Paleo Dill Dip

Do you ever crave those dips you used to enjoy in the past that were loaded with dairy and other foods you no longer eat?  While I miss ranch dressing, fortunately, I don't often struggle with the chip and dip avoidance.  It's still nice to have a dip ready to go for a party or just for your own enjoyment.  If we can find affordable organic artichokes, we will enjoy them with this dip tonight! Meanwhile, it's perfect for my afternoon carrot snack!

Paleo Dill Dip

• 1 cup Primal Kitchen Mayonnaise
• 1  can coconut cream – solids only
• 2 drops Young Living dill vitality essential oil
• 2 tsp dried onion
• 1 tsp Spicely Organics dried parsley
• 1 tsp sea salt

Mix together mayo and coconut until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients.  Refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Paleo Green Bean Casserole

So green bean casserole may not be fully paleo compliant because of the green beans.  However, on a rare occasion, I indulge with legumes as my doctor allows it.  But...I'm truly not supposed to have dairy or gluten..ever!  

Holiday and family gatherings are tough.  There's so much food that I want to eat, but I know I'll pay for it later.  Christmas Eve dinner included dairyful mashed potatoes, crab (I have a severe shellfish allergy), and marshmallow & brown sugar sweet potatoes.  But...my extended in-law family know my restrictions, so they work with me and make sure there's stuff I can eat.  Yay for them!  But I love to cook so I always contribute.  Though, I'm in a non-weight bearing cast right now, so Michelle (my wife), who does not like to cook, had to help me out.  She did a wonderful job and I tried to teach her how to make cranberry sauce and cream of mushroom soup.  The cream of mushroom soup also works for other recipes, just cut in half.

Christmas Eve Dinner :)

Paleo(ish) Green Bean Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 lb French Cut Green Beans (2 8oz bags), rinsed
• 1 batch of fried onions (recipe below)
• 1 batch of cream of mushroom soup (recipe below)

Instruction

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine green beans with the cream of mushroom soup and pour into a baking pan.  I used a Corelle baking dish.  Sprinkle 2/3 of fried onions on top.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Add remaining 1/3 of onions and cook for 5 more minutes.  If you finish it early and don't need the oven, turn off the oven and leave it in, it'll be fine, otherwise, remove and serve.

Fried Onions

Ingredients

• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup cassava flour (I prefer Otto’s Cassava Flour)
• 1 tsp salt (I love organic spices from Spicely)
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 4 cups oil for frying

Instructions

Heat oil in a large pot (I used a spaghetti pot) over high heat.  You can do this before or after the onions, depending on how long chopping takes you in combination with how long your stove takes to heat. 

Cut onion in half and then in slices.  Pull layers apart by hand.  Some end pieces will not be narrow enough and need to be cut by hand. In a separate sealable container, beat 2 eggs with a fork.  In another sealable container combine the cassava, salt, and pepper. 

Once the onions are cut, put them in the container with the eggs and shake so that they are covered with the egg wash.

Put egg-covered onions into flour mixture, cover, and shake well so that they are fully coated.

Gently place the battered onions into the hot oil.  Fry over high heat for about 8-10 minutes. 

The oil will bubble up initially, but it will calm down after a couple minutes and then you’ll be able to tell when the onions are browned and fried.  Once done cooking, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined cookie sheet.

Cream of Mushroom for Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients

• 2 cans full-fat coconut milk (I prefer Natural Value because it's gum free and packaged in BPA-free containers)
• 2 cups diced porcini mushrooms (baby bella)
• 1 cup arrowroot starch 
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Cut up the mushrooms.

Pour coconut milk into a sauce pot.  Whisk to ensure it’s smooth and coconut solids are mixed with liquid.  Whisk in arrowroot.  Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper.  Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to simmer.  Allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture thickens.  Whisk to smooth out. To thin the mixture, add water.  

Cranberry Sauce

Did you grow up with cranberry sauce?  The location of our holiday dinner determined whether or not we had cranberry sauce.  However, as I grew older, I learned to love the canned jelly cranberry sauce.  Do you know what's in Ocean Spray's Jellied Cranberry Sauce?  

• Cranberries
• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Corn Syrup
• Water

You can buy organic jellied cranberry sauce, but a brand I found is still in a metal can that is not BPA free.  While the ingredients are slightly better, it still contains sugar and lemon juice concentrate.  So why not make your own?  It's so simple and I've got a great recipe for you.  It's a modification of three different recipes I found as I wanted to maximize flavor, keep the recipe simple, and adhere to paleo guidelines.  It's still quite a bit of sweetener due to the tartness of the cranberries so adjust as needed for your health needs.

View fullsize

Paleo Cranberry Sauce

 

Ingredients

• 6 cups cranberries

• 2 cups water

• 1 cup maple syrup

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• ½ tsp salt

• 3 drops Young Living Tangerine Essential Oil (or 1 TB freshly squeezed orange juice  

Directions

Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and allow to cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Let cool completely before serving.  Once the sauce is cooler mash with a potato masher for chunkier sauce or run through a blender/food processor (I use my ninja) to have a smooth jelly.  Makes approximately 10 servings, though it has yet to make it through a holiday meal!

Paleo Crescent Rolls

I initially started this recipe adventure in an attempt to make croissants to go with the apple butter I had made.  They didn't have the fluffy flakiness of glutenous croissants, but they turned out to be some pretty delicious crescent rolls.  They were somewhat airy, flaky, and tasted oh so buttery.  After 3 different rolling/refrigerating/baking tries, I found the right combination!  

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup warm dairy-free milk (I used almond)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 packet yeast
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp coconut crystals
• 2 tbsp ghee solids
• 2 cups cassava flour
• 1 cup almond flour
• ghee solids for spreading on dough (probably 3-6 tbsp)

"Butter" Wash

• 1 tbsp ghee liquid (or melted solid)
• 1 tbsp dairy-free milk

Intructions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees.

Combine warm water, warm milk, and yeast in a separate container.  Allow to bloom for 10 minutes.  Gently stir it together and allow to bloom for another 10 minutes.

While yeast is blooming, combine the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Gently mix with a hand or stand mixer until crumbly.  Once yeast mixture is done, combine with the flour mixture.  Blend together gently with mixer then finish with your hands to knead it into a pliable ball of dough.  Turn off oven and place bowl in the oven to allow it to rise for 30 minutes.  Due to the Paleo ingredients, it will not rise like wheat flour. 

View fullsize

After the 30 minutes, bring out the down and separate it into thirds.  Take the first third section (ball of dough) and place on a floured wooden board.  I used cassava flour to cover my board and rolling pin.  Roll out the dough until it's 1/8 inch thick.  Make sure to flip the dough after the first few rolls and re-flour to ensure it doesn't stick.  You may also use parchment paper.  Once you have it rolled out into a rectangle, cover the top third with ghee.  Fold over the bottom third, and then fold over the top third (ghee section).  The edges may crack a little when you fold it over.  That's ok, just gently squish it together to keep the dough in one piece. 

View fullsize

Seal the ends and then re-roll the dough and repeat the above process.  Do this three times for each section of dough.  Repeat process with each ball of dough (remember you initially split the dough into thirds).  This process allows the final product to be flaky and taste like that buttery deliciousness we all used to enjoy!

Once you have rolled the dough three times, do a final effort to put it into a rectangle.  From here, cut it into 3-4 triangles.   You will then carefully roll the dough up into a crescent shape beginning with the widest part of the triangle and rolling down.  Depending on how floured your surface is, you may have to encourage the dough to roll.

Place a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  

Eat plain or enjoy with your favorite Paleo-friendly jam or butter. :)  Displayed below with my homemade apple butter.

Pistachio crusted pork chops - Paleo & 21 Sugar Detox

View fullsize

As I was thinking about dinner tonight because I have a meeting, I struggled to think what would be quick and easy.  I scanned through a cookbook and nothing really called out to me, though a crusted fish recipe did sound delicious.  However, since I don't cook with fish much, I wanted something I was more familiar with.  I searched the freezer and pulled out some pork chops, put them in water to thaw and went back to the tasks of the day.  I decided to use these pork chops and the rainbow carrots I had in the fridge to make something low maintenance.  I already had the ranch in the fridge, but if I didn't, I could've whipped it up in an extra 30 minutes.  Otherwise, you could use an egg wash to coat the pork chops. 

Ingredients:

1 - 2 TB Olive Oil

21 Day Sugar Detox Ranch 

4 - 1 inch thick pork chops

1/4 cup Pistachios

1 TB Coconut Flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 lb of rainbow carrots

Directions:

Spread olive oil generously across bottom of pan

Ground up pistachios, coconut flour, and salt

Peel & Chop Carrots

Place chopped carrots around edges

Pour Ranch onto a plate

Pour nut/flour mix on plate

Dip pork chops in ranch and then in nut/flour mix, place in pan

View fullsize

Roast at 405 for 40-45 minutes, turning pork chops at 20 minutes.  For thicker sliced porkchops (I took thick ones and cut them in half to reduce the thickness) you may need to cook longer.  If using rainbow carrots, cut the purple ones thinner as they take longer to cook.

Enjoy!