All posts tagged: paleo recipes

Chili-Lime Shrimp Tacos + Mango Salsa

I’m starting to panic, because mango season is coming to a close. Therefore, I am virtually living on mangoes so I can cherish each and every last second with one of my favorite foods. If someone asked me if I wanted to eat ice cream or a mango, I would say, “Um, duh! A mango!” and then I’d probably eat both, because I have a bit of a problem with gluttony. Since I’m on basically an Atkins diet, only the meat is replaced with mangoes, it goes without saying that I’ve been finding all kinds of ways to sneak them into my weekly menu. One way you can never go wrong is in a freakishly delicious salsa. I do eat vegetarian/vegan oh, say 97% of the time, but this week Tex-Mex Tuesday did feature some goddamn deliciously seasoned chili-lime shrimp for my husband and guests; I piled greens and salsa on mine and chowed down! The spice rub on the shrimp played so well with the sweet mango, that it was basically an Olympic dream …

Easy Southwestern Baked Eggs

Sunday, i.e., e.g., aka The Day Before Dreaded Monday (or more appropriately in my world known as Sunday Funday), is the giver of many wonderful things. Sunday kinda makes all the other days of the week look just a bit shoddy; it’s the show girl day of the week, all frills and fun! Not only do I heart Sundays, but I also love sleep, because it’s like a time machine to breakfast. And I enjoy brunch even more, since it’s basically breakfast for lazy people who can’t get out of bed on time. It should be no surprise, therefore, that I practically live for Sunday Brunch. Please tell me I’m not the only weekend hedonist out there! Since I follow the religion of yoga + brunch on Sundays, I feel it’s my sacred duty to uphold this tradition each and every week. We either go out to bottomless boozy brunch (thank you D.C. for you’re endless list of restaurants who participate in this debauchery) or have friends over. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: …

Paleo Banana Pancakes

Can’t you see that it’s just raining? Ain’t no need to go outside… Maybe we can sleep in Make you banana pancakes Pretend like it’s the weekend now… ~Jack Johnson Jack Johnson might just be the muse of this recipe, because I’m pretty sure this song is the unofficial soundtrack to banana pancake making expeditions everywhere. Yes, yes I did listen to it while I was whipping these magical treats breakfast together. Thank you Spotify for letting me DJ up my own life. Wika wika wah! (Can you believe Samuel married me? I.am.such.a.nerd) I love, love, L-O-V-E banana pancakes. What I don’t love is gluten or committing carbocide in the morning (scratch that, I love it too much, but am trying to practice healthy habits these days…sigh), which a typical stack of pancakes usually involves both. Fortunately, with this suuuuuuuper easy recipe, we can have our cakes and eat them too—pancakes, that is. I searched through several recipes, tried out quite a few, and experimented with my own variations till I found a version that …

Meatless Meatballs + Veggies Medley

All hail vegetables, we just can’t get enough! Recently, I took a beef meatball recipe by Gordon Ramsay and converted it to zucchini meatballs that turned out to be so freakishly delicious, my husband requested them several nights in a row. Here’s the important thing about that little fact: My husband might not have a Texas accent, but he’s a Texan through and through, and he’s been born and breed to be all things Texas. That means “Beef: it’s what’s for dinner” was probably a motto he was raised to revere. He’s the nicest food snob you’ll ever meet. Neither of us think meat substitutes ever really taste like good substitutes or are a decent replacement. And then came zucchini meatballs… It was like a light from heaven shone down on my plate. And now that we have that little recipe preface out of the way, I can tell you about these Super Yum Zucchini Meatballs. The texture and taste actually is not only an awesome replacement for meatballs, but I personally thought it was even …

The Great, Mind-Numbing Diet Dilemma: What to Eat

Vegan. Vegetarian. Paleo. Oh my… There are endless diets out there that swear up, down, and sideways to be the absolute best for your body. They usually sound thoroughly convincing too, until you read up on another diet that abosolutely, positively contradicts everything the first diet claims you should follow. This leaves the great, mind-numbing diet dilemma: which diet should I follow to ensure I’m maintaining optimal health?! Most people start out 110% on a particular diet, only to find it feels far too rigid and then they give it up completely. While this post is not a promo for a particular diet, I do believe there are some key guidelines we can all follow to make sure we’re making healthy food choices. Food is fuel, and cooking and eating it should be a joy. Whenever I prepare a meal, I constantly think of all the people who desperately need basic provisions, and it reminds me to be grateful that I have the ability to not just choose to eat, but what to eat and …

Smoked Salmon + Goat Cheese Veggie Omelet

Ok, it’s not vegetarian. But it’s pretty damn delicious. You might already know that I follow a vegetarian/vegan diet 90% of the time, and occasionally I will eat fish, eggs, or goat cheese when I know they’ve been obtained through humane methods and are organic. An obvious modification to this omelet is just take out the salmon and it’s equally delicious. It’s been a really long time since I ate any meat, and when my husband and I popped into the market before starting a lovely Sunday Funday together, I saw smoked salmon waiting for me: must.have.now. That was my instinctive reaction, and want my stomach wants, it’s gonna get on any given Sunday. We ritualistically do a large brunch with friends every Sunday, but I had a laaaaaate late night out with a group of friends the night before and just wanted a low-key day of lounging about with my favorite human in the entire goddamn world (um, my husband, in case you are not good at guessing games). I threw together a quick …

Zucchini “Meatballs” in Fragrant Thai Coconut Broth

Vegetarians rejoice: we too can have meatballs with our goddamn meal, just like all those carnivores out there. This soup is soooo.freaking.yum. Well, it’s really good that is, if you like Thai dishes, coconut milk, and tons of exotic seasoning. Plus, coconut milk is amazingly good for you. So, hip hip hooray! Another plus is that the ingredient are light enough to make a good summer soup. My husband really hates ginger (and yet…he married a ginger kid. Conflict of interests? I should say so…) and so he wasn’t as big of a fan of this soup as I thought he’d be (I expected Domestic Goddess awards, but it was not to be. Note to self: no ginger root for Samuel!) However, despite his ginger flavor aversion, he was blown away by the amazing aromatic quality and how tasty the “meatballs” are. In a nutshell, it’s pretty heavenly. Forget Calgon taking you away, these flavors will make you feel like you’re a million miles from home in the best way possible. Soup is such a comfort …

Spicy Rosemary Sweet Potato Fries

I love anything and everything sweet potato related. In addition to being such a bright, beautiful veggie, it’s chocked full of amazing nutrition. They’re an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6. But wait! There’s more! They also provide potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and phosphorus. Oh, and did I mention they taste so damn good? And they’re a mega versatile food? For real. Get off my plate and into my belly! Since sweet potatoes are naturally sweet, their flavors play nicely with savory spices. A mix of sea salt, with a generous covering of Mexican, Indian, or Mediterranean seasoning completely changes the taste of the humble sweet potato and adds incredible dimension to the taste. Simply put, sweet potatoes make for amazing fries. And since these fries are roasted instead of fried, you can assuage your conscious and assure your waistline that this is a healthy side dish. Take note, metabolism! Don’t you dare try to start a mutiny! But I …

Mango Salsa Covered Eggplants/Alternative Option Mango Salsa Fish

I’m a 90/10 kind of girl…I go 90% hard and 10% notsohard when it comes to my food lifestyle. I like to use the word lifestyle, because sometimes diets can be taken to an extreme and aren’t necessarily healthy. Plus, I want to make good food choices for the sake of my body, not just my weight (which, let’s talk about it, my body just seems to instantly transform a Sunday Funday boozy brunch into an increased booty. *shakes fist at the sky! Thanks for nothing, metabolism!) My 90/10 lifestyle is 90 vegan/veggie/10 fish and also 90/10 when it comes to sugar, gluten, and the like. That’s the balance I’ve found that works for me, and frankly it’s probably made up because who has time for statistics at this point? I sure don’t. My husband, who follows no such stats, has radically altered his meat eating ways since being married to a hippie-dippie earth lover. In part, it’s because I make his meals, but it’s also because he has listened to research about how plant …

Go Nuts: Make Your Own Almond Milk

Whenever possible, I prefer to make from scratch whatever my husband and I eat. We’re purists when it comes to food, because if the old saying “you are what you eat” is true, then the average American is the sum total of refined sugars, bleached flours, GMO’s chemicals and preservatives…basically a science experiment gone horribly awry. Food is one of the easiest things we can control to contribute to a healthier, happier life. While I won’t claim to be the most amazing chef in the world, I do find that often times food and drinks taste better and are much healthier when I get to make them myself. Most importantly, I know what goes into the recipe, so I also know what goes into my body. Since I avoid eating or drink milk or cheese products (other than occasionally goat cheese), I get my calcium fix via almond or coconut milk. Plant based milk is about a billion times healthier for you, and it doesn’t come with added calories, antibiotics, or hormones. The one catch …