Paleo Chicken "Noodle" Soup

It's what {was} for dinner in our house tonight. All four kids have some sort of infection (ears, throat, lungs, etc.) and this is the perfect dinner when you're feeling under the weather. This tastes just like chicken noodle soup: it's mild, light on the tummy and comforting.  (My sister passed this on, based off this recipe, after her kids gave it their approval...and my kids have agreed that it's one of their favorite soups.)

Like most real-food meals, it does require a bit of prep work, but if you can plan ahead for it, it's not too bad.

Paleo Chicken "Noodle" Soup

fat of choice (coconut oil, butter, olive oil, etc.)

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. parsley

1/2 tsp. oregano

salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 large onion, diced

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 whole soup chicken, cooked and shredded (Yonder Way Farm)

2 lbs butternut squash  (pre-peeled and cubed from Sam's or Costco)

1 head of cauliflower, riced (I like to do this at the beginning of the week, when I try to prep all my veggies at once, if so this makes it a lot easier. If you don't know how to rice a cauliflower, see step 1, here.)

1 large can of diced tomatoes (28oz)

6-8 cups chicken bone broth (Make your own...I keep them in my freezer in Mason jars and let them thaw out the morning I use it.)

1. Start cooking/boiling your chicken. (When I boil my chicken, it's always seems to dry. So, I put mine in a crockpot on low for 6 hours (for a small, whole soup chicken, 8 hours for a large whole chicken) covered with salt and pepper. Nothing else in the crockpot. Just the chicken. You might be worried that it's going to be really dry. It's actually the opposite. My friend Meredith told me how to do it this way. It's amazingly moist and simple.)

2. Steam the butternut squash for about 10 minutes until barely tender. Remove half the squash onto a plate. Allow the remaining squash to simmer for about 5 more minutes. Then, drain water and mash this squash with the back of a fork. Set aside. (I usually use the same plate: half with cubed squash, half with mashed squash.)

3. Melt fat of choice in the bottom of a large pot. Saute onion for about 8 minutes and add the garlic for a few more minutes. Add riced cauliflower, cook for about 5 minutes. (I also usually add the broth that was at the bottom of my crockpot from cooking the whole chicken at this point. If you didn't do that, no big deal, you'll add the broth in a little bit.) While all this is happening, shred your chicken on a plate.

4. Add tomatoes, all of the butternut squashed (mashed and cubed), and shredded chicken. Pour all spices and seasonings over the top of the chicken. Add the 6-8 cups of broth. And allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes.

The Girls' General (Paleo) Stir Fry...

It's named "Girls' General Stir Fry" b/c McKlayne helped as the official "taste-tester" and "ingredient adder" as I've made several adjustments to a General Tso's recipe to "paleo-fy" it and get it just right over the last year. McKlayne gave me high-fives all throughout this meal as she commented on how good this was.


Several things that I love about this meal: I love that this meal is PACKED with tons of veggies. I love that it makes PLENTY of leftovers, even for all of our big eaters!  (It's really good the next day for lunch!) And I love that I can actually prep most of this meal earlier that day (or even earlier in the week) to make a quick dinner to throw together.  (I actually riced my cauliflower the day I bought it and kept it in the fridge for 5 days before making this meal. If I prep the broccoli and carrots, too, this meal is pretty simple...it just takes some time to cook in batches since it makes so much.) This makes clean-up much easier and cuts down on time in the kitchen. If you don't prepare all your veggies before-hand this could take about an hour or longer to prepare and cook...but maybe that's just  because of my four little "interruptions" as I frequently have to take breaks to referee or move them on to something else to keep the babies "busy".


Okay...onto the recipe:

2 heads of cauliflower, riced

4-5 cups broccoli (I use raw, but I'm sure frozen would be fine, too.)

5 large carrots, sliced into rounds

1 large onion, cut into large chunks (like you would for a stir fry)
3 chicken breasts (cut into bite size chunks, seasoned with paprika, chili powder, s&p)
Plus the sauce ingredients listed in Step 2.

1. Begin by "ricing" 2 heads of raw cauliflower: Remove stems and leaves, and chop florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like rice. (I find it much easier to pulverize the cauliflower in several batches.  It's less messy AND I have better control over the consistency.  I like mine to look like large feta cheese crumbles....any smaller and I think it gets too mushy.) I usually set my processor on a 1-2 (out of 6) and pulverize away. Set riced cauliflower aside.
2. Then, prepare the sauce. (Half this if you're making a smaller portion.) Whisk the following together thoroughly in a small saucepan: 


2 cups Chicken Broth 

1/2 cup raw honey
1/4 cup Coconut Aminos (this is to replace soy sauce..it's wheat and soy free)
1/4 cup apple juice (sherry wine or white wine...I actually had some of this and none of the others, so I used the apple juice)
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar 
1/8 cup lemon juice
1-2 tsp garlic chili sauce (optional: my kids don't mind the spice, but if your kids are sensitive, you can cut it out...if you cut it, make sure you add some garlic powder, maybe 1 tsp.)

Let all of this begin to simmer and then add: 1/4 cup arrowroot powder with 1/4 cup of water, for thickening. Simmer, allowing the sauce to thicken a bit. Turn heat to low.  

3. While the sauce is simmering, prepare the chicken: Melt a couple tablespoons of coconut oil in a large pan on medium heat and brown all sides of meat. Once the chicken is starting to brown, turn heat down to med-low and steam for a few minutes until done. When it's done, transfer it to a large serving bowl where you will combine all the stir-fry. (While chicken is cooking, get started on the veggies.) If I had a large electric skillet, I'd probably do all the veggies in this (and use it in place of my "serving bowl"), but I don't so I have to make it in my largest pan and do a couple batches.

4. Cover bottom of hot pan with coconut oil and fry cauliflower. This may take about 10 minutes or so. When you think it's done, taste a little bit...if it still tastes cauliflower-y then cook it a little longer until it doesn't taste like much (kinda like rice.) When it's done, dump it in your serving bowl.

5. Add about 1/4 cup of the stir-fry sauce to your large pan and pour in the rest of the veggies (broccoli, carrots and onion) and cover for about 10 minutes. Occasionally stir everything together, until veggies reach desired "done-ness".  Transfer everything to the huge serving bowl with the "rice" and chicken, mixing together well.

6. Dish out individual servings of the stir-fry and top with desired amount of sauce. Enjoy your stir-fry! 

If you liked this, you may enjoy this even easier go-to-dish: Pork Fried Rice.

How we celebrate Christmas

This is a collection of some of our favorite ways to celebrate and prepare our hearts for "the coming" of Jesus at Christmas during Advent.

If you click on each picture, it will take you to the post where I've previously blogged about it over the years. I hope your family will enjoy these as you expectantly await the celebration of our Savior's birth!

Handprint Nativity Animals

Christmas Book Countdown (includes list of books)

Our favorite Christmas album (kid-approved, but not really made for "kids")

Shepherd's Pouches

A list of Advent Activities

(Another list of advent activities.)

And a few others we'll be doing this year:

KatherineMarie is the best!

Only $4. Has all the directions you need to lead your kids in creating their own 'Tale of Christmas'. We started this at the end of last December and didn't get to finish it, but what we did, my kids enjoyed. So, we'll start over again this year!

Does your family celebrate with any fun traditions? Or any that you're eager to try this year? I'd love to hear them!

Friday Funnies: My little "men"

Me: What are you boys doing?

Asher: Don't worry, Momma, I'm just teaching him how to be a man.

Full Hands.

This is the announcement we used to share our "big" news with the Facebook World. While I really liked my boots in the picture below, I thought the above pic more clearly communicated the message. But back to the boots...I mean, who even knows how much long I'll be able to squeeze my unavoidably growing ankles into those cute boots? So, I will keep this picture and dream about the days when my pregnant body will once be manageable again...so vain, I know. 

This is how we told the older two. They were SO delighted to hear about their new baby. So much so that the next morning, as soon as McKlayne saw me she ran up to me and started kissing my baby belly as she gushed, "I just can't believe it, we're having another baby..." Followed by Asher who told me, "When I was laying in bed last night I just couldn't sleep...and tears were even coming out of my eyes because I'm so excited." McKlayne has told me no less than 6 times in the last 24 hours, "Oh, Mommy, your belly is getting BIGGER!!!" Yes. Yes, it is. And, it will continue to for the next 30 weeks...I have already begun warning her that it will also take a while to get "small" again after the baby is here.

Okay, this is a long video, but I thought that at least the grandparents might want to see it:

Speaking of growing...how did this two get so big? It just seemed like they were making this video. But  it's already been over two years!

Daddy Daughter Date

McKlayne is a great date. If you're ever around McKlayne it wouldn't take much of your imagination to understand this. The girl is never at loss for words. The questions are endless ... which is great for a daddy who is a bit below average on the conversational spectrum. But I did have plenty of questions for my girl on our overdue date. And I did have to wait occasionally to fit in those questions.

We had dinner with the family and then set out for the mall. I wanted to allow for some major talking time with my girl as we walked around. I also love McKlayne's imagination. I think it's one of her greatest assets and I'm not sure that I've seen anyone use theirs as much as she does. I wanted to see it take off as we wandered around. 

The mall didn't disappoint. The somewhat unsightly construction left us with my many X's (designating broken tiles) on the floor that marked all of the mall's buried treasure. We stopped at kiosks and stores and tried on glasses, masks and more. We squeezed into a kids' ride and went on a rollercoaster together. I'm telling you — the girl is F-U-N. 

Our first scheduled stop was the pet store. It's really the puppy store as that's all that they sell. But, it's where we take our kids to get their pet-fix as we are a "No Pet Zone." And McKlayne — the little mommy and animal lover — lights up when you mention going. She could spend hours there holding those creatures. I let her stay as long as I can stand the smell and the gushing pet lovers' "goo goo" talk and then give her an additional 10 minutes. 

McKlayne holding "Adelae"

She told me what she'd name the pup and then what Mommy, Daddy and Asher might name it. And when I asked, she quickly informed me that Oliver couldn't name pets yet — like it was a crazy question. I didn't ask about L. She told me about what she'd do, where they'd go and the tricks that she'd teach it. And then we switched out dogs and repeated. 

We walked back through the mall to pick up a cookie for Asher both lamenting the removal of the giant playplace in the food court. We split a peanut butter cookie (one of her favorites) and were off to Spoons. 

A few stops at the mall

If you ask McKlayne where she wants to go on a date, you may get a few different places or ideas, but "Spoons" is always the first one. We tried a few flavors with our stack of sample cups and then got our usuals. McKlayne mixed her gummy bears, yellow mystery gusher balls, chocoate chips and sprinkles into her strawberry-cheesecake swirl yogurt. Yumm, right? We had a lot more to talk about and then she dared me to take a bite of her concoction. Well ... she sweetly and generously asked me if I wanted to try hers. But, it felt like a dare. Either way I ate that stuff ... and lied to her face and said it was delicious. 

I scooted around next to her in order to hold out the camera and snap a pic of our date. After we got a good one that included both of our heads, two smiles and our yogurts in the same shot, I decided to stay close and do some "same side sitting." She politely asked me to move back across the table. I proceeded to let her know how Mommy and I would sit close on our dates while we talked. She nodded and pointed to the other side of the table. I chuckled and compliantly scooted my chair back around. McKlayne, may you always be so firm and keep all of your future dates honest.

We love Spoons!

And that was it. McKlayne was such a treat. The way I laughed with her, gushed over her and just stared from time-to-time at her beauty reminded me of other dates with a girl that actually shares a resemblance (and a lot of personality) with my Klayney. So we headed back home, delivered our cookie and wondered what the phrase "awkward silence" even meant. 

Here's to many more dates with you McKlayne. Love, Daddy.

Chicken Fajita Wraps

with oven-roasted okra.

Our friends, Joe and Melissa, made Fajita Wraps with all the fixings for us when we were over for dinner one night. It was a hit with my family, so I knew I had to add this to the rotation!  (Now I think of you wonderful Terry's every time we eat this meal and for all the ways we're thankful for how God has used you two to shape us.)

I based my marinade off of this recipe.

Fajita Marinade

1/4 cup lime juice
 1/3 cup water
 2 tablespoons olive oil
 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
 2 teaspoons salt
 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

I usually let the marinade sit for 1-2 nights in the fridge, but it can marinate for just a few hours if you need to eat them sooner. The longer, the better, though.

Grill or cook on stovetop in skillet.  Serve in lettuce wraps with grilled mushrooms and onions, salsa and guacamole.