Cooking With Conner - Brussels Sprouts Chips

I can't get the video to imbed here....yet! It's on the Feeding Ger Sasser Facebook page if you want to see it now. It's Conner in the Kithchen, making brussels sprouts chips.

Conner, who is 5 years old and has a 70 lb dead lift, shared the video on Facebook. He does Crossfit Kids with Coach Cassie at Crossfit Countdown and sometimes he does a guest blog post here. You can check out his Paleo Sausage Balls video on here, too.

So, let's review:
 Cut the ends off of fresh brussels sprouts.
Take the outer leaves off and spread them out on a baking sheet. (I found that after taking the outer leaves off that if I cut the end part off again, I could easily get a few more leaves off. I did compost the center part along with the cut-off ends)
Rub them in coconut oil.
Add sea salt and pepper.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Thanks, Conner! Keep them coming!

This will be good with bacon burgers. 

Paleo Sausage Breakfast Sandwich

It's that time of year where people are talking about all the bad things they ate over the holidays and how how it's time to eat clean again for the New Year. I agree. This was breakfast today - who needs bread? (although I am still diligently tweaking a paleo bread machine bread recipe..... it's still heavy....)

I split a red pepper and laid one half on the plate.
I warmed a leftover sausage, split in half, and laid it on the pepper. ( Banger Sausage oven recipe is on this blog - so easy!)

I cooked an organic egg in pasture butter, with smoked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. I placed that on top of the sausage.
I topped it all off with a couple of slices of avocado.

There something to be said about starting your day off with a great breakfast. If your sausage is cooked and your red pepper is washed and sliced, this is only going to take a couple of minutes!

Don't you love Mr. Potato Head? Cassie's dad made this for us for Christmas. This is further proof that potatoes are, in fact, the devil!

Paleo Cherry Cobbler

Ger and Cassie are gearing up for the Great Lakes Invitational with clean eating and serious training. I wanted to have a "dessert" tonight that would be delicious AND nutritious AND incredibly good for you.....so it had to be cherries.

Did you know cherries:
1. Ease pain (like from arthritis, gout, and WEIGHT-LIFTING)
2. Are full of vitamins
3. Lower blood pressure
4. Fight cancer
5. help you SLEEP

Here's what I did:
I measured 6 cups of frozen cherries and put them into a 9 x 12 baking dish. (I'm imagining how good this will be with fresh cherries this summer.....) They thawed a little while I made the cobbler part.

In a bowl, I stirred up the following ingredients with a fork:

1/3 cup local honey (if you use raw honey, you might want to warm it a bit so it will mix better)
2/3 cup unblanched almond flour (but blanched would be fine)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup organic coconut milk from a can
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg

I put this mixture on top of the cherries by big spoonfuls.

In a small glass dish I melted 4 TBSP pasture butter (Kerry Gold, from grass fed cows) and then poured it over the top of the cobbler. See?

I put it into a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. Oh. My. Goodness. Ger says this one is really, really good. (and really good for you!) 

Cassie has started a blog and I hope you check it out. She's a very fine writer. SassPoff - the perfect blend!
Here's the link:

http://sasspoff.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/pr-week/

Slow Cooker Lamb Shoulder

Just because the holidays are over doesn't mean you can't make a very special meal now and then. This one is pretty impressive..... and it's easy!
 I was at Sam's to get pomegranates and saw that they had their boneless lamb roasts marked down since it was right after Christmas. The date was still good, so I brought one home. (I've eaten lamb but I hadn't cooked it.)  I wanted to do a slow cooker recipe because I had a long to-do list for the rest of my day......So, this is what I did:
I put the following items into the slow cooker:

1 cup chicken stock
1 red onion, chopped
2 orange peppers, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 tsp garlic gold nuggets (or minced garlic)
1 TBSP coconut oil

Next, I cut the string off the lamb meat and laid it in the slow cooker, on top of the vegetables and broth with the fattiest side up. ( It weighed almost 4 lbs)  I sprinkled this with:

2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp mint
2 tsp smoked sea salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste

I cooked it for 5 hours on high. It would also work with 10 hours on low - I would have done that if it hadn't already been later in the day.

It was delicious and a nice change.

Smoked Paprika Kale Chips

Smoked Paprika Kale Chips.....could my house smell any better?  Whether you make them in a dehydrator or your oven, you are going to want to try these. Addicting, I tell you.

I make these, as you can see, in the dehydrator, on 145 for 2  1/2 hours. If you use the oven, it's at 325 for 20-25 minutes and I usually stir them once and put them back into the oven somewhere near the end of the cooking time. If I forget, and any kale isn't crisp, I just stir them gently, spread them back out and put them back into the oven for a couple of minutes after I've turned it off.

This recipe is so simple! In a LARGE bowl, I put:

1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP smoked paprika (nuts.com)
1 tsp garlic nuggets (garlicgold.com)
 1/4 tsp sea salt

I stir this up and then tear one bunch of organic kale off the stems and drop into the bowl. Next, I take my hands and mix the kale into the oil and spices, turning the kale over and working it almost like kneading bread.
I spread the kale onto a dehydrator rack, maybe a rack and a half.

I measure out my oil and spices and continue this process again. My dehydrator has 4 racks and I use 3 bunches of kale, usually two of organic purple kale and one of green kale.  When we eat dinner, we just each take a rack and transfer it to our plate!

You can use the dehydrator with less racks, or you can make a lot and keep the leftovers in in a big Ziploc bag.

Now, I'm all about sharing ideas to save money, and I have another one for you. I spend a lot on spices - it's crazy. So, the last time I sent in a big order to nuts.com for nuts, I thought I would try  a couple of their spices in one-pound bags. So, let's look at the math here:

Smoked Paprika - around $7 for 1.62 oz
Nuts.com Smoked Paprika - $9.99 for one pound! (that's 16 oz for those of you who forgot - you know who you are....)
Organic Cinnamon - around $7 for 1.4 oz
Nuts.com Organic Cinnamon - $8.99 for one pound!

The quality is at least as good, if not better!  I will be filling up my little glass bottles with nuts.com from now on! 

Paleo Tomato Baked Chicken

I am looking forward to feeding Ger Sasser tonight - he's been in Sacramento for the weekend, coaching. He got home today and started coaching at Crossfit Countdown. I miss him when he's traveling. I hope he missed my cooking a little......lol.


I rubbed 1 TBSP coconut oil on a 9 x 12 glass baking dish.
Next, I cut up a red onion and placed it in the bottom of the dish.

I topped this with 6 organic chicken breasts.
Then, I combined:
 1  28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP Emeril's mustard, or other mustard with no hidden sugars
1 TBSP Garlic Gold nuggets (garlicgold.com)

I poured this mixture over the chicken breasts and sprinkled it with applewood smoked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I put this into a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes.  (Then I washed and cut up red. yellow, and orange peppers. I rubbed them in coconut oil and placed them on a baking sheet. They went into the oven, too, for 20-25 minutes of the the chicken's cooking time. See? A whole meal, healthy and EASY, and so, so good!)

Sweet Potato Casserole

This is a paleo-ized version of my mom's sweet potato casserole. Cassie recently made this and took it to her family's Thanksgiving celebration.

She boiled 3 large organic sweet potatoes in water, until fork-tender.  Then she easily peeled them.

She placed them in a bowl and mashed them with a potato masher.
 She added:

1/3 cup real maple syrup
1/4 cup organic coconut milk (from a can)
1/3 cup pasture butter, melted
1 egg, stirred first
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

She mixed that up and spread in out in a 9 x 12 glass baking dish that had been rubbed with coconut oil.

Next, she mixed up the topping:

1 cup unsweetened coconut (we like the big chips, or chunks, not the shredded)
1/4 cup brown sugar (optional, but since it was Thanksgiving, and we wanted other people to eat it, we added this small amount of brown sugar - mom's original recipe called for 1 whole cup!)
1/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup pasture butter, melted
1 cup  pecans

She spread this out on the top of the sweet potato mixture.

It went into a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Ham Pineapple and Broccoli in Acorn Squash

I had Ger cut two acorn squash into halves. I cut out the seeds and stringy stuff in the centers and laid them in a pan, cut side down, with 1/2 inch water. I put them into a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes.

I cut 2 big ham steaks into bite-sized pieces and cooked them over medium heat in a large skillet with 2 TBSP of coconut oil and 1/2 cup water. I put a lid on it and stirred often. When the ham steak bites were tender, I set the lid aside.
(If you really want to make this recipe fast, use the precooked ham steaks, instead of right out of a local farm-raised pig, like mine, but go for quality meat, always. I also like to put the big round bone in there and then give it to Mikko. He loves that.)

Next, I cut up one head of broccoli and one fresh pineapple, into bite-sized pieces and put them into the skillet.
I added:
 1  1/2 tsp smoked sea salt
1/2 tsp Garlic Gold Nuggets (garlicgold.com)
1/2 tsp red pepper (cayenne)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

I let that cook until the broccoli was cooked, but not mushy.
I took the acorn squash halves out of the oven and placed them on plates. I filled the center with the ham, pineapple, and broccoli mixture.
Ger went back for seconds - that's always a good sign......

Squash Soup

It's snowing outside and there's ice under the snow. It's a Sunday and I am not going ANYWHERE today. It looks like a great day to catch up on some blog recipes and make some soup. This one is satisfying and easy.

I cooked one small organic spaghetti squash and took out the seed and stringy parts in the center. I used a fork to get out the squash and put it in a sauce pan.

I added one small can of diced tomatoes. (Sometimes I use one with chili pepper in it, for a little more heat.)
I poured one container of organic butternut squash soup into the sauce pan, along with:
1/2 tsp smoked salt
1/4 tsp red pepper
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

I let that heat up slowly. When it was warm, I put it into bowls and added 1 TBSP pepitas (pumpkin seeds from nuts.com are a favorite here) and 1 tsp heavy whipping cream to each bowl.

Tell me if you think that's warm and delicious. Crumbled uncured bacon on top is also VERY special.

Eat clean whenever you can, and once in a while, have a beautiful splurge. Ger and Cassie love Grater's when they are in a city that has one.

Paleo Pumpkin Pecan Butter

I love having homemade toasted pecan butter around. I have a plain version and a cinnamon vanilla version on this blog already, but this week I came up with a pumpkin version - it's great with apple slices.

I toasted a lb of pecan halves in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes and let them cool while I gathered my other ingredients and readied the food processor.

For each batch, I put the following ingredients into the food processor:

1  1/2 cups toasted pecans
1/4 cup organic pumpkin
1 heaping TBSP raw honey
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt

I ran the food processor until it was smooth, scraping down the sides once or twice. I put each batch into a container that I keep in the fridge.
It's a great thing to have on hand - it's all about the prep, so we have real-food choices.

Happy Thanksgiving from Feeding Ger Sasser, me, Ger, Cassie, Isaac, Mikko, and Daisy.
(Isaac call this week the "backwards week" since we go to work 2 days and get 5 days off. Love it!)

Paleo Cocoa Maple Pecans

Aren't these pretty enough to serve over the holidays? They won't be around after a day or two, but I can always make more. They're easy!

I put one pound of pecan halves into a bowl.

I added:
 2 TBSP dark cocoa.
 3 TBSP real maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla

I stirred with a wooden spoon until the ingredients mixed and the nuts were coated.  
I spread the gooey nuts on a baking sheet and put them into a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. I let them cool and broke the chunks up and put them into a lovely antique carnival glass bowl. Pecans like this are worth celebrating!

Kill Cliff Chicken

You've heard of Beer Can Chicken. Maybe you've made one. Some people debunk that idea and don't think it's a good way to cook chicken.....I don't know. I just had the idea of making a Kill Cliff Chicken, and you know what? It was delicious! moist and Kill cliffy on the inside and the skin was crispy on the outside.

The first thing I did was take the top rack out of the oven so I would have room to cook the chicken.

Next I opened a can of Kill Cliff (Tasty) and drank down a third of it. Then I sat it  in the center of a 9 x 12 pan and CAREFULLY set the chicken down onto the can. I adjusted the legs to help it sit up straight without tipping over. Then I washed my hands.
I rubbed two TBSP of olive oil on the outside of the chicken. Then, you guessed it, I washed my hands.
I shook ( and threw) some Thyme, basil, smoked paprika, smoked sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper on the chicken. I put 1 tsp of pasture butter, in little pieces, onto the shoulders of the chicken, so it would melt and run down.

I VERY CAREFULLY put the pan into a 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes. My chicken was just over 4 and a half lbs. If your chicken weighs a little less, try checking it at 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I very carefully took it out of the oven, so I wouldn't spill it or knock it over. I let it rest for 5 minutes, then turned the chicken sideways and slid the Kill Cliff out of the cavity. I poured the Kill Cliff over the chicken.
 It was really good! I hope you try it soon.

Spice Up Your Bacon

I love to make good bacon in the oven. I put it on a baking sheet, usually with a rack, in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Some of the thicker bacon may take a just a little longer. I transfer it a plate with paper towels. And, it's just amazing. You can do other things while it's cooking AND you don't get splattered.

Bacon is always amazing. It's one of Ger's favorite foods. I have SEVERAL recipes on here for "Bacon Wrapped _________" (fill in the blank)

Sometimes, I spice things up - with spice. Have you ever made bacon and sprinkled it with chili powder right before you put it into the oven? Yum!

The photo shows bacon sprinkled with turmeric and basil. It's really good.
Another favorite is the combination of cumin and oregano.
Get creative!

Sometimes i sprinkle the bacon with Pumpkin Pie Spice, or CINNAMON. It's so good I think I have to make some right now. Here's a photo.

Paleo Blueberry Cobbler

I was craving a blueberry cobbler or a triple blend one that has blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.....
I had given  away my old range and thought I'd simply go buy another one and have it quickly delivered, but I found that the old one had just been hard-wired in! So, I had to have that taken care of first. I wound up being without a range for 5 days! I am happily back to using an oven for all kinds of good things again, and it feels good!

Paleo Blueberry Cobbler is the first thing I made.

I took 3 cups of Triple Blend berries out of the freezer to thaw for a few minutes. (You can also do all blueberries. If your fruit is fresh, you can continue with the recipe immediately.)
I also rubbed coconut oil on a 9 x 12 glass baking dish.

In a bowl, I stirred up the following ingredients:

1/3 cup local honey (if you use raw honey, you might want to warm it a bit so it will mix better)
2/3 cup unblanched almond flour (but blanched would be fine)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup organic coconut milk from a can
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup pecan pieces

When my fruit was mostly thawed, I poured it into the prepared dish and spread it out.  
Then, I covered the fruit with the cobbler mixture, with a wooden spoon and smashing it down some. It didn't cover the fruit completely.

In a small glass dish I melted 4 TBSP pasture butter (Kerry Gold, from grass fed cows) and then poured it over the top of the cobbler.  (Is your mouth watering yet? Wait until your kitchen starts smelling like heaven....)

The last thing I did was to sprinkle the cobbler with a little cinnamon.

I put it into a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.

We all really liked this one. It was just perfect after a nice grass-fed chuck roast from the slow cooker, along with a pot of green beens with pork belly, and roasted sweet potatoes.

Vegetables with Rosemary

People are always saying to me how good I look for my age. Sometimes, in the same conversation, they say that they really don't have any time to cook or eat healthy foods. Some of them....connect the dots here, some don't. No one has time. Everyone's busy. BUT, some things are just so very important to your quality of life. (things like eating paleo and working out..... Confession time - I have been so busy with my job-change, I haven't been getting to the box to Crossfit - but see? It's an excuse. There has to be a way to keep getting that into my schedule!) So, let's all encourage each other to keep on keeping on!

This is quite a delicious blend of vegetables and would go with about any meat you might be having.

I peeled 5 big organic carrots and put them into a skillet with 1 TBSP organic coconut oil and 1/4 cup of organic chicken stock. I simmered the carrots until they were tender.

Nest, I broke one bunch of asparagus and threw the pieces into the skillet, along with a handful of sun-dried tomatoes and one sprig of fresh rosemary.
I added 1 tsp of smoked sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
I put a lid on it and let it simmer on medium-low for about 10 more minutes, until done.

It was so fresh and delicious. Who doesn't love the smell of fresh rosemary?

Candied Venison Tenderloin

Here's a guest blog recipe from John Rollins III:

I would like to thank the staff at the Feeding Ger Sasser Blogspot for the opportunity to write and share a guest spot on their blog. If anyone knows more about healthy eating it's these fine folks and I encourage any and everyone to give their recipes a try.

So as most of us know it is that time of year when the leaves start to change their colors, the temperature starts to slowly become chillier, days are shorter and shorts and t - shirts have more than likely found their way to the back of the closet.

The majority of people unfortunately find themselves becoming depressed that the long warm days of summer have come to a close but if you're a hunter, especially a deer hunter, this is your season. The season when you navigate your way to a treestand under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours while most people are lying in bed(quick confession, I am not a morning person and only hunt evenings, hah!) or you sit until darkness falls in a treestand in order to quietly exit your property without being detected while most people are in for the night having dinner or are probably on their couch watching their favorite sitcom on television. For that small percentage of us these are our days of summer.

If you're not a deer hunter, in my opinion, you're missing out. There's so many great things that an individual can take away from it that it is far to much to list. The enjoyment is the peacefulness. No sounds of the outside world exist. It is only you, the sound of the wind blowing through changing leaves, the rustling of squirrels jumping from branch to branch harvesting their food for the winter to come and the view of God's masterpiece that most of us refer to as nature and it's the time you have with just yourself to reflect on the past, present and future. Hunting certainly falls into the "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" philosophy, at least for myself. But let us not forget the ultimate rush that causes an accelerated pulse and increased respirations when you have a deer walking just yards from you only to quickly be silenced by the sound of a bowstring being released knowing the hours of practice you have put in honing your craft has come full circle. Lastly it is physical, hiking hills scouting for sign or tracking a blood trail, climbing trees to hang treestands and if you are lucky enough dragging your kill out of the woods. For me this is great because when deer season approaches I am in the woods and not in the gym. I enjoy the gym but if I have an opportunity to hunt I am going to be in the woods. I know, slacker.

The enjoyment and excitement is like nothing I have ever experienced. It is not for every one and if you do not hunt you have no idea the feeling I am describing but if you Crossfit.... think of it as seeing "Fran" or "Murph" on the whiteboard. If you do not participate in either I have no idea what to say to you other than I hope you have or will find a hobby that is more or just as exciting as hunting or crossfit.

So you do not hunt or Crossfit? Well maybe one thing we could agree on is eating healthy and that is where there this guest spot on the blog comes in to play. I truly feel you can not get any healthier meat than wild game, venison. Why? Simple. No hormones and no antibiotics have been chemically engineered and fed to these animals. The majority of a deers diet consist of Acorns, which are extremely high in protein and fat along with clover, the greens on soybeans and winter turnips if available. There are also many other types of greens deer will consume. Many people plant food plots to make sure the deer they have on their property are nutritonally well kept. Deer have complex digestive systems and they will only take in what they can digest. We could probably learn something from deer when it comes to nutrition if you think about it. Occasionally they will feed on corn but from what I have witnessed for myself the majority of their food source is protein, fat and greens. One more note, I do not think you could get anymore free ranging than a wild animal? Venison is extremely lean meat and has a very high protein count, along with the meat being antibiotic and hormone free it is what a crossfitter or paleo diet follower would want on their plate. It is also very delicious. This is one of the biggest reasons every year for the past two that I have put the time in a treestand in hopes I can fill my freezer with meat I know is healthy for my family and myself. The best part about venison is the tenderloin or what most hunters refer to as backstraps. Venison tenderloin has been considered to be the filet mignon of the beef industry and to be honest you can keep the filet mignon, I'll take the vension. The tenderloins run along the top sides of a deer. You also have two inner tenderloins but they very seldom yield much meat but they are also very delicious. Like anything else the larger the deer the larger the tenderloins. You have two options with the tenderloins when it comes to processing: leave them whole or cut them into steaks/chops. If you want to have an understanding of what venison tenderloin looks like it is comparable to a pork tenderloin only red in color, leaner and the majority of the time not as much meat. I butterfly mine into steaks but the choice is yours. Either way, if you follow the recipe below it's going to come out tasting the same and will work either way. You can cook tenderloin several different ways but my favorite is to candy it and wrap it in bacon. I say "candy" but that might not be politically correct. To be honest I could care less.

Last but not least. I know people are against hunting but I believe God put animals on this earth for three reasons. For balance, beauty and a food source. There are also so many memories and good things that happen because of hunting. Charities, time with family, generating a state revenue, etc... All I am saying is try not to judge a person because of their passion for hunting, in all honesty they probably have more respect for the enviroment than someone who does not hunt.
I hope you enjoy the recipe and thanks again to Feeding Ger Sasser for letting me share!

This is how I make the recipe from a healthy approach. If you do not want the healthy approach now worries as it will be included.

Recipe:
Ingredients
2-3lbs of Venison Tenderloin(Whole or Steaks/Chops)
1 pkg of bacon(I use regular thin sliced)
3 Cups Dark Brown Sugar(Healthier approach use Coconut Palm Sugar. Available at Walmart)
2 Cups Soy Sauce(Healthier approach use Tamari Gluten Free Soy Sauce or Coconut Aminos. I have not used the coconut Aminos so I have no idea how it would come out. I've never used them mainly because I have never found them in a store locally. I can say using the gluten free soy sauce does not give you the crappy saturated feeling after)

Steps
Preheat oven to 350

With a wisk mix the soy sauce or aminos with the dark brown sugar or coconut palm sugar until well blended.

Put your tenderloin in a large ziplock bag and pour the marinade in. If you have a vacuum bag use it instead of a ziplock. I've started to do this and the meat has been more tender. Seal the bag and make sure that all the meat gets coated with the marinade.

Here comes the hard part. Marinate for at least 8 hours. If you can do 24 hours it will be even better because it will allow the meat to break down more becoming very tender.

After marinating remove the meat from the bag. DO NOT DISCARD MARINADE. Wrap the  whole tenderloin or steak/chops with the bacon using toothpicks to secure the bacon. If you have any bacon left after wrapping the tenderloin or steak/chops you obviously do not appreciate bacon enough having it left over.

If you have a broiler drip pan I would highly recommend using it versus a standard baking dish. If not just use what you have. Grease your pan down with olive oil or coconut oil.

Remember that marinade I told you NOT to discard? Well I hope you still have it. Baste the marinade on the tenderloins or steak/chops.

Now place the tenderloin on the pan and put in your preheated 350 oven, unless you are like me and always forget to preheat. Cook time is going to be 25 minutes but what I do is set my timer for 10min. After 10min is up I take out the tenderloin and baste the meat with the marinade. Put it back in for another 10min and after that time is up baste again. Now to get that nice candied crisp the last 5 min turn your broiler on. Don't worry about waiting until your broiler heats up just put the tenderloin back in and switch your oven over to broiler. This cooking time should give you a medium rare to medium finish. I have found you do not want to go past a medium finish. The meat will be tough.

After it is all said and done hopefully you have something that looks like this. Enjoy!

John

Roasted Delicata Squash with Blood Orange Olive Oil and Basil

Organic delicata squash is one of favorite fall flavors. They are a great choice among the many fall squash choices because they taste incredible, AND they are smaller, which makes them easier to cut. This recipe is a fast side dish that can be ready in a flash!

I covered a small baking sheet with aluminum foil.

I washed 2 organic delicata squash and sliced them longways. Then I scooped the seeds and stringy stuff out with a spoon.
Next, I cut them into 1/2  inch pieces.
I put them on the baking sheet and poured 1 TBSP Blood Orange Olive Oil (flyingolive.com) on them and rubbed them with my hands, to coat them. Then, I spread them out.
I sprinkled them with smoked sea salt, black pepper, and organic basil.

I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. YUM!

If you don't have the blood orange olive oil, you can squeeze a blood orange on them along with a little olive oil or coconut oil.

And, if you are going to order anything from the Flying Olive (and they do not sponsor me...) their Black Cherry Vinegar is my favorite product. We could just about drink that stuff!

Pomegranate

Ger loves when pomegranate season is upon us. You can see his great enthusiasm in this photo Cassie took when they saw the first one in our Kroger. They looked good here, but the produce people at our Kroger NEVER throw them away - they leave rotting, dark mushy ones in the bin. They won't listen to me.

The newest way to get the seeds out is from a video getting shared on Instagram and Facebook. It's of a farmer in the field who cuts off the top about an inch and a half down and then scores between the sections and pulls it apart. See the photo below? That works best for me now and if you haven't seen it, you should find that video.....it wouldn't load for me here.

Many people get the seeds out in a bowl of water, but the "beat on them with a wooden spoon" method works much better for us. ( Cheree and John Davis told us about it, and we haven't looked back)  You cut the pomegranate in half, making the northern hemisphere and the Southern hemisphere. Then, you pull back on them, to loosen the pathways where the seeds will fall out. Do this over a large bowl. Then, you hold it LOOSELY in the palm of your hand and bang it in true "Crossfit" fashion! The seeds will fall out.

We love them by the bowlful. They are just perfect on lots of different foods, especially salads.

Pomegranates have been around for centuries. There's a lot of proof of their amazing health properties. Google their ability to rid the mouth of plaque of their cholesterol helpfulness. One of my favorites is their antioxidant properties so that joints don't ache - whether you're lifting heavy or just getting older - or both!

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars

Don't you just love all things with pumpkin this time of year? We do. I'd been kicking around the idea of these Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars for a couple of weeks, and decided that this weekend it was going to become a moist, cinnamon-ny pumpkin reality. They are not too sweet. They are just right. They fill a 9 x 12 glass baking dish.  Make them yourself, and see if you don't agree with me.

I started with the crust. I stirred up the following ingredients in a big bowl:

3 cups almond meal ( I use unblanched)
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup + 1 TBSP coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup honey  (if you use raw honey, like I do, you will need to warm it a bit so it's a liquid)
1 TBSP + 1 tsp vanilla

I stirred this up with a wooden spoon and pressed it down in a 9 x 12 glass baking dish.
I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

                                         It looked like this. I let it cool some while I mixed up the Pumpkin Pie part.

I rinsed the big bowl, and put it to use again for the top layer with the following ingredients:

2 cans organic pumpkin puree
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 eggs
1/2 cup raw honey, warmed to a liquid
1 cup organic coconut milk from a can

I mixed all this up with a wooden spoon and then poured it onto the top of the crust layer.

I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes.  I let it sit for a good while on a wire rack, to cool set up some before I tried to slice and serve it. (You should, too!)

I might have to make this for Thanksgiving, too, and Christmas!

Broiled Steak

You can really do justice to a grass fed steak if you broil it.

I took them out of the fridge and salted them with Cherry Wood Smoked Sea Salt (salttraders.com)  I let them sit for 15 minutes, to take the chill off of them.

Next, I turned on the broiler.

I rubbed coconut oil on my broiler pan. ( I cover the bottom part of it with foil - any way I can speed clean-up is a good thing, right?) Bacon fat is another delicious choice instead of the coconut oil.

I seasoned them with a little more of that amazing salt, (see why I call it "crack-salt?") freshly ground black pepper, and a little minced garlic.

I put them under the broiler for 4 minutes, took them out to flip them over, and broiled them 4 minutes on the other side.  (Thicker steaks OR how you like your steaks cooked will alter your broiling times.)

I took them out of the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes before we ate.
Delicious.
Easy.

Paleo American Persimmon Cake

Monica brought me persimmons from a neighbor's tree. How sweet is that?  I'd fed her a couple of paleo desserts lately and I'm glad I did. Monica knew I was wishing for some to experiment with...

You see, when I was little, I remember someone giving my mom some American Persimmons (although we called them Kentucky Persimmons) and she made a persimmon bread. It was so good that it stayed in my memory all these years!  But, now I know why my mom only made one.... they are a lot of trouble. But, my cake was so good, I might make it again soon!

So, we don't need to leave all the persimmons for the deer, raccoons, etc. We should gather them from the ground or shake the tree because they need to be VERY RIPE. If they aren't VERY RIPS, they will pucker your mouth for a long time, so don't be going for any firm ones. Even one of these in your batch can ruin all your work!

I went through what Monica brought me.

These were the ones that were great. They are puckery-ripe and heavy and full and mushy and almost too far gone. Their skin is tissue paper thin. They are blush pink and some places are almost blue-ish.

These are too far gone. They are about to                   These are astringent and awful. They are not ripe,

 ferment.                                                                      although they look the prettiest.



I found a really antique recipe for Persimmon Pudding, so I decided to try to "Paleo-ize" it and it turned out just amazing!  Here's what I did:

I don't have one of those hand-crank things like you would make sausage with, so I improvised. I put my strainer over the top of my Pampered Chef bowl and got busy.

This was messy and time-consuming. (but the came was worth it!) I peeled each little persimmon, taking the tissue paper thin skin off and then dropping them into the strainer. When I had a few peeled, I just smashed them with my hand against the strainer, and then got the persimmon pulp off on the outside of the strainer with a little spatula. It was sticky work and took a while to get 3/4 cup.

But, isn't it beautiful? Nothing else tastes like it in the whole world, and I think it puts Asian persimmons to shame.

I added the following wet ingredients to this 3/4 cup of persimmon pulp:

1/2 cup raw honey (warmed)
1  1/2 cups organic coconut milk (from a can) (If you REALLY want a decadent cake you could substitute Snowville Creamery Heavy Whipping Cream...)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs

I stirred this up and set it aside.
In a small bowl I mixed up the dry ingredients:

2/3 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

I mixed the dry into the wet ingredients. It looked like this:

I rubbed coconut oil on a square glass baking dish and poured the batter into the prepared dish. Then, I placed it in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Then, I turned the oven down to 400 degrees and timed it for 25 more minutes. It set up and got nice and brown on top. My house smelled better than words can describe.... and that cake went faster than the eye can see!

Turkey Burgers with Fresh Pineapple

Everyone needs another easy, healthy, quick dinner idea, right? Try this one. It's very tasty and you don't have to be a great cook, but your family might think you are!

These are the healthy turkey burgers.

 They were cooked in a skillet with coconut oil and sprinkled generously with sea salt, pepper, turmeric, and lots of smoked paprika. Then I turned the heat down to low.

The last thing was to take a fresh pineapple and cut it into big thick slices. I placed them on the turkey burgers and let them heat up. 
I served them on a bed of field greens and organic baby spinach. 
You could also just do an easy side dish, like my Paleo Broiled Asparagus.

And, dinner will be served, with no guilt at all. It's delicious, and easy enough to accomplish after work. 

Paleo Breakfast Sandwich

Cassie came up with this stack of amazing flavors. She made my Paleo Johnny Cakes.

 Then, she fried up some uncured bacon and laid it on paper towels.

Then, she made scrambled eggs.

Then, she sliced fresh tomato and stacked everything up. Yum!

Here's the Paleo Johnny Cakes recipe:

I stirred up the following ingredients in a bowl:

4 eggs, (out of the fridge a few minutes, so they aren't so cold)
1/4 cup coconut oil (tropicaltraditions.com is my favorite)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup organic coconut milk

I stirred it all up and it was thick....

 but if you think yours is too thick, add a little more coconut milk...
Next, I got my skillet heated up and added 2 heaping TBSP of coconut oil. (Bacon grease would be amazing, too)  I put four blobs of batter into the skillet at a time, over medium heat. I waited for the air bubbles to show before I flipped them over, tilting the skillet so there was coconut oil where I was about to put them.
                                                            See those little air bubbles?

I didn't transfer the photos, so if you want to check out how they should look, just put Paleo Johnny Cakes into the search box on this site. (top left corner)

We love these Johnny Cakes with my Paleo Apple Butter, too. 

Join the conversation on the Feeding Ger Sasser Facebook page and follow me, Dinah Houston, on Pinterest. 

Paleo Ham Steaks

These big ham steaks were begging me to take them out of the freezer. After thawing them overnight in the fridge, I put a big skillet on the stovetop and  added 2 TBSP coconut oil. I put it on medium high heat, and added the ham steaks. There were two big ovals, so I sliced them up some so it would all fit into the skillet. I added applewood smoked sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, 1 TBSP maple syrup, and two TBSP of brown mustard. I flipped them over after about 7 minutes and let them cook on the other side for a while.

I added 1/4 cup water to the skillet and flipped the ham steaks again. I put a lid on it and turned it down so that it could get tender.

OH, it was so good!!!!! It's easy. If you buy ham steaks that are already cooked, you won't need to cook it very long at all.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes. Love them. Sometimes I boil them in water on the stove, but they don't have that deep sweetness or that delicious texture that they have when they are baked in the oven. We should all do this more often.

Here's what I did to make them come out perfect:

I lined a baking sheet with foil.
I poked several holes in each organic sweet potato with a fork and put them on the baking sheet.
I placed them into a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. (This is until tender, so stick a fork in them and check. I buy big sweet potatoes, so if you are baking smaller ones, your baking time will be shorter.)

I slice them on top and everyone puts whatever they want on them. They are great as is, but I think that 1 tsp of pasture butter, smoked sea salt and freshly ground pepper is perfect. Pecans and real maple syrup is another favorite in our house, too.
Be creative.

This might seem like an awfully simple post, but I do have paleo people who are completely new to cooking at all, so sometimes simple things can be just what we need in our busy kitchens.

Roasted Buttercup Squash

This time of year is so beautiful. I love fall in Kentucky. I love the colors of the leaves turning on the trees on the hillside. I also love fall squash. I hope you track down and eat this type. You should buy one that feels heavy for its size.   This is buttercup squash, yes, butterCUP squash. It's dark in color and very sweet and dense. Yum!  It looks like this:

I cut the squash in half lengthwise. (so there's a right half and a left half)
I removed the seeds and stringy stuff.
I laid the squash in a baking dish with the cut side down and then added about 3/4 inch of water.

I placed the dish carefully into a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. (I stuck a fork into it to be sure it was done. The size of the buttercup squash might change the baking time by 5 minutes either way)

I removed them from the oven and flipped them over. Now, I usually add:
 1 tsp pasture butter (KerryGold)
1 tsp real maple syrup
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
.....and then place them back into the oven for 10 more minutes.

But, last night I drizzled:
Organic Butter Infused Olive Oil
Maple Balsamic Vinegar

These 2 products are new to me and can be bought at flyingolive.com. The flavors are intense and wonderful!