Category Archives: Paleo

closing out christmas

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We had our last Christmas celebration on Saturday night with Don and Roberta. I suppose it’s a sign of a good night of laughing and chatting that I don’t have any pictures of the evening. I managed a few food ones, but that’s it. We brought out our Waterford wine glasses and used two more wedding gifts (gold napkins & the white casserole dish). I think the only thing left that hasn’t been used is the cupcake tree. Maybe Greg was right about that one. IMG_7638_edited-1

I’m trying to not just collect cookbooks but actually use them, so for the dinner I dug into Gather, which I’ve had for probably a year and never opened. It’s arranged by seasonal meals, with four or five for each season. It’s a great concept and makes it very easy to plan a dinner party.

I started with the Winter Holiday meal and adjusted it some. I made the Pomegranate & Walnut Salad and the Yorkshire Pudding Muffins from the menu. Instead of prime rib, which we had had twice this week and turns out my in-laws had had it as well, I made a Balsamic Marinated London Broil. (First meat from our quarter cow!) The menu included two veggie dishes (candied yams and roasted cabbage), but I wanted to use veg I already had so I went with roasted beets and acorn squash. Overall I think it was pretty tasty. I had never made a London Broil before so it ended up being a little under cooked. I threw a few slices back in the pan for those that prefer more well done meat and it worked.
gathermealI can’t believe Christmas is over. It came so fast this year, but with hitting three families all in a week it seemed to last a little longer than usual. I’m ready to get back into routine and see what 2014 has in store for us, but first it’s NYEE and a wedding.

beets!

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Going on weeks here with very little cooking, but I managed to get in another Well Fed 2 recipe before Christmas.

Our glassybaby exchange was also a pot luck dinner. Amy, the hostess, made a turkey breast and we all brought sides. Everything was delicious. Anytime I go to an event like this it makes me want to have more get togethers in our house and friends’ homes. I must be old to think that they are so much more enjoyable than meeting up in a restaurant or bar.

I brought the Belly Dance Beat Salad. I roasted two pounds of beets then realized the recipe feeds four and I needed to feed about ten. I didn’t have time to roast more beets so I followed the “easy” directions and grabbed cans of precooked beets to double recipe. In the end, it made the salad more festive with the bright pink canned beets and dark purple roasted beets.
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The salad was really tasty and perfect for a party. I forgot to get pistachios so they weren’t included, but I definitely plan to make this again with them.

Next up, I’m planning to conquer several recipes for our annual New Year’s Eve Eve party (yes, you read that right).

a well fed 2 update

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Still working through Well Fed 2. It’s going slower than I thought because 1) we are eating a lot of take out, that’s just how it is right now and 2) I’m trying to use all the meat we had before our 1/4 cow and lamb delivery so I have slim pickings on cuts to make specific recipes.

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Thai Basil Beef was delicious and simple. So delicious I forgot to take a picture when we had it of dinner, so this is my leftovers at lunch one day. IMG_7231_edited-1Mustard Garlic Brussels Sprouts were yummy. I love just simple roasted sprouts so I’m not sure how often I’d go through the (minimal) effort of making a recipe, but for guests it would definitely be a step up from how we normally eat them.

I also made Coconut Cauliflower Rice, but we ate it with leftovers on top and I didn’t think to get a picture. Next round I’ll try to make a few that have recipes online. But really, you should just consider getting a copy of the book so you can make ALL the delicious recipes.

 

an easy well fed 2 dinner

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So it’s been a rough week. Maybe someday I’ll blog about it, but for now the important thing to know is that we have eaten take out for approximately 24 of the last 26 meals. Tonight I decided it had to end and I made dinner. Before leaving for work this morning I threw a pound of ground pork in the fridge to defrost and decided I’d figure it out when I got home. IMG_3741_edited-2

I ended up making two recipes, Bahn Mi Vietnamese meatballs and Green Beans with Sizzling Garlic (both are only in the book). I love having my CSA because I had veggies in the fridge ready to cook even though I haven’t been to the store in a while. The two recipes didn’t go together at all, but they were both delicious and on the table in less than 30 minutes start to finish. IMG_3746_edited-1

The wine was good, too.

we’re set on meat for a while

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Our conversation over lunch (Mexican, of course):

B: I’m so excited, I’ve been dreaming about this for years.

G: What?

B: Getting my own cow!

G: Wait, it’s just a part of a cow, right? Not a whole cow?

So maybe Greg isn’t quite as excited about the 1/4 cow (and one lamb) as I am, but he still was a help in loading it all into the car and unloading at home. It was seven brown grocery bags full – 5 beef and 2 lamb. IMG_3690_edited-1

IMG_3689_edited-1It all fit in the chest freezer just fine. The items in the bins are left over from the CSA throughout the year and chicken + turkey purchases from other farms. I’m going to make sure we go through those first.

If you’re curious what a 1/4 cow + 1 lamb gets you, here’s the break down (and my way of keeping track of what we have on hand).

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I haven’t done the math to figure out a price per pound, but the total was just about $1100 total. On average it works out to about $11 per pound for lamb and $5 per pound for beef. Considering I can’t buy grass-fed ground beef for $5 a pound and I know have a freezer full of ground beef AND steaks, it’s a killer deal. The lamb is more of a splurge, but still much more affordable than buying it retail and I love trying new Indian dishes with it.

Now, we cook. And eat.

 

early thanksgiving

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We won’t be cooking our own Thanksgiving meal this year, but I wanted to tinker in the kitchen with holiday food. Last week, Melissa (I’m just going to pretend we’re friends as I work through her cookbook) posted a handful of Well Fed 2 holiday recipes on her website. IMG_7219_edited-1

First up is Turkey & Cranberry Meatballs. Well Fed 2 has a whole section on meatballs, burgers, and bangers – definitely looking forward to making my way through all the variations. These were pretty good. It’s not my typical go-to flavor combination but Greg loved them. I liked them well enough to eat them for dinner and lunch the next day, so I’d say success. IMG_7220_edited-2Next time I make a meatball recipe from the book I think I’ll make 12 or so larger meatballs, unlike the 20 – 30 the recipe calls for. The smaller balls would be perfect for a party with toothpicks. Superbowl party with a meatball bar?
IMG_7227_edited-1With the meatballs we ate Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon. I’m having leftovers right now as I type this. I also happen to be home alone. Not gonna lie, I just licked the bowl. This soup was awesome.  I’ve been eating it for breakfast every day with two hard boiled eggs. Sometimes it’s nice to switch things up – I finally ate my breakfast casserole one too many weeks in a row. And an added bonus – this was soup three of five from my Fall bucket list.

moo shu pork

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I knocked out two more Well Fed 2 recipes on a weeknight: Moo Shu Pork + Hoison Sauce (both are only available in the book). One reason why I love the book is that the time estimates are accurate and they are broken out into prep and cook time. My weeknight max is about twenty minutes of prep work so using the time estimates I can plan accordingly. IMG_7213_edited-1Another delicious meal, both the stir fry and the sauce. Pork steaks were frequently in our meat CSA (I’m trying to work through the last of the meat before our delivery arrives later this month). They are similar to a pork chop but larger and in the past I’ve BBQ’d and pan sautéed them. They worked very well in this recipe as a stir-fry meat. Hopefully we’ll get more with our pig.

Also, anything tastes 100 times better with a cloth napkin.

 

cooking through well fed 2

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At the end of November we are getting a quarter cow and a lamb. Then in January we are getting half a pig. I’m willing to admit I maybe should have started smaller, but what’s done is done and now it’s time to feast on delicious and sustainably raised meat.

Along with my meat buying compulsion, I have a paleo cookbook buying compulsion. The real problem though is that when I sit down to meal plan for the week I always just google what I have on hand and never use the cookbooks. Or I make the same (delicious) recipes over and over and never introduce anything new.

I thought it would be fun to cook through an entire cookbook to get more variety and find new ways to use our plethora of meat. Well Fed 2 was the first to come to mind. If you have any desire to eat fantastic recipes that exclude grains, sugar, and dairy, I can’t recommend this cookbook highly enough (or it’s predecessor, Well Fed, or any recipes you find on the author’s website).

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Well Fed 2 now gets to hang out in my weekly meal / recipe bin. On a side note: I need suggestions for kitchen wall colors. The previous owners thought it was brilliant to paint a galley style kitchen (long and narrow with windows only on one side) in a north facing house in Seattle a rich eggplant color. I’m tired of a dark kitchen, but don’t know were to go with it.

Very late Sunday night we ate Taj Mahal Chicken. Though we ate it with turkey because I had a turkey breast in the freezer that I didn’t know what to do with. I also skipped the raisins that were called for because I’m not a fan and didn’t want to buy a box for one recipe. This happens to be a recipe that is on the blog, too (maybe not the exact same, but close).

Seattle winter means food photos are pretty terrible if you don’t want to eat an early bird dinner, but I promise it tasted much better than it looks. It was total comfort food with an Indian flavor. I specifically made it because Greg has been craving Indian lately but the last few times we’ve ordered take-out it’s made me really ill. We were both happy with this.

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I wanted to rate every recipe on a 5-star scale but Greg just rolled his eyes and agreed to comment “I would like to eat that again” or “I wouldn’t mind if you didn’t make that again” after we try each recipe. We had our curry with the Cauliflower Rice recipe (also in the book). Usually I’m not a fan but I followed the prep directions to a tee and this turned out much less mushy than what I’ve made in the past. I have to admit it was was even good as leftovers.

So far we are 3 for 3 (I made the Old School Italian Meat Sauce a few weeks ago). I’m guessing there will be very few we don’t enjoy. So happy I’m inspired to cook again. Next up is a pork stir fry and Hoison sauce.

Menu Monday

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Since we eat the same things week in and week out, I thought maybe instead of continuing to post menus I’d switch to posting new recipes when I try them. And they succeed.

We bought a BBQ this weekend and I’m in heaven. Easy cooking that doesn’t heat up the house – win, win. A few years ago I tried this recipe for  red curry chicken skewers and remembered it today when I was deciding what to do with leftover chicken from a party we had last night. Ten minutes of prep time, hands-off marinating time, and ten minutes to cook. So easy.

We ate the skewers over TJs broccoli slaw with goddess dressing. I hate to admit I used goddess dressing (or suggest you use it) as the ingredients are really terrible, but we were feeding eight friends last night and I had limited prep time so I used it for a salad. We didn’t use it all and it worked perfectly with the broccoli slaw and Thai flavors, so I used it again. If I was doing this on a whole 30 or being more careful about ingredients, Sunshine sauce would be perfect.

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Menu Monday + Weekend Highlights

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I have an easy menu this week and managed to cook & prepare every last thing throughout the day. My favorite type of weekend cooking is when we have no plans on Sunday and I can just spread it out throughout the day. It feels like I spent no time in the kitchen, but I have every meal through Thursday lunch sitting ready to go. Actually, Thursday’s chicken is in the freezer because three days is my cooked meat limit in the fridge. IMG_2044_edited-1

Breakfasts: hard boiled eggs w/ homemade mayo + hot sauce, over spinach.

Lunches: roasted chicken thigh and broccoli + mixed greens with Tessemae’s dressing

Dinners: ground pork and zucchini with Rogan Josh seasoning over spaghetti squash, topped with Moroccan dipping oil

I have a crazy busy week coming up, so I went so far as to pack my dinner into quick microwavable dishes for each night. And yes, those are Christmas pajamas.IMG_2042

This weekend I had time to cook a few times, finally. Pizza soup is one of the easiest tasty meals that you can put together from the freezer and pantry within twenty minutes. I tried a new asparagus recipe (from a book, so no link) and got creative with salmon for dinner on Sunday. So yum with a bottle of pinot and a few episodes of West Wing.

IMG_2049 IMG_2047Tip #3: Have multiple sets of measuring cups and spoons. I have three sets of spoons and two sets of cups. I usually use two while doing my weekly cooking, one for liquid and one for dry. Keep a paper towel handy to wipe down each one after use.

After two weekends alternating being out of town, we had a weekend with ZERO plans. So nice! We went to our local neighborhood restaurant on Friday night, had Mexican food with good friends on Saturday night, and had an overall lazy and productive weekend. We cancelled a few fun plans we had made for the summer in hopes of keeping with our “relax” theme for the year.