Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Chineseish Stirfry

 As usual, life is insanely crazy right now. I take the National Comprehensive exam in a week, so I'm freaking out just a little.... Since I have spent the past couple weeks with my nose stuck in the books, and since I should really being studying right now, this is going to be a short one. I promise, after next week, I'll have more time to ponder on life in the Paleo world and get back to researching and blogging on all the tid-bits I learn along the way!

*Disclaimer* You cannot knock this recipe until you have tried it. Trust me, I turned my nose up at cabbage for most of my life. Just try it once & I guarantee you will be hooked, especially if you were a big Chinese food eater before you crossed over ;)
This is such a yummy meal that makes A LOT and will give you plenty of left overs making the preparation well worth it.  
I usually use my food processor for this, but wanted to make sure the results would be the same if I didn't, so the pictures of the "noodles" are not as pretty as they usually are when they are shredded perfectly in my processor, but the taste was the same! No excuses on this one!

I used our WOK, if you do not have a WOK add that to your list of things you NEED in your kitchen. It makes stirring large quantities so much easier & with it being non-stick it's a cinch to cook in & clean up! BUT, if your making this recipe before your kitchen gains a wonderful piece, use the BIGGEST pan you have or you will end up with a mess all over the stove top. (You may even want to half the recipe to fit)

What you need......

2lbs of Chicken (You could use beef as well)
1/4 cup almonds, chopped (optional)
1 can water chestnuts, sliced
1/4 cup green onion, chopped OR a shallot diced
4-8 ounces mushrooms (stems removed) sliced (cut in half)
cup of sliced pineapple (or a can of organic pineapple, drained & cut into small bite size pieces)
Red pepper chopped (or green)
Small onion chopped
2 cups of broccoli
2 cups shredded cabbage (about half the head of cabbage)
toasted sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, diced
1 teaspoon ground ginger
coconut aminos (this stuff is amazing - it takes the place of soy sauce!)
sesame seeds
pepper
paprika
cumin

I like to go on & get everything cut & ready to go, so get all your veggies & meat prepared.
(The cabbage was just "chopped" for this go round, but if you have a food processor throw it in there for the perfect sliced "noodles")




Get your WOK (large pan) warming up over high heat

-Add a few drops of sesame oil, swirl around to really coat the bottom of the WOK 

-Add the meat & season away, you want a lot of flavor in your chicken! Cook about 5 minutes (until, mostly done - do NOT overcook-it will dry out!)

-Add in the broccoli, water chestnuts, onion, and mushrooms - cook for about 2 min while stirring 

 -Add the pineapple, cabbage, red pepper, green onion (or shallot) and garlic and add a few splashes of coconut aminos (about 4 tbsp.) and cook 3-4 minutes, until the cabbage softens up a little. 


-Season everything well (use ground ginger, a pinch of cumin, a fair amount of paprika, a dash of garlic powder, handful of pepper) and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top, if you like really salty flavors, you can always add some more coconut aminos to give you more of a soy sauce flavor! 

I told you it made a lot, but is well worth it! YUMMY!!!




ENJOY! :)

You may not really be what you eat, but what you eat can really affect what you are.




Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Paleo vs. Italy/Easy peasy Chicken



Paleo vs. Italy..... It's no secret on which entity won that battle, but really I would consider it more of a tie or a close game than a complete win. One of the reasons we (as in the hubs & I) eat Paleo is to rid of all the "fake" that is in your typical food; Italian food doesn't contain near as much "fake" (okay, I keep using "fake" as a nice word, really what I want to say is T-total crap, but you insert what you like wherever you see "fake") anyway, Italian food is about as close to clean as you can get. Most bread does not have salt, their fruit is all organic, their meat is all (mostly) grass-fed, you won't find a white egg anywhere in the country, and the cheese is pure, non processed, non greasy deliciousness.  I even had the opportunity to watch Pecorino cheese being made. I won't go into the entire process, but it was very interesting to watch my food take shape. Have you ever stopped to think where every bite of food you eat came from? How did it get from point A to your mouth?!?!?! Ponder on that while you learn all about cheese :)
 The first picture below is the heating process (which removes any Lactose!) The liquid (sheep milk) will chemically change into a solid matter (hello, no lactose!) The maker was showing me the solidifying by making an indention (look closely) in the top layer.        
              The next picture is the product of the heating process. After the cheese begins to solidify the cheese maker scrapes off the top layers and the picture below is the result. This is about as Paleo as it gets when it comes to cheese. To me it was a warm tasteless goo, but the Italians love it & they were eating it up...

After the "cheese matter" is scraped off the top, it would be patted into the strainer type bowl where the liquid is squeezed out, preparing the block to be aged. The block would then be placed in a temperature appropriate, dark cellar where it would sit and age anywhere from 6 months to years!
And that my friend, is how REAL cheese is made! While I was watching this process, I had a slight feeling of embarrassment. We as American's are known for a cheese. Do you know what American cheese means? It means processed - once again, what a joke! We are known for a square, jiggly, plastic wrapped, questionable colored, fake, processed product. It's time again to hang our heads in shame.  I've said it before, I am proud to be an American (you totally sang that line in your head didn't you) and I know that I am blessed to live in a free country, but sometimes we are so overly stupid and take advantage of everything from the land we live on to our God given bodies. Did you know that in Italy, it is against the law to turn the heat on before November, and that they HAVE to recycle everything. They are so proud and appreciative of their lives as a whole. I watched an American (in the NC airport) walk up to a row consisting of a trash can, a plastic recycle can and a paper recycle can and throw his plastic bottle into the trash can. AH! We don't even recycle when the opportunity is right in front of us. 
For those of us that have made the vow to go Paleo, the phenomenon discussed above is part of the reason the decision probably came with turmoil and it's some of the reasons we still hit bumps in the road. Us Paleolithic followers are one step closer to appreciation and understanding, but we still have to live in a world with people who have no desire to understand. We know what is good and bad for our bodies (or we are constantly learning!) but others are so shut off. It has become humorous to me how people react to Paleo, besides the normal "why the heck" looks, I have begun to enjoy the people that want to argue. Really, I want to laugh at them, but I keep that to my self and I attempt to quickly educate. I had someone actually get offended to learn that lactose is bad. HA! I wanted to break out the hundreds and hundreds of studies that back up why this is true, but I contained my self and inwardly judged. I have also heard someone say "well, my mom smoked the whole time she was pregnant with me, I turned out to be okay, so I have no intention of quitting when I get pregnant." (this person is NOT okay either, very unhealthy and a lot of problems). I know, I know. All you can do is shake your head in disgust, plant the seed in their minds and take the high road out. Thankfully though, for every stubborn, stupid, shut off person, there is usually one who you can "get to come to the dark side." While in Italy I had many people asking questions about the Paleo lifestyle, and I know at least 2 people are seriously considering the switch! It is such an accomplished feeling when you know you have helped someones well-being! So my advice is to be as educated as possible on why we eat or don't eat certain groups of food. People shun anything new or out of the ordinary, and/or they will have a million questions. Be ready to stand your ground & educate, and try to be nice and patient. We don't need any more stereotypes :)

Want an ever so easy recipe (what we are having for dinner tonight!)? You won't even need to write this one down! AND you will have some hearty broth at the end!
Next time whole chickens (cage free, organic diet, etc.) are on sale, buy as many as you can (or buy them whole price, what ever floats your boat). Stick them in the freezer and pull one out when you are way too busy to put any thought into dinner!  



If your chicken has a "bag" inside, you will want to get that out. I try & get the hubby to do this whenever possible, it grosses me out. 

Get your trusted crock-pot out & get her ready to go

Put your chicken in the crock pot & season with what ever your heart desires. I always include garlic, (tenderizer) pepper, and some kind of Herb. If you can, try to avoid salting the chicken because this can dry the meat out. (If you HAVE to have salt on your chicken, do it after you take it out of the pot) You won't need any liquid, so basically you are DONE with dinner!

Cook the bird on low for 7ish hours (depends on the weight & how frozen it is, but 7 is about the max it needs to cook.) 

I usually slice a red onion & throw it in on top of the chicken, but this is just our preference.  

Now, don't go getting all motivated to clean the kitchen & throw the juices out! After it cools, pour it in an air tight container (an old mason jar etc.) You will need to scrape the top layer of fat off (after it solidifies) and voila! You now have organic, salt free (as long as you didn't add salt) chicken broth! It will keep in the refrigerator for a few months, if you can keep it that long! 

Yay for being home & back to my normal eating! I had an AMAZING time on the other side of the pond, but I was also glad to be back in my comfort zone of living! 
I will try & do another post this week to get back on track! If anyone has any recommendations, arguments, comments, etc. I really appreciate the feedback, it's good to know I actually have people that read this and/or use a recipe or two! 

How cool is this wine I saw in Greve? I really wanted the main ingredient to be bacon ;)


Have a great week and remember.......
You may not really be what you eat, but what you eat can really affect what you are.