Chile Verde

Super delicious -
Based out of Sarah Fragoso's Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook.

Ingredients:
2 lbs pork roast (most recipes I looked at called for shoulder roast, I got a sirloin roast b/c that is what was available), cubed into like 1" pieces.
1 large onions, chopped
Couple cloves garlic, chopped.
Jar of verde tomatillo salsa (or make your own.)
1 cup broth

Spices:
Paprika
Cumin
Black Pepper

Oil:
Coconut

Method:
Brown the cubes of pork in a couple tablespoons of coconut oil for 8 minutes or so.  Remove to a plate.  Add onions and garlic, saute for 5-10 minutes, add spices.  (I'm guessing I put in a 2 teasoons or so each).  Add broth and use a stiff spatula to scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan.

2 options: simmer on the stove for 2-2.5 hours.

What I did: Put it all in the crockpot on high for 4.5 hours.

It was still pretty liquidy - I think simmering on the stove (uncovered) would have thickened the sauce up somewhat.  It's really good, though.

I am going to try poaching some eggs in the liquid tomorrow for breakfast - super excited.

Scoot

Bacon-Wrapped Pineapple; "Potstickers"

Made some finger foods for a work potluck:

Basically from Diane Sanfilippo's Balanced Bites:

Soak some toothpicks in water for a while.  (I did overnight).
Buy a package of bacon, cut the strips in half, width-wise.
Chop up a pineapple into ~3/4" chunks.
Wrap a piece of bacon around the pineapple, secure with a toothpick.
Cover a cookie sheet or large roasting pan with aluminum foil.
Put a metal baking rack on the pan.
Place all the bacon bites on the rack.  (So that the fat will drain below the rack.)

Bake at 350 for ~25 minutes.  I put it on broil for about 5 minutes at the end.

Awesome.

Gluten-free potstickers.

This was based off a amalgam of a bunch of different websites.

Ingredients, sauteed separately in sesame oil:
1.5 lbs. ground pork, until done
1 head napa cabbage, with some shredded ginger, until wilted
1 large onion, 1 leek, 1 green pepper, and 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
Combine this all and let sit.  (Overnight, in my case.)

Some spring roll wrappers.  Mine were made with tapioca flour.

Double up the wrappers, soak 2 at a time in a little bit of water.  (They are flimsy and fragile).
Roll up the filling inside them.
Fry in sesame oil.

Made about 30 or so.  Pretty labor intensive.  Pretty good, but kind of oily.  Filling was delicious.

Scooter

Balsamic Crockpot Short Ribs

This was based off Diane Sanfilippo's Practical Paleo recipe.

Rub the (bone-in) short ribs with spices: fresh rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika

Sear the ribs in a large skillet in coconut oil.

Put the ribs in a crockpot with:
1-2 sliced onions
1 cup balsamic vinegar (I used a blackberry-ginger flavored one).
A bunch of smashed cloves of garlic
1 can tomato sauce (15 oz.)
Drizzle of honey

Cook on low for 8 hours.

Awesome!

Dehydrated Beef Jerky and Blueberries

Boring self post:
A full bag of Costco blueberries takes 6 trays in the big dehydrator.

About 2 lbs. of beef take about 4 trays in the big dehydrator.

Espresso Balsamic Vinegar Steak

Marinade (top sirloin in this case) steaks in:

Couple tablespoons espresso balsamic vinegar from Mountain Town Olive Oil  (alternatively, some espresso mixed with some balsamic vinegar)
Couple tablespoons olive oil (specifically the California Garlic Olive Oil from the same source.)
Couple shakes of dried garlic
Several turns each of salt and ground pepper.

Let sit in the marinade for 2-many hours.  (I went for 8).

Hand to someone else who is skilled with the grill, and feast when they magically come back perfectly grilled.  Let's say it was 5 minutes per side.

Seriously delish.

Scoot

Dry-Brined Tukey

Yup.  Doing this again for sure.

This was based off a recipe in Paleo Comfort Foods.  I'll let you read about the supposed benefits of dry-brining a turkey here.

3-4 days before cooking the turkey: rub down with 4 Tablespoons Kosher Salt.  (Kosher has a nice weight and "feel" to it.  I suspect sea salt would also be just great.  Table salt might be too fine to be effective.  Or it might work brilliantly.)

Put it in a plastic bag in the fridge.  Turn it over a couple times in the next few days.

A couple hours before cooking, take it out of the fridge so it can come to room temperature.  Put it in a roasting pan.  Sprinkle cracked black pepper into the cavity, then stuff the cavity with apples and onions.
(I had a fairly small bird, about 7-8 lbs, and it took 1.5 each of medium-sized apples and onion.)  I pierced the skin and meat a little bit, then proceeded to rub down the turkey with several Tablespoons (Kerrygold Irish) butter.  Then crack more black pepper on top, and sprinkle fresh chopped rosemary over everything.  Put a few pats of butter under the skin and also in the cavity with the onions and apples.  Put about a cup of liquid in the bottom of the pan - I used chicken broth, but water or white wine were also options.

Cook the turkey uncovered at 450 for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350, cover the bird (with a lid or with foil) and cook for 2-3 hours.  (~15 minutes per pound).

I still need to learn how to carve meat, but it was delicious!

Scoot

Rosemary, Garlic, and Lemon Roasted Chicken

This was based out of a recipe in Make It Paleo.

Take one whole chicken, deprive it of the giblets, etc. if necessary.

Combine, in a bowl:
1.5 Tablespoon Grandma Sandino's Garlic Sauce.  Or Olive Oil and Garlic
1 T fresh minced rosemary
1 T Lemon juice
Several-to-many turns of the pepper and salt grinders.

In a roasting pan, rub the sauce into the chicken.  I tried to get some under the skin as well.  Put a few cloves of garlic and 1-2 slices of lemon in the body cavity.

Cook (with lid on), for about 20-30 minutes per pound, so in my case I went for about 2 hours.  Delicious!

Scooter