Pre-Christmas Week

We're back to Full Circle delivery this week and I'm so glad. I love to be able to pick out what I'm making for dinner instead of getting a box full of veg that I may or may not like.

Monday

Greek Pork Chops

3 thick cut pork loin chops
1 cucumber
2 tomatoes
1 red onion
1 lemon
olive oil
oregano
greek yogurt

Marinate the chop (overnight preferrably) in the juice of one lemon, olive oil, salt and oregano. Dice the cucumber, tomatoes and red onion. MIx with salt, pepper, oregano and a touch of olive oil. Grill the chops, garnish with the salad and some greek yogurt.

Tuesday

Chicken with Mushrooms

3 chicken breasts (skin on, bone in)
1 package sliced creminis
1 onion, sliced
thyme
balsamic

In a dutch oven, heat 2T butter and 1T olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the chicken skin side down into the oil to brown. Turn and brown the other side, remove into a glass pyrex. But into a 375 oven to finish cooking (appx. 15-20 minutes). In the same dutch oven, add the sliced onion and stir until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes until the mushrooms are softened. Add the thyme and stir until fragrant. Add approximately 3T of balsamic and turn the heat down. Serve over cooked chicken.

Wednesday

Grilled brats and zucchini

4 brats
3 small zucchini
olive oil
salt and pepper

Slice the zucchini lengthwise into wedges. In a large ziploc, mix the oil oil, salt and pepper and zucchini. Grill the brats and zucchini.

Thursday

Grilled Filets

3 filet mignon (or other steaks)
3 baking potatoes
1 package cremini mushrooms
1 onion, sliced
bacon/sour cream/green onions
carrots

Set the meat out to bring to room temp. Season with salt and pepper. Prick the potatoes and put in a 350 oven to bake. Drink a glass of wine. Slice the carrots and onion. Make the sauted onions and mushrooms for the steak (see above for the balsamic mushrooms/onions). At the same time, add the carrots to 1T melted butter and satue for five minutes. Season with salt, pepper and dried thyme. In the microwave, heat 3T of maple syrup with 3T water, stir to dissolve. Add to carrots to create a glaze. While the carrots and mushrooms are cooking, add the steaks to a hot grill and cook to desired doneness.

Grocery List

3 thick cut pork loin chops
1 cucumber
2 tomatoes
1 red onion
1 lemon
3 chicken breasts (skin on, bone in)
2 packages sliced creminis
2 yellow onions
4 brats
3 zucchini
3 filet mignon (or other steaks)
3 baking potatoes
bacon/sour cream/green onions--topping for baked potates
3 carrots

Beef Stroganoff

What I'm making tonight. I love beef stroganoff. It might be one of my favorite foods ever. When we were in Wales last year, Tyler and I had the best stroganoff I think I've ever eaten. I still dream about that bowl of goodness.

Beef Stroganoff

4T butter
1 lb top sirloin or tenderloin, cut thin into 1 inch wide strips
½ c sliced onion (or shallots)
½ lb sliced cremini mushrooms
¼ c sherry vinegar or red wine
Salt and pepper to taste
½ t dry thyme or tarragon
1 c sour cream at room temp
Mashed potatoes (if you want something to soak up the goodness)

Melt 2T of butter in a hot dutch oven or skillet. Add the beef, cooking in batches, until brown. Set aside. Add the onion and 2T of wine/vinegar to deglaze. Cook the onion until translucent and brown. Add onions to beef, setting aside. Add remaining 2T of butter and the mushrooms and dried herbs. Cook until brown. Add remaining wine/vinegar to deglaze. Make sure you cook it for a minute or two or your stroganoff could take on a purplish hue (not that there's anything wrong with that--not enough purple foods in the world, if you ask me). Add beef and onions back to pan and stir around. Add salt/pepper and sour cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. Pour over mashed potatoes, or eat as is.

Hiatus

Well, the holiday season has proved to be very difficult in keeping up with a regular meal plan. I also think the CSA we've been using for the past six weeks has also made it challenging. We usually use Full Circle and the deliveries are on Fridays, which is perfect for a start of the week and meal planning. However, the CSA we've been using lately, is delivered on Wednesdays and the contents of the delivery are pre-determined...and we don't necessarily like/use everything in it...so I usually just wing it for dinner.

Full Circle resumes next Friday, December 16, so I'll see if that makes it easier for me to continue meal planning. For sure, I'll start regular posts again after the new year as schedules will become more routine. In the meantime, I plan to post some of my original recipes that I make up...last night, we had Paleo Chicken Parmesan. Yum! So, to start that off, here is my recipe for chicken parmesan:

2-4 thinly cut, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 c potato flour
1/4 c almond meal/flour
1-2 T Italian seasoning
1 t salt
1/4 c grated raw cheese (any kind really)
1-2 eggs
olive oil
1 jar sugar free marinara (I buy the Costco Kirkland signature brand--it's perfect and sugar free)

Mix all ingredients from potato flour through cheese and put in a shallow dish. Whisk the eggs and put in a shallow dish. Pre-heat oven to 350. Bread the chicken by dipping in the egg, then flour, then egg and flour again. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat and brown the chicken--no need to cook through. Put the browned chicken on a cookie sheet that has a cookie rack on it (so that the chicken doesn't get soggy). Make sure to brown the chicken in batches to avoid crowding. Once the chicken is done, pop it in th oven for about 10 minutes. For really simple sauce, just heat the marinara in a saucepan while the chicken is in the oven then pour over chicken. If you want to add more veg to the sauce, make sure you quickly saute the veg while the chicken is browning, then add the marinara to the sauted veg.

Yum! It was so good and made great lunch the next day.