Paleo Recipe - Easy Pan Seared Steelhead with Stir Fried Vegetables

I really thought I would be jonesing for the meals typical of my former diet; brown rice with black beans, hummus with cucs, beer & chips, red wine and cheese, etc.  I am pleasantly surprised that I am not experiencing more cravings!  Wait a minute.  Let's back up a bit.  I do really miss red wine and haven't touched a glass in over 3 weeks now {self pat on back].

I am finding it MUCH more expensive to eat this way.  Scallops, prawns, wild salmon, dungeness crab and free range chicken really add up quickly.  But it is all so tasty so it makes it worth while.

Last night I cooked up some steelhead and veggies.  Feel free to omit or add vegetables to your own liking.  I cook everything from scratch and don't measure so these amounts are approximate. 

Pan Seared Steelhead & Stir Fried Vegetables

Steelhead filets (or salmon)
Salt & Pepper to taste

2 cups cut broccoli
1 Red pepper
1 Green pepper
1 Jalapeno pepper (omit if you don't like spicy food)
1 cupyellow squash
5 mushrooms
3 small organic carrots
1 small onion
3 cloves fresh garlic
2 T tamari sauce
Toasted sesame seeds*

How to cook the fish:

Rinse and pat dry fish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Melt 1 T coconut oil in saute pan, add fish skin side down and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium high.  Turn over and cook for another 3-4 minutes until cooked to desired doneness.  I like my salmon and steelhead a bit pink in the middle and nice and crispy on top.

How to cook the vegetables:

Melt 1 T coconut oil in saute pan.  Saute onions on medium high for 2-3 minutes.  Add garlic, carrots, broccoli and saute for another 2-3 minutes.  Add tamari, squash, mushrooms and peppers and saute for another 3-5 minutes until vegetables are cooked to desired tenderness.  I like mine crisp.

Plate salmon and vegetables and sprinkle vegetables with toasted sesame seeds.

*To toast sesame seeds, place in small saute pan on medium high heat.  Swirl the seeds around the pan until they are lightly browned.  Make sure to watch carefully because they burn easily!!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

The Little Engine That Could

Wow!  Time flies!  I haven't written in a week.  I don't think I am born to blog but I want to track my progress so I will do my best to keep updated.

Okay, so I am not exactly a little engine.  More of a BIG engine.  But I CAN and I WILL make it through this 30 day challenge and continue eating the Paleo way for the rest of my life because I am seeing the results already!  I feel good, I sleep well and I am losing pounds and inches. 
I am heading to the Caribbean on April 2nd and I think I am on my way to a new wardrobe.  Not one I have to go out and buy but one that already exists in my closet.  I have been on the challenge now for exactly 2 weeks but I worked my way up to it for a week prior to that.  I have lost 10 lbs and I am fitting into clothes that I could not fit into before. 

I think most people can relate to this;  I have cute clothes in my closet that have eluded the "if you haven't worn it in a year, get rid of it" rule.  I can't bear the thought of parting with some things.  Yesterday I tried on a bunch of clothes from my closet and realized that I may soon be able to fit into them without bulging out at the seems.  I set a handful of these aside in a special section of my closet, my "Caribbean Trip" clothes.  My goal is to fit into several of these things before I head out on my Caribbean trip.

I haven't recorded my pedometer steps for the past week but I have worn it religiously.  Here is last Thursday through yesterday:

17th - 4419
18th - 3205
19th - 10667
20th - 6761
21st - 3874
22nd - 3837

My walking goal for the first month was at least 5 miles per week.  Call me an over achiever but I am averaging about 15 miles a week!  It has been tough due to my recent foot surgery but I think the walking is actually helping it heal. 

Life is good and it is only going to get better.

Paleo Recipe - Chicken with Spicy Thai Almond Butter Dipping Sauce

In case you haven't noticed, I use a lot of heat in my recipes.  If you are a "spice weanie" feel free to reduce the quantity of peppers.  I brought this dish to a potluck I went to last night and it was all eaten so that was a good sign.  I really liked this dish but I must admit I prefer peanut sauce over almond butter sauce.

Chicken with Spicy Thai Almond Butter Dipping Sauce:

Grilled Chicken:

4 Chicken breasts sliced about 1/2 inch thick against the grain
Juice from 3 limes
Juice from 1 orange
1 jalapeno minced (remove seeds if you want a less spicy version)
1 T grated ginger
2 T chopped cilantro
3 cloves minced garlic
1 T red pepper flakes (omit if you don't like spicy food)
1/4 cup olive oil
Pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together and marinate chicken about 1 hour, stirring thoroughly once. 

Grill on medium high heat for a couple of minutes on each side.

Thai Almond Butter Dipping Sauce:

1/2 cup almond butter
1/8 cup coconut milk
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 clove minced garlic
Juice from one orange
Juice from one lime
2 tsp tamari sauce
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients together.  It is best to make this dipping sauce a day ahead so all the flavors meld together.

Cheers!

Paleo Recipe - Easy Crockpot Rosemary & Garlic Chicken Stew

I threw this together in a pot on Valentine's Day and had a big bowl of it yesterday for lunch.  It is very flavorful and the chicken was so moist it almost melted in my mouth!

Easy Crockpot Rosemary & Garlic Chicken Stew:

1 whole free range chicken (my preference is free range)
1 sweet potato diced
3 organic carrots diced
2 stalks celery chopped
1 large onion chopped
1 medium eggplant diced
1 can diced tomatoes
20 cloves of garlic whole cloves peeled
3 whole sprigs of rosemary
Salt
Pepper

Rinse chicken and take out any parts such as neck, gizzards.  Rub with salt and pepper.  Stuff 10 cloves plus whole rosemary sprigs inside cavity.  Place 1/2 of first 3 ingredients plus 5 cloves of garlic into crock pot.  Place chicken breast side up into crockpot.  Cover with the other half of first 3 ingredients plus 5 cloves of garlic.

Turn crockpot on low heat and cover, cooking for 3 hours.  Add tomatoes and eggplant and cook for another 2-3 hours.  Chicken is done when leg bones wiggles very easily and chicken is falling off the bone.  Once igredients are cool, take chicken out of the pot and remove all meat from bones.  The meat is VERY easy to remove and practically falls off the bone.  Make sure you remove all bones from stew.  Add chicken meat back into veggies, stir and serve!  Delicioso!

Tantalizing Temptations

Today is the end of my first week of the 30 Day Challenge!!  My only cheat was a bit of raw honey in the chocolate orange custard I made for Valentine's dinner last night.  Truly.  Amazing.  And I am not just talking about the dessert!  It is amazing that I haven't had any wine, sugar, brown rice, black beans, quinoa and the likes since that is what I have been subsisting on for the past 10 years!  Patting myself on the back.

Today was one of the most challenging days.  I got together with 7 girlfriends for a potluck to talk about a wine fest weekend we have coming up (yes, this will be a full on cheat weekend).  There was a lot of great food, everyone brought wine and even chocolate brownies.  Skip the brownies?  Sure, no problem.  Skip the wine?  Oh hell, I wanted that wine so bad I could nearly taste it!  I must have will power of steel to have resisted that wine!

At the end of week one on the full challenge but actually on day 15 eating this way, I am down 9 lbs.  N I N E lbs!!  Wow!  I realize that my body was initially in shock and a lot of this is water weight but I will take it!

I made a great crock pot recipe that I will post tomorrow.

Valentine's Paleo Dessert - Chocolate Orange Custard

I went without wine, my vise, for Valentine's dinner but I wanted to come up with a tasty dessert.  This contains raw honey, which I don't think is recommended for the first 30 days and then only occasionally but since I didn't drink wine or champagne, I wanted a small treat for Valentine's day.  I was quite pleased with the results of this however, next time I will sprinkle the top with unsweetened grated coconut before I put it in the oven.

Paleo Recipe - Chocolate Orange Custard:

4 Eggs
3/4 can of coconut milk
1/3 cup coco powder
2 T raw honey
1 T hot water
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, reduced by half over medium heat and cooled
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Orange zest for garnish and added flavor

Place large casserole dish with 1/2 inch of water in oven and heat oven to 325.  Wisk eggs and then wisk in coconut milk, vanilla and cooled orange juice (if it is hot it will cook the eggs prematurely).   Put coco powder and cinnamon in a small cup and add hot water, stirring to make a chocolate sauce.  Add honey to chocolate mix.  Add chocolate sauce to egg mixture.  Wisk until everything is mixed in.  Pour into 4 dessert ramekins (in photo) and place ramekins carefully into casserole dish in oven.  Cook for 28-35 minutes until top has puffed up and feels firm when tapped.  Grate orange zest over custard and serve while still warm.

I have been keeping up my walking routine.  Today I walked 7668 steps, according to my pedometer.  That equates to almost 4 miles.

Paleo Valentine's Dinner - Easy Orange Garlic Scallops

My biggest challenge tonight was not opening up a good bottle of wine to go with the delicious dinner I made.  I am a wino and I would have sold my sister for a chance to open up one of the bottles I have stored away but I resisted temptation knowing that the reward of better health and a new wardrobe are in my not too distant future.

If there is one thing I do well it is cooking.  My boyfriend tells me we don't need to eat out because I can cook better than any restaurant in town.  I think it is just an excuse for him not to take me out to dinner!  I need to start burning food. ;-)  Tonight I made seared scallops in an orange garlic sauce served over a bed of wilted spinach with sauteed red cabbage and steamed asparagus in lemon sprinkled with finely chopped almonds.  This is a very easy recipe with just a few ingredients.  I hope you enjoy it!

Paleo Recipe - Orange Garlic Scallops:

1 lb large sea scallops
2/3 cup juice squeezed from fresh oranges
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
2 tsp minced garlic
2 T coconut oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Put orange juice in small pan and reduce by 1/2 over medium heat.  Pat scallops dry and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper on both sides.  Heat coconut oil on medium high and when oil is hot, place scallops in pan.  Cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Remove scallops from pan, turn down heat to medium and deglaze* the pan with the reduced orange juice and juice from the 1/2 lemon.  Stir in the garlic.  Place scallops back into pan and toss with sauce, then cook for 1 more minute.

Serve over a bed of spinach and pour remainder of sauce over scallops.

Deglaze - Adding the cold liquid to the browned bits left in the pan from the scallops, salt and pepper create a wonderful sauce!