Harvest Casserole, by Cheryl

Another great recipe Whole30 recipe from Paleo Running Momma! This is a delicious side dish that tastes like Thanksgiving with each bite! And you get your healthy dose of veggies as well! I made this for my mom who is doing a Whole 30 round and she loved it too. Yum!

Ingredients:

3 cups butternut squash cut into 1in. pieces

1 lb brussel sprouts cut in half or quarters

Olive oil

sea salt and pepper

1 small yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

6 links chicken apple sausage, cut into coin shapes

2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced

2 tsp fresh sage, minced

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

2 tsp fresh parsley, minced

2 cups cauliflower rice

1 apple, finely diced

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup dried cranberries (I cut up dates)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

fresh herbs for garnish, if desired

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 425. Place squash on one baking sheet and brussel sprouts on another. Drizzle with olive oil to coat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 25 minutes, stirring the brussel sprouts halfway through. 

2) Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Cook until onions are translucent, then add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken sausage and fresh herbs and cook until sausage has slightly browned. 

3) Add in the cauliflower rice, pecans, apples, and cinnamon, and stir and cook until apples have softened. 

4) Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and combine the two mixtures together. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Serve with fresh herbs as a garnish if desired. 

Spice Rubbed Chicken Wings, by Cheryl

These were a quick go too dinner for us during Whole 30. While they do take an hour to cook, the prep is super fast and if you plan early enough you can just pop them in the oven. You can use whatever rub you like, but we love using the brand Chairman of the Bird to spice these up in. Super easy, fast, and delicious! Yum!

Ingredients:

2 packs of chicken wings/drumsticks

Spice rub

Salt

Olive oil

Directions:

1) Pat dry all of the chicken wings with a paper towel. 

2) Put the wings into a ziplock bag with some olive oil and move it around until each wing is thoroughly coated. 

3) Place wings on a cooling rack over a baking pan. Shake the spices and salt over the wings. Turn each wing over and do the same. 

4) Bake at 400 for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, turn off the oven, and let sit for another 20 minutes. 

Chicken and Cabbage Spring Rolls, by Diane

 

My family and I made these for the superbowl and these were such a hit! They are another recipe from Kristina Cho, and this is her mom's recipe but in a baked version. We used the air fryer, and could only find egg roll wrappers, but both of these changes made them taste crispy, crunchy and amazing! I had them for lunch and for dinner today too! You can literally fill these with anything and they were SO easy to make- they really tasted quite like egg rolls in Chinese restaurants except with less grease. Next time we want to try a classic version with pork, shrimp, and carrots, but these were a big hit as is! Rolling instructions and photos here.

Ingredients:

1 package spring roll wrappers (we used egg roll and whoa this made it so crunchy!)

1.5 lbs chicken breast, diced small

1 tbsp oil plus more for cooking

4 tbsp oyster sauce, divided

1 heaping tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp white pepper, divided

1 small head green cabbage, shredded

3 stalks green onion, sliced (both green and white parts)

2 tsp sesame oil

1 bundle bean thread noodles

1/4 cup each water and flour (we didn't need this for the egg roll wrappers)

Cooking spray

Spring roll sauce for serving

Directions:

1. Mix chicken breast, 1 tsp oil, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Marinate for 30 minutes or overnight.

2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a skillet over medium high, cook cabbage 5 min until wilted, spread on a baking tray to cool.

3. Add 2 tbsp oil to the same skillet and cook the chicken until browned and mostly cooked through. Transfer to the baking sheet with the cabbage.

4. Bring a pot of water to boiling and submerge noodles for 2-3 minutes, drain, then cut with scissors to bite size pieces. Add to the baking tray to cool.

5. Once cooled, mix together in a bowl with green onion, remaining 2 tbsp oyster sauce, remaining 1/4 tsps of salt and pepper, and sesame oil.

6. If using spring roll wrappers, mix flour and water into a paste for sealing (no need to do this step for the egg roll wrappers). For both wrappers, place it in front of you like a diamond and place the filling in the bottom 1/3 closest to you. Roll the bottom corner over tightly, roll in the sides careful not to leave any gaps, then roll tightly to close. Place seam side down on a baking tray until ready to cook.

7. Cook in the air fryer at 350 for 15 minutes, spraying the tops and flipping halfway then spraying the tops again. Serve with spring roll sauce.

Classic Shepherd's Pie, by Diane

 

This is, as it turn out, our 6th shepherd's pie on the blog, but just so happens to be the only *normal* version which I find hilarious! I made this for dinners this week, and it turned out pretty well! The only thing I would change is that there was not really a gravy or sauce with this recipe once you drained the fat off, and so it was lacking in flavor and a bit dry. Once I made some gravy to go with it, it worked really well. I omitted the cheese in the potatoes here too, and kept it whole 30 except for the flour which easily could have been arrowroot. This recipe was adapted from NYT. This was also incredibly quick and easy to whip up for a weeknight dinner.

Ingredients:

4 large russet potatoes

1 lb lean ground beef

1 lb ground lamb

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, minced

1 package frozen peas and carrots

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 tbsp flour

3/4 cup beef broth

Salt and pepper 

1/4 tsp dried thyme and rosemary

4 tbsp butter (I used ghee)

1 cup milk (I used almond milk because that's what was on hand)

Directions:

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes, boil until fork tender. Drain, mash, then add butter and milk until it becomes a thick consistency. Season as desired.

2. While the potatoes cook, brown the meat in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Drain and return to the pot, reserving 1-2 tbsp of the fat in the pot for cooking.

3. Add garlic, stirring for 2 minutes, then add peas and carrots.

4. Once the mixture heats back up about 5 min, add in tomato paste, herbs, and salt and pepper. 

5. Sprinkle flour over mixture, stirring for 2 min, then add broth and let simmer until sauce thickens (there was no sauce with mine so I would at least double this).

6. Adjust seasonings, then smooth the potato mixture over the top, forming peaks.

7. Bake at 375 for 30 min, until the liquid is bubbling on the sides and the potatoes are nice and golden (I stuck mine under a broiler for a few minutes because my top didn't brown after 35 min of cooking time).

Focaccia Take Two, by Diane

This was the second attempt this past weekend over facetime with my friend to redeem ourselves in making focaccia. Unfortunately, this recipe also did not match the texture of focaccia and was almost as dense and whitebread-like as the last one for both of us. We cannot figure out what is going wrong, as both recipes had amazing reviews!! Once again I topped it with the best combo of tomatoes, rosemary, thyme and red onion, but even that couldn't save it. The flavor of this one was not as good as the other, but the edges did come out really crispy. Another recipe hailed as "easy"... fail. Now, to be fair, we had to convert these measurements from grams, and for reasons I don't understand that is not easy because you can get 10 different answers (isn't this math?!). Regardless, our ratios were the same so we don't think that is where we went wrong.

Ingredients:

9 g active dry yeast

335 g water 105-115 degrees

450 g flour

9 g olive oil

9 g salt

20 g olive oil

20 g water

Flaky salt

Directions:

1. Combine yeast and warm water for 5-10 min until foaming.

2. Combine flour and salt to a large bowl, mix with yeast mixture until no dry flour remains. Pour 9g oil and mix with hands until combined. Cover and rest 20 min.

3. Grab a corner and stretch to cover the dough, turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until all sides have been stretched. Turn over seam face down and cover for 30 min. Repeat this step 3 more times. 

4. Drizzle some oil in a 9x13 pan, transfer the dough and see if it stretches to the edges. If it springs back wait 20 min. Cover and proof for 45-60 min until bubbly (ours wasn't).

5. Dimple the dough, then whisk remaining oil and water until emulsified and pour over top. Sprinkle with flaky salt.

6. Bake at 450 for 20-25 min until golden. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 min.

 

Focaccia Take One, by Diane

A friend and I made this together over facetime two snowy Saturdays ago, and unfortunately while the taste was spot on the texture did not match focaccia for either one of us. It was dense like homemade white bread for us both, with no holes for air, and not as crunchy on the outsides. I did love the combo of tomato, rosemary, thyme, and red onion, but this recipe was not a winner based on texture, even though it was hailed as "Shockingly Easy". 

Ingredients:

1 packet active dry yeast

2 tsp honey

2.5 cups lukewarm water

5 cups AP flour

1 tbsp mortons kosher salt

6 tbsp EVOO

Flaky salt

Butter

Directions:

1. Whisk yeast, honey and water in a bowl and let sit 5 min until foaming.

2. Add flour and salt to the bowl and mix with spatula until no dry flour remains.

3. Pour 4 tbsp oil in a bowl and transfer dough, coating all sides. Cover until doubled in size.

4. Butter a 13x9 baking pan, add 1 tbsp oil in the center.

5. Keeping the dough in the bowl, lift up one corner and fold over the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat 3x to deflate it into a rough ball. Place the ball seam side down in the pan.

6. Leave in a warm spot uncovered to rise for up to 4 hours until doubled in size. The dough is ready when you poke it with a finger and it doesn't spring back quickly.

7. Heat an oven to 450 and prep a middle rack. Oil your hands and stretch the dough to the edges of the pan. Dimple the dough then drizzle w 1 tbsp oil and sprinkle w salt. Bake until golden brown for 20-30 min.

Ham and Potato Chowder, by Diane

 

I made this for the first week it got cold a few weeks back, and honestly it was one of those dishes that should have come out great but actually turned out just okay. I had some ham that I had made bone broth from to use as the base of this, and chopped up the remaining ham to use in the chowder. Overall I would not make this again, but A for effort!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp coconut oil

5 carrots, sliced (I used rainbow carrots)

2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 leek, sliced green parts only

2 cups ham, diced

Seasoning: I used a combo of herbs de provence and poultry seasoning

3 cups broth, I used ham bone broth

Salt as needed

3 tbsp arrowroot flour

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot over medium high heat, add oil, carrots and potatoes into a pot. Stir often and cook until they soften.

2. Add in leeks and ham, cooking until leeks wilt.

3. Add broth and seasoning, let cook for an hour over low heat

4. Taste for seasoning and salt, then add a slurry of flour and some broth whisked together in a small bowl into the soup to thicken.

Whole 30 Shepherd's Pie, by Cheryl

Another winning dinner! Everything about this is scrumptious and filling. And perfect to have on a bitter cold night (literally bitter... it has been in the single digits everyday). The meat/veggie mixture was tasty and mixed well with the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle a little salt and you have a very tasty meal. Yum! 

Ingredients (recipe from here): 

1.5 lbs ground beef

1 tbsp ghee

salt and pepper

1 cup carrots, diced

1.5 cups brussel sprouts, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup chicken broth

2.5 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced

1 tsp fresh thyme, minced

MASHED POTATOES:

4-6 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces

2/3 cup full fat coconut milk

3 tbsp ghee

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

salt and pepper

chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Directions: 

1) Heat a pot of water, sprinkle with salt, and bring to a boil. Add the potato pieces and cook until soft.

2) Drain the potatoes and return to pot. Add the coconut milk and ghee. Mash with masher and once smooth, add nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. 

3) Preheat oven to 375. In a deep oven proof skillet, brown beef over medium high heat with a sprinkle of salt. Once cooked, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. 

4) Adjust heat to medium and add the Brussel sprouts and carrots. Cook for about two minutes. Add the onions and cook until softened. Add the garlic and sprinkle with a little salt. 

5) Add the remaining ingredients to the beef mixture, stir to combine, then return the beef to the skillet. Stir to coat and simmer for two minutes. 

6) Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the beef mixture, using a spoon to smooth the top. Sprinkle the parsley over the top and bake for about 20 minutes. 

7) Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes.