Jalapeno Sweet Potato Chowder

I pinned a page about a jalapeno sweet potato soup, but unfortunately it didn't share the recipe :(  I found this recipe for sweet potato soup with bacon and combined the concepts to make my own delicious soup!

Ingredients:
5-6 large sweet potatoes
1/2 water, 1/2 Chicken stock to cover the potatoes
1 large yellow onion
3 jalapeno peppers
bacon
cooked chicken (I used meat from 4 drumsticks & 1 breast)
cumin
allspice
chili powder
cayenne
less of nutmeg, ginger
S&P

Chop the potatoes into 1" - ish size pieces and put in water/stock and boil.  Stir every few minutes while prepping the rest.
Cook the bacon, then reserve most of the fat in a container (to cook your eggs with in the AM), and leave some in the pan to cook the veggies.
Saute the onion & jalapenos.  I did not deseed or devein them because we like it hot!
Chop up your chicken into bite-size pieces.
Add spices and chicken to onion & jalapeno

 The original recipe called to puree the sweet potatoes, but we like soups like this more chunky.  And it's easier.  So as the potatoes start to get mushy, use a spatula or wooden spoon to smush them up.  Once they are mushed to your desired softness, add the rest of the ingredients to the potatoes.

Garnish generously with bacon!

Caribbean Beef Plantain Bake

I have been looking forward to making this for a while!  I pinned it about a month ago from Baltic Maid - not sure how I found it in the first place?   But Thank you Baltic Maid for creating/ posting this!  Always looking for different things to make with ground beef, since we do have like a hundred pounds of it in the freezer :)

I bought the plantains over a week ago - the store only had green ones so I had to wait until they got nice and dark as indicated in the recipe.

Below is my variation, adapted from the original.  I knew it would either come out 'ehh' or AWESOME and luckily it was awesome.  Already looking forward to my lunch leftovers :)


Caribbean Beef Plantain Bake
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, chopped
(I cheated and used a bag of frozen sliced peppers and onions!)

1/2 jar strained organic tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
Paprika, Cumin, Oregano, Chili Powder, Cinnamon, S&P

2-3 very ripe (dark brown/black) plantains
Coconut oil

2 - 3 eggs


In a large frying pan, brown the ground beef. Set beef aside once done.

Saute the onion & pepper in the same pan and lightly brown.  Add spices (I don't put measurements bc I don't measure.  Be generous!)

Meanwhile in another pan, heat coconut oil.  Peel plantains and cut into bite size slices and saute until browned, flip to brown both sides.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Add tomatoes to the veggies and warm, then stir beef in.

Put the beef/ veggie mixture in 9x9 glass baking pan, top with plantain slices (I kind of pushed them into the sauce).

In a little bowl, beat the eggs. Pour them over the casserole.

Bake the casserole for 20 to 30 minutes.

Easiest Paleo Banana Pancakes

These are so easy and so good!

You need generally 1 banana to 1 egg -  mushier banana makes it easier.  Blend the ingredients together with hand mixer, careful not to overmix.

Batter should look like this - reminiscent of "regular" pancake batter:

Put some coconut oil in your pan and keep heat on med-low/low.  Cook pancakes slowly, not flipping until they are well bubbly on top.  Add blueberries/ other fruit if desired:

Cook some pastured bacon to accompany them:

Chris had his with syrup; I had mine with some almond butter.

Enjoy!

I will probably need a snack today since this breakfast is a little light (1 egg, 1 banana, 2 small slices bacon + 1 tbsp almond butter) but it's nice to switch it up from eggs!

Pork Chops w Roasted Balsamic Sweet Potato & Brussels

A quick easy dinner-

Delicious bone-in pork chops from your favorite local farm
+
2 large sweet potaotes, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 containers brussels sprouts
EVOO + Balsamic vinegar

Roast the chops with s&P& garlic powder on 425 for 45 mins -   Roast veggies approx the same amount of time in EVOO w S&P, adding balsamic for the last 10 mins.  If you don't have as much time for the veggies, pop the potatoes in the microwave for a few minutes to soften them up :)

Whole30 - Meal Template

I see a lot of pins on pinterest for "paleo" meals - a lot of time they are reincarnations of grain- or sugar- laden favorites.  Which is fine on occasion... Personally I'm currently planning on making TWO paleo friendly GF desserts to celebrate my successful completion of the Whole30 :)  But it's also important to remember the meal template... the Hartwigs know what they are talking about.  I have had great success when following the template.  I have found in these 30 days that if a meal doesn't have all the recommended elements (protien, fat, veggies often including starchy ones and sometimes fruit/nuts), you will end up hungry before it's time for the next meal and require a snack (I am not an advocate of starvation).

The Meal Template

Seems daunting at first but it's easy once you get the hang of it.  For example, my W30 compliant, template fitting lunch from yesterday:

Leftover chicken (protein)
An avocado (healthy fat)
1/2 large sweet potato (starchy vegg)
Spicy tomato and mango salsa (vegg and fruit)

+ of course a couple glasses of water

I was full till dinner :)

Whole30 Day 29!

So day 29... the time to decide what I'm going to do with myself AFTER 30 days have passed...

On Feb 1st, I plan to have a sushi date with my husband.  And drink wine with dinner.  And some cocktails after dinner.  Yum.  Other than that, I plan to stay compliant with the eating plan.  Besides alcohol I'm planning to stay compliant with the Whole30, at a minimum paleo.  Not sure if I will be compliant enough to dub it a Whole60, but I would like to.  I have some fitness / weight goals I'm looking to meet, and a month has not been enough time to get there.  I'm on a roll so I would like to keep going :)

Now to catch up on some recent meals -

Kinda Best Chicken Ever....

Who could pass up a recipe for "The Best Chicken You Will Ever Eat. Ever" ??
This was a pinterest find.  The blog it's from, The Clothes Make the Girl, is pretty awesome overall and has been added to my reader :)

I had a late gym night last night, so Chris cooked.  He followed the recipe with a couple minor modifications- we had no allspice, and he used red curry paste instead of powder (after checking ingredients to make sure it's compliant, of course).  He roasted them in the toaster oven at 400 for ~40 mins.  They were thick.  We also skipped the Dipping Sauce.  Next time!  Instead of needlessly copying the recipe here, check it out on the blog above-

It was realllly good.  The brine helped the chicken stay moist, and the spice rub was a good amount of spiciness and heat.  An avocado was perfect to cut the heat a bit, and steamed cauliflower was also a great side, as you could grab a chunk of the spice rub and eat with the cauli.  He also made a classic red wine vin salad.  Delish!