Today, I switched back to being diurnal and my schedule for the day was jam-packed. To fuel me through the morning, I made myself a frittata with three eggs, leftover roasted broccoli and bacon, and a dollop of full fat Greek yogurt.
Yes, I’ll admit it was kind of over-done. I couldn’t check on my frittata because I was stuck for a good 15 minutes helping Lil-O drop some kids off at the pool. Did that make you lose your appetite? Not me.
After eating breakfast, I took Lil-O to a “kitchen chemistry” class. They made buttercream frosting, which was served with “healthy” graham crackers. Argh. Next, we drove to Sigona’s to stock up on veggies and meat for our casual Super Bowl party on Sunday. I’m planning on serving mostly Paleo fare to our non-Paleo friends: roasted veggies, crudités and dip, slow roasted pork butt, and sous vide beef brisket. I don’t even know who’s playing ‘cause it’s all about the commercials, n’est-ce pas?
When we got home, I ate a lunch that consisted of fried chicken and spinach sausages, leftover cauliflower puree, and roasted parsnips and carrots.
Shortly thereafter, my hubby and I accompanied my mother-in-law to her oncology appointment. As soon as we got back, I decided to sous vide some pork chops and chicken breasts. I bought some Niman Ranch bacon-wrapped pork chops from Costco a few days ago…
…and out of sheer laziness I opted to just cut the package in half and plop both packets into the SousVide Supreme (140 F for 2 hours). (Per the customer service folk at Niman Ranch, the plastic used is safe to dunk into a water bath.)
Since I always sous vide pork chops with chicken breasts, I recruited Big-O to help me season a couple with lemon pepper and salt before I vacuum sealed them and dumped them in the water bath as well.
Once the chops and chicken were placed in the SousVide Supreme, I took a grass fed beef brisket and Boston Butt bone-in pork roast out of the fridge. I liberally seasoned both meats with salt, pepper, and Fajita and Taco seasoning.
Here’s the pork butt…
…and the brisket.
I vacuum sealed both the pork and the beef but I’m only sous viding the brisket. I’m letting the pork roast marinate in the fridge until Saturday night, at which time I’ll slow roast it in the oven overnight.
You’d think with all this meat preparation that I’d be all set for dinner – but you’d be wrong! We came back from the oncology appointment late so my sous vide meats wouldn’t be finished cooking until 7:00 p.m. Consequently, I sent my hubby to Calafia to pick up a rotisserie chicken (after phoning ahead and reserving one).
I decided to serve the chicken with roasted butternut squash…
…and stir fried napa cabbage and bacon.
Here’s my dinner plate:
The chicken breast was kinda dry but, overall, it’s a tasty and reasonably priced take-out item.
After dinner, I took out the sous vided chicken and chops and dunked them in an ice bath for an hour.
I’ll probably eat the chicken later this week but I might freeze the cooked chops and serve them when I go back to work. Before going to bed, I cranked the temperature of my water bath to 147 F and dropped in the seasoned beef brisket.
I’ll let the beef bathe for 48 hours and I’ll take it out on Saturday night. I’m not sure I’ll serve the brisket at the party because grass fed beef is always an iffy prospect coming from my SousVide Supreme. I’ll just make hubby and myself choke it down if it’s gross. Good times.
