Friday, January 17, 2014

Roasted cauliflower and chick pea soup.

Roasted Cauliflower and Chick Pea Soup

Ingredients: 
1 head of Cauliflower
2 cans of Chick peas
4-5-6 Cloves of Garlic
2 potatoes
Coconut Oil
Garam Masala 
Coconut Milk 1/2 cup
Salt and white pepper
Stock - your choice, I used Beef.  
Garnish, I used Cilantro, you can use whatever you wish!  
Bacon would be a good choice too and
 if I had some that would be what I would use.

Take your head of cauliflower and break it down like this.
Drain your chick peas and pat them dry if you wish.  
Peel your garlic and place it on the baking sheet with the cauliflower and drained chick peas.
Coat the cauliflower and the garlic with some coconut oil.  I also coated the baking sheet with coconut oil so that chick peas didn't stick to it. 

Sprinkle Garam Masala and SALT all over the whole thing.


Like so!
Place the whole thing in a 400 degree preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the cauliflower is browned. 


While that is baking,
Peel 2 potatoes and place in a large stock pot with some coconut oil so the potato doesn't stick.
Sweat the potato


After you sweat the potatoes add a little bit of broth, I used beef, you can use Vegetable, chicken or whatever stock you like, my only suggestion is that as a cook you start to make your own stock.  I make mine once every 3-4 weeks and I make enough for the month and freeze it in jars.  It makes things easy when you keep one jar full in the fridge and can just use it for whatever all the time.  


by the time you've sweat the potatoes and added some stock, the cauliflower, chick peas and garlic are done.  Takes about 20-25 minutes.

Add all of it to the stock pot


Add more stock until it's almost covering everything, if you run low on stock then add water until you have enough to almost cover all the ingredients.

Bring it to a boil
After it's done simmering, maybe another 20 minutes or so, I checked the potato to see if it was ready, and when it was, I started to puree the soup.  Took a few minutes and then I added the 1/2 cup of coconut milk.  mixed it in and checked the seasoning levels.  I then added more salt and some white pepper and a little more garam masala.  Let it blend for another 5 minutes or so and checked my seasoning again.  I found it was a bit thick so I starting thinning it down with water.  Got it to where I wanted it and covered for another few minutes to let all the flavors blend.  Here is the result!


Roasted Cauliflower and Chick Pea Soup!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Easy turkey chili

Easy Turkey Chili

Some meals can be VERY simple and EASY.  Turkey Chili on a winter afternoon for lunch is one of these things that should be simple.  Nothing fancy.  I know a lot of people are CHILI Freaks, with or without beans.  I like beans in mine, which makes it NON Paleo, but my cornbread has milk in it too, so the whole paleo is out the window on this one, BUT it is more of a Primal way of eating.  


Take some ground turkey and 1 whole white onion and brown it up


After it's browned, add 1 jar of diced tomato, 1 jar of tomato sauce.  I didn't have tomato sauce, so I just took my diced tomato and put it in the blender for a few seconds to get some tomato sauce.  Also add in your beans, you can use whatever kind you want. I used Pinto.  Drain if using canned.  Feel free to add in some bell pepper too if you want, I would have, but I didn't have any, I just used mine all up yesterday.


I make things really easy, buy some good quality chili powder I've tried a few organic brands and this one is NOT HOT, which Dennis prefers and since we have a small child eating this as well, it less spicy the better. 



Great brand of chili powder.

Here is the final product after a little while of simmering.  At least 30 minutes, if you want to let it simmer longer, be prepared and have some beef stock on hand to add back in for moisture if needed.  I did add about 2 ounces after about an hour.


And it's ready to eat.  I serve with gluten free corn bread that I made from scratch.

It's a hit on a winter afternoon!


Levi approves! 


Jan 14, 2014