Nom Nom Paleo

Sweet Potato and Cashew Dip (from Tess Masters’ The Perfect Blend)

Mon, 23 Jan 2017 13:20:26 -0800

Contrary to popular belief, eating Paleo doesn’t mean your plate is piled high with red meat and bacon. It may have been true for me when I first started eating this waaaay back in 2010—because as a semi-vegetarian indoctrinated in the low-fat, high-carb mantra of the 90s, it’d been a long time since I’d eaten a nice, fatty piece of animal protein, and I was making up for lost meat. But these days, my typical plate consists mostly of vegetables, along with a palm-sized portion of high quality protein. No matter what our dietary stripe, I think we can all agree that eating more vegetables is a good thing.

My friend Tess Masters, who just happens to be a smart, sassy vegan (yes, I’m friends with vegans!), recently released her latest cookbook, The Perfect Blend, and it’s packed with delicious gluten-free and vegan recipes you can blitz up in your blender or food processor. As you’d expected, this cookbook includes some smoothie recipes, but the concoctions that really piqued my interest were the creamy dairy-free dips and sauces. Case in point: I’ve been making the Sweet Potato and Cashew Dip non-stop for the past few weeks. This creamy, savory, and tangy curry-infused dip is so lip-smackingly delicious that I got my non-Paleo pals and mom(!) addicted as well. If you struggle with eating your vegetables, just dunk them in this dip. You’ll be hooked, too!

For the timing challenged: The two rate-limiting steps in this recipe are roasting the sweet potato (which takes 45 minutes to an hour) and soaking the cashews (Tess recommends soaking the cup of raw cashews in 2 cups of warm water mixed with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice for 2 to 4 hours).

To speed things up:

Roast your sweet potato ahead of time and mash it straight out of the fridge and/or
Soak your cashews in 2 cups of boiling water for 10 minutes. I’ve tried both the slow method and the fast method, and the dip tastes fantastic either way. Choose the method that fits how fast you need it to get this dip in your belly!

Ready to blitz your way to happiness?

Makes 2½ cups

Ingredients

1 large orange-flesh sweet potato (e.g., garnet or jewel)
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 cup (150 g) diced yellow onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more to taste
¼ cup (60 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup (140 g) raw unsalted cashews, soaked and drained (see note above)
1 teaspoon mild yellow curry powder, plus more to taste
1½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon sweet paprika
⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric (optional)

Equipment

Paring knife
Chef’s knife
Cutting board
Rimmed baking sheet
Bowl
Fork
10-inch skillet
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
High speed blender (I own a Vitamix and KitchenAid and both are amazing. The Sweethome rates this Oster model very highly, and it’s reasonably priced. )
Silicone spatula

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Prick the sweet potato all over with a paring knife or fork and lightly brush with olive or avocado oil. Place it on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until soft. (If you need more deets on how to roast a sweet potato, you can click here. You might as well throw on a few extra sweet potatoes so you can have leftovers!) Allow the tater to cool, peel off the skin, and mash the flesh with a fork. Set aside 1 cup (250 g) of the mashed sweet potato.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat and sauté the onions with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes or until soft and translucent.

Add the minced garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Allow the alliums to cool slightly.

Grab your high speed blender or food processor and pour the remaining ¼ cup (60 mL) olive oil with the ¼ cup lemon juice and 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar. Add the onion mixture…

…cup of mashed sweet potato, cup of soaked and drained cashews…

…spices (1 teaspoon curry powder, 1½ teaspoons ground coriander, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, ¾ teaspoon sweet paprika, and ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric), and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.

Blast on high for a minute until the resulting dip is smooth and creamy.

If you don’t have a powerful blender, you may need to periodically stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the container.

Serve with your favorite raw and blanched veggies.

The dip will keep in the fridge for about 5 days, but I bet it will be gone sooner than that. Good thing you baked extra sweet potatoes so you can make more dip!

Looking for more recipes? Head on over to my Recipe Index! You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my Webby Award-Winning iPhone® and iPad® app, and in my New York Times-bestselling cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel 2013).

Portable Whole30 Lunches

Mon, 16 Jan 2017 22:45:38 -0800

A few days ago, I received this email from one of my Nomsters:

Hi Michelle!
I’ve been following your site for about a year, and slowly delving into this new Paleo lifestyle.
We’re immersing ourselves in eating healthy, but I’m having significant issues in one area. Even Google is not my friend for ideas…
We own a construction company, and my husband’s office is his truck, going from job site to job site. Normally, his eating habits are unhealthy because he grabs a bite when and where he can. He really wants to eat well and make significant life changes so we can make it to a ripe old age.
What can I pack him for lunch (and breakfast and snacks)? His day begins at about 5 am and lasts until 3 pm. I need to be able to plan accordingly and pack him hearty meals so he’s not tempted to hit a burger/taco stand.
He has a diverse appetite and eats pretty much anything. I just can’t figure it out. What should I pack that will last the day and will be able to taste good without being able to be heated? And hopefully it’s something he can eat while driving too, if necessary.
Any help you can offer a girl?
Thank you!
EM

Great question! Although I’ve posted about packing Paleo lunches in the past (and have generally recommended packing leftovers!), I know that many of us have to eat our midday meals on the go. Some of us aren’t able to heat up our lunches—let alone scrounge up a clean fork.

In fact, as the sole graveyard-shift pharmacist on duty at my local hospital for many years, I often had no choice but to scarf down cold meals whenever I had a spare moment. So over time, I developed a bunch of portable lunches that taste great cold. (For food safety, I do recommend keeping these items in insulated thermal food containers, freezable lunch bags, or mini coolers with ice packs.) Supplement these finger foods with some nuts, trail mix, jerky, cold cuts, and/or fruit, and you’ll be well-nourished and satisfied, even if you’re on the run. (Need tips on surviving the nightshift? Read this post.)

Scan through my site’s Recipe Index (or go through my iPhone/iPad app or cookbook), and you’ll find tons of portable, Whole30-friendly dishes to pack for work or school. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed, start with this list:

Lazy Devils: If you use an Instant Pot to pressure steam the eggs, the peels will come right off. Lazy Devils are so much easier to make than deviled eggs, and you can top them with whatever you want!
Curry Turkey Bites + Apricot-Ginger Sauce: My boys can’t get enough of these veggie and turkey packed morsels. Know why? ’Cause I pack them with a tangy Apricot-Ginger Sauce. And all kids know that food always tastes better with a dipping sauce.
Egg Foo Young-ish: They’re delicious, portable, and flexible enough to accommodate whatever you’ve got in your fridge or freezer! I’ve used leftover roasted chicken, cooked shrimp, ground beef, and Kalua Pig in place of the chopped ham, and all variations taste amazing.
Prosciutto-Wrapped Frittata Muffins: Longtime readers know that this is one of my all-time favorite portable bites. Make a double batch and freeze the extras.
Asian Meatballs: Just add a toothpick and enjoy! (Disclaimer: there are actually a few more steps before you add the toothpick. But they’re really easy.)
Chile Lime Chicken Wings and Magic Wings: Face it: eating chicken wings straight out of the fridge is one of the best things in the world. These two are among my favorite variations. By the way, do you know the trick to eating wings properly?
Paleo Shrimp-Stuffed Mushrooms: These Chinese dim sum inspired bites taste especially delicious with a squirt of Whole30 sriracha on ’em.
Spicy Tuna Cakes: These kicky little bites are loaded with flavor, and can be made ahead and frozen. Thaw them by popping them in your fridge overnight, and then pack them in your lunchbox.
Spicy Salmon Cucumber Bites: Don’t mistake this for just another fancy-looking appetizer—it makes a killer lunch, too. Besides, just imagine your coworkers’ faces when you break out a whole tray of these cucumber bites while they gnaw on their boring sandwiches.

Whole30 Soups!

Sun, 08 Jan 2017 17:23:46 -0800

Feeling a little stir-crazy because you’re trapped indoors due to the winter apocalypse? Or are you frustrated that you can’t find nourishing Whole30 eats when you’re dining out? Before you fall face-first into a pizza, simmer a big pot of soup!

Soup is the ultimate one-bowl meal, and my Instagram followers can attest to the fact that it’s one of my go-to weeknight family meals—regardless of the season. Unless I’m following a particular recipe, I tailor the contents of my soup to what we like to eat or whatever I have sitting in the fridge. Soup is the best clean-out-your-fridge meal ’cause almost everything tastes great simmered in a savory broth. That said, it’s always important to start with a good broth base—but you can easily and cheaply make that at home, too.

Folks are always asking me where to find “good bones” to make bone broth. I like to buy bone-in cuts of meat (e.g., chicken thighs, whole chickens, bone-in pork shoulder roasts, oxtails) and stockpile the bones in a freezer bag until I have enough to make a pot of soup. Also, whenever I see high-quality bones for sale at the store, I scoop ’em up and stash ’em in my chest freezer. Often, I’ll make broth with a combination of raw and cooked bones because that’s what I happen to have on hand.

By the way, I don’t normally combine bones from different animals (like beef bones and pork bones)—with one exception: I mix chicken and pork bones because the resulting savory broth reminds me of the soups my mom used to make when I was growing up.

The key to a delicious and gelatin-packed broth (one that turns into meaty Jell-O in the fridge) is to combine meaty bones (flavor!) with joint bones (collagen!). If your broth doesn’t gel in the fridge, try adding a couple of chicken feet, oxtails, or a pork knuckle to ensure adequate collagen next time. To amp up the umami in my broths, I also toss in a couple of dried shiitake mushrooms and a splash of fish sauce. I used to add vinegar to my broth, too, but not anymore: I don’t think it improves the nutrition dramatically and I don’t like sour broth. But hey: You do you.

Ready to get your soup on?

Here’s my slow cooker bone broth recipe and my pressure cooker/Instant Pot recipe, but use them as general templates. These days, I only make broth in my Instant Pot because it can be done in a jiffy, with no babysitting required. Whenever my kids wake up and tell me that they have a sore throat, I dump frozen bones, water, and aromatics in the Instant Pot, and the broth is done in a couple of hours or faster.

During cold and flu season, I try to keep plenty of broth on hand, so I usually throw the ingredients in the Instant Pot before I go to bed. The broth is magically ready (and kept warm in the Instant Pot) when I wake up. In the morning, I strain the soup and follow these steps to store my extra bone broth in the fridge and freezer.

(If you’re too busy to make broth, no worries! You can purchase high quality broth at the store or online these days. Remember: We’re aiming for progress, not perfection!)

Once you’ve got some broth on hand, here are some wonderful Whole30-friendly soups you can make at home:

Simple Egg Drop Soup: Let’s start with the easiest soup first. Add more veggies and cooked protein to bulk it up!
Pork and Napa Cabbage Soup: My family slurps up this hearty soup without any complaints and yours will, too!
Instant Pot Curried Cream of Broccoli Soup (and here’s the original stovetop method): An oldie but goodie that you can make in a pressure cooker or the old fashioned way. Add crispy Kalua Pig to make it a complete meal!
Watercress & Chicken Soup: Another comforting soup that reminds me off my mom.
Chinese Chicken and Bok Choy Soup: If you’ve got a copy of The Whole30 Cookbook, you can find my umami-packed recipe on pg. 122!
Carrot + Cardamom Soup: This popular soup recipe is from our first cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Food For Humans, but you can also find it here. It’s like a bowl of sunshine on a dreary day!

Go get your soup on, people!

Ready For The January Whole30?

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 19:11:22 -0800

Happy New Year! Are you committing to a January Whole30 but not sure where to start? Don’t worry—I’ve got you covered, my loyal Nomster! After a month of eating not-so-healthy holiday treats, many of us are looking to hit the dietary reset button to start the New Year off with a bang. January’s the perfect time to remind ourselves of how nourishing food can positively affect our health and wellness, so let’s get started TODAY.

Longtime readers know that I’ve completed several Whole30 protocols in years past—and that I do my best to eat mindfully throughout the year. Many of you have successfully completed a Whole30, too. If that’s you, welcome back!

But for those of you who are new to Paleo, here’s a quick intro: the Whole30 is a tried-and-true 30-day dietary reset that eliminates all the foods that could potentially mess you up big time. (Yes, “mess you up big time” is the scientific term.) Over the past few years, “Paleo” has come to mean a lot of different things, but consistent with my personal definition, the Whole30 is all about making sure you’re eating real food that’s more healthful than harmful.

What exactly is the Whole30? In a nutshell, for 30 days, you commit to cutting out the bad-for-you stuff, and eating whole, nutrient-dense foods instead. It may take you a couple of weeks to adjust, but by Day 30, you’ll feel like a brand new person—and you’ll have a much better understanding of how different foods affect your well-being. After your Whole30, you’ll be able to systematically reintroduce foods back into your diet to see how they make you feel, which’ll help you develop your own nutritional blueprint going forward. A Whole30 will help you figure out which foods will help make you the best version of yourself.

The best part? It’s just 30 days. You’ll be done by the end of the month.

Frankly, if you’re doing the Whole30 in January, the biggest challenge you’ll face this month will be boring food. But I’m here to keep that from happening! In conjunction with the January 2nd start of a worldwide Whole30 challenge, I’m going to exclusively post Whole30-compliant recipes on my blog, Facebook page, and Instagram feed this month. Who knows? By the time February comes around, you might feel so great that you’ll adopt this as your new lifestyle!

Ready?

Just the Facts, Ma’am

If you’re unsure of how to approach the Whole30 or want to understand the whys behind the protocol, go straight to the source: get yourself a copy of The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom. This is the definitive guide to the Whole30—and it’s packed with recipes, too.

In a rush? Review this post, which is chock-full of links to everything to help you dive right into a Whole30. You can also sign up for my free email newsletter and I’ll send you a weekly roundup of my latest posts, recipes, and alerts about my weekly Wednesday Facebook Live cooking demos. Plus, every new recipe I post in January will be Whole30-friendly, similar to the bulk of the ones in my free Recipe Index.

In other words, keep your eyes peeled!

Channel Your Inner Ina Garten!

The best way to successfully navigate a Whole30 is to get in the kitchen and cook your way to success. Even if you’re a kitchen newbie, my step-by-step Whole30 recipes will ensure a delicious and easy meal in no time at all. As much as cooking may seem like a chore, it really needs to be a non-negotiable habit, like flossing your teeth. Only by cooking your own meals can you insure that you’re fueling your body the right way. Cooking can’t just be a once-in-a-while hobby, my friend. You gotta get in the habit of doing it regularly.

Prefer to get a feel for how a Whole30 looks over a month’s time? You can read up on my previous Whole30 experiences here. Plus, I’ve also compiled a list of TWO MONTHS’ WORTH of daily Whole30-friendly recipes for you. Check ’em out here!

Looking for even more nomtastic Whole30 eats? Go pick up a copy of Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans, my James Beard Award-nominated, New York Times-bestselling cookbook.

It’s stuffed to the gills with Whole30 goodness—in fact, just about all of the recipes in the book are Whole30-compliant. Here’s a downloadable and printable list of the 100+ Whole30 recipes in my book! (Unfortunately, our upcoming cookbook, Ready or Not, won’t be out until this summer, but if you like what you’ve cooked so far, you can pre-order the new book now. Ready or Not will be packed with over 150 recipes, and more than 130 of them are Whole30-friendly!)

And if you have an iPhone or iPad, download my Webby Award-winning cookbook app, which contains over 150 (and counting!) step-by-step recipes, a 30-day meal plan that takes you through breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and an entire category of recipes devoted to Whole30 dishes. Plus, all new recipes on the blog are automatically added to the app for free without you having to install a new update.

Searching for even more Whole30 recipes? Get the brand-spanking new The Whole30 Cookbook which is chock full of simple and 100% compliant recipes, with contributions from your favorite bloggers and cookbook authors. You’ll even find some from me!

And of course, my buddy Melissa Joulwan is the queen of creating effortless, flavor-packed Whole30 recipes. For those of you who already own her first two cookbooks, Well Fed and Well Fed 2, you need to add her latest, Well Fed Weeknights, to the mix.

Plan for Success

When it comes to figuring out what to cook each day, some folks prefer to improvise, but others crave more structure and direction. If that’s you, and you want help with meal planning and shopping, I recommend subscribing to the Real Plans meal planning tool. It is truly the most amazing, interactive, customizable meal planning program I’ve ever encountered. Plus, you can get my recipes and a ton of Whole30-compliant ones in Real Plans as well. Learn more about it here!

Stock Your Kitchen Like A Paleo Boss

Step one is easy: start by tossing the crap from your kitchen. Next, go grocery shopping. If you need advice about what to buy, download these free PDFs and read my post about how to stock your fridge, freezer, and pantry. (But don’t stock any treats during your Whole30!)

What? You need guidance on buying kitchen tools, too? Check out Episode 10 of the Nom Nom Paleo podcast, Essential Cooking Tools. (Psst! If you’ve got room in your budget for one more tool, I’d invest in an Instant Pot. An electric pressure cooker is life-changing and joy-sparking.)

That’s it for now, but stay tuned this month. I’ll do my best to keep you on the right track throughout January with posts that’ll get you through your Whole30 in style. Remember: keep your kitchen adventures fun and your taste buds excited, and you’ll cruise through the Whole30. Make this journey a delicious one, and it’ll become a lifestyle.

Here’s to a tasty, healthy, and successful January Whole30!

Pressure Cooker Beef Stew

Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:04:18 -0800

Winter doldrums sapping your cooking mojo? Get your groove back with this simple, hearty, and Whole30-friendly stew. If you’ve got an Instant Pot (or any other pressure cooker), this comforting beef stew can be ready in about an hour, and you only have to futz with it for about 15 minutes at the start. Plus, there’s nothing weird in it—unless you think of fish sauce as “weird,” and you shouldn’t. If you’re gonna cook along with me, fish sauce is something you should always have stocked in your pantry.

Use this recipe as a foundational beef stew. You can throw it together with pantry basics and tough ’n cheap beef cuts like chuck roast, boneless short ribs, and brisket. This dish tastes even better the next day, so if you like to plan ahead, make it up to four days in advance and keep it in your fridge. You can freeze it for later, too. When you’re ready to reheat it, you can add extra vegetables to make it a complete meal.

Ready to pressure-cook your way to a pot of happiness?

Serves 6

Ingredients

3 pounds beef chuck roast, boneless short ribs, or beef brisket cut into 1½- to 2-inch cubes
Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal brand)
1 tablespoon ghee, avocado oil, or fat of choice
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed, and quartered
2 tablespoons tomato paste
6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 tablespoons coconut aminos (or gluten-free tamari if you tolerate fermented soy)
1 teaspoon Red Boat Fish Sauce
2 fresh thyme sprigs (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
1 dried bay leaf
freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped

Optional add-ins:

3 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes

Equipment

Method

In a large bowl, toss the cubed beef with 1½ teaspoons of kosher salt.

Press the “Sauté” button on your Instant Pot and when the metal insert is hot, add your preferred cooking fat. Once the fat’s melted, add the onions and mushrooms and a ½ teaspoon kosher salt.

Sauté until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes.

(If you’re using a stovetop pressure cooker, melt the fat over medium heat and sauté the onions and mushrooms.)

Stir in the tomato paste and garlic, and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Toss in the salted beef, coconut aminos…

…fish sauce…

…thyme, and bay leaf.

Give everything a good stir to combine all the ingredients. (No, you don’t need to add any extra liquid to the Instant Pot ’cause the onions and beef will release plenty of liquid! However, if you’re using an older stovetop pressure cooker, you may need to add ½ cup of broth or water.)

Press the “Keep Warm/Cancel” button on the Instant Pot and cover and lock the lid. Next, press the “Meat/Stew” button to switch to the pressure cooking mode. If your beef cubes are smaller than mine, you can press the “minus” button to decrease the cooking time from the preset 35 minutes (high pressure). Once the pot is programmed, walk away.

(If you’re using a stovetop pressure cooker, you won’t have all those buttons to press. Just cook on high heat until high pressure is reached. Then, reduce the heat to low to maintain high pressure for about 30 minutes.)

When the stew is finished cooking, the Instant Pot will switch automatically to a “Keep Warm” mode. If you’re using a stovetop pressure cooker instead, remove the pot from the heat. In either case, let the pressure release naturally (about 15 minutes). If the pressure hasn’t released completely after 15 minutes and you’re impatient, you can manually release the pressure by turning the valve at the top to venting.

Fish out the thyme and bay leaf…

..and check that the meat is fork tender. If not, cook for another 10 minutes under high pressure.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

If you’re eating the stew right away, you can skim the fat off the top of the stew. Braising cuts like chuck roast and short ribs are fattier, but that’s why they taste so good!

Ladle out the stew…

…and adorn with some chopped Italian parsley.

I love to make this stew ahead of time and store it in the fridge or freezer to reheat later. The stew will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days and in the freezer for up to 4 months. It’s like a gift to your future, busy self!

Wish there were some root veggies in your beef stew? You can certainly plop them in at the start of this recipe, but they’ll melt into the stew. If that floats your boat, go ahead and do it. Personally, I like to add root vegetables after the stew is cooked or when I reheat the stew in the pressure cooker.

Here’s how I do it:

Before I reheat the stew, I scoop off the hardened fat layer on top…

…and dump the stew in my Instant Pot or stovetop pressure cooker.

I like to toss in diced carrots and cubed potatoes…

…and stir ’em in.

Then, I pressure-cook everything for 5 minutes under high pressure. (Press the Manual button and the “-” button to decrease 30 to 5 minutes.)

I manually release the pressure right away, stir, and adjust for seasoning.

Shazam! Dinner’s ready in a flash.

Break out your pressure cooker, folks. You’ll be happy you did!

(Psst! Bookmark this post because it’s my ever-growing list of Instant Pot/pressure cooker recipes!)

Crispy Swoodles with Bacon

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 23:19:40 -0800

Wanna know my latest trick to get my kids to eat more vegetables? I transform sweet potatoes into “swoodles” with a spiralizer, roast them, and toss ’em with crispy bacon bits. Yes, I know adding bacon is cheating; after all, smoky, salty porky bits make everything taste better. But even without them, the crunchy combination of roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions—finished off with a shower of fresh herbs and a splash of lime juice—will win over your pickiest eaters. And I’m not just talking about children. Even my finicky father happily tucked into a plate of swoodles thinking this was some sort of newfangled noodle dish.

A few tips before we dig in:

Using a spiralizer will speed up the prep for this dish, but if you don’t have one on hand, you can push the vegetables through the shredder attachment of a food processor. If you’re in the market for a spiralizer, I recommend getting either the Oxo Spiralizer or The Inspiralizer. (I share why I like both models in my 2016 Holiday Gift Guide.)

I’ve tried this dish with regular white potatoes, but the sweetness of sweet potatoes yields the best flavor balance in this dish. Try not to use Garnet sweet potatoes or any of the orange-fleshed varieties, though. White-fleshed sweet potatoes (e.g., the Hannah variety) work best for this dish ’cause they’re more dry and won’t get mushy when roasted.

Make a big batch so you’ll have leftovers for the rest of the week!

Let’s spiralize some vegetables!

Serves 4

Ingredients

½ pound bacon, cut crosswise into ¼-inch pieces
2 pounds white-fleshed sweet potatoes, peeled
2 large carrots, peeled (the fatter, the better for spiralizing)
1 small yellow onion, peeled
Kosher salt
1 medium lime
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons minced chives

Equipment

Chef’s knife
Cutting board
Cast iron skillet
Slotted spoon
Oxo Spiralizer or The Inspiralizer (You can’t go wrong with either one!)
Rimmed baking sheet
Kitchen shears
Measuring spoons
Tongs
Ove glove

Method

Preheat your oven to 400°F on convection mode (or, if you don’t have a convection function on your oven, set it to 425°F on regular mode), with the rack in the middle position.

While the oven is heating up, toss the bacon bits into a large skillet and crank the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally until all the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy, about 15 minutes.

While the bacon is turning into crunchy porky bits, spiralize the sweet potatoes, carrots, and onion. Yep, you can spiralize all of them. To ensure success, make sure you’ve got thick ’n girthy veggies (at least 1½ inches in diameter) and make sure the ends are sliced smoothly and evenly. For more on how to spiralize like a boss, check out these tips.

Grab a rimmed baking sheet and place the veggie noodles on top. If the strands are crazy-long, use a pair of kitchen shears to cut the swoodles into more manageable lengths.

When the bacon bits are crunchy…

…use a slotted spoon to transfer them onto a paper towel-lined plate.

Toss the vegetable noodles with 1½ teaspoons kosher salt…

…and the reserved bacon drippings.

(If you want to make this dish vegetarian-friendly, substitute ⅓ cup olive oil or avocado oil in place of the bacon grease.)

Place the tray of veggies into the oven and roast for a total of 35 to 45 minutes, stirring the veggies every 10-15 minutes to make sure they cook evenly.

The swoodles are done when the veggies are tender and have crispy bits all over. Watch your veggies like a hawk in the last 10 minutes to ensure that the onions and sweet potatoes don’t burn!

Squirt on the juice from one lime and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pro tip: the best way to extract as much juice as possible from a lime is to cut slices parallel to the central core. This method ensures that a lot of surface area is exposed and the seeds are left in the center.

Top the roasted swoodles with a shower of chopped parsley, chives, and crispy bacon bits.

Serve immediately with your favorite roasted meats or seafood.

If you’ve got any leftovers, you can store them in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for a few months.

Psst! Here’s a great breakfast idea: in the morning, make a yummy fried egg in a swoodle nest!

Poached Cod in Tomato Sauce

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 21:05:41 -0800

Looking to get more fish in your family’s belly but freaked out about how to cook it properly? Well, I’ve got a fool-proof and tasty recipe for you. Even picky little Ollie is full of praise for this quick dish (“it tastes like lasagna fish!”) and scarfs it down without (an excessive number of) complaints.

This dish is on constant rotation in our house because it utilizes a few ingredients I already have stocked in my kitchen: defrosted fish fillets from my freezer and store-bought Paleo-friendly sauces in my fridge or pantry. (Of course, the dish will only taste as good as your sauce, so pick a delicious one with high-quality ingredients.) Plus, I only dirty one pot, and the fish is ready in just 15 minutes. Especially for those of you who feel like you cooked and ate too much over the holidays, this simple, healthy weeknight dish will get you back on the straight and narrow.

As a matter of fact, it’s so simple that I’m a little sheepish about posting a step-by-step recipe. I used store-bought sauce, and my only flourish was to add a sprinkle of fresh herbs at the end, so this is barely a recipe at all. In fact, when I texted my pal Diana Rodgers about posting this recipe on my blog, her reply was this: “LOL. Put fish in Rao’s sauce and turn stove on? I’m on to you. #faker.”

Guilty as charged. I’ve always been about finding and sharing shortcuts to deliciousness, so call me a faker if you want, but I like to think of myself as a lazy genius. (I’m modest, too.)

Here’s how to make this fab fish recipe…

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 (6-ounce) skinless and boneless cod fillets (I buy frozen cod fillets with the Marine Stewardship Council label)
Kosher salt
2 cups Paleo-friendly marinara sauce or salsa
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped fresh herbs (e.g. chives, Italian parsley, basil, or cilantro)

Equipment

Method

If you’re using frozen fillets, thaw the fish overnight in the refrigerator. Don’t be frustrated if the fillets aren’t completely thawed by dinnertime; simply place the cod packets in a bowl and run cool water on them. Let the fillets sit in the water for 10-15 minutes, and they should be ready to go.

(Obviously, you can skip the step above if you’re using fresh cod.)

Blot the fish with paper towels…

…and sprinkle both sides with salt.

Grab a skillet with a lid, and pour in about two cups of marinara sauce or salsa. The skillet should be large enough to fit the fillets snugly in a single layer. If you’re poaching four fillets, a 10-inch skillet works great.

Crank the heat up to high to bring the sauce to a boil.

When the sauce is bubbling…

…carefully slip in the seasoned fillets.

Lower the heat to about medium-low—enough to maintain a simmer.

Then, cover the pan and cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until the fish is opaque and cooked to your preferred doneness. Once the thickest part of the fish reaches 130°-140°F on an instant-read thermometer, I take the pan off the heat. (I know the FDA says 145°F is the safe temperature for cooked fish, but for my tastes, that’s overdone. Instead, I refer to this chart for fish cooking times.)

Top the fish with freshly cracked black pepper and a shower of fresh herbs.

I like to garnish the cod with Italian parsley, basil, and chives when I poach in marinara sauce, and cilantro and green onions when I poach in salsa. I’m flexible like that.

Serve the saucy fish with a giant green salad, a big platter of roasted vegetables, or cauliflower rice. How easy was that?

Holiday Gift Guide 2016

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 18:24:46 -0800

Caught off guard by the holiday season? Believe it or not, it’s already time to get gifty again! But don’t fret: armed with my holiday gift guide, you’ll find stuff that fits both your budget and your pals’ tastes—that is, if they like the exact same things I do. As in years past, I’ve compiled a few things that have delighted me this year. (If you’re curious, you can also check out my previous gift guides for 2013, 2014, and 2015, too—virtually all of my previously recommended items still spark joy in my house!)

Except for some of the Paleo cookbooks on this year’s list (which I received from publishers as review copies), I personally bought every single item on my list after doing exhaustive research. After all, if it’s not something worth spending my own money on, I shouldn’t be recommending it. (Full disclosure: Although I’m not paid to endorse any of the stuff in this gift guide, if you follow my affiliate links to purchase them, I do get a small percentage as a commission without costing you an extra penny.)

Ready to lighten your wallet?

For Kitchen Gadget Enthusiasts:

Instant Pot IP-DUO60: This kitchen tool has been on my holiday gift guide for three years in a row ’cause more than any other appliance, it’s the item I gift to loved ones. I know I sound like a broken record, but the Instant Pot will change your life and streamline the process of getting tasty hot food in your craw. There’s a new 8-quart version available, but my favorite is the 7-in-1, 6-quart version. (Psst: i you already have an Instant Pot but are intimidated by it, take it out of the box and use it! I’ve got a ton of step-by-step recipes on my site that will show you the light.)

ThermoPop: I’m partial to the Thermapen because it truly is the most accurate and quickest reading meat thermometer in the world, but it costs close to $100. Luckily, the Thermapen’s mom and dad just popped out a more affordable younger sibling, the ThermoPop! This lollipop-lookalike is rated #1 by Cook’s Illustrated and Serious Eats, so you don’t need to worry about whether it works as well as its older brother/sister. And as I’ve said before, if you’re gonna cook meat or fish properly, you gotta invest in a great thermometer, so get one here.

The Inspiralizer and Oxo Spiralizer: You know all those zany vegetable noodles you’ve seen on Pinterest? You can easily make them at home with a spiralizer. There are tons of options on the market, and I’ve owned four different brands myself. Today, I still own two veggie spiralizers because I’m torn between two models: The Inspiralizer and Oxo’s new spiralizer.

The Inspiralizer is an awesome tool created by Ali Maffucci, the spiralizing queen behind Inspiralized. If she’s gonna invent a spiralizer, you know it’s gotta be one of the best. I love that the blades are attached to the gadget, and you just twist the dial to change it. Plus, you can spiralize thinner vegetables because the central coring blade that keeps them in place has a narrower diameter than other spiralizers. The one drawback is that you can’t plop the Inspiralizer in the dishwasher.

The other spiralizer I recommend is the brand new one released by Oxo. I love that it’s super easy to clean—everything is dishwasher safe—and it has a giant suction cup on the bottom that keeps it in place.

You can’t go wrong with either version if you’re looking to get some more fun-shaped vegetables in your life. (If you want a cheaper hand-held version, this Oxo spiralizer is pretty cool, too, and would make a great stocking stuffer!)

Oxo Cold Brew Maker: Do you really need a gadget to make cold brew when you can use a French press or just a mason jar and a filter? Maybe not, but recently, I’ve been making a weekly batch of super strong, non-acidic cold brew in this nifty contraption. Plus, it looks cool and makes a great gift for your cold brew loving coffee snob friends.

For Your Fancy Salt-Loving Pals:

No matter what your dietary stripe, all of us can agree that fancy salts are a fab hostess gift. (Unless you’re low sodium, of course.) I’ve tried many brands of salt blends over the years but the ones I gift the most are as follows:

Jacobsen Salt Co. Gift Set: I’m obsessed with the plain and infused salts from this Oregon-based company. The sampler is a great way for people to try out all the different flavors.

Omnivore Salt: The Original and Limone are the perfect seasoning blends when I’ve got some plain protein or veggies that need a flavor boost.

Primal Palate Organic Spices: Bill and Hayley have created my favorite seasoning salts on the market. The 3-pack Signature Blends is the best way to add some spice to your meals.

My Magic Mushroom Powder: If you want to get all crafty, make my Magic Mushroom Powder and package it into cute jars for your umami-loving friends. I’ve got all the instructions (and even printable labels!) here.

For Cookbook Lovers:

A bunch of Paleo OGs released follow-up cookbooks or updated editions to their seminal tomes this year:

Mark Sisson’s The New Primal Blueprint: The original Primal Blueprint was one of the first books I read when I transmogrified into a grokky Paleo eater back in 2010. I love Mark’s no-nonsense writing and inspiring testimonials, and his new edition is packed with updated information.

Diane Sanfilippo’s Practical Paleo, Second Edition: This hefty reference is one of my favorite Paleo books of all time, and I recommend it to all Paleo newbies. The second edition has more than 50 new recipes, new meal plans, and new photos. If you’re a visual learner, Diane’s clean intuitive design and infographics will delight you.

Melissa Joulwan’s Well Fed Weeknights: My kitchen soul sister has a brand new cookbook that will have you getting food on the table every night in 45 minutes or less and without sacrificing your time, energy, or taste. Almost all of them are Whole30-compliant to boot!

Melissa Hartwig’s Food Freedom Forever & Whole30 Cookbook: Years ago, this lady changed my life and my relationship with food, and I will be forever grateful. Food Freedom Forever is a fantastic follow-up for anyone who has done a Whole30 and wants to figure out how to reasonably navigate the rest of his or her eating life without going bananas. If you’re doing a Whole30 in 2017, The Whole30 Cookbook will be your lifesaver. It’s packed with 150 compliant recipes (and you might even spy a few of mine in there)!

Danielle Walker’s Celebrations: I love Danielle’s beautiful new cookbook because her grain-free celebratory recipes are spot-on (as always!) and will satisfy any craving. Don’t you want Danielle holding your hand through the madness of holiday cooking?

Simone Miller’s Paleo Soups and Stews: ’Tis the season to simmer a pot of bubbling soup or stew, and Simone is the perfect person to show you how to do it. I love that her cookbook is also filled with a whole chapter on grain-free accompaniments that many Paleo eaters miss, like grain-free biscuits, rolls, and noodles.

Fed & Fit and Lexi’s Clean Kitchen: Have you checked out the debut cookbooks from these two super talented and charming bloggers, Cassy Joy Garcia and Alexis Kornblum? I love following Cassy and Lexi on their respective blogs and on social media, and their new cookbooks are just as fun as their personalities!

UPDATE: Our second cookbook, Ready or Not, won’t be out until August 2017, but you can read the deets and preorder it here for next X-mas!

Non-Paleo Cookbooks That Inspire Me:

Julia Turshen’s Small Victories: Absolutely everything in Julia’s cookbook is crave-worthy and delicious. I love how she builds up an inexperienced cook’s confidence by teaching him or her to make simple, big-flavor dishes that work the very first time.

Cook’s Science by Cook’s Illustrated: Three cheers for food science! This giant tome is crammed with geeky tips and tricks to ensure the perfect dish arrives on the dinner table. It’ll appeal to all the food nerds in your life who always starts their sentences with WHY.

Food52 A New Way to Dinner: A Playbook of Recipes and Strategies for the Week Ahead: This beautifully designed cookbook gives clueless cooks the tools to get home-cooked meals on the table on a daily basis. Although the recipes aren’t all Paleo, you’ll still get lots of good ideas on how to meal plan for the week ahead by cooking a bunch of flexible, foundational stuff on the weekend.

For Your Pals Who Need Help Folks with Meal-Planning:

Real Plans: Know someone who loves the idea of meal planning, but wants it 100% customizable to his/her dietary preferences? Give ’em a subscription to Real Plans, the coolest online meal planner on the planet. Read about why I partnered with the team behind Real Plans and why I love them so much here. If you want to give a subscription to a pal, just provide a gift email and message when you get to the checkout screen. Real Plans will send an order confirmation to your email and login instructions to the person receiving your gift!

For the Special Introvert in Your Life:

Bose QuietComfort 35 Headphones: These wireless, noise reduction headphones were an indulgent gift to myself for my birthday. As an introvert who needs to get work done in public places, these portable over-ear headphones are my lifeline. They’re always packed in my backpack because I feel lost without them.

Okay, Nomsters—that’s it for this year! Remember: it’s the thought that matters most over the holidays, so prioritize spending time, not money, with your pals. But a cool gift doesn’t hurt!

Pork and Napa Cabbage Soup

Mon, 14 Nov 2016 21:08:27 -0800

Yearning for comfort in a bowl? This one-pot, umami-packed soup fits the bill and it can be in your mouth in about 30 minutes. It’s inspired by one of my mom’s recipes, and my kids can vouch for the fact that she’s the best cook on the planet. (They remind me of this constantly.) Night after night for years on end, after long days of number-crunching at the office, my mother cooked amazing family-style Cantonese suppers. Each meal was capped off with a huge bowl of savory soup—a different one every night.

Although my mom didn’t know the word “umami” back then, she was already demonstrating its power in all her dishes. As a kitchen ninja, she knew that by combining umami-packed ingredients, she’d end up with a final product that’s exponentially more delicious than the sum of its parts. It’s no wonder that one of my favorite of her soups featured pork ribs, Napa cabbage, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, potatoes, and broth—all ingredients that pop with umami. Try this recipe, and you’ll be astonished at how these simple ingredients come together to make an amazingly flavorful soup.

Because I’m way lazier than my mom, I recreated her soup as a hearty one-pot meal packed with meat and veggies. This mama ain’t got time to do more dishes on a busy weeknight. To cut down your hands-on cooking time even more, I’ve even included instructions for how to make this recipe in an electric pressure cooker.

Ready to get your soup on?

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ghee or fat of choice
1 small onion, diced
Kosher salt
1 pound ground pork (ground chicken thighs, beef, and turkey also work)
6 large fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced (dried and reconstituted ’shrooms work, too)
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups bone broth or stock
1 head Napa cabbage (2 pounds), cut crosswise into 1-inch segments (bok choy or Savoy cabbage are good alternatives)
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
Freshly ground black pepper
3 scallions, thinly sliced

Equipment

Method

Heat the ghee in a large pot over medium heat. When the fat is shimmering, toss in the diced onion with a sprinkle of salt.

Sauté the onions, stirring occasionally, until softened (about 3 minutes).

Add the ground pork and break it up with a spatula.

Stir in the sliced mushrooms and another sprinkle of salt.

Cook the pork and mushrooms until the meat is no longer pink and the shiitakes are tender (about 5 to 7 minutes).

Stir in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Pour in the broth and crank up the heat to high. Bring everything to a boil.

Then, stir in the cabbage, carrots and potato, and bring the soup back to a boil. Don’t worry about cramming too many veggies into the pot—the cabbage will cook down!

Lower the heat to medium or medium low to maintain a simmer, and partially cover the soup with a lid, leaving a crack so it doesn’t boil over.

Simmer the soup, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are easily pierced with a fork (about 15 minutes). Peek under the lid to make sure that the soup isn’t boiling over or barely percolating, and adjust the heat up or down as needed.

If you want to make this soup in a pressure cooker, sauté the ingredients in the pressure cooker as directed above. When you’re ready to simmer the soup, close and lock the lid; then, cook it under high pressure for 3-5 minutes. Release the pressure manually when the soup is finished cooking.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh scallions.

If you’ve got leftovers, you can store ’em in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for several months. Try this soup for breakfast on a chilly morning, and you’ll never crave a soggy bowl of cereal again!

Instant Pot Curried Cream of Broccoli Soup

Sun, 30 Oct 2016 12:28:10 -0700

I love making soup in my pressure cooker. Without too much fuss, I can get a comforting meal on the table—and better yet, clean-up is a breeze. This cold-weather recipe for a spiced broccoli soup is a riff on a classic stovetop version on my site and in our first cookbook, but made even easier in an electric pressure cooker.

Weeknight “garbage soup” is on regular rotation at Nom Nom Paleo World Headquarters: I pull out whatever vegetables are left in my crisper and toss them in a pot with some prepared broth. This formula works with just about anything, but if you happen to scrounge up some broccoli florets and leeks in the fridge, you must make this blitzed cream of broccoli soup tonight.

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, or fat of choice
3 medium leeks, white parts only, cleaned and trimmed and roughly chopped
2 medium shallots, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon Indian curry powder
Kosher salt
1½ pounds broccoli, chopped into uniform florets
¼ cup peeled and diced apple (I like Fuji)
4 cups bone broth or chicken stock
Freshly-ground black pepper
1 cup full-fat coconut milk
Leftover Kalua Pork, crisped in a pan (optional)
Chives (optional garnish)

Equipment

Method

Start by prepping your ingredients! A note about choppin’ broccoli: don’t waste the stems. Go ahead and trim off the hard, woody exterior of the stems, but cut up and use the soft flesh underneath.

As for the leeks, they make look pristine, but there’s still plenty of dirt hidden in the folds. Keeping the root end intact, cut the rest of the leek in half lengthwise. Give the leek a quarter-turn, and then slice it lengthwise again (at a right angle from the initial cut)—again, keeping the root end intact. Then, fan the leaves under running water to release the sand and mud. Finally, flick off the excess water and slice away.

No leeks? Dice up two large onions (approximately 1½ pounds total), and you’re good to go.

Turn on the sauté function on the Instant Pot, and add your fat of choice once the stainless steel insert is hot. Add the chopped leeks, shallots…

…curry powder, and a sprinkle of salt.

Cook, stirring often, until the alliums are softened (about 5 minutes) and the curry is fragrant.

Throw in the chopped broccoli…

…and apple. (A long time ago, my chef sister Fiona shared with me that diced apple is her secret ingredient in puréed soups!)

Stir to mix well.

Add the broth. If the vegetables aren’t mostly submerged, add more water, but make sure that the pressure cooker isn’t more than about ⅔ full.

Press the “Cancel/Keep Warm” button on the Instant Pot, and position the electric pressure cooker under the stovetop vent. You don’t have to move the pressure cooker under the vent, but you’ll protect your fancy kitchen cabinets from the steam when you release the pressure manually. (It goes without saying that you shouldn’t turn on the burner if your Instant Pot is on the stove. C’mon, people.)

Program the cooker for 5 minutes under high pressure. (You can hit the “Manual” button and press the “—” button until the 30 decreases to 5.) Place the lid on the pressure cooker and go goof off (or, if you’re a more responsible parent than I am, go help your kids with their homework).

When the soup is finished cooking, turn off the pressure cooker and release the pressure manually under the stovetop vent. If you overfill the Instant Pot, some liquid might spurt out the top, so be careful!

Then, use an immersion blender to blitz the soup. The result should be a smooth, aromatic green purée.

Add the coconut milk…

…season to taste with salt and pepper…

…and blend to incorporate it into the soup. Taste the soup for seasoning (again) and add salt and pepper if necessary.

Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.

To make this a one pot meal, mix in some leftover meat. I like to add crisped-up leftover Kalua Pork—and if I’m feeling fancy, I add a pretty herb garnish at the end (e.g. some chives). No one will be the wiser that you’re serving them the dregs from your fridge.

You can save the leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for several months!

Dan Dan Noodles from Well Fed Weeknights

Sat, 08 Oct 2016 13:47:29 -0700

I recently reached out to my good friend, Melissa Joulwan, to ask if I could share a sneak peek of one of the simple, flavor-packed recipes from her upcoming cookbook, Well Fed Weeknights: Complete Paleo Meals in 45 Minutes or Less. Mel graciously agreed to reveal the recipe for her Paleo-fied Dan Dan Noodles (one of my faves from the book!) AND a bunch of tips and tricks for getting tasty weeknight meals on the table pronto.

Longtime Nomsters know that Mel is one of my favorite humans on the planet. When I first started eating Paleo back in 2010, her blog (formerly known as The Clothes Make The Girl) was a daily must-read for me; I loved catching up with Melicious, a former roller girl who crushed equally on Jane Eyre and Social D, threw heavy weights around the gym, and also happened to be a Paleo culinary wizard. As an ardent fangirl, I was nervous to finally meet her IRL at the inaugural Ancestral Health Symposium back in 2011, but she was a sweetheart. We instantly clicked, and we’ve been great pals every since. Over the years, I’ve been excited about every single one of her cookbook releases, and can’t wait for her latest collection, Well Fed Weeknights: Complete Paleo Meals in 45 Minutes or Less, to hit the shelves. Just like the first two cookbooks in the Well Fed series, Well Fed and Well Fed 2 (read my review and a history of our friendship here), this one packs in as many delicious recipes and kitchen shortcuts as possible. So without further ado, I’m gonna turn it over to Mel!

Michelle and I have been friends for years—since before either of us had become cookbook authors—and we were drawn together by two things: (1) our shared love of eating food that’s so delicious you want to smash in your own face with joy, and (2) cursing. Michelle stole my heart when I realized she has tremendously good taste and can cuss like a sailor. But I promise my guest appearance here today will be free of questionable language, and I’m going to share a recipe with you that’s crazy-delicious, super-fast to make, and sure to please you and your family, no matter how picky some of those picky-pants might be.

If you’ve read my site or cooked from my previous cookbooks Well Fed and Well Fed 2, you know I’m a passionate advocate for what I call the Weekly Cookup: a batch cooking session once a week to stock your fridge so you can turn those cooked ingredients into meals before anyone gets too hangry. (You can learn more about this approach here.)

I still think that’s a great idea, and I know a lot of you do, too. But I’ve also heard concerns like these a lot:

“I don’t have time this week to do a big Weekly Cookup. Am I totally screwed?”

“I want to eat paleo, but going to multiple grocery stores wears me out. I just want to make recipes with stuff I can find at my regular store.”

“I just want to cook a dinner that makes everyone happy. If my kids and my husband eat it—and ask for seconds—I’m all good.”

“I get bored eating the same thing over and over, and my family HATES leftovers. I need recipes that taste good and can be made fast.”

Everyday challenges like those were the motivation for my new cookbook Well Fed Weeknights: Complete Paleo Meals in 45 Minutes or Less. The recipes are inspired by food trucks, takeout favorites, and delicious things I’ve eaten on my travels, and all of them are made with ingredients you can buy at your neighborhood grocery store. Best of all, 100 of the 128 recipes can be cooked in about half an hour.

I learned a lot about how to cook quickly while I developed the recipes for this book, and I hope these tips will help you and your family eat the food you love every day—without feeling like you’ve become a full-time short-order cook. And at the end, I’ve shared a recipe from the book so you can try out your new tricks.

Become a Veg-o-Matic.

Leafy greens pack a nutritious punch and add color to your meals, but kale, chard, and collard greens are practically useless to you if you’re staring down dinner and they’re unwashed and uncut. Ditto for salad greens, carrots, cucumbers, celery, and dozens of other veggies. My advice: Wash them, cut them, and store them as soon as you get home from the grocery store. It might add about 20 minutes to your grocery-shopping adventures, but it will ultimately save you time—and make it easier to eat more veggies. Wash hearty greens, remove the ribs, spin them dry, then store them in a ziplock bag so they’re ready to go when you are. Wash and trim carrots and celery, then store in an airtight container with a little water so they stay crisp. Wash and spin salad greens and fresh herbs, then store in a ziplock bag with a damp paper towel to keep them from wilting. If you can become your own veggie-processing engine, meal time will be faster and easier.

Opt for fast-cooking proteins.

First, a disclaimer: There is no sexier hunk on the planet than Michelle’s Kalua Pig—and thanks to her Instant Pot recipes, you can make a lot of delicious meals more quickly. But if you’re like me, and you’re just working with a stove and a skillet, fast proteins like chicken breasts and thighs, pork loin, thin steaks, shrimp, and ground meats are the answer. They’re loaded with flavor, very versatile, and transform from raw to done in a flash. The recipes in Well Fed Weeknights are built around these fast-cooking proteins.

Arm yourself with the right tools in the right place.

Unless you have the knife skills of Gordon Ramsey or can channel the ghost of Julia Child with a wire whisk, it’s unlikely that you can julienne, mince, or purée as quickly as a gadget can. I resisted the lure of a stick blender for years, and now I wonder how I got by without it. My go-to gadgets for fast cooking are a stick blender and pint-size Mason jar for making sauces and salad dressings, and a mandoline or a food processor with a slicing blade to julienne and to make cuts thinner than I ever could with a knife. I also rely on my spiralizer for making zucchini noodles, although if you don’t want another appliance, a julienne peeler works great, too. And I’m madly in love with my meat hamer! I use it to pound protein into thin cutlets that cook evenly and to smash plantains before frying.

Once you have the tools you need, put them in the right place! They’re no good to you inside a cabinet or trapped in the back of a drawer. If you can spare a corner of counter space for your equipment, you’ll be able to move faster and with less frustration. You’re essentially the head chef of your kitchen, so make your space work for you.

Don’t wait until you’re hungry.

You already know that it’s a pretty terrible idea to go grocery shopping without a list or when you’re hungry—and it’s not a great idea to wait to cook until you’re stomach is rumbling. Kitchen tasks are so much more daunting when you need to eat right now. So I recommend a mini-cookup once a week to stock your fridge with the raw materials for fast, satisfying meals. Just set aside about an hour to prep a few paleo building blocks, then you can use those food Legos to construct awesome meals all week long.

Roast or grill chicken thighs or breasts
Brown ground meat
Hard cook a dozen eggs
Blend a jar of salad dressing
Whip up a batch of homemade mayo
Turn 2-3 pounds of zucchini into noodles with a spiralizer
Grate 1-2 heads of cauliflower into “rice”
Boil 2-3 pounds of potatoes or roast sweet potatoes

With these meal basics stored in the fridge, you’re only about 15 minutes away from a delicious, nutritious meal. You can use the chicken and cauliflower rice to make fried rice—or toss the zucchini noodles with chicken or cooked ground meat and your favorite tomato sauce for a quick Italian dinner. Assemble a big, ol’ salad with raw veggies, cooked chicken, hard-boiled eggs, and homemade salad dressing. Make hash with the ground meat and potatoes—or mix both with beaten eggs for a fast frittata. Combine hard-boiled eggs and mayo for egg salad, or turn them into Michelle’s Lazy Devils. There are dozens of ways to mix and match these ingredients to create tasty meals quickly.

Clean up last.

I have a hard time concentrating when my kitchen is messy, but I’ve learned that if I want to cook with speed, I have to let some of my perfectionism slide. I’m not suggesting that you should cook in the middle of chaos, but you can just set aside used equipment to be washed up later, or—even better!—recruit an assistant to wash while you cook. Once you’ve got your meal simmering on the stove or roasting in the oven, you can restore order to the kitchen. But you can also let the dishes languish until after dinner so you can focus on your food. Kitchen clean-up is so much easier with a full belly!

And my final tip: Build a collection of recipes you can rely on when you need to make dinner fast. I asked Michelle to choose a recipe from Well Fed Weeknights that you can add it to your “fast recipe” collection, and she picked Dan Dan Noodles, a.k.a “noodles on a pole.” I think she chose wisely.

Dan Dan Noodles from Well Fed Weeknights

Dan Dan Noodles are one of the most popular street foods in Sichuan (a.k.a. Szechuan) province of southwestern China. The cuisine of the region is known for its bold flavors, with lots of garlic, chiles, and Sichuan pepper. The name “dan dan” refers to the pole that noodle vendors used to sell their wares. It was carried across their shoulders, a basket of noodles on one end and the spicy sauce on the other. Traditionally, the noodles swim in a face-tingling broth and are topped with minced pork and preserved vegetables. This fast, paleo version uses zucchini noodles for slurping, cornichons for an acidic tang, and a separate chili oil so you can customize the heat.

Total time: 40–45 minutes

Tools: peeler, microplane grater, spiralizer, colander

Ingredients: (Serves 2-4 people)

For the noodles:

2 pounds zucchini
2 teaspoons salt

For the chili oil:

½ cup light-tasting olive or avocado oil
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
½-inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes

For the pork:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2-inch piece fresh ginger
1 jalapeño
3 cloves garlic
1½ pounds ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons tahini or almond butter
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ cup coconut aminos
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
pinch coconut sugar
⅓ cup cornichons

garnish: a handful cashews, 2–3 scallions

Directions:

Make the noodles. Julienne the zucchini with the spiralizer. Place the noodles in a colander and toss them with the salt until the strands are lightly coated. Set the colander in the sink to drain while you prep the other ingredients.

Make the chili oil. In a small saucepan, combine the oil, peppercorns, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes. Warm the oil over medium-low heat while you cook.

Cook the pork. Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, 2 minutes. While the oil heats, peel and grate the ginger, mince the jalapeño, and peel and crush the garlic. Add the aromatics to the oil and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Crumble the pork into the pan, season with the salt and pepper, and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until it’s browned, 7–10 minutes.

Make the sauce. While the pork cooks, place the tahini, sesame oil, Chinese five-spice, and black pepper in a small bowl and mix with a fork. Add the coconut aminos, vinegar, and sugar; stir until combined. Chop the cornichons and set them aside.

Put it together. Add the sauce to the meat in the skillet and stir to coat the meat. Add the cornichons to the skillet, toss to combine, and transfer the meat mixture to a large bowl. Reheat the skillet over medium-high heat. Rinse the zucchini noodles under running water, drain well, and squeeze them dry in a clean dish towel. Add the noodles to the heated pan and stir-fry for 2–3 minutes until hot. Return the meat to the pan and toss with two wooden spoons to combine; allow it to heat through. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cinnamon stick from the chili oil and discard it. Set the oil aside to cool. Chop the cashews and scallions.

To serve, divide the noodles among individual bowls and top with a drizzle of chili oil, then sprinkle with cashews and scallions.

Cookup Tips

Spiralize the zucchini, make the chili oil, and prep the sauce in advance; store everything in separate airtight containers in the fridge. When it’s time to eat, cook the pork and put it all together according to the directions.

For 127 more delicious recipes like this one, please check out my new cookbook Well Fed Weeknights. When you pre-order through my online store, you’ll also receive awesome free bonuses, including an exclusive 1-month Epic Well Fed Dinner Plan, plus goodies from ButcherBox, Thrive Market, and Paleo Magazine. You can also pre-order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

If you need more convincing—or want to start cooking some of the Well Fed Weeknights recipes before the book is officially launched on November 1—you can download a free 70-page sampler that features 18 recipes.

Instant Pot Hard “Boiled” Eggs & Lazy Devils

Mon, 12 Sep 2016 10:02:50 -0700

Don’t be fooled by their looks: these glam “Lazy Devils” are a cinch to throw together on the fly—especially if you hard “boil” your eggs in an Instant Pot, one of my all-time favorite electric appliances.

Hard boiled eggs are the epitome of emergency protein. I always try to stock a bunch in my fridge so I can pop one in my mouth if I’m too busy to cook a proper meal. Lately, I’ve been cooking them in my Instant Pot, because it’s effortless and fool-proof. In about 20 minutes from start to finish, I can get perfectly peelable hard cooked eggs. I’m going to show you the way I like ’em cooked, but if you have a stovetop pressure cooker or are super-particular about the exact doneness of your hard cooked eggs, you can follow these detailed instructions by my pal, Laura Pazzaglia. (No pressure cooker? Check out this post about how to cook them the old fashioned way.)

If you haven’t yet noticed my use of quotation marks around the word “boiled” in the title of this post, please note that these eggs are actually steamed in a pressure cooker and not boiled—but my instructions will yield hard cooked eggs all the same. With this method, I’ve found that a silicone steamer is a game changer ’cause it keeps the eggs from cracking during the cooking process and you won’t burn your hands when you take the eggs out of the Instant Pot!

Then, once you’ve got easy-to-peel hard cooked eggs in the fridge, you can whip together a batch of Lazy Devils. I introduced these dainty appetizers in our first cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Food For Humans, and they’re my secret weapon for potlucks, unexpected company, or weekday snacks. I’ve listed some of my favorite variations below, but feel free to let your tastes dictate your toppings!

Ready to stock your fridge with a bunch of hard cooked eggs and Lazy Devils?

Makes 8 eggs

Ingredients

8 large eggs (or the maximum that will fit in a single layer in the steamer insert)
1 cup water

Optional toppings for Lazy Devils

Guacamole + Sliced Radishes
Mayonnaise + Furikake + Sliced Persian Cucumbers
Chipotle Lime Mayonnaise + Furikake + Sliced Scallions
Chipotle Lime Mayonnaise + Prosciutto + Sliced Cucumbers + Scallions
Any spread + your favorite topping! (Check out our first cookbook for more ideas!

Equipment

Method

Pour 1 cup of water in the stainless steel insert of your Instant Pot.

Place the silicone steamer insert inside…

…and carefully arrange your eggs straight from the fridge in a single layer on top.

Interlock the handles of the silicone steamer before securing the lid on top.

Lock the lid, and make sure the dial on top is pointed towards the sealed position.

Position your pressure cooker in a place where it won’t ruin the cabinets when you release the pressure manually. I like to put it under my stovetop hood because it sucks up all the steam. (Of course, if you’re the type of absentminded professor who’ll turn on the stove because you forgot that you have an electrical appliance sitting on the stovetop, don’t do this. Instead, place the electric pressure on a surface that isn’t directly underneath anything that can be ruined by escaping steam.)

Set the pressure cooker to cook under high pressure for 6 minutes.

In my experience, it takes about 10 minutes to reach high pressure with cold water from the tap, and an additional 6 minutes to finish cooking. In the meantime, you can fill a big mixing bowl with water and ice cubes.

As soon as the eggs are finished cooking, manually release the pressure by turning the vent on top to “Venting.”

Carefully grab the handles of the silicone steamer and deposit the eggs into the ice bath.

I chill them in the bath for about 5 minutes, but it’s okay to soak ’em for longer.

The shells should come off pretty easily, even with farm-fresh pasture-raised eggs. You can store the cooked eggs in the shell for about a week.

See? Pretty yellow yolks, with no sulfurous stink or gray-green rings around the edges!

Once you have these eggs in the fridge, you can do all sorts of cool stuff with them. I like to make what I coined “Lazy Devils” in our first cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Food For Humans. They’re kinda like deviled eggs, but you don’t need any skills or time to make them. Simply cut the hard cooked eggs in half, slather on your favorite spread (e.g., mayo, guacamole, tonnato sauce, etc.) and adorn with your favorite toppings.

Here are some of my faves:

Guacamole + Sliced Radishes
Mayonnaise + Furikake + Sliced Persian Cucumbers
Chipotle Lime Mayonnaise + Furikake + Sliced Scallions
Chipotle Lime Mayonnaise + Prosciutto + Sliced Cucumbers + Scallions

Now go make yourself some eggstraordinary nibbles!

Cantonese Crispy Chicken Thighs

Mon, 05 Sep 2016 21:56:42 -0700

When I was growing up, one of my mom’s weeknight dinner standards was a Cantonese steamed chicken dish with sliced shiitake mushrooms, ginger, and scallions. The combination of these umami-packed ingredients yielded a dish that tasted exponentially better than the individual parts—umami synergy in action!

Recently, my picky younger son, Ollie, declared that his grandmother’s cooking is far superior to mine (“no offense, mom, but poh-poh’s a better cook than you because she cooks with Chinese flavors—you’re number two”). I tell him that I agree with him 100 percent, but not to tell my mom. (I like to needle my mom, just like Ollie likes to needle me.) Ollie did throw me a bone, though: “I love your Cracklin’ Chicken, mom. I just wish you’d make it with Chinese flavors.”

Ollie never makes any special requests for recipes, so I decided that this was a challenge worth taking. Taking inspiration from both my mom’s Cantonese chicken dish and my friend Simone Miller’s Pan-Roasted Chicken with Bacon and Apples, I created this simple yet flavor-packed chicken dish with ingredients that remind me of my childhood. And did I mention that the chicken skin gets super crispy (like Cracklin’ Chicken!), the juicy meat is infused with tons of flavor, and you only dirty one pot?

I have a feeling this is gonna be your new favorite weeknight Whole30-friendly chicken dish…

Serves 4

Ingredients

6 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon ghee
1 cup thinly-sliced shallots (about 3 large)
Kosher salt
6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2-inch piece ginger, peeled and cut into thin coins
6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup bone broth
1 teaspoon fish sauce`
¼ cup sliced green onions/scallions
¼ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Equipment

Bowl
Oven-safe 12-inch stainless steel pan or cast iron skillet
Cutting board
Chef’s knife
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Meat thermometer
Oven gloves (super important!)

Method

Dried shiitake mushrooms are one of the key components to this dish. They pack a giant wallop of flavor ’cause they have more than 15 times the amount of umami as fresh shiitake mushrooms. Plus, you can keep them in your pantry for months and pull them out whenever you need an extra burst of flavor. I’m convinced that my mom’s cooking tastes so good because she adds reconstituted dried shiitake to EVERYTHING.

Of course, you do need to reconstitute these dried mushrooms in water before using them (unless you’re throwing them in a soup), and they need time to rehydrate. The package normally says to soak them for 30 minutes, but I’ve found that it always takes longer. If you’re planning to make this chicken dish, take a few minutes earlier in the day to rinse the dried mushrooms to remove dirt. Then, put the mushrooms in a large bowl and cover with water.

When you’re ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 450°F with the rack in the middle position.

Heat a 12-inch oven-safe heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Melt one tablespoon of ghee in the hot pan, add the sliced shallots, and a sprinkle of salt.

Cook until the shallots are softened, stirring occasionally. This should take 5-10 minutes.

While the shallots are cooking, sprinkle kosher salt liberally (about 2 teaspoons) on both sides of the chicken pieces.

Squeeze out the excess liquid from the reconstituted mushrooms, slice off the woody stems (which can be reserved for bone broth)…

…and thinly slice the caps.

Once the shallots have wilted, add the sliced mushrooms, ginger, and garlic.

Stir-fry for about a minute or until aromatic. Transfer the vegetables to a plate.

Return the pan to the stovetop, wipe out any remnants with a paper towel, and increase the heat to medium-high. Then, sear the chicken pieces skin-side down in the hot pan until nicely browned and crispy, about 4 to 5 minutes.

While the skin is crisping, add freshly ground black pepper to the meaty side.

When the skin is golden brown…

…flip the pieces over and cook for 2 minutes more.

Stir the fish sauce into the broth and pour it in the pan, making sure to avoid pouring the liquid on the crispy skin.

Add the reserved shallots, mushrooms, and garlic back to the pan, tucking them in between the chicken pieces. Again, make sure not to cover the skin!

Transfer the pan to the hot oven and roast the chicken for 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F. (You have a meat thermometer, right? Use it!)

Put on your heat-proof oven gloves, before you grab the pan.

Taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust as needed. Garnish the chicken with a shower of sliced scallions and cilantro, and dig in!

By the way, this dish tastes fantastic with my Asian Cauliflower Fried Rice. Just saying’.

Coconut Chia Pudding

Sun, 21 Aug 2016 18:56:01 -0700

Ch-ch-ch-chia! Oh, come on: I know I’m not the only child of the 80s who wanted my own ’fro-rocking pottery animal. But who knew that the seeds that grew into the fuzzy green pelt on your favorite clay animal figurines would morph into popular media’s latest anointed super food?

Personally, I’m not convinced that chia seeds are a miraculously nutrient-dense food (you can read what these smart folks have to say about them here and here), but I do like that I can make a simple, thick pudding with no work. Plus, each serving packs a ton of fiber. (Yeah, I’m on old lady who loves my fiber. Yay! Fiber!)

I prefer using the whole seeds in my pudding ’cause the process is simple, and I like the resulting texture and flavor. I’ve tried blended the seeds with the flavored coconut milk to get a smoother pudding, but it yielded a gooey texture and extra bitterness from the pulverized seeds.

For this recipe, feel free to add more or less honey to your taste. I like just a smidge of sweetness because I typically eat my pudding with fresh fruit, so for me, a single tablespoon of honey is perfect. (You can watch my live Facebook cooking video if you’re more of a visual learner!)

Ready to make the easiest pudding imaginable AND get a free bag of chia seeds?

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

1 (13.5 ounce) can full-fat coconut milk
2.5 ounces cold water
1 tablespoon honey (amount is up to your taste!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup chia seeds (grab your free chia while supplies last!)

Optional garnishes:

Diced fresh fruit
Toasted coconut flakes
Toasted nuts

Equipment

Large liquid measuring cup or beaker
Measuring spoons
Measuring cups
Immersion blender
Spoon
Storage container (I like using a Weck jar)
Serving cups (I like 250 mL beakers)

Method

In a large measuring cup, bowl, or beaker, combine the coconut milk, water, honey…

…vanilla, and cinnamon. (If you want to use another alternative milk, be my guest! Just substitute 2 cups for the coconut milk + water.)

Blend until smooth.

Pour in the chia seeds and stir well to combine. (Psst! You can get a free bag of chia seeds from Thrive Market while supplies last by clicking here.)

Leave the mixture on the counter for at least 30 minutes so the chia can absorb the liquid and plump up.

Stir one last time. You’ll notice that the mixture has started to thicken.

Cover and place in the fridge overnight or until it firms up (about 4 hours). You can keep your chia pudding in a sealed container in the fridge for about a week or so.

When you’re ready to eat, take the pudding out of the fridge. The chia pudding should be nice and thick when you scoop into it.

Grab your favorite fruit and toast some coconut flakes.

In a cup or jar (or in my case, more chemistry lab beakers), alternate layers of chia pudding and fruit. Top it all off with crunchy coconut flakes.

Last but not least, dig in!

Pressure Cooker Summer Italian Chicken

Sun, 07 Aug 2016 10:40:05 -0700

Many of you who follow me on Instagram know that last winter, we bought a house in Portland, and since then, we’ve been splitting our time between Oregon and the San Francisco Bay Area. For the past few years, our family’s been gradually eating our way through this beautiful city (which is one of the reasons we decided to set down roots in Portland), but now that we’ve established an outpost here, our pace has picked up. With the exception of Henry (who’s stuck telecommuting out of our home office), we’ve been out and about all summer long, exploring the nooks and crannies of our neighborhood, taking long hikes around town (and in the woods), and trekking all over in search of good eats (and the occasional Pokemon). The only problem? When I get home, I’m sweaty and tired, and in no mood to cook.

Thankfully, I’ve got an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. With this indispensable appliance, I can throw in a bunch of seasonal ingredients and presto change-o!: a flavor-packed dinner is ready in no time at all, and my kitchen stays cool. Case in point: Pressure Cooker Summer Italian Chicken—a new recipe I’ve been testing. It’s a quick blast of summer, with juicy cherry tomatoes, fragrant fresh herbs, and buttery, briny green olives.

As always, I highly recommend that you use chicken thighs instead of boneless, skinless chicken breasts because they won’t dry out as easily. Plus, chicken thighs simply taste better (see Exhibit A: Cracklin’ Chicken). If you’re going to use bone-in chicken thighs, remove the skins before cooking and increase the cooking time to 15 minutes under high pressure.

I know you’re hot and tired, but peel yourself off the couch (you’re leaving unsightly sweat stains on it anyway) and go throw some ingredients in the pressure cooker!

Serves 6

Ingredients

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs (~2.5 pounds)
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon ghee, avocado oil, or olive oil
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
½ pound (227 grams) cremini mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups (400 g) cherry tomatoes
½ cup (60 g) pitted green olives (I love Castelvetrano olives)
¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
½ cup (14 g) loosely packed fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
¼ cup (7 g) loosely packed fresh Italian parsley, coarsely chopped

Equipment

Method

Grab your chicken thighs and sprinkle ¾ teaspoons kosher salt all over them. You can do this part up to two days in advance, and keep the chicken covered in the fridge.

Press the sauté button on the Instant Pot or heat a stovetop pressure cooker over medium heat. Add your fat of choice.

When the fat is shimmering, add the onions, carrots, and mushrooms, and a ½ teaspoon salt.

Sauté the vegetables until the softened, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and tomato paste, and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Add the salted chicken, cherry tomatoes and green olives to the pot.

Give it all a good stir.

Turn off the sauté function, and lock the lid on the pressure cooker.

I position my Instant Pot under my stovetop exhaust vent before I program the pressure cooking so that when the chicken’s done and I immediately release the pressure, the vent will suck up all the steam. Your kitchen cabinets will thank you. (Stick a cutting board underneath your cooker if your stovetop grates aren’t even—and remember not to turn on your stove!)

If you’re using an Instant Pot, press the “Manual” button and set the cooking time to 7 minutes for chicken breasts (if your chicken boobs are bigger than 8 ounces each, you can cut them in half or increase the cooking time to 9 minutes) and 10 minutes for thighs. Bone-in thighs will take 15 minutes to cook under high pressure. (For those of you using a stovetop pressure cooker, crank the heat to high to bring the contents to high pressure. Once high pressure is reached, reduce the heat to low, or just enough to maintain high pressure. Set a timer for 6 minutes for breasts and 9 minutes for thighs.)

When the chicken is finished cooking, turn on the stovetop exhaust fan before turning the pressure cooker valve to release the steam.

Remove the lid right away to prevent overcooking. Add the freshly cracked black pepper and adjust the seasoning with additional salt as needed.

If you want a thicker gravy, remove the chicken and blend up the vegetables and cooking liquid with an immersion blender. Personally, I don’t have time for this step. BECAUSE I’M HOT AND TIRED, REMEMBER?

Stir in the fresh herbs, and serve immediately.

Wondering what to serve with this? This stew tastes great ladled over cauliflower rice or garlic cauliflower mashed “potatoes.”

Or just eat it as-is if you don’t want to dirty any other pots or pans.

Toss any leftovers (covered, of course) in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Want more pressure cooker recipes? I’ve got ’em all right here!

Curry Turkey Bites + Apricot-Ginger Sauce

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 14:38:08 -0700

Contrary to popular belief, most of my best friends IRL aren’t Paleo eaters. But who cares? I hang with a gal pal posse that meets for regularly scheduled meals and coffee dates to escape for an hour or two from our hectic schedules. These ladies help keep me sane, especially when I’ve been cooped up at home, cranking away on all things Nom Nom Paleo. Besides making me laugh every time we gab, my friends also keep me grounded in what “normal” folks want to eat. They’ve made clear that my Paleo-fied chocolate cake (a recipe that I’m testing for cookbook #2) passes their scrutiny, but they’re totally not onboard with my offal-filled delights. Despite our dietary differences, though, we do agree that all recipes should be family-friendly, easy yet flavor-packed, and filled with protein and veggies. If the dish can be made ahead, freezable, and portable, all the better.

Today, I’m dedicating this recipe to my gluten-lovin’ buddy and fellow posse member, Maria, who was thisclose to moving away with her family to the East Coast this summer. Luckily, fate intervened, and our “talking club” is intact for the foreseeable future. Inspired by a recent conversation about ground turkey—Maria’s favorite protein—I experimented in the kitchen with different vegetable and spice combinations to come up with the perfect savory bite. If you’re not a ground turkey super-fan like Maria, feel free to substitute ground chicken, pork, beef, bison, or lamb. (Heck, you can even throw in some ground hearts, too, if you’re feeling extra Paleo.) The tangy and sweet dipping sauce makes the turkey bites taste even better, but make sure you find a jam that’s sweetened with only fruit and isn’t packed with other crazy ingredients.

(If you want to watch a replay of me cooking these live in my kitchen, check out this Facebook video.)

Now, who’s ready to make these savory turkey “cookies”?

Makes 30 (2-inch diameter) patties & ¾ cup dipping sauce

Ingredients

Curry Turkey Bites

1 pound ground turkey (step away from the super low-fat stuff!)
2 cups (230 g) shredded sweet potato (about 1 large one)
1 cup (60 g) finely chopped Swiss chard leaves, loosely packed
1 large egg, whisked
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon Indian curry powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Juice and zest from 1 lime

Apricot-Ginger Sauce

2 tablespoons coconut aminos
½ cup apricot jam (sweetened with fruit juice)
½ teaspoon minced fresh ginger
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Equipment

Food processor or box grater
Chef’s knife
Cutting board
Large bowl
Small bowl
Microplane
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Medium-sized disher
Parchment paper
Rimmed baking sheets
Small saucepan
Silicone spatula
LunchBots Thermal (for packing them piping hot for school/work/picnic)

Method

Preheat the oven to 400° F convection bake or 425° F non-convection bake with the rack in the middle position. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all the turkey bite ingredients: ground turkey, shredded sweet potatoes, chopped chard leaves, whisked egg…

…garlic, ginger, serrano pepper (if using), sliced scallions, curry powder…

…salt, and the zest and juice from one lime.

Yes, these patties are packed with vegetables.

Using your hands, mix all the ingredients together until well combined, but don’t overwork the mixture.

You can check for seasoning by pinching off a bit of the meat mixture and frying up a tiny patty. Taste it, and adjust the seasoning as needed.

Scoop out heaping tablespoon balls and arrange them on the two lined baking sheets, making sure they sit about 2 inches apart.

Smoosh each ball with your fingers into ½-inch thick patties.

Cook one tray in the oven for 15 minutes or until browned on the edges and cooked through, rotating the tray at the midway point. Bake the second tray of patties the same way.

While the bites are baking, make the dipping sauce.

In a small saucepan, combine the coconut aminos, apricot jam…

…and fresh ginger.

Stir the sauce over medium heat until simmering.

Remove the pot from the heat, and add the freshly ground black pepper and lemon juice.

Serve the turkey bites with the dipping sauce.

Pro-tip: The turkey bites can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to a month. I fry the frozen patties over medium heat with some melted ghee (about 2-3 minutes per side) and transport them in a nifty LunchBots Thermals to keep them warm until you’re ready to nosh! It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Liar Balls

Tue, 05 Jul 2016 22:51:19 -0700

Balls. Balls, I tell you. BALLS.

Liar Balls, to be precise.

Those of you who have thumbed all the way to page 252 of our first cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Food For Humans, may remember our Liar Bars. These bars are my affectionate riff on a certain addictive brand-name snack bar that starts with the letter “L” and made with dates and nuts. My boys constantly remind me that although my tropical version is delicious, it’s still a knock-off. “Yours aren’t Lara Bars, Mommy. They’re Liar Bars.”

Sigh.

Liar Bars are insanely easy to make, but over the years, I’ve gotten even lazier. These days, I don’t even bother forming the no-cook dough into bars; instead, I just roll the sticky mixture into little orbs, and coat them in toasted, unsweetened shredded coconut.

I recently showed folks how to transform the bars into balls in this Facebook Live video—now, by popular request, I’m posting the recipe in full. Are you ready for it?

Makes 15 (1-inch diameter) balls

Ingredients

½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted
⅓ cup dry-roasted and salted macadamia nuts
10 large dried Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped

Equipment

Method

Toast the shredded coconut (if you haven’t already) in a 300°F oven (or toaster oven) on a parchment lined baking sheet. It should only take 3 to 5 minutes, but keep an eye on the coconut and make sure it doesn’t burn!

Set the shredded coconut aside to cool. Now, go toast the coconut flakes the same way as the shredded coconut. Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes, I skip this step and use Dang coconut chips (the lightly salted and unsweetened variety). I told you I’m getting lazy.

Remove the pit from each date, and roughly chop up the flesh.

Let’s pause and admire my mise en place!

Toss the macadamia nuts in a food processor, and pulse until the pieces are the size of rice grains. Don’t go too crazy, though. Remember: we’re not making nut butter today.

Transfer the chopped nuts to a large bowl and set aside.

Throw the dates into the now-empty food processor bowl, and pulse a few times to roughly chop up the pieces. Then, hold down the “On” button until the pulverized dates form a sticky ball that thwacks against the side of the work bowl.

Add the toasted coconut flakes and pulse until the coconut flakes are incorporated and still chunky.

Scrape the mixture into the bowl with the macadamia nuts, and thoroughly combine the ingredients.

The result should be a sticky, nutty mass.

Pinch off about a tablespoon of the mixture, and rub it between your palms to form a ball. Repeat until you have about 15 balls.

Roll the balls in the toasted shredded coconut.

Voilà! Sticky, sweet, and slightly salty balls! <giggle>

You can store your balls in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one week, but I bet they won’t last more than a couple of days!

Lemon Garlic Chicken Parchment Packets

Mon, 20 Jun 2016 22:14:20 -0700

If you’ve been following me on Snapchat (my username is michitam over there!), you’ve noticed that I’ve been on a parchment packet kick lately, throwing together different proteins, vegetables, and sauces in a tidy paper package, which I then toss into the oven. I don’t normally have a game plan when I assemble these pouches. Instead, I just figure out what’s in my fridge and pantry, and use whatever’s available. By dinnertime, everyone gets an individual bundle filled with saucy meat and veggies that can be served over cauliflower rice, roasted veggies, or white rice (yes, we eat white rice occasionally without any issues). These parchment packets are easy to make, and the kids enjoy opening up a new “gift” every night.

Wanna make like Santa Claus at suppertime?

Serves 4

Ingredients

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
4 summer squash, thinly sliced into coins
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
8 pitted green olives, cut in half
8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Equipment

Large bowl
Kitchen knife
Whisk
Benriner mandoline + cut-resistant glove (optional)
Cutting board
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Parchment paper
Pencil
Kitchen shears
Rimmed baking sheet
Meat thermometer

Method

Preheat the oven to 450°F with the rack in the middle.

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, oregano, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

Add the chicken and marinate for 10 minutes and up to 2 hours. (Don’t go too long because the acidic marinade will make the texture kinda funky.)

Grab 4 large sheets of parchment paper, and fold each piece in half. Draw half a heart on each piece of paper so that when you cut them out, you get full hearts.

Open up the parchment pieces and lay them flat. Tile ¼ of the summer squash and/or zucchini on one side of the crease in each heart. Add some shallot rings on top, and sprinkle the veggies with salt and pepper.

Place a chicken thigh on top of the vegetables…

…and spoon two tablespoons of marinade onto the chicken.

Top with ¼ of the olives and cherry tomatoes.

Repeat with all 3 packets.

Fold the other half of each parchment heart on top of the chicken and tightly crimp the edges together, starting at the top-center of the heart. Make sure each packet is tightly sealed by turning and crimping the edges. At the pointed bottom end of the hearts, twist the paper to seal well.

Place the packets in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken thighs register an internal cooking temperature of 165°F. (How do you know the temperature without opening the package? Stab the packet with a meat thermometer! By the way, if you’re cooking chicken breasts, the finished cooking temperature is 150°F—and you should start stabbing at the 15 minute mark.)

Use a pair of kitchen shears to cut open the packets as soon as they’re done cooking (but be careful—the escaping steam is hot!).

Ho, ho, ho! You did it, Kitchen Santa!

If you’re crazy for parchment packets, try these recipes, too:

Fiona’s Phenomenal Fish Packets

Sun, 05 Jun 2016 16:58:24 -0700

Sometimes, when you’ve got a good thing, you just have to show your gratitude for it. That’s how I feel about my chef sister Fiona’s zingy, herby green marinade—a recipe I originally shared here years ago. It’s a downright magical marinade that transforms chicken, pork, shrimp, and veggies into umami-packed meals in a jiffy.

I recently shared how to make Fiona’s phenomenal green marinade on Facebook Live, and I also demonstrated how to freeze extra marinade in these nifty silicone ice cube molds. That way, you can pop out a portioned cube of marinade anytime you’re making a desperation meal—something that happens in our house more often than I care to admit.

Recently, I’ve been using Fiona’s marinade to flavor fish and veggie parchment packets. In 30 minutes flat, this herby, healthy dinner’s on the table, and I’m looking like a kitchen hero.

Want to make some together?

Serves 4

Ingredients

Green Marinade

1 medium sweet onion, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
1¼ cups packed basil leaves
1 cup packed cilantro leaves and stems (substitute Italian parsley if you hate cilantro)
¼ cup packed mint leaves
¼ cup Red Boat fish sauce
3 peeled garlic cloves
zest from 1 lime
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of Aleppo pepper (or red pepper flakes)
2 tablespoons apple juice (or 1 teaspoon maple syrup if you’re not on a Whole30)

Fish Packets

2 medium carrots, peeled and ends trimmed
2 medium zucchini, ends trimmed
Kosher salt
4 (6-ounce) white fish fillets (skinless & boneless), about ¾-inch thick
¼ cup phenomenal green marinade (see above)
2 limes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)

Equipment

Method

If you don’t have any leftover green marinade in the freezer, blitz up a batch! Throw all the ingredients for the marinade in a high speed blender and purée until you get a smooth, bright-green marinade. Reserve ¼ cup for this recipe, and freeze the rest in a silicone ice cube tray. The future version of you will thank you later.

Preheat the oven to 450°F with the rack in the middle. Use a spiralizer, julienne peeler, or your fancy knife skills to cut the zucchini and carrots into thin spirals or matchsticks. Toss the vegetables in a bowl with a little salt—but not too much ’cause the marinade’s well-seasoned.

Grab 4 large sheets of parchment paper, and fold each piece in half. Draw half a heart on each piece of paper so that when you cut them out…

…you get full hearts.

(Okay, that one looks more like an upside-down butt. But you get the general idea.)

Open up the parchment pieces and lay them flat. Spread ¼ of the seasoned veggies on one side of the crease in each heart.

Place a fish fillet on top of the veggies.

Spread a tablespoon of the green sauce on the filet. Squeeze half a lime on the fish and drizzle with ½ tablespoon of olive oil. Repeat with all 3 packets.

Fold the other half of each parchment heart on top of the fish and tightly crimp the edges together, starting at the top-center of the heart.

Make sure each packet is tightly sealed by turning and crimping the edges. At the pointed bottom end of the hearts, twist the paper to seal well.

Place the packets on a rimmed baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 7-10 minutes or until the fish is cooked to your desired doneness. If your fillets are thicker, they’ll take longer to cook.

If you’re not sure about whether the fish is cooked through, stab the packet with a meat thermometer to know for certain. My kiddos like the fish to be flaky and opaque so I aim for a finished cooking temp of 135°F-140°F.

Use a pair of kitchen shears to cut open the packet as soon as they’re done cooking (but be careful—the escaping steam is hot!).

Toss a few of the cut cherry tomatoes and optional cilantro garnish on the cooked fish, and serve.

If you’re crazy for parchment fish packets, make my Fish en Papillote (in Parchment) with Citrus, Ginger, & Shiitake!

Speaking of Cherries...

Sun, 29 May 2016 09:42:13 -0700

If you’re looking for a Memorial Day grilled dish that will satisfy the pickiest carnivore in your house, this is it: Smashed Steak Skewers with Cherry Barbecue Sauce.

Psst! It’s Whole30-friendly, too!