Chicken MacNuggets

Get it, MacNuggets? Ok, maybe a tad cheesy, or not cheesy bc this is paleo but a little silly. ok, i'll stop and get on with posting another convenient recipe for a hassle-free week of leftovers.

Ingredients:

(1.5 lbs?) 6 chicken breasts, sliced in half to make them thinner and then sliced again into strips

(2 cups?) enough almond meal to coat the chicken pieces. You my need more or less depending on the thickness of your "breading".

(2?) enough egg to dip your chicken in and have the almond meal stick.

spices: italian seasonings like parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, tarragon, etc.

garlic powder/onion powder

sea salt and pepper

optional variations:

1. hot sauce in the egg goop for a little bit of a kick

2. use homemade mayonnaise instead of plain old eggs for the pre almond dip. very tasty.

Create:

Preheat the oven to 375

Tin foil wrap your cookie sheets for easy clean up (and you may have leftovers and can reuse the tin foil when you freeze these suckers.

Smear coconut oil or olive oil on the tin foiled cookie sheets so that the chicken strip's almond coating won't get pulled off after they are done. The tin foil does need the "breading" you do!

Pat dry your chicken strips so that the egg/almond will stick the best

Mix almond meal with your seasonings

Dip chicken in egg (or now would be the time to dip in mayo if you are going that route) then almond meal (you can put the almond meal in a large ziploc bag and drop a bunch of the egg dipped strips in at one time to minimize on mess).

Line 'em up on the cookie sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes

We made about 8 chicken breasts for our five nieces and nephews over Thanksgiving (actually I had nothing to do with it!) and had to turn them away empty handed when they gobbled them all up! They were a hit and super easy.

**Dipping sauces** are not paleo but we can make them

Really miss ketchup?

Here is another one for mayo...

How about barbeque sauce?

Beware, Honey mustard, in extreme moderation!!

(substitute olive oil or some other oil for corn oil in the recipe link above

Enjoy!

Mini Meatloaves

Ground beef is cheap and there are always bits of random veggies to use up in the fridge. Meatloaf freezes really well. This recipe makes bite-sized meatloaves, great for leftovers. Make a couple dozen at a time on a Sunday afternoon! Ok, no more attempts at convincing, just try 'em, they're really easy.

Ingredients:

2 lbs Costco organic ground beef (comes in three square packs)

1/4 red onion

2 cloves minced garlic

2 TBS sun dried tomatoes, chopped (you can leave this out and just add more tomato paste)

3 TBS organic tomato paste (Trader Joes)

1+ cup almond meal or walnut meal (again, just threw whole nuts in the blender)

3 TBS horseradish

1 TBS worchester sauce

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp onion powder

2 green onions (optional)

1 TBS parsley

1 TBS thyme

salt and pepper

optional additions:

red pepper

mushroom

carrots

Create:

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute starting with the red onion, then add the sun dried tomato, garlic, horseradish, worschester, and any other veggies(green onion, mushrooms, etc.) you want to throw in there.

Mix ground beef with the almond meal, tomato paste and spices (cumin, onion powder, thyme, basil, parsley, etc.)

Mini-muffin tins are what I used because you get about an ounce of meat at the end (like a meatball, perfect for a quick snack). Fill up mini-muffin tin and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes?? Just watch them so they don't get to done and dry out.

You'll end up with a bunch of these suckers so freeze them and use them for protein emergencies. =)

Notice no egg...I ran out and still haven't gotten to the store.

Celiac Disease??

I found this video on the FAQs of Robb Wolf's site. Its a little long and basic but good. Also, take a gander at the FAQs on Robb's site too...a wealth of information.

Beans, beans the magical fruit. The more you eat...

DISGUSTING!!

Yuki asked a question about legumes so I thought that I would try and post some links and medical information concerning the issue.

Guess what the first article was about when I googled lectins here (found in legumes)

Hint: Its about food poisoning!

Dr. Loren Cordain answered the question about legumes like this:

Legumes contain saponins (solanine and chaconine) which can't be degraded by digestion or cooking. They can contribut to an increase in intestinal permeability which is associated to many chronic diseases. They are also a source of lectins which are also toxic substances for the intestinal barrier and can adversely stimulate the immune system.

Dr. Mike Eades blog had a couple references that might be helpful too

(1) http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz

(2) http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/03/margarine-and-phytosterolemia.html

Dr. Kurt Harris from PaNu responded to a comment on his blog with the following:

Soy is a legume that in my opinion is unfit for human consumption.

Soy contains antinutrients and phytoestrogens that affect thyroid function and you don't need it.

Soy protein is just another industrial artificial food product pushed on us by big Agriculture.

It is no substitute for far superior animal protein.

Fermented soy products (miso, natto, soy sauce) are acceptable as a condiment.

Mark Sisson wrote a posting titled Scrutinizing Soy where he basically comes away undecided about the real harmful effects of soy if eaten in whole qualities vs. processed. He eats edamame from time to time but stays away from soy protein as a general rule...read the post.

No egg Banana Coconut pancakes

Dreaming about coconut pancakes is a sure sign that you are supposed to wake up and make them. Breakfast this morning:

Banana Coconut Pancakes

turkey bacon (these is super bad for you if you ask me but I love it and we have a crap ton of it left over (frozen) from when we had company)

hard boiled egg (ran out of eggs on Thursday or something hence the banana substitute for the following coconut pancake recipe!)

Protein, Fats, Carbs (PFC): Pancakes are basically all fat with 4 blocks (~35g) of carbs spread throughout from the bananas. I included 4 pieces of turkey bacon (>1P) and 1 hard boiled egg (1P)

PFC=2+P, ?!?!F, 4C (divvy up total depending on number of pancakes)

The inspiration: Mark's Daily Apple

Ingredients:

2 bananas
generous 1/2c of almond meal, (or) walnut meal works really well here too( i just pour almonds into my vita-mix and make my own pulverized nut meal)
1c shredded coconut, unsweetened, unsulphured (I got mine at My Organic Market, MOM. Its over in Arlington by Dairy Godmother, but we don't know anything about that place, do we ;))
1/2 can coconut milk (Organic Native Forest)
1/2tsp sea salt (Costco sea salt)
1/2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp cinnamon (to taste)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla, optional (to taste) (Costco)

1/2 tsp organic coconut extract (found at MOM's)

Create:

Ok, guys you are going to have to be gentle, patient and forgiving with these fragile, sticky pancakes. You will be smart to use oil liberally between rounds so that the cakes don't stick to the pan...but don't flip to soon cause then you'll have pieces everywhere and be really annoyed. Guys, think about hamburgers on the grill...you have to wait and only flip once, right?

Without eggs, the cakes are super dense but we liked them like that. Let me know what you think. I'll do them with eggs at some point and post. For now, try these out.

Heat skillet first with coconut oil or almond oil is yummy too (several drips should do it)

Drop batter onto skillet for 4 inch pancakes because they are easier to flip at this size.

Wait 3-4 minutes and then check to see if they are ready to be flipped.

Enjoy!

Ohhhhh Honey? We've got Questions!!

I guess I shouldn't be this excited for questions ;) but what it means is that I am not totally wasting my time writing posts that disappear into the ether...people are reading!!

I wanted to write a quick post to address Adrienne's comment about honey. Is it Paleo??

Quick answer: Yes. But its sweeter than sugar so only consume in extreme moderation, please read on...

Dr. Eades writes in his book Protein Power about how the ancient Egyptians had "no sugar – it wouldn’t be produced for another thousand or more years. The only sweet was honey, which was consumed in limited amounts."

Dr. Eades also answers a question about honey with this explanation, "there is very little difference metabolically between honey and sugar. I’m sure Paleolithic man enjoyed honey when he could, but getting honey in the wild is not done without peril, so I doubt he made a steady diet of it."

Here are some other link from Dr. Mike Eades about a paleo study in San Francisco:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/saturated-fat/rapid-health-improvements-with-a-paleolithic-diet/

Don from Primal Wisdom wrote that, "Honey consumed occasionally by hunter-gatherers has less fructose, at about 39%"

Dr. Kurt Harris from Panu points out that, "Eating raw honey is biochemically indistinguishable from equicaloric amounts of sucrose refined from cane sugar or beets or high fructose corn syrup from an archer-daniels-midland tank car. It is absolutely certified historically paleolithic as it is as old as bees and the plants they pollinate. Contemporary HGs eat it every chance they get. That it was devoured with relish by any hominid who could find it historically is as reasonable a an assumption as one could make.

It is also just as metabolically poisonous to eat pounds of raw honey as an equicaloric amount of mountain dew or coke classic. It will have exactly the same effect on your insulin sensitivity, your liver and your weight."

Mark's Daily Apple, in passing, mentions that honey is basically pure sugar. The link is for a page on his blog including great snack recipes!

So the takeaway? Well, honey was "hunted" by cavemen but on a very limited seasonal basis...its extremely high in fructose and when used in baked goods actually should be substituted in less quantities than real sugar (that potent). But when you are making 50 bite-sized brownies who keeps track of trace amounts of honey anyway, right ;)

Root Vegetable Pancakes

Ever heard of potato pancakes?
Well, I was craving that texture but with something more flavorful than a dumb white potato (not encouraged on paleo anyway)
potato texture+carrot flavor=PARSNIP

oh and I found this really weird thing called a celery root and had to include it in my creation...this is what happened. BTW, this is a pretty good arm workout from all the grating involved! Kept distracted by watching an episode of LOST from my lastest Netflix delivery.

Root Vegetable Pancakes

1/2 celery root peeled, grated
4 parsnips peeled, grated
1/4 purple onion totally minced to a pulp
1 1/2 cups almond meal (poured a bunch of almonds in my vita-mix and let 'er rip- much cheaper than buying it but the cheapest place is Trader Joes)
4 eggs
2 tsp turmeric (these spices are a tad obscure...add whatever spices you have in your cabinet)
2 tsp ground coriander (see comment above)
1/4 cup hot horseradish
couple squirts of hot sauce and sea salt to taste

Create:
Mix everything together
Medium Heat use coconut oil and make pancakes like normal (4inch diameter 1/2 inch thick)
Cook for about 5 minutes each side

Enjoy!