A week of Paleo/Primal Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners and Snacks

OK, I really don't like making meal plans. I can't imagine what I might want to make throughout the week while sitting on my couch on Sunday afternoon. I have a freezer stocked with meat and get a veggie box delivered on Thursday. Sometimes they substitute different items in my box; so I don't know what will be in it for certain until it arrives. That makes the meal planning a little hard. But really those are all just excuses because ultimately I don't make meal plans because that's just not the way I work. It's counter to my personality, I think. BUT, I can make a retroactive meal plan; I can tell you what I ate LAST week rather than what I plan to eat NEXT week. That way you can get an idea of what a week of Paleo/Primal eating might look like if you're having a problem coming up with ideas.  Keep in mind that I eat Primal, so there are some dairy items thrown in here. If you don't eat dairy, just omit those. Here ya go!

Week of Breakfasts
Saturday: Paleo/Primal Pancakes (make extra for eating throughout the week, Freezes well)
Sunday: Paleo/Primal Porridge (make extra for eating throughout the week)
Monday: Banana, 3 Eggs with cottage cheese
Tuesday: Orange, Paleo Porridge
Wednesday: Grapefruit, Breakfast sausage
Thursday: Pear, 2 primal pancakes without toppings
Friday: Smoothie, 3 eggs

Week of Lunches
Monday: leftover Beef Tarragon Soup from dinner
Tuesday: Natural sausage, bottled sauerkraut
Wednesday: leftover Spaghetti squash Bolognese from dinner
Thursday: 3 egg omelet with sauteed greens and sun dried tomatoes
Friday: Lunch meat, cheese, mustard wrapped rolled up in lettuce or chard
Saturday: Eat out (most salads without dressing or lettuce wrapped burgers are good choices)
Sunday: Leftovers from eating out Saturday and from the week's dinners.

Week of Dinners
Saturday: Pork Shoulder with Spinach and Onions with Cauliflower Rice
Sunday: Beef Tarragon Soup
Monday: Salmon Fillet, Sweet Potato Fries, Steamed Broccoli
Tuesday: Spaghetti Squash Bolognese, Salad with homemade vinaigrette
Wednesday: Balsamic Chicken and Onions, Salad
Thursday: Braised Beef, Sweet Potatoes with Chive Butter, Salad
Friday: Seafood Skillet, Salad

Other Lunch or Dinner choices:
Natural Sausage with browned peppers and onions, salad
Chicken soup
Baked Talapia, sesame oil broccoli and mushrooms, sesame cucumbers
Baked Chicken Legs, sauteed greens and onions, Steamed Sweet Potatoes or fries
Jambalaya, Salad
Butternut Squash Soup

Snacks:
Pear/other fruit slices wrapped with prosciutto
Nut and raisin mix
Beef Jerkey Pear /apple slices dipped in almond butter
Veggies with guacamole - baby carrots, cuke slices, broccoli

Braised Beef and Sweet Potatoes with Chive Butter

Last night I made one of my usual concoctions, just winging it hoping everything tasted pretty good. Well, I hit a homerun with this meal (if I do say so myself)! I had some stew meat thawed in the fridge and still had a few veggies left from my weekly delivery. So here's what I did! (note that we ate it all before I could get any pictures, so the picture here is of a cow on the ranch where I get my grass-fed beef. This one's a milk cow, not a eatin' cow, but it may have known the one that contributed to the tasty meal tonight...who knows!)

I'll be posting this over at a new Paleo blog I'm doing with friends called Northwest Cavegirls as well. Go check it out!

Braised Beef (Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
1 lb grass-fed stew meat (chunks)
1 T coconut oil
2 T beef rub (see recipe below)
2+ C chicken broth

Beef Rub
3 t salt
1 t paprika
1 t garlic powder
1 t chili powder
1 t onion powder
1 t black pepper

Heat oil in a skillet until melted. Sprinkle Beef Rub over the raw meat and rub it in! Sear stew meat on all sides in the oil over medium heat. Cover browned meat with chicken broth, cover and simmer on low for 2-3 hours. Serve warm covered in it's own juice!

Sweet Potatoes with Chive Butter (Primal, Gluten-Free)
2 medium sized organic red sweet potatoes (often called yams in the store)
1 stick of butter
1/3 C fresh chives

Wash sweet potatoes and place on a microwave safe plate or bowl. Microwave on high for about 5 minutes. If you can stick a knife into them easily they are cooked!

In a small bowl, melt butter in microwave. Takes about 1 minute. Chop chives then mix them into the melted butter.

To serve, cut sweet potatoes into chunks and spoon chive butter over the top. Eat the skin as well!

You CAN cook fresh fish at home: Homemade Salmon Fillet with Sweet Potato Fries

I recently read in my friend Louise's blog that she didn't cook fresh fish at home. In the same week I spoke with at least 3 other friends who said a similar thing about being intimidated by cooking fish or thinking that cooking fish would stink up their house. I think I even remember my mom saying that to me a while back when I said I'd made salmon for dinner. Well, I want to set the record straight right here and now! Cooking fish is easy and it does not stink up your house if you do it right! Let's address these issues one at a time.

1. Myth: Cooking fish will stink up your house. There are two things you can do when handling and cooking fish that will leave you with a kitchen that smells only of the wonderful aroma coming from your oven.  The first rule of a non-smelly kitchen is to remove the wrapper that your fish came in and put it in your outside trash. Most smell from fish comes from the wrapper in your trash can. The second rule is never fry fish in your house! I grew up in the south, and know that there's nothing better than fried fish. But like we do it in the south, have your fish fry outside, not in your house.

2. Myth: Cooking fish is hard and should be left to professionals in restaurants. If you can turn on your oven, you can cook fish. The key to cooking good fish is to not over-cook it. I've cooked both farm raised and wild salmon and have found that the wild salmon needs less cooking time. As long as you watch the clock and take your salmon out of the oven at the right time or even a little early you'll have a delicious, healthy dish.

I tend to be more of a naked cook, meaning that I don't like a lot of sauces or embellishments on a good piece of meat or fresh veggies. We eat a lot of steamed or roasted veggies with little more than salt and pepper on top. The same goes for a nice piece of meat or fish. That said, below is a recipe for salmon with a simple sauce for those of you who prefer toppings on your fish. Along with that is a recipe for very simple sweet potato fries that my kids love! Speaking of kids, a family member said the other day that kids don't like fish. Well, I beg to differ! Salmon is one of my daughter's favorite foods. Maybe it's because we live in the Pacific Northwest, but fish is not an icky food in my house; quite the opposite.

Hopefully some of you out there who believed Myths #1 and #2 above will give this recipe a try and see how easy it is to prepare your own fresh, healthy, tasty fish in your own home!

Salmon Fillet with Dill Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb salmon fillet (preferably wild, but farm raised is ok)

1/4 C prepared ranch dressing (organic preferred)

1 Tbs prepared Dijon mustard

1 tsp dried dill weed

(if you prefer a crunchy topping, you can mix in a few Tbs bread crumbs to the sauce)

Directions:

1. Run your hand across the top of the fillet to make sure there aren't any bones. If you feel a bone remove it with your fingers or a pair of pliers used in the kitchen.

2. Mix ranch dressing, mustard and dill in a small bowl. Mix in bread crumbs if you are using them.

3. Place fillet skin side down on a greased cookie sheet. spread mustard mixture evenly over top of fillet.

4. Place fillet in an oven preheated to 350 degrees and cook for about 15 minutes for wild salmon and 20 minutes for farm raised or thicker fillet. Salmon should flake easily with a fork when finished. If the salmon does not flake when you take it out and still looks too dark on the inside, put it back in the oven for 5 minute intervals until it's done to your liking.

Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients:
1 large organic sweet potato (red or white sweet potatoes are ok, red are sometimes called yams in the grocery although they really aren't yams...but that's a story for another time)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 gallon zip top bag

Directions:
1. Cut sweet potatoes into sticks that are fry sized making sure that no stick is more than about 1/4 inch thick in either direction.
2. Put fries into zip top bag then add oil and salt. Squeeze out all the air and zip the bag. Squish potatoes around until they are well coated with oil and salt.
3. Pour potato sticks onto a cookie sheet or baking dish in a single layer then roast for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees turning sticks over half way through cooking.






Check out Daily Organized Chaos' Wednesday Recipes as well