Recipe: Chicken and Courgette Kebabs with Almond Dip

Ingredients:

• Chicken
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• Italian herbs, salt, pepper
• 4 tbsp oil
• 2 courgettes
• 100g ground almonds
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar

Instructions:

1. Marinade the chicken in the oil, mustard, lemon juice, 2 clove garlic, herbs and seasoning for at least an hour.

2. Dry fry the almonds, being careful not to burn. Add 150ml water, the honey, vinegar, garlic clove and seasoning. Set aside to cool.

3. Slice the courgettes in long strips. Roll them and skewer alternately with the chicken pieces. Fry for about four minutes on each side until cooked through. Alternatively you can grill the skewers.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Tacos

Ingredients:

• Sweet potato
• 250g mince
• 2 shallots
• 1 red pepper
• 1 avocado
• 1 small lime
• 1 chilli
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tomato
• 100ml tomato passata

Instructions:

1. Roast the sweet potato at 175℃ for 45 minutes.

2. Brown one shallot with the garlic and mince. Add the pepper, tomato, passata, season, and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Mash the avocado and mix with the lime juice, chilli and remaining shallot.

4. Cut open the sweet potato and serve with the mince mixture on top and the guacamole on the side.

Recipe: Paleo Banana Breakfast Pudding

Ingredients:

• One banana
• 75ml almond milk
• 2tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp cinamon
• 1tsp honey

Instructions:

1. Mash the banana and combine with the other ingredients.

Recipe: Salmon Rolls

Ingredients:

• Pancakes
• Smoked salmon
• Lettuce
• Creme fraiche
• Horseradish sauce
• Lemon juice
• Seasoning

Instructions:

1. Mix the creme fraiche, horseradish sauce, lemon juice and seasoning.

2. Spread the sauce on the pancake. Top with lettuce and salmon. 

3. Roll up and enjoy.

Recipe: Chorizo Risotto

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1.5 cups risotto rice
• 150ml red wine
• 1l stock
• 150g chorizo
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 100g frozen peas
• Handful of rocket
• Parmesan
• Seasoning

Instructions:

1. Fry the onion and garlic for five minutes. 

2. Add the rice and chorizo, followed after five minutes by the wine and then tomatoes.

3. Add the stock, ladle by ladle until absorbed, stirring regularly.

4. With the last ladles, add the peas and rocket and check the seasoning.

5. Serve with parmesan.

Recipe: Naan Bread

Ingredients:

• 450g flour
• 1tsp sugar
• 5g salt
• 7g dry yeast
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 350g plain yoghurt
• Butter

Instructions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients except the butter into a dough and rest for 30 mins.

2. Roll out the dough into individual naans and let rest in a warmed oven for another 30 mins.

3. Spread the butter on and bake at 180℃ for 30 mins, spraying regularly with water.

My favourite crock pot recipes so far.

We recently bought a crock pot and it is so practical! I love that I can get dinner, or a dessert, ready on a morning and be more relaxed in the afternoon. Here are some of my favourite recipes so far:

Chilli

I remember my Mum doing chilli in the slow cooker when we were little. This one is full of veg and healthy goodness and we made enough for two meals.

Apple crumble

I love that it's just as easy to do a warm, hearty dessert, although this wasn't as crispy as I would have liked.

Chicken curry

This isn't the exact recipe I tried but it incorporates the changes I would make. The only downside is that it doesn't keep for the next day.

Recipe: Red berry ice pops

Ingredients:

• 300g frozen red berries
• 1 pot banana yoghurt
• 1 cup apple juice
• Honey (optional)

Instructions:

Mix everything together in a blender. Fill the ice lolly maker and freeze!

Recipe: Zucchini Spaghetti Bolognese

Tonight we tried zucchini spaghetti. We'd heard about it a lot, especially through paleo. Nico ordered a zucchini spiraliser and when it arrived today, we got cracking.

It's really easy to do and we froze a big batch for an even quicker and easier meal. Plus it's an extra veg portion rather than overloading on carbs.

The sauce was our regular bolognese and all together it was very filling. It's also a good solution for all the zucchinis in our garden! I'd recommend trying it.

Recipe: Paleo Kohlrabi Lasagne

With my Christmas vouchers I invested in a new paleo book for some new inspiration when trying to eat well this year.

The first recipe we made was a success - a lasagne with layers of kohlrabi instead of pasta and a sauce from onions, garlic, mince, tomatoes, coconut milk and spinach.

It was healthy and delcious. Plus, a batch makes four servings so we can reheat the leftovers tomorrow.

Recipe: Banana and Raspberry Bread

Sunday was baking day around here.

Nico and Isabella baked gluten free ginger buscuits. They are delicious and Isabella was great at cutting up raisins. She managed to cut almost as many as she ate!

Meanwhile I tried a new paleo bread/cake. This one had fewer eggs and more banana than my latest attempts and was better for it. An added highlight was getting to use fresh raspberries from the garden. Perfect for taking to work. Yum!

Paleo Marble Cake

Today I tried this new recipe. With this cake, as well as some previous ones, we've had the problem that the eggs make it very savoury and give the cake a strange texture.

Reading through the comments, I saw that some people replaced some of the eggs with bananas and that helped so I'm planning to trythat next time.

Recipe: Layered fruit gazpacho

This is another recipe we found on the paleo website. It's easy, delicious and great in Summer.

It's basically three fruit purees: kiwi with lime juice, melon, and red berries with honey - yum!

Recipe: Apple Smoothie

Towards the end of the holidays we tried this smoothie. It was great to try something new, tasty and healthy for breakfast.
It's basically made up of apple, almond milk, honey, cashew nuts and cinnamon so it's filling and fits in with paleo.

Looking forward to making it again.

Recipe: Paleo Prawn Curry

Another new recipe we found through paleo 360. It combined the cauliflower rice we've been making since the start of our paleo adventures and gives it a bit more oomph and flavour with prawns, green beans, and vegetables.

It was very easy and it's something I can imagine eating all year round - yum.

Recipe: Paleo Carrot Bread

As I've mentioned before, one thing I struggle with sometimes on paleo is the lack of comfort food. In an attempt to find something new and filling, I tried this carrot bread and it really hit the spot.

I can't recommend Paleo 360 enough - I'm still looking for a good English language version.

One of my plans when I go part time is to bake once a week so we have healthy snacks when it's busy.

Recipe: Mokka Chocolate Cookies

One of the tough things with any diet is finding healthy snacks. That's one of the great things about Paleo 360 - so many recipes at your fingertips. Plus this one is really easy and tasty.

We adapted the website recipe because Isabella loves them and we don't want her having coffee.

It takes less than half an hour - just mix the ground almonds, baking powder, chocolate chips, walnuts, salt, honey, coconut oil, egg and vanilla powder and bake for ten minutes on 180.

Recipe: Filled Courgettes

 Last week we harvested our first courgettes from the garden. I can't put into words how much better fresh veggies from the garden taste. The only downside is that they don't grow fast enough!

We combined the fresh veg with our new Paleo kick to try this recipe and it was really tasty. It's going into our file for future reference...when the next courgettes come through.

Waffles!

For my birthday, Nico bought me a waffle machine. Two weeks ago we tried plain (gluten free waffles) and I seized the opportunity to recreate the red, white and blue pancakes I had in New York. The fresh fruit really lifted the flavour and Isabella loved it too.

Last week we tried waffled banana bread from this book, and I'm eyeing up some new recipes for next weekend.

Citrus Salmon

Lately we've been eating lots of salmon as part of our paleo experiment. Today I wanted to share with you a simple but delicious marinade we've been using.

In a baking dish, cover two salmon fillets with the juice of two oranges, a couple of centimetres of grated ginger, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of dried mint. Marinade for around an hour and bake at 180 for 15-20 minutes.