Simply Norma

The original recipe for this meal included figs instead of prunes and cream cheese but I left out the cream cheese and substituted the figs for the prunes since I was not able to find figs at the store ~ strange, no?

Let’s check out the ingredients first …

Before I started preparing the chicken ingredients, I started the onions caramelizing. I love caramelized onions so I used two of them.

Next I prepared the filling ingredients …  Since I didn’t use the cream cheese from the original recipe I’m not sure if this should be smoother or not but it looked pretty smooth to me.

Using a wooden rolling pin (I didn’t have a mallet) I pounded the chicken as flat as I could get it. Then I spread the filling on top of the chicken. Be careful not to spread it too thick because you’ll be rolling the chicken up with it.

Then I rolled up the chicken. See the filling trying to ooze out? Instead of trying to find a small dish to put the chicken in so it wouldn’t move around, I decided to roll them in aluminum foil and bake them that way. That held the chicken with its filling quite nicely.

Here’s the chicken all rolled up and ready to go into the oven.

Let’s check on the onions, shall we? Pretty, pretty, pretty!

Alright then, ready to see the recipe?

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, cut in large slices
• 2 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 2 large chicken breasts, cleaned and pounded flat
• 9 large dried prunes, minced
• 3 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• Salt, to taste
• Aluminum Foil

Directions

1. Set your oven to 350º Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium sized skillet set on medium heat, add the olive oil then the onions.
3. Allow the onions to brown on one side then turn them over to the other side. Keep checking/turning them to make sure they don’t burn. You want them nicely browned and soft ~ caramelized.
4. When the onions are ready, set them aside in a bowl. (The process can take up to 45 minutes although on a higher heat it can be done quicker.)
5. In a small bowl, add the melted butter, prunes, goat cheese and the balsamic vinegar then mix it all together.
6. Pound the chicken breasts as flat as you can get them with a wooden rolling pin (or anything else you have around).
7. Spread the goat filling on top of the chicken then roll the chicken up.
8. Cut a piece of aluminum foil that’s large enough to roll the chicken in then place your rolled up chicken in it and wrap it with the foil.
9. Put the foil covered chicken in a glass casserole dish then set it in the oven to bake for approximately 30 minutes.
10. Remove the chicken from the oven and make sure it’s thoroughly cooked.
11. Add the caramelized onions on top of the cooked chicken and serve.

Hope you enjoy this paleo meal. I served mine with roasted squash and slices of cucumber and tomato.

Special thanks to Life As A Plate for the original recipe.

For more paleo recipes, click here.

This recipe was quite delicious although I changed it up just a bit from the original. Prep time is a tad more than what I like although it’s made in a crockpot so you can pretty much leave it alone once it’s there.

But — good recipes require effort sometimes, don’t they?

So — let’s take a look at what you’ll be needing to make this. Here’s the first group …

Next you’ll need the turnip greens, almond flour and parsley. This was, if I remember correctly, the first time I’ve had turnip greens. A good experience …

Then there’s the boneless chuck roast — this one was not quite 3 pounds and I have to say we have lots of leftovers. But leftovers are okay as the husband takes them to work for lunch.

After adding the almond flour to the bottom of a cookie sheet (or something similar), you’ll be adding the meat to it so it can be coated with the flour.

Next you’ll be browning the meat in a skillet in olive oil. Because it was quite a hunk of meat, I did it in two portions.

While all the above is going on you need to prepare the parsnips, onion and sweet potato. I actually do this step before anything else so that things will go smoothly. The turnip greens, along with the veggies, will be place in the bottom of the crockpot.

My meat almost didn’t fit in the crockpot but I managed to squeeze it all in there.

After you remove the meat from the skillet, you’ll be adding tomato paste and the broth to the skillet then scraping the bottom of the skillet to get all the small pieces that were left behind from the roast when you browned it.

The picture is not “pretty” but cooking is not always pretty and I want you to see the “real” thing.

This is what it will look like when it’s all mixed together.

This broth will be poured over the veggies that are already in the crockpot, then the crockpot is covered and this will cook on low for about 8 hours. See how I managed to squish it all in there?

Okay so — let’s take a look at the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1 (2-3 pound) boneless chuck roast, cleaned and trimmed
• 1 -2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (for browning the meat)
• 1 pound fresh turnip greens, trimmed and coarsely chopped
• 2 cups diagonally cut parsnips
• 1 large sweet potato, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 24 ounces low fat vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Add the flour to the bottom of a cookie sheet or jelly roll.
2. Add salt and pepper to the beef then coat it in the flour.
3. Heat a cast iron skillet (if you have one) on medium heat then add the oil to it.
4. Add the beef to the skillet and brown it on both sides (about 5 minutes per side).
5. Add the turnip greens, parsnips, potato and onion to the bottom of a crockpot.
6. Add the browned beef to the top of the veggies in the crockpot.
7. Add the tomato paste and broth to the skillet then bring this to a boil scraping the bottom of the skillet so you can get any browned pieces that remained behind. Stir well to blend everything together.
8. Bring the skillet mixture to a boil then remove from the stovetop and pour it into the crockpot.
9. Add the thyme, bay leaves and parsley to the crockpot.
10. Cook on low for 8 hours or until the beef is tender and cooked through.

You can serve this by itself, on a bed of white rice or on a baked sweet potato. Simply delicious!

Special thanks to MyRecipes for the original recipe.

For a list of other Paleo recipes, click here.