Spicy Turkey Stoup

Paleo-friendly, in other words, Gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, high protein goodness.

I’m calling this one a “stoup” because it’s a combination of a soup and stew.  The recipe makes enough for 2 people to enjoy, and even some leftovers for the next day.  Bonus!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb turkey breast, diced
• 2 Tbsp. Coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp. Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
• pinch of fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp. chilli powder
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 8-10 button mushrooms, sliced
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 Tbsp. red Thai curry paste

• 1 tsp. Bragg soy sauce

• 1 can (400mL) reduced fat coconut milk

Directions:

1. Marinate the turnkey in 1 Tbsp. coconut oil, salt, pepper, chilli and garlic for about 1 hour, in the fridge.
2. Heat a wok to medium-high heat.  When the pan is hot, add the rest of the coconut oil and sauté the onions until translucent.  Add the chicken and marinade to the onions.  Continue to cook for about 10 minutes.
3. Once the turkey is browned, add the mushrooms, red peppers, soy sauce and red curry paste and continue to cook until the peppers are al dente.
4. Add the coconut milk and stir.  Cook for another 5 – 10 minutes, or until the turkey is completely tender. 
5. Enjoy over rice or pasta (if not following a Paleo lifestyle). 

No excuses

So I really have no excuses for not posting more frequently.  So much going on, I lose track of time and then it’s off to bed.  I will try to get better, so please bare with me.  So for this post, I’ll try to not bore you too much… how about a quick recap of what’s new and the food I’ve eaten.

Food pics first…..

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Chicken tomato bake

First I cooked some boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  Then in a casserole dish, layer together:  chicken thighs, onions, spinach, garlic.  Then I added a jar of tomato sauce.  Top off with some grated cheese and stick in a 350F oven for about 35 minutes.  Serve with whole-grain pasta or rice.

Turkey 6 bean spaghetti

Another quick and easy weekday meal.  In a large pot, sauté onions, garlic and carrots.  Then golden in color, add ground turkey.  Cook until no longer pink.  Add a can of beans of your choice (I used a 6 bean mix), a can of diced tomatoes and a jar of tomato sauce (about 475mL).  Cook for about 20 minutes or until sauce has thickened a bit. 

Asian-inspired Stirfry

Slice thinly some pork tenderloin.  In a wok, sauté the pork with 2 Tbsp  green curry and some grated ginger.  Then add stir-fry veggies of your choice.  I used baby bok choy, broccoli, red peppers and mushrooms.  After about 5 minutes, add some fish sauce, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, worstershire sauce and reduced sodium chicken broth.  Allow to simmer for a few minutes.  Then add your pre-soaked rice noodles and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the noodles are al dente.  Sprinkle with some peanuts before serving.

BBQ Salmon with Mushroom Risotto and garlic veggies

I used my BBQ for the first time this spring to whip up this awesome goodness.  For the salmon, I made a rub of brown sugar, dill, cumin, salt and pepper.  I mixed the rub a bit with some olive oil and then basted the salmon fillet.  It took about 15 minutes on the BBQ, skin side down over low heat.  (The skin was burnt, but the salmon juicy and nice and firm). 

For the Risotto…it actually contains mushrooms, but they were underneath, so you can’t see them.  I added saffron to my risotto to make it nice and yellow. 

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And some other stuff…..

1. I had a follow up appointment with my doctor a little while back and found out I am pretty anaemic, even after taking an iron supplement every day. I eat a lot of iron-rich foods too, so this is a mystery to me and my doctor.  I’m tired of always feeling easily exhausted.  So I was given several referrals, one of which was for a surgeon.  I had an appointment last week and he’s scheduled me for a colonoscopy and gastroscopy.  Not fun, but I do want to get to the bottom of this anaemia.
2. I’ve been training for my 8km adventure relay race. It’s less than 2 weeks away now…May 1st is the big day…eek   I just got the trail route today and am hoping to be able to run/walk it next week to familiarize myself with the route before the event.
3. I won a free week of bootcamp and loved it, so I joined for month.  This is now the second week and I can already feel it.  After the first week, I could barely sit down on the toilet or walk the stairs as my legs were shot.  It hurt to sneeze too… we worked out abs.  Classes are Mon/Wed/Fri.
4. I went to a concert Friday night…. Fefe Dobson came to town and put on an awesome concert. 

Hope everyone is having a great start to their spring.  I’m really looking forward to seeing more sunshine and warmer weather soon. 

With love

Beaglebea

xoxo

Curried Pork Shepherd’s Pie

Hey guys,

So once again I surprised myself with another great creation in the kitchen.  But first, how did you like my GF DF and Vegan Chocolate Cake?  I’ve got some leftover cake in the fridge and a couple of Vanilla pods, so I think I’m going to try to make a Vanilla sauce to go with it..will see how much time I have tonight as I have some work to complete for tomorrow’s school day. 

So as I was saying, tonight’s creation was inspired by my leftover pork shoulder from Sunday night’s dinner.  I wanted to make some Chilli with it, but realised that I had no canned tomatoes in my pantry.  Well then came about Plan B…. Shepherd’s Pie.  But not just any pie… see for yourself. 

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Directions

First I boiled 3 medium sized Russet potatoes.  Instead of using water to boil, I used the left over broth from the Braised Pork Shoulder.  But water works too. 

While the potatoes were boiling, I cut up the left over pork meat and a couple of carrots. 

I also made a gravy to go with the pork meat.  First I melted 2 Tbsp of Earth Balance butter in a medium saucepan.  Then I whisked in 1 Tbsp of Sorghum Flour to make a Roux.  Make sure you get all of the lumps out.  I cooked this for a couple of minutes, then slowly added 2 cups of my broth from Sunday’s pork roast.  Then I added the pork and carrots to the gravy mixture. 

I also added a spring of thyme, 2 cloves of fresh pressed garlic, some salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of grated nutmeg, a dash of worstershire sauce, 1 Tbsp of Fish sauce and 1 Tbsp of Yellow Thai curry paste.  I set the meat mixture aside and prepared the mashed potatoes.

To make the mashed potatoes, I peeled them and then added 2 Tbsp of Earth Balance, a splash of milk, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.  Then I mashed the potatoes until they were nice and creamy.

Turn on your oven to 350F.  To assemble the Shepherd’s Pie, I layered a casserole dish with the pork mixture, then added the mashed potatoes on top.  Finally I covered the potatoes with about a cup of grated Dill Havarti cheese.  In to the oven everything went for about 10 minutes, covered.  Then I removed the lid and turned on the broiler  until the cheese became golden and bubbly. 

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That’s it for tonight.  It’s going to be a crazy rest of the week… in a nutshell it includes…doctor’s appointment, Bank appointment for RRSP crunch time and it’s report card writing time.  Plus all day this Saturday is my Lifeguarding recertification course at the local pool…I’m very nervous about it as it’s been 4 years since I worked as a lifeguard.  What will be will be I guess !

Any big plans this week? 

Beaglebea

xoxo