Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Olive Tapenade

I made this as a side for Lamburgers.

Fire roasting tomatoes seems self explanatory. Cut tomatoes in half, place on grill skin side down. For this recipe, I would normally use Roma tomatoes. This time I used heirloom because that's what I had. I don't drain the seeds before roasting. That viscous liquid that the seeds are surrounded by hold alot of the nutrients. But if you do want to drain the seeds, you can ferment them and plant them in your garden. I might do that with some of these organic heirlooms tomatoes I got the other day.

I love olives. They have such an umami quality, makes me want to say, "Oooh, mommy!" Tapenade is a great way to get that flavor. I do not use anchovies in my recipe so it's vegan.

Tapenade:
1/4 cup green olives
1/4 cup black olives
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp capers
Tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper

Put ingredients in mini-processor and pulse until finely chopped. You can make the tapenade ahead and refrigerate. It will mellow the garlic if you do.

Once tomatoes are roasted (30 mins, mas o menos) top with tapenade and enjoy!

Garlic-Ginger Marinade, Dressing, Dipping Sauce for Seafood

I haphazardly plated this salad for a dramatic effect. Ok, really I was too lazy and too hungry to painstakingly arrange it for the photo.

This recipe was inspired, or should I say borrowed, from my friend Jamie. She likes to marinate tuna steaks in lemon and lime juice with fresh garlic, soy sauce and ginger powder. The first time I tried this I used fresh ginger and garlic powder. Tambien. The remainder of the marinade she uses for dipping.

This recipe works well with any kind of seafood. I used Mahi Mahi for this recipe. This time, I used both fresh ginger and fresh garlic. I use a microplane to grate the ginger root. You only need a little so the rest put in the fridge or freezer and save for something else. When I say something else, I mean the salad dressing recipe that follows.

1 lb Mahi Mahi
Juice of 1 lemon (or 1/2 a lemon and 1/2 a lime)
1/2 tsp fresh ginger
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced

Marinate Mahi in lemon juice and evenly spread the garlic and ginger evenly over fish. Grill.

Top a salad with it. I'm not going to tell you what to put on a salad. You're an adult, you can decide for yourself. But I will give you a recipe for salad dressing using fresh ginger. I make 1 serving at a time because I'm neurotic, but you might want to make a whole batch just so you have something to do with all the fresh ginger you have left over so it doesn't go bad.

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil, avocado oil, macadamia nut oil or sesame oil. See, you have options.
1/4 cup coconut aminos (or soy sauce for the non paleos)
1 tbsp fresh ginger (I have no idea what the conversion would be if you used powder instead)
4 cloves (or more) garlic, pressed or minced
Salt, pepper

Makes about a cup. Must be shaken before every use.  You can get a little crazy and add some wasabi powder, lemon grass, turmeric, coriander, or whatever you like. Hmm, maybe tonight will be a coriander night.

Creamy Spinach Omelet with Fennel

If that isn't food porn, I don't know what is.

I ate fennel for the first time about a month ago and fell in love. It has a very mild licorice flavor. Very mild. Don't think black Twizzlers or Good n Plenty. It's not nearly that strong. Don't even think Sambuca or Ouzo. Fennel Licorice and Anise have similar flavors, but the fennel bulb itself does not have the intensity.

I've eaten spinach in some form almost every day for the past 10 years. I've grown weary of eating it at times, looking at it, trying not to think about it as I scarf it down. I've discovered if I mix it with Tahini or Almond Butter it's exponentially more palatable. I think it's because it requires some fat to help with the absorption of calcium. I do believe there is a strong mind-gut connection. Also, Tahini, Almond Butter, Sunflower Butter, etc. make a flavorful alternative to creamed spinach that can be used as a side dish or snack (or Vegan main course). One day I'll post a Vegan friendly recipe for Creamed Spinach.

Ingredients:

2 large eggs, scrambled
1/3 cup frozen spinach, thawed or fresh spinach steamed or wilted
1 tsp tahini (or any nut butter you prefer)
1/8 cup grilled onions
5 grilled cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped grilled fennel
salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, anise seed to taste (or whatever you prefer)
1/2 tsp olive oil or walnut oil (do not heat walnut oil)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (I used Espresso flavored)

I grilled the veggies the other night and put them in separate containers in the fridge to add to whatever. Combine spinach, tahini and seasoning in a bowl, mix in other veggies. In an oiled pan, cook scrambled eggs until almost solid, slightly runny. Add veggie/tahini mix. Fold omelet and cook until finished. Plate and top with oil and vinegar (optional). If you're making more than one omelet, you can mix all the veggies together and scoop them evenly into the scrambled eggs as they cook. If you prefer a 3 egg omelet, you might want to add more veggies as well.

Elk Burgers with Homemade Mustard

Topped with grilled onions and fresh avocado.

Alas, I could not come up with a cuddly Disney Elk character name.

I've never eaten elk before so I have no idea what to do with it. It's very lean, so it's a good idea to add fat to it before cooking. Some recipes I found suggested mixing in a little ground beef, others suggested wrapping it in bacon, some recipes add eggs. I decided to go with cooking oil. I chose macadamia nut because I bought a bottle last week and haven't really done much with it yet. Here's what Mark's Daily Apple has to say about macadamia nut oil.

1 lbs ground elk
1/2 tbsp macadamia nut oil (or whatever fat you prefer)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic
Salt, pepper, smoked paprika, crushed brown mustard seeds, cayenne to taste

Mix in a bowl and set aside.

Mustard:
2 tbsp Ground yellow mustard
2 tbsp brown mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp vinegar (I used Honey Ginger White Balsamic) Apple cider or white wine vinegar are also good
1 tbsp water (or more)
salt, pepper
1/8 tsp horseradish powder (optional)

Soak whole mustard seeds in vinegar for 2 hours or more (the longer you soak, the more mellow the flavor. You can soak them over night). Blend in mini processor. There's going to be extra, but you can keep it in the fridge for awhile. The vinegar and salt should preserve it.

The horseradish gives it a kick that might be a little over powering. You might even want to double the recipe but keep the horseradish the same or omit it completely.

Bunless burgers don't have to be boring. Even when I ate bread, I like so many toppings on my burger that it would slip out of the bun and I would have to eat it with a knife and fork.

Grilled Nectarine Salsa

I topped this lovely salad with salmon and topped the lovely salmon with salsa.

This is going to sound crazy:  I can't eat raw apples. When I do, my mouth starts to itch. I have this problem with peaches, nectarines, plums, almonds, hazelnuts, eggplant, pears, cherries (to a lesser extent) and who knows what else. Here comes the crazy part, I can eat all of those things cooked, just not raw. Apple sauce, peach cobbler, roasted almonds, don't effect me at all. With apples, I have the worst reaction. I can't even chop raw apples because it makes my hands red and itchy.

I have a condition called Oral Allergy Syndrome. It's not uncommon, but people who suffer from it get insane looks when they talk about it, so they don't often talk about it. I've met 5 other people with the same problem. They've all been accused of being crazy. We aren't all allergic to the same fruits and vegetables. I know one man who can't eat lettuce. LETTUCE! The most nutritionally void green vegetable known to man. Can you imagine being that guy, "No thanks, I'm allergic to salad."

Needless to say, I will never become a raw foodist.

We're coming to that time of the year again. The time of year when the orchards are bountiful and their fruit is cheap. But in Arizona, it's still to hot to be doing any sort of crazy baking activities, especially when you have an electric stove and the heat lingers. My electric bill is high enough. So I find ways to take advantage of cheap produce while not agitating my auto-immune system nor raising my electric bills.

3 Nectarines (you can use peaches, but I didn't because they're fuzzy - no I don't have weird food texture hang-ups)
2 hatch chilies (also in season and cheap!)
Juice from1 lime
1/2 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes
1/2 red onion
Cumin, garlic powder, chipotle powder, ginger, salt, pepper to taste

Grill nectarines, chilies, onions. Put the tomatoes on skewers and grill those too. (I smoked the tomatoes with cherry wood chips.) When they're done cooking, chop them all up and mix with lime juice.

Bambiballs with Zucchini Noodles and Vegan Pesto

I hit the game meat jackpot at Sprouts. They had venison, elk, antelope and wild boar! Not being a hunter, game meat is an exotic treat. This recipe can be done with beef or bison if you can't get your hands on venison.

Zucchini Noodles are my newest favorite. For some reason, if I take a vegetable I'm ambivalent to and put it through a spiral slicer, it is magically transformed into something awesome. I had my smoker going so of course, grape tomatoes ended up on there. I also through some fennel on the grill and roasted some red peppers.

I do a raw vegan pesto. I have a couple of vegan friends and one was a raw foodist for a while, so I like to make recipes I can share with them whenever possible - which isn't often. I don't think veganism is diametrically opposed to paleo foodism. I once read a New York Times article on people living the paleo lifestyle and they all seemed to snub vegans. I don't think that's fair. Even though our approach is different, our goals for better health are the same and both diets require great discipline, self-control and sacrifice. Plus, you can get lots of great vegetable recipes from vegans.

For the pesto:
Fresh Basil (I used about 50 grams because that's all I had)
2 oz raw pine nuts
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Combine in food processor.

For the meatballs:
1 lb ground venison
1/2 cup eggwhites (or a couple of whole eggs)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix in a bowl ( I used my hands), make into little balls. I lined them up on aluminum foil and smoked them at about 250 degrees. You can grill or bake.

For the Zucchini Noodles:

5 small zucchinis
1 tsp olive oil
salt

Use spiral slicer or julienne slicer to make zucchini into pasta-like strands. Set in a colander and toss with salt for about an hour to drain the excess water. Saute in olive oil (or coconut oil) on a low flame. I used garlic flavored olive oil just because. I also tried to drain off the excess water that formed in the pan while cooking.It took about 5-10 minutes to cook the zucchini.

I mixed it up with spaghetti squash, smoked tomatoes, grilled fennel and roasted red peppers. This meal seems to have alot of steps, but it's really simple. You can prepare the zucchini first so it's draining, then do the meatballs and while those are cooking make the pesto and then cook the zucchini.

Walnut Crusted Catfish

I have thing for nut crusted seafood. The nuts add a nice texture. I usually do catfish in pecans because it seems like the southern thing to do . . . but I'm from the Northeast and I'm out of pecans.

I'm also out of cayenne. I'm not sure how I let that happen. I'll use chipotle powder instead.

2 oz walnuts
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp chipotle or cayenne
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp oregano

1.5 lbs catfish

Combine nuts, garlic and spices in a food processor and blend until coarse. Spread evenly on catfish and grill or bake for 20 minutes or so.