Paleo Salmon Florentine

I saw a recipe on Cross Fit Santa Cruz Central's blog that looked delicious - for paleo salmon florentine.  And was it ever!  We all loved it!  This will definitely be going into our recipe rotation.  It doesn't take long to prepare, which is great for us on work nights and it's very healthy.  This would be a great dish to serve for company, as it presents very well.  I didn't really measure anything, just threw in however much looked good.  I had one large salmon filet that my uncle caught in one of the rivers up north in the fall.  His salmon is seriously the best!  Yum!  I used more mushrooms and more spinach than the recipe below calls for, too.  Just use what sounds or looks good to you. 

Paleo Salmon Florentine

2 salmon filets
1 T olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
9 oz. mushrooms, sliced
9 oz. baby spinach, fresh
1/4 C coconut milk
3 T white wine
spices: about 1/4 tsp. each!
sea salt (optional)
pepper (fresh ground)
cayenne pepper
paprika
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a saute pan, heat olive oil, and saute onion... add garlic, and cook until translucent. Add sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. Add a splash (about 3 T white wine), cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms are soft and tender. Now add spinach and cook until wilted. Pour coconut milk over everything and mix well. Pour all ingredients onto a baking dish. Place salmon filets over top of spinach mixture and sprinkle with spices. Bake for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

This post is linked to:
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Pennywise Platter Thursday at the Nourishing Gourmet
Grain Free Tuesdays at Hella Delicious
Primal Cave Friday at Primal Toad

Baked Spinach

This is a super easy side dish recipe. Its is quite tasty, too!   We have had this a couple of times now.  Its quite tasty as leftovers, too... and I don't say that very often because I'm not a leftover fan.  :)  I found the idea on a Crossfit food blog.  You could make this with any type of greens.  I've only made it with spinach, but it'd be very good with others.  You could also change up the nuts and add cheese and other spices.  This picture is made as it is written below.  But the second time I made it, I used crispy walnuts and added some of my homemade soft cheese into the mixture.  Feta would be good, too.  Or a cheese topping. 

Baked Spinach

1 1/2 pounds spinach
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup crispy pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs

Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Saute your spinach in butter until wilted.  Add your crispy pine nuts and garlic. Saute for just a couple of minutes.  Pour spinach mixture into a small casserole dish. 

Whisk eggs in a separate bowl.  Pour eggs over spinach mixture and stir to combine.  Spread evenly in dish.  Bake for 30-40 minutes. 


This post is participating in the Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS, Whole Food for the Holidays: Side Dishes at The Nourishing Gourmet. 

Pesto Pea Salad

I saw this recipe on my SIL's blog almost a year ago now and have wanted to make it, but I always forget about it. We almost always have all of the ingredients on hand on any given day, so I can't believe it has taken me this long to make it. But like I said, I always forget about it. So anyway, I finally made this for our lunch today since I didn't have anything planned since we were thinking we'd be out in Holland. This salad actually popped into my brain as I was thinking of what kind of salad to make for lunch. This was delicious! And super simple and fast to put together. I think I will probably be taking this salad on a regular basis for my lunches. I didn't have any cooked chicken in the fridge, but it'd be great with chicken and other veggies, too.

Pesto Pea Salad

2 cups of frozen peas, thawed
2 Tbsp. crispy pine nuts
2 1/2 cups baby salad greens
grated parmesan (I forgot to put this on, but it was delicious without it!)
4 Tbsp. pesto, recipe follows (I used some that I had frozen last year)

To assemble, place the spinach leaves in a salad bowl. Sprinkle the peas and pignolis over the spinach. Add the pesto and toss. Top with cheese.

Pesto:
1/4 cup crispy walnuts
1/4 cup crispy pine nuts
3 Tbsp. diced garlic (9 cloves)
5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups good olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 30 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is finely pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Serve, or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

Spinach and Chickpeas

I was going through my pictures and realized I never posted this a few weeks back. I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and thought it looked and sounded pretty tasty. It was! And I simplified several things to make it pretty fast and easy to make. This was a tasty, different meatless meal. The flavors were great and it was fun to eat on the little toasts. We all really liked it a lot.

Espinacas con Garbanzos (Spinach and Chickpeas)

1/2 pound dried chickpeas, cooked until soft and tender* or two 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound spinach, washed
A hefty 1-inch slice from a country loaf or about 2 slices from sandwich loaf bread, crusts removed and cut inset small cubes
1/2 cup (2 ounces) tomato sauce
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon juice, to taste

Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add half the olive oil. When it is hot, add the spinach with a pinch of salt. Do in batches, if necessary and stir well. Remove when the leaves are just tender, drain in a colander and set aside. (I skipped this step at this point and just added the spinach at the end to wilt.)

Heat 2 more tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the bread for about 5 minutes or until golden brown all over, then the remaining tablespoon of oil and the garlic, cumin and pepper. Cook for 1 minute more or until the garlic is nutty brown. (I changed this step and just toasted my bread.)

Transfer to a food processor, blender or mortar and pestle along with the vinegar, and mash to a paste. (I skipped the food processor and just added the ingredients to te skillet.) Return the mixture to the pan and add the drained chickpeas and tomato sauce. Stir until the chickpeas have absorbed the flavors and are hot. Season with salt and pepper. (This is when I added my spinach to wilt down.)

If the consistency is a little thick, add some water. Add the spinach and cook until it is hot. Check for seasoning and serve with paprika on top, or on fried bread toasts (as the Spanish do).

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto

My friend, Kati, discovered she has celiac disease about 6+ months ago. Ever since, she's been living the gluten free life and is feeling amazingly different and better. She has started a website featuring lots of delicious recipes that are all gluten free. These are all family recipes or just recipes that have become favorites of hers and Ben's that are either naturally gluten free or that she has converted to being gluten free. She just started the site at the end of March, so it is growing every week or so. Check it out - even if you don't need to eat gluten free! She's the Gluten Free Girlie.

As I've mentioned, I've been trying to clean out some things from the pantry, fridge, and freezer for the last few weeks. When I came across this recipe for spinach and sun-dried tomato risotto on Kati's site, I knew we had to try it. Not only did it sound delicious, but I had some organic arborio rice, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach that I needed to find some uses for. So I made it for dinner this week and it was absolutely delicious! After every bite, Carson declared it "deeee-wishous!" He loved it! I loved it! Kevin loved it! A definite keeper!

I'll update with a picture later on.

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto

3 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cups spinach
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups risotto rice
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 teaspoons basil, fresh and minced or dried flakes
1/2 cup grated asiago or parmesan cheese
1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
Salt
Pepper

In a food processor, finely chop spinach with 1 tablespoon of oil. (I also added the tomatoes)

In a frying pan or wok, heat the oil and sautée the onion until transparent. Add the rice, stirring until the rice is a little transparent. Add the tomatoes. (I actually kept my tomatoes out and chopped them up in the food processor with the spinach.) Pour in the stock, 1/2 cup at time, continuously stirring. Do not add more stock until the rice absorbs the already added stock. After about 30 minutes the rice should be creamy.

Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach, ricotta, basil and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let stand for 3-4 minutes before serving.