Guys, I sautéed plantains. Me. Seriously. I have never purchased fresh plantains before because, quite frankly, I have been intimidated by them. But part of the reason I chose to cook this recipe was the plantains. 

Thankfully, the Whole 30 Cookbook takes all the fear out of it. The book is full of tips... like when it told me that the plantains will be ready to use when the peels are almost black. I would have never known that. And let's be real, I would have tossed them thinking that they had expired. I will tell you though, they can take a while to ripen. I bought them thinking they'd be like avocados or bananas (quick to turn bad after you leave the Publix parking lot), but these guys took almost a week!

I could not find Jamaican jerk seasoning that was Whole 30 approved, so I made my own (also a tip in the book). It was easy and delicious. 

I added extra orange zest about halfway through the baking process. I liked it, but Stu and Reagan both wiped the orange off. Oh well. 

My plantains were not perfect. I think I used too much coconut oil, plus I forgot to add the vinegar. Oops. I still thought they were super tasty. Reagan thought they tasted like slimy sweet bananas. Stu (apparently) will only eat fried plantains from his favorite Cuban restaurant. He would not even try it. 

I am a sucker for BBQ. It's Reagan's favorite condiment. Riley is not such a big fan. Stu enjoys good BBQ too. 

I found this recipe in this magazine, although I did not follow it exactly:

This recipe is compliments of my grandma, Lala. I don't know the origin of the recipe. I have no idea if she created it or stole (I mean, adapted) from someone else. All I know is that is was in the cookbook she made for some of us. 

I love making these stuffed green peppers. They are super simple to make. You cook them in your microwave. They taste amazing. And *bonus* they heat up well for lunch the next day too. 

For the full recipe, scroll to the bottom of this post. 

As part of our homeschool curriculum, I am teaching Rea to cook. She has taken a liking to creating things in the kitchen. 

We picked up a kids' cookbook at Barnes and Noble the other day. She has read every page. And she has marked a number of things for us to try. Here is the first one:

Who doesn't love a good crockpot recipe? 

I found this one day not long ago on Pinterest. The recipe called it "OMG! The Best Crockpot Chicken. Ever." I thought with a name like that, how could I go wrong? I clicked and was happy to see that I most of the ingredients. The only thing I was lacking was the dry Italian dressing. So, here's my adaptation:

I pulled out my smaller crockpot. And put the chicken breasts in it. My chicken was not all the way thawed (about 30% frozen). 

I am sorry I don't have a better picture of the finished product... My family literally devoured it! Rea ate 4 helpings! We had to lie and tell her there wasn't anymore. That should be a good indication of this recipe's success.