Welcome to another edition of Forky Friday!

For a change of scenery, this post is being produced in the dark confines of our hotel room in Orlando, Florida. With amber goggles shielding our bleary eyes, Henry and I are silently tapping away on our laptops while the Double-Os sleep in the neighboring bed. Every time I hear one of them stirring, I (quietly) slam my laptop shut and hold my breath. Who said being a blogger wasn’t glamorous?

I’m here at Disney World to attend the Food Blog Forum all day Saturday, but I hope to squeeze in some family time at the parks during my non-conference moments. These past few weeks have been a nonstop flurry of activity, so I’m looking forward to decompressing with my boys — and there’s nothing more relaxing than being flung around like a rag doll on a bunch of thrill rides. Whee!

Enough about me — let’s get to the links. The gems I’ve curated this week include a restaurant’s “wild” menu that has some people seeing red, a spot-on rant by one of my favorite food writers, some cool giveaways, a bunch of tempting recipes, and a video that’ll inspire you to book a gastrotour of Spain.

Let’s dig in!

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I’m a bit obsessive about testing and re-testing my recipes, so before heading out the door this morning, I tried out my recipe for Uova in Purgatorio one more time to see if my latest tweaks pass muster.

Success!

I have a feeling we’re going to be eating these little egg pots for days…

After fueling up, I hopped in my car with Cheryl Sternman Rule to meet up with Irvin Lin in San Francisco so we could chat over coffee about blogging and social media.

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Two weekends ago, Henry and I took a last-minute, 42-hour trip to Kansas City on clandestine Nom Nom Paleo business. (Don’t worry, all will be revealed in due course.) The few meals we had in KC were already planned, with the exception of Sunday brunch. I’m a firm believer that no meal should ever be wasted, especially in a new-to-me city.

Although we’d hoped to try the legendary barbecue at Oklahoma Joe’s, it’s not open on Sundays, so I polled my pals on Facebook and tweeted my favorite Kansas City homie for recs on the best brunch in town. After scrolling through the different options and checking out Zagat scores, Yelp reviews, and restaurant websites, I chose Bluestem.

Bluestem is located in the historic Westport neighborhood, where the streets are dotted with bustling restaurants and funky boutiques. Chef Colby Garrelts has been nominated seven times for the Best Chef of the Midwest by the James Beard Foundation, and this year he won the coveted prize. (In your face, Susan Lucci!) His food has been described as “progressive American cuisine with seasonal selections and a bounty of local farmers and producers to showcase the best of Kansas City and the Midwest.”

Admittedly, I’m a bicoastal food snob who was wary about Midwestern cuisine (outside of Chicago). Bluestem might be good for Missouri, but it can’t be better than what I’ve eaten in San Fracisco or New York, right?

Wrong! Our meal at Bluestem may have been one of my favorite brunches of all time.

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After recovering from a whirlwind trip to Kansas City, I’m finally back to my regular zombie drug dealer routine at the hospital. I’ll post about my trip to the heartland soon, but first I’ll show you what I stuck in my craw on Saturday.

These days, my packed nosh for work is almost always a box of leftovers from previous dinners during the week. I eat “lunch” about two-thirds of the way through my shift (around 4 a.m.), and then I make myself “dinner” when I get home in the morning. My last bite of the day almost always involves a couple of eggs because brinner just feels right if the sun’s shining.

Yesterday was no different. As soon as I came home, I donned my amber goggles and whisked a couple of eggs to make myself an omelet.

For the filling, I added sliced Italian sausage…

…sautéed mushrooms…

…and leftover greens.

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Last week, I promised you a giveaway in celebration of the Nom Nom Paleo iPad® app’s 1st birthday in the App Store.

Ta-dah!

I endorse only items that I truly love and purchase with my hard-earned money and PRIMALFAT™ Coconut Ghee fits the bill. I know that you can make your own ghee and mix it 50:50 with melted coconut oil, but I just don’t have the time to do so. More importantly, I don’t have ready access to organic butter churned from the milk of ethically-raised pastured cows — which ensures that the ghee is high in fat-soluble vitamins and contains naturally occurring Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA). 

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I’m excited to welcome Brent and Heather as guest bloggers! 

Brent and Heather are the adorable and talented couple behind Virginia is for hunter-gatherers, a paleo blog dedicated to health and wellness through home-cooked meals. I first discovered their blog last year when I peeked in on a burger party they threw with Russ Crandall. Now, that’s my kind of party.

After losing over 70 pounds collectively, Brent and Heather spend their free time cooking and blogging their real-food passion for the world.  People: Do yourselves a favor and sign up for weekly new recipes at vahuntergatherers.com or join them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Ever since that fateful day last November when I drooled over their inventive burger combinations, I’ve been hooked on their clean, unfussy styling and photography. Plus, their recipes are always simple and delicious. I’d be a dummy if I didn’t ask them to help me with a blog post and, thankfully, they agreed to write one. Without further ado, here’s Brent and Heather’s Spicy Tomato Basil Sauce!

Once upon a time, when Heather and I first started our own documented cooking adventures, we were pretty lost.  Still in the initial sticker shock/grief period of, “But what can I eat?,” we spent a lot of time scanning the internet looking for “paleo-friendly” recipes and meal ideas.  Michelle’s blog was one of the first I came across, as I was a pretty intense tumblr addict.  Once I moved to Virginia and was juggling two jobs, tumblr went away, but Nom Nom stayed.  I later found out the connection between fitbomb and nomnompaleo, and I was excited to see a pair that really thought about fitness and health when it comes to movement and diet.  Plus, there’s the added benefit of following the family adventures since I’m not quite ready to enlist my own little army of helpers.

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Hey, look! A new Paleo Eats! Remember when I used to post every single day about what I ate? Things have been more than a little crazy over here (and you’ll find out why soon enough!), so photographing and editing daily posts about my meals has taken a backseat to family time. But yesterday, I whipped out the trusty camera again to capture a few food-related Kodak moments.

We were already behind schedule by the time we woke up. Henry was dashing off with power tools to Lil-O’s co-op preschool for a mandatory maintenance day, while I stayed home to help Big-O with his science project. So for a quick, hearty breakfast, I made everyone fried eggs over leftover Pressure-Cooked Kale & Carrots.

While Lil-O busied himself with his Lego collection, Big-O and I turned our focus to his second-grade science project: Making a poster to show how he made yogurt. (Yeah, I know it’s not Paleo, but for you dairy-abstainers, you should definitely check out this recipe for this Simple Coconut Milk Yogurt.) 

Want to see how we transformed a liquid into a solid with the magic of bacteria?

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Wow! Henry and I were tickled pink this morning after reading The Kitchn’s wonderful review of the Nom Nom Paleo iPad cooking app. More than anything, we truly appreciate that Emma, the reviewer, took the time to explore every little feature that we lovingly and painstakingly crammed into the app — many of which are impossible with a physical cookbook.

(Image courtesy of The Kitchn)

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Today is an especially somber day, and I’m feeling a bit conflicted about posting a Forky Friday. I’m doing it because I made a promise to stay on schedule, but I totally understand if you want to skip today’s post and keep your eyeballs on Twitter instead. Admittedly, I was riveted by the rapid-fire #breaking tweets that were populating my feed last night.

If you’re looking for a bit of distraction from the heavy news of the moment, here’s what’s in store: An in-depth article about one of my favorite rancher, cool videos featuring spicy rabbit heads, coconuts, and amazing food art. Plus, you’ll get a peek at a couple of new Paleo cookbooks on my crowded kitchen bookshelf.

Ready? Come along, friends.

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• 1 bunch scallions, trimmed and cut into thirds
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 slices of fresh ginger, each approximately the size of a quarter
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons macadamia nut oil or fat of choice
• 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
• 1 tablespoon Red Boat fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey (or ½ small apple, peeled, cored, and diced)
• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 4 pounds chicken thighs

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