EatPood

Surviving Ski Food

We went skiing on Sunday.  At Winterplace.  Winterplace is not known for its cuisine.  The food there is terrible.  Cliff assured me that I could make it without packing an entire cooler of food.  After all, we planned to ski a half day.  So here’s how I survived...

On Saturday, I worked out with Kaitlyn, and she and Caroline were talking about Scotch eggs.   Intrigued, I went home, defrosted some breakfast sausage, hard-boiled some eggs and got to work.  I ended up with this:

Then, I made a batch of Egg Cupcakes from Everyday Paleo. 

The cupcakes were tasty, but I have issues with the clean up part of the recipe.  I won’t bore you with the details, but heed my warning.  If you make Everyday Paleo Egg Cupcakes use paper baking cups!!! You will be sorry if you don’t!!!

Back to my story…

We got up bright and early on Sunday morning.  To fuel up, I ate one Scotch egg (protein), a lot of raw bell pepper strips (carbs), and some olives (fat).  Here’s what my plate looked like:

For an inter-workout snack (I consider skiing in the freezing cold a workout), I put 2 egg cupcakes and a baggie of coconut flakes into my little backpack.  Then we drove to Winterplace and skiied.

Around 10:30 I ate the cupcakes and some of the coconut as a snack, and guess what - I didn’t have to eat any food from Winterplace!  We finished our frigid ski adventure at 1:00 pm, and on the way home, we enjoyed a paleo-friendly lunch at Tamarack. 

Here's the Scotch Eggs recipe from The Clothes Make the Girl, by Melissa Joulwan.  It’s also in her new cookbook – Well Fed.  I highly recommend this cookbook.  Melissa is a Whole 9 Envoy, and I love her stuff! 

Scotch Eggs

1 lb. good quality pork breakfast sausage or Italian sausage
5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

Preheat oven to 375F.

Divide the sausage into 5 equal servings. Flatten the pork into an even pancake shape, and wrap around a hard-boiled egg, sealing it all the way around and making sure the meat is evenly distributed. Just keep working with it. 

Place the wrapped eggs on a baking sheet and bake about 20-25 minutes, or until the outsides are nicely browned and starting to crisp.

Eat!

The Soup

I’m calling this "the soup" (or "the" soup) because it doesn’t have another name. Maybe one of you can come up with some clever moniker.  We will submit it to Sarah Fragoso at Everyday Paleo.  Of course, she'll love our inventive brilliance, and so she'll invite us to visit her in Chico.  We'll become BFFs and co-author several bestselling books.  It's going to be fabulous.  I can't wait.  Get to work already!

Back on earth... I like this recipe because I have these ingredients on hand pretty much all the time. I changed the recipe a little bit here and there. I’ve found it to be forgiving in that you can sub in different ingredients. The first time I made this I used Italian sausage and green beans. Then another time I didn’t have green beans so I used broccoli. Then, yet another time, I used chorizo.  It always works out.

Insert Fitting Name Here

2T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1# grass fed ground beef
1# pork sausage
2t garlic powder
2t dried basil
1T oregano
1t sea salt
3 dashes cayenne pepper
4 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 big handfuls green beans, cut into 1" pieces
4C chicken broth
1, 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, and sauté until transparent. Add beef and sausage. Brown meat while breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon.

When the meat is brown, add the carrots and celery, and sauté for 5-7 minutes. Stir in the garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt and cayenne pepper.

Add the chicken broth and diced tomatoes. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Then add the green beans, and simmer about 15 minutes more until the beans are tender.

Meatza

I finally made meatza. I followed the recipe on The Clothes Make the Girl (more or less). However, I made my own pizza sauce, and I used a mixture of Italian sausage and grass fed ground beef from Swift Level Farm. I used my beloved cast iron skillet rather than a pie dish. Because my skillet is larger than a standard pie dish, I used an extra pound of meat.

Click the link above, and see the recipe on the aforementioned website. I don’t feel like retyping it because I’m not sure anyone even reads EatPood anymore.  Uh-huh. I'm feeling insecure today.

Here are the photos. You can check out the toppings I used. I had some leftover grilled onions and zucchini so I threw them on along with roasted red peppers from a jar, sliced Kalamata olives and steamed broccoli. Yum!

 
 
 

 

FritattaFest and more

Have you heard about me? I will make anything into a frittata. So… ever since I posted the Summer Veggie Saute recipe last month, I’ve been sautéing every veggie to come our way and filling frittatas with the leftover veggies the next day! 

 
 
 
I use any kind of sausage (sage breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, chorizo) or some chopped bacon in whatever amount I have. You can use ground beef or lamb too. In fact, I used leftover Thai ground beef last week.  Cook or heat up the meat in a large skillet and then add the veggies until they are heated through. Then I add 6-8 beaten eggs, depending on how I feel. It rocks. Click for here the recipe from last summer. You can use it as a loose guide.

Also, here’s that date walnut cake recipe I talk about incessantly. I know!  It's about time.  This recipe is from Elana's Pantry.

Date Walnut Cake
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
¼ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped

In a large bowl, combine almond flour salt and baking soda.  In a medium bowl, combine eggs, oil, agave and vanilla extract.  Stir wet ingredients into dry.  Fold walnuts and dates into batter.  Scoop batter into a greased 8x8 inch baking dish.  Bake at 350° for 22-30 minutes.  Cool and serve.

Scramble this

This is an egg:

 
This is an egg on drugs:

 
Now look at them side by side.

 
The egg on the left is from Cozy Hollow Farm in Greenville, WV. Cozy Hollow chickens are truly free range; they even roost in the trees at night! Look at the beautiful orange yolk. The egg on the right is from Foodland. Which one do you want to eat?

If you still can’t decide, check out my pretty yellow Breakfast Scramble. The vibrant yellow color comes from Cozy Hollow eggs scrambled with a few forks-full of coconut milk.

Breakfast Scramble
1# pork breakfast sausage
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 scallions, sliced thin
5 beautiful large eggs
1/3 C full fat coconut milk from a can
½ t freshly ground black pepper
½ t Celtic gray sea salt

Cook the pork in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

 
While the sausage cooks, scramble the eggs with the coconut milk.

Once the sausage is browned, add the bell pepper, scallions, salt and pepper, and sauté until the vegetables soften.

 
Pour in the egg mixture, and cook, while stirring, until the eggs are cooked to your liking.

 
Serve with some avocado slices.

 
I whipped this up for breakfast yesterday, a Wednesday, a school day!  It was hit with the whole family – even the small, picky girl who lives at my house.

You can get Cozy Hollow eggs from the Monroe Farm Market.  There will be a second delivery location starting on 5/12/11.  In addition to the U/U church on Kanawha Blvd, West, they are adding the Unity Church on Myrtle Road in South Hills.  Yippy Skippy!

Disclaimer:  I amn't saying that Foodland eggs are on drugs, not for sure anyway.  I'm just being silly so don't sue me!

Family Dinner

I’m trying to let go of my clean-as-you-go ways and get the kids working in the kitchen. Last night, they made ants on a log, and I let Jack wield a chef’s knife. Also, as self-proclaimed Fruit Manager of Dinner, he cut up a grapefruit for us to enjoy. Clara took charge of baking the bacon for a broccoli salad, and they both helped make mayonnaise which went into the broccoli salad dressing.  Clara snapped asparagus ends; Jack washed the asparagus; and they took turns stirring together olive oil, balsamic vinegar and tarragon for roasting. 

Our dinner was a bit hodge podge!  We had grapefruit slices, ants on a snowy log (made with sunbutter), broccoli salad, and roasted asparagus and ….

Pork Chops with Pineapple Relish

3 t ground coriander
6 (1-inch-thick) boneless pork loin chops
2 T extra virgin coconut oil

2 T dark rum
1 1/2 C chopped fresh or frozen pineapple
1/2 C chopped yellow onion
1 jalapeno finely chopped, include seeds if you want it spicier
1 t chopped fresh thyme or 1/2t dried
1 t distilled white vinegar

Toss together pineapple, onion, jalapeno, thyme, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Pat pork dry; sprinkle all over with coriander, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then sauté pork, turning once, until well browned and just cooked through but still juicy, 6 to 10 minutes.  Transfer pork to plates.

 
Add pineapple mixture and rum to skillet and sauté, scraping up brown bits, 1 minute.

 
Serve pork with relish.  We had enough relish for our dinner, but not enough for the left over pork chops.  Next time, I'll make more!

 
About the pork...  I got my pork from Little Brown Cow Dairy, a conventional farm in Monore County, WV.  When it comes to meat, I prefer to buy local/organic.  If I can't get that, I buy local/conventional (if I feel comfortable with the grower).  If I can't get that, I buy organic from some other U.S. source. 

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.  Follow the link if you want to see the real recipe, which I modified to suit the ingredients I had in my kitchen.

Bacon Revisited

Now don’t get confused. This is not a sweeping British period drama (get it?). This is about pork. Salty, crispy, yummy strips of pork. And a way to have bacon available on demand. I hate frying bacon. I’m really bad at it because I tend to wander away from the skillet, and you know, do stuff – like multitask. Then, when I return, my dear bacon is a dark, smoky, crumbling shadow of itself. So in order to avoid this kind of kitchen devastation, I bake my bacon. I learnt it from my mom. She’s smart.  Carol was bakin’ bacon in Indiana when the Primal Blueprint Cook Book was a merely a twinkle in Mark Sisson’s eye!

This is easy, friends. I cooked up a pan of bacon this morning while getting two kids ready for school (while their dad was living it up at DC National because of weather delays and such).

Here’s what you do:

Get some good bacon. I use Sandy Creek’s Country Cure bacon.

Preheat your oven to 400, and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Arrange the bacon on the sheet. If you are cooking a pound, you need two baking sheets.

 
You don’t want to overcrowd the bacon. Bacon doesn’t like that.

Put the pan in the oven, and set the timer for 12 minutes. Go away, and do something productive. Brush your teeth, and floss too. Nag someone to hurry on up. Set the table. Take the out the dog. Put out the trash. You get the picture.

After 12 minutes have elapsed, and you’ve accomplished a great many other tasks, remove the baking sheet from the oven.

 
Using kitchen tongs, turn over each piece of bacon. Return the baking sheet to the oven, and bake for about 5-10 minutes more. Gauge your remaining cooking time after you assess how close to done the bacon is already. While this is going on, sip your coffee or tea, and congratulate yourself on how organized and domestic you are!

 
Then, remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. It will be crispy, flat and straight.

 
You can munch on it like this or you can crumble it over a plate of eggs. Save any leftovers for the top of your dinner salad or to dress up a paleo burger.

 
Enjoy!

BTW, I was talking about the movie, Brideshead Revisited. I like the remake starring Matthew Goode.

Drumroll, please...

Have you been waiting with baited breath to see what the big news is here at EatPood? Well, I’m proud to announce that Sandy Creek Farms in Ravenswood, WV is partnering up with us to get some good, healthy food in your bellies!

The folks at Sandy Creek will give away a pound of their delicious, house-made Italian sausage to a lucky EatPood reader. You must be member of a CrossFit affiliate and be available to pick up the meat from me or at CrossFit WV.  Other than that, all you have to is answer this question in the comments below:

Since starting the Paleo challenge this year, what new foods have you tried and been surprised to discover that you like? Post your answers in the comments below. The contest will close at 5 pm on Saturday, March 5. The winner will be chosen randomly.  Good luck everyone!

Bolognese
½ cups Olive Oil
3 cups Grated Carrots
1 whole Large Red Onion, Diced
1 pound Grass Fed Ground Beef
1 pound Sandy Creek Italian Sausage, removed from casings
2 Tablespoons Dried Oregano
2 Tablespoons Dried Basil Flakes
1 can (6 Ounce) Tomato Paste
5 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 cup (to 2 Cups) Red Wine
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
2 cans (28 Ounce) Crushed Tomatoes
1 cup Coconut Milk
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Fresh Parmesan Cheese

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add grated carrots and onions, and cook for a few minutes. Make a well in the center of the mixture, and then add in the ground beef and sausage. Cook for a few minutes, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks. As the meat browns, stir it into the carrot mixture.  You may need to drain a little fat.

 
Add oregano and basil, and stir to combine with the meat mixture. Make another well. Add tomato paste, and let it heat. Add garlic, and stir to combine.

Make a well in the center of the mixture, and add red wine.

 
Stir together. Add Worcestershire, and stir. Add canned tomatoes.

 
Finally, pour in coconut milk, stir, and let simmer for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

 
Cliff and I eat this like a big bowl of meat soup. Try serving it over some sautéed kale or chard or even shredded cabbage. I’m off cheese so I skip the parmesan. If you choose to sprinkle on the cheese, make sure it’s the good stuff!

Once in a blue moon, I let the little peeps eat this over pasta.  Please don't judge me!  See how it makes them loopy with joy?

 
 
Recipe adapated from The Pioneer Woman.

Pizza Party

Yesterday, I found a reference to Paleo Pizza Crust on Norcal Strength and Conditioning. It led me back to my new favorite site, Everyday Paleo.  Although I had a completely different meal planned, I had to give it a try. Guess what? It’s good!

 
Everyday Paleo recommends using Trader Joe’s organic marinara sauce. We don’t have Trader Joe’s. Sigh. Also, Kroger has only one type of organic marinara sauce, but I didn’t fancy some of the ingredients - like soybean oil. Fortunately, back in the day, I used to make homemade pizza regularly so I made my own pizza sauce which just happens to be Paleo!

Paleo Pizza

The Sauce
2T olive oil
1, 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1t dried basil
1t dried marjoram

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the other ingredients and bring up to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

 
The Crust
2 cups almond flour
2 eggs
3T olive oil
¼ t baking soda
1 t garlic powder
1.5 T chopped fresh rosemary

This is a five-pound bag of blanched almond flour.  I got it online, although I suppose that's patently obvious.  It's cheaper than buying the one-pound bags available locally.

 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

 
I found I had to add about ½ C more almond flour. I just grabbed a handful and mixed it in with my hands. Form the dough into a ball.

 
Transfer to a baking sheet oiled lightly with olive oil. Use your hands to press the dough into an oval, working to get the dough as thin as possible.

 
Bake the dough in the oven for 20 minutes. While the crust bakes, prepare the toppings.

Suggestions for Toppings (This is what I used on my pizza. Get creative.)
1# cooked Sandy Creek Italian Sausage
Chopped black olives
Chopped Swiss chard
Artichoke hearts
Roasted red peppers
Onions
Basil
Pepper rings

Remove the baked crust from the oven. Spread some pizza sauce over the crust followed by the sausage. Then add whatever other ingredients you are using. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the toppings are heated.

I used some of the toppings suggested on Everyday Paleo, but also added some other toppings we like.  Cliff isn't crazy about chard so I left that his "half" of our pie.

 

I let the kids have cheese on their pizza.
 

 
I didn't let Cliff have cheese.  I was feeling bossy!

 
Try it out and let me know what you think.

 
 
Move over Wheaties. This is the new breakfast of champions!!! The kids and I had this for breakfast this morning, and my girl went back for more.

Paleo Sausage Gravy

16 oz country style pork sausage
2 T arrowroot powder (Healthy Life Market)
1 can coconut milk
¼ t fennel seeds
½ t dried, rubbed sage
1/8 cayenne pepper
½ t black pepper
¼ t salt

Heat up a skillet over medium-high heat and brown the sausage, breaking it into pieces as you cook it.

 
 
I get my breakfast sausage from Sandy Creek Farms, and it’s very lean. I don’t need to drain it at all. If you end up with a lot of grease in your pan, click here and check out Jenna Innis' blog (Hoosier CrossFit). She has some cooking instructions for this situation.

Once the sausage is cooked, turn the heat down to medium. Add the arrowroot and stir it into the sausage. Cook for about a minute.

Check this out -this is what we can mise en place my friends.  That's French for I got my schtuff together!

Stir in the fennel seeds, sage, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. 

 
Next begin adding the coconut milk about 1/4C at a time, stirring after each addition until the gravy thickens. I didn’t end up using a whole can.

 
Once you get it as thickish and as gravyish as you want your gravy to be, you're ready to serve.

 
 
Of course, you can serve this over almond flour biscuits, but I do not love almond flour baked goods. Instead, I’m coo coo for coconut so we had our sausage gravy over coconut pancakes.  I told you my girl went back for seconds right?  That's a sure sign that this tastes like the real thing.

  
One other thing - when I made this, I didn’t have any arrowroot. I subbed 2T cornstarch because, you know me, I live on the edge. 

recipe from Hoosier CrossFit.