Chili

Been a while since I last posted a recipe here. We had been busy with the move to the new house. The hubby is retiring next year and the plan is to retire in San Antonio. We had been busy looking at houses since June. We finally closed on one in September and moved in 3 weeks ago.. and yes we are still very busy trying to get to the new house in order.

We were eating really bad during the move as we had to close down the kitchen. Lotsa of fast food and unhealthy stuff. 

Last week was the first week that we get back to the healthy eating routine... at least for dinner. The hubby had been spoilt with the fast food we had and could not stop eating them. Well, at least we are back to making health dinner. 

We had a cold front came in on Saturday night and the temperature dropped 30 degrees from 92 to 57... gosh its cold for our Texans blood. The first food that came to my mind was Chili. We saw this recipe from Martha Setwart's site and decided to give it a shot as it look easy. And gosh... this recipe is potently good. The use of Chipotle chili pepper with adobo sauce makes a big difference. It blends really good with the beer. and gosh.. its spicy.  This is my new GO TO chili recipe....

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon vegetable oil ( I use coconut oil)
3 medium onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
3 tablespoons chili powder
 2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 pounds ground beef chuck ( I use 1.2 pound of ground turkey and 1.2 pound of ground beef)
3 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes in juice
1 bottle (12 ounces) mild lager beer ( I use shiner bock)
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) kidney beans, rinsed and drained ( I omitted this)
Shredded cheddar cheese (optional) ( I omitted this)

DIRECTIONS
1. In a Dutch oven or large (5-quart) heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
2.  Add tomato paste, chili powder, chipotles, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring, until mixture has begun to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add beef, and cook, breaking it up with a spoon until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
 3 Add tomatoes with their juice, beer, and beans. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a rapid simmer. Cook over medium heat until chili has thickened slightly and beans are tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Paleo Ketchup

I have not had Ketchup since we started the paleo diet last year. I am not a great fan of ketchup as it contains lots of sugar. But the hubby is a Ketchup fan.. so this started the search for a Paleo Ketchup. I came across this recipe from "Not in Moderation". It looks simple and easy and have many great reviews. I figure I have to try it.

I am not disappointed. It taste almost like Ketchup especially after I leave it in the fridge for the favor to develop overnight. Definitely a keeper. 

Ingredients:
12oz Tomato Paste 
1.5 Cup Water 2 tbsp Vinegar ( I used apple cider vinegar. The hubby likes his ketchup more tangy so I used 3-4 tablespoon)
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder 
1/2 tsp Onion Powder 
1/4 tsp All Spice 
1/4 ground cinnamon ( The original recipe did not have cinnamon. But most reviews I read suggest some cinnamon) 

Direction
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Simmer for a few minutes and stir often. Transfer ketchup to a glass container and refrigerate.

~bel~

Paleo Mug Cake

What do you do when you are hungry and there are limited snacks at home ?  Both - the hubby and I - were bored and hungry on Friday evening after dinner.  Yeah.. we get hungry a lot after dinner.  Just do not know why. We could have double serving of dinner and still feel hungry after.

The first thing that came into my mind was : Mug Cake. We have a to go  recipe (<=click) for mug cake and loved it. But it called for the use of almond butter and we do not have almond butter at home.

I decided to google for a recipe that uses ingredients which I have at home. First on google list was this recipe from Delighted mum. I was skeptical as it does not use baking soda at all !

Desperate for snack.. I decided to give it a try( with a few changes) which was a good decision because this cake is so easy and soooo sooo good.

We have since make it twice and I cannot resist the temptation to make it again after writing this post :)

My adapted version:
Ingredients :

• 3 tbs of almond meal
• 3 tbs of cocoa powder
• 2 tbs of honey ( more if you like it sweet)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a microwave safe mug.
2. Microwave for 2 minute

~bel~

Pot Roast

 

I have always make my pot roast in the slow cooker and have been toying with the idea of making it on stove top or oven. The hubby and I decided to take yesterday off from running and this give me a perfect opportunity to try a recipe. 

I did a quick search on the internet and decided to try this recipe from Simply Recipe. It look simple enough with just some easy ingredients which we have at home. The only changed I made from the recipe was to substitute red wine with beef broth. I am sure this will taste much better with red wine.

The hubby gave a triple thumb up for this recipe and went for 2 big servings. Well, both of us polish off the whole pot roast.  The hubby last word was " you have to make this again".. so I guess this is really good. 

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 lb of beef shoulder or boneless chuck roast (look for a piece that is well marbled with fat for best results)
• 2 Tbsp olive or grapeseed oil
• Salt, pepper, italian seasoning to taste ( I use a blend of seasoning which the hubby make)
• 2 large yellow onions, thickly sliced, lengthwise (root to tip), about 4 cups sliced onion
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1/2 cup of red wine ( Iuse beef broth)
• 1 bay leaf
• Several carrots, peeled and cut lengthwise

 Directions
1 Use a thick-bottomed covered pot (oven-proof if you intend to cook in oven), such as a dutch oven, just large enough to hold roast and vegetables. Heat 2 Tbsp of oil on medium high heat (hot enough to sear the meat). Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Sprinkle and rub salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning all over the meat. Brown roast in pot, all over, several minutes on each side. Don't move the roast while a side is browning, or it won't brown well.


2 When roast is browned, remove from pan and set on a plate. Add the onions to the pan and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes, until they begin to brown. Add the garlic and carrots to sit on top of the onions. Set the roast on top of the onions, garlic and carrots. Add 1/2 cup of red wine. Add the bay leaf.

3. Cover. Bring to simmer and then adjust the heat down to the lowest heat possible to maintain a low simmer when covered . If cooking in the oven, bring to a simmer first on the stovetop, then put in the oven, start the temp at 300°F for 15 minutes, then drop it to 225°F

3 Cook for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, or longer, until meat is tender.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

 

We have some weird weather the past week. It was hot and it was cold and wet. It was hot on Wednesday at 80 degree and it changed over night to thunderstorm on Thursday at high of 55 degree. Well.. it is probably not so cold if you come from east or north east. But this is Texas.. anything lower than 70 degree is Brrrrr for us :)

And yes.. it was brrr for us on Thursday. So I decided to make a beef stew to warm our soul. I found this recipe (<= click)  from Simply Recipe and adapted it to the ingredients I have at home. I love this recipe for the simple reason that it is not tomato based. I am not a fan of tomato based stew. The use of beer and beef broth with just 2 tablespoon of tomato base is perfect. The hubby agreed that this is a keeper. We have some leftover on Friday and it seems to taste even better. 

Ingredents ( My adapted version)

• 2 Tbspcoconut oil
• 2 pounds well marbled chuck beef roast, cut into 2-inch piece
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 pint (16 ounces) stout or any dark beer ( I use shiner bock)
• 3 cups beef broth
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2-3 potato and sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 3-4 teaspoons dried thyme
• Salt and pepper

Direction
1, Heat the coconut oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in the oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the beef as it browns. Once browned on all sides, transfer the beef pieces into the slow cook

2 Add the onions and celery to the pan in which you just browned the beef. Sauté the onions and celery until they begin to brown at the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Cook for a minute or two, then add a little of the Guinness, enough to make it easier for you to scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Transfer the celery and onions into the slow cooker.


3 Add the rest of the Guinness, the beef broth, carrots, potato and sweet potato, and thyme to the slow cooker. Add two teaspoons of salt. Cover and cook on "high" for 4 hours, or "low" for 8 hours. When done, add more salt to taste.

~bel~

Oven baked Chicken Fajita

 

The hubby sent me a link of this recipe from a facebook page "$5-$10 dollars meals".  It looked so easy good and yummy that I could not resist the temptation to try the recipe. Yes... this is an awesome recipe. Took only 10 minutes preparation time. I did all the prep work in the afternoon and popped it in the oven when we got back from our run yesterday.  Easy and convenient

Ingredients
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel)
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into strips

Direction
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken strips in a greased 13×9 baking dish.
2. In a small bowl combine the oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, dried oregano, and salt.
3. Drizzle the spice mixture over the chicken and stir to coat.
4. Next add the tomatoes, peppers, and onions to the dish and stir to combine. 

5. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender

~bel~

Crockpot Pork Roast

 

Our crockpot is very much under utilized in the last few weeks as we relied on the the hubby to cook on stove pot. Now that we are back to serious training, we are out running most evening till late. So the crockpot gets to come out of hibernation.

I made these pot roast on Monday with the crockpot. Just some simple ingredients and we have a wholesome dinner.Just love the crockpot for making life so much easier. A hot meal after a hard run is god sent :)

Ingredients: 

1. Roast - we see top roast about 2 pounds

2. 1 onion chopped

3. 6 celery sticks- chopped into 2 inches length

4. 1 potato - cut into quarters

5. 1 sweet potato- cut into quarter

6. 1 cup of chicken broth

7. 1 table spoon of paparika

8. 1 table spoon of cumin

9. 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

10. Salt and pepper to taste

11. 1 table spoon of Lawry's seasoning

Direction: 

1. Season the roast with the last five ingredients for at least 30 mins

2. Lay the vegetables on the crockpot

3. Put the roast in top of the vegetables

4. Add in the chicken broth

5. Slow cooked low for 7-8 hours or high for 5 hours

~bel~

Paleo Coconut frosted banana muffin

Coconut frosted banana muffin

These are by far our favorite paleo muffins. I had some leftover coconut flakes from my boy's birthday and decided to add them to the banana muffins. Whaooo..The addition of coconut flakes to the plain old banana muffins a real winner.

I took the basic coconut bread recipe (<= Click)  from Paleo Plan and adapt it to make these muffins

My adapted version as follow :

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup + 1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil
3-4 mashed banana
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup of coconut flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 cup of honey or any sweetener of choice. I used 1/2 cup swerve and 3 tablespoon of honey

Frosting:
Unsweetened coconut flakes

Directions:
1. Pre heat oven to 350F.
2. Combine together the coconut flour, salt and baking soda
3. Beat the eggs till frothy and slightly pale, add coconut oil, mashed banana and honey ( or any sweetener)
4. Fold in the coconut flour mix and coconut flakes
5. Scoop the batter to lined muffin pan.Sprinkle the batter with  unsweetened coconut flakes prior to putting in oven
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool and serve

~bel~

Chicken Salad

The hubby makes the best chicken salad. This pic definitely does not do justice to his chicken salad. I took a quick pic of it after it was almost half done.

We had bought the chicken salad to many parties and had always receiving raving approval of it.  And YES.. the boy is very proud of his recipe.

There was no exact recipe per se. It was always made per the boy's estimation and feel.

But here's a peek of the ingredients :

Ingredient:
1. 1 rotisserie chicken, tear apart and chopped into cube
2. Celery, sliced
3. Onion, finely chopped
4. Grapes, halfed
5. Mayonaise
6. Dijon mustard
7. Salt
8. Pepper
9. Cayenne pepper
10. Lawry's seasoning salt
11. Paparrika



Direction:
1. Mixed everything together per taste.


~bel~

Oven Roasted garlic pork tenderloin

 

Yeah ! We are back on Paleo. Gosh ! I miss my meat ! We were in Singapore for Chinese New Year and ditched the Paleo while we were there. It was really hard to eat good during festive season.. lotsa of temptations... sweet dessert, cookies, tarts, noodles and rice :)

The first thing which we did yesterday was to go grocery shopping and restocked our fridge with healthy goodies.. yeah.. lotsa of meat. 

The hubby picked some pork tenderloin at Costco for dinner. I found an easy recipe on 101 Cooking For Two site and send it to him. And bingo.... I think I picked a winner. It is soooo easy to make (5 ingredients!) and taste so good.

Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin
1-2 T olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
kosher salt course ground pepper

Direction
1.  Trim the pork tenderloin well. Remove the "silver skin" and any trimable fat.
2. Preheat over to 375 convection or 400 in a regular oven.
3. Salt and pepper all sides
4.  1-2 t oil in oven safe pan (cast iron is good here) over medium high heat until hot.
5. Sear all sides (3) of the tenderloin for approximately 2 1/2 -3 minutes per side
6. Crush 2 cloves garlic and add to 1 T olive oil.
7. When searing is done, remove from heat and coat with the olive oil/garlic mixture.
8 Transfer the meat to oven ( we added broccoli as well ) Using a thermometer, cook until internal temp of 150. About 18 minutes ( It took us about 50 min)
9.  Rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

~bel~

Paleo Chocolate Banana Muffins

 

I have a love-hate relationship with the Texas weather. It was warm and nice last few days... oh yeah 80F in Jan yesterday. Pretty much in my short and flip flop. BUT urrggggg it turned cold last night. Down 20 degree to 60 ish today. 

So here I am at home... bundled up and hibernating. The cold weather just make me lazy and hungry all the time. But no snack at home.. opppsss  ! So I guess I have to make some. Chocolate banana muffin came popping into my head. So here we are... some yummy snack for hubby and me today. 

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil ( or any fats.. I have tried butter and canola oil.  )
1 cup of swerve or honey or any sweetener of choice ( I use swerve)
 ½ tsp sea salt
3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3 mashed banana


Instructions
1 Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat eggs till forthy. About 3-5 minutes
3. Blend banana, oil and sweetener to eggs.
4. In a separate bowl, combine coconut flour, cocoa powder with baking powder.
5. Whisk this into the egg batter thoroughly, until there are no lumps.
6. Pour into muffin cups and bake at 250F for 25 minutes
7. Remove from pan and cool on rack

~bel~

Paleo Banana Muffins

 

I have to admit that it is hard to find good Paleo recipes for some sweets. They taste so different and not like the " real" thing without the flour and sugar. Its hard to find a good sugar substitute when it comes to baking. I have been baking with honey but decided to try natural sweetener recently. However, most natural sweetener has weird bitter aftertaste. I tried baking chocolate cupcake with stevia and ended up with super bitter cupcakes. I shared my experience with my friend Kristen and she told me Stevia and Chocolate are a NO NO. She told me to use stevia on non chocolate bake only and to use some honey to camouflage the weird bitter after taste. I tried baking a pumpkin bread with stevia and honey.. and urrrrrggggggggg the bitter after taste is still there.

I am so happy when I found Swerve . From what I read, it does not have a bitter after taste. I knew I have to try it ! It did not fail me. The muffins taste so awesome without the weird bitter after taste.

I adapted a  recipe from Maria Nutritious and Delicious Journal to make the banana muffins I substitute banana for pumpkins since we are not a great fan of pumpkins. 

A double thumb up recipe. And yes.. its fluffy and taste like the real thing. The hubby agreed that this is one of the best recipes. I guess it must be good since it passed the hubby's test :)

I do not eat much of my own bake since I do not have sweet tooth. But I ended up with 2 of these last night and one more this morning before my run. So Yummy.

Ingredients: ( My banana muffin version)
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
 ¼ tsp Celtic sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground pumpkins spice mix
 2 TBS Coconut Oil
½ cup Swerve ( or honey or other sweetener)
3 large eggs
3 medium mashed banana

Direction:
1. In a mixing bowl combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
2. Beat eggs in another bowl till frothy. Add coconut oil , swerve, eggs and pumpkin until smooth.
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry.
4. Grease or place paper liners in muffin tins. Spoon batter into the pan.
4. Bake at 325° for 30-40 minutes.

~bel~

Paleo Irish Soda Bread

 

The traditional Irish Soda Bread is made from just 4 ingredients - Flour, Baking Soda, salt and soured milk ( buttermilk). It is a simple bread that was baked daily to go with meals. 

The search for a good Paleo bread leads to this recipe from Elana's Pantry (<= click). I made a few modification to the recipe. I omitted the raisins and caraway seeds for the simple reason "If your "soda bread" has raisins, it's not "soda bread!  It's called "Spotted Dog" or "Railway Cake"!  If it contains raisins, eggs, baking powder, sugar or shortening, it's called "cake", not "bread."  All are tasty, but not traditional Irish Soda Bread!"

This is a real simple bread. Easy to bake and yet very tasty. The hubby and I agreed that this is probably the best paleo bread we ever bake.

Ingredients ( my adapted version)

2 ¾ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
2 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Direction
1. In a large bowl combine almond flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a smaller bowl combine eggs, agave and apple cider vinegar
3.  Mix wet ingredients into dry Place dough on a piece of parchment paper and form dough into a large, flat circle that is 8 inches across and 1 ½ inches tall
4.  Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about an inch and a half an inch deep in shape of a cross
5. Transfer dough and parchment to a baking sheet
6. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, then turn off oven and leave bread in for 10 more minutes.

~bel~

Paleo (Vegan) Chocolate Cookies with hint of Baileys

 

Its raining ! The hubby and I are both snuggled up at home.....both hungry and yet not wanting to drive out to get something to eat. 

I told the hubby that I want to bake something but do not know what. "Chocolate chip Cookies" came the answer.... and so this started the fanatic search for a cookie recipe. I found a double chocolate cookies recipe at Against All Grains and decided to adapt it to the ingredients I have at home.

I saw our bottle of Baileys sitting at the kitchen counter when I was mixing the ingredients and the thought creep into my head. " what do you think of Baileys in the cookies"... I asked the hubby. " Yeah.. why not" came the reply... and so Baileys was added to the dough :)

This is one of the better Paleo or vegan cookies recipes.. hint of Baileys is always good. It has the stamp of approval from the hubby... so it must be good:)

Ingredients( My adapted version)

2 cups blanched almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
 1/2 cup ghee or coconut oil , melted
 1/2 cup of honey (or similar sweetener of choice)
 2 tablespoon Baileys (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Combine wet ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients ( except Baileys) and combined
5. Mixed in the Baileys ( if using)
 6. Use a small cookie dough scoop or form into 1/2 inch balls and place on a parchment paper (or Silpat) lined cookie sheet.
5.  Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.
6. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing so they set – otherwise they will be too soft and may fall apart.

No Bean Chili

 

Bbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... and what we need is another chili night.  The hubby made this on Saturday from a recipe from Allrecipe. This is an easy recipe but really yummy. We ate it with some hot dog. It made good leftover too. We  have hervos racheous with it today for breakfast....so good.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin 1
 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

( we use a pound of beef and a pound of turkey and doubled the ingredients accordingly)

Direction:
1. Crumble the ground beef into a stock pot or large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onion and garlic, and cook stirring frequently until beef is evenly browned. Drain off excess grease. Season with chili powder, oregano, cumin and hot sauce.
3. Stir in the tomatoes and vinegar.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 1 hour - or longer if you have time. Stir occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom.