Chicken Adobo and Almond crackers

It's been a while since my last post to my love bacon.  As I have said on many occasions bacon has become one of my favorite foods.  I can use it for almost any meal and I can also use the remnants left in the pan.  This post is about that other meat that I eat so much of: Chicken.  The story is the same old same old, man get chicken, man cuts up chicken, man cooks chicken with veggies, man and man eat chicken.  This time though I had a breakthrough in the chicken department: a shiny new favor and recipe: Chicken Adobo.  It came in the knick of time because I was ready to not eat Bacon wrapped Chicken again so low and behold the higher power heard me and in the mail came the next issue of Cook's Illustrated, complete with Chicken Adobo recipe and also the background of how the perfect braise made the perfect meat and all the stuff they tried. So I haven't read the article just yet.  Jeremy did and told me to make it, so I did.  It is very Primal friendly.  The sauce is made of coconut milk and I subbed soy sauce for Tamari.  I don't have all the pictures from the process mostly because lately all the sauces I have been making seem to be the color of something that would come out of a 2 month old baby, not so appetizing to look at but VERY good to eat. so here is the recipe courtesy of Cook's Illustrated:
Chicken Adobo:
8 chicken thighs (bone in-skin on) trimmed
1/2 cup of Tamari
1 can coconut milk
3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
8 garlic cloves peeled
4 bay leaves
2 teaspoons of pepper
1 scallion sliced thin

1. toss the chicken with the Tamari in a bowl and let it soak for 30 min to 1 hour in the fridge
2.Remove the chicken from the Tamari allowing excess to drip into the bowl, transfer chicken skin side down to a HOT 12 inch skillet.
3. Cook chicken for 7-10 min, while chicken is cooking whisk together the Tamari, coconut milk, vinegar, garlic, and spices.

4. Transfer chicken to a plate and discard fat from the pan.  Return the chicken to the pan skin side down.  Add the Tamari mixture to the pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered for 20 min.  Flip chicken over and cook skin side up until the temp reaches 175.    Transfer chicken to a platter and top with a foil tent.
5. Remove the bay leaves from the sauce and skim any fat off the surface of the sauce.  return skillet to medium high heat and cook the sauce until thickened.  Pour sauce over chicken sprinkle with Scallions.

This is the finished product.  As you can see I added something else to the plate.  It's white but it isn't rice or mashed potatoes.  It's Cauliflower!  Steamed Riced Cauliflower!

1/2 head of cauliflower
1/2 cup of water
2 TBSP of butter
spices

Steam the cauliflower in whatever kind of steamer you may have. I use this one from the pampered chef, i've used one forever and when I finally got my own place I decided I needed to have my own so I bought one, then I decided I needed a bigger one so I got the bigger one.  It's great for fresh steamed and for frozen veggies.  Anyways, steam the crap outta that cauliflower (I did something like 7 min) so it kind of falls apart with a fork.

I then blend it in the food processor until it resembles rice and add the butter and whatever spices you want. It does the trick!



ALMOND CRACKERS!!!

Alright I admit I loves crackers, chips, pretzels, popcorn, and everything crunchy!!!  They are so hard to resist and yet over the past few months I have fought back the urges to eat all crackers in site.  I have occasionally have had a plain lays potato chip, and maybe one or two tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant, but I think I would have gone crazy without the one little nibble.  Nothing happened but still.  I wanted a yummy little occasional snack that I could also make into an appetizer for a party or bring to a friends house or have at one of my parties. So I was reading Mark's Daily Apple and happened upon the recipe and idea for the occasional Almond Cracker.  I followed some of the recipe, made an oops but will try them again.

Here is what I did:
Preheat oven to 350

8 oz of raw almonds
2 TBSP sunflower seeds
1 TBSP of herbs (I used some fresh Rosemary and Oregano from the Garden)
2 TBSP of olive oil
1 egg
a little parm cheese

1. Mix the almonds and sunflower seeds and herbs in the food processor until it resembles flour.
2. Add the egg and parm cheese
3. Drizzle in the Olive Oil

I ended up just patting this mixture into a cookie sheet scored the dough into squares and baking them for about 15 min.

The other suggestion is to use to sheet of parchment paper, or make the dough into a roll and freeze for 10 min and cut and bake.  My way worked fine.  I may try the other ways when I get some of that Parchment paper.

I ended up breaking them up and putting them on a wire rack to cool.

I am thinking these would be good with a little Ikea Salmon paste!

Enjoy!

An open letter to my love: Bacon

Dear Bacon,
  I just want to tell you how much I love and appreciate you.  Whenever I see you and include you in my meals you take that meal to the next level.  You always know how to make me feel better and perk up my day.  When I cook you and there is a little bit of fat left over I love nibbling on that little bit and it wakes up my senses and makes me so happy.  I do believe that a person has to smile when eating you.  Some people may give you a bad name and I say poo-poo to them.  Obviously they have not tried the many different varieties or they have not tasted the greatness of you in the uncured farm style.  Please tell the manufactures to stop masking your flavors with preservatives and yuckiness.  You need to stay in your true form lightly smoked and uncured.
I also wanted to thank those farmers who do keep you in real form so I may reserve all of that yummy rendered fat.  That fat just accelerates the taste of any veggie and also provides this body with that special taste and that certain something to make EVERYTHING you touch taste 100x better.

Again thank you for making me feel good, tasting great, and being a great food for ANY meal!

Stay true, no preservatives and you will ALWAYS have a place in my tummy!

IF...Intermittent Fasting...and no one got hurt.

So a few posts back I had mentioned I was going to start incorporating something into my diet called IF (Intermittent Fasting) into my diet just to help out my metabolism.  IF is part of the Primal Blueprint which I have been following since Jan 1.  Basically it is a fast, it is suppose to be unscheduled, but some people schedule them either throughout the week or during the day or even eat one meal a day.  I spoke about doing this during my vacation in Key West, and I didn't even realize I was.  This was because we got up late, met new friends, laid in the sun (and shade) (all in the name of getting adequate Vitamin D,) and just didn't do anything during the day.
So the way that this IF is laid out seems similar to when I had to fast for my colonoscopy except I don't have to drink the laxative.  Also like the many times I have fasted for blood tests the next day.  During the vacation it turned into a fast during the day.  We ate dinner the night before around 7 or 8 and then had a few (or more then a few) drinks, fell asleep, and woke up the next day at 9 or 10.  Got outside sometime maybe around 11 and stayed between the sun, shade and pool for the better part of a day.  Until we ate dinner.  So my vacation fast was really without thinking about and I was limiting my eating to the back end of my day.  So now I have decided to make a conscious choice to not eat for one whole day (more like 36 hours.)  So last Wednesday evening I ate my dinner, and decided to start fasting, and continue not only the next day, but to break my fast on Friday morning. Here is the tale of that day Thursday:
I woke up feeling normal since I had eaten the day before.  This day I had to leave fairly early for a few appointments with a few people who actually did get on my nerves, BUT I wasn't going to let them best me, and I wasn't going to let me hunger take over.  I decided if I was going to do this I was only going to sip some tea and water throughout the day, at least I would be hydrated.  So I got my tea and off I went.  The first appointment was not terrible, but around 12 I was starting to feel a little loopy, I shook it off and had some more tea.  I was definitely feeling hungry, but I was going to keep going.  I had a little break between appointments and had landed myself in NYC a little early so I took a seat at a Starbucks and had some tea.  I texted with my friend Josh and Nicole just to keep sane, as I could feel the hunger take over, but I pulled through, no one was hurt yet.  I had my second appointment and started talking to the two lovely SLP's.  I started hearing myself and I thought, am I talking or are words just coming out of my mouth.  I stopped, apologized if I was talking nonsense because I was fasting and kept going, clearing my head and pushed through.  The appt was done...no one was hurt YAY!  I grabbed a bottle of water for the ride home and headed home, singing showtunes and what not on my way up the New England Thruway.  I got home and felt really energized and thought it was such a nice day out and Ivy needed a walk so I took her to the park for a walk, then decided no, a RUN would be better.  So we loaded up and went for a trail run, after that I felt even better!  I got home and still felt good, I felt loopy as hell, but GREAT!
Eventually that night I fell asleep and the next morning I felt really clear headed and great, I had my normal breakfast of eggs, fruit and yogurt and went on with my day.  I highly recommend trying it, if you dare.

Pulled Chicken...easy...good...yum

 In my quest to come up with new easy meals that I can cook in my slow cooker or don't need much prep time or I want to try something new I found this. Pulled Chicken!  Thanks to my cousin Brian and his girlfriend Claire and their culinary adventures (or the Slow Cooker Revolution cook book) they told me about the Pulled Chicken recipe.  I love anything with BBQ sauce and really I love chicken, and my slow cooker, and food.  So I searched for the recipe since I never got it from them but I couldn't find it, what I remember is boneless skinless chicken thighs and BBQ sauce, but I don't remember the order or the measurements or whatnot.  So I said F IT! and I used my Iron Chef cooking skills (maybe I think they are great, but probably not IRON CHEF quality, but I digress.)  I knew what I had to do and I had the ingredients, so I did what I could and came out with a lovely and tasty meal.  I have also been much more aggressive about reading labels since my stomach issues and eating bread (I knew I had them and now I KNOW they are real!) So I have been making sure if I get sauces that I am not making that they are Gluten-free or what not.  So here it is.  My take on Pulled Chicken, also with a help from a Kentucky friend who mentioned they cook their BBQ in Vinegar and then add the sauce after.

2-3 lbs Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs (organic, cage free...local, you know the drill)
2 TBSP of water
2 TBSP of Apple Cider Vinegar

2 bottles of BBQ sauce (I used Lip Lickin' Sauce Sweet and Smoky AND Bold and Spicy)

Add the first three ingredients to the crock pot, turn it on low...forget it all day...

When you get back you will see that there is a whole lotta liquid in the pot.  It is a gorgeous smelling, yummy tasting liquid that you should NOT throw away but instead use as a base for a soup, which I did, which didn't come out the best, but that is my fault.

So don't throw the liquid out, save it, its stock, but drain it. Turn the dial down to warm setting or if you have a digital crock pot you are too fancy for me, so figure it out.  I only have High, Low, Warm and Off.
Shred that chicken with two forks and start adding the sauce.

This is post-shredding and with a little BBQ sauce added.

Keep adding sauce until it reaches the desired sauciness.

Here is the finished product, yum-yummy-yummers!  It was so good, I put a little cole-slaw on top of it yum!

By the way if you think you can eat a heaping helping, it is WAY more filling then you think. I took WAY too much and couldn't finish my little bowl.

Happy EATING!

A break while on vacation...or not

So as I said when I started this Primal Journey at the beginning of this year I was going to do this until my birthday with a short break while on vacation in Key West.  Well funny thing about breaks, they don't work or they don't do a body good.  While in Key West I was going to treat myself to some bread and butter, potatoes, some rice, maybe even a beer or 10.  So here is what happened when I ate that piece of bread for breakfast - it did my body bad, all day I was in a crappy mood, my stomach hurt and well I will leave it at that. I didn't even feel like having a few drinks at night.  I really just wanted to go back to the room and fall asleep and wish the pain away.  So I said okay, no bread.  I did have potatoes and some fried Conch fritters too so maybe it could have been that as well.  Anyways, the rest of the trip I stuck with salads or some kind of grilled protein (or raw protein - yummy fresh Oysters) and the veggies.  A few nights I had some rice, that was okay, one place had rice I couldn't taste because it was so salty, so I didn't eat it.  By the end of the week we had made friends with another couple who was staying at our guest house, and I think it was a combination of being lazy and not doing my usual body weight exercises and also the price of meals, but by wednesday we were only eating one meal a day and it happened to be at night.  I know that I was staying up late, partying the night away falling asleep sometime around 3am but still, one meal a week.  As I have been reading Mark Sisson's book The Primal Blueprint I read about the Intermittent Fasting and adding it a few days here and there.  I think it is time I try it a little more then just the one day.  Maybe I will do one full day, and maybe add from there see how I do.  I did come back from vacation a little lighter and a little more tan so all is not lost!  I also came back with possible Achilles Tendinitis as well, from what I don't quite know, but if I need more testing I soon will find out!

Salad, Salad, and more Salad

I love salad or should I say I love making and eating salad.  I love taking random veggies, fruit, protein and making a yummy creation.  Today was no exception to my salad meal.  Today I craved something a little different then the usual savory salad.  So this is what I did. I had a little salad left over from earlier in the week and I bought a container of berries and kiwi. I also added two hard boiled eggs and some left over raw goat's milk cheddar cheese.  I poured a little EVOO and some Sherry Vinegar and BAM, pretty good sweeter salad. I had a wondering Fage whole milk yogurt and now feel awesome!  I love food especially whole food put together and savored!

Primal Jambalaya

I got a little lazy this week, basically I did not stray from this recipe. It was a really good recipe. I just happen to have about a pound and a quarter of Maine Gulf Shrimp from Whole Foods (they were on sale) and I picked up some yummy Lamb Sausage from Sherwood Farms. So I found this recipe and YUMMERS! The Cauliflower surprised me but it was delish!  Even after a few days it is still good,  I didn't post a picture of it because again, it looked like baby poop, but was extremely tasty.  I served it with a side of sauteed kale SO GOOD!  Also this recipe is from the website here, but originally it was from Mark's Daily Apple a site I frequent very often. If you have a chance look it up, his books are good too!


Primal Jambalaya Recipe
2 c Chicken, breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 lb andouille sausage, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced crushed
14 1/2 oz diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp dried leaf thyme
1 tbsp parsley (fresh is preferable, but dried will do in a pinch!)
1 tsp chili powder
1 head, large cauliflower
8 oz shrimp (2 cups), shelled, deveined and cleaned
1 Salt and pepper to taste


1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and lightly cook the sausage and chicken over medium heat.

2. Once golden, add onion, bell pepper and garlic and sauté until onion becomes translucent.
3. Transfer items from the frying pan into a large pot.
4. Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth, thyme, parsley and chili powder and bring to a simmer.
5. While the mixture is simmering (you’ll want to let it go for about 20 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally), place the cauliflower in a food processor and shred until it becomes the consistency of rice.
6. Add the cauliflower “rice” to the mixture and simmer for another 15 minutes until tender.
7. Add shrimp and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and adjust other spices as needed. Serve piping hot. Serves 6.