This is another great “week night” recipe. It takes roughly 30 minutes, you need only 1 pot and it is absolutely amazing. It passed what I call “my husband” test, essentially if my husband likes it, most people will like it. He’s not super adventurous when it comes to trying new foods, so I consider him liking this recipe a mini-victory.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground, sweet pork sausage (most natural food stores have great Paleo, organic options)
32 ounces organic, natural chicken stock
24 ounces water
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
2 cups chopped organic kale
2 medium sweet potatoes ( I used white sweet potatoes for this recipe)

RECIPE

Wash and peel sweet potatoes, slice into 1/4″ slices. Place water, chicken stock, potatoes, salt and pepper into a pot and cover. Bring to a boil and remove cover. Add sausage too boiling mixture, breaking it up with your hands. Reduce to medium-high heat, stir occasionally. Test potatoes with a fork, see if you can easily push the fork through the sweet potatoes (about 20 minutes). When you can easily poke through the sweet potatoes add chopped kale to the mixture and stir in. Cover and let stew for 5 minutes. It’s ready to serve!

This is a great savory & sweet recipe. As a note of caution, let the soup cool down for a bit before you try to eat it. Otherwise you’ll end up burning your tongue a bit, and for those of you who are curious, yes I know this from personal experience.

Hope This Keeps You Warm!

Melissa Van Dover

@mvandover | melissavandover.com 

This is a great pick me up in the morning. My favorite part is that you don’t have to wait forever for it to cool down, which anyone whose’s made a jug of ice tea knows how long hot tea takes to cool down.

INGREDIENTS 

12 ounces of water
1 chai tea bag (Tazo is always great and it’s organic)
2 black tea bags (you can substitute decaf here if you’re not big on caffeine) 
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup of ice (you can adjust the amount depending on your drink container)

RECIPE

Bring 12 ounces of water to boil (an electric kettle is great for this). Place 3 tea bags into a glass and pour water over the tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes remove the tea bags and discard, mix in 1 tablespoon of honey. Fill your tumbler (or tea container) with ice and pour tea mixture over ice. Add more ice if necessary. You’re good to go!

Have a Chai-tastic Morning!

Melissa Van Dover

@mvandover | melissavandover.com 

This will become your “go to”, “1 pot”, “30 minute” week night dinner. It’s Paleo and it’s delicious. Here are our Paleo inspired teriyaki lettuce wraps!

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon garlic coconut oil (you can substitute this with other Paleo oils if needed)
5 tablespoons teriyaki sauce (here’s a great link to a Paleo teriyaki sauce)
3 tablespoons hot chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup sliced and chopped carrots
1/2 red onion diced
2 pounds organic, grass-fed ground beef
1 head iceberg lettuce

RECIPE

Heat coconut oil in a large frying pan on low, medium heat. Add carrots, onion, black pepper and salt to pan, cook roughly 5-7 minutes until the carrots and onion start to become soft. Increase heat to medium and add ground beef and 3 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce, let cook until meat has browned. Drain excess fat from the mixture and place back on the stove. Add remaining teriyaki sauce and chili sauce, allow to cook for 3 more minutes at medium heat and then turn stove down to warm(or your lowest setting).

Slice the bottom off of the iceberg lettuce remove outside lettuce leafs and discard. Begin to peel off leafs and place on plate to use as lettuce cups. note: when you get towards the end, you can shred the remainder of the lettuce and make a salad.

For reference, NuCo is the flavored coconut oil I found in my local health food store.

Happy Cooking!

Melissa Van Dover

@mvandover | melissavandover.com 

Here’s an easy French Onion Soup Recipe. It won’t take you more than 45 minutes and it’s one of those get it started and forget about it recipes!

INGREDIENTS

5 small to medium yellow onions
4 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1 tbsp. black pepper
3 bay leafs
48 oz. beef stock (organic)
10 oz. water

RECIPE

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot on high.
2. Slice onions and place into pot with salt and pepper. Cook and stir occasionally until light brown.
3. Pour in beef stock, water and add bay leafs. Return to a boil.
4. Cover and change heat to simmer.
5. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

Have fun!

Melissa Van Dover

@mvandover | melissavandover.com 

Hi All,

I just wanted to share this great recipe that I cooked up for Paleo Hummus. It’s essentially a compilation and rework of a few recipes that I’ve tried. Hope you like it!

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• ⅓ cup + 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp salt (optional)
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• ½ cup tahini
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2-3 lemons
• 1 red bell pepper
• paprika (for garnish)

Directions:

Wash the cauliflower, core it and cut it into small florets (about the size of a half dollar).

In a bowl mix the cauliflower, cumin, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and black pepper. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and bake at 450 F for 30 minutes (keep an eye on this because it tends to smoke a little, you’re looking for the cauliflower to brown a bit).

After it’s done, let it cool slightly then place it into a food processor with tahini, garlic powder and lemon juice and blend till smoothed, while streaming in ⅓ cup of olive oil.

At the same time cut a red bell pepper into four sections, making sure to clean it out. Place it on a baking sheet and broil at 500 F for 10-15 minutes, until the skin starts to bubble. Add it to the food processor and blend until smooth.

Add additional lemon juice, garlic powder and olive oil to taste. Then garnish with paprika.

Enjoy!

Melissa

@mvandover