Cobb Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing
Cobb salad with a subtly sweet and creamy vinaigrette dressing.
I’ve been wanting to make a big ol’ cobb salad for a while now, but the cold, rainy and wintery weather held me back. But now, it’s been calling my name again since the weather has been in the 80s — or what I deem as salad weather. Honestly, I’ve been wanting to replicate a cobb salad since December, when Jesse and I were in Hawaii. I ordered a cobb salad during our last dinner on the island, and it was so delicious, even without any dressing. You can’t go wrong with that much tasty fat and protein on one platter!
I warn you, this salad does take quite a bit of time to prepare if you don’t have things ready beforehand. So, if you do choose to make it, try planning ahead, even if it’s just grilling an extra chicken breast at dinner one or two nights before. This will at least put you one step further in the process.
For the salad:
- 1 leftover grilled boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped
- 5 strips US Wellness Meats sugar-free grass-fed beef bacon, cooked and chopped
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 4 cups chopped romaine and kale
- 1-2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 avocado, chopped
Spread the chopped lettuce and kale out among two plates. Then, make a row of tomato, avocado, egg, chicken and bacon. If space is tight on your plate, combine the avocado and tomato together. Drizzle with vinaigrette just before serving (see recipe below).
For the vinaigrette:
- 2 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp champagne vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp raw honey
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- Pinch of cayenne
- Splash of full-fat coconut milk
Whisk all ingredients together. Taste and adjust flavor as needed. Drizzle over individual salads just before serving.
Yields: 2 entree-sized salads
Cobb salad, prior to drizzling vinaigrette on top.
Simple Supper Friday: Salmon with Parsley Pesto Cream Sauce
Salmon with parsley pesto cream sauce.
I’ve been making an effort to try and eat more fish lately because it normally doesn’t happen very often. I’m aiming for 1-2 times per week and so far, so good. Otherwise, aside from my daily 2 oz of Green Pasture’s fermented cod liver oil, my wild fatty fish consumption is few and far between. Reason being, it’s pretty expensive and I’m kinda hit or miss with it. It doesn’t always taste good to me and I really have to be in the mood for it, unless it’s Loki Fish Co. smoked salmon. I love that stuff and can eat it much more often. Again though, it’s still expensive.
I think fish is much more enjoyable when it has a sauce, nut crust or glaze (remember my honey-lime glazed salmon?), so naturally, I whipped up a sauce. There will be leftover sauce, so feel free to mix some into warm zucchini noodles. It’s delicious and creamy.
Anyway, have a great weekend! I know I will…ring shopping tomorrow!
For the salmon:
- 2 wild coho salmon fillets
- 1 Tbsp grass-fed butter, divided
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice, divided
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 9×9 pan with foil or parchment paper.
- Place fish fillets skin side down in the pan. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Then, dot half the butter on one fillet and half on the other. Then, squeeze 1 tsp lemon juice over each.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until fish is cooked through. Serve with parsley pesto cream sauce on top.
For the parsley pesto cream sauce:
- 1/2 cup curly parsley
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1 clove garlic
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- Dash of red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup raw cashews, preferably soaked
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Combine all ingredients in the food processor or a high-powered blender (I actually used my new Ninja Master Prep Pro System for this one!) and blend until smooth.
- Taste and adjust seasonings and olive oil quantity, if need be. Cream should be somewhere in the middle between thick and runny.
Guest Post: Pork with Creamy Chimichurri Sauce
I am very excited and grateful to have my first guest post today from the wonderful, Mary Catherine, over at Nourish Paleo Foods. She developed this tasty recipe to share with all of you, and drew some great comparisons between Portland and Denver (where she’s from). Please go check out her page when you get the chance. You’ll see that she has a lot to offer! Thank you again, Mary Catherine. I’m thrilled and honored to feature you!
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I first started reading Alisa’s blog (PaleoinPDX.com) for the delicious paleo recipes — and because she tells funny stories and seems to have endless energy, which I kind of hoped would rub off on me.
But I was also intrigued because she lived in Portland. If I ever leave Denver, it will be to move to Portland.
My sister Lauren lives in Portland and loves it so much she swears she will stay forever. Lauren and I would like to live closer to each other. Ideally, close enough we can swing by to borrow clothes or watch Glee together. Or maybe go to CrossFit followed by a long chat over coconut milk lattes. Our imaginary plans always take place in Portland.
I have been to Portland half a dozen times to visit. During my days there, I’ve noticed a few differences between the largest city in Oregon and my home town. Denver is a casual city. Jeans and some cute shoes will get you through most any social situation. But somehow Portland manages even more casual. It seems that jeans and Keens are appropriate for fine dining. My theory is that it’s hard to wear too many cute shoes because they just get ruined in the rain.
That brings me to another obvious difference — the climate. I know Portland folks like to talk about the perfect weather from June through September but that falls way short of the 300 days of sunshine we get on average each year in Denver.
The plus side of all the moisture is obvious every time I walk around Portland. It’s so pretty! The trees and bushes and yards are lush and green. My yard in Denver is xeriscaped with plants selected to require minimum moisture — but we still need to water them three times a week to keep them alive.
But overall I think there are more similarities than differences between the two cities. Residents of both cities like their bikes, their dogs and being active. Like Denver, Portland seems to have a good number of people who care about their health, the environment and the food they eat. In fact, Portland and Denver were two of the first cities to host paleo food trucks!
And this time of year in both Denver and Portland – and most of the rest of the country – it’s chilly outside. So here’s a recipe for an easy and flavorful recipe a dish that will warm up the house. The pork roast gradually cooks for hours, filling the house with heat and a wonderful scent.
Chimichurri sauce is an intensely flavorful sauce that is typically served with steak. I think it pairs well with pulled pork. The tang of the sauce plays off the fattiness of the meat for a treat you are sure to enjoy – no matter where you live.
Pork with Creamy Chimichurri Sauce
For pulled pork —
- Bone-in pork roast, about 2.5 pounds
- Coconut oil or beef tallow, 2 tablespoons
- Salt and pepper
For chimichurri sauce –
- Flat parsley, 1 bunch (about packed 2 cups chopped)
- Olive oil, 1 cup
- Garlic, 3 cloves
- Red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup
- Dried oregano, 1 teaspoon
- Crushed red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon
- Salt, 1 teaspoon
- Coconut milk, 1/2 cup
- Rub pork roast with fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then place roast in baking dish. Cover with tin foil and bake in oven at 300 degrees for 5 hours.
- Pull all leaves from the parsley. (Don’t worry if there’s a little stem in the pile.) In food processor (or using hand blender), blend together all ingredients for the sauce.
- When pork comes out of the oven, use two forks to pull it apart into chunks.
- Top meat with generous spoonfuls of chimichurri sauce and enjoy!
Mary Catherine started dabbling in paleo eating in 2007 and transitioned to following paleo principles more each year since then. She gets a kick out of putting together delicious paleo meals and sharing food with others through her blog, nourishpaleofoods.com. Mary Catherine lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, Matt, and her all-American junkyard dog, Tour. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Meat Lovers Pizza
Meat lovers pizza.
Usually, when I want pizza, I make meatza (see a couple recipes here and here). It’s a ground meat crust, topped with sauce and veggies, and baked like a pizza. It’s delicious and satisfying. But recently, when I stumbled upon Against All Grain’s Meat Lovers Pizza, I knew I had to try it.
Having a Vitamix makes the crust incredibly easy to make, but a food processor will work too. I varied my toppings, but I think it still somewhat suffices as meat lovers. An addition of bacon would have made it more accurate though. I guess I’ll just have to make it again, so I can put bacon on it.
Here’s how I followed the recipe. I didn’t change much with the crust, except I used Italian herb-infused olive oil instead of regular for extra flavor, and used dried herbs instead of fresh because that’s what I had. As I mentioned previously, I varied the toppings and also omitted the raw mozzarella cheese.
For the crust:
- 3/4 cup whole raw cashews (or cashew flour)
- 3 Tbsp whole raw almonds (or almond flour)
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (next time I will use 1/4 tsp. It was a little too salty.)
- Dash of garlic granules
- 2 large eggs, preferably pasture-raised
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2½ Tbsp Italian herb-infused extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 Tbsp cold water
- 1/2 Tbsp dried parsley
- 2 tsp dried basil
The crust, prior to baking.
The crust, post baking, with the sauce on top. Now, it’s ready for all the good stuff.
For the pizza:
- 1/2 cup marinara or pizza sauce (make sure it is not sweetened)
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
- 1/2 lb ground buffalo, browned
- 2 homemade turkey breakfast patties, cooked and diced into small pieces
- Tuscan herb-infused olive oil, for drizzling, optional
The pizza in its entirety, after baking.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a food processor, pulse the cashews and almonds until a fine flour has formed. Alternatively, you can use the grain attachment of a Vitamix if you have one, which is what I did.
- Dump the cashew/almond flour into a large bowl, and mix in the coconut flour, garlic granules, sea salt and baking soda by hand.
- Add the eggs, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and water, and mix well.
- Add the parsley and basil, and combine.
- Let the dough rest for 2 minutes to let the coconut flour absorb some of the liquid. Note, it is a fairly wet dough, so don’t be alarmed that it doesn’t come together into a dense ball.
- Turn the dough out onto a large sheet of parchment paper on the counter. Sprinkle a little almond flour on the top of the ball of dough, if desired (I didn’t use any), and then place another piece of parchment on top.
- Use your hands to flatten the ball into a disc, then lightly roll out the dough into a circle that is 1/4 inch thick.
- Remove the top piece of parchment and carefully by gently tugging from one corner. Slide the other piece with the crust onto a pizza pan. Note, if you can’t remove the parchment without taking half of the dough with it, just bake the crust with the top piece intact. You can remove it once the crust has baked and before you add the toppings.
- Bake the crust for 12 minutes, or until it has puffed up and is golden brown around the edges.
- Top with marinara sauce, ground buffalo, sausage and mushrooms and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
- Slice and drizzle a little extra olive oil on top, if desired.
I like a hearty slice.
Simple Supper Friday: Chicken Spaghetti Soup
Chicken spaghetti soup.
The night I made this soup, I asked Jesse what he wanted for dinner. He suggested spaghetti squash with meat sauce, but I told him I didn’t feel like spaghetti. We’d been having it for dinner quite a bit and I felt like I needed a break. What’s funny, is that the recipe I whipped up is basically a thinner and soupier spaghetti sauce with squash noodles mixed in. Hence the name, spaghetti soup. So, I ended up eating a variation of spaghetti anyway. I guess I must have wanted it unconsciously.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 Tbsp grass-fed ghee
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 large carrots, grated
- 1.5 cups frozen kale
- 2 cups no-sugar added marinara sauce (I used Monte Bene Spicy Marinara)
- 1 26.4 oz box Pomi chopped tomatoes (or a 28 oz can)
- 2-3 cups bone broth (or decent store bought broth/stock)
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- Red pepper flakes to taste, optional
- 1/2 large cooked spaghetti squash, scraped into strands with fork
- Italian herb-infused olive oil for drizzling, optional, but highly recommended
Directions:
- Melt the ghee in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion and ground chicken. Saute a few minutes, breaking up the ground chicken with a spatula. Then, add the celery and mushrooms and continue to cook, until the meat is fully browned.
- Add the marinara sauce, tomatoes, frozen kale, grated carrots, broth and seasonings, and mix well. Bring soup to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and let cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the cooked spaghetti squash strands and adjust seasonings if need be. Serve with Italian herb-infused olive oil drizzled on top, if desired.
Yields: 5-6 servings
