Grilled Pork Chops and Peaches #30MinuteMondays

You're less than 30 minutes away from this healthy paleo meal of spice-rubbed pork chops 

and grilled peaches served with bitter greens and avocado.

How was your weekend? Whether or not it was a long one, I hope it included lots of time spent doing your favorite things. Mine did: I spent time cooking, baking, swimming, sleeping in, and eating burgers. I couldn't have asked for much more!

It's been about two weeks since Ben and I moved to Chattanooga, and I'm so happy to be here. I've only had three full days of work so far, so it's all felt a bit like a giant vacation. We're staying with my future sister-in-law and her husband and my three future nieces, and they are all so much fun. The girls are eight, six, and three years old, and make me want to have my own children YESTERDAY. They love to help me cook, which is a welcome change since so often I'm alone in the kitchen.

On Friday we made chocolate pudding. I'd made the recipe before (I just substitute tapioca flour for the cornstarch to make it grain-free) and knew it only made 6 servings, but figured we could stretch it to feed 7, 3 of whom are not full grown. Right when the girls and I had finished the pudding and were looking for cute little cups to put it in, Ben announced that his parents and brother would also be joining us for dinner. That raised the total count to 10.

Faced with the fear of not enough dessert, the girls suggested another batch of these brownies (similar recipe here--omit the cinnamon and cayenne and add a handful of chocolate chips for a kid-friendly, double chocolate version). I agreed. After baking the brownies, we spread our meager stash of chocolate pudding on top like frosting, added a layer of whipped cream, and sprinkled some more chocolate chips on top for good measure. The result was something so decadent that the eight year-old, who prides herself on usually being able to eat several servings of dessert, was satisfied after just one. When it follows the fear of not enough dessert, too much dessert is a wonderful thing indeed! The pudding brownies lasted for days in the fridge and made excellent snacks throughout the weekend.

Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Creamy Sesame Slaw #30MinuteMondays

Quick and easy grilled shrimp skewers, creamy sesame slaw, and ripe avocado get together to form the perfect paleo summertime meal.

I know it's been quiet on the blog this past week, but I'm back with another delicious and fast recipe for 30 Minute Mondays! You can grill or broil these shrimp skewers, and the vegetables don't need cooking. That means if you grill outdoors, you can avoid heating up your kitchen and still end up with a delicious and balanced meal. That's what summer is all about, right?

My fiancé and I have been down in Chattanooga for the past few days, checking out jobs, houses, and apartments. Even though I grew up in Boston, I've always felt like I'm a Southern girl at heart due to my mom's Texas roots and all the time I've spent down there, so I'm really excited that we're moving to Tennessee next month. I'm almost done with graduate school, and after we move I'll get to start my job as a speech-language pathologist working with kids of all ages (and of course, blogging in the evenings and on weekends). I can't wait!

Rainbow Salad with Grilled Chicken and Raspberry Walnut Dressing #30MinuteMondays

All the colors of the rainbow are represented in this quick paleo salad with a creamy, dairy-free raspberry walnut dressing.

I've been wanting to make a rainbow salad for a while now, but this seemed like an especially opportune moment. Summer produce is everywhere in all its resplendent hues, and more Americans are able to get married than ever before. Let's celebrate with this salad!

This healthy salad has pretty much all the colors of the rainbow (if you kind of merge indigo and violet together) plus pink. Pink is my favorite color and it's not really fair that it's not a part of the official rainbow, so I made sure it was included by making a nice pink dressing. Despite how creamy it looks, the dressing is dairy-free--the creaminess comes from the walnuts and shallots, and the color is thanks to the raspberries. It's inspired by the creamy shallot dressing from my pan-seared chicken, orange, and walnut salad, but this one's even better because it's pink.

Roasted Shrimp and Asparagus with Green Goddess Dressing #30MinuteMondays

Succulent roasted shrimp and asparagus are served with a tangy garlic scape green goddess dressing for an easy, 30-minute paleo dinner that's also Whole30-compliant.

I'm kind of mad at myself because I missed the boat on ramps this year. At the photography workshop I went to in May we ate them at almost every meal (there's a picture of them in this post), and when I got home I vowed to track some down so I could cook with them myself for the first time. However, I'm a lazy late-evening grocery shopper and there were never any ramps left. Before long, their short season had ended.

You'll be relieved to hear that I am NOT missing out on garlic scapes.

While ramps are their own kind of plant and are usually foraged wild (hence their limited availability), garlic scapes are the flowering stalks of garlic plants that farmers cut off so the plant's energy can be fully devoted to the bulb forming below. Garlic scapes are cool looking (see evidence above) and I like their name: it sounds like they've been trying to escape from the head of garlic, which is pretty much what they actually do.

Garlic scapes are milder than regular garlic with some fresher, grassier notes to their flavor--kind of like a cross between garlic, scallions, and chives. Here I used them to make a green goddess dressing with some fresh herbs and Primal Kitchen's avocado oil mayo, which I just tried for the first time. I'm not a mayo person at all so I don't foresee myself ever eating it straight up, but once some other flavors are mixed in to create a dressing or aioli, I can usually hop on board. (If you haven't seen garlic scapes at your local market, don't worry. You can substitute scallions and a clove of regular old garlic.)

Breakfast Casserole with Bacon, Sausage, Sweet Potato, and Kale

When I make a recipe, I always expect it to turn out great. Of course, sometimes it doesn't, but if I weren't expecting delicious results, why would I bother making the recipe at all?

On the other hand, sometimes there's a qualifier. I might say to myself, "These cookies will be great--for sugar-free cookies." Or in this case, "This will be wonderful--for a dairy-free breakfast casserole."

You may have already guessed that this recipe blew that qualifier right out of the water (especially since only recipes that are amazing without qualifiers end up on the blog at all!). This breakfast casserole is so delectable that I do not think anyone will notice or care that it's dairy free.

I found this recipe over at Susan's blog, Food.Baby.Life, which was my assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal. Susan is a busy mom of three boys under age five, and still finds time to study, cook, and share delicious recipes on her blog! I, for one, am very impressed. Susan's recipe index includes a huge selection of allergy-friendly baked goods along with lots of family-friendly main dishes like this one.

Crispy Chicken with Fig and Shallot Compote

So, there may or may not be a poem at the end of this post, entitled "Ode to Figs" and written in the style of Pablo Neruda. (Have you read his poem "Ode to the Artichoke"? I'm not very into poetry but I'm very into artichokes--it's one of the few poems I truly appreciate. Here it is in Spanish and English.) Figs are special, so I'm sharing a special but easy recipe that showcases them in all their glory. Plus, my ridiculous poem.

I got so excited when I discovered fresh figs at the market earlier this week. It seems that figs have a short season in early summer and a longer season in the fall, so if you can't find them now, hopefully you'll bookmark this post for later.

30 Easy Paleo Dinners (in 30 minutes or less!)

Anyone meal planning this weekend? I have 30 quick, flavorful, and easy paleo dinners for you to consider. Seafood, chicken, turkey, beef, and even breakfast for dinner--there's a little bit of everything here!

This summer is a busy one for me. In addition to finishing up the last few classes for my master's program, I'm working long days at a hospital for my final clinical externship. The last thing I want to do when I get home is spend a lot of time getting dinner ready (or worse,  end up ruining my Whole30 by succumbing to the temptations of takeout). I scoured the web for tasty paleo recipes that can be made, start to finish, in 30 minutes or less, and asked some of my blogger friends to share their favorite recipes as well. Almost all of these recipes are Whole30 compliant as written, but for the ones that aren't, I've noted an easy substitution for you.

Do you have a go-to quick dinner? I'd love to hear about it. Let me know in the comments!

Slow-Cooked Bolognese Sauce with Sweet Potato Spaghetti

This is Whole30 comfort food at its best. Making Bolognese sauce every Friday is a new tradition of mine, and even though I've only been doing it for a few weeks, it's already made my weekends much heartier and more delicious. I have Fridays off this semester so I can stay home while this fragrant sauce simmers away, but if you have to work you could start the sauce in the morning before you leave and finish it in the slow cooker, or make it your Saturday or Sunday tradition instead.

You want to let this sauce cook for a nice long time because the flavors will continue to meld and develop over the course of several hours. The long cooking time is the reason bolognese sauce is so synergistic. I also think the sauce tastes even better when I reheat it a day or two later, but I can never resist eating at least some of it the day I make it. The aroma is so enticing! 

Because everyone's schedule is different, I'm providing a slow cooker version and a version that cooks completely on the stovetop. Other than the cooking time, which is much longer for the slow cooker version, the only difference is the amount of liquid you add. The stovetop version needs extra liquid since much of the water in the sauce will evaporate, but the slow cooker keeps all that moisture locked in.

Pan-Seared Salmon with Capers and Baby Artichokes

Were you a picky eater as a kid? I was pretty much the worst. The only vegetable I would eat was broccoli, and it had to have cheese on top. Everything else I deigned to consume was white or golden brown in color: chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, french fries, and pizza without tomato sauce (read: dough with cheese). I wanted slices of American cheese melted on top of almost all my food. It was actually called "Becky cheese" over at my dad's, where no one else ate it.

I remained picky through high school, when I invented a white pizza with broccoli and two kinds of cheese at my favorite local pizzeria. My friends and I called it "Becky pizza", and it was fabulous (I still think something like it should be added to the menu).

I'm proud to say that things have really changed. Today I'll try almost anything, and there are very few foods I don't enjoy. However, until a couple of months ago, salmon was still on my "no" list. I found it too fishy, and something about its orange-pink hue didn't sit well with me.

Recently I worked on a project where I had to make several salmon recipes. To my surprise, I ended up loving them! The key for me is to really crisp up the skin (and brown the other side as well) and serve the salmon with a flavorful sauce.

Roasted Romanesco with Za'atar Yogurt Sauce

Strange coincidence: last year, on January 25th, 2014, I wrote about romanesco in a post entitled 7 Uncommon Vegetables for your Produce Bucket List. I had never seen romanesco in a store. I kept my eyes peeled for it all year, but could never find any. That is, until last Wednesday, when I finally spotted some at my local Whole Foods . . . on January 25th, 2015. Weird, right?

Coming across this gorgeous vegetable exactly one year after posting about it has me wondering if it might be magic. I mean, look at those spirals! According to Wikipedia, the number of spirals on a head of Romanesco is a Fibonacci number, and its form approximates a fractal. How is it possible that something like this exists?

In addition to its special properties, romanesco is delicious. I roasted it whole because I couldn't bear to slice it up any sooner than I had to. Its flavor is similar to cauliflower and broccoli, but a little milder and nuttier. And, just like with cauliflower or broccoli, the browned bits are extra delicious. If you can't find romanesco, you could definitely use one of its brassica cousins for this recipe instead.

Spicy Shrimp and Kale with Creamy Rutabaga

This is my paleo answer to the inexplicable cravings I've been having for shrimp and grits.

Who knows why? I've only had shrimp and grits a few times in my life, but lately they've been totally stuck in my head. Perhaps it's because this coming Tuesday is Mardi Gras, and I wish I could just pick up and drive down to NOLA. When I lived in Houston New Orleans was only a five-hour drive away, and now it feels far enough to be in another world.

The good news is that this dish is just as delicious as shrimp and grits, if not more so, and instead of grits we have vegetables.  Rutabagas for the win!

Also, I snuck some kale in there.  This is hardcore health food.

It's also hardcore comfort food.  If there are 80 inches of snow on the ground in your city, or even if there aren't (lucky you--do you happen to have a guest room??), this is just the thing to warm you up on a winter night. The creamy rutabaga forms a bed for plump shrimp bathed in an herby marinade and kale leaves that are crispy around the edges.

Breakfast Potatoes

I love breakfast potatoes (or home fries, cottage fries, or whatever you prefer to call them), but they take a while to make. It's a rare morning when I wake up with enough time and patience to chop potatoes and wait for them to cook, in the oven or on the stovetop.

That's why I was so excited to read about this brilliant shortcut on Blue Kitchen: microwaving the potatoes for a few minutes with a little water gives them a head start, and they then finish cooking quickly in a skillet over medium-high heat. The best part is that this technique is more than just a shortcut: the potatoes turn out BETTER than potatoes cooked only in the oven or skillet--perfectly browned and crisp on the outside, and tender but not dry on the inside.

Pesto Frittata

I'm finished with the first week of my Whole30, and feeling pretty great.  You can see almost every delicious thing I've eaten over on Instagram--I've been having so much fun trying out new recipes and revisiting old favorites.  Doing a challenge like this really gets the creativity flowing!

So far I'm breezing through each day without craving any off-plan foods--I even survived a friend's birthday party last night without any serious yearnings for the cake, cookies, booze, or tortilla chips that everyone else was enjoying.  I sipped on seltzer with lime, snacked on mixed nuts, and felt pretty darn virtuous.

Roasted Jerk Chicken with Carrots and Potatoes

As winter settles in, I'm trying to remain focused on the few cold-weather activities I actually enjoy-- namely, roasting things, making hot drinks, and baking cookies. (Don't even try to get me excited about skiing, snowboarding, or sledding. I'll just meet up with you in the lodge for some hot chocolate when you're done freezing your nose and toes on the frigid slopes.)

There is one other winter activity I enjoy, though, and that is going on Caribbean vacations. I don't have the money for a trip anywhere warm this year, but Ben and I had an amazing time in Jamaica year before last. Today we relived some of those good times by eating this paleo roasted jerk chicken with carrots and potatoes. It's no trip to the islands, but it does taste really good.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Do you like cilantro?  It's my favorite herb by far, and I love it because it's capable of totally perking up almost any food, both in flavor and appearance.  If you're a cilantro hater, though, you're definitely not alone.  According to The New York Times, many people's aversion to cilantro may be due to the fragrance of certain substances in the herb that are also found in soap and bugs.  (Make sure to read through until the end of the article, when the author describes how he converted himself into a cilantro lover.  Here's one hint: this recipe of mine might be a good place to start.)

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog Angels Homestead.  It's written by April, a mom, homesteader, and frugal cooking expert who was the owner of the SRC for several years.  April recently began cooking without grains for health reasons, and you can read a bit about her story here.  Everything I make is grain free, so I was excited to find many recipes on April's site that fit my dietary requirements.  I was also excited to find several recipes featuring cilantro, my go-to herb.  I can only assume that April must be a fellow cilantro fan!

Monkfish with Lemongrass-Scallion Sauce + Ozeri Green Earth Pan Review

Disclosure: I received this product as part of an advertorial.

Have you ever tried monkfish?  It's also known as "poor man's lobster", and it's a mild, firm, white fish that won't fall apart when you cook it.  I am calling it "starving grad student lobster", and it's my new favorite fish.  Inspired by the color of my new Ozeri Green Earth pan, I smashed lemongrass, scallions, olive oil, and pepper into a paste for the sauce.  This stuff will make you pucker your lips after the first bite and want to lick your bowl after the last.

In addition to being a wonderful, mood-lifting shade of chartreuse, the Green Earth pan is special because of its health- and eco-friendly design.  The nonstick ceramic coating is free of PTFE and PFOA, so it won't release harmful chemicals.  The bottom of the pan has a raised honeycomb pattern that enables you to cook with very little oil and makes sure that nothing sticks to the pan.  You can find out more about Ozeri's products on their site.

Braised Chicken with Leeks & Scallions

Coq au vin is one of my favorite classic French dishes.  Chicken braised slowly in wine of any kind is almost guaranteed to be delicious, and I've made this coq au riesling recipe several times over the past year.  It's become my go-to dish for whenever company is coming.  However, wine is not truly part of a paleo diet, and many people try to avoid all alcohol, even in cooked dishes.  The question on my mind was this: can you make coq au vin without the vin?  Without any wine, is braised chicken still something exceptional?

You may have guessed that my answer is a resounding yes. This recipe is proof: wine is not necessary for making delicious braised chicken.  In fact, I liked this dish even more than the coq au riesling I've been making, and to me, the chicken and sauce still had all the flavor benefits of dishes made with copious amounts of wine.  I'm eager to see if you agree, so if you try this recipe, please let me know what you think!

Want to know why this recipe is so good, even though there's no wine in it?  My theory is that it's because of the following three reasons.  First, this recipe uses Pure Indian Foods' organic, grassfed ghee.  Ghee is by far my favorite cooking fat, because it has all the delicious flavor of butter paired with the higher smoke point of oil.  In fact, I think ghee tastes even better than butter, and it's also a much healthier choice than canola or vegetable oil.  If you haven't heard me talk about the wonders of ghee, you can read more about what it is and how it's made here.

Sweet Potato & Crispy Kale Breakfast Skillet

It took me a really long time to jump on the kale bandwagon, but now I'm hooked.  I see it at the grocery store and it's so affordable, so curly, and so healthy looking that I have to buy it.  The flavor of kale takes a little getting used to, but I've found that when it's crispy and/or cooked with garlic, even haters will happily chomp on it.  This recipe delivers on both counts, and also offsets the leafy kale with sweet potatoes and perfectly-cooked eggs.  You start the breakfast skillet on the stove, pan-roasting the sweet potatoes with chopped red onion until they're tender.  The garlic and kale are tossed in and stir-fried just for a minute.  Next, you make four little wells amongst the veggies, crack an egg into each one, and then pop the skillet into the broiler.  In just a few minutes, the eggs cook and the kale crisps up just like kale chips.  You are going to love it!

Slow-Cooker Carnitas Lettuce Wraps with Pineapple & Avocado Salsa

Ben is out of town this week, so I have been left to my own devices.  Last night I got home and decided to read the first chapter or two of the kids' novel Because of Winn-Dixie, which I needed to preview before using it in a lesson.  Turns out the book is really good, and also a bit sad.  A girl named India Opal, whose mother left when she was little, moves to Naomi, Florida with her dad and ends up adopting a stray dog who helps her make all kinds of interesting friends.  Each friend has their own poignant story.  I may have ended up crying several times (just enough to need a tissue, not straight-up bawling), and finishing the whole book in less than two hours.  Now, that's what I call a fun evening!  Tonight I might watch the film version.

Sweet Potato & Roasted Garlic Hummus

Is it spring yet?  It's still freezing here.  Also, yesterday was so windy that I ended up getting dust and tiny pebbles blown into my eyes several times during my ten-minute walk to the train.  A little early-spring sandstorm right here in Boston.  Needless to say, I was not a fan.

I'm trying to keep my food springy, in hopes that the weather will follow suit.  So, here is some paleo (chickpea-free) hummus.  It's a little sweet from the sweet potato, but with lots of savory flavor from the tahini, a whole head of roasted garlic, and some garlic-infused olive oil.  Don't be intimidated by the large quantity of garlic--it mellows out as it roasts, and the flavor is amazing.  Your house will smell amazing, too.