Paleo Eats: 6/30/12

My work-hubby is off for a couple of nights to attend a wedding, so I was on my own after 2:30 am. The last time he disappeared for vacation,  the pharmacy was out-of-control crazy busy. Steeling myself for more of the same, I brought my meal in a LunchBots Clicks so I could gobble it all up straight from the fridge: sous vide tri tip, roasted broccoli, and napa cabbage kimchee.

Luckily, my shift at the hospital was non-eventful, and the work was slow and steady. Before I knew it, the sun was up, and I was peeling out of the garage on my way to the Downtown Palo Alto Farmers’ Market. There, I picked up beaucoup veggies, spices, seafood, and stone fruit.

I was still peckish when I came home, so I pulled out some chicken gizzards and hearts from the fridge.

What? You don’t have organ meat lying around? Shame, shame!

Just joshing. I rarely have any at the ready. But when I roasted a couple of chickens the other day, I made a conscious decision to keep the odd bits that came stuffed in the cavities. I froze the livers and neck bones, and threw the gizzards and hearts in the fridge. I know gizzards are best confited or braised, but I was HANGRY and short on time.

I decided to simply season them…

…sauté ‘em in melted butter…

…and toss in a handful of cherry tomatoes at the end.

The hearts were mighty flavorful, but the gizzards were too crunchy. Note to self: there’s a reason why sautéing isn’t a preferred method of cooking gizzards. My jaws were sore from masticating muscular bird stomachs.

Next time, I’m gonna sous vide the gizzards or follow this recipe from uber hunter-gatherer Hank Shaw. In the sage words of the Beastie Boys: Slow and low, that is the tempo.

Before heading off to bed, I tinkered with a new recipe for a Paleo cookie.

The recipe requires some additional tweaking, but Lil-O didn’t seem to mind gobbling up the test batch.

I passed out for almost eight hours and woke up later than normal – which is both a good and bad thing. I was able to chip away at my sleep deficit, but I had to scramble to get dinner on the table before the Double-Os’ bedtime.

Tabil Seasoned Sautéed Shrimp to the rescue!

I started by rendering bacon grease…

..to which I added the seasoned shrimp…

… cherry tomatoes…

…and a chiffonade of basil.

Then, I stir-fried kale and bacon in the same pan.

Here’s my dinner plate:

Afterwards, I fished a flap steak out of the SousVide Supreme and seared it for my packed lunch.

Yep, the same dirty skillet for all three dishes. I hate washing extra pots and pans.

Once my kitchen chores were finished, I tucked the kiddos in bed before sneaking into our newly-cleaned garage gym (thanks, Fitbomb!) to practice double-unders, Abmat sit-ups, and push presses.  I need lots of practice.

By the way, how many of you are heading to the CrossFit Games in a couple of weeks? Fitbomb had a blast last year (check out his multi-part recap of the 2011 Games here: Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5), but I missed out on all the fun.

That ain’t happening this year, ’cause the Nombomb clan’ll be there in full force! If you see a couple of harried Asians dragging along their sweaty and exhausted spawn, come say hi!

I promise I won’t bite. Much.

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