MEATBALLS

1LB  Ground Pork

1LB  Ground Beef

1 cup  Italian Bread Crumbs

3 TBSP  Onion powder

1+ tsp  Salt

Pepper to taste

1 to ¾ cup  Milk

1 bottle  Hunt's brown sugar bbq sauce 

1 can   Cranberry sauce jelly

Mix all ingredients except bbq sauce and cranberry in a bowl. Roll and make the meatballs. Place the meatballs in the refrigerator for a couple hours to firm. 

Transfer meatballs to the crockpot. Mix the bbq sauce and cranberry together. When blended, pour over meatballs. Cook on low for 5 ½ hours. Stir every hour to turn meatballs in sauce. 

Sausage Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole

'Christmas Morning Casserole'


2 LB bag of frozen hash browns (thawed)
l LB Sweet Italian Sausage
l LB Mild Italian Sausage
10 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese


Preheat oven 375 degrees

Spray a 13x9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray

Brown the sausage meat and drain off the excess fat.

Whisk together the eggs and milk in a separate bowl.

In the baking dish spread the hash browns across the bottom of the dish.  Make sure the hash browns are thawed and dry. Pat them dry with a paper towel as necessary.

Put 1 cup of cheese on top of the hash browns.
Next, spread the cooked sausage on top of the cheese.
Follow this with pouring of the egg mixture over the top of that.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Cover with aluminum foil and cook in the oven for 35 minutes.  Uncover and cook for an additional 10 minutes

Irish Beer Beef Stew

It's been a long time since I posted anything.  My twins have been keeping me very busy.  Now that they will be eating solids, I have become inspired once again.  Hopefully, I will have some weightlifting posts in the near future, but since I can only make it to the gym on the weekends, it will not happen anytime soon.  Thank goodness for muscle memory though.  At least I still have my 6 pack after the twins!!

Irish Beer Beef Stew
Serves 4+

4 slices of bacon, diced
3 TBSP & ½ tsp of Coconut Flour
¾ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Black Pepper
¾ tsp Allspice
2 Lbs of beef stew meat, cubed
3 Carrots, peeled and cut in ¼ inch circles
1 ½ Sweet Onions, diced
1 ¼ clove Garlic
2 TBSP & 2 tsp Parsley
¾ tsp rosemary, dried, crushed
¾ tsp Marjoram, dried
1 small Bay leaf
1- 11.2oz bottle of Guinness beer
another 11.2oz bottle of Guinness beer with a beef bouillon cube but you only add half of this liquid.

optional: red potatoes approx 15 and ¼ head of cabbage.

Cook the bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown. Remove the bacon pieces and set aside, leaving the drippings in the skillet.

Place the flour, salt, black pepper, and allspice in a large plastic zipper bag, and shake a few times to combine. Place the beef into the bag, and shake to coat the meat with the flour mixture.  Then cook the meat in the skillet with the bacon drippings until the meat is brown on all sides.

When browned, placed the meat into the slow cooker, and add the carrots, onions, garlic, cabbage, potatoes, and all the remaining spices to the cooker.

Pour the one bottle of beer into the skillet, and bring to a boil. Scrape all the browned bits of flavor from the bottom of the skillet. Pour this beer into the slow cooker, over the meat and vegetables.  Pour the other bottle into the skillet with the beef bouillon cube.  Boil until the bouillon cube is dissolved.  Pour half of this liquid into the slow cooker. Cover, and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.

When serving, top with reserved bacon pieces.

Virginia- you kinda suck!

Update: I wrote this post before I saw the Allstate survey of the worst drivers in America.  Funny how DC was worst followed by Baltimore than Arlington/Alexandria.  The only come back from locals was to blame it on the tourists.  I call Bull Shit!!  What I have seen was could only been from locals.!!!

Well, I have been living in Virginia for two months.  I thought I would post some brief thoughts on what I think of this state…or at least the DC metro portion of this state.

4 Things I HATE about Virginia (DC metro):

1)  The driver's are frickin CRAZY!!!  The behind the wheel driver's test must be pretty lack otherwise once the driver's are behind the wheel they turn into possessive, don't give a Shit, and utter lack of well being for themselves or others, CRAZY MONSTERS.  The ridiculous crap I have seen in two months would scare you to death.  1a)  I guess they didn't learn in driver's training that "it's okay to miss you turn and/or exit and precede to the next one and/or back track or do a U-Turn" because they will flip a U-turn across 4 lanes of traffic or drive backwards/head on into traffic to make that original turn. 1b)  The speed limit is 35mph and I am doing close 45mph, why the heck are you riding my ass?

2) The Aggressive and Inpatient behavior by most the locals.  Note:  I didn't say all. In fact most are quite nice once you talk to them but……if you are walking next to them or in line, watch out.  Why do some people around here act like their Butt Hair is on Fire even though they have no place to go and the line is moving at comfortable rate.  Two can play at this game!!   If you don't move out of my personal space, you are getting a shoulder.  If you try to cut in line,  I will call you on it….and don't give me the crap that you don't speak English etc….we all know better. lol

3) Morning, noon, night, sunny, rainy, humid or dry; whenever I walk on our grass,  I am bitten by a bug!  WTH!

4)  Decent and TRUE Mexican food! Why can't I find a place that isn't Southwestern or Spanish with a bunch of onions and bell peppers in everything.


Things I like about Virginia…mostly Alexandria and DC metro:

1)  Everything is within 9 miles!  All the stores I frequent most often are pretty close by.  Same goes for doctors , etc.,  It seems everything in pooled in one little area. Nice!

2)  History!  There is so much history I need to explore out here.

3)  I love our home!  Sure, it's a town home but it's the perfect size for now.

* Hopefully, more positives in the months to come :-)

Leftover Meal

3 Sweet Sausage Links (about 5 oz)
1/2 a medium Onion
2 pieces of Bacon
1/2 head of a small Cabbage
1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Lb of Spiral Semolina Pasta
Jar of Alfredo pasta sauce

Dice up the Onion and Cabbage. Remove casing from the Sausage and crumble into a frying with the heated olive oil.  Add the Bacon and Onion to the same pan.  Cook until the sausage is no longer pink or about 10-12 minutes.  Add the cabbage.  Cook all together until the cabbage is wilted.

While cooking the sausage, boil the water for the pasta.  Cook pasta according to the package.  When the pasta is cooked, ladle a scoop of the salty water into the sausage mixture.

After everything is cooked, combine all the ingredients together.  Add the Alfredo to your taste desire.

~Enjoy

Paleo Rice

1 head of cauliflower
2 TBSP Coconut Oil
3 TBSP Butter
1 cup Sweet Onion,minced/small chopped
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper

Lightly chop/pulse the cauliflower in a Cuisinart. It should look similar to rice when done.

Melt coconut oil and butter in a medium heat pan. Add the onions and garlic. Sauté the onions and garlic until tender.

Stir in the rice cauliflower. Then add the salt and pepper to your taste.

Cover and cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until tender. Stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook for additional 5 minutes to stiffen the rice. Serve and enjoy.

* I use medium heat because my gas burner is very powerful. Older cooktops may require a high temp to cook the rice in the same amount of time.

ISLAND CHICKEN

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Splash of Canola oil
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 1-2 lemons) 
1 1⁄2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 boneless chicken breasts




Combine all ingredients except chicken in a mixing bowl or large airtight plastic bag. Whisk or shake well until the marinade is well mixed. Add the chicken breasts to the bowl or plastic bag so that they are covered by the marinade. If using a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap. If using a plastic bag, press out all the excess air and seal the bag tightly. Refrigerate and marinate up to 10 hours (I would suggest marinading for at least 3 hours at the minimum).  Coconut Oil hardens when it gets cold so the Olive oil counteracts this but you may want to pull out chicken to marinate it at room temp.  I don't suggest this unless you are in cool environment.


Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium heat. Grill the chicken for 6-7 minutes per side (depending on how thick the chicken breasts are), until the chicken is no longer pink in the center (if you have a meat thermometer, the chicken should register 165 degrees). Tent with foil and let the chicken rest for about five minutes before serving.
Alternately, the chicken can be baked using the following directions:
When ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 350° F. Place the chicken breasts in a baking dish and pour the excess marinade over them. Bake in the oven until cooked through and the internal temperature reaches 165° F, about 45 minutes (exact baking time will depend on the size of your chicken pieces.) Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.