More Paleo for Dummies

So I last left you at Tuesday dinner. Here are a few more quick & easy meal ideas...

Wednesday

Breakfast - bacon, scrambled eggs, kumara & avocado

This is really easy, and a fairly standard breakfast for us when we have time to cook it.

Heat the oven to 200-220 degrees, slice kumara thinly (I use a mandolin), then spread out on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Spray kumara with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, then cook until crispy (turning with a fish slice a few times). Depending on how much kumara you are cooking, this will probably take around half an hour.

Whilst the kumara is cooking, partly cook your bacon in a large frypan (mostly just to get some bacon fat off it to cook your eggs in!), then transition this to a baking dish and place in the oven until crispy.

Crack eggs into a jug, add salt, pepper, and any other desired seasonings (e.g., onion flakes, garlic salt, mixed herbs) then beat with a fork. Just before kumara and bacon are ready, pour eggs into a heated frypan and stir with a non-stick spatula until cooked. Serve with bacon and kumara, with some avocado on the side.

Thursday

Breakfast - paleo muesli

I don't always feel like a cooked breakfast in the mornings, so this is a great alternative!

In a bowl, combine some chopped nuts, seeds, and desiccated coconut (I keep a container of nut and seed mix in the cupboard ready to go. The current one consists of chopped almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts and cashews, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, flaxseed, and desiccated coconut).

Add a couple of spoonfuls of protein powder (I use Vital Protein - www.vitalhealthnz.co.nz), a handful of blueberries (fresh or frozen), a few spoonfuls of unsweetened applesauce and a drop of pure vanilla extract. Pour over some coconut cream (I also add some water, otherwise it's too rich for me) and combine.

On Friday morning, I made this with almond milk instead of the coconut milk and water - it was just as good, if not better!

Friday

Dinner - Steak with balsamic beetroot & tomato salad

For the salad:

Chop 1 fresh beetroot into cubes and roast in a baking dish for approximately 1 hour at 180 degrees celcius (I roasted mine in a spoonful of duck fat).

In a separate bowl, combine 2 diced tomatoes, 1/4C extra virgin olive oil, 1/8C balsamic vinegar, and salt & pepper to taste.

Finely chop a handful of fresh basil.

When beetroot has cooled a little, add beetroot, basil, and some lightly toasted some chopped almonds (optional) to the tomato mixture and combine.

For the steak:

Season steak well with salt and pepper.

Heat pan/BBQ (I cook my steak on a cast iron grill pan, or on the barbecue). Place steak in pan and cook on both sides, turning only once. Cooking time depends on the thickness of your steak and how well you like it cooked!

Sunday

Dinner - pepper crusted tuna steaks with wasabi mayonnaise, fresh asparagus, and kumara mash

(I forgot to take photos of the preparation - sorry!)

To make the mayonnaise, I followed this recipe here from one of my favourite paleo blogs - The Clothes Make the Girl. I've made this recipe several times, and it's produced amazing mayonnaise every single time! This time, I didn't have any lemons, so I used 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar instead. I also cut the mustard powder, because I wanted to make wasabi mayonnaise - instead, I added a teaspoon of fresh wasabi (not the horrible stuff you buy in the tube...have you ever read the ingredient list on that?!), and stirred more into the final product until I got the flavour I wanted.

For the tuna steaks, grind a whole lot of black pepper and add some salt to it. Place the tuna steaks into the ground pepper to coat. Heat a fry pan (I used my cast iron grill pan again) then cook tuna over medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side. Tuna should still be pink (i.e., rare) in the middle.

I started the asparagus off on the grill pan, but then realised that it was going to take too long like that, so transfered it to a steamer!

For the kumara, chop kumara and boil until soft. Mash, then add salt, pepper, and a couple of spoonfuls of the wasabi mayonnaise in it's original form (i.e., before you add the extra wasabi at the end!), and beat with a fork until creamy.

Monday

Dinner - one-pot mince & veges (like the one-pot pasta my Mum used to make, but without the pasta!)

I didn't take photos of the prep for this one, because I wasn't even planning on posting it! I was originally going to make meatballs, but I was tired & couldn't really be bothered cooking, so I just wanted something I could throw together. Then I remembered that that's just the sort of thing I'm supposed to be posting!

Heat a spoonful of oil or fat in a large saucepan (I used duck fat again). Add a large clove of crushed garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for a minute or two. Add beef mince to the pan and cook until browned. Throw in some chopped vegetables (mine involved broccoli, yellow capsicum, & courgette). I then added a pot of tomatoes that I'd stewed up previously and put in the freezer, but a couple of tins of tomatoes would also do. Season with salt, pepper, onion flakes (I would have used fresh onion, but we didn't have any), and mixed herbs; stir; and simmer until vegetables are soft.

I felt like it still needed some more flavour after all this, so I also added in a bit of chili powder, some smoked paprika, a couple of capfuls of apple cider vinegar, and a glug of pomegranate molasses. Sorry it's not more specific, but that's how I roll!

ps: if you want to get hold of Vital Protein or Vital Greens, you can either order some through me, or go to the website and use the code PP2060C at checkout to get a 15% discount