Roasted Cauliflower with Dates & Pine Nuts

Steve's mom sweetly made this recipe for us for Christmas dinner and we both loved it! Originally from the Food Network, this recipe called for butter - 100% not paleo - so I substituted some grapeseed oil and loved it even more!

• 1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets (about 8 cups)
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 4 tablespoons grapeseed oil
  
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup pitted Medjool dates, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Evenly spread the cauliflower on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the oven and roast, tossing once with a spatula, until golden brown at the edges, about 20 minutes.

Put the grapeseed oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Once it's melted, add the pine nuts and cook, stirring frequently, until they're lightly golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and dates and continue cooking until they're softened, 2 to 3 minutes more; season with salt.

Transfer the hot cauliflower to a serving bowl, drizzle the pine nut mixture over the top and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and serve warm or at room temperature.

Delish!

Garlic Kale Chips

When you hear the word Kale, certain perceptions come up such as "Super Food" and "Internal Lawnmower". Although both of these are true, not everyone understands why. Let me start with the first one. Kale has a ridiculous amount of flavonoids (45 to be exact) that are full of antioxidant and anti-imflammatory goodness. Kale has also been linked to lowering your risk of developing 5 types of cancer, including bladder, breast, colon, ovary, and prostate cancer (you can thank the Isothiocyanates made from glucosinolates in kale for that).

So how to we pack this amazing veggie into something we'll actually eat? Kale Chips!



Ingredients:
- About 1 bushel of Kale (I used Red, but Green works too)
- 2-3tsp Garlic Expressions Salad Dressing
- Salt to taste

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash your kale and rip the leaves off the thick steps, further ripping them into bite size pieces (if you've had a rough day, this can be fairly therapeutic).
3. Dry the pieces in a salad spinner, then place them in bowl. Drizzle them with the Garlic Expressions and mix up the leaves until every spot is covered (or so you can tell).
4. Spread them out evenly on a baking sheet and sprinkle them with salt.
5. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the edges are brown (but not burnt).
6. Take out of the oven and enjoy!

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, you can sub Grapeseed Oil for the Garlic Expressions and sprinkle them with stevia and salt for a sweet & salty chip instead :).

Honey Mustard Brussel Sprouts

Brussel Sprouts - they've been your worst enemy since childhood. Well I'm here to tell you that you no longer need to hide these babies in your milk because I've found a way to make them taste as amazing as they look! Many people don't know this, but they actually contain indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells along with sulforaphane (another anti-cancer chemical).

The most popular (and stomach turning) way to prep brussel sprouts is to boil them - however doing this strips them of all their enchanting cancer-preventing nutrients! To keep your nutrients in the sprouts you can steam them, stir fry them, microwave them or make them like this...

Ingredients
- about 1 lb brussel sprouts
- 3 tbsp grapeseed oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tbsp honey

1. Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. Wash and drain your sprouts then cut them into quarters.
2. Place your sprouts in a bowl or ziploc bag. Dump in your 3 tbsp of grapeseed oil, then cover the bowl or zip the bag, and shake them around so every sprout is covered.
3. Dump them out on baking sheet, ensuring every quarter is touching the sheet - not piggy backing on another sprout - and sprinkle salt and pepper over them.
4. Put the sprouts in the oven for 14-16 minutes. At the 7 minute mark, pop them out of the oven and spoon 3 tbsp of water over them, then place them back in the oven for their final 7-9 minutes.
5. While they're cooking, mix up the lemon juice, honey and mustard until it has an even consistency.
6. When the sprouts are done, take them out of the oven and transfer them to a bowl. Pour your lemon honey mustard mix over them evenly and serve.

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Stolen from my favorite Paleo Blog - Everday Paleo

Crust

1/2 cup hazelnuts

1 cup pecans

4 tablespoons melted organic grass fed butter

pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Place the nuts in a food processor and process until the nuts are a flour like or almond meal like consistency. Pour into a small mixing bowl, add the butter and salt and mix into a thick dough. Using your hands, spread evenly into a pie pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Filling

1 – 14oz can of organic pumpkin puree (nothing added, just pumpkin)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

2 eggs

1/2 cup raw organic honey

1/2 cup coconut milk

While the crust is in the oven, whisk all of the pie filling ingredients together. Pour into the crust that has been baked for 10 minutes, return to the oven and bake for and additional 45 minutes.

I will be attempting this guy on Friday when we're celebrating the holiday with Steve's family. Check out her entire Thanksgiving menu HERE.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake - Yup it's Paleo!

The drool starts here...I've been getting great feedback from my athletes (shout out to Jackie) that they want a pumpkin recipe! Ideally, I want to re-create pumpkin pie (still perfecting texture on that one), but in the meantime, I didn't want to leave any pumpkin fans without their fix. This cake has almost brownie-like texture and has full Steve (ie - non paleo) approval.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup canola oil (I used grapeseed - which is why my batch came out a little flatter)
1 cup almond meal
1/3 cup non-dairy cocoa powder (or cacoa powder)
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tbsp truvia (stevia)
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a cake pan. I used coconut oil because I'm obsessed, but you can use a cooking spray or whatever you prefer.
2. Whisk the almond meal, cocoa powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt until it's evenly mixed.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in another larger bowl. Once all the wet ingredients are completely mixed, add the dry ingredients bit by bit, stirring in evenly to achieve an even consistency.
4. Pour your batter into your baking pan, level it out with a spatula and toss that bad boy in the oven for about 40 minutes. You should see the cake start to separate from the sides of the pan when it's done. If you don't trust your judgment on that, you can always use the toothpick trick (stick a tooth pick in the center, if it comes out clean then your cake is baked).
5. Remove your tasty cake from the oven and let it cool. Then cut and serve :)

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Friday's Quote for Thought

Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.

Mark Victor Hansen