Foods We Love

We really love to eat, and I like to try out new recipes as often as I can.  A lot of times, though, I want to find that one recipe that was so good that one time, and no matter how hard I google, using the same keywords as last time, I'm never quite sure if I've found the recipe I wanted in the first place.  (A friend pointed out that there's this site that lets you "pin" stuff... called Pinterest... that would've done this for me... so now I'm pinning things, too.) 

I am also really bad at remembering temperatures, times, quantities, and measurements, even for embarrassingly simple food preparations (hard boiled eggs, chicken, etc.), BUT I'm really good at following directions. So every time I want to cook almost anything in the kitchen besides omelets and bacon, I waste precious minutes googling "how to cook a paleo roast chicken" and scanning through until I discover the cut I'm cooking and the preparation method I want to use.

I'm tired of that.  So, here's the ever-expanding Wells list of delish dishes:


Apples
  • Sauteed apples: this is a really diverse recipe that could be paired with pork chops, served as filler for crepes, or used as a side dish or dessert.  Delish!

Avocado
  • Guacamole: I make this different probably every time I make it, but my recipe is something like this: 2-3 avocados, at least half a lime's juice, 1-2 cloves of garlic minced, 1-2 jalapeno peppers, some sea salt, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Sometimes I add in a couple diced cherry tomatoes or green pepper. We dip baked sweet potato fries in this. Mmmm.
Beef
  • Paleo chili recipe - boatload of spices and lots of veggies, the first recipe is a great place to start with your chili.  I leave out the cocoa and coffee because it just seems weird, but I stick close to the rest of the spices.  So. Good.
  • Taco salad seasoning - the prepared taco seasoning has soy in it (blech), so we put in our own spices to get to the kick of taco meat.  Shred some lettuce, top with guac, tomato, salsa, or avocado, maybe some shredded cheese, and voila! taco.  All THREE of my kids loved it.

Breakfast
  • Paleo waffles: These are light and fluffy and absolutely delicious!
  • We eat these paleo pancakes at least twice a week. This is a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of dish - we use however many bananas we feel like and supplement with at least as many eggs, plus a big scoop of peanut butter or almond butter. It's a safe one to fiddle with. And add blueberries sometime, too.
  • Paleo crepes: I l-o-v-e crepes, but I never think of making them until a special occasion.  I'm going to try these out on my family Christmas Eve morning, and I'll probably use this non-Paleo recipe for my extended family Christmas morning.
Butternut Squash
Carrots
Chicken
  • How to cook a whole chicken already cut into pieces (yes, I really do need this link because I'm that brilliant).
  • Balsamic roast chicken thighs (these are the ones with the balsamic vinegar and mustard that were a-mazing, and there are two other marinades on the site worth trying sometime)
  • Chicken chili soup (kids LOVED this - double the batch for leftovers!)
  • Chicken stock (stop mocking me; I realize this is so obvious I shouldn't have needed to google it)
  • Turkey chili - a great use of leftover Thanksgiving turkey and the bagged, shredded, frozen zucchini from the garden that I prepared back when we used to make zucchini bread all the time.  Yes, I know turkey isn't chicken, but I'm not starting another category just for turkey.  Maybe I need a chili category.  Meh.
Cucumbers
Fish


Kale
  • Sausage and kale soup - this reminds me of Italian wedding soup, minus the little white pasta balls.
  • Kale chips are a great substitute for potato chips (though they don't taste like potato chips) - if you have a hankering for something crunchy and salty, these are the way to go.
Paleo Fakes
  • Paleo "Cornbread" - not cornbread, but this was fast and easy, and delicious with chili. This one uses almond meal.
  • Paleo "Cornbread" Muffins - not cornbread but the kids devoured them. This one uses coconut flour.
  • Cauliflower crust pizza - it's all about the toppings, I say. This is so delicious and won't leave you feeling lethargic after over-stuffing yourself on it. Next time I make this I am going to add some salt to the crust though.  Here's another version of the recipe: Cauliflower Crust Paleo Pizza
Pumpkin
Sauce
Spinach
  • Strawberry spinach salad with homemade salad dressing
  • Spinach steamed with a little salt with eggs at breakfast or for a quick and easy side at dinner
Sweet Potato
  • Baked sweet potato fries (a house favorite!  We probably make this once a week with some guacamole)
  • We like our sweet potatoes baked hot and fast - no need for foil or forking, just pop 'em in a preheated oven at 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes or until soft - bigger potatoes need a few more minutes. The fast roast enhances the sweet flavor of the tater.
Veggies
Zucchini
  • Ooh, I looove me some zucchini! Pretty much anything zucchini is good by me. Zucchini and yellow squash sauteed in a little olive oil or butter, with some salt, pepper, and garlic is a quick and painless side dish.
  • And for those times when you need to "dress up" zucchini, make a ratatouille!  This is a whoppin' huge amount of veggies - a rare occasion when we might have leftovers.
My absolute favorite cookbook right now is Paleo Comfort Foods for recipes like pumpkin pancakes, south of the border stuffed acorn squash, sweet potato pie, egg recipes, and lots of paleo staples. Everything I've tried has been awesome.  A great cookbook for families with little kids is Eat Like a Dinosaur, which provides lots of kid-friendly recipes and ways the kids can help cook as well.  The grain-free granola and the chicken nuggets recipes are worth the purchase alone.

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