Paleo for the superstitious

So it's Friday the 13th on the eve of a full moon; the boys have commandeered the t.v., husband is off playing football and I'm just superstitious enough to think we all need to hunker on down quietly and get the evening over with! Since my last blog, it's finally turned wintry here in eternally sunny Sydney. It was still a balmy 20oC today. My shoulder is being given a rest, leaving me to run or walk. That was a fine alternative til I overdid it, now top AND bottom half are screwed! But, on the bright side, my efforts at Paleo living are still paying off.

Going back through my photos, the first one is from my trip to Scoop in Mosman. This place is a definite no-no for anyone on a strict budget.... but did that stop me?! Oh My Lord it was like heaven in there: huge tubs of all the glorious treats I adore. There are all the nuts, dried fruits, chocolate covered goodies and trail mixes you can imagine. I came home with a wee taste of many things but my favourites were these....

From left to right: cocoa nibs, root vegetable chips (completely addictive. Thank God Mosman is a 15 minute drive away. I even contemplated running there today to justify the indulgence), and inca berries.

Next dish off the camera roll is a freezer meal. Remember I made that kangaroo mince meatloaf? (Sunday 13th April: I'll skip on the Skippy next time). Well I froze half of it, then rebaked it with a celeriac (and a smidgen of potato) mash on top. I actually preferred it this way to the meatloaf. The celeriac mash was just an entire celeriac cut into cubes, one potato, cubed and both boiled together til tender. Then mash them with plenty of coconut or almond milk or stock and ghee or grass-fed butter, salt and pepper. Bake the dish at 180oC til golden and bubbling.

My lovely friend's birthday came along and I wanted to bake her a cake. We both agree that there are occasions when healthy options should be nixed for the sheer love of something naughty every now and then. However, I selfishly wanted the naughtiness to be Paleo! So I Paleo-ised an old favourite recipe. It's a Sephardic cake documented by Claudia Roden...

Orange and Almond Cake

3 medium Valencia oranges

6 eggs, separated

225gm coconut sugar (this is the bit I Paleo-ised; you could use caster sugar if inclined)

200g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

Coconut Yoghurt to serve (optional)

Mixed berry compote made with honey to serve (optional)

Place the clean, whole and unpeeled oranges in water to cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1.5 hours or until soft, adding more water when necessary.

Drain the oranges, cut into quarters, discard any major pips, and whiz the rest, including peel in the food processor, then cool.

Heat oven to 180oC. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl til pale. Beat in the oranges, almonds and baking powder. 

Beat the egg whites til softly peaky and fold gently into the mixture.

Pour into a high-sided 23cm springform cake tin and bake for 1 hour, til firm to the touch. Cover with some loose fitting foil if over-browning.) Cool in the tin.

Serve with just some fresh berries or the yoghurt and compote mix.

I experimented with a few other recipes: we had a cook-up for breakfast last weekend. The boys wanted those disgusting store-bought hash browns. I refused to buy them and made sweet potato ones instead.  There was left-over mixture, which kept really well in the fridge. I then used a scoop of this mixture, making a quick rosti and fried egg brekkie each morning this week. Awesome start to the day - I wasn't hungry for hours, which is unusual for me. This photo is a bit random, but it's a cauliflower puree, a couple of rosti and then a piece of smoked herring on top - surprisingly tasty!

Lastly, the search for the perfect banana bread is over! I trawled through all the banana bread websites for a recipe that contained only two bananas, as that was all I had, et voila, I discovered the wonder that is this almond banana bread. As ever, the true test lay with my boys.... they loved it!

I added some cocoa nibs to the topping which was yummy.

One more thing I'd like to share - I found this article in a website I sometimes use to realign the brain matter. It just resonated with me. Maybe it will with you too.
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/3-tips-get-out-of-head-start-expressing-yourself/

Cheers Folks.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the hard-working and long-loving mums out there.
I hope all mums out there were indulged today. I think Mother's Day should be at least twice a year!
My husband completely surprised me with the most fabulous "primal" breakfast (that is, dairy was blessedly included). It was a recipe from my mummy's day present: the I Quit Sugar For Life recipe book. I had made Gwyneth's Paleo Bread, which he had topped with mashed avocado, fresh raspberries and the most divine goat's milk brie. What a great mix.

For our evening feast we had an antipasto platter of pate, salami, ham, sicilian olives, semi dried tomatoes, carrot sticks and more of that really good goat's milk brie. The boys love meals like that - we all sit round big platters and help ourselves to different flavour combinations.

I've had a big week of sweet potato folks. I competed in a sprint distance triathlon yesterday, so I really wanted to have a full tank before the competition. With one humble sweet potato, I made fritters for two lunches and PaleOMG's pumpkin bread (substituting the pumpkin for sweet potato). The bread was even popular with my boys. It was moist and the generous amount of nutmeg was really enticing. I had a slice of it the morning of my tri for some long and slow burning carbs.

The fritters were a basic recipe: 1 and a half cups of mashed sweet potato mixed in with about 150g tinned salmon, 1 beaten egg, a couple of tablespoons of fresh herbs, salt and pepper. I make little patties and fry them in some coconut milk or extra virgin olive oil. Then I made a big pile of rocket, avocado, tomato and cucumber and placed the patties on top. There was a quick dressing of 1 teaspoon of mayo, 1 tablespoon of coconut cream/milk and 1 tablespoon of chermoula paste to pour over it all.

We had guests over for pizza mid-week. I love making pizza dough - there's nothing better than the smell of the dough raising in the kitchen. To make a primal version, I baked a whole sweet potato, split it open and made it into a "pizza". I sat the potato in a sea of ranchero sauce, then dolloped blue cheese, bacon and roasted red pepper on top and grilled it til bubbling. Really filling but delicious and especially spectacular made with a purple sweet potato - that is, the flesh was a rich, royal purple (not the one in this picture below.)

I actually had the same dinner two nights in a row and the night before my race I wanted something not quite so high in fibre, so I made some plantain fritters, which I served with the same salad of lettuce, avocado, tomato and chermoula dressing. I used half the mixture then and cooked up the other half when I got back from the tri - starving and trying to avoid the packet of crisps sitting in the cupboard!

I almost forgot to mention my great excitement - it's now pumpkin soup time! I LOVE pumpkin soup and was stoked to make it this week for a scrumptious lunch. I roast half a butternut pumpkin, a couple of carrots and a bulb of garlic. Then I saute an onion and some rashers of bacon if I have them on hand. Add some dry roasted cumin, all the roasted veggies, several chicken stock cubes, cover the lot with water and bring it to the boil. Once I've blended it ,I then add half a tin of coconut milk. This one, I served with a plantain bread cheese toastie. To be honest the plantain bread didn't work well like this. It was nicer when I toasted it in the Breville and let the bread crispen up a bit more. 

May the Fourth be with you

I just had to blog today, so I could use that title!
It's also been a while and I have a few Paleo recipes to share with you since I left off. So, I added dairy back into my diet and strangely, the aching in my thumb joints has stopped. The problem is that I really don't like the flavour of milk now, except in my tea. But it's lovely to have a slice of cheese and a big dollop of yoghurt every now and then. I also added corn back in, or more precisely, I've tried corn twice now and had no reaction, so that's a bonus.
Apart from those few diversions, I've happily remained Paleo for 99% for the time. I read that people on Elimination Diets often are hesitant to add food groups back into their diet as they are so happy with the status quo that they don't want to potentially upset their systems. This is where I'm at. 

Here are some yummies I've made recently:
I went back to my favourite sweet-toothed gal, paleOMG, to make Chocolate Almond Butter Cups. They're cute, easy to make and very rich. I keep mine in the freezer. They're still not as good as her Chocolate Coffee Caramel Bars, which I'm going to make again this week.

I've loved the "not cornbread pie crust" recipe and decided to make it with Moroccan flavours instead. So I made my own chermoula and harissa. 

Chermoula from Greg and Lucy Malouf's "Moorish"
2 Tbspns cumin seeds, roasted and ground
1 Tbspn coriander seeds, roasted and ground
1.5 Tbspn sweet paprika
1 Tbspn ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2-4 whole bullet chillies, seeded, scraped and chopped
juice of 2 lemons
100ml olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Blitz all ingredients in the food processor. Tip into a clean, sterilised jar and cover with olive oil. It will keep for up to 6 months. Top up with a little olive oil every time you use it. 

To make the Chermoula flavoured cauliflower puree, I simply blitzed the cauli in the food processor with a big dollop of chermoula. It seems to keep in the fridge for a week. I love using it as a base for dishes, as with the sausage stew, or as a topping so it goes a bit crispy.

Harissa from Greg and Lucy Malouf's "Moorish"
1 red pepper, whole
10-15 dried red chillies
10 small bullet chillies
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground
3/4 tsp caraway seeds, roasted and ground
60 ml olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200oC. Place the pepper on a baking tray and roast til the skin starts to blister. Remove from the oven, place in a bowl and cover with cling film to steam for 10 mins. Peel away the skin and discard the stalk and seeds.
Pour enough boiling water over the dried chillies to cover and leave to rehydrate for 10 mins. Seed the bullet chillies. Crush the garlic with the salt.
Blitz all the ingredients in the food processor. Taste for seasoning.
I made this without seeding the bullet chillies..... it really is HOT!!! 
Tip into a sterilised jar and cover with a thin layer of olive oil. It will keep for 4 weeks in the refrigerator.

As it's recently been the school holidays, I offered to make sushi for the boys. So we went to the fish market and my eldest chose some sashimi salmon (bless him), while my youngest chose the dodgy seafood extender of dubious origin. I've really got quite accustomed to sushi without rice (imagine explaining that in Japan?!) With lots of carrot strips, avocado, cucumber and pickled ginger, my salmon roll was fabulous.

The latest Coles recipe book has some good recipes for the family that can be adapted for Paleos. This one was a hit: Sausage Stew
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 Pork Sausages
1 eggplant (I slice mine, salt the slices and stand them in a colander. After an hour or so, I rinse the salt off them thoroughly and then cook them. It makes them more tender and less bitter.)
2 zucchini, sliced
200g mushrooms, sliced
2 x tins of basil and garlic chopped tomatoes

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Cook the sausages til just cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
Add eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms to the pan. Cook for 5 mins or til softened. Add tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 12 mins or til tender. Slice sausages and add to the pan for the last 2 mins of cooking. 

At this point, I made mashed potatoes for the menfolk and served the stew with that. For myself, I had a batch of the Moroccan flavoured cauliflower puree on hand. I put a layer of the puree on the bottom of the dish, topped it with the sausage stew and then took 2 stalks of kale, rubbed them with some olive oil and salt and pepper and broke them up all over the sausage stew. I then baked the lot in a 180oC oven til it was bubbling, approx 20 mins (but watch that the kale doesn't get too burnt). 

This doesn't look so exciting but it was really tasty.

Then I came across some recipes for plantain. I got quite excited about this recipe for a decadent, oozy, cheesy sandwich and decided to give it a try. Firstly I made the plantain bread. I should have used baking paper as it stuck to the non-stick dish. But it was otherwise fine. The recipe made enough for 2-3 "sandwiches", depending on how big your baking tin was. Holy guacamole, it was good to have a grilled cheese sandwich. I also included some hot salami in mine. I believe it is a travesty to heat avocado and always add them to the sandwich after the cheese has oozed rewardingly out of the sandwich and caramelised on the Breville.... heaven.

Then, finally, I had guests round for brunch today and decided to channel Frida Kahlo and go all Mexican. I am sorry I forgot completely to take a photo of my plate but it looked very similar to this one.  I made the refried beans for the non-Paleos, and also made cornbread instead of the Spanish rice. I also should admit that I followed the instructions for the rancheros sauce and tortilla heating from this recipe... You gotta love a blog titled: Fur Coat, No Knickers - done up like a dog's dinner since 1984! So Paleos: grill some of the plantain bread and knock yourself out with the eggs, rancheros sauce, guacamole and a wee dollop of harissa. Really great flavours for all to enjoy. 

Cheers x

30 days of wholesome eating

Day 30: WOW! That month flew by. Unbelievable. I really enjoyed the whole process; from finding a whole world of Paleo bloggers and practitioners out there, to discovering a trillion different things to do with coconut. 

To analyse the results; my first week was spent in detox. Yes, I had a cold, but I was utterly drained and wracked with body aches - withdrawal for sure. 
In the second week I was back up to full speed, culminating in my surf/yoga weekend. My buddy was such a trooper joining me in eating like a cave woman and we were both bursting with energy during the whole, very physical weekend. 
Still had loads of energy and a great feeling of well-being through the third week and was convinced I had found the solution to my digestive disorder. 
Then things hit a bit of a speed bump: I had a few too many wines on our curry night and it put me in the doldrums for the next day or two and I had to resort to my old level of medication. I was really bummed out.

It took the wisdom and patience of my wonderful husband to point out this Paleo food plan still has been a great success. I've reduced my medication levels; I have much better energy, particularly in the afternoon and a much healthier mental state.

There have been quite a few highlights: 

• Proving that Paleo could be achieved within a tight budget. I think my food bill increased by about 25%, but the quality of food that the whole family have been enjoying has gone up by 50%. In my family's weekly food intake I've virtually eliminated processed meats, except for Dad's Famous Bacon Butties in the weekend. I've reduced their crackers and treats by 50%, but increased the nuts, seeds, dried fruit and meat to compensate.
• Discovering that it can fit in with social engagements. OK, so I resorted to potato chips once or twice in order to eat something when out, but I was mindful not to pig out as I've noted in the past that hot chips can give me a tummy ache (it could have been something to do with the quantity not the quality!)
• Paleo Eggplant Parmesan - seriously. You have to try this one. It freezes beautifully too. 
• Chocolate Coffee Caramel Bar - Just thinking about this makes me want to go to the freezer and get that last little smidgen out and scoff it. How I made it last three weeks I don't know? In fact most treats on PaleOMG's website sound fantastic. 
• Exercising that oft neglected body part - the discipline muscle. Think of discipline as a muscle: the more you use it the stronger it becomes. 

Where to from here?

I honestly think I could continue this style of eating indefinitely. However the food I've missed the most is yoghurt. It's always been my favourite food - Greek, full fat, lick-the-lid-the-moment-you-peel-back-the-top. So I'm going to add dairy back in. 

Having done various Elimination Diets over the years, the technique is to add one food group back in at a time. So for dairy you add in 1-3 cups of milk each day. Do this for 7 days. Stop if the more you eat of whatever food group you are trying, the more your symptoms worsen. If you have no symptoms after 7 days you can leave dairy in your diet and go onto trying wheat flour. For this challenge, eat 1 cup of plain cooked pasta every day for 7 days. If no symptoms, then try bread by eating 4 slices of unpreserved bread every day for 7 days. I'll also test out rice and legumes.

I would like the majority of my eating to be Paleo, but I just need to know if these other food groups are problematic for me. 

It's been a great adventure and one I highly recommend for anyone with food intolerances, weight to lose or questions to answer. In the future I'll blog any new recipes I experiment with. Which reminds me, I made these yesterday: cherry ripe chocolate truffles. They are only "OK". There were stones left in the cherries, which I didn't notice til I turned on the blender. Annoying. They definitely won't cut it as a Easter egg substitute, so I'll continue the search to satisfy my chocolate expectations...

Thank you for tuning in to my stories. I hope I have inspired you to try to eat wholesome, unprocessed, healthy food 80% of the time. 

Remember the KEY is to Keep Encouraging Yourself.

x

Great foodie moments with the kids

Day 29: Almost there! As the end of my month of Paleo eating is almost finished, I'm still finding my way with smoothies. I tried putting a spoonful of turmeric and ginger in my smoothie as I'd read they were anti-inflammatory spices. Yikes! Curry tasting smoothie = blah. 

Last night I pulled out the raclette grill. It really is one of the kids' favourite family meals: marinated rump steak, sliced up very finely along with zucchini, red pepper and sweet potato. You could add onions, mushrooms, fennel, anything that you can put on a grill. The kids get into it as they're "in charge" of the cooking. They also have slices of cheese grilled on good quality sourdough. It really is true, that the more you involve the kids in the meal preparation, the more they enjoy the food. 

As we're into the second day of the school holidays, I was happy the boys came up with their own great ideas for entertainment. Firstly it involved a mini-biathlon - a bike ride, several cross country laps of the park and then a bush walk. When we came home all starvin Hank Marvin, they wanted to play Masterchefs. So they each created their own salad in a set time; counting down and flustering over placement of parsley - and then they even ate it! I was so proud of them - chopping and garnishing and eating healthily. Yay. Something must be sinking in. Their creations weren't strictly Paleo, but they wanted me to blog them. 

Mine was a combo of roasted pumpkin, salad leaves, celery, mint and tinned salmon. On the left we had beef strips, celery, red pepper, capers and salad leaves with a garlic aioli. On the right there was the moreish combination of ham, cheese, gherkins, carrot, red pepper, extra virgin olive oil applied judiciously and parsley. I was bursting with feel-good mummyness. 

I'll skip on the Skippy next time

Day 27: What an awesome start to the day: bootcamp with 60 other keen beans in support of Autism Awareness Month. 

My friend and bootcamp organiser had made a raft of food, including bliss balls that rocked!! Almond butter, honey, coconut and chia seeds. So sweet and moreish. Best bliss balls going. I'll ask her to share her recipe with us.

The night before I'd experimented on my long-suffering family... again! This time I took Nigella's perfectly sensible meatloaf recipe and Australianised it with kangaroo mince. Hey, it was available at Aldi and I thought I'd give it a try. I've tried roo steaks before and I know that the meat is extremely high in iron and very lean. Nigella's recipe and my tweaks went like this:

From Nigella Lawson's "Kitchen"
Ed's mother's Meatloaf
Serves 8-10

4 eggs
4 onions, chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
1 tsp sea salt flakes or 1/2 tsp pouring salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (not paleo - maybe a couple of anchovies instead for Paleo version)
900gm beef mince (I used kangaroo mince0
100gm fresh breadcrumbs (I used 100gm almond meal)
225gm rindless streaky bacon (I used shoulder bacon as it was all I had in the fridge)

Preheat oven to 200oC. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and hard boil 3 of the eggs for 7 minutes.
Heat the butter and cook the onions gently, sprinkled with the salt for about 20-25 minutes til they are golden and catching on the bottom of the pan. Remove from the pan and cool.
Mix mince and Worcestershire sauce, add onions and work everything together.
Add remaining egg and mix again before adding the breadcrumbs/almond meal.
Divide the mix into 2. In a large roasting tin make the bottom half of the meatloaf by patting half the mince into a flattish ovoid shape approx 23 cm long. Place the peeled hard boiled eggs in a row down the middle of the meatloaf.
Shape the remaining mince mix over the top of the eggs and pat into a solid loaf shape.
Cover the meatloaf with rashers of bacon, as if it were a terrine, tucking the bacon ends underneath the meatloaf to avoid its curling up as it cooks.
Bake for 1 hour, til the juices run clear. Rest out of the oven for 15 mins. Pour the meat juices over the slices as you serve them.
I served mine with mashed spud and sauteed brussel sprouts and kale.

Now for the verdict..... The boys loved it. I found the smell of the meat rather off-putting. I liked the taste, but I would probably stick to beef mince next time. Nigella swears by meatloaf sandwiches the next day, with a dark rye bread and loads of mustard and mayo.

The next night's dinner was much tastier. I had a batch of Paleo nacho mix in the freezer and I roasted some wedges of pumpkin to serve as the base for the nacho meat sauce. A little bit of Friday night's salsa and some chunks of avocado and I was in a Paleo-Mexico-heaven-o

Get a cider inside yer

Day 25: So I've mentioned before that I love to have a bit of a treat on Friday nights. It's my cheat meal, of sorts. So I prepped a decadent looking dessert for scoffing later in the evening, using a website that a friend put me onto: Oh She Glows. This Healthy Chocolate Chia Pudding was just the ticket. I don't mind the gelatinous (read: slimy) texture of soaked chia seeds, so this really felt and tasted suitably rich and luscious. I loved it with rockmelon, to add to the sweetness. I didn't eat it in one go but used it as a go-to snack for the next couple of days, as the chia seeds make it very filling.

I also, finally, got round to cracking that coconut. What I wanted to point out was how much coconut water those suckers contain...

All that, plus the flesh for under $2! You'd pay almost $4 for a tetra-pak of that much coconut water in the supermarket. 

For my Friday feast, I roasted up some sweet potato in coconut oil, quickly seared a 200gm slab of rump steak and made an impromptu salsa out of roasted cherry tomatoes, red capsicum, coriander and lime juice.

The "treat" bit was a few plain salted potato chips and a glass of Strongbow Cider. The Strongbow was definitely much tarter than the Monteith's - delicious. I do feel a tad guilty about eating white potato, but it's been minimal, so not a drama in the big scheme of things.

101 (or almost) Things to do with coconut

Day 23: I haven't blogged for several days as I have been eating curry leftovers!! Ah! How I love a good leftover. I was also a bit bummed out on Monday as my tummy was really dodgey again. The only thing I could put it down to was the wine. Yes, one glass would have been OK, but as birthday boy brought along such wonderful wines, I couldn't help the lush that lies within. Things are good again now. I did try a few new recipes...

Breakfast - I wanted something more substantial than a smoothie, and yet I was too lazy to attempt to massacre the fresh coconut sitting in my fruit bowl. It really is a labour of love to get all the flesh off the husk. So I went onto one of my favourite websites: PaleOMG.com. This chick obviously has a sweet tooth, but I love that she works out like a demon and has a huge appetite! I chose this pancake recipe, but I didn't put on the granola; I sliced up apple instead. That mixture lasted three mornings for three pancakes. The pancakes were really fluffy, light and "sweet" from the ripe banana I used. 

Then I discovered yet more things to do with coconut. Who knew? It really is a whole new world out there once you start trawling through the Paleo sites. So I made this coffee creamer, in order to jazz up my java. Just a nice change from the almond milk.

Then... I read that I could make my own almond butter AND coconut butter. So to give my Magimix yet more of a work out, I made several jars of coconut butter. One jar I left plain; the other portion I added cacao powder to. This really dried up the buttery-ness of Juli's recipe, but I discovered it melts nicely on my banana pancakes. 

Dinner - My latest experiment: Chorizo, Onion and Sweet Potato Frittata
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
2 chorizo sausages, sliced
1 purple sweet potato, chopped into 1cm dice. The purple ones work well for my family as the flesh is white and the kids don't know it's sweet potato!
1 onion, chopped
6 eggs
1/2 cup coconut cream
A handful of spinach

Heat the grill in your oven.
Put the onion and sweet potato into an overproof pan with the oil and saute on a low-medium heat until the onion is caramelised. Set aside. Put the sausage in the pan and saute til cooked. Put aside and mix with the veggies. Whisk the eggs, season with s&p and add the coconut cream. Layer the veggies and meat into the ovenproof pan and pour the egg mixture over. Cook gently til the egg is almost completely set and golden. Then put it under the grill for 5 minutes until cooked and puffy. Serve with a light leafy salad, or whatever you had to hand that the kids would eat. Cheers

Curry feast to celebrate

Day 20: I mentioned that I was saving all my creativity for a weekend curry feast. It's for my friend, in order to belatedly celebrate his birthday. He loves a curry. Fortuitously for me, not for my friend, the gods have given us a rainy, bleak day that just begs a comforting curry this evening. So far I have resisted giving precise recipes, preferring to take the more Jamie Oliver dash-of-this-slosh-of-that approach. However, today I will plagiarise The Essential Asian Cookbook and give you the exact recipes for my feast...

Cucumber Raita
1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled and grated
1/3 cup mint leaves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tsp mustard seeds, toasted and ground
1 tsp ginger, finely grated
zest of 1 lime
salt to taste

Mix all these ingredients together and put a portion aside for the Paleos. 
For the non-Paleos add 1 cup of Greek yoghurt - I put several layers of kitchen paper towels in a colander, then put the yoghurt on top to strain out the liquid and thicken it.
Chill and serve with a sprig of mint and a sprinkle of paprika.

Coconut Prawn Curry
Serves 4
1 kg of raw prawns
1 tsp of turmeric
1 onion roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
pinch of ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
3 Tablespoons of oil
1 cup of coconut cream
2 T fresh coriander leaves

Toss the peeled and deveined prawns in the turmeric. I used raw, frozen prawns from Aldi.
Place the onion, garlic, paprika, chilli, cloves, cardamom and ginger in a food processor and whizz til a paste is formed.
Heat oil in a pan and add spice paste. Stir it over a low heat for about 10 mins. If the mixture starts to burn, add some water. The paste is cooked when it is golden brown and has oil around the edges.
Stir in the prawns and coconut cream, simmer for about 5 mins til the prawns are cooked. Garnish with the coriander, season with salt and serve.

Bombay Curry
Serves 6 - 8

1 Tablespoon ghee or oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
2 green chillies, chopped
1 T fresh ginger, grated
1.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin*
1 T ground coriander*
1/2 - 1 tsp chilli powder
1 - 1.5 kg beef or lamb, cut into bite-sized cubes (I used beef)
1 tsp salt
410gm can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup coconut milk
fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Heat the ghee or oil in a large pan, add the onion, garlic, chilli, ginger, turmeric, cumin, coriander and chilli powder. Stir til onion is softened.
Add the meat, stir over high heat til the meat is well coated with the spice mixture. Stir in the salt and undrained tomatoes and simmer, covered, for 1.5 hrs.
Add the coconut milk and stir, simmer uncovered for another 5 mins.
Serve garnished with the coriander.
* I always use cumin and coriander seeds, toast them in a dry pan and crush them in the mortar and pestle, just because it always smell so delicious and the spice mix seems that little bit more hand-made.

Veggie Curry
Serves 4-6

2 carrots
1/4 of a butternut pumpkin (250gm any kind of pumpkin)
1/2 a sweet potato if large golden one; 1 purple one
2 T oil
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 & 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 & 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 & 1/2 cups veggie or chicken stock
1 green pepper/capsicum, chopped
200gm button mushrooms, chopped
300gm cauliflower, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped

Cut the veggies in as uniform a size as possible.
Heat the oil, add the onion and garlic, cook over medium heat til soft.
Add the spices and stir for 1 min til aromatic
Add the carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato and stock. Cook, covered over med heat for 25 mins, stirring occasionally.
Add the pepper, mushrooms, cauliflower and zucchini. Simmer for 10 mins til the veggies are all tender.
Note: you could use broccoli, parsnip or red pepper too.

I also made Butter Chicken for the kids - I used the Patak's Butter Chicken simmer sauce in mild flavour. I served it all with brown basmati rice and wholemeal parathas, with extra chilli straight from the garden for us few heat-lovers. 

For a wee treatie, I made these Salted Chocolate Coconut Pistachio Clusters...

Delicious. So rich but perfect with a few sweet and juicy gi-normous grapes.
Happy Birthday Mister!

Gatherings, grapes and good chook

Day 18: This is how I started my morning - swimming in the ocean at sunrise...
http://pacificjules.typepad.com/.a/6a0133ed6f68df970b01a73da069ff970d-popup. The water was like spun glass. A very zen start to the day.

Yesterday was interesting as I had two social occasions, requiring a bit of forward planning. Firstly, I was meeting up with the soccer mums for lunch at my favourite cheap and cheerful haunt: Mortar & Pestle. I had decided to just order the simplest thing on the menu, as I could always spice things up with extra fresh chilli on the side. It was easy and it was nice to not have to prepare a dish myself. I ordered the chicken and cashews, which, interestingly, came in a kind of tomato-ey sauce, but just chock-full of good quality chicken breast and veggies.

In the evening I made a lovely roast chicken with sweet potatoes, plain potatoes (for the lads) and my kale chips. Thank god for roast chook, right? It makes everyone so happy, especially when mummy goes to that little bit of effort and makes gravy for their potatoes! I slopped the anchovy and caper sauce over my chicken. For kale chips, I rub coconut oil into the leaves and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper and smoked paprika, or Herbie's Roast Vegetable spice mix. Then I put them in the oven for the last 10-15 minutes that the roast is cooking. Even my six year old fuss-pot eats them.

Then my buddy asked that I join her for a walk.... to the pub! Again, I didn't want my "Paleo-thung" to be an issue, so I googled "best alcohol choice for Paleos". The result was interesting: it said dry cider. So off I marched to the pub with my plan and my buddy. What a fantastic night out and one I'll remember for future date nights with my hubby - on the rooftop terrace of the New Brighton Hotel they have movie night on Thursdays. People had even booked the lounges in front of the screen. It was brilliant. However, I've been thinking about the recommendation to have cider and I really have to disagree. I was in the wine industry for 15 years, so I know how wine is made and it's a fairly natural process, especially if made with wild yeast. More importantly, it doesn't contain the sugar that cider does. Man! After not having sugar for three weeks, those dry ciders tasted painfully sweet. During wine's fermentation process, all the grape juice sugars are converted to alcohol, the exception being off dry and medium to sweet white wines. So you're left with a higher alcohol level than cider has, but it technically speaking is sugar free. Besides, I have seen many a David Attenborough doco showing elephants and monkeys congregating yearly at the marula tree, in order to get sloshed on the fermenting fruit - if the cave men weren't onto that caper too, then they were idiots! So I'll be having a dry Hunter Semillon next time I feel like a tipple. Hunter Semillon is picked very early, as are the grapes for sparkling wine, which means lower levels of sugar/ripeness and therefore lower levels of alcohol. German Rieslings are also very low in alcohol. However, I'd better get off the subject of wine as I can rant about it for hours...

Today, I'm in a bit of stuckness*, as I have a sick child at home and an uninspiring fridge. So to keep things easy and free me up for cuddles and hot water bottle filling, my day has gone like this:

Breakfast - a smoothie of a banana, two kiwifruit, a handful of spinach, a scoop of Supergreens powder and a slosh of almond milk. Wow - that was one very green drink!

Lunch - two slices of my Paleo bread with tahini and cherry tomatoes, one apple, one bliss ball and a decaf plunger coffee. I am back into my plunger coffee, as having it black or with a bit of almond milk is more palatable than from my espresso machine.

Dinner - a salad from paleo hacks, consisting of lots of spinach leaves, roasted onion, sweet potato and chicken, cashews and a basic vinaigrette.  I'm saving all my creativity for the weekend when I'm cooking up a Paleo Indian Feast for friends. Indian food is perfect for Paleo - all those wonderful veggies with coconut milk. I might even reveal my spice pastes...

* stuckness - noun, a wonderful expression invented by my then 4 year old, as in "Mummy, please get me out of this stuckness"! A state of not being able to get out of your current predicament despite your best intentions.

Fit Paleo Mums lend their creativity

Day 16: I've been making some yummy Paleo dishes over the last two days. One dish in particular was so good I even left a comment on her blog, which was a first for me. 
Yesterday's dinner - I was faced with an ever-wrinkling eggplant in the veggie drawer, which I had intended to use prior to going away for the weekend. It's eggplant season, and I love them. Unfortunately the rest of my family don't share my passion, so in the past, when I've made macaroni cheese for them, I've made my very decadent eggplant cheesio pour moi. In order to satisfy my cheesio cravings I trawled through the Paleo websites until I finally found a kindred soul in fitpaleomom.com, who had kindly created this wonderful chicken and eggplant parmesan recipe. It was every bit as decadent as the cheesey version, with the eggplant being meltingly tender from the salting process. I had that for dinner and froze the other three portions for later meals.

For the squidgets and hubby I made spaghetti and meatballs. Aldi sells a lovely Organic Pasta Sauce with Basil and Garlic, which my non-tomato-sauce-loving-boys will actually eat, so I used that along with these Spicy Meatballs from Paleohacks.com. They were a hit!

Today's lunch - I have a girl-crush on Gwyneth, despite her terribly PC "conscious uncoupling" (ugh!), and love browsing her GOOP newsletter. Amongst the usual unattainable clothes, houses, holidays and recipes was this pearl - Paleo bread. Now I know the strictest of Paleos don't bake breads, cakes, biscuits, but that's not my rap. I'm trying to stick to no grains, no dairy, no sugar and this cave woman needed some bread, goddamit! To be honest, I couldn't face another roasted sweet potato/pumpkin/{insert your root vegetable here}. I was feeling a bit hollow and wanted something with substance. What I'm doing, for reasons I don't even understand, is justifying this creation... gosh it was lovely...

Today's dinner - Fast-track to tonight's meal and I still had half of the meatball mix left in the fridge from last night, (I had doubled the amount of mince, not the other ingredients). So rather than make meatballs or burgers, I simply sauteed the mince, using a wooden spoon to smash at it and keep the mix crumbly and loose. I added several florets of cauliflower, a couple of mushrooms and a chilli. I served the lot on a bed of spinach and rocket.

Boundless energy; beautiful waves

Day 14: That's two weeks - half way there! 
Hello. I'm back from my surf and yoga weekend retreat. It was fabulous. Fabulous because I got to surf for 10 hours over three days; fabulous because I was on the road with my fabulous and funny surfing buddy and fabulous because I was able to stop, take a breath and decompress. I was so grateful to my husband for allowing me to go away - but truth be known; I think we all need to step away every now and then, in order to see the bigger picture and take some time to consider all those things and people we are grateful for. Lawks! Three days of om-ing whilst in prayer position and I turn into a yogic oracle! We were in Broulee with Tidal Dreamings and I highly recommend them for both beginner and beginner+ level surfers.  We ate so healthily over the four days we were away. My surfing buddy decided to pretty much join me in my Paleo eating style and I think I converted her to C.A.D.A. We were exercising six hours a day and enjoyed each and every morsel we ate. I was really stoked with my invention of chicken breast strips wrapped in prosciutto. I took two chicken breasts, sliced each one into four and wrapped all eight strips in a slice of prosciutto, then pan-fried them with some oregano and sage leaves. The salad was simply boiled cauliflower with cherry tomatoes, basil leaves, a slice or two of avocado and my salad dressing. 

Breakfast - I woke up so hungry I could've eaten a woolly mammoth! Over the weekend I'd made my two room mates get up for brekkie before a two hour sunrise surf, so at 6 a.m. this morning my tummy was wondering why it hadn't been attended to yet. Left-over C.A.D.A. didn't even touch the sides, so I had to have some sweet potato mashed with coconut milk to fill me up a bit. With all my new-found skills and confidence I hit my usual surfing spot, ready to rip... only to find the surf was scary big and that I had no oomph left in my arms to paddle through the white wash. Still good to be in the water and get those couple of waves though. 

Lunch - as I hadn't been shopping, the fridge was looking pretty bare. A quick saute of mushrooms, celery, roasted pumpkin and thyme leaves topped with a hard boiled egg hit the spot.

Dinner - Hubby made me this wonderful prawn dish from the paleomom site, last night when I got home from Broulee. He did it just with the frozen prawns we had in the freezer. In trying not to be my usual controlling self, I didn't offer any advice with the spices. As we didn't have any curry powder (I always make my own mix), he grabbed a box of Indian dahl spice and used the recommended 1 tablespoon.... it blew my poor darling's head off and he couldn't eat it. Bonus, as I LOVED it and was able to have his serving tonight for my dinner!

One more thing as a post-script: going on holiday was the ultimate litmus test for my Paleo food plan, as my tummy never behaves itself when I go away. I inevitably return home bloated, uncomfortable and dreading the next morning as I have to take my "serious dose" of medication. However, for the first time in probably fifteen plus years, I had no problems at all. I had endless energy for the demands put on my body and just felt so invigorated. I strongly suspect the next two weeks aren't going to be the last two weeks of Paleo eating in my life.

Bliss balls for my surfing buddy

Day 9: Today was a "clean out the fridge" day, before I went grocery shopping. I'm not talking about the Shannon Lush kinda clean out of the fridge, which she recommends doing every week with baking soda and vinegar, which then made me feel positively slovenly. I'm talking about taking what's in the fridge and making a meal of it. 
Breakfast - The morning was so hectic that I literally threw whatever was to hand into my smoothie: a whole banana, some very ripe strawberries, a bit of spinach, a cup of coconut water and a dollop of coconut milk. I prefer the Ayam brand of coconut milk and cream as it's one of the few that is just coconut and water, no preservatives. I think I need the whole banana, not just a half, to see me through to lunchtime - it worked a treat.


Lunch - Following the same impetus as above I created a super tasty "pie" out of left-over stuffed mushroom stuffing (from Sunday 23rd) spread over the bottom of my dish, layered with about 100gm of tinned tuna and topped with my lovely Paleo crust.  

In preparation for my upcoming surf/yoga weekend, I'd promised my surfing buddy to bring along some bliss balls. I found this recipe on nomnompaleo,com. Of course, I couldn't stick to the recipe, so I added a dollop of tahini and a tablespoon of my Dutch cacao. I just tried one out of the freezer..... yummmmm. Where the strawberries have frozen, it's like little bursts of strawberry sorbet in your mouth. I imagine we'll look forward to these after a day of non-stop activity.

Dinner - Maybe it was from all the bliss ball bowl licking, but I just didn't have the urge for any protein. I was quite happy with a simple stir fry of red onion, kale, mushroom and asparagus. Topped off with last night's gochujang chilli dressing. By the way, I'm loathe to find out the bitter truth as I loved it so much, but I don't think that dressing was strictly Paleo. Hard telling, not knowing Korean. I think I might be inspired to sneak another bliss ball with my cuppa later on though!

P.S. I will be out of action for the next couple of days whilst I surf and downward dog my little heart out. Very excited. My surfing buddy is keen to join me on this Paleo adventure, so she loves to eat healthy too, though she is likely to sneak a bit of goat's cheese on her salad! We have a menu plan: fresh fish and sweet potato chips for the first night; CADA and salad for breakfasts and dinners; Steak and roast vegies for night two and prosciutto wrapped chicken breast with a cherry tomato and cauliflower salad for night three. Talk soon.