Menu Ideas

Steak & Potato Salad

I've had a couple friends say, how can you do this?  What do you eat?  Easy answer... Food.  But really they are asking what is my menu like.  How have I incorporated my "clean," "free" food into my family's lifestyle without causing immense pain for everyone involved.

So this what works for me.  My kids eat cereal and sandwiches and typical "american" food for breakfast and lunch and snacks.  Dinner we eat my style.  Yeah they like pasta, and I won't lie.  Pasta is a quick meal for the family.  If we are going to eat pasta for a dinner they eat it and I serve the "good for you" sauce separately for me.  They like dinner.  I eat food that is good for me.  Win Win.

Most of the time, I can cook a dinner without having to cook two meals.  I simply have to be smart about not combining ingredients, and cooking/serving some things separately.  If I am cooking Chinese food, I keep the rice on the side and I just eat the chicken and veggie stir fry with the yummy good for my body sauce.

Ready to check this out? Here we go...

Now honestly, I don’t eat with this much variety.  I almost always eat eggs and bacon for breakfast.  You might like more variety though so here are things that I toss in when I want a little change.

If you want more information about how I incorporate healthy fats and snacks, check out this post.

In the next few days I will link up my recipes to this menu.  Happy Eating and thanks for your patience as I type everything in.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Eggs & Bacon	Pumpkin Chili	Kung Pao Chicken & Rice*
“Granola”	Lunch Meat Lettuce Wrap	Asian Lettuce Wraps & Egg Rolls
Coconut Porridge	Hard Boiled Eggs	Tacos (Salad for me)
Pumpkin Pancakes	Tomato Soup	Malibu Chicken with roasted peppers & onions
Fruit & Veggie Smoothie	Sweet Potato Fries	Meatball Subs*
	Leftovers	Steak & Potatoes (Salad for me)
	Curried Chicken Salad	Caribbean Pork Roast
	Lime & Pineapple Chicken Wraps	Japanese Curry
		Coconut Curry
		Sausage Peppers Penne*
		Buffalo Chicken

Buffalo Chicken

Pan "fried" Buffalo Chicken, no sauce

Who doesn't love a good buffalo chicken salad, wrap or sandwich.  This recipe works for all applications and is sugar, gluten, grain and additive free.

The chicken is delicious with or without the sauce. Serve it with a salad (with bacon and pineapple YUM!), as a wrap or just eat it before it gets to the table for dinner... I won't tell.



Buffalo Chicken
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breast pieces
1/2 teaspoon garlic
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon coconut flour (optional)

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Toss the spices in a large zip bag and combine.  Cut chicken into small strips.  Toss chicken into the bag and shake to coat the chicken in spices.

Preheat the oven to 425.  Bake coated chicken for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through.

You can also pan fry the chicken for an amazingly delicious seared crust, but I don't always want that hassle.  It is fast and easy to toss it all into the oven and multitask while it is baking.





Buffalo Chicken Sauce optional
3 teaspoons hot sauce (AKA Tabasco)
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon lemon
salt and pepper

Combine ingredients.  Toss over cooked chicken.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

Not healthy.  Not Paleo.  But good eats...  A friend requested the recipe.  And I am glad to share.

Sour Cream Banana Bread
Bread
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Coconut Topping
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
5 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Cream together the butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla.   Add the sour cream, bananas, and pecans. Mix well.  Mix in the flour, soda and salt.   Pour the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until a skewer poked in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes.

For the topping, combine the brown sugar, and butter in a sauce pan and stir until melted.  Remove from heat and stir in the pecans and coconut.  Spoon over loaf while warm.

Makes one heavenly loaf

Kung Pao Chicken-- Almost Paleo

I am collecting my recipes.  The ones I love.  The ones I have adapted to suit the way I am eating now.  It is ridiculously frustrating to forget how I fixed a recipe last time and where did I write it down?  So I put it here and I can find it when I need it.  So thanks for you patience with all my recipes and please accept my apologies for no pictures.

Kung Pao Chicken-- Paleo Style
Chicken & Marinade
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 Tablespoon coconut aminos (soy sauce)
1 Tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

Sauce & Veggies*
3 Tablespoons coconut aminos (soy sauce)
3 Tablespoons vinegar
2 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce (recipe here)
1 can water chestnuts, drained
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 bell peppers, diced
1/4 cup peanuts (paleo style use almond or pecan pieces)
chili garlic sauce

Marinate chicken in vinegar, coconut aminos, salt and sesame oil for 20 minutes.  Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  Drain chicken, and place on a baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Chop vegetables.  In a large skillet, stir fry garlic, onion and peppers until softened.  Add water chestnuts, aminos and Hoisin Sauce.  Add cooked chicken and peanuts to the skillet and stir to combine.

I put the garlic chili sauce on the table so each person can add as much heat as they desire.

* if you love a thickened sauce for your Asian food and tolerate cornstarch well, double the liquid ingredients in the sauce and add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.  Cook to thicken the sauce.

Hoisin Sauce

I am addicted to Asian style food.  The seasonings make everything taste better.  And the juxtaposition of tender meat with crisp veggies makes me happy.  A lot of my favorite "Asain" recipes use Hoisin  Sauce as a base.  My problem is that hoisin is full of sugar and soy and other things I am currently eating.  The solution... Erica made Hoisin sauce.

I use this sauce on lettuce wraps, in Kung Pao chicken, and Cashew Chicken (recipe here) and even as a salad dressing.  This makes a large batch so you can use it in a couple different recipes.  Happy eating!

Hoisin Sauce
3/4 cup coconut aminos (you could use your favorite soy sauce)
1/3 cup almond butter
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix well to combine

Pumpkin Chili

No really it doesn't taste like pumpkin, I promise.  The pumpkin is an alternative thickener and adds body to the recipe.  Yup, this is another grain free recipe that I found and really like.  I modified this recipe from a friend to make it thicker and to suit my palate.  This makes a good size batch.  I double it and put it in jars in the fridge to eat for lunches each day.  (And, yes, I like it enough to eat it most days for lunch...)

This is a THICK chili, so if you want it thinner or you want to add beans to the recipe, increase the diced tomatoes to two 28 oz cans.

Pumpkin Chili
1 tsp coconut oil
2 lbs ground meat (beef, turkey, your choice)
1 large onion, diced
2 bell peppers, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced (optional for heat)
28 oz can tomato juice (lazy confession, I puree diced tomatoes)
28 oz diced tomato, undrianed
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/4 cup chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional for heat)
2 teaspoons salt

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Brown meat.  Add in chopped vegetables.  Cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and seasonings.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.

Curried Chicken Salad

I modified this recipe from an old Pampered Chef cookbook.  The original recipe calls for a combination of mayonnaise and plain yogurt as a base for the dressing.  I switched it up for full fat (yum) coconut milk and a little bit of lemon juice for some tang.  The result was a definite hit for me.  It will become a lunchtime staple.

Check out the gorgeous picture from the cookbook.  Then mine.  Yeah, maybe I'll plate mine to look that good too.... or not.  It tastes great whether or not it looks amazing!

Curried Chicken Salad
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon curry powder (I like Madras)

1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups diced cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes, sliced in half
3/4 cup celery, sliced
1/3 cup green onion tops, thinly sliced
2 apples, chopped
1/3 cup chopped pecans, (I used almonds today)
1 medium cantaloupe
lettuce leaves

Combine the coconut milk with the lemon juice, salt and curry powder.  Set aside.  In  a large bowl combine the chicken, grapes, celery, green onion, apples and pecans.  Pour dressing over the top and toss to combine.  Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight to allow flavors to combine.

Serve on a bed of lettuce and cantaloupe.