An Ode to Bacon

An Ode to Bacon

Written and Illustrated by: Me Palo

Oh bacon, a treat I cannot resist

Cooked up and crispy your purpose exists

To make me feel happy, full and content

One reason, mine only, for my belly you're meant

The harbinger of breakfasts, dinners and snacks

No frotz towards you here, you're my culinary hack

I love you dear bacon and I hope you will see

The very best you makes the very best me.

Happy Monday!

It's been a long time!  I shouldn't have left you.  Without a dope blog to click to.  Click to.  Sorry...overtaken by the spirit of Timbaland for a moment there. 

And we're back.  Last week was LOOONG.  Had to drive to Atlanta for a sales meeting then back around to Greenville SC.  Then all over Greenville on Thursday and back up to my house.  Logged some serious miles I did.  OH!  But I found a restaurant in Greenville that has a a Paleo meal plan you can order.  It's called Saskatoon.  Only open for dinner but the menu looks outstanding.  Score!  But I'm not driving two hours each way every time I want delicious game meats. 

By the way, anyone out there who might see this and knows someone in the Charlotte NC metro area, I am interested in buying wild boar and venison if you have some to spare.  PLEASE!  I'd get it myself but the Saint Francis in me won't let me shoot an animal...yet. 

But yea, long week last week.  Had to bring along plenty of Paleo friendly snacks to help curb my cravings.  And yesterday was the last day of my 21DSD.  THANK GOD.  That was probably the longest 21 days of my entire life!  Though I have to say, Tara and I made some chocolate chunk cookies on Sunday with 85% Cocoa and it was plenty sweet to me.  So I'm thinking the detox helped to calm my sweet tooth a bit. 

So the rest of this week will be spent making sure I'm appropriating the right foods to continue my clean eatings.  Plenty of meat in the freezer but I'm starting to get a little sick of the three veggie mix I get from BJs.  I've made it just about every way I can think of by now.  I feel like I need some spinach and mushrooms in my life.  Perhaps some button mushrooms stuffed with a spinach and sausage mixture.  Ooo, I feel another recipe coming on!

Yes, I glossed over the fact that Tara and I made chocolate chip cookies this weekend!  Don't worry, I didn't forget.  :-)  She has been doing wonderfully for the past two weeks!  I'm so proud of her discipline in choosing the right foods and learning the good ingredients versus the bad.  But I was coming off the 21DSD and she hadn't had anything sweet aside from fruit.  We both agreed that cookies needed to find their way into our lives post haste.  We did some research, played around a bit, and made for you the delicious recipe you see below.  Enjoy!

- Chomp Chomp 

T&D Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes 10 - 12 Cookies 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond meal (used Bob's Red Mill)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp grade B maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 dark chocolate bar, finely chopped (used Green & Black Organics 85% cacao)
• You can also use a handful of a Paleo friendly chocolate chip like Enjoy Life
• Mixing bowl and hand mixer, a stand mixer, or a food processor
• Cookie sheet and parchment paper or silicone baking pad

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put the almond meal, egg, coconut oil, baking soda, vanilla, maple syrup, and sea salt into your mixing bowl or food processor.  Begin mixing the ingredients.
3. Add your chocolate chips a little at a time to make sure they incorporate well.  Mix for about a minute or until the dough starts to clump together in a ball.
4. Use about 1 tbsp of cookie dough for each cookie.  Roll into a ball and place on the cookie sheet.  Gently press them down with the back of your spoon to flatten.  These don't melt down into cookie form like you may be used to. 
5. Bake for at least 9 minutes.  Everyone's oven varies so keep an eye on them after this time.  If it looks like they need a little longer, check them every minute.  You shouldn't need any more than about 10 minutes though. 
6. Here's the hardest step - place the finished cookies on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes.  The almond meal makes these fragile when they're first out of the oven so they need a moment to bind.  After that you can dig in!

 



Asian Inspired Beef Recipe

Another post in one day?  How can it be?!  Chalk it up to my ADD...I made a quick beef dish last night that I just remembered and decided to share.  Aren't you lucky?

Asian Inspired Beef

I'm still working on the name for this one so keep an open mind.  This one is a quick dish you can make any night of the week.  I made it using some chunks of beef I cut from a filet I had.  It uses pretty high heat though so I'd lean towards a slightly more tender cut to make sure you aren't chewing leather. 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 - 2 lbs beef, chopped into 1" cubes (anything from the short loin/sirloin area should work)
• 2 - 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 cup or less of sliced onion
• 1/2 tsp grated ginger, or 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 - 3 tbsp Tamari or Coconut Aminos
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (if you want heat)
• sesame seeds or crushed cashew (for garnish)
• Skillet (or wok) and large spoon

Put your skillet/pan on the burner and crank that heat up to high.  Depending on your stove this could happen quickly or take a couple of minutes.  While you're waiting for the heat to come up, drop the coconut oil into the skillet. 

When the oil is melted, looks shimmery, and you start seeing small puffs of smoke it's time for the fun.  Throw your onions into the pan and start mixing them around.  Keep them moving so they don't burn but start getting a nice Maillard reaction going on (droppin some culinary knowledge on you). 60-90 seconds roughly.

Once the onions are starting to look caramelized, toss in all the beef.  This you can let sit for a few seconds before stirring to get a nice seer.  Maybe 10 - 15 seconds before you give it a stir.  After your initial one or two stirrings, time to add the Tamari or Coconut Aminos and black pepper.  Give it a good stir to coat all the meat.  After this step you can revert back to stirring every 10-15 seconds.  You should start seeing some nice dark marks on the beef.

After about 2-3 minutes of this, you can add the ginger, garlic, and cayenne and give it another couple stirs.  Always add the garlic last because it scorches easily and tastes terrible.  Cook for another 30-40 seconds.  If the meat feels like the palm of your hand when you press it, turn off the heat and move the skillet to a cool burner.  That should be a nice medium-rare to medium.  You could also cut a piece open and check.

Sprinkle your garnish over the beef and serve with some vegetables or cauliflower rice and you have dinner!  The key point to this dish is to stay with it.  The high heat is meant to mimic the stir fry method of cooking and it's easy to burn everything.  But the end result is well worth the 5-10 minutes of stress.  :-)

- Chomp Chomp       



Breakfast Recipe & New eBook!

I know it's only been a few days since I started this blog thing.  And I know I said I was going to post recipes on here that I found easy.  So I'm going to give you one right now!  Get ready to have your socks blown off...unless they're already off.  Then go put some on so they can be blown off.  I'll wait...  Socks on?  Great. 

This recipe is a simple one for breakfast if you're rushed in the morning.  On future recipes, I'll try to post prep and finished product pictures so you get an idea of what I'm going for.  Remember, when starting the Paleo lifestyle you'll be replacing all of those cereals and oats and muffins made of grains for foods bursting with protein and vitamins and nutrients.  And with breakfast being the most important meal of the day, these should help keep you full and energized to lunch.

Breakfast Egg Muffins



When I make these, I plan on having at least one a day for the work week and make them in advance.  You can adjust to your appetite or crowd of course.

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 1 cup baby spinach (about a handful)
• 3-4 pieces of bacon chopped or about 3 ounces of breakfast sausage crumbled (check the ingredients!)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
• Salt and Black Pepper to taste
• Olive oil/coconut oil/bacon fat (choose one) 
• Standard muffin pan
• Skillet
• Mixing bowl (optional)

Start by greasing five spots (or more if you're making more) in the muffin pan.  I mention in the ingredients olive oil, coconut oil, and bacon fat - choose one of these to grease your muffin pan.  Eggs are a pain in the ascot to clean out of the pan once you've cooked them so you're welcome for the heads up.

Turn your oven on to 350 degrees.

Get your skillet nice and warm on medium heat and throw in the bacon or sausage.  Cook until it's pretty much done, remove from the skillet with a slotted spoon to some paper towels.  If you have a lot of fat left in the skillet from the bacon/sausage, pour enough out until you have about a tablespoon's worth left in the bottom.  Don't worry about measuring...just make sure there is enough to lightly coat the bottom of the skillet. 

With your skillet and leftover delicious fat back on the burner, toss in the baby spinach.  I like baby spinach better than grown up because it's more tender, but you can use either.  Cook this for just a few minutes until it's wilted, making sure to stir occasionally.  Once the spinach is wilted, remove with the slotted spoon and place on the paper towels.

There are a couple of ways to go about this next step.  It involves putting the eggs into the muffin pan.  I've tried both and the only difference is one less dish to clean...which is a win for me since I do the dishes.  Once I've checked the muffin pan to ensure all sides are well coated, I crack one egg into each muffin spot.  Put a little of the spinach and bacon/sausage into each egg, along with a little of the garlic and onion powder and salt/pepper.  Once all the eggs have been properly topped, mix each one with a fork to break the yolk and incorporate the ingredients.
  **Your other option is to break the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the bacon, spinach, garlic and onion powders, salt and pepper.  Mix it all together and divide evenly into the muffin pan.  You should be just under the rim of each muffin spot.

Place the filled muffin pan into your heated oven for 20 minutes.  When they're done, I've found it easiest to remove them from the pan almost immediately and onto a cooling rack.  If there is any egg left behind, it seems easier to get out of the pan when it's hot.  Let those baby chicks cool for a bit, then put them in a container and keep refrigerated. 

To reheat take one egg muffin, wrap in a paper towel, and microwave for 10-15 seconds.  BOOM, instant breakfast.  Small amount of work upfront to prevent bad decisions during the week!  The best thing about this recipe is you can substitute a lot of the ingredients.  Don't have/like spinach?  Add in another type of veggie.  Don't have/like bacon or sausage?  Then you aren't a human and should probably turn yourself into the nearest scientist for observation.  Or sub with another meat or none..whichever. 

   

Oh, I almost forgot.  I'm excited because I just got a copy of the Paleo Parents' latest book, 3 Phase Paleo!  I'm going be reading through it tonight and posting my own review.  I've been skimming through this morning and so far it looks like a great addition to the library.  But I'll get into detail later. 

Tara posted her first Paleo meal picture on Instagram last night.  Pretty darn proud of that kid.  I tried to post a picture of it on here but couldn't make it happen.  She called me two or three times yesterday asking about things she can and can't eat.  In case you were wondering she had chicken with prosciutto and marinara, roasted butternut squash, and a salad with oil and vinegar.  Great way to start!

Classic french cuisine coming your way by week's end.  Stay tuned!

-Chomp Chomp