Monterey Machaca

22 Jan

Monterey Machaca: Tacos style

Just a couple of months ago, Robby and I ventured down south to Sayulita, Mexico for a short vacation to join in the festivities of our friends’ wedding.  We enjoyed a few days of no homework or class–we went stand-up paddle boarding (SUP) for the first time, boogie-boarded, surfed (not me) and laid out by the pool.  The wedding was absolutely beautiful, surely making future brides nervous about being able to match it or even come close.  I mean…sunset over the ocean, live Mariachi performance, fireworks at night (while Katy Perry’s “Fireworks” plays), secluded venue at the top of a hill…come on.

While in Sayulita, we also got to see and spend some time with our friends from Monterey: Jeanne, Rollie, and their cutie pup, Lucy!  Jeanne and Rollie, originally from the Monterey area, opened up a restaurant called Rollie’s in Sayulita after retiring from teaching and now spend half the year down there.  During the time we were there, they were only open for breakfast, but after Thanksgiving, they open for dinner as well. Needless to say, Robby and I ate there every morning we were in Sayulita. I loved their fruit smoothies (Paleo), egg scrambles (Paleo without cheese and beans), and pancakes (not Paleo!). Robby and I especially enjoyed a menu item called “Magical Machaca”. Just in case you are wondering, the answer is yes, it was absolutely magical.  Machaca, essentially shredded beef, is a traditional Mexican dish that is oftentimes served in a flour tortilla.  Ever since our return to Monterey, I have been trying to recreate the Magical Machaca from Rollie’s.  I have finally reached a point where I feel like I have gotten close to the magic we tasted in Mexico. I call it Monterey Machaca. This is a slow-cooker recipe and be warned–it needs a lot of time to cook. I hope you like it!

Here’s what you need:

1 2-3 pound beef chuck roast

1 can of diced tomatoes (with or without salt)

1 jalapeno (or two if you’re adventurous!–by the way, one jalapeno barely adds any spice)

1 yellow onion

3 tablespoons (or more to taste) sea salt

1 lime

3 cloves of peeled garlic

2 teaspoons cumin

Scrambled with eggs on top of sauteed Kale

Here’s how: 

1. Slice the onion into thin slices. While you are chopping things up, go ahead and slice up the jalapeno. I like to cut it length-wise into thin strips, keeping the seeds. Cut the peeled garlic into large slices. Also, go ahead and cut the lime into fourths–whatever is easiest to squeeze the juice out.

2. In a slow-cooker, place the meat on the bottom with the onions, garlic and tomatoes spread around and on top of it. Squeeze the juice of the lime on top of the beef. Set the cooker to low and let it cook for about 6-7 hours.  Extra time won’t hurt if you aren’t home to shred the beef.

3. Beef shredding/pulling! Take the meat out of the cooker and place it on a plate. Take two forks and shred the beef the same way as the Shredded Pork a la Salsa Verde. Refer to this video for a good demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juogbZevCXE     .

4. After shredding the beef, place it back in the slow cooker and make sure that all the liquid covers the meat. Mix in the salt and cumin and then let the meat continue on the low setting. Let it cook for another hour or two.

5. Ready to eat! There are a multitude of ways you can eat this so play around and enjoy yourself. Some ideas: Machaca scramble (scrambled with eggs), Machaca lettuce tacos, and salad with Machaca on top. It tastes especially good with avocado.

Braised Cabbage with Bacon

20 Jan

Last week, I went out to ALBA Organics in Salinas to help pack boxes for the Harvest of the Month program.  Harvest of the Month is a program in central and northern California where, each month, classrooms receive a box with fresh and locally grown produce.  CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers), the organization who runs the program, selects a different item each month and even creates an informational packet to assist the teachers in educating their students about the item.  Take a look! You might learn something new.  This month’s items were Savoy Cabbage and Red Cabbage.

Not only did I have a great time socializing with the other volunteers, I loved being a part of something I am truly passion about. Part of how I ended up in my master’s program is my goal of working to make good, whole foods accessible to children in the food deserts of the United States (in terms of affordability and education). As a part of this, I dream of being able to educate children about whole foods, who grows that food, how that food is grown and what it tastes like.  While I am not quite at the policy level just yet (I have to graduate first!!), volunteering with CAFF feels like I am part of this already. I hope to continue volunteering with them over the course of the year, maybe even help out with farm field trips!

After we had packed the boxes, we each got to take home some cabbage.  I took the Savoy Cabbage and decided to make Braised Cabbage with Bacon.  Mmm…delicious!

Here’s what you need:

3 or so thick strips of bacon (5 if it’s thinner)

1 cup chicken stock

1 Savoy Cabbage

tablespoon of Olive Oil

Here’s how:

Chop chop chop!

1. Slice the cabbage into slices about a half-inch wide. I usually cut the cabbage vertically and then slice it horizontally.

2. Slice the bacon into pieces that are about an inch wide.

3.  Heat your pot (I love using my dutch oven for this but if you don’t have one, use any pot you have) to medium-high heat. Once heated, put a little olive oil down, wait 15 seconds, then add the bacon. Cook the bacon in the olive oil until it’s browned and some of the fat has left the bacon.

4. Time to add the chopped cabbage! Stir the cabbage around a little in the bacon fat so that it gets coated.

5. Next, add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, put the lid on the pot, bring the heat down to a simmer and let it cook for about 20 minutes. You can now use this time to put together another part of your dinner. And that’s a wrap! Bon appetit, mes amis.

Tags:

Shredded Pork a la Salsa Verde

15 Jan

I don’t know about you but busy times tend to bring out some bad eating habits for me.  These bad habits can range from skipping meals during the day to eating too much of one macronutrient like too many nuts (fats) or too many apples (carbs) and not enough of something else like protein.  My latest bundle of busy weeks came at the end of my fall semester in December.  I had exams to study for, papers to write, and presentations to make.  While sleep and eating usually take priority, I found myself allowing these things to take the back seat, thus resulting in the aforementioned bad habits surfacing.  After all the dust had settled and I had made up for lost hours of sleep, I realized that these little blunders could have all been prevented by one thing: preparedness.

The semester is now over and a new one is upon me. I just shared what I have let myself do in the past. Now, here is what I WILL do in the future. I will do more than simply stock the fridge. I will have a plan for the food I have bought by creating a meal plan. I will cook multiple meals ahead of time and store them in the fridge. Maybe I will even divide them up by meal and by day.  This is my new strategy  for dealing with busy days. What is your plan of attack when you know you’ve got a busy week ahead of you?

Sooo I have an easy slow-cooker Pork recipe for you! This has made its way into my arsenal of make-ahead/slow-cooker recipes.  Salsa Verde from Trader Joe’s + big hunk of pork shoulder + long hours in the slow-cooker = yummy yummy in my busy tummy.

Here’s what you need: 

1 three-pound or so pork shoulder

1 jar of Salsa Verde (Trader Joe’s has one)

Taco Spice Blend (a mix of 1 teaspoon each of cumin, chili peppers, garlic, onion and oregano plus 2 teaspoons salt; you can always add a little extra of something if you find it lacking in flavors you like)

Here’s how:

1. Make your Taco Spice Blend. Rub spices all over the pork. Place pork in slow-cooker on low setting.

2. Let your pork sit in there for about 4-5 hours or until you find that a piece of pork flakes off easily with your fork.  If you happen to be home, you might want to consider flipping the meat over. If not, it should be totally fine. I just sometimes get a little paranoid about the meat burning/drying out on top because my machine is a little old.

Shreddin' the Pork!

3.  Once you find that the pork is soft and easy to pull apart, pull the piece of meat out onto a plate. It’s shredding time! For instructions on shredding, I’d like to direct you to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juogbZevCXE. She does a much better job of explaining and demonstrating than I can.

4. Once shredded, place the meat back into the slow cooker. Now, this is where the magic happens. Pour about half the bottle of salsa verde into the pot.  If you are not using the same Trader Joe’s bottle, then I would say it’s about 1 to 1.5 cups. Stir the meat around a little bit to make sure that the sauce coats all the meat. Let the meat stew in the sauce for another hour at least.

5. Serve with some veggies of your choosing and you’ve got some meals to last you a few days, depending on how many people you’re serving.

*I seem to have misplace a photo of the finished product! My dog ate it… I will post a photo when I make this dish again!

Tags:

Apple Juice-ing 1800s Style

19 Nov

‘Tis the season for fall festivals! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-fall!

I’m a little bummed to say, though, that we are now on the tail-end of all the festivities.  This past weekend, however, Robby and I were invited to participate in the second part of a Fall tradition our neighbors hold each year.  Part one: the apple picking.  Around one month ago, we ventured into their yard for some apple picking.  By the time we arrived, all the low hanging fruit had been picked and we got to make like monkeys and climb up to pick the fruit in the top branches.  That was part one.

The Apple Press

Part two: apple pressing. Part two involved us taking the many pounds of apples we picked and running them through a 1800s style hand-operated apple press that our neighbor has.  All the guests had a chance, if desired, to turn the crank and help turn the apples into juice.  We were all invited to bring our own empty jugs to take home the fresh-pressed juice.  Over the last couple years I’ve mostly eliminated juice from my diet, but oh my, after standing next to the big bucket of fresh juice, how could I resist the sweet smell?? I could not and I did not.

While I thought this juice was delicious on its own, I also love having hot apple cider on cold Fall days.  I just heat it up in the microwave and sprinkle some cinnamon on top.  I highly recommend getting your hands on some freshly pressed apple juice without added sugar.  Hot, cold, cinnamon spiced…I love it all and think you will too.

Pumpkin Seeds? Yes please!

8 Nov

As a kid, I remember that after the pumpkin patch and the pumpkin carving came the roasted pumpkin seeds. I don’t actually remember if this was my favorite part, but it was certainly a nice routine.  My family and I would go to the pumpkin patch where us kids could pick out any pumpkin we wanted as long as we could carry it ourselves.  My little sister violated this rule once and proceeded to drop her pumpkin down the hill we lived on as soon as we got home.  Being the big sister I was (and still am), I ran down that street chasing the pumpkin and managed to bring it back with just a few scratches.  But I digress (honestly, I’m probably still bitter that she got away with not following the rules)… After the pumpkin patch, we would come home and carve our pumpkins. From what I remember, we were a pretty simple jack-o-lantern carving family–none of those intricate designs of faces or castles.  As soon as the pulp and seeds were dumped out, my mom would get to work roasting them in the oven so that they would be done around the same time we finished carving.  Yum!

Over the years, though, I had gotten lazy and failed to do anything with the pumpkin seeds.  Pumpkin carving was not customary in Switzerland so I didn’t really have any pumpkin seeds around during my college years anyway.  Last year, I bought and cooked a lot of whole pumpkins but never did anything with the seeds.  This year, though, one of my close friends from grad school has re-introduced me to the savoriness of pumpkin seeds.  She loves pumpkin seeds and every time I talked about pumpkins, she kindly asked if she could have the seeds to eat.  Of course, when I made them for her, I had to “taste” just one (or two or ten).  All of these childhood pumpkin carving memories have come back and I have found a new favorite snack.  Thanks, Chelsea!  I have written out a tasty Chelsea-approved pumpkin seed roasting recipe below.

Here’s what you need: 

all the pumpkin seeds from your pumpkin (about 1 cup)

about 1 tablespoon of melted grass-fed butter or olive oil (enough to just barely coat the seeds)

salt to taste (maybe start off with a couple teaspoons)

Here’s how: 

1. Once you scoop the seeds out of the pumpkin and remove most of the pulp, lay the seeds out on a plate and let them dry overnight.  A good way to separate the pulp from the seeds is to place them in a bowl of water and then, if you need to, get your hands in there to remove the seeds if they don’t  do it on their own.

2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Melt the butter in a small bowl that will fit all the seeds. After the butter has melted, place the seeds in the bowl with the butter and make sure all the seeds get coated.

4. Place seeds on a baking sheet and sprinkle salt over them. If you think they are not salty enough, you can always add some salt after baking. Put seeds in the oven.

5. Let the seeds bake for about 45 minutes or until they turn brown. They may start popping…don’t let this scare you! The popping is ok as long as you remove them from the oven afterwards.

6. Eat them up like popcorn. Yes, you can eat the seeds whole.

Happy pumpkin seed eating!

Roasted Tomato Soup

3 Oct

Ciao friends!

Wee tomato plants at the start of the summer.

Do you remember my newly planted garden I shared with you this summer? I’m happy to report that I’ve harvested quite a few vegetables and strawberries since then! There’s been some radishes, a cucumber and lettuce.  However, I am a little disappointed in the progress of my tomato plants.  You’ll see from my photo that they grew into a tomato plant jungle.  Unfortunately, it just has not been warm or sunny enough for there to be many tomatoes to come to fruit on there. I have had a few cherry tomatoes here and there but no heirlooms. Oh well…It’s a learning experience! Next year I’ll plant a different variety (if I plant tomatoes at all).

And look at them now! (before they started leaning over)

Given how disappointed I was with my lack of tomatoes, imagine how excited I was when I found out that Serendipity Farms in Carmel Valley was having a U-Pick event on Saturday. I would still get the chance to pick fresh tomatoes off of the vine! So on Saturday, after eating my lunch, Joules and I got into the car and made our way over to Carmel Valley.  Within 15-20 minutes, I had a basket full of bright red tomatoes. Exciiiting! I changed up my usual tomato soup recipe and took a little tip from Tyler Florence to make the following soup. How do you like to eat your tomatoes?

Here’s what you need:

about 2.5 pounds of fresh tomatoes (any and all varieties! Heirloom, ace, plum…)

6 cloves of garlic

1 large or 2 small yellow onions (OR you can use 2 leeks)

1/2 cup olive oil

1 quart of chicken stock

2 bay leaves

4 tablespoons (grass-fed) butter

1 large handful of fresh basil

Here’s how:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Wash and chop the tomatoes and onions into large chunks.  Peel garlic cloves but leave whole (don’t chop them up).

3. Spread the tomatoes, onions and garlic on a large cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

4.Let it roast for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the onions have carmelized a little bit.

5. After removing the tomatoes from the oven, place in a large pot along with the chicken stock, butter and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil and then bring it down to a simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the soup reduces about 1/3.

6. At this point, you can add your washed basil leaves to the pot.  Now take an immersion blender and blend until it becomes smooth.  Put the soup back on low heat for a teensy bit. Add some chicken stock if you feel like you want to make the soup a little less thick.

For a little twist, add some chopped carrots in at step 5.

Enjoy!

Tags: , ,

Creamy Chicken Soup

10 Sep

Before you stop and remind me that cream or any dairy products, for that matter, are not paleo, take a look at the list of ingredients. No dairy. If you make the soup, you will see that the soup strangely feels like there had to be some sort of cream in it.  Whatever it is, it’s tasty and perfect for a cool night at home.

Here’s what you need:

Beef Broth (best from scratch like in the link)

2-3 pounds of organic chicken (I like drumsticks and chicken legs)

5 stalks of celery

4 carrots

1 yellow onion

Here’s how: 

1. Chop the onions and celery into thin slices. Shred the carrots or use the vegetable peeler to make ribbons.

2. Place the onions, celery and carrots in the broth and let it simmer for 10 minutes or so.

3. Add the chicken to the broth. Make sure there is enough broth to cover the chicken and veggies. Bring it to a boil and then drop the heat down low to a simmer.  If you are using a slow cooker, there is no need to let the veggies simmer. Go ahead and put the chicken in there and let it go for at least an hour before you eat.

4. Let the soup simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour. If you are going to be around the kitchen, definitely let it go longer.

And that’s it. An easy peasy chicken soup-y.

*sorry…No photos!  The soup disappeared as I was tasting it.

Beef Bones and Soup

1 Sep

For the last few months, I’ve been buying raw knuckle bones for my dog. I have been doing this primarily because I have heard that it keeps the dogs occupied.  An occupied dog is a quiet dog, usually.  As much as I love spending time with my pooch, we need to have some separate quiet time once in awhile.  If you peek into my freezer, you will see a bag full of beef bones (mostly knuckle) ready to be chewed up by my Joules.
This past weekend, while cruising the internetz, I came across a couple of blog entries regarding beef bones. (here and here) Inspired by all the facts about bones, I set out to make my own beef broth.  Conveniently, I had all the ingredients I needed to get started: a full supply of beef bones and water! Remy and Mark both say to include apple cider vinegar but I went without and it still worked out. I bet if I add the vinegar next time, it will be out of this world.  This time it was just awesome. The cider, I read, helps to extract the minerals without changing the flavor.

Here’s what you need:

2-3 big beef bones (knuckle, femur)

water to cover the bones

Here’s how: 

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place bones in the oven for about 50 minutes.

2. Place bones in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for a few hours. Beef bones can actually go for a couple days to get the full flavor and goods out of them.  I ended up simmering for 4 hours and then turning the stove back on whenever I was fiddling around in the kitchen. This happened for about 2 days.  My dog may have had a couple bowlfuls too…

When you decide you are done, pull out the bones and enjoy!

This was simple and I cannot wait to share what I did with the broth!

Bones...not just for dogs.

okok. I couldn’t wait. I made a creamy chicken soup. To be written later…

Special Occasion-Worthy Braised Beef Shanks

20 Aug

Hey friends!

A couple of weeks ago, I bought some grass-fed Beef Shanks at the farmer’s market here in Monterey. I bought them because a)I was curious as I have never cooked beef shanks before, and b)that’s all the cash I had left in my pocket.  Instead of making the booth my first stop, I made it the last and had to ask the nice woman what I could possibly buy with the twelve or so dollars I had in my hand. Gr0und beef or beef shanks. I picked beef shanks.  Tonight, I finally pulled them out of the freezer and cooked up a nice dinner to celebrate Robby’s last day of his internship.  I think that this dish was fitting for a special occasion.

Post-meal, I am happily bouncing in my seat and singing along to Fleetwood Mac while writing this post.  I am a happy camper thanks to a happy meal.

Grass-fed beef shanks from Two M Farms/Morris Grassfed Beef

This dish is by no means a quickie but it is definitely easy.  As I have never cooked beef shanks before, I did a little bit of research and ended up loosely following someone else’s directions.Thanks to Ms. Glaze’s Pommes d’Amour for this recipe.  It was delicious and I am delighted to share it with you all.

Here’s what you need: 

1 3/4 to 2 pounds beef shank

1 yellow onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 medium carrot

1 celery stalk

1 cup dry red wine

2 cups beef stock (maybe 3, depending on the size of the pot you use)

1 13.5 oz can of whole peeled or diced tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

olive oil

salt and pepper

The finished product!

Here’s how: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. While the oven is heating up, go ahead and chop up everything that needs chopping.  Chop the onion finely, peel and slice the carrot, peel and coarsely cut up the garlic and cut up the celery.

3. Season the beef shanks with a good amount of salt and pepper. Maybe a teaspoon of each per side.

4. Heat up an oven-proof pan (I used my dutch oven) over medium-high heat.  Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Wait a minute and then sear the shanks on all sides.  Remove the shanks from the pot and place on a plate.

5. Add a touch more olive oil and then add the garlic, onions, carrots and celery. Saute until the onions are soft.

6. Add the red wine and simmer until it is reduced by about half. This should take about 10-15 minutes.  Place the shanks back in the pot and add the broth until the shanks are just covered.  Add the tomatoes and the herbs.  When the liquid comes to a simmer, place the pot into the oven without a cover.

7. Check on the meat every half-hour to make sure that the shanks are covered by liquid at all times.  If the braising liquid is reducing too quickly, make sure you either put a lid on it or add some more beef stock and red wine.  At the one hour mark, flip the shanks over.  Ms. Glaze suggests that you scoop out the marrow and treat yourself. I wholeheartedly recommend that you do this!

8. After about two hours, the meat should be pretty tender.  Take the shanks out of the pot and put them to the side while doing your best to keep them warm.  Then you can do one of two things: take the entire braising liquid (vegetables included) and puree in the food processor. OR you can strain the braising liquid in a chinois or mesh strainer while pressing hard against the vegetables with a ladle or wooden spoon. Scrape the bottom of the chinois or strainer to add the pureed vegetables back to the liquid.  Whichever option you chose, return the pureed sauce back to the pot and reduce until the sauce is tick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Now add the shanks back to the pot and keep on low heat for  a little while longer.

I served my beef shanks with some mashed cauliflower. Bon appetit!

Tags: , ,

The Paleo Princess turns ONE!

10 Jul

This week, The Paleo Princess celebrated its first birthday!  Since the Italian style sauce I posted last July, I have had a great year of sharing my Paleo cooking with you all.  I have truly enjoyed posting photos and recipes for you to try out, and I appreciate all the feedback whether it is here on the site or on the Facebook page.  I hope you will continue cooking with The Paleo Princess in the next year and beyond!

As we are celebrating a birthday, what better way to celebrate than by making cupcakes?! I am pleased to share with you a recent favorite: Coconut Cupcakes from Elana at Elana’s Pantry.  I have already made them a few times. Because I tend to decrease the amount of agave by half and skip the frosting (it’s got heavy cream in it), I treat them more as a muffin at my house.  I served them at brunch yesterday and they proved to be a popular item! I am sure that you will like them very much.  Remember—just like other Paleo treats, just because the ingredients are Paleo friendly, does not mean that you should eat as many as you can stuff into your mouth. (I know I know…sometimes, it’s hard.)

Without further, ado, here is the recipe (replicated from Elana’s Pantry).

Here’s what you need:

3 eggs

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup agave nectar

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Here’s how: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a small bowl, blend eggs, coconut oil and agave netar.

3. Once combined well, mix in the salt, baking soda, shredded coconut and coconut flour.

4. Allow batter to sit so that it may thicken a little bit.

5. Either line a cupcake tin with baking cups or use coconut oil to grease up the cupcake spaces.

6. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each cupcake opening.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

8. Allow cupcakes to cool before serving.

Enjoy these! Until next time…

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.