Paleo Instant Pot Cowboy Chili

A couple of weeks ago, we finally hired a professional to come investigate, treat and seal our house against the mice that seem to have taken residence in our walls and attic. It turned out, they had also made themselves comfortable inside the insulation of our oven range. Gross! Plus, all of their nesting and rummaging around in there, broke the gas pipe connections in the range.

So, we bought a new oven! Something we’ve wanted to do but were putting off until the “right time.” Well, that time suddenly became now. Meanwhile, though, we couldn’t use our oven range. This week’s recipe ingenuity was born out of necessity. Thank goodness for our Instant Pot!

Greek “Orzo” Cauliflower Salad

If you work in a traditional office, you’re aware of the catered meeting that is often built around: cheese, wheat, and more cheese, with some vegetables and soy for those who don’t eat meat. For those who would rather just have some meat and vegetables, this can be a challenge. Normally, I pack my own lunch, but this can be an awkward situation when you’re “that person” bringing in your own food to a catered meeting.

That said, this Greek “Orzo” Cauliflower Salad is in homage of a orzo salad that was at a catered meeting at my office. Colleagues were nice enough to ask me if I wanted anything special, but I had packed my own salad for the day. The only thing that isn’t in our version, which was raved about, is the crumbled feta. Feel free to add 1/2 C of quality, crumbled feta if you enjoy and can tolerate cheese. I’m looking at you, primal folks.

Sardine and Scallion Salad

This sardine and scallion salad is inspired by a local business owner and chef in the town where I grew up: Sheboygan, Wisconsin. A woman named Toy was famous for her international grocery store, restaurant, and very popular cooking classes. She was generous with many of her recipes, but kept a few ‘up her sleeve’ that nobody could seem to wrangle from her.

This salad is one my mom recreated during Easter weekend, almost entirely from memory. It has some reminiscences of a Thai fish salad, as I attempted to reverse engineer the recipe through Google, and is a nice change of pace from your more traditional tuna or chicken salad. We hope you’ll enjoy!

Spicy Thai Eggplant and Basil

We’ve commented before that our local Thai restaurant is one of our favorite places to dine out or get delivery when we’re not in the mood to cook or eat leftovers. A recent favorite of ours is a spicy eggplant and basil. At first I thought this would be too difficult to figure out, but SURPRISE—this is pretty straightforward.

I hope you’ll give this spicy Thai eggplant and basil a try. If you’re not a big fan of spice, halve the Thai chilies and remove the seeds. If you like it hot, enjoy the recipe as is. It starts with a slow burn and a lingering heat, but never gets too out of control. It won’t leave you with tears or sweats, but will certainly light up your taste buds. We think you’ll enjoy this paleo Thai eggplant and basil.

Pork Tenderloin Al’Diavolo

More often than not, when we have pork, we simply have a large pork shoulder slow cooked and shredded or a huge rack of ribs. I love to make our barbecue sauce for it or add it to salads with a basic dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sometimes, though, I like to change it up.

This recipe is a wonderful way to make a meal that is packed with flavor. It simply requires a little planning because it’s best to let the pork and spices sit overnight. I think it’s perfect for a dinner party on the weekend. We hope you enjoy this savory and juicy pork tenderloin recipe.