Status

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!

Status

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?

 

 

 

Status

Going Reduced Grain

Hey all!  How is everyone’s week going so far?  Our meals have been a little off schedule but so far everything is running smoothly.  I feel much more centered than last week.  I don’t feel like I’m constantly behind trying to catch up!

Meal planning unfortunately did not happen as I would have liked but we’ve still been on track with our eats!

BREAKFAST

Steak and peppers on grain free waffles

Grain free waffles using Brittany Angell’s recipe.  I heated up some peppers and onions in a skillet and added in some leftover steak, sliced thin.   Placed on top of a waffle with a slice of swiss, which then was put in the toaster over so the cheese could melt.  Perfect breakfast sandwich and a great way to use up leftover steak!

scrambled eggs and toast

Scrambled eggs seasoned with Flavor God’s Garlic Lovers and two slices of Dave’s Killer Bread with lots of grassfed butter.

Grains! Yikes!  I’ll get to that in a minute, be patient.

DINNER

Pork taco and a side salad

Pork tacos and a simple side salad.  Ground pork cooked in a skillet with some peppers and onions.  Seasoned with a little salt, pepper, and chili powder (however much you like but easy on the salt).  Then I added in a few heaping spoonfuls of salsa and let the whole mixture simmer until the salsa reduced and thickened up.  Topped with chopped tomato and sour cream.

Salad was mixed greens with cucumber and carrot.  Very easy! I love having salads with meals because it’s quick to assemble and a great way to get in some raw veggie action.

Salmon and green beans

Sockeye salmon with red peppers and capers with a side of green beans with prosciutto and almonds.

For the salmon, in a sautee pan I heated up the peppers and capers in some ghee until the peppers softened a bit.  Then I added in the salmon and sprinkled that with some Flavor God’s lemon garlic seasoning.  I added in a touch of chicken stock, brought to a simmer and covered.  All of that simmering until the salmon was cooked through.  Remove and top with the peppers and capers.

The green beans were prepped ahead of time.  They were blanched and just waiting in the fridge to be used.  I sauteed them up in a skillet with some ghee.  Seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Right before serving I tossed them with some almonds, crispy prosciutto (heated and prepped before heating the beans), and sprinkled on some parm.

Looks fancy but it’s really simple to put together and no fussy ingredients!

SNACK

Banana ice cream with pecans

A little bit indulgent but much needed!  This was banana ice cream with bourbon butter pecans on top.

Banana ice cream is one of the easiest things to make.  All you do is put frozen bananas in a food processor with a little liquid (cream or almond milk for example) and blend until smooth and creamy.  That’s the basic concept and then you can flavor it or sweeten it a bit more.

For this version I added in some bourbon, vanilla almond milk, and vanilla extract.  Blended until smooth.

For the pecans, I sautéed them in a skillet with lots of butter.  After about 4 minutes I added in a small splash of bourbon.  Once done, I tossed the pecans with some cinnamon and coconut sugar.  I let them cool and sprinkled on top of the ice cream.

Delicious!

We have been on the clean eating and grain free train for several months at this point.  We have learned a lot during just these few months and one of the things we realized is that grain-free and gluten-free items do not work for us.  In fact, those types of things, like the grain free waffles above, do not sit well with our digestive system.

Every time we eat something like that, both of us are running for the bathroom immediately after eating.  Tummies rumbling, bloating, and hitting the bathroom multiple times for hours afterwards.

Not fun.

Clearly those kinds of items are not working for us.  So with that, instead of being grain-free we are reducing grains. Most grains don’t give us any kind of digestive distress, not like the grain-free items do.  So while we won’t be seeking out sandwiches daily or big bowls of pasta, if we feel like a pancake we’re going to eat it.

Don’t be surprised when you see some whole grain items pop back up in our eats!

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: Good Week

This will be the last “Monday Meals” but don’t worry, I’ll still be sharing all of our eats with you!  Monday through Thursday will be a recap of meals and exercise for that day.  Those posts will go up at the end of the day. Fridays will be rotating topics that include recipes and the weekend will be time off for play!

I really want to get this blog back to it’s roots, which is about living a healthy and active lifestyle by focusing on real whole foods and doing things we love.

Plus these Monday posts were just getting way too long and can’t contain all of the deliciousness!

New schedule starts tomorrow so look for that post at the end of the day.

Alright so let’s recap last week!

BREAKFAST:

Peaches and granola

PEACHES!  They have finally started showing up at the farmer’s markets and I am stoked!  Colorado peaches are amazing and their season is very short.  If you see them, grab them while you can!

Peaches with a little sprinkle of grain free granola.  This breakfast rocked, it was sweet from the peaches and the granola helped keep me full for several hours.

Scrambled eggs and sausage

This was a second breakfast.  I had a big bowl of peaches one morning (with no granola) but once we got back from our big walk with the dogs, I was starving!  So I made a potato-less hash.  Scrambled eggs, sliced up chicken sausage, and peppers and onions.  Totally hit the spot!

Kale and sausage

A huge bowl of sauteed kale with kielbasa and shredded carrots.  Cooked up in some ghee and seasoned with Flavor God’s Spicy Everything blend.

Protein + greens are a favorite next to soup!

Kale rice bowl

Leftover rice that I cooked up in some lard with a little tomato paste and seasoned with chili powder.  Then I added in some kale and cooked everything until the kale wilted down and cooked through.

Not as hardy as sausage but still very satisfying and would make a great post workout breakfast.

Granola and bacon

Poor man’s breakfast this past weekend.  We ran out of eggs!  It was tragic.  So this was some bacon, sliced cantaloupe, and granola.  Some almond milk got splashed on the granola as well.  It was good but would have been better with eggs!

Bacon and scone

More bacon and cantaloupe!  The bacon was from a local butcher that they cure and smoke in-house.  Grain free scones topped with cherry jelly.  I pitted the cherries and added them to a blender with cup of water.  I blended for a minute until the cherries broke down a little.  A little bit of sugar was added to the mixture.  In a sauce pan the mixture simmered until it reduced by half.  Once it cools it thickens up a little bit and now you’ve got a quick jelly.

And a fauxmosa to wash everything down.  OJ + Seltzer = fauxmosa  Tasty!  Plus you can add fresh lime juice or mango juice to give it a little extra kick.

LUNCH:

Kale salad, smoked salmon

Kale salad with cucumbers and carrot.  A quick balsamic dressing on top.  Allow the dressing to mix with the kale a few minutes before serving.  Helps to break down the kale and pull out some of the bitterness.  Smoked salmon on the side!

Egg, carrots, beans, guacamole

Really random lunch.  A fried egg, leftover baked beans, sliced carrot, and guacamole for dipping.

DINNER:

Cheeseburger and fries

Cheeseburger on a gluten-free bun, coleslaw, and oven fries.  I nixed the bun, I didn’t like it. It had a weird texture to it and was spongy.  Ew.  So I ate my burger bunless which I prefer!

burger, slaw, beans

Burgers take two! Leftovers with the addition of baked beans.  Both Scott and I can handle beans without it causing any distress on our digestive system (to be blunt, beans don’t give us gas) so we eat them from time to time.

pork tacos and veggie casserole

A really monotone and unappealing picture, I know!  Pulled pork tacos with a cauliflower veggie mix.  The pork butt was cooked in a slow cooker with a can of diced tomatoes, 1/2C water, with sliced green pepper and onion.  Once the pork was done, I pulled it out and shredded the meat.  I blended all of the liquid and veggies together to create the sauce. Everything was seasoned with salt and chili powder.

Served on a white flour tortilla that I ended up not eating.  It was making me feel too full too quickly, so I tossed it and ate the pork with some guacamole.

The veggie casserole was a head of cauliflower pulsed in a food processor until it resembled rice.  I sauteed that in a huge skillet with onions, peppers, carrot and corn.  Once everything was cooked, I added two eggs to the mixture and some shredded cheddar.  Everything was seasoned with chili powder and then I cooked it all again in a casserole dish till it was bubbly.

It looked like a mess but it was tasty!  We had this two nights in a row.

Mussels

Second favorite meal of the week, mussels!  I purchased these at my local Whole Foods.  With a ton of butter (seriously, like 6 tablespoons), I sauteed up some onion, jalapeno, and lots of garlic.  That all got seasoned with Lemon Garlic Lovers Flavor God seasoning.  Then I added the mussels and a bottle of wheat beer.  Put a lid on it and let that simmer until the mussels opened.  Maybe 5 minutes tops.  I sprinkled on some chopped cherry tomatoes and we dug in!

This was a lot of mussels and was plenty for both Scott and I to share.  There’s a misconception that seafood and things like mussels are expensive but they are not.

A pound of mussels (which was way over 2 dozen mussels) cost me $6.99 and that fed two people as a main meal.  That’s pretty budget friendly!

Ribeye and twice baked potato

Favorite meal of the week, ribeye steak with a twice baked potato.  So good!  And gigantic!  I did not eat the entire steak, there’s plenty of leftovers.  The steaks were seasoned with Flavor God’s Garlic Lover’s and I seared each side of the steaks and placed them on a baking sheet.  The steaks finished cooking in the oven.  It only took a couple of minutes since ribeyes are best at medium.

The potatoes were super simple, no fuss twice baked potatoes. Baked potatoes with the insides scooped out.  To that was added sour cream, cheddar, horseradish, and some green onion.  Stuffed and baked again until cooked through and bubbling.

Great eats this week plus utilizing leftovers as much as possible.  Minimal meal planning for this week because Scott and I have some big plans for the weekend!

Supplies:

Flavor God seasonings

Bacon and steaks from The Boar and Bull

Mussels from Whole Foods

Pork and eggs from Jodar Farms

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: Anniversary Week

How did everyone do with eats last week?  Surprisingly our eats weren’t too bad!  It was our anniversary week so we did indulge a bit but nothing crazy.  This week though I’m ready to get back on track and eat well throughout the week.

We are having pho tonight for dinner and I couldn’t be more excited! It was supposed to be our last celebratory meal for the weekend, grabbing some takeout on Sunday while we snugged on the couch and watched Pacific Rim (Save yourself, don’t watch that movie. Really bad and cheesy.).  Then we learned that they were closed on Sunday.

GASP!

Pho Blocked.

So we are having it this evening.  And while it probably doesn’t fall into the clean eats category, I have to say it isn’t a horrible choice.  It’s better than pizza for sure!

Speaking of pizza, there’s a new place here that is doing wood fired gluten free pizza and very curious to try their pizza.  Not grain-free dough but eh, sometimes we have to live a little.

I’ve done some prep work already for this week.  Still trying to work out what day would best fit my schedule for a prep day.  Sundays and Mondays are super busy.  I’m kind of stuck on what day.  Maybe Friday? I can do big grocery shopping that day and then prep the rest of the day for the following week.

Let’s look at some eats!

BREAKFAST:

Sausage, chard, scramble

Sauteed chard with sausage bites and scrambled eggs.  Whenever I make sausage, I make a whole package at the same time.  We eat a portion of it that morning and the rest goes in the freezer for later.  Then it’s ready to go when I need it.  I do the same with bacon, I cook up 2 pounds of it at a time.

Not much a fan of this breakfast, the chard ended up being really slimy and just gross so I stuck with the eggs and sausage.

Sweet potato cakes, fried egg, tomato slices

Shredded sweet potato cakes!  1 large sweet potato, shredded and mixed with two eggs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder.  I cooked them up in some ghee in a skillet.  With a fried egg and two big slices of tomato on the side.  Delicious!  The sweet potato cakes were a big it, both Scott and I loved them.

Brat and collards

I prepped a huge batch of collards for the week by cooking them in the crock pot with a ham hock.  I heated up some leftover brats and paired that with the collards.  One of the best breakfasts! So filling and satisfying.

Collard soup

The next day was the rest of the collards and shredded ham hock soup!  Just added stock and some extra seasonings.  Mmmm even in summer, soup is still one of my favorite breakfasts.

Grain free chocolate donuts

Tried my hand at making some grain free chocolate donuts and they turned out really well!  I still want to play around with the recipe a bit and as soon as it’s ready I will share.  They were fluffy and full of chocolatey goodness!

Sausage, eggs, roasted potatoes

Pretty standard weekend breakfast, fried eggs, pork sausage, and some roasted potatoes.  YUM!

Fried eggs and side salad

This breakfast/brunch I loved!  Fried eggs with a side salad topped with avocado and tomato salsa.  That was easy to put together:

  • Two medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
  • 3TBSP Chopped Red Onion
  • 1 Large Avocado, chopped
  • Leftover corn on the cob, removed from the cob
  • 3TBSP Chopped Cilantro
  • Juice of 1 Lime
  • Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder

Combine in a glass bowl and stir.  Let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.  This was used as the salad topping and it was so fresh tasting.  Definitely a nice squeaky clean breakfast.

 

DINNER:

Steaks, mashed potatoes, side salad

Steak house dinner!  Some grass-fed NY strips with horseradish mash potatoes and a side salad.  Also some horseradish cream sauce to dip the steaks in.  I didn’t think I would eat the whole steak but I totally did, it was so good!

The mash potatoes had sour cream, butter, whole grain mustard, and horseradish in them.  This gave the dish some nice tang and spicy bite.

grilled sausages, potato salad

Our first cookout of the season!  Grilled brats and kielbasa with grilled peppers and onions and a side of potato salad.  I used homemade mayo for the potato salad.  This tasted so so good!  We definitely need to make time to grill out more often.

Ribs and slaw

Pork ribs and homemade cole slaw.  The ribs were cooked in the oven and I used a homemade bbq sauce on top.  The sauce was made for a recipe development gig so I can’t share that with you.  I can say that it incorporated beer though!

Ribs, corn, slaw

Leftovers! With some corn on the cob and some meatballs (from the same gig).  Corn is one of those grains that I’m not sure I want to give up just yet.  Rice and corn are two that I still love and they don’t seem to mess my system up too much.

Crab salad, mixed greens

Scott and I had gone out to dinner during the week to a local fish place.  I had the lobster roll sandwich (ate the insides and left the roll) and it was very fresh tasting and not heavy at all.  I decided to recreate a version of it using some leftover snow crab that I had in the freezer.  I mixed the crab with some mayo, red onion, celery, lemon juice, and old bay seasoning.  That was placed on a bed of fresh romaine with some avocado, bacon, and tomatoes added on top.

So freaking good.  I’m going to try this with smoked salmon! I think the salmon and avocado will work well together.

snack plate

Since we didn’t get pho on Sunday, we had a snack plate instead.

  • Carrots
  • Grapes
  • Salami
  • Prosciutto
  • Rice crackers
  • Cheeses

It was tasty and fun to eat but it didn’t really fill the hole left by no pho.

Your turn, how was your holiday week?

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?

 

Monday Meals: Seafood Season

This week I felt like I was running a little behind since I didn’t have even the slightest outline for a meal plan.  We still ate really well (whew!) but I definitely felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants.

Because I do better with calendars and lists that are actual pieces of paper (I like to make notes and I’m still old school about some things), I have decided to print off a meal plan for each week.  I got the template from Real Food Liz, and you can get one too.  Click HERE.

Just a side note, tangent, I bought a huge Paleo bundle of ebooks a little while back and it included a lifetime membership to Good Food For Bad Cooks.  It has recipes, you can make shopping lists, there are food guides.  It’s a pretty neat little site with lots of info so if you are looking for something to help you meal plan and for more recipes, definitely check it out. (That is not an affiliate link and it’s not a plug. I just like the site.)

Ok on to meals!

BREAKFAST:

Chicken and spinach

Chicken with spinach that I added a little homemade tomato sauce too and sprinkled with parm.  It was delicious!  I always forget how much I like chicken for breakfast.

Fruit, coconut cream, almonds

Blueberries and nectarines with coconut cream, crushed almonds, and coconut flakes.

Scrambled eggs with blackbean sauce

Scrambled eggs with a black bean sauce.  The sauce was really simple.  In a blender, I added:

  • Black Beans (about 1.5 cups)
  • Salsa
  • Chicken Stock
  • Salt
  • Chili Powder

Blended till it was smooth, and heated it in a medium sized pot over medium heat.  Brought it to a simmer and let it reduce just a bit so the sauce thickened up.

Easy and quick sauce.  I froze the rest to save for enchiladas at some point.

Blueberries, coconut cream

Blueberries, grain-free scone, and drizzled with coconut cream.  Please note that if you refer to blueberries as “bluebs”, we can no longer be friends.  Sorry, but that’s life sometimes.

Veggie fritatta

Veggie fritatta!  I sauteed up some baby kale, red pepper, and half an onion in some ghee and let that mixture cool.  In a bowl I whisked 5 eggs, a splash of whole milk, and some dijon mustard.  Added in the veggies and then added that mixture to a greased skillet (I used ghee) that was heating up on the stove.  Heated it for about two minutes then put the pan in a 425 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  Topped with diced tomato and a sprinkle of parm.

fritatta, ham, potatoes

We had that with some ham slices and some roasted sweet potatoes.

Eggs, potatoes, sausage

Another big breakfast of scrambled eggs (look how yellow they are! The yolks in these farm fresh eggs were gorgeous.), roasted potatoes, and sausage.

smoothie, apple, almond butter

Random picture of a smoothie, sliced apple with almond butter.  Sometimes if  I have a large breakfast then I have smallish snack as lunch.  I don’t normally show these pictures because they aren’t exciting and I’m not sure if you are interested in seeing them.  If you are, just let me know and I’ll share what goes in the smoothies.  Spoiler alert, it’s usually always the same.

DINNER:

Sausage and kraut

Leftovers, sausage, kraut, and coleslaw.  I had spinach and feta sausage from Whole Foods and Scott finished the other sausages.  I have to say that I’m not super impressed with our local Whole Foods sausages.  I probably won’t get them again unless something really catches my eye.

Copper River Salmon

Glorious salmon!  Copper River salmon was in season so I stocked up and purchased a couple of sides.  Please note that if you are local, our Whole Foods does not remove the bones from the fish so either you have to do it or you can ask for it to be done.  If you ask, the workers tend to get really pissed off, at least they did for me.  And they still didn’t remove many bones, Scott and I were picking them out as we were eating.  Good times.

I brushed the salmon with some coconut oil and sprinkled with:

  • Lemon Pepper Mix (by Simply Organic)
  • Garlic Powder
  • Dill

I also laid it on some lemon slice while it roasted in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Salmon, asparagus, rice

We had the salmon with roasted asparagus and rice.  Fish + rice is one of my favorite combinations.  We used to eat this all the time on “Fish Tuesdays” and I think I need to bring that back.

This provided us with leftovers and I was so hungry and excited when we had leftovers that I forgot to take a picture!  It was salmon with a side salad.  Nothing fancy but delicious!

Crispy shrimp and eggplant

 

And lastly, crispy shrimp with roasted eggplant.  I whisked together 2 eggs, a splash of milk, and some hot sauce.  The coating was a mix of coconut flour and tapioca starch seasoned with chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder.  The shrimp went in the egg bath first then to the coating. I cooked the shrimp in a cast iron skillet in some lard.

This was the first time I used coconut flour and tapioca as a coating and I really liked the way it turned out.  The tapioca provides a nice thin coating on the shrimp that really crisped up and turned a lovely golden brown color.

The eggplant was sliced, seasoned with soy sauce, salt, garlic powder and roasted in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

For The Locals:

All chicken and eggs from Jodar Farms.

Sausage, ham, and seafood from Whole Foods.

Milk from Morning Fresh Dairy.

This Week:

I have  my meal plan all printed out and I’m ready to get started on this week!  I already have some chicken and pork chops thawing in the fridge so we will be having that this week.  The chicken will last at least two days, so that is three days covered already.  Now to figure out the rest of the week.

How did you do last week and what are your plans this week?