What do you do when life hands you lemons? You make a Paleo salad dressing

Unfortunately, vinegar is not paleo. All yeast or fermented products are off the paleo which is odd because if you think about it, cave people didn't really have refrigeration and I would think all things would ferment over time. Well, what do I know! I wasn't there!! As we begin to approach spring (I think), salads become more and more popular. It's a great lunch item and easy to make and transport. People have always asked me what type of salad dressing they can use if they are eating paleo. I came up with this quick salad dressing that you can make in bulk and keep in a jar in your fridge for the week. This recipe using the lemon's acidity to replace the vinegar. I recommend using Meyer's lemons( I can write an entire blog on the goodness of these lemons) if you can find them but regular lemons work just fine.

Get a measuring cup, I have a plastic 2 cup one or you can use a glass one, you just need something you can see through.Take the juice of two lemons (make sure you roll the lemons before you try and juice them, this will release the juice for the pulp). Two lemons should yield about a 1/2 cup of juice if the lemons are on the bigger side. Add 1/4 of a cup of flax oil and a 1/2 of cup of really good olive oil. Pour all these ingredients into a jar, add some fresh ground pepper and shake until everything is combined. You can add different dried or fresh herbs depending on your tastes. The sky is the limit! This will keep in your fridge for a week or so, just shake the jar before you use it as the lemon will separate from the oil. Add to your favorite salad and enjoy!

Like Paula Dean always says....Darlin' you got to rub your meat!!!

I love flank steak, its one of my favorite cuts of meat. It is very lean and cooks quickly and has such an amazing flavor. It is always best to cook flank steak rare to medium rare as you will get more flavor from the steak and it won't taste like shoe leather....I have two marinades that work great for flank steak, one that is paleo and the other not so much.....The non-paleo marinade is not a bad marinade it just a few non paleo ingredients in it that are hard to substitute. Take your pick they both rock!!!

Paleo Carne Asada -
1 jalapeno pepper
1 teaspoon of cumin
2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro finely chopped
1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lime juice (i love limes so I usually throw in another)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

The best thing to do with the flank steak is trim off any visible fat, and pound the flank steak thin with a meat tenderizer and pour the marinade over the steak and let it sit for at least 2 hours. Then throw it on the grill approximately 5 mins on each side.

Non Paleo Sizzle Marinade -
1/2 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup of Dijon mustard
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Combine all ingredients and pour over marinate. Let sit in fridge for at least 2 hours and grill. If I don't pound out the steak and it's on the thicker side, I usually do 5-7 minutes on each side. Remember you can always cook more but you can't cook a steak less once it's done!

Both of these recipes can use a 2 lb flank steak.

Enjoy!

Turkey Loaf

Last night for dinner I made a turkey loaf with brussel sprouts and pecans. Here is the recipe -

Herbed Turkey Loaf -

1.5 pounds of ground turkey

1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil

1 medium onion chopped (you can do finely chopped if you don't like onions in your loaf, I left mine on the bigger side)

1 clove of garlic minced

1 cup of shredded organic zucchini and organic squash (i used a cheese grater on the largest grate)

2 large Omega3 eggs wisked

1/2 cup of blanched almond meal

1 teaspoon of celtic sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

In a large bowl, combine the turkey, grapeseed oil, onion, garlic, zucchini, and eggs. In another bowl, combine almond flour, salt, pepper, parsley, and thyme. Stir the almond mixture into the wet ingredients, then kneed with your hands until completely mixed together. Dump out onto the baking sheet and form into a loaf. You want to make sure you pat it down a bit so it cooks evenly. It should be long and wide. Bake for 50-60 minutes until its browned around the edges and cooked through. I baked my for 60 minutes and I could have pulled it out at 50 so I would start checking at around 50 mins. Take the loaf out of the oven and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

Brussel Sprouts and Pecans

8 ounces of Brussel Sprouts (I doubled this because the bag I got  from TJ was 16 ounces)

1 ounce of raw pecans chopped

2 shallots minced

Olive Oil

Walnut oil

Take the Brussel sprouts and cut off the stem and make a criss cross mark in the base. Put a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil and add a steamer tray. Put the brussel sprouts in the steamer tray and steam for 10 minutes. Remove from the steam and place in a bowl of cold water and ice cubes to stop the cooking (this is called an ice bath). Drain and chop. Heat olive oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Add the brussel sprouts and pecans and saute. Add the shallots and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Finish the dish with a drizzle of walnut oil. And Enjoy!



It's Jerky Time!!!!!!

My newest kitchen item finally arrived! Meet the Excalibur Food Dehydrator....I am using it to make some grassfed beef jerky.

One of my biggest struggles is traveling for work while maintaining a paleo lifestyle. I always travel with a bag of Trader Joe's organic orignal beef jerky but unfortunately, its' not completely paleo as is has soy sauce in it. So a light went off and I said to myself, self....why not get a dehydrator and do it yourself???? So I did. I picked up a grassfed flank steak from Whole Foods this weekend and dry rubbed it with some onion power, garlic powder, cayanne pepper, paprika, and celtic salt. I sliced the flank steak across the grain and let the rub sit overnight in the fridge. I loaded the dehydrator today, turned the time to 6 hours and voila, jerky!

Ok, so first batch.. have some adjustments to make. I used way too much Cayenne Pepper and I cooked too long. I think maybe 4 hours might be the trick.

More Paleo Cooking

I have had a few people at the gym ask me for some of my paleo recipes from my time of cooking for people at CFM. I emailed with Nicki yesterday and here it is! Hopefully between both of our blogs everyone will have some great Paleo resources to start living like a caveman!!