Moroccan Spring Fling!

Well, hello spring like temps. I've missed you. 

Today was 36 but sunny with a real feel of 46. Lovin' the sunshine today. 

Last night I had dinner with some friends and we went to a Persian restaurant. It was so good. Today's flavors are inspired from the Mediterranean region. 

Kefta Meatballs 

1lb Lean ground beef (Kirkland lean 91/9)

1/2 sweet onion approx 120gr

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried mint leaves

Evenly divide into 16 meatballs. Shape either round or slightly flattened. Spray pan. Brown on both sides. Turn down heat to lowest setting and cover for about 5-7 minutes to steam cook the beef. Remove lid and reduce all the condensation. Some onion will fall out of the meatballs. Mixed with the meat drippings, it was delicious to add to the green beans. 

Add a vegetable of choice. I chose a can of cut green beans for an additional 55 cals. 

As pictured...

Serves 1 (6 meatballs and green beans)

Cal 354

Protein 39

Carb 22 

Fiber 6

Fat 15

Chol 105

Per meatball...

Cal 50

Protein 6

Carb 1 

Fiber 0

Fat 3

Chol 18

Fish, Fish, Baby!

What is high in protein and low in fat? FISH! Tilapia to be more precise. This was really filling for a 200 cal meal. Have more calories to spend? Double it! Triple it! Easily feed the family with it! 

It does not cost more to eat healthy at home. It also keeps you in control. You control the butter. You control the oil. You control the portions. 

Tilapia and Green Bean Medley

4oz Tilapia fillets

1 can cut green beans with sea salt drained

130 gr fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 garlic clove chopped

Start with either a little Pam spray or a tsp of EVOO. Saute chopped garlic. Add drained green beans and diced tomatoes. 

If the tilapia fillets are frozen, you can add them to your pan of veggies and cover until thawed or cooked. If you like your fish with a little crispiness, take the thawed fillets and pan fry with a little spray or a tsp of EVOO. 

Season fish with salt and pepper, Old Bay, or Sazon Seasoning to your liking. Seasoning will add minimal calories. 

Serves 1

Cal 195

Protein 29

Carb 21

Fiber 5

Fat 2

Chol 56

Just another salad??? NO WAY! Roasted Asparagus & Sweet Potato Salad

Welcome to Meatless Monday...only it is Wednesday. WHAT??? Yeah, I'm a rule breaker.  

With the meal planning, comes searching recipes upon recipes online. I came across this website Deliciously Ella and did my version of her Asparagus, New Potato & Avocado Salad. Sounded delish, but I didn't need it to be strict vegan. I couldn't find new ptoatoes and I didn't need the pumpkin seeds. With roasting the veggies, I also didn't need to dress the salad with more evoo and vinegar. Here is my version. 

Roasted Asparagus & Sweet Potato Salad

Asparagus 403gr (about 15-16 stalks) cal 456

Sweet Potato 527gr (2 small) cal 80

Grape Tomatoes 291gr (1 container) cal 90

Avocado medium cal 240

EVOO 1 Tbs cal 180

Organic Spring Mix 4 cups cal 40

Peel sweet potato and chop. Chop asparagus. Drizzle with EVOO and sea salt & pepper. Roast in the oven at 400 for approx 30-40 min depending on how well you like your veggies roasted. 

Remove from oven and cool to room temp.

While veggies are roasting, halve grape tomatoes. 

Prep plate with approx 2 cups of spring mix, toss asparagus, sweet potato, and tomato together. Top with half an avocado diced on each plate. Sea salt & pepper to taste. 

Grams were calculated after peeling and chopping. 

Serves 2.

Nutrition info per serving based on quantities above:

Cal       513

Protein   13

Carb      82

Fiber      21

Fat        18

Sugar     23

Zucchini Pesto Roll Ups

Today was the Great Lakes Kite Festival. Not enough wind so the kite flying was slow but the day was gorgeous! Great day to be at the beach! No beach food here. We just took water and an apple, just in case. 

Now on to dinner...

Nom nom nom...It's been a slow week here. I haven't made anything fancy until tonight. Got this from my fave website PaleOMG.com here.

I used the Archer Farms Natural Italian Chicken Sausage from Target, zucchini, and premade pesto. 

Sausage $3.89

Pesto $2.39

Zucchini $.99/lb $1.41

$7.69

I cut each sausage into 4 pieces and had 20 pieces. The pesto is premade because I don't have any herbs growing yet. The zucchini was a different variety but tasted the same. 

It was a slow week on food so the recipes have been less this week. 

Spinach Power Salad

I like Panera. How can one not like Panera? They have a great menu. Not exactly Paleo friendly but if you know what is going to be in your food, you can have them leave it out since they make it all fresh. 

So the BB and I went to Panera for dinner on Sunday. Surprisingly it was busy since it was Mother's Day. I got the Strawberry Poppy Seed and Chicken Salad. It was delicious and HUGE! But I ate it all. Only 350 calories and 13g fat. The BB got the Spinach Power Salad minus the frizzled onions...frizzled what? Yeah, those are the french fried onions from a can, I'm sure. That salad is 460 calories and 25g of fat! Whoa! And his portion was small. I couldn't believe how tiny his salad was. He's 6'3 people. He needs a little more than the average bear...

So I replicated the salad tonight for dinner. Here's how it went:

Spinach from the farmers market, chopped

6 hard boiled eggs, chopped

4 strips of bacon, all the fat removed

10 oz baby bella mushrooms, quartered

vidalia onion, chunks

I had some vidalia onion dressing

Roast the mushrooms and onions with a little sea salt together for 20 - 25 minutes. (I also used a little Fustini's Sage and Wild Mushroom Olive Oil).Let cool. Make the hard boiled eggs ahead of time so they can cool after they are peeled. If you have issues with making eggs, like my mother :), google it. This is what I did here.

Here is the cost breakdown:

Spinach $3.00

6 eggs $.50

4 strips of bacon $.60

Baby bella mushrooms $1.99

vidalia onion $.50

approx $6.59

You don't need a lot of dressing so I didn't calculate that. I will be finding a Paleo friendly vidalia vinaigrette to make next time. This fed 2. There is still some spinach (my lunch tmrw) and egg. I'll have to make more bacon tmrw. Ah...bacon! ♥

BB says this is a keepa'!

Turkey Lettuce Wrap

It's lunchtime! What to use when you can't have bread anymore? Use lettuce leaves! I haven't had bread since Saturday. I can't really tell a difference yet but BB hasn't had bread for 2 weeks! Good job, babe! He can tell a huge difference in how he feels. 

To assemble:

lettuce leaf (I used green lettuce. Romaine is also hearty)

turkey slices (as natural as possible)

a little guacamole from here

red pepper sticks

Roll 'em up and eat 'em!

If the guac is made up ahead of time, this is super fast to assemble. And it tastes good to boot!

The cost breakdown:

guacamole

2 avocados $1.00 (on sale this week 2/$1.00)

1/4 red onion $.50 approx

1 roma tomato $.50 @ $1.29/lb

1 lime $.34

lettuce $.99 a bunch

turkey $2.33

red pepper $1.00 @ $2.99/lb

Approx cost per roll up $.75! And that is being generous on the portions!

Curry Turkey Meatballs

We have a winner here, folks! 

So the BB (Brit Brat) loves curry. I found a great vegetarian curry dish that we can't have anymore because it has sweet potatoes and chickpeas in it. Booooo...

So I had some ground turkey and fancied a curry burger. I wanted to use coconut milk with curry (because it tastes great) but that would have made the burgers too runny. So option two! Meatballs in a curry sauce! Brilliant!

Here is the cost breakdown:

Turkey $2.50

Onion $.50

Coconut Milk $2.64

Diced Tomatoes $.50

Cauliflower $2.50

Now on to the good stuff!

Curry Turkey Meatballs in Coconut Sauce with Cauliflower

Ingredients

·         1 medium onion, diced

·         2 tbsp curry powder

·         1 tbsp ground cumin

·         1 tsp ground cinnamon

·         1 lb ground turkey or chicken

·         1 (14.5 oz) can coconut milk

·         1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

·         1 tbsp curry powder

·         1 head of cauliflower

Combine coconut milk, diced tomatoes, and 1 tbsp curry powder in bowl. Set aside.

Dice onion. Add 2 tbsp curry, cumin, and cinnamon. Mix well. Add all to turkey and combine well. Use your judgment on the texture.  I thought it was a little dry so I added about ¼ C of the coconut milk/tomato mixture. Use a cookie dough scoop (or just a spoon) to make even size meatballs. These are about 2” in diameter.  

Bake meatballs on a lined or greased cookie sheet at 350 for 20 – 30 minutes.

In a large pan on the stovetop, brown all edges of the meatballs. Remove meatballs, side aside. Saute cauliflower for 5 minutes before adding coconut/tomato mixture. Simmer 15 minutes to soften cauliflower and reduce sauce. Add meatballs. Serve.

If you add meatballs and simmer, they might fall apart since there is no egg holding it together. 

Brit Brat Approved!

They Can't All Be Winners...

So tonight's menu was Portabella Pizzas. Sounds great, right? Well there was something missing. And I'm not just talking about cheese. Can't quite put my finger on it so I will have to tweak the recipe a bit. If you have any suggestions, please comment below. 

Here is how I made this

6 portabella mushrooms $2.89/pkg $5.78

1/2 red pepper $2.99/lb approx $.50

1/4 red onion approx $.50

1/2 jar pizza sauce $1.00

6 slice of sandwich pepperoni $.40

This last ingredient is where I cleverly go to the deli and have them cut the sandwich pepperoni very thin so the pepperoni flavor covers a larger area. However, in this case the slicing may have been too thin. I could hardly taste pepperoni at all! And of course there is cheese missing but this is Paleo people! There's no cheese in Paleo...or crying in baseball (love that movie!). 

So it is back to the drawing board for this one. However, it is Brit Brat approved.

Chicken Sausage and Veggies

Chicken! It's what's for dinner! (always wanted to say that)

This was last night's dinner:

Archer Farms Italian Chicken Sausage info here

1/2 large red pepper

1/2 large vidalia onion

8oz baby portabella mushrooms

Fustini's Sage and Wild Mushroom EVOO here

Now before you get all excited and say "you can't eat processed chicken sausage"! Here are the ingredients:

Skinless Chicken, Water, Red and Green Dried Peppers, Salt, Paprika, Fennel Seed, Black Pepper, Onion.

What's that you say? Yes, those are all natural. And I didn't have to grind it myself. Win-win!

Sausage $3.89

Pepper $1.99/lb

Vidalia Onion $.69/lb

Mushrooms $2.69

Fustini's $15.95 (worth every penny)

Refreshing!

Are you one of the people that like those flavored water packets? Crystal Light on the go? How about Paleo friendly flavored water? 

2 quarts cold water

1/2 lemon thinly sliced

4-6 basil leaves

I have the Rubbermaid Servin' Saver Mixing Pitcher here. Put the water in, put the top on, and throw the lemons and basil on top. Plunge away! (note: if you put the lemon and basil in first the plunger can't sit on the bottom of the container.)

Lemon $.50

Basil plant $2.39

Fruit Smoothie!

As I mentioned previously, juicing ain't for me. But I do love me fruit and me imitation bullet blender here (insert sarcastic British voice here). So for a quick breakfast, I put in a cup the night before 1/2 strawberries and 1/2 pineapple. In the morning I add about 1/2 C organic soy milk (almond, coconut, or whatever would be awesome too). The smoothie needs a liquid to blend it all up. For a little sweetener, I added a squeeze of honey. It lasts me until lunch. Yum-O!

One thing I'd like to demystify is that eating Paleo, or healthy in general,  is expensive. We pay for convenience. So if you want to save money, you really should prepare more of your own meals. These are my costs in Midwest, USA.

Strawberries 1lb = $1.67
Pineapple whole = $1.99
Organic Soymilk 32 oz = $1.00 (yeah, I found it at the dollar store!)

I'm estimating there are 3 smoothies worth in a pound of strawberries and pineapple. Soymilk has 8 smoothie servings.

Strawberries = $.56
Pineapple = $.67
Soymilk = $.13
Honey = $.10 (est)
Total = $1.46

Green Bits and Guac Vessels

So I can't handle juicing. Blah! But the Paleo I can! Yay! 

Need a dip for your vegetables? How about guacamole? Without even changing anything from a regular recipe, you can eat guacamole. 

2 avocados

1 roma tomato

1/4 red onion

juice of 1 lime

sea salt or kosher salt

Finely chop all. Add juice and salt. Mash the green bits into the other bits. Helps it stick to the guacamole vessel better. And because we all like to eat crunchy things, celery sticks make great guac vessels!

If you are lucky, the guac will last longer than a day and you can take it to lunch the next day...*hint, hint* BB

Also for dinner were these AMAZE-BALLS chicken burgers from PaleOMG blog. As usual, I did a little tweaking. Mostly because I didn't have all the ingredients. Like ground chicken. So I googled it and made my own with, wait for it...a food processor! No way, you say! Way, I say! I also added another garlic clove and Italian Herb Seasoning to replace the parsley, thyme, and basil.