Who would have thought...

Well, this has certainly been a new style of eating for us this week. Tonight was a blueberry sauce over pork tenderloin and it was amazing. Neither of us ever thought of blueberries with something savory, but it works. It's good. :)


We found this recipe on Paleo Plan.

Pork Tenderloin with Blueberry Sauce

• 1-1/4 lb pork tenderloin
• 2 tsp Mrs. Dash Chicken Grilling Blend seasoning
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (optional)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 lb green beans, trimmed
• 1 Tbs olive oil, divided
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1-1/2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp raw honey
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 
  
• Heat oven to 400° F.
• Rub pork with Mrs. Dash seasoning and 1/4 tsp each sea salt (optional) and black pepper. Place in a roasting pan and roast for 25 minutes (or until internal temperature reaches 155° F).
• When about 10 minutes of cooking time remains, remove pan from oven and spread green beans around pork. Working quickly, drizzle green beans with 1/2 Tbs olive oil. Stir and return pan to oven.
• Heat remaining 1/2 Tbs olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
• Add onion, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add blueberries, vinegar, honey, thyme, remaining sea salt (optional) and black pepper.
• Continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until thickened.
• Serve pork alongside green beans with sauce drizzled on top.

MMmmmmmmm.... Meatza!

Once again, we forgot to take a picture of this, but we will for sure be making it again.


There's no need for carbs on a pizza. Make your Pizza on Meat! :)


So good. Thanks for the recipe Mark.


You can find the recipe here.

And we have fish...

Fish has always been super difficult for me to fit into our weekly menus. I'm not sure why really.
I planned for this recipe but swapped the catfish out for haddock fillets. It was very good.


We also made Zucchini Cakes, which ended up being a great side dish.

Sriracha burgers with guacamole & caramelized onions

On Tuesday we had Sriracha burgers with caramelized onions. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. Also, it was raining out so we pan fried the burgers instead of grilling. It truly tasted much better than it looked. Maybe next time, we'll get a good shot. :)
Below is how we did this, but here is the original link from BrokeAssGourmet.

Sriracha burgers with guacamole & caramelized onions

2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, half sliced thinly, half diced finely
1 lb ground turkey ( or ground beef )
2 tbsp Sriracha (or more if you it extra-spicy)
2 tbsp coconut aminos
1 handful fresh cilantro leaves,
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
your favorite guacamole

Preheat a grill, grill pan or cast iron frying pan over medium-high heat.

Melt butter in a medium frying pan over medium-low. Add the sliced onions and cook for 18-20 minutes, until caramelized.

While onions cook, combine the chopped onions, beef, sriracha, soy sauce coconut aminos, cilantro and garlic. Use your hands to mix well and form into 4 equal-sized patties.

Cook the burgers to desired doneness and serve over mixed greens or alone, topped with a generous dollop of guacamole and a few caramelized onions.

Serves 4.

Garlic Lime Chicken with Mango-Pineapple Salsa

Tonight's dinner is currently in the oven, making our house small amazing. We made the salsa yesterday & I'm probably going to just eat it with a spoon. :) 

This recipe comes from Primal Women in the Kitchen. I'm finding that there are tons of Paleo/Primal blogs out there with great ideas, it's just a matter of putting a menu together that works for you.

Garlic Lime Chicken with Mango-Pineapple Salsa

For the Chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 large lime

4 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups of raw spinach

Mango-Pineapple salsa

1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped

1 cup finely diced fresh pineapple

1 ripe tomato, chopped

1/3c sweet red peppers or 1 yellow sweet pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 finely diced jalapeño (only use as much as the amount of heat you can take)

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 lime, juice of

salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Marinate the chicken w/ the juice of one lime and the oil and garlic in a zip lock bag in the fridge for at least 2 hrs or overnight.

For the salsa- mix all the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste, set aside for the flavors to blend,

Grill the chicken breasts on low heat till no longer pink.

Place chicken breast on a bed of spinach and then divide the salsa amongst the 2 plates and serve.

finding out already...

Oh boy, we are going to go through lots of eggs and chicken. :) 


I grilled a pound of boneless/skinless chicken tenders yesterday and hard-boiled 1/2 a dozen eggs. We are now down to 2 chicken tenders and 2 eggs. 


We are a day and 1/2 in to this and no carb withdrawal yet so all is good

What is Paleo?

The Paleo way of life is how we, as humans, are genetically programmed to eat.

Meats

Fruits

Veggies

Nuts/Seeds

We were not meant to eat genetically engineered processed foods that take up 85% of the grocery stores today.

Shop the perimeter of the grocery store! If there is something in the list of ingredients that you cannot pronounce then DO NOT eat it!

Stay away list:

Dairy (Cancy & I are allowing a small amount of dairy in our diet. Nothing processed though. )

Grains: rice, pasta, breads, oats

Legumes

Anything artificial or processed

* This is really the easiest way to sum it up. Thanks to Primal Woman in the Kitchen. 

Our first Primal/Paleo meal... Carne Asada & fresh Pico de Gallo

In order to get us started off on the right foot, I spent Saturday morning putting together a menu for the week. I'll try to blog most of the meals as we try them out.

Tonight's dinner was a great first meal. We found a great recipe for Carne Asada on Mark's Daily Apple. When I got back from buying groceries this morning, I started the marinade and made the Pico de Gallo.

This meal came together so easily and everything tasted great. Because of the flavors on the plate, we didn't miss the tortillas, cheese, or sour cream at all. Check it out below:

Carne Asada & fresh Pico de Gallo

1 pound of flank steak
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 limes, juiced
1 orange, juiced
8 to 12 ounces beer (or beef broth)

Slice the flank steak on the diagonal into thin strips.

Combine all ingredients in a large Ziploc bag or in a shallow dish (meat should be completely covered in liquid).

Marinate in the refrigerator at least 3 hours. Take out and drain off the marinade. Lightly salt the steak. The meat can be cooked in a skillet with coconut oil or grilled.

Cook 3-6 minutes on each side for medium-rare.

For the Pico:
1 white onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (optional)
Juice from half a lime

Mix together ingredients. Add salt to taste.

Becoming cavemen & cavewomen...

We have decided to change our diet from what most consider "normal" to eating Primal. We are following the main concepts of the Paelo diet but following the Primal path. This is going to be a learning experience as we figure out along the way what is right vs. wrong to eat and how different foods make us feel.

Feel free to follow along.