Bacon Free

This week, due to my still awful shopping skills, is a bacon free week.  Well, not entirely bacon free.  I did use the bacon grease I had been collecting to cook a few things in.  Although at first, I whined like a baby and wondered what I was going to make.  After awhile, when I realized no one was going to go buy some bacon I shut up and I started thinking about what I was going to prepare for my work weekend.  I usually prepare my dinners and breakfast at the beginning of  my work week so that I can just grab and go.  It works really well for me and being prepared is what keeps me Paleo.  I think I'm getting a little better about menu planning and I'm not ending up with two or three kinds of leafy greens to eat all week.  Now, if I just can remember to grab my lunch when I walk out of the house!  I've forgotten it twice in the past couple of weeks.  Thankfully my sister brought my lunch in yesterday thus saving me from the chicken strip, mashed potato, tater tots and corn extravaganza that was available in the cafeteria.  There was also the wilted salad bar and nitrate laden lunch meats.  Yikes, I was in for a long day but she came to the rescue!  Thanks Boo Boo!

So, here are a few food pics of what I'm eating this weekend.  First up is chicken and collards.  The bacon would have been awesome in this.  I pack this in a small container and have it for my midway snack/lunch.  I work twelve hours so I usually eat breakfast at home and then have a small lunch and supper at work.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breasts, cut into strips
1/2 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of collards
8-10 cherry tomatoes (I bought some sweet yellow tomatoes because they were cheaper)
white wine for deglazing
chicken stock or water for steaming

1. Sautee the onion and garlic in bacon grease until it caramelizes.
2. Add the chicken and cook.
3. Deglaze the pan with the wine.
4. Toss the collards in and add a little chicken stock or water, if needed.
5. Cover and let steam until the greens have wilted a little.
6. Add the tomatoes and cook a few minutes so they are heated through and starting to break down.

Next up is my dinner plate for a couple of nights.  I bought some chopped steak type of meat and just browned it in some olive oil.  I'm serving it alongside some sauteed zucchini that I paired with some leftover yellow tomatoes and some spicy chipotle butternut squash.  Here's the recipe for the butternut squash.

Ingredients:
Butternut squash, cubed (1 small)
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 chipotle peppers with adobo sauce
1/2 can of fire roasted tomatoes
Cumin, to taste
Cilantro

1. Saute the onion until it's soft and then add the garlic.  Cook for a few minutes until it's aromatic.
2. Toss the squash in the skillet with some fat and let it cook.  I just go to the point that it's starting to brown up on all sides.
3. Add the cumino and toss it all around for a minute of two.
4. Blend the chipotles and adobo sauce with the fire roasted tomatoes.  Add this to the skillet with the squash.  Cover and cook until squash is soft.  (You may have to add a little chicken stock or water if it starts to dry out.  Basically you want the sauce clinging to the squash.)
5. Sprinkle with some cilantro and serve.