Although I love to cook, and would gladly spend an hour in the kitchen preparing a meal, the reality is that I don’t always have that kind of time.  I use several strategies to tackle this dilemma, two of which include:  planning ahead (I often cook large meals on Sunday that will last throughout the week), and creating simple recipes–an easy task when you use high-quality, fresh ingredients. I also try to keep homemade sauces/dips/chutneys in the fridge that can be used spice up any meal.

Emeril Lagasse’s Remoulade Sauce

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/4 cup walnut oil, 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 2 Tbs chopped garlic
• 2 Tbs prepared horseradish
• 3 Tbs creole whole grain mustard
• 3 Tbs prepared yellow mustard
• 3 Tbs ketchup
• 3 Tbs chopped parsley leaves
• Sea salt to taste
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and process until combined.  Use immediately or store. Will keep for several days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Baked Salmon

• 4-6 oz. salmon filet/person
• Fresh dill, chopped
• Salt
• Pepper
• Butter, or oil of choice

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Place salmon filets on baking dish or sheet, skin side down.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and fresh dill.  Place a small tab of butter on each salmon filet.  Bake at 425 degrees, for 8-10 minutes or until fish is flaky when tested with fork.  Serve alone, or with remoulade sauce.  See Ryon’s post on fish.

Boiled Kale

• 1 bunch kale, stems removed
• Butter
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Red pepper flakes

Once fish is in the oven, bring a pot of water (with sea salt added) to a boil.  Once boiling, place kale leaves in water, making sure to submerge all leaves.  Boil in water 1-2 minutes, or until tender.  Once tender, remove from heat and pour kale into colander to remove water.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  If you so choose, stir in a tab of butter.  Serve.

Without further adieu, below you’ll find a recipe for my most favoritest (yes, I know that’s a double superlative and ‘favoritest’ isn’t a real word) hors d’oevure/snack/small meal:

Smoked Salmon Tartines

• 1 recipe All-Purpose Primal Crackers
• Smoked Salmon/Lox (Costco carries an excellent-tasting, wild option)
• Cream Cheese
• Red Onion, sliced thinly
• Fresh Dill
• Capers
• Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper

Take a cracker, layer with cream cheese (you can simply skip this step if you’re avoiding dairy), salmon, red onions, capers, fresh dill, and sprinkle with salt/pepper.  Enjoy!

• 1.5 cups nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, etc.)
• 4 egg whites
• 2 Tbs. oil (melted butter, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, etc.)
• Dried spice(s) of choice:  dill, parsley, oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper, garlic
• Salt, pepper to taste

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Grind nuts in food processor until you have a relatively fine cornmeal-like texture, and place in mixing bowel.
3. Add dried spice(s), salt, and pepper to nuts and mix to combine.
4. Add egg whites and oil of choice to nut mixture, and mix to combine.  The mixture should be moist and sticky, but not liquidy (think pancake batter).  If your mixture is too dry, add more oil.  If it is too wet, add more ground nuts.
5. Place mixture on center of parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Place a peace of wax paper or plastic wrap on top of the mixture, and use a rolling pin to roll out the mixture until it is 1/8^th inch thick.
7. Remove top sheet (wax paper or plastic wrap), prick dough with a fork and place in preheated oven.
8. Bake at 325 degrees F, for 10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
9. Remove from oven, and cut into desired size/shape while still warm.
10. Set aside, and let cool
11. Serve as an accompaniment to your favorite dips and cheeses, or my personal favorite—with smoked salmon.

]]> http://thelabelsayspaleo.com/2010/04/18/all-purpose-primal-crackers/feed/ 6 http://thelabelsayspaleo.com/2010/03/02/we-have-forums/ http://thelabelsayspaleo.com/2010/03/02/we-have-forums/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:01:14 +0000 ejwood79 http://thelabelsayspaleo.com/?p=709 Hey Paleo folks! We’ve had forums for a while now, but they were a bit confusing. So, we went in and revamped them, installing new forum software. Feel free to post your questions to the forums, and let’s get some discussions going!

Just click the “Forum” link in the upper navigation, or go there now.

After the 1.1. Run, I was talking to a friend who told me that she’s going gluten-free this year.  This Ironman athlete made an intriguing find during her 2009 season: she planned gluten-free meals in the weeks leading up to her races, and she performed and felt better than she ever had before.  Through the season, she killed her age groups, and is looking at making a more permanent diet change.  While her training is of course key to her success, her diet is more important, as we only perform as well as the fuel with which we race.  Why did the move to gluten-free work?  Read on…

The Paleo Food Pyramid (from The Paleo Diet)

There’s been a ton of press lately around a “new” kind of diet. The Caveman Diet, Paleo Diet, Primal Diet – they’re all used to describe similar diets, yet none of them are particularly new. Instead, these diets take an evolutionary perspective, and look back in time to see what we ate before modern agriculture came around. The theory is simple: genetically-speaking, modern-day humans are not much different from pre-agricultural humans, and since agriculture really hasn’t been around too long, we should eat like we’re genetically built to.

Researchers around the world have found the following: in modern-day hunter-gatherer societies, people are healthy. There is very little evidence of obesity, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disorders, or any of the several other health issues plaguing industrialized societies.  These societies eat meat, the entire animal (seriously, just about the whole thing); vegetables as they can find; berries are a treat; nuts and seeds are around.  What’s missing from this list? Any kind of processed food: bread, protein bars, bagels, oats, refined sugars.  In other words, they eat what man has always eaten, before the advent of grains and processed foods.

What about science and medicine, you say? This flies in the face of the Food Pyramid, of almost everything we’re taught, and certainly contradicts the endurance athlete’s carb-loading traditions.  Look no further than your waistline to see what’s going on.

Extra fat around the waistline, the kind that you just can’t seem to get rid of, is a sign of insulin resistance. Processed carbs and sugars, particularly those found in gluten-bearing foods like breads, are known to spike your insulin levels, leading to systemic inflammation and resultant chronic disease.  For those of you not only looking out for your health, but also your figure:  wild fluctuation in insulin levels leads to the storage of excess energy as fat (the culprit of those extra inches around your waistline.

Want to look better, perform better, and feel better?  Regulate your insulin levels by eliminating processed foods and focusing on high-quality foods that we were meant to eat: meat, vegetables, some fruit, nuts and seeds.  Try it for a month.  Replace the missing carbs with high-quality vegetables and fats.  The first two or three weeks may be tough, but your body will adjust, leaving you with more energy, a slimmer waistline, and better biological markers like the following: reduced inflammation (recover from your workouts faster!), improved cholesterol readings (healthier hearts!), reduced body fat (look good in those cycling kits!), and improve the immune system (no swine flu for you!).

I’ve always been a bit of a cheater when it comes to potluck style dinner parties. The “family secret” was stopping at the grocery store to pick something up, swapping containers, and calling it homemade. This tactic was a direct result of two things: fear of bringing over a flop and lack of time (i.e. procrastination). Enter Carla to the rescue. Her Bacon Wrapped, Almond Stuffed Prunes are TO DIE FOR!!! To. Die. For.

1. Heat the oven to 450°F.
2. Stuff the prunes with the almonds.
3. Cut the bacon in half and wrap a piece around each date.
4. Set on a baking sheet and broil* about 10 minutes, turning once, until the bacon is crisp.
5. Serve…or risk eating them all yourself (and then being very regular…you’ve been warned)

This is so easy I can preheat while prepping. Throw into the broiler while showering. Turn over with hair in towel, drying. Get dressed, do make-up. Take out of oven. Dry hair. Put in container. Step into shoes, throw the dog a biscuit and head to the party.

Guess what Team TLSP is getting as an appetizer at our dinner this Friday…

*Hint: A broiler is a grill turned upside down. So, feel free to grill these if you either A) don’t have a working broiler, or B) simply prefer the grill. Thanks to Melicious for that tip!

Here’s how the idea started: we were making dinner while talking on the phone.

I said: “I’m making a skillet. Ground beef, cabbage, and spinach. In pastured butter.”

She said: “I’m making a skillet. Chicken sausage, kale, and onions. In coconut oil.”

We then pondered why people think it’s so hard to eat Paleo. I am about to give you our zillion-dollar secret formula, destroying all hopes we had of producing the world’s most amazing (simple) cookbook.

But first, let’s talk about the difference between … oh, ok, just kidding. The SUPER SECRET SIMPLE PALEO DINNER RECIPE IS:

1 protein + 2 veggies + fat in a skillet = EATING PALEO!

Protein: beef, chicken, pork, egg, fish

Veggie: duh? spinach, chard, kale, brussel sprouts, asparagus, zucchini, squash (my go-tos)

Fat: pastured (free-ranging!) butter, coconut oil, EVOO

Of course, you can throw in any number of seasonings–my ground beef was flavored cajun, and my cabbage simply had a hint of salt to enhance its sweetness. Throw into that skillet garlic salt, cumin, paprika, whatever tickles your taste buds.

Our cookbook was going to have all these permutations, and maybe even some charts: match the proteins to the veggies to the spices to the fats … but I felt obligated to you paleos out there to share the love.

Maybe it’s time for some tough love: make a damn skillet and stop bitching.

Man-oh-man, do I hear this statement a lot.  In fact, it’s part of the reason that we created this website.  At TLSP, we wanted to show you that not only can eating Paleo be inexpensive; it doesn’t have to be time-consuming, bland, or boring either.

Today, I want to talk about almond flour. Almond flour is a staple in the diet of many Paleo-ers.  It’s a favorite alternative to flour amongst those who have a keen interest in baking (think Lyssa and Lisa here at TLSP), and it also works as combiner in entrees like meatloaf, salmon cakes, and meatballs.

Now, if you buy pre-made almond flour, it’s a little pricey (to the tune of about $9.22/lb).  If, however, you buy a bag of raw almonds and then grind your own flour, you’re looking at a price of approximately $3.82/lb.  That’s a substantial savings!

And it doesn’t stop there.  I grind all kinds of nut flours from pecan to walnut and even macadamia.  In addition to their many other uses, nut flours make great batters for fish and chicken.

But wait, I know what you’re going to say next:  ”That’s too difficult and it takes too much time!  I don’t have the proper equipment!”  The answer: it’s as easy as dumping a bag of almonds in your food processor, flipping on the ‘on-switch’, and less than a minute later voila! You’ve got your very own, homemade almond flour!

If you don’t have a food processor, I whole-heartedly recommend that you buy one.  Like a crock-pot, it’s a must in any well-equipped kitchen. Better yet, I implore you to invest in a Vita-Mix.  I bought mine seven years ago on the recommendation of my mother (a fabulous cook) who has had hers for almost twenty years (yes…the SAME one).  The reasons I recommend the Vita-Mix are these:

1. You get two machines in one (It comes with a ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ container, and can be used as BOTH a blender and food processor).
2. It has an incredibly powerful motor, resulting in finely ground nut flours.
3. It’s highly versatile (I’ve used mine to grind flours, make soup, guacamole, smoothies, salsa, and the list goes on).

For those of you who are wondering why I recommend a $500 machine, let me just ask you this:  how many times have you had to replace your $25 blender?  A VitaMix is an investment.  Although expensive on the front-end, it will cost you less per day as it will last substantially longer than your run-of-the-mill blender or food processor.  Furthermore, you’re getting two machines in one!  (Believe it or not, I’m not being paid by VitaMix but I think I should be, don’t you?!! )

Puerto Vallarta Salsa

• 3-4 Roma Tomatoes, quartered
• 1 Dried Guajillo Chile, Torn into pieces and seeds removed
• 3 Large Cloves Garlic, Diced
• 1/2 Medium Onion, Diced
• 1 Tbs Olive Oil
• 2 tsp. Toasted Sesame Seeds
• Bunch Fresh Cilantro, Chopped
• Good Quality Sea Salt to Taste (My recommendation and personal favorite is Celtic Sea Salt–this isn’t your dry grocery store variety)
• Dash Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• Cumin to Taste

1.  Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat.  Add diced garlic and onions. Sautee until transparent and slightly golden. Remove from heat and set aside.

2.  Combine tomatoes and guadajillo pepper in a blender.  Puree.

3.  Add sauteed mixture, sesame seeds, cilantro, cumin, salt, and pepper to puree and combine with spoon.  

Serving tip:  Not only is salsa excellent as a dip, it’s also great over eggs or as a sauce for fish and chicken.  Fajitas anyone?

To focus particularly on cancer prevention, two recent meta-analyses (in which data from multiple studies is combined) conducted by the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California at San Diego and colleagues suggested that raising blood levels of vitamin D could prevent one-half of the cases of breast cancer and two-thirds of the cases of colorectal cancer in the U.S. Discussing the breast cancer analysis, study author Cedric Garland, Dr.P.H., stated that “The serum level associated with a 50 percent reduction in risk could be maintained by taking 2,000 international units of vitamin D3 daily plus, when the weather permits, spending 10 to 15 minutes a day in the sun.”

I do not like taking pills, and for a long time I resisted supplementation because I figured that if I was eating a varied and healthy diet my body would get the nutrition that I need. But this is not the case with Vitamin D. Our bodies are equipped to generate enough vitamin D, but the fact is that most of us just don’t spend enough time outside (without sunscreen, eek!) to get to the vitamin D levels for optimum health. For this reason, vitamin D is joining my daily regimen of fish oil and probiotics.

I think it’s also worth noting that Dr. Weil recommends taking vitamin D with fat to promote absorption. With that in mind, I’m off to enjoy my breakfast of eggs scrambled in coconut oil!

My ideal way to get Vitamin D