The Paleo Pact

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Salmon Salad

The spring has arrived and it’s time to get in extra good shape for the summer months!

This Paleo perfect protein salad has a variety of essential nutrients like omega 3, fiber, vitamin C and K, and is a quick and easy way to boost your health this season.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 pound fresh salmon
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 cup salad greens
1/8 cup sundried tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup Cucumber Dressing

RECIPE

In a medium saute pan, melt the coconut oil over medium heat.
Add the salmon fillet and cook for about 5 minutes on each side.
Place the salad greens of your choice in a bowl and decorate with the sundried tomatoes.
Once the salmon is fully cooked, place it atop the greens and then dress with Cucumber Dressing.
Serve while the salmon is warm for a fabulous and healthy spring salad.

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Baked Apple Chips

Baked apple chips are probably my new favorite snack. I will admit that they take some time to make but they’re very low maintenance while baking. You’ll spend a few minutes preparing them and then you’ll throw them in the oven, flip them once and let your oven do all the work. Also, all you need are apples and cinnamon!

As a note: this recipe makes roughly enough to fill a sandwich size, ziplock bag.

INGREDIENTS

2 apples (I picked out honeycrisp but feel free to use whatever kind you like)
cinnamon for dusting

RECIPE

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.
Wash apples and slice them to roughly ⅛” thickness, the thicker your slices the longer they will take to cook.
Discard seeds and stem.
Lay slices flat on baking sheet.
Dust with cinnamon to your liking, I found a light sprinkle worked well for me.
Bake for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and flip slices, dust with additional cinnamon.
Place back in the oven and bake for another 1 – 2 hours.
Remove and let cool.

Towards the end of your baking time you may want to periodically check your apples, ensuring you don’t burn them. I found that at the end of my baking time the apples were still slightly soft when warm but when I let them cool they hardened further becoming more chip like.

I hope you enjoy this snack as much as I did.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Guest Post by Louise Hendon: Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Cashew “Cheese”

A Note from Camilla & Melissa:

We love to have guest posts and we’re so grateful that others want to share their stories and experiences with all of us. This is a guest post from Louise Hendon at PaleoMagazine.com, and we think you’ll love this recipe…who can resist bacon-anything anyway?! Louise Hendon just released her new cookbook, which comes with some amazing recipes and a bunch of awesome bonuses – click here to check it out!

Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Cashew “Cheese”

By Louise Hendon

One of the last foods I gave up when I went Paleo was cheese. My husband and I both loved cheese, and I’d guess that almost half of our dishes contained cheese of some sort.

We used to make these bacon-wrapped dates with blue cheese, but now that we don’t eat cheese any longer, we had to find a new way to make this recipe. (We didn’t really NEED to find a Paleo way to make it, but we just couldn’t resist).

You wouldn’t imagine it, but the cashews actually turn out quite well as a substitute for cheese. I certainly never imagined it would turn out this well.

The only problem with this recipe is that 16 dates probably won’t last very long for you…

Prep Time: 15 minutes (however, cashews should ideally be soaked overnight before using)
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Serving Size: 4 dates

INGREDIENTS

16 pitted dates (small) (scale up the cashew and coconut oil amounts for larger dates)
8 slices of thinly sliced bacon (cut each slice in half to create 16 shorter slices)
1/2 cup (60 g) raw cashews, soaked overnight (omit for AIP)
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) coconut oil
1/2 cup (118 ml) water

RECIPE

Place the raw cashews into a bowl of room temperature water so that it covers the cashews, drape a paper towel or tea towel over the bowl to prevent dust settling, and soak overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C).
Place the soaked cashews, 1/2 cup fresh water, and coconut oil into a blender and blend until smooth.
Slice each date along one side so that it opens up and fill each date with the cashew ‘cheese’ and close it up. Wrap one of the half-slices of bacon around the date and place on baking tray with sides (as the fat from the bacon tends to run).
Bake for 20 minutes before flipping the bacon-wrapped dates over (with tongs).
Bake for another 10 minutes (i.e. for a total of 30 minutes).

Badges

Kid-friendly, AIP-friendly

Louise Hendon is the co-founder of PaleoMagazine.com and author of the Essential Paleo Cookbook. Apart from cooking a little too often, she really loves hiking and playing with her Shih Tzu named Karma.

Learn more at PaleoMagazine.com.

Tomato Chicken Curry

Curry is a wonderful comfort food, especially during the cold winter months. The problem is that most curries take hours to prepare and then come served atop a large bed of rice, making it not so ideal for us Paleo lifestylers on a busy schedule.

With this recipe, it takes a tenth of the time as traditional curry, but the combination of flavors in the order in which they are cooked, creates a curry sauce that tastes like it’s been in the making for hours. It’ll be our little secret!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 lb. skinless, organic chicken breast, sliced into bite-size pieces
1 tablespoon ghee butter
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 dried bay leaves
1 large organic tomato, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic
1 teaspoon yellow curry powder
1 teaspoon paprika spice
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup coconut milk (canned and full fat)
1/2 cup yams, cooked and sliced

RECIPE

In a medium saute pan, melt the ghee over medium heat.
Add the cumin seeds and bay leaves, and cook until the seeds begin to dance and splatter.
Add the tomato and garlic, mix everything together and cover.
Cook for about 5 minutes before adding the chicken, curry powder and paprika. Mix together well.
Immediately add the water, coconut milk and cooked yams and simmer with the lid on for about 15 minutes, until the chicken is well done.

Reduce the heat and remove the lid, allowing the dish to cook for another few minutes before serving hot.

Tip: This curry dish pairs perfectly with Paleo Garlic Naan Bread!

Enjoy this taste of India,

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Cucumber Dressing

Salad dressings are something we’re asked about a lot. It really is a challenge to find ones free of vegetable oils and soy.

There is one store-bought brand I highly recommend, and which I keep on hand in those times of emergency where home-made dressings aren’t a viable option. That brand is Tessemae’s and their dressings are free of all those naughty ingredients that other brands like to sneak in.

That said, when time is available, there is something lovely about making dressing from scratch. I particularly love my Citrus Salad Dressing for summer salads, and this Cucumber Dressing works wonders to liven up a fish dish in the winter.

Plus, cucumber is actually incredibly healthy.

Despite popular belief that it consists of nothing but water, cucumbers contain numerous nutrients, including a number of B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese and potassium. To learn more about the health benefits of cucumbers, Dr. Mercola has an excellent article titled, 9 Health Benefits of Cucumbers.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon honey/raw agave nectar
1 teaspoon olive oil

RECIPE

Simply place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth.
Serve over salad, fish or grilled chicken.

Enjoy!

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Make Your Own Fruit Basket

Now this isn’t exactly a recipe but it’s fun and lets you do something with all those fruit rinds you’ve been throwing away. It’s also a great idea for a party, I made it at my Super Bowl party this year.

SUPPLIES

1 watermelon
a melon baller (an ice cream scoop will work as well)
a bowl
a knife
toothpicks
any other fruit you want

DIRECTIONS

Cut your watermelon in half the short way.
Use the melon baller or ice cream scoop to scoop out the flesh of both halves of the watermelon and place in a bow, set the flesh aside it will be used to fill your basket up later.
Place one half of the rind aside, this will be the bottom of your basket.
Take the other half of the melon, you’re going to use this to make a handle for your basket. Place this rind cut side down and using your knife cut a strip from the middle. (I used honeydew melon rind in my picture, if you do this you’ll probably need to connect two strips with a toothpick to make it big enough to sit over the bottom of your basket).
Once you have your handle stick a toothpick into the bottom end of each side of the handle and stick it into the bottom of your basket.
You should now have a basket with a handle.
Now it’s up to you, you can cut flowers or decorations out of the rest of the fruit and connect it to your basket for decoration using a toothpick.
Cut up the remainder of your fruit, mix with your watermelon and stick into your basket to serve.

Have Fun!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Nutty Mocha Protein Shake

Protein shakes are a great way to start the day and an excellent boost for the afternoon. With just a few ingredients, a basic egg white protein powder shake can be turned into a delicious milkshake-like treat, without the dairy.

This Protein Shake is packed with nutrients, as well as a caffeine pick-me-up. The cinnamon and cacao provide antioxidant protection against free radicals and the almond butter adds healthy fat while providing a creamy base for shake. Best of all, it takes about 2 minutes to make!

INGREDIENTS

6 ice cubes
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 scoop egg white protein powder
1 heaped tablespoon almond butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 heaped teaspoon cacao powder
1 shot espresso

RECIPE

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse for about a minute until smooth.
Pour into a tall glass and enjoy your morning boost.

It’s really that simple! Enjoy this tasty and nutritious boost to your day,

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

How To Make Paleo Gravy

Gravy is delicious and can bring so much flavor to a variety of things. Gravy doesn’t have to be reserved for just turkey, you can add it to almost any form of meat you’re cooking. One of my favorite things to add gravy to is meatballs, not that tomato sauce isn’t good but sometimes I want something different.

Now I’ve heard a variety of negative remarks when it comes to making gravy. The first is that it’s too difficult to make, this honestly just isn’t true. The second is that you need flour, well yes that helps but thankfully we have tons of Paleo flours that will work just fine. So no need to worry about gluten!

Lets get started…

INGREDIENTS

meat renderings (i.e. the juice left over from your meat after you cook it)
tapioca flour
chicken or beef stock (this is to help fix a few issues we’ll discuss below)
whisk

RECIPE

Pour your renderings into a frying pan and place over low heat. (We’re talking low heat, you may see a few bubbles but you don’t want boiling.)
Add 1 tablespoon of tapioca flour and whisk it to incorporate thoroughly.
Here’s the trick, you are going to repeat the previous step until your gravy starts to thicken. (I would wait a minute or so between each tablespoon because gravy is one of those things where all the sudden it will start to thicken).

Here are two issues you may run into and how to fix them:

You need more gravy than you have renderings!- simply add either beef or chicken stock to your renderings prior to adding tapioca flour. This will give you more gravy in the long run, you may also want to add a touch of salt and pepper to ensure your gravy is appropriately seasoned.
You put too much flour in and now it’s like goo!- slowly whisk in either beef or chicken stalk. Make sure you do this slowly, it will help to thin out your gravy and get it to the right consistency.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Squash, Bacon & Almonds…Oh My!

It can be difficult to find breakfast options when you’re following a Paleo lifestyle. Not to mention if you have food allergies, in my case an egg allergy. While this can be a pain, it often forces you to get creative and think outside the “Breakfast Plate”.

So in a fit of inspiration I came up with this dish. The benefit is that you can easily make enough to last you a whole week, when you’re busy this is a life saver! Not to mention that it’s packed with delicious and healthy flavors. Now on to the recipe….

INGREDIENTS

1 large acorn squash
3-4 tablespoons avocado oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1- 2 tablespoons cumin
1/2 pack of bacon
1/2 cup sliced almonds

RECIPE

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut squash in half and remove seeds, place on baking sheet cut side up.
Coat squash with avocado oil, salt, black pepper and cumin.
Place squash in oven and cook for 40 – 45 minutes or until you can poke through the squash with a fork.

In the mean time…

Cook your bacon, there’s obviously multiple ways to do this but I prefer to line a baking sheet with foil and cook it in the oven at 425 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.
Remove your bacon from heat, after it’s cooled chop it up and set aside.
Now, place your almonds in a frying pan and roast over low heat.
Remove your almonds when you can start to smell them in the air and they’re starting to turn a light brown color. Set aside.
Remove your squash from the oven and either peel off the skin or cut the skin off, cube the flesh of the squash.
Mix your bacon, almonds and cooked squash together and you’re ready to eat.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!