BREAKFAST TACOS!

I got the idea from an enchilada recipe from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook. No more flour tortilla! Say YES to egg tortilla taco!!!


Ingredients: serves 2 people
1/2 sausage package
1 diced tomato
1/4 diced onion
1 avocado
lemon juice
salt
garlic (1 small clove fresh or 1 tsp. or so of powder)
5-6 eggs

Heat a pan on medium (to save time, heat two pans - 1 for your sausage and 1 for your eggs). Side Note: I always have the oven on Warm with plates so when i'm finished something, I plop it in the oven until everyone's ready to eat.

Put your sausage in pan 1. I would personally add sausage to both pans to grease both of them up then consolidate them- or you can just use olive oil for your eggs. While those are cooking, dice the tomatoes and onion. continue to stir the sausage, cut your ripe avocado in half, dig out the green and smash it up. I always add a little salt, garlic, and lemon juice to taste - and don't really use measurements.

Whisk your eggs in a bowl.

In a well greased pan 2 (or same pan 1 - you can put your sausage in a bowl and put in the oven to keep warm), pour a little bit of the egg in the pan. It was easier to flip the egg if I kept it small and thin, like a small flour tortilla. You gotta flip it fast and good or it can rip or flip on itself where it'll stick together. Cook for about 45seconds or a minute on each side. When I was done with 1, I put it in the oven to keep warm.

Eat these like a taco or with a fork. It just depends on how dirty you want to get ;)

Colorado Chicken

I got this recipe from The Paleo Diet Cookbook. The main difference between this and The Primal Blueprint is the Paleo Diet Cookbook has many recipes but no pictures. Although The Primal Blueprint has fewer recipes, I love it because there isn't only a picture of the final product, but also a picture of all the ingredients plus picture during the making of the meal.

Ingredients:(serves 2)
preheat oven 425 degrees
5 - 3 oz. chickens
1 diced tomato
2 cups mushrooms sliced
1 cup chicken broth
olive oil
pepper

Heat the pan on medium. Add olive oil and some pepper. Add your chicken, cover and cook 2-3 minutes on each side (if you are using larger breasts, make it 5 minutes). I put the chicken in a glass baking dish and kept it aside. I went back to the pan on the stove and added mushrooms and covered for about 10 minutes, then I added the diced tomato and chicken broth. Bring it to a boil then simmer for about 5 minutes. I added the mushrooms,broth, and tomatoes to the chicken in the baking dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

While that was cooking I put brussel sprouts and olive oil on medium heat on the stove. When they were almost finished cooking (a point when you can easily put your fork through em and they start to brown) I tried something new and squeezed some tangerine juice and then tore apart the rest of the tangerine to add to the dish.

Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers

You thought that once you go paleo, you can't eat good food. Not True! This is a great recipe for kids AND adults!

Ingredients:
olive oil
almond meal
seasoning (I used Kick'n Chicken)
dill
1 egg
chicken strips

First, heat the olive oil in the pan on medium or a little less than medium heat. Get 1 bowl and 1 plate. 1 bowl is for the egg (beat it like you're making scrambled eggs. This is the coating so your almond meal sticks to the chicken). 1 plate is for your almond meal (add seasonings. I used both dill and kickn chickn).


1. dip a chicken strip in the eggs. You just want a thin layer, not big clumps of egg.
2. Roll the chicken strips around in the almond meal
3. put the chicken in the hot oil in the pan. Cook each side for about 5 minutes. They might look cooked on the outside, but the inside could still be uncooked. You don't want the heat too high because it'll burn the outside almond meal. Next time I'll probably take the chickens out of the fridge early.

I also made acorn squash for the side. Cut it in half, dig out the seeds (but keep them!). Put the half in a medium bowl, add a squirt of water, cover with saran wrap and put it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes. If you want an AWESOME snack, then turn the oven on 350 degrees, get a baking sheet and foil. put the seeds on the foil (but make sure all the stringy guts are cleaned off them) and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until they are lightly browned. WOW so freaking good!

Merry Christmas Dinner! AND DESSERT!

Wow! No one could believe that a paleo dinner would taste so good - including dessert! Baked Ham, Sweet potato casserole, zucchini and yellow squash, and Walnut Meal Brownies.

servings: 7-8

Sweet potato casserole - recipe borrowed from CrossFit Lake City

pre-heat oven 350 degrees.















1Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C honey + a few extra TBSP's
1/2 C coconut milk
1C pecans

Dice sweet potatoes and boil for about 30 minutes or until thoroughly soft. Drain water. Mash the sweet potatoes. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, 1/2 cup honey, and slowly add coconut milk. Stir until it's all blended well. Pour it into a baking dish/platter. Smooth it out and place the pecans on top. Drizzle the leftover honey. Cover with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes to brown the pecans.

*we originally used 7 or 8 potatoes. This would have fit a 9x13, but I used two medium sized square glass baking dishes. With 7 people, we probably only consumed 4 potatoes which was 1 medium baking dish. More is better than less, though. This tasted SO GOOD!


Zucchini and Yellow Squash Side Dish
2 zucchinis (slice and cut in halves)
2 yellow squash (slice and cut in halves)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 chunks of unsalted butter

On Medium heat add butter and minced garlic. Put all veggies in the pan and stir. Continue until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. This was so easy and delicious. It's a stress and hassle-free side dish. It's a modern twist on Christmas Dinner.

Walnut Meal Brownies
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees; Adjust oven rack to the middle position.















1 3/4 Cups of walnut meal (purchased or ground in food processor)
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1.5 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 large eggs (room temp)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 c honey
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 c coconut oil
walnuts for topping
unsalted butter for greasing the pan.

First, mix all the dry ingredients. In a second bowl, whisk eggs for one minute, then add coconut milk, honey, and continue whisking. Add melted coconut oil and whisk until completely blended. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and whisk well. Scrape the sides and make sure everything is mixed well. Batter will be thinner consistency than most conventional brownies. Pour the into the baking dish. I sprinkle whole or chopped walnuts - or nothing - on top. Bake 35-40 minutes. Cool before cutting.

THESE BROWNIES WERE AMAZING. You don't need Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem for your diet, and you don't need em for dessert either! YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS RECIPE RIGHT NOW.

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

Sometimes you just get some cravings; lately mine are mexican food and stuff with tomatoes in it like pizza, spaghetti, etc. I had a delicious meal and it was paleo. try it!

Ingredients: preheat oven 350 degrees
spaghetti squash
1lb ground beef
1fresh tomato
1 regular can diced tomatoes (no salt added) *drain the juice if don't want runny spaghetti, as mine was
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
dash of oregano
Marinara sauce -mine is Pomi marinara and it comes in a small box - super yummi! I also used this to make my pizza with a few posts back.

Cut the spaghetti squash in half. If you cut it long ways then you will get smaller spaghetti strands when it's done. If you cut it short ways they will be longer. Either way doesn't matter. Put some foil down on a baking sheet; dribble olive oil on the foil. Place the squash face down, and put it in the oven for about 35 minutes. You can check it's readiness by taking it out of the oven, and with a fork see if the squash strands easily poke away. You do not want it to be mushy, and you do not want it to be hard - just like normal spaghetti.

OR. you can cut it in half (short ways), take out the seeds, put the squash face down in a bowl, add 1 TBS. water, and cover with saran wrap to steam for 6 minutes or so until soft.


Next, brown your beef on medium heat. Once brown, I added the garlic first, then sauce, then diced canned tomatoes, then fresh tomato. I added the onion last because I liked that raw taste. You can add it first to cook it more thoroughly. This doesn't take much time, so you might want to start it about 15 minutes after you put the squash in the oven.

Swiss Chard Frittata

Ingredients:
olive oil
a bunch of Swiss Chard (I used 2 leafs, but you can use the whole bunch)
1/2 onion, chopped
6 eggs
fresh herbs (basil or parsley or oregano)


Breakfast can get old FAST. So, I browsed through the Primal Blueprint Cookbook (I love it because of the pictures from start to finish) and found something to make for breakfast . My new purchase this week was Swiss Chard; it's a large, green leafed, red veined vegetable.

1. put a pan on the stove, drizzle olive oil in it.
2. chop the Swiss Chard into pieces.
3. chop onion into pieces; put it in the pan until they are golden and mushy.
4. Add the Swiss Chard. Saute for about 5 minutes or until the leaves are wilted.
5. In a seperate bowl I whisked the eggs together, then added it to the pan.
6. Cover the pan so the egg will cook through - about 5 minutes or so.


You can feel free to add to this, such as peppers or sausage. This time I cooked sausage on the side, and we had a pomegranate that we needed to eat up.


Too busy to eat healthy in the morning?
I get this all the time: I can't eat healthy because "I'm TOO BUSY." BuHLONY! To make this meal during a busy morning just prepare in advance. When I get new vegetables, I will chop everything up at one time and store it in containers (Sunday and Wednesday night ritual). The night before your breakfast, crack your eggs and whisk in a bowl and put saran wrap over it. Chop your veggies; or, if they are already chopped, combine them in a bowl, and put them next to your eggs in the fridge. When you wake up, turn on your coffee, turn on the stove, get your pan, drizzle oil, throw in the veggies, go wash your face, stir the veggies, go put on some clothes (that you already laid out the night before), go back to the kitchen and pour the eggs in the pan, put the lid on, cut half an apple or grill up some sausage on the george foreman or a seperate pan or pack your lunch or do the dishes or fix your hair or put on your makeup. MAKE WAITING TIME INTO DOING TIME. let me know how this works out for you :)

"granola" bars

Ingredients: preheat oven to 350 degrees
2 handfuls almonds - chopped
3 handfuls walnuts - chopped
3 handfuls pecans - chopped
raisins
honey
cinnamon poweder
clove powder
allspice
1 cup coconut (unsweetened)

GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR SNACKS! This is a great snack! It should be a snack you eat in moderation, though. Raisins and honey are still full of sugar. It has taken some perfecting because after a dozen times, it always turns out different, usually crumbly or over spiced. I'm not going to lie, I don't measure any of it out and obviously that's where my problems begin.

First, I've been slap chopping about 5 cups (i'm guessing since i have little hands) of nuts. My mom gave me one of her food processors, so I'll see how this saves time. I usually like large cut pieces mixed in with finely ground pieces. I add all the dry ingredients - 1 cup coconut (i've found it helps keep the final product from crumbling), a tiny dash of cloves (really potent), a sprinkle of allspice, and I go to town with the cinnamon. Stir so it's even. Next, I let the honey drizzle with my left hand and I stir with my right hand until I get the right consistency. I want it to all be evenly sticky. Not too sticky, but not dry.

Next, I use a square/rectangular glass dish (When I pour everything in, I like it to be at least an inch thick) and dribble olive oil all over the inside. You can use coconut oil, but I usually always have olive oil handy so why pay an extra 10 bucks. Pour your mixture into the dish, and take some wax paper as wide and long as your dish and smash your mixture all around to make it compact.

put it in the over for 20-25-30 minutes. It'll smell so good! It'll taste so good!

Taco Salad

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
cumin
chille powder
romain lettuce
1 tomato
1 avocado
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 onion diced
cilantro
lemon

This just really hit the spot tonight! When I was turning paleo, I looked on the back of the Ortega packet, and figured out I could do what they do. So I lost the other useless ingredients and invested in Cumin. First, brown your meat on medium.

While the meat was browning I made guacamole - theres no way I can have taco salad w/out this. Mash 1 avocado, lemon juice (i sqeeze and taste; do a few drops at a time. You dont want tang, just a little umph!), 1/2 - 1 clove of garlic minced (continuing to taste so it's not overwhelming), and some salt. I also cut up some tomato for the top of my salad.

When you're finished with the guac, and the meat is brown, add 1/2 of the 1/2 onion to the meat (and i like raw onion, too, so i saved the other half raw for topping). Add 1-2 cloves of garlic to the meat (1 first, then more if you want). Add cumin, chile powder, and salt (i just sprinkled lightly all around and tasted to my liking).

In the end you just pile it all on together with some cilantro and it's a delicious taco salad! Make it! Tonight! Ole!

Breakfast Stuffed Tomato

Ingredients: preheat oven 400 degrees
breakfast meat
zucchini
onion
leek
egg
tomato

I wanted something a little different, so once again I turned to The Primal Blueprint Cookbook. I saw this (but w/ bison and no veggies) and I wanted to make my own little creation. Turn on your oven to 400 degrees. Put a pan on the stove and heat it to medium. Add your breakfast meat (I used sausage) and cook it well. Then I diced the onion, leek, and zucchini, added it to the meat, and tossed it around to brown. While that's cooking, cut the top of your tomato and spoon all the insides out (kind of like you do a pumpkin on halloween, but less messy). Put the tomato in the oven (I included the tomato top) only for 5-7 minutes (you don't want it to come out mushy, and mine did just a little). Then, you can either make room on the pan w/ your veggies, or already have a new pan on another burner warmed up to fry your egg. Sprinkle olive oil on the pan - I like my egg over easy w/ a little bit of runny yolk! :)

When everything's cooked, put the tomato on your plate. Pour the golden browned veggies in your tomato, egg on top, tomato topper the egg, and that's all.