This may have been the most labor intensive day when it comes to cooking, I was able to prepare one protein dish, 2 veggie side dishes, and a then a nice chilled salad. I also think this might have the most pictures of any of the blogs I have ever written. I also just wanted to share that I am going back on my slow carb diet, because what I was doing right now wasn't working for losing weight. I was maintaining the same wait, but I wasn't losing any. I decided this would be the best way to lose weight because it worked for me before. The cooking diaries may also double as updates on any weight loss.
I know I always start with bacon, but this recipe called for it, I swear!!!
The bacon once it has rendered out all of its deliciousness. Half of this bacon was called for in the recipe that we are following right now, and the other half was used in the chicken salad I made.
This is my bacon grease can, my way of saving its goodness for times I might not have the chance or the need to cook some actual bacon, it is definitely something that I learned to do from my father, and I think he learned it from his, just a family practice passed down through the years.
My bowl of 2 onions and 3 carrots. You can't really tell that there are carrots in this bowl, but they were underneath the onion.
The spices I was using in this recipe, red pepper flake, oregano, and some Italian seasoning. The garlic I was using was just crushed, because I was not eating the actual garlic I decided to save some time and just crush it, the favors still game through in the final product.
Onions, carrots and garlic on the stove cooking in bacon grease.
I added the spices and some tomato paste to the vegetables. Then I scraped up all the bits from the bottom of the pan using some chicken stock.
Once the vegetables were done I added them to the crock pot with some crushed tomatoes, and some bay leaves, and a little bit more chicken stock to loosen it all up a little bit.
This was the beef pot roast that I was going to be using, I salted this side some before putting it down into a hot pan for searing.
While the first side was searing I salted the second side of the beef, this might have been the best quality meat I have ever used. There was some great marblization in it and it was actually USDA choice beef, which I am not sure I have ever used before.
This was after the first side was browned, it smelled so good in the pan, and it got very nicely browned.
I let the roast rest for a few minutes before adding it to the crock pot. I nestled it into the tomato mixture before covering it and cooking for 5 hours on high.
This is the roast when it was done, I removed the fat and returned it to this container.
I let the sauce settle before spooning a lot of the fat off of the surface, once I was satisfied with the amount of fat I had removed from the pot, I spooned a lot of the sauce over the meat to keep it from getting dry throughout the week and to add flavor as well.
The next thing I did was chop up a head of cauliflower and boil it in some water until it was tender. This cauliflower was going to be used for smashed cauliflower.
this was me coking some garlic through in butter to add to my smashed cauliflower for flavor. I also added a little bit of salt and pepper to the cauliflower. It is my replacement for mashed potatoes on this diet, not quite the same, but it is filling because of the fiber in it.
My other side dish was my oven roasted broccoli, broccoli tossed with some vegetable oil, salt, garlic, and some black pepper and then roasted in the oven.
This was the finished product when I had transferred it to a bowl, it should be fork tender when finished. I baked it for 20 minutes at 425, but each batch might be a bit different, bigger pieces will take a bit longer to cook of course.
The final recipe I made today started with this bad boy. I actually go this for free with a coupon, but I have been wanting to make chicken salad with it. The recipe I ended up making is very simple.
I used my hands to just completely dismantle that chicken, and then I chopped it into pieces to make them more bit sized, but also a bit rustic.
To the chicken I first added some bacon pieces that I had chopped into tiny bits to spread the flavor out a bit more in the recipe.
On top I added some dried cranberries and some little pecan pieces, I wanted to add the nuts for their crunch and the cranberries for their chewiness and sweetness.
I finely chopped some celery to add that crunch that only celery can add to a recipe. I mixed in just a little bit of mayonnaise to hold it all together. I thought about adding some curry powder to the recipe, but thought all of the ingredients already tastes great and didn't need anything else added. This recipe would be a great use for almost any leftover chicken, and it is the best chicken salad I have ever had.
Well it has been a busy day of cooking for me, I need to relax and put my feet up now.
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