Sweet Potato, Bacon, and Egg Salad

I haven't blogged in a while. I'm really bad about that. So much has been happening around here. Hubby went back to work and has been working almost every weekend since the beginning of November, #2 turned 13, Christmas season was upon us, and the biggest change of all -- I went back to work. Right now I'm just the interim secretary at my church, but I might just be applying for the position once the church makes it available. It works out well to be there and the kids can come in with me and do their cyber school work in the church library while I'm working. Not a bad deal.

As for food, I've been sticking to easy meals. Some repeats, some new recipes, all Paleo friendly. The key things to remember when cooking Paleo is low carb, no grains, no refined sugar, lots of meat, veggies, and fat. Now, I'm not just talking bad fat, an avocado is fatty and good for you at the same time. All in moderation my friends.

With going back to work I'm now hunting down recipes that I can use for lunches. Of course I can always pack leftovers from dinner, but a lot of time we don't have leftovers. I do like buying flavored sausage links from my local Amish market because they are fresh and have no preservatives, but I just can't eat sausage every day. I found this recipe for a fun twist on egg salad. Keeping with the no preservatives theme, you need to make your own mayonnaise for this recipe. Don't get scared off, it's super easy. 1 egg, 2 tsp lemon juice, a generous pinch of salt, and 1 cup extra-light tasting olive oil. Follow the directions here and you'll have super yummy mayo that's healthy.

On to the lunch recipe! Hard boil 2 eggs, put in an ice bath, peel and dice. Dice 8 slices of bacon and cook for only 5 minutes. Peel and dice a medium sweet potato and add it to the bacon and cook until the bacon is done. Let the bacon and sweet potato mixture cool. In a container mix the diced eggs, 2 TBSP mayo, 2 TBSP lemon juice, 2 TBSP fresh dill (less if using dried dill.) Add the bacon and sweet potatoes when cooled. Mix up and eat warm or cold.

I'm actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow and eating this for lunch. I had a spoonful and it was tasty! Round this off with a piece of fruit, maybe some nuts, and I'm good to go.

SWEET POTATO, BACON, AND EGG SALAD

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1 medium sweet potato, diced

2 eggs

8 slices of bacon, diced

4 TBSP dill, finely chopped

2 TBSP mayonnaise (make it Paleo friendly with this recipe)

2 TBSP lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Hard boil the eggs, rinse in cold water or ice bath, peel, and dice.

2. Heat skillet on medium-high heat. When hot, add diced bacon and cook for 5 minutes.

3. While bacon is cooking, peel and dice sweet potato. After the 5 minutes, add sweet potato to bacon. Continue to cook until potato is tender and bacon is fully cooked. Let cool.

4. In a small bowl mix eggs, dill, mayonnaise, and lemon juice.

5. When sweet potatoes and bacon are cool add to egg mixture and mix to combine. Serve warm or cold.

A Paleo Thanksgiving

There are so many things I am thankful for.  I'm thankful my husband is home again, thankful for healthy kids, thankful for friends and family who love us.  There are so many things that I can't even begin to list them all.  One thing that I am thankful for is eating Paleo.  I've been cooking Paleo since early September and I've learned a few things.

1. I'm gluten intolerant.  I had my suspicions before, but despite the blood tests coming up negative, eliminating it from my diet and bringing it back in is a big no-no.  My body cannot tolerate it.  Without cutting gluten I would not have known.

2. I like food.  I like good food.  I'm finding there are a lot of good recipes that are just plain delicious and are Paleo friendly.

3. Paleo cooking isn't hard.  Most of the meals I have made have been extremely easy.  The difficult part is saying no to the junk, finding substitutes for sugar, and my own personal problem -- alternates to all the coconut.  

Some research has had to happen on my part, especially when creating a meal like today.  Thanksgiving dinner for us was completely Paleo, except for some of the desserts.

In the picture above, starting at the top and going clockwise, turducken, ham, corn bread, maple bacon pecan butternut squash, green bean casserole, whipped sweet potatoes.

Everything on that plate is Paleo friendly.  The only thing that you can't see is the cranberry sauce that I made. Yes, I made it, in fact, I made everything from scratch.  Well, I didn't make the turducken, I just bought that from the farmer's market and cooked it, I did buy the ham as well, but everything else I made.  I'm not going to go into details on how I cooked everything so here are the recipe links to everything I made today:  **note any place coconut oil is used I used bacon fat.

Paleo Corn Bread

Maple Bacon Pecan Roasted Butternut Squash

Green Bean Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

The whipped sweet potatoes were easy.  I just boiled the sweet potatoes for a good long while and when they were cool enough to handle I peeled them and threw them in my crock pot.  I mashed them with a potato masher, poured a little almond milk in, and put a nice coating of cinnamon over the top.  Mix it all up and let it cook on low in the crock so it stayed warm for dinner.  Easy dish to prepare in advance and let sit in the crock.

Look at those!  Apple pie tartlets.  Completely Paleo friendly and super yummy!  My oven cooked a little hotter than the recipe needed, so I probably should have pulled them out a bit earlier.  But, it didn't hurt and we all still loved them.  You can find the recipe over at PaleoOMG.

Sooo good!  I did make a pumpkin pie using a walnut pie crust but it wasn't Paleo friendly.  It was gluten free, but with the molasses and brown sugar, we broke from the diet.  But I say I'm ok eating it because it's my Grandpop's recipe for pumpkin pie and I just can't eat pumpkin pie unless it is his.  It was different eating it with a walnut pie crust, but it was still really good. 

Overall, I have to say this is the first year that my stomach isn't hurting after eating all this food!  I don't feel sick or bloated, I feel good.  I actually feel ready for round 2!  

Paleo Bacon Chili

I had a fun day today.  A friend of mine is in cosmetology school and she had a makeup competition today and needed a model.  The students were allowed to pick their own themes and my friend decided to make me into a Viking Opera Singer.

We had a blast all morning.  She did a great job and when it came time to announce the winners, my friend placed second with the makeup she did.  I think we had a real shot at first, but look at the top three in the next picture.

Isn't that little girl just the cutest thing ever?!  How could we possibly beat her?  Third place was very well done (even if this isn't the best picture.)  The fun part was the whole outfit I'm wearing is actually mine, except for the wig.  I'm so glad I was able to go help my friend out and take a little detour out of my normal routine.  Thankfully, my hubby was home to do school with the kids.  In good news, he got a job but doesn't start working until Nov 4th, so we've got a little time home with him.  In fact, he's taking #2 hunting tomorrow morning for the youth season.  Good times for them!

Tonight's meal was an easy one.  I started by taking 2 yams and slicing them in half and sticking them in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes.  While they were cooking I started the chili.  In a good sized pot, I started cooking the bacon slices.  I then started dicing all my veggies.  By the time I was done the bacon was browned and almost crispy.  I added the veggies in and let them cook for a few minutes.  I then added the ground beef and spices.  I cooked the meat till it was cooked through then added all the tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Let that simmer together for a few minutes then serve over the yams.  

Verdict: YUM!  So easy and delicious.  Everyone liked this meal.  I got the recipe from PaleOMG and tweaked it. Not from necessity, but because I couldn't find fire roasted tomatoes and didn't defrost my green peppers in time to get them in.  I substituted some sun dried tomatoes that I rehydrated and a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies and just omitted the green pepper.  Easy enough to do and it tasted just fine to us.

PALEO BACON CHILI

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 yams, cut in half

6 slices of bacon, cubed

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pound ground beef

1 TBSP garlic powder

1 TBSP chili powder

2 TBSP paprika

2 tsp cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies

4 oz sun dried tomatoes

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Split the yams in half, poke with a fork, and start baking them in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until they are tender.

2. Take the sun dried tomatoes and cut them up. Place in 4 oz of water to start to reconstitute them.

3. In a good sized pot, start cooking your cubed bacon.

4. While bacon is cooking, chop all your veggies.

5. When the bacon has browned and is a bit crispy, add the veggies (onion, pepper, garlic) to the pot.

6. Let that cook for a few minutes then add the ground beef and all the spices.

7. When the beef is browned, add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and sun dried tomatoes.

8. Mix everything up and cook for a while to let the flavors blend.  Cook on low for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

9. Place the yam in a bowl, pour some chili on top, and eat it.  Yum!

Slow Cooker Paleo Pork Stew

Last night's dinner might have flopped, but this one sure didn't!  I started this recipe based off of Nom Nom Paleo's similar recipe and I tweaked it a bit.  I made some good choices in this!  Quick, easy, and so, so good! 

I started off by slicing one onion nice and thin and adding a small bag of baby carrots to my 6 quart crock pot.  I minced 6 cloves of garlic and threw that on top.  Have I told you all that I FINALLY got a Pampered Chef garlic press?  Oh my gosh I am in love with it!  That thing is awesome.  If you use garlic frequently, you need one of those.  

Anyways...  I cubed 3 pounds of pork shoulder roast and threw that in a bowl and dumped on 1 tablespoon of my organic seasoned salt.  I mixed that all up and threw it on top of the onions and carrots.  I then cut a head of cabbage into about 6 wedges and placed them on top of the pork.  Some Marinara sauce, salt and pepper, then I cooked it on high for 5 hours.  When it was done, I poured some Balsamic vinegar all over the top then mixed it all up.   

Verdict: This was a great meal tonight.  It was a cold day and this warmed us right up.  Very tasty and filling. Everyone loved this meal and it will be made again.

SLOW COOKER PALEO PORK STEW

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

1 small onion, sliced thin

6 cloves of garlic, minced

½ pound baby carrots

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 pounds pork shoulder roast, cut into cubes

1 TBSP organic seasoned salt (or your favorite seasoning blend)

1 small cabbage, cut into 6-8 wedges

1 cup Paleo-friendly marinara sauce

1 TBSP Balsamic vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In bottom of 6 quart crock pot (or large crock), lay down the sliced onions, carrots and minced garlic.  Season with salt and pepper.

2. In a bowl place your cubes of pork roast and coat with the 1 TBSP of organic seasoned salt.  Mix well.

3. Put the seasoned pork cubes on top of the vegetables in the crock.

4. Cut the cabbage into 6-8 wedges and lay on top of the pork cubes.

5. Drizzle with marinara sauce.  Season with more sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

6. Cover and cook on high for 4-6 hours.

7. Take the lid off and drizzle with 1 TBSP Balsamic vinegar.  Mix all ingredients well.  Serve and enjoy.