Gone Paleo

Almond Flour Bagels

2010-02-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

Yum, yum. These turned out way better than I expected, looking and tasting very much like a bagel should taste.

½ c. almond flour
2 T. flaxseed
1 T. arrowroot
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. xantham gum
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda

Mix above together thoroughly.

2 heaping T. almond butter
1 T ghee
1 T agave
2 large eggs

Use a blender on high speed to mix together thoroughly, about 1 minute. Mix dry ingredients in, should form a dough within about 20 seconds of blending together. Sprinkle a piece of wax paper with almond flour and/or more flaxseed. Place dough on the mixture, then sprinke more almond flour/flaxseed on top. Divide dough into 4 parts (more or less depending on how big you want your bagels to be) and roll into balls. Will need more almond flour/flaxseed to keep from getting sticky. Place on baking sheet, flatten to about 1/2 inch and place in freeer for about 15 minutes.

Heat oven to 425 degrees and bring a medium pot of water to a boil (add small amount of baking soda to water).

Remove dough from freezer, sprinkle a little more almond flour in the middle of the bagel and use thumbs to push a hole through. (You can push the dough back into the bagel to keep it uniformly round, but I found the ones I just folded over to be a little prettier after they baked). Place bagel in boiling water for approximately 40 seconds, remove with slotted spoon and place on baking pan. Add desired toppings (I used roasted and chopped garlic, chocolate chips and some dried basil for each different bagel). Bake at 425 degrees for 12-13 minutes.

We enjoyed these lovely delights for breakfast today with a large amount of butter.

Good recipe! I might add more flour to the initial mixture next time to see if I can get it to be more dough like from the beginning, plus I'd like the bagels to be bigger (Boo Boo, small army of one!). Will be working on this one for perfection purposes, but unfortunately I'm out of almond flour right now. Will need to make a coconut flour bagel recipe now!

The big one on the left is one of the "prettier" ones where I didn't work the extra dough back into the bagel.

Almond Flour Chocolate Cake

2010-02-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

6 oz dark chocolate chips
6 T. butter
Melt in double broiler.

½ c. almond flour
1 T. arrowroot flour
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. coconut sugar
Mix together. Beat into the chocolate mixture, just enough to ensure all the dry ingredients are covered with the wet ingredients.

3 egg whites
Scant of baking soda
Beat on high until strong peaks form. Stir into chocolate mixture.

Put mixture into 4 custard cups, or could probably use a large muffin pan as well. Bake on 400 degrees for 13 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 30 minutes. Loosen edges with a knife and flip over onto serving plate.

Notes: This was an accidental recipe, but still pretty good. The cake will be gooey on the inside, would likely make a good brownie bite recipe. I was trying to make a molten lava cake, probably would've helped if I hadn't forgot the egg yolks and cooked it less time.

Something I learned from my daddy is to make sure you whip your eggs with a very CLEAN set of beaters and CLEAN bowl. I like to use a glass bowl.

Why so much baking?

2010-02-06T13:12:00.001-08:00

If you know paleo, you might be thinking a lot of my recipes aren't strict paleo lately. Well, there is a reason for that. I'm stressed and baking sweets helps me relax. We are still eating meals that consist of protein and veggies, but they have been super basic. The baking on the other hand has become very special for me lately, as just 6 months ago my GF baking was complete fail. When my entire day is wrecked and seemingly out of control, I love being able to come home and make the seemingly impossible possible. I've been using a lot of other people's recipes, but also making my own. Being able to make my own recipes is confident building, as I learn the different properties of new foods and how they mix together different from more "traditional" baking.

What else we've been eating this week:

Fritatta - eggs, spinach and a shredded cauliflower/green onion/red onion mix.

Shredded chicken - needed some broth because we have both been sick, so kept a good portion of the boiled chicken out to make into additional meals.

Ground beef with sweet potato, shallot and collard greens - slow cooked on low heat to make sure the collards got thoroughly cooked

Elana's Almond Flour pizza crust made into a pepperoni and sausage calzone for Kyle

Portabello mushroom topped with spicy sausage, green onion and spinach mixture and baked in oven, then topped with a small amount of cheese

Coconut Flour Donut Holes

2010-02-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

So, the challenge was on.....to provide a "last day with us" treat for one of my (fantastic) co-workers, make it gluten free and once again PROVE that gluten free is tasty. Donuts were mentioned (and immediately shot down by ME), but by the time I arrived home I realized I could probably whip up some pretty tasty donut holes using either almond or coconut flour. I perused a couple regular donut hole recipes on the internet, not finding anything gluten free that used either flour I wanted to utilize. So, I made my own recipe. The trial batch was:

¼ c. tapioca flour
1/2 c. coconut flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. sea salt
½. Tsp cinnamon
1/3 c. coconut milk
1/8 c. grapeseed oil
2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients together. Whisk wet ingredients together and mix well with dry ingredients. Place large amount of coconut oil into a pot (smaller is better, will explain why) and place on medium heat. Scoop out approximately 1/2 tablespoon and roll into balls while waiting for coconut oil to heat. Once heated, place a few balls at a time into the oil. Watch carefully for browning and the ball to "pop" open (should be perfectly done at that time).

Ok, so I didn't have a lot of coconut oil, so I only used enough at a time to place half the ball in oil. In the future I need to make sure I have enough oil on hand to cover the balls completely. I used an approximately 4 inch wide pot to fry the donut holes, about 5-6 at a time. Immediately after removing the holes from the oil, I placed them on a paper towel for a few seconds then rolled in a mixture of shredded coconut and coconut sugar.

Kyle declared these "quite delicious and I want some more" but probably not sweet enough for my carb-addicted co-workers. For the second batch, I added 2 T. of honey, 2 tsp. of vanilla and "heaped" the flours (probably an extra tablespoon of each). Although still good, the dough became sticky and difficult to roll into balls, so I ended up doing "drops" into the oil instead.

Overall, the shredded coconut and sugar mixture did NOT adhere well to the donut holes. Coconut flour is super absorbent, so despite having a large amount of coconut milk, egg and then coconut oil with it, there was still not enough moisture to adhere the mixture (even when put directly in the bowl from the pot). In the future, I may saute the holes in butter, then mix the sugar and shredded coconut in.

As with most gluten free baking, the holes taste best at the 12-24 hour mark.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

2010-01-04T20:03:00.001-08:00

So there I was sitting, leafing through the Fall issue of Eating Well (yes, it's a little late), taking note of the paleo friendly recipes and processing substitutions through my mind for those recipes that were not.....when I suddenly came upon a step by step recipe for gnocchi.

I have never had gnocchi. I have no clue how to pronounce "gnocchi" (and am grateful I only need to spell it correctly for this blog). I'm not even sure what purpose gnocchi serves in Italian cuisine (side dish? main dish? by itself? with other foods?). But I had to make it. A low carb, paleo friendly version, of course.

3 cups peeled and 1/2 to 1 inch diced sweet potatos
1/4 tsp. celtic sea salt
1 large egg yolk
1 T. coconut oil (liquified)
2 T. arrowroot flour
1 cup hazelnut flour

Roast potatos in oven at 400 degrees until tender. Let cool, then mash with salt in a medium to large bowl.

Beat egg yolk with coconut oil, fold in to sweet potato.

Mix arrowroot and hazelnut flour together, fold into sweet potato mixture until it starts to make a dough. At this point, sprinkle some hazelnut flour on a clean counter, place the dough on the counter and start kneading the mixture until everything is mixed well together.

Place a medium sized pot of water on the stove and bring to rolling boil.

Divide sweet potato mixture into 4 pieces. Roll one piece at a time into a long "snake" approximately 1/2 inch wide. Cut the snake into 3/4-1 inch pieces, making a slight indent in the gnocchi with your thumb.

Drop one quarter of the dough at a time into the pot. When the gnocchi float to the top, take them out with a slotted spoon and place on a baking sheet to dry. Repeat until all gnocchi is complete.

Although this is a fine and dandy dish for myself, I know I will need to experiment a couple more times to get it up to actual gnocchi standards (and find out what a gnocchi is supposed to taste like, I suppose).

Late night snack.

Approximately 2 oz. ground hamburger cooked with a sprinkling of salt, 5 gnocchi sauted in a big dab of butter, mixed together with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Yes, cinnamon. It's yummy.

Stir Fry (ish)

2010-01-04T12:17:00.001-08:00

Back when I lived with the always fantabulous Tamara, we used to get a little overzealous in our vegetable buying. Of course we would forget about a few of the veggies, and end up with questionable "to eat or not to eat" every few weeks. This was easily solved by turning all questionables into a stir fry type meal. Stir fry is fun because you can go with the basic oil and soy sauce, or get creative with various oils, nut butters, and spices. One of my old time favorites was Srihacha (spell check?) sauce - spicy! With my leave coming to an end, I wanted to get the fridge cleaned out, and made a huge helping of stir fry that will likely last us the next 2-3 days of dinners/lunches. I kept it simple so we can individually season our servings.

White onions, brocolli florets, two kinds of potato, sweet potato, kale, carrots, garlic.....I did not add the habanero in the end. Also, although I DO eat brocolli stalks, I did not add them into the mixture. I chopped and pan fried those and will add to the dogs dinner bowl later. I chopped the garlic, and pan fried it in copious amounts of olive oil. I then added the veggies (not the kale), more oil, mixed all together and covered with a lid to steam it all. This mixture is higher GI than I would normally cook with, but that is part of me also cooking seasonally.

Kyle rotisseried a duck on the grill yesterday, it was stuffed with red onion, whole garlic cloves and kale. It's "cajun", not burnt, just ask him!

My wok pan was too small in the end! I put it all, including the kale, into the largest glass bowl I could find and mixed thoroughly.

Covered with the glass lid again, let it sit to continue cooking the kale and flavors together.

p.s. another reason I like stir fry so much is because I can eat the leftovers cold to room temperature. No, we do not own a microwave - so all our leftovers are eaten either cold or warmed in a pan. Although I will occassionally use the microwave available to me at work, overall I prefer not to. The various issues associated with microwaves and reheating plastic, I'd rather not deal with them.

Duck Fried "Rice"

2009-12-30T15:17:00.000-08:00

Along with all of our regular Christmas leftovers, we also have the leftovers from Kyle's mom thinking we never have enough food.....so tonight I pulled out some already cooked duck and 2 small heads of cauliflower and went to work.

For quite some time I have been wanting to try making cauliflower "fried" rice. Only problem is it required a food processor.....which we FINALLY replaced the one I broke a couple weeks ago.

Chop raw cauliflower to fit into food processor spout. Use the shred setting to make your "rice" kernels.

I used duck grease (from the duck bacon we also have in the fridge), and pan fried 5 cloves of chopped garlic, one small chopped white onion, and several chopped baby carrots along with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Make sure you use a deep pan or wok style pan or you will get a bigger mess then I did!

Once this mixture is cooked, add a bit more oil or grease and dump in the cauliflower rice. Mix well together. Add 1 large spoonful of sunbutter, mix well together (may clump, just keep mushing it all together to break it up). Add two eggs, mix well together until egg is cooked. Shred duck into the mixture and heat through.

This was a quick, one-dish, delicious meal!

Sweet Biscuits and Gravy

2009-12-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

Ever since I returned from MN with a delicious assortment of dried meats, Kyle has been asking for biscuits and gravy. Finally got around to it today after a few inspirations. Inspiration #1: My coconut milk has been seperating lately due to the cooler temperature in the house. Inspiration #2: The fantastic folks at VA Garden read my mind and got more AWESOME Amish Butter Rolls in yesterday, and Kyle picked up a 2-lber (will maybe make it through the holidays!)

I got the sweet biscuits recipe from Simply Coconut (4th page). Followed this to the letter, with the exception of the honey used less). They are very yummy, the dogs are begging for me to give them more and I am dipping them in my egg yolk as I speak (type?). Kyle liked the biscuits but said they are a little too sweet for the chipped beef gravy (would've looked for a buttermilk type recipe, only our milk is sour).

The chipped beef recipe was modified from here. I halved the recipe and used just under 1 Tablespoon of coconut flour. Additionally, I used the watery part of my seperated coconut milk (approximately 1 cup) in place of the milk and about 1/2 Tablespoon of ancho chili powder. The "roux" didn't thicken very well, ended up adding about 1 teaspoon of xantham gum. This one, Kyle (and the doggies) REALLY liked. Big hit. Between the salt in the beef and the chili powder, the sweetness in the coconut was eliminated.

I can't wait to do some gluten free holiday baking this week! I need to make some treats for work, the neighbors and the Baughman's!

Long time, no postings!

2009-12-20T07:16:00.000-08:00

Agh! I haven't been able to cook as much lately, particularly experiment with GF baking. I have been using a lot of recipes from other peoples sites. The recipes have been great, particularly since I have started using a lot more coconut flour to cook! I usually still try to make Kyle something special on Sundays, and today I made him sweet biscuits and gravy. This will be my next post! I will also try to get the other links in later on today for those who aren't on my facebook (and why aren't you???)

What's been cookin'?

2009-10-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I have been quite busy with life in general, still managing to keep a pretty good, mostly paleo diet going. Here's some randomness of what was cooking in our kitchen over the weekend:

Almost Oatmeal

1 medium overripe banana
3/4 c. unsweetened, fine shredded coconut
1 scoop whey protein (should have about 14 grams of protein in per scoop), desired flavor
1/8 c. coconut milk

Mix together, warm to desired temperature. May need a bit of water to make it more drinkable if desired.

Shredded Beef (for burritos)

2.5lb grass fed chuck roast in the crockpot for about 6 hours with vinegar, onion, pepper and garlic

Guacamole

1 red onion, chopped
2 habaneros, finely chopped
Lots of cilantro!, chopped
1/2 c. lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
4 avocados

Mash it all together and enjoy

Chocolate energy snack

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa (i will probably use whey protein next time)
1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
1/8 c. ground nuts of choice (not peanut)
1/4 c. ground dried fruit of choice (I used cranberries, too tart, will be using something else next time)
3 T. coconut oil (will need room temperature or warmer to mix quickly)

Mix together and refrigerate. Can use either a pan to make bars or roll in saran wrap/wax paper to make a log. Cut into bite size pieces.

Breakfast (the usual)

5 small sausages chopped and cooked with onion and garlic, plus 6 eggs and fresh basil, scramble style

Quick, snack Chili

1 lb. grass fed beef
1 can whole tomatos
1 can black beans
1 package taco seasoning

Place beef in crockpot on high, add salt, pepper, ancho chili poweder to taste. Once browned, add tomatos (mash them up, black beans and taco seasoning.

Chicken wings and bleu cheese dip

I have no clue what the chicken wing recipe is! Kyle always makes them, he uses Bobby Flay's recipe that is available on the Food Network website. The bleu cheese dip is:

16 oz greek yogurt
red onion, chopped
salt
pepper
cilantro, chopped
bleu cheese

All items to taste, mix together. Best when sat overnite in the fridge!

Started sprouting on Thursday night as well. They are looking good, we will probably eat them tomorrow night. This seems to be a easy, delicious and nutritious way to add to our food stores. What can be more local than growing something yourself????

6WC: Part 1.5

2009-10-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Darn PMS....had a bit of an overload last night with some chocolate. Now today I ate the majority of a 12-egg fritatta. Currently nothing left on "the plan" to eat today.....1 more week, that's all. Actually, 1 more day of cravings, then I should be good.

The 6-week Cure: Week 1

2009-10-03T12:35:00.001-07:00

So last year when I when on deployment, I had some extremely high hopes about how being in a limited enviroment and able to spend more time PT'ing would be the magic solution to me losing my "final 10lbs". At the time I left for Fort Jackson, I weighed approximately 171 lbs. I had just learned the fabulousness of being paleo and was super excited to carry through.

Thanks to having a sedentary job and the never ending supply of free junk food (well intentioned, but totally misguided care packages) I instead gained weight. Not all fat, mind you. I did make extreme gains in the gym as far as my strength and technique went....but got slow, and, um....heavy. None of my clothes fit.

The first week back, I easily lost 5lbs just eating fresh, homecooked meals (and beer and chocolate :). Another 5lbs came off over the next couple months. I am again fast and looking pretty darn good, but at 175-178lbs, still over my weight limit for the Navy. On any given day of the week, using Navy standards, I measure between 30% Body Fat (passing) and 33% body fat (highest allowed for passing). With PFA season approaching, I had to do SOMETHING.

My eating has been really good this summer. While eating both locally and paleo, I have remained mostly grain-free/low sugar. My meals are delicious and satisfying, but the weight just wasn't budging at all. Exercising MORE is not really a viable option due to the hours I keep for work. Between exercise, sleep and good food - I take options 2 and 3 any day of the week.

A couple week ago I bought "The 6-week Cure for the Middle-aged Middle" to read for my parents. It is written by Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades. I have followed the Eades for about a year now and highly believe in them and what they have to say. the book was extremely informational to say the least. But, when I got to the plan - 3 shakes/1 meal for the first 2 weeks - I was a little bit dissapointed (due to my real food mantra). But, I decided that for two weeks, I can give it a shot to see if this plan would truely "reset" my metabolism (something I so drastically ruined while on deployment).

I kinda started in phases. Day 1 I added iodine. Day 2 I started reducing my coffee intake. Day 3 is when I started the shakes. Day 4 I already noticed a good weight change. Day 5 I had a massive amount of energy and no longer felt hungry (My 1 meat meal a day is dinner with my Boo Boo). Day 6 was a little rough with not enough sleep. Day 7 went well, although I did want to snack (usual part of my Saturday homework routine).

Today is Day 8. I woke up weighing 174lbs, which is 5lbs less than I weighed last Sunday. My waist measured at 30 inches even, 1.5 inches less from last week. My hips measured at 39 inches, another 1.5 inches less from last week. I forgot to measure my abdomen last week, but this week it is 33 inches.

So, overall the 6 Week Cure is working for me at this time. It will be interesting to see how it progresses for me this week. I have reduced my coffee by half at this time. I'm not really feeling the need to cut back more. I think having the 3 shakes is similar to fasting throughout the day in that the one meat meal has to be good quality food to carry through the rest of the day.

The book advocates having a medical work-up before starting the Cure, to see both the external and internal changes it makes. Although I am most concerned about the internal changes, getting the tests run wasn't really an option for me. The 6 Week Cure is not a sensationalist weight-loss book - they do talk about how the changes are for a lifetime and how to continue to carry out the plan and keep reevaluating yourself over time.

Will be back next week with an update.

P.S. Ah, yes, I did "cheat" a bit as well. Had two soft tortillas last Tuesday and about 1/2 cup (unpopped) popcorn on Friday night.

Weekend Updates

2009-10-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

Been busy. Love my job, wish it could be done successfully in fewer hours. Ha.

Sacrificed a couple hours of sleep to go see Fresh on Thursday night. Fresh is a real food movie, like Food, Inc, but presented in a different manner. Whereas Food, Inc was designed to be SHOCKING and exposing agri-business for the scoundrels they are....Fresh was more about getting to know the farmers who are making the Real Food Movement happen. I saw my future bacon on screen, with happy eyes and lots of roots to furrow. Joel Salatin is THE MAN, he makes so much sense when he talks. Will Allen has done something amazing, and has inspired me to make my little backyard patio and strip of dirt into so much more when it comes to food. (Already have a winter transformation in plan to be able to plant more next spring).

Went out hunting and gathering at the Farmer's Market this morning. My eggs are so fresh they still have dirt (chicken poop?) on them! Alice had them all stashed in a copper kettle, but hadn't got around to "packaging" them yet. No bother. The Buy Fresh, Buy Local food initiative was being kicked off, so the Wilson Family (Full Quiver Farms) was there as well, in addition to my regular stops. Boo Boo doesn't know it yet, but there is 8lbs of pork butt cooking away for him!

The hunting part came in as I went in search of the farm that had the gorgeous flowers on the Buy Fresh, Buy Local table. Turns out it was only a mile down from a place I regularly drive. Beautiful, pick your own zinnias. Also got a few peppers and a HUUUUUUGGGGEEEEE bunch of collard greens.

Mmmmmmm......pork butt.

What I've been eating this week.....

2009-09-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a super busy week, long week. Kyle had to do a lot of the cooking this week, and I even missed a couple meals by simply falling asleep before I could manage a dinner.....

Breakfast has been pretty consistent most days - 2 hardboiled eggs, 1/3 c. coconut milk, 1/3 c. sweet potato, spinach, 1/2 c. blueberries, cinnamon - all blended together. (What I learned this week - the difference between a hot, freshly boiled egg and a refrigerated boiled egg is IMMENSE - use cold eggs!)

Lots o' mixed nuts - this week's mix has been macadamias, cashews, hazelnuts and cocoa roasted almonds.

I actually forget what I have eaten at work, except for the philly cheese steaks (no bun) and chocolate chip cookie bars (very good, great non-paleo selection).

Kyle suprised me with his creativity this week. Wednesday night I came home to basil garlic burgers with a mix of grilled brocolli slaw and spinach on the side (butter and garlic salt on top). Thursday I came home to buttermilk ranch, parmesan, bacon, spinach and avoacado pizza - with the crust made out of spicy italian sausage! He is amazing!

I finally got around to cooking last night, quick one-pan meal:

Sauted garlic and 4 slices chopped bacon together, added about 1 lb. of ground hamburger, 1 pepper bomb and 1 package of taco seasoning. Once this was all cooked, I added in chopped onions and cabbage and let sit to warm them up (but not really cook). We had this burrito style with gluten free burrito wraps, avocado and salsa.

Breakfast today was onion, bacon and basil omelette followed by some nuts and pomegranate seeds (yum!).

My amazing pizza.....also made a great breakfast Friday morning (very important to me to have a no-prep breakfast because I have to get up at 0330 on Fridays).

Hard to see in the picture, but this is the Polyface Farms bacon - and there is almost no grease in the pan.

I love Saturday morning breakfast.

Mmm, butterrrrrrrrrrrr

2009-09-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

Our roll of Amish Butter

Butter, balsamic vinegar, BEEF, more butter, red onions, salt and pepper. Set on high heat for 4 hours.

After 1 hour, I added chopped zuchinni and cabbage, and of course, more butter, salt and pepper.

Final product.

I can't remember what kind of beef cut we bought, but slow cooking was prolly not the best method for it. It was good, but chewy. The vegetables were fantastic though! Of course, how can you go wrong with butter????

Kyle's cooking

2009-09-09T19:27:00.001-07:00

I knew this would happen....back to my regularly scheduled program and blogging hit the back burner. I'm going to keep at it when I can though.

I was busy with homework tonight, so Kyle took a crack at making us a nice, paleo meal (that didn't involve sweet potato fries or the grill). It was delish! I didn't get a picture of it or watch him to close, but it was basically:

Warm saute pan, add some coconut milk, olive oil, I think a bit of almond butter.....chopped brocolli and meat. I added a bit of garlic mama to my second helping. Quick, easy, yummy.

Labor Day Breakfast

2009-09-07T07:04:00.001-07:00

This delicious meal is going to look similar to other breakfast postings - for good reason - why mess with something so fantastic and nutritious?

2 pieces bacon, chopped; Sauted with onion, zuchinni and a little bit of EVOO. Add a handful of spinach, then 2 eggs. Enjoy with a hot cup of delicious, black coffee (or yerba mate!)

Paleo Picnic

2009-09-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

We went on a picnic today.

I can pretty much guarantee that whereever we go, Kyle will be hungry. So, I packed us a paleo lunch. I cut part of a zuchinni like french fries, sauted with olive oil then added spicy sausage, diced red onion and some seasoning. I then divided this between 4 large cabbage leaves, rolled them up and then additionally rolled them in some saran wrap to keep them held together.

Finally, I sliced a large apple (dipped in lemon juice to keep from browning) and put a large spoonful of almond butter in a bag. It was an easy to make, easy to transport and easy to clean up delicious lunch.

My kitchen is my happy place....

2009-09-04T06:45:00.000-07:00

Got into a crazy concoction making mood last night.

1st up – Hot sauce

Kyle has a thing for Cholula, but it can be a bit spendy to purchase the amount that he likes to eat. So, after glancing at a few random hot sauce recipes:

2 red jalepenos, seeded
1 habanero, seeded
½ T. Pepperman
½ T. Ancho Chili Powder
2.5 cups white vinegar
3.5 cups water
½ T. Xantham gum (this will cause the sauce to thicken and hold the spices in the sauce instead of sitting on top)

Mix all in blender at high speed for several minutes. Store in refrigerator or can.

Kyle says it is good, but a bit too “vinegarette” instead of hot sauce. Glancing at a few more recipes showed that the hot sauce needs to sit for a couple weeks to reach its peak.

2nd Recipe – Salsa verde

Although he said the salsa I made Wednesday was good, it was too sweet for his preferences. So, my google fu gave me a real simple recipe to follow to make a delish salsa verde.

1.5 lbs tomatillos – de-husk, cut in half, roast in oven 7 minutes on high broil
½ c. chopped white onions
3 medium jalepenos, de-seeded and chopped
½ T. ground coriander seeds (really the recipe called for ½ c. cilantro but I forgot to buy that)
1 T. lemon juice (recipe calls for lime)
¼ T. blackstrap molasses (recipe just said sugar)
½ T. Garlic Mama (recipe called for salt to taste)
Blend on high until desired consistency. Store in fridge or can.

Delish! Easy! Could it be any better? My only regret is that getting tomatillos local/organic is not possible. Well, yet. I’m going to keep looking. But, otherwise it looks like I’ll be buying the local Farm Fresh out of tomatillos when I get ready to do a large batch.

3rd Recipe – Sweet potato

Haha, really, this isn’t a recipe. I just want an easy way to add my sweet potatoes into my post workout smoothies and since I knew I’d be in the kitchen for a few hours anyways, decided to boil a couple pounds of sweet potato, blend in my super awesome VitaMix Blender and freeze 1/3 cup servings.

I made a few other things as well that didn't turn out so hot and/or still waiting on final results (i.e. bread and butter pickles).

Thursday's Paleo Dinner

2009-09-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

My favorite grilling accessory.

Squash, red onion, peppers, butter and tilapia seasoned with Southwest Taco seasoning. Guacamole and salsa on the side. For an easy add for any non-low carb dinner guests - black beans and a tortilla shell.

Wednesday's Paleo Dinner

2009-09-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

Delmonico steak, peppers and onions with butter, brocolli, homemade salsa and homemade pesto....

My computer is down for the count.....won't be posting as much until it is fixed since Kyle's homework takes priority with his laptop.

Homemade Salsa - Amber Style

2009-09-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

In relation to my last post......I have troubles following recipes. No matter how good or simple the recipe is, I just can't bring myself to follow it to a "T". Additionally, Kyle prefers a non-chunky salsa, so I modified a few things in my first ever solo salsa/canning experience.

Homegrown organic tomatoes are pretty much guaranteed one thing - to not look like the other. So, instead of 25 tomatos, I just grabbed a whole bunch that I thought would work out to the equivalent of 25 large store bought tomatos. Additionally, they had many blemishes, so I did scald them in boiling water and place in the freezer for a few minutes to peel them easily. Instead of dicing though, I used my fingers to pull out all the watery seeds and any additional blemishes, then gave it a good squeeze as I dropped the tomato into the soup pot. Once I had all the other ingredients added, I did a few minutes of mashing with the potato masher (funny how we have appliances for things we don't eat).

I also added 3 large pieces of elephant garlic to the pot and 2 tablespoons of ancho chili powder. I used a hand blender to make the salsa more liquidy as Kyle prefers.

I then split the pot in half (more or less) and put 4 hungarian hot peppers in a blender with about 1 cup of the salsa mix and blended. I added this to one pot, then repeated with 4 jalepenos for the other pot. Both pots were kinda watery at this point, so I let them sit at a low boil for prolly 30 minutes while I whipped up a desert for this evening before proceeding to the jarring process. Jarring process went well, I even heard one pop already!

Homemade Salsa-MN Style

2009-09-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

This is the salsa recipe I grew up eating (at least 2-3 pints a week, it's amazing how we never ran out). It's a nice chunky texture and mild flavor. (Forgive the caps please, I Ctrl+C+V'ed from my dad's email :)

25 TOMATOES
4 LARGE ONIONS
3-4 GREEN PEPPERS
1 TSP. TABASCO
1 1/2 TABLESPOON CMIN
1 1/2 TABLESPOON BLACK PEPPER
2- 12 OZ CANS TOMATO PASTE
1/2 CUP VINEGAR
1/2 ENVELOPE TACO SEASONING
1 1/2 TABLESPOON SALT

SCALD TOMATOES AND PEEL CHILL AND CHOP UP AND DRAIN OFF JUICE (DON'T SCALD AND PEEL, I LEAVE THE SKIN ON, IT IS EASIER)
DICE PEPPERS AND ONIONS
COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS AND SIMMER FOR 15-20 MINUTES. YOU NEED TO CONSTANTLY STIR OR IT WILL SCORCH AND YU WILL NEED TO THROW IT ALL AWAY.

PUT IN PINT JARS/LEAVE 1" FROM THE TOP. SEAL WITH COVERS AND PUT IN HOT WATER BATH FOR 20 MINUTES.(HOT WATER BATH IS YOU BOIL THE JARS FULL OF SALSA. yOU MAY WANT TO ALSO RUN YOUR EMPTY JARS THRU THE DISHWASHER TO STERELIZE THEM. (MAKE SURE YOU BOIL COVERS AND LIDS AND WIPE JAR TOPS OFF)

DO NOT BUMP JARS AS THEY WILL BREAK. TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD SEAL, ALL THE COVERS SHOULD POP IN FOR A LITTLE DENT.

IF YOU WANT HOTTER SALSO, ADD HOT PEPPERS IN WITH THE BELL PEPPERS.

THIS MAKES ABOUT 16-18 PINTS. YOU CAB CUT THE RECIPE IN HALF IF YOU WISH, IT MIGHT BE EASIER. PLAN ON SPENDING 4 HOURS FROM START TO FINISH.

Tuesday musings

2009-09-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

Spent the afternoon gathering supplies for tomorrow's salsa making. Went to the Swoope farm again for the tomatoes and hot peppers. Helped Tony pick the peppers, as Micana made her self at home on the golf cart AND in their kitchen. Will post recipe tomorrow. (Coincidentally, I am also getting pepper sprayed tomorrow, so if I have a bad reaction - which I shouldn't - I won't be in the kitchen!)

Here is a great post by Kara at Home with a Purpose on how shopping locally and organic can be time and money saving, despite popular belief to the otherwise.

Chicken "not exactly noodle" Soup

2009-08-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

Kyle is not feeling well today (and it's very chilly and rainy!), so in addition to giving him OSHA root syrup (decongestant) and some bourbon (although he seems to have misunderstood me when I said take ONE shot), I have made him some chicken soup. I grew up eating a lot of delicious chicken noodle soup throughout the cold months and when I was sick, homemade by my daddy. But, of course, no more noodles for me. I thoroughly believe in the wives tales that chicken broth and some hot sauce is a good natural decongestant.

1 whole chicken - approx. 4 lbs
1 oz. cholula sauce
1/2 T. sea salt
2 T. pepperman (brand name, 3 pepper blend basically)
1/2 T. ancho chili powder
2 small red onions, chopped
4 cloves garic, chopped

Place chicken in large soup pot, cover with water, add seasonings and set stove on HI. Defrosted chicken would need to boil approximately 45-60 minutes, this one was frozen so it took longer (2 hours).

Julienne some zuchinni. I used two good sized zuchinnis, which yielded 4 cups of "noodles" for me. Whatever your preference. Wrap zuchinni in towels to absorb some of the moisture from them (if these will sit longer than 4 hours, you should refrigerate).

Once chicken is cooked, take out and set in large pan to cool (making some cuts in the chicken will help it cool faster). Turn stove off, let broth cool for a few minutes, then add julienned zuchinni.

Shred chicken, add back into pot. Enjoy!

Note: This tasted pretty good, will likely taste better tomorrow but next time I make it, I'll be adding in more hot sauce! I like my chicken soup to be kickin!

Check Up

2009-08-30T19:03:00.001-07:00

Not much to say today, I had duty, had a good breakfast and dinner interspersed with my normal crappy snacking while bored at work. Got to work on that. No matter what I pack in my lunch box, it's never enough. Lunch was covered in rice and sauces, so that was out today. I think I should start baking the night before duty and take that in.

Did my Physical health assessment this morning, which involved getting my BP and pulse done. 106/60-something and 59. Holy bejeezus......back when I was young and fat, my BP was 130/70something and pulse of 80something. I haven't even been CF'ing regularly, so this can mostly be attributed to diet. I have my annual exam next week, and I think I will check my medical record out afterwards to write down some of my health numbers from the past few years.

Spicy Peach BBQ Sauce

2009-08-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Jay Cohen and Bobby Flay......

2 habaneros, seeded and chopped
¼ c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. tequila (good stuff, of course)
1 T. brown mustard
¼ c. blackstrap molasses
½ tsp. kosher sea salt
½ tsp. ancho chili powder
1 small red onion
3 peaches, blanched, peeled and diced
I mixed all in a crockpot and let sit on low while we were at the movies. Approximately 3 hours. Blend in blender until smooth.

Went awesome with pork loin.

(There was brocolli too, but it wasn't done yet and we were HUNGRY!)

Saturdays are food days

2009-08-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think I am odd for spending the amount of time that I do on finding food. I can't think of a single "errands" trip in the past 3 months that hasn't involved us searching for some small food item in some out of the way place.

So, of course, today's quick trip to pick up eggs and some vegetables turned into a 3 hour exploration.

Met the egg lady at the farmer's market, Sugymonk Acres is the name of the farm but I don't recall her name. Sweet lady, who after running a restaurant for 25 years, retired and quickly got bored. We chatted for a few minutes, then she very easily convinced us to buy a loaf of her homemade blueberry bread. We promised to stop by the farm soon.

Well worth the carbohydrate overload. Yum yum.

We then went into Virginia Garden for a couple of items. Kyle has agreed to stop drinking Monsters (ingredient #2, #1 being water - HFCS!) so I ordered him a case of Diet Steaz Energy Drink. I've never had this drink, but it is green tea, yerba mate, acai and guarana mixed with some cane juice and water. One thing I learned from Michele at the Intro class the other night is that she and her daughter ensure that there are NO products in their store that have HFCS in them. They constantly check for ingredient changes, specifically when a small company is bought out. We also ordered a case of coconut milk - at 20% off, I won't feel guilty going through 2-3 cans a week!

Our not exactly planned trip of the day was to Suffolk to stop by

Full Quiver Farm. We met the Wilson family before at a different farmer's market, and enjoyed the sausage and pork chops we had gotten from them. We were in search of some pork butt today, but to no avail. Instead we now have a pork loin and some steaks. Although they are supplementing some of their animals with some grains (a special mix, not a store bought kind), overall I really like the reason they do what they do - family. Their NINE children are beautiful and their animals are happy. We will be looking to them for pork and maybe some other products as I ask more questions.

Finally got home around 1pm and made some breakfast. Polyface bacon, Polyface eggs, local red onion and red pepper, South Mountain creamery butter. One of our non-local allowances is spinach. Turns out spinach DOES grow local, in the fall time, with difficulty. Sad face. Because we eat SO much of it at one time (usually in eggs or smoothies) we buy organic from Sam's club (about 5 dollars for a 1lb. container). I will be doing my darnedest to buy and freeze as much local spinach as possible this fall.

Check out the beautiful golden color of the yolks! More gold equals more better!

Finally, a refreshing drink for my afternoon of painting. Inspired by something Michele made for the organics class Thursday night.

3 slices ginger root, 2 juices (and pulp) of lemon, 1 tablespoon of agave and a small bit of mint leaves steeped in 4 cups hot water for approximately 20 minutes. I filled the pitcher up with ice afterwards, which filled the pitcher. The mint is from my own garden.

Fight Back Fridays

2009-08-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

Food Renegade hosts a blog that on Fridays allows readers to share their own blogs with each other. I've been learning a lot from these people! Check it out!

Figs and such

2009-08-27T13:37:00.001-07:00

What a great afternoon.

Started out not so great, with me leaving school feeling ill and not sure if I was up for an afternoon of adventure finding. To top it off, we had lunch at a chain restaurant that although it has pleased us in the past - it no longer does. I left the restaurant feeling worse both physically and mentally for having eaten there. On the bright side, we have agreed this is yet another restaurant being crossed off our already short list of places we like to eat. (I think we are at about 5 right now for the local area.)

So, I had called Juanita to let her know that we would be late, and she said "ok, the figs will be on the porch, see you soon....." Which left me thinking of a basic house with a small front porch and maybe she would be gone and we would just leave cash for the figs......not quite. Although we drove through the Pungo area last week, we were not on the Swoope's particular part of Gum Bridge road. The majority of the area seems to be swampy, which Kyle has informed me is actually called a "draw."

We found their place very easily, a very cozy 1.5 story farm home with both a front and back porch and many homemade signs welcoming visitors to come buy their produce. Once we pulled in the driveway, the first thing I saw scooting around the yard was a large group of adorable young ducklings! (Juanita later informed me that the rather large and curious ducklings were only a week old!) Ducks, goats, horses.....80 fig trees and various gardens. Utopia.

Juanita came out to greet us quickly, and we went into the front porch where they had various sizes of zuchinni, tomatos, garlic and of course, the motherload, FIGS! The figs were gorgeous! As we talked, I realized the intrinsic value of KNOWING your food provider and where your food comes from. You see, I met Juanita several weeks ago at the Farmer's Market. Although she was working someone else's stand, she informed me the figs were from her own farm. At that time, I paid 4.99/quart and the figs were well worth it. Today, I paid 3.00/quart - and the figs are larger than the last time. Even with the 40 mile round trip, we saved 15 dollars by buying the figs directly from the Swoope's.

But more importantly, the time we spent with the Swoope's has brightened my day and made me even more determined to make local, seasonal and organic even more important in my everyday lifestyle. As we paid for our produce, Juanita's husband, Tony, came in from the gardens. We immediately started joking, as apparently he had been sent out to the garden a second time to get the right size cucumbers needed for canning and he wanted to know if I had Kyle trained yet? Yeh, that's a definite NO. We talked with them for about 15 minutes, about our jobs, their farm (39 years now), taxes and etc. In addition to inviting us back to their home anytime we wish to stop by, Juanita assured me she would have her neighbor put aside 2 dozen eggs for us to pick up at the farmer's market on saturday morning. Oh, and let's not forget the goat. Apparently, the young male goat is quite the stinker who thought he would go for a stroll down the driveway....but as Tony commanded him to go back to his pen, the goat stopped and looked at us, contemplating his place in the food chain.....then decided maybe he would just go back to his pen.

On the way back home, we stopped at Cromwell's Produce stand. In addition to getting some corn, peppers and eggplant; there was some beautiful pottery on sale which turned out to be made by a local artist. Although not quite in today's budget, I'll definitly be looking to purchase some of that pottery in the near future.

Organics, VA Style

2009-08-26T19:24:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow night I (maybe we) are headed to Virginia Garden and Grocery for an Introduction to Organics class. I am looking forward to this, as (I believe her name is) Monica has seemed to be very knowledgeable and caring in our few encounters. I also have some burning questions regarding the local area, I.E. Why does nobody grow spinach?

Also on track for tomorrow - FIGS! I got a call from Juanita at Swoope Farms today that there are 10 quarts of figs ready for me to pick up! Additionally, her neighbor sells some truely amazing eggs. Not only was I fascinated by the oddly misshapen eggs that never would've made it through a factory QA line, but the deep golden yellow yolks were amazingly delicious.

Crackers and Hummus

2009-08-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

We were out and about the other day, exploring our area as we try to do a couple days a week, we happened upon Trader Joe's. As we strolled the aisles, remembering our Whole Foods days, we discovered an incredible amount of pre-made hummus. This only led to Kyle lamenting that I no longer buy bread, pita chips, etc. As I often do when it comes to his food requests, I promised to find something we could subsitute in (raw vegetables is not an option because I don't like them).

As luck would have it, Charlotte posted this awesome blog yesterday, What is your favorite healthy recipe source?, and I was immediately attracted to this website, Comfy Belly.

The most recent post was for Parmesan Thyme crackers. Awesome.

1 1/2 cups of almond flour
1 1/2 cups of Parmesan cheese (grated is best) (NOTE: I used fresh grated manchego cheese, because that's what we had. I used 1 2/3 cups due to it's more "airy" texture than parmesan)
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of dried Thyme (or more) (didn't have thyme, so used basil and some garlic salt instead)
3 tablespoons of water (or as needed to hold the dough together)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine all the ingredients, except for the water, in a bowl and blend well, or place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until well blended.

3. Add the water to the mixture and blend until the mixture forms a ball of dough. Only add enough water to hold it together - avoid making it too moist.

4. Place the dough on a Silpat baking mat or other non-stick baking surface (such as parchment paper) and top it with a piece of parchment paper. Roll the dough out until it is thin enough to be a cracker (about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch in thickness).

5. Score the flattened dough with pizza cutter or knife to make square crackers and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the crackers are browned on the top. They are crunchy when they are browned on top. They also brown on the bottom. Don't be afraid to brown these, they don't burn that easily.

6. Cool and enjoy!

Just add my first cracker. Amazing. Better than pitas. The only change I will make for future (besdies switching up the spices) will be to roll the dough thinner before baking. (For some reason, despite my outstanding kitchen skills, I lack basic things; i.e. rolling pin and wax paper. I was rolling these bad boys out with the mojito muddler :)

P.S. Even though the store bought hummus looks awesome and prolly tastes pretty good, nothing beats homemade. 1 can garbanzo beans, 4 cloves of garlic and a blender!

Low-Carb "Lasagna"

2009-07-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

In the American culture, it is almost impossible to avoid non-paleo foods. They are obvious, and sometimes not so obvious. In the begining, it is hard to not only avoid them, but to not WANT them. Me? I'm addicted to ice cream. It used to be any type of ice cream would do it for me. Now, I am more picky in my choices (most of the time) and only go for the good stuff....the ice cream that is REALLY going to satisfy me. If I am going to eat a pint of ice cream, I don't want to be feeling wretched and guilty afterwards ;) So, I go for natural ingredients and when available, whole milk ice cream. Ben and Jerry's is fantastic (although I now avoid anything with caramel in it) and the local South Mountain Creamery brand is beyond delish! Even my beloved Coldstone is out because no matter how little I eat, my stomach hurts afterwards.

Where was this post going again? Now I'm thinking about ice cream and it's only 0800!

Lasagna is another favorite of mine, always has been. But, again, after going paleo, pasta just doesn't have the same appeal for me anymore. I bloat, I get tired and cranky and really - it doesn't taste that good! (Think about it, flour, water, salt - would you eat those ingredients on their own?) Enter substitution. Slicing eggplant or zuchinni to about 1/4 of inch will provide a cook with the same "service" that the pasta is doing - holding the rest of the ingredients together. You can cut either length-wise or width-wise. The calorie and carbohydrate content will be dramatically lowered and the eggplant/zuchinni will absorb the flavors of whatever else is going in the dish.

Last night I chose to make a lasagna using purple and white eggplants, hot "breakfast" sausage and greek yogurt. I mixed the cooked sausage with a 24oz can of diced tomatoes and some garlic/salt. I mixed the greek yogurt with some Mama Garlic salt. There were two layers with the bottom layer containing spinach and the top layer had kale (I placed the kale on top which caused it to become crispy. I thought it tasted really nice and added a different texture to the dish. More picky eaters may want to mix the kale into the top layer). I had put a layer of EVOO on the bottom of the pan, as well as some of the extra juice from cooking the sausage.

Are you asking where's the cheese? I love cheese too! But, it is highly overdone in our culture. Processed cheeses found in most regular groceries really have no place in life, outside of laboratory experiments. I dare you, try some raw milk cheese compared to any national grocery store brand. You'll never go back. Of course, if you are trying to go strict paleo - cheese is completely out. But, for myself, I make exceptions for occassional dairy. Hence, the small amount (1.5cups) of greek yogurt in this dish. It complimented the dish in both the color it added and to help keep it moist while cooking. Plus, you can never really have to much garlic in a meal :) More thoughts on cheese another day.

Zuchinni pasta and seafood

2009-07-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

3 large zuchinnis, julienned and dried
3 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup butter
10-12 mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
½ c EVOO
1 lb bay scallops
1 lb shrimp
15 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Julienne the zuchinni at least 3 hours prior to dinner prep. Keep in towel/paper towels to absorb moisture. If not cooking meal within 3 hours, store in fridge (remove at least 45 minutes prior to meal to bring the zuchinni to room temperature). You must allow time for the moisture to be be soaked out of the zuchinni or it will be too mushy.

Warm pan, add butter, garlic, salt and pepper. Once all the butter is melted, add mushrooms. Once mushrooms are browned, add the oil, scallops and shrimp. Cook until all shrimps are pink and curled. Add basil leaves, turn off heat and cover for approximately 30 seconds. Mix with room temperature zuchinni and serve.

Kyle gave this a 9 out of 10, only because I mixed the "noodles" cold and therefore the meal was lukewarm when served. This is about 3-4 servings if served alone.

Chicken chili!

2009-04-27T16:29:00.001-07:00

Random, easy recipe that turned out awesome:

Cut approximately 1 lb of chicken thighs into thin pieces and place in crock pot on high.

Saute 3 sliced green onions, 1 chopped red onion and 8 oz chopped mushrooms in 1 oz of bacon fat (yes, bacon fat, deal with it) and 1 tablespoon garlic and a shake of salt. Once this is sauted nicely, add to crock pot with about 1 cup of water and let sit until all the chicken is cooked. Turn crock pot to low and add 1 24oz can of pureed tomatos (I used basil flavored).

Puree 2 poblano peppers with 2 tsp of olive oil, add this, about 1/4 cup of chili powder and 1 can of drained kidney beans to the mix, stir and let sit for 2 hours. Yum yum, tastes better on day 2.

To make it completely paleo, do not add kidney beans. So far we have had about 8 cups out of the batch, and I suspect there are 2-3 more. Next time I'm adding more chicken.

Restaurants

2009-01-07T19:47:00.001-08:00

Dining out can be difficult when restricting your foods. Many restaurants these days seem to offer Weight Watcher fares, low carb fares, low fat fares…etc. But, if you look closely at the restaurants you will see a pattern – cheap chain restaurants. If you look closely at the foods, you will see another pattern – small portion sizes covered in sauce (when you see a restaurant sauce, think sugar!) Yes, anything can be low carb when the serving size is almost non-existent! You know what this type of food used to do to me??? Send me running for the nearest pizza joint (or bathroom) on the way home. Who wants to leave a restaurant hungry?

Be picky about where you eat. When friends and family are hemming and hawing about where to go have dinner – you make the decision! This is the perfect opportunity for you to NOT ruin your new paleo ways. This is especially important if you think you will order non-paleo foods – if you are going to eat non-paleo, better make it awesome food IMO!

Having eaten and worked in many restaurants over the years, I have learned a few things.

1) Tell the server straight up that you are a picky eater and gauge their reaction. If they don't flinch, make up your own meal based off what you see on the menu. Be specific – "I want you to replace all the pasta you would normally have on the plate with veggies, and I want it mixed with the scallops and garlic olive oil."

2) GOOD restaurants will not charge you for substitutions within reason. I.E. It should not cost you an extra two dollars to swap a potato for whatever vegetable they have to offer. Be reasonable, be polite and ask nicely. If the server makes a point of telling you that your substitution will cost extra – the restaurant quality is questionable.

3) ALL restaurants have a vegetable. It may only be one or two, and it may not be your favorite, but they do have a vegetable. You can combine any meat option off the menu with that said vegetable and have a perfectly paleo meal. When ordering breakfast, there is sure to be a fruit somewhere (beware in chain breakfast places, the "seasonal fruit" is often canned peaches!).

4) Those silly little diet tips about getting your sauces and dressings on the side – true! Try it, you would not believe how much dressing is left over when all you do is dip your fork in the sauce first to get a little bit of flavor. Or go without. Also, ask the bread basket to be removed.

5) Best stick to wine or beer, anything else coming from behind the bar is going to be loaded with sugar.

6) When in doubt, try to make the BEST decision – and don't beat yourself up over it if the food comes out in a very non-paleo way. You can't control what type of oil they are using, or what is in their pre-made sauces or where the meat came from. But you can control whether you got something baked or fried and whether you ordered the onion rings or the vegetables with it.

Paleo Friendly Restaurants:

The Outback Steakhouse – big steaks, chicken, shrimp and veggies galore!

The Melting Pot – a fondue restaurant! The main course fondue is actually a broth, so you could either skip or limit the amount of cheese and chocolate from the apps and dessert menu.

Bubba Gump's – Most of their food is fried, but the stuff that isn't is very good and they have a STALK of broccoli for a side option!

LOL – all the other restaurants coming to mind are San Diego local places, so if anyone else has any suggestions, please share! As for San Diego – The Linkery and J-Six are awesome!

Buffalo Meatballs with Zuchinni

2009-01-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

Here is a recipe Kyle and I really enjoyed one night. It's pretty easy to make, can be changed up in regards to meat and spices. It can also be a good comfort food as it's warm, chili like and goes nicely in a big bowl.

1 lb ground bison meat
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Cumin, oregano, bay leaves, basil to taste

Mix together and roll into tiny meatballs. Heat sauté pan with EVOO (or choice of oil), cook meatballs until almost done. Dice zuchinni and add to meatballs, cover with spaghetti sauce, shallots and Italian parsley and cover for approximately 15 minutes on medium.

I used Whole Foods 365 brand Spaghetti sauce, most likely garlic flavored, the entire jar. But, a large can of diced tomatoes would be great also; season to tate. Fresh shallots and parsley. If you are choosing to do dairy, some freshly grated parm-reggiano would be delicious with those. Don't forget the wine!

Bacon Roll!

2009-01-03T17:46:00.001-08:00

Yummy yummy bacon roll! You can see all my ingredients in the photo, but if I were making this at home, I would likely fry up some onion, garlic and cabbage to go in the middle also.

Breakfast

2009-01-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

So, you've finished the bread, thrown out the cereal boxes and decided that the snack bars stashed in the back of the cupboard taste like cardboard anyways......so what do you do for breakfast?

Routine is key. Trust me, this is coming from the girl who likes to wake up 5 minutes past the last possible minute.

Auto Coffee makers are a God-sent gift, and not terribly expensive either. I learned to set it for 30 minutes before my projected wake up time (stop laughing kyle) so that the aromas can help get me up. Then of course, if Kyle happens to get up before me he'll bring me a cup and set it on my nightstand (yep, he's a keeper!). To ditch the sugar and cream in your coffee and learn to drink it "black," you are likely going to have to evaluate the source of your beans. Good, quality coffee is worth the extra money (especially when you think that you will no longer be buying cream and sugar!). Get a flavored coffee if it helps you make the switch (not to heavily flavored though, or it may still leave you craving sugar).

Boil eggs a couple nights a week. That way, these are ready to throw in your bag if you do wake-up late. With a piece of fruit and some nuts.....a little bit of breakfast heaven.

Heat up last nights leftovers! Cold pizza has long been acceptable leftover breakfast, so why not everything else we eat?

Same as I wrote the other day - EVOO, eggs, spinach, garlic....equals yum, yum. Small pieces of steak only take a couple of minutes to cook (and the steak is totally a finger food to eat in the car provided you remember a napkin to wipe you hands!)

This lady posts paleo recipes and has a seperate PDF for breakfast! http://nikkisblogspot.com/

For weekends, I'm all about a huge plate of scrambled eggs with bacon.

Provided I have the time (because the potential for me to make a mess is huge), I will make a breakfast smoothie - frozen fruit of choice, flavored protein powder, spinach, coconut oil and water. I have this for snacks also. See, the key is to thinking that a certain food shouldn't have to be eaten at a certain time of day. If you want steaks for breakfast and eggs for dinner - do it! Just make sure you make healthy choices and eat enough to satsify yourself physically and mentally.

Until the next time.

Sabotage

2008-12-31T22:14:00.000-08:00

“Nobody ever makes jokes about the fat guy eating potato chips and drinking a diet soda for lunch.”

This is the general phrase that was stated on a Crossfit message board a long time ago in response to someone asking how to deal with people at the office making comments about their food choices.

This situation has happened to me numerous times. Healthy food is scary for some people. Organic food is gross (though they have never tried it and fail to realize it is the same darn food!). In my own humble opinion, I think people are just scared of not knowing – not knowing if maybe they should be doing the same thing to improve their own health. These people, regardless of whether they are doing it consciously or unconsciously, will try to sabotage you. They will tell you grains should be the base of your diet, they are part of the food pyramid. They will say that they knew someone who knew someone who knew someone that tried the exact thing you are and they failed miserably at it. They will even tell you your food looks “gross”. These people are called “pushers.”

These are the people who will pressure you over and over again to take a second or even third helping of food.

These are the people who will complain all day long about their lack of good health, and their crappy doctor and how much their pills cost.

These are the people who really don’t give a darn about you and your diet….they just don’t want you to be “better” than them.

This is where knowing your own reasons for going paleo, and making these reasons important to you plays the biggest part in combating the nay-sayers.

These are my reasons:
1) Health: When I eat paleo I do not experience headaches, stomach pain, excessive gas, mood swings, fatigue and others.
2) Performance: When I eat processed foods, I feel lethargic and am unable to perform properly in a workout and my body does not recover properly either. This leads to excessive rest days. This correlates in to my active life also – biking, running, hiking, etc. I also do not ever want to miss time with friends again because I was sick from eating crap food.
3) Weight Management: The Navy has gotten strict with their physical fitness standards. I do not ever want to be “taped” again because I was overweight and risk my career. Being taped is embarrassing. I would also like to lose weight eventually, not an excessive amount, just enough to get me into a comfortable size 8.

I’m sure my parents would tell you that I am honest to a fault J So when people make comments about my choice of foods, I do one of two things:
1) Smile and say, “Yes, I really do love my vegetables”
2) Tell them that I used to be a little chunky, but then I got embarrassed about being taped and I had all these little nagging health problems……..you can imagine where this conversation goes. Basically, I am trying to either get them to “see the light” or just annoy the crap out of them so that they never make a silly comment again.

So practice stating your reasons. Now, if you are dealing with a chronic pusher in your life; dig deep and dig hard and write your responses down. You already know what they are going to say…..

Finally, surround yourself with other positive people. Whether it is me, or your house-cohabitants or a random internet friend half-way around the world…….have someone like minded to check in with on a regular basis. Simply knowing that person supports you can be an amazing thing.

Readying the Kitchen

2008-12-28T22:14:00.000-08:00

Even though Kyle and I did not eat a lot of breads when we decided to go Paleo, I was still surprised at all the things I found in our cupboard that were not part of our new lifestyle. Of course, we are talking about the guy who thinks we need to be prepared for world war 3 and tsunamis by having several pounds of rice and beans available......so I stashed them in the high part of the cupboard. As well as some of our other boxed foods and pastas. We had some pita and regular bread in the freezer, which I kept. I actually didn't throw anything out, I don't think it's neccessary when making a transition like this. We already shopped weekly for fresh food, so that helped when making the transition.

If you're a receipt saver or just have a good idea of what your food budget is, go ahead and put some of those numbers in the notebook. I was surprised to find that our grocery bill actually went DOWN with paleo, even though we were buying a vast amount of meat (organic even)!

To stock up your kitchen for paleo cooking, the best advice for any grocery store is to shop the perimeter - this is where the fresh veggies, fruit and meats are. Even if you choose to go the frozen/canned food route, your meats, fruits and vegetables are in a very limited spot. Trust me, there ain't nothin' paleo in the chip aisle, so therefore no need to go down it, unless that is where your grocery store has the nuts. Note: Peanuts are legumes, but once again, this will be a personal decision. If you haven't ventured into other types of nuts though, you are missing out! Especially raw nuts...having eaten salted nuts all my life, I was surprised to find that raw nuts are actually quite sweet.

Try to get a variety of meats and seafood. You know those small, thin, boneless steaks and pork chops? Great for breakfast. Scallops are amazing with spaghetti squash. Shrimp is a wondeful snack food. Try to get something you never would've tried before, as variety is key in maintaining this lifestyle.

Eggs are your friend! Eat the whole egg too! Stop wasting the yolks! Keep a few hard-boiled in the fridge at all times for easy, transportable snacks. For breakfast, chop a humongous pile of peppers, onions and mushrooms, scramble with the eggs and when there is about 1 minute left - throw a huge handful of spinach on top. Yum yum.

Keep fresh fruit, nuts and seeds out and readily available for snacks. If you are like me and hate chopping melons and the like - either skip them completely or get the pre-chopped kind. Otherwise, the food will just go to waste.

Oils, butter and lard (yes, lard) are great for cooking paleo food. I had just started to get more variety in my oils before I deployed, but had otherwise considered EVOO my fallback for everything. I will locate some literature on cooking with oils for another post, but otherwise a few to try are coconut oil, avocado oil and flax seed oil. We even had a men's omega 3 for Kyle to mix into his smoothies.

Buying in season vegetables is definitly the cheapest route. I found that keeping a good supply of garlic, onions and mushrooms allowed me to make a lot of meals regardless of what the meat choice was. Be creative and if you can not be creative on your own, check out foodnetwork.com. Or send me an email! I dream of recipes lately!

Beef jerky became a good friend during the first couple of weeks when I was trying to fill the carbohydrate void in my mind. It can be a little spendy though, so if you like the stuff - maybe make your own! Beware of pre-packaged jerkys that have HFCS in it. Despite the pathetic commercials, it really isn't that great for you. Local meat counters will probably have the best stuff.

As for canned and frozen foods - I always kept a variety of canned tomatos on hand. I can make a lot with a can of stewed tomatos. I also adore the microwaveable steamed veggie bags. I found that I loved to snack on these at work much like someone would snack on potato chips! (Caveat: have a bowl or handful of paper towels available though, as coworkers do not appreciate water droppings on their paperwork). Before Whole Foods discontinued the product, Kyle and I always had the pre-chopped frozen peppers, as it just made breakfast prep a couple minutes faster.

These are just a few ideas. Provided you have some general spices on hand and a bit of food at all times, there are countless combinations of paleo foods that will keep you happy and well fed!

Intro to Paleo 101

2008-12-27T00:11:00.000-08:00

Paleo Diet, the Primal Blueprint, Caveman diet, hunter/gatherer diet….whatever you want to call it, it can all be summed up in the well-known Crossfit phrase of "Meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little sugar and no starch." No starch? Yes, no starch. If you know how to cook, then you know what the purpose of putting starches into food is (a thickening agent) …now think of that doing the same thing to your body. [Wikipedia gives some good basic info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch]

Why would you want to follow this diet aka eating lifestyle? For optimal health. Isn't that what we are all seeking? To be free of aches and pains? Doctors and pills? Excess weight and a closet full of clothes that doesn't fit? To live a life full of good times with family and friends? This can be hard to do when bogged down with high blood pressure, diabetes, sore joints from excess weight and a plethora of other medical conditions that have been caused by our modern day diet.

Are you willing to dedicate 30 days to giving an optimal health lifestyle a chance? It's not going to be easy at first, but the day will come when Paleo feels natural and the "old way" of eating does not. You will encounter nutritional difficulties in all sorts of places, but with perseverance, an eye on the goal and remembering that it's ok to have an occasional slip-up….you will overcome.

First things first, go get yourself a nice, clean notebook. Although it certainly SUCKS to write down your food and thoughts, it is one of the greatest tools you can utilize to optimal health. Get a pretty notebook if it'll help. Don't even think about tracking this on your computer, unless you are glued to your computer 24 hours a day. Why? Because it is hard to recollect hours after a meal what you truly ate, how you felt afterwards and if your body was affected in any way by your choices. My actual food diary is a small 7x5 inch very girly notebook that easily fits in my camoflauge pants pocket (and could also fit in any of my day-to-day purses!).

Then, determine why you want to go Paleo. Be specific. Once you have the reasons written down, go ahead and be even more specific.

I.E. Weight loss – I am 15 pounds overweight, and would like to try to lose that weight in a manner more conducive to daily life than a "fad diet."

I.E. I have high blood pressure of 160/90, my doctor says my blood pressure should be 130/80. I also have headaches often that keep me from attending dates with my friends, I don't like being not social because of headaches.

Write down everything! Why? Because you just never know what a paleo lifestyle might do for you. I knew that a paleo lifestyle would be a way for me to control my weight and optimize my energy levels when working out. That was a given. What I did not know was that my regular headaches and feelings of nausea after eating would disappear, as well as problems with my bladder (diagnosed by the doc's as UTI issues)***

If you do have a measurable medical issue (BP, blood sugar), go ahead and put those in the notebook also. Every day, from now until the end of this experiment. Put down weight, take body measurements. If you want to check body fat percentage, you can check out http://www.zonediet.com/BodyFatZoneBlockRequirementCalculator/tabid/159/Default.aspx

I am starting this challenge for you on January 2. So from now until then, I will attempt to give a little introduction to the Paleo lifestyle. I will hit on readying the kitchen, yourself, dealing with the naysayers and even dealing with the treat jar! If you can, avoid grocery shopping for a few days, try to empty the house and your workplace stash of food of grains and sugars.

A final note: Dairy is generally not accepted as a paleo food, but that is an individual choice. There is a reason so many people are lactose intolerant – we weren't designed to consume dairy! If you have regular stomach discomfort, you may want to consider abstaining from dairy as well. It can always be added back in later to see what you can and can not tolerate. For myself, most dairy is out, but I can consume raw milk and hard cheeses in small quantities.

***Although I have never been to an alternative medicine doctor, the ever-loveable Ms. Kitty has. Ms. Kitty has also suffered from various bladder issues as she has gotten older (diagnosed and treated as UTI's, but not always confirmed via testing). Oddly enough, the doctor recommended the same diet for Ms. Kitty! Kitty now eats all meat (Wellness Brand is one of them that offers grain-free canned food and jerky treats), and her foster momma reports she has been doing quite well and lost 50% of her bodyweight (ok, ok, she was extremely obese, she really did have the 50% to lose). If my memory serves me correctly, the vet stated the bladder problems, according to Chinese medicine, were being caused by extra warmth and stress put on the body via the ingestion of grains, something cats were not designed to eat either. So, I guess if you find paleo is for you, you may also want to consider it for your favorite four legged children!