Monday, March 31, 2014

Paleo Bears

Debt as of 06/09/2012:  $92,645.00

Debt as of 03/31/2014:  $30,267.48

Total Debt Paid Down: $62,377.52

Grace & Peace To You,

Yes, you did read that latest debt number right!  While we are not quite yet in the "home stretch," we are definitely in the final leg of our debt pay down schedule!

I'm also happy to tell you that this is the first post that I am officially "typing" through the help of my wife's elementary school's online typing program.  The name of the program is:  Big Brown Bear.  The readers of our old blog Big Bear Budgets should appreciate that!  If you're wondering (and I know you are) I'm currently at 26 words per minute on level 2.  This is proof that you can teach an old bear new tricks!

One of the great blessings of this journey is that we cook almost all of our meals at home.  While neither one of us were inept in the kitchen, I would not consider Emily or myself a great cook before we got married.  Living on a budget has forced us both to get into kitchen armed with cookbooks & online recipes!  While our home is not a 5 Star French Riviera restaurant, we do crank out some pretty decent and healthy meals.  Here is one of our new favorites that we had last night.  It is from PaleOMG.  This is a great site if you're into this cooking and diet.  While we would probably consider ourselves more "Primal" (again, these are crazy health nut terms) than "Paleo" we use this website a lot and love the meals.


Fully Loaded Citrus Marinated Chicken Lettuce WrapsCook time20 minsPrep time1 hour 20 minsServes: 3Ingredients
  • 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
  • cup orange juice 
  • juice of 2 lemons juice of 2 limes
  • tablespoon chili powder
  • teaspoon smoked paprika
  • jalapeño pepper
  • minced 1 minced garlic clove 
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • teaspoon black pepper
  •  pineapple guacamole
  • to garnish 6 strips of bacon
  • Sir Kensington's Chipotle Mayo or homemade chipotle mayo 
  • butter lettuce, for wrapping
Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Place chicken in a gallon resealable bag or in a deep dish. Add orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, chili powder, paprika, jalapeño, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well to coat the chicken and place in the fridge for an hour to marinate. 

3. While chicken marinates, make pineapple guacamole. 

4. Once guacamole is made, place in the fridge to chill. Place slices of bacon on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Put in oven an bake for 15-20 minutes, or until bacon is cooked to preference then set aside for later. 

5. Remove foil. Place chicken on baking sheet and into oven for 15 minutes (discard marinade), then turn on the broiler and cook for 3-4 minutes until the chicken has browned on top and is completely cooked through. 

6. Place a couple pieces of butter lettuce on a plate, add chicken, top with chipotle mayo, bacon, then then guacamole and enjoy!

Recipe by PaleOMG - Paleo Recipes at http://paleomg.com/fully-loaded-citrus-marinated-chicken-lettuce-wraps/

Keep Paying and Saving!

In Christ,
Bryant & Emily