Bacon Wrapped Bananas

If you love bacon wrapped dates, you'll probably love these little babies. They are even better than you might think, and they are so easy. I am glad Ger asked for these.

I cut a package of bacon in half with scissors.
I peeled and cut 4 organic bananas into pieces the size of a date. (maybe 5-6 pieces in a banana, depending on its size.)
I put parchment paper on a baking sheet.
I wrapped each banana piece in a half-piece of bacon and placed it on the baking sheet with the end of the bacon tucked under. (so they wouldn't unwrap... if yours are stubborn, use toothpicks)

I put them into a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Then, the bacon seemed to need 3 minutes under the broiler. (Yours might be ok. I think it would depend on the bacon... this was thick and right off the farm!)

I have wrapped a lot of things in bacon for this blog and to feed Ger Sasser.....I'll be doing this again very very soon!

Asparagus Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Load up your barbell. But first, load up on vegetables, every way you can. Here's a very tasty way to do just that.

I rubbed coconut oil on 2 small pans. (You can, of course, use 1 baking sheet)

I used a spoon to remove the gills from the underside of 4 big portobello mushrooms. I also removed the stems.
I melted 1 TBSP coconut oil. I rubbed this on both sides of the mushroom caps and laid them top side down on the pans.

In a small skillet over medium heat I put:
1 TBSP coconut oil
1 organic carrot, sliced
I let the carrot cook 2-3 minutes before adding the other ingredients, to give it time to soften some.

Then I added:
1  1/2 cups asparagus, sliced at an angle, after throwing away the woody ends
2 TBSP diced onion
1 tsp minced garlic (fresh or garlicgold.com)
3 TBSP diced mushrooms (you can use the stems or other mushrooms)
1 TBSP almond flour ( I always use the "natural" or unblanched almond flour)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

 I cooked this about 5 minutes, so it was still crisp-tender.
I split this mixture into the 4 portobello mushroom caps and baked them at 400 degrees  for 10-12 minutes.

If you wanted to shave a little grass fed cheese on the top of them, I wouldn't call the paleo police....

Ten Institute's social media: "Super Human Gerald Sasser...." I love that.

Paleo Beef Stew

Ger was about to fly to Tampa for a few days so I wanted to send him off with a happy belly.  This is what I did:

I boiled until tender:

6 organic carrots, peeled and sliced
4 stalks of celery, washed and sliced

While that boiled, I got out a big skillet and added:

2 TBSP coconut oil
1 onion, diced
I cooked the onion over medium heat 3-4 minutes until tender.
I added 2 lbs organic grass-fed stew meat and cooked, turning now and then over medium-low heat.

I seasoned this mixture with:
1  1/2 tsp Cherry Wood Smoked Sea Salt (salttraders.com)
black pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 TBSP minced garlic (garlicgold.com)
2 TBSP coconut cream concentrate (coconut butter) OPTIONAL, but this thickens it up so nicely
1  1/2 cups Organic Butternut Squash Soup (You can also food-process a little butternut squash and add a little chicken stock if you have time, but the boxed organic soup isn't too bad...but compare labels since some of them have canola oil in them...but the good boxed soups are fast and delicious for this recipe!)
I drained the carrots and celery and added them to the skillet.

I stirred now and then while letting it cook about 15 more minutes, with the lid on, over low heat, just blend the flavors and soften the stew meat.

This made a great meal.

Paleo Pollo Linguine

So, Coach Cindy said I should paleo-ize a "Pollo Linguine."  She said she'd been doing it, with spaghetti squash instead of noodles, of course.  Oh, Cindy, thanks for the deliziosa idea!  We are loving this stuff!

First, I had Ger cut a spaghetti squash in half for me. I scooped out the stringy stuff and the seeds and laid them cut-side-down in a 9 x 12 pan with a half-inch of water. I put that into a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. While that was cooking.....

I put 2 TBSP of coconut oil into my biggest skillet over medium low heat.

I cut 6 organic chicken breasts into big bite-sized pieces and added them to the skillet, turning until done. (You can make it with 4 if that will feed your crew.) While the chicken was cooking, I added a clove of crushed fresh garlic and 1 tsp basil.

I added 1  8 oz container of sliced baby bella mushrooms and 2 cups fresh broccoli and saute for a couple of minutes.

I turned the heat to low.
Next, I checked on my spaghetti squash by sticking a fork into it. It was done, so I poured off the water and scraped the spaghetti squash with a fork. I added this to the skillet and stirred.

I beat 2 eggs with a fork in a measuring cup and then added it to the skillet, stirring until it had a bit of a creamy consistency and gave the egg a little time to cook.

I turned off the heat and added 1  10 oz container of cherry tomatoes, cut in half, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and sea salt and pepper, to taste, and stirred thoroughly.  (but it needed more salt than I thought it would...)

WE ALL LOVED IT!!!  Seriously, share this recipe with your friends and family.

                 I've been a little addicted to the app Waterlogue. Lisbeth Darsh warned me.....

Bacon Hearts

I love bacon. So many people do. There's a lot of bacon-love in the world, and this is a good way to show the love.  I made bacon hearts like this:

I laid two pieces of bacon out in the shape of each heart. I put the thinnest ends at the bottom of the hearts and overlapped them just a little, working them into the heart shapes.  See?

I put them into a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. When the time was up I turned the oven off and left them in there for a couple of minutes more.

Yum!    Next time, I'm going to cover them in dark chocolate.

Paleo Yummy Awesome Cups

These layered little babies might be nice for a Valentine paleo dessert. I know I'll be making them again very soon.
I  put 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan.

I put a big skillet with a little water on the stove over medium low heat. (If you have a double boiler, you could use that instead.) I placed a corning ware dish in the water and added the following ingredients so that they could heat up and blend slowly:

3 TBSP coconut oil
3 TBSP almond butter
5 TBSP cocoa
1 TBSP + 1 tsp raw or local honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP coconut cream concentrate (coconut butter)
1 TBSP cinnamon
pinch of sea salt

I stirred this up and put a heaping TBSP into each cupcake liner. I pushed this mixture down a little in each one so that it covered the bottom. I put the cupcake pan into the fridge so that this layer could harden while I worked on the next.

I rinsed the corning ware dish so I could just use it again for the coconut layer.  It DOES need to be in the skillet of water again! I added the following ingredients into this dish:

2 TBSP coconut cream concentrate (coconut butter)
2 TBSP coconut oil
2 TBSP pasture butter from grass fed cows
1 TBSP raw or local honey
1 tsp vanilla

When this mixture was melted and blended, I removed the corning ware dish from the heat and added 2 cups unsweetened coconut chips (the big chunky stuff) and stirred until well blended. Because it was warm, it softened the coconut. Yum......

I took the cupcake pan out of the fridge and added the coconut mixture layer onto the cocoa layer.
Then I put it back into the fridge for a few minutes, until set.

The last "layer" was  24 dark chocolate chips and 1 tsp coconut oil, melted and stirred. I drizzled it over the top of each of the 12 little desserts evenly.

There you have it!

Paleo Spinach Pizza

This paleo pizza is rustic and spinachy. The only protein is in the eggs, 3 in the paleo crust and 1 in the spinach mixture. I point this out so you can decide if this is enough for you, or if you want to add your favorite protein to it.
So, the crust is my concoction you may have tried before with my "Paleo Pizza with Sun Dried Peppers and Bacon." This is what I did:

In a large mixing bowl I stirred the dry ingredients:

1 cup almond flour
1/4  cup coconut flour
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Then I whisked in the wet ingredients:
3 eggs
3 TBSP olive oil (or macadamia oil)
1/2 cup organic coconut milk from a can

I spread this gooey mixture on parchment paper on a cookie sheet with a rubber spatula.
I baked this in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.  (Then I turned the oven down to 350 degrees...)

While the crust was baking, I put less than 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet over medium low heat. It was probably 6 TBSP. ( 1/4 cup is 8 TBSP)
I added a 10 oz container of organic baby spinach to the skillet, a couple of handfuls at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until all the spinach was cooked down and covered. I added 5 pieces of sun dried tomatoes and 4 shitake mushrooms, chopped to the spinach mixture.
Next, I took the skillet off the heat and added:
1 TBSP coconut milk
1 egg

I stirred this up and then tipped the skillet so that the most of the liquid would run to the low end of the skillet. ( I didn't want too much moisture on the crust from this mixture.
When the crust was done, I added the spinach mixture over the top of the crust. 
I sprinkled 1 TBSP minced garlic, 1 tsp smoked sea salt, and several cherry tomatoes, chopped, over the top. 

The pizza went into a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Sometimes I shave a little KerryGold cheese, from grass-fed cows, over one end of the pizza, for Isaac.