Monday, August 13, 2012

Paleo Smothered Pork Chops

Tonights dinner was so well received, I thought I'd better write it down.

This is a take on the ole' crock pot classic, you know the one, plop in some pork chops, pour a couple cans of cream of mushroom goup on top, set it and forget it? While it does create tender and tasty porkchops it lacks oomph. It also lacks nutrition and is packed with unfavorables, such as grains, dairy and MSG. SO upon seeing the beautiful mushrooms in my fridge this morning, my mind flashed back to those pork chops of years gone by.

1 head cauliflower
1 cup almond milk
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 pkg mushrooms of choice, sliced
2 large cloves minced garlic
1 cup white wine
1/2 tsp ground oregano or 1 tsp oregano flakes
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp poultry seasoning
salt and black pepper to taste

First of all, clean and chop that head of cauliflower and place in in a sauce pan with the almond milk. Salt and pepper to taste, and cook until soft on medium heat.

While your cauliflower is cooking, heat 3tbsp of a good oil in a large stock pot, or dutch oven over medium-high heat. I prefer coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions. When the onions are getting translucent, add the mushrooms. Let the onions and mushrooms cook until they carmelize and turn brown, then throw in the garlic.

Next, while the pan is still HOT, de-glaze the pan by slowly pouring in the wine. Scrape up the brown bits of goodness and flavor off the bottom of the pan and let the alcohol simmer out of the wine.

Add the pork chops, and spread them out as best you can. Sprinkle all the herbs on top.
By this time the cauliflower should be nice and soft. Pour it in your blender, or use an immersion blender to puree it until its smooth, like good ole fashioned cream gravy. Pour your "gravy" on top of the pork chops. Bring it to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cover. Let it simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the pork chops are as tender as you'd like.

I served ours with sauteed broccoli, tossed with a little golden balsamic vinegar and freshly roasted beets thrown in to make the cut edges of the broccoli hot pink.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

"Swedish" Meatballs

I've been working rather hard the last year or so to make really yummy recipes that fall within our dietary needs and preferences. One day, I thought, "Wow, I'd LOVE some Swedish Meatballs" But, How do you do this without dairy? So I started digging in my cabinet. Lo and Behold, the recipe, or idea rather, was a keeper.
When Pookie graduated from Kindergarten 2 weeks ago, the kindergartens hosted a "pot-luck" lunch. I dread things like this. With food allergies and intolerances social eating becomes dreaded rather than enjoyed. I have to be on HIGH alert because Deedle Bug just doesn't understand why she can't eat anything she wants. We almost had an Uh-Oh at the desert table. Praise God for a good neighbor and the Kindy Aide that know us, and our needs and stopped her when she was going for that slice of REAL chocolate cake after sneaking inside off the playground (still makes me shudder)
I received a few compliments on my meatballs, and was then asked for the recipe. Which considering what's NOT in them, is quite a compliment, especially coming from someone who can eat anything they want.
So I decided to try and write my "recipe" which in and of itself is rather difficult as I rarely use a recipe, and tend to tweak it when I do.
These meatballs are not only gluten free, they are grain free. Also dairy free, soy free and Paleo friendly.

What you'll need;

Meatballs;
2 lbs Ground beef, 85/15 works well for meatballs.
3 eggs
2 cups almond meal/flour
1 tsp (or to taste) sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp basil
dash- 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp granulated garlic, or 2 cloves minced fresh garlic.

Sauce ingredients;
2 cans full fat coconut milk
1 cup plain coconut milk greek style yogurt
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1-2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

For the Meatballs, add all ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer (or of course mix by hand if you dont have one) with the paddle/beater attachment. Let it run on the speed you would mix bread on until well combined. If your ground beef has a higher fat content, you'll want to add more almond meal. If it has less and looks dry, add another egg. When it is all mixed, start rolling into balls. For a crowd I make them small, the size of a large marble. For us I make them about golf ball sized.
Place them in a baking dish, 11x17 for small meatballs, 9x13 for large.
Preheat the oven to 400.

Next pour all sauce ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk together. You'll want to taste it before you pour it on the meatballs for salt content. When it tastes just right, pour it over the meatballs and bake, uncovered for 45 minutes to an hour. Stir gently at least twice in the cooking process to get even coverage of the sauce.

Eat them as they are, or on top of steam broccoli, Spaghetti squash, or pasta of your choice. You'll have a delicious, rich gravy, so you'll want SOMETHING to soak up the yummy goodness :) I prefer steamed broccoli ;)

Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Lord is my Strength and my Shield

Lately with all the sickies and consequential grumpy people at my house, Papa has popped this particular verse into my head more times than I can count.

The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusts in Him and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, and with my song I will thank Him.
Psalm 28:7


Even in a solid 6 weeks of sickness, I knew that Papa was caring for us.

In the middle of the 6 weeks of sickness we had a $750 repair that had to be done on our van. With one swipe, the credit card I had just paid off was right back where it was before. I can trust. I can. Really, I can. Sometimes I have to continually remind myself to trust. I have never been given a reason not to trust. A few days later Office Man gets the flu. Papa had it covered. He had the funds for the flu and the brakes in the mail before we even spent the money. The Lord is my strength and my shield

I am human, in all it's sinful fallicies. I still get nervous, I over-react, I yell and scream and throw tantrums right along with my children. The Lord is my strength and my shield

By Papa's amazing grace, when I am about to lose control, I CAN indeed lose control. I can lose it because I shouldn't be holding onto it in the first place.

My strength is not my strength. My Papa is my strength, I need not fear what is falling on me, or what is thrown at me because by His strength I will stand through it all. I will stand with Papa's strength, and be shielded by Him as well.

The more I begin to walk in faith, and learn to truly trust (instead of just saying that I do) the less I find myself losing control. I can't lose control if I do not claim control for myself. I do not lose what I do not have. If Papa's strength flows through me, and His love shields me, I have nothing to fear.

The Lord is my strength and my shield

I get stressed out. I lose my temper. I worry. I get frustrated. I yell.

The Lord is my strength and my shield

I am loved. I am safe. I am precious to the Father that created me.

The more I remember that the Lord is my strength and my shield the less I find stress stresses me out. I don't lose my temper unless I forget where my strength comes from. I have no reason to yell if I am un-afraid because I know Who my Shield is.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Wednesday's REAL menu

Originally slated for Wednesday was Fish Tacos. But I switched those to Tuesday, and moved the ground beef and rice casserole to Wednesday.

Enter Wednesday, day 18 of a child home sick from school in this current semester.

Enter sick child #1, AKA "Pookie" bored silly and wanting to go to school, but still with just enough fever to keep him from actually GOING. Pookie is cranky.

Enter sick child #2, AKA "Deedle bug" my 2 year-old that seems to pride herself on being 2. Complete with potty learning accidents, pouring water on the new puppy, and leaving a wake of chaos behind her. She is also in a stage where she either wants me to hold her, or she wants milk. Yes, I am still nursing my 27 month old. Deedle Bug is cranky.

Enter Mama. Mama has had 39 days of at least one person in the household having some sort of virus. We've been through 2 rounds of colds, one round of stomach virus and one round of flu. Mama is cranky.

At approximately 1pm, when Deedle Bug wakes from a nap that was too short, Mama decides it's time to get out of the house. So we load up the mini-van with coloring books and crayon rolls, and cups of water, to make the 30-40 minute trek into Santa Fe. The ride up goes well, we are singing along with "Little People Sing the Alphabet" and silly songs such as ~5 Huge Hippos, Hopping on a Hill~ and hooray, we are out of the house!

We go first to see Office Man at Office Max (original huh?) and get some new markers, pencils and hand-writing paper for Pookie who is doing fabulously writing letters, and even writing the addresses on the envelopes. I am very proud of his progress.

Next we go to Petco to see about some new toys for our new pup "Little-Bit" Now Little-Bit is a black lab puppy, and is already more than double the size he was when we got him 2 weeks ago, but I digress. Little-Bit is his name.

After Petco the kids talk me into a snack from Wendys, which happens to be in the same shopping center. French fries for all, and a berry lemonade for Mama. MMMmmm. What a happy outting :)

Next up is Natural Grocers, we need coffee, echinacea, emergen-c and "fake butter." Upon pulling into my parking space, Pookie informs me that I never said we were going to the grocery store, and he didn't want to go. We go anyway, get our stuff and head home. By the time we get home, its just after 5 O'clock, and Deedle Bug has been crying for the last 15 minutes of the car ride home.

By the time I got to the kitchen to start dinner, I realized that in my "cranky" haste to "GET ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE" I neglected to put the meat out to thaw. Ok, no biggie. I'll use that lb of breakfast sausage instead.

So, now that you've read about why I changed my recipe last minute, I'll tell you whats in my casserole. Originally this was made with one can tomato soup, and one can cream of mushroom soup. We like this much better, not only because it's healthier, it just tastes better.

Ingredients;
1lb ground beef or sausage (sausage was a hit)
2 cups rice of choice
4 cups water
1 large can tomato sauce
1 1/4 cup milk like substance, (Almond) or 1 can of full fat coconut milk
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp onion powder (or 1/4 cup chopped onion)
1 tsp garlic powder (or 2 cloves minced garlic)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb cheese-like substance (Dayia) (optional)

While browning meat in a skillet, mix all other ingredients (but cheese) in a 13x9 casserole dish, and pre-heat oven to 400. Add the meat, and place in the oven un-covered for 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark,  add the cheese, cover, and bake for another 30 minutes.

Last night, after getting Deedle Bug calmed down, we went out front as a family to play with the puppy. This took my attention away from coming back to cover my casserole, and therefore some of the rice nearest the top was not cooked through, but all the liquid was gone. The reason I cover after baking some is that the texture is much less mushy if it cooks un-covered for a while. I could work on adjusting the water to a less amount, but honestly, this is easier.

Because of many things, I did not get my beans cooked, nor did I make a vegetable. We simply had casserole. Everyone was happy with it, despite the fact that the rice wasn't all tender. A half success I suppose.

The moral of this weeks menu so far? It is subject to change.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Tuesday's REAL menu, and Wednesday's new plan.

My menu post on Sunday has already seen some changes.

Change #1 has been breakfast. It turns out that Office Man has been going to work about 2 hours later than normal (normal is 6am, he leaves our house at 5:15am) so I've not only had Pookie home from school sick, I've had Office Man here for breakfast as well. So I've cooked bacon or sausage with our eggs, and today I discovered 6 slices of Udi's bread in the fridge, so we were treated to cinnamon toast!

The second big change is re-ordering my menu. Here is the original plan for Tuesday and Wednesday;

Tuesday
B; some sort of eggs
L; Leftovers (this is getting exciting right?)
D; Ground beef and rice casserole topped with *fake* Cheese (AKA Dayia)

Wednesday;
B; take a guess ;)
L; guess again!
D; fish tacos with avacado slices, pinto beans (someone remind me to start cooking these at lunch time PLEASE?) and spanish rice
My Avocados I bought 3 for $1 were finally ripe yesterday, so I switched Fish tacos to last nights dinner. YUM!
Here is how I make fish tacos:

Ingredients
8 small filets, or 4 large filets of a mild white fish. Last nights was Swai, normally its Tilapia. These are also amazing with Salmon or Shrimp, but our budget can rarely accomodate these.
1tsp garlic powder, or 2 cloves fresh garlic minced
juice of 1/2 a small lemon
12 taco shells or 24 soft corn tortillas
1 large or 2 small ripe avocados, sliced
shredded cabbage, or other favorite fresh leafy greens
diced tomatoes

Sauce;
1 cup mayonnaise (I know, I know, not healthy, but it really MAKES this sauce) I prefer to use a safflower oil based mayo, but this time I just had normal Hellmans on hand.
2TBSP Milk-like substance (I prefer almond)
1 TBSP dried dill weed or oregano
1/2 -2 tsp cayenne (depending on how hot you like it, or leave it out)
Squeeze of lime juice, optional

For the sauce, mix all ingredients well and set aside. the longer it sits, the better it gets. I've made it up to a day ahead, it works great!

Preheat oven to 350

Make the sauce first, if you haven't made it ahead of time.

For the tacos, simply sautee the fish in some EVOO, add garlic and salt and pepper to taste. When it starts to get flaky, break it up in the pan with your spatula, and squeeze the lemon over it.

Depending on the size and type of fish you use, it's done very fast, within 10 minutes. My Swai was completely frozen last night, and it took closer to 30 to cook.

While your fish is cooking, spread taco shells on a cookie sheet. Put them in the oven when the fish has 5-7 minutes left. (If you're using the soft corn tortillas instead, they are easier to handle in the microwave, but they also work in the oven, spread in a single layer covered with foil. They take a bit longer to warm than the shells)

When everything is ready, layer your taco starting with the fish, then cabbage, avocado slice and diced tomatos. Top with sauce (my kids do not like the sauce)

Serve with rice and beans of your choice. Last night we had black beans and a basmati blend of rice from Trader Joes.


Since I cooked tonights dinner yesterday, I will just make the casserole tonight, but I am still going to make the pinto beans!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Monday's REAL menu

Well, it's day one of my weekly menu, and I've already deviated somewhat. Pookie is home sick from school yet again. This makes 16 days this semester. Since my menu plan only accounts for me and Deedle Bug for breakfast and lunch, I had to make some changes.

For breakfast I cut up bacon, and mixed it in scrambled eggs for breakfast soft tacos. Pookie doesn't like eggs by themselves.

For lunch I used the last of a loaf of Udi's gluten free bread for PB&J sandwiches. A treat for us, we don't buy bread very often.

Dinner I am sticking to my guns, and I am just about to pull it out of the oven. I am using OfficeMan's recipe, or trying to. He seasons first with salt and pepper, adds sauce, and turns with a sauce addition every 10-15 minutes baking at 350 for about an hour. Let me tell you, you've never had BAKED chicken this good ;)

My veggies I took the last of a bag of california mixed vegetables from Sams club, they are in a cast iron dutch oven over med-high heat with EVOO, salt, pepper and some dill. I love dill, how it tastes, how it smells how fresh it looks in my food.

So here is todays true rundown from my menu plan. I didn't deviate THAT much, right?

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Menu plan, Feb 26- Mar 3

Well, I see tons of blogs out there with "Menu Plan Monday's" but it's Sunday, and I'm vegging in the living room while Pookie plays the Wii, Deedle Bug is being a 2 yearold girl, and the puppy is outside. So I figured, Why not write my menu? And then I thought again, why not use that blog that's sitting there with nothing posted???
Here Goes;
Sunday (yes, today)
B; Pancakes, sausage patties, eggs and orange juice
L; Leftover Potato chowder soup from 2 nights ago
D; Leftover swedish meatballs and pasta, with mixed vegetables

Monday
B; poached eggs for me and Deedle
L; what ever leftovers didn't get eaten Sunday
D; baked BBQ chicken, baked potatoes, steamed peas

Tuesday
B; some sort of eggs
L; Leftovers (this is getting exciting right?)
D; Ground beef and rice casserole topped with *fake* Cheese (AKA Dayia)

Wednesday;
B; take a guess ;)
L; guess again!
D; fish tacos with avacado slices, pinto beans (someone remind me to start cooking these at lunch time PLEASE?) and spanish rice

Thursday
B; maybe we'll be adventurous and put some bacon in our eggs
L; Fish tacos dont hold over well, so Deedle and I will have pinto beans and rice
D; Crockpot chicken and potatoes with our "house" seasoning rub, california blend mixed veggies and green beans

Friday;
B; cereal
L; leftovers
D; baked chicken nuggets, oven fries, and peas

Saturday;
omlette with bacon and sausage and Dayia cheese
L; leftovers
D; hamburgers or a sandwich (splurge meal!!)

And there you have it, a menu with only what's on hand right now (not much) + a couple containers of Almond milk but totally doable, it's also 100% gluten and dairy free.

Snacks for the week include, avocado, Trader Joes snack mix, raisins, Cashews, apples and peanut butter, little cutie oranges, stovetop popcorn, banana bread, tortilla chips. PB&J rice cracker sandwiches, and smoothies from frozen fruit and spinach with added vitamins.