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Salmon with Honey Mustard Pan Sauce and Wild Arugula

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Believe it or not, this meal started with me creating something to use fresh beets I got in last week’s CSA. When I see them, it’s really hard for me not to think about fresh roasted beets. Next time I’m going to try incorporating them into something raw. I actually got the inspiration for the salmon recipe from the Trader Joe’s package. < aside >Why does Trader Joe’s sell their frozen fish in packages of three fillets? I realize it’s about a pound but three is not a convenient number. <\aside>  I used Silverbrite because it was inexpensive, but next time I would use a brighter variety such as Coho or Sockeye. The vinaigrette for the salad paired perfectly with the pan sauce.

Salmon

  • 4 3-4 oz. salmon fillets
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 T grass-fed butter
  • 2 T whole-grain mustard
  • 2 T water
  • 2 T lemon juice
  • 1 T honey
Heat a sauté pan and add olive oil and butter. Once the butter is melted add the mustard and cook for about a minute until the mustard seeds are lightly toasted. Add the salmon and cook about 3 minutes on each side.  Add the water, cover and cook until the fish is cooked through (mine took about 5 more minutes). Remove the fish from the pan, add lemon juice to deglaze the pan. Add honey and cook until the pan sauce is reduced, 2-3 minutes.

Vinaigrette

  • 6 T olive oil
  • 3 T champagne vinegar
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 T whole-grain mustard
  • fresh-ground black pepper

Blend the ingredients (a magic bullet works really well for this type of thing). Alternatively, whisk the oil, vinegar and mustard, then stir in the finely minced shallot.

Salad

  • 1 package (7 – 8 oz) wild arugula
  • 1 c roasted beets
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 4 oz crumbled goat cheese
  • raw sunflower seeds

Lightly dress the arugula with the vinaigrette in a large bowl. Divide evenly and top with the beets, goat cheese, tomatoes and sunflower seeds. Place the salmon (whole fillets or sliced) on the salad and spoon the pan sauce over the salmon. Enjoy!

 

Open-Faced Chorizo Breakfast Quesadilla

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Sean and I are attempting to diversify our breakfasts more. Grok wouldn’t have been able to eat eggs and bacon everyday so neither should we. This week I made some Open-Faced Chorizo Breakfast Quesadillas. I made the filling/topping all at once and then reheated it a bit every morning for breakfast. It tastes the best the first day you make it, but it tastes fine reheated as well.

Ingredients (for 6-8 servings)

2 whole sweet potatoes, cooked

2 chorizo links, casings removed

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 large bag of frozen mixed bell peppers

1-2 jalapenos, chopped

grass-fed butter or bacon grease for cooking

1 egg per serving

Directions

Cut up the sweet potatoes into cubes and throw them on a skillet with some butter/grease to get the outsides brown & crispy. When they are done set them aside.

In a skillet cook the chorizo, breaking it up into chunks. When done, add to the sweet potatoes. Cook the onion and jalapenos in the chorizo grease until tender & browned. Then, add to the sweet potato and chorizo mixture.

Cook the peppers in a skillet. When I cook the frozen bagged peppers I don’t put any butter or grease in the pan. I just put it on medium-low until they start to defrost and then the water gives them something to simmer in. When they’re done add them to the filling/topping mix. If there is still a lot of water in the pan, be sure to drain it first.

So that makes the filling/topping; that’s what I would heat up every morning for breakfast. To make the “tortilla” for the topping all I did was cook one scrambled egg in a small non-stick skillet. It can be kinda hard to get one omelet-style egg off a pan, but the key is to add a good amount of butter/grease and to cover the pan while it’s cooking. That way the top of the egg starts to cook so it’s kind of fluffy when you try to flip it/pick it up. If the top of the egg is still wet you’re not going to be able to flip it without breaking it.

Anyways, you cook your egg patty then add your toppings and it’s ready to eat!

 

Sausage, Sweet Potato, and Swiss Chard Breakfast Casserole

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Awhile back Sean and I got rainbow swiss chard in our CSA which we used to make a breakfast casserole. I made the casserole on Sunday night and would heat it up in the microwave for 30-45 s every morning and serve it for breakfast. Healthy, tasty, quick & easy… not much more ya can ask for!

What You’ll Need

  • 1 pound of breakfast sausage (I got some sausage from the farm… it was delicious beyond words)
  • A bunch of greens (I did swiss chard but you could also do spinach, turnip greens, collards or kale)
  • ~2 sweet potatoes
  • ~6-8 large eggs

I started off cooking the sausage in a skillet.

While it was cooking I cut up the sweet potatoes into thin slices and lined the bottom of an 8″ x 8″ baking dish with them.

I chopped up the swiss chard a bit and once the sausage was done cooking I threw it in the skillet as well. I cooked the mixture until the swiss chard was nice and wilted. Then I evenly topped the sweet potatoes with the swiss chard & sausage mixture.

In a separate bowl I whisked the eggs and poured them on top of the casserole, making sure to distribute the eggs evenly throughout the dish.

Baked at 400-deg until the eggs were thoroughly cooked (30-40 minutes). If you stick a knife in the thickest part of the casserole and it comes out clean, it’s ready to eat!

I like the sweet potato & egg layers at the bottom – it made it fun to eat :-)

 

Battle of the Roasted Nuts

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Peanuts with Bacon and Maple Syrup

Last weekend when Jacquie and I hosted a small dinner party for our friends we decided to both try out some new roasted nut appetizers. Jacquie made one and I made one and we had our friends to a “blind” taste test. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so “blind”… can you guess which one I made? The one with bacon, you say? You got me.

I got this idea when Jacquie and I ate at Bull City Burger  and Brewery in Durham, NC a couple of weeks ago. If you’re ever visiting the Durham area I highly recommend checking this place out. It’s an independently owned burger joint that embraces the “farm to fork” concept with all of their food. The result is one really mean burger. They also have really great fresh-brewed beer. I have been dying to try making their “Bull Nuts” appetizer made from NC peanuts, bacon, sugar and salt. I decided to do a slight twist on these and make them with some spices and replace the sugar with maple syrup. Not-quite paleo with the peanuts but they came out really good and were actually better leftover.

Roasted Bacon and Maple Peanuts

Ingredients

  • 16 oz roasted and lightly-salted peanuts
  • 1 tsp each of dry mustard, cayenne and thyme
  • 1/2 c. maple syrup
  • 1/3 – 1/2 # bacon. I used uncured ends and pieces. They take a little longer to cook but are great if you are just going to chop them up to incorporate into a dish

Procedure

  • Cook and drain the bacon and chop into small pieces.
  • Combine the spices, peanuts, bacon and maple syrup and mix to combine.
  • Spread on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and roast at about 325 F for about 20-30 minutes, until the syrup is thickened but not burned.

Mixed Nuts with Rosemary and Orange

Jacquie made mixed nuts with rosemary and orange. This recipe, which was originally from Real Simple used Trader Joe’s roasted unsalted nut mix with cashews, macadamias, almonds and pistachios. I am a huge fan of these nut mixes that you can buy without “filler nuts” and I love that you can get them unsalted. These are paleo except for the little bit of granulated sugar. I wouldn’t bother trying to replace that though because the crystals added something nice here.

Mixed Buttered Nuts with Rosemary and Orange

Ingredients

  • 1# unsalted or lightly salted mixed nuts
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter (grass-fed preferred)
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp fresh rosemary (fresh is key here, I don’t recommend subbing dried here)
  • 1 tbsp fresh orange zest

Procedure

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the nuts, sugar, rosemary, and zest and cook, tossing, until the sugar is melted and the mixture is fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool and serve.

Grilled Sweet Potato Salad

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Vegetables are often overlooked when grilling. And with beer in hand, grilling is what I like to do on warm Sunday afternoons. So next time you throw those steaks on the grill, consider grilling some veggies to go with it.

I used to make this salad with red potatoes or yukon golds. Since going paleo, I decided to try it with sweet potatoes and it came out great. I used to add some honey to the vinaigrette but I left it out of the sweet potato version. For even a bit more bite (a little less sweetness) I might try replacing the cider vinegar with red wine or rice vinegar. For our non-vegetarian friends, may I also suggest some bacon?

Grilled Sweet Potato Salad

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients

For the salad…

  • 4 sweet potatoes
  • 1 red onion
  • 2 jalapenos
  • 6 green onions
  • ~1/4 c. parsley + more for garnish
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper

For the vinaigrette…

  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp whole grain dijon mustard

Instructions

  • Wash the sweet potatoes and slice about 3/4″ thick. Boil the sweet potatoes until they are barely fork tender. Don’t overcook them since they will be going on the grill. I think if I could cook a vegetable medium-rare, that’s about where these would be.
  • While the sweet potatoes cook, trim the ends from the green onions and peel and slice the red onion about 3/4″ thick. Don’t go too thin with them since all of this is going on the grill. I get about 3-4 slices per onion.
  • Prepare the vinaigrette by mixing all of those items well.
  • After the sweet potatoes have cooked drizzle all the veggies with a little bit of oil and season them with salt and pepper. Throw them all on the grill. Pull the green onions off after a quick char (that will go pretty quickly). Cook the sweet potato and red onions on each side until they have a nice char as well. Turn the jalapenos frequently until the outside skin is blistered and charred. The jalapenos, onions and sweet potatoes take about the same amount of time, about 6-10 minutes total.
  • After the veggies are done dice the jalapenos and onions. Cut the sweet potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Combine the veggies and dress with the vinaigrette while everything is still warm. Mix in the fresh parsley and serve while still warm or at room temperature.

 

 

Pan-seared Sea Scallops with Braised Leeks

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Leeks are vegetables in the onion and garlic family. They are pretty robust plants that basically look like big green onions. Instead of forming into bulbs, they produce leaf sheaths in a long cylinder. We found pre-trimmed leeks at Trader Joe’s this week. They were already pretty clean. I just trimmed off the ends and soaked them in water for a few minutes. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for new ways to add leeks to our regular menu, especially since TJ’s makes it so easy.Sweet Scallops and Braised Leeks.

I’ve never cooked leeks and honestly, I’ve never really thought about them until now. We were really interested in trying them last week after watching Growing a Greener World on Saturday morning. Nathan Lyon made a recipe with braised leeks and pan-seared tilapia which looked incredible. I won’t re-post the leek recipe here since I followed it basically to the letter. I did use homemade chicken stock in place of the vegetable stock. I made this with seared sea scallops instead of tilapia since we had the scallops on-hand. After trying a few of Nathan’s recipes though, I’ll be sure to try that tilapia as well.

For the scallops…

  • In a pan, heat about a tablespoon each of olive oil and grass-fed butter.
  • Once the oil and butter are hot, place the scallops in the pan and sear (~2-3 minutes) on each side.
  • Make sure the pan is hot. The key is to not overcook them. They should have a deep golden color on the outside and still be sweet and tender.

Slow-cooker Curried Chicken

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The crockpot is one of the best tools in our kitchen. So versatile and easy. Several nights a week I go straight to CrossFit from work and it’s nice to have dinner waiting for me when I get home. It’s also very easy to scale recipes so we almost always have enough leftovers for lunch the following day. We used to make this recipe regularly before going paleo using rice. I was hesitant to try this with cauliflower instead, but it turned out really great. I even used frozen cauliflower and I thought it turned out just as good. We don’t have a problem with eating some plain whole milk yogurt occasionally, and it really adds a nice creaminess to this dish. For true paleo, you could use about 1/2 cup of coconut milk instead.  I also find that this dish does not have an overwhelming curry flavor so if you’re on the fence about curry, this might be a good one to try.

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 tbsp chopped garlic (I used Trader Joe’s crushed garlic)
  • 2 tbsp curry powder
  • 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
  • 1 tbsp cayenne (I like my curry hot, so you can adjust this to taste or leave it out altogether)
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 1/2 small can of tomato paste
  • small container of plain greek yogurt (or 1/2 cup of coconut milk)
  • scallions for garnish
  • Cauliflower rice
  1. Add the tomato paste, garlic, onion and spices to your crockpot.
  2. Place whole chicken breast on top of the curry mixture and season with salt and pepper.
  3. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.
  4. Shred the chicken with a fork or pair of tongs. It should pull apart easily.
  5. Put the greek yogurt in a small bowl and slowly mix in some of the hot cooking liquid to temper the mixture. Once the yogurt mixture is warm, add it to the chicken. This step is important. If you add the yogurt cold to the dish it will curdle and you will have little yogurt clumps instead of the creaminess you’re looking for.
  6. Serve the chicken over cauliflower rice and top with sliced scallions

 

CSA Week 1

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We received our first CSA box this week from Maple Spring Gardens in Cedar Grove, NC. It came two weeks earlier than they have ever started before, due to the unseasonably warm winter accelerating their growing schedule. It was a good first box with nothing too exotic to start off with. Here’s what we got this week along with some ideas of what we have done or will do to prepare them. I’ll try to link the most interesting and successful ones to separate recipes as we prepare them.

  1. Strawberries – We ate these almost as soon as we got home. Too good to resist.
  2. Arugula – salad with roasted beets, goat cheese, pistachios and a honey mustard and onion vinaigrette.
  3. Spinach - sautéed with toasted coconut and spiced with red chili flakes, mustard and cumin seeds, served inside a thin omelet. Also folded into a sweet potato hash served alongside ancho chili and maple rubbed pork tenderloin.
  4. Salad mix – unimaginative but delicious. Topped with veggies and served with a roasted whole chicken.
  5. Field onions – oven roasted with balsamic vinegar. Served broiled pork chops.

An ethical discussion…

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I was perusing the NY Times the other day and came across this gem:

Calling All Carnivores
Tell Us Why It’s Ethical to Eat Meat: A Contest

The article mentions that the dialogue on food, especially healthy, ethical eating, is controlled by vegetarians or those who largely abstain from meat (Jonathan Safran Foer, Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, etc.). Meat eaters, it seems, have “surprisingly little to say” in this important discourse. So, the NYT is opening up the floor for omnivores to discuss the ethical reasons TO eat meat. I remember the alma matter for all of our bloggers, Geneseo, had a debate by professors in the philosophy department on this very topic when we were in school (yay Geneseo).

The NYT contest ends April 8, but I think we can have our own mini-discussion right here. I love a lively debate, so meat eaters, let’s hear why it is ethically sound to eat animal protein. Go!