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Skillet Butternut Squash and Greens

1 lb bacon, diced

1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed

1 bunch chard, diced

1 zucchini, diced

Drizzle of olive oil

Drizzle of balsamic vinegar

Using a potato peeler, peel the butternut squash, remove the seeds and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  Place in a large pan and cover with water.  Boil for 5-7 minutes or until the squash is tender but not mushy.  While the squash is boiling, cook the diced bacon in a large skillet until browned.  Drain the butternut squash and add to the cooked diced bacon along with the chard and zucchini.  Saute for another couple of minutes until the chard is wilted.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve.

Enjoy!!

(I’m going to add brussel sprouts!)

Roasted Cabbage with Bacon

Makes 6 wedges, serving 4-6 people.

• 2 lb. head of green cabbage
• 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 oz. good quality slab bacon, diced into 1/4-inch cubes
• coarse sea salt
• red wine vinegar or lemon wedges

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Trim the stem of the cabbage and remove one layer of the outer leaves. Cut the cabbage in half, and cut each half into three even wedges. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with the oil and place the cabbage wedges 1-inch apart on the sheet. Scatter the bacon over the cabbage.

Roast the cabbage for 20-30 minutes until richly browned on the bottom. Turn the wedges over and roast for 20-30 minutes longer until the bottom is richly browned again. Remove any dried outer leaves. Sprinkle with the coarse salt and serve with vinegar or lemon wedges.

• Total Calories: 515 
• Fat: 37 grams
• Carbs: 40 grams
• Fiber: 17 grams
• Protein: 14 grams

(Source: lowcarb.ca)

Avocado Chicken Salad

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 Cooked Chicken Breasts
• 2 Ripe Avocados
• 1 Stalk of Celery
• 1/2 C Dried Cranberries
• 1/4 C Avocado Oil
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Cooking Steps

Dice chicken breast and avocado into bite size pieces and chop celery into very small dice.In a large bowl, combine diced avocado, chicken and dried cranberries.Add in avocado oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. The avocado will naturally mush down a bit while combining, but still leave some good size chunks. Eat immediately on a salad, plain, or in a lettuce wrap, or allow the salad to sit overnight for a better depth of flavor. Enjoy!

Meatza

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Toppings: sauce, veggies, meats, cheese, whatever you like!

Cooking Steps

This is another one of the simple ground beef recipes that makes you say “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Preheat oven to 350. Combine ground beef, egg, and seasonings in a bowl. Mix with hands until thoroughly combined in a sticky mixture. Spread mixture out thinly but evenly in a 13×9 baking dish or cookie sheet. Put in oven and cook for about 25 minutes.

Take the beef crust out of the oven. A LOT of grease should have cooked out of the beef, and it will have shrunk a couple inches on all sides. Pour the grease out and put the crust back in your pan.

At this point, I used the drained off grease to fry up some mushrooms to top my pizza. While those were sauteeing, I applied a light layer of tomato sauce, some thinly sliced onions, and kalamata olives. To finish, I topped with the mushrooms.

The toppings are only limited by your imagination (or maybe to what’s in your fridge), so go wild and use different combinations of vegetables and spices every time you make this. Use cheese if you do dairy, but you won’t miss it if you dont!

Whenever your pizza is topped to your liking, place it back in the oven. If you have a broiler, place meatza under it for 5 – 10 minutes, or until toppings are just heated through. If you don’t have a broiler, crank your oven up to 450 and cook for another 10 minutes.

Let pizza cool for 5 minutes before cutting into pieces. The meatza crust should be firm enough for you to eat with your hands!

Rosemary Beef Bowl

• ground beef
• rosemary
• garlic
• ground basil
• ground chipotle pepper
• spinach
• white mushrooms (sliced)
• red wine vinegar
• onion slice (diced)

Cooking Steps

Grab a large handful of ground beef, mix in spices to taste. Try to use fresh rosemary if you can. Cook in a pan, stirring up occassionally, for 10 min on medium-high heat. Put on low heat once beef is browned, throw a handful of spinach on top, dash on some red wine vinegar and let the spinach get steamed. Mix in the spinach and serve it up in a bowl!

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Meatizza

Serves 4 – 6 people

Crust

2 pounds of bulk Italian sausage (your choice)

1 to 2 eggs

Meatizza toppings

A sugarless pizza sauce such as “Monte Bene”

Veggies chopped up of your choice such as

Bell peppers

Onions

Garlic

Broccoli

Mushrooms

Olives

Zucchini

Grated Cheese of your choice such as

mozzarella

provolone

goat

smoked gouda

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Sneaky vegetable muffins

This makes about 12 normal size muffins, or 24 mini muffins, which make fantastic canapés

Approx 500 grams grated zucchini (this is 5 normal sized vegetables, not marrows!)
1 carrot grated
1 medium onion peeled and diced finely
About 2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 cup grated cheese (Tasty is fine here)
1 cup self-raising flour
¼ cup canola oil
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
4-5 eggs (depending on size)

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zucchini pizza boats

Total Recipe cost: $7.92
Servings Per Recipe: 6 (2 pizza boats each)
Cost per serving: $1.32
Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 20 min. Total: 35 min.

INGREDIENTS COST 6 med. zucchini $4.22 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce $0.50 1/4 cup bread crumbs $0.08 1/4 cup parmesan cheese $0.24 1 tsp Italian seasoning blend $0.05 1 (2 oz.) can sliced black olives $1.00 2 cups shredded mozzarella $1.83 TOTAL $7.92

Pumpkin Pancakes

Recipe:1/2 C pumpkin puree, organic, unsweetened1/2 C almond butter1/4 C chopped pecans, toasted2 eggs2 T honey1 T vanilla1 tsp. cinnamon1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg

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Pulled Pork

• 1 pork shoulder cut (butt or picnic), weighing 3-4 pounds
• 1-2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons of granulated garlic or garlic powder
• optional: 6 fresh garlic cloves, peeled
• The juice of one lime (or sour orange, if you can get one)
• 1 onion
• 1 bay leaf