Red Cabbage and Carrot Coleslaw (AIP, Paleo, Vegan)

It is really starting to feel like summer here on the East Coast, and I am pretty excited. After a less than impressive winter for our area, I am ready to play out side all day, take Emily to play outside all day and only come in for food and water (sometimes, but eating outside is super fun too).

My husband and I both grew up in Pennsylvania (Dutch country area) and moved to Maryland once we got married. One of our biggest complaints we have when going out is that Maryland just does not know how to do make a proper coleslaw. There must be a pinch of sweet, a tang of vinegar, and a hint of salt. And try as many places may, they just can't seem to find that right combination. In truth, a proper slaw will use a mayo/vinegar base, in my recipe I use a combo of coconut cream, apple cider vinegar and avocado oil to create the yummy, creamy dressing that is true to a classic dutch style coleslaw.

Ingredients 

• 1/2 medium head of red cabbage 
• 2 medium carrots
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon  coconut cream
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1-2 green onions for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Finely shred red cabbage and cut carrots into match sticks. (I used my mandolin with no extra blade for the cabbage and a medium comb for the carrots.)
2. In a large bowl mix together red cabbage and carrots until the are well combined.
3. In a smaller bowl whisk together coconut cream, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, and sea salt.
4. Pour dressing mixture over cabbage/carrot blend and toss until it is fully incorporated.
5. You can eat it right away, but it tastes much better if you let it sit for an hour or two. Even better, make it the night before and let it marinate all night, then toss again before serving.

Apple, Cabbage, and Kale Salad (AIP, Paleo, Vegan, Whole 30)

This is a perfectly refreshing salad to break up the "is it winter? is it spring? is it summer?" feeling we have been having the last few weeks. I almost always have these ingredients in my kitchen, so it just made sense to throw them together. It's a perfect salad to pair with almost any meal and is a little more fancy than just a pile of romaine.

Apple, Cabbage, and Kale Salad

Ingredients

• 1 apple
• 1/4 of red cabbage
• 3-4 stalks of kale
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 a lemon, juiced
• A pinch of sea salt

Instructions

1. Peel and core apple, and slice in to matchsticks. I used a mandolin to get this thin cut.
2. Slice the red cabbage very thinly. Again, I used my madnolin for a nice uniform thin slice
3. De-steam kale and discard stems. Chop up leaves and add to bowl. Mix apple, cabbage and kale until well combine.
4. Add olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt and stir until well integrated.
5. You can enjoy this right away, but I will say it gets better as it sits. If you can, make it a few hours or even a day ahead, and it will be even yummier. 

Easy Braised Cabbage (AIP, Paleo, Whole 30)

Recently, I had the pleasure of guest posting on for Leslie of the The Whole Life Balance. She is a an amazing blogger who shares how to find the balance between life, health, and so much more. In fact, Leslie did a fantastic guest post on Don't Eat the Spatula covering my most favorite topic, Meal Planning. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend doing so now!

The recipe I shared on her site is a very simple way to make cabbage that can be cooked up at the beginning of the week and used as leftovers with almost any dish. I usually make a batch of this every week to have it as an easy side. Click here to view the recipe.

Cabbage and Ground Pork Curry (AIP, Paleo)

Prior to AIP, I was actually never a huge curry fan. Mostly because it always made me feel so icky afterwards. Having now learned about AIP, I realize that is likely I am sensitive to those spices like cumin and coriander. It was not my intention to create a curry recipe. Right now, I am seriously obsessed with putting ginger and turmeric in any dish that works. Additionally, sage and cinnamon are basically the only spices I use when cooking pork, so I decided to through them all in a pan together with some cabbage and see what happened. To my surprise, it tasted great! So I've decided to share this one pan dish with you all.

Cabbage and Ground Pork Curry

Ingredients 

• 1/2 large head of cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground sage or 1/2 teaspoon of rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric* 
• 1/4 cup of bone broth (preferably pork or beef)

*If you have access to fresh turmeric, you can also add another 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated turmeric.

Instruction

1. Preheat large pan over medium-high heat. Add ground pork and cook until browned.
2. Divide cabbage in half and add half to the pan with pork. Mix and cook for about 2-3 mins, or until cabbage starts to wilt a little. 
3. Add in the remaining cabbage and sea salt to pan and stir to combine and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4. Add cinnamon, garlic powder, ground ginger, ground sage, and ground turmeric to pan and stir until seasons cover the pork and cabbage.
5. Lastly add bone broth to pan. Once broth is boiling, reduce heat to low and cover pan with lid or aluminum foil.
6. Cook covered for 20 minutes on low heat. 
7. Remove lid and cook for another 5 minutes or until all liquid has disappeared.
8. Enjoy!

Shared on AIP Recipe Roundtable

Bacon Fat Roasted Cabbage (AIP, Paleo)

This recipe was just too good not to share with you asap. It is now my favorite way to eat cabbage.
On a completely different note, I've made a few changes to the blog, hope you like it.

Bacon Fat Roasted Cabbage

Ingredients 

1 head of cabbage 

2-3 tablespoons of bacon fat, melt
A pinch of sea salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degree F.

2. Cut cabbage in quarters, then cut 1/4 thick slices. Try and make the slices as similar as possible so that some won't cook faster than others.

3. Place cabbage slices on a Silpat or parchment paper lined cooking sheets (you will probably need two).

4. Brush cabbage slices with melted bacon fat. If you don't keep a mason jar of bacon fat in your house like I do, you can chopped up 2-3 slices of uncooked bacon and sprinkle them over the cabbage. Sprinkle with a little sea salt.

5. Cook cabbage in oven for about 45 mins or until the edges begin to brown.

6. Enjoy!

Shared on AIP Recipe Roundtable

Bison, Kabocha Squash, and Cabbage Skillet (AIP, Paleo)

Two posts in a one week time period, that can only mean one thing, I am avoiding doing things I should be doing, such as cleaning, doing dishes, washing laundry, and showering. You know, stuff of the living.

I have lots of too share, but I want to get all my thoughts together. Instead, I am just going to jump straight to this yummy recipe.

Just before thanksgiving I bought a kabocha squash because I’d seen a few people post pictures of recipes with them, but have been too chicken to cook with it. Well, that and I just couldn’t find a recipe I liked. Then, this past week we found organic bison at the grocery store on sale, and I had a good idea of what I was going to do.

P.S. This is a one skillet/pan recipe, which makes it even better because who likes washing dishes? Not me!

Bison, Kabocha Squash, and Cabbage Skillet

Ingredients

• 1 pound grassfed bison
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• ½ medium kabocha squash – seeded, peeled and diced (roughly 2 - 2 ½ cups)
• 1 small head of cabbage – thinly sliced
• 1 small onion – chopped
• 3 tablespoons of coconut aminos
• 1 tablespoon of ume plum vinegar
• Pinch of sea salt

Preparation

1. In a large skillet or pan warm up pan over medium heat. Once warm, add oil to pan.
2. Add bison to pan and cook until browned and you see no more pink.
3. Add onions to meat and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until they become aromatic.
4. Toss in diced squash and cook for 10 minutes, until they start to soften.
5. Finally, add in cabbage (it will look like a lot, but it cooks down), coconut aminos, and vinegar. Cover and cook for an additionally 15 mins. Stir occasionally.
6. Once the squash is soft and cabbaged is cooked down it is ready to devour! Enjoy in a bowl or topped on whatever you want. Be creative.

Shared on AIP Recipe Roundtable