Pesto Shrimp Bake with Squash and Tomatoes #30MinuteMondays

A quick summer casserole bursting with Italian flavors.

I know this is a totally blasphemous thing to say in the food blogging world, especially in the middle of summer, but I'm really not a fan of tomatoes. They've grown on me since I was a kid, when I wouldn't touch foods with them in it (including pizza, ketchup, and most of all anything involving raw or sundried tomatoes). I now really enjoy a good tomato sauce (like this bolognese or this garlic tomato sauce) and I'll dip into a fancy ketchup if it's got curry mixed in or something, but the appeal of raw tomatoes still largely eludes me.

My best experience so far has been with a couple of memorable caprese salads, including one at dbar, one of my favorite Boston restaurants, which is conveniently located just blocks from our apartment. A caprese salad with housemade mozzarella and tomatoes and basil from their rooftop garden was on the specials menu, and my mom and I had to try it. And, surprisingly enough, I didn't hate the raw tomatoes.

Basil Lime Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

 

An easy basil lime compound butter makes crispy chicken 

and roasted vegetables extra special.

Happy Friday! Are you ready to slather your dinner in an irresistible basil lime compound butter?

I love this meal because it's simple and flavorful. The basil lime butter makes the chicken and vegetables more delicious without making them taste any less like themselves. Instead of obscuring the flavors of the main ingredients like heavy sauces sometimes do, it just kisses them with a little herbal, citrusy richness that still lets their natural essence come through. 

For the roasted vegetables, you can use whatever you have on hand. I used beets, carrots, summer squash, and onions. They need different amounts of time to roast, so I added the beets to the baking sheet first, then the carrots, and finally the squash and onions. If you want to sub in other vegetables and aren't sure how long they need to roast, check out this handy chart.

Caramelized Salmon with Basil Chile Oil and Pickled Vegetables #30MinuteMondays

Broiled salmon, basil chile oil, and quick-pickled summer vegetables

 team up for a fast and fresh paleo dinner with tons of flavor.

As a recent salmon convert, I'm still a little bit surprised every time I bite into a piece of salmon and find that it's totally delicious. 

For so long the strange pink hue of salmon turned me off, but now I can't get enough. My favorite way to prepare salmon is under the broiler, where it cooks in less than ten minutes flat. I love how the top of the fish gets nicely browned and even a little bit crispy (especially here, with the help of a sprinkling of maple sugar) while the inside remains perfectly tender. This caramelized salmon is inspired by a recipe from Lindsay of Pinch of Yum and it's SO good.

Zucchini Lasagna

I've been on the fence for a while about whether I should buy a spiralizer. I want to make rutabaga noodles so badly, but I can't seem to bring myself to purchase another kitchen gadget. I've made zoodles by hand with my julienne peeler, but it's a huge pain. After adding the spiralizer to my cart on Amazon several times and then taking it back out again, I've decided that I'm going to ask for one for my birthday next month (are you reading this, Mom?). I won't feel as bad about getting yet another cooking tool if it is a gift from my wonderful mother.

In the meantime, I was excited to find this zucchini lasagna over on Sarah and Tim's blog, Curious Cuisiniere, because it uses veggie noodles that you don't need any special gadgets to make. Strips of zucchini stand in for lasagna noodles, but all the great Italian flavors and delicious textures of the original dish still come through.

Curious Cuisiniere was my assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal, and I had a great time perusing the site to choose a dish. I noticed that this recipe isn't their only noodle-free lasagna--they also have a butternut squash lasagna that I'm planning to try in the fall. Sarah and Tim also have recipes from countries all around the world, and the best part is that they have an interactive map that helps you explore food from different regions. Click on India, for example, and you'll be taken to a page with all of the Indian recipes on Curious Cuisiniere. So cool! If you're looking to expand your palate and cooking repertoire with some food from faraway lands, their blog is the place to do it.

Prepping a Week of Paleo Breakfasts (Whole30 Day 9)

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-Becky

Looking for something to bring to a cookout?  Check out these 10 Paleo Recipes for Summertime Celebrations.

Guys, I am going back to school next week!  Part of the reason I picked January for my Whole30 is that I knew having the first two weeks of the month off would help me get myself on track with my new eating plan before having the stress of school, work, and clinic added on.  Everything has been going smoothly so far, but it's about to get a lot harder.

The key to sticking with the Whole30 throughout a busy work week is planning and preparation.  This weekend I'm planning to make big batches of a few different meals so I can bring leftovers to school for lunch, and even eat leftovers some nights for dinner if I'm too tired to cook.  However, even though I occasionally enjoy a good dinner for breakfast, most mornings I want something a little more traditional.

So, today I'm sharing my plan for prepping a week of paleo breakfasts.  These ideas are perfect if you're doing a Whole30, but are also just great if you have a goal to start each day with a healthy breakfast.  Most of these ideas do require you to get up and cook, but it should only take about 10 minutes, and for a nutritious & tasty breakfast, it's worth it.

Braised Zucchini (Whole30 Day 6)

We're going nose-to-tail with our zucchini today!  I saw these charmingly small organic zucchini at Whole Foods, and was inspired to cook them without trimming the ends off, chopping them up, or turning them into noodles.  Sometimes, we just have to let zucchini be!  It's a beautiful vegetable, and when it's browned like this and braised until tender, you can eat the whole entire thing.

This zucchini is slightly spicy thanks to the cumin, paprika, and cayenne, and has just a hint of tang thanks to the sherry vinegar.  The vinegar, broth, spices, & shallots form a deliciously rich sauce that you can serve spooned over the zucchini, and/or on top of whatever protein you're eating with it.

I had this for lunch alongside a pork chop, cooked using the method outlined in this recipe, seasoned with salt and pepper and just a little garlic powder.  Bonus: if you decide to make these pork chops, with or without the apple compote, they can cook in the oven alongside the zucchini, and everything will be ready at the same time.

Chicken Meatballs with Garlic Kale Marinara (Whole30 Day 4)

I've always been more of a baker than a cook, but I'm working hard to change that, especially since starting my Whole30.  It's exciting to try lots of different meats in lots of different forms.  Yesterday I made pork belly (you can see the before & after pics on Instagram--it was good, but not quite good enough to share with you!).  Today I used ground chicken to make meatballs.  I am so happy with the way this dish turned out--it's one of the best savory recipes I've made!  The meatballs are moist and rich, and the sauce provides the perfect level of tart tomato and roasted garlic flavor.

Stuffed Zucchini with Goat Cheese & Herbs

Cheese is back!  After finishing up my version of a Whole 30, I've been adding some dairy back into my diet.  I've made some interesting discoveries.  I used to think that too much coffee upset my stomach, but since switching to almond milk, I realized it was all the milk in my coffee that was causing me problems (I like a LOT of milk in my coffee).  So I'm trying not to go too crazy with the dairy, but I'm fine with a little cheese.  

Goat cheese is one of my favorite cheeses, and it's one that people who are lactose intolerant can often still enjoy.  Apparently this is because the fat molecules in goat's milk are shorter than those in cow's milk, and thus easier to digest.  Whatever the reason, I'm glad I can enjoy goat cheese.  It really takes these stuffed zucchini over the top.

One more note on ingredients: this was my first time cooking with ground pork.  It was so good!  Why is everyone still buying ground beef all the time?  I mean, I'm sure this recipe would be good with beef, or even ground chicken or turkey, but the pork just has so much great flavor.  Perhaps this is due to a higher fat content?  What I really want to know is this: why don't people make hamburgers out of ground pork?  Any thoughts?  After all, they are called HAMburgers...

On to the recipe!  I'm eager to try this with other vegetables as well: maybe mushrooms instead of peppers, or shallots instead of onions.  Let me know if you try this or any variations!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (Gluten free, Paleo)

It's strange not to be getting a classroom set up this time of year. To get my classroom layout fix, I went to help my friend set up her room. She'll be teaching kindergarten, and her space is amazing! Her classroom has its own coatroom with a full length cubby for each kid, plus a bathroom. The room has lots of windows on two sides, tons of built-in storage, and TWO sinks at the back--one kid height and one regular. On top of all that, the building is air conditioned! In six years of teaching, I definitely never had it that good.

Anyway, I wanted to bring something for me and my friend to snack on while we set up her classroom, and since I was going there mid-morning, I decided muffins would be just the thing.  I went with double chocolate muffins because what I really wanted was to make cupcakes.  These are the perfect happy medium, and I snuck in a zucchini to make them extra moist and even more healthy.

A weird thing happened with these muffins.  Let me know if you have any insights about this muffin mystery: when I tried a warm muffin before leaving the house, some of the muffin stuck to the paper liner.  Not a ton, but a fair amount.  I then wrapped some muffins in tinfoil to bring with me, but left the top of the tinfoil open since the muffins were still warm.  At my friend's school, the papers peeled off the muffins with virtually no crumbs attached--completely clean.  The next morning, I expected the muffins I had left at home to do the same thing, since I assumed it was from cooling completely.  But no!  Crumb stuck on the liner again.  So--did wrapping the bottoms of my muffins in tinfoil while they were still warm make the papers come off with no crumbs?  If so, I might have to try that trick every time I make muffins or cupcakes!  Any thoughts?

Anyway, on to the recipe.  I hope these double chocolate muffins will help you strike the perfect breakfast balance.

Shrimp & Zoodles with Garlic Tomato Sauce

Have you ever made zoodles?  If you get yourself a julienne peeler, you can be making zucchini into low-carb noodle stand-ins in no time.  It's actually really good.  You may not be able to fool people into thinking they are eating actual spaghetti, but I don't think anyone will be complaining.

Sesame Lime Steak, Zucchini, & Avocado Salad

After all those pancakes, I was ready for some meat.  I cooked this steak on my George Foreman grill which, I'm ashamed to admit, had been riding in the trunk of my car ever since I moved back up from Houston two years ago.  No worse for the wear, the grill worked fine when I finally brought it inside today.  You can also cook your steak on a real grill or stovetop in a grill pan or heavy skillet.

This salad is my first attempt at using zucchini as noodles.  I think in this recipe it really works.  You aren't tricked into thinking you're eating real noodles, but the long, thin noodle shape is the perfect vehicle for the sauce, and the raw zucchini still has a little bit of a crunch to it.

Another ingredient note: this recipe calls for coconut aminos, which are a paleo replacement for soy sauce.  In my opinion, the flavor is very similar.  You won't taste any coconut here.  If you're looking for coconut aminos, I found mine at Whole Foods.  You can also just substitute soy sauce if you're not avoiding soy.

Ingredients (serves 2):

For the steak:

2/3 pound thin sliced top round steak (or another thin cut)
1 tablespoon coconut aminos
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon red chili paste
Juice of half a lime

For the salad:

2 zucchini, cut or peeled into thin, noodle-like matchsticks
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon almond butter
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon coconut aminos
1 tablespoon apple juice
1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
Lime wedges

To make the marinade, combine all ingredients in a shallow bowl and toss with the steak to coat.  Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for up to two hours.  If you marinate in the refrigerator, take the meat out 30 minutes before you plan to cook it to let it come to room temperature.

Heat a George Foreman grill or a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook the steak to your desired doneness.  Set steaks aside on a plate, covered.

In a medium bowl, combine the almond butter, sesame oil, coconut aminos, and apple juice to make a smooth sauce.  Toss the zucchini to coat it with the sauce, and divide the zucchini between two plates.  Slice the steak into strips and place it on top of the zucchini.  Top the steak with the avocado slices and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.  Serve warm or chilled with lime wedges.

Chocolate Cherry Muffins (with a secret ingredient)

For this month's chocolate party, the ingredients are cherries and chocolate.  I really enjoyed the cherry garcia frozen yogurt that I made, but chocolate and cherries are such a great pair that I wanted to try another recipe with them.  Recently I bought frozen dark sweet cherries at whole foods, and they were screaming to be baked into some chocolate muffins.

There is a secret ingredient that makes these muffins super moist.  Have you guessed what it is?  Here are a few hints: it's green.  You can barely see it in the finished muffins.  You might have some growing in your garden.

It's zucchini!!  A grated zucchini keeps these muffins really tender even though they're made with all whole grain flour.  Subbing agave nectar for half the sugar doesn't hurt, either.  The cherries provide a juicy burst of flavor within the rich chocolate muffins.  You are going to love these!  And with fruit AND vegetables, reduced sugar and butter, and whole grain flour, they are practically guilt-free.

Ingredients (makes 12):

1 medium zucchini, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole grain pastry flour
1/2 cup cocoa (I used Dutch-process)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup frozen sweet cherries, halved

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the cooled butter, agave, milk, egg, and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients and the grated zucchini to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.  Fold in the cherries.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.  Bake for about 20 minutes, until the muffins are domed and set.  Halfway through the baking time, rotate the pans back to front and reduce the oven temperature to 325.

Cool for a few minutes in the tin, and then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Want to participate in this month's chocolate party by sharing a treat with chocolate and cherries? Here's how to participate:

1. Blog about your chocolate treat. Your recipe must include the two ingredients we choose (chocolate and cherries for June). It can be a simple no bake treat or a sophisticated layer cake, the complexity level of the recipe is totally up to you.
2. Include a link back to a monthly round-up or the Chocolate party page. Optional, add the Chocolate Party logo in your blog post or on your sidebar. 
3. Your recipe must be published during the current month. Please do not link old recipes, they will be deleted.
4. Add your link on this post.