Salmon cakes

When I read, "It Starts With Food," I was pleased to see a variety of recipes in the appendices. The salmon cakes stuck out, as they contain protein, fat and veggies - an all-inclusive meal! As usual, I modified it a bit per what I had on hand (i.e. the recipe calls for dill, and I didn't have any at the time, so simply omitted it).

*The recipe below is a double recipe - simply cut everything in half if you wish. I like doubling it so that I can freeze a few servings for later.

Ingredients
2 14.75 ounce cans of bone-in wild-caught salmon (28+ ounces total)
2 C canned or roasted sweet potato (I used 1/2 C roasted sweet potato and 1 1/2 C canned pumpkin)
1 C almond meal
2 eggs, whisked (or two tbsp flax meal in 6 tbsp water, let stand 5 minutes)
1/2 C kale, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, diced
2 tsp parsley, dried
1 tsp paprika
salt
pepper
1-2 tbsp coconut oil or clarified butter, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
2. Flake salmon into large mixing bowl, removing all bones (if you are using bone-in salmon, that is)
3. Add all remaining ingredients. Mix well with wooden spoon or hands
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Brush the paper with coconut oil or butter
5. Using a 1/4 C measuring cup, scoop up the mixture, and dump out onto the parchment (that way you get metered, nicely-shaped patties.
6. Bake 20 minutes, then remove from oven and flip. Bake 10 more minutes, or until golden brown.

Check those puppies out! The batch I made yielded sixteen, 1/4 C-sized salmon cakes (enough for four adult-sized servings plus two kid-sized servings).

Storage

Store in a sealed container in the fridge, or freeze for later. If you freeze them, defrost in fridge prior to reheating.

Quick jam: strawberry

My son is on a produce strike, and this includes fruits. It's insane, as he used to eat berries as if they were going out of style. At one point I couldn't even keep berries in the house. And now - nothing. He won't eat anything. BUT, he loves jam. Only problem is that most everything I can find in the stores has added sugar or pectin, etc. So, I decided to make my own. I recalled a recipe in "OMG. That's Paleo?" for cherry jam, which called for coconut oil, cherries and honey. So I omitted the honey, used strawberries instead, and made my own strawberry jam!

Ingredients
1 pound strawberries (quartered, stems removed)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. Melt coconut oil in saucepan
2. Add the strawberries, and stir periodically to keep from burning 
3. Cook and stir 20-30 minutes
4. Place in an 8-ounce jar or other sealed container, and store in the fridge

The strawberries begin to cook down quickly - I snapped this photo after about one minute of cooking!

Bright-colored jam! No sugar added. Beautiful. Fragrant. DELICIOUS!!

Applesauce jello

I saw the blog post on Primally Inspired for a jello recipe and was super happy! A nice treat with a bit of protein and amino acids, yet not heavy on honey. I made it once with true cranberry juice (no sugar added = super tart), per the recipe (i.e. two cups of fruit juice, two tablespoons gelatin, one tablespoon honey), plus added a few cherries, and it was delicious!

However, I don't want to add honey to my foods, certainly not on a regular basis. So I decided to try the jello recipe with applesauce as the liquid, sans honey.

Ingredients
2 C applesauce, hot out of the crock pot, or out of a jar and warmed
2 tbsp beef gelatin
3-4 tbsp cold water

Instructions

1. Set out an 8x8 baking dish
2. Mix gelatin in with the cold water, and mix with a fork until combined (it will be really thick)
3. Scoop the hot applesauce into a mixing bowl and quickly add the gelatin/water mixture, mixing fervently to ensure that it dissolves evenly throughout
4. Place in fridge for a few hours until it sets up
5. Cut, serve and enjoy! It's delicious!

The texture is very homogenous - it's like a semi-solid bar of applesauce. I really love it!!

This is what it looks for going in to the fridge, and coming out when solid!

Lazy-ass applesauce

I buy produce from door to door organics on a weekly basis, except in the summer when my garden is producing. One of my latest favorites is their ten-pound box of imperfect apples for $6.99 - what a steal! This week I bought two boxes (ahem, twenty pounds of apples)! I picked the worst twenty apples (which weren't really even that bad, perhaps one to two bruises each, and/or a mark or two) of the two boxes to use for applesauce. I have about forty apples remaining, and will make at least one more batch of applesauce, perhaps two.

I have two wee guys at home, and hence don't have time to hang out with a double broiler all day making applesauce. When I bought a ten pound box of apples a few weeks ago, I asked some ladies from a parenting forum to share the quickest way to make applesauce. One person replied with a crock pot recipe, and I was sold!

Ingredients
20 apples, minus bruises, cores and nibbles (be sure to remove all seeds)
1/2-1 C water
2 tbsp cinnamon

The carnage. I use that nifty little gadget there to core and slice the apples in one step. I leave the skins on, because it provides a nice color for the applesauce (pinkish). My mother-in-law strains her applesauce to remove the skins once it is finished cooking, but I don't mind the skins in my applesauce, and hence I leave them in. Feel free to strain as a last step if you wish, or peel prior to coring/slicing if you prefer.

Instructions

1. Add enough water to the crock pot that you have about a quarter-inch of water (to protect the apples from burning until they start to produce liquid)
2. Add those apples (minus cores and bruises, of course)
3. Add cinnamon (I used about 2 tablespoons - use as much or as little as you wish - you can always add more at serving time)
4. Put the lid on, cook on low for 6-8 hours. I stir them periodically (once every hour or two, if I'm around)

The finished product

Storage

I keep some in a pint or quart sized canning jar in the fridge, and also freeze some (in individual six-ounce-glass containers). I pull the frozen ones into the fridge the night before consuming - the applesauce freezes wonderfully!

Greens nuts and ham

The crux of the Whole30 approach to Paleo eating is to balance each meal in terms of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. This balance constitutes one to two palm-sized portions of protein, one to two tablespoons of fat (depending on the fat source it could be more), and two-thirds of the plate occupied by vegetables. If having fruit, one closed-palm portion is the way to go.

In an effort to enjoy an all-inclusive easy-to-cook meal (that is, inclusive of all sources, but without having to make foods individually), I concocted this: greens, nuts, and ham.

Serves two!

Ingredients
1 thick slice of ham (3/4 to 1 pound), cubed
1-2 bunches of kale (or any greens)
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 C cashews*, crushed (I crush them by clenching them tightly in my fist)
1-2 tbsp coconut oil (or other fat)
1 apple, cored and sliced

One bunch of kale (raw), de-stemmed and torn into pieces

3/4 pound of ham, cubed

Instructions

1. Heat coconut oil in wok or frying pan over medium-high heat
2. Toss in the cubed ham. Cook for five minutes, then add garlic and stir. Let cook a few more minutes.
3. Add the kale
4. Stir occasionally until the kale wilts
5. Add the nuts last, stir and cook for three to five more minutes

Ta-da!!!  I didn't cook the apples, but you could throw them in along with the nuts if you like. I just placed half an apple worth of slices on each plate next to main course.  (And as you may be able to infer, that seemingly huge pile of kale became rather small once wilted - this photo shows approximately half of what was shown in the picture of the raw kale).

*You can use any nut you wish - just remember that peanuts are NOT nuts, they are legumes. The last two times I made this, I used walnuts and they tasted great!

Vegan potential: Just replace the ham with cubed tofu. Main difference is that you'll have to cook the tofu much longer than the ham, if you like it prepared firmly. Of course, soy is a no-no in Paleo land, but if you're a non-Paleo vegan, this meal's for you!

Turkey loaf

I never really made meatloaf prior to our Paleo conversion. My husband thumbed through the newest cookbook gracing my shelf, "OMG. That's Paleo." a few weeks ago, and flagged the chicken basil meatloaf recipe. Since then I've concocted various versions of meatloaf or meatballs, inspired by the recipe he saw, but I have not following it exactly. My recipes have varied based on what I have in my fridge, or what I want to sneak into my two-year-old's tummy.

Today it was turkey loaf (or turkey meatloaf, or turkeyloaf - whatever you want to call it), with carrots, onion and chard!

Ingredients
1 pound ground turkey (or meat of choice)
1/4 cup steamed carrots, chopped
1 chard leaf, chopped or minced
1/3 of a small red onion, chopped
1 tbsp flax seed meal* + 3 tbsp water (OR 1 egg, whisked)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp fat (coconut oil, bacon fat, etc.), melted + more for greasing the baking dish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. If using flax meal in place of an egg, place 1 tbsp flax meal into 3 tbsp of water, mix and allow to set for 5 minutes
3. Combine all ingredients except for turkey (meat)
4. Add the meat, and mix thoroughly (wooden spoon or your hand)
5. Grease a small baking dish - I used a Pyrex bread dish (see below)
6. Place mixture into dish, cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes or so. Remove foil, and bake until golden brown and cooked through (about 15 more minutes)

Chopped veggies

Flax meal setting in water

Turkey loaf prior to baking - sorry, I didn't get an after photo - we ate it all up!

*Depending on who's Paleo rules you may follow, flax seed meal is either OK or a no-no. According to the Whole30 program from "It Starts With Food," flax seed meal is permitted in small quantities on the Paleo diet. I use it once or twice per week at most.

Cashew butter

Nut butters are a bit of a staple for our family these days. Michael is in LOVE with Sunbutter. I really like the Trader Joe's Almond butter, and can swallow the price. But I can't find a simple, affordable cashew butter (made with just cashews and salt). Hence, I made my own!

Ingredients

1 C cashews (whole, raw, unsalted or salted)

1 tbsp coconut oil (room temperature)

salt (to taste - i used 1/2 tsp)

Instructions

1. Place ingredients in food processor
2. Grind or pulse for 5 minutes total. Stop to scrape if/when necessary (when you hear the motor revving higher, or notice that the contents within are no longer moving - I had to scrape 3-4 times). I wanted a super smooth texture - it was thinner than butter when I finished. 
3. Store in a jar in the fridge. After refrigeration it hardened a bit, but is still spreadable (rather typical of refrigerated all natural nut butter texture).

It's delicious - I need to double the batch next time!