Plan k

...that's k for kitchen and k for staying kool.

I made this seaweed soup yesterday and it was lovely for lunch today.  Organic beef stock from a box, chickpea miso (oops, the link revealed there is brown rice in this miso!), a cube of veggie bouillon (oh my goodness, the link revealed there's corn starch in it!), onion from the farm (sautéed in olive oil), organic silken tofu (I think silken is a must for this type of clear soup) and dried wakame (reconstituted for five minutes in a bowl of filtered water before draining and putting in soup pot).

I made another Paleo bread this morning.  I tinkered with the recipe a bit because the inside centers of my previous loaves have been undercooked.  I decided to reduce the eggs from five to four because the eggs I get from the farm (or as was the case this morning, from the "girls" in Plympton) tend to be larger and more voluptuous than supermarket eggs.  The loaf is still cooling so I don't know yet if this was a successful modification.

I made another batch of tomato jam with what I am pretty sure are the CSA season's last tomatoes...mostly Romas with a pint of cherry toms thrown in.  This was a pretty perfect way to use the rough-around-the-edges straggler-runts of the crop.  I decided to use both the fresh grated ginger and coriander this time, and leave out the smoked paprika.  The coriander smelled really distinct and nice during the cooking.  I am looking forward to tasting this jam later tonight or tomorrow morning!

I have succumbed/come to my senses and put the air conditioners on today.  The continued 100% humidity...the very still and damp and warm atmosphere...it's killin' me.  The climate control brings me back, somewhat, to my real self.  And we all need that in our household.

Peace and love.

Soothe

We are all feeling the change-of-season chaos...in mostly small and subtle ways.  Tired, but not getting sick, rough around the edges, but not falling apart, melancholy, but not depressed.  All of it momentary, not overwhelming.

I am doing a lot of soothing and being soothed.

Made my first ever pot roast.  Wow.  The epitome of comfort food.  I have fond memories of my mom's pot roast.  I'm not really sure why I never thought to make one before.  (This was not her recipe, but from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook.)  The kids loved it.  Gem's words after taking his first bite?  "It's magic."  (Too busy savoring to take a photo the first night.)

Cap needed a photo taken for professional use.  I am flattered he asked me.  (I am also his longtime barber :-)  For anyone who knows him, you'll be looking up in the sky for flying pigs because not only is he smiling in a photograph, but he decided to send this along to the conference folks who needed his pic!  I love it.  I love him.

If I had a photo of Vinny, it would be in this post, too.  Cap takes care of me day-to-day (he has been faithfully working on my rock hard shoulders for well over a week now) and Vinny takes care of me once a week.  

After the kids and I returned home from our Vinny sessions, I could have fallen asleep.  But, I couldn't.  I realized I was feeling a bit blue.  Then I realized I was starting to think about...mind-crave, things like Chinese food and ice cream.

It is fascinating and amazing to be in a place where I can take a step back when my mind starts to draw these fantastical pictures of what I supposedly want.  My emotions no longer become enmeshed like they did for years and years.  My pulse remains steady, my brain stays calm...my mind not only returns to my body, but it brings with it fresh input.

And so, almost as if in a trance, I walked into the kitchen, warmed some eggs, pulled out the almond meal and coconut flour and golden flaxseed meal...and baked a loaf of Paleo Bread.

I hope you are finding ways to be soothed and to soothe during this naturally chaotic time.

Peace and love.

Paleo-friendly bread

I am brimming with gratitude and good spirit.

A gluten-free blogger I've been following for a few years now, is also paleo-ish.  She recently posted a paleo-friendly bread recipe and I was intrigued.  I had all but the golden flaxseed meal in my fridge or pantry which I took as a sign to proceed.  So I ordered the recommended pan.

By the time the pan arrived, I was entering a phase of thinking about and wanting bread.  But, not "regular" bread.  My sense of commitment to remaining essentially grain- and sugar-free remains intact.  The recipe became exponentially interesting.  I bought some flaxseed meal on Sunday while food shopping.

This morning, I woke early.  It was still dark just before 6am.  By the time I was walking into the kitchen around 7:30, I realized I had plenty of time to bake a loaf of bread.  Almond meal, coconut flour, golden flaxseed meal, baking soda, salt, eggs (I warm my eggs in very warm water before using them to bake), honey, apple cider vinegar...some coconut oil to grease the pan and a food processor to pulse the ingredients together.  30 minutes at 350º.  A simple and quick bread.

The dough was more like a batter (and honestly, the loaf had a cake-like quality to it without being cake-y at all).  It baked up beautifully and smelled delectable while in the oven.  It was a tad tight in the pan, but did come out very cleanly with some nudging.

We shared a sliver of a piece (it sliced easily while warm) since we had all eaten breakfast by then.  I am pleased as punch and very happy.  Gem was reminded of other homemade loaves from the past and thought it would pair well with butter or jam.  Sag didn't care for it.

It has a nice weight to it...a lovely honey-nutty flavor...it is moist.  Love it.

Here's the recipe.

Paleo peach pie

It's cooling as I type.  Thus, it hasn't passed the truest test of all...yet.  But, isn't it pretty?  I love it already :-)

I used this recipe, modifying the baking time of the pie itself.  I brought the oven temp down to 375º and baked for 15 minutes (based on this recipe).

My dough was more wet and less crumbly from the start.  (I am not an exact measurer though...which they say you really need to be when baking...ah, well.)

I almost took the crust out at 8 minutes because I like a lighter "toast".  But, I could still see the center of the crust sizzling so I let it bake the full ten minutes.  I'm thinking the more crumbly your dough, the less time it has to bake...and I had the opposite situation going on today.

Really, though, what a simple recipe.  Quite transformational.

ETA: It would have been too good to be true...the consistency was more cobbler than pie.  I found it too sweet.  Sag didn't care for it, at all.  I wonder if chilling it will improve it (the coconut oil will solidify...)

Foray

I am making my first foray into baking paleo.  (I'm not sure, but I think I am eating "primal" as opposed to "paleo" because I am eating dairy.  So much to learn, so little time :-)

Peaches are coming to an end.  Thanks to Wendy's observation that peaches can go from ripe to moldy on the counter within hours (I'd never paid that close attention and thought I was a loser for letting so many peaches go bad in my lifetime), Sag and I have been enjoying luscious, juicy peaches all Summer long.

This morning I have a bunch of peaches ripe for the eating.  Too many for the two of us, as enthusiastic as we are for them.  So, I hit the internet in search of a paleo/primal peach pie recipe and was pleased to find one.  (Added a primal cookbook to my Amazon wishlist and requested it from the library, too :-)

I'll let you know how the pie turns out.  I am posting this photo of all the ingredients.  Being a primarily gluten-free and casein-free baker (recipes typically require a lot of ingredients), the sight of these eight gave me pause...and a smile.  I already appreciate the simplicity.

Interesting update (though I guess for folks who go paleo/primal this is pretty commonplace): I am in the midst of my fourth week of being essentially grain- and sugar-free and I have lost 14 pounds.