Pumpkin Fries

I have had a pretty little pumpkin sitting on the counter for a week or so, and I couldn't quite decide what to do with it. I knew I would eat it, and not use it for decoration or carve it, but I had a hard time deciding what to do. My food processor basically blew up the last time I used it, and I refuse to buy a new one. I regret that decision every day, but I am hoping that I will get a good one for a wedding gift! Nevertheless, I knew I wasn't able to puree the pumpkin to incorporate into a dish, so I decided to slice it into fries, roast it, and enjoy it that way! I have never actually cooked with fresh pumpkin and I was unsure of the best way to peel, cut, etc. I found this video on YouTube that explained it all perfectly! It was, surprisingly, really easy. I can't wait to own a food processor (or blender!) in the near future so I can use fresh pumpkin in more recipes. I heard that pumpkin flesh freezes well, so I may just have to buy a lot, cut it into pieces, and freeze it for use later in the year. OH, and DON'T toss the pumpkin seeds!! I have a recipe using those coming soon!

Ingredients:

• 1 pumpkin. Pie pumpkins and medium sized pumpkins work best. Don't go for the one you would pick out to carve.
• EVOO
• Spices of choice. I used salt, cinnamon, and cumin

Instructions:

1. Slice pumpkin into strips - roughly the same size.
2. Toss pumpkin strips with a couple Tbsp of EVOO and sprinkle with spices of choice
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and roast the pumpkin at 400 degrees for approx 30 minutes.
4. Enjoy! These were still good for my lunch 3 days later! But I wouldn't keep them longer than that.

Roasted Garlic Artichoke

Over Labor Day weekend Adam and I went to Atlanta with our dear friends Richard and Jen. We had such a great time and some awesome food! The first night at dinner we had Roasted Artichoke. I had never had artichoke before and I fell in love! It has a subtle flavor and is so tender. I wanted to have this at home but didn't really know how to cook it. I decided to roast it in the oven and I must say, it turned out pretty good! It wasn't quite as good as the restaurants, but I still enjoyed it.

Ingredients;

• 1 artichoke
• minced garlic
• EVOO

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Clip the pointy tops of the leaves off the artichoke
3. Use as much minced garlic as you would like (I used a lot) and push the garlic all down in the artichoke
4. Drizzle with EVOO, making sure you get in between the leaves as well
5. Wrap the artichoke in tin foil and put in oven on middle rack for approx a 1.5 hours

Note: Once you get down to the heart, the prickly, fibrous hairs are not edible. You have to work to get to the heart, but it is well worth it. 

Broccoli Salad

The thing that I struggle with the most, in regards to cooking, are side dishes. I think it's because I am not very picky and I really love simple veggies. I am completely satisfied with sauteed mixed veggies, or roasted veggies; However, I decided to try something new and perk up my favorite roasted broccoli dish.


Ingredients:

• 1 lb broccoli florets (not frozen)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• garlic powder
• 3/4 cup slivered almonds
• 6 slices bacon
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup unsweetened, dried, cranberries
• apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Rinse and cut broccoli into bite sized pieces
3. Mix 2 Tbsp olive oil in with broccoli. Sprinkle with garlic powder
4. Put broccoli on a cookie sheet lined with foil and bake for approx 30 minutes, or until broccoli is beginning to brown
5. Meanwhile, cooke bacon in skillet until crispy. When bacon is almost done, throw in the slivered almonds. Let the almonds toast in the bacon fat until they start to brown. Remove almonds and bacon from skillet - let cool, then crumble bacon
6. In your serving bowl, add about 3 Tbsp of the rendered bacon fat (optional), bacon pieces, toasted almonds, raisins, and cranberries
7. Once broccoli is finished, add broccoli to serving bowl. Drizzle a bit of apple cider vinegar (you don't need much. Maybe 1/2 Tbsp) in the bowl. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
8. Mix well and serve

Balsamic Steak with Garlic Zucchini

Quick and easy this recipe was! I am on a mission to get Adam to eat more veggies and so far I am doing a pretty good job (he even had asparagus for breakfast the other day!)! Here is a recipe for the meal I cooked recently and sure enough, Adam ate all his veggies :)

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp EVOO, divided
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium zucchini, cut into thin half-moons
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds london broil, or red meat of choice
• 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp EVOO over medium high. Add garlic and zucchini moons, season with salt and pepper to taste. Saute until zucchini is tender and starting to brown, approx 6 minutes. Remove from skillet.
2. Add remaining oil to the same skillet. Season meat with salt and pepper and cook until browned on all sides, approx 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil
3. Then, add balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper to same skillet. Cook, stirring, until reduced by half, approx 2 minutes. Drizzle balsamic reduction over steak and serve.

 I also baked sweet potato chips for an additional side.

Creamy Spaghetti Squash

One of the first "new foods" I learned about when I first researched Paleo was spaghetti squash. I am sure you all know what it is....but on the off chance you don't....spaghetti squash is a variety of squash that, when cooked, a fork can be used to shred the squash into spaghetti-like strings. The spaghetti squash has a really mild (almost bland) flavor that is a noodle substitute for all of us paleo-folk. There are probably a thousand recipes for Paleo Spaghetti that uses this type of squash, and I think I have made 100 of them.
Each recipe has been fine...but that is the problem, they were just "fine". No spaghetti squash recipe has ever made me jump up and down. I decided that I needed to try something different with spaghetti squash. And I hit a gold mine with this recipe! This was the perfect side dish and was rich and creamy - a combination I have really missed! This recipe makes a ton, which was fine by me! I ate on it for days :)

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 6 strips of bacon (or more)
• 1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 6 eggs
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Cut the spaghetti squash in half*, scoop out the seeds, and place cut side down on a plate. Microwave for 10 minutes (this is much faster that 40 minutes in the oven!)
2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Once bacon is crispy, remove the bacon from heat and set aside.
3. In the same skillet over medium heat, whisk in the arrowroot powder to the bacon grease and let it cook for a few minutes.
4. While the arrowroot cooks and thickens, combine eggs, coconut milk, Italian seasoning, parsley, salt and garlic powder in a bowl until fully combined.
5. Pour egg mixture into skillet with arrowroot, stirring frequently, and cook eggs until cooked through, approx 3-5 minutes.
6. As the egg cooks, chop the cooked bacon.
7. Shred spaghetti squash with a fork to create "noodles" and add to large bowl. Add egg mixture to the bowl of noodles and mix to incorporate. Stir in bacon pieces
8. Enjoy as a side dish or even as breakfast!

Grilled Swordfish & Peach Avocado Salsa

I have once again found myself with peaches, galore! Last time I had an abundance I made this awesome chicken salad - which I also did this time around! Man, that stuff never gets old! My goal, this time around, was another simple recipe (surprise, surprise) and I found one on Juli's website, PaleOMG. This recipe included a fish that I had never had paired with a refreshing salsa! This salsa would be good on ANYTHING. I made enough of it so that I could enjoy the salsa right out of the container for a few days.

Ingredients:
For the swordfish marinade:

• 2 swordfish fillets
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• pinch of cayenne
• pinch of salt & pepper

For the salsa:

• 2 peaches, diced
• 1 avocado, halved and diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 red onion, minced
• 1/2 jalapeno, minced
• Juice 1 lime
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Place all of the swordfish marinade ingredients, minus the swordfish, in a shallow bowl, mix together. Put swordfish in marinade, flip to coat both sides, then let swordfish marinade for 1-3 hours.
2. While swordfish is marinading, make the salsa by combining all salsa ingredients. Cover and refrigerate to chill.
3. Once the swordfish has marinated, place a skillet over medium heat. Cook swordfish for approx 5 minutes on each side. 
4. Plate swordfish and top with salsa. Enjoy! 

Baked Avocado

I am going to go ahead and apologize for two things. The first is that I did not measure anything while preparing this. That includes how long I baked the avocado. I am going to do my best in approximating the measurements/time, but as with all recipes, tweak to your liking, and always keep an eye on whatever is in the oven. The second thing I am going to apologize for is really two-fold. This avocado is hands-down the best thing ever. I am totally obsessed with it and will probably be spending all my money on avocados for the next few weeks. If you end up doing the same, well, I'm sorry. And because this is so good - I have to apologize to FIVE because my baked avocado is better (IMO). Not only is mine better, it is actually paleo, unlike FIVE's version. I'm not really sure why people think FIVE's baked avocado is paleo. I mean, since when has tons of cheese, butter, breadcrumbs, etc been paleo? Never. That's when.
As a validation of this deliciousness, Adam (who does not like avocado, guacamole, etc) LOVED this. I put half the avocado on his plate and he ate the whole thing!!!!!! If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will.

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado, halved and seed removed
• 3 slices good quality bacon
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• handful of toasted almond slivers

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees
2. Cook bacon in a skillet until crispy. Remove bacon and once cooled, chop.
3. Using a spoon, remove the avocado meat from halved & seeded avocado. 
4. In a small bowl, thoroughly mix the chopped bacon, avocado meat, chili powder, and lemon juice
5. Once combined spoon the avocado mixture back in to the avocado skins
6. Top with toasted almond slivers, or toasted nut of choice
7. Bake in preheated oven for approx 15 minutes

Tropical Chicken Salad

I am not one of those people that HATE mayonnaise, you know, those people that despise the word and the thought of seeing mayo would make them sick...... I actually liked it on some things (gasp!)! However, when I decided to adopt the Paleo lifestyle, it was the first thing I threw out. I didn't miss it much for the first few months...but then...the craving for chicken salad hit. There are about a million paleo recipes out there in cyberspace for paleo chicken salad and they all required homemade paleo mayo. SCORE!!! Except.....have you tried to make paleo mayo?? While it is possible, and pretty tasty, it is really time consuming and it doesn't take much to mess up and have to start all over again. Believe me. BUT I wanted chicken salad and that was what it required. Unfortunately for me, I am too lazy to make paleo-mayo chicken salad as often as I craved it.

That is, until now! I recently read on a paleo-bloggers website (If I could remember which one I would totally give them due credit here) that they used COCONUT CREAM as a sub for mayo!!! #brilliant This is, without a doubt, the best chicken salad I have ever had. And I have had a lot of chicken salad.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked chicken, cubed - I used left over rotisserie chicken (EASY!)
• 2 peaches, chopped
• 2 Tbsp dried, unsweetened cranberries
• 1/4 cup toasted walnuts
• A few shakes of dried chives
• A handful fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup chilled coconut cream *
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients in medium sized bowl
2. *Chill a can of full fat coconut milk. I stuck the can in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
3. Once the can is chilled, open the can and scoop out the firm cream on top into small bowl
4. Using a fork, mix the creme around to loosen it up a bit
5. Mix the cream with lemon juice, salt and pepper, then stir into chicken salad
6. Serve on top fresh spinach leaves 

Pineapple Salsa

There is a new health foods store in town, Earth Fare. I have been a few times and for the most part, I like it. There are a few things in which I prefer the Whole Foods way, but all-in-all its good! One of the awesome things they do is send you amazing coupons! So far I have gotten, FOR FREE, a 4lb whole chicken, a pint of blueberries, and a pineapple! The blueberries were used in this recipe, the chicken is in the freezer for a meal later on in the week, and so it was time to cut up the pineapple! I have never cut a pineapple before, but it's really easy. Just Google it. I should have taken a picture of each step - that's what a good blogger would do....

I decided to make salsa with the pineapple because I LOVE salsa. This would be a great topping for chicken, steak, or fish as a light summery meal; or if you aren't "paleo" have it with some tortilla chips! Now THAT would be good :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pineapple, cut into rings
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 small red onion, minced
• Juice of 1 lime
• Fresh cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

1. Cut the pineapple into rings, then in a skillet over medium heat, grill the pineapple rings for approx 3 mins on each side. You want the pineapple to have a slight golden color.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the bell pepper, onion, and cilantro
3. Once all the pineapple rings have been seared, cut them into small pieces
4. Mix pineapple, bell pepper, onion, lime juice, and cilantro in bowl
5. Consume!

Cumin Roasted Carrots

This side dish of carrots is my new favorite! Once the carrots are roasted, they have a nice crisp to them and the combination of flavors is perfect, IMO. The first time I made these I merely sprinkled the spices on top of the carrots, and while the flavor was good, the spices just sat on top and was a little "chalky". This time, I mixed the spices with melted coconut oil and poured the spices over the carrots - whoa. The spices blended in with the carrots and it wasn't like you took a bite of carrot, and then sprinkled cumin in your mouth :) MUCH better.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Spread peeled and halved carrots on parchment lined baking sheet
3. Mix spices in microwave safe bowl. Add coconut oil
4. Microwave coconut oil/spices for approx 45 seconds, or until coconut oil is melted
5. Stir spiced coconut oil well, then drizzle on top carrots
6. Bake carrots for 25 minutes

Kale and Bacon

Can you guess from the title of this post, what this dish consists of????? That's right, Kale and Bacon. That's it. We all know that Kale has some amazing health benefits and as I posted earlier, I am trying to incorporate more green into my diet. I had a bunch of kale but wasn't sure how to prepare it. I am still a little intimidated by kale for some odd reason. My coach at ITF doesn't understand it. He cooks with kale all the time. So...I ask you another question, what food makes everything, and I mean everything better??? BACON! Kale + Bacon = genius.

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg bacon
• A few stems of kale. I think I had like 5 stems-ish
• 1/2 cup water
• sprinkle of sea salt

Instructions:

1. Chop bacon. In a large stock pot, add bacon cook until crispy.*
2. Chop kale, then add to stock pot with 1/2 cup water
3. Cover and cook for approx 30 minutes
4. Sprinkle with sea salt, if you so desire

* As you can see from my picture, I didn't let my bacon get crispy enough. #fail Don't do yourself a disservice by skimping on step 1.

Creamy Purple Mashed Potatoes

Don't these look amazing?!?!?! And totally weird?!?! If you haven't tried purple sweet potatoes that have been missing out on something great. These sweet potatoes are a bit sweeter, IMO, and make amazing mashed potatoes!

Ingredients:

• 2 purple sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into rounds
• 1/2 can coconut milk
• Salt, pepper, and cinnamon

Instructions:

• Place sliced Purple Sweet Potatoes in a big microwave safe dish; cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 8 minutes.
• With a potato masher, begin to mash the sweet potatoes. Once you have mashed them a bit, put the bowl back in the microwave for another 6 minutes.
• Add coconut milk to bowl and mash until coconut milk is combined and sweet potatoes are completely mashed. At this point taste and see if you want to add more coconut milk to make it creamier.
• Season with salt, pepper, and cinnamon. I garnished mine with a few walnuts, too.

Chicken And Cabbage Salad

As I mentioned in a post last week, I am really trying to be more conscience of my spending habits in the grocery store. I got really carried away for a few weeks making elaborate, albeit amazing, dinners and tons of treats. That gets expensive. Fast. I have been trying to save those elaborate meals that require lots of ingredients and time for the weekends and eat more low-key during the week. I hope you didn't read: Tasty meals on the weekend, boring/bland meals in the week. Just because my weekday meals are more 'simple' they still have lots of flavor, and are very satisfying and delicious. Below is the recipe for the Chicken and Cabbage Salad I had for lunch today.

Ingredients:

• EVOO
• 1/4 bag shredded cabbage
• 1 can chicken
• 8 grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp tarragon
• 1/4 tsp of each: basil, rosemary, minced onion
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Heat EVOO in skillet over medium heat. Add cabbage to skillet, once hot.
2. Allow cabbage to wilt slightly, then add chicken, tomatoes, and spices
3. Heat throughout and drizzle with lemon juice before serving

This would also be a good side dish if you wanted to leave out the chicken. You can also sub the shredded cabbage for broccoli slaw.

Sweet Potato Salad

There is this amazing sweet potato salad they is in the deli section of Whole Foods. Problem is, it's not Paleo. They add sugar, canola oil, and other questionable ingredients. I have decided to recreate this recipe so I can enjoy it as often as I'd like :)

Ingredients:

• 3 sweet potatoes, cubed
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• EVOO
• 8 pieces of bacon (read ingredient list!!)
• Juice of 2 limes
• 2 TBSP EVOO
• 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Fresh basil, roughly chopped
• Cayenne pepper
• Sea salt and pepper
• handful of raw pumpkin seeds
• handful of dried cranberries

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cook bacon in a skillet until crispy. Once done, remove bacon and set aside to cool. Once cool, chop.
3. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes and garlic into chunks. Toss in some EVOO and spread on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in oven for approx 30 minutes or until potatoes are beginning to brown. Remove from oven and set aside
4. Meanwhile, chop the green onions and basil, then combine those with the remaining ingredients (except pumpkin seeds and cranberries) to create your dressing
5. In a serving bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, garlic, and bacon. Mix in the dressing and combine well. Garnish with pumpkin seeds and cranberries.
6. Serve. 

Roasted Acorn Squash

This is a great side dish or snack to make during the week! If you are going to save some for leftovers, I wouldn't advise drizzling the balsamic over the pieces you are saving. Just wait until you are about to eat the leftovers.

Ingredients:

• 1 acorn sqash
• 1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cut off top and bottom of acorn squash, then slice squash into circles. Remove seeds and slice the circles in half
3. On a parchment lined baking sheet, lay squash in single layer. Sprinkle with sea salt
4. Bake for approx 35 minutes or until squash is tender
5. Meanwhile, heat balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan over medium heat. Allow vinegar to reduce by half
6. Remove squash from oven and drizzle with balsamic vinegar

Mustard Greens

I made a huge mistake at the grocery store last night....I went without my glasses. I had planned on buying a big bag of kale to make a yummy kale salad, kale chips, and sauteed kale this week. Well, I brought home mustard greens instead. I was so upset when I realized this. MUSTARD GREENS?!?!?! YUCK! What the heck am I going to do with all these mustard greens? Then I stopped and thought to myself  "Leesa, you have never even tried mustard greens - at least give them a chance". Yes, I talk to myself. I'm awesome like that. I had no idea where to even begin, so I began by trying a mustard green leaf right out of the bag. Whoa. It was strong and peppery! My thought was to saute the mess out of these little green leaves to help minimize the strong flavor. I must admit, they were actually pretty good! I will keep experimenting with them throughout the week since I don't want to waste them. If you have never tried mustard greens before, you should. They still aren't my favorite, but it was an (unexpected) nice variation to dinner.

Ingredients:

• a few handfuls of mustard greens, roughly chopped
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 yellow onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp pine nuts

Instructions:

1. In a non stick skillet, melt coconut oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion and let cook until translucent. Add garlic and pine nuts.
3. Once the garlic is fragrant, add mustard greens.
4. Allow the mustard greens to cook down. They will significantly reduce in size.
5. The longer they simmer the less pepper-y they will be

Oven Roasted Okra

Okra might be one of my favorite vegetables, although I often forget about it. I had only had it prepared one way my whole life and that was fried! When I was a child and went to the grocery store with my mom, my treat was always fried okra. I was thrilled when I was allowed to get it, because we never ate it at home (my mom HATES it!). I kind of feel bad for okra. It seems it has a bad rep for being slimy - I will be the first to say that I also don't like slimy okra. Yuck. And I guarantee you, this oven roasted okra is not slimy. It is also not fried, so eat to your heart's desire.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb okra, washed
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (or be lazy and use spray, like me!)
• 2 Tbsp ground cumin*
• 1 tsp of both salt and pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne

*note that this is quite a bit of cumin. Its delicious and bold but if you are not the biggest fan, reduce the amount, or use something else!

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Toss (or spray) coconut oil over okra and lay okra in single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
3. Sprinkle spices over okra
4. Roast in oven for 8-10 minutes, flipping halfway through

Fun food Friday - Spring Chicken

Spring. I love that word. It brings to mind: sun, lake, tank tops, flip flops, outdoor concerts, pool, baseball (and now T-ball; go Wyatt!) cookouts, fresh herbs, afternoon rain storms, all-day-daiquiri-days, vacation, sun-kissed cheeks, fresh fruit (hello mango!), farmers markets, iced coffee....I digress. With the onset of spring, I made this delicious Spring Chicken. The chicken tastes and smells of spring and is quite possibly the best I've made. I topped the chicken with strawberry salsa which gave it a totally different - but still spring - fruity kick. There will definitely be some of this chicken at a cookout and the salsa would work wonders on pork, steak, and salad! I have to give credit to George at CivilizedCaveman for this creation and thank him for a new favorite! Pure genius.

For the chicken-

I topped mine with mango, because I love it.

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 lemon, zested (is that even a word???)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 1 garlic clove

Instructions:

1. In a food processor, combine all the above ingredients, except the chicken, pulsing until you get a nice marinade.
2. Place the chicken in a bowl and pour about half the marinade over chicken - rub marinade on said chicken.
3. Heat a non stick skillet over medium heat and once hot, add the chicken. Pour reserved marinade over chicken and cook for approx 6 minutes on each side, or until cooked all the way through.
4. Top with Strawberry Salsa

For the Strawberry Salsa-

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds removed and diced
• 1 lime, juiced

Instructions:

1. Combine all the above ingredients in a food processor until you reach desired salsa consistency. 
2. Serve with Spring Chicken, or anything else you can think of! 

Fun Food Friday - sweet potatoes!

Thanks to the beautiful weather we have been having, I really miss the beach. A lot. I never made it there last summer, or in the sun much at all, because I was on some crazy medicine that basically forbid sun exposure. But, when I have traveled to the beach over the years we typically went to Destin. Our vacation would always consist of a meal (or two) at The Back Porch. As my side dish at T.B.P., I would always order the twice baked potato. YUM! It was amazing. Lots of cheese, white potato, sour cream....all mixed together in a warmed goodness. It really was the best twice baked potato I had ever had.
Now, let me connect the dots....beautiful weather = beach = twice baked potato; therefore, I have really been craving a twice baked potato lately. Problem is, I don't eat cheese, white potato's or sour cream anymore. What's a girl to do? Why, make a twice baked SWEET potato! I have no idea why this thought has never occurred to me before. But seriously, it never crossed my mind that I even COULD make a twice baked sweet potato. But that's exactly what I did, and it was divine. Really. Absolutely wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I had only planned on eating half of it for dinner - and I ended up eating the whole thing.  Oops :-)


Ingredients:

• 3 sweet potatoes
• 6 strip's of bacon, diced (high quality!)
• 1 cup basil leaves (fresh is best!)
• 4 Tbsp EVOO
• 1/4 cup dry roasted almonds
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Cook the sweet potatoes. I always buy the microwavable kind and zap them for a handful of minutes, but some people are crazy and think microwaves will kill them and would rather use the oven. That's fine. Preheat it to 425 degrees, poke holes in the S.P. and cook for approx 30 minutes. *Even if you choose the microwave method, you still need the oven preheated to 425.*
2. While the S.P. is cooking, throw diced bacon in a skillet and cook until crispy. Once done, remove skillet from heat
3. Add basil and almonds to your food processor (invest in one!) and pulse until  almost combined. Slowly add in olive oil and pulse continuously until well combined. Then add your lemon juice and salt/pepper and pulse a few more times.
4. When the S.P.'s are done cooking, let them cool until you are able to handle them. Slice the sweet potato lengthwise and remove flesh. Try not to tear the skin away. 
5. Put the inside's of the S.P.'s in the pan with the bacon. Mash and mix together. Add cinnamon and basil pesto. Combine well. 
6. Scoop the sweet potato mix back into the sweet potato skins and top with a little extra cinnamon, if you'd like.
7. Put the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and pop in the oven for 9 minutes.
8. Consume

I did snap a picture, but showing it wouldn't have done it justice. Just believe me when I say, again, how amazing it was. This is a recipe that was adapted from Juli at PaleOMG! And if anyone wants to head to the beach, lake, or pool, just let me know! :) Until next time, Happy Friday! 

Cinnamon Apple Brussels Sprouts

I have just recently been interested in Brussels Sprouts. I whipped up this quick side dish last night and look forward to trying new things with them.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Brussels sprouts
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1 large apple, diced
• 1 pear, diced
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• Cinnamon to taste (I like a lot)

Instructions:

1. Heat skillet over medium heat and melt coconut oil
2. Halve Brussels Sprouts and put in skillet, cut side down
3. Let cook for approx 12 minutes, turning halfway through
4. Add apple and pear and cook for approx 4 minutes until fruit begins to soften
5. Add apple cider vinegar - let simmer until liquid has cooked about half way out.
6. Add cinnamon. Mix and continue to simmer until liquid has cooked completely out.



I took this pic after I had already eaten about half of what I cooked :)

7. Enjoy!