It's getting a little paleo around here + Asian meatballs with "zoodles"

Zack and I thought we ate healthy before. But since we jumped on this low-carb, low-sugar bandwagon a couple weeks ago, my viewpoint has completely changed. We're getting down to pretty bare bones, meat and vegetables. You know you're eating paleo when you have shredded vegetables in place of pasta. You may find, however, that it's surprisingly delicious and satisfying.

Asian meatballs

As adapted from Nom Nom Paleo.

Makes 36 meatballs.

Ingredients for meatballs:

8-10 fresh shiitake mushrooms, minced

2 small (or 1 medium) shallot, minced

3/4 cup minced sweet potato

2 heaping tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

2 lbs. ground beef

1 1/2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, brush with melted coconut oil, and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Toss minced vegetables and herbs in a large bowl to combine. Add ground beef, soy sauce, tomato paste, and season with salt and pepper. Thoroughly combine ingredients, being sure to not overwork the meat. Roll out 3 dozen meatballs and place on foil-lined baking sheet. Each meatball should be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Bake for about 20 minutes, until cooked through and browned, rotating baking sheet about halfway through. (If you want, you can reserve half of the raw meatballs, freeze on a baking sheet, toss them in a freezer bag, and save to pull out, thaw, and bake laker.) Serve with "zoodles" or on a bed of cabbage slaw, etc. and drizzle with sriracha.

For "zoodles:"

Wash zucchini, slicing off ends. Use a mandolin to julienne zucchini. Heat coconut oil or bacon fat (oh my) in a sauté pan over medium heat. Briefly sauté zucchini until crisp-tender, tossing frequently, about 4 minutes. Serve with meatballs.

Meatballs, minus the sriracha.

As I noted above, you can freeze half of the meatball batch, which is what I did, and Zack and I have gotten 4 meals (each) out of this recipe! Talk about good use of your time; it's so easy. Plus, these meatballs are pretty darn delicious. 

I love that they are packed with vegetables, but the meaty flavor is great. They hold well, and they have great texture. Plus, you can get a really good kick by drizzling with sriracha. This is a great recipe that I will definitely make again. They're wonderfully satisfying as a main, but they would be awesome appetizers as well. Well, I guess this is one not meatless Monday, but I'm so okay with it. Cheers!

A potential paleo confession + the soup that heals

You may have seen it coming. I mean, I'm very passionate about healthy and wholesome cooking. It started with strange produce from our former fruit and vegetable delivery. Then it was whole-wheat this, quinoa that. Barley, lentils, beans. Now, I don't know what to think. All I know is that I can't get "paleo" and "wheat belly" off my mind.

Don't freak out - I'm not a convert yet. But Zack and I are headed in that direction; at least for now. You may be seeing a lot of low carb, low sugar recipes coming your way. And to my surprise, Zack is very on board...could this be because there will be more meat involved, I wonder? I'm no expert when it comes down to the nitty-gritty eat this, not that, but we'll see where this goes.

For now, I bring you "the soup that heals." Man. If you need a way to awaken your senses and cleanse your soul, this is the soup for you. The wholesomeness, the spice - it just feels good. It dinner doesn't get much healthier than a homemade broth overflowing with fresh veggies.

A magic healing soup

As adapted from The First Mess.

Serves 2.

Note: whatever vegetables you decide to use, be sure they are sliced or peeled rather finely. The cooking/tenderizing of the vegetables is dependent upon the hot broth alone, so you don't want your veggies to be too chunky. Also, the ingredient portions listed here will serve 2; I doubled the recipe when I made it, saving the broth and fresh-cut veggies in separate containers, re-heated the broth the next day and submerged the veggies in it.

Ingredients for broth:

1 whole lemon, halved

2 celery stalks, cut up into a few pieces

1 onion, quartered

5 shiitake mushroom stems (reserve caps for soup)

1 red chili pepper, halved

1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger

1 clove of garlic, smashed

5 twigs of fresh thyme

Handful of fresh cilantro stems (reserve cilantro leaves for soup)

Heaping 1/4 cup tamari soy sauce

5 cups water

To serve:

1.5 cups finely sliced vegetables per serving (I used carrots, snow peas, shiitake mushroom caps, and whole leaves of baby spinach)

Garnish:

Fresh cilantro leaves

Sliced green onions

Sprouts (I used micro-greens from Trader Joe's)

Sesame oil

Sriracha

Lime wedges

Make the broth: combine all broth ingredients in a medium-large saucepan over medium heat. Pour 5 cups of water over the top and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cooking for 30-45 minutes (longer if you want a more concentrated broth). Strain the broth and return to pot, keeping hot.

You can slice up vegetables and garnishes while broth is simmering. Arrange vegetables in serving bowls, then ladle/pour hot broth over top. Stir around a bit so vegetables are completely submerged to tenderize. Garnish as desired and serve.

This soup was very delicious. It is light on the appetite though, so we supplemented with a little beef and asparagus Japanese take-out. And it was spicy. We love heat over here, but be sure to not overdue it with the chili pepper if heat is not your thing (don't throw in all the seeds as I did, perhaps). Furthermore, may test taste at 30 minutes; I let it simmer for a good 45 minutes, so it was concentrated. Come to think of it, if you're not into heat, this may not be the soup for you. I think it might be too simple without it. This is a great recipe though.

Well, here's to all the healthy and belly-friendly dishes coming your way. Stay tuned!

Week One: Split Pea Soup with Cilantro, Chicken with Snap Peas, Greek-Style Halibut, and Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce Cookies

This week: Split Pea Soup with Cilantro (you may recognize this from a February 2012 blog post), chicken with snap peas, Greek-style halibut, and iced oatmeal-applesauce cookies. One grocery list, four recipes, three dinners with lunch leftovers for the next day, cookies for dessert, and even extra split pea soup to freeze for later.

First of all, the split pea soup comes from Nordstrom Flavors, a cookbook which continues to impress me and was gifted to me from my mom. And again, see my past blog post (link above) for more information about the recipe. It's a really great spin off of your traditional split pea soup; think, finely diced vegetables like potato, red bell pepper, carrot, celery, and jalapeño. And then add the great flavors of coriander, dry mustard, Tamari soy sauce, and cilantro.

Secondly, Chicken with Snap Peas. I found this recipe through Whole Living; I have this website in my Pulse News favorites on my phone. This is a great weeknight recipe...one pan, 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Heat safflower oil (or vegetable oil as the recipe calls for) over high in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and fresh ground black pepper. I just used skinless, boneless chicken breasts, but you could use whatever chicken you have on hand. Cook chicken on one side (skin side down if not using skinless), until deep golden, about 8-10 minutes. Flip chicken and remove skillet from heat. Remove any fat with a spoon, then return skillet to heat. Add garlic, vinegar, a little bit of sugar, and crushed red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then transfer skillet to oven. Bake for 17 minutes, then add snap peas and some fresh basil, baking for 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and sprinkle with more basil.

This dish has really great flavor, which was maybe even better the next day. I also made some quinoa cooked in chicken stock with diced carrots as a side dish.

Next, Greek-Style Halibut (which you may have seen coming if you've read previously about the frozen wild salmon and halibut fillets Zack and I have been getting from Costco). This is a "tear-out" recipe I've been saving for awhile and it comes from the January 2011 issue of Sunset magazine.

It's another easy one with awesome flavor and good next day quality. And this was also my first time cooking with fennel bulb, which I guess is like an onion with some grassy stuff growing out of it...? Uh, yeah. It has almost a licorice-like quality though, which really adds to the halibut.

Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Rub halibut fillets with salt and fresh ground black pepper before browning in the pan on one side. Transfer to a plate. Add a little more olive oil to pan, along with fennel (trimmed and cut into wedges/slices). The recipe calls for adding a little ouzo at this point, but I just used white wine. Cook, stirring frequently, until golden and tender. Add finely chopped garlic. Add diced tomatoes with juice (low-sodium preferred), a little water, chickpeas (drained and rinsed), and fresh oregano. Reduce heat and simmer, lay halibut fillets (browned sides up) in sauce and simmer until fish is cooked through, 5-10 minutes.

And lastly, these amazing cookies. I'm telling you, you can't go wrong with Martha Stewart when it comes to cookies. Zack and I were thinking we wanted to make some sort of iced oatmeal cookie, and when I found these, with applesauce, we were sold. And they were not disappointing. Find the recipe here: Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce Cookies. These are the perfect fall cookie.

Well, that's all for week one of my meal planning, and believe me, week two is turning out to be quite lovely. Stay tuned.

Root Vegetable Soup

Confessions...this recipe is actually called "winter vegetable soup," but it's not winter, is it. Technically it's spring, but let's be honest, a winter soup sounds great right about now. The sun is trying to come out in Seattle lately, but it's still a little chilly.

What drew me to this soup was the green cabbage and tamari soy sauce, in addition to the corn (obviously (for those of you just tuning in, I am kind of in love with corn)). It also reminded me of a pureed soup my mom made when I was growing up; she called it "root soup." All I know is that she would be chopping for what seemed like forever...all sorts of weird looking root vegetables. And then the strange, diced creatures would find themselves being pureed in batches. In the good ol' blender.

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, saute diced leeks (white and light green parts only) in olive oil and tamari (and whatever other spices...a bit of curry or cayenne is what we like) until tender. Add diced potato, carrots, green cabbage, celery, salt, and fresh ground black pepper. Stir to combine and add enough vegetable stock to come 1/2-inch below top of vegetables. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Remove from heat and puree using a handheld blender. Add frozen corn, adjust with salt and pepper, and serve.

Oh, and we added a little sliced green onion for garnish. I mean, let's be honest. I didn't want to post something that looked like baby food on my blog. So now it's baby food with garnish. A little better? Well, it doesn't even matter, because this soup is amazing. Such good flavor and texture. And the corn adds to it. Of course. :)