Current (Food-Related) Obsessions

On my quest to kick the dirty gluten habit, I've decided to post on my current food obsessions.  I hope this gives you some new culinary ideas (and in turn, your validation of my sustenance will keep me on track!)

337 Wine

Okay, okay, my first food pick is technically a drink, but this is my current foodie obsession.  I randomly picked it up from a display in the liquor store, and I was intrigued by the "mocha" flavors in the description.  I love chocolate, so why not try it?  For $12 a bottle, this wine is delicious!  I am hardly a wine connoisseur, and I truly wish I could tell you all about the flavors so I could more persuasively convince you to purchase it.  But, it's definitely smooth, flavorful, and according to the woman who owns the liquor store, the grapes used for the California wine come from France.  Sounds pretty fancy to me!

Laurel Hill Foods Chocolate Mountain Mix

A mix of raisins, cashews, almonds, chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds (or pepitas), this is my latest decadent indulgent treat.  It's from a local farm in Massachusetts, so I feel even better for purchasing it.  And yes, I know the chocolate chips have traces of soy lecithin, but it's still totally worth it.  It's a great way to get some nuts and seeds in my diet.

Eggplant

For the past couple weeks, eggplant is all I've wanted to eat at dinner.  Quick and easy way to make it -- preheat oven to 350 degrees, slice eggplant thinly, put it in a pyrex, drizzle it with some EVOO, sprinkle with some sea salt and black pepper if you wish, bake for 25 - 30 minutes, and pronto -- you've got a flavorful and scrumptious veggie side dish.

Meatballs

I am on the current quest of finding the best way to perfect meatballs sans gluten.  Here's what I've come up with so far:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees

1 1/2 lb ground beef (usually 85 percent lean; grass fed is best)

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (add a bit more if you want it spicy!)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3 cloves garlic; finely chopped (or use a garlic press)

1/4 cup green onions, chopped

2 eggs

1 tablespoon ground mustard

2 tablespoons almond meal

Mix together in large mixing bowl.  Make small meatballs (1-1 1/2 inch diameter or so) and place on cookie sheet.  Bake for 25 minutes; flip meatballs once.

For sauce:

1 can tomato sauce (organic preferred)

1/2 can tomato paste

1/3 cup sweet onions; finely chopped

4 garlic cloves; finely chopped

2 tablespoons EVOO

1 tablespoon oregano

1 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/2 tablespoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

Heat olive oil on stove top in sauce pan.  Add onions; saute for 3 minutes.  Add garlic; saute two minutes.  Add sauce, paste, oregano, Italian seasoning, parsley, and sea salt (all to taste).  Mix until thoroughly heated; about 10 minutes.  Add fresh basil at end.  I clearly like a lot of seasoning in my sauce -- feel free to modify to your individual palate preference!

Haddock

My husband made haddock for dinner the other night, and I actually liked it!  He covered 1 pound of fish with the juice from 1/2 lemon, sprinkled it generously with paprika and fresh thyme (chopped), and topped off the haddock with a dash of sea salt and pepper.  He baked it at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes.  And I happily ate it.  

And I can't really add this to my list since I haven't tried them yet, but I'm really intrigued by Kind Bars.  If you've eaten them, let me know!  I think I may buy a few to try -- I'll pass the word along if I think they're tasty!

What are your current food (or drink) obsessions?

Easy Weekend Breakfast

During the week, I normally eat plain Greek yogurt with berries.  The weekend, however, is a great opportunity for me to enjoy some relaxing time cooking.  Eggs, bacon, and coffee are usually the staples, and I vary it up depending on what food I have in the house.
Scrambled eggs are such an easy way to get some veggies in!  For this particular Saturday, I had:

4 eggs
1/8 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (omit if Paleo)
1 small head (organic) broccoli, removed from crown, cut into smaller pieces as needed
1/2 cup sweet onion, diced
1 1/2 tablespoons EVOO

After dicing the onions and cutting the broccoli off the stems, I put the coffee brewing.  Then, I heated a saucepan with the olive oil on medium heat for about four or five minutes; I then sauteed the broccoli and onions in the olive oil until they began to get soft.  While the broccoli and onions cooked, I cracked the eggs in a mixing bowl, scrambled with a fork, and added the cheese.  I then dumped my eggs over the delicious broccoli/onion mix, scrambled everything around for a few minutes until the eggs cooked, and voila! breakfast for two:

Not pictured: the delicious Applegate Farms peppered bacon I cooked on the grill pan (I put it cooking while I started sauteing the veggies) or the grapes we also ate with it.

Enjoy!

Recipes for (a green) dinner!

For dinner, I decided to make salsa verde to put on some beef, and a kale salad recipe I found in the NY Times that I've been dying to try.

In terms of timing my cooking, I decided to make the salsa verde first, then work on the kale salad, and then working on grilling my meat on the stove top while the kale salad soaked in its vinaigrette.
Note: I made enough salsa verde to last at least two meals -- we can probably get three out of it (for two adults).

Salsa Verde:

1 bunch of parsley, chopped (organic)
1 small box of mint, chopped (approximately 2 tablespoons; organic)
9 teaspoons capers, drained, rinsed, and coarsely chopped
4 small garlic cloves, minced with garlic press
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons (organic) EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
sea salt
pepper
steak (the recipe I based my creation off of recommends flank, but I only had skirt steak).  I also made about about 3/4 pound (maybe a tad more), but the salsa verde would easily work for at least 2 pounds, if not more.

Chop all your delicious foods, and mix the parsley, mint, capers, garlic, white wine vinegar, EVOO, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt in a bowl.  Let sit for at least 20 minutes.  While it's infusing flavors, get going on the salad!

The original recipe for the kale salad is here, but I modified it by not including the cheddar cheese and I used almonds (although I didn't toast them).

For the kale, I took about half the bunch, rinsed it, then soaked it in a bowl of water, rinsed it again, and then patted it dry with paper towels.

Kale salad:
1/2 bunch kale, bottom of stems removed
1 Gala apple, diced into small chunks
1 1/2 tablespoons slivered almonds

dressing:
1/2 fresh squeezed lemon (with lemon press)
5 tablespoons EVOO (organic)
2 small garlic cloves, minced with garlic press (I was too lazy to puree it)
a dash of sea salt

and to top it off:
fresh grated parmesan (omit it if you're hard core Paleo)

After you've washed the kale, slice it in thin slivers:

Put in bowl and set aside.  Add almonds.

Dice apples and add to kale:

For the dressing, combine the fresh lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, and a dash of sea salt.  Whisk together, add to the kale, apples, and almonds, and toss dressing throughout the salad.  The dressing definitely helps soften the kale, so let it sit for at least 15 minutes.  Once you're ready to serve, grate on some parmesan to your liking (not too much!)

While the kale is sitting in its dressing, grill that steak on the stove top!

For the steak, lightly season with some sea salt and pepper.  Once you've cooked the steak to your liking, put that yummy salsa verde on top!

Final product:

Hence, my "green" dinner.  I try to vary up colors in my food, but I'll take green tonight (for breakfast, I made scrambled eggs with orange bell peppers and onions, and had blueberries as a side, so I definitely eat my colors).

Food was delicious, and incredibly filling.  I didn't make it through all of my salad or my steak.  (I ate about two-thirds of each).

Before I started Primal/clean eating, I remember lamenting to my doctor that I was fat.  (I was 144 pounds at the time).  She suggested that I not eat carbs with dinner or at night, and said that's how she lost weight.  No grains at dinner!  I was horrified.  How would I survive without cous cous, french bread, or tortillas?  Surely I would melt away and starve to a slow, painful death.

Goodness, she was onto something.  After getting over the initial phase of "how will I survive life without carbs/grains!  I want to eat everything in sight that I'm not supposed to!" I definitely don't feel deprived. (Note: it definitely takes about two weeks to get over the initial shock, and I'd say up to eight weeks to start to make it a steady habit).  But now, it's nice that veggies and some protein make me full.  It's the best way to go.

Let me know if you try either recipe!

Feeding the Family on a Friday

Last Friday, I invited my whole family over for an evening of delicious, home cooked, (mostly) Primal/clean food.  Yum.
Normally I cook for two, so cooking for eight adults and one child made me nervous that I wouldn't have enough food.  So, I planned to make a lot and made two grocery runs. (Side note: my two favorite stores in this world would have to be grocery stores and book stores!)

On my dinner menu:
-chicken
-sirloin steak
-scallops (the only seafood I ever make)
-sweet potatoes
-broccoli
-salad

I also bought fresh ciabatta bread.  I didn't eat any, and I feel a bit of a hypocrite for purchasing it, although it made my brother happy.

On Thursday, I purchased and marinated a five pound, "all natural" chicken.  (By all natural, antibiotic free).

For the marinade:

-Juice from five lemons
-zest from two lemons (note: peel the zest first, then squeeze the juice from the lemon.  A lemon press is a huge help and a great investment as well)
-six garlic gloves, minced (I always use my garlic press)
-1/2 cup olive oil
-2 tablespoons fresh, chopped rosemary

Mix all these ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Rub down chicken with a teaspoon of sea salt
Place said chicken in the bowl, and marinade overnight (make sure you flip the chicken once, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap before putting in the fridge)

To cook, I put the chicken in a roasting pan, pre-heated the oven at 375 degrees, and popped that bad baby in for two hours.  

To the bottom of the roaster, I added  5 sliced sweet potatoes.  I coated the sweet potatoes lightly in olive oil and added about a tablespoon and a half of fresh, chopped rosemary.

NOTE: the lemon juice from the chicken was definitely infused in the sweet potatoes.  I liked it and would do it again, but it was an interesting taste.  If you're not up for lemony sweet potatoes, put them in a separate pan in the oven.

For the scallops:

-1 pound of fresh scallops

-Juice from 1/2 lemon (just a quick squeeze by hand)

-1 tablespoon fresh, chopped cilantro 

-3 large garlic cloves, minced

-1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat

add garlic for about two to three minutes

add scallops to mix and pan sear for about five or six minutes, cooking them on both sides

add lemon juice

cook for two to three minutes; turn up heat to medium high to burn off excess juices

add cilantro; remove from heat when juices are nearly gone and scallops are cooked!

Steak:  dry rub (Montreal seasoning (don't add too much): grilled on stove top over medium heat).  I had somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of meat.

Salad:

-arugula (4 ounces)

-red lettuce (1/2 head)

-green lettuce (1/2 head)

-green onions, chopped (approximately 1/4 cup)

-one orange pepper, chopped

-one yellow pepper, chopped

-one small cucumber, thinly sliced

-one pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half

-feta cheese (1/3 cup and it can always be omitted)

salad dressing was simply olive oil and balsamic vinegar, at the discretion of the consumer:

I also made:
Four heads broccoli, steamed

And a sauce to go along with the broccoli (my family loves it), which consisted of:
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-1 teaspoon organic dijon mustard (I like Annie's Naturals)
-1 large garlic clove, minced
-a squeeze of lemon juice

Final product:

And a very happy family was fed and satiated.  

Clearly, I love rosemary, garlic, olive oil, and lemon, and consider them to be some of my staple ingredients in my kitchen.  It is a sad day when I run out of garlic, and I always buy heads (never used it from a jar).

What's the best thing you've cooked (or eaten) lately?