Sprouted Quinoa Mushroom Porridge

I had some liquid left over from my cream of mushroom pork chops last night. As a reminder, it was made with coconut milk, mushrooms, olive oil, thyme, rosemary, and garlic. I cooked 1/4 cup quinoa in the microwave, and then threw in some carrots and two Omega-3 eggs to make a weird egg drop porridge soup. Throw in a kale salad with sriracha, and it made for an interesting breakfast.

Sunday: Liver & Onions, BAS, Cream of Mushroom Pork Chops

I'm still feeling a little sick (sinus issues) today, so I didn't feel like putting a ton of effort into

cooking. For breakfast, I went with liver & onions cooked with butter and garlic, with some mozzarella sprinkled on top (and a little hot sauce). I definitely prefer beef liver to chicken livers...the taste doesn't "hit" as hard, and it pairs really well with onions and cheese.

For lunch, I had a big bowl of cauliflower (with hot sauce) and a "salad" of cauliflower "greens", the rest of my cabbage, tomato, carrots, and two Omega-3 eggs.

Dinner was a cream of mushroom pork chops. Probably one of the most delicious, albeit "conventional" things I've made. I browned the pork chops, sauteed mushrooms and garlic in olive oil, and then added coconut milk, thyme, and rosemary to make a nice sauce. I let all that

simmer for an hour, and roasted some baby carrots with salt, pepper, EVOO, and garlic salt. Abso-freakin-lutely heaven.

And the cherry on top was a two fudgy coconut flour brownies. My grandma made these for me, and we hid half the pan in the other freezer before we sat down to eat. Good thing too, because I could have eaten the whole damn thing. (That's my cousin's Dora bowl, by the way. Its was the closest thing near me, and I almost didn't get to take a photo before I scarfed it down.)

I'm back on campus now, but I should have a few microwave creations to share this week. Stay tuned.

Big Ass Salad & Orange Turkey

No real commentary on this. It was all quick and delicious.

Big ass salad = kale, avocado, bell pepper, tomato, red cabbage, mushrooms, parmesan cheese, EVOO, and hot sauce. Also had broccoli, brussels sprouts, and kale chips with a tall glass of almond milk.

Dinner was a turkey drumstick with an orange/juice, and some zucchini. With the rest of the broccoli and sprouts.

Sweet Potato Pancakes (Sorta)

I had to wake up bright and early to get to my brother's basketball game, so I packed a zip-loc bag of random vegetables and fruits. Red cabbage, asparagus, mushroom, avocado, tomato, and a bell pepper. Nice road treat.

For a proper breakfast, I tried this recipe for sweet potato pancakes sans the butter. I failed miserably. I didn't have baking powder, I used dairy milk instead of coconut, didn't even measure the milk, didn't use almond butter, and my skillet was too big to cook properly. There was so much liquid that the cake never "set", so I ended up with a mush. It had the consistency of mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs.....and the

TASTE OF HEAVEN. I topped it off with some honey...boy oh boy.

I made half regular with cinnamon and nutmeg and another batch with some chocolate powder. So good, and fairly easy. This may become a staple in my primal breakfast arsenal. I'll keep playing with the ingredients and heat to perfect the pancake shape.

Turkey Drumsticks, Roasted Squash, and Veggies

I had to come home again this weekend. So as usual, here's my Friday night meal.

I baked a turkey drumstick in Frank's Xtra Hot sauce, along with some hot peppers and pearl onions. I baked the other drumstick with olive oil, pearl onions, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and thyme. Both were absolutely delicious. Who doesn't love turkey?

For my carbs, I nuked an acorn squash and then cut it up, tossed in olive oil, and did half with cinnamon and the other half with garlic salt. Roasted them in the oven until they were almost crispy. So good. I also threw in a tomato and asparagus on the side, served with a tall glass of almond milk. Quite a meal.

I'm going to try some new stuff tomorrow and Sunday, so be sure to keep an eye open for those posts.

I will slay thee, sinus infection!

Short update: I had an MRI done on Monday, and the results came back normal. So, no pituitary tumor. That means I have to get more blood work done this weekend to try to figure out what the hell is going on with my body. I don't really mind because it gives me more opportunities to cook, plus I'm usually pretty bored here in Columbus on weekends anyway.

Anyways, I started coming down with a cold on Sunday and by Tuesday it was obvious that I had a sinus infection. Without a doctor nearby, and a total ignorance of the health services that OSU has to offer, I've decided to tough it out. I've been using a saline sinus rinse AND alkalol, which is an herbal nasal wash with menthol and mint. It really clears me out. I've also been taking cayenne pepper capsules and adding more sriracha to my food (as if I needed an excuse.) I guess my reasoning is to keep the sinus cavity clear, and hot foods tend to help with that. I've also upped my vitamin C, even though I know that doesn't help; its a subjective remedy.

Another thing I'm doing to find the cold, and my excuse for this post, is I cracked open my stash of homemade bone broth. I made this a few weeks ago with some soup bones, short rib bones, and leftover steak bones. As this random article I just found explains, bone broth is full of minerals, helps with digestion, and has a creamy, fatty taste. I had this for "breakfast", along with a small steak and bag of green peas. It really hit the spot. If you can get your hands on some soup bones (they're dirt cheap at most grocery stores), I highly recommend making a batch of broth for yourself.

I also had one of my pickles today; WAY too much salt. I choked one down, and I'm not sure I want to finish the jar. I'm looking for other recipes for next time.

Peace.

I've really got myself into a pickle...

Stupid title.

Last week, I read Mark Sisson's post about naturally fermented pickles. In a nutshell, the stuff in the stores is heavily sweetened, and even if you buy the variety that

isn't full of HFCS, the rest is soaked in vinegar. This preserves the pickles longer and imparts that classic, or should I say "vlassic" (derp), sour taste.

The "problem" with pickling with vinegar is that it stops fermentation. Instead, he recommends fermenting in a simple salt water (plus spices) brine. Mark has written about the benefits of fermentation many times before, mainly that it helps promote digestive health via probiotics (lots of gut bacteria), and it makes certain nutrients more available for our bodies to use. Yogurt, sourkraut, kimchi, chocolate, and alcohol are all fermented to varying degrees.

All that is fine and dandy, but I was mostly attracted to the idea of DIY. I own a jar, I can buy salt and cucumbers, and water is free. I went with a little garlic and a splash of apple cider vinegar for flavor. Here you go:

I let this batch sit for 9 days on my desk, and now they are sitting in the fridge. I cut out a small piece to test: very salty, not quite as crunchy as I would like, but not a terrible taste. I've been having some stomach problems the past few days, so I'm going to wait for that to clear up before I really jump into the world of probiotics. I'll have a full taste review in a few days.

Thanks for reading!

Homemade Tacos (kinda)

Every once in a while, I get an out-of-nowhere craving for foods that I remember from my food dark ages. Not so much the bad stuff that got me to 300 lbs like entire sleeves of Saltine crackers, barrels of sourdough pretzels, the New Yorker from Pizza Hut, BLT chicken bread bowls covered in 1000 Island dressing from Perkin's, Cool Ranch Doritos, or Crunchwrap Supremes.

No, I'm talking about the meals. Like chicken alfredo. And grilled cheese & tomato soup. And tacos.

Fortunately, the only thing that makes tacos non-primal is the shell, which is very easily remedied. Throw all the ingredients in a bowl with more veggies, and voila! I tried to make a shell out of quinoa, first making flour with roasted quinoa in a food processor. That failed. I couldn't get the individual grains to break up with my relatively cheap processor. So I gave up on that, and went full veggie.

I used this recipe for the meat seasoning. Then I stuffed a jalapeno with meat, cheddar cheese, and spices. Then I made tiny bowls out of endive and bok choy, with sour cream and avocado to paste the meat and cheese. It was freaking delicious and fun to eat. I ate a bit too much, as I'm prone to do when I'm at home, but I just couldn't pass up a home cooked meal. 1000x better than eating cold salad in my dorm room.

My grandpa's camera was acting up today, so I wasn't able to get a picture of tonight's dinner. I really wish I had brought mine home from school, but it was a beautiful display. I made a cream cheese pizza crust and pork rind pizza crust. Basically, you mix the "secret ingredient" with eggs and mozzarella cheese, bake for 15-20 minutes, flip it over, then top with sauce, cheese, and toppings (pepperoni and mushroom this time).

I also made sweet potato chips (coat in olive oil and salt, bake in the oven). Those were amazing as well. Again, sorry for the lack of documentation.

"I'm dreaming of a white [breakfast]"

Good morning, my friends! I'm home again for the weekend and I will be cooking, shopping, and blogging extensively. Here's the first meal of my weekend (excluding the 7oz sirloin, 3 helpings of broccoli, bag of brussel sprouts, large sweet potato, and whole 90% chocolate bar I had when I got home last night).

I love using the stovetop and the oven whenever I get the chance, because they are able to achieve a degree of crispiness that I just can't get with a dorm room microwave. So this morning I went balls-to-the-wall.

First up was cinnamon jicama hash browns. Jicama is a white root vegetable, mostly water and fiber, fairly low-carb/low-calorie. I'd read a bit about it over at Mark's Daily Apple, so I figured I would give it a try. I skinned and shredded one, squeezed out a lot of the water, mixed in an egg, salt, and cinnamon, and then fried three patties in EVOO. It was surprising awesome; the contrast of crispy skin and moist center, coupled with the mild root taste made an excellent vehicle for the cinnamon. I would probably use regular butter next time, instead of EVOO.

Overall a good experience.

The rest of my plate was familiar territory. I roasted some mushrooms, pearl onions, garlic, and jicama skins in EVOO, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Two eggs mixed with the leftover "jicama juice", and a sprinkle of parmesean cheese, made for a sexy omelette. I didn't realize it until I had plated everything, but my breakfast was a veritable palette of white, grey, and light brown. Not very attractive, and it wreaked havoc with my camera's flash. It actually looks like a starch bomb, but it isn't. Whatever it looks like, it was a hearty way to start the weekend.

[Note: Lots of you have told me on "the facebook" or IRL that you like the blog. Gods below [Dune reference], comment please! I want to hear what you think. Especially if you've tried one of these dishes/ingredients before or if you have suggestions for new recipes.]

Now I'm off to the gym to kick my little brother's butt up and down the court.

Tuesday & Wednesday Breakfasts

Sorry again for the inconsistent posting. Lots of stuff going on with school, plus I was without my computer for two days. Anyway, here's a quick update on some of the creative stuff I've been working for my dorm breakfasts.

Well, the first one isn't creative at all. Just a cheap steak cooked in the microwave, with some kale, dandelion greens, and zapped eggplant. I made a little dipping sauce of mustard, sriracha, and EVOO. It was pretty quick, very delicious.

Today's breakfast was a bit more inventive. I made an omelet with one egg and a pouch o

f salmon. It would have been better with some onion, bell peppers, or mushrooms, but those aren't easily available. For the other half of the meal, I scooped out the center of a piece of eggplant, cracked an egg in the whole, covered, and cooked. It was pretty good. Again, more spices and veggies would have made it better, and I think broiling to make the egg plant crispy would have been better.

I have to go home again this weekend for a medical test, so I'll be cooking a few goodies. Probably some jalapeno/chicken/bacon poppers and primal tacos. Can't wait. :)