Road Trip Food - Meatballs and Beef Jerky

Meatballs as a dinner on part of a road trip:

20 oz. ground turkey
a couple handfuls of fresh spinach chopped finely
some powdered garlic
some dried basil
some dried thyme

Mush it all together, form into ~1" balls, drop onto a cookie sheet, tuck in any spinach ends that are sticking out excessively, and bake at 350 for about 22 minutes.  I put them on parchment paper to help minimize the mess on the cookie sheet.  But they do kind of end up sitting in a pile of their own fat, which is fine, but un-appetizing looking.  I've been wondering about baking these on racks above cookie sheets.  Maybe next time.

Dry-Rub Beef Jerky:

I was mildly worried about how long it would take - so I opted for a dry rub, which helps the meat dry faster than a marinade.

3 lb. of rump roast, sliced thinly, large patches of visible fat trimmed away.  (How thin?  Actually this batch was sandwich-meat thin - thanks to the awesome butcher counter at Harmons.)

Layer into a bowl, sprinklying salt, pepper, garlic, and cumin onto each layer.  Cover with plastic wrap to minimize contact with air, let sit overnight.

Put in dehydrator according to dehydrator instructions.  This took me three batches at about 10 hours each.  But, again, the meat was really, really thin.  I'm storing this in the fridge with a few paper towels in the bag to help pick up any fat or condensation.

Awesome!
Scooter

Mustard Beef and Veggies

This was based off a recipe in Sarah Fragaso's Everyday Paleo book.  Excellent book, by the way.

Chop onion, garlic, and ginger.  Start sauteing in olive oil.
Add sirloin steak, cut into bite-size pieces.  When the meat has browned, add 1/2 cup chicken stock, 1 Tbl dijon mustard, and 1 tsp of thyme that have already been combined.
Add a 1/2 bunch of kale leaves, torn off the stalks, and about 1/3 head of red cabbage.  Simmer everything together until the latest veggie entrants are wilted to your satisfaction.

This was really, really good!

Scooter

I've got some beef jerky spinning in the dehydrator right now, I'll let you know how it comes out!

Bison Stir Fry

Meat.  Veggies.  Spices.  Cooked in some kind of fat.  It's either a stir-fry, or perhaps a saute, or a soup, or a curry, depending on which spices and amount/type of liquid.  I almost didn't post this, but then I remembered that one of the reasons I started the blog was to keep track of some of the veggie-spices-meat combos and ideas I try.  Anyway, here it is: a stir-fry that almost became a soup.  Then didn't.

Chop up an onion.  Saute it in a combo of sesame oil and mongolian fire oil.
After 5 minutes add a chopped red bell pepper and some yellow squash.
Look in the spice cabinet and decide where this recipe is going.  Add several hefty shakes dried garlic, a good amount of chili powder, and some paprika.
After 5 minutes add 1 lb. ground bison (or beef, or ....)
In the middle of all this, decide that you want to make this more soup-like.  Add about 4 frozen ice cubes of homemade chicken broth.
While you are filling a container of water to also dump in, decide you don't want it to be soup-like.  Make hot tea with the water instead.
When the meat is cooked, add a chopped half head of red cabbage.
After 5 minutes, add the torn leaves off a bunch of kale.  Cook until wilted.

Serve with hot tea!

Put cheesy "taste the rainbow" comment here.

The spice level is fairly mild, doesn't hit you instantly, but has a nice follow through.  And now I feel like I'm emulating someone trying to give a review of wine.  Huh.  But there are no blackberry overtones.  Yet?

Scooter

Easiest Roast Chicken, Spinach-Egg "Bread", Apple-Cinnamon-Walnut "Cookies"

Warning:  all measurements are educated guesses.

Easiest Roast Chicken:
Heat oven to 350, put the whole chicken in the roasting pan with some onions, sprinkle olive oil, garlic, and salt on it.  Cover, cook for 3 hours.  Fall-off-the-skin moist chicken.  No chicken stock out of this one - my freezer is full up.

Pre-bake.  And upside down.  Whatever.

I was trying to plan this such that I could have all three things in the oven at once, and pull them all out at the same time, but I didn't quite get the other two things ready in time.

Spinach-Egg-Basil "Bread*"
based off of this on Mark's Daily Apple.  Planning on using it with leftover chicken in tomorrow's lunch.  Maybe in a sandwich-type way....

16 oz. package of frozen spinach, thawed, and drained as well as you can by squeezing out the liquid with paper towels or a cheesecloth.
Handful of fresh basil leaves.
Whir the green stuff together in a food processor.
Somewhere a little bit south of 1/4 cup of almond meal.

In the pan.

4 whole eggs, 3 egg whites, beaten, with a pinch of salt.
(I was hoping the additional egg whites and almond meal would make the thing a little bit stiffer and a little bit drier after baking.)

Slices

Beat everything together, spread it out in a pyrex 9" round baking dish.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.



As one might guess, this tastes egg-y and spinach-y.  (Which I like).  It ended up being still moist (which it's supposed to be), fairly stiff (which was good), but also fairly thick (~ 1/2").  Next time I make it, I plan on getting even more liquid out of the spinach, and divvying this out between two pans to make the slices thinner, and see how that goes.  Potentially only bake it for 20 minutes.  Maybe drop an egg.  We'll see.

"Cookies"
Based on Paleo Foodie
1 3/4 small gala apples, chopped
~ 1 cup almond meal
pinch of baking soda
lots and lots of saigon cinnamon.  Probably like 1+ Tablespoons (Or regular, of course).
Handful of chopped walnuts
2 eggs.  (I tried with just one egg, but it didn't seem moist enough, so I went with two.)
Mix everything together.
Plop onto a parchment-covered baking sheet.  Since I was trying to get all of this onto a small baking sheet, to only take up 1/2 a rack in the oven, I made 6 giant ones.  It really should have been like 10-12 smaller ones.  So much for space efficiency.

Yes, these are giant.  And more delicious than the picture indicates.

I like these a lot, but I like apples, cinnamon, and walnuts.  Depending on how sweet your tooth is, they are either just right, or not sweet enough.  (Or perhaps too sweet, but I don't know many people in that category.)  They could use some honey, if you like.  Or perhaps butter.  Which isn't sweet, exactly, but it is delicious.

Can't wait to eat one with some tea!
scooter

* I recently became annoyed at a local breakfast place that was advertising "scrambles."  The place is vegan and there are no actual eggs in the house.  The menu also included "chicken tenders" and other "meats."  I fumed (mildly) a little bit, wondering why that can't just call things what they are - tofu, some other form of tofu, and more other form of tofu.  (I don't eat tofu.)  At least use "chicken-like."  And here I am calling something "bread."  Ah, well, I didn't invent it.

Sausage and Vegetable Egg Bake

This will be breakfast for the next bunch of mornings:
Peel and dice a medium sweet potato.
Cut a head of broccoli into florets.
Bring a some water to a boil, drop the sweet potato and broccoli in, keep at a simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop an onion and a medium zucchini or yellow squash.  Saute in olive oil, when the onions are translucent, add some sausage (mine was ~3/4 lb).  I didn't add any spices, since the sausage was pre-spiced Italian-style.
Heat the oven to 350.
Drain the sweet potato and broccoli, add all the ingredients to a greased 8x8 glass pan. Beat together ~8-10 eggs or equivalent in whites.  (I think I used 7 whole eggs and 5 egg whites*.)  Pour over the other ingredients and stir a little bit.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, until it is all set up.

Somehow all the egg white appear to have formed up in the lower right of the pan.  Curious.  They might be plotting a take over of some sort.

Unfortunately, this did dirty a fair number of pans and bowls.  Blast.

Scooter

Recipe based on one that was found years ago in Chris Carmichael's Fitness Cookbook (the cookbook in general is very, very far from paleo) and recently re-inspired by a post at the Functional Foodie blog.  And in general, it's just a not-divvied-out-into-muffin-tins version of Egg bites.

* The reasoning behind using the egg whites only for some of the eggs is to up the protein percentage a little bit, as I plan on eating some of this with avocado, so the fat all balances out in the wash anyway, and some of it post-workout, and I like more protein post-workout.

Zucchini Patties and a Turkey Burger

I decided yesterday's breakfast, while certainly packing a protein punch, was lacking in veggies.  Decided to put zucchini patties on top of this round instead of just an egg:

I need to vary the colors of the plates and backgrounds in these pictures.....

Turkey burger:  Defrost overnight.  Cook in a pan on medium-hot, about 3 minutes on each side.  Let rest before cutting into or eating it so it can re-absorb some juices.

Zucchini Cakes:
Grate one zucchini.  (About 6-7" long.)
I grated it into a colander and sprinkled salt on it.  I then took the J-dog on a walk - I was trying to draw some of the water out.  When I got back, I squeezed the zucchini with some paper towels to get them drier.  I am making these again tomorrow, but this time I grated the zucchini at night and will let it sit overnight in the colander, try to get even more moisture out.
In a bowl, crack an egg and beat it.  I decided this didn't really look like enough binding agent, so I added another egg white.  This was probably unnecessary.  Add the zucchini in, mix it all together.
Grease the brand-new cast iron skillet with coconut oil, heat up, and plop the zucchini-egg mixture on.  This made 5 patties about 3" across.  The first three I made I probably cooked for 4-5 minutes each side, and the last two, which I deliberately made thinner, cooked faster and were a little better.  So take the time to spread the zucchini blobs out a little bit.

These were also delicious cold later in the day as a snack.

I'm thinking curry spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander) would be a really good addition in the zucchini patties as well.

Enjoy!
Scooter

Based on ideas found in Robb Wolf's forum here and here at Balanced Bites

Breakfast and New Toys

Decided that I wasn't getting enough protein with the paleo pancake kick I have been on, and I hesitate to call this a recipe exactly, but for breakfast I stacked:
A turkey burger (I had a frozen pack from Costco, defrosted one and cooked in a pan on the stove) and a poached egg

I poached the egg in the same pan and juices I had just cooked the turkey burger in.  Which kind of dyed the egg a turkey juice color, which looks slightly unattractive, and everything is kind of whited out in the picture.  Which is appropriate, because it was snowing again at the time.

Not lacking in protein here!

And new toys!  Just got some cast iron pans - a grill pan and a skillet.  What should I cook in them first.....hmmmm, probably meat and vegetables.

Watch out - my wrists are going to get HUGE!

Scooter

The basic idea of egg+burger came from CFSCC EAT THIS.

Baked Salmon with Herbs and Roasted Cauliflower

Well, this just might be two of the best things I've made recently.

Take a large salmon fillet (mine was about 1.8#), put it in a roasted pan on parchment paper, skin down, sprinkle with salt, ground pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice.  Let it sit for a while you do the rest of the prep.

Pre-heat the oven to 425.  Tear the leaves off of a bunch of fresh basil and cilantro.  I ended up with a probably a mound of around 2 cups (not chopped).  I then ran it very quickly through my small food processor with a little bit of lemon juice to chop it.  It was still pretty dry, I didn't process it long enough for it to become pesto-like.  Coat the salmon with the herb mixture.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, then take out of the oven, cover with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes.  This might have been the first time I've ever followed any type of "let it rest" instructions, but it said it helped the salmon finish cooking.  Worth it.

Pre-cooking herb fest.

Meanwhile (or really, interspersed with all this):
Chop a head of cauliflower into florets.  Put on a cookie sheet with olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried garlic, and mix around to make sure all the florets are covered.  Roast for 25-30 minutes.

These were both absolutely delicious.  Especially the roasted cauliflower.  There is nothing like a little bit of char on roasted vegetables.

Yuuuum, char.

Enjoy!
Scooter

These recipes were based off of Ina Garten's How Easy is That

Tilapia Curry

Finally jumped on the coconut oil bandwagon.  I purchased it a while ago, but haven't quite used it yet.  It did smell really nice when I was cooking the onions.

Put a spoonful of coconut oil in a large saute pan.  Heat on medium-medium high.  Add a chopped onion.  After a few minutes, add a bunch of spices, for instance: cumin, coriander, turmeric, curry powder.  Some dried garlic and ginger (doesn't hold a candle to fresh, but one does what one can).  And a table spoon or so of red curry paste.

After a few more minutes, add some cut up zucchini and yellow squash.  After a few more minutes, add some tilapia fillets and break them into chunks.  (Luckily, these defrost really quickly).

Add a few cubes of frozen chicken broth.  Add a can of coconut milk.  Decide that it is too little liquid and add a mere half can of water.  Turn heat up, let it come to a near bubble, turn heat down and simmer.  Decide that is too much liquid, and look in the fridge for more ingredients you can throw in to help sop up the liquid.  Pull out a quarter head of green cabbage that probably thought there was no more chance for it, chop it up, and throw it in, bring it all back to a simmer again for 7-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Scooter

Pancakes - 2 different paleo versions

Decided I wanted to try some new stuff and make pancakes.

Version A:  (Based off a recipe in Robb Wolf's book)
Mix together:
2 eggs
Some amount of applesauce.  We'll call it somewhere between 1/4 cup and 1/8 cup.
Then mix in some amount of almond flour, until the whole thing has a consistency you think will hold together.  We'll call it 1/4 cup.
Add a couple shakes cinnamon

Version B:  (Based off a bunch of recipes on the web, so I won't credit anybody.  Hah!)
Mix together:
2 eggs
a mushed banana
Some amount of almond butter.  We'll call it two heaping spoonfuls.

Both versions:
Pour onto a heated, greased skillet.  Cook for a couple minutes on each side.  Both recipes made about 6-7 pancakes around 3 inches across.

Review:
They are both pretty good.  The applesauce/almond flour version held together well and were thicker but were a little dry.  The banana/almond butter version was a lot thinner, but still held together well and were a little bit mushier.  Toppings: ate the b/ab combo with huckleberry honey.  Ate the a/af version with a berry sauce I made.

Berry sauce:
Take some frozen berries.  Heat them in the microwave until they are hot, which makes them mushy and syrupy, then mash them together.  Yummm.

Worth it as a treat every now and again!
scooter