This recipe gives me a chance to clarify the goals of my blog. First and foremost, I simply want to show my friends, family & acquaintances how to eat Paleo/Primal/Grain-Free/Whole Foods.  What you see on the blog is what we are eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I tend to show the good stuff.  If something doesn’t turn out, I keep it to myself.  Every once in a while I get hit with a stroke of creativity and come up with something on my own. If my blog post has no links, it is an original.   Most of the time, I am inspired by something I find on a blog and I tweak it here and there and show off my finished product.  In that case, I will always provide the links to the original blogs.  Sometimes, like today, I find a recipe that I have heard is amazing and I follow it perfectly.  Hence, the need for you to click back to the source.  I will not likely ever write a cookbook, as I am not much of a recipe developer, but I love being a filter for good recipes and ideas for family, friends & followers!

I had been wanting to try a version of this soup for a while and our recent dip in temperatures made this just the day for a hot bowl of soup! This recipe for Sweet Potato Lime Soup comes from Paleo Diet Lifestyle.  I found a few more versions on other sites, but they seemed like straight copies of this recipe with very little variation.

I also followed this recipe pretty closely.  I forgot to pick up limes, so I just used lemon juice instead.  I did have lime leaves in the freezer that I had picked up at Global Foods a few weeks ago.  I knew that I had seen them listed in some recipes, but couldn’t remember which one.  This was it.  Here they are:

Lime Leaves

The only other slight modification was I seasoned it with some Florida Seasoned Pepper from Penzey’s.  It is a salt-free blend of “Tellicherry black pepper, lemon peel, orange peel, citric acid, garlic and onion.”  I thought the citrus elements would go nicely with the soup.  I also seasoned a couple of chicken breasts with it and grilled them in my “Spaceship” (aka Sharper Image Super Wave Oven).

I rarely have fresh herbs around the house, but I have dried cilantro from Penzey’s and I garnished our soup with that.  We really enjoyed this soup! Glad I made a big batch so we will have leftovers.  Next time I may try to cook the sweet potatoes in the chicken broth on low in the CrockPot.  I can just add the final few ingredients and blend.  I will let you know how that method works when I make it again!

This is a recipe I followed nearly to a “T” from The Frisky Lemon.  These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with coconut flour & contain NO EGGS.  This is pretty unusual for a coconut flour baking recipe.  Usually, it is very egg heavy.

I have stated many times that I prefer baked goods made from almond flour over coconut flour.  That still holds true, but I am avoiding eating nuts for a while.  I also accidentally purchased a 5 lb bag of coconut flour when I meant to get flakes, so I have a lot of flour to practice with.

Everybody in the family ate this and liked them, within reason.  I could tell the kids prefer the texture of almond flour over these, but they ate them up happily.  The hubby was more vocal about it, but he still ate his, too.  I thought they had a nice pumpkin taste and I preferred them much over any of the coconut flour goods I have made, with the exception of the chocolate cupcakes that I made from Elana’s Pantry.  I will make these again soon.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies 

The Frisky Lemon adapted these from Food Lover’s Primal Palate

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1  1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey)
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup butter (or coconut oil), melted
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2- 3/4 cup mini-chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life brand)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter (coconut oil), pumpkin, maple syrup/honey and vanilla until well combined
3. In a small bowl, mix the coconut flour, baking soda, salt and spices
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, making sure to mix with a hand mixer or vigorously with a spoon to avoid clumps
5. Add your chocolate chips
6. Scoop on a parchment lined baking sheet (I used my smallest scoop and ended up with about 18 cookies)
7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes
8. Allow to cook on a wire rack.

A pin on Pinterest caught my eye the other day for Cashew Chicken in the CrockPot. It was from the site, The Preppy Paleo.  Cute website, by the way.  You know what I love about the CrockPot? Throwing a bunch of stuff in and then walking away.  Then, finding out hours later that what you threw in there has cooked up into a big delicious mess of flavor.

Turned out, this dish included the steps of breading and browning the chicken before you threw it in the CrockPot.  Gasp.  Honestly, why not just finish cooking it then and be done with it? Too many dishes and too many steps.  So, I simplified this dish a bit from its original version and was very happy with how it turned out.  If you have lived in or near Springfield, MO for any period of time, you know that there is no replicating Springfield Style Cashew Chicken.  This recipe is good, but it isn’t that! I am sure that with some planning, some time and some experimentation you could bread some chicken and thicken up a nice brown gravy.  Let me know what you come up with!

Crockpot Cashew Chicken

I am not recreating the wheel here, folks.  I needed to make some cupcakes for a friend’s birthday and I was kind of tired of chocolate.  I decided to try one of the cupcake recipes from Elana’s Pantry, yet again.  I picked one that was on her website so I could share the goodness if it turned out.  And they did.  Delicious.  I added a frosting recipe from Paleo Parents that I have used before.  If you are in the mood for a nice, frosted cupcake, this is a good method. (Probably worth noting that this should only be every great once in a while.  Birthdays count.)

Here are the direct links to the yummyness that is pictured above:

Carrot Cupcakes

http://www.elanaspantry.com/carrot-cake-cupcakes/

I just wanted to note that I substitute maple syrup or honey for the agave nectar that is listed.  It always turns out fine. I also substitute freely other types of oil for the grapeseed oil.  Coconut oil, olive oil, palm shortening are all good choices.

Cinnamon Ginger Frosting

http://paleoparents.com/2011/cinnamon-ginger-frosting/

The palm shortening that is called for in this recipe is a product from Tropical Traditions.  It is a lot like shortening that you are familiar with.  http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/organic_palm_shortening.htm  Mixed with a bit of “sugar” and then whipped, it creates something very similar to frosting.  Not the same, but similar.  Paleo frosting doesn’t really exist, you know. But this is pretty good.

Little tip: If you want to avoid the situation where your husband leverages the time you spend on Pinterest against you, make sure to do some great stuff around the house and let him know you “found it on Pinterest.” Problem solved.  Like this dinner. 

These Honey Ginger Chicken Bites (http://www.americanfamily.com/recipes/honey-ginger-chicken-bites/39823) looked pretty good to me and I thawed out a bunch of boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  After I really got to looking at the recipe, though, it seemed really sweet.  Then I got a bit busy (and lazy), decided not to cut them up into bites. Then Matt volunteered to grill.  So, moral of the story, don’t be afraid to play with a recipe, unless it is baking.  Then you should follow it. 

I chose to make a lot of marinade and reserved about 1/4 of it to cook the veggies in.  I just added some chicken broth to it, threw the broccoli and mushrooms in and simmered until the veggies were tender.  Then I poured the sauce and veggies over the chicken.  Lazy was the theme of the night, so I didn’t bother thickening the sauce at all, but if you wanted a more sauce-like than broth-like consistancy, you could use some arrowroot powder. 

Ginger Honey Chicken

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 2/3 cup honey
• 4 Tblsp minced peeled fresh ginger
• 4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 4 Tbsp coconut aminos/gf soy sauce
• 4 tsp dark sesame oil
• 2 Tblsp crushed garlic
• 1 cup chicken broth

1. Mix honey, ginger, vinegar, coconut aminos, sesame oil and garlic in a large bowl.  Reserve about 1/4 of mixture in a small container. 

2. Add chicken and mix well.  Let marinate for a few hours to overnight. 

3. Grill chicken or bake in the oven (Try 425 degrees for 20 minutes.)

4. Meanwhile, pour reserved marinade into a wide pan with high sides and add about 1 cup of chicken broth.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer.  Add your choice of veggies, we used broccoli and mushrooms.  Simmer until done. 

5. Pour veggies and sauce over chicken.  Serve.

Ginger chicken with carrots and sweet potatoes.  This is kind of a meal of ultimate laziness.  I used my THRIVE sweet potatoes and diced carrots. Those are also THRIVE blueberries on the plate.  Delicious!

I hesitate to call this a “recipe.” Let’s use this as a great example of “you can throw anything into a crockpot with chicken and it turns out just fine.”  I used chicken legs because you can get really meaty organic ones for pretty cheap. I like organic chicken, I think it tastes better than regular chicken. I buy it when I can find it.

We will call this a “guide” not a recipe:
Spray the crockpot or rub with coconut oil/butter so it doesn’t stick and is easy to clean up later.
Add 10 chicken legs (2 packages)
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, a little cinnamon and a little ground ginger.
Add diced sweet potatoes and diced carrots.
(Any other time, I would add onions and garlic to this)
Add some sliced fresh ginger, if you have it.
Add 1 cup of water or chicken stock. Some orange juice would be good with this, too.
Cook on low for 6 hours.

I think this would be great with some broccoli or other green vegetables.