Recipe: Turkey Pear Chilli

Turkey Pear Chilli

Ingredients:

1 lb. turkey
1 ale or lager
1 pear, diced
1 can whole tomatoes with juice.
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garilic, diced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 chilli in adobo, chopped.
olive oil
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp paprika

Instructions:

Heat oil in large skillet.  Soften onion and garlic on medium heat.  Add turkey, chilli powder, chopped chilli, salt and paprika, and tomato paste.  When the turkey is no longer raw, add beer and reduce by half.  Once the beer has reduced, add pears, and add tomatoes, crushing them with your fingers.  Add the juice from the tomatoes, and continue reducing until desired thickness.

Happy eating.

2 Weeks

2 weeks have passed.  I've lost a touch over 10 lbs, not shabby.

What I've learned:

• There's a whole other "primal" community out there.  I've ordered The Primal Blueprint to check that out.
• On a related note, Mark's Daily Apple is a really cool site.
• "Which is the bad fat?" a rather innocent question my wife asked me, is becoming a very difficult question.
• Butter, a common cheat of Paleo folk, has proven difficult to avoid.  I feel that giving up at least that one, precious form of dairy will be beyond my ability of compromise.  Eggs fried in coconut oil might be interesting, but butter....  ah, so good.

Eating Out:

• Mongolian Grill seems to be the best place to eat out in downtown Austin.
• Salad is not a veggie.  Just because some restaurant has a grilled chicken salad does not make it Paleo friendly.  
• Mexican food is actually quite doable.  Fajitas are an easy option, with yummy guacamole.  
• You really can't eat out most of the time on Paleo.  Keep 2 or 3 extra servings of meat on hand along with fresh fruit an veggies.

Apple Cinnamon Pork Chops (Paleo and Primal)

An easier, looser version of EDP's chops.

Ingredients:

2 pork chops
Unsweetened apple sauce
Coconut oil
White wine or vermouth
Scant shot of Tequila

Spices:
Sea Salt
Cinnamon
Cloves
Garlic Powder

Instructions:

Heat coconut oil to medium high (preferably in a cast iron skillet).  Meanwhile dust the pork chops with all the spices, to taste.  Add the pork chops and cook for a bit, until the pan is nice and hot.  Then add your alcohols.  If it catches on fire, great, but I was not so lucky.  Cook about 6 minutes each side, but this is largely going to come down to the thickness of your chops.

Garnish with apple sauce on the side, or on top.  Walnuts are a good pairing as well.  This makes savory, sweet desert chops.  I'd like to try it with diced apple next time, but this was quick, easy and tasty.

What foods are okay?

The following list is a very strict interpretation of the paleo diet.

http://altmed.creighton.edu/Paleodiet/Foodlist.html

Of course, there are many exceptions to this.  "Primal" dieters seem to have less problems with fattier meats.  Robb Wolf seems to be okay with some of the fermented soy products such as Tamarin Soy Sauce.  Many, many paleo sites have recipes that call for high-quality grass fed butter or ghee.

Still, a great resource for people who want an informational list.

Update:  A friend of mine has read through my backlog and pointed out that honey is on this list.

I've made my own honey-mustard several times and see no problem with it's occasional use.  Then main takeaway should be "grains/legumes/dairy" avoidance for the first month and then see how you feel.

About Soy

A couple of links that provide different perspectives about soybeans.  I end up sending information like this out to people periodically, so here it is.  Forever.

http://www.thepaleogarden.com/category/soy/

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/dangers-soy/

Day 7, Sunday

Today was a good day.  Carb cravings seem to have cleared, and my gut feels better than it has in a long time:  I've had digestive problems for about 2 years before and after the removal of my gallbladder.

I'd love to know what food or foods have been bothering my gut, but this has shown me that strict compliance with Paleo (including dairy) was a good idea.  

Biggest Craving today:  Diet Coke (I cut out the sweetners). 

Biggest Win:  Berries (black, blue, rasp).

Best idea:  packing lots of fruit and meats for the road trip to Houston this weekend.  It pays to have extra grub on hand when you are going into the wild unknown.

Best leftovers:  Beef Fajitas meat, onions and peppers made and awesome omelette filling.  

Day 4

Day 4 has been a little funky.  I was in a rush today.  Breakfast was an apple, lunch was a chicken salad with oil and vinegar.  Tasty, but there's something missing here.

Fat.

By 6:00 I was totally famished.  Luckily my impromptu hamburger/tomato chili was just what the doctor ordered.

My to-do list now is to keep some meat at home that's already cooked (barbecued chicken thighs probably), some lunch meat, and some jerky on hand.  I think I'm starting to slip into ketosis.  There are some hitches, and strange sort-of-hungry feelings that are manageable, but still had me foraging for olives last night in the cupboard.

Paleo 30 Day Challenge

I was talking about the Paleo diet over a year ago.  Blogging about it even!  Maybe it's taken a full year for the full zeitgeist to pull me in.  Maybe my jaded disappointment of gaining back a chunk of weight I lost in college on the Atkins diet is wearing off.

It was probably the movie Fat Head that reminded me of some things I already knew, but I ordered Robb Wolf's "The Paleo Solution" off of Amazon.

Some of you are instant gratification, Kindle types.  I haven't made it that far yet.  But, the standard shipping time  is a great way to prolong trying a diet or healthy lifestyle choice.  I tore through the book in a few days, an easy read.  Actually laugh-out-loud funny in a few places.  I did wonder what Robb's thing with calling me "Buttercup" was all about.

The book convinced me to do something a bit crazy. Go hard-core paleo for 1 month.  Then, if you want to slack up on some of the following, it's your funeral.

Get lots of sleep.
Moderate alcohol intake.
No grains.
No cereals.
No soy.
No corn.
No legumes.
No beans.
No artificial sweeteners.
No dairy.

Do all of this for 30 days.

I have a good grasp on some of these points.  Giving up butter is a cruelty, and a lot of Paleo people have their own special rules with butter.  For now, however, butter and I will be distant lovers.

I'm 3 days into this crazy town of a diet.  It's how we supposedly lived thousands of years ago.  Meat, veggies, and fruit.  It's already becoming something of a mantra, and something of a zen koan.

How can most restaurants not have a meal on the menu that falls into these simple, broad categories?  How have we repackaged corn and flour in so many creative ways?

Luckily, questions like the above haunt me, and give me a weird nerd rage that steels my resolve!