DIY Mackerel Ceviche with Rocket paleo recipe-min

Recipe: DIY Mackerel Ceviche with Rocket

If you’ve never tried ceviche before, then what better way to start by doing it yourself! Contrary to popular belief, it's easy to do. The fish cooks in the chemicals from the acid, so is not ‘raw’ like sushi. Even still, grab yourself super fresh mackerel for this one, it will make all the difference.

DIY Mackerel Ceviche Ingredients:

  • 2 large mackerel fillets
  • Juice of 1 large lime
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 2 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
  • Sea Salt
  • Black Pepper
  • A handful fresh rocket

DIY Mackerel Ceviche How To:

Slice the mackerel into thin strips. Place in a resealable plastic bag

Toss in the lime juice, chilli, spring onion and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and shake well. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Remove from the bag and serve with plenty of fresh rocket.

How was your experience of ceviche? Would you do it again?

DIY Mackerel Ceviche with Rocket paleo recipe-min

Cajun Chicken and Avocado Salad paleo diet lunch-min

Recipe: Cajun Chicken and Avocado Salad

Cajun seasoning is one of my personal favourites, but sadly the shop bought combinations are usually laden with salt and other horrible additives. Nonetheless, it’s super easy to make it yourself, and tastes way better too! It works great with Chicken and Pork, so I like to make sure I've always got some in the cupboard made up. The combination of the punchy Cajun flavours with the natural sweetness of the tomatoes and the creamy avocado in this salad is utterly divine.

Ingredients:

  • 4 free range chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
  • 2 ripe, medium sized avocados, peeled and chopped
  • Salad leaves of your choice: a mix of rocket; spinach and watercress works a treat!
  • 200g Cherry Tomatoes, halved.
  • Juice of 1 lemon

For the Cajun Seasoning:

  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp oregano
  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • A little unrefined sea salt, to taste

How To:

1)     Dice the chicken breasts. In a bowl, drizzle half the lemon juice, making sure to watch out for any seeds, over the meat. Evenly coat it in the spice mixture, and set aside.

2)     In a large salad bowl, combine your mix of salad leaves with the chopped avocado and the cherry tomatoes. Toss in the remaining lemon juice – this will stop the avocado from turning brown.

3)     Heat a little oil in a pan to a high heat. Add the chicken, and fry until cooked through and golden brown on both sides. Add to the salad, and enjoy!

I’d love to hear how this Cajun seasoning worked for you, and what else you tried it with! Please share in the comments below.

Cajun Chicken and Avocado Salad paleo diet lunch-min

Smoked Mackerel with Fresh Beet Slaw paleo lunch recipe-min

Paleo Lunch Box Recipe – Smoked Mackerel with Fresh Beet Slaw

I just love making my own ‘slaw’ – they are quick to make, super versatile and brilliant to keep in the fridge. You can mix them up with all sorts of ingredients, and they are perfect to chuck in the lunchbox for a healthy pick me up. This slaw is made with raw beets, and is as wonderful to look at as it is to eat. Smoked mackerel is the perfect combination to boost the protein and omega 3s.

The Slaw recipe below makes enough for about four good sized servings, so if you have a family to feed you may want to double up. Switch up the ingredients however you see fit – don’t be afraid to experiment!

Slaw Ingredients:

  • 2 strips sustainably caught smoked mackerel per portion

For the Slaw:

  • 2 raw beets
  • 4 medium carrots
  • ¼ red cabbage
  • ¼ white cabbage
  • 2 green apples
  • Handful pumpkin seeds
  • Handful flaked almonds
  • 75ml red wine vinegar
  • 40ml olive oil

Slaw How To:

Chop both cabbages as finely as possible. Grate the carrots, beets and apples, and combine all in a large bowl.

Combine the red wine vinegar and olive oil in a separate bowl. Gradually stir into the slaw mixture, then add the pumpkin seeds and almonds and mix again. Season to taste. Cover with gladwrap/ clingfilm and store in the fridge.

The slaw will keep in the fridge for a good 3 – 4 days, and the flavours will just develop over this period. When ready to serve, add to your lunchbox with 2 good sized strips smoked mackerel (slip the bottom skin off first if you like). Just make sure the lid is on tight, as you don’t want beetroot juice leaking into your bag!

Smoked Mackerel with Fresh Beet Slaw paleo lunch recipe-min

Paleo Diet Recipe Primal Carrot, Blood Orange and Ginger Soup-min

Recipe: Carrot, Blood Orange and Ginger Soup

Literally bursting with beta carotene and vitamin c, the ginger in this soup packs a real zing while the turmeric and coriander provide delicate and warming undertones. Enjoy it as an appetiser with friends, and make plenty extra to have for lunch the next day! Delicious topped with toasted, flaked almonds.

I'm sure this will work just as well with normal oranges, although I loved the colour the blood oranges provided!

Soup Ingredients:

  • 2 / 3 medium shallots, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 6 – 8cm fresh ginger, grated
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 750g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 whole blood oranges, peeled and separated into segments
  • 2 cups homemade vegetable stock
  • Pinch of salt

Soup How To:

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in your largest saucepan over a low heat. Gently simmer the shallots, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes.

Add the spices and 2 tbsp vegetable stock. Simmer gently for another couple of minutes, before adding the remaining stock, carrots and oranges.

Raise the heat and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 – 25 minutes, until the carrots are tender. Blitz well with an immersion blender until the soup is smooth. Season to taste and serve straight away.

Paleo Diet Recipe Primal Carrot, Blood Orange and Ginger Soup-min

Paleo Lunch Box – Prawn, Mango and Spicy Guacamole Collard Wraps recipe-min

Recipe – Paleo Lunch Box – Prawn, Mango and Spicy Guacamole Collard Wraps

If I’m on a day trip and taking a packed lunch, one of my ‘go to’ foods is a Paleo friendly wrap. These ones are collard wraps – which ideally lend themselves to the purpose. Seriously, who needs bread with options like this? They’re easy to make, super portable, and you just can’t beat the combination of flavours and textures that they bring.

The ‘wrap’ itself is just a vehicle to allow you to get the good stuff into your belly, so it doesn’t need to be a health hazard. If anything, swapping a SAD tortilla wrap for a rolled up lettuce or collard leaf improves the flavour and the texture (not to mention the healthiness) of your meal.

 In this recipe, you have savoury, sweet, creamy and spicy all in one neat little package. Enjoy!

Recipe - Paleo Lunch Box – Prawn, Mango and Spicy Guacamole Collard Wraps
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Lunch
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 300g cooked and peeled prawns
  • 1 large, ripe mango, diced
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 carrot, grated
  • 2 ripe avocados
  • Zest and juice 1 lime
  • 6 spring onions
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • Salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 4 x large collard leaves
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, toss together the prawns, mango, tomatoes and grated carrot.
  2. In a separate bowl, mash the avocados with the lime, spring onions, chilli and garlic.
  3. Lay the collard leaves out flat on a chopping board. Divide the prawn filling between the four, before slapping on a spoonful of the guacamole on each. Roll the collards up to make wraps, and hold them together by poking in a cocktail stick.

Do you often make paleo friendly wraps for lunch? What is your favourite medium to use for the wraps? Cabbage? Seaweed? Lettuce? Or something else? I'd love to hear!

Paleo Lunch Box – Prawn, Mango and Spicy Guacamole Collard Wraps recipe-min

Get Well Soon Chicken Soup paleo recipe-min

Recipe: Get Well Soon Chicken Soup

Feeling a bit crummy? Chances are, you find yourself feeling under the weather much less than you ever did before you started eating Paleo – but on those rare days that you do, nothing says ‘get well soon’ like a steaming hot bowl of chicken soup. It’s the ultimate comfort food, and boiling the whole bird means it is chocked full of vitamins, minerals, and of course – gelatin. Even if you’re not ill, I highly recommend you make some of this!

Recipe: Get Well Soon Chicken Soup
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Soups
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 1 x 1.5kg chicken
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 3 onions, roughly chopped
  • 1 bulb fennel, roughly chopped
  • 6 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 4 bay leaves
  • Few sprigs fresh thyme
  • Few sprigs fresh rosemary
  • A large handful fresh parsley
  • Sea salt and black pepper
Instructions
  1. Wash your chicken, before putting it into your biggest stock pot. Fill the pot with cold water, just enough to cover the bird, before adding the red wine vinegar. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 45 minutes. Skim the froth from the top, before removing the chicken.
  2. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred all the meat from the bird using a fork. It may not be completely cooked through yet – this is perfectly normal.
  3. Return the chicken carcass to the stock pot, and add the onions, fennel, carrots, garlic and herbs (except the parsley). Return to the heat, cover and simmer for another couple of hours.
  4. minutes before serving, return the shredded chicken back to the soup. When fully cooked through, serve in soup bowls garnished with the fresh parsley.

What's the secret to your favourite chicken soup recipe? Is it a dish you often make?

Get Well Soon Chicken Soup paleo recipe-min

Recipe: Paleo Chicken Schnitzel

Chicken Schnitzel is pretty much the national dish of Australia (perhaps after pie?), which is funny, because if you ask for chicken schnitzel in the UK people think you’ve come straight from the 1970’s.

The only problem with chicken schnitzel is the ingredients. This is what’s in a fairly standard one I saw in the supermarket:

Chicken (52%), Water, Buckwheat Flour, Wheat Flour, Thickener (1404, 415, 1442), Salt, Dehydrated Vegetables (Onion, Garlic), Herbs (Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage), Spices (Pepper), Wheat Gluten, Yeast, Egg Albumen, Sugar, Colours (150a, 100, 160c, 160b), Dextrose (Tapioca, Maize), Mineral Salts (450, 500), Canola Oil, Cottonseed Oil, Soy Protein, Thickener (1404), Yeast, Vinegar, Iodised Salt, Soy Flour, Emulsifiers (411, 481, 472E), Vitamin (Thiamin, Folate), Vegetable Gum (412), Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein, Wheat Cereal, Flavour Enhancer (635)

Quite alarming when the chicken element in your chicken is barely 50%, don’t you think? Also “chicken” doesn’t really tell you too much, I think we can assume if it doesn’t say free-range, it’s almost certainly not the type of chicken I’d choose to buy. So you know what this means? Yes – it means a paleo chicken schnitzel recipe is called for!

Recipe: Paleo Chicken Schnitzel
Recipe type: Poultry
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 2 free-range chicken breasts
  • 1 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup almond meal
  • ½ cup coconut flour
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ¾ teaspoon paprika
  • ¼ tsp ground coriander
  • ¼ tsp ground cumin
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 230C (450F) if you’re going to oven bake rather than fry
  2. Slice the chicken in half width-ways, creating two thin pieces and pound with a rolling pin (or, if you have a better equipped kitchen than me, a meat tenderiser) until it’s super thin. If you don’t want raw chicken flying around your kitchen, you can wrap it in gladwrap/ cling film for this step. You can keep whole and have proper schnitzels, or slice into strips like I did.
  3. Put the Tapioca flour (or you can use arrowroot flour if you don’t have tapioca) in a bowl, and the egg in a separate bowl. Tip – fill up the Tapioca bowl as you use it to avoid waste.
  4. In another bowl, mic together the almond meal, coconut flour, seasoning and herbs/ spices. I tend to do this in small batches too, to avoid being left with an eggy mess of excess crumb mixture I’ll have to throw away.
  5. Now for the fun part. Dip the chicken pieces in each bowl, turn by turn: start with the tapioca layer, then the egg layer and end with the crumb mixture. Maybe it’s just me, but I find this turns into a huge mess, so small batches of the dry bowls will help here.
  6. You now have a choice and whilst most people will choose to fry, I find I get far better results oven baking. The crumb is evenly golden with the inside cooked but tender. But give both a try and see what works for you.
  7. If you’re oven baking, arrange on a baking tray and cook for about 20 minutes. I always cut into the chicken in a couple of the thickest places to ensure there are no pink bits left. If you’re going to fry about 8-10 minutes in a hot pan in some coconut oil should do the trick – just make sure you turn them a couple of times.

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Do you have a gluten-free paleo version of this recipe that you use? I'd love to hear your secret ingredients!

paleo_recipe_7_minute salmon poached_perfect

Recipe: 7 Minute Salmon

Salmon is great in so many things – recently I’ve been having a lot of salmon salads. I’ve tried lots of different ways of cooking it, but I think I’ve got the perfect method – and best of all, it takes just 7 minutes on the stove. I find this method far more consistant than frying or baking, as it always turns out well. This poaching technique is quick and cooks the fish through, but it remains tender. I tend to make up more than I need, as it’s fine to keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, making for a quick lunch option.

I’m quite careful about the fish I get and avoid farmed fish. Look out for wild fish where you can.

Recipe: 7 Minute Salmon
Recipe type: Fish & Seafood
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 4 wild salmon fillets
  • 3 spring onions, trimmed
  • 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
  • Squeeze of fresh lime
  • Sea salt
Instructions
  1. In a pan just big enough to accommodate the fish, arrange the fillets so they don’t overlap, and cover with cold water until they are immersed.
  2. Add the spring onions, peppercorns and lime, then the sea salt.
  3. Bring the water to the boil and as soon as it starts to boil, turn the fillets over and remove the pan from the heat. Leave the pan to stand for 7 minutes.
  4. After 7 minutes, take the salmon out of the pan and leave to cool completely. Once the salmon is cool it will be cooked to perfection.

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How do you cook Salmon (and other fish?) I’d love to hear your tips in the comments below.

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.

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