Category Archives: Paleo

St. Patricks Day Recipes

Posted in Desserts, Dinner, Healthy, Paleo, Sides & Salad, Themed Meals, Whole 30 by

Here is your one-stop Paleo (some non-Paleo) St. Pattys Recipe Shop!

The top section are my recipes (some before I went Paleo but they are so darn delicious and cute..) And the bottom I have included some other delicious recipes to enjoy this St. Pattys while not messing up your Paleo or Whole30 lifestyle!

Here is my delicious Sweet Potato Corned Beef Sliders & Cauliflower Colcannon Food Porn!

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Piggy Tummy Recipes

Paleo Sweet Potato Rolls

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Paleo Cauliflower Colcannon

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Life’s too short to not be Irish (Non-Paleo Recipes)

Irish Potatoes

Bailey’s Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse Cake (Non-Paleo Recipes)

Baileys Cake

Luck O’ The Irish Cupcakes (Non-Paleo Recipes)

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Paleo Irish Recipes from Other Sources

St Pattys Day Green Pancakes

Irish Stew

Roasted Cabbage with Lemon

Bacon & Avocado Deviled Eggs

Shamrock Shake

Irish Cabbage Rolls

Avocado & Coconut Grasshopper Bars

Happy St. Patricks!

May the luck of the Irish be with you!

Paleo Cauliflower Colcannon

Posted in Dinner, Healthy, Paleo, Sides & Salad, Themed Meals by

Keeping up the Paleo Irish foods I have a recipe that will probably have my Irish Card taken away!

With the hype of replacing potatoes with cauliflower I thought it would be fun to do a Cauliflower Colcannon!

Traditionally Colcannon is made with potatoes, cabbage, green onion, and loads of butter and cream.

I have lightened it up with just a touch of Kerrygold butter and some coconut milk and well…cauliflower!

Cauliflower Colcannon

  • 1 head cauliflower, mostly florets, cut into pieces
  • 1/2 head of cabbage, core removed, thinly sliced
  • 1 bunch of green onions, diced
  • 3 Tablespoons Kerrygold butter (or fat of your choice) Divided
  • 1 Tablespoon coconut milk, solids only
  • Salt & White Pepper to taste
  • Parsley for garnish (optional)

Chop up cauliflower into pieces.  Doesn’t have to be too small since it’ll be mashed up anyway.

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Add to a steamer or if you do not have a steamer add to a small pot with water only going up halfway.  Cover and cook until fork tender.  Strain any remaining liquid since this will get too watery if excess liquid is left in.  While cauliflower is cooking saute cabbage with half of the butter.  Add some salt and pepper to the mix too.  Don’t mess with it too much, you want it to get some caramelized color to it.  Dice up green onions.

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When cauliflower and cabbage is fully cooked combine remaining ingredients

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Serve it up and garnish with some chopped parsley for that extra pop of green!

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Delicious, right?!

Paleo Sweet Potato Rolls

Posted in Healthy, Paleo, Sides & Salad by

If your family is anything like mine then St Pattys Day is a big deal!

We cook a big corned beef and every starchy side possible!

You know, because corned beef and cabbage is totally Irish right? Well, not really

but were pretend Irish anyway so pretend Irish meal it is!

I have been really gung-ho on eating Paleo lately so I was wondering how I was going to get around this carb-on-carb-on-carb meal that is oh so delicious?  I am not a baker by any means and have actually not really done a from-scratch baking recipe before but I knew this one had to happen!  And happen it did!  The finished product is sort of a mix between a biscuit and a Hawaiian sweet roll.  Delicious!

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Paleo Sweet Potato Rolls

  • 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
  • 2 1/4-2 1/2 Cups Tapioca Flour
  • 1 Cup Coconut Flour
  • 1 Packet Dry Active Yeast
  • 4 Tablespoons Honey
  • 1/2 Cup Warm Water
  • 2 Eggs
  • 3 Tablespoons Kerrygold Butter (or fat of your choice)
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

First cook your sweet potatoes.  I used 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced and put in a steamer until fork tender.  I recommend steaming over boiling to avoid excess water getting sucked up into your potatoes.  Mash and let cool.  Combine warm water (about 100 degrees) with yeast and honey.  Mix well to assure the honey is blended in the warm water.

Set oven to 350 degrees

Combine flours(start with only 2 1/4 and add in the other 1/4 cup if needed), salt, ginger.  Add in butter to the flours and start blending in.  I recommend using a mixer with a dough hook but thats not necessary if you do not have access to that.  Add in eggs, sweet potato and then the water & yeast mixture.  Dough should be soft and not sticky.  Add flour only a little at a time until you get a pliable non-sticky dough.

Wet a paper towel with warm water and drape over your mixing bowl.  Let sit for about an hour.  The dough will not rise like a traditional yeast dough but instead it will start to get very airy.  You can start forming small dough balls in the shape of slider buns.  The dough will break really easy so handle with care.  Just cup them gently in your hand and press softly to form small balls.  Place on a greased cookie sheet.  I was able to get 12 rolls out of 1 recipe.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Gently press the top of the rolls to make sure they dont sink in and are still raw while also checking the bottoms to assure they do not burn.  Because of the honey and the sweet potatoes the bottoms can darken on you pretty quickly so be careful of that.  The rolls will be soft but will harden as they cool into a biscuit-like texture.

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I didn’t wait for these babies to cool before I added some Kerrygold butter to enjoy with them!

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But here is the best combo for this roll..some delicious salty corned beef!  The sweetness of the roll cuts through the salt of the corned beef and its a match make in Irish heaven!

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Irish Kitchen Prayer

“Bless us with good food, the gift of gab and hearty laughter.

May the love and joy we share be with us ever after, amen!”

Pesto Zoodles

Posted in Dinner, Healthy, Lunch, Paleo, Sides & Salad by

Hey all!

So excited to have another video!  My sound quality was really bad on other videos so after some mic hunting I think we’re back in business!  I picked a simple, fresh & fast recipe!  I am so over winter and ready for some light ‘n tasty recipes.  This recipe is similar to one I posted in the past but replaced rotini noodles for zoodles!

Pesto Pasta Recipe (old post if you’d like the carb-a-rific version)

Enjoy!

Pesto Zoodles

  • 1/2-1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
  • 2 bunches of Basil, stems removed
  • 1/4 cup blanched unsalted almonds
  • splash of vinegar or lemon juice
  • 2-3 zucchini, spiralized
  • Sun-dried tomato, optional garnish

Spiralize zucchini and set aside.  Add all ingredients to a food processor and turn on low, drizzle in olive oil slowly until it forms a thin/medium consistency sauce.  Not too runny but not too solid.  Toss pesto over zoodles and sprinkle with sun-dried tomato slices.  This will pair well with chicken & seafood.

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Nom nom nom!

Broccoli Pesto

Posted in Dinner, Healthy, Paleo by

This recipe is an adaptation I learned when I was working in the culinary program at College of DuPage.  I had the pleasure of meeting a phenomenal chef named Gianluca Pardini.  He is a Certified Master Chef who was visiting us from Italy.  His recipe of course was beyond amazing and it seemed so simple I felt I could do it again at home.  Of course months went by and I still never made it.  I finally decided it was time to recreate it but now I have to go off the memory of something I saw made a year ago.  Hooray!  I think it still turned out pretty well.  It was different from his because I had to make it Paleo but its still pretty darn tasty.

Broccoli Pesto

  • 1 head of fresh broccoli (not frozen, important)
  • 1 carton chicken stock (homemade is better, at least 6 cups)
  • 1/2 small can anchovies
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon coconut milk (optional)

The method is just as important as following the exact ingredients.  This is a recipe that does require some patience and you can’t skip over steps to get it done sooner.  That being said..here’s what you gotta do.  In a sauce pan heat up your chicken stock.  Don’t let it come to a rapid boil, if you see it starting to bubble up just turn it down to low.  Chop up your broccoli so they are relatively the same size and mostly florets over stems.  You can still keep stems but your end result may not be as creamy then.  Add your broccoli to a hide sided sautee pan.  Here is the important part..only add the stock a cup or two at a time.  You do not want the broccoli to be fully submerged and boiling in the stock.  You want the broccoli to slowly suck up the stock and eventually it’ll end up being so creamy that you wont even have to blend it, just stir it gently with a spoon.  Keep repeating this step until you achieve creamy broccoli sauce.  Let the stock cook off slowly before adding more stock.  Also make sure to not run of of stock and the broccoli ends up burning.  It wont be ruined but it just might have a bitter flavor.  When your broccoli gets to the point where you can stir it with a spoon and it turns into a sauce its time to season.  Chop up a couple anchovy fillets into tiny pieces and add to the sauce and stir.  Do not be afraid of this step!! It does not end up tasting fishy or funky.  This is that Umami flavor you always hear about on food network!  Add salt and red pepper flakes and just simmer to let the flavors meld, about 5 minutes.  Feel free to add Parmesan if your diet allows.

If you are adding this to pasta then just cook your pasta to al dente and toss in the broccoli sauce.  I made mine with zoodles (zucchini noodles).  For zucchini noodles I spiralized a whole zucchini and added it to already heated sauce on the stove and just tossed it until heated through.  Enjoy!

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Faux-Tato Salad (Paleo ‘Potato’ Salad)

Posted in BBQ, Paleo, Sides & Salad by

This post is a bit late but can I still start it out by saying Happy Memorial Day!

I had made this recipe because I was jealous that my boyfriend got to eat some classic American salads you’d have at a BBQ such as potato salad and macaroni salad.  I may have indulged due to the holiday and all but since I am on the Lurong Summer Challenge it just wasn’t an option! It had to be that creamy goodness that accompanies BBQ so well!  And the faux-tato salad was born…

 Faux-Tato Salad (Paleo ‘Potato’ Salad)

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Salad

  • 1 head cauliflower, chopped small
  • 1/2 turnip, peeled and chopped small
  • 1 small red bell pepper, chopped small
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped small
  • 2 slices of bacon, crumbled
  • Small amount of oil for roasting
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Dressing

  • 1 cup extra light tasting olive oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
  • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

 

Roast cauliflower at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Pieces should be fork tender and lightly browned on top.

While cauliflower is roasting chop all your other veggies into small salad-sized pieces

For the dressing add all ingredients to a mason jar or another wide mouth jar and use a stick blender to turn it into the consistency of mayo

When cauliflower is done combine all ingredients.  Add the mayo to desired creaminess.  I only used half of the mixture and saved the rest for later.

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Nanacado Mousse

Posted in Desserts, Healthy, Paleo by

A few months back someone at work offered me a spoonful of this brown goop and said “You HAVE to try this!”

So I did..I mean..how could you resist such an offer?

She gleefully exclaimed “Its avocado!! Isn’t it amazing!?”

It was pretty good.  It had mint extract in it which didn’t tickle my fancy but overall it was chocolately and creamy and also had that appeal of it having avocado which means “OMG it’s healthy!” (Right?)

I finally decided months later to try and make some myself.  I checked some recipes online and they were all pretty awful..I can’t even lie.

Instead of “Its avocado!!” it was more like “Oh…its…avocado..”

I had a bunch of bananas I didn’t manage to get to on time before they started to turn a shameful color.  My problem with the previous recipes was it was not sweet enough and you pretty much tasted raw cocoa and avocado..no bueno.  I thought instead of turning these bananas into dessert that I can’t even have and end up having to pawn on others why not give the avocado mousse another whirl with bananas as a sweetener.

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This attempt was much more tasty than the previous..Success!

A dessert I can have to satisfy my sweet tooth and have some benefits that I don’t have to feel guilty about having a little treat once in a while.

Nanacado Mousse

1 ripe banana

1 avocado

2 tsp organic stevia

2 tbs unsweet cocoa

1/2 tsp vanilla

pinch of sea salt

I ran all these ingredients in the magic bullet until smooth.  Top with some berries or almonds and indulge!

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Paleo Cooking Extravaganza!

Posted in Dinner, Healthy, Paleo, Whole 30 by

I got my wish and was snowed in today!!

The reason I wished for it is because I have a bad habit of doing too much and get myself totally exhausted.  It was nice to have an excellent excuse to just stay in today and relax!  Well..I use ‘relax’ loosely since I did cook for quite a few hours..But that is relaxing to me!  Here is what I was up to today..

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View from my front window this morning..It’s still snowing 8 hours later..

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I got out my stack of Paleo cookbooks and got to work!

I just picked up The Frugal Paleo and I am absolutely in love!  The recipes have simple ingredients you don’t have to go on the hunt for and most definitely affordable items.  Also there are plenty of recipes in here for people who may be paleo-phobic..its just a cookbook full of real tasty food!  I bought this book after I did my grocery shopping and the ingredients in here are so basic I was able to make a recipe with items I already had on hand! Fantastic!

My menu for this week:

I want to make a note and say when I cook from cookbooks I do not intend to share recipes if the author did not release them on the web.  If you want the recipes you’ll have to purchase the books..Its worth it – trust me!

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Pumpkin & Tomato soup from The Paleo Kitchen

Super cozy creamy soup with pumpkin, diced tomato and some coconut milk.  Delicious!

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Spinach & Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms with Crab also from The Paleo Kitchen

The original recipe was just spinach and artichokes in a portobello mushroom but I added crab to make it an entree and paired it with organic garden tomato sauce.

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Ranch Chicken topped with Bacon & Mushrooms from The Frugal Paleo

The original recipe is just the ranch chicken with mushrooms and bacon but I put it on top of zoodles with spicy arrabiata sauce and buttered carrots.  I think I am most excited for this dish!!

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This is actually from last weeks menu but I love it so much I had to share!  I finally tried Yucca fries for the first time and I am most definitely hooked!  Just cut Yucca into fat steak fry-like strips and coat them in the fat of youre choice (I used ghee) and shake on some sea salt and pepper..maybe some garlic or onion powder if you’re feeling extra zesty!  Bake in the oven at 400º for about 20 minutes and flip halfway through cooking.  Yumma Fries!!

As for snacks this week I will also be making awesome energy bars from Real Life Paleo which is like Epic bars since its organic beef paired with cashews and cranberry..So good!  I also have some cut up fruit, raw veggies and Lara Bars.  I sort of had a crummy week when it comes to eating right but I am on track with the help from some amazing Paleo recipe makers!

Paleo Clam Chowder

Posted in Healthy, Paleo, Sides & Salad, Whole 30 by

If you haven’t read the bone broth post you may want to check that out first..

Now are you ready for a soup so flavorful that it’ll blow your mind?

No need to go any further..Piggy Tummy has got your back!

I decided I wanted a creamy soup that did not taste like coconut.  I am new to Paleo and sometimes it starts to make me a little coco-nutty…see? it’s kicking in again..

I decided to make another chicken bone broth and try to make a creamy soup using cauliflower to cream it up instead of coconut milk.  I was a little bit nervous about the texture being a little gritty from the cauliflower.  It was far from it! It was super creamy and had the perfect mouth feel and flavor of a sinful cream soup.

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Paleo Clam Chowder

  • About 6 cups of bone broth – depending on the thickness you want your soup
  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 2 cans of clams
  • 1 bottle clam juice
  • 1 cup onion
  • 1 cup carrot
  • 1 cup celery
  • 1 cup mushroom
  • 1/2 lb bacon
  • salt, pepper & hot sauce to taste

Fry up the bacon, chop it up and set aside (save that bacon fat! its GOLD!)  Chop up 1 head of cauliflower and add just enough bone broth to cover the top of the cauliflower.  Once the cauliflower is fork tender use a stick blender to puree to desired texture.  I mixed mine extra long to make sure it wasnt gritty.  I added the clam juice at this point to thin out the mixture and added more bone broth to desired texture. Transfer bone broth/cauliflower mixture to another bowl and add enough bacon fat to the pot to saute vegetables.  Saute until tender and add creamed mixture back to the pot on low (otherwise it bubbles up on you).  Add bacon and clams and season to taste.

This soup was so good it made me weep tears of joy.

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Don’t Be Scared of Bone Broth!

Posted in Healthy, Paleo, Sides & Salad, Whole 30 by

I will admit everything I have learned about bone broth I learned from Stacy Toth @ paleoparents.com.  Here is the bone broth show if you want to listen more of the benefits and such of bone broth.  Otherwise read on to how I made mine and what I have made with it!

First things first.  As a trained chef I was curious to know what the heck was the difference between making bone broth and making stock.  I have made stock countless times and figured why is this such a big deal?  The difference is the amount of time taken to make bone broth.  Stock is just a few hours and bone broth requires a buttload of time! Yes that is a measurement of time indeed.  Normally with stocks I would use the bones and carcasses of stuff I was cooking with and didn’t need for the recipe.  With bone broth I learned from The Paleo View that using feet tends to be the best and most nutrient dense..so that is what I got!  I felt like the weird lady at the store who bought feet..

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For my first bone broth I did chicken feet and trotters (pigs feet).  I was a bit nervous about leaving a pot on the stove while I was sleeping so I did the crock pot method.  I added the feet to the crock pot and just filled the rest with water.  I cooked the broth overnight and while I was at work.  When there was maybe 4 hours left of cooking time I added my onions, carrots, veggies and fresh herbs.  I used thyme and rosemary.

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I strained out the stock and disposed of the bones and smooshy vegetables.  I know there’s things that can be done with bones..however I am not at ‘that’ level of Paleo. Haha.

I will admit my first response to having bone broth was not what I expected.  I figured with all the time it took to cook this stock it would have the most amazing chicken flavor known to all mankind!  When I tasted it I was stunned to find it a little bland.  Then I remembered in the book “It Starts With Food” it explains how the problem with processed foods is that it creates flavors that don’t exist in nature.  I was expecting that crazy chicken flavor you get from processed bases and bouillon.  Once I got over that I was in love.  I realized how nutritious this was for me and all the health benefits this nutrient packed soup would provide.  No processed junk.

The first soup I made was just a basic chicken and vegetable.  It was okay but not nearly as good as the second I made…

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This was my second bone broth attempt with beef instead.  I used cows feet and trotters again and the same veg and herbs. I made my own little version of Italian Wedding Soup…Amazeballs.

Italian Wedding Soup

  • 8 cups beef bone broth
  • 1 lb sausage, rolled into small meatballs, browned
  • 2 cups carrots, chopped
  • 1 cup celery, chopped
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
  • 1 can diced tomato and juice
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • Olive oil for sauteing

Saute vegetables in olive oil until browned, a little bit further than just a sweat.  Brown sausage in another pan, it is okay for them to be a little bit pink in the middle since it will continue to cook in the soup.  Add broth and tomato product to the vegetables and stir.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 1 hr.  Add meatballs and let them finish cooking about 10-15 min.  Serve!  Delish!

 

I am now hooked on bone broth and make a new soup just about every week.  I even keep a jar handy in the fridge for when I need some extra broth for vegetables or making cauliflower rice.