Roasted Brussels Sprouts

People often ask me how to cook Brussels Sprouts. It's pretty simple. 

1 Brussels sprout stalk
1 cup shallots, finely chopped
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp coconut oil or ghee
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Remove Brussels Sprouts from stalk and rinse. Cut stems, remove outer leaves and chop in half. Place in baking dish with shallots, garlic, salt,pepper and coconut oil. Roast for about 30 minutes.

Mashed Celery Root with Leeks

Celery root is a great alternative to potatoes. There are 42 calories and 9 grams of carbohydrates in 100g of celery root compared to 77 calories and 17g carbohydrates in 100g of potatoes. I like to use it in stews instead of potatoes and celery stalks.

1-2 Tbsp ghee or coconut oil
1 large celery root
1/2 cup leeks, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 cup broth
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saute pan heat coconut oil or ghee. Peel and dice celery root. add celery root to the pan with a dash of salt and cook until slightly brown, about 15 minutes. Add leeks, mix together and cook for a couple of minutes, then add garlic, salt and pepper. After about a minute, add broth and simmer until celery rood is soft. Transfer to a bowl and mash or puree using a food processor or immersion blender.

Paleo Hush Puppies

This recipe is similar to my  Golden Beet Bread recipe. Golden or yellow beets have a flavor that reminds me of corn, so this is a great gluten free, grain free alternative to traditional hush puppies. These can be baked or fried.

Ingredients:
3 cups chopped Golden Beets
2 Eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
black pepper, to taste
Coconut oil for frying (or if baking, add 1 Tbsp of melted coconut oil to the mix)

Roast beets at 350 degrees until soft for (45-60 minutes). This can be done a head of time.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add beets and puree using an immersion blender. This could also be done with a food processor. After beets are pureed, add almond flour, coconut flour, salt, onion powder and pepper.

For deep frying: Fill deep fryer with coconut oil. Don't heat about 350! Shape batter into balls and place in fryer basket. Fry until golden brown.

For baking: Preheat oven to 350. Shape batter into balls. Line cookie sheet with parchment. Bake for 20-30 minutes. The baked puppies come out a golden yellow and they shrink slightly compared to the fried ones.

Cucumber, Crab and Avocado Salad

Great side dish for sushi or a great lunch or dinner for a hot summer say.

8 oz lump crab
1 avocado, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and jullienned into matchsticks
Juice from 1 lime
1 Tbsp Coconut aminos
2 tsp black sesame seeds
2 tsp white sesame seeds

Combine all ingredients, serve cold

Cauliflower Skordalia (Greek Style Potato Dip)

Skordalia is a Greek potato dip, usually served cold, but you can eat it warm if you prefer. This is a low-carb version.

1 head of cauliflower
2 tsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
Juice from 1 lemon

Steam cauliflower until fork tender. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Garlic can be lightly sauteed in olive oil, or added raw. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil. If you used raw garlic, you might want to prepare this ahead of time to let the garlic mellow.

Pork Fried Cauliflower Rice

 I made this to go with the Garlic-Ginger Shrimp

3 cups shredded cauliflower
1 egg, scrambles, fried and cut into small pieces
2 oz bacon or pork belly, diced
1-2 Tbsp fat of choice 
1/3 cup onions, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp coconut aminos
1/4 tsp Red Boat fish sauce
1/4 tsp Chinese Five Spice
salt to taste.

In a large pan or wok, cook bacon. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and ginger and cok for another 30 seconds. Add fat and cauliflower. When cauliflower starts to slightly brown, add Coconut aminos and Fish Sauce. Add egg, Five Spice and salt. Toss together for about 3 minutes and serve.

Golden Beet Bread, A Grain-free Alternative to Cornbread

The taste of golden beets is strikingly similar to the taste of corn, which is why I love eating them with salt, pepper and lots of butter. The corniness is what inspired me to try to make bread out of them. What makes this recipe even better than cornbread (besides the obvious lack of corn) is that it comes out moist, not dry and crumbly like most cornbread.

3 Large golden beets
1 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup coconut oil
4 eggs, beaten

Peel and chop beets. Steam them for about 20 minutes, or until they're soft and mashable. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put beets in a mixing bowl and mash beets with potato masher. Mix in almond flour, salt, baking soda and coconut oil and mash together. In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Pour beaten eggs into the bowl with the other stuff and beat them all together. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.

Horseradish Mashed Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
2 cloves roasted elephant garlic (or 4-6 cloves normal sized garlic, roasted)
2 Tbsp grated fresh horseradish
4 Tbsp clarified butter or olive oil

Peel and grate horseradish. 

Steam cauliflower until it's soft and mashable. Place cauliflower in a bowl and add butter or olive oil and start mashing. Add the rest of the ingredients and keep mashing until everything is fully combined.

Italian Sausage Stuffed Zucchini

For the sausage:

1 lb ground pork
1/2 Tbsp fennel seeds, toasted
1 tsp hot pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside.

For the zucchini:

6-8 small zucchinis

Cut the tops off the zucchini, then cut them in half, lengthwise, and scoop out seeds. Stuff with sausage. Bake at 350 for 45 mins - 1 hour.

Cole Slaw

In my quest to get Nikos to eat more vegetable, I made cole slaw.

2 tsp salt
6 cups shredded red cabbage
6 cups shredded green cabage
2 carrots, shredded
1/2 cup paleo mayonnaise (or more if you like it extra creamy)
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds

Combine cabbage and salt and mix thoroughly. Drain in a colander for about an hour. Squeeze out the excess water.

Heat seeds in a pan and toast until fragrant.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the vinegar, seeds and mayonnaise. add the cabbage and carrots and mix thoroughly. It's good to prepare it a day in advance because it tastes better on the second day.

Bay Scallops with Squash Linguini

Making linguini out of butternut squash is freakin awesome. I like it better than spaghetti squash. Nikos thought this was one of the best meals I ever made for him. He likes everything I cook for him, or at least he tells me so. 

1 Tbsp ghee or clarified butter (or more if you really like ghee)
1/2 cup chopped fennel bulb
3 cups butternut squash, spiral sliced or julienned
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp anise seeds

1 Tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1 lb Bay Scallops
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 lemon juice

Cut butternut squash into quarters. then cut into chucks that will fit into your spiral slicer.

Heat 1 Tbsp of ghee in a pan. Add fennel and cook for about a minute, then add squash and spices and toss. Saute for about 10 minutes. While that's going on, heat the other Tbsp of ghee and add garlic. after about 30 seconds, add scallops. those will cook fast, so when they're done, take a slotted spoon and remove the scallops. If the squash is cooked, put that on low and throw the scallops in. Squeeze the 1/2 lemon into the empty pan with the scallop liquid. Reduce liquid until it thickens, then add it to the pan with scallops and squash, toss and serve.

Sweet Bacon Crusted Pumpkin Pie

Last year I made a savory bacon crusted pumpkin pie to have as a side dish. This year, thought it would try a dessert. I'm not a big dessert eater and I think paleo dessert is an oxymoron, unless you're eating berries. This is a nice treat for the paleo eater who has been good all year and wants a clean dessert.




Ingredients
1 12 oz pack of bacon
1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/8 cup maple syrup (or more if you like it sweeter)
1/2 Tbsp coconut butter
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

I did something a little different this time, I poked holes in an aluminum pie plate and placed it on top of a stoneware pie plate to let the bacon grease drip off. I lined the pie plate with half the bacon and set it under the broiler for about 10-15 minutes. I drained off the excess grease and lined the same plate with the other half of the bacon. When that was done, I let the bacon cool so I could line the whole plate with all the bacon since the bacon shrinks. In a mixing bowl, combine all the other ingredients and fill bacon crust. Bake at 350 for about an hour let cool and serve.

Broclinguini

What do you do with broccoli stems? I've noticed a lot of supermarkets carry "broccoli slaw" which is basically julienned broccoli stems mixed with carrots. Apparently you can make slaw out of this. That sounds like a bag of gas to me.  I have a Benriner spiral slicer. There are several brands of spiral slicers out there, but I bought mine based on the amazon.com reviews. One reviewer bought 2 different spiral slicers and gave the one she didn't like to her mother-in-law and kept the Benriner. That was enough for me.

This is pretty simple. Cut the crown off of the broccoli and do with them as you please. I blanch mine and keep them in the fridge for a week of awesomeness. Cut the bottom 1/8-1/4 inch off the stem.

With a knife and/or peeler, remove the fibrous outer layer. the bottom of the stem is the most fibrous and as you get closer to the top, it's easier to digest. Spiral slice those stems! I had to cut mine in half to fit them on the spiral slicer. The top half where the crowns come off should be upright or they'll split apart. I used the widest blade attachment because I like linguini rather than spaghetti.

With the finished product, saute as you would zucchini linguini (or "zoodles" as some people call them. Does that make these "broodles") and serve with whatever sauce you like. Or you can eat this raw if you want a big plate o' gas.

Garlic and Herb Sweetpotato Fries

I just got beef and lamb tallow from US Wellness Meats. They have pretty awesome customer service. I asked them to ship my order Wednesday because I was going to be out of town and was returning Thursday evening. I was afraid that my meat would thaw on my door step in the 90 degree AZ heat. They shipped it Wednesday, My meat was still frozen when I got home. The quality is pretty awesome too. Sometimes grassfed meat can sometimes bee pretty tough and gamey. Their meat is tender and flavorful.

I asked Nikos if he wanted his sweetpotatoes fried in beef tallow or lamb tallow. He chose lamb.

2-3 Sweetpotatoes
1/4 cup fat (coconut oil or tallow for high heat cooking).
3 cloves garlic
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt, pepper, thyme, oregano to taste

Cut potatoes into thick fries. Add some salt. Heat pan with fat. I did it in 2 batches so I used half the oil with each batch. cook the potatoes until brown, turning to get all sides. when potatoes are almost done, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds-1 minute. Remove potatoes from pan, and put in serving bowl.  Add salt, pepper, thyme, oregano and squeeze lemon over fries and toss.

Avgolemono (Greek Egg-Lemon Soup)

It really disturbs me that the place mat isn't centered, but this was the only pic I took of the soup.

Nikos asked me to make this for him when he was sick. I didn't actually get around to making it until he was better though. He got the onion soup when he was sick. That kicked some germ ass.

1 2.5-3 lb chicken
2 quarts water
1 head of garlic, peeled and smashed
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
4 eggs separated
4 lemons, juiced
more salt
pepper

Clean chicken and remove bag of inner bits. (Save them for another recipe.) Put chicken in crock pot with 2 quarts of water and cook on high for 2-4 hours. When chicken is cooked, remove it from pot and separate the meat from the bones and skin. Put chicken meat in the fridge for later; put bones and cartilage back in the crock pot. Add vinegar, 1 tsp salt, and garlic and cook for 12 or more hours on low.

When broth is done, strain out bones and garlic. If you're not making the soup right away, refrigerate the broth until you're ready to cook it. If you are making the soup right away,chop up the chicken very fine, almost shredded and put the chicken back in the crock pot and heat on low or warm.

Separate the eggs. in a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed, add in yolks and continue to beat. Slowly add lemon juice. Add lemon-egg mixture to soup and mix it all together. the creamy egg mixture will float on top. add more salt and pepper, serve warm.

Spinach Scallion Pancakes

My friend called me the other day and asked me about coconut milk. He wanted to know if he could have it with cereal. He said he was allergic to cow's milk so he switched to almond milk and now he's allergic to that. Just now I got an email from him saying he's going to have to try rice milk because he's allergic to the coconut milk. I replied, "Maybe you're allergic to cereal".

For those of us who don't eat grains, it's difficult to obtain that full ethnic cuisine experience. I was never really a big bread eater, except when it came to things like naan, injera, pizza and pita bread. So when I made gyros, I needed something flat to eat it with. I couldn't really wrap the gyro in these pancakes, but perhaps with a little work, one day I'll have something reasonable.

3 eggs
2 tbsp coconut flour
1 16oz bag frozen spinach, thawed
2 bunches scallions
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
olive oil

Beat eggs. add all other ingredients and beat together. Heat a pan with olive oil. Scoop out batter to desired size. cook for about 3-5 minutes and flip, cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Savory Bacon Crusted Pumpkin Pie

My friend Nikos can't understand why I stopped drinking beer. Sometimes I can't understand it either. As a child, I would take sips of my father's beer from time to time. I liked the head (snicker). My father never drank crap beer so into my teen years, my palette was already too refined for the standard mass produced crap beers which were SOP at keg parties. I didn't drink much until I was 18 and could go to bars. Er, I mean 21, of course. Living in NYC, my go to was Brooklyn Lager. What awesome flavor. When I met Brooklyn Brewery's Brew Master, Garrett Oliver, at the Great American Beer Festival back in 08, it was like I just met a rock star. Seriously I was star struck. It takes alot to do that to me. I've never gotten weak kneed from meeting a celebrity before, not even Dr. Ruth. (ok, maybe a little. Never mind, Liz did have to help me walk a few steps after our Dr. Ruth encounter.) I quit my career in archaeology to work as a cellarer in a microbrewery, that is how important beer was to me. I would plan vacations around breweries and beer fests. When I was on the road, I would go out of the way to find a local brew pub. Beer was my passion, my love; it was in my blood.

And I gave it up for my health. Perhaps it was foreshadowing when I was working at Dogfish Head Alehouse in Falls Church and there was a guest in the restaurant who was celebrating with friends. He didn't want a appetizer plate. He didn't eat anything the whole time he was there. He had a few glasses of red wine y nada mas. He had Celiac Disease. (he couldn't eat the food because everything on the menu was marinated or battered in it beer.) I had heard of it, I even suspected I had it when did my brief stint as a vegetarian and realized that despite the cool freakin' name, Seitan did not agree with me. The guy told me he used to be really into micro brews and was a real beer connoisseur. It made me sad. I actually thought that I would rather die of some horrible disease than give up beer.

But back to Nikos and his bewilderment over my grain-free diet. He asked me what I was going to do over the holidays (work, of course.) But seriously, turkey and vegetables are all I need. Plus, the drumstick doesn't touch the stuffing and it's the best part of the bird! The moment of inspiration came when Nikos asked about pumpkin pie. I said you can eat the filling with out the crust. He said, "are you going to put a sardine on top?" It was at that moment that I realized that bacon, being pliable and having a propensity to crisp when cooked would make a perfect pie crust. He said he would try it. If it weren't for the 2 glasses of wine I just had, I would bring a slice to him at work. Wouldn't I be everyone's best friend ever if I showed up on my night off with bacon-crusted pumpkin awesomeness. That would be better than the oatmeal cookies I used to bake.

Ingredients:
1 12 oz pack of bacon
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree or 1 can
3 eggs
1/4 cup walnut butter (or any nut butter or cheese if you choose to eat it, or leave it out completely, whatever)
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (optional)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp anise seed

If you're using fresh pumpkin, you want to drain off as much excess liquid as possible. I measure the 2 cups into a colander and then drained the liquid, so it was less than 2 cups drained.

Line pie plate with bacon. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and drain off excess bacon grease. You can dump this is you live in fear of saturated animal fat, or you can save it to season your cast iron.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add all the other ingredients. beat together then put in pie crust. Place extra slabs of bacon in a lattice on top of pumpkin. Bake at 400 for approximately 45 minutes, then broil for 5-10 or until bacon on top is crispy. let cool, drain extra bacon grease and enjoy.

This was the longest blog I will ever write. I blame the wine.

Guacamole

I make guacamole for almost every party I go to. When I lived on the East Coast, got tons of compliments. People would tell me it was the best guac they ever had. Then I moved to Arizona where everyone has at least one Mexican Grandmother. I don't get as much love for it out here. So, I'm letting you guys in on my secret guac recipe because no one makes guacamole like Abuela. It's still pretty damn good.

Ingredients:
3 ripe avocados
Juice from 1 lime
2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed, smashed or minced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup tomato, finely cubed
1 tsp - 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro finely chopped
Salt, pepper, cumin, smoked paprika or chipotle powder (optional) to taste


Cut 2 of the avocados in half. Do the fancy ninja trick to remove the pits and scoop out into a bowl. Add juice from half of the lime, garlic and salt and mash with a potato masher. You could also put the first 4 ingredients in a food processor and then transfer to a bowl.

Next add the onions and jalapenos and the rest of the spices and mix or mash together.

Add the 3rd avocado, employing the same ninja knife trick to remove the pit. Mash slightly. I like to leave some chunks. Then add the tomato and mix.

Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken and Boba Feta (Coconut Crumbles)

My quest began last week to figure out a way to make something that vaguely resembles feta out of coconut. The other day I made coconut milk from scratch and the spent coconut meat that results has a consistency similar to Parmesan cheese. It made me think. What could I add to this to make it more cheese like?

Cheese has very distinct qualities. Texture varies between cheeses, but nothing else in the world has a texture similar to cheese. It's usually salty and has a sharpness or tangy-ness unique to itself. It can also be a little sweet. Coconut is a little sweet and it does have a creamy texture. Since feta is crumbly, pureed coconut that's been drained of it's liquid is a good start. A little liquid would first have to be added. My first attempt used fresh squeezed lemon juice, but the results were too sweet. (Holy Cannoli! I might have the makings of a future faux-mascarpone . . . fauxscarpone. . . mascarfaux?) My second attempt, which came out better, used dry white wine vinegar. It gave it enough of the bitter/sourness without any sweetness.

Because I'm a geek, I'm going to call this Boba Feta:

1/2 cup fresh coconut meat, pureed and drained of milk
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste


Any improvements and suggestions are welcome. You can make it ahead and keep it in the fridge. Plus if you're like me and don't have a food dehydrator, what else can you do with the spent coconut? It doesn't keep long and I'm likely to eat it by the spoonful.

For the chicken:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin
Juice from 1 lemon
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
oregano and pepper to taste.

Marinate the chicken for a couple of hours then grill.

For the salad I use arugula, spinach, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, green or red onions, bell pepper and slivered almonds. Making a salad isn't rocket surgury. If all you have is spinach and cucumbers, there you go. I always make my own salad dressing. It's pretty simple: 1 part oil to 2 parts vinegar or lemon/lime juice. For a Greek salad, olive oil and either lemon juice or white wine vinegar are good.

Salad Dressing
2 tsp Oregano Infused White Balsamic Or juice from 1/4 -1/2 of a lemon or 1 tsp of any white wine vinegar
1 tsp Garlic Infused Olive Oil (I get mine from here but it's not hard to find in some supermarkets or gourmet shops, or simply make your own)
Salt, pepper, oregano to taste, or Penzey's Greek seasoning
Sea Seasoning Kelp Granules (optional, great natural source of iodine)

If you leave off the Chicken, it makes a great side dish and it's Vegan! You could also top it with shrimp, salmon, lamb, etc. Go nuts.

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!