Sunday Suppers: The Paleo Way
I began 2012 on 7 prescription medications a day, frequenting doctors for everything from Rosacea and Fibromyalgia to severe digestive issues. I’d spent 4 years asking for help. In the Spring of 2012, I sought out a new family practitioner and internist and vowed to change things. And I did.
This month, we are visiting beginnings. I began 2013 on no medications with no flare ups of the previous laundry list of maladies, and with that “last 10 pounds” gone. Well…what didn’t revisit me from the holidays. No worries. *Paleo will take care of that. My journey is not about weight loss though, it is about feeling good. It is about feeling the best I have ever felt. I really wish that for everyone, and I hope to help others get there now that I see how easy it can be.
Roasted Red Pepper and Avocado Soup with Sausages
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Total time: 40 mins
Serves: 3-4
**Modified from PaleOMG Recipes
Ingredients
1 yellow onions, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 tablespoons fat of choice (I used butter)
3-4 roasted red peppers, roughly chopped I bought 3 of the containers sold at Earth Fare in the cheese section
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup canned coconut milk
1 avocado, pitted
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
½ avocado, diced (to garnish)
5-6 cooked sausages of choice (I used Bilinski’s Italian chicken sausage)
Instructions
Place a saucepan over medium heat, add in your fat, garlic and onion. Sweat onions to translucency.
In your food processor, puree the peppers with the broth and coconut milk. Carefully transfer onions, garlic, and melted butter to the processor and work into pepper mixture until smooth. If you have an immersion blender, all of this can be done in the original saucepan.
If you’ve processed, return all to saucepan. Add lime juice, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper as measured or to taste. Let simmer for 8-10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
While soup is simmering, slice up your sausages and cook on a skillet on both sides.
Return all soup to processor and work in avocado until smooth. If you have an immersion blender, this can all be done in the saucepan.
Top soup with diced avocado, and sausage.
Options
This is a very filling meal in and of itself, but, I admit, I am NOT a soup only kind of girl. Optional “sides”:
1. Grilled muenster sandwiches on honey wheat Fred Bread (can be purchased at Lowe Mill, the Switch House, or The Little Green Store).
2. Paleo option: mixed green salad with bacon (I like the deli bacon at Earth Fare), avocado, and cucumbers served with balsamic dressing (olive oil, balsamic, lime juice).
3. Kid add on: Granny apple slices with Jason’s Chocolate Hazelnut Spread or Crazy Berry Fruit Salad – blueberries, strawberry slices, and blackberries.
***
In February, Rocket City Mom will explore Love. Please join me next month as I share more heart healthy recipes in a 4 part series: Sunday Supper.
*Important notes: Paleo lifestyle is a very exact science. Please do not modify your diet without consulting your physician. If Paleo is an appropriate journey for you, please be sure to research all Paleo guidelines and check all ingredients to ensure proper applications.
Christa Landingham and her husband are Madison County natives and life-long residents. They have boy/girl twins and two crazy puppers. She loves all things teaching, organizing, and supporting local small businesses. In her “free-time” she loves to garden, travel with her family, volunteer, and comb local thrift stores. Pearl Jam is her jam.