A Week Around Our Table

Whenever I tell someone that we've gone Paleo, one of the comments early on in the conversation is "Well, what in the world DO you eat?"  Are you kidding?  We eat a TON of stuff!  And, might I add, we eat good-sized portions.  I eat until I'm full, but that doesn't mean I gorge myself.  Without all of the fillers that I was used to, I have become extremely aware of my body and what it is telling me.  When I am full, I know it.

OK, that was a side tangent, but the purpose of this blog is to copy what I found on Everyday Paleo when I was first starting out.  Seeing all the great stuff she made in a week made me understand how delicious and attainable this lifestyle truly was.  If it does it for you, great!, but if not you can hopefully enjoy a few of the recipes whether you are Paleo or not.

Note:  We eat breakfast and dinner together everyday, but our lunch is usually leftovers from the day before.

Saturday

Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs with local eggs, local pork sausage, paleo grits from my Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook (awesome gift from my bro/sis-in-law), and a nice cup of black coffee

 

Lunch & Dinner:   Creamy Cabbage & Double Smoked Bacon Soup made with local pork and bacon.  This was so good that we ate it for both meals.  You HAVE to put the spicy brown mustard on it.  Like Oktoberfest in a bowl!

Sunday

Breakfast: Sweet Potato Latkes (with local eggs & bacon), grilled bananas, avocado, and a cup of black coffee

Lunch:  We had lunch at my parents house.  My mom has gone Paleo (woo-hoo!) so we had some awesome ribeye steaks, roasted vegetables, and a great salad.  Yum!

Dinner:  Paleo Lasagna made with local beef and pork.  This makes SO much.  We ate on it all week which comes in handy when your husband likes to eat 5-6 meals a day!

Monday

Breakfast:  Sweet Potato Hash made with leftover sweet potatoes and local sausage

Lunch: Leftover "lasagna"

Dinner:  Pizza Soup made with local sausage, Applegate pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, and black olives.  Don't add as much liquid as they suggest if you like your soup chunkier/heartier.

Tuesday

Breakfast:  Sweet Potato Hash again (I was really feeling this dish this week!), unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon added, avocado, peppermint tea

Lunch: Leftover Pizza Soup

Dinner: Spiced Chicken with Pineapples and Peaches and broccoli (forgot to get a picture of it at dinner)

Wednesday

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with local eggs, local bacon, unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon added, Earl Grey tea

Lunch: Leftover Spiced Chicken

Dinner:  Paleo Fried Chicken and Collard Greens (both from my Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook) and Fried Apples

Thursday

Breakfast:  Paleo Oatmeal, local sausage patties, avocado, Earl Grey tea

Lunch:  Leftover fried chicken, greens, and apples

Dinner: Beef Goulash made with local beef and chocked full of veggies

Friday

Breakfast:  Bacon, scrambled eggs, banana...lame, I know, but I was in a hurry

Lunch: Leftover Goulash

Dinner:  Made a stir fry with venison, onions, and green peppers (made it with cauliflower rice last week and it was so good!), roasted sweet potatoes, some mango slices, and a glass of wine.  

Whole30 January was over so I enjoyed a nice glass of wine and also made a little treat for our small group that night...Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites  Certainly a treat and not something I'd eat every night, but what a great occasion to share them with friends.  Good thing we shared too because I could have eaten them all just by myself!

So, there you go!  That's a glimpse into a week of our life.  I will say, this past week didn't have nearly as many veggies as we usually eat.  I love to get veggies in any chance we can and you'll see them mixed in a lot of stuff, but I usually like to have more than I had this past week.  

Paleo Intro

*Please note: I am not trying to convert anyone! I believe in this 100% but food is a sensitive subject and people are entitled to eat what they want.

Several people have asked me to share our new Paleo lifestyle, so I'm back to blogging with information about some big changes we've made since I talked to you all last. As most of you know, a little over a year ago, we gave up gluten in our house. That was definitely a big change for us, but the results were fantastic. We both noticed how much more energy we had and we didn't feel nearly as sluggish.

Around that same time, our dear friend Faith and her husband told us about their plans to go paleo. When she first told me about it, Mark was all about it. He wanted to dive right in, but my first thoughts were the same that I've heard many others say to me when I talk about going paleo: "There is no way I could go without grains/all forms of bread or pasta/dairy/cheese/corn/beans/sugar!" After listing those ingredients, I already know I have some people who have checked out. I honestly don't blame you, it's hard at times!

Faith shared the following video on her blog and it was a real eye opener for me. The creator of the video says they are frustrated with repeating themselves over and over again and I am not, but I think this video sums up most of my reasons for switching over.



Another conversion factor was when I started exploring the Everyday Paleo website (also suggested by Faith) and I started to see all of the things that you CAN have! We love to eat fresh or organic any chance we get so this lifestyle seemed to fit pretty well with us. I am also really happy to have the least picky husband ever! He will eat anything I set in front of him and he'll eat a ton!

Our dinners usually consist of some type of meat and LOTS and LOTS of veggies (3 or 4 a night). I would like to in the future give you a week long list of what we eat to give you a better idea of how it works for all meals of the day, but for now, you can check out the one that Sarah did on Everyday Paleo. Her "required reading" section gives her testimonial and lots of other good info (how to do paleo with kids).

Also by request, I am going to list all the things that are staples in our house and things that we have gotten rid of.

Staples:

Organic meat (beef, pork, chicken, seafood)

Every type of vegetable we can get our hands on (easiest being broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, spinach...we have a variation of these every week)

Nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios)

Every type of fruit we can get our hands on (bananas, apples, pears, dates, plums, kiwis, mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.)

Avocados (we eat at least 2 a week)

Eggs (lots! from our CSA)

Almond milk

Coconut milk

Coconut oil (you'll hear me talk more about this later. This and olive oil are all I cook with)

Honey

Vinegars

Lots of spices (be cautious of blends...sometimes there are hidden chemicals)


What we steer clear of:

Dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream)

All grains (bread, pasta, rice)

Peanuts

Beans

Corn (Boo! You know how much I love it!)

Potatoes (Double BOO! I'm Irish! Although several articles I've read allow sweet potatoes)

Ketchup

Sugar


Biggest challenge: Eating out!

Greatest benefit: Probably the healthiest I've felt in my entire life. Not that weight should be a key factor at all, but I have lost 10 pounds in the last month since going paleo. I get very full from meals, but never feel gross.

Do what you will with this information, but I will be sharing recipes that fit within this lifestyle that I find delicious. You can take it or leave it!

If you have questions, lay 'em on me! I love answering questions about going paleo!

GF Peanut Butter & Nutella Cookies

Oh. My. Gosh!

I can't even tell you how good these are! Mark made me these cookies for my birthday (all I wanted was a meal made just for me & he DEFINITELY delivered!)

I even had Molly try these cookies and she agreed that they do not taste GF at all and taste so much like the real thing. Plus, it's got Nutella. Anything better than that? I think not.

He got this recipe off of Tasty Kitchen.

You need:

1 cup sugar
1 cup creamy Peanut Butter (don't use homemade...don't think they'd stick together as well)
1 whole egg Beaten
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
9 teaspoons Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Into your stand mixer add sugar, peanut butter, egg, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined.

3. Measure approximately 1 tablespoon of dough. Roll dough into a ball and place onto cookie sheet. Gently press dough ball down using the palm of your hand. Continue forming balls until dough is gone. Space approximately 1″ apart.

4. Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes. Using a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon, GENTLY make an indentation in the middle of each cookie. Fill each cookie with a "dollop" of Nutella. Return tray to oven and continue cooking for 2-4 minutes until golden. (I don't think Mark put them back in the oven, but they turned out just fine!)

5. Transfer cookie to a cooling rack and allow to cool.

So good! These are a repeat for sure in the Bennett household!

Steak with Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce (GF & Organic)

Probably my favorite recipe! I've shared this recipe with several people because it's so darn tasty, but it is SO easy! And frankly, easy works best in my life right now. This is straight from my favorite lady, The Pioneer Woman.

Here's what ya need:
2 steaks (ribeye, sirloin, something somewhat thin)...got these from our CSA
6 Tbs organic butter, divided (I said it was easy...not healthy)
1 whole organic yellow onion

1 cup organic heavy cream

1/2 cup organic blue cheese, crumbled

Salt & pepper

Salt and pepper both sides of the steak and then grill it in 2 Tb of butter. The recipe calls for medium rare, but I lean closer to medium.

Saute onions in 4 tablespoons butter over high heat. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until dark and caramelized.

Reduce heat to simmer and pour in cream. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half.

Stir in blue cheese until melted.

Serve steaks on generous portion of sauce.

I added the Pesto Potatoes as a side. We also had corn on the cob with paprika & tomato slices with mozzarella cheese, balsalmic vinegar, and fresh basil. Yum!!!

A Dessert Fit for Fourth of July (GF & Organic)

After our delicious Fourth of July meal, I decided that I needed a dessert that would fit in with the magnitude of this wonderful holiday! I wanted something light and I wanted something summery. I decided to try a recipe from a certain gourmet kitchen store that I may or may not receive a paycheck from occasionally.

This is a recipe for Mango Pineapple Sorbet.

I have adapted it to be completely organic and it was already GF...yay!

For this mouthwatering dessert, you will require:



2 organic mangoes, peeled and pitted (easier said than done)
3 Tb. fresh squeezed organic lime juice
2/3 cup organic sugar
1 cup fresh organic pineapple, chopped fine

I also added 1 organic red banana.

This was not in the original recipe and it is certainly not needed, but it was just laying there and ended up adding some awesome flavor.

Put your mangoes and bananas in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Add the sugar and lime juice and blend together well.

Now for the pineapple.

Here's one nifty tool that I have put to great use all summer.

My pineapple corer and peeler.

We used to not purchase pineapple because it's impossible to cut it and not end up with the eyes or the hard core part.

In fact, when the hubs wanted to buy one once, I told him he could buy it if he'd cut it. After that night, he was done with pineapple.

....that is, until I brought home my corer...


Makes it SO simple to have fresh pineapple!

Anyway, I digress....

Put your mixture in a large bowl and stir in your 1 cup of pineapple.

I suppose this could be done without taking it out of the blender.

Add your mixture to an ice cream maker and let it do it's thing for the next half hour.

On a side note, my ice cream maker is one of my favorite purchases, hands down!

Look at how yummy that is!

And it was so easy (if you forget that whole pitting/peeling of the mango part). I will be partaking of this dessert for days.

In fact, I could go for some right now...

Happy holidays!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy, happy, happy 4th of July to everyone!

I'm writing this as I listen to sporadic explosions going off in the distance all around my house. Gotta love this holiday!!!

I've got to say that I had a fantastic holiday even though it did not entail much at all. Yesterday, we sent my brother off to travel the world (more on that later), and today, we slept in (accidentally), made a HUGE lunch together, and watched a movie. Didn't do a whole lot, but it was a great break from the everday routine. Just sat around, cooked together, and all-around enjoyed each others' company.

Today, I tried out a couple different recipes with the help of my best girls overlooking the event. This is one of my favorite pictures of the 3 of us and will remain a staple in my kitchen!

First off, with all of my delicious corn from our CSA, I tried to find a new angle for corn other than on the cob. I'm getting at least 6 ears of corn a week and was looking for a way to spruce it up. What better way is there than to add BACON!!!

Here's the recipe for Corn with Bacon & Green Onions (real original title, right?) that I got from Tasty Kitchen. I adapted it to be organic and GF (the fresh cheese makes it GF).

You're gonna need:

4-5 ears of fresh corn (you could also do a 10 oz. bag of frozen organic)
2 bunches of green onion Got this from the FM
6 (or 7...or 8) slices of bacon (Once again this is from Hillside Heritage Farm. I will never cook with another again)
1/2 cup fresh shredded organic cheddar cheese
1/2 cup organic heavy cream

Go ahead and cut that bacon up into bite-sized pieces and fry those guys up in a large skillet. I'm telling you, this bacon cooking even SMELLS better when cooking. I'm in heaven!

While that's frying, go ahead and chop up your green onions to get them ready.

Also, you'll need to get your corn kernels off the cob if you're using fresh corn.

I bought this lovely corn zipper to help with my de-cobbing.

It worked like a dream!

Once that bacon is done, scoop it out of the pan and set aside, but leave the drippings in the skillet.

Add your green onions to the drippings and let those cook until they get soft.

Once those green onions are soft, turn your heat down to low and add your corn and fresh grated cheese. Stir these and let them cook for about 5 minutes.

Finally, add your bacon back in and add your cream. You can add a little salt & pepper here to taste if you like, but I forgot to and I found that it certainly didn't need it. Stir that and let it cook for another 5 minutes or so. Once you let all of those flavors meld together, you are ready to eat.

Let me just say here that I would like to officially change the title of this recipe to "Oh My Deliciousness!" This was SO unbelievably good and a perfect use of my corn!

Now, to pair it with something....

Decided to make Balsamic Glazed Grilled Salmon
(This recipe is GF, but not organic....but still tasty!)

You will obviously need some fresh salmon fillets. We got these beautiful looking specimens at Whole Foods. Yum!

For the glaze, you need:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tb. lemon juice

2 Tb. water

3 Tb. brown sugar

lemon juice from 1 lemon

1 tsp. Tabasco...I think I added a lot more than this

Pepper both sides of your fillets to get them ready for the grill. When grilling, oil some foil to set the fish on and perforate it a bit. The hubs is responsible for all grilling actions since he is truly the expert, so I have no pictures of the cooking process.

Mix all of the glaze ingredients together until the sugar dissolves. Use this to spread on the salmon as you grill it. This makes a nice crunchy glaze on the fish.

When you're done, if you want to use more of it, just throw it in a saucepan on low heat until it's heated throughout and you can spread it on your salmon before you eat it.

I also paired these two recipes with some fresh green beans from the FM.

What a perfect Fourth of July meal!!!

Not your traditional burgers or brats, but I thought it was pretty fantastic.

Next, I'll share what we had for dessert. And no, it's not apple pie...

Happy holidays!!!

Best Dessert EVER!

This is NOT a gluten free recipe. REPEAT: this is by no stretch of the imagination a GF recipe.

However, it is incredibly delicious.

Like, knock your socks off yummy!

A friend sent me the link to this recipe from this blog. I wanted to make it SO bad. One problem, we've cut gluten out of our diets (minus a special occasion or two). Hmmm...what could my special occasion be???

That same week was my brother's going away party. Since I needed a spectacular way to send him off while simultaneously needing to give him a final memory of his loving sister at home who will cook for him anytime he wants (this is my small attempt at making sure he'll actually come back to the States!), I decided this would be the PERFECT recipe for him!

You have your typical ingredients for cupcakes. But in this situation, I like to think of them as merely the supporting actors.

This production requires some major superstars. Therefore...

...I give you the lead characters!

Mmmmmm. Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream Icing!

How could it even possibly go wrong?

For your cupcakes, you'll need:

1 bottle Extra Stout Guinness (warm)
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

For your icing, you'll need:

1 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
4″ish” cups powered sugar
5 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Creme

I doubled this recipe because I wanted to make sure I had plenty for my brother and his friends, but with the ingredients above, you'll get 24 regular size cupcakes.

I found these cupcake liners which I thought would be perfect so my cupcakes could look like they were wearing little Irish kilts!

Anyway, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cut up your butter and place it in a large saucepan. Pour your beer into the saucepan as well and let the butter melt and blend with the beer over medium heat. This was so exciting for me!

While that's melting, use your mixer to whisk together your flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

When your butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and add your cocoa. Whisk together until smooth. Oh boy, it's REALLY getting good! Let this cool for a while.

While you're waiting for it to cool, go ahead and whisk in your eggs and sour cream. I'm a big fan of sour cream because I think it always adds to a recipe. This is why these cupcakes came out so moist and perfect.

Once your chocolate mixture has cooled (the hubs came in and got this shot), add it to your dry flour mixture and whisk it until it has just combined.

Check out all of those beer bubbles!

Once you've lined your cupcake pans, pour the awesome batter in until they are 3/4 full.

FYI: this batter is delicious and has a very stout, bitter dark chocolate taste to it. This will be a great compliment to the very sweet icing later.

Let those cupcakes bake for about 30 minutes or so. Let them cool on a rack. You may have to sample one here...if necessary.

Now for the icing.

This was everyone's favorite! It is incredibly sweet, but oh so good!

Whip your room temperature butter for about 2 minutes or until it's light.

Add in 3-4 cups of powdered sugar in with the butter making sure to add it gradually. I started out with just 3 cups and added more later to get the consistency that I was looking for.

Add 5 tablespoons of Bailey's to the icing.

You could add less, but if you really actually consider taking AWAY some Bailey's, this probably isn't the recipe for you.

Frost those cupcakes and devour!

Here's my final product!

I must say, I think they were a hit with everyone. Cupcakes can be considered dainty by some, but I saw plenty of the boys going back for seconds...and thirds...and even fourths (that's why I doubled the recipe!)

Thanks again to Caitlin Bolte for the recipe!

Enjoy!!!