Garlic Chicken Butternut Squash Lasagna

I made a fantastic new recipe this evening!  It was super yummy and Brad and I both gave it two thumbs up!  It is Garlic Chicken Butternut Squash Lasagna.  It smells delicious when baking.  You will want to just scoop it up from the oven and into your mouth!  I will warn you that the blog I got the recipe from does not always use PG language.

FYI - these are the things I changed and will change for next time.  I used more chicken than called for because we like our protein!  I was generous with my herbs - and they were fresh.  Next time I will double the recipe for the sauce so that I could make more layers.  I didn't have enough to cover much of the top as it was.  It would have been even better with more sauce.  I had tons of squash left over though.  I used the Silk coconut milk I already had on hand instead of canned and I just used a little spaghetti sauce from a jar in the fridge instead of tomato sauce.  No use opening something new for 1/8 of a cup.  We will definitely make this again!  One of the kids liked it and the other didn't - no surprise there.  It would not have been enough for our family if everyone was to have eaten it.  I would double it for more for than two adults and a child.  Enjoy!  

Yummy Lettuce Wraps and more!

We have had some yummy food this week.  We started out with some bacon wrapped venison steaks with roasted sweet potatoes and onion.  That is always a hit in my book!  And, you know how Flurry boys feel about steak.  ;)  Tuesday, we had basketball practice.  We needed something that would not be time consuming to make for dinner that night.  Paleo Crock Pot Pineapple Ribs were the answer!  I recently upgraded to a larger crock pot so that I could make more meat for my growing boys.  These ribs were easy and delicious.  I made sauteed yellow squash, onions, and zucchini as a side.  The meat literally fell off the bone.  Everyone voted that we repeat these in our menu rotation.  Our friends Adam and Megan North (Happy Anniversary guys!) gave us another terrific recipe that we tried out tonight.  We love Pei Wei and PF Chang Lettuce Wraps.  These aren't quite the same but a yummy healthy alternative.  I will include their recipe below along with the variations we tried.  We really enjoyed them and will definitely have them again!


Paleo Lettuce Wraps

1 ½ pounds ground turkey or chicken

2 large zucchini

1 package button or baby bella mushrooms

1 small yellow onion

3-4 cloves minced garlic

a handful of toasted sesame seeds

a handful of crushed cashews

salt and pepper

Bragg’s liquid aminos

Coconut oil

Chop the zucchini, mushrooms and onions into small cubes, about the size of peas. Saute the veggies together in coconut oil, over medium high heat until they start to brown. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once the veggies start to brown, add the garlic and sauté for a few more minutes.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, brown the turkey or chicken. Drain and add to veggie mixture.

Add the sesame seeds, cashews and Bragg’s, to taste, and simmer for a few minutes over very low heat. I usually add just enough Bragg’s to coat the mixture without soaking it. The Bragg’s is salty, so take that into consideration when seasoning the veggies.

Serve with iceberg lettuce leaves.

*Our Variations:

- we did not use mushrooms

- we added in orange bell pepper (about 1/3 to 1/2 diced) in it's place

- we were out of sesame seeds - so we omitted them and cooked with sesame oil instead of coconut oil

- we used extra cashew than called for

- we used Coconut aminos instead of Bragg's because that was what we had on hand

- we used purple onion instead of yellow onion and probably not as much as the recipe called for

- we used 2 lbs. of ground turkey

 

New RecIpes Blog

Brad found a fantastic new blog that I wanted to share with you. It is called The Foodee Project. It has a lot of great recipes to choose from. There are several different categories. We will be trying out a couple from the site this week. There are many different bloggers from all over the world who have contributed to this site and they have some yummy ideas but I will warn you that they don't all use the cleanest language when sharing them. Please comment and let me know what you try! :)

Fast and Easy

Many have asked asked, so first off I want to say...I had some diet soda this weekend.  I was a very cranky girl and had a headache for days that would not end.  I gave in for my entire family's sake.  Brad said thank you.  I do not have any in the house now - and would probably give in again if I did.  I have significantly cut back on my diet soda intake and have done pretty well on my diet otherwise.  But, the caffeine headaches pushed me over the edge.  I have one again today.  I don't like it.   

As for the fast and easy...  Our meat did not thaw according to plan yesterday evening.  We were unsure what to have for dinner.  The kids were tempting us and tried to convince us to get wings from Lucky's to eat while we watched the BSC game.  We did not let them lure us away!  I ran to Kroger's and picked up two rotisserie chickens and while Brad cooked some broccoli.  It was a yummy, healthy dinner that allowed us to get dinner fast and stay on track.  Tuck that one away for a night that you want something tasty and healthy.  :) 

Caffiene Headaches...

I don't like not drinking any soda.  I have had a headache at some point every day this week since we started our challenge.  On the bright side, when thinking about how much I want a soda - I don't think about missing bread so much.  We have had a couple of good meals this week that I thought I would share.  We had a Paleo Pot Roast this week in my brand new crock pot. I did not put the sweet potatoes in the crock pot as the recipe suggests.  I roasted them in chunks in the oven along with some sliced purple onions.  It was really yummy.  We also had a repeat from before with some Turkey Tacos using the yummy Primal Tortilla Recipe.  Our new recipe of the week was Zucchini Boats.  The recipe listed is not exactly what we did.  There was no cheese on ours - but I thought this was a good diagram  showing you how to do it.  We actually used zucchini and squash for our boats as well.  For the meat we used a combination of beef and venison in our boats.  I'm anticipating more yumminess in the future.  Stay tuned...  :)         

Goodbye Coke Zero with Vanilla, Goodbye Dr. Pepper 10...

Goodbye Coke Zero with Vanilla, Goodbye Dr. Pepper 10...I will miss you dearly...my family will miss you being my friend.  I hope I'm not too cranky the next few days.  I will be substituting Advocare Spark in your place.

Thank you for bearing with me during that tearful goodbye.  We are doing another Paleo challenge.  We started today.  I decided to drop the soda this go around.  We are drinking green shakes for breakfast.  We will be eating egg muffins and salad for lunch.  That will be our menu all week for those two meals.  We are doing this challenge through January 20th.  You will be seeing posts regarding our meals and what worked and what didn't as you did before. 

Thanks in advance for the support and not bringing hot rolls and cinnamon butter around my house.  ;)