Adirondack Chairs

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Well with summer coming around it means alot more outside time.  That means getting the garden going, pulling weeds and simply spending time outside.  This post is not Paleo related but I thought it was really cool for anyone that wanted to redo parts of their yard or even just create a nice sitting area outside.

 

For those of you who do not know what a Adirondack chair is, essentially its a classic outdoor oversized chair.  Here is a picture of one to help you visualize it

2014-05-07 09_14_05-DIY Adirondack chairs

 

That is a picture of a completed chair, I would seal it or what not to make it last longer but thats your choice.  Here are some simple plans to build it.  I pulled these from the website I used (ThisSortaOldLife).

In all this can be made for around 15$ a chair which is great and is huge savings over buying them prebuilt.

 

 

 

Kicking Eggs Up A Notch

breakfast,

tilted fork iconWell I have finally reach my first weight goal.  Even though the weight goal is just a by product of doing Paleo it was not my main goal.  My main goal is to just stay healthy and keep my stomach under control.  However to maintain progress and keep going I have set some weight goals and I have hit my first one since February.  That is good for me!  First goal -25 lbs.  Next goal will be another 25lbs lol.   I have been trying to find some new things to experiment with food wise however I have gotten in to a rhythm with items that I like that I have been stuck on them.  But have no fear I have been changing up the way I eat my eggs so you guessed it this is just a tip and trick to changing up eggs.

If you are anything like me you go through eggs like crazy.  I have posted previously about my Spanish Chorizo Tortilla but what do you do when you just get sick of eating regular plain eggs?  Well in my case I have come up with a really good idea.  Lately I have been on a chipotle kick, pretty much anything that I can put chipotle on the better.  So if you haven’t figured out where I am going with this, Chipotle on eggs is great!

This really isn’t a recipe just more of ideas to get eggs to taste different so you do not get sick of redundant meals.

In Miami there is a pretty traditional Cuban dish where they take a thin piece of steak (palomilla steak) cook that on a stove top in coconut oil or butter and then you fry an egg over easy or sunny side up and you serve it on top of the steak with some sauteed onions.

If you steak and eggs don’t do it for you how about a boiled egg, add some paprika, salt, pepper and a small sprinkle of cayenne pepper.  It is almost like a deviled egg just with out the mayo.  Really just small little changes to eggs can get you something that tastes really really good.

 

Perfectly Cooked Oven Roasted Spaghetti Squash

entrees, sides, ,

Spaghetti SquashThere was a few days between my last update and this one. Things haven been a bit hectic with sick family members, doctors appointments, hospital visits etc. So now things have started to wind down I can take a moment to update this blog. I know I have something similar to this one on my Bolognese post but I just wanted to make a post dedicated to this squash.

Spaghetti squash can be used for so many things but most people use it just as a spaghetti substitute. Here are some alternatives you can use it for.

  • Spaghetti Squash Pizza
  • Spaghetti Squash Salad
  • Base for meatballs
  • Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash

    • Those are just some sample things you can do with Spaghetti Squash, hopefully it just gives you some thing to think about. It is really easy to actually cook this squash. You just need to cut it length wise, scoop out all the seeds, salt and pepper to taste and lastly bake it at 375 and cook it for 30-45 mins based off how large your squash is.

    Pretty simple right? If you have alternatives that I should try please let me know!

    Homemade Coconut Milk

    breakfast, entrees, sides, treats, ,

    tilted fork iconI finally did it, I said last week to @ThePaleoMom (Twitter link) or ThePaleoMom (Blog) that I was going to try to make her homemade coconut milk.  I am proud to report that I did it.

    There are a few things to note on this back story on why I did this.  Most people I tell that I was looking forward to making coconut milk would ask me why I wouldn’t just buy it in a can.  Well its a simply answer, if you go through coconut milk as fast as I do $2 a can adds up quickly.  On top of that if you have been following my blog you also know that I suffer from a rare stomach disorder so I am avoiding known gut/stomach irritants.  Most cans of coconut milk that you buy off the shelf contain an additive called Guar Guam.  Now I am not sure if this will irritate my stomach chances are it may not if I consume it in moderation however with the coconut milk that I go through I fear that it will add up and trigger another attack.

    So that is a little back story on why I decided to try to make coconut milk.  The better part of this is how EASY this was.  I have tried other methods of making coconut milk but I could never seem to get the texture right.  This recipe that the PaleoMom posted is spot on perfect.  I did not tweak this at all and full credits/concept etc go directly to her.  You should try to take a moment and check out her blog.

    The only thing I can add to this, is next time I am going to make this with coconut water instead of regular water and take her up on her suggestion of putting this over her Paleo Granola.  I will have to try to make that in the near future.

    Print
    Homemade Coconut Milk

    Yield: 8oz (1 Cup)

    Ingredients

    • 3/4 cup organic finely shredded unsweetened dried coconut
    • 1 ¼ cup just boiled water

    Instructions

    1. Boil the water
    2. Put coconut in to blender with the boiled water
    3. Blend on high for 5 minutes
    4. Pour pulp into a Nut-Milk Bag or Cheesecloth (or other chosen strainer) suspended over a glass bowl
    5. Let the mixture drip in to the bowl or if you have no patience let it cool and squeeze it through
    http://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/04/homemade-coconut-milk/

    Paleo Spicy Beef Jerky

    sides, treats, , , , , ,

    paleo spicy beef jerkyHectic Hectic Hectic.  That is how I would describe these last few days.  Even with everything being hectic I had recorded the first episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley and I had a chance to watch it last night.  I work in IT, more specifically Computer Software design and architecture etc so its pretty safe to say I was looking forward to this show.  I absolutely loved it.  It reminded me alot of Office Space meets The IT Crowd.  It was a good show and I found myself messaging 1 liners back and forth with a friend of mine.  So needless to say I hope it continues and doesn’t get cancelled.  It’s good to see a comedy every once and a while on a pay channel that doesn’t have nudity etc all over the place.

    So today’s recipe is one of my favorites.  I started making Jerky over a year ago and I have made all kinds of Jerky.  Before I decided to venture on this Paleo journey all the jerky I made was not Paleo compliant simply because it contains a form of gluten or soy.  So it took a while to try to come up with an alternative and I will post a series of different recipes but I will start with a bit of a spicy one.

    In general there are different types of jerky you can make one is made from a ground beef/bison or you can get a flank steak or similar and cut that in to strips.  I have made both types but personally I have gravitated towards the ground beef simply because of price and it gets a texture like a slim jim.  Here is a video of me putting some jerky on to my dehydrator.

    This is really just a jerky gun and I load my jerky in to it and shoot it out.

    On to the recipe.

    Print
    Paleo Spicy Beef Jerky

    Ingredients

    • 3 lb Flank Steak or Ground Beef, as lean as possible (fat turns tough when dehydrated)
    • 3 cloves Garlic, minced or pressed
    • 1 cup Coconut Aminos
    • 1 tsp Black Pepper
    • 1 tsp Salt
    • 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
    • 1 tsp Onion Powder
    • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
    • 1 tsp Chipotle Powder

    Instructions

      If you are using ground beef
    1. Take all ingredients except for the meet and blend it all together
    2. Mix ground beef with marinade
    3. Let it sit for about 2 hour in the fridge (no more than 24 hours)
    4. Load in to Jerky Gun and and put it in dehydrator.
      5. If using flank steak
    5. Partially freeze meat for 2-4 hours, until mostly solid.
    6. Slice meat into thin strips. (try to make sure they are all about the same size)
    7. Create the marinade in a large ziplock bag
    8. Toss meat in to marinade
    9. Let it sit for atleast 2 hours in the fridge (no more than 24 hours)
    10. Place strips on to your dehydrator
    11. Sprinkle with a little Salt & Pepper (I also add a bit of red chili if i want it spicier)
      12. If you are using an oven
    12. You can dehydrate by setting your oven to lowest temp possible most can get to 160 or 170
    13. Add the steak strips or jerk gun strips on to oven sheet
    14. Cook for about 3.5 - 4 hours be sure to not over cook
      15. How to tell if its done
    15. Take out a strip let it cook for a min, try to bend it. if it snaps its over cooked if it slowly peels apart when you bend it.. its perfect.
    http://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/04/paleo-spicy-beef-jerky/

    Upcoming items; new things to try

    Uncategorized, ,

    tilted fork iconWith all that has been going on I have not really had a chance to try new things so this week I have been using some of my favorite paleo eats.  This however does not mean that I will not be posting new items this week but I do want to take a moment to just update on what I plan on doing.

    For starters I am going to try to start evening out the categories, the sides area seems to be neglected.  This is pretty challenging for me simply because I need to find a way to do it without having my next several posts targeted at one category.  I have a few ideas on how to achieve this but if you have any input feel free to chime in.

    Next on my list of things I need to knock down are personal projects.  While I do work a full time job just like everyone else that is married you have that list of personal projects that needs to get done to maintain a good home/work life.  With changing my lifestyle in the way that I eat and exercise I really need to try to find a good balance of doing the projects at home that need to get done while still saving time to do more research.

    Going with the theme above I need to do more research.  I am the type of person that believes that to much information does not exist.  I want to continue to research paleo life style and figure out ways in my own life that I can better balance that.  I think by doing that it will start to reflect in my cooking and by nature make the things that I am eating healthier.

    I am also thinking about adding some more categories to this site to better define posts like this.  I am not sure what to call it yet maybe raves and rants but not to sure yet!  If you have ideas submit them 🙂

    Those are really items I am going to try to start focusing on, next up on my immediate recipe list will be trying to make home made store bought items.  For example I use alot of coconut milk so one of the first things I will be trying is making my own coconut milk.  I found a pretty good resource on that and have ordered my cheesecloth to assist in the separation process.

    Well that is just a summary of whats going on, sorry if this post was boring for ya 🙁

     

    Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Muffins

    treats, , , ,

    banana nut chocolate chip muffinsIt looks like the crazy weeks are just going to continue.  I have been making an effort to find an organic place in South Florida or a trusted one online that I can order Grassfed Beef and Free Range Chicken from.  I tried on #farming #organic and now I tried on #Paleo and #Primal but still no luck.  I had I think 5 people favorite it but that is simple to get a response if someone actually responds.  No luck yet so if anyone knows a good place please let me know

    Quick status update on my personal goal, I am 3 lbs away from hitting my first goal of dropping 25 lbs.  Pretty excited about that and it has really been super simple.  I have been eating good food, I am never hungry so that is a plus in my columns.  Exercise as you can tell has been folded in to my routine so I am sure that does help alot as well.

    This recipe I am bringing you today is again from Julie and Paleomg.  Its a copy of her Banana Nut Chololate Chip Muffins.  Honestly if you are not following Julie you must! She is an amazing person but you all know that because I have stated that before.  I made these and my entire family went through them like nothing.  I wish I could say I had more than 1 but my 5 year old beat me to it.

    Trust me make these!

    Print
    Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Muffins

    Ingredients

    • 3 bananas, mashed with a fork
    • 3 eggs, whisked
    • ¼ cup maple syrup
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ½ cup smooth almond butter
    • ¼ cup coconut flour
    • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda
    • ½ teaspoon baking powder
    • pinch of salt
    • ½ cup chopped walnuts
    • ½ cup chocolate chips (I used Enjoy life but Julie recommends 72% Eating Evolved Baking Chocolate)

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
    2. Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add eggs, maple syrup, almond butter, and vanilla extract and mix together.
    3. Then add coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder and a pinch of salt and mix well.
    4. Lastly, fold in walnuts and chocolate chips.
    5. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop batter into 9 cups of a silicone muffin pan.
    6. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before removing from silicone pan.
    7. Trust me if you do not have a silicone pan you may want to get one. I made my batch outside in a regular tin and I greased it really well but they still stuck. I ordered a silicone pan the following day!
    http://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/04/banana-nut-chocolate-chip-muffins/

    Spanish Chorizo Tortilla

    breakfast, entrees, , , ,

    spanish chorizo tortillaYep today is Thursday in my household which means one thing.  My wife has taken over the TV with Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal.  I actually don’t mind this though because both shows are actually pretty well written.  Ok ok ok that and she tolerates my Game of Thrones infatuation lol, she actually really likes GoT as well.

    So after the regular daily grind I hit the gym as planned and when I got home I made the kids some new ice cream.  Its the same ice cream that I made here , the only exception is that I added some mini chocolate chips to it.  My son has been begging me for sprinkles but I didn’t have any so this was the way I improvised.

    Today I am going to talk more about this recipe because this is a staple in my diet.  I will make one of these 1-2 times a month atleast and it feeds me breakfast all week long.  To me this is a perfect blend of spicy and savory.  My wife made this for me the first time and I was just simply addicted.  This dish is absolutely incredible.  I really hope you do try it and enjoy it as much as I do.  I am not sure if the name is accurate or not but where we live its heavily hispanic and they call it a Spanish Tortilla, I added the word chorizo to signify that its sausage based.

    Here is the recipe!

    Print
    Spanish Chorizo Tortilla

    Ingredients

    • 6 eggs, whisked
    • 2 chorizo links take out of the case and crumbled
    • 1 sweet potato, diced
    • ½ white onion, diced
    • 2 cloves garlic minces
    • 2 tablespoons hot sauce (whatever you want I use Franks Red Hot)
    • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
    • ½ teaspoon onion powder
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon pepper
    • 1 teaspoon rosemary

    Instructions

    1. Preheat your oven to 375
    2. Add sausage to a pan and cook (Crumble it down as it cooks)
    3. Once sausage is cooked remove it from the pan and place in the glass baking sheet
    4. Clean out the pan but leave a little bit of sausage grease in it
    5. Add sweet potato to the pan as the sweet potato cooks add the onion to the pan
    6. Add seasonings to the pan and mix with potatoes and onion
    7. While the potato and onion cook, Whisk eggs in a bowl and add hot sauce
    8. After the potatoes and onion are cooked down add them to the glass baking sheet
    9. Add the whisked eggs on top of the items in baking sheet make sure everything is covered
    10. Place baking dish in oven
    11. Cook for about 20 mins until the eggs are firm
    12. When you are ready to store let it cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge
    http://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/04/spanish_chorizo_tortilla/

    Sauteed Chicken with Cabbage and Onion

    entrees, , ,

    chicken-cabbage-onionYesterday I posted about my workout regiment that I have been doing or well that I started back up.  Yesterday however was not leg day, nope it was my first day of cardio.  The cardio routine surprisingly is very quick, yet effective.  If you have done HIIT then you know what I am referring to.  Essentially you can do the entire routine in under 25 minutes.  Yep thats it.  You can do this on any piece of cardio equipment that you feel comfortable with.  For me I prefer the elliptical.  So here is the routine in a nut shell.

     

    1. 2 Minute Warm Up
    2. 1.5 Minute at a good pace
    3. 30 Seconds full out
    4. Repeat Steps Two and Three 8 times
    5. 4 Minute Cool Down

    Thats it, pretty simple.

    Outside of that routine I have been working on some pretty interesting wordpress plugins that I will be publishing soon.  I will make sure that when I do publish them they will be put in to the wordpress plugin area.  I won’t release details about it right now just because its still brand new and in planning phase but specs are just about done and prototype will be in progress.  Pretty much that sums up anything new that has been going on, on to the recipe!

    This recipe is one of my favorites that I take with me to lunch and if you can’t tell that is my lunch dish in the picture lol.  So this is inspired with some Lebanese spice (Sumac) that I enjoy on my food but can be omitted if you do not have access to it.  My wife makes this dish for me about once a week for lunch, it fills the stomach and tastes great going down!

    Print
    Sauteed Chicken with Cabbage and Onion

    Ingredients

    • 1 Chicken Breast (Skin on) Cubed or 1 Leg Quarter Cubed
    • 1/2 White Onion
    • 2 Cloves Garlic Minced
    • 1 tsp Rosemary
    • 1 Cup Shredded Cabbage
    • Coconut Oil for the pan (You can use grass fed butter if you prefer)
    • A good dash or two of Sumac (if you do not have access to this you can substitute Lemon Juice)
    • Salt and Pepper to taste

    Instructions

    1. Put the Oil/Butter in the pan and let it heat up a bit
    2. While the pan is heating up add chicken, Salt and Pepper, Sumac, Rosemary to a bowl and mix
    3. Add chicken to the pan and cook
    4. Just as the chicken is about to finish add the cabbage, onion and garlic to pan
    5. Mix all ingredients together until the chicken is cooked
    6. Server, Eat and Enjoy
    http://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/04/sauteed-chicken-with-cabbage-and-onion/

    Homemade Sweet Pepper Hot Sauce

    sides, , ,

    Homemade Sweet Pepper Hot SauceIt seems to be a growing trend in my posts that things are getting hectic lol.  Well I am starting my exercise routine back up which is a good thing for me.  I welcome that type of hectic activity.  To be honest my workout hiatus lasted far to long and sadly I can say I missed working out.  I don’t really know why I say I sadly missed it, I think missing it is a good thing.  Anyway so yep I’m back at hitting the gym now.  I am still eating good and my energy levels are stable so to me its a good time to add in a few work outs.  My workout routine consists of 4 days of weights and 3 days of cardio.  My cardio routine is HIIT based which goes by really quick and my lifting days are 3 routines that just rotate, mainly day 1 is push based exercises, day 2 is pull based and lastly day 3 the all important legs.

    If you know what I am saying about leg day.. You don’t want to be that guy that ends up on the MEME of friends don’t let friends skip leg day.. you know…

    friend-dont-let-friends-skip-leg-day

    Man I love that MEME.  TO be honest though leg day is my favorite day of working out.  Probably because I do best on my legs.  I think all those years playing baseball and football paid off lol.  Favorite 2 exercises by far.. calf raises and leg presses.

     

    So yep that’s just a bit of my journey back to the gym which I know none of you are hear to listen to.  You are really hear about this awesome homemade hot sauce.  This is not your typical Tabasco hot sauce or Franks Red Hot.  This one yet again I am going to my wifes side of the family that my father in law has been making for some time.  Its a pickle based host sauce and you can put and pickle whatever you want in it.  The trick is pick a pepper that you find hot and use 2 of them in a mason jar. etc.  Anyway on to this recipe!

     

     

    Print
    Homemade Sweet Pepper Hot Sauce

    Ingredients

      Veggies you want to pickle I used
    • Sweet peppers, I used green, yellow, red and orange
    • Onions
    • Carrots
    • Cauliflower
    • A good pinch of salt
    • 2 jalapeno's
    • Apple Cider Vinegar

    Instructions

    1. Again all of this is to taste so add how much of each you want just make sure you leave enough room in the jar to be able to shake it
    2. The only trick here is to take one of the peppers and grind it down really good to extract the oils. Leave the seeds in and add that to your mason jar.
    3. Add all your veggies that you want to it and fill it up
    4. Top the jar with apple cider vinegar up to the top covering all the veggies,
    5. Seal and shake, let it sit for 24 hours
    http://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/03/homemade-sweet-pepper-hot-sauce/