For as long as I can remember, I've identified as someone who loves food. My mom was always cooking something delicious when I was a kid, and her dad was always doing the same while she was growing up. We were big pasta eaters, too--everything was served with or on pasta. 

Having an Italian mom from Argentina meant a lot to me--we drink yerba mate every morning when we're together and cooking has always been a favorite family pastime. And carbs! Who doesn't love pasta? I certainly do, which made it really tough for me to realize that I was gluten intolerant a few years ago. I started swapping out gluten and grains and dairy and sugar and was feeling a lot better, even if I missed our old traditions (pasta with pesto and arroz con leche to name a couple). But I soon learned that it's not necessarily what you're eating that makes food special--it's who you're sharing it with.

And we came up with some new favorites--this Paleo Pizza Chicken is one of them.

Ingredients: 

• 1.5 pounds of chicken (you can use thighs or breasts--I like thighs with skin on)
• About 3 ounces of pepperoni
• 1/2 onion, diced
• About 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1-2 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• About 15 ounces of Traditional Ragu pasta sauce
• 2-4 tablespoons of black olives (optional)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Fresh parsley for garnish

Instructions:

1. In a large pan or skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and diced onions and saute for 3-5 minutes.
2. Slice or cut up the pepperoni and add to the pan, along with some of the olives (save a few to top the dish when it's done).
3. Place the chicken in the pan and brown well on one side. Flip it over and cover with some tomato sauce. Season with oregano, salt, and pepper.
4. Turn the heat to low and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through (time will depend on the thickness of the chicken).
5. Serve hot with a side of veggies--I love roasted Brussels sprouts!

Thank you to Ragu for sponsoring today's post and inspiring me to pass on my family traditions!

I still think breakfast is the easiest meal to make Paleo, but casseroles are usually kind of a challenge without bread or cheese. I threw this one together the other day and it worked out really well! It's so nice to make if you're having people over and don't want to do a bunch of cooking that morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato, diced
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 clove of crushed or chopped garlic
• About 3 tablespoons oliveo il
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
• About 10 ounces of Italian sausage (or regular breakfast sausage)
• 10 eggs
• Green onion, for garnish
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions: 

1. In a large pan, sauté chopped onion and garlic in some olive oil until translucent. Add diced sweet potato and cook until fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from pan and add to a baking dish.
2. Add more oil to the pan and sauté sliced mushrooms until browned. Season with salt and pepper. Add them to the baking dish as a second layer.
3. Finally, add the sausage to the pan and cook until no more pink remains. Season with salt and pepper. Add that to the baking dish as a third layer. (At this point, you could cover and refrigerate overnight if you want to wait to bake and serve.
4. Preheat the oven to 350. In a bowl, whisk the eggs well (season a bit with salt and pepper) and pour over the casserole mixture in the baking dish. bake for 50-70 minutes, or until the eggs are no longer runny. Serve hot and garnish with a sprinkle of sliced green onion.

I decided to adapt my Paleo crepe recipe to make a savory crepe that could be used in place of a tortilla for breakfast wraps. Instead of a fruit filling, I made a kind-of Paleo BLT wrap, plus avocado and with spinach instead of lettuce.

Ingredients (Makes about five large "tortillas"):

• Ten eggs
• Six tablespoons almond flour
• Three tablespoons arrowroot powder
• One teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Filling: Bacon, lettuce or spinach, tomato, mayo

Instructions: 

1. Heat a large pan on the stove and whisk eggs in a bowl. Add remaining crepe ingredients.
2. Spread coconut oil or butter around the pan and add a couple spoonfuls of crepe batter. Spread batter around and let cook.
3. Flip the crepe (this should be really easy to do) and let cook on the other side (about a minute). 
4. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining batter.
5. Once you've made your crepes, fill with lettuce, tomato, bacon, or whatever it is you feel like having in your wrap.
6. Wrap it up like a burrito and enjoy! If you have leftover tortillas you can refrigerate them for later.

You don't even have to limit yourself to breakfast--I'm looking forward to making buffalo chicken wraps for dinner one night or some ham and goat cheese wraps for lunch--you can fill them with anything you want and wrap 'em right up. I also love to keep them really simple with turkey, lettuce, tomato, and some mayo.

I hope you love these! They're my favorite thing. What kind of wraps will you make?

Note: This recipe was originally published in October of 2013 but I'm re-posting it today with new photos and some other edits. The formatting of the comments from last year are a little wonky because they were posted before I switched to Squarespace--I now respond to all comments in the thread. Thanks for reading!