{six pounds of meat}

Last night was a double dinner kind of night for a couple reasons. I didn't think the kids would eat the chicken curry I planned to make so I thawed a package of burger and then realized I had a package of burger already thawed in the fridge. So I had three pounds of burger and about three pounds of chickens to create something fabulous with. I use the word create loosely because that would suggest that I produced something original with my own thought processes. (create -verb: to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.) I did not. I went to my trusty stash of Paleo friendly recipes I have been hoarding over the past couple weeks and then to an old BASIC favorite of the kids from one of our family cookbooks. Ends up that basic recipe was easily made Paleo friendly.

Chicken Curry was on my menu for last night, but Tuesday nights cook up nothing but chaos in our house. It is a crazy night of kid's activities and Tony wouldn't be home from a business trip until late. So the kids barely got fed leftovers that they complained about and I rummaged through the fridge until I found leftover pork roast, steamed cauliflower, drizzled it with olive oil and called it good around 9:00. So Chicken Curry got moved to Wednesday night which was nice because Tony was home to enjoy a meal that I actually cooked. Before I continue on with the recipe I must ask. Do you know where curry comes from? What it is? Our coach threw out this little bit of trivia yesterday when we were discussing food. I said it came from the curry nut. lol I figured there was no curry nut, but that was the best guess I could come up with. Curry isn't a single spice. It is a combination of spices. My curry powder includes mustard, coriander, turmeric, cumin and red pepper. I also have a red curry paste that has red chili pepper, garlic, lemongrass, galangal (Thai ginger), salt, shallot, spices and kaffir lime. Wikipedia says (pay attention, this is your little nugget of useless information that you will learn today):

Curry (pronounced /ˈkʌri/) is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of spiced dishes, especially from Indian or other South Asian cuisines. Three spices found in most curry powders are turmeric, coriander, and cumin; a wide range of additional spices may be included depending on the geographic region and the foods being included (meats, fish, lentils, rice, etc.). The word "curry" is analogous to "soup" or "stew" in that there is no particular ingredient that makes something "curry."

Don't you feel smarter? :) I swiped this recipe from some Paleo eatin' blog online. Again I forgot to make note of where so I could give credit where credit is due. I decided to make this recipe because it was easy and I had a can of coconut milk in the fridge that needed to be used. In the past I haven't really liked curry. The combination of the spices and coconut milk were just not my favorite. But, let me say. This dish was tasty and yes, oh so easy.

Quickie Chicken Curry

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, minced
1-2 tsp curry powder
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 green onion stalk, chopped

1. Preheat the skillet with 2 tsp ghee or coconut oil
2. Lightly pan fry the chicken, turning occasionally
3. When the chicken is half cooked (brownish on each side), mix in the minced garlic and shallot; stir until combined
4. Pour in coconut milk, curry powder and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Remove from the heat, top with green onions if you so wish

Notes from the cook: I used about 1 1/2# chicken, but left the rest of the ingredient quantities the same. As you have noticed in the picture there are peas and there were no peas in the list of ingredients. There is also about 1/2 c. diced fried up potatoes. They were left over peas and potatoes from the kid's dinner. It was either dirty two storage containers or dump them in the curry. I thought they were great additions to the recipe and even though potatoes are a pretty useless food I think I will add both items every time.

Recipe number two for the night. Poor Man Steaks. I came across this recipe years ago. Really it is just a barely dressed up hamburger patty. They are pretty moist and I think it is the over abundance of salt and a lot of pepper that makes them so yummy. I changed the recipe a bit so they were Paleo friendly and the kids had no idea. The regular recipe calls for 1/2 c. saltine cracker crumbs and I think a 1/2 c. water. I also reduced the amount of salt. It is still probably salt heavy, but we just drank more water. I made up three pounds worth patties so we have extra in the fridge. I made them kind of smallish so they will be great for a quick protein snack. I had to take a picture of our gorgeous local, grass-fed beef after I made them into patties.

Isn't that a gorgeous color of red?! Not like the grayish-red stuff you get at the grocery store. Yuck! I love it! told Tony that one of these days I am going to buy a pound of run-of-the-mill burger from the grocery store (that I will throw away and not use) just to take a side by side picture to compare the two.

Poor Man Steaks
1 pound grass-fed burger
1 egg
1 t. salt (original recipe called for 2t.)
1 t. pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. pat into patties and fry in ungreased frying pan. Serve as they are or add a sauce for variety.

If you try them, I hope you enjoy! Go forth and eat well!