recipe Archives - Page 5 of 9

Dairy-free, Export, Gluten-free, Grain-free, Nut-Free, Paleo, Raw

Stacked Pear Salad

Christmas came early this year. We had a pre-Christmas celebration with my family in south Florida last week. It was 75 degrees and clear, blue skies everyday. My body soaked up the sun, the humid sea salt air and the therapeutic beach sounds. The hubby and I were grateful to be out of the winter chill and have a peaceful place to relax.

I spent a few Christmases down there as a kid, yet it’s still odd to see palm trees decorated like candy canes. Going from the northeast to the tropics numbs the holiday spirit a bit. We managed to keep the Christmas music playing as a reminder that it’s still December. I was so disoriented until I heard “White Christmas” playing.

The highlight was our special Christmas dinner, surf and turf style. We stood in line for over an hour to buy the perfect lobster tails. The guy selling them had a solo operation in a parking lot. Fresh caught in the morning and selling it all by noon. Word spread fast that he had the freshest seafood in town and we were willing to wait.

It was just four of us for dinner so I wanted to make this Stacked Pear Salad for a showstopper dish. We needed a light salad to begin our heavy meal. The tangy dressing matches perfectly with the pear’s sweetness. I baked the pears slightly to soften them a bit. Otherwise, I think they’re too hard to enjoy. Everyone loved it and it may have stolen the spotlight from the lobsters.

Makes 4 servings.

4 ripe Bosc pears
2 cups arugula
½ cup sweet onion – thinly sliced
optional: ½ cup Maytag blue cheese or goat cheese

Red Wine Vinaigrette
3 tsp raw honey
2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

►Combine all vinaigrette ingredients except the olive oil. Allow to sit for a minute. Then slowly drizzle in the olive oil and whisk together.

►Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
►Using a paring knife, core each pear from the bottom. Make sure to remove all seeds. You may need to cut a flat bottom to ensure the pear stands upright without falling. Slice each vertically into four sections. Then stack back together and place in a baking dish. Bake 7 minutes until just slightly soft.

►To assemble, place the bottom pear slice onto a salad plate. Top with arugula, onion and drizzle with dressing. Repeat until all sections are stacked. If you include cheese, you can use it like a glue to keep the sections together.
►Serve immediately.

Dairy-free, Export, Gluten-free, Grain-free, No sugar, Nut-Free, Paleo

Greek Spiced Flank Steak Bites

It’s time to finalize the Christmas menu! Add some extra festive flare to your party with these colorful bites. Allergen friendly hor d’oeuvres can be hard to come by. My pre-paleo staples were hummus, cheese & crackers and flatbread pizzas, which are far outside my current diet. These little steak bites are a great crowd pleaser and free of most common allergens.

Flank steak is easy to marinade and one of the more inexpensive cuts of beef. Be careful not to overcook it. The meat will become too chewy to enjoy. For extra spice flavor, let the steak marinate overnight.

Makes 2 dozen steak bites.

Steak Marinade

1 lb flank steak
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp garlic – minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Vegetables
2 red bell peppers – sliced
2 green bell peppers – sliced
1 yellow onion – sliced
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp salt

►Whisk together all marinade ingredients. Place steak in a baking dish and coat thoroughly on all sides. Cover and marinate for two hours in the fridge.

►Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat baking pan with coconut oil. Toss onion and peppers with salt and spread out into pan. Cook for 15 minutes.

►Remove steak from marinade and discard. Heat a large cast iron frying pan on high heat. Melt 1 tbsp coconut oil. Place steak in pan. Let sear 2-3 minutes, until browned. Then using tongs, flip steak and sear on other side for 2-3 minutes.
►Turn off the heat and move your pan to another cool burner. Let the steak sit in the pan for 5-10 minutes so it can continue to cook a bit.
(120°F for very rare, 125°F for rare, or 130°F for medium rare. Flank steak is best rare to medium rare.)
►Remove steak to a cutting board and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting. Leave the juices in the pan.
►Slice the steak very thin, against the grain so you cut through the tough long muscle fibers. This prevents the meat from being chewy.

►Go back to the pan and scrap up all the browned bits. Throw in 2 tbsp of water and heat over high heat. Stir together until juices thicken a bit, about 3 minutes. Use this as sauce for the steak.

To assemble the bites.
►Take1 slice of each pepper and onion, then spiral the steak around them. Repeat this until all steak strips are used. You can use toothpicks to secure them. Serve plain or drizzled with the steak sauce.

Dairy-free, Dessert, Export, Gluten-free, Grain-free, Nut-Free, Paleo

Coconut Milk Chai Latte

Hot chia is served for celebrations at my yoga studio. The spicy blend warms and soothes the body, a mimicking of yoga’s euphoria. It’s my version of a hot toddy, spiked with spice instead of liquor. I replaced the milk in this traditional recipe with coconut milk and to cut down on time, I used tea bags rather than blending my own spices. You can make your own chai of course. I decided to go the easy route and use the very convenient decaf chai tea bags. Danielle Walker of Against All Grain has a wonderful recipe and I encourage everyone to make it themselves at least once.

The trick to a creamy dairy-free latte is in the type of coconut milk. Fullfat canned coconut milk produces the best results. It contains the thick coconut cream that will separate from the watery part. That cream is the part to use when making this recipe. The canned light variations have a higher water to coconut milk ratio. Water is added to thin out the cream so you’re getting less coconut than if you were to use fullfat. It’s more economical to buy the fullfat and thin it yourself if you wish. I recommend going all in and choosing the cream for a delicious, rich drink and more healthy fat too.

Makes 4 servings.

1 cup fullfat canned coconut milk (I like this brand)
2 cups water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp maple syrup
4 decaf chai tea bags (I used this)

►Heat coconut milk and water over medium high heat in a saucepan. Once it begins to simmer, reduce heat to low.
►Add tea bags and allow to steep for 5 minutes.
►Remove tea bags. Stir in vanilla and maple syrup.
►Serve hot or cold.

Resources:
Chai Tea Concentrate, http://againstallgrain.com/2012/12/20/chai-tea-concentrate/