Sunday Letters

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

And suddenly it’s Fall

heather

Last week was H O T.  On Sunday it turned C O L D.  As in, I think it might start snowing any minute.  The good thing about the drastic temperature swing, however, is that I’m in full-on cooking mode.  Tonight I prepped pork ribs for the crockpot tomorrow, a whole chicken to bake Wednesday night, and I’m currently baking the awesomest muffins ever:  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.  I made a batch of them on Saturday, and they were obliterated by Sunday morning.  So I’m making batch #2.  These are awesome.  I really shouldn’t be making them because they have quite a bit of sugar in the form of maple syrup, and sugar often makes me inexplicably feel like crying.  But I’m so happy when I eat these – maybe it all evens out.

Tomorrow will be my first attempt at ribs!  I put the spice rub on them tonight, and I will put them in the Nesco Roaster all day tomorrow, and then when I get home from work tomorrow night I’ll make the paleo BBQ sauce to slather over them.  Hopefully they turn out well.

I tried a new recipe last week:  Greek-Style Lamb Meatballs.  These were good, but if I’m going to make lamb meatballs, I’m going to make these:  Ginger & Lemongrass meatballs.  They are AMAZING.  Like you can’t stop eating them.

I also made a tried and true recipe – Heavenly Paleo Meatloaf.  I can’t find the recipe online anymore, but if you want it, leave a message in the comments, and I’ll type it up for you.  Tim and I are both huge fans of this.  We ate the last of it for supper tonight -mashed up with Tim’s homemade sauerkraut and sliced Claussen Spicy Dill pickles.  So tasty.

Oh man, our house smells so good right now.  I wonder how long it will be before we get sensory blogs – where you can *smell* the food people write about?

And with Fall comes more time for reading!  I’m almost done with A Guide to the Good Life:  The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.  This book is so good that I got overdue library fines on it and then went out and bought it anyway.  The book is an explanation of the philosophy of stoicism, and stoicism is not what you think it is.  Stoicism is not about being reserved and controlled, it’s about learning to be happy with what you already have.  It helps you break free from the cycle of consumerism and from constantly chasing your insatiable desires.  Once I finish it, I’m going to re-read it and then make everyone I know read it.

I also just bought a book (for $1.07!) by Margaret Atwood at the used book store.  I ran across an article about her on Lifehacker, and it piqued my interest.  She is friends with Ursula K. Le Guin, who I really like, so I figured I would try her out.  My brainy Facebook friends highly recommend her as well, so I’m excited to start the book.

And despite the shorter days, coolers temps, and copious amounts of food, I’m still trying to stay on top of my fitness regime.  Our biking has definitely slaked off, but we’ve had some nice, long runs.  Our next race is the 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  My bros are doing with us, so I am really looking forward to it. I need to start swimming again too, lest I forget how.  Tim wants to do at least 1 tri next summer, so I need to keep working on my swimming skilz.

And, now it’s time to r e l a x.  Have a great evening.  And go buy A Guide to the Good Life. I command thee!  And read it post haste.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Tastiest Supper Ever and Festmasters and Their Slutty Wives

heather

I made this tried and true Garlic Pulled Pork recipe yesterday in the Nesco Roaster.  As usual, it turned out fantastic, albeit a little on the dry side.  I think I cooked it a little too long, which is what I get for going out for drinks after work.  To moisten it up a bit, Teeeembits had the brilliant idea to mix the pork with his homemade sauerkraut.  Brilliant.  Absolutely brilliant.  This will definitely be one of the signature dishes when we decide to quit our lame jobs and open up the Sleepy Choo Paleo Palace of Deliciousness.

Perhaps we were inspired by our trek to the Wisconsin Territory for the Lacrosse Oktoberfest last weekend.  Admittedly, the trip got off to a rough start.  We arrived in Lacrosse at about 12:30 or so, checked into the hotel, and tried to figure out where, exactly, the Oktoberfest was.  No where on the website could we find the specific address of the Fest grounds.  We found a map of the grounds and deduced the location from the cross streets.  We then piled our road-weary, starving selves into the Fusion and headed downtown.  Unbeknownst to us, we were hitting downtown right as the parade was ending.  The streets we planned to use to get to the grounds were all blocked for the parade.  The other streets were all full of extremely drunk individuals with no regard for traffic signals or multi-ton vehicles who could squash them into smithereens.  We kept driving around, expecting to see signs directing us to the Fest and/or a parking area.  They were no where to be found!!!  We eventually, after 45 minutes, found a parking area, paid our $5 and finally unfolded our weary limbs in search of beer and brats.  Of course, it began pouring rain.  And we had no umbrellas.  Tim didn’t even have a hat.  We wandered off in the direction of the crowds, only to find more drunk people camped up along side the road.  We didn’t see a “Fest” anywhere!  We decided to just find food in a restaurant somewhere downtown.  Of course, thousands of other people had the same idea.  It was hopeless.  Hungry, cranky, wet, and extremely frustrated, we returned to the car and began the arduous task of winding our way out of the area, trying not to hit any toasted pedestrians.  We finally broke free and headed to the hotel area for food.

We used Yelp to find a good Mexican restaurant, and after some guacamole and margaritas, we were feeling much more sanguine.  We hit up the local Woodmans to stock up on beer and cucumber vodka and then returned to the hotel.  We relaxed in the hot-tub, watched horrible cable, and then worked up the energy to take the shuttle (which started at 4PM) from the hotel back down the the so-called Oktoberfest.

THAT was definitely the better way to experience the Oktoberfest.  The bus dumped us out at the entrance to grounds, and after paying $20 for our buttons, we were soon in line for some tasty local brews, listening to some cheerful Bluegrass music. We supplemented the beer with some brats and potato salad and really started to enjoy the evening.  We wandered over to another area of the Fest grounds, intrigued by the flashing neon promising FRIED CHEESE CURDS.  We got another beer and ate up the delicious, salty curds, while listening to an extremely talented polka band/family.  We were soon joined by a random gentlemen, keen on describing his maltreatment in the other beer tent.  It appears that some of the Festers were not respectful of his age.  We distracted him with cheese curds and questions about cycling (he was wearing his version of “drinking gloves” – bicycling gloves).  He repaid our attentions by introducing Tim to the Festmaster, whose wife bestows Festmaster buttons on to Festers.  He promised Tim that the Festmaster’s wife would slip him the tongue when she gave him a button.  Tim was not interested in the tongue (or so he said), but he WAS interested in meeting Festival royalty, and so he did.  I have pictures to prove it.

All-in-all, it was a really great, fun day – good music, good food, good beer, good people-watching.  And the drive to and from Lacrosse was absolutely beautiful.  We went up 61 on the way there and came home along the Mississippi on the way home.  Both routes were gorgeous.  I would travel to Lacrosse again just for the scenery, but probably not for the Fest.  Now, if they had a vodka or whiskey Fest, I would be there in a heartbeat.

Well, it’s bed time, and I have a long, arduous day tomorrow, so I better sign off.  Hope you have a wonderful evening.  🙂

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

I knows youse kids like em sloppy

heather

I made Paleo Sloppy Joe Sweet Potatoes last week, and they turned out super delicious!  At first I was wary of the recipe.  It wasn’t smelling super delicious, and when I initially tasted it, it was just OK.  But I let the concoction simmer for 15 minutes, and out came delicious sloppy sloppy joes!  I used a red onion (I don’t think you are typically supposed to sautee red onions, but they turned out good in this recipe), a red pepper, coconut sugar, and our local favorite mustard, Boetjes.  For the meat I used a pound of ground pork from our hog.  Added to a baked sweet potato, this made for a hearty, delicious meal.   To simplify the meal, I did not scoop out the insides of the sweet potatoes and combine it with the meat sauce and then put it back into the skins.  We just put the meat mixture right on top of the cooked potato.  We ate the leftovers with over-easy eggs and avocado.  Again – delicious.  Try it!!

Cooking/Recipes, Paleo, Uncategorized

Recipe Catch-up

heather

Despite it being a rather busy week, I’ve been doing some (if I do say so myself) delicious home cooking lately.  I’ve been fantasizing about opening my own paleo treat business – perhaps solely as a way to justify making unreasonable amounts of paleo desserts.  On the advice of a friend, I made Chocolate Avocado Muffins.  At first bite, I was not a fan.  They seemed too oily and not sweet enough.  Tim said they were too coconutty.  However, I stored the muffins in the fridge overnight, and the next day they were delicious cold!  Tim and I both ended up really liking them.  This recipe is a keeper.

Next on the dessert tip was Paleo Fudgy Brownies.  I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a recipe from Health-Bent, and this was no exception.  I struggled with knowing if/when the brownies were fully cooked, on account of the fudginess.  I think I ended up cooking them 10 minutes longer than the recipe said – until a toothpick inserted came out pretty clean.  Straight out of the oven they were super soft.  However, I put them in the fridge, and =now I can’t keep my dirty mitts out of them.  They are super soft, chocolatey, creamy, and delicious.  So delicious, in point of fact, you have to eat them with a spoon.  And you want to eat the whole pan instead of just one.  I was reading the comments on the website, and someone had the gall to comment, “These were disgusting.”  That’s such a d-bag thing to say.  No, “I appreciate the time and energy these people put into perfecting and posting this recipe, but I was not a fan.”  Just a blanket, “These were disgusting.”  I think that poster is disgusting.  So there.

No on to real food. I made yet another Health-Bent recipe, Thai Basil Beef Balls.  We had these with a nice organic salad last night, and they are by far one of our favorite meat ball recipes now, second only the the Ginger and Lemongrass Meatballs.  I made 1/2 a batch in case we didn’t like the recipe (fish sauce can be kinda sketchy), but I wish I would have made a full batch.  I modified the recipe by using a sauteed pepper instead of a roasted pepper (I didn’t have the time or inclination to roast a pepper), but I followed the rest of the recipe to a T.

Now on to tonight.  I made Omelet Muffins and Brussels Sprouts with Bacon.   It was a bonkers good supper.  Tim will heartily agree.  For the muffins, I added kefir, avocado oil instead of mayo, mild Italian sausage from our delicious pig haul, and chopped up into fine pieces the following:  zucchini, pickled jalapenos & carrots, broccoli, garlic, green onions, red pepper, spinach, and fresh basil and oregano.  I doubled the recipe, so I used 12 eggs.  It ended up making 20 muffins!  I had to bake them about 5 minutes longer than the recipe called for, on account of the extra liquid (kefir and then avocado oil instead of mayo), but Tim said they turned out perfect – nice and fluffy.  They were paired nicely by the brussel sprouts cooked in bacon grease with bacon bits and onions.  I didn’t want to stop eating.  But that may be more of a hormonal thing than a tasty food thing.  It’s probably both 🙂

So that’s an update on all my new recipes so far.  Now I’m going to go sit on the couch and shop online at Banana Republic because they hooked me with a $30 coupon off a $100 purchase.  BR knows my buttons.

Have a good night y’all!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Pork Foray

heather

We recently took our first foray into the world of buying meat in bulk directly from the farmer/butcher.  One of my friends on Facebook mentioned that he had purchased a hog from a local farm, and that the meat was great.  I got the details from him and contacted the farmer on Facebook.  They explained the process (which, simply, is you send them a check, tell them where you want the hog butchered, and they drop it off there within a week or so) and sent me an article to help fill in the details.  Tired of paying $9 for bacon at the Farmer’s Market, we decided to take the plunge, splitting the risk by splitting the hog with a friend.

The cost of the whole hog (non-confinement, no antibiotics, varied diet, humanely treated, etc.) was $350.  We got 145 lbs of meat from it, and the cost of processing (including offal charge, smoking, sausage, brats, lard) was $159.90.  So the meat cost $3.52 per pound, on average.  And it is DEEELICIOUS!  So far we have tried the ground pork, bacon, brats, and pork chops, and it has all been good.  Our friend who bought the other half said the ribs are fantastic.  We have yet to try the smoked ham hocks, lard, hams, ham steaks, and pork loin.

We did have to buy a freezer to hold the meat, however.  We opted for an upright freezer, based on recommendations from friends.  Also, we thought it would be easier to not lose meat deep in the depths.  The freezer was around $430, but that’s a one-time expense that will enable us to take advantage of more bulk meat purchases.  We are considering buying 1/2 a cow and possibly a lamb.

If we had to do it again, what would we do differently?  I would ask more questions about the processing.  The offal processing cost $29, which seems expensive for heart, tongue, and liver.  I know that organ meats are super good for you, but I can purchase those at the Farmer’s Market for much less.  Also, I wish we would have gotten the pork belly.  I’ve ran across 2 recipes on www.marksdailyapple.com that sound fantastic.    My friend who told me about the farm also recommended getting the pork jowls smoked, but I forgot to ask for that.  Next year I’ll get my act together 🙂

In the meantime we will be enjoying delicious, locally raised, non-factory farm, inexpensive meat.  Just pray that the power doesn’t go out for an extended period!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

Mini Octoberfest and Buttery Turnips

heather

I recently ran across a recipe on www.marksdailyapple.com that, as a spawn of Hagemans and Zimmermans, piqued my curiosity – Sauerbraten:  A Classic German Pot Roast.  I had never heard of this, but it sounded interesting, and it provided an excellent excuse to have people over, as I am wont to do.  So I bought a huge beef roast, plunked it into a funky marinade, and sent out the invites to friends for a Mini Octoberfest/Beer Swap.

I learned a few things during the experience.  People are busy.  It’s hard to find an evening where the majority of my 20 or so acquaintances can all gather at the same time.  We ended up with a showing of about 9 folks, who contributed beer, Black Forest cake, coconut bars, potato salad, and cucumber and onion salad to the festivities.  It was a fun evening.  The sauerbraten turned out okay, I think.  Not ever having it before, I did not know how it was supposed to taste.  It was very…tangy.  The sauce when I first made it was absolutely TOO tangy, so I added a tablespoon of coconut sugar and 2 tablespoons of full-fat Greek yogurt.  That thickened and sweetened it up.  Tim was not a fan, but everyone less liked it, or at least SAID they liked it!

We ate supper, dessert, and then sat by the fire and enjoyed the late summer evening. We were in our PJs by 8:30, which is a perfect time to end a party, in my opinion.  :).

Would I make the sauerbraten again?  I don’t think so.  It was an interesting experiment for a party, but it’s too much work and expense for what it is – a sour tasting pot roast! Plus I burned my hand on the dutch oven lid, so I’m a little pissed at the roast.  Actually, overall it was a dangerous cooking weekend for me.  Saturday morning I was attempting to shake hot sauce on my awesome breakfast when my sensation-less fingertips lost their grip, sending the class bottle into a collision with the Corelle plate.  The plate ‘sploded.  All over the table, floor, and my legs.  I have Corelle shrapnel in my legs now.  It was very traumatic.

I recently read an article by Mark Sisson about the importance of socializing with people you really care about.  While hosting gatherings is a royal pain in the ass, with all the cleaning and prep and frustrations of dealing with peoples’ schedules, I’m glad we did it.  It’s good to be with people.  We all need our tribes!

I tried one other new recipe this week: Turnip and Bison Scramble.  I didn’t have any bison, but I did have pig, so we ate this with ground pork.  It smelled a little weird when it was cooking, but it tasted delicious garnished with some avocado, hot sauce, and green onions.  Of course, anything cooked in 2 T of butter would probably be delicious!

So we started off the weekend right – with a party and tasty food, and we ended it well – by taking a 20 mile bike ride, drinking delicious pale ale from Bent River, and sitting outside for 2 hours reading and soaking in the vitamin D.  We have a big event this week at work, so I’m going to be trapped inside for the next SIX days.  I had to get a lot of outside time in this weekend.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Paleo Alfredo Sauce!!! So good it deserves 3 exclamation marks!

heather

We had a recipe success this evening in the Longoria household:  Paleo Alfredo with Caramelized Leeks & Bacon.  I dirtied almost every dish in the house making this, but it was delicious – very creamy and filling.  And very oniony.  I used 3 leeks because when I bought them at the Farmers Market, they came in a batch of 3.  And what am I going to do with one, lonely leek?  So I tossed it in.  The dish was VERY leeky.  But it was still delicious.  I do not have a vegetable spiralizer, so I just chopped up the sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch chunks and boiled those.  Then I mixed the leeks, alfredo sauce, and potato chunks together in the pan in which I cooked the bacon (there may have been some leftover bacon grease in the pan….), warmed it up and served it with fresh cherry tomatoes and one amazing heirloom tomato from our garden.  Our dinner guest had the brilliant idea to put hot sauce on the “pasta,” and that was even more tasty.

I will definitely make this recipe again; although, I do want to get a spiralizer.  It would be handy to make veggie noodles.  You can even make noodles out of cucumbers!

So how did we top this perfectly paleo supper?  By getting Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter World ice cream, of course.  That stuff is damned delicious.  DO NOT try it, lest you become addicted as Tim and I have become.  I justify eating Ben & Jerry’s because they usually use such high quality ingredients.  However, I was disappointed to see corn oil in the ingredient list.  It’s a good thing it’s all gone now so I don’t have to wrestle with my conscience about whether or not to eat more.

It was a rather bingey weekend, all told.  We drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of fried food, but had a lot of fun in the process.  We did a fun night ride Sunday night, and yesterday we ran 7 miles and then hiked for a couple of hours in Wild Cat Den.  We’ll get back on track tomorrow.  That’s what hump day is for, right??  I was actually trying to get back on track TODAY. I did a weight workout in the basement – squats, lunges, bicycle curls, wall sit, inch worms, and tried out dead lifts.  I think I need some coaching on the dead lifts though.  Reading about them isn’t cutting it.  Back to my point, I was off to a good start today, only to be derailed by peanut butter & chocolate cookies bathed in a rich bath of chocolately cream.  Again, damn you Ben & Jerry.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Why dentists hate paleo

heather

I went to the dentist today for my semi-annual checkup.  Both the hygienist and the doctor commented on the perfection of my teeth.  They said that if everyone had teeth like me, they would go out of business.  To quote my dentist, “Thank goodness for Mountain Dew!”  I have to say, I do not historically have great teeth.  All of my molars are filled in, and my front teeth are a little chipped and crooked (thanks to sucking my thumb until my Grandpa got me to stop by promising to pay to get my ear’s pierced if I quit).  However, since going paleo, my teeth have gotten way better – whiter and no cavities.  I brush twice a day with a mixture of 1/2 baking soda and 1/2 coconut oil – yet another unexpected benefit of going paleo.  Here is another one.  It’s an article about 4 foods that age you before your time.  Any guesses??  Wheat, corn-based foods, sugar & starchy foods, vegetable oils.  Yet another reason to be paleo – you look younger.

But, you know what, sometimes you just miss the nice, bready texture of, well, bread.  I haven’t tried to make any true paleo bread.  I’ve eaten gluten-free bread, but it’s usually laced with potatoes and odd sugars and oils, and I never feel good after eating it.  But I ran across a recipe for Grain-free Apple Cinnamon Pancakes that, while making passable pancakes, makes excellent bread-like snacks.  Here is the recipe.  I’m not sure what I did wrong while making these, but they didn’t look like real pancakes like they do in the pic in the recipe.  However, they were tasty with some butter, eggs, and maple syrup.  We didn’t eat the full batch, so the next day I ate some of the leftovers with chicken & veggie soup.  It was deeeelicious!  It was like eating a corn muffin with soup – good texture and flavor, even unheated.  This recipe is definitely a keeper.

And that’s it for new recipes of a late. For the past couple of weeks I’ve just been picking up whatever strikes my fancy at the Farmer’s Market, so we’ve been making a lot of ad-hoc meals.  This week I got eggplant, purple peppers, zucchini, heirloom kale, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, and grape tomatoes.  So far we’ve made broiled zucchini with salmon, hamburgers with sauteed broccoli and garlic, and brats with fresh cauliflower.  Tonight we cooked up some ground beef and buffalo with chopped jalapeno and topped it with sauteed cauliflower, zucchini, and kale.  We doused it all with chili garlic sauce.  And avocado slices.  It was delicious; although, I think my mouth and nose will never stop stinging from the damn jalapeno.  Everything I touch is on fire.

Hope you are having a great evening and staying cool.  Adios!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

The $18 Chicken that Blew our Minds

heather

I hit up the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and procured me an $18 free-range, antibiotic-free, local, butchered 4 lb chicken.  I have a go-to recipe that I always use to roast a chicken.  It involves lemons, garlic, thyme, olive oil, etc.  Well, much to my dismay, I could not locate the recipe.  Whilst looking for it I discovered this recipe that I printed out a while back:  Perfect Roasted Chicken.

I was a little wary of the recipe, as it calls for cooking the chicken at 500 degrees, which is WAY higher than I usually cook chicken.  However, as I told my friend who walked into the smoky kitchen mid-bake, “Mark Sisson has never led me astray on a recipe yet.”  And he didn’t this time either.  The chicken was AMAZING.  The skin was salty and crispy.  The flesh was juicy and flavorful.  It looked beautiful.

I followed the recipe to the T, as is my m.o.  I rubbed it down with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil and stuffed sage between the skin and flesh.  I left it uncovered in the fridge overnight for about 24 hours.  It was a 4 lb bird, so I cooked it for 40 minutes exactly.  It was 170 by the thighs and about 200 elsewhere, but it still didn’t taste dry.  I never know what to do with the innards, so I froze them (and I froze the carcass too when done) to make bone broth with down the road.

We had the chicken with sauteed heirloom kale and baked sweet potatoes.  It was an excellently delicious supper that will hopefully counteract my late afternoon binge on mini candy bars.  Why oh why do people think it’s OK to leave bags of candy on my desk??  They think that because I am slender that candy doesn’t tempt me, but they could not be more wrong. The reason I do not weigh 200 lbs is because I KNOW I have issues with self control, so I don’t buy or store things that are delicious and bad for me within arm’s reach.  After snarfing a dark chocolate Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Snickers, regular Milky Way, and I believe a Twix (I had to try one of everything), I moved the candy to a cubicle 15 feet away.  Damn delicious candy.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Best Chicken Marinade Ever

heather

My mom was kind enough to pick up some organic frozen chicken breasts for us from Costco.  I had them defrosted in the fridge when I serendipitously ran across a Honey Mustard Chicken recipe in my RSS feed.  Tuesday night I mixed up the marinade and poured it over sliced up chicken breasts resting in a Pyrex dish.  I lacked ginger, and for the mustard I used the local favorite, Boetjes.  The chicken stewed in the marinade for about 24 hours, and we cooked it up last night.  The recipe instructs you to move the chicken into a fresh Pyrex dish, but I don’t understand why!  I just left in the original dish, and popped the works into a 400 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.  The chicken turned out SUPER delicious – very moist and flavorful.  We ate it with a green salad, chopped cauliflower and green pepper and kalamata olives.  This recipe is definitely a keeper – very simple, yet very delicious.  Oh!  And I totally ignored Instruction #3 (where you boil down the juices and leftover marinade), and the chicken was still very moist and tasty.

Also – here is an update on the Ginger and Lemongrass Meatballs recipe.  When I made the meatballs, I ran out of room on my pan.  I didn’t want to have to bake two trays of meatballs, so I put the leftover mixture in a pan and cooked it up like the ground meat it was.  Tim had the brilliant idea to use this mixture in a rice stirfry.  He made some tasty nice and dry basmati rice, sauteed it with olive oil, added the cooked meatball mixture and a healthy dollop of Thai chili paste.  I don’t typically eat rice, but I had to try a bite of this because it looked and smelled so tasty.  It could possibly be the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.  Thai chili paste is amazing.

It’s 5:59, and I have to head out for a run.  I’ve been trapped in a basement (ahem, “garden level”) conference room all week working on a project, and unless I exercise in the morning, I start to lose it about 2PM.

I hope you have a fantastic Thursday!