This is a simple and satisfying side order to go with some smoked salmon or maybe organic chicken. In my mind (and in my mouth to be exact) this tastes like pizza so it does makes me happy… In a way that no pizza would do. Anyway, I’m too coward to promise you a definate pizza experience but even as what it is - veggies seasoned with oregano - it’s delicious. Nothing too fancy but oh so satiating. Eggplant works the best sucking all the flavours in!

Pizza Vegetariana

• half of an large eggplant
• half of an large zucchini
• 2 carrots
• 2 dl pureed tomato (or crushed tomato) in a can
• 2-3 Tbs nutritional yeast
• dried oregano
• butter, salt, water

Chop the veggies into generous bites, carrots more thinly. Fry the veggies in a heavy amount of butter on a large skillet. Add the canned tomato and a little water. Season with oregano, salt and nutritional yest. Let it cook up until it’s more like a stew than a sauce and so that the tomato loses its bitterness. There you go. Uno Pizza Vegetariana, por favor.

It’s not EXACTLY paleo to even try preparing ice cream but since I’m not following EXACTLY paleo diet but more eating based on all the knowledge on what’s best for humans for their health (and longevity and performance, thanks Robb!) such as butter and some dark chocolate and red wine combined with the ancestral diet I just gave it a go. And it turned out delish! I haven’t had real ice cream in so long that I say: this is JUST like ice cream! Go nuts on the sugar festival!

Chunky Monkey goes paleo

• 1 ripe fair trade banana
• 4 dl of coconut cream
• 1 pod of vanilla bean
• 2 organic eggs
• (cinnamon)

Peel the banana and put in in the blender together with coconut cream and eggs. Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the mixture. Add some cinnamon if you like; I thought it made all the difference. Blend until thoroughly  mixed. Move into a large dish and set it it the freezer. After an hour or more start visiting your ice cream every now and then to mix it up: scrape the icy bits and mix them with the still softer mass. This will make the consistency more airy and icecreamy. Eat when the level of stickiness suits you. Garnish with nuts or seeds or fresh pineapple fried in butter! Or just eat plain.

Sweeter Shade of Pale (this one was too sweet for me but it may suit you)

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 dl coconut cream
• 1 organic egg
• 1 vanilla pod

Prepare as above. Eat away!

Doesn’t that sound romantic? Like a movie that sadly was never made. Luckily it’s easy to shoot this one home. I’m talking about the intelligent, articulate and witty Nora Gedgaudas‘ Nut Truffles from her book Primal Body, Primal Mind which I recommend EVERYONE to read. Working on getting it translated in Finnish as well.

Here’s the very basic recipe which you can then tune up by adding cocoa powder, seeds, coconut oil, coconut flour,  stevia, bee pollen, cocoa nibs… You know, whatever “floats your boat”. Cinnamon maybe?

Nut Butter Truffles

• 230 g nut butter (not cashew or peanut, for example almond will do and it’s easy to make yourself out of Brazilian nuts, that’s what I did, just blend the nuts until they form a moist butter)
• 1 cup (2,4 dl) of nuts (I used pecans and almonds)
• 0,5 cups (1,2 dl) shredded coconut
• 0,5 Tbs vanilla extract
• 115 g (organic) butter
• good quality salt

Prepare the nut butter if you’re not buying it ready made. Chop nuts in a blender until preferred chunkiness, don’t turn them into flour. Mix everything and spice it up with vanilla and some salt. At least I find Finnish organic butter to be too low in salt to make these delish. Form some sort of balls or just use a ice cube mold like I did. Spoon the mixture into the mold and refrigerate at least an hour. And action! Works as a snack, dessert or an add in at the breakfast. THANKS, Nora! For everything.

Awwwhh, this was good! Continuing on the raw side of life this also turned to be not just paleo and low carb but vegan as well. So it really suits everyone doesn’t it? Here’s just the basic idea, you may vary the vegetables and season it with chili or garlic or peppers or oregano. Still, it’s a perfect dish for the hottest day of the summer that’ll also please you delicate tummy being easy to digest.

Monkey Mush

• generous amount of chinese cabbage
• some broccoli florets
• a tomato
• a junk of courgette (aka zucchini)
• 2 stalks of celery
• coconut milk
• quality salt

Chop the veggies a bit and mush them in a blender. Pour in some nice coconut milk to make it more like a stew or even a soup if you like. Spice it up with salt and whateva! Tasty as hell and filling, thanks to the coconut.

I just had a wonderful weekend at my friend’s mom and dad’s summer house. As you may guess we also ate some brilliant food: self grown courgettes, freshly smoked salmon, strawberries, Asian fish stew and my friends also ate Maija’s freshly baked bread that at least smelled awfully good and cosy. And besides all this we also had some cauliflower salad that’s my friend’s family’s innovation. Yep, I think it’s an innovation; sort of a marinated and sort of a salad but better than each alone.

I made this already on Sunday to try it out myself and it turned out as good as it should. Also Meat Eater liked it tho he preferred onion over cauliflower.

The Kiikala Cauliflower

• a cauliflower or two
• onion (preferably spring onion but red onion and other will do)
• balsamico
• good quality olive or other oil

Tear the florets from the cauliflower into a big bowl. Chop the onion/onions and add. Splash some generous amount of oil and add balsamico. Use maybe a third compered to the amount of oil. Mix well and let sit in the fridge as long as you can hold it. Works after couple of hours but is ultimate after one night. A brilliant side for fish, meat or to season a salad. And you can prepare a bigger amount and eat it several days in a row… If it’ll keep.

And once again, a billion thanks to all the girls! It was priceless. <3 Wanna do it AGAIN!

I had a dinner with Juhana the other week, Juhana being the blogger behind an interesting (and may I say sophisticated) nutrition/health blog Aamiainen ruohikolla. Among other things, mostly nutritional, we discussed some new meal inventions. We are both devoted fans of coconut milk and Juhana told about his reoccurring desire to mix coconut milk, champignons and fresh coriander. Sounds lovely! And is.

Juhana works his Magic

• fresh champignons
• (veggies such as eggplant, cauliflower, cabbage and/or bellpepper)
• coconut milk
• fresh coriander (aka cilantro)
• turmeric, curry and possibly some sliced fresh ginger
• salt

Heat a little coconut oil in a pan and chop mushrooms and veggies, let fry or almost roast for a good while. Add a generous amount of coconut milk and continue cooking until the liquid’s gone down a bit. Season with salt and chop a whole bunch of fresh coriander, mix. After adding coriander take off the heat and prepare to eat.

Goes well as it is but is also excellent with some “paleo rice” (not cauliflower this time) by which I mean just some chopped salad or thinly sliced cabbage. The taste combo works big time!

I know, it’s not really something to cheer on when following a paleolithic diet, the vegetable oils with all their omega 6 fatty acids, but hey, one needs to have some mayo time to time. At least it’s not like it would contain gluten or dairy or carbs or any other sch*it It’s a decent form of fat! And beautiful. Have a look:

I tried multiple variations to make it more paleo (virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil et cetera) but no, they ruin the taste. So this is it. And the tuning possibilities are juicy!

Mayonese

• 1 organic egg
• 2 tsps organic raw apple vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 0,5 tsp salt
• 0,5 cups (1,2 dl) olive oil (light one! not the extra virgin stuff)
• 0,5 cups (1,2 dl) canola oil

Break the egg in a blender, add vinegar, mustard and salt. Let whizz for awhile. Add a quarter of the oil, that is, 0,25 cups. Whizz again and repeat until you’ve added all the oil. And tadaa! The magic has happened. You can has mayo!

Tartar Sauce

• mayo
• chopped pickled cucumber

Enjoy with some smoked salmon, awwwh.

Ultimate Tuna Spread

• a can of tuna in oil
• mayo

Mix! Eat with a spoon or on a pale bread, lettuce, with veggies or… on a burger? What ever floats your paleo boat. Make some cole slaw! My favourite.

[Mayo with cabbage. Mmm, mmmmmy boats floating!]

At least in Finland, at least when I was still eating pizza in some distant past (like 10 years ago), it is common that pizzerias have this tasty and crunchy salad as an appetizer. It’s really a classic in my opinion, I always looked forward to that when having a pizza. It doesn’t smell as good but sure tastes great! Also easy to prepare home to create some authentic pizza feeling to your paleo goods…

Pizzeria’s Paleo Salad

• cabbage
• olive oil
• raw apple vinegar
• salt
• dried oregano, basil or other herbs

Grate the cabbage. You may grate some red cabbage, carrot or other veggies to go as well, but basic cabbage works the best. Pour in some olive oil, like for a quarter of a cabbage maybe 1,5 tablespoon. Add a little less vinegar, maybe 1 Tbsp. Season with salt and some dried herbs, mix. Eat or better yet, let sit in the fridge overnight. Delish! Perfect with meats.

Just a quick word for inspiration! As everyone knows, organic eggs are a part of a paleo diet’s basics. They may be consumed in the form of omelettes, scrambled, poached, fried, Benedict, mushed… Or boiled. Here’s  my breakfast with couple of eggs and some nnnice olives, recommendable! I actually often prefer olives to olive oil, something to chew on

Eräässä maagisessa paikassa eilen, käytettävissä olevista aineksista ja jämistä, satunnaisesti kootun ihmisjoukon toiminnan tuloksena syntyi Uudenlainen Hedelmäsalaatti: eksoottinen pullailluusio! Kun kyse on taikuudesta, tarkkoja mittoja on vaikea antaa. Auringosta itään, kuusta länteen. Pääskysestä ei päivääkään. Ananasakäämä!

Ainon illusioni (eli eksoottinen hedelmäsalaatti)

• kypsiä avokadoja
• satsumia
• omenaa
• kiivihedelmiä
• viinirypäleitä
• (sitruunamehua)
• Spriteä tai muuta sitruunasoodaa
• kanelia, kardemummaa
• fariinisokeria
• rusinoita
• (vaniljakastiketta)

Kuori hedelmät ja paloittele sopiviksi. Avokadoista lusikoidut suupalat kannattaa pirskotella kevyesti sitruunamehulla tummumisen estämiseksi. Yhdistä kaikki hedelmät suureen kulhoon ja kaada päälle spraittia. Mausta kanelilla, kardemummalla ja rusinoilla, fariinisokerilla voit lisätä hiukan makeutta. Tarjoile vaniljakastikkeen kanssa ja koe PULLAILLUUSIO.

Terveisiä Marokkoon!