[CrockPot] Moroccan chicken stew

Today I used my CrockPot slowcooker for the 2nd time. I loved coming home to a hot meal, ready to eat. Especially since it tasted good too!
For the recipe, I basically threw some chicken and veggies in that were lying around in my fridge, added some spices and it actually worked out really well.

It's completely Paleo, it tastes good and it only took me 10 minutes to make just because I had to chop the vegetables. It doesn't get easier than that! Moreover, who says cooking paleo meals is time-consuming? Just invest in a slowcooker and you'll have a number of meals before you know it. All you have to do is put it on and in the mean time you can go about your daily business. No cooking stress whatsoever!

[CrockPot] Moroccan chicken stew (serves 2)

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts (approx. 200g each)
- 2 onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 eggplant, diced
- 150g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 tsp Ras Al Hanout
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp powdered garlic
- 1/4 tsp curcuma
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp creamed coconut concentrate, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Put the chicken breasts on the bottom of the Crockpot and divide the onions over them. Throw in the dried herbs and spices, and the chopped coconut cream concentrate.
2. Divide the other vegetables over the chicken and put the lid on.
3. Cook on low for 8 hours.
4. Shred the chicken with a fork at the end of the cooking time and mix well.
5. Divide the dish over 2 plates and garnish with fresh cilantro. Enjoy!

Lime chicken salad

I simply keep enjoying the many ways you can use shredded chicken. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it! Today I created a salad with it, along with some avocado, cabbage and carrots and a creamy coconut, lime and cilantro dressing. Really easy to create, and tasty too.
I served it with some roasted beets and called it lunch. Easy does it.

Lime chicken salad (serves 2)
- 300g cooked chicken, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, thinly grated
- 1/4 cabbage, grated
- 1 avocado, diced
- 2/3 cup coconut cream
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped


1. In a large bowl, combine chicken, carrot, cabbage and avocado.
2. In a small bowl, stir the lime zest and juice and the cilantro in the coconut cream until well combined.
3. Scoop the dressing over the chicken and vegetable mixture and mix well to create a salad.


Serving suggestions:
- Scoop some of the salad into lettuce or cabbage leaves and roll them up to make easy lunch rolls.
- Serve on top of a thin omelet, along with some lettuce and fresh tomatoes
- Serve on top of these Paleo Chips from Jen's Gone Paleo
- Or scoop some of it on Elana's Almond pulp crackers

Or eat it just the way it is, like I did! As long as you enjoy it!

Chili lime chicken

Another Asian-style chicken recipe! Yup, I often make chicken this way, but I use different spices every time. My mom taught me everything about spices and they way they can make every dish taste better.
I have to say that this recipe worked out really well. And am I glad I've got more chicken, limes and cilantro, because I will be making it again really soon!
It's tasty and very healthy as well.
Why is it healthy?
It contains:
- coconut oil: good source of fat (want to know more about fats? Read this article on Balanced Bites)
- turmeric: has anti-inflammatory properties
- chili: helps the body to cool down during hot days
- chicken: lean protein, what's not to love?
- cilantro: anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, just to name a few (read this article for more info about cilantro)
Did I mention it's tasty yet? Oh and it's really quick and easy too..
Anyway, just try it.


Chili lime chicken (serves 2)
- 2 onions, chopped
- 400g chicken breasts, diced
- 3 tbsp coconut cream
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 tbsp coconut oil


1. Heat coconut oil in a wok or skillet and fry onions until soft.
2. Add chicken and fry until browned, then stir in the coconut cream, turmeric and chili flakes and bring to a simmer.
3. When the sauce has become really thick, stir in the lime zest and juice and the fresh cilantro.
4. Serve hot, and enjoy!

Lemon rosemary chicken

Here's an easy, basic recipe for a roast chicken. Despite its simplicity, it tastes great because of the large amount of fresh rosemary, and the lemon adds a whole lot of flavour as well.
You can serve the chicken with any vegetables you like, some broccoli, cauliflower, a salad, a stir-fry, fresh tomatoes from your own garden, whatever you can think of.
Enjoy!


Lemon rosemary chicken (serves 4)
- 1 whole chicken, insides removed and rinsed
- 1 lemon
- 1 bunch of rosemary (approx. 15g)
- crushed peppercorns
- 4 onions
- 1 tbsp coconut oil


1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Generously season your chicken with the peppercorns, inside and out, and stuff the cavity with the rosemary.
3. Cut the lemon in half and stuff it into the cavity as well, and tie the chicken's legs together with kitchen string.
4. Heat coconut oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken on all sides.
5. While the chicken is browning, peel your onions and cut them in half.
6. When the chicken is browned on all sides, add the onions to the Dutch oven and cover the pan with a lid.
7. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for approx. 90 minutes, or until the juices run clear.
8. Let the chicken sit for another 10-15 minutes to allow the juices to absorb, then carve, serve with the onion halves and enjoy!

Five spice chicken with Chinese spinach

Just did another attempt at my 300 workout (same one as last week) tonight. Although it was harder this time, because the weights I used for most exercises were heavier. Because of that, it took me 45 minutes to complete the workout, instead of just 30 last week. Doesn't matter though because it felt great being able to do it! I'll probably get easier over time.
Afterwards I ate a small bowl of creamed coconut, with some cocoa, yum! Great recovery food..
I called my parents tonight as well (we usually use Skype) and my dad was showing me his piece of these Chocolate Almond Joy Bars from Elana's Pantry, it looked so good.. I wish they could just send me one. My mom has turned trying all of Elana's recipes (mostly her recipes for baked goods) into a habit and she does a whole lot of baking, giving her own twists and turns to each recipe and they usually work out very well.
So I mentioned that Elana had posted a new recipe for Espresso Fudge Brownies today, and my mom's answer was: 'oh, I'm going to have to try those tomorrow!'. And I totally get it; those brownies do look really good.
At the moment I feel better while I'm eating hardly any nuts, but if I'd have them at home, I'd surely add them to just about everything because they're so good. Let alone when you bake with them. I still have a bag of almond flour in my pantry, but that's going to be used for special occasions only.


Yesterday I cycled to the market, huge grocery bag on hand to transport all my veggies and meat in, turns out the market wasn't there because it was a national holiday.. The local newspapers said there would be a market, so I figured they'd sell veggies too, but they only sold useless stuff.. Too bad!
I did end up going to the Asian supermarket and bought myself some greens I didn't know yet. I googled it and it turns out it's Chinese spinach, or Po Choi. Anyhow, it tasted good! I combined it with some leftover roast chicken and turned it into a quick dinner.

Easy breakfast chicken-pumpkin scramble

This morning I figured I'd give myself a good start by making this high-protein breakfast. I served it with some oven-roasted bimi (which is even yummier than roasted broccoli!) from last night.
I had gone to bed at 10p.m. but woke up at 4.30 already with an empty stomach. Luckily I was able to sleep for a while but I still managed to wake up before 6 again and feeling really fit. What a change since the last couple of days!
Perhaps the hard days of carb withdrawal symptoms are over now. Finally. And hey, it wasn't that hard!! Why did I cave in every single weekend over the last couple of weeks? I just don't know. I also don't have a clue why it feels different and easier this time.
I've already been eating along the guidelines of the Whole 30 this week, but I am getting hungrier by the day and need huge amounts of food. I'm still going to keep my starting date of the Whole 30 after my birthday though. 
And yeah, that's because I know my mom's going to make me an awesome and delicious pie and I don't want to miss out on that, and I'm not going to either. Plus I want to stick to my Whole 30 plan for 30 days, no cheating, so I'm going to have to wait another week to start. Until then, I'm already enjoying the benefits of eating clean.


I'll be spending the afternoon and evening in Amsterdam today, having a good time with a friend. We're also planning to go to see a movie and hopefully I won't be hungry, thus able to resist buying popcorn. They really just don't have any paleo-friendly snacks at movie theatres.. (unless you only eat the salsa that is supposed to come with tortilla chips)

Tandoori chicken with leftovers

I didn't exactly have a lot of food in my fridge except for some veggies I often use in the same way. Yesterday I figured it might be a smart thing to do to chop them up so it would take me less time to make dinner after work for at least a few days in a row.
This morning I fried some chicken breasts, so dinner would be made even more quickly tonight.
I ended up turning all of this into Tandoori chicken, which tasted really good! It's the perfect dish to use up any leftovers, and it'll be done in a matter of minutes.
My Tandoori marinade/curry paste came from Cofresh, something I found at the local supermarket a while ago. It's gluten free and paleo too! It only contains some salt, no sugar, no cornstarch or other crappy additives.
If you like your tandoori chicken to be more like a curry, you can always add some coconut milk to the recipe below.


Tandoori chicken (serves 2)
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 1 zucchini, chopped
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1/2 cup diced butternut squash
- 400g cooked and shredded chicken
- 1/4 cup Tandoori paste
- 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 tbsp coconut oil


1. Heat coconut oil in a wok or skillet and fry onion until soft. Add vegetables and fry for approx. 3 minutes until they start to soften.
2. Add shredded chicken, tandoori paste and coconut and fry for another 2-3 minutes until well-combined and hot.
3. Stir in the cilantro during the last minute. Serve hot and enjoy!

Lemon chicken

I know I have made lemon chicken before, but I couldn't resist sharing this recipe with you. Of course it's different from my other version (it's not spicy, just to name a difference) but both are equally good. They're just different, therefore making it worthwhile posting this recipe.
Everytime I make myself lemon chicken, I could eat the whole batch.. That wouldn't be a problem at all! Of course I didn't actually do that, I carefully divided it over 2 plates, and I took the other serving with me to work today.


Tomorrow will be a national holiday over here so I've got the day off! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do, probably some running, household chores, and some studying. Oh and holiday planning, which is going really well. So far, all hotels and my car have been arranged (and the flight of course). I can't really think of anything else that needs to be booked, but who knows, something might come up.

Chicken fritatta with avocado

In my opinion, a satisfying, filling breakfast really gives you a good start for the day. In the mornings, my digestive system seems to work most efficiently and I often find myself getting hungry again before my lunch break at work. (which is when I take a quick walk to the restaurant and buy myself a boiled egg and sometimes a tomato as well)
And it doesn't just work until lunch, everytime I get hungry before lunchtime, I will also get even more hungry before dinner. Hunger makes cycling back home, motivating myself to cook a nice dinner, and not collapsing on the couch afterwards become pretty hard. Let alone going for a workout in the evening!
So, a good breakfast is key!
The breakfast I made this morning will certainly keep me going for a longer time and I'll be energized all through the day. I served this fritatta with 1/2 avocado on top, really good!

Oh and something completely different; I booked the perfect accomodation for Yosemite National Park last night! I'm going to stay at Curry Village, in a canvas tent. I always wanted to sleep in the park for a night and this seemed like the perfect way to do it. It's just for 1 night, but I'm going to love it. It's my second time visiting Yosemite NP so I felt I didn't need to stay there for a longer time. On my way there I'll drive over the Tioga pass (since I'm coming from Lake Tahoe) and I plan to do some hiking in the valley in the afternoon. Let's just hope no bears will pay curry village a visit when I'm there.. Just the idea that I need to store all food and scented items (toiletries and such) in a bear proof locker on the outside of my tent gets me all excited. (and hoping none will attack my tent of course, you never know, but if this would happen on a regular basis, the village would probably have closed down by now)

Yellow curry roast chicken

I had spiced some chicken with yellow curry paste once before, and it was really good. This time however, I decided to roast a chicken in some and see how it turns out. I also had some lemongrass and ginger in my freezer, which I added, because I love the way those spices add extra flavour.
Of course I burnt my hand on my oven once again, but that even happens to chefs, right? (I sure hope so, because it would make me feel less stupid)

I had lots and lots of energy today, so I went for a good workout and, for a change, I didn't do much else except for giving my kitchen (I almost typed 'chicken' right there) a good cleanse and reading some articles about crossfit and paleo/primal food. I was hungry all day, so I had lunch at 11 am and dinner at 3.30 pm, and hopefully I wont get hungry anymore before breakfast tomorrow.
It's actually nice to just sit around and enjoy having energy instead of being forced to sit down because you've ran out of energy.
Tomorrow: market day! And some running :) (and cleaning and everything else I postponed today)

Yellow curry roast chicken (serves 3-4)
- 1 whole chicken (approx. 1,5kg)
- 1/4 cup yellow curry paste
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 green peppers, chopped
- 6 large carrots, chopped
- 100g shii-takes, chopped
- 1 sprig lemongrass
- 2 cm piece of fresh ginger root
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp creamed coconut
- 1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and heat the coconut oil in a Dutch oven.
2. In the mean time, stuff your chicken with half of the curry paste and rub the outside of the chicken with the other half.
3. Fry chicken in coconut oil over medium heat, until browned on all sides. Transfer to a plate.
4. In the remaining fat, fry the onion, pepper, carrots and shii-takes for a few minutes. Then add the chicken, lemongrass, ginger and lemon.
5. Cover the pan with a lid and transfer to the oven. Bake for approx. 90 minutes until the chicken is done and the juices run clear.
6. Allow the chicken to absorb some of the juices by letting it sit for 10-15 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a chopping board and carve it, divide the meat over 3 or 4 plates.
7. Reheat the vegetables (don't take out the spices just yet!) on the stove over medium heat and dissolve the creamed coconut in it.
8. Divide the vegetables over the plates, next to the chicken, and serve with some chopped coriander on top. Enjoy!

Chicken avocado salad

It's Weekend once again!
Time to relax, cook, get active, and clean my home.. The last thing isn't exactly my hobby but it needs to happen. I guess it's a good thing I only have a small home; it takes much less time to clean it.
Somehow I'm always quite lazy on Friday nights, I guess I'm just tired from the work week that lies behind me. I actually planned to have a rest day tomorrow, but I've switched it and made today my rest day. I'll simply go running tomorrow morning, before heading to Amsterdam! Yes, I'm going to spend the afternoon over there, will probably have a nice paleo meal over there as well at my favourite burger joint.

On Sunday I'm going to clean my home, work out at the gym and I'm not sure what else. I'll probably try to get creative in the kitchen too. After all, there still is a chicken in my freezer which just wants to be roasted..! Oh and holiday planning of course. Which is the obvious thing to do for me these days.

Here's a recipe for a tasty salad using shredded chicken; enjoy!

Chicken stuffed pumpkin

Apparently, blogger has been deleting some of my posts which are now marked as 'concept' posts. So I'm posting them once again..
Here's the recipe for Chicken stuffed pumpkin!

Chicken vindaloo with cauliflower rice

Since I really like roast chicken, I figured I might as well try roasting some drumsticks. The meat is usually really tender and not dry at all, and it takes only 35 minutes to roast them, instead of 90 minutes for a whole chicken. Prefect when you're already a little hungry when you just got home from work and still need to start cooking.
While my drumsticks were roasting, I prepared some cauliflower rice and all together it made a tasty meal.
My first time eating vindaloo was at an Indian restaurant, and I picked it because the sign next to it said 'very, very hot'. I was about 14 years old at that time and thought I'd be able to handle that. The waiter asked me if I was sure about my choice and I told him I was. After all, my dad also took the vindaloo so I could do that too..
About 4 people from the restaurant staff ended up wacthing how I was eating my vindaloo, they were probably sure it was way too hot for me, a pale Dutch girl. Well, it was extremely hot, and my eyes got all teary, but I ate it and loved the taste! That was the day I discovered my love for Indian food.
So when I saw some Vindaloo curry paste at the Asian supermarket a few weeks back, I bought it without hesitation and decided to use it yesterday. I used a 1/4 cup of the curry paste, but it wasn't that hot at all. It was spicy, but not nearly as much as green curry. Next time I might add a red hot chili pepper or 2..
Just a quick warning; if your curry paste is spicy or when you add chili peppers, do NOT eat it prior to a workout. You'll regret it..

This Sunday I'm going out to dinner at my favourite Indian restaurant again (after my race) and I might just try their vindaloo ;-)

Asian roast chicken

Another roast chicken recipe today! Yes, it's my 3rd already, but this time I made it Asian style by using lemongrass and ginger. Divine!
We had wonderful weather today, 27 degrees Celsius and sunny, but not too hot. I went to the gym this morning, before the heat went up, and in the afternoon I had a short swim in a recreational lake nearby and spent the rest of the time sunbathing. (of course I had put on some sunscreen, so I didn't end up looking like a lobster)
The water was pretty cold.. Since I've done lots of open water swimming races in the past, I found it pretty easy to get through, but it was just too cold for a recreational swim. You really had to keep moving to stay warm. It's weird that I never actually feel like swimming, but as soon as I'm in the water, I want to stay there.
I'm thinking about giving it another try tomorrow!

Chicken banana curry

Had a good breakfast this morning. Although it didn't last me very long, unfortunately.. It should have, and it normally would, but today I was hungry again at 11.30. So hungry I had to buy myself a hard boiled egg at the hospital's restaurant to get some protein into my stomach.
Nonetheless, this breakfast tasted really good, thanks to the added banana and spices!
Today's such a weird day though. I've been hungry pretty much all day, having huge cravings, and giving in to them too... The only good thing about that is that I now have run out of nuts (except for some walnuts which I'm too lazy to crack) and I won't allow myself to buy new ones.
I'm feeling pretty guilty now (and my stomach hurts, apparently nuts simply don't digest very well anymore..) and after watching some really inspirational CrossFit youtube movies, I've decided to make a change: I'm going to see food as an essential thing to keep me healthy, but not as something that will comfort me. Food is for hungry times, and for me it seems to be mostly about wanting to eat instead of actually being hungry. So it's a big change for me.. Everytime I allow myself to eat sweet things, I end up getting addicted to carbs again, and everytime it's much harder to get over it. My willpower usually lasts 2 weeks at most, and then I binge on potato chips, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate, etc.
Not exactly the best idea when you want to feel healthier, because it takes a couple of days to recover from that and that's exactly the point at which the carb cravings kick in once again.
My solution: cut back on carbs (less fruits, no nuts, no cheating), let the cravings and detox kick in and get on with your life because it will pass. It might take a while, but it will.
So, (I've said this a number of times already), but as of tomorrow, my attitude towards food will shift, and it's going to work.
My goal: get into shape before leaving for the USA in August. I'm planning to visit some CrossFit gyms to attend workouts over there, just to see what real CrossFit is like in the USA, and I want to make sure I'm up to it.

Back home, lots of pictures, and a recipe for Antillean Chicken

Finally, I've got the time (and energy) to post to my blog again, after a really busy weekend at my parents' home.
As I told in my last post, my mom's birthday was last Saturday, so we celebrated that first of all. I'd made her some of my Paleo chocolate hazelnut cookies, which I put in a jar with some ribbons. I'd already given her a raw food cookbook in New York, so this was just a little extra gift.
My mom had been doing some serious baking and pie-making!
First off, she served a strawberry cake, topped with cashew vanilla cream and fresh strawberries. Yum!!
The recipe for the cake was based on Elana's Strawberry cupcakes.

Chicken curry salad with poached egg

It's 'Queen's Day' in the Netherlands today. (and no, that's not a day dedicated to the band Queen, which would have been nice by the way) It's a day filled with festivities, and one of those is that it's my mom's birthday today!!
Happy Birthday mom!!

I'm going to visit her this afternoon and will spend the rest of the weekend over there as well.
This morning I did my very first 20-Minute AMRAP workout: 5 pushups, 10 body weight squats, 5 burpees and 10 situps. I came to a total of 14 rounds, 5 pushups and 10 squats. And I was soo tired! I even had to lie down for a while, but it didn't take too long to recover.
Of course I needed a good recovery meal, filled with lots of protein. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to have my poached egg. The yolk was still nice and runny and I totally loved it!
I also had a cooked chicken breast in my fridge, which I shredded and made a salad out of it with some celery, carrot and a nice curry dressing with fresh coriander leaves. I hand-picked my coriander from my very own herb garden in my kitchen! (which somehow made it taste even better)

Yellow chicken curry

Almost weekend again! Yes, I say that almost every Thursday, but that's just because I'm looking forward to it.
I'm going to have a busy weekend. Saturday is my mom's birthday, so I will be spending the afternoon with her and stay there until Monday. My grandparents are celebrating their birthday on Sunday, which means another birthday party to attend and on Monday morning I'm going to have a quick check-up from my therapist. So even though I'm spending my weekend away from home I certainly won't have much rest.
My mom told me she's going to make some really good cakes, so hopefully she will share the recipes with me and I'll make sure to take some pictures and post them on my blog!

I'm also going to take my running shoes with me so I can go for a run over there, it's much less busy in the area my parents live so it's better to run some distance. Or I might do an interval training, not sure yet.. Just 2 weeks until my 5km race, so I better keep my ass moving. The 5km won't be a problem, my endurance is good, my legs have gotten much stronger over the past few months. It's just that I haven't done that much actual running because I wanted to get used to my Crossfit routine first. Luckily I feel realy good these days so I can run some more and those 5km won't be a problem.
Last year I came in 63rd overall (36th in my category), in 21.56 minutes. I really want to run faster this time! Let's see what happens..

Chicken salad with lemon coriander dressing

Here's the fist dish I made with the roast chicken I had leftover from Easter. Last week in NYC I had a really nice chicken salad at Whole Foods Market (of course..) and wanted to create my own version. This worked out really well!
I figured I should make some mayonnaise for the dressing, but I had just finished the last bit of lemon juice I had left so that wasn't going to work. I did have some whole lemons, but I was going to use those for another dish. So I figured I might as well use some coconut cream and lemon zest to create my dressing, and along with some fresh coriander leaves it turned out to be delicious. And easy too!
I'm also not a huge celery fan, not at all to be honest, but I loved it this way. Somehow the dressing and the raisins didn't make it taste bitter at all and I even ate the celery leaves just like that to see what they would taste like. I liked those too.
The recipe serves just 1 person, but you can easily double it to serve more. If you'd add this salad to a foodprocessor and process it until a little smoother it would be nice to serve on crackers too.

Happy Easter! And some recipes.

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you're all enjoying this day!
When it comes to Easter food, I made myself a couple of nice meals, not too different from what I normally eat, but I put a little more effort in it than usual.
Yesterday afternoon I suddenly had a craving for Asian food, I think the warm weather caused that. As you might now, spicy food makes people able to cool down a little. (sounds unlogical, but it makes sense when you think about it) So I ended up going to the Asian supermarket and stocked up on some good curry paste. I bought Patak's Vindaloo Paste (which is generally very hot) and some Mae Ploy Thai Yellow Curry Paste along with some Thai coriander, baby bok choy and a huge bag of dessicated coconut. So I can start cooking spicy as soon as I feel like it. Somehow shopping at the Asian supermarket always feels like a small holiday to me, I love everything about it!