The Paleo Pact

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Carrots, Apples & Ginger Oh My!

The summer is the perfect time for some refreshing juice. It’s also a great way to incorporate some nutrients that you may not usually consume into your diet. This happens to be one of my favorite juice recipes, it’s a wonderful and refreshing mix of carrots, apples and ginger!

INGREDIENTS

1 apple
3 – 4 large carrots, peeled
1/2 a thumb size of ginger root, peeled

EQUIPMENT

juicer (I purchased mine at my local grocery store for $30, it works like a charm)

RECIPE

Cut your apple, carrots and ginger into chunks that will fit in your juicer and juice them!
That’s all folks!

This recipe is very simple and can easily be adjusted to your taste buds. Try different amounts of each ingredient until you find the perfect combination for yourself. I also like to serve mine over ice.

Happy Juicing!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Peaches ‘n Cream Protein Shake

Simplicity is the key to staying on track with health, particularly in the depth of summer when everyone is making a dash for the outdoors.

One of my tricks to ensuring I get enough nutrients all summer long is to sip on protein shakes.

Egg white protein is my personal favorite as egg is considered a complete food and provides the body with numerous health benefits. That said, if you are allergic to egg like Melissa, or simply prefer other options, there are other great Paleo protein powders, such as collagen protein and cricket protein.

This particular protein shake is one of the simplest to whip up. It’s a perfect way to indulge in summer fruit and takes just a minute to make. Plus, peaches are rich in vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber to give you a mid-summer health boost.

INGREDIENTS

5 ice cubes
1 cup coconut milk
1 scoop protein powder of your choice (ideally a Paleo protein of course!)
1 peach, de-pipped and chopped

RECIPE

Place all the ingredients in a blender and pulse for about a minute, or until well blended.
Pour into a tall glass and enjoy chilled, in true-summer style, through a colorful straw!

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Sweet Potato Steak Fries

This recipe was inspired by my co-author Camilla. She had told me that while baking steak in her oven, she would cover it with vegetables and everything would be done at the same time and ready to go. This sounded delicious and almost too easy to be true, not to mention it required only one dish which I’m a huge fan of. So I decided to give it a shot but I decided to change it up a little with sweet potatoes and make sweet potato steak fries.

INGREDIENTS

steak (your choice here, I used two fillets)
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 medium sweet potatoes

RECIPE

Preheat oven to 350 °F.
Skin sweet potatoes and cut into fries, keep sweet potatoes roughly 1/8″ thick to ensure they cook quickly.
In an oven safe dish, place steak and cover with sweet potatoes.
Pour coconut oil over sweet potatoes and steak, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake until your steak is cooked to your liking. This will depend upon your type of steak and it’s thickness.
Remove the steak and let cool.
Stir sweet potatoes to cover with steak juices. Continue to bake until you can easily poke a fork through your sweet potatoes, then remove and let cool.

***note: you may have noticed that this recipe doesn’t have times and this is largely because the size of your steak may require you too cook it longer and leave the sweet potatoes in for much less time. or vis versa. For reference, I had 1″ fillets. I cooked the steak covered with sweet potatoes for about, 20 – 25 minutes and then I cooked my sweet potatoes for about another 20 minutes. Keep your eye on this while it cooks and follow the general cook times listed for your steak, when the sweet potatoes can be poked through with a fork they are done as well.

This will quickly become one of your favorite ways to cook sweet potatoes. They’re easy to make and packed full of flavor. If you’re not a fan of steak you could easily play with this recipe and try switching out the type of meat you’re using.

Have fun and happy cooking!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Raisin Walnut Cookies

Cookies are always a favorite to bake when we have guests coming over, and this gluten-free, egg-free and refined-sugar-free recipe, that follows the base recipe featured in our book Quick & Fantastic Paleo Cookies, is a safe bet to serve on virtually any occasion.

Raisins offer a natural sweet sensation while providing the body with numerous vitamins and dietary fiber. Walnuts also offer natural healing properties and together add delicious flavor to a cookie I can’t get enough of.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup grass-fed butter, kept refrigerated
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1 ½ tablespoons honey or raw agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ tablespoons water
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened, dried raisins
1/2 cup walnut pieces
Arrowroot flour as a non-stick base for rolling

RECIPE

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place parchment paper or foil sheets over your baking sheet to prevent your cookies from sticking.
Combine the tapioca flour, coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt in a small bowl.
In a food processor (or using a large bowl and an electric hand mixer) beat the butter and sugar for approximately 2 minutes, or until fluffy.
Add the dry ingredients, water, agave and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until well combined.
Lightly dust arrowroot flour on a clean counter.
Place the cookie dough, raisins and walnuts on the dusted counter and combine them using your hands.

Using a rolling-pin, roll the cookie dough until 1/4 inch thick and then cut out your cookies using a cookie cutter.
(If ever the dough is too sticky to handle, simply add a small amount of arrowroot flour at a time until it becomes manageable.)
Place the cookies on your lined baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe makes about a dozen cookies.

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Crockpot Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is hands down delicious. Thankfully, while it takes a while to cook it’s relatively low maintenance to get it going. I’ve made pulled pork on a grill, in an oven and now a crockpot. So far I think the crockpot is the easiest. My other favorite piece about making pulled pork is that it lasts you a few days if not the whole week, which means that you’re less likely to eat something bad.

INGREDIENTS

8 – 10 lbs pork shoulder
1/2 – 3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 – 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 orange rind grated
3 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp paprika
1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
3 – 4 cloves garlic, diced

RECIPE

Turn your crockpot on low.
Place your pork shoulder in the crockpot.
Pour liquids over the pork and then cover pork with rind, spices and garlic.
Rub your spices over the pork to make sure it is thoroughly coated.
Let pork cook for roughly 9 – 11 hours or until pork easily falls apart when separating with a fork. (I let mine go overnight while I was sleeping and pulled it in the morning.)
Remove pork from crock pot and place on a cutting board. Pull the pork using two forks, use one fork to hold the pork still and the other to shred.

I eat my pulled pork with guacamole on sweet potato buns but dress yours however you’d like! This will make enough pork for two for 4 or 5 meals.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Sweet Potato Buns

This is officially my new favorite, “must-know” recipe. I’ve been off of wheat for a while, it started before I even began Paleo because I’m allergic to wheat. One of the biggest issues I ran into when giving up wheat was not having buns. I switched to lettuce wraps for my burgers for a bit but honestly I was never very crazy about them. Finally, I just gave up and did no bun.

These sweet potato buns are great for everything that needs a bun. They’re delicious and they’re incredibly easy to make. Not to mention they passed the Husband Test, I actually had to hide them from him because he was eating them all!

INGREDIENTS

2 large sweet potatoes*
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted**
salt or cumin for seasoning

Notes:
*Remember you’re trying to make circles so if you can find nice even sweet potatoes it’ll help in the long run.
**If you have a brush for marinades or sauce it’ll make it easier to put it on the sweet potatoes.

RECIPE

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.
Skin sweet potatoes and slice into 1/4″ slices. (As a note you can still roast the ends and eat them but they may be a little too small to make buns.)
Place sweet potato slices on baking sheet and brush with coconut oil, flip and repeat.
Sprinkle with salt or cumin if you’d like to season them a little, honestly they don’t need much.
Place in the oven. In total you will cook the potatoes for roughly 30 – 35 minutes, flipping once halfway through. (You can test one to check if it’s done by inserting a fork, it should easily poke through the sweet potato flesh.)
Remove and let cool.

I paired this sweet potato bun with guacamole and pulled pork, it’s delicious.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Baked Beet Chips

I love beets. This was actually a recent love for me, when I was younger I never had a desire to try them but now that I have I can’t get enough. I made apple chips a little while ago and I decided it would be a good time to try out beet chips as well.

As a note: this recipe makes roughly enough to fill ½ a sandwich size, ziploc bag.

INGREDIENTS

3 – 4 beets
salt for dusting

RECIPE

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.
Wash beets, peel and slice them to roughly ⅛” thickness, the thicker your slices the longer they will take to cook.
Lay slices flat on baking sheet.
Dust with salt 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 salt.
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 beets, ensuring you don’t burn them. These are great with a little dressing or vinaigrette for dipping.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Paleo Apple Pie

Apple Pie!

It’s one of those famous American treats that we just can’t live without. Unfortunately, traditional Apple Pie has more sugar than apples and more gluten than goodness, which is why Apple Pie was on my Paleo To Do List!

This recipe is sweetened with natural dates and is 100% grain-free and dairy-free. Now there’s an Apple Pie you can indulge in!

INGREDIENTS

4 large red apples, chopped
2/3 of a cup chopped dates
1 and 2/3 of a cup water
2 tablespoons cinnamon

RECIPE

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the apples, dates and water in a large sauté pan and set the temperature gauge to medium heat.

Stir and let the apples soften. Once the water evaporates, add a cup of water and the cinnamon. Stir, then cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a baked Paleo Pie Crust, using the caramelized dates that tend to line the bottom of the pan to fill in the gaps between the apple pieces.

Top with Paleo Pie Crust crumbles to “seal” the pie.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let the pie cool before slicing.

Tip: Paleo Pie Crust is easier to crumble when chilled. Use un-baked Paleo Pie Crust mixture and refrigerate it for a few hours before crumbling over pies for the best finish.

Enjoy!

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Coconut Shrimp

During my days living in Hawai’i I ate a fair amount of shrimp. Those shrimp shack takeout stands make a wonderful plate lunch, enjoyed with the sound of the ocean in the distance. But the best thing of all was the story behind the only shrimp shack that was run by a woman on the Island of O’ahu, Big Wave Shrimp.

It had been her life long dream to run her own business, but it wasn’t really heard of to do so at the time. Luckily she had a very supportive husband who spent all his savings buying her a truck to turn into the Big Wave Shrimp shack. Many years later, the truck still operates on the North Shore, serving up plate after plate of her famous coconut shrimp to locals and tourists alike.

With that I have set myself up for a challenge–and I don’t proclaim to beat her recipe by any means–but this is a little taste of the coconut shrimp flavor I so vividly remember.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon grass-fed butter
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1/2 cup cooked shrimp (fresh or frozen)
2 tablespoons coconut milk (canned and full fat)
1/8 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Black pepper (optional)

RECIPE

In a medium saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the garlic and stir before adding the shrimp.

Continue to cook on medium heat until the shrimp is thoroughly heated, then sprinkle the shredded coconut over the shrimp and cook for another few minutes, stirring often, until the coconut begins to brown.
Add the coconut milk, stir and let simmer for a few minutes before sprinkling with crushed black pepper, as desired, and enjoying warm.

Enjoy it and Mahalo,

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!