So Many Recipes, So Little Time

Kim (left) and I (right) in November 2012

My college roommate, Kim, who is also my sister/bff/partner-in-crime-when-dancing-to-Michael-Jackson-songs-at-2-am, has recently jumped on the paleo wagon and was interested in buying a cookbook to help her along her paleo way. She works full time and lives in a rural area, so buying tons of fancy (read: expensive) ingredients from specialty stores is not easy nor feasible for her (or for me for that matter). She also doesn't have tons and tons of free time on her hands to make all her own condiments and elaborate meals. She's, you know, like a normal person with a budget and time constraints.

To combat all these things and make going paleo as painless as possible, I referred her to a gazillion different paleo blogs that grace the internet these days. I personally am not big on using cookbooks or exact recipes.  I think cooking is more of an art than a science when it comes to making paleo food. It's about seasoning things to taste, to what tastes good to you then and there when you're cooking it, not what some recipe tells you to do. So I encouraged her to look at some of the blogs out there for recipes, rather than spend her hard earned money on a book. I'd like to show you all some of these blogs too, to make your daily load lighter and your wallet heavier.

My egg frittata muffins, not Michelle Tam's, which are far sexier.

My ALL TIME FAVORITE paleo blog has to be Nom Nom Paleo by Michelle Tam. She is amazing. She takes GREAT pictures of food. I drool every time I check out her website. Literally. Like all over the keyboard. Because her food sounds refreakingdiculous. And one of the best recipes she's got has to be her prosciutto wrapped mini frittata muffins. They changed my world. They. Are. Stupid. Yummy. As with all recipes, you can tweak this one to suit yourself. She includes spinach and tomatoes. I love them, but those veggies do not love me unfortunately. So I use onions, mushrooms, asparagus, and zucchini, all shredded on a mandoline. If you wanna throw broccoli and cauliflower or eggplant in there, knock yourself right out. You can also partially cook strips of bacon and use those to line the sides of the bacon tin like I did and they come out full of bacony goodness. And then, if you manage not to eat all of them fresh out of the oven, you can throw them into a container in the fridge and eat two or three (or all of them) for breakfast for the next few days. They travel well and survive the fridge. And of course bacon makes everything amazing...

Nom Nom Paleo also has an app for all her awesome recipes! You get super extra special stuff and recipes if you buy her app. From what I hear, it's totally worth it. I haven't bought it, because, as I said before, I'm a cheap b*st*rd and I don't usually pay for apps. But someday, when I win the lottery, or maybe become gainfully employed, I'll purchase this app and let you know how it is. I'm sure it's worth every penny.

Well! That's it for today! Check out this recipe and the other amazing foods that Ms. Tam prepares for her family. Ugh, I wish I was her kid... 

Up and running again!

Wow it's only been a few months since I last posted... Okay it's been eight to be exact. But life has thrown some epic curve balls in those intervening months, so cut me maybe a little slack. Pretty please!

In the coming weeks I plan on not only sharing some of my favorite recipes from around the internet but also throwing in my own creations and exploring all the different approaches to paleo with free resources to help you on your way. In addition, I'll be highlighting some of the haters out there and how paleo folks have responded to them. This "diet" has gotten a lot of flack lately and I think if you're going to implement a completely different way of eating into your life, you should be well equipped to inform all the haters by dropping knowledge on their ignorant... butts.

So! Without further ado, let's get this paleo party started! (That was a little lame, I'll be the first to admit. Chalk it up to not having blogged in forever...) I've been taking a few pictures here and there of what paleo stuff has been fueling my bod over the last few months since I got my nifty Samsung tablet, but none of them are in progress shots sadly. Those are my fave since they document my absolute favorite part of paleo: getting up close and personal with real food. But I'll be sure to get some next time. And hopefully soon I'll get my camera set up for video shots of fun stuff like fermenting tea (aka kombucha) or curing your own bacon... both of which are stupid easy.

Here we have a picture of my experiment with cured salmon. It was not the gravlax success story I was hoping for, but I made the best of it by treating it like salmon bacon and serving it with some gooey farm fresh eggs over easy. I tend to eat all my eggs over easy and mangled into a rather unattractive garbage plate-looking monstrosity. It's my mother's fault. 

Check back again tomorrow for a new recipe from a wicked awesome paleo blog!!! Hopefully you will love her stuff as much add I do, if you don't love her already. And no. I'm not talking about myself. I'm not quite that vapid... Close though...