Paleo Milk - Walnut Milk

Sometimes I just want a glass of milk - or something made with milk.  Homemade nut milk is a great alternative to dairy.  It is creamy and has a great taste.  I like to use it in smoothies, in my morning coffee or to make paleo hot cocoa.  Plus it's super easy to make!

Many nut milks are readily availiable at the supermarket.  While these are good - I find they have many non-paleo addititives.  I like walnut milk better than other nut alternatives because it has omega-3s in it!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Walnuts
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• Favorite Paleo Sweetner to taste

Instructions:

1. Soak walnuts in water for at least 8 hours in the refridgerator.
2. Rinse walnuts and place in blender with about 4 cups water (use 2 cups if you want very rich milk, 5 cups if you like skim milk - 4 is similar to 2% milk to me)
3. Add vanilla and sweetener.  I used about 10 drops of stevia.
4. Blend for 2-3 minutes.
5. Use cheese cloth or wire strainer (or cheese cloth in wire strainer) to strain out remaining walnut chunks.  If you use a cheesecloth you'll need to fold up the cloth and squeeze the liquid out.  I simply use a wire strainer - my milk has some "solids" in it.  The small solids don't bother me - maybe I'm just lazy!

Bonus!

The remaining walnut solids can be used in future recipes!  Take the wet solids and throw them on a cookie sheet then put them in the oven at 250 F until dried out (~30 minutes).  

Nutritional Info - I don't know what the nutritional info is on this!  I find that you end up with a large amount of walnut solids after making this recipe - so it's difficult to quantify how much you ended up with vs how much is actually in the milk.  

Paleo Jambalaya

This recipe was inspired by a recipe found on Mark's Daily Apple.

Ingredients:

• 1 Package Andouille Sausage (I found mine at Trader Joes)
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 1 Large bell pepper chopped
• 2 Cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1 14.5oz Can Diced Tomatos
• 1.5 cups Chicken Stock
• 1/2 tsp dried Thyme
• 1 Tbsp Parsley (fresh if you have it)
• 1 Tsp Chili Powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Cayenne Pepper (optional, to taste)
• 1 Pound peeled raw Shrimp
• Cauliflower Rice

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, brown sausage, onion, bell pepper, and garlic.  
2. Add tomatos, chicken stock and spices.  Cook for 20-30 minutes.
3. Add shrimp and cook just until shrimp is pink.  Remove from heat (cooked too long shrimp becomes rubbery).
4. Serve Jambalaya over cauliflower rice.

This recipe is quite good as leftovers!  

Nutritional Information:

Paleo Jambalaya (this does not include the cauliflower rice)

EmY - Mexican Chicken and "Rice"

This recipe is from EmY.  She found it on Elana's Pantry.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup celery, finely diced
• 1 head cauliflower, trimmed
• 1 (4 ounce) can green chilies, diced
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, grilled and diced into 1-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground cumin, oregano and chili powder to taste
• 1 avocado
• grated cheese, if desired
• salsa, if desired

Instructions:

1. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat
2. Saute onion over medium heat for 10 minutes, until soft
3. Add celery to skillet and saute for 5 minutes
4. Place cauliflower in a food processor with the "S" blade and process until the texture of rice
5. Add cauliflower to skillet, cover and cook 5-10 minutes, until soft
6. Mix chilies and chicken into skillet
7. Stir in salt, cumin, oregano and chili powder
8. Serve, topping with avocado, cheese and salsa if desired

Nutritional Information

Mexican Chicken and "Rice"

Jenn M - Banana Split

Jenn M sent me this recipe that looks great!  Her words are below:
This comes from elanaspantry.com.  I put the pudding over a 1/2 a banana and topped with walnuts and coconut.
Vegan Chocolate Pudding

• 1 (14) ounce can coconut milk (not lite)
• 1 pinch celtic sea salt
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 5 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate 73%

MODIFICATIONS to recipe 
- I used lite coconut milk and it turned out super rich, no need for the full fat stuff
- I used 1.5tbs of agave, I think she way over sweetens her stuff

1. In a saucepan, heat coconut milk and salt over medium heat
2. Sift the arrowroot powder into the pot, then whisk vigorously by hand or with a hand blender for 2 minutes
3. Whisk in agave and vanilla
4. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes; add chocolate, stirring vigorously until melted
5. Chill for half an hour, until cool
6. Serve

Paleo Rice - Cauliflower Rice

Cauliflower rice can be used whenever you would want to use normal rice.  Cauliflower has a distinct flavor; however, it is easily overpowered by other strong flavors.

I don't know where I originally found the recipe for cauliflower rice - it is now all over the internet.  Below are the instructions to make this basic dish (there are many variations out there).

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower

Instructions:

1. Wash and chop cauliflower into managable pieces.  Use a cheese grater or food processor to grate cauliflower into rice sized pieces.
2. Microwave cauliflower in microwave safe dish with lid for 2-3 minutes until cauliflower is cooked and hot.  
3. Serve with favorite dish.  I recommend only cooking the amount you plan to use during that particular meal.  Re-heating the cauliflower several times often results in very soggy cauliflower.

 Nutritional Information:
Cauliflower

Paleo Egg McMuffins

This is my new favorite breakfast.  It takes me about 5 minutes to make in the morning.

Ingredients:

• Paleo Biscuit
• 1-slice uncured bacon
• 1-egg

Instructions:

1. Place paper towel on plate.  Fold bacon in half, cover with another paper towel and cook for about 1-minute - until bacon reaches desired crispness.
2. Spray round microwave safe dish with non-stick spray or grease with oil.  Crack egg into dish and puncture yolk.  Cook for 45 seconds to 1-minute - until egg is cooked.
3. Cut biscuit in half and assemble sandwich.

Enjoy!

This recipe will also work with breakfast sausage patty.

Nutritional Information:

Paleo Breakfast McMuffin

Paleo Biscuits

I actually couldn't believe how well this recipe turned out.  These little biscuits are the answer to several paleo roadblocks I've had.  These make a ridiculously good breakfast sandwich! (I'll post that recipe soon!)

This recipe is inspired by: Healthy Indulgences

Ingredients:
- 1/4 C Coconut Flour
- 1/2 C Blanched Almond Flour
- 1 TSP Baking Powder
- 1.5 TBSP grass fed butter softened (coconut oil works as well if you're okay with butter)
- 6 Egg Whites

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Sift coconut flour, almond flour and baking powder together.
3. Using a pastry blender or a fork, blend the butter and flours together.  The mixture will be quite dry.
4. Put the flour/butter mixture in the freezer or the the fridge.  This allows the butter to get solid and will help the biscuits be flaky.
5. While the biscuits are chilling, use hand beaters or the blender to make the egg whites frothy.  This recipe is a great place to utilize the freeze dried egg whites.  
6. Quickly mix the egg whites into the flour mixture until just blended.
7. Spoon the batter into a greased muffin pan.  I use the "Texas-size" muffin tin to make 4 larger biscuits.  Using a regular muffin tin will result in 6 smaller biscuits.
8. Bake 15 minutes (until biscuits start to look brown on the top and don't "give" when you tap the tops).

Enjoy!  I like these with 100% fruit preserves, almond butter, butter, as "Egg McMuffins", etc.

Nutritional Information:

Paleo Biscuits