I'm embarking on a Paleo journey and I'm posting all of my thoughts and ideas to this blog. I'll have recipes, links, articles, and just general thoughts about the whole paleo lifestyle.
It went from 30 and rainy to 90 and sunny in about 48 hours in Chicago. The drastic change finds me far from acclimated and I wanted something cool and refreshing to drink.
Quick "recipe" today:
Grab one cucumber and one lime. Dice the cucumber (removing the skin) and add it to a container with enough water to cover the cucumber. Blend the cucumber and water with the zest and juice of one lime. Strain it and you're done. Now all you have to do is dilute your concentrated juice into some water. It's a really refreshing flavor to add to tap, mineral, or soda water. You'll have to do this to your own personal taste. I decided to freeze some of my juice into ice cubes for a really hot day in the future.
Motivation - It's a word that brings up images of Matt Foley
or the ginormous Tony Robbins.
Staying motivated is hard for some people. If you're here reading this, I would like to think that you've been motivated to change the way you eat, but what do you do after a few months when the "newness" has worn off?
Nothing helps remind me of what I've accomplished quite like looking at a picture of me in my supposed "prime" and a picture of me today. The difference is undeniable and makes me want to continue improving.
Going out and being social helps to build your self esteem (unless it's really awkward like the guy all the way on the left "Do you smell that?"). People will notice the changes that you've made and most will compliment you on your accomplishments. Steer clear of the saboteurs who would love to see you fall back into your old ways.
We all have the long term goals of being healthier, more active, and looking better naked. Set some new goals that can be quickly measured. I set a goal of completing 4+ Crossfit WODs each week. It's attainable, measurable, and works into my long term goals.
Read a book relating to your current goals. I picked up The Primal Blueprint. This book is serving as a tool for am learning new perspectives on issues as well as remembering why I was so excited about going Paleo in the first place. Better yet, find a few blogs to read. There is a list to the right of this website with a few suggestions to get you started!
This kind of goes along with reading, but take some time to go over the latest research and news stories. Learn the biological reasons behind avoiding grains and eating more fat. Find out if people are supporting or disproving conventional wisdom. Most importantly, learn to question everything you read. Who supported the study? Who would make money from this study? What would Cordain think are the flaws this study? What would a vegan nutritionist think are the flaws of this study?
Seriously, go get 10 breaded buffalo wings, a burger (with the bun), fries with ketchup, jalapeño poppers, and a chocolate shake. Eat it all and remember how you feel. Not only will it cease that nagging inkling to cheat, but it will help remind you why you're not eating that way every day.
Everyone needs to be accountable to someone. Very few people can hold themselves up to high standards. Others require a method to ensure they are remaining true to their goals. I chose to blog and tweet my progress. Others may wish to incorporate a friend, spouse, or family member.
These are by no means the only way to remain motivated, these are just the methods I have used the last few months. I strongly urge you to comment on this article and share your motivational techniques with others!
I'm clearing out the fridge. Inspired by Primal Chat's recent twitter questions asking for ideas on how to save money, I'm trying to not throw any food away. Everyone always says organic produce is too expensive or that Paleo foods are too expensive (check the links to see otherwise), but if you don't eat what you buy, you're literally throwing money away. Part of saving money is simply not wasting it.
That's where fridge clearing dishes come in. What do you do when all you have left is 1/4 head of cabbage, 3 eggs, an onion, and a couple strips of bacon? You make Okonomiyaki! This is one of those it looks weird, but I promise it tastes good dishes, so trust me on this one.
You're probably sick of hearing about it, but my fiance and I discovered a ton of really cool food while traveling around Asia and some of it fits perfectly into a Paleo way of eating. Okonomiyaki is one of those dishes. It's kind of like a veggie heavy omelet, but a little more savory.
Here is what you need: 1 small yellow onion ($0.25), 1/4 head of cabbage($0.50), 5 green onions ($0.50), 4-5 strips of bacon ($1.60)and 3 eggs ($1.00). That's $3.85 for 1 XL or 2 medium sized servings
Next, take your 1/4 head of cabbage and take out the core by slicing into the cabbage at an angle. Chop it up into strips and cut 3 of the green onions into small pieces.
In a mixing bowl, beat 3 eggs and add just a little water (like 1/2 a second under a faucet). Toss the cabbage, green onions, and eggs together, trying to get at least a little egg on every piece of cabbage.
By now, the bacon should be about half done. You don't want it to be all the way cooked yet because the pan is staying on the stove for quite a while longer. Add the cabbage mix on top of the bacon and onions. Don't mix it together, just let it sit on top. The egg will drip through and make a bacon-onion crust on the bottom.
It may take almost 8-10 minutes on each side, so be patient. The egg in the center should steam while the bottom crust is forming. When you're finished, garnish it with some green onions. I had some olive oil mayo and spicy Thai sauce (no sugar!) that I mixed together to make a tangy sauce for dipping. Traditional okonomiyaki is topped with bonito flakes. Bonito flakes are smoked fish shavings that smell like a barn and are really delicious. The coolest thing is that when they are over steam, the shavings move like they're alive. It's a really cool ingredient worth checking out if you have time and access to an Asian market. Ok, enough geeking out on food. Check out the video under this picture to see our last okonomiyaki in South Korea!
We're all trying to save money while eating paleo. Part of making your money stretch is making the most of the food you buy. My last meal was all about a delicious sauce and the good thing about sauces is that you can make a bunch of it on the cheap and most of the time, freeze it for the future. The problem is that if you freeze a bowl of sauce, you have to thaw the whole bowl and refreeze it each time you want some sauce. That's why I use my ice cube trays to help portion out the sauce. Try it out. You'll appreciate the saved time and money!
OK, so the pictures look a little ugly, but this sauce thaws just fine and should keep for a few months, meaning I don't have to dye the kitchen counters green again any time soon!
With Cinco de Mayo coming up, Mexican food has been on my mind more than normal. Something I've never cooked with is poblano peppers, so I decided to change that. To get you excited, here is what I made:
4 poblano peppers (0.88), 3 cloves of garlic (0.06), 2/3 of a cup of cream (0.60), 1 bunch of asparagus (3.59), and 3 salmon fillets (6.10 - farm raised, I know, yuck). This made 3 servings with the fish, with enough sauce/soup leftover for use in several more applications. That's a total of 11.23, or 3.74 per meal, with extra sauce to spare!
This recipe calls for a small amount of dairy, but it is far from the amounts I was using last week. I feel much better about the amount that is consumed with each serving of this recipe. Ok, with that off of my chest, let's get to it.
There aren't many ingredients, but there are a few steps. Before getting started, set aside a plastic container big enough to fit the poblanos in, a hand blender or food processor, aluminum foil, and some paper towels.
The first step is to cut the poblano peppers in half. Take out the seeds and the stem. Flatten all of the peppers out on to your broiler pan. Use the aluminum foil to make cleanup easier. Broil those for 10 minutes.
While the peppers are broiling, cut up the asparagus into fourths. Throw away the root of the asparagus. It's too tough to use. Throw all of the asparagus into a pot of boiling water.
By now, the peppers should be finishing up in the broiler. Pull them out and place them into your plastic container while they are hot. Set that container in the fridge and the peppers will steam themselves while you work on the asparagus.
After the asparagus has boiled for about 10 minutes, it should be fairly tender. Separate the tips (they're the best part!) and put the stalks into a container for blending. Make a puree and set that aside.
When the peppers have had a while to steam, pull them out of the refrigerator and you should be able to pull the skin off. It will feel like someone wrapped the pepper in cellophane. Blend the peppers up into a puree.
Combine the asparagus puree, poblano puree, 2-3 cloves of garlic, and 2/3 of a cup of cream into a pot. I allowed that to heat up to help the flavors blend.
The last part is easy. I cooked a salmon fillet in butter until it had a nice crust on each side and topped it off with some of the asparagus sauce and a few of the tips as a garnish. As always add salt and pepper to your taste.
My sauce was almost like a soup, so I may have some like that. I may also combine some with some frozen spinach I boiled to make a creamy spinach side dish. It seems like a versatile sauce that has a lot of veggies inside, so feel good about putting it on everything!
The batch I made produced A LOT of sauce, so if you're making this for yourself, you can cut this recipe in half or even by a fourth.
