It’s that time again. Seven days behind and 7 days ahead, thinking about how I am going to nourish my family this week. I have a few repeated items this week, but they are so good, easy and nutritious. Apologies for the repetition. Here goes, enjoy!

Paleo Infused Nutrition (PIN) Spaghetti:

Preheat oven at 375F.

Pasta

  • 1 spaghetti squash, cut long-ways with seeds scooped and removed
Place the squash face down on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 375F for 45-55 minutes.

Meatballs

  • 1/2 lb pasture-raised pork, groud
  • 1/2 lb organic grassfed beef, ground
  • 1/3 cup almond meal
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 2 eggs, pasture-raised, free range
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
  • salt/pepper
Mix all of the above ingredients; best done with your hands. Once well-mixed, portion meatballs a little larger than golf balls and place on a foil-covered baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove the meatballs from the oven and place in the pasta sauce for 10-15 minutes, or until the squash is done.
Sauce:
  • 2 4 ounce can organic tomato paste
  • 1 can of organic diced tomatoes
  • 1 tsp garlic
  • 1 Tbsp basil
  • salt/pepper
  • Sliced mushrooms (optional)

Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook on low heat. Finish the directions included with the meatballs and you have yourself a meal.

Chicken Vegetable Soup:

The health benefits of bone broth are surreal. So surreal, I try to have some every week in some shape or another. This week, I cooked up a favorite.

  • 1/2 T of coconut oil, or grassfed butter
  • 1/2 tsp garlic, minced, add more if your prefer
  • 1/2 yellow onion, add more if you want the soup to be sweeter
  • 1 chicken breast, free range, skin and bones
  • 2 drum sticks, free range, skin on, bones in
  • 4 cups, gluten free chicken broth, enough to cover the soup ingredients
  • 7 carrots stalks, chopped
  • 1 celery heart, ~10 stalks,  chopped
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 T rosemary
  • 3 bay leaves
  • Splash of lemon juice
  • sea salt
  • pepper

Directions:

  • Turn slow-cooker on to high. Add coconut oil or butter.
  • Add in the garlic and onion and let it heat up and the flavors marry before adding the chicken (5-8 minutes). Place in the chicken.
  • Begin chopping and prepping all other ingredients. Add all ingredients, including broth and spcies.
  • Change temperature to Low, and cook for 8-10 hours. Remove chicken and once cool enough to touch, remove the bones and shred the meat. Place the meat back into soup mix.
  • Stir and then enjoy.

What may be different with this soup than ones you may find on Recipe.com or other quick-and-easy recipe sites? I have included chicken that is organic, free range, in the bone, skin on. Why? The nutrient density goes up substantially with these components.

Salad:

Lettuce alone is not exciting, but when you have a nice mix of fresh produce and herbs prepped for the week, you therein have a foundation for a healthy lunch. In addition, I have some extra meat from the meatballs and I will be turning that into some clean eating meat patties to top this salad. But bottom-line, a good salad has at least 4-5 ingredients. You want it to have natural flavors and color. As the week progresses change the ways you dress it up by adding a variety of fruit (apple, dates, pears, peaches, avocado, etc) and protein (tuna, eggs, meat patties, chicken, etc).

  • Spinach
  • Parsley (great for flavor, freshness and detoxifies
  • Spring mix
  • Carrots
  • Celery
Following the suggestions of the Dirty Dozen, I buy all of my greens organic. Simply put, rinse the above ingredients, mix together and I like to store my salad in a salad spinner. Not exactly sure why, but it seems to last longer in this container verses a air tight Tupperware.
PIN Breakfast Cupcakes:
This is an east given on my Sunday Session routine, the only mix up is the type of herb I decide to use. This week I had a nice large bushel of parsley so that is what I went with. I also lined the cupcake tin with some coconut oil. Last week the prosciutto seemed to stick too easily and I want a nice clean cupcake without the breakfast meat torn up. It worked nicely.
  • Free range eggs, pasture-raised from the Green City Market
  • Prosciutto
  • Parsley and cracked black pepper

Heat the oven to 375F/400F. Line the cupcake pan with coconut oil (optional) and then nicely place the prosciutto covering all of the service in the cup surface area. Crack an egg in each cup, add herbs and spice. Cook for 20 minutes. Store in the refrigerator and enjoy 2-3 each morning. Quick, easy and healthy breakfast. Boom.