Two-ingredient pancake with a two-ingredient variation

I had seen this recipe through FB a few times and decided to give it a try.  It's pretty dog-gone quick and easy to whip up, thus great when you're pressed for time.  It calls for one banana and two eggs.  I read one post that added baking powder and cinnamon.  Thinking that sounded good I went ahead and added 1/4 teaspoon of each.

The banana getting started.

This is how much I mashed the banana.

                 

In go the eggs, cinnamon, and baking powder.

It cooks up pretty thin.

Lightly drizzled with maple syrup and friended with 3 slices of bacon along with 2 eggs fried in the bacon grease.  Talk about YUM!!

CHICKEN POT PIE (And you won't even know it's Paleo!)

I need to write this recipe down or else I will forget how I made these delicious chicken pot pies.

Makes three small casserole dishes, as shown in the picture.

First, boil some chicken - about 1 breast and 3 thighs should do it.  The broth will be used for the gravy so don't toss it!  After the chicken is done, debone the pieces.

GRAVY:

4+ cups of the chicken broth

2 medium onions, chopped large

1 1/2 cups (almost a whole head) of cauliflower

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 T. thyme

1/2 teaspoon tarragon

shake in some salt

shake in some pepper

Bring the chicken broth and other ingredients to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.  (Continue on to the filling while this is simmering.)  Using a stick blender, blend until fully blended.  (I just wanted to use the words blend, blender, and blended all in the same sentence.)  Set aside.

FILLING: 

3 carrots

4 stalks celery

1 small bag of pearl onions, about 16 or so

1 cup chopped cauliflower

1/2 cup or so of frozen peas (for two of the pies)

1/4 cup of canned green beans (for the other pie)

3 heaping tablespoons of bacon grease

Heat the bacon grease in a skillet and cook the carrots, celery, pearl onions and cauliflower until they are just tender, about 15 minutes or so.  (This is where I start the crust.)  Then I split the mix, 1/3, 2/3s and I add the peas to the 2/3 and the green beans to the 1/3.  Add a handful+ of the deboned chicken for each dish.  Heat that until the peas, green beans, and chicken are warmed through.

Crust:

I use the recipe from "Against All Grain" by Danielle Walker.  This is my favorite paleo cookbook.

3 3/4 cup almond flour

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut flour

1 1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 egg (I scramble them in a bowl then pour a little out)

5 tablespoons ice water

A shy 5 tablespoons palm shortening

Place first 5 ingredients in a food processor and process for 30 seconds.  Add the shortening in small spoonfuls, spacing them out around the bowl.  Pulse 4 or 5 times, just enough for the shortening to be mixed in and the dough to come together.  (This is what the cookbook says.  I found I had to empty the mixture into a bowl and continue to work the shortening in by hand - or spoon would work.)  Divide the dough into three balls and plop them one at a time onto a sheet of parchment paper.  After pounding the dough down to a flat circle, cover it with another sheet of parchment paper and roll dough until it is large enough to fit over the casserole dish.  Do the same for the next two.

Putting it all together:

Divide the filling into the casserole dishes.  Pour the gravy over and jiggle so it works its way through.  It should be at least a half inch from the top.  Lay the dough on top of the mixture and shape around the edges as you desire.  Slit the top a little.  Bake at 375* for 40 minutes.

  

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Cakes with Black Beans

1 T. coconut oil, plus 2 T. reserved for frying croquettes
1 medium sweet potato, peeled, grated, and rinsed in cold water - then patted dry
1/2 c. minced red bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 c. minced yellow onion
2 t. whole cumin seeds
1 T. ground coriander
1/2 t. salt
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup red quinoa, cooked
Salsa and sour cream for serving

Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a large skillet and saute the grated sweet potato, red bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, and yellow onion for about three to five minutes. Add the cumin and coriander.  Continue to saute vegetables until they are just cooked.  Season with salt. Add the black beans and cooked quinoa, then blend a third of this mixture in a food processor until smooth.  Stir the blended mixture back into the remaining vegetables in the skillet.  Shape 1/4 cup of the mixture at a time into patties about 1/2-inch thick and 2 inches across.  Heat the reserved coconut oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat and pan fry the croquettes for about two minutes on each side.  Keep croquettes warm in the oven until all are ready to serve.  

Spiced Apple and Butternut Squash Soup

1/4 cup butter
2 large onions
2 large Granny Smith apples
     peeled, cored, and diced
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 large butternut squashes
     peeled, halved lengthwise and seeds removed,
     diced into 1-inch cubes 
(recipe called for 4 squashes but once I had two prepped it was obvious I was using larger ones than they called for)
3 qts. chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the diced onions and apples and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the spices and cook for 1 minute.  Then add the squash and chicken stock.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the squash is tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Puree and serve.  Add additional stock if necessary to desired thickness.  

I tried this recipe from Lifetime Fitness magazine because I thought it fit perfectly with my new way of eating. I'm trying to eat more like a 'hunter/gatherer' with much more kale, spinach, collard greens, cauliflower, and broccoli in my diet along with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and protein. Basically, it's as little grain as possible with NO white: no white flour products, no sugar (I may cheat a little here because there's always sugar in chocolate, even the dark chocolate I limit myself to), no regular pasta, no white rice, etc. When I do eat grains I try to keep it to whole grains.

It is extremely hard to make the change because there is 'enriched wheat flour' (translation: white flour) in so many products that call themselves 'whole grain.' If a loaf of bread, for example, doesn't say '100% Whole Grain' then it most likely has white flour in it. And sugar is a tough one to stay away from in bread. It makes the yeast happy with great, yummy results but it's just so bad for you!

New research has shown that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease and that without inflammation in the artery wall there is no way for cholesterol to accumulate. With repeated injury to our arteries by eating the wrong food, food that our bodies were never intended to process, the result is chronic inflammation. According to an article by Dr. Dwight Lundell: "What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods."

If you are interested in reading the full article, you can find it here. It will be an eye-opener for you because it poo-poos the common thought that fats are our problem.

Back to the soup. It tastes good and healthy! I added tomato as you will read below.

Italian Wedding Soup

With Chicken Meatballs and Parsley

For the soup base:

1 T. olive oil

1 cup chopped yellow onion

2 carrots, peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)

2 stalks celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

8 cups chicken stock

1 bunch broccoli rabe (also called rapini)(about 4 cups)

1 1/2 cups fresh parsley, chopped

1 15-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese, to garnish

For the meatballs:

1/2 pound ground chicken (I used ground thigh meat)

1 egg

1/4 cup whole-grain breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 t. salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil (I used more than 1 T.) and saute the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic until al dente. Add chicken stock and simmer until vegetables are tender.

While stock is simmering, make the meatballs by mixing the ground chicken with the egg, breadcrumbs, cheese, and parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Shape into small balls with a teaspoon or a small scoop and arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through. Add to the simmering soup.

Add the broccoli rabe, parsley and cannellini beans and simmer five minutes to heat through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a fresh grating of Parmesan cheese.

A few hints: along with using more olive oil than what they call for, I added a can of diced tomatoes. And I also cooked the soup longer than five minutes so that the broccoli rabe stalks would soften more. When I make this soup again in the future, I won't use the bottom, thicker stalks of the rabe; I will use the leaves and little broccoli flowers from the tops of the plants.