Pot Roast

I made pot roast for the first time. I used a 3 lb beef rump roast. I untied it and then realized why it was tied...because it was not all one piece. So it might have been better roasted because of that. But I attempted to sear it anyway and them put some water in with ti until it was about an inch from the top of the meat. Then I put cabbage wedges in the water, and a quartered onion (though I should have used 2 onions and only half a cabbage). Also added carrots, and two potatoes on top. I made sure that the cabbage was submerged, and everything else was not really submerged (except meat). It turned out well. I added herbs de province near the end. I put it in my 8 quart tri-ply steel pot and simmered 4 hours or so.

Colcannon

So I started out with this recipe http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/colcannon/ but cooked the cabbage as described in this one: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fabulous-colcannon-mashed-potatoes-and-cabbage/

So I made mashed potatoes with 2.25 lb of gold potatoes, with a little butter and some milk. Meanwhile I cooked 1/3 head of an extremely large cabbage in a skillet as described in allrecipes. I used bacon grease and a little garlic powder. I should have added more water too, as the spiny pieces were too crunchy. But the end result was good. I ate it with leftover gravy and then with butter another time, and both were good.

David said it might have been a 4 if the cabbage had been fully cooked.

Tikka Masala Chicken Wings

This was interesting. The wings did not stay crisp after putting the sauce on them. The few I kept dry were much crispier, so I'm not sure if that's a problem with wings in general or just this prep method. Anyway, they were good. Flipping the wings did not work very well though, and the skin came off partially for some of them. So I wouldn't flip if I make this again. Just put skin side up from the start.

This was from the Primal Cravings Cookbook. Also, I ate half the wings. there were about 2.5 lbs in all, so this recipe definitely does not serve 6. I would say 1 lb of wings per person is more reasonable.

Baba Ghanoush Gratin

This is another from Primal Cravings. It did not turn out well. In fact, I threw most of it out. It might have worked out better if the eggplant was sliced at 1/2 inch (and not 1 inch as the book says to do). Also, pureeing the onions was a big mistake. It was an overwhelming amount of thick pink sauce. I think pureeing a small portion might have been ok if the rest was left chunky.

David doesn't like eggplant very much anyway, and this dish was like chewy half cooked eggplant with pink puree. It was pretty awful.

Chicken Pad Thai with zucchini noodles

This is another recipe from primal cravings. I subbed chicken for shrimp since David hates it. I used my julienne peeler to slice noodles from a zucchini. It turned out really great. I was surprised how well. There wasn't enough noodle though. I might add some rice noodles next time.

David rated this 4.138 and I rounded up.

Crawfish (or Bay Scallop) Étouffée

From Primal Craving Cookbook, Originally Crawfish Étouffée, but crawfish were way expensive so I made it with bay scallops.

This was surprisingly good. I was skeptical at first, but it wasn't too spicy or anything. I used trader joes chili sauce for the hot sauce. We had it over rice, since we didn't have the suggested pairing of mashed celery root.

David thought the scallops were fine, or rather, "not bad". Which is a green light for me to continue to use it:)

This took me like an hour to make though. I'm sure it would be faster the 2nd time. Also, I just used diced tomatoes that i used the immersion blender on for a little. And I used 4 tbsp of the trader joes gluten free flour mix instead of potato flour. 2 tbsp was not enough, but it might have been had I used potato flour.

Gyro Taco Salad & Tzatziki Guacamole

http://www.health-bent.com/salads/paleo-gyro-taco-salad-tzatziki-guacamole
This is another from Primal Cravings cookbook (which I love, and it also has calorie info in it which is great!). Instead of a salad I served it with flour tortillas, with lettuce as one of the things to go inside. (gf for me though! udi's large gf tortillas works so well.)

I halved the recipe thinking it would be a lot, but we ate up most of it. Next time I will make the whole recipe using 2 lbs of ground lamb so there will be leftovers.

The guacamole was good, but I may try it with a yogurt tzatziki sauce instead next time, like maybe this one.

Also, David rated this a 4.2 but i rounded up:)

Napa Cabbage Salad

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/napa-cabbage-salad
Napa Cabbage Salad

This recipe was ok. Not enough flavor.

Coconut Shrimp Cakes

This recipe is from the Primal Cravings cookbook.

David normally does not like the texture of shrimp, but pureed in this way he thought it was doable. The cod masked the flavor too.

This recipe made 15 cakes, but I was short a 1/4 lb of shrimp so it probably would have made 2 or 3 more. I used a lot of coconut oil in the pan, I don't even know how much. I put it on 6.5 heat, and later turned it up to 7. I don't think my seafood was dry enough before I blended it up, because there was some extra liquid that probably made the mixture too soft and hard to roll up. The pineapple salsa was good on top. I used a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple that I'd drained the juice from.

This was a bit too labor intensive and took way more than 3-4 minutes per side to get brown. Maybe my heat was too low, but 7 will burn pancakes so I usually stay below it. When it was done there wasn't much oil in the pan, which meant it was all sucked up into the cakes. I wonder if any cooking oil was computed into the calorie index at the back. Either way, these were good but probably won't make the same way again.

I used Trader Joes Cod Pieces (which is a hilarious name) for this recipe.

I just found this recipe online for it: http://pilateswithpaige.blogspot.com/2013/09/coconut-shrimp-cakes.html And they recommend using trader joes pineapple salsa. I will totally do that instead next time.

Notes for next time: dry fish and shrimp, and make smaller cakes. Also, use cast iron skillet and just coat the bottom with coconut oil. My big red skillet made the oil pool in an O shape.

French Vinaigrette

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/French-Vinaigrette-233578

This seemed to work fine. I think I prefer 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil though.

NYTimes No-Knead Bread

http://www.astackofdishes.com/the-famous-ny-times-no-knead-bread/ (1.5 c recommendation comes from here)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?_r=0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU

Only use 1.5 cups (warm) water, not the 1 5/8 written in the ny recipe. I made it twice, and it was easier to handle with just 1.5 cups. Also, if you are unable to put it into the oven after the 2 hrs second rise, JUST WAIT until you can. I punched mine down the first time and it did not recover in the next 3 hours, so it turned out too dense. Also, You'll need an EXTREMELY floury hand to do the folding. It's really extremely wet dough still.

I got a ton of compliments on this bread. I took it to a baby shower and served it with soup. I put it together friday  morning, then let it rise until saturday morning. I did the 2 hour second rise, and used an oval 5 quart cast iron pot/lid that I got from IKEA. (Which, is not doing too great as a le creuset knockoff since the finish is kinda iffy and looks rusty a little bit now. But worked just fine in this recipe!) I used cornmeal when the recipe suggested it, and it helped prevent the towel from sticking to the bread, during 2nd rise, as well as giving it a better finished look. Also, who wants to eat toasted flour? not me. (or not me if i weren't still gluten free).

Cuban Burger

Cuban Burger from Primal Cravings p 94

These were fantastic. The plantains should be left in water until ready to be smashed, as they dried out and did not smash well otherwise.