Stanley BLD: Inspiration...Cultures of the World!

Sometimes when I write up these blogs, I feel the need to start it with some sort of funny story that's happened or a recent life event. But lately I haven't been as much into blogging as I have been some other things we have going in life. Things much more exciting and bigger. Well, something we think is bigger but I guess it depends on who you talk to. So today, I have no events to tell and I feel the need to keep the funny/embarrassing story to myself (believe it or not, I have some things I don't share with you).

This week we're making it cultural week around our house when it comes to the dinners...sampling out some new recipes that come from all sorts of cultures. We pulled upon our trusty go-to big namers and their online recipes to provide you with a weekly menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus a nice, long grocery list. Here ya have it...

BREAKFAST

*PaleOMG Mexican Egg Hash Bake with Sliced Grapefruit

(click the link above for the recipe)

*Pumpkin Pie Chia Seed Drink/Pudding with an OEG (over easy egg)

3 mason jars

1 can pumpkin

about 2 1/2 C almond milk

pumpkin pie spice

2-3 tablespoons chia seeds

toppings (walnuts, almond butter, honey, etc)

Split up your pumpkin can into three of your mason jars. Pour your almond milk into each jar evenly. Stir well until mixed. Dump your chia seeds into your mix, put the lid on, shake well. Let it sit for a few minutes, then shake again before putting it into the fridge. Let it sit overnight and pull them out each morning. Put some of your topping ideas over the top of your pudding and enjoy! (Add an egg or two to finish off your breakfast and you'll be set!)

LUNCH

Dinner leftovers. Always leftovers.

Are you sick of me telling you that yet?

DINNER
"Caribbean"
(per wikipedia, my trusty guide today)

*AAG Pulled Pork (barbacoa) Lettuce Wrapped Tacos

+ sliced jicama

(click link above for recipe. Grocery list written for lettuce wrapped tacos, ingredients not on 

list for the tacos in this recipe)

"Italian"

*AAG Cheesy Baked Spaghetti Squash (primal)

(click on link above for recipe)
side salad with carrots, cucumber slices, & tomatoes

"Thai"

*Paleo Leap Tom Kha Gai Soup

(click on link above for recipe)

*I doubled this recipe, added 1-2 chopped lemon grass stalks, and piled more chicken into the recipe (it was heavy on the veggies and needed a little more protein for me).
Pick a fun new fruit for a side that you've never tried before!

"Indian"

*PaleOMG Indian Chicken & Rice

(click on link above for recipe)
+ "naan bread"

"Mexican"

*AAG Fish Tacos

(click on link above for recipe)

GROCERY LIST

(written for a typical layout of a Winco store)

2 limes

3 grapefruit

melon of any sort (add as a side to any dish)

grapes, apples, pears (add as a side to any dish or as a snack)
pick one fruit you've never tried before!

1 bag shredded cabbage
1 bag salad (your choice in lettuce)
1 small cucumber
1 tomato
1 carrot

1 small jicama

2 red bell peppers

3 yellow onions

1 white onion

1 sweet potato

4 avocados

1 head cauliflower

Butter leaf lettuce (for lettuce wrapped tacos)

1-approx 3lb spaghetti squash

1 bunch cilantro

1 cup button mushrooms

chia seeds (may or may not carry them)

shredded mozzarella cheese (can buy higher quality elsewhere)

ricotta cheese (can buy higher quality elsewhere)

parmesan cheese (can buy higher quality elsewhere)
salsa of your choice
1lb organic, grass fed ground beef
1lb chorizo
3lb pork shoulder (can buy higher quality elsewhere)
2lbs chicken (frozen or thawed)
1lb cod, salmon, or halibut (can buy higher quality elsewhere)
almond milk (unsweetened)
5 dozen eggs
1 can pumpkin
2 cans tomato paste
3 cans tomato puree/sauce
1 large box chicken broth
3 cans full fat coconut milk
1-2 stalks lemon grass (may or may not be at winco)
dried chipotle peppers (mexican section in a bag)

Side notes
*if you don't have almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour, unsweetened shredded coconut,
ghee, honey or coconut sugar then you should add that to the list. They are great to have on hand!
*I did not include spices on this list as we have most of them. Be sure to look over the recipes to make sure there's nothing you may need.
*These recipes make enough for the two of us for dinner and lunches, which may differ for your situation

That does it folks! The list looks much larger as I type it out this way than it does when I make it on my phone for the trip to the grocery store. Heaven forbid I forgot something. Blame me if that's the case, but I'm hoping we've got it all covered. Don't forget to read all the side notes!

Enjoy!

♥T&C

The New Oatmeal: CSP

This isn't actually new and I'm pretty sure I've blogged about it before, but let's get real...this stuff is the new oatmeal. Yet, it's like ten times better for various reasons. The catch is that you actually have to like chia seeds, chia seeds in almond milk, and the texture of it all when it's ready to eat. If you can handle all of the above, you're set. Seriously. If not, your life is not going to be as easy as let's say...everybody else who preps a million of these to make life extremely simple.

So yes, chia seed pudding is the thing. True fact. And instead of buying those mini chia seed pudding cups which are extremely pricey for such a small little guy....why not make a bunch on your own in preparation for all your quick mealtime needs or a snack to fill in between those meals. And who says you can't throw some cocoa powder in the mix of one to bust those cravings?!

AKA chia seed dessert pudding. Duh.

The Quick & Simple Supplies & Instructions

As quick as you can, gather your coconut or almond milk (we like the Silk brand), mason jars with lids, chia seeds, raw honey, your choice of fruit, raw nuts (mainly almonds), and mini tupperware containers.

Dump 1.5 cups of milk into your mason jar, then place 1-2tbsp of chia seeds in the almond milk. Place the lids on jars and shake all of them well. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes, come back and shake it again. Do this one more time, then place them in the fridge. I'm not here to tell you what you like for toppings, so whatever it is your heart desires in the chia seed pudding....place them in a small tupperware for each day you plan to eat a jar of pudding (i.e. blueberries and almonds in one, strawberries and coconut flakes in another). It will make for a quick take-away when you're having a meal on the go or need a quick little snack! When you're ready to eat one, shake your container, open the lid, place the fruits and/or nuts inside the mixture, and then drizzle with some raw honey. Otherwise, if you want it all blended, place all of the above in a processor and do a quick blending and place it in your mason jar. Easy, simple, and quick.

Here are a few ideas...

1. blueberry with raw almonds

2. almond butter & banana

3. strawberry with unsweetened shredded coconut

I like easy. I like simple. I appreciate textured things. And I love putting toppings on food.

Chia seed pudding obviously works for me. Ty on the ohter hand, is not a fan.

So I wish you luck in loving these in hopes it makes life a little easier on you & your food prep.

That's all.

♥Cori

Stanley BLD+S: September, Week 2

I've surprised myself folks. After being a weak blogger the last few months, I pulled my ish together. Two weeks in a row we've got meal planning on the blog. I didn't come up with all the recipes by any means, but majority of them are some of our simple go-to's! Let's just say that this week's theme is "keep it simple, Stanleys" I scrapped together a grocery list for all you readers (the very few of you who read this anymore). So you actually get the whole meal planning and a grocery list!
Please, don't croak with that exciting news  ;-)

3 things before you get started.

1. all meals feed up to 4 individuals at dinner, but we of course only have two to feed so we have 

plenty of leftovers for lunch!
2. under the "menu" section, please note that majority of the recipes will have links you can click on.
Do exactly that. Click and it will take you to the recipe. If there is no link, then
scroll down to find the recipe. Simple stuff.
3. there is a main section for your grocery list, but be sure to scroll just below the list because there are
"additional items" that we have around our kitchen already and does not need to be on our grocery list.
Go through it in case you do not have some of those items lying around.
Ok, that's it....go get started! 

Stanley BLD+S Menu

Breakfast
-freezer-ready breakfast sink hash & fruit on the side

-strawberry applesauce egg omelette
(click the link, then scroll down to find the recipe...one of our favs!)

Lunch

Dinner leftovers. Always leftovers for us Stanleys.
if you don't have leftovers, easiest go to is:
-tuna salad with plantain chips & fruit on the side

Dinner

-simple flank steak with lemon cucumber salad and cauliflower rice
-pulled pork with mashed or crispy plaintains
-PaleOMG crispy chicken tenders with a dipping sauce and sweet potato fries
-meatloaf with mashed cauliflower (you must scroll down in this link, it's in the middle of the page. Also, you can use the leftover for meatloaf cupcakes or just make a second loaf)
-take a night off of cooking & treat yourself...go test out Cultured Caveman or Dick's Kitchen!

Snacks
-hard boiled egg(s), handful of nuts, costco dates
-prosciutto wrapped melon
-roasted sweet potatoes & bacon

Dessert
-skip the baking this week...grab a few desserts at your local Whole Foods, New Seasons,
or Natural Grocers! We love the HailMerry desserts or the local "cheesecake" that Whole Foods sells.

Grocery List
1 large bag of sweet potatoes
2 yellow onions
mushrooms
1 bell pepper, your choice in color
applesauce (we buy the costco 4 pack, unsweetened)
2 containers of strawberries
canned tuna
plantain chips
flank steak (as many as you need to feed your fam)
coconut aminos
lemon cucumbers (from the garden)
2-3 heads of cauliflower rice (depending on family needs)
4 lbs of ground turkey or beef
1 red bell pepper
tomato paste
BBQ sauce or ketchup (your choice in brand for the meatloaf)
pork roast (we buy the three pack at costco)
4 plantains
1 can coconut milk
1 bag chicken tenders
coarse grain brown or dijon mustard
eggs (mass amounts, we go through so many!)
nuts
dates (best ones are from costco)
prosciutto
cantaloupe
nitrate free bacon (you can get a two pack at costco now!)
fruit (your choice...for breakfast, snacks, and with dinner)
dessert of choice (you can get them at Whole Foods, New Seasons, or Natural Grocers)

If you don't already these have on hand, you'll need...
coconut oil
maple syrup or honey
vinegar
dill
lemon juice
garlic or pre-diced garlic
unsweetened shredded coconut
almond flour

Recipes

-Freezer Ready Breakfast Sink Hash-
1 onion, chopped
1 case of mushrooms, chopped
2 sweet potatoes, chopped
1 pepper, chopped
bacon, cooked and chopped (if you so wish)

Place all your veggies and a tablespoon of coconut oil into a pan. Cook well, let cool, then bag and freeze. When you're in need of a quick scramble/breakfast sink hash, pull out a big chunk of your frozen mix and some eggs and scramble them up in a pan. Boom, you're done. Easy peasy.
We like that.

-Flank Steak & Lemon Cuc Salad-
flank steaks
coconut aminos
garlic, diced
5 lemon cucumbers
1/4 C white vinegar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
water
dill

Before you head to work, throw your steaks, some coconut aminos, and diced garlic into gallon bags. When you get home, place your flank steaks on the BBQ and cook until your liking. There's not much to it and of course, not a lot of seasoning, but we love the simplicity of the steak and it's flavor with the simple ingredients.

Slice your lemon cucumber and place into a bowl. Pour your vinegar over the top of the cucumbers. Add a splash of water to tone down the vinegar and your lemon juice. Sprinkle dill over the top of your mix. Serve with your flank steak. Again, so simple and one of Ty's favorites!

-Prosciutto Wrapped Melon-
prosciutto
cantaloupe, cut into cubes or made into melon balls

If you're prosciutto are long piece, you can cut them in half as long as they will wrap around your melon. Wrap them around your melon bites. Then eat. Like all this simplicity? Me too.

-Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Bacon-
sweet potatoes, cut in half
olive oil or any specialty flavored oil (we like the rosemary or tuscan sometimes)
steak seasoning
nitrate free bacon

I'm not going go tell you how to cook you bacon. If you bake it, great. If you put in the microwave, then stick to that. And if it's a pan, have at it. I don't care, just make sure it's cooked.
Preheat your over to 400 degrees. Poke your potatoes with a fork, then smother those potaters in your oil and roll in the steak seasoning. Wrap each in foil and place on a cooking sheet. Bake for 45-60 minutes.


Have at it! Enjoy a week's worth of meal planning and a grocery list on us!

♡T&C

"Insert Fruit Here" Coconut Flour Muffins

Let's keep this short and sweet. Always something I have a hard time doing. In fact, I'm pretty terrible at it. And what else... I've been blowing up IG and FB. Over. Board. I've been bad at that too. I was THAT person or at least I felt like it. My sincere apologies.

So back to being short and sweet, semi-lazy, and a terrible photog last night. Why I didn't put the slightest effort into making these look a little better, I don't know. Instead, I obviously decided to dive right in, take that bite, then photograph it. So dumb. Next time though folks, next time. 

It can only improve if I wasn't so hungry, right?

This recipe comes straight from the back of the Nutiva Coconut flour bag from Costco. It's legit. Moist, tasty, and a fabulous treat for all times of the day. For me, I eat 2 or 3 after work because I'm starving. It's a bad habit this week and I'm about to break it (and only because we're almost out of them anyway).

"Insert Fruit Here" Coconut Flour Muffins

(from Nutiva & a great find by Pennie M.)

1 cup Nutiva Organic Coconut Flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp raw honey 

(I cut this nearly in half because we never bake with that much, but know that they definitely 

won't be quite as sweet as you may wish if you don't do the whole amount)

1 cup coconut milk

6 eggs

4 tbsp coconut oil

4 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp chia seeds

1 1/2 cups organic fruit (we used chopped blackberries, they used blueberries, you can always use raspberries. Your choice!)

Preheat over to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda. In a small-med sized bowl, whisk together the honey, coconut milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix in the chia seeds and then fold in your fruit. Either grease your muffin tins or use liners, spoon your batter into each muffin tin, and bake for about 25 minutes. Then enjoy!

Great for a little "extrie" for breakfast, a mid-morning/afternoon snack with some protein, or a sweet treat in the evening. 'Short and sweet' is playing over and over in the back of my head, 

so this is where I end.

Happy Thursday!

♡Cori

Menu Planning (Stanley BLD + S)

Remember way back...back when we put together the Stanley BLD+S? Feels like ages ago. Probably because it was. As I've said a million times, I haven't been able to keep up with all this blogging between all these life events, work, and house stuff. Not that many of you have been reading it anyway, so I barely even feel bad. I've decided summers are busy for all...so who is going to bother sitting and reading the blog when there's a million other things to do in the PNW. Feel me?

Back to the Stanley BLD+S. It's back, but back in a lazy way. And for two reasons. One, because I didn't provide you with the grocery list and two, because I'm reusing some recipes from the old BLD+S. This time it's just a different order and has just a few new things. So let's welcome it back this week because who knows how long I can keep up with the blogging again!

The photo below contains the main dinner courses. It obviously doesn't have the breakfast, lunch, and snacks. That's why you have to scroll down, get the details, & click on the menu item for the link to the recipes! That's easy enough though, right?

BREAKFAST

*Cranberry, kale, pine nuts, onions, and eggs filled into a rosemary almond flour crust
(Chucks carries apple juice sweetened cranberries!)

*Blackberry coconut flour muffins (recipe on the costco coconut flour bag)
with Amylu sausage and/or nitrate free bacon

*Scrambed eggs, bacon, & avocado with Ty's famous fruit smoothies

LUNCH

*LEFTOVERS. Always LEFTOVERS from dinner the night before!

DINNER

*Main dish: Meatza (one BBQ with kale, pine nuts, red onion, & BBQ sauce; one with red sauce, garden veggies, peppercinis, olives, and avocado)

*Side dish: sliced watermelon

*Main dish: Stuffed chicken breasts (pre-prepared from Chucks, primal)

*Side dish: my aunt's garden beets, boiled and chopped, served with goat cheese (primal)
Elana's pantry rosemary bread (omitted the olives), & sliced peaches

*Main dish: Lettuce wrapped tacos
(ground beef or turkey seasoned as you wish, toppings as you wish, wrapped in lettuce.
Doesn't get any easier, trust me)

*Side dish: piel melon

*Main dish: Spicy pineapple chili

*Side dish: nectarines & primal Brazilian dough balls
(I found the premixed bag from World Market, believe it or not.)

*Main dish: burgers

*Side dish: spicy slaw & watermelon with blackberries

(side note: I used almond milk cheese, thinking it was primal...apparently they put rice flour
in the cheddar cheese. However, I don't think they do in the pepperjack!)

SNACKS

*Turkey, bacon, avocado, and tomato roll ups

*Garden fresh beets with goat cheese salad, a piece of leftover paleo rosemary bread,
& nitrate free salami

You've got the paleo/primal BLD+S menu for the week, now it's time to make your grocery list.
If only you could talk someone into doing the shopping, you'd be set.
Enjoy!

♥T&C

Sometimes All You Need Is Simple

Lately I've wanted food to pop out of nowhere and land right on our table for every meal. If only that could actually happen, right? I could get so many more things done if it weren't for having to cook and eat. Probably why I snack...like all the time. I've been planning my days without much thought about meals until that moment I realize I'm starving. We all know that's an awful plan and what happens when we're starved. We eat everything. Well, I do and maybe you don't. But what's saved me? 

Two things. Yes, only two things.

An avocado and garlic and herb goat cheese. It requires no cooking, no baking, and no real prep. It's good for any time of day. Breakfast with some eggs, a snack, a side at lunch time. Why not?

When you're in a pinch or when you're lazy like me right now, it's great. Trust me.

I'm heading in to the MD's office today for a good ol' checkup. Praying for some good lab results, that there's nothing else wrong with me (because I'm a nurse and I secretly panic at every appointment that something could be wrong), and only have a little anxiety. Seems silly, but I hate the doctors. 

Send me to the dentist everyday, but the doctor...ugh!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

♡C