I've found some recipes on pinterest, some I've made up on my own, and others come from a very convenient website--www.emeals.com
They have a paleo option and send you a weeks worth of dinner recipes and a corresponding grocery list. I've started picking and choosing things I'd like to try, because some of them don't sound that great. For the nights I don't follow emeals, I experiment on my own or fall back on a tried and true recipe. One of which I've made a ton of times, with a few variations depending on what I've got in the pantry. No matter what, it's always super easy to prepare and turns out great every time.
I present to you Chorizo Chili:
Ingredients:
Base:
2 lbs. chorizo sausage (the ground kind in the plastic "tubes," not the sausage links)
2 cans organic tomato juice (you can also sub 1 of these for 1 can of organic chicken broth)
1 can organic tomato paste
Vegetables:
2 small tomatoes
1/2-1 small onion (depending on your preference)
1 cup of small green olives
Seasonings:
2 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. lemon or lime juice
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. chili pepper
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 small bunch of cilantro
Directions:
1. Dice the tomatoes, green olives, and onion into small pieces (you can also put them in a food processor if you prefer your chili not chunky--either way it tastes the same, just a texture preference).
2. Place the chorizo, tomato juice/paste (or broth), and diced or processed veggies into a crockpot. Add the seasonings minus the cilantro (don't skip the cinnamon--it adds a unique taste I've come to love about this chili) and cook on low for 6 hours. Easy as that.
3. Add the cilantro after plating. (Serves 6-8 adults)
I normally eat this over smashed sweet potatoes topped with guacamole or avocado slices. It's also delicious by itself or topped with a fried egg.
As a bonus, I also tried a dessert recipe today I found on pinterest. It turned out pretty awesome, so I'll share that with you as well. The original recipe is here, which I'll post below verbatim with my changes in italics.
Banana Chocolate Almond Pie:
Bottom Ingredients:
1.5 cup walnuts
1 ripe banana
15 medjool dates (I couldn't find fresh dates, so I ended up using Dole chopped dates in a bag--found near the raisins, etc.)
Top Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
4 tbsp almond butter (I used MaraNatha's no stir maple almond butter)
4 tbsp raw honey (I only added 2 tbsp, and I really think you could get away with none--everything else is sweet enough)
1/4 cup raw cacao
(I also added a splash of heavy whipping cream to help the raw cacao mix in more easily)
Directions:
1. Combine bottom ingredients in a food processor and process until well blended. There were some chunks remaining, but as long as it’s predominantly smooth, you should be good.
2. Spread blended bottom ingredients in a glass pan. I put some plastic wrap in the bottom to make removing the bars from the pan once frozen so much easier! Spread out the mixture until evenly distributed.
3. Combine topping ingredients in a food processor and process until well blended, should be smooth. Beware, this stuff is dangerously delicious. Try and contain yourself from eating it all at once!
4. Spread blended topping ingredients over bottom ingredients in pan.
5. Place in the freezer for a couple hours.
6. Remove from pan, cut into squares and serve! (Makes 18 or so 1-inch squares). (I didn't have a square pan, so I put this in a pie dish, which is why I'm calling it a pie and not squares! :) )
Both of these recipes are extremely easy to prepare, make, store, share, hoard, whatever. I'm going to try to start using this blog to post more recipes, which will hopefully force me to update more than once every few months--something I've been guilty of lately! You can also follow me on instagram at rgkeener4387. I've started posting pictures of paleo meals (mostly) daily.
If you want some more paleo inspiration, let me suggest following LiveLifePaleo, paleomg, livinpaleo, balancedbites, and dieffs on instagram. They post some pretty amazing stuff!
