Easy Paleo Chili

My chiropractor's wife Mandy has a blog called Eating Innately where she posts primal recipes here. I borrowed and slightly rendered this recipe for Elk Chili. It was delicous! And now that it's warming up outside, it won't be chili time for much longer so make this ASAP! :)

1/2 C chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 C chopped celery
1 C chopped bell pepper
1 1/2 lb Elk, buffalo, or grass fed beef (I'm boring, so I used turkey)
2 tsp thyme leaves (dried)
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 8 oz can tomatoes
1 12 oz jar of salsa
1 15 oz can of kidney beans

Grab a big pot and throw it on the stove (you can use your crockpot or whatever other fancy gadget you might have). Then melt oil and saute onions, garlic, celery and pepper for about 5 minutes. Add ground meat and spices stirring frequently for 5-10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for a minimum of 1hour.

It was really delicious! I think next time I will try to make it with more tomatoes/sauce. It was very thick and hearty.

Almond Banana Muffins!

I've shared this recipe with a lot of people who all have agreed that it's pretty amazing!

What you'll need:

1 cup almond butter
1 cup almond flour
4 medium ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (maybe even a little more if you like cinnamon)
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1/2 cup plus more for topping muffins Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (Dairy-Free, Soy Free, Gluten-Free) – I find mine at Whole Foods

Here's how you make them:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan or use liners (I used liners - much easier!)

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and mix everything is incorporated. *Side note - I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. You can definitely make these with a hand mixer, but with the stand mixer I was able to put the bananas in whole without having to mash them, made it much easier!* Now stir chocolate chips into batter. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin filling all 12 cups evenly. Top muffins with a few additional chocolate chips. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool and remove from pan.

I baked mine for exactly 20 minutes and they cam out perfectly! Next time I make them I won't use the chocolate chips (not a huge chocolate fan). I've tried making these with apples in place of the chocolate chips. The apples worked, and they were good...just not as awesome as the chocolate chip version. Also, these these freeze really well! I wrapped the left-over muffins individually and popped them in the freezer. Just sit one on the counter to thaw and they're as good as fresh-out of the oven!

Paleo Bun

This is a really quick & easy way to make a hamburger bun...or if you're just craving some "bread".


1 1/2 tbsp coconut flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ghee/butter


Whisk eggs & ghee, add flour then baking soda. Pour into a glass bowl, microwave for 2 mins, allow to cool. Pick a bowl that you want the shape of the bun to be. I use a normal sized cereal bowl which gives it a nice shape for a burger. This bun reminds me of cornbread and you can add 1/2 tbsp more flour if you like it drier. 

Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potatoes

To kick off the new blog, I'll start with a recipe that's super duper easy...and so incredibly good.

Here's what you'll need:

2 medium-small sweet potatoes
1 lb uncured bacon
2 Tbsp butter (I used Trader Joe's unsalted Kerry Gold)
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
1 Tbsp sea salt
4 Tbsp maple syrup — OPTIONAL

Preheat oven to 350F. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them lengthwise into quarters. Then cut each quarter in half, and then half again. You’ll wind up with 32 bites.

Melt butter over low-heat and stir in chipotle chili powder and sea salt. Toss the potatoes in the spiced, melted butter to coat.

Cut the bacon slices in half, so you have 32 mini-slices of bacon. Wrap each sweet potato bite with a half slice of bacon, and use a toothpick to hold the bacon in place. The toothpick doesn't have to go very far into the sweet potato, just far enough to hold the bacon in place.

Place on a stainless steel baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, turning once about halfway through. The second time I made these I used my broiler pan & it worked much better! All the grease fell into the pan. This made the bacon crispier and made saving the bacon grease very easy.

These are done when the bacon is crispy and the sweet potatoes are fork-tender. You could also drizzle these with a bit of maple syrup when finished, but I choose not to.