Category Archives: side dish

“Gravy”

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Tools required: Immersion blender
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 slice bacon
Chicken giblets
Chicken juices reserved from Mediterranean Chicken recipe
Dried oregano and rosemary to taste
2 Tb mashed cauliflower (for use as thickener)
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In pan, cook the bacon – it adds wonderful flavor.
Remove the cooked bacon, but keep the grease (this is what we’re after anyway – feel free to snack on the bacon).
In the bacon grease, cook chicken giblets and remove from pan for more snacks (this step deepens the flavor of the gravy).
Now, add the chicken juices reserved from the roasted chicken and stir.
Add a tsp each of oregano and rosemary if you like.

Once combined, pour into your 2 cup measure along with 2 Tb mashed cauliflower.
Blend with immersion blender until you reach a gravy consistency (you may need to add more mashed cauliflower to reach your desired texture).
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour liberally over EVERYTHING. Seriously, this is delicious.

Smoked Salmon Cucumber Rounds

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No special tools required
Serves 4 as a light snack, or 2 for lunch

Ingredients

Smoked salmon
1 cucumber
4 hardboiled egg yolks (Trader Joes sells peeled hardboiled eggs, making this super easy)
1 lemon, zest and juice
Salt to taste
Dill for garnish

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Sweet Potatoes – 2 ways

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This is one of our go-to paleo sides. It’s easy to make a big batch and it reheats well. We’ve come up with two different variations here.

Ingredients: 

3 Sweet potatoes – scrubbed and chopped into 1″ squares
1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil

Variation 1 –
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon thyme

Variation 2 –
1 star anise, finely crushed
1″ piece fresh ginger, grated
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon Fresh ground pepper

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Zucchini Pasta

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If you’re craving pasta, this vegetable-based version will hit the spot. It’s easiest if you have an attachment on your mixer that will make nice noodles for you, but a similar effect can be gained by using a potato peeler to create long strands of zucchini.

Ingredients: 

3 Zucchini
Olive Oil
Tomatoes – chopped into 1/2″ cubes
Basil (preferably fresh)

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Instructions:

Either peel the zucchini by hand or use the spiral attachment
Toss with olive oil
Pan fry for just a couple minutes – so the “noodles” just start to soften up
Mix in fresh tomatoes and basil
Enjoy!

Hemp Veggie Burgers

So honestly when we were making some of these hemp themed recipes, we weren’t sure how well they would turn out. We were pleasantly surprised with how well these came out. We’d make these again even if there wasn’t a hemp theme to the day! We got a couple recipes for some veggies patties and then improvised heavily to get the following –

Ingredients: 

2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup finely chopped kale

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Zucchini Patties

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I was at a friends house and spied a library book called 21 Day Sugar Detox. Never being one to pass up a book, much less a cookbook, I flipped through it and was immediately intrigued. The cookbook lays out a 21 day plan for curbing your sugar cravings, and not only that gives three different levels of detox plans. I snapped a few photos of some recipes and figured I find the book at my local library later. I immediately went home and made these delightful little snacks/sides!

Ingredients:

4 cups grated zucchini or carrots – well drained
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup coconut oil

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Honey Spiced Brussel Sprouts

These days, being in grad school, I need things that are fast an easy that I can make while soon other things. In an attempt to make cooking brussel sprouts easier and also copy some of the best brussel sprouts I’ve ever had from Michael’s On Main in Capitola I came up with this ridiculously easy method.

Ingredients

Brussel Sprouts
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of honey
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
handful of roasted pecans

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F
Chop the brussel spouts into quarters, making sure to remove the bottoms
Coat the brussel sprouts with olive oil and then season with salt and pepper
Bake for 20-30 minutes total, stirring half way through
Meanwhile, melt the butter, honey and cinnamon in a sauce pan 
Once the brussel sprouts are done cooking, pour the honey butter over them
Top with chopped up pecans
Enjoy!  

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Waldorf Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
2 medium celery ribs, diced
green onions, minced
1 large crisp apple, cored and diced
6 tablespoons chopped, toasted walnuts
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Salt and ground black pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt

 

 

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Ceviche

Ingredients:

1 lb petrole sole
6 limes- juiced

1 tomato chopped
1/4 of a green pepper chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp each salt & fresh cracked pepper
A few shakes of Tabasco

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Hummus

Ingredients:
1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
2+ tablespoons olive oil

Caprese Salad

Slice the 3-4 large beefsteak tomatoes into 1/2 in slices
Slice the 3-4 large fresh mozzarella balls into 1/2 inch slices as well
Layer the mozzarella on top of the tomato slices
Layer with fresh basil leaves
Sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt & pepper

Pâté

Pâté finger sandwiches are a super easy addition to any tea party! You can simply buy pâté at your local store, or if yo’re feeling ambitious (and not squeamish) bust out your food processor and make your own!

Ingredients:

1lb chicken livers
1 small lemon, zested and juiced
1 medium onion
6 cloves garlic
6 strips bacon
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
sea salt to taste

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Guacamole

Ingredients:

4 avocados
1/2 tomato, diced
1/4 onion, diced
lime juice
sea salt

Instructions:

Smash the avocados in a bowl until you’re achieved your desired consistency
Add in the tomato and onion
Squeeze in the fresh lime juice, to taste
Salt to taste
Serve with chips!

Edamame Cheese Salad

We already love edamame, so adding cheese can only be a good thing! Found and followed the recipe from FoodNetwork.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 cups (9 ounces) shelled edamame beans
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
5 ounces pecorino, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

 

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Walnut Potato Salad

The best walnut oil in the world comes from La Nogalera! That’s where we got this recipe!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. walnut pieces2 lbs. new potatoes, such as Jersey Royals or Charlotte
1 Tbsp. tarragon or cider vinegar washed or scrubbed
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp chopped fresh tarragon leaves
4 Tbsp. walnut oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp honey
2 Tbsp chopped cornichons or gherkins (optional)
flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

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Classic Potato Salad

Ingredients

3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 large eggs
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1 pickle diced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup mayonnaise


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Brussel Sprouts & Bacon

Everything is better with bacon… brussel sprouts are greatly enhanced by bacon and cooking them in bacon grease! Very simple. yet very delicious recipe!

Ingredients:

Bacon
Brussel Sprouts

Instructions:

Cook the bacon, chop the brussel sprouts
Cool and crumble the bacon, cook the brussel sprouts in the bacon grease
Crumble the bacon over the brussel sprouts
Enjoy!


Halibut Cabbage Rolls

A little intensive on the prep the first time you  do it, but so worth the effort. Great, savory taste… we all sat around raving while we were eating!

Ingredients:

Ice cubes
6 large savoy cabbage leaves
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1/4 cup drained capers, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
Coarse kosher salt
6 4-ounce halibut fillets

Get the whole step by step process on BonAppetit.com!

Mac & Cheese

This recipe came from the Macaroni & Cheese cookbook, which is pretty hilarious because the only requirements are literally that the recipe contain macaroni AND cheese. So recipes like Truffled Timbales with Zucchini Pesto, Lemon-Scented Pasta Pudding and Tuna Noodle Casserole are in this book because they have… you guessed it… both cheese and macaroni! We’ll be trying out a couple more recipes, especially a couple of the baked versions.

This recipe is SUPER easy and SUPER quick. You can literally prep everything in the time it take for your pot was water to come to a boil.

Ingredients:

12 ounces smallish macaroni (elbows or pennette)
2 cloves chopped garlic (we minced 4 cloves)
1 shallot, chopped (we clearly used a red onion)
10-12 ounces shredded Gruyere, Emmenthal or Appenzeller (we used about 16 ounces total of all three!)
4 ounces of creme fraiche (we used heavy whipping cream)
A grating of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
2 – 3 tablespoons butter


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