Dinner

Instant Pot Uncured Corned Beef

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instant_pot_corned_beef

I highly recommend everyone pick up this delicious and easy uncured corned beef brisket before St. Patrick’s Day. It’s already seasoned, so all you need to do is add water to  your Instant Pot and put it on high for 90 minutes. I boiled gold potatoes and carrots in a large pot so I could monitor them easily. My husband and I don’t like our veggies too mushy so we keep a close eye on them and periodically taste test.

Make sure you cook this in water and not chicken or beef stock. I made that mistake last year and my corned beef turned out way too salty. I find corned beef to be a salty product so don’t add more. I kept my potatoes and carrots pretty bland to balance out the flavors.

trader_joes_uncured_corned_beef

Instant Pot Uncured Corned Beef
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 6.5 lbs Uncured Corned Beef Brisket (seasoning included)
  • 1.5 cups of water
Instructions
  1. Add brisket and seasoning from your package of corned beef brisket to instant pot.
  2. Then add water over brisket and seal instant pot.
  3. Set pressure to high for 90 minutes. Quick release when done.

Soups

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

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Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

This roasted butternut squash and apple soup is one of my favorites. It’s dairy free, the garnish is cashew milk, not cream. It’s paleo friendly and will still satisfy your sweet tooth. I also included roasted yellow onions in here. Don’t omit them, they balance out the overly sweet squash and apples to give a nice savory flavor to the soup. This recipe makes a pretty thick soup, but feel free to add more broth if you prefer the broth to be thinner.

If this seems like too much work, or you are looking for a simpler recipe, try my Basic Butternut Squash Soup. It’s not even much a recipe just steamed and blended butternut squash.

I garnished this soup with chives and unsweetened cashew milk that I quickly made in my Vitamix. I made way too much of it, so I’m going to have come up with recipe with smaller portions. This one was just 2 cup of raw unsalted cashews that I soaked for a couple hours, rinsed, and then blended with 2 cups of water. Add more or less water for desired creaminess. It makes good hot chocolate if you add cacao powder and maple syrup to the leftover cashew milk.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs butternut squash, chopped
  • 1 quart of low sodium chicken broth (vegetable broth to make vegan)
  • 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
  • 1 honey crisp apple, peeled and chopped
  • 1 tsp sea salt or to taste
  • (optional) chives to garnish
  • (optional) cashew milk to garnish (or milk/cream of choice)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease or spray a pan with oil.
  3. Then add chopped butternut squash, onion, and apple to pan.
  4. Cook at 350 for 2 hours or until butternut squash, apples, and onions are tender.
  5. Blend squash, apples, and onions with broth in a high speed blender in batches, then transfer to a large pot.
  6. Salt to taste and cook on medium for 15 minutes to blend flavors. Stirring constantly or soup will splash. Blended soups can be messy if you leave them alone.

Sides

Roasted Delicata Squash

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delicata squash

This roasted delicata squash was surprisingly easy to make and chop. For safety reasons, I oftentimes steam my squashes first before I chop them, but that wasn’t necessary for delicata squash. In fact, it was surprisingly easy to roast it with a little olive oil and sea salt and the result was a delicious easy side that I plan on making again. I love how the skin is edible so you don’t have to peel it either.

I would throw these in a fall roasted vegetable salad, it would also be very easy to make a sauce and dip them like fries. I’ve seen a lot of recipes that add brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon like sweet potatoes, so it would be really easy to get creative and make it your own.

Roasted Delicata Squash
 
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Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 delicata squash
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
  2. Chop delicata squash and remove seeds from the middle.
  3. In a large bowl, mix the chopped delicata squash, sea salt and olive oil.
  4. Line pan with parchment paper, and roast for 20 minutes on each side.

Dinner

Pumpkin Spice Chili

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pumpkin spice chili

September is here and it’s officially fall, even if it is insanely warm here in Los Angeles. But the heat isn’t going to stop me from making fall recipes, which is one of my favorite seasons for cooking. My husband and I love everything pumpkin spice, so I wanted to test my skills and make a sweet and spicy pumpkin spice chili. This recipe is paleo friendly but I did use maple syrup to sweeten it up. I usually like to add some sort of healthy sweetener to my chili recipes to balance the spicy and sour flavors.

I used pumpkin puree from a can, because I wanted to make this recipe as easy as possible for meal planning. Kroger had a large can of 100% pumpkin puree with a non BPA Liner and no preservatives at my local Ralphs. I was really happy with the color and texture of the pumpkin puree for my chili. It thickened up the chili, without adding any thickeners and it also gave it a nice warm brown color after all the spices were added.

Chili is amazing for meal planning and I make it all the time. It’s doesn’t take long, freezes well, and you can get creative with the ingredients. Most of the time I don’t even measure. I just play around with different spices and ingredients that I have available in my pantry and taste test as I go. For inspiration for this recipe, I loosely based it off my Slow Cooker Cincinnati Chili recipe and my Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend from Frontier Co-op. Please let me know if you want more pumpkin spice recipes or share your favorite ones in the comments.

Pumpkin Spice Chili
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • 29 oz or 1 lb of canned pumpkin puree
  • 3 small sweet onions, or two medium to large ones
  • 2 cups of chicken stock
  • ½ tsp allspice
  • 4 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp sweet paprika
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 3 tsp ancho chili powder
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • ½ cup of maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • (optional) scallions to garnish
Instructions
  1. In a large pot, brown ground beef in coconut oil.
  2. Then chop onions, and add onions, chicken stock, and pumpkin puree to the pot.
  3. Then add spices: allspice, cumin, cinnamon, sweet paprika, ground ginger, nutmeg, ancho chili powder, cayenne pepper, and sea salt. Mix pot so ingredients are evenly distributed.
  4. Add maple syrup and apple cider vinegar to the pot, mix and let simmer on low for 20-minutes.
  5. (optional) serve with chopped scallions to garnish.

Condiments

Easy Raw Green Salsa

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easy raw green salsa

This easy raw green salsa came together in no time thanks to my blender. I buy salsa all the time, but I never realized how easily it could be made. When you make it fresh it tastes way better and it’s simple to make a huge portion for a large group of people if you are entertaining.

This green salsa is mild and subtle enough to be served with shrimp or fish. Feel free to play around with the ingredients, if you prefer more garlic or heat. I actually think this tastes better the next day, once the flavors have had a chance to really marinate together.

Here are a couple ways I love using salsa:

1) I regularly use salsa as a chili base. For ground beef I prefer to use red salsas, but for chicken or turkey, a green salsa would be delicious.

2) My husband and I love breakfast food, especially eggs. Salsa makes a perfect topping to a Mexican breakfast and is a great addition to brunch.

3) Taco salad is a regular weeknight meal at our house and we always use salsa instead of salad dressing.

4) I’ve pressure cooked chicken with salsa in my instant pot, and been very happy with the results.

5) Whole foods has some grain free chip options. So if you have a craving for chips and salsa, feel free to indulge a little.

Really the possibilities are endless. What is your favorite way to use salsa?

Easy Raw Green Salsa
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 green tomatoes chopped
  • 1 avocado
  • ½ jalapeno without seeds
  • 1 cup chopped white onion
  • ½ cup water
  • 4 limes juiced
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 2 medium garlic cloves pressed
Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients to your blender.
  2. Then blend until desired texture.

 

Appetizers

Easy Oven Roasted Baba Ganoush

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baba_ganoush_web-v02

This easy baba ganoush recipe roasts baby eggplants in the oven and then combines everything in a food processor. Feel free to play with the recipe and make it your own. I found that it tastes much better after it sits overnight in the fridge, which I love, because make-ahead recipes are great for entertaining and so are dips. I also added a lot of raw garlic, because I love garlic, but if that’s not to your taste, use less, or roast the garlic cloves to make it milder.

I also added some fresh flat leaf Italian parsley, because I already had it in my fridge and since it has a nice mild flavor that goes well with lemon and eggplant. I’m not going to claim that this recipe is authentic, but I thought it tasted good and I would definitely make it again for friends and family to snack on.

Easy Oven Roasted Baba Ganoush
 
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 4 baby eggplants
  • 2-3 medium cloves of garlic, pressed
  • juice from half a lemon
  • ½ cup of fresh flat leaf Italian parsley
  • 2 tbsp of tahini
  • ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • sea salt to taste
  • (optional) garnish with fresh parsley, olive oil, and smoked paprika
Instructions
  1. Cut baby eggplants in half, then brush the cut side with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
  2. Put eggplant cut side down on a baking sheet and roast for an hour at 375 degrees.
  3. Take them out and let them cool. Then scoop out the insides of the eggplant and remove skin.
  4. Place eggplant insides into a food processor with tahini, remainder of olive oil, and 2 or 3 pressed garlic cloves, juice of half a lemon, and parsley and blend until desired consistency.
  5. Add sea salt to taste.
  6. Refrigerate overnight.
  7. (optional) When ready to serve, make a swirl with a spoon and drizzle in olive oil and sprinkle smoked paprika and fresh parsley.
Notes
Feel free to sub sweet paprika for smoked paprika.
Use more or less garlic and sea salt, to suit your tastes.

 

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