Enjoying a Big Mac--in Latin!

A Latin translation of the ingredients of a Big Mac

Two All-Beef Patties
     duo isicia solum bubulae

Special Sauce
     embamma speciale

Lettuce
     lactuca

Cheese
     caseus

Pickles
     salgama

Onions
     caepae

On a Sesame-Seed Bun
     in collyride cum seminibus sesami

In Need of Paleo Comfort...

A stressful week ended in a horribly busy day. It's the kind of time when you're liable to just run out, buy a chocolate cake, eat it all and then feel even more horrible.

That's where Paleo comfort food comes in.

You get to the end of this day's duties and then you indulge yourself in a meal that will soothe your tattered soul.

You saute mushrooms, caramelize onions, deep fry sweet potatoes in coconut oil, and fry two pounds of ground bison meat.

And here's dinner.

 

I feel a thousand times better. And for dessert, no chocolate cake, of course. A handful of almonds will now satisfy.

Paleo Chili!

This meal was so simple and yet so delicious!

Here's what you need:

Two 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes

Three pounds of ground beef (personally one of ours was Bison)

Three large peppers

Two large onions.  Two packets of chili powder (one for each pound of meat). We use Simply Organic brand, which I can heartily endorse.

 If you can't find this product in your supermarket, you can order it through Amazon by clicking on the image.

Okay, so even though the chili powder packets said one per pound of meat, we added an extra pound of meat to the concoction. We're Paleo, afterall.

Cut up the peppers and onions into small shapes and sautee them separately, cooking them down so there's little water in them.

Cook the meat (personally I cooked the meat in two pans, since it was so much). Drain the oil off well.

Into a saucepan, I put the meat, the two cans of diced tomatoes, and the chili powder.
 
After you've cooked down the peppers and onions and combined the meat, diced tomatoes, and the chili powder, here's what you've got:
We then mixed everything together and simmered until it was thick. We did add a few dollops of non-Paleo sour cream (a luxury we won't have in our strict Paleo March).
Enjoy, people!

Paleo Detox!

If you're like me, you ate a few more carbs on Christmas than you usually like to. And if you eat Paleo, that means you may have eaten forty where you usually eat ten! No matter, we're ready for what we call Paleo Detox. But the good news is--that means we just spend a few days eating strictly Paleo.
 

Now, personally, I need to wean off the bad foods. So here's what I came up with for a good fairly strict meal that still managed to give me the savory sensations of a carb-loaded experience. First I chop up and sautee onions and mushrooms. Here they are in the pan, awaiting their marching orders.
 

Then I steam some broccoli. Broccoli is just always a good vegetable to throw next to a piece of meat.

Then, because I need something extravagant and savory, I broil ribeye steaks. Here they are before I put them under the fire.


 

And here's the meal on my plate. Broiled Ribeyes, smothered in sauteed mushrooms and onions. The mushrooms are the only thing here that contribute any measurable carbs.

And that's okay. Tomorrow we'll be even stricter.

Paleo Christmas Beef Hash!

One of the problems that will come up from time to time when you eat Paleo is, what am I going to do with all this left over steak?!

Last night I had a T-Bone, my wife had one of two filet mignon steaks, all broiled.

So we just got back from Liturgy and we needed a lunch of some sort until tonight's roast turkey.

I decided to quickly make up a concoction using up the steak, some organic non-nitrate bacon we have, and an onion.
I call it Paleo Beef Hash.
First, I cut the steak into small cubes. I cut up about five strips of bacon, removing much of the pure fat. I diced a small onion.

I fried the bacon just until it started to brown and then mixed in the onion. 
  Since I had removed much of the fat, I didn't need to strain any oil off. I let the onions become very soft and begin to caramelize. Then I mixed in the steak cubes and stirred until the meat was fully reheated.

I served this with two chicken sausages, with a shot of vodka on the side to celebrate the Nativity. This hash tasted so good!

Merry Christmas, everyone! And have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Paleo Shrimp Curry!

It's Friday night and time for something "Fast" friendly.

We wanted to shake up our traditional shrimp casserole somehow. So here's what we did.

One whole bunch of celery, chopped small.

One large onion, chopped similarly.

I fried the celery and onion together in a bit of olive oil until they were starting to brown.

I then cooked a two pound bag of raw shrimp until done.

 I added the shrimp to the celery/onion mixture and put about three teaspoons of curry powder on the whole. I stirred it all together and, voila!

Here's the meal.



It was delicious. We're thinking this same meal could be made with pork or chicken replacing the shrimp. I'll let you know.

Paleo Ideas: Goulash!

Goulash is such a comfort food. But those noodles are just not Paleo!

I've not yet found an acceptable non-carb noodle. There are products out there that claim to be low-carb pasta, with technologies that make the grain not give up its carbs. I'm not convinced.

So here's my non-noodle Paleo Goulash:

Steam a head of Cauliflower. Drain and set aside.

Cook a pound of ground meat. I used Buffalo. You could use Beef. Strain excess oil, set aside.

Caramelize one large onion.

Mix all these together into a saucepan with a carton/small can of condensed Cream of Mushroom soup. I added a few tablespoons of sour cream as well.

Mix it all together, reheating til hot.

Here is it with a side of Spinach:


Paleo rules!

Paleo Shrimp Dinner!

By our Orthodox Tradition, we try to avoid meat on Wednesdays and Fridays. But as CrossFitters, avoiding protein entirely on any given day is just not good for health. Luckily, shellfish are not classified as meat in the Tradition, since they have no blood in them (not really true, but let's go with it).

So here's tonight's Paleo Shrimp Dinner. Note, all of these quantities are variable, depending on your taste.

Take three peppers. Clean and dice.
Take one large onion. Chop.
Fry peppers and onion together in a little bit of olive oil. I cook them in a large Wok which will later become the recipient of the other foods as well.
Set them aside.

Clean and steam or boil three large broccoli heads until soft. Set aside.

Take two pounds of shrimp (I use de-veined but uncooked, tail-on shrimp. I remove the tails and proceed). Cook until done (they'll turn a bright orange.

Now, you simply take the shrimp and broccoli and mix them together in the large Wok with the pepper and onion. The broccoli will basically reduce down to a paste around the rest of the ingredients.

We personally add some creamy goat cheese to this mixture. Remember that our ancestors ate goat's milk for much longer than cow's milk, and as a result most people digest it very well. If you don't add any cheese, the meal will still be awesome.

Here's the meal, paired with a nice Gewurztraminer.

Paleo Ideas: Pork Loin and Roasted Vegetables

The Paleo lifestyle does not have to be complicated or difficult.

Here's what we ate tonight.

Take peppers, onions, and zucchini. Cut them into pieces and rub the surfaces with olive oil. Grind black pepper over them. Bake these on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees for an hour, until brown and carmelized.

Take them out, put them in a bowl and set aside.

Then we take a pork loin and we cut slits in it and insert garlic cloves. Grind pepper over the loin and wrap it in aluminum foil and put it in the over at 380 for an hour and a half.

Notice, you're free to be doing other things while all these foods cook.
When the pork is approaching done, we put the roasted vegetables in the microwave to heat them up and get them ready to join the pork.

 I personally like a little barbeque flavor on my pork. I can recommend Nathan's   ® , the Original Coney Island, Bar-B-Que Sauce, which has only one carb per teaspoon.

Here's the luscious combination:

Paleo Salmon Patties!!!

The tradition of meatless Fridays is as old as the Didache (which probably does go back to the original Apostles).

Today, Friday, we're staying Paleo with some Paleo Salmon patties! Now, the only thing non-Paleo about a traditional Salmon Patty is the bread crumbs or crackers you put inside them to give some consistency.

A convenient relatively low-carb replacement when a recipe calls for bread crumbs or crackers is to use almond flour. It's not zero carbs, but it's dramatically lower. And since the rest of the patty is pure fish protein and pure egg protein, those little carbs are meaningless.

Mix together:

Four cans of salmon
Three eggs
Four tablespoons Almond Flour
Ground pepper

Form them into patties and fry them in coconut oil.

We personally like to put some carmelized onions on top of them, and use Gold's ® Mild Horseradish sauce to give them a little more kick. Here's the result:

They were simply awesome!