Korean Comfort Bowl

Bibimbap

Want a simple one bowl meal that tastes great and all the goodness you want? Try Korean Bibimbap! If you haven't had an authentic version, try to seek out a good Korean place to give it a try. Most bibimbap uses the same ingredients, but you can make this more paleo or less - use cauliflower rice instead of regular rice for the paleo feel, but I enjoy using a sushi rice to make mine. This dish does the job in filling you up, eating your colours, and giving you great flavour to enjoy what you are eating! 

 

Bibimbap (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

1lb Lean Ground Beef (You can pick up grass-fed organic ground beef from Costco!)2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 Small Piece of Ginger, peeled, finely chopped (about 1" piece will work)
1/2lb Mushrooms, sliced (Use your favourite kind)
4 Cups Spinach, washed well, stems removed (Any Asian Greens will work too)
4 Large Eggs
1 Cup Daikon Radish, cut julienne or grated
1 Cup Carrots, cut julienne or grated
Coconut Oil (Or Avocado Oil)
Tamari
Fish Sauce
Sesame Oil
Sea Salt

1. The first thing you need to do is prepare your rice, or your cauliflower rice, then go to the following steps.
2. Cook out the ground beef in a pan with coconut/avocado oil, making sure you break it up well. If the beef you are using is too fatty, drain off the excess fat. 
3. Add in the half the garlic, ginger, 1 Tbsp Tamari, and 1/2 Tsp fish sauce to the beef and cook for a further minute or two. Remove from pan and set aside.
4. In the same pan, add in some coconut/avocado oil and start frying up the veggies separately. First, add in the mushrooms and stir, add in a pinch of salt and cook out until brown and set aside. Repeat again for the spinach, adding the oil first, toss in the remainder of the garlic then the spinach until wilted, but not too soft. This should take no time.
5. In the pan, fry the eggs so they are sunny side up and separated, each portion will get one egg.
6. Now it's time to put it together! In four bowls, place the rice in the bottom, top with ground beef, and drizzle some sesame oil on the beef. Place some mushrooms, spinach, carrots, and daikon radish on top of the beef in each bowl and finally top it off with the fried egg. Enjoy with some Sriracha sauce or Korean hot sauce if you have it!

Sweet Breakfast Hash

Breakfast Hash!

Most important meal of the day - breakfast! Try combining these whole foods together into an awesome sweet breakfast hash. Sweet Potato, Kale and Eggs - yes! Kick your morning off with this plateful of power!

 

Ingredients:

2 Sweet Potatoes, peeled, rinsed and diced small
1 Shallot, peeled, and finely diced
2 Cups Kale, washed well, stalks removed, leaves torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 Tsp Cumin
1/2 Tsp Paprika
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
2-3 Eggs, free-range preferred (depends on how hungry you are)
Butter or Bacon Fat (any fat to cook the hash that you prefer)

1. In a large skillet, heat the butter (or other fat) over medium-high heat. Add in the potatoes, shallots, and spices.
2. Stir the mixture to help cook evenly, takes about 15 minutes for the potatoes to cook through and become soft. Add in the kale. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Season the hash with salt and pepper to your liking. Turn off and remove from heat to rest.
4. In a separate skillet, cook your eggs - sunny side up or over easy are the most common ways of preparing eggs to go with breakfast hash.
5. Place the hash on a plate then top with your eggs, grab some Sriracha and enjoy!
6. You can always kick these up a notch by adding a pinch of cayenne pepper, and even crisping some bacon and mixing it in with the hash - experiment until you find your favourite combo!

One Pan Breakfast!

5 Ingredient Breakfast!

Breakfast is very important, and many people find it hard to get this meal in first thing because of time constraints or they can't think of what to make. Here's an easy one shot breakfast that contains everything you need to start your day off right - some dark, leafy greens, eggs, sweet potato and protein! You can mix and match your type of greens, I used Kale, but spinach or Swiss Chard will do the trick. The protein can be swapped out as well - instead of sausage, you can use bacon, ground beef, or even ground chicken if you prefer a white meat. You can even make this at one time and then pack them up in meals for the entire week - just reheat and go!

Ingredients:

12 Eggs, free-range preferred
2 Cups Kale leaves, torn and thoroughly cleaned and dried
3 Small Sweet Potatoes, peeled, washed and diced small
1 lb Sausage Meat, from a quality source
Sea Salt
Ground Pepper

1. In a large pan over medium-high heat, break up the sausage meat and cook through.
2. Add in the sweet potato, stirring to prevent burning, and cook until tender.
3. Add in the kale leaves until they are just wilted; add in the eggs and scramble until egg is cooked out.
4. Season with salt and pepper - voila, done!

COOOOOKIIIEEEES!!

COOOOOKIIIEEEES!

Easy, chewy, chocolate chip cookies. These simple to make and quick to bake ... and are even faster to disappear!

Ingredients:

3 1/4 Cups of Ground Almonds (aka Almond Flour)
1 1/2-2 Cups of Good Chocolate Chips or Cacao Nibs (depends on how much chocolate you want in them!)
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Flaked Sea Salt, crumbled
1 Tsp Pure Vanilla 
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
1/2 Cup Butter, melted
2 Eggs

1. In a bowl add in the ground almonds, baking soda, and sea salt. Give it a stir to combine. In a separate bowl, add in the eggs,butter, maple syrup, and vanilla - whisk until completely mixed.
2. Stir in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Then add in the chocolate chips and/or cacao nibs. The result should be a very wet cookie dough. Place this bowl in the fridge for approximately 15-20 minutes for the dough to become solid.
3. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line your baking trays with parchment paper and remove the dough from the fridge. Use a small 1oz ice cream scoop to shape the cookies. Make sure you leave space between each cookie scoop. If you do not have a cookie scoop, shape the cookie dough into 1" in diametre balls.
4. Place tray in oven and bake for about 8-10 minutes - be cautious that you do not over-bake the cookies!! At the 8 minute mark, take a peak to see if the bottom of the cookie is golden and the top of the cookie is golden. If it is, then remove from oven; if not, cook for another minute or two. 
5. The cookies will be soft to the touch when they first come out of the oven. Allow to cool, then eat up or store in an air tight container in the fridge...but you will more than likely not need to do that :)

Baked Egg-vocados

BAKED AVOCADO?!

As they say, Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and this baked egg and avocado meal is FILLING! It's filled with good fatty acids, protein, fiber and flavour - plus it's quick!

Ingredients

4 Free-Range Eggs (if you can get them from a farmer, even better!)
2 Ripe Avocados (larger ones are better to hold the egg)

Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste

Fresh Chopped Herbs to garnish (chives are best)
Crisp Bacon (Optional to crumble on top!)

Method 

1. Before prepping, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Half the avocado as normal and remove the pit. On the outside, rounded part of the avocado, cut off straight the rounded part of the avocado so it can sit flat, but don't cut too deep into the avocado that you break through to the centre. 
3. Place the avocados in a baking dish, they shouldn't roll around with the rounded part cut off.
4. Crack an egg into the centre of each avocado, ensuring that the yolk is in the centre of the hole. It is okay if the egg white is spills slightly out of the hole.
5. Bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until you see the egg whites set.
6. Remove and season with the salt and pepper, then garnish with the herbs and sprinkle the bacon on top if you choose!
7. Eat up!
   
   
   

Cookie SMASH!

PROTEIN COOKIES!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Smash Recovery has arrived at Canuck...so I thought I would try it in a yummy chocolate chewy cookie recipe! Did the test...and they got a "rep" from the tasters :) One of the simplest and easiest cookies to make - about 15 minute cap if you start heating your oven before you begin mixing! Remember to pick up a bag of PB Chocolate Smash the next time you're at the box to try the awesomeness before it is all gone!

 

Ingredients

2 Scoops Progenex Peanut Butter Chocolate Smash Recovery

1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar

1/4 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 Cup Thick Almond Butter (make sure it isn't too liquid/oily, or it won't hold)

2 Eggs, beatened

Pinch Sea Salt

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Mini Chips (used Enjoy Life ones for this recipe)

 

Method

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees before starting to combine the ingredients.
2. In a bowl, mix the almond butter, protein, and coconut sugar until combined. Add in the eggs and mix well, then add in the cocoa powder; it should still resemble a dough-like consistency.
3. Add in the remaining ingredients of baking soda, vanilla, salt and chocolate chips. Ensure everything is well combined and the consistency is still dough-like.
4. If you have a small 1oz ice cream scoop, you can scoop out the cookies evenly onto a baking sheet. Or you can eyeball the cookies by shaping them into about 1" size balls and placing them on the cookie sheet.
5. Gently press the cookie balls down to create a more flat top, but not too much or else the cookies won't be chewy or soft after baking.
6. Pop them in the fridge for a couple minutes before placing in the oven to bake for about 6-10 minutes (it depends if you are cooking in a convection or a regular oven - times vary so keep an eye on them!)
7. Remove them from the oven when they have formed a slightly crisp top and allow to cook for about 5 minutes before moving them onto a cooling rack. This will allow the cookie to set on the outside with a little crust and keep the cookie nice and soft on the inside.
8. Once cooled, store in an airtight container any that you haven't eaten yet or shared with your friends!

 

Cauliflower Rice...whhaaatt??

CAULI-FRIED RICE
Going back to my Asian roots for this one...kinda. Cauliflower is pretty amazing when you think about it - even being considered the Superfood that took Kale out of the number one spot! You can steam it, bake it, eat it raw and even fried rice it...we're going with that last one today :)

 



Ingredients
1 Head Cauliflower
5 Slices Slab Bacon, chopped (the good stuff if you can!)
1 Chicken Breast, chopped (same size as the bacon for even cooking purposes)
3 Eggs, beaten
1 Tsp Fresh Ginger, grated
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Bunch Green Onions, chopped (separate the green parts from the white parts)
1 Cup Carrots, diced small
1 Cup Peas, fresh or frozen
1/3 Cup Thai Basil, chopped
1-3 Tbsp Tamari
1 Tsp Sriracha (optional)
Avocado Oil or Coconut Oil (for frying)

Method

1. Make sure all your ingredients are cut before you start frying, you gotta move fast in this one! For the "rice" cut the cauliflower into small florets and pulse in a food processor until it starts resembling little pieces of rice. No food processor, you can grate it roughly with a hand held grater.
2. Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and fry until brown and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a separate dish and set aside.
3. Add to the pan the eggs and quickly scramble then breaking into small pieces, then move to the holding dish. If needed, add a little oil to the pan and turn the heat to high. Add the chicken, white onion pieces, ginger and garlic. Stir fry until the chicken is just barely cooked through, then add the carrots and cook another minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the holding dish.
4. Now add the cauliflower "rice" to the pan. Stir fry for 3-5 minutes until soft, but still firm, you don't want it to be too soft or it will become mushy. Place the cooked bacon, chicken, vegetables, ginger and garlic into the pan. Add in the peas and Tamari to taste and the Sriracha if you choose. Stir and toss together until peas are heated through, then toss in your green onion and basil. Serve!

Mmmm....Egg Muffins

PALEO EGG MUFFINS

These are EGGSellent for the perfect 'grab and go' breakfast for those who don't have too much time in the morning! Great source of nutrition in the AM or PM (Eggs aren't just for breakfast anymore!) and they are EASY to make ahead of time. Experiment with different fillings or even add some spice!

Ingredients:

12 Whole Eggs (Free-Range if possible)
1 Cup Natural Bacon, diced and cooked (Try to find that pure stuff if you can, avoid all
   those bad nitrates and junk!)
1.5 Cups Greens of some sort - Kale, Spinach, Broccoli, or Asparagus, chopped
1 Cup Mushrooms, diced
1 Cup Onions, diced (I prefer Green Onions)
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste 


Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350F.
2. Dice your bacon and cook it off; make sure you drain off all the fat. Best result is to place it on paper towel and dab off the excess. Set aside.
3. Dice all your vegetables if you are using hearty vegetables like broccoli and asparagus. If you are using leafy greens, julienne cut them (into strips) so they are not too small - these types of greens tend to shrink a lot.
4. In a bowl, crack all the eggs and whisk them to break them up, add in your salt and pepper to taste, then mix in your bacon and vegetables.
5. Grease your muffin pan with coconut oil and fill the muffin cups 3/4 full allowing room for the muffins to rise.
6. Place in oven and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until the centre of the muffins are cooked - try not to over cook them! (Trick: Use a toothpick to check the doneness by inserting it into the middle and if it comes out clean, they are done).
7. Eat and enjoy immediately, or allow to cool before packing them in airtight containers and storing them in the fridge for the week. To re-heat just pop them in the microwave for a few seconds and you're good to go! 

Makes 12 Servings