Monday
Mar012010
Tricks of the Trade
A few items that will make your Zoning or Paleo life MUCHO easier:
1. A Slap Chop. Yes, it is a little cheesy but it will save you hours of prep time.
2. Magic Bullet. Yet another great gadget from the As Seen on TV folks. Again, will save you lots of time!
3. Wok. Get a really big one so you can make a larger meal and save/freeze the leftovers.
4. What tools are you guys finding useful?
How is everyone doing? Everybody still on board? What can we help you with? Post your questions to the comments below!
And, in case you needed another reason to steer clear of HFCS.
Melissa
Reader Comments (9)
Food processor - fo shizzle.
We have the 11 cup cuisinart.
What can you do with the food processor?
- Make a big old vat of salsa in seconds
- Make your own almond butter (or cashew butter, or walnut-almond butter, or cocoa roasted almond butter)
- Chop up broccoli stalks and make broccoli slaw (perfect addition to scrambles)
- Turn cauliflower into "rice"
- Make mashed cauliflower in seconds
- Create a ton of different sauces with ease (magic bullet also works here)
- Make your own almond flour or almond meal
- Create your own spice rubs (magic bullet is great for this too)
Other things you can do (many of these are non-paleo applications):
- Make dough (pizza, bread, cookie)
- Cream cheese frosting in seconds (there's actually a cooks illustrated recipe for carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and the only thing you need to make it is the food processor. That was a long time ago, and it was yummy)
Uploaded my before pics today (took them on 2/13) - please don't put them on the Internet. :-)
I've been making do with a little wok, but I got a nice big one last week - now I just need to prep it (get the lacquer off, season the wok).
Even though I was eating a lot like paleo before, I was kind of surprised how difficult it was to make the transition. I'm cheating more than I thought I would, but still doing pretty well overall. (I'm logging everything I'm eating, so at least I can see what I'm doing and not kid myself.)
2+ weeks on paleo now, with some cheating, and I can already notice some subtle differences in how my clothes fit (some of these may be going back to the beginning of February, when I started getting stricter on my diet again). Shirts may be fitting slightly differently, some pants are definitely a little looser, and I'm down at least two full belt notches since January. And several friends who've seen me over the past week have said I'm losing weight again.
I've had some interesting food experiences. I ate a two-bite brownie at a party last night. I used to love those things. I was sorely disappointed at how boring it tasted. And I was irritated at the taste in my mouth afterward with the little bits of brownie bread on my tongue. Either I got a bad brownie or my tastes are changing (hopefully the latter).
Christopher
Slow Cookers are awesome! We use ours all the time to prepare paleo meals. Just throw your meats and veggies in in the morning and when you come home from work dinner is ready and the house smells awesome!
Interesting article in CNN about eating Real Food
Toilet paper seems to be my most important tool...won't say it's time saving though. And I seem to need a bit less now that I'm 2.5 weeks into paleo. I'm also back to needing only 7 or 8 hours of sleep instead of as many hours as I could fit in of the past few weeks. I lost about 5 pounds the first week (and took my before pictures a week into paleo...silly me). I haven't decreased much since. I don't really care as long as I feel good...I'm looking forward to the great energy I hear so much about.
I've been really strict...except to eat too many nuts once in awhile. I seem to get hungry about 4 or 5 hours after lunch (and I usually don't eat dinner until 8 or 9). Am I supposed to eat protein and fat if I have a snack then?
I never heard of the slap chop or magic bullet...but I'll have to try them. I've been eating grass fed turkey and chicken...it's delicious. If anyone knows where I can get grass fed kosher beef in Atlanta, let me know. I may have to go to NY with an empty suitcase.
April
'
Jules,
how do you make your almond butter (cashew butter, walnut-almond butter, or cocoa roasted almond butter) and how do you turn cauliflower into "rice"?
thanks!
April - this one is just for you! http://www.grillerspride.com/
Closer still is http://www.kgatl.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=18
Not sure if they have grass-fed, but I'll bet you can ask.
Wendy: almonds go right in the processor. They'll first turn into almond meal, but go 7-10 minutes and pretty soon you'll have buttah. Add some cinnamon for the sweet. The cocoa roasted uses cocoa roasted almonds. Cashews, just the cashews (Erin Evans has become the cashew butter expert).
Cauliflower rice: use the shred blade on the processor, and stick cauli in and voila - gets rice like. You can also use the regular blade and get the same consistency. Suate it up with some flavorings of your choice. First time I made cauliflower "rice" was waaaay back when we all did Zone swap meals, and I made a curry with that. Soooooo good!
thanks!
freelance writer