How Blue Apron and Plated have saved my [foodie] life

I don't sing praises of things too horribly often. And when I do, it's like the first week after I've bought it and nothing's gone wrong yet. I'm the reason why you can't trust Amazon reviews. *sigh*.

However, 7 weeks after being a Blue Apron subscriber, I can whole-heartedly say that, as a foodie that lives in the middle-of-nowheresville, having fresh produce, varied menus, and awesome quality ingredients delivered to the door is second to none.

For those who don't know about Blue Apron, it's a meal delivery service that provides all the ingredients, in the correct quantities, for 3 meals a week. I have mine set to deliver my 3 meals (with 2 portions each) on Wednesdays, which is just perfect. It ends up being $9.99 a portion, which for 6 portions evens out to $59.94 a week. For the quality of food, I normally would be willing to pay about $15/18 per entree if we were to eat out, which is a $50-ish savings, not including the wine or the tip or the tax associated with going out. Not to mention, there's no "going out" where I live. So there's that, too.

Anyways, this week was:

• Center-Cut Pork Chops with Beet, Heirloom Carrot & Hazelnut Salad
• Crispy Chicken Thighs with Kumquat Relish & Freekeh Salad
• Pan-Roasted Salmon with Spicy Miso Broth & Wakame

I made the salmon the first night (AMAZING broth. But I hate salmon. So the boyfriend got two meals.), and the pork chops last night. Those were to die for. And I wouldn't hesitate to make them again. I've linked to the recipes above (another perk of Blue Apron - the recipes are free!) and they're totally worth a shot. For those of you on Paleo, the pork chops are a must. I used traditional butter and not ghee or anything but if you did that, you could make it Whole30 compliant. 

This week, I was feeling especially lazy, however, and decided to try Plated as well, since I got a deal on it and the menu looked super delicious. Here's what I'm having delivered today:

• Seared Pollock with Blood Orange, Olives, and Grapefruit Salad
• Thai Peanut Chicken Curry with Sticky Rice
• Vietnamese Caramel Fish with Vermicelli and Bok Choy

Again, some of these aren't paleo, but you can always substitute vermicelli with some zoodles and you're good to go. Don't really know how to sub a peanut curry, but sometimes a cheat here and there isn't a terrible thing for food. Tonight's adventure will start with the Pollock, if the boyfriend can manage to wrangle up a pan and actually, you know, help.

Typically you can find great deals on these (i.e. Plated will give you 4 plates free with the purchase of your first 2 plates), and Blue Apron if you know someone who can send you a subscription (wink, wink), can be free for a whole week. If you don't, they'll do the same deal I think as plated and send you 2 meals free with the purchase of 1 for your first time.

Happy Cooking!
CJ

Recipe: The Breakfast Bomb Burger

Again, because I've actually committed to a budget, it means I have to get extra creative with my pantry. This may also be partly due to my insane laziness when I get home from work, which I pass off as dog-mom-guilt and not wanting to bail on the pup for any more time during the day than I must. Excuses. I know.

But happily for me, I remembered to thaw a random pound of grass-fed beef from my freezer yesterday and so I got home from work and realized that hurray! I have dinner. Burgers. Who doesn't love a good burger?

Now, the rest of the meal may end up paltry (I'm making this up as I go and am more in the "planning dinner" stage than making it as I sit here a type. This should make 2 servings, I hope. 

Ingredients

• Bacon (4 slices)
• 1/2 lb Grass-Fed Ground Beef, divided
• Brie 
• 1/2 onion sliced thinly 
• Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Frank's Red Hot
• Toppings as you'd like: Fried Egg and Arugula for me. 

Instructions

1. Cook bacon on the stovetop til crisp. Pull off the burner, place bacon onto a paper-towel lined pan and reserve the bacon fat in a small jar or container. Immediately place the bacon fat in the fridge. Crumble up the bacon into a bowl once it's dry into smaller (but not tiny) bits.
2. While the bacon is cooking, remove the beef from the fridge and put into a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and a dash of Frank's, mix with your hands, and then separate this into 4 thinner patties. Don't squish them too much or they'll be too tight when they cook.
3. Again, while bacon cooks, heat up a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions until they're well-sauteed. Once they're done sautéing, take them off the heat, and put them in the bowl with the bacon crumbles. 
4. Near the end of the onions cooking, cut a few small slices of brie (remove the rind), put the slices in the middle of two of the patties. Top this with the onion/bacon mixture, and use the remaining 2 patties as covers. Crimp down the edges with a fork, and then reform to seal fully.
5. Top each patty with a dollop of what should be the cooled bacon fat, and cook (bacon fat side up first) on medium-high on a grill as you normally would, searing for 4 minutes or so on each side (and flipping only once). 
6. While the burgers are cooking, plate the rest of your dinner if you so choose (I am topping mine with an egg, so I'm using this time to fry it up), and when the burgers are done, get ready to feast! 

Happy Cooking!

CJ

Recipe: Coconut Shrimp and Pineapple Fried Rice

Okay, so it's not 100% paleo. But on the positive side, it used everything I had in the house, so I didn't have to go to the store. So…I consider that a win, for a dreary, rainy, cold day like today. 

I always have frozen shrimp on-call in the freezer. They're easy to thaw, ridiculously quick to cook, and are perfect for adding to starches or salads. You'll notice I have basically zero idea of the proportions I used in any of this. Sorry about that. I was pretty much winging it and it came out perfectly. Keep in mind, this makes shrimp for 2 and rice for probably 2 and leftovers.

Photo courtesy of CL Tampa Bay
(since mine was eaten too quickly to photograph)

Ingredients

Shrimp

• Fresh or Frozen shrimp (obviously); peeled and de-veined
• Coconut Flour
• Panko
• Shredded Coconut (unsweetened)
• 1 egg
• Cayenne Pepper

Pineapple Fried Rice

• 1 1/2 cups of rice (dry); cooked
• 1 can of pineapple chunks/tidbits, etc. (preferably just in juice. Avoid anything with syrup)
• miscellaneous refrigerator veggies (I used 3 carrots and about 1/2 cup of red cabbage, but the frozen vegetable medleys of corn/peas/carrots would work here too)
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce (give or take)
• Powdered Ginger
• Onion (3/4 to 1 whole white or red onion); diced small
• 2 garlic cloves (minced finely or pressed)
• White Pepper

Instructions

1. Begin with your rice (which is helpful to have pre-cooked, but I didn't. No big deal.); cook it if it isn't cooked according to the directions. As it's finishing, in a large pot, heat up a tablespoon or two of oil (coconut is preferable) on medium. Toss in your onions and garlic first for a few minutes, followed by your veggies until they're just starting to soften for a few minutes. 
2. While you're stirring the veggies around, take the time to pull out a cookie tray and start setting up your "shrimp stations". You'll want to break an egg (1 egg was good for ~12 shrimp for me) and whisk it in a small bowl, have a second small bowl with some coconut flour in it (remember, you can always put more in, but since it's raw shrimp you can't do anything with the excess but toss it), and a third bowl with a ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 (that was more like mine) of shredded coconut to panko and toss in a small pinch of cayenne. If you're strict on paleo, just leave out the panko. It'll be OK. As the veggies are going, take each shrimp, coat it in coconut flour, then dip it in the egg (the flour helps the egg stick), then coat it thoroughly in the shredded coconut/panko mixture. Set it on the cookie tray and repeat. By the time this is done, you'll probably have your veggies finished. Pop the shrimp tray in the fridge just so everything sticks a bit better.  
3. Put a skillet on the stove (preferably cast iron) and melt coconut oil in it on medium-high heat. This is what you're going to fry your shrimp in, so make sure that it has that deep popping sound to it when you flick some water in to test the temperature. While it's heating up, dump your rice and your pineapple into the already cooking veggie mixture. It'll probably need to be in there, if it's fresh rice, for 9-10 minutes or so until it starts to dry out a little bit and brown. 
4. Pull the shrimp out of the fridge when the coconut oil is up to temp. Work in batches of probably 5-6 depending on how big your pan is. I did about 2 minutes per side, and then since my shrimp were deveined, I put them on their backs for another 30 seconds just to get everything fried up nicely. As the shrimp are done, pull them out and put them on a plate lined with paper towels so they don't get soggy. 
5. Finish up your rice with the soy sauce and a sprinkle of ginger and white pepper for another 2 minutes. Everything should be ending just at about the same time, so you should be able to just plate it all and go!

I garnished mine with some leftover pineapple chunks and drizzled my shrimp with a coconut balsamic vinegar (one of the best slightly-intoxicated purchases I've made in the last year, courtesy of Epicurience VA last summer…). 

Enjoy, and Happy Cooking!

CJ

Recipe: "Winter Is Coming" Pear Smoothie

Winter Is Coming...

Literally. It's almost December. How does time pass so quickly?

Time however, did not pass quickly this morning, and so I found myself wandering about after a light workout wondering what I could pass off as a healthy interlude between breakfast and lunch. I didn't have milk or soy milk for a smoothie, and water with those sounds pretty gross. However, I did have coconut milk in the pantry and then had a genius idea to use up some of the fruit I had left from last weekend's market run.

Turns out, it was a shame to waste one of the most delicious pears I've ever had in a smoothie, but it was still delightful in this creamy and spicy snack. 

Pear Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 ripe pear, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 1 ripe banana, chunked
• 5-6 tbsp coconut milk (or however much to make it your preferred consistency)
• small dash of nutmeg and cloves
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• handful of ice cubes

Instructions

No more simple than this: put it all into a blender, pour into a glass, top with another little dash of nutmeg and cloves, and drink up! A perfect sweet and spicy blend to welcome in the winter! 

Recipe: Roasted Pork Loin with Wild Mushroom Sauce

Hello, friends!  

Hello...?

While I'm not sure there's anyone actually reading this blog, I have fallen woefully behind on Paleo, and also on documenting my recent recipes, so I thought I'd start up again. The inspiration? A flipping FANTASTIC dinner last night amidst the throes of much life stress. A running theme? Yep.

First, let me catch you up on what's happened since April. I moved to the middle of nowhere, where there are only rednecks and chain restaurants. Somehow I have survived. The new job has been fantastic, but has taken a lot of adjusting. I tried CrossFit - and liked it - but somehow haven't maintained the willpower to keep doing it (also..holy moly it's expensive). My car has had to have repairs, my student loans are going back into repayment, and Halloween just killed my paleo efforts. So...there's that.

Thankfully, boyfriend still appreciates my cooking, and so that's where I go to escape from all of the above. 

That brings me to my post topic: 

Roasted Pork Loin with Wild Mushroom Sauce

(adapted from Avec Eric)

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb pork loin, tied
• 4 tbsp butter (I use grass-fed from Kerrygold)
• 1 head of garlic, split into cloves and peeled; 1 clove finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 sage leaves, torn into small pieces
• splash-ish of dry white wine
• 3/4 cup of organic chicken stock, 1/4 cup heated separately
• 1 packet of dried Porcini Mushrooms
• 2 large heads (?) of fresh Oyster Mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 2 sprigs thyme

 Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 350F. While pre-heating, melt half your butter in a large pan on medium-high heat (I couldn't live without my Le Creuset), salt and pepper the pork loin, and sear it on all sides. Toss all the peeled garlic cloves (except the chopped one) into the pan, and put it in the oven. If you don't have a pan that can go into the oven, keep it on the stove-top, lower the heat, and cover it. Cook this for ~30/35 minutes or so or until the internal temperature reaches 150. 
2. In the meantime, heat up 1/4 cup of chicken stock, and soak your dried mushrooms for 20 minutes or so. Then melt the other half of your butter in a separate pan, toss in your onion, chopped garlic and thyme for a few minutes. Drain your mushrooms (reserve the liquid!) and chop them roughly. Add these to your pan, along with the sliced fresh mushrooms, and cook down for ~5 minutes. Set aside. 
3. Remove the pork loin from the pan in the oven, set it on a cutting board and cover. It'll continue to cook. Deglaze the pan with the liquid reserved from your mushrooms (just don't dump in any sediment) and a splash of white wine (I just dumped some out of the glass I was drinking from...). Add your bay leaves and sage. Cook this down, and keep adding more chicken stock as necessary to create enough liquid, for ~10 minutes or so. Turn off the heat, and add the mushrooms. 
4. Cut your pork in thin rounds, arrange on your plate, and then spoon the mushroom sauce over the top. Et voila!

Note: I made this a full meal with baked smashed potatoes (put into the oven just before the pork loin came out. I turned the heat up the last few minutes the pork was in there to about 415F) and cooked asparagus (cooked in the second pan as soon as I dumped the mushrooms into the sauce). Will link to those recipes when they're up!

Happy Cooking!

CJ

Recipe: Grilled Avocado with Fresh Salsa

Sorry it's been almost 3 weeks since my last post - how shameful! Work got totally nuts and I absolutely (mostly) fell off the paleo bandwagon. For shame. 

However, I am back to enlighten you all on the merits of avocado. Seriously, this is the best food item on the planet. Versatile, yummy, fantastic for you. It's amazing. And I just discovered how wonderful it is when you grill it. You heard me - break out those grills! 

Plus, this is all entirely paleo! Special thanks to Relay Foods for always providing amazing produce. I love you guys!

Grilled Avocado

Ingredients

• 1 Ripe Avocado
• Lime or Lime Juice
• Olive Oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

It can't get any easier than this, folks. Cut the avocado in half and take the pit out. Brush it with a combination of olive oil and lime juice (not a ton, just brush it), salt and pepper it a little, then toss it on a medium-high grill for 5-7 minutes, flesh side down. 

Then put them on a plate, put fresh salsa where the pit used to be, and top with some more salt and pepper. Et voila. You have an excellent side dish (one half), or you have a healthy, filling lunch (both halves). 

Fresh Salsa

Ingredients

This is all up to you with proportions/ingredients/etc. But here's what I used today because I had it all on hand:

• 1/4 onion
• 1/3 pint grape tomatoes
• 1/3 jalapeño pepper
• bunch of cilantro (from the garden - aren't you proud of me?!)
• splash of lime juice
• 1 tbsp (ish) of olive oil

Instructions

Put it all together in a blender and pulse it until it's the consistency you want! (That simple, folks...there's no excuse to not make your own salsa all the time.) You can leave out some of the olive oil - that's what's made it a little different colored in the photo above. 

Thinking Positive: ExchangeIt! Coaching

I want to take a minute today to reflect on one of the amazing things that I heard yesterday at Easter dinner. My cousin (well, really my first cousin once-removed I think...), who is an amazing mother of two very successful, intelligent, athletic, and faith-driven children, just started her own business. She's one of the most passionate people I know, both caring and charismatic, and every time I talk to her it reinforces to me that it really is possible to go through a lifetime of ups and downs but still remain - at heart - a truly good, giving, and faith filled woman. 

Her new business very much strikes a chord with me, especially given some of the hardships I've had to face over the last couple of years, and about some of the self-doubts I've had with regard to my career, with my personal life, and with myself in general. If you know me at all, you know I'm peppy and optimistic about just about everything there is, but it doesn't mean the other stuff isn't there too. And we all need a way to deal with difficult situations and challenges - whether they're simple day-to-day irritations, or big life-changing decisions.

Anyways, long story short, here's the premise of her company: "exchanging" the negative for the positive when faced with challenges. 

(Because, let's face it, how many of you when you get an irritating email or a text just shoot back a response that you - five minutes later - really wish you wouldn't have sent?)

ExchangeIt! Coaching

ExchangeIt! Steps

1) Pause it!™
Take a deep breath, relax your shoulders and look around at your surroundings. Become aware & take control of the thoughts running through your head. Ask yourself, “am I ready to feel better or do I just want to complain?” Get a gauge on what you are feeling right now. Realize you have a choice of how you are going to react to the situation. Do not react emotionally to the challenge right now.

2) Accept it!™
Accept the situation for what it is. Wishing things to be different than they are will create a negative emotion. Accepting a situation as it is allows you to problem solve without anxiety being involved. Put the situation or challenge into perspective. You do not have to agree with the situation, you just have to accept that it is happening. Have a solution oriented mindset and move forward without anxiety.

3) See it!™
How do you see this problem being solved? Is this a vision that you are control over or are you trying to change someone else into doing what you want them to do? We are only in control of our own actions. What steps do you see that could help the current situation? Give 1-2 examples of some options that may work. The situation may not be exactly how you want it to be so what is a step that can move you in a better direction right now?

4) Speak it!™
What is your action plan and next immediate step? Say it out loud in a way that is "repackaged" into a positive action plan. Set it to paper; write your goals down. Is there a possible learning lesson in the challenge? Tell your friends and family how you are going to make your challenge better. Speaking positive words to others around you will help you to make your action plan come to life.

5) ExchangeIt!™
Look back at your original challenge and see how far you have come in a short period of time, you exchanged a stressful thought or emotion into a situation you have either accepted or turned into a positive action plan. You now have perspective, a goal oriented solution and some options that will allow you to work free of anxiety. Great work! 

PASS through to ExchangeIt!

For me at least, the most important one of these is the very first. Whatever you're doing - however you're provoked or upset - pause and take a breath. Everything that Renee has said here is true: you're in charge of the choices in your life. You can choose to react to situations, and thereby let others control your life, or you can choose to respond thoughtfully, putting you in control of your own feelings and decisions. You've got to own it. 

Life-Coaching

I never bought into the idea of life-coaching, per se, but she makes a good point here in the way that it stresses moving forward: 

Life Coaching is motivational, inspiring, encouraging and result oriented. It’s different from traditional therapy in that the focus is on the present and future rather than the past. It focuses on goals, behaviors and action oriented solutions. We often look to everyone on the outside to solve our problem; life coaching is different in that instead of having someone tell you what they think the answer is, a life coach asks the appropriate questions to find the answers already inside of you.

Remember: keeping your mind and soul healthy is just as important as your daily exercise regimen or thinking about what you put into your body!
 

Thanks for Reading!
CJ