I did what??

I spatchcocked a chicken today!  I bet not many people can claim the same thing...

And it was very tasty! Recently I've started to eat meat obtained only from animals that were humanely treated and not fed hormones and antibiotics.  I initially made the switch mostly for ethical reasons (I read an article that I probably shouldn't have read ... but that's not something I'm going to get on a soapbox about here) but was completely surprised to find that the taste and quality were much better than what I was used to getting from my local Target or Jewel.

I've been getting my meat from two different sources:  Whole Foods (because they rate their meat based on how the animals were treated) and from Wallace Farms (thanks for the recommendation, Janet!), which is a family farm located in Iowa that has a distribution centers here in Illinois.  And yes, it kind of sucks having to make specials trips just to do my meat shopping, but we all have our #firstworldproblem burdens to bear.

Honestly, I never thought I'd taste a difference -- my palate isn't all that discriminating and I'm not drawn to high-brow food or anything like that. I gotta figure that if I consider Kraft American singles to be pretty tasty cheese, then it's not like I can claim to only want the finer foods in life.  But - surprisingly - there is quite a difference.  I suspect that if you catch your local supermarket just at the right time with the right cut of meat, it could be as good, but I haven't had anything from Whole Foods or Wallace Farms that I even thought was just average, much less subpar. And that's certainly happened more than once with supermarket meat.

Is it worth all the extra money?  Maybe.  Maybe not?  I suppose it depends on your budget and beliefs and the availability of choice in your neighborhood and even whether it's something that you think tastes better than the supermarket alternative.  For me, I'm convinced that this is something I want to add into my lifestyle.  It means that I don't buy as much meat, but what I do have, I thoroughly enjoy.  And one bonus for me -- because of the cost, I will *never* let it go bad and not use it.  I'm notorious for buying food and letting it go bad sitting in the fridge, sadly waiting for me to do something with it, but when I'm paying sometimes as much as double the cost for a cut of meat, you can bet that I'll be going all Julia Childs on it. 

So, what started out as me getting on a moral high horse, ended with me simply opting to pay more for something that I think tastes better, morals be damned.  It's a happy coincidence that both my morals and my taste buds like the same thing. 

I'm goin' all Flintstone on ya

I've decided I need a change.  As much as the LE program preaches moderation and such, I think it's time that I made a wholesale change in my diet:  I'm going to go Primal(ish).

In a nutshell (ha! that's a pun! you'll understand in a moment...), eating Primally means eating lean meats, lots of vegetables, good-for-you fats, some fruit, some dairy/cheese and pretty much no grains (pasta, rice, white potatoes, bread, etc).  It's not intentionally low-carb -- you do get carbs via fruit and some vegetables and sweet potatoes -- but does end up being protein-heavy.

I've toyed with the idea of going Primal since I started LE, since the tenets of both have a lot in common, but didn't want to give up my sweets and grains.  But recently I've been craving carbs -- and mostly processed carbs -- like there's no tomorrow and that needs to stop. And the only way that I know of to stop those cravings, is to stop eating sweets and grains cold turkey, at least for awhile.

One caveat:  while I'll be pretty strict, I likely won't be "to the letter" Primal.  Meaning, I'm not making all of my own salad dressing or giving up beans and corn and things like that.  Keeping it healthy, though, and staying away from the processed stuff as a main part of any meal.

So tomorrow it starts.  I have planned out a menu for the week which is something I've tried to wing on the fly, but never wrote down and so it was easy to ditch the plan (since it wasn't never really a fully-formed plan) and eat out or eat crap.  But now?  It's all on paper and ready to go. Set in stone, baby!  I've got my shopping list for tomorrow morning and I'm looking forward to some of the food I'm going to be cooking.

I've got some other reasons for wanting to try Primal for awhile, but I'm too tired to go into that now.  Nighty-night!  More tomorrow...

Foodie Friday: Turkey Jerkey!

I've been waiting for the colder weather to try making my own turkey jerky -- having the oven on for 6-10 hours isn't ideal when it's 80 degrees outside, right?

I'm pretty well hooked on Trader Joe's turkey/beef jerky -- so, so good but at $6 for a bag that I can eat in one sitting, kind of expensive so I figured I'd try making it myself.  I mean, how hard can it be, right?

I found this recipe on Mark's Daily Apple (lots of good information here even though I don't subscribe wholeheartedly to the Paleo/Primal way of life) and it's on my agenda to make it this weekend.

And making it myself, I know that there isn't anything added that doesn't need to be added, and it's all healthy and such.  A great protein snack!

And look at this, doesn't it look awesome?

An action shot of the turkey dehydrating

I'll report back on how it turns out!  I'm hoping it's as good as the blog post says it is...

Update 10/27/2013:

Well, the verdict is an optimistic thumbs up.

Huh?

My finished product was good, not phenomenal ... but I think I can do better.  I want to do this again and slice it a little thicker (the thin slices end up being more crunchy than chewy) and play around with the spices and/or try a marinade.  That said, it's not like I'm throwing out what I made -- I'll enjoy it and am looking forward to experimenting with the recipe.

My finished product... yum!

Foodie Friday: Basil Cauliflower Pizza

I've decided to try a new weekly thing -- Foodie Friday -- where I talk about a recipe that I'm either going to make, or have made and decided is delicious.  I've really been trying to branch out and try new things, so this will keep me accountable (and y'all know that I love me some accountability!).

The first installment:  Basil Cauliflower Pizza

I haven't made this yet -- it's on the agenda for Saturday dinner, I believe -- but I've been wanting to forever!  I had been putting it off because ricing cauliflower was beyond my kitchen appliance abilities, but then I found an awesome video showing me how to do it in my blender, and that sealed the deal.

If I can find a way to have pizza that's admittedly not real pizza, but still a good facsimile (and healthy!), I'm all over it.  The internet seems to think this is a wonderful thing, so I'm going to give it a try.  And tell you what, I'll come back here and add an epilogue once I've made it and taste tested!

October 5th, 2013 ...Verdict?

It was ... a little better than just okay.  Certainly not pizza, though it was tasty.  I did a couple of things wrong, though -- I riced the cauliflower as in the video above and I should have let the cauliflower drain longer because when I formed the crusts, it was probably a little more liquid-y than it should have been.  Oh, and I forgot zucchini, so there were basically no vegetables on top.  Oops.

I'll probably try this again.  Even though it didn't taste like pizza, it did taste good and it at least scratched the itch for real pizza (for a bit, at least).

Not nearly as pretty, eh?  I also ran out
of room on the baking sheet, too. Bad
space management...

New eats

A few weeks back I went out with friends to an Italian restaurant and was (easily) persuaded by the waitress to try their eggplant parmesan when she told me that it was "the best in the city".

Whether or not it's earned that "best" moniker, I thought it was absolutely fantastic!  I had never had it, and it wasn't at all what I pictured it to be.  To me it looked far more like an eggplant lasagna than parmesan; still, I wasn't going to split hairs on the name of it.

Since then, I've kept my eyes peeled for a recipe and ran across a healthy(er) version of it earlier this week and decided to put it on my menu for the weekend.  I went shopping this morning for the ingredients -- there wasn't really too much to it -- and started prepping for it in the early afternoon.

I immediately realized that my planning could have been better -- turning on the oven for an hour when it's in the 80's (and I'm not running the air conditioner) wasn't the smartest idea.  But, undeterred I forged ahead.

There was no frying involved -- frying never equals healthy as I'm sadly aware -- so instead the eggplant was baked after dredging in flour, egg and bread crumbs.  A hot cookie sheet and some olive oil did the trick... the eggplant came out of the oven nice and crispy!  I mentally filed this method away for future uses (sweet potato fries, perhaps?).

And guess what?  Apparently eggplant parmesan is supposed to look like eggplant lasagna!  I assembled the layers and put it in the oven -- it smelled heavenly.  And you know what?  It tasted just as good!  

My verdict?  While it took a little time to prep, it was worth it.  All in all, an easy recipe because there wasn't much in the way of slicing, dicing and chopping and most of the ingredients were already in my house.  And while I only made a half recipe, the recipe makes two 8x8 dishes of it and they suggest freezing the second one.  Cook once and eat many times.  I love it!

Mine looked much messier but tasted awesome.

Deliciousness

Well, I put the vegetables that I bought last night and my new rice cooker to good use this morning and made a Frittata with Summer Vegetables that was absolutely awesome, if I do say so myself.

Sometimes I seem to forget how good healthy food can be, and really, this is close to a perfect balance:  vegetables, protein, and a small amount of carbs.  I put summer squash, red peppers, a sweet onion and purple potatoes in mine and went a little light on the cheese. The purple potatoes added a nice flavor to it, but didn't exactly enhance the looks of it, if you know what I mean.

I had high expectations for this recipe and was absolutely blown away by it.  It was easy to make -- other than having to chop all the vegetables -- and using the rice cooker meant that I didn't have to babysit it.  I got it prepared, turned on the rice cooker and then went out for a run.

This one's definitely a keeper!  I ate half after my run and can't wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow.

Not my frittata because mine tasted awesome
but came out looking a little weird