Bacon-Wrapped Scallops

Because, really, isn't everything better wrapped in bacon?

These scallops were accessorized with some stir-fried yellow and green squash and carrots, and some pan-fried plantain coins.

 

The Versatile Sister Slaw

Hie thee to AllRecipes.com for the Sister Slaw recipe. (Note: I have made it with and without the maple syrup and noticed no difference, ergo I forego the syrup.)

I first discovered this about a month ago while searching for a dressing to go with kale - something that up to that point I had never prepared. Now kale is part of my rotation regularly since the Sister Slaw dressing complements it so well. The original recipe writer is correct - if you give this salad a couple of good massages by hand, the dressing will distribute better and soften the kale more efficiently.

I have made it many different ways; you don't need to always have the cabbages or specific combination of veggies it mentions. I just usually cut up the kale and add whatever heartier salad-y fresh veggies I have with the dressing (good examples: cabbage, carrots, onions, peppers, cucumbers, etc.). I love the "make-ahead" convenience of it, and I really love it with a generous dose of leftover roast chicken included. It lasts in the fridge for a couple of days without wilting. Perfect fast lunch!

I call this "Dinosaur Chicken Salad" because the original recipe called for dinosaur kale, even though my local supermarket carries only curly kale. I call it "Dinosaur Chicken Salad" and make my three-year-old say, "Rawr!" like a T-Rex when we eat it. (Figuring a little extra fun can't hurt in the game to encourage veggie consumption.)

Hoping she learns to drop the rawring and keep the kale-eating by the time she goes to college.

First Ever Meatloaf

I've never made meatloaf. I'm not exactly sure what it's supposed to taste like.
I suppose this was an advantage?

I made the meatloaf recipe from Mark's Daily Apple in my mini loaf pans (one recipe made three miniloafs for me), then finished it with leftover vodka sauce, cheese, and fresh basil. Not bad, but it's still a little bit of a meat bricklet. I'm guessing I could find tastier applications for ground beef, but this is sure one of the most hands-off recipes out there.

Note to self: must start searching out ground beef recipes for variety.

Berries and Coffee Cream

Oh yum.

This is probably my favorite primal dessert - and ridiculously easy. The hint of coffee flavor in the cream makes the cream itself and the berries both taste sweeter by contrast.

Berries and Coffee Cream
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream (will make two cups whipped cream)
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee (I use decaf Mount Hagen organic freeze dried coffee)
4 cups berries of your choice

Directions
Wash and (for strawberries) quarter berries into serving bowls. In separate bowl, place cream and instant coffee. Allow the instant coffee to wet just a bit, then whip at high speed until soft peaks form. (Note: In above pic, you can tell that I like my whipped cream somewhere between soft peaks and butter.) Spoon over berries.

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. Thanks for supporting Primal Kitchen at no additional cost to you!

Chevre Scrambled Eggs

A bit lighter, fluffier, more savory than your standard scrambled eggs.

Ingredients
4-5 eggs
1-2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons crumbled chevre (goat cheese)

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.

Menu Plan

Monday:
Breakfast - Fried eggs, coffee
Lunch - Hamburger, tomato avocado salad, blueberries (on sale at Giant this week!)
Dinner - Baked chicken thighs and Brussels sprouts

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Cottage cheese, strawberries (also on sale at Giant this week!)
Lunch - Stir-fry scallops (on sale at Giant!), squash, and broccoli
Dinner - Scrambled eggs, bacon, fried plantains

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Blueberry yoghurt smoothies
Lunch - Guacamole, carrots, sliced cheese, sliced apples
Dinner - Company - roasted whole chickens (on sale at Giant!), baked ginger carrots, salad

Thursday:
Breakfast - Omelets
Lunch - Leftover chicken, salads
Dinner - Chocolate raspberry smoothies, loaded salads

Friday:
Breakfast - Cottage cheese, berries
Lunch - Banana almond butter smoothies
Dinner - Bacon and veggie quiche

Korean Pork Ribs

I gave the Korean Ribs recipe from Mark's Daily Apple a try last weekend.

As many of the commenters on the MDA post had done, I decided to make the sauce and then pour it over the ribs in the crock pot.

Lessons learned:

1. Straining out the blackberry seeds, as one MDA reader had suggested, was a brilliant plan. The very few seeds that made it in kind of psyched me out because my brain confused them for tiny bones while chewing on a rib. Next time, I may buy straight-up blackberry juice (no other juices/sweeteners added) to save time, effort, and also punch up the tart flavor. That said, doing it with juice may render it a "special occasion" dish as it could be slightly carbier.

2. The crock pot version of these was very tender and mild - and the company served declared them tasty. I'm guessing that if they had been grilled per the recipe, they'd have had a tangier, thicker sauce.

Next to try on my ribs recipe hopper - Son of Grok's rumored-to-be-fabulous primal BBQ sauce.

Veggies You Can Bake With Chicken

We make chicken a lot. Probably 2-3 meals per week minimum. While frying or simmering it in a pan is delicious, I find it also labor-intensive, which isn't ideal when it's the witching hour and my 3-year-old and 7-month-old are vying for my attention. That's why my chicken is almost always roasted or baked.

Not being one to waste oven energy (it does, after all, cost about $0.50/hour to run your oven), I almost always throw a veggie in with or next to the chicken. If it's with the chicken, I get the added bonus of the chicken's sauce also flavoring the veggies. After baking, all I usually do is add a salad and the meal is complete.

Fresh pieces of chicken cooks in about 45 minutes at 400 degrees. Fully frozen chicken pieces can take up to an hour and a half in the oven, depending on the cut. A whole fresh chicken will roast at 350 for a couple of hours, give or take. Here are some primal veggies that you can throw in with your chicken to kill (har) two birds with one stone.

Making fresh chicken - oven to be on 45-60 minutes:

• Brussels sprouts (make sure to marinate or drizzle very well so that leaves don't completely wither while crisping)
• Carrots/baby carrots
• Chunks of sweet potato, cubed about 1/2" around (add cinnamon!)
• Cauliflower, drizzled with coconut oil and garam masala (or just curry)
• Asparagus (for the last 15-20 minutes, in a pan of its own)
• Plantains (add butter and cinnamon!) - just bake them a little longer since there's less heat, or take the chicken out and broil the plantains to golden brown
• Turnips - see turnip seasoning suggestions here, I want to try it!

Making frozen chicken - oven to be on closer to 90 minutes:

• Whole sweet potatoes, small to medium, wrapped in foil in a pan of their own
• Squashes of all kinds (you could blend with coconut milk or cream and spices after the slow bake for a tasty side soup)
• Beets (I haven't tried this yet, but I should give it a shot soon!)

Here's a sample meal. The sauce knocked my socks off, and I hope it does for you, too!

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs. chicken (I used chicken thigh fillets here)
Brussels sprouts (I had about 2 cups here)
1/4 cup orange juice (or citrus juice of choice)
1/4 cup avocado oil (or oil of choice)
1/2 cup tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Lay the chicken pieces and the brussels sprouts together in a large baking dish. Drizzle just enough OJ to moisten the chicken and veggies (no need to dump it in - just use your intuition and use as little as possible since this is a high-fructose proposition).

Drizzle avocado oil generously over all, and follow this with the tamari.

Bake uncovered at 400 F for about 45 minutes, turning chicken pieces and brussels sprouts once or twice during the time in the oven - this ensures that the delicious sauce gets all over your victuals.

And - of course - feel free to accessorize with a fresh salad.

Eggplant Lasagna

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.

Fast Fish Lunch

I picked up some thawed tilapia fillets for a quick lunch. Tilapia is a great fish for those who are relatively new to seafood (*cough*me*cough*) because it has a very mild flavor, and is also a low-mercury fish as it is vegetarian. It is also pretty inexpensive in the fish realm, ranging around $0.50/fillet. A final bonus: it fries up fast. As in, 2-3 minutes on each side on medium-high heat should do it.

Fried Tilapia for One

Ingredients:
2 tilapia fillets
Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
3 tablespoons coconut oil (alternative sub: rendered bacon fat!)
shake onion powder
shake ginger powder

Directions:
Place all but tilapia in a pan on medium-high heat. Once the coconut oil has melted and you have mixed the ingredients in the pan, add the tiliapia and fry 2-3 minutes per side, until fish is white and flaky throughout. Garnish with cubed avocado.

Menu Plan

Monday:
Breakfast - Fried eggs, milk
Lunch - Eggplant lasagna with meat sauce, kale salad with balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner - Baked chicken thighs, steamed asparagus, blueberries

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Mushroom scallion chevre omelette
Lunch - Banana almond butter smoothies (these are thick and very filling!)
Dinner - Meatballs with tomato sauce, spinach salads, blueberries

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Fresh cherries and cottage cheese
Lunch - Fat guacamole devils, blueberries
Dinner - Curried chicken thighs in a coconut cream sauce, steamed brocolli

Thursday:
Breakfast - Blackberry smoothies
Lunch - Salads: Leftover devilled eggs, baby spinach, sliced tomatoes, vinaigrette
Dinner - Ham and spinach quiche, fruit and nut crumble

Friday:
Breakfast - Leftover quiche, milk
Lunch - Apples with almond butter, sliced cheese
Dinner - Burrito bols (ground beef, salsa, sour cream, cilantro, romaine lettuce)

Turkey Veggie Soup

I love a good soup. You might say where Mark Sisson revels in his "Big-Ass Salads", I do so equally in a large bowl of soup brimming with veggies, protein, and of course, the addition of good fats and seasonings. (I think this is because I tend to prefer colder weather - 60 degrees is about my favorite temp.)

So, nothing - not even the summer weather - keeps me from occasionally making a veggie soup. Chop up a bunch of onions and veggies, sautee in seasonings, simmer, add fresh herbs and cooked protein. Boom! OK - it may not be precisely that easy, but it is almost that easy.

Turkey Veggie Soup

Ingredients:
1-3 cups pieces protein (see Step 1 for notes)
2 cups onions, any variety
2 cloves or more of fresh garlic
2 tablespoons oil of choice
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
1 carton (blasphemy in primal/paleo world, I know!) of broth of choice; I generally prefer organic low sodium chicken broth
4 cups fresh veggies, chopped
Fresh herbs, if desired

Directions:
1. Cook some protein, or have some leftover protein ready. Options: ground beef or turkey, pieces of leftover roasted chicken, etc.

2. Chop up about 2 cups of onions. (You don't have to add onions, but I'm an onion lover and consider them to be the base of any good broth.) You can use leeks, scallions, shallots, traditional white onions, whatever! You can also mix and match, depending on your onion prefs.

3. Chop up some garlic. A couple of cloves or more.

4. Add the onions, garlic, and a couple of tablespoons of the oil of your choice to a stock pot. Turn on high and sautee a few minutes.

5. Add a conservative drizzle of blackstrap molasses. This helps get the process of carmelizing the onions going and gives the broth some dimension. Stir frequently for another couple of minutes.

6. Add a carton of your broth of choice and a bunch of other chopped up vegetables - about 4 cups' worth. Below you'll see zucchini, carrots, button mushrooms, and portabella mushrooms. Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

7. If you have a fresh herb to add, now is the time to add it (if you do it sooner you may run the risk of overcooking and missing the peak flavor). I threw a few big sprigs of fresh rosemary on top and let simmer for just a few minutes longer. This is also the time to add your protein so that it warms but does not overcook.

The rosemary makes for a cute little garnish if you're serving this to company.

But of course, then I just take it off and nom nom nom.

 

Kitchen Wishing

My kitchen is a pretty standard operation. I have some duplicates of a couple of appliances due to gifts, but all in all, nothing fancy. I don't even have one of those KitchenAid mixer stands with the dough hook attachment that some folks seemed to think were part and parcel of a newlywed registry. All that said, I'm starting to get a mental list going of some items I'd like to add to my primal kitchen. (No word yet on what I'm going to do with my massive, pretty much now retired rice cooker.)

• A preseasoned enameled cast iron skillet
• A preseasoned cast iron dutch oven
• An ice cream maker - because I want to make my own sugar-free/sweetener-free ice cream with organic heavy cream and real-food additions (fresh strawberries, etc.). Nothing in my supermarket comes even remotely close.

Of course the prices on the cast iron are astronomically high, but reportedly they are heirloom quality - lasting well beyond 20-30 years or more.

Kerrygold Dubliner

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.