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

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).

Easter 2012: Bacon and Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

This was a huge hit! How can you go wrong with cream cheese and bacon. I will be making this again. In fact, my father-in-law already requested that I make it for his birthday in May.



Ingredients

8 oz bacon
1/2 cup finely minced sweet onion
1 clove garlic, minced
16 oz white button mushrooms
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Using scissors or a sharp knife, cut raw bacon into small pieces. In a large saute pan, over medium heat, cook bacon until nice and crispy. While bacon is cooking, remove mushroom stems from caps and chop stems into small pieces. When bacon is done, remove from pan and set aside; reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon grease and pour the rest from pan. Saute onion until soft about 5 minutes, scraping up any brown bits on bottom of pan. Add chopped mushrooms stems and garlic and cook a few minutes longer. Reduce heat to low. Add cream cheese and Parmesan cheese and stir until cheeses are melted. Add reserved chopped bacon and season to taste with salt and pepper. (Mixture can be made, cooled, and stored, covered, in the fridge for up to two days.) Remove mixture from heat and stuff each mushroom cap generously with mixture. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until mushrooms are soft and filling is nice and hot.

Recipe Source: Mountain Mama Cooks (bookmarked via Pinterest)

Easter Feast 2012

We had a wonderful Easter feast with some family. It was a great opportunity to try a few new recipes that I had pinned on Pinterest.



The Menu

Appetizers
Bacon and Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
Deviled Eggs

Main Course
Prime Rib
Roasted Vegetables
Potato Rounds

Dessert
Cake made by Auntie Mary
Easter Egg Rice Krispie Treats

Special Drinks
Sangria

Easter Dinner 2010

Easter Dinner menu

Pot Roast
Mashed Potatoes and gravy
Green Bean and Mushroom Medley
Peach Crunch Cake

I made this pot roast dinner a couple of years ago for Easter. I really like the recipe and have made it again and again and decided to make it again this Easter. Mashed potatoes and gravy always go well with a pot roast. We needed some veggies to go with our meal, so I searched on the internet and found this Green Bean and Mushroom Medley on allrecipes.com. I found a easy dessert to make on Bakerella's website, Peach Crunch Cake. Not only was it easy to make it was soo yummy. Definitely a keeper and to be made again.

Green Bean and Mushroom Medley
From allrecipes.com



1/2 pound fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 carrots, cut into thick strips
1/4 cup butter
1 onion, sliced
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Directions

1. Place green beans and carrots in 1 inch of boiling water. Cover, and cook until tender but still firm. Drain.

2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions and mushrooms until almost tender. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in green beans, carrots, salt, seasoned salt, garlic salt, and white pepper. Cover, and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Peach Crunch Cake
From bakerella.com



24.5 oz jar of sliced peaches in light syrup
1 package yellow cake mix
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), cut into 16 pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Layer ingredients in a 13 X 9 dish, in order starting with the peaches.
Bake for about 40 minutes.
Serve warm or cold… with or without ice cream.

Cucumber and Chops

My neighbor just started growing a vegetable garden and since my father-in-law has been watering and watching his house, we were fortunate enough to partake in the fruits (veggies) of the garden. We had some fresh cucumbers and I decided to make a cucumber salad. To go with the cucumber salad, I decided I wanted to make pork chops. I came across this wonderful recipe from Adventures in Home Cooking blog for onion baked pork chops. Father-in-law and Mr. Bear happily devoured the yummy dinner.





Rumbly Tumbly Cucumber Salad



Ingredients
1 large cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon dried dill, or to taste
Salt and pepper

Toss together the cucumbers and onion in a large bowl. Combine the vinegar, water, and sugar until sugar dissolves. Stir in dill, salt, and pepper, cover, and refrigerate until cold. Be sure to allow the cucumbers to marinate for at least 1 hour.

Note: Recipe measurements are all approximations.


Onion Baked Pork Chops
From: Adventures in Home Cooking



Ingredients
4 pork chops
1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix
1 egg, well beaten
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2 T. olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season pork chops with salt and pepper.

Combine soup mix and bread crumbs. Dip chops in egg and then in bread crumb/onion mixture, coating well. Place in a shallow pan.

Drizzle olive oil onto pork chops. Bake 30 minutes, turning once.

Notes:

• The original recipe called for 2 eggs but I didn't need 2, instead I beat a little bit of milk in with the egg.
• The original recipe also called for butter but I omitted the butter (we don't need the extra calories and it turned out just fine without it).
• Also, i didn't have to bake for as long since they were thin pieces of pork.