Healing Kale Salad and InstantPot Chicken Soup

Tonight, you are getting two recipes in a single post! I often make these two dishes together, and they pair perfectly. They create a light and nutritious meal.

Healing Kale Salad:

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: None! Let marinate for 1-4 hours if possible

My father-in-law is the kale king. He grows kale almost year-round, so we eat a lot of kale. My mother-in-law likes to tenderize the kale using olive oil. I added a few of my own flavors and made this delicious and nutritious AIP-compliant kale salad. Marinating the kale in lemon juice and olive oil makes it much easier for me to digest.

Ingredients:

1 large bag of organic kale or several large bunches of kale from the farmer’s market

1 large lemon

1 red onion

1 clove of garlic

dried cranberries

sunflower seeds (if reintroduced)

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper (if reintroduced)

Directions:

  1. Devein the kale (and save the stems to make green juice). One handful at a time, place the kale into a food processor and chop into small pieces. Place chopped kale into a zip lock bag.
  2. Heat the lemon for 15 seconds in the microwave. Cut lemon into large slices and squeeze juice into the bag. For a less powerful lemon flavor, don’t use all of the lemon juice. Add olive oil until all the kale looks wet, but is not dripping. Add salt to taste.
  3. Message the kale inside the bag to help break down the harshness of the kale flavor. Afterward, transfer the kale into a bowl.
  4. Dice onion and garlic into small pieces and mix into the chopped kale. Allow to marinate for a few hours before serving if possible.
  5. Add dried cranberries, salt, and sunflower seeds to taste. Enjoy!

* You can also marinate the salad with the sunflower seeds added to help make the seeds easier to digest!

Pro Tip: Top with chicken and some fruit (berries, oranges, ect.), and it becomes a meal all on its own!

Instant Pot Chicken Soup:

 Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 4 minutes low pressure

What goes better with soup than salad? My mother has the best chicken noodle soup recipe, but if you remove the noodles it is completely paleo! She used to make chicken noodle soup for me all the time when I was feeling sick growing up, so one day I added all the veggies to my instant pot and created chicken noodle-less soup. This recipe is full of healing spices/bone broth, completely paleo, easily altered to become AIP compliant, and exactly what I need when I am under the weather.

 Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

1 cup of carrots chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 cup of celery chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 onion diced

1 whole parsnip peeled and diced

1 tablespoon turmeric

1 tablespoon salt

2 cloves of garlic diced

½ tablespoon pepper, if reintroduced

Bone broth (I usually use about 2 quarts)

Directions:

  1. Dice veggies and place them in instantpot.
  2. Add turmeric, salt, and pepper. Add more if you would prefer a stronger taste.
  3. Place in 4 chicken breasts.
  4. Fill instant pot to maximum fill line with bone broth.
  5. Set instant pot on low for 4 minutes.
  6. Allow instant pot to depressurize on its own.
  7. Open instant pot and shred chicken. Enjoy!

 

Mom’s Hearty Pork Tenderloin Soup:

Obviously, I get all of my great recipes from my family. The best part of this recipe is that you can place this meal in the crock-pot at the beginning of the day and come home to a warm meal! Everyone in my family loves delicious and healthy meals, but no one loves spending hours in the kitchen. We also love to have leftovers whenever possible. My family has been extremely supportive of my diet since day one. For any family members out there, you have absolutely no idea how wonderful it is to have a support system that makes delicious meals you can eat!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8-10 hours in the crock-pot (8 hours minimum)

Ingredients:

½ big bag of organic kale

1 onion sliced into ½ inch pieces

3 small potatoes/2 medium potatoes/1 large potato (or white sweet potato for AIP)

4 oz of mushrooms

4 medium carrots sliced into ½ inch pieces

1 all-natural pork tenderloin (we get ours at Walmart or food lion)

1 clove of garlic diced

3 cups of chicken bone broth (this is a guestimate)

salt, onion powder, and pepper if reintroduced

  • These measurements are incredibly flexible. Feel free to add more or less veggies depending on the room in your crock-pot.

 

Directions:

  1. Place pork tenderloin in bottom of the crock pot and rub it down with salt, garlic, and pepper if reintroduced. Pour in bone broth until you have about a half-inch of broth in the crock-pot. Allow to marinate for a few hours or overnight if you have the time. The soup will still be delicious if the tenderloin doesn’t marinate.
  2. Prepare veggies and store in a zip lock bag.
  3. Place all veggies except kale in crock-pot and fill crock-pot with ½ broth and ½ water until the veggies and tenderloin are covered. Place the kale on top so that it floats/sits under a little of the broth.
  4. Turn crockpot on low for 8-10 hours. Add salt, garlic powder, or other seasonings to taste.
  5. Shred tenderloin and enjoy!

*This soup will just get better the longer it sits. It’s even better after a few days.

Dad’s Crispy Roasted Chicken

As promised, I am finally sharing recipes!!! The first is my dad’s delicious roasted whole chicken. It’s simple, paleo, and AIP compliant. I was TERRIFIED to cook a whole chicken by myself, but my dad talked me into it, and this recipe is amazing. The skin is crispy and the chicken is super moist. This is a great recipe to meal-prep for the week. I split our chicken into 9 single-serving portions for lunches and dinners. Thanks dad!

Prep Time: 10 minutes, 20 minutes maximum (if you chop slowly)

Cooking Time: 80-90 minutes

Ingredients:

8 oz mushrooms sliced into ½ inch pieces

1 large sweet potato

1 head of broccoli florets

5 large carrots diced into ½ inch pieces

1 bunch of celery sliced into ½ inch pieces

1 onion chopped into ½ inch pieces

1 5-6 pound organic, free-range chicken

*Feel free to substitute vegetables for your favorite veggies! The best thing about this recipe is you can use any vegetables you enjoy or have on-hand!

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. Remove giblets (if necessary) and wash down chicken with water. Pat chicken dry and place in a baking dish.
  3. Rub chicken inside and out with olive oil, garlic powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper if it has been reintroduced.
  4. Tuck wings under chicken and bake at 425 for 30 minutes.
  5. While chicken is baking, toss veggies in a little melted coconut oil, salt, garlic powder, turmeric, and pepper if reintroduced.
  6. When the timer goes off, drain the excess liquid from the baking dish and place veggies into baking dish. Place chicken on top of veggies and bake for another 50-60 minutes at 375 (until temperature reaches 180 degrees.
  7. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Pro Tip: Save the chicken carcass and veggie scraps to make bone broth!!