Primal Bacon Cheeseburger "Mac and Cheese"

I've been working on this recipe for a while now, and have finally decided it's ready for public consumption. Please note that because I use cheese, it's not strictly Paleo.

Ingredients:
1 large spaghetti squash
1 lb ground beef
1/2 to 2/3 lb bacon
l large onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons coconut flour
2 tablespoons bacon grease
2 tablespoons butter
2 + tablespoons coconut milk
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups monterey jack cheese, shredded


Cut spaghetti squash in half, lengthwise. Scoop out seeds. Place in in baking dish, inside down in one inch of water. Bake spaghetti squash at 350 degrees until done. About 45 minutes. Spaghetti squash is done when it's tender on the inside, and the outside is slightly browned.While the spaghetti squash is cooking, dice and then cook bacon in a skillet. Place bacon in large bowl. Then brown the hamburger and onion in the skillet. Also place these in the bowl. When spaghetti squash is done, go ahead and shred it. Keep the baking dish out as you'll use it again. If you've never done this before, hold the squash with one fork and shred it with the other. Add the squash to the bowl of meat and onions. In the skillet, add the bacon grease, butter, and coconut flour. Whisk to make a roux and add milk until it reaches the desired consistency. You want a sauce. Add the sauce to the spaghetti squash and meat. Mix it in the bowl and add two and a half cups of cheese. Pour mixture into the baking dish and top with the rest of the cheese. Bake about forty minutes, or until cheese on top is golden brown.


This was super tasty.You can make some adjustments as needed. If you try it, let me know how it turns out.

Comfort Cooking

     It's been raining a lot here lately, which I love. But even for me, it's been a lot of grey, rainy days all in a row. As I cooked today, I realized it was a comfort food kind of day. Trent picked out muffins, blueberry "real" i.e. non paleo muffins, for his part of brunch, and Corey wanted ham and feta omelets. I often only cook two large meals on sunday, a brunch and then an early dinner. Trent picked out beef stew a couple of days ago, so that simmered along in the crock pot while I ran my normal thousand and one errands.

     But for me, comfort has always been cinnamon rolls, and today I made grain-free cinnamon rolls! Brought to me by the great blog Real Sustenance They are amazing! Corey even ate one. First I gave him a bite of mine, and then later he had his own, so they can't be that bad. Since cinnamon rolls NEED frosting, I made Paleo Frosting homemade buttercream and iced them! Can't wait to try more recipes from that blog.

Baking...FAIL

I had to give timed writing assessments last week. It is a nice opportunity to see how my kids write on demand. However, grading them all at once is a chore. And it's a chore that I don't always like to do all on one day, the last possible day to get them in the computer. That day was today. I'm up to 31 students in each class, so with my three classes, yup, that's 93 essays. In one day. 

My usual "I have a lot of papers to grade and I don't want to do it right now" method is to clean the house. However, I had some friends over last night for a thirty-one gifts party, so the house was spanking clean. Darn it. And I've done five loads of laundry since Friday. So, what to do to avoid the grading?

Several things as it turned out. I've been debating the whole iPad2 vs Kindle issue for a while, and had already decided on an iPad, so I browsed the Apple store, and looked at all the options and out of curiosity, added things to my cart. Then I ordered it. Yup, engraved (which is free, btw) and all. I was a little surprised at myself actually, I hadn't made a big impulse purchase in a while. 

Then I helped Trent do some research for his reports that are due this week - on James Madison and the Mayflower Compact. Did you know James Madison was the shortest president? Yeah, I learn stuff. 

Then I graded a set of papers about littering.

None of my friends who came over eat Paleo, so I made food for them, with wheat. Which means I couldn't really eat any of the leftover snacks, so I decided to bake. I worked with this recipe for Paleo vanilla cupcakes and added some cinnamon, chopped Hazelnuts, and dried cherries. I played with some of the quantities, and FAILED. I totally decided to use more coconut flour than almond flour, and they are so dry! It didn't work out at all. I finally managed to eat one, in a bowl, with pumpkin butter on top. I also read 75 pages of Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Then I made myself grade a set of papers about littering.

Then I decided to shop on Amazon for some iPad accessories. Cause, you know, you need those! Screen protectors and all that kind of stuff. I also checked on my pampered chef stuff, checked my work email, hung out with my husband, and generally avoided grading papers. I updated my Green BEAN delivery, and tried to do lots of things on the internet. 

Then I finally graded papers. The last set. Done. To comfort myself, I reminded myself that I won't have to do it again until after Christmas! Which is fast approaching...

Additionally, I had tons of things to do last week - like Halloween, seeing John Green, Coaches Night, Soccer party, Trivia Night, and a thirty-one party. So I missed lots of tv this week - and it was USA season openers. Here's my week in tv highlights:

Big Bang Theory - awesome as usual! The New Girl made me laugh so hard, I thought I was going to pee my pants. Bones - David Boreanaz  was wearing a shirt, boxers,and socks! Joey McIntyre was a guest star on Psych, and I still love Nathan Fillion. I mean Castle. 

Dinner...the Paleo Way

I haven't done much blogging about food lately, so I thought I'd share. It's still Fall Break and I didn't have much to do today so I thought I'd go ahead and cook. I adapted a brownie recipe from my friend Beth - the original and my updated version to come in a bit, and made dinner like I usually do. I love my Cuisinart vertical rotisserie, and make chicken a lot. Today's was seasoned with a garlic and crushed black peppercorn rub. Then I cut an acorn squash in half and went ahead and hollowed it out. I baked it at 350 for about 40 minutes. While it was baking, I browned some sausage, onions, garlic, and mushrooms. I scooped the filling into the squash and sprinkled some cheese on one for my husband. Then I turned the heat up to 400 and baked for an additional 20 minutes. Doesn't it look great? Add a salad and you  have a lovely paleo dinner.

Now for the pumpkin brownies. Here's the original recipe, courtesy of my friend Beth.
4 eggs beaten

1 c oil (I often use unsweeten applesauce)

1 3/4 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1 c. pumpkin

1 T. cinnamon

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

2 c. flour

1  t. vanilla

1/4 t. nutmeg

 

Combine all ingredients and put into greased bar pan (like 14 X 11)

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes

 

Icing

-Can of Cream Cheese icing

or

 -6 oz cream cheese

1 stick buttter

3 c. powdered sugar

2 t. milk

2. t vanilla extract

Beat until fluffy and spread on cooled brownies.

Now for all of you paleo fans out there, you may say to yourself - I can't eat that! So here is what I did.

4 eggs beaten

1 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce

2 T molasses

1/2 t.salt

1 1/2 C pumpkin

1 T cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

2 1/2 C almond meal or almond flour

1 t vanilla

1/4 t nutmeg

Bake for 25-30 minutes - you need to watch carefully as they are moist, but you need to make sure they are all done. Of course I didn't make the frosting, and if you're super strict Paleo you'll have to leave out the vanilla. Now, they could have been a tad sweeter, I mad add a tablespoon of maple syrup to the next batch. 

This week's WODs have been awesome  - Monday was Snatch for everyone else - but I did Push Press 3-3-3 at 90 lbs, followed by AMRAP in 20 minutes of 10 kettlebell swings, 25 meter sprint, 10 tuck jumps (i did steps), 25 meter sprint. I got 15 rounds in with a 25 lb kettlebell. I realized during round 14 that since I do double unders now that I could probably go ahead and jump, but it was a little late for that. Tuesday I did Hanging Power Cleans, and we really worked on my form, so I did 65 lbs. Then we were supposed to to Tabata burpees, but I did Tabata push ups instead. I started out strong at 14, but only scored an 8. They were real chest to floor push ups though, so I'll take that. I tried a pull up with two bands, but still can't do it. I'm working toward a pull up with two bands by New Year's, so I'm hoping all the upper body work pays off! Oh, and in case you didn't realize yet, I <3 crossfit. Today I went though my closet, and got rid of several too big items. I'm down an entire size since June!