Paleo Meatloaf using Pork Skins as your breadcrumbs!

Meatloaf with pork skins as the bread crumbs?!

I was reading in one of my Paleo cookbooks over the weekend and it talked about pork skins being the healthiest thing on the chip aisle.  It said that if you can find a bag with just skins, oil and salt that the skins are full of gelatin which is good for your joints!  Who knew?  She spoke of crushing the pork skins and using them as bread crumbs.  This opened a lot of possibilities....meatloaf, breading pork chops, and even doing Italian bread crumbs.  So I gave it a try and it turned out pretty darn good!

Paleo Meatloaf

You will need:

2 1/4 pounds of lean, ground meat (I wanted plenty of leftovers)

2 cans of tomato sauce (I used one plain and one flavored with garlic and basil)

1 onion

salt

pepper

liquid smoke

1 can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce

1 egg

1 bag of pork skins

1. Preheat oven to 425 derees.  Cut up and dice your onion.  Cook in a skillet until done.

2. While the onions are cooking, empty your bag of pork skins into a ziplock bag and crush them up with your hand.  Make sure you crush them up really good or when you cook your meatloaf, you will have a surprise "piece".  Jesse found one of these and thought it was a big piece of fat.  We couldn't figure it out because the meat I used was so lean.  Then I realized it was a big chuck of pork skins that had absorbed the moisture.  Icky!

3. In a large bowl mix your meat and onions together.  Pour in the crushed pork skins, egg, 1 can of plain tomato sauce, 1 can of tomato sauce with garlic and basil and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.  Dig your hands in and mix together.  The picture of sauces shows 3 cans of tomato sauce.  I ended up only using 2 and that was plenty!  I might even try 1 1/2 cans next time to reduce some of the moisture.

4. I decided at the last minute to pour in a couple of squirts of liquid smoke just for flavor.  This is totally optional.

5.  This was a lot of meat.  I broke mine into 2 loaves and cooked it on a pan where the grease could drain off.  Of course I added a can of chipotle peppers on top.  We removed the peppers before we dug in but it left a great flavor!

6. Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.  I checked mine at 30 minutes and it wasn't done yet in middle.  I sliced the loaves and put it back in the oven to cook quicker.  It was done in 15 minutes later.

This was a great warm and cozy meal!  Hope you enjoy!

       

Yummy Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

I love me some pumpkin!

Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles....I could do my own rendition of Bubba on Forrest Gump talking about his shrimp dishes but using my pumpkin recipes.  I've been hesitant to try anything pumpkin and Paleo because I make the most wonderful, moist, perfect NON Paleo pumpkin bread in the world.  So I'm sure nothing would compare right?  My cravings got the best of me so I got to lookin' on Pinterest and found a recipe for pumpkin muffins.  I had an issue though.  When I mixed all of the ingredients together and took a whiff - the aroma was nothing like my pumpkin bread.  So I decided I could fix it.  I got out 3 additional ingredients that were not in the original picture and added those in.  Once I added these the batter finally smelled like pumpkin bread and I knew it was time to pop these in the oven! On a side note, it was the first time I had used coconut oil.  I'm really thinking that this could be optional because once it was melted, it seemed like such a tiny bit that I wondered how it would make a difference in the recipe?  Just FYI.

Yummy Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

You will need (the last three ingredients were not included in the original recipe.  I added these for some extra kick and they were perfect!)

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp melted coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of sea salt
• 2 tsp warm almond butter
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup honey 
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg          

  

I included a close up picture of the almond flour and coconut oil.  It was the first time using both of these and I bought them this weekend at Sprouts.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all of the ingredients together.

2. I used foil lined cupcake holders for my muffin pan to make for an easy clean up.  I also used my mellon baller to scoop and dip my muffin tins 2/3 full.

3. Bake for 23-25 minutes.  I found mine to have a better texture the day after.  I also stored mine in an airtight container in the fridge.  

 

 Hopefully this is another option for your breakfast.  Or in my case a dessert!

 

 

Paleo Egg Breakfast Muffins

I honestly could not have started Paleo without getting my breakfast down first.  I have always been a cereal, pancake, pop tart kind of girl.  I haven't eaten eggs since I was little....although I would enjoy deviled eggs.  I knew I couldn't go to a full blown Paleo lifestyle without figuring up how my breakfasts would go.  I now start off my days with either a protein shake or these egg muffins.  I got up the nerve, with the help of my hubby, to try scrambled eggs and I actually liked them.  Even more with hot sauce!  I bake these on Sunday and bag them up for the week.  I put 2 in a bag and each morning I will peel their wrappers off, dump 2 on a plate and heat them up for about 30 seconds in the microwave.  Then I pour on my hot sauce and breakfast is served!  I use the foil lined wrappers on these.  I find them with the sandwich bags, foil and paper plates at Walmart.  It makes the clean up time so much easier!

Paleo Breakfast Egg Muffins

You will need:

8 eggs

1/2 pound of cooked lean turkey sausage

salt

pepper

any kind of cooked veggies you want to add in

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Brown 1/2 pound of lean turkey sausage (or what ever kind of sausage you want.  I tried the hot sausage and like it better with the plain).  I always brown the whole pound and put up the other 1/2 pound not used in the fridge so that Jesse and I can use it throughout the week.

2. Crack 8 eggs in a bowl and beat.

3. Add in 1/2 pound of sausage and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.  This would also be where you would add any cooked veggies that you are wanting.  I've added a red bell pepper before and onions too.  I just really enjoy them with eggs and sausage only.  You want to cook your veggies first before you put them in here.  
 

4. I use an old protein scoop to measure out my servings.  For an easy clean up, use foil liners.  They are decorated on the outside but are lined with foil on the inside.

5. Put just enough egg mixture in each cup to fill it about 2/3 full.  If you are careful you can really spread the sausage out to make sure each liner gets plenty of sausage.  I'm not sure what happened the first time I made these, but I didn't seem to have enough egg mixture to make 12 muffins, so I beat two more eggs together and used that to fill my last 3 muffin tins that were short.  That hasn't happened again, but who knows if it might happen to you? The last three tins had sausage, just not enough liquid to fill it 2/3 full...if that makes sense.

6. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until they just start to brown on the top.  My oven seems to brown better on the right side?  Of course it does - why would my oven want to cook even?  Top with hot sauce or salsa verde and enjoy!
 

 

 

     

 

Paleo Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Paleo Meat Sauce = yes!  Paleo pasta = how?

 I was pretty hesitant on trying this out.  I knew I could figure out an easy Paleo spaghetti meat sauce, but how do you replace pasta?  I had heard about the spaghetti squash, but frankly anything with the word 'squash' in it scares me!  I decided to jump in and even watched a video on what to do with the squash.  If you would like to view the video on allrecipes.com click here! 

This turned out to be an awesome dinner....even though I couldn't get Jesse to try it.  I'm not sure why he tried brussel sprouts (and liked them) but was too scared to try this?  He ended up eating the spaghetti sauce on Triscuits :)

1. Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees.  Cut your spaghetti squash in half, lengthwise.  This alone should count as your workout for the day.  Good Lord it was hard to get that knife all the way thru it!  That should be a WOD of its own!  Next take a spoon and scoop out the inside mesh and seeds.

2. Place the two halves face down in a casserole dish and put just enough water in the pan to cover the bottom.  Cook for 40 minutes.

  
3. While the squash is cooking, dice 1 onion and 3 cloves of garlic and saute in a skillet.  Once they are cooked and clear, add 2 pounds of extra lean, hamburger meat and brown.

 4. Once the meat has cooked,  add these 3 cans of tomato sauce.  I chose one plain, and two flavored (roasted garlic / basic, garlic and oregano) to add to the taste of the spaghetti sauce.  All of these cans are all-natural and do not contain any preservatives, etc.

5.  Next add 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning and 1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes.

6. I let mine simmer while I got the squash out of the oven.  I read that you are supposed to let the squash 'cool' before you fork it into spaghetti noodles, but who wants cold spaghetti noodles?  I let mine cool enough just to where I could touch the squash to work on it!  Turn it over and get your fork out!

7. Creating the fake pasta was amazing.  I had no idea it would work so well.  Just rake your fork along the inside and it literally shaves off in long, noodle like strips.  Here is a pile of my Paleo noodles made out of squash.

  

8.  Here is my finished product.  It was such a great change up besides having my typical meat and vegetable dinner.  It got me thinking about what else I could top this pasta with?!  Good luck and let me know how it goes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paleo Brownies

Paleo Chocolate Brownies

Here is a quick recipe for some awesome chocolate brownies.  They are sweetened with 100% pure maple syrup which can be used like honey and agave to sweeten up desserts.  This was a very quick and easy recipe and I enjoyed it warm and gooey - right out of the oven.  This recipe was pinned on Pinterest from the Easy Peasy website.  You will need:

• 1 cup pure maple syrup
• 3/4 cup natural cocoa powder
• 1 cup almond butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips    

1. Heat syrup on low heat on the stove.  Stir in cocoa powder over low heat until smooth.  It took me about 3 minutes of stirring.  The website said to 'be careful' that cocoa is easy to burn. Sorry I didn't take pictures - I was busy stirring.

2. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients (except the chocolate chips) until thoroughly mixed.  Pour into a well greased 8x8 pan and sprinkle with the chocolate chips.  Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes.  I used the non-stick foil and it worked perfect.  

 These were awesome.  The only things missing were vanilla ice cream on top and a big cup of milk!  Yum Yum!