Weekend Update….Let’s start with that Garlic Beef Pot/Stew!

garlic beef pot

Wow! I had a busy weekend in the kitchen and never had so many people from instagram asking for recipes! So watch out, alot of posts coming today.
I want to start with this Beef Stew though.
My daughter and I were strolling around Whole Foods on Friday afternoon, as we do, and she is the sample princess, will try all of it!
In the produce department, the WF Chef had whipped up what he was calling a beef stew with ingredients on the sale table. (Obviously, they were trying to move the meat!)
My daughter tries it and says WE SHOULD MAKE SOME BEEF STEW! (I don’t care for beef stew. She doesn’t know that…)
I always am up for winging it in the kitchen, and she kept going on about it so I let her pick up a couple of pounds of cubed round. We picked up a few other things that sounded like they would work together….and to my complete happiness and surprise, here is what happened!

Garlic Beef Pot/Stew

Start by dumping 2 pounds of grassfed cubed round beef in your slow cooker.
Add to it a LOT of fresh chopped garlic! (I think I put in about 15-20 cloves that I quick chopped in the mini chopper)
Add 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Add 1 tsp dried oregano
Add 1+ tsp coarse sea salt
Add 1/4-1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
I gave it a sprinkle of garlic powder and onion powder
1 Tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder

Then I mixed it all up by hand right in the slow cooker pot, so that the meat and seasonings were well mixed.

I added about 1/3 cup of fresh chopped parsley
2 cans of diced organic fire roasted tomoatoes
2 chopped stalks of celery
2 carrots chopped in coins
1 onion, chopped large
about 1/4 cup of good balsalmic vinegar

I let it go on low for about 5 hours then kicked it up to high for another hour or so.

The flavors were amazing! The Broth was rich and lovely, the meat was tender! We all really enjoyed it, having leftovers tonight! And I will be making this one again for sure!
Let me know what you think!

AND!!!
You can now get to my blog by going to http://www.busygirlforapaleoworld.com
See you around!

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Hot Dog!

hot dog

So yesterday I was having one of those BONE TIRED days for whatever reason. When I finally got home from work, the usual tasks loomed before me, feed the zoo, walk the dogs, fix dinner.
All I could think about was how to get my body into bed as fast as possible! There was a pile of dishes taunting me from the sink, and all I could do was yawn, yawn, yawn! What the heck! I ate good food all day, drank plenty of water, no idea.

So on the walk back home with the animules, I started rifling through the refrigerator in my brain trying to come up with the easiest thing I could. I did eggs at lunch, so that was out. And then I remembered the hot dogs!

When I got home I opened the fridge doors and angelic music played in my mind!
Here is what happened:

Threw 4 Applegate Farms all organic grassfed beef hot dogs into the skillett to start browning up on medium heat.
Put another pot of water on to boil, I had some asparagus on hand….that is a quick winner! Boil about 3 minutes, dot with a bit of Kerrygold grassfed butter and squeeze the juice of one lemon over the top with a little salt and pepper…easy!
Dogs are nice and brown, so I placed each one on a large romaine lettuce leaf (like a bun or a taco!) and topped with PaleoChef Srracha and slices of avocado! Had a little beet sauerkraut on the side too!

Literally dinner was plated in less than 10 minutes!
Those dogs are great to keep on hand for days like that, lunches, dinner, even breakfast in a pinch!

Best part? This was compliant all over the board…paleo, primal, 21 day sugar detox, you name it! Clean eating and tasty!

And I was in bed by 8….and watching Teen Wolf at 9, whence I fell asleep!

Thank you DVR!

A Little Green

dressedchopveggiesdressing

My sister-in-law posted her amazing avocado dressing recipe the other day and I tried to do something similar because, let’s face it, I love anything avocado! The cool green creaminess just sings in everything!

So at lunch yesterday I was just standing in front of the refrigerator, doors open of course, pondering what to throw together in a short time frame. My eyes kept going to the spinach, so spinach salad was in the works. I started with this Avocado dressing in the bowl and built the salad on top, gave it a toss and ate it with a baked sweet potato, just perfect!

Here is what happenned in the bowl:

Mashed about 1/4 of an avocado with some salt and some fresh garlic paste. (One bud of garlic, smashed, flatten and smear onto the cutting board with the side of your knife until it is almost invisible! scrape it up and pop it in the bowl! I added the juice of one lemon and a tablespoon of olive oil. I also put in about 1/2 tsp of Sunny Paris Seasoning from Penzeys (this stuff? you have GOT to have it in your pantry!).
Now wisk away…..until creamy and smooth.
I threw a big handful of spinach on top of the dressing along with some of my favorite chopped things like tomatoes, cukes, radishes, grapes and some chopped pecans.
I tossed it all until the dressing touched everything, and inhaled it!!!!!

This was super easy, and so flavorful!
Give it a try…and let me know what you think!

Simple Thing

cereal and milk

Sometimes just the simple things can make you happy, noticing the sunlight through a window in the morning, hearing the birds chirp inbetween the traffic noise, a single wildflower growing in the grass. You just have to slow down a little to notice, but wow is that hard some days!

I miss cereal. (Great segway, huh?)
I do! I was a cereal eater…so easy, yummy, fast.
A while back I stumbled on Steve’s Paleo Goods (www.stevespaleogoods.com) while looking for delicious ready made snacks. I am a big believer in their products! Especially the Paleo Krunch Cereal! It is truly delicious….a granola of sorts….grain free! You can watch it disappear straight from the tub or pour a little bowl with some almond milk, sit back and enjoy it on the porch! (Or, in the usual case, pack it in whatever you can and haul it to work so you can eat it in peace at the desk between emails!)

There are some good granola type paleo recipes out there, but I always come back to this. No matter how Little Houst on the Prarie/make every single thing myself from scratch I would like to be, ready made just comes in handy from time to time, and when it is this good, and healthy? well. Not a difficult decision for this girl.

Have a great Friday everyone!