primal Archives - A Calculated Whisk

22 Grain-Free Treats for Valentine’s Day

February 3, 2017 By Becky 12 Comments

22 Grain-free Treats for Valentine's Day

This roundup of grain-free treats for Valentine’s Day has something for everyone, from chocolate lovers to fruit fans to caramel enthusiasts.

Valentine’s Day (or Valentime’s Day, as my students always called it–this makes sense because it happens at a specific time every year!) is right around the corner. Whether or not you’re into the whole idea of a romantic holiday, it never hurts to make a special treat for yourself or someone you love, right?

Here’s a roundup of 22 grain-free treats for Valentine’s Day that anyone would be thrilled to receive. We’ve got chocolate desserts, fruit desserts, a few with both chocolate and fruit, and a bit of caramel–a little something for everyone. I’ve marked the ones that are vegan, dairy free, egg free, and nut free in case you’re looking for those.

This post was hard for me to put together because I’m still in the midst of a Whole30, but Ben graciously agreed that we can push Valentine’s Day back and celebrate when I’m finished. When February 24th rolls around, you can bet we’ll be indulging in at least one of these grain-free desserts!

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Are you making a dessert (paleo or otherwise)? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Without further ado, here are 22 grain-free, paleo-friendly treats for your Valentine’s Day cooking pleasure!

Grain-free Chocolate Treats for Valentine’s Day

22 Grain-free Treats for Valentine's Day

Mocha Ricotta Pie with Strawberries: Possibly my favorite dessert of all time. The intriguing flavor of this pie is reminiscent of a great cannoli and will have everyone coming back for seconds and thirds.

Paleo Planet is here!

November 3, 2015 By Becky 16 Comments

Spiced Turkey Drumsticks & Gravy (page 118)

Today is the day: my cookbook, Paleo Planet, is finally out! If you pre-ordered (thank you!!!) it should be on your doorstep by the end of the evening. If you haven’t ordered the book yet, it’s available online from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can also buy it at local bookstores (find out which ones on IndieBound) and Barnes & Noble stores across the United States. I cannot wait for you to see it!

The book includes over 125 paleo recipes inspired by cuisines from around the world with a color photograph of each one. All the recipes are gluten free, grain free, and soy free. They’re also free of refined sugar, legumes, and dairy (with the exception of ghee). My hope is that the book will help anyone who reads it cook more real food that’s both healthy and exciting, no matter which diet (if any) they follow. Since I know food allergies are a big concern for many of us, I’ve included separate lists of egg-free and nut-free recipes (or ones in which eggs and nuts can be easily omitted) in addition to the regular index. There are over 80 recipes on the nut-free list and more than 90 on the egg-free list. There are also more than 80 Whole30-compliant recipes in the book, and you can download a bonus table of contents listing all of them right here. In case you’re new to paleo cooking or baking, the introduction explains some essential ingredients for stocking a paleo pantry plus how and why they’re used. Read More…

Spiced Beef and Sweet Potato Bowls with Crispy Eggs #30MinuteMondays

September 22, 2015 By Becky 10 Comments

Spiced beef and sweet potato bowls with crispy eggs, fresh figs, and goat cheese: a unique and satisfying grain-free breakfast or dinner in less than 30 minutes.

This may seem like a strange combination of foods, but don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it. This quick spiced beef with sweet potatoes is delicious all on its own, but adding a crispy egg, a few fresh figs, and a generous dollop of goat cheese kicks things up several levels.

The spiced beef and sweet potatoes is a fast, pared-down version of my bacon and sweet potato chili, with a few slightly more exotic spices added in. Microwaving the sweet potato chunks for a few minutes while the meat is browning saves times and ensures even cooking. Coriander, turmeric, cardamom, and allspice give the beef and sweet potatoes just the right amount of fragrance and spice.

In case you haven’t had the pleasure of indulging in a crispy egg, let me sell you on it. It has perfectly cooked whites, a runny yolk, and irresistible crunchy browned lacy bits all around the edges.

Lebanese Lemon Chicken #30MinuteMondays

September 14, 2015 By Becky 31 Comments

Fast and flavorful Lebanese lemon chicken with shallots, fresh herbs,
and a touch of turmeric–a comforting paleo dinner for fall.

There was a touch of fall in the air this weekend, especially in the early mornings. So, even though the highs will be in the 80s all next week, I’ve decided it’s time for fall comfort food. And this Lebanese lemon chicken fits the bill exactly. The flavors of lemon, rosemary and thyme hint at cooler weather, but the dish is fast enough not to heat up your entire house if the temperatures outside are still hot.

This recipe is inspired by the Lebanese chicken dish I had for lunch from the hot bar at Whole Foods last week. I don’t do well if I grocery shop hungry, so when I arrive at the store not totally full, I get something to eat from the prepared foods section and sit down and eat it before doing my shopping. Whole Foods’ version of this dish was made with bone-in, skin-on chicken, and also had potatoes, olives, and a few other ingredients. I loved the overall taste of the recipe, but wanted to simplify it a little.

Blistered Okra with Garlic and Cumin #30MinuteMondays

August 31, 2015 By Becky 6 Comments

blistered okra with cumin and garlic 1 v3

This blistered okra with garlic and cumin is much healthier than fried okra

but just as addictive! It’s also paleo, gluten-free, and vegan.

How do you feel about okra? I always hated it in gumbo and other gummy preparations as a kid, but quickly fell in love with fried okra. Last year I even made a paleo version of fried okra that’s really good, but it’s not super quick to make.

My love for okra eventually expanded to include bhindi masala, an Indian curry where the okra is cooked with plenty of ginger, garlic, onion, and tomato, and there’s a recipe for that in my cookbook. While delicious, bhindi masala also takes a little time to make.

Blistered Okra with Garlic and Cumin #30MinuteMondays | acalculatedwhisk.com

When I scored some really beautiful okra at the farmers’ market, I wanted to cook it quickly in a way that would highlight its intrinsic flavor while minimizing its intrinsic gumminess. A little research indicated that cooking okra briefly over relatively high heat would be most likely to achieve those results.

I was so happy with how this recipe turned out! Slicing the okra lengthwise provides a nice surface for browning while preserving the attractive silhouette of the pods. (Did you know okra is also known as lady fingers? Move on over, cookies whose sole purpose is to make tiramisu!) The recipe starts with getting a cast iron skillet nice and hot, then adding butter or oil. Whole cumin seeds, garlic cloves, and dried chiles are added next, infusing the cooking fat with savory and subtly spiced flavor and a gentle, warming heat. The okra are added next and cooked for about ten minutes, turning a few times, until nice and browned. Add a hefty sprinkle of flaky sea salt and that’s it! Non-fried okra that you won’t be able to stop eating.

Curry Butter Shrimp

August 19, 2015 By Becky 34 Comments

An easy and flavorful meal made from pantry staples, curry butter shrimp

takes ten minutes to make and is gluten-free and paleo-friendly.

I’ve kind of been boycotting grocery stores. Weekend before last I went to Florida for a wedding, and since getting back I have not set foot in one. I finished up my last week of my last internship for graduate school this past Friday, we’re getting ready to move down to Chattanooga this coming weekend, and I’m exhausted. Ben has been kind enough to pick up essentials like coffee, eggs, fruit, and bacon for us, but the eggs ran out yesterday.

What’s a girl to do without any eggs for breakfast and with a long day of packing ahead of her? The answer is definitely not grocery shopping. The answer is curry butter shrimp! Yes, I ate this at ten in the morning. No, I have no regrets. #dinnerforbreakfast may not be mainstream yet, but just you wait and see!

I didn’t do a 30 Minute Mondays post yesterday because I wanted to announce my cookbook (Paleo Planet is available for pre-order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and indie bookstores near you!). This is even better, though, because this is like 10 Minute Wednesday–not as alliterative, but much faster. Not counting the rice or cauliflower rice, this meal comes together in just ten minutes. (And, true confession, I didn’t even make this rice. It’s left over from the Indian food we ordered last night.)

Curry butter shrimp is a flavorful pantry recipe that requires almost no chopping (except for the cilantro–but if you’re really anti-chop you could just break that up into little sprigs). Melted butter or ghee is mixed with Thai curry paste to form a fragrant sauce for cooking the shrimp. A tiny bit of maple syrup and fish sauce add just enough sweetness and umami to complement the rich butter and spicy curry.

Announcing Paleo Planet + Marinated Skirt Steak with Cilantro-Lime Ghee

August 17, 2015 By Becky 21 Comments

Big news! I wrote a cookbook!

Paleo Planet is available for pre-order now and comes out on November 3rd, 2015. You can find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound or read more about it on the Harvard Common Press site.

The book has over 125 paleo recipes inspired by cuisines from around the world, all made without gluten, grains, refined sugar, legumes, soy, or dairy (with the exception of ghee). There are plenty of main dishes made with poultry, beef, pork, lamb, and seafood, as well as chapters for appetizers, vegetable sides, spice blends and other pantry staples, and of course, desserts. Every single recipe has a color photo taken by me!

Writing this cookbook was a ton of work, but I’ve never eaten better than I did while working on it! It was so much fun researching dishes from different cuisines and adapting them to fit the paleo lifestyle. Some of the recipes in the book are traditional foods from a certain country, while others are more fusion recipes. Still others just incorporate exotic flavors into an old classic or provide a fresh twist on a well-loved recipe.

Pesto Shrimp Bake with Squash and Tomatoes #30MinuteMondays

August 3, 2015 By Becky 25 Comments

A quick summer casserole bursting with Italian flavors.

I know this is a totally blasphemous thing to say in the food blogging world, especially in the middle of summer, but I’m really not a fan of tomatoes. They’ve grown on me since I was a kid, when I wouldn’t touch foods with them in it (including pizza, ketchup, and most of all anything involving raw or sundried tomatoes). I now really enjoy a good tomato sauce (like this bolognese or this garlic tomato sauce) and I’ll dip into a fancy ketchup if it’s got curry mixed in or something, but the appeal of raw tomatoes still largely eludes me.

My best experience so far has been with a couple of memorable caprese salads, including one at dbar, one of my favorite Boston restaurants, which is conveniently located just blocks from our apartment. A caprese salad with housemade mozzarella and tomatoes and basil from their rooftop garden was on the specials menu, and my mom and I had to try it. And, surprisingly enough, I didn’t hate the raw tomatoes.

Basil Lime Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

July 24, 2015 By Becky 4 Comments

An easy basil lime compound butter makes crispy chicken

and roasted vegetables extra special.

Happy Friday! Are you ready to slather your dinner in an irresistible basil lime compound butter?

I love this meal because it’s simple and flavorful. The basil lime butter makes the chicken and vegetables more delicious without making them taste any less like themselves. Instead of obscuring the flavors of the main ingredients like heavy sauces sometimes do, it just kisses them with a little herbal, citrusy richness that still lets their natural essence come through.

For the roasted vegetables, you can use whatever you have on hand. I used beets, carrots, summer squash, and onions. They need different amounts of time to roast, so I added the beets to the baking sheet first, then the carrots, and finally the squash and onions. If you want to sub in other vegetables and aren’t sure how long they need to roast, check out this handy chart.

Rainbow Salad with Grilled Chicken and Raspberry Walnut Dressing #30MinuteMondays

July 6, 2015 By Becky 16 Comments

All the colors of the rainbow are represented in this quick paleo salad with a creamy, dairy-free raspberry walnut dressing.

I’ve been wanting to make a rainbow salad for a while now, but this seemed like an especially opportune moment. Summer produce is everywhere in all its resplendent hues, and more Americans are able to get married than ever before. Let’s celebrate with this salad!

This healthy salad has pretty much all the colors of the rainbow (if you kind of merge indigo and violet together) plus pink. Pink is my favorite color and it’s not really fair that it’s not a part of the official rainbow, so I made sure it was included by making a nice pink dressing. Despite how creamy it looks, the dressing is dairy-free–the creaminess comes from the walnuts and shallots, and the color is thanks to the raspberries. It’s inspired by the creamy shallot dressing from my pan-seared chicken, orange, and walnut salad, but this one’s even better because it’s pink.

Cashew Chia Cacao Nib Pudding

July 3, 2015 By Becky 30 Comments

This cashew chia cacao nib pudding is paleo, gluten-free, and easily made vegan. It’s also a snap to make and surprisingly satisfying!

Happy fourth of July weekend! I made you a healthy dessert packed with superfoods: chia seeds, cacao nibs, honey, and cashews. Well, I am not totally sure that honey and cashews are superfoods, but they’re not bad, right? I think this pudding would be a welcome change on a weekend when desserts are often pumped full of artificial colors and flavors. (Although, if you do need something naturally red, white, and blue, may I suggest my pico de gallo de frutas? Just use blueberries instead of kiwis.)

Since this pudding is a make-ahead dessert, it’s perfect for having guests over. While you’re out grilling lamb burgers and mixing drinks (agua fresca, perhaps?) these perfectly-sized treats will just be gelling in the fridge.

Cashew Chia Cacao Nib Pudding (Gluten free, Paleo) | acalculatedwhisk.com

This was my first time using chia seeds and cacao nibs, and I loved them both. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the cacao nibs since they’re unsweetened chocolate, but while I wouldn’t necessarily eat a handful plain, they were perfect in this pudding. Some of the cacao nibs are blended with the cashew and chia base to deepen the chocolate flavors of the entire pudding, and some are sprinkled whole on top. This gives each bite of cashew chia pudding this craveworthy chocolatey crunch. It’s so good!

Stuffed Lamb Burgers + Paleo Burger Buns

July 1, 2015 By Becky 12 Comments

Lamb burgers are stuffed with manchego cheese and cherry jam for an elegant twist, and served on easy-to-make yeasted paleo burger buns!

Last year, my fiancé Ben asked me to make stuffed lamb burgers for his birthday dinner. At that point I had never made a stuffed burger or even cooked with lamb, which I didn’t think I liked. Since it was his birthday, though, I went for it.

Can you see where this story is going? Spoiler alert: the burgers were delicious (and they’re especially delicious on paleo burger buns!). Stuffed burgers are not hard to make, and it turns out I DO like lamb!

Paleo Burger Buns | acalculatedwhisk.com

I make burgers all the time because they are such an easy, simple dinner, but I usually make them with beef and use butter lettuce for the buns. Upgrading to a lamb burger (and a stuffed one at that!) and making my own paleo burger buns definitely kicked my burger night game up several notches.

These burgers are stuffed with manchego cheese and cherry jam, so you end up with the perfect balance of sweet, salty, and meaty tastes. The strong flavors of lamb pair really well with fruit preserves, and I chose manchego because it’s one of my very favorite cheeses. If you’re avoiding dairy, you can stuff the burgers with just jam and they’ll still be delicious. You could even add some avocado slices on top for extra creaminess. Or, if adding jam to a burger freaks you out, you can stuff them with only the cheese (but I do hope you’ll try the jam at least once!).