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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.

This was inspired by a dish we had during a recent trip to Charlotte, NC. When we look for new places to eat we typically use Urban Spoon and read reviews–that’s how we found this place. I have to say, we were pretty disappointed. It was one of those places where the menu read better than the food actually was. One example: mussels steamed in beer with herbs and what-not. Thought it sounded interesting, it wasn’t, pretty gross, actually. We did have one thing, though not very good, we thought we could improve upon–bacon wrapped tater tots. So here you have it, our version:

Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Lime Dip
Ingredients
◦2 sweet potatoes, cut into thick matchsticks*
◦1 package bacon, don’t use thick cut
◦1/2 c mayo, using avocado oil
◦1-2 chipotles in adobo sauce
◦1 lime, juiced
Method
Get your oven to 425°F. Soak the sweet potato matchsticks in a bowl of cold water for up to 6 hours. This removes a lot of the starch from the potato. When you remove the potatoes, you can visibly see white starch granules at the bottom of the bowl. Drain the water from the potatoes and pat dry.

Slice each piece of bacon in half, lengthwise. Wrap 1 strip of bacon around 1 matchstick sweet potato. Lay on a baking sheet. Repeat until all the bacon is gone. If you have left over sweet potatoes, toss ‘em on the pan too, they’ll cook beautifully in all the rendered bacon fat.

For the Dip
In a food processor, pulse up the chipotle(s) and lime juice into the mayo.

Bake the fries for about 25 minutes on one side. You’re looking for browned bacon. Use some tongs to flip the fries over and bake for another 10-12 minutes, until browned.

Squeeze some lime juice on the fries. Serve hot and with the dip.

*You want a thick cut (not thin!) and keep the skin on. Here’s a rough how-to:

Eat This Too:
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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.