Banana Pancake

Okay. So, I know I've covered (2 ingredient) Banana Pancakes before.

This post is just to brag on my ability to make one jumbo sized one, the size of my medium sized skillet... and flip it over without it breaking.

Ha.

Enjoy.  :)

Roast... Part III ...

Okay, so the chicken roast was much more to my liking than the beef roast.

Especially with yet another hearty helping of asparagus. 

Gosh, I just love that stuff.

And I don't mind eating the same thing several times in a week. (Which is very beneficial with this lifestyle of eating.)

However, I just kept wondering how this lovely chicken and its flavorful robust sauce might taste on spaghetti squash.

So, thought "What the hay. Don't know until you try."

I've still only had spaghetti squash the one time, a while back, when I made a fresh pesto to mix in it and then, with the leftovers, added some tomatoes and chicken to it. And it was quite tasty.

I think the thing that keeps me from messing with spaghetti squash too often is the cutting of it. It can be a bit of a pain; though not as difficult as I had remembered. 

It's comparable to cutting a pumpkin in half. But, not half as messy.

So, I gave it another crack. And was really glad I did.

I think I did a better job of cooking it this time (was a little more generous with the olive oil and cooked them cut-side up for the first 30 minutes, then faced down the remaining 30). And I really enjoyed the heartier sauce over it than just the pesto like I had done the last time.

Sure, it tastes like clean-eating. You know it's not pasta. But, it's funny... I swear, sometimes, you can just about actually hear your body thanking you. Knowing you're eating what you were intended to eat all along. 

The evolution of Chicken Stew. Top Right: Roasted Chicken / Vegetables, Bottom Left: Chicken Stew (just the chicken all pulled off the bone in bite-sized pieces, thrown back in with the original sauce and vegetables), Top Left: Spaghetti Squash (cut in half, drizzled with Olive Oil and sprinkled with s/p and cooked at 375 deg for an hour), Bottom Right: Strained Chicken Stew over Spaghetti Squash and sprinkled with a bit of Swiss Cheese - YUM!

Roast.... Part II

Okay. So, I wasn't all that crazy about my beef pot roast the other day, but still saw real potential in all the other ingredients (sans the carrots). I just couldn't help but think it would be much better over a nice slow-cooked chicken.

So, I went back to the store... got all the same ingredients... this time with chicken (and no carrots). 

And this time, was much more promising.

Though, this time, even though the chicken had been in the crock pot for over 4 hours, it still was hardly warmed, let alone cooked.

So, I finally got tired of waiting for it and threw it in the oven for an hour.

Much better!

This time, the stars aligned a little more perfectly and all just felt a little more right in the world.

It was delicious.

And all the more so, with another heaping helping of asparagus.  :)

I just pulled some chicken off, enough for my portion for dinner and enjoyed it with big yummy chunks of tomatoes and peppers and onions.

Good stuff.

Beef Roast

I have been having so many hamburgers and sautéed chicken lately that I thought a nice slow-cooked beef roast sounded good. And would be nice to come home to one day after work.

So, I got busy looking for one with lots of flavor, no longer able to just throw a can of soup or two in there. Found one in Danielle Walker's original cookbook "Against All Grain".

Then, in an effort to 'thank myself later', I got up at 6:00 before work one day, gathered all my fresh ingredients together and I sliced, diced, seared and poured. And man, did it ever look good.

Thankfully, I came home for lunch that day, because even though it had only cooked on 'low' for 4 hours or so by that point, the beef was already well-done. So, I cut a little bit off and tried it with a little spinach salad. It was alright.

Having been cooked already, I went ahead and just threw it in the fridge for the remainder of the day and just tackled it when I got home. 

And even though it was chockfull of all kinds of delicious vegetables, I still wanted a side with it, so revisited my old favorite, asparagus. I had binged on that quite a while back, but hadn't had any in awhile, so it sounded pretty good.

Sliced the meat up. Just short of tough as leather, but thought 'Well, maybe if the gravy/sauce is hearty enough..." So, followed her direction of pureeing some of the veggies and pouring the puree back into the sauce as a thickener for more of a gravy. I might not have even attempted this part, as it doesn't sound as good as a standard beef gravy, but I really didn't mind the carrot puree this Spring when I added it to my chicken broth, so thought "What the hay." 

It wasn't my favorite.

Now, I liked the overall flavor, sans the carrots, but it just didn't 'work' for me. To me, the flavor took on more of an Italian taste and should've been chicken. But, went ahead and plated up what I had looked forward to all day... along with my beloved asparagus.

And I ended up eating the ENTIRE BUNDLE of asparagus! (I had cooked enough to have leftovers the next day for lunch.) 

So, although the beef roast was lacking, I ate asparagus to my little heart's content! 

And it was as yummy as ever!!!

Community Rewards

I'm not exactly thrilled with how my food budget has sky-rocketed with all my dietary changes these days. I easily spend $60 - $80 just running in 'for a few things'. Things like grassfed beef, wild salmon or organic produce. (It's well more than that should I actually need a $10 bag of almond flour or $8 jar of coconut oil.) Ouch.

But, if you weigh that against pharmaceutical bills or doctors' bills you'd be facing withOUT eating this way... it's worth it.

And, I've found another way to make it all worth it!

A while back, the United Methodist Children's Home posted on Facebook how you can actually help support them by shopping at Kroger. 

And honestly, I used to be a devout Publix girl. Just kind of the difference between Target and Wal-Mart. But, I've come around to really appreciate Kroger lately for what they have to offer. They have a much larger health food section (What I wouldn't give to have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's in town!) and their prices are generally much better than that of Publix. And even though they aren't the same friendly faces I've grown accustomed to seeing at Publix, the staff has always been friendly there as well.

AND... they have the Community Rewards Program!

Anyway - I can't think of a better cause for my money to help support than the UMCH. They are doing some life-changing things over there. 

So, I would encourage you... if you have a Kroger nearby, please consider using the Kroger Plus Card and signing up to support this cause with me! 

http://www.umchildrenshome.org/2014/03/31/kroger-community-rewards/

And if not this one, maybe one that you feel prompted to support.

Homemade Green Beans ~ Yum!

Man. I had forgotten just how much I love some good old homemade Southern Style Green Beans.

I was hooked on these long before I ever started a Paleo or Specific Carb lifestyle. I may have just had in my mind that they were 'illegal' as a legume? But, when I looked at my 'legals' list, they were on there. Woo hoo! Just no canned variety. I can do that! I love making fresh green beans!

I mean, just look at those beauties. Canned are no where near as pretty as that right there.

I start out just frying up some bacon in a big stock pot. Once that starts to brown up, I throw some diced onion in with it. While those continue browning, I rinse fresh green beans and trim up the ends. (I usually go ahead and snap most in half, too.) When I'm finished rinsing and trimming, I throw the beans into the pot, loosening up and mixing in the cooked bacon and onion. Continue turning over periodically to get as many beans possible browned a bit. Once they've begun to brown up some, I add enough water to not quite cover the beans and continue to cook medium-low heat. Once the water begins to evaporate a good bit, I turn down the heat and just let them sit on the stove for an hour or more, stirring every now and again. Cook to desired tenderness and add desired amounts of salt and pepper to taste.

Then, spoon out and enjoy with your favorite main dish!  :)

Here they are with some bun-less cheeseburger sliders I concocted up one night for dinner.

L'oeufs and Turf

Splurged this week on a couple nice steaks - not grass fed, but hopefully, that won't prove all that detrimental just this one time.

Pack of two... Cooked both that night and enjoyed one with sweet potato and homemade green beans (yum). Next day, I cut the other in half and sautéed it in a hot sauce pan just for a minute or two to brown a bit and take the chill off. Threw that in a spinach salad with some Swiss cheese, tomato and vinaigrette for a quick tasty lunch.

Still had the other half in there today, so threw it in a pan for a minute, then scrambled some cheesy eggs to go with it, for brunch. Yummy! 

Lunch... and Learn

One of the toughest things at my job now is having to coordinate some sort of catering with Lunch and Learn on-site meetings for the boss. 

It's not so much the coordinating as it is the having to go online and looking at all this yummy food that's 90% illegal now and deciding what to order for them to have catered in.

Last time, it was submarine sandwiches and chips... Today, it was recommended that we order from a place in Nashville called Swanky's. A cool looking little taco shop that's right across the street from where the upcoming meeting will be held. 

So... I pulled it up online: www.swankystacoshop.com and man, did it look good. Did I mention that I probably miss Mexican more than any other ethnic food? Tortilla chips... queso... rice bowls...

Anyway. I digress.

Well, one of the delicious looking dishes I was slightly drooling over on their website, I actually had to stop myself over and say "Hey, wait. That one would totally be legal." So, was inspired to try it at home.

Tequila Lime Shrimp.

Now, I only stopped by Kroger on the way home, so didn't get any tequila, but figured some white wine would be close enough, so went with that.

And it turned out pretty tasty!

This is my Chardonnay Lime Shrimp version, with Spinach Salad (that I've grown pretty accustomed to, as of late).

I just took some white wine and added to it: fresh lime juice, chili powder, cilantro, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. And a little bit of EVOO just to help it 'stick' a bit better. Marinated the shrimp in that for about 30 minutes. Then, heated up about 1 tbsp EVOO in a hot skillet before adding a splash of the white wine (remove from heat to do this), then added the marinated shrimp (draining off the marinade  first). Tossed around and cooked well for at least 5-10 minutes. I added a little more lime juice before plating up, then once plated, I added a dash more chili powder and cilantro just for garnish.

Threw together a quick little side Spinach Salad... and it was a go!

Very yummy!

And you know, when you make a meal like this and actually give it a little 'presentation' - you don't feel deprived at all! You actually begin to feel a little spoiled!  :)

Playing with my Food... Again

So, while eating my yummy quiche last week, I began to wonder if that might not become a possible base for a noodle-free lasagne. It set up nicely like lasagne and was really just missing the tomato part and the Italian seasoning.

And, since I'd bought 2 lbs of sausage last week and only needed one for the quiche... and I still had a remaining can of Hunt's crushed tomatoes and a can of tomato paste left in my cabinet that I'd resisted throwing out or giving away.... I just went for it.

    (Not quite sure why I took the picture so caddy-wampus.)

It actually turned out pretty good! I pretty much still browned the sausage, browned some bell peppers and onion in the sausage grease, then threw those back together and added in some crushed tomatoes and paste to thicken up a bit. Added a good amount of Italian blend seasoning. Then added about 6 eggs, mixed together really well, mixed in some Swiss and Cheddar (since I'm not supposed to have Mozzarella). Poured the mixture into a lightly greased casserole and topped with a little more cheese. Baked for about 40 minutes.

I think next time, I'd like to try an actual Paleo lasagne recipe... but this one wasn't too bad for an improvisational / trial sort of dish! It was definitely a welcome change from all the hamburgers I had the rest of the week!

Pollo Stir-Fry

Threw this together one night, in more of an effort of mixing things up a bit than anything else. But, it turned out being really good.

I just had some leftover bell peppers to use up, so threw those, along with a sweet onion, in a hot skillet with some good ol' EVOO. Meanwhile, in another hot (non non-stick) skillet, I browned up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. 

Married the two when they were each good and browned. Added some baked sweet potato 'fries' and it was as good as a meal!

And one I plan on making again!

(I added a little bit of Colby Jack, too - just because.... well, just because I could.)