I can’t believe spring is already here – well, here in Houston, at least.  I think it was 50 degrees in Dallas today, but a high of 81 here…

Anyway, we had a lovely Easter break, complete with some relaxation with a fishing trip out in Galveston Bay on Friday, and a good old fashioned fish fry on Saturday.  If you’ve ever wanted to try some paleo fried fish, we’ve pretty much decided the perfect recipe is a half & half mix of cassava and almond flour, dredged in egg (or not, still works), and served with this tartar sauce.  We managed to catch some black drum fish during this trip, so I also made some of the pecan butter sauce from this recipe to top the fish, and it was fantastic.

Then of course, we shared an Easter meal with our friends and family on Sunday, which is another opportunity to try out some new recipes (and feature some old ones).  Fortunately, Easter is a little easier than some of the winter holidays since we’ve all pretty much settled on ham as the main course (and I can serve it cold).

Here are the rest of the dishes we served for the big meal:

• Green Bean Casserole 2 – This is the most recent paleo version of the classic recipe I’ve used, and this time I took even more shortcuts by skipping the blending step on the mushroom soup and just sauteeing the bacon and onions without the messy battering and frying.  Fortunately it still got rave reviews even with my cut corners
• Creamed Spinach – I used this recipe as a starting point, and subbed out the regular flour with a smaller amount of coconut flour for a keto-friendly side dish with tons of flavor.
• Sausage Cream Cheese Dip Mushrooms – Ok, this dish was just heavenly.  I’m a big fan of stuffed mushrooms any way I can get them, but this cheesy version is just out of this world.  I used coconut flour (small amount) as a sub for panko to keep it keto, but I think you could use almond flour or crushed pork rinds also.  I’m adding this one to the favorites list.
• Cheddar Garlic Biscuits – this one is still awesome.  We discovered it several weeks ago when we made these to go with a lobster dinner with friends.  Total new favorite – so easy to make and so delicious
• Paleo Lemon Tart – OMG, this one is amazing.  It has quite a bit of honey in it, so it’s definitely a “special occasion” sort of dessert, but is quite pretty and got 2 thumbs up by everyone who tried it.

We rounded out the meal with deviled eggs and a paleo sweet potato casserole provided by my friend Anita, and enjoyed every bite.  It’s funny – now that I’ve gotten used to paleo/keto cooking, I really don’t miss the old favorites anymore.  There’s no doubt that it’s easier to whip together the old Campbell’s green beans and some sugary desserts, but everything that was served had so much flavor, I just can’t see myself ever going back.

The danger here, of course was still in quantities on my plate and the glasses of wine I managed to enjoy throughout the weekend, but all in all I came out ok.  I got my workout in this morning (Monday) and plan to get in 3 full running sessions this week and watch my carbs more closely to compensate.

So here we are, a week and a half left of our 4th whole 30, and still hanging in there.  Last week’s ice storms sent my work life into a tailspin for a few days, and I was really wishing for a glass of alcohol at one point, but otherwise I’m doing ok.  The cold and rainy weather has put a damper on my regular running schedule, but I was able to get out there this morning and complete a 5k before work, which always seems to help not only with the weight loss, but also my general well being.  On the days I run, I feel lighter and more confident, like I’ve already accomplished something, so the rest of the day should be cake.  Of course it doesn’t always work out that way, but it’s a nice start anyway.

Last week, I added a few new favorites to the list – you might have seen E.J. rave about the Butter Chicken and the Spaghetti Squash Jambalaya – both were fairly easy to make and reheated well for lunches and weeknight dinners.   I made the Jambalaya a little too spicy though – I think I’ll cut back on the cayenne and red pepper flakes – I’m sure I went a little overboard from what the recipe called for.  (which is one of my secrets of Paleo cooking btw.  I often double spices in recipes to intensify flavors)

This week, we’re trying these Ground Beef and Plantain Bowls from Real Simple Good.  I’m a big fan of plantains any way I can get them, and certainly appreciated the baking approach rather than the traditional fry method.  I couldn’t settle for just seasoning the meat with chili powder, so I mixed a number of my favorite Penzey’s spices to get some extra dimensions in there – Chili 9000 + Smoked Spanish Paprika + Ancho Chili Powder.  The result was pretty good, though honestly I think I should have put more of everything in there.  Ground beef is just so bland if you don’t spice it heavily enough.  And the green sauce is good, but subtle.  I think maybe it needed a more cilantro, or something to amp up the flavor since the avocado just kind of mellows everything.  All in all, I enjoyed it, but would like to do a little more tweaking to get it to the “awesome” list.

Tonight we’re having Bacon Wrapped Cod with asparagus for dinner… let the jealousy begin… 🙂

Well, I suppose I could say that my hiatus from posting on the Bacon is a product of exhaustion, laziness, stress, and all kinds of other reasons I give for not doing the things I should – but that just isn’t fair.  I really just felt like the stress of the holidays was enough without trying to document every meal I cooked, and remember every success and failure along the way.

But for those of you who find your inspiration on E.J.’s blog, Paleo Marine, I know many look here for new and interesting recipes and ideas for cleaner eating.  And I feel like I’ve been letting some of you down by not sharing some of the amazing new recipes we’ve found and developed over the last several months.  Right now, E.J. and I are half-way through our 4th Whole30, and honestly, it’s been the easiest one yet.   With all of the great recipes on the Favorites page to start with and with some of the latest successes, it has hardly felt like much of a reset, save for the lack of cookies and chocolate in between and after meals. Of course those small sweets are my downfall any time of the year, and cutting that one bit out has eliminated my annual holiday inflammation and dropped me 7 lbs since New Years.

With that said, let me catch you all up.  After Thanksgiving, E.J. and I tried to be really good for a few weeks because we went up to New York City to visit our daughter who moved up there last year.  It was always on my bucket list to visit NYC during the holidays to experience the snow,  Broadway, 5th avenue, the Rockettes, and all of the Christmas traditions, and this trip delivered on all of it.  As with most of our trips, E.J. and I gave ourselves a pass on the diet in order to experience all of the local fare, and then promptly went back to our standard paleo diet when we returned.  It’s fun to visit the land of “not caring what you’re eating” every so often, but I’ve decided I never want to live there again.

Then we celebrated a quiet Christmas with the rest of the family at home, and this year I did prime rib and roasted duck for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – which both turned out fantastic.  I had never attempted a prime rib before, but I used my favorite new kitchen tool of 2017, my Anova precision cooker, doing a 6 hour sous vide and  finally finishing with an herb crust under the broiler.  The duck was slow roasted (nearly 5 hours) using the recipe from my favorites page, and our crew said it was the best one yet.  My favorite new side dishes from the holidays were a new Green Bean casserole recipe from A Girl Worth Saving and this Loaded Cauliflower recipe with lactose free sour cream and omitting the cheese.

After Christmas, I took a week from work off and relaxed a bit, before gearing up for our annual New Year’s eve party and the big backyard polar plunge.  For party fare, I revisited some of my old favorites and had a few new ones thrown in as well.  Here are some of the new additions to the favorite party snacks list:

Sausage Cream Cheese Dip – OMG, this is officially the new hotness when it comes to my future party offerings.  I have to admit to having an unhealthy relationship with Chili con Queso prior to going Paleo.  I LOVE cheese dips, and really missed the old Velveeta mainstay at our parties, and now I have a new Primal substitute.  I made this with lactose free cream cheese to reduce the negative affects of dairy, and am hooked.  Again.

Bacon Meatballs with Mango Honey Mustard Sauce– This one had rave reviews also.  I made the meatballs and kept them on a warmer for the party and then offered this sauce and some Paleo BBQ sauce as a topper.

Spiced Paleo Apple Dip – E.J. raved about this one.  I have to say that it’s not the prettiest looking dip in the world, and since I did it in advance and refrigerated it, it thickened up a bit too much when I served it, but E.J. absolutely loved the flavor.

I also made a nut butter for the first time – with hazelnuts.  I admit to being lazy and just buying nut butters when I need them, but it turns out hazelnut butter is really hard to find.  The Ninja blender was up to the task though, and I was able to whip up some beautiful hazelnut butter after roasting the nuts I bought in bulk.  Out of that came 2 fantastic desserts: Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge and Hazelnut Brownies.  If you are a Nutella fan, these are totally for you.

And now that the holidays are over, it’s Whole30 time again, so I have a few new healthy recipes to offer on that front:

Paleo Fried Zucchini – I actually substituted the coconut flour for a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of Cassava and Almond flours, but otherwise kept this as-is.  The cool dill dip is really good, and this was a great addition to a weekend lunch with cabbage and sausages.

Sauteed Red Cabbage with Apples & Onion – I’ve made this twice now in the last 2 weeks and it’s still really good.  E.J. is a huge fan of cabbage slaw, and I think this one is a great balance of vinegar and a slight sweet from the apples.

Moroccan Lamb Casserole – This one is quite easy as a slow cooker recipe if you just throw everything in and turn it on.  The recipe calls for sauteeing ingredients before and after the main cooking phase, but it’s really not required.

I hope you’re able to try out some of these new recipes and enjoy them as much as my family has.  Happy New Year, everyone!

Hey guys!  I have a couple of new favorite recipes you have to try.  Whether you’re new to Whole30 or Paleo, or you’re a seasoned veteran like us, both of these recipes are super yummy.

The first one is the Layered Taco Casserole from Living Loving Paleo.  If you use just-ripe plantains that are sweet but still firm, you end up with an amazing flavor paired with the spices in the ground beef.  I made guacamole on my Sunday cook-day to go along with this one and portioned it out in small plasticware cups so it could be added after the meals were heated.  We also added a dollop of lactose-free sour cream to it when we had it for dinner, which really took the flavor up another notch.  Spanish cauli-rice pairs nicely with this one too.

The second actually came about during one of my famous “E.J’s hungry, wants something different, and I didn’t prepare anything specific to eat” days.  We had pork chops and apples that needed to be used, and while I had originally intended to do something in the oven with them, I made Wiener Schnitzel instead.   It’s a bit messy in the kitchen, like all fried meals, but the flavors really shine, especially when I topped them with quick homemade applesauce:

{Super Cheating Quick Applesauce recipe:  peel and core 3-5 granny smith apples and chop into 1/2-ish chunks.  Put in microwave safe container and cover, microwave for 6 minutes.  Transfer to blender and blend.   If serving with savory dishes, nothing else is needed.  Otherwise you can add cinnamon and/or coconut sugar to ramp up the sweet factor.}

Served with a salad topped with oil and balsamic vinegar, this meal turned boring pork chops into restaurant-quality yum!

I’ve added these to the Favorites page, so be sure to check them out if you’re looking for something new to try!