Paleo Kitchen Sync

Weekly Menu

paleokitchensync — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:41:10 +0000

Happy Monday Eve all! Once again we’re about to start off the work week, but I’m not as depressed as normal. That’s because next weekend is Memorial Day weekend, and Michael and I have plans to drive down the coast to Santa Cruz for some sightseeing, bike riding, beach hopping, and a lot of relaxing. I’m pretty excited to get out and do some stuff, but I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit worried that we won’t know what to do with ourselves once we get there. Remember our Sausalito trip? We were so bored and at a loss as to what to do that we left 30 minutes after we arrived. Last night we spent a solid hour looking through tourist attractions and noting items that we might want to check out. Hopefully it pays off and we end up loving Santa Cruz – I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Alright, it’s time to start getting ready for CrossFit so I better get to the point of this post, our weekly menu. Today marks the beginning of another week of clean and easy eats – just the way I like it. Check out what we’ve got planned for the next 7 days:

Sunday
B: Egg Scramble
L: Hot Dogs with Whatever-is-left-in-the-fridge
D: Apple-Glazed Pork Loin with Lemon Garlic Green Beans and Parsnip Puree

Monday
L: Leftover Pork Loin
D: Stuffed Mushrooms with Side Salads

Tuesday
L: Leftover Mushrooms
D: Bang Bang Shrimp with Butter Lettuce and Sliced Tomatoes

Wednesday
L: Leftover Pork Loin
D: Chicken Lettuce Wrap Salad

Thursday
L: Leftover Chicken Lettuce Wrap Salad
D: Marinated Steak with Roasted Broccoli

Friday
L: Leftover Mushrooms
D: Roasted Chicken Thighs with Broccoli Slaw

Saturday
Vacation

Food is Photogenic

paleokitchensync — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:58:50 +0000

Holy cow Saturday is almost over and I can hardly believe it. This last week seemed to disappear without any warning, gone in the blink of an eye. It’s so true what they say about time going by faster as you get older. I remember the days when being bored was a nightmare and having nothing to do but sit around sounded grotesque. Too bad I can’t go back and give my 15-year-old self a good talking too, but what am I saying – I wouldn’t have listened anyways.

This week has actually been one of the good ones. Work was busy but not too busy, cooking didn’t feel like too much of a chore, and I got to have a bit of girl time last night by eating froyo with some friends and swooning over Leo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby. The movie was good but the frozen yogurt was my favorite. Ha!

This week also brought the addition of a new member to our family…. a new camera! I bet you thought I was going to say puppy or something huh. No way, puppies are crazy and pee everywhere people! No, this new little gadget is just as good, and seems to be providing Michael with as much entertainment as a new puppy ever would. We’ve been discussing a new camera for quite some time and finally decided to pull the trigger. Michael did A LOT of research so we felt comfortable dropping a good amount of $$ to pick up the Olympus E-PL5. Once we’ve learned the ins and outs of how to use the thing we plan to add a couple of lenses to our collection as well. I can’t believe the difference a nice camera makes – my food pictures are just not even comparable. Don’t get me wrong, my iPhone has done pretty well for itself, but this camera takes it to a whole new level. Who knows, maybe this will even inspire me to start styling my food for the blog more…. maybe.

Check out some of the pictures Michael snapped during our food prep this week:

Making Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice

Banana Ice Cream!

In addition to fried rice and banana ice cream, we also chowed down on the following:

Zucchini Noodles with Meat Sauce

Sauteed Shrimp with Roasted Carrots and Asparagus

Kalua Pig with Roasted Baby Potatoes

Lastly, I can’t leave a blog post about pictures without including one of Tessie. Hope you all have a good Sunday!

Eating Clean

paleokitchensync — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:16:57 +0000

Happy Sunday all! Michael and I are busy doing nothing at the moment so I thought I’d post our menu for the week. You might notice that all of our meals are pretty much Whole 30 compliant, which is definitely needed after our trip last weekend. Our CrossFit box is also running a Paleo challenge, so Michael and I thought we would try to be a bit stricter with our eats in order to participate. Today will be our 7th day of eating clean with just a few exceptions – we’re eating white potatoes every now and then and using wheat-free tamari instead of coconut aminos. It turns out that coconut aminos really upsets Michael’s stomach. We’re guessing it has something to do with it being a fermented product because Kombucha treats him the same way. Weird I know. Since we’re not being completely strict we can’t really call this a ‘Whole 30′, but it’s close. If you’re wondering what we’ve been eating the past couple of days, then I’ll give you a quick rundown:

Chili with Guacamole

Chicken & Zucchini Noodle Phad Thai

Steak with Roasted Veggies and Green Beans

Grass-fed Beef Hot Dogs with Roasted Broccoli

Alright, now that you’ve been caught up, here’s a look at what will be on our dinner table this upcoming week…

Sunday
B: Egg Scramble
L: Leftover Hamburgers
D: Pot Roast (minus the wine) with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Green Beans

Monday
L: Leftover Pot Roast
D: Chicken Fried Cauliflower Rice

Tuesday
L: Leftover Rice
D: Zoodles w/Meat Sauce

Wednesday
L: Leftover Pot roast
D: Sauteed Shrimp with Aspragus and Roasted Carrots

Thursday
L: Leftover Zoodles
D: Kalua Pig with Guacemole and Salad

Friday
L: Leftover Kalua Pig
D: Chicken Wings with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Leeks

Saturday
B: Two Ingredient Pancakes with Bacon
L: TBD
D: TBD

Family Time

paleokitchensync — Sun, 12 May 2013 01:04:18 +0000

I can’t believe it’s been an entire week since Michael and I were with my family back in MO. Although the trip was 4 days long, it seriously felt like it was over in a day. I left feeling like I should have taken more vacation time, but it is what it is. It may have been short, but we packed a ton of stuff into those few days. It’s so refreshing to be able to see old friends, eat food you haven’t had in a year, and finally spend some quality time with family. Not to mention Michael and I got to meet the newest edition to my family, my niece Finley Morgan.

Our first meeting!

Finley and I just hanging out.

Isn’t she the cutest baby ever? Well, maybe not the cutest because she does face some stiff competition with her big sister. Oh babies… you are so adorbs. They make me want one of my own, but definitely not right now. Ha!

While we were visiting we took the opportunity to take some family pictures, which we very rarely do. I can’t actually remember the last time we had good family pictures taken. I think I may have still been in high school – crazy!

The Fam!

Michael and I

During our photo session (taken by my sister’s hubby, thanks Shawn!), April and I decided to take some ‘sister’ pictures. I guess we weren’t communicating very well because at one point April decided to kiss my cheek at the exact moment I was turning her direction. It definitely made for an awesome set of pictures… haha!

The rest of the weekend was spent eating some AmaZiNg BBQ (burnt ends = YUM), taking the kids to the science museum and relaxing in my sister’s living room. Needless to say I was really sad to leave and am already counting down the days until our next visit over Labor Day. Can’t wait!

Work, Food, Vacation

paleokitchensync — Thu, 02 May 2013 02:45:15 +0000

You know what’s nice? Having the ability to work from home every so often. There’s something about sitting at my dining table with the sun peeking through our big apartment window that makes me feel really productive. Plus, it’s always a good thing to be able to get a load of laundry done while you’re typing away. I ended up having to work from home today due to some poorly timed doctors appointments, one for my eyes and the other for my old lady hip. My eye appointment was just the basic 3 month check-up after Lasik and I’m super excited to say that I can see 20/15. I’m still amazed that it’s possible to completely fix your vision with just a quick 20 minute procedure – way worth the investment!

Other than a few appointments and some cooking, this week hasn’t been very exciting. I’m definitely not complaining, sometimes a good stretch of nothing is just the way I like it. I’m sure things will speed up once Thursday is through – Michael and I will be jetting off bright and early (6:00am!! Wah!) Friday morning to visit my family back in Missouri. I haven’t seen anyone in my family since Thanksgiving, so you could say I’m just a tad bit excited. I have a brand new niece to meet, some presents to sprinkle on the other, and some major shopping to do for items not found here in Cali. Hello Jack Stack BBQ Sauce and all clothing items inside of Maurices! Another thing not quite as exclamation worthy, but equally important, is that I finally get to have my hair cut again. That’s right, I’ve gone 5 months without a split end snipped off and I can’t express to you how bad it needs it. I refuse to get my hair cut in SF again… remember what happened last time??

Ugh, I’d rather forget… so on that note let’s move on to some pictures of what we’ve been eating this week:

Balsamic Beef Pot Roast with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Stuffed Mushrooms with Parsnip Fries

Steak with Roasted Broccoli and Butternut Squash Puree

And that’s it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend – I’ll be back next week with some BBQ sauce in tow, a fancy new haircut, and a new suitcase full of sundresses! Yay for vacation!

Happy Anniversary!

paleokitchensync — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:05:14 +0000

Hello there! Happy Sunday to you all! Michael and I have some big plans that include a short hike up the mountain behind our apartments, some food prep, a little bit of cleaning action, and of course some couch time. Can’t get much better than that now can you? Actually I think you probably can because our Saturday was pretty awesome. We spent the day running some errands, relaxing, and then went out to celebrate our 3 year dating anniversary at one of our favorite restaurants in the city – La Mar. It just so happens that this weekend also marks the 1 year anniversary of our move to Cali, so there was a lot of toasting going around.

This last year has seriously been one of the best yet. Although moving so far away from family was a huge downer, I don’t regret a single decision we’ve made thus far. That’s what life is supposed to be all about isn’t it? Doing things that scare you because they’re worth it, and not being afraid to take huge leaps of faith. The sights we’ve seen, the memories we’ve made, and the people we’ve met will be with us forever, and I love it. I’m so thankful that we both have wonderful families who supported and encouraged us along the way. Thank you Mom and Dad for not telling us we were stupid for quitting our jobs, selling all of our belongings, and driving 1800 miles away from you. You knew that 20 years from now, we’d be telling our kids about that time when we were “young and crazy” and just how priceless that would be. We are forever grateful!

I can’t wait to see what the next few years bring our way. I’m not sure if you can quite beat the excitement of this last year, but I know we can try.

With that, I think it’s time to look forward at least one week with our meal plan. I tried to pick some easy and tasty recipes so I wouldn’t have to worry much about it this week. We’re planning to go visit my family next weekend (can’t wait!) so I didn’t want to make things too complicated. Enjoy!

Sunday
B: Microwavable English Muffin Egg Sandwich
L: Hot Dogs with Veggies
D: Balsamic Beef Pot Roast with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Monday
L: Leftover Pot Roast
D: Stuffed Muchrooms with Parsnip Fries

Tuesday
L: Leftover Mushrooms
D: Steak with Roasted Broccoli and Butternut Squash Puree

Wednesday
L: Leftover Pot Roast
D: Marinated Pork Tenderloin (Paleo-ized version) with Roasted Green Beans and Cauliflower Rice

Thursday
L: Leftover Tenderloin
D: Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs with Frozen Veggies and Whatever-is-Left-in-the-Fridge

Friday
Vacation

Saturday
Vacation

Plantain Fritters

paleokitchensync — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 02:16:30 +0000

I can’t believe tomorrow is already Friday! I don’t know if it has to do with the fact that I’m getting older, but time seems to go by so quickly these days. Of course, it doesn’t help that my days have been jam-packed full of work, CrossFit, and cooking. When will there be some time to relax? Alright, enough with the complaining, I can just hear my dad say now “You gonna play you gotta pay!” Ha! Oh Daddio… how I miss thee!

So, last night I had my first physical therapy appointment to correct the pain in my hip. I didn’t really know what to expect, and to be honest I didn’t really want to go, but man I’m glad I did! Turns out that running a 5k without any training is definitely not a great idea because I caused my hips to jump out of alignment. When the PT was examining me, you could actually see that there was an inch or so difference between the height of my hip bones. It was crazy! We did a few exercises to help push my hips back into place and I can already tell it’s better. That, coupled with a few exercises to strengthen the muscles around my hips, and I should be back to 100% in no time. WOOT!

Moving on to a more exciting topic, I have a new recipe for you! A couple of weeks ago Michael and I were shopping in Whole Foods and noticed they had some plantains, which was incredibly exciting. The Whole Foods by our house never has them, so we had to buy at least 3 for good measure. We normally just slice them up and fry them in coconut oil, but I wanted to do something different for a change. I decided to blend them up with an egg, cinnamon, and salt, and then fry them in coconut oil – best. idea. ever.

Plantain Fritters

2 – 3 Ripe Plantains (the riper the better)
1 egg
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
3-4 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

Blend the plantains, egg, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor until almost smooth. Heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat until it’s melted and hot. Spoon 1 – 2 Tbsp. of the mixture into the skillet and let cook until bubbly (2-3 minutes). Flip and cook on the other side. Enjoy that crispy cake of delicious goodness!

Food, Hike, Eat

paleokitchensync — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 15:58:12 +0000

Happy Sunday everyone! It’s been an incredibly long week full of busy workdays and weeknights. I didn’t even have time to blog – shame on me! Since I didn’t get a chance to recap any of our food last week, I want to call out a few recipes that were delicious and I think you should try. The first is the Mandarin Chicken recipe from Paleo Indulgences.

Mandarin Chicken with Cauliflower Rice

The first time we made this I didn’t like it quite as much because the sauce never thickened like the picture in the book. This time around I got the genius idea to add a pinch of arrowroot flour at the end, and wow, it was like any chicken dish you’d find at a restaurant. Delish!

The second isn’t really a specific recipe per se, but just a general statement of love for fresh pesto. We made some Mexican pesto from Aaron Sanchez’s book that contained pumpkin seeds, cotija cheese, cilantro, basil, and oil, and it was awesome. I love having it in the fridge to top eggs or any other kind of protein – serious flavor booster.

Mexican Pesto Grilled Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Sweet Potatoes.

In other news, Michael and I were able to knock a Cali bucket list item off our to-dos. Yesterday we went with our friend, Marian, to hike on Mount Tamalpais, which is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The view was phenomenal and the hike was just the right amount of exercise.

There are so many trails to choose from, you could spend a week up there just walking around. Although I’m not really an outdoorsy type of person (I have a serious hatred of bugs), I really enjoyed myself.

I’m sure Michael and I will be going back at some point to do some more exploring. I have to say, it’s nice feeling like you didn’t waste your weekend day sitting on the couch watching TV. We actually got out and did something besides shopping – yay for us!

Alright, time to move on to the menu for the week. There’s nothing too exciting, but at least we won’t be going hungry!

Sunday
B: Microwavable English Muffin Egg Sandwich
L: Sausages with Roasted Broccoli
D: Chicken Fried Cauliflower Rice

Monday
L: Leftover Fried Rice
D: Slow Cooker Cheater Pork Stew with Baked Sweet Potatoes

Tuesday
L: Leftover Pork Stew
D: Egg Foo Young with Roasted Green Beans

Wednesday
L: Leftover Egg Foo Young
D: Italian Baked Eggs with Zucchini Noodles

Thursday
L: Leftover Pork Stew
D: Hamburgers with Parsnip Fries and Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

Friday
L: Leftover Hamburgers
D: Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs with Side Salads and Steamed Veggies

Saturday
B: Banana Pancakes
L: Leftovers / TBD
D: Out

Cali Bucket List and a Menu

paleokitchensync — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 15:58:14 +0000

Well, it’s Sunday once again and I’m left wondering how the weekend went by so fast. I’m just proud of the fact that we didn’t sit on the couch the _entire_ day yesterday mindlessly watching a complete season of a TV show. There was definitely some of that, Game of Thrones , but the entire first half of the day was actually spent wandering around this awesome city that we live in. Lately, Michael and I have been feeling pretty bad that we moved here to be more active and explore, but yet we never seem to find the time to actually get out and do stuff. So last weekend we decided to compile a list of a bunch of stuff we want to get done before we eventually leave Cali and move back closer to family – a bucket list of sorts. So far the list includes:

Visit Napa
Eat at the French Laundry
Visit Santa Cruz/Carmel
Hike at Yosemite
See the Giant Redwood Trees
Hike up San Bruno Mountain
Eat at Bottega
See the Bay Bridge Lights
Visit Alcatraz
Spend the weekend at Lake Tahoe
Explore SF neighborhoods
~~Visit Sausalito~~
Explore Golden Gate Park
Go to the Disney Musuem at the Presido
Walk across the Golden Gate
Hike Mt. Tam
Visit San Diego
Weekend trip to Santa Barbara
Explore Big Sur
~~Visit Disneyland~~

As you can see, the list is sort of all over the place and full of a mix of cheap/expensive items. We’re probably going to spread some of these things out quite a bit, but the plan is to make them all happen in the next 3 years. Totally do-able. I’m sure we’ll be adding a few things as we hear about them as well. Yesterday we were able to knock ‘Visit Sausalito’ off the list, and I have to say it was a little anti-climatic. Once we got there, we didn’t really know what to do other than take a couple of pictures of the view.

Turns out Michael and I are both really bad at the whole “exploring” thing. We sort of just looked around at the million dollar houses, took some pictures, got bored, and headed back to the city for some shopping. I guess I was expecting it to be a bit more charming than it was, but at least I can say we did something worth while yesterday. I’m sure some of the other to-dos will be more exciting, I’m especially looking forward to eating at the two restaurants listed. Can’t Wait!

Alright, enough with the blabbing and on to the menu for the week. This week we’re utilizing some of the cookbooks that gather dust on our kitchen shelf. I get so tired of having the same meals over again, so I’m excited to try out some new recipes. Hopefully there’s a few ‘keepers’ in the mix – we shall see!

Sunday
B: Egg Scramble
L: Apple Sausages with Side Salads and Olive Oil Potato Chips (From TJ’s)
D: Mandarin Chicken with Cauliflower Rice

Monday
L: Leftover Pork Tenderloin
D: Mexican Pesto Grilled Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Sweet Potatoes

Tuesday
L: Leftover Chicken
D: Zoodles w/Meat Sauce and Side Salads

Wednesday
L: Leftover Mandarin Chicken
D: Smoky Lime Pork Steak with Roasted Broccoli

Thursday
L: Leftover Zoodles
D: Kalua Pig Salad with Plantain Fritters

Friday
L: Leftover Kalua Pig
D: Steak with Roasted Carrots and Broiled Asparagus

Saturday
B: Banana Pancakes
L: TBD
D: TBD

Wall Balls and Braised Beef

paleokitchensync — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:23:41 +0000

Today was our first day back at CrossFit in 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS!! I can’t believe we took that much time off, but sometimes life and crappy head colds just get in the way. It was nice having a break to relax, but I felt bloated, frumpy, and weak the entire time. It’s amazing to me how much CrossFit improves my overall mood and energy levels, it’s like a slimming shot of coffee – if that existed, ha! I was pretty nervous that ~~I might die~~ my first class back would be super rough, but it ended up being kind of awesome. I couldn’t believe how good I felt during our warm-up and workout, I was sure two weeks off would be long enough to knock me down. The workout was definitely a tough one, but I ended up using a heavier wall ball than normal and adding a few inches to my box jumps. Crazy right – 2 weeks people!! Check it out:

During the box jumps on my third round, I did feel a bit queasy, which is never a great feeling. Luckily for everyone, that went away pretty quickly once I started on my last set of wall balls. I finished in 17:48 – woot!

Besides CrossFit, life has been pretty mundane. I’m definitely not complaining though, mundane means easy breezy and that’s the way I like it. I do have to rave about one of the new recipes we’ve tried this week thus far, the Oven Braised Mexican Beef from Nom Nom Paleo was amazing! I really had no idea just how much better food tasted slowly braised in the oven versus the slow cooker. If you aren’t planning to already, then you need to try this recipe ASAP. It. was. delicious.

Mexican Braised Beef with Guacamole and Zucchini Fritters

Last night’s dinner wasn’t too shabby either. The chicken was a bit plain, but other than that, a win.

Marinated Grilled Chicken with Roasted Parsnips and Cole Slaw

Alright, time to relax on the couch and not think about anything. I hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!