Slow Cooked Rabbit in White Wine and Garlic

When I asked the vendor at the farmer's market how to prepare the rabbit, he recommended to cook it with white wine in a slow cooker. I was searching around the Internet for inspirations and came across this recipe, which is super simple and came out great. One thing I did find out is that rabbit is mostly very lean meat, and even in a slow cooker it can be a bit dry. This was easily solved by making a reduction sauce from the leftover broth and drowning the meat in it. So good...

This recipe would also work great with a whole chicken.

Source: christinecooks
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 hours
Yields: depends on the size of the rabbit, 2-4 portions

Ingredients:

• 1 whole rabbit, skinned
• 12 cloves of garlic, whole
• 6 cippolini onions, peeled and whole
• 10-12 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 bays leaves, fresh if you have them
• 1 cup cooked bacon pieces
• 5-6 whole peppercorns
• sea salt pepper to taste
• 1 plus ½ cups dry white wine, divided
• 1 cup broth
• 3 tbsp. butter

Directions:

1. Place the onions, garlic and peppercorns in the bottom of a slow cooker.
2. Sprinkle with half the bacon and thyme sprigs.
3. In a skillet, sear the rabbit with the bacon fat on all sides.
4. Place the rabbit in the slow cooker on top of the onions.
5. Pour half the wine into the hot skillet and scrape the bottom, allowing it to reduce by half.
6. Pour this over the rabbit and sprinkle the remaining bacon and thyme.
7. Add the broth and rest of the wine into the slow cooker.
8. Cook on high for 4 hours, then on low for 4-6 hours.
9. It's okay to carefully turn the rabbit over once or twice.
10. When tender, remove thyme stems, and transfer rabbit to a large plate.
11. Strain the broth, and add the bacon, some garlic and onions to the plate.
12. In a sauce pan, reduce about 2 cups of the broth down to half a cup. It's ok to add some garlic - mash it up.
13. Add the butter, stir, and pour over rabbit.

Nut Butter Paleo Bread

Because sometimes you just gotta have bread. The original recipe is excellent. I'm just swapping some cashew for almonds to get a bit more protein vs carbs.

Source: elanaspantry.com
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Yields: 1 small loaf

Ingredients:

• ½ cup almond butter
• ½ cup cashew butter
• 5 eggs
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp maple syrup or honey
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp celtic sea salt

Directions:

1. Mix the wet ingredients in a blender.
2. Pulse in the dry ones.
3. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes, then let cool

Cumin and Mint Marinade for Lamb

This is a recent discovery and a very rich marinade. I usually make this amount for 6-8 chops, which is about a pound.  After they're done marinading I either cook them on a BBQ or broil them on low for 10-15 minutes each side.

In this picture I use short loin chops, rather then the regular ones. Kinda like mini t-bones...

Source: myrecipes.com
Prep Time: 5 minutes, then 4 hours to marinade
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 6-8 lamb chops

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup chopped fresh mint, or substitute/mix with cilantro.
• 1 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp regular balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp honey or maple syrup
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground mustard, or substitute for dijon.
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 pound of lamb chops

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients in a small bowl
2. Cover the lamb and let sit in the fridge for 4 hours

Chopped Chicken Liver - Two Versions

Here are the two versions of chopped liver according to our family recipe. When I was young my dad used to ask me each time which version I wanted and I would pick. I have no idea why Americans hate chicken liver so much. It's delicious and very healthy!

Version 1: "Classic" Chopped Liver

Source: Family recipe
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yields: About 12 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 yellow onions, chopped
• 4 tbsp. ghee or butter
• 2 lb. chicken livers
• 3 hard boiled eggs 
• ½ cup chicken stock (from powder is ok)
• 1 tbsp. brandy
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions:

1. Clean the livers from all the tendons. Cut them into 1" pieces or less.
2. Fry the onions and set aside, keep the butter in the pan.
3. Bring to very hot and fry the livers in the butter. Small pieces cook fast and you should be done in about 2 minutes. Careful not to dry it too much and remove once both sides turned mostly brown.
4. Process the livers, onions and eggs in a meat grinder with the finest screen.
5. Add the brandy, salt etc. and half the stock.
6. Mix into a uniform paste. Add the rest of the stock if too dry.
7. Cool in the fridge for 6 hours.

Garnish:

• Finely ground hard boiled egg white
• Cut onion into long strands, dip in milk, shake in a plastic bag with flour, deep fry until golden and dry with paper towel.

Version 2: "Rough" Chopped liver

Ingredients:

• Same as the "classic", but without the brandy and stock
• 2 scallions finely chopped
• Optional: 3 small radishes, diced

Directions:

1. Instead of processing with a meat grinder, finely chop all the ingredients with a knife.
2. Mix lightly in a bowl.

Low Glycemic Balsamic Vinaigrette

Just a simple and yummy dressing. Originally it was made with maple syrup instead of yacon.

Source: allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: -

Yields: 1¾ cups

Ingredients:

• 1 cup olive oil
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar (aged is best)
• ¼ cup yacon syrup
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Put it all in a 1 quart mason jar and shake well.

Easy Lemon Curd

My neighbor/landlord has another property in the country side and she gave me a bunch of Meyer lemons for the holiday - how awesome is that! I was trying to figure out what to do with all of them and decided to slightly modify a recipe I found online and make it a bit more Paleo compatible and less sugary.

Source: savorylotus.com
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yields: about 4 cups

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• ⅔ cup raw honey or maple syrup (sub for 2 tsp gelatin and 2 pkts stevia dissolved in ⅔ cups of cold water)
• 1 cup fresh Meyers lemon juice
• zest from 2 lemons (strained)
• 6 TBS ghee
• pinch of unrefined sea salt

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, yolks, honey (or substitute), lemon juice, and zest.
2. Transfer to a small pan and heat on low.
3. Add ghee and stir until dissolved.
4. Bring heat to medium and continue to cook/stir for about 6 minutes until mixture thickens and tiny little bubbles begin to come up.
5. Turn off heat and mix in the salt. 
6. Immediately pour into 1 cup mason jars and let cool in the fridge.

Protein Fluff Extreme

If you love ice cream but rather avoid processed sugars, this recipe will change your life! Double so if you work out because it is a great post workout meal. I usually make a very large portion. Most recipes I've seen on the Internet call for half the amounts, so just divide everything by 2 if you are going for a "normal" amount.

The most important ingredient here is the protein powder. I don't want to recommend any particular kind but it took some experimentation until I found some that work well. An ideal powder will dissolve easily and have the sweeteners that you prefer. I usually go for a powder that is naturally sweetened with stevia, not sugar and definitely not artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols. If you eat it at night (like me) and also work out then egg protein powder or casein protein powder are a good idea. They break down slower than whey protein so your body will be able to absorb them over the night.

Source: just google "protein fluff"
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 2-3 minutes
Yields: about a pint

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of your favorite frozen fruits in chunks (I like berries, mango, grapes, figs, pears, bananas...)
• 2 scoops protein power, about 50g
• ⅓ cup water, milk, or any liquid

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, put the fruits first, then powder, then water.
2. Mash thing up manually with an immersion (hand held) blender without running it. This is that the mixture won't go flying off.
3. After you mashed it up a bit, run the immersion blender for about 2 minutes. Blend more than you think. It should all be super smooth and all the feels from the fruits should be completely broken down.
4. If you are feeling extra fluffy, use the whisker attachment to fluff it out more! This has a tendency to increase volume so if you are hungry but don't want a full portion then this will make a smaller one more filling.

This recipe has changed my life. Seriously. You will know what I am talking about once you try it. If you like, please leave a comment and share your spin on this recipe!