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.

Paleo, here I come!

Well, the weekend got away from me. Good news - I lost 2.6 lbs in a week. Bad news - I can't handle juicing. I get hangry... Yes, the word of the day is hangry (hungry and angry). I also get light headed and dizzy, which is never good. 

So on to the next diet phase - Paleo! This I can do. If the caveman didn't eat it, you can't either. No processed, no grains, no legumes, no dairy. Dairy is hard. Snacks are really hard for me. I love sugar! So this will be a challenge but I think I can do it!