Hidden Veggie Spicy Soup

This recipe is one of my favorites, and I have tried it a few times, tweaking it each time so that I can make sure it is just perfect before I let you give it a whirl. It is very spicy- so if you don't like the heat, well, reduce the spices when making this! The reason why I named it the way I did is because the flavor is so strong in this soup, you can essentially add any veggie to the soup, and they will take the flavor, and before you know it, you're getting way more veggies than you ever bargained for! I know I have a hard time getting enough leafy greens down, so this was a great way to do it!

Here is what you'll need:
2 chicken breast, cooked and chopped
1 medium sized onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 4oz cans of diced green chiles
1/4 c chopped jalapeno
4 cups or one box of chicken broth, (TJ's has organic, free range!)
2 zucchinis, chopped in half-moons
Kale- as much or as little as you want.
2 TBSP Olive Oil
2 tea Cumin
1 TBSP Oregano
1/4 tea Cayenne (optional or cut in 1/2 if you're not a spicy-food lover)
Black pepper

Topper options:

Cilantro
Avocado
Green Onions

In a large pot, heat the oil and add the onions, garlic and zucchini. Saute about 5 minutes or so, until the onions become translucent. Next, add the jalapenos and green chiles and saute for about 2 minutes more. Then, add the chicken and the chicken broth, and all of the spices. Let the soup simmer on med-high heat for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. At the very end, add in the Kale and stir for about 2 more minutes, or until the Kale is wilted. Serve and top with the ingredients of your choice!

CSA Week 4: Pork Chops & Persimmons

As you can see in the picture, there are green beans on the side, which also came from the CSA box, but are often frowned upon by many Paleo-followers so I will not speak of them... ha ha!

So, another week with those persimmons in the box and what to do?

Bake them with spices!!!

Here is what you'll need:
2 persimmons, peeled and sliced into 1" pieces
Olive oil (about 1.5 TBSP)
Cumin
Cinnamon
Pepper
Sea salt (gasp... another non Paleo item)
Garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small 8"x8" pan, place the persimmons and drizzle them with the olive oil. Sprinkle each of the spices on the persimmons evenly, be generous, but do not go overboard. I would say about 1 teaspoon of each (except the salt and pepper, for those use sparingly). Bake for 50 minutes.

For the Pork Chops, I bought the thin lean cuts from Trader Joes, I sauteed them for 3-4 minutes on each side in a pan with olive oil and a little salt and pepper.

Top the pork chops with the persimmons and enjoy!

Fruity Crisp

This was a delicious dessert that hardly tasted healthy!

For this recipe, I used both pears and apples, because I had them. I think any fruit would be tasty though.

Here is what you'll need:

2 c. Almond meal
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or nutmeg)
1/2 c Coconut Oil (melted)
2 tbsp Organic Honey
1 tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
4-5 apples, pears or whatever fruit you like, maybe add berries?

First, combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, that's the almond meal, cinnamon and spices. In a separate bowl, combine the honey, coconut oil and vanilla. Next, stir the wet ingredients into the dry. In an 8x8 greased pan, place the 1" apple slices into the dish, overlapping is okay. Sprinkle the crisp mixture over the top of the apples. Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Serve warm and try to make it last more than one night! It's difficult!

CSA Week 2: What the Kale?

So, Paul and I are getting the smaller sized box from the CSA, which is just enough for us. This week, there wasn't anything too out of the ordinary in our box, except for those persimmons. We cut one up last night and ate it just like an apple. They are sweet, but in a different kind of way. They were good though.

Anyways, we sure did get some more Kale this week. A lot of us have trouble getting all of our greens in (speaking from experience here) but Kale is a great form of leafy greens to eat, I'm just still trying to figure out how to eat them and make them taste good! So, here is my recipe:

Kale Chips:

1 medium to large bunch of Kale
Olive Oil (about 2 tbsp)
Salt & Pepper to taste

**optional** parmesan cheese, chili powder, garlic powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Start by tearing the kale into bite sized pieces, about 1.5" wide. Spray a cookie sheet with some Pam or cooking spray and arrange the Kale on the sheet nicely so that none of the leaves are overlapping, drizzle the Olive Oil on the Kale and sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder or whatever other spices you choose. Bake for 10-15 minutes. My oven is a tad old, so they only take 10 minutes, and they will burn if they stay in the over any longer, so make sure to check them at 10 minutes just to be safe. To me, these Kale chips taste like pringles, mmmm!

***Also, if you are not able to eat the Kale chips in one sitting, place them in a container and just lay a paper towel over the top of the container. If you place them in a baggie or in an enclosed tupperware they may become soggy, mine have in the past. Hope you like them!

CSA Week 1- Spicy Sauteed Bok Choy

So, we started ordering fruits and vegetables from Tanaka Farms, a local organic farm out of Irvine at Crossfit South County and I am now going to commit to posting a recipe each week using something from the boxes that we receive. It's funny, because I told Paul last week, "I'm excited to get the veggies and fruits because I want to try new things, like Bok Choy" .... well ask and you shall receive! This week we got a HUGE head of Bok Choy in our box!

So, here is what I made of it...

What you'll need:

3/4 of the head of Bok Choy- it was about 6 leaves
1/4 c water
1/4 teasp Red pepper flakes
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teasp powdered (or fresh) ginger
1 tbsp Tamari (gluten free soy sauce, tastes the exact same to me)
1 tbsp Coconut oil
1 tbsp Sesame oil

Heat the two oils in the pan over medium. As you can see, I sliced the stems of the Bok Choy in 1/2" pieces, and the same with the leafy portions. Toss the stem pieces into the pan first and saute for about 5-8 minutes, or until the whiteness turns a light green. In a separate bowl, mix the water, tamari, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. Add the leafy greens to the saute pan and continue to saute to about 3 minutes. Remove all of the Bok Choy from the pan and set aside. Add the water/tamari/garlic/pepper/ginger mixture to the pan and heat up for about 3 minutes. Add the Bok Choy back in and toss to coat for about 2 minutes. Serve and Enjoy!

Shrimp Pad Tai

I was really surprised to taste this dish, it was even more delicious than I had ever imagined. I got the idea for this recipe from this recipe. It was a pleasant surprise and a nice change from the every day chicken recipe that I am used to.

Here is what you'll need:

For the shrimp:
1/2 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 T garlic powder
1 T lemon pepper (Trader Joe's has a great one)
2 TB Olive Oil

Mix all of the above ingredients and set aside in the refrigerator.

For the "Pad Thai"

3-4 zucchinis, sliced very thinly, slice those suckers as thin as you are able to.
2 TB Garlic Chili sauce
3 TB Almond butter (I used the kind that has flax seeds added)
2 TB Apple Cider Vinegar
Juice of 1/2 Lime
1 small onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 TB ginger, minced
2 TB bacon fat --- You can use olive oil or coconut oil if you don't have any bacon fat

In a large saute pan, start to cook the onion, garlic and ginger in the bacon fat on low, just until the onions become translucent. Next, add in the vinegar, chili sauce, lime juice and almond butter. Blend the sauce well with the onion/garlic/ginger mixture. At this point, mine was a little thick, so I added a couple TBSP of water, just eye-ball it. Next, add the zucchini to the pan and begin to saute the noodles so that they are soft. In a separate, smaller pan, saute the shrimp, making sure they are cooked through. Once the shrimp appear to be done, add them to the noodle/sauce mixture and saute for 3 more minutes. Top the dish with chopped green onion and a lime juice squeeze, and eat up!
Salt & Pepper

Just in time for the Holiday weekend!

American Fruit Salad!!!

This was the easiest crowd pleaser that I have ever made...

All you need are:

Strawberries
Blueberries
Dried Coconut Shavings**

Toss it all together, right before you're ready to eat it and there you go- a fresh, crisp side of fruit salad, in red, white and blue!

** Make sure to find UNSWEETENED coconut shavings. I buy mine at Mother's, or Henry's has a bag of the bigger, chunkier coconut pieces (which are seen in the picture).

Have a great long weekend! summer is officially over!