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!