The best way to beat the Monday blahs is with bacon.
Am I right or am I right?
To kick off the week for my whole family, I baked bacon on my griddle in the toaster oven, scrambled eggs, and fried tomatoes in bacon drippings.
I love raw tomatoes, but you amplify the umami if you sear ‘em in bacon grease – and I’m all about simple ways to boost flavor.
While Henry took the boys to school, I had a few minutes to spare, so I puréed a few baked yams that I’d stored in the fridge.
Then, I zoomed off to CrossFit Palo Alto for the women’s class. Although I had committed to attending two times a week – even if it meant working out after a night shift – it’d actually been ten days since I last got my WOD on. Argh. I promise to do better next week.
When I returned from class, I whipped up some batter to make Ashley Tudor’s sweet potato bars (her recipe is available in Sweet Potato Power)…
…and popped the baking dish into the oven.
While the bars were baking, I used my spice grinder to blitz a batch of Magic Mushroom Powder (recipe available in the Spice It Up premium pack for my iPad app).
Mushroom cloud!
And, yes, I’m not just the developer of the Nom Nom Paleo iPad app, I’m also a client.
(It saddens me that the majority of my readers are waaaay too young to catch my Sy Sperling reference. I’m such an old lady.)
Lunch was an afterthought. I ended up just pulling some leftovers out of the fridge. At first, I tried to make it nice and photogenic…
…but then just ended up piling random items onto the plate. Here’s a picture of the true smorgasbord I ate. You might spot a couple of sliders, sautéed red cabbage, homemade pineapple salsa, and tomatoes in the mix.
After lunch, I took the dish of sweet potato bars out of the oven and placed it on a rack to cool.
Rather than standing there and twiddling my thumbs, I decided to make a second batch of Magic Mushroom Powder, but this time, with dried shiitake mushrooms, dried ginger, onion, and garlic. Variety is the spice of life, right?
It’d been a while since I made Magic Mushroom Powder and I’d forgotten how simple and quick it is.
Once I was done cleaning up mushroom dust on the kitchen counter, I picked up the Double-Os at school. Both of them were excited to snack on the sweet potato bars; it’s their favorite grain-free treat.
We spent the rest of the afternoon gawking at the plastic-looking “spooky” animatronics at our neighborhood Spirit Halloween Store (again). I understand their fascination with Weird Al and Psy, but their obsession with this store baffles me.
When we returned home from visiting the werewolves, zombies, and skeletons, it was time to make dinner. The pound of Siren SirenSA sand dabs in my fridge looked like they could use some of my newly-concocted shiitake spice powder.
And just like that, they were ready for the skillet (and some hot coconut oil).
The Double-Os don’t like bony fish (and I didn’t have enough for them anyway), so for the boys, I seasoned flap steaks with regular Magic Mushroom Powder…
…and gave them a quick turn in a coconut oil coated skillet, too.
The kids split a small steak, and I stuck the rest in the fridge. Emergency protein, at the ready.
To accompany the fish and steak, I roasted a tray of broccoli seasoned with Magic Mushroom Powder and finished it with a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar.
Dinner!
In the immortal words of Eric the Actor: Goodbye…for now.
