And Now the Week is Done

We left for New York early Thursday morning, so early that we could enjoy the sunrise from our plane seats.  It is worth getting up crazy early since it was a direct flight, which is an oddity from our airport. Most flights from here seem to lead to connections in either Atlanta or Charlotte.  We arrived, yawning, at LGA before 10:15.

As an added bonus when we got to the hotel, our room was ready about 3 hours before check-in.  A special thanks to The Empire.  We were not expecting the early room! That was a true gift and we were able to unpack, iron our wrinkled duds, and have a cup of coffee before Son3 was out of class and could meet us for lunch.

This trip was specifically a jazz excursion and we really did not venture below the park, but stayed mainly in the Upper West Side. Other than scoring some street fair items there was no shopping and other than hearing some very good jazz no additional entertainment.

Where we ate: (and none of this was paleo)
The Smith, 63rd and Broadway, lunch  American, good food, alfresco dining but priced high
Dizzy's, Columbus Circle, dinner, Cover charge plus food/drink minimum, food was so/so but the experience was fantastic and worth it. Excellent non obtrusive service also.
Guantanamera, 55th and 8th, lunch, affordable, Cuban food, absolutely delicious! Will go back often!
Cafe Fiorello, 63rd and Broadway, pricey Italian, good food, but won't go back, not friendly
P.J. Clarke's, 63rd and Columbus, little on the high side. good food, nice atmosphere, great late night place
Ed's Chowder House 63rd Street, pricey, breakfast, very good food, HUGE portions
Amber, 69th and Broadway, reasonable, Asian/Thai, really tasty, will return!
Levain Bakery 74th Street, The Best Cookies in the World!

So obviously I did not do a lot of cooking at all last week and everything I did was just using what was on hand.

This week it is back to the regular grind, Boo!

Menu possibilities for the week:

1. Pasta with alfredo sauce
2. Lamb chops, rice (them) broccoli, tossed salad
3. Chicken with stir fried vegetables, cauliflower rice, pineapple slices
4. Hamburgers, cole slaw, sweet potato "fries"
5. Grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, tossed salad, grilled pineapple
6. Grilled fish, baked potato (them) baked sweet potato (me) cucumber, tomato and onion salad, grilled squash
7. Tacos (them)  taco salad(me)

To-Do's for the week:
volunteer time
another paint job at the lake
stain bench
create shelving solutions in lake closet
clean music room completely
finish refashioning all clothing items in the pile
help parents

sloppy joes with a paleo twist

The only thing keeping me sane on this paleo food plan is to mix up what I am eating and to try and keep it as close to "normal" food as possible.  That requires a lot of recipe juggling, trials  and errors. Lots of errors! But honestly I don't share many of the errors here.  After all who wants to read a blog about food and have the concluding sentence say "Oh BTW don't eat this, it's really bad"?  But do trust me when I tell you everything is NOT successful or tasty.  The downside of experimentation is if it tastes bad we still have to eat it for dinner.  I simply make a promise not to repeat that particular mistake again. Oh, but there are so many error possibilities I haven't made yet.  Now who wants to come eat here?

Friday we were headed to the lake for a work weekend.  I have learned it is best if I pack whatever we are having for dinner that night already prepared. For what seems like forever I have been taking a dense spaghetti meat sauce. All I have to do is warm it and cook a little pasta.  Throw in a tossed salad and we call it done.  But now the weather is much warmer and the days much longer  and brighter and spaghetti just seemed like a heavy meal.

Enter the Sloppy Joe experiment.  I think Sloppy Joe's were part of the first complete meal I ever cooked when I was a kid and I don't so much follow a recipe as I do just throw things in a pan and adjust by the taste method.  Since I knew I would be sharing this, I actually measured the amounts of everything I used.

2 lbs, lean ground beef
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium small zucchini, grated (about 2 cups)
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup ketchup (paleo ketchup recipe here)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (paleo recipe here)
1  1/2  tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pan brown the ground beef until almost done.  Add the onion and wilt, add the garlic and let it wilt.  Drain the fat from the pan and add the zucchini.  Cook until the zucchini is wilted.  Put everything in the pan in a slow cooker. Add the tomato paste, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce. mustards, salt and pepper. Stir it well. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.  Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. (I stirred in a little additional Worcestershire sauce and yellow mustard. A teaspoon of each) Serve over buns, toast or as a paleo thing on top of cole slaw.

Add pickles and enjoy.  This was a fun, easy and easy to transport dinner.  Everyone liked it and asked to add it to our rotation.  I can see that this will be an easy Friday night lake dinner.  Since I had also pre-made the coleslaw I had dinner on the table as fast as I could heat the Sloppy Joe's and toast buns (for them).

This came together so quickly and clean up was a minimum so there was still time after dinner for a little fishing at dusk. And that is what my family calls a winning combination.

Chicken Scampi (Yep, Another Paleo Thing)

I have been looking through my traditional methods of preparing foods and remaking them to fit a paleo food plan.  For the most part it is not difficult, but I will be honest and say the results vary. Some dishes do not transition as well as others.  This is one that did, but I also learned a few things I will change next time.

Normally when I make scampi, I use butter.  There seems to be differing opinions on whether butter is paleo or not, and since I can't find a definitive answer I am not using it.  Because of that, the sauce is not as rich or velvety as it normally would be, so I had to amp up some of the ingredients a bit for added flavors.

                                          Chicken Scampi with a Twist of Paleo

2 tablespoons ghee*
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 chicken tenderloins or 3 boneless skinless breasts (cut these in pieces and it will look nicer)
1 large onion chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 heaping teaspoon Italian seasonings (fresh minced basil, oregano and rosemary if available)
salt and pepper to taste (I never post amounts for main dishes because I don't like much salt)
1/4 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth
juice of 2 small lemons
2 tablespoons almond milk** (paleo only)

Heat the ghee and oil and quickly brown the chicken . (I got lazy and did not cut mine into bite sized pieces.  It is a much more appealing dish with smaller bits)  Remove the chicken from the pan and turn the heat down to a medium low.  Cook the onions until they are wilted.  Turn the heat down a little lower and cook them until they are a caramel color. (It keeps the finished dish from looking anemic).  Turn the heat back to mid high and add the garlic, cooking just long enough to wilt it, but not long enough for a color change.  Toss on all the seasonings, the broth and the lemon juice.  Add the chicken back to the pan and cook until the chicken is cooked through. (Should take about 5-7 minutes if the pieces are smaller) Stir often and add more liquid if necessary.  If using no butter, add a couple of tablespoons of almond milk and let it cook until it is reduced by about half.  Serve hot over pasta or in the paleo world over spiral cut zucchini. (Which tastes absolutely nothing like pasta, but it does make a rather nice "bed" for the chicken to sit on)  Spoon any pan liquids over the chicken and enjoy.

This tastes pretty close to a standard chicken scampi dish, but it has a different mouth feel. The sauce sticking to the chicken pieces is usually smoother and creamier.  I added the almond milk to try and copy the creaminess and it fell short.  Maybe if I had used coconut oil rather than ghee it might have felt more like butter, but then I would have had that cloying coconut sweetness that I don't like in savory foods.  6 of one half a dozen of the other, I guess.  So pick your battles or use butter and say to heck with it!

* If you use butter instead of ghee use 3 tablespoons plus the additional 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
** If you are not doing paleo don't add the almond milk.  It will add nothing, plus you're already getting the flavor and consistency from the butter.

Pity Party, Not A Well Done Day

You know those days that start out bad and just don't get better?  Not worse, just not better?  This is one of those days.

 This morning I was up early to drop TheHub off at his office. (For those of you who go to bed at a regular time 5:15 might be normal.  I go to sleep between 2-3 am and anything before 7 seems just unholy.) He was leaving mid-morning for a business trip, then flying from Georgia to meet me in NYC, and didn't want to leave his car in the office parking lot for so many days.  Fair enough, and I understand his reasoning. Since he was packing for 2 different places, requiring different types of clothes, he was a little distracted and we left for his office at 7 rather than 6:30 as planned.  Irritating to me because it put me in the middle of rush hour in the worst part of town for traffic. (A 40 minute round trip became 1:15 minutes)

It was still not a huge issue.  Even with the longer commute, I still had time to get to class by 9:30. All was fine until I was 1 mile from my exit.  The traffic stalled, I stalled, the guy behind me didn't and plowed into my rear.  Crap!  After waiting on the side of the road for the police and official report for another 1 hour and 10 minutes I was getting a little testy.  (If you ever hear the universe telling you to do something, no matter how subtle the hint is, LISTEN!  Normally I would have thrown on whatever I was wearing last night and looked like death warmed over to drive TheHub. This morning I actually had my hair somewhat done, no residual eye makeup, and was wearing coordinated clothes. It made standing on the shoulder of the interstate slightly less assaulting to the gozillion cars that passed.)

No one was injured and both cars were drivable but class was a moot point. Still not a major problem. Since I am going to NYC I was debating skipping it anyway.

About the time I got in the house and settled down for a cup of coffee, Son3 called to tell me the tickets he thought were comped would not actually be, so I needed to call the venue and reserve seats. Now remember I am going early and TheHub will not be there until Friday, and he planned to only see the Saturday show.  Which is sold out.  I was able to get tickets for me Thursday, but TheHub is SOL.  There is a chance he/we can get standby tickets if we get to the venue 1 1/2 hours before showtime. If not, we will have spent a small fortune only to say hello to Son3, eat out a few times and sleep in a hotel for a few nights.

Since then, nearly everything I have touched has messed up some how or another. The garbage bag burst and stuff went everywhere, I found a liquified errant zucchini in the crisper, missed the recycling pick-up (waiting for policeman), got stung by a flying critter and stumped my toe.   I am hoping that this is the odd day for the week and it will end when I go to sleep.

Instead of leaving tonight I'm glad I am flying dark o'thirty in the morning.

p.s I should have told everyone about Sonya Ann's giveaway but forgot to.  It is over, but pop in at her place here.  She has a wonderful way of looking at the world!  Also go to Amazon and pick up her book.  I have just started reading it and am really enjoying it.

And Another Week Bites The Dust

Menu possibilities I was supposed to cook last week:

1. Coq au vin, tossed salad, cauliflower "mashed potatoes"
2. Steak or pork chop, grilled, tossed salad, baked sweet potato
3. Chicken scampi, mashed sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, waldorf salad
4. Sloppy Joe's, cole slaw, green beans, carrot sticks
5. Hamburger's, cauliflotato salad, some other green veggie,
6. Grilled fish, grilled vegetables (zucchini, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes), tossed salad
7. Spaghetti sauce with zucchini noodles, huge salad

And what really happened in the kitchen:

1. Coq Au Vin cauliflower mashed potatoes, tossed salad
2. Hamburger patty with onions, savory mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, waldorf salad
3. Sloppy Joe's  cole slaw pineapple slices
4. Chicken scampi, zucchini noodles, roasted brussels sprouts
5. Grilled pork chops,broccoli, tossed salad, baked sweet potato
6. Pizza, salad (non-paleo day at the lake and I fell off the wagon with frozen pizza?)
7. Hamburger (another non-paleo day at the lake and I ate the whole bun...oops!)

                                                              To do's for the week:

1. Make sure all laundry is done
2. Pack
3. Go to New York
4. Visit Son3
5. Eat paleo as much as possible*
6. See a play
7. Go to Dizzy's
8. Come home, do laundry, do more laundry
9. Get upstairs spruced up for summer guests

Menu Ideas for the week:
We are not leaving until mid-week so I should actually cook something a couple of days. I imagine the week will look something like this:

1. leftovers with salad
2. leftovers with fruit salad
3. out to eat
4. out to eat
5. out to eat
6. out to eat
7. out to eat

*Cookies from Levain Bakery are calling my name, and if they call loud enough it would be rude of me to ignore them.

Coq Au Vin, Paleo Style

That day was one of those days that I eased into, and after reading way too long it was well into the morning. Since I had done very little of my daily routine anyway, I decided to plan dinner and run to the store specifically for extra chicken breasts. ( $1.49 a pound is fantastic here and the sale ended the next day.) I had mushrooms, a bottle of opened burgandy and enough time so I decided Coq Au Vin would be a good way to use what I had on hand. I only needed the chicken and a head of cauliflower for some fakey potatoes and all would be good.

After shopping I went down to the parents house to visit with them for a while.  Suddenly the afternoon was gone and I had not begun cooking. I am so glad TheHub worked late and then had a few errands, because this really does need a little time to cook.

I used my very standard Coq Au Vin recipe and changed it very little so it would be paleo.

                                                                Coq Au Vin

2 slices bacon, cooked crisp, reserve pan drippings (optional)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 chicken breasts, bone in skin removed (optional)
1 cup coarsely chopped onions or 1 lb pearl onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 whole carrots, peeled with tops removed
2 cups mushrooms, whole (or if they're like mine and right at the verge of dying, chunked)
1 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1/4 cup dried parsley)
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons thyme (or a nice hunk of fresh thyme)
1 cup burgundy
1 cup chicken stock (I had none so I used veggie stock)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder*

For the sake of the recipe I am going to write this using the bacon (I didn't because I forgot about it)

In a large pan cook the bacon until crisp.  Remove from the pan leaving all the drippings.  Add the olive oil to the pan and heat until hot.  Quickly sear the chicken on both sides until very light brown on the skin side.  Remove form the pan and add the onions, cook until wilted. Without removing the onions, toss the garlic in the pan and give it a couple of quick stirs before adding the carrots and mushrooms.  Add the burgundy and broth, then the seasonings and swirl it around to combine the vegetables and liquids. Place the chicken pieces on top of everything, put a lid on the pan and cook it on a mid low heat for about 1 hour.  Check occasionally and add more broth or wine as needed.  When the chicken is well done, remove it and the vegetables from the pan.  Make a slurry of 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder and 3 tablespoons water.  Pour about 1/2 of the slurry in the broth left in the pan and cook until it thickens.  If it does not thicken to your liking in about 1 1/2 minutes, add a little more of the arrowroot slurry and continue to cook.  Serve the chicken with the vegetables to the side.   (If you used the bacon, crumble it and sprinkle it over the vegetables) Pour a little of the sauce over the chicken  (the vegetables also if you like) and also over rice, mashed potatoes, or fake mashed potatoes.

This makes a substantial and quite tasty dinner.  It is so filling and flavorful, for a few minutes you forget you are doing paleo.  It is so similar in taste and texture to my non-paleo method that no one noticed any difference other than my usual rice as a side was missing and in it's place was fake potatoes.  I consider this extreme success.  Since I am doing paleo for the long haul (with the exception of a few non-paleo days) this will be in our rotation for sure.  I only wish I had added a few brussels sprouts to the pan when simmering!

If you feel like getting your French or even getting your freak on, this is a delicious way to do it.  So throw on that beret or French maid outfit and have a little French fun mid-week!



* If you are not doing paleo I beg you to use cornstarch rather than arrowroot.  While arrowroot is paleo acceptable, it has a funny consistency that is almost slimy.  Cornstarch produces a smoother traditional gravy.

Gathering the Fragments: Broccoli for Breakfast

You know those mornings when you get busy doing odds and ends and all of a sudden it is nearly 11 and you realized you've had nothing but coffee?  No wonder I was hungry, but at 11 who wants to eat breakfast food.  Fortunately I had been cleaning the fridge and knew I had about a cup of  twice re-warmed broccoli that had to be eaten within the day. (Since I have doing the paleo thing  and am buying so much fresh produce, I am acutely aware of how much it costs. I don't want to waste even a bite.) So my only issue was how to process the very over cooked green stuff so it would have some flavor and minimize the mush factor.

I had recently gone to a ladies luncheon type thing and they served a raw broccoli and grape salad. I don't remember exactly what was in it, but I thought it might be worth trying to make it, especially since I also had about a cup of red seedless grapes and green onions in the refrigerator.  In addition to the produce, I had 2 strips of bacon I had cooked late last week that could be heated and crisped.

                                             Broccoli, Grape and Bacon Salad

Not a recipe, but a method:

I started by draining the broccoli in a large sieve. I pressed lightly on it with the back of a wooden spoon.  Some liquid came out, but it was so overcooked that any further pressing would have left me with broccoli baby food. (Not appealing!)

I put the somewhat drained broccoli in a small bowl with the  grapes, and sliced onions and poured about a teaspoon and a half of red wine vinegar over it all. Then I added about a teaspoon of mayonnaise and a teaspoon of whole grain mustard, salt and pepper and the chopped very crisp bacon.  Before I stirred it together I saw a bag of pecan halves and grabbed 4 or 5, broke them in pieces and tossed them in the bowl.  A very quick stir was all it took to coat every thing with the mayo/vinegar.  It was ready to eat, but I was taking a picture of it so I put it in a clean bowl and threw 5 more grapes on the top. (Truth be told, I took 5 grapes out of the salad and rinsed them off, patted them dry, and stuck them on the top just for the picture.  I know, I am lame and forgot to hold any out for a garnish.)

This was good, but not as good as I remember the one I ate before.  I am sure mushy cooked broccoli paled in comparison to the fresh, finely chopped raw broccoli.  But I will admit it was still a pretty good way to use and eat that broccoli.  If I have about the same amount left over again I will do the exact same thing and it will be a pretty tasty, filling meal plus it has a nice serving of vegetables.  The bacon was delicious (that would be because it's BACON!) but I think as a side salad it would be really good without it.

I will make this intentionally using fresh broccoli the next time it is on sale. I thought about snagging some when I went to the grocery store today but it was considerably higher than my usual price point so I didn't get any.  If you are tired of salad greens and want something a little different this might be the thing to try.

Try something unexpected with your leftovers; it might just be the beginning of a whole new way to look at the refrigerator.