I first had this dish a few years ago at a Peruvian restaurant close by home. It was served on a bed of French fries and a side of rice. The ajI sauce was already on the table to use as a condiment for all our meals.  The flavors in this single meal are truly amazing! The crunch and sweetness of the onion and juicy tartness of the tomatoes is so mesmerizing, and the aji sauce takes it over the top.
In the original recipe I used to use soy sauce, but to make it paleo I now use coconut aminos and add red and green bell peppers just to up our veggie intake.

You can serve this dish on top of zoodles, cauliflower rice, or by itself would be just fine too. I also like to serve it with a side of fried plantains.


Pollo Saltado With Aji Sauce
Yields: 5 servings

Aji Sauce

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3 jalapeno or serano peppers - stem and seeds taken off (if you like it spicy you can leave the seeds in)
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 3 green onions
• 5 large garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. white vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Toss all your ingredients into the blender. Blend until smooth. 
2. Store in the fridge until ready for use.

For the aji sauce you can play around with the ingredients, add more jalapenos if you like more heat, or add more garlic if you want more of a kick. I have even substituted the mayonnaise for coconut milk or avocado, just depends on whatever I have on hand. If you take out the mayonnaise it will of course change the flavor, but I have had good results regardless.

Breakfast

• A banana
• A few almonds
• An avocado with black pepper
• Sweet potato fries

I was obviously very hungry this morning.

Lunch

• Dill salmon from paleomg
• Zucchini sautéed with aji sauce
• Roasted sweet potato
• An orange

The salmon recipe was from paleomg, and it was really tasty. Don't make the same mistake as me of cooking the fish on broil, it will leave you with a really burnt top. Haha.

Dinner

• Chicken curry salad with spinach, wrapped in a paleo wrap

I made chicken curry salad for the first time last week using leftover roasted chicken breast, and I was in L.O.V.E. Everything about this salad is amazing, starting with the crunch from the celery and pecans, along with the burst of sweetness from the apples and raisins, down to the kick from the cayenne pepper. I recommend making the salad a day in advance, that way all the ingredients get a chance to mingle.

Chicken Curry Salad
Yields: 2 servings

• 1 cooked chicken breast- diced
• 1 1/2 stalks celery diced
• 1/2 small apple diced
• 1/4 cup pecans or slivered almonds
• 2 tbsp. fresh minced cilantro
• 1 green onion diced
• 1 tbsp. raisins

Dressing

• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1/2 tsp. curry powder
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Toss all the salad ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and mix.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. 
4. Place the salad in the fridge and let it sit overnight and enjoy the following day. You can try it in a paleo wrap, a lettuce wrap or just by it is delicious too!

I found the paleo wraps at whole foods, and was really excited to try them. The coconut flavor from the wrap compliments the curry salad nicely. But you can easily enjoy eating the salad all by itself.

I have decided that at least once a month I will write a post called Daily Eats, sharing all the food I consume that day.

So lets begin!

Breakfast

• Paleo overnight "oats"- diced banana and apples, chia seeds, almond milk, cinnamon, almond butter, shredded raw coconut, sliced almonds and raisons. 

While eating paleo sometimes breakfast can get pretty boring. I don’t know about you, but I can’t handle eating eggs everyday for breakfast, and leftover dinner doesn’t always sound good at 7:30 in the morning. So sometimes I treat myself to paleo overnight "oats". There are of course no oats in it, but it’s the same concept as overnight oats, I just use apples in place of the oats.

Everyone at work already thinks I eat the most bizarre things. So seeing this jar on my desk this morning threw them for an even bigger loop.  I had people asking what in the world was I eating. But once I opened the jar and told them what was in it, some said, " that actually sounds pretty good, I would eat it".  Well for your information it IS good. 

Lunch

• Baked chili lemon chicken
• Roasted vegetables
• Salad- cherry tomato’s, bell pepper, cucumber, purple onion, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

The baked chili lemon chicken was a recipe I used out of my recipe binder and I was not a fan. I don’t think I be will be making it again.

Snacks

• Apple sauce
• Baby carrots, broccoli, cherry tomatoes

Dinner 

• Baked chili lemon chicken
• Curry meatballs
• Sweet potato
• Roasted vegetables
• Arugula salad with lime juice and avocado

Dinner tonight was a smorgasbord of leftovers. The curry meatballs are recipe from my recipe binder and they are delicious! It was my second time making them.

Off to bed I go. Night night. 

After going paleo I feared that I would never be able to have delicious pancakes again. Some of the paleo friendly pancake recipes I tried were very heavy and hard to swallow. So I sought out to make my own recipe using ingredients I already had on hand. The key to this recipe is to make sure you beat the egg whites separately and than fold them into the batter, it makes the pancakes fluffy and not so heavy.

Pancakes

Yields: 12 small pancakes- enough for 3-4 people

Ingredients

• 2 cups of almond flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• A pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon (if you don’t like cinnamon you can leave this out)
• 3/4 cup almond milk or canned coconut milk works well too
• 2 tbsp. + 1 tsp. honey
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 eggs  (whites and yolk separated)

1. Add all the dry ingredients into a medium size bowl and mix them together using a fork.
2. Add your wet ingredients including the egg yolks into the same bowl and mix.
3. Place your egg whites into a small bowl and beat them using a hand mixer on high until they form soft peaks and have tripled in size.
4. Fold the egg whites into the batter. Try not to fold and mix too much, because this will cause the egg whites to deflate and loose their fluffiness.
5.  Add some coconut oil to your pan and heat over medium heat. Once your pan is hot take an ice cream scoop and scoop out some of the batter and plop into the pan, and than spread it out using the back of your ice cream scoop.
6. These burn quickly so keep an eye on them, they take about 30 seconds on the first side and after flipping about 1 minute on the other side. (If that made any sense)

Once they are done serve these with your favorite pancake topping. Ruben likes blueberry syrup I make, but I prefer raw almond butter, with fresh blueberries or raspberries, some shredded coconut and maple syrup drizzled on top. AMAZING!!!!!

Eat up buttercup!

Usually this time of year the last thing I want to eat is a salad. Soup? Yes. Tea? Yes. Stew? Yes.  Salad...mmm not so much. But I have the perfect combination of fall ingredients that will have you craving this unique salad. I tried this salad at a friend’s house and loved the idea of using persimmons in a salad. (Seeing as I have more persimmons at home than I know what to do with). I swapped out the pomegranate seeds that she used in place for pear and added the sliced almonds to add a hint of spice.

The Perfect Fall Salad
 
Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 1 Cup organic mixed greens or baby spinach
• 1 Small roasted beet diced
• 1/2 Persimmon diced
• 1/2 Bosc pear diced
• Toasty sliced almonds

1. Build your salad and pour on your favorite salad dressing. (I used balsamic vinegar with a bit of olive oil and honey)

Like I mentioned in my last post, the toasty sliced almonds really help bring all the ingredients in the salad together. It will keep you coming back for more!