Lasagna

Lasagna?! Thats totallly the least Clean ( I guess the dirtiest?) thing you could eat.  Layers of Pasta and various types of cheese. Yummy? Yes. Belly Ache? Yes. So I found this recipe for Paleo Primal Lasagna and changed it up slightly.  The noodles are made out of egg which is a really good idea, i've heard of other lasagna's using eggplant, zucchini, and other veggies as the noodles, but I like how the egg noodles really give it the lasagna-y feel.  In my lasagna I used egg "noodles", spinach, Rao's marinara sauce, mushrooms, ground turkey, and sausage.  This was a really yummy and filling meal that I will probably be eating for the next few days for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  It was a little time consuming to make the noodles, so this is probably a good sunday night recipe, then you have some meals prepped for the week. Also, I always like to mention, find your favorite pandora station before you start..My Lasagna Pandora station was James Morrison and then switched it up to Duffy ( who is new to me but I kinda dig her) Anywayyyyy that has nothing to do with lasagna, so here it is..

You will need:

- 1 lb ground turkey or ground beef-- if you don't want sausage in your lasagna use 1.5 lbs of ground meat.
- 1 package sweet italian sausage--casing removed.
- 1 package mushrooms
- 1 bag of spinach ( or more if you want more veggies-- even one bag reduced to less than a cup)
- 1 large jar of your favorite marinara ( I like Rao's, or you could make your own if you're feeling ambitious)
- 6 eggs
- 6 tbs water
- coconut oil for sauteeing veggies and frying egg.
- sea salt and pepper for taste

1. preheat oven to 350
2. first brown ground turkey and sausage in one pan.  Add mushrooms when meat is almost done. Set aside when all meat is browned.

3.  Sautee spinach in coconut oil and set aside
4. Here is the time consuming part: wisk eggs and water in a bowl, and heat coconut oil( only use enough to lightly grease the pan) over medium high heat in a small frying pan.
5. Use a measuring cup to slowly add egg to frying pan, only putting enough egg in to lightly cover the bottom of the pan.

6. Flip it and cut it into sections, these noodles do not have to be perfect, they will probably fall apart a bit, but its okay!

7. Do this with the remainder of the egg, setting the noodles on a plate to the side.

8. The fun part, start by putting a little bit of sauce into the bottom of a baking dish

9. layer the bottom of the dish with your noodles, remember doesn't have to be perfect just cover the bottom.

10. add some spinach

11. I dumped half the jar of sauce into the meat mixture, and then layered the meat on.

12. continue until you've used up all your ingredients.  I only got two layers of each, I think the recipe I followed must have used a smaller dish because the picture showed alot more lasagna layers.

13. Dump the rest of the sauce on ( if you like it saucccyyyy)
14. Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes.  I sprinkled a little parm cheese ontop just for looks.  The website I got this from actually used mozz.cheese in the layers of lasagna. Which would be delish, but i'm trying to be extra good this week after I may have had regular pizza this weekend. Ooops.

Enjoy your Clean Eats Lasagna !

Zucchini Pancakes

Here is the recipe I left you guys hanging for the other day ( i've got to keep the spice alive in our blog relationship somehow!). My friend from the gym came up to me yesterday wondering about the zucchini pancake recipe! She said it reminded her of when her mom used to make these for her growing up. I've come to realize that pancakes in any, shape, or form, are always a comfort food. Maybe it's the memories they bring up, saturday morning breakfast with the fam, or teaching little cousins how to make them, or  maybe it's just the sound of the word pancake ( or maybe just the word cake) that is an instant comfort no matter what word is in front of it.  I mean, even Poopy Pancake almost sounds good.  Poopy?? Yikes i've been spending too much time with people under the age of ten . 

Anyway now that i've ruined everyones appetite, I served these with my stuffed burgers, but then ate the left over for breakfast. They actually have more of a breakfast-y feel because they are very egg-y  ( does adding a  "y" onto any word make it a legit word?)  I was thinking these would be pretty awesome with some ham, bacon, or sausage on top and turn it into a B.E.Z (bacon, egg, zucchini.  I know, who cares what time of the day you prefer to eat Zucchini pancakes, Nicki.  Here are two more pancake recipe's you should try spaghetti squash pancakes and Protein Pancakes

 Here is the recipe:

You will need:
( this will make 8-10 medium sized pancakes)

- 2 large Zucchini
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbs coconut flour
-1/2 tsp garlic powder or clove fresh garlic
- sea salt & pepper for taste
- coconut oil for frying ( or olive oil if you prefer)
** onion would be good too, but I used all my onion in the burgers that night)


1. shred zucchini ( approx 2 cups shredded)  I went out and bought myself a fancy shredder a few months ago, honestly, I prefer the cheese grater!  Only took  about 5 minutes ( the time it takes me to figure out how to assemble the fancy shredder), Plus you get a nice little forearm/bicep workout in.
** important note if using cheese grater : If you have a lovely fresh manicure, stop grating a few inches away from the end of zucchini-- a few inches of zucchini isn't worth an annoying eye sore of a chipped fingernail. ok thats all for now**

2. Whisk eggs and sift in coconut flour, this flour gets pretty clumpy.
3. add eggs and coconut flour to zucchini, add salt, pepper, garlic. mix well.  The mixture will seem watery, not like real pancake batter, but this is how its supposed to be.

4. Heat a few tbs of coconut oil in frying pan
5. I used a 1/4 measuring cup so scoop the mixture into the frying pan.

6. cook until brown on both sides.

There you have it!
Enjoy your favorite kind of "clean eats" pancakes this weekend, even if it's a poopy pancake( i'll grow up one day)

Simply Stuffed Burgers

The only thing better than a bunch of awesome toppings on a burger, is a bunch of awesome toppings stuffed inside a burger!  I spent labor day with my brother, sister in law, and oh so cute niece, and we made some delish stuffed burgers.  The burgers we made weren't exactly paleo, so I re-made them for the blog in a more "clean" fashion.  I stuffed these burgers with bacon, onion, and mushroom.  These make some big ol' burgers, my brother said they looked like Ninja Turtle Shells.



Just showing you how cute Kayla is :)

You will need:

- ground beef -- I used 1 lb, it made three large burgers
- toppings of your choice: I used about 7 slices of bacon, but the more the merrier, one package of mushrooms, and one onion.
- couple tbs of olive oil to sautee veggies
- 1 clove garlic

1. prepare bacon-- the crispier the better ( to me anyway)
2. sautee onions, mushrooms, and garlic in olive oil  ( there was a ton left over, so I just served the burgers with more on top)

3. form ground beef into thin patties.  Make them as big as you want, but big enough to fit the goods in the middle.
4. spoon toppings ontop of the patties.

5. use the remaining ground beef to form thin patties to cover your burgers. Seal burgers around the edges using your fingers.

6.  Either grill them for about 6 minutes on either side, or bake them @375 for 12 minutes, flipping burgers at halfway point.

I served these with Zucchini pancakes ( stay tuned for this recipe).  But they would also be delish with another recipe I made last week but still haven't posted, Sweet Potato Fries (stay tuned for this also)

zucchini pancakes

sweet potato fries

Coconut Flour Flatbread Pizza

My family gets together for every single birthday on my mom's side of the family.  For every single birthday my grandmother makes homemade pizza, i'm talking the perfect thin crispy crust with just the right amount of  homemade sauce &cheese.  While this is a memorable family tradition, which will probably continue for years to come, for a carb/cheese lover trying to maintain a clean diet, this is absolute torture!!  Sometimes I sit at the table eating my salad while the rest of my family eats pizza with thoughts running through my head like " Why is this worth it??" " I'm eating f&$*ing veggies and everyone else gets pizza!" Sometimes the thoughts get to me and I will give in and have some.  When I do give in, within an hour I realize why eating a clean diet is allllll worth it.  When the bloating, stomach cramping, carb hang over,( not to mention guilt) kicks in, that's when I realize why I avoid the best food in the world, Pizza.  If foods like pizza, don't have a negative affect on your body like they do mine, then enjoy it once in a while.  For those like me, here is a better option, I'm not going to say its as good as pizza, because its not.  But it is still yummy and its also a fun to build your own pizza.

I used this recipe and split into two  pizzas.  I used two baking dishes because I don't have a pizza dish.  I made one with tomato paste, chicken sausage, and mushrooms.  The other with sundried tomatoes, spinach, and grilled chicken.  They were both delish!!

You will need:

- 3 eggs

- 1 cup coconut milk (whole fat) I've only been able to find this @ stop & shop in the baking section of the organic aisle. 

- 1/2 cup coconut flour

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp garlic powder

- 1/2 tsp oregano

- 2-3 tbs olive oil

-** parchment paper- this is necessary, the mixture is more of a batter than a dough so it gets pretty sticky.

-Any toppings of your choice

1. Preheat oven at 375

2. mix all dry ingredients together, coconut flour tends to clump together when you add wet ingredients to try and get it as smooth as possible.

3. mix wet ingredients-- sometimes coconut milk is a little chunky when you open the can, so make sure you stir until its smooth.

4. mix wet and dry ingredients together

5. line whatever dish you are using with parchment paper and then brush olive oil onto parchment paper.

6. evenly spread mixture into the bottom of pan, put as much as you want for your desired crust thickness, but this crust is more fragile so it might fall apart if its too thin.

7. bake crust for about 20 minutes

8. Take crust out and transfer to a cookie sheet, carefully peeling off the parchment paper

9.  Set your oven to Broil

10. add your sauce ( I used tomato paste because its lesss watery than sauce, this helped keep the crust more crunchy)

11. add your pre-cooked veggies/meats/other toppings

12. stick back in the oven on broil for about 2 minutes to crisp up the crust



lost the corner of one crust from pulling the parchment paper off too fast



Enjoy!

~Nicki PizzaLover Peet

Roast Beef

Hi Guys, remember me? Nicki Peet?  I know, i've been slacking on recipes lately, but it's been a pretty busy past couple of weeks.  But I am now officially a Registered Nurse! No more homework, no more studying = much more time for cooking( and once I get a job, much more money for cooking)  But I am living proof that you can find ways to maintain a healthy diet/lifestyle even when the budget is tight. Anywho, it was finally cool enough today to cook in my A/C-less kitchen.  I found a recipe for a slow-cooker beef roast on the Every Day Paleo Site, but Nicki didn't get to the grocery store until about 430 today, so slow cooker was out of the question.  So I used her recipe for a dry rub, and roasted it in the oven.

Speaking of Every Day Paleo, I really enjoyed this blog post Sarah posted the other day. You Can't Fix a Body You Hate  I have had this conversation many a times with friends/fellow gym members, usually women of course, but sometimes no matter how hard we work and no matter how good of shape we are in, we are never satisfied with our bodies.  Are you guilty of this?  I know I am.  Check out her post, it may give you a different perspective.

Ok here's what you need:

- 2 1/2 lbs beef roast
- one yellow onion
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/4 tsp chipolte powder
- 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbs oregano
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp celtic sea salt-- it turned out pretty salty so use less if you don't enjoy salt. I have an unhealthy love for salt.



Beef from Trader Joe's





all the spices for the dry rub

 1.) preheat oven to 420
2.) mix all spices together
3.) massage spices into the beef-- give this thing a good rub down.  If you had a run in with the pull-up bar this week, I don't recommend bare handing the raw meat and spices with ripped hands.  Throw a zip lock bag on your hands like I did!

4.  Chop up an onion, toss it in about a tbs of olive oil
5. Put your spiced up beef roast in a pan, and toss the chopped onion ontop of the meat and around it in the baking dish.
6. I cooked my meat medium- so I cooked it at 420 degreees for about 45 mins total/ until the temp of the meat read 140 degrees.
7. Take the meat out and lightly cover with a piece of tin foil for another 10-15 mins.  The meat will continue to cook in the center and you want the internal temp to rise to about 150 degrees.  Again this is for cooking it medium. Cook for less time if you want it more rare.

8. slice & serve!

*** I took the Juices from the Roast Beef and mixed them with a couple of teaspoons of Coconut flour to make a yummy gravy!

Enjoy!
~ Your Long Lost Friend,
Nicki Peet, RN  ( sorry that's the first time I got to write my name that way, I had to throw the RN in there)

Nicki Peet's Favorite Paella

Coconut Curry Paella

Nothing says summer time like a gorgeous medley of seafood!  What is your favorite part of a good Paella dish?  My favorite Paella is at Ola on the post road in Orange.  I usually end up wasting half of it though after picking out the rice and my least favorite seafood...scallops ( i'll eat them wrapped in bacon though)..  In nicer restaraunts its almost as if the staff gets offended if you try and ask for a dish with-out something like the main part of the dish (rice).  I was at bistro basque with a group of friends last year and one friend asked if he could get the Paella without the rice (obviously a Paleo friend, who may or may not own crossfit milford) and the waiter looked at him like he was a crazy person. He quickly changed his mind and ordered something else. Why not make this delicious dish at home and put whatever the heck you want in it??  My Paella consists of shrimp, clams, chicken, spicy chorizo sausage, and spinach ( not my favorite thing but had to throw a bit of color in there).  I got the idea for this from a recipe on paleodietlifestyle.com.  It was a recipe for a coconut curried shrimp and spinach, and I thought it would be pretty amazing with a bunch of different proteins mixed in.
here is the recipe from paleo diet lifestyle for curried shrimp & spinach, I made basically the same exact sauce.
If you don't like seafood, this coconut curry sauce would be pretty delicious on just about anything, you can do just chicken and spinach, or maybe throw some sirloin strips in there.  As T.I would say " You could have whatever you likeee" ( I don't know much about rap but I do know that song...don't judge)

You will need: ( this is going to be a long one)
- one dozen little neck clams
-1/2 pound of shrimp (deveined/tails removed)
- 2 small chicken breast cutlets
-1/2 package of spicy chorizo sausage ( I got mine at whole foods already cooked--I usually buy the uncooked chorizo there, but they only had a mango chorizo today)  Find it right in front of the butcher counter at whole foods.

- about 1/2 bag of spinach ( or 2-3 tightly packed cups)
- 4 tbs coconut oil
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 of a 6 oz. can of tomato paste


You can get these both @ stop & shop

- 2 tsp curry powder
-1/2 cup  diced onions
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 small basil leaves
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 3 tbs olive oil
- sea salt & pepper for taste

Phew, I think thats all the ingredients

** this should feed about 4 people


1. First I steamed the clams, in a medium sized sauce pan add olive oil, clove of garlic, basil leaves, and white wine.  Let simmer for about 2 minutes on med/high heat.  Then add your well washed little neck clams. Cover and let steam for about 8 minutes or until all clams are opened.  If after about ten minutes there are some that haven't opened throw them away that means they are no good.  If you are tired of cooking after this step then you can just eat the clams this way because they are yummmy in a white wine sauce. Take off heat and leave covered and set aside for later.

2. heat 2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil in a large skillet. Add onion and sautee for about 3 minutes. 

3. Add curry powder to this mixture. sautee for another minute or two. -- while that is cooking, add tomato paste and coconut milk to blender or food processor.  After onions begin to soften add the onion/curry/coconut oil mixture to the blender. Blend until mixture is smooth.

I know, doesn't look so appetizing here

4. Leave mixture in food processor for now, and add two more table spoons coconut oil to the same skillet you used for the onions.  Heat for a minute then add your chicken cut into small chunks.  Let that cook by itself for about 2 minutes stirring frequently, then add the shrimp.

5. Sautee chicken and shrimp for another 2 minutes then add your Coconut curry sauce to the meat.
6. After that you can then add your sliced chorizo & clams to the mixture.  I added about 1/2 of the broth from steaming the clams as well.
7. Finally add the spinach, simmer mixture over medium high heat stirring freqently for about 5 more minutes or until the chicken & shrimp is cooked all the way through.


And there you have it, Nicki Peet's Favorite Paella.  Of course change this to add all of your favorite things.

Enjoy!