Butternut Squash "Breakfast Potatoes"

Eating Paleo when you have an egg allergy can be quite a challenge.  Breakfast is particularly difficult.  About 4 or 5 months ago, I read a blog that suggested making "breakfast potatoes" out of butternut squash.  I have since forgotten where I found this "recipe," but I am grateful for the person who turned me on to this idea.  It has become part of my regular breakfast rotation these days despite the amount of grunt work that goes into it.  You'll see what I mean...

First, I chop the ends off a large butternut squash to make it a little more manageable:

Then, I use a peeler to remove the outer surface:

Next, I chop it into large chunks and remove the seeds with a spoon.

Then, I chop it into smaller disks and ultimately, smaller cubes.

This last stage is kind of haunting because they look just like cubes of cheddar cheese!  Man, do I miss cheese! 

The cubes are pictured in a Snapware container because I typically do all the chopping at night.  The next morning, I fry about 6 strips of quality bacon in a pan and transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate to cool.  I dump some chopped onion and the squash in the pan and let it cook in the bacon grease.  Once the cubes have softened a little, I use a pair of kitchen sheers to cut the bacon into small pieces and add it back to the pan.  Finally, I add seasonings.  I have never measured the amounts, but I add a ridiculous amount of cumin, a little salt and cinnamon and even some Turkish seasoning from Penzeys.  Most of the time I get lucky and it turns out pretty well. 

These honestly don't taste anything like regular potatoes, but I find that it's a pretty good substitution for me.  They are better when they sit for a day or two in the fridge and are warmed up as leftovers the next morning, as I've found that the seasonings tend to blend and the squash continues to get more tender.

Well Fed Options

I mention the cookbook Well Fed by Meliisa Joulwan in just about every post on this blog.  If you don't have a copy yet, and are thinking about buying one, you might want to consider buying a PDF copy directly from Melissa's website.  Once upon a time, I had the paperback copy (it's now moved on to friends), but the PDF copy is the one I use in my kitchen.  I actually prefer the PDF because, once printed and placed in a binder, it will lay flat.  There have been some complaints that the paperback's binding doesn't hold up very well, so the PDF option solves that problem.  It also makes me feel better about scribling notes all over the pages.  Here's my copy:

Another cool thing about buying the PDF is this note on Melissa's blog:

Neato news! For every PDF we sell, we’re donating $1 to Common Threads, a non-profit organization that teaches low-income children how to cook wholesome, real food with a free 10-week, hands-on cooking class. Learn more about Common Threads.

Another tip: Melissa posted a list of corrections to the cookbook here.  So, if the directions in any of the recipes seem a little fuzzy, there's a good chance she's added some clarification via an errata sheet.

A final picture of Well Fed shows the proper use for a toaster oven!  Yes, that's right, now that I am eating Paleo, the only use I have for a toaster oven is to hold recipes while I'm cooking.



Cumin Roasted Carrots

I've been on a huge Cumin Roasted Carrots kick lately.  I have always loved these, but just recently discovered that they are good for breakfast also!  I will typically make a batch at night and then save the leftovers to be reheated quickly in the morning.  I pair them with a slice of ham or some Canadian bacon, and absolutely love it!  You can find the recipe in Well Fed by Melicious.

Chicken Satay Salad

There are so many things that signal the arrival of summer for me.  The warmer weather, the longer days, my neighbors who leave the front door of their apartment open to save on A/C (I wouldn't mind except for the noise of their screaming toddler reverberating down the hall!  hint hint).

One thing I am loving about summer is the change in appetite I've experienced lately.  Gone is my hunger for crock pot stews and Shepherd's Pie.  Now it's grilled meats, veggies and salads!  This is coming from someone who didn't touch a single piece of lettuce until my mid-twenties!  So, I am thrilled to have developed a taste for salads.  It's still fairly selective and it will take me some time to branch out in more directions.  For now, it normally has to be some kind of Asian-inspired dressing.  One great option I've discovered is to use Melicious' recipe for "Sunshine Sauce" as a salad dressing.  It tastes a little bit like peanut sauce at a Thai restaurant.  I throw some spinach in a bowl, top it with leftover cold grilled chicken, drizzle some Sunshine Sauce over top, and it's good to go!

I realize this is not the height of culinary sophistication, but sometimes simple is good.  Besides, Paleo can be quite overwhelming when you come from a food background like mine, and it's nice to have some incredibly easy recipes on hand.

Tough Transition Days!

I have been back from Tucson for over a week.  It took me several days to get completely back on track with a strict Paleo diet.  Seems like once I am off-plan for a few days, I inevitably have to face withdrawal all over again. 

This time was especially hard because we celebrated Father's Day at P.F. Changs (gluten-free, of course!).  After that sugar and cornstarch-loaded meal, my body put up quite a fight at the idea of going 100% back to Paleo.  So, I gave myself some wiggle room for a few days, to include a few "cheats."  None of them were huge - a Flavia mocha at the office one day.  A trip to Golden Spoon the next.  I allowed myself 2 or 3 days of breathing room before cutting myself off.  At that point, a major battle ensued and I forced myself to just deal with it.  I chewed some sugar free gum and got some extra sleep. 

And now?  Well, I'm back on track.  It's amazing how much easier it is to be compliant with a good diet once you are several days into it.  The cravings subside to something much more reasonable.  It's those first few clean days days that make it so hard.  For me, the lesson doesn't amount to never having cheat days.  For me, the take-away is this: Be very, very selective about how often and how intensely I go off track.  I personally want to rack up several weeks in a row before I go off plan.  It's more of a once-a-month thing for me as opposed to once-a-week.  I just can't seem to come up with a better way to do it.  What's your strategy?

Gluten Free Travel Snacks

I'm flying to Tucson tomorrow for a business trip and just packed some snacks! 

Aside from the dark chocolate, they are not Paleo, and not part of my daily diet.  However, I feel the need to have some emergency supplies in Tucson in case testing goes a little long and I'm stuck on-site.  Also, I am staying at a hotel right next to the airport and most of the gluten free restaurants are about 30-40 minutes away.  With that said, I can guarantee that I will be munching on a few of these goodies in the next three days.  I could probably figure out a way to keep it Paleo, but that would honestly create more stress for me than it's worth for a few days.  What kinds of gluten-free and/or Paleo snacks do you take on the road?  I'm going to have to work hard at restraining myself tonight - I'm not used to having anything salty and crunchy besides nuts.  The Terra chips and the Nut-Thins are seriously calling my name!

Paleo Shepherd's Pie

Last night, I made Shepherd's Pie.  My favorite recipe comes from the popular gluten free blog, Elena's Pantry.  It's a little bit labor-intensive, but during the winter, I was making this about once a week.  Now that summer is here, I only make it once every month or two.  It's a fantastic recipe if you are doing any kind of autoimmune or gut healing protocol. 

Here's my set-up:

I took this shot right after crumbling the grass-fed ground beef into the mixture:

I hadn't made this in such a long time that I nearly forgot to steam the cauliflower before pureeing it in the food processor:

Prepping the casserole dish before baking in the oven:



Cauliflower puree added to the top:

Out of the oven and ready to eat:



Penzeys Spices to Open San Diego Location

I was so happy to receive a postcard in the mail announcing the opening of a Penzeys Spices in San Diego.  According to the Penzeys website, the store will be located at 1274 University Avenue in the "Hillcrest Colonnade" shopping center.  I believe they will be taking over the old Blockbuster Video space. 

I first read about Penzey's spices through Elana's Pantry.  Once I placed an order, I started receiving their catalogs, and have been impressed with the company ever since.  Most recently, I've placed orders for Penzeys spices recommended by Melissa Joulwan of Well Fed fame.  I searched for images of Penzeys stores on the internet and it seems like they have a variety of different looks.  Here's one of the shots that I thought looked pretty welcoming:

Will be nice to have a high quality spice shop like Penzeys in town, don't you think?  I will post another entry with an update when the store gets closer to opening. 

Chinese Hot Plate from Well Fed

A few days ago, I made another "Hot Plate" from page 36 of Well Fed.  I've made this one at least five or six times, partly because it makes such great leftovers for work.  I almost always make a double batch (using 2 pounds of chicken) but opted for a single batch this week because I was about to restock with Pete's Premade Paleo.

I hadn't done any of the prep work beforehand, so I started by seasoning and grilling the chicken:

While the chicken was grilling, I chopped and steam sauteed the celery and green bell peppers.

Then, I used my food processor to "rice" the cauliflower:



With all of the ingredients prepped, the rest would be easy.  Here's my set-up shot:

I followed Melissa's instructions to assemble and cook the onions, protein, veggies, cashews and seasonings.

While that was cooking, I also sauteed the cauliflower with onions in coconut oil, adding a little salt and pepper.

Once everything was cooked, I spooned the protein/veggie mixture over some of the cauliflower rice, and then took a picture of the steaming Hot Plate!

Muffin Delivery from Not So Fast Food Truck!

Over the weekend, I made a funding donation to Not So Fast, San Diego's first Paleo food truck.  If you back them at the $25 or $50 level and live in San Diego, they will bring you a batch of muffins (3 at the $25 level or 6 at the $50 level).

Well, Bob and June just showed up at my door with 3 Turkey Meatloaf Muffins and Primal Ketchup!  How cool!



They were delicious.  (Yes, I ate them all).  Very flavorful and moist, and the ketchup was amazing!  Go check them out on KickStarter! 

My Favorite San Diego Paleo Resource

The wonderful and talented John Vosseller of Point Loma Fitness told me about a service called Pete's Premade Paleo a few weeks ago.

High-quality food. Fresh & local ingredients. Variety. Strictly Paleo. Inexpensive. Delivered. Period.

I picked up my first batch of food last Thursday and it has been amazing!!  The quality and taste of the food is excellent.  And the best news is that it's freed me up from having to spend so much dang time in the kitchen.  I really can't say enough good things about it.  The only issue that people might have with ordering Pete's is that you can't customize your menu very much.  This seems like a bummer, but I found that I "ate the rainbow" more than I would have had I been allowed to pick and choose.  In fact, I tried several veggies that I'd never eaten before!  That's a big Paleo win in my book.  So, I'm actually grateful that the program is fairly rigid.  I'll take some pictures and blog more about Pete's in the coming weeks.  I can't wait to pick up more food on Thursday!

Paleo at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza

We had dinner at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza last night.  I love having one of their locations right down the street and they do serve a few GF + Paleo dishes.  I ordered the Oak Roasted Chicken Breast, which I devoured.  It's served with pine nuts, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and herbs.  Sorry about the terrible picture!

The San Diego Union Tribune featured this dish in an article about gluten-free restaurants back in March of this year.  Check out the article (along with their far superior photography!) here.

On a side note, I love that fact that Sammy's offers a separate gluten-free menu in their restaurants, but I can't find the current GF menu anywhere on their website.  Big mistake Sammy's!  Gluten-free and Paleo folks tend to plan their restaurant meals in advance.  Help us out by letting us preview the menu on your website.  I was able to find an old GF menu buried in a Press release from 2010 (menu is on page 3 and 4 of the pdf).  The prices on this menu are out of date, as are, presumably, some of the other details.

Re-Purposed Pasta Canisters!

What's a Paleo girl to do with now-empty pasta and rice canisters?  Use them for nut storage, of course!  This was part of my pantry reorganization a few months ago.  Now, when I stock up on nuts from Trader Joe's, I scoop 1/4 cup servings into snack baggies and then use my old glass containers for storage.  Having them already divided into the baggies is really helpful when it comes to portion control.  That, and I hide the cashews in back and try to pretend I don't know they're there...

Paleo Food Truck Coming to San Diego!

I was so excited to read about this on Mark Sisson's blog a few weeks ago.  Not So Fast is a Paleo/Primal food truck launching in San Diego this summer!  I can't wait.  Their menu sounds amazing.  They are currently fundraising and most of the way there.  Check it out and become a backer on Kickstarter!

A Trusty Favorite

I picked up this meal idea from Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution.  It's my go-to dinner plan when I don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  It is so incredibly simple and only requires a few ingredients.  (Serves 2)

First, I slice the sausage at a bit of an angle.  You'll notice that I changed the type of sausage between these two shots.  I couldn't decide - I love them both!

Next, I pan-fry the sausage in large dry pan.  Then, I add some diced onions and stir them in with the sausage, allowing everything to brown a little. 

While it's cooking, I wash and spin down a bag of baby spinach.

Next, I heat a large pot and then add a tablespoon of coconut oil.  I transfer the sausage mixture to the pot and allow it to cook a little bit in the oil over medium heat.  Then I decrease the temperature, add the spinach and cover the pot so that the steam will wilt the greens.  After that, it's ready to go!

If you're like me and have an egg allergy, this also makes a great Paleo breakfast. 

Well Fed Indeed

Last night I re-made a Thai hot plate from page 37 of Well Fed.  I tried this one a few months ago using eggplant as the recipe suggested.  Turns out that I'm not a big fan of eggplant.  So, I subbed zucchini (yum) for the eggplant this time and it was amazing!!  It had kind of buttery/cheesy flavor to it.  I have no idea how that happened given the ingredients I used, but it was a pleasant surprise.  It might have been the extra long simmer on the stove, or perhaps the spaghetti squash noodles provided some hidden magic.  Regardless of how it happened, this was the best Paleo meal I'd eaten in weeks.  I can't wait to get at the leftovers.

Here's my set-up, though I forgot to include the coconut oil:

And complete, before serving over spaghetti squash noodles:

I realize this doesn't look that appetizing, but as the old cliche goes... what it lacks in appearance, it makes up for in flavor!

Paleo Books at the San Diego Public Library

Here's a few of the Paleo/Primal books that are carried by the San Diego Public Library.  Checking these books out has been wonderful for me because I've been able to put more money towards buying quality food. 

If you're sad that The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Paleo isn't available right now, that my fault!  It's sitting on my coffee table right now.  The library makes it easy to place a hold though.  Just follow the instructions on their website and you can pick it up at your local branch when it becomes available. 

Happy reading!