Pork... It should be what's for dinner!

Pork is a funny subject for me.  For the longest time I thought that Pork was giving me stomach woes.  I swore it was.  After we would make up a batch of Carnitas, I would be hunched over in pain for days.  Did I have a problem digesting pork?  Well, one day, looking at a gluten free recipe I found somewhere, it said to make sure the chipotle peppers were a certain brand, because some contained gluten.  My eyes almost popped out of my head.  (This was shortly after my diagnosis, so we weren't as savvy at label reading as we are now).  Here is what the label said:

Ingredients
Chipotle Peppers, Water Tomato Puree, Vegetable Oil (Corn or Safflower), Wheat Flour, Salt, Vinegar, Starch, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Caramel Color and Spices.


First, I was angry.  Why was the food industry trying to kill me I wondered.  After I calmed down... a light bulb went off!  

I CAN EAT PORK AFTER ALL!!!

Speaking of pork... I am so excited that yesterday my copy of Beyond Bacon arrived in the mail.   I have been patiently awaiting this book for months.  I will do a full review after I read it cover to cover!  

On that note and in honor of the almighty oinker... here is a recipe with one of my favorite pork products... Prosciutto!!!  The chicken turned out to be the side dish that night... these peaches rocked!

Prosciutto Wrapped Peaches

1 package of Prosciutto

2 Large Peaches

1Tbsp Olive Oil

Balsamic Reduction

Pit peaches and cut into spears.  I cut each piece of Prosciutto in half since they were kind of large and wrapped each half around a peach spear.  In a hot skillet add oil and cook wrapped peaches until Prosciutto is browned and peaches are soft.  I tossed some spinach in a bowl with some olive oil to give the peaches a place to rest, and add some greens to the plate.  If you didn't catch the Roman Summer Salad Recipe... the way we make a balsamic reduction is simply by cooking some balsamic vinegar down until it gets a thick consistency.  (We make this up in large batches and keep in a bottle for times when we might need it.) Drizzle your peaches and spinach with the balsamic and bam!  Instant Yummo!  The chicken was pretty easy as well, and even though it's not being featured here, I think I should tell you how to make it.  I took 2 avocados, a handful of basil, garlic, salt and chopped in the food processor.  While this is chopping slowly drizzle some olive oil in until it becomes a slightly thick liquid.  In a bowl, put some chicken thighs and this mixture in... mix well, and let sit for a few hours in the fridge.  When ready, place chicken in a Pyrex pan, and cook on 375 until browned and bubbly.     

Happy 4th!!!

Well, the 4th of July has now come and gone.  It was a whopping 108 degrees in Northern Cali yesterday!  Yummy!  NOT!!!  We stayed in the house until it got dark, set off fireworks with the Fam and off to bed.  The hubs had to work today!  

Today is going to be my productive day, so this will be a quick post!  The weather is changing and it's going to be in the 90's today!  After a week of triple digits... that is a welcome surprise.  However, my doors will be shut, air turned up and I am going to do some much needed cleaning today.  I just love four day weekends!  It gives me time to catch up on things that I have to do, and things that I want to do.  Love it!  

Recently, my oldest and dearest friend (If she's reading this she is going to say that I am older... by a month, because she always does)... but by oldest I only mean that she has been the craziest person to stay by my side since we were 14 years old.  We will be 42 this year... enough said.  Anyhoo...we were reliving old stories of our past, and we have this wonderful, yet disturbing memory of making a heaping bowl of spinach dip, grabbing a loaf of sourdough bread and devouring it in one setting.  All those years of having Celiac disease and not knowing it... devouring loaves of bread... no wonder my gut is so F-ed up!  

During my Pinterest time yesterday... and yes, I schedule time in for Pinterest now, sad but true (Everyone should)... I stumbled across a recipe for Spinach Dip, Paleo Style of course!  I found it here, "Virginia is for Hunter Gathererers"... I felt as if the pearly gates of heaven opened up and the choir was singing!  I wanted to grab my friend, make a bowl and relive old times, minus the bread of course.  But she is in Oklahoma... so we had to share in spirit.  Between you and I... I probably ate enough for the both of us.  

First thought... what the heck am I going to dip in this delicious find that the good Lord sent my way today.  Well, the night before the 4th...I told the hubs that I planned on not leaving the house at all on the 4th, and to his surprise, I bounce downstairs yesterday morning with a shopping list.  This dip was going to happen... oh yes it was!  So back to what to dip in it?  Why, sweet potato chips.  Yes, let's make sweet potato chips.  Now, sweet potato chips are my nemesis.  No matter how I try... I can't seem to get the perfect sweet potato chip, but I attempted once again... and I must say, I am getting better.

So here's what I did... and make sure you check out the blog post above where I found this recipe.  They have much better pictures of the process.  I was to interested in just getting it done... so you get what you get!  Hope everyone had a good holiday!  

Spinach Dip and Sweet Potato Chips

3 oz Packed Spinach

1 Can Artichoke Hearts

3 Cloves of Garlic

1/2 White Onion

1/2 Can Coconut Milk

5 Slices of Uncured Nitrate Free Bacon

Bring some water to a boil and blanch your spinach for a few seconds.  Place in colander and let drain.  Drain artichokes in colander as well.  I did mine with the spinach.  While these are draining, begin cooking chopped bacon, use food processor to chop onion and garlic, add onion and garlic mixture to bacon and let mixture soften up.  Place spinach and artichokes in food processor and chop to desired consistency.   Add spinach/artichoke mixture to bacon mixture in pan and cook for a few minutes for flavors to meld.  Place mixture in a dish and allow to cool.  I put mine in a Pyrex and placed in the fridge for an hour or so.  Take mixture out, once cooled, add coconut milk and mix well.  Place back in fridge to cool, about another hour.  Make chips while this is taking place and get ready for yumminess!  

Chips

2 Sweet Potatoes

Coconut Oil or Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Peel potatoes.  Using a mandolin, thinly slice potatoes and set aside.  Heat oven to 375.  On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper... place potatoes in a single layer.  Spray with oil and sprinkle with salt.  Cook for 6 min, take out, turn chips, spray with oil and sprinkle with salt on other side and cook an additional 6 minutes.  Take chips out and let cool on a separate piece of parchment until they crisp up!  One batch I did required an additional 6 minutes.  Watch you chips and use your judgement.  Once the edges get brown .. the little suckers can brown up quickly.  Yes, I had a few black chips on my first batch.  

Learning to love Liver!!!

Ok... so I have been reading a lot about the importance of organ meats for people who suffer from autoimmune disease.  Recently I posted about making bone broth and drinking that... but I wasn't so good about it honestly.  That same day I made a chicken liver mousse but couldn't get myself to eat it!  Bleck!  I am still struggling with trying to get myself back to good since I let my crazy life get a head of me...but I am still having other inflammation issues.  Particularly, my skin.

Back in the days of yore...(Ok, it was the year 2000, but it seems like forever ago), I found this facial cream that became a staple of mine from that point on.  You see, my skin is the driest skin ever!  And I do mean ever!  I use to get eczema patches on my face and body and was using cortisone cream on them for the longest time.  Looking back now, that's probably a big part of my adrenal problem today!  This wonder cream that I found, claimed to be natural, and honestly the ingredients were very minimal.  I even started my daughter using it years ago on her dry skin.  It was a miracle... and we were never without it.  However, around Easter time this year, I bought a new bottle, and within a week my skin and my daughters were on fire.  Blisters, burning, itching!  We were a mess.  I contacted the company and what do you know... they had a supplier change for one of their ingredients.  Well, the company had sent me some samples of things they were working on, but I never heard back from them again.  The product has been pulled off their web site and shelves of stores that were carrying it.  Hmmm... very interesting.  Long story short... my mom had an old container of it under her sink... so that kept my daughter and I good for a while.  All of our big events are over, so I decided to go off the sauce so to say.  I am now calling it "The Sauce", because I think it had to have some addictive steroidal properties of some kind.  It has honestly caused my whole body to flare up!  My face is dry, crackly, and I feel like a pile of you know what!  I still can't get over the fact that I read every label, of every product I come in contact to, and yet, I didn't really research this product.  It was working that's all I knew!  Stupid me!  Onward and upward.  Heal from within... EAT LIVER!

Chicken liver just wasn't for me, so I decided to give beef liver a shot!  I called around town to track down some organic, grass fed liver... and we found it!  Next step... scour the internet getting ideas on how to cook these suckers!

I found a recipe for a beef liver pate' with bacon!  Everything is good with Bacon!  This would be the winning recipe to try!!!  I found my inspiration from Mickey over at Autoimmune Paleo... she has a great blog.

Beef Liver Pate'

1 lb Organic Grass Fed Beef Liver

1 Onion

2 Cloves Garlic
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

Fresh Rosemary

Fresh Thyme
1/4 Tsp Salt

6 Pieces Uncured No Nitrate Bacon

Cook Bacon, chop and set aside.  Soften onions and garlic in Bacon grease.  Add Liver, herbs and cook until no longer pink.  Put Liver mixture, salt, and half of the chopped bacon in food processor and mix well.  Drizzle coconut oil, while mixture is mixing.  At this point it was still a bit thick for me... so we added water until it reached the desired consistency.  Place in bowl and add remaining bacon and mix... (I wanted some chunky bacon in it... help me to forget it's liver)

It has been a treat!  I actually love it!  Been eating it everyday!  I have to admit, I still have to try to keep my mind off of the fact that it's liver.  Oh, and be careful while making... we had a little mis-hap and my IPad suffered the consequences.  Looks like the IPad made a little poo!