Meal Plan -- New Years!

I hope everyone's had a wonderful holiday season so far.  It's back to the grind this week.  We're done stuffing ourselves full of stuff we normally wouldn't eat.  We're back to trying our very best to keep our weekly food budget under $120, or even under $100...all while being grain free.

Here is our plan for the week:

Monday: Baked chicken with Roasted Winter Vegetables

Tuesday: Roasted Cauliflower Soup with buttered biscuits

Wednesday: Paleo Turkey Hash

Thursday: Deer Chili (with leftover biscuits!)

Friday: Butterflied leg of lamb with leftover winter vegetables

Saturday: Cubed Steak with Caper Sauce and buttered cauliflower

Sunday: Leftovers/Breakfast


I'm adding a shopping list, which strangely doesn't coordinate with this list of recipes for the week.  Most of the meals we picked this week are of meats and things already in our fridge.  I will post the amount of money spent this week on food, and any extra money will go to buy meats on sale which I will also list.

Shopping List:
Eggs
Capers
Milk
Romain Lettuce
Cauliflower
tomato paste
parsnips
bacon
American Cheese
Hot dogs

For more menu plans, go here!

Menu Plan

Last week we forgot to list our menu plan, but we had one.  We went over budget too.  Man we suck at this.  We've extended our budget this week to $120 bucks.

The financial hits don't stop coming, seriously.  We had our oil topped off in our house this week.  That was $500!!  I had to get new glasses, that was $400 bucks!  Hubs car is now making noise, that will be who in GODS name knows how much but we just don't have it.  *sigh*

The kids are at grandma's until Tuesday, so the major meals we'll begin on Tuesday.  Also, chicken is on sale this week at the store, it's not organic, but this week...it will have to do.

Here's our dinner list:


Monday: Solo dinner for me, Rack of lamb (I know it sounds glamorous but seriously it's less than 1/4 a pound of meat.  It's been sitting in our fridge for a few months,  a freebie from our meat CSA we had over the summer.)

Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday: Chicken Fajita Burritos

Thursday: Deer Stew

Friday: Italian Sausage and Spaghetti Squash

Saturday: Party at friend's house, yay!!

Sunday: Roast Chicken and Veggies


Recipes of note:  I found a Venison Bulgogi recipe that looks amazing, and I'd like to tweak it to make it primal. I haven't had Bulgogi in YEARS, but I love it. Traditionally it's served on lettuce, so I can swap out the buns...but I need to think on the rice and soy, see if I can sub something else.

Rockfish is Sexy

Our neighbor is a fisher, hunter type, and a generous one too (Hi Dan!!). Last week he came over with about 5 pounds of rockfish he had caught over the weekend. We were so obliged to take it (thank you thank you thank you!!!). Rockfish is Maryland speak for striped sea bass, or sexy deliciousness.

I found a great recipe, and simplified it because I really can't cook (I just pretend). This was the most delicious "stuff your face" rendition of rockfish I've had in a long time. You can impress your friends and make them think you're a fabulous cook, because this is amazing.

Start off with about one and half to two pounds of fish.   I put mine in an 8x8 cooking dish, but the dish doesn't matter so long as the fish fits.

Here's the list of ingredients you'll need:

• 1/4 cup of butter, melted
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp dried parsley, a fist full of fresh parsley, chopped well.
• Generous sprinkling of almond flour (about 1/4 cup)
• salt and pepper to taste
• and a dash of old bay because this is Maryland, and it's just wrong not to.

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter and mix in the lemon juice.  Pour the mixture on your fish.
3. Sprinkle a generous amount of almond flour on top of your fish.  This turns into a yummy crust.  
4. Add your salt and pepper on top of the fish, along with your old bay.  I went light on the old bay, seemed to be just enough.
5. Sprinkle your parsley on top, and stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes uncovered.  Your fish is done when you can pull it apart with a fork, so if it doesn't flake easily, give it a few more minutes

This fellah took me 30 minutes of cooking to get this lovely flaking.  The thicker your fish, the longer it takes.  We served ours up with a huge salad with some lemon garlic salad dressing just so we didn't mess with the awesome flavors too much.  I probably would have fried up some spinach if I wasn't the only one in the house that likes it.   The fish however was a hit with everyone.