Recipe Kielbasa and Cabbage Soup paleo-min

Recipe: Kielbasa and Cabbage Soup

Ever tried Kielbasa? Biala Kielbasa is a Polish smoked sausage traditionally made with pork, and seasoned with garlic and marjoram before being smoked. If you can find it – and it sticks to its traditional Polish routes, chances are it will be paleo – but make sure you check the ingredients. This is a really flavoursome soup- and completely paleo!

Recipe Kielbasa and Cabbage Soup paleo-min

Recipe: Kielbasa and Cabbage Soup
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Soups
Ingredients
  • Drop of coconut oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 clove crushed garlic
  • 120g (1/4 lb) Kielbasa (or substitute with another smoke sausage)
  • 5 tomatoes, chopped
  • ½ shredded cabbage
  • ½ litre (2 cups) chicken stock
  • dash of apple cider vinegar
  • pinch paprika
  • bay leaf
  • Ground pepper & sea salt
Instructions
  1. ) Put the coconut oil in a pan, and over a medium heat cook the onion, carrots, garlic and sausage. You'll want to cook these until the onions start to soften.
  2. ) Add in the tomatoes, cabbage, chicken stock and apple cider vinegar
  3. ) Cover the pan and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. If it gets too dry, add more stock or water.
  4. ) Add in the paprika, bay leaf and seasoning and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
  5. ) Remove the bay leaf, serve and enjoy.

How to cut a bell pepper capsicum technique paleo-min

How to cut a bell pepper

How do you cut yours? I always used to get seeds everywhere when I cut up a capsicum (or bell pepper as they're known elsewhere in the world), until I found this technique. No mess, no wastage – and best of all the seeds stay together and can be easily removed.

Tutorial How To Cut Bell Pepper Capsicum-min

So all you need to do is:

  • Cut the top and bottom off the bell pepper/ capsicum
  • Next to one of the white sections, connecting the outside to the seeds, make a cut down
  • Open out the side of the pepper/ capsicum, cutting away the pieces attached to the centre as you go
  • Remove the seed section
  • Put out the stalk from the top of the capsicum/ bell pepper
  • Now you have three clean sections to cut up!

How do you cut yours? I'd love to hear any good techniques that you use, in the comments below!

Recipe paleo ranch dressing sauce dip-min

Recipe: Paleo Ranch Dressing

A ranch dressing is great to go with crudités of raw vegetables like carrots, cucumber and broccoli. Unfortunately ranch dressing is usually not paleo thanks to all of the dairy, as it's typically made with buttermilk – or sometimes yoghurt or sour cream. The other problem is the shop bought stuff. Yuck! Have you seen the ingredients?

Recipe paleo ranch dressing sauce dip-min

This is the list of ingredients in the popular Paul Newman brand of ranch dressing:

Soyabean Oil, Water, Vinegar, Buttermilk Powder, Whey Powder, (Milk), Garlic (2.0%), Salt, Egg Yolk, Cane Sugar, Onion Powder, Food Acid (Lactic), Lemon Juice (0.1%), Natural Flavour (Vegetable Gum [ Acacia]), Parsley, Vegetable Gum (Xanthan), Spice.

Soybean oil, sugar and all of those “additions”, no thanks. So best to make your own, don't you think?

Recipe: Paleo Ranch Dressing
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Sauces & Condiments
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Another great paleo friendly sauce to have up your sleeve!
Ingredients
  • 250ml (1 cup) paleo mayonnaise
  • 250ml (1 cup) coconut milk
  • Half a lemon, juiced
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • Pinch of paprika
  • Sea salt and fresh pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill (or half this quantity dried)
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley (or half this quantity dried)
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives (or half this quantity dried)
Instructions
  1. Mix together the mayo, coconut milk and squeeze in the juice from the lemon
  2. Add in the garlic and dried ingredients thoroughly
  3. Mix in the fresh herbs
  4. Try with raw vegetables, or served with chicken wings.
Cooking paleo recipes with almond flour almond meal

Cooking paleo recipes with almond flour

If you've done much paleo cooking you'll have noticed lots of recipes call for almond flour or almond meal. With flour a no-no, almond flour is a great alternative.

Cooking paleo recipes with almond flour almond meal

What's the difference between almond meal and almond flour?

Simple – almond meal is darker in colour because it is made with almonds with their skins on. Almond flour is made with blanched almonds.

I prefer cooking with a more finely ground almond flour/ meal as I find it a lot lighter. Another thing to bear in mind, is that if you're substituting conventional flour for almond flour, you'll need to watch the temperatures – you'll probably need them a lot lower.

Make your own

You can make your own almond flour by blanching almonds and grinding them -but be careful not to over grind, or you'll end up with almond butter. To get really good results (like shop bought almond flour), you'll need a grain/ nut mill, like this. If that's too much like hard work, you can buy your almond flour or meal ready to use. Remember – buy in bulk to save money – the small packs are really expensive.

paleo recipes almond meal flour discount promo code iherb

Substituting flour for almond flour

Unfortunately it's not as simple as substituting one cup of white or wholemeal flour for one cup of almond flour. Almond flours lack the starch and gluten SAD flour has, which may mean you need to consider adding some sort of binding ingredient like eggs. You may also find a 1-1 substitution makes your recipe turn out too dense.

Storing almond flour

As this is an oil based flour, you need to make sure it doesn't turn rancid (if it does,throw it away). I store mine in the freezer, but if you keep yours in a cool dark place it should be ok for several months. Another reason to buy in bulk.

Here are some of my paleo recipes to try, which use almond flour:

Paleo Diet Primal Recipe Double Almond and Black Cherry Slices Paleo diet recipe Cinnamon and molasses flax cookies Paleo Dinner Recipe Spicy Tilapia Fishcakes Crispy Coconut Coating
Paleo Diet Primal Recipe Paleo Lemon Cookie Cupcakes Paleo network pizza recipe almond cauliflower crust Paleo Diet Recipe Ginger Bread Men Man Cookies Biscuits
Crispy Spiced Chicken Thighs Paleo Diet Recipe Primal Raw Chocolate Caramel Torte Recipe Chilli Cumin meatballs mango pomegranate salsa paleo diet
Easy beef jerky recipe dried Biltong recipe paleo network-min

Recipe: Quick & easy beef jerky

Beef jerky is one of my favourite snacks. It's really filling, full of good fats and protein and easy to store. That is if you make your own. The shop bought stuff can have some nasty added ingredients.

These ingredients are from a packet of Jack Link's Original Beef Jerky:

Beef, water, Sugar, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soy Beans, Salt), Salt, Corn syrup Solids, Flavourings, Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten, Dextrose, Flavour Enhancer: (Monosodium Glutamate), Antioxidant:(Sodium Erythorbate), Preservative: (Sodium Nitrite), Smoke Flavour.

Yeah, that's not even remotely paleo. So make your own! Whilst it's a lot easier to make in a dehydrator (this is mine), you can also give it a try in your oven.

Recipe: Quick & easy beef jerky
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Snacks
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
These are great to keep on hand for a quick healthy paleo snack - they'll keep for ages too!
Ingredients
  • Grass-fed beef (try sirloin or flank steak)
  • Coconut aminos
  • Sea Salt
  • Olive Oil
  • Cinnamon
  • Chilli
  • Paprika
  • Ground Pepper
  • Garlic powder
Instructions
  1. You want to slice the meat really thin for best results - to achieve this wrap the beef and put it in the freezer for a couple of hours.
  2. Once the meat is not quite solid, remove it from the freezer and using a sharp knife (and a lot of care!) slice into thin slices. It's important to make the slices as consistent as possible so they will all require the same drying time.
  3. Put the meat in a ziplock bag and add in the aminos, salt and olive oil. Seal the bag and allow the mixture to coat all of the meat. Put the bag in the fridge and allow the meat to marinate overnight.
  4. Remove the strips from the bag and dust with the cinnamon, chilli, paprika, pepper and garlic.
  5. Space the strips out evenly on the shelves in your dehydrator. Keep checking, but your jerky should be dry in 2 to 4 hours.
  6. If you don't have a dehydrator, heat your oven to 70° C (165° F). You'll need to put the strips on a wire rack, with an oven tray underneath to catch the drips. Expect oven dehydration to take two or three hours.
  7. Which ever method you choose, make sure the meat is cooked all the way through and fully dry before removing it.
  8. Store in an airtight container - and enjoy!

Easy beef jerky recipe dried Biltong recipe paleo network-min

Cajun Spice Marinade paleo recipe-min

Recipe: Cajun Spice Marinade

There's nothing like a simple marinade to spice up an otherwise simple steak or fish dinner.

This is a really easy marinade to put together; make it up in advance and store in in a jar in the fridge so it's ready to use.

Cajun Spice Marinade paleo recipe-min

Recipe: Cajun Spice Marinade
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Sauces & Condiments
Prep time: 
Total time: 
This spice marinade will spice up whichever meat you rub it on!
Ingredients
  • 2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 2 tsp Paprika
  • 1 tsp Oregano
  • 3 tsp Onion Powder
  • 1 tsp Ground black pepper
  • 1 Garlic clove, minced
  • Sea salt (I use pink Himalayan)
Instructions
  1. It couldn't get simpler than this! pound the ingredients with a pestle and mortar until it becomes powdery and evenly distributed.
  2. Rub the mixture over the meat or fish and allow it to marinate for 2 - 3 hours if you can (but if you're in a hurry, 30 minutes will just about do it!)

 

Recipe paleo Slow Cooker Chicken Coconut Veggie Stew-min

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Coconut Veggie Stew

Despite having bought a far too small slow cooker (seriously, why make enough for one meal, when for the same effort you could have enough for several freezer meals?), I've recently been using my slow cooker a lot more. I love being able to put in a bit of effort in the morning, then coming home to smell a delicious dinner ready and waiting. I've found with this one it’s best to wait until right at the end of cooking to add in the coconut cream, but even so, it’s still next to no effort to have a nutritious dinner cook itself for you!

Serves 4 (but if your slow cooker is big enough make as much as you can and save the extras for later!)

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Coconut Veggie Stew
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 3 organic free range chicken breasts, cut into strips
  • 2 parsnips, diced
  • 500g (1 lb) celeriac, peeled and diced
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 30ml (2 tablespoons) olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 30ml (2 tablespoons) minced fresh ginger
  • 15ml (1 tablespoon) curry paste*
  • 5ml (1 teaspoon) ground turmeric
  • 5ml (1 teaspoon) ground chilli
  • Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
  • 300ml (1/2 pint) chicken stock
  • 200ml (7 floz) coconut cream
  • Chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the chicken until brown and cooked through.
  2. Put the parsnips, celeriac and carrots in the slow cooker
  3. Meanwhile, add the onion, garlic and ginger to the pan, and cook for a further five minutes, stirring until they soften.
  4. Into the pan, stir in the paste, turmeric, chilli and seasoning.
  5. Add the stock to the pan, and bring it to the boil, stiring occasionally.
  6. Transfer the contents of the pan into the slow cooker, and with the lid on, cook on a low heat for 6-8 hours.
  7. In the last hour add in the coconut cream to add the creaminess to the dish
  8. Just before serving, add the coriander garnish.
  9. *This is so easy to make instead of buying – I’ll type up my recipe and link to it – watch this space!

Recipe paleo Slow Cooker Chicken Coconut Veggie Stew-min

Recipe Sticky Chilli Apricot Salmon Sautéed Sesame Collards paleo network-min

Recipe: Sticky Chilli and Apricot Salmon with Sautéed Sesame Collards

Looking for a recipe that's a little different? This recipe for Sticky Chilli and Apricot Salmon with Sautéed Sesame Collards is certainly that! The apricots and chilli create a great hot but sweet combination – this will be a huge hit with whoever you decide to cook it for!

Recipe: Sticky Chilli and Apricot Salmon with Sautéed Sesame Collards
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 8 ripe apricots
  • 100ml orange juice
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp coconut aminos
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
  • 2cm fresh root ginger, minced
  • 2 salmon fillets
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 onion, finely sliced
  • 6 – 8 large collard leaves, shredded
  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
  1. Dice the apricots and place them in a saucepan, taking care to retain all the juices. Combine them in the pan with the orange juice, honey, vinegar, coconut aminos, garlic, chilli and ginger. Bring gently to the boil, and simmer for 10 minutes or so until it reduces by about half.
  2. Heat your oven to 180C. Place the salmon fillets on parchment paper, and spoon over half of the apricot glaze. Tightly wrap the parchment paper, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, gently heat the sesame oil in a wok. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or so, until soft. Add the collards and stir fry until tender, before tossing in the sesame seeds.
  4. Remove the salmon from the parchment paper, and serve on top of the sesame collards. Drizzle with the remaining glaze and a handful or so of fresh coriander.

Recipe Sticky Chilli Apricot Salmon Sautéed Sesame Collards paleo network-min

Recipe carrot citrus salad paleo network-min

Recipe: Carrot Citrus Salad

Why have a boring salad, when you can have this zingy brightly coloured salad instead? With a few oranges and lemons still left on the tree, this is a great way to enjoy them! The main ingredient is carrots, but the herbs and spices and citrus make it quite unlike any other carrot you've had before!

This is a great side dish for a summers day, or even enjoy it on top of a paleo burger.

Recipe: Carrot Citrus Salad
 
Author: 
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 4 large carrots
  • pinch of cumin seeds
  • pinch of mustard seeds
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • splash of extra virgin olive oil
  • juice of ½ a lemon
  • juice of ½ an orange
  • small bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
  • sea salt & fresh pepper
  • pinch of orange zest
Instructions
  1. Peel and grate the carrots
  2. Heat the seeds in a pan to release the flavours, then grind them in a pestle and mortar. Add in the cinnamon and mix in with the carrots over the heat for a couple of minutes
  3. Add in the olive oil, citrus juice and coriander (cilantro) as well as the zest and mix in thoroughly.
  4. Allow the flavours to marinate for an hour before serving.

Recipe carrot citrus salad paleo network-min

Recipe foaming zucchini courgette paleo network-min

Recipe: Foaming Zucchini

Don't you just love a two ingredient recipe?! This is a great side dish if you have an abundance of zucchini, as I did. Next time you see it on special offer – buy it all! This dish is guaranteed to be a big talking point!

This is a great side dish and a really good way to get more veggies into your diet, without them being repetitive and a chore to eat. If you're going to eat more vegetables, you might as well enjoy them!

Recipe: Foaming Zucchini
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Sides
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 3 zucchinis (courgettes)
  • 70g (3 oz) butter*
  • Yep, it really is just a two ingredient recipe!
Instructions
  1. Coarsely grate the zucchinis, discarding the ends
  2. Melt the butter slowly in a pan, then add the zucchini and put the lid on the pan.
  3. Shake the pan often to move the zucchini and prevent it from sticking
  4. After a couple of minutes, you'll have steaming zucchini and beautiful zucchini foam.
  5. Serve immediately
  6. *I used butter for this, but if you don't use dairy replace with olive oil, or for a taste sensation, try bacon grease.

Recipe foaming zucchini courgette paleo network-min