A paleo friendly Filipino dish, pancit!

For those that may not know, I am half Filipino. I was born in the Philippines and that's where my mother is from. My father is basically a mix of German and Polish. So as you can imagine, I had a very wide range of dishes while growing up. But my mother's cooking was always my favorite and still is to this day. Filipino dishes give me that feeling of home. I can remember when I was a little girl she would make lumpia, pancit, fried rice, adobo and these little whole fishes that always made the entire house smell! It wasn't until I was in middle school that I realized these foods were not things that my friends had for dinner everyday! Now that  live away from home, I only get to experience my mom's cooking during the holidays. Her lumpia is one of the best parts of Christmas! I also loved her pancit. It is basically the equivalent of Filipino comfort food; you can eat pancit for any meal, any time of day and it's still awesome!

With all that said, Filipino food is not exactly paleo friendly. But I have had a craving for it lately. Pancit is a dish that is normally made with rice based noodles from the Philippines which is obviously a paleo no-no. So, I did a search for "paleo pancit" to see if anyone had figured it out yet and the folks at Everyday Paleo came pretty close. They used shredded cabbage as the noodle base and also suggested adding a sweet potato to get a starchy consistency. The combination worked perfectly. I also modified their recipe slightly to add vegetables that better reflected what I remembered my mother using. And I gotta say, it turned out pretty awesome! I found myself eating two very large bowls.

My mother knows that I am eating differently now but I am curious if she'd like it. Might have to make it for the family next time I visit to possibly improve it with some secret mom tips. Now if only there was a paleo lumpia...

Enjoy!
*****

Paleo Filipino Pancit

Ingredients:
4 eggs (optional)

2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 teaspoons crushed garlic*
6 green onions, diced*
4 stalks celery, diced*
1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts, cut into small bite size pieces*
1 lb pork loin, cut into small bit size pieces*

2 tablespoons coconut oil
6 cups shredded green cabbage*
1 sweet potato, spiral sliced using a Spiral Vegetable Slicer*
5 carrots, diced*

1/4 cup coconut aminos
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons sugar free fish sauce
Juice from 1 lemon
Black pepper and Celtic sea salt to taste

*A tip for this recipe is to have all your prep done before you start cooking; the recipe comes together pretty quickly.

1. Boil your eggs. If you want to learn how to make the perfect hard boiled eggs, read this blog. Works every time!

2. In a large wok heat the first 2 tbsp coconut oil over medium to medium high heat.  When the wok is nice and hot, add the garlic, green onions, celery, chicken, and pork and saute for about 10 minutes or until the meat is done all the way through but still tender. Remove the meat from the wok and set aside.

3. In the same wok, heat the next 2 tbsp coconut oil over medium to medium high heat. Add the cabbage, sweet potato, and carrots to the wok and cook until the cabbage is tender, about 10 minutes.

4. Add the chicken and pork back to the veggies and pour in the coconut aminos, chicken broth, fish sauce, and lemon juice. Season with black pepper and salt to taste. Stir well and cook for another 5-7 minutes until well combined.

5. Slice hard boiled eggs and place on top of pancit. Serve in bowls with a lemon wedge.

Paleo Filipino Pancit

Paleo Veggie Stir Fry

You are going to love this recipe! I discovered something called coconut aminos which is a soy free substitute for soy sauce! It's all the flavor without the soy or high salt! Cooking with this stuff will change your life. I found coconut aminos at Whole Foods in the Asian food section but you can also order it through Amazon here. Coconut aminos is basically the “sap” of the coconut tree. The sap produced is loaded with amino acids, minerals, and is low on the glycemic index. You can read more about this amazing ingredient here.

Tonight, I decided to make a stir fry that was adapted from an Asian Style "Noodles" recipe. I had a bunch of vegetables that needed to be used, so a stir fry is always a good solution. The sauce for this recipe reminds me of a peanut sauce (but without the peanuts of course). It's VERY tasty and could probably be used on chicken as well. Hope you like it as much as I did!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large cooked spaghetti squash (you could use zucchini noodles as well)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 large head of broccoli, florets cut off
3 carrots, sliced into matchsticks
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp almond butter
6 tbsp coconut aminos
2 tbsp Red Boat fish sauce (this is a sugar free brand)
Juice of 2 limes

Ingredients

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 deg.

2. Cut spaghetti squash in half and clean out seeds.

3. Place spaghetti squash in glass casserole dish filled with 1 inch of water, hollow side down.

4. Bake for 45 minutes, remove and let cool. Scope out squash and set aside.

5. While squash is cooking, heat 1 Tbsp of oil, in a large skillet, over medium high heat. Saute onions, 3-4 minutes.

6. Add the broccoli and carrots and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until mostly tender.

7. In a blender, mix together garlic, almond butter, coconut aminos, Red Boat fish sauce, and lime juice.

8. Add the sauce to the stir fry and mix thoroughly (you may not need to use all of the sauce).

9. Add the spaghetti squash to the stir fry or serve stir fry over spaghetti squash (see picture below).

Stir fry served over spaghetti squash

Shrimp and Tomato Sauté with Zucchini Spaghetti

So, my last entry was Shrimp and Tomato Sauté with Spaghetti Squash and I loved it so much! I wanted to try the same recipe using zucchini spaghetti. The recipes are very similar to each other, just basically served over a different vegetable. I also made some tweaks to the recipe for my own tastes. 

I just made this dish for dinner tonight and I must say, it's awesome! The zucchini had more flavor than the spaghetti squash and was closer to the consistency of al dente pasta. Might be my new favorite for the summer! To make the zucchini spaghetti you need to invest in a spiral slicer. I bought mine on Amazon and it works great!

Ingredients:
10 roma tomatoes
turbinado sugar
1 large zucchini
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
coarse celtic sea salt and ground pepper
3 garlic cloves
pinch of red-pepper flakes
handful of fresh basil
juice from 1 lemon
fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cut plum tomatoes in half and arrange cut side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

3. Sprinkle tomatoes with turbinado sugar.

4. Bake for an hour, remove and let cool.

5. Cut ends of zucchini and place in spiral slicer. Slice the entire zucchini using the smallest blade setting.

Zucchini spaghetti coming out of spiral slicer.

Plate full of beautiful zucchini spaghetti.

6. In a large skillet, heat extra-virgin olive oil over high. Saute zucchini spaghetti for 7-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 

Saute zucchini spaghetti.

7. In another large skillet, heat extra-virgin olive oil over high.

8. Season shrimp with coarse salt and ground pepper. Add the shrimp to the skillet and cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes. 

Cook shrimp until opaque.

9. Place garlic cloves, red-pepper flakes, fresh basil, and fresh lemon juice in a food processor and mix.

10. Add mixture to skillet and cook for 4-6 minutes; toss to coat.

Toss to coat.

11. Stir in tomatoes and cook until tomatoes being to break down, 4 to 6 minutes. Season with salt. 

12. In a large dish, mix shrimp and tomato sauté with zucchini spaghetti. Top with fresh parsley for garnish.

Yum yum!

Enjoy!

Shrimp and Tomato Sauté with Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients:
6 plum tomatoes
turbinado sugar
1 spaghetti squash
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
coarse salt and ground pepper
5 garlic cloves
pinch of red-pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh basil
juice from 2 lemons

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cut plum tomatoes in half and arrange cut side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

3. Sprinkle tomatoes with turbinado sugar.

4. Bake for an hour, remove and let cool.

5. Cut spaghetti squash in half and clean out seeds.

6. Place spaghetti squash in glass casserole dish filled with 1 inch of water, hollow side down.

7. Bake for 45 minutes, remove and let cool. Scope out squash and set aside.

8. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat extra-virgin olive oil over high.

9. Season shrimp with coarse salt and ground pepper. Add the shrimp to the skillet and cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes.

10. Place garlic cloves, red-pepper flakes, fresh parsley, fresh basil, and fresh lemon juice in a food processor and mix.

11. Add mixture to skillet and cook for 4-6 minutes; toss to coat.

12. Stir in tomatoes and cook until tomatoes being to break down, 4 to 6 minutes. Season with salt.

13. Serve over spaghetti squash.

Quinoa Mango Salad and Skirt Steak

Totally yummy salad!

INGREDIENTS

Quinoa
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water

Orange vinaigrette
14 mint leaves, minced
1 tablespoon capers, minced
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad
1 mango, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch chunks
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, and chopped
1/2 cup roasted red peppers
1 cup packed greens (spinach, arugula, mixed lettuces), chopped

Steak

3 lbs of skirt steak2 tbsp Coriander seeds
2 tbsp Fennel seeds
2 tbsp Turbinado Sugar
1 Jalapeno, seeds removed and minced
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro leaves
coarse sea salt
fresh cracked pepper

SALAD DIRECTIONS

1.    Place the quinoa and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pan, and cook until all the liquid is absorbed, about 10 to 12 minutes.

2.    While the quinoa cooks, make the vinaigrette: in a large bowl, whisk together the mint, capers, orange juice, and olive oil. Season well with salt and freshly ground pepper. When the quinoa is cooked, fluff with a fork and transfer to the bowl with the vinaigrette. Stir well to combine.

3.    Add the mango, red peppers, jalapeño, and greens. Stir until the vegetables are incorporated into the quinoa. Chill until ready to serve.

STEAK DIRECTIONS

4.    In a food processor, combine coriander and fennel and grind. Put in small bowl and mix with sugar. Add jalapeno, garlic and cilantro.

5.    Rub spice mixture all over steak. Season with smoked salt and pepper.

6.    Heat grill pan to medium high heat. Lightly oil grill pan with olive oil. Cook steaks 9 minutes per side for medium rare. Remove steak and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

This recipe made enough for a large dinner serving and two extra dishes to pack for leftover lunches.

Salad recipe adapted from http://www.yumsugar.com/Recipe-Vegan-Quinoa-Salad-18794510

Steak recipe adapted from Tom Colicchio 

Chocolate Almond Butter Squares

If you like reese's peanut butter cups but want the healthier sugar free and legume free version, make these bad boys! So yummy :)

Crust
1 cup almond flour (sifted)
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp honey
pinch of celtic sea salt

Filling
1 cup almond butter
3 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 3 x 7 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine the ingredients for the crust. Evenly press the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes. The crust is done when it is lightly brown and firm to the touch. Let the crust cool COMPLETELY before spreading the filling.

In a bowl, combine the almond butter, coconut oil, honey. Mix and reserve about ¼ of the mixture for the chocolate topping. Spread the almond butter filling onto the cooled crust. Place the bars in the freezer for 1 hour to firm up before spreading the chocolate mixture on top of the almond filling.

To make the chocolate topping add unsweetened cocoa powder to the reserved almond butter filling and sweeten with additional honey to taste.

Spread on top of the semi-frozen bars. Place in the freezer to firm over night. Cut 9 slices and then cut each slice in half to make 18 squares. Store the squares in the freezer.

Enjoy!

Adapted recipe from Indulge 70 Grain Free Desserts

Day of Remembrance -- Feb. 1, 2013

It's been 10 years since the Space Shuttle Columbia accident. I was not yet working for the space program. I was living in Miami, FL and I remember when I found out about the news. It was a Saturday morning and I was out on my porch enjoying a sunny Florida day. I received a text message from a friend of mine saying something along the lines that he was sorry to hear about the accident (he knew I was a big NASA fan). I had to ask him, "what are you talking about?" And then I remember turning on the news and just went into a state of shock. I can only imagine what the heartbreak would have felt like if I had been working at the space center...

Every year the NASA administrator sends out a  note on this day of remembrance. I wanted to share it with you all today.

Day of Remembrance -- Feb. 1, 2013

NASA's Day of Remembrance inspires thoughtful reflection and gratitude on behalf of the entire NASA Family, the nation and, indeed, the world.

This year, we recognize the decade that has passed since we lost 7 brave men and women aboard STS-107 Columbia, who were our friends, colleagues, and family members.

We will never forget these astronauts nor all those who have lost their lives carrying out our missions of exploration – the STS-51L Challenger crew; the Apollo 1 crew; Mike Adams, the first in-flight fatality of the space program as he piloted the X-15 No. 3 on a research flight.

These explorers, and their families, have our deepest respect.  We work every day to honor and build on their legacy and create the best space program in the world -- to infuse it with the life and vitality that they worked so hard to achieve.

After the tragedy of Columbia, we not only returned to flight, we established policies and procedures to make our human spaceflight program safer than ever.  Exploration will never be without risk, but we continue to work to ensure that when humans travel to space, nothing has been left undone to make them as safe as possible.

In the years after we returned the shuttles to flight, we completed an engineering marvel.  The International Space Station now soars above us, an unparalleled and unique orbiting laboratory that is our foothold to the rest of the solar system.  We are in a new era of exploration, where the work and sacrifice of those who have gone before will help us once again launch American astronauts from American soil and send them farther into deep space than we have ever gone.

So while the Day of Remembrance is in part a time of sadness, it is also a time of contemplation and thankfulness.  It is a time to be thankful that these great men and women shared their lives with us; that they helped advance our nation and made life better on Earth; and that they are still united with us in that shared pursuit.

Today, I laid wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery for these fallen heroes, and at the Kennedy Space Center, wreaths were laid at the Space Mirror Memorial.  Across the country, all flags at NASA Headquarters and the NASA centers will be flown at half-mast in memory of our colleagues lost in the cause of exploration.

And while those gestures will signify to the nation and the world that we have not forgotten, as we look to the future, we will each remember in our own personal way our colleagues and friends, and what their work meant to us.  Together we will carry them with us in our hearts as we propel ourselves to the next big horizon and make their dreams reality.

President Obama has also made a statement about the Day of Remembrance. To read the President's statement, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/Obama_dor2013.html

Charlie B.

Apollo 1 Crew

STS-51L Challenger Crew

STS-107 Columbia Crew