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Paleo Spaghetti and Meatballs

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Paleo Spaghetti and Meatballs

Paleo friendly version of everyone’s favorite!

INGREDIENTS

Spaghetti:
Medium Spaghetti Squash
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground veal
1 egg beaten
1 T Herbs de Provence
1 t Garlic Powder
1 T Salt
1/8 t Pepper

Tomato Sauce:
1 Medium Onion
1 Carrot
1 to 2 Garlic cloves
28 oz can Crushed Tomatoes
1/2 t Dried Basil
Salt and Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pre-Heat Oven to 400 F

2. Cut Squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Rub the surface with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Place directly on the oven rack and back for 45 Minutes, or until tender. Once tender remove and use a fork to scrape out the squash into a bowl. Add a drizzle of EVOO and season with salt and pepper.

3. While the Squash is in the oven, make the tomato sauce. Peel and roughly chop the onion, carrot, and garlic. With the blade spinning on your food processor drop the garlic in the top and let it chop up. Open the lid, add the onion, and turn the machine on. While running again, add the carrot until you achieve a fairly fine consistency. Scrape the sides of the bowl once and pulse the blade a few time to make sure you have an even consistency. In a medium pot add one tablespoon of EVOO and add the vegetable mixture once the oil is hot. Cook over medium heat till the mixture just starts to soften. Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Let simmer 15-20 Minutes, adjust the seasoning and serve.

4. Once the sauce is simmering, combine all the ingredients for the meatballs into a bowl and gently mix with your hands, being careful not to over mix. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a metal rack on top to keep the meatballs off the surface of the sheet. Form the meat mixture into 8-10 fairly good size meatballs and place in the oven. Cook until done, when the internal temperature reaches around 155-160 F.

5. To assemble: Spoon some Squash onto a plate, top with a few meatballs, and finish it off with some sauce. I’m certain you won’t even miss the pasta you are used to in this dish!

 
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Posted by on January 25, 2012 in Recipes

 

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Breakfast

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People ask me all the time what I eat for breakfast…just not fathoming a life without bagels, English muffins, pancakes, or toast. Well, I don’t miss them at all 🙂

 
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Posted by on January 25, 2012 in Pictures

 

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Old Clothes for Dinner?…ABSOLUTELY!

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Ok guys, absolute success tonight for dinner! I believe my kids may have actually (and unknowingly) eaten some onion and bell pepper with the meat…LOL. I’ve been cooking this old Cuban recipe for years known as Ropa Vieja (old clothes in English). Funny thing is, this recipe is as good as any I have made and much less labor intensive. Please try it, it is sure to please the whole family.

I paired it with some simple roasted sweet potato and turnips…yes TURNIPS!! They are creamier than a potato and Paleo friendly.

Get cooking everyone, and post those pictures. Here is a link to the recipe.

Health-Bent Ropa Vieja

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2012 in Pictures

 

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Helpful Paleo Recipe Sites

Hello all, just wanted to check in with everyone on a few things.

First of all, everyone be sure to check out Trayce’s post on the exciting happenings at the Alexandria Museum of Art’s Second Saturday market. We will soon have several local vendors offering fresh organic produce and livestock at the market! Please do all you can do to support our local vendors so they continue to have a good reason to supply our family tables with the freshest and healthiest ingredients around. The Paleo community alone can show their support for these wonderful people and their efforts and make a big difference.

I also want to thank everyone so far for getting involved in the blog. Whether you have just visited, commented, or published your own posts…I appreciate everyone. I will continue to try and grow the blog into a community we can all use and enjoy.

Lastly, I wanted to point ya’ll to a few of my favorite Paleo recipe sites on the web. In fact, the recipe that is cooking away on my cooktop came from one of these, and I’ll post the results later!
Good luck to all on continued success and health following the Paleo lifestyle!

Nom Nom Paleo

Health-Bent

The Clothes Make the Girl

The Food Lover’s Primal Palate

Ernie

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2012 in Recipes

 

Paleo pizza

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We were in the mood for a Paleo “cheat meal” and this recipe adapted from paleodietlifestyle.com was great!

 
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Posted by on January 22, 2012 in Pictures

 

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Paleo Chicken Pot Pie

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So here is my attempt at Paleo Chicken Pot Pie out of the book Paleo Comfort Foods. I’m pretty exhausted from the Calvary D-Now event, so I’ll post more about it later. Bottom line is I think the almond meal topping was too strong, and overpowered the chicken mixture on top. I think using blanched almond flour for the topping would have been better. None the less, it was fairly tasty!  As you can see, I almost toasted the top!  It went from mildly brown to almost black in less than a minute…so beware!

 
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Posted by on January 22, 2012 in Pictures

 

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Solo Dinner Tonight

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Eating solo tonight. Pantry Fritatta!! Red onion, ham, zucchini, curry powder, and free range eggs! Only had a tiny patch of sticking…pretty good for me. If you like eggs, and you’ve never made a Fritatta, you gotta try it! Super easy. Sauté any ingredients you want, add them to 6-8 eggs and put whole thing in oiled oven proof pan. Cook on medium flame for 3-4 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees in oven for 8-10 minutes. It’s like omelette meets quiche! (without a crust). Post some pics if you get inspired!

 
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Posted by on January 19, 2012 in Pictures

 

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Question for everyone?

Ok, so since you have started the Paleo Lifestyle, what food or item have you found it hardest to do without?

Without question, my biggest issue is COFFEE CREAMER!!!  I can’t stand coffee without creamer, and combine that with my absolute love of coffee with it, and I’m a little lost to be honest.

I’ve attempted to make Paleo creamers from recipes on the net using coconut milk and raw egg…but I just get coconutty coffee…ugh.  I’m seriously considering using fresh whole cream, just a little, to drink my coffee.  It’s better than creamer with a million ingredients, and I think would be my most natural choice.  Or I just suck it up and learn to drink it black. 

What have ya’ll struggled with?

 
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Posted by on January 19, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

Quick Dinner Time

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So as is typical for a Wednesday night, I had little to no time to get dinner together. My plan was for a Fritatta, but once Kourt saw the New York Strips I has pulled out of the freezer a few days ago, grilling commenced. Added a side of green beans. I use like two strips of bacon and render the fat. I microwave the green beans inside a plastic bag for 2-3 minutes, then add them to the hot grease. The key is to cook the beans aggressively at high heat and move them around a lot. I almost burn some it’s so hot. But they turn out dark and crusty and yummy.

 
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Posted by on January 18, 2012 in Pictures

 

Tonight’s Chili

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So tonight’s dinner was Chili with Cauliflower “Rice”. The chili was pretty darn good as it used stew meat as a base so the chunks of meat were big and tasty. It used chipotle chile powder and plenty of cumin, so it was really smokey. Topped it off with cubed avocado and it was a hit. I think the recipe is from Make it Paleo. It has to stew for 4-5 hours, so it’s not a quick meal by any means, but worth the time if you have it. Truthfully, I’m of the school that chili doesn’t have beans anyway, so making this paleo version of chili was easy for me. The beans just take away from the flavor of the beef and chile peppers if you ask me!

 
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Posted by on January 18, 2012 in Pictures