Chicken Satay with Almond Butter Sauce

I totally made this recipe up and it was quite good! The chicken was tender and moist. The sauce was rich and flavorful. I also made a cauliflower-carrot mash but I didn't make that recipe up :)

The scallions and parsley sprinkled on top are from my garden. Did you know you can replant scallion bottoms bought at the store and they'll regrow? Quite quickly and easily actually! I bought a bunch of scallions for $.33 at Sprouts a couple months ago. After using the tops, I replanted the bottoms and now have a continuous supply! The parsley I got on clearance at Safeway for $.75 a couple weeks ago. With all the rain we've been getting, I took a kind of wimpy, droopy plant and now have an awesome, healthy plant!

I've been in love with this coconut yogurt! It's regularly priced at $1 at King Soopers (I haven't seen it at Walmart yet) but I got this cup for free with the iBotta rebate (another money saver app that I love!). It's a bit runnier than regular yogurt but still good! It comes in several flavors but I usually buy just the plain because I can add whatever to it or use it in cooking. I make several different Indian/Thai dishes with it!

Total Cost of this meal: $5.77 (served 3)

$1.67 for the chicken
$1 for the coconut yogurt
$1 worth of  spices
$.35 tomato paste
$.50 almond butter
$1 cauliflower
$.25 carrots


Chicken Satay

Ingredients

1 lb chicken breasts
6 oz coconut yogurt
1 T curry
1 t coriander
1 t cumin
6 wooden skewers

Combine yogurt and spices in a bowl. Add chicken breasts and coat with sauce. Marinate for at least 1 hour (up to overnight).
Thickly slice chicken and thread onto wooden skewers
Grill over medium heat until thoroughly cooked. Serve warm with sauce

Almond Butter Sauce
This was actually a peanut butter based sauce but I just substituted almond butter instead (as peanuts are not Paleo approved) and it tasted just fine!

1 T oil
2 cloves garlic
2 T tomato paste
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 T honey
2 T almond butter
1 tsp sriratcha sauce
2 tsp gluten free soy sauce (or coconut aminos if strictly Paleo)

Heat oil in small saucepan. Saute garlic until golden, about 30 seconds. Add all other ingredients. Stir to combine and simmer on low for 10 minutes. Cool and serve.

Cauliflower- Carrot Mash
Modified from (http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2011/11/cauliflower-carrot-herb-mash/)

1 16-oz bag frozen cauliflower
1 handful baby carrots
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
2 T chopped scallions
1 t curry
2 T olive oil

Boil carrots and cauliflower and carrots until tender, about 18 minutes. Drain.
Saute onions, garlic, and curry in oil until onions are translucent.
Add both carrot/cauliflowers and onion mixture into a food processor. Puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
 Note: You could use any herb mixture you'd like. The original recipe called for rosemary and thyme but I didn't think that would go with my Asian inspired flavors.

Pot Roast- Paleo style and in a hurry!

I'm really excited about a new blog series I'm going to start writing. I don't have all the details ironed out right now so I'll hold off giving too much away but it'll be focused on bringing clean eating to every income level. Our church just moved from a very nice, upscale building on a college campus to it's own, completely paid for building in a very low income area. And it's been on my heart about how the poverty and sub-poverty level families eat. We're nowhere near wealthy ourselves, but we're also not poverty stricken and never have been. So, I'll be collaborating with a few people who understand more clearly what "poverty" in the United States means. But in the mean time, I'm going to post some clean eating, paleo (or easily paleo modified) recipes on a budget. They'll all be under $8 for the whole meal, start to finish. So, without further adieu, here's the first one! :)

Pot Roast- Paleo Style!

I've taken my mother's pot roast, which I absolutely love, and modified it a bit to be Paleo. Ok, really all I did was switch out the white flour for tapioca. The rest of the ingredients were already Paleo-approved! What makes this pot roast so yummy and different, I think, is the gravy. You blend the veggies that cook with the meat into the gravy. It's a great way to sneak vegetables in if you're cooking for picky eaters!

I started with kinda old sirloin steaks. I know that's an odd cut of meat to use for pot roast but I've got a reason! We don't really like these on the grill. They're not well marbled and are quite tough, even when I first bought them a couple months ago. My local Albertsons' runs a Buy 1, Get 2 free sale on meat quite often, with these being included (in fact, I believe these sirloins will be on sale this coming week!). So, this package was only $6.28. And that's over 2 lbs of steak! At only $2.98 a pound, they're actually cheaper than if I bought a traditional pot roast!

Next, I coated the steaks in tapioca starch (I got this in the bulk section of Sprouts) and fried them for a little while in olive oil. You could use any flour substitute you want. Or white flour if that's all you've got. You're only talking a couple tablespoons total. But we're personally going completely gluten free for the week to deal with some physical issues my mom is having. I also sprinkled some garlic salt from Trader Joe's on the steaks as well but that's not necessary.

 I then added 1 whole onion, 3 stalks of celery, a couple cloves of garlic, and a handful of baby carrots. I know you're thinking, why would you use baby carrots? They're more expensive. Yes, but I'm lazy so that's all I buy. They're on sale for $.88 a bag at Sprouts anyway. Cover with 2 cans of beef broth or water and bouillon. Whichever you've got, or whatever's cheaper. I just happened to have canned beef broth in the cupboard that I got on sale at Christmastime for $.10 a can. Yes, I still have them 7 months later. Don't judge.

Cover and cook for 3-5 hours. My sirloin only took about 3 hours but they were smaller pieces. If you use a traditional roast, it's gonna take longer!

Remove all the vegetables from the pot and place them in a blender. I used a small food processor but you could also use an immersion blender if you prefer. I've used one several times as well. It takes a bit longer to smooth out the vegetables that way though.

Blend vegetables until smooth. Kind of looks like baby food, huh? Not too appealing but trust me, it's so yummy! Add this back to the pot of broth.

Stir to combine. Add broth to thin the sauce out to desired consistency. Depending on how much water/broth you added in the beginning, you may actually need to add thickener. I only added 2 cans of broth so it was quite thick and needed thinning. Slice meat, top with sauce and serve with whatever accompaniments! I served this with brown rice (yes, I know. Not Paleo, but gluten free and I don't have a problem with brown rice. We don't eat it every day and are careful about how much starch we consume). You could also serve it with cauliflower rice or mashed cauliflower. Hope you enjoy this meal as much as we do!

Total cost: $8.08 or so. I got the brown rice for $.69/lb at Sprouts. A pound was about 3 cups and I cooked a cup so $.23 worth plus the broccoli was $.50 a bag.


Ingredients (with cost breakdown in parenthesis)

Beef Rib Roast: Well, that's traditional. I used the sirloins :) ($6.28)
2 T tapioca starch or flour ($.15)
1 onion, chopped ($.20)
3-5 celery stalks, chopped ($.20)
a handful of baby carrots or 2 regular carrots ($.20)
2 cups of beef broth ($.20)
2 cloves of garlic ($.10)
Enough oil to coat bottom of pan

1. Coat beef in flour and sear on medium-high in oil till browned thoroughly on outside. Don't worry about cooking it through.
2. Add all other ingredients to pot. Cover and cook 3-4 hours on low.
3. Strain out vegetables into a blender and puree, or use an immersion blender to blend in the pot. Add broth or flour to achieve desired consistency or gravy. Serve immediately over rice or cauliflower.