Crock pot Smoked Green Chile Pork

Man, this was good.  We ate 4 pounds of pork roast in 2 days.  I'd like to say I'm a genius, but alas, I'm really not.  Smoking in a crock pot?  Stole that idea from one of my favorite food bloggers, the civilized caveman (check out his crock pot meals!). 

Warning:  a little bit of advanced work is needed here (the night before and the morning of), but it is so worth it.  Trust me here.  We could barely contain ourselves, the house smelled so good.  

(Oh, yeah, don't know my pictures are so fuzzy these days.  Maybe I was shaking with excitement to chow down after smelling this all afternoon?  Don't know.  Sorry.  The food is good, really, even if my pictures are not.)

Ingredients:

• 1 pork butt roast, about 4 pounds
• Emeril's Creole Seasoning 
• 13 oz New Mexico roasted chopped green chile (I cannot vouch for the results if you are forced to use canned green chile...)
• Wood chips
• Waxed paper
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

The night before... 

1. Rub the pork roast with Creole Seasoning.  Make sure you get all sides.
2. Place pork in a large plastic bag (I had one of those turkey oven roasting bags left over for some point in the past) and add green chile.  Turn the pork and make sure all sides get covered with green chile.  
3. Close and secure bag and put in the fridge to marinate overnight (I put my bag in a pan so that nothing would leak all over my fridge).  In a perfect world, you'd probably rotate the bag and make sure all side get some good time with the green chile; in a realistic world, you never get there, and things still turn out great!

In the morning...

1. 30 minutes before you want to start cooking, soak your woodchips.  
2. Come back, remove your chips from water, and place them on the wax paper.  Make yourself a little pocket and put the pocket in the bottom of your crock pot.  EDIT:  poke some holes in your pocket to allow chip flavor to escape.
3. Dump 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of your pot.
4. Place marinated pork on top.
5. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
6. Eat and enjoy.

Banana Fritters

Easy, fast, and only a few ingredients.  My husband loves these.  Word to the wise - if you are doing a Whole30, these are going to be out for 99% of you (here's why, if you are wondering).  

The husband is one of the lucky few who these don't change anything for him.  Eggs and bananas and coconut oil - three things he often eats for breakfast, only now they are combined.

I think they make a fantastic after-dinner sweet dish as well.  No syrup other other sweetener needed!

Ingredients:

• 1 banana, preferably pretty ripe
• 1 egg
• Dash of cinnamon powder
• Coconut oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl, beat together egg, banana, and cinnamon.  Keep beating until your banana is mashed (I used a fork - doesn't take very long).
2. Heat coconut oil in a pan.  When pan is hot and oil is melted, drop spoonfuls of the batter in the pan.
3. When one side begins to bubble, flip the fritter.  Cook until second side is browned.

Coconut Shrimp

This is good.  Really good.  And I don't really even like seafood (I know...).  And it only takes a few ingredients.  And it's pretty easy to put together.  AND (the final and) you can get this on the table in 30-40 minutes.  My kind of dinner!

Most recipes seem to use a base layer of flour.  I don't think you need the extra breading (even a gluten-free kind).  This is crunchy, slightly spicy, with a mild coconut hit.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 - 2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper (I like it hot, so we went to 1 tsp...if you like it pretty mild, I'd go with 1/2 tsp or even 1/4 tsp)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/2 lb shrimp, deveined and peeled
• Coconut oil

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine coconut flakes, salt, and cayenne.  Pulse until you have pretty small flakes of coconut - sorta like homemade breadcrumbs.  You are not looking for a flour...but my coconut flakes are too big to stick well.  Plus, this nicely mixes in the spices.  [This step takes 2-3 minutes...it's worth the time and effort.]  Pour into a bowl.
2. In another bowl, beat the egg.
3. Dip shrimp first in the egg and then in the coconut.
4. Place each shrimp on a large platter or baking sheet (or a couple of plates - whatever ya got).
5. Heat some coconut oil in a pan.  Let oil melt and pan heat.  Carefully place shrimp into the hot oil.  Let cook for a few minutes until browned, then gently flip.  Cook until the other side is browned.  This only takes a couple of minutes each side.
6. Serve and enjoy.

 

Crockpot Chicken Curry (Put it Together in a Hurry!)

Seven minutes - from start to finish - that's how long it took to put this together (and that included measuring the spices so I could tell you how much to use and stirring what I had on the pot for the meal I was about to eat).  Surely you have 7 little minutes to put together a great meal?  If you want to get fancy, grate a little fresh ginger and add a few cinnamon sticks.

As always, sorry about the picture.  Not only am I a pretty bad photographer (and this is worse than usual), I think it's pretty hard to make chicken, wilted spinach, and curry sauce look good (though I know others could probably manage that feat:)).

 

Ingredients:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I prefer no-salt added fire-roasted tomatoes - if they have green chiles, even better)
• 4 Tbs curry powder* (I know this seems like a lot, but this is going to simmer all afternoon - it loses some heat)
• 1 lb baby spinach (I used pre-washed - helps to make my 7 minutes) (if you don't have spinach, dump in another long-cooking veggie or skip)
• 3 lbs bone-in, skin on chicken (use whatever you have - seriously.  and if you don't like the skin, cook with it on, then remove before you eat)

 

Directions:

1. 1.  In a bowl, mix together coconut milk, tomatoes, and curry powder (yeah, I know, sorry for the extra dirty dish, but I like to mix the curry powder in the sauce).
2. 2.  Pour a little sauce on the bottom of the crock pot.  Add spinach.  Add chicken on top of spinach.  Pour the rest of the sauce, making sure to cover all of the spinach (so it doesn't get all crispy).
3. 3.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
4. 4.  Serve.  I like it over mashed root veggies, spaghetti squash (throw this in the microwave while you are sorting through your mail:)), or riced cauliflower - but if you're really hungry, just skip it and eat it more like a soup.

*  Curry

• 2 parts turmeric powder
• 2 parts paprika powder
• 1 part salt
• 1 part chili powder (adjust up or down for more or less heat)
• 1 part cayenne powder (adjust up or down for more or less heat)
• 1 part coriander powder

Crock pot Breakfast Casserole

Forgive my absence.  I have been eating...and cooking...just not paying attention to the amounts I'm dumping into the pot:)

This is SUPER duper easy and there are so many combinations you can try.  I've done butternut squash and chorizo sausage, but you could do spinach and mushroom (with seasoned beef), kale and bacon...the possibilities are endless.  

There's a little prep work the night before, but it's worth it to have a warm breakfast ready when you roll out of bed in the morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chorizo sausage (be sure to check your ingredients) [removed from casings if that's how your sausage came]
• 1 small onion
• 12 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 small butternut squash
• Ghee/oil for greasing the crockpot 

Note:  I did not add any seasonings because the chorizo had enough salt/other spices.  However, if you tried another combination, you might need a little salt, pepper, etc.

Directions:

1. In a skillet, start to cook the chorizo.  Meanwhile, dice the onion.
2. Once the fat has begun to render, add the onion, cooking just until the onion is soft (you don't need to finish cooking the sausage - it will finish in the crock pot).
3. Whip together eggs and coconut milk.
4. Peel, de-seed, and slice/dice/chop your squash.
5. Grease the inside of your crock pot (this is to help minimize the sticking).
6. Put in your squash, the sausage/onion mixture, and then the egg/milk mixture.  Stir and make sure that all of the food is covered by the egg/milk mixture.
7. Turn crock pot on low for 8-10 hours (I did 10...and it sat on warm for awhile...still very good).
8. Wake up, eat, and enjoy!

Curry-Spiced Tomato Bisque

I don't make a lot of soups.  The husband doesn't really like them...unless he's (a) sick or (b) had dental work.  So you guessed it...something is up.  The husband just had dental surgery and was wanting something soft, yet tasty, to eat.  I had some tomatoes that needed to be used and I thought I'd give good ol' tomato soup a try.

I looked at traditional tomato soup recipes (most of which are either Paleo or could easily be made Paleo) as well as the versions by Everyday Paleo and Nom Nom Paleo to come up with my version.  It's not easy competing with pure genius, but I think this version is pretty good.  Two thumbs up from both the husband and non-Paleo mom.  Mmm, mmm, good...all without the nasty stuff you find in canned soups.

Need protein?  I topped my soup with leftover ground beef.  The husband had eggs.  I might also suggest a crisp salad.

Ingredients:

• 14 smallish tomatoes (mine were just bigger than golf balls)
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• appropriate fat (ghee, coconut oil, tallow, lard, etc.)
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp curry powder*
• 1/8 tsp fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 cup coconut milk

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler to about 450 degrees.
2. Place tomatoes and garlic on a broiler sheet and broil until blistered.  Turn occasionally so that the other sides get broiled as well.
3. Meanwhile, heat fat in a pan.  While heating, peel and then roughly chop onions.  Cook until they are softened and brown.
4. Pull out food processor (or blender, etc.).  Pulse together tomatoes (including juice), garlic, onion, curry powder, ginger, and coconut milk.  Taste.  Adjust seasonings as necessary.  Pulse again until smooth.  If you like a thinner soup, add more coconut milk or some chicken broth.  
5. Quickly heat to desired warmness.  Enjoy:)

*  Curry

• 2 parts turmeric powder
• 2 parts paprika powder
• 1 part salt
• 1 part chili powder (adjust up or down for more or less heat)
• 1 part cayenne powder (adjust up or down for more or less heat)
• 1 part coriander powder

Meatloaf, Baby

I know.  Another meatloaf recipe.  Really.  Just call this Paleo Meatloaf Recipe #1001.  But, hey, we all need one, right?  Right.  

Actually, my meatloaf tweak came from two simple facts:  (i) I didn't have any tomato paste (and my go-to meatloaf recipe used to be this one by the genius over at Everyday Paleo); and (ii) I had it in my mind that I wanted to use pork rinds instead of almond flour (not really sure why...but I like pork rinds better than almond flour now that I've tried both).  

Now, I'm not one who generally understands why certain ingredients are added to a recipe.  Eggs - they are binder; that makes sense.  I wasn't quite certain about the tomato paste.  I was guessing it both added thickness to the mixture and a slightly sweet taste (because in non-Paleo recipes you often see ketchup as an ingredient).  I decided that I would first caramelize some onions (sweetness) and then blend with spices to form a paste (thickener).

Surprisingly, this came out good.  Even non-Paleo mom really liked it.  Hope you do as well.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• Fat (ghee, coconut oil, etc.)
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2-1 tsp cayenne powder
• 1 tsp paprika powder 
• 2 lb ground beef (or any combo of ground meat you like)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup crushed pork rinds (or, you can sub almond flour)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
2. Heat a pan over medium heat.  Meanwhile, peel and then chop your onion (you don't really need a fine dice unless you have great knife skills -- you are ultimately going to puree this in the blender or food processor).  
3. Add your fat to the pan (I used ghee).  You don't need a lot - just enough to keep things from sticking (and maybe add a little flavor:)).  Add onions.
4. Cook onions until they are caramelized.  Be patient - this takes awhile.  Your onions are going to be brown, really brown.
5. Break out your food processor or blender.  Add onions, garlic, and spices.  Blend until you have a nice thick paste.  You don't need to add water or other liquid -- you want this to be fairly thick.
6. In a good-sized bowl, combine meat, eggs, pork rinds, and onion paste.  Use your hands (really - this is the best way to get everything combined!) and mix everything really good.
7. Put in a pan and pop in the oven.  I used a square glass baking dish instead of a loaf pan to reduce the cooking time.  Cook about 30 minutes (longer if you use a loaf pan).
8. Serve and enjoy.  The leftovers (if you have any!) are great as well.