We promise that we will eventually post something other than paleo recipes and meal plans -- it's just that we celebrated Kane's 5th Birthday this past weekend with a big knights and dragons bash (post on that soon) and we've been incredibly busy little party planners. Besides party prep last week, we basically just went to school and ate dinner. And mom has a hard enough time getting out of us what we did at school, so recipes it is.
But you won't be disappointed with this one. Daddy doesn't really love pork and he started grumbling about this dinner as soon as he walked in the door. He wasn't grumbling when he was fighting Kane for thirds. Mom made a 2 1/2 lb pork roast and there were hardly any leftovers. It is the combination of the sear and the roast that makes such a juicy piece of meat and the grapes are a nice seasonal touch (although mom was surprised to find that Kane and I weren't that into the roasted grapes). And mom loved that this was a super easy, quick dinner to make.
And last week's looking-back meal plan seemed to go over well, so here it is for this week. Because mom cooked almost every night the week before and we had my birthday party over the weekend, there were more than the normal amount of leftovers going around. And, as part of our birthday celebrations, mom, dad and their visiting siblings always go out to dinner after we've gone to bed. So there was one night of dining out.
Tuesday -- leftovers {see last week's post for recipes that were still good a few days later for leftovers}
Wednesday -- Crunchy Paleo Chicken Fingers and Sweet Potato Fries {mom didn't do the pumpkin pie spice} -- EVERYONE loved these chicken fingers. Super sweet with a nice peppery balance.
Thursday -- Roasted Pork Loin with Grapes and Balsamic Glazed Brussels Sprouts {so addictive}.
Friday -- Primal Italian Baked Eggs and a side salad -- this was mom's first time trying raw cheese. it was good, but she's not sure it was worth the $. the kids ate out Friday night with daddy and the Green Family because the dining room table was already all set up for Saturday's party. mom and Grammie B had these eggies while they party prepped -- very easy to just pop in the oven while you work on other things.
Saturday -- the kiddos had a generic brinner while mom and dad and their siblings dined out at their semi-annual "we kept our kids alive another year and our parents are in town to babysit" meal at B Too. mom did mostly a good job of staying paleo and had brussels sprouts {with crispy duck confit and duck fat!} to start and the Josper grilled hangar steak with extra vegetables {instead of frites. damn those frites looked good}.
Sunday -- party leftovers. love the party leftovers (which were almost all from Whole Foods catering). mom might have skipped actual food to have leftover castle cake and then might have paid for that decision all night long. from 6 weeks of no sugar to a giant slice of cake, not a good move. she fully blames her friend Liz for making such a fabulous cake.
Monday -- Paleo Fish Sticks with Apple, Pecan & Bacon Butternut Squash Hash -- the fish was super easy, super yummy. mom's really trying to work more fish in to all of our diets and this was a good way to do it.
Roasted Pork Loin with Grapes
(mom adapted this Whole Living recipe for paleo purposes and to, well, make it less fancy since she doesn't have all the fancy cooking gear for which it called. still delicious.)
Ingredients:
- one, 1 1/4-pound pork loin roast {mom made a slightly bigger roast and adjusted accordingly}
- coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ground marjoram
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 1 pound seedless grapes, separated into small clusters
- 1 shallot, sliced
Directions:
- Heat oven to 425 degrees. Generously eason pork with salt, pepper and marjoram.
- Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat {if you have an ovenproof skillet, the whole meal can me made in that. if you don't, you can transfer the roast to a glass baking dish when it needs to go into the oven}. Sear pork on all sides until golden, about 8 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside.
- Add remaining oil to pan with grapes and shallot. Season with salt and pepper. Nest pork in center of pan or transfer all to a glass baking dish if you don't have an ovenproof skillet.
- Transfer pork to oven and roast until it reaches 145 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 15 minutes. Remove pork and let stand 10 minutes before slicing.
- Spoon grape mixture over pork and serve.
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