Flex’s Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

. 4 bell peppers, any color, tops removed, seeded
. 1 pound ground turkey
. 2 tablespoons olive oil
. 2 cloves of garlic
. 1 medium onion, chopped
. 1 cup sliced mushrooms
.  1 zucchini, chopped
.  1 cup fresh spinach
. 3 medium tomatoes, diced
.  1 tablespoon tomato paste
.  Italian seasoning to taste
.  salt and pepper to taste

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Wrap bell peppers in tin foil, and place in a baking pan. Cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Over medium heat, brown turkey in pan. Remove from heat and set aside.  Heat olive oil in same pan. Add all vegetables, except for tomatoes and tomato paste.  Once vegetables have cooked through, add in cooked turkey, tomato paste and tomatoes.  Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.  Stuff bell peppers with mixture turkey mixture. Return to oven for 15 minutes.  Serve.

If you have leftover stuffing, it makes a great paleo-friendly breakfast the next day!



Power Balls

Power Balls (a la Walker)

If you google “power balls” you will find a ton of recipes. Here’s an easy adaptation:

  • 1/2 c unsalted sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 c something “dry” (recipe typically calls for oats – instead i used a mixture of almond meal and protein powder. Could also use flax meal, almond flour, etc)
  • 3/4 c dried dates
  • 1/4 c honey (or agave)
  • 1/4 c nut butter
  • 1/4 c sesame seeds

In a food processor, combine sunflower seeds and dry ingredient. Then add the dates and process. Next add the honey and nut butter and process until the mixture forms a dough-like consistency (it may begin to ball up/jam up on you in the processor).  Scoop the dough into 1 tablespoon size balls and roll in sesame seeds. Store in fridge (or even freezer – yum).

Feel free to go crazy – the proportions above are just to get you started, feel free to experiment with the flavor and consistency you prefer. Use dried apricots or other fruit in place of dates. I threw in flax seeds and some walnuts I had on hand. Roll in nuts or coconut flakes instead of seasame seeds (you can also press into a pan or onto wax paper to cut into bars, but these babies are pretty sticky so i recommend rolling them in something). Add cinnamon, or cocoa. Or bacon. You get the idea.

PS. While these can be adapted to be paleo, make no mistake that these balls pack quite the sugar punch. Not really recommended for those trying to lean out…at least, don’t eat half the batch in one sitting. (<– I of course have no experience with this, I have just *heard that it can happen)

Carissa’s Meaty Meatloaf

Meatloaf for Meat Lovers

Ingredients:
1lb lean ground beef
1 pkg spicy Italian Sausage (I tried to buy the sausages with the least amount of ingredients possible.)
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1/2 c white onion chopped
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
2 eggs
1 c almond meal
5 garlic cloves chopped
1 4oz can organic tomato paste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the Italian sausage from the casing, and place the meat into a bowl with all of the other ingredients. Mix all of the ingredients by hand. Spray a baking dish with Pam and place the meatloaf mixture into the dish. I used a 9×9 pan and I had to mold my own “loaf” in the center of the pan, if you have a smaller pan, you can probably just smush the ingredients into the sides of the pan. Bake for 1 hour and serve.

**I used jalapeno/ bison sausage from whole foods and 6 oz of Central Market’s tomato paste which only contains tomatoes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies by L.G.

Paleo(ish) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup almond meal/almond flour
¼ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup honey
½ tsp baking soda (I usually leave this out)
1 egg

Mix the dry ingredients (Almond meal, 60% cacoa choc chips, honey. Add all other ingredients and mix throughly. Use the mixture to form small “dough balls” on a greased baking sheet. Use around 1 large kitchen spoon (1tbsp or so) for each one. The batch should make around 15. Obviously if you make the individual cookies too big, they won’t cook correctly.

Bake at 350F (preheated) for about ten minutes, until they start to brown well. They won’t look like they’re done. Touch them with you finger to check if they have hardened. It will be obvious (by touch) when they’re done. Eat! (cooling optional)

**They’re also really good frozen.



Stir Fryin’ with L.G.

Stir Fried Beef/chicken with Vegetables

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, pressed
12 ounces boneless sirloin steak, trimmed of all visible fat, thinly sliced (I used chicken)
¼ cup burgundy wine (I didn’t have or use this)
1 yellow onion cut thinly into wedges
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into slender strips
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 ounces of sliced mushrooms
4 ounces thinly sliced carrots
4 onces chopped broccoli
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Sauté the beef/chicken in the oil with garlic and half of the red wine until the beef/chicken is browned. Remove from skillet. Heat the residual oil in the skillet. Sauté the onion, celery, red pepper, carrots,until the onion is tender – about 4 minutes. Add the remainder of the red wine. (if you use it) Add the mushrooms; then the broccoli the stir-fry everything together for about another 3 minutes. Combine the vegetables with the meat.

Cinnamon Apple Muffins by L.G.

Cinnamon Apple Paleo Muffins

Ingredients
2 c almond flour
2 c unsweetened finely shredded coconut ( I omit this )
4 eggs
2 large apple, cored, peeled, and diced (I omit this)
4 Tbsp olive oil
4 tsp almond butter
1/2 c blue agave sweetener (I use honey instead)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
a dash of nutmeg
I usually add in 1 c of blueberries or a mashed up banana.

Mix all dry ingredients first, then add the wet ones and divide evenly into a muffin tin. Bake 15 minutes at 375F. Makes 1 dozen.

The recipe can easily be halved, but fill the 6 unused muffin cups halfway with water so the pan heats evenly. I usually have enough to fill a large muffin tray up and they are good sized muffins. Yummo!

Some Bonus Variations

Blueberry Muffins:
substitute 1/2 to 1 cup of blueberries for the apples
You could omit the cinnamon or swap it out for another spice

Peach Muffins:
substitute a cup of chopped peaches for the apples
could be really good with local Colorado peaches in the summer!

Nut Muffins:
omit apples
increase olive oil to 3 Tbsp
add 1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans
maybe add a little unsweetened applesauce too, if they are too dry

Chazzy D’s Carnitas

Ingredients:

3lb boneless (I used bone-in) pork shoulder or butt
1 cup of citric acid juice (I used lime) water
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 Tablespoon pepper
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper  
1 Tablespoon ground chipotle pepper (I added it at the end since I thought it would go and it worked out)
Garnish – salsa, avocados

Mix all your spices together and rub the shoulder with them well in a dutch-oven-like pan. Pour any remaining spices left in the pan. Add water and citric acid juice (of your choice) to the pan until the water line is just covering the pork. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and let simmer for 2 hours. NOTE: Make sure your leave a crack in the lid so water can evaporate away. DON’T TOUCH THE MEAT DURING THIS TIME. The citric acid needs time to do its thing breaking down the muscle fibers so occupy your time. Put the heat up to medium high heat for another 30 minutes. During this time the liquid should complete its reduction and some of the meat will start frying creating some crispy/carmelized pieces. Stay close monitoring it making sure it doesn’t over cook. By this point the meat is so tender it cant help but fall apart, and thats okay. Its ready for eating after that time.

Cody’s Spicy Shrimp-n-Bacon Wraps

Ingredients:

Fresh jalapenos
Shrimp
bacon

Just cut the jalapeno in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and whatnot, throw a shrimp into each half, and then wrap em in bacon.
Then put those guys in the oven on a broiler pan or cookie sheet.(your oven should be on broil) turn them every couple of minutes until the meat is cooked, usually 10-15 minutes.
Then eat them.

Bison Chili by Chazzy D

I’ve combined two recipes to get this one.  Its a great meal to make on a Sunday and eat throughout the week.  I added more vegetables than what the original recipes called for because it makes it heartier, in my opinion.  Feel free to add or subtract vegetables and just a heads up: its VERY filling.

Ingredients:

*optional* 4-5 strips of bacon chopped
(if not using bacon) 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
2 pounds ground bison
1/2 onion chopped
1 bag of organic celery (usually a celery plant)
4 cloves garlic minced
4-5 carrots skinned and roughly chopped
1 1/2 cup beef broth or water
28oz can organic diced tomatoes
1.5 Tablespoons Chili powder
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
1.  Cook bacon medium high in a large stock/crock pot or, if you’re not using bacon, heat the coconut oil on medium high heat
2.  Saute the garlic, onions, and celery for about 7 minutes
3.  Add bison, chili powder, and thyme and cook until all the meat is browned, stirring frequently
4.  Add tomatoes, and chicken broth.  Let simmer for 20 minutes
5.  Add carrots, stir, and let simmer for about 90 minutes
6.  Salt and pepper to taste

Makes: 5-6 Chaz servings, around 8 for everyone else

Tristy’s Sweet Potato Chips

Preheat your oven to 450
Peel your sweet potatoes and slice into thin slices
Put your potato slices in a large freezer back and pour in real olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh garlic (I usually mix this up really well in the bag and let it sit for about an hour, but you don’t have to let it sit)
Spread your chips out onto a cookie sheet (they can be overlapping)
Bake at 450 for 20 min or until brown and crispy (be sure to take the cookie sheet out of the oven every 5 min and stir/flip the chips)