Weekend Cooking 11/9

Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!

I haven't written a Weekend Cooking post in months because my weekends are mostly chock-full of family time, but I tried several new recipes this week and wanted to share them. As a reminder, my family eats a modified Paleo diet due to immune system problems - that means no grains, no dairy, little sugar. But these are all "normal" recipes, all from my favorite source, Cooking Light magazine. Some met our dietary needs as is and some needed some minor tweaks which I'll describe. Bottom line is that we ate some delicious dinners this week that maybe your family would enjoy, too!

This was our last Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) pick-up week of the season (sniff, sniff), so we had an overabundance of bok choy (or pak choi, if you prefer), as well as several lettuces and winter squash. So, I tried to work with those.

Tuesday, I was searching for something I could make with what was in the house. I chose a Mango Chicken recipe, a dish I often order in Asian restaurants. Turned out I didn't have chicken in the freezer after all, so I subbed shrimp. Unfortunately, this one doesn't seem to be available online, but it was a simple recipe, with stir-fried chicken (or shrimp), bok choy, mushrooms, and mango chunks in a Chinese-style sauce. It was supposed to be served over rice, but instead we ate it over Coconut-Lime Cauliflower "Rice" (recipe from Against All Grains cookbook). That probably sounds strange to non-Paleo eaters, but it turned out delicious! My son never even noticed it wasn't "real" rice.

Friday night, I found a recipe that used BOTH bok choy and lettuce - bonus! It's the first time I've ever tried cooking lettuce (romaine, in this case): Stir-fried Bok Choy and Lettuce with Mushrooms. To go with the Asian flavors, I stir-fried some snow peas on the side, and we just grilled some Trader Joe's bison burgers with a bit of soy sauce added. Burgers and Asian may sound strange, but the meal was delicious!

Tonight, I am making a more classic dish for Sunday dinner, with my my college son home and my father-in-law coming over. I'm making Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Butternut Squash (potatoes aren't strictly Paleo, but our dietician says that red-skinned potatoes once or twice a week are OK for us). This is the first time I've made this one, but it looks pretty basic (and tasty!).

Hope you have enjoyed good food and fun cooking this week!