Pulled Pork and BBQ Sauce

First off- props to my roommate Yogy for making this for dinner tonight. This is not an original recipe by any means. In fact, you can find tons of recipes for paleo pulled pork, and I have tried quite a few. This is by far the best I have come across. I've also had some successes and failures with all sorts of BBQ sauce recipes, and this one turned out great. So I'm just going to post links for the recipes...

Crock Pot Pulled Pork
BBQ Sauce

I ALWAYS eat pulled pork with coleslaw.  Back in the days when I would eat  a pulled pork sandwich, I would put the coleslaw right inside the sandwich. Here is a recipe(ish) of the coleslaw I made tonight. I say "ish" because I don't measure so you just have to taste it as you go along. It's also not quite paleo because I used sour cream as the base for the dressing. If you want to make it paleo, simply replace the sour cream with some homemade mayo.

1/4 head of cabbage (red or green),  core removed and shredded
2 carrots, grated
1 apple, grated

Dressing
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 of a yellow onion, grated
1-2 T apple cider vinegar
1-2 t hot sauce
salt
caraway seeds (optional)

I shredded the cabbage with a knife, but from time to time I use the food processor with the grater blade to shred and grate everything. Throw everything into a big bowl and in a separate bowl mix the sour cream and vinegar. Grate the onion into the bowl and add hot sauce and salt to your tastes. Caraway seeds are optional- I threw them in because I had them and don't use them for anything since I no longer make bread.

Have you ever...?

...made your own sausage? Sausage can be a great protein option for your paleo(ish) diet. However, if you check the ingredient list of most store bought brands you will find some very un-paleo things... corn syrup or sugar, preservatives, fillers, gluten. Luckily you can make your own! If you're fortunate enough to have a stand up mixer with a meat grinder and sausage stuffer, you're really in for a good time, but there is plenty you can make with some pre-ground meat and spices.

Last week I experimented with making some breakfast sausage patties, cooking them, then freezing them so I could have them as a quick breakfast throughout the week. It worked out great! The recipe is based on one I found on sausagemania.com. The only difference is that I don't really measure, but that's not so important unless you are baking. I kept the proportions about the same.

Breakfast Sausage Patties (all spices/herbs are dried)

~1 lb ground meat (I used pork, but turkey would work fine here)

1/2 T salt

1/2 t sage

1/3 t savory (the ONLY reason I used this is because it came in a pre-filled spice rack, so I happened to have it on hand. I'm pretty sure you can leave it out if you don't have it)

1/8 t nutmeg

2/3 t marjoram

1/3 t ground black pepper

Just mix everything in a bowl and form into patties. I like to crush the herbs in my hand before throwing in, to get the oils flowing and whatnot. Fresh ground meat makes a HUGE difference here. The first time I made this I think I ground in some extra pork fat which made all the difference. Ground pork and ground turkey tend to be a bit dry since they're so lean.

I browned the patties on both sides, about 2-4 minutes per side depending on the size of the patties. Let cool and store two at a time in zip top bags in the freezer. I put a bag in the fridge the night before I want to have them for breakfast and then reheat in a pan or in the microwave.

Chile Colorado

This can be made with pork or beef. As a matter of fact, I think this is the first time I've ever had it with pork. I adapted this recipe and it made enough for 3-4 people, next time I will definitely double the amount of meat so I can have some leftovers.

~2 lb pork roast, cut into 1" cubes

1 yellow onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic

3 dried ancho chiles

2 dried guajillo chiles

2 cups chicken broth (homemade or reduced sodium!)

1 cup water

2 T preferred fat for cooking

Put pork, 1/2 the onion, and 2 cloves of garlic into a large pot/dutch oven. Add just enough water to cover the meat, and add ~ 1 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low and simmer partially covered anywhere from 60-90 minutes. You want to cook it until the pork is tender enough to cut with a spoon.

While the pork is cooking, bring the chicken broth and water to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the dried chiles. Cover and let sit for 20-30 minutes until the chiles soften a bit. When they are cool enough to handle remove the stems and seeds. Don't worry if some of the seeds remain, these chiles are pretty mild. Put the chiles in a blender or food processor with their cooking liquid and a couple of pinches of salt and puree until smooth.

Once the pork is done I transfer it along with the cooking liquid to a bowl, and use the same pot to sautee the remaining 1/2 onion and 3 cloves of garlic (chopped) in your fat of choice. After a couple of minutes use a slotted spoon to add the pork back into the pot and cook for 5 minutes more. Then dump in the chile mixture and use the reserved pork cooking liquid to thin the sauce to whatever consistency you like. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Then eat!

I just had a bowl of this and a spinach salad for dinner. I imagine this could easily be made in a crock pot by making the chile mixture and pouring it over the pork, onion, and garlic; then adding enough water to completely cover the meat. Cook on high for 5 hours, or low for 8 hours. Seems like it would work!

Boredom (and a couple of recipes, too)

Trying to stick with an exercise routine? Better switch it up *cough*CrossFit*cough* to keep yourself interested. You started mountain biking? Great! Now how long would you stick with it if you only rode the same trail over and over? So our venture into paleo(ish) eating shouldn't be any different.

Everyone has their go-to foods- you know they are good for you; you know how to cook them; you know you don't hate them (chicken and broccoli sound familiar?). Ok, it's time to add some excitement to your life.

CSA box

For the past few years (except this year; we are determined to have a successful garden this season!) my household has received a CSA box once a week. CSA stands for "community supported agriculture"...you are basically buying into a share of a farm's harvest, whatever it may be. By signing on for one of these things you are supporting your local farming community and getting delicious organic veggies at a great price (ours came out to $22/week for a household of 4 adults), and you have a chance to try some things you would never really consider buying at the grocery store. Here are just a few things the CSA box introduced me to: pumpkin (and I mean, like, an actual pumpkin that I had to figure out how to cook, not a can of pumpkin puree), parsley root, romanesco, turnips, green garlic, and agretti. Here are the links to the two farms that I used to get my veggies from (they now operate their own individual CSA programs)

Mariquita Farms

High Ground Farms

Spices

I'm not even going to tell you how many different spices we have in our kitchen. A lot. A lot a lot. And I think I've attempted to make something with every single one. When we go to the grocery store we always check the spice aisle because sometimes there is a sale (spices can be pretty pricey) and we stock up on our basics- cayenne pepper, chili powder, thyme, rosemary, etc- and then sometimes, when we're feeling a little crazy, we'll get something like annato seed, or cardamom, or caraway seeds. And then figure out what to do with it. I definitely grew up in a household where the spice cabinet consisted of salt and pepper and that's it (love you mom!) so it's fun to experiment by making our own rubs for bbq-ing, or trying to replicate the amazing food from Los Cubanos.

Have you ever...?

I learned to cook from watching the Food Network. I really did. Now I'm learning to cook again by poking around every single paleo website known to man and I'm still seeing things I never would've thought of on my own. Every week I'll try to post something like yesterday's "Have you ever...?" and hopefully you will say, "No, I never!" and then go try it.

Ok, here are the recipes for the rest of my meal from yesterday.....

Pork loin marinade:

Juice and zest of 1 orange

Juice of 2 limes (zest of 1 lime)

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 t dried oregano

1 t salt

1 t cumin

1 t black pepper

This is a very quick marinade based on a Cuban "Mojo". Quick to put together and quick to do the job. You do not need to let the pork marinate for more than an hour or so.... actually you wouldn't want to because longer than that and the pork will end up mushy from all the citrus. Yuck. After that, you pretty much just grill it until it reaches an internal temperature of about 150. Then (and this goes for all meat!) let it rest before you slice it so the juices don't all run out, otherwise you will have a big mess AND dry meat, and nobody wants that.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad (shout out to Dato for introducing this to me):

2 cucmbers, sliced into half moons

2 tomatoes, sliced into half moons

2-3 green onions, sliced or chopped

Handful of cilantro, roughly chopped

Equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil, maybe just under 1/4 c each? (I add a little more vinegar)

Salt and pepper to taste

Um... mix it all together in a bowl! I like to let it sit for 10 minutes before eating.