Month: July 2016

Rosemary Date Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

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(Gluten Free, Dairy Free | Paleo and Whole30-Friendly) Finding simple, tasty and healthy meals is a must –especially during the workweek! Many years ago when I was trying out the Paleo lifestyle for the first time, I found an amazing slow cooker chicken recipe. It was so good it became a ‘go-to’ recipe when friends came over for dinner during the week, and I was low on time. But, one day I woke up, and my beloved recipe link went missing on the internet! Nightmare! Luckily, I had made it so many times; the recipe was written on my heart (too dramatic?) -so I can share it with you today! You’re welcome.

Ingredients

  •  2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 4-6 sweet potatoes (depending on size of potatoes and slow cooker)
  • 1 whole (organic) chicken with skin on
  • 10 whole dates
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) water
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil
  • 4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary, mashed and ground for more flavour
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • Black pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Spread coconut oil in bottom of slow cooker.
  2. Chop sweet potatoes into chunks and lay them on the bottom of slow cooker (make sure you don’t put too many sweet potatoes on the bottom –you want to be able to put chicken on layer of sweet potatoes and still put the slow cooker lid on).
  3. Lay chicken on top of sweet potatoes in slow cooker.
  4. Put dates and water in bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes to soften dates.
  5. Mash dates with fork. Add olive oil, fresh rosemary, and salt/pepper. Mash mixture together until it’s a type of paste.
  6. Put half of date and rosemary paste under skin of chicken. Rub the second half of chicken onto outer part of chicken. It should look something like this: Rosemary Date Chicken Prep
  7. Cover slow cooker and cook chicken on low for 4-8 hours. (When I used a 4 lb chicken, it took about 6 hours. The time will depend on the size of the chicken and your slow cooker.)

Tip: This also makes for a delicious, modern Sunday roast! Oh, and the leftovers are awesome in a salad for lunch the next day.

Quinoa & Roasted Vegetable Salad with Brazil Nut Pesto

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(Gluten Free, Meat Free, Dairy Free | Paleo-Friendly) I’m just going to say it. This recipe is awesome. I mean, of course I think this about all the recipes I put up, but this one is extra yummy! What I love about it is that you can literally throw all your week’s leftover veggies into this dish and come out with something really tasty. Also, it gets extra bonus points for being delicious hot or cold –AKA packed lunch anyone?!

Ingredients for Roasted Vegetable Salad

  • Roughly chop any vegetables you like- the more colours, the better! I used the suggestions from Hemsley Hemsley:
  • 4 large carrots, roughly chopped
  • 1 large red pepper, roughly chopped
  • 2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes or 4 large tomatoes, halved
  • 1 large onion (red is best for colour), roughly chopped
  • 3 large beetroots, well scrubbed and chopped into small chunks or little wedges –as they take the longest to cook
  • 1 tbsp ghee or coconut oil
  • A handful of fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary or 2 tbsp mixed dried herbs
  • Fresh leaves, such as rocket (arugula), lambs lettuce and watercress, to serve (I used rocket (arugula) and spinach)

Ingredients for Quinoa

  • 250 ml water or vegetable stock
  • 250g (2 cups) quinoa

Ingredients for Brazil Nut Pesto

  • 12 Brazil nuts
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 large handfuls of fresh basil (stalks and all if you’re using a strong blender)
  • 300 ml extra virgin olive oil (I tend to use closer to 200ml olive to make it a bit thicker, since 300ml is a lot!)
  • 4 tbsp lemon juice or 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C (390F).
  2. Lay the roughly chopped vegetables in a single layer on a large roasting tray, sprinkle with salt and pepper and add your dollops of ghee or coconut oil. Scatter the herbs over this mixture.
  3. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until the veg is tender (pierce with a knife to check). Halfway through the roasting time, use a wooden spatula to turn the veggies.
  4. Meanwhile, make the pesto. Blitz everything together in a food processor or with a blender (the more nuts you add, the thicker and creamier your pesto will be, but if you want it thinner, add more oil and lemon juice). Alternatively, grab a sharp knife and finely chop the garlic, basil and nuts, then whisk with the olive oil and lemon juice. Season to taste.
  5. For the quinoa, follow these steps:
    • Using a fine mesh strainer, drain and rinse the quinoa until the water is clear and without foam.
    • Bring the 250ml water or vegetable stock to a medium-high heat.
    • Add the quinoa and stir once. Continue to cook on a medium simmer until tender –about 12 minutes.
    • Take off the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.
  6. Combine the quinoa and roasted veg in a big serving bowl, toss in your pesto (or just sprinkle on top at end) and the fresh salad leaves.

Tip: Store any leftover pesto in your fridge and top random goodies throughout the week with it to jazz them up! This pesto is basically delicious on everything, but I really like it on my eggs.

Let’s just re-live the tastiness one more time with this picture…mmmmm.

Quinoa Roasted Vegetable Salad with Brazil Nut Pesto

Source | Hemsley Hemsley, ‘The Art of Eating Well’

Huevos Rancheros with Kale

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(Gluten Free, Meat Free, Dairy Free -feel free to add meat or dairy if you want | Paleo-Friendly) Real talk. I love brunch. I mean, it’s basically one of my favourite things to do on the weekend (and in life generally). So, the weekend is here, and it’s time to brunch! Yes! These rockin’ Huevos Rancheros will not disappoint. There are a few things I love about this recipe: it’s a one-dish wonder (no one wants to spend their weekend doing dishes!) and it’s really flexible (you can easily change it based on what’s hanging out in your fridge). Plus, it’s packed full of veggies to jump-start your weekend, which is just a massive bonus! So enjoy! And, please invite me over when you make these? I’ll need to ‘trial’ them 😉

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 white onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, smashed and diced
  • 2 peppers chopped (I used red and orange)
  • ½ red chili diced (if you like a little spice)
  • 4 mushrooms
  • 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1½ tsp cumin
  • ½ tsp cayenne (if you like a little spice)
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 handful of kale
  • 3 spring (green) onions, chopped

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 170C (350F) –if you have a skillet that can go into oven.
  2. Throw butter, chopped onion and garlic into skillet and cook for 3-5 minutes at medium high.
  3. Add peppers and red chili (optional) and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  4. Add chopped, closed cup mushrooms and black beans.
  5. Add cumin, cayenne (optional) and oregano to sautéed vegetables and mix.
  6. Cook for 3-5 more minutes and make holes in vegetable medley for eggs.
  7. Crack 4 eggs and add them to holes in skillet. It should look something like this.Huevos Rancheros Prep
  8. Cover eggs with a few handfuls of kale and 3 chopped spring (green) onions
  9. Put skillet in oven (if oven-safe) and bake for 15 minutes (or until eggs don’t jiggle when you give the skillet a little shake). If you don’t have frying pan that can go in oven, just do this on stovetop.

Tips: Top with salsa, avocado, green chilies or whatever you have in fridge! If you eat dairy, add some cheese on top of the eggs a few minutes before they’re done baking. If you want to add meat, throw some chorizo in with onion/garlic/butter mix.

Just look at this YUM!Huevos Rancheros