Paleo Lasagna

I've made Lasagna with Zucchini noodles a couple times over the past couple years using a few different recipes.  I'm not sure where my very first recipe came from but it had bacon in the sauce which is an EXCELLENT idea... bacon makes everything better.  I was short on time for this dish though so my Lasagna was void of bacon.  If you would like to add bacon to yours, just add in the cooked and crumbled bacon right after you brown and drain the meat, before adding your sauce and spices.  The cooking time I've also played around with quite a bit over the years.  To be honest I usually just bake it until I can start to smell it through the house.  To be a bit more precise on the cooking time for you though, I actually borrowed it from the Lasagna recipe in "Make it Paleo" by Bill Staley & Hayley Mason.  It worked well but adjust your cooking time as you need to.  Bill and Hayley recommended a total of 35-45min, mine took 40min but my oven usually takes a smidge longer.  When in doubt, go with your nose- pull it out when your sense of smell says it's done!

Ingredients:
1 package fresh sliced mushrooms
2 lbs ground round
2 lbs Italian Sausage
6 really fat/big zucchini
1 medium sweet onion diced
1 tbsp coconut oil
2- 14.5 oz cans (no salt added) diced tomatoes
2- 12 oz cans tomato paste
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp marjoram
optional: 12 strips bacon, cooked crispy and crumbled

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325F. Heat up your coconut oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add your diced onion and cook until soft and the onions begin to become translucent. While your onion is cooking, mix your pork and beef together and then crumble with your hands and add it to the pot. Cover and break up the meat regularly with a spoon until cooked through.
While your meat cooks get your zucchini ready. Wash and cut the zucchini using a sharp knife, food processor, or progresso slicer.  If you don't have a progresso slicer to slice the zucchini into long, even, "lasagna-ish" strips no worries- just cut them hamburger slice style and as evenly as possible.  You want them about 1/4" thick.
Now, back to the meat- once it's cooked through drain it and return the pan to the stove (if you're adding bacon, add your cooked and crumbled bacon now and let it cook in with the meat for just a few minutes before adding your sauce and spices). Add your tomatoes, tomato paste, and mushrooms to the pan, followed by all your spices. Stir well, bring to a simer and allow to cook for about 5 min so that all the flavors can meld together- remove from heat.
Lets assemble our lasagna: using a 11x16 glass baking dish, ladle out enough sauce just to cover the bottom and then start your first row of lasagna noodles. Lay them out evenly, covering the entire bottom and then repeat- sauce then noodles for about 4 layers (I had to press down on my zucchini noodles to make it all fit)! Top with the remaining sauce and cover the whole pan with aluminum foil. Bake at 325 for about 15 min (20 if your oven takes a little longer like mine) then remove the foil, bump the oven up to 350F, and bake an additional 20 min. Let cool for 10 minutes, cut and eat!

Dinner in 15min: Oven Broiled Garlic Dill Salmon Over Salad

Listen friends, quit making life hard on yourself! Just because it's pretty doesn't mean it took longer than 15 min to prepare.  This Salmon is delicious and was the perfect fast meal for a late night.  Keep in mind when cooking this though, Salmon is VERY easily overcooked.  Salmon can be cooked to preference but technically Salmon should still be a little pink at the center and plenty juicy! No worries though, if you read that and thought "ewww" bare with me and I'll tell you how to keep it juicy and get it cooked all the way through.  If you are only making salad for one that's ok, save the rest of your Salmon for breakfast/lunch/dinner, whatever you're feeling... or freeze it!  Now feel free to continue on...

Ingredients:

Garlic Dill Salmon
1.7lb Alaskan Salmon Fillet
2 tsp Dill Paste
2 tsp minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp sage
1-2 tsp smoked paprika
Black pepper to taste

For my Salad I used a couple cups of Spinach, couple grape tomatoes (halved), couple tbsp fresh pico de gallo, 1/3 red pepper sliced, tbsp of sliced almonds, and for dressing I just threw on a little balsamic vinegar.  Had I had my favorite ingredients on hand, and been that motivated, this is awesome with diced hard boiled egg, bacon, raw mushroom, and diced tomato.  Yet regardless, easy and fast was what I was looking for....tab-dah!

For the Salmon:  Turn the oven to broil and set your rack for the highest position (I would say mine is roughly 8" from the light.  Cover your baking sheet with Aluminum foil, add your Salmon, and throw on all your other ingredients (don't remove the skin it will keep the fish from sticking and it peals right off after cooking).  Now, really rub the spices into the Salmon fillet.  Throw it in the oven on broil for about 6-8 minutes until the top is crispy and a little blackened.  Once it's crisped to your liking pull it out and cut into the salmon, at the thickest point, to see how you feel about the pinkness of the fish.  If it is a REALLY thick fillet it may even be bordering on raw.  It's ok, deep breath.  Set the baking rack to the spot just below middle and turn your oven to 375F.  You should only have to let your salmon cook another up to another 5 min before it firms up.  Mine was a hefty fillet so I let it cook an additional 3 min.  Delicious and the whole meal is done in 15 min, including chopping!

Honey Apple Shredded Chicken

This post has been long overdue and deeply in need of being written.  You see the problem I had before writing this blog, and one of the reasons I started it, was because I would throw together this amazing recipe.... and then I would forget what the hell I put in said recipe.  This recipe is legitimately amazing and came into being like many a child: completely on accident.  I had grand intentions of making Juli Bauer's Ginger Apple Shredded Pork (but with chicken because chicken sounded good) but unfortunately Juli's site was down when I went to go make it... thus I was forced to make my own creation and Honey Apple Shredded Chicken was born.  I vamped it up off of what I could remember from Juli's recipe and then threw in what sounded good... tab-dah! Amazing!

Honey Apple Shredded Chicken
Ingredients:
6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (roughly 5 lbs)
1 large sweet onion sliced into rounds
1/4 low sodium chicken broth (don't have it on hand, sub a couple tbsp water)
2 apples cored and sliced (I use Golden Delicious but to each their own)
2 tbsp raw honey
1 tbsp cinnamon (make it a hefty tbsp if you love cinnamon like I do)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp chinese 5 spice (don't have it on hand, sub all spice)
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 bay leaves

Ready for easy.... Add your broth or your water, whichever you are using, to the bottom of the crockpot and top with your sliced onions.  Next add your chicken breast and then throw in your bay leaves and minced garlic.  Next throw in your diced apples and sprinkle all your spices over the apples. Last, but most importantly, drizzle your honey over the apples and spices.  Cook on low for roughly 8 hours (all crockpots are different) until your apples are soft and easily mash with a fork.  Take 2 forks and shred the chicken- it should literally fall right apart for you or it needs to cook longer.  Eat it up!!! It's excellent over mashed cauliflower or with a side of baked broccoli!

Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Stuffed Chicken Breast

Hello friends!  Before I get to this yummy delicious recipe I just wanted to add that hopefully I'll be able to contribute a lot more recipes now that I have a little more free time on my hands.

I just finished the 21 Day Sugar Detox as well, and while I ate a lot of sweet potatoes which I don't think I was technically supposed too, I had nice results.  My favorite result being that it helped me (big time) to kick the sugar cravings.  Actually, the one thing I constantly want is in fact sweet potatoes not fruit.  I try to eat the sweet potatoes in moderation and then use fruit as my desert now.

There's another challenge going on at my gym now.  It's so much fun to see all the new faces around the gym and see others getting such awesome results! I love the camaraderie of our crew! I love people breaking outside the bounds of what they're used to as well.  Many struggle at first, especially if they're not used to cooking, but they all amaze me with their progress once they get over the initial hump.  I know, I know I sound like a mother hen... I'll cut the hallmark card short and give you what you really want!  SO, SO pleased with how this recipe turned out:

Spinach and Red Pepper Stuffed Chicken Breast

6 large chicken breasts or 12 small chicken breasts

12 pieces of nitrate free bacon

4 cups of spinach (roughly)

1 jar of roasted red peppers in water (no sugar added)

smoked paprika

dried oregano

6 garlic cloves minced (about 6 teaspoons)

pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400F.  If you have large chicken breasts cut them in half length wise to thin them out.  Put your chicken breast in a ziplock bag and use a meat mallet to pound the breast out until it's nice and uniformly flat and about 1/4"ish thick.  If you're really cool, like me, and you don't have a meat mallet, then use the broad side of a hammer.  On one side of your chicken breast shake a light coating of oregano and smoked paprika, then flip it over and spoon on about 1/2 tsp of garlic- rub your spices in.  On top of the garlic add a tiny handful of spinach and 1 roasted red pepper.  Starting at the end you layed your red pepper, roll the chicken breast up into itself so that the pepper is at the center; nice and tight like a pumpkin roll.  Next secure your breast with a piece of bacon.  Repeat with all your breasts and throw them on a parchment paper or aluminum foil lined baking sheet.  Bake at 400F for roughly 35-45 min (everyones oven is different), until your bacon is a little brown and your chicken is no longer pink when you cut into it.  

After you are done make sure you wipe everything down with a clorox wipe including your spice jars. If you prefer you could also add a tablespoon of each spice to bowl, mix them together, and then use a spoon to shake a little on your chicken. 

"Better Than BWW" Hot Wings

Better than BWW 

Ingredients:
3/4c Franks Red hot
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/4c canned coconut milk
1/2c Olive oil (or melted coconut oil)
Family size pack (about 6lb) of boneless/skinless chicken thighs)
Mix up your sauce and poor half (save the other half for basting) of it in a large ziplock bag with your raw chicken- shake it up and let marinate a few hours or overnight. Turn your oven to broil and get out your broiling pan. Cover the top of the pan with aluminum foil then cut slits in it for the holes so the liquid can drip through. Throw your chicken on and spread it out, broil for roughly 8-10 min until its just a little crisp. Take it out flip it and broil the other side the same. Now take out your chicken and rebaste and put back in for 1-2 min until crispy and repeat with each side until its nicely layered, crispy and your sauce is gone.
De-lic-ous.