Perfect bacon every time

Surprisingly, I am still doing great with my paleo. I am sick, overworked, overcommitted, don't have time to blog - but eating great and loving it!  Big changes.  I am continuing with the ideas of simplifying paleo diet: finding quick and easy goto recipes, learning the fast way to cook big meals, taking advantage of leftovers.

Today, I want to share the latest discovery, which has taken our breakfast to the next level: perfect bacon! A fellow paleo mommy wrote, "The one downsdie to feeding your baby bacon: Greasy little paws after breakfast!"  I decided, she was right and I needed to find a bacon recipe that does not take so much time and effort.  And I did! From now on, bacon is easy enough, we can have it on school mornings!

I started with a baked bacon recipe. The idea is brilliant: instead of laboring with a fork over a hot pan of sizzling bacon, put it in the oven, set the timer and walk away. After some experimentation, I came up with several important principles:

• There are two phases to baking bacon: the rendering of the fat and the crisping
• The rendering should take about ten minutes at a temperature of or below 300 F.
• The crisping takes under 5 minutes at  400 F.
• The crisping time is critical and depends on the thickness of the bacon, your particular oven and your preferences with respect to crispiness.

This principles generate a couple methods, each useful for its own circumstances.

Step 1.  Lay it out.

Line the baking sheet with foil to avoid Lay the bacon strips on a baking sheet. Put the sheet in the oven.  (Multiple sheets simultaneously are ok for a lot of bacon!)

Step 2. The baking.

Set the temperature to 400F. Timer to 15 minutes.  Walk away. Come back and peek - wait till it looks as crispy as you like it!  Record the total time for future reference. Done.

Modification A.  Warm oven.  

If you are using an already warm oven, don't despair.

Set the temp to 300 F, timer to 10 minutes.  Come back, set temperature to 400F, timer to five minutes.  After that watch it till it's done.

Congratulations! You have just created the best bacon that has ever resided on your breakfast table, and you can repeat this success every time.  Always be careful when buying a different kind of bacon. Everything depends on the thickness of your slices! And don't forget to come back a little early when you get a new oven or move.

I am thrilled with my results - not the bacon - my husband's pleased face.  He is the pickiest bacon eater and we've had perfect bacon for a whole week!

Paleo mommy success!

After many attempts, I finally made a yogurt flavor rivals store-bought vanilla and strawberry that are my son's favorites. And I am not telling!

No, really, I am telling.  :-)  If I weren't telling, this wouldn't be a blog but one of those add-filled splash pages.  Only no ads.

I mixed my full-fat Creamline Village plain yogurt from Trader Joe's with honey. Not only is honey better than whatever they are likely stuffing vanilla yogurt with, but here I have complete control. Switching over to honey yogurt means, I can gradually reduce honey or even replace it with other flavors.  (Lily has been eating yogurt with palm sugar for a long time - but Alex stuck with the flavored alternatives till now.)

This is just one in my many attempts to trick my non-paleo family into eating healthy and natural.  While I am on the topic, here are some principles I have developed:

• To avoid snacking, feed them early! Kids snack all day because they are hungry.  Stuffing their tummies before they think of it keeps the ice cream away.  I had no idea just how hungry they were after school till I started  making an after-school meal.  I am planning on having dinner ready at 3:30 pm and a healthy snack at 6 instead of the more typical vice-versa.
• Always offer a healthy desert after a meal: strawberries with whipped cream, fruit, meringues, dark chocolate.  Just discovered something to try: paleo cupcakes. If you are lucky, they'll think they are getting something special and won't go looking for cookies. I think, it's generally valuable if kids recognize that their parents value things that are valuable to them! 
• No forbidden fruit. If they want a bagel (and daddy loves bagels, so they will!) they get a bagel. The conflict involved isn't worth it.  If their friends are going for ice cream, we are coming - no guilt, no shame.
• Create replacements.  We just discovered that sun flower seed butter is just as yummy as peanut butter and now we have it in the house. Also, apple/seed butter sandwiches are even better than peanut butter bagels! 
• If they are used to sugar, give them healthy sweetness.  Palm sugar is great; so is honey, maple syrup, stevia. So, I am slowly learning to replace store-bought sweet options with home-made sweet better options.  :-)
• If they are not used to a lot of meat, always have lots of vegetable options for them to choose from. I sometimes say, "Alex, you have 1-2-3..-7 dishes to choose from! Surely, you can find something you like!"  With pressure gone, he is slowly turning into a meat eater. I am thrilled!
• Relax! Stressing about it will make things worse.  It'll create conflict inside the family, turn your kids into picky eaters and will cause you to consider giving up the whole thing.  That's what happened to me.  Since I allowed myself to go easy - things have been great! 

It hasn't been long since I failed at paleo.  Surprisingly, I am finding it fun and easy this time. Part of my success, I know, has been due to the abundance of paleo mommy blogs.  Here are some I have discovered lately:   Wellness Mama with lots of kid-tested recipe, Whitney at the Paleo Child who posts her child's lunch boxes, Anita at Paleo On a Budget who made me realize, fresh ingredients are out there.  I would like to put together a paleo kids resource page as there are seem to be so few out there and we need each other! Please leave me a comment with your blog url if you should go on it!

Honey Mustard chicken nuggets

For the paleo kids!

Actual chicken nuggets
 from this recipe

I've always been disappointed with the almond meal solution when it comes to chicken nuggets.  First of all, almond meal is very dry, often generating nuggets I feel like choking on.  Second, it does not coat evenly and they come out looking kind of scruffy. Finally, they just don't have the right color: dull biege instead of the golden I am used to.

This time, I tried something different and the result was incredible! If you don't believe me, just look at the picture taken as they came out (they are a little paler than in the picture - but the even look it what amazed me). This recipe is for 1 lb of chicken. Quadruple and freeze after cooking for a perfect lunchbox option.

Step 1. The marinade.

1/2 water, 1/4 cup warm honey, 1/4 cup grey poupon mustard, 1 lb chicken. The marinade works very fast and you can leave them there for fifteen minutes. You will be surprised to see that the chicken is turning white as the acid works to cook the outside right in the marinade! The liquid is reduced dramatically as it penetrates the chicken.

Step 2. The coating.

1 cup almond flour; 1/2 tsp dry mustard + optional spices to taste (I like garlic powder, ginger root, palm sugar). Coat the chicken, a few at a time - I saw a much more even coat than when using almond flour alone.

Step 3. The baking.

Line the sheet with foil to reduce cleanup. I did 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Check on them after fifteen minutes. You'll see brown circles forming around the nuggets. When that first happens, it's time for them to come out. Wait a few minutes more - and they are stuck to the bottom!

The nuggets have a vague hint of honey and mustard, barely noticeable. The chicken is sooth and tender, not too dry.  I loved them as much as the kids.  I also made honey mustard sauce by mixing mustard & honey 2:1 for myself. Kids ate them with ketchup. Yum!

Pepper Steak

Here is a go-to quick pepper steak recipe that has been a staple for my family long before paleo and how I adapted it.

Spaghetti:

... squash, that is. Normally, this recipe is served over pasta and rice. Spaghetti squash does quite well - and I don't like eating pepper steak without something to break up the flavor.

Before you start, stick your spaghetti squash in the oven. I prefer baking it sliced in half, rind side up. (I'll also fry it in butter at the end, stay with me.)

Ingredients:

• 1lb flank or chuck steak, cut into strips. 
• 1/2 cup or so worcheshire sauce
• 1 tbsp cooking oil (I like coconut, of course!)
• 1 can mexican tomatoes
• 2 cans beef broth
• 1 bell pepper, diced into strips
• 1 onion, chopped

Cooking:

Heat up the oil. Drown in it worcheshire sauce and cook for 2 min over medium-high heat. The sauce will begin to carmelize, which is what we are going for. Throw in half the onion and cook another 2 minutes.  Add the steak. Brown till... well... it's brown, 5 min or so.

Pour the broth & tomatoes (with the juice) over it. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes. Uncover and give it another half an hour, allowing the fluid to evaporate, leaving the meat with plenty of au jus.  

Now is the time to get spaghetti out of your spaghetti squash, throw some butter in the pan and fry it for 5-10 minutes. This will prevent it from being quite so watery. I thought, frying was a substantial improvement!

Throw in remaining onion and pepper, toss with the meat, cook 2 more minutes and serve.

 This recipe is festive enough, it's as good for entertaining as it is for a family meal. It is pretty successful with the kids: it does have a kick from the mexican tomatoes, but without being too spicy. The spaghetti squash was voted down as my family is not used to it - but I enjoyed it. Still, it has unusual texture, so be cautious with picky eaters!

Getting pregnant again!

A while ago, I had announced, this blog was going to be about the paleo pregnancy.  Unfortunately, this idea was short-lived as I lost the pregnancy at twenty weeks of gestation due to a developmental problem: water in the brain, chest cavity and abdomen.  Apparently, the baby had a hole and leaked! I know, I can laugh about it now - but only because yesterday my husband and I have finally decided to try to conceive again!

From LadyZona.com
(I want to look like her!)

Boy, am I committed to doing everything right! There is no evidence, I did something wrong, but it's important to me to increase the odds that I conceive fast and carry the pregnancy if there is any hope. So bottom line, I am getting back to the topics of paleo pregnancy, conception, nutrition and exercise.

The next topic I need to get answers for is optimal prenatal vitamins. Hopefully, next time I post, there will be info!

Coconut goodness

I would like to talk about coconut today. Mark's daily apple calls it "Smart fuel". Coconut research center says it's a "functional food" because of how many nutrients it offers us.  While the medical establishment warns us against the dangers of the saturated fat contained in it.

I would like to talk about my experience with various coconut products, the good and the bad, and share my acquired love for coconut.

My favorite coconut product family thus far are coconut milk and cream.  The most exciting part about these is the pure-energy component the provide for my diet.  When tired, I used to turn to coffee and red bull.  Now I make my "magic coconut drinks" as I call them, which provide a longer lasting non-jittery energy that enables me to get through tired afternoons and late nights.  Here they are:

1. Amazing double-coco, which I discovered in the Primal Cookbook.  Use two teaspoons of cocoa, three times as much cold coconut milk. Mix them up and you have consistency of yogurt.  Add boiling water - and you will have hot chocolate unlike any other you've ever tasted. Forget the cardboard taste of Hershey's powder products.  Coconut gives it the rich chocolate flavor you will not find anywhere else.  The best part is, it requires almost no sweetening due to its richness.  (Tip: use the dutch cocoa, which is richer and far less bitter.)
2. Coconut/avocado milkshake.  OK, I have to admit, it did not sound like it could possibly taste good.  I was so surprised, it became my daily afternoon drink, often replacing lunch!  Skip the low-fat yogurt in favor of greek, add some vanilla and stevia to taste.  (Tip: start by blending the avocado till smooth before any other ingredients; ripe avocado is key - or you'll have little avocado bits on your tongue!)

The problem with coconut cream is that it almost always comes sweetened, intended for pina colada.  I recently discovered a great product, coconut cream concentrate, far better on your budget, too! And the first user review confirms my experience with coconut as well:

This stuff is great! I eat it out of the jar with a spoon as a quick pick me up! It's amazing what coconut and coconut oil can do for you! 

Next comes shredded coconut. I use it as a topping for yogurt, in place of shredded cheese in salads and any time I feel my meal is a little too lean for the proper amount of energy I look for.

Another favorite discovery is coconut oil. It is amazing in cooking.  Because of its stability (the good old saturated fat!) it gets much hotter than any other oil you will use.  It sizzles like butter and produces similarly crispy, beautifully browned results, but unlike butter, it will not burn. When making fried chicken, it creates a meal so beautiful and tasty, I can bring it to a holiday table and feel good about myself!

Finally, a word about coconut flour. I do not like it!  It is grainy and refuses to integrate into the texture and flavor of the meal.  I use almond & cashew flour and avoid coconut till further notice.

Things I have not tried:  coconut water (which is supposed to be truly magic and has been used for centuries for a variety of medicinal purposes) and coconut butter that some swear by as a fast snack.

What I would like to do is create a coconut-based power bar. If anyone can think of how to go about it and what it would contain, please leave me a comment.  I am a huge fan of on-the-go no-cook no-mess no-thought convenience of such a thing!

Why I stuck with the paleo diet

Paleo has been tough for me.  I've been on it for about 9 months now.  The start was extremely rough: I was hungry all the time and couldn't figure out why. I found that my kids were not used to eating a lot of meat, and neither was I.  Mealtimes, never a problem before that, became a disaster.  My husband thought I was misguided and to top it all off, I had to learn how to cook!  Eventually, while still technically paleo, my diet deteriorated, and I was simply sick of it. I gave up and ate bagels till my heart was content for two weeks!  The result? I had to go back and do it right this time.

Here is why.  Here is a list of things that happened to me while on Paleo:

1. I quit getting sick.  My kids come down with colds monthly - but I seem nearly immune, getting minor symptoms from time to time.
2. I have a high level of energy, often feeling like I can move mountains after a good healthy meal.
3. My teeth are white!  This is the most surprising of all the results.  I am horrible to my teeth and they've always shown it.  Suddenly, I have a smile I am proud of!
4. I no longer get heart burn when eating onions.  Now, that's unexpected!  I've had a hard time with raw onions since I got pregnant the first time.  Now I can eat them with a spoon. Neat! (When I went off paleo for two weeks, the heart burn was back. How do you like that?)
5. My taste preferences seem to shift away from the unhealthy: sweet things seem too sweet to enjoy, potatoes too bland. I am beginning to trust my taste buds to lead me in the healthy direction for my body.

Losing all that overnight made me realize how much this diet has come to mean to my body and to my lifestyle.  I just couldn't stand the idea of walking away and back to where I had been a year ago: lethargic, constantly fighting off a cold, trying to get through the day, drinking a cup after cup of coffee with little to no effect.

There is another localized symptom that helps me guide myself in the right direction.  After a "right" meal, I feel like one of those super-heros in my son's cartoons after drinking a special power potion.  I can't describe it in terms even I can understand...  I feel happy to be alive.  But the feeling kicks in suddenly, like from a drug, minutes after I am done eating.  As far as I can tell, the following are the key ingredients for making it happen:

   * beef - no other meat has done it (I am hypothesizing, it's the amount of iron)
   * high fat content (not surprising, it's where the energy comes from)
   * low amount of carbohydrates: just a small side of veggies (high-carb meals always weigh me down)

I love the feeling and love the evenings that follow after the dinner that makes it happen.  I can work late into the night and feel like a million bucks.  Today is one of those. I can't wait to get to work and kick butt!