Pickles and liver...but not together

On the weekend I try to cook an abundance of things to help last through the week= less work when I'm tired later on. I posted this weeks menu the other day and this morning I started one thing on my menu and then began Operation Pickles.

Superfood Sausage Meatballs...eerrr.... meat chunks? Yeah so I was feeling lazy this morning after my 8 am run to Whole Foods. You'll see what I mean.

Here is what I mixed up

Superfood Chunks

Yeah I know that title's gross but it's what I made

1 lb grass-fed ground beef
1 lb pastured ground pork
1 lb of chicken livers ((hence the superfood and I expect the grossoutness (yeah that's a new word) of other people)) <-- Double parenthesis? I think so.
Favorite sausage seasoning (mine is a blend of white pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, fennel seeds and salt). You can use any type of blend or just throw in like 1 tsp of all your favorite spices. You could easily make these Asian with garlic and ginger with some fish sauce or Mexican with cumin and chili powder. So many options!

All you do is puree the livers in a food processor with all the seasoning and then mix into the other 2 lbs of ground meat. Now, if you want to be all fancy you can make these into meatballs. I was feeling lazy, so I spread the mixture in a 9x11 pan. I put them in the oven at 400 degrees and cooked for about 40 minutes. After they cooled I cut them into squares and now I have lunch this week. Easy peasy.

Pickles

Now for my fun experiment! Fermenting my own pickles. There is an easier (faster) way to make pickles with vinegar but I'm going old school and used a salt/water solution and good old waiting to make mine. There are many many different ways to make pickles. But I used this plan from Mark's Daily Apple website

Mark's Daily Apple Pickles

This is also one of my favorite blogs to follow.
I tripled the recipe to make three jars of dill pickles and added thyme from my herb garden into one jar to see how that goes. Basically in 3-10 days I should have three jars of dill pickles. Exciting? I think so! Just don't tell Husband I'm fermenting things in the kitchen.

Welcome Back...me!

So I started this blog in January and then only made it like a week and a half before failing. Yea, New Years Resolution!!! But now I can put to use one of those life lessons: If at first you don't succeed... eat bacon. It makes everything better. That's a personal motto. Feel free to use it.

Over the past few months I've started a new job, moved apartments, traveled to Ireland and fallen off the Paleo wagon and gotten back on again and again. I honestly feel SOOO much better when I eat better. So I've been super focused on eating REAL food for a few weeks and decided to retry this whole blog thing since I'm starting a new project this weekend. I've also incidentally lost around 10 lbs since focusing on eating only real food over the past few weeks. So on the exciting agenda this weekend is making my own pickles the good old fashioned way (read: no vinegar). Old-school fermentation happening in my kitchen this weekend and I couldn't be more excited. Hey, I know a lot of people who go on and on about brewing home beer, so I think pickles deserve a shout out for being amazing. Also I needed something to use some of the herbs in my new garden before they die. And they will die. I'm not too good at plants. Unless it's Plants vs. Zombies and then I rock at plants.

So coming up this week I'll be cooking the following menu for dinner incase anyone cares :)

Friday: Bangers and Cauli-mash (thanks to Ireland for this being my new favorite dish)
Saturday: Sausage and Squash Hash with eggs
Sunday: Sesame Beef Stir Fry
Monday: Italian stuffed zucchini boats
Tuesday: Roast Chicken
Wednesday: Sliders with avocado & BACON!
Thursday: BACON! wrapped chicken thighs

Lunches: Superfood Sausage Meatballs (warning: might contain a squeamish ingredient)

I'll be posting some of these recipes on the blog with photos through the weekend and week!

Goal: don't fail at blog

Day 9: Chili Round Deux

Well I haven't written for a few days, it's been a busy weekend...and I took a nap yesterday afternoon instead ha.

So yesterday evening was a little disappointing because we tracked all the way to the Roller Derby to find that it was SOLD OUT! Who knew they were so popular. So we'll try again when they have their next bout. And we'll get tickets ahead of time. Boo! But I still got to spend the evening chatting with two good friends and eating delicious green curry at Siam Square in Fountain Square. So all is well.

Today is my second Sunday cook up since I started blogging, so we'll be trying some new recipes and continuing my hunt for the perfect Paleo Chili!

I started off my morning with a hearty breakfast of Applegate farms bacon, eggs and browned sweet potatoes with cumin...delicious!

Today's cook-up:
Ultimate Paleo Chili
Slow-Cooker Italian Pork
Quiche as usual
roast veggies

Slow-Cooker Italian Pork:
Check out the recipe: Slow-Cooker Italian Pork by Melissa Joulwan.
I used a different cut of pork (loin instead of shoulder) since that's what they had on sale at the store.
I also didn't have anymore rosemary in my spice cabinet, so I subbed thyme and I threw in three pieces of bacon into the bottom of the slow cooker before I put in the pork. Other then that this should be a super easy recipe. It was pretty delicious but a little dry. The recipe says to pour out the liquid halfway through cooking so that you get a better crust on the outside, but I think that made the pork dryer. Next time I would leave the liquid in the pot for moister meat.

Mashed Cauliflower:
To make this dish I cut up a head of cauliflower into chunks and put in a pot and cover with water. Boil until you can pierce the cauliflower easily with a fork. Then I drain the liquid and put the cauliflower into a food processor with about 1 1/2 Tbs coconut oil with a little bit of salt, thyme and garlic powder. Blend until smooth.

Ultimate Paleo Chili:

I follow Robb Wolf's website (pretty big in the Paleo world) and they recently had a chili cook-off and posted the winning recipes. Chili Contest. This site has the links to all the recipes. I'm making Ultimate Paleo Chili submitted by Holly Gary because it seems like a basic recipe with a few twists! It has 1 1/2 Cups of coffee in it AND pumpkin pie spice! This made me very excited! The only change I made was I used 1 lb grass fed ground beef and 1 lb New Zealand ground lamb.

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean ground beef (good) or grass-fed ground 
beef (best)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 – 28oz can tomato pureé
1 – 14oz can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups coffee (substitute with broth if you prefer)
3T chili powder
2T cumin
1T oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning (substitute with 1tsp cinnamon + 1tsp nutmeg)
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
1 tsp sea salt + sprinkle
1 tsp pepper + sprinkle
1 T coconut oil

Instructions: Sauté onions and bell peppers in coconut oil over med-high heat in a large dutch oven or soup pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. About 5 minutes.

Add beef and garlic and cook until brown. About 7  minutes.

Add tomato pureé, tomato sauce, coffee and spices. Bring to a bowl, then reduce heat and simmer 1-2 hours.

Enjoy! Makes 6 large servings.

This was a great chili recipe...a little spicy which I like. I think that is because the chili powder I have is a lot spicier then my old chili powder so I forget and keep putting in extra like I used to. I think next time I might try to incorporate this chili recipe with the one I made last week with the butternut squash and cocoa powder. Lets see how much I can fit in my pot.

Oh and don't worry, I set the smoke alarm off again roasting veggies. Whenever I get a little confidence in my cooking skills I spend five minutes waving a towel at the smoke alarm.

Day 6: Feeling good in the kitchen

So I know I've been kind of obnoxious about my sugar cravings and blah blah blah. So today I'm getting back to what I do best: Cooking! (Oh and I made it through Day 2 with no sugar...go me!)

This morning I has some free time before heading to work, so I dug through the cabinets and thew together dinner in the crock-pot. I always have various types of canned tomatoes (puree, paste, diced) so when I saw a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and tomato paste in the cabinet I thought, "Spaghetti!"
I don't think this counts as a recipe since spaghetti is too easy to make but I'll include it anyways in case someone really doesn't know how to make any type of spaghetti sauce...which is a little crazy.

Whatever you have in the cabinet Spaghetti
1 lbs grass fed ground beef
1 large can of fire roasted tomatoes (or tomato puree or regular diced tomatoes..just not tomato sauce because they usually have sugar and other processed ingredients in it)

1 small can tomato paste
14 oz of broth (I made my own chicken bone broth a few weeks ago and still have it in my freezer so I used that)
                                                1 tsp red pepper flakes
                                                1 Tbl oregino
                                                1 Tbl. basil
                                                1/2 Tbl. garlic powder
                                                1/4 Tbl. onion powder

*all measurements are made up, as I just toss in what looks like a good amount...but this should be about close for anyone who needs more specific measurements)

Throw it all in the crock-pot and set on low until you are ready for dinner.

Pet Peeve: Recipes that say you should cook something in the crock-pot for like 6 hours...who only works for 6 hours!!!???? I always cook everything in the pot on low for about 10 hours because that's how long it takes me to get to work, work all day, and drive home from work. It seems to never really be a problem...except that one time...

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I don't want to hear any "I don't like Brussels sprouts!" You just haven't eaten my sprouts! I quarter mine (Don't throw away the leaves that come loose, that's the best part!) I actually try to pull off a bunch of leaves while I'm cutting them. I toss them all in a roasting pan (leaves and all) and drizzle them with Olive Oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast them in the oven at 400 degrees until they are brown and delicious! I usually stir them after 10-15 mins to get them to crisp up on multiple sides. Seriously, people give Brussels Sprouts a bad wrap but they are delicious. On a side note, do you know it's Brussels sprouts (with an "s" at the end)? No "s"= not spelled correctly. I checked the package to make sure... I don't believe you squiggly red line under my word!

Breakfast: Quiche again! A little salmon, 1/4 acorn squash left over from last night and Jello again.
Lunch: Canned Salmon (mixed with olive oil and southwestern spice mix I picked up at the store the other day) an avocado, baby carrots and half a cucumber.
Dinner: Spaghetti squash and sauce with roasted sprouts.

Day 5: Put a bird on it

Sleep: 6.5 hours
Exercise: 5:30 Morning boot camp! Today was a rough shoulder day. Body killers suck and make it difficult for me to wash my hair properly when I can't hold my arms up that long! The downside to morning workouts is that I end up WAY hungrier then usual on boot camp days. So I spent all afternoon thinking about food...but that could be a sugar craving.

Tomorrow Amanda (my bootcamp trainer) is going to do a caliper body fat measurements of me. I'm not really excited about doing this after my terrible two weeks of eating...I'm also not excited about this because I'm really really really ticklish. Like inhumanly ticklish. I'm going to be giggling like a fool tomorrow morning.

Random: So in between the rain storms today a bird landed on the tree right outside our office window and I thought,"put a bird on it" and started cracking up. We recently starting watching Portlandia on Netflix and that show's hilarious! If you haven't watched it, it's basically strange sketches making fun of hipsters (which is apparently all of Portland). One of their first sketches is aptly titled "Put a bird on it" and they make fun of all the things people put birds on (if you don't know what I'm referring to, you're obviously one of those crazy people who don't waste time on Pintrest). So I'm cracking up at this sketch because I would totally put a bird on everything and husband turns to me and says, "You must love this show since it's like watching your life." I told him he was being ridiculous, everyone knows I prefer owls.

Put a Bird on it

Now I want to move to Portland... or Seattle.

ANYWAY!

Day 1 of Sugar Detox...since I've been a bust on the "healthy living" front, I started 21 day sugar restriction to get back in balance. In case anyone wonders: Sugar detox means no added sugar. I can have small amounts of fruit. Also no dried fruit or Paleoized treats. (Not that I know how to make three different versions of paleo chocolate cake in a mug...of course not). I'm not going to lie, I have a sugar withdrawal headache. But that's to be expected since I have been eating chocolate like a fat kid at Halloween. But I packed a good snack today so I can make it through without sticking my face in the candy dish.

Breakfast: Quiche, a little leftover chicken, saute spinach, and jello.
Lunch: Chili and veggies.
Snack: Green apple with 1 Tbl. cashew butter and left over chicken
Dinner: Lazy me made Pad Thai again with the rest of my leftover chicken and cabbage with Pad Thai sauce from a previous post. I also made cinnamon roasted acorn squash for dessert!

I just cut an acorn squash into pieces, rub with coconut oil and then sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Roast in the oven at 450 for about 45 min! It's so good and looks pretty too!

Day 3: Murderous Chocolate Cravings!

Sleep: 6.5 hours
Exercise: Bootcamp at Barkes Fitness! http://www.facebook.com/barkesfitness?fref=ts
You would think waking up at 5:10 most mornings to go workout would suck, but it's actually my favorite part of the day! Today was shoulders and arms? (I'm never good at remembering body parts.) It was my first time doing bench on an incline...turns out I suck at it. The second set of 15 my arms gave out and I required mucho assistance to finish the set. But I always feel accomplished after working out.

Rant of the Day: I do not know what it is about this office, but I spent the past two days with no cravings. Well, I did dream about chocolate cheesecake Saturday night. You know the one from the Cheesecake Factory with the chocolate frosting and chocolate chips in the crust and the giant cookie on top. Oh yeah.  But here I am, on my first day at the office with my "no sugar" rule and I spent most of my morning calculating a way to justify eating a cupcake. In fact, if a serpent appeared to me right now and said he would trade me a lifetime of eating chocolate with no weight gain in exchange for eternal damnation, I would take him up on it. I like warm climates anyways.

See, this is my problem. I have spent ALL DAY thinking about chocolate at work.  It doesn't help that I have to keep this bowl of candy sitting on my desk. So I cheated a little today. I had a small amount of dark chocolate out of the bowl, then I moved the bowl across the entryway. I thought that would help. But then I ate one more piece of dark chocolate. I guess I can't win today. I would like to add that dark chocolate is allowed in the world of Paleo, but seeing as I am trying to get back to an existence not ruled by sweet cravings, I am trying to avoid any kind of added sugar for the first 30 days. We already found out that I cannot control even a small deviation from my healthy eating plan or disaster ensues (see first blog post). So Day 3 was a bust for "no added sugar" but a plus as I stopped myself from eating the entire bowl like last week. See, I do have some self control! Now, if anyone has some ingenious way I can get over my sugar cravings without resorting to murdering for a cupcake, please post in the comment section!

Breakfast: 1/4 of the quiche I made Sunday with about 2 oz. leftover steak from last night
Lunch: 2 cups of Chili, 1 cup baby carrots, 1/2 avacado, and then a little later a banana with 1 Tb. cashew butter... and dark chocolate
Dinner: The rest of my leftover steak seared with Southwestern spices (bought a spice mix at the store today...and I think it's my new favorite!). Served with kale chips and reheated roasted veggies from yesterday.

Dessert: Raspberry Gelatin  (not raspberry Jello= Sugar). Gelatin, made from animal collagen...yummy. Bone products are good for "gut healing." and are recommended a lot in the Paleo sphere. Instead of using Jello which is sugar and more sugar. I purchase unsweetened gelatin and add in flavors like herbal teas or raspberries! It's delicious. I was out of coconut milk so I used Chamomile tea instead. This is the recipe I got from Mark's Daily Apple Blog:

Raspberry Coconut Gelatin Dessert

• 1 tablespoon unsweetened, powdered gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 can of coconut milk (13.5 ounces)
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:
Soften the powdered gelatin by pouring it into the cold water.
Heat 1/2 cup of coconut milk.
Add the hot coconut milk to the gelatin and stir until the gelatin dissolves.

In a blender, blend the remaining coconut milk with the raspberries and vanilla. Pour into the bowl with the gelatin. Stir.
Chill in an ice bath first to speed up the thickening process (like in the salmon recipe) or just pour into small dishes or ring molds. Refrigerate until firm

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/salmon-mousse-gelatin-ring-and-raspberry-coconut-gelatin-dessert/#ixzz2JJBRJSbP

Anyone know how to get over sugar cravings related to stress eating?

Day 2: Cooking up a storm

Sleep: 8 hours

Exercise: None...unless extreme cooking counts!

So I set off the fire alarm in our apartment again. It doesn't help that they installed the fire alarm about three feet away from the oven. So every time I do something like say, roast a chicken, I probably piss off the neighbors. But as husband says as he stands on the couch and waves smoke away from the fire alarm with a kitchen towel, "It sounds like Sunday"

The most inconvenient part of only eating non-processed foods is that you cant really just grab and go meals. No more cereal in the morning or lunch on the go. This means I need a lot of food ready to eat or else it's too easy to cheat after a rough day. Enter in Weekly Sunday Cook-up. Every Sunday I spend an obscene amount of time in the kitchen (which also doubles as the living room since our place is so small) and I cook...a lot. Today's cook-up is the following:

1. Chili in the crock-pot (this will be lunch for most of the week)
2. Roasted Squash (zucchini and yellow squash with coconut oil and thyme...taste very pizza like)
3. Roasted carrots and parsnips (Olive Oil, garlic powder and ginger)
4. Crustless Quiche
5. Roast Chicken

Chili: Everyone has their favorite Chili recipe, but when you switch over to paleo and realize that you can't have beans then it takes a little creativity to get a good hearty chili recipe (that's not just tomatoy meat). I'm still experimenting with mine. Today's version
1 lb beef
1 onion (diced)
1 acorn squash (cubed)
1 red bell pepper
2 carrots
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
chili powder
salt
paprika
melted bakers chocolate (I threw in one square of unsweetened chocolate, I love it in chili!)

I just throw it all in the crock-pot on low and let it cook all day. I can pack this for lunch with half an avocado for topping and raw veggies on the side. I hope it turns out ok (not that I've ever eaten bad chili)

Roast Veggies: I prefer veggies to be cooked, so I drizzle them with olive oil or coconut oil, add some seasoning and then throw them in the oven at 450 degrees until they look done. Then I just reheat them for dinners for the next couple of day.

Crustless Quiche: I got the basic recipe from the BalancedBites site by Diane Sanfilippo. Her cook book Practical Paleo has great recipes and food plans for someone starting out on paleo. Here is the link to her recipe:
http://balancedbites.com/2010/06/easy-recipe-crustless-quiche-with-summer-squash.html

I tend to use whatever veggies I have on hand for quiche.
Today's mix:
1 large zucchini (shredded and squeezed dry)
1 large sweet potato (for added carbs I need after Bootcamp class)
2 carrots (shredded)
I mix this with 12 beaten eggs
throw in some sage and garlic powder
bake at 350 until it starts to brown on top.

I cover this pan and cut out a piece each morning for breakfast and reheat it. Super fast and easy way to have eggs and veggies for breakfast.

Roast Chicken:
I read this recipe on yahoo Friday afternoon but now I can't find it on the website. Oh well. It was super easy so I'll wing it.
4 whole cloves of garlic
1 lemon cut in half
thyme and rosemary
Stuff these all in the cavity of the chicken and then roast in the oven at 500 degrees (yes, that's 500!) Cook for 15 min. per lb of chicken! So it should only take an hour or so and then I'll have a crispy roasted chicken! Oh, and if you can you might want to remove the batteries out of your fire alarm while making this chicken. Unless you have someone who is skilled at fanning a fire alarm.

Breakfast: eggs, roasted acorn squash with cinnamon and sauteed spinach with cinnamon topped with walnuts and apricots.

Lunch: Roast chicken with roasted carrots and parsnips. Also had a banana with cashew butter for desert.

Dinner: Chili with avocado.

Snack: In honor of our new TV/ cold weather, we stayed in an watched bad horror movies all day which means Kale Chips again! Salty snacks and gore go so well together. I love it when the blonde dies first :)