Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples

I’m back! Whew! So sorry for the lag in posting – it’s been a crazy month, and we’ve either been out of town or had house guests the last four weekends in a row. Tons of fun, but it didn’t leave a lot of time for experimenting in the kitchen.  Finally got some downtime with the hubs yesterday, and it really was a fantastic day – woke up to the rain (Rain? In Austin? Seriously??), went for a nice, easy Sunday run, practiced my double-unders & handstands, ate a delish bun-less burger at Hopdoddy (I tried the Llano Poblano – yum!), and then rounded things out with Halloween costume shopping on South Congress (going to rock it this year!). Just lovely. We capped off the day by cooking dinner together and then watching John Carpenter’s The Thing (the original)… really a fantastic film, and despite being made in the early 80’s, it totally stands up today.

So, back to the food!  We made a couple of new dishes yesterday – all the recipes are coming shortly! Let’s start with my favorite of the newbies: Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples. Both P.J. and I agreed that this one just tasted like Fall and would be a really great Paleo Thanksgiving side option.  Hope you like ’em! Check out the recipe after the jump…

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Lemon Coconut Macaroons, Fresh from the Oven

It’s been a little while since I posted a dessert recipe, so in honor of my 20lb. PR deadlift last night and the upcoming holiday weekend, today’s recipe is a sweet treat. I’m a huge fan of coconut macaroons – they’re such a simple, tasty little cookie – so I decided to give ’em a go.  (Plus, they’re gluten- and dairy-free!) For inspiration, I looked to Elana’s Pantry – she’s got some incredible recipes for gluten-free goodies.  While I was grabbing supplies at the store, I ran across a gorgeous little bottle of pure lemon oil, and I thought it might pair really well with the clean coconut flavor in the cookie. Follow the jump for my adapted recipe…

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Steamed Broccolini with Lemon

This is one of my husband P.J.’s go-to dishes… He’s a vegetarian, so he’s been a great influence on me in terms of incorporating more vegetables into my daily diet.  He’s also one of those guys who can grab four seemingly unrelated things from the fridge and create something awesome.  It’s an incredible skill, and I love it about him.  He created this dish to round out our main course options at the inaugural Paleo Dinner Party.  I take no credit for this dish – it’s all him!

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A Towering Stack of Simple, Tasty Bone-In Pork Chops

Time for a new protein! I wrote recently that I’ve always been intimidated by cooking steak. As it turns out, same goes for pork chops. I’ve had some dry, icky pork chops over the years, and I was also nervous about under-cooking the pork (as we know, you definitely don’t want to under-cook your pork…). With the recent changes in cooking guidelines for pork and the fact that I’ve made beef filets for the last 4 of 5 meals I’ve cooked for friends/family, I figured it was time to try the pork chop.

I REALLY enjoyed these pork chops, and they were super easy to make. This is going to become a regular weeknight protein for me.

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Watermelon and Arugula Salad... Perfect for Summer!

My husband P.J. is a HUGE fan of watermelon and arugula, so I’d been meaning to adapt and serve this recipe for a while. I actually stumbled across it in my pre-Paleo days and had it earmarked for summer. At the Farmer’s Market on Saturday, we stumbled across some seedless yellow watermelon (crazy!) – that was all the prompting I needed to make this salad.

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