pesto chicken stuffed portobello mushrooms

Confession. I never get tired of pesto. I put it on my breakfast eggs (or toast if I'm feeling extra naughty). I throw it on lettuce and call it a salad. And, because it's herb-based, it tastes good with fish, red meat, and lean meats alike.

More often than I'd like to admit, I crave homemade fettuccine with pesto and chicken. It's one of the most satisfying cheat meals ever.. until I start feeling like crap from scarfing down all that gluten. Really, I do. It's a love/hate relationship.

Luckily, I love mushrooms. For a vegetable, mushrooms are so meaty and hearty. So, instead of making pasta with pesto, chicken, and mushrooms. I decided to cut out the middle man-- the pasta-- to save myself from gluten misery.

Pesto Chicken Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
yields 6-8 stuffed mushrooms

INGREDIENTS
6-8 Portobello stuffing mushrooms (mine were on the smaller side, so about 8)
1 tsp olive oil + extra for brushing
1/2 c. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken breast, largely diced (I use a skinless breast of a whole-roasted chicken)
1/2 c. pesto (store-bought or homemade-- it's always best to use your favorite)
5-6 black olives, roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare mushrooms. Wipe them clean with a damp cloth. Mushrooms drink in water very easily, so it's best not to wash them directly under water. You want them as dry as possible. Then, with a spoon or sharp knife, remove the stem and gills from each mushroom cap. Lightly brush each Portobello with olive oil and place onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven.
2. While mushrooms are baking, prepare the pesto chicken filling. In a small skillet, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add onions, stirring occasionally. Once onions are softened, stir in garlic. Allow the garlic to cook a bit-- about 2 or 3 more minutes. Finally add chicken, pesto, and salt and pepper to taste. 
3 Stuff the Portobellos. Use a spoon to fill hollowed mushroom cap with pesto chicken. Add chopped olives on top. Pop the stuffed Portobellos back into the oven for about 2 more minutes. Then they are ready to eat!

garlic chicken with cauliflower rice

Being Asian, I grew up eating almost everything over rice. Unfortunately, white rice is full of starch and there is little nutritional value. Though brown rice is a great alternative, I have been loving cauliflower rice for an even healthier substitute. It looks just like rice. And the best part-- I never have to feel guilty.

How to Make Cauliflower Rice in 3 Steps:
1. Place a head of cauliflower (washed) into a food processor and pulse until desired rice-like consistency.
2. Transfer the cauliflower rice into a sautepan or skillet on the stove top. 
3. Cook on medium heat, carefully stirring occasionally until cooked. (I like to use a fork to fluff it up like rice.) Once it is cooked (which happens quickly), it's ready to eat! Season to taste-- I usually just add a little s+p at the very end.

So, now what to eat with cauliflower rice?  The answer is anything. But why not keep it Paleo with my Garlic Chicken Recipe..

Garlic Chicken

INGREDIENTS
2 lbs. uncooked chicken breast or thighs (I used thighs because they're juicier!)
15 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp whole grain dijon mustard
1 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped + more for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS
1. Place all ingredients into a medium to large bowl. Mix everything together well. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
2. At this point, you can cook your chicken however you like. I cooked it on the stovetop-- heat skillet on medium to medium high heat with a drizzle of EVOO. Cook a few minutes on each side so both sides are browned and chicken is cooked all the way through.
3. Place cooked chicken on a serving plate. Once all the chicken is cooked, pour the extra pan juices over all the chicken. Top with extra fresh parsley.

The final result is juicy, moist chicken studded with little crispy bits of garlic. The crispiness you get from some of the garlic is the best part. So, really, don't forget to pour the extra pan juices with lingering garlic over the cooked chicken!

When eating Paleo, constantly prepping for meals can get exhausting. Whenever I make chicken, I tend to make a lot of it because it is so versatile. Use leftovers to top salads, throw it in your breakfast egg scramble, etc etc.. you get the point. I never get tired of it.

If you'd rather not cook so much chicken at once, marinate the whole batch as instructed. Then, divide the batch. Seal what you don't want to cook immediately in a ziplock or vacuum sealed bag, freeze, and then defrost when you're ready to make this again. That works, too.

turkey chili

Who doesn't love a good chili? Wait, let me rephrase that. Who doesn't love a good PALEO chili? Yup! This is clean and freakin delectable. For a traditional chili, I think ground beef and kidney beans. However, I'm a big fan of leaner meats and prefer to Paleo-fy. So, my chili includes ground turkey and I ditched the legumes. Instead, I substituted the would-be kidney beans with carrots-- a perfectly hearty vegetable that can definitely hold its own. The thicker carrot slices and the ground turkey together creates such a substantial and rustic dish for a chilly winter night. 

Looking for a one-pot meal? You got one! Because this recipe yields a big pot of chili, invite friends over, bring to a potluck, or do as I do and store the leftovers. It's one of those recipes that just tastes even better reheated the next day.

I firmly believe that making food leaner and cleaner doesn't have to take away from flavor. And this has a nice spicy, chili kick.

Turkey Chili
Yields about 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. ground turkey (a little more, a little less won't hurt)
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2" coins (about 4-5 medium carrots)
1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
1 red bell pepper, diced (about 1 cup)
4.93 oz tube tomato paste (I get mine from Trader Joe's)
29 oz canned diced tomatoes (crushed tomatoes would work great too! I do a combination of the two)
1 cup fresh tomato, diced
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp parsley, rough chopped + extra for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat a large Dutch oven or stock pot with olive oil on medium to medium high heat. Once the Dutch oven is hot, add the ground turkey and cook until browned. Ground turkey is very lean so the olive oil will help get it going.
2. Once the ground turkey is browned, scoop it into a side dish or bowl. With all the ground turkey juices, saute onions, red bell pepper, and carrots. 
3. Once the onions and red bell pepper are tender, add the turkey back into the Dutch oven. At this point, dump in all the other ingredients-- canned diced tomatoes, tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, garlic, chili powder, paprika, salt, black pepper, cumin, red pepper flakes, and parsley. Stir everything together until well combined.
4. Allow chili to come up to a boil. Then cover with a lid and simmer on low for about 45 minutes or until the carrots are tender. If you dice them or slice them thinner, they will likely cook much quicker. I like the heartiness of thicker coin-cut carrots, so it does take extra time. But, the longer the chili simmers on the stove, the more flavor you will extract from all the ingredients. 
5. Serve hot and sprinkle with extra parsley.

pesto, prosciutto, roasted brussels sprouts, and sun-dried tomato pizza

Every time I walk through Trader Joe's, I pass by the pre-made pizza dough section. The pizza I like dream about has a crust that is crisp on the bottom but also chewy with just the right amount of bite. And let's face it, Paleo pizza crust-- most commonly made with almond flour, coconut flour, or cauliflower-- never quite measures up to that platform of gluten goodness.

Let it be known, for a well-made, well-balanced pizza, I will break all the Paleo rules. All I needed was a pizza that was worth the cheat-- a reliable recipe that I could over and over again trust to appease my pizza craving. And, for me, that all begins with the pizza dough. Alas, I've finally found the greatest pizza dough recipe that must be shared. In the past, I've made good pizza. But it wasn't until the other day that I realized I could make an incredible homemade pie.

Basic Pizza Dough
Recipe by Annie's Eats
Yield 2 medium pizzas or 4 calzones

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup water, at room temp.
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS
Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle the yeast over the top. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour and salt, mixing briefly to blend. Measure the room temperature water into the measuring cup with the yeast-water mixture. With the mixer on low speed, pour in the yeast-water mixture as well as the olive oil. Mix until a cohesive dough is formed. Switch to the dough hook. Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Press down the dough to deflate it. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball. (If freezing the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at this point.) Cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.

To bake, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 500 degrees F for at least 30 minutes. Transfer the dough to your shaping surface, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Shape the dough with lightly floured hands. Brush the outer edge lightly with olive oil. Top as desired. Bake until the crust is golden brown, and cheese is bubbling, 8-12 minutes.

It's been about 24 weeks since I started Paleo. I'm not consistently on a strict Paleo diet these days, but now I do try to make better food decisions. Everyone who begins Paleo has a reason and a specific goal in mind. My intention was not necessarily to lose weight (though, that seemed to happen naturally), but to challenge myself and to become more conscious of what I put into my body.

One of the biggest changes was realizing that I didn't need to top everything off with cheese. I literally used to have 5 different types of cheese stocked in my refrigerator at all times. There always seemed to be a cheese that made every meal just a tad bit better. But because I no longer have any cheese readily available in my fridge, I made a delightful pizza sans cheese. Give this topping combination a try.

Pesto, Prosciutto, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, and Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza
Yields 1 medium pizza

INGREDIENTS
1/2 of the Basic Pizza Dough Recipe
1/4 cup pesto (I just used my favorite store bought pesto to make things easier)
1 1/2 cups of roasted brussels sprouts (See how I roast my brussels sprouts here. Do not glaze.)
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 to 4oz. prosciutto

*NOTES: These measurements are about what I used for my pizza. Use more or less depending on the diameter of your pizza crust.

DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare pizza dough. Follow the directions of Basic Pizza Dough Recipe.
2. Prepare roasted brussels sprouts. This can be done ahead of time or while the dough is rising.
3. Form pizza crust. Use only half of the Basic Pizza Dough Recipe and continue to shape and prepare as instructed.
4. Assemble. Spread pesto onto uncooked pizza crust in an even layer. Slide pizza onto preheated pizza stone and bake for 8 minutes at 500 degrees F. Remove pizza stone from oven, Scatter prosciutto, brussels sprouts, and sun dried tomatoes on top of the crust. Then, place back into the over for about 4 more minutes.
5. When the outer crust is golden, pizza is ready. Remove from oven, slide pizza onto cutting board. Slice and serve.