Not A Good Choice

This week things got all kind of crazy around here. I was working several days in a row, the littlest Magers started a crazy gymnastics schedule that means she's in the gym twice a week for 2 1/2 hours each time and both kiddos are going to VBS at one of our friends churches every night...all of this on top of the hubs being out of town for most of the week at a conference...so I seriously was looking for meals that were super easy...que the new crock-pot.

My old crock-pot (see sad pic below) had been around for almost 10 years and one morning I got it out to throw dinner in and when I set the ceramic bowl in the base the bottom fell out!!! So I waited until I got one of those 20% off coupons from Bed Bath and Beyond and went and got me a new fancier one!

So sad :-(

So, back to this week..I found a recipe for stuffed peppers in the crock-pot, I have a recipe for stuffed peppers that I LOVE, but I wanted something I could "set and forget" so after scouring my Paleo Pinterest board I came across this recipe from Civilized Caveman. I have made a TON of his recipes and NEVER have been disappointed, but I guess there's a first for everything.

Love my timer on my Crock-Pot!

They looked so promising in the picture, but they were bland and the meat cooked in a way that it reminded me of that fake, grainy, mushy meat from a cafeteria...and this was the good grass fed stuff too (which is why I'm choking it down for lunch as I type..I can't bear the thought of throwing it away!!!)

Anyway, we were all pretty disappointed especially since we love our original recipe (see here). For the tasty one I sometimes just mix all the "stuffing"in a pot and cut my peppers into big chunks and let them cook in the sauce and eat it that way...One other note, I do double the recipe and use 1 lb grass fed beef and 1 lb Italian sausage for an extra kick. I also don't use parsnips just because I don't like them.

Take away what you will, but mushy meat reminding me of cafe food will not be tolerated in this house :-)

The Perfect Summer Taco Salad

I'm aware that the word perfect seems a little extreme, but if the shoe fits... Seriously though, I literally had 10 minutes to throw together a marinade between our jam packed Tuesday morning and this was so easy I knew it would work well. I used some grass fed flank steak from the unnamed whole paycheck store only because we were so short on time I didn't have time to stop at multiple places (that's really an excuse, I love the meat counter at previously mentioned unnmaged store). I also knew I didn't have a long marinade time so wanted something that would tenderize fast.

Since we're doing whole30 currently I omitted the honey and didn't miss it at all. To serve it I chopped some romaine, topped it with the meat that I grilled (and then diced because I like bite sized pieces), sliced peppers that I had sautéed in coconut oil and then threw under the broiler to blacken a bit, premade guac and pico from TJ and chopped cilantro. We added a squeeze of lime at the end and it was amazing. I was worried about the meat being too spicy for the kids, but it was perfect. They ate a ton!!

While the website isn't "Paleo" there are several great recipes that can me modified to fit into the "Paleo" template. Here's the link for her Carne Asada

A New Idea

So, obviously I am currently not going to be able to keep up with weekly posts that are so detailed....but I am going to post recipes that I try that are amazing (or not so much) that I want to share with everyone. Tonight's meal was amazing.

Today is day one of my next whole30. I'm coming off a few days of not sleeping well and generally feeling bleh so it's got to happen. Like for real this time. I'm super excited that several people I know are also doing a whole30 right now. Tonight was a pretty big test for two reasons. 1.) It's family movie night which means there is a blanket in the floor and pizza ordered...and 2.) as I'm sitting down with my non-pizza, whole30 approved dinner my BFF sends me a text that says "we're going to serendipity"...which is my most favorite in all the world ice cream places. They have a flavor called salty caramel swirl that I would consider to be the most incredible thing to ever touch my tongue...ever...ever ever. Just a note about this one: I am still going to have an occasional drink, but it's only going to be this amazingly pure hard cider called Crispin that I feel is the best quality gluten-free, nothing nasty added beverages.

Okay, back to the food. Tonight I fixed what was supposed to be a chicken salad ,but I was too lazy to actually chop my romaine and just used the whole leaves as boats to hold this amazing sweet and salty chicken mixture. Let's be real, cooking anything in bacon is amazing.. Here is the link for Mango Chicken Salad with Chipotle Mayo I do think the chipotle mayo was tasty, but an avocado dressing might be even better...I'm going to have to try that next time! And I just realized as I'm writing this that I forgot the almond slices...I'm planning on having the left over meat mixture for breakfast with some eggs fried in duck fat (my new favorite cooking fat!!!!) My mouth is watering just thinking about it!!!

Happy Eating!

The mixture after it was finished cooking                                                                                  All done