is crucial in an Italian sausage! )

Mix these ingredients together and add a few spoons to your meat. I doubled the recipe and it filled a mason jar so I could use it again. Delish. You’ll want to mix it up well, of course.

Italian Sausage Stew

1/2 lb of ground beef
1/2lb of ground pork (you could use all beef or all pork if you wanted)
1/2 a medium onion, chopped
1 c of frozen chopped spinach or kale
one can of diced tomatoes (the large-ish ones)
one small can of tomato paste
vegetable broth, as needed

Add a few big spoons of the seasoning to your pan with the meat. Cook over medium heat until browned.

Add the tomatoes, paste, your frozen spinach (I used kale) and a bit of vegetable broth as needed to get your desired consistency. Simmer until reduced slightly and thickened. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese. [I assume] this freezes really well. I ate this with a spoon, but you could also add some plain tomato sauce and use it as a sauce to top some zucchini noodles, butternut squash, or any other type of pasta.

Gluten Free Jamaican… tarts?

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Katherine

I saw this recipe for gluten-free jamaican patties on pinterest, and after reading through decided that all the ingredients sounded good enough to me. I became obsessed with making them. I thought about them constantly for two days until I went and picked up a scotch bonnet pepper and cream cheese so that I could make them.

I won’t write out all the ingredients and recipe, because you can find them on I Breathe… I’m hungry… and I actually did follow the recipe, but with one pretty significant change. That dough was a b@#h! I could not roll it out without it crumbling apart! It was pretty disastrous, actually. I was about to throw it out and just eat the yummy filling when I thought about cramming them into muffin tins to make Jamaican-patty inspired muffin tart things. Ahhh, success.

They aren’t incredibly pretty, but they sure did taste good. Here’s how the process looked.

Spices!

Scotch Bonnet Pepper. Yes, I am wearing rubber gloves, and you should too. If you don’t have them, go out and buy them before you dare cut into that pepper. A Scotch Bonnet is HOT. To quote my good friend Wikipedia, “Most Scotch Bonnets have a heat rating of 100,000–350,000 Scoville Units. For comparison, most jalapeño peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000 on the Scoville scale.” If you get that heat in your hands or eyes it will hurt. Ask my mom about the time I cut a habanero pepper without gloves and then touched my face. She walked into me smearing sour cream all over my face to try to neutralize the burn. True story.

Pureeing the onion, pepper and garlic with some water

Adding the mixture to the meat

Spices added!

Making that “dough”. Ugh.

My improvisation

Ready for the oven. You aren’t cooking anything here, so really it’s just to heat it up and make the dough crispy.

I don’t think I will ever make these again, but if anyone does and gets them to look like an actual Jamaican patty, do let me know. The filling was delicious, however. It might be really delicious inside a curry flavoured Pure wrap .

Update: These froze pretty well. They were a bit crumbly, and I ate them with a fork, but no softer/crumbly than they were the first time around. I froze them in packages of two, took it out of the freezer the night before and thawed in my lunch bag overnight, microwaved one minute.

Carrot Ginger Soup

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Katherine

Have you ever made a blended soup? No? Why not? So easy. One of my favourite ways to get vegetables into me, freezer friendly, portable and delicious! I tend to just make up the recipe as I go, just as I did today.

Carrot Ginger Soup. Makes one large-ish pot. How many bowls? Depends on how big your bowls are. Ha!

3lb bag of carrots
a large onion
a large chunk of ginger
a big spoon of ground coriander
8c (or so) of broth – chicken or vegetable; homemade or from a box – doesn’t really matter.
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Peel your carrots, ginger and onion.

Toss onion and ginger into the food processor to chop.

Put onion and ginger mixture in a pan with olive oil over medium heat to soften.

Grate your carrot with the food processor

Add the carrots and your broth to the pot. Simmer for 30-40 minutes or until it’s all soft

Puree with an immersion blender. (or you could dump it all into the food processor or a real blender, but why?). Add a bit of water or broth to thin the consistency, if required.

And eat. You can top with chopped cilantro, a drizzle of sour cream, some salt and pepper. This soup has a real zing to it because of the enormous amount of ginger. It’s simple and delicious flavours at their best. Good food does not need to be complicated and difficult. I froze most of this soup for busy weeknight dinners once my next semester begins (I work full time and go to grad school full time….)

I also packaged a few servings of soup into mason jars for lunches to take to work. Mason jars make awesome packed lunch containers. Take off the lid, drape a paper towel or napkin over it to prevent splatter, and microwave. Glass won’t leach crap into your food, nor will it break down from the heat.

Gyros Meatballs and Tzatziki sauce

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Katherine

I love Greek food. How could you not? So full of freshness and flavours. Feta cheese, yogurt, tomato, cucumber, dill, garlic.. Oh baby. Sure, a paleo purist would balk at the mention of yogurt and feta, so good thing I’m not one of them! My mom and I mourned the loss of this wonderful Greek place near the airport here that we would always go to when I picked her up for visits. They had the most delicious gyros. I love gyros. And Shawarma too for that matter. Every time I see that delightful meat spinning around on a spit I exclaim that I really want a giant meat spit for my kitchen. Alas, they are probably expensive, impractical and not to mention dangerous with a wee one around. I did build a custom coffee bar into my home, but a meat roasting station might be a bit excessive. Not to mention not so great for resale, no?

Inspired by ground lamb on markdown sale at the grocery store tonight ($10/lb regular price, and even tonight I paid $8 OMG!) and from the delicious Deconstructed Gyros Salad from The Clothes Make the Girl (do we see a theme here? I may possibly have a foodie crush…), I set out to make some gyros flavours in my own kitchen.

Gyros Meatballs: Makes approximately 4 dozen

1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 lb ground lamb
1 Tbsp dried mint leaves
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 Tbsp coarse (granulated) garlic powder
1 tsp tablespoon salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 large egg
1 Tbsp coconut flour (could probably omit…)

Gather your spices. It seems like a lot, but once you stock your spice cupboard you’ll find so much use for it. Nothing here is overly exotic and should be found at your local grocery store

Add your lamb and beef to a big bowl. Crack your egg over it, toss in your coconut flour and spices.

And mix. Mix mix mix. Use your hands. Pound the crap out of it. Do not be afraid of the slimyness that is raw meat. You will wash your hands later! (sidenote, HOW do food bloggers take photos? I had to pause so many times to wash my hands so I could grab my camera, and I even recruited my husband to take a few of the shots. He thought I was nuts, bien sur).

Use a spoon (or a handy dandy scoop if you have one!) to portion out the meat. Roll gently with your hands to create a ball.

Lay out all your meatballs on a tray. I had initially planned to bake them, but as I was impatiently waiting the oven to heat up I turned on the cast iron pan. Put it on high to heat, but you’ll gradually turn down the heat as it warms up. You’ll want to cook these on medium-ish heat. Turns out, this was a perfect way to cook them and get those nice caramelish crispy bits all over, like a real gyros!

I had quite the little assembly line going to get these babies in and out of the pan. Wear an apron. Not only are they super cute and very underappreciated, they will save your hideously overpriced but oh so cute Lululemon tank top that you had to have clothes from getting splattered with grease. The meatballs will take about 8-10 minutes to cook. Use your trusty thermometer to test them out if you aren’t sure if they are done. Or sacrifice one and cut it open and eat it to find out!

I also made some tzatziki sauce to go on top. This was simple. Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, granulated garlic, and chopped dill. That’s it, that’s all.

Put your cooked meatballs on a slice of lettuce with tzatziki, tomato, and thinly sliced red onion. Or if you’re the gluten-eating type, these would be delicious on a warmed pita. These are delicious hot or cold. I froze most of them for weeknight meals, but there are some packed with a salad for my lunch tomorrow. Can’t wait!

Spinach and Sausage Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Katherine

I first came across the concept of stuffing a mushroom with sausage at Nomnompaleo.com. Never read it? Go now and come back in five minutes. Great recipes, writing and amazing photography. I’m a big fan!

Due to my aforementioned inability to follow a recipe, I inevitably heavily modified the recipe. The first time I made it I followed it pretty closely but didn’t get around to the tomato sauce. I’ve made it 3-4 times since I’ve discovered the recipe with various modifications. Tonight, I really had to improvise as I was in a hurry and didn’t have all the ingredients (shame!). These reheat well and will be tomorrow’s lunch!

Spinach and Sausage Stuffed Mushroom Caps. Makes 5 servings

Ingredients

5 portobello mushroom caps
3 large italian sausages (I used hot), removed from casing
1T coconut flour
3 cups baby spinach
1 egg
a handful of sundried tomatoes
Oil of your choice.

Preheat the oven to 375. Once it is warm – or heck even while it is preheating – brush your shrooms with oil and toss them in to cook a wee bit. I had just cooked bacon on a cookie sheet so I just smeared them with bacon grease. Mmmm. You can scrape out the gills and stem, but I didn’t bother this time. Take them out when your filling is ready.

Chop up your spinach. I cut it with scissors because I’m rebellious like that. Normally I would use the prechopped spinach, well drained, but I had fresh so I used it. I will never use it again because it lost so much water!

Add a handful of sundried tomatoes. For some reason I added these today. They called to me from their little mason jar in the pantry. And yes, I literally meant a handful.

Add in your egg, and your spoonful of coconut flour. I took this photo to prove that I do actually own measuring spoons, but really it was the first one in the drawer when I reached over, not an attempt to be precise with my measurements. You could also add in some more seasonings – garlic, peppers, onion or whatever. I opted not to because… I forgot. And I had hot sausage and sundried tomato to balance out the flavours.

Mix your filling and spread it on the mushroom caps. Yeah, these mushroom caps were mutant. Enormous. Normally the sausage mounds up much better, but I had to spread it thinner this time. You could also top with cheese if that floats your boat.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the sausage is cooked. I’m not good with precise times, people. You could also use a meat thermometer to be sure. And Voila! Stuffed mushroom caps. Serve immediately or chill and eat later. Add marinara if you like. Enjoy!