Ceviche

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This is addicting and I could eat it every single day.  Lucky for me, I have friends that teach me how to cook authentic Mexican. ;)

(this makes a ton! If you are cooking for only a few, cut it in half)

Ceviche
Ingredients:
8 white fish filets (we used tilapia and perch)
1 1/4 cup lime juice (fresh squeezed…it takes quite a few limes!)
a splash of EVOO
1 cucumber, seeded, finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1/2 bunch cilantro w/stems
3 peeled carrots, shredded
1 roma tomato, seeded
2Tbsp white vinegar
salt to taste
Directions:
Boil a pot of water and add the fish.  Bring back to a boil, then turn off and immediately remove fish!  Put the fish in a bowl in the fridge to cool off.  Then, shred the fish with a fork.  Add the lime juice and let sit in the fridge for 1 hour.  Add chopped veggies and EVOO and mix together.  I would say this makes about 8 cups and will stay in the fridge for about 3 days before spoiling. We ate this on tostadas, which were like corn chips.  However, it would have been equally amazing on sliced jicama.

Beef Tongue Tacos

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I know what you’re thinking.  Disgusting.  But they are so good!  Trust me.  Additionally, tongue is a very nutritious food that is great for skin and soft tissue!

These brought me back to my days in Honduras and Costa Rica.  I’m pretty sure I had cow tongue there without knowing it.  The taste was entirely too familiar.  For those of you scared….don’t be!  I just tastes like meat, and you wouldn’t know it was tongue.  Although I won’t lie, once it was cooked, before it was diced, it looked very similar to the cadaver tongues that I used to teach from in lab!  Yikes!  It is just another muscle, and you can probably get it cheap!

Beef Tongue Tacos
Ingredients:
beef tongue
onion
garlic
salt
Directions:
Prep the tongue by removing any hair that may be stuck to it….but this probably isn’t necessary. Cut the tongue in half.  Place it in a stock pot and bring to a boil with a whole onion, a head of garlic, and some salt. (Just throw the aromatics in there whole, you are just flavoring with them, not eating them).  Simmer for 2 1/2-3 hours until the white connective tissue comes off easily.  Peel it off.  Let the tongue cool and dice it up.  Put it in a taco w/garnishes.  We going authentic, so we ate them with 100% corn tortillas; however, if I were to make it at home, I would enjoy it just as much in a lettuce cup.  We served it with fresh tomatillo salsa, radishes, cucumber, sauteed green onion, avocado, onion, cilantro, and lime..

“Cheesy” Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

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Cheese.  Everyone loves it.  However, if you avoid dairy, there may be a spot in your heart reserved for your favorite past time.  I am by no means calling this recipe creamy, but I am saying that it has a “cheesy” flavor to it due to a little ingredient called nutritional yeast.  Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast that comes in yellow flakes.  I wouldn’t call it a nutritional powerhouse, but it does have quite a bit of B vitamins!…and it kind of tastes like cheese.  You know those cheesy kale chips you find at the store?  Yup, nutritional yeast made those “cheesy.”
“Cheesy” Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower
Ingredients:
Broccoli, cut into small florets
Cauliflower, cut into small florets
Saturated fat of choice for roasting
salt and pepper
Nutritional yeast
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Place broccoli and cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and coat with oil, spices, and nutritional yeast. Roast for 35-40 minutes.  Enjoy!

Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce

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If you have a cherry tomato plant overflowing and don’t know what to do with all those maters, this is an awesome options to use them up!  It’s easy, but does require a food processor.
Cherry Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
cherry tomatoes (enough to fill a sheet pan)
onion, any kind rough chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
6 basil leaves (and any herbs you feel like adding)
salt and pepper to taste
Cooking oil of choice
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Throw your tomatoes, onion, garlic, salt, and oil on a sheet pan and roast until the tomatoes shrivel, which should be about 35 minutes.  In the food processor, add the basil, and add the pan contents once cooled slightly.  Process until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Store in the fridge, freeze, or can!

Pizza Crust

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I have a few pizza recipes on the blog now and have kept all of them for various reasons.  However, this particular crust is my favorite because it’s crispy, you can pick it up without it falling apart, it doesn’t use almond flour, and I have found a way to up it’s nutrition by adding bone broth!  You can’t go wrong with any of them posted, but this just happens to be my go-to. The pizza pictured is a combo of basil, cherry tomatoes, shallots, and squash blossoms!  You can easily switch it to whatever is in season that your heart desires.
Pizza Crust
Ingredients:
2 cups tapioca flour
1/2 cup bone broth (or other liquid)
1 egg
2 Tbsp olive oil (or other fat melted)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional) -this adds a slight cheesy flavor
Directions:
Preheat oven to 500F.  In a bowl, add all the ingredients together until you get a slightly moist, mold-able dough.  Press that dough into the bottom of a cast iron skillet and poke tons of holes in the bottom with a fork.  Bake for 20 minutes until the top is hard and you can “tap” on it with your finger nails.  It will also begin to pull away from the sides.  Rub the crust with the cut edge of garlic if you want a garlicy flavor.  Add your sauce and toppings before cooking again for another 15 minutes!  Enjoy!

Prosciutto-wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts

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I use the trick of stuffing chicken breast with pesto ALL THE TIME.  I do this for 2 reasons: 1. It keeps the meat moist. 2.  Pesto is something I have sitting around all the time because of having so many herbs throughout the summer.  It adds flavor and makes it seem like you spent all day in the kitchen. I even use it from the frozen pesto cubes I make.  It makes it seem like tons of work went into something, when it sure as heck did not! I decided to use up some prosciutto I had in the fridge, too but this could easily be left off or you could sub bacon.  While this was roasting, I threw some onions and fennel with a few cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet to roast on another rack as a side dish.
Proscuitto-wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken breasts, skinless, boneless
4 Tbsp pesto (you could use cilantro pesto just as easily!)
4 sheets of proscuitto
salt and pepper
Directions:
Peheat oven to 350F and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.(picture instructions below)  Lay out 4 chicken breasts on the paper and create a small pocket by using your knife to separate the breast so it opens like a book but not completely cut in half.  Once all those pockets are created, wash your hands and salt and pepper your breasts.  Then using one hand, open the pocket, while using the other to scoop your pesto inside.  Once you are done with the pesto, you can use both hands to squish it further into the pocket to make sure you get good coverage.  You want most bites to have some pesto in it!  (kind of like a cream filled donut).  Then wrap a sheet of prosciutto around every breast and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the breasts are cooked through.
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Paleo Crockpot BBQ Chicken

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Everyone loves BBQ!  Well, except for me.  I don’t like condiments!  Before you scream at me, hold your breath.  I already know: I’m CRAZY!  However, if the sauce can be cooked into the meat somewhat, then I can actually enjoy it!  When one of my friends at the gym started selling his homemade paleo BBQ sauce, I knew I had to try it.  No better way to try it than an easy crockpot recipe!  I could totally eat this weekly!  To me, the sauce is like a tomato-based BBQ sauce.  If you prefer a sweet BBQ, you could add some coconut sugar.  If you prefer a smoky sauce, try smoked paprika.  If you prefer really spicy, feel free to add some red pepper flakes!  I think this sauce is a perfect foundation for anyone’s taste buds!
If you want to try some of this sauce for yourself, contact Troy Campanello on Facebook and he will hook you up!  He is selling it to raise money to help his wife get up north for a prestigious Crossfit competition that she was invited to compete in alongside only 14 other ladies over 50 who received invites, as well.  AKA It’s kind of a big deal!
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Ingredients:
3lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
12oz of your fave BBQ sauce (I used T-Roy’s Paleo BBQ Sauce)
2 Tbsp of Italian seasoning
2 Tbsp coconut sugar (optional)
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Directions:
Place your chicken breast into the crockpot seasoned with salt and pepper.  Add the rest of the ingredients on top.  Turn the crockpot to high for 3-4 hours.  Shred the meat and cook another 20 minutes.  Done!

Kale, Peach, and Avocado Salad

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This recipe was born out of the necessity to use massive amounts of kale, basil, and parsley in addition to having peaches that needed to be used before they went bad.  I used my Brussel sprouts and avocado salad as a foundation and switched things around as I needed to based on what I had available! Instead of straight sesame seeds, I also opted to use seaweed Gomasio, which is a combo of sesame seeds, seaweed, and salt.  This is an awesome opportunity for those trying to support their thyroid function to use food as medicine! Kale is a hearty green, so leftovers hold up nicely in the fridge if you don’t eat it all in one sitting.
Kale, Peach, Avocado Salad
Ingredients:
5 cups of kale, chopped
2-3 avocados, diced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped basil
2 peaches, diced
1 Tbsp seaweed Gomasio (or sub just sesame seeds)
dressing
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients and enjoy!  Feel free to mix and match ingredients based on what you have, what was on sale that week, or what is in season!

Paleo Dry Rub

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I am not a huge fan of smoked meat because it makes me nauseous.  Literally.  Every time I go to a BBQ with smoked meat and have a cocktail, I feel like I might puke and think I drank too much.  Then I look down and realize I haven’t even finished a single drink!  You’d think I would learn my lesson, but I still make the mistake of having smoked meat at least once a year.  Oh well.  If you are a grill master and love to smoke some ribs, this rub is an awesome option.   It isn’t much different from any regular rub recipe you may find except for the fact that the sugar is coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is similar to brown sugar because it has that molasses hint to it.  However, it comes from coconut sap instead of sugar beets.  Sugar beets are often genetically modified, so if you are trying to stay GMO-free, coconut sugar may be a great swap!
Dry Rub
Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients and rub it on some meat.  Smoke that meat.

Shrimp, Pepper, Pineapple Skewers w/Grilled Avocado

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You are getting tired of me saying this….but another recipe that’s NOT a recipe!  This is seriously what just pops in my mind when I look in the fridge and see ingredients.  Shrimp is an awesome protein to have in the freezer because it thaws and cooks quickly.  It is also an amazing source of nutrients and variation in your protein sources is a good practice to have.  Pineapple is also something I only really go for in the summer because my cravings are often fruit related when it’s super hot out.  Pineapple has tons of enzymes present in it that aid in the digestive process and bromelain which aids in healing tissues and meat digestion.  I happened to have cilantro pesto in my fridge because cilantro was growing like crazy, and I often make pesto to preserve herbs. Grilled avocado is a food I never experienced before until my gym had a party and the son of one of the couples was cooking for us.  Culinary arts are his passion and profession, and grilled avocado and grilled romaine were quickly added to my vegetable ideas!
Shrimp skewers
Ingredients:
shrimp, wild caught, peeled and deveined
bell pepper, cut into chunks
pineapple, cut into chunks
cilantro pesto
salt and pepper
juice from half a lemon
red pepper flakes
avocado, halved and seed removed
Directions:
Place the shrimp in a bowl mixed with cilantro pesto, lemon juice, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and let marinade while you getting your pineapple, peppers, and grill ready. Heat the grill or grill pan to medium high heat.  Place your ingredients on the skewers however you like them.  (remember that if you are grilling with wooden skewers that you will need to soak them in water for 30 minutes prior so they don’t burn).  Place your made skewers on the grill along with an avocado that you cut in half (place cut side down). Grill for 3 minutes on one side and flip, cooking for another 2-3 minutes.  Remove from the grill and enjoy!