(Sort of) Recent Eats

Quick and dirty run-down of some late November meals:

This is one of my favorite lunches to make. It needs to be made in advance, to allow the nori to get soft, but it's so so good. And once it's made, it's fast and easy to eat!

"Sushi:" (Pal-ushi? Lazy person's sashimi?)

• A can/pouch/what-have-you of salmon (but I've used other fish as well)
• Avocado
• Fermented vegetables (sauerkraut, kimchi, whatever)
• Coconut aminos
• Toasted sesame oil
• Nori, as above
• Maybe some grated/dry ginger or garlic (if it's not already in your fermented vegetables)

Roll it up and let it sit! Then enjoy a pretty fancy lunch! 

 Pretty simple meal (I probably ate it for all three):

Brussel sprouts, cooked in bacon fat or tallow, and pork breakfast sausage (this was before I finished clearing out my non-AIP items).

This was a pretty exciting concoction: 

• Loose pork breakfast sausage
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Cranberries

Sauteed and stuffed in a (unfortunately tasteless) roasted pumpkin! I don't know if I would bother with a whole pumpkin again (I had two and they were both pretty bland) but this is definitely a saute to make again (and again and again... once I'm off strict AIP or if I make my own sausage spices). 

This breakfast was exciting! It's my first time introducing whole-fruit citrus back into my diet. I've been using lemon and lime juice for several months now, but I had yet to eat any citrus fruit and this grapefruit tasted so good! It's funny how I used to sprinkle sugar on my grapefruits, because this was very sweet on its own. Served with more breakfast sausage and more vegetables than a vegetarian (carrots and kale)!

And finally...... MY HALF HOG SHARE!

I was afraid it wouldn't fit in my freezer, but there was room to spare!

Seriously, it was like Christmas came early (for both of us)!

And such personal service put a smile on my face! 

Seriously, this half-hog business is the way to go. It all came out to about $5/lb AND when I got there, several people didn't want their organs and I got about 10 lbs of bones for free because the farmer just wanted to clear out his freezer. Unfortunately they've moved so I'm not sure if they will be back in the area, but if they are, next time I might try a lamb share. 

And to wrap it up, one of our last PChem lectures posed a question along these lines:

"Do you think a low carbohydrate, high protein, low fat diet is a good way to treat a human with diabetes mellitus?"

Our professor's answer was a resounding yes! He told us a story of an old friend of his (who taught at the med school) who had DM and could no longer read/prepare his lectures due to diabetes cataracts. At his wit's end, and against the advice of his doctors (including his peers), he adopted the Atkins diet. And voila! much of his sight was restored and he regained much of his health. Unfortunately, he has since passed away, but our professor went on to talk about the benefits of keep insulin low and why Atkins had a lot going for him. He expressed utter confusion as to why MDs still suggest high carbohydrate diets for DM patients, but then again, one of his catch phrases is, "MDs know nothing," so...

In addition, at one point he asked us, "So... do you think starvation is a good way to get an animal to lose weight?" after talking about the body's coping mechanisms during survival, including things like cortisol response and protein metabolism. Again, the answer was no, which was music to my ears! I wonder (hope) if some of my classmates' minds were blown...