The Paleo Pact

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Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi is my absolute favorite pasta dish and when I went Paleo it was something that seemed totally off-limits. Thankfully as I became more accustomed to cooking Paleo I started to venture out and try my hand at making what I thought to be more complicated dishes. This led to me discovering how to make sweet potato gnocchi. It’s Paleo. It’s delicious, and I’m sure you’re going to love it. Did I mention it’s easy to make? You do not need to be an expert chef to whip this up.

INGREDIENTS

4 – 5 medium sweet potatoes (once mashed it will be about 2 cups)
1/4 cup coconut flour
3/4 – 1 cup tapioca flour (+ about 1/4 cup for dusting)
1 tsp salt
water (as needed)

RECIPE

Wash sweet potatoes and puncture with fork multiple times.
Place in microwave and cook on “potato” setting, you should be able to easily insert a fork in them when they are done.
Cut sweet potatoes in half and scoop flesh of potatoes into a bowl, mash together.

Add coconut flour and salt to potatoes and combine.
Add 1/4 cup of tapioca flour to mixture and combine. Continue to add 1/4 cup of tapioca flour to mixture until you are able to form a ball of dough.
At this point the dough should not be very sticky but should also not be too dry as it could crack. If your dough is too sticky add more tapioca flour, if it is too dry add a little bit of water.

After your dough has formed, take small handfuls and roll out into a rope, cut into 1/2″ pieces. (If desired you can press lightly with a fork, to get a more traditional looking gnocchi. Or you can leave them as they are.)

Let dry for roughly 6 – 8 hours.
After drying you can cook your sweet potato gnocchi or store them.
To Cook: Bring a pot of water to a boil, add gnocchi and boil for 60 – 90 seconds or until gnocchi start to float. Remove and serve.
To Store: Gnocchi can be stored in the fridge for 2 – 3 days or frozen.

Combine your gnocchi with your favorite sauce and toppings…the recipe is really that simple. The best part is that your family and friends will think you’re a master chef.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

@camillacarboni | camillacarboni.com

Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet Potato Pie is a favorite in many of the Southern States and, while it sounds like a healthy dessert, it is traditionally made with heaps of refined-sugar and dairy.

In this Paleo version, organic sweet potatoes take center stage, second to eggs, natural sweeteners and coconut milk. It’s just as delicious, and a whole lot more nutritious!

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
2 cups organic sweet potatoes
1/4 cup coconut milk (canned and full fat)
1/2 cup honey/raw agave nectar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch salt

+ Paleo Pie Crust ingredients

RECIPE

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Peel the sweet potatoes, slice them and place them in a pot or steamer for about 20 minutes, until they are soft.
Meanwhile, make the Paleo Pie Crust so the base is ready.
Once the sweet potato is cooked, place the eggs, cooked sweet potatoes, coconut milk, honey/agave, cinnamon and salt in a food processor and pulse for about a minute, or until well blended.
Pour the pie filling mix into the baked Paleo Pie Crust, reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees F and bake the pie for 45 minutes.
Remove the pie from the oven and allow it time to cool, then refrigerate it for at least an hour for the pie to set before serving.

Enjoy!

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

@camillacarboni | camillacarboni.com

Roast Leg of Lamb

Growing up, one of my favorite dishes was Roast Leg of Lamb. It was my first request whenever anyone would ask what I would like to eat on a special occasion and to this day the meal itself sparks brilliant memories of my childhood in South Africa.

Since I believe indulgences and happy memories shouldn’t be reserved for special occasions alone, I went about whipping up a Roast Leg of Lamb recipe with my fellow South African friend, Samantha during her last visit to Colorado. Here’s what we came up with:

INGREDIENTS

3 lb. leg of lamb
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried rosemary
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon course sea salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 large sweet potato, sliced
1 dozen button mushrooms
2 cups Brussels sprouts
Grass-fed butter (optional)

RECIPE

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix the thyme, rosemary, black pepper and sea salt in a small bowl and then rub the spice mix into the leg of lamb, covering the entire surface of the meat.
Place the seasoned lamb in a large oven-compatible dish, cover with foil and allow to sit for about 30 minutes.
Remove the foil, place the sliced sweet potato pieces in the dish, surrounding the meat, and then place the dish in the oven to roast for about 50 minutes.
In the meantime, rinse the Brussels sprouts and then cut the base off of each sprout and remove the top 3 layers of leaves from each one, before slicing each sprout in half.
Rinse the mushrooms and leave them whole.
Once the lamb and sweet potatoes have cooked for about 50 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and add the Brussels sprouts and mushrooms, placing them around the meat/on top of the sweet potatoes.
Slice into the meat about 1/4 of an inch deep every 1/2 inch or so across the top surface of the roast to allow the heat to penetrate the lamb evenly.

Place the dish back in the oven for about another 25 minutes for a medium-rare roast or about 45 minutes for a well-done roast.
Once the time is up, remove the dish from the oven, slice the lamb and serve it warm alongside the roast vegetables, topped a generous amount of grass-fed butter if you’re so inclined (like me!)

May your experience with this meal be as memorable as mine,

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!

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!