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Satisified

Yesterday was an eat-all-the-things kind of day and today I’m completely satisfied with my meals. I love that everything balances out. It can be hard learning to trust your body and what it’s telling you but it definitely knows best!

I made it to the 7am class again today! After class I came home and heated up some egg patties.

No picture because it didn’t come out looking appetizing at all.  But, I promise these guys are tasty and easy to pop in the toaster oven to reheat. They also freeze like a charm making it easy to have a fast breakfast on hand.  I’m still fiddling with the recipe and I’ll share that as soon as I have it set.  These contain:

  • Eggs
  • Sausage
  • Spinach
  • Peppers
  • Onions

Frothy coffee to go with it.  I changed things up a bit this morning and used vanilla ghee + collagen in the coffee.  The ghee I got from Thrive Market.  It’s OK, I thought it would have a more pronounced vanilla flavor but it’s very subtle.

Salad and chicken thighs

Lunch was a salad with some chicken thighs that I dipped in Sir Kensington Special Sauce.  This salad is what I like to call a “base salad”, I make a huge batch of it and then it’s ready to go all week.  All I have to do is add some toppings and part of lunch is done and ready to go!

This base had:

  • Kale
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots

And I dressed it in a balsamic dressing made from balsamic + olive oil + dijon + honey.  The longer this salad sits, the better it gets! Easy to put together, I just get some bags of kale and shredded cabbage from TJ’s.  The kale I pulse in the food processor for a bit so that the pieces are on the smaller side.

The toppings today were grape tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.

Dinner was leftovers from Sunday.

Crispy pork with potatoes and carrots.

Pork roast with carrots, potatoes, and gravy.  I shredded the pork and made crispy pork for dinner today!  I heated the shredded pork in a skillet with some ghee and olive oil to get some crispy edges.  The potatoes and carrots just got heated up in the toaster oven.  Dinner was quick to put on the table today!

Now it’s time to chill with my guy and watch to see if we get any snow or nasty weather. Forecast is different on every site, the most extreme is calling for 4-8 inches of snow from tonight till Friday morning.  Good bye spring like weather, winter is on its way back!

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Stuffed Chicken Breasts In A Lemon Garlic Wine Sauce

Transitioning from winter to spring in Colorado is always an adventure.  The days will be warm and sunny but the early mornings and evenings are still pretty chilly.  Sometimes we’ll have the occasional snow storm to keep us on our toes.  I wanted to create a meal that was light and fitting for spring but still hearty enough to stand up to those random snow days.

I decided on cream cheese stuffed chicken breasts and made a lovely sauce to go on top using 2014 Cultivar Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.  The dish came out beautifully!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with a Lemon Garlic Sauce

Andrea’s Stuffed Chicken Breasts In A Lemon Garlic Wine Sauce

  • 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
  • 4 oz Herb/Chive Cream Cheese (I used Kite Hill Almond Milk Cream Cheese)
  • 1/2 TBSP Garlic Blend Seasoning* (See note at bottom)
  • 1 TBSP Light Olive Oil or Melted Ghee
  • 2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
  • Zest of 1 Small Lemon
  • 1 TBSP Ghee or Butter
  • 2 TBSP Chopped Parsley
  • 1/2 C White Wine
  • Juice of 1/2 a Small Lemon
  • Toothpicks

Preheat oven to 4oo degrees.  Add in 1 TBSP of oil or Melted Ghee to a oven proof skillet, set aside.

Pound out the chicken breasts until they are about 1/2 – 1/4 inch thin. Thin enough to be able to roll them but not so thin that they fall apart.

Sprinkle some of the garlic seasoning blend on each side of the chicken breasts.  Divide the cream cheese into half ( 2 oz portions) and spread 2 oz on one of the chicken breasts.  Roll up the chicken and secure with toothpicks.  Repeat with the other chicken.

Place the stuffed chicken breasts in the skillet and place in the oven.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until cooked all the way through.  Remove the skillet from the oven and place the chicken on plates allowing to rest as you make the sauce.

In the same skillet that you used to cook the chicken, heat over medium heat and add in the ghee or butter.  Then add in the parsley, garlic, and lemon zest.  Stir and cook for 1 minute, then add in the wine.  Allow to simmer for three minutes and then add in the lemon juice.  Cook for an additional minute and then pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

This makes a good bit of sauce so there will be extra for serving!

* I used Flavor God’s Garlic Lover’s seasoning but you can use any garlic blend you like.  Or you can season simply with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Pan sauces with meats is one of my favorite combinations so I tend to make a good bit of sauce because I like having extra for dipping or drizzling on some greens or broccoli.

The 2014 Cultivar Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc  brought this dish to life. The clean crispness of the wine lightened the decadent cream cheese while the bright citrus notes complimented the lemon and made this dish pop.

This chicken is perfect for those early spring days when it’s starting to be light out longer but the evenings remind us that winter is still there in the background.

If you’d like to try Cultivar Wine , they are offering a special promotion to my readers. Use the code CultivarWineFoodEmbrace when you order and you’ll receive 10 percent off your purchase.

Disclosure: I’m required to disclose a sponsored partnership between our site, Food Embrace, and Cultivar Wine. I have been compensated in exchange for this post in the form of product. All opinions presented are my own. I receive wine from Cultivar Wine as a member of the Cultivar Wine Bloggers group.

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Making Stock In The Slow Cooker

Slow cooker stock

I used to make stock on the stovetop with a huge pot that simmered for about 4-5 hours.  I started off with six quarts of water and would only end up with about 3 quarts of stock.

It took me a long time to try making stock in the slow cooker.  I think a part of me was afraid that it wouldn’t turn out right but friends, I was wrong.  Oh so very wrong.

The first time I made stock using the slow cooker was last Thanksgiving and I will not be going back to the old method at all.

I don’t have a pressure cooker or an Instapot so for me, the slow cooker is the best method for getting the most flavorful and rich stock.

Using my basic recipe for broth:

Bones + Veggies + Salt + Apple Cider Vinegar + Crapton of Water

I add all these things to my slow cooker and I fill the slow cooker all the way to the tippy top with water.  Put it on high and forget about it.  Once the liquid inside reaches a nice simmer (which takes about 6 hours), I turn the temperature to low and let that baby go for 24+ hours.

Yes, 24+ hours.

The house smells amazing and I end up with the best stock I’ve ever made.  When I get up in the mornings I’ll top off the slow cooker with more water to bring the level back up to the tippy top and give it at least another 6 hours.

I strain everything out and portion out the stock.  Typically I end up with about 5+ quarts of stock.  Chicken is my favorite but I’ve done this with beef and pork as well.

In fact, I just picked up some pork neck bones with my local hog share and I cannot wait to make some amazing stock out of that.  Pho in da house for daaayyyyzzz!

Some folks who use or drink stock on a daily basis will keep the slow cooker going for a week, topping off the water to replace what they remove.  I may try that if we get to a point where we are drinking stock on the regular but for now 24+ hours is perfect.

The best part (aside from the result!) is that making stock in the slow cooker means the house doesn’t steam up and I can move on to other things without having to babysit a big pot on the stove.

Now go make yourself slow cooker stock!

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Weekend Getaway Takeaways

w00tstout 2.0 from Firestone WalkerScott and I headed down to Denver last weekend for The Great American Beer Festival (If you’re interested in beer, you can read my article here).  I was covering the event for the beer blog that I write for so we decided to make a weekend out of it.  There was lots of events going on around town as well, like extra special beer tappings and we spent the weekend exploring and sipping on fantastic beers.

We kept our eats clean while in Denver which is easy to do because Denver has plenty of restaurants that use high quality ingredients.  One of our favorites is Freshcraft which offers up amazing food and great beer.  I had cassoulet, and oh man and it was so rich and delicious.

Many lessons were learned from this past trip down and our next trip will be tackled much differently.

Changing up our approach to dining out

Currently when we go to Denver and Boulder we gravitate towards pizza and burgers because we don’t care for the options here in Fort Collins. It’s hard to find a good grassfed burger!  Yet this past trip, going for those types of dishes left us feeling bloated and crappy.  Bah!  So our focus is going to switch to quality veggie and meat dishes (which thankfully Freshcraft has!).

Going for a rental instead of hotel reservations

LoDo is our preferred place to stay when in Denver but it’s expensive as hell.  The hotel rooms we’ve stayed in have been nice but there’s no fridge and no wifi.  No fridge means we can’t bring back leftovers (along with no way to reheat them) and no wifi means we can’t work while away.

Rentals tend to be cheaper and come with a full kitchen and wifi.  We’d be able to cook breakfast at the rental saving us some cash and frustration (breakfast places in Denver serve horrible coffee for some reason and don’t provide enough creamer).  Along with the ability to bring back leftovers and reheat them.  Plus wifi that doesn’t cost extra.  The tricky part will be trying to find a rental that also offers a parking space.

So the next time we go (which won’t be for a while) we’re changing up our approach!

I was definitely ready to be back home and back with the pups, who were totally pissed off that we left them.  They gave us the cold shoulder for hours when we got back.  I was ready to get back in the kitchen and have control over what went into my food and I wanted a good night’s sleep. Down pillows at hotels are for the birds.  Bah!

Egg sandwich

For breakfast yesterday we had fried egg sandwiches on 365 Whole Wheat bread with romaine, pepper jack, and crispy prosciutto.   On Monday we had huge bowls of oatmeal and even though I added fruit and grassfed butter to it, that didn’t last all of two hours before I wanted to gnaw my arm off.  No more oats for breakfast for a while.

In the middle of the day, I had a small snack of yogurt and granola (just oats, no nuts or seeds).

Dinner was glorious!

Chicken and sweet potato coconut curry soup

I made a coconut curry soup with leftover chicken and some sweet potatoes.  I stupidly bought a rotisserie chicken from Costco when we were there on Tuesday.  I thought it would be clean but after checking the ingredients realized that it is in fact full of junk.  Hopefully your Costco has better quality chicken!

I used the leftovers in soup and this was super easy to make.

Andrea’s Quick and Easy Coconut Curry Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

  • One small onion, finely chopped
  • One green pepper, finely chopped
  • One jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
  • 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • Leftover roast chicken (I used breast and leg meat)
  • 1.5 QT Chicken Stock
  • 1 Can full fat coconut milk
  • Pinch of salt and ground pepper
  • 1/2tsp Garlic Powder
  • 2.5TBSP mild yellow curry powder
  • 1TBSP Ghee (or butter)

In a soup pot, heat ghee over medium heat and add in the onion and peppers.  Saute for about 5 minutes or until softened.  Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Add in the stock, chicken, and sweet potatoes.  Stir and bring to a simmer.  Add in the curry powder and stir.  Cover and reduce heat to where the soup is just simmering.  Allow to simmer for 30 minutes then add in the coconut milk.  Simmer for another 10 minutes, remove from heat and serve.

So easy to throw together and transform leftover chicken.  We’re having leftovers tonight for dinner.

Asparagus and tomato fritatta

Breakfast this morning was a fritatta with chopped asparagus and sliced up tomatoes.  I love fritattas because it also provides enough for breakfast the following day as well.   This also had some chopped red onion and a little dijon mustard added in for extra flavor boost.

Loving the eats this week!  How’s everyone doing this week?

 

 

 

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Midweek Checkin

 

Pepperoni Pesto PizzaYesterday I was having A DAY.  My site was having issues connecting to the server which meant that anything I wrote wasn’t getting saved.  I couldn’t upload pictures either.

This on top of how much I’m starting to hate my iPhone and I’d had it.  I shut everything off and watched SVU until it was dinner time.  Then I made us a pizza, had a gin drink and called it a night.

The pizza was an all white flour crust (yesterday was not a day for a whole wheat crust) with a kale and sundried tomato pesto.  Topped with cheese, pepperoni (Applegate Farms) and banana peppers.

I had leftovers of the pesto and that’s what inspired me to make the pizza.

Earlier in the day for lunch we had the pesto on some noodles.

Squash noodles with pesto and chicken

Yellow squash noodles with the pesto and leftover shredded chicken.  The pesto is this recipe with some marinaded sundried tomatoes added in for extra flavor.

Last week I did awful with meal planning and prepping.  I had two events to attend and there is a definite correlation with us going out and then grabbing something to eat on the way home.

This week, while I desperately need to go to the grocery store, I have been better about planning and prepping.  I’m going to hit the grocery store today, hopefully it won’t be too slammed with people stocking up for Labor Day.

Tomorrow is going to be spent cooking and prepping for the weekend so we have plenty of stuff to see us through.

How has your week been going?  How are you doing with your meal planning and prepping?

 

Curry Chicken Salad

Curry Chicken Salad

The first time I had a curry chicken salad was at a Whole Foods in North Carolina.  It kind of blew my mind.  It was my first experience with anything “curry” and was a whole new flavor sensation to me.  I immediately wanted to recreate it and I have finally succeeded!

It’s an easy recipe and the amounts can be adjusted to however much chicken you have.  There are always leftovers when I roast a chicken and this is my go-to recipe to transform those leftovers into something tasty.

I’m going to provide rough estimates for the amounts I use for leftovers but definitely play around with this recipe to fit your tastes and for how much you want to make.

Andrea’s Curry Chicken Salad

  • 1 Large Chicken Breast, cooked and shredded
  • 3 Green Onions, chopped
  • 1 Green Pepper, sliced thin
  • 1/2C Raisins
  • 3/4C Mayo
  • 1TBSP Curry Powder (I like Simply Organic)

In large bowl combine all ingredients.  Make sure to mix well so the mayo and curry covers everything.  It can be served immediately but is best when left to sit for an hour or more.

Eat it on a sandwich, in a wrap, on top of a salad!  Or just out of the bowl, like I sometimes do. A little different than your standard chicken salad, curry brings some warmth while that little bit of raisin keeps things sweet.   It’s great for lunch during the week or for dinner on a hot summer day.  Heck, or even breakfast! No judging here.

Have fun, and remember, always play with your food!  Enjoy!

Walk About

Up bright and early today because we had our group dog walk at 8am.  We get together with other dog owners and do an easy walk with our dogs.  It’s exercise for dogs and owners and also allows the dogs a chance to get used to walking in a pack.  Plus it provides a nice bonding time between owner and dog.

Today was our longest walk which clocked in at almost 3 miles!  It was a lot cooler this morning than it has been so we were able to take the dogs a little further without worrying about them overheating.

Avery and Penny are so chill and relaxed the rest of the day after our group walks, which means that mom and pops can get lots of work done!

I was starving when we got back and because I planned ahead I just had to heat up leftovers. Breakfast win!

Kale fritatta with sausage

Fritatta with chopped kale (from frozen), onion, and bacon.  I topped it with some swiss cheese and tomato slices.  On the side was some pork sausage links.

For the fritatta, I used 5 eggs + a splash of water and scrambled.  I sauteed up the onion, bacon, and kale in some ghee in an oven proof skillet and sprinkled with Flavor God’s Everything seasoning. Once the onions were soft, I added in the egg mixture and placed the skillet in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

The sausage was already cooked.  I usually will cook an entire package of sausage at a time and then keep the leftovers in the freezer.  This way I can pull out what I need and easily reheat it.

Salad with tomato and avocado

Lunch was a salad with some tomato, avocado, and cucumber.  Chopped tomato and cucumber were seasoned with a little salt and chili powder.  Then I added in the juice of half a lime and a little olive oil.  Let that sit for a bit to marinade and get the juices flowing out of the veggies.  This makes a quick dressing that I used on the salad.  Easy peasy!

Roast chicken, green beans, parsnip mash

I was looking forward to dinner all day!  Roast chicken!  The chicken was rubbed down with lard (you can sub in butter or ghee if you want.  Olive oil doesn’t provide nearly the same depth of flavor but you can use that if you prefer.) and then sprinkled with Flavor God’s Lemon Garlic Lovers.  I add some water to the bottom of the cast iron skillet and roasted the chicken at 375 until cooked through.  Basting about every 30-40 minutes.  This chicken took about two hours to roast.

On the side was parsnip mash and green beans.  The green beans were simmered on the stove in water until they were cooked through.  Drained and then got tossed with butter and Flavor God’s Everything Seasoning and a little splash of water.

I also made a quick pan sauce out of the pan drippings.  I added some more water to the skillet, about 1/2 and scraped up the drippings.  I brought that to a simmer and let it reduce by half.  Bam! Pan sauce that is flavorful and doesn’t need flour or butter.

Tomorrow’s dinner will be leftovers so I only need to worry about making breakfast and lunch.  Today was a good day with the eats!

Supplies:

Flavor God seasonings

Sausage from Boulder Sausage Company

Bacon from The Boar and Bull

Eggs and chicken from Jodar Farms

Disclaimer: I list the supplies I use so you can purchase some as well and so that folks who are local know where they can find quality products.  No affiliates and no kickbacks.  I share because we should all eat well!

Monday Meals: Utilizing What’s On Hand

It’s a fresh start to a new week!  Last week was much better than the previous one, the only time we dined out was on Sunday while we were in Boulder.

I don’t have pictures of that food because it was nothing special.  Next time I’m in Boulder, I’m hitting up the fancier farm to table joints! Lesson learned, don’t waste time at brew pubs because they don’t have any good food to offer.

There was a lot of leftovers this past week and utilizing what I had in the fridge and pantry.

This week I’m planning on spending more time in the kitchen.  I have a checklist of items that I want to get made (like stock) and I really need a kitchen day.  I haven’t had a chance to spend any significant time in the kitchen lately and it’s stressing me out.

We were busy all weekend so I also didn’t get a chance to prep for this week.  I feel a little bit behind but I think that I can catch up easily!

Let’s look as last week’s good eats!

BREAKFAST:

scrambed eggs and ham

Scrambled eggs and two slices of ham.  The ham is applegate farms and I heated it up in a skillet first then made the scrambled eggs.

sweet potato hash and fried eggs

Sweet potato hash with fried eggs.  One large sweet potato, shredded, with chopped peppers and onion.  Cooked in a skillet in a little lard until everything was cooked through.  Seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

grain free granola and blueberries

Fresh grain free granola with fresh blueberries.  I splashed on a little vanilla almond milk after the photo was taken.  I’m playing around with the recipe for the granola and using eggs in the mix as a binder so that the granola clumps up a little more.  So far it’s working but I’m still tweaking with the recipe.

baby kale and sausage

Sauteed baby kale with andouille sausage.  I used a whole package of andouille (4 links), sliced and cooked in a skillet in a little lard.  Then added in a whole 1/2 pound container of baby kale, and let that wilt and cook down.

I seasoned it with new Flavor God seasonings.  These season blends are legit!  They are handmade fresh when ordered and taste fantastic.  They are 5oz containers and for freshly made seasonings the price is spot on.  (not affiliate links).  For this dish I used the Spicy Everything Seasoning.

fried green tomatoes and fried egg

I spotted some green tomatoes at the farmer’s market this past week and immediately knew what I would be having for breakfast.  Fried green tomatoes along with a fried egg.

The tomatoes were fried in lard and I used a blend of tapioca starch and coconut flour for the coating.  Also seasoned with Flavor God’s Spicy Everything blend.

Eggs, kale, sausage

Fried eggs with leftover kale and sausage.  This breakfast was perfect fuel to deal with the crowds in Boulder!

DINNER:

veggie soup

Leftover soup that I added some diced tomatoes to for a little flavor boost.  We also had the last remaining portions for lunch one day as well.  I didn’t want to toss the last little bit and it was past the time of being able to freeze it for later.  It definitely was on it’s last leg but made for a nice quick lunch.

Salad with pulled chicken

Mixed greens salad topped with leftover chicken.  This salad was huge and so filling!  I love having gigantic salads for meals.

hot dogs and kraut

Grass fed hotdogs (Applegate Farms) topped with kraut, a side of green beans, and some onion rings.  The onion rings were premade and about as clean as you’re going to get for packaged food.  The hotdogs were amazing!  Not normally much of a hot dog fan but these really hit the spot.

hot dog salad

The next day I had the leftovers on a salad!  A little kraut, tomatoes, and I made a spicy brown mustard dressing to go on top.  It was perfect and now I think this should be on a menu somewhere.  Seriously, people would buy the hell out of a hot dog salad to go with their beer!

pork chop and corn

Looks boring but tasted delicious!  A pork chop seasoned with Flavor God’s Garlic Lovers (look I just got the seasonings last week but expect to see more of it because they are delicious) and cooked in a little lard in a cast iron skillet.  Along with fresh corn on the cob with a little grass-fed butter.

bacon corn slaw

We were out of salad stuff and I had no desire to run to the grocery store close to the weekend.  So I looked in the fridge and saw there was some cabbage that needed used up.  I made a quick slaw with purple cabbage, shredded carrot, corn cut off the cob, and some bacon.  A dijon dressing on top and I added some avocado as well.

So good that I’m definitely making the slaw again this week!

slaw and snack plate

Leftover slaw with some Applegate Farm’s pepperoni and prosciutto on the side along with a little sharp cheddar cheese.

I totally inhaled that slaw too!

Since we have been eating better for several weeks now my body has caught up with the new routine.  I’ve been hungry in the afternoons for a little lunch so I’ll be adding in lunch to the Monday Meals post.

Supplies:

All pork, chicken, and eggs from Jodar Farms.

Some veggies from the farmer’s market.

Applegate products from Whole Foods.

Flavor God seasonings

Upcoming Week:

The goal is to not eat out at all this week and looking at our schedule for the upcoming week this should be an achievable goal.

I feel like the Monday Meals posts are getting a tad long so I might break it up into smaller posts through out the week.  I’m still toying around with that idea.  Also please let me know if there are any topics you’d like me to cover!  Pantry staples or grocery shopping tips for example.  I’ll be sure to make a post on it and let you know when it’s up!

Have a great week everyone and get those meal plans together!

 

Monday Meals: Too Much Take Out

We had a lot of takeout this week and it was a little disappointing.  Both the food and the fact that we ordered out so much.  By Sunday I told Scott that I was done with eating out unless it’s really special and we make it count.

Meaning it’s got to be a restaurant that we know serves quality food and it’s worth the effort and the money to eat there.

Why spend money on crappy food?  This is what I was asking myself by the end of the week.

Most of us probably need to ask ourselves that more often.  Crappy food does nothing for us.  It doesn’t nourish us, it causes havoc on our digestion, and we pay money for that.

That’s just silliness.

This past week also made me realize that my body is over crap food.  When I eat it, my body reacts right away, like, “Ugh why are you doing this to me? We were eating so well and it was soooo good!  This is horrible.”

I usually end up eating an apple or something to try and make my body feel better.

This week the goal is to only eat out once or twice.  Most likely that will be on Sunday because we are traveling down to Boulder for the day. Boulder has more variety of options for food and I’m excited to see what all is available to us!

On to eats!

BREAKFAST:

Sauteed fresh corn and cabbage

Veggie bowl!  I cut the corn kernels off of the cob and sauteed that in ghee with some chopped purple cabbage, shredded carrot, and some chopped onion.  Seasoned with salt, pepper, and chili powder.  Very yummy and colorful breakfast!

Sweet potato and chicken sausage

I prepped some sweet potatoes for the week.  I peeled and chopped two very large sweet potatoes, tossed them in a little olive oil and roasted them at 400 until they were just shy from being tender.  Then I used them for breakfasts for the rest of the week.

This sweet potato bowl has roasted red pepper chicken sausage.  Everything was heated up in a skillet in a little lard and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Having the pre-roasted sweet potatoes on hand makes things so much faster and easier to create breakfast during the week.

Scrambled eggs, sweet potato, bacon

Lots of scrambled eggs, more sweet potatoes, and a few slices of bacon.  Easy and filling!

Fried chicken and nectarine slices

Probably the saddest breakfast!  A large piece of fried chicken and some nectarine slices.  I had some leftover fried chicken in the freezer that needed used up.  I didn’t eat the coating, it’s tasty but a little too heavy.   This was the end of the week and I was running out of foods!

Plantain griddle cakes

I had some plantains that needed used up as they were getting a little too ripe.  I tried my hand at making some pancakes with them.  I’m on the right track with the batter, I just need to tweak it a little bit more.

Having these for breakfast, while delicious, my body needs a little bit more in the mornings.  Protein and fiber from veggies or fruit.  This didn’t fill me up for long and by noon I wanted to gnaw my arm off.

grain free ham and cheese handpie

Ham and swiss hand pies with grain free crust.  I need to work on this a bit more to get the crust right so that it isn’t quite so dense and can be rolled out.

There is a French bakery here that makes the most amazing ham and cheese croissants.  I tried to make clean eats version but it still needs a lot of work!  Also, I’m not at all saying that this compares to French pastries in anyway because it doesn’t.  I wanted to experiment and see if I could make a hand pie turnover thing.  Close but not quite there!

DINNER:

Takeout Pho

Last week I mentioned that we were going to have pho for dinner and we did.  It was so yummy!  I get the chicken pho with chicken broth.  The chicken is a little on the sketchy side so I try to avoid it and load up with onions and bean sprouts instead.  It was delicous!

I had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning and that wasn’t so delicious. It turned sweet and a little strange. I’m going to stick with a smaller portion next time we order out.

takeout fried rice

I also got some fried rice which was actually amazing.  It was full of flavor and not in the slightest way greasy. Now I know they used a less desirable oil to cook this in but for a treat I was pleased with it.

grain free pizza

 

This was my big kitchen fail of the week. I attempted to make a quick grain-free pizza.  I’m not sure what happened but the crust turned out awful.  It smelled and tasted like cooked shrimp.  EW  I added baking soda and vinegar to this dough hoping to get a little more rise but I think that might have been the issue.  Those two things didn’t react well with the other ingredients and so we had a very horrible tasting pizza.  Ugh.

takeout pizza

We tried to remedy that with takeout pizza which also wasn’t the best.  We tried a new pizza joint in town that was rumored to have great gluten-free crusts.  After researching, I learned that it’s a pre-made crust (from a company in Loveland but still, not house made) and is frozen.  It’s smaller in size and costs $3 more.

For my money I would be getting a frozen pizza crust that isn’t even the same size as a regular pizza AND it costs more than the regular pizza.

Sorry but I’m not that dedicated to the cause.

Gluten doesn’t give me digestion distress, it only causes me to be a little bloaty and feel sluggish.  These are things I actually can live with if the pizza is worth it.

This pizza is not worth it.  We got the regular crust and just were not impressed with the pizza overall.

Chicken and mashed potatoes

Roast chicken (sort of) and mashed potatoes and turnips.  I learned a lot from this meal.

1. You can cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker and it won’t take nearly as long as you think.  This chicken was ready in about 5 hours.  Sure the skin won’t be crispy but the chicken is tender and has a more intense chicken flavor to it.

2. My body hates turnips.  As soon as I ate them my stomach bloated up like an inflated balloon, and I was gassy the rest of the night.  TMI? You’ll live.

I haven’t had a reaction like that to a vegetable before so that was definitely an interesting experience!  But no more turnips, ugh.

Lemon pepper shrimp zoodles

Ham and cheese hand pies were not enough so I made us something else for lunch. I had a craving for seafood so I busted out the shrimp.

Spiralized three yellow squash.  Roasted some chopped tomatoes at 400 degrees.  Coated some shrimp with olive oil and lemon pepper seasoning and roasted those at 400 until done.  About 10 minutes.  Caramelized some onions in some ghee, added the squash noodles, more ghee and lemon pepper seasoning.  At the end I added the tomatoes and topped everything with the roasted shrimp.

Delicious and totally what my body needed!

Chicken soup

I used the leftover chicken and broth from the earlier in the week to make soup.  Broth chicken, shredded carrots, chopped onions, celery, and potatoes all went into the slow cooker and cooked all day long.

It was comforting and tasty way to end the week!

 

Despite all the take out, this was a great week!  I experimented in the kitchen, sure there was a huge fail, but shit happens.  I learned that I can cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker which is perfect for when I don’t want to heat up the whole kitchen.  I discovered that turnips hate me and not to ever make shrimp pizza again.

This week I’m busting out the meal plan and making sure everything is ready to go!

 

 

Monday Meals: Looking For Lists

Ok, so who worked their meal plan last week?  I did, I did!  And I’m totally ready to kick this week’s ass and stick to a meal plan as well!

I print off the meal plan (template I use is here), fill it out and then stick it on the fridge.  I can add or switch around meals if I need to.  It’s very handy, plus I can make a shopping list right from the plan.

I want to go back to having a shopping list on my phone.  I used to use Springpad but they have closed up shop (I can’t even link to them, because they are totally gone) so now I need something else.  Does anyone use an app to create and maintain shopping lists?  I would love to hear your recommendations!

Alright, let’s get to the meals.

BREAKFAST:

roasted potatoes and spinach

 

Leftover roasted potatoes with spinach and onions.  I sauteed everything up in a skillet with a little lard and seasoned lightly with pepper, salt, and garlic powder.

YUM!  Definitely became a favorite! This would work with sweet potatoes too if you don’t eat white potatoes.

Kale, chicken sausage

Braised kale with roasted red pepper chicken sausage.  The sausage is Al Fresca brand and is delicious! Minimal ingredients, no gluten, and no additives.  In a pan, I heated up some lard and cooked the sausages first.  I removed those and added in the kale with a little stock to help the kale cook down.  Once the kale was wilted, I added the sausage back in.  Seasoned with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder (I should just start calling this my house seasoning!).  It was delicious and totally hit the spot!

Kale, sausage, parm

I made a huge batch of it so that there would be leftovers for the next day.  I did use a full package of sausage and 2 large bunches of kale (stemmed, chopped).  This time I added a little parm on top for some tangy cheese bite.

Sweet potato and breakfast sausage

Cubed sweet potato with onion and shredded carrot cooked in a skillet in some ghee and seasoned with chili powder.  I also cut up some breakfast sausage and added that to the mix.  Sadly this breakfast was completely unsatisfying and I was so bummed.  The sweet potato was taking forever to cook through and even after 30 minutes, it still was crunchy.  Ugh. The texture was completely off and left me disappointed.

Veggie quiche with grain free crust

I made a gorgeous veggie quiche with a grain free crust to chase the bad breakfast blues away.  The filling contained:

  • 5 eggs scrambled with 1/2C Whole Milk
  • Shredded Carrot
  • 1/2 small Onion, chopped
  • 2 Large handfuls of baby spinach, chopped
  • 5 slices of crispy bacon, crumbled
  • Dijon mustard
  • Horseradish

The dijon and horseradish was whisked in with the eggs.  The carrots, onion, spinach, and bacon were added to a hot skillet and cooked in some ghee until the onions and spinach were soft.   I let the mixture cool and then added it to the scrambled eggs.  Poured it over the crust and baked for 1 hour at 400 degrees.

The crust was a recipe from Beyond Bacon (not an affiliate link) with a little modification on my end.  I used butter instead of lard.  The crust was perfect! I couldn’t roll it out but was able to form it in the pie pan with no issue.  It was the best tasting crust we have ever had and beats anything I’ve made with flour.  We will definitely be making this again!

Eggs, rice, sausage

Scramble eggs with Mexican rice (I’m working on perfecting my Mexican restaurant style rice. Getting close!), and chicken breakfast sausage links.

quiche and sausage

Leftover veggie quiche and chicken sausage.

LUNCH:

Two lunch/snacks!

deviled eggs, carrots, fruit

Deviled eggs, carrots, and a huge bowl of nectarines.

pork chop, broccoli, salad

Leftover pork chop (which you’ll see in a second), broccoli that was dipped in hummus, and a salad of cucumber and chopped tomato.  Pretty simple but totally satisfying.

DINNER:

Roast chicken breast and parsnip mash

Roasted up a whole chicken! (The chicken was prepared this way) Paired that with some parsnip mash.  I also made a pan sauce and thickened that with some arrowroot powder!  Arrowroot powder works the same way cornstarch does.  Mix it with a little water to make a slurry and then whisk that into the sauce.  As the sauce simmers, it will thicken up.

I liked the end result with the arrowroot powder.  It thickened the sauce but didn’t weight it down.  It also left the sauce clear and glossy while a roux can lighten the color of a sauce and cause it to be cloudy.  This sauce was way more pleasing to look at!

Chicken, cole slaw, parsnip mash

Leftovers with coleslaw!

Pork chop and sweet potato fries

Gigantic pork chops and a whole mess of sweet potato fries.  Chops were cooked in a cast iron skillet with lard and seasoned with salt, poultry seasoning, and tarragon.  A splash of stock was added and the chops were finished in the oven at 400 until the were done.

Basic sweet potato fries (peeled, sliced, oil, seasonings), also roasted at 400 until cooked and crispy.

Pulled pork, rice, and roasted squash

I had some leftover pulled pork in the freezer so I heated that up and placed on lettuce wraps.  Mexican rice, and some roasted yellow squash.  The squash had oil, salt, and chili powder.  Roasted on a baking sheet at 400 until done.  About 10 minutes, squash cooks up quickly!

Pizza

Pizza! Working on a yeast based grain free pizza dough.  Not quite where I want it to be but I’m getting close.  This was baked using a cookie sheet. It’s topped with sauce, moz, banana peppers, and spicy Italian sausage.

I used too much sauce so the pizza came out really dense!  Next time lighter on the sauce and the cheese.

salad

Ending the week with a big salad, with fresh romaine and tomato that I purchased at the farmer’s market on Saturday.  Shredded carrot, hard boiled egg, and golden beets on top.  We used premade ranch dressing from Bolthouse Farms.

The beets I prepped for salads this week.  Super easy, peeled, chopped, boiled until they were tender.  Now they are ready to eat whenever I need them.

Not a bad week!

FOODS:

All eggs, chicken, pork from Jodar farms

Lettuce and tomatoes from the farmer’s market.

 

This past weekend was a huge indulge weekend because we attended the Colorado Brewer’s Festival.  Lots of beer and foods that I don’t normally eat. I’m feeling the effects and I’m ready to get back to normal eats this week.

Our anniversary is this week so there will be some special treats but kept in check.  We will be eating well, for sure!

How were your eats last week?