I threw this together to take to a party with the odds and ends in my fridge. It turned out wonderfully & will be a staple this summer for the grilling season. All your veggies, carbs & healthy fats in one place. I do love anything Greek! I am always a fan of Penzey’s, but I am sure that you can substitute your own Greek seasoning. Enjoy!
For those of you that are new to this and get confused by the lingo, with the feta, this recipe would be considered Primal, without = Paleo. Eat what makes you look, feel and perform best! We are all unique snowflakes.
Directions:
If you follow my Instagram account, you may have noticed that sweet potato fries are one of our new favorite foods. Mostly because my picky eater has grown to love my new method for making them. She requests them twice a week! I am so thrilled to have another healthy food that she looks forward to!
Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries
The bad news is, I can’t really give you the recipe.
To clarify, I have been using the recipe from Paleo Indulgences, but have altered it a bit to make it easier! She includes an extra step in the prep of the sweet potatoes that is quite genius. It really makes a difference in the final texture of the sweet potato fries. This recipe is not published on her website/blog & I searched through lots of Paleo blogs to see if someone else was doing a similar thing. No such luck. I am not really into giving away other people’s recipes or infringing on copyright, so I will just say buy the book, flip through it at the bookstore or check it out from your library. You will not be sorry. My review of Paleo Indulgences can be found here.
My little adaptation of the recipe includes tossing the prepped fries in coconut oil, crushed garlic & Penzey’s Tsardust Memories Seasoning (salt, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg & marjoram) before baking.
There are TONS of recipes for Sweet Potato fries on various blogs & in some of the published Paleo cookbooks. I have tried a few of them and they have all turned out well. These are just the ones that have turned out GREAT!
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!
Once a week, or sometimes every other week, I break down and unload my refrigerator and take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly. I try to do it on days like today, when I am headed out of town. We eat up leftovers that are still edible and dice up any veggies that didn’t get used and stick them in the freezer for later. All the jars and containers that had one last serving in them get washed or recycled. A grocery list gets made and we have a pretty clean slate to start the next week.
With Facebook changing its policies in regards to pages, I am not for sure what percentage of my posts are actually seen by my PFP followers. My blog is primarily recipes, but my FB page does sometimes share interesting research and articles that I think could be helpful. I also could use a place to put those Paleo thoughts and Instagram images that aren’t really worthy of an individual post.
These posts may end up being a jumbled up mess, but bear with me. Let me know what you think!
I ran across this article on Twitter from Grist and I thought it had some really important points for people to think about:
I roasted some Brussels sprouts and diced sweet potatoes to serve along with Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs for dinner one night this week. I can’t tell you how much my husband and son LOVED THIS DISH! I love my CrockPot, but you know you can do a whole dinner on a couple of cookie sheets in the oven and use the cooking time to finish homework with the kids, clean or do laundry. It is pretty easy prep, clean-up and time efficient, too! Check out this recipe from Balanced Bites for some guidance on the bacon wrapped chicken. I used a Krakow nights Polish Style Seasoning from Penzey’s instead of her smoky seasoning.
This is my attempt at Lemongrass Chicken from Nom Nom Paleo. I cooked mine in a baking dish instead of the CrockPot. It was awesome. Lemongrass isn’t one of our usual ingredients, but I found some already chopped in the frozen section of our International Food Market and it seemed too easy. My little boy LOVED it! It was a nice change of pace for us.
Have I mentioned how much I love to eat at HotPot Smoothie Shop? This is my takeout ($10) , enough for 2 meals! Bulgogi Beef with carrots, spinach, broccoli, mushrooms over roasted sweet potatoes in a Thai Green Curry Sauce. They have been so welcoming of my Paleo ways and have made it easy to adapt their dishes. So thankful for this addition to our neighborhood!
This is a quick meal that I put together using what was in the fridge. We all devoured it (except for my picky eater, of course)! Elliot even woke up one morning and asked for the leftovers for breakfast. Pork, Mushrooms and Kale in an Acorn Squash. I cooked the acorn squash in the microwave (poke some holes in it first). 3 minutes at a time until I was sure it was done. Slice in half. Scoop out seeds. Scoop out flesh and leave in the “bowl” so it easily mixes with other ingredients later. Saute pork loin slices in coconut oil and seasonings. (I used Penzey’s Tsardust Memories.) Add kale and mushrooms and a couple splashes of apple cider. Serve in the acorn squash bowls. Elliot is already asking about when we can eat out of a squash again!
Final note: Caramel Vodka + apple cider + club soda is delicious. My Paleo drink of the week. Happy Fall!
Pictured above: Paleo Pork Cutlets in Dijon Cream Sauce served over Sweet Potato Noodles
I used to make something much like this, before Paleo. The only real swap I had to make was canned coconut milk for heavy cream. This is a really easy, very tasty and rich dish that only took a few minutes to make.
Sweet Potato Noodles: Not an original idea. 
Sometimes I use my ceramic peeler to take the skin off of my sweet potatoes. I had thought about just peeling the entire sweet potato into noodles, I just hadn’t done it yet. Then the other day I stumbled upon this post from The Civilized Caveman. He beat me to it! His recipe for Sweet Potato Pasta sounds yummy. Sweet Potato noodles sauteed with sage, cinnamon & grass fed butter. I think that sounds like an excellent side dish for many a meal. He shares in the post that he got the idea from Ashley Tudor’s book, Sweet Potato Power. I haven’t read it yet, but I think I might need to check it out. I can always use more ideas for how to cook sweet potatoes, as they are one of the few sources of carbs in my diet.
I simply sauteed my sweet potato noodles in some coconut oil till they were tender, but not losing their shape. Then I set them aside in a bowl and covered them to keep warm. I didn’t season them at all because I wanted the leftovers to be versatile enough to eat for breakfast or lunch the next day. This is going to be one of my new favorite ways to eat sweet potatoes. All I needed was my handy $10 ceramic peeler!
Variations:
I thought I already had this “not-really-a-recipe” posted on my blog, but I can’t seem to find it, so here it is. I am calling this dish “Weekly Sweet Potato Hash” because we eat it at least once a week. Usually the night that we are scrambling around in a hurry. I can have this ready in 20 minutes or so and almost always have the ingredients in the house.
Adapt this any way you want with whatever veggies you have in the fridge. You can also take the spices a lot of different ways. I really enjoy using Penzey’s Breakfast Sausage Seasoning or Tsardust Memories Seasoning for my hash. A little garlic, sage and paprika also gives it a nice flavor. Swap out the veggies, use ground sausage or pork instead of the links, or use bacon.
I like to cook my eggs separately and put them over hash on individual plates. I usually have leftover hash, so I can pack it away in the fridge egg-free!
If you are following a Paleo/Primal lifestyle with no grains and no sugars, squash and sweet potatoes are going to quickly become a favorite source of dense, complex carbohydrates. If you have heard that Paleo/Primal is a “low carb” approach, that isn’t entirely true. By nature of no grains and no sugar, you eliminate huge sources of high carbohydrate, processed foods. However, there are no “limits” to the amount of fruit, veggies & complex carbs, such as sweet potato, that you can consume. This is a part of the lifestyle that you have to figure out what makes you “Look, Feel & Perform” the best. Your insulin sensitivity, weight loss/gain/maintenance goals, gender & activity level will play a role in how many carbohydrates you take in at any give time. You have to eXperiment and see what works for you! (Stay tuned for “X is for eXperiment: n=1″)
At our house sweet potatoes, zucchini, yellow summer squash, spaghetti squash, pumpkin and butternut squash make pretty frequent appearances on our plate. Summer & Fall will bring some new and interesting varieties of squash to the Farmer’s Market. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things!
The biggest obstacle to getting the squash and sweet potatoes on your plate is the amount of time it takes to prepare them. The time is mostly hands off, but you have to think ahead and be prepared. I have recently found you can throw whole squashes & sweet potatoes in the Crockpot (washed) and set it on low for 6-8 hours. They are perfectly cooked and absolutely no work. No worries about cutting off your hand!
Sweet Potatoes can be cut up ahead of time, just put in a container and pour water over them. The smaller you cut it, the faster it will cook. Drain and use when you are ready!
Don’t be afraid to throw diced sweet potato into a a bowl of chicken soup or beef stew. They are also a perfect companion to an egg/bacon or sausage/veggie scramble. Dice into small cubes, saute in coconut oil/butter/bacon grease till soft, put off to the side in a bowl. Add to your finished eggs. This is a meal we probably eat once a week.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes or Sweet Potato Puree are a staple. Spice it up with different spice combinations so it doesn’t get boring. One of my favorites is adding a teaspoon or so of the adobo sauce that is in a can of chipotle peppers. Makes them warm and spicy, but not overpowering. Of course, butter and cinnamon are always a winner when it comes to sweet potatoes.
One of my favorite spices to use with sweet potatoes is Tsardust Memories from Penzeys Spices. ( Hand-mixed from: salt, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, marjoram. ) The garlic & cinnamon combo is a winner!
This is an excellent way to satisfy any cravings you have for pasta. Take the same elements you love in your favorite pasta dish and toss them with some spaghetti squash noodles. They are also a wonderful side dish to any meat by tossing with some olive oil/butter and sprinkling with some Parmesan cheese (if you can do a little aged dairy.)
Butternut Squash has a really earthy flavor that I think pairs well with bacon! And so does everybody else. :) Also, sometimes you can get lucky and find butternut squash already peeled and cubed at the grocery store. This takes a lot of work out of things. However, baking or putting it in the CrockPot a head of time will eliminate most of the drudgery behind peeling and shopping these things. My collection and experimentation with butternut squash is embarrassingly low. The truth is, we like the soup from Balanced Bites so much, that I stick with it. It is one of my hubby’s favorite dishes, and a great holiday dish. I served it at Christmas last year.
An excellent side dish is cubed butternut squash sauteed in bacon grease and then add crumbled bacon, onions & a few handfuls of fresh spinach to wilt at the end. It is delicious and filling! Don’t be afraid to throw some diced butternut squash into soups and stews, it will lend a buttery, rich flavor to the dish. It pair well with chicken and pork.
Butternut Squash Soup from Balanced Bites
One of my favorite ways to enjoy acorn squash is simply to cook it and top with coconut butter/butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. The shape of acorn squash, make them a perfect vessel for filling with meat, and many recipes you find will lead you that direction. I topped an acorn squash with leftover Mexican Raisin Chicken and an avocado and it was a pretty delicious little dish. I need to add more acorn squash recipes to my blog! As I experiment this fall, I will come back and add some winning recipes! If you have any good ones, feel free to send them my way!
I love all things pumpkin! I stock up on canned pumpkin during the holidays so that I have it all year long. Canned pumpkin is one of the few “clean” canned foods available, so I am not going to lie: I always use canned. You will never find me roasting a whole one, unless we are making seeds for the kids. I take advantage of all the shortcuts I can get, and canned pumpkin is one of the few!
Following a Paleo diet means making every bite count. It means choosing foods that will improve your health, not harm it. It is about seeking out foods that are full of protein, fats, vitamins & minerals.
Real, whole, unprocessed foods = meat, fish, fruits & vegetables. Simple!
Common questions I get asked:
I always enjoy Robb Wolf’s direct answers, including the ones found in “Kids, Paleo and Nutrient Density.”
This is another aggressive post by Richard Nikoley from Free The Animal comparing 2,200 calories a day of a Standard American Diet to 2,200 calories a day of a Paleo Diet. (There is a fair amount of adult language in his blog, but he is one smart guy!)
I thought the best way to approach this topic would be for me to list some of the Most Nutrient Dense foods that are a regular part of my Paleo diet. I compiled my list based on all the reading and research I have done personally, then I double checked with Diane Sanfilippo and Chris Kresser to see how my lists stacked up against theirs.
In case you feel like I have overlooked fruits and vegetables with these lists, I consider fruits and vegetables to be very nutrient dense foods! So eat as many as you can handle, assuming you don’t have any digestive distress or insulin issues. No one gets sick or overweight eating too many fruits and vegetables. Add them to your quality sources of protein and fat.
Sweet Potato Nutrition Facts (for one medium size sweet potato)
Salmon is one of our favorite weeknight dinners and packs a nutritional punch! This shouldn’t be a big surprise, nearly every health organization recommends adding more fish to your diet, especially salmon. It is one of the best sources of omega 3 fatty acids which in simple terms, make our blood less sticky. This is a good thing. It is also really good for your brain and skin. Although salmon is one of the fish that most people seem to enjoy and we have decent access to, don’t forget the other less popular fatty fish: mackeral, herring & sardines. The latter are often cheaper and can be found in canned and jarred form. Be brave & experiment. I have had a few dishes that I really enjoyed (deviled eggs with sardines), that I would never have guess I would have liked.
Here is a guide to the types of salmon available and which ones you should buy (always wild, never farmed).
I covered these in C is for Coconut. Check out that post for lots of information and recipe links!
Egg yolks are a nutritional powerhouse. Nearly breaks my heart to think about people eating egg white omelets in efforts to “get healthy.” Eggs are one of our most misunderstood whole foods. My post E is for Eggs will cover the specifics on why this food is so nutritious and why they have received a bad rap over the years from the medical & nutrition industry. Most importantly, it will feature lots of recipes to enjoy these little bundles of goodness. So, start locating yourself a source of some farm fresh eggs and get ready!
Do you remember your grandparents talking about eating liver and onions? Apparently, they were on to something that was lost on the last couple of generations. Organ meats are REALLY good for you. I mean REALLY, REALLY good. Sigh.
I am not going to lie. I haven’t started cooking with organ meats on a regular basis. It is one of those things that I know I SHOULD do, I just haven’t added it to my routine. Does it freak me out a bit? Yes. I have 2 packages of beef liver in my freezer that are calling my name. I have tried liver, heart and even tongue on any occasion that someone brings it to a potluck and I have liked it each time. I really don’t know what is holding me back, other than a mental block. After reading some of the resources that I am going to list below, I am motivated to try it just for the potential “energy boost” that the concentrated B vitamins provide.
Don’t take my word for it. Read some of these articles. Be brave. Source some liver and other organ meats from a butcher. Get cooking. Tell me how it goes. I will, if you will!
Liver: nature’s most potent superfood by Chris Kresser
The Benefits of Liver and Cod Liver Oil and Dessicated Liver by Chris Masterjohn
I do know that if you want to experiment with cooking with liver for the first time, and if you are trying to please picky eaters, you should mix it with other more palatable meats. Bacon, ground beef and sausage come to mind. Incorporate it into meatballs, meatloaf or burgers. Also, “breading” chicken livers (with almond or coconut flour) might be a good way to get started.
This is another one of those areas where you Grandma knew what she was doing. Just a couple of generation ago, you couldn’t buy broth or stock in a can to add to your soups, chilis, stews, gravys and sauces. You had to make it yourself by roasting bones and simmering them in a pot for hours. Doing so releases minerals and collagen into the water from the bones that you can’t really get elsewhere. This is another one of those processes that really isn’t that tough, but you have to learn to incorporate it into your schedule. (If you aren’t interested in making it, you can purchase it from U.S Wellness Meats here, but it is MUCH CHEAPER to make it at home!)
Bone broth is very healing for the stomach and the skin. I can testify that my skin looks its best when I have been drinking bone broth on a regular basis. Either enjoy it as a soup or pour a cup full and sip it like tea. There isn’t any other place that you can get these minerals. Start saving up your leftover chicken bones and stick them in the freezer till you have enough to make a pot of stock!
Hmmm….Cod Liver Oil. Grandma. Are you sensing a theme here? Yep. She was on to something.
Everyone in the world of Paleo nutrition is passionate about the use of Cod Liver Oil/Fermented Butter Oil Blend. It sounds crazy, but there is no other product that comes close. I use it myself, but have only had it for a short time, so I cannot fully testify to the benefits. A huge source of Omega-6 fatty acids, it is healing for the digestive system and the skin. Let’s be frank here, it is Fermented Butter Oil, mixed with fish oils. It isn’t very palatable. You can buy it in capsules, but it is cheaper to buy it as a gel. I take the Cinnamon Tingle and I can get it down just find.
Superfood: Cod Liver Oil – Butter Oil Blend by Liz Wolfe at CaveGirlEats
Buy from Green Pastures. You can get a discount from ordering larger quantities.
Fermented foods are nature’s probiotics. They provide your gut with little microorganisms that keep your digestive system happy. It might be hard to believe, but over sugared yogurt products are not the best place to find these little guys. I personally love the taste of fermented foods, so it is not hard for me to add a big spoon full of sauerkraut to a meal or drink some kombucha. As with most things Paleo, there is a difference between sauerkraut in a can and the kind that is processed the best way to maximize the health benefits. You might need to hit Whole Foods or a local health foods store, they should be in the refrigerated section. Otherwise, it is very easy to make some of your own. Just takes a little prep time and then a few weeks to sit around in the dark. Yep, you read that right. It sits out at room temp for the fermentation process, then gets stuck in the fridge. Don’t be afraid! Give it a try. These foods can really get your digestive system on the right track.
If you are going to do dairy, which means that you or your family members DO NOT have sensitivities to it, you should be trying to find Grass-Fed. I DO recommend that you do a 30 day dairy free experiment to see if there are issues with dairy. Lots of people have various reactions to dairy. Dairy is a main culprit in bloating and other digestive distress; skin issues such as acne, eczema, psoriasis; arthritis and other immune system diseases; sinus and respiratory problems. Even if you think you “don’t have a problem” give it a month and see what happens. Maybe a lingering cough will clear up, your allergies might get better, an achy knee feels good or a pesky patch of dry skin on your arm goes away. Paleo and Primal message boards are FULL of this anecdotal evidence.
My son had a dairy allergy as a baby, even while being on a breast milk only diet, if I consumed diary he had an ear infection. After a lot of trips to the doctor I figured it out myself and he was rarely sick again. No more ear infections. Now he can have 3 or 4 servings of dairy a week, but we don’t over do it. I find that my skin is clearer the less dairy I consume. I splurge on feta cheese, goat cheese and the occasional gluten free pizza.
So, the good news is: If dairy doesn’t bother you, WHOLE MILK and BUTTER are GOOD FOR YOU! I know, it seems almost dirty, right? It goes against everything you have ever heard about health and nutrition, in the last 30 years anyways. It is true. They are super foods. Read what Mark Sisson at Mark’s Daily Apple has to say in “Is all Butter Created Equal?” Or take a look at “Healthy Milk: What to Buy” from Food Renegade.
If you are going to enjoy dairy, consider purchasing grass fed dairy products and adding this “super food” to your diet. It is worth the cost, but you might have to consume less. Take a drink of a glass of grass-fed whole milk or try a pat of grass-fed butter. Just looking at the natural color of grass-fed butter will likely change your mind.
I don’t think you need me to give you recipes to tell you how to enjoy milk and butter. :)
I hope that this post has given you some ideas on how to incorporate nutrient dense Paleo and Primal foods in your diet. Explore some of the links and other blogs. It was not meant to overwhelm you, but if you are new to the Paleo scene, it may very well have. I joke all the time that there are “levels of Paleo!” You might not be ready to jump into eating liver and fermenting your own sauerkraut. That is exactly why I divided this list into two categories. Stick with the easy stuff (like I did for the first year) and then start exploring the other avenues.
Let me know if you have any questions or if you think I have missed something. If you have recipes for liver or fermented foods that are sure-fire, please let me know. I would love to add them to this resource. I promise to experiment with liver and get back to you!
Thank you for reading & following.
No amazing unique recipe creation today, but I put together a pretty great dinner and wanted to share the links with you.
The roast recipe came from Fast Paleo. It is very easy with only a handful of ingredients. I used leftover morning coffee, dehydrated onions & Trader Joe’s crushed garlic. I pretty much followed this recipe to a “T.” A lot of CrockPot meat recipes will advise you to brown the outside in a pan with oil first, to get a bit of sear on the outside. I agree that this step adds a nice touch, but I am generally trying to get things done as simply as possible, with few dishes to wash later. I love that this recipe didn’t require it, and it turned out juicy and delicious.
I just tossed the broccoli with a little coconut oil, salt & pepper and then roasted it as I finished up the potatoes.
Now, for the Smashed Spiced Sweet Potatoes. I pinned these little guys from Pinterest months ago, and just finally got around to making them. We really enjoyed them, but I would do a few things differently next time. I tried to see if I could get away without peeling them. They would have been better if I had followed directions. Basically, peel sweet potatoes and slice into thick even “coins.” Bake till they get kind of soft. Take a small drinking glass or jar and smash them. Then brush with coconut oil, sprinkle with spices. A little bit of sugar is going to help them caramelize and get a bit crispy. I didn’t use any sugar, and I enjoyed the texture. I sprinkled mine with cumin, cinnamon, salt, paprika and a little cocoa powder. The original blog post goes a bit spicy-er! Try it any way! They remind me a lot of these Sweet Potato Chews that I made a few months ago from Whole 9. Those tasted just like a toasted marshmallow.
I love the Internet. Faster than cookbooks when you are looking for something to do with chicken….again! I found this super easy recipe for Maple Mustard Chicken from Health-Bent, which is a great recipe site. Thank you Health-Bent, your recipes are fool-proof!
I quickly threw the mustard (I used Trader Joe’s Whole Grain Dijon), maple syrup and dried rosemary into a big bowl, mixed, then threw about 2 lbs or 10 chicken thighs in. I tossed to coat well, then baked on a baking sheet at 375 degrees for about 1/2 an hour. The skin of the chicken got nice and crispy, but the chicken stayed moist. The mustard seeds got kind of crunchy which added a nice touch.
Maple Mustard Chicken
1. Mix mustard, syrup & rosemary in a large bowl.
2. Toss chicken to coat.
3. Bake on baking sheet for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
I was able to do all the chopping and cooking of the hash while the chicken baked in the oven. No real method to my madness, here. Just using up the veggies that I had in the fridge and seasonings/spices in the pantry.
Balsamic Brussels Sprouts Hash
1. Saute sweet potato and Brussels sprouts in coconut oil, till nearly as tender as you would like.
2. Add vinegar, dried cherries, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Serve.
