Everyday Paleo Continues, and branching out

A couple of developments as far as shopping. I realized after my early bacon-fest that I really wanted and needed to have many more veggies, green leafy ones in particular, in my life. I took up with a grocery delivery service called greenbeandelivery.com to help me. I'm super pressed for time in my life, and trips to the store were usually frantic and not as well thought out as I'd like. I AM finding the weekly delivery helpful. Here's how:

- They suggest some interesting things each week that I hadn't tried or thought of! Savannah ate steamed brussels sprouts tonight and liked them!

- KNOWING that I can count on the greens and fruits and interesting things they bring each Friday means that I race to eat ALL the stuff we have! I used to try to hoard veggies and fruits because getting back to the store to replenish was not guaranteed. Now, I eat my full seven servings with no problem. We are eating so much produce.

- Helps me plan new and interesting meals, to find recipes based on what I have from the pile rather than buying stuff per recipe. I actually save money by not having odds and ends, but making stuff based on what I ended up with.

Other great food sources now:

greenbeandelivery also delivers 2 dozen eggs per week from an Amish farmer here in Ohio. The box does not specify "vegetarian" (that's a plus! chickens are NOT vegetarians!) and he says they're "free range". In Ohio in the winter, they need to spend some time indoors eating other stuff rather than pecking at bugs like what they want to do--that's just reality. The eggs are all different sizes and shades, some are HUGE. Some have been fertilized, so the chickens are socializing, clearly.

Trader Joe's pack of 8 or 10 chicken breasts individually wrapped freezes great. This is working for me right now until I visit a local farmer. My spark buddy KJNE8O and I are planning one such excursion.

Have started sourcing some of my meat from the butcher down the street. Local farmers, but might be some CAFO. I don't know yet, but I also hold as a value shopping at individuals' stores in my town. The meats are exceptionally good, though, and they are my source for the bones for broth, my crap-ton of chicken livers sitting in my freezer... their ground lamb was marvelous in the lamb burgers. I think they are a good quality place, and they are local. I'm not going to buy New Zealand grass-fed when I can support my Ohio farmers.

OK, Everyday Paleo continues to delight:
- Puerto Rican Beef: Savannah measured out the spices, and I felt this could have used MORE spice, but I cannot tell if Savannah put too few in, or the recipe called for what she put in. It was fantastic on the re-heat, and adding salt helped. I'd say you can make a double portion of the spice mixture, put half in, then bump it up to taste at the table. And it worked great for getting more kale into Savannah.

- Ginger Citrus Skillet Chicken: Freaking YUM!!! Skipped the mushrooms as they were not on hand, and Savannah's just not being won over to mushrooms yet. This was easy and utterly delicious. I had brussels sprouts on hand, so that's what we had instead of the suggested kale. Steaming LARGE brussels for just 6 minutes is exactly enough to make them al dente tender and sweet and not move into bitterness.

- Dry Rub Burgers: Excellent hit with both Savannah and her little overnight guest. Spicy, but in a way that kids dig. Using lettuce as the roll was fun, although the girls just used fork and knife. I didn't change a thing about this recipe.

Giant Stuffed Portobellos: I feel like I reviewed this already, but it was a HIT, too! Savannah ended up rejecting the portobello mushroom underneath after giving it a fair trial, but the meat continued to be a good leftover with other things for the next couple of days. I recommend it. Tarragon was a revelation to Savannah--a favorite new herb!

Speaking of which, in the book, Sarah Fragoso calls a particular sauce "bernaise" but it's really hollandaise. You want tarragon (and vinegar, shallots and chervil) at a minimum to make it "bernaise".

Grilled Lamb Burgers: We loved these. I didn't have fresh parsley, but dried worked.

There are other recipes I'm dying to make soon! Life has been crazy, so I haven't made the fancy salads from the book. Just these one dish meals that we can power down and then pack into lunch.