Bolognese Sauce

February 28, 2015March 5, 2015Leave a comment

Hello! Sorry for the lack of posting – school and life have kind of gotten in the way. I’ve still been cooking, though! This is a sauce I like to keep in my fridge for a quick dinner. Sometimes I put it over Spaghetti Squash, sometimes I just eat a big bowl of it alone (because I really like sauce, okay?).

My version of this is pretty straightforward. I will say, I do not have exact measurements for the spices used. Why? Well, I don’t really measure anything when it comes to flavoring. I always taste as I go. This is what works for me and what will work for you too. And you get to eat while you cook, which is always a bonus.

*I made my own tomato puree, which I will have the instructions for. However, you can use store bought and it’ll be fine, I just thought it would be fun to make my own.

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients
– 24 oz tomato puree or homemade (I used 6 tomatoes but could have used more, mine were small)
– 2 tablespoons tomato paste
– 1 pound grass-fed beef
– Olive Oil
– Garlic cloves
– Onion powder
– Garlic powder
– Salt
– Oregano
– Rosemary
– Basil
– Parsley
– Pepper
*I used all dried spices, however fresh would taste a lot better
*Feel free to add onions, olives, mushrooms, etc. I don’t like a lot of things in my sauce outside of spices, but do what works best for your taste-buds.

Method
For the Tomato Puree
– Pre-heat your oven to about 400 degrees (I have to set my oven a bit higher than normal)
– Cut the tomatoes into wedges and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and olive oil
– If desired, add some garlic cloves – it’ll help add to the garlic flavor of the sauce

– Let roast for about 20-30 min, or until really tender and the skin is easy to peel off (I always to a little test with a fork to see how ready they are, the skin will also get kind or wrinkly)
– Let cool and peel the tomatoes
– Place peeled tomatoes into a blender or food processor with the roasted garlic and blend until a puree is formed.

For the Sauce
– Brown your grass-fed beef in a pot with olive oil and minced garlic. If you wanted to add some onions, this would be the place to do it.
– Once browned, add in the tomato puree and paste. If you find that it’s a bit thick, add some water to it.
– Add your spices! Have fun with it and taste as you go.
– Let simmer for about 30 min, tasting as it simmers to see what you need to add to get the flavor just right. I like to top mine off with a bit of olive oil as well.
– Serve over spaghetti squash, eat alone, or store in jars (like I did) in the fridge for about 5 days. I find mine is okay for about a week.

Enjoy!
xoxo,
Paige

Spaghetti Squash

February 11, 20151 Comment

When I first started living a grain-free life, the one thing I knew I would miss would be pasta – particularly noodles. There’s something so calming about twirling some spaghetti around a fork. However, after a lot of research I found I could use zucchini’s as noodles. They filled the void until I finally broke down and tried spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti squash takes grain-free pasta dishes to a whole new level. Very neutral in flavor, these noodles remind me of angel hair pasta (though it’s been awhile since I’ve had real angel hair pasta, but oh well).

Use this as a replacement for noodles in a variety of Italian inspired pasta dishes, such as my Seafood Alfredo.

This should take about 30-40 min to cook, and prep time isn’t too long. Anywhere from 5-10 min. It’s great to prepare this on a Sunday so it’s ready to use throughout the week (or whatever day you have available).

Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients
– Spaghetti Squash
– 1-2 tablespoons of butter or ghee, melted (feel free to use your favorite oil, sometimes I’ll use avocado)
– Salt and pepper

Method
– Preheat your oven. This is tricky for me because I have an oven that I’ve got to set pretty high. I preheated mine to 415 degrees.
– Take the squash and cut it width wise. You could cut it length wise, but trust me – width is easier.

-Clean out the seeds and discard the waste so your squash looks like this

– Melt the butter and coat the the meat of the squash. I used two squash’s and needed 2 tablespoons of butter. Mine were somewhat smaller than some I’ve seen. Once oiled, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

– Once the oven is preheated, place the spaghetti squash face down on a cooking sheet covered in foil (you’ll thank me for that) and let cook about 30-40</>min.

– After your timer has dinged, take the squash out and make sure the squash is tender to the touch. They’re going to be hot, but you should be able to poke and see. If not tender, let cook another 5 min. Let the squash cool.
– Once cooled, it’s time to get the meat out! Using a fork, scrape the squash into a bowl. It will come out like spaghetti noodles!

– Place your prepared squash in airtight containers and enjoy! This should last for about a week in the fridge.

Enjoy! If you haven’t discovered the greatness of spaghetti squash, let me know how you like it!

xoxo,
Paige

Seafood Alfredo Over Spaghetti Squash

February 10, 2015February 10, 20151 Comment

Living this lifestyle has a lot of ups and downs. For starters, I can’t enjoy a lot of the foods that I once indulged in. Humor me for a second and hear this – growing up in a small town one restaurant stood above all the rest and that place was the Olive Garden. When my Mom and I would go out of town to the big city (Houston!), we always had to stop at Olive Garden, it was like our thing. Once this holy grail of a restaurant came to our town, Houston wasn’t as glamorous and I remember thinking, “where are we going to eat now?” Don’t worry, we supplemented with the Cheesecake Factory.

With that being stated, I absolutely love Italian. When I visited Italy in high school, I was in food heaven. However, Italian food isn’t necessarily all too kind to the gluten-free diet and even less friendly to the paleo diet. So long, creamy Alfredo and noodles.

That is, until now.

I have found a wonderful replacement for traditional Alfredo sauce. It’s everything I wanted it to be and more. It comes out rich and creamy and is perfect with shrimp and scallops over spaghetti squash. I hope you’re as amazed as I was.

*I cannot tolerate certain dairy products. Cheese, butter, and yogurt are okay for me, but I cannot handle heavy cream, half and half, or just plain ol’ milk. Feel free to use heavy cream in this, as well as cheese. I have omitted the cheese in the version I made since, honestly, you don’t really need it. But hey, a little cheese never hurt.

The sauce will serve about 2 people. If you need to serve more, double the recipe.

ALSO THIS IS SO IMPORTANT: As you are cooking this sauce be sure you are tasting it throughout the cooking process. Your taste buds are your biggest asset in the kitchen. If you don’t think there’s enough basil, add more basil. Not enough garlic, add more garlic. Not enough butter or ghee, add more butter or ghee. You get the idea. These are rough measurements and your pallet might not be the same as mine. You will benefit greatly by tasting the sauce as you go. Plus, tasting stuff while you’re cooking it is really fun (for me, anyway).

Seafood Alfredo Over Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients
– Cooked spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles (I always have this stuff pre-made and ready to go in the fridge. I’ll post about my meal prep soon!)
– Enough shrimp and scallops for you and any guests, defrosted (*sigh* I live alone, so I just grab a handful of each from the freezer and that’s enough for me, just as an aside)
– 1 cup cashew milk or heavy cream
– 2-3 tablespoons of grass-fed butter or ghee, more for cooking the shrimp and scallops
– 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried basil
– 2 to 3 teaspoons of garlic powder (more or less, depending on how much you like garlic)
– a few pinches of dried parsley
– 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
– salt and pepper to taste
– raw cheese if that’s your thing

Method
– If using frozen shrimp and scallops, make sure they have been properly defrosted and set aside.
– Over low-medium heat, add the cashew milk and spices into a pot and let come to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

– Once the sauce is warm, add the butter. For visuals, this is how much butter I used. Kerrygold isn’t very kind and doesn’t have nice sticks, so I have to cut the brick in half to make my own.

– Allow the butter to melt and incorporate it into the sauce. Keep the sauce at the directed heat and let sit uncovered, checking to make sure it’s thickening, but doesn’t start to bubble.
– While your sauce is cooking, heat a pan and add either butter or ghee.
– Cook the shrimp until they are pink, seasoning with salt and pepper.

– As your shrimp is cooking, you should notice that the sauce is thickening up nicely. It’ll look like this. If it isn’t very thick, just let it cook a bit longer. Trust me, it will thicken up.

– In the final moments, add the scallops in the pan with the shrimp, coating with the oil used.

– Take your pre-cooked spaghetti squash because you’re a master meal-prepper and heat it for about 2 min in the microwave. This is as much as I used for myself, it was a pretty big serving.

– Assemble the dish either in the bowl, or on a plate. Garnish with dried parsley and if you desire, cheese.