I am cooking my way through Well Fed Paleo and we were well fed tonight!  Like, I am over the moon giddy happy because, frankly, food and I do not always play nice together. Since there was a bag of (cheap) frozen chicken tenderloins in the freezer and a head of cauliflower handy we made The Best Chicken You'll Ever Eat complete with the Moroccan dipping sauce and the basic faux rice. 

It came together quickly which is important because I have an exceptionally short food prep attention span. (as in, natural and healthy food is important to me but goll' darn, let's not take all day with it 'cause we've got things to do!) Last night I had bagged up the chicken in the brine.  Tonight I just had to toss it in the spice mix and sautee it (the grill is out of gas).  Bonus was that the brine totally saved the cheapie chicken which tends to run on the tough side.  Remember that part.  

We had a little pre-dinner pep talk because not all my kids eat anything spicy.  They were all cooperative tonight.  Probably because at the end of this all natural dinner there was leftover birthday cookie cake Alannah brought home from work. Conflict of interest?  Who cares.  

In the end they gobbled the chicken down in no time.  The faux rice I didn't have to fight anyone for but it was a pretty exciting for me because I do miss the nutty crunchy texture of pilaf.  (I am not a diet fanatic – I truly can't eat starch)

Anyway, big surprise was that Abbie got a second piece of chicken.  Abbie is the Mikey of our family if you are old enough to remember this. We were every bit as amazed when she reached for seconds.  

Initial thoughts would be that this book reminds me of the more practical cookbooks I have had over the years. Less complicated staple dishes. In other words these are the types of recipes we will most likely use most often. Good practical food.  With no canned soups or sugar. So far, so good. 

Was going to post a menu with recipes but then, remembered whose life I have lol.  So maybe some pretty pancakes instead? We made up a bag of potatoes from the farm the night before and used the leftovers to make pancakes for a meatless lunch for the kids the next day.  I improvised a recipe similar to this one.   Linking that mostly to show the recipe was one with baking powder and no onions. Made them like a breakfast pancake.

yummy, yummy : ) 

Dinner has sort of morphed into a group sport of late.  I thought it was due to a little bit of a lull in the daily schedule but when I look at the schedule it's pretty full.  The weeks are full but the days seem to have a nice steady pace and we have been able to dig into some new projects, one of which has been cooking putzy food together. My husband started this train rolling earlier this summer and we have just kept chugging along trying new techniques and new tastes. I am sharing the keepers. : ) 

This dinner came from Eva Longoria's book. I didn't realize it was the actress until I had it home honestly.  Turns out it is full of fresh natural ingredients that taste just like the dishes we enjoyed living in San Antonio.  My family has really enjoyed it all so far. 

Flank Steak with Lime Marinade

mix together:

3T extra virgin olive oil

3T lime juice

4 garlic cloves thinly sliced

1 serrano pepper cored and sliced

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Marinade 1.5 lbs flank steak in above for at least 2 hrs. Using paper towel, thoroughly dry the steak before grilling. (to prevent steaming vs browning crisply)  Grill 8-10 min total turning once for medium rare. Let sit on cutting board for 5 more minutes. Cut across the grain in thin slices. 

Turned out great. Husband's plate looks more rare than it was in the sunset. ; ) 

Amazon (linked above) saved me time here by including the recipe for the mint lemonade (we did the limeade version) which I loved.  For the hater's who dis'd her for including the ants on a log recipe, shame on you. Turns out Eva has a developmentally disabled sister who asked her to please put her 'recipe' into the book too.  She did. 

Or more : )  

I had proclaimed around New Years' a year ago that it was the dawn of the Year of the Vegetable.  But, it wasn't really. It was perhaps a year of not-terribly-bad-choices but with too-many-compromises. There were many reasons for that, not the least of which was that my stomach was quite unhappy and unsettled coming off the hospitalization.  As lent began this year however, it felt like a good time to redouble my dietary efforts, to return to a largely grain free plan for me and to a produce-rich menu for all.  

Our landlord has been a huge help in this project, as he has been keeping us supplied with the surplus veggies he trades with local farmers.  The local farmers often drop off extras at each other's doors.  Whatever they can't eat our landlord brings to us.  

Blessing, you say?  HUGE blessing. 

This is what was left in the conservatory last week. 

This is a typical breakfast of late.  One egg cheese omelette, grapes, peppers (which ended up with Tess because my stomach still doesn't like them) and a smoothie. 

Lunch today was tomato soup with cottage cheese and an apple.  Chai latte. 

Dinner tonight was simple roast chicken (2), roasted carrots and parsnips, brussels sprouts, and rice.   

So far so good.  Hopefully that was nutritionally impressive enough to share Alannah's latest cupcake adventures later this week.  She brought two incredible creations to her potluck at work after which her coworkers demanded to know what the heck she was doing working THERE lol.  We picked up a wonderful patisserie instruction cookbook and are beginning to assemble the tools for working through it. There are a lot of tools, but she seems to have a good handle on which she has, which she needs, and why. Will share more when it is not so late.