What's for dinner? 1/16/18

Last night I had Sweet Italian Style Chicken Sausage from Trader Joe's with a side of thin green beans from BJ's.  I liked it.  My family did not. Oh well!
But I love to eat ketchup with sausage.  I wanted to make some but I bought the wrong fire roasted tomatoes last week. Instead I used salsa from Aldi. No sugar added. My husband ate half the jar with his sausage (I made them the usual kind we eat.) He is trying to limit his sugar now.
I'd buy this sausage again.

Tonight I'm planning on making Paleo Stuffed Peppers from Our Paleo Life.

It looks delicious.  Aldi had their mixed peppers on sale last week and I bought 2 bags (6 peppers).

I hope mine look as good as theirs.   I'll let ya know!

My SWAG from grocery shopping ....

Shopping has changed since I started Whole30.  I read the labels and it takes longer - good for me I get to be away from the house longer.

I got 3 Grass Fed Chuck Beef Roasts - they were on sale for $3.97/lb at Lowe's Foods!  What a bargain.

I made a beef stew with the first roast. I covered the roast with salt and pepper, threw it in my cast iron braiser that I sautéed a bag of Seasoning Blend, covered it with 2 cups of beef broth and put it in the oven. After an hour I added some gemstone potatoes, a cut up sweet potato and some butternut squash chunks. Baked @350 for another hour and Viola!

I got some great items at Aldi. 

 A cabbage, can of pumpkin, 2 kinds of guacamole, a cauliflower, sweet onions,

Strawberry Pineapple flavored sparkling water, eggs, baby carrots, whole pecans

 $2 off an organic chicken! It was tasty too.

I roasted it with Bicentennial Rub on the skin and I mixed a little ghee with

Mural of Flavor and shoved under the skin on the breast.

After an hour I added a sweet potato and a white potato.

 A great buy!

For lunches!

I went to Trader Joe's this morning. I haven't been there in so long.  Heck, I haven't been to Charlotte since before I broke my ankle in May 2017. I got Mixed Nut Butter, Heirloom Tomatoes, 2 kinds of Chicken Sausage, Almonds, Dates, Winter Sangria Sparkling Water, Tahini, Fire roasted tomatoes, Colorful Carrot Coins, Salsa Verde (love it on salads), a spaghetti squash, Spindrift water, cashews,  seafood mix and langoustines. YUM!!

Cabbage!

It's Sunday morning and I am trying to finish a book while catching up on TV shows I have recorded last week. I put on A Chef's Life on PBS. It's the episode about CABBAGE!  I love this show and Vivian Howard. I have her cookbook, Deep Run Roots.  It reminded me that I made a cabbage dish the other night!

Cabbage Stir Fry
2-3 T Coconut oil
1/2 medium cabbage, sliced
1 carrot, some shaved (with vegetable peeler) and some sliced
1 onion, sliced into moons
2-3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 package Snow Peas
2 Tablespoons Coconut Aminos
1 tsp. Ruth Ann's Muskego Ave Chicken/Fish Seasoning  from Penzey's
May need additional salt & pepper

What I started with.

After the oil was hot, I added the vegetables and Ruth Ann's.

It will cook down a lot after the water is released

from the cabbage and onions. I thought this needs more...

These were on sale at Harris Teeter last week.

Just open the bag and throw them on top.

Cook on low-medium for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Add the coconut aminos.

Be sure to taste before serving in case you need more salt and pepper.

My husband went nuts over this vegetable dish. These are the vegetables used in making a Filipino dish called Pancit.  All you need to add is 2 different kinds of meat and the Pancit noodles.

It is not a Whole30/Paleo/Primal meal with the noodles added.

We ate this a lot while we lived in Guam when I was a kid. 

I would make it for my family when I could find the noodles

at the Asian market (before we stopped eating a lot of wheat).

Chicken Soup

I was so hungry for soup the other day. So I made some!!  It's been very cold here, which is unusual. Homemade soup always tastes so much better than the stuff out of a can.  I didn't have any bones to make my own stock so I used store bought.

Everything I used to make this soup I bought at Aldi except for the seasonings and the chicken stock. I had a HUGE shopping trip to BJS the other week.

 I chopped up some vegetables and let them soften.

Then I added 4 frozen chicken tenderloins.

I thought that I needed something else so I added some thin slices of butternut squash.

Cover the chicken with chicken broth.

I bought this at BJs. I had a coupon!!  No sugar added.

Here's my delicious soup.  I made enough for 3 bowls.

Chicken Soup

2 T of your favorite oil

1 carrot, peeled and sliced into coins

1 celery rib, chopped

1/2 medium onion, chopped

A few chunks of butternut squash, sliced thin and julienned

4 chicken tenderloins

2 hard boiled eggs, sliced

Salt and Pepper

1/2 teaspoon chervil - I use Penzey's

2 cups chicken stock

In a medium sized saucepan, sauté the vegetables using medium heat, until they have softened. Add a bit of salt to help them. Then add the chicken and cover it with the chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chervil. Cover and simmer (on low)until the chicken is cooked, about 15 minutes. Take the tenderloins out and slice them. Add the chicken back into the pot. Add the sliced hard boiled eggs and enjoy!

Bacon Egg Scramble with Spinach

I'm starting Whole30 tomorrow. I need a jump start into eating clean again. I am waiting for the new books from amazon. They take FOREVER!!
I found a lot of recipes and information on the internet. Here's a great article - How to Prepare for a Whole30 from 40Aprons.

Bacon Egg Scramble with Spinach

1 whole egg
2 egg whites (I don't care for a lot of yolk.)
2 strips of approved bacon, chopped  (I used Applegate.)
Handful of raw spinach
1/2 T KerryGold butter
Pink Himalayan Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
Two Shakes of Sunny Paris Seasoning

1. Put the bacon in the pan and cook until almost done.

2. While the bacon is cooking, add the eggs to a bowl and scramble. When the bacon is almost done, add the butter, then the spinach.

3. When it wilts, add the eggs, pepper and Sunny Paris.

4. Cook until it's finished the way you like it!

5. Sprinkle with the salt. Enjoy! I am obsessed with this breakfast. It's so good.

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce from NoblePig!

I found this post for Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce on the Noble Pig.  Skip the pasta and pour it over some cauliflower!

Butternut-Squash Pasta Sauce
1-1/2 pounds butternut squash, cubed
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
7 garlic cloves, peel on
3/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
coarse salt and ground pepper
Toppings such as fresh sage and bacon are optional

Click here for the recipe.....

Be sure to check out Noblepig.com....it's got some fantastic recipes, especially if you are not a follower of Paleo/Primal.

Another cereal recipe from RealSustenance.com

This was Sophia's breakfast this morning.  She was very happy.  She was one of those kids whose breakfast was always cereal.  When we realized that we had a problem with wheat and we were going to give up wheat, that meant cereal was out!!

I found this recipe, Paleo Cookie Crisp at RealSustenance.com. Click on the link for her site to find the recipe. We made this yesterday. It was fun to make them together.

We made them very small!!

Sophia would put the mini chocolate chips on after I piped the dough on the sheet.

Fresh from the oven.

This is how many we made. I put 3 of these containers in the freezer!

These are delicious as cereal or snacks!

Bacon-a-mole

I LOVE guacamole.  This is my take on the typical recipe when I am in the mood for BACON.  I like onion flavor but I do not like raw onions so I left them out.  But you could use any onions or scallions you like.

1 ripe avocado
1 tomato - chopped
garlic salt to taste
a few shakes of Penzeys Granulated Onion
juice of 1/2 lime
3-4 slices of bacon, chopped and cooked

Mix the ingredients together.  You can use this as a dip or serve as a salad over greens. OR throw it in a bowl and chow down!

Lemon Poppyseed Waffles

I was hungry this morning for something different.  I get tired of eggs everyday and I was not ready to have a "lunch-type" food.  I was looking around on the internet and came across this recipe at PaleOMG.
These are so good!!!!!!  I think everyone should try them!!

  and while you are over at PaleOMG, look at her other recipes!!

Brownies.....

I love brownies!!  I really miss my old recipe.....it was so delish!  I have tried another primal recipe using almond butter BUT, don't be mad at me, I don't really like almond butter!  The recipe tasted more like the almond butter than the chocolate! 

I found this recipe yesterday and made it last night. Yummy!  My husband ate 2 pieces.  He kept saying how good they are.  That's a big deal to hear that!!

I used almond flour that I ground up!!

Closer...

I followed this to grind your own flour. It's a bit down in the post but Vanessa was correct.  You can make your own flour!  The first time I did it I did not have a coffee grinder.  But I got the Hamilton Beach grinder and it works very well!!  I used my Ninja Master Prep to grind down the nuts.  Then I sifted the fine particles out and put the larger pieces in to the coffee grinder.  This really works well.  I made a bit of a mess and it's a little noisy but you save so much money!!
A BIG THANKS to Vanessa for showing me the way!!