Paleo Tandoori Chicken Skewers

The few of you that consistently follow my blog, you may have realized that I have not posted in a very long time (until yesterday that is).  I thought I would have all summer to write my blog and test out new recipes.  I tested tons of recipes, but never got around to the writing portion.  My office was such a huge junk pile, and my macbook is as slow as dirt in its old age... excuses, I know.

Avery was home sick yesterday, inevitably I was too.  I took the opportunity to start cleaning out my office.  By the end of the evening it was clean.  Oh, and Avery moved in.  She has a craft zone in the living room, I should say had, because now she is sharing my office space.  She is pretty excited about it, and it will still allow us to hang out while I type away and share recipes!  So here I am trying to fulfill my commitment of 54 blog posts this year.

Over the summer, or maybe it was just before summer started I did a round of the 21 Day Sugar Detox.  I finally caved and bought the cookbook too.  This is the firs time I have ever paid full price for a cookbook!  I have made tons of recipes from the book, so I shall try to share as many as I tried (my version of course).

This is a recipe for tandoori skewers.  It was quite easy recipe and very tasty too.  Nice dishfor the BBQ.  I didn't use all the sauce on my chicken, so I used it as dip and marinade for a variety of other things.  I'm pretty sure I have it in eggs, on eggs, everywhere.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup full fat coconut milk - I buy Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk (Usually) Superstore sells a brand that is pretty good too
1/2 small red onion - chopped - I used a regular old onion
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons ground corriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika - I was very generous here
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Cayenne Pepper to taste - I like a little kick to my tandoori
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

1. soak your skewers in water - stops them from burning on the BBQ
2. Cube the chicken and place in a large ziplock back
3. combine the remaining ingredients in your blender or food processor for 1 to 2 minutes - or your sauce looks smooth
4. Pour the sauce over your chicken and refridgerate for at least 3 hours - overnight if you can - I only kept mine in the fridge for 3 hours
5. Turn on the BBQ / Grill
6. While waiting for the BBQ/Grill to heat up add the cubes of chicken to the skewer
7. Cook the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165F - or until you think your chicken looks done if you dont have a meat thermometer. 

That is it, pretty easy peasy!!  Delicious too :-)

Happy Cooking

JoJo

Baked Sweet Potato Latke

The sun came out, the temperature has gone up, the snow is melting, its finally spring!!!  What is the one thing you think about eating once spring rolls around?!?!  Well for me it was BBQ, but what did I have in the house that I could BBQ?  Ground meat - burgers... UGH I dont have any giant portabello mushrooms - what will I use as a burger bun? The I went to my trust pinterest site and what did I see... sweet potato latke burgers!!  Wooo!  Yummy!  
Clearly I started this post a very long time ago, and never got around to finishing. Thank goodness for a clean office and a space to work ;-)

The latkes have become a favorite for me. I use them to make all sorts of sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!

Paleo Sloppy Joes

This was a super easy recipe!


Baked Sweet Potato Latkes

• 1 ½ lb / 680 gr sweet potatoes (about 2 large) - Sometimes I mix white sweet potatoes or parsnips into the mix, a little spinach, carrots.... be creative
• 2 scallions (or 1 medium onion), thinly sliced - i do not include onions
• 2 free-range organic large eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup / 1.76 oz / 50 gr almond meal - I also use 1/2 cup of flax instead, gives it an earthy taste
• 2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons of chia seeds

Sweet Potato and Spinach Latkes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C), coat two baking sheets with olive oil.
2. Grate sweet potatoes with a medium sized grater (or, if you have one, using the shredding blade of a food processor), so you get decent shreds of potatoes. I use my food processor - and I use the larger side of the shredder
3. In a large bowl combine scallions and eggs. Add almond flour, salt and pepper and mix until incorporated. Add sweet potatoes, and toss until combined and evenly coated. I like to add my flax and chia seeds to the sweet potato and mix it in well - then I add the egg mixture
4. Drop ½ cup of potato mixture onto the baking sheet, and with the help of a spatula flatten and shape into large flat discs. Repeat to obtain 8 big latkes. I use parchment paper
5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. I recommend to rotate the baking sheet a couple of times to get an even crispiness.
6. The latkes are ready when they have a nice golden color and are bit burned around the edges.
7. You can also throw the mix into your waffle iron and make hashbrown waffles :-)

Burgers and Salad

I hope you get as much enjoyment out of these little goldmines as I do :-)

Happy Cooking!!

JoJo!!

Paleo Style Trifle

Another Spring Break project that I am super late to write about.  Trifle.  I am British.  Born and raised (until I was 10).  I remember trifle, and I remember liking it, a lot. This trifle is not quite what I remember trifle to be, but after looking at all the different recipes, this is the one I thought I would try first.  It is missing Jelly (jello) which I always thought was in trifle, but maybe that is why the recipe used a jellyroll cake?
 

 
It wasn't a complicated recipe, (well maybe some parts of it are) but it does take some time to make each component and put it all together.  The custard was the tricky part.  I could not get it to work,  I had a runny custard and a lumpy custard.  Either way, they tasted nice.  I also added "whipped cream" to mine, because that is how I think I remember having it as a child!
 

 
Avery and I loved it.  It did not last very long in our house.  We ate it within the week of spring break.  I found the original recipe here!! - Paleo Mom has some really great recipes :-)
 
Ingredients (jellyroll filling):

• 1 ½ cup frozen organic strawberries I really think you could use any fruit
• 1 ½ cup fresh or frozen organic mango

1. Place berries and mango pieces in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat.
2. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, until juices are thick and mango is very soft. this took me a little longer than 20 minutes to get my mango soft
3. Blend with an immersion blender or food processor until smooth.
4. Cool completely before spreading on cake. it is still quite runny

 

Ingredients (jellyroll cake):

• 8 large eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup sugar/sucanat, divided - I used coconut sugar, it was all I had
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup coconut flour, sifted
• ½ cup blanched almond flour
• 1 cup jellyroll filling (see above)

1. Prepare a 12”x18” rimmed baking sheet by lining with wax paper and heavily greasing the wax paper with extra virgin coconut oil. Preheat oven to 350F. I used parchment paper and my pan was not quite the right size

2. In the large bowl of a standing mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 cup sugar gradually and continue to mix until stiff peaks form. this will take a few minutes

3. In a separate, small bowl, beat egg yolks with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and vanilla until thick. Whisk in coconut and almond flour.

4. Fold yolk mixture into egg mixture, being careful not to lose too much volume, until incorporated.

5. Spread batter out onto prepared baking sheet. Take the time to spread the surface evenly and into the corners.

6. Bake for 16-17 minutes, until top is just starting to turn golden brown. Meanwhile, lay out a piece of parchment paper (roughly the size of your baking sheet), cover with a large tea towel and another layer of parchment paper. have a nice big clear space for this (and the next step)

7. Remove cake from oven and immediately invert over parchment. Carefully peel off the wax paper. Starting from one of the shorter sides, roll the cake up in the parchment/tea towel. Let the rolled-up cake fully cool on a wire rack.

8. Once completely cooled, gently unroll the cake. Remove the parchment and tea towel. Spread the top side evenly with the cooled jellyroll filling. Roll the cake back up. My cake did break a bit, but it did not seem to make a difference to the finished product

9. Wrap up the jellyroll in parchment or wax paper and refrigerate, seam side down, until ready to assemble the trifle (at least 1 hour, or overnight). I refridgerated mine over night.
 

Ingredients (Coconut Custard):

• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 3 large eggs, well beaten
• 2 bay leaves - I omitted this
• 1 Madagascar vanilla bean - i used my regular old costco vanilla bean
• 2 ½ Tbsp honey

1. Split vanilla bean down the middle and place in a saucepan. Add coconut milk and bay leaves. I scraped my vanilla bean a little

2. Heat coconut milk slowly over low heat until very steamy and just shy of simmering.

3. Add a ladle of the hot coconut milk to the beaten eggs while stirring the eggs vigorously. Then add the egg mixture back to the saucepan, stirring constantly.

4. Continue to stir constantly until custard thickens (should coat a wooden spoon), about 4-5 minutes. You really have to stir, otherwise it gets lumpy, but if you don't let it get lumpy it does not thicken up to what I think custard should be.

5. Remove from heat. Remove bay leaves and discard. Remove vanilla bean halves, scrape the inside of the vanilla beans with a sharp knife to collect the vanilla seeds and add back into the custard. Discard the vanilla bean pod. i completely scraped my vanilla bean at this point

6. Once cooled, add honey and mix well. I added my honey while it was still warm, maybe why it was runny?

7. Refrigerate until cold before assembling the trifle.

 

Ingredients (the trifle):

• Jellyroll
• Custard
• 1/3 cup good quality dark rum (for family-friendly option, flame ¾ cups rum) I did skip this since I was making if for me and Avery
• 3 cups fresh berries, plus more to garnish (I used strawberries and blueberries)
• Fresh mint, for garnish (optional) no thanks

1. Slice the jellyroll into ¾” slices (so you see the lovely spiral of the fruit filling).
 

2. Line a glass bowl with the jellyroll slices. For a really nice presentation, you might want to cut a few jellyroll slices in half for the bottom to help prop the other slices up on the sides. Place any extra cake in the bottom of the bowl.

3. Carefully drizzle each piece of cake with rum. (For family-friendly option: heat ¾ cup good quality dark rum in a wide-bottomed saucepan or skillet on the stove on low heat. When it starts to steam, remove to a well-ventillated area (like outside!) and carefully light it on fire (use a barbecue lighter, extra-long match/taper, or kitchen blowtorch). Let it burn, swirling the pan gently every once in a while, until the flames go out by themselves. You should be left with about 1/3 cup of lovely very low-alcohol rum. Let it cool before drizzling on the cake.) yah - I did not do this

4. Fill the inside of the bowl with the fruit (slice any bigger berries, if needed)

5. Poor the cooled custard over the fruit in the middle of the bowl. Place some extra fruit on the top for a garnish. Garnish with mint leaves, if using.
 
6.  Top with "whipped coconut cream"
 
Whipped Coconut Cream

• 1 can of thai kitchen organic full fat coconut milk
• honey (to taste)

Directions:
1.  Seperate the coconut cream from the water
2.  Whip the coconut cream until fluffy (3-5 minutes)
3.  Add sugar to taste
 
Hope you enjoy this as much as Avery and I did :-)
Happy Baking
JoJo!