Primal Turkey Hash

I still have leftover turkey from Thanksgiving in the freezer, so I decided to bring it down this week for some primal comfort food yumminess. I adapted this to suit what I had on hand, and come to think of it everything in this recipe was a leftover of some sort that I had on hand.  It was so wonderfully perfect for this cold winter day.


Here's what I had:

• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 onion, sliced 
• 1 1/4 cup of pumpkin mash 
• 2 cups roasted carrots (leftovers from last night) 
• 1 cup of chicken stock 
• 2 cups of shredded turkey pieces 
• 1 tbsp oregano salt and pepper to taste
• (opt.) I had some cabbage laying around, which I tossed in just before I added in the pumpkin mash.

Directions:

1. Saute onion in olive oil for about 5 minutes, until clear.
2. Add pumpkin mash, and leftover roasted carrots.  Cook for about 5 minutes (since they've already been cooked before)
3. Add chicken stock, and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add turkey and spices, simmer for another 10 minutes

 This Turkey Hash is an adaptation of a recipe from Elana's Pantry

Food Journal -- Day 2

This morning started off with a surprise.  I jumped on the scale right away, first thing and I was already down two pounds from yesterday.  Too early I think to be fat, but I'll take it anyway.

Total pounds lost:  2
Pounds to goal:  28 (ok...technically 26, my math didn't add up yesterday)


Breakfast: Two cups of coffee, each with a dash of half and half and two scrambled eggs.
Lunch: Leftover chicken halves from yesterday, with a small portion of cooked carrots
Dinner:  Turkey Hash and a side salad.

Overall I felt ok today.  Around 11:00 I needed to eat lunch.  I got a bit shakey, when I got hungry...a definite sign the switch hasn't flipped yet.  About 2:00 I got sleepy, and almost considered taking a nap.  Really will be glad once the switch is flipped and I start burning fat instead of sugar.  Last year the transition was much harder, physically and emotionally.  I want a sweet after I eat, but it's not an overwhelming need and I'm able to brush it off and move on.

Over all the day has been ok, but I think there's a little carb flu going on.  Very sleepy and tired.

Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette

So simple to make, so yummy.  I think it's easy to have so many home made salad dressings to help keep your salads different every day.

Most recipes I found for balsamic vinaigrette have sugar, or honey.  I don't think it's necessary, after being primal for so long the sweet of balsamic vinegar is more than enough sweet this recipe needs.

You can easily double this recipe, I made this one for two adults for a week's worth.

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2-3/4 cup oil of choice (try sesame, garlic, or olive oil)
• 1 tbsp of dried basil, or a handful of fresh basil
• 2 cloves of garlic, or 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp of dried chili powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Put all the ingredients in a jar or bottle, and shake before using.  I don't refrigerate this because it makes the oil weird, so I only make what I can use in a week.

Food Journal -- Day 1

Last night, I partied it up with some friends of mine.  I ate cheese, and had a few glasses of wine.  Even had some doritos.  Ugh.  I felt horrible when I woke up this morning, and I knew it was the food, not the wine that made me feel that way.  I weighed myself for the first time in a few weeks.  For the last few weeks, I let myself have as much hard cider and chips as I wanted. Ugh.  I payed for it.

I've gained 10lbs this holiday season.  I really did.  Granted..I'm still 40 pounds less than I was last year on this day.  I'm still winning the weight loss game.  My goal is to loose 30 pounds by the end of the year.  I know you want to know how much I weighed this morning.  I'll only write it because this blog gets next to no hits compared to my other.  Last year, January 1st, I weighed 209 pounds.  This morning it was 173.  I'm proud of that number, but not especially so since I hung around 163 pounds most of the second half of this year.

So that's where I start this year though....173 pounds, hoping to get to 145 pounds at some point.  If I get there, depending on how I look and feel, I may go for more...but baby steps.  Thirty pounds is a great goal, right?

So here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: Two cups of coffee with about a tbsp of half and half in each.
Lunch: One pork bratwurst with a side salad, with home made garlic balsamic vinaigrette.
Dinner: Chicken Quarters with roasted carrots, and a side salad.

For snacks I ran to almonds for crunchy, and made a scrambled egg for a mid afternoon snack.

There was a moment early in the afternoon I felt shaky.  I'm not exactly sure why, it was in between a few handfuls of almonds.  Other than that, I felt ok most of the day.

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.