RECIPE: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecans

I love sweet potatoes and I am very glad that the Paleo Lifestyle allows for the occasional consumption of such a wonderful, tasty vegetable. I found a recipe earlier today that contained sugar, so I decided to give it a more Paleo flair. I was serving this dish with a meal based on a Mexican theme, so I decided to spice it up some. When making this dish you can change the "heat index" by adjusting the final ingredient. (By the way, I often cook for two, so feel free to adjust the quantities accordingly.)

INGREDIENTS:
1 large sweet potato
1 tablespoon olive oil
coarse salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil (or butter)
1 tablespoon agave
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Wash and peel sweet potato.
3. Cut into sections approximately 1/2 inch thick, then cut in half.
4. Coat each piece with olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt.

5. Roast potato sections for approximately 25 minute, stirring occasionally.
6. Melt coconut oil or butter, then add agave, cinnamon, nuts and cayenne pepper, and stir well. 
7. Pour over sweet potatoes and enjoy!

RECIPE: Roasted Vegetables - Broccoli

I had an "Ah-ha" moment yesterday afternoon. I had two huge crowns of broccoli and needed to prepare at least one of them for dinner last night. I'm rather tired of steaming them and I had seen several recipes for roasting broccoli, so I decided to give it a try. I'm VERY glad I did! We'll be eating roasted broccoli a lot more often, plus I will be trying LOTS more roasted vegetables now that I know it's so simple and so yummy!!

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Let me preface this recipe by telling you about a very cool gadget I bought the other day. It's a MISTO Olive Oil Sprayer. It's a spray can that you use the lid to pump the contents so it actually sprays! All you do is fill the container 1/2 way with olive oil, pump the lid a few times, and spray! I LOVE it!

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Here's my version of Roasted Broccoli - Plain and Simple
(You'll notice there's okra and a red bell pepper in the photo, too. More on that later.)
INGREDIENTS:
1 large crown fresh broccoli
olive oil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
grated parmesan cheese (not pictured as this was an afterthought)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Wash broccoli, but it must be thoroughly dry before you cook it, so it's best to wash it well in advance and let it dry. Cut broccoli into large bite-sized pieces.
3. Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a deep dish baking stone or whatever kind of dish you'd use for roasting.

 4. Place cut broccoli into pan and spray olive oil evenly on the broccoli. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Toss and repeat.

5. Bake in center of the oven for 15 minutes, then stir broccoli to expose bottom sides.
6. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, if desired. (We do!)
7. Continue roasting for another 10 minutes. Some of the broccoli will be golden brown. Most of what you see in this photo is the browned parmesan cheese.

**NOTE*** I wanted to try this with some okra, too. It worked very well! We still had some Mediterranean Eggplant Stuffing left, so I roasted a red bell pepper, too, with the intention of putting the stuffing in at the 15 minute mark. I also stuffed some large mushrooms. We preferred the mushrooms over the red peppers as the taste of the peppers over-powered the stuffing, in our opinion. Keep in mind I am not a pepper person.

RECIPE: Frittata

Call me naive, but I had never had a frittata until a visit to Terri Geiser's home last November. It was filled with eggs and vegetables, was wonderfully delicious, and oozed healthiness! I didn't have many of the ingredients her recipe calls for (Terri's recipe) so I decided to wing it ... Again. I do that a lot! =)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoons Grapeseed Oil
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion 
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped roasted red pepper (See? A use for the one left over from last night's lasagna!) 
• 2 cups finely chopped spinach
• 1 chopped roma tomato (drained)
• 6 beaten eggs 
• 1 teaspoon dried or fresh herbs (I used Wildtree "Tuscany Bread Dipper Herb Blend" seasoning) 
• Sea Salt
• Fresh ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat broiler. 

2. Warm grapeseed oil in an ovenproof pan and sauté onions until they begin to soften. (I used my large Stainless Steel Wok from World Market) 

3. Add peppers and sauté about a minute then add spinach.

4. Continue to sauté until spinach wilts then add tomatoes.

5. Add herbs, salt and pepper to taste. 

6. Pour in eggs, stir quickly then let cook until it just barely begins to set.

7. Put the frittata under a broiler until the top is golden and the eggs are cooked through, roughly 3–5 minutes.

 Remember the rosemary olive oil bread from the other day? Here it is toasted with a little butter ... YUM!

RECIPE: Butternut Squash Lasagna

I am always looking for new foods and recipes to try. I am enjoying making delicious dishes from foods I have never tried. Today I wen to Trader Joe's with no particular grocery list. I came home with several vegetables and some Italian sausage. I figured I'd just wing it, but then I came across a recipe for lasagna using butternut squash and Italian sausage! I decided to give it a try, but with my usual modifications and alterations to suit my taste.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
• 1 yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes (or fresh)
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• A couple of leaves of fresh basil (leave it out if you don’t have it, just freshens up the sauce a bit)
• 1 teaspoon Wildtree Spaghetti Seasoning
• 1 small butternut squash

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat your oven to 400ºF. 

2. In a saute pan crumble the sausage and brown it, along with the onions & garlic. 

3. Prepare the squash by cutting the top and ends of the squash off and peel it. Split it into quarters. First in half around the center, then from stem to bottom. This will make it much easier to cut into slices. Pull out the seeds. Cut into slices to layer in the lasagna.

4. Make the sauce by pureeing the tomatoes, red peppers, olive oil, basil and spaghetti seasoning. I'll post directions for roasting a pepper using a gas stove at the end of this recipe.

Before:

 After:

5. Using a 9X9 oven safe baking dish, put down enough sauce to lightly cover the bottom of the dish. (This keeps the squash from sticking to the pan.) Next add the squash, trying not to overlap the pieces, then spoon on the sausage mixture, followed by the sauce. Repeat until all your ingredients are used up. Reserve enough sauce to cover the top of the lasagna.

6. Bake for 45 minutes. The wonderful aroma that will fill your kitchen will have your mouth watering with anticipation. As you can see, that's a lot of liquid surrounding the lasagna. If you'll let it rest for 20 minutes or so a lot of it will be absorbed.

 I cheated. I added some freshly grated English cheddar cheese with caramelized onions!

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HOW TO ROAST A RED PEPPER USING A GAS STOVE

1. Wash the pepper and dry it thoroughly.

2. Set the flame to medium high and place the pepper on the burner.

3. After the skin blackens, turn it. Repeat until thoroughly blackened.

4. Place pepper in a paper bag for 15 minutes. 

5. Remove from bag, remove skin.

6. Cut top off, remove seeds, and slice!

Left over peppers may be stored in a jar in the refrigerator. Be sure to fill the jar with olive oil to retain the best flavor possible. If you have a lot of roasted peppers, you can freeze them. Place strips between sheets of waxed paper and keep in a sealed container until ready to use. They should stay fresh tasting for several months.