Dinners!

   Many have been asking recipes for the dinners we've been eating lately so I'll just share the latest we've tried with some other combo ideas for y'all! First off, I'm always asked where we grocery shop. Thanks to Fresh Thyme's grand opening, that is primarily where I shop now. However there are some things that we just consume so much of that I'll still occasionally go to Sams Club/Costco or Payless depending on what it is. Lately, we've been getting our grass fed beef from Fresh Thyme. But if you can't stand the crowds, you can get it from Payless or buy local from places like Sheepdog Farms in West Lafayette.

   We typically will have grass-fed beef or poultry throughout the week, occasionally adding in fish for variety. Funny story: last week we had salmon with cauliflower rice. I told my daughter to try the fish because it was really yummy. She was brave and tried it, but wasn't a fan. Calling it "fish", really threw her off. After all, I don't tell her to eat "cow", yet she loves beef. Now all she wants to do is try and swallow her toy "Flounder & Ariel." Kid's are so concrete and sensitive to what we tell them. I've been finding that it is all about presentation and careful wording when introducing toddlers to new healthy stuff!

  As most of you know, my husband does 99% of the cooking (when he's not working 7 days a week). Based off of his delicious meals, I would have to say that beef is the most versatile! There's so many different meals you can make with this one and have a totally different flavor every time. My daughter and I looove beef!

We love, love mexican food and miss the awesome fajitas he used to make. So he did this dinner for me a couple weeks ago.

It was one of those meals that was so good, I wished the plate would magically keep refilling itself. He just used some chia seed salsa he found at the grocery, grass fed beef and seasonings to create the meat portion. As for the veggies and sweet potatoes, we keep it plain and simple. 

Meat:

-1 lb grass-fed ground beef

-spicy salsa 

-seasonings (we use these, they make every dish perfect)

   Put beef on a skillet on medium heat, sprinkle in the seasonings of your choice. Once the meat begins to brown, add in about 1/2 cup of the salsa and continue to cook (at low to med heat, as a higher heat may burn the salsa) until all the meat is browned evenly. 

Sweet Potatoes:

-4-5 sweet potatoes diced

-coconut oil

-sea salt

   Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel (optional-I'll usually peel the skin off for my daughter) and dice sweet potatoes into small cubes. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle sea salt onto the paper. Toss potatoes onto cookie sheet. Put into oven and set timer for 15 min. After 15 min, take a spatula or spoon with a chunk (1 tbsp or 2) of coconut oil on it, and stir up the potatoes until the coconut oil melts off of the spoon. Put back into oven and let it cook for another 15-20 min, stirring in 15 min intervals until all of the potatoes look golden and crispy. (Sometimes we will take them out early because our daughter prefers them soft vs. crispy. Easier for her to chew up!) 

Veggies:

-bag of vegetable medley

-seasonings

   In a large stove pot with fitted lid, fill the pot with water until the bottom is covered in a puddle of water. Add vegetables and seasonings, or just chop some fresh garlic into the pot. Cover with lid and cook on low heat until the vegetables turn bright and vibrant. 

The vegetables are a staple to almost every dinner of ours, we just change the meat up as variety! This also makes food prepping for the week easier. 

Hope you enjoy this post! This is a pretty generalized idea of what we eat on a day-to-day basis. It's a lot of cleanup cooking for every meal, but once you get into the habit of doing so...it's worth it! Eat good, feel good!