Hello, my poor neglected blog.

I have put a lot of thought into this blog, and although my experience is severely lacking, I haven't fully decided what I want to do. I want to help people, learn and discover the Paleo/Keto lifestyle, as I have and what it has done for me. I want people to learn about running, and swimming, and to be excited for every day's new possibilities. It has been a almost 2 months to the day since my last update. I have been working, running, eating, learning, loving. I got married, trained for a marathon, and continued being healthy, maintaining my weight loss. Soon my future will continue to even be more, as my future expands. So, for those that read, I want to share more. Time is the problem, and in June I am going into the Army. 

Meal: Pork Chop, Mushroom, Bok Choy

Another whole meal that is both easy and cheap. Simple pork chop cooked in a little oil (coconut, or olive), removed from heat and allowed to cool for a minute, while other parts being cooked.


1. Cook pork chop to taste, sprinkled with salt and pepper. When done, remove, and set aside.
2. Add aromatics, garlic, and herbs. Add vegetables (mushrooms and bok choy). Cook for a short time, a few minutes (it doesn't take long), then add to pork plate.
3. If desired, fry an egg in oil, until desired texture. Place on top, and and serve.

Meal: Chicken Stir-fry

Some ingredients are cheaper than others, but one thing I have been focusing on, is not on premium cuts, or expensive rare vegetables, but rather on making a meal; good, delicious, cheap, and fast.

A chicken stir-fry (or beef for that matter), is like a white canvas ready for some art. You can choose your vegetables, your aromatics, and your proteins, and typically ending with something that is just delicious.

Featured in this stir-fry: Garlic, Bacon, Scallions, Zucchini, Orange Sweet Peppers, Mushrooms, and a Chicken Breast

1. I like bacon. So, I start by cutting up bacon, and frying that (a wok works best for stir-frys, but use what you have!), and then removing the bacon, but using that fat to cut up chicken pieces.
2. Make sure you cook chicken until they are close to done (vegetables will cook much faster), and add your aromatics: garlic, scallions, onions.
3. Add your vegetables, I recommend at least 3 varieties, but more or less is often considered. Add your bacon back in after a minute, then add salt (or soy sauce), pepper, and any heat you might want (sriracha, cayanne pepper, jalepenos, etc).
4. Cook until vegetables start getting tender, and then serve hot. The entire dish costs under a few bucks for 3-4 helpings, and tastes great.

Recipe: Bacon Fried "Rice"

 

I like this recipe, because I consider it a kitchen sink option. What I mean by that is, any leftover vegetables, or ingredients you might have, you can toss into this, and it will still taste great. Additionally, while these pictures show rice, grated cauliflower (fake rice) works exactly the same, and so the recipe is great for Primal (rice, is okay after a big workout), and keto/paleo just by substituting cauliflower.

Recipe:

Bacon Fried "Rice"

4 ounces of mushrooms
2 eggs
4-6 slices of bacon (cut into pieces)
2 cups of  "rice"
2 Tbsp of soy sauce
Scallions to taste

Any other ingredient can be added in. Broccoli, zucchini, etc, just avoid very "wet" vegetables, like tomatoes.

1. Cook bacon, about 90% done in a pan. After done, separate bacon fat, and bacon, and leave half the fat in the pan to cook the eggs. Save the other half for the "rice" later.
2. Cook the eggs, but barely. You want them to still be wet and mushy, but not completely liquid. Separate eggs, and then add the bacon fat back to the pan.


3. Cook the "rice" in the bacon fat, for 5-7 minutes. Stir often.








4. Add back other ingredients to the "rice" and continue to cook for 7-8 minutes.

Recipe: Slow Baked Beef Ribs

Most rib recipes use a dry rub and/or  a barbeque sauce. Rather than create a barbeque sauce right now, i decided to use a more basting technique to infuse some more fatty flavors.

Recipe:

Slow Baked Beef Ribs

4-6 Beef Ribs
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
3 Tbsp Bacon fat (or butter)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp minced garlic


1. Combine dry ingredients together. Line baking pan with aluminum to wrap ribs after they have been spiced. Liberally use dry spice rub on the ribs, then fold aluminum foil around ribs to ensure they are completely covered.

2. Set oven to 250 degrees, place in wrapped ribs and forget about them for 2 hours.

3. After two hours combine fat or butter, soy sauce and garlic. Spoon mixture over ribs.
4. Place ribs back in oven covered for another hour. After that, remove aluminum foil cover, re-spoon mixture over ribs, turn oven up to 350, and place back in oven for 15 minutes.
5. Ready to serve.

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake

Recipes seem to be getting popular, so updating how many are posted to three days a week. Hopefully everyone can find something they like. Today, is something a little different.


Recipe:

Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake





3 ounces chocolate (I used 82% Dark)
1 medium Haas Avocado
2 cups half/half, or light cream (You can use heavy cream for a heavier mousse, but it is a lot more calories)
16 ounces cream cheese
4 eggs (exclude egg whites if you want the mousse to be more dense)
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Sweetener if desired of your choice (Without a sweetener it isn't bad, but traditional mousse usually has sugar, so I would recommend some, to taste of course)

Optional Topping:
Fruit of choice (I chose an orange)
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg


1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Allow cream cheese to soften by leaving it out while preparing other ingredients.
2. Prepare avocado by removing seed and scooping out inside, whisk until all lumps are gone.
3. Melt chocolate, with your preferred method. (Microwave on low power, double boiler, or slow cooker).
4. Whip cream, adding vanilla, and sweetener, until it starts to thicken, (it will take longer with light cream).

5. Add avocado, cream cheese, eggs, chocolate, and salt to cream. Continue whipping for approximately five minutes.
6. Pour in spring form pan, and place in water bath, in oven for 90 minutes. After 90 minutes, open oven, turn off heat and let sit for 30 minutes. Then place in refrigerator, for final cooling, at least 30 minutes.
7. Optional: Segment an orange, making sure to squeeze the orange into a bowl with the segments. Add nutmeg and ginger, stirring. Pour liquid over mousse, and decorate as desired.

Recipe Thursday: Chocolate Covered Bacon-Roses

Less of a recipe, and more of an attempt to do something different that others have started online. I wanted to take it a step further though, and you can't go too wrong with dark chocolate for valentine's day.  A few hours early, but I wanted people to have the chance to replicate this if they felt like it.

Thursday Recipe:

Chocolate Covered Bacon Roses

The ingredient list is very short, and it actually only consists of two food items. Chocolate and Bacon, and both of those are the choice of the maker. I chose a 82% dark chocolate and regular bacon, though you can use thick bacon, darker, or more sweet chocolate. The process would still be the same.

1. Get the tools needed. There is several ways to do this, but the bacon needs a way to drain while cooking. You can get a pan like I did, or drill holes in a cheap pan, or possibly make some aluminum foil molds with holes to drain. I also used wooden skewers to make sure the bacon was clear in the center, to better facilitate staying on the stems.

 

2. Wrap the bacon around the skewers. To get the right look it might take some practice, but make sure you wrap more near the top, and have it taper down. To keep it together, I tied one end with butchers twine, to allow it to seem more flared when cooked. Important to make sure you don't wrap it too tightly, or too lose.

 3. Let the Bacon cook. It took mine about 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees, before I was comfortable with how it looked. I removed from the oven, let cool for a few minutes then transferred to the refrigerator wrapped in paper towels to absorb extra grease.

4. After cooled, i made sure that the wooden skewer ends were the right lengths, and the bacon was well cooked.


5. Use your preferred method for melting chocolate, (double boiler, slow cooker, low power microwave) until the chocolate is creamy. Once it is, dip and swirl the bacon in the chocolate until it is well covered.  Place on a piece of parchment, or wax paper so it doesn't stick. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, before moving to a different spot on the paper (to avoid pooling) and then place in the refrigerator for chocolate to harden.





6. Disassemble flowers, keeping the important stems. (I got the flowers from Walmart for $3.00) Clean and wash before attaching cooled and chocolate covered flowers to your nice stems.