Is it really only Tuesday?  I have crammed so much into the last two days that my body is screaming FRIDAY but my jam packed calendar is telling me otherwise.  Look forward to a post that I’ll put up tomorrow with more details about my book – including an actual release date!  Yes, I’m teasing you a bit but hopefully that means you will check in with me tomorrow for all the juicy details.

Now lets talk pork chops.  John made a meal last night that was so impressive that I had to share his recipe with you all.  I did not help that much except for to make a few small suggestions in order to keep the house from burning down.  Why do men like to cook everything on high??   Sorry babe, I couldn’t help it.  : )  Here’s John’s recipe proving once again that what you have on hand is usually all you need to make a delicious meal without a lot of time spent in the kitchen.

Dad’s Pork Chops

4 pork chops, 1/4-inch thick

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ cup Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon dried french thyme

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Preheat oven to 425°F. Season pork chops lightly with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine mustard, mustard powder, French thyme, and garlic; mix well and spread evenly over both sides of the chops. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the chops and brown for 2 minutes per side. Transfer your skillet to the oven and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes, until no longer pink and cooked through. Serve over sauted baby spinach.

Enjoy!

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Fast Shrimp

I was so lucky to be at Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution Seminar today, right here in Chico, CA! I met a wonderful group of people and of course the highlight being Robb’s seminar and hearing him make a whole lot of sense about this Paleo “Thang” (as Robb put it…)! After returning home to some hungry kids and a husband who so sweetly arranged a date night for us, I made some Fast Shrimp for the boys.  Actually, Jaden was really the one who did all the hard labor!  The point of this post is simple; good food, paleo food, can be fast food, right in the comfort of your own kitchen.  With simple ingredients and a bit of creativity you can make quality scrumptious meals without hardly even trying… This one took as about 10 minutes to put together.

Fast Shrimp

1 lb Wild Caught Argentinian Red Shrimp or other shrimp of your choice (I found mine at Trader Joe’s in the freezer section, raw, tails removed and de-veined)

1 bag frozen roasted red bell peppers and onions from Trader Joes (or 1 bell pepper diced and 1/2 yellow onion diced)

4 big hand fulls of baby spinach leaves

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons coconut milk

1/2 tablespoon curry powder (or more to taste)

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat the coconut oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and bell peppers and cook until defrosted and sizzling if using the frozen or until the veggies become tender if using fresh.  Add the shrimp and the spinach and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the shrimp curls up and is no longer opaque in the middle.  Add the coconut milk and spices, mix well and serve!  Serves 3-4. Delicious, fast, no fuss.  As Rowan said, “Good Shrimpies!”

Enjoy!

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Fast Shrimp is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Prosciutto Perfection

As many of you know who follow my blog I love to just grab what I have in the fridge and make a meal happen.  I don’t like to think too hard unless I have to, especially when it comes to food!  Here’s what John and I quickly threw together for lunch yesterday and we both loved it enough to blog about it.  The boys also gave their stamp of approval when they devoured the leftovers for an after school snack!

Prosciutto Perfection

3 oz prosciutto, diced

4 already cooked chicken breasts, diced

2 leeks, trimmed and diced

1 bunch kale, diced

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Black pepper and garlic powder to taste

3 parsnips

Peel the parsnips and cut into chunks.  Place in your pressure cooker with a cup of water, bring to pressure and cook for 7 minutes.  If you do not have a pressure cooker, hurry up and get one; or you can steam the cut up parsnips for 10-15 minutes. While the parsnips are cooking, dice your meat and veggies.  Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet and add the diced leeks.  Cook until the leeks start to brown, add the diced prosciutto and cook for another 4-5 minutes.  Add the kale and saute until the kale is wilted.  Add the chicken, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder and black pepper.  Saute for another 3-4 minutes.   Remove the parsnips from the pressure cooker and mash.  Serve the stir fry over the mashed parsnips.

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Prosciutto Perfection is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Chicken Dive In

My mom used to make Chicken Divan when company came over for dinner.  It seemed very gourmet at the time because for us it was so different.  My mom was a total “health nut” and our normal meals usually consisted of veggie stir fries, big pots of beans or split pea soup and home made whole wheat bread.  However; when we had guests she would bust out her Divan with big chunks of chicken and broccoli smothered with a mixture of cream of mushroom soup, mayo, and a touch of curry powder – and of course topped with slabs of melted cheese. It was darn yummy in a really good cafeteria food sort of way.

Yesterday I made my own version and cried a little bit in the process as I mulled over some happy childhood memories of hanging out in the kitchen with my mom.

I hope you can create some great memories of your own with your family while cooking together this weekend…

Chicken Dive-In!

1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, (or breasts)

4 cups broccoli florets, cut into bite size pieces

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup onions, finely diced

1 cup canned coconut milk

½ teaspoon sea salt (more or less to taste)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Sliced almonds

Pre heat oven to 350. Place the raw chicken in a pan, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to taste, and add enough water just to cover it.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 12-15 minutes for thighs and closer to 20 minutes for breasts.  Remove the chicken from the water with tongs and set aside.  Add the broccoli to the same water and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Drain the broccoli but save the broth for later – now you have some awesome chicken broth to add to recipes or to make a soup!  Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.  Add the broccoli, mushrooms, onions, coconut milk, and spices and mix well.  Spread into a 9×11 glass baking dish and sprinkle the top with sliced almonds.  Bake in your pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. Serves 5.

Enjoy!!

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Sweetheart Scallops

John’s Tuesday schedule brings him home later than normal and the kids and I are always finished with dinner and getting ready for bed by the time he’s walking through the door. Tonight I made my normal Tuesday night Paleo Tacos which vanished into the bottomless pits which are my children, leaving none for dad! John’s such a resourceful guy I wasn’t too worried that he would starve, but I did happen to have some awesome wild caught scallops that I found at Trader Joe’s defrosting in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.  Needless to say, I’ll have to change my plans because while John helped the two littlest ones out of the bath and into pajamas, I made my sweetheart some scallops. Jaden gave the scallops a kids stamp of approval after he helped his dad finish them off for his “bedtime snack.”  Feel free to use any seafood of your choice in this recipe if scallops are not easy for you to find.

Sweetheart Scallops

1 pound wild caught sea scallops (or other raw seafood of your choice)

1 bunch asparagus, diced

1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely diced

Juice from ½ a lemon

1/2 cup chicken broth

½ teaspoon dried thyme

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

3 tablespoons coconut oil

Saute the onions in 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil for 4 minutes.  Add the garlic and asparagus and saute for another 2 minutes.  Add the parsley, lemon juice, thyme, sea salt and pepper to taste and cook for another minute.  Remove the veggie mixture from the pan and set aside.  Add the remaining coconut oil to the skillet and heat over medium high heat.  Make sure your scallops are entirely defrosted and patted dry with paper towels. Sprinkle the scallops with a bit of sea salt and pepper and sear the scallops for 1 minute on each side (they should be nice and brown).  Add the veggie mixture on top of the scallops, pour over the chicken broth and gently stir.  Bring to a boil and simmer for another minute or two. The scallops should be tender and cooked all the way through, do not overcook scallops or what is typically delicious and buttery will turn rubbery!!

Enjoy!

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Thai Curry is one of our favorite “go to” dishes and so easy to make I almost feel like I missed something after the meal is ready!  You can put whatever you want to into this curry but I’ll give you the recipe for what we used the other night and it was a winning combo!  You’ll need to find some Thai curry paste.  I use the Thai Kitchen brand and they also carry a red curry paste which is spicier than the green but equally delicious.

I also like to use a bit of Thai fish sauce, so you’ll need that on hand as well.

I buy both of these products from either Raley’s or Safeway but if you are having a hard time finding either of these locally, I have added them here to my Amazon store, along with Coconut Aminos which I also used in this recipe.  Coconut aminos is a fermented coconut product, and a great soy sauce replacement!

Ok, so here’s the recipe!

Thai Green Curry

1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite size pieces

2 carrots, diced

1/2 a large head of green cabbage, shredded

3 cups crimini mushrooms

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon Thai curry paste (if you are using red paste, start with 1/2 a tablespoon and add more later if you want it spicier – this stuff has a kick!  If you use the green paste, I actually use 3 to 3 1/2 tablespoons because it’s much milder and we like the extra kick – experiment and find the amount that works for you!)

1-2 splashes of fish sauce or more to taste

1-2 splashes of coconut aminos or more to taste

Cilantro

In a large soup pot add the coconut milk and curry paste, mix until blended and bring to a boil.  Turn down to low and simmer for 5 minutes.  While the coconut milk and curry are simmering, dice up your chicken and chop your veggies.  Add the chicken, carrots, chicken broth, fish sauce, and coconut aminos to the coconut milk curry – mix well and simmer for another 10 minutes.  Add the cabbage and mushrooms and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until the cabbage is tender.  Top with diced cilantro.

As always, Enjoy!!

Thai Green Curry is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Here’s a fast, easy and delicious side dish to try with your dinner tonight!

Skillet Butternut Squash and Greens

1 lb bacon, diced

1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed

1 bunch chard, diced

1 zucchini, diced

Drizzle of olive oil

Drizzle of balsamic vinegar

Using a potato peeler, peel the butternut squash, remove the seeds and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  Place in a large pan and cover with water.  Boil for 5-7 minutes or until the squash is tender but not mushy.  While the squash is boiling, cook the diced bacon in a large skillet until browned.  Drain the butternut squash and add to the cooked diced bacon along with the chard and zucchini.  Saute for another couple of minutes until the chard is wilted.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve.

Enjoy!!

Skillet Butternut Squash and Greens is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Salsa Dancing Chicken

I made a chicken dish the other night when I literally had 30 minutes to make dinner and feed my family – and even with the crazy rush the results were out of this world!  I blindly grabbed at the chicken thighs in my fridge, reached desperately for my pressure cooker, through in a few items on hand, and 15 minutes later we had a magical meal that I can’t wait to make again! The only problem – we didn’t have enough – so thank goodness I also had some left over chicken soup that rounded out the quick meal and made sure we all were full! Here’s the recipe and I would plan on doubling it!

Salsa Dancing Chicken

2 lbs bone-in, skin on chicken thighs (if you use boneless/skinless just decrease the cooking time by about 3 minutes)

2 tablespoons grass fed organic butter or coconut oil

1 yellow onion, halved and sliced

1 14.5 oz can of organic diced tomatoes, drained

1 12 oz jar of Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde of green salsa of your choice

1 tablespoon cumin powder

1/2 tablespoon paprika

Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste

In the bottom of your pressure cooker heat either the butter or coconut oil over medium heat.  Sprinkle the chicken thighs with sea salt – make sure your pan is nice and hot and brown the chicken thighs for about 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add the onions and saute for another 2-3 minutes.  Add the diced tomatoes, salsa, cumin, paprika and pepper and mix well.  Place the chicken thighs back into the pressure cooker in the sauce.  Lock the lid into place and bring to pressure.  Turn the heat down as low as you can while still maintaining pressure and cook for 15 minutes.  Serve with shredded cabbage and avocado.

Enjoy!

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A Meal In Minutes! Salsa Dancing Chicken is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Mix together (use your hands)

2lbs grassfed ground beef

1lb of pork sausage

chopped celery, onions, and carrots

3 eggs

1/2 cup almond meal

lots of dried oregano, garlic powder, cracked black pepper, and a little cayenne

small drizzle of raw honey 

Form into large meatballs and cover bottom of crock pot, you might have to stack them depending on the size of your crock pot.

For the sauce mix:

1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 can of tomatoe paste

a large handfull of torn fresh basil

5-6 coarsely chopped garlic cloves

a couple pinches of sea salt

cracked black pepper to taste.

Cover meatballs with tomato sauce and cook all day on low.  These were even better the next day for lunch!!

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Marvelous Meatballs! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

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