BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Radish/Beet/Carrot Coleslaw

The coleslaw was inspired by my lovely and creative friend Taryl who was telling me how she shredded carrot and beet to make a salad with quinoa. Sounds amazing doesn't it? Clearly I needed to find a reason to grate carrots a beets. Viola! My version of a Coleslaw! Matt did the chicken bit all by himself, so the recipe is all his idea!

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
28oz can of tomato sauce
2-4 big buns
1 small yellow onion, diced
5 picine peppers, crushed up
1 tsp cayenne
2 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp cumin
salt and pepper

You can adjust the above spices to the level you prefer.

Instructions

1. Get out your slow cooker.
2. Trim any fat on the chicken breasts and place in slow cooker.
3. Add the spices and chopped onion to the tomato sauce and mix around. Put the tomato sauce mixture into the slow cooker.
4. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4.
5. Once the chicken is fully cooked and juicy as hell, take the breasts out of the sauce and shred all the chicken meat.
6. Remove all the sauce from the crock pot and reserve in a bowl. Place chicken back into the crock pot and add back as much sauce as you desire. The more sauce, the more sloppy your sandwich will be! Discard remaining sauce.
7. Serve on buns and top with coleslaw. For gluten free version, just eat the chicken in a bowl with the coleslaw on top - its SUPER good that way!

Radish/Beet/Carrot Coleslaw

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

1/2 beet
2 carrots
4 radishes
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of one lime
salt and pepper

 

Instructions

1. With the big side of a box grater, grate half a beet, the carrots and radishes.
2. Add grated veggies to a bowl and add cilantro, and all the other ingredients.
3. Mix up and top the chicken burgers with it! Also tastes good on its own.

Atomic Curry

This will make you grow hair on your chest...or something. We like it hot hot hot so please adjust the spice level to your preference.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

1 yellow onion, diced
4 chicken breasts, diced
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1.5 to 2 cans coconut milk
3 tbsp medium curry powder
2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
small bunch of cilantro, chopped
lemon, cut into wedges
2 Serrano chili peppers, minced
4 habanero peppers, minced
1 tbsp coconut oil
salt and pepper
1 cup plain yogurt

Instructions

1. Heat a large pot (preferably cast iron) on medium high heat and melt the coconut oil.
2. Season the diced chicken breast with salt and pepper and add to the hot coconut oil. Brown on all sides. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
3. Add all of the spices (curry powder, Cayenne, mustard seeds, cumin seeds) to the oil and stir around for a minute or so. Add the onion, garlic and minced peppers and cook until the onion is translucent.
4. Now add back the chicken to the pot. Add the chickpeas and the coconut milk (we used about 1.5 cans but you can determine what ratio you want) and stir well. Give it a smell and re-season if necessary.
5. Bring the curry to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low to keep it on a gentle simmer for 45 minutes to an hour to allow it to thicken and develop the flavours. Before you serve it, add the chopped cilantro and stir well. If some people do not like cilantro you can just save it for an optional garnish.
6. Serve with rice, paleo rice or pasta. Garnish with lemon juice, cilantro and yogurt.

Note on paleo rice: I had mine with paleo rice and when I got to the stage where you satay the cauliflower, I added 1 tsp of garlic chili paste, 2 crushed garlic cloves and 1 tsp turmeric and it was delicious.

Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

 

This makes a lot of chili. And it was just for me so I still have some in my freezer. Good thing its delicious and freezes well! Matt took this picture of course and spiced it all up because he is da bomb at creating tex mex/Mexican flavours.

 

You will need a 4QT crock pot to fit all of this.

 

Ingredients

yiels 6-8 dinner portions

 

1 yellow oninion, diced

1 16 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 8 oz can corn, drained and rinsed

1 16 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

2 fresh tomatoes, diced

3 serrano chilis, minced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

*1-2 cups chicken broth

2 chicken breasts, diced

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbs cayenne powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp red chili flakes

3-4 drops of chipotle tabasco hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1 avocado, diced (for garnish)

small bunch of cilantro, diced (for garnish)

lime wedges (for garnish)

cheese of choice (for garnish)

 

1. Put your crock pot on high to cook for 4 hours or low to cook for 8 hours.

2. Put everything into the crock pot except for the garnish, mix well and let cook according to the times above.

 

* I felt my chili was a bit dry, although I do love a really thick chili, so I added about a cup of chicken stock. If you like it more "soupy" and there's enough room in your pot, you can add more. The liquid does not evaporate much or at all with this recipe so your level of soupiness will stay the same.



Spaghetti Squash and Chicken Bake

Spaghetti squash is a staple in my kitchen and I can never get sick of it. The trick for me is to cook so that it easily threads but it is still crunchy. Mushy spaghetti squash is groady. This recipe is alllmooossttt paleo, if you skip the bread crumbs and cheese then it's paleo. But that crust is really what makes this dish a "bake".

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash
400 g ground lean chicken breast
1 497 g can of diced tomatoes
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp tsp olive oil
2 tbsp fine bread crumbs
2 tbsp fresh grated Parmesan

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Cut your spaghetti squash in half. Scoop out seeds and guts.
3. Place squash halves, cut side facing up, in a large Pyrex with an inch of water in it.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes. Test the squash by poking the flesh with a fork and seeing if it will thread easily.
5. While your squash is baking, make the sauce. Cook the diced onion in olive oil until slightly soft. Add your ground chicken, salt, pepper and garlic. Cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes, breaking it up the entire time until no longer pink and browned all around.
6. When your squash is done, take out of the oven to cool.
7. Add the can of tomatoes to the chicken along with the oregano, basil and parsley. Add more salt and pepper if you think necessary. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
8. While the chicken and tomato sauce is simmering, with a fork, pull out the spaghetti squash flesh. Discard the empty squash shells. You will understand why it's called spaghetti squash.
9. Grease a Pyrex with olive oil and place the threaded spaghetti squash into the Pyrex. Once your sauce is done, pour evenly over the squash. Top with the bread crumbs first, then the layer of Parmesan.
10. Bake for about 10 minutes until the top is crispy :).
11. EAT!

note: if you have fresh herbs on hand like oregano or basil, it would be a lovely alternative to the dried herb version.

Again, you can tell that I took this photo due to is poor, oh so poor, quality.

Roasted Chicken Breasts with Bacon, Brie and Rosemary plus 2 Sides

This is what I made for me and my BFF's Christmas dinner. I think the recipe still needs perfecting (more Brie in bigger chunks, better bacon wrapping skills etc...) so you will see this again. It was super delicious but I think presentation-wise it could be improved. This meal was fast to make but had a big payout in the gourmet scale.

Ingredients

yields 4 portions

for the Chicken Breasts with Bacon, Brie and Rosemary

4 chicken breasts, pounded and fillet
6-8 pieces of thick cut smoked bacon
28g fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves chopped
1 small wheel Brie cheese
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
olive oil for drizzling

for the Sauteed Kale

5 leaves of kale, chopped and stems removed
1 tbsp red onion, fine sliced
1 clove garlic, fine sliced
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
dash of red chili flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

for the Walnut Basil Kale Pesto and Linguine

35g fresh basil leaves
1 leaf of kale, chopped, stems removed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts
heaping 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
salt and pepper
3 garlic cloves, skin peeled
500 g linguine, cooked al dente

Instructions

Instructions for the Chicken Breasts with Bacon, Brie and Rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Gently pound chicken breasts with flat side of meat tenderiser, with plastic wrap on top of the chicken. This is just to ensure that each breast is a consistent thickness.
3. Fillet your chicken breasts.
4. Remove the rind from the Brie and scoop tbsp sizes of Brie out and place about 3 tbsp globs inside each fillet breast.
5. Sprinkle a bit of rosemary (reserve some) inside each breast. Evenly spread some minced garlic inside as well.
6. Fold the flap of the chicken over so the the Brie, rosemary and garlic are encased.
7. Drizzle chicken with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and more rosemary.
8. Wrap each breasts with 1-2 slices of bacon.
9. Place chicken breasts in a baking Pyrex that has been drizzled with olive oil.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bacon is crispy and the chicken is cooked through.

 Instructions for the Sauteed Kale

1. When you wash the kale don't dry it before you chop it. The water on the kale will help steam it.
2. Preheat a frying pan on medium heat.
3. Add all of the ingredients for the kale above to the frying pan.
4. Cover with a lid, and saute for about 10 - 15 minutes until kale is all wilted. It will need more time than you think.

 

Instructions for the Walnut Basil Kale Pesto and Linguine

1. Get out a food processor.
2. Put into the food processor the basil leaves, garlic, chopped kale leaf, garlic, walnuts, Parmesan, olive oil, salt and pepper and buzz until all smooth. If the mixture is too dry add more olive oil.
3. Cook the linguine as per package directions until al dente.
4.  Drain the pasta. Add the pasta to a frying pan on medium heat with the pesto and toss until well coated. Cook for about 3 - 5 minutes.
5. Serve with your Brie and Rosemary Chicken Breasts and Sauteed Kale!

Note: This pasta/pesto recipe makes a lot - so I just portioned out how much pasta I wanted that night and fried it up with the pesto, then kept the left over pesto and pasta for leftovers.

Schnitzel and Spaetzle!

This meal really brought us back to Germany, especially since we had it with weissbier. So simple, and yet so delicious!

Ingredients

yields 2 servings

For the Schnitzel
2 chicken breasts, pounded to 1" thickness
2 cups fine bread crumbs
2 eggs, whisked
1 tbsp milk or water
1 cup flour
~ 2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 lemon, wedged

Instructions

1. Pound your chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer (flat side) with plastic wrap covering the chicken to about 1" thickness, or even less if you can avoid tearing through the breast.
2. Set up your breading stations like so:

Put the bread crumbs and flour each into a wide bowl or pie plate. Whisk the eggs with the milk. Add the salt and pepper to the bread crumbs, stir well.

3. Put a frying plan on medium heat with a drizzel of olive oil or fat of choice. The more oil the better, but if you're watching your girlish figure, you can be conservative and it still becomes crispy.

4. Bread all your thin chicken filets by covering the chicken completely in flour, then dip both sides in egg, then put it in the bread crumbs, pressing down hard so that the bread crumbs stick evenly.

5. Fry each side for about 6-8 minutes. You can add more oil when you flip to each side if desired. I also cook the chocken in batches, so I keep the oven on a low temperature and pop the chicken in the oven once done frying, covered with tinfoil, so that they stay warm while I fry the next batch.

6. Serve with lemon wedges and squeeze lemon juice over the Schnitzel before eating.

Ingredients

Yields 2-4 servings

For the Spaetzle

3 strips of thick cut smoked bacon

1 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp olive oil

pot of water for boiling

Instructions

1. First I would reccomend getting a spaetzle maker or höbel. It will make your life easier and more delicious. We used to make this with just dropping the dough into boiling water, which is fine, but I always burned myself and it was more like dumplings than noodles.

2. Mix up the flour, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

3. Boil a big pot of water.

4. The water is at a mad boil, pour half the batter mixture into the höbel, and slide back and forth until all the batter has sifted through. Repeat until there's no batter left.

5. The noodle are done when they float to the top. Once they are all floating, with a slotted spoon, scoop noodles out and put into a strainer with paper towel lined at the bottom.

6. Set noodles aside and slice your bacon into small slivers.

7. Fry your chopped bacon with olive oil in a frying pan that will fit all the spaetzle.

8. Once the bacon is halfway done cooking, add the spaetzle. Cook for about 7 minutes. Don't move it around too much - you want the noodles to get a bit crispy on the outside.

9. Eat with schnitzel!

 



Chicken Noodle Soup, from scratch

It's really cold right now. Warm yourself up with a comforting bowl of a classic dish. Also, roasting a whole chicken and making soup with it makes like 4 meals for around $20 which is AWESOME!

Ingredients

1 Roast Chicken (approx. 2 lbs)
2 yellow onions, one sliced, one diced
5 ribs celery, sliced into half moons
5 carrots, sliced into medallions
4 bay leaves
~ 7 L water
6 cloves of garlic, 4 whole, 2 minced
2 tbsp Vegeta
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. You can either buy a roasted chicken from your grocery store which is wayyyyy easier, or you could break this recipe up into a 2 night meal plan like Matt and I did. We made this: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipe-print.php?url=super-tasty-spanish-roast-chicken
2. Once your chicken is roasted, take the the majority of the meat off the carcass. Reserve about 2 cups of chicken meat to put in your soup later. You can eat the rest or use it for something else.
3. Now we make the broth! Put the entire chicken carcase into a BIG pot. Cover the carcass with water. Place on the stove top on high.
4. Slice a big yellow onion and place in water, along with 4 whole cloves of garlic, peeled. Add your vegeta, 2 bay leaves, all salt and pepper.
5. Once the water is boiling, reduce to medium high heat to keep the broth at a good boil.
6. Boil for 2 hours, adding water as you go so that the carcass is always covered with water.
7. If you have time you can start on the next process of making the soup, or you can discard the chicken bones, put the broth into jars, store overnight, and make the soup the next day.
8. To remove the chicken bones, put a large pot or big bowl into the sink, put a collender over it, and strain the broth and bones into it. Pick through the reserved chicken bones and remove all the good meat you want to eat. Add this meat to the meat you have reserved prior to boiling the bones.
9. Chop your carrots and celery (even include the leafy bits) into bite sized pieces. Fine dice a big yellow onion. Mince 2 cloves of garlic.
10. Put a big pot on the stove top on medium. Oil with about a tbsp of olive oil. Add all your veggies: carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
11. Add your broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Add 2 bay leaves. Reduce the medium low heat and add your reserved chicken meat.
12. If the soup looks too thick, add more water. Our broth was so rich that we added an additional 1L of water, and balanced it out with another tbsp of vegeta, salt and pepper.
13. Add any kind of mini noodle, or if you want to be super ambitious you can use homemade chopped spaghetti . Cook with the noodles for 3-5 minutes.
14. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve! It's best eaten with 3 cheese grilled cheese. Oh yeah.

Satay Slow Cooker Chicken Breasts

I LOVE my crock pot. Especially since I started eating meat which coincided with my increased training. This is so easy! I love the creaminess of the coconut milk and almond butter that is complimented by the zest of the lime and kick of the del arbo chillies. I ate this with wild rice and steamed baby bok choi. To keep it paleo, skip the wild rice!

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1 12oz can coconut milk
2 dried del orbo chillies, smashed
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 lime, juiced
2 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp Epicure Satay Seasoning
1 tsp garlic chili sauce
1/2 yellow onion, diced
sliced almonds, for garnish

Instructions

1. Put your crock pot on high.
2. Dice the onion, add it to the crock pot.
3. Grind your del orbo chillies in a pestle and mortar.
4. Add your chillies to the crock pot along with the coconut milk, lime leaves, lime juice, almond butter, satay seasoning and garlic chili sauce. Mix until well combined.
5. Place your chicken breasts into the sauce, put the lid on, and let cook om high for 3 hours. If you put the crock pot on low, cook for 6 hours.
6. At the 3 hour mark, shred the chicken with 2 forks. Let the sauce soak into the shredded chicken for a few minutes and then serve. Garnish with sliced almonds :).

Rosemary and Lemon Roasted Chicken Breasts

This is one of those quick weeknight meals that Matt and I made with whatever was in the fridge. I love it when you don't have to go to the grocery store but still produce a healthy, quick and delicious meal!

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts
4 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked and rough chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1.5 lbs of mini yellow potatoes
1/2 yellow onion, chunked
4 whole garlic cloves, skin peeled
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive oil

Instructions

1. Heat your oven to 375 F.

2. Scrub your potatoes and get them boiling in a pot of water. Only let them boil for 5 minutes. Strain the water from them.

3. Place a slip mat or parchment paper in an roasting pan or Pyrex. Drizzle with olive oil.

4. Place your potatoes, whole garlic cloves and chunked onion into the roasting pan. Generously drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.

5. Place your chicken breasts on top of the potato bed. Drizzle with olive oil, season with sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, rosemary and lemon zest. Squeeze lemon juice from the zested lemon all over.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes and make sure the chicken is cooked through to the centre.

7. EAT IT! And enjoy your house smelling like rosemary and lemon. YUM!

Rosemary, Swiss and Canadian Back Bacon Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu sounds fancy right? Well, its pretty easy! Follow these 10 steps to deliciousness to behold the savoury creamy and crunchy goodness. While its baking you can whip up a green salad and simple pasta dish, then you have gorgeous meal in under an hour.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts, lightly pounded to 3/4"
4 slices of Canadian Back Bacon
4 thick slices of Swiss Cheese
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs (I put salt, pepper, oregano, finely chopped fresh rosemary and basil)
4-6 sprigs of fresh Rosemary, finely chopped
2 eggs, whisked
toothpicks (not to eat!)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Set up your breading stations with the 3/4 cup flour in one dish, the seasoned bread crumbs in another dish, and the 2 eggs whisked in another dish.
3. Pound out your chicken breasts gently to 3/4" using a meat tenderizer (the flat side). A wine bottle works too! Make sure you don't make some ares too thin.
4. Set out your toothpicks.
5. Place 2 slices of the Back Bacon and Swiss Cheese in each chicken breast, spreading it out. Sprinkle a bit of chopped rosemary on top of the bacon and cheese in a whimsical-like fashion, or you can do it like BAM!
6. Roll the chicken like a carpet and pin the edges together with as many toothpicks as you think necessary. Ours kind of looked like a porcupine.
7. Gently roll the chicken rolls in flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs.
8. Place them a pyrex or oven proof dish with either a silicone non sticky thingy or you should grease it.
9. Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes. You will know when it is close to done when the Swiss Cheese starts to ooze and bubble out of the chicken.
10. Then eat it!!!!!