Baby It's Cold Outside...Let's Make Stew!

     My darling +Steven Larizza told me over lunch today "I have a tip for your cooking. Stop using ingredients that I don't recognize". After I stopped laughing and being momentarily offended, I started considering his suggestion. My husband's palate isn't exactly grandiose and maybe he had a point with his suggestion. All I really want is to make cooking at home the new normal instead of eating out several times a week. So, tonight I decided to make a stew. A normal meat and vegetable stew that is loaded with amazing but recognizable ingredients. This way we both get what we want and need. It's flipping 16 degrees outside and stew sounded amazing when I began brainstorming about what to make for dinner. I get lots of yummy vegetables and mega protein while Steven gets a tasty home cooked meal with stuff he can name. Team Larizza for the win!

All my delicious ingredients: ground chuck, celery, carrots, red & yellow bell pepper, yellow onion, red potatoes, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, oregano, garlic, red pepper, parsley, salt, and pepper.

I love a little color in my meals.

Simmering success :)

The final product, Team Larizza for the win!

Red potatoes.

Food Pictures

My accomplished face after a late night cooking stint.

Mmm bacon, one of the best ingredients in the meatballs.

The Maple & Bacon Meatballs out of the oven! Recipe by @PaleoOMG.com

Random pugs...because who doesn't like random pug pictures lol.

The amazing food that will be consumed tomorrow is brought to you by a great blogger PaleoOMG A.K.A. Julie Bauer.
Yummy Ingredients:

• 1lb breakfast sausage (no sugar added)
• 1 sweet potato
• 4oz button mushrooms (I used half a container of sliced button mushrooms)
• ½ yellow onion, peeled
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 5-6 slices of bacon
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Easy Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place your bacon slices in a pan over medium heat. Cook on both sides until crispy, place on a paper towel to soak up the excess fat and cool, then dice up into small pieces that would fit well in meatballs. Duh.
3. Place your sweet potato in a food processor with the shredding attachment. Shred your sweet potato, remove contents, then shred it once more. You want it pretty fine.
4. Then shred your onion and mushrooms in the same container with the sweet potato that was shredded twice.

Go forth and conquer y'all! 

In the Kitchen

    It is 9:42 pm and the smell of breakfast bacon and maple meatballs is wafting through the air. Usually I do not cook this late at night because I have an avid Netflix habit that occupies most of my attention at this hour. The HEB parking lot in Odessa Texas was freaking packed at 1:30 pm when I originally wanted to get my shopping done. So after cussing like a sailor I went home and decided to be domestic because the laundry needed to get done. All the laundry. Since getting hitched I think my beloved has forgotten how the washing machine and dryer work.

     Thankfully, HEB wasn't a total nightmare around 6:30 when I decided to be brave and venture out in search of food. Steven innocently suggested we do grocery shopping on Sunday and order pizza. Hell no my determination to eat paleo and feel better was not about to waver. Not even for extra cheese and pepperoni which can almost always make me weak in the knees.

      I always forget how much I genuinely like cooking until my hands are deep in the muck of a meatball concoction. It's like yoga in that I experience several small changes within myself while cooking. My breathing slows, my posture becomes perfect, and any stress simply melts away as I delve into a list of ingredients. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I can whip up a meal, any meal. My grandmother was constantly in the kitchen before her death and those memories of cooking with her have stayed with me till this day.

     The recipe and pictures of the yummy meatballs currently in the oven will be in the next blog post.