Every month I'm reviewing the weekly Cooking with Abs recipes and rounding them up in a blog post! I'd love to hear if you make any of these or which one you'd like to try most. If you missed my blog post all about what is Cooking with Abs, read the post here.
This month looks a little different with three out of four of them being mostly our own concoctions. But the last two do have recipes linked! The rest are easy to follow along or hopefully will still inspire you.
Super veggie meal
Reunited with a friend who used to live in Zambia and was visiting for work! She’s vegan, and April and I typically eat more paleo, so we made a super vegetable meal that was both vegan and paleo!
Review
The star of the meal was definitely the pizza with a cassava flour crust, homemade marinara sauce, topped with so many different vegetables! We served it up with a big green side salad and also made a vegetable side dish from left over marinara sauce and kale. It was so yummy but I have to say…I was sick the next day! My body was on vegetable overload and didn’t know how to process it well. Too much of anything, vegetables included, isn't always a good thing! Or maybe I just ate too much because it truly was delicious!
Rating
I would rate this meal 3/5 stars. If you normally eat a vegan diet and don't feel bad after, I'm sure you would enjoy it more!
Recommendation
I would definitely recommend the vegan paleo pizza. Just it alone I’d say was at least 4 out of 5 stars. So delicious with the homemade sauce and the assortment of vegetables.
___
German inspired meal
This week we didn't plan a recipe but instead just looked at what we both had at home. When April said, “I have apple sauce and sauerkraut,” immediately brats came to mind. I had pork sausage in my freezer so it turned into: 1 plain pork sausage, 1 pork and applesauce patty, 1 pork, apple sauce and sauerkraut patty, all served with fancy mustard, applesauce and sauerkraut as a snack/platter style lunch.
The pork sausage by itself here is good if served with such condiments as apple sauce, mustard, etc. but alone, it is quite plain. It is simply pork! No seasonings. To make the patties, I just cut open the sausage casings and threw them away. I then mixed one with just apple sauce and seasonings. The other I mixed with apple sauce, sauerkraut and seasonings!
Rating
I would rate this 3.5/5 stars. It was really yummy but pretty plain and simple. Turning it into a burger or gourmet hot dog with all the ingredients and caramelised onions could definitely up it to 4.5 stars.
Recommendation
I most recommend the applesauce and pork patty with mustard and sauerkraut in abundance on top. This could make for an incredible german inspired burger!! I would definitely recommend this recipe again and next time I will try as a burger or hot dog!
____
Chicken vegetable soup
This was adapted from a whole30 and paleo recipe by Ronny cookprimalgourmet.com.
We loosely followed the recipe by primal gourmet. I saw his stories on instagram of how he makes his healing chicken soup and thought, “that’s easy enough and brilliant to boil it all together to make our own broth! Let’s do it!” And so we did.
Review
I loved this recipe, the broth was so much better than any store bought broth or cubes. I think making it with chicken thighs only and all fresh (no frozen) vegetables really upped the flavour and richness of this broth and overall recipe!
Rating
I would give this 4 / 5 stars. I’m still more of a stew fan than a soup fan, but I really did love it!
Recommendation
I would definitely recommend making this again and I already have!
____
Pork cabbage dumplings
This is a paleo and whole30 recipe created by Alex from thedefineddish.com.
Review
These were really good! The flavor of the pork was spot on and I loved the soft cabbage wrap. The recipe instructions may look complicated, but after making them, I can assure you that it’s simple. Just steam the cabbage, season the pork, roll them up & steam again! #quarantinedkitchen
Rating
I would rate this 4.5 / 5 stars! I wasn't it expecting to come together that well and taste so similar (the center and idea) to the real thing. I love the simple ingredients!
Recommendation
I would absolutely recommend it, as long as you are looking for a vegetable replacement to the dough!