Overnight Asian Grilled Steak with Butternut Stirfry and Almond Slaw

Seeing as you can do most of the work for this dish the day before, this is a great Monday night meal. Make the marinade, chop the veggies and blend the dressing Sunday and all you have to do the next day is grill, saute and toss. While I do love challenges, I also appreciate easy. Shout out to Trader Joe's for their new "Butternut Squash Zig Zags"! They were delicious and made my prep work especially simple!

Overnight Asian Grilled Steak with Butternut Stirfry and Almond Slaw
1-1.5 lbs of Sirloin Steak
1.5 inch piece of ginger, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup coconut aminos
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
handful of chopped cilantro

Combine all ingredients in a gallon plastic ziplock bag, give it a good shake and chillllll overnight.

When you are 15 minutes from being ready to eat, fire up the grill and let heat up for 5 minutes or so. I put the steak on right after I added the squash to the stirfry. I grilled 5 minutes on each side and then let rest for a few minutes before slicing. Exact time depends on how thick your steak is and how you like it cooked.


Butternut Stirfry
Small Spring onion, chopped
Box of Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Zig Zags (or 1.5 cups of chopped squash)
Head of broccoli, chopped (just the florets)
cup of Sugar Snap Peas
Tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup Garlic Coconut Aminos
1/4 cup water

Heat oil in a skillet, add onions and stir til almost translucent
Add Butternut squash, coconut aminos and water. Stir and cover (This would be a good time to put the steak on the grill)
Cook til squash is almost tender (5-10 minutes)
Add broccoli, cover for 3 minutes
Add sugar snap peas and cook for a few more minutes. 
Done!

Almond Slaw
a handful per plate of Trader Joe's Cruciferous Crunch (or any other crunchy slaw mix - I've used broccoli slaw too!)
Dressing:
1/3 cup of raw almond butter
tsp garlic coconut aminos
tbsp rice wine vinegar
tbsp apple cider vinegar
water (enough to break down the almond butter into a lighter dressing consistency)
Mix, taste and add whatever other ingredients you see fit!
Drizzle (or pour) onto greens!

While I mentioned that this was the perfect Monday night dinner... Leftover steak on greens with Almond Slaw Dressing is also the perfect Tuesday lunch!

Almond Chicken Tenders with Turnip Carrot Fries and the BEST Ranch Dip

Whoever said healthy food is boring has obviously never eaten at my dining room table. It was a Friday night and I was craving "bar food". Seeing as how I am currently not drinking and can't really eat out, going to a bar for dinner was out of the question. So here it is - my version of this comforting meal...

Almond Chicken Tenders with Turnip Fries and Chipotle Ranch Dip
1.5 lbs of chicken tenders
1tbsp olive oil
1 egg, whisked in a shallow dish
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
salt and pepper

Mix all dry ingredients in a shallow bowl
Season chicken with salt and pepper
Dip in whisked egg and then dip into dry ingredients
At this point, prepare Turnip Carrot Fries and get into oven. Then, heat skillet to cook the chicken. 
Add a tbsp of olive oil to a hot skillet
Add chicken to the skillet. Fry for 4-5 minutes each side or until fully cooked. 

Turnip Carrot Fries
1 large turnip, peeled and sliced into fries
4 large carrots, cut into quarters and chopped into fries
tbsp coconut oil
tsp chili powder
tsp garlic powder
tsp salt

Oven at 425
Toss fries with oil and seasonings
Lay out on foil covered cookie sheet
Bake for 10 minutes
Flip and bake for 7 more minutes

the BEST Ranch Dip
1/4 cup avocado oil + 3 tsp
1 egg
dash of mustard powder
tsp salt
tsp paprika
tsp onion powder
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp of chopped herbs (dill, parsley and chives)
dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 avocado

In a food processor, combine 1/4 avo oil and egg until well combined and somewhat thick
Add seasonings, lemon juice, vinegar, herbs and dash of cayenne. Blend well. 
Add in 1/2 avocado and remaining 3 tsp of avocado oil. 
Taste - add 1 more tbsp apple cider vinegar if needed. 
Serve on anything. 
**** Note: This ranch is soo much better if you add a BUNCH of cholula hot sauce!

Almond Chicken Tenders with Turnip Carrot Fries and Garlic Coconut Aminos Seared Baby Bok Choy
Served with the BEST Ranch Dip, Tessamaes Ketchup and Tessamaes Buffalo Sauce. 

Apple Cherry "Cheese Biscuits"

    Neither cheesy nor a biscuit, this low carb treat makes the perfect breakfast or mid-day snack. I'm not promoting snacking but let's be realistic - we're human and we get hungry between meals. Last week was Teacher Appreciation week at school. For the other teachers, this meant a bevy of treats - brownies, cookies, and chips, oh my! For yours truly, however, this meant a week of closing my eyes and nose every time I walked into the office to avoid the tempting sight and scent of freshly baked chocolate-anything.  Thankfully, I had an arsenal of these yummy biscuits and I survived!   
   If food blogger Jessie B's "Cheesy" Zucchini Biscuits met the Whole Smith's Apple Cherry Frittata, this would be their love child. When you can't kick your cravings for pancakes or pastries, start grating some apples and whip up these bad boys!

Apple Cherry "Cheese Biscuits"
3 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and grated
Apple juice (squeeze grated apples and use juice)
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp water
cup of raw cashews
1/2 - 3/4 cup of frozen cherries
1/4 cup coconut flour
shredded, unsweetened coconut to sprinkle on top

Oven at 375
Add cinnamon and grated apples to a large bowl
In a food processor, combine cashews, lemon juice, water and apple juice. Should form a chunky cashew butter (so good - try not to eat it all)
In a separate bowl, mix yummy cashew butter with 2 eggs. Stir until completely combined. 
Add egg-cashew batter to grated apples. Stir in coconut flour until batter-like consistency. You may need to shake in a bit more flour. 
In the same food processor (no need to clean it yet!), add cherries and pulse until all chopped. 
Add cherries to batter and stir. 
Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (or parchment paper for all you fancy pants)
Grease cookie sheet with a bit of coconut oil to prevent sticking.
Spoon batter onto sheet. Makes 8-10 biscuits. Sprinkle with coconut. 
Bake for 25-30 minutes until firm and golden brown. 
Let cool before removing from pan. 
Store in the fridge. 
Enjoy! 

Sweet Potato Sausage Poutine

Last Monday began my second round of the Whole 30. What's a better way to kick off the best challenge ever than with a plate of poutine!! Now if you're familiar with the rules, you may argue that I am breaking them with SWYPO and, technically, you might be right. But seeing as I've only eaten "the real" poutine several times in my lifetime and it certainly has never been created in my kitchen, I had no concerns as to whether or not this paleo experiment was compliant. My relationship with gravy fries does not run deep... or at least it didn't, until I met this meal. 

Step 1, make the sausage. 

Homemade Sausage

tbsp coconut oil (or other oil of choice)

lb of ground pork

tbs chopped fresh parsley

tbs fresh thyme

1/2 tbsp ground sage

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp red chili pepper flakes

salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients. Form into patties and cook in a skillet until brown on both sides. Now you are ready to make this masterpiece. 

Sweet Potato Sausage Poutine

2 large sweet potatoes, cut into "fries"

2-3 homemade sausage patties, crumbled

1/4 cup organic pepperoncinis

1/4 cup diced onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 cups spinach or kale

Avocado Garlic mash ( 2-3 avos mashed with tbsp grated garlic, squeeze of lime juice, chopped cilantro or parsley, salt and pepper)

GRAVY (recipe below)

Oven at 400

Toss sweet potato strips with tbsp oil, minced garlic and salt

Lay out on cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil

Bake for 10 minutes. Flip fries and bake for 10 more minutes.

Heat up onion in skillet. When translucent, add sausage and pepperoncinis til warm. Reserve in bowl until ready to assemble.

Meanwhile, make GRAVY

Paleo Gravy

1 cup homemade broth

1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp almond meal

1 tsp coconut flour

Combine ingredients in saucepan. Bring to simmer and reduce til thickened. Add seasonings of choice. 

Pour gravy into serving bowl. 

In the same skillet (no need to rinse, gravy adds flavor), add spinach/kale and heat til wilted. 

Now you are ready to assemble!

Bottom layer: Sweet Potato Fries

Next up: Sausage and Pepperoncinis

And then: Wilted spinach/kale

Lastly: HUGE dollop (can I even call this a dollop) of Avocado Garlic Mash

Serve with the side of gravy, Tessamaes Ketchup, and Tessamaes Buffalo sauce. 

I DID NOT eat this entire plate- my boyfriend helped. We licked the plate clean and it was amazing! Usually a huge plate of fries equals a swollen belly and bruised ego. This, however, was a feel good meal in so many ways. Enjoy!