A Weeks Worth Of Paleo Dinners

My husband takes leftovers to work everyday and told me he was "the envy of all the other guys" because of all the yummy food he brings for lunch.  He then told me he gloated that his wife makes him breakfast, and packs his lunch for him every morning.  Just telling me that renewed my enthusiasm for taking care of him in this way.  (Mind you, it's taken me 7 years to teach myself how to cook, and to care enough to actually help Jese eat well outside of the house! lol Four years ago I would have laughed at him for asking me to pack his lunch for him!) Isn't it funny how something so small as complimenting me in front of others makes the inconvenience all worth while?  If men only knew it took so little to make us happy...  :-)

So anyway!  I've been on a roll with my meal prep this week and wanted to give you my menu to try in your house.  All are 95-100% Paleo:

MONDAY: Easy Taco Salad
Ingredients -

• 1# Ground Bison (you can also use beef)
• 1 Pack Taco Seasoning*
• Baby Spinach (enough for 2-3 salads)
• Salad Toppings - I like red/yellow/orange bell peppers, and onion (fresh)

Guacamole Dressing:

• 2-3 Avocado's**
• Garlic Powder to taste
• Lime Juice to taste
• Sea Salt to taste

*Taco Seasoning - this is a convenience item that is not 100% paleo... I look in the spice isle and compare all of the taco seasoning packets available and choose the "most paleo" one.  It usually means the one that has the most recognizable spices, no chemicals I can't pronounce, and sugar (which is the non-paleo ingredient).  You can easily mix your own, but life is busy and this is a convenience item I allow every once in a while)
**Avocado - Usually you can get away with 1/2 an avocado per person as a guacamole topping but since I am preggo I need more fat for baby's brain development and get to eat as much as I want!!! :D SCORE!

PROCESS:

• Brown bison in a skillet
• Add in Taco Seasoning with 3/4 cups water.  Bring water to a boil then turn down heat and simmer until water is almost completely evaporated.
• While meat is browning/simmering, cut up bell peppers and onions
• To make the guac, cut up as many avocado as you would like to use (again I do about 1 per person, but 1/2 per person is more of a non-preggo serving size).  Place avocado meat in a small dish and mash with a fork.  Add in Garlic Powder, Lime Juice, and Sea Salt to taste (add a little at a time as to not over do it!).
• Top baby spinach with fresh cut peppers/onions, taco meat, and guac.

ENJOY!

TUESDAY: Agave Grilled Chicken with Citrus Mint Salsa
Agave Grilled Chicken with Citrus Mint Salsa... YUMMM!!!!
RECIPE: INGREDIENTS:
2 large oranges
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup chopped Italian parsley
2 green onions, finely sliced
3 Tbsp. mint, chopped
2 Tbsp. capers, rinsed, drained and coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp. orange zest
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Sea salt/ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2-3 Tbsp. Amber agave nectar


CITRUS MINT SALSA:
Chop up oranges into small chunks. Place in medium bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, green onions, mint, capers, orange zest, lemon zest, and red pepper flakes. Toss lightly and season with salt and pepper to tastes. Set Aside.


AGAVE GRILLED CHICKEN:
Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush the grilling rack with olive oil so the chicken will not stick to it. Brush the chicken on both sides with the agave nectar and season with salt and pepper to tastes. Grill chicken until done. Spoon salsa over chicken.





WEDNESDAY: Strawberry Bacon Chicken Salad
Serves 2 with chicken left over
Ingredients:

• 1/2 - 1 bag of Baby Spinach
• 3-4 chix breast
• 2 cups Chicken Broth
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• 1 container of fresh strawberries
• 1/2 red onion
• 4-6 strips bacon per salad (no nitrate bacon... nitrates act like a carcinogen in your body.  Look at the ingredient label to see if your bacon has it.  Usually health food stores sell no nitrates bacon)
• Slivered almonds
• Strawberry Vinaigrette (or any dressing of choice.  I use a store bought one I found with no high fructose corn syrup and only ingredients I could recognize as real food!)

PROCESS:

• In a covered skillet cook chicken breasts on med/high heat in a shallow pool of chicken broth (to keep them from drying out).  Add salt pepper to taste.
• I turn the chicken over every 4-5 minutes.  It usually takes 15-20 minutes to cook but my grocery store only sells REALLY thick breasts so just cut into the breasts periodically to check if it is done.
• While chicken is cooking, also cook the bacon.
• While chicken and bacon are cooking cut up strawberries, and red onion, throw in individual salad bowls with baby spinach.
• Once chicken and bacon are done, cut them up and toss into salad.
• Top each salad with slivered almonds and a small amount of dressing.

Use the leftover chicken tomorrow to make the same salad for lunch! :D Yummmm!

THURSDAY: Coconut Crusted Shrimp

• 1 lb large shrimp, tail on peeled and deveined
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 Tbs Mrs Dash Southwest Chipolte
• 1 Tbs Garlic Powder 
• 3 egg whites
• 2 cups coconut flakes

PROCESS:  Pre heat oven to 400. In a mixing bowl, stir together the coconut flour, salt, and cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy.  In another bowl, pour the coconut flakes.  Taking one shrimp at a time, dry well with a paper towel and dredge each shrimp in the coconut flour mixture, dip into the egg whites and then roll into the coconut flakes.  Bake on a lightly greased (with coconut oil) baking sheet for 12- 15 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and the coconut flakes start to brown.

FRIDAY: Chicken Salad
This is another 95% paleo recipe.  There are ways to make paleo mayonaise for chicken salad, but I've tried it a few times over the last year and it just takes WAY to freaking long!  So I just buy the Olive Oil mayo in the jar.  If you look at the ingredients they usually list canola or soybean oil before the olive oil so you know they use more of the first than last in the recipe.  Oh well! Also a lot of the recipe is not exact measurements.  Just put in however much you like and taste test as you go.

Ingredients:

• 3-5 chix breasts
• approx 2 cups chicken stock
• garlic powder/salt/pepper to taste
• appox 1-2 cups mayonaise 
• approx 1-2 tsp honey mustard (I buy in a jar and check the ingredients for any chemicals or mystery items)
• 1 cup craisins or raisins or both
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans or both

Process:

• In a large skillet put chicken breasts, chicken stock, and garlic powder/salt/pepper together and heat to a boil.
• Once boiling, turn down to a high simmer and flip chicken periodically until they are cooked all the way through (usually 8-15 minutes depending on how think your breasts are). 
• Drain skillet and remove chicken and place in large mixing or salad bowl. 
• Shred chicken (I use my pampered chef lettuce scissors which are AWESOME for shredding meat)
• Now from here on out its up to you how much of the ingredients you want to put in the mix.  I usually use a small jar (approx 1 cup) of mayo for 5-6 breasts (but I like my salad a little bit dry so you  may want more).  
• Add in 1-2 tsp honey mustard - Dont add too much, it will ruin the salad unless you REALLY like mustard. 
• After mixing the mayo/mustard in,  add a little salt/pepper, and then stir in as many craisins/raisins/walnuts as you like... I like A LOT!   

I will pile the chicken salad on top of a big bowl of baby spinach, and fresh strawberries for a great dinner or lunch!