I’d order this at a restaurant…
Tonight we had a cooking breakthrough, I made fish and it didn’t taste horrible! In fact, we both agreed, we’d order our dinner in a restaurant and be quite content with what the waiter brought to the table. I always have high hopes when I plan on making fish but then it always turns out….not yummy. This recipe is the exception, it just proves that butter makes everything better!
Dinner tonight was Sautéed flounder served on a bed of asparagus and mushrooms, topped off with a Dijon mayo drizzle…. (Sounds kind of menu like, right?)
Sautéed White Fish
White fish of your choice (We did flounder)
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp. grass fed salted butter
Sprinkle of Garlic Powder
Sprinkle Old Bay Seasoning
Salt & Pepper to taste
In a skillet heat up the butter until it starts to bubble. Add the onion and cook until soft. While the butter and onion are cooking, pat the fish dry and sprinkle with seasoning. Add the fish to the hot butter and cook for 2 minutes on each side.
Asparagus & Mushrooms
1 bundle of asparagus
1 small package of mushrooms
1/2 red onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp. grass fed butter
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
In a skillet heat up the butter until it starts to bubble. Add the garlic and let simmer for a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and sauté until the desired tenderness is reached with the asparagus.
The Dijon mayo drizzle is a recipe by the Food Lover’s and can be found here. We added a bit more lemon juice for a thinner sauce. Serve the fish on a serving of asparagus, drizzled with the dijon sauce. Enjoy!
Weeknight Eats
Lately I’ve been trying to find recipes that don’t take as much prep and involvement for our weeknight dinners. You’d think this would be an easy task, but wow, it’s not. In my quest for easy fast paleo recipes, I happened upon a new site, FastPaleo.com. It’s a blog of sorts where any person can upload their paleo recipes to share. Ingenious! Why didn’t I think of this? I am a software engineer and all… oh well, enough with missed opportunities and onto the recipe we tried for dinner tonight.
Mexican Bell Stuffed Peppers (Original Recipe found here)
1.5lbs grass fed ground beef
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp ground red pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
6 bell peppers
1 handful fresh cilantro
1 can diced tomatoes w/green chilis
1 can tomato paste
A spoonful of grass-fed sour cream (optional)
Pre-heat the oven to 350. Brown the meat, adding the diced onion, cilantro, and spices once the meat starts to let off its juices. While the meat mixture is cooking, cut off the tops of the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Dice the leftover pepper tops and add to the meat mixture. Once the meat is cooked through and the veggies are soft start stuffing the peppers. Bake for 30 minutes.
While your peppers are baking, cut up the avocado and blend with a hand mixer. I like to add a spoonful of sour cream to give it that really creamy texture. Add whatever spices you’d like to the spread (we add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and cilantro). Serve the peppers with a dollop of avocado spread.
Breakfast! Is what’s for dinner..
The stomach flu really takes a toll on your cooking habits. Last Sunday night I came down with a very nasty virus, which soon spread to Michael. It wrecked havoc on our appetite and kept me from the grocery store for quite a while. Luckily, we’ve been starting to feel a lot better so we’re trying to get back into our cooking routine. Since I still haven’t created a menu or made it to the store, tonight we opened our fridge and accepted the challenge in front of us. I felt a little bit like I was on an episode of Chopped, given the 3 following ingredients: a pound of ground beef, an avocado, and eggs. Of course, this magic combination screamed BREAKFAST, and oh what a wonderful breakfast for dinner it was! I decided to cook the ground beef with a mexican kick, top it with an egg, and finish it off with a dollop of avocado goodness. Here’s how to re-create our Chopped episode…
Huevos Rancheros w/ Avocado Cream
4 eggs
1lb grass fed ground beef
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 roma tomatos, diced
1tsp red chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp paprika
2 cloves crushed garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 avocado
1 tbsp grass fed sour cream
1/8 tsp garlic powder
Salt & Pepper to taste
Huevos Rancheros:
Cook the meat with the vegtables until all the meat is cooked through. Add all the spices and simmer until most of the liquid in the skillet is gone. Remove the mixture from the pan and set aside. Cook the eggs in the remaining beef fat until desired consistancy is reached.
Avocado Cream:
Using a hand mixer, beat the avocado, sour cream, and spices until fluffy.
Serve each egg sitting on top of a spoonful of meat and a dollop of avocado cream.
My Paleo Library is Growing…
Last week I added a new addition to my growing collection of Paleo books/cookbooks. I was so excited to receive this particular book because the author, Melissa Joulwan, is super creative and also runs a pretty awesome food blog, The Clothes Make the Girl. This book delivered by spicing up our weekly meal plans with new and inspiring dishes. The first recipe we tried was for Egg Foo Yong, and it turned out amazing! It satisfied every bit of my “I want breaded yummy Chinese food!” cravings. I highly recommend picking up a copy of her book here.
Everybody Loves BBQ
Lately, I’ve been trying to utilize our crock-pot to save time cooking at night. Crock-pots can be pretty awesome if you get the time and heat set just right. I have a knack for over-cooking just about everything we try, but last weekend I had a win. I tried a BBQ rib recipe from the Civilized Caveman found here, and it was amazing! We did end up using a store bought gluten free BBQ sauce that had some added sugar, but it was worth it. I also made Everday Paleo’s No ‘Potato’ Salad and some broccoli slaw for that added “I’m eating BBQ” touch. Here’s the recipe for the broccoli slaw.
Broccoli Slaw
1 Bag Broccoli Slaw mix
1/4 cup paleo mayo
2 tsp cider vinegar
Salt & Pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients in a bowl… Instant slaw.
Lazy Lunch
Whenever we make homemade mayonnaise, I try to come up with a lot of recipes to use it up during the week. The mayo only stays good about a week and a half, so that’s a short window to not be wasteful. One dish I made this week is a great lunch item and can be eaten as leftovers several days in a row. Chicken salad is easily thrown together, especially when you take some shortcuts like I did. I always use a rotisserie chicken, and with the mayo already on hand this was the perfect lazy lunch for our staycation.
Lazy & Delicious Chicken Salad
1 rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup grass-fed whipping cream
1/2 cup paleo mayo
1 tbsp mustard
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 stalks of celery diced
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 cup diced red seedless grapes
Salt & pepper to taste
Pull apart the rotisserie chicken into bite sized pieces and refrigerate until cold. While the chicken is chilling, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Combine all other ingredients and mix well. Mix in the chicken and store in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.
The final product served with some baked sweet potato fries.
It’s a Cobbler Kind of Night
This weekend has been one of the laziest weekends of my life. I’ve been out of my pajamas twice and have yet to put makeup on. Michael and I have been watching season 3 of White Collar intermingled with some college football. The times I haven’t been doing absolutely nothing, I’ve been cooking. For dinner last night we had some grilled ribeye, roasted asparagus, and some butternut squash latkes. The meal wasn’t anything special, but then I made dessert. OH MY GOODNESS, if you like blueberries you have to try this cobbler recipe. I based the recipe off of one from Everyday Paleo found here. I added a bit more sweetener, coconut, and served with some grass-fed cream poured on top. Soooo very yummy!
Blueberry Cobbler
3 cups blueberries
1/4 cup maple syrup and 2 tbsp
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 cups almond flour
2 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
1 egg
1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
In a large mixing bowl stir together the blueberries, the 1/4 cup maple syrup, and coconut flakes. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a casserole dish. In a separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients, then spread the crust on top of the blueberry mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes.
