Buffalo Chicken Tacos w/ Guac & Homemade Mayo

Yes.

Yes.

Amazing.

It tastes as awesome as it looks.

Basically, diced chicken rubbed with:
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
Smoked Paprika
Garlic Powder

Cooked in a pan --- then added onion and bell pepper.

Then, added Frank's hot sauce, with some apple cider vinegar and coconut oil.

Probably can do with a little less apple cider vinegar than I ended up adding, but the result was still amazing.

I plopped mine into lettuce with some basic guac (avocado, lemon juice, lots of cilantro) and homemade  mayo.

I realize the mayo is a bit weird. But I felt it needed something creamy, and as we all know, on the Paleo Diet, all dairy is out.

No words.

I have recently stumbled across a recipe for paleo ranch dressing, sooooo I will be experimenting with that fairly soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

Bell Pepper Border Omelettes

SO CUTE!

You could even eat it as a sandwich! But...let it cool first.

It was kind of hard to keep the egg in the little bell pepper border area. But worth it. It's like eating a little eggy patty :-)

So, first I just sliced the bell peppers thin enough to make little frames. Then, I cooked them up so they got nice and soft.

They almost look like little hearts. I bet for Valentine's Day, one could totally make that happen. 

Meanwhile, I mixed up some eggs, breakfast sausage chunks, and probably some onion and perhaps some more green pepper chunks.

The sausages almost make it look like its smiling . . . It should be. Because Imma eat it.

It cooked up fine, but next time I might pre-cook the sausage and other veggies before incorporating them into the little pepper-packet.

Almond Crumb Fried Tilapia & Oniony Avocado Spread

As you can see, I very clearly was too involved with eating this dish to take pictures before I ransacked it. Whoopsies. 

But, oh well, posterity is a good thing, even if it isn't a picture-perfect scrapbook moment of the meal I cooked that night. 

So, here's almond-crumb fried tilapia and it's partner in crime, oniony avocado spread!

I have made some rather chunky almond "flour" from the almond pulp remaining after making homemade almond milk. I decided it would make a great breadcrumb! So I can eat "fried" foods even while on the paleo diet. Win for team Bird. 

I mixed up some almond crumbs in a bowl along with fresh parsley, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and probably a little lemon pepper.

I dipped my tilapias in a bowl of beat eggs, then dragged them through the crumbs. I dropped them onto a hot pan with some coconut oil in it and let them fry away. With lots of lemon and lots of love, the result was a tasty fried fish.

Belly happy.

Creamy Creole Stew

As you can see, I also cooked up some shrimp tacos for dinner. But I won't focus on those since the star of the evening was the Creamy Creole Stew. And when I say star, I mean, superstar. Like, this is the Beyoncé of stews.

Boyfriend's plate. He added salsa to his shrimp taco, which I made haphazardly on the side while he nailed the creole stew. 

I started cooking having no idea what was going to happen. I knew I was hungry. And I knew I was going to use shrimp. Outside of that, I just started cutting up vegetables hoping something would come to me.

But then boyfriend came in, and suggested I put the shrimp in a red sauce. I've never been big on shrimp in red sauce, so I was hesitant. But did it anyway. Then he suggested I add coconut milk. And also, sausage. And lots of random spices to make it a creole dish, like a jambalaya without the rice.

I was skeptical. Very skeptical. So I let him take over, and I went to make some shrimp tacos as a side dish.

Simple shrimp tacos with sautéed vegetables in a little lettuce blanket.  

After a few minutes, he shoved a spoon in my mouth. And I'm both proud and humbled to say I couldn't have come up with anything nearly as delicious. Success!!! My contribution was that it be served with zucchinoodles for some texture. Which also worked quite well.

I have to pick his brain about what seasoning he used exactly...I think there was some basil in there, red pepper flakes, paprika, cayenne ... and definitely a few bay leaves.

But it's really just a mixture of shrimp (cooked in olive oil, lemon juice, salted and peppered), onions, garlic, bell pepper, diced tomato, tomato sauce, coconut milk, and sausage.

Easy (once we figured out what we were making) and so delicious! Can't wait to try this again to record an actual recipe.

My plate. I put carrots on my taco, to match the color of the soup. These things are important.

Purple & Green Chicken Stir Fry

I have to be honest.

I don't remember what went into this dish. But, I suspect, it's mainly some delicious vegetables sautéed in coconut oil with salt and pepper.

Enjoy this fabulous, healthy dish with white wine! Also, enjoy white wine anytime. That's what I do.

But it looks pretty!

To be quite specific, I believe I started with chunks of chicken, purple cauliflower, garlic, green bell pepper, onions, and mushrooms.

Alllmost Mardi Gras colors! Must add yellow bell peppers next time.

Oh, garlic. My fingers haven't not smelled like you in months.

Then, after it's pretty much completely cooked, I added some zucchini noodles! They cook quickly so they must go in at the end to avoid being soggy.

Zucchinoodles aren't noodles at all. They are zucchinis. Surprise!

Shrimpy Beef Pale-acos with Creamy Avocado Spread

My version of a paleo taco!

The seasoning needs a little work. But otherwise, it's extremely simple.

The rest of the grass fed ground beef (leftover from the meatballs) gets browned with some onion and green pepper in a pan, where some coconut oil has been heatin' up.

ADD --- chili powder, paprika, lots of cumin, black pepper, salt. Then, once that's cooked up, add the frozen (or not so frozen) already-cooked-baby-shrimpies. Generously douse with lime juice.

MEAT. Just, meat. And shrimpers. I love the little ones. Bite-sized!

Meanwhile, whipped up a basic avocado spread (a half-assed guacamole --- but still delicious and perfect for the taco!).

Just 1 avocado, and mash-er up. Add some lemon juice, and a squeeze of lime juice.
Some onion (not too much).
Garlic powder.
Done.

All we need to do now is place the beef/shrimp into a piece of lettuce...top it with the avocado...julienne some yellow summer squash...and voilà!

Roll this sucker up and eat him. Trust me.

You'd never even miss the tortilla, I swear. And I didn't even miss the cheese! I'm so proud!!!

Zucchinoodles with Meatballs and Homemade Marinara

Boring. Boring title for a recipe. I must revisit. But I want to write down what I did here so I can adequately record and refine the recipe later (and also post pictures!).

FROM SCRATCH MARINARA!
Never done it before. Until now. It turned out soooo delicious...and, as always (as of late), it's completely paleo!

Heat up some coconut oil (Just bought it...I love it! It's fun to watch it melt).

Tasteless, good for you, and paleo. Not to mention, fun to watch melt . . .

He's melllltttinnnggg . . . MELLTINGGGG!!!

Chop up some onions.
Chop up some mushrooms.
Perhaps spinach, if you have some, but I did not.
Dice up a clove of garlic.
Throw it all in the pan, and let it cook. Once cooked up...

Add 1 can diced tomatoes. I bet you could used the fire roasted kind and that would be good too. Some recipes call for tomato paste, but I like the chunks of tomato. Besides, if you cook it long enough, the water will evaporate and it will become a pasty marinara.

A shake of oregano.
Pinch of salt.
 Pinch of pepper.
Pinch of (dried) sweet basil.
Probably 1/4 tsp honey.
 2 bay leaves.
4 leaves fresh basil.
Dash of red pepper flakes.

Wow! All improvised, and delicious. You can see my Sicilian coming out . . .

While that's cooking...

FROM SCRATCH MEATBALLS!
I used half a pound of grass fed beef, and that made 6 fairly giant meatballs.

So, first, put the meat in a bowl.
Add 1 egg.
Add some almond flour/meal.
Some onion.
Probably 1/2 tsp white truffle oil.
A few stems Fresh parsely.
Black pepper. Salt.

Heat up some coconut oil...roll them suckas into large balls...and tossed them in the pan.

Nothin' like the feel of rolling raw meat between your fingers . . . err . . . awkward.

They should probably be baked, but the oven was being used to dry almond pulp and make banana chips...so I pan fried them instead.

The result was fine, they just weren't very round since I had to keep flipping them.

FROM SCRATCH SPAGHETTI NOODLES!
Okay, so it sounds more hardcore than it is. It's actually super easy and super...paleo!

It's honestly just julienned zucchini, heated briefly in the microwave. SO. So easy. And honestly, better than pasta. They're the perfect length, have a little bit of crunch...and it's a freakin' vegetable.

Spaghetti? Pshhh. Never again! (Okay, well, maybe not never. But seriously. An awesome and healthy substitute.)

I shall call them, ZUCCHINOODLES.

It was so delicious . . . I forgot to take a photo before digging in. And I took this one on my phone. Must make this again!!!

Credit where credit is due...I got this idea from the amazing Michelle of Nom Nom Paleo. Not like I did anything different with the noodles that's deserving of coining my own term for them (someone else has to call them zucchinoodles, come on) . . . but oh well. It's part of the fun of cooking from scratch, improvising, and altering recipes. You get to come up with fun names!

Sweet Bison Chili - P, GF

UPDATE AGAIN!!! I have recorded a recipe. That's right. Now it's locked in stone. And there's no changing it.

I'm just going to type it up here, and alter the entire post at a later date when my brain is working correctly.

1lb Ground Bison Meat
1/4 tsp Dried Basil
1/4 tsp Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 can (8oz) Diced Tomatoes (fire roasted works well, but regular is fine)
1/2 can (4oz) Chicken Broth
1/4 Medium Butternut Squash, diced
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
2 Stalks Celery, chopped
2 Carrots, chopped
1/4 of an Onion, diced
1 Clove Garlic, finely diced
1/4 of a Green Pepper, diced
2 Cremini Mushrooms, sliced
2/3 c Apple Cider
1 1/4 T Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Tumeric
3/4 tsp Herbs de Province
1/4 tsp All Spice
1 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Cumin
1 Bay Leaf


UPDATE! Now with some photographs. I love my new camera. I also love this chili (and so does my boyfriend...it somehow always seems to magically disappear)!

Bison meat is very lean, and is often described as "game-y", but my word to describe it would be "cream-y". It's just got that melt-in-your-mouth texture that I love.
Now that I'm on a paleo-diet (I may change the name of this blog since I'm going to try it for a while), I'm trying to find delicious ways to come up with paleo-friendly recipes.

The most paleo-friendly in my opinion is chili. Tonight, I cooked with whatever I had on hand that was paleo.

Here's what happened:
I browned some ground bison meat on the stovetop. Yum. It cooks out a lot of liquid.

 Meanwhile, sautéed a few chunks of butternut squash, onion, carrot, and celery in some oil. Added some garlic and mushrooms, and added it to the meat.

Then, added these canned "fire roasted tomatoes", juice and all.

Also added apple cider. This is key. Also, a dash of chicken stock to add more volume.
It was looking a little runny, so I added some leftover tomato sauce from pizza night.
Then, the spices. Here they are (all dried):
Lots of Smoked Paprika
Lots of Chili Powder
Black Pepper
Salt
Some Cinnamon
Some Cumin
Some Herbs de Province
Some Oregano
A little All Spice
A dash Tumeric
A dash Coriander
Some Sweet Basil

Admittedly, I ate it with sour cream and cheddar cheese (trying to use these up so I can have a paleo fridge)...but it was probably one of the best things I've ever made. I'm paying closer attention next time, so I can actually record the recipe in the overpriced and fancy "Recipe Book" from Anthropologie that sits next to the spices.

Banana Almond Pulp-cakes - P, GF

Okay, so the idea of a "pulp-cake" isn't appetizing. I should have named the recipe something else. But it's too late. There's no going back now. I already typed it up above in the "title" field.

So a few days ago I made my own Almond Milk from scratch, and one of the byproducts is a handful of almond pulp. It's basically just little tiny pieces of almonds. The milk was surprisingly good (growing up in Wisconsin, it's a bit embarrassing to admit that I would even consider anything other than cow's milk), so I think I'll make it from time to time. But what to do with all the leftover almond pulp?

Pancakes, I guess. Or, Pulp-cakes.

Despite having the word "Pulp" in the title...they look pretty darn good, right?!

So, staying true to my personal flaw of avoiding following directions, here's a minimally detailed and impossible to follow recipe:

At least shallow focus photographs make it LOOK like I know what I'm doing. Just wait until I get a better camera. You'll never know I'm not a professional.

I put the almond pulp in a bowl. I then added two eggs to it and stirred.

In goes some vanilla extract, lots of cinnamon, and two mushy bananas.

Little bit of baking soda, pinch of salt.

Some flour (the consistency wasn't right...), and some almond milk. **UPDATE** Note that I labeled this dish as "Paleo" and "Gluten Free". Mainly because the flour was a mistake, and really shouldn't be in there in the first place. I will revisit this recipe, and let you all know how it goes.

More stirring.

I heated up some Crisco in a large pan, and ladled the thick, goopy, very un-pancake-like batter in. Next time, I need to add more almond milk or something.

Look --- Bubbles! IT'S HAPPENING! A Pulp-cake is born!

It was difficult to get the thing to cook correctly. I ended up with a blackened top and bottom and a gooey center. I happen to like pancakes with a gooey center, so it was fine by me. But I probably won't cook these for someone else *cough*boyfriend*cough* until I figure out the consistency.

Berries are optional with Banana Almond Pulp-cakes. But they are part of this balanced breakfast, and make me look like a damn good food stylist.

Regardless of the haphazard way I made them, they were pretty good! Little bit o' butter and maple syrup...you'd never know they were mainly made out of almond pulp!

Breakfast Lavash Wrapparrito

Here we have a large breakfast for hungry people. It's a lot of food ( I didn't realize it was going to be such a massive amount) and it has protein! I believe I have also coined the term "Wrapparrito". I couldn't decide if this was a breakfast wrap or a breakfast burrito, so there you have it! It's fun to say, and fun to eat.

The finished product. I ate it all, for the record.

Anyone can make this wrapparrito. Mainly because all you need to do is sautée whatever you have in your fridge, and then scramble some eggs, add some spices, and put it in some lavash bread.

Fresh Ingredients! Ready to be sacrificed.

Brown eggs are my favorite. They're so...rustic. And this one in particular has freckles. HOW CUTE!

Who needs regular porn when you can take close up pictures of a heaping spoonful of cottage cheese? Better yet, when you can EAT said spoonful?!

Here he is before rolling. I like the organized, geometric shapes combined with the chaos of what's going into the wrap.

Oh, heavens...

COOKIN'!

So good. A work of art. In my belly.

This post has a lot of pictures. They all looked so yummy.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I just cooked up the veggies, added some spices (SSBP -Sea Salt + Black Pepper, Oregano, Sweet Basil, etc...), added cottage cheese (and probably parm?) and scrambled it all with some eggs. Seriously. Can't go wrong with this one.

Three-Cheesy Herbed Egg Soufflé

If you happen to stumble across this blog...my apologies. It isn't ready.

I've always wanted to have a food porn blog, and with all the cooking I've been doing now that I have a lot more free time *cough*unemployed*cough*, I thought it finally needed to happen.

I typically don't like to follow recipes. I will read them, get the gist, and basically do whatever I want. I think it has something to do with being stubborn, a quality I have an abundance of.

This often times leads to disaster, which is why I don't often record my own recipes. I'm also lazy. But recently I've tried a number of new things that have potential, so from here on out, I will start.

Starting AFTER this post.

Today, I made an egg soufflé! Part of the fun of coming up with your own recipes is that you get to name them. This one I would like to call Three-Cheesy Herbed Egg Soufflé. And yes. Every word must also be capitalized. It is key.

I don't know in what quantities I added things. all I know is that I used two eggs. So, just for posterity, here is a basic rundown of what I did. It turned out quite nice. I will make a couple adjustments for next time, and then I will pay closer attention to the actual "recipe". I will also take unnecessarily beautiful and porn-like step by step photographs. Until then, here we go:

I started out by pre-heating the oven to 350ºF.

I cracked two eggs into a bowl. 

I added a dash of homemade almond milk (recipe to come later!), and began to whisk away furiously.

Once it got a little frothy, I added a spoonful of 2% cottage cheese. Whisked some more. Also furiously.

Then, I broke a sandwich slice piece of sharp cheddar in half. I put half away, and continued to break the other half into littler pieces. That also goes into the egg mixture. More whisk-y (Not whiskey, mind you. Although I wouldn't put it past me).

I chopped up something like 1/5 of a red potato into little, baby chunks. Heated up some grape seed oil in a pan on the stove, and threw them on. Tossed a bit of black pepper and coriander on them. 

When the potatoes are almost done, I took a few leaves of baby spinach and ripped them into littler pieces. I threw them on with the potatoes and let them wilt a bit. 

Meanwhile, I put a light layer of butter all up in my little ramekin. I cut up a few little rings of green onion, and tossed those into the egg mixture as well. Then, the potatoes and spinach go in.

Finally, added some Herbs de Province to the mixture, gave her one last stir, and poured into the ramekin. I threw that sucker into the oven and waited.

I don't know how long it took to rise and become fluffy and amazing. Maybe something like 15 minutes? It actually looked like it was going to start overflowing.

I sprinkled some more Herbs de Province on top as well as a nice dusting of Parmesan (there's your third cheese, if you were wondering!). Added a few avocado slices...and voila! 

He's cookin' away!

Look at this guy! He's my new breakfast friend. He looks so nice wearing parm and avocados. I ate him with buttered whole grain bread. Numsy.

Well, that's what I have this time around. When I make him again, I will probably add more herbs (including mustard powder and pepper), more cottage cheese, and I may substitute the potatoes for cauliflower. And I will certainly pay more attention to how exactly I arrived at this fluffy breakfast!