Traveling Paleo

Carrot Juice with Lemon and Lime - Flora Farm

The timing for my transition to paleo wasn't exactly ideal. One week after I started my journey down the nutrient dense path, I was at my cousin's wedding in San Diego for 2 days. No drinks, no dessert and I put up with the "special" meal they provided me. Why does gluten free often translate to a plate of steamed vegetables? Luckily there was a Trader Joe's near the hotel. I pretty much lived on olives and cashews. 

A week after that I was on vacation in Mexico, land of rice, beans and corn tortillas. I was actually amazed at the number of amazing restaurants we found in Baja. Farm to Table has found Los Cabos. We had some amazing meals at Flora Farm outside of San Jose del Cabo. Rancho Pescadero  just south of Todos Santos was great too. 

My husband rolls his eyes but, every restaurant I've eaten at over the last month, here and abroad, has been happy to accommodate my dietary choices by replacing carbs with extra veggies. Dropping the carbs, sugar and dairy has been A LOT easier than I thought it was going to be.

Airport Blues

Over 4th of july weekend, I was away at my cousin’s wedding. I left my husband and kids at home so they could enjoy the 4th with his family. It was just a quick trip; down on the 4th, wedding on the 5th home early on the 6th. Totally not the kind of trip you want to take three kids on. The plan was they would pick me up from the airport and we would head straight to the Delta to spend the rest of the day on the water. 

I had just texted my husband, “flight’s on time, boarding in 20, see you soon”. I bought myself a water for the flight and wondered over to the screen to see where my parents flight was. I didn’t find their flight but my heart sank when I saw mine. Delayed. New departure time 2 hours from now. My new departure time also came with a new gate in a different part of the airport. 

I called my husband. He was disappointed, “I guess we aren’t going to the boat. Keep me posted”. I thought about standby to Oakland or San Francisco but I found posted signs, “change to standby will require upgrade to full ticket price”. Crap. I walked back out past security and followed the signs toward my new gate. 

I waited in the security line again. Unpacked my computer again, took my shoes off again, stood in the machine, that I don’t believe isn’t harmful, with my hands over my head again. I walked over to put myself back together and saw the TSA lady holding my bag. She took out the water I just bought for a ridiculously inflated price in the other terminal and told me I could step to the side and drink it if I wanted to but I couldn’t take it with me. 

I was pissed. Couldn’t they at least give me a voucher for my water? My day and my family’s plans for the day are already ruined due to this delay, now your going to stick me with paying another $4 for a small bottle of water? I begrudgingly bought my water, it was 2 hours till my flight no way I could go that long without water. 

I looked up for the first time and found myself in small room with only 2 gates a restaurant that served food I wouldn’t feed my dog, and twice as many people as the space actually had room for. I located an empty seat but the girls in the seat next to it apologetically told me it was already taken. 

I tried to casually navigate my way back through the bags, bodies, and baby strollers littering the small spaces between the rows of chairs. There were no open tables in the restaurant and a line to get in if one did open up. I tripped over a sleeping man’s leg and he glared at me. I was about to cry. This sucks. I resigned myself to my reality and found a place to sit on the floor. I pulled out my computer. Located the free airport wi-fi… no connection. Probably because I only have safari installed on my computer. Note to self, download Firefox. It’s not like I charged my computer anyway. I wasn’t going to need it for such a short flight.

Announcement… flight delayed another 15 minutes. 

I talked myself out of my bad mood. Yes, it sucks, but there is nothing that can be done about it. I could either be miserable and angry and let it ruin my whole day or just sit back and read, enjoy my $4 water, see it as a challenge to find something to eat that has any nutritional value, and know that I would be home soon enough. In the great scheme of things being stuck at the airport for a few extra hours amounts to less than nothing. At least some seats opened up and didn’t have to sit on the floor for the full 2 hours. 

Crock Pot Carnitas

Crock Pot Carnitas on Plantain Tortillas with shredded
cabbage, cilantro, avocado and paleo mayonnaise 

I almost followed a recipe from Slim Palate when I made these carnitas. I printed it out, I bought the ingredients and I cut up the pork... Then I sorta decided I knew better. Or more accurately, I finally read the whole recipe and realized it was for some kind of crispy carnitas. I've never heard of that. I like my carnitas wet and full of flavor.

These carnitas and the plantain tortillas got the seal of approval from my husband. The kids LOVED the carnitas but they were to wary to stray from their flour tortilla and try one made of "bananas?!?!" Too weird for them.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder butt roast, cut into 3 or so inch chunks. Don't worry about being exact. Mine were chunks were super messy and not uniform at all!
• 5 cloves chopped garlic
• 2 tsp chili powder (I used New Mexican style)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup squeezed lime juice
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• water

Directions:

1. Get your crock pot ready, turn it to high
2. Mix up the chili powder, cumin and salt. Rub it all over your chunks of meat.
3. Throw your meat in the crock pot. Add the chopped garlic, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and lime juice. 
4. Pour enough water over the meat to just barely cover it. 
5. Let the meat cook for 4 hours. 
6. Move the meat to a big bowl using a big slotted/straining spoon. Use forks to shred your pork. DON'T get rid of the juice. Leave it right there in the crock pot. 
7. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves from the crock pot and throw them away. 
8. Return the meat to the crock pot. Leave the crock pot open and continue to cook for another 30 minutes. I like to pick out any really big chunks of fat during this time. 
9. Turn your crock pot off and use your slotted/straining spoon to remove the meat from the pot again. Let the excess juices strain off the meat and move it to your serving dish. 

Serve with your favorite taco condiments! 

All Good Goop

All Good Goop by Elemental Herbs

I've been using All Good Goop by Elemental Herbs as my face moisturizer for at least 3 years maybe even 5 years. I don't actually remember what I used before. I've tried to switch to a "normal" face moisturizer a few times but I keep coming back to the Goop.

When I met my husband he was using Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizer. He often got red dry patches on his face and neck. It was hard to get him off Clinique's yellow lotion especially when what I was suggesting he replace it with claimed right on the bottle to be good for; diaper care, minor burns, bites and cracked heels. It took him about 6 months to fully switch over. Once he did the dry patches totally disappeared and haven't come back.

When my girlfriends and I get on the topic of skin care products I always feel a little, no I feel a lot overwhelmed. They are using expensive anti-aging products with stem cells sold to the rich and famous in Hollywood. I'm using All Good Goop which is also good for Diaper rash and Dr Bronner's which use to have some crazy recipe for homemade birth control on the bottle with all the other random "all-one" gibberish.

As I'm cleaning up my diet I am also cleaning up my skin care products and my cleaning products. I was thrilled to see that my beloved All Good Goop currently has an overall score of 0 (which is the best possible score) on the Environmental Working Group's  Skin Deep Cosmetics Database.

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizer scores at 5, moderately hazardous.

Skin Deep was launched in 2004 to create online safety profiles for cosmetics and personal care products. EWG compares the ingredients on personal care product labels and websites to information in nearly 60 toxicity and regulatory databases. The Skin Deep database provides easy-to-navigate safety ratings for a wide range of products and ingredients on the market. Skin Deep is the world's largest personal care product safety guide.

Paleo Breakfast Stack

I am not even kidding when I say that the first time I made this Paleo Breakfast Stack I wanted to lick my plate. I seriously considered doing it.

I call it a breakfast stack but it doesn't have to be. To be completely honest, I called it a Paleo Breakfast Stack because I figured "Paleo Breakfast" would SEO better than "Portobello Breakfast" or "Open Face Egg Sandwich". The recipe was originally something I made for dinner one night when my planned dinner was going to take a few hours longer than I anticipated.  I stared into my fridge debating what to do. It was full of options but nothing really sounded good.

Oh happy accident! I hope you like it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

• 1 roasted portobello mushroom (see Portobello Mushroom Buns)
• 2 slices prosciutto 
• 1 thick slice tomato
• 1 fried egg
• 3 basil leaves, torn
• 1 dollop paleo mayonnaise 
• 1 TBS oil, I prefer avocado
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. If your mushroom cap is cold warm it in your oven. I guess you could use your microwave, but I'm anti-microwave. It doesn't have to be hot, just a little warmed up. 
2. Prepare all your ingredients as your mushroom warms. 
3. Heat your pan on the stove, add your oil and fry your egg. I like to sprinkle salt and pepper on my egg while it is cooking.
4. Plate your mushroom stacking all the ingredients on top of each other and plop a big dollop of paleo mayonnaise on top.
5. Eat up. If you want to lick your plate, you can. 

Banana Rama Roundup

      Yellow Plantains                Black Plantains                      Bananas

Over the weekend I went banana crazy. I have been meaning to make banana bread for the kids and finally I have perfect bananas. Nom Nom Paleo's Plantain Fritters look scrumptious and I read somewhere about plantain tortillas.
plantain fritters are in nom nom paleo, food for humans cookbook.

plantain fritters

First up, Plantain Fritters! I was super excited about these. They weren't hard to make. I don't think I messed mine up but I didn't love them.

Mine did puff up a bit, but not as much as the picture in the cookbook. Michelle (Nom Nom Paleo) does say in the cookbook "overwork it, and you'll end up with a tray of dense, gummy pucks." That does sound a little like what I got...

I didn't love the flavor of the fritters so I probably won't attempt them again, but I was inspired with a fritter idea of my own that I hope to try out soon!

plantain tortillas

Next up, plantain tortillas from Zenbelly. I was intrigued by these. How could they possibly work? What in the world would hold them together?

I guess the plantain is starchy enough to work some magic because these tortillas do hold together, fold and roll just like Zenbelly says they will.

I was so surprised by these, for a few reasons that they got their own post  - read it here along with my notes on the process of making them, their texture and their taste.

Last monkey mess for the day, Banana Bread by Slim Palate.  My kids declared this bread is, "delicious!!!" I love it when this happens. It's not very often I can feel good about the food they eat. They are my stepchildren which means I don't have much control over their S.A.D. diet and trust me it is so sad it hurts. Their dad and I didn't love the banana bread, but I will continue to make it for the kids.

3 kids polished of the whole loaf in one afternoon!

A friend of mine also tried this recipe, she called what she ended up with banana porridge. I took Joshua's advice and used Bob's Red Mill Coconut flour. I opted to use 2 bananas not 3, and only 1/4 cup honey. I also let the batter sit for 15 minutes to let the flour start to absorb the liquid before I put it in to oven (something I learned from a Paleo cookie recipe). It seems to have worked because I have a loaf of bread, no runny mess.

Plantain Tortillas by Zenbelly

Plantain Tortillas - recipe by Zenbelly

I am more impressed by these plantain tortillas by Zenbelly than I originally thought I was. I made them for the first time yesterday as part of my banana recipe weekend. My initial thoughts were: these are a lot of work and they taste like banana. But... they would probably be really great with carnitas.

I didn't finish making the full batch, it was such a slow process. I was really thinking this would be the first, and the last time I made these tortillas. My husband is out of town this weekend so last night I pulled out the remainder of my Nom Nom Paleo Roast Beast for dinner. I grabbed the tortillas, lettuce, avocado and Paleo mayonnaise (also Nom Nom).
The Roast Beast and mayonnaise recipes I used are from the cookbook "Nom Nom Paleo, Food for Humans", I didn't see them on the website.

This morning I pulled the tortillas out again and ate them with chicken apple sausage. By this point I'm regretting that I didn't make the full batch. I'm planning on making carnitas for my husband tonight and to use these tortillas, but at this rate I won't have enough left!

I will be making plantain tortillas again. Next time I will make the full batch because clearly with the right meal I like them.

Taste:
These plantain tortillas have a very distinct taste. They taste like banana. I wouldn't use them to wrap everything, but I can definitely think of instances where the plantain taste can enhance an overall recipe. I'm thinking carnitas here! I'll let you know how that turns out.

Texture:
The texture of these plantain tortillas is great! They really are very traditional tortilla like. They fold and they roll without breaking or cracking.  They look like traditional corn tortillas as well.

Process:

• Mixing the ingredients up is easy, throw it all in the food processor and there you go! 
• Zenbelly suggests using a ladle and wet fingers to spread out the tortillas. I found using plastic spatula much easier and less messy. 
• I only managed to get 3 tortillas on each tray. 
• My tortillas are about 4.5" each and I could have easily made at least 21 with the amount of batter I had following the recipe. 
• Make sure not to let the edges of the tortillas get to thin. They will start to burn before the rest of the tortilla is cooked. 
• When you make these, think street tacos - small, slightly thicker tortillas. 
• The tortillas re-heat well. I have been warming them on the stove in a dry pan on low heat. 

Zenbelly Plantain Tortillas Recipe