Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”

I was never a big fan of mashed potatoes but this Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes” surely won my heart! It’s super easy and you can put any seasonings you want. In my case, I prefer to keep the Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes’ unseasoned because I like to eat them with another dish that has lots of sauce/gravy.

Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”
Ingredients:
1 cauliflower head – cut into chunks

Optional seasonings:
2 Tbsp melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Coconut milk/yogurt/heavy cream

Directions:
1. Steam the cut out cauliflower for about 5 minutes – set aside and let it cool

2. Puree the cooked cauliflower in your food processor (This is the time you add the seasonings if you want to make seasoned Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”)

3. Done!

 

Egg Loaf Frittata

Frittata is another Paleo friendly recipe that’s been floating among cave bloggers on the blogsphere. There are VARIOUS WAYS to make it and almost no need recipe for it. The most common way to make frittata is using a cast iron skillet, which you cook the omelet then pop it into your oven to fully cook the whole thing.

To simplify the process (also because I don’t have a cast iron skillet nor I’m interested to get one..that thing is so darn heavy!), I just bake the entire thing in my counter top convection oven using my 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.

Egg Loaf Frittata
Ingredients:
6-7 eggs
1-2 Tbsp full fat Greek yogurt
Cooked ground beef or any minced meat of your choice
2 stalks of green onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped onions
Any of your favorite seasonings (I used Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute)

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until the yolk and white mixed evenly
2. Pour in the rest of the filling and season accordingly.
3. Grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with avocado oil
4. Pour in the egg mixture

5. Bake in the oven with 350°F for 40-50 minutes or until the inside is cooked (use toothpick to check the middle part)
6. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool

The egg loaf might shrink a bit after it cools down but worry not, it’ll still be yummy. Slice and store individual cut in an air tight container and you have a protein ready to go in your pantry! Super easy nutritious snack with very minimal effort. Feel free to experiment with different fillings/toppings.

 

Easy Oven Fried Taro Fries

I love root vegetables – carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, yucca and also taro! When I saw a giant taro at Asian supermarket last weekend, I immediately wanted to make oven fried taro. After procrastinating for 3 days, finally I got to make it today!

Easy Oven Fried Taro Fries
Ingredients:
1/2 of giant taro

Salt
Avocado oil (or your high heat cooking oil of your choice)

Directions:
1. Peel and cut taro into fries shape

2. Steam on high for about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a bit
3. Lightly season with salt and avocado oil
4. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
5. Bake at 400°F for about 15-25 minutes. Rotate the baking pan halfway.
6. Remove from the oven and enjoy!
Crunchy at the outside and soft inside. YUM! Perfect for side dishes or healthy snacks!

 

Savory Sweet Potato Pancakes

I bought 2 huge sweet potatoes last weekend and wanted to try Diane Sanfilippo from Balanced Bites recipe. However, instead of making these as sweets, I opted to make savory versions with my own twist I also doubled up her recipes.

Savory Sweet Potato Pancakes (Adapted from Diane Sanfilippo’s Sweet Potato Pancakes)
Ingredients:
1/2 of big sweet potatoes (about 4 cups) – peeled and finely shredded (I used my food procesorr with shredding disc or you can shred them manually)
4 tsp coconut flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 cup chopped white onion
Coconut oil
6 eggs

Directions:
1. Lightly add salt, pepper and garlic powder to the shredded sweet potatoes

2. Beat 6 eggs and mix in the coconut flour until everything incorporates
3. Pour in the shredded sweet potatoes into the egg mixture, add in the chopped onions as well

Ok I forgot to add in the onions after I took the pic

4. Melt coconut oil on the skillet in medium heat.
5. Scoop in the batter, make sure they are in similar sizes

6. You can tell if it’s a good time to flip it over when the edges started to look a bit dry

Serve!

This recipe is super easy and very yummy as well. Good for snacks, appetizer or post workout meal.

 

“Hanbaagaa” (Japanese Style Hamburger)

There are so many ways to cook hamburger and this time as part of my Solidarity with Japan post, I decided to make ハンバーガー Hanbaagaa (Japanese Style Hamburger) – in primal way of course

ハンバーガー Hanbaagaa (Japanese Style Hamburger)
Ingredients:
1lbs organic grass fed ground beef
1 shallot
3 cloves garlic
1/4 white onion – diced
1 egg
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Coconut aminos

Directions:
1. Mince the shallot, onion, garlic then use mortar pestle to ground them (or food processor)

2. Mix together the ground onions mixture with the ground beef, egg, salt, black pepper and white pepper

3. Heat the skillet in medium heat with ghee or cooking oil of your choice

4. Divide the beef mixture into 4 equal size patties. Pan sear the the meat until brown – flip occasionally – do not squeeze the patties as it will release all the juice, resulting dry patties.

5. Pour in about 1-2 Tbsp of water, following with 1-3 Tbsp coconut aminos or wheat free soy sauce (tamari sauce) – let it simmer for about 2 minutes

6. Turn up the heat to high to reduce the sauce

Nice and juicy! As usual, enjoy!

Feel free to join Kath in her Solidarity with Japan project. Post anything about Japan – can be food, cultures, music, etc.

 

Repeat that Dish

How’s your week going so far? Getting used to the Daylight Saving Time yet? For sure I do enjoy my commute in the evening.

Anyway, my eats have been pretty boring..mostly just super simple food, repeat recipes and left overs.

Like this dinner from yesterday:

Steamed broc, fish with caramelized carrots and roasted curried cauliflower (from Nom Nom Paleo recipe)

And I totally love roasted curried cauliflower that I made another batch again…for today’s dinner!

Steamed Chinese veggies, steamed broc, roast masala lamb and roasted curried cauliflower

Roasted Curried Cauliflower (from Nom Nom Paleo)
Ingredients:
1 cauliflower head – cut the florets into bite size
Avocado oil
Salt and pepper
Curry powder

Directions:
1. Cut the cauliflower into small pieces -not too small
2. Liberally season with salt, pepper, curry powder and avocado oil. I didn’t really have exact measurement here, but the rule of thumb is about 1-2 Tbsp avocado oil, 1 tsp of salt, curry powder and pepper
3. Meanwhile preheat your oven 450°F
4. Line your baking sheet with foil (trust me, it’ll make the clean up a breeze!)- arrange the cauliflower florets on the baking sheet
5. Cover the whole thing with another foil – bake for about 15 minutes
6. Remove the cover, set the oven to broil at 450°F for about 5 minutes to brown them a bit

On Sunday I test drive my new oven’s rotisserie feature.

Gotta read the instruction a bit..

The chicken was marinated with salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, thyme and rosemary

Finally after fiddling around, I got the position right, although I need to tie them better next time. When it was rotating, part of the wings and leg flapped around a bit.

I roasted the chicken for 450°F for about 1.5 hour. It turned out yummy! My next mission would be replicating Costco’s Chicken! Yeaah!

Do you eat same thing most of the days?