Balsamic Mustard Chicken and Roasted Veggies

I am doing the Whole Life Challenge once again and enjoying the Paleo recipes that I find. I tried this one and it was very yummy.



Balsamic Mustard Chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breast (each cut in half long way)
1/4 cup Balsamic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of minced (or chopped) garlic
2 1/2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Place them in a ziplock bag add the balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, spicy brown mustard and garlic. Zip up the bag and massage the chicken in the bag to ensure it all gets coated nicely! place in the refrigerator and let marinade for as long as you want (mine marinated for about 3 hours, the longer the better).

2. Heat a medium size sauce pan on medium high heat and let the pan get nice and hot! Place chicken breast in the pan and brown on both sides. Once you have browned both sides you can turn your heat down just a little to about medium and add in some of the marinade juices cover with a lid and let the juices reduce down in the pan with the chicken. Occasionally checking on the chicken and stirring around the sauce to make sure to pick up all the yummy chicken bits on the bottom of the pan until the chicken is fully cooked and no longer pink on the inside (you can flip the chicken one more time if you would like).




Oven Roasted Bacon Veggies

11 strips of your favorite bacon (one package)
3 zucchini’s (4 if they are smaller)
1/2 lb of Brussels sprouts
extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cut your bacon into bit size pieces and fry them up till they are nice and crispy.  Set them aside.

2. Cut the Brussels sprouts in half place on a cookie sheet  that is already covered in foil (easy clean up!!).  Next cut the end of of your zucchini’s cut them in half length wise then cut them into half circle shapes and place them on your cookie sheet with your Brussels sprouts.

3. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven at 350 for about 20-30 minutes or until they are starting to get a little golden brown color to them and the Brussels sprouts are tender.

4. For the last 5 minutes you can add your bacon on top of your veggies just to rewarm your bacon. When the veggies are done take them out and sprinkle them with salt and pepper to taste.

Source: Everyday Paleo

Paleo Beef Stew and Mashed Cauliflower

I have been wanting to try to make some mashed cauliflower as a substitute for mashed potatoes and decided to pair it with a beef stew that was Paleo friendly since I happened to have all the ingredients on hand and wanted to bust out my crockpot. It was a perfect meal for a cold day.




Paleo Hearty Beef stew

Ingredients:

1.5 lb stewing beef
1 cup beef or chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
4 celery stalk, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
6 mashed cloves of garlic
1 can of tomato paste
Trader Joe’s 21 Salute seasoning and other seasonings
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put veggies in pot, then add meat on top of veggies.
2. Season generously with salt, pepper, and seasonings.
3. Mix together soup stock and tomato paste. Pour over meat & vegetables in crockpot and stir to combine. Cook on low for 7 hours.



Mashed Cauliflower



Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sea salt
2 tablespoons grassfed butter
¼ cup of coconut milk
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Wash the cauliflower, remove leaves and bottom of stem and cut into large florets. Peel the garlic cloves. Place the florets and garlic cloves in a steamer basket inside a large stock pot with an inch or two of water. Salt liberally. Steam until soft (~10 minutes). You won’t over cook it.
2. Drain in a colander and place into food processor. Add pepper nutmeg, and butter.
3. Process everything until smooth.

Source: Beef Stew adapted from Everyday Paleo; Mashed Cauliflower adapted from Nom Nom Paleo

Stove top Mac and Cheese

Decided the other day to try a stove top mac and cheese recipe, something easy. This was a pretty good recipe and easy to whip up. I added some peas to make it a little "healthier."  Haha, like mac and cheese can be healthy.



Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese 

Ingredients

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
6 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

Directions

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot and melt in the butter. Toss to coat.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.

Recipe Source: Alton Brown

Easter 2012: Potato Rounds

Another recipe that I found on Pinterest. Simple and a good side dish. The original recipe calls for bacon, but I totally forgot to prepare the bacon, so I went without it. It was very good and I imagine with bacon it would be really good. We will have to make it with bacon next time.



Potato Rounds

Ingredients

4 baking potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/4 cup melted butter
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Brush both side of potato slices with butter; place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned on both sides, turning once.

When potatoes are ready, top with cheese, and green onion; continue baking until the cheese has melted.

Recipe Source: Adapted from All Recipes (Bookmarked via Pinterest)

Easter 2012: Prime Rib and Roasted Veggies

The main course was prime rib. No special recipe since I bought the meat already marinated with seasoning from Costco. It was easy and so yummy.



Prime Rib

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Bake the roast uncovered in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, decrease the heat to 200 and continue cooking the roast uncovered for about 20-30 minutes per pound.

Remove roast from oven and allow it to rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before carving.

Roasted Vegetables

Preheat oven to 350. On a lightly greased baking sheet, place all vegetables on single layer. Drizzle vegetables with Italian Salad dressing (I often prepare the night before). Bake vegetables for 30 minutes until slightly al dente (or preferred softness).

Ward's Baked Beans

We made this amazing baked beans. It was soooo good that I made it for Thanksgiving. The recipe is from Ward. I never met Ward. He was a friend of a friend's dad and he's passed away awhile back. But this recipe has remained and our friend shared it with us. It was so good that I keep forgetting to get a picture before it disappears.

Ward's Baked Beans

1 large can of pork and beans
1/2 package of frozen corn
1/2 package of frozen lima beans
1/2 onion diced
1 jalepeno diced without the seeds
1/2 package of bacon cooked
1 kielbasa sausage

Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients and bake for 2 hours.

Corn Casserole

We had another Gourmet Club meeting. I decided to make a corn casserole recipe that I found on Food Network by Paula Deen. It was really yummy and easy to make. Definitely a recipe to keep.



Corn Casserole
From: Food Network

1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix (recommended: Jiffy)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with Cheddar. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes and then serve warm.