Beef Stew

Beef Stew 

I love having a stew in the fall! I might be pushing it since it will be 75 degrees today. That is okay, I am in the fall spirit!

Feel free to change this recipe to what you have in your fridge. I use a cast iron skillet in this recipe.  I believe everyone should invest in a cast iron skillet and a nice Le Creuset Pot.  I know it sounds scary to cook in and clean but if you use them correct way, you will be surprised at how easy it to clean them! For this recipe I am using a 12-inch cast iron skillet.


Ingredients:

• 2 tbs evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
• 2 lbs chuck steak, cubed
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 4 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups mushrooms 
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes or 3 cups sweet potatoes chopped and cut into 1-inch cubes. 
• 2 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade)
• 1/2 cup white wine 
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• fresh ground black pepper and salt, to taste

Heat 2 tbs of oil in cast iron skillet over medium flame. Add meat to skillet and brown evenly on all sides, for approximately 12 minutes. Remove from skillet and place in your slow cooker.  

Add the onion, and garlic to your cast iron skillet. Saute for five minutes.

 Toss in carrots, mushrooms, celery, and squash (or sweet potatoes) and saute for 5-7 additional minutes. 

(next part is very important to help clean your skillet)

Poor in your white wine and scrape all the little burnt bits off of your skillet. Poor everything into your slow cooker. Wipe your cast iron skillet clean and BAM your skillet is spotless! Don't wash it.  Just make sure it is wiped clean. 

Pour broth into your slow cooker. Add oregano, salt and pepper and mix everything together in your slow cooker.  Place your rosemary and bay leaf on top of your stew.  Cook on low for 8 hours or until meat is tender.  

Happy Thursday Everyone! 

Meatloaf

The first time I made Brady eat meatloaf he was VERY skeptical... honestly I was too.

Anyways, don't be skeptical.  Just eat it! It is yummy and full of nutrients!


Meatloaf 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground turkey 
• 1 t marjoram (if you don't have it just omit it) it does taste great with it though! 
• 2 eggs
• 1 red onion, finely diced 
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 T sea salt 
• 2 t ground black pepper
• 1 (6-oz) can tomato paste 
• 1 T dried basil or 1/2 fresh basil 
• 1 zucchini, finely diced 
• 2 cups spinach, finely diced

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix all ingredients, with your hands, in a large mixing bowl. 

Put your meat mixture into a large baking dish.

Bake for 1 hour or until the meatloaf is no longer pink inside. 

Eat with Mashed Cauliflower

Seafood Chowder

Alright, I altered this recipe a bit but it originates from Sarah Fragoso's Every Day Paleo Family Cookbook.

Seafood Chowder

• 1 T coconut oil
• 8 uncured bacon strips, chopped 
• 6 celery stalks, diced 
• 5 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes or butternut squash 
• 1 (13.5) can full-fat coconut milk 
• 2 2/3 cups Homemade Chicken Broth 
• Black pepper to taste 
• 1 (10-ounce) can wild-caught shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1 bay leaf 

Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat.  Add your coconut oil and cook your onion for about 5 minutes.  Add your bacon and cook until crispy. 

Personally my next step is to drain the excess fat from my soup pot.  Along with having Celiacs my husband and I have sensitivities with too much fat.  It hurts our stomachs. I will stop there :) 

So, if you wish to leave the fat, which most paleo goers will do, great!  If you choose not too because of sensitivities I understand! Do you remember that fat does not make you fat.  Not having a deficit in your calories and carbs does. Certain fats are great for the functioning of your brain and 50% of your calories should be coming from fats for a healthy diet. So, I chose to not keep the fat in my dish. I stored it in an air tight container in the fridge to use instead of oil or butter in another recipe. 

Moving on. 

Add your celery and sweet potatoes and cook for an additional 5 minutes. 

Add your coconut milk, chicken broth, and pepper.  Bring to a simmer.

Add your bay leaf and let the soup simmer (not boil) for 20 minutes.  Use a potato masher and mash some of the sweet potatoes up to thicken your soup.  Leave some chunky.  Add the shrimp and cook until pink (about 5 minutes). Drain your clams and chop them into small pieces.  Stir them in until they are warm. 

SO GOOD 

What else could you do with this recipe?  Just get a "seafood blend" from a grocery store and add in place of shrimp and clams or what ever meat you want to put in this dish! It is amazing! 

Happy Tuesday :) 

Chicken Cobb Salad

Chicken Cobb Salad 

5-6 servings

1 yellow onion - chopped
course salt
pepper
parsley
avocado
bacon
tomato or pico
Sriracha aioli
salad greens
5 boiled eggs

Turn your slow cooker to low and place your onion in the bottom of a slow cooker.  Take your whole chicken, remove giblets.  Set your giblets aside for homemade chicken broth for your seafood chowder you are going to make. Rinse your chicken and pat dry.  Place in your slow cooker on to of the onion.  Season with course salt, pepper, and parsley.  Let cook on low for 8-10 hours  or until internal temp reaches 180 degrees.


Let it cool and serve over salad greens with avocado, hard boiled eggs, bacon, and tomato ( I personally serve mine with pico on top). Sriracha aioli is needed on top of this salad! I also added some broccoli, walnuts, and asparagus to this salad.

Leave your chicken bones in the slow cooker when you take the meat off the bones.  Follow this recipe for your chicken broth.  Making your chicken broth will set you up for an easy soup recipe for tomorrow. **Make sure to read all the way through the post to understand how to do this with a slow cooker. 

Meal Plan 10-6

Chicken Cobb Salad
Seafood Chowder
Meatloaf
Beef Stew
Salmon Cakes

1-whole chicken
1- 2-3lb chuck roast
1 lb ground turkey
1 lb ground beef
1 lb shrimp
1 can of salmon
White onion
Bacon
Celery
5 sweet potatoes
1 can Coconut milk- not at aldi
Chicken broth preferably homemade
1 10 oz can clams- not at aldi
Lettuce greens
2 Avocados
2 tomatoes
Olive oil
Sriracha sauce - not at aldi
Walnuts (optional)
Cabbage
Carrots
1 dozen eggs
Green onion
Dried dill
Red pepper flakes
2 lemons
Black pepper
1 can tomato paste
1 garlic bulb
1 red onion
Marjoram- not at aldi
Fresh basil or dried
Any fresh vegetables:
Cauliflower
Brussel Sprouts - maybe at Aldi
Broccoli
Asparagus

Chicken Brine

I am making this blog post from my phone... This should be interesting. Okay, how to brine a chicken.
Let me tell you what a brine is and does first. A brine makes a chicken juicy and tender!
Okay, on to what a brine is. A brine is a mixture of warm water, salt, olive oil and sugar. That's it. Simple.


Here is what you need for your whole chicken brine.
2/3 cup sugar ** omit the sugar for doing whole30
3/4 cup salt (large grain sea salt or kosher salt)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 big pot
1 whole chicken
Warm water

Rinse your chicken and remove giblets. Set it aside.
Combine salt and sugar and fill your pot with warm water (remember your chicken has to go in too so leave room for your chicken. Don't fill your pot too full!
Make sure your sugar and salt dissolves and then place your chicken (breast side down) in your pot.
Cover and set in the fridge for 5-12 hours.  Yes, it's like a marinade but it's not because it's called a brine :)


Once you have left it in the fridge for 5-12 hours take it out and rinse your chicken off and pat it dry.
From here out feel free to follow these instructions for butter flying and cooking your chicken. Instead of the vegetables she uses feel free to use to ones I have planned for this dish roasted broccoli, mushrooms, asparagus, and onion. Just follow her recipe and substitute where it's needed. 

I personally enjoy just salt, pepper, and parsley on my whole roasted chickens but I am leaving this one up to you guys! Let me know how you seasoned your vegetables and chicken and how it worked out :) 

Tomorrow I will have left over chicken and make a cobb salad with home made Sriricha aioli, egg, bacon, avocado, tomato, and lettuce.  Mmmmm! 


Happy Friday everyone! 

Meatballs

So you already have your meatballs cooked hopefully from this past weekend.  If you feel like they aren't going to last until today a good idea is to put them in the freezer until you are ready to eat them.  I have been eating these through out the week so we have the perfect amount for tonights dinner.  Serve this with carrot fries and roasted asparagus.

How to roast your carrot fries:
Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.  Toss your carrots with 1 T olive oil, salt and pepper. ** salt and pepper to taste.

Place on a greased backing sheet and cook for 25-30 minutes or until the carrots are soft and browned.  (no one likes under cooked carrots).  When you have 12 minutes left sprinkle some olive oil, salt, garlic, and pepper on your asparagus. Toss until coated and place on a baking sheet. Place in the oven with your carrots for the remainder of 12 minutes.

Either dip your carrots in your paleo mexi-ranch or some italian dressing :) mmm
Everything tastes good in mexi-ranch!
Sorry no pictures...


BUT I do have this adorable picture of my niece that I took this morning!

Happy Thursday all :) 

Make sure and have your chicken thawed for tomorrow so you can brine it in the a.m.

Italian Chicken

Work Out of the Day

• 10/2
• Deficit Deadlift : 1 Rep Max
• Sumo Deadlift 8-8-8
• Then:
• Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 mins of:
• 5 Snatch Grip Deadlifts, 185/135 lbs
• 3 Muscle-ups
• 5 Box Jumps, 24 in
• Buyout
• 200 band leg curls

Italian Chicken 

• 4  chicken breast
• 1 cup Cauliflower 
• 1 cup Broccoli 
• 1 Onion chopped
• 2 T Italian Seasoning ** or to taste
• Salt to taste 
• Pepper to taste
• 1 Lemon (optional) 
• 1 T Coconut Oil, EVOO, or Ghee 
• 1 cup zucchini 

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  
• Spray an oven safe pan with olive oil or coconut oil spray. 
•  Place your chicken breasts, broccoli, onion, cauliflower, zucchini, and mushrooms in the pan. 
•  Drizzle everything with Coconut oil or EVOO. And then sprinkle your italian seasoning, salt, and pepper over everything (probably around 2 T of italian seasoning and a sprinkle of salt and pepper). Slice your lemons and place on top of the chicken.
• Tightly cover with foil.  
• Bake for 40-45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center or reaches a temp of 180 degrees. 

 This is something my husband can throw in the oven when I am not around to help him.  So, needless to say this is a very simple easy meal :) Filled with a lot of nutrients! Bake a sweet potato and have it with. That sounds mighty good!I will probably warm up some roasted garlic to put on the chicken too.  It is optional but would probably be uh-mazing with this chicken!

**I make this in the morning so if I am running late Brady doesn't have to put anything together he can just take it straight from the fridge and place it in the oven**

That is all I have today! Sometimes a one pan meal is the way to go! Easy easy. 

Pork Tenderloin

Pork Tenderloin

This recipe is one that I use over and over and is great! Click on the link above and follow the directions.  If you don't have a few of the spices don't worry about it! Just use what you have :)

Roasted Carrots

1 T coconut oil

1 bag of carrots 

sea salt to taste 

black pepper to taste

Your oven will be already preheated to 450 degrees with the pork. 

Toss your carrots in coconut oil, salt, and pepper.  Spray a cooking sheet with coconut oil and place your carrots on the sheet. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until they look like the picture below.

Fancy Pear Salad 

Mixed Salad Greens 

1 pear diced

1/2 red onion thinly sliced 

EVOO

Balsamic Vinegar

Black pepper to taste

Pecans or walnuts (optional)

Toss greens, pear, and onion together.  Drizzle with EVOO and balsamic vinegar. Top with crushed pecans or walnuts. 

Short post today.  Enjoy :)