If you have a hunk of hard cheese in your fridge, you are only a couple of minutes away from a bit of lunchbox whimsy - get our your paring knife and let's get to work! Don't stress about perfection - just try several stars (large and small) and throw in a moon if you feel like it! What a fun surprise for the lunch eater. :)
Cheese Stars
Ingredients:
Hard cheese (I used Kerrygold Dubliner)
Materials:
Sharp paring knife
Cutting board
Directions:
Cut off a sturdy slice of hard cheese - 1/4 inch or so. Out of the slice, cut a pentagon as shown above. Then focus on each side of the pentagon, cutting a wide wide triangle out of each side.
Note: Save cheese scraps for a less artistic dish, like melting into an omelette or soup.
Cheese Moon
Ingredients:
Hard Cheese (I used Kerrygold Dubliner)
Materials:
Sharp paring knife
Cutting board
Directions:
Cut a thick (1/4") slice of cheese, and make a diagonal cut across the slice to create a right triangle. (See above.) At the right angle, cut a curve. At each of the smaller angles, slice off the tip of the slice, creating a half circle. Cut a curve inside the half-circle to create the inside crescent.
Note: Save cheese scraps for a less artistic dish, like melting into an omelette or soup.
Yesterday morning: Sliced mango and leftover chicken,
whole milk on the side.
Wow, we made it through March! It was a very rainy March for us - and it's still rainy today, hence the playlist.
I was shocked at how much money we saved on groceries last month with my husband being the primary grocery shopper -- enough to have him involved in grocery shopping a lot more often from here on out.
Also? My preschooler is more or less geared now toward the idea of whole foods for breakfast; I can't remember the last time that she asked about breakfast cereal, and I consider that a milestone of some sort.
Here's what's on the menu this week:
Monday:
Leftover beef brisket soup, absolutely
loaded with leeks and mushrooms.
Breakfast - Hot tea for me, bananas and leftover chicken with mango for my girls
Lunch - Liverwurst, smoky autumn beef brisket soup using leftover beef roast
Dinner - Flank steaks on the grill - it's grillin' weather, baby, YEA! :)
Tuesday:
Breakfast - Hot tea for me, milk and fruit for my girls (I meant to get some protein in for them, too, but the morning got ahead of me!)
Lunch - Leftover beef brisket soup, Dubliner cheese
Dinner - Chebe Pizza!*
Wednesday:
Breakfast - Onion and cheese omelette
Lunch - Fasting for me, probably
Dinner - Chuck steaks under the broiler, baked Brussels sprouts with butter
Thursday:
Breakfast - Frozen blueberries, warmed with cinnamon, served with cottage cheese
Lunch - Lamb shoulder simmered in tamari and butter
Dinner - Salmon filets, coconut oil veggie stir fry
Friday:
Breakfast - Whole milk yoghurt with liquid whole leaf stevia and vanilla extract
Lunch - We're visiting with a friend and her daughter! She's providing the chicken for grillin', I'm supplying a loaded salad and maybe some Green & Black's as a special treat :)
Dinner - Bacon and eggs
*Look away if you are dogmatic -- I saw Chebe Bread Pizza Crust Mix as somebody had mixed and baked it up on another paleo blog (it's tapioca flour based, very short ingredient list, came highly rated). Drumroll...this means that yes, our household will have the occasional pizza night! (I haven't been contacted by Chebe with any review requests; I discovered and bought Chebe of my own initiative, and am glad that I did!) I did some Googling, and discovered that Chebe also sells frozen pizza crusts with the same ingredients as the dry mix ... but unfortunately the wet ingredients added in the frozen crust include (ick! so bad for you) canola oil.
Definitely some leftovers going with my husband
and daughter in their lunches tomorrow.
But now that I know that the tapioca flour crust won't "die" while waiting in a freezer, I hold out some hope that I could make the dry mix (as I did tonight) fresh at home with Kerrygold, but then press it flat and and add some toppings, and finally freeze it for when unexpected dinner company drops in, or those nights when we arrive at home after some long trip with nothing in our fridge, or in case of nausea/illness/recovery when something simple and fast is needed. Hmmm, maybe that is a case where a vacuum sealing appliance comes in handy -- as it did for Joyful Abode when she cracked open some frozen vaccum sealed twice baked potato skins that she had made with her postpartum recovery time in mind.
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As I type this, the remains of a mirepoix simmer on the stove. The rest of the mirepoix has been ladeled over 3 chickens in 2 crockpots to cook on low overnight.
I'm adapting my mother-in-law's family tradition of potato soup at Christmastime. The original recipe, from her mother, called for skim milk and an irrational quantity of non-dairy creamer, which - you guessed it - is loaded with hydrogenated oils. In place of the skim and the non-dairy creamer, I'll use one or both of organic whole milk and/or organic heavy whipping cream.
The one neolithic ingredient of the soup that I'm willing to keep, especially since this recipe is a once-a-year thing, are cheese singles. In my mother-in-law's potato soup making heydey, she probably used Kraft; I'll be using Horizon organic singles for their stripped down ingredient list and smooth meltability.
For the mirepoix, I simmered salted Kerrygold butter, diced celery, diced white onions, diced carrots, halved mushrooms, minced parsley, and minced chives. Are you supposed to slow cook parsley and/or chives? I'm not sure, but I had a load of these fresh on hand because tomorrow I'm making AndreAnna's Grain-Free Savory Country Biscuits and at my grocery store you must buy about 10 times as much of the fresh parsley and chives as I'm planning to use in the biscuits. My extra bits of fresh celery and parsley have gone into a freezer bag for a future batch of broth or stock (see tips on making your own broth and stock here, and also here).
So, the to-do list for tomorrow, before we feed a crowd of 8 adults and 2 children dinner:
Finish the Cheesy Chicken and Potato Soup - Remove 3 cooked chickens from the crockpots. Tear off the slow-cooked chicken meat into hearty chunks, add back into the broth in the crock pots. Add 1/2" cubes of potatoes to slow cook for a few hours more. Just before serving, add singles and stir to melt, along with by any cream or milk necessary.
I emailed tomorrow night's guests shamelessly soliciting primal-compatible indulgences for dessert and they gladly delivered, so dessert will be: nuts, chocolate, clementines. Yay for crockpot cooking and crowdsourcing making a (more or less) primal Christmas Eve a simpler task!
How are YOU adapting your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebration food to be more paleo / primal / gluten free / grain free / sugar free? If you're blogging about your adaptations, feel free to add your link!
I seem to be on a bit of a beef and cheese theme here lately, but for good reason. On Sunday night I braised some steaks in tamari (350 F for a couple of hours in the oven until very tender), and topped them with triple cream bleu cheese out of the oven. If you've never tried a roast or steak (or any beef for that matter) topped with a blue-veined cheese like bleu, Roquefort, or gorgonzola, then you should definitely give it a go. Your taste buds will sing with delight!
As you can see, the shrimp cocktail didn't materialize. There's a good reason for that: I had a lot of leftover boiled eggs in the fridge, and the frozen (uncooked) shrimp could wait til another time. So here are the goods:
Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):
Two boiled, peeled eggs
Chopped dates - aka "dessert". My preschooler asked me what was going to be her dessert and she seemed perfectly content with the dates as her option. She also, however, regaled me with stories about what the other kids had for dessert in their lunchboxes. Oy.
Baby carrots and sliced green peppers
Sliced wedge of brie
Wasabi asparagus
What's that, you say? You've never heard of asparagus with wasabi? Well, you're in for a treat. I originally got the flavor combo idea from Fat Free Vegan's SusanV, having made asparagus with wasabi many, many times since. Tonight, I did it up simply, sauteeing the asparagus in a couple of pinches of powdered wasabi and a largish pat of salted Kerrygold until just crisp-tender, enough for flavor and just the tiniest hint of heat. Halving the asparagus spears before sauteeing made them just the right size to fit into the purple box. :)
I'll be honest: for me, the elbow macaroni in macaroni and cheese had, in the past, really just served as a vector for the melted cheesy goodness. Tonight, craving that same warm cheesy goodness, I took one look at the yellow squash in my fridge, and tossed caution to the wind. This was a hit with my preschooler, so I packed some in her lunchbox for tomorrow. (My husband still had the steak and salad written up in the menu plan.)
You could cook the squash even less if you are looking for a more "al dente" texture - the below recipe, which comes together in about 10 minutes, results in very tender pieces.
Oh, and adding bacon? Resulted in the crack-like addictive taste.
Crackeroni and Cheese
Serves 2 very generously
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter (I used salted Kerrygold)
2 small yellow squashes, diced into thin 1 inch long slices (about elbow macaroni size)
1" wedge brie, trimmed of rind, cubed into small 1/2" pieces
1/4 c. crumbled gorgonzola
2 tablespoons crumbled bacon (= 2-4 cooked strips' worth, depending on your desired baconishness)
Directions:
Melt butter on medium high heat, and add squash. Sautee for 5 minutes, or until squash pieces start to turn translucent. Stir in pieces of brie and crumbled gorgonzola, and stir vigorously until cheese is well-melted throughout. Add bacon pieces and serve immediately.
*Ahem* : Beets aren't that much to look at. I tried to do a couple of artsy shots, one of me holding them, another still life in my prettiest blue bowl, and they still looked like earthy lumps. But, this was my day to overcome my childhood-acquired revulsion to beets, so I was going to sally forth. I wrapped them in foil and baked them in a pan next to the chicken cooking for dinner.
*
Then, according to the instructions of the very highly rated AllRecipes.com recipe, I whipped up what turned out to be a fabulous vinaigrette (I will definitely be copying in the future just for salads or avocado!) to dress, and sprinkled liberally with feta.
And what do you know? Beets aren't bad at all. They're definitely still an acquired taste, but this time the tangy dressing and tart feta were good chaperones onto my tastebuds. And such pretty ruby tones:
My husband and daughter, sadly, were not impressed with the flavor itself, and since beets are not exactly a commonly-served company dish (and sold in bunches of three at my grocery store), I have no idea when I'll make these for myself or anybody else again. But at least I know that I can make them! And I did get an exceptional vinaigrette dressing out of the deal which will be put to future use.
Melt butter most of the way in a pan on medium-high heat. Scramble eggs in a bowl, then pour into the pan. Add crumbled chevre, then gently stir and scrape pan bottom with a soft spatula for 3-4 minutes. When done, eggs will look just a bit more moist and fluffy than the usual scrambled eggs, so be on the lookout lest you overcook.
OK, so some of you may read this recipe and say, "But that's more like eggplant parm!" I dubbed it lasagna because this way I didn't bread or fry the eggplant, and there's really no parmesan involved, technically. Also, the eggplant serves more as a vector for the cheese and sauce rather than a fried item unto itself, so it really is more like lasagna pasta.
Pre-Step: Get yourself a no-sugar tomato sauce. (I have a few primal / paleo recommendations outlined here.) The difference is significant as most no-sugar sauces have around 6 g. sugar in a half cup, whereas sauces with sugar (or evaporated cane juice, or corn syrup, etc.) can have much more more per half cup. I liked the relatively simple ingredient list and carb content of Gia Russa vodka sauce - which I found at my local Super Wal-Mart. (And I just like vodka sauce to begin with, because it has heavy cream and cheeses in it. Mmmmm.) If you have low carb brands that you like, feel free to post a comment and recommend!
OK, so here we go:
Eggplant Lasanga
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
2 cups tomato sauce of your choice
1 cup organic mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 block Kerrygold Dubliner cheese (1.75 oz.), sliced into long, thin slices about 1" by 4"
1/2 large-ish eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/16" slices.
1/2 stick butter
garlic powder
salt
pepper
fresh basil (for garnish)
Directions:
Salt your eggplant slices and place in a colander over a bowl for 30 minutes. This allows the eggplant slices to "weep" some of the bitter juices. (No kidding!)
Rinse off eggplant slices and coat with just a bit of pepper and garlic powder. Line one layer deep in a cookie sheet and drizzle 1 stick melted butter over the slices. Broil on high (550 on my oven) for 4 minutes. Remove eggplant slices from oven and set oven on 400 F.
Stack the broiled eggplant slices two-high in a baking dish, with a slices of Kerrygold Dubliner between each slice. Cover with a thin layer of your tomato sauce*, and then a generous sprinkling of the mozzarella. Bake 15 minutes at 400. If you like your cheese brown and bubbly, do an additional 2 minutes of broiling.
Garnish with fresh basil and serve immediately.
Added notes based on later executions of this recipe
(pronounced by my nonprimal brother as terrific):
You could also add a bit of ground beef or turkey to the sauce if you'd like the dish to be meatier.
For an especially fancy touch, add a thin slice of buffalo mozzarella AND a spoonful of cottage cheese or ricotta between slices - and top with freshly sliced parmesan.
Slice your eggplant slices into serving-sized squares, and stack'em 3 high instead of 2 high. This way, when it comes out of the oven bubbling with cheesy goodness, you don't have to fuss with slicing through layers of cooked eggplant.
Garnish with dried oregano and dried basil in the absence of fresh herbs.
Sweet curds and whey, I have found a new love in my life. It's Kerrygold Dubliner cheese! Go figure, I found it at my local Super Wal-Mart. I later found out that it also goes for about $5/lb. at Costco (and the whiskey cheddar Kerrygold cheese goes for $7/lb.) - about half the price that it is anywhere else. It just makes my tastebuds sing - somewhere between cheddar, parmesan, and aged gouda. Would be really excellent with a sweet German white wine. Here's the nutritional info, straight from the Kerrygold site:
For 100 g. Dubliner Protein 26 g Carbohydrate 0.2 g Fat 32 g
And pinch me now, it's grass fed!! I now know that it is imperative that I seek out some Kerrygold butter as well.
1. Saute 2-3 tablespoons chopped onions in butter in the omelette pan. Set aside in a bowl along with 1 handful fresh baby spinach (stems removed) and 3 tablespoons gorgonzola.
2. Beat eggs with a fork (I used 6 since my daughter was hounding me to share.). Pour in omelette pan.
3. Sprinkle onions, gorgonzola, and fresh baby spinach on top of cooking eggs.
4. Flip as necessary. Note:I stink at flipping omelettes. That is why mine looks more like an egg cruller. I welcome omelette flipping tutorials.
5. Eat with gusto! (Or whomever else is your dining companion, if Gusto's not free to join you for breakfast.)
Get yourself 2-4 tablespoons butter, and place it in a little microwavable dish, along with:
1 shake garlic powder
1 tbsp. freshly snipped rosemary (dried works fine, too)
2 cranks ground black pepper
salt, to taste
Microwave this sucker until the butter is melted.
Wash and cut the stems off two large portabello mushroom caps. Place them underside up in a shallow dish.
Drizzle the buttery mixture over the underside of the mushrooms. Bake for 45 minutes at 400, or until tender. Take the mushrooms out of the oven, and add a generous sprinkling of parmesan. Broil for 3 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and browning.
Hm. Well, they ain't much to look at, but they sure were tasty enough to blog about!
