Infusions of Lavender

April installment of Paleo Pen Pals: Lavender!

For today, a post in pictures. Stay tuned to hear all about my adventures with lavender tomorrow. And in the meantime, check out my swap Pal at Vivacious Dish and Paleo Pen Pals on Facebook.

Lavender Sweet Potato Mash

 

Lavender Infused Coconut Milk

Garlic and Lavender Aioli

Garlic and Lavender Infused Olive Oil

Crunchy Kale

A little inspiration for you to start your week....

 

And now for a quick, healthful treat to keep you moving onward and upward this week...

Slow Cooked Beef and Lamb Stew

Wow, life really gets in the way sometimes, right? I feel like I've pulled a 180 here from posting almost daily to somehow struggling to even get a post a week in. Working, commuting, exercising, sleeping and having a social life have gotten the better of me lately. But life is about the journey and we must keep adapting as things change, so I'll keep riding through it and hope that my free time adjusts for the better soon. I have some great posts planned for you if I can find the time to sit down and write...here's a quick preview of what's to come:

• my first giveaway!
• a couple awesome Paleo product reviews
• a brand new 21-Day Sugar Detox dessert!

Stay tuned for that, but now to today's delicious recipe...

Introducing Minute Mondays: Flourless Chocolate Cake

Introducing Minute Mondays! You may have noticed that my focus in cooking is often finding the quickest and most efficient ways to get dishes done without sacrificing flavor and nutrition. I accomplish this through many methods - slow cookers, pressure cookers, semi-homemade ingredients, and quick microwave dishes, to name a few. With this in mind, I've decided to create Minute Mondays where I will share a recipe each Monday that literally takes minutes from start to finish. I hope you enjoy the first installment below...

Sweet & Salty Celeriac

It's time for another Paleo Pen Pals post. This month was so much fun as I got to try a new veggie that has literally been staring me down at the grocery store and I never knew it was there. Jill from Real Food Forager was my swap buddy this month and I was so excited to learn that she and I live nearby. Hopefully we can connect in the real world one day! Isn't it great to meet fellow real food lovers locally? I often feel like I spend most of my life online!

 

Speaking of local real food lovers, I met some awesome people when I attended the Balanced Bites seminar a few weeks back who connected me with some local farmers and I just picked up my first order last weekend. I really love the idea of farm-to-table and can't wait visit the source of my food someday soon. The best part is that I'm supporting small businesses, and with local delivery it's not costing me any more money or time to do so. That's been a big focus for me lately - balancing the cost of time versus money - since time is at a premium in most of our busy lives.
 

 

 

Pressure Cooker Green Beans & Sausage (plus 21-Day Sugar Detox recap)

 

I bet you thought the 21-Day Sugar Detox did me in - I know, I know, I've been a bit MIA. Things at work became busy - real busy - over the past few weeks and threw my whole life out of whack. Sometimes life boils down to sleeping, eating, and working and you push through till you emerge victorious. My victory this week is having survived to see the weekend!

 

So, without further ado, I wanted to briefly share a little recap and post-detox results with you. I'll start by saying that it was a fabulous 3 weeks and I never ever thought I'd say that. It was actually freeing to restrict myself. That's a fun little oxymoron. For the first time, I gave myself permission to say "no" to food.
 

Spaghetti Bolognese, Paleo style.

Believe it or not, this is not spaghetti with meat sauce. THIS is zucchini noodles with a semi-homemade grass fed ground beef sauce. Let me tell you, nobody was missing the "real" thing when this was served and I made the entire meal after a long commute home. The key to quick preparation was using a pre-made pasta sauce and jazzing it up. Although this dish can be made using a regular vegetable peeler (your noodles will look more like fettuccine), I used my new favorite kitchen tool - a spiral vegetable slicer. For a mere $30, I've opened up a whole new world of easy veggie preparation options. I'm in love.

 

As long as your sauce has no sugar added, this dish is 21-Day Sugar Detox approved. We enjoyed it for dinner on Day 16.

 

Spaghetti Bolognese, Paleo style

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paleo Macaroon Bites

This dessert was intended to be a 21-Day Sugar Detox treat (which it is) but it is also just an amazing dessert! I think I've stumbled on a delightful treat with no sugar necessary - or maybe that's just my detoxed taste buds talking.

 

I was inspired by Paleo By Diana's Balanced Apple Pecan Bites and Elana's Pantry's Paleo Coconut Macaroons. I wanted to create a nut-free treat as I limit my nut consumption (more on that later), so macaroons came to mind and green apples seemed like the perfect solution to sweeten them up. I cannot recommend these enough - they are AWESOME.

 

Paleo Macaroon Bites

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by The Paleo Professional

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients (18 bites)

2 large organic egg whites

1 organic green apple

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

3/4 cup unsweetened coconut shreds

 

 Instructions

1. Peel and shred apple into a small bowl
2. Add egg whites to a medium size bowl
3. Stir in salt
4. Add both types of coconut and apple to medium size bowl and stir well
5. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (softens coconut and helps it to hold together)
6. Using a small scoop (i.e. melon baller, cookie dough scoop, or small ice cream scoop), fill with batter, pack very firmly and release bites onto parchment paper lined baking sheet
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, then broil for 2 minutes if you want them more golden
8. Remove from baking sheet and place on cooling rack for 10 minutes
9. Enjoy warm or at room temperature
10. *Note: you could also make this with only flakes or only shreds, but I believe the combination of the two creates the best consistency. Also note if they don't hold together well, add 1 more egg white to the batter.

6040588

Powered by Recipage

Guacamole Chicken Stuffed Endive

With some quick thinking, this lunch was a cinch. The other day I ordered an extra side of guacamole with my lunch because who doesn't love guacamole? I had that ready to go in the fridge, some endive handy and all I needed was a little chicken. I went the fresh chicken route but I also could have used organic canned chicken such as this. I used one of my new toys - a pressure cooker - to cook the chicken in 10 minutes flat.  

 

This was featured as lunch at the office on Day 18 of our 21-Day Sugar Detox. 

 

Guacamole Chicken Stuffed Endive

by The Paleo Professional

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: pressure cooker lunch gluten-free sugar-free nut-free

Ingredients (1 serving)

1 chicken breast (fresh or 1 can organic chicken)

3/4 cup water or chicken stock

1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp garlic powder

sea salt & pepper

1 endive

2-3 tablespoons guacamole or paleo mayonnaise

 

Instructions

1. Place water or chicken stock in the bottom of pressure cooker
2. Add chicken breast and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder
3. Add lemon to the pot (not just the juice, just throw the entire half in)
4. Cover and bring up to pressure
5. Turn heat down to lowest setting to maintain pressure and cook for ~10 minutes (if your chicken breast is very large, add maybe an extra minutes)
6. While chicken is cooking, cut the end off of endive and separate leaves
7. Remove from heat and bring pressure down by running cold water on the lid
8. Add chicken to a bowl and shred with a fork
9. Once cooled, mix in guacamole or mayonnaise
10. Note: I made enough chicken for the just 1 serving, but you can certainly double or triple this recipe as needed. If you don't have a pressure cooker, bake chicken in the oven for about 30 minutes.

6040558

Powered by Recipage

21DSD Bacon Chicken and Detox Spiced Mousse

 

I decided to try some of my fellow Paleo blogger's 21-day sugar detox recipes this weekend. With The Paleo Professional in mind, I kept it to some easy but tasty recipes that don't require a lot of hands on time.