Easy Baked Chicken

Baked chicken is fast becoming a frequent sight in our kitchen. It is perfect for weekday nights when we are tight on time. Its easy and fuss free. Season and baked... that is about it.

We do make a lot when we do chicken. I love the dark meat and the hubby loves the breast. So we buy both dark and white meat and make a whole lot of chicken. They make good left over for lunch. Sad to day, there is usually not much left for lunch as they are so good :)

The hubby made these on Monday and they were awesome with just 7 ingredients

Ingredients:
1. Chicken parts
2. Salt
3. Pepper
4. Paprika
5. Onion Powder
6. Cinnamon
7 . Bacon



Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 400
2. Season the chicken parts with ingredients 2-6 according to taste
3. Put the chicken parts in a baking dish and lay some bacon over them
4. Bake for 40 mins. Put on boil for 2 mins to crisp the bacon
5. Serve and Eat

~bel~

Kalua Pork

 

 

I saw this recipe at the Domestic Man and have been wanting to try this. Then I came across it at Nom Nom site last week and decided that I have to make it with my self created recipe :) 

 

 

This is a really nice 6 ingredients recipe. I seasoned the pork butt liberally with salt, pepper ,cumin and creole seasoning. Lay the crockpot with slices of bacon, put the seasoned pork in the crockpot. Add 3 table spoon of liquid smoke and cook on low for 16 hours. We only mange to cook it for 12 hours... it turned turn pretty tender. I am sure it will be much better at 16 hours.. nut we were too hungry to wait :)


~bel~

Fat Bombs

"Fat Bombs" !!!! You do not call these Fat Bombs for nothing ! Each cube is about 17g of fats, 4g Carbs and 5g protein.

It took me a while to realize what is a fat bomb.. but once I found out... I just have to make them . These fats bombs are simply fat !! Good fats !!! They are especially good if you are trying to increase your fat intake and hate the thoughts of drinking coconut oil or olive oil.  There are many recipes out there and you can always adapt to what you need as long as you use FAT as your main ingredient.

I use coconut oil, almond butter and unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe. Depending on your preference, you can add honey or some sweetener or just have them dark. Personally, I like them dark. The almond butter has a slight sweetness which is sufficient for me. I would not recommend stevia  as stevia does not go well with chocolate. It gave a weird bitter taste to chocolate. I prefer to use Swerve or honey. Honey is more paleo than Swerve but it contain higher sugar and calories... so pick your poison :)

You can create variation to this basic recipe by adding raisin, coconut flakes, dry fruits etc.


Ingredients:
One cup coconut oil, melted
One cup almond butter
2 table spoon of Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder. ( I prefer Hershey's but you can use any other brand)
Any sweetener of preference


Direction:
1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Stir well
2. Scoop the mixture in ice cube trays.
3. Freeze for 30 minutes and enjoy

Note that these will melt really fast in hot temperature as they are fats ;)

~bel~

Oven Baked Chicken

I love oven baked chicken especially homemade ones.  I hate getting them from the stores as I never know what was added.

Our friend Michelle's daughter is in the Agriculture school and had raised some chickens for a show. These chicks are raised in the school barn with no hormones injected. She sent them to the slaughtering house after the show was done. We bought some of the chicken from her. Gosh.. these chickens are young and tender.

This is an easy recipe which I made it up as I go :)

Ingredients :
1. 1 chicken ( 3-4 pounds)
2. Salt and Pepper
3. Paprika
4. Cajun seasoning
5. Butter
6. 1/2 pound bacon
7. Green beans and Carrots


Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 425
2. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry
3. Season it liberally with salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and Paprika
4. Run the butter liberally on the skin.
5. Stuff 2-3 bacon in the cavity
6. Lay some bacons on the top of the chicken
7  Put the vegetables in the pan before you put the chicken breast down on the roasting rack
8. Bake the chicken for at 425
7. Check on the bacon about 30 mins and remove them if they get brown. You do not want burnt bacon
8. A 3-4 pound chicken will be done in about 1hr 30 min but I will check every 10 min after the hour to make sure.

~bel~

Slow Cooker Grass Fed Pot Roast

 

 

I am back finally... with the first recipe in 2014 ! If you are wondering where I have been.... I just started a new job and had been busy trying to get use to a new schedule. The Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays threw me off completely. I hardly have any time for myself with all the  parties.

 

I am so glad that that we are back to routine.

 

We made this slow cooker grass fed roast on Sunday. We have been using grass fed for a few weeks now and loving it. I have been wanting to try grass fed beef after reading all the benefits of grass fed vs grain fed beef. But it took us a while to jump into the wagon due to the cost factor. But we were so glad to make the switch. I finally have meat which taste like those in Singapore. I have always complained to the Hubby that the meat here taste "fake" and I could not understand why. I finally realized it when we make the switch to grass-fed. The hubby had a burger at Texas Land and Cattle last week and he texted me : "the meat taste fake". *smile*.. He finally understood what I meant :)

 

I took us a while to figure how to cook grass fed meat. Grass fed meat are leaner with less fats. They has to be cook with lower temperature. Basically. "low and slow".  The slow cooker is a good one to use. The roast we did on Sunday came out tender and moist and almost falling apart,

 

 

Ingredients:

4 pound arm roast

5 stalk of Celery

2 -3 carrot

one onion Chopped

1/2 cup of red wine

Salt

Pepper

Cajun Seasoning

Thyme

Tumeric powder

Coconut oil or bacon grease or olive oil or butter ( we use bacon grease)

 

 

Direction

1. Seasoned the roast liberally with salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning , thyme and turmeric powder.

 

2. Cut the celery, carrots into 2 inches pieces.

 

3. Lay the onion, carrot and celery on the bottom of the slow cooker

 

4. Heat a skillet and brown the roast on each side.

 

5. Lay the browned roast on top of the cut vegetables in the slow cooker

 

6. Cook low for 8-10 hours. We did 9 hours and it was perfect.

 

 

~bel~

 

 



Chili

Been a while since I last posted a recipe here. We had been busy with the move to the new house. The hubby is retiring next year and the plan is to retire in San Antonio. We had been busy looking at houses since June. We finally closed on one in September and moved in 3 weeks ago.. and yes we are still very busy trying to get to the new house in order.

We were eating really bad during the move as we had to close down the kitchen. Lotsa of fast food and unhealthy stuff. 

Last week was the first week that we get back to the healthy eating routine... at least for dinner. The hubby had been spoilt with the fast food we had and could not stop eating them. Well, at least we are back to making health dinner. 

We had a cold front came in on Saturday night and the temperature dropped 30 degrees from 92 to 57... gosh its cold for our Texans blood. The first food that came to my mind was Chili. We saw this recipe from Martha Setwart's site and decided to give it a shot as it look easy. And gosh... this recipe is potently good. The use of Chipotle chili pepper with adobo sauce makes a big difference. It blends really good with the beer. and gosh.. its spicy.  This is my new GO TO chili recipe....

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon vegetable oil ( I use coconut oil)
3 medium onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
3 tablespoons chili powder
 2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 pounds ground beef chuck ( I use 1.2 pound of ground turkey and 1.2 pound of ground beef)
3 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes in juice
1 bottle (12 ounces) mild lager beer ( I use shiner bock)
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) kidney beans, rinsed and drained ( I omitted this)
Shredded cheddar cheese (optional) ( I omitted this)

DIRECTIONS
1. In a Dutch oven or large (5-quart) heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
2.  Add tomato paste, chili powder, chipotles, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring, until mixture has begun to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add beef, and cook, breaking it up with a spoon until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
 3 Add tomatoes with their juice, beer, and beans. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a rapid simmer. Cook over medium heat until chili has thickened slightly and beans are tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Paleo Ketchup

I have not had Ketchup since we started the paleo diet last year. I am not a great fan of ketchup as it contains lots of sugar. But the hubby is a Ketchup fan.. so this started the search for a Paleo Ketchup. I came across this recipe from "Not in Moderation". It looks simple and easy and have many great reviews. I figure I have to try it.

I am not disappointed. It taste almost like Ketchup especially after I leave it in the fridge for the favor to develop overnight. Definitely a keeper. 

Ingredients:
12oz Tomato Paste 
1.5 Cup Water 2 tbsp Vinegar ( I used apple cider vinegar. The hubby likes his ketchup more tangy so I used 3-4 tablespoon)
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder 
1/2 tsp Onion Powder 
1/4 tsp All Spice 
1/4 ground cinnamon ( The original recipe did not have cinnamon. But most reviews I read suggest some cinnamon) 

Direction
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Simmer for a few minutes and stir often. Transfer ketchup to a glass container and refrigerate.

~bel~