Paleo Stew

This week's weekend prep started with this recipe for Paleo Stew. I made it a few weeks ago, but tried it again with a little bit of variation. I'm absolutely loving my pressure cooker!

I started by sauteing some onions and garlic in coconut oil in a skillet. (I have to admit that I started out being scared of coconut oil. I can't explain why, but I was. Once I started using it, I realized it was great! Now it and nut oils are my go to's. I hardly use olive oil anymore.) I know you can do it right in the pressure cooker, but I prefer more room that the skillet provides. Once the onions were translucent, I added 3 pounds (recipe calls for 2 but I had 3 so 3 it was) of boneless skinless chicken thighs and browned them ever so slightly. I didn't bother to chop up the chicken, but you totally can.

I dumped the skillet contents into the pressure cooker along with some chopped tomato, a bag of frozen peppers & onions (I actually prefer the sliced ones if you can find them so they make the sauce a little chunkier), 1 jar of Sharwood's Indian Cooking sauce - Tikka Masala flavor, & 1 jar's worth of water. I put the pressure cooker timer on 25 minutes just like the recipe says and let it do the work.

Indian food is not in my comfort zone. I have tried it a few times, but have no idea what I really like and what I don't. The recipe author said that he like the Butter Chicken sauce so I tried that the first time and it tore up my stomach. It tasted good, but something in it just didn't agree with me. So this time I tried the Tikka Masala. Not only did I think it was tastier, my stomach stayed happy!! It really is a taste issue, but if you are hesitant to try Indian food, both sauces seem like good started foods. This recipe works perfectly and the chicken comes out spectacularly!

The dish is fantastic with some rice (for non-paleo folks) if you want to add it. It tastes even better leftover! I liked this dish so much that I feel like it will be a part of my regular rotation.

My remaining food prep was easy this week. Boiled some eggs and boned a rotisserie chicken for daily breakfast. I got a bit of ribbing this week on my "lunch like" breakfasts. Whatever, haters gonna hate. It is filling, healthy and REAL FOOD, so I win. :-) I also picked up some mixed veggies at Whole Foods along with a couple chicken burgers in case I need any quick meals later in the week. Some mixed fruit for afternoon snacks rounds out the menu.

Yesterday I had a work lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse. That was easy with a lot of choices. I picked the chicken and sausage plate with a baked sweet potato. I ate half and have the rest for lunch another day.

Today our company catered lunch. I had a little bit of salad with grilled chicken, a pickle and a baked potato. Even though potatoes are not considered paleo friendly, it isn't the best of choices for weight loss which is my goal at the moment. However, free and convenient won out today and it was still clean and REAL food which is the overall goal.