Weekly Menu.
Ooooo-weeee but we did get off track. It started with our fabulous Oregon a couple of weeks back and we’ve struggled to get back on the Paleo wagon.
Here’s our menu for this week:
Monday: Jambalaya (from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook). The boys LOVE this dish. The Fish, in fact, calls the andouille sausage his “brats” and scoops them all up quickly. The Rev just sits beside him and throws his head back with an “MMMMMM” every bite or so.
Tuesday: Leftover Jambalaya (swim lessons for The Fish left us with too little time for dinner from scratch tonight).
Wednesday: Crockpot Chicken (recipe from everydaypaleo.com – fabulous site!); baby green salad with strawberries, walnuts, and feta cheese (not strictly Paleo, due to that cheese add); sauteed broccoli and carrots. Again, huge hit in our house. The picky eater (The Fish), asks for about four helpings each time we have this. Love it.
Thursday: Steak, avocado salsa, and chopped broccoli salad (menu/recipes here). Haven’t yet made this, but will update this tomorrow with the kid rating.
Friday: Garlicky Shrimp-Cilantro Tacos (recipe below).
Saturday: Chicken Cacciatore (recipe below).
Sunday: Salmon burgers, salad of your choice, steamed veggie medley. My friend, Ali (a fellow Paleohead and CrossFitter) told me about these salmon burgers that she found in the frozen foods section at Costco. They’re completely Paleo and seasoned to perfection. If you’re a salmon-purist, these won’t satisfy, but for a 2YO who turns his nose up at seafood, these fit the bill. In fact, he ate Hank’s entire burger the other night (poor Hank). We served them just as patties, and surrounded them with salad and veggies. The Fish opted for option number 2 that night, so I don’t have his take on the salmon burgers just yet. Hopefully this week!
Garlicky Shrimp-Cilantro Tacos
I snagged this recipe out of the May edition of Sunset Magazine and substituted the corn tortillas with iceberg lettuce leaves (like with lettuce wraps).
- 3/4 olive oil
- 1 lb white onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 or 3 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced (will go lightly on these, for the boys’ sake)
- 4 T butter
- 3 T finely chopped garlic
- 2 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled, deveined, and halved lengthwise
- 1 c coarsely chopped cilantro
- Kosher salt
- iceberg lettuce leaves, separated
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add onions and chiles and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are lightly browned, about 10 min. Transfer veggies to a bowl and set aside.
Melt butter in same frying pan over med-hi heat, add garlic & stir until sizzling, about 1 minute. Add half of shrimp to pan. Stir often until shrimp are bright pink and no longer wet-looking in thickest part, about 5 minutes; transfer shrimp to bowl with veggies. Add remaining shrimp to pan and cook as above, then return cooked shrimp and veggies to pan and stir everything together until hot, 2-3 min. Add cilantro and salt to taste.
Serve shrimp in a large bowl with lettuce leaves on the side; add shrimp to lettuce & squeeze lime on top.
Serve with Terra Mediterranean chips and guacamole for the kids, and this recipe for a Roasted Beet Salad with Oranges for the big kids.
(pictures and recipes both courtesy of Sunset Magazine.)
Chicken Cacciatore
From the Joy of Cooking. It’s been surprisingly awesome in the search for extraordinarily yummy Paleo recipes!
Season 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds chicken with salt and black pepper.
Heat 3 T olive oil in a large, heavy skillet (med-hi heat), and add chicken pieces in batches to brown on all sides. Remove to a plate. Pour off all but 2 T of the fat in the pan, reduce your heat to medium, and add 1 c chopped onions, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 t dried rosemary (crumbled), and 1/2 t dried sage (also crumbled). Cook, stirring, until onions are golden brown (about 5 min).
Add 1 large, minced garlic clove, cooking about 30 seconds more, being careful not to brown the garlic. Return the chicken to the skillet and pour in 1/2 dry red or white wine.
Boil over med-hi heat until all wine is evaporated, turning chicken and scraping up the brown bits on the bottom with a wooden spoon.
Add 8 oz canned, chopped tomatoes, with their juice, and 3/4 c chicken stock or broth.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, over, and simmer gently for 25 min.
Add 8 oz sliced mushrooms and 1/2 c oil cured black olives (olives are optional – did not add – blech). Cook, covered for 10 min. Uncover and boil the pan juices until slightly thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings.
The Fish rating: FIVE STARS OUT OF FIVE! He wouldn’t stop eating. Pure awesomeness.
Special Treat this Week?
It’s gonna be this chocolate pudding recipe. Here’s a pic (his, not mine, FYI.)
Looks absolutely delish.
Happy Paleo eating!
