Appetizers
Mary’s Sweet Potato Bruschetta
This is a recipe from my friend, Mary. Mary and I were best friends in high school and used to get up to all sorts of mischief together (ummm..once we tried to smoke banana peels! And no, they do not give you a buzz). These days, instead of gossiping about boys we love (well, that was mostly me…I was a boy crazy twit) and planning ways to sneak out of the house (yes, we got caught…by the police!), we now share paleo recipes and talk about our workouts. I am incredibly proud of the amazing transformation Mary has had through paleo eating and her workouts at her local Crossfit box. She has regained her health and is an inspiration to others. She has even completed a Tough Mudder! We live on opposite sides of world now and I haven’t seen Mary in over 25 years, but I’m sure that if I saw her tomorrow, it would seem like we’d never been apart.
Here we are! On the left (9th grade), we had been digging around in her grandparent’s closets and came up with wigs, jewels and some very cool “vintage” clothing. On the right (age 16), that’s me the Bumble Bee and Mary as Aunt Jemima getting ready to head out to a Halloween party.
Fun Times Together: Lisa and Mary
Ingredients
- 1 sweet potato
- oil of choice (coconut, olive oil or ghee—we used ghee)
- red wine vinaigrette (3 parts olive oil to 1 part red wine vinegar, minced garlic clove, salt and pepper to taste)
- 2-3 tomatoes, chopped small
- black olives (however many you want), chopped
- fresh basil, chopped
- fresh Parmesan (optional)
What to do
- Peel and slice your sweet potato. You can do this in rounds or you can cut the potato length wise (about 1/4″ thick).
- Brown your sweet potato slices in a frying pan over medium heat in the oil of your choice.
Browning in our new cast iron pan
- Cook it until it is al dente (about 10 minutes) and golden brown.
Ready for some topping
- Mix your tomatoes, basil and olives in enough vinaigrette to coat them.
- Lay your sweet potatoes out on a baking sheet and top with spoonfuls of your tomato mixture and Parmesan if you tolerate dairy.
Eat as is ‘cold’ or bake in the oven
- Place in a pre-heated 350 F oven for 10 minutes. OR, you can skip this part and eat them cold. Both ways are delicious!
We had this as an afternoon snack, but it would make a great appetizer for a dinner party. Thanks again to Mary for the recipe! She has also sent me a few others, so keep an eye out for those…(yes, there will be Snicker-doodles, but not until after my Whole 30!).
Easy…but looks very fancypants!
Spinach Artichoke Dip
I used to make this spinach dip and take it to any party I was invited to. I’d hollow out a loaf of bread to serve it in and use the bread to dip into the dip. I’ve served it warm and cold and people always eat it up. Everybody in the States has eaten this dip before, but my Swiss friends had never seen anything like it and they thought I was a culinary genius. The ingredients on the Knorr vegetable soup mix in this dip is about a mile long and the first two ingredients are corn starch and wheat flour. Seriously time for a recipe makeover. The original recipe calls for some water chestnuts, but I wanted to make this more like a hot appetizer spinach dip with artichoke hearts that I had at the Sea Dog Brewing Company in Maine.
Ingredients
- 2 cans of artichoke hearts (each can was 400 grams)
- 10 oz (350 grams) spinach (I used cooked fresh spinach but frozen would also work)
- 1 leek, thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 small container (180 grams) of full fat plain Greek yogurt
- 100 ml full fat cream (or this mayo)
- 1 tsp salt
- 75 grams grated Parmesan cheese
- 100 grams grated Gruyere cheese
- 100 grams grated Emmentaler cheese (Swiss cheese with holes)
- If you are using fresh spinach, wilt it gently in a hot pan until it’s mostly cooked. Drain well.
- Frozen spinach should be thawed and well drained. Chop your spinach.
- Drain your artichoke hearts and dice them up really fine.
- Put your spinach and hearts in a large mixing bowl and add in everything else.
Spinach, artichoke hearts and leeks
- Mix until well combined.
- You can serve this as is or you can put it in an oven safe dish and bake for 30 minutes at 190 C (375 F).
Before going in the oven
I served this dip hot with these delicious crackers and some carrot sticks. Once the crackers were gone (they were too tasty to last long), some people (ok, me) just resorted to eating the dip with a fork. So, it’s more than a dip….it could be side dish!
Hot and delicious
There. Now you can be a culinary genius, too.
Paleo Herb Crackers
I got this recipe from Julie and she’s not sure where exactly she got it from, so we can’t give you proper credit if it happens to be your recipe. Let us know in the comments if you know who or where it came from. (*Update* One of our readers says the original recipe came from Multiply Delicious–great site…be sure to check it out). I’ve experimented with quite a few cracker recipes and this is by far the best one I’ve tried. I made these the other day to go with a hot spinach and artichoke dip. I had to make a double recipe because I was taking them to a party and ate too many of the first batch. If you have self control issues like I do, you might not want to make them at all.
Best crackers
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 Tablespoons of your favorite spices (I used a mix of oregano, sage and garlic and Julie has used a pizza seasoning and rosemary blend)
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1 egg white
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 tsp coconut oil melted
How to do it
- Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)
- Combine dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl and set aside
- In a small bowl, whisk together your wet ingredients
- Pour wet ingredients into your bowl of dry ingredients and mix well
- Place your dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out to an even thickness of about 1/8 inch
- Transfer parchment to a baking sheet and remove the top piece of parchment
- Use a pizza cutter (or sharp knife) to cut the sheet of dough into cracker size pieces/squares
- Bake for 10 minutes then turn off your oven and let crackers sit inside oven for an additional 10 minutes
Great for dipping
I shared this over at Gluten Free Mondays
Paleo Dinner Party
The Swiss Paleo ladies (Lisa, Julie and Susan), along with our friend Ayse, got together for a dinner party last weekend and let me tell you…we ate some really delicious food! Nothing beats good food eaten in the company of good friends. Did you know that socializing is vital to your health and well-being? It’s good for your longevity and your immune system. Have a look here if you would like to read more about this. Those who know me well know that I’m not much of a social butterfly and I’m pretty happy just hanging out at home (yes, in my pyjamas on the couch), but I really do enjoy the company of friends and will definitely be working on adding more “connectedness” into my life. So, think of the people in your life that you enjoy spending time with and invite them over for a meal.
A Paleo Dinner Party
Can you really throw a ‘Paleo’ dinner party and still impress your guests? Absolutely! My guess is that a Not-So-Paleo person would have never even known they were eating paleo if they had joined us last weekend. We had it all: an apero, hor d’oevers, a main meal, wine (probably too much in my case) and desserts (plural…as in more than one). Take a look at a few of the things we enjoyed:
The Apéro: Hugos
I had never heard of a Hugo until now. And now, it could just be my new favorite drink. To make a Hugo: put the following into each glass: 150 ml Proseco, 100 ml bubbly mineral water, a splash of holunderblütensirop, a few crushed mint leaves, a wedge of lime and some ice. Warning: they taste delicious and are really easy to drink too fast. Be careful or you might end up under the table before dinner even gets started!
The Apèro: Hugo
The hor d’oevers
Julie made some hor d’oevers that were as beautiful as they were tasty. We had little shrimp cocktails with shrimp, tomato and avocado. The picture of these turned out too dark but I got a great shot of the other thing she made. Yes, I have fallen in love with figs thanks to this little bite of heaven. Fresh figs topped with buffalo mozzarella, wrapped in prosciutto and splashed with balsamic vinegar. No way to eat it politely…just shove the whole thing in your mouth and enjoy!
So elegant…
The Main Meal (show me the beef!)
We had a mixture of vegetables roasted with rosemary and lots and lots of meat. Julie’s husband, Pascal, grilled the meat to perfection.
Ribs…it doesn’t get more ‘caveman’ than that!
We also indulged in some decadent but paleo friendly desserts. On offer we had homemade almond butter chocolate icecream made with coconut milk, almond butter dark chocolate chunk cookies, and berry crumble. And of course I had all three. Sadly, I don’t have any more pictures to share with you. I’m going to blame it on the lighting. It had nothing to do with the amount of wine I drank. Really. I also realized that I might just be a little too food obsessed. Notice how there are only pictures of the food and not the people? So, invite a friend or two over for dinner. I’m just sitting on my couch waiting for the invitation…
Bacon Wrapped Dates
Let’s face it: everything tastes better with bacon. But bacon wrapped dates… are just … Bacon Crack. Seriously.
This simple little appetizer is not only super delicious, it is also extremely easy to make and always turns out fantastic.
Ingredients
- 1 package of pitted dates
- 1 package of thinly sliced bacon
- optional: almonds
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit / 180° Celsius.
- Wrap a piece of bacon around each date. Place the wrapped date with the seem facing downwards on the cookie sheet. Press firmly on the bacon wrapped date, so it is less likely to unravel. Repeat until all of the dates are wrapped in bacon.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until crisp. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Featured On
Follow Us!
