Oxtail Bone Broth

I've had a package of oxtail in the freezer for some time now. I also had a collection of other beef and pork bones from roasts, chops, steaks..etc. that we have eaten the last few month weeks/months along with vegetable scraps in the freezer. I put the oxtails and other bones my cast iron pot and tossed a whole quartered onion in the pot along with some baby carrots and roasted everything at 450 degrees for 30 minutes (turning once). *note: this makes your house smell amazing!


Meanwhile, while the bones & veggies were roasting, I quartered another onion and tossed it in the crockpot along with some of the frozen veggie scraps, more carrots, some garlic cloves (slightly crushed, but not peeled), dried parsley* & oregano*, a bay leaf, course ground black pepper and some sea salt.  I added the roasted bones & veggies along with the drippings in the pan and then poured filtered water in to cover everything. I added 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar and let it all sit for about 30 minutes before putting the lid and turning the crockpot on low. Let cook for 12-24 hours (or longer) and then strain out the broth. This is going to make a fabulous beef veggie soup, I just know it... ;)


*Before putting the dried herbs in, I rub them between my palms to sort of "wake them up"

Also, note that my bones didn't fit in my crockpot, so I transfered everything over to a stockpot and put it on the stove top.  I brought it to a boil and then turned it down to the lowest setting and let it simmer covered for about 27 hours. About half-way through (when I got up in the morning after it simmered most of the afternoon and overnight), I took the oxtails out and pulled the meat off and then put them back in. I plan to put the meat in my beef veggie soup!

This stuff is delicious! 

Some of the broth will be put in the freezer for future use. I've heard of freezing it in ice cube trays so that you have measured amounts to use, but I am currently short on ice cube trays, so I will just freeze it in the jars (I left room at the top to keep them from cracking).

Autumn Recipes - Chili

When you adapt a paleo style of eating, some of your favorite recipes will undergo a major overhaul. One of those recipes is most certainly your chili recipe. Previously, my chili consisted of meat & beans along with macaroni noodles, spicy V-8 juice and other ingredients. We would often top a bowl of chili with sour cream & shredded cheese or buttered saltine crackers! My how times have changed! Now we top our chili with slices of avocado or eggs fried over easy!

Chili is one of those recipes that I make a little different every time, but here's (roughly) what I did today (adapted from this recipe):

Ingredients:

Splash of Olive Oil

2lbs of Grass Fed Ground Beef

1 chopped Onion

1 chopped Hot Banana Pepper

1 chopped Jalapeno Pepper

1 chopped Yellow Bell Pepper (small)

2Tbsp Chili Powder

1Tbsp Cumin

1tsp Salt

1tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

1/2tsp Allspice

1/2tsp Black Pepper

6oz can of Tomato Paste (I use Muir Glen Organic)

28oz can of Diced Tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Organic)

14oz can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Organic)

Directions:

Splash oil in the bottom of a heated pot and add the onions & 3 different peppers. Next add the meat and cook until the meat is no longer pink inside. Then add all remaining ingredients and let simmer for 1-2 hours. 

Then have fun playing with toppings..etc. I've heard of topping a sweet potato or squash with paleo chili. Bacon is another popular topping... Or just top it with some over-easy fried eggs like I did!

NOT a very pretty photo, but it was so very tasty!

Catching up...

There's been a lot going on in the last week and half and I haven't even had time to share it all!  

On November 18th I participated in a 3-1/2 hour CrossFit Fundamentals class.  I'm hooked!  I went back the very next day and did a WOD that was spending 30 minutes determining your one rep max deadlift. I had never done a deadlift before, so I had no idea what to expect.  I started with 95lbs (you are only lifting the bar from the floor to a straight standing position, mostly using your lower back muscles and hips to move the weight, allowing for much heavier lifts).  I then tried 115, 135, 145 and finally 155 pounds!  I was proud as a peacock to have lifted that much on my first night!  

My friend Billie & I after we totally
ROCKED the Turkey Day 5k

That was only the beginning of what was to become an incredible week of accomplishments for me!  I had been planning on running the Turkey Day 5k on Thanksgiving morning for the 2nd year in a row and while I had been pretty excited about it, in the weeks leading up to it I felt very unprepared and not ready.  There were over 800 runners!  What a rush!  I was convinced this was going to be one of my worst 5k races.  Last year I finished it in over 35 minutes.  That's about what I expected this year.  You can imagine my shock and astonishment when I finished in 30:06!  That's over 2-1/2 minutes faster than my record.  Also, it was the first time that I have ever ran the entire time.  NO walking!  My next 5k will be under 30 minutes and I will bring home a trophy before the heat of summer in 2013 stops me from running.  Mark my words.

After the race we had Thanksgiving lunch with some of Husband's family.  I had deviled eggs, veggies with homemade ranch, turkey, potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, cranberries and even a paleo cake that his Aunt made for us!  

I have since done 2 more WODs at my local box (CrossFit Jackson) and I felt a sense of accomplishment after each one like never before!  Husband has been CrossFitting since April and since he works 3rd shift, he attends the 7pm class (would be the equivalent of me going at 6am).  Since April, I have been making dinner while he's gone to the gym and when he would get home (after 8pm most times), I would either have already eaten dinner or we would eat together.  He really wants me to workout with him at 7pm, so I had to figure out how to make and eat dinner in that time frame.  Since this is the first week we are trying that schedule, I spent time this weekend cooking up a ton of food so that all of our meals would be ready to heat & eat.  Here's what I made:

Paleo Blueberry Muffins

Chicken Salad (with homemade mayo, grapes, salt & pepper)

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Steak & Chicken Fajitas

Spicy Pulled Pork (I skip the sauce) Served with green beans

Smoked Beef Brisket with steamed broccoli

Beef/Venison Cabbage Soup  

I also made 10 hard boiled eggs and baked a cookie sheet full of bacon.

We are nearly out of boiled eggs and the bacon is gone, so tonight I will fry up a pound of pastured pork sausage together with a dozen eggs and portion it out in the fridge for the rest of the week.  We like to heat it up and top it with Frog Ranch Salsa.

These Blueberry Muffins by PaleOMG were pretty good!  However, an entire cup of almond butter is a lot of money and when I think of it that way, they weren't good enough to warrant that kind of spending for a dozen muffins.  Also, if I were to make them again, I would put an entire cup of blueberries in them because you can never have too many blueberries in your blueberry muffins.

The recipe says it makes 8-10 muffins, but I easily filled all 12 muffin cups.  Also, it didn't say how far to fill the cups.  As you can see, I filled mine about 3/4 full.

Recipes from Make it Paleo

I made three more recipes from my copy of Make it Paleo (book review coming soon!).  These recipes can also be found on The Food Lovers Kitchen site and on the My Kitchen free app!

Bacon Wrapped Scallops
I had been anticipating this recipe for a while.  I finally decided to make it for the football game on Sunday.  I took it (prepared, uncooked) to a friend's house to watch the game.  They prepared broiled shrimp and homemade potato wedges to go with it.  We also snacked on raw veggies and dip.  It was a wonderful spread!

Ingredients:
1lb Bacon (I didn't use a whole pound, maybe half)
15 Scallops (I had purchased a pound of fresh sea scallops at the farmers market)
1tsp Smoked Paprika (I didn't measure, I just sprinkled)
Skewers (I used metal reusable ones)

Preheat oven to 425 (we used a toaster oven).  
Cut bacon strips in half (be careful with this, my scallops were large, so I needed more than half a strip of bacon on most of them).
Wrap each scallop in bacon.
Skewer 2-3 scallops on each skewer.
Sprinkle with smoked paprika, seasoning both sides.
Bake for 20 minutes, then flip and bake another 15 minutes.

These turned out delicious!  However, the bacon was thick cut and didn't crisp up as much as we would have liked.  Next time I'm going to try pre-cooking the bacon a little in the microwave first.

Tomato Basil Soup
I enjoyed this soup, but it was too peppery.  Next time I will cut the amount of salt and pepper in half and then, if needed, I will add more upon serving.

Ingredients:
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil
1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 C. Fresh Basil (I used some dried that I had on my spice shelf and I didn't use half cup, I just sprinkled a reasonable amount)
2 tsp. Salt & Pepper (I took this to mean 2 tsp EACH.  After further review, I think it should have been 1 tsp. each)
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3 Cups Chicken Stock
5 Tomatoes
6oz Tomato Paste

Tossed with oil, salt & pepper

-Preheat oven to 350.
-Clean and quarter tomatoes.
-Toss with olive oil, salt & pepper
-Roast on baking sheet for 30 minutes.
-In a large soup pot, heat coconut oil over medium heat.  
-Saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent.
-Add in the roasted tomatoes and continue to saute for 1 minute.

Onions & garlic sauteeing

-Add in 3 cups of chicken stock, the basil and tomato paste and stir continuously over medium heat until the tomato paste has dissolved.
-Season with salt & pepper.
-Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  
-Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
-Pour soup into food processor or high-speed blender and puree until smooth.

I prepared the broth with the basil and
salt & pepper while the tomatoes were
roasting and the veggies were sauteeing.

Ready for the food processor!

Root Veggie Hash with Poached Eggs
We didn't like this recipe.  The hash was too sweet and I'm not a fan of rosemary.  I don't know why I even added it.

1 Beet, chopped
1 Cup of chopped Turnips (mine were large, so I only needed one)
1 Tbsp fresh Rosemary (I used dried, but wish I would have left it out entirely)
1 tsp Coconut Oil
1 Cup chopped Vidalia Onion (this is not the season for these, so I just purchased some sweet onions)
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Egg, poached



Preheat oven to 400.  Toss rinsed, chopped beets, turnips & onions in olive oil and spread out on a baking sheet and season with salt, pepper & rosemary.  Roast for 20 minutes, then add minced garlic, stir and roast another 10 minutes.

Heat 1tsp coconut oil in frying pan over medium heat.  Crack egg into pan and cook for 30 seconds.  Then add 1/4 C of water and cover with lid.  Let egg steam until the yolk is pinkish on top and the white is no longer runny.

Serve with bacon, because bacon rocks!

Bone Broth

It does kinda look like garbage...

While reading an article in this month's issue of All You magazine , I was directed to The Sweet Beet for directions on how to use your "garbage" to make vegetable stock.  I had already been collecting beef and pork bones in a bag in the freezer, but the idea of saving egg shells and veggie scraps was revolutionary!  I've told you how I've made chicken bone broth in the past, but I hadn't tried veggie broth or pork/beef broth yet.

So...last night I put my pork & beef bones in the crockpot (along with some tallow) with about a dozen egg shells and some veggies.  I poured warm water over it all and then a cap full of vinegar.  I covered it and left it turned off for about an hour and then turned it on low and went to bed.  When I get home tonight, there should be some delicious broth ready to be strained!

Soups and Stews

Image Credits: 
http://www.mirileigh.com/2009/12/spicy-sweet-roasted-fall-vegetables/ 

It's that time of year... the weather is getting cooler and the fall fruits & veggies are coming into season.  I love to make soups & stews on the weekend and then eat them throughout the week.  I've recently made two recipes utilizing in-season produce.  

The first recipe comes from page 108 of the the Paleo Recipe Book:

Crock Pot Beef & Sweet Potato Stew

Ingredients:

1lb of beef stew meat

3C sweet potato, peeled & cut into 1" cubes (I used 3 medium sized sweet potatoes)

2 garlic cloves, minced

a pinch of allspice

1 bay leaf

1 Cinnamon Stick

1 Large Onion, cut into chunks (I quartered mine)

1 can (28oz.) of tomatoes (I used diced in a can)

8 dried apricots, cut in half, optional (I decided to add these and while I enjoyed them, others who ate my stew said they would have left them out)

Chopped Parsley for garnishing (I didn't use this)

cooking fat

salt and pepper

Season meat with salt & pepper and brown in cooking fat in a skillet.  Place browned meat, sweet potatoes, garlic, cinnamon stick, onion, tomatoes and all spice in crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours (or until beef is tender).  Add dried apricots and cook, covered, for another 20 minutes, until apricots are soft.  Remove bay leaf and cinnamon stick and serve, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

I cooked this overnight and I kept waking up all night smelling this WONDERFUL scent in my house!  I enjoyed this stew, but the flavors were definitely a strange blend for me.  I'm not sure I will make this one again.

Turkey/Beef and Cabbage Soup

This soup is very easy to make and easy to customize. The inspiration for this one comes from the Weight Watchers Zero Point Cabbage Soup recipe.  Of course, WW and paleo are VERY different, but I've always enjoyed the flavor of this soup.  I turned it paleo by adding meat to it and using stock with fat in it.

Ingredients:

1lb grass fed ground beef

1lb ground turkey

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

Half head of cabbage, chopped

1 zucchini, cut into half circle slices

2 carrots, cut into half circle slices

2 celery stalks, sliced 

1 small onion, chopped

3C chicken or beef stock/broth

1 6oz can tomato paste

any other vegetables that you want to add (green beans, tomatoes, squash...etc.)

cooking fat

Sautee the garlic and onions in cooking fat (I used chicken fat from homemade broth) until the onions start to become tender.  Then add the ground beef and ground turkey and season with salt & pepper.  Fry meat until it is cooked through.  Add all vegetables, broth and tomato paste to the pot.  Cover and simmer on low-medium heat for 30-60 minutes, until all vegetables are tender.  Add salt & pepper and any other seasonings to taste.  

Homemade Chicken Soup

I've been making chicken vegetable soup every 2-3 weeks.  I am now confident that I have the right method nailed down.  First I have to have some stock and some bone broth on hand.

Stock

Whenever I make a whole chicken in the crockpot I always save the stock from it.  I typically pour it into jars and freeze it.  

Bone Broth

Anytime we eat chicken with bones in it, I save the bones (in a bag in the freezer).  This includes chicken wings.  I also save the necks when I make a whole chicken.  Here's how I make the bone broth:

Put bones & necks in the crockpot with one chopped carrot, one chopped celery stalk and one small onion (quartered).  Fill the crockpot with filtered water to cover the bones and veggies.  Add about a tablespoon of any kind of vinegar and leave it sit covered (but not turned on) for about an hour.  This helps draw the minerals out of the bones.  Then turn it on low and leave it for about 24 hours.  Turn it off and strain the bones & veggies out of it.  Then freeze it or use it or drink it!  

Bone broth is a healthy substance that can aide in digestion, increase immunity and has many other health benefits!

Making the Soup

You'll need:

bone broth

chicken stock

chicken thighs (bone in is best)

carrots

celery

onions

bell pepper

onion

any other veggies you have laying around (I like to use zucchini)

garlic

herbs & seasonings of your choice (I use oregano, basil, salt & pepper)

Take your stock out of the freezer and place it in the fridge (if you're using forethought, otherwise just set it out to let it start thawing while you get started).  The fat will have risen to the top.  Scrape it off and put it in your pot (on medium heat).  Have all of your vegetables chopped and ready.  Mince or chop the garlic (as much as you want) and saute it in the chicken fat for a minute to get it started.  Then add all of your chopped veggies and stir them to coat them in the fat.  Saute them while stirring frequently until they are aromatic and start to become tender.  Then pour the stock and the broth in the pot and add the chicken thighs and seasonings/herbs.  Cook for about 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  Take the thighs out and pull the meat off the bones (or shred the meat up if you used boneless).  

Of course, you can reuse these bones for bone broth again later!  

Add the meat back to the soup.  Now is a good time to taste the soup and see if any salt or pepper needs to be added.  Turn it down and let it simmer with a lid on for 30-60 minutes.  I like to put it into jars with lids on to make it easy to carry to work for lunch.