Saturday, August 27, 2011

Beef "Enchiladas"

Sounds way more appetizing than Red Cabbage Rolls.

Pre-heat oven 375 degrees

1# Beef Ground Beef
1 Green Bell Pepper, small chop
1/2 Red Onion, small chop
2 large tomatoes, med dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
S/P
Pinch of ground cumin

7-10 washed, whole red cabbage leaves

1 can red or green enchilada sauce (15oz.)

Brown ground beef. Set aside. In the beef fat, saute the pepper and onion until soft. Add garlic; once fragrant, add tomatoes. On med high heat simmer until the tomatoes break down. Return beef to pan. Season with S/P and cumin.

Cool this mixture.

Rolls:

Spoon about 3-4 tablespoons of beef filling into a dry cabbage "cups."




Roll firmly, tucking in the ends. Place seam side down in the casserole dish.



Cover with enchilada sauce. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 60 minutes, or until the cabbage is fork tender.


Friday, August 26, 2011

Banana Cinnamon Rolls!

I mentioned yesterday at the gym that I found this "cinnamon roll" type recipe and a couple people who shall remain nameless (cough, ahem, Thomas) freaked with excitement. I TOO am a lover of cinnamon rolls so I share that same old fashioned "fat kid" mentality. Caution: this recipe does contain a little bit of milk so if you are strict with the milk well... subsitituions and experimentations are in order. Without further ado...


Get this recipe and more from modernpaleowarfare.com. Two UK crossfitter who are not only geniuses in the kitchen, but absolutely hilarious. Hence, some of the measuring lingo is a bit, ermmm... different.

Ingredients:
 
one egg
one large banana
half a pod of vanilla (1/2 a pod equals 1/2 a teaspoon, I think!)
one table spoon of honey
a handful of sultanas (raisins)
an equal handful of almond flour
150ml of milk
a dash of cinnamon
a dash of nutmeg

- Choose some coffee cups, grease them up real nice with some butter and preheat the oven to 180.
- Mix all the other ingredients together and then spoon them into the cups.
- Stick them in a roasting dish and fill the dish with water  to reach around halfway up the cup sides.
- Bake them for 35 minutes (uncovered), let them cool then turn them upside down.  
- Drizzle with honey, dress with creme fraiche and grated nutmeg.  

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Mustard Greens

This week's produce order contained my first ever batch of mustard greens. It's VERY spicy, much like arugula. I don't know about any of you but this stuff really has a bite to it. You could just sautee it down with some oil and garlic but I thought maybe this soup recipe with sweet potatos, yellow split peas and mustard greens would be way more fun. Plus, I'm looking for any excuse to use my new handmixer. If any of you mothers need paleo baby food, give me a call. ;)


Yellow Split Pea Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Mustard Greens

What goes in the pot:

2 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 large onion (chopped)
4 clove garlic (minced)
2 teaspoon cumin
2 cups dried yellow split peas
5 cups water
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 ripe plum tomatoes (seeded, peeled, diced)
1 med. Sweet potato (peeled and cubed)
½ lb. Mustard greens (coarsely chopped)

How to do the damn thing:

- Heat olive oil over medium heat, add onion, cook 4 to 5 minutes, until onion is soft. Add garlic and cumin, cook one minute more. Add split peas, water and broth, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cook about 1 hour until peas have broken down.
- Add tomatoes, sweet potatoes and mustard greens, simmer until vegetables are tender – approx. 25 minutes. Season as desired with salt and pepper.
- Blend with a handmixer to make creamy or serve chucky as is. That's your call.

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Sidenote: Check out this coconut flour recipe website here for some ideas on paleo breadmaking. Coconut flour drop biscuits would be great to accompany this recipe!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Mashed Cauliflower

Here is a lovely "blurb" followed by an instructional video and of course, directions on how to make mashed cauliflower. Just to warn you, this dish will make your house/apt smell like Thanksgiving. Garlic plus rosemary plus chicken broth makes my hungry heart flutter.  Anyway, enjoy this awesome recipe from Paleo Comfort Foods. If you like it as much as I did, show your support and preorder their new cookbook here.


 Cauli mash (aka “faux potatoes”) is one of the most versatile side dishes you can create. Add-ins that we’ve used/tried to change up the flavor have ranged from chipotle sauce, paleo mayo (for creaminess), bacon crumbles, sundried tomatoes, roasted garlic, jalapenos, Italian parsley, and for those of you putting some dairy in your life, try these with some goat cheese, butter or some heavy whipping cream. There are so many ways you can flavor these – experiment and see what you like!
A few tips and tricks:
- Cooking the cauliflower in chicken stock really adds some nice depth of flavor to the mashed. While you could just steam the cauliflower, I think the flavor is completely different when cooked in the stock.
- Cauliflower has a pretty high water content, so when we cook ours in the chicken broth, we try to get it almost dry (without burning). This usually gives us the creamy texture we personally like.
- If you are more of a chunky mash kind of person, just use a hand masher to retain some of the lumps in your mash.
Watch the video here if you need more detailed info on the “how.”

Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, leaves removed, stem and florets chopped into similar sized pieces
- 1 cup chicken stock or broth (more for a particularly large head of cauliflower)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1-2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves


Instructions
1. Place all ingredients in a medium sized saucepan or Dutch oven and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium and cover, allowing to cook for 15-20 minutes or so, or until the cauliflower is very tender and easily mashed with a fork.**
**You may need to add more stock if everything dries up and your cauliflower is not yet cooked through. Keep an eye on things as it cooks to see if you need to add some more.
3. Once cauliflower is tender and cooked through, pour off any excess stock that remains and reserve.
4. Pour all contents into a food processor and mix. If the cauliflower seems too dry, add in some of the reserved stock.
Add in any spices, herbs, or “mix-ins” that you’d like as discussed above.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Organic Cantaloupe on sale at Whole Foods!

Hey kiddos! Whole foods is have a Friday ONLY sale of organic cantaloupe... 2 for $3. What a great steal! It's tomorrow only though so skip over there on your lunch break or right after work to get some good ones. Here is a simple summer cantaloupe recipe so that you can enjoy them over the weekend, perhaps at a BBQ or picnic. Summer is ending, gobble these fruits up while they last. :)



Cantalope Salad Recipe

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups (approximately) cantaloupe balls
1/4 cup mint leaves, packed
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 and 1/2 lemons)
Olive oil drizzle
chopped red onion (optional, but gives it a little spice)

Directions:
- Next, using a melon baller, scoop about 2 cups of cantaloupe into a large mixing bowl and set aside. If you don’t have a melon baller you can always cut up the cantaloupe into about 1-1 1/2″ squares.
- blend mint and lemon juice in a blender until mint is finely chopped.
- Pour a SMALL amount at a time of the mixture and drizzle olive oil over the cantaloupe pieces and combine well. Do this a little at a time to make sure you get the right flavor. Some like more mint flavor and some don't... palates are different. You can be the judge, it's your salad. :)
- Serve right away, or cover and refrigerate until needed.







Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Brian's Bowls!


Hey kids! I've got some cool news for you all...

A couple weeks ago while I was visiting another box, I met a lovely young lady who told me about this frozen food delivery service that she and a friend have just started up. Best part is, it's all Paleo. How cool, right? The company is called Brian's Bowls. Here is a little blurb from their website that pretty much sums everything up...

"Our all-natural grain-free frozen meals are made from scratch to order once a week, and delivered to your doorstep. While the meals have varying levels of "paleo strictness," they always avoid 3 main items: 1) Grain of any kind 2) Industrial Oils 3) Artificial Ingredients. Our ingredient lists are shockingly short and we intend to keep it that way."

I'm writing this post on my lunch break after just consuming my first bowl of jerk chicken, sauteed kale and sweet potatos. It was delicious, not a bite left! I can't wait to try the beef curry tomorrow. Anyway, Paradiso does a lot to provide us with fresh food every week and this service could be a great addition to that. (Especially for those who don't have as much time to cook for every meal) We understand that work schedules can be hectic and food preparation is sometimes overwhelming. So, for those moments when you are forced to choose between "eating out" for lunch or starving, Brians Bowls is a great solution. It's really a fantastic idea and in my opinion, a huge step towards helping people with their nutritional struggles. I won't go into a "save the world from diabetes" rant right now, but I will say that what they are doing is super cool.

Browse the website. As of right now they only deliver to the South Bay but if there are enough people interested in ordering, they would be willing to make PCF a new delivery stop. That is, if you're responsible enough to leave payment with the Diso's ahead of time.

Let me know what you guys think, perhaps a discount rate could be applied for large orders! :)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Get nerdy!



Article borrowed for your nerdy pleasure from Mark's Daily Apple...

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“People from Africa, Asia, and Latin America eat lots of grains and manage to stay skinny, so what’s the deal?”

You know this line of questioning. We’ve all heard it. We’ve probably all pondered it. It may have even stumped a few of you, left you stuttering and stammering for a quick explanation. But by the time you think of a reply (if you even have one), the moment has passed and they have “won” the argument.

A briefly open mind was now closed. But let’s be honest: it’s a valid question, and a tough one at that. We can’t just avoid the tough questions. So let’s take this head on.

Like always, the answer is multifaceted. Health is not reliant on a single feature. It’s not just diet, it’s exercise, stress, sleep, family, community, genetics, infectious burden. Within diet, it’s not just what is eaten, but also what isn’t eaten. It’s how food is prepared, whether it’s cooked or eaten raw. Find me a culture who thrived on grains as a staple food, and I’ll find you a culture who came up with some elaborate preparation method to mitigate the antinutrients and enhance the nutrient bioavailability of those grains. Find me a culture whose health thrived on toxin-rich grains as a staple without mitigating said toxins, and I’ll be waiting a long time (and observing the United States through smug Primal shades while I wait).

In today’s post, I’m going to explore the primary reason for why so many traditional cultures who ate grains managed to stay thin and relatively free of degenerative diseases: traditional grain preparation, including soaking, sprouting, and fermentation. If you’re familiar with the Weston A. Price Foundation‘s stance on grains, you’re probably aware of these preparation methods. Each step alters the nutritional experience of the grain to varying degrees, making it more digestible, less toxic, and tastier. I for one am not willing to go through hoops to make grass babies go down easier, but the process is nonetheless extremely interesting. And in the future, if any of my readers want to give grains a shot, at least they’ll do it right, or as right as it can get. As I always say, the only reason to make grains any part of your diet is as a cheap source of calories that converts to glucose very quickly.

You know how cool parents will drink or smoke with their teens to teach them mature consumption of potentially illicit substances before they learn to do it all wrong it in the wild world? This post is kinda like that.

Let’s first do a quick rundown of what exactly we’re trying to avoid, deactivate, or mitigate. We gotta know what we’re up against.

Phytic acid: Phytic acid is the main storage form of phosphorus in grains. That’s awesome for the grain, which needs phosphorus, but there’s a catch. Phytate also binds to many minerals, including zinc, magnesium, calcium, and iron, to name several. And, since non-ruminants don’t possess phytase, which digests phytate and releases the bound minerals for easy absorption, eating large quantities of phytate-containing foods results in mineral deficiencies for meat-eating apes. These deficiencies, taken to an extreme, can manifest as tooth decay, which might explain why early grain eating populations had worse teeth than the hunter-gatherers who preceded them.

Enzyme inhibitors: Grains are seeds that require certain wet, nutrient rich conditions for proper growth. Spontaneous germination is counterproductive (you don’t want your children settling down in an area with high crime and high unemployment, do you?), so enzyme inhibitors prevent it. When moisture abounds (like, when soaking grains), the inhibitors are deactivated and sprouting occurs. So why should we care? Certain other enzyme inhibitors also inhibit our ability digest the grains. If you’re relying on grains as a dietary staple, you can’t afford not to wring every last drop of nutrition out of them.

Lectins: I covered lectins fairly comprehensively in a previous post, so I’ll keep it brief. Lectins are nature’s pesticides, protecting the tiny grain from predation. They can perforate the intestinal lining, disrupt our immune systems, and there’s even evidence that they bind to leptin receptors in the hypothalamus (potentially triggering leptin resistance).

Gluten: You know this guy. Found in wheat, rye, and barley, he’s a real bastard of a protein – and possibly not just to celiacs. There’s some evidence that true fermentation can break down gluten, but not all of it. Some Italian researchers used a unique blend of bacterial species to break down 99% of the gluten in sourdough bread, but it was under strict, extremely contrived laboratory conditions. More on that later.

So, how do traditional cultures take care of the aforementioned?

Soaking and Sprouting

I’ve written about soaking nuts and seeds before, and soaking grains is the same idea. The grains are covered with water, placed in a preferably warm place, and soaked for between 12 and 24 hours. There’s not much more to it than that. After soaking, you drain them, rinse them, and let the grains sit out for a couple days. To get grains to sprout, rinse and drain them a couple times each day until sprouts emerge.
Effect on phytate: If the grain contains phytase, some of the mineral-binding phytic acid will be deactivated, but not much. And if the grain has been heat-treated, which destroys phytase, or it contains very little phytase to begin with, the phytic acid will remain completely intact. Overall, neither soaking nor sprouting deactivates a significant amount of phytate.

Effect on enzyme inhibitors: Well, since the seed has been placed in a wet medium and allowed to sprout, the enzyme inhibitors are obviously mostly deactivated. Digestion is much improved (cooking will improve it further).

Effect on lectins: The evidence is mixed, and it seems to depend on the grain. Sprouted wheat, for example, is extremely high in WGA, the infamous wheat lectin. As the wheat grain germinates, the WGA is retained in the sprout and is dispersed throughout the finished plant. In other grains, sprouting seems more beneficial, but there’s always some residual lectins that may need further processing to deactivate.

Effect on gluten: Sprouting reduces gluten to some extent, but not by very much. Don’t count on it. A little bit goes a long way.

Fermentation

After soaking and grinding, grains are traditionally mixed with a starter culture or allowed to wild ferment. Starter cultures often include whey, kefir, yogurt, or left over fermentation medium from the previous batch. Wild fermentation occurs when the grain mixture employs bacteria already present on the grains, or picks up wild yeasts and bacteria from the environment. Both methods are far more effective than just soaking and sprouting at deactivating antinutrients and improving digestibility. Plus, fermentation lends interesting flavors to and enhances the shelf-life of the resultant food (which was extremely valuable in the days before refrigeration and canning).

Effect on phytate: Remember phytase? It’s the enzyme that deactivates phytate, and it really gets cooking during fermentation. In grains that contain high amounts of phytase, like wheat, rye, and buckwheat (technically a pseudo-cereal, but close enough), a day of fermentation deactivates most of the phytate. To degrade the phytate in low-phytase grains, however, the fermentation time must be extended. Adding small amounts of phytase-containing grain to the mix will also speed up the process. Increasing the temperature also improves phytate breakdown. In millet, a low-phytase grain, it took 72 hours to completely degrade the phytate. In wheat, it took ten hours to reach a maximum of 88.8% phytate reduction using a specific bacterial strain. Other strains resulted in reductions of between 28% and 86% (with most reaching above 80%). Standard quick rise baker’s yeast only reduced 16% of phytate (that’s what 99% of wheat eaters are eating nowadays, remember!). Ten hours may not always be enough, however – another fermentation study found that at 48 hours, phytate in wheat was still degrading.

Effect on enzyme inhibitors: Fermentation also significantly reduces enzyme inhibitor activity. A few examples would be prudent, since fermentation has different effects on different enzyme inhibitors in different grains. In 24 hour traditional sorghum fermentation, both trypsin inhibitor and amylase inhibitor (which impedes starch digestion) were reduced by up to 58% and 75%, respectively. In millet, a 48 hour fermentation was required to completely deactivate amylase inhibitor. As I mentioned in the last section, one study found that 48 hours of fermentation resulted in maximum wheat starch digestibility, presumably by deactivating amylase inhibitor.

Effect on lectins: Fermentation reduces lectin load fairly comprehensively across the board, but it might take longer than you can spare. In lentils (I know, not a grain, but with similar antinutrient issues), 72 and 96 hours of fermentation at 42 degrees C eliminated 98% and 97.8% of the lectins, respectively. Specific info on grain lectin breakdown due to fermentation is sparse. Overall, fermentation appears to be pretty effective at reducing lectins (and cooking reduces them further).

Effect on gluten: No store bought garden variety sourdough you find is going to be gluten-free. A team from Italy was able to produce a gluten-free sourdough wheat bread by using specific bacterial strains from all over the world and subjecting the bread to many days of fermentation. The process was totally unfeasible for the home or average commercial baker. There’s also a guy who sells monthlong fermented sourdough bread out of LA-area farmers’ markets and claims celiacs can eat it without issue. Reviews on Yelp seem to corroborate. Maybe I’ll swing by his stand and give it a shot, but I’m skeptical. And besides, I’m personally more worried by WGA, which is biologically active at nanomolar concentrations and which may not be fully degraded by fermentation.

To Eat, or Not to Eat

Some may turn up their noses at agrarian people for relying on a “sub-optimal” grain as staple food, but not me. Yeah, I’m definitely no fan of grains, and I think avoiding them is one of the biggest positive steps a person can take for their overall health. That’s beside the point. As a technical feat, I find the taming of the grain incredibly impressive, a testament to mankind’s awesome ability to adapt to and overcome adversity. Any other animal that switches over to a new staple food that prevents nutrient absorption, causes intestinal perforation, and increases inflammation had better develop some physiological adaptions to deal with the antinutritive factors, and quickly, if it doesn’t want to die out or be forced to move to a new habitat. A human, though? Humans figured out a way to preserve the toxic food, make it palatable, drastically reduce its antinutrient content, and make it more digestible, thanks to the big efficient brain inside our skulls. It’s not physiology (well, kind of), it’s not some advantageous mutation that’s naturally selected and saves the day. It’s human ingenuity, knowhow, knowledge, and wisdom. It is manipulation of the environment to suit our immediate needs. That gets us into trouble on occasion, but you can’t say it isn’t impressive.

That said, will I start soaking, sprouting, and fermenting big batches of grains in my kitchen? No. It’s way too much work and it’s unclear whether the toxins are fully mitigated (and in the case of wheat, they almost certainly are not). I’ll admit that crusty sourdough bread can be a nice occasional treat when eating out, but it’s not something I’m interested in eating on a regular basis. Furthermore, I’m not missing out on any magic nutrient by avoiding grains, but I am avoiding the elaborate prep work required to make them moderately edible (and the toxins that may or may not be deactivated). For the billions that rely on grains for sustenance, these traditional preparation methods are necessary. Choosing between potentially toxic food and starvation, you choose the food – no question – and then you do your best to make it more nutritious. For those of us who don’t need to make that choice, for whom bread is an extracurricular treat, I think removing the risk altogether by simply avoiding the potentially toxic food is a better move. And if it’s carbohydrate you’re after, stick with safe starch sources like roots, tubers, or even white rice (the sole grain that requires no elaborate processing).

But at least you know there’s a better way than what most people do with grains nowadays. At least there’s somewhat of a middle ground for people who won’t relinquish the grass babies.

What about you guys? Do you think you’ll ever experiment with traditional grain preparation?

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Cabbage patch Kids!

A big ass head of cabbage!

Dressing:
1/2 c Rice wine Vinegar
1/2 cTamari (not Paleo!!!)
1/4 c Sesame Oil
1/4 c. Honey
1 c Olive Oil  or Grapeseed Oil
Several dashes of red pepper flakes

Pepitas or Almonds or BOTH!

Chiffonade the Cabbage. Put all ingredients for dressing in a shaker cup and shake it up.

Ta-DA!

Please feel free to add to the salad: chicken, shrimp, bell peppers, sesame seeds for more crunch, thinly sliced onion- red or green, fresh cilantro or parsley... and the options are endless!


Monday, August 8, 2011

O! Burger

Many of you at the gym have the same obsession as I do for grass-fed beef burgers . I've seen MANY of you more than twice at The Counter. I don't blame you, I'm there quite often. It's a love affair that we all partake in because well... building your own burger is the best relationship strategy ever. And the sweet potato fries... straight food forplay.

On that note... I came across this new place in LA called O! Burger that serves grass-fed burgers. Lots of folks from this years Ancestral Health Symposium visited this restaurant and then blogged about it. It's quick, casual, organic and grass-fed. I like all of those things and I'm sure you will too. If you check it out before I do, let me know what you think. Perhaps The Counter will have some legit competition?  Counter-4-life!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Chicken and Rice!

Growing up my mother used to make this chicken and rice dish. She would bake the chicken tenders in rice coated with this creamy deliciousness. Some kind of milk, mushroom soup and butter concoction, I'm sure. Items that I would never eat today. Sad! It's definitely a comfort food that I can no longer enjoy. Until I find a way to make that dish paleo, this version of a chicken and rice dish will have to work. It's from the ladies over at Sweet Cheeks which means it's definitely delicious. The salsa gives it a little mexican spice and flare, which I'm never opposed to. I think that I might try it with a red salsa and use grilled red peppers instead of the spinach bed of lettuce. Make your own tweeks, be creative!  :)
Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:
1 head or 1 bag cauliflower-chopped
1 small yellow onion-chopped
1 can green mild green chiles
2 chicken breast (baked and cubed very small)
black olives-sliced (garnish)
spinach
Trader Joe's Salsa Chile Verde
salt and pepper- to taste
dash Cayenne pepper
1 tsp Cumin
Olive oil

1.Chop cauliflower into small pieces, then, in a food processor pulse until the consistency of rice, very small pieces. Don't over pulse or you will make mush!
2. In a medium size sauce pan on medium heat add 1 tablespoon olive oil, add chopped onions and cook until golden and soft.
3. Add in cauliflower and cook until soft approx 5 minutes-taste for desired doneness.
4. Next add green chiles, a dash of cayenne, salt and pepper and cumin and chicken. Cook until Hot.
5. Serve on a bed of spinach topped with sliced olives and salsa Verde.

That's it. One pan does it all, that's of course if you've got your chicken prepped.