I’ve probably read about this somewhere, but the other day I decided to try and use cauliflower instead of rice, and I was surprised by the results: the texture was similar, and I couldn’t taste any cauliflower in the dish at all (and we used an entire head for about four servings).
I’ve dreamt about opening my own restaurant for over ten years now. I’ve wanted it to be a tiny little place that I would open later in life, when I already have a steady retirement paycheck and no desire to make it a “career”. I’ve always imagined that the fare would be a mix of American, Latin American, Italian and Asian cuisine – basically the 10 best dishes that I have made over my lifetime. After making the jump to gluten-free/Paleo, I’ve been feeling like my restaurant dreams are far-fetched: how could I make American food without potato, Latin American food without tortillas, Italian without pasta, or Asian without rice? Last night I sat down and put together a dish that made me think that I just might be able to start a Paleo-friendly restaurant someday – while fooling the non-Paleos (let’s just call them “muggles”) into liking it.
Bacon was a hot commodity in my house growing up – four siblings can do that to a family. I fondly remember watching anxiously as my mother cooked the bacon and we fought over who was getting the next slice. We were told that we couldn’t eat too much, because bacon was bad for us. And that’s how it was back in the day, during the height of the saturated fat craze. Now things are turning on their head and experts are starting to believe that carbs/sugar, not fat, are what causes all those heart problems that we unfairly pinned on poor bacon. And it makes sense. If the human race evolved over the course of millions of years eating mostly meat, how would it be that newly-introduced products like grain and sugar are better for us?
I love roasting chicken, both the act itself and carving them. We tend to roast a chicken every week or two, and over time this tradition has evolved into what I like to call the Roasted Chicken Cycle.
Fried rice is a common dish in our house, but I’ve had to make a couple adjustments to be more in line with the Paleo Diet. Luckily, fried rice is mostly a paleo-friendly dish in and of itself (unless you’re anti-rice).
One thing I’ve found over this past month is that eating Paleo, in spite of all of its benefits, can get a little boring. Not only that, it can take a lot of consideration and planning to eat right. So I’ve decided that if we’re stuck out of the house, the following solution is a quick fix.
Wendy’s offers a 1/2 lb. Double with Cheese for a fair price. Their burgers are 100% beef (although grain-fed, which many Paleo fanatics would say is a no-no) and only have a little salt added. The burger has one slice of cheese, sandwiched (pun intended) between the two patties. This means you can toss the bun, peel the patties apart, and put the condiments in the middle with minimal mess. I got it without sauces since we have high-quality and paleo-friendly ketchup and mayo at home. The cheese is high in sodium and has a little soy in it (cultured milk, water, cream, sodium citrate, salt, sodium phosphate, citric acid, sorbic acid, artificial color, enzymes, soy lecithin to keep the slices from sticking).
I’d prefer In-N-Out any day, but for where I live, this is probably the best burger (tasting and health-wise) option in a pinch. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was delicious. I can see this becoming a once-a-month treat in the future. I’ll most definitely be inspecting Arby’s and Chipotle next.
Full Wendy’s nutrition info here.
As you’ve doubtlessly surmised from my blog description page, my main reason for starting this website is to gain a better understanding of mankind’s lineage, through our role in the ecology – by creating food (gardening) and enjoying it (cooking). I stumbled upon a relatively new lifestyle that’s slowly gaining ground – the Paleolithic Diet – and I’ve come to believe that some of the characteristics of this diet are in keeping with this site’s values.
The Paleo Diet assumes that our bodies evolved over millions of years in a world before agriculture, meaning that there was no place for mankind’s current staples of grain, corn and legumes in our diet. Study has also led many to believe that most of our health problems (especially autoimmunity) are linked to gluten and excess carbohydrates. The Paleo Diet simply removes these items from your diet – no wizardry, no gimmicks, etc. Basically, you replace a high-carb diet with a high-fat diet consisting of meat, poultry, seafood, veggies, fruits, nuts and berries. The diet seems like an all-encompassing version of other, successful lifestyle choices, like the gluten-free diet.
This idea interested me so I’ve decided to give it a shot. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of bread so I already had a head start. I’ve been doing it for about three weeks now, and I’ve had mixed results: initially, I went full-on Paleo, even removing some inflammation-related food items like dairy, potatoes, tomatoes, nuts and seeds. But after a couple weeks I was starting to lose too much weight (I’ve already lost about 10 pounds and I’m a relatively thin person), so I’ve decided to re-introduce all of the above items. Rice is a hotly contested item (shunned by the Paleo Diet as a grain, but welcomed in other low-carb diets like the Perfect Health Diet), so we’ve decided that if we’re going to have any starch in our diet aside from tubers (potatoes, yams), we’re going to have white rice. As far as dairy is concerned, we’re only eating the high-fat items (which goes against everything that I’ve learned before) like butter, cream, cheese, and european-style yogurt.
Probably the best side effect of this diet is that our family has cut out almost all processed foods, since they all contain some form of wheat, soy, or corn. Personally, I feel much healthier (no more post-meal tiredness or gas) and have been sleeping more soundly. We’ve also been choosing healthier food products like nitrite-free meats and grass-fed beef, which actually taste really good. I definitely miss beer, though.
If you’re interested, here is a 12-step process taken from this Paleo nutrition blog.
1. Eliminate sugar (including fruit juices and sports drinks that contain HFCS) and all foods that contain flour.
2. Start eating proper fats – Use healthy animal fats or coconut fat to substitute fat calories for calories that formerly came from sugar and flour. Drink whole cream or coconut milk.
3. Eliminate gluten grains. Limit grains like corn and rice, which are nutritionally poor.
4. Eliminate grain and seed derived oils (cooking oils) Cook with Ghee, butter, animal fats, or coconut oil.
5. Favor ruminants like beef, lamb and bison for your meat. Eat eggs and some fish.
6. Make sure you are Vitamin D replete. Get daily midday sun or consider supplementation.
7. 2 or 3 meals a day is best. Don’t graze like a herbivore.
8. Adjust your 6s and 3s. Pastured (grass fed) dairy and grass fed beef or bison has a more optimal 6:3 ratio, more vitamins and CLA. A teaspoon or two of Carlson’s fish oil (1-2 g DHA/EPA) daily is good compensatory supplementation if you eat grain-fed beef or no fish.
9. Proper exercise – emphasizing resistance and interval training over long aerobic sessions.
10. Most modern fruit is just a candy bar from a tree. Go easy on bags of sugar like apples. Stick with berries and avoid watermelon which is pure fructose. Eat in moderation.
11. Eliminate legumes
12. If you are allergic to milk protein or concerned about theoretical risks of casein, you can stick to butter and cream and avoid milk and soft cheeses.
Considering that this diet is quite a lifestyle change, I expect this blog to shift focus a little bit, if only to offer more Paleo-friendly recipes. For further reading, I suggest the links found on paleohacks.com.
NOTE: An updated version of this recipe appears in my cookbook, The Ancestral Table.
Editor’s Note: this recipe is from before I switched to the Paleo Diet, but all you need to do to make this dish Paleo-friendly is omit the beans.
Ah, chili. One of the most hotly-debated dishes a person can serve in America, perhaps second only to BBQ ribs. And like many of my other recipes, I’m quick to concede that this recipe isn’t for everyone; this is a generally mild chili that goes well with chili dogs, chili burgers, or on top of a scoop of white rice.
For me, the most important aspect of chili is having it blend into one single element and texture – nothing bothers me more than a chili that just looks like a bunch of ingredients thrown together. Luckily, my handy Magic Bullet helps to puree most of the chunkier ingredients while still retaining its necessary taste. I also add a couple of seemingly odd ingredients, which play important roles: cocoa powder for richness and complexity, and mayonnaise for smoothness and just a touch of creaminess.
This dish takes a little over three hours to make: one hour to prep and soften the tomatoes and two hours to cook the chili itself.
NOTE: Here is an updated version of this recipe.
Many people are intimidated by the idea of roasting a whole bird – this kind of practice is often only reserved for a Thanksgiving turkey, and tragically so. I like to consider the whole roasting and carving of a chicken as practice for a perfect holiday meal. There are dozens of ways to roast a chicken, and many more ingredients you can use to add complexity, but I feel that they are ultimately unnecessary. Mine is a two-part process, which includes initially cooking the chicken breast-side down to prevent them from drying out.
I roast my chicken in a Le Creuset french oven, and although it is one of my favorite all-around cooking dishes, it would probably roast better in a braiser. A braiser’s lower edges would allow more of the bird to openly roast and crisp more evenly. Either way, the french oven still does the trick just fine, so let’s get down to business:
I’ve found that people are quick to throw meat onto a grill, but tend to shy away from seafood, especially shellfish. It’s a shame, because grilling clams is probably the easiest grilled dish on the planet. I like grilling the big ones because they’re cheaper than the smaller steamer clams (I bought four big clams for $2 the other day) and they’re a nice change of pace from the regular grilling fare. Here is the easiest, simplest way to grill clams. I’ll do some later posts that add a few more ingredients to the mix; but for now, let’s perfect the basics.
The only preparation needed is to clean the clams – place them in a bucket or pot with cold tap water, and add 1/2 cup of corn meal. Let them sit like this for four hours. This allows the clams to filter out sand so you don’t get any crunchy surprises during your meal.
To grill the clams, simply put them on a grill at a med/med-high temperature and let them cook for about 10 minutes. You’ll know they’re ready when they pop open. Serve with garlic butter.
The Domestic Man 