Spicy Turkey and Sausage Paleo Soup

It's as good as it sounds. So versatile too. It can go many ways, soup, stew, and breakfast!

It just hits the spot, and freezes up great for left overs. You can make up any size batch, nothing is too exact with this. My measurements are more of what I did, it's not set in stone. 

It's hearty and healthy, enjoy.

1-2 Pounds of Ground Turkey

1 Pound of Jalapeno Sausage

1 large sweet potato (more or less)

3-4 cups of chicken broth (more for soup, less for stew)

1 can of organic tomatoes fire roasted pepper w/ green chilies (I used Muir Glen Organic)

1-2 cups baby carrots

1+ cups of bell peppers, I used red, yellow and green for color and taste. Use your favorite.

4-5 celery stalks

3-4 scallion/green onion (save the green for garnish)

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

3 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp coriander

2 tsp basil

1/4 cup fresh cilantro 

Salt & Pepper 

Peel and dice sweet potato. Slice your sausage. 

I mix all my spices in a bowl with the can of tomatoes before I add it to the crock pot. That way I can ensure every thing is soaked in flavor!

If you will be around while it's cooking give it a stir occasionally to make sure everything is distributed evenly.

I cooked on low for 8 hours. That should be the minimum time. For hearty stews I wouldn't recommend the 4 hours on high. You can, it just doesn't do it justice.

A fried egg and bacon is an amazing addition! Have a slice of Paleo Sandwich Bread to dunk!

Click image for nutrition. This is just an approximate! It depends on how much you end up making :-)

Easy Crock Pot Pesto Ranch

This week is my back to school week for my big kid. And that adds one more lunch into the mix. I send off my hubby with his (he is super easy), my toddler (picky cracker and air eater), and now my 3rd grader. I'm getting good at throwing stuff into bags real quick during bath time to be done with it. But I stumbled upon a tasty crock pot dinner, that does double duty as lunch!This chicken is so flavorful, it also falls apart into stringy chicken. It just asks to be used in many ways. Holla!


 I incorporated the healthier DIY version of ranch mix... HOLLA! (I am in a holla mood, so feel free to holla back).

FYI it's OK to publicly display back to school happiness.

This is about right. I love this picture. Holla for this Chick... (click to see her blog)♥

This recipe can be easy to change up for the size of your family. Change the amount of potatoes for your needs, or add extra chicken! I switch it up depending on if I am serving a whole meals from the crock, or pre-making lunches. The ingredients are easily changed for your needs. Don't sweat the small stuff.


4 chicken breast
4 medium potatoes
3 large carrots (optional)
7-8 ounces of pesto (small deli tub)
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons ranch mix (or more to taste)
Light olive oil to coat
Sea salt to taste

Lightly spray your crock with non-stick cooking spray. 
Cut your potatoes in to 1 inch pieces (I am not a peeler, I try to retain as much of the nutrient value as possible!)
 Place potatoes in bottom of crock (or a mixing bowl, they will need to be coated I went to town in my crock.)
Cut carrots, set aside.
Fillet the chicken for smaller pieces place in a mixing bowl
First lightly coat your potatoes in olive oil, use your hands to get the oil evenly distributed. 
Now do the same to your chicken.
Add your pesto and ranch mix to the chicken again using your hands to make sure they are all coated. This will be messy. 
See all that mess stuck to your hands, grab your taters and rub a dub dub!♥
 I essentially cleaned all the left over pesto and ranch off my hands on to the potatoes. Best decision ever! Feel free to add more ranch too, I did.  I really just kept on adding until I had a nice coating! Since I make my own ranch mix I had to Google how much is in a ranch packet. 3 tablespoons is a good starting point.
Add a layer of carrots over the potatoes (my first batch [pictured] , I steamed corn on the cob!)
 Pour in the broth,  add  chicken.( I add my broth before the chicken is because I want as much of the pesto and ranch to stick... hence the use of glue oil).

Crock it for 5-6 hours, until your veggies are soft. 

It just gets better... 

The day after was when I got an unsolicited rave review from hubs about his sandwich!
 Holy smokes!

All I had on hand was frozen hamburger buns. I threw them together with butter,  a piece of salami and mozzarella cheese  (Hubs loves his salted meats). I tossed them back into the freezer individually wrapped before the bun defrosted  (that quick girl).  A great pre-made lunch option!

Another left over lunch idea (used  for my 3rd grader).
♥A cold noodle salad. All  that is needed  make up some noodles, toss with oil, add  chicken. (That will get the yumm-ness all over the noodles). Top it off with a few olives and cheese (parm or mozz).

♥For the picky toddler: (she just likes cold chicken). Done. Added crackers, and apple sauce. 

♥And for Mama, cut up or shred chicken and sprinkle on a spinach salad.


I hope you enjoy, it's nice to see you.

Basil and Garlic Pork Chops

It's totally ingrained in me to make a Sunday dinner.I have memories of it even back to when I was super young back in England. A hunk of roast, and roasted potatoes golden from drizzled butter. But there's no potato for me these days now replaced with sweet potato.I have now made a roast for my family many times.There's something about that familiar smell throughout the house that just feels so comfortable, makes a house feel like a home.
With that all said , no roast today. But I did want a dinner with all the drippins'!Honestly I forgot to pick up the roast because I got distracted by extra thick pork chops. They just screamed "Grill Me!". I said, "OK."

One component of the Sunday roast is the cloves of garlic placed into the roast. So garlic has to be used today, and well its garlic, it speaks for itself.  I was also craving basil, I know crazy, craving a herb.  I'm thinking these two need to be together stuck on with some lime juice. Why the heck not! The lime is really going to set these apart from any other pork chop recipe. A nice refreshing change for a Sunday dinner in July.

Hmmm... sides... thats a no brainer. Broccoli with bacon. Roasted of course. Since it's Sunday dinner I will get crazy and add some sweet potato fries. I like wedges, but theres something about the thin crispier fries drizzled with bacon too.

The quantities in this recipe is just for my husband and I. This one is really just sprinkling herbs and spices, so everything will be: "to taste" for measurements. But below is what I used to start, I am a garlic and basil addict so I used more of everything.

Basil and Garlic Pork Chops (for two)
2- 1 inch thick (or more) pork chops
1/2 a lime juiced
2 tablespoons Basil (fresh is better)
2 minced garlic gloves (more if you love garlic)
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Squeeze lime juice over your chops.  Spread your minced garlic over your chops, and sprinkle on the Basil. Now let sit in an airtight container to marinade for 30 minutes.

Best on a grill! 5-10 minutes each side depending on the thickness of your chops.

Roasted Broccoli and Bacon
There are several ways to do these, I keep it pretty simple. I place my broccoli in a bowl, and sprinkle in chopped bacon and sea salt.Then I hand toss it to make sure the broccoli is coated. Tonight though, garlic will be added. For roasting you need to add your choice of lard, or oil while you mix the ingredients. Place on tray in a 400 degree oven. Do not stack, make sure they are in one single layer. For an even roast rotate every 10 minutes or so. Should take about 30-35 minutes. The edges of the Broccoli should be lightly browned, and the bacon crisp.

Apple Butter Crock Pot Pork Chops

I wanted a more flavorful crock pot recipe. Sometimes just the basic toss-ins doesn't feel like I am doing much. Regardless that my cream of chicken is my own "Cream of Something" and not from a can, or my Taco Seasoning isn't from a packet. I have really been crocking this month just to free up some time right now, and it's really great freezer food for lunches.

I found this little diddy @ The Frugal Foodie Mama. I didn't have all the exact ingredients, see my notes. But this was amazing, it was so flavorful. I wish I made the full amount, I would of loved to have had this for lunch the next day.

What you will need:

4 pork chops (bone-in or boneless)*

1 medium onion, chopped

3 medium apples (any kind), cored and chopped

1 cup apple butter**

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard***

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 cup apple juice or cider (or white wine)

• In a small bowl, whisk together the apple butter, brown sugar, vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and apple juice.  Set aside.

• Place the apples and onions in the bottom of the Crock Pot.  Add your pork chops on top and then pour the apple butter mixture all over this.

• Cook on Low for 5-6 hours.

* I do recommend using boneless. I cut the bone off mine. Because crock pot cooking makes the meat so tender at you scoop it out the bone falls off into all your goodies. VERY hard to find, and dangerous.

** Recipe for Crock Pot Apple Butter *NOM NOM*

***I didn't have any Dijon, I had some coarse ground mustard.

I was posed a question about how to make it all look good. Some times I like to show off and make a presentation of my meal. Crock pot meal are a bit more tricky. I like to first scoop out the extras and make a bed. Then using a slotted spoon to lift the the meat onto it's new bed. If not cooking potatoes in your meal, or you are doing rice you can add to the side or around the extras. A lot of the time I like to shred all y meat and just serve it up with a side of my homemade bread.