Darcie from Such The Spot always has some good-looking recipes on her blog and I have tried a few.  I’ve had her recipe for chicken tacos cut out for a long time, but just made them last week.   However, since my family is eating Paleo now at home, I did make one change: I switched out the corn tortillas for lettuce leaves.  I’m still trying to figure out if we will eat corn tortillas (not Paleo, but some people do).  I don’t think I have a hard rule about it and will probably eat them at a restaurant, but while cooking at home I prefer to stick as close to Paleo as I can.

You can check out Darcie’s blog post for chicken tacos her way, but basically I prepared the chicken the way she suggested and used her pico recipe as well.  Then I chopped up some cucumbers, avocado, coleslaw to use as toppings.

My family chose their toppings and wrapped them up along with the chicken in big romaine lettuce leaves.  Doesn’t that look beautiful?

Everyone raved about how fresh and tasty the “tacos” were.   This recipe will be added to my meal rotation.  The only thing I will change is the amount of chicken used; Darcie has a bigger family than mine, so we had tons of chicken left over.  Even using the chicken scrambled in eggs and in a coconut wrap for lunch a few days, it was still too much for my family.

Thanks Darcie for the recipe!  See, the Paleo way was not so bad .

© 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

It’s no secret that Nordstrom Cafe is one of my favorite lunch spots.  The restaurant staff knows me by name and what I usually order, which is the Cilantro Lime Shrimp salad.   One of my Facebook friends knows my love of this salad and sent me a recipe for the dressing.  This is either the exact recipe or a very convincing facsimile.  I don’t know where she got it.  I did not ask.  I assume that it is part of the unspoken culinary “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.  Whatever; it’s absolutely delicious.

Cilantro Lime Dressing

ingredients:

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon purred chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup chopped cilantro, stems and leaves

3/4 cup oil  (the recipe says canola, but I used olive oil)

Blend all but the oil in a blender, then add the oil in a slow steady stream.

This recipe makes quite a lot, I need to remember to cut the recipe in half for my family of four.  I kept it in the refrigerator and used it all week.  It’s not Paleo with the honey and next time I will try using less or maybe eliminating it all together.  I’m sure it will still be delicious.

Enjoy!

© 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I bought this gigantic bag of kale at Whole Foods and after making kale salad a few times, I still had 3/4 of the bag left.  My daughter pleaded with me to make kale chips, one of her favorite snack foods.  The fact that it is Paleo-friendly is a bonus!

 Kale chips are so easy to make, you don’t even need a recipe.  Take some kale and spread it out on a cookie sheet.  My kale was already washed, dried and chopped up in the bag, but if you are using a bunch of kale, wash it, dry it and tear it into pieces.   Then drizzle on some olive oil, just enough to coat the kale.  Make sure all the kale is covered with oil – this is best done with your hands.  Sprinkle on some salt and put it in the oven, at about 350 degrees.  Watch it to make sure it doesn’t burn, but 12-15 minutes is about right.

 The kale will be crispy and very lightweight when done.

That’s it!  Kale chips are so simple and so delicious.   They are best eaten right away and that’s not a problem in my house at all.

Oh, by the way, we never did finish that huge bag of kale.  Kale chips, kale salad, kale in smoothies – and we still had tons of kale left by the end of the week.  We were sick of kale.  That was just too big of a bag for my family of four.

© 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

It’s week 3 of Paleo-eating and we’ve had some bumps in the road.

First of all, my son has given it up.  Or rather, I am letting him eat non-Paleo outside of the house.  It was just such a battle with him and frankly, not worth the aggravation.  The dinnertime combative discussions against Paelo were exhausting.   I am disappointed because he would have benefited the most from a Paleo diet, but I do have control over what he eats in the house as long as I am buying the groceries and cooking the meals.   He won’t reap the most benefits, eating pizza on the weekends and Paleo at home, but at least it’s something.

I have more control over my daughter’s diet and she’s hanging in there.  We went to an event with cupcakes present and I let her eat one, but she didn’t eat the pretzels that were there; she had to make a choice between the two.   I’ve had a talk with her about making wise choices and I hope that she is listening.  I do want to make this a (mostly) lifestyle change for her.

I confess that I had a cupcake too.  They just looked so good and I love cupcakes!  But it was not a wise decision; to my surprise I was sick later on that day.  Note to self Funkidivagirl: you can no longer eat a whole cupcake.  Maybe a few bites, every once in awhile.  Maybe.

But all in all, despite a defecting teen-ager and forbidden cupcake, Paleo continues to be a positive experience.  For instance, my kids are now eating a more substantial breakfast.  Before Paleo,  my kids ate carbs for breakfast: cereal, french toast sticks, bagels or toast.  These were things that they can make themselves and didn’t take up too much time.   Now they eat bacon and eggs, but I make them in advance in the form of Egg Muffins.  I friend turned me on to them and then I goggled a few recipes.  This is what I came up with:

EGG MUFFINS

Ingredients:

Eggs (quantity depends on how many you want to make; 1 egg per Egg Muffin)

Cooked Meat (bacon, sausage, ham, ground beef, whatever)

Chopped Veggies (whatever you like)

Coconut Milk (optional)

 

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook your meat.  I use bacon for my kids, about a 1/2 slice per Egg Muffin, but you can use sausage, ham or ground beef instead.  Crumble the meat.

Beat the eggs.  I use 1 egg per Egg Muffin.  For instance, if I want to make 10 Egg Muffins, I use 10 eggs.  The big kid eats 2 Egg Muffins for breakfast, so 10 Egg Muffins will be enough for 5 days.    *I use half egg whites when I make them for myself, but they do not cook the same and my kids don’t like it.

A friend suggested adding a little coconut milk to make the Egg Muffins a bit fluffy and I thought it was a nice addition (when I remember to do it).

I use silicone muffin cups because I find that the Egg Muffins slip right out.  I place these on a cookie sheet.  You can use muffin pans instead, but I would imagine you would need to spray them with oil.

Put a little meat in each cup.  Put some veggies in there as well, if you like.  My kids like spinach, but you can use bell peppers or whatever you have on hand.

Pour the eggs in the cups.  I leave a little room because the eggs do rise a bit when they cook.

Cook the Egg Muffins for 15-20 minutes.  The first time or two you make these, watch them.  Set the timer for 12 minutes and if they are not done, check again every 2 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the middle.  My Egg Muffins take 22 minutes.

Let them cool completely on a wire rack before transferring to the refrigerator.  I try to make the Egg Muffins on Sunday or Monday night for the school week.  I put them in a air-tight container in the fridge and in the mornings the kids just pop them in the microwave for about 40 seconds.

Egg Muffins are great anytime of the day for a quick protein meal or snack, even if you don’t eat Paleo.  Try them and let me know what you think!

© 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Thursdays are crazy around here.  I’m picking up one kid, dropping off another and I’m not home in time to cook dinner.   Instead of a drive-thru meal, I make dinner on Thursday morning in my crockpot.   It’s so nice to come home to a delicious-smelling house after such a hectic day.  This is what I made last week.  It was rainy and cold outside and this meal was like a warm hug.

AUTUMN SAUSAGE CASSEROLE

Adapted from the book: Make It Fast, Cook It Slow

Ingredients

3 cups cooked rice (I used brown basmati that I made the night before)

1 pound sausage, sliced (Use cooked sausage; I used nitrate-free, no-pork casing, chicken apple)

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 large apple, chopped

1 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup raisins

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

3/4 teaspoon ground allspice (the recipe calls for 1/2, but I use more)

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (the recipe calls for 1/2, but I use more)

3/4 teaspoon black pepper (the recipe calls for 1/2, but I like my food more seasoned)

1/2 cup chicken broth (you can use water instead)

assembled and ready to cook

Directions

I use a 6 quart slow cooker and it’s 3/4 full, but the recipe calls for a 4 quart slow cooker.  Put the rice in the pot and add the sliced sausage (assuming that you are using cooked sausage; if not then cook it first).  Add the onion, apple, carrots, raisins, brown sugar, parsley, allspice, cinnamon and pepper.  Pour in the broth and stir.  Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

I have found that this recipe burns easily because except for softening the vegetables, you are really just heating the other ingredients.  The first time you make it, cook for the shortest amount of time and ideally stick around to check on it.  I wouldn’t keep it on warm for too long either.  I cooked mine on low for 5 hours and if I was at home, I might have just done 4.5 hours.

It’s really good!  It’s sweet, from the apples and raisins, and the pumpkin pie-like spices make it taste like autumn.  You can create different flavors by using different sausages.

let’s eat!

© 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.