Our Daily Bacon

This is the original PopularPaleo recipe for Bacon-wrapped crab stuffed prawns, and is one of my all-time favorites for fancy entertaining without going off the rails. Since the site appears to have gone away, I’m reposting here for reference. I went looking for this for New Years Eve, and thought others might be missing this one too!

Bacon-Wrapped Crab Stuffed Prawns (PopularPaleo)

Recipe by Ciarra from PopularPaleo.comCourse: AppetizersCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

• 12 large prawns, raw and shelled (I use the 21-25/pound size)

• 8 oz wild caught crab meat

• 6 slices thick bacon (free from nitrates, sugars, gluten, etc.)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions

• 1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

• 1/4 tsp sea salt

• 1/4 tsp paprika

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1 tbsp coconut flour

• 1 egg

• *toothpicks are recommended

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (Fahrenheit).
• Grab a cookie sheet and either lay a Silpat sheet down or an oven-safe cooling rack down in the sheet.  The cooling rack is ideal because it will allow the heat to surround the prawn, but the Silpat will work just fine. That’s what I used.
• Thaw the prawns, if frozen. Remove the shell, though leaving the tail intact is just fine. Slice lengthwise with a paring knife to butterfly without cutting completely through the prawn. Also, cut the six slices of bacon in half and set aside.
• Mix the crab together with all remaining ingredients. And ready a station to assemble these tasty morsels.
• Lay down a slice of bacon, place a butterflied prawn at the center, take a heaping spoonful of the crab mixture and pack it into the prawn. Wrap the bacon around the crab-stuffed prawn and secure the loose ends with toothpicks. *Note: angle the toothpicks down so they don’t catch on fire when these go under the broiler!
• Space each wrapped prawn evenly on the cookie sheet (the silicone sheet or the oven-safe cooling rack) and pop it in the preheated oven.  Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees (Fahrenheit), then switch to broiling on high for 3-5 minutes to achieve the ideal doneness of the bacon.

Happy Holidays, folks! I did a thing the other day, and I wanted to share my success with you all! I was looking for something different this year to provide as a paleo-friendly alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving pies, and stumbled across this Gluten Free Pumpkin Roll recipe on Pinterest.

My husband has always had a soft spot in his heart for pumpkin rolls that feature cream cheese icing, and though there were several full paleo options that featured shortening-based icings for the filling, I just wanted to stay as close to the rules as I could without going too far off the rails. The result was fantastic – a Primal Pumpkin Roll fit for a special occasion, made with lactose free cream cheese to reduce the reaction to the dairy. it was so good, my son assumed it was bought from a store instead of homemade. I’ll call that a win!

Paleo/Primal Pumpkin Roll

Recipe by paleosherryCourse: DessertDifficulty: Medium

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

This is a paleo/primal adaptation of the Gluten Free Pumpkin Roll recipe at Ask Chef Dennis. Even though cream cheese isn’t ok on a paleo diet, I will sometimes use lactose free cream cheese to keep the flavor and minimize the subsequent discomfort.

Ingredients

• Pumpkin Roll

• 3/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Paleo flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 3 large eggs

• 2 tbsp maple syrup

• 4 tbsp coconut sugar

• 2/3 c pure canned pumpkin

• Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 8-oz tubs of lactose free cream cheese (Green Valley Creamery)

• 4 tbsp coconut sugar

• 4 tbsp mable syrup

• 6 tbsp butter, softened

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp ground orange peel

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Line 15×10 jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray with coconut oil OR line with a silicone baking mat (that’s what I did and had no issues)
• Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick.
• Beat in pumpkin.
• Stir in flour mixture.
• Spread evenly into prepared pan and/or use the spatula to shape the batter into a rectangle
• Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel, and carefully peel off paper or silicone mat
• Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Be sure to do this while the cake is still quite warm to “train” the cake to roll without cracking.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• Make cream cheese frosting by whipping together butter and cream cheese and then mixing in the rest of the frosting ingredients.
• Carefully unroll cake; remove towel and spread cream cheese mixture over cake.
• Re-roll cake, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

So once again, I am saddened to learn about one of my favorite recipe sites disappearing… this time it’s where a Moroccan Lamb Casserole recipe lived over at Eat Drink Paleo. I’m not going to say we have lamb often in my household, but when we do, this is an easy slow cooker recipe that requires very little effort and ends up with a fantastic result. For posterity and future reference, I’m sharing the recipe here so others can enjoy along with me!

…

UPDATE! Turns out the original author didn’t go away, but instead migrated to a whole new site… found it! In general, I always prefer to link to the original creators if I can. It’s only fair since we all get to benefit from their genius!

https://irenamacri.com/recipes/moroccan-lamb-casserole-slow-cooker/

Oh no! Another one of my favorite Paleo recipe sites appears to have gone offline. I hope it’s temporary, but just in case it isn’t, I’ve preserved my favorite quick Paleo treat recipe so it doesn’t go away forever. We’re still finishing up our standard January recovery, but once we head towards Valentine’s day, you can be sure I’ll be making some of these!

Almond Butter Bars

Recipe by FastPaleo.comCourse: Recipes

Servings

9

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

1

minute

A quick and easy paleo treat reminiscent of Reese’s cups.

Ingredients

• ½ cup almond butter

• ½ cup clarified butter or coconut oil

• 1 ¼ cup blanched almond flour

• 1 ¼ cup organic coconut sugar

• 1 ½ cup dark chocolate chips

• 2 tablespoons almond butter

Directions

• In a medium bowl, stir together the almond butter, butter, almond flour and sugar until it is completely combined. Press the mixture evenly into a 9 ­inch square baking dish.
• In a microwave safe bowl, add the chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of almond butter. Melt in the microwave for 10-20 seconds, stir and repeat until the chips are completely melted.
• Pour the melted chocolate over the almond butter base and spread it into a thin layer.
• Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Cut into 32 bars and serve chilled.

Happy Holidays, folks! I don’t know about you all, but the only positive that I have been able to pull from this year’s Covid Christmas season is that I’ve had more time for holiday baking. In a normal year, I’d be so busy every weekend from Halloween to New Years, that I’d be lucky if I could find one solid afternoon to make a cookie or two and that would be it, but this year, I think I’ve baked at least 2 batches of something every weekend for the last 3 or 4 weeks. That means that I finally perfected the conversion of my mother’s Orange Spritz Cookie recipe (my perpetual favorite) to a paleo recipe. If I’m not mistaken, the original recipe came from Wilton in the little booklet for their electric cookie press back in the 70s or 80s. My mother would pull out that little appliance every year and make these cookies in triple batches so that we could share with neighbors and friends. You can find a modern version of the recipe that uses all butter and no shortening, but the original had both and produced a lightly crispy cookie (rather than chewy), which is what I always loved about them. Nowadays you can’t find the electric press, but you can get a manual cookie press from Michaels, or most stores that carry cake and cookie decorating supplies.

It’s taken 3 or 4 tries to get it right, but I’ve now used this paleo version twice with consistent results. Note that to keep it paleo, you should forego the red and green sugar sprinkles that the original recipe called for, but I won’t judge if you go for it anyway.

Paleo Orange Spritz Cookies

Recipe by paleosherryCourse: DessertCuisine: EuropeanDifficulty: Medium

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

My favorite holiday treat made paleo.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c butter (softened, but not melted)

• 1/4 c palm shortening

• 3/4 c maple sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 c almond flour

• 1 c tapioca flour

• 6 tbsp coconut flour (divided)

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2 tsp orange extract

• 1 tbsp ground orange peel

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Mix almond, tapioca, 2 tbsp of coconut flour, and salt together in a bowl and set aside
• Mix butter, shortening, sugar, and egg in mixer until well combined. 
• Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture until all ingredients are combined.  Dough will be stiff.
• Add extract and orange peel
• Let dough sit for about 5 minutes and add the other 4 tbsp of coconut flour. 
• Let sit again another 5 minutes before loading dough into cookie press.  
• Press cookies onto parchment-lined cookie sheets (as close together as you can with the press is fine.  they don’t spread much).  If the dough isn’t stiff enough for the press, try adding another 2 tbsp of coconut flour to the dough and letting it get absorbed before trying again.   If it’s too stiff, you can add a tbsp of water.
• [Optional] add sprinkles to each cookie 
• Bake for 10-12 mins until edges look lightly browned. Cookies will crisp when cooled.

I know it’s been months since I’ve posted anything new – I would say it’s because my work life is so hectic right now, there isn’t much time for anything else, but that’s not really true.

Realistically I have simply been maintaining – rotating through a lot of my favorite recipes which I’ve already shared here, and trying a few new ones (with disappointing or just ok results).  EJ is a bit less picky than I am, so he’s been fine with everything I’ve made, but I just haven’t been really wowed by any of the new dishes until recently.

So, here are the 2 new favorites I’ll be adding to this week:

Picadillo with Plantains (from A Calculated Whisk) – this is amazingly simple and delicious.  I’ve made it nearly 3 weeks in a row now, and I still love it.  We’re not olive lovers, but there’s a suggestion to add boiled or fried egg on it- and I highly recommend both.  It’s also really good topped with this Creamy Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing from Paleo Gluten Free Eats.  It’s quick enough to pull together for a weeknight meal (30 mins or so) and reheats really well when prepped in advance.

Instant Pot Cashew Chicken (from Whole Kitchen Sink) – this is another quickie that can be pulled together quickly enough for a weeknight meal.  I used chicken tenders for quicker and smaller cuts, and spread this over caulirice (fried rice w/ coconut aminos is a real treat).  We managed to acquire a large container of roasted cashews, and this is a great way to enjoy them without snacking between meals.  I also cut back on the sugar content by omitting the coconut sugar, and instead adding some fresh squeezed orange juice.

Enjoy!