Five Paleo Dinners To Cook Next Week #44

It’s legit fall here in Vermont: The leaves are finally beginning to change from green to red, yellow, and orange, and our thoughts are turning to potential Halloween costumes. We’re considering magician (Dave, obvs) and white rabbit. I can wear a fuzzy onesie! But we’ve also always been intrigued by the idea of getting  a crew together and dressing as the cops and attorneys from the original Law & Order, with a way to play its distinctive dun-dun sound.

Smudge embraced the Halloween spirit a little early this year and festooned herself in cobwebs. She somehow got into the basement for goodness knows how long. (No one ever goes into our basement; it’s spooky down there!) I found her when I returned from my morning walk.

smudgecobwebs

In the spirit of Halloween and cooler temps, I included Vampire-Fighting Pork Stew in this week’s Cookup list, along with Maple-Pumpkin Coconut Macaroons. Those macaroons are so good, it’s scary!

Dinner Ideas (Whole30 compliant)

Vampire-Fighting Paleo Pork Stew | meljoulwan.comVampire-Fighting Paleo Pork Stew

Cookup Tips: This tastes even better after a few days in the fridge, so you can make it up to 5 days in advance. It also freezes very well, so think about a double batch. It tastes really great on a bed of shredded cabbage that’s quick-sautéed withe a little olive oil.

Recommended Sides: Mashed Cauliflower, boiled potatoes with ghee and parsley, sauerkraut, or a bed of sautéed cabbage.

Paleo Mexican Meatza | meljoulwan.comMexican Meatza

Cookup Tips: The Meatza can be baked for the first time in advance, then just before eating, add the toppings and do the second bake.

Recommended Sides: This tastes really great with Crispy (green) Plantains, or a salad with Cumin-Lime Dressing. Plantains can be boiled and smashed during a Cookup, then crisped in a pan just before your meal. The Cumin-Lime Dressing tastes fresh for about a week, so you can make that in advance, too!

Comfort Noodles | meljoulwan.comComfort Noodles

Cookup Tips: Prep the zucchini noodles in advance: sweat, rinse, squeeze, and store in the fridge. Then when you’re ready to eat, the Comfort Noodles come together in minutes! And if you make a lot of zucchini noodles, you’ll have them for other meals throughout the week.

Recommended Sides: This is a complete meal in a bowl and really doesn’t need sides. YAY! Although, if you wanted to beef it up a bit, you could add some cooked ground meat, along with the eggs.

Moroccan Merguez Meatballs | meljoulwan.comMerguez Meatballs

Cookup Tips: Meatball “dough” can be made one day in advance and cooked the next day; cooked meatballs are good for about a week in the fridge, and they freeze well, so a double batch is a great idea!

Recommended Sides: These are nice served on a bed of Oven-Roasted Cauliflower Rice (and both can be baked at the same time, same temp!) and drizzled with Moroccan Dipping Sauce. You can grate the raw cauliflower into rice and store it covered in the fridge to cook just before eating. Moroccan Dipping Sauce tastes fresh for about 4-5 days.

Paleo Gado Gado | meljoulwan.comPaleo Gado Gado

Cookup Tips: This is the perfect meal for a weeknight if you cook “generic” protein and veggies (and hard-boiled eggs) during your Weekly Cookup. This recipe uses chicken, but beef, pork, fish, or seafood also works—and any combination of steamed and raw veggies tastes good! You can even make the sauce in advance and store in the fridge for up to 5 days, so when you’re ready to eat, it’s just a matter of assembling the ingredients on your plate.

Recommended Sides: No sides needed!

Condiment (Whole30 compliant)

Southwestern Cumin-Lime DressingSouthwestern Cumin-Lime Dressing

Cookup Tips: The Cumin-Lime Dressing tastes fresh for about a week, so you can make it in advance and drizzle it with abandon on your meals all week. The recipe page  includes a list of creative ideas for how to use up your jar of dressing.

Treat (not Whole30 compliant)

pumpkinmacaroonsMaple-Pumpkin Coconut Macaroons

Cookup Tips: I feel like these require no explanation whatsoever.

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Comments

  • Gado Gado… this name is very popular in Indonesian country. The photo is different from the Indonesian’s Gado gado.

  • JanF says:

    I haven’t visited your blog for a while, don’t know why just busy I suppose and in the winter blues here in Southern Hemisphere. I’ve enjoyed catching up this morning. I’m just wondering about an easy way to store, find or even remember the recipes I want to try, there are so many of them the Turkish salad, grilled chicken thighs and I love your silken zucchini soup. Maybe you or someone has a suggestion.
    Thank you for sharing.

    • The software app Evernote is pretty great for saving and organizing online content. Otherwise, you can bookmark fave pages in your browser and organize them into folders.

    • Jenn says:

      Paprika is an awesome app for storing recipes!! You do have to pay separately for each different type of device you download to (which is annoying) but it’s well worth the $6 price tag

    • Jenn says:

      How crazy is the weather in Australia at the moment? Talk about ups and downs 🙂
      I use Paprika App for recipe storage. It’s brilliant! You do have to pay for it (about $6 i think) and sadly you need to buy it for each different type of device (I’ve got it for iPhone and iPad) but it’s SUPER easy to use, manage and file all of your online recipes, and the devices auto update onto each other if you’re using a couple.

    • TT says:

      Copy Me That is free and awesome. I use Evernote for my to do lists, but a couple months ago found Copy Me That. I just click a button on my browser and it saves it. You can tag, rate, and change the recipes. I save all the recipes I want to try there and now am transferring my hard copies there as I can access from anywhere on my computer through their site, but also through the app.

  • Dana says:

    Congratulations on the new book. I can’t wait to get my hands on it! On another note, what brand of sunflower nut butter do you use? I can’t find one without some type of sugar, and want one with just nuts and maybe salt. Thanks!

  • sue says:

    Isn’t wonderful that cats can double as dust mops? LOL.

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