Paleo Pulled Pork

My household is full of sports fanatics!

We have Flyers fans, Penguins fans, Cowboys fans, Giants fans, Blue Jays and Yankee fans!

On top of that my cousin is a member of the Boston Bruins, so there is a lot of cheering going on and game snacks needed!

Whats a Sunday afternoon football game without Pulled Pork?

Start with a 3 lb pork shoulder roast bone in for the most flavour!

I am super excited to receive my first order of pasture pork next week!  I am sure this will taste even better!

First create a rub by mixing the following ingredients together in a bowl or ziplock bag.  I dont measure anything, just add a bit of everything and add more or less depending on the size of your roast.  You really cant go wrong with a rub!

rub:
smoked paprika
garlic pwd
sea salt
Fresh thyme chopped

Shake the rub in a ziplock bag to mix well then using your hands rub all over the roast and into every crease.

Place roast in a large ziplock bag and refridgerate or a bowl covered in plastic wrap overnight.

In the morning, place the roast directly into the slow cooker fat side down.

With the slow cooker on high this roast needs approximately 8 hours of cooking time to reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

Now start preparing the sauce:

Combine all of the following ingredients into a medium sauce pan.

sauce:
1cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup homemade ketchup☆
1tbsp cayenne pepper
3 minced garlic cloves
2tbsp raw honey
1tbsp chili sauce
sea salt
pepper

Bring to a slow boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 mins , stirring often.

Pour the sauce all over your roast and contine cooking on high until internal temp reaches 160 degress (approx 8 hours)

After 8 hours I start to shred the pork using two forks until it is all broken up and mixed into the sauce.

Serve on lettuce wraps, or grill sliced eggplant to use as buns!

☆Easiest way to make Paleo ketchup:

2 cans tomato paste
1 cup water
1/4 cup white vinegar
1tsp garlic powder
1tsp onion powder
1tsp sea salt
1tbsp franks red hot
1tbsp raw honey

Mix all of the above in a saucepan, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer 10 Minutes.  Store in the fridge in an air tight container for 10 days.

PALEO SPICY BUFFALO WING SOUP

This has to be the easiest way to make a Paleo version of spicy buffalo wing soup!

I mean who doesnt love savory buffalo wings? 

 

My sweetie asked me to make this soup for him, and I thought forget that!  If I'm making buffalo wing soup I'm darn well gonna eat it too! 

All you need to have in the house is:

8 cooked chicken thighs
-cooked any way you like, boneless, skinless, or bone in, skin on whatever!
-I bake mine in a cast iron dish because I like them juicy
-season them if you want to, or dont, I dont bother
-I always have cooked chicken of some kind in my freezer perfect for last minute soups!

1 onion

2 garlic cloves minced or chopped

1 cup of diced tomatoes

1/2 small can of tomato paste

3-4 cups chicken broth
-depending on how thick you want your soup

3/4 cup of grassfed butter

1/2 Head Cauliflower stems removed and roughly chopped

2 stalks celery chopped

1 cup chopped carrots

Handful of chopped fresh dill

Some real hot peppers such as chilis
-I use 2 green and one red, we like it hot!

Franks Red Hot Sauce
Okay so if your one of those people who say Franks Red Hot isnt paleo.....I'm sticking my tongue out at you right now! 

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
-this gives the soup its smooth buttery texture and taste, its not the same without it

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large pot, melt the butter and saute one chopped onion and the garlic until clear.

2. Add 1 cup diced tomatoes (drained)

3. Add the 1/2 cauliflower 

3. Add 1/2 small can tomato paste

4. Simmer for 10 minutes

5. Add chicken broth, start with 3 cups because you can thin it out later

6. Add Chilis

7. Add Nutritional yeast

8. Stir well 

Now the fun part!

Let your soup cool down:) Notice we havent added the chicken, carrots, celery, dill or Franks yet.

When it has cooled enough, transfer to blender and puree.

Then pour the pureed soup back into the pot and reheat

Pick all the chicken off the bones or if boneless rough chop it and toss into the pot, now add your veggies, dill and Franks! I start with about 1/3 cup of Franks and keep stirring, tasting and adding more if needed. 

Season with celtic sea salt

Simmer for another 20 minutes or until veggies are tender.  Stir often or bottom may stick.

Prep time 10mins
Total cook time 25mins 

Garnish with cilantro, or tortillas if desired:)

My Favorite Comfort Foods Turned Paleo

Anyone can easily make the transition to a paleo lifestyle!

 

You dont need to be a chef, you don't need cooking classes, and it doesnt need to cost a tonne of money!

It is so easy to make many of your favorite comfort foods paleo friendly for your entire family to enjoy!  They will get healthy right under their noses hehehe.

Over the next week, I will be posting many of my family's favorite eats:)) 

 

For example:

I just love my GAME DAY EATS!!

Pulled pork nachos

Pulled Pork lettuce wraps

Spicy Mexican beef nachoes

Buffalo chicken wings

Tequila Lime chicken wings

Terryaki or honey garlic chicken wings

Dry seasoned chicken wings

Sausage stuffed baby bell peppers

Spicy beef/Turkey chili

Pumpkin chili

Butternut squash lasagna

Spagetti with meat sauce

Turkey Avacodo Burgers

Salmon cakes/burgers with dill sauce

Zuchinni/Rutabaga/Sweet potato fries with cilantro mayo dipping sauce

Bacon 'n brussel sprout salad

Brussel sprout chips'n dip

Antipasto with beet chips

Tapenades with Sweet potato chips

Mango Guacamole

Plantain Chips

Breakfast sausages

And the list could go on and on!  These are seriously easy, no recipe required meal ideas!

By simply modifying your usual recipes, you can create healthier Paleo versions of all your favorite foods! 

I am going to show you how:)))  Stay tuned

Easiest "Dream" of Mushroom Soup

Cream of mushroom soup was my favorite growing up! 

 

Now that I am lactose intolerant, I had to find a substitute for the cream in Cream of Mushroom Soup!

This is the easiest way to make this soup;

1. In a deep frying pan saute one diced onion in a little coconut oil until clear.

2. Throw in about 3 cups of assorted washed and chopped mushrooms.  I use cremini, white and shitake.  I dont use the shitake stems.

3. Saute with onions until slightly tender.

4. Add 2.5 cups of organic beef or home made bone broth.

5. Add one can of full fat coconut milk.

6. Add sea salt, garlic powder and 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast.

7. Continue to simmer for 8-10 minutes stirring occasionally

Allow the soup to cool then transfer to a blender or food processor.  You can either puree it or pulse it depending on how much texture you like.

Sometimes I add less broth so that it is a thicker consistency, then I puree it. 

Remember those crock pot porkchops'n mushroom soup from when we were kids? Now you have your mushroom soup:) you could use the thicker soup to cook with pork chops or meatballs and serve this over cauli-rice! 

I freeze the soup in single serving dishes ♥♥ 

Rutabaga Latkes!

I love the convenience of grab and go foods! 

 

Especially when I'm on my way out the door for work in the morning.  Getting 3 lunches packed, kids all fed breakfast, a 6yr old dressed and hair done (like most moms) doesnt leave much time left for me to get ready.

 

I could get up earlier but I often dont fall a sleep at night until after 2am.  Therefore I choose sleep over looking beautiful for work every day!

I think I have finally mastered the Latke!  You can use rutabaga, sweet potato, zuchinni, or a combination of any root type vegetable. The trick is getting them crispy!

You dont need a recipe!! Dont worry about making these perfect and you should be able to throw them together even just to use up left over vegetables and throw in any seasonings you like.

Today I made RUTABAGA LATKES

This makes 6 latkes, you can freeze the extras,

1.  Cut off the root ends and peel the rutabaga

2. Grate the rutabaga over paper towel- I never get the whole thing grated, so I save the left over piece for rutabaga fries!

3. Cover the grated rutabaga with more paper towel and press down and squeeze and press as many times as possible to remove excess water, this may take more than one paper towel.

4. Let air dry for 1 hour then place all the grated rutabaga in a mixing bowl

5. Fry some bacon in a pan, as much as you like! This is to go along side your latkes + we need the grease!

6. Dice a spanish onion and saute in the remaining bacon grease until clear.

7. Using a straining spoon remove the onions and add them to the grated rutabaga. Leaving the bacon grease behind

8. Add 2 eggs, sea salt and any other seasonings you like.  I used lots basil, garlic and onion powder into the bowl with the grated rutabaga.

9. mix everything together really well, use your hands!

10. Preheat your oven to 400F

Now for the most important part!

11. Heat up your frying pan with the bacon grease, if you dont have much grease left add some EVOO, you must wait until the oil is very hot!

12. Using your hand grab a handful of the grated mixture and toss it in the pan , I usually cook 3 at a time.

13. Using a spatula continuously press down on each latke flattening them and squeezing out the liquids. Once one side is golden brown flip it over and repeat the process. 

14. When both sides are golden brown, place the latkes on a wire rack on a cookie sheet and bake for another 20 mins.

I think the hot grease combined with baking them on a wire rack really makes the difference!  

The World's Best Buns!

I just love portobello mushrooms!   So much so that I use them as buns for just about everything. 

 

This is by far the best tasting breakfast sandwich I have ever tasted.  So juicy and flavourful.

• First I scrape the gills from the mushrooms and rinse them clean
• Then I brush them lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt
• Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes
• While the "buns" are cooking, cook one egg any way you like!
• I always have cooked bacon on hand, you never know when you will need bacon!
• Add sliced avocado
• Substitute bacon for sausage
• Add tomato or lettuce if desired
• Add cheese if desired

There are so many possibilities!!

WHO IS THIS PERSON?

Since beginning a paleo lifestyle in 2012 I have lost 85lbs, gone down from a size 14 to a size 6,  and gained muscle, strength and endurance.

 

But for some reason I cant shake the feeling that I have lost something else.

My identity.

Emotionally the past year has been a roller coaster to say the least.  Losing my breasts has been far far more traumatic then I could have ever anticipated.  But that is something I am working on and making small progress daily.

Physically however, I am not sure who I am any more.
Its not just about my breasts.  I am not sure how to explain it, but its almost as though I don't recognize the person looking back at me in the mirror.

This feeling has come as a surprise to me because its not as though I spent my entire life chubby and over weight.
The person who has been staring back at me in the mirror for the past 7 years was NOT me.  And I have tried so desperately to get my "real self" back.  So now that I have my "real self" back, how come I don't recognize her?

But its not just me that doesn't recognize her.

Acquaintances and friends who haven't seen me in a while, no longer recognize me.  Now that hockey has started again, I will walk up to someone I know at the arena prior to my sons game and say hello, but there is this awkward pause, and dazed look in their eyes because they do not recognize me.

The first time it happened, we both kind of chuckled with the other person saying "oh my gosh, sorry I didn't know recognize you, you look great".

Maybe it was kinda flattering the first or second time but after 15 times, I don't even want to say hi to anyone or make eye contact.  I find myself trying to avoid that surprised look and then that look that comes across their face when they realize who I am.

On Friday, I attended a large recruitment show.  I walked right up to a fellow colleague who I am not close to but have attended many staff meetings and work functions with over the past 3 years.  Mind you in this person's defence I don't think we have crossed paths since last Christmas because I was off work having surgery and then off work for summer vacation.

They still had no idea who I was.  In fact straight out said "I know you from somewhere, but I can't remember where".

Last year we served on 2 education committees together.


The other concern is....

I feel like over the past 8 years is when I really created my own identity.  Although I was always thin and fit prior, it wasn't until my father passed away that I began a new life for myself.  I had just settled down in a new town with a new family.  I met new friends, my kids enrolled in new sports programs and a new school.  I started to form relationships with these people and with myself.

I had a life with a really good man. We now have a beautiful family, and a home.

I fell into an amazing teaching career, have since gone back to university to further my education.

I created an identity for myself.  Something that I never really had before.  I became strong and independent.

This is the person that my friends, colleagues and acquaintances know and recognize.  Not the thin, fit person they see before them now.  They didn't know the "old" me from 10 years ago.  Back then I lived in a different city, it was a different life.


So now I find myself avoiding people.   Avoiding the awkwardness.


Having these weird new breasts staring back at me in the mirror on top of the thin, fit figure only complicates my perception of my new old self.

Weird right?  Maybe it just takes time to adjust.  I mean don't get me wrong, I freakin love the person I see looking back at me in the mirror! She is Sexy, smart, strong, funny, loving, caring and kind.  She is just new that's all.