Yes, you heard right! Yesterday, my wife Noelle and I wanted to relax and try something new, so, naturally, we headed for the weekly grocery ads! We both really enjoy cooking and we decided to make a day of it. I'm sharing this for several reasons: 1) We're halfway through the Transformations Challenge! Hopefully these tips will help you not just coast through the finish line but finish STRONG! 2) To show that you don't have to break the bank staying Paleo! After we finished cooking we tallied up the cost and each serving cost around $1.95! (DISCLAIMER: we did spend about 5 hours in the kitchen and that $1.95 does not include the price of convenience). That's including an entree and a side. 3) Because I love cooking and want to share what I love with others!
1. Breakfast Juice
I realized 2 things recently. I drink way too much caffeine and I eat way too few vegetables. A couple weeks ago I decided to phase out caffeine altogether. It was pretty miserable because I felt too tired to put in the effort to prepare my meals in the morning and I'd end up getting fast food or not eating. I soon realized that if I ate an outstanding breakfast, I didn't need the caffeine for my morning pick-me-up. An outstanding breakfast is not always easy to pull off at 430AM so I was pretty inconsistant. Noelle and I came up with a solution. If I put everything into a to-go container, that I could grab on my way out, I'd never skip. We started experimenting and came up with this concoction:
Note: We bought all our veggies at the farmers market and usually shop what is in season. When you buy veggies cheap, you can always freeze them and take advantage of that price for longer.
Note #2: This is just a guide. Play around with ingredients and amounts until you get it right!
(This is just a guide. Play around with ingredients and amounts until you get it right!)
3 large handfuls raw Spinach (6-8 cups)
2 Cucumbers peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1" piece raw ginger root
1 cup water
2 Tbsp blueberry syrup (recipe below)
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on high for 45 seconds or so. Divide juice into individual bottles (we found 8oz POM pomegranate juice for 10 for $10 at WinnDixie so we've been recycling those bottles). Chill in the fridge and grab on your way to work! Shake before you drink. There may be some settling.
Blueberry Syrup for Juice
2 cups blueberries
1/3 cup water
2 tsp salt
place ingredients in saucepan on medium heat and cook covered for 10 minutes mashing blueberries and stirring. Reduce to simmer and continue stirring and mashing every 5 minutes for 20 minutes. You should be left with a thick delicious syrup that can be used for pancakes, desserts, or beverage flavoring.
2. Oven Roast Beef and Horseradish Sauce
We search the sale ads every week for deals on protein. Usually we can find a good buy 1 get 1 free on roasts and we'll get several to keep in the freezer.
- 1 oven roast beef such as sirloin tip, top sirloin, strip loin, etc.
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Pat the beef dry, rub the salt and pepper all over it, place it in an oven safe dish and stick a meat thermometer into the middle of the thickest part or use the chart below.
- Roast in a preheated 450F oven for 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 275F and continue roasting until the temperature reaches the desired done-ness. (see chart below)
- Remove the roast from the oven and set aside to rest, covered
- Save drippings for dipping if desired or make the horseradish sauce below.
Average Cook Times (in hours) | |||
| Weight (lb) | Weight (kg) | Medium-Rare (145F) | Medium-Well (160F) |
| 2 | 1 | 1 3/4 | 2 |
| 3 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 1/2 |
| 4 | 2 | 2 1/4 | 2 3/4 |
| 5 | 2.5 | 2 3/4 | 3 |
Horseradish Sauce
2 egg yolks
tsp lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
3 tsp prepared horseradish
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp chopped garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
This sauce is basically an Aioli with horseradish. Which is basically homemade mayo, with garlic, and horseradish. Which is basically delicious.. To make the base add egg yolks, lemon, and slowly (reaaaally slowly.. like a teaspoon at a time slowly) add the olive oil while whisking briskly. If you have kids, now would be a good time to put them to work.. Just kidding, but seriously it takes forever. As you whisk in the olive oil, your mixture should begin taking the shape of mayo! once youve got the right consistency, add in the other ingredients and stir. Taste it and make any corrections!
3. Chicken Salad
Everybody knows how to whip up a good chicken salad and I don't claim to have my grandmother's world famous recipe, so I won't bore you with the specifics. I will however give you some ideas to apply to your own recipe and make a cheap, healthier chicken salad.
1. Search the weekly circulars and sale ads for deals on chicken. Drumsticks, thighs, leg quarters and even whole chickens work great and even taste better because of the darker meat. Just boil, bake, or even crock pot unseasoned chicken and it'll fall right off the bone and make a perfect chicken salad. No need to get boneless skinless chicken breast when leg quarters are $6 for a family size.
2. Use the horseradish sauce above and skip the horseradish (or not.. i personally love it) to make a healthier mayo with only olive oil, eggs, lemon, salt, paprika, and garlic.
3. Add some veggies! chopped broccoli, carrots, spinach, and cucumber make great additions to any chicken salad and really boost the nutritional value.
4. Pack chicken salad in individual bags or tupperware and grab it on your way out the door. Doesn't get more convenient than that! (except for having it made for you and ready when you get to the gym, but really where can you get that?!)
4. Paleo Quiche
This is by far my favorite thing that we made. Extremely easy and good to make a ton and freeze. This quiche is made with a meat crust instead of a flour crust. This dish can be made with lean ground beef but we found turkey on sale and went for it.
1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 lb ground sausage
12 eggs
Salt/ pepper to taste
Any veggies you want! I used mushrooms and green bell peppers.
Directions:
For this dish you can use individual muffin tins or a traditional oven safe pie plate. I like the muffin tins because there is no need to divide it up once it's done.
Mix turkey and sausage in a bowl with your hands. Once thoroughly mixed, press into edge of a greased pie tin or muffin tin. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. The meat will shrink significantly so abandon all hope of this being a really pretty dish once its all said and done. After the meat is cooked whisk 12 eggs with veggies, salt, pepper and any other seasonings you would typically put on your eggs. Drain any excess grease from the pan and pour eggs until they're almost to the brim of the pan or muffin tin. Scramble and eat any eggs that didn't fit into the pan. Bake for another 15 minutes or until eggs are cooked through. Stick a toothpick into the middle of the eggs and see if it comes out clean to check for doneness. Slice and serve!
If you have any questions feel free to email me at mhartman@irontribefitness.com! Looking forward to hearing from you.
