Personal Chef

Right hand cheekman.

I've been busy lately. Super duper uber ridiculously busy. Yes, even sometimes I, Little Miss Sweet Cheek, needs to have someone cook dinner for me! So I decided to "hire" my crock pot. With a bit of preparation the night before, I filled up the pot with delicious meats and veggies, put it on a low heat in the morning, let it cook all day while I was out and came home to a freshly cooked and ready to serve feast! If only my crock pot could do the dishes too!

Stuffed Peppers

1 pound beef

1 pound sweet italian sausage, minus the casing

4 large green peppers

1 large onion

2 carrots

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1/2 head of cauliflower

6 ounce can of tomato paste

1 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the tops of the peppers and clean the seeds out.

Arrange peppers in the crock pot standing up and make sure they fit securely.

Grate onion, carrots, garlic and cauliflower in the food processor or just chop them into small pieces with a knife if you don’t have a food processor.

In a big bowl, combine ground meats, chopped vegetables, seasonings and tomato paste.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the peppers with the mixture and arrange leftover meat mixture between and under the peppers. Add half a cup of water over and around the peppers, cover and cook on low for at least 8 hours and up to 10.

If you don’t have your own "personal chef", this dish can be cooked in the oven, covered, for 1-2 hours.

Enjoy!

Inspired by Mark's Daily Apple.

Take Two- Egg Chick muffins!

Recipe inspired by the paleoplan.com

The last egg chick muffins were such a hit, I figured lets try them again. I included some of my favorite breakfast foods in the mix and came out with something quite tasty. These are easy to carry with you and don't take long to prepare!

What you will need:

6 slices of uncured thick Bacon

5-6 Eggs

1 small sweet potato

salt and pepper to taste

(feel free to spice these up with other herbs or spices, you could even add vegetable, I just kept it simple for my first go around)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Step one: Peel your sweet potatoes and slice into 1/2 inch slices and boil for about 10 min until fork tender. slice at least 6 slices.

Step two: While potatoes are cooking, bake your bacon slices in the oven for appx. 10 min, they will not be completely done. Take them out and let cool so you can handle them safely.

Step three: Whisk eggs together and add salt and pepper if you like.

Step Four: When bacon is cool line muffin tin with 1 slice of bacon per cup.

Step Five: Take a slice of sweet potato and place one in the bottom of each cup.

Step Six: Fill the remainder of cups with egg mix

Step seven: Bake in oven at 350 for 15-20min, until egg is firm in the center and outside of bacon is crisp.

Done!

No need to grease the pan, bacon takes care of that.

• Fill any empty muffin cups with water to protect pan.
• Depending on egg size the amount of muffins you make will vary.
• sweet potatoes and bacon can be prepped in advance.

Bring it.

Get your fix before the first!

It's time again for another Sweet Cheeks HQ food challenge!! We're giving up grains this time for TWO WEEKS!!! I can just hear you now...

"Two weeks! That's too long, I can't do it."

"It's over Easter weekends, no way!"

"I need my cookiessssssssss!!!"

Get a hold of yourself Sweet Cheekers!!! It's just temporary. You'll live, I promise! Okay, now that that's over...

What is the challenge? For the No Grains Challenge cut ALL grains out of your diet.

This includes wheat and all processed foods made with wheat or wheat flour, rye and all processed foods made with rye, barley, rice, oats and corn.

Why are we challenging you to this? We want you to experience first hand how it feels to live a grain free lifestyle. We could tell you till we're blue in the cheeks how clean, energized, less bloated, less sluggish, less food comas, less gassy and on and on and on living this way makes US feel, but we want YOU to feel this way! We want YOU to wake up perky and fit into your skinny jeans! We want YOU to be gas free! We want YOU to give our no grains challenge a go!!

Post to comments if you'll be joining us. Starts April 1st (and that's no Fool's Joke!)

Show me some skin!

Not fuzzy.

"You don't eat the skin?!" Shirley Brown exclaimed with her eyes open and mouth agape.

"Um, no, I never have, it's fuzzy." I replied to my roomie as I dug into a kiwi with a spoon, while she on the other hand was chomping it like a grape!

"I'm surprised, I woulda pegged you for a skin eating gal" she said.

And she's right, I do eat the skins on almost all fruits and veggies, but a kiwi Shirley!??! You weirdo. ; )

But here's a recipe you can and I did eat the skins on! Baked until taste-y and tender, you can cut through these skins with just your fork!

Spicy Stuffed Eggplants

2 large eggplants

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onion, chopped

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

8 oz ground beef

1/2 cup almond flour

salt and pepper to taste


Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and with a spoon, remove pulp (and set pulp aside) to leave a scooped-shell about ½ inch thick. Chop up the eggplant pulp and leave to the side. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Place the eggplant shells cut-side down and cook for 6 minutes. Then transfer shells to a cookie sheet with sides or other oven safe dish of the sort.

Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to skillet and sauté onions and garlic for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add eggplant pulp, tomatoes, thyme, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste and cook over medium-high heat until the majority of the moisture evaporates, which is about 30 minutes, and you are left with a stew-like mixture.

As the eggplant stew is cooking, brown the beef in a separate skillet. If you'd like to make this dish vegetarian, skip the meat! Now is also the time to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Once the eggplant mixture is finished, take off the heat and mix in the cooked beef. Stuff the eggplant shells with the stew mixture, sprinkle the tops with almond flour and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Inspired by Marks Daily Apple.

Roasted ARTichokes! and the NEXT CHALLENGE

My clients often hear me ask this question: What did you eat today? I ask them this to find out what is going on in their diet, also because I love talking about food and often get inspired after conversations. here is a little recap:

Shirley: What did you eat for breakfast today?

Client: Oatmeal

Shirley: Just oatmeal?

Client: I had artichoke later.

Shirley: An artichoke isn't protein. I want you to have a little protein when you eat breakfast.

Client: I had some legumes and prosciutto too.

Shirley: hmmmm, how did you eat your artichoke?

Client: I roasted it, it's the only way to eat them, full of garlic and olive oil!

Shirley: Wow, that sounds good, can I get the recipe?

Client: Sure, what you do is........

My client then explains the recipe as he proceeds to rest and avoid the next exercise.

Shirley: You still have 10 push ups left

Client: OH man... You never let me slide.

So, Wednesday I picked up a couple artichokes from the farmers market and decided to roast them.

What you'll need:

2 Fresh artichokes (or more)

1 head of garlic

olive oil

sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Chop the stem and top off the artichokes. Leave a small base and clip the tops of the leaves with scissors. Rinse the artichokes and let the water drain out.

3. While artichokes are draining, peel the garlic and chop off the tops of clove.

4. Stuff the artichokes with garlic in between the leaves and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil sprinkle with a small amount of salt.

5. Place upright in pan and cover with foil. Roast in oven for1 hour and 20 minutes, until garlic is tender!

I just ate my artichoke and it was amazing! It has been a long time since I had an artichoke, I'll make these again for sure!

------------------------------------------------------

Now onto the Challenge:

Get yourself ready for the next Sweet Cheeks Challenge........ NO GRAINS.

What is it? No grains for one week!

When? Starts April 1st

Who? YOU.... and only YOU!

Short and simple: Cut out all grains in your diet

wheat and all processed foods made with wheat or wheat flour, rye and all processed foods made with rye, barley, rice, oats and corn.

More info to come later!

Blue Chicken.

Do not adjust your screen colors.

I would not recommend cooking this dish for any sort of important business lunch or dinner party, and I would not recommend bringing this as your lunch out in public because you will get A LOT of funny looks! Yes my meat is blue. No it is not shark or eel or pork chops gone bad, it's chicken. Blue chicken. I cooked it with berries, it turned blue. Looks weird, tastes good, so what's a gal to do?!

Chicken with Berries and Kale

1 ½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped

1 16 oz bag frozen berries (I used a bag of mixed berries from Trader Joes, but you could use cherries or blueberries or any berry you like!)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 bunch kale, chopped

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add shallots and saute for one minute.

Add berries, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes, until berries are no longer frozen. Add balsamic vinegar and mustard, then stir in kale.

Add chicken to skillet, cover and cook over med heat for 6 minutes, then flip chicken and cover and cook for 6 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and kale has wilted.

Enjoy!

Inspired by Elana's Pantry.

Easier done than said.

Maximum taste with minimal effort.

Easier SAID than done: Fran (Duh.)

Laundry (Ugh.)

Wall balls (Ouch!)

Balancing your checkbook (Ummm?)

Not going on Facebook 500 times a day (Oops!)

Not swearing (*$#@!)

Trying not to laugh when someone trips (Snort!)

Not thinking you are better than your friend because you beat them by 15 seconds in the workout (Uh huh!)

Chalking your hands without getting some on the floor (Doh!)

Muscle ups

Muscle ups

Muscle ups (Grrrr...)

Calling your friends instead of texting them (Awww.)

Brushing your teeth before your 6am workout (Blah!)

Going to a 6am workout (Yaaaawn...)

Easier DONE than said: Paleo fish tacos (Mmmmmmmmm.)

Paleo Fish Tacos

1-2 pounds of white fish, I used cod, cut into strips

1 egg

1 cup of almond meal

1 avocado, diced

1 tomato, diced

1 lemon

A bunch of big whole romaine leaves

From Trader Joes: Bag of broccoli slaw

Salsa Athentica (Does not contain sugar)

This recipe requires minimal cooking and mostly putting everything together.

Whisk the egg in a small bowl. Put the almond meal in another small bowl. Dip the fish strips into the egg and then the almond meal. Cook the "breaded" fish in a skillet with some oil (I used coconut - delicious!) on medium high heat for about 5-6 minutes on either side, or until fish is cooked through.

Put a romaine leaf on a plate and construct your taco! Add broccoli slaw, avocado, tomato, fish, salsa and a squeeze of lemon, or whatever else you like on your fish tacos.

Grab some napkins and dig in!

Enjoy!

Where would I be without you?!

Freshly sampled.

Momma Sweet Cheeks visited me last weekend. It was her birthday recently and my beautiful Mom is 59! You can thank my Momma for making me into the cook I am today. It all began back in 'da day, in the hills of New Hampshire, in the kitchen with Momma Sweet Cheeks...

Of course she got to indulge in some Sweet Cheeks home cooking for her birthday. And no celebration is complete without dessert!

Gluten Free Plum Pear Crisp

2 cups almond flour/meal

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 peaches, sliced

5 plums, sliced

1/2 cup slivered almonds or chopped walnuts or both!

1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine almond flour, sea salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a smaller bowl combine coconut oil, agave nectar and vanilla. Stir wet ingredients into dry. Make sure you combine the wet and dry ingredients separately first for this recipe. Sometimes I skip this step and add everything all together in one bowl, but don't skip it this time because the coconut oil is impossible to mix with the dry ingredients on its own.

Mix peaches, plums, nuts and raisins together and then place into an 8x8" baking dish. Sprinkle/spread crumble mixture over the top.

Cover crisp with tin foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the tin foil and bake for 10 minutes more to brown the topping.

Enjoy this delicious crisp hot right out of the oven!

Love you Mom!

Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash

Recently at the farmers market I've been looking for new foods to try and I spotted these little guys! Sweet Dumpling squash. They are about the cutest thing I've ever seen and I just had to have one! I talked to the lady a bit about them and she said I could throw them in the oven whole and bake them, she also suggested I could serve them filled with a cream soup. These both sounded wonderful but I wanted to stuff my little guy with some protein! I have tried them a couple times and have found tonight to be the best (so far). They are really good and easy to pack in a lunch, just add a side of greens and you are good to go!

What you'll need:

4 sweet dumpling squash

1 package ground beef- about a pound

1 onion chopped

1/4 c chopped dried cranberries

1/3 c chopped dried apricots

1/4 c chopped pecans

1 t thyme

1 t oregano

salt, pepper and olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Chop tops of squashes and scoop out seeds, place in baking dish and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil- place tops next to squash while baking

Bake in oven for 20 minutes

While squash is baking saute onions for a few minutes and add ground beef, apricots, cranberries, pecans and seasoning. Do not fully cook mixture.

Remove squash from oven, stuff with ground beef mixture and put back in the oven ( you could pre-cook squash a day ahead, just need to cook a little longer to fully heat it when stuffed.)

Bake in oven for another 15-20 minutes(this depend on the size of your sweet dumpling squash) tops should be slightly browned and toasty

Done!

These guys are too cute to pass up! Enjoy.

Sweet Cheek Egg Chick Muffins.

Eat your heart out Ronald McDonald.

You roll over in bed and open up your eyes to see the clock reading 45 minutes past when you set your alarm! Crap. You swear you only closed your eyes for a second! You jump out of bed, trip on your shoes you left on the floor and fall head first into the closet door! You now have a headache as you stumble into the bathroom so you can quickly flatten your hair and wash your face...crap. Soap in your eye!!! You blindly stumble into your room, pull on your pants and shirt, pull up your socks...seriously?! Crap again. Your big toe punched through the top of your sock and they were your last clean pair. As you run toward the door to leave you pass through the kitchen and tear open the fridge in hopes of something quick to grab cause your starving and ... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, low and behold, Sweet Cheek Egg Chick Muffins to-go ... all is right in your world again.

Always eat breakfast, now you have no excuses.

6 eggs, cracked open and whisked togther

4 slices bacon, cooked and cut or crumbled

1 cup your favorite veggies diced – I used asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes

1/8 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 6 muffin tins with paper baking cups.

In a bowl add eggs, bacon, vegetables, pepper and sea salt (optional) together, mixing well.

Spoon the egg batter into the muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until a knife inserted into the center of an egg muffin comes out clean.

Eat some hot and save the rest for breakfast on the go!