Spiced Carrot Soup

Delicious and easy recipe courtesy of Williams-Sonoma:

Ingredients

• 4 slices prosciutto
• 2 tbsp paleo cooking fat (I used coconut oil)
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 lb carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 3 cups chicken stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place wire rack over baking sheet.
2. Lay prosciutto on wire rack. Cook in oven until crisp, approximately 20-25 minutes.
3. Over low heat, melt cooking fat and saute garlic and onion until tender, approximately 2-3 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4. Increase to medium heat. Add carrots and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add curry powder, salt, and pepper and cook until fragrant, approximately 1-2 minutes. Stir occasionally.
6. Increase to high heat. Add chicken stock and bring soup mixture to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, approximately 15 minutes.
8. Carefully add soup mixture to Vitamix and blend on variable speed until smooth.
9. Pour soup into bowls and crumble crisped prosciutto (cooled to room temperature) on top.
10. Garnish with fresh, chopped cilantro.

Recipe Notes

The Williams-Sonoma recipe uses a soup maker & blender. I used a combination of a dutch oven and my vitamix. Be cautious if transferring to a conventional blender and read the user guide. Many blenders will not respond well to hot liquids (i.e., the lid will explode off sending hot liquid all over your kitchen).

I assume the soup would still taste awesome if made with vegetable broth and without the prosciutto (vegetarian style), but it would lack protein.

Slow Cooker Shredded Pork

Another delicious recipe courtesy of Nom Nom Paleo; simple and requiring only a crockpot and 4 ingredients.

Slow Cooker Kalua Pig

• Pork butt (boneless or bone in)
• Bacon
• Garlic (optional)
• Hawaiian sea salt

The one catch? Nom Nom Paleo recommends 16 hours in the crockpot! I did about 10 hours on low (the max on my programmable crockpot) and another 3 on high (so that it would finish before heading to bed).

Recipe Notes

I had difficulty finding Hawaiian sea salt (and was rather impetuous about my decision to make the recipe), so I substituted with Himalayan salt instead. I read comments posted by others that did a similar substitution. I also kept the skin on and removed it only after the pork finished cooking. Also, do a search on Nom Nom Paleo’s website for “kalua pig” to find additional meal suggestions for your leftover pork!