I figured I’d take advantage of what’s going to be the last of the tomato supply around these parts (until next summer) by slow roasting them and tossing them together with an assortment of Italian-like odds ‘n ends I had lying around.

Ingredients

• 1 lb hot Italian sausage
• assortment of veggies (eggplant, onion, mushrooms, zucchini, etc.), chopped
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
• olive oil
• s&p
• fresh mozzarella or raw cheddar
• fresh basil, chopped

Method

Preheat your oven to 300ºF. Line a sheet pan with a silpat, if you have one, or parchment paper (just to keep the little buggers from sticking). Place the halved tomatoes, cut side up (skin side down) on the sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Place in the oven and let them cook down until the tomato edges are slightly crisp, curled up and the juicy insides no longer quite so juicy–about 20 minutes. Once the tomatoes are done, remove them from the oven and crank up the oven to 375ºF.

In a large saute pan, brown the sausage along with any other vegetables you’re using.

Now it’s time for assemblage. Get out an oven-safe baking dish, somewhere around 8×8, and start layering with the sausage/veggie mixture. Now add the oven roasted tomatoes, basil and cheese. Continue layering until everything’s all used up, trying to end with cheese and basil.

Stick in the oven and get the cheese melty and gooey, anywhere from 5-10 minutes.

Brandon and I got home late from the gym the night that the CrossFit Games started. Dinner needed to be  something I could throw together rather quickly, so we could watch the live stream. This recipe is based on the classic paring of cantaloupe or honey dew melon and prosciutto. Didn’t  have any of that, but I did  the most important and delectable South Carolina agricultural export on hand. Peaches are a MAJOR deal in South Carolina. So when it’s summer time, any southern lover of food will undoubtedly have some on hand.

Ingredients

• 3 peaches, cut into wedges
• 4 oz. prosciutto, cut lengthwise, into thin strips
• handful of basil leaves, cut into strips

Method

Place a few strips of basil onto a peach wedge. Wrap with a prosciutto strip. Repeat until you’ve used up all the ingredients.

Over medium-high heat, preferably a cast-iron stove-top or outdoor grill, place the peach wedges seam side down. That means, wherever the tail end piece of prosciutto is, that’s the side that goes down on the heat–it kind of sears the meat to itself, making it easier to flip. Let them cook until they have a nice bit of char. Flip and wait for more char. Flip again, making sure to sear the butt of the wedge, just a few seconds.

I think we’ve all been there. We think we’re so incredibly clever for using spaghetti squash as a sub for spaghetti noodles. Then you realize it’s become a bit Paleo passé, a.k.a. boring. So, let’s start taking that idea further. We’ll sub butternut squash for lasagna noodles, and we can call is B.S. Lasagna. The squash around the edges of the pan does actually get crispy, crunchy like lasagna noodles do…and the flavor is definitely there. But other than that, I’m not going to lie and say, “WOW! It tastes exactly the same!” Though I can’t remember the last time I had S.A.D. lasagna, so I guess I couldn’t tell you if it did. Anyway…

What it is does taste like is a sweet, salty & tangy quasi lasgana. I’ll settle for that any day.

Ingredients

• 1 lb hot Italian sausage, casing removed
• 1 red onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 15 oz can pizza sauce
• 1/2 c roasted red peppers
• 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• couples leaves of fresh basil (leave it out if you don’t have it, just freshens up the sauce a bit)
• 1 small butternut squash

Method

Get your oven to 400ºF. In a saute pan crumble the sausage and brown it, along with the onions & garlic. While that’s going, cut the top and ends of the squash off and peel it. Split it into 1/4′s. What I mean by that is, right where the squash starts to turn bulbous, cut it in 1/2, width-wise. Split those two halves in half, lengthwise. This will make it much easier to cut into planks. Pull out the seeds. Don’t be anal about getting out all the strings, as you won’t even notice those when they’re cooked. Slice the squash into the aforementioned planks.

Make the sauce by pureeing the pizza sauce, red peppers, olive oil and basil. If you don’t a contraption that will puree (blender, food processor, immersion blender), chop up the red peppers and just whisk everything together.

Using a 9×9 oven safe baking dish, put down enough sauce to lightly cover the bottom of the dish. (This keeps the squash from sticking to the pan.) Next add the squash, trying not to overlap the pieces, then spoon on the sausage mixture, followed by the sauce. Repeat until all your ingredients are used up…trying to reserve enough sauce to cover the top of the lasagna.

Bake for 45 minutes. You’re looking for a bubbly pan with a crispy, browned top. Right out of the oven, the lasagna may by liquidy, let it set for a good half hour before cutting into it, as it will solidify.

“Mistake Gone Right” should be the title of this recipe. It happens all the time, let’s be honest. We set out to make some glorious meal for our loved ones (or ourselves), and somewhere down the line, it all goes down the pooper. So what can you do to salvage? Just add stock and blend. Soup disguises all mistakes!

Disclaimer: You definitely have to start out with something that, at least, tastes o k a y. I mean, I can’t imagine something like celery, chocolate and adobo peppers tasting good. Period. Soup or not. But…hey,what do I know?

Ingredients

• 2 heads cauliflower, stems & core removed, chopped small
• F.O.C. (fat of choice)
• 3 leeks, sliced & washed (see pics)
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 shallots, minced
• chili flakes, to taste
• 1 quart stock
• 1 pint  original flavored coconut milk creamer*
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 c olive oil
• s&p

Method

How to clean your leeks:

In a large soup pot, saute the onions, leeks, shallots in your F.O.C., over medium-low heat until they’ve turned a nice golden, brown color. Add the cauliflower and stock. Bring to a simmer and let the cauliflower soften. Use an immersion/hand blender, or a regular blender, to puree the soup. Add the coconut creamer and the soup is done.

For the Basil Oil

If you use a blender to puree the soup, make sure you make the basil oil first…just saves a step– you don’t have to clean out the blender twice. I would rather have basil flavored soup puree than cauliflower flavored basil oil.

Place the basil, olive oil and some s&p in the blender and puree on high. This makes a lot of basil oil. It adds a lot of brightness and goes great on almost any soup (maybe not chili),  eggs, and is a great base for salad dressing.

*This stuff is awesome. No real detectable coconut flavor, just tastes like 1/2 & 1/2.

I swear to you, I was the biggest pizza fan that ever existed. It was our cheat meal almost every Friday night. About a year and a half ago, I realized that it wasn’t pizza that I loved, it was the flavors piled on top of the crust. There is no real flavor in the crust, it’s just a vehicle for the tastiness on top. I haven’t had a pizza, in the traditional, or even paleo-ified sense, since. So here you have it, instead of picking off the toppings during this year’s Super Bowl party you can eat an entire bowl full of ‘salad’.

Ingredients

• 1 7 oz. package of Applegate pepperoni slices, chopped or sliced*
• 2 bell peppers, choose your favorite color, chopped or sliced
• 1 eggplant, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 6 oz mushrooms, sliced
• chili flakes, to taste
• olive oil
• black or green olives, roughly chopped
• banana peppers, roughly chopped
• fresh basil, torn with your hands into small pieces
• any other pizza-like topping you dig

For the Dressing

• 3 T pizza sauce
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• 1/4 c olive oil

Method

Over medium-high heat, saute the pepperoni pieces until they’re crispy. Remove from the pan and let them hang out in your serving dish. Add some fat to your saute pan, along with peppers, onion, eggplant and mushrooms. Let all the ingredients sweat it out together, until they’ve softened and developed some caramelized-like color. Add the veggie mixture to your serving bowl, along with the chili flakes, olives, banana peppers and basil.

For the Dressing

Whisk all the ingredients together. Drizzle over the pizza salad and toss to combine. Serve the salad hot–though cold pizza salad is just as yum in the tum.

*I only mention this brand because it’s free of preservatives like sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, BHT, etc. Feel free to substitute (or add!) bacon, sausage or any ground meat.

For the love of pesto, it is hard as heck to make it taste good without parmesan cheese. We’ve tried to make the basic green/basil pesto a few times and it always tastes bitter. So we decided to try a sun dried tomato version to see if the tomatoes would add a sweetness that was lacking in our previous efforts. I loved it so much I was like a kid with cookie dough, using my fingers to get out every last drop. The side dish you see in the pic is a recipe we will post soon, promise.

Ingredients

Pesto

• 1/2 c pine nuts or almonds
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 c sun dried tomatoes (in oil if you can, rehydrate per instructions if dried)
• 1/4 c fresh parsley
• 1/2 c fresh basil
• 1 T tomato paste
• 3/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• S&P

Salmon

• 1 lb wild caught salmon fitlets
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• S&P

For the Pesto

Preheat your oven to 400ºF . On a baking sheet,  toast your pine nuts and roast your garlic. To roast the garlic, wrap the cloves in a small piece of foil with some olive oil drizzled on top and just stick it on the baking sheet, next to the nuts. This should take about 6-8 minutes. They’ll be a nice golden brown when they’re ready. Check frequently….burned garlic and pine nuts taste horribly horrible.  Add the pine nuts, roasted garlic, sun dried tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs to your food processor and blend. Stream in the olive oil until the pesto comes together.

For the Salmon

The salmon can have skin on or off, but make sure all the pin bones are removed by running your fingers across the center line of the salmon. They’re about the size of a sewing needle. Pat your salmon dry with a paper towel and place the fillets skin side down, on the same baking sheet you used for the nuts, but make sure you’ve oiled it with some olive oil, to prevent the skin from sticking. Drizzle the top of the fillets with olive oil and generously salt and pepper. Place in a 400°F oven for about 8 minutes or until the salmon gives slightly when you press down on it.

A throw together salad that goes “POW” in your mouth. I made Shepards Pie with a cauliflower “crust” and ended up only needing 1/2 a head of cauliflower. I needed to use up the other half in some fashion. I made a 24 hour quick pickle with the cauliflower and threw in some carrots too. The pickled veggies add a good zip, and allow me to control the sugar content– most brines contain a massive amount of sugar.

Ingredients

Pickled Cauliflower and Carrots

• 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped small
• 2 carrots, sliced thinly
• 1/2 c white wine vinegar
• 1/2 c red wine vinegar
• 1/2 c water
• 2 T salt
• 1 T sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed

Antipasto

• 6 oz.  salami, pepperoni or other cured meat, chopped
• 1 can quartered artichokes, chopped
• 1/2 c roasted red peppers, chopped
• 1/3 c pistachios, chopped
• handful of basil and oregano, chopped
• 3 T pepperoncini, chopped
• olive oil, to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• other ingredients that you may like: red chili flakes, capers, red onions, kalamata olives, feta cheese

Method

In a medium bowl combine all ingredients for the pickles, place in fridge and let marinate for at least 24 hours. Toss the cauliflower/carrot mixture with a spoon a few times when you go in the fridge. Us a slotted spoon to remove the cauliflower and carrots from the brine. Be sure to remove the garlic if you don’t want it, it’s camouflaged really well by the cauliflower. We chopped the garlic up and put it in the salad, but it’s a bit spicy still, even pickled.

Place the cauliflower/carrots in a large bowl along with the rest of the chopped anitpasto ingredients. Serve immediately or keep in the fridge for a week or so.

Beef stew, also known as beef bourguignon, is good, but boring–and we personally think it tastes like straight up sour wine and that is not very tasty, especially by the spoonful. So we’ve added a bit of balsamic vinegar and raisins to counter the sour with a bit of sweet. We’re also swirling in a nice, briny, herbal pesto to brighten up the braise. Another change, we’re not using a crock pot! The dutch oven allows liquid to evaporate from the pot, thus creating a thicker, more intense flavored stew. And heck, I would rather eat in 2 hours than in 6 hours, agreed?

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Mediterranean Beef Stew with Green Olive Pesto

Stew Ingredients

• 2 T fat of your choice
• 2 lb. chuck shoulder, cubed
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 3/4 c raisins
• (1) 28 oz. can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
• 1 c red wine
• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1 lemon, sliced and seeds removed
• S&P

Pesto Ingredients

• 1 handful of basil leaves
• 1/2 handful of mint leaves
• 1/2 c green olives (about 20)
• 3 T extra virgin olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a dutch oven melt your fat. Salt and pepper the cubed chuck pieces, add them to the pot and let them brown on each side. Don’t fidget with them or remove them until you see a visible brown crust on the meat. Remove and reserve on a plate.  To the pot, add the onion, garlic and carrot. Let them sweat and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the meat back to the pot, along with the tomatoes, raisins, red wine and balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine. Top with sliced lemons.

Lay a piece of parchment paper of the the top of the pot and press it down into the pot. Place in the oven and braise for 2 hours. Taste the meat, it should be super tender, if it’s not give it another half hour or so.

Once you’re about 10 minutes from the stew finishing; combine all the ingredients for the pesto in a mini food processor. Pulse until everything has come together.

When the stew is out of the oven, take the lemon rinds out, but leave in the flesh…it’ll separate very easily. Swirl in the pesto and serve.

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Rubbery, over cooked, leathery eggs are not tasty eats. There are 2 secrets to a great frittata.

1. Use a dish that’s wide enough! The smaller the diameter of the dish, the longer the eggs take to cook–hence the leathery-ness and browning. Notice in the pic that the eggs come about half way up the dish.

You’ll never guess #2.

2. Acid. Vinegar, lemon juice, salt, etc. Acids actually tenderize the proteins in the eggs, so the end result is lighter and creamier…and NO, you don’t taste the acid in the finished eggs.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 3 strips of bacon, crumbled
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 3 basil leaves, chopped
• 1/2 roasted red pepper, chopped
• 1/4 t vinegar or lemon juice

Method

Grease an oven safe baking dish (a pie or tart pan works great here) and turn the oven to 350F.

In a bowl whisk together all the ingredients and pour them into the greased baking dish. Bake for approx. 20 minutes–or when you gently agitate the dish, the center doesn’t jiggle.