Dinner...from a few weeks ago - whoops!

I know you all would rather be reading about the awesome things my kids are doing, but you will just have to wait until another day for that.

Now onto the post - the other night we had some of our lovely friends over for dinner.  I never want to 'stress out' about making dinner for friends, or put too much pressure on myself, but I do like to make it a little different than just another dinner with the kids.

We got a whole stack of Paleo cookbooks for Christmas and I have been using those quite a bit lately.  I also have been searching pinterest for some different flavor combination inspiration.  I am all about EASY meals, that don't require a whole grocery list of ingredients, but I still want it to taste like I slaved in the kitchen all day.

The original recipe came from Rachel Ray.  I copied most of her post, but added a few notes and took out/added a few different things.  It fed 4 of us for dinner, plus Paul had a little leftover for lunch the next day.

Chicken Lime Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped (I threw this into the food processor)
• 1 or 2 Jalapenos - I only used 1, but it could have used a bit more heat (also threw this into the food processor)

• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced - we keep a whole bunch of garlic in the fridge, and I used a heaping tablespoon from the jar

•  9 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips (Paul likes meaty soups, and not a lot of broth)

• 2 of the small cans of green chilies 

• 6 cups chicken broth

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, I might have added a little more..also, I loosely chopped these

• Juice of 2 limes - the limes we got were huge!  After I juiced both of them it was over 1/2c. of lime juice

• Salt and pepper to taste at the end...you could also spice it up with red pepper flakes or hot sauce

• Avocados, sliced, for topping the soup

Directions

1. In a large saucepan (I used my le creuset that I cook everything in), heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, lower the heat to medium and cook until the onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes.  Toss in the Jalapenos.  Increase the heat to high, push the vegetables to the side of the pan, add the chicken and cook, stirring, until golden, about 7 minutes. Add the chilies, then stir in the chicken broth. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the cilantro and lime juice towards the end.  I heated it for about 5-10 more minutes after I added these.  
2. Serve and top with avocados.  And for a non-paleo treat, you could add some tortilla chips. 

Paleo Craze/Breakfast Cups

Paul and I are trying to be more "Paleo" in our eating.  Basically this means no grains, beans...things like that.  Going back to the hunter-gather way of eating.  That's Paleo in 2 sentences, but I encourage you to do some research on your own.  I say on your own and don't want to provide you with any links for a specific reason.  Not because I want to be lazy, but I want you to educate yourself and make this decision on your own.  There is TONS of research out there saying "its the most amazing thing ever","everyone else is killing themselves", "no other diet works"...etc, supporting it.  But then there is also tons of research that says, "its a load of BS", "It's all put out by lobbyists against the FDA because they are not doing their jobs right"...etc, against it.  Be intelligent in your research and find reputable sources, but decided for yourself.  I will do another post on all this soon. 

Here is what the Paleo food pyramid looks like:

But for now, what this means for me is that I am NEVER full!  Never, ever.  The steroids make me just want to eat and eat and eat.  Before I could load up on carbs and be satisfied for at least a few hours.  Now I am eating ever hour!  So I've had to re-adjust the things I go for during a hunger spell and try to eat more healthy fats that will full me up more (eggs, avocados, etc.)

Melissa told me about some breakfasts that she made over the weekend for easy on the go meals before work.  So I decided to try one out this morning.  Its bacon wrapped eggs.  Sounded super yummy, but I will definitely need to play around with it a little more to get it just right.

I wrapped the outsides of the muffin tins with bacon and then simply cracked an egg inside of them.  Sprinkled with some coconut flakes for some added flavor and bake on 350 for 25 minutes.  The eggs came out great, but the bacon was way to...floppy for me.  I need to figure out how to make it come out crispy without over cooking the eggs.  Maybe try higher heat.

Until next time,
~Paige