Imagine my joy when I found out that with this change in eating, I would get to eat scotch eggs without guilt! I haven’t made these things since I was in secondary school. I think the last time I had a really good one was in Bath, England. That was in the 90s!

Here’s how I made mine, inspired by Melicious:

Ingredients
1lb pork sausage, pasture raised
5 hard boiled eggs
coconut flour, 2 tbsp for coating eggs before wrapping meat around it
almond meal, for breading
coconut oil, for deep-frying

Method

1. Boil eggs – put eggs from refrigerator to water, bring to a boil, turn off heat. Cover and wait 10 minutes, then rinse with cold water and peel. They always turn out perfect like this.

2. Dry eggs, coat in coconut flour. Just enough to keep the outside of eggs dry.

3. Wrap sausage meat around each egg. This takes a little practice but you will get it right soon enough. I made a disc of sausage meat, placed the egg in the middle and then proceed to mold meat around egg.

4. Coat with almond meal and deep fry. I use our trusty Fry Daddy. It keeps the temperature of the oil just right that nothing comes out too oily.

These are perfect eaten cold with some horseradish mustard. Pared with a nice salad or carrot/celery sticks.

Just to document the recipes that I’ve been trying out, I’m going to start a series called “Eating Primal”. I typically post my photos and updates on Facebook but thought that my blog should also get some updates. A lot of the recipes will be linked since most of these great recipes have been put out there by folks who have been cooking and eating paleo/primal for far longer than I have.

The good thing about this way of eating is that you can go fancy and creative or you can just go really basic. It’s really up to you. It’s not supposed to be intimidating when I come up with an Indian fish curry with primal modifications. I see can’t believe curry is primal/paleo!

Anyhow, I hope you find inspiration as I have. I just came back from the store with 90% vegetables and meat, nothing was processed except for some aged cheddar.

I invite you to join me as I discover more delicious eats on this paleo/primal journey.

I wanted to share this recipe because it is one of our go-to meals whenever we eat at our favorite Thai restaurant. Here, I’ve recreated it, using a lot less sugar and using coconut palm sugar (these are sold in pucks at the local Asian supermarket). I am lucky to live near one of these markets and I can get shredded green papaya there, any day of the week.

Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded green papaya
• half a green mango, shredded
• 1 English cucumber, shredded
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• handful cilantro, chopped
• handful basil, chopped
• 20-25 white shrimp, raw without heads, frozen. (I use 41-50 count, not large, I thaw and peel them before cooking)
• handful curry leaves (optional)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 shallot, minced (I use the smaller spicier ones instead of the French ones)
• Red boat fish sauce, to taste,  about 2 tsp
• Half a puck coconut palm sugar, pound
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 3-4 Kaffir lime leaves, cut in tiny slivers with scissors

Method

1) Shred all salad ingredients – papaya, mango, cucumber and carrot.

2) Saute prawns in a little bit of coconut oil, garlic, shallot and curry leaves. I think the curry leaves are optional. I just love the flavor of it. These probably need about 3-5 minutes to turn pink and cooked.

3) Pound coconut palm sugar and melt it in microwave with fish sauce and lime juice. Pour dressing onto shredded ingredients.

4) Top salad with sauteed prawns.

The little bit of sugar in the dressing is not a problem if you are on a primal diet. Most of the dressing that does not coat the salad, falls below and you don’t really consume it. The sweetness rounds out the salad perfectly. Maybe honey would be a good substitute but I hear that coconut palm sugar is good for you too.

It’s been 3 weeks since I’ve gone primal. This is a permanent lifestyle change for me. This is not temporary.

Things I have learned since:

• Lard, bacon grease, coconut oil and ghee are all delicious and good fats. Frying and cooking with these fats satiate you in ways you have never imagined.
• Grass-fed meat really does taste different, and you don’t need much of it to feel full either.
• Eat mindfully. Think about how you feel after you have consumed certain foods, you can hear your body tell you what it prefers.
• When you have more energy, you automatically incorporate more movement into your day. I get more done, I have more play time with S.
• Dried fruit can be too much sugar so change up your trail mix to incorporate more nuts and coconut chips.
• Coconuts are very good for you.
• Carbohydrates make us fat. Fat does not.
• Long hours on a treadmill at a gym does not help your body function better. Intense functional workouts that push you to the extreme are the most effective. I’m not a Crossfitter (yet) but I’ve seen how it has helped M.

I am not one to tell you what to think or eat. However, if you find yourself unsuccessful with keeping your weight down with constant working out and reducing fat, I ask you to question why. It’s not your fault or bad genes that you can’t seem to fight this battle. Challenge conventional wisdom. Don’t believe everything without looking at the data. You owe it to yourself.

“I blame carbohydrates.” – Me

Almost everyone starts the new year with some sort of “going to be healthier” resolution. I didn’t make any specific resolutions this year except that I would be brave as well as good to myself and my boys. It is very generic but that’s because I honestly did not have time to think of specifics. Just a good general direction would surely work for me. Somehow, despite the lack of specifics, I still stumbled onto this new resolution of eating better.

Several weeks ago, M made mention of his Crossfit box starting a 7 week paleo/primal challenge. He started bringing home books such as this and this. Knowing my history with diets, I was skeptical. But I listened to M’s description of this lifestyle change and read up on it. Then I came across this book by Gary Taubes, he challenges conventional wisdom on diets and talks about the science behind why people get fat. I was intrigued but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. I have a phobia of diets. They were always failures and some how I attributed the blame all on me. Then I remembered my new year’s resolution so I told M that I would go on this challenge with him. I think such changes are always a little easier with someone by your side, doing the same thing.

Now, I am a week into this new eating and I haven’t felt this good in a long time. I don’t drag ass out of bed anymore even when S wakes me up several times a night. I don’t feel bloated after meals. Even the really bad eczema I’ve had since pregnancy has now started to recede. I don’t know how long I can keep up this change but I really do feel much better. I won’t go into the numbers I read on the weighing scale because that is nothing compared to how much better I feel. I’ll miss rice, noodles, pasta and bread for sure but at this point in my life, good health and plentiful energy are my priorities. Skepticism is always a strong follower of change but as the old adage goes, the proof is in the pudding *grin*.

The other added benefit is that I am back in the kitchen and I am being creative with what ingredients I can use. I’ve been able to come up with some delicious meals with “allowed” ingredients and I don’t feel restricted at all. What’s interesting is that I find myself cooking 3 or 4 vegetables per meal.

I wanted to share my favorite meal so far -

Thai-style Basil Beef Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

• 2 lb organic ground beef (Costco sells it at a good price!)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic (I love garlic), minced
• 1/2 zucchini, diced
• 1 cup Thai basil leaves (again, I love Thai basil so I like to add lots of it)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• Fish sauce or sea salt
• White pepper, ground
• 1 head butter lettuce

Method

1) Brown the beef in the coconut oil, remove to a plate. Leave coconut oil and beef drippings in pan.

2) Saute onions for about 5 minutes until soft then add garlic. Saute for about another minute or so. Add zucchini and saute further, another 3-5 mins.

3) Add beef back in, season with fish sauce (Red Boat fish sauce is high quality fish sauce if you have to be strictly paleo. If you decide to use sea salt instead, it will not taste as authentic Thai but still good) and white pepper.

4) Add in basil leaves, stir into meat and turn off heat.

Serve up with lettuce leaves to wrap meat. No need to worry about utensils.

We had some leftover buttermilk in the fridge and so I looked for a recipe that I would experiment with, instead of making biscuits. I found this recipe over at Joy of Baking. I love her recipes, they are always very well tested and results always taste great. Try your hand at these some time.

Buttermilk Berry Muffins (from Joy of Baking)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups (325 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of one orange or lemon
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable, corn, canola or safflower oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2 cups (360-480 ml) fresh or frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries)

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Line with paper liners, or butter or spray, with a non stick cooking spray, 12 – 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch muffin cups.

In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract.

In another large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and zest. Gently fold in the berries. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.

(The dough is a little thicker than most muffin doughs but don’t worry, the muffin does not come out hard at all. It has a very tender crumb, in fact.)

Fill each muffin cup almost full with batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 – 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 – 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Note: If using frozen berries you may have to bake the muffins a little longer than the stated time.

Goodbye 2011! You were good to me most of the time. I wish that I didn’t have to live through most of your days but I did. For all of it, I am stronger. My prizes are more than worth it. You know what I mean. I made a leap and found such joy in something I was afraid to want. I found something else that I had ignored for a while. Something so precious that I almost let go of.  And through it all, I have now discovered what happiness I had all along with me.

For all my family and friends, I wish you a wonderful new year. Whether 2011 has been good or bad or mediocre for you, I ask that you bid it farewell. Look forward to better days and hope for more happy discoveries. Be brave and go with the flow of life. Breathe in and out, pick yourself up and see yourself through. You owe yourself that much. I don’t have to remind you that life is precious. So cherish it all.

I’ll leave you with this:

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.”
-T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

Happy New Year!

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

- William Shakespeare

As we grow older, the holidays at the end of year seem to become such a whirl of nostalgia.  Every adult I know, speaks of Christmasses gone by, how good it used to be and how it will never be the same. I became that adult some years ago when my teenage cousins and I started seeing less of each other and more of their friends. I don’t blame them. It was a path we all naturally took as we got older.

We had such wonderful Christmasses, with caroling around the neighborhood, dancing around the tall Christmas tree we had in our front yard (dad lighted it with such patience), self-hosted lucky dips of little prizes we bought with our “club” fund (oh, do you remember those little styrofoam balls people used for fake snow? the vacuuming mess after!) and late night suppers after midnight mass. I barely scratched the surface of those good times and we are forever indebted to our folks who made our holidays together so memorable!

Things will truly never be the same again. The 8 of us have added partners and offspring and we live on 3 different continents. Who knows when (or where!) we will ever get back together again to celebrate Christmas and the holidays.

I miss you DCG but this year, I’m excited to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. Sagan’s arrival into this world has made each day worth celebrating. I constantly remind myself of how lucky I am. If I had a chance to ask Santa for what I wanted last year, I don’t think I could have dreamt him up. To me, he is perfect.

And so, my dear loved ones, family and friends, near and far, our little family would like to wish you a most wonderful Christmas and a New Year filled with many moments of joy.

It’s that time of the year when most everyone is busy with holiday preparations. There are places to go, things to buy, friends to visit, food to make and love to share.  I love the fall but I also enjoy the way it transitions into the holidays – Christmas and New Year, in particular. In between feeds, diaper changes and play, I’ve been able to find some time to myself to create and decorate Scarlett. Today was very productive. I promise pictures soon, the winter light moves so quickly. Here’s what I did:

• put up fresh wreath on front door
• put up felt garland
• made a mason jar lantern for the porch
• moved several prints from their current spots
• changed out old prints for new Charley Harper ones to place in S’s room
• put up artificial wreath indoors
• laundry (clean sheets!)

The tree is still bare, it just needs to be straightened a little and adjusted now that the boughs have settled. We got some boughs from the lower part of the tree that needed to be cut out. I am thinking of projects for those. I think I’ll make some swags for above the kitchen window and maybe the stairway where we will hang our stockings. I need to find some stocking holders. I am still on the hunt for Sagan’s stocking.

We are still behind with shopping for presents but vow to have them done this weekend. These days it feels like Christmas is racing by. I wish it would slow down a little. I would really like to bake some treats too so I’ll have to plan well.

Some cools finds lately:

• Crazy about Pinterest lately, there is so much inspiration there. And pinning something on my board is like digital collecting without worrying about storage!
• You might remember that we got rid of our fire place so Mike could put his BA tv above it. This virtual fireplace might keep us cozy.
• One of my new favorite blogs – Hello Bee
• If you use Instagram to share your photos, FollowMe lets folks follow your Instagram pics online. Here’s my Instagram/FollowMe site.
• I love the organic feel of these bangles. Lately gold has been growing on me. Hmm….not sure what to think about that.
• I’ve been wanting to try my hand at screen printing, here is a cool tutorial on how to screen print on a budget
• This is the first year I am trying out mini LED Battery Operated Christmas lights, I’ll see how long the batteries last on these.