Long Time

It's been a long time coming but unfortunately, I don't have much to update except that I will be updating a lot more soon enough! I can't wait to have a full kitchen again so I can resume the full extent of my cooking/baking experimentations. However! That does not mean I have NOT been working on some delicious goodies. Over the past couple months I have perfected:

- Chocolate Chip Cookies PRIMAL!

- The BEST Primal Banana Bread

And other delicious goodies that I can't remember off the top of my head. Be prepared. I have a lot of pictures and information percolating on my laptop that just needs to be transferred to the blog so once that happens there will be a lot more comprehensive recipes and visual aids.

Primal on the road

As Whitney and I have been on our U.S. trip for the past two months, I think it only appropriate to comment on eating primal while traveling or on the road.

Initially, I worried it would be very difficult to maintain my diet on the road because of the press of convenience and small, more limited kitchen facilities. I've been pleased to discover that we have had excellent success with our efforts to remain 80-90% primal. Unfortunately, sometimes rural excursions have placed us in positions where we have had access to small stores or gas stations for food, so getting to 100% has been very difficult. Even so, I am as of two days ago, 12 lbs down from my wedding weight!

We eat a lot of eggs, fried up in the morning or incorporated into the delicious coconut pancakes. For snacks, we usually nosh on meat and cheese of some variety, with some various rotating selections of fruit. We made some delicious tuna salad lettuce wraps which were quite divine. I've also been experimenting with baking primal cookies and breads using almond and coconut flour. It's been an interesting and mostly delicious process. I've also started contemplating writing a "cooking" book on living grain-free as I feel very passionate about the subject and have been enjoying the cooking and baking part of this lifestyle. I also understand it can be difficult to come up with a variety of new things to try so having a cookbook with different recipes would be beneficial for people who are looking not only for primal options but who may have celiac disease or type 2 diabetes.

Enough about that! I have added a Recipes page and an About Me page but both are under construction so stay tuned for developments!

A promised recipe - N.R.G. Bars!

This is a recipe I have promised several people now. It is not of my making, the original can be found at www.marksdailyapple.com but I have tweaked it for my own purposes and preferences. That is the best part about this recipe is the flexibility. I gave them my own name as well. Because it sounds so much better than Primal Energy Bars. Boring!!

N.R.G. Bars (Naturally Really Good!)

First of all, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Ingredients:

1/2 cu slivered/chopped/minced almonds (your preference)

1/2 cu pecans

1/4 cu unsweetened shredded coconut (I found mine at the local co-op)

1/4 cu almond meal (also at the co-op)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla (this can be omitted if using vanilla whey protein powder, unless you really like the vanilla flavor, which I did!)

1 tsp raw honey

1/2 cu vanilla whey protein powder (original called for plain but all I had was vanilla)

2 LG eggs (original called for one but 2 really helps bind it together)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cu dried fruit of your choice (I used a chopped blend that was excellent)

1/4 cu unsweetened shredded coconut (this is for the topping if desired)

1/4 cu almond butter

1/4 cu coconut oil (at the co-op again)

Steps:

1. Toast coconut/nuts until golden brown.

2. Melt coconut oil and almond butter (30+ seconds in microwave) and stir until smooth.

3. Add vanilla, salt, and honey. Mix thoroughly.

4. Fold in nut mixture, almond meal, and whey protein powder until mixed thoroughly.

5. Add eggs and mix well.

6. Fold in dried fruit.

7. Press mixture firmly into 8 x 8 pan, any larger and the bars will be thin and crumbly.

8. Cook at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.

9. Remove from oven if ingredients appear dry and cooked. This cook time can vary depending on your oven so it might take some experimentation to find your perfect cook time here.

10. Cool 10-15 minutes, cut into bars.

OPTIONAL TWISTS: You can also add coconut to the top and broil it until golden brown or for a chocolate spin, add dark chocolate chips to the mix! Experiment to find your favorite.

I don't have pictures because THEY DON'T LAST LONG ENOUGH! Try them, you'll be impressed!

Rough Patches

No one said the Primal Diet was easy. And yet it is. What is not easy is battling stress-related comfort eating. Although the Primal Diet instructions have remained a constant reminder in my mind, I have still struggled over the past couple of months. I'm not going to spend this time justifying or waxing eternal about all the problems I've had that have gotten in the way of me following my plan. But I will acknowledge the difference.

Over the past month of eating poorly, my energy has dropped, I have put on some of those shed pounds, and am starting to have a resurgance of some of the symptoms that had initially vanished with this way of eating. This is motivation alone to get me back on the wagon. As today is my last day of employment, I am looking forward to being able to spend more time focusing on managing my stress, getting back to eating 3 square primal meals a day, and getting more exercise. The return of good weather also means I can begin to go outside and get more exercise than I have previously. Ahhhh, vitamin D!

I'll keep you posted on what develops over the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!

Paleolithic Diet

First of all, I'd like to share an especially interesting link given to me by my friend Elizabeth -- an interesting debate on the "paleolithic diet" from the perspective of four "experts" in various anthropologist and biology fields.

GOOD -- Ask the Experts: Is the "Paleolithic Diet" Really Better?

What I took away from this is that while the opinions were differing, there seemed to be a broad general agreement that one size does not fit all and that generalizations are often not factual.

"Leonard: In the modern, industrial world, we have become ever better at creating diets that are dense in calories and don’t require a lot of energy to procure them. No one recommendation is going to fit everybody, so the challenge is to find what works for you individually, and, at the same time, what fits the broad nutritional requirements of our species."

"Leonard: Although there’s an extraordinary range of variation, based on the climate and the environment, hunter-gatherers get a fair amount of meat in their diet. We require a diet that is more energy-dense than other primates and historically, we may have reached that point by incorporating more meat. It’s reflected in evolutionary changes in our face, our teeth, and in our gastrointestinal tract. Indeed, the GI tract of modern humans looks more like a carnivore's than a large primate's. Because early humans increasingly used tools to hunt, we don't show the same kinds of dental adaptations as modern carnivores."

More deliciousness!

Mmmmm made a delicious dinner tonight!

Slow roasted pork and carrots (with a little onion soup mix thrown in,) Spicy and sweet potatoes, and some salad!

Here's the recipe for the delicious Spicy Sweet Potatoes!

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes (about 6 cups)

2 tablespoons olive oil or 2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. In a zip-top plastic bag, toss potatoes and oil.
2. Combine remaining ingredients; add to bag; toss to coat.
3. Transfer to a greased 11x7 inch baking dish.
4. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring every 15 minutes.

Slacking

This past month has been a whirlwind and shows no sign of abating as we get closer to wedding time and now that I am under the influence of drugs deemed necessary for my post-septum repair surgery. BUT! I wanted to update with some more pictures of delicious eating in the meantime.

I came across this delicious recipe in the Primal Eating Cookbook featured at Mark's Daily Apple and I love it because it contains a lot of my favorite ingredients.... namely?

Eggs! Bacon! Cheese! Salsa! RINSE LATHER REPEAT!

These transform to create the awesome, protein packed egg muffins. Be

st part is that they are highly customizable and I experimented a little. I made two types:

- Eggs, ham, salsa, pepperjack cheese

- Eggs, chicken, goat cheese, stirfry veggies, chives

I think upon the next round I'll ditch the veggies only because they were frozen and were a little too soggy to be palatable. The rest was delicious however and the chicken ones turned out really excellent minus the vegetables.

Here's the recipe for those who wish to duplicate my delicious success.

INGREDIENTS

▪ 6 eggs

▪ 1/4 – 1/2 cup cooked meat, cut or crumbled into small pieces

▪ 1/2 cup diced vegetables

▪ 1/4 tsp salt

▪ 1/8 tsp ground pepper

▪ 1/8 cup mayonnaise

▪ 1/8 cup water

▪ 1/4 cup shredded cheese, onions, and lightly

drained salsa to the eggs

Submitted by Amy Schoenherr OMELET MUFFINS

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease 6 muffin tins with butter or coconut oil or for easier removal line with paper baking cups. The baking cups also help the muffins hold their shape. In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add meat, vegetables, salt, ground pepper, and any other ingredients and stir to combine. Spoon or scoop into the muffin cups. Bake for 18–20 minutes until a knife inserted into the center of an muffin/omelet comes out almost clean. The omelets will continue to cook for a minute or two after removed from the oven. Remove the omelets from the muffin cups and serve, or cool completely and store for another day.

I served mine with a side of sour cream and flame-roasted salsa. YUMMY!