Posts belonging to Category Main Dish

This super healthy Asparagus Basil Salad is a not just nutritious, it’s a treat for the palate. Trust me, it’s delectable, especially right now using wonderfully ripe vegetables at peak season. I found this recipe in Sunset Magazine. Actually, I didn’t find it, our family friend Mrs. Rose found it and made it for Mr. Rose’s 75th birthday, a fabulous little gathering that the boys and I attended when we were in Davis, California visiting my folks a couple of weeks ago.

For those of you that commented on my last post, The Gluten Free Diet, about family and friends that don’t understand, accommodate or respect your dietary restrictions (or eating plan, as I prefer to say) Mrs. Rose made tons of gluten free food for us! And so, a yummy dinner was enjoyed by all.

However, IMHO, it really is up to us to maintain our boundaries and not eat food that makes us feel awful, just to spare someone else’s feelings. I would rather hurt their feelings than hurt my body; has anybody else been in a situation like that?

In any event, here’s a yummy salad that pretty much anyone can enjoy. If you don’t do nightshades, it’s still delicious without the tomatoes!

Asparagus Basil Saladprinter friendly
1 lb asparagus, trimmed and halved
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 ripe avocado, cut into cubes
1 cup sliced basil leaves
¼ cup olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon pepper

1.Steam asparagus for 5-7 minutes until fork tender
2.Place asparagus, tomatoes, avocado and basil in a large bowl
3.Stir in olive oil, lemon juice and mustard
4.Sprinkle with salt and pepper
5.Serve
I actually made a huge batch of this last weekend and ate it for breakfast and then had the rest for dinner with Turkey Burgers from my book, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.

I am LOVING Mark Sisson’s book The Primal Blueprint, the guy is a genius. And I am waiting for his next book to come out, which is the called, The Primal Blueprint Cookbook. If you haven’t had a chance to look at Mark’s site, marksdailyapple.com, head on over there and check it out. It is primal galore.

Growing up one of my favorite dinners to have was Chinese food. It was usually a special occasion that we ordered Chinese, so it wasn’t an indulgence that I had often. Bill is another lover of Chinese food, but his mom would frequently cook home made Chinese dinners for their family, so of course what he ate was a little healthier than ordering greasy Chinese from a restaurant. These days I cant stomach the idea of Chinese food, it’s right up there with drive through and pizza, yuck.
Although heavy sauces and vegetable oil fried Chinese food is not something that Bill and I are interested in, we do however enjoy a fresh home made stir fry, with mouth watering Asian flavors.

Every once in a blue moon Bill creates a masterpiece in the kitchen, just kidding! Yes, more often than not I’m the head chef, but the recipe is never complete without agreement on both parts. For this particular recipe, Bill took the lead, and created a delicious Asian stir fry using sesame oil and coconut aminos. The flavors were outstanding! The added shredded cabbage gives the facade of noodles being in the dish, but enhances the texture beautifully with subtle crunch.

Ingredients:
Chicken or beef
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup water chestnuts
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and cut in half
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1 tablespoon minced Ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups broccoli
2 cups shredded cabbage
Toasted sesame oil
Coconut aminos
Sesame seeds to garnish
Process:
Clean all vegetables and trim fat from meat (if applicable).
Cut broccoli, chicken and mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
Thinly slice 2 cups of cabbage (about half the head of cabbage).
Chop almonds, green onion, celery; mince garlic and ginger.
Heat wok over high heat.
Add sesame oil, swirl to coat bottom of wok, then add meat.
Cook meat for 3-4 minutes, until mostly cooked.
Add in broccoli, water chestnuts, celery and shiitake mushrooms; cook for 2 minutes
Add in almonds, cabbage, ginger, green onion and garlic. Add a splash of coconut aminos (2-4 tbsp). Cook 2-3 minutes, until cabbage softens a little.
Remove from heat, garnish with sesame seeds, and enjoy!

Back when Balanced Bites was an organic meal delivery business, stuffed peppers were among the favorite dishes ordered by my clients. At that point in time, I was mixing a few different ingredients into them but I keep it pretty simple when I’m cooking at home for myself.

The inspiration and motivation to make stuffed peppers came about when I was strolling the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market this past Saturday and spotted a big yellow bell pepper that looked just perfect for this destiny. I knew I had a pound of grass-fed ground beef defrosted at home so it was excellent timing for me to whip up some stuffed peppers. The whole thing is quite simple, really… it’s just a matter of pre-cooking the pepper halves a bit if you like and then making a tasty mixture that you’ll like to put on the inside, and voila – stuffed peppers. I can’t say I make them exactly the same every single time since I usually just go with whatever I have on-hand, but here’s what I did this time.

Italian Style Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients

2 bell peppers
(I used yellow but any color is fine)
1 Tbsp bacon grease or coconut oil
1/2 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, pressed or chopped
4 small tomatoes, diced
(or use 1/2c canned diced tomatoes)
1 lb grass-fed ground beef
(or lean conventional ground beef / ground turkey)
6 Fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
2c Baby spinach, finely chopped
sea salt – to taste
black pepper – to taste
hot sauce – optional, as garnish
extra basil leaves garnish

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 375.

Halve the bell peppers and place them in a roasting dish face-down for about 10-15 minutes. Note: You can skip this step if you want to keep the peppers more firm/raw when you eat them.

FYI: The Paleo Diet
Cookbook is now
available for pre-order.
While the peppers are pre-cooking, you’ll cook the stuffing on the stove-top. Use a large sautee pan or a large pot. I’d recommend not using cast iron for this recipe since we’re cooking tomatoes and the acid of the tomatoes will react with the cast iron.

Place your bacon grease or coconut oil in the pan and then cook the onions over medium-high heat until they’re slightly browned on the edges and appear cooked through (translucent). You may season them with salt and pepper to taste.

Next add the tomatoes and garlic and allow the ingredients to simmer together for a couple of minutes. Then add the ground beef or turkey, breaking it up and allowing it to cook through completely. If you have grass-fed beef, you may leave it a bit pink.

Once the meat is cooked, taste the mixture to check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Then add the chopped basil and spinach and mix them in just allowing them to wilt.

Mark Sisson’s cookbook
seems to be quite popular
if you’re looking for recipes.
Remove the peppers from the oven when they’re just a bit softened, then flip them over and spoon in your stuffing mixture. If you would like to eat them at this point, you can go right ahead. Otherwise, place them back into the oven for around 15-20 minutes to allow the flavors to meld even more. I like to make a bunch of these ahead and either freeze them or just refrigerate them to heat up in my toaster oven later.

I also like to sprinkle a few dashes of hot sauce over the top and garnish them with basil leaves, just for visual appeal.

Depending on the size of your peppers, this will make approximately 4 pepper halves and will be around 4oz of protein in each one. One or two of these is a complete meal depending on how much you eat.