Odds & Ends

After my mass cooking for my work week I am usually left with a few scraps of various veggies and sometimes a little meat.  I only cook for one so I don't always throw it all in because then I'd have way more prepared than I could eat.  I'd rather bag the veggies and freeze the meat in order to make a different dish later on.  So today I found myself with some veggies in the fridge and not much direction in the culinary sense.  After some thought and visit to the freezer I thought I would just throw a bunch of stuff in the skillet and hope it turns out.  Here's what I had on hand: a ziploc baggie of cubed butternut squash, a bell pepper, onion and some mushrooms.  The freezer yielded some Italian sausage so I decided to combine it all.  It turned out pretty tasty and I was able to use everything up.  The bad part is that it made quite a bit and so I'll probably be eating this for the next 4 or 5 days.  Maybe I'll freeze a couple of servings and take them with me when I go to my parent's place.  Here's a pic of the dish: 

I just slice the onions and peppers and sauteed them until they were soft and starting to caramelize.  Then I added the mushrooms.  While this was cooking, I cheated and nuked the squash a little bit so that it was partially cooked.  I removed the onions mixture from the skillet and took the casing off the sausage and made mini-meatballs.  I dropped them in the skillet and cooked until they were 3/4 of the way done.  I wiped out most of the grease and then added the onion mixture and squash.  I rummaged around in the fridge and found a small container of fire-roasted tomatoes (about 1/3C.) and added that with a splash of chicken stock.  I covered and let it stew for about 10 minutes and called it good.

I also prepared a chicken dish that I found on PaleoMiddleEastern's blog.  Here's the link to the recipe.  It's super tasty!  I used all the same ingredients but my cooking method was different because I didn't want the oven on for an hour.  It was pretty toasty here today and we haven't turned on the air yet so I didn't want to heat the house up more than it already was.  It was just 40 degrees here a couple of days ago and rainy yesterday but it warmed up to 85 today.  So the dogs and I were fussy little babies about the house being warm.  I ended up preparing this in the crock pot and didn't have a bit of problem.  I just put all the veggies in the bottom and piled the chicken (I used legs) on top.  I put it on high and let it go for about 3 1/2 hours.  After a couple of hours I took the chicken out and browned it in a skillet so it would look so pale.  I put them back in the pot and mixed it all up.  I was really please with how it turned out.  Super yummy!

Today, I took a little leap towards my next goal...exercise.  I don't do any right now and I know that I need to be moving.  This is probably going to be tough for me.  I took the dogs to an area near our house that is only used a couple times a year for tractor pulls and an antique tractor show.  It has lots of open space so the mutts can be off leash and I don't have to worry about running into other people or run a chance of them getting to the road.  Today I decided to do some short "bursts" of running.  Although I don't think you could call what I was doing running or bursts of speed.  At one point I kicked it in high gear and was loping along when the little guy thought it would be fun to sideswipe me.  I, of course, dropped like a sack of potatoes.  At least I was on the meadow so the impact wasn't too bad which is good because I dropped right on my bum knee.  It has a huge scab from a tumble I took about a week and half ago that skinned both knees, sprained my thumb and tore a big whole in the knee of my jeans.  Perhaps I'll get better at staying upright while running or at the very least maybe I'll learn how to fall more gracefully!



SERENITY NOW!!!!

I feel like Frank Costanza when it comes to my computers.  Sometimes they really perturb me.  I've been having issues with connectivity with my main laptop.  It, of course, is the one that I have my pictures and editing program on.  My old crusty laptop, which was suppose to give out 2 years ago according to the Geek Squad, is still plugging along but I'm not able to connect any external devices to it.  So I'm sort of stuck with not being able to get pictures uploaded to my blog.  My sister did tell me I could use her computer so this weekend I will transfer some pics to a jump drive and use her computer to blog some dinner pics and a recipe or two.  Serenity now, insanity later.

Things have been going pretty well for me on the Paleo front.  I continue to lose weight and people are starting to notice.  I've lost that slab of fat above my butt that big folks have.  So now I've got a ba-donka instead of a ba-donka-donk.  I've noticed my gut isn't as distended as it once was.  These things are pretty exciting for me.  I've been digging out my summer clothes and decided that I'm not packing any of my winter clothing up.  I'm going to bag it up and dump it in those yellow bins they have around town for clothing collection.  I'm not planning on wearing those clothes this winter so no need to summer them in my plastic containers.  I'm not really looking forward to the money I'm going to have to shell out to get new clothes though.  Perhaps I'll go to the thrift store and see if I can pick up some inexpensive duds. 

I have to say that I did a bang up job grocery shopping yesterday.  I actually looked up the store ads online and did a price comparison so I could decide were I was going to buy my meats.  I still wasn't able to the good stuff but at least I didn't have to pay very much for the stuff I did get.  For instance, a 10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters for $3.90!  I got a couple.  I also got a pork tenderloin and ground beef as well as a few other things at a different store and save $20 on my total bill.  So it was a good day and I declared it a success. 

Oh, talking about my grocery shopping reminded me of this little dude.  At one of the stores I frequent they have a poster near the check out lanes that has a wailing child depicted on it.  I'm pretty sure it's the same kid in the above picture.  I wasn't able to find the poster online but I found this pic and I think it's the same kid.  At any rate the caption on the poster says "Don't you wish there were no candy aisles".  I have no idea what the poster is actually for but I see that poster and every time I think yep, we'd be better off if there were no candy aisle.  As a matter of fact, we'd be better off with no center aisles.  No more wailing children, throwing temper tantrums because their Moms or Dads won't get them the candy they want or worse yet when they do give in to their demands.  It reminds me of the crazy lady that went berserk in the cupcake shop or the guy that lost it at taco bell because they raised the price on his burrito.  We need some posters that have crazed adults under the caption "don't you wish there were no fast food restaurants".

Dinner Pics

Just wanted to put a few dinner pics up.  I need to do better about this but I usually cook in the evening and when I get done I just want to eat a be done with the day.  Recently I've been thinking a lot about the quality of foods that I've been buying.  I wish I were able to afford grass fed meats, game meats and organic veggies but the truth is I can't.  I am on a very, very limited budget and the organic/grass fed products are about double the price of traditional grocery fare.  I've got to make my funds go as far a possible.  I live very sparingly so there really is no way to make cuts in order to pay for better food.  I do work in a few items such as nitrate free bacon.  I am hoping to hunt for some game meat this year starting with turkey this spring.  I'm also pretty excited about my parents buying chicks this spring which means farm fresh eggs and maybe some fryers for butchering.  This will all help reduce the grocery bill while adding quality meat/eggs to the table.  I know that I spend a lot less on food because I no longer eat take out and I don't eat near the quantity that I previously did.

Anyway, here are some food pics of some recent dishes.  First up is a meal pic of grilled salmon, brussel sprouts and swiss chard.  I wasn't real keen on the chard but that may have been due to the preparation.  I had found a recipe that called for some lemon juice but I think it made it to sour/bitter for my liking.  I might try chard in the future but right now I'm in love with collard greens.

Here are some pork chops that I dusted with coconut flour.  They were pretty tasty.

This is mashed cauliflower that I added a little bit of coconut milk to in order to gain a little creaminess.  They were delicious with the chops and some collard greens.

Tonight I cooked some Italian sausage up then added onions and peppers to the skillet until they were soft and starting to caramelize.  Then I added a little organic sugar free mushroom pasta sauce that I found in the health market section of Hy-Vee.  I served this atop some spaghetti squash and thought it was absolutely scrumptious!!

Before I go, I wanted to share a couple of links that I stumbled across during the past week that will make hunting and gathering recipes more enjoyable.  As you know, I'm always checking TasteSpotting for veggie and meat recipes that I can tweak or use for inspiration.  Sometimes looking at all those cupcakes, cookies and pasta pics makes me miss the old days.  Well, not anymore!  I've discovered a couple of sites that are TasteSpotting-esque but for Paleo chefs!!!  They are called The Foodee and Chowstalker.  Now I can gaze at food pics all day long and feel good about it!!!  Yippeee!

Hunting & Gathering

I've been meaning to blog some meal photos but between being out of town and working my four in a row, I haven't gotten around to it.  I don't suppose it matters because I didn't really do a bang up job in the kitchen last week.  All the meals turned out fine but I just didn't like them very much.  The problem was my grocery list.  I tried to wing it last week and when I do that I tend to buy in themes and I don't notice it until I get home and start cooking.  So last week I went crazy with green leafy veggies.  It was too much.  So this week I went back to the menu plan provided to me through my membership with Paleo Plan.  I'll try to get some photos posted this weekend but can't make any promises because I've got some movies lined up for viewing!!!  I always try to watch the movies in the Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting and Director categories.  I didn't get a chance to some of them before the awards tonight but I made it through part of the list.  Maybe in the next week or two I can watch a couple of the ones I missed.

In the meantime, I've done a little hunting and gathering for you.  Have you been on tastespotting or foodgawker?  There are so many cake and cookie photos as well as pasta dishes.  I've always had a more savory palate than a sweet one, so I always skipped passed those dishes anyway.  But now I really notice how many sites I pass up before I find an entry for a veggie dish or a meat dish.  Sometimes I go through 2 or 3 pages before I find something that I think I might be able to modify for Paleo.

I've been adding mushrooms to a lot of my dishes lately and I sort of like the flavor they add.  I've always avoided mushrooms prior to Paleo but there one of those things I try to incorporate now a days.  Check out Taste of Home for their cauliflower and mushroom dish.

Beets were always a favorite at our house when I was a kid.  We always had plenty of beets in the garden and always made lots of pickled beets, which I love.  I rarely buy them now because they seem so pricey in the store.  Maybe one of these days I'll splurge and pick some up.  If so, I'm trying Lemons and Lavender's hasselback beets because they're so pretty!

I love a big plate of beef, I think it's my favorite.  So I was pretty excited when I came across The Peach Kitchen's photo of Filipino Bistek.

Hunting is something I'm hoping to do this year.  I want to have my own game meat on the table.  Not only will it reduce my grocery bill but I will feel more satisfied about what I eat.  I grew up hunting and still do today but I want to pursue meat for the table.  I love Hunter Angler Gardener Cook and he has some amazing game recipes on his site.  I used to visit he site when I was first attempting Paleo but lost track of it.  I was tickled to come across a pic while H&Ging for recipes.

Here's another beet recipe, this time from SoundSpicy.  This one is a soup with tomatoes that has a brilliant color. 

And finally a pork chop recipe from Share My Kitchen that I would like to try because the chops are topped with a quince sauce.

**Please remember that the recipes may need to be tweaked a little to make them Paleo friendly but most only need one ingredient adapted or removed.

Hunting and Gathering

Maybe it's my inner caveman fighting to get to the surface in this modern world but I love to search for recipes, I think it's my way of foraging for food!  I've got a big binder of recipes that I've printed off from my pre-Paleo days that I admit, I'm a little bummed about not being able to make them again.  They were so yummy.  But I'm happy with not eating that stuff but I suppose what I'm bummed about is that I enjoyed finding recipes and trying them out.  Anyway, I still love to search for recipes and while I have to pass over alot of recipes because they are just too non-Paleo, I still find some that I want to try.  My favorite place to search for recipes are the sites that list food bloggers.  Tastespotting, FoodGawker and PhotoGrazing are the main ones that I use.  There are lots of blogs featured that make baked goods but you can find some other recipes and some minor tweaks usually make them Paleo friendly.  Be warned though, if the site of hot crossed buns makes you steamy then perhaps you should avoid looking at the sites because there are some awesome home chefs out there who really know how to use their cameras.  Mouthwatering is all I can say.

Here are a list of some recipes that I found over the past week that would be great Paleo dishes.  Like I said before, you may have to tweak them a little but all of them will be very easy to convert.  Check the "Hunting and Gathering" label/tag in the future for a quick search of links.

1. From the site Cooking Books is a great looking onion dish that I can't wait to try.
2. Karma Cucina has a recipe for my favorite winter squash, the butternut.
3. The brussel sprout gets some star time over at Fuss Free Cooking.
4. Budget Bytes tells you how much it'll cost you to make their great looking pork chops.
5. One of these days I will try to make kale chips like the ones at Making Life Delicious.
6. Here's an interesting plantain dish that I found on Cooking Etcetera.
7. Skinny Taste has some yummy looking turkey meatballs that would make a great appetizer.
8. Everything is better with bacon!  Here's another one from Skinny Taste.  This time a salad recipe.