Friday, March 25, 2011

$1.00 off sunbutter coupon

It's pretty rare that there's ever a coupon for a Paleo type food, but here's a link to a good one! It's a PDF, so you can print as many as you need. The expiration is October 2011.
We go through about a jar every 10 days here as we are on a mass gain crusade for the Big Guy. (I, on the other hand, have to keep the sunbutter to a dull roar since I'm on a leaning out crusade myself. Sunbutter is like delicious pasty crack cocaine to me.)

Melicious has a recipe for Sunshine Sauce that rocks and makes me not long for Thai Peanut Sauce so much...


Sunshine Sauce

The coupon is here.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Yucca!

In the quest to add new and exciting vegetables, I tried Yucca at a restaurant over the weekend. I loved it! I found some at my local veggie market and cooked it up (peel, cut in to chunks, boiled 25 minutes) Score! It's a nice replacement for white potatoes which I am trying to limit since I think they make my sore joints flare up.

We're still loving the tostones (plantains) and since we had a few plantains that got ripe, we made the "other" version called maduros. They were tasty but sweeter. I'd make them again if we had ripened plantains but maybe not as a dinner side dish.


Here's the video Yucca Man, by Love/Hate. They were my favorite band and were/are an all round swell bunch of guys. True rock n roll gentlemen. The drummer, Joey Gold, sigh....that boy made my heart go pitter pat in the 80's and early 90's.


Love/Hate Jizzy Pearl 1993 Long Beach, Ca Yucca Man

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Tostones!

While I was at the veggie store picking up some ginger to make tea for the Big Guy's cold, I saw some Plantains. They looked good. I've never cooked them before but decided to give it a try. I found this video on Youtube, followed the directions, except that I used some luscious extra virgin coconut oil to fry them in, rather than the not-good-for-you-at-all vegetable oil that's recommended in the video. They came out amazing! Don't be put off by the use of the tostones tool that's shown, you can just flatten these little critters using a saucer or as I did by using my tortilla press. (I'd been wondering what on earth I was going to use the tortilla press for since I've given up grains!) Amazing tender, crunchy, salty, savory morsels of paleo happiness. They went well as a side dish to some homemade chicken soup.


How To Cook Plantains Platanos -- Puerto Rican Style

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

not for the squeamish

On my way home, I spotted something along the side of the road. Luckily I had my camera with me, so I turned the car around and got some amazing photos! I am so pleased with these. Red tailed hawk is special to me, near and dear to my heart.Apologies to the seagull.


A few weeks back I got some fantastic shots of 2 turkey vultures eating the remains of a hare outside our doorstep. I seem to be attracting a lot of raptors lately.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Paleo + Chiropractic = Motorhead???

For the past couple of years, when ever we went to a concert - which was fairly frequently - i would end up being practically crippled by the end of the night. My hips and knees would seize up, shooting pains all over my body, etc. I'd have a hard time getting out of the car at the end of the night, limping in to the house in agony. I chalked it up to wearing big stompy boots on uneven wooden floors in crappy night clubs. Or arthritis. Or whatever. It just became a way of life. Normal for me to be so uncomfortable.

That's been getting better since switching to a paleo diet, but after months I still wasn't having full relief.

A couple of weeks ago I had my first chiropractic adjustment. Turns out my hips/sacrum/back are a mess. After a few adjustments I feel so much better that it's shocking to me.

Last night we got to rock out the mighty Motorhead. I stood through 3 bands, danced all night, fended off stage divers with my newly strong arms, walked out of the club pain free (though deaf!) got out of the car when we got home. Wait, where's the pain? I ended up doing a couple of squats next to the car, just to see what I would feel like. Nothing, no pain. Amazing.

To think I lived with this for years when all I needed was a change in what I eat and a couple of adjustments. Now I am officially ready to rock even harder than ever!

3 new Veggies

Adding variety to your way of eating is key for good nutrition and to stave off boredom. Looking at the way I eat now versus the way I ate when I was a vegetarian, I have to admit with both horror and humor, I eat WAY more vegetables now that I am a meat eating cave girl than I did when I was a "striving-to-be-a-v*gan-but-can't-give-up-butter-or-I'll-die-vegetarian".

I'm trying to add at least 1 new vegetable to my circle of veggie friends each month. The latest 3 are:
Chayote SquashChayote! Looks like a wrinkled old lady, tastes like...well, a bit like zucchini, with a much more sturdy-when-cooked texture. It also stores well in the fridge (unlike zucchini, which always seems to go to mush before I can get to it) Great in stir fries, curries and allegedly can stand in for apples in baked dishes if you add enough cinnamon. Haven't tried it that way yet, but if it works that would be a nice way to get the taste of an apple-filling without the sugar since I'm trying to lean out. Chayotes are also supposed to be easy and super prolific to grow. I have 3 of them sprouting on the window sill now, waiting for warmer weather so they can go outside and take over the neighborhood.

(Cooked) Arugula. Yup, just like the kind you put in your salad. I scored some 2 lb bags at my local produce market for a dollar. If you've had it in a salad, you know it can be peppery and downright sharp and pungent if the leaves are older. Not necessarily they type of green you'd want to make an entire salad out of. I quickly stir fried it with fresh garlic, red pepper flakes and a sprinkle of lemon - wow! That 2 pound bag was done in 2 days. Delish! My new favorite deep green vegetable! The key is to cook it quickly. Get your garlic going in the pan first then when the garlic is cook to our satisfaction, add in the washed arugula, with a bit of moisture still on the leaves - that'll make enough steam to cook it beautifully. Stir it around for about 10 seconds and you are ready to dig in.

TomatilloTomatillos. They scared me for a long time. That weird husk....would they taste all puckery like green tomatoes? I finally bucked up and bought a little pack of them and whipped up a super pico de gallo with them that I served with a grilled skirt steak. Let me just say, I have no more fear of tomatillos, unless it's the fear that I will run out of them! I haven' tried them cook yet but I hear they are great on the grill. Can't wait for it to warm up here so I can try that.

Those are my 3 new vegetables - any suggestions for something I should try next?

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Missing your morning oatmeal?

I accidently came up with an oatmeal replacement. I've gotten mighty tired of eggs in the morning and a girl can only eat so much tuna or sardines for breakfast before she becomes known as "the girl who eats stinky fish for breakfast in the office". Today i had a small portion of baked, cubed sweet potatoes, topped with a bit of coconut milk and cinnamon, heated in the microwave. Wham! It's almost like oatmeal. Delish, it totally hit the spot on such a chilly morning. Next time I think I'll add a bit of grated apple or a couple of raisins. Fantastic post workout meal along with some US Wellness Meats Pemmican.

Grassfed cheese, on sale

If any one has an Aldi's grocery near them, they have Kerrygold cheese on sale for $2.99 for a 7 oz block. I know, I know...cheese isn't Paleo. :-) But if you're going to eat it, go for the grassfed. Aldi's doesn't generally have a lot that i can eat. If I do got there it's for some spices (though their cinnamon sucks) and olive oil. Occasionally they have real maple syrup and honey (i know, i know....don't even say it.) If i go through even a cup of either of those in a year, that would be a lot.