Beef Jerky – Part Two

First I must say….the beef jerky is DELICIOUS!!! I was so surprised at how simple the whole process is, and how delicious the end result turned out. Why would you ever spend the outrageous money on packaged beef jerky when you can make your own!?!? I am sold for life – on making our own beef jerky. No preservatives, you know the cut of meat, you know the source of meat, you know the spices, etc……I mean, it is a no brainer. If you missed the first part of the post, here it is for you:

Beef Jerky

We made 3 lbs of flank steak, so it didn’t all fit in the dehydrator…..so, I put some of it in the oven. This worked JUST as well. So, don’t worry if you don’t have a dehydrator…..just use your oven!

As you can see I put the beef on a rack and had it over a aluminum foil lined baking sheet, for quicker clean-up. Some of the beef had started to brown a little from sitting in the marinade/seasonings for the roughly 36 hours.

Just 3 hours later I was delighted to see that we had PERFECT beef jerky. Made fresh from our own kitchen!! How awesome is that? It looked like beef jerky and tastes AWESOME!!!

Our daughter LOVED it! She has enjoyed having some in her lunch or as a snack. What a delicious and nutritious treat to have! 🙂

I hope you all enjoy and try for yourself to see just how simple this is and how delicious homemade beef jerky is!!!!! Hope you have an awesome Thursday 🙂

#ourprimallife #paleorecipes #homemadebeefjerky #primalkitchen #deliciousandnutrition #healthysnacks

Homemade Beef Jerky

We are so excited! We are in the middle of making our first batch of homemade beef jerky in a LONG time! My husband used to make homemade beef jerky and turkey jerky….but somehow, life happens. You have kiddos and they have schedules and all of a sudden you realize it has been WAY too long since you used your dehydrator. SO we bought some yummy flank steak at Costco and went to work. My husband gave taught me a good lesson this weekend….you don’t want to marinade fresh beef jerky in fats (oils) ~ BECAUSE, they will go rancid more quickly. Good tip!!!

We decided to refer to a recipe this time to make the beef jerky. Typically we freeze it, take it out and let it thaw a little, slice it really thinly, then just season it up really well and throw it in the dehydrator. BUT we wanted to follow a recipe to see how it tasted. So we pulled the beef jerky recipe from the Primal Palate website: http://www.primalpalate.com/paleo-recipe/beef-jerky/ (PS..these people are AWESOME, if you haven’t seen their site or read they cookbooks ~ you should!)

We are just at the beginning stage. We froze our meat, let it thaw, cut it up and put it in with coconut aminos and garlic over-night.

Now it is all seasoned up and waiting until tomorrow morning to go in the dehydrator…..

so, stay tuned for the official review. 🙂 I will give you an update on the dehydrator and finished product tomorrow!!! Have an awesome Monday!

#ourprimallife #primalrecipes #paleo #homemadebeefjerky

Beets, Quinoa & Kale Salad with Grilled Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

How often do you feel like your dinners are just on repeat and are boring the heck out of you and your family? Often it is hard to think of new ideas……especially at the end of a long day. Sometimes a good way to venture your mind to the unknown is to think of items that you have ordered at a restaurant, seen on a menu, or a cooking show. We were sick of the same old thing and wanted to venture out and try something new……so we made a salad that was different than our usual spinach and veggies.

This meal was seriously easy. The only thing it did was dirty a few more dishes than normal…..but that is okay when the end result is a delicious meal!!

Beets, Quinoa & Kale Salad

Ingredients:

Kale

Romaine (or other lettuce for mixing)

Bunch of Beets

1 Cup Quinoa

Balsamic Dressing *Recipe Below

Directions:

Wash and cut the kale and romaine into bite sized pieces. To make the kale softer you can wash it and cut it up, then toss it with some coarse salt. Rub the salt into the leaves and it will soften them slightly.

Peel and chop up the beets. Boil the beets for about 20 minutes over medium-low heat. You can test the beets for readiness by trying to poke them with a fork. If you can easily, then they are fully cooked.

Bring quinoa to a boil. 1 cup of Quinoa and 2 cups of Chicken Broth. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.

Now, once everything is cooked it is time to toss. In a bowl put your kale and romaine, spoon in some quinoa, beets and balsamic dressing. Slowly add in beets and quinoa so that the proportions are to your desire.

ENJOY! It is truly an amazing salad!!!

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

1 Clove Garlic

Oregano

Pepper

Salt

Directions:

Pour in Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar in a 3:1 portion. So it you use 3/4 cup of olive oil you would use 1/4 cup of balsamic. Chop/Mince up 1 large clove of garlic and add it. Crush in ground black pepper and salt to taste. I use just a little salt and more pepper…but truly alter this to what you prefer. Shack in some oregano and shake it up. Let it sit for roughly 15 minutes before using. It is best to give it some time for the flavors to combine.

Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

4 Chicken Thighs (boneless-skinless)

Olive Oil

Fresh Lemon

Pepper

Salt

Paprika

Directions:

Mix together some olive oil, the juice of a lemon and the remaining seasonings to taste. I use lots of pepper and paprika and just a touch of salt. Sautee the chicken in the marinade for about 20 minutes before grilling.

I will not tell you how to grill….but the breasts over direct heat and the thighs off the direct heat it takes about 20 minutes to grill them up to perfection 😉

Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 Large Sweet Potato

Olive Oil

Chili Powder

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Chop the sweet potato in either chip like slices or fry slices. Mix with some olive oil until the sweet potatoes are coated. Sprinkle with minimal salt, pepper and chili powder and toss. Place the sweet potato slices out on baking dish so that none are overlapping. Bake for 20 minutes then flip and bake for an additional 20 minutes. The cook time will depend on how thick you slice the sweet potato. Check on them at the 15 minute mark to ensure they are not burning. If they are already browned, flip them and watch them on the other side as well.

I hope you enjoy this delicious, easy, nutritious meal as much as we did!

#ourprimallife #beetrecipes #saladrecipes #kale #eatinghealthyathome

Southwest Cornbread Stuffing

Stuffing is my absolute FAVORITE part of Thanksgiving! Funny enough I used to hate it though, until I found out that cornbread stuffing was an option…..YUM! Being from the southwest I love food with a kick to it and this certainly has just that!! I wanted to share this recipe with you all to either try this Thanksgiving or next, I promise you it is amazing and you should try it out sometime! Happy cooking to you all!

INGREDIENTS:

3 onion, chopped (yellow or white or mix)
1 c celery, chopped
8 clove garlic, chopped
2 cans (4oz) chopped green chiles
1 can (4oz) jalapeño
2 recipes cornbread (6c)
1 tsp sage
3 tsp cumin
2 red bell peppers
2 lbs sage-flavored sausage
2 eggs, beaten
cayenne pepper
4 c chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

Make cornbread. Break cornbread into small pieces. Bake at 250 degree oven for 45 min to dry.

Grease a 4 qt baking dish.

Saute in butter onion, celery, garlic, green chile, jalapeño, cumin, sage until lightly browned. Set aside.

Saute sausage and red peppers until lightly browned. Drain grease.

Toss onion and sausage mixture with beaten eggs and cayenne. Add in dried cornbread. Spoon into greased baking dish and refrigerate if necessary.

*you can make the stuffing to this point the day before and refrigerate overnight

When preparing to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees and bring casserole to room temperature.

Pour chicken broth over and bake for about half an hour, covered. Return to oven uncovered for another 10 – 15 minutes. Or longer….just watch it, you want it to get browned on top but not burnt.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe! It is one of my favorite recipes ever. I am thankful for so much this year….my healthy amazing family, the beautiful world we live in and so much more. I hope you have a moment to sit down and reflect on your year and find joy in your world and the circumstances you live. Life isn’t perfect but it is beautiful ☺️

#ourprimallife #thanksgivingrecipes

Easy Side Dish for ANY Meal

Sometimes it is just so hard to think up a good side to have with your main course. We often open the door to our fridge and look in a daze at what we could possibly put with the burger patties, flank steak, chicken breast, etc. I encourage you to think outside the box. Just because you have never had a veggie combination does not mean it doesn’t work together.

Vegetable Side Dish

Ingredients:

Bacon Fat/Olive Oil

Spinach

Bell Peppers

Mushrooms

Pinto Beans

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

In skillet over medium heat warm olive oil/bacon fat. Finely chop 2 garlic cloves and add to the oil/fat as it is heating up. Before the garlic browns add in chopped bell peppers. We used mini sweet bell peppers and used 6 of them.

Once you give the peppers and garlic a chance to cook add in chopped mushrooms (about 6) and about half a can of drained and rinsed pinto beans. Add a small amount of salt and some pepper to the skillet at this point. We didn’t add too much salt because the canned beans already have salt in them. Top the skillet off with mounds of spinach. Stir occasionally and just watch the skillet. Once the spinach is all cooked down the dish is ready to enjoy.

ENJOY your easy homemade dish!!

As simple as that you have a homemade delicious healthy side dish. It really is that easy to throw scraps together from your refrigerator/pantry. Any vegetables can be substituted for the ones we used, these were just the veggies that we already had in the fridge. Enjoy the dish and change it up to make your own personal delicious creations!

#ourprimallife #sidedish #homemadefood #healthysidedishes

Quinoa Salad – So Delicious and EASY to make!

This quinoa salad is truly delicious and extremely easy to throw together. Whether you need to throw together a quick and simple side for dinner or you need to bring a side dish to a holiday party. THIS is your dish. Trust me!!! Last night we made some bison burger patties with this as the side and it was perfectly delicious. The great thing about recipes like this is that you can alter it by adding in whatever veggies you enjoy.

Ingredients:

Quinoa – 1 Cup

Cherrie Tomatoes – Handful

Black Beans – 1 can

Avocado – 2

Bell Peppers – demanding on the size a couple handfuls of chopped

Olive Oil – roughly 1/2 cup +

Garlic – 1 clove +

Lime/Lime Juice – Juice of one

Lemon Juice – Juice of one

Oregano

Fresh Cilantro – handfuls

Pepper

Directions:

Cook quinoa. Bring 1 cup of quinoa to boil in 2 cups of water. Once the quinoa is boiling, cover and let it simmer on low for 15 minutes. Once the quinoa is finished remove from heat and fluff it with a fork. Pour the quinoa into a large serving bowl.

Strain and wash 1 can of black beans. Add the black beans to the bowl of cooked quinoa.

Wash and cut cherrie tomatoes in half. Add tomatoes to the bowl.

Wash and chop bell peppers. This is up to you on how many to add. I chopped up 5 mini sweet bell peppers. Once you have the bell peppers chopped add them to the bowl.

Cut 2 avocados into bite sized pieces and add to the bowl.

Sprinkle oregano over the top

Now you can add anything else you want: corn, cucumbers, onion, etc. It is totally up to you what ingredients you want to add to make it your own.

The dressing is the thing that sets this quinoa salad apart and makes it so much more delicious.

Dressing:

In a blender add roughly 1/2 – 1 cup of olive oil, juice of a whole lime, juice of a whole lemon, one clove of garlic chopped, handfuls of fresh cilantro and freshly ground pepper.

Blend until the cilantro is finely chopped. Then pour the dressing over the salad. You want the quinoa salad to be coated in the dressing but definitely be careful not to add too much dressing. Add slowly and stir intermittently until you feel there is enough.

**If you have extra dressing just put it in a tupperware and use on a salad later in the week. It makes GREAT salad dressing and is also AMAZING to use on fish and chicken!!!

Put the salad in the refrigerator to cool/keep cool until you are ready to serve it. ENJOY this yummy quinoa salad!

#ourprimallife #salad