June in Butchart gardens

Stuffed zucchini

Ingredients

zucchini

minced chicken

onions

mayonnaise

salt

pepper

Direction

Cut zucchini into halves lengthwise, scoop out pulp and grease with mayonnaise.

Finely chopped onion, mix with ground meat. Add salt and pepper

Fill zucchini with meat mixture and place in baking pan.

Pour mayonnaise and sprinkle with grated cheese

Bake in preheted oven (400F) for 20 minutes.

Stuffed zucchini

father's day

father's day

Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Pocket

 

 

 

Freshly baked sandwich pocket fresh from your own oven…

Ingredients

• 1/2 batch, or approx. 4 cups bread dough


• 2 large chicken breasts


• 2 cups steamed broccoli


• 1 – 2 oz cream cheese


• 1/4 – 1/2 cup alfredo sauce


• 1 – 2 cups cheddar cheese


• various seasonings


• 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions

1. Season and bake chicken breasts in a 350 degree oven until no longer pink in center. Dice chicken and set aside.

 2. Roll out a handful of bread dough into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Spread 1-2 tsp of softened cream cheese over dough. Add 1-2 Tbsp of alfredo sauce over the cream cheese. Top with 1/2 cup diced chicken, 1/4 cup steamed chopped broccoli, and 1/4 – 1/3 cup cheddar cheese.

 3. Fold up ends of dough over the filling mixture. Fold other ends up and over and seal seams shut using a bit of water if necessary.

 4. Place seam side down on a prepped baking sheet, cut a small steam vent in the top, and let rise for about 30 minutes in a warm, draft-free place.

 5. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Brush with oil mixture again after baking if desired.

Details

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Yield: 4 large pockets

Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Pocket

What is Paleo?

Paleolithic age is a prehistoric period of human history and Paleo is the short form word derived from the term Paleolithic. The premise of living a Paleo lifestyle would then be centered around how our bodies have not 100% adapted to eating foods in this day and age that were not available to us tens of thousands of years ago.

That’s really an understatement, as food these days become more and more processed. What we put in our bodies is nowhere near what our bodies are actually capable of processing.

There’s a reason why food is processed in such a way, and it can be a whole article on its own, but suffice it to say that mass food production has advanced in such a way because there are just too many people consuming food and not enough of it being produced. So as time goes by, the food we’re putting in our mouths resemble real food less and less.

A Paleo diet seeks to reverse this, and eat things like meat, vegetable, nuts, seeds and fruits. This means absolutely zero alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy whatsoever. It also means steering clear of processed foods by any means necessary. In general, eating only what our thousands of years old ancestors would hunt and forage for and finally eat.

If you’re wondering how big a deal this is, simply look at the western patterns of food consumption. Most of their foods are refined with sugars, adulterated with vegetable oils, dairy products and grains. As a result, there’s an epidemic level of heart attacks, type-2 diabetes and obesity rampant there. In just America, diet-related diseases are the largest cause of death. Before, these diseases were rare or practically non-existent so you can tell right off the bat that it’s because of the change in our dietary intake.

My goal isn’t to scare you into swapping your eating habits 180 degrees into eating only Paleo type foods. If anything, all I want is to impress upon you the importance of eating well, and to avoid foods which would negatively affect your health and lifestyle. End of the day, if you remember this blog and this post, you’ll at least find out what is truly in the food that you eat on a daily basis.

If anything, just take a step back whenever you’re going grocery shopping. Check what you buy. Find out what the ingredients are and how natural it is for your body to process. Yes, it may be a lot of effort at first, but isn’t life worth it? After all, you’re only going to do it once and when you find out what’s in that favorite instant 2 minute TV dinner you used to purchase, you can start making a change.

Change doesn’t have to be drastic. It needs to be gradual if it’s going to be permanent. And the first step you need is to know more. Be involved in finding out what you eat, how you’re going to prepare food on a daily basis or where you’re going to be buying the ingredients for your next meal.

Most importantly, it starts with the first step.

I hope you’re with me in this all the way.  If you’re looking to get jump started, you can also visit the site I used to get most of my information. I purchased a recipe book called Secret Paleo and I’m having a great time trying out dishes that I never knew existed.

For more information please click here.

What is Paleo?

raw snacks

raw snacks

Oat Bran Cookies.

 

Ingredients:

2 eggs,

4 tbsp of  oat bran,

4 tablespoons of yogurt (I took Greek),

2 tblsp of Kefir

Direction

Stir eggs, oat bran, yogurt,  kefir and let stand for a while in heat. Then add a little baking powder.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Sprinkle form with oil. In each cell put a tablespoon of the mixture  and bake about 20 minutes.

Oat Bran Cookies.