Paleo Broccoli Salad

I have been craving broccoli lately and making a broccoli salad has been on my mind for weeks! I love when long lingering ideas turn into something tangible and tasty! I will definitely be making this again, and I will definitely ignore my family's anti-raisin gibberish... oh yes, I think this salad would benefit greatly with that added ingredient! Hope you enjoy! :-)

Recipe:

About 2 broccoli crowns, cut in bite-size pieces

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

2 stalks celery, chopped

3/4 C slivered almonds (or walnuts)

3 strips bacon

3/4 C raisins (optional)... I thought is sounded good, my family voted me down!

1 C Paleo Mayonnaise (click here for recipe)

2 T apple cider vinegar

1/4 C coconut crystals (coconut palm sugar)

Cook bacon and let cool, chop or crumble into small pieces. Combine broccoli, celery, onion and almonds. Toss well. In a separate dish, mix Paleo mayonnaise, coconut crystals and apple cider vinegar together until smooth. Stir the dressing mixture into the salad. Refrigerate and serve chilled! I could see this as a great Summer take-along side salad! Enjoy!

*Paleo Mayonnaise: I used the recipe from Everyday Paleo's website for this mayonnaise. It turned out great! I don't usually use mayonnaise much, but I can see how this could come in handy from time-to-time! I made a little extra to store in my refrigerator for future recipe ideas!

Corned Beef & Cabbage

St. Paddy's Day is upon us once again. If only our kids were as excited about Corned Beef & Cabbage as Scott and I! I changed up the veggies this year and made a sweet little mustard sauce that was delicious! Due to other plans on the actual St. Patrick's Day, we had to feast on this traditional favorite a few days early! Okay by me... I'm hoping this Irish dish will bring me some much needed "luck" for WOD 12.4 tomorrow! Lucky wall balls. Really lucky double unders and (if I'm really really lucky) I'll get to do some lucky muscle ups!

Recipe:

3-4 lb. corned beef brisket

(I trimmed the thick layer of fat from the brisket after it cooked all day)

water, enough to just cover beef

2 bay leaves

2 cloves garlic

ground black pepper

sea salt

water

Put corned beef (fat side up), pepper, garlic, bay leaves in crock pot and pour just enough water to cover beef. Cook on low for 8 hours. The fat is easy to remove after its cooked, just scoop it off the top of the meat!

I cooked the cabbage and vegetables separately after I got home. ... about 30 minutes before serving. I tried some new veggies this year: rutabaga and parsnips! ...And they were great!

1 head cabbage, quartered

1 onion, sliced thin

2 cloves garlic

2 parsnips, sliced

1 rutabaga, chopped

2 tsp olive oil

~1/2 C corned beef juice from the crock pot!

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add rutabaga, parsnips and broth. Cover and cook until rutabaga is fork tender. Add cabbage and a little more broth, if needed. Cook until cabbage is done about 10-15 minutes.

Slice corned beef and serve with the cabbage and veggies!

OH... don't forget the Mustard Sauce:

1/2 C stone ground mustard

2 T 100% organic maple syrup

1 T raw horseradish cream

Mix ingredients together and spoon over corned beef!

Enjoy and may the Luck O' The Irish be with you!

Maple-Mustard Glazed Chicken

I got this recipe right out of my Jan/Feb 2012 Cooking Light magazine! Totally Paleo, totally delicious and totally easy! It yielded leftovers and made the family happy. You just can't get more from a meal than that! I was out of sweet potatoes which I think would have been the ultimate pairing for this dish... next time!

Now it's off to bed where I will undoubtedly dream of box jumps, push presses and toes to bar.

Good luck to all tackling WOD 12.3! Get your sleep and eat well!

Recipe:

1 T olive oil

4 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless, pounded and cut in half

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 C chicken broth

1/4 C 100% organic maple syrup

1 tsp. dried thyme

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 T stone-ground mustard

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil. Sprinkle chicken with pepper and salt. Add chicken to pan; saute 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan. Add broth, syrup, thyme and garlic to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add vinegar and mustard; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return chicken to pan, and spoon mustard mixture over chicken. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; let stand 5 minutes. Place pan over medium heat; cook mustard mixture 2 minutes or until liquid is syrupy, stirring frequently. Serve with chicken.

Yum!!!

~Cooking Light January/February 2012

Orange-Ginger Baked Salmon

Please try this recipe if you love salmon and ginger! Flavor, spice, aroma... oh Wow! This was an unexpectedly delicious dinner. I mean, I did have high hopes. Tonight was an attempt to satisfy my week long, relentless craving for salmon! It needed to be good. It needed to satisfy. But I had no idea I would fall in love! Seriously. Needless to say, I will be making this again... And again and again! :-)

I can only hope my snatches in WOD 12.2 tomorrow morning will be just as successfully surprising! Good luck to all you "Openers". And I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did!

Recipe

2 lb. salmon fillet

1 C orange juice

1 T coconut aminos

1-1/2 T finely chopped ginger root

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 C sweet red pepper, finely chopped

2 (heaping) T chopped fresh cilantro

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

pinch sea salt

dash black pepper

1 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put salmon fillet in a baking dish. Place orange juice in a sauce pan and cook over medium low heat. Stir occasionally for about 10-15 minutes, while you prepare other ingredients, until juice is reduced by about half. Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a separate pan, saute garlic in olive oil (do not burn). Add ginger and sweet red peppers. After about 2-3 minutes, add coconut aminos, red pepper flakes and cilantro. Immediately add this to the orange sauce, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Pour 1/2 the sauce over the salmon. Bake, uncovered for 15 minutes. Add remaining sauce over the top and cook for another 5 minutes. Salmon should flake easily with a fork when it's done. And your house should smell really really good! :-)

I served this with a side of sauteed spinach and steamed asparagus. Hope you enjoy!