365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 13: Fajitas!

I suppose I should have saved this one for Cinco de Mayo, but I wasn't thinking, so I did it today. In all fairness, in my opinion, every day is a good day if I have fajitas. Being from the south, I was kind of raised on them, and since I moved north, I have yet to so much as see a mexican restaurant.

Every Tuesday night, my sister and brother-in-law come over. I cook dinner and we watch The New Girl. It's our little thing. They were pretty stoked to find out that they got to participate in "Ode to the Taco Week." The thing I loved most about making fajitas was that I didn't feel like I had to make anything special for myself, while they ate "normal" food. They just ate theirs in tortillas, and I used lettuce (and left off the cheese and sour cream, of course). 

Ingredients:

1 lb flank steak

1 onion, sliced

2 bell peppers, sliced

salt and pepper

4 limes, halved

romaine lettuce leaves

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until peppers are soft and onions are caramelized, 25-30 minutes.

Season your flank steak with salt and pepper. Heat your grill to high heat and place the flank steak on one side of the grill. Place limes on the other. Cook until blood rises to the top surface, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook another 2 minutes. Remove steak and limes from the heat and allow the steak to rest on a plate for 5 minutes. Slice thinly against the grain.

Load a platter with steak, onions, bell peppers and limes. To build your fajitas, fill romaine lettuce leaves with meat, peppers and onions and drizzle with lime juice. Ole!

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 12: Paleo Tacos!

If you follow us on Twitter, you may be aware that today is the start of "TACO WEEK"! (If you can't tell, I'm excited.) The idea was inspired by the 50 Tacos recipe in this month's Food Network Magazine. I love tacos, and they're probably one of the easiest things to convert to a paleo friendly meal. Just swap the standard tortilla for romaine lettuce leaves, which are built pretty much like little boats. Honestly, they're just begging to filled and taco-ized anyway. So this week is all about taking some of those 50 taco recipes and turning them into paleoesque deliciousness.

Today, we're going to start with your basic taco. We're going to seasoning the meat manually, because packaged taco seasoning is loaded with tons of salt, and while salt is important to your diet, it's always best to control your salt intake as much as possible.

Ingredients:

1 lb grass-fed ground beef

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp beef broth

romaine lettuce leaves

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion and garlic and saute until onions begin to soften and turn translucent. Add chili powder, ground coriander and cumin, and stir until well mixed. 

Add in your ground beef and cook, stirring occasionally until browned. Add beef broth, stir well and cook 1 minute. 

Spoon taco mixture into lettuce "boats" and serve.

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 11 - Tropical Protein Smoothie

Rumor has it that in some parts of the country, it's actually warm this time of year. (Houston, I never thought I'd say this, but I miss you). For the lucky citizens of those places, I present you with my summer protein smoothie recipe! You can really use whatever fruit you'd like for this one. I was having a lazy day today and didn't feel like chopping fruit, so I grabbed a bag of frozen mixed fruit from the freezer. (I keep them on hand for just such a lazy occasion) If you buy frozen, make sure that it's just fruit - no sugar added. I used a blend of strawberries, bananas and pineapple.

Ingredients:

1/2 c ice

1 1/2 c diced fruit - again, any kind is fine

1 c almond milk

1 scoop pure whey protein powder

Add all of your ingredients to a blender and blend thoroughly. Pour into a glass and enjoy. 

P.S. - I would have used a garnish and tried to make the pics for this one really pretty, but then I asked myself to name one time that I've ever garnished a smoothie? The answer was never, but if you garnish and are offended by my plain pictures, then I apologize. ;P

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Statistics on Lactose Intolerance

"The prevalence of primary lactose intolerance is estimated to be 7 to 20% for people of Caucasian descent, 65 to 75% for African descent, over 90% in some Asian populations and approximately 70% in Australian Aboriginal populations." - virtualmedicalcentre.com

I've always found the prevalence of lactose intolerance to be really interesting. As a caucasian, I fall into the 80% that can down a gallon of milk with no side effects, whereas I can't think of a single asian friend who isn't lactose intolerant. One of the most interesting things about lactose intolerance is that many scientists believe lactose tolerance to be our most recent evolutionary developement. 

"The common ability of people in Europe and some other areas of the world to continue producing lactase as adults is very likely a relatively recent evolutionary development.  Prior to the domestication of cattle, sheep, goats, and horses, which occurred after about 9000 years ago, milk was most likely only consumed by babies and very young children.  That milk was human milk.  Dairy products such as cow's milk, yoghurt, and cheese did not exist.  When nutrient rich nonhuman milk became widely available in pastoralist societies, the rare genetic variations that allowed some adults to easily digest lactose were selected for and this trait became more common.  In other words, natural selection gradually shifted to favor lactose tolerant people, resulting in the progressive evolution of the gene pools of these populations in Europe."  - "Nutritional Adaptation" by antro.palomar.edu

365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 10 - Bacon-wrapped Pork Chops Over Green Apple "Chutney"

Today's recipe is a bit of a flavor-palooza. You have the saltiness of the bacon, the savory pork, the peppery flavor from the radishes, the tartness of the apples... basically every bite is a flavor explosion.

To spice the pork, I used an adobo seasoning, which is just a fancy word for pre-mixed seasonings. They come in a variety of mixes. The one I prefer for this dish contains salt, pepper, garlic powder and tumeric.

You may be wondering why I put "chutney" in quotations. This dish is not a chutney in the traditional sense, because it doesn't contain any ground spices, sugar or pickling agents. However, the flavor profiles and the mix of vegetables, fresh fruit and residual spices is similar to a standard chutney (which is really a loose term, anyway).

Ingredients:

2 1" thick boneless pork chops

2 strips of bacon

2 toothpicks 

adobo seasoning

1 large leek, sliced thin and rinsed thoroughly

5 radished, sliced thin

1 large granny smith apple, diced

1/2 c chicken stock

To prep your pork, wrap each chop with a strip of bacon around the sides and secure the end of the bacon with a toothpick stuck into the chop.

Lightly spray a large skillet with olive oil, and heat over med-high heat. Place your pork chops into the pan and let cook 7 minutes. Flip and cook for 7 more minutes. When chops are done cooking, remove from the pan and leave them to rest on a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium and add your apples, radishes and leeks to your skillet. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Add your chicken stock and stir. Continue cooking until all of the chicken stock has been absorbed or evaporated. 

Remove from heat. To serve, spoon your apple "chutney" onto a plate and top with pork chops. 

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 9 - Spicy Stir-fried Steak and Vegetables

Today, I decided to do a bargain recipe. One of the biggest excuses that I hear when it comes to eating freshhealthy food is, "It's too expensive." Most of the time, yes it's pricier than buying packed processed meals. However, it doesn't have to be. You can pinch pennies and still eat wholesome food; you just have to know some tricks. 

Next time you're grocery shopping, really look around at the meat section. Start paying attention to how much specific cuts of meat cost. There's a huge price difference in beef cuts. The thinner tougher cuts, like flank steak are significantly cheaper than ribeyes or new york strips. I usually pick up a flank steak anytime I'm out shopping, because it's super easy to slice up and throw in a stir-fry, which is what I did today. As far as veggies go, for stir-fries especially, I like to use mixed frozen vegetables. Look for those that have been "flash frozen", and you'll be getting almost the exact name amount of nutrients as if you had bought them fresh, and frozen veggies are typically cheaper. 

Ingredients:

1 large flank steak, cut (against the grain) into 1" strips.

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 bag of frozen oriental mixed vegetables

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add your steak strips and cook until evenly browned, about 3 minutes.

Add in garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 1 more minute.

Reduce heat to medium and add frozen vegetables. Continue cooking, stirring constantly until vegetables are cooked through, approximately 7-8 minutes. 

Remove from heat and serve.

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365 Paleo Recipe Project: DAY 8 - Cauliflower and Bacon Hash

When I first started eating paleo, I didn't put a lot of effort into trying to find recipes. I was just throwing together foods that I knew I could eat, with no creativity at all. Needless to say, I got burnt out on eggs and chicken real fast. Eventually, I had to start looking online for some new options, and this is one of the first recipes that I came across. I knew from trying to cut carbs in the past that you can sub cauliflower for potatoes in a lot of preparations because it's similar in flavor and texture, and I'm a big fan of cauliflower mashed potatoes, so I thought I'd give this one a try. The outcome was surprising, but delicious. Frying the cauliflower with the bacon fat actually gives it a sweet flavor, and the smell is heavenly. Bacon isn't entirely paleo, but we'll be lenient on this one.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

4 strips of bacon, diced

1/2 of a large yellow onion, diced

salt

To prepare your cauliflower, peel away the leaves, chop off the stem and cut the head into quarters. Grate each quarter with a cheese grater (You heard me - you're going to grate cauliflower) and set aside in a bowl. If you end up with any bite-sized chunks of cauliflower that aren't grated, you can throw them in too.

Heat a skillet over medium and add your diced bacon. Allow to cook until the fat becomes translucent and starts to render down. Add your onions and cook, stirring occasionally until the bacon is brown and crisp and the onions are translucent. Then add your cauliflower.

Cook your hash, stirring constantly until the cauliflower has softened and begun to brown slightly. 

Remove from heat, season with salt to taste and serve.

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