Paleo network recipe spicy stuffed aubergine eggplant Indian shells skins

Recipe: Spicy Stuffed Aubergine

These stuffed aubergine halves are a great meat-free option

Paleo network recipe lime tarragon fish seafood grain-free ideas

Recipe: lime & tarragon scallops

Seafood is so good for you – assuming you buy good quality of course. Scallops are a great choice – especially with a bit of lime!

Recipe: lime & tarragon scallops
Recipe type: Fish & Seafood
Cuisine: Barbecue
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
The most important thing with this recipe is getting hold of some very fresh scallops from a good source.
Ingredients
  • 24 (or about 500g) scallops (minus the roe)
  • handful of freshly chopped tarragon (if you can't get it, dried will do)
  • Juice of half a lime
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 limes cut into wedges (approx 8 wedges per lime)
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, mix the scallops, tarragon, lime juice and olive oil. Ensure they are coated thoroughly and evenly.
  2. On a skewer, thread a wedge of lime and one skewer on each
  3. Cook on the barbecue (or grill), making sure they are all cooked through

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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.

But what's so good about scallops anyway?

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!

paleo recipes sweet potatoes potato yams ideas

Cooking paleo with sweet potatoes

Before I went paleo I ate a lot of white potatoes. Now, I eat

Stuffed Capsicum paleo diet recipe bell peppers dinner lunch chicken-min

Recipe: Stuffed Capsicum

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!

Recipe: Stuffed Capsicum
Recipe type: Dinner
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
This is a great winter dish served with cauliflower rice - or a simple salad.
Ingredients
  • 3 colourful capsicums (bell peppers)
  • Dash of coconut oil
  • 2 brown onions, diced into small pieces
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 bottle of pasata
  • 1 zucchini diced into small pieces
  • 6 mushrooms, diced into small pieces
  • 2 carrots, diced into small pieces
  • 1 tbsp oregano
  • 1 tsp of chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • Sea salt & black pepper to taste
  • Cooked shredded chicken
Instructions
  1. Cut the capsicums lengthways, ensuring the two halves will sit nicely, before making the cut. Deseed the capsicum and trim the insides and bottom of the stalk ensuring there is lots of room for them to be filled. Put the halves empty side up on a baking tray.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 175C
  3. Fry the onions in the coconut oil over a medium heat, until the soften.
  4. Add in the tomatoes and pasata, then stir in the veggies
  5. Allow the mixture to simmer for 20-30 minutes, then add the herbs, spices and seasoning.
  6. Add in the chicken to heat up, and once the carrots have softened remove the pan from the heat.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the capsicum halves and push down with the back of a spoon, ensuring they are completely filled.
  8. Put the stuffed capsicums in the oven and cook until the capsicum has softened to your liking, ensuring they don’t burn! I should just take a few minutes.

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Stuffed Capsicum paleo diet recipe bell peppers dinner lunch chicken-min

fail-proof poached chicken paleo recipe shredded poultry lunch dinner-min

Recipe: fail-proof poached chicken

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.

Recipe: fail-proof poached chicken
Ingredients
  • Chicken (as much as your recipe calls for)
  • A splash of white wine
  • Water
  • A couple of bay leaves
  • A small piece of fresh ginger
  • A few black peppercorns
  • Sea salt
Instructions
  1. Dice the chicken up into roughly equal sized pieces.
  2. Arrange the chicken at the bottom of a pan, trying to make sure none of the pieces overlap
  3. Pour the wine over first, then add cold water until the chicken is completely submerged by about 5cm of water.
  4. Throw in the bay leaves, ginger, peppercorns, then season.
  5. Bring the water to a boil, then when it boils reduce the heat and allow it to simmer.
  6. If you’re going to use the liquid, you’ll want to spoon off the scum that will come to the top.
  7. Simmer the chicken for a few minutes until thoroughly cooked. Ideally, you’ll want to use a meat thermometer to ensure it’s cooked all the way through before removing from the heat, otherwise, test the largest piece to ensure it’s cooked all the way through, and the juices run clear.
  8. Once cooked, drain the chicken pieces and shred, or use as they are.

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fail-proof poached chicken paleo recipe shredded poultry lunch dinner-min

16 Paleo Slow Cooker Tips & Tricks for your Crockpot

16 Paleo Slow Cooker Tips & Tricks for your Crockpot

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.

16 Paleo Slow Cooker Tips & Tricks for your Crockpot

If you've not used a crock-pot before, here are my top tips:

Preparation

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.

Put a lid on it

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.

Buy big

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!

Finally

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.

Now try these

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?

Recipe simple paleo stir fry-min

Recipe: Simple Chicken Stir Fry

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.

Recipe simple paleo stir fry-min

 

 

Recipe: Simple Chicken Stir Fry
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
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.
Ingredients
  • Large spoonful of coconut oil
  • Chicken breast (free range, obviously)
  • 2 carrots
  • Half a head of cabbage
  • Dash coconut aminos
  • Sea salt
Instructions
  1. Melt the coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat
  2. Cut up the chicken as you like it (strips or diced) and throw into the pan
  3. Grate the vegetables in a food processor*, or using an old school grater. In a clean tea towel or cheesecloth, wring out the excess liquid. I used cabbage and cauliflower – but throw in whatever you have!
  4. Once the chicken starts to look golden and is cooked through, add in the grated vegetables.
  5. Add the dash of coconut aminos for flavouring and season to your taste. You can also add in some herbs and spices if you want to change it up.
  6. *I usually prepare a lot of veg to take make enough for several meals. If you’ve got the food processor out, you might as well get good use out of it!

How to grind your own beef mince ground grinder paleo network-min

How to Grind Your Own Ground Beef Mince

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:

  • Know exactly what's in it
  • Be sure it only contains good cuts of meat
  • Know how fresh it is
  • Know it's safe to eat medium-rare
  • Know it will taste good

How to grind your own beef mince ground grinder paleo network-min

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.

How to Grind Your Own Ground Beef Mince:

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.

And once you've ground your meat? Try some of these recipes:

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

Recipe paleo egg muffins-min

Recipe: Paleo Egg Muffins

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.

Paleo-Recipe-Egg-muffins--471x1024-min

Recipe: Paleo Egg Muffins
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Ingredients
  • 1 Onion, diced
  • Large spoon of coconut oil
  • Broccoli, diced
  • Handful of Mushrooms, sliced
  • Large bowl of spinach
  • 6 Eggs
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Handful of grated cheese (if primal, completely optional)
Instructions
  1. Fry the onions in some coconut oil over a medium heat
  2. When the onions soften, add in the broccoli, then the spinach
  3. Meanwhile beat the eggs and season
  4. Arrange the muffin cases and spoon the vegetables into the bottom of each case
  5. Add a pinch of grated cheese to each case (if desired, otherwise leave out)
  6. Spoon in the egg mixture
  7. Bake in the oven at 175C (350F) for about 45 minutes
  8. Enjoy or store in the fridge to enjoy for breakfast tomorrow

 

Recipe Paleo Deviled Eggs-min

Recipe: Paleo Deviled Eggs

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?

Recipe Paleo Deviled Eggs-min

 

Recipe: Paleo Deviled Eggs
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Sides
Ingredients
  • 4 free range eggs
  • 2 tablespoons paleo mayonnaise
  • ½ teaspoon mustard powder
  • sea salt and ground pepper
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
Instructions
  1. In a large pan of cold water, add the eggs, then bring to the boil.
  2. Allow the eggs to boil for at least 12 minutes, then cool them quickly by pouring cold water into the pan, allowing the hot water to drain away in the sink.
  3. Remove the eggs and peel the shells off. I find it easiest to lightly smash the eggs on the counter so the whole shell is cracked, then peel off neatly. Be careful to do this cleanly and not damage the egg white.
  4. Using a good sharp knife (be careful!) cut the egg in half lengthways.
  5. Remove the egg yolks and place in a bowl.
  6. Add the mayonnaise, mustard and seasoning to the bowl and mix well.
  7. If you have the skills, transfer the mixture into a piping bag and pipe the mixture back into the egg halves. Otherwise, just spoon it in!
  8. Finally, sprinkle the paprika onto the egg halves to garnish.
  9. Serve and enjoy