Category Archives: Meats

Slow Cooker Italian(ish) Meatballs – Grain Free

Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs

I Love meatballs, and I love my slow cooker so these were a win-win! I’ve never been a huge fan of cooked spinach so if you aren’t either I would maybe sub out the spinach for cabbage or some other vegetable that holds up well in the slow cooker. My kids weren’t too fond of the spinach either, but I think the cabbage will be a little more appealing to their little eyes ;) The taste of the meatball was great though and went nicely with the cabbage slaw I made for a side dish! Hope you enjoy! Continue reading

Carne Asada

It’s late January and my kids decided today that they wanted to watch a Christmas movie?! So what better recipe to post than what we had for dinner over the holidays, to be honest I don’t remember which one it was, Christmas or New Years? They were kind of a blur. Anyway, the meat in this recipe turned out amazing!! We had them with tortillas, but they could easily be a Paleo friendly meal; just use romaine lettuce for a wrap, or blanch a cabbage leaf, or you can add lettuce or cabbage and make a Carne Asada salad. I will be making this recipe again! Continue reading

Simple Baked Rockfish

We try to eat fish at least once or twice a week in our home. Sometimes the kids love it, and sometimes (a few of the kids) not so much. This fish turned out great, it was light and flaky, and we made our own tartar sauce to eat with it and it was superb! Hope you enjoy it too!

Simple Baked Rockfish

Simple Baked Rockfish Continue reading

Kids LOVE Meatloaf, at least mine do…now.

Paleo Meatloaf and Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Since Chris and I have started eating “Paleo about a month and a half ago, we have slowly brought the kids one board. For the most part their lunches are the same most days, but they don’t eat box cereal any more and they eat a lot more eggs/pancakes (I know, pancakes aren’t paleo, we’re getting there:). But because I don’t plan to make two meals for the kids/mom/Chris and I, we ALL eat paleo friendly meals for dinner. So for the most part we leave the bread/carbs off the dinner table. And the kids have been adjusting pretty well, there have been a few complaints, but they complained sometimes before so we’re not doing to bad. Continue reading

Coconut Chicken Chili

Coconut Chicken Chili

I made this tonight for the family and everybody seemed to love it! I got the idea from the Coconut Chicken Chili recipe in the January 2010 edition of Better Homes and Gardens but I didn’t have a few of the ingredients and I changed it up a bit :) I actually had some cooked chicken on hand and added that to the sauteed onions and spice mixture which worked great! The flavor resembles a bit of a Thai food style, very savory! One we will try again, hope you like it too!

Coconut Chicken Chili
Ingredients

12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1-1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. Itallian seasoning or dried basil
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 14-oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbsp. peanut butter
1 15- to 19-oz. can beans (I used pinto), rinsed and drained
3 medium carrots, shredded
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 medium green onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
Hot cooked jasmine rice
Fresh cilantro and sliced jalapeños (optional)

Directions

1. In large saucepan cook chicken, onion, chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in hot oil over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute more. Stir in coconut milk, peanut butter, and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, stir occasionally.

2. Stir in beans, carrots, celery, green onion, garlic, and chopped cilantro. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Serve with rice. Top with basil leaves and sliced jalapeños. Makes 4 (1-3/4-cup) servings.

Salmon Salad Spread

Salmon Salad Spread

The other night I made Batter Fried Fish with some salmon that I bought from Costco. I knew that i would have too much for our family to eat if I made it all up.  I didn’t want the salmon to go to waste, I love my chickens but I don’t want to feed them expensive salmon! So I froze about half of the salmon to use later. Tonight I tried a new, to me, recipe.Knowing that this recipe was a little bit out there for the kids, at least the boys, I decided it would be easy to make them something similar, in order to let us try something a little different without having to fight with them about trying something new. If you know me, you know that I am NOT a short order cook, but I know my kids limitations, and I know when I’m feeling up to pushing them to try a new dish :) I decided tonight was not the night for that!

Open-Faced Egg Salad Sandwich Continue reading

Batter Fried Fish

Batter Fried Fish

Last Saturday my two-year-old daughter, Guenna, and I went to the store to get some donuts for the family, a Saturday morning treat. She cracks me up! We get into the car and she did not stop talking the entire time we were on our little date! Anyway, after we picked up our donuts (which she wanted to eat before we purchased), we were walking to the check out and I spotted the fish and got a crazy idea, I should make some batter fried fish. I’ve never made it before but my mom was coming over and I thought she could help me. So I bought some fish, and headed home. A little unsure that my plans would turn out, and even more unsure that my kids would like the fish.

We found a recipe for the batter and got it started when we realized that it called for 3/4 cup flat beer. Hmmm, we have some beer but it’s not flat. And we didn’t know how to flatten it quickly, anyone know the trick? So we subbed 3/4 cup milk and added 2 teaspoons of baking powder, the batter was perfect! Yeah! And the kids loved the fish, Guenna thought it was corn of all things! The boys especially loved the batter but they ate the fish as well. So it was a successful experiment. I love it when it when my experiments actually turn out :)  So now I have another recipe to add to my, “the family likes this one” list!

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Jambalaya

Jambalaya

I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for Jambalaya for  some time now, so here it is, finally! I was pretty impressed with the flavor in this recipe. We are not huge on really spicy foods, especially because we want to make it enjoyable and kid-friendly. You can always add more spices or use spicier sausage, I think we used Italian sausage which turned out to be a little too spicy for most of our kids, we will use something even more mild next time. Other than that, this dish turned out to be a great tasty family meal that we all enjoyed.

Jambalaya

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Meat Balls – Recipe and video

Before last week, I had never made meatballs. Can you believe that? I don’t know why that surprises me but somehow it does. Meatballs. Hmmm. The kids and I had a fun time making meatballs for the first time, together.

Aidan helping me make meatloaf from Christian Burns on Vimeo

Thanks so much Laura for the meatball recipe. They were tasty, and the kids really liked them. I think next I will add some other spices, like Italian to add just a little more flavor. Meatballs are great to have in the freezer, something quick to add to spaghetti to make it a much more exciting meal!

Curry Sauce with Chicken and Rice Recipe

Thai Curry Chicken

Mr. Burns and I love Indian food. One of our favorite Indian restaurants, believe it or not, is in the food court of an outlet mall in Auburn, Washington. Not sure if it’s our favorite because of the taste and quality of the food or if it was because we ate there several times during our courtship, either way, the taste of good Curry Chicken brings back great memories and will always be one of our favorites.

The other night I was feeling creative and decided to try to find a recipe for curry sauce and make my own curry chicken, living on a budget seems to enhance creativity at times. In my searching for a recipe I realized I didn’t have all the ingredients to make authentic curry sauce but I came up with my own rendition of a few quick curry sauce recipes. This is what I came up with and I will say that it turned out surprisingly, delicious! And even Mr. Burns thought it reminded him of that delicious Curry Chicken back in the day :)

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