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.

Pastelon (Plantain Lasagna)

This is a weekend recipe. It seriously took me 3 hours to make, I thought it would only take 2. Frying the plantains was the most time consuming because I used a deep fryer. If you're feeling ambitious, you might want to prepare it on the weekend and then stick it in the fridge to have during the week because it tastes awesome the next day (and it's easier to cut when it's cool).

Coconut oil
6 ripe plantains
2 lbs ground beef or pork
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
black pepper
red pepper (optional)
2 bell peppers (any color, I used red), chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 eggs

Cut plantains in half and then slice them lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. If deep frying, fry them in a single layer (or else they'll stick) until golden brown for about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown and set aside on paper towels. If pan frying, fry them in enough coconut oil to cover them and fry them until golden brown on each side. Set aside on paper towel.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large cast iron pan, brown meat. When meat starts to brown, add onions and peppers and saute until soft. Add seasoning and combine thoroughly.

Line a large baking dish with one layer of fried plantains. Add the meat, using a slotted spoon so the meat isn't too greasy. Press meat down so that it's level, then top with the rest of the plantains. Beat eggs, and pour over the top evenly. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Makes 6 servings.

Smoked Orange Chicken

1 1/2 lbs bone in, skin on chicken drumsticks or thighs
1 small - medium orange juiced and zested (I used a blood orange)
1 tsp Penzey's BBQ 3000
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder

Place chicken in a zip lock bag. Zest and juice orange into the bag. Add seasoning and marinate for 12-24 hours. Place chicken in smoker and reserve the marinade in a bowl for sopping. I used mesquite, but any kind of wood would work well with this. Smoke chicken at 150-180 degrees F for about 4 hours. Periodically, brush chicken with reserved marinade.

When ready to eat, grill or bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes
.

Green Curry Shrimp

2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 lbs Shrimp
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup coconut milk
3 Tbsp Thai green curry paste

Heat oil in pan. Add onion. When onion is translucent, add shrimp. When shrimp starts to get pink and curly, then add ginger and garlic. after about 2 minutes, add coconut milk and curry paste. Cook for a couple more minutes and serve with cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles.

Spinach Omelet with Pesto

3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup frozen spinach or 1/4 cup cooked/wilted
1/4 cup zucchini linguini
1 Tbsp Cilantro Pablano Pesto (or any pesto you've made recently)
Grilled onions
Roasted red peppers
Avocado slices
Hot sauce (I used Chipotle Tobasco, my FAVORITE.)
Chili Cilantro Aioli (optional, but recommended)


Heat spinach (thaw if it's frozen) and mix together with pesto and zucchini. Scramble eggs and cook in a pan (duh). Mix onions and peppers into the spinach-pesto mix. When eggs are almost cooked, put veggies in the middle and fold. When the eggs finish cooking and the veggies inside are warm enough (you might want to heat them before you put them in the omelet if they're not already hot) remove from pan an put on plate. Top with avocado and hot sauce.

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.