Tomato Basil Meatballs

In early June our family decided to start following the Paleo lifestyle. We have removed grains, dairy, refined sugars, legumes and nightshades from our diet. It has been pretty amazing. I've been pretty challenged by the necessity of cooking all of our food. Granted we can still eat out if we do major modifications to our meals, but for the most part, we are eating pretty tasty home cooked meals. I have been so grateful for all the people out there who love blogging! there are so many people who live paleo and have tons of great recipes on their blogs. We have enjoyed all kinds of foods that stay within the paleo limits. Including cake, brownies, cookies, hamburgers and pizza! I've really enjoyed trying to come up with good recipe's of my own too. So here is the first one that I feel like is absolutely amazing. I feel silly putting that out there because I realize that everyone has different tastes, but I think this is pretty good.

Tomato Basil Meatballs

Makes approx 36 meatballs

3 lbs Grass-fed ground beef

1 pint cherry tomatoes diced

5 bunches of fresh basil

1/3 cup of garlic cloves

11 oz tomato paste

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 eggs

1/2 tbs Honey

turn your oven to 400 degrees

Lightly grease an 9 x 13 and 9 x 9 baking dish

Place eggs, garlic, tomato paste, basil leaves, salt and pepper and honey in a food processor or blender until mostly creamy, but still has a few bits of garlic and basil.

In a large bowl place the ground beef and tomatoes. Add the contents of the blender and combine using your hands or a spatula. Once combined roll into golf ball sized balls and place in the baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Enjoy!!

"Boat Dinner"

I'm trying to change my family's eating style to primarily Paleo... I've had a hard time recently because I (and Nathan) have felt like a lot of the Paleo food I've been making is a whole lot of the same thing... so, I researched a bunch of blogs and found lots of ideas and that is where the inspiration for this "boat dinner" came from (Zeke calls it "boat dinner." Cutie).

Boat Dinner

2 Delicata Squash halved

1 TBS Coconut Oil

Salt

Pepper

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Filling:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 red bell pepper

1/2 a yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 inch of Serrano Pepper

1 small bunch of Broccolini cut into bite sized pieces

Heat oven to 415 degrees use coconut oil to cover the insides of the delicota squash and place skin side down on a baking sheet. Sprinkle seasonings on the squash to taste. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the squash become soft. Remove from the oven.

Meanwhile, brown the ground beef and in a separate skillet saute the onions, garlic and Serrano pepper on medium heat. After about two minutes, add the peppers and broccolini.

Put a thin layer of the veggies in the squash then top with ground beef and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Combine the remaining beef and veggies. Once the squash are done, top with the remaining mixture and serve. Yum!

Cookies!!!

I was looking around online trying to find a recipe for cookies that don't contain flour, sugar or dairy and I ran across this blog. I ended up tweaking it a bit and came up with this!

Raisin Spice Cookies

1 c. Almond Meal

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 Tbs unsweetened Apple sauce (for a chewier cookie, use 1 tbs Apple Sauce and 1 tbs avocado.)

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1/3 c. Raisins

combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. whisk together egg, vanilla and apple sauce. mix in dry mixture and raisins.

Place tablespoon sized portions on an un-greased cookie sheet (it should make about 20 cookies) and pat down to the preferred shape (they hold whatever shape you give them at the start). Place in the oven at 350 for 8 minutes or until the edges look crispy.

They are so good! the raisins and apple sauce sweeten them just enough! I feel great feeding them to Zeke too! He also thinks they're a smash hit!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. Almond Meal

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 Egg

2 Tbs Unsweetened Apple Sauce

1 tsp Vanilla

1/4 c. Chocolate Chips

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. whisk together egg, vanilla and apple sauce. mix in dry mixture and Chocolate Chips.

Place tablespoon sized portions on an un-greased cookie sheet (it should make about 15-20 cookies) and pat down to the preferred shape (they hold whatever shape you give them at the start). Place in the oven at 350 for 8 minutes or until the edges look crispy.

I prefer the raisin ones. They taste like a breakfast muffin or something. I really like them. :)

Warm Pasta Salad

So last night, I wasn't sure what I should make for dinner... I was thrown off by locking Zeke in the car and by the time that was all done and I relaxed for a minute, Nate was almost home. So, I needed something fast! Here's my creation that turned into something quite amazing if you ask me.

Warm Veggie Pasta Salad

1 lb uncooked pasta (I used Penne)

1 chicken breast (you can use more, but that's all I had and mine was precooked)

1/2 a shallot diced

2 cloves garlic diced

pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 Tbs Olive Oil

1/4 cup vegetable broth

1 bag frozen broccoli florets

1 bag frozen green beans

1/3 cup Newmans Own Family Recipe Italian Dressing

1/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

1/4 cup parmesean cheese

Cook the pasta. In a large sauce pan saute the shallot and garlic in olive oil on low heat until tender. Add the bay leaf, pepper, pepper flakes and chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces. Add broth, broccoli and beans to the sauce pan. Increase heat and put a lid on it. Once veggies are warm through, remove from heat and remove the bay leaf. Put the cooked pasta in a bowl. Add half the dressing then add veggies. Add the remaining dressing and the cheese and toss. It's awesome.

I didn't measure anything... I'm just guessing on the measurements. Good luck!

Yummy Apple Spice Muffins!

I don't usually post recipes, but this one was requested so here it is! I rarely bake a recipe exactly the way it is laid out because I like making things a little bit healthier. These turned out awesome!

This is the recipe I used courtesy of www.epicurious.com, but I changed it a little. I'll add in my changes with Red text.

For muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups Unbleached whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup packed light brown sugar - 3/4 cup unpacked real cane light brown sugar (I really don't like things too sweet!)

1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted - 1 Stick melted butter

1 cup unsweetened applesauce - I did an overflowing cup to make up for the 3 less tablespoons of butter

1 cup pecans or walnuts (3 1/2 ounces), coarsely chopped - Instead I added 2 fuji apples cut into small pieces (I'm not much for nuts in my food)

For topping: - I skipped the topping because It's just more sugar, but I'm sure it's great with the topping too!

2 tablespoons granulated sugar1/4 teaspoon cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground allspice1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Special equipment: a muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups

Prepare muffins:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.

Grease muffin pan. - I used paper muffin cups

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl.

Whisk together eggs and brown sugar in a large bowl until combined well, then add butter, a little at a time, whisking until mixture is creamy.

Stir in applesauce, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened.

Stir in nuts (and/or apples) and divide batter among muffin cups.

Stir together all topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then remove muffins from pan and cool slightly.

I cooked mine for 20 min at 400, but the bottoms burned slightly. Next time I would bring down the baking temp to 375 and increase the time just slightly.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Applesauce-Spice-Muffins-108784#ixzz0g2Gv7BbZ