I’ve been sick as a dog these past few days (don’t worry, I’m taking my Vitamin D supplements and sipping on bone broth), so I’ve been delinquent in responding to emails from readers lately. To make up for it, I’m going to answer a bunch of ‘em in this post. I’ve got more links about Instagram, test tube beef, Paleo/Primal books on the horizon, happy pigs, and chowing on the odd bits.
Ready?
From email: “Hey! Where did all the ‘Paleo Eats’ posts go? How come you’re not showing us your daily meals any more?”
I haven’t stopped posting my Paleo Eats on the blog altogether, but I’ve recently found that it’s a whole lot easier (and more fun) to just snap a quick Instagram of whatever I’m eating. If you’re not following me on Instagram or Twitter, you’re missing a lot of my food pics (as well as random photographs of my kids trying to freak me out with googly-eye stickers).
(By the way, I read every comment and email I get from my readers, but I’m most likely to respond to Instagram and Twitter ’cause that’s where I lurk the most. So if you need to holler at me, that’s your best bet!)
From email: “I’m on Instagram, but my pictures always look weird. Which filter do you use to make your photos pretty? Or do you use a special app?”
Smart phone cameras are easy and quick, but with few-to-no manual settings, it’s difficult to get the picture you want without a little bit of photo-mojo. But my dirty little secret is that I rarely use the filters on Instagram itself. Instead, I use free photo editing apps like VSCOcam and Snapseed to adjust my iPhone pics. Shhh!
Once you’ve composed the image properly (consider using symmetry, the Rule of Thirds, etc.) and grabbed the clearest shot possible, use these apps to play around with brightness, color, saturation, and white balance until you’re happy with the image. (But don’t spend too much time fiddling with your photos—Instagram’s cool because you can crank out images quickly. Besides, I don’t want your food to get cold.)
From email: “Help! I know that offal is considered super-food, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how to prepare it and add it to my diet. Any advice?”
I feel ya. I can get a little squeamish about cooking offal at home, too. But we’ve got no more excuses ’cause Chris Kresser recently penned a great post about how to incorporate more nutrient-dense organ meat into your diet, complete with a handful of tempting recipes for each organ.
Need more recipes? Check out Jennifer McLagan’s Odd Bits, Fergus Henderson’s classic The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating, or Stacy Toth and Matt McCarry’s Beyond Bacon. All of ’em are awesome.
(I’m also counting the days until Chris Cosentino’s offal book is available. Is it 2015 yet?)
And now back to our regularly scheduled links…
Frankenburger, Brought To You By Google
On Monday, three lucky(?) people sampled the first hamburger patty made from beef grown from stem cells. The patty was made from 20,000 fat-free muscle strips(!) that were combined with bread crumbs(!), beet juice, and salt before being fried in a large pool of sunflower oil and butter. Ew.
Not surprisingly, the testers only had a lukewarm reaction to the meat-like patty ’cause it was neither juicy nor properly seasoned. But perhaps the biggest reveal was that the $325,000, two-year project was bankrolled by Google founder Sergey Brin, who “has concerns about the sustainability of meat production and animal welfare.”
Perhaps his money would be better spent supporting the holistic management practices of the Savory Institute as opposed to concocting test tube meat.
(Or Google’s self-driving car. Because I want to be like Mike, and by "Mike,” I mean Michael Knight.)
Primal Pastures Needs a Kickstart
Instead of producing sustainable “meat” in a petri dish, let’s support the farmers who strive to raise animals the right way, like Primal Pastures down in Southern California. You can contribute to their Kickstarter campaign to expand their farm by clicking here. I’ve had their chicken, and it is delicious.
Happy Pigs = Tasty Prosciutto
I love prosciutto, whether it’s crisped into Porkitos, wrapped around frittata muffins, or crumbled on top of roasted broccoli. If you’re not able to get prosciutto from a local producer, one brand to look for at the store is La Quercia, which is based in Iowa. Read all about La Quercia’s commitment to producing a world-class quality product in the heartland of America here.
Meet Your Match
It’s been 20(!) years since I’ve been on the dating scene, and in that time, online matchmaking has become a HUGE business. (The New Yorker published a fascinating piece about the online dating industry a couple of years ago—check it out if you’re at all interested in the history and inner workings of companies like Match.com and OK Cupid.) There are now sites that cater to every segment of the population imaginable. Just yesterday, The Kitchn just wrote about a dating site for gluten-free eaters.
But did you know there are dating sites with a Paleo focus? A quick Google search turned up SamePlate.com (which has a filter for Paleo eaters) and PaleoConnect. Has anyone had any luck with any of these sites, or found an online match through a “mainstream” dating site who shares your same real-food interests?
Cookbook Avalanche!
If you’re a cookbook hoarder like me, I bet your bookshelves are sagging under the weight of your new acquisitions. I’ve recently posted about cooking delectable meals from Diana Rodgers’s Paleo Lunches and Breakfasts on the Go, Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo Around The World: Italian Cuisine, Elana Amsterdam’s Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry, and Danielle Walker’s Against All Grain. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
The newest book in my collection is Fermented by Jill Ciciarelli. I’d been itching to inoculate my food with healthy bacteria ever since I listened to Sandor Katz’s lecture about traditional fermentation methods at the Wise Traditions conference last fall. I own both of his books, but I never mustered up the guts (ha!) to start fermenting in a big way (other than with the ever-expanding kombucha operation in my kitchen) until I got Jill’s beautiful and informative cookbook.
I’m a sucker for gorgeous photos and step-by-step tutorials. I’ve already utilized Jill’s informative tips to hone my continuous kombucha brewing skillz—and I’ve also whipped up some of her Kombucha Vinegar Salad Dressing when I fall behind in my bottling.
And that’s not all!
My own cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Food For Humans, won’t arrive until later this year, but there are a ton of fantastic Paleo books to keep you busy in the kitchen until then. The tomes I’m most eagerly awaiting include Julie & Charles Mayfield’s Quick & Easy Paleo Comfort Foods, Tammy Credicott’s Make Ahead Paleo, Liz Wolfe’s Modern Cave Girl, Sarah Ballantine’s The Paleo Approach, Diane Sanfilippo’s The 21-Day Sugar Detox, and Kelly Brozyna’s The Paleo Chocolate Lover’s Cookbook. (Because CHOCOLATE.)
And people: Are you ready for Well Fed 2, my pal Melissa Joulwan’s insanely great follow-up to her first cookbook?I, for one, CANNOT WAIT.
In the words of a little thespian who really needs to be flown with balloons, goodbye for now.
P.S. I want to know: What were your favorite Internet finds of the week? Feel free to share in the comments!
