Simple Garlic Greens

(from the Clothes Make the Girl)

You need: greens, olive oil, fresh garlic, salt, pepper, a lemon wedge

Directions:
1. Wash the greens. Remove any tough and/or thick ribs, then roughly chop or tear the leaves. Don't dry the leaves; you want that water for steaming.

2. Heat a large skillet and throw in about half the greens. Stir 'til starting to wilt, then add the rest. Put a lid on it! During this process, you may need to add more water – bonus! beef or chicken broth – to convince the leaves to mellow out. Kale takes a while; beet tops are a little more willing to give it up.

3. When the leaves are dark green and as wilted as you like them – as all things, I like mine very well-done, which means quite wilted – take off the lid and let any remaining water evaporate.

4. Turn off the heat and drizzle some olive oil over the greens. Crush a clove or two of garlic into the pan. Stir.

5. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and pepper, then, if you like, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

My Thoughts:  I used Mustard Greens.  Yuck.  Wait, I need to say it again. Yuck.  I might even need to yell it since my mouth is still not happy with me.  I have no doubt that if I made this with Kale I would have fallen in love with the recipe but mustard greens are not my friend.  Very easy recipe to make and I'd probably try it again with a different green because, as we all know, I like my garlic.

Spicy Beef Lettuce Wraps

Serves 2-4
(from The Clothes Make the Girl)

 

Ingredients:

The Beef:

• favorite fat for sautéing
• 1/2 onion, diced fine
• 2-3 fresh chili peppers, washed, seeded, and sliced thin
• 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 lb. happy cow ground beef
• a handful of fresh basil leaves (optional)

The Sauce:

• 1/4 cup Sunbutter
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons coconut aminos
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup water
• pinch dried ginger

 The Go-Alongs:

• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 head lettuce: red, green, butter, or a mix, leaves washed and separated
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, shredded
• a handful of snap peas, slivered

 

Directions:
1. Prepare the go-along vegetables. Wash and slice the vegetables. Place on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Put in the fridge 'til you're ready to eat.

2. Make the sauce. Place all ingredients in a food processor/blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.

3. Make the beef. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of your favorite fat in a sauté pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions and peppers, sauté until vegetables are slightly softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the ground beef and crushed garlic. Stir fry until the meat is cooked through. To make it really sing, throw in the basil leaves and cook just until the basil is wilted.

4. Serve and eat! Serve everything family style so your fellow foodies can make their own wraps to order. I like to start with a lettuce leaf, add a few slivers of onion and cucumber and some carrots, then top with the meat mixture, and drizzle that with some of the Sunbutter sauce. Just roll up and eat!

 

My thoughts:  Really yummy even though the first time I made the dish, I totally skipped the go alongs and just chucked the meat on a plate of romaine lettuce and drizzled my sauce over the top.  The second time I made the dish was for company so I went all out and cut up cucumbers and carrots and threw those on top of the romaine lettuce as well. 

I substituted almond butter for the sun butter since I didn't have any but other than that I didn't change much.  I wonder if that changed the flavor a lot of the sauce?  I could definitely taste the almond flavor and since I'm a little burned out on almonds, I didn't really get all excited about it.

 



The first attempt



 

With a Little Help from my Friends

I just have to say, I love my friends.  I've truly been blessed with the greatest bunch of ladies who get my weird humor, place bets on when various important events in my life will occur and basically give me a hard time while they live vicariously through me.

Piggybacking on the conversation regarding my Domestic Disaster status, Sara found it pretty hilarious that my spaghetti squash cooking experience didn't quite pan out.  The conversation went a little like this:

S-  "How did you cook it?"
K-  "Uh, sliced it and grilled it?"
S-  "Oh dear."
K-  ::silence::
S-  "Do you need a lesson"
K-  "Duh."
S-  ::proceeds to instruct me on the proper preparation::
S-  "Make sense?"
K-  "PICTURES!!!"
S-  "Stay tuned.  This is going to be good."
K-  ::sits down and prepares to be "blown away by [Sara's] mad skillz"::


© Sara Deason, 2011


Really, it couldn't be any easier?  Right?!  In fact, I got so excited about making the spaghetti "noodles" and documenting my progress that I actually forgot to make the spaghetti sauce.  Oops.  I stuck the "noodles" in a baggie and froze them thinking that I could defrost them after I made my sauce the next day.  Turns out they're kind of bland but that might have been due to the heating-freezing-melting than the actual squash.  I made the actual spaghetti sauce from scratch, and while tasty, it didn't quite have the zing I like (read that as vampire fighting quantities of garlic). 

My "noodles" up close

The finished product!

I might try making spaghetti squash "noodles" again but for the time being, I'll stick to grilling slices of zucchini. Yummy!!

Day 16:  I tried to stick to a no fruit diet for the day.  Used my new French Press for two HUGE cups of coffee in the morning, snacked on toasted sunflower seeds throughout the day, piece of garlic salted steak for lunch, spaghetti and squash for dinner and cantaloupe for a midnight snack after Roller Derby practice. 

WCotD = Pepsi

Toasted Sunflower Seeds

(from www.NourishingMeals.com)



1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon coconut aminos


Heat a large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes, or until the pan is hot. Add the sunflower seeds and keep them moving in the pan, using a spatula. Toast them for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Turn off heat and add coconut aminos. Immediately stir the aminos with the seeds. Let cool in the pan (off of your heat source) then transfer to a glass jar for storage.

My thoughts:  Yummy!!  I was having trouble finding sunflower seeds in the store that were Whole30 but found this recipe online.  You can buy Coconut Aminos online or here in town at either Lemongrass (where I got the raw sunflower seeds) or at Wenatchee Natural Foods (where I bought the coconut aminos since Lemongrass was out of stock).  Coconut aminos is a Whole30 approved substitute for soy sauce and is pretty tasty!!  The sunflower seeds tended to stick together after putting in the coconut aminos but they'll break apart once you put them in the jar.  I toasted my sunflower seeds for nearly a full two minutes on high heat.  I might have burnt them just a little.

Easy to make, not too many items needed!

Raw sunflower seeds ready to be toasted

After being toasted and with the coconut aminos added

Tasty Toasted Sunflower Seeds ready to eat!!

Baked Bananas

(from The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel, p256)
Serves 4


4 bananas
¼ cup olive oil
Juice and grated rind of 2 lemons
1 tbs vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the bananas in half lengthwise and place cut side down in a baking dish greased with the oil. Drizzle the bananas with the lemon juice and vanilla and sprinkle with grated lemon rind and cinnamon. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.


My thoughts:  Delicious!!  I wasn't sure about lemon juice and bananas but it really was tasty with the cinnamon and vanilla mixed in.  A bit of tart and sweet.  I ended up with nearly a 1/2 cup of lemon juice by the time I was done squeezing two lemons - I'm not sure if this was too much or just right.  When I poured it into the pan, there was quite a bit of liquid but it didn't seem to hurt the dish much.  Maybe made the lemon a bit stronger than intended?  I didn't sprinkle any grated lemon rind on the bananas either since I couldn't get my rinds to grate.  Grr.  I shaved a cinnamon stick so my dish looked like it had little twigs in it but since I didn't have any ground cinnamon at the time, it worked.  I think this would be delicious all mashed up and stuck in something. 

Kale Chips

(from The Clothes Make the Girl blog)

Ingredients:

4 cups raw kale, washed, dried, torn into 2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted, or olive oil
salt


Directions:
1. Place kale in a bowl and toss with oil.

2. Spread the kale on a baking sheet in a single layer and sprinkle generously with salt. (For a BBQ chip flavor, add a sprinkle of chili powder and paprika.)

3. Bake in a 350F oven for 7-10 minutes – keep an eye on them!

My thoughts:  Delicious!!  Yummy!!  I like!!  My interpretation of "generously" didn't match up with Melissa's and the first batch ended up being way too salty for me.  It also could be attributed to using a bulk size bottle of sea salt instead of an actual shaker...  Second batch today was much better, I even used fresh ground garlic & sea salt combo (bought at Costco).  I ended up baking my kale for 15 minutes, 10 minutes didn't make it crispy enough for me.  I didn't see much of a difference in taste between using coconut oil (first batch) or olive oil (second batch).  Storage is an issue... do you keep it in a paper bag so it doesn't get soggy or just eat it all at once?  I've got it in a plastic tub right now that has one of those vent things for the microwave.

Basil Tomatoes

(from the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel, p247)


serves 4

4 medium tomatoes, sliced
¼ cup flaxseed oil
1½ tbs lemon juice
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp dried basil
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, minced


Place the tomatoes in a shallow dish. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour the dressing over the tomatoes. Cover and refrigerate before serving.


My thoughts:  Skip the flaxseed oil and go straight to olive oil.  There's not a pleasent aftertaste with the flaxseed oil.  Other than that, this was delicious and really fast/easy to make.

Stir-Fried Garlic Asparagus

(from the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel)

1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbs olive oil
1 lb fresh asparagus spears
1 tbs lemon juice

Cook the garlic in the oil until soft, stirring frequently.  Add the asparagus spears.  Cook until tender, 3 to 5 minutes.  Pour the lemon juice over the asparagus.

My thoughts:  I substituted coconut oil for the olive oil which made cooking the garlic and the asparagus a little tricky but I'm happy with the way it turned out.  Amazingly tasty.  I liked the tartness of the lemon mixed with the garlic flavor.  I probably should have cooked the asparagus a little longer since it was rather crunchy.  But yummy.  Definitely make this again.

Greek Cucumber-Tomato Salad

(Recipe from The PaleoDiet by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel, p248)
Serves 6

• 1 large cucumber, cut into half slices 
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut into eighths
• ¼ red onion, very thinly sliced
• ½ green bell pepper, sliced thinly
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

Mix the cucumber, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper in a bowl. Toss with the lemon juice and oil. Add black pepper to taste.

My thoughts:  Very tasty, simple/fast to make.  Next time I will put less red onion in since it kind of overpowered the rest of the salad (especially after sitting over night in the fridge).  More green pepper. 

Ingredients: