PaleoLab

I promise I’ll do better.  But I made this today.  Bacon, broccoli, onion, jalapeno, garlic, and filled with spinach dip (or, more specifically, TJ’s greek yogurt-based spinach and kale dip).  It was phenomenal.

Happy Mother’s Day.  If I lived near my mom, I’d make her one of these.  

I mean, need I say more?  Spring is finally upon us here in Chicago—shaky though it may be—and it is inspiring me to experiment with fruit in the ice cream maker.  Anjou pears were on sale the other day, so I bought a few.  Here’s what I did.

Ingredients:

4 pears, peeled, cored and chopped (1-2 inch cubes)

1/2 c. sugar 

1 1/5 c. water

1/4 t. cardamom

1 t. lemon juice

1/3 c. sweet white wine (I used Cupcake Angel Food for this.)

Method:

Mix water and sugar and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes or so, or until thickened to make a simple syrup.  Add wine.  Boil 5 minutes longer  Cool in fridge for 20-30 minutes. Combine syrup with pears, cardamom and lemon juice in food processor until uniform.  Freeze in ice cream maker for about 20 minutes.  

Eat your heart out.

Sometimes, you just have to stick your head in the fridge, pull out whatever you can find, and make dinner happen.  My mother taught me that.  Tonight, that was something akin to chicken fajitas, without the tortillas.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, diced or thinly sliced

1/2 bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

10 or so grape tomatoes, halved

1 jalapeno, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

handful of fresh parsley, chopped

fresh avocado, diced for garnish

salsa (if you have it)

1 lime

chili powder (I used hot Mexican chili powder)

cumin

cinnamon

salt

pepper

Method:

Heat 1-2 T. oil in large pan (I used my cast iron).  Cook chicken over medium to medium-high heat until no longer pink.  Add all vegetables (peppers, garlic, onion, tomatoes) and saute until soft.  Add seasonings, to taste, juice of one lime, and parsley.  Cook for a few more minutes before enjoying, topped with avocado and salsa.  Easy and yummy!

Sliced plantains, pan-fried in coconut oil, topped with cayenne-infused honey and accompanied by fresh avocado.  THIS is where it’s at!

My gentleman friend had some (apparently to-die-for) banana italian ice with chocolate chips earlier this week.  I decided to recreate it, but in sorbet form, so that I could use my ice cream maker.  And it is gooooo-ooooood.

Ingredients:

4 bananas

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. honey

1.5 c. water

1 t. lemon juice

1/3 c. mini chocolate chips

I simply pureed all ingredients together and froze it in my ice cream maker for about 20 minutes.  It’s superbly yummy.

(Clearly this isn’t paleo, what with all the sugar, but sometimes you gotta indulge.)