It always sounds cliche, but where has a year gone? Tomorrow, October 1, my blog turns ONE! Every year I am able to take my passions and give them a little more time and love. Each year life gets a little easier, but also a little sad, because my little ladies aren't so little anymore. I am thankful for all of you who have supported my blog and my passions. I've met so many new people this past year. I love it! I love you all! Thank you for being here. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I mentioned wanting to celebrate my blog's birthday with a 30 day strict clean eating reset before the holidays begin once again. If you're familiar with paleo, which I think most of you are, I will be refraining from all dairy, gluten, grains, legumes, and refined sugar. Essentially, I will be eating a lot of veggies and healthy protein. On here, I will be sharing my weekly meal plan that will hopefully help make your days and weeks a little easier to plan. I will have buttons/links on here you can easily open and save/print. The documents include a meal plan and shopping list! Each Sunday on my Instagram stories, I will go through what's planned for the coming week. I will share tips and tricks and advice. Please note that I will base a lot of my meals around my CSA box that I pick up every Thursday from Willow Garden (yes, I'm still getting fresh, organic veggies!). If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I am always here to help and support you! Below is this week's dinner meal plan and shopping list. You can easily download or print, or scroll and screenshot. Enjoy & happy reset! And, again, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE :) THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS & ADVICE ~MONDAY: You're going to simply roast chicken in the oven. I suggest roasting the chicken at 375 until crispy and the insides reach 165 degrees. Same with the veggies. I suggest seasoning the veggies with oil and seasonings, sans salt. I love adding garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. I salt at the very end after I take the veggies out of the oven.
TUESDAY: Taco Tuesday is pretty simple. Brown your ground beef. Make up your own taco seasoning. I use 2:1 of chili powder and cumin. I also add a teaspoon of garlic and onion powder, and oregano. I add sea salt and pepper to taste. Cauli rice is so easy. I add a tablespoon of oil and saute until done. I add a few teaspoons of taco seasoning to the cauli rice for extra flavor. Serve the tacos in lettuce wraps, or use Siete chips/wraps. Top with fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, salsa, avocado, peppers, etc. WEDNESDAY: Some of you might already have a favorite paleo pot pie recipe. I kinda make up my own. I always add lots of veggies like onions, mushrooms, broccoli, celery, carrots, and then add chicken. I would suggest sauteing your veggies and add lots of flavor with garlic, thyme, and pepper. Once your veggies have browned, I'd add enough chicken bone broth to the veggies. I'd make a slurry (say 1-2 teaspoons arrowroot with a teaspoon of cold water, and add it to the simmer bone broth and veggies). This will make for a great filling. I'd then use your favorite paleo pie crust recipe to top it off. I'd suggest using almond flour, coconut flour, and cassava for good texture. Add lots of fat - coconut oil or lard, some sea salt, and knead well. Roll the dough or cut shapes, and top the filling with the crust. I have a surplus of savoy cabbage, so I'll shred cabbage and toss with apples and walnuts. I will dress is with a Dijon dressing - sort of like the dressing I use on my kale salad. THURSDAY: Grab a cut of meat that super easy to throw in the oven - like wild caught salmon or chicken thighs - or simply make burgers. Cut up your favorite root veggies like sweet potatoes, onions, beets, brussel sprouts - the possibilities are endless. Toss everything in oil and season well. Bake and enjoy. If you make burgers, I love to saute onions in the beautiful beef juices. FRIDAY: I've shared my paleo pizza recipe here! It's always a staple in our house. SATURDAY: There's nothing like a roast beef dinner. Click here for my recipe!
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You know that feeling when you find a really good product? So good, you won't buy anything else but that exact product for - forever? That's how I felt when I used La Tourangelle's organic Sun Coco oil for the very first time to make my paleo mayo. It is mild in flavor, which works perfectly for my mayo recipe. I've shared my paleo mayo recipe here on my blog, and on my Instagram page. That's when La Tourangelle Oils reached out to me and sent me my first ever blog mail! It was an awesome moment for me. In the package I received a replacement Sun Coco oil, Sun Coco spray oil, sesame oil, roasted walnut oil (a fave!), and the Amazonian NutriBlend. Each oil has their own unique blend that is perfect for any and all recipes. Below I comment on each of the oils I now plan to keep in my kitchen for a very long time! SUN COCO OIL: This is my favorite for everyday cooking. It is a neutral cooking oil that won't overpower. I can make mayo, roast vegetables, and sear meats. This oil can handle a smoke point of 440 degrees. It's also organic! TOASTED SESAME OIL: I am so excited to try this oil in my next Asian inspired dish. Other sesame oils can be too powerful and bitter. The flavor of this oil is bold, but not too powerful. According to La Tourangelle, they achieve this through carefully selecting the highest quality sesame seeds, which are lightly toasted, expeller-pressed, and gently filtered to perfection. AMAZONIAN NUTRIBLEND: This is a bold oil that tastes earthy. According to La Tourangelle, this oil is a 100% organic blend to get the best of both worlds: gourmet food & supplement. The Organic Amazonian Nutriblend™ could be considered a supplement oil due to its high level of vitamin E and omega 3. The blend has nutty aromas and earthy undertones and by using it daily, one can benefit from essential nutrients. I added this oil to a smoothie and it was delicious! This is a great oil to have on hand. ROASTED WALNUT OIL: This oil is probably my second favorite. It. Is. So. Good. I've added it to my chocolate smoothies, and salad dressings. It's nutty in flavor with zero bitterness! Sometimes I eat a spoonful of it - it's that good! So, simply put, make the switch to La Tourangelle Oils. You can easily order these oils online, and if you live in the Hillsdale area, Kroger supplies many of their oils. I am proud to support this artisan oil producer who sources organic products, and works with Fair Trade Certified suppliers. La Tourangelle has made a big impact in my kitchen, and the food my family eats. Thank you, La Tourangelle!
This recipe is so easy it's kind of dumb. And I didn't even come up with this brilliant plate of food. I might have plated it, but it wasn't my idea. My awesome husband bought some wasabi seaweed snacks yesterday. He proceeded to tell me these would be "up my alley" (not so much his) and I should turn the seaweed into sushi. I MEAN COME ON. SO. GOOD. The closest sushi spot is a good 40 minutes away, so if you're craving sushi (like I do 24/7) and live in a tiny town with zero sushi options, these wraps will hit the spot. I used smoked wild Alaskan salmon. I also sliced cucumber and avocado. I dressed the wraps with coconut aminos - a paleo friendly substitute for soy sauce. I topped it all off with toasted sesame seeds. Simply pick them up and consume. This is the perfect snack, lunch, or dinner. I might have made four more wraps after cleaning this plate... PALEO SUSHI
dairy free, gluten free, grain free, soy free INGREDIENTS
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Enjoy! This is really, really good, guys. I'm making this again, and again. I didn't grow up with stroganoff, so I'm not familiar with the original version. I googled a classic beef stroganoff recipe, and I'm glad I didn't grow up with it. Thanks, Mom! I've been told that Danielle Walker's beef strogranoff was pretty awesome, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Her recipe calls for ground beef, but Dan and Deb with Greener Grass Farms gave me a sirloin tip steak to prepare this month, and I thought this cut of meat would be a great addition to the dish. If you're new to my blog and page, Dan and Deb provide a new cut of meat every month for me to prepare on the first Sunday of each month. I buy all of my meat from Dan and Deb! They raise grass fed and finished beef, pasture raised pigs, turkeys, and soy free chickens. It is glorious. Below is Danielle's recipe from her second cookbook, Meals Made Simple. I added a few ingredients and tweaked a few things. She said the recipe would serve six, but I beg to differ. It fed four with zero leftovers. I would suggest doubling the recipe if someone wants seconds, or if you simply want leftovers. I buy my cashews at the local health food store - Hillsdale Natural Grocery. You can find raw cashew pieces for a decent price. They're on the bottom shelf, FYI. The whole raw cashews are on the top shelf, and are more expensive, but who cares. They're being blended. Did you grow up with the classic strogranoff? Tell me your stories! PALEO BEEF STROGANOFF
dairy free, gluten free, grain free, and soy free INGREDIENTS
METHOD
I started my blogging journey nearly four years ago. I had a small handful of blogs, and they all failed. I was busy with life and having babies. Writing was and is an outlet, and I didn't have much time for myself then. With my youngest turning two in November, I am confident that I can devote time to my new blog - The Steph Gordon Blog.
If you've followed me, you know that I was once The Wholesome House. I loved what The Wholesome House stood for, but it wasn't quite right. The Steph Gordon Blog is more fitting. I plan to write about my passions; my family, my husband, and my girls. This is a blog that will dabble in a little bit of everything, but my main focus will be paleo food and natural living. This past year I've done a lot of cooking for a lot of people. I enjoy spending time in the kitchen, and I hope to do something big with my passion someday down the road. I started my paleo journey in 2011. I thought I was a healthy person before I started this journey, but little did I know that I was at the most unhealthy stage in my life. I lived off of crappy carbs, skim milk, ground turkey, and peanut butter crunch cereal. I was unstable in my personal life, and my work life wasn't bringing me much joy. I met Matt, my now husband, in 2011. He has helped me become who I am today. I learned from him, and I was transforming into my best self. My body felt amazing. I was thriving. I wasn't tired anymore. I was hooked and wasn't turning back. In 2011 there weren't many resources for paleo recipes. I followed a few of my favorite paleo moguls, PaleOMG, and Danielle Walker with Against All Grain. The crazy thing is, is that they were just starting their blogs, and today they are thriving. They are truly an inspiration. So, I was inspired to learn. I learned to cook with paleo ingredients. I learned to use this for that. So on and so forth. It was fun, and I felt good. I totally immersed myself into this lifestyle, and added crossfit to the mix. In 2012 I became pregnant with our first child. A short 10 weeks later, I had a miscarriage. Who knows what from, and it kills me to this day to not know what triggered it. I blame birth control (another story for a later date). After my miscarriage, I really focused on my health. I quit birth control and reset my body. A year later I became pregnant with Eloise in 2013. She was born May 21, 2014. Flora followed 18 months to the day on November 21, 2015. My body hasn't stopped. It's either been pregnant or nursing. Hormones galore. I can proudly say that I just finished nursing Flora the day before my 30th birthday on August 10, 2017. This is the first time I've been free of pregnancy and postpartum stuff since 2012. My body is thanking me. This stage of life hasn't been easy for me. I've been tried in more ways than I can count. But, I still remain true to the fact that I continue to provide real food to my family. I am fortunate enough to work with Greener Grass Farms and consume their grass fed and pasture raised meats that feed my family. I am also thankful for my relationships with vegetable and fruit farms such as Adams Farm. I'm also thankful for one of my best friends, Jen, who so graciously believes in me that she took all of these beautiful photos for my blog. And, Matt. I don't know what I would do without you... I am surrounded by some really great people. I have high hopes for this blog, and everything it stands for. I'm excited to have you here! I want to get to know you! I want to cook with you! I want to teach you so much! With that said, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE STEPH GORDON BLOG! Cheers! |
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