Cashew Lime Chicken

This was the preparation for this recipe.  The baggie contains the cashews, the bell jar had the sauce, and the other glass container had chopped cilantro. 

Here are the empty jars!  Using bell jars to have things ready to go while on the road was fabulous!  

The electric skillet of course!

My boy - I think we were at Swarthmore here - I am so proud of him and appreciate him so much!

Well, I am almost a week back from the college road trip and still trying to get back into a routine.  Wait, what routine!?  No such thing....  It was an interesting experience and I think my son now has a better idea about what kind of school he wants to attend.

It was difficult though as an education researcher and social worker not to think about all of this from a critical race theory perspective.  For example, every selective school we visited made a statement such as "We are need blind admissions, we don't want the inability to pay to prevent anyone from attending [Name of this fine school]."  What kept going through my mind however, was all the decisions and circumstances that low income kids are in that would prevent them from even being in a position to apply to these schools.  These elite institutions have the luxury to say this because only a token few are able to apply.  For example, I was thinking about the comment about how "we look at each student in the context of their school.  We want to see that students challenge themselves."  So my mind raced to think about the tracking in schools that leads brown or black kids and low income kids into the lower academic tracks, cutting off their access to AP classes.  So, if they applied, they would not even have a chance because their own schooling experiences created barriers to access to those classes - so they didn't "choose" not to challenge themselves, institutional factors and decisions tracked them effectively eliminated their ability to access AP courses. There is a really good quote about this in a book we were reading on the trip called "Dog Whistle Politics" by Ian Haney López.  I will try to find that quote and post it.

Anyway, on to the recipe: (Source: Make Ahead Paleo)

This would be good as a make ahead recipe even for home.

Ingredients:
2 lbs of boneless chicken breasts
1 cup of cashews
1/4 cup cilantro
1 1/2 cups of fat free chicken broth
1 TBS fish sauce
1/4 cup coconut aminos (this is a soy sauce substitute)
1 TBS fresh lime juice
1 tsp lime zest
1 TBS minced ginger
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp arrowroot powder
2 TSP coconut oil (again, I just took a can of coconut spray with me)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

1. Combine the broth, fish sauce, soy sauce substitute, lime juice, zest, ginger, garlic, and arrowroot.  If you are traveling or keeping it for later, this will fit in a bell jar or similar sized container.  Or just set it aside in a bowl if you are making it right away.
2. Chop the cilantro and set aside
3. Use the coconut oil or spray on your skillet, heat it, add the chicken, then add the sauce and cashews.
4. Add the cilantro at the end
5. Salt and pepper to taste.


SEE --- So easy!

Coffee Rubbed Steak Strips

I haven't had a chance to post while traveling, so I am very behind on sharing my cooking adventures while on the road.

I am so proud of myself for the meal planning I have done on this trip.  Today was the first day I had to go to the grocery store to re-stock on snacks and I still have enough food for two more dinners.  The challenge was knowing that we only had a car trunk for five passengers.  So that meant we would only be able to fit one cooler and maybe two grocery bags of food in the trunk with our luggage.  This is certainly not like the luxury of road trips in our now deceased Toyota Siena (How I miss my Siena!).  We would carry two coolers and not have to limit the grocery bags.  Well, I did manage to plan meals carefully so that I was carrying just what I needed and was able to fit the food in my car's trunk.

Pictured here is our first cooked meal on the trip.  From the previous posts, you saw that I had prepared Thai chicken drumsticks that could be eaten cold, a Paleo No Potato Salad, and I haven't blogged about a Chicken Salad.  The meal described in this post was dinner on Monday night in Williamstown. We visited Williams College (The college that is now my son's #1 - I think).  I couldn't wait to share this with all of you because I was so excited about discovering the use of an electric skillet and pre-prepared ingredients ready to just add to the skillet!  This was awesome and it really works.

The prep for this meal meant that I had one zip lock bag of pre-cut beef and the marinade.  I had a vegetable side dish for this meal (this was a prepared that I just heated up on the electric skillet as well because the room we were in did not have a microwave).

Here is the recipe from the book: Make Ahead Paleo

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1 1/2 tsp finely ground coffee
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 TBS granulated onion
1/2 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 TBS honey

3 lb. of lean beef steak

Coconut oil for the skillet (I just brought a can of the coconut oil spray with me).

1.  Mix all of the ingredients listed above.
2. Place the beef in a zip lock baggie.
3. Add the marinade to the zip lock baggie.
4.  Once in the bag, zip it and make sure the marinade covers the pieces of beef completely.
5. Put it in your cooler until it is ready to use.

Creamy Cilantro No Potato Salad

Source: Make Ahead Paleo

This salad was a hit!  As Atzin, my son said, "Mom, this was questionable, but it was really good!"  He had a huge serving both on the night I prepared it and on the road.  We had this as a side with the Thai Lime Chicken Legs.

I made this ahead as well and packed it for the road trip.

One head of cauliflower
1/2 cup dill pickles (finely chopped)
3 ribs of uncooked celery (finely chopped)
1 cup of sliced black olives
1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
1/2 cup onion (finely chopped)
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1 TBS mustard
1 TBS fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
5 boiled eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise

1. Steam the cauliflower fro 5-7 minutes.  It should still be a bit crunchy (soft, but not too soft).
2. Transfer to bowl and refrigerate them for about 15 minutes.
3. Combine the eggs, pickles, celery, olives, cilantro, onion, garlic, mayo, mustard, lime juice, sea salt, and pepper.
4. Remove cauliflower from the fridge and chop it up. Add it to the rest of the salad.
5. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Thai Chicken Drumsticks

Source: Make Ahead Paleo

So far I am on the end of day two of the road trip.  I feel like we've eaten enough for a week so far!  I'm so grateful I planned so many meals on the road because these boys certainly do have an appetite.

Well, this dish I'm sharing here was our first lunch on the road.  I pre-prepared these chicken drumsticks and they were great.  The boys loved it.

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs. uncooked chicken drumsticks
1/2 cup cilantro
2 cloves of garlic
2 TBS fish sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
2 TBS fresh ginger
1 medium shallot
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS honey
2 TBS canned coconut milk
2 TBS coconut aminos (substitute for soy sauce)

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a food processor.
2. Place the chicken legs in a baking dish and pour the marinade on the chicken legs.  Make sure each chicken leg is covered in the marinade.
3. Bake for about 45 minutes.

So easy, they tasted great cold.  The boys ate these up! And so did mom!