Turkey brine is a wonderful thing

On a monthly basis, several members of my family get together for a meal, time to catch up and visit. We rotate whose house we eat at and it is always a wonderful meal. I enjoy cooking and try to out do myself every time it's my turn and since I started eating paleo, I have sneaked several paleo meals on my unsuspecting family members. This month was no different. I made a turkey dinner with mashed sweet potatoes, green beans with bacon and paleo pumpkin chiffon pie for dessert.

For the turkey I soaked it in a brine for a couple days before cooking it. A brine keeps it real juicy and gives it great flavor. There isn't a recipe for any of my brines, I just use what herbs and spices I have on hand. Here is how this one evolved:
2 gallons of water
2 cups of sea salt
About 1 tablespoon of Allspice berries
About 2 tablespoons of Black pepper corns
About 2 teaspoons of dried thyme
About 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
About 2 teaspoons of dried Rosemary
6 green onions cut in large chunks

Throw everything together in a very large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for several minutes then remove from heat. Take your thawed turkey and place it in a food grade plastic container. Once the brine is at room temperature, pour over your turkey, ensuring the bird is covered with brine. If there isn't enough brine, add water until it is covered. Store in your refrigerator for two-three days before cooking. You can turn the bird when you check on it.

On the day of the feast, remove the bird from the brine and rinse it off to remove any herbs that stick. Let the bird drain and get your oven ready. When cooking the bird I place it on a rack inside a deep baking dish then for the first 30 minutes, the oven is at 500 degrees to get the skin nice and crispy. After the timer goes off, (it is always easy to remember when I use a timer) the temperature is reduced to 350 degrees until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees in the breast.

This is a scrumptious bird. It takes several days to prepare but it can be done one stage at a time and isn't overwhelming. The brine flavors the meat wonderfully and keeps it very moist. This process can be used on other poultry as well.

Waffles!!!!!

One of my favorite dishes is waffles and I have tried many different recipes to find an easy paleo one. Thanks to Tropical Traditions, I have found one that is relatively easy, very scumptous, freezes well and reheats in the toaster for a quick breakfast.


Servings: 8 waffles Depending on waffle maker
Preparation Time: 10 minutes

4 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
2/3 cup organic apple sauce
2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Dash of fresh ground nutmeg
Mix all the wet ingredients, except the egg whites. Beat the whites to foamy peaks with a pinch of salt. Mix all the dry ingredients.

Slowly fold in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Then continue to fold the mixture with the egg whites trying to preserve as much volume as possible. Cook as directed on waffle maker.

Ohhhh yum! Topped with fresh berries, almond butter or coconut milk they are very good. the egg whites help to lighten the batter but it does add to them being somewhat dry. The next batch will have some mashed bananas for moisture and to add to the flavor.

How true have I been?

I was asking myself how true I had been to the lifestyle of primal/paleo and I don't think I have been following the 80-20 rule very well. It may be closer to 70-30. I decided to really track what I had been orating and it isn't "cheats" but the little bits that are creping into the meals.

I like coffee and enjoy it with a lightener: half and half or coconut creamer. I was using only the coconut creamer and it has evaporated cane juice in it, it's sugar, just not as refined. The half and half is dairy. So out of these two which is the lesser evil? Or should I learn to go without a lightener? It seems that the sweeteners are where it sneaks in the most.

I found a cake recipe for the paleo diet and it is fantastic. Some of the ingredients are eggs, coconut flour, unsweetened chocolate and sweetened with maple syrup. Of course, I made it for a couple different groups of people to show how wonderful this diet is and how one can still eat great food, with some treats. So within a month I made three of these cakes and took them various places to share and of course, I ate my part. This isn't including the time I made it into cupcakes. Boy oh boy, I was lovin on those cupcakes. Another area where the ratio went awry.

I have been very diligent this past week and my hope is that I will get back on track. I feel much better when I remove those substances, even in small amounts from my diet. Good meat, good fat, and good veggies make me feel better.

Man Card

I was given a "man card" this week. It is funny this person gave it to me, he is such a character and is always going on about "manly" things: hunting, fishing, fighting, being masculine and avoiding anything remotely feminine. He frequently threatens to pull other men's man card away if they behave in a way that he deems not masculine enough. So it was pretty funny when he said "Girl, you earned your man card."

This conversation happened during a time when we were talking about what we do for exercise. Since starting Krav Maga and FIT classes, I have joined in the conversations with people at work who are very serious athletes. These are very informative and enjoyable. One of the enjoyable parts are conversations that end up like this one did.

I enjoy my classes so much that the "work" aspect of working out never enters my mind. The results of doing FIT and Krav came upon so fast that I didn't really see it happen. All of the sudden there it was: my pants were way to big, all of my shirts hung off me and it was hard to find items to wear to work that didn't look ridiculous. Of course, people at work noticed and we started talking about what I have been doing.

It has been great to hear other peoples schedules and processes for recovery. It helps me along quite a bit. What is nice is that I am able to share things with them as well. None of them were aware of the Paleo/Primal diet as well as Krav Maga and FIT. And they are interested.

Many times, when someone loses lots of weight quickly, they don't look healthy and are not in shape. That is often caused by starving themselves or using some sort of drug. When they engage in conversations with people who are athletic there is a lot of skepticism and questions about the overall healthy approach. I have not encountered this at all. They are really curious and interested. No one has said I look unhealthy, or questions the diet's healthiness.

One thing is certain, I am feeling stronger and healthier than I ever have in my life.