Category Archives: Primal

Breakfast, Gluten-free, Paleo, Primal, Snacks, Vegan

Healthy Primal Banana Bread

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This is the healthiest banana bread recipe in my repertoire and I’m really excited to have it come to life during my journey towards living a simpler, Primal lifestyle.

I love it when experimental recipes are born out of necessity. I’ve got a few go-to recipes I follow for Banana Bread, but being off-grid travelling Australia, I found myself without a few key ingredients.

So, I threw caution to the wind and made it up with what I had! Pretty darn proud of myself.

It’s paleo, vegan, gluten-free, flour-free, and sugar free*! What’s not to love?!

Healthy Primal Banana Bread

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups almond meal
  • 10 soft medjool dates, (no seeds)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 large overripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 eggs, whisked
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 1 lime, juiced

Method

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a bread tin with grease proof paper and set aside.
  • Combine the dry ingredients (almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon), in a large bowl and mix well.
  • In a separate bowl, melt the coconut oil.
  • Place dates, bananas, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla essence, and lime juice in a mixer and blend. I use a Magic Bullet when on the road as it’s nice and small.
  • Combine wet and dry mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Pour into the greased pan.
  • Set to bake for 45 minutes – go for a swim – cook until a toothpick/skewer comes out clean from the centre.
  • Tip: The first time you cook the bread, check at the 35 minute mark, then again at 40 minutes and so on – this is the time required for our small air fryer/oven in our caravan, so you need to check what’s best for your appliance/s.
  • Cool for 10 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Tip: if you prefer the bread firm, store in the fridge. If you’re impatient like me and love the bread warm, cut immediately and enjoy the crumbly texture.
Dinner, Primal, Quick Meals, stir fry

Stir Fry Spicy Chicken & Vegetable Curry

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Stir-frying is a healthy and quick cooking method with an infinite variety of dishes.

I haven’t always been a fan of cauliflower but I find myself buying cauliflower often and craving this meal – this recipe is a game changer.

Swapping out cream for a good quality yoghurt is a much healthier option, and when paired with lemon, the yoghurt takes on the flavours of the spices beautifully.

This Primal recipe brings vegetables to life with a refreshing burst of flavours.

Stir Fry Spicy Chicken & Vegetable Curry

Ingredients (serves 4)

Rating: 1 out of 5.
  • 1/2 lemon, squeezed
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 2cm piece ginger, grated
  • 2 cups grass fed & organic full fat yoghurt
  • 1/2 chilli, seeds removed sliced thin
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 2 teaspoons coriander powder
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 5 cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 chilli, seeds removed sliced thinly
  • 1 chicken breast, chopped into small bite-size pieces
  • 1 head of broccoli, cut into small pieces
  • 1/2 cauliflower, cut into small pieces
  • 1 carrot, chopped into small pieces
  • 1 zucchini, sliced into circles
  • 2 shallots, thinly sliced

Method

  • Heat oil on HIGH until very hot, fry off garlic and ginger.
  • Add chicken, season with a pinch of cumin, garam masala and coriander powder (fresh preferably), stir fry until brown.
  • In a small blender, combine tomatoes and chilli to a pulp, pour over the chicken.
  • Move chicken to outside of pan, add vegetables starting with those requiring more cooking (cauliflower and carrot), stir fry for 2 minutes, cover to steam.
  • Add vegetables that don’t require as much cooking (shallots, broccoli and carrot), and lemon and yoghurt.
  • Stir all and cover, simmering on LOW for about 7 minutes ensuring you don’t burn the yoghurt.
  • *Simmer time varies depending upon how crunchy or soft you prefer your vegetables.

Tip: The meat should be cut into small pieces or thin strips so it cooks quickly and evenly.

Air Fry, Dinner, Oven, Paleo, Primal

Thai Sticky Chicken Niblets & Wild Rice Lettuce Cups

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Doing the 21-day Primal Reset has really stirred up the creativity and resulted in this very clean and healthy indulgence.

As much as we love our Texan BBQ Niblets we’re looking to cleanse our systems – along with our lifestyle – so the bottle sauce had to go.

No need to miss out though – where there’s a will there’s a way, and the proof is in the pudding, (or in the niblets)!

We love our Thai flavours and as we’re choosing to avoid all the nasties and prepare our sauces from scratch, hubby got his creativity on and nailed it first time.

Thai Sticky Chicken Niblets & Wild Rice Lettuce Cups

Ingredients (serves 4)

Rating: 1 out of 5.
  • Marinade
    • 1 red chilli, seeds removed and chopped
    • 1 bunch coriander, stems only, some leaves to garnish
    • 1/2 lime, juiced
    • 4 garlic cloves, peeled
    • 4cm piece ginger, peeled
    • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
    • 4 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon organic gluten free tamari soy sauce
    • 5 drops of fish sauce
    • 1 teaspoon pure raw honey
  • 1kg chicken niblets
  • 2 cups wild rice (1/2 a cup per serve)
  • 1 iceberg lettuce (one large leaf for each person)
  • 1 small carrot, a few long strips grated

Method

  • Blitz all marinade ingredients into a paste, cover the chicken and marinate for 30 minutes.
  • Cover a tray with foil and spray lightly with olive oil so wings don’t stick.
  • *Variation: if you don’t have time to marinate, place niblets on foil and dribble paste on spreading around with a brush, so as to baste.
  • Cook in air fryer on 200 degrees for 30 minutes, turning half way.
  • Prepare the rice as per packet instructions.
  • Serve niblets on a large lettuce leaf, topped with wild rice, and a few grated strips of carrot. Squeeze some lime juice over the top, then add the chicken on top. Garnish with coriander.

Play with your food!

Not something you hear every day, but today you have permission. Have some fun with it by removing the chicken from the bone and wrapping it all up in the lettuce leaf. Or, if you’re like me and can’t resist, dig into the chicken, then wrap all the rest up in the lettuce. Devine!

Dinner, Lunch, Paleo, Primal, Stove Top

Herby Veggie Fritters with Chicken & Bok Choy

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Five days into an incredible 21-Day Primal Lifestyle Reset following a Primal diet — raw, minimally processed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, certain oils, and dairy products — I was ready for our veggies to come to life and be something more than steamed, roasted, or stir fried.

I asked hubby, “the fritter master”, to cook our dinner vegetables as fritters, sticking to the cleanse diet using foods that in the past could be obtained by hunting and gathering.

He did all that and more whipping up this new recipe packed with oodles of herby personality! The secret ingredient is the sesame seeds in the fritters creating a unique savoury flavour with a light crunch.

You could simplify the meal by paring the fritters with just the chicken, or leave out the chicken and pair with the Bok Choy, (or you fav greens), to create a meat free night.

These fritters can be eaten at any time of the day, as a snack, or for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Herby Veggie Fritters with Chicken & Bok Choy

Ingredients (Serves 4)

Rating: 1 out of 5.
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of crushed garlic
  • 1 large chicken breast, sliced into strips
  • 1/2 lemon, squeezed
  • 2 bunches Bok Choy, ends removed, pulled apart

Fritters

  • 1 carrot, grated
  • 1 large potato, grated
  • 1/2 a large sweet potato, grated
  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 2 pinches Sesame seeds
  • Dry spices, a pinch of each:
    • Paprika
    • Rosemary
    • Oregano
    • Coriander
    • Rock salt
    • Cumin
    • Black pepper

Method

Fritters

  • Combine the grated carrot, potato, and sweet potato in a bowl and squeeze excess juice out over sink or across paper towel.
  • Add almond meal and fritter spices and mix well.
  • Take a handful of the mixture and squeeze into a ball, then flatten into a thin, round patty shape.
  • Add a tablespoon of oil to a pan and cook fritters on MEDIUM/LOW for 5 minutes or until lightly brown, turning once. Don’t worry if they break apart, it tastes just as good in pieces!

Cook the Chicken

  • Once half the patties are cooked, start the chicken in a second pan by adding the crushed garlic and some cracked black pepper. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Continue cooking patties at the same time as the chicken.
  • Set pan to HIGH, toss chicken around to sear on both sides.
  • Reduce heat to MEDIUM/LOW and drop in a teaspoon of water, cover to steam to keep the moisture in and make chicken succulent. Once the water has evaporated, remove lid, stir and finish cooking.

Cook the Bok Choy

  • Remove the chicken and set aside.
  • Add a dash of olive oil back into the same pan.
  • Drop Bok choy into the pan, add pepper and squeeze the lemon, set to HIGH tossing quickly for a few minutes with tongs or until it starts to wilt.

Serve the Bok Choy first, topped with the fritters and chicken.