Salad dressings to try

From Momma Weave:

salad dressing #1 ( made in a Good Seasons glass bottle that you can buy at the grocery; we transfer it to a plastic Kraft salad dressing bottle):

1. 1 pkt of Good Seasons Italian All Natural salad dressing mix--put in plastic bottle
2. water--fill Good Seasons glass bottle leaving 2" at top (disregard the markings on the bottle)
3. Heinz Apple Cider vinegar--top off the glass bottle with the vinegar; pour into the plastic bottle and shake
4. Crisco canola oil--add as much or as little oil as you want; shake before serving. Store in fridge.
the box says this mix pkt has 1 gm of carbs and 320 mg. of salt per serving

salad dressing #2 (this is what I have been eating):

1. drizzle Carapelli EVOO ( for salad dressing) over salad
2. sprinkle salad with Pompeian Gormet Red Wine Vinegar
3. sprinkle salad with McCormick California Style Garlic Pepper
no carbs and 105 mg. of salt per serving

I like the EVOO but when we used it for the first salad dressing, it didn't work being refridgerated.

Grilled venison tenderloin medallions!

Not only was this meal one of the most delicious, purely primal feasts we've ever created, it was by far the most gratifying! After all the hours hunting this year, opening day of deer gun season was successful!! On the menu tonight to celebrate: grilled venison tenderloin medallions in a sauteed garlic, onion and mushroom mixture with a side of mashed turnips and cauliflower. Wow!

I guess there's not a specific recipe that we followed but a combination of googling for venison recipes. To start, fresh venison tenderloin marinated in garlic olive oil, all season spice, ground salt and pepper. I grilled the whole tenderloins on medium low heat for 4 minutes each side to 140 deg (plenty of pink left inside). Cut into medallion sized chucks and added to the finished veggie mix.

To create the veggie mix, chop the garlic and saute in a skillet with bacon grease until it starts to brown. Add chopped onions. Add mushrooms once onions start to brown. Saute on medium low until the meat is ready. Combine meat and veggies for a naturally organic, high protein, deliciously wild, incredible feast!

Angela's specialty and up and coming favorite: mashed turnips and cauliflower. Trim, skin and chop turnips and add to a pot of boiling water. Add chopped cauliflower once the turnips have had a chance to get a head start. With a hand mixer, mash ingredients with 3 tablespoons of butter, a splash of whole milk and a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon.

And after a delicious feast like this there's only one way we know how to end it...a trip to Jeni's Ice Cream!!

Thrown Together Stuffed Peppers

Adam and I had lots of peppers from visiting the farmer's market and some from the grocery so we decided to make some stuffed peppers. We also had some ground bison from the North Market. We also had some cauliflower and zucchini so it all went it.

We made the cauliflower rice that is found in an earlier post to be the rice you usually find in stuffed peppers. We sauteed diced zucchini and some onion with a little butter and salt and pepper while the bison was browning. Once all of that was done we combined it all and let it get all the flavors mixed up. Then we stuffed the peppers and placed them in a baking dish. We baked them at 375 for about 30-40 minutes. We added a little cheese on top and put back in the oven for about 3 minutes or until it was melted.

Enjoy!

Adam's Birthday Bacon Cupcakes

So Adam's wanted bacon incorporated into whatever I made him for his birthday. Luckily, I came across this website. It has all things bacon related. They have a great recipe for maple bacon cupcakes. The recipe was great, however they were a little dense so I need to figure out how to change that. Suggestions welcome!

Crock Pot Roast Beef

Crockpot meals are perfect for fall and can be very primal. We got a roast at the North Market and decided the easiest way for us to make it would be in the crockpot. So on a cold fall day we decided to make kind of a beef stew type dish.

Ingredients:

1 beef roast

2 sweet potatoes cubed

1 medium onion (large slices)

2 cups of carrots (we used extra baby carrots but if you have regular then chop into about 2 inch pieces)

1 cup of celery chopped into 2 inch pieces

1 cup of beef broth

salt and pepper

Put all the veggies on the bottom, then put in roast. Pour the broth over. We cooked ours on low for about 9 hours while we were at work.

Enjoy!

Lavender Lemon Chicken

While Adam was off walking under the Missouri River in Montana (he was there for work his company is doing on the dam there and got to walk in the giant pipes! and he got to stand in a known location of where Lewis and Clark stood), I decided to try something different with plain old chicken breast.

I had some left over lemon from our chicken and artichoke heart dish so I sliced some lemon very thin and placed them on the chicken. At the North Market this summer the worker at the spice place talked me into cooking lavender and a citrus type of peppercorn. So I decided to sprinkle a little of each on the chicken. I popped it in the oven and it turned out great! The lemon gave it a very light taste and the pepper and lavender were a perfect compliment.

We are going to try this on a whole chicken soon!

Primal Spaghetti and Meatballs

We love spaghetti squash and as soon as we found this recipe for meatballs on Mark's Daily Apple we knew we had to have spaghetti and meatballs :O)

Here is the recipe for the meatballs. There are other great recipes in this link. We have also made the mashed cauliflower and turnips AND they are way better than mashed parsnips!!!

Changes:

Once again ground lamb was cheaper than other ground meats so we used that. Also, make sure your pan is up to temp if you do cover them in bacon or you will have it all fall apart and stick to your pan...whoops.

ENJOY!

Paleo Chinese

We love PF Changs but hate how much salt is used. Usually we do the primal lettuce wraps but we found a recipe for cauliflower rice and decided to try that.

Here is the recipe to the rice. The only thing I would change is instead of olive oil I would use butter or bacon fat to add more flavor. It is a very plain dish and definitely needs to be a side OR try the dirty rice from this site as well.

For the meat and veggies portion we have combined a couple recipes.

2 pounds of chicken

3 tbsp of Tamari wheat free soy sauce

2 zucchinis diced

mushrooms diced

sesame oil to taste (Adam doesn't like it so I add it once cooked)

2 peppers diced

1 cup of green onions diced

Dice chicken and cook in skillet. Once cooked send through the food processor.

In same skillet add all veggies and soy sauce. Then mix in chicken.

ENJOY!

Stuffed Zucchini = a possible allergy for Ang

So we have been super busy with work and finalizing the move. We still have a lot of cleaning to do at the house and the apartment but slowly we are transitioning to the house. AND WE LOVE IT! Ang has gotten back into running and has explored the neighborhood, there are great streets with hills. Adam loves the space for all the bikes and having a yard that we do not have to mow :). So now it is time to play catch up with the blog:

This recipe is delicious!! However, this may have lead us to find out that Ang may be allergic to eggplant... We found the recipe at one of our favorite paleo websites, Everyday Paleo. Here is the recipe.

Changes:

We used ground lamb because surprisingly it was cheaper than other ground meats. We also used dry herbs.

ENJOY!

Back to Primal after Pumpkin

This weekend we headed down to the R&J Hideaway in Barnesville for yet another awesome Pumpkin Festival. We over indulged on pumpkin ice cream, porktatos, pie iron masterpieces and of course some of the 6 batches of chocolate chip cookies. Having said all that we both did not feel our best after having ate so many things that we normally do not. If I can say one thing about primal eating is that it makes us feel good. Soooooooooo after our weekly trip to Kroger and in need of some delicious meat we decided to splurge a little on some beef tenderloin.

Bacon wrapped steak: wrap steak in bacon, secure with toothpick and grill to your liking.

Sweet potato: either bake or microwave, add a little butter

Onions & Mushrooms: bring skillet and about a tablespoon of coconut oil to medium heat. Add chopped onion and cover. Once onions are pretty soft add chopped mushrooms and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Cover and cook on low heat until mushrooms are tender.

Enjoy!

Probably the best meal we have ever made...

Over the weekend Adam and I went apple picking with my parents at Lynd's Fruit Farm. We picked some delicious Jonathon apples. Since then I have been dying to make this recipe. It is a little labor intensive and you should not do it when you are also trying to make 6 batches of chocolate chip cookies for a weekend trip.....ha.

I followed the recipe with a few changes. Of course we used Jonathon apples instead of Granny Smith and used 2 instead of 1. One did not seem like it would be enough and I was right. Two is the perfect amount so that you have enough for stuffing and topping. The recipe also never tells you when to use the cinnamon. I mixed it in with the sauce for one top...YUM! Also did not use the lemon zest or the parsley.

Our side was Adam's green beans (see older post).

Link to recipe: http://cfscceat.blogspot.com/2011/03/apple-and-onion-stuffed-pork-chops.html

Steak 'n Squash

Yet another super easy dinner. Steak with salt and pepper grilled and Papa Pitstick butternut squash baked in the oven. YUM

Angela's Shrimp Tacos!

On this rainy Monday, Adam and I decided to do a semi-primal Mexican dish to make us think of warm sunny days :). It is another easy recipe and good for a Monday.

Shrimp Tacos:

Ingredients:

shrimp (as many as you think you need, we used a package of 30-35 cocktail shrimp)

iceberg lettuce

2 roma tomatos

half of a red onion

1 teaspoon of chopped fresh cilantro

juice from half a lime

1 teaspoon of

1 can of corn

1 can of black beans

For marinade:

4 teaspoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of sauce from a can of chipotles en adobo (it could use a little more if you like a kick. Also you do not use all of the adobo sauce/chipotles so just freeze the rest)

zest of lime (used the lime from above)

1 tablespoon of lime juice (again used half of the lime from above)

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Mix marinade together and marinade shrimp for 20 minutes.

While that is marinading, warm corn and beans together. Pull the lettuce leaves apart and place on plate in fridge.

Dice the tomato and onion, mix it with the cilantro and lime juice, YUM homemade salsa.

Once the shrimp is done marinading, saute in pan until they turn white.

Put all in the lettuce leaves and enjoy! We also put on some sour cream, you could also put on some cheese.

Dinner for One

So Adam is in Nashville for the week for work so I was left to fend for myself. Not used to cooking for 1 anymore. So I went back to a favorite from my single days. A pork chop with peppers and onions. It is really easy and takes only about 20 minutes start to finish.

I was able to pack some more things up for the move and watched Rieley one night which is always fun. We watched Beauty and the Beast, her favorite at the time, and just hung out. She always packs snacks for us to share and I love how happy she is to see me when I pick her up :).

I am ready for Adam to be home!!!! We are running a 10k this weekend in the Hocking Hills called the Indian Run. I ran this last year while training for a half marathon. It is AWESOME! It is a trail run through the beautiful Hocking Hills. We have not been really training to run it in any kind of time, just doing it to help restart out fitness routine which has been slacking since the wedding and all the moving began.

Easy Pork Chops and Peppers:

Grill pork chop or bake it. Baking takes a little longer. Seasoned with salt and pepper.

Cut peppers and onions into long slices. Saute in pan with butter until peppers are soft. I usually put a lid on the pan to help cook them faster. I also like when there is a little bit of almost a roasted look to them. Only use about 1 tablespoon of butter.

Home Grown Squash!

There is nothing better than vegetables from the garden. Adam and I are lucky that my dad plants a HUGE garden every year. This year we got lots of cucumbers, broccoli, onions, carrots and now butternut and acorn squash!

We had tons of time this night so we made the squash the right way and not the easy way. Usually we just cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, place on plate and cover with plastic wrap and put it in the microwave until it is done. But the best way is to do it in the oven.

It is pretty easy if you have about 45 minutes or an hour to bake it. Just cut in half, scoop out the seeds and score the inside of the squash with a knife. The place in a baking pan with the yummy side down. Add about 1/2 inch of water. Bake until soft.

We usually put some butter and a little brown sugar on top.

Beginning to Move and Comfort Meal

Adam and I spent Tuesday night moving stuff to the house we are going to be renting for the next year. Got a lot moved and then topped it off with a bike ride. The bike path is .8 miles from the house!! YEAH!!

Then it was home to make our favorite meatloaf recipe! And steamed asparagus. The good thing about this recipe is that it makes enough (if it is just 2 people) to take later in the week for lunches.

Variations: Did not use coconut flour, nutmeg or make the celery mush. Also, did not top with bacon since it's hard to crisp it up. Used chopped celery and some almond meal instead. Topped it with tomato sauce. YUMMMMMMM!

Breakfast for Dinner =

BRINNER! Adam loves mushrooms and breakfast, so when we found this recipe in the new Primal cookbook we had to try it. It is a very simple meal.

Portobello Mushrooms stuffed with Eggs, Spinach and bacon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Ingredients:

4 large portobello mushrooms stems removed

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cups frozen or fresh spinach (we used fresh)

6 eggs, whisked

1/2 to 1 cup meat, sausage or crumpled bacon (we used bacon). OR make it veggie and leave out the meat

Drizzle olive oil over both sides of portobello mushrooms. Lightly salt and pepper mushrooms. Place mushrooms on a baking sheet in the oven for 15 minutes.

While those are baking, saute spinach with a little oil. Add meat and saute until it is cooked, then turn heat on low and add eggs. Stir eggs, cooking until they reach the consistency you like (we scrambled ours).

Fill mushrooms with eggs mixture.

We topped ours with avocado chunks. If you like cheese, add some cheese. If you like it more spicy add some pepper.

ENJOY!

mmmmm Fried Fish

Angela usually never cooks fish in our household BUT we are glad she did!!! Introducing Almond meal breaded catfish pan fried in coconut oil!

This is VERY easy!

Ingredients:

catfish fillets

1 egg

almond meal

salt and pepper

coconut oil

Clean catfish fillets and let dry on a paper towel. Beat egg in a small bowl. In another bowl mix almond meal with salt and pepper. Dip fillet in egg then coat with almond meal.

In a frying pan, heat about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil over medium heat. Once the oil is liquefied and the pan is hot, add fillets 1 or 2 at a time depending on the size. Cook on each side for about 4 minutes or until it is golden brown.

You may need to add some oil from time to time depending on how much is soaked up by the fish.

Homemade tartar sauce: EASY! mayo and relish to taste.

Side for the night was steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Adam's note: we have some blackened seasoning that would be amazing mixed in with the almond meal

Sweet Potato Hash

We got a yummy EASY recipe from our friends Don and Steph for sweet potato hash. It is super easy and super yummy. We finished the dinner off with some more lamb (what can we say it is super yummy!!!)

Sweet Potato Hash

Ingredients:

sweet potatoes (use as many or as few as you would like depending on how much you want to make)

red pepper

yellow pepper

onion

salt and pepper

olive oil

Chop all veggies to a good chunk size. About 1 inch or so.

Toss the veggies in oil and salt and pepper.

Place on baking sheet and bake until potatoes are soft.

Thanks Losh's!

One of the best dinners ever

This is probably Angela's favorite primal recipe so far. I love artichokes and this was a simple way to make them. It is another recipe from the new primal cookbook with a little variations.

Chicken and Artichokes with Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons butter

4 garlic cloves finely chopped

zest of 1 large or 2 small lemons

2 pounds of skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch chunks

2 14 oz. cans of artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

parsley to garnish

In a skillet over medium heat combine olive oil and butter. Once the butter is melted, turn off heat and mix in garlic and lemon zest.

The recipe calls for the dish to be cooked under the broiler HOWEVER since our apartment oven sucks, we just baked ours at 375 until the chicken was done.

Garnish with parsley and enjoy.

IT IS DELICIOUS!!!

Coconut Fish

Another easy fish recipe. We baked grouper fillets with butter, salt and pepper, and lime juice. Once the fillets were baked, we topped the fillets with unsweetened coconut and placed under the broiler. (Make sure you keep an eye on them so they do not burn!!!)

The recipe only takes about 20 minutes to make.

Spice Rubbed Grilled Pork and Carrots

We love country style pork ribs and are always looking for new ways to grill or bake them. In the new Primal cookbook there is a recipe for spice rubbed pork so we just took that and used the pork ribs instead of the pork chops.

Again this is super easy recipe and you can swap the pork for chicken and use the carrots as a side for other meals.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of melted butter

1 teaspoon of ancho chile powder

1 teaspoon of cumin

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Country style ribs or any meat that you would like

8 carrots peeled and cut in half lengthwise

Mix spices with melted butter. Toss the carrots in a little over half the spice butter. Then rub pork with the rest.

Grill everything for 5 minutes on each side, then move away carrots if they are tender and finish off pork. Remember, the new cooking temp for pork is 145 degrees!! Keep it nice and juicy and tender.

ENJOY!

Kabobs, Cookies and Rieley

Thursday:

We got to watch Rieley after work today :) It is always a fun time having her over. We played hide and seek, went to see the ducks and baked some cookies. Rieley is not a very good hide and seek player. You play and whoever is the seeker says "Is Rieley in here?" and she replies from her hiding spot "Nooooooooooooooo..." Haha. She is growing up to be such a bright little kid.

She also helped Angela make cookies. We think she found out just how delicious chocolate chip cookie dough is :)

After Nick came to take Rie home it was time for some pork kabobs! Once again they are very simple. We matched it with some yummy Ohio sweet corn.

Cube pork and cut onion and pepper into chunks. Stick onto skewers and rub some olive oil onto the kabobs so they do not stick to the grill and add salt and pepper.

Grill until pork is cooked and veggies are tender.

ENJOY!

mmmm Salmon

Adam is the master at baking salmon. We have not figured out a good way to grill it yet but we are working on it.

Easy Salmon:

Wash salmon fillets

Spray pan with oil or use foil

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and pour over fillets. Season with you favorite seasonings. We usually use rosemary, salt and pepper or dill.

Bake for 20 minutes and 400 degrees.

We paired this with roasted red potatoes. Just quarter the potatoes and toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. If the meat does not have rosemary (or even if it does because Angela loves rosemary), then throw in some rosemary.

Bake at 400 until potatoes are tender.

ENJOY!

Life Decisions and More Lamb

Today we went to look at a house to rent, our apartment is not cutting it. With all the fun new things we got as wedding gifts and just our desire to have more space, it is time we start looking for something bigger (this will probably lead to me baking more since my new Kitchaide mixer will be able to be out on display!!). We are now trying to figure out just what we want out of a rental house.

After looking at the house we headed to the gym. A nice little self planned Crossfit.

Tuesday Workout

Pull ups (Adam) or cable pull downs (Angela) x 10

Thrusters x 10

Push ups x 10 or alternate push ups and sit ups (Angela)

Do 5 rotations

Dinner:

We had planned to have catfish and zucchini and squash. However upon opening the catfish, we may have left in the fridge for too long...whoops. So we pushed the lamb up a day and kept the squash and zucchini.

Lamb: State Fair lamb steak

Zucchini and Squash: locally grown. Sauteed in olive oil. Butter and salt and pepper added for last few minutes of sauteing.

We also got the new Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals in the mail today. So be on the lookout for some yummy things!

A Walk in the Woods and Roasted Turkey and Mashed Parsnips

SO this is the first time I (Angela) get to post about our dinner :). My posts will probably be a little more wordy and give a run down on what else we have been doing with our lives.

Monday after work we decided to take a nice long walk since it was in the high 70's and a perfect evening for a walk. Not to mention walking is a great exercise and very primal :). We went to Blacklick Woods which is a Columbus Metro Park. Adam talked me into getting a pair of Merrell pace gloves. They are perfect for hiking and working out.

After our walk we headed home for dinner. We made roasted turkey breast with butter under the skin and herds (salt, pepper, rosemary...Angela's favorite spice) and mashed parsnips (see recipe below).

Mashed Parsnips

2 large parsnips

1 cup of broth

1 1/2 cups of water

1 1/4 cups of cream or whole milk

butter, salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Peel and cut up parsnips like you would a potato. Place in a large pot with water and broth. Boil until tender (about 15-20 minutes). Drain water, save some broth for mashing. Add cream, butter and broth. Mash. Mix in salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. ENJOY!

Overall it was not a bad Monday :)

Standard lunch

Food:

• 2 Chicken thighs
• Salad – spinach, red leaf romaine, veggies

Prep:

• Chicken – pieced or whole chicken cooked the night before or Sunday night. baked, seasoned.
• Salad - see link below

Desert:

Full fat plain Greek yogurt with blueberries and strawberries

Comments: Either this lunch or the big ass salad is pretty standard most days.

Standard breakfast

Food: Bacon and eggs

Drink: Juice today, but usually water

Prep: Easy. Eggs topped with Frog Ranch mild all natural salsa

Comments: No box cereal in this house

Bison

Food:

• Bison New York Strip steak from Red Run Bison Farm in Marshallville, OH purchased at the North Market



• Broccoli

Drink: Red Wine

Prep:

• Bison – lightly coated with olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary and chipotle red flakes. Grilled to 145 degrees



• Broccoli – steamed, served with butter

Desert: dark chocolate squares

Comments: Delicious! This was a special Sunday night treat.

BBQ Chicken and Green Beans

Food:

• Bar-b-que Chicken breast w/skin & bone and back meat
• Adam's green beans

Drink: Water

Prep:

• Chicken – lightly coated in olive oil, seasoned salt, pepper, rosemary, Grilled to 165 degrees

• Green beans – sautéed white onion in bacon grease, fresh green beans cut and seasoned with salt and pepper. Cooked in covered skillet

Desert: 2 squares Lindt dark chocolate – 85% cocoa

Comments:

Chicken took 30 minutes to bring to temp on grill. Skin burned.

Lamb

Food:

• Lamb shoulder – from Ohio State Fair animal purchased at Kroger
• Asparagus

Drink: Red wine, water

Prep:

• Lamb – lightly coated in olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme. Grilled to 145 degrees
• Asparagus – boiled, butter at serving, salt to taste

Desert:

• Full fat plain Greek yogurt with blueberries

Comments: None