Posts

Top ten paleo diet foods list-min

The Top Ten Paleo Diet Foods

What do you think are the top ten Paleo foods, and why? Here is my list…

Paleo-Diet-Recipe-Primal-The-Top-Ten-Foods-10-min

1. Grass fed beef

Good quality grass-fed beef is a great source of protein, omega 3 and many other nutrients. It’s also extremely versatile; grill it, barbeque it, make it into jerky or grind it into mince beef to use in lots of different meals –using the leftover bones to make a nourishing bone broth.

2. Pastured Chicken

Pastured chicken is delicious as the centre of a roast dinner – and the leftovers make beautiful chicken stock. A great protein source, left over chicken is great to snack on, or turn into curries and soup.

3. Bacon

What list of Paleo foods is complete without bacon? You can even use the remaining fat to cook with.

4. Coconut Oil

As well as being a great oil to cook pretty much anything in, this saturated fat is great on it’s own by the spoonful! Coconut oil is also believed to be a great help with dementia and can even be used on your skin.

5. Avocado

Avocado is a perfect fat source and goes with almost anything. You can even cook it, or use it to make a dessert!

6. Eggs

Not only are eggs a great protein source, they are great for making paleo egg fried rice, filling for breakfast – and easy to hardboil in advance to keep peeled in the fridge as a ready snack.

7. Berries

Berries are relatively low in fructose and a great source of antioxidants.

8. Kale

Kale is a true superfood, as it is packed with magnesium, calcium, vitamins A, C and K, lutein, iron and antioxidants. You can even turn it into kale chips!

9. Onions

Onions are a sulphur rich vegetable (which Dr. Terry Walhs considers important enough to eat three cupful’s worth a day) – and just so incredibly versatile. Whether you’re making a stew – or even an omelette, onions will be a great addition.

10. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a great base for lots of meals – such as beanless chilli – as they lend themselves so readily to sauce.

Do you agree with my list? What would be on your top ten list of Paleo foods?

Paleo recipe thai green curry-min

Recipe: Paleo Thai Green Curry

One of my favourite curries is Thai Green Curry. Hot and spicy, it’s always a winner. It’s also so easy to make, even if I wasn’t dubious about the ingredients in restaurant versions, I would still prefer to make my own.

Whilst it might “traditionally” be served with rice, my version is far better, served with 100% Paleo cauliflower rice.

Paleo recipe thai green curry-min

Thai Green Curry Ingredients:

The Curry Paste:

  • 1 teaspoon white peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 lemongrass stalk, chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 4 spring onions, chopped
  • 2 tablespoon coriander stems, chopped
  • 3cm piece ginger, peeled and chopped
  • 4 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
  • 4 bird’s eye chillies
  • 2 tablespoons chopped lemongrass
  • 2 tablespoon coconut oil

For the Curry:

  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 3 tablespoon green curry paste (as made, above)
  • 125ml/4fl oz chicken stock
  • 250ml/8fl oz coconut cream
  • 1 anchovy, finely chopped
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves, torn
  • 500g/1lb chicken breast fillets, cut into chunks
  • 400g aubergine, cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • Handful fresh basil leaves
  • 3 green chillies, deseeded and sliced

How To:

Firstly, make the paste. In a small pan, heat the peppercorn, coriander and cumin seeds, ensuring they do not burn, until they release their scent.

Add the toasted herbs to the remaining paster ingredients in a blender, and blend until it becomes a thick paste. You can store the paste in a jar in the fridge for a week or so.

Over a high heat, melt the coconut oil in a large pan. Brown the chicken pieces, then set them aside.  In the remaining oil, cook the paste for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add to the pan the stock, coconut cream, anchovy and leaves, then reduce the heat. Cook for 6-7 minutes. Add in the chicken and cook for another 6 or 7 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add in the remaining ingredients and cook for a few more minutes. To serve, top with the basil leaves and the chilli. Serve immediately with a helping of homemade cauliflower rice.

Do you make your Thai green curry the same way as I do? I’d love to hear what you do different, in the comments below!

Paleo recipe how to make perfect roast chicken bake-min

Recipe: How To Make A Perfect Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken, done right is delicious and tender, but with a crispy skin. Far too often though, the meat is dry, tough and stringy, and the skin soft.

With rotisserie chickens available just about everywhere, the art of roasting a chicken seems to be disappearing – which is a shame because it is so easy!

The most important thing with roasting a chicken – is the chicken! Getting a really good quality organic, free-range chicken will put you on the path to success. A good quality chicken is also the best bet if you want to make use of the carcass for making a chicken stock.

My method couldn’t be a any simpler, so next time you go to get a rotisserie chicken, why not try this instead?

Roast Chicken Ingredients

  • Chicken (ideally organic, free-range and pasture raised)
  • A lemon
  • Fresh thyme
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 50ml (2 fl oz) olive oil
  • Sea salt & fresh ground black pepper

How To Make Roast Chicken

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F)

Rinse the chicken and remove the giblets. Dry the chicken using kitchen paper.

Cut the lemon in half and sandwich a sprig of the thyme in the middle. Put the lemon inside the chicken cavity.

Skin and crush the garlic cloves and add to a food processor with the leaves of the remaining thyme and the olive oil and blend together.

Massage the olive oil mixture into the chicken thoroughly, ensuring it is completely covered.

Put the bird into a roasting tray, and top with any remaining oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Cover the chicken loosely with foil and roast for 30 minutes.

Reduce the temperature to 170C (330F) and remove the foil and roast for a further 20 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the bird is pierced with a skewer.

Turn off the oven, but allow the chicken to rest in the hot oven for ten minutes, before removing from the oven to carve.

Pour the juices from the roasting tray over the sliced chicken to serve, or set aside to make a gravy. The carcass can be used to make a chicken stock.

Enjoy – and please share your roasting tips and tricks in the comments below!

Paleo recipe how to make perfect roast chicken bake-min

Recipe-The-Paleo-Diet-Pate-Offal-Liver-Duck-Chicken-Kangaroo-min

Recipe: Paleo Chicken Liver Pâté

In keeping with my new years resolution to eat more offal, Pâté seems to be a great place to start.

You can make Pâté with lots of different meats, but my favourite is chicken liver Pâté.

With offal, I'm always very careful to make sure the meat is really high quality – organic, pasture raised is ideal.

Pâté Ingredients

  • 200g (6oz) chicken livers
  • 150g (5oz) butter, diced (or use the same volume of tallow, bacon fat or coconut oil)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 2 small brown shallots or 1/4 onion, finely diced
  • ¼ tsp fresh thyme leaves
  • 1tbsp brandy (optional)
  • 1/4tsp grated nutmeg
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pâté How To:

Remove any unsightly pieces from the liver, such as any green or black spots, or any tough stringy pieces. Rinse the livers, then dry using kitchen paper.

Melt a spoonful of the butter in a pan over a medium heat, before adding the garlic and shallots. Cook for 4 or 5 minutes, until the shallots start to soften and turn translucent.

Add in the chicken livers and thyme and continue to cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring constantly. When the livers have browned on the outside, but are still pink on the inside, it’s time to add in the brandy.

After a few seconds, add in the remaining butter and the nutmeg and stir into the ingredients for a couple of minutes.

Take the pan off the heat, then use a blender or food processor to puree the contents of the pan, until it reaches a smooth paste.

Season to taste, before spooning into a bowl or jar. Chill in the fridge for at least two or three hours before serving.

Liver Pâté is great as a snack, or served with raw veggies like celery, carrots and cucumber. If you have an leftovers, it should keep for about a week in the fridge.

Have you tried making Pâté yet? Which other types of Pâté do you enjoy?

Recipe-The-Paleo-Diet-Pate-Offal-Liver-Duck-Chicken-Kangaroo-min

Nasi Goreng recipe Indonesian Fried Rice Bali Java Primal Diet-min

Recipe: Nasi Goreng

In Indonesia Nasi Goreng is the national dish, appearing in every restaurant and food stall. Nasi means rice and Goreng is fried, so it is literally Fried Rice. Whilst everyone has their own take on Nasi Goreng, the flavours are fantastic, so I was keen to recreate a Paleo version of this dish when I got home from my trip. Obviously the first thing to change is the rice!

Nasi Goreng Ingredients
Sauce:

• Pinch of black peppercorns
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 8 macadamia nuts
• 1 small onion, peeled, roughly chopped
• 3cm (1 inch) fresh ginger, peeled, chopped
• Pinch of ground turmeric
• lemongrass stalks, outer leaves removed, core chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 chilli peppers, seeds removed, roughly chopped
• Pinch sea salt (I’m using Celtic sea salt)
• Spoonful of coconut oil (virgin, unrefined)
• ¼ lime, juice only

Rice (Nasi):

• Spoonful of coconut oil
• 4 onions, diced
• Sea salt, to taste
• 300g (11oz) pre cooked cauliflower rice
• ½ litre (20oz) water
• 1 bulb garlic, peeled, finely chopped
• 3 chillies, seeds removed, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 250g (10oz) leftover diced chicken (cooked)
• Splash of coconut aminos
• 6 spring onions, trimmed, thinly sliced

Serve With:

• Dash of coconut oil
• 4 large free-range eggs
• ¼ cucumber, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, sliced

How To

In a pestle and mortar (or food processor if you have one), grind the peppercorns, nutmeg and macadamias until they form a powder. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and blend until they form a smooth paste.

Heat the coconut oil in a medium pan and fry the onions until they turn golden. Season, then remove from the pan.

Make the cauliflower rice and transfer onto a baking tray to cool.

Heat some more coconut oil in the pan and add the remaining onions, garlic, chillis and carrots. Stir fry until the carrot starts to become tender.

Add the sauce into the pan and stir for a minute. Add in the tomato paste and heat through for a final minute.

Into the pan, add the cooked chicken and cauliflower rice, and stir until it is thoroughly heated through. Finally, add in the coconut aminos and spring onions and mix in well. Take off the heat and keep warm.

Fry the eggs in coconut oil.

Dish the Nasi Goreng and top with the fried eggs. Finish with a side of tomatoes and cucumbers.

Enjoy!

Nasi Goreng recipe Indonesian Fried Rice Bali Java Primal Diet-min

Paleo recipe Quick & Easy Chicken Curry Indian-min

Recipe: Quick & Easy Chicken Curry

This is one of my favourite dishes to make, some chicken, a few veggies and some coconut cream are all that's needed to make this dish. I always make a big batch to give leftovers for a few days – and another lunch option to take into work. This curry is great served with a side of Paleo cauliflower rice.

I used to make this with coconut milk, but I now use coconut cream as it's exactly the same – just not watered down. There are lots of different brands of coconut cream, but my favourite is Ayam. This brand contains just coconut and not guar gum and the other additives which many brands have.

Ingredients:

  • Coconut oil
  • 2 onions
  • Two free range chicken breasts (organic if possible)
  • 2 cans of coconut cream
  • 6 mushrooms
  • Zucchini
  • Carrot
  • Raisins
  • 1.5 teaspoons of ginger
  • 1.5 teaspoons of curry powder
  • Sea salt to taste

Method:

Dice the onions and fry in a pan in some coconut oil over a medium heat.

Meanwhile slice the chicken into strips and add to the pan once the onions turn soft.

Dice the mushrooms, zucchini, carrot and raisins.

Once the chicken is cooked thoroughly add in the coconut cream and water as necessary

Add in the vegetables, spices and season to taste.

Allow the curry to simmer for 20 minutes or so, until cooked, then serve with a side of cauliflower rice.

Paleo recipe Quick & Easy Chicken Curry Indian-min

Paleo diet chicken stock bone broth how to make recipe-min

Chicken Stock

I had a big cooking session at the weekend and thought I’d use the leftover chicken I had to make some Chicken Stock.  When I have the time to cook I like to make things like stock or bone broth, as I can freeze large amounts and use them as the basis for many dishes over the next two or three months.  Stock forms the basis of so many meals, such as soups, sauces, stews and curries.  I always separate the stock into small batches before I freeze so I can just defrost the amount I need.Bone Broth Recipe Book Chicken Beef StockThere seem to be a lot of different ways of making stock and bone broth.  I like to keep mine as uncomplicated as possible as I’d rather add herbs and spices into the meal I use the stock for – not be limited by how I made the stock.

Out of interest, I had a look at the ingredients in the ready-made supermarket Chicken Stocks.

Campbell’s Real Chicken Stock

Chicken Stock (97%) (Water, Chicken, Herb Extracts), Glucose, Salt, Yeast Extract (Contains Barley), Natural Flavour.

Continental Stock Pot Chicken

Concentrated chicken stock (67%) (vegetables (onion, carrot, garlic), water, chicken, herbs, spices), salt, flavours (contain wheat), sugar, vegetable fat, yeast extract, thickners (xanthin gum, locust bean gum), natural colour (carotene)

Massel Chicken Stock

Water, Maltodextrin (Corn), Sea Salt, Natural Vegetable Flavours, Dehydrated Vegetables (Onion, Red Bell Pepper), Vegetable Proteins (Soy), Sugar, Yeast Extract, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Black Pepper.

Coles Chicken Stock

Chicken Stock* (97%) (Water, Chicken, Onion, Carrot, Celery, Bay Leaf), Natural Flavours, Yeast Extract, Sugar, Salt, Vegetable Powders (Onion, Garlic, Sweet Corn), Black Pepper, Vegetable Extract Powder

*Reconstituted from concentrated stock

The shop-bought varieties have so many more ingredients than my home-made version.  I can’t understand why sugar and flavours need to be added to stock, never mind “vegetable” fat, soy and colours (dare I ask what colour is it before they add the colouring?)  I might be wrong, but I’d be surprised if the manufacturers went to the same lengths I do to get good quality free ranged chicken…

I much prefer making my own as it uses up leftovers that could otherwise be wasted – and as it pretty much looks after itself, it isn’t much effort to make at all.

Chicken Stock
Recipe type: Poultry
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • Left over roast chicken carcass
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 onions
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 2 bay leaves
Instructions
  1. I had already roasted a chicken and had a few other pieces left over, so I broke it up and put it in my largest pan.
  2. I roughly chopped up a couple of carrots, a couple of onions and some celery – without peeling them.
  3. I added a couple of bay leaves to the pot and added water until the pot was almost full.
  4. I then bought it to the boil, before reducing the heat to a simmer and then I reduced the heat further.
  5. Every so often I skimmed the top with a spoon to get rid of any residue that rose up.
  6. I let this continue for three or four hours whilst getting on with the rest of my cooking, adding water as required.
  7. I then strained the mixture and discarded the bones and vegetable remains, leaving the stock.
  8. I cooled this quickly by putting the pot in a sink of cold water before refrigerating it.
  9. Once cool I separated it into individual sized portions to freeze until I need them.

WANT ME TO EMAIL YOU THIS RECIPE?

Enter your details and check your email!

I’d love to hear how you make stock and what you use it for?

Paleo diet chicken stock bone broth how to make recipe-min

Avocado, Chicken & Cashew Curry Recipe paleo diet dinner lunch-min

Recipe: Avocado, Chicken & Cashew Curry

My housemate bought me the best birthday present – an enameled cast iron casserole dish, which I've been itching to try!  I had the idea last night to make a curry with one of my favourite ingredients – avocado.  I hoped the avocado would work as a creamy base for the chicken curry, which seemed to work well.  I love cashew nuts too, so added in a few, which was a good contrast to the texture of the avocados.  I think next time I’ll add some more curry powder – I'm always wary of adding in too much!

Avocado, Chicken & Cashew Curry Recipe
Recipe type: Dinner
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Oh yes - you CAN cook with avocado...
Ingredients
  • 2 Organic Chicken Breasts, diced
  • 2 Ripe Avocados, mashed
  • 1 Zucchini, diced
  • 2 Mushrooms, diced
  • 1.5 tins of Coconut Milk (I use Ayam)
  • 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil (I'm using Melrose at the moment)
  • 1 pot Tomato Paste
  • 2 Onions (I used one white, one brown), diced
  • 1 Handful of raw Cashew Nuts, roughly chopped
  • 2 Cloves Garlic, crushed
  • 1.5 Teaspoons Grated Ginger
  • 1 Tablespoon Curry Powder
  • Salt (I’m using Pink Himalayan Sea Salt)
  • Half Teaspoon of each Cumin, Cinnamon, Cayenne Pepper, Paprika
Instructions
  1. I browned the chicken in the coconut oil in the casserole dish; then put it to one side.
  2. I sautéed the onions until soft on a medium heat, and then added in the garlic, zucchini, mushrooms, coconut milk and tomato paste.
  3. I mashed up the avocados and stirred them in. I then added the chicken, spices, seasoning and cashew nuts and left it to simmer on a medium heat for 20 minutes.

WANT ME TO EMAIL YOU THIS RECIPE?

Enter your details and check your email!

I though it turned out really well, but could have been a bit spicier.  I don’t think dinners like this need anything to go with them, but I’m sure it would go well with some cauliflower rice.

This should serve at least four, which means lots of leftovers!

Avocado, Chicken & Cashew Curry Recipe paleo diet dinner lunch-min