Mother's Day was pretty much a wash for me, since I woke up at 1:30am with a seriously unhappy stomach, and spent the next few hours cramping and puking and miserable.  What I suspected to be food poisoning turned out to be a nasty little stomach bug that's been making the rounds.  My sister-in-law also had it, as did her mother-in-law, so none of us were particularly chipper at our get-together.  I ended up leaving Chris with the cavekids and heading home to curl up in bed that afternoon, and took a rain check on my Mother's Day dinner. 

Thankfully, the delightful little bug has been shared among us all (blah) and has moved on (woohoo) and we are all feeling MUCH better!

 Now that we are back to normal, relatively speaking, and feeling fine, we celebrated with my favorite dinner…. this spicy Tex-Mex steak that has become my new favorite awesome.  Super flavorful, a little spicy, total yum.

I've used this on several different cuts of steaks, depending on my budget and what's on sale.  This time I found a package of thin-sliced chuck steak, so I opted for the cast-iron skillet rather than the grill.  I sprinkled the meat with a pre-packaged tenderizer (I know, I know, not very paleo, but it'll do in a pinch) and stabbed it with the meat tenderizing-fork-thing while I mixed up the spices, then rubbed the spice mixture over the steaks while the cast-iron pan was heating.

Once the cast-iron skillet was hot, I threw the steaks in to sizzle away while making the sauce.

There's probably a more frou-frou term for the sauce besides just 'sauce', but I don't really feel like Googling the appropriate word just to make myself appear more lofty and high brow; I'll save that for the gourmet blogs, which I could never pass off as being.

'Sauce' it is.

So, I just tossed the ingredients in the food processor after spending way too long fiddling with taking pics, because I liked the composition of the lime and cilantro and garlic on my cutting board.  A couple whirs around- and 'whir' would indeed be a technical term- and it's done.

Once the steaks have been gently cooked, flipped,  nd cooked a tiny bit more, I removed the steaks, cranked the heat up to medium high-but-closer-to-high-than-to-medium and let the pan heat a minute or so, then seared the steaks well on both sides (it takes only a few seconds). I flipped the heat off, moved the pan from the burner, and poured the sauce over the top of the steaks.  The sauce just sort of slides off the surface of the meat and down into the pan, and caramelizes and cooks the admittedly-large amount of garlic down a bit so that it mellows.  Then I just flip the steaks again, putting the sauced side down for a minute or two, and then flip one more time so the steaks are evenly coated with the sauce.

I let the steaks rest for a bit- always a good thing so they stay nice and juicy- and serve these with cauliflower mashed faux-tatoes, spooning the sauce over the top in lieu of gravy, and a side salad and some avocado.

Taste buds, rejoice.

Tex-Mex Steaks

6 steaks, your choice of cut
tenderizer

Spices:

1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Salt to taste (if not using tenderizer)

Cilantro-Garlic-Lime Sauce

4-6 garlic cloves
1 cup cilantro leaves
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
pinch of salt

Sprinkle steaks with tenderizer, if desired, pierce with tenderizing fork (optional).
Combine all other ingredients in a small bowl. 
Rub spice mixture into both sides of the steaks.
Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat on stove or grill; meanwhile make the sauce.
In food processor or blender, combine the sauce ingredients and pulse/whir until the garlic is crushed and the sauce is an even uniformity.
Set aside.
Cook steaks in heated pan on both sides gently, then sear at the end over high heat.
Remove the pan from the burner, pour the sauce over the steaks, let cook a few moments in the still-hot pan.
Flip the steaks so the sauced side cooks a minute or so, then flip once more and let rest until ready to serve.

Cameron is ecstatic.  Like, over-the-moon, twirling-and-grinning, hopping-like-an-elf ecstatic that he can have a paleo-fied version of his favorite Cinnamon Toast cereal…and it's pretty close to the original!

 With the summer rapidly approaching, I've been gathering as many recipes as possible to shake up our normal breakfast routine of muffins and omelets and smoothies.  I happened across the original recipe, which claims this can be made into either cereal or 'graham' crackers, on Pinterest, and didn't even hesitate.

This had to be tried.

The first attempt was decent, though admittedly a little bland.  While it's probably okay for adults who can mentally step around the missing flavors, the cavekids needed more 'punch' in order to be happy.  On attempt 2, I added a little salt and swapped out the maple syrup for the honey (for more sweetness).  Attempt #3 I increased the honey and the coconut palm sugar to round out the flavors, making it sweet enough that Logan (who is the toughest critic by far) accepted the cereal without a qualm.

I don't particularly care for that kid's qualms.

If making 'graham' crackers (which are totally delicious with almond butter, coconut butter, or plain with a cup of coffee!), a 1/4" thickness works well when rolling these out.  For the cereal, you'll want to go thinner and cut them as evenly as possible.

For the love of Pete, use the parchment paper when rolling these out.  You do NOT want to try cleaning this stuff up off a regular surface.

Trust me.

Be sure and keep an eye on your baking times.  The edges tend to burn and get overly crispy!  And oh, if you forget to set your egg out in time to bring it to room temp, just put it in a cup of hot water (not boiling; about what you'd use to wash dishes) for 3 minutes.  Voila.

Unless you have some seriously amazing willpower, I strongly…strongly…advise you to put the pan out of reach while these are cooling; they make the house smell amazing, and you'll be tempted to burn your fingers and tongue (repeatedly) sampling these.
 

I ended up putting the pan up on top the fridge, and amusing myself taking pictures of Indiana.  Who was thoroughly unamused.

Then we sampled the batch a couple times, and hopped around like an elf and grinned, cause these are awesome (we save the twirling for Cam).

Store the cooled cereal/graham crackers in a sealed container or Ziploc bag; they'll keep for 2 weeks or so -if they make it that long!

Paleo Cinnamon Squares Cereal

1 egg (at room temperature)
3  tablespoons honey
1 T coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon extract (optional)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tapioca starch (AP flour can be substituted for the non-paleo folks) + a little more to make the dough workable and not so sticky
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350˚
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, honey, extract(s) and melted coconut oil.
Add the salt, tapioca starch- just 1/2 cup- and almond flour and stir to combine.
Give the dough a couple of kneads so it’s well incorporated, and add a little more tapioca starch as needed to keep the dough from being too sticky.
Turn the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and flatten a bit with your hands.
Place another piece of parchment on top and roll out with a rolling pin until it’s about 1/8 inch thick.
Remove the top piece of parchment and score the dough (without cutting all the way through) dough into 1/4 inch squares for cereal, and about 4″x3″ for graham crackers.
In a small bowl, combine the coconut sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle the dough with the mixture.
Slide the dough with the bottom parchment paper onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
Turn down the oven to 325˚ and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cereal / crackers are crisp.
Allow to cool and break apart at the score marks.

recipe source

I do love a captive audience.

Let me start off by saying house renovations are not easy, especially when you are doing most of the work yourself. 

Anyone other than Bob Villa who tells you differently is lying.

The house we are renovating is the one I grew up in.  It was built in the mid 60's, bought by my grandparents back in the early 70's.  My family- parents, brothers and I- moved into the home 25 years ago, when the house grew to be too much for my grandmother to take care of on her own.

real estate listing from the 1970′s, when the house was purchased

The plan, roughly, was that we would do some work before Chris and the boys and the dogs and I move in, moving after the kids get out of school, and all 7 of us (and 4 dogs) share the living space for a while, letting the dust settle, giving them time to find a place to move into.  With 4 large bedrooms, 2 full baths and 3/4 of an acre yard, there's plenty of room to spread out.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Yeah, no. 

To say the house requires a lot of TLC before we move in is an understatement. 

Built into the side of a hill, the house is considered a 'raised ranch' style home, meaning the upper level is the main living area.  You walk into the foyer, and the lower level spreads through a doorway on the right that leads to an in-home office. The doorway on the left leads to a large finished area with a dry bar, half bath, fireplace, and more than room enough for several tables, chairs, a pool table, and a ping-pong table.  A wide 'hallway' of unfinished basement runs the back of the house and connects both rooms, and holds the furnace and hot water heater, a large workbench, lots of storage and a deep freeze.  For many years, the lower level was the perfect place to have family gatherings.  Unfortunately, for the last 20 years or so it's been less party-room, gradually becoming more storage for random crap belonging to us as well as extended family, the things we didn't know where to go with after the close of a family business, just…stuff.

I'm learning that, in life, you gather a lot of 'stuff'…and not all of it is yours.

Upstairs, the open floor plan features a kitchen and living room with a vaulted ceiling, a dining room, laundry room/pantry, the previously mentioned bathrooms and bedrooms.

The front yard, or prairie restoration project as we like to call it, is sloped, with a steep drop-off at the road on one side of the driveway.  The backyard is a more gradual upwards hill, and unintended reforestation *coughs* is nearly complete.  8 large oak trees, a few random purposeful plantings and a jumble of what-the-hell-tree-is-that's combine with some overgrown evergreen shrubs, a mass of tangled and knotted vines and an alarming lack of grass between clumps of native plants extends from the house out to the fence on all sides.

There's a quarry, now closed, located about a mile away.  The house used to shimmy and rattle when they would be blasting, and thanks to the settling of the house, the foundation is cracked in a few places, and the large concrete patio slab is not only cracked, but 3/4 of the concrete settled two inches lower than the rest (apparently this happened years ago- it's been that way for as long as I can remember).

The house is on a septic system, one where the tank is not higher than the house drain in the basement (a big no-no), the drain field runs uphill behind the house (another big no-no) and at some point in its 50 year-old life, the gutters were tied into it, for some inexplicable reason (another big no-no).   Those factors, along with the simple break-down of the drain field, resulted in the septic tank overflowing into the basement too many times to count, and in some cases was so bad the water could only just sit until it all dried up.  Since the lower level was used for storage… you guessed it.  A lot of it was ruined.

Big time.

Like, boxes stuck to the floor, molded nasty awful ewwww-I-don't-want-to-go-near-it ruined.

Yuck.

Add in a few broken windows that have allowed bugs to get in, a family of mice that made the lower level their cozy home and playground, and a gazillion spiders, and the lower level is a nightmare. 

Most of the upper level of the house was partially redecorated several years ago, but the living room and the boys room still had some seriously icky carpeting that was at least 35 years old.  The wallpaper was peeling in the main bath, the flooring was warped and swollen and wonky in both bathrooms, and to call the lights in there temperamental is putting it mildly.  Then there's the 40-year accumulation of 3 generations of 'stuff' that we have to find places to go with, as Chris and the boys and I add our own 11.5 year accumulations.  And, oh, my mom is a ridiculously talented sewer/quilter/artsy crafter.  And if you have a sewer/quilter/artsy crafter in your life, you know they have a lot of sewing/quilting/arty crafty stuff just for their sewing and quilting and artful crafting.

A lot of stuff that needs to be organized and condensed and shifted to make room while all the renovating is going on.

So, sounds like fun, right?

Well, kinda.  It's an adventure, a learning process, an embarrassment, a sense of pride and accomplishment.   It's a wild ride, to be sure, and you lucky readers get to come along with me.

But you might want to bring your gloves and wear your boots.

:)

And a quick note to my mom and dad…a huge thank you for letting me share all the ick and the yuck and the ewww of what we're doing, the mistakes and the blunders and the 'oh shit's.  Thanks for setting aside pride and embarrassment and letting me shine light on all the dirty little corners we have… and for all the hard work in helping us get those dirty little corners cleaned, patched, primed, and pretty.

Oh, and for always having coffee and cookies on hand.  Cause everything's better with coffee and cookies.

I know, I know.  You'd rather be munching on a bag of potato chips or cheesy doodles or ranch-flavored baked-not-fried-but-still-not-good-for-you snack. 

I get it. 

But we're trying to be healthy, right?  And healthy means walking away from the pre-packaged crap-in-a-bag and reaching for something better. 

Not too long ago, I was convinced that anything leafy and green should only be smothered in tasty dressing, topped with cheese and forked up along side a pizza.  But do me a favor, okay?  Give these a shot, cause OMG they are soooooo good.

*coughs*  Okay, okay.  Once you get past the 'I'm eating healthy, nutrient-dense dark leafy greens and not junk food' part, these are soooooo good.

What I love about these chips is you can flavor them almost any way you want.  Like vinegar and salt chips?  Go for it.  Ranch-seasoned?  Awesome.  BBQ-flavored?  Yeehaw.

Spice them up, play with flavors, make anything you like.  I'm partial to cajun-seasoned (I like things spicy!) and vinegar and salt.  Chris likes anything BBQ-flavored.  My cavemen have been adventurous enough to try cheese-flavored popcorn seasoning (bought just for this!), homemade taco seasoning, and on a whim, rotisserie chicken seasoning (which actually wasn't half bad!).

The chips are easy enough to make:

Purchase your kale.  Bring it home, wash it well, then dry it.  Thoroughly.
Dry it again, because if you have moisture left, you end up with hot limp soggy kale with flavoring, which kinda sucks.
Just sayin'.
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Trim off the thick stems of the kale, and discard.  Put 1 cup of kale leaves into a large Ziploc bag with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Squish out the air, seal, and massage the kale through the bag, being sure each leaf is coated with olive oil thoroughly.
Note:  you can also do this in a large bowl, but you get messy hands.  Choose your own adventure. :)
Lay the kale leaves out as flat as possible on cookie sheets, making sure the leaves don't overlap, leaving about 1/2" space in between them; 1 large head of kale will require at least 2 large cookie sheets.
Sprinkle leaves with seasonings (you can also incorporate the seasonings into the oil as you toss them, but we usually do several different flavors with one batch, so it's easier to make every pan it's own flavor).
Bake the kale 15-20 minutes, checking after 10 minutes, and checking often.  You want the kale crispy, just darkening, but not burnt.  Burnt kale is bitter as heck.  Blecccccch.
Another note:  Some folks advise turning your kale, but I've never needed to.  Just let it cook happily without the risk of crumbling it to bits with trying to flip it!
Remove from oven, and let cool (approximately 5 minutes), then enjoy!

You know, this thing called life can really suck the…well…life out of you. 

The past several weeks have been a blur of activity since my last post.  I was the Musical Director and co-writer/director for a charitable musical theatre group that I've been involved with for several years, and our showtime was fast approaching.  Having worked with my fellow directors for the past 14 months and with the cast and crew for the past 4 months, quite a bit of time and attention was needed to bring everything together for the show.  And since I can never manage to have only one major project at a time, we're also neck deep in a house-renovation project (more on that soon!) and getting ready to move in 6 weeks.  Between the last-minute rehearsals and finalizing details for the show, the shopping and planning and execution of house renovations, the travel time to and from both show and house (both are a 45 minute-one-way drive from where we currently live), the start of baseball season for 3 boys all playing on 3 different teams with  3 different practice and game schedules in 3 different locations, the end-of-the-school-year activities for the kids and and the day to day daily grind of trying to maintain SOME semblance of normalcy, something had to give.

Unfortunately, both blogging and healthy eating took a backseat to a busy life riddled with stress.  I won't burden you with the grizzly details, but I will say incredible amounts of somewhat-tasty-and-SO-not-worth-it processed crap, junk food, fast food, grains, sugars and crap that made me feel…like crap found it's way back into my life and onto my plate. 

Along with more wine and Froot Loop vodka than I'm comfortable mentioning.  

As a result, I was miserable, achy, uncomfortable, bloated and angrily annoyed with myself, aggravated that my clothes were all too tight again, unhappy with my appearance, with everything.  In general I felt- you guessed it- crappy.

One of these days, I'll learn the lesson and stick to paleo foods rather than all the crap.  One of these days.

So, back on the wagon I go, and very happily so.  5 days back in, and I feel so much better!

There's a running joke in our house, when someone feels unhappy/slighted/angry/annoyed/fill-in-the-blank and are crabbing about things not going the way they want, we ask if they want a cookie, so they can be filled with hope and sunshine and light again.  It generally brings a smile and slight mollification, and either a resounding 'yes'… with the understanding that no actual cookie is forthcoming… or a muttered 'no, I just want to stand here and be difficult'.

Paraphrased and twisted lines from movies provides humor for us in many situations.

In that vein, with the pestering (but rather sound) advice of my bestie who has been annoying the crap out of me with nudges that I should get back to the blog and paleo and I'll feel better, I offer a cookie recipe to pacify him and everyone else wondering where I'd disappeared to.

In this case, actual cookie (in recipe form) forthcoming. :)

These are spiced paleo whoopie pies…soft snickerdoodle-ish cookies smooshed together with a paleo marshmallow-y filling. 

Everything is better with a marshmallow-y filling.

These were a hit with the boys and their neighborhood friends, and I'll be testing out a couple chocolate versions I found soon!

Paleo Snickerdoodle Whoopie Pie

2 cups of blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 cup of honey
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Blend all the dry ingredients together, and then add all the wet ingredients and blend well.
On baking sheets covered with parchment paper, place heaping tablespoons (about 3 measured tablespoons) about 2 inches apart in circles
Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool completely (at least 15 minutes) before using.

Marshmallow filling

1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar (optional; helps it to stay fluffy)
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla (optional)

Bring the honey to a steady boil in a small saucepan…you want to bring the temperature of the honey to around 250 degrees F.
Boil for about 5-10 minutes, or until it is starting to darken (almost bringing it to the edge of burning). You’ll know when it’s ready if it forms a ball when you drop some of it in a cold water.

Whisk the egg whites until you have stiff peaks forming when you lift the whisk out of the mixture. Try not to stop whipping the egg whites, and slowly add honey and vanilla to the egg whites while you continue whisking. Some of the honey may spray a bit, so try to drizzle it down the side of the bowl, away from the whisk.

Spread, serve, and store in the refrigerator. You can re-whisk the mixture if it begins to separate.

recipe source