Recipe: Spicy Stuffed Aubergine
These stuffed aubergine halves are a great meat-free option
These stuffed aubergine halves are a great meat-free option
Seafood is so good for you – assuming you buy good quality of course. Scallops are a great choice – especially with a bit of lime!
These are great on a barbecue served with a big green salad – and are sure to be a hit! If it's not barbecue weather, the grill will do just fine instead.
The humble scallop is packed with protein and also a great source of minerals such as zinc, potassium and magnesium. They're very high in vitamin B12, and also provide iodine – which can be hard to get in adequate amounts on a paleo diet. Small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids are also found in this humble seafood. If you can't get hold of them, how about trying some clams or oysters instead?
Do you eat much seafood? I'd love to hear how you cook yours in the comments below!
Before I went paleo I ate a lot of white potatoes. Now, I eat
I usually only use green capsicum as they’re half the price of their red and yellow cousins, but when they were on offer this week, I thought it was high time to cook something capsicumy. What better than the classic stuffed capsicum? I’d usually make this with minced beef, but I fancied a change, so thought I’d give it a try with shredded chicken instead.
I always used to cut the tops of the capsicum, stuff them, put the lid back on, then cook them standing up. However, it’s not easy to find ones that will remain standing up and also I think they’re harder to eat and not so attractive on the plate this way. I served mine sliced in half lengthways and retained the stalk party to stop the stuffing falling out, and partly because it looks good! Unfortunately cutting them for this dish means I can't use my genius capsicum cutting technique.
I used mushrooms, carrots and a zucchini for the stuffing, but this is a great way to use up whatever vegetables you happen to have.
Hint: Take care choosing your capsicums! You’ll find the ones with 4 points at the base will sit far better in the oven than those with 3 points.
I was left with loads of stuffing left over, so froze this in individual portions and will enjoy them for many lunches to come!
I don’t know about you, but I find chicken cooked in the oven can be a bit dry and fried chicken can be a little greasy (not to mention make an complete mess of the kitchen) , so lately I've been poaching chicken instead. This is my favourite way to cook chicken that I'm going to be shredding, or adding to a recipe that calls for pre-cooked chicken.
If you’re short of time and aren't using a slow cooker – you need to get one! There’s nothing like coming home after a long day, to a freshly made, hot paleo dinner.
If you've not used a crock-pot before, here are my top tips:
They are completely safe to leave turned on all day, however, it’s always a good idea to make sure it’s sat alone on your counter with nothing sat too close to it.
If you can spare an extra few minutes, try searing your meat and veggies too. This makes a big difference with a far richer flavour of the final dish.
For maximum efficiency prepare your vegetables and meat the night before, so all you need to do in the morning is put them in and turn it on.
Along the same lines, I always avoid overly complicate recipes that call for lots of preparation. I figure the whole point of using this method of cooking is to save me time, not add to it.
Try to keep your cubes of meat and harder vegetables in uniform sizes to make sure they all cook at a similar rate.
Don’t overfill your slow cooker. Aim for no more than two-thirds full – and you only need to half cover the ingredients if you’re adding in extra liquid. This method of cooking loses virtually no liquid to evaporation, so once those veggies cook you’ll find you have more than enough liquid.
Make sure the lid is on properly – and don’t be tempted to lift it off mid cook for a nosy – it will take a long time to regain the lost heat.
If it’s looking to watery towards the end of the cooking time, this is the time to remove the lid. The extra liquid will evaporate thickening up your dinner.
Set the time carefully, go for a slower longer cook, over a faster hotter cook for deeper flavours and more tender meat.
My top tip is to buy big! I stupidly bought a small one. I should have bought one like this. When you go to the effort of making a slow cooked meal, always double up on quantities so you have a few spares to put in the freezer. Cooking in a small one just seems like a waste!
Whilst most crock-pots have a removable “crock”, some are one piece – avoid these models as they’ll be a nightmare to clean!
Try making stock in your slow cooker – I always get great results and find it needs a lot less attention than when I do it on the stove.
One of my favourite things about slow cooking as that it allows me to use cheap cuts of meat, that would be tough in a faster cooking method. So when you see cheap cuts on offer – buy them and make a slow cooked dish with them!
Whatever you do – don’t use lean meat! Fat not only helps with flavour but will keep the meat moist instead of tough and dry.
For the same reason I also keep bones in and keep the skin on the chicken.
Finally, for maximum flavour wait until just before the end of the cooking time to add in your herbs and spices.
Here are some of my slow cooker recipes:
Slow Cooker Chicken Coconut Veggie Stew
Creamy Coconut Slow Cooker Beef
Slow Cooker Jamaican Goat Curry
If you've got a slow cooker, which model do you have? Have you got any tip tips to share?
Sometimes it's nice to make something simple and easy for dinner. And it doesn't get much easier than a stir fry.
Whilst you can buy packets of ready to use vegetables to throw into a pan – don't do this! Where I live a packet of pre-prepared veggies is upwards of about $7.50 a kilo. Or you can buy your vegetables individually. I get carrots for about $1 a kilo and cabbage for about $3 a head. Cheaper, probably fresher and only the nice bits. The only difference is that the prepacked veg are drier which is better for stir frying. I just use a cheese cloth to remove the excess liquid from my freshly grated veg – and save lots of money in the process.
A while ago I wrote about why I don't buy ground beef (or any mince meat for that matter). But I love cooking with it. Making it yourself is the only way you can possibly:
The first time I tried it I used an old fashioned mincer like the one in the photo above. It was a total mess, with meat juice going everywhere! So since then, I've worked out how to do it properly with the mincer – but also far faster with my food processor.
1) Find a good cut of meat, not too lean – a bit of fat makes all the difference. I often buy a cut that is on special offer, then freeze the ground meat that I make.
2) Depending on what you're making with the mince, you might also grind another type of mince too. For example, I like to make my bolognese with half beef and half pork mince.
3) This is the step I found out the hard way. Cube the meat evenly, then put in the freezer for a couple of hours. Do this, it makes a huge difference and stops your kitchen resembling a crime scene. I've even taken to putting the grinding plate into the freezer too. Without it being super cold it won't grind properly and will be a mushy nasty mess. You have been warned.
4) In small batches feed the meat cubes into the food processor or grinder
5) Check for any un-ground pieces to put through again, and get rid of any gristle that has made it's way through.
6) Whatever you don't use, straight away freeze in small batches for use in a future recipe.
Chilli and Cumin meatballs with a mango and pomegranate salsa
Texan Style Sweet Potato and Bison Burgers
Spiced Beef Kofte with a Pomegranate Glaze
Tomato-Free Bolognese Recipe
Mexican Turkey Burgers with Coriander Guacamole
Egg Muffins are a win for quick and easy breakfast options. When I make them I make a big batch and keep them in the fridge.
I use whatever vegetables I have left over, so you can go as plain or complex as you like.
Deviled eggs are so easy to make, but create a big impact. Traditionally, they're made with non-paleo mayonnaise, but with a simple switch to my paleo mayonnaise, they're back on the menu again!
I love devilled eggs as a party food, or just for a snack. Why have hard-boiled eggs, when you can make these?
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
OKLearn moreWe may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds: