cochrancj

Paleo Mac & Cheese

February 28, 2015February 28, 2015Recipes5 Comments

Holy crap yum. This dish is freaking delicious – and managed to taste like cheese. Without creepy nutritional yeast! Or actual cheese! Yay!

Gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian-ish

Paleo Mac & Cheese
Based on Paleo Mac N Cheese from My Natural Family

1 head cauliflower
4 Tbsp. unsalted grassfed butter
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. pumpkin puree (100% pumpkin)
1 small carrot (about 1/4 to 1/3 c. diced)
1/2 small onion (about 1/3 c. diced)
Granulated garlic
Ground mustard
1 can full-fat coconut milk
1 egg
Kosher Salt
Black pepper

Core your cauliflower and break up into small pieces (you want it to look like macaroni when you’re finished).

Add to a large pan over medium-high heat with 2 Tbsp. butter a generous pinch of salt, and the water. Cover and steam 5 minutes or until mostly tender.

Remove the lid and sauté for a few minutes, or until the cauliflower is lightly caramelized in spots.

Remove from heat.

While the cauliflower is working, dice the carrots and onion and add to a saucepan with 2 Tbsp. butter, the pumpkin, 1 tsp. mustard powder, 1 tsp. granulated garlic and a generous pinch salt. Sauté 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent.

Add the can of coconut milk and bring up to a simmer. Simmer 10 minutes, or until the veggies are tender and the milk has reduced by 2/3.

During this time, taste for seasoning. The original recipe called for 3/4 tsp. mustard, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, and 1 tsp. salt (to me, this tasted like coconut milk). I ended up using more like 2 Tbsp. of each to get the cheese taste I wanted.

When your sauce has reduced and your seasoning is where you want it, transfer the mix to a blender and puree until smooth.

Once the mix is smooth, add the egg and continue pureeing until incorporated. The puree will cook the egg, which will thicken the sauce. If you do this quickly, your sauce will be velvety.

Taste again for seasoning. Add more salt/mustard powder/garlic powder/pepper if necessary.

Pour over the cauliflower and toss to coat.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch when combined with simple pan-sauteed chicken breasts.

February 27, 2015

February 27, 2015Picture of the DayLeave a Comment

!!! I was lucky enough to attend one of my favorite bloggers’ book signings this evening. I’m happy to report that Nom Nom Paleo’s Michelle Tam is as enthusiastic, open and friendly in person as she is online.

February 26, 2015

February 26, 2015Picture of the DayLeave a Comment

Vegan taxidermy pigeon.

February 25, 2015

February 26, 2015Picture of the DayLeave a Comment

OUT

February 24, 2015

February 24, 2015Picture of the DayLeave a Comment

Someone short was very excited about tonight’s yoga.

February 23, 2015

February 23, 2015Picture of the DayLeave a Comment

Back off, ladies, he’s all mine. 🙂

Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of February 16 – 22

February 23, 2015Paleo On A BudgetLeave a Comment

This Week’s Menu

Monday

Breakfast: Green smoothies

Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: Lemongrass chicken meatballs with spicy pineapple samba & an egg with broiled green beans

Tuesday

Breakfast: Green smoothies

Lunch: Leftovers – pumpkin puree with leftover meat

Dinner: Was supposed to be London Broil, but Amazon sent us ground beef instead – so I made bunless burgers with the seared okra & harissa crema side I had planned.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Green smoothies

Lunch: Leftovers – pumpkin puree with paleo doro wat

Dinner: Chicken nuggets with broiled balsamic brussels sprouts

Thursday

Breakfast: Green smoothies

Lunch: Leftover balsamic beef & broccoli

Dinner: Dinner was supposed to be an eggplant/sausage strata, but I ran out of eggs so I had to improvise. I ended up making a sort-of strata with diced eggplant so the hubbs wouldn’t be bothered by the texture and a kind of made-up sauce. It was good. Not what I had envisioned with a strata, but tasty nonetheless.

Friday

Breakfast: Green smoothies

Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: Good thing I had leftover pulled pork and taco shells – i completely forgot that tonight was yoga and needed to eat something quick before heading out the door. Yay, accidental pre-planning! I made spicy pickled pineapple and a quick sriracha crema to go alongside. Yum.

Sunday

Breakfast: Out

Lunch: Out

Dinner: Snacks

This Week’s Grocery List

Chicken breasts ($5.25 for 14 ounces @Amazon Fresh)

Navel orange ($1.49 @Amazon Fresh)

Pat LaFrieda Hot Italian Sausage (1 lb. $5.99 @Amazon Fresh)

Ground chicken (1 lb. $7.99 @Amazon Fresh)

Brussels sprouts (1 lb. $2.50 @Amazon Fresh)

2 lemons ($1.50 @Amazon Fresh)

Organic cilantro ($1.69 @Amazon Fresh)

Pat LaFrieda grass fed London Broil (1 lb. $11.99 @Amazon Fresh)

Eggplant ($1.99 @Amazon Fresh)

Okra (1 lb. $2.25 @Amazon Fresh)

Green beans (1 lb. $1.69 @Amazon Fresh)

28 ounce can Muir Glen organic fire roasted diced tomatoes ($2.69 @Amazon Fresh)

13.5 ounce can Native Forest unsweetened organic coconut milk ($1.86 @Amazon Fresh)

20 ounce can Dole pineapple chunks in juice ($1.29 @Amazon Fresh)

8 ounce bottle Coconut Secret coconut aminos ($5.69 @Amazon Fresh)

Mina Spicy Harissa (10 ounce jar $6.99 @Amazon Fresh)

Garlic (2 bulbs for $9.06 @Amazon Fresh)

Shallots (8 ounces for $1.50 @Amazon Fresh)

Cafe Du Monde Chickory Coffee (15 ounces for $9.49 @Amazon Fresh)

28 ounce can Muir Glen Organic peeled whole tomatoes ($2.38 @Amazon Fresh)

2 stalks lemongrass ($0.99 each @bodega)

1 bunch basil ($0.99 @ bodega)

1 bunch mint ($0.99 @ bodega)

Silk Cashew Milk ($4.59 @ bodega)

Smoothie Supplies

Ginger ($1.99 for 8 ounces @Amazon Fresh)
5 Apples ($3.95 @Amazon Fresh)
1.5 lbs. limes ($2.77 @Amazon Fresh)
Cut kale (2 5 oz. clamshells) ($6.98 @Amazon Fresh)

Totals

$92.87 @ Amazon Fresh

$7.59 @ bodega

Budget Breakout

This week, I spent $100.46; $0.46 over budget. Let’s just call $0.46 even. I’m not stressing out over less than a buck. This was another ‘I live in Hoth, so I’m getting delivery!’ week of groceries from Amazon Fresh. I planned a little poorly this week, too – the coffee I bought I hated (but drank all week anyways), I forgot to buy more eggs, and I had to switch dinner gears a couple times because Amazon’s wires got crossed and they sent me ground beef instead of London Broil. But, I’m happy that I was able to pull 5 meals out this week – even when I’d only planned for 4. Way to go, me. This was one of those instances where my general plan of always having at least meat on hand really paid off.

Leftovers From This Week

At the end of the week, I have a couple scrawny carrots, 2 radishes, a hand full of jalapeños, and a random grapefruit left over. I need to incorporate these items into my menu for next week.

—

Think eating healthfully is too expensive for you? Think again. According to the USDA, to ensure a nutritious diet as of December 2014, a family of two aged 19-59 years should spend between $388.90 and $776.10 on food per month, or $89.80 – $179.30 per week. Source

For my family of two adults, I spend roughly $400 a month on groceries or $100 a week – and we eat well. Not caviar and lobster well, but I do manage to serve a predominately paleo diet with little to no processed foods, and I get to throw in a few luxuries here and there (like expensive snacks for the hubbs and the occasional ridiculously expensive bag of coffee). We even manage to buy “good” meat (grass fed beef and free-range chicken) most of the time – and I make this budget work even on the weeks we pay for convenience by getting delivery groceries. I make: 10 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 10 dinners a week – plus enough snacks to satisfy and fuel two active adults.

I’m hoping that this series will help shed a little light on the day-to-day things a “paleo” person really eats — and how that way of eating can work on a budget. I want to nudge anyone sitting on the fence right over the edge by showing that it *can* be done and that you don’t just eat meat, meat, meat and more meat.

Playing With Fonts

February 23, 2015LifeLeave a Comment

This series of images was inspired by the new Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking image I created. I had forgotten how much I like to tinker with backgrounds and fonts and these little exercises gave me a chance to stretch those muscles a little. Why motivational quotes? Nerd Fitness, of course! This desire to stretch my creative wings coincided perfectly with the start of a six-week challenge cycle. Each day’s forum thread update featured one of these images, and they went over surprisingly well. So well, I’m posting them here in perpetuity for my Internet buds.

Note: These are not my original quotes (save one), I found them floating around the Internet. If you would like to re-purpose these images or use them on your own, please provide a link back to this page.