Paleo Strawberry Ice Cream

The temperatures are on the rise. Summer is on Spring's heels. What's more delicious on a warm summer afternoon than homemade ice cream? My strawberry ice cream is Paleo and only involves four ingredients. As long as your ice cream maker bowl/base has already been in the freezer, you'll have delicious ice cream within 30 minutes. I store my ice cream maker bowl in the freezer all the time when I'm not using it. That way I can make ice cream at any time when the mood strikes. If you don't have an ice cream maker yet, I highly recommend the Cuisinart ICE-21. Easy to use. Reasonably-priced. Fast.

Paleo Strawberry Ice Cream

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 2 cans full-fat coconut milk
• 1 ½ pounds fresh strawberries, tops cut off
• ¼ - ½ cup raw, local honey
• 1 t. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a blender (I used my Vitamix). Blend until pureed.
2. Turn on ice cream maker per the manufacturer’s instructions.
3. Pour ice cream mixture into your ice cream maker. (You may have a little extra – I just pour it into a mason jar and store it in the fridge. You can always drink it as strawberry milk).
4. Let mixture churn in the ice cream maker for about 20 minutes (depends upon your ice cream maker's instructions).
5. Scoop out into an airtight container.
6. You can either serve it immediately as soft-serve or store it in the freezer for a couple hours so it’ll be more of a hard ice cream consistency. Either way, you’re in for a real treat! 

                          Beginning                                                       End Result

I am looking forward to trying out new flavors over the summer. Cookie dough, perhaps? Maple pecan. Almond butter/chocolate ribbon vanilla ice cream. Mango. Blackberry.

Question of the day: What is your favorite kind of ice cream? As a child, I loved Oreo Cookie Blizzards or Breezes from DQ or Bonnie Doon's Cookie Dough Ice Cream (made in northern Indiana where I grew up). I still have a fondness for cookie dough ice cream. I also love chocolate ice cream.

Zucchini Noodles with Chicken, Bacon and "Bread" Crumbs

Bacon + "Bread" crumbs + Chicken + Zucchini + Olive Oil + Garlic = a flavorful and easy dish that will hopefully satisfy your pasta cravings. Zucchini is a low-carb, Paleo substitute for pasta. If you have a vegetable spiralizer, you could use it to make the zucchini noodles. I hadn't purchased mine yet, so I used my food processor when I last made this recipe.

This dish was inspired by a basic pasta dish consisting of spaghetti or fettuccine, olive oil, garlic and parmesan cheese. I have added some additional dimensions with the chicken and bacon, but it still has that delicate flavor. You could easily omit the chicken or use a different protein. Salmon would taste amazing as well. You could also omit the bacon, if you so choose.

Zucchini Noodles with Chicken, Bacon and “Bread” Crumbs

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

• 7 medium zucchini, shredded (I used my food processor shredder attachment, so they were a little bit shorter than “noodles”)
• 2 T. + ¼ cup Coconut oil, divided
• 1 ¼ pounds of chicken tenders or breast, diced or 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Bragg’s Sea Kelp Delight Seasoning, to taste (or another 
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, to taste
• Sea salt and Fresh-ground Pepper, to taste
• ½ cup almond flour
• Olive oil, to drizzle at the end
• 8 slices of bacon, crumbled

Directions:

1. The first step is to prepare the zucchini noodles. Put them into a strainer (over a bowl or in the sink) and toss them with a little bit of salt. The salt will speed up the sweating process to rid the excess moisture. Let set for 20-30 minutes.
2. After the sweating time, squeeze them in a kitchen towel (or with paper towels).
3. While the zucchini is sweating, melt 2 T. coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken in a single layer. Allow to cook for a few minutes before stirring it around. Continue cooking until no longer pink, about 7-8 minutes. If you are using shredded rotisserie chicken, then you'll just need to heat it up for a couple minutes in the skillet. 
4. Stir in the garlic and seasonings.
5. Add the zucchini noodles to the skillet and toss around.
6. While the zucchini noodles are warming up, melt the remaining ¼ cup coconut oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the almond flour and season with sea salt and pepper. Stir constantly for 2-3 minutes to allow the almond flour mixture to “toast.” If it's too thin, just add a little more almond flour. 
7. Plate the zucchini-chicken mixture, drizzle with olive oil and top with approximately 2 slices of crumbled bacon and a couple tablespoons of the “bread” crumbs.
8. Dig in! 

Paleo Lasagna Soup

A while back, I ran across a recipe for lasagna soup over on Epicurean Vegan. Vegan does not always make for the best Paleo dishes, but it can be a great starting point. Her recipe used fake sausage, a bouillon cube and glutenous lasagna noodles. I wasn't about to ingest that combination of ingredients. Some of the swaps were easy. Italian sausage and ground turkey as the meat, homemade chicken broth instead of water and bouillon to make a richer soup and Cappello's grain-free lasagna instead of the glutenous pasta. I also found myself improvising as I was actually making the soup. I was completely out of oregano! What does a girl do when she runs out of oregano without having to drive two miles to the nearest grocery store since the onions were already sauteing on the stove? Yes, I could have asked one of my neighbors. They did come to the rescue when I ran out of chili powder the last time I made my chili recipe. Instead, it dawned on me that I had plenty of Italian seasoning in the cupboard. I Googled the main ingredients in Italian seasoning and it sounded like a perfect flavor for the soup. 

Paleo Lasagna Soup

Adapted from Epicurean Vegan

Serves: 8

Prep time: 5 minutes   Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 T. coconut oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 12 oz. bulk Italian Sausage (I used Mulay’s Sweet Italian Sausage by removing the casings)
• ½ pound ground turkey
• 1 T. Italian seasoning
• 1/8 – ¼ t. Red Pepper Flakes (depending on how much heat you prefer)
• 2 – 14 oz. cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 cup spaghetti sauce
• 6 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 package of Cappello’s lasagna noodles, torn into bite-sized pieces
• Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Melt coconut oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions and garlic, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes.
3. Add Italian sausage and ground turkey and break up with a wooden spoon, stirring to incorporate with the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 6-8 minutes or until no longer pink.
4. Season with Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper.
5. Add diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, chicken broth and bay leaves. Stir until combined.
6. Bring soup to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes so the flavors can meld.
7. Add the lasagna noodles right at the end, stirring so they don't clump together. Cook for only 30-45 seconds. Remove from heat immediately.
8. Serve alongside Paleo garlic knots and a side salad or sauteed vegetables for a delicious meal. 

Note: Cappello's Pasta can be purchased at many Colorado stores (check out their website for a complete listing). Unfortunately, if you live outside of Colorado, it's only available through their website. I would highly recommend asking your local health food store or market to carry their pastas. 

Hope you enjoy! Now that I've tested out the lasagna noodles, I will definitely be trying them in a true lasagna dish. I'm not sure which type of lasagna yet. I also may try making cashew ricotta cheese, or maybe even Vegan cheddar cheese for crumbling on top or in between layers. 

Paleo Naked Chicken Fajitas + guacamole

I love chicken fajitas. My mom started making fajitas for our family when I was an early teen. She served them in flour tortillas with sharp cheddar cheese. Definitely not Paleo. The fajita filling itself is Paleo. You really can't get much more Paleo than meat, veggies and spices. Add in some healthy fats in the form of guacamole and you're set. My mom shared the recipe she used, which she actually found in a magazine at a doctor's office nearly two decades ago. I've changed the recipe a bit, so I consider this more of my own at this point. I also put together my own guacamole to top the fajitas. It's super simple and only takes three ingredients (plus sea salt and pepper).

Paleo Naked Chicken Fajitas

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 ½ t. Sea Kelp Delight Seasoning
• 1 ½ t. dried oregano
• 1 ½ t. cumin
• 1 t. garlic powder
• ½ t. chili powder
• ½ t. paprika
• 2 jalapeños, minced and divided
• 1 ¼ to 1 ½ pounds chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 T. coconut oil
• 3 bell peppers (I used green, yellow and orange), sliced
• 2 onions, sliced

Guacamole:

• 3 avocados
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• Juice of 1 lime
• Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste

Garnish:

• Crushed plantain chips (I buy them from the bulk bin at Sprouts, but you could also purchase Inka Chips)

Directions:

1. Make your marinade first, so the chicken can soak up all the delicious flavors while preparing the rest of the dish. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, spices and 2/3 of the jalapeños.
2. Add the chicken to the marinade and stir with a spatula to coat every piece evenly. Set aside.
3. Melt the coconut oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Once the pan is hot, add the sliced onions, bell peppers and remaining jalapeños. Toss to coat with the coconut oil. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes. You still want the veggies to be slightly crisp.
5. While your veggies are cooking, prepare the guacamole in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
6. Mash the avocado with a fork or masher. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.
7. When the veggies are done, pour them out into a bowl and tent with foil to keep warm.
8. Add the chicken and the marinade to the skillet. Allow chicken to cook on the first side before stirring/flipping. Continue cooking the chicken until no longer pink, around 4-5 minutes per side.
9. Add the veggies back to the pan, tossing everything together so the veggies get coated in the spices from the marinade.
10. Serve with a large spoonful of guacamole and top with a handful of crushed plantain chips. 

I will be adding this dish into our regular rotation of meals. It's such a simple, but flavorful dish. It's definitely not very photogenic, but tastes amazing.

Question: Do you have any recipes that were passed down to you from your parents that you've made your own? 

Paleo Stir Fry

I'm a big fan of one-pot meals. I also love throwing veggies, meat and a sauce together. As I've said before, casseroles are one of my favorite types of dish. It's that Midwestern girl in me.

The recipe was dictated by what I had in my fridge at the time. It has most of the colors of the rainbow, so it's full of nutrients. The sauce was inspired by a peanut sauce. Obviously, we don't eat peanuts, so I had to adapt it a little. I researched different sauces and came up with my own unique creation. If the sauce is too thin from cooking the vegetables, then follow the directions below to add arrowroot as a thickener.

This dish is very flexible. You can change the veggies, depending on what you have and/or prefer. I've made this without broccoli before and it's still fantastic. I definitely suggest adding the roasted cashews on top. It adds a bit of additional crunch and flavor. Someone else has already made this dish, but added canned coconut milk and basil.

Paleo Stir Fry

Serves: 5-6

Ingredients:

• 2-3 T. fat of choice (I use coconut oil)
• 4-5 carrots, sliced
• 4-5 celery stalks, sliced
• 1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 yellow squash, diced
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken or 1 ¼ pounds cooked ground turkey
• 1 12 oz. package kelp noodles*
• Chopped roasted cashews (optional, for garnish)

Sauce:

• ½ cup almond butter
• A few dashes of fish sauce
• ¼ cup coconut aminos
• 1 T. coconut vinegar
• 1/8-1/4 t. red pepper flakes (depending on taste)
• 1 T. arrowroot + 1 T. water (optional)

Directions:

1. Melt fat of choice in large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.
2. Add all veggies to pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes, or until veggies are tender. You can cover the pan to steam the vegetables. If so, just stir occasionally instead.
3. Add in shredded chicken or ground turkey and distribute meat evenly thoroughly the stir fry.
4. Follow the instructions on the kelp noodles (rinse and cut). Add them to the meat and veggies. Toss to combine.
5. Add sauce ingredients into a small mixing bowl. Whisk everything together until smooth. Add to the stir fry. Mix until everything is coated. If the sauce is thin due to the water from the vegetables, mix 1 T. arrowroot with 1 T. cold water and then stir into the stir fry. It will thicken the sauce within a minute or two.
6. Garnish individual servings with 2 T. roasted cashews.

I absolutely love this dish, because it's easy and delicious. If you chop your vegetables in advance, then the cooking will be a breeze. So many textures, flavors and colors in this dish. It's a beautiful mess on a plate.

Let me know what you add to your stir fry. Feel free to post pictures on my Facebook page. Please share this recipe with your friends and family and on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. I appreciate your help in helping build The Paleo Network.