Zucchini Chicken Pasta with Homemade Pesto

I never thought I'd say this but after making paleo "noodles" with both spaghetti squash and zucchini, I seriously don't even miss pasta. If you don't have a julienne peeler you need to go out and get one stat (or ask for one for Christmas). They are awesome, my only issue with it is that it's really hard (or impossible) to julienne every last bit of zucchini, I usually end up with a few thick slices in the pasta but better than wasting it!

I first made this recipe with regular pesto that I bought at Whole Foods but it gave me stomach issues so I decided to use my awesome Vitamix (seriously, is there anything that thing can't do) and make my own cheeseless pesto, but you can always use pesto from a jar. You can also try adding sundried tomatoes to the pasta.

Ingredients for one serving:

• 2 large zucchini squash (julienned into noodles) 
• 1 tsp sea salt 
• 1 tsp black pepper 
• 4 chopped artichoke hearts packed in water 
• 4 large raw walnuts 
• 4 oz chicken breast, seasoned and baked with garlic powder, salt and pepper, then cut into slices
• 2 T homemade cheese-less pesto (see below) 

Homemade Cheeseless Pesto:

• 1 bunch basil
• 1/2 cup (60 ml) olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 oz walnuts 
• 1/2 tsp salt 

Blend in Vitamix for 1 minute at Variable 7 (start at Variable 1). It will make about a cup and will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Pro Tip: Peel 6-8 zucchini all at once and store the "noodles" in a tupperware, and bake and slice several chicken breasts at the same time, then you have 4 meals for the week, and all you have to do is assemble and heat up. BOOM

Low carb pasta! Yay

Paleo Crockpot Butternut Squash Chili

The end of summer and the beginning of fall means less fresh berries (boo) but more winter squashes (yay)! I bought a butternut squash a couple of weeks ago, but wasn't really sure what to do with it. I looked up what to make with it, found some Paleo chili recipes, and took some ideas from a variety of recipes to come up with the following concoction:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups butternut squash, cubed
• 1 lb grass fed ground beef
• 4 pieces of bacon
• 2 cups broth (any kind, I used chicken because that's what I had)
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can green chilis
• 2 T chili powder
• 1 T smoked paprika
• 1 T cumin
• 1 T oregano
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• Sliced green onions for topping
• Avocado or guacamole for topping

You'll notice I didn't include tomatoes, which is usually a staple in any crockpot chili recipe. The thing is, I am not a fan of cooked tomatoes. I noticed when I would eat dishes that had cooked tomatoes, I would push all the tomatoes to the side. So I decided just to omit them and see what happened.

Steps:

Brown the ground beef in a pan, put in crockpot
Saute the bacon, squash, garlic and onions until cooked, put in crockpot
Add the broth, spices, and chilis to crockpot
Cook on low for 7 hours or high for 3 hours. Add spinach and cook for an additional 30 minutes on high.
Top with avocado or guacamole and sliced green onions.

I haven't actually tried this yet but it looks amazing, I can't wait for lunch tomorrow. I had extra butternut squash so I roasted the extras with salt, pepper and olive oil for 40 minutes at 400F, it was a delicious snack.

I also made this Simple Creamy Cauliflower and Artichoke Soup from PaleOMG. It was super yum!! I precooked the chicken yesterday in my crockpot with low sodium chicken broth and some garlic powder. I kind of doubled the recipe, I used a whole head of cauliflower and a can of artichoke quarters packed in water. Another awesome puree done by my one and only Vitamix.

I'm getting a little tired of eggs, I've been eating Omelet Muffins the past 2 weeks, so I decided to whip up some protein pancakes for tomorrow morning and Tuesday. I'll probably eat em with almond butter, or maybe I'll splurge and whip out the maple syrup (organic of course :P)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!