Eggs Hollandaise

5 spears asparagus

1/4 cup Hollandaise sauce

2 poached eggs

Minced ham

Chopped tomatoes (about 1 or 2 cherry sized ones)

Lightly steam the asparagus until it is done the way you like it. Place in a neat bundle in the center of your plate. In the same skillet poach the eggs--I pour hot water from my tea kettle which is always steaming in the morning into a small skillet, let the water bubble, pour in just a tad of vinegar (about a tablespoon) and crack the eggs in. Take them out when they are done to your satisfaction--I like mine slightly runny. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon if you have one (I don't, I use an omelet spatula) so that the water drains off as you pick it up. Nestle the eggs atop the asparagus, spoon the Hollandaise over the them, and sprinkle with the minced ham. Sprinkle chopped tomatoes around the plate for color. Voila! Eggs Hollandaise.

Coq au Vin

6 boneless chicken breasts
1 T. thyme (or 6 sprigs fresh)
Salt & Pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
Chicken broth 1 cup
Red wine 1 cup
Brandy 2 ounces
2 cups button mushrooms
10 oz pearl onions frozen
1 cup sliced yellow onion
2 large carrots
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
4 ounces lardon (diced good quality bacon)

Saute lardon in olive oil on medium heat, when browned, remove to plate with slotted spoon, then brown chicken for 10-15 minutes until nicely golden and there are lots of nice brown bits in the pot. Remove chicken from pot and add onion, carrots and mushrooms. Cook for 10 minutes. Add butter, thyme, 1 tsp salt, 1-2 tsp pepper, and minced garlic. Stir one minute. Add bacon and chicken back into pot. Pour in wine, brandy and chicken broth, cover pot and put in oven for 45 minutes. Add pearl onions and leave to sit on top of the stove for 20 minutes. Serve with green beans.

Approximately 12 g. carbs per serving, 2 grams fiber, 17 grams protein, 10 grams fat, and 245 calories. About 10 mg of oxalates per serving--(only about 3 if you leave out the carrots.)

Hollandaise Sauce

The hollandaise sauce I make is very easy:

1 stick real butter

2-3 egg yolks (preferably organic)

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

salt and pepper

Melt a stick of butter in the microwave--make sure it is in something you can pour from, as we will be drizzling it a bit later.

In a blender put your egg yolks, your lemon juice, and a good grind of black or white pepper and a little salt. Blend on high for about 5 seconds (I pulse it five times) then turn the blender on a medium-ish speed, and as the motor is going, drizzle in your melted butter. The hot butter will cook the eggs, but still maintain a smooth sauce (like mayo, but richer). This is an excellent sauce for asparagus and ham, eggs and tomatoes (as pictured above) or broccoli or cauliflower. I'm sure you can find even better uses for it!

Tip: If you want to avoid the dairy completely and be a "true" Paleo, it is equally good if you make your Hollandaise with olive oil (about 1/2 cup) instead of melted butter--it will end up more mayonnaise-y but still just as good--just remember to refrigerate it since the eggs won't be cooked!

Roasted Rosemary Apricot Glazed Chicken

1 large chicken
garlic salt to taste
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp crushed dried rosemary
1/2 cup apricot jam (I used a kind made with apple and pear juice and no added sugar)

Spray a roasting pan with olive oil spray. Put down a piece of parchment in the bottom and spray that as well. Salt and pepper the chicken. sprinkle dried rosemary over all, and rub in. Heat up the apricot jam until it is approximately the consistency of honey, and drizzled over the entire chicken. Roast at 350 until when you skewer it with a fork or knife the juices run clear (about 1-2 hours depending on the size of the chicken). Serve with Avocado and Pear salad. YUM!!

Avocado and Pear Salad

1/2 ripe avocado

1/2 ripe pear (I recommend Bosc or Anjou)

1 T balsamic vinaigrette

Slice, drizzle with dressing, mix, serve!

(Serves One)

This would be really good with a little bleu cheese crumbled on top, but alas I have given up cheese, it would also be good with a little orange zest, but that would be too high oxalate, and I didn't have any red onion which would have been delectable, sigh...And yet it still turned out very good with none of the above. :)

Shrimp Salad

I decided to make some shrimp salad for lunch, forgive the blurry picture, I was pretty hungry at the time and I think my hands were shaking...

5 ounces fresh bay shrimp
1 T. mayonnaise
1 t. stone ground mustard
1 green onion chopped finely
1/2 cup fresh, raw tomato (about 1 & 1/2 small Campari salad tomatoes)
a dash of black pepper

This was about 6mg of oxalates

Mix all ingedients together

Homemade yogurt with VSL#3 culture (Yes, I know it sounds sort of like some Sci-Fi 50s film version of Yogurt...)

I made yogurt a lot when I was in Germany--I also bought a lot of yogurt, but I could never find a place that had yogurt starters. So, when I moved home a few months ago, I continued to make yogurt the same old way...Using purchased yogurt to start the new yogurt culture. It wasn't until I started taking the VSL#3 probiotic (about a month and a half ago) that I wondered if I could make yogurt with it, but then, I read on the "Trying Low Oxalates" forum at Yahoo that some of the moms had tried it and it worked. So, I thought, why not try? I much prefer yogurt to capsules...

Here is my recipe for making yogurt with no added equipment--it is really very easy:

I took 1/2 gallon of organic milk, and heated it up until bubbles started to form around the edges--That is at about 165-175 degrees Farenheit. Then I removed the yogurt from the heat and let it cool to between 110-115 degrees Farenheit. While it was cooling, I took three capsules of the VSL#3 probiotic and emptied them into about 1/2 cup of cold milk. Once the heated milk had cooled, I whisked in about 1/4 of a cup of warm milk into the cold milk, and then another 1/4 cup, then, I slowly stirred the mixture together, and gradually added it to the hot milk a little at a time--mixing it thoroughly each time. Then I poured it all into a glass container and covered it with foil, and wrapped it in a towel and left it on top of the oven which I had turned to low. I left it to sit all night (about 12 hours) and in the morning I had a very good yogurt. It was a bit chunky, but fairly thick and had an excellent taste. I eat it plain in the morning with either fruit and honey, or lately with a little tiny bit of stevia since I am trying to control my sugar intake also (I use about one packet of stevia over the course of a week--so just a slight dusting on the yogurt). Stevia is high oxalate in its pure form, so if you are trying to avoid oxalates make sure you get one of the "watered down" versions if you do that.

Chicken Firenze

I would call this Florentine Chicken if I could eat spinach instead of kale...as it is slightly like spinach, I figure Firenze is close enough...

Last night for dinner I made stuffed chicken breasts--it was really easy, and very yummy. I took 1/4 of a cup of sundried tomatoes in oil and minced them finely, and mixed them with chopped cooked kale (about a cup), about 1/4 of a cup of chopped marinated artichoke hearts, 1/4 cup feta cheese, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and 1 T. mayo. I cut a pocket in my chicken breasts, and stuffed them with the mixture, then I sprinkled basil, oregano, thyme, garlic salt and pepper, and a bit of olive oil on each breast and baked it in the oven for an hour. It was really good. Low oxalate, pretty Paleo, and a winner as far as my family was concerned. I served it with buttered green beans and salad. Everyone liked it. Next time I want to take sun dried tomato, ham, roasted peppers and feta cheese and try it that way. It would also be good with eggplant I think--maybe I will make eggplant rolls sometime soon and try it. Yum, with mozzarella on top maybe...