Paleo Breakfast for the week of March 17th 2014

I love to eat good food with lots of flavor and when possible is local and in season. When I had to give up wheat to a full on allergy that had me on the ground trying to figure out how to get air and then when I was diagnosed with Celiac and said my good byes to gluten I moaned about my breakfast options (when I ate that early in the day but truly, breakfast is subjective and I usually at it at “dinner” time) going down but I traced done substitutions that I could eat. I then started a huge battle with my diabetes and  as many I was told to give up carbs to the best of my ability without getting rid of the produce. I learned about the Paleo lifestyle and WOW things have changed in my life. I still whimpered about giving up bread, pasta, rice, and oh why oh why did I give up legumes again? oh ya because they made me feel like crap, spiked my blood sugars by over 100 points and it would take a minimum of 3 days for them to recover. I had to find good food that I could eat and start eating on a regular basis more by the clock than by my stomach to; keep my sugars, mood, and body as stable as I could. Looking back I remember trying to hide it a little but not much as I already accepted that I am really strange and peoples opinions of me could pretty much take a flying leap but I did not want to openly talk about it as I was trying to get a handle on it.  Anyway, I took a step back and thought “what can I eat now?” and giggled at myself, I mean really if I can eat breakfast foods for dinner why not dinner and lunch foods whenever as well? Man things got so easy after that! I just had to think ahead and prep so I could have what I wanted within a few hours of my getting up while not making my daycare children or my family crazy frustrated with me <silly grin>.

I have learned to have most of my vegetables ready the day I pick them up so it is a fast grab and cook, heat a few left overs (I HATE THIS), and slow cook those things that I want really bad to start the day off right. I still eat way more eggs than the food police might recommend but to darn bad and I slip in a tiny bit of dairy (butter, whole heavy cream, goat cheese, and if I am really feeling mischievous and lazy a small serving of ice cream in the summer; all local, organic, and from pastured animals) that the Paleo police would holler about, again to bad this is my choice and I am aware of the potential issues with it.

Anyway, now that I have rambled on, I will get to this past weeks eats and please feel free to share with friends and comment on your thoughts (be nice and non-judgmental or I will not approve it) and experiences as well as any questions or requests…

Monday: I love sausage and had some on hand that a friend of mine makes. This is a summer styled sausage made with rabbit meat that he raises and butchers with humanity. He than spices and smokes it and I am fortunate to be able to purchase any that he has over what his household needs. I then grabbed celery, onions, a few chunks of carrots and sautéed with so homemade stock till tender and added cauli-rice that I had on hand with garlic and crushed red chili peppers. I keep containers of diced; carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and other odd vegetables on hand so that I only do the chopping once a week and am ready to whip up a meal with ease. I find this helps with storage as well as I waist way less food because I have no excuses about time. I also keep at least a couple heads of cauliflower riced as well as chopped for the same reasons. Other than my “shopping/prep day” this meal really took be less than 5 minutes to cook up while the little ones ate (the youngest here is 1 year old and is into everything) so while they finished up their meal and helped clear their spaces for free play, I sat down with my tea and enjoyed…

Tuesday: Steak, sautéed mushrooms and onions with a lovely side of garlicky red chard. This took a mega 10 minutes to cook up and the little ones had already shoveled in their own food and had moved onto playing outside in the brilliant weather so I got the privilege of having my first breakfast outside with them for the season. Again I had everything pre sliced and chopped so all I had to do was cook it up. I did this while the children ate and then I wiped the kitchen down while they got shoes and coats on then we headed out and they ran, giggled, dug in the damp dirt and generally had a blast while I watched on and savored every bite in the glorious spring time sun…

Wednesday: I had a small handful of chard left in the fridge to cook up and decided on going back to basics with pepper bacon and eggs. This was all local and while simple, it filled the bill of just what I wanted. The daycare children where still eating when I sat down as this took less than 5 minutes and 1 skillet so the clean up was ubber easy.

Thursday: My husband and I enjoy making Mortadella once a year and then I portion it out a little each week. This year we put the normal spices, whole pepper corns, and pistachios in it and boy does it make a get kick start to a day. We use all those odd bits from pigs that we collect in the freezer so this is our waist not want not kind of Paleo food. In just a couple minutes I fried up a couple eggs and sliced some healthy meat onto my plate and the children asked tons of questions about this and a few even were willing to try some (not the eggs for some reason though).

Friday: I was in the mood for Italian food today so I rubbed my steak in some seasonings and grilled it up then topped with grilled artichoke hearts. I then added an antipasti salad (just toss a bunch of grilled and fresh goodies to some romaine and make sure to have sausage and basil) I then tossed with a light French vinaigrette (think Italian  dressing made fresh with scallions and mustard added). I took maybe 10 minutes on this so although the children where wrapping up their meal, they were happy to enjoy free play while I dug in to some food and watched on…

 

PSU Farmers Market Opening of the Season!

All winter long I wait in anxious anticipation for the PSU farmers market to re-open after the horribly long (alright it is not even a full 3 months but hey you know how it is right?) winter break. I have been posting every few days my count down on my social media and daydreaming of the first batch of meals that we might score. My 19 year old daughter was almost as jazzed as I was even if it meant getting up “early” for a weekend. I like to get down there as they open at 8:30 so I can get in and get out with our score before the crowds get there. After getting a slow start with needing petrol for the van and cash from the bank (I forgot last night to get it ahead of time) we still managed to get there and parked at 8:35 so not to bad. The sun was out and for once there was no wind and a balmy 60 degrees (F) greeted us! AMAZING!!! Not all of our booths start on opening day but heck I am still impressed that there were over 100 food booths (normally they top out at 200+) and not a “kitch” booth in sight. All local and organic for as far as my eyes could see. We  really limited what came home mostly because of budget but is was a great start for the season as you can see:

 

My daughter and I decided that we would not have breakfast before we went and instead we had a huge brunch with the rest of my daughters and my 16 year olds boyfriend while my exhausted husband slept after working his night shift (I made extra so when he gets up he can have some as well).

I took 2 of the lovely small leeks and thinly sliced into a hot buttery skillet after washing and sautéed until tender and glossy at which point I added the full package of sliced “porkstrami” that we picked up from Tails & Trotters and simmered till hot and yummy.

While that simmered, I placed spring asparagus onto a baking sheet, drizzled walnut oil and mashed roasted garlic on then broiled to perfection.

I whipped up eggs that I get from a friend (my hens are to little for eggs yet but this summer I should be up and going with a few eggs each day from my own back yard again!) with just a tiny splash of pastured heavy cream. I then made incredible omelets with the eggs, filled with a dollop of leek and porkstrami that was then topped with a smidgen of decadent farmstead smoked gouda that was made in Salem by Willamette Valley Cheese.

to trim this brunch out wish just a tiny bit of sweet I put out a bowl of cubed fresh cantaloupe (no this was not purchased at the market).

All in all a mostly local and in season feast and a fantastic way to start the season if I say so myself. The one thing I have to accept is soon I will have to switch out from using my granny cart and use a large hand cart with several Rubbermaid totes as my family and daycare enjoy eating well to much for such a small cart option.

Paleo Breakfasts for the week of March 10th 2014

This week has been fun with my Birthday having started it off. I even added a splurge to me eating and I do not regret it at all…

1) fresh clams steamed and served with a garlic butter sauce

2) my family likes to call this breakfast barf in a bowl… we take all the leftover meats and vegetables that are in the fridge, dice them up in a skillet, scoop it into a bowl and then top with an egg over medium so the yolk is nice and gooey to slop around with all those goodies.

3)simple eggs with breakfast sausage

4)sausage with kale and hot deviled eggs

5) gluten free but not paleo blueberry pancakes… I used a mix that I like and added the last of my frozen blueberries to this. I had only one and as long as I do not do this often AND I remember this can and probably will adversely affect my goals I should be alright…

 

Paleo Breakfast for the week of March 3rd 2014

1) lemon chicken with pulled pork

2)crab with cabbage and onions

3)Brussels sprouts with eggs

4)Asian short ribs with eggs

5) sea scallops with kale

 

Emergency trip to Seattle Washington

Saturday was going to be “get a lot of work done day” for me. I have tons of things that have to get done or else and so I scheduled 6 hours worth of work time over the course of the weekend. This seemed like a great idea even if I really just wanted to take the weekend and play with my husband and family. Life on the other hand seemed to have had other plans for me and that is alright. When I sat down to my trusty new computer, I received a call from my ex-husband needing help. Him, his wife, and their three children where going to Seattle (from Portland) to visit an old friend of his wife’s, that was working at a writers conference close enough to home that they could make time to see each other. They had not had this kind of a change in about 20 years so all plans were made and the trip begun. The sights we nice and they were enjoying a nice casual journey at 70 miles per hour when out of the blue a wheel went flying and all came to a frightful stop. They tried calling a friend that lives in that area but alas there was no answer so knowing that I would be home they call me and my husband to see if anyone here could drive to the rescue. Once we were off the phone, I loaded the cooler with healthy snacks and off we went. We passed a silly shop called the “Mattress Barn” and chuckled at all the animal cut-outs, lots of poor soles that made the wrong choice and where keeping the local law busy with pull-overs, and the occasional pretty natural view as we made our way to BFE Washington. When we realized how close it was to Seattle we offered to finish the trip and hangout there for the remainder of the day so the original visit could be obtained. I have never gone to Seattle just to hang out so it was a fun adventure.

The first stop was at the Space Needle. I have a huge fear of heights but I am working on getting this fear to a manageable level. With this in mind, we went to the top and I actually went out on the viewing deck, walked all the way around on the outside edge, and even took several pictures. I wish I had a better lens on my camera for the distance but I am still really happy that I did this. Oh and a really cool thing that I saw while way up high was one of the local parking garages has a raised bed community garden!!!

 

 

After we came down from the top we wandered over to the Pike Street Market even though most of the stalls were closing as we got there late in the day. I really wanted a Starbucks coffee and when we were there we saw this fantastic coffee bean Hog above the door!

It was past supper time and I knew that we would not get back to Portland area till way late so we stopped and had a wonderful dinner at the Crabhouse: