Roasted Red Pepper Cauliflower Soup

THIS SOUP IS AMAZING!!!!!!

If you are looking for an absolutely delicious soup with rich flavours and a wee bit of heat look no further. We ate the entire batch in one sitting because it was so good!

Ingredients :

Olive oil
1 sweet red pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1 head of cauliflower
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
4 cups chicken stock
1 yellow onion coarsely chopped
2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp saffron threads (optional)
2 shell on shrimp or prawns
1 cup full fat coconut milk
16 medium sized peeled and cleaned shrimp.
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce or tobasco
Juice of 1/2 lime

Preheat oven to 450 F. Cut red pepper in half, discard stem and seeds and brush with olive oil. Place two cloves of peeled garlic in each half and put in baking pan. Core the cauliflower but leave head in tact. Brush with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder, place alongside red pepper in baking pan. Roast for 40 minutes until cauliflower is browned and peppers have some char on them. While roasting your veg get your stock ready. In a stock pot heat a table spoon of olive oil and sauté your onions. Add in curry and saffron and cook until spices get toasted and there are brown bits in your pot. Add in chicken stock and be sure to scrape up the toasty bits on the bottom of your pot. That is where the flavour is. I used unsalted stock so I put in a half tsp of salt and a quarter tsp of black pepper. I tossed in a couple of shell on shrimp for flavour. Discard them when you transfer broth to blender. Bring to a boil reduce to simmer and let cook with lid on until vegetables are done roasting. When vegetables are roasted throw them all in a blender, reserve a cup or so of bite sized cauliflower florets. Pour broth over top of vegetables and liquify. Add mixture back in pot. Add in coconut milk and hot pepper sauce. I use trinidadian hot pepper sauce, use as much or as little as you like. Always taste as you go. let simmer until broth is hot enough to cook your shrimp. Add in shrimp and cook until they are opaque. Don’t over cook them or they will not be tender like they should be. When shrimp are cooked through remove soup from heat and add in lime juice.

Paleo Butter Chicken With Whole Roasted Cauliflower

This turned out really flavorful and certainly very filling!  We are big fans of Indian takeout, but on the Wahls Protocol eating out has proven treacherous.  I used the roasted cauliflower in place of Basmati rice and I really love the flavor the roasting added. It was also pretty quick to make.

Whole Roasted Cauliflower Directions: 
Before you start your Butter Chicken preheat oven to 400 F.  Brush whole head of cauliflower with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Put it in a baking pan and put it in the oven florets up. Leave there until main course is complete, it should look golden and speckled brown all over when you take it out.  Chop into bite size pieces and ladle Butter Chicken over the top.

Butter Chicken Ingredients:
2 TBSP virgin coconut oil
1 medium yellow onion finely diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
3/4 TBSP grated ginger 
1/2 TSP tumeric
1 TSP chili powder
1/4 TSP cinnamon
1/2 TSP salt
1/4 TSP black pepper
1/4 TSP cayenne pepper (if desired)
1 can of diced tomatoes undrained
2 TBSP tomato paste
6 cooked chicken thighs shredded ( feel free to use grocery store rotisserie chicken, you can also throw raw chicken thighs into your sauce to simmer, you will just have to cook it longer until the chicken is cooked through.)
1 can of full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of one lime to taste ( add as much or as little as you like). ALWAYS TASTE AS YOU GO!

Directions:
Melt coconut oil on medium high heat, saute onions and garlic until they start to soften.  Add ginger, tumeric, chili powder, cinnamon, salt pepper and cayenne.  This step is really important. You need to cook down the onions and roast your spices thoroughly.  This is how your curry becomes a curry.  5 minutes should get you where you need to be, but use your eyes, if there are brown crusty bits on the bottom of your pan and your onions are brownish in hue, you are good to go.  Here is a pic.

Add in your tomatoes and tomato paste. Give it a good stir and scrape all the spices up off your pan to incorporate into the sauce.  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.  I like to blend my sauce with an immersion blender after simmering to make it smooth but it isn’t mandatory.

Add in chicken and coconut milk to sauce  cook for a couple of  minutes to reheat. Remove from heat, add in cilantro and lime juice. Enjoy!

Butterflied Broiler Chicken

This was an Alton Brown recipe I found.  It was absolutely delicious and the skin got perfectly crispy.  I changed up the technique a little because it needed more time to cook but I didn’t want the skin to burn.  I cooked it as per the instructions and then switched off the broiler and baked at 350 until the internal temp was what I wanted. The result was perfectly crisp skin and deliciously juicy meat!  I did not use the canola oil and I did not make the jus because I didn’t have any red wine on hand.  I imagine it would be pretty tasty.
Here is the recipe link http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/broiled-butterflied-chicken-recipe.html

Thai Inspired Bacon Sweet Potato Cauliflower Soup

My husband’s favourite soup is a sweet potato Thai soup. Unfortunately it has red peppers, curry spice and peanut butter in it.  I decided to give it a few tweaks to see if I could make something protocol friendly and delicious.  I had 6 strips of leftover nitrate free bacon and didn’t want it to go to waste so I tossed that in there too.  Obviously this was an excellent idea! You could easily omit it, if you wanted a vegan soup.  Just use coconut oil to saute the veggies.

Servings: 6

• 6 strips of nitrate free bacon chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 tsp of grated ginger
• one head of cauliflower roughly chopped
• 3 cups of chopped sweet potato (I used one giant sweet potato)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• tsp cumin
• tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 3 cups of water
• 1 cup coconut milk
• Juice of one lime
• tsp raw honey

In a large pot saute bacon until cooked through but not crunchy. Add in garlic, onions and ginger and cook two to three minutes until they are softened.  Add in cinnamon, cumin, salt and pepper, stir until evenly blended with contents of pot.  Add cauliflower, sweet potato, water and coconut milk (I make my own coconut milk but canned should do fine).  Bring liquid to a boil then lower heat and simmer until vegetables are fork tender. Puree with a hand blender or transfer in batches to your blender to puree.  If you prefer a thicker soup continue to cook until it reduces to a consistency you like, otherwise remove from heat and stir in lime juice and honey.  Garnish with chopped baby spinach or fresh cilantro.

Baked Sweet Potato Chips

These are easy and so so good!  Get out your mandolin and make some paper thin slices of sweet potato. Toss them in extra virgin olive oil. I seasoned mine with sea salt and garlic powder.  5 minutes per side at 400 F.  Be careful these can burn in a flash depending on your oven so keep an eye on them. They are done when they are crispy. 

Beef Heart Stew

Part of the Wahls Protocol is eating organ meat once a week. Beef heart was pretty intimidating to me.  I did not grow up eating organ meat.  Throw me some escargot or frog’s legs, no problem, but a big ol’ cow heart freaks me out.  I am pleased to say that this dish turned out “hearty” and flavorful.  I apologize for the cheesy pun, I just couldn’t help myself.

First thing was to prepare the beef heart.  Here is how it comes in a package.

To prepare the heart I cut it in half and chopped off all of the fatty bits and any weird ventricley or hard to the touch parts.  A beef heart is pretty cheap and giant so cutting away a big portion of it didn’t make me feel that terrible.  I figured the less texturally frightening it was the better. Here is what I ended up with.

Next, I I sprinkled the heart with a little sea salt and dredged it in some arrowroot flour.

See?  No longer terrifying.  Here is the full recipe.

• 1 Beef heart trimmed of fat, blood vessels and ventricles, cubed.
• 1/4 cup of arrowroot flour
• 2 Tbsp of coconut oil
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• 1 cup of mushrooms sliced
• 1 cup of dry red wine
• 3-4 cups of water
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cloves
• 1 Tsp of sea salt
• 1/2 Tsp of black pepper
• 2 large carrots sliced
• 1 small turnip cubed
• 3 baby bok choy with core removed
• 1 TBSP of balsamic vinegar

Prepare beef heart as noted above.  Heat coconut oil on medium heat and add beef heart to pan. Stir until evenly browned.  Do not crowd meat or it will not brown nicely.  Remove meat from pot and put aside.  Saute garlic, onion and mushrooms until onions start to soften.  Put meat back in pot and add red wine.  Bring to a boil and let cook for 3-5 minutes to ensure the alcohol burns off.  Add in water, salt, pepper, bay leaf, cloves.  Simmer for 1 hour, Add carrots and turnip.  Bring mixture back up to a boil, then reduce to low simmer.  Cover pot and let stew cook 20 mins until vegetables are fork tender.  Add in bok choy and cook until it is just wilted.  You want it to maintain its color and a little bit of crunch. Remove from heat and add in balsamic vinegar.  If you prefer a gravy like consistency you can mix equal parts of arrowroot powder and cold water and add it to your stew. I suggest doing it a teaspoon full at a time.

Easy Avocado Tuna Kale Salad

Looking for an easy tasty way to get in your leafy greens?  This is just the trick.  It tastes great, is super filling and contains a healthy dose of good fats and lean protein.    I absolutely despise lettuce, so salads are typically not a go to food for me.  Kale is SO much better than lettuce, it doesn’t get soggy, wilty or rusty.  I can dress my salad in the morning before work and it isn’t a gloppy gross mess by lunch time.

• 1 avocado
• 1/2 English cucumber chopped into bite size pieces
• juice of half lime
• 4 oz of tuna shredded
• 2 cups of kale torn into bite size pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• (for those without autoimmune disorders throw in a pinch of cumin and chop up a bit of jalapeno pepper for added zing

Mash avocado add in shredded tuna, squeeze in lime juice, salt and pepper and give another good stir.  Toss Kale in mixture and stir it around so it is evenly coated (I find using my hands is easiest).

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen

This recipe is so good. Not just good for healthy food but plain old good! I would order this in a restaurant. I brought leftovers to work for lunch and everyone in the office asked for the recipe because it smelled so good. I tweaked the sauce to fit with what I already had in my pantry and I omitted the chili flakes as they are from the nightshade family and not recommended for people with autoimmune disorders. Here is my version of the sauce:

• 2 TBSP coconut aminos
• 2TBSP fish sauce
• 1.5 TBSP cider vinegar
• 1.5 TBSP water
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• Juice of half lime
• honey to taste

The honey and the lime really boost the flavor! Click on the picture for the full recipe.

EASY Coconut Milk Recipe

With the massive amounts of smoothies being eaten at our house lately, we are going through boat loads of almond milk. It certainly isn’t light on the pocket book! I thought there had to be a more economical solution. Once again I turned to Pinterest and found this! It also led me to an amazing blog called Wellness Mama! This took no time to make (I actually made two batches with the same coconut) and it turned out just fine. It smells amazing! We are still drinking almond milk but we cut it with the coconut milk now. Wellness Mama says to strain it with a cheese cloth but my little sieve did just fine. I just squished the liquid out of the pulp with my fingers because I am impatient and don’t like to wait around. Click on the picture for the recipe!

Cauliflower Leek Soup

This was really good and I am so surprised because it is so simple to make. Once again I am using coconut oil. Coconut oil is fantastic. It has a high smoking temperature, it is clear, doesn’t taste or smell like anything and is actually good for you! That is a winner in my books.

1 TBSP Coconut Oil
2 clove garlic minced
1 shallot chopped
1/2 Spanish onion chopped
3 leeks chopped thinly (white parts only)
1 head of cauliflower
4 cups chicken stock
1 stalk of lemon grass halved and smashed with a meat tenderizer
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

In a large pot heat coconut oil. Saute garlic, shallot, onion and leek until they start to soften. Add in cauliflower, stock and lemon grass. Bring liquid to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until cauliflower is fork tender. Remove lemon grass and puree with a hand blender. Season as you like it. I used about a half tsp of salt and quarter tsp of pepper. The lemongrass makes this really tasty!

Beef Shank Stew

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I was cooking for company and didn’t have time for a giant photo shoot.  I am also not a fabulous photographer.  This is the first meal I made after my inaugural Wahl Protocol grocery trip and it was absolutely DELICIOUS!  I love to cook and I love a new challenge.  This diet is certainly a challenge!  After a veritable shopping spree at my local Freshco, this is what I came up with for dinner.  I found some frozen sliced beef shanks in the freezer section and since the good doctor says that bone broth is excellent for healing a troubled gut, I thought this would be just the thing.

• 2TBS of coconut oil
• 5 cloves garlic minced
• 2 shallots chopped
• 1/2  spanish onion chopped
• three cloves
• Package of sliced beef shanks (there were about 5 half inch thick slices)
• 3 cups pinot noir wine (I know, I know cheating on the first recipe but we had this lovely wine and I didn’t want to waste it)
• water (enough to cover the beef shanks)
• tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 Medium sweet potato chopped
• 5 baby bok choy (chopped greens only)
• Two large carrots chooped
• Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

In a large pot, heat coconut oil.  Add first three ingredients and saute until soft.  Add clove, beef shanks, wine, water, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then lower and  let simmer for one hour. Pull out the bones, scoop any marrow out and put back in the stew and cut and edible meat bits off and put them back in the stew. Add vegetables, bring back up to a boil and then down to a simmer until carrots and sweet potatoes are fork tender.  You may want to wait to the end to put in your bok choy so it stays nice and green but I didn’t bother. Remove from heat and stir in balsamic vinegar.  VOILA!  Deeeeelicous and hearty.