Make Your Own Coconut Butter!

Coconut Butter - It's SO Good

Coconut butter, also called coconut creme concentrate, is one of those amazing foods I only discovered after beginning to eat a paleo style diet...and I LOVE it!!!  I mean, really - it is so good, SO good. 

I've tried a couple different brands, both are good and neither is cheap:

• Artisana Coconut Butter - It's organic, it's delicious and it has been my preferred brand, at about $10 per 16 oz jar at Whole Foods
• Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate - also organic and delicous, but only available by mail (not good for instant cravings) and a bit pricier at $18 per 16 oz jar. Although Tropical Traditions is the master of the two for one sale and discounts in general, they always seem to be having some type of 'get it now!' sale.
• Let's Do Organic Creamed Coconut - available at Whole Foods, this coconut cream comes in smaller plastic packages.  It is tasty, but I don't like the texture as much as the Artisana version.  It would be convenient for travel though and it is less expensive.

How to Make Your Own

This is ridiculously easy, why I didn't try this sooner - I have no idea.  Simply throw some organic coconut flakes, I used Tropical Traditions coconut flakes, into your food processesor and let it go.  I let the processesor run for 3 minutes at a time, stopped, scrapped down (and let it cool down) and ran it for about 4 of those intervals.  You will definitely notice the point it goes from really fine shreds to a more buttery liquid type of consistency.  The result was amazingly similar to the commerically produced items and will definitely work for my favorite guilt free blueberry and coconut dessert!

Paleo Restaurant Review: Adobo Grill

Adobo Grill, I never knew...

We discovered another paleo friendly restaurant in our neighborhood!  The funny thing is, we had been here several times before but just recently learned they have a gluten-free menu option.  It makes me sad to think of all the guacamole I missed out on thinking the only vehicle option was tortilla chips.  But on the GF menu they offer jicama chips with their guac - so good!

As with any gluten-free menu, you still need to be aware that there are many dishes paired with beans and corn.  A side of beans are an easy one to request be omitted from a dish, but sometimes corn is too much of the dish - no duck tamales for me.

We did enjoy the guacamole with jicama chips, a trio of ceviches (served with plantain chips), flank steak and the achiote roast pork - all delicious.  I caved and also enjoyed an Adobo Margarita, the most un-paleo part of the meal - but also the least sugar infused of any of their margaritas!

Overall this was really an excellent and nearly guilt-free paleo meal out.  Definitely recommended!

Paleo Camping

I don't camp often, but every time I do I can't seem to shut up about how much I love camping, and how I'm going to do it so much more often.  Well, our camping trip up to Mirror Lake Wisconsin last weekend was no different.  A few highlights:

• We lucked out and found a window of perfect weather in between a lot of Summer rain.
• We officially went for our first hike in our Vibram FiveFingers.
• We wore our Vibram FiveFingers too much over a 2 day span and had to tie them up in a trash bag coming home because they reeked! (I even wore socks in them all weekend, but the repeated dry to damp to dry to damp without taking them off was enough to stink 'em up)
• We can grill meats to perfection even without a spotless new grill (our fire pit grill grate was pretty run down).
• Last but most certainly not least, mosquitoes love paleo blood and we were feasted on!

The two of us left Mirror Lake with no less than 100 little mosquito bites, mostly around our ankles.  Despite the annoying bugs, I loved camping, I had so much fun, I will go camping more often.  For real this time.

Still lake during early morning hike

mosquito bite massacre

Menu for Pleasing Your Non-Paleo Dinner Guests

Ryan and I had my parents over for dinner recently.  My parents do not follow a paleo diet.  They tend to think we have a very 'restrictive' way of eating.  Sadly, I think this is my fault due to how I first described this wonderful new way of eating I was exploring.  Starting out by telling someone what you don't eat is not the way to go, now I usually tell people I eat whole foods, basically plants and animals, without getting into the nitty gritty of why I don't eat grains, corn, beans, etc.  If someone is that interested and asks, I'm happy to explain - but describing what we don't eat is not a good way to casually describe paleo to someone.

So, now that my parents have an invitation to dinner at our place, I can tell they are worried about what we will feed them.  Silly parents.  Here is the pretty fool-proof menu, with some minor indulgences, that will keep you paleo and please the masses...

Apps
Guacamole
Veggies
Root vegetable chips

Dinner
Grilled grass-fed rib-eye steaks sprinkled with sea salt and pepper
Grilled asparagus
Baked sweet potatoes (not a staple for us, but this type of dinner is the perfect time to indulge) with pastured butter

Dessert
Brownie Sundaes

Yes, brownie sundaes.  How is that paleo you ask?  By combining this great paleo brownie recipe I found on dessertstalker, with some vanilla Coconut Bliss ice cream (not the best, home made would be better, but suitable for us in a pinch) and fresh raspberries, blackberries and blueberries...It was a hit, even for the non-paleo parents!

At the end of this meal, I mentioned to my parents that everything they had eaten was paleo, they were very surprised, possibly disbelieving.  Maybe if I keep feeding them awesome meals, I can bring them over to the paleo side!

Remember Pizza?

Blasphemy!

Chicago style deep dish, just doesn't
have the same appeal anymore

We live in Chicago and haven’t had pizza in over 6 months.  With no less than 10 restaurants we can get pizza from within walking distance of our apartment, we must be crazy, right?  For delivery you can make that close to 20 - easy.  All the access to the best pizza in the world and we abstain.  Crazy, right?

 

Possibly, but oddly enough, we don’t miss it and we don’t crave it.  Oh, it smells damn good if we catch a whiff of pepperoni/cheese/baked bread, but at this point we know it’s not worth it and our palates have evolved to better enjoy the real foods that make up a paleo diet.

This is why I’m convinced we broke our pizza-free streak more out of sheer curiosity and nostalgia than actual craving.  No, we didn’t go crazy and crush a deep dish from Lou Malnati’s, we tried out the gluten free pizza from Marcello’s.  Located steps from our front door, we are subjected to a banner advertising their gluten free pizza, and we finally decided to try it.  What would it be like?  Could this be a new cheat option?  Well here’s how it went:

We arrived to pick up our pizza and the very friendly guy behind the counter asked if we were the “medium pizza with olives, pepperoni, and mushrooms.”  I then had a freak out moment when I realized he didn’t say gluten free.  I told him we were there for a gluten free pizza of the same make.  He said, “yes, of course this is it.”  I then freaked out the entire walk home when the receipt didn’t specify gluten free either.  We got home, and I immediately took a small nibble and decided that you could tell the crust was gluten free, it was not 'normal'.  We then proceeded to finish the entire thing.  Presumably made with some sort of rice flour blend, it was good.  Not great, not mind blowing, but good.  And that’s it.  Good.  In our humble assessment, definitely not good enough to consume on a regular basis.  Stacey mentioned that she never has to try it again.  I agreed.  Pizza is officially out of our systems.  There are better options…

Ultimately the best option is to stay paleo.  We’ve tried the faux pizza recipe in the Everyday Paleo Cookbook and loved it.  It provided just enough of the pizza flavor to give you a little nostalgia, with none of the bad stuff.  It’s a nice treat you can have if you’re a pizza fiend and have a nasty craving.  If you’re hankering for a big old slice of pizza, just put in the time and make the Everyday Paleo pizza, stay sane, stay healthy and stay happy!

It's Peach Season - Time for Peach Paleo Ice Cream!

The Peaches are Here!

Bruised and imperfect
peaches

I always enjoy watching the offerings at the farmers market change throughout the season.  I get sad when the asparagus stops showing up on the market tables.  But I get extremely happy when the peaches start showing up!  And that is what happened today - peaches are here!

I am always looking for a bargain, and when I saw quarts of discounted bruised peaches, I knew they would be mine.  Perfect for making peach ice cream!

Peach Paleo Ice Cream

Peach Ice Cream
Here is my super simple paleo peach ice cream recipe

6 ripe peaches, peeled and chopped
1 can of coconut milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 pour of Grand Marnier (optional)

• Puree peaches in your blender, add coconut milk and blend again
• Add cinnamon, vanilla and optional Grand Marnier*
• Blend it all up and pour into your ice cream maker

* The Grand Marnier should help keep your ice cream from freezing rock solid

You could make this sweeter by adding in a bit of honey, but with really ripe peaches I think it is sweet enough without any added sugar.  Enjoy!

Mark Sisson, get out of my head!

Why is it that every time something new comes up for Ryan and I – tracking our paleo costs, waking up groggy, trying intermittent fasting, our first paleo camping trip, Mark Sisson immediately writes a blog about it?  I appreciate the focused and personal attention from Mr. Sisson – it is like he is answering my questions before they are even asked.  Although, I am a little freaked out about how he knows what I am thinking all the time. 

Is this a paleo side effect I have yet to experience?  Can I somehow achieve this talent and refocus it to win the lottery? 

I guess it is normal that a group of people with similar interests will be thinking about similar things and sharing that information.  But the timing is just amazing!  Understand, I am not complaining about this – just marveling at it, and will now rely on Mark Sisson to provide timely updates to all my unanswered primal/paleo questions.  Thank you Mark!