Breakfast

  • Scrambled eggs + ham, half an avocado
  • Or smoothie – fruit + coconut oil + coconut milk. Try adding half an avocado to your smoothie, they go well with bananas. You could also add grass-fed gelatin for extra protein.
  • Fruit: half a punnet of blueberries

Lunch

  • Crudités with guacamole or paleo hummus + ham/chicken/turkey
  • Or any salad with

Veg

  • Green leaves, tomatoes, cucumber, radish, peppers, carrot

Protein

  • Chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon, prawns, ham, boiled eggs

Fat

  • Avocado, olives, dressing

Dinner

  • If you had roast duck yesterday then use the leftovers for Five Spice Duck Salad
  • If you had beef brisket yesterday then make a Paleo Shepherd’s Pie with your leftover meat with cauliflower mash topping. Serve with lots of greens such as kale and broccoli.
  • Pudding: Half a melon

 

Dairy-free Smoothies – 5 minutes to prepare

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 400 ml non-dairy milk (almond, coconut) or water
  • 1 banana
  • ½ avocado – optional
  • 100g-200g fruit such as berries or mango. Frozen fruit works well.
  • 1 tbsp. coconut oil – optional
  • 1 tbsp. gelatin (Great Lakes brand – green tub) – optional
  • Water or ice to achieve desired consistency
  • If you have a nutribullet type blender (high power blender) you could add 1 tbsp. of seeds too
  • You can also add greens like spinach but build up to this as you may not like the taste
  • If you want to experiment with resistant starch you can add some green plantain to your smoothie – start out slow though, probably just a chunk about 5cm long (if you get wind or bloating you are probably not ready for resistant starch yet!)

Method:

Simply place all of the ingredients into a blender and work until smooth. I have a Nutribullet, which is fantastic for making smoothies; a food processor also works surprisingly well.

 

Guacamole – lasts 1 day in the fridge

Guacamole is another dish that can be tailored to suit your own individual palette. The recipe below gives a basic, classic guacamole but feel free to change the quantities for a more or less spicy finish, or maybe change it altogether with the addition of a little tahini, lemon instead of lime or other fresh herbs like basil. You can make this the day before you want to eat it but it doesn’t last longer than one day in the fridge.

Ingredients:

  • 1 avocado
  • 1 fresh green chilli, chopped
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 2 spring onions, chopped
  • Fresh coriander, chopped (or basil)
  • Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method:

  1. Mash or blend the chillies, lime juice, spring onions, avocado and coriander until creamy.
  2. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Paleo Hummus – lasts 2-3 days in the fridge

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium courgettes, peeled and chopped or 1 courgette and 50g soaked cashew nuts (nuts soaked for 6 hours and thoroughly drained)
  • 4 tbsp. tahini
  • 4 tbsp. olive oil
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1-2 medium cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. sea salt

To serve:

  • Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish
  • Paprika
  • Extra virgin olive oil

Method:

  1. Place all ingredients except the parsley and paprika in a blender.
  2. Blend until smooth. The hummus will last 2-3 days in the fridge.
  3. Before serving: sprinkle over some fresh parsley, a pinch of paprika and drizzle with olive oil.


Five Spice Duck Salad

Serves 2

Adapted from a Jamie Oliver Recipe

Ingredients:

  • Cocount oil for frying the duck
  • Leftover roast duck – as much as you have
  • ½ – 1 tsp. Chinese five spice powder
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 pomegranate, halved
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped
  • ½ a ripe mango, peeled and cut into chunks
  • Salad leaves of your choice – watercress works well

For the dressing:

  • 2cm chunk fresh ginger, peeled
  • Sesame oil
  • Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Remove the leftover duck meat from the carcass and sprinkle with the five spice powder.
  2. Heat some coconut oil in a non stick frying pan and fry the duck until heated through.
  3. Julienne or spiralise the cucumber into noodles, or use a vegetable peeler to create long thin strips.
  4. Mix the cucumber noodles, pomegranate seeds, spring onions, mango, salad leaves and duck together in a bowl.
  5. Grate the ginger and mix with the juice of the lime and the fresh coriander. Add sesame oil to taste (it’s quite a strong flavor, you could substitute with olive oil). Season with salt and pepper. Dress the salad and mix everything together well before serving.

 

 Paleo Shepherd’s Pie

Serves 4 or 2 with leftovers for lunch tomorrow

Ingredients

  • Leftover beef – you need around 400-500g, finely chopped
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 small leek, washed and finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp picked thyme
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée (concentrate)
  • 500 ml good quality lamb, beef or chicken stock
  • Your choice of ghee, coconut oil or olive oil
  • Sea salt
  • Black pepper, freshly ground

For the mash topping

  • 1 cauliflower, chopped into florets
  • 50g ghee or 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4/350F.
  2. Heat 1 tbsp cooking fat in a large pan and add the onions. Sweat gently until softened. Add the celery, carrots, and leek, and sweat for a further 5 minutes without colouring.
  3. Add the meat to the pan and stir-in the tomato purée and thyme. Mix well.
  4. Add the stock and salt & pepper to season. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, and allow to gently simmer for 30-45 minutes. You could also put the mixture into your slow cooker and leave on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. If doing this in the slow cooker you need less stock as it won’t reduce down. Add just enough to cover the mixture.
  5. Meanwhile, place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan and pour over boiling water to cover them. Boil on a medium heat for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain and allow to steam dry for a few minutes.
  6. Add to your food processor. Add ghee or olive oil or a mixture of both and season with salt and pepper. Blitz until you have a smooth mash. Alternatively, mash as you would with potatoes until all of the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together – the resulting mash won’t be as smooth as a potato mash, it will have a little more texture.
  7. Transfer the meat into an ovenproof dish and top with the cauliflower mash. Place in the preheated oven for approx. 30 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

I love to serve kale with shepherd’s pie – simply boil or steam the kale, drain and add ghee plus salt and pepper. Any other green vegetable would also work well.