Paleo Banana Cream Pie

Oh my goodness, this was absolutely heavenly and didnt feel paleo at all (probably because its only paleo in ingredients, not in concept). The crust was the essential piece in this, and adding in the dried fruit gave the pie a distinctive taste that was perfect with the mellowed banana and coconut cream topping.

Crust:
1c walnuts
1/2c assorted dried fruit
1-2 tbsp animal fat

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix walnuts and dried fruit in a blender or food processor. Remove and knead in the animal fat. Press into a 9-inch pie pan and bake for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool on a rack.

Banana Layer:
10 ripe bananas
1 tbsp animal fat
1-2 tbsp honey or mable syrup

Warm half the animal fat in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add in half the bananas and cook for about 5-10 minutes, until they are golden brown. Add in the remaining animal fat and bananas and cook until everything is soft, with a little carmelization beginning. Add in the maple syrup and stir. Pour the banana mixture into the pie pan on top of your crust and set aside to cool.

Coconut Cream:
3 cans of coconut milk (or 2 cans of coconut cream)
1 tbsp assorted spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, allspice ect)
1/4c maple syrup (preferably maple sugar if you can find it)
4 egg yolks

Put the coconut milk in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. This will separate the water from the cream. Skim the cream off the top (usually about the top 1/3 of the can) and save the water for some other purpose. Put the cream into the pot and add spices and maple syrup. Stir over medium heat, uncovered for about 20-30 minutes, trying to remove as much water as possible from the mixture. When it begins to thicken put the four egg yolks in a bowl and add a few spoonfuls of the hot mixture to temper the yolks. Whisk quickly, add a few more spoonfuls and whisk quickly again. Then, very slowly while stirring vigorously, add the tempered egg yolks into the coconut cream mixture. Cook for another 2 minutes, being sure not to let the mix bubble. Pour on top of the banana layer and refrigerate a few hours, preferably overnight.

Slice and serve!

Thanksgiving Recipes

Date Night Recipes

We had a wonderful time entertaining people for a four course fundraising dinner a couple of weekends ago. I've been so busy with everything that I am just now getting around to posting about it! The dinner would be perfect for a date night where you want to impress that certain someone, eat paleo, and not have to explain your diet. It consisted of a fall salad, pumpkin soup, fig and onion pork and pumpkin custard! Below are the recipes and images, please donate to my cause if you like them, any amount helps!

Fall Salad

Ingredients:

1 apple

1 beet

4 c mixed greens

1/4 head purple cabbage

1/2 scallion

1 chicken breast

1 tbsp marjoram

1/2 lime, juiced

1/4 c oil

Check ingredients

Chop mixed greens in thing 1/8 inch strips. To do this, hold a handfull of the mixed greens against the cutting board exposing only a thin strip from under your fingertips, and chop near your finger tips. Do the same with the cabbage, and chop the length of the cabbage strips down to about 2 inches. Julienne the beet, apple and scallions. Add all ingredients and half of the dressing into a small bowl and toss thoroughly. Press salad mix into a serving size cup and quickly turn over onto the serving plate, shaking lightly to allow the pressed salad mixture to release. 

Over medium heat, cook the chicken breast in oil. When just cooked through, remove and slice the breast. Add a few slices of chicken breast to each salad serving and drizzle remaining dressing over them.

Pumpkin Soup with Candied Sausage

3/4 c coconut cream (You can also refridgerate/freeze a can of coconut milk and skim the cream off the top)

16 oz pumpkin, purreed

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

2 c soup stock

1/2 lb sausage, casings removed

1 tbsp maple syrup

Add celery, carrot and shallot into an oiled skillet and cook until browned. Add in pumpkin puree and soup stock and bring to a boil. Blend, add in coconut cream. 

Meanwhile, in a seperate skillet over high heat cook the sausage meat, mixing often and seperating it to make a ground beef texture. Finish over very high heat to make a crunchy outside. Remove from heat and stir in maple syrup. Place blended soup into a bowl and top with the crunchy sausage pieces. 

Fig and Onion Pork

12 dried figs (keep them whole)

3 c apple cider

3 tbsp oil of your choice

1 large onion, cubed

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and cubed - leave the skins on

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 tbsp fresh sage (this ingredient is the deal maker)

2-4 lbs pork loin

1 c white wine (or red, depending how you feel about whites)

Twine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium pot combine the figs and apple cider, simmer over low heat while covered for about 25 minutes. Then uncover and reduce until there is only about 1/4c of liquid remaining (this takes another 25 minutes or so) - this is your most delicious fig syrup!

In a large oiled skillet brown the onions, apples, sage and garlic. Remove figs from the syrup, remove stems, cut up and add into the mix. Set the pan aside to cool.

Open up your pork loin, stuff with the onion-apple mix and tie closed. (mine was really two 2inx8in pieces, so I made a sandwich out of them)

Heat a dutch oven over high heat and add a little oil, sear the stuffed roast on all sides, about 2 to 3 minutes each. Add in any remaining onion-apple mixture that didnt fit inside the pork and place in the oven uncovered for 15-30 minutes (make sure the internal temp reaches 135)

Remove the prok and place on a dish to cool. In the dutch oven, add in the fig syrup, wine and remainin apple cider and reduce over high heat, scraping the burnt bits of the pan during the process. Spoon the mix over the cooked pork and serve!

Pumpkin Custard

1 Can pumpkin puree

1c coconut milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Mix pumpkin puree with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Add in beaten eggs and mix well. Add in coconut milk, pour batter into a 13x9 pan and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for  20-30 minutes. Remove and let cool. Serve.

Fall Paleo Dinner

If you like the recipe below, or any of the others I have posted so far (like Vietnamese chicken soup or Mango Butternut Squash) please donate to the Melanoma Foundation for my Boston Marathon Burpee Madness bid! 100% of the donations go towards upstream education and social research on Melanoma prevention, Im funding all of the recipes and training fees on my own.

Im looking forward to cooking my first fundraising dinner in two weekends, Im serving 4 couples on Saturday and currently 2 on Sunday, with the hopes of raising $300-500 for the Melanoma Foundation! The courses are going to be a fall dinner salad, pumpkin soup with candied sausage, pork roasted in fig and onion sauce and pumpkin custard - I plan on doing a few dinners over the next months leading up to the marathon and finally make the paleo parties cookbook! Here is a teaser of the salad, it was incredible, light, crunchy, a little sweet and a splash of tangy.

What you need:

1 package of washed salad (I prefer the non-Iceberg type)

1/4 of a purple cabbage

5-10 strawberries

1 apple

1 tbsp Marjoram

1 tsp lime

4 tbsp oil (you choose what works for you)

1 tsp various italian seasonings

How to make it:

Shred the lettuce by holding a fistfull against a cutting board and slowly feeding it to the knife. Do the same with the cabbage, strawberries, and apple. Toss with remaining seasonings. Pack into a small cup and turn the cup over onto your plate. Voila, a simple and delicious salad!

Omelets!

If you like the breakfast idea below, or any of the others I have posted so far (like Vietnamese chicken soup or Mango Butternut Squash) please donate to the Melanoma Foundation for my Boston Marathon Burpee Madness bid! 100% of the donations go towards upstream education and social research on Melanoma prevention, Im funding all of the recipes and training fees on my own.

Mmmmmm breakfast! Its the best meal of the day and can really get you off to a good start, especially when you dont have to cook it! Omelets stuffed with everything left in the fridge, kiwi, oranges and bacon!

Chicken Casserole

If you like the recipe below, or any of the others I have posted so far (like Vietnamese chicken soup or Mango Butternut Squash) please donate to the Melanoma Foundation for my Boston Marathon Burpee Madness bid! 100% of the donations go towards upstream education and social research on Melanoma prevention, Im funding all of the recipes and training fees on my own.

What you need:

1 lb of chicken tenders, chopped

3 large tomatoes, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 c Flax, grinded

1 tbsp Rosemary

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp pepper

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, mix all the ingredients and let sit for 10 minutes. Bake for 20-30 minutes until chicken is just cooked, draining any excess liquid every ten minutes. After removing it from the oven, allow it to set for a few mintues, season to taste and serve!

Weekend Training Fun

Wow, it was a great 3-day weekend and I got in only 1 workout, but it was totally killer, thanks to Charles River CrossFit. The workout was "Cletus" 21-18-15-12-9 of thrusters (65#), box jumps, Sumo dead lift high pull and situps, with a firm 30 min cap. While talking to Mel before the workout she mentioned it was only 15 reps more than Fran...I politely reminded her that it was in fact 30 reps longer than Fran, and that's a lot when your in the midst of them. By the last 9 thrusters it was muscle failure and sheer mental power to get the job done. I wasn't even able to workout a 3-3-3 rep scheme, and had to fight it out 1 rep at a time, but still finished before the cutoff which was a huge boost!

We cooked tons of great food and now we will have recipes throughout the week! Chicken casserole, meatloaf, artichoke salad and omelets are one the roster!

Artichoke Salad is super simple, just spinach, tomatoes, shredded carrots, peppers and sliced artichoke hearts on a bed of spinach. I always hear requests for salad dressing ideas, but I often just eat it plain, enjoying the crisp clean taste of the healthy veggies.