Sweet potato, garlic and herb bread (dairy, soy free)

I found a recipe for potato bread, Italian style with garlic and herbs. This sat in my bookmarks for months till I had the time to try it out. I didn't really stick to the recipe but it became a huge hit. So  I started thinking what can I do to make it better. First I have kilos of homegrown sweet potatoes, so I decided to use them instead of the regular ones. For the herbs I use what I have at hand at the moment.

And this bread turned out really beautifully.

I used one orange sweet potato and a white one. Taste wise I don't think there would be any difference either way, but the orange one gives it a beautiful color.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potato
1 cup integral wheat flour
1 cup brown wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 yeast (live one) + 1cup oat milk, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon brown flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dry oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil for brushing on top

Instructions:
1. Cook the sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes, drain the water and mash them.
2. Put the yeast in a cup of warm water or oat milk. Add one teaspoon of sugar and one of flour and wait until it rises.
3. In a bowl where you mashed the potatoes (they don't have to be completely cooled off) add the flour, salt, olive oil, yeast and the herbs and knead the dough for 3-5 minutes.
4. Leave the dough to rise for about 30 minutes then put in an greased pan.
5. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 150-200 degrees Centigrade.

One final note, this bread goes whit everything salty. It is a bit to strong for jam or  chocolate spreads. What I would strongly recommend is making my homemade pate. 

Paleo pate II (gluten, dairy, milk free and adjusted for consuments with gastric issues)

I already published one recipe for pate on this blog some time back but I wanted to publish this one as a spin to the prior one.

As I was having trouble with gastritis and GERD recently I had to omit the mayonnaise I used to use for the period of time when my stomach has this inflammation in the acute and painful form.
Also the use of very fatty goose liver was out of the question. Coconut oil is my favorite thing in the world but it can irritate the irritated stomach lining even more, so it too had to go.

Sometimes I use to add onions and garlic to the "old pate" when blending, this I kept as it adds a lot of flavor, but again to adjust it to my current needs  I just pop it in the hot water with the rest of the ingredients and let them simmer as well. This does take a lot of the nutrients from them, but it also takes the irritants.

The final product

As a replacement for the coconut oil I add extra virgin olive oil. The quality of this oil will affect the taste a lot. I love the "grassy" tasting, not to bitter olive oil.
The making of the mayo itself is very simple. You cook the meat and vegetables and put them with the rest of the ingredients into a blender and blend.

INGREDIENTS:

• chicken liver (from one chicken is enough)
• meat from one half of chicken breast
• two larger carrots
• one large onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp tahini paste (this is optional, but I recommend adding it for the creamy texture)
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric (optional, I add it for the health benefits and the color)

PREPARATION:

• boil the meat, liver, vegetables for about 20 minutes.
• put in a food processor and add oil, blend for 1 minute, then add the rest of the ingredients and blend thoroughly for 3 minutes.
• store in a refrigerator for up to 4 days.

This pate is different by taste from the first pate recipe on the blog so you can use it when you need a change or as I do, when you need something lighter for your stomach.

Chewy almond butter cups (gluten free, dairy free)

This is a recipe for something fast and furious. It doesn't take long to make and can help with any kind of sweet tooth or crave out there.
Also it's dairy free, and if you use paleo chocolate it can be sugar free. I use regular cooking chocolate with high percent of cocoa (54%).

 Our 4 year old loves this and as he is allergic to soy and dairy this is a perfect treat for him. It's homemade jet totally has a store bought candy feel to it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup almonds (optional: roasted)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 100 gr chocolate (paleo if you can get it, or at least one with high percent of cocoa)

PREPARATION:

•  In a food processor grind the almonds and then add the coconut oil and blend until you get almond butter (liquid as in the picture-at room temperature).
• Melt chocolate in double broiler, or microwave oven.
• In paper cup put chocolate to cover bottom, then put it in a freezer for about 10 minutes
• Next add in every cup about one tbsp of almond butter and cover with the remaining melted chocolate.
• Put in fridge for about 1-2 hours.

Enjoy!

Olive oil mayo and horseradish sauce

I promised to post this a while ago. This is the basis for many sauces and can immediately improve any meal.

The recipe is very simple. But it does require some kind of a blender.

INGREDIENTS:

1 egg
1 lemon
1 tsp ground yellow mustard
1/3 tsp salt
1 cup olive oil

PREPARATION:

Put all of the ingredients except the olive oil in a blender. Add in one third of the olive oil and blend shortly. Then add in the rest of the olive oil as slowly as you can while blending. An emulsion will start to form and thicken. When you added all of the olive oil the mayo is finished. Put it in a fridge and use it up in maximum 5 days.

When using home grown eggs you don't have to pasteurize them, but when using store bought you do. Instructions on how to pasteurize eggs without coagulation can be found online.

Also I want to add that the oil you use doesn't have to be olive oil, especially if you are not accustomed to it. But up until now olive oil is the only oil I can get that is cold pressed and not processed.

Paleo Lemon Curd Tart (sugar, dairy and gluten free)

When you buy new silicone molds you naturally have to try them out. So I found dozens of recipes for tarts I liked and then chose out of them 4 for lemon tarts. Took out of them parts I liked and paleolized them to get this beautifully light and delicious dessert.

For the crust:

• 1 cup almonds
• ½ cup coconut flour/flakes
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup coconut oil (cold)
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon ground vanilla

Roast almonds quickly in a skillet (optional) and grind them in a food processor. Coconut flakes can be ground in a coffee grinder and added to the mixture and in also the salt, soda and vanilla and mix. Then add in the egg, honey and the oil, mix shortly. A ball of dough will form. Press it with fingers into one large pie mold or six small tart ones like I did and stab the bottom with a fork. Bake it at 170 C for about 20 minutes (the middle has to be baked without the edges being burned).

For the lemon curd:

• 5 eggs
• Juice from (1 lemon + 1 orange)
• 5 tbsp honey
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp gelatin

Combine eggs,  juice, honey and coconut milk. Gently heat stirring constantly. Stir until thick (3-5 minutes). Soak gelatin in 1 tsp cold water. Stir into curd mix. Spread the curd mix into the baked crust and let cool. Sprinkle with cinnamon (optional).

Eingemachtes soup with paleo dumplings (the best comfort food ever)

This is a perfect recipe for winter time. Especially this winter that has been overwhelming us with viral diseases, especially colds and the flu. 

When down with a cold there is no better then chicken soup and this is just it, the best chicken soup you'll ever taste.

I make it with what ever parts of a chicken I have around, be it chicken liver, heart, the so called lesser parts, or the "better" parts. But I do try and put enough meat so that it can stand as a selfsufficient meal. Also for the vegetables it's the more the merrier rule. So what ever you have around, fresh or frozen goes.

INGREDIENTS:

250 gr of chicken meat
1 tomato
1 bell pepper
100 gr of peas
1 small cauliflower
1 small broccoli
2 garlic cloves
1 medium onion
1/2 celery root
2 carrots
1 small spoon of lard
thyme
salt
+ anything that comes to mind, vegetable vise
OPTIONAL:
1 egg
2 spoons of tapioca flour
olive oil


INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Chop the onion into medium pieces, and  fry it on the lard until translucent
2. Add in the chicken meat and fry for a minute or two.
3. Add in all of the vegetables chopped into medium pieces and put the lid on the pot. After about 5 minutes, when all of the vegetables has started to loose it's juices add in about 1dcl of chicken stock or water and simmer.
4. This has to gently for about 45 minutes and then you can add enough stock to make it into as much soup as you want (it will be thick enough with out any flour) add in the salt to taste and some thyme.
5. OPTIONAL: make dumplings from one egg, 2 spoons of tapioca flour, little salt and little thyme and spoon them in. They will be cooked very quickly, as soon as they come out to the surface they are done.
6. OPTIONAL: Slice garlic into thin slices and roast it on some olive oil and sprinkle it on the soup before serving.


This will definitely make you feel you lot better when you need any kind of comfort food. :)

Paleo Pate (dairy, gluten, soy and sugar free)

So, PATE! I have never been a huge lover of store bought pate. It just doesn't sit with me, the mush of things I can not identify and the probability of them being toxic.

As our son is allergic to dairy and soy proteins he could have never tried it any way because every commercially available pate that I checked contained either of this two proteins, as well as sugar and additives. And the meat and/or the liver that they put in it I are neither meat nor liver.

Industrial pate also contains a lot of fat, so OK, we have nothing against animal fat WHEN it is home raised. Industrial animals unfortunately are fed with a lot of things one would never think of putting in their mouth in normal conditions, and all that poison is best gathered in the fat parts of the animal. Why? because it is most soluble in the fat. There is not a one plus why one would eat this industrial kind of a leftover mush.

I never ventured into making it at home before because I believed it to be complicated...and expensive. Well, it is neither!

Before the recipe itself  I wanted to add few more comment. As I have been away from the blog for some time we added some new changes to our cooking. We stopped using traditional salt altogether and are now using only Himalayan salt. This is something I wanted to do for a while now, but dreaded the added expense. But there is none. It is a bit more expensive, but the expense of using Himalayan comes down to 21 kn per month....(the price of 1/2kg), really not much if you include all of the added benefits (Himalayan salt).


INGREDIENTS

• 30 dkg  chicken breast
• 20 dkg goose liver (or any kind of poultry liver)
• 2 medium carrots (cut into chunks)
• 2 Tbsp tahini paste (this is optional; I used Alnatura, which is made from organic sesame without anything else added; If you own a high speed blender make it yourself) 
• 2 Tbsp home made olive oil mayonnaise (this too is optional; will give a recipe in one of the following blog posts)
• Himalayan salt
• Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

• In a salted, boiling water place the meat, the liver and the carrots, and cook for about 30 minutes.
• Place the cooked and drained meat, liver and carrots in a blender and blend until smooth.
• Add in the tahini paste, salt and pepper to taste and blend.
• Add in the mayo (it has to be room temperature or the mayo will separate) and blend.

Paleo potato gnocchi

I absolutely love gnocchi. They can be served with any kind of sauce and are delicious and filling. The problem with the traditional recipe is the flour.

In this recipe I used plain potatoes (sweet potato or squash can be used too and the gnocchi come out equally delicious) because we grow our own organic potatoes.
Also potatoes are very starchy so the amount of added starch can be very small. For the added starch I used tapioca flour because it is gluten free and cheap.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 large potatoes
• 1/2 cup tapioca powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 egg
• lard
• salt
• pepper
• turmeric

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Peel and cook the potatoes in salt water.
• Add in the potatoes salt, turmeric, 1 spoon of lard and blend them (I use handheld blender).
• Add in the egg, baking powder and tapioca and mix well.
• Line a baking pan with baking paper.
• I used a plastic bag with a small hole to make small piles on the baking paper.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• After baking a used a souce I had left from grilling meat in a skillet and just tossed the gnocchi in. But one can use any kind of sauce (simple one spoon lard/olive oil with garlic will do) to coat the gnocchi.

Enjoy!!!

Paleo Kale and Squash quiche

Kale is in season and in the last year I have grown to love it. I'm not going to write about the nutrients it carries you can Google it or take the following link I chose from Googling it.

Paleo quiches can either have a crust that is a nut, tapioca and/or coconut flour mixture OR you can simply use squash as the carrier of the quiche and call it a "crust". For this quiche I chose the latter but decided to add some tapioca flour just to make it a little bit less mushy.

The recipe is pretty simple and one can use whatever squash you have at hand. I used spaghetti squash.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 6 eggs
• 1 large kale
• 1 large onion
• 1/2 can coconut milk (or any other non dairy milk)
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• lard
• salt
• pepper
• nutmeg

INSTRUCTIONS:

•  Cut one large squash into 4 pieces and bake at 180C for about 1/2 hour.
•  Let cool for a bit and remove the meat and mash it with a fork.
•  Add in the squash salt to taste and the tapioca flour, mix well and gently press into a baking pan.
•  Cut the kale in half and wash thoroughly then cut into thin stripes.
•  In a skillet on a spoon of lard add the sliced onions and after 5 minutes ad the kale.
•  Fry the kale for 20 minutes and then add it to the baking pan.
•  Whisk 6 eggs together with seasoning you like and pour over the kale.
•  Bake the quiche for 40-50 minutes at 170-180 C.

Let the quiche cool for a bit and enjoy! 

Paleo moussaka with squash and coconut sauce (dairy, gluten, sugar free)

Making moussaka without sour cream is quite challenging because the point of this casserole dish is to get a very creamy, milky taste to the potatoes. I used to make this for my dairy allergic child with bechamel sauce.  This sauce worked fine because at the time we still ate gluten. But when that too went out the window I had to try other things to make this work.
What I came up with was the mighty squash. We have a lot of  Hokkaido squash this fall in our garden and they are extra starchy and when baked and blended they can give a nice creamy texture. So to make a sauce that would bake well I mixed this squash puree with some coconut milk and garlic (of course) and the sauce was great.

You can bake a larger amount of squash, puree it and store it in the fridge for multiple use in a course of a couple of days. It will keep.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 kg of ground meat (pork/chicken/etc.)
• 1/2 small Hokkaido squash (baked and pureed)
• 1 medium size onion
• 5-6 large potatoes
• 10 dkg sliced bacon
• 1 dcl tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves
• salt
• pepper
• oregano, basil leaves
• lard

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Heat one spoon of lard in a skillet and add in the sliced onions and meat. Gently fry for 15 mintues, sttiring.
• Wash thoroughly whole potatoes, with skin and place in water and boil until cooked.
• In a small skillet put in the tomato paste, add 1 dcl of water, squashed basil and oregano leaves and squashed garlic. Salt and pepper to taste and let simmer for 5 minutes.
• In a small skillet put 1 dcl of coconut milk and add in the squash puree. Mix well and add in the garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
• Stack the moussaka in the order: potato slices in the first layer, then the meat and cover with half of tomato sauce. Then again the potato, meat, tomato and finish with potatos.
• Cover the casserole with squash sauce and put some bacon on top.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180 C.

As one end remark this can be made (and was made) with sweet potatoes also. In that case you don't need to precook the sweet potatoes just slice and stack.

Paleo cheesecake (dairy, soy, gluten free)

First I have to emphasize that making a non dairy cheesecake is somewhat extravagant and not at all vitally important but it is DELICIOUS! 

It's nice to know you can make this faux cheesecake for a child that never tasted cheesecake because of dairy allergy and everybody is always talking about it. As a matter of fact I don't think I know anybody that doesn't love cheesecake. There are a lot of recipes on the web for making this dessert and the base is always ground cashews. This recipe is a variation of cheesecake because of a wonderful gooey toffee that comes on top and I decided to use and remodel this recipe just because of this toffee layer.

Hope you'll try it. It is definitely not a light cake as you end up using half a jar of honey and a small jar of coconut oil with one can of coconut milk but the ingredients are healthy and tasty at the same time.


INGREDIENTS:Crust:

• 1 cup almonds
• 3 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1/8 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp salt

Cheesecake Layer:

• 2 cups cashews (boiled for 20 minutes)
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 2 medium ripe bananas
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ¼ cup honey

Toffee:

• 1 can  coconut milk
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• ½ tsp vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS:
 
Crust:

•  Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a pan with parchment paper.
•  Combine all crust ingredients together in medium sized bowl and mix until well combined. Press into   the bottom of the pan.
•  Bake for 15 minutes. 
•  Remove and cool.

Banana Cheesecake layer:

• Add all of the ingredients into a blender, mix until very smooth (about 5 minutes).
• Pour the cheesecake layer on top of the crust and place in the freezer.

Toffee:

• Place all of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Allow to boil lightly for about 60-70 minutes, stirr occasionally.
• As the mixture starts to darken, stir frequently to prevent burning. 
• Once the mixture thickens and has reached an amber color, remove from heat and pour on top of the banana cheesecake layer. Return the pan to the freezer and allow to set for about 1 hour.

Pizza (gluten and dairy free)

I am a huge pizza lover but I always hated how I felt after eating it. Usually it included a heavy stomach and a day of abdominal pain due to intestinal distress. The reason for this would definitely be wheat from the flour and the commercial sour cream.
When we went paleo last year the program that we were on (Whole 30) didn't allow for the period of 30 days paleo desserts and/or paleo junk food including pizza. The reason is that you have to loosen the psychological grip  that this kind of food holds on you. But when unconditioned you can make occasional paleo "junk food", meaning paleo pizza, paleo sandwiches, paleo burgers, etc.
We didn't venture into such foods for a long time because a paleo pizza crust from cauliflower or like didn't seem to me worth the bother.
But when I found the whole manioca/tapioca/coconut flour doughs then a paleo pizza that would be as the real deal became a real possibility.
This pizza doesn't have paleo in the title because I can't guarantee that the sausage we bought had no additives in it, the chances are it had at least some.
It is made form our local meat producer that owns a small farm but still it is not without additives.
 

Pizza before baking with toppings on

The biggest difference in making the paleo pizza is that the dough is baked empty and you add the toppings when the dough is almost baked fully. So the toppings can't be raw.

This was by the way the best tasting pizza I ever had so even if you are not paleo, or gluten/dairy free you should try making it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 3 tbsp ground flax seed (I bought flax in dm and ground it in a coffee grinder)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup lard
• app 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• 20 dkg sausage
• 20 dkg salami (we bought the one with least additives and from a local farmer)
• 2 medium sized pickles
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• fresh basil and oregano leaves (can be dry also)
• pepper
• salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

• In a bowl combine tapioca, coconut and flax seed flour with baking powder and salt. Stir.
• Add in one mashed garlic clove and warm water and mix well.
• Add in the egg and the lard and knead.
• Line a baking sheet with baking paper and spread the dough on it (layer about 1/3 inch thin).
• Bake until it becomes crispy (about 15-20 minutes).
• Slice the onion and glaze it in a pan for about 5 minutes.
• In a 1/2 cup water dissolve the tomato paste and let boil, then add in olive oil, one mashed garlic clove, basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Let boil for 1-2 minutes.
• Place the onions and all of the desired toppings on the dough and pour your tomato sauce over everything and bake for 10 more minutes.

Enjoy!

Paleo flatbread-great for paleo sandwiches and paleo pizza (dairy, soy, grain and sugar free)

We have never been big bread eaters so not eating grain is not something that came hard on us. But having some bread here and now is nice.

Paleo breads are usually made from nut flours or coconut flour and have good portion of eggs in them so they are very moist (zuchinni-bread-coconut-flour). These are nice but discovering paleo flatbread was close to a miracle. This is something you can eat with lunch or make a sandwich with. And everybody that are on paleo know how hard it is to make a paleo sandwich. Usually you use some kind of mushrooms or paleo pancakes. But having flat bread makes it easier, faster and more like ordinary sandwich. This also makes a way for a nice paleo pizza because this flatbread is great as pizza dough.

The one I make is garlic bread because we adore garlic. Recipes on the web for flatbread usually ask for a pizza stone, but as we don't have one we don't use one. I really consider this unnecessary because simple baking pan placed at the bottom of the stove works well enough.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup tapioca powder

• 1/2 cup coconut flour

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp fresh oregano leaves

• 3 fresh basil leaves
  

• 1/2 cup olive oil
  

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 whole eggs

• 3 garlic cloves

  INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. 

• Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

• Add warmed water, olive oil (1/4 cup) and slightly whisked eggs. 

• Crush the herbs well and add them to the mixture.

• Mix thoroughly, adding additional coconut flour as needed. It should end up being a very sticky dough that can be flattened with a spatula.

• Let sit a few minutes to let coconut flour absorb water.

• Pour onto parchment paper and spread with spatula to 1/4 inch thick.

• Place parchment paper on a baking tray and bake until golden.

• Mix olive oil (1/4 cup) with mashed garlic.

• Remove and add coat with olive oil and mashed garlic mixture.

Stuffed bell peppers (gluten, dairy, soy, sugar free; paleo)

Bell peppers stuffed with minced meat stuffing make a complete meal by itself but the meal can be well enhanced with potato/sweet potato mash.

In the original classic version of the stuffed bell peppers the minced meat is mixed with rice to make it more compact and add the carbohydrates. I also add carbohydrates but the good ones that our body can use, shredded sweet potato.

I have to point out that I use home grown bell peppers and minced pork meat from our home grown pigs. Growing your own vegetables as well as breeding your own animals or buying both of these locally from small farms is one of the most important things you can do to enhance the health of your family as well as the health of the society.

As you can notice from the picture fat is welcome in our family meals and the fat in this meal is from olive oil and the very meat that has been cooking and is really indispensable.

INGREDIENTS: 

• 12 medium to large bell peppers
• 1/2 kg minced pork
• 1 small shredded sweet potato
• 1 egg
• 2 dcl tomato puree
• 2 dcl chicken stock or water
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• turmeric

INSTRUCTIONS:

• In a large bowl combine together minced meat with the shredded sweet potato, one egg, salt, pepper and turmeric. Knead this well.
• Wash the bell peppers and remove the seeds. 
• In a large skillet: put the olive oil and add the minced garlic let simmer for couple of minutes and then add the tomato puree, salt and stock/water.
• Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture and gently put into the sauce in the skillet.
• Let simmer for 40-45 minutes.

Extra moist and fudgy sweet potato brownie

So the season has taken off. The season of the sweet potato. We LOVE it. And this year we decided to grow it ourselves. And this was made with the very first sweet potato we dug up. The recipe gave something more than just a moist brownie. The result was an extremely moist brownie that tastes like slightly baked chocolate pudding. I made it yesterday and it's gone.

I again used chocolate and I'm sticking to the one with the three ingredients (Alnatura). When I make it again I will try to use cocoa and honey plus dates mixture to replace the chocolate and make it totally paleo without any added sugar.

This time I peeled the sweet potato, diced it and cooked it in water shortly because it was a very large potato, but next time I plan to roast it whole to amplify it's sweetness even more.


INGREDIENTS:

• 150 gr dark chocolate (Alnatura)
• 1 large sweet potato (cca 1kg)
•  1/4 cup honey
•  3 eggs
•  1 tbsp vanilla
•  1/4 cup coconut flour
•  1 tbsp coconut oil
•  1 tsp baking powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil. I use a steel or glass bowl over a pot of boiling water.
• Cook the sweet potatoes (peeled, diced) until soft and then puree them in a blender until smooth.
• Add in the chocolate, honey, eggs, coconut flour and baking powder and blend until the mixture is smooth.
• Bake in a dish covered with baking paper for 50-60 minutes at 180-220 C.
• Let cool a bit, take out of the dish, remove the baking paper, slice and ENJOY!

About the meat

The paleo lifestyle is wrongly considered to be all meat and noting else. This is not true. It is a lifestyle that includes a lot of protein and fat as a main energy sources, meaning that you want your body to burn fat and forget about all the sugar you used to give it. So in our daily food routine we consume a lot of protein. For lunch and dinner there is some kind of meat on our plate. The reason I haven't shared any recipes jet is because I like to keep it simple.

A good piece of meat does not require a lot of tampering with. We have our home grown pigs and chickens and river fish is easy to buy at the local store because it is locally available in Zagorje.

So concerning the meat on our plate:

• Steak -  I don't like adding a lot of additional flavors. Either I just season it with salt or let it marinade a bit in a mixture of olive oil, salt, garlic and balsamic vinegar. And roast it on a skillet.
• Roast - So it's the same thing just in a big chunk. I season it with salt and put in the oven.
• Chicken -  the possibilities are endless with good home grown chicken but what is fastest and easiest is roasting it in the oven. Again just salt and 2 big onions chopped into chunks and some water. If grilling in a skillet I use a marinade of salt, balsamic vinegar and honey and this too works quite well.
• Ground meat - this will come up in the recipes time to time because I usually combine it with vegetables in some kind of hash.
• Fish - simply roast it in the oven. Season it with salt, garlic and drizzle with olive oil.

I will be putting some of the recipes on the blog, but with meat SIMPLER is better.

What I would strongly recommend is NOT using any condiments with taste enhancers and everything else is prone to experimenting. If you don't like the taste of meat you can season it well with pepper and red paprika maybe.

Either way you make it try to buy local grown and avoid the supermarkets. The meat there is not really meat at all and in this area we live in local grown is neither hard to find neither expensive.

One last remark about the fat in and around the meat, if the meat is from a known source be sure to eat it and not waste it. This kind of fat is good for you and will definitely NOT be bad for your cholesterol.
If you have store bought meat be sure to remove all the fat from it and not consume it, because in the fat all the pesticides, toxins and hormones they fed are dissolved.

Home made hazelnut-chocolate spread aka Nutella

For a long time I was trying to find something nutella like but without dairy for my son who has a cow milk/soy allergy. And as much as we tried there wasn't anything like that on the market until couple of weeks ago when I did find one in DM from Alnatura. and it is delicious, very dark chocolate, not to many side-ingredients. But still not Nutella like because no hazelnuts.

So when I stumbled upon a paleolized Nutella recipe I had to try it. The recipe is very simple and I adapted it to a point. I made it once so far and seeing/keeping/tasting this I decided to make some additional changes next time I make it, and there will definitely be a next time because it is GREAT!

But I didn't want to wait to share this recipe because I know the demand for something Nutella like spread jet healthier is HUGE.

Let talk about the chocolate you decide to use. This is up to you. As far as I know there aren't any paleo chocolate brands available in Croatia jet (without regular cane sugar). But this is not such a big deal. You can just use cooking chocolate that has a minimum of ingredients. The one from Alnatura is nice, it contains only 3 ingredients, unrefined  cane sugar, cocoa and cocoa butter.

The original recipe asked for almond milk to be used, this I replaced with water. Commercially available almond milk is everything but almonds as are other pseudo milks also. There are better ones, like some rice milks and oat ones, that do not contain any added sugar so you are welcome to use one of those, just read the label and if it is simple: rice/oat+salt+water+not hydrogenated oil it's OK.

What will I be changing next time and you can change right away if you want is that I will replace the coconut oil+water with coconut milk. This will make it more creamier even straight from the fridge. How much, this I will add as a comment to this post when I try it out.

This is spreadable on room temperature but hard when in a fridge, just like real Nutella.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup hazelnuts (soaked for minimum of 4 hours but recommended overnight)
• 1 cup chopped chocolate
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/3 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Melt chocolate.
• In a blender add the soaked hazelnuts, melted chocolate and oil and blend for about 5 minutes.
• Add in the water and blend more. Blend until the consistency is smooth.
• ENJOY!

Zucchini spaghetti in a wok

This is an easy side dish to make. It's healthy, quick and goes best with plain pork steak. This version is made with zucchini, onions and carrots but you can add other vegetables you have available like bell peppers, tomatoes (having in mind that they will add plenty of sourness, so not too much), kale, etc.

It can be made in ANY kind of pan but I would generally recommended owning at least one wok pan because they pay off. Any kind of vegetables or/and meat can be fried in them faster. The taste is different because it is preparation of food somewhere between frying and cooking and you can shift this balance with adding more oil to frying, or more water to cooking. The price is important to a point because of durability. The more expensive ones will have a better none stick surface that will be harder to wear and tear. I own one that was fairly expensive and a cheaper one (so far both are holding up in spite of daily use).



INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large zucchini ( shredded like spaghetti with common kitchen shredder)
• 3 large carrots (shredded with common kitchen shredder)
• 1 large onion (cut into stripes)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp turmeric

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Shred zucchini and carrots into stripes.
• Put some salt on the zucchini and let sit for about 20 minutes so that some of the excess water will  drain off.
• Heat a wok pan and add in the olive oil and onions.
• Add in the carrots, stir for 10 minutes then add in the zucchini and let stir covered for 15 minutes.
• Add turmeric, salt to taste and pepper and let stir for additional 10 minutes.

A twist of kale on a plain old mashed potato

The potato!
Hm...potatoes were out of paleo and the Whole 30 program until recently when they decided to give them a pass. I included them in our diet even before that for one reason. I have trouble with weight gain and when on a healthy diet and lifestyle I will loose weight and that is something I don't like or need. So on a paleo lifestyle I need to find good carbohydrates to add to my diet. And there are plenty out there, like sweet potatoes. But they are not available all year round and our home grown plain old potato is. The pros of the potato for me are greater than the cons (potato plus/minus sides). In my searching to make this ingredient more exiting and tasty for my family I stumbled upon an old irish recipe for potato and kale mash and adapted it to the ingredients I had. The outcome was so good that even my husband who is not a mashed potato fan loves it!

What you maybe have noticed so far is that I use a lot of turmeric. I just about put it into everything I make. It's because of it's numerous benefits. And the thing to remember is that black pepper and fat (preferably olive oil) augment the absorption or curcumin in turmeric so try to combine when ever possible.

Also a note on the mashed potatoes. I discovered that when you use a handheld blender and add to the cooked potatoes spoon of lard you get a totally different consistency that the usual mashed potatoes. They turn into a very tasteful but more sticky blend.

INGREDIENTS:

•  1 kg potatoes (any kind as long as you grow it or buy it locally!)
•  1 kale (medium size)
•  1 big onion
•  2 large tbsp lard
•  juice from 1 lemon
•  1 dcl of chicken/vegetable stock or 2 dcl of water
•  3 garlic cloves
•  nutmeg
•  salt
•  black pepper
•  turmeric

 PREPARATION:

• Peel potatoes, dice in small cubes and cook in salted water till they turn soft.
• Heat 2 tbsp of lard in a skillet and and chopped onion. Let stir for couple of minutes and add kale. Kale should be thoroughly washed and diced (steams removed).
• Let fry for 10 minutes then add in the lemon juice and 1 dcl stock/water and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Salt to taste add in the mashed garlic cook for few more minutes and remove from heat.
• In the cooked potatoes add 1 large tbsp of lard, salt, nutmeg, pepper and turmeric and blend it (I use handheld blender).
• When serving scoop some potatoes and use kale as topping.

Coconut peach/plum pie

Deserts are not really allowed on the 30 days of  the Whole 30 program. The reason for that is that we all have a very emotional and psychological bond to sugar and sweet which needs to be broken in order to restore our healthy eating habits. So during this time you really do break free. One of the most surprising benefits for me was on my teeth. When you give them a break from sugar they give you a break from cavities and the like. So if you stay on a paleo based lifestyle afterwords there are a lot of paleo desserts out there. And there is no reason you shouldn't indulge from while to while but you have to keep in mind that even if there are no bad ingredients in these desserts they too can again enslave you to the sweet demon.

This is a pie I made in two variations and both were delicious. First time I made it was with plums and second with peaches (had them in the fridge).

You can eat it warm or cold. It will keep for days in the fridge too.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 kg of plums or peaches
• 1cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1 package of baking powder (1 tsp)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 5 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1/3 cup coconut oil

 PREPARATION:

• Preheat oven to 180 C.
• In a pie plate stack plums/peaches in a single layer.
• Sift together the coconut flour, salt, baking powder, and spices.
• Beat the eggs and whisk into the flour mixture until completely combined. Add vanilla, the honey, and the melted coconut oil until smooth.
• Pour batter evenly over plums/peaches
• Bake for 40 minutes (use the toothpick test).