paleo Archives | wit wisdom and food

turkey squash chili

January 28, 2016 by anne Leave a Comment

After 16 snow-free years, I moved back to the midwest and the potential for snow days about 18 months ago. I brought my husband, who grew up in Los Angeles, he had never seen a snow day in his life. We are a little old for some snow day traditions like sledding, but when possible we still build a snowman. Where our snow day traditions are really coming together are the comfort food that is on the table.

This January we decided to embark on another round of the Whole 30, so Macaroni and Cheese, my favorite comfort food, wasn’t an option. I got creative with turkey squash chili. It is also a little homage to Cincinnati style chili, served over spaghetti squash with a little bit of cinnamon in the seasonings. [Read more…]

400 degree oven delivers dinner in 30 minutes

January 7, 2015 by anne Leave a Comment

Quick, easy, healthy dinners always seem to be a tough thing to come by. The recipes that I read that are quick and easy are usually just one part of a meal. The chicken dish might only take 30 minutes, but getting a couple of side dish on the table at the same time makes dinner feel like a production. While doing our whole 30 last year I had to get creative with cooking and I started searching out new quick recipes. I quickly realized most of them called for a 400 degree oven. It was like having a secret whispered in my ear that suddenly made getting dinner on the table easy.

With a few cookie sheets, a meat, a few vegetables and a 400 degree oven you can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes with minimal clean up.

I love trying new recipes and experimenting in the kitchen, but when I get home at 6 or 7pm there just isn’t time for a lot of chopping and prep. I don’t want to sacrifice eating real food so this is the best solution on the nights I don’t have time to put a more complex meal together. You can do this in one oven though two is ideal because it will allow every thing to brown and caramelize. If you need to do it in one try rotating the baking sheets halfway through the cooking.

It is really that simple!

Below are some more detail directions about how to prepare your meal. You can download above as a printable to keep on the fridge as a quick reference.

Line two rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil.

Season the meat with some olive oil, salt and pepper and set aside until you are ready to put it in the oven. If you want to spice it up you can add other seasoning blends to the meats like jerk seasoning or chinese five spice. Penzsey’s offers a wide variety of already mixed blends and even suggest the type of meat they go best on.

Cut your vegetables in to pieces that are similar sizes so they cook evenly. The vegetables will shrink while roasting. For two people you will need at least a pound of vegetables. We go heavy on vegetables over here so we get closer to two pounds for our meals.

Season the veggie similar to the meat. Use olive oil, salt and pepper. If you toss the vegetables with the olive oil and spices you will get a more even coating and use less oil. I am lazy and hate making another bowl dirty so I do all of it on the baking sheet. I just drizzle the olive oil, shake on some seasoning and toss on the pan. If you want some ideas on what spices are good on a particular vegetable check out this great graphic from CookSmarts.

What is your best trick to getting dinner on the table quickly?

pumpkin pie chia pudding

November 14, 2014 by anne 10 Comments

It is time for dessert and I have you dairy free, gluten free, paleo peeps covered. Well paleo people you are covered if you can deal with a bit of maple syrup.

Of the 3 recipes this week I am most excited about this one, since I found nothing similar and actually went through the process of kitchen testing this. That turned out to be 7 versions. Let me tell you that 1-4 were horrible. The exact words were “That tastes like eating a wet tea bag”. I think he was trying to say that it is earthy and not at all good please try again, but his version really is more descriptive. Want to know what changed from version 4 to versions 5-7?

I heated up the ingredients before I added the chia seeds. Do not skip this step.

I repeat, do not under any circumstances skip this step.

Heating up the coconut milk, pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla and spices gave the flavors a chance to blend together. It also cooked the pumpkin just enough to not be raw and earthy. The ah-ha moment came one night when I was thinking about pumpkin pie and the differences from what I was doing and how you make a pumpkin pie. When it hit me that the biggest difference is mine isn’t cooked I knew I was on to something. Pumpkin pie filling, after all, isn’t like cookie dough you don’t just grab a spoon and eat it raw.

During the taste test of the cooked versions Tom even went back for a second taste and declared one good, instead of, well I guess it is edible.

I was skeptical of chia pudding the first time I had it, but was surprised to find it very similar to pudding and imagine the amount of Omega-3’s and fiber I get from this that I am not getting from the Bill Cosby version.

Trying to stick with Whole 30, paleo or any other diet during the holidays is a challenge for even the strongest will power. I hope this gives you a good option. I personally think it makes a great breakfast and I will be having pie on my Thanksgiving.

I have loved participating in the Blogsgiving Dinner and I hope you have found some great recipes through the week. Here is to a happy holiday for everyone and let the Christmas decorating begin in, count ’em, 13 days.

Thanksgiving is all about family, friends and delicious food. Luckily, the food blogging community is all about these things as well. To celebrate the holiday, Meghan from Cake ‘n’ Knife and Susannah from Feast + West are hosting Blogsgiving Dinner. There are 20 awesome blogs sharing 52 recipes.

The idea is based on the old-fashioned progressive dinner party, in which you’d eat each course at a different guest’s home. Each blogger is bringing one or more dishes to the party on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week, so be sure to stop by each one and get some ideas for your own Thanksgiving meal. Today’s bloggers have recipes for dessert and after-dinner drinks, as well as ideas for eating leftovers.

We’ll be posting to social media with the hashtag #blogsgivingdinner. Hope you can join us!

Dessert
Grandma’s Pecan Pie from The Wetherills Say I Do
Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting from My Cooking Spot
Gluten-Free Apple Berry Crumble from Twin Stripe
Paleo Pumpkin Pudding from Wit Wisdom Food
Cranberry Almond Coconut Bars from Love & Flour
Torched Marshmallow Pumpkin Pie with Olive & Sinclair Chocolate from The Local Forkful
Poached Pears with Salted Maple Caramel Syrup from Home at Six
Sweet Potato Pie from Think Fruitful
Nutella Pumpkin S’mores Tart from bethcakes
Gluten-Free Acorn Squash Spice Bars from I Cook. I Eat. It’s Life.
Drunken Pecan Pie Bars from The Speckled Palate
Butter Pecan Cupcakes from The Speckled Palate

After-Dinner Drinks
Slow Cooker Cranberry Apple Cider from A Savory Feast
Cranberry Bourbon Granita from Feast + West

Leftovers
Cheesy Potato Croquettes from Hello Little Home
Leftover Stuffed Egg Rolls with Cranberry Dipping Sauce from Cake ‘n’ Knife
Freezer-Friendly Turkey and Rice Casserole from Betty Becca
Stuffed Crescents with Thanksgiving Leftovers from My Cooking Spot

If you want more tips for making a Thanksgiving dinner with less stress sign up and download my free guide to a complete Thanksgiving dinner.

pumpkin pie chia pudding

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4

Ingredients

1 cup canned coconut milk
6 Tablespoons pumpkin
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup chia seeds

Instructions

whisk together the coconut milk, pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla and spice.
heat over low heat for 5-10 minutes
let mixture cool to room temperature
stir in chia seeds thoroughly to eliminate clumps
cover and place in fridge for a few hours or overnight

http://www.witwisdomandfood.com/2014/11/paleo-pumpkin-pudding.html

my favorite Whole 30 foods

July 11, 2014 by anne 1 Comment

I have never read so many labels. I always thought label readers were a little silly. I was of the opinion that if you ate in moderation everything else would be fine. A little arrogant and naive was I. What a challenge I faced when we started our Whole 30. So many things have sugar and ingredients that aren’t really food!

If you have already done your Whole 30, want to eat paleo or just want food that doesn’t have hidden stuff check out my favorites.

Sausages
Sausages were one of the hardest things to find that didn’t have sugar. Whole Foods carries a few but they are pricey. Trader Joe’s has one, Garlic & Herb Chicken Sausage that is good. The two below are my favorites. The True Story sausage is one we found at Costco. There is an ingredient that comes from beets that might make it non-compliant for Whole 30. Since it comes from a vegetable I feel a little better about it than some of the chemicals in other sausages. The Aidells sausage was a nice find for breakfast. It is sweetened with fruit juice instead of sugar. It is very tasty and we usually cut it up and put it in our morning scrambles.

Pasta sauces
One of our go to meals is still pasta. Though our pasta is now made from zucchini not flour. A pound of ground beef, a bunch of veggies and a can of Trader Joe’s marinara makes dinner in under 30 minutes. TJ’s has a few other sauces that are without sugar. The puttanesca is one of my favorites. Be sure to read the labels closely because many do have sugar.

Coconut oil and ghee
I have come to love the flavor of coconut oil. It is great for sautéed veggies. It adds some healthy fat to your meals. Are you noticing a trend of Trader Joe’s products? In full disclosure, I work there. Though most of the products are picked because they are a great quality at a reasonable price. The coconut oil is a couple of dollars cheaper and the ghee while not organic is more affordable than the $10 ghee at Whole Foods.

Spices
If you are going to do a Whole 30 be sure to find some good spices. These are my two favorites. The tuscan seasoning is great on chicken and veggies. You could say the same for the chinese five spice, but in reality I put that stuff on everything! My favorite use is to put it on butternut squash, toss with olive oil and roast for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Beverages
If you spend enough time on the Whole 30 forums you will hear about La Croix. They have some flavors that make them stand out from the other sparkling waters. I have yet to find the elusive coconut flavor.

One of the reasons we love the La Croix is it is kind of nice to have something in a can. It feels like a treat without the sugar. As a bonus it puts the coozie collection to work again. Not feeling like slumming it with a can coozie put your sparkling water in a wine glass with a slice of fruit. You can even use them to make your own mocktails.

Do you have any favorite Whole 30 foods?

prosciutto or bacon covered pork tenderloin

April 26, 2014 by anne 2 Comments

Are you a believer that bacon makes everything better? I actually think bacon is overrated. Yup I said it. I don’t need bacon flavored everything. Bacon still has a place in my house and this pork on pork recipe is a perfect example. It adds flavor and helps keep the tenderloin moist as it cooks. While bacon isn’t my favorite I do, however, love prosciutto. Since we eat a mostly paleo diet I have found it can be difficult and expensive to find a good bacon that is sugar-free. Luckily, I can get sugar-free prosciutto fairly inexpensive. I think the bacon works better to keep the pork moist but the prosciutto version turned out just as tasty!

As we move along our eating paleo journey I have had to come up with some new go-to recipes so we have leftovers to take to work. This has become one of those recipes. It is very easy to put together and bakes for 30 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Making it easy for me to get it in the oven when I get home from work. By time the oven is preheated I have the pan prepped and ready for the oven.

Make a layer of apple slices in a baking dish. Put slices of onion or shallot around and in between apple slices. Place sprigs of fresh thyme on apples.

Place the tenderloin on top of the apples and season with salt, pepper and either fresh or dried rosemary. For added flavor cut slits in the tenderloin and put cloves of garlic in to each slit. Pour a small amount of water or chicken broth into pan.

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes or until pork reaches 145 degrees

The meat is good cut into medallions or cut into pieces for a salad. Tom is better at taking his lunch than I am and one tenderloin usually lasts him for 3 meals.

What are your go to meals for the week? Do you love bacon flavored everything?

prosciutto or bacon covered pork tenderloin

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 apple, cut into wedges
1 medium onion or 2 shallots, sliced
3 sprigs fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried
3 sprigs fresh thyme
4 cloves of garlic, optional
salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Place apple wedges on bottom of baking dish
Put sliced onion/shallot and thyme on and around apple wedges
If you are using the garlic cut 4 slits in the tenderloin and insert cloves
Place tenderloin on top of apple wedges
Put rosemary leaves on top of tenderloin
Salt and pepper tenderloin
Cover pork with a few strips of bacon or prosciutto
Pour a little bit of water or chicken broth in bottom of baking dish.
Bake for 30 minutes or until thermometer reads 145 degrees
Allow tenderloin to rest for 10 minutes before slicing to desired thickness

http://www.witwisdomandfood.com/2014/04/prosciutto-or-bacon-covered-pork-tenderloin.html

my whole 30 experience

March 24, 2014 by anne 7 Comments

I am a little over a week past the end of my 30 days. I have read a dozen or more testimonies about how wonderful the Whole 30 is and how it changed people’s lives. I didn’t think I would be one of “those people” but I am about to explain how I became one of “those people.” Let’s start at the beginning.

For months I have been surrounded by people who have changed their eating habits drastically by eating paleo diets. I thought they were ridiculous and just on some fad diet that would be done as fast as the atkins or the south beach diet. I firmly believed that eating a good balanced diet and keeping things in moderation was the key to being healthy. The first time I heard about Whole 30 was when another blogger wrote about her experience. It sounded to good to be true but I couldn’t help but be fascinated that her blood work had improved after 30 days.

I had a suspicion that my body wasn’t running as well as it could. For 7 years I have been dealing anxiety. Then my energy levels seemed to drop and aches I had never had before were present every day. Plus, we haven’t had any luck getting pregnant. I started looking more at the Whole 30 as something I could try. Something that would only take 30 days and if I didn’t feel better I lost nothing. To say I was skeptical would be an understatement. I wasn’t sure my husband would go for it. I underestimated him and thought he would have the same thoughts I did about it being a fad diet. I was so wrong. He was ready and on board from the moment I mentioned it. So we set off together on this journey to see if diet could really change things so drastically.

Turns out diet change really can make you feel dramatically different. We added exercise at the same time so it wasn’t all diet changes that helped. Exercise was something neither of us could manage to find the motivation/energy to do before. The combination has made us feel so amazing we are going to work on continuing this change. When we started the Whole 30 I expected that if it worked I would feel better. I never expected my husband would find an interest in cooking. Previously I made most of the dinners. He has now taken an interest and has started creating some of the meals. He makes a great poached egg and loves to julienne vegetables. Cooking is now closer to 50/50. I think he brings up the higher percentage on cleaning though. The only downside to eating real food is it makes a lot more dishes!

My favorite side effects are my clear skin, my knee no longer aches for no reason and I haven’t even thought about my anxiety medicine. I probably should have started with my anxiety medicine because my favorite part about this is the positive change in my mood and how calm I feel. Only time will tell if had any effect on helping us get pregnant. Fingers crossed. Pretty good results for what was really an easy change once we got going. It was a no brainer after we started getting the early benefits. It helps that I really liked to cook from the beginning but I strongly believe any one can do this. To drive home the fact that we were going to stick with this change we experimented with some foods that we hadn’t had in the past 30 days. We didn’t feel horrible but it was obvious that those foods didn’t sit well with us. We wouldn’t notice the effects of those foods if we kept eating them every day. In the back of my mind I would remember how great I felt after the Whole 30 though. We may fall back to old eating habits and if we do we will start a new Whole 30. We are committed to sticking with it and trying to avoid that by avoiding foods that aren’t on the Whole 30 shopping list.

If you are interested in trying this for yourself check out the website and the book It Starts with Food. I didn’t read the book It Starts with Food until we finished the entire 30 days. When I finished the book I was even more impressed with the program and believe even more that this is a great lifestyle change for us. The book explains the science behind the program and it made complete sense. It didn’t hurt that right before I read It Starts with Food I read Michael Pollian’s In Defense of Food. Both books shed a lot of light on how food is marketed, what really is food and how to make sure you are eating real food. Eating real food is more complicated than I thought. I can’t do it justice so if you are interested you really should check out those books.

I am working on getting some of the recipes I am using on the blog and creating some of my own. If you have done a Whole 30 I am always looking for new recipes. If you are thinking about doing a Whole 30 and have questions let me know.

everyday food

February 19, 2013 by anne 3 Comments

I have loved the magazine Everyday Food for a long time. It always had great easy recipes for the weeknights. When I got the letter a few months ago that the magazine wouldn’t be continuing in the same form and instead I would be receiving Martha Stewart Living. I was very disappointed. So much so I burned the letter in the fireplace.

I was, however, very happy to see an Everyday Food supplement with my magazine this month. So excited that I have already cooked from it and it has only been in the house for 3 days. I wish I could say the same for the other magazines that are piled on my desk. The bird looks like it has been run over by a car because the recipe requires you to remove the backbone and flatten the chicken so it cooks faster.

Removing the backbone is called spatchcocking. You can easily remove the backbone with a pair of kitchen shears.

Just prepare your self for the sound of cracking bones. It is a bit weird the first time but once you get used to it is easy to do. When you are done flip the chicken over and crack the breastbone to make the chicken lay flat. It is important to get it flat and even so it will cook evenly.

This is what it should look like after you have flattened it and covered it in prosciutto. The recipe called for apple, fennel and leeks. I only remembered fennel when I was trying to shop from memory but you can substitute a lot of vegetables. Anything that you can roast in the oven will work well here. I used sweet potato, carrot and fennel.

I had the dish completely prepped while I was waiting for the oven to preheat.

Prosciutto-wrapped chicken with vegetables

adapted from prosciutto-wrapped chicken with fennel in March issue of Everyday Food

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
salt and pepper
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 small sweet potatoes, cut into equal size pieces
1 bulb of fennel, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
olive oil
1/4 pound of thinly sliced prosciutto, about 8 slices
sage leaves or dried sage

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove backbon from chicken. Flip chicken breast side up. Press firmly on the breastbone to flatten. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

2. Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss vegetables with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and scatter around chicken. Cover chicken with prosciutto, overlapping slices and tucking underneath. Toss sage with olive oil and scatter on top. Roast until prosciutto is crisp, chicken is cooked through (an instant-read thermometer registers 165), and vegetables are tender, 30-40 minutes. Tent with foil and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

This came out of the oven extremely moist and flavorful. Since all of the vegetables cook at the same time it is a very easy weeknight meal.
What is your favorite meal for the weeknights?

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Prosciutto-wrapped chicken with vegetables

adapted from prosciutto-wrapped chicken with fennel in March issue of Everyday Food