Creative paleo and gluten-free recipes
This post has been sponsored by Lily’s Sweets. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Now that it’s truly fall, it’s time to get baking! On a crisp November evening, I love to have something fragrant and delicious in the oven—and this gluten-free chocolate chip zucchini bread is one of my very favorites.
These grilled vegetables with jalapeño aioli are a great way to make the most of the last few weeks of grilling season! Zucchini, okra, mini peppers, and red onion wedges grill up quickly and are irresistible dipped in the creamy and spicy aioli.
Here in the South, the highs continue to sneak into the nineties most days and the markets are still packed with tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and okra. So while fall may technically be looming on the horizon, I am not ready to give up grilling anytime soon.
All summer long I’ve been firing up my grill and filling it with local veggies, sometimes adding some sausage or chicken as well, and calling it dinner. Nobody has complained, but I recently decided the one thing a platter of grilled vegetables really begs for is a flavorful sauce for dipping. The grilled vegetables almost seem like extra flavorful and colorful French fries once you add a nice aioli to dunk them into.
This cantaloupe, corn, and zucchini salad with lemony pesto is a perfect no-cook recipe for hot summer nights. It’s vegan, gluten free, and dairy free.
What’s fresh, fast, raw, and super delicious?
Cantaloupe, corn, and zucchini salad with lemony pesto, that’s what!
This post is sponsored by Uncle Steve’s Italian Specialties.
These bolognese stuffed zucchini with pesto are a satisfying and summery Whole30 meal made with organic tomato basil sauce, ground beef, and plenty of fresh pesto on top.
How is summer treating you so far? Here in Chattanooga it’s been nice and hot (just the way I like it!) and we’ve been getting in a lot of swimming. I’ve also been working on my tan while doing my farm share work, and loving the first rounds of summer produce showing up, like zucchini, basil, and even a few tomatoes.
I used my early squash to make these bolognese stuffed zucchini with pesto, which combine seasonal vegetables and a few pantry staples to make an easy but hearty paleo dinner.
And no, I’m not suggesting you make a true bolognese sauce that needs to simmer away for hours in this heat. This is a bit of a cheater’s bolognese, because we’re letting Uncle Steve’s do the hard work for us. Their organic tomato basil sauce is so flavorful that all we have to do is brown the ground beef with a little onion, and stir in the sauce. The resulting filling will fool all your lucky dinner companions into thinking you worked all day to handcraft an authentic Italian sauce.
Chicken and bacon skewers are sure to become your next grilling obsession! These easy skewers feature chicken with a maple balsamic glaze, zucchini, summer squash, and peppers woven together with bacon. This post is sponsored by Santa Rita.
Food on a stick is just more fun, right? Especially when there’s bacon involved. These skewers will be the star of your next cookout. Maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and spices add flavor to the chicken, and the chicken and vegetables are super succulent because they’re nestled in between waves of bacon while they cook. The end result is a skewer with a perfect balance of sweet and salty, with plenty of protein and colorful pops of veggies.
Together with a glass of chilled white wine, these skewers just scream summer, and I recommend Santa Rita 120 Sauvignon Blanc. I absolutely love a good wine that doesn’t break the bank, and this one is perfect. All its citrusy notes make it super refreshing, the perfect counterpoint to a smoky skewer of grilled goodness. I also feel good about this wine because of Santa Rita’s commitment to sustainability–they’re working hard to measure and reduce their carbon footprint and implement technologies that reduce pollution and wasted water. Cheers to that!
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. I want to make rutabaga noodles so badly, but I can’t seem to bring myself to purchase another kitchen gadget. I’ve made zoodles by hand with my julienne peeler, but it’s a huge pain. After adding the spiralizer to my cart on Amazon several times and then taking it back out again, I’ve decided that I’m going to ask for one for my birthday next month (are you reading this, Mom?). I won’t feel as bad about getting yet another cooking tool if it is a gift from my wonderful mother.
The key to sticking with the Whole30 throughout a busy work week is planning and preparation. This weekend I’m planning to make big batches of a few different meals so I can bring leftovers to school for lunch, and even eat leftovers some nights for dinner if I’m too tired to cook. However, even though I occasionally enjoy a good dinner for breakfast, most mornings I want something a little more traditional.
So, today I’m sharing my plan for prepping a week of paleo breakfasts. These ideas are perfect if you’re doing a Whole30, but are also just great if you have a goal to start each day with a healthy breakfast. Most of these ideas do require you to get up and cook, but it should only take about 10 minutes, and for a nutritious & tasty breakfast, it’s worth it.
We’re going nose-to-tail with our zucchini today! I saw these charmingly small organic zucchini at Whole Foods, and was inspired to cook them without trimming the ends off, chopping them up, or turning them into noodles. Sometimes, we just have to let zucchini be! It’s a beautiful vegetable, and when it’s browned like this and braised until tender, you can eat the whole entire thing.
I’ve always been more of a baker than a cook, but I’m working hard to change that, especially since starting my Whole30. It’s exciting to try lots of different meats in lots of different forms. Yesterday I made pork belly (you can see the before & after pics on Instagram–it was good, but not quite good enough to share with you!). Today I used ground chicken to make meatballs. I am so happy with the way this dish turned out–it’s one of the best savory recipes I’ve made! The meatballs are moist and rich, and the sauce provides the perfect level of tart tomato and roasted garlic flavor.
