Food

Did you have to do a dbl take on that one? Were you already having Animal House flashbacks? Me too. As promised in last week’s Refrigerator Raider post we take a few steps over to my and MMG’s cabinet to check out what we consider must-have healthy eating set up for success make it easy as possible to make what we eat items.

1. Ah yes, the humble sweet potato. We love you as a side with shaved brussels, sliced as coins with lots of spices, shredded at the bottom of a breakfast casserole and really any other way they come. Also in here, onions (used in almost everything-I like to put a few in the food processor to have ready to throw into anything and everything). And of COURSE garlic. As much as possible as frequently as possible.

2. Sea Salt. Really good salt minimally processed.

3. Balsamic vinegar, olive oil & red wine vinegar. Put a few of these together with salt, pepper (not pictured but very necessary) and some honey and you’ve got a delicious salad dressing.

4. Dates. These are chopped, which just saves a step for such things like homemade lara bars, chocolate paleo balls and paleo turtles. Not pictured is the 100% Dark Chocolate Ghiradelli bar I like to have on hand for these same recipes.

5. Coconut oil. I use this for high heat cooking in place of canola oil.

6. Coconut milk. You HAVE to read the ingredients! This one has nothin’ but coconut extract and water. I use this to make things creamy and in place of milk in baking.

7. Salsa! Again, watch what’s on the ingredient list. After all, the nutrition label and ingredient list is like the side of a medicine bottle, it’s telling you what it is going to do to your body!

8. Plantain Chips. We love these. These are flavored with garlic and salt and are from Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market and are crazy good. I bring these to Mexican restaurants to eat instead of corn chips.

9. Spices, spices, spices. I’ve got a lot of them and use ‘um up!

10. This is a homemade taco seasoning I made and use every time something calls for a little Latin flavor. ¡olé!

11. Honey. Let’s be clear, this is sugar. Don’t kid yourself. Use it sparingly and ideally it will be local.

12. Coffee. Needs no explanation, right?

Source: Decatur – Food

2. Portioned out fruit salad for tomorrow’s lunch!

3. I make 2 casseroles a week that we eat for lunches and sometimes dinners. This week it’s an enchilada casserole with bison the second is one I could eat every day. I mean, it calls for an entire package of bacon, need I say more?

4. Chicken salad. Light on the mayo, salt and pepper, golden raisins and curry. You’re also seeing a little bit of leftover Brussels sprouts.

5. Defrosting salmon. When you eat casserole for lunch you’re not always keen for it for dinner. Fish is so easy and fast that it’s a regular meal at our place. This is a recipe I’ve made for salmon (switched out sugar for some cinnamon) and we love an almond meal encrusted tilapia. Sides? Usually shaved Brussels or broccoli.

6. The 3rd casserole is always something for breakfast. This week it was spicy turkey with onion and egg just cooked in a glass pie pan. The other most popular at the Gilbert-Ross is THIS one with sweet potato.

7. I make a green salad every week. Arugula or kale. For the kale I make a dressing that is equal parts olive oil, red wine vinegar, & honey. Then some salt & pepper. Whisk it together then dress the salad making sure it’s well covered & let the salad rest for at least 20 min. I add blueberries & avocado. THIS is also a great one with red cabbage I’ve made.

8. Hard boiled eggs. They’re already peeled and great for snacks and a quick protein boost. I put them in cold water and get it to a rolling active boil then turn off the burner and let them sit and continue to cook-from cold to sitting about 15 min. Then after about 10 min I put them in a bath of ice water and start peeling.

9. Fruit salad. I make it on Sundays and spoon it out for lunches. This one is grapes, strawberries, blueberries & some peaches.

Now a peek in my drawers. . . .

1. Carrot chips are always in here. Love to use them for dips/guacamole. Veggie sides also live in here. Grilled asparagus is always a winner.

2. In here? Fuji apples-I typically eat 2 a day.

3. In here is mostly bacon. Usually, I’ve already used the bison, ground chicken/turkey & chicken breasts in the above recipes. Melissa also gets some grass fed beef that she makes sliders for an additional lunch option. I ALWAYS make my chicken breasts in the crock pot. I throw it in there, cover with water and put it on low for 8 hours. BUT I usually take it out early after checking with meat the thermometer.

Have any pals needing a jump start to eating healthy? Share this post on FB or email it their way!

Source: Decatur – Food

Sunday 9AM I go to the farmer’s market with my list separated into sections. I have our staple items listed as well as what we need for the 3 casseroles/soups I’ll make that week. 1 breakfast 2 for lunches & sometimes dinners too.

Example typical G-R list: grapes, apples, strawberries, almond butter, coconut milk, nuts, plantain chips, arugula, sweet potatoes, onions, carrot chips, yellow squash, zucchini, ground chicken sausage, 1 chicken breast, 1lb bison or second chicken breast, bacon, eggs.

I get home by 10:15 and start cooking. I make the breakfast casserole and one other. The regular breakfast casserole at the Gilbert-Ross household is this Sweet Potato & Sausage one. Other popular ones: Enchilada Casserole, Caveboy Casserole, Pizza Casserole, Chipotle Chicken Casserole, Crockpot Chicken Curry (I add yellow squash), Crockpot Pork Tenderloin or just zoodles & meat sauce. At this point I either chop extra onions (I do this in the food processor) for the second casserole next week or I get the crockpot ready for the Chicken Curry – I set it to cook overnight. I also hard boil some eggs, by that I mean I put some eggs in a pot of water and turn on the stove. All this takes (including clean up) about 1.5 hours. Later in the week -Wednesdayish- I make the second casserole and we have it for dinner that night and eat it for lunches Thurs/Friday. That’s it. That’s a weeks worth of breakfast & lunches for 2 people. For dinners we’ll often have fish or a protein cooked in the crockpot or have a night out. I will even cook the chicken I need for a casserole recipe in the crockpot-to me it’s the best and-obviously-easiest way to cook meat. Chicken comes out moist and shreds easily.

A typical packed lunch/food for the day for me: 2 apples, 2 hb eggs, casserole, small curry serving (this isn’t always eaten but there if I need more fuel!), carrot chips + almond butter or guacamole, mixed cut fresh fruit.

Is it time consuming-yes if you’re looking just at Sunday but in terms of a whole week, no way josé. Time for some REAL TALK: you have the time, its not that big of a deal, use this as an opportunity to work on your suck it up muscle. Plus, when you start doing it you like it-or at least like the connivence of having it all ready to go all week.

Source: Decatur – Food

Monday and Tuesday nights are a little cray around the Warren Street Lounge aka our house. They are both my and the Mrs.’s long days where we get home later and therefore neither of us want to cook, prepare, or do anything. However, we are also budget conscious and like to use our eat out dollars on places we really want to go-not just lazy pizza orders. So what did I do to keep the peace and no longer have Mon & Tues nights be Annoyance Fest 2013? WELL, I stumbled upon something, dear reader, you may have never heard of: preparing a casserole on SUNDAY! I know, I know I just blew your mind.

So, if there’s a day of the week that preparing a meal is just not going to happen try this Taco Time Casserole I found on PaleoTable.com. Plus I’ve included my easy shortcuts that make it so easy to do. AND you can get lots of these frozen so you can have them ready to go anytime-in case you don’t feel like shopping on Sunday either.

Ingredients:

• ground beef – 2 pounds, divided * I use shredded chicken
• onion – 1 small, peeled and diced *did you know the sell them chopped up frozen?
• green pepper – 1, cored and diced * I also have been known to get these from the TJ’s frozen section.
• garlic cloves – 2, minced *again, you can get these frozen
• diced tomatoes – 1 14.5-ounce can
• butternut squash – 1 small *TJ’s sells these cubed, I use ‘um that way
• green onions – 2, chopped
• black olives – 1/2 cup, chopped
• Taco Seasoning Mix
• chili powder – 2 Tbsp
• ground cumin – 2 Tbsp
• onion powder – 2 Tbsp
• oregano – 4 tsp
• paprika – 2 tsp
• sea salt – 2 tsp
• warm water – 2 cups
• Optional Toppings
• avocado – 1, mashed
• sour cream

How to:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
• In a medium bowl, combine all seasoning mix dry ingredients. Add warm water and use a whisk to combine.
• While meat cooks, cut onion, pepper, and garlic.
• Warm another skillet over medium heat and saute vegetables for about 10 minutes or until onion becomes translucent. Add tomatoes and their juices and continue to cook for 2-3 more minutes.
• Peel squash, remove seeds, and cut into large chunks. Shred in a food processor or using a hand shredder. *again, I just leave them cubed
• When meat is just cooked through, pour seasoning mix over meat and simmer until most of the liquid has cooked off, about 5-10 minutes.
• Layer 1 to 1 1/2 pounds seasoned beef in the bottom of a casserole dish. NOTE: I reserved about 1/2-3/4 pound of the ground beef for my kids. You can either reserve some or add it all in and have more leftovers.
• Top with vegetable mixture, then shredded squash.
• Cook for 45 minutes or until squash is browned and tender.
• Sprinkle green onions and black olives on top.
• To serve, scoop out portions of the casserole and place it in shallow bowls. Serve with mashed avocado and sour cream, if desired.

We may or may not have also thrown in some tortilla chips on the side. Do you have a go-to casserole? Holla back on Facebook!

Source: Decatur – Food

Really. No REALLY I’m going to tell you about some of the most awesome things you’ve ever heard of. I promise I’m not overselling. Below are my faves. These are the things that if we ran into each other at a party or anywhere I would HAVE to tell you about.

Dude, figuring out what to eat has gotten so much easier because of….

and include the shopping list. Everything we’ve had has been delicious and the stir-fry sauce is amazeballs. Oh and cajun tilapia with cilantro butter? Please and thank you. They’ve also got an app so you’ll always have your shopping list. Could it get any easier? You’re right, it could.