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Paleo pizza sauce recipe tomato basil oregano

Recipe: Pizza Sauce

The secret to a good paleo pizza is in the pizza sauce! This combination of onion, garlic, oregano and basil is super easy to make and creates a perfect base for your toppings. No one will ever suspect your pizza isn't made the conventional way with gluten heavy flour! Find out how to make my grain-free paleo pizza base here

Recipe: Pizza Sauce
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Sauces & Condiments
Ingredients
  • 200g tomato paste
  • 250ml water
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon basil
Instructions
  1. mix the ingredients together thoroughly with a whisk
  2. spoon the pizza sauce out onto the pizza bases as required

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I've seen a few brands of tomato paste with added herbs – make sure the one you use is plain, with nothing added.

You don't need to cook the pizza sauce, as you'll be cooking it with the pizza. But if you want a thicker sauce, you'll want to heat and stir it until it thickens up. This is great to freeze in small pizza-size batches, so it's ready to go whenever you fancy a home-made paleo pizza! Frozen, it should last for up to three months.

what to do with left-over herb stems basil rosemary waste produce ideas paleo diet

6 things to do with left over herb stems

When a recipe calls for a few fresh basil leaves, a bit or parsley or oregano, what do you do with the stems that get left behind?

If you've been throwing them away – STOP!

Use them whole

For big stems like rosemary, try adding them whole to sauces and soups, then removing them whole before serving.

what to do with left-over herb stems basil rosemary waste produce ideas paleo diet

Make a veggie broth

Keep a bag in the freezer and add stems as you use them. When the bag is full, it's time to make veggie stock!

Use them as herbs

In the conventional way – chop them up really finely and add them to your recipe

Use them as kebab skewers

This one takes a bit more preparation, but it you have big herb plats like rosemary, save the long stems. Wash them thoroughly, then freeze them. Use them frozen in the place of a wooden or metal skewer to have deliciously rosemary infused meat and veggies on your next barbecue!

Make herb infused olive oil

Simply add the stems in an air-tight contained with some olive oil and leave for a few days. Next time you use the oil, it will have a delicious herb-infused flavour.

Stuff with them

When you stuff a bird or fish, use the left-over herb stems. Remove before serving and the herbs will have infused into the meat/ fish perfectly.

chilli_tomato bacon soup recipe_paleo_diet

Recipe: chilli, tomato & bacon soup

This is one of my go-to batch cooking recipes as it provides lots of portions of soup, perfect for taking to work. And who could resist a tomato and bacon soup? It has bacon in it, after all. Depending on what I have at home, I often use tinned tomatoes, instead of fresh. I tend to have chicken stock in the freezer, but otherwise, try it with bone broth – or even water if you have neither.

Recipe: chilli, tomato & bacon soup
Recipe type: Soups
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • Dash of extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 large brown onions, finely diced
  • 8 bacon slices, chopped
  • 15 - 20 tomatoes, chopped (depending on your preference you may choose to peel and de-seed)
  • 1½ litres of chicken stock
  • 4 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 5 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
  • sea salt and black pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and gently fry the onions and bacon.
  2. When the onions become soft, add in the tomatoes, stock, paste, chili and seasoning
  3. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stiring occasionally
  4. After about 20 minutes, remove from the heat
  5. Blitz in a blender until your desired consistency has been reached
  6. Serve and enjoy!

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Paleo recipe Shredded Chicken with Courgette Ribbons, Kalamata Olives, Sundried Tomatoes and Lemon dinner lunch-min

Recipe: Shredded Chicken with Courgette Ribbons, Kalamata Olives, Sundried Tomatoes and Lemon

There are plenty of reasons I love this recipe, but there are two that stand out way above the rest. Firstly, it's ready in under 5 minutes, and secondly, it looks like it’s taken you all day! It’s perfect for summer BBQs where you’d much rather be spending your time with friends and family rather than in the kitchen peeling more vegetables or prepping more salad. The contrast in colours and shapes on the table make it a visually stunning dish – and it’s super tasty too!

Serves 4

Shredded Chicken Ingredients:

  • ½ medium chicken, pre roasted and cooled
  • 4 large zuchini/ courgettes
  • A large handful Kalamata (or any other meaty black olives), roughly chopped
  • 6 – 8 Sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • Juice and zest 2 lemons
  • A good splash olive oil
  • 1 tsp raw honey
  • A small handful fresh basil, finely chopped
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Shredded Chicken How To:

1)    Using a fork, finely shred half of the chicken, leaving the other half to snack on later! Set aside.

2)    Using a vegetable peeler, ribbon the courgettes lengthways. Work your way around the vegetable and into the middle, to create elegant spirals. Transfer to a large salad bowl and combine with the chicken. Mix in the olives and sundried tomatoes.

3)    Sprinkle the lemon zest over the salad before squeezing over the juice. Combine the olive oil with the raw honey (to cut the acidity of the lemons and the olives) before drizzling over the salad. Toss well, before adding your chopped herbs and seasoning to taste.

Paleo recipe Shredded Chicken with Courgette Ribbons, Kalamata Olives, Sundried Tomatoes and Lemon dinner lunch-min

Recipe paleo pesto side-min

Recipe: Paleo Pesto

The beauty of pesto is, after hundreds of years, there is still no definitive recipe. It's all about personal preference; chopping, changing, tasting and seasoning as you go along. Bearing this in mind, this recipe is subject to tweaking as you please – be sure to share what you did differently and how it worked out!

Paleo Pasta Ingredients:

  • 2 cups fresh basil
  • ½ cup pine nuts
  • ½ cup walnuts
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • Juice of half a lemon

Paleo Pesto Ingredients:

1)     In a food processor, blitz together the basil, pine nuts, walnuts and garlic until coarse.

2)     Mix together the olive oil and lemon juice. Gradually, add this to the mixture, blitzing regularly, until the pesto reaches your desired texture. Often, you won’t need to use all of the oil and will have some left over to use as a salad dressing.

3)     Season to taste with salt and pepper

Recipe paleo pesto side-min

 

Paleo Diet Recipe Vegan Vegetarian Primal Vegetable Bake-min

Recipe: Vegetable Bake with Tomato & Basil Sauce (Vegan & Vegetarian)

I wanted to share with you one of the recipes from my new Vegan and Vegetarian Paleo recipe ebook. Whilst Vegetarian and Paleo might not seem to naturally go together, by avoiding grains – and making sure you get some good legume-free protein into your diet, it is possible to follow a Vegetarian Paleo diet.

My Paleo Vegetarian and Vegan recipe book shows how to transition into Paleo and is packed with recipes for grain, legume and dairy free recipes. Recipes demonstrate good Paleo protein sources and there are also plenty of Vegan options (i.e. no eggs or dairy). For those looking for a gradual transition into full Paleo, the book also details how to properly prepare grains and legumes, for those who aren't ready to give them up on day one.

If you're interested in the recipe ebook, you can find it here.

This recipe is a vegetable bake, full of flavours. Whether you're vegetarian or not, this makes a great Paleo dinner!

 Vegetable Bake Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

  • 1 large eggplant (about 500 g or 1lb), trimmed & sliced in 1 cm thick rounds
  • 2 large zucchini (about 500 g or 1lb), sliced lengthways in ½ cm thick strips
  • olive oil, to brush
  • 2 red capsicum (bell pepper)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, halved & sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 x 400g (or 1lb) tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 cup basil leaves, torn
  • ½ cup pitted black olives
  • ½ cup semi-sundried tomatoes in olive oil*
  • handful baby basil leaves, to serve
  • sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

 * If you can’t find them in 100 % olive oil reconstitute sundried tomatoes in olive oil (to cover) with a clove or 2 of smashed garlic and a sprig of oregano.

The Paleo Primal Diet Vegetarian Vegan Recipe Ebook

Vegetable Bake How To:

Preheat oven 180ºC (350ºF) and put the racks in the top and bottom thirds. Prepare 2 slide trays with baking paper and arrange the eggplant on one and the zucchini on the other in a single layer. Brush liberally with olive oil, season, add the capsicums to the tray and bake for 30 minutes. Remove. Place the capsicums (bell peppers) in a plastic bag and tie shut. Sweat for at least 20 minutes before roughly peeling them (the skin will slip off easily), tearing into quarters and discarding the seeds and stalk.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and sauté, covered, for 10 minutes, or until they’re very soft. Remove the lid, add the garlic and stir for a minute then add the tomatoes and basil with some seasoning. Cover, adjust the heat to keep the tomatoes at a steady simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the olives.

Grease a 20 cm2 (8 inches) dish. Arrange the eggplant in one even layer over the base (you can squish them a bit) then spread a quarter of a cup of the tomato sauce over the top. Next, arrange the capsicum (bell pepper) in a single layer, then the zucchini. Spread the remaining tomato sauce over this then arrange the semi-sundried tomatoes on top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes then uncover and bake for a further 15 minutes. Allow to sit for 15 minutes out of the oven in a warm place.

Serve warm, garnished with baby basil leaves and accompanied by a green salad.

Paleo Diet Recipe Vegan Vegetarian Primal Vegetable Bake-min