Five Paleo Dinners To Cook Next Week #5

Skip the Halloween candy and make my Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake instead.

Unless you’re doing a Whole30. Then I recommend Caramelized Coconut Chips. (Both recipes below.)

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Before we talk about dessert-y snacks, let’s cover some meat and veg. Here are five paleo and Whole30 compliant recipes you could make for dinner next week—including Bigos, one of my favorite recipes ever—along with Chimichurri, a.k.a., magic sauce, and Halloween treats to make your spooky holiday a little sweeter.

I’ve listed tips for how to work these recipes into your Weekly Cookup and suggested sides to go along with the entrées. Happy cooking!

Dinner Ideas

Bigos

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 you can sock some away for a future rainy day.

Recommended Sides: Some boiled potatoes rolled in ghee and minced parsley would be lovely, as would a batch of Mashed Cauliflower. You can make both of these sides during a Cookup and reheat just before eating.

Scotch Eggs

Cookup Tips: You can boil the eggs during your Cookup and mix the meat with its seasonings, then roll and bake them just before eating for maximum crunch. Or make them completely in advance and reheat before eating. Either way, they taste great.

Recommended Sides: You can be responsible (Mustard-Garlic Brussels Sprouts), playful (Sweet Potato Fries), starchy (Classic Diner-Style Home Fries), or crispy (Simple Red Cabbage Salad). You might also make a quick dipping sauce of homemade mayo mixed with mustard. The Brussels sprouts taste best when roasted just before eating and the cabbage salad tastes best when it’s fresh. But you can prep both the sweet potatoes and white potatoes in advance, then do the final cooking when you’re ready to eat them. Mayo can be made during a Cookup and used all week.

Cuban Meatballs

Cookup Tips: Meat “dough” can be made 1 day in advance then cooked—or you can cook the meatballs during your Cookup and re-heat just before eating. They’ll stay fresh and tasty for 5-6 days after cooking. They also freeze like champs!

Recommended Sides: Plantains are the way to go, for sure! Go for Crispy (green) Plantains with Garlic Sauce (the sauce would be awesome on the meatballs) or Pan-Fried (yellow) Plantains. You can boil the plantains in advance, so when you’re ready to eat, all you need to do is fry ’em up.

Deconstructed Gyro Salad

Cookup Tips: Make the dressing, cook the lamb, and chop the vegetables in advance, then when it’s time to eat, just reheat the lamb, assemble your salad, and dig in.

Recommended Sides: This recipe includes protein, veggies, and fat, so you don’t need to add a thing.

Beef Stir-Fry

Cookup Tips: Marinate the meat, make the sauce, and cut up the raw veggies (store them in covered container or ziplock in the fridge) in advance, then stir-fry the whole shebang just before eating.

Recommended Sides: Tastes great on a pile of Oven-Roasted Cauliflower Rice.

Condiment (Whole30 compliant)

Chimichurri

Cookup Tips: You can make this during your Cookup in, like, 5 minutes, and it stays fresh in the refrigerator for about a week. You can use Chimichurri on all kinds of meat and veggies: burger patties, broiled steak, roasted chicken, steamed shrimp, tossed salad, steamed veggies, even fried or hard-boiled eggs.

Treats

Caramelized Coconut Chips (Whole30 approved)

Cookup Tips: These take about 5 minutes to make, so make them “to order” when you need a little snack.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake with Maple-Vanilla Frosting (Not Whole30 approved)

Cookup Tips: This holds up great in the refrigerator, so you can make it in advance of your Halloween festivities, but it’s easy and fast enough to make last minute, too.

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