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! 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.

Tomatillos. 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?

How Eating at Home Can Save Your Life

I read a great article on the Huffington Post today. It really struck a nerve with me, since the Big Guy and i have been "complaining" to each other that since we eat so well and are both pretty darn good cooks - we now HATE going out to eat. It doesn't matter how fancy or plain the restaurant is.... we both end up feeling now so great or even flat out sick from eating food that isn't our own. We were wondering how bad people feel when all they do is eat out for every meal.... does it bother them? Are they affected? Do they not even notice that they feel bad because they ALWAYS feel like that? Is this one reason why every other commercial for drugs on TV is for some kind of stomach ailment? (Like that disgusting jingle for pepto? Yuck! " ... nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!) So sad....

Please read the article here: How Eating at Home Can Save Your Life, by Mark Hyman.

(and for all you die hard paleo peeps - don't be alarmed by mention of beans, etc in the article. Look at the bigger picture, please!!)

US Wellness Meats

Santa gave me a bunch of money for Christmas this year, so I ordered a giant load of meat (beef, pork, chicken) and pemmican and pet burger for the pups from US Wellness Meats. Happily, it all arrived on my birthday (Yesterday!)
The Big Guy is getting me a small freezer for my birthday so, for now, half the meat is living in the freezer at my job until we can go to pick it up. (which entails me clearing a spot in the house for it)
Last night for dinner we had a stir fry of ground beef, cabbage, orange pepper, yellow onions, scallions, ginger and garlic. Delicious! Really, their ground beef is so... beefy and delicious. I think there's going to be some chicken & apple breakfast sausage made very soon.
I also cooked up a batch of the pet burger for the pups and they went MAD! It's very...liver-ish but they really loved it.

In sad news, my dove, Norman, who was well over 25 years old finally died. He'd been sick for weeks and weeks. I thought he was going to die then but I coddled him with lots o fresh cooked foods - sweet potatoes, kale, soaked & sprouted grains and cod liver oil. He seemed to be getting better (he started cooing and doing his little bird man dance again) but I guess he was just too old. He had a good life and I feel confident that I did the best that could be done for him in the end. Sigh. I haven't been without a bird in the house for just about as long as the Big Guy and I have been together. It's sort of weird to notice now how many small sounds they make, even when they're being quiet. Now the silence in the house is deafening.

Tomorrow my doggie daughter goes to the vet for her check up to see if she is still cancer free. I'm fairly confident but still nervous. Wish us luck!

Catching up 12/2010 to present!

Blessed Solstice! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Oh....wait a minute... Did I miss all of that? Yup. Sorry about that.
I guess I got so caught up in he season I just never had time to post here.

Where to begin? It's taken about a month to recover from the Thanksgiving gluten exposure. I'm just now starting to feel better. That Thanksgiving debacle really made the Big Guy and I much more conscious of our food choices over the rest of the holidays, so we had no more bad episodes. Even The Aunt-in law was supportive and cooked up a gluten free feast that rocked. In fact, she went gluten free for the month of January, just to try it out and see if it helps her out. Huzzah!

Our usual junk food infested New Year's Eve was replaced with all home cooked, paleo treats: beef meat balls with fresh basil, garlic and home made sauce; skinless gyoza (pork dumplings) a la Mark's Daily Apple (there's a video of the recipe on youtube, just seach for 'skinless gyoza') and bacon wrapped chicken thigh pieces with honey mustard dipping sauce. Some hard cider for me to wash it all down. The Big Guy had 1 can of Coca Cola. He gave that up entirely this past year, so that was a huge treat for him.

We both felt great the next day, instead of bloated, gassy, tired and achy. So we hit they gym together and had a fantastic training session.

Also, I reached my goal for the 2010. I had decided at the beginning of the year that I'd shoot for a 1,000 lb leg press. I did a 1,038 lb press on December 19th! Whoot! Actually, I did a set of 10 presses. So happy! Then the Big Guy decide he should do a set also, and he did! Amazing!

Avocado Coupon!

There's not often coupons for any kind of healthy, paleo/primal foods but right now there's a coupon for a free Avocado! Print some out, they're good until 12/21/10.
Enjoy!

The wheels fell off my Paleo Wagon when I got hit by the Gluten Bus.

I knew that if I went off the Paleo wagon for Thanksgiving I wasn't going to feel well at all. I had no idea that I was going to feel this bad. Planning ahead for how I was going to handle the holiday, I wasn't too worried. For me, Thanksgiving is one of the easiest holidays to accommodate a wide variety of food needs. (With the exception of v*gan, since butter seems to creep in to everything!) I was a vegetarian for years and never panicked about Thanksgiving, since there's such a variety of foods to chose from.
So, with that being said, the wide variety of food choices is only good if you have the sense to not eat the stuff that's going to make you feel like doodie. The food we ate was all super high quality, fresh, gourmet and delicious. It was also full of grains in a multitude of ways. From the cheese biscuits and gravy that I made, to the hot clam dip & crackers, to the desserts.... Oy. There was plenty for me to chose from that was "safe" but I chose not to do that.
I felt ok after I ate, no indigestion. I had a happy stomach. I didn't eat too much. I was satisfied. So far, so good.
Friday morning, the sharp hip pain that has been my enemy for many years was back with a roaring vengeance. My hands felt hot and swollen, hard to make a fist, shoulders sore, pretty intense back pain. General feeling of aching in my whole body.

I have learned my lesson. The take away from this experience is that I didn't realize how much better I felt eating Paleo. I knew it was good, but you kind of forget what the discomfort level was when it goes away gradually. I'm horrified that I used to feel like this all of the time. The big guy and I got right back on track on Friday. Lots of good healthy foods and good healthy fats. A big veggie & chicken stir fry for dinner. When we went out to the Roller Derby on Saturday, I packed a dinner of roast pork, sweet potatoes and asparagus with lemon. Sunday was our annual household "Thanksgiving, Part II, the Slaughter of the Lambs". (It's our private feast of Pommes Anna, rack of baby lamb, roasted duck, butternut squash & apples)

I can't wait to start feeling better!

Coconut Pumpkin Soup

Here's one of my favorite soups. It's got sort of a Thai feeling to it. It's warming from the spices and if you make up a good sized batch, you can have a few meals out of it. Varying the add-ins will keep it interesting and keep food boredom at bay. Start with the basic ingredients (coconut milk, canned pumpkin, chicken stock) and add your own favorites as you see fit. I'm not one of those people who ever makes the same thing the same way twice. But that's what keeps life interesting, isn't it?

Start with:
1 can coconut milk (the real, full fat kind)
1 can pumpkin puree (do I need to say get the kind that it JUST pumpkin, not sweetened?)
2 to 4 cups of chicken stock, depending on how thick you like your soup. (Home made is best. Just save all your chicken bones in a bag in the freezer and make a batch of stock once a month. Your stomach and taste buds will thank you.)

Bring all that to a simmer and add some or all of the following:
Fish sauce, to taste
Diced red pepper

Fresh Ginger, diced finely
Tamarind Paste (unsweetened, adds a nice tart flavour. Optional, you can use lime juice instead. Or use them both.)
Lime Juice
Curry Leaves (if you can get these, they are divine! Located in the produce section of any good Indian grocer.)
Turmeric (adds an amazing yellow colour to the soup and is an anti-inflammatory in conjunction with the ginger!)

Simmer a bit longer. Adjust seasonings. Take off of the heat and add in some:
Scallions/green onions
Cilantro

If I'm making a big batch to eat later, I like to leave out the cilantro, scallions and lime. After I reheat whatever portion I am eating, I'll add those in to the individual serving. This keeps the soup from tasting flat and boring. Nothing like the pop from some freshly chopped herbs to make a meal sing!

You can add some shredded, cooked chicken or other meats to make a nice quick, vegetable filled meal. Makes a great breakfast on a chilly morning. Enjoy!

Grocery shopping

Tonight we head off to Wegmans for our bi-monthly grocery shopping. When I started changing my diet (mainly Nourishing Traditions in 2009, mainly Paleo/Primal in mid 2010) I was worried that I couldn't do it shopping at a "traditional" grocery store. I figured I'd have to mail order all of my food, and who could afford this, so why even bother? I just had to out my thinking cap on and figure it out. It all boils down to the standard advice of shopping the "perimeter" of the store to avoid all the junk. (Although, our Wegmans has toilet paper and the bakery on the perimeter....don't worry, I'm a smart girl, I can adjust!)

Here's what I usually pick up at Wegmans. In the "nature's marketplace" section I grab coconut oil, coconut milk (regular, not 'lite') coconut cream and coconut shreds and sunbutter. In international foods, I get my olive oil, fish sauce, PG Tips tea, sardines (Goya brand, packed in olive oil) and occasionally kippers (yum!). Also, there's a good selection of bulk Indian spices, like the anti-inflammatory Turmeric and ginger, and garam masala. Somewhere in the middle aisles is the tuna and canned Alaskan salmon.
The baking aisle has all the regular spices: black pepper, sea salt, Italian seasonings, paprika, etc. Also, dried fruit like dates to make my Ayla Bars.
In frozen foods, I usually get a couple of bags of greens - turnip greens, kale, collards, okra, etc. In dairy, I pick up a couple of dozen eggs (either organic free range or omega-3). Heavy cream, though I am thinking that is bothering me also, so I'm going to try knocking that off for a while to see if I feel less congested.
The meat department...hmmm, Wegs is a bit spendy on the meat. I'll usually grab a couple of whole chickens and chicken livers there but the majority of the beef I get is picked up on sale at Pathmark. We've been stocking up on $1.99 lb London broils since the Big Guy and i both eat them. Plus I make a ton of jerky using the London broil.
Near the meat department, with the fancy cheeses is my beloved grass fed butter. It's pricey but so, so worth it. Kerrygold, I love you!
The Veggies.... Again, Wegs is expensive on the veggies. With the sheer volume of vegetables I am eating, I just can't afford to buy all my produce there. (their produce is beautiful.) There's a local Korean veggie market near our house that opened back in the summer. I usually spend anywhere from 25 to 40 bucks there every week to 10 days. Their prices are great and since I buy so much they throw me the occasional discount or if they see me buying something that's a bit sketchy, they go in the back and get me a better/fresher/bigger one! Nice! They are my source for sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, peppers, greens of all kinds, onions, fresh ginger, avocados, and amazing mangoes (which I have to really limit myself on until I lean out a bit. Wah! I could eat a couple of those babies each day.)

So, that's what's in my grocery bag. Now for my life updates. The Big Guy has been looking in horror (my perception, probably not really true) at the amount of fat that I've been eating. I kid you not, If I am feeling snacky I will go and eat some coconut oil or a slice of Kerrygold butter. I am so happy to report that with all this good fat eating and all the other changes I've made in my life, I've lost 7 lbs since early September. This is huge for me. I am so happy. Butter snacks rule!

a cool give away!

A very cool website, www.nourishingdays, is doing a very cool giveaway.

L’Equip 524 Dehydrator

Courtesy of www.pleasanthillgrains.com.

I could get a lot of use out of this product, now that I'm making jerky at least 2 times a month. There's some other great stuff on the pleasant hill website. Like some spiffy meat grinders. Oh, how I wish I ha one of those to make my own sausage and ground beef.
Go check out the dehydrator and good luck!

Paleo Coconut Custard in a Pumpkin

Holy Smokes! I just baked a custard in a sugar pumpkin and it's amazing!


1 small sugar pumpkin
1 can whole coconut milk (not low fat)
4 eggs
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

Cut top off of pumpkin and scoop out pumpkin guts. Mix 4 eggs with coconut milk, add cinnamon & nutmeg (Ginger and other autumnal spices would be great) Pour in to pumpkin. I got lucky and picked a pumpkin that this mixture fit perfectly. Place in a pan, preheat oven to 350, bake for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours, checking to see if the custard has set. It should puff up a bit in the middle and be slightly jiggly but not liquid.

Now, notice I added no sweeteners at all. When serving I drizzled a teaspoon of real maple syrup over it. And I mean a teaspoon. Measure it. That's all you need. Simple, easy, delish!

The Paleo Solution

Ok, so - with money being so tight lately I was very sad that I just couldn't get the cash together to buy a copy of the book, The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. Lo and Behold - the Aunt gave the Big Guy a gift card that she didn't want. Later that day I foolishly drank a glass of milk. Then was stricken with furious stomach cramps. That has never happened to me before but I haven't had a glass of milk in weeks (just a small amount in a cup of coffee) After I was done gasping, the Big Guy told me to put my shoes on, loaded me in the car and drove me to the nearest book store, handed me the gift card and said "go find that Wolf book. I don't want you getting sick like that again." Whoot! Is that a MAN or what? Love me some Big Guy!
Of course, I'm sure he's regretting it now because now I'm really chanting "Robb Wolf says..." even more than ever, in addition to wandering around with post-it notes, highlighters and index cards to take notes. :-)
Since there was mention of a Paleo Matrix for food choices/meal planning in the book but it wasn't there and doesn't seem to be on the website, I'll be putting one together myself to post here. (I'll probably call it the "what would Ayla eat Matrix" *grin*) I'm totally not trying to step on anyone's toes - It's just going to be a list of the things that I grab for when assembling meals. I can't imagine being bored eating this way, but I know that other people aren't foodies like me and need some inspiration. I'll post it soon, I promise.

OH, and by the way - I've lost a total of 2 lbs this month. Really. For little old Hashimoto's Thyroiditis me, that's HUGE!

Free Tiny Buffalo Curry

The name behind the recipe: the Big Guy loves Rock & Roll - which means he loves Ted Nugent. The Nuge, while being a phenomenal musician, is a little too conservative for my tastes so I tease the Big Guy about listening to him so much. Whenever He listens to Ted's song "Great White Buffalo", i sing "Free Tiny Buffalo"....Which is a joke from the book "Steal This Book" by Abbie Hoffman. Abby is/was about as far to the Left of Ted as possible. (while i never got to meet Abbie, i did spend a lot of time hanging out with Yippies during the early 80's.)


So, what does this have to do with food? I'm getting to that! I've been trying to eat better and one of the ways to do that is to eat grass fed/grass finished meats. Cows (and buffaloes!) are grass eaters, not grain eaters. The way we raise cattle in feed lots, eating grain, produces unhealthy animals. Eating grass, the way they were intended to, produces healthier meat with a fatty acid balance that is much better for us. So, i made a curry with my first foray in to buffalo.

Free Tiny Buffalo Curry
1 TBS COCONUT OIL
16 OZ GROUND BUFFALO
2 YELLOW ONIONS, DICED
2 CLOVES GARLIC, SMASHED
FRESH GINGER, PEELED, DICED FINE (i used about 2 TBS.)
1 heaping tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Turmeric
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Fish Sauce, to taste
2 Red or Yellow bell peppers, diced
2 zucchini, diced
A big handful of cherry or grape tomatoes
1 cup coconut milk (not low fat, get the real kind, not sweetened.)

Melt coconut oil to pan, over medium-high heat saute the buffalo, breaking it up as it cooks. When it's about halfway cooked, add in diced onions, ginger, garlic. Keep it moving so you don't burn the garlic....After the onions become translucent, add the garam masala and the turmeric and black pepper. Stir that around and mix it in well. (Note - turmeric will stain your wooden spoons bright yellow. You are warned.) Add in the diced peppers & zucchini & tomatoes - sauté for a few more minutes then add in the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes. Give it a taste and add fish sauce. i used about a tablespoon. Simmer for a few more minutes and get ready to feast.
You could serve this over "riced cauliflower". (I'm not putting a link for that, you can google it yourself. And for all you cauliflower haters out there - Even the Big Guy eats this and He was not a fan of the cauliflower. Give it a try!)

I made this again last night using diced boneless chicken thighs, it came out great. I'm also pretty sure if you added a squeeze of lime and a handful of cilantro and chopped scallions you'd be in for an even bigger blast of deliciousness.
So, that's my grass fed, healthy fat, lots of veggies included recipe for today.Ayla would approve!