Category: 21 Day Sugar Detox

Posted on

Asian Inspired Flanken-Style Ribs

Asian Inspired Flanken-Style Ribs

A couple of summers ago we were coordinating a cook-out with my parents. My mom picked up these strange little ribs from their local beef farm stand. The farmer, on being asked for cooking ideas, says she just really enjoys using Asian spices such as soy sauce and grilling them up. Well neither Rick and I nor my mother eat soy, so Mom improvised  and created a tasty, SIBO safe, paleoesque recipe.

What are flanken-style ribs?

According to all-knowing-Google, this style of ribs are commonly used in Korean BBQ, which I thought was interesting. This is probably why I hadn’t had them before as I’ve not had much exposure to Korean cuisine. I love that they are a strip of meat with little riblet bones instead of a larger bulky rib bone. They are cut from the same place as regular, or English ribs. Apparently, flanken-style ribs are more rare to find, unless you are shopping at an Asian grocery store. You can ask your local butcher to cut them flanken-style should you not have that nearby Asian grocer.

The original recipe cooks them over charcoal. However, I don’t have a charcoal grill and only grill for a few months out of the year(we’re just starting grilling weather now). Thus I haven’t tried the cooking times out on our grill. Hopefully, this summer I’ll test it out and update this recipe with the grill specific directions.

 

Print
Asian Inspired Flanken-Style Ribs
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs Flanken-style ribs
  • 2-3 tbsp coconut aminos
  • ½ cup olive oil or avocado oil
  • 3 cloves minced garlic
  • 2-3 pinches of sea salt
  • Optional: black pepper
Instructions
  1. Start marinating the ribs at least 2 hours prior to cooking, preferably over night.
  2. Combine ribs and all other ingredients into a glass container. If marinating over night put in fridge.Make sure the ribs are thoroughly coated.
  3. Preheat oven to 350
  4. Place ribs on roasting pan or cookie sheet - try not to let them over lap!
  5. Roast on one side for 8 minutes
  6. Turn and finish roasting for 5-8 minutes.
Notes
These are even better if you marinated them about two days. So if you are like me and forget about them for a day, it's a good thing!
 

 

adfasdfsdffd

Posted on

How To Save Terrible Tasting Winter Squash – A Recipe

Nosh Nerd

Every year,  usually at the end of the season, I end up with a winter squash that tastes awful. It’s not moldy, or overly dried out. It just tastes rather bitter instead of sweet and flavorful as most winter squash should taste. For years I thought my only options was give up and throw it away. Not anymore!

For dinner, about a month ago I baked a couple of squashes – one delecata and one carnival. The delecata was amazing as usual. But the carnival tasted wrong, just wrong. Instead of just tossing it I wondered if it might taste better with some savory spices. Using some over-steamed cauliflower (it happens more than I’d like) and some spices I got to testing!

 

Winter Squash
Winter Squash
Print
How To Save Terrible Tasting Winter Squash
Author: 
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups - winter Squash
  • 1 cup - steamed cauliflower
  • ¼ cup - Coconut milk
  • 1 tsp - frontier curry seasoning(you can use another brand of curry seasoning if you'd like)
  • or a combination of the following
  • ¼ tsp cumin, ¼ tsp coriander, ¼ tsp black pepper, ¼ tsp of turmeric, pinch of ground fenugreek - grind in spice grinder or mortar and pestal
  • Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. If squash is hot let cool
  2. Blend squash in blender or food processor
  3. Blend steamed cauliflower into squash
  4. Add coconut milk, seasonings, and salt and pepper to the squash cauliflower mix
  5. Warm and serve!
Notes
This recipe can also work if your cauliflower was over steamed and you have regular tasting squash on hand. Repurpose, don't waste!
If anyone has questions about what to do with “ruined” or crumby tasting vegetables, or fruits and veggies past their prime let me know. I might have a solution already. Alternatively, I’d be happy to test some recipes out!

Posted on

Tuna Salad

Tuna Salad with paleo mayo, baby carrots, and celery, in a white bowl.

I love to cook, it’s like making a crafty-thing that you can eat! Several months back I was looking at where all my time was being spent. Not surprising, a lot of it was spent in the kitchen. I was – and still am to a point – one of those people who worked all day and then came home and played in the kitchen for 1-2 hours at the end of the night. Sometimes it was perfect because that’s what I wanted to do. But when I hit my busy season last year – August to December – I had much less free time and thus developed an appreciation of quicker meals. Also in early winter late fall I started to be able to incorporate more physical activity outside of work (massage). I needed meals that were not only easy to prepare, but rich in protein and fat. Fat’s the bomb.

Enter tuna! Canned tuna specifically. Sure canned tuna isn’t really exciting. But it’s easy. And it’s uniform. No need to hem and hah over whether or not the extra 1/3 pound of whatever protein will ruin a recipe. A can of tuna is basically the same no matter what brand. And yes, tuna is low in fat, but that’s what home-made paleonnaise is for!

 

 

Print
Tuna Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: Salad
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • 1 can of tuna
  • 2 tbsp of paleo mayonaise a.k.a paleonnaise
  • 2 stocks of celery
  • 4 ounces of baby carrots or approximately 14 baby carrots
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Chop celery and carrots, set aside
  2. Drain can of tuna
  3. Mix tuna and mayonaise
  4. Add celery and carrots
  5. Salt and pepper to taste
  6. Enjoy!
Notes
I'm a fan of lots of paleo mayonnaise with my tuna, but if you prefer less than use less. Also, this is 21DSD compliant!
 

Posted on

How To Live Without Coffee – Or How To Make Great Tea

Nosh Nerd

I love coffee, LOVE coffee. Unfortunately, it’s not very nice to my body. Instead of being all depressed about it, last year I started to experiment with making my own coffee replacement. I’ve tried lots of faux coffees. Some of them are delicious, some are not. Many of them use chicory root which is quite tasty. Unfortunately, while I’m following a GAPs/paleo diet it’s not “legal.” It’s the FOMAP issue, my poor gut is too delicate for those fermentable carbs. Other coffee replacements are too “herby” or just too light in general. They are fine as proper teas and I’ll drink them but they don’t work as a coffee replacement. I want my faux coffee to be earthy, dark, slightly bitter, with good body. It also has to mix well with coconut milk because I always had my coffee with some sort of non-dairy milk.

It took months, and I actually put the idea on the back burner for quite awhile until one day my little gray cells had an epiphany! A friend makes a delicious tea as a coffee replacement. I drank it before I got my SIBO diagnosis. However, it too included roasted chicory. “But” I wondered, “is there a way to live without the chicory and create a similar darker flavor without tasting like dirt.” There was, the secret was cinnamon, and a teeny bit of vanilla.

Tea, coconut milk, cinnamon, prepped in cup for immersion blender
Tea in the immersion blender cup, getting ready to be awesome.

Now, this is not coffee, it’s only a sort of replacement. But as someone who has missed the dark gritty, almost campfire-like, taste of a dark roast, I’m willing to compromise.

Mug of tea with a spoon, with coconut milk, and a sprinkle of cinnamon

 

 

Print
Oh So Tasty Not-Coffee Substitute
Author: 
Recipe type: Drinks
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp - Roasted Dandelion Root
  • 1 tbsp - Cinnamon Chips
  • 1 tbsp - Red Rooibos Tea
  • ½ tbsp - Orange Peel
  • ½ pinch - Vanilla Powder
  • 5 cups - water
  • Coconut milk - or milk substitute of choice
  • Optional: ground cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients in a separate container, set aside
  2. Add water to sauce pan bring to boil
  3. Add dry ingredients to water
  4. Cover and turn down temperature (at this point I usually put my electric stove on medium low)
  5. Let it simmer/steep for 20 minutes
  6. Strain into large jar
  7. Choose your favorite cup for drinking tea or coffee - I use a 12 ounce pint jar with a handle
  8. Pour desired amount of tea into cup or jar, leaving room for coconut milk
  9. IF blending with milk substitute, add desired amount coconut milk to cup
  10. Pour combined tea and coconut milk into a 30 ounce immersion blender cup - or other immersion blender safe tall walled container
  11. Blend for 10-20 seconds with immersion blender.
  12. Pour back into your cup, sprinkle with cinnamon if desired, and enjoy!
  13. Save the remaining tea for later by putting into a glass container and put in fridge. Should last about a week
Notes
It's perfectly fine to combine some of the steps for making the tea. I typed out the extra steps for those of us who make mistakes the first time we follow a recipe and measure out too much of anything. Feel free to toss the dry ingredients right on into the water before it's warm. Just remember to turn it down and cover it while it simmers!

This recipe is based on creating a drink with the tea and coconut milk that is about 12 ounces. As such there should be enough tea made for approximately four servings. How much you end up with depends on how much your tea steams(or how much steam escapes from under the lid) while it is simmering. Add more water if you don't think there is enough, or if you want your tea less strong.
 

 

Posted on

Minced Garlic and Onion “Crusted” Chicken

Nosh Nerd

This recipe was born from my love of chicken and a desire for a tasty recipe that takes almost no effort. Also, I use this as a multi-meal recipe, because leftovers are king for us busy people.

Garlic And Onion "Crusted" Baked Chicken

Print
Minced Garlic and Onion "Crusted" Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: Paleo - Multi-Meal
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-8
 
Minced Garlic and Onion "Crusted" Baked Chicken
Ingredients
  • 2-4 lbs - Chicken legs or a combination of legs and thighs, or legs and breasts - skin on
  • 1-2 tbsp - Cooking fat of choice - avocado, coconut, or olive oil
  • 1-2 tbsp - Dried minced garlic
  • 1-2 tbsp - Dried minced onion
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • Optional: ½ tsp of paprika
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 300 degrees
  2. If using coconut oil melt in warming oven
  3. Pull chicken out of packets
  4. Place chicken pieces in glass baking dish skin up - I often use my 9x13 dish
  5. Pour cooking fat over chicken - use fingers or a basting brush to distribute over all the pieces
  6. Sprinkle the minced garlic and onion over chicken
  7. Put in warmed oven
  8. Check at 45 minutes cooking time.
  9. Dish is done when largest piece of chicken is at 165 degrees
  10. Eat the crap out of it!
Notes
I consider this a multi-meal-recipe. Having left overs makes life so much easier during the work week. However, you can cut this recipe down by half or more and only do 1-2 lbs of chicken legs instead.

Also, try not to be impatient if you think the recipe is taking longer than the prescribed time. I've given a lower oven temperature so that the minced garlic and onions don't burn. They will BURN if you turn it up too close to 350. Longer cooking times can occur depending on your oven, how cold the chicken was when you put it in the oven, how big the chicken pieces are, etc.
 

Posted on

Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing

Nosh Nerd

There are f20150112_102701ew things better than a totally awesome salad dressing to go with your totally awesome salad. This dressing is so great that it can even turn a boring salad into something fantastic. Or if you don’t like salad and sort of have to make yourself eat it, then this dressing should make that experience better – maybe even enjoyable. Basically, best dressing ever.

I’ve used it as my standard potluck dressing for a couple of years. Everyone loves it, unless they don’t like mustard of course. It’s so easy to make it’s embarrassing. Seriously, why pay $4 a bottle for organic-paleo salad dressing? Nothing against store-bought dressings but I don’t want to have to budget for mine, or ration it either.

 

Print
Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing
Author: 
Recipe type: Dressing
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: lots
 
Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing
Ingredients
  • ½ cup - Organic Apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup - Olive oil
  • 3 tsp - Natural Value Organic Dijon Mustard
Instructions
  1. Pour all ingredients into a bowl or salad dressing container with a lid and mix well or shake well.
  2. It's so silly how easy it is!
Notes
I save specific kinds of containers, such as the glass coconut vinegar or coconut aminos containers to use for salad dressings. They usually have a pour spout and a lid and will hold up for a long time. But you can use whatever you have on hand!