Braising!

Okay, I've been promising a post on braising - so here it is! We are still just getting into winter, so there will be plenty of nice gray, stormy, Sunday afternoons to spend getting cozy and cooking an awesomely good meal.

 To braise meats, you don't need too much.  You should have some fresh bone broth, a dutch oven, oven, red wine, meat, aromatic veggies, and seasoning.  And time; this is a slow cooking meal and that's what makes it sooooo good.  I have had short ribs cooked in a pressure cooker, and it just doesn't compare.  Cooking this way really lets all of the flavors penetrate the meat and meld together to make a nutrient dense aromatic, warm, gravy with a depth of flavors.


First, well after making sure that you have some good bone broth on hand, is to get some meat to braise.  We like to braise short ribs, but any cut of meat that would be otherwise tough is a good choice for braising.  I get my short ribs from The Weir River Farm when they sell their meats. Grass fed meats can definitely be more gamey than factory farmed meats, so they braise really well...although if you can think "low and slow" for any grass fed meat, you will have a better result all around.

When we braise meats, they are cooked in liquid at a low temperature for a long time.  The amount of liquid you use, will therefore determine how thick the resulting sauce will be.  We like to have extra gravy to add a punch of flavor to sauces or crock pot dishes later, so we tend to use a fair amount of liquid.  If you want a thicker sauce you could easily cut the liquid recipe in half.  Also, the size of your dutch oven will determine how much meat and sauce you can cook at once.  We have a large 12 quart dutch oven.  Our previous one could not have handled this recipe. 

For this particular recipe, we used 8 good sized short ribs, olive oil, 1 cup of red wine, probably 3-4 cups of broth, some aromatic veggies - I think we used 2 carrots, 2 celery, 3 whole shallots, 10 cloves of garlic, and an onion.  And a hefty pouch of herbs like parsley, thyme, oregano, rosemary.  You can use onion, leeks, or other aromatics you have on hand.  We also used some flour (my special gluten free corn free flour blend) to thicken the gravy at the end.  And that's it!

The first thing you want to do is brown the meat.  To do that heat some oil in the dutch oven so that it is hot.  Brown each side of the meat.  Use enough oil so that it doesn't burn, but enough that you get some good meat "bits" on the bottom to get some really good flavor.

After the meat has been browned, remove it from the dutch oven.  Add chopped aromatic veggies and saute for 5-10 minutes or until softened...reserve the garlic until the last few minutes to avoid burning it.  While the veggies are cooking, pour about 1 cup of red wine into a pan and heat.  You can touch a match to the wine to burn off the alcohol, then let the wine reduce by about half.  Deglaze the yummy goodness in the dutch oven by adding the wine and making sure that all of the yummy bits from browning the meat are scraped off the bottom of the pan.

Then you can position the meat in the dutch oven and cover with broth.  We got some herbs from the garden and wrapped them in cheesecloth so that the twigs wouldn't get mixed in the sauce, but you still get all of the flavour.

Bring the broth up to a simmer, then put the entire dutch oven in a 250 degree oven.  Let cook for about 4 hours, checking half way through to skim off fat if there is an excess (there shouldn't be with grass fed meat).  When you take the meat out, it should fall off the bone, and you will have an AMAZING sauce to work with.

Most often we eat this with some dumplings, red cabbage, sauerkraut, and an array of veggies.  And then the sauce is made into a gravy which is used with this meal, and then to flavor many meals thereafter.  I wish I had a nice picture of a plated meal, but after waiting THIS LONG to eat, I didn't pull the camera out! We just devoured it.  And you will too!

I'm Still Alive!

No, I didn't give up blogging, although I know it seems that way.  I have about 3 or 4 posts started that I haven't quite rounded out (researchy stuff) and a few recipes that I have just been waiting for the time to get down.

Hopefully soon to follow is a braising recipe (perfect cold winter weekend project), and meals to make from left overs.  But for now, I just wanted to say Hi! And remind everyone that fresh food is paramount! And absolutely delicious.  This just reiterates how long it's been since I have posted, but here are the last set of pictures I loaded - an end of summer garden delight! Ha!

Fresh tomatoes and onion drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Fresh cucumbers in oil and vinegar with dill, salt and pepper, and fresh steamed muscles in butter and white wine.  OMG! So Good!

To cook the muscles, melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a deep pan, then put in a bit of garlic.  After about two minutes, add a cup or so of white wine (water will work fine too).  After the muscles have been cleaned (and make sure they are all healthy looking and closed tight), add them to the pan and let them simmer for about 10 minutes, or until all of the shells have opened. 

 Drain the water and serve! This worked out really well with the tomato and cucumber salads, and it was just enough food for a nice lunch on a hot summer day :)

Hopefully, you will see me soon!!!

Chicken Soup to Kick Cold Season's Butt!

So, school started, and immediately following everyone gets sick. Blech! Tis the season, jumbles of kids and adults sitting in close proximity to each other for hours at a time.  How do you avoid the dreaded cold? Well, you need to make sure that you are healthy so that your immune system can focus on what it does best - killing bad invaders! And you can make sure your body has plenty of nutrients to help keep your defenses strong.

This chicken soup is made from a bone broth, so it's got tons of good nutrients and fat to help nourish your gut and keep things in tip-top shape.  Add in some of your favorite chicken soup veggies, a bit of meat, then right before serving, swirl in a bit of juice from your fermented veggies.  Probiotics, to keep up the good flora!

So, from the very beginning we take a nice chicken and roast it! I like to slather on some dijon mustard and sprinkle with paprika.  This makes a crispy, yummy skin.  Cook for about 20 minutes per pound, and typically at least 2.5 hours no matter what the weight.  When the chicken is done, enjoy it! Eat it as is and/or make some chicken salad.   Save a little to add to your chicken soup when your done though.

 

Take the remaining bones, joints, and whatever tissue didn't come off and the organs and throw them in a pot.  Cover with water and bring to a low boil. Add some apple cider vinegar, sea salt, peppercorns, and any other flavors that you would like (i.e. onion, carrot, bay leaf, thyme, etc).  Let simmer for as long as you can.

When it's done cooking, strain the bones and other left overs and keep the broth.

Next cut up some of your favorite chicken soup veggies.  I like carrots, celery and onion.  Add in a sprig of fresh thyme. And if you have a cold, adding a bunch of garlic will help fight it off.  Saute in butter or oil until they are tender, then add broth and chicken breast, and you get a fabulous, warm, healing, nourishing, healthy soup that will get you through any cold and help ward off any more.  This is also good when you just want a hug.  There is just something about chicken soup.....

Ah! Just look at the beautiful, silky broth! Yum! This is another one of those foods where I can just FEEL my body absorbing all of the nutrients.  It's wonderful. 

Hello Fall!

Since this is supposed to be something of a food blog, I figured that I would add in a recipe.  It's been quite a while, sorry!!

It's the unofficial start to the fall, and that makes me super happy.  I absolutely love this time of the year; the crisp air, the beautiful fall foliage, and best of all, my kitchen isn't a gazillion degrees, so I am able to cook up a storm! I am almost jumping for joy to start making some slow cooking bone broths, braising some meats, and just laying back and eating some damn good food!

To start off, this is a soup/meat and gravy dish that I made in the slow cooker.  I love the slow cooker too.  Fall and Winter dishes are some that just kind of "come together" with what we have.  Volumes are not going to be accurate, and they will change depending on how much I have of each thing.  Most of these slow cooker meals you can add less liquid to make a sort of gravy to pour over rice, potatoes, or squash (or anything else really!) and more liquid to make a soup.  The type of meat used in these dishes is also going to be pretty easy to substitute too.  Use these recipes as a jumping off point!

My routine for the coming seasons is to roast a chicken every week.  From that chicken, I will use the meat in various dishes and I will use the bones to make a broth to use in meals for the week.  I will use the organ meat as well.  The liver I will use in dishes and the other organs go into the broth.  I keep whatever fat comes off the bird for my broth too, and I also use a splash of vinegar to help get the nutrients from the bones into the broth.  The result is a tasty base full of essential nutrients along with the fat to help our bodies assimilate all of those nutrients.  It's fabulous.  I also make a gravy when I roast the bird.

On the weekends, whenever possible, we will braise a big hunk of meat (recipe to come!).  Braising, besides helping create a memorable meal, also provides you with a lot of extra gravy.  Make sure that you keep it!

For this dish you will need:

Meat (I used 3 med sized pork chops, but you could use anything, really)
2 cups of chicken stock
1.5 cups of gravy
3 carrots
3 ribs of celery
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes and the juice
a bunch of spinach
(I also had an eggplant handy, so added that - it added a nice touch of sweetness!)
Herbs from the garden if you have them, otherwise dried herbs will work.  I used a bit of thyme, oregano, and rosemary.
Salt and pepper

This recipe makes a rather thick version that we poured over baked potatoes, the next day I added a little more broth and a little more gravy to make it more of a soup.  That is what is in the picture.

So, cut up the veggies (onion would work in here too, and so would garlic...but it's not going to make or break the dish....unless you are a garlic fiend!) and throw them into the slow cooker.  Add the meat, tomatoes, and spinach.  Then just cover with broth and the herbs...I cut a large sprig of each herb.  You could add about a tablespoon of oregano...thyme and rosemary can be very overpowering, so I would add half a tablespoon of those, and adjust if necessary. Adding the bit of gravy is a nice way to give this a rich flavor with a lot of depth.  So. Worth. It.
Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8.  Pull meat apart with a fork to break it up a bit.

Just be prepared to want to make this every week!! Or more.....

Really, though, adding the gravy just makes this dish over-the-top delicious!

Effects of Starch andSugar on Nina's Belly

In one of these pictures I am 4 months pregnant.  The other, well, I just ate too much starch and too much fruit.  The resulting coctail in my belly caused a ton of bloating and inflammation.  Yuck! This wasn't even from eating anything "really" against the rules; just mostly legal junk food.  Can you tell which is which?

I feel pretty disgusting, although it's not the emotional roller coaster that cheating with illegal foods is.  I am super tired, and my seasonal allergies have all of a sudden flared up again.

I still feel really good when I am eating primarily animal products, and I have so much more energy without the crazy insulin spikes that I used to have.  For the few weeks before this, I was eating very well, mostly primal foods (no grain, lots of meat, some nuts/seeds, some veggies, a little bit of fruit, and very little starchy foods).  For breakfast I eat 3-4 eggs cooked in bacon drippings and ghee or coconut oil, 2-3 pieces of bacon and/or an avocado.  I have been having coconut milk yoghurt for a snack, but I think that is one of the things contributing to my stomach issues.  Even though it's a "healthy" brand, it's still got crap in it.  For lunch I was having left overs like the Beef and Liver Chile, or a hamburger, or a croc pot chicken with veggies.  I was using a bit of chicken stock too.  Dinner was kind of like lunch, and I would through in some baked goods using almond meal and hiding some squash in them so that Nick would eat some veggies.  While I was doing this I actually dropped a few pounds...so I tried adding in more starches and fruit, and that is how I ended up where I am now :/ I need to figure out how to keep the weight on without making myself uncomfortable....So, I guess I am proof that fat doesn't make you fat, and if you are looking to drop weight, the best way to do that is to eat foods that show your body that good nourishing food is plentiful! Healthy animal products, including the fat, is a good way to do that.  If you just aren't that comfortable with animal products, or you aren't getting good quality meat, you should try to eat fish or add coconut oil and avocado to your diet.  Remember if you are getting healthy a lot, you are either really just thirsty, or you aren't giving your body the nutrients you need, and you should add in some more nutrient dense foods.  I'm coming to the conclusion that everyone should be eating WAY less grains....

I Feel the Power!

That's kind of how I feel right now.  It's an awesome way to feel, and it's giving me a lot of motivation to stick to my path.  Other people might think I am strange, but I don't care! I feel amazing, and I have no intention of going back to eating stuff that makes me feel awful.  Life is to short, and I have spent too much time dwelling on it here at my house.

Of course I can see myself having some accidental exposures to things, but overall I am able to recover a lot better from those things now.  I am at the point where I am zoning in on the things that I can digest easily and make me feel great (meat, eggs, and well cooked veggies), the things I can have in moderation and feel good (salad, rice, and nuts), and the things I need to avoid all together (dairy, most grains, processed foods).  I will be honest, it's not exactly how I envisioned my diet becoming, and I felt a bit weird about it, so I started doing more research, and I am now comfortable and confident in my choices.

The reason why I feel weird about what I am eating, is that my diet consists mostly of animal products, with a healthy dose of fat, nuts, and some fruits and veggies.  It's kind of like the reverse of the food pyramid, minus dairy and grains.  So initially it sounds backwards.  But then again if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.  Our bodies were designed to be eating mostly meats and supplementing with easily accessible veggies and nuts.  So it's not surprise that when you eat those things, you feel better.  It's sort of silly that modern thought dictates that animal products (fat and cholesterol) are bad.  Well, I guess if it's coming from feedlot animals it is kind of bad.  They have the same health issues we do, I mean they are eating the same things we are.  But if you can find grass fed, pasture raised animals, (which is not as hard as I thought it would be, and doesn't have to be really expensive), you should eat as much as you want.  Our bodies NEED that fat and cholesterol; most of our cells are made up of fats and cholesterol.  And if you feed and nourish your body, you will feel great! If you are carrying excess weight, it will melt away (go ahead TRY to gain weight while eating a daily dose of coconut oil!).  I read a study that indicated that when farmers tried to fatten up their pigs by adding coconut oil to the feed, they found that the pigs were leaner and healthier.  What actually did get them fat? Corn and Soy.  Feed them a little of that every day, and they gained weight while eating less.  Now go read the ingredients on the snack you just ate. 

Anyway, different people will feel better with an emphysis of different foods, but when you eat something, you should ask yourself "How does this nourish me?"  If is isn't going to nourish you, why are you eating it?? That makes the distinction between food and extra "stuff".  Filler.  Junk.  Whatever.  And you should keep in mind that synthetic versions of vitamins are not just as good as the real thing.  And they can actually prevent absorption of the real thing.  So eat real healthy whole food!

My brave new recipe comes from the "Mommypotomus" who I love to follow; she is a GAPS success story and has some wonderful, wholesome recipes and stories.  (see original recipe here: http://www.mommypotamus.com/ultimate-beef-liver-chili/).

A little while back, I purchased some fresh calf liver.  I have been fearful of trying it, but excited at the same time.  Liver is one of those ultimate healthy foods, and I have been dying to be brave enough to try it.  Well, the time has come, and it has not disappointed.  I had to tweak the recipe a bit so that the liver taste wasn't so strong, since I was using calf liver instead of chicken livers, which are milder.

Here is a blurb from an old research paper that may help you give it a shot:

"Back in the 1950′s Dr. Benjamin K. Ershoff selected three groups of rats for a feeding experiment. The first group was fed a basic diet fortified with 11 vitamins. Group 2 received the same ration along with b-complex vitamins. Group 3 also ate the same diet, but instead of b-vitamins they were supplemented with powdered liver.

After several weeks, the animals were placed one by one into a drum of cold water from which they could not climb out. They literally were forced to sink or swim. Rats in the first group swam for an average 13.3 minutes before giving up. The second group, which had the added fortifications of B vitamins, swam for an average of 13.4 minutes. Of the last group of rats, the ones receiving liver, three swam for 63, 83 and 87 minutes. The other nine rats in this group were still swimming vigorously at the end of two hours when the test was terminated. Something in the liver had prevented them from becoming exhausted. To this day scientists have not been able to pin a label on this anti-fatigue factor.

The Liver Files"

~The Mommypotomus site

You know what? It doesn't disappoint!

I followed the recipe as described, except I needed to tone it down.  And I added bacon (of course!)  Once I finished cooking it, I added another pound of ground beef, about a cup of rice, and 3 huge jalepenos.  And a little extra seasoning.  All in all it wasn't horrible.  Okay, the first few bites took some getting used to.  But I ate a little more the next day, and a bunch more the next day...I've been eating it every day all this week.  The more I eat, the better I feel, and the less weird it tastes.  I will need a little break though, I mean, eat anything this many days in a row and it gets old.  We have a TON of it though! I froze a whole bunch, so I can thaw out more when I want...and I imagine it won't be very long before I go looking for it.  I'm actually thinking about getting some more to keep around.  Crazy, I know!

  

So it's been a week since I made the chili, and I still think it's awesome.  I did end up defrosting more today, just to indulge a little bit more.  Time to find me some more liver!!!

Paleo Bread and Baked Avocado Breakfast

I have a really juicy post coming up soon, but I needed to get this recipe somewhere accessible.  So enjoy this (it's really good!) and hold on to your hats for the next post. 

In the meantime, here is a generic "paleo" recipe for grain free bread:

paleo bread:
1.5 c almond flour or almond meal
1/4 c ground flax
1/4 tsp celtic sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
5 eggs
1 tbs honey
1 tbs cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 tbs coconut oil (plus some extra to grease pan)


Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  This will leave the bread yummy and moist, but still able to handle toasting.  If you want it a little crispier right out of the oven, it can definitely handle a few more minutes.  Oh yeah, if you look at the ingredients, you see baking soda and vinegar...this will bubble up - and you should let it, it helps the bread be a little less dense :)

Oh yeah, this is an awesome base for making banana bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, or....french toast!!

I really like to eat breakfast.  I saw something a while back about baking an egg in an avocado, and thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find a recipe! It's super simple, and oh so delicious! And not to mention that it's brimming with wonderful nutrients and health fats, so it will really hold you over until lunch time.  Which is excellent.  And what's nice is that it's not overly heavy either.  I can devour this and then take Nick for a walk downtown to the playground.  So, here it is:


1 avocado, sliced in half (remove the pitt and scrape out a little extra fruit to make room for the egg if needed). You may also want to hack off a tiny bit of the bottom so that the avocado doesn't tip over.
2 eggs
Bacon, and any other fixin's that you like (i.e. tomato, salsa, whatever)


Preheat the oven to 350 and put your skillet in the oven while is heats to warm it up.  Crack one egg in each half of the avocado and place in the warm skillet.  Place 2 slices of the paleo bread in the skillet to toast with the eggs and avocado.  Let bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how runny you like your eggs.
While the eggs are cooking, it is SO worth it to fry up some bacon!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!