Buffalo Chicken Bowl (whole30)

By now you may have figured out that I am completely obsessed with buffalo chicken. I could eat it every day. Here's an original recipe that is inspired by this meatball recipe and this burrito bowl recipe.

What you'll need:

Ranch seasoning (see below)
1lb of ground chicken breast
Rainbow Slaw (2 packages)
Franks Red Hot Sauce (I used 5 TBSP total, you can use more or less to your taste)
cooking fat of choice
My famous Ranch Dressing for topping

For the Ranch Seasoning:
1 TBSP dried Parsley
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground mustard

I usually have some of this mixed up in a jar ahead of time, but today I just tossed it all in a bowl and stirred it a little before I started cooking.

Add some butter (or fat of choice) to a frying pan and heat over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add the chicken and start breaking it up. When it's about halfway cooked through, add the ranch seasoning. At this time you can heat some fat (I used olive oil) in another pan for sauteing the slaw. I do this on medium-high heat. Stir the slaw often to keep it from burning. Once the chicken is cooked through you can lower the heat and add 3 TBSP of the hot sauce and stir it in. Let the chicken continue to simmer in the sauce while you finish cooking the slaw. Add 2 TBSP of hot sauce to the slaw and continue cooking & stirring until it is tender-crispy. 

To serve, place a scoop of the cooked slaw in a bowl and top with a scoop of the chicken mixture. Now put a dollup of ranch dressing on there and enjoy!

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Paleo Coleslaw (with a kick!)

Hey everybody! The weather is starting to cool off and everyone is getting into their fall recipes and I'm over here making summer salads! I never really cared for coleslaw and the only one I've ever REALLY liked was the jalapeno slaw at Chili's.  I don't even know if they still have it and I honestly can't remember what it tasted like, but I've been craving coleslaw lately and I got to thinking about that slaw at Chili's with jalapeno in it, and then this happened:

Ingredients:

14 or 16oz. package of coleslaw mix (or you can shred your own cabbage & carrots)

1/2 - 1 Jalapeno Pepper, seeded and chopped

1 tsp Fennel Seed

1 Cup Paleo Mayo

1 tsp Vinegar

1/2 tsp Lime Juce

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

Directions:

In a large bowl, toss the slaw mix with the jalapeno and fennel seed. In a smaller bowl, mix the remaining ingredients to make the sauce. Pour the sauce over the slaw mix and blend everything together well. Place in the refrigerator for a while to allow the flavors to blend.  

Oh yeah, and Whole30 5.0 week 1 is in the books!  

Chicken Bacon Ranch Zoodle Salad

Are you looking for an alternative to the typical summer cold pasta salad?  Well, have I got the perfect recipe for you!  This one is simple and fairly easy to make.  I like it best the next day, so it's perfect to make it ahead of time and then carry it to your next picnic or family gathering.  

Ingredients:

1lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1/2 TBSP Homemade Ranch Seasoning* 

1 TBSP Butter

4-6 slices of cooked & crumbled Bacon

5-6 cups Zoodles (I used 3 large zucchini) 

1/4 Cup diced Red Bell Pepper 

1/4 Cup diced Red Onion

1/4 Cup Homemade Mayo* 

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Cut chicken up into bite-sized chunks. Heat butter in pan and add chicken and ranch seasoning to pan.  Cook until chicken is no longer pink. I put my chicken in a bowl in the fridge while I finished the rest of the recipe. While the chicken is cooling, you can start boiling a large pot of water and create your zoodles by using a spiralzer or julienne peeler. I salt the water and the zoodles. Once the water is boiling, toss the zoodles in and put a lid on it. It will only take 3-5 minutes for your zoodles to soften up, so keep checking them. As soon as you can easily cut one with a fork, put them in a colander in the sink and run cold water over them. While they are draining, you can cook and crumble your bacon and cut your onions & peppers. Squeeze all of the excess  water from the zoodles and put them in large bowl. Mix in the chicken, bacon, peppers, onion and mayo. Add salt & pepper to taste. As I said, this dish tastes great after the flavors have blended in the fridge for a few hours (or overnight).  

*I always have mayo & ranch seasoning made and on-hand.

My New Obsession

My latest obsession is ZOODLES! See how my first attempt with them turned out below (and stay tuned for some more experimentation with zoodles coming soon!).

I've been dying to try making zoodles since spaghetti squash is out of season in the summer.  I didn't discover the previous link before my first zoodle experience so, mine were a little watery. I might try the salt, sit & squeeze method next time!

I didn't want to invest in a fancy spiralizer until I knew if was even going to like this stuff. So, I ordered a Pampered Chef Julienne Peeler and gave it a whirl!  I was pleased with how easy it was to peel the zucchini using this peeler.  I don't see a need for fancier one (yet!).  

I was recently disturbed by own willingness to pay over $5 for a jar of spaghetti sauce at Kroger that was sugar (and offensive oil) free. I did decide that I need to can my own sauce this year. 

Anyway, I was pretty pumped when I found this brand at Walmart for a little over $3. You can see it has a good, clean ingredient list!

So... here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

4-6 Zucchini 

1lb Grass-fed Ground Beef or Italian Sausage

1 Jar of Sugar-free Spaghetti Sauce

Onions, chopped

Garlic, sliced or minced

Directions:

Turn the zucchini into "noodles" using your julienne peeler and place in a glass bowl.  I salted mine and then started a pot of boiling water.  Once the water is boiling, pour it over the zucchini in the bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes (to soften the zucchini).  You may want to try this method.  While I was waiting for the water to boil, I cooked my ground beef with some onion and garlic and then added the sauce and let it simmer.  After draining the water off of the zoodles, I topped them with the meat sauce an promptly stuffed my face!  I also had this left-over for lunch the next day and it was just as good reheated.

Pizza!

Boy, it's been a while, eh?  Sorry for the long absence.  I've been busy, busy, busy!  

So... I haven't had pizza in over a year and I really miss it.  I don't miss a lot of the foods that I no longer eat, but I do miss pizza!  I even make pizza inspired bowls when I go to Ghengis Grill (pepperoni & other meats with peppers, onions, spinach, garlic...etc. and I use the tomato based sauce).  Yes, I know there are ton of "gluten-free pizza crust recipes" out there.  I'm really not interested in those.  

I found this recipe for Primal Eggplant Pizza from The Domestic Man, I really wanted to try it.  Yeah, I know dairy isn't paleo (it's primal!), but I thought a small amount of high-quality cheese might not hurt me (it didn't).  

So, I bought a nice looking eggplant from the farmers market and then picked up my favorite toppings:
Italian Sausage (from my fave farm!)
Pizza Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Pepperoni



You'll also need some olive oil and salt & pepper.  You can include any toppings you like.



As the recipe indicates, you want to slice your eggplant and then salt both sides of the slices.  These need to sit for 30 minutes.  You'll see the moisture drawing out of them. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425.  

I cooked my Italian sausage while this was going on.

After 30 minutes, rinse your eggplant slices and pat them dry with a paper towel.  Then brush both sides of the slices with olive oil and add salt & pepper (I just liberally added the S&P, didn't measure).  I put them on my cooling rack over my baking sheet and stuck them in the oven.  It took closer to 10 minutes for mine to start to brown.

Then I added the sauce and toppings and cheese (I tried to go light on the cheese) and baked them again until the cheese was bubbly and the pepperoni was starting to crisp.

Overall, this recipe really hit the spot!  I like that the "crust" is made of a vegetable (vs. a bunch of nut flours...etc.). 

Paleo/Whole30 Marinade (Stir-fry Recipe)

I got a little creative in the kitchen again on Sunday.  I didn't do as well planning my menu and shopping list last week as I normally do.  Since we'll be out of town this weekend, I had to buy enough meat for 2 weeks (I buy my meat on Saturday mornings at the farmers market).  I couldn't seem to find the time to make a menu for one week, let alone two!  So... I just ordered a bunch of random stuff from the farmer and created a menu for this week using what I had.  

I bought some minutes steaks because they came in a package deal and I decided they would be great for stir fry (easy!).  I wanted to make a good flavorful stir fry and I had just scored this little gem at Vitamin Shoppe:

Marinade needs to include some oil (for moisture), an acid (to tenderize) and, of course flavor!

Ingredients

1Tbsp Avocado Oil (olive oil would probably work fine)

1tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2tsp Pink Himalayan Sea Salt (any sea salt would probably be fine here)

1tsp Coconut Aminos

1/4tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (more if you like it HOT!)

1/2tsp White Pepper (I think black pepper would be ok)

1 Garlic Clove minced

1 package of Minute Steaks (mine was just under 1lb)

Directions

Cut minute steak up into bite sized chunks and place in a glass or ceramic container that has a lid.  Mix all other ingredients together in a glass bowl and pour over the meat.  Toss and mix the meat to coat it in the marinade really well.  

Cover and place the marinaded meat in the fridge for 2-24 hours (I left it in there for about 3 hours).  In the meantime, you can chop your stir-fry veggies if needed.  I used a combination of fresh veggies and a bag of frozen.  When you're ready to cook the stir-fry, heat your wok to medium-high heat and add a little oil (any fat of choice) to the pan.  Then throw the marinaded meat in there and continue to stir it while it cooks.  When the meat is almost cooked through, remove it from the pan using a slotted spoon (it will continue to cook a little after it's removed and you'll also be putting it back in the pan at the end, so it can be medium-rare here).  Now put your veggies in the hot pan with the fat that's left from cooking the meat.  Continue to stir-fry the veggies until they are done (I like mine tender-crisp).  Then add the meat back in and toss it all around in the pan for a minute.  Serve immediately or portion out for future lunches and dinners for the week.

Crockpot Pork Roast

Hi everyone!  I hope all of my mommy friends had a great Mother's Day weekend!  I got to spend the entire day Saturday with my husband, so that was awesome! Sundays are always my prep/cook days and yesterday was no different.  I had a 2.25lb pork shoulder roast in the freezer that I wanted to use.  I googled "crockpot pork recipes" to get some inspiration.  This recipe from Cooks.com was my main inspiration.  Obviously, I wasn't going to use onion soup mix and I had already decided that I wanted to put onions & carrots in with it, so here's my version:

Ingredients

2-3lb Pork Shoulder Roast (grass-fed, organic, free-range is best)

10-15 Carrots (I used fresh ones from the farmers market that were a little small, so I used 15)

1 Onion, quartered

3 Cloves of Garlic, peeled

Salt & Pepper

1 tsp Caraway Seeds

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

1 cup Broth (any broth will work.  I used homemade bone broth)

Directions

Peel and cut carrots.  I left them pretty much whole so that they wouldn't get too mushy.  Peel and quarter your onion and peel your garlic cloves.  Throw all this in the bottom of your crockpot.  Salt & pepper your roast on all sides and then place on top of veggies.  Next sprinkle on the caraway seed, garlic powder and onion powder.  Last, pour a cup of broth (or water) in the bottom of the crockpot.  Turn that sucker on low for about 2 hours and then crank it up to high for about 6 more.  Or, if you won't be home, high for 6-8 hours should be fine too.  I like my meat to fall apart.  

This roast turned out well.  It had plenty of flavor and the caraway wasn't too overwhelming.  My carrots weren't mushy and the onions were a nice addition.  

Ranch Buffalo Chicken Spinach Salad

I had a sudden burst of creativity last night and created a new dish.  It's really a combination of parts some of my other favorite dishes that I put together.  It turned out really well.  I call it Ranch Buffalo Chicken Spinach Salad.

Ingredients

3-4 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts (I had about half a bag left which is apprx. 24oz)

Ranch Seasoning (I didn't measure, but I'm guessing I used about 2 TBSP)

3 TBSP of Butter (or ghee)

1/2 Cup Frank's Red Hot Original Sauce

Directions

If you don't already have a jar of this amazing homemade ranch seasoning by Living Low Carb One Day at a Time, you should totally make a big batch of it first!  I use it quite often.  It's delicious.  My favorite recipe is these Buffalo Chicken Meatballs.

Next, you need to cut your chicken up into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle that ranch seasoning all over it.  Put about 3T of butter (or ghee) in a large skillet and heat on medium heat.  Add the chicken pieces to the pan and toss to coat in the butter.  Cook until the chicken is just cooked through.  There will be a lot of buttery liquid in the pan, like this: 

Now turn the heat down a little (med-low) and add a 1/2 cup of Frank's Red Hot** to the pan.  Let it come to a simmer and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.  The chicken will become more tender and the flavors will blend well.  I then took some fresh raw spinach and filled a plate up with it.  I topped it with about half of the chicken mixture (being sure to include some of that juice) and a few dollops of my homemade paleo ranch dressing.

**Note: be sure to check the labels on whatever hot sauce you decide to use.  The Franks Red Hot Original is Whole30 compliant, but the Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce is not :(

Progress & Whole30 V4.0

Hey y'all!  Guess what?!  I'm doing another Whole30!  This is my fourth one.  After reading Primal Body-Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas, I've decided the Hubs and I should approach this Whole30 with her suggestions in mind.  That means that we are skipping the sweet potatoes and fruit this time around in an attempt to really find the elusive ketosis.  I am a little nervous about being so low carb and doing CrossFit, but I won't know how it works until I try it.  The key here is to eat PLENTY OF FAT (for fuel) and a moderate amount of protein.  

Here I've been pushing myself lately to eat a lot of protein...  

I think with my activity level (CF 3-4 times per week plus other things like running, rock wall climbing...etc) I am safe to still eat around 100g of protein a day.  As long as I am eating a TON of fat too.

My goal is to see my abs when this over.  I've gotten stronger and leaner, but just need to remove that little layer of fat.  It's ON!  

I thought this would be a good time to take progress pictures too.  I had taken some when I first started CrossFit in November 2012 and hadn't taken any since.  My husband took them for me and I looked at them immediately said "I look the same!  Nothing has changed!"  Later I used my PicStitch app to put the old pictures next to the new ones and I could really see a difference then!  The biggest differences I noticed were in my posture and my thighs!  I'm really sorry, as much as I want to show them off, I'm too nervous to post pictures of myself in tiny shorts and and a sports bra all over the interwebs... Y'all will have to trust me that my progress has been good.  I plan to take the same pictures again in 30 days.  I can't wait!  

Oh yeah, I'm also tracking my food on My Fitness Pal.  I know that tracking during a Whole30 is a no-no, but I've done 3 of them without tracking and feel pretty confident that it won't effect how I eat.  Also, I want to be sure to keep my carbs are low enough and that I am eating enough fat.  And I'm a curious person, so I want DATA.

So, here's my menu for week 1:

1) Cabbage Goulash

2) Waldorf Tuna Salad *obviously there's a litte fruit in here, but it's less than half an apple/svg.

3) Skillet Taco Pie w/homemade guacamole

4) Whole Roasted Chicken 

5) Hard Boiled Eggs/Egg Salad

6) Smoked Sausage w/Kraut (I just fry up a little uncured smoked pork sausage from the farm with some Bubbie's Kraut) 

7) Stir-fry/fajitas 

Duck Fat Carrots

Remember when I went to Whole Foods and on impulse bought some Rendered Duck Fat that I had no idea what to do with? Well, I had purchased a bunch of carrots this week and had my prep cook (read: husband) cut half up into sticks for dipping in my homemade ranch and the other half into medallions for cooking.  I got to thinking (while in the waiting room at the dentist office) that I had carrots at home and duck fat and that there just had to be something I could do with that combination.  So of course, I googled "duck fat carrots" and found this great recipe for roasting carrots in duck fat from A Time-Honored Table.

Let me start by telling you that I have only very recently tried roasting vegetables.  I've roasted broccoli only twice and I really enjoyed it, but Husband wasn't overly impressed. I used olive oil (and garlic, lemon juice, red pepper flakes) for these broccoli expeditions, but I really want to get away from heating olive oil at all and I'm looking to get a variety of fats in my diet.  The carrots were good, but I'm not convinced they wouldn't have been just as good with butter as the fat?  I won't know until I try it...  I look forward to roasting a variety of veggies in both butter and duck fat.  I'll let you all know how it goes.  

Happy Birthday (cookies) to Me!

I made these incredibly easy and tasty cookies from Fast Paleo to share with my co-workers for my Birthday.  OMG!  YUM!  I used Simple Truth organic dark chocolate chips (rather than those njoy life chips that all the paleo peeps seem so fond of).  The Simple Truth chips are larger and tastier.  Oh yeah and half the price.  I like them better.  End of story.  

 This is the My Fitness Pal output per cookie:


Not bad for a COOKIE!

Catching up & Skillet Taco Pie

The Healthy Snack table at work.  Yours Truly is in charge of
shopping for and buying the snacks :)  Lookin' good!

It's been over a month!  Have ya'll missed me?! A LOT has happened since I was on here last.

CrossFit Jackson Nutrition Challenge:

At the 4-week point (Feb 2nd) we all climbed back on the bodyfat scale to see our results.  I was shocked and proud to have lost 2.9%!!!!!  In only 26 days.  Pretty good for short little 130lb woman (126 now).  Now for the REALLY exciting part....

HUSBAND won the 4-week challenge!  That's right.  He lost 3.8% body fat in a mere 4 weeks!  How awesome is that?!

There are now 3 weeks left in the challenge.  I'm excited to see how we both do in the WOD and total fat loss.  

Our Whole45/5/17:

This got a little jacked up. My mom and step-dad made a last-minute trip to see us.  So, it ended up being a Whole39.  Since I'm still making paleo treats for my birthday, it will still be another Whole19 starting Wednesday.  Although I have trip planned to visit friends in 2 weeks and I won't be completely in control of what I eat.  Ok, that didn't sound right.  I'll be staying at their house, so it's possible that I might end up having to eat some off-plan things.  I'm going to stay away from dairy & gluten though.

Ok, so here's the recipe folks!  I made this last night.  It was really good.  I reheated some for lunch today, and it's still good, so it passes the test as far as I'm concerned :)

Skillet Taco Pie
By: The Cave Girl Dish

Crust before baking

Crust after baking

The crust is pretty good, but could maybe use a little more spice or salt?

The final product was good!  I even made my own guacamole to top it with!  When I make it again, I might try using 3 eggs to make the meat hold together a little more.  I sauteed onions, peppers & tomatoes after I put the pie in the oven and then when there was 10 minutes left, I added them on top and let them finish cooking on the pie.

Final Product!

Whole30 2013 ~ Day 3

So I totally forgot about the sleepless nights that come in the beginning of the Whole30.  At least for me anyway.  I'm restless all night all long.  I don't know if it happens because of cortisol, blood sugar, hormones... or what, but it happens.  So, pair that with it being my 3rd morning without coffee, and you can see why I was a bit CRANKY this morning.  I got over it though.  

If anyone is interested, here's what I've been eating (in no particular order):

Chicken Salad (as a snack)

Sauteed Asparagus

Fried Eggs

Sausage/Egg Scramble with Salsa

Shredded Beef (usually with eggs)

Fajitas 

Spaghetti (squash) with Meat Sauce 

Bone Broth

That sums up my first 3 days.  

My arms are still stiff and sore from the WOD on 1/1.  Thanks Murph.  BUT... I'm going to wod tonight.  Hoping it will loosen them up a bit!  

I've been putting together my menu and shopping list for next week.  I will be trying some new things and keeping some tried & true favorites around as well.  

Whole30 January 1!

I'm really excited to be doing another Whole30 in January!  In fact, I feel like I NEED to do it!  Husband is on board and so are some friends.  It's gonna be great!  You should join us!  In fact, I've started a FaceBook group for us!  See you there!

Tips for a successful Whole30:

1. Plan, plan, plan!  Plan your menu at least a week in advance.
2. Pre-cook as much as you can over the weekend (or whenever you have the most free time).
3. Make dishes that have meat & veggies all in one so that you don't have to plan to make a veggie with every meal.
4. Start stocking up on seasonings now (to avoid a high grocery bill in week 1).
5. Start stocking up on kitchen basics now (to avoid a high grocery bill in week 1).

I have compiled a list of compliant Whole30 Recipes that I have personally  made and enjoyed.  The list has hyperlinks to each recipe.  Please keep in mind that some minor modifications may be needed in order to be Whole30 compliant (such as using ghee or clarified butter in place of butter...etc.)  Also, some things may be SWYPO for you, such as the banana ice cream.  If that's the case, please don't use those recipes!  If anyone has any recipes that they would like to add to the list, please let me know.  There are a ton of resources on the web for Whole30 recipes including the Recipe Sharing portion Whole9 forum, which I strongly suggest that EVERYONE use!  I browsed that forum every single day of my first Whole30 and I still browse it at least once a week.

I always do a lot of prepping & cooking on Sunday for the following week.  I strongly suggest you make a menu plan each week and do as much of the cooking as possible on one day so that there is always healthy, compliant food available with little or no work required.  Below is a typical sample week that I would do.  This * symbol represents what I will be cooking up ahead over the weekend.  

Week 1 Menu

*BBQ Crockpot Chicken with steamed mixed veggies

*Crockpot Shredded Beef (add lots of onions & peppers to pot or make additional on the side)

*Ground Beef & Cabbage 

*Beef/Turkey Cabbage Soup

Ribeye Steaks with Sweet Potato Fries & homemade mayo

Baked Lemon Pepper Cod with sauteed Asparagus
Shredded Beef with Fried Eggs

*Sausage & Egg Scramble

*Hard Boiled Eggs

Week 1 Shopping List

Whole Chicken

Beef Roast

3lb Ground Beef (or turkey or venison...)

Ribeyes (you can grill extras and use it for lunch the next day)

Pork Sausage (be sure there is no sugar or nitrites/nitrates)

Fresh Wild Caught Cod - I watch for this to be marked down at the grocery store and then buy it and cook it  within a day or two

Mixed Veggies (fresh or frozen)

Onions

Bell Peppers
Cabbage

Broth & Stock (I make my own)
Soup Veggies - celery, onion, carrots, zucchini, green beans, whatever you like
Tomato Paste 6oz

Eggs (I buy 4-5 dozen per week!)

Sweet Potatoes

Asparagus

Catching up...

There's been a lot going on in the last week and half and I haven't even had time to share it all!  

On November 18th I participated in a 3-1/2 hour CrossFit Fundamentals class.  I'm hooked!  I went back the very next day and did a WOD that was spending 30 minutes determining your one rep max deadlift. I had never done a deadlift before, so I had no idea what to expect.  I started with 95lbs (you are only lifting the bar from the floor to a straight standing position, mostly using your lower back muscles and hips to move the weight, allowing for much heavier lifts).  I then tried 115, 135, 145 and finally 155 pounds!  I was proud as a peacock to have lifted that much on my first night!  

My friend Billie & I after we totally
ROCKED the Turkey Day 5k

That was only the beginning of what was to become an incredible week of accomplishments for me!  I had been planning on running the Turkey Day 5k on Thanksgiving morning for the 2nd year in a row and while I had been pretty excited about it, in the weeks leading up to it I felt very unprepared and not ready.  There were over 800 runners!  What a rush!  I was convinced this was going to be one of my worst 5k races.  Last year I finished it in over 35 minutes.  That's about what I expected this year.  You can imagine my shock and astonishment when I finished in 30:06!  That's over 2-1/2 minutes faster than my record.  Also, it was the first time that I have ever ran the entire time.  NO walking!  My next 5k will be under 30 minutes and I will bring home a trophy before the heat of summer in 2013 stops me from running.  Mark my words.

After the race we had Thanksgiving lunch with some of Husband's family.  I had deviled eggs, veggies with homemade ranch, turkey, potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, cranberries and even a paleo cake that his Aunt made for us!  

I have since done 2 more WODs at my local box (CrossFit Jackson) and I felt a sense of accomplishment after each one like never before!  Husband has been CrossFitting since April and since he works 3rd shift, he attends the 7pm class (would be the equivalent of me going at 6am).  Since April, I have been making dinner while he's gone to the gym and when he would get home (after 8pm most times), I would either have already eaten dinner or we would eat together.  He really wants me to workout with him at 7pm, so I had to figure out how to make and eat dinner in that time frame.  Since this is the first week we are trying that schedule, I spent time this weekend cooking up a ton of food so that all of our meals would be ready to heat & eat.  Here's what I made:

Paleo Blueberry Muffins

Chicken Salad (with homemade mayo, grapes, salt & pepper)

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Steak & Chicken Fajitas

Spicy Pulled Pork (I skip the sauce) Served with green beans

Smoked Beef Brisket with steamed broccoli

Beef/Venison Cabbage Soup  

I also made 10 hard boiled eggs and baked a cookie sheet full of bacon.

We are nearly out of boiled eggs and the bacon is gone, so tonight I will fry up a pound of pastured pork sausage together with a dozen eggs and portion it out in the fridge for the rest of the week.  We like to heat it up and top it with Frog Ranch Salsa.

These Blueberry Muffins by PaleOMG were pretty good!  However, an entire cup of almond butter is a lot of money and when I think of it that way, they weren't good enough to warrant that kind of spending for a dozen muffins.  Also, if I were to make them again, I would put an entire cup of blueberries in them because you can never have too many blueberries in your blueberry muffins.

The recipe says it makes 8-10 muffins, but I easily filled all 12 muffin cups.  Also, it didn't say how far to fill the cups.  As you can see, I filled mine about 3/4 full.