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 mayo? One of the headaches of the Paleo-ish diet is diligently checking labels and coming to the realization that there isn't much in the way of store-bought sauces, condiments, and marinades that is Paleo friendly. Ok, fine. You can eat your salad with oil and vinegar 29 days out of the month.... but sometimes, don't you miss those creamy mayo based dressings? Now, you're probably not eating mayo on a sandwich anymore, but what about some aioli (fancy garlic mayo!) on grilled artichokes?

I've made mayo plenty of times with egg yolks, lemon juice, and oil- pretty much the classic way. However, the mayo you are used to eating is made with some sort of vegetable oil that is high in Omega-6's, which you probably are trying to cut out of your diet. So when I've made mayo, I've used olive oil which has a very strong flavor. This is fine if I'm making aioli, which has garlic blended right in, but otherwise it's a little much.

Another problem for some people is the fact that it usually uses raw eggs. I personally don't mind, but some do.

So I found another way to make "mayo"....

Almond Mayonnaise

1 cup slivered almonds (I was just shy of a cup, so I used some macadamia nuts, too)

1/3-1/2 cup olive oil

2/3 cup water

1/4-1/2 t salt (optional)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Put almonds, olive oil, half the water, and salt into a food processor or blender and let it go on high for a couple of minutes, until smooth. Add the lemon juice and the rest of the water and blend until combined. Transfer to a container and chill for a couple of hours.

This won't have the same texture as mayo, it's a little grainy. But it works! And the nuttiness masks the strong olive oil flavor. I used it this evening to make a salad dressing- just thinned it out with lemon juice and water, and added some fresh herbs. I've used this recipe before (subbed honey for agave syrup) and I liked it as well- a little tangier.

The rest of dinner consisted of grilled lamb chops with charmoula, and zucchini and tomatoes stuffed with crab and scallops.

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.

BBQ recipe roll call

There was a ridiculous amount of amazing food yesterday after the Southbay Open event hosted at Crossfit Cadence. Here are the recipes for the dishes I made. Please post your recipes to the comments- whether they were paleo or not (remember this is a "mostly" paleo blog).

Lemon bars- I used (extra virgin) coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil, and you could easily use butter if you'd like.

Asparagus Salad- I added green onions to this. I make this salad at least 3 times a month, as it is a big hit in our house.