This weekend, E.J. and I went up to Dallas for their big comic & sci/fi convention “Fan Expo”, and while we were up there, we visited Mudhen Meat and Greens for a lovely early evening paleo dinner. If you ever find yourself near the Dallas Convention Center, Mudhen is a 5 minute drive, and bonus, there are a bunch of farmer’s markets right there around it, so hooray for fresh seasonal produce!! We enjoyed a lovely honey-sweetened avocado chocolate mousse for dessert which inspired one of this Sunday’s endeavors.
Sunday cookday was another full day in the kitchen, but I got to make some new things and use some new tools, so that always makes it better. First, I started with a double-batch of our favorite Paleo Chili, and then broke out our new Instant Pot (Thanks, E.J.!) and pressure cooked some of the fresh beets we picked up at the farmer’s market. All I did was remove the tops and ran the Instant Pot on manual for 30 minutes, letting it decompress naturally for about 15 minutes. After that, I donned my gloves and gently peeled them and sliced them, and then marinated them a la this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo. These turned out fantastic and I packaged them up in meal boxes with some of the other dishes of the day.
While the beets were cooking, E.J. worked on frying up our weekly breakfast bacon, so I moved over to the blender and made a double batch of this Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse from Fit Foodie Finds and added about 6 pitted medjool dates to the blender which gave the mousse a little more depth and a nice consistency. E.J. added some fresh strawberries on top, which smelled too good to pass up when we were walking by in the grocery store earlier in the morning. I often follow my nose when it comes to buying fresh fruit. If I can smell it as I walk by (peaches, strawberries, etc), then I have to get some.
Next I made these fantastic Cabbage Rolls from Stupid Easy Paleo. I added some sea salt and balsamic vinegar to the tomato sauce just to give it a little more zing, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. We had a couple of these for dinner last night and they were wonderful. 
Finally, I rounded out our weekly meals with a couple
of quiches – first this Chorizo and Spinach Quiche from Everyday Maven which baked up beautifully (I can’t wait to try this one for lunch today) and this favorite – Sweet Potato, Spinach, and Bacon Quiche from Paleo Leap. Typically, I serve up a quarter of a quiche in lunch containers along with avocado, or some other healthy addition.
I’m looking forward to all of my meals this week, and that’s a great way to start a Monday!
While all the food made this weekend was tasty, I’d have to say that the chorizo and spinach quiche was the winner in terms of flavor and satiety. The mousse is a delicious treat that I thoroughly enjoyed!