s.s. chicken club - avocado boats

ingredients:

1 lb. boneless skinless free range chicken breast - cooked and cubed

2 avocados

5 strips of nitrate and nitrite-free bacon - cooked crispy and chopped

A few slices of red onion - diced

8 grape tomatoes - halved (You can use any kind of tomatoes - This is just what I had in the house) 

4 Tbs. of mayonnaise

1 Tbs of minced garlic 

salt and pepper

directions: 

Cook the chicken in any manner you desire. I cut the chicken breasts into tender size pieces and pan-seared them in butter. It made for a slightly crispy outside and an extremely juicy inside. Let cool and cut into cubes

Scoop out all 4 avocado halves. You will use three of them to make the guacamole and the other one - Cut into pieces to go into the chicken club salad. 

In a large mixing bowl combine the chicken, bacon, tomato, red onions, avocado, mayo and salt and pepper. Stir until completely mixed

****For the guacamole**** I mashed up the remaining 3 avocado halves, 1 Tbs Minced garlic, a pinch of cayenne pepper, 1 Tsp minced onion flakes, kosher salt, pepper, lemon juice, and 1 Tbs of salsa. These are not included in the ingredient list above. If you mash up the avocados with some garlic and lemon or lime juice and salt, it will still taste really great under the chicken club salad.

Divide the guacamole among the 4 avocado shells, top each one with a heaping mound of the chicken salad.

focaccia-style flax bread

ingredients:

2 cups flax seed meal

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1-2 Tablespoons natural sweetener (honey, agave, etc.)

5 beaten eggs

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup oil

directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare pan (a 10X15 pan with sides works best) with oiled parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Mix dry ingredients well -- a whisk works well.

Add wet to dry, and combine well. Make sure there aren't obvious strings of egg white hanging out in the batter.

Let batter set for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken up some (leave it too long and it gets past the point where it's easy to spread.) 

Pour batter onto pan. Because it's going to tend to mound in the middle, you'll get a more even thickness if you spread it away from the center somewhat, in roughly a rectangle an inch or two from the sides of the pan (you can go all the way to the edge, but it will be thinner). 

Bake for about 20 minutes, until it springs back when you touch the top and/or is visibly browning even more than flax already is. 

Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want. You don't need a sharp knife; I usually just cut it with a spatula.

pam's paleo crunch

ingredients:

dry

1/2 cup ground flax seeds

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 1/2 cups almond meal

3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

4 cups raw slivered almonds

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

wet

1 cup liquified coconut oil

1/2 cup raw organic honey

3 tsp pure vanilla extract

optional: 1/2 cup unsweetened dried fruit

directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well to ensure ingredients are evenly distributed.

In a medium bowl, add wet ingredients and whisk together until well combined. Mix the wet ingredients thoroughly into the dry ingredients. 

Divide the mixture in a thin layer onto two rimmed baking sheets. It will fill about 1 and 1/2 jelly roll pans. Press mixture down with your hands or the back of a large spoon.

Bake until lightly toasted, approximately 1 hour. Remove pans from oven and gently stir the mixture with a large spoon. Carefully return warm pans to the oven and continue to cook for another 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and stir in optional ingredients, if desired. Let the mixture cool completely in the pans. 

To store, place a folded paper towel (to absorb any excess coconut oil) in the bottom of a lidded storage container. Add paleo crunch to container and cover. Enjoy plain or with coconut or almond milk.

Adapted from www.paleotable.com

paleo apple muffins

ingredients:

2 1/4 cups almond meal

4 omega 3 enriched eggs

1 organic apple finely chopped

1 very ripe banana

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup water

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 heaping tbsp cinnamon

directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Peel the banana and using a fork, mash the banana in the bottom of a large mixing bowl.  Using a hand held chopper if you have one, finely chop the apple, and add to the bowl.  Add all other ingredients and mix by hand.  The batter will not be super thick, but more like a cake batter.  Using a bit more coconut oil, grease a muffin tin.  Fill the tins about 3/4 of the way full.  Bake for 15-17 minutes.  You will know they are done when you can insert a toothpick into the middle of a muffin and it comes out clean.  Serve hot out of the oven with some ghee melted on top, accompanied by eggs over-easy, and hot black coffee. If you eat them all at once, don’t blame me…  Makes approximately 16 muffins.

Adapted from www.everydaypaleo.com

great balls of dates

ingredients:

20 medjool dates, seeds removed

1/2 cup almond butter

1/4 cup coconut flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

finely shredded coconut flakes

directions:

In a food processor, process together all ingredients except for the coconut flakes. The mixture will be very thick. Make sure it's not chunky-should be as smooth as possible.

Using your hands, smash together teaspoon-size portions of the mixture. Roll into small balls, and then roll in the shredded coconut flakes to coat. 

Adapted from Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso