Jen Frank's Tuscan Chicken

2-4 Chicken breasts (bone in, for more flavor)
Roma tomatoes, quartered (use 4-6)
Zucchini squash, 1-2, lengthwise pieces
Fennel bulb (1stalk, cut in large pieces)
Garlic cloves (3-4)
EVOO
Salt
Pepper
2 sprigs Rosemary

Put all veggies, chicken and spices, garlic, oil (but leave rosemary out) in oven safe Large dish at 375, stir after 30 minutes, then place rosemary in and continue roasting until veggies tender and chicken cooked through.

Staci Vinz's crustless quiche

Ingredients:

1 large zucchini, shredded or grated

2 large carrots, shredded or grated

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp sea salt

12 eggs, beaten

1 tbsp butter for greasing the pan

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Mix together ingredients. 

Grease 9x13 inch baking pan with butter.

Pour mixture into pan. 

Bake for approximately 45 minutes.

The quiche will puff up while baking and then deflate when removed from the oven.

** This keeps very well covered in the fridge for reheating

Beef Brisket

So we bought a 1/2 of a cow. Grass Fed. Fabulous. Along with some great roasts, steaks and hamburger meat, came some large briskets. Here is an easy way to prepare a brisket that will leave you with plenty of leftovers!

1 brisket: 3-10 pounds 

Oven bag

Rub: This is for a brisket that weighs 8 pounds

6 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees

2. Prepare rub by combining all above spices

3. Sprinkle brisket with rub and press to adhere

4. Place brisket in oven bag.

5. Cook according to weight, about 1.5 hours per pound:

- 3-4 pound brisket: 6 hours

- 5-7 pound brisket: 11 hours

- 8-10 pound brisket: 14 hours

6. Allow brisket to rest 30 minutes before slicing against the grain.

Cally Vinz's Ribs

This is an easy recipe and makes alot of meat - great for meal prep! Thanks to Cally Vinz for the idea!

At the urging of Cally Vinz, we bought the 3 pack of pork ribs from Sams Club. It was around $25, and has so far lasted us 4 days- great for a quick dinner or lunch, and even breakfast!

Ingredients:
1 - 3 pack of pork ribs
tin foil
Spice rub:
1 Tablespoon of the following: seasoned salt (I love the Pele's fire seasoned salt from Aloha Spice), black pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper, and a dash of cayenne pepper. This makes enough rub for the 3 racks of ribs.

Directions:

Sprinkle spice rub on both sides of ribs and rub in. Wrap each rack of ribs in foil (so no steam can get out) and place on a baking sheet. Place in oven and cook for 3.5 hours at 300 degrees. Then open them each up, and put back in the oven for about 30 minutes to dry them out a bit.

For storage, cut into 3-4 rib sections and place in tupperware.

Morning Glory Muffins

2 1/2 cups almond flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups carrots, peeled and grated
1 large apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 cup shredded coconut
zest of 1 orange
1 cup raisins
3 large eggs
1/2 cup coconut or olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a standard-sized muffin pan.
2. Combine almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Add carrot, apple, orange zest, coconut and raisins and combine well.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, oil and vanilla extract together.
4. Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and mix very well. The batter will be very thick.
5. Spoon the batter out into muffin pan and place on upper or middle rack of your oven for 40-50 minutes.
6. When a toothpick inserted into the top of a muffin comes out clean, the muffins are done.
7. Cool muffins in the pan for 8-10 minutes and then remove to a rack to finish cooling

Beet and sweet potato fries, and a quick dinner idea

Around our house, we make french fries out of any kind of vegetable. Squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, and now... beets! I am not normally a beet fan. I think they smell funny, and they turn your pee a shocking pink. But... they make really good fries!

So, here is a simple dinner that we whipped up. In total it took about 30 minutes and is super easy!

First off: The beets and sweets fries:
Skin 1 beet and 1 sweet potato. Slice into french fries. Toss with olive oil, garlic powder, italian seasoning and a sprinkle of chili powder. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Make sure to flip with spatula about half way through.

Next up: Cod
We get the bag of frozen cod from Sams Club. We put the pieces in the fridge the night before to thaw them. After you put the fries into the oven, take a large piece of foil, and add 1-2 pieces of cod with some sliced mushrooms, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and some olive oil. Make a pouch out of the foil, and place the pouches on a cookie sheet. Add to the oven about 1/2 way through the cooking of the fries. These take 15-20 minutes to cook. They are done when the fish easily flakes with a fork.

Next up: Broccoli 

We are big fans of broccoli at the Grenell house. It makes a regular appearance. We buy this in bulk at Sams Club too. I think we once bought 3 huge bags of the frozen broccoli at Sams and it lasted us 3 weeks. Yum. Basically, about 10 minutes before the fish and fries are ready, you can start the broccoli. Just put the frozen broccoli in a pan with a little water and steam on the stovetop over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Drain and add to the plate. 

Squash, and a word on food prep:

I added a little mashed squash to the plate. I made this ahead of time, and just microwaved a large spoonful just before plating the rest of the meal. 

Food prep makes eating paleo easy. Basically, part of Sunday's food prep is baking one whole squash in the oven for about 1 hour. Just put it in the oven. Any sort of squash works. I usually use butternut or acorn because they mash up well. They make a nice alternative to mashed potatoes. After you cook the squash, cut it in half to remove the seeds and scoop out the squash. Add the squash to the food processor with some garlic, a tiny bit of chicken stock, and a tablespoon of butter. Puree, and then store in tupperware. I do this with carrots and parsnips too. There is another blog post on this: http://cfppaleo.blogspot.com/2013/01/carrot-and-parsnip-puree.html

Crock Pot Pork with Apples and Veggies

The secret to this is delicious pork, obviously.  I got something called Beeler's Stub Tenders from the local food co-op.  It ends up being sort of a pork stew and it makes your house smell wonderful!

Ingredients:
2 pounds pork tenderloin
2 stalks celery, cut into chunks
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
2 large carrots, cut into chunks
1 large apple, peeled and sliced
1/2 Tbsp tarragon
1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
chicken broth, about 4 cups
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a crock pot, just covering everything with chicken broth.  I then salted it pretty generously because the broth was homemade.  Feel free to add other herbs to your liking!  Cook on high 4-5 hours or on low 8-9 hours.