HOMEMADE MEALS MONDAYS: spaghetti with meatballs, Paleo style!

Ok I am back!  We're all moved into to our house and we're feeling comfortable.  We still haven't completely unpacked and the hubs is not too happy about the garage being a dumping ground for all my knick knacks but it's all good...because it's starting to very much feel like home.  :)

So I am back to cooking all kinds of randomness!  I am so looking forward to summer, to grilling!  We are contemplating on moving our old grill from the old house or purchasing a new one (as the old one has a broken wheel and has been put to great use).  Well no grilling tonight.  Tonight I make spaghetti with meatballs yeah!

Remmalicious Meatballs

1lb grass-fed ground beef

1 large organic egg

1/2 small organic red onion

1/4 cup grated carrots

1/4 cup almond meal

1 tablespoon of dried oregano

1 tablespoon of dried basil

salt and pepper (to taste)

Ok this is extremely easy.  Preheat oven at 400 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Grab a golf-ball size of the mixture and round.  Place all the uncooked meatballs in a glass pan and cook for 20 min.  Done!  So easy!  Pair it with some home made spaghetti sauce and spaghetti squash!  

ingredients

oops...forgot this in the first picture

mix it all up!

yummy!

spaghetti with meatballs!!! yummy!!!

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS: no more chocolate milk in our schools!

Today is a great day for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) kids...Superintendent John Deasy announced that there are plans to remove chocolate and/or strawberry-flavored milk, starting next fall.  Yeah!!! Check out the article!

Why am I so excited about this?!  Yes, I know I don't have children at LAUSD.  I actually don't have any children at the moment.  But soon, the time will come when the hubs and I will have kids and they will attend LAUSD.  Another reason why I'm so excited about this?!?!  Well because I know I was a small part of the team that helped to make this happen.  I loved Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution season one!  I mean here's a show that's not out there to change just an individual's life or even a family's life - it's a show trying to make such an impact by targeting a whole school district.  It's absolutely incredible!

So when my friend Juice and I heard that Jamie Oliver was coming to the LAUSD, we were excited!  But of course the LAUSD members didn't want any part of the show and didn't want any of the schools to be filmed.  I wondered why?  What's the big deal?  He's trying to clean up our cafeterias! Well I must admit that I attended private schools only up until college so I never experienced LAUSD's cafeteria food.  So I don't really know first hand how bad the food is.

I was watching the second episode of this current season of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution when the children from LAUSD brought the food they were being served to Jamie Oliver's kitchen.  What I saw shocked me...there were wrapped danishes, pizza, chocolate milk - all kinds of junk food.  Had I known this was being served, I would have begged my parents to enroll me in a public school haha!

Well that episode made me realize that wow, they have a lot to hide and to be afraid of should this show air.  At the beginning of the year, I was one of those people who emailed every single LAUSD board member to let Jamie Oliver into their schools.  Watching this second episode made me realize how important those emails were and how truly we can all make a difference by doing something small.

So if you don't like the food being served to your kids at school, do something about it! :)

HOMEMADE MONDAY MEALS: balsamic pork chop & sweet potato fries!

I love pork, I love pork chops!  I recently made some yummy pork chops on my new favorite kitchen gadget, the grill pan.  Oh and I made some sweet potato fries to accompany my pork! Here are easy recipes I came up with.

Balsamic Pork Chops & Sweet Potato Fries

4 lean pieces of pork chops (with or without bone)
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic
pepper

2 large sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper

First pre-heat the oven at 375 for the sweet potato fries.  Then marinade the pork chops with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, minced garlic and lots of pepper.  Marinade for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prep the sweet potato fries by peeling and slicing them into "french fries" pieces.  Then add olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Then place into the oven, about 10-15 minutes each side.

It's time to grill the pork!  So place the marinated pork chops into a hot grill pan, it takes about 5 minutes on each side if you are using a grill press.  If you don't have a grill press, just cover the pan. Once both sides of the pork chop turns a bit brown, then you may want to cut a little piece to make sure the inside is cooked also.  That's it you're done.  Pair it with an easy salad of spinach, sliced tomatoes, avocado and sprinkle with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Yummy!!!

what you need

marinade the pork chops with balsamic vinegar, garlic, olive oil and pepper

looking like they are done!

organic sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's - a staple in our home

prepping to go into the oven

our yummy and healthy dinner!