Meatza

Meatza

Printable Recipe

So, I know everyone is doing their own meatza lately and I thought I'd jump on the band wagon and see how good this really was. A meatza is a dough-less pizza.. no pizza dough with the right ingredients = paleo pizza. It's really good and I don't ever miss the yeasty pizza dough.

If you want a protein packed, good-carb packed, super easy and quick meal, give this one a try. You can use ground chicken, turkey, lamb, veal, hambuger.. any type of ground meat and you're good to go.

Ingredients:
Serves Two 1/2lb. patties, or Four 1/4lb. patties

1lb. ground meat - I chose hambuger meat for mine

1/4tsp salt

1/4tsp black pepper

1/4tsp oregano

1/4tsp garlic powder

1/2cup crushed tomatoes (or any clean marana sauce/pasta sauce)

cheese - if you eat cheese

1/4cup sliced onions

1/2cup cooked spinach

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400degrees.
In a bowl, mix all of the spices together with the ground meat and place on baking sheet into desired shape. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Drain as much grease as you can. Next, add your toppings.. What I did was add the crushed tomatoes, onions and sauteed spinach*.
*Heat 1/4cup water in a pan on the stove, add 2-3 large handfuls of spinach and wilt, approximately 2-3 minutes.*
Bake additional 10 minutes or until cooked through.
If you consume cheese, add the tomato sauce of choice and add cheese. If you'd like, you can bake for 10 minutes then broil on low for a few minutes until lightly browned.

There's so many combinations of meatza you can do, so add whatever topping you like to eat. Olives, peppers, tomatoes, onions. Make this meatza yours. Own it. Eat it!

Eat and Enjoy your lovely paleo meatza!

French Quarter Beignets

French Quarter Beignets
Printable Recipe

I love donuts. Any kind; any flavor; any size. As long as they're fresh, I will eat them until I get sick. My mom and I were talking about making sopapilla's and I asked her if they were similar to beignets so she brought all of her stuff to my house one night and we made some awesome pastries!

If you have the time to make these and have a good system going, you've got to try them. They are light and fluffy and crunchy and sugary and just darn delicious! And because I love Paul Deen and her sweets so much, this recipe comes from Food Network so check it out here. My mom made the batter ahead of time. The only thing she did different was half the recipe and it fed 8 of us plus she took some home for her and her husband. We ate and ate and ate. I could've eaten the whole batch and I'm not lying.

Anyway, here's the delicious recipe! New Orleans doesn't have anything on this recipe. I'll stand behind that 100%.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 envelope active dry yeast

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup evaporated milk

7 cups bread flour

1/4 cup shortening

Nonstick spray

Oil, for deep-frying

3 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together. Mix egg mixture to the yeast mixture. In a separate bowl, measure out the bread flour. Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add the shortening and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour. Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Put dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oil in a deep-fryer to 350degrees.
Add the confectioners' sugar to a paper bag and set aside.
Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares. Deep-fry, flipping constantly, until they become a golden color. After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towels, and then toss them into the bag of confectioners' sugar. Hold bag closed and shake to coat evenly.

As Paula would say, "These are 'slap-your-mamma-good!'"

Eat and enjoy with some friends.

Watermelon Drink

Watermelon Drink

Printable Recipe

I love watermelon. I love the smell of it; I love the taste of it and I love how pretty they are when they're growing on the vine. I love artificial watermelon candy, too, and anytime it's sitting around, I'll eat it.. paleo or not!

I watched a documentary about the immune system one night and the guy said that watermelon is a great cleanser so I thought I'd give it a try. It also contains cancer fighters, proteins, healthy fats, potassium, minerals and the list goes on and on. Check out this website for truly amazing information about what a watermelon can do for you, then come back here and make this drink because it's so good!

Ingredients:

For a single serving
1 - 1 1/2 cups chopped watermelon

squeeze of half a lime (optional)

Directions:

Place the chopped watermelon and lime juice in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. I do not recommend a juicer because it doesn't provide the pulp/fiber/nutrients that you should consume so please use a blender or food processor.

I like to use fresh lime juice when I have it because it kicks the flavor up a notch but if you don't have it, don't worry about it. If you like salted watermelon, dip the rim of your glass in water or lime juice and then dip into some Celtic sea salt then pour the watermelon juice in and enjoy!

Nothing beats a hot summer day by eating healthy and drinking something so delicious. I hope you enjoy the benefits you're receiving by drinking watermelon juice!

Tip: I chop all of my watermelon into bite-size pieces before it's refrigerated. Once the kids are bored with it and I have some left over, I will freeze it on a single layer of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Once it's frozen, I place it in a freezer bag so I can enjoy watermelon juice any time of the year.

Be healthy, live paleo or primal and enjoy!

Chocolate Cloud Pie

Chocolate Cloud Pie

Printable Recipe

I will admit, I'm not a big fan of pie but I like to give diversity here so I thought I'd try and make a pie just for you. Don't you feel special now? Well, you should because when you make this, you'll thank me!

WARNING: This pie is made with dark chocolate chips and marshmellows. This is a very decadent pie!

Okay, now that I have your attention, let me tell you that it's a very simple recipe to do and only takes about 10 minutes to make. There is waiting time for it to cool down in between steps but overall it takes no time at all.

Ready?

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pie crust (or you can buy the kind in the freezer section)

2cups mini marshmellows or 20 large marshmellows

1/2cup milk

2cups dark chocolate chips (or a 12oz. package)

1cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400degrees and poke holes in the bottom of the pie crust for ventilation. Bake the pie crust at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown. Please follow the directions on your pie crust if it's store bought. Cool on the counter for 20 minutes.

In a microwave-safe bowl, add the milk and marshmellows and cook approximately 5 minutes at 50% stirring every 30 seconds until melted.

Pour in the chocolate chips and stir until melted, which takes about 30-45 seconds. If they don't melt, pop back in the microwave for 15 seconds at a time.
Pour 1cup of the melted mixture into the cooled pie crust and spread out evenly then store in the fridge. Cool the remaining melted mixture on the counter to room temperature.

In a cooled mixing bowl, add 1cup heavy whipping cream and beat until peaks appear and it becomes light and fluffy.

Gradually mix in the remaining melted mixture until combined.

Pour on top of the chocolate layer in the pie crust and cover.

Refrigerate 4-6 hours or until well chilled.

Eat slowly and enjoy!

Ru's Paleo Muffins

Ru's Paleo Muffins

Printable Recipe

What's a "Ru", you ask? It's me! My middle name is Ruth and my sister hated calling me Angela so she tried "Angie" and mom hated that so she started calling me "Ruthie." Yah, I was that girl. That girl was super skinny, wore braces and had stringy dirty-blonde hair. "Ruthie" wasn't a good image for me and I'm thankful it was changed to "Ru" when we started playing softball for our church leage .. back in 'Nam. Now only my closest friends call me Ru and it's very strange hearing "Angela" because it's hardly used.. unless you're a telemarketer!

Anywho, I made the muffins on a whim the other day praying they'd turn out and they did! After a year or so of following recipes someone else has created, I've also been creative and made several of my own. Cooking is an art, and once you have the basics, you can go anywhere with food! I hope you try these Ru Muffins; and if you do, please let me know!

*These are grain free, dairy free and egg free!

Ingredients:

Makes 6 muffins

1/2cup almond meal/flour

1/4cup almond butter

pinch of salt

1/8tsp baking powder

1/2tsp vanilla

1/4cup chocolate chips

1Tbsp pure maple syrup

1Tbsp coconut milk, or water (aka H2O)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, add the almond meal and pulse. If you have almond flour, skip this step. Add everything in except the chocolate chips and pulse until combined. Add in the chocolate chips and fold in by hand.
Spray a muffin tin and add batter about 1/3 of the way, making sure there's enough left to make 6 muffins, or go crazy and fill 'er up. You're eating these, so do what you want with them :)
Bake approximately 10-13 minutes or until cooked through.

Cook about 2 minutes in the pan then make sure you cool on a cooling rack or the bottoms/sides will get mushy.

If you're going to store these, do so in an airtight container and refrigerate. These are best eaten on the day they're made but if you need to, refrigerate and pop them in the microwave for 5 seconds to reheat when ready to eat.

Eat and enjoy!

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Printable Recipe

I was craving something sweet without it being unhealthy for me so I was google-ing my hands off trying to find a good cookie recipe. There are a ton of paleo cookies out there, but the pictures don't even look appetizing, so I click some more only to find crumbly looking pieces of "food" until I found one at Elana's Pantry. I do admit, hers still didn't look like a typical cookie, but when you remove wheat flour and add almond flour, it tends to be a different look and texture altogether.

I made two batches and found that if you pulse your almond meal (Because I buy Bob's Red Mill "meal/flour"), it becomes more fine in texture and it's less crumbly. If you don't have anywhere local to buy fine almond flour, just pulse it in the food processor or blender and you'll be set to have a good 'wanna-be' cookie.

My second batch, by far, was the best paleo cookie I've ever attempted and although I tweaked Elana's recipe to what I have on hand, it was paleo and pretty good and I didn't feel like a fatty for eating 5 at a time.

These have a tendency of melting in your mouth, so enjoy with a cup of coffee and a loved one and dive into a healthier version of chocolate chip cookies!

Ingredients:

Serves 10-15 teaspoonful cookies

2cups almond flour, finely ground if you have almond meal

1/4tsp sea salt

1/2tsp baking soda

1/4cup coconut oil, do not melt it. Keep it in its hardened stage.

1Tbsp honey or pure maple syrup

1tsp vanilla extract

1 handful of chocolate chip mini's or dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If you have almond meal, pulse it to make the texture more fine and then add everything else into the food processor combine thoroughly; adding the chocolate chips by hand. On a parchment-lined cookie sheet, add 1teaspoon-full sized cookie balls and lightly press down. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes and cool on the cookie sheet at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack or else the cookies will fall apart and crumble. These won't last too long, but if they do, store in an airtight container up to 3 days.

If you want to bake these another day, make your individual portions and place on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet (covered with tin foil or plastic wrap) and refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze, uncovered for 1 hour then transfer to an airtight freezer bag. When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator for 15 minutes then bake as suggested above. When ready to bake, remove from freezer and wait 1 hour to thaw and bake as suggested above.

These are so great because you can freely share these with your friends and family and not have one ounce of guilt!

Serve and enjoy!