Paleo AIP Meatballs

I made meatballs for a friend. She is loosely following the AIP paleo diet, so I just made up a recipe for some yummy meatballs for her and her two kids. This is what I did!

You Will Need: (Makes about 60 1tbsp-sized meatballs)

1. One Large Zucchini, grated (also called a Courgette) 
2. One carrot, first layer pealed off and grated 
3. 1 pound of beef and 1 pound of your favorite sausage. I use 80/20 beef.
4. a handful of chopped green onions (I used about 8 individual stalks chopped)
5. 1/4th cup coconut aminos
6. 1 teaspoon fresh grated / minced ginger
7. 1/4th teaspoon ginger
8. 1.5 teaspoon arrowroot starch (or flour)  
9. A dash of salt and pepper to taste (I usually put in a pinch of each)

If you are just paleo and not aip, feel free to add 1 egg to this.I've made it with and without the egg lots of times. It's fine without the egg but I like it with, as well.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Combine all the of the above and mix well. Using a tablespoon, make round balls and place on a baking tray sprayed with coconut oil or covered in parchment paper. I space mine about 1/2 inch apart. I bake them in the over for 30 minutes, and always use a thermometer to check  that the meatball gets above 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Makes about 60 meatballs, depending on how small/large you make them. I used a tablespoon to scoop it out to make sure they were even.

Enjoy!

What Reuben Eats in a Week

Toddler food. Or, what I like to call it: food. You know, because toddler's don't need special food just for them--they really can, and do eat what adults do. Except for in cases of allergies, and Reuben has many--he eats what we do. Just smaller portions. And sometimes it ends up on the floor, but what can you do.

I love feeding my toddler. And it's nice, he loves food. Most of the time. I mean, he is a toddler.

So what did Reuben eat for dinner this week?

Day one: vegan, gluten free bread (he has an egg and dairy allergy) gluten free stuffing, cranberries, humus, and chicken. Since I have a gluten allergy, most everything he eats is also gluten free. So, you know, I can eat it too. Mamma doesn't have time to make separate meals for everyone.

Day two: leftover gluten free stuffing, mandarin oranges, chicken (aaand he dumped his plate haha)

Day three: chicken sausage, red bell peppers and kale skillet cooked, with a side of sweet potato. He ate only the sweet potato and the sausage, showing his true toddlerness for once. He wouldn't eat a bell pepper at all. I tried.

Day four: peas and carrots, corn and quinoa noodles, tomato, humus and green olives.

Day five: chicken salad, crackers, olives, and homemade jello with grass fed beef gelatin

 Day six: peas, apples, and baked carrots with coconut milk

Day seven: Green curry that he immediately dumped out and threw his bowl on the floor when I went to grab my phone to take a picture. Can you tell how pleased he is with himself?

----
I really enjoy cooking. I like cleaning up a very messy toddler less. And I really dislike the chore of scrubbing down a high chair. Mostly because it happens 3x or more a day...breakfast, lunch, dinner...not to mention any snacks that I feed him in it! I am so over the thing.

Reuben turns 18 months soon, and I can't wait to see how his tastes improve, and learn what his favorite foods are. Right now it seems to be olives. The boy can eat his weight in olives, and when I give them to him it's always the first thing he devours. 

Paleo Cranberry Lemon Cake

I had some cranberries and a bunch of lemons, and wanted to create a dessert for my small group. I made this one up on my own, too! I am proud that it turned out incredibly scrumptious! This recipe is paleo, dairy, oil, refined sugar and gluten free. Enjoy!

You Will Need:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cups coconut flour
• 1/2 cups full fat coconut milk (like the kind you would drink, I use so delicious brand)
• 3 fresh lemons, juiced
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest (grated lemon rind)
• 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
• 1 tea baking soda
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 eggs

• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1 cup honey 

Preheat oven to 306 degrees f. Throw the first 9 ingredients into the bowl and whisk until combined. Set aside. In a separate bowl, throw the cranberries in and wash them, and pulse in a food processor for 10 seconds. Add in the honey to the processor and pulse for 20 seconds, or until combined to your liking. I had to scrape down the sides a few times and break up some clumps.

This cake is made to bake in a bread pan. I coated the pan with coconut oil to help it not stick, but if you want oil free, just line it with parchment paper. Put half the batter in, layer the cranberry-honey mixture next, and place the other half of the batter on top.

Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes with oven rack in the center. The top should be slightly browned and a fork should come out clean (might have cranberry goo on it, but cake wise clean). Enjoy and share with a friend!

Paleo Butternut Alfredo

This is a total comfort food for me. Now I eat corn and quinoa noodles with this (they don't bother me) but if you are strict paleo I would use a (already cooked) spaghetti squash and add those "noodles" in where I add in my quinoa/corn organic noodles. I bake my spaghetti squash in the oven for about 1.5-2 hours. I just poke holes in it with a fork and bake at 350 degrees. *WARNING* This recipe calls for ALREADY SOAKED raw cashews. So soak some cashews.

You Will Need:

• Three cups diced butternut squash, frozen or raw
• 2 tbsp butter flavored coconut oil (or butter)
• One diced onion 
• 1 teaspoon rosemary, dried 
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage (or sub 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 3 cups coconut milk (from a carton, like the kind you would drink) 
• 1 cup chicken broth (for vegan, sub vegetable broth) 
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup cashews soaked for at least one hour (if you have a vitamix blender) or 3 hours for a regular blender or food processor 
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice 
• salt/pepper

Cook 2 tbsp coconut butter, diced onion, 1 teaspoon rosemary and 1 tbsp fresh sage until onions are translucent. Add in butternut squash and 1 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup chicken broth. Bring to a boil and cover--reduce head and simmer for 15-20 minutes covered until squash is cooked and soft. I found the frozen squash takes 15 minutes and the raw cubed squash takes 20 to soften.

While that is simmering, add 2 cups coconut milk, your cashews, and 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast. Blend until smooth.

When your squash is soft (after the 15-20 min) flatten it with a potato masher until its a gravy. Add in your vegan cheese mix from the blender, 3 tbsp honey and 1/2 teaspoon allspice. Add in a pinch of salt and pepper.

Stir. At this point I add in my noodles and cover, adding a little more coconut milk or water to make it not so thick so that the noodles can cook (not more than 1 cup) I simmer my noodles, stirring occasionally, for about 8-10 minutes. If you are using the spaghetti squash noodles, I would just add them and stir for 1-2 minutes because they should already be cooked and tender.

Serve. Eat. It's that good!

Thai Ginger Paleo Meatballs

I love meatballs. Since we do a lot of food prep around here, I make meatballs at least twice a month. Usually more. I've tried almost all of the meatballs in Well Fed 2, and while I like most of them, I also enjoy being spontaneous and making up my own recipes.

This is one of those.

Preheat oven to 360 degrees f and cover two pans with parchment paper. This makes about 30-40 balls depending on how you portion them.

Thai Ginger Paleo Meatballs

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
• 4 tablespoons coconut aminos 
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger or a one inch piece of fresh, grated ginger 
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 eggs (I used duck, I am sure that chicken would work fine as well)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon powdered garlic or two cloves garlic minced 
• handful of mushrooms (I used shiitake) about 1/2 cup roughly chopped

Mix all of the above starting with the beef and pork. Make sure well incorporated. I use a tablespoon to portion it into balls, and arrange on a baking pan. Bake at 360 degrees f for 25 minutes, or until cooked through.

Palelo Cucumber Apple Bacon Salad

One day I was hungry, but didn't know what to eat. I opened the fridge and saw I had some apples, a few cucumbers and some bacon. Thus the paleo cucumber apple bacon salad was created!

I baked 6 strips of bacon in the oven (20 minutes at 350 degrees f) until they were fairly crispy. I like my bacon crispy!

Then I chopped up two small green apples and a large cucumber (the same amount of apple as cucumber, a 1:1 ratio), shredded the bacon into small pieces, and combined it all with a pinch of salt, pepper, and a teaspoon of chili powder and about a 1/2 cup of paleo mayo. It made enough for three servings, and the combination of sweet green apples and chilled cucumbers and the salty bacon with the spicy powder is divine!

I am sure I am not the first one to think of this, but to me it was an amazing discovery, and an awesome snack for a hot summer day!

The Best Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've searched around for a good paleo chocolate chip cookie. I've tried several recipes--it's either too dense, or too chewy, or flat, or it tastes way to "paleofied" and not like the real thing.

I want real chocolate chip cookies. And I want them to be simple--not requiring any refrigeration of dough or weird, hard to find paleo flours. (I hate the word "blanched") I also want easy--no weird molding to make them appear more like traditional cookies or whatever. Thus these are "drop" cookies.

After a lot of experimentation, reading and recipe searching I've made these.

And I think they are perfect. I make them weekly.

You Will Need

• (I used blanched) 1 cup Almond Flour  
• 1/4 cup Coconut Flour
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 3 heaping tablespoons Cashew Butter (mine was not raw)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• almost 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or less if you hate chocolate)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f, and Cover a pan with parchment paper. Mix all above ingredients together in whatever random order you want, stir. Make sure the coconut oil is not in one big lump. Let the dough sit for 5 minutes to "raise" or just cook how it is if you are lazy. Place heaping tablespoons on the parchment paper, spaced about 1 inch apart. I got three rows of 5, so 15 cookies. Cook for 10 minutes or until the top is slightly browned. Cool. Eat.

They are delicious. Let me know if you make them, okay?

Paleo Apple Muffins

Breakfast is honestly the hardest meal for me. Not only am I tired and juggling a newly awoken baby, I am usually starving from breastfeeding throughout the night. I don't want to eat bacon and eggs every morning either, and all my favorite morning foods either my son is allergic to or it's not paleo. (avocado, pancakes, biscuits...need I go on?)

I've started making muffins, usually on Sunday night to last me through the week. They are quick, easy and help me not stare hopelessly in the fridge, my stomach growling. A few weeks ago I found this recipe, and below is how I modified it.

• 2 cups lightly packed almond flour
• .5 teaspoons baking soda
• A dash of salt 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon all spice 
• 2 small apples, pealed and grated 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 
• 2 eggs
• 2 heaping tablespoons cashew butter (mine was not raw)
• 1/4 cup honey 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grate your apples and drizzle the lemon juice over them, set aside. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl and stir them. Add thc rest of your wet ingredients to the apple lemon bowl and stir. Then add the wet to the dry. Or you can do it like I normally do and just beat it all together in one big bowl. Doing it the first way does make it more flavorful for some odd reason, through. 

Bake in muffin pan with cupcake liners for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Makes 12 small muffins.  

Paleo chocolate chip mug cake

I have been trying for awhile to create a mug cake without eggs. My first few concoctions were mush, and the next few were burned on the outside and droopy in the middle. That's when I got the idea to cook this mug cake in a bowl! It worked perfectly. This amazing "mug" cake is egg, dairy, gluten and grain free. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Just a quick note: this does taste a lot like a banana. I like it, but if you don't like ripe bananas, you probably will not be a fan.

What you need:

• 1/2 ripe banana (with spots) mine weighed 1.98oz peeled
• 1 tablespoon of Coconut Flour
• 1 tablespoon of Almond Flour
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 heaping tablespoon Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (I used minis)
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and mush with a fork until everything is mixed. It should resemble mushed, dewy cookie dough.

Then even it out on the bottom of the bowl, and microwave 2.5 minutes. Let sit 1-2 minutes before eating to firm up (the coconut absorbs liquid) This step is is crucial to it getting the consistency of cake.

Enjoy! Next I am going to work on making a mug cake that uses flax seed instead of egg. Wish me luck!

Paleo Enchilada Sauce

So, we are dairy free, and my husband currently is not eating tomatoes. I craved enchiladas. What could I do??

I decided to make enchilada sauce out of some leftover butternut squash I had. The idea for it came about as I was roasting eggplant to make vegan cheese for lunch. This sauce mimics the tomato based "red" enchilada sauce really well!

Butternut squash enchilada sauce is vegan, dairy free, and tomato free. Win for the whole family! 

Learn how to make this paleo enchilada sauce below:

You need to have already cooked your butternut squash. I cook mine by pricking it all over with a fork and roasting it in the oven on a pan for 1-2 hours. The bigger the squash, the more you roast it. You also should turn your squash every 30 minutes. Once it's done, remove it from the oven. Slice in half, remove the pulp and seeds, then put your squash in a container. Usually we eat just plain squash that night and the next I use the leftovers for something else.

So, leftover night. Let's make amazing vegan paleo enchilada sauce that is also tomato free! 

You will need a food processor.

In the processor place 

• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast 
• 1 cup coconut milk from a carton (not a can) (also, today when I made this all I had on hand was vanilla favored coconut milk, but it still worked and tastes great, hah!)
• 1.5 cups packed butternut squash

I put about 1.5 cups packed butternut squash in and processed it on low for about 30 seconds and then 10 seconds on high. You can add more or less squash, more will make it thicker, less for a thinner sauce. Just pulse it until it's all mixed together. Give it a taste and see if it's missing anything. If not, top your favorite dishes and eat! You can heat the sauce up separately or just bake/cook it all together. If cooking on a uncovered stove-top, add the sauce to the mix last or it will thicken up quite a bit.

It's amazingly creamy and delicious! This makes, in my opinion, four servings. Enjoy! I put mine on a plate of cooked chicken, onions, and bell peppers for the perfect paleo enchilada.

Paleo Lemon Mug Cake

I've been trying lots of paleo mug cake recipes around the internet lately! And while I've liked all of them, many of them have an almond flour or coconut flour base and taste either very nutty and dense or very dry. I missed light, fluffy yellow lemon cake!

So I decided to try to make my own mug cake. This is what I made, and it's very good! It's reminiscent of yellow cake.

And it's super easy to make. I stir all the ingredients in the cup I'm going to cook it in, because less dishes and less mess and less time.

What you need:
1/2 tablespoon (tbsp) lemon juice

1 tbsp Coconut Flour

1 tbsp Almond Meal/Flour  

1 tbsp Tapioca Flour  

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1 tbsp oil (I used olive)

1 egg

1/2 tbsp honey (or more if you want it sweeter)

1-2 tbsp coconut milk (see directions)

Directions:

Put the lemon juice in first, then add the coconut flour on top. Coconut flour absorbs liquid, and I like this flour to absorb all the lemon juice. Next add everything but the coconut milk, and stir it making sure to scrape the sides and the bottom. Last, pour in the coconut milk and stir. Start with 1 tablespoon (I ended up using 1.5 tablespoons). You want it to be the consistency of thin pancake batter. Just use two tablespoons if you are worried--more is better then less. 

Microwave 2 minutes. It should fluff up nicely! I paired mine with some dairy free coconut whipped cream. It's good--and the tapioca flour makes it taste nice and sweet.

A Two Week Meal Plan for 2

As I said in a previous blog post, I've been meal planning! I love meal planning and knowing what I am making every day helps me not panic when dinner time hits. It also helps me not make the same thing every week. I decided to start posting my meal plans on the blog! For this dinner plan, I cooked a bunch of gluten free recipes I either know from my head or found on pinterest (with some gluten options included for my gluten-loving husband). If you click on the recipe it will take you to the person's blog I got it from!

Week One

1. Baked chicken, frozen veggies, & sweet potatoes
2. Chicken Salad with paleo wraps, frozen veggies
3. Tomato Basil Parm Soup
4. Leftover tomato basil parm soup with grilled cheese on the side for the husband
5. Paleo sloppy joes served on sweet potatoes
6. Chinese Chicken + veggies + rice
7. leftover sloppy joes

Week Two

1. Paleo pizza pie layer casserole
2. leftover pizza pie casserole
3. Chicken fajitas with paleo wraps
4. hamburgers and steamed cauliflour
5. Chicken curry + rice
6. leftover chicken curry and rice
7. BBQ chicken wraps with frozen veggies

I paid about $150 in groceries for these two weeks of meal plans. I buy everything organic that I possibly can (some exceptions: bananas, avocados, and bread) so this might be more expensive than what most people typically spend in a two week period. But it works for us. Since I buy organic meat, $60 alone went to the meat I purchased.

If you want to download this two week meal plan (includes all recipes for each day as well as a printable grocery list) you can click here! Let me know if you like it, and if you would like to see more meal plans like this on my blog. I've slightly modified the two recipes from paleo newbie and beauty and the foodie that are linked above but the actual recipes are linked in the downloadable pdf as well.

Happy cooking!

Eating, Lately

I don't know if people who follow my blog also follow my YouTube channel, but if you've noticed I've started posting a lot of my videos on my blog. At first I wanted to keep things separate so people that followed both my videos and my writing were not annoyed by seeing the same thing every day. But I am having a hard time keeping up with writing blogs and making videos, and thus I am going to be posting my videos on my blog from now on.

Last week I filmed all my lunches (well, four of them). Guys, I love food. I was so tired of hating it in my first trimester--it's so nice to be back to enjoying the idea of cooking and eating food!

I've been experimenting with meal planning as well. I'm trying to make two week meals and besides buying lettuce and fresh veggie toppings weekly (I eat a salad almost every day) I want to get into the habit of doing a big shopping trip only once every two weeks. So far it's been working. We've been doing it for 2 months now and I love it! Also, I write down each meal plan so I can revisit them in the future. It's really nice to know what I am making every day so I don't have to panic and search frantically through my cupboards. Does anyone else meal plan? I originally became interested in it after reading my friend's blog, "bam". She posts her meal plans every so often.

Watching this video may make you hungry. Just be warned. Thinking about food makes me hungry, but I'm growing a human so I have a free pass to salivate at the thought of rice noodles. Plus, this is food I eat all the time!


What did you eat this week?

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Brownies

I don't know what it is about being pregnant, but I'm craving sweets like nothing else right now. Anyway, I like to make these sugar-happy treats myself because I feel like it's healthier (aka I can choose what I add). Peanut butter and chocolate are two of my biggest cravings this week, and thus these gluten (and dairy) free peanut butter brownies were born today. You can always leave the peanut butter out if you are not a fan, as well (but I might judge you).

You will need:

• ⅓ cup Enjoy Life Semi Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips (I put in more like ½ cup)
• 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
• ¼ cup honey
• 3 eggs
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup Almond Flour
• ½ or 1 cup peanut butter (I usually put 1 cup but I love the taste)
• 1 tbsp Coconut Flour
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (or ½ cup Cacao Powder)
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda 

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 8x8 inch pan. (I use coconut oil)
2. Starting with the chocolate chips, and add all of the remaining ingredients, in the order listed into a large bowl. (I don't really think the order matters, but whatever)
3. Blend until smooth. This is done to make sure the brownies are not grainy after baking. (I just stirred it with a spoon and it turned out fine)
4. Scrape the brownie batter into the prepared pan, and smooth into an even layer with a wet spatula.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Mine was done at 30!

There is also a video tutorial if you are into video recipes.

Anyway, I hope you like them! I will probably make this again next week--it was that good. Oh, so chocolatey and the peanut butter, mmmmmhh! I need to go eat another one right now. Oh, and these brownies were adapted from this gluten free brownie recipe!

Italian Chicken for Two

My husband and I are thus far enjoying our foray into experimental healthy eating. I'm learning to be really, really creative. I'm also learning that cauliflower is amazing. Because you can use it for anything. Anyway, this is the next meal I created for my husband and I using the ideal protein allowed food list. It is a phase one meal--and it was good!

This is really a meal in three parts, consisting of baked chicken with a side of cauliflower "fries" and  stir-fried bok choy. The instructions tell you how to create a dinner for two, using the ideal protein servings.

If you are making all of the dishes, you need to start with the cauliflower. It takes an hour to bake.

Cauliflower "Fries" 

(actually tasted just like french fries. Not kidding)

Use two cups of cauliflower, and preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chop your cauliflower into thumb sized pieces. Drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil into a bowl, and add your cauliflower and a sizable dash of your favorite seasoning. I used something called "garlic and herb spice" but whatever seasoning you happen to have on hand should work.

my cauliflower after seasoning but before cooking

Mix until well covered, then arrange on a baking pan. This cooks for one hour, but set your timer for 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes you will put the chicken in the oven.

Italian Chicken

Prep your chicken by cutting off any fat. I'm making chicken breasts, 8 ounces each. Mine take 45min to cook all the way through, make sure you add more time if you have bigger servings. (and pleasae use a meat thermometer at the end to check the internal temperature!)

After washing my chicken, I placed both pieces in a small cooking container and cover it with 1/4 cup of Italian dressing. You want to cook in a small container so the chicken is submerged, and cover your pan with a lid or foil.

Place your chicken in the oven and set your timer for another 15 minutes. When this timer goes off, flip your cauliflower so the bottom side is facing up, and set your timer again for the last 30 minutes.

10-15 minutes before your timer goes off we are going to make the...

Bok Choy with Mushrooms and Kale

I used one cup of bok choy, and half a cup of mushrooms and a half cup of kale

Mince some garlic (I used one table spoon of minced fresh garlic) and wash your bok choy and kale, tearing/ or cutting it into 4 inch pieces. Remove all the green parts of the bok choy from the white stems, and cut the stems in half. Now, heat your skillet up for one minute with a tablespoon of coconut oil.

cooking away, 2 minutes until done.

Add the white ends of the bok choy first (they take longer to cook then all the rest) and stir-fry for 5-6 minutes until they start to turn sort of clear. Then add your mushrooms, cook for another 2 minutes before adding in the kale and bok choy leaves. Cook for 2-3 minutes until tender but still a little firm.

Serve everything warm, and enjoy a cooked phase 1 ideal protein meal! 

Ideal Protein Stir-Fry

This February my husband and I decided to try out the ideal protein diet. It's basically a very restricted paleo diet, created for weight loss. I will be eating this diet on the weekends and for dinner on the weekdays with my husband to support him, and I'm super excited about it!

Today I tried out our first dinner: IP Stir-Fry. To make this low-carb, low-sugar meal for two you will need:

• 1.5 cups cauliflower
• .5 cups green pepper
• .5 cups mushroom
• 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken chopped into chunks
• garlic to taste (I chopped mine)
• fresh ginger (minced, I used a 1/8 teaspoon)
• soy sauce 
• hot sauce
• .5 cups of kale and spinach mix
• Tiny splash of olive oil

Pulse your cauliflower in a food processor until it's about the size of large grains of rice. You only use the "florets" of the cauliflower when doing this, not the core or the leaves--but the head like pieces. If you are like me and don't have a food processor (something I plan on remedying soon...I honestly asked my husband for one for valentines day!) you can cut it as small as possible and then pulverize it with a hammer, you know, the kind of hammer used for food. Or smoosh it with a potato-masher. I tried both after unsuccessfully attempting to use my blender and got it really close to the size I was going for. (NOTE: do not use a blender. It does not work...) Put the cauliflower in a bowl and set it to the side. We'll use it later.

Now, cook your chicken in a frying pan with the olive oil and one tablespoon of soy sauce. I also add a tiny bit of water to make sure the chicken does not stick to the pan. When it's basically done, add your green peper, minced ginger and garlic to the mix. Cook this for about 5-8 min, adding more water if needed because you don't want it to stick to a dry pan. (You just want a tiny bit of water, barley enough to cover the bottom of the pan.)

At this point I added my kale, another tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of hot sauce, stirred the mixture, and cooked for another 2-3 min until my kale was, well, shrunk. I added my mushrooms, spinach and the cauliflower last, because I like my mushrooms barely cooked and the cauliflower cooks quickly. I drizzled them with some more hot sauce, then brought it to a boil, covered it, and simmered for 6 minutes, checking to make sure nothing was burning.

This was sooooooo good! I was afraid this diet would be full of salad after salad--but, fortunately, there are a ton of dishes you can create out of even a limited vegetable list, and they are all yummy.