Classic Pesto

Taken from "It Starts With Food", they found it in "Well Fed; Paleo Recipes for People who Love to Eat".

1/3 cup walnuts or pine nuts
3 medium cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Toast the nuts in a heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring until just golden and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Set aside, then add garlic to the skillet and lightly toast over medium heat, about 7 minutes. Set aside to cool. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree to desired consistency. Allow the flavors to meld for 30 minutes before serving. Store covered in the refrigerator or freeze in ice cube trays for pesto on demand.


**Erica's note** we let the tilapia fish marinate in this for an hour before grilling it.

Pesto Tilapia Fish

Chicken with Almond Coconut Dipping Sauce

Directly from the book Primal Blueprint-Quick and Easy Meals by Mark Sisson:

1.5 pound chicken tenders (or chicken breast cut into strips)

Chicken Seasoning:

3 tablespoons tamari

2 teaspoons coriander

1 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Dipping Sauce:

1/2 cup almond butter 

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup water

1 garlic clove tamari

2 teaspoons ginger, minced

1 teaspoon

3 teaspoons sesame oil

1.5 tablespoons fish sauce 

Turn oven broiler or grill to a high heat.

Season the chicken and broil or grill for 10 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Put all ingredients for dipping sauce into a food processor (can also be whisked together). Process or whisk until smooth.

Serve the dipping sauces with the chicken. Garnish with chopped scallions if desired.

***I used peanut butter instead of almond butter, but then it was not paleo. It was still very yummy. Also, I didn't use fish sauce, I just added a little more salt (that is the typical substitute). The sauce was then very salty. I'd go light with the salt espceially if your PB or Almond butter is salted.

Paleo Meatloaf

Recipe from Everyday Paleo:

Mix together by hand in a large bowl:

2 pounds ground beef

1 cup almond meal

1 red onion diced

2 eggs

1 6 oz  can tomatoe paste

1/2 cup fresh chopped basil diced

3 cloves fresh garlic minced

1/2 Tbs sea salt

1 tsp marjoran

2 tsp black pepper

Bake one hour at 350 and yummy, home-baked, happiness will ensue!

Nutty Blueberry Protein Balls

Recipe taken directly from Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals

4 dates, pits removed
1 C Walnuts
1/2 C macadamia nuts
2 Tbs. coconut oil
1/2 C fresh blueberries
1/2 C unsweetened shredded coconut
Pulverize dates in a food processor until a paste forms, about 40 second (the paste will typically come together in a clump). Add walnuts and macadamia nuts and blend until very finely chopped, about 35 seconds. With the blade still running, drizzle coconut oil and stop as soon as the oil is blended in. Scrape the batter into a bowl and stir in the blueberries and 1/4 cup of the coconut. Form the batter into round balls, then roll in leftover shredded coconut. Refrigerate.

 ET's note**fresh blueberries can get runny, I've found that dried fruit helps it stay together better**

Spiced Nuts

Recipe taken directly from Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals

1 C hazelnuts
1 C walnuts
1 Tbs. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
zest of 1 orange

 Preheat Oven to 375 Place nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. When nuts are done, melt butter in a pan over medium heat. When it begins to brown, add salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest. Add nuts to the pan and mix well. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container up to a week.

Paleo Pizza

Paleo Pizza, from Everyday Paleo's website. I recently bought her recipe book and have LOVED every recipe in it. Here is the recipe for the pizza shown below.

Coconut Curry Soup-Erica's Version

I made this curry the other night and the next day I realized I could put it all in the blender and make it into soup! I liked it even better and I couldn't avoid the broccoli! The only veggies I used were peppers, onions & broccoli. I didn't add the cilantro or cashews. Those would probably be best added after blending, but they aren't needed.
I've heated it up and had it for breakfast the past 2 days. My new smoothie!

Easy Slow Cooker recipe

Take the following ingredients and put them in your slow cooker:

And you get this:

I love Trader Joe's and their simmer sauces

Paleo Breakfast

I've had lots of people ask me what I eat for a Paleo breakfast. This is what I've made most mornings since I started.

1 egg

2 egg whites

green onions

spinach

cilantro

tomato

crushed garlic

sliced avocado

Pumpkin Turkey Chili

The following recipe was copied straight off of Primal Mama Cooks Blog. As soon as the recipe came through on my google reader I KNEW I was going to love it. And I did. More than anything else I've made in my Paleo journey thus far. It's really simple and super delicious!

3lbs. Ground turkey (or grassfed ground beef)

1 onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced (I like red, yellow or orange)

1 14oz can of canned pumpkin (make sure it's just pumpkin)

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 jar chipotle salsa

1 box of Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup*

1 tsp cumin

What you do:

Cook the ground turkey, diced onion and pepper in a large pot until the meat is crumbly and no longer pink. Drain. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer for one hour.

*I couldn't find any tomato soup w/o sugar (at Albertsons) so I made my own. I roasted sliced 8 tomatoes, drizzled olive oil and salt on them, then baked them for 15 min @ 350 for 15 minutes. Then I put them in the blender with 32 oz of chicken broth and blended on low.

Jamaican Pumpkin Soup

1 (15-oz) can pure pumpkin

1 red onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 yams, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 Tbsp honey

4 cups vegetarian broth

2 cups water

Use a 6-qt slow cooker. Put canned pumpkin into stoneware, and add chopped vegetables. Add spices and honey. Pour in vegetable broth and water, stirring well. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Carefully use a handheld blender to soupify about three-quarters of the soup (I liquefy all of it).

*Note: You can add shredded grilled chicken for a light and flavorful lunch

Yield: 6 servings

Source: Make It Fast, Cook It Slow by Stephanie O'Dea-

Modified to be Paleo

Chicken Chili

I combined two recipes for this delicious soup. I cleaned up (and Paleo'd out) our family favorite standby white bean chicken chili. Then I checked Everydaypaleo.com's recipe for chicken chili soup and it's essentially the same thing. But that blog gave me the inspiration to try it, so I wanted to give credit where it's due.

Turkey in Crock Pot

This hardly warrants a post, but for those that doubt how easy it can be to eat Paleo I wanted to show the simplicity. I bought the Roasted Herb Turkey at Costco, (on sale right now!) and frozen vegetables at Trader Joes. Put vegetables in first, then turkey, add 1/4 cup water, cook on high for 6 hours and you have a tender, flavorful turkey. Total prep time: 6 minutes.

The best part is that I've added the turkey to my salad for the past 2 days, so now we've gotten 3 days out of this meal. That's a deal!

Spinach, turkey, dried cranberries, pecans

Baked Cinnamon-Apple Rings

4 Rome baking apples (I used Fuji & it worked fine)

1/2 teaspoon powdered cloves

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup water

Preheat Oven to 400 F. Core the apples and slice into 1/2" rings. Place into a shallow baking dish lightly greased or coated with cooking spray. Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the apples. Bake for 15 minutes, or until tender.

From The Paleo Diet for Athletes, page 255

Slow-Cooked Rosemary Veggies and Meat

3-5 lbs any meat, frozen or thawed, ground or whole

1 bag frozen veggies or chopped up fresh veggies

1 tbsp rosemary

1 cup broth

salt and pepper to taste

Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker, turn on low and leave for 6-8 hours or until ready to eat.

Copied from The Paleo Solution

You can do about 100 variations on this theme, just meat and veggies and a slow cooker, does it get any easier? I used frozen veggies, 3 chicken breasts and fresh rosemary and it tasted wonderful!

Quick Paleo Pancakes

2 eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup nut butter (not peanut butter!-cashew/almond/macadamia nut butters work well)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

coconut oil

Mix all ingredients except the coconut oil in a bowl. Stir well, until you have a uniform batter. Next, use a bit of coconut oil to grease a non-stick skillet. SPread some of the batter to form a pancake, then cook over low/medium heat. Flip after 1 to 2 minutes, being careful not to burn them.

You can top them with chopped apples and cinnamon, heated blueberries, real maple syrup or unsweetened applesauce.

This recipe was copied from The Paleo Solution

Paleo Crock Pot Curry

Onion, chopped

Sweet Potatoes, chopped

Eggplant

Sweet Peppers

Mushrooms

Chicken Breast or Pork Loin

1 can Coconut Milk

1 tsp. Curry

1 tsp. Cumin

Salt & Pepper

----

Cilantro

Lemon

Crushed Cashews

These are my favorite vegetables in a curry, so I added some of each. Make sure the meat doesn't touch the side of the crock pot. When food is done cooking add the juice of 1/2 lemon, then sprinkle cilantro and cashews on right before you serve the dish.

Egg Cakes

6 eggs
2 Roma tomatoes
2 diced green onions
4 slices of cooked bacon
Small bunch of cilantro
Dash S & P, and garlic powder
A few drops of lime juice
Bake at 350 for 15 min.
I just made this up, you can add or take away anything, just a fun variety for eggs.

Slow cooker Carne Asada

Carne Asada seasoned thinly sliced beef sirloin (photo here) from Trader Joes

Sweet Peppers

Onions

Chop vegetables, add the meat, making sure it doesn't touch the sides. Cook 6-8 hours and enjoy!

Roasted and spiced nuts

Cooking spray

1 cup raw, unsalted pecans

1 cup raw, unsalted almonds

1 cup raw, unsalted pistachios (no shells, just meat)

1/2 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp dried rosemary

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup

Use a 6-qt slow cooker. Spray the inside of your stoneware with cooking spray. This is the only grease/butter, which creates a fantastic non-oily nut. Put in your nuts/seeds, and add the spices and the maple syrup. Toss well to coat. Cover and cook on low for 1.5 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so. The nuts will burn if you don't stir them. Spread the nuts out on a layer of foil or wax paper to completely cool, and store in an airtight container.

Yield: 12 servings

Source: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea