Chicken Curry on "Cauliflower Rice"

I was drooling over a butter chicken recipe that my cousin and friend shared with me, when Patrick saw the screen and decided that he wanted to cook Tom's Trinidadian Chicken Curry, for dinner.  Sounds like a good plan to me!  Because I am following a paleo eating style, he replaced the vegetable oil with coconut oil, and mine was served over cauliflower "rice".  Awesome.  You know it is good when his siblings fight over extra helpings.

So when he leaves this nest, he'll know how to heat up lasagna, cook spaghetti with meat sauce, and Chicken Curry on rice.  Not a bad start I guess.

Making yellow cucumber relish. 

Making meat muffins.  Made with ground chicken.

Roasted cauliflower, "meat muffins" and caesar salad.

Kids can cook...

...at least they do if they are hungry enough.

After a long busy day, Matt and I were having a standoff over dinner, but I knew in the end I would probably break and start making a meal.  The kids started with the chorus, "What's for dinner?" Matt told them that he thought that they should make dinner tonight.  And then they did!  Notice it is the middle children, who in our family happen to be the most ambitious and responsible.

After the pickle party.

Dinner

For those who don't know, for the past 6 months, I have been adopting a paleo eating style.  I include fish, meats (preferably pasture-raised, grass-fed), vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and exclude grains, legumes, refined sugar, and processed oils. I personally include limited dairy, especially cheese.  I have been feeling healthier, my asthma has improved, I'm slowly losing weight and not ever feeling hungry.  The challenge has been trying to feed a family of 8, on a budget.  Paleo is not the cheap way to go.  And my resident athletes tell me that they don't want to give up carbs altogether.  So I cringe when I make up their bagels for packed lunches, and I often offer what I deem to be healthier carbs, prepared in healthier ways.  I know that change is hard for kids, so for now, I give them choices and lead by example.

I've discovered everybody's favourite is bacon-wrapped meatballs, inspired by Paleo Parents.  I've done it with different ground meats and they love it every time.

Chicken meatballs wrapped in bacon.

Meatballs, locally grown aspargus, baked in butter and olive oil and parmesan cheese,  and baby potatoes with green onions fried in bacon fat.  YUMMY.

Griffin's Menus

Dinners with Griffin are fun.  But before dining with him, it is important to understand a few things.  Don't ask him to dine on ordinary foods, like Bacon, Roast Beef or potatoes.  Not for an awesome boy like Griffin.  Here's a legend so far:

Bacon = Snake Tongues

Roast Pork = Dragon Meat

Baked Ham = Roasted Monkey Butt

Chicken Cordon Swiss = Camel Humps

Chicken Thighs = Frogs

Ham and Pea Soup = Turtle Soup

Turkey Soup = Dragon Soup

Cabbage = Green boogerberry

Raw Cauliflower = White boogerberry
Roasted Cauliflower = Boy Brains
Mashed potatoes = Mashed Boy Brains
Brussel sprouts = Frog eggs

I never know what I am serving until he lets me know.

Now here he is with a steaming plate of Coyote Pie.  It is chock full of coyote meat, and topped with a golden "coyote skin" crust.  Bet you wish you could have some too!

I filled the casserole with chopped vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, potatoes, onions, mushrooms), heated up the leftover gravy and added milk (if I had cream I would have used it).  I cut leftover meat into small pieces.  Made up pastry, rolled it out and put it on top.  I bake it in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes (until crust is golden).  Coyote pie!

Easter Sunday Dinner

Menu
Broccoli Salad
Spinach Salad with Feta and Dried Cranberries
Scalloped Potatoes 
Ham
Steamed Asparagus
Roasted Leg of Lamb
Angel Food Cake with Fresh Berries
Lemon Meringue Pie

Lunch

Doesn't that look good?  Today I didn't have much in the fridge for lunch for Griffin and I.  Among all of the empty jam jars and single pickles in otherwise empty jars, I did have was 2lb of bacon, 6 bunches of green onions, milk, and 18 eggs.  So I made a frittata.  It would have been even better with some cheese, but I used what I had.  And I would have prefered to cook in my huge cast iron skillet, but I was cooking for two.  Griffin and I listened to the birds singing outside our sunny dining room while we ate this.  Life is good!  Here's what I did:

Bacon and Green Onion Frittata

1/2 lb bacon
8 green onions
6 eggs
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 400F
Grease a 9" glass pie plate with butter.
Chop about green onions, scatter on bottom of greased pie plate.
Chop cooked bacon and toss in with onions.
Put pie plate into oven and whisk eggs with milk.  Stir salt in.
Remove pie plate from oven, pour egg mixture over top of bacon and onions.
Put into oven for approximately 15 minutes, until egg is set.

Summer cooking

Oatmeal Apple Crisp

I am here at the cottage. When we come up here, we usually bring lots of early apples from our trees. We give some away to people we know, the kids eat a bunch of them on the drive down, but inevitably we end up with extra apples that start to go bad by the second week here. I use a few different recipes for Apple Crisp, and tonight I used the following version and it was scrumptious. Good comfort food on a foggy day.

I don't have a copy of it at home, so I thought I would post it here so I don't ever lose it again. I can always search for it.

Oatmeal Apple Crisp
Serves 8 (I make a double recipe as we have usually have 10 or more to feed)

Topping
1 cup Oatmeal
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine

Apple Mixture
5 peeled and sliced large cooking apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).
Topping: In bowl, combine oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, and salt. Stir in melted butter until crumbly. Set aside.

Apple Mixture: Place apples, in greased 9 inch (2L) square pan (When I double it, I use a 9X13 casserole). Sprinkle lemon juice and brown sugar.

Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over apples.

Bake 30-40 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown.

Tonight I made this before we started cooking dinner. I turned off the oven and left the dish in the oven while we made and ate dinner. We served each piece with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yummy.