Sheperds pie

Ok this amazingly yumm meal is from http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/  It is a process and takes a bit! But worth it I promise!

Shepherds Pie

Not the best picture, sorry! I almost forgot to take the picture, it was that good! I made a few changes for what I like and what I had here at home..
I cut recipe in 1/2 is first
I did onions & mushrooms instead of carrots and peas
I added 5 pieces of crumbled bacon  on top of the meat, under the sweet potatoes

Absolutely amazing! :) Go check out George's site so many yummy recipes!

Paleo Chili

Mixed a few recipes to get this... I added 2 pieces of bacon chopped inside and 2 chopped on top and Avocado


Servings: 6-8
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 6 Hours


Ingredients:


2 medium yellow onions, chopped 
4 cloves garlic, minced 
2 green bell peppers, chopped


1.5 pounds ground beef (sirloin) 
.5 lb spicy Italian sausage 
14 ounces tomatoes, canned, chopped
6 oz can tomato paste
4 ounces green chilies, canned, chopped
1 Tsp crushed red pepper
1 Tsp basil

2 Tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp dried oregano

1 Tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 Tsp salt

Process:
In a saute pan, saute the onions, peppers, and garlic until they start to become soft
Next add in the ground beef and cook until brown
Transfer the meat and vegetables to your crock pot
Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well
Cover and cook on low for 6 Hours

Weekly Menu ideas

Ok here it is! Looks like it is going to be a Civilized Caveman week!

1) Buffalo Chicken w/ spinach (I am subbing Chicken instead of Shrimp and baking instead)
2) Shepherds pie w/ ground turkey (now to find arrowroot and ghee)
3) Crock pot simple short ribs by civilized caveman
4) Spicy Hamburger w/ white sweet potatoes
5) Leftover Steak with bacon over spaghetti squash
6) Tuna Avocado boats
7) Spicy Lasagna

Balsamic Chicken and Caramelized balsamic onion

• Marinated in 4 tbsp balsamic and 1 tbsp olive oil for a few hours
• Cook the chicken in the marinade in a pan on med heat until done
• In an additional pan caramelize in 2 tbsp balsamic 1/2 medium red onion left in rings cooked on med

Zucchini Spicy Lasagna

 I mixed 2 recipes together

• 1 lb hot Italian sausage
• 1/2 ground beef
• 1 red onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 can diced tomato
• 1 can tomato paste 
• cayenne
• dried oregano
• roasted red peppers
• 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• couples leaves of fresh basil (leave it out if you don’t have it, just freshens up the sauce a bit)

In a saute pan crumble the meat and brown it, along with the onions & garlic. 

Make the sauce by pureeing the Caned diced tomatoes, tomato paste, red peppers, cayenne and oregano, olive oil and basil, add sauce to the meat and mix well.

Preheat oven 350

Using a 9×9 oven safe baking dish, put down enough sauce to lightly cover the bottom of the dish. (This keeps the squash from sticking to the pan.) Next add a layer of thin sliced zucchini, then spoon on the sausage mixture, followed by the sauce. Repeat until all your ingredients are used up…trying to reserve enough sauce to cover the top of the lasagna.

Bake for 40 minutes.

let it set for 10 minutes

You can add some mozzarella cheese and black olives.. I would have added diced mushrooms to meat if I had any =)

Weekly Menu

M) Zucchini Spicy Lasagna
T) civilized caveman's grilled buffalo shrimp
W) Tri-Tip and Sweet potato
T) Leftover day (split shift at work)
F) Bacon wrapped Chicken
S) Orange Chicken

Tri-tip spaghetti

UMMMM WOW.. Yes tooting my own horn right now! Threw a little of this & a little of that and it turned out amazing! You know those nights where you have nothing planned time to raid the leftovers and spice it up. Fast and easy, I was pleasantly surprised. 

~1/2 spaghetti squash, seed and place cut side down in Pyrex dish with an inch of water.  Stab the outside a little and microwave for 10-15 min or until done. 

~ In a pan place a sliver of kerrygold butter, 2 garlic cloves minced, and a few slices of onion left as rings and tri-tip for 3-5 min on med heat.

~Use a fork scrape out the inside so it look like spaghetti strands, then toss those in to the pan and mix well. I then added a small spoon of bacon grease, dried basil and some pepper. Cook on low for 5 min and get busy! 

Enjoy 

TidBits

Here's my theory, learning too late in life maybe, better late than NEVER..

• Don't believe everything you are told.
• Always trust your gut. 
• Want to stay motivated? find people who help motivate you. 
• Want a smile on your face? Put one there and keep people around that help keep it there! 
• Never frown you never know whois falling in love with your smile.
• Everyone is going to have something to say so let them.
• Make sure by telling someone "Yes" you are not telling yourself "No"
• Love you for you and never give up

Bacon-Egg Muffin

Pre heat oven 250.. 

Bacon around the outside of the muffin cups like a nest for your egg

1 egg in the center and top with  whatever you would like...mushrooms, onions and salt and pepper... 

 (**picture above is green onions, pepper, sea salt, garlic powder and a little red pepper flakes and a drop of frank's hot sauce after done.)

cook until eggs are done to YOUR preference 

Enjoy =)

Paleo Pizza Chicken

Such a great fast recipe. I love love the crock pot. I ate about 1/2 lb of chicken, YIKES :-/

Paleo Pizza Chicken 

Ingredients

• 1 lb frozen Chicken tenderloins 
• 1/2 White Onion (thin sliced)
• few handfuls of sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 C sliced Pepperoni (Applegate Farms is a Paleo Option, trader joes has some too)
• Italian Seasoning
• Salt
• Garlic Powder

Place some slices of onion down then the frozen chicken breasts in the slow cooker. 

Sprinkle seasonings over chicken and add remaining diced onions, mushrooms and then place pepperoni on top of it all.

Turn on low for 4-6 hours

*Option: if you do dairy, you could add some mozzarella cheese for the last 10-15 minute to melt it over, but it is delicious even without! :) 

Enjoy

Paleo Love

I can't tell you how many people ask me "How can you eat like that every meal, every day" "I could never give up pasta and pizza" Here is my answer: do it for 2+ weeks then tell me how you feel. If that is NOT enough to answer your question then have a meal with pasta or bread in it after not having any grains for 2 weeks and then tell me how you feel! "No one said it would be easy just that it would be worth it" This quote is so true for Paleo/Primal, more so in the beginning when your still fighting the old lifestyle and cravings. I can better understand and listen to my body now, I don't obsess over counting calories, I just JERF (just eat real food).
I do it because of how I feel, better sleep, better complexion, and more energy! I love this lifestyle and yes will say slightly obsessed. If you are a serious part of my life you have listened me gab on and on about it or about what I made for dinner! I will never go back to eating grains or legumes ever again. I try to keep as many supportive, positive and motivating people around me. Once I changed my way of eating it seemed like my way of thinking about things had changed as well, or maybe I just hit a point in life where I don't worry so much about what others think and have become much more positive, healthy and confident.

I have had 3 friends just start Paleo/Primal
1) lost 3 Lbs. in a week
2) lost 6 Lbs. in a week
Way to go ladies <3

Tri-Tip and Kabocha Squash

Okay amazingly yummy! Hit the spot and was exactly what I was needing after my workout! Yes I ate all that is on the plate below ;)

First time for the kabocha squash. My friend George posted this yummy recipe a while back on his Civilized Caveman site. So I made it exactly how he did, here it is:

Ingredients:

• 1 Kabocha Squash
• 2-3 Tbsp of the Oil of your choice (Coconut, Olive, Macadamia Nut, etc)
• Sea Salt
• Black Pepper
• Cinnamon (Optional)

Process:

1. Wash your squash under cold water and pat dry
2. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees F
3. Cut the top and bottom off of your squash so you have a flat surface to work with
4. Cut your squash in half and remove the seeds
5. Slice your squash into equal size wedges and place in a mixing bowl
6. Toss with the oil of your choice with the salt and pepper
7. Place in a single layer on your baking sheet
8. Bake for 30 minutes flipping halfway through
9. Remove from the oven, let cool, and sprinkle with cinnamon if you would like
10. Enjoy

Now he said you can eat with the skin on, I did as well. On top of the cinnamon I also sprinkled nutmeg and poured some melted unrefined (coconut flavor) over the squash!

TRI-TIP

Over med heat, melted some refined coconut oil and sauteed 2 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 white onion and a lot of mushroom.

1.37lb of tri-tip and sliced it placed in the same pan  in the center with mushroom and stuff around the out side. Sprinkled with monterey steak seasoning, few minutes on each side! So good!  

Pulled-Pork

1. Rinse 3lb pork shoulder under cold water and pat dry.
2. Cut slits into pork and stuff with 5 cloves of garlic, or more, rub sea salt and ground pepper on one side.
3. Place 1/2 white onion sliced and 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth on the bottom of the crock pot.
4. Place pork in crock pot, rub sea salt and ground pepper and a dash of chili powder.
5. Cook pork on low for 8 hours.
6. Remove from crock pot, and let cool.
7. Discard thick layers of fat.
8. Shred pork with two forks.
9. (optional) Place in the oven @ 400 for 20 min 

I seasoned some of leftovers with a "dash" of ground ginger, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper and chili powder  =)

Here is my lasagna recipe I uploaded to FASTPALEO

Pre Paleo I loved lasagna! I have missed it. So I decided to mix a few recipes and came up with this! It's amazing.. Add the cheese if you allow dairy.. Skip if you don't!

http://fastpaleo.com/spicy-lasagna/

Meal Menu

Okay here it is! I was wanting to add a Coconut Mahi Mahi dish from Civilized caveman but at the time I do not have any in my possession.. Hope everyone doing the whole30 is sticking with it and staying strong. It will be worth is! =) Have an amazing week

                       
Sunday~  Pulled Pork
Monday~ Tri-tip and sweet potato mashed
Tuesday~  Chicken pepperoni crockpot OR Coconut Mahi Mahi
Wednesday~ Spicy Lasagna w/zucchini noodles
Thursday~ Split shift at work: leftover day
Friday~ Stuffed bell peppers
Saturday~ Chili

Bacon acorn squash creamy sauce chicken

Oky so here is last nights Dinner but I didn't post sorry! I took a recipe I found on-line and added acorn squash instead of delicata squash.. enjoy!
AWEsome bacon acorn squash cream sauce chicken
Serves 2
1 spaghetti squash
1 larger acorn squash
1/2 lb chicken tenders (or whatever kind of cut you like)
4 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
4 garlic cloves diced 
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
What you do:
Preheat your 425 degrees.
Cut spaghetti squash acorn squash in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and excess threads. Don't be dainty. 
Place open side down on a baking sheet (use aluminum foil for easy clean up) and cook for 20-25 minutes. You will know when they are done cooking when you can poke the outside skin and it 'gives' a bit.
cook your chicken at the same time. Just place chicken on a foil lined baking sheet, sprinkle some olive oil over the chicken (or other kind of fat), salt and pepper it, and sprinkle just a bit of basil on top. Easy peasy. I cooked my tenders for around 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through. 
Once your squash is done cooking, pull it out of the oven, de-thread the spaghetti squash into a large bowl with a fork. Go against the grain, if spaghetti squash had grain.
Now throw your diced bacon into a skillet and cook until done. Use a slotted spoon to pull out your cooked bacon, but leave behind the grease. I used all of my grease.cads 4 diced cloves of garlic put in bacon grease. Take your acorn squash and hollow it out. Dump the insides into your warm skillet filled with bacon grease. Then add your coconut milk. You may need to add a little bit more coconut milk depending on how runny you like your sauce. Mix thoroughly with a ladle to break up the squash a bit. 
Add seasonings to the mix and salt and pepper as needed. Mix thoroughly and cook on low for about 5 minutes to simmer.
Now dice up your cooked chicken.
Pour sauce over spaghetti squash and add your chicken to the mix well and Top with bacon.

Spicy Stuffed Peppers

Okay here is an all time favorite of mine! Easy and fast and very filling! 


Spicy stuffed peppers
2 bell peppers
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/2 onion chopped
2 cup grated cauliflower
1 lg tomato
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1tbsp Montreal steak seasoning to taste
1 tsp Crushed pepper to taste

Preheat 400
Microwave cauliflower, let cool and grate
Cook meat on med add steak seasoning and crushed pepper,
onion and garlic
when almost done add on diced tomatoes (1min) and cauliflower
Scoop into peppers (I topped with pre cooked bacon)
Bake 15 min at 400
Enjoy =)