What's for dinner?

Bunless beef burger with a fried egg, broccoli slaw, and grilled cinnamon sweet potatoes with pancetta!

Homemade Mayo!!!

Soooo I just received my new Vitamix blender on Friday, and it has change my life!  And if you are willing to make the investment I strongly encourage you to do it NOW!   I have used it already everyday.

Friday: Cauliflower rice
Saturday: Banana Coconut Green Smoothie (this recipe was just taken to the next notch with the Vitamix, it is so silky smooth, I LOVE IT)
Sunday: Homemade Mayo!

I used this recipe from The Clothes Make the Girl blog.  And I have to admit I had to do it twice.  Flowing the recipe, I noticed that it never stated the power or the speed needed to emulsion properly.  So I went all out, increased the speed to High, and started the drizzle process... The mixture started to steam and was not combining like a mayo should.  I had to ditch that batch.  The second time, I took it down a notch, well 9 notches.

When I combined the egg, oil, and mustard mixture I ran the Vitamix at Variable 2, then started to drizzle the rest of the oil at 2 and once it started to thicken I increased it to Variable 3 to finish it off.  It came out perfect and delicious.

C.C.C. with C.

Coconut Curry Chicken with Cauliflower (fried rice)

One of my favorite Whole 30 meals to date! I love Thai food, but I can't just buy Whole 30 approved at your local Thai food place so I made my own.

First I used this recipe to get me started, but it required a few modifications. I substituted the veggies on the recipe for sweet potatoes, onions, and eggplant. Then instead of rice I cooked a basic cauliflower fried rice!

It was great, filling, and I honestly didn't miss the real thing! I guess this is the real thing now.

Here are the steps to my meal! 

Ingredients

Brown the Chicken

Chop the Veggies

Place the Veggies in the Crock-Pot

Place chicken in the Crock-Pot

Make the Sauce

Mix the Sauce

Add to Crock-Pot

Cook

EAT! 

Grillin' Week #1: Flank Steak

To bring our weekly dinners back to something more familiar we initiated grillin' weeks.  Similar concept to chopped, the mystery item was the protein.  It was my week to make the selection for Jessica and Scott, and after browsing the meat fridges at Costco, I settled on some nice pieces of Flank Steak!

Scott and Jessica were more than happy to take this challenge... I mean, it wasn't jolly ranchers and pepper jack cheese!  See their Chopped week here!

Scott did the flank steak 2 ways, spicy dry rub and a balsamic Worcestershire marinade.  He grilled both of them up on his beautiful charcoal/gas duo grill.

 

To accompany the steak, they grilled corn brushed with a garlic butter sauce, garlic bread, and my favorite a summertime salad (perfect timing it was the first day of summer!).

Jessica's Summertime Salad

Fresh Strawberries

Fresh Blueberries

Blue Cheese

Candied Pecans

Mixed Greens 

Brianna's Home Style Blush Wine Vinaigrette Dressing

This salad was to die for, I actually had seconds right from the salad bowl (sorry Scott & Jess for my manors, but I couldn't resist).

p.s. I want this... Isn't is so cool/cute for your herbs!!! They bought it the beach art show in Santa Barbara on the weekends.

What's for dinner?

Paleo fish tacos with Dairy-free Avocado Crema and Pico De Gallo. 

This recipe is worth sharing and I highly recommend making!

 

Banana Muffins...OMG!

Wow, these are good!!!

I have been waiting and waiting to make these muffins, and I can't believe I waited for so long.  They are absolutely delicious! See recipe here at Today's Letters.  

Ingredients

Blend Cashews & Coconut Oil (I used instead of Walnut Oil)

Add Bananas

Blend.  This was so good, I think I could eat spoonfuls, or spread on this bread.

Whisk eggs, add banana cashew butter and all other ingredients. 

Put in muffin pans, cook at 375 degrees for 12 minutes. 

EAT!

Whole 30 plan here!  I am not full on Whole 30, but I am trying my best to follow the rules most of the time.  The best part, I have been introduced to some pretty amazing grain-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free recipes.

Chopped: Secret Basket #3 (My Week!)

Finally my week has come... The last few weeks I have been stressing/using my thinking cap for every possible ingredient they could ever pack in my basket... well guess what didn't think of these 4 things!

My Basket:

• Root beer
• Fish sticks
• Crescent Rolls
• Bell Peppers

We had 24 hours to brainstorm to come up with the best way to combine these ingredients in a decent meal.  Honestly, how do those chefs do it in 20 minutes? This is what we did!

Mini-Puff Pastries filled with Brie and Pancetta

Grapefruit, Basil, Pepper, Vanilla Rum Martini (My Favorite Part of dinner)

Fish Stick Pot Pie with Root beer Gravy and Fish Cake (like a crab cake) with Root beer Habanero Sauce

I have to say, it was kinda good, kinda weird, and kinda worked! I wonder what Geoffrey, Amanda, and Aarón would think?   

Chopped: Secret Basket #2

Week 2 of the Chopped challenges brings the mystery ingredients to the next level. 

This week, Scott and Jessica take on the basket.  What's in it?

• Coconut oil
• Jolly Ranchers 
• Asparagus
• Pepper Jack cheese

Oh my, oh my this is a hard one, I am worried for my basket next week!

So the final product from the basket was an entire 3 course meal.  We started out with a duo of asparagus appetizers, panko crusted asparagus and procuitto, brie, & coconut oil sautéed asparagus on a crustini.

Next was a herb marinated wild duck, killed by the cook himself, with bbq'd broccoli topped with a pepper jack cheese sauce.

Finally we closed out the night with grilled peaches and pears, topped with crushed jolly ranchers and licqurer which caramelized on the top of the fruit.

Scott mentioned many times he loved how this challenge has taken him out of his comfort zone and him and Jessica created some delicious treats.  While the appetizers were tasty, the duck cooked perfectly and tender, my favorite of the night was the grilled peaches.  The jolly ranchers added a playful aspect as each of the different flavors triggered throughout each bite and complemented the juicy peach.

BBQ on Fire!

David to the rescue!

Sorry it took so long to post this... next post... Andrew and My Basket! 

2nd Time is a Charm: Home Made Sausage

 This guy is awesome and he knows how to cook, and cook well.  I am trying out this paleo/REAL FOOD thing, I mean not exclusive, but most of the time and I have found some great recipes.  Two of them from Mark's Daily Apple through Today's Letters, one of my favorite blogs. 

I initially thought making home made sausage was easy, I would just grind any meat, add spices here, add spices there and it would turn out right... oh man was I wrong and I made the nastiest chicken sausage.  I made almost 3lbs and threw it all out, it was that bad! So Attempt #2 was about to happen and I was going to look at a recipe.

AMAZING NEWS, it worked and it was sooooo goood!!!!  I think a few keys to my success were chicken thighs not breasts, don't forget the red wine vinegar, and don't use too much garlic.  Here is how I made my Home Made Fresh Herb Sausage and Sausage & Egg Casserole. 

Fresh Herb Sausage

• 2 pounds of raw chicken thigh meat, cut into 1-inch chunks (include all fat)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or red wine

Read More: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-make-homemade-sausage/#axzz1x4aI8qJQ 

 

 

Sausage & Egg Breakfast Bites

• 1 12oz bag of spinach
• 1/2 of the Fresh Herb Sausage above. 
• 8-10 eggs
• Salt & Pepper

Read More: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/sausage-egg-breakfast-bites/#axzz1x4aI8qJQ