Baked Chicken Meatballs

Well.... you would think that having time off would mean a relaxing day or two.... NOT in my house!  Today Avery went to daycare, so my mom and I went shopping, shopping, shopping.  Michaels, Costco, Dollar store, home for lunch, a few crafts, pick up Avery, Walmart trip, home to make dinner.  After all of that, what did I make for dinner?  Baked Chicken Meatballs!

I had seen the recipe on Pinterest (no surprise there) and I wanted to make them yesterday; however, I did not have any bacon!  If a recipe calls for bacon, you CANNOT make it without the bacon! LOL.  The recipe was pretty easy, as usual I made a few changes, but they were/are DELICIOUS.  Avery did not eat hers, but she did not eat a thing on her plate this evening!

Ingredients

1. 1 lb ground free range chicken, or 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into strips and pulsed in a food processor until ground  - I used ground turkey, and i didnt quite have 1lb
2. 1 small yellow onion, diced - forgot to buy this so i skipped it
3. 1 clove garlic, minced - being lazy i used the pre-diced stuff in the fridge
4. 3 strips bacon, diced - I may have used 6 slices :-)
5. 1 egg yolk
6. 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil - whoops, forgot to measure this
7. 2 tablespoons homemade tomato sauce - I used tomato paste
8. 3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley - or as much as you would like
9. Oh I added mushrooms too!!

 

 

1. Preheat your oven to 400º and place a rack in the upper third of your oven.
2. In a medium skillet over medium heat, add the diced bacon and cook until a good amount of fat has been rendered out, about 1 tablespoon or so.    - this is where i added mushrooms
3. Add the diced onion and the garlic and cook until the onion is translucent and the bacon is crispy.  Remove from the heat and cool slightly. meh- i just dumped them in my meat mixture
4. Combine the ground chicken, egg yolk, 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce, parsley and the bacon, onion and garlic in a large bowl.   
5. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.   whoops, i forgot this too!
6. Form meatballs and roll into little balls, about 1 tablespoon of mixture per ball.  Place the formed meatballs into a large baking dish about one inch apart.  I lined my baking dish with aluminum foil and sprayed it with olive oil - I like an easy clean up
7. Combine 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce together in a small bowl and brush on top of each meatball.  Pop into your preheated oven, and bake for 15 minutes. my sauce was quite a bit thicker than what seemed to be in the original recipe, but i quite enjoyed it!

Original Recipe: http://dandydishes.blogspot.ca/2011/06/baked-chicken-meatballs.html#.UTFoyhk-Ote

Hope you enjoy them!!

JoJo!!

Curried Spinach - 2 Ways (Sort of)

Well,  this recipe was originally curried shrimp and spinach, but I enjoyed the spinach so much cooked this way, that I continued to cook just the spinach (oh, and of course I added a few extra treats in there)

The first few times I made this recipe I actually left out the coconut milk, and that is how we got the spinach 2 ways.  It can be a creamy curried spinach, or a lighter coated curried spinach.  Either way was delicious.  I suppose how I was going to cook with would depend on what I wanted to eat with it.  (the picture of the spinach with the chicken - the liquid is from the orange chicken sauce not the spinach)

The first time I made the spinach I realized I did not have any curry powder, so I used Thai red curry paste.  I have tried it with curry powder, but much prefer it with the curry paste!  I felt my spinach looked a little lonely in the pan without the shrimp, so I chopped up some chunks of mushrooms and it was soooooo good!

Curried Spinach (with coconut millk)

Ingredients

1. 2 lbs shrimps, peeled and deveined; (optional)
2. 2 tbsp ghee, butter or coconut oil; I use coconut oil
3. 1 onion, chopped;I didnt have any onion so Ive never used it
4. 2 tsp curry powder; I use thai red curry paste
5. 2 tsp tomato paste;
6. 1/2 cup homemade chicken stock;
7. 1 cup full-fat coconut milk; optional
8. 2 tightly packed cups shredded spinach;
9. Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste;
10. chopped mushrooms (those big meaty ones)

Preparation

Curried Spinach without coconut milk 

1. Heat a large skillet over a medium-low heat and cook the onion in the ghee, butter or coconut oil until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes.
2. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir in the curry powder and continue cooking for a minute. It takes some time to mix in the curry paste nicely so be patient
3. Place mixture in a blender or a food processor, add the tomato paste as well as the chicken stock and coconut milk. Process or blend until smooth. I skipped this step even when i used the coconut milk. too many unnecessary dishes. just simmer and stir, it will blend together
4. Pour the mixture back in the skillet and bring to a simmer.
5. Add the shrimps and spinach and cook, covered, for about 5 minutes, until the shrimps are just cooked. the time means nothing to me.  cook until the spinach cooks down to how you like it, or until the shrimp are as cooked as you like them.  I tend to like mine well cooked.

Original Recipe:  http://paleodietlifestyle.com/curried-shrimps-and-spinach/

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, both ways!

Happy Eating!!

JoJo!!

Riced Cauliflower

Well I needed something for dinner... and I have 3 heads of cauliflower in my fridge so I needed to make something.  Cauliflower mashed potatoes and cauliflower rice had been on my list of things to try out, and well, I went with the rice.  Salmon and rice, sounds like a fantastic meal!

I was a little worried about the taste because I could smell the sesame oil and coconut aminos, and thought it would taste too strongly of those flavors, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Very mild taste, nice texture and very satisfying.  I did add some Franks, but I would have added hot sauce to this meal if I had made it with regular rice. The true test will be if my husband will eat it when he gets back.

The recipe called for green onions and garlic, but considering it was fried rice, it needed something else.  I remembered that I had some left over carrots in the fridge, so I chopped them up and threw them in.  Looked much better with a little more color!!

Ingredients

1. 1 head of cauliflower
2. 3 tablespons coconut oil - I didnt measure my coconut oil, but I did add more through the cooking process
3. 3 green onions, diced
4. 2 garlic cloves, minced i used the pre-diced stuff I have in the fridge :-O
5. 1 egg, whisked
6. 1 teaspoon coconut aminos
7. 1 tablespoon sesame oil
8. black pepper I skipped this - I really am not a fan of black pepper
9. I added chopped carrots

Directions

1. rinse and dry the cauliflower and cut into florets
2. place florets in food processor and process until  they are finely minced, looking like rice
3. in a large skillet, melt the coconut oil over the medium heat
4. add the cauliflower and saute for 5-6 minutes I really did not keep track of the time i was busy doing other things
5. add the green onions and garlic and saute with the cauliflower for another 2-3 miutes
6. push the cauliflower mixture to the side of the pan and pour the whisked egg onto the empty side of the pan and cook until the egg begins to firm
7. mix the egg into the cauliflower mixture and add the coconut aminos, the sesame oil and black pepper
8. taste your riced cauliflower and add more aminos or sesame oil if desired

Recipe from Everyday Paleo - Family Cookbook - Real Food for Real Life

Salmon - this was super easy.  I threw some lemon juice in a skillet with coconut oil and the salmon.  I seasoned it with Lemon Pepper seasoning and sauteed it until it was cooked through!  Yummy Yummy!

Hope you give the riced cauliflower a try, I really enjoyed it!!

JoJo!!