Coconut Oil Mayonnaise

I've been lucky when I've tried homemade mayo: in my food processor,
it has always turned out and hasn't broken (knock on wood!). Last time
I made mayonnaise, I used olive oil, and even with the "light" tasting
variety, it was too olive-y for me. Plus, all the recent kerfluffle
over olive oils not really being olive oils make me want to avoid it
when I can. Thus, coconut oil mayo.

Ingredients:
1 pastured egg yolk
2 t lemon juice
1 t water
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t powdered mustard
200mL (~3/4 c) melted coconut oil (yes, I used a beaker to measure my
coconut oil! Tee hee!)

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the egg yolk, lemon juice,
water, salt, and mustard. Turn on the processor and leave it running.
After these first ingredients have been mixed, _slowly_ start dripping
the coconut oil into the bowl. Keep the processor running the entire
time. In a very small stream, continue to slowly pour the coconut oil
into the food processor bowl. It should be a creamy off-white color
and it will thicken as more oil is added. After about half of your
total oil has been mixed in, you can pour it in a bit faster. Overall,
it took me about 7 minutes to add all of the oil. Don't be impatient;
that's how mayos break!

Scrape it out of the food processor into a jar and store I the fridge.
It should keep about 10 days.

Mason Jar Eggs - breakfast to go!

I love baked eggs. Eggs are so versatile because you can add so many
different flavors to them and they're always tasty. I like adding
veggies to eggs to get in an extra serving of vitamins and other
micronutrients with my morning meal. For these eggs, any egg
muffin-type recipe would work. Cheese, broccoli, leftover cooked
veggies from dinner, bacon... The possibilities are endless. These are
so easy to whip up in the evening and then you have a tasty breakfast
ready for you all week long. It's also easy to make a batch with
different flavors in each jar to mix it up a bit. Mmmm, delicious!

Eggs in Mason Jars
6 half pint sized mason jars, with bands and lids
Coconut oil to grease the jars
12 thin slices of ham
1 1/2 c chopped veggies (I used collard greens
12 eggs
Salt, pepper, or other seasoning, to taste

Grease the jars well, all the way up the sides. Baked on egg is really
hard to wash off if you don't grease well. Place two slices of ham
into each jar, then add about 1/4c of veggies on top of the ham. Crack
two eggs into each jar. Season with salt, pepper, or other seasoning.

Place all of the jars (without lids) onto a flat sheet pan, leaving
about one inch between the jars. Bake at 350 degrees. I like a
soft-boiled type egg yolk, which took about 18 min in my oven. For a
harder yolk, bake longer and for a softer yolk, bake for less time.

Let the jars cool completely before putting the lids on and storing in
the fridge.

Enjoy!

Almond flour pancakes

 

I have tried several different paleo pancake recipes, but have never been satisfied. They're always dry or fall apart or taste icky. That is, until I made these. They are absolutely perfect: fluffy, tasty, and they don't fall apart. They are family approved, even my not paleo-ish hubby loved them. 

Note: You really do need to use Honeyville's almond flour for this. Bob's Red Mill, Trader Joe's almond meal, and the bulk stuff from Whole Foods are not ground finely enough an they don't turn out properly. You've been warned!

Almond flour pancakes

1.5c Honeyville almond flour (170g)

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1t vanilla

1/4c coconut milk (canned, well-shaken)

4 eggs

1t honey (optional)

2T melted coconut oil

Mix all ingredients together in a mixer. Cook on medium-low heat in plenty of oil/butter. Flip when small bubbles appear.  They are easier to flip if you make them small, silver-dollar sized. 

Make your own bullet

Did you know the blade assembly of Oster blenders fit perfectly on
mason jars? I make smoothies in a jar and then drink them right out of
the same container. I would say that 90% of the use my blender gets is
for personal sized smoothies like this. And it works much better than
the Magic Bullet I used to have.

Paleo Stroganoff

I love fake noodles! A combination of zucchini and carrot ribbons,
made with a regular potato peer are delicious, easy, and pretty. I
usually peel the noodles into a microwave-safe bowl, then add a few
drops of water, cover, and microwave for about 2 minutes before
topping them with sauce. I prefer this type of "noodle" to spaghetti
squash. This stroganoff is really easy to make for a quick dinner.

Paleo Stroganoff
1lb ground beef (grass-fed, of course!)
1 onion, chopped
8oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2tsp fish sauce
1 can coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef with the onions until the beef is about halfway
cooked through. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until the beef
is browned and the mushrooms are soft. Add the fish sauce, coconut
milk, stir, and bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes to thicken up the
sauce. Add slat and pepper to taste. Serve over zucchini noddles.
Serves 3-4.

Grass-fed round roast, cooked sous vide

Bottom round is a very tough cut with lots of connective tissue and
little marbling. In my past cooking experiences trying it as a pot
roast, it's kinda tough, dry, and not super tasty. So that makes this
a perfect cut to try out long, slow sous vide cooking.

I salted and peppered the roast, seared it on top and bottom, then
vacuum sealed it with my FoodSaver. I cooked it in my SousVide Supreme
for 28 hours at 131 degrees F. Then I seared it again in bacon grease
before slicing it and serving.

It came out very tender, moist, and cooked perfectly medium rare.
Definitely the tastiest "pot roast" I've ever made, and really really
easy. My 4 year old gobbled it up without any prodding! I will be
making pot roast like this again for sure.

Braised cabbage with leeks and maple

Braised Cabbage with Leeks and Maple
2 T bacon fat
1 leek, white part only, cut into 1/4" slices
1/2 head red cabbage
1 T maple syrup

Melt the bacon fat over medium-high heat and then add the leeks. Stir
a few times as the leeks cook. When they begin to brown, add the
cabbage. Continue to stir occasionally as the cabbage cooks. Cook
until the cabbage is wilted but still slightly crunchy, about 8
minutes. Add the maple syrup and stir once more to coat the vegetable
evenly.