As I’ve looked back over our family meals for this week, I’m getting hungry! I loved all the meals from this past week! The best part is that each of these meals was quick and simple, except for the cauliflower soup. I’ve made that soup so many times and each time I’ve done it differently. Finally, I have found a method that is not too fussy with results that made us all happy. I actually had a stroke of genius as I made the soup last week – I simply typed up the recipe as I prepped it, instead of writing down notes in my book and then transcribing it to the computer. This was a truly brilliant idea until someone, who shall remain nameless, decided to upgrade my computer without telling me and in the process, delete everything that was currently running. No, I am not bitter. Anyhoo, not only do I have to type the thing up again, I actually don’t remember the specifics, so I need to totally recreate it before I can get the recipe out to you. Oh fiddle-dee-dee. I have recipes for everything else.

Here are the meals my family enjoyed this past week….by the way, I am still chugging along in Whole30 land, so these are all Whole30 approved:

Meal 1: Ground Beef Stroganoff, Mashed Cauliflower, sans the dairy, Green Beans

Meal 2: Jambalaya with rice for the family. Can you see those tiny, little shrimp? I am willing to pay for good quality food, but I am not willing to pay $20/lb. for my protein. We just can’t do that. So when I wanted to make jambalaya, I went in search of the least expensive, wild caught shrimp, which usually leads me to the frozen section at Whole Foods. On this particular day, the only frozen, wild caught option was a two pound bag of something called “Shrimpmeats.” These were simply itty bitty shrimp, already peeled and cooked. I had my doubts, but for $7/pound, I was willing to give them a try.

I made the jambalaya according to my recipe, but simply added the shrimp, still frozen, at the very last minute. I let the mixture come back to a boil, made sure it was hot all the way through and then dinner was served.

Best of all, my kids thought these baby shrimp were the neatest things ever. It’s the little things in life, people, no pun intended.

Meal #3: Burger with bacon, salad (not pictured), roasted sweet potatoes and “fried” okra

This is a super simple, basic meal, but one of our favorites. We could eat it every other day.

Meal #4: NY Strip Steaks with roasted vegetables. 

I roasted the yellow and sweet potatoes on one sheet pan and the squash and mushrooms on a separate pan. I like my roasted vegetables a little crispy and if you overload your pan, they will steam more than roast. You might like that, but it’s not my preference. Oh yeah, there are onions mixed in with the potatoes as well. Let me tell you, they were deee-licious! My kids hated it, of course, but I was happy and that’s all that matters. You know I’m kidding. I left the onions big so they could pick them out. And give them to me!

Meal #5: Carnitas, Tropical Slaw, Fried Plantains

Absolutely one of our favorite meals around here. I made the carnitas with the Pork Roasts that came in my last Butcher Box. They were meaty and delicious! I was very happy with the quality. People keep asking me about Butcher Box and whether or not I plan to continue with it. For now, my answer is yes, I’m going to continue because the overall quality has been excellent, the value is similar to what I was buying locally and it is delivered to my door. Big win!

Meal #6: Cauliflower Soup with Sausage

Meal #7: Chicken Fingers with Roasted potatoes and broccoli

My favorite condiment these days is Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce. I just love the flavor. Maybe it’s the aging of my taste buds, but I’m able to tolerate a little more heat in my foods these days. And because I can’t have any sugars, real or artificial right now, I made a sauce of my homemade mayo mixed with some Frank’s and used that to dip my chicken. YUM-O. By the way, if you (or your peeps) do not love cauliflower, try roasting it. The high heat brings out all the natural sweetness in veggies and really does transform the flavor.

I actually have an extra meal to share this week because we did not eat out on Sunday like we normally do. I had planned to pick up a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods and add that to a big salad, but alas, there were no chickens at 12:30 on a Sunday. I did have some ground pork that I planned to turn into sausage, so I simply fried up a little of that and added it to the beautiful salad my kids had prepared. The rest of the family ate leftover carnitas with their salad.

Here’s a bonus for you, just because I thought it was pretty and has me in the mood for spring! This is called Eton Mess and is a classic British dessert. We made this for my son to take to a class party where they watched The Secret Garden.

This recipe is not at all paleo and most certainly not Whole30, but it is naturally gluten free and I was happy to send this with him to someone else’s house where the kids could get all hyped on the sugar out of my presence. 🙂

It is nothing but whipped heavy cream, meringues and fresh berries macerated with a little sugar. In case you’ve never made meringues, they are simply sugar, egg whites, a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla. You crush up the meringues and mix them into the whipped cream, then top with the berries. I added a few more meringues around the edges just because.

Lots and lots of sugar in that bowl! But it sure was pretty and they all said it was delicious.

That’s it for this week folks! Please let me know if you have any questions or any requests.

Life is stressful and busy for all of us. I don’t know why you’re here and reading this blog, but I’m guessing it’s because you want to make some changes to your health. Please know that I’m praying for you all – even though I don’t know who most of you are – that you would make wise decisions and that you would feel well!

Elizabeth