Adam's stuffed peppers

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Happy Fourth of July!

On a VERY hot 4th of July we wanted something grilled of course yet refreshing.  Happy to have the power and internet back, Angela was busy on Pinterest looking up yummy recipes to try.  Having tons of fresh basil from the herd garden we are always looking for recipes to use it.  When Ang came across this recipe we knew we had a winner.

After dinner we relaxed then headed off to the Clintonville fireworks, not as good as Papa Pitstick's shows but it was a perfect 4th of July :).

Power outage brinner

Well our power was out for 4 days from a huge storm that rolled through on June 29th.  They say it was a derecho, which to us sounds like some kind of Mexican dish.  But it is actually a widespread, long lived windstorm and boy did the Midwest get hit.  You can learn more about derechos here.

On the first night of the power out, we were actually watching Rieley.  We were lucky we picked something to make for dinner that we could on our camp stove.  We made chicken patty versions of this chicken nugget recipe.  Just fried it up in some coconut oil.  Rieley especially loved the porch party that followed.  And the next morning we made bacon and eggs on the porch.

Luckily we were able to borrow our friend's generator so we did not lose all of the beef we just bought and didn't have to eat out every meal.  We became very good at making things on the grill and camp stove.  The best dinner came on the last night of our power being out.  We love making brinner and this recipe was just what we needed.  We plan on making it when we are out camping along the AT in August.

Taco Bowl

We came across another yummy primal recipe from Mark's Daily Apple.  We are always looking for good ways to make our favorite things like Mexican or Chinese.  This recipe has a good homemade mix of spices that is way better than the store bought stuff.  We did not do the kale chips, just some chopped iceberg.  Here is the link to the recipe.

Zucchini pasta

Instead of our usual "spaghetti" with spaghetti squash, we decided to use zucchini.  We used our mandolin to julienne the zucchini.  We sauteed it in some butter until it was tender.  For the sauce we used tomato sauce, tomato paste, browned ground beef, and some oregano and basil from the herb garden.  A little dash of parmesan cheese and voila. 

Homemade Fruit By the Foot

Adam bought a dehydrator so we could start making jerky and veggie chips.  For our first use we made banana chips...need to work on this one and will post when we have a good technique down.

Kroger had strawberries 4 for $5 so we took up that deal and with some rhubarb from Mom and Dad Pitstick's garden we set out to make fruit leather.  We made them slightly too thin and dehydrated just a little too long.  But it should be pretty easy to fix for the next round.

All we did was puree the strawberries and rhubarb, added about a tablespoon of honey.  For a little energy boost we added 2 tablespoons of chia seeds.  We put plastic wrap on the dehydrator sheets and then spread the puree mixture on those (do not do it too thin as it will get thinner as it dehydrates).  We put it in the dehydrator for 8 hours but will probably do about 6-7 the next round.

Yummy Chicken!

So we just discovered foodgawker and it opened the door to even more primal recipes! We get tired of plain chicken either grilled or baked and wanted something different. I found this yummy recipe on foodgawker. Seriously a dish we will make often!

Flip Side

While cruising around Easton Mall after a few errands on a Friday night, Angela and I were in search of a place to eat. We were initially headed to P.F. Changs, but out of the corner of my eye I spotted a huge sign that said "Grass Fed Beef".  What is that place?!  It's called Flip Side and it turned out to be delicious!

Angela is not a big burger fan, but after studying the menu for awhile she was definitely on board.  All the beef comes from Ohio grown, grass fed cows.  They also offer all their burgers naked served on iceberg lettuce which is exactly what we had in mind!

Ang went with "the one that started it all"...the Open Door Burger.  7 oz burger with crispy shallots, melted brie cheese and date applewood bacon aioli.  I'm a sucker for mushrooms so I went with the Forester Burger served with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions, crispy shiitake mushroom and truffle aioli.  We split a side of sweet tater fries and dug in to our naked burgers.  They were great!

Angela commented at the end of the meal that this was probably the best burger she's ever had.  I agreed.  I think we accidently stumbled upon our new favorite burger joint!

BLTA and sweet tater fries!

So what is a BLTA? Pure deliciousness.  This is a Primal Quick and Easy classic...Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado in between two chicken breasts to make an amazing sandwich! Slather on some real mayo and bake up a side of sweet tater fries. It doesn't get any easier to make this yummy dish since all the ingredients are pretty self explanatory.  Tonight's dinner was well earned after an intense Crossfit Dunedin workout outside on the driveway.  Our neighbors probably think we are weirdos running all over the place. And they would be right.  But with this great weather, who wants to work out in a stuffy gym?!  Enjoy your favorite new sandwich!

Roasted Chicken and Swiss Chard

After a long walk in this AMAZING early spring weather, we were all set for a very yummy dinner.

We have changed things up this week and instead of making a whole chicken for lunches, we made one for dinner! Adam quartered the chicken and just added salt and pepper and stuck in the oven for 45 minutes at 425 degrees.

We have found a new favorite veggie: Swiss Chard. It comes in a few different variations: green , red and rainbow. We have used rainbow before and this time used red.

It is a pretty easy veggie to make. We heated 3 tablespoons of butter and a half cup of chicken broth over medium high heat. Chop up the chard, remove the tough stalk. Add the chard to the pan and cook with the lid on. Be sure to mix it up every so often. It takes about 15 minutes to cook. Basically sauteed very much like cooked spinach.

Enjoy!

Mint lamb burgers with asparagus

This was an easy and quick meal pulled from the Make it Paleo cookbook.

1# of ground lamb

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

2 Tbsp fresh mint, minced

salt and pepper to taste

And all final fixings, whatever you like

So throw all the seasonings, garlic and shallot in with the meat and mix up by hand.  Form patties and grill for 4 minutes each side.  We decided to add some local, grassfed cheese we got from Meadow Maid Farm at the city of Worthington Winter Market. For a side, we just picked one of Ang's favorites.  Definitely repeat worthy!

Ragin' Cajuns!

A few Friday nights ago, we really decided to mix things up and try something new.  On the menu...seasoned crawdads with a side of okra and tomatoes...Cajun style!!

The crayfish were from Kroger and next time we'll have to look harder for a different source (I think these came from overseas).  Ok for this first try.  They were pre-cooked and seasoned, so all I did was rinse them and steam them to heat them up.

The okra and tomato side dish we took from a recipe in Down Home with the Neelys.  We haven't used their book much, but if anyone knows about southern cookin', the Neelys do.

I don't feel like typing the whole recipe (maybe Ang will fill it in later), but their secret to cooking okra is searing it at high heat, then finishing it for a few minutes in the tomatoes.  If okra is cooked for too long on too low of heat, it's gets all slimy.

Going out on a limb with this meal, but all in all it turned out great! 

The aftermath...

Pizza pizza!

Same great recipe as before and same yummy result!  This time we made mini-pork meatballs and used bell peppers as toppings.  Delicious!

Fennel and apple slaw with pork chops

For any MDA followers, the comment sections provide many opportunites to explore other people's primal blogs just like AMW².  I randomly clicked on one called "Primal Texas" because it sounded cool.  I spotted a recipe for fennel, which we haven't used yet.  So thanks to Primal Texas for the delicious recipe for fennel and apple slaw with pork chops.  There is definitely something great about apples and pork chops. And the recipe makes plenty of leftover slaw for lunches!

Primal pancakes and the hike

This is another variation of primal pancakes!! These are vanilla pancakes and we topped them with fried bananas and almonds and maple syrup.

After a delicious breakfast we loaded up our backpacks (Ang with a 20 pound pack and Adam with a 30 pound pack) and drove down to Clear Creek Metropark south of Lancaster. It was a beautiful day for a hike and the park did not disappoint. We hiked the loop starting in the Fern picnic area which included some huge elevation changes up to the ridge. With weighted packs it was no small feat. This is our 2nd weekend out with our packs and we definitely felt much stronger. Can't wait for the next trip!

Pineapple and Pork Fried Cauliflower Rice

We had a craving for a Chinese inspired dish this week and decided to mix things up and use pork this time.  I also love cooked pineapple so why not throw it in!  We modified a recipe in PB Quick and Easy for "Pork Fried Cauliflower Rice" for the ingredients we wanted.

I chopped up: mushrooms, red, yellow, and orange peppers from our lunch salad stash, cut up a fresh pineapple and added a can of diced water chestnuts.  Sauteed this mixture in a large skillet with coconut oil.

Next, I made up some cauliflower rice in the food processor and threw that in with the veggies once they were well on their way.  Right before I added the meat, I added 2 whisked eggs and stirred the mixture until the egg was cooked.

For the pork, I just sauteed the cut pieces of 2 chops in a skillet of bacon grease and Tamari (wheat free) soy sauce.  I added it all together and served it out! Delicious!!    

Lunch this week

Chicken salad!

A change up from the usual roasted chicken. We wanted something that was quick and easy since we are both pretty busy at work and need something that we can just grab from the fridge.

We made 2 kinds. First a normal chicken salad and then an avocado chicken salad.

We baked 3 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Once it was cooled we threw them in the KitchenAid with the flat beater attachment and put it on medium high until the chicken was shredded (yet another great thing the KitchenAid can do!).

We divided the chicken evenly into two bowls.

Regular Chicken Salad:

Shredded Chicken

Mayo (as much or as little as you like, we like ours with not too much mayo so I used about 3/4 of a cup)

Relish (again as much or as little as you like, we only used a spoonful)

Onion (again as much or as little as you like, we used about 1/4 cup)

Salt and Pepper

Avocado Chicken Salad:

Shredded Chicken

Mayo, 1-3 spoonfuls

1-2 avocados (we used 1)

Onion (again as much or as little as you like, we used about 1/4 cup)

The juice of half a lime

Salt and Pepper

YUM!

Beef Broth

While strolling through the aisles of Weiland's this morning, Angela spotted a bag of frozen beef bones in the freezer section.  Perfect day to make some beef broth!

No secret formula here...somewhere between 12-15 cups of water, 1 tsp salt and pepper, dash of thyme, beef bones, 3 large carrots, inner celery stocks, and 1 onion quartered...throw it in a pot and simmer for 2.5 hours.  Afterwards, let it cool, then place in the refrigerator overnight.  In the morning, I will scrape off the fat layer that forms, then pour the broth into ice cube trays.  1 tray has 16 cubes and it's 2 cups of broth exactly.  Makes it easy to portion out for recipes.

Dinner tonight was leftovers and I ended up chowing down the cooked carrots from the broth and nibbling on the cooked bone marrow.  Pretty good!

Un-stuffed cabbage

This was a random selection out of PB Quick and Easy Meals cookbook.  We both like stuffed cabbage, so why not give this a try?!  The great thing about this recipe is that the ingredients are easy to round up and it doesn't take long to make.  And there's plenty of leftovers for lunch!

1 small onion finely chopped

2 large turnips, peeled then grated (a head of grated cauliflower can be used instead. We'll have to try that next time)

1 pound ground meat (the recipe called for 1/2# pork and 1/2# bison or beef. We used 1# of pork)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 Tbl dried parsley

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (the recipe didn't say whether or not to drain this before adding, we didn't, and it was probably a mistake)

1 head green cabbage

In a deep pot over medium-high heat, saute onion and turnip for a few minutes, then cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes to steam turnip.

Add ground meat and seasonings.  Saute for 6-8 minutes, then add tomatoes. Simmer rapidly for 10 min, stirring occasionally.

With the meat simmering, cut the cabbage into fourths, removing the inner core. Separate the leaves slightly, then microwave covered for 5 minutes (we did it longer until the leaves were more tender. on the 2nd round we put butter on the leaves).  Season with butter and salt.

This was really good and is definitely on the repeat list!!

Paleo Chicken Pot Pie

All I have to say is...THIS IS AMAZING! Cold winter nights have been calling for something warm to eat. I can't remember the last time we had chicken pot pie and didn't know it would be possible under the primal diet. But if it is one thing that I have realized since going primal, it's that most "normal" recipes can be adapted to primal ones.

I was a little skeptical of the gravy....soaking cashews and turning into a gravy sounded very weird. But it turned out great.

We don't have small ramekins so we just made it in a large casserole dish and baked it slightly longer. This is definitely a repeat.

Find the recipe here.

Primal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

YUM!!! That is pretty much all I have to say about these cookies. They are fluffier than my regular chocolate chippers but delicious!

This recipe came from our cookbook The Food Lovers - Make it Paleo

Ingredients:

3 cups of almond flour

1 tsp baking soda

1tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup of unrefined coconut oil

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (72% cacao)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. In a small bowl beat eggs, vanilla and maple syrup.

Pour wet into dry ingredients. Mix well with mixer.

Melt coconut oil and pour into batter and continue to beat until combined.

Stir in chocolate chips.

On parchment paper or silicon baking sheets drop about tablespoon size balls.

Bake for 15 minutes.

ENJOY, we did with a glass of Snowville Creamery Whole Milk.

Steak and Turnip Risotto

Another successful recipe from Quick and Easy Primal cookbook!  We've been experimenting with lots of new dishes lately and they have all been great.  We've been holding off on this one until now because we finally have chicken stock!

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken stock
4 large turnips - peeled and grated in a food processor
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound steak - recipe called for skirt steak.  I forget what we bought.
1 shallot - sliced
1/4 cup oil
salt and pepper

In a small pot bring the chicken stock to a boil.  In a large pot on medium high heat, melt the butter then add turnips.  Add the chicken stock and continue to boil for 10-12 minutes until it's mostly boiled off.

Meanwhile, slice the steak, season with salt and pepper and cook in a skillet with oil. The shallot is browned in yet another small skillet with oil to add to the finished dish as a garnish.

We ended up with plenty of dirty pots and pans, but it was worth it! The turnip risotto is definitely going to make it into the rotation!

Scallops with almonds and bacon

Angela is always asking for scallops.  And for good reason, they are delicious!  We've tried them a few times with pretty good success but I think this has been our best result.

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon (my favorite ingredient)
1/2 cup almonds - we started with sliced almonds
1 large handful of parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Scallops

Directions:

Cook the bacon and save the skillet and grease.  Crumble or cut bacon into food processor and pulse with almond and parsley.

On medium high heat, add scallops to skillet and cook 2 minutes on each side until nice and brown. Add 1-2 minutes each side for firmer texture.

Plate the finished scallops and sprinkle with bacon and almond mixture.  We found this recipe in the appetizer section of Quick and Easy Primal cookbook.  We added a small salad to make it a meal...yum!

Berry Pancake

Another great mix up for breakfast. I messed it up a little bit but it was just me making it while Adam hit the gym. This is something that you want 2 people to help.

This came from the Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp of butter

1 cup of sliced berries (we used strawberries and blackberries)

4 large eggs separated into whites and yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat butter in an oven proof skillet over medium heat. add berries and simmer for 3-5 minutes so the liquid thickens, stirring.

While someone is manning that, the other person will whisk the egg yolks for 1-2 minutes by hand with vanilla and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl use an electric hand mixer to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Then fold the yolks into the egg whites.

With the skillet still over medium heat, spread the egg batter over the berries. Cook for 2 minutes on the stove and then move to the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place a plate over the pan and flip.

Cut into slices and enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Broth

Quite a few recipes we've skipped over have called for homemade chicken broth. We haven't made them because the store bought broth is full of a lot of stuff we don't want. After looking up directions, it seemed making our own chicken broth from scratch was pretty easy. All you need is a chicken carcass, some spices and a few veggies (optional). Since we regularly cook a whole chicken each week, it wasn't hard coming up with the ingrediants.

For no particular reason, I picked this recipe to make our broth. Mostly because it didn't call for any veggies other than an onion, which is all I had on hand. Pretty easy and forgiving...throw it all in and simmer for a few hours. We will have a post soon with a recipe calling for our newly made broth!

Banana and almond topped pancakes

On this super cold and icy morning Adam and I needed something different from our usual bacon and eggs. In my new cookbook (Make it Paleo) there is a yummy recipe for coconut flour waffles or pancakes. I am not a big fan of pancakes but the picture in the book was too yummy looking to pass up.

Pancake/Waffle Ingredients:

1/4 cup of coconut flour

4 eggs

1 tbsp of milk (recipe calls for coconut milk but we used Snowville Creamery Whole Milk)

1 tbsp of cinnamon (if making the pancakes use just 1/4 tsp.)

1/4 tsp of nutmeg

1/4 tsp of baking soda

FOR PANCAKES:

In a medium bowl mix all ingredient together with a hand mixer. Bring a skillet up to medium heat and add coconut oil. Pour 1/8 of the mixture into the middle of the skillet. Cook for 2 minutes on each side.

FOR WAFFLES:

Heat waffle iron to waffle setting (medium heat). Drop batter into center, this batter does not expand like usual waffle batter. Usually takes about 3-5 minutes.

Banana Nut Topping:

2 bananas sliced

1 tsp of coconut oil

1/4 cup of pecans (we used almond slices because that is what we had)

Heat the coconut oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add banana. Sear slices until brown and crispy. Flip and add nuts. Once that side is crispy just give it all a good toss.

Top the pancakes/waffles with the banana nut topping and maple syrup.

YUMMMMM!

Pizza night!

Every now and then Adam and I cheat with pizza. I mean who can resist a cold beer and pizza on a Friday night??? We were very excited to come across a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust. I was a little skeptical at first and our first go around produced a mushy dough (we tried to double it, I would recommend NOT doing that!). On our second attempt we stuck to the recipe and it was AMAZING!

You can find the recipe here.

We topped ours with organic pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, prosciutto and quartered artichoke hearts.

ENJOY!

Venison and red pepper breakfast

One morning we had a left over grilled venison stuffed pepper (followed same recipe from an earlier post but used some of Adam's fresh ground venison). Adam had a great idea to make a egg hash with the left over stuffed pepper. He just chopped up the pepper and tossed it in while he was scrambling the egg.

YUM!

Primal lasagna

For Christmas I got a new primal/paleo (actually paleo but it works) cookbook! It is The Food Lovers Make it Paleo book. You can also find recipes on their blog.

This is a great dish when you want something hearty and warm on a winter day. You can also make it vegetarian by just adding more veggies to the sauce instead of beef.

Zucchini Lasagna

1 lb of ground beef (or any type of ground meat you would like)

3 gloves of garlic minced

1 small yellow onion chopped

1 small green pepper chopped

6 oz can of tomato sauce (be sure to get a can that has no salt added)

15 oz of tomato sauce (again no salt added)

1 tbsp of parsley (we didn't have any so we skipped this)

1 tbsp of basil

1 tbsp of oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1 zucchini (we actually used 3 small ones)

1 1/4 cups of sliced mushrooms

Brown the ground beef in a large skillet.

Add garlic, onion and green pepper and saute for 5 minutes.

Stir in tomato past and sauce.

Add in the spices and bring to a light boil, then remove from the heat.

Grease a 9x13 pan.

Place a thin layer of the sauce mixture. Then a layer of zucchini, then mushrooms and then sauce. Repeat until it is all gone.

Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes covered with foil. The bake for another 15 at 35o degrees without the foil.

ENJOY!

Venison crockpot chili!

So this was my first attempt ever making chili. Tons of recipes out there. I choose one out of our new book The Everyday Low-carb Slow Cooker Cookbook by Bitter and Mayone. This is their "typical chili" recipe, although I changed and subbed a few things. I prepared everything the night before and stored it in the fridge, then threw it all in the next morning and let it cook while we were at work. What a great dinner to come home to!

2 pounds ground beef - I used 1# ground venison and 1# ground pork

1 onion chopped

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp kosher salt

1 green bell pepper, chopped - I used red

Did not use any beans - not primal

1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes

Made 2 cups of beef broth from bouillon cubes

2 Tbs of chili powder

1 Tbs minced garlic

2 tsp's oregano

1 tsp cumin

Grated cheese for topping

I browned the meat, then threw everything in the crockpot. 8 hours on low. It turned out great! Despite the weird red picture, sorry about that. I was too excited to eat a delicious bowl of chili than mess with the camera settings. One thing to change next time; only use 1 tablespoon of chili powder. It was a little over powering and we prefer to let the other flavors come through.

Fish taco salad

This is a pretty simple fish taco recipe that only takes about 30 minutes. This is yet another great recipe from the Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals.

We put the fish and toppings over some sauteed cabbage. To saute the cabbage just chop it up and put in a large skillet with about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and salt and pepper to your liking. Put lid on the skillet and mix it around every few minutes. This does not take long, about 10-15 minutes so start it when you start your fish.

The recipe calls for lettuce leaves to wrap the fish in so if you would rather do that then go for it!

Fish "Tacos" with Citrus Dressing

2 lbs of fish (we used grouper, but it suggests cod, Mahi-Mahi or halibut)

2 tablespoons of lemon pepper seasoning

olive oil for drizzling

1 white or red onion thinly sliced (our mandolin was great for this!)

sliced avocado for garnish

Season the fish with the lemon pepper and drizzle with olive oil. You can pan fry it or bake it. We backed it for 20 minutes. While that is cooking make the citrus dressing.

Dressing:

1 cup of mayo

3 large or 4 small limes (for zest and juice)

2 cloves of garlic minced

Zest the limes into a small bowl and then cut them open and squeeze out the juice into a different bowl. Stir mayo, garlic and zest while slowly adding the juice.

Just drizzle that over the fish and ENJOY!

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