Maple Bacon Sausage Meatballs

I made these one evening and they were such a hit that I didn't even get photos of them.  The taste-tester has asked for these 2 more times, and says they need to be a regular item on our weekly menu.  These came from PaleOMG.com, a great place to have food-gasms.  seriously.  Juli's food looks amazing and tastes that way too.

Breakfast (Anytime) Bacon and Maple Meatballs

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1lb breakfast sausage (no sugar added)

1 sweet potato

½ yellow onion, peeled

2 tablespoons maple syrup

5-6 slices of bacon

1 garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Place your bacon slices in a pan over medium heat. Cook on both sides until crispy, place on a paper towel to soak up the excess fat and cool, then dice up into small pieces that would fit well in meatballs. 

3. Shred your sweet potato.  I use the regular cheese grater, since we used to eat a LOT of cheese, and don't eat much anymore, it would collect dust if I didn't!  

4.  Then shred your onion in the same container with the sweet potato that was shredded. (or you can finely chop these... creates less mess and fewer tears)

5.  Add your sweet potato and yellow onion to a bowl along with your breakfast sausage, maple syrup, garlic clove, diced bacon, and salt and pepper and mix well. Your hands are your best tools.

6. Make your meatballs. (I make mine about the size of a golf ball) Roll the balls in your hands and place on a baking sheet/baking dish. 

7. Repeat until all your ingredients are gone.

8.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until meatballs are golden brown and completely cooked through. Be sure to check one before you turn the oven off!

Note: Juli's recipe calls for Mushrooms, as we don't eat those in our home, they were left out.  You could try them.  I can't imagine it would taste good.  But then Juli is a pretty great chef so you can trust her, if you eat mushrooms.

Buffalo Chicken Egg Cups

So a friend and I are doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox (21DSD).  We planned for a week and read the book by Diane Sanfilipo and as of Monday, we're challenging ourselves.  I must admit that some moments are easier than others in these first few days.  Sitting at work where there is a TON of sweet things (main reason we're doing this, aside from detoxing the sugar from ourselves) is probably the hardest part of each day and there are 9 hours of hard!   What was I thinking of cutting out sugar in the middle of my favorite season (Rhubarb season)... I will be freezing a metric ton so I can enjoy the rest of the year!  Enough of that... because I could probably whine a bit longer about all of me desires for coconut ice cream and raspberries and rhubarb.

Ok on to this great recipe.  In looking for 21DSD friendly recipes, I started at BalancedBites to see what Diane had posted.  I found these!  I actually followed the directions exactly as well, which hardly ever happens, and they turned out amazing, RC even said so...

Buffalo Chicken Egg Cups


PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOKING TIME: 60 minutes
YIELD: 6 egg muffins (2-3 servings)

Ingredients:
For the chicken:
3/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breast)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
sea salt & black pepper to taste
1/4 c Tessemae’s Wing Sauce (or use 2 tablespoons of a clean-ingredient hot sauce* + 2 tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil) - I used Frank's Red Hot Wing Sauce, because no self-respecting Buffalonian would use anything else....

For the Egg cups:
6 large eggs, whisked
2 tablespoons green onion/scallion, sliced
sea salt & black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of Frank's (or Tessemae’s) Wing Sauce

Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 425.
2. On a baking pan, arrange the chicken thighs and season with garlic, sea salt, and black pepper.
3. Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Take muffin pan and put a dab (a small chunk) of coconut oil in the bottom of each cup.  When the chicken is finished baking, place the muffin pan in the oven to melt the oil.  Remove pan once you're ready to fill them with the egg mixture.  The oil will make the egg cups come out wonderfully with little headache and no need for the parchment cups as recommended below.  Or use the parchment liners....  Your choice.
5. Place the cooked chicken thighs into a large mixing bowl and shred with two forks. Pour the wing sauce over the chicken and toss to combine and set it aside.
6. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, wing sauce, green onion, sea salt, and black pepper.
7. Pour the egg mixture into oiled or parchment cup lined (these are the only type of liners I recommend as nothing sticks to them, guaranteed!) muffin tins to fill them approximately halfway.
8. Gently spoon about 2oz of the shredded chicken into each muffin cup so that it’s evenly distributed. Serve any extra chicken alongside the cooked muffins.
9. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the muffins rise and become golden brown around the edges.

Stacked Pot Planter

In the cafe it is always nice to have fresh herbs, and it gets rather expensive to buy a pack and then only need a sprig or two.  So we put in two Stacked Pot Planters into the garden.  This is a super easy way to grow herbs and it doesn't take up a ton of space if that's a concern of yours.  Space is not our issue... Instead we have lovely chickens who seem to think that anything I plant was put there for them to dig up!  See tulip bulbs I planted, daffodil bulbs, calla-lilly bulbs, and cannas.  Oh, and they tore up the Hostas I transplanted as well.. sooo into pots went the herbs.

Supplies:

4 foot piece of rebar (reinforcing bar)

4-5 clay pots with holes in the bottom

potting soil

4-5 plants

hand shovel

Directions:

1. Place the rebar in the location you'd like.  I used a rubber mallet to make sure it was secure in the ground.  If you're placing this in a larger planter pot, you want to be sure that the pot has some good weight to it.  You don't want a strong wind to come and blow the tower over.

2. Slide the clay pots onto the rebar.  At this point you will alternate which side they lean to.  Add pots until the rebar is covered/filled.

3. Fill pots with potting soil.

4. Plant your plants or seeds according to the directions.

5. Enjoy your new decorative and useful planter.

You can see in the photo below the two planters in the garden.  They look rather small here, but they stand about 3 and a half feet tall.

Building a Fence Part 1: Move Deck

In order to keep the chickens and the dogs in the yard, we're installing a fence.  Before we can place any hole though, we must move the deck that was attached to the garage off the side of the house, where there is NO door, to the backyard, where there will be a door installed as well as additional deck added on. 

If you've ever done a home-maintenance project you'll know there are logical steps to take in order to do this.  We do NOT usually follow these, and this case is NO exception.  Now, the other question one might ask is, What ARE the correct steps to follow to move a deck?  my answer....

I don't know but I'm guessing that attaching the deck to the back of the pick up are not part of the process, nor is pulling the garage wall away from the structure.... 

We removed the railings once we realized that the deck was a little too heavy to simply drag completely assembled into the backyard.

 But in the end the deck was moved to the backyard, near where the door and additional decking will be installed.  The backyard of the cafe will be a great place to sip on some sun-tea and enjoy a paleo raspberry muffin, or grill up some BBQ chicken  Pork.



And the chickens helped with the excavation, in that they looked for any fresh bugs that might have been hiding under the deck.    The space is NOW ready for fence installation.

Maple Mustard Pork Chops

Wednesday are usually my crock-pot day.  I pop something in the crock-pot and then when I get back to the cafe after a long day at work and then time at the gym, there is NOTHING better than dinner waiting.  That being said, clearly I did not get anything in the crock-pot before I headed out the door this morning...  So there was nothing waiting to be devoured by the hungry masses, I mean the taste-tester and myself.  The Taste-tester had not even fed the dogs by the time I had gotten back...  At 8:33, I looked in the refrigerator to see what I could whip up, and I mean whip up fast!  I mean there were still evening chores to be done...  

I had thrown pork chops in the defrosting bin (also known as the crisper - but since we eat so MANY vegetables they don't fit in there and it's a food safety issue to have the raw vegetable below raw meat, we've switched them.  All raw fruits and vegetables ABOVE any uncooked meats (which now are housed in the lowest drawer in the fridge).  Plus, now fruits and veggies can't hide and become pools of discernible, slimy mush (ack!).  Anyways, I digress, back to what I really ended up making since there was nothing waiting for me in the Crock-pot.

Maple-Mustard Pork Chops with Kale!  It was wonderful and simple.

Ingredients:

1 TBS Coconut oil (or other oil for browning meat)

4 Pork chops (boneless is what I used, but use what you got)

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup white cooking wine

1/4 maple syrup

2 TBS spicy brown mustard

2 cups Kale (despined)

Directions: 

Heat pan over medium to medium-high heat  You want to get a good sear on the meat.

While the meat is browning, de-spine the Kale and cut/shop into smaller, bite-size pieces.    

Mix together the wine, maple syrup, and mustard to make the simmer liquid.  

Once the meat is browned, but not fully cooked through, pour over the meat and reduce heat to medium-low.  

Then add the Kale over top and place a cover on the plan.  

Simmer on medium-low for about  8-10 minutes.  

When the kale is wilted and meat is cooked through, mix kale into the sauce and serve.  

Enjoy!  

(Had there been more time, we would have had another vegetable with this)