I have had so much on my plate lately that I haven't had time to put up this current week's meal plan. I guess I'll just combine the plan with my review of the recipes. This week I went entirely off things I found on Pinterest - with Great Success.
Saturday - Green Coconut Salmon with Cauliflower Rice . This was to die for! Seriously, even my normally Salmon-hating better half scraped every last crumb off his plate. Even better bonus - it was super easy. I think this may become a regularly scheduled recipe for mid-week.
Sunday - Stuffed Cabbage This was pretty good - although I wish I had made extra sauce. The jar she calls for would not be enough. I did modify the recipe a bit. I forgot the jarred mariana sauce, so I ended up throwing my own together with what I had (a can of whole plum tomatoes, two fresh, some jarred red peppers and basil). The recipe made a ton of filling. I froze enough filling to make another complete meal someday. And we had enough stuffed cabbages left for a whole dinner some other night. While it was a time-intensive recipe I did get three + dinners out of one prep.
Monday and Tuesday Grain-free Lasanga This was one of my favorite things this week. It was definitely more Primal than Paleo due to the cheese, but it was oh so delicious. And even having it two nights, we froze another night's worth.
Wednesday Paleo Orange Chicken I only wish I'd thought to make cauliflower rice to go with this. It was good, and had a little kick which I find often lacking in Paleo Recipes. The one modification I did was instead of using the zest of one orange, I used some of the pulp left from juicing.
Thursday Left Over Pork Stirfry I added some Coconut Aminos to this (a substitute for soy sauce, with far less salt) and it came out really well. I also used left over pork chops from last week.
Friday - Cannibal Peppers I'm making these with Left over chicken from last week.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Egg Muffins
In my mind, I'm still the girl who wakes up at 4 am to work out, eat breakfast, and has plenty of time to get ready before heading out the door to the office at 8.
In reality, I'm the mom who never gets enough sleep. Who still gets woken up by my daughter many nights every week. Who needs the precious extra sleep between the hours of 4 and 6 am, and goes into the office an hour earlier than pre-baby, so I can leave an hour earlier. So in reality, I have very little time to actually get ready. Throw in a little person pulling at my leg, and running around while I'm trying to get dressed, and I'm always scrambling to get out the door on time. And I never have time for breakfast.
Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I will eat my entire lunch by 10am if I do not manage to eat something by 8, I had to face reality and figure out a new, paleo friendly solution. Enter the scrambled egg muffin. I was inspired by a recipe in Every Day Paleo. And let me tell you these babies are good! And they freeze well. And for something based on eggs, they have enough veggies that they aren't too "eggy". I was able to make a batch of 18 on Sunday afternoon while Hailey napped, and will have breakfast through next week.
Here's my version of the recipe:
10 eggs whisked well
2 zucchini
3 cups kale
1/2 a cup jarred roasted red peppers
1 lb COOKED breakfast sausage (check the label to make sure it's paleo)
pepper to taste (I used about a tablespoon)
Preheat oven to 350 and grease (I used olive oil) muffin pan(s) (recipe makes 18)
In a food processor throw in the zucchini and jarred peppers and process until finely chopped. Add chopped veggies to your eggs, along with the cooked sausage. Throw the kale into the processor, chop and add to your eggs. Mix the egg mixture well.
Put 1/4 cup of egg into each greased muffin cup.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the eggs are set in the middle.
I eat 2 every morning. You can mix out the meat (bacon for example), and the veggies. Some recipes out there call for frozen spinach instead of fresh (or kale like I used), but I found it makes the cupcakes too soggy.
In reality, I'm the mom who never gets enough sleep. Who still gets woken up by my daughter many nights every week. Who needs the precious extra sleep between the hours of 4 and 6 am, and goes into the office an hour earlier than pre-baby, so I can leave an hour earlier. So in reality, I have very little time to actually get ready. Throw in a little person pulling at my leg, and running around while I'm trying to get dressed, and I'm always scrambling to get out the door on time. And I never have time for breakfast.
Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I will eat my entire lunch by 10am if I do not manage to eat something by 8, I had to face reality and figure out a new, paleo friendly solution. Enter the scrambled egg muffin. I was inspired by a recipe in Every Day Paleo. And let me tell you these babies are good! And they freeze well. And for something based on eggs, they have enough veggies that they aren't too "eggy". I was able to make a batch of 18 on Sunday afternoon while Hailey napped, and will have breakfast through next week.
Here's my version of the recipe:
10 eggs whisked well
2 zucchini
3 cups kale
1/2 a cup jarred roasted red peppers
1 lb COOKED breakfast sausage (check the label to make sure it's paleo)
pepper to taste (I used about a tablespoon)
Preheat oven to 350 and grease (I used olive oil) muffin pan(s) (recipe makes 18)
In a food processor throw in the zucchini and jarred peppers and process until finely chopped. Add chopped veggies to your eggs, along with the cooked sausage. Throw the kale into the processor, chop and add to your eggs. Mix the egg mixture well.
Put 1/4 cup of egg into each greased muffin cup.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the eggs are set in the middle.
I eat 2 every morning. You can mix out the meat (bacon for example), and the veggies. Some recipes out there call for frozen spinach instead of fresh (or kale like I used), but I found it makes the cupcakes too soggy.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Meal Plan Monday-errr Tuesday
The long weekend has me off on dates, so this is posted a day late. Inspired by http://onceamonthmom.com/ I'm trying to cook more in one sitting and lesss during the week. While I'm still doing my own menus/meal plans and doing it on a weekly basis I'm aiming to have more frozen left overs during the week.
Yesterday I doubled my recipe and froze half the pork chops, I plan to incorporate them next week (making a stir-fry maybe?). Tonight's chicken will be shredded and frozen for chicken soup next week. And you'll see a lot of our meals this week are leftovers from last week.
Monday - skillet pork chops with carmelized onions and apples
Tuesday - Whole Chicken in Slow Cooker and sweet potato "fries"
Wednesday- Left over chicken leg adobo from last week, with cauliflower "rice"
Thursday - Left over chili (note - when buying dried peppers, it's probably a good idea to check the heat index online, because this stuff was SPICY)
Friday- Zuchini Spaghetti with left over sauce
Saturday - Shrimp tacos (in lettuce instead of tortillas)
Sunday - Stuffed Roasted Eggplant
Yesterday I doubled my recipe and froze half the pork chops, I plan to incorporate them next week (making a stir-fry maybe?). Tonight's chicken will be shredded and frozen for chicken soup next week. And you'll see a lot of our meals this week are leftovers from last week.
Monday - skillet pork chops with carmelized onions and apples
Tuesday - Whole Chicken in Slow Cooker and sweet potato "fries"
Wednesday- Left over chicken leg adobo from last week, with cauliflower "rice"
Thursday - Left over chili (note - when buying dried peppers, it's probably a good idea to check the heat index online, because this stuff was SPICY)
Friday- Zuchini Spaghetti with left over sauce
Saturday - Shrimp tacos (in lettuce instead of tortillas)
Sunday - Stuffed Roasted Eggplant
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Getting Back on Track
Most of my readers already know my family suffered a huge loss on January 21, when my brother (Honolulu Police Officer Garret Davis) was killed in the line of duty. The subsequent days and weeks were a whirlwind of traveling, visitors and funerals. We are so grateful to everyone who brought food so we did not have to worry about cooking. But three weeks of eating lots of gluten and dairy took their toll.
This Monday, I went back to work and we've started to try to get back to our normal routines. This means getting back to clean, whole food, and to this blog.
Just two days back in and I already feel much better (health wise) than I did on Sunday. I'm only 10 lbs from my goal weight, so my goals are shifting from pure weight-loss, to shaving minutes off my 5k time.
This Monday, I went back to work and we've started to try to get back to our normal routines. This means getting back to clean, whole food, and to this blog.
Just two days back in and I already feel much better (health wise) than I did on Sunday. I'm only 10 lbs from my goal weight, so my goals are shifting from pure weight-loss, to shaving minutes off my 5k time.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Paleo Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
When I was fairly early on in my pregnancy I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The worst part for me was not that I had to prick my finger and test my blood sugar four times a day. Nor was it counting every single carb that went into my mouth. It wasn't even the fact that I couldn't just eat when I was hungry. Although I hated all those things, the worst part was breakfast. My options were limited as I was allowed a mere 15carbs for my morning meal. All of my favorite breakfasts were well above 15 carbs. I was basically left with eggs, eggs, and more eggs. I grew to really dislike them.
Oh, how I wish I'd known about paleo/primal back then, Then I would have known the possibilities for low carb, high protein, breakfasts go way beyond eggs with a side of eggs.
My new favorite are pumpkin muffins, the following is a recipe I've adapted from many different sources, with my own special addition of chocolate, because I really like chocolate.
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tbs unsweetened cocoa
1/2cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
6 eggs
4 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or you could use unsalted butter)
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Shift all dry ingredients together
3. In a separate bowl, add one egg at a time to pumpkin puree, until well blended. Then add coconut oil, honey and vanilla. When mixed well wisk in dry ingredients.
4. Put batter into well-greased muffin tins. * I use a large 6-muffin tin
5. bake 20 minutes and enjoy
*if you like your muffins to look pretty, be sure to flatten out the batter after putting it in the tins. I've found any non-grain flour will pretty much bake in the same position you put it in the oven. Flattening it out helps them look a little more "normal"
Oh, how I wish I'd known about paleo/primal back then, Then I would have known the possibilities for low carb, high protein, breakfasts go way beyond eggs with a side of eggs.
My new favorite are pumpkin muffins, the following is a recipe I've adapted from many different sources, with my own special addition of chocolate, because I really like chocolate.
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tbs unsweetened cocoa
1/2cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
6 eggs
4 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or you could use unsalted butter)
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Shift all dry ingredients together
3. In a separate bowl, add one egg at a time to pumpkin puree, until well blended. Then add coconut oil, honey and vanilla. When mixed well wisk in dry ingredients.
4. Put batter into well-greased muffin tins. * I use a large 6-muffin tin
5. bake 20 minutes and enjoy
*if you like your muffins to look pretty, be sure to flatten out the batter after putting it in the tins. I've found any non-grain flour will pretty much bake in the same position you put it in the oven. Flattening it out helps them look a little more "normal"
Koren Rice Bowls
Lots of recipes for Paleo/Primal Korean Rice Bowls can be found on various paleo blogs, and in cookbooks. For example, This one from Primal Rampage, Or this one from Paleo Table, (which adapts the basic primal recipe to take out the Tamari Sauce). Since we are more of a primal family than strictly paleo, I went with the primal recipe for the most part.
Marinade :
4 garlic cubes (I cheat and use these fabulous frozen minced garlic cubes each one = 1 clove)
1/4 cup Tamari Sauce (most will say 1/2 cup, however I find it makes it a little too salty)
1/4 cup water
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
1/4 sesame seed oil
Mix all together in a small bowl
"Rice"
Cut up 1 head of cauliflower, pulse in a food processor until shredded. And then microwave for 2 minutes and separate into two bowls (or two bowls plus a toddler bowl like I did)
Toppings
The possibilities here are endless, use whatever veggies are in season/on sale in your area.
I used:
1 egg
2 cups frozen spinach
2 cups grated carrot
2 shitake mushrooms sliced
1/2 lb beef (I used a cut that was on sale) sliced into thin 2 inch strips
1. place beef in 1/2 of the marinade and mushrooms into the remaining 1/2
2. Heat 1 tbs of oil (I used olive) in a wok or large skillet
3. Saute each vegetable separately until cooked. Then place on top of "rice" in bowls
4. Fry the egg in the same pan to desired doneness
5. Remove meat from marinade and cook in pan, place on top of cauliflower rice
6. Put mushrooms in the pan, cook until soft and remove, placing in bowls
7. Add marinade to pan, bring to a boil for 3 minutes and then pour over bowls.
Enjoy :)
Because I had already pre-shredded the cauliflower, and prepped the veggies this meal took about 10 minutes to get on the table which makes for a great quick weekday-night meal.
Marinade :
4 garlic cubes (I cheat and use these fabulous frozen minced garlic cubes each one = 1 clove)
1/4 cup Tamari Sauce (most will say 1/2 cup, however I find it makes it a little too salty)
1/4 cup water
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
1/4 sesame seed oil
Mix all together in a small bowl
"Rice"
Cut up 1 head of cauliflower, pulse in a food processor until shredded. And then microwave for 2 minutes and separate into two bowls (or two bowls plus a toddler bowl like I did)
Toppings
The possibilities here are endless, use whatever veggies are in season/on sale in your area.
I used:
1 egg
2 cups frozen spinach
2 cups grated carrot
2 shitake mushrooms sliced
1/2 lb beef (I used a cut that was on sale) sliced into thin 2 inch strips
1. place beef in 1/2 of the marinade and mushrooms into the remaining 1/2
2. Heat 1 tbs of oil (I used olive) in a wok or large skillet
3. Saute each vegetable separately until cooked. Then place on top of "rice" in bowls
4. Fry the egg in the same pan to desired doneness
5. Remove meat from marinade and cook in pan, place on top of cauliflower rice
6. Put mushrooms in the pan, cook until soft and remove, placing in bowls
7. Add marinade to pan, bring to a boil for 3 minutes and then pour over bowls.
Enjoy :)
Because I had already pre-shredded the cauliflower, and prepped the veggies this meal took about 10 minutes to get on the table which makes for a great quick weekday-night meal.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Meal Plan Week Three
Saturday - Dinner at a friend's birthday party (mac n' cheese for Hailey, lucky girl)
Sunday - Meat Loaf and Mashed Yams with coconut milk and cinnamon. Both were really good. Even Isaac ate the yams, and he normally steers away from the orange stuff. We just added about 1/4 cup canned coconut milk and some cinnamon to 6 mashed yams.
There was actually enough left that we had the left overs for Monday Lunch and Dinner.
Tuesday - Cauliflower "Arroz" con Pollo from Primal Blue Print Quick and Easy Paleo - this was ok. I thought it was spicy without being flavorful. I think next time I'll try this recipe, which looks much more flavorful.
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - Pork Chops with Shredded Brussels Sprouts. Originally I was going to just use salt and pepper on the Brussels Sprouts, but after my friend Heather posted this recipe on her blog, using whole sprouts and maple syrup and bacon, I think I may be adapting the plan a bit. Seeing as how bacon and maple syrup are both ok with most of the primal/paleo community. (Except the super hardcore people who basically abstain from eating anything fun, I'm not one of those people)
Friday - Pot Roast in the slow cooker
Sunday - Meat Loaf and Mashed Yams with coconut milk and cinnamon. Both were really good. Even Isaac ate the yams, and he normally steers away from the orange stuff. We just added about 1/4 cup canned coconut milk and some cinnamon to 6 mashed yams.
There was actually enough left that we had the left overs for Monday Lunch and Dinner.
Tuesday - Cauliflower "Arroz" con Pollo from Primal Blue Print Quick and Easy Paleo - this was ok. I thought it was spicy without being flavorful. I think next time I'll try this recipe, which looks much more flavorful.
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - Pork Chops with Shredded Brussels Sprouts. Originally I was going to just use salt and pepper on the Brussels Sprouts, but after my friend Heather posted this recipe on her blog, using whole sprouts and maple syrup and bacon, I think I may be adapting the plan a bit. Seeing as how bacon and maple syrup are both ok with most of the primal/paleo community. (Except the super hardcore people who basically abstain from eating anything fun, I'm not one of those people)
Friday - Pot Roast in the slow cooker
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)