Paleo Spirit

Paleo Buffalo Chicken Nuggets

Posted on January 31, 2013 by G

Today’s post is written by my husband G who is a Baltimore, Maryland native and die hard Ravens fan. He’ll introduce our new recipe for Paleo Buffalo Chicken Nuggets just in time for Sunday’s Ravens-49ers match-up. The following recipes may come in handy for Super Bowl parties if you are looking for some delicious finger food without all the junk. Take it away G!

Super-Bowl Sunday – It’s an American tradition!

Since the first Super Bowl game was played in January of 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs, the game has morphed into a mega-event that can captivate an entire nation for one Sunday afternoon. If you believe the statistics, nearly 85% of all Americans will be watching this year’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. Simply put, that’s incredible!

And let’s not forget the drama surrounding Super Bowl XLVII. For starters, the head coaches of each team are brothers! That’s right, brothers! John Harbaugh coaches the Ravens and his younger brother Jim coaches the 49ers. Then there’s the impending retirement of the Raven’s team leader and future Hall-of-Fame linebacker Ray Lewis, as well as the ascension of wonder-boy 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick to genuine NFL superstar. All in all, it looks to be a great game as fans around the country hunker down in front of their televisions to cheer on their team.

And what Super Bowl party would be complete without good food? Unfortunately if you’re eating Paleo, the pickings are often slim…but it doesn’t have to be that way! In the spirit of great tasting, all-American bar-food that goes so well with football and the Super Bowl, we’re happy to present…

Paleo Buffalo Chicken Nuggets!

These paleo buffalo chicken nuggets are surprisingly tasty! (Our family fights over these every time Lea makes them.)

Now for the recipes…first come the chicken nuggets, then homemade blue cheese dressing, dairy-free ranch dressing and how to make a plain paleo chicken nuggets version. Continue reading →

Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Dip (Paleo & Vegan)

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Lea

“It might choke Artie, but it ain’t gonna choke Stymie!”

The entire time I was making this dairy-free spinach-artichoke dip the above line was going through my head. I’m not sure how many of you remember “The Little Rascals” but it was a show I used to watch all the time growing up. I LOVED Stymie, Alfalfa, Darla and, of course, Spanky. In this scene, Stymie is given a fine meal to try. He doesn’t know what an artichoke is but he’s “gonna tackle it”.

Clearly, artichokes can be a bit intimidating. The good news is this recipe, while featuring artichokes, presents none of the associated confusion. We are going to stick with the artichoke hearts and make our lives easier. Whew!

My husband G and I made this spinach-artichoke dip on New Year’s Eve. We had some leftover corn chips from our traditional Christmas Eve Tortilla Soup. (Yes, I realize corn chips are not paleo. But they were gluten-free so it was a splurge.) We cut up some cucumbers and tried the dip with both. Two years ago I probably would have preferred the corn chips with the dip. But this time we found ourselves favoring the cucumbers! It was a bit surprising but I guess our tastes have really changed. Not to say I don’t enjoy corn chips now and then but they are definitely not something I crave. It was a nice confirmation of how changing the way we eat can build on itself in altering our tastes for the better if we stick with it.

The paleo spinach-artichoke dip uses my newly found favorite ingredient: cashew cream. It gives the dip that creamy taste you want without using dairy products. We have made this twice in a week. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Lea

Many of us started a month of Strict Paleo eating (aka Whole30) recently. This recipe for Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus helped our family get through day one and we hope it will find its way into one of your meals soon. One thing is clear, following a paleo way of eating is not going to mean deprivation. Just look at our breakfast. I mean, really. This is good stuff.

Before getting to the recipe I wanted to mention G’s last post. In it, my husband wrote about his fall off the “paleo wagon”. In order to enter his giveaway he asked that readers include a comment on one of their New Year’s resolutions. It’s been really interesting reading the comments and I know many of you are excited, like we are, to start with a clean slate in the New Year. Several people noted their resistance to making “resolutions” feeling this could be a set-up for failure. Instead, there are lots of people who set “goals” which is probably a better way to look at it. No matter what time of year, it’s always a good idea to strive for health and wellness.

Here are some highlights of comments we’ve seen so far:

Loss weight and/or add muscle
Complete a month of strict paleo eating (Whole30) without cheating
“Run an 8 minute mile”
“To believe in myself”
“Make our children healthier”
Be able to “keep up with” kids and grandkids
One random act of kindness once a week
and many more…

I’m really glad G posed the question because we have enjoyed reading the responses very much. So thank you to all who have participated so far. (There’s still time to enter as of this writing!)

Now for the recipe for these tasty morsels!

Spaghetti Squash Gratin (Primal & Gluten-free)

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Lea

Warning! The recipe for Spaghetti Squash Gratin contains dairy ingredients. This one is going to be hard to resist. So if you are strictly dairy-free you might want to stop reading now.

PaleoSpirit.com Spaghetti Squash Gratin

Okay, if you are still reading I will assume you eat dairy products from time to time.

Minimally, I hope you are not inclined to inform me in the comments the paleo diet does not include dairy. (Actually, yes it does depending on your tolerance and the type of dairy. But let’s not argue. Okay?)

Perhaps we can agree on the term “primal” which is typically used to describe a paleo diet or recipe that does include some dairy products. So let’s agree the following recipe is a Primal Spaghetti Squash Gratin.

spaghetti squash gratin by PaleoSpirit.com

The dairy in this spaghetti squash gratin is not just any old dairy, it’s one of the most wonderful cheeses known to mankind.

I’m talking about Gruyère cheese.

If you have never tried Gruyère you are really missing out. Gruyère is a type of Swiss cheese. This is the same cheese found atop high quality French onion soup. When added to a gratin it imparts a simply amazing flavor. And, in my experience, it is worth splurging on the original version made in Switzerland as opposed to domestic U.S. varieties. The flavor of the original Gruyère is unsurpassed and you need less of it to get the characteristic creamy, nutty, earthy and complex flavor in a recipe.

Spaghetti Squash Gratin

This dish is great on chilly autumn and winter days. The spaghetti squash still has a slight crunch and the nutmeg accents the Gruyère perfectly. It would be delicious with steak and a salad or really any meal that you may, in the past, have served with (God forbid) Macaroni & Cheese.

Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort, Inc

Superstorm Sandy and a Paleo Stuffing Recipe

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Lea

It’s been quite a while since I have written a post! I usually try to post at least once a week but we’ve had some unusual circumstances around here recently which have made it more difficult. For one thing, I started a new job and getting into the swing of that plus home and family obligations have taken up most of my time. But the main reason I have not posted recently is because we live right smack in the middle of the area affected by Superstorm Sandy! Fortunately for us, our house was not damaged in the storm and we didn’t have any major trees come down. But we were without power for almost ten days and that made life a tad difficult. In the midst of all the chaos I did take a few photos with my iPhone of some of the damage to our neighborhood. Check out some of the trees and telephone poles that were snapped in half from the power of the wind.

Huge numbers of extremely large trees came down all over the place crashing into homes, knocking down power lines and blocking roads. Our boys’ schools were closed for a solid two weeks and there are still folks around us without power over three weeks later!

My employer opened their offices to employee families for a few days. G’s office in Manhattan was closed for several days due to flooding and power outages and New Jersey Transit was also not running. (In fact, our usual train line is still not back in service.) G and the boys came to the office with me a couple of days for showers and to have a place to work remotely and stay warm. Nathaniel made the most of his time by reading and reading and reading. We can’t get this boy to stop reading!

During the power outage we did pretty well with food. We had a couple of coolers and a propane grill that we used for some basic cooking. In advance of the coming storm, before we lost our electricity, I made a loaf of Paleo Banana Cardamom Bread and it definitely came in handy. We served it along with some scrambled eggs (on the grill) and fresh strawberries (while they lasted).

We were able to boil water on the grill for coffee and coffee has never tasted SO good! It was a lot like camping except with a nicer tent (aka our house).

We had stocked up on some “apocalypse” foods prior to the storm. It turned into a couple of meals of tuna salad with olives and pickles.

As food in the freezer began to thaw, we made a tomato and olive sauce and served it over grilled salmon. For at least a few meals we were eating pretty well and we didn’t really stray from our usual paleo diet.

Just as we got our power back we had a Nor’easter snow storm which knocked out our power yet again! By that time our refrigerator had been cleaned out of all food and we were geting pretty frustrated. But once the power came back and the gas stations were starting to come back online we felt as though we needed to turn our attention to the harder hit parts of our state. We made our way down to Union Beach, NJ for a Saturday where we helped out by delivering food and supplies and helping to organize things for the local people who had lost all of their belongings in the storm.

It was a great experience for Ben and Nathaniel to learn the importance of helping others. At worst we were inconvenienced by the storm. But other people lost their homes and some even lost loved ones. Helping others taught us all a lesson on putting things into perspective and counting our blessings.

If you would like to donate to help people impacted by Hurricane Sandy I suggest you consider the following organization:

We have personally worked with this organization and can vouch for them in terms of the aid that goes directly to people in need.

Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe

Now that things are getting back to normal around here I hope to be able to continue posting recipes on a more regular basis. Given that Thanksgiving is upon us I decided to try a paleo stuffing recipe. Last year I made a Gluten-Free Cornbread Dressing. It’s the one recipe on this site that contains corn. It’s a great recipe but this year I wanted to make a truly paleo stuffing. It’s a little odd not to have bread in a stuffing. But this concoction provides all the flavor of a traditional stuffing or dressing recipe without the grains or the carbs. Continue reading →

Venison Steak with Cauliflower Couscous and Red Onion Compote (Paleo)

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Lea

When my neighbor Tony gifted me with some very fresh venison steaks recently I was excited and a bit apprehensive. Where we live the deer are plentiful and I have long viewed them as pests. Prior to the installation of a high fence for my back yard, our garden was the scene of daily deer traffic. They ate my flowers, nibbled on my shrubs and left plenty of droppings near where my children played. So the idea of “thinning the herd” has never been offensive to me. The problem is I have never cooked venison before. What do I do with this?!

I got plenty of advice from folks who have experience with venison. I was tempted to marinate the steaks or use a brine. But I ultimately decided to go the simple route and just pan sear the venison steaks. The exotic flavors come primarily from the cauliflower couscous side dish and the accompaniment of the sweet and tangy red onion compote. These recipes are the result of my plan to treat the inherently paleo venison (hunter food!) with the respect it deserves. I wanted to add some sophistication to this meat and create something special with complimentary flavors.

While taking photos of the venison and cauliflower couscous I offered some to Nathaniel who eagerly submitted to being my taste-tester. But my voracious reader did a little multi-tasking during his taste-testing gig.

Oh how I love a reading boy!

Asian-Style Beef Short Ribs (Paleo)

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Lea

Beef Shorts Ribs is/are one of those foods I mostly avoided prior to “going paleo”. They just seemed way too fatty to be a reasonable option for someone concerned with eating “healthy.” Or so I thought. I do remember being on vacation in New Orleans years ago and dining at Emeril’s Delmonico restaurant. We were on vacation so I was going to go a little wild. Okay, when talking about vacationing in New Orleans and going “wild” I should probably qualify that by saying my going wild amounted to eating a huge plate of beef short ribs and polenta. I was going craaaaazy I tell you!

Anyway, the meal was so fantastic I still remember it fondly not only because of the splurge on beef ribs but the accompanying polenta which was beyond delicious. For years I wondered what in the world could have been in that recipe to make it so amazing. Well, I’m pretty sure I’ve figured it out and….it is beef fat (aka tallow). Duh! That exquisite polenta was soaked in tallow from the short ribs. So imagine my delight when I read information like this telling the truth about red meat.

Of course, we know now that grass-fed/finished beef is higher in Omega-3 fats than conventional beef. So I do recommend when eating fatty cuts you use grass-fed beef. Although I must confess I did not follow that advice for this recipe simply because I did not have access to a higher quality product. Here’s a shot of the ribs I used.

Instead of making polenta to go along with the short ribs (too much corn) I decided to take an asian path. Asian food is one of my favorites. Never having been able to achieve results at home that matched the food in good asian restaurants, it has usually been my preferred cuisine when eating out. The problem is I have celiac disease and am intolerant to all kinds of weird ingredients. If you have ever taken a stroll down the asian food aisle at the grocery store and peeked at the labels of some of the packaged food you will understand the problem. To get my beef AND asian food “fix” I came up with this recipe that avoids troublesome ingredients. If you are following an “autoimmune paleo protocol”** this recipe will work for you. The only ingredient that might be considered unusual is coconut aminos. Coconut aminos is a product derived from coconut that tastes like soy sauce but does not contain wheat (gluten) or soy.

When I was putting this post together I looked at the photos on my camera and had to laugh at what I saw. There were photos of beef short ribs then photos of flowers, then photos of more ingredients for asian-style beef short ribs, then vegetables from the garden and back to food and on and on. I just bought a new camera lens and I’ve been having fun practicing with it. But this is only part of the explanation. The truth is, flitting from activity to activity is pretty much standard operating procedure for me. Hmm, wonder what that means…Oh look, a spider!

Veggies from the garden.

Sorry, what were we talking about? Continue reading →

Roasted Beet and Cucumber Salad with Yogurt Dressing

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Lea

We planted some chiogga beets this year. Ordinarily I buy vegetable plant seedlings and transplant them into our raised garden beds. But because these are heirloom beets we ordered the seeds online and that meant planting them ourselves. So we’re kind of proud of these beets. It was fun for the boys to see what comes from a little seed they planted themselves. Here’s Nathaniel with a few of our crop.

We may have let them grow a little bigger than what is best for flavor. Smaller beets tend to be tastier.

Here’s what chiogga beets look like when you slice them. They are kind of mesmerizing if you stare too long.

Even though chiogga beets would have worked perfectly well in this roasted beet and cucumber salad, the ones I used this time were “regular” beets. Still delicious, still beautiful and nutritious – cancer-fighting, actually. I remember my aunt Norma making a beet and cucumber salad when I was a kid. I have no idea what was in it other than beets and cucumbers and some sort of creamy sauce. But I do remember it was really tasty so you might say this recipe is an homage to Aunt Norma!

The yogurt dressing in this version is close to a tzatziki sauce with garlic and mint. I just love the combination of cool cucumbers, sweet roasted beets with a garlicky yogurt sauce. It’s a perfect (primal) summer side dish. Continue reading →