Comfort Dinner

So the hubs sent me a text message Wednesday morning telling me that a co-worker gave him the finger.  Of course I sent a supportive text back and offered to "ef" her up if he'd tell me where she was.  Hubby has been dealing with a bunch of Kindergarteners at his job for the last three years and it is really getting old.  I've told him that I believe he has grounds to file a hostile work environment grievance.  Any way, since I couldn't exact some revenge for the hubs I thought I could do the next best thing....cook some comfort food.  Two weeks ago I ordered ground bison, bacon ends and chicken quarters from US Wellness Meats.  I have an apple meatloaf recipe that I love and was eager to try using the ground bison mixed with ground pork.  I also needed to replace the bread crumbs as I am avoiding grains and wheat....voila, almond meal.  To round out the meal, I made kale chips and mock mashed potatoes with cauliflower.  And, if that wasn't enough, I baked Elana Amsterdam's spice cake from her gluten-free cookbook.  I kicked it up a notch and topped it with homemade vanilla whipped cream.  Here are all the pictures:

Hubby was very happy with dinner and as you can see from the pictures, we had plenty of left overs!  In fact, today will  be the third day we are eating the mini loaves for dinner...I don't mind one bit.  I'll add sweet potatoes and seasoned collards to call it a meal :)  The spice cake is high in sugar count and I cut it into 12 servings per the recipe.  Elana uses a lot of agave syrup to sweeten her recipes, I used maple syrup for this one so there may be a difference due to that.  If I understood stevia conversions better, I would have used stevia.
Again, what is making this so simple for me to stick with and ENJOY is the fact that I can substitute out the "bad" stuff and put the healthy in.  Next Wednesday is the opening for Whole Foods here.  I cannot wait for it as I hope to finally be able to buy pastured pork and chicken in a store and not from the internet...don't get me wrong, I LOVE what I got from US Wellness Meats and may continue to order from them if for nothing more than the bacon ends as they are straight pork with NOTHING added :)  I just want to reduce my carbon footprint with all the internet grocery shopping I do.
I hope you all have a lovely Friday evening and a relaxing weekend!

What I've eaten lately

So I've been trying some new recipes lately and thought I'd share them with you...pictures that is :)  I've tried the cauliflower crust pizza and LOVE it!  I also tried my hand at roasting a boneless leg of lamb...a new venture and I must admit to over cooking it and it isn't a flavor that really resonates with me.  I have another boneless leg of lamb in the freezer as Costco had it on sale and I thought it would be a nice change.  For brunch one Sunday I made crustless quiches - spinach, mushroom and onion.

Here is the cauliflower pizza crust

Here it is with sauce, mushrooms, bacon and italian sausage

And here it is with sauce, bacon, italian sausage, mushrooms and onions

Roasted boneless leg of lamb

Sauteed cabbage with Kerrygold Butter and Caraway

Crustless spinach, mushroom and onion quiches

I am really enjoying cooking and researching on the computer for tasty grain and gluten-free meals.  I am happy to have found a food lifestyle that I believe for the first time ever, I can be happy and successful with.

Adventures in Chicken and Salmon

So with my renewed interest in cooking, I took it upon myself to find out how to butcher/break down a whole chicken.  I wish Costco would carry organic chicken thighs and breasts with the skin on.  Since they don't and I prefer to purchase the organic chickens, I went to YouTube for help.  I found a video done by Ian Knauer, an editor at Gourmet magazine.  It was very clear and simple and well done.  I broke down two chickens!

 Then I did something I saw on Paleo Parents blog....they wrapped BACON around chicken! Actually, they wrapped bacon around a whole chicken and roasted it, but you get the idea...I've done that too.

I ground pepper over these bad boys and boy were they good :p (that's me licking my lips).  Another recipe from Paleo Parents that totally rocked my world was Stacy's recipe for crab balls.  Now, I didn't have any crab meat but I did have salmon and have grown up eating salmon cakes.  I tweaked the recipe a bit adding fresh dill and lemon juice at serving.  I also got crazy decadent and pan fried these in Kerry Gold Butter.  To go along side these delicious cakes, I served the sweet potatoes delivered to my door from the CSA I belong to.  

What is that yellow pool above the sweet potato you ask????  Why, Kerry Gold Butter of course!  Yes, I've got a healthy love of dairy :)  The Hubs was very impressed with this dinner in particular and I've got to admit, it was REALLY good.  I do not brag about my cooking and frequently criticize my cooking but I had to agree with the Hubs this time and all the credit goes to Stacy of Paleo Parents.  The Hubs and I are looking forward to trying the actual crab ball recipe, I plan to make them cakes as I find it a little too tedious to roll out 25 balls.

As for how things are going on the weight loss front, I've lost another pound which brings me to 11 pounds so far.  It would be GREAT to get to 16 pounds by May 25th which is my son's anticipated graduation date from Navy Basic Training in Great Lakes.  My 7th wedding anniversary is May 29th and I've got a FAB dress that would "feel" better on if I lost a few more pounds.  I would really like to get my arms and legs in better shape but I'm lacking in motivation.  I have a 25th high school reunion some time this summer too.  

I pulled out the tape measure two days ago as I realized my brassiere felt loose.  I've lost a cup size so now I get to lay out more money for replacements.  Luckily, this new size is a little easier to find in the big box stores so hopefully, it won't hurt the bank too much.  I've also learned that Maidenform has an outlet store in Myrtle Beach so a great excuse for a road trip :)  I am still wearing clothes ranging from 8-12 but the 12's are getting big-I am able to pull some of my size 12 pants on and off without messing with the buttons and zipper.

Well, it is 12:25am and I've got a moving day tomorrow into an office at my new job :)  Thanks for reading and have a GREAT day!