Soups Stews Salads

Momma slaw

Momma slaw

This is a backyard barbecue staple. If you want to add that traditional yellow hue to it, throw a tablespoon of yellow mustard into the slaw. Your friends won’t know any better. Yes, we have two slaw recipes in this book. It’s just one of those dishes that keeps well,…

Dirty cauliflower “rice”

Dirty cauliflower “rice”

Dirty rice is most commonly thought of as Cajun in origin (though it is very common throughout the entire South). Why is this rice called dirty? The rice in this dish gets an almost dirty color from the giblets, some people thinking the little bits of giblets resemble…

Creamed spinach

Creamed spinach

But without the cream. There is still a slight lingering coconut flavor in this dish, which I’m sure might be off-putting to some, or sheer delight to others. I will say that I love doing twists on this recipe, like adding in some chopped-up artichokes (think pseudo…

Chicken soup

Chicken soup

Nothing says comfort quite as well as that first cup of chicken soup as the weather begins to turn chilly. Sometimes the simplest things bring the most pleasure in life. This is a great recipe to get cooking in the slow cooker and let go for a few hours! For tackling…

Chicken tomatillo stew

Chicken tomatillo stew

The first time I made this recipe, I was still Zone-ing my paleo portions (at least in respect to the protein content), and I was amazed at how big a portion turned out to be. This soup is awesome on those cold winter days, and is one that does well simmering in the…

Gingered butternut squash soup

Gingered butternut squash soup

Ah, butternut squash . . . fall comfort food, or baby food made acceptable for adults? Your choice. However, in the fall when squashes are abundant, this soup is a perfect start off to a dinner party. What I love about this soup is that it’s super easy to tweak the…

Tomato and orange salad

Tomato and orange salad

This recipe stems from my days working with Melanie and Taji of Simple Gourmet—way before I had ever heard of paleo. I think one summer we must have had close to fifty groups make a variation of this recipe for their culinary team-building events. Regardless of how…

Simple shrimp salad

Simple shrimp salad

Eating a hearty beef stew when it’s 90 degrees in the shade isn’t really my cup of tea. Summer is typically chock full of salads and things that have little to no heat required—save for grilled items. Shrimp salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, these are all great…

Cucumber & watermelon salad

Cucumber & watermelon salad

Watermelon combined with the crunch of cucumber makes for a light, almost spa-like side salad, one that’s almost sweet enough to be classified as dessert. This salad is great for your summertime picnics and potluck brunches. It’s a little known fact that Cordele,…

Summertime tomato salad

Summertime tomato salad

I love tomatoes, and love that Charles and I both take great pride in our tomato crops. So much so that in the summer it became our ritual on Friday nights after work to go and pick fresh tomatoes out of our garden, and we would then go and make a fresh salad with the…

Creamy caesar salad

Creamy caesar salad

Yes, it is very random that the Caesar salad was reportedly first made in Tijuana, Mexico. Almost as random as the fact that I spent one New Year’s Eve eating really good Chinese food in Tijuana followed by seeing a Beatles cover band. I digress. As the story goes,…

Shada’s kale salad

Shada’s kale salad

My (Julie’s) sister-in-law, Shada, has a kitchen and cookbook collection I covet. Not to mention that she’s also the one who first introduced me to Donna Hay and the Australian cooking magazine, Delicious. Shada is Australian, but perhaps more like a sibling to me…