Paleo and primal

[Daughteroughter]

I have been reading about paleo and primal diets has anyone tried them?

Thanks for roasted butternut squash seed instruction, snow.

I am fasting only till lunch today (I do that twice a week), I find fasting till dinner too disruptive for my work day and there is no way I am doing it when kids are home ;) I do make a big point out of never eating after dinner (which is 6 pm) till the next morning after 8, and I never snack outside meal times, not even coffee or tea. I am a firm believer of not overloading your digestive system ;)

Hello everyone - lurker who is on way back to paleo again via low carb bootcamp (have lost 9lb in 3 wks so chuffed).

The best chocolate ice cream I make is a mixture of cocoa, dark and milk chocolate. I melt the chocolates in microwave and slowly add the cream then make as usual.
I adore my ice cream maker (Cusinart ICE30) and don't regret not buying expensive all singing model as this is so good. But its also one of the reasons I'm on the way to losing 25lb!

Went out for lunch yesterday and had a 12 oz steak with mixed salad, fried egg, grilled tomato, coleslaw and pepper sauce. The coleslaw and sauce probably had extra stuff added but it was a much better choice than chips and peas.

Instead of dessert I had a liquer coffee with whipped cream.

Just had lunch of crispy seaweed (no bok choice so used cabbage) almonds, soy sauce and a can of tuna.

Think I might have another coffee with whipped cream but minus the alcohol with a couple of squares of the 90% chocolate.

Where do you get the medjool dates from? Never heard of them before.

I always used to struggle with Indian takeaway because they don't really do many veg side orders without potatoes in. However we have finally found a takeaway that puts in good chunky sized pieces of chicken in their curries and quite a lot of it. It's filling enough on it's own. Anywhere we've tried before was mostly sauce and it just wasn't enough by itself.

Raweverytime you mention that dehydrator my shopping finger gets twitchy - I have to hold back at least till I get to know my mincer properly - it just wouldn't be loyal.[Wink] Looking forward to hearing about what you are drying...I'm planning a purchase, maybe around Christmas.

NappyAddict you can buy medijool dates in any supermarket - most definitely in sainsburys and Waitrose.

Misscp sounds like a sensible approach to fasting. We eat around 8.00pm and very often have a few glasses of wine so we need the longer fast into the day. We fast twice a week but we no longer deliberately limited our calories when we break the fast - but we only have one course, no wine or extras. Hopefully it will be enough to get the health benefits.

Medjool dates, larger supermarkets, dare I say "posher" supermarkets tend to have better dates. They are not cheap, they are fat and moist, probably a good thing they are expensive or I would eat far to many.

Snow, I am getting that super-de-dooper dehydrator! Being a sensible type, I have told Dh that this is what I want for my birthday, I can't quite justify just going out and buying it but I know I will really enjoy using it so it counts as a fine gift IMO!

*that will be round about Xmas by the way!

So far, I am planning to dry Beef jerky, maybe salmon, various fruits (including pears, apples and cherries from the garden). Apparently grain free seed and nut crackers work well in it too, and veg crisps (temp much more even than in an oven), I'm thinking it will be great for healthy packed lunch goodies for school when toddler ds is a little older .

thebest
The sharpness of the rhubarb depends on the variety (I can't remember which one I have) and the time of the season. It should be sweeter in June and July, when it'll be warmer, fingers crossed.

I 'sweeten' mine by adding an apple or two to the cooking and pears, plums and berries -especially blackberries- also work well.
If you need it sweeter you could try cooking it with dried fruit or even fresh beetroot (or even parsnips?). Cooking in the oven might intensify the sweetness, like it does when roasting parsnips or carrots.

New topic: Bone broth - do you do that?

We have been cooking bone broth for some time now, either from the carcass from a whole chicken or from beef bones that we ordered with our meat delivery. The beef bone broth needs to simmer for 48 hours and it stinks out the house! So I just ordered a slow cooker, mainly for that purpose, although I am sure I will use it for other meals as well. If it still stinks out the house, at least I can put it in the garage ;)

Anyway, bone broth is supposed to be super healthy. I only drink the chicken bone broth myself (daily), as I am not keen on the taste of the beef bone broth, but dh drinks it daily. I am hoping to start drinking beef bone broth myself, but I will need to add some veg (I like leak tops) and herbs to flavour it a bit. Other than bay leaves, what could I add?

Misscph, I do bone broth in the slow cooker- not too smelly. I put in salt at the start of cooking, and throw in whatever herbs I have near the end of the cooking, along with an onion, diced. Bay leaves work quite well (we have some in the garden, so usually add a sprig.

What does the beef bone look after 48hr? My grandad used to make wood glue from rabbit bones over days and that really stank!

How different does the broth taste from shorter cooking times?

I have always added bone(s) to my normal meat broth and cook the lot for 4-5 hrs on a low heat. Both my grandmothers (and one great-grandma) used to do this way, all the bone marrow is dissolved and the bone looks quite porous and if I put the broth in the fridge it turns to jelly. The only time I cook the broth a little longer is when I use the beef tongue which takes about 6hrs to cook.

I love the additional flavour of added bone so much that I freeze the leftover bones from other meals (roast poultry, foul, lamb,...) to use at a later date.

I also make stock from fish carcass, head and fins and langoustine, prawns shells are great too.

Issima, welcome! I think the headache is from coming off carbs, it will go.

Thanks, Raw!

favadi, beef bone broth when coked for 48 hours and then cooled is yelly with fat on top, horrible! Apparently the 48 hours are needed to get the good stuff from the marrow out. Thanks for tips!

I make stock from the chicken bones but that's as far as I've got. I'm intrigued by bone marrow as a food, local butchers sell it - need to do a bit of recipe research before I delve in.

Breakfast for the dcs this morning was pancakes make from banana, cinnamon, almond butter and eggs - they have now moved to the top of the pancake league - no need for extra flavourings - looks like I'll be making these for the rest of the week. Btw I didn't have any almond butter in the cupboard so I threw the whole unblanched almonds into the food processor for 5 mins and I was rewarded with lovely unsalted almond butter - very easy, definitely not buying nut butters any more, anyone else find the shop bought stuff too salty?

Lunch was leftovers chilli for dcs, turkey burgers with carrot salad for me, dinner will be brined pork chop with apple sauce, greens and sweet potatoes. Have never brined a piece of meat before - the American bloggers seem to think it's the key to tender and tasty meat.

Supermarket nutbutters- YY, generally have oil, salt and sometimes sugar added, Biona ones don't- it's just the nuts. I have never seen them in the supermarket locally so I buy online (I live in the middle of nowhere).

Hi Issima, welcome aboard. I find having selected foods that are easy to reach and eat are the my solution to my fidgety fingers. Currently I'm growing salad and herbs on the windowsill in the kitchen, because I'm in a very snacky mood recently due temporary high level stress and I know if I open a cupboard I might have a few chocolate and nuts accidents!

misscph I like setting the tongue in jelly and would love to freeze portions but we seem to be too greedy!

snow Ds and I don't like the taste of bone marrow on its own but love it when in meals like stews, casseroles, curries (and broth of course), it just 'melts' in.

Dh and dd on the other spend ages opening chicken bones with the nutcrackers to eat it. Ds enjoys scooping it out of the dog bones when her tongue can't reach it any more!

oops! ''dog's bone'' and most importantly: ds feeds the scooped out bone marrow to the dog!

I can't eat tongue, Favadi, I just can't! Liver, heart, tail, fine, but not tongue.

snow, you can use almond flour in pan cakes, if you run out of almond butter. I sometimes buy Carley's nut butters (but they often contain sunflower oil), but I often end up eating the whole jar on my own in a few hours ;)

Love the idea of opening chicken bones, Favadi, new use for the nut cracker ;)

So, news on the GMO animal feed story. A few days ago, 3 more supermarkets came out and said they will no longer insist their suppliers use non GMO feed for their non organic poultry and egg production (it has to be non GMO feed for the organic stuff).

So only Waitrose is continuing to make this demand of their suppliers.

I spent the morning emailing all the major supermarkets (not ASDA or Morrison's as they already let their suppliers use GMO feed stuff).

They all replied within an hour.
Waitrose - all their chicken, turkey eggs, farmed salmon and trout, new zealand lamb, are non GMO fed, and they are making moves to secure non GMO suppliers of beef, sheep and pork. They say non organic pork is the biggest issue. All their organic products are, of course GMO free.

Sainsbury's - GMO "may" be fed to poultry and eggs in their own basics range, but not to "taste the difference" poultry and eggs, and of course not to the organically farmed stuff.

Aldi said nothing with an Aldi label, or a "produced for Aldi" label has GMO.

Tesco, well, I got some patronising guff about the world economy and crop disease resistance and it sounded like it came off a Monsanto leaflet, "to explain the situation with GMO's".

None have plans to label meat non-GMO fed. But I bet Waitrose will, soon.

As a scientist by training, I have no particular thing against GMO as a concept, in the right circumstances and with appropriate and rigorous safety checks.
I do have a huge problem with the current situation- Monsanto trying to force their products onto the entire world using political clout they have bought for many millions of dollars in the USA (to stop labelling laws, to try and force organic producers to use it, to put huge pressure on the uk and Europe to accept GMO...). And then there is the issue of roundup, the residue from which may be devastating insect and other animal populations, as well as our own health.

This is quite a rant, I know but I do feel this is pushing us into the same situation as people in the USA, where you can be almost certain than anything not labeled organic is either made of GMO, or had been fed GMO. And mostly, people don't know.

I think it's pretty grim we are moving in that direction - have deep pockets and buy organic, or or eat GMO.

Anyway if any of you are interested in this issue... Ask your supermarket. The more people who do, the more likely it is they will change their minds or at least start some sort of labelling policy.

Great rant, you raise some very important points!

. But really, you shouldn't encourage my ranting...

Ohh no rant away raw I enjoyed reading that!

Have just made the dcs passion fruit, lemon and orange sweets - only other ingredient needed - gelatine - sure beats Haribos!

What Raw wrote about deep pockets or eat GMO made me think of another aspect of Paleo - the cost. All the American Paleo blogs are full of "it's not more expensive", but I dare say coming from a vegetarian/vegan background, Paleo is expensive for me. Lentils cost very little, but grass fed beef is expensive in comparison. Although I was never vegetarian/vegan for ethical reasons, I do feel very strongly about free range and I am willing to pay the price, although it nearly doubled my food costs when we started eating Paleo. I am the bread winner in our household (dh has been in various start-up phases (his own businesses) over the past 10 years and never really had his breakthrough), I am self-employed and although we are fine, my income does fluctuate. We both agree that good food is an investment in health and the future and we do prioritise it over other things. When we recently sold our Concept 2 rower, we were going to spend some of the money on a TV, but the more we thought about it, the more we agreed that a slow cooker and some more equipment for our home gym in the garage would be a far better investment ;)

Anyway, perhaps we could share cost saving tips? I have become very good at using every little bit up and the freezer is my friend. My best tips: I have found that I actually prefer broccoli stalks to the florets and that the leaves on cauliflower are very tasty, a bit like cabbage. I have become very good at going to the supermarket when they put things in the reduced section. Asian shops have better and cheaper herbs and spices.

Bulk buy meat if you can, and freeze
Buy whole chickens and joint them yourself.
Slow-cook cheaper cuts like brisket and shanks.
Frozen meat joints of NZ lamb are very good value.

Canned fish are good value.

There are ways to make it cheaper but yes, real food can be pricey compared with many processed foods.