Coconut Macaroons

It feels like it's been a while since we posted something, so here's a little Sunday treat!  Also, 2 Hungry Hearts now has a Facebook page, so click over and 'Like' the page.

Since starting on our Paleo kick, we haven't really had many desserts (except on our cheat days!) since desserts typically include sugar.  While coming up with our Easter menu, we had planned to make coconut macaroons (though if you read that post, you'll know that we fell asleep...whomp! whomp!).  So, since we didn't make them then, we're making them now!

We had found a recipe online, but Justin didn't really like it...so we made up our own recipe.  So for the first time, you'll actually get a recipe out of us:

2 c. unsweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 c. coconut cream, or coconut milk
1 egg + 4 tbsp liquid egg whites (or just 1 egg + 2 egg whites)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
a generous squirt of honey
pinch of kosher salt
chocolate (if you want to dip your macaroons in it)

All you have to do is mix all of the ingredients together (minus the chocolate).  Then just spoon the mixture onto a cookie sheet into whatever size macaroons you'd like.

Then pop those babies in a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes.  They'll get to be a toasty, golden brown color.

The amount of honey you add will determine how sweet your macaroons are.  Ours were on the less sweet side, but I still feel like I'm eating dessert.  And if you want to add some chocolate, now would be the time to  dip your macaroons in some melted chocolate, let it set, and enjoy!

Paleo Shake-n-Bake...and I helped!

We had some umami dust leftover from our burgers, so we decided to jump a little outside the box, and try it on some pork chops.

Let's start with the cauliflower.  It wasn't too different from when we made the kimchi brussels sprouts.  The cauliflower was chopped up into more manageable, bite-sized pieces, and we crisped up some pancetta bits.  We poured a bit of the rendered fat over the cauliflower before popping it into the oven to roast.

Once the cauliflower was a bit charred, we pulled them out of the oven, and tossed them with the crisped pancetta, sliced kimchi, and some freshly sliced green onion.

Now, onto the pork chops.  Since we can't use panko or bread crumbs, we used some unsweetened, shredded coconut, and mixed some of the umami dust, minced garlic and ginger, and some black and regular sesame seeds

Then we just coated the chops in the mixture, and popped them into the broiler on some cooling racks.  Doing that allows the air to circulate around the chops, so all sides get crispy.  If you just place them on the baking sheet directly, the bottom will end up soggy.

To finish the dish, we placed our chop on a bed of creasy greens, lightly dressed in some rice wine vinegar, a dash of black vinegar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil.  The greens added a bit of acidity to the umami chops, while the roasted cauliflower added a nice kick of spice.

Chicken & Kale Curry

It's always tough for me to get motivated to cook dinner on a Friday night.  I'm usually tired from the work week, and would rather just go out or order in.  But we're watching what we eat, and it can be difficult when you go out since you don't have complete control over what goes into your food.  Luckily we found a simple recipe for a chicken and kale curry.  I don't think it took us more than 30 min. to throw this bad boy together.

Start by mixing together your spices; curry powder, tumeric, coriander, ginger, salt & pepper.  I didn't have any dried ground ginger on hand, but I did have a jar of wet ground ginger in the fridge, so we used that instead.  And instead of black pepper, we used white pepper, which is often found in Asian cooking.  Then just toss in your hunks of chicken and evenly coat them with your spice blend.  You can let it sit and marinate while you prep your veggies.

Speaking of veggies...you'll need to dice up an onion and some tomatoes, and de-rib your kale.  To make it even easier, you could just use grape or cherry tomatoes and toss them in whole.  But we had the tomatoes from our share, so they just got diced up.

Once that's done, heat your pan with a bit of coconut oil.  If you don't have any, you can use whatever oil you have on hand.  But the coconut oil helps impart a subtle coconut flavor on the dish.  Toss in your onions and let them cook for a few minutes, until soft.  Then throw in the chicken and let it brown up.

Once the chicken is browned, add in the kale and let it wilt down.  It should only take a few minutes.  Then you can add in your tomatoes.  Once the tomatoes have had a chance to cook down a bit, you can add your coconut milk.  This will thicken as it simmers, and becomes your sauce.

At this point, we tasted everything and decided to add a dash of cayenne for some heat, and a little more salt.  Once the sauce has thickened to your liking, you're ready to serve!  We topped it all with a little green onion and called it a night.

Using the coconut milk, as opposed to coconut cream, let the spices be the star of the show.  The coconut was very subtle, while still adding nice flavor to the dish overall.  It's a great, quick, Paleo-friendly meal that we'll be adding to our rotation.

Kara Had a Little Lamb (Sausage)!

With March Madness getting underway, we opted for a quick and easy meal we could throw together in between games.  We found this recipe, and just made a few tweaks, as always, and paired it with a simple salad.

I was a bit surprised to get tomatoes in our share yesterday since it's still pretty chilly down here in DC.  We sliced up a few of them and topped them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, garlic and parsley.  Then they went under the broiler for about 10 minutes.  We laid them on top of our salad and dressed with with a bit of olive oil and some white balsamic, for some added sweetness.

For the main dish, we started by slicing the sausage into whatever size pieces you want.  We had pork & lamb sausage on hand from our share, so we went with those.  Once those get cooking in the pan, just toss in your artichokes, and in our case, some sun-dried tomatoes.

I know, I know...the recipe says to use bacon, and you're surprised that we didn't...but the bacon was at Justin's, and that's where it stayed.  So instead, we threw in the sun-dried tomatoes.  I know it's not really an equal substitute, but it still ended up being quite tasty.

While the sausage finished cooking, we poached the eggs.  You'll want to fill the pot with just enough water to cover the eggs, and add a little salt and about a teaspoon of white vinegar to the water.  This will help your whites stay together.  Let your water get close to a boil, but just under to it is still and a little steamy.  Then just crack your eggs into the water and let them cook up.  They'll be done in minutes!

All that's left to do is pile your sausage, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes into a bowl, and top with the egg.  We sprinkled a little black pepper and fresh parsley on top to garnish.

One Hell of a Burger

With spring nearing, and a trip to the beach over Memorial Day weekend, we've decided it's time to whip ourselves into shape.  We both packed on a couple pounds over the winter, so we decided to take action!  I'm a newbie to the whole Paleo diet, and if you're not familiar, here's a simple overview of what you can/can't eat:

courtesy of dearpaleo.com

We already eat pretty well, so it shouldn't be too hard to transition to a slightly stricter Paleo diet.  We're allowing ourselves 1 cheat day a week.  This should help fuel my love of carbs.  

We had already planned on making burgers tonight, so to make it more Paleo friendly, we skipped the bun, and just placed the patty on a bed of bibb lettuce.  When trying to decide what kind of burgers we wanted to make, I thought of one of my favorite burgers in DC...Ray's Hellburger.  Sadly, the place has shuttered, but you can still try their burgers at Ray's to the Third.  Anyway...I'd always get their burger with roasted garlic, and grilled onions and peppers.  So this is an ode to Ray's Hellburger.

We started by roasting a few cloves of garlic...with a drizzle of olive oil, and sprinkle of salt and pepper, just wrap them up in foil and pop 'em in the oven.  An while the garlic roasted up, we also cooked up some sweet potato fries.  The fries got a brushing of olive oil, and a sprinkle of truffle salt, pepper, garlic and parsley.

While the garlic roasted and the fries cooked up, I got to work on the burger patties.  I chopped up a couple cloves of garlic, an mixed that with the ground beef, some truffle salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  We kept it really simple.

Since we had some peppers, onions, and mushrooms left over from last week's steak sandwiches, we warmed those up to top our burgers.  They were simply seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper.

As the components cooked up, we started to build the burger.  The burger went on top of the lettuce, we spread the roasted garlic on the burger, and then topped it with our peppers, onions, and mushrooms.

The crowning jewel was the fried egg on top!

The yolk was nice and runny, and since we held off on condiments, it provided a nice "sauce" for everything. An honestly, I didn't miss the bun.  This whole Paleo thing may not be so bad afterall.