April 2011
54 posts
5 tags
Paleo Eats: 4/29/11
Today I didn’t do any creative cooking — I just got grub on the table as quickly as possible. It was just one of those days…
For breakfast, I nuked a slice of leftover frittata and topped it with some sliced avocado. I ate it with a big ass pile of leftover nuked frozen green beans.
After my class at CrossFit Palo Alto, I ate my post workout meal: steamed chestnuts and sous...
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What The Bleep Is This? Oh, It's Purple Kohlrabi!
Honestly, I didn’t know what the heck this vegetable was in my Mariquita Farms CSA box today.
I just thought it was really pretty AND it came topped with greens that I can cook later. I like twofer vegetables (e.g. beets, turnips, etc.).
After looking kohlrabi up on the interwebs, I discovered that it’s in the brassica family so it’s related to broccoli, cabbage, and kale. Simply Recipes...
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Sous Vide Turkish Slider Burgers
For tonight’s dinner, I sous vided some Turkish seasoned mini burgers.
Why? Well, I love Turkish kabobs and sliders are so damn cute. Sous viding the patties ensures perfectly cooked medium rare burgers but you gotta cook your onions first because 130 F ain’t gonna do it.
(If you don’t have a sous vide or if you’re too impatient, make teeny sliders and fry them on the...
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Paleo Eats: 4/27/11
Today was a looooooong day but, luckily, I chowed down healthy fuel to power me through until nightfall. After going Paleo, I’m like the goddamn Energizer bunny — even on my sleep-deprived “flip day.”
At work, my first meal was some leftover slow cooker pork pot roast, broiled prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, and garlic cauliflower mashed potatoes.
I also chowed down ½ a...
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Paleo Eats: 4/26/11
More Paleo-friendly eats coming right up…
My first meal at work was yummy leftovers from Easter dinner: pork and rabbit sausage, saddle loin roast, slow-cooked cavolo nero, and roasted curried cauliflower.
I also ate a small container of coconut flakes.
The last thing I ate at work was some emergency protein (ground pork, ground beef, broccoli slaw, and Turkish seasoning) and garlic...
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Paleo Eats: 4/25/11
Wanna see what I ate today?
For my meals at work, I packed a bunch of leftovers from our bunny supper the night before. The 4505 Easter Basket CSA is the gift that keeps on giving.
My first meal at work was some leftover crispy sous vide chicken thighs and broiled asparagus.
As a snack, I ate some more leftovers from our bunny dinner: deviled eggs, spicy beets, carrots, and shoulder confit.
...
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Paleo Pantry Find: Red Boat Fish Sauce
I have a new secret weapon in my Paleo pantry: Red Boat fish sauce!
My chef sister tipped me off about this awesome product after she read about it in the LA Times and on one of her favorite food blogs. I’d been looking for a Paleo-friendly fish sauce for ages and this one is perfect.
Unlike other brands of fish sauce, Red Boat fish sauce is bottled directly on Phu Quoc island (the BEST fish...
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Paleo Eats: 4/24/11
Yay! It’s my hump day! I only have to toil for three more nights before I’m off for another week.
My first meal at work was the same as the night before: leftover easy Rogan Josh, garlic cauliflower mashed potatoes, and nuked sugar snap peas.
A few hours later I snacked on some strawberries and coconut milk.
The last meal I ate at work was full of broccoli goodness: nuked frozen broccoli and...
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Paleo Eats: 4/23/11
There’s nothing better than spending Friday night at work. Did I mention that it’s opposite day here at Nom Nom Paleo?
For my first meal at work, I chowed down another bowl of garbage soup with sous vide chicken breast. I finished up my meal with a container of coconut flakes.
At 6:00 a.m., I ate my last meal at work: leftover Rogan Josh, garlic cauliflower mashed potatoes, and nuked snap peas.
...
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Paleo Eats: 4/22/11
Aren’t you curious to see what I ate today?
For my first meal at work, I ate a big serving of garbage soup filled with leftover slow cooker roast chicken.
Midway through my shift, I ate some strawberries and coconut milk.
I love this combination.
The last meal I ate at work was some leftover pork and grass fed beef mini burgers on top of sautéed spinach and roasted curried cauliflower.
...
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Paleo Eats: 4/21/11
For those of you new to the blog, I post my Paleo eats from midnight to midnight on the nights I work graveyard shift. That way, you see the meals I pack for work and the dinner I make for the family before I zoom off to the hospital in the evening. Very thoughtful of me, huh?
My first meal of the night was a bowl of garbage soup filled with diced sous vide chicken breast.
Since this lunch...
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Rogan Josh (Lamb Stew) - The Easy Version
Folks, I’ve discovered another game changer.
After reading John “Doc” Willoughby’s article “Deep Flavor, No Browning Required” in the NYT, I’ve decided to forgo pre-searing meat when I cook stews. According to the article, the way to “cold start” a stew is to skip the normal searing of meat in hot oil and replace it with a gentle warming of the protein in some fat, aromatics, and...
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Paleo Eats: 4/20/11
Work resumed tonight and I didn’t perform a Snoopy happy dance. Oh well. Time to bring home the bacon, or in my case, the ½ hog.
For breakfast, I made a frittata with leftover emergency protein, nuked frozen broccoli, Sunny Paris seasoning, and a dollop of full-fat Greek yogurt. I ate half of it with some sliced avocado and Primavera salsa.
I made a big pot of garbage soup with the...
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Slow Cooker Roast Chicken And Gravy
In the past, I’ve always had crappy results when I’ve tried to cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker. The bird would always be overcooked, stringy, mushy, and dry. Super icky. Last night, I cooked a whole chicken in my slow cooker and it was AMAZING! I‘ll never prepare a whole chicken any other way again. Yes, that was a hyperbolic statement but I’m sticking with it.
The method I followed...
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Thank You, Sarah Fragoso!
I love collecting cookbooks and I’ve racked up a pretty extensive assortment over the years.
I keep most of my cookbooks in a custom-built bookcase in the kitchen so I have easy access to them when I’m puttering around the stove. And if you took a peek at my nightstand, you’d see that I have at least six or seven more cookbooks piled on top. There’s nothing I like more than curling up in...
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Paleo Eats: 4/19/11
Only one more day of vacation…Argh!
This morning I fried up a scramble with leftover emergency protein and served it with leftover sautéed broccoli and shiitake mushrooms.
After my class at CrossFit Palo Alto, I came home and chowed on some Fox Point seasoned sous vide chicken breast and a baked yam.
Post-workout meals have made me a much nicer mommy.
Before we picked up Big-O from school,...
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Paleo Eats: 4/18/11
Today was a busy day of cooking ‘cause my vacation is careening to an end and I have lots of food to prepare for my impending workweek. How the hell did three weeks fly by so fast?
For breakfast, I nuked some leftover mini frittata muffins along with sautéed broccoli and shiitake mushrooms.
As a mid-morning snack, I ate some sad-looking baby carrots and Aubergine dip…
…and a...
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Broiled Zucchini (or Eggplant)
Broiling zucchini is my favorite (and easiest) way to prepare this humble vegetable. If you aren’t applying high heat to it (e.g. grilling or broiling), you normally end up with a soggy mess unless you salt the zucchini ahead of time. I don’t normally have the time or forethought to do that, so I just broil it in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. You can simply plate up the roasted slices and...
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Paleo Eats: 4/17/11
Ack! I only have 3 more days of vacation! I know you’re all in a tizzy as well but maybe taking a peek at my chow will distract you.
For breakfast, I reheated a bowl of braised red cabbage topped with emergency protein, Primavera salsa, and homemade guacamole.
Then, I rushed off to the Mountain View Farmers’ Market to pick up my free asparagus, some strawberries…
…and a...
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Cheater Crispy Sous Vide Duck Confit Legs
Hey R, here’s a different way to heat up those Costco-purchased Grimaud Farms duck confit seasoned legs that’s super easy and the results are astounding.
I used to heat them up in the oven per the instructions of the package (stick in 400 F oven with skin side up for 15 minutes) but I was always disappointed with the flabby skin and the dried out texture of the meat. Since these babies...
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Paleo Eats: 4/16/11
I totally agree with the peppy boys of Erasure — I love Saturdays. When I’m off work, it’s fun spending a leisurely day with my boys and noshing on good eats.
I was disappointed with my thwarted attempts at making a breakfast burrito for dinner last night so I made myself one this morning.
It was really yummy topped with homemade guacamole and Primavera roasted tomato salsa...
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Roasted Portobello Mushroom Packets with Lemon and...
I really respect food bloggers who come up with their own recipes. I rarely create my own recipes because I’m just too lazy and busy to perfect an original dish before posting it on this blog. That’s why I love the folks at Cook’s Illustrated because they do all the testing and retesting for me. As a result, their recipes are normally fail-proof on my first attempt.
I cobbled together a...
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Paleo Eats: 4/15/11
Yay! It’s finally Friday!
For breakfast, I ate some leftover garbage frittata and roasted curried cauliflower.
Then, I headed over to CrossFit Palo Alto and had a kickass time at the women’s class. For my post-workout meal, I ate half a sous vide chicken breast with some baked sweet potatoes.
At lunchtime, we picked up takeout from Lahmacun Pizzeria – Mediterranean Grill and brought it to...
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Paleo Eats: 4/14/11
Without further delay, here’s what I stuck in my piehole today:
For breakfast, I ate half a sous vide chicken breast topped with mushroom gravy along with winter squash puree and roasted curried cauliflower.
I also ate a heaping tablespoon of coconut butter.
I vacuum sealed two frozen chicken breasts sprinkled with Fox Point seasoning along with some butter.
Then, I dumped them in the...
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Chez Panisse Braised Red Cabbage
Here’s another simple yet delicious recipe culled from Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Vegetables. The woman is a genius.
The finished dish is an awesome bowl of purple comfort food – tender, sweet, tart, and savory. It goes well with any protein so it’s a wonderful cabbage side dish to have in your repertoire.
Here’s what I gathered to feed 4-6 adults:
1 red cabbage (green works great as well),...
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Paleo Eats: 4/13/11
This morning, I made a bunch of food because I was packing some Paleo grub to bring with us to my mother-in-law’s oncology appointments. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna eat the disgusting “food” served at the hospital cafeteria. My co-workers and I refer to it as the “slop-house” because it would be impolite to call it the “shit-for-food house.”
As soon as I woke up, I...
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Dining Out Paleo: Cotogna (San Francisco, CA)
There are tons of restaurants on my wish list but I was able to cross off another one tonight when we dined at Cotogna.
When I was still eating pasta tasting menus a couple years ago, we had a fantastic meal at Quince, the fancier restaurant owned by Michael and Lindsay Tusk. I’ve been pining to eat at Cotogna for months because it’s a casual (i.e. more kid-friendly) dining spot...
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Paleo Eats: 4/12/11
For breakfast this morning, I took out a thawed ham steak that was made from the ½ hog we purchased from Full Of Life Farm.
I seared it in some melted lard…
…cut off a large hunk…
…and ate it with some leftover roasted peppers and nuked frozen broccoli.
The ham steak was a tad salty and I think I overcooked it a wee bit but it was still pretty tasty. I ended up eating more than...
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Paleo Eats: 4/11/11
Today officially marks the beginning of Big-O’s Spring Break and it’s nice not having to rush, rush, rush in the morning. We don’t have any grand travel plans — just train trips to the Big City to meet Fitbomb for dinner and hanging out at the neighborhood park. I hope this week inches by at a snail’s pace.
For today’s breakfast, I nuked the last of the leftover grass fed beef shank and...
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Paleo Eats: 4/10/11
I detest the Bangles’ song, Manic Monday, but I do agree that Sunday is my fun day. I apologize in advance if that shitty song gets stuck in your head all day.
Before leaving the house, I nuked the last piece of Porktastic Spinach and Mushroom Meatloaf and ate it with some leftover roasted peppers.
Coincidentally, my meatloaf recipe is the meal of the day over at The Foodee Project!
We met up...
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Paleo Eats: 4/9/11
It was a busy, jam-packed Saturday filled with good, clean grub.
For breakfast, I ate some leftover garlic cauliflower mashed potatoes topped with beef shank and cabbage stew.
I went to a cardio kickboxing class at Big-O’s kung fu studio and ate a post-workout meal (baked yam and Applegate Farms organic roast beef slices) in the car.
On my way home, I picked up my Full Belly Farm CSA box:
...
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Sous Vide Carnitas
I’ve made carnitas the traditional way, but the process can be a big a pain in the ass. Delicious, yes, but it requires more effort than this lazy-butt is willing to expend. I’d rather head to my favorite taqueria and buy a pound.
This is why I was so excited to read R’s super-simple yet scrumptious recipe for sous vide carnitas a few days ago. As soon as I read her post, I immediately...
Riddle Me This
You got questions? I got answers.
Is the SousVide cooker pretty foolproof? Can you turn it on before you leave for work and come home with the meal cooked (like a Crock-Pot)?
-PaleoNola
Yes, but its exponentially better! You can’t overcook anything and it really is virtually fool-proof. I love love love it much more than my slow cooker (which I like more than a friend).
I...
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Paleo Eats: 4/8/11
Yay! It’s Friday!
Here’s the grub I noshed on today:
For breakfast, Big-O helped me make a frittata….
…that was filled with sautéed onions, leftover roasted asparagus, shredded carrots, mushrooms, Fines Herbes seasoning, and a dollop of Greek yogurt.
After my class at CrossFit Palo Alto, I ate a post-workout meal that consisted of half a sous vide chicken breast and some...
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Marinated Roasted Beets
My husband lurvs beets, so whenever they show up in my CSA box, I always prepare them using Alice Water’s recipe for lightly pickled beets from Chez Panisse Vegetables. Me? I’m not a super fan of beets, but this recipe works so well that even I will happily down a few — and not just so I can change the color of my pee to a pretty shade of red. These beets are tasty!
Here’s what I gathered...
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Paleo Eats: 4/7/11
Is it the weekend yet? I love being on PTO, but it’s tough being a full-time mommy, day in and day out. (Cue Artie Lange derisively saying, “WAAAAAH!”)
Alright, enough bitching. Here’s what I ate today:
For breakfast, I ate half a Fox Point seasoned sous vide chicken breast, roasted red bell peppers, sautéed Italian heirloom broccoli, and a dollop of Aubergine dip.
Before taking...
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Roasted Baby Artichokes
Of my two vegetable CSA subscriptions, I definitely prefer Mariquita Farm’s. Full Belly Farm has wonderful produce but the contents of the box are too dang small for our family. Case in point, we received five baby artichokes in our box last Saturday.
Dude, this amount is barely enough to feed me.
On the other hand, I’d be cursing them if I had a large bag of baby artichokes to trim and...
Anonymous asked: One question I have is what do you do when you cant afford organic stuff due to budget? Organic stuff cost 2x as much for less, can you provide a list or a budget friendly Paleo list. My month food bill is 300 a month and that is for 3 people.
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Paleo Eats: 4/6/11
Another day of Paleo eats coming right up!
For breakfast, hubs and I split a frittata made with leftover roasted Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, Fines Herbes seasoning, and coconut cream. I also ate some roasted bell peppers, macadamia nuts, coconut butter, and coconut flakes.
Yes, I ate all that.
To stop myself from mindlessly eating all morning, I took Little-O to the park. He spent 90 minutes...
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Super Porktastic Bacon-Topped Spinach and Mushroom...
I was inspired to make this bacon-topped, veggie-laden meatloaf after watching this video on Chow.com. I wasn’t brought up on bad meatloaf as a child, so I don’t have an aversion to it like some folks. Quite the opposite, in fact. As a college student, I used to routinely hit up all the local diners to seek out the best meatloaf sandwiches.
I’ll be the first to admit that not all of my...
Shared from CHOW: Jill Cooks Spinach Meatloaf from... →
I made a Paleo-friendly version of this dish tonight and it was super yummy!
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Paleo Eats: 4/5/11
It was a busy day but I’m happy to report I ate pretty clean. Well, except for my daily overeating of coconut products and macadamia nuts – but I digress.
For breakfast, I reheated the leftovers of yesterday’s emergency protein. I ate it so quickly that I forgot to take a snapshot. Besides, it didn’t look as appetizing after chilling in the fridge overnight so here’s a picture of when it...
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Paleo Eats: 4/4/11
Today, I cooked all my meals. Did you doubt that I’d follow through with my promise? Shame on you!
As soon as I woke up, I dumped some veggies and grass fed beef shanks in the slow cooker so we’d have something to eat tomorrow night after Big-O’s late T-ball practice.
This time, I did a mash-up of the slow-cooker pork pot roast and slow-cooker grass fed beef shank and cabbage stew recipes....
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Emergency Protein a.k.a. Garbage Stir-Fry
The whole idea behind emergency protein is that I want to cook some protein and veggies really quickly so it gets in my rumbling belly FAST. Plus, I want to make sure I make a big batch so I have leftovers.
Hands-down, the quickest way to cook meat is to stir-fry it. Everything should be cut small so your dish is finished lickey-split. Similar to garbage soup, this “recipe” makes use of whatever...
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Paleo Eats: 4/3/11
Today we were zipping around the outer reaches of the Bay Area but I was still able to eat pretty clean despite not cooking anything myself.
In the morning, I met up with Fit Daffy at the Mountain View Farmers to pick up two bunches of free asparagus, eggs, veggies, and fruit. I was really excited to see that my favorite strawberry stand, Kika’s, has set up shop again. Another stand I’ve been...
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Dining Out Paleo(ish): Station 1 Restaurant...
Spoiler: I ate grains and sugar last night and I liked it. You’ve been warned. Proceed at your own risk.
Last night, a large group of us gathered at Station 1 Restaurant and ate a fantastic, cheat-worthy meal.
I’ve wanted to eat here since I first read that Zack Freitas, the former chef de cuisine at Commis, was opening a restaurant on the peninsula. My dream came true when my fairy godmother,...
