Curried Meatballs!

I used this recipe last night to cook my first order of ground bison from US Wellness Meats. Let's just say... I will never buy anything else. It was so tender and juicy... I barely had to chew it. Diso was right all along, Ha. This curry recipe complimented it really well and it was HONESTLY super fast to make. Try it out this weekend!

Meatballs

3 lbs ground beef

1 cup finely diced red onion

1 cup apple finely diced

1 egg

2 tablespoons curry powder

½ tablespoon sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, place all of the meatball ingredients and mix well.   using your hands.  Form into meatballs just a little bit bigger than a golf ball and place into a large glass baking dish.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Makes 24 meatballs.  While the meatballs are cooking prepare the sauce!

Curry Sauce

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 tablespoon raw organic honey (optional)

1 tablespoon curry powder

2 tablespoons tomato paste

½ cup chicken broth

In a large skillet saute the garlic in the coconut oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the honey, curry powder, and tomato paste and whisk together.  Add the chicken broth and continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth.  Bring to a simmer.  After the meatballs come out of the oven, add them to the sauce in the skillet and coat well.  Cover and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes.  Serves 6-7.

I found this little gem today on primal-palate.com and my mouth immediately began to salivate. Fancy salads have been a minor obsession lately. Mendocino Farms and Tender Greens being some favorite lunch spots. Check these places out or... make this one at home. So easy and delicious. (duh, there's bacon in it)

Warm Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad

Salad Ingredients:

3 cups peeled and diced sweet potatoes

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 apple diced

8 strips of bacon, diced

2 leeks, thinly sliced

6 oz of fresh baby spinach

Handful of sliced almonds for garnish

Dressing:

¼ cup olive oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp spicy brown mustard (from Trader Joe’s)

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 tbsp of dried basil

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400.  Toss the diced sweet potatoes with the coconut oil and spread evenly on a baking sheet.  Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes.  While the sweet potatoes are baking, cook the diced bacon in a large skillet.  Once the bacon is crispy, add the sliced leeks in with the bacon and saute for another 4-5 minutes.  Put your spinach in a large salad bowl and add the bacon and leek mixture. Toss well, letting the warm bacon wilt the spinach.  Add the apples and sweet potatoes to the salad and toss together.  In a separate bowl whisk together the salad dressing ingredients.  Pour over the salad, mix well and garnish with the sliced almonds.

Hard Work Pays off

I'm a day late, but I just wanted to say congrats to everyone who participated in the IWC Challenge. I'm so excited to see how going paleo/zone has transformed all of you! There are so many great benefits to eating clean food. The goal of this challenge was to help your mind/body get accustomed to eating clean so that you could reap the benefits of being stronger, faster, and healthier.

Before this challenge started, I was eating mostly paleo. Mostly meaning no gluten/dairy/soy because it makes me super sick. BUT...I was consuming way too much sugar (fruit, dark chocolate) trying to compensate for always being hungry.  For this challenge, I cut all of those sugars out. Haven't had one chocolate bar, fruit occasionally (not everyday) and I can totally feel the difference. I have lost a little bit of mid-belly softness, I'm not savagely hungry between meals and I have found that I sleep sooooo much better when sugar is absent in my diet. I have also gotten significantly stronger. Little by little lifting more and more weight. So many PR's since the challenge started.

Food has some crazy effects on the mind/body. I would love to hear your experiences, struggles, victories, PR's, epiphanies with the challenge. On that note, take some time to celebrate your accomplishments. Keeping it clean, of course!

I celebrated last night with a little bit of this goodness... :)