Hamburger Stew with Cheesy Grits

Finding myself feeling very grateful to have this week behind me and a couple of days ahead to enjoy. Had a couple of late nights working, nights of errand running and finally a night to kick back and catch up on some our recordings on the DVR. 

With a week of random eating I was ready to make something homemade and on the comfort food side of things. 

As I flipped through the cupboards I came across a partial box of grits and that set me to  thinking. Grabbed a pound of hamburger from the freezer and went to work. 

Hamburger Stew
1 lb Ground Beef
1/2 Yellow onion, minced
1 can Diced Tomatoes with Green Chili's
Chili powder
Cumin
Tumeric
Salt & Pepper

In a large skillet brown ground beef, onion and seasonings to taste and cook stirring regularly until onions are cooked through. Add tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.

 

While stew simmers make a batch of grits according to the packaging, adding 1-2 cups grated cheese (I used sharp cheddar) after grits begin to thicken.

Ladle a good scoop of grits into your favorite bowl and spoon stew over the top, and add a dollop of sour cream. For me I enjoy stirring it all together as I eat the rich cheesy goodness. 


I know I've become the queen of one bowl suppers that are hardy and filling.  We raised four kids on a tight budget and simple meals with just a few ingredients and only take a short time to prepare are at the heart of my cooking.

A night off

It's only Tuesday and it feels like I've put in a full week already. Worked at home yesterday which has it's benefits, like warm fuzzy dogs sleeping on my feet while I work. But I found myself working until after 8pm last night. Needless to say, a quick bite out handled dinner and back to work I went.

Today I had a full day at the office with the executive staff hanging around keeping me on my toes doing extra projects for them on top of trying to get my own work done. So tonight I just wanted to get out of the house and have an enjoyable evening and not think about all the stresses that seem to be over taking my day to day life. So we grabbed one of the dogs and off we went to the local evening farmers market.

Tonight included a simple German sausage on a stick with spicy mustard and wandering around the market just enjoying the fresh air.  To top off the night we had the opportunity to visit with a bunch of old friends from a church we used to attend, and had time to catch up with everyone and a chance to make plans to get together at a later date.

I didn't take the camera, I didn't plan, I just enjoyed time with friends and we even treated ourselves to some ice cream from the local pharmacy that sells it as a fund raiser for the local kids in the community.

It's okay to sometimes just take a night off.

Pigs-N-Blanket

My oldest son and daughter in law have be traveling this no carb road with me for a while now, and they are diligent in finding recipes and trying out new things which is great to have someone to bounce things off of and to try recipes with. A while back they came across a recipe for what was called pancakes, but they are thin and delicate much more like a crepe and absolutely wonderful.

When I headed for the freezer last night to pull some meat for dinner tonight, I spotted a beef roast but that will take a few days to thaw (its resting the frig), but I also found a package of pork link sausages that made for a perfect start for breakfast for dinner tonight.

So with my package of sausage cooked off, and a batch of crepes, we had a fun batch of Pigs-N-Blanket. And my poor husband who is along for this ride managed to eat two full plates of them!

Grain Free Crepes

8 oz Cream Cheese - softened
8 Eggs
3 packet Stevia
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all the ingredient with a stick blender or in a standard blender. Heat griddle and keep greased with each batch of crepes cooked (I use a spray coconut oil or butter & a brush).
Using a 1 oz ladle make each crepe, they cook super quick, when they start to dry around the edges give them a careful flip and they will be ready in just another minute.
I had a time flipping them the first time I made them, if you make them too large they want to split with the impact on the griddle. So keeping them small they are easy to produce. 

We used our favorite pork sausage with a bit of sugar free syrup to create our dinner, find your own favorite way to use these fun little crepes. I'm thinking next time I'm thinking skip the cinnamon and sweetener and make them savory with some herbs. I can see them rolled up with meat and cheese as great way to have something for lunch or a snack!

Grilled Chicken & Fried "Rice"

After several months of crazy I'm trying to get my meals and eating habits back in line with the Keto (Low carb, no grain, no starch, no sugar) way of eating and start feeling better. It seams like the more my schedule overloads, the worse I feel and less likely I will follow any kind of proper eating habits.

Part of me returning to you here online started with a book I downloaded to my Kindle on organizing your home and life. I had found a blurb with a section on organizing my kitchen, which I'm always up for a better way of doing things, so I downloaded the entire book.  The book started with it's first chapter on organizing your priorities, which for me the top of the list included getting back to cooking proper meals and spending time here sharing it with you.

With this refocus on different parts of my life, I've decided that my blog will be about sharing what doing, what I'm cooking and not bog myself down with finding what to eat in advance of the week, that way of planning has proven to not fit my life. 

This week started with a trip to the grocery store Saturday night for the basics we needed for the week. Sunday we hit our favorite small market that has organic meat we needed for this weeks egg cups and while there we spotted a good buy on bone in chicken thighs. From there we wandered across the street to the farmers market and picked up some yummy beef brisket for lunch an some plants for my garden beds.

Monday at work I ran in snag after snag with payroll, I found myself stuck at the office until 6pm and then with an hour train ride home it was too late to thinking about cooking, so dinner ended up being a 1/2 cup cottage cheese and a slice of cheddar while I worked on a project on the couch and watch a bit of television. So I decided this morning I would make sure to be out of the office on time and have time to fix something worth while.

With the mindset of cooking a good dinner I took those chicken thighs I bought on Saturday I tossed them in a ziplock with home made barbecue sauce I had on hand and tossed them back in the frig before headed off  to work.

So here's the recipe for my home made barbecue sauce for a website I frequent.
Carolina BBQ Sauce: http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/carolina-bbq-sauce-and-agave-facts/  This mustard based sauce and is far from a traditional bbq sauce, but I've grown to love this sauce and I don't take the sugar hit that comes with traditional or store bought sauces.

Once I arrived home today cranked up my stove top grill pan, oiled it good and place the chicken skin side down on the hot grill pan and started in on an experiment with cauliflower. Once the chicken had a good carmelization on it, turn it over an let it finish cooking, I placed a lid over the top that doesn't fit tight, you don't want it to steam the chicken, but you want to hold in some of the heat so it cooks clear though without drying out.

For a sidedish to go with the chicken I spent some time nosing around on Pinterest I found a recipe for a cauliflower couscous which set off an experiment that turned out to be something pretty yummy.

I decided to take the idea of the couscous (http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-cauliflower-couscous-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-203344?crlt.pid=camp.7yazCHPemZsL#recipe) and try the idea of making it into a fried "rice". So following the recipe to prepare the cauliflower, I chopped up half a yellow onion and sauteed it half a stick of butter until softened. I added the cauliflower to the pan and continued to stir and allowed it to start to brown in the pan. I did need to add the remaining 1/2 a stick of butter as it continued to brown. I thinly sliced a couple of green onions and chopped up some celantro I tossed with the brown "rice". At this point remove from the heat and season with gluten free Tamiri sauce to taste and serve.

So this is my restart, I loved being back in the kitchen doing something fun tonight, and now I need  to go pull something from the freezer for tomorrow and get back to one of my other projects. 
One thing that has not changed is my attitude - Never stop playing with your food!