Hawaiian Pizza Soup

Sometimes I really miss pizza. We've whipped up some gluten-free, Paleo crusts before, but it does take some effort and I don't have a lot of time these days. I decided to try and just throw some pizza flavors in the crockpot and see what happened. My boyfriend's favorite pizza is Hawaiian, so I improved with some sausage, threw in some pineapple, tomatoes, and some greens for good luck. The result was very tasty! I brought this to school and people got jealous, so you know it must be good!

Ingredients
1) 2 pounds of cooked sausage (I used chicken and apple)
2) 2-3 cans of diced tomatoes (15oz cans)
3) 2 cans of tomato sauce (15oz cans)
4) 3 cups of diced pineapple
5) 2-3 cups of chopped kale or spinach
Extra: 1/2 tablespoon of Italian seasonings, 1/2 teaspoon or so of salt

Instructions
1) Heat up a large skillet or cast iron over medium-high heat. Chop up your sausage and throw in the pan to brown up and get some color on it. Gordon Ramsey says color is flavor, so this step is important!

2) While the sausage is browning, add your diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and diced pineapples to your crockpot. If you want it extra tomato-y, then add the 3 cans of diced tomatoes, but 2 also works great. Your choice! Add the chopped kale or spinach at this time too. I added a lot of kale, because it cooks down 90%.

3) Once the sausage has browned to your liking, add it to your crockpot.

4) Stir to incorporate, then add your Italian seasoning and salt, stirring again.

5) Cook on low for 4-5 hours, and enjoy!

6-Ingredient Pork and Cabbage Stew

Pork and cabbage pair so well together! I had some leftover pork loin in the freezer and wanted to just throw a quick stew together to simmer all day while I worked on homework. This turned out amazing!


Ingredients
1) 2 pound pork loin, pork butt or pork tenderloin
2) 1/2 to 1 small head of cabbage, shredded
3) 1-1.5 pounds of carrots, sliced into discs or diced
4) 2-3 green peppers, diced
5) 1 onion, diced
6) 2 cups of beef stock, chicken stock, or water (I actually had 2 cups of leftover broth after making some ribs, so I used that)
Extra: Salt and Pepper

Instructions
1) Get out your crockpot.
2) Chop up your veggies.

3) Place all your carrots, onions, and green peppers in the crockpot. Add in 1/2 of your shredded cabbage (this should fill up your entire crockpot, basically). Mix to distribute the veggies.
4) Take your pork and bury it in the bottom of the mixed veggies. Season with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper.

5) Cook on low for 10-12 hours, stirring every 3-4 hours if you can, to help the veggies on top get cooked too.

6) After about half your cooking time is done, the veggies should have shrank and you should be able to add in the remainder of your cabbage if you'd like. You could omit this and it would still be delicious.
7) Continue to cook until you reach at least 10 hours. You could cook as long as you'd like, it will just get better and better! I started it first thing in the morning, around 7am and it was ready for a late dinner. Once done cooking, take two forks and shred your pork into your stew. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Broccoli Brussels Sprouts Chicken Stew

Do you like all the green vegetables? Well this dish throws them into one pot and allows them to cook up together and become something tasty. My boyfriend says this is one of the best dishes I've ever made! If you like more bite to your broccoli and brussels sprouts, add then in later in the cooking process, or cook the whole thing for less. This is perfect for a weekend, because it involves a little pre-cooking, and only needs to slow cook for 4 hours.

Ingredients
1) 2 pounds of raw chicken thighs, diced (or breasts)
2) 2 tablespoons of cooking oil of your choice (coconut oil, ghee, tallow, etc)
3) 1 onion, diced
4) 3 cups of broccoli florets, chopped
5) 1-2 pounds of brussels sprouts, sliced in half or roughly chopped
Extra: Salt & Pepper or seasoning of your choice

Instructions
1) Heat up a large skillet over medium heat. Add your cooking oil, and then add your diced chicken.

2) Chop up your onion, and add it to the cooking chicken. Let cook for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is browned and the onions are softened. Season with salt and pepper, or any other spices you'd like. I did about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper, but have also added rosemary garlic seasoning and that was delicious too!

3) In the mean time, chop up your broccoli and brussels sprouts and add them to your slow cooker.

4) Once your chicken and onions have cooked 10-15 minutes, add them to the slow cooker with the raw veggies, and mix to incorporate. Cook on low for 4 hours.

Chicken Apple BBQ Stew

I really like the pairing of meat with fruit. I wanted to try and make a chicken stew with BBQ sauce, and figured I would throw some apples and onions in as well. Instead of serving it over some cauliflower rice, I just added the riced cauliflower to the dish and let it cook, making this dish incredibly simple and basically less than 5 minutes of prep time! No need to dice the chicken before hand, it'll shred right up after it's cooked. Easy!

You can use any BBQ sauce you like. I just happened to have a jar of PaleoChef's Peach BBQ sauce which was delicious in this dish, but use whatever kind you have on hand, or whip up your own!

Ingredients
1) 2 pounds of raw chicken thighs (or breasts, I just buy the cheaper cut usually)
2) 2 apples, cored and diced
3) 2 onions, diced
4) 1 head of cauliflower (or a 2 pound bag of florets, like I used)
5) 12oz of BBQ sauce

**Servings: 4-6

Instructions
1) Add your raw chicken to the crockpot.

2) Chop up your apples and onions, and add them as well.

3) Add your BBQ sauce, and stir to incorporate.

4) Using the shredding attachment on your food processor or a box grater, grate your cauliflower into "rice". Then, add this to your crockpot and stir to fully mix.

5) Cook on low for 8-10 hours (however long you're gone from home, perhaps). When it's done cooking, take two forks and shred the chicken into the mixture. Now, eat up!

Homemade Beef Bone Broth

Have you heard about all of the awesome benefits of adding in homemade beef broth to your diet? The collagen from the bones is an excellent supplement to help with your joints, skin and hair. Plus, you can use the homemade broth in dishes where you want a little extra beef flavor. I used to just use chicken stock in all my recipes, regardless of the type of meat, because at the time it was the only kind of broth I made. But making beef broth is really, super EASY and very affordable. Plus, your body will thank you for it. How cool is that?

I have been drinking about 1/2 cup a day for the last month, and I'm feeling GREAT. My workouts are better and I think I am recovering more effectively.

Ingredients

1) 1 1/2 - 2 pounds of beef bones (soup bones, oxtail, etc) - you can get these easily and cheap from the farmer's market or your butcher, or from US Wellness meats if you order through them for your meat

2) 1 tablespoon of white vinegar

3) 8-12 cups of water, to fill your slow cooker

4) 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 1 bay leaf

Optional: you can add in a cut up onion and/or carrot for flavor. I was lazy the day I made this, and was out of onions.

Instructions

1) Add your bones to your slow cooker.

2) Fill up your slow cooker to the top with water. The more water, the more beef broth you'll get. Add in your vinegar, seasonings, and your veggies if using them.

3) Cook on low for 12 hours. The longer the better.

4) Once your broth has cooked long enough, strain our the liquid into some plastic bowls or containers using a cheese cloth. This will catch all the extra bits and the bones, leaving just nice stock behind.

5) Place your liquid into the fridge overnight, or at least 8 hours until the fat has solidified at the top of your containers.

6) Scrap off the fat from the stock. Keep it! It's rendered beef tallow. Use it for cooking. Look how economical you are being!

Broth plus scraped off tallow/fat

7) Now store your beef broth for use. I freeze about 2/3 of it, and pull it out as needed. Drink 1/2-1 cup a day, warmed, as you would tea, and enjoy the health benefits!

Cabbage Beef Stew

I am loving trying new things with the large purchase of stew meat that we got from US Wellness Meats! I just bought some fish sauce for the first time (Red Boat is the brand without any extra sugar), and wanted to try it out with this dish. I think it is a very important ingredient, so if you can use it, you should!

There's something so awesome about coming home to an already cooked meal in your crockpot. It is seriously a life saver, especially in the paleo world!

Ingredients

1) 2 pounds of stew meat (or a 2 pound beef roast, cut into cubes)

2) 1-2 onions, diced

3) 2 pounds of a root vegetable, chopped (rutabaga, turnip, sweet potato) - I used rutabaga

4) 1 medium-sized head of cabbage

5) 2 tablespoons of fish sauce (recommend Red Boat)

**Servings: 6-8

Instructions

1) Chop up your onions and root vegetable and add it to the crockpot.

                                         

2) Add in your fish sauce and stew meat.

3) Cut your cabbage into quarters and remove the core. Then place the quarters on top of the other ingredients already in the slow cooker. Push them down to make room.

4) Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

5) Once cooked, stir your mixture and shred the cabbage into the stew. Taste and see if you need any more fish sauce or salt/pepper if you'd like.

6) Eat up!

Chicken, Squash and Fig Soup (Paleo-Zone)

It's been a while since I've posted a Paleo-Zone meal on here, but we are still eating this way 90% of the time. I bought some figs at Costco again the other day, and I wanted to try and make a sweet and savory soup with them. It was actually my boyfriend's idea to mix these ingredients, and he referred back to my beef and dried prunes stew to show me that fruit could work. Plus, it helps even out the carb count to make this Zone appropriate.

If you're not interested in making it Paleo-Zone, you don't have to be as specific with the ingredient measurements. It still is super delicious, regardless!

There is some stove top cooking involved in this, so plan accordingly and do it the night before or make this on a weekend.

Ingredients

1) 2 pounds of chicken thighs or breast, cut into cubes (24 blocks Protein)

2) 2.5 tablespoons of ghee, butter, or coconut oil (24 blocks Fat)

3) 2 pounds of cubed butternut squash (11 blocks Carbs)

4) 1 large onion, diced (3 blocks Carbs)

5) 1 roughly packed cup of figs, stems removed, about 12 figs, diced into small pieces (10 blocks Carbs)

Optional: 1 cup of chicken stock or water

Optional: 1-2 tablespoons seasoning of your choice for the chicken. I used a store-bought rosemary garlic blend with no sugar or MSG.

Total: 24P, 24C, 24F

**Servings: 6-8 (6 meals of 4 blocks, or 8 meals of 3 blocks ---just measure out the cooked soup into tupperware containers and weigh them to make sure all 6 or 8 weigh the same)

Instructions

1) Heat up a large skillet over medium heat, and add your oil. Then add your diced chicken to the pan. Stir it as it browns.

                                  

2) Cut up your onions and figs while the chicken is cooking.

3) Add the onions to your cooking chicken, and sprinkle on your optional seasonings at this time.

4) Add your cubed squash and figs to your crockpot. You can also add 1 cup of chicken stock or water at this time, to make the mixture more soup-like at the end of the cooking. If you want it more like a thick stew, omit the stock/water.

5) Let the chicken and onions cook for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is browned and the onions are translucent. Then add the entire contents of the skillet into the crockpot.

6) Stir to mix all your ingredients together in the crock pot. Then cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you want your squash to stay more crunchy, cook for 4-6 hours only. 

7) Portion out your meals and enjoy!

6-Ingredient Butternut Squash Lasagna Stew

I can't stop buying butternut squash cubes from Costco. I don't want the season to run out, so I am trying to take advantage of them while I can and make a million different recipes with them. This recipe was adapted from Paleo Slow Cooking, but was adjusted to make it fewer ingredients and less work!

You could omit one of the veggies to make this 5-ingredient, if you so choose. But I had all of these things on hand, so I figured it was close enough to 5-ingredient standards that I'll let it pass. Hopefully y'all agree!

This recipe does have some stove top cooking prior to the slow cooker, so you can either make it on the weekend when you have a little more time, or cook the stove-top portion the night before and put it in the fridge, and slow cook it the next day.

Ingredients

1) 2 pounds of ground beef (could substitute pork, sausage, or a combo if you'd like)

2) 2 pounds of cubed butternut squash (or 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed)

3) 3 cans (14oz each) of diced tomatoes

4) 1 pound of carrots, finely diced (about 4 large ones)

5) 2 green peppers, finely diced

6) 1 onion, finely diced

**Servings: 6-8

Instructions

1) Gather all your ingredients, and dice up your veggies while you heat up a large skillet over medium heat.

                                       

2) Add your veggies to your hot skillet, except the squash, and saute for 30 minutes until tender.

3) In the mean time, in a separate skillet, brown your ground beef. Drain the liquid/oil if you'd like when done.

4) Add your squash to your slow cooker, and your veggies once tender. Then add your ground beef. Stir to combine.

5) Let cook on low for 4-6 hours. If you like your squash less tender, only cook the 4 hours. You could also cook for 8 hours if you'll be out of the house all day---it'll still taste delicious!