This is going to be a rapid fire post. This past month has been one of the most personally and academically trying months of my life and I'm currently in the middle of a physiology (which is kicking my butt) and anatomy (the head.....) exam. However, I still have to keep eating and there are quadrupeds to take care of, so here's some of what's been going on in the last month.
Wait, but before we begin... I have to share a little nugget from a talk I went to. The speaker was a doctor from the nutritionist school who came to speak to us about the role of nutrition in cognitive performance. I had such high hopes when she showed a collage of books on the topic and included
Grain Brain. It turned out to be a waste of my time... her only conclusions were to supplement with "fish oil" (no specification on type or quality) and eat blueberries. Although she made an interesting point about what's normal for some cultures is gross in others (tripe was an example). Afterwards, I asked her what she eats in a day. It's a lot of fruit and granola and a little turkey, basically, and way under 2000 calories if she was being honest. Then my friend asked her what she would recommend eating for increasing focus. Her answer? Glucose. But that wasn't even the worst part of that hour. The worst was, as a human nutritionist, she briefly touched upon obesity and quality/quantity of calories and mentioned she didn't know if the mechanisms were the same in animals. Luckily, in a room of vets, a doctor from our nutrition department raised her hand and said, and I use quotes, because I quote, "It's only quantity. Quality of calories doesn't matter." Cue eye roll. Can't wait to have a rotation through that department...
Ok, on to food...
Somebody found a new bed...
..... now.
This was an "eat all the things day," if you know what I mean. I don't usually have a second lunch, but that's what it was. Banana chips and sardines and fermented carrots and ginger (Real Pickles brand) wrapped in nori.
I met Chris Kresser! I drove an hour to a small presentation and book-signing. He looks so much younger in person! Unfortunately, I may be saving this for spring break.
Planting seeds... My mom "went primal" for Lent last year and has really kept it up! Occasionally she'll have grain at a restaurant or vacation, but less and less as it doesn't live up to expectations. My brother does it for stints at a time, too. He feels better but he's a freshman in college and has trouble staying full enough. My father's making the teeniest and tiniest of baby steps too. After all the ranting and preaching I do, he had eggs for breakfast (instead of scones or croissants) a few weeks ago and before dinner very surprisingly remarked, "Wow, I was so full all day from those eggs, I didn't even have lunch!" If he'd listened, he wouldn't have been so surprised...
I made an amazing beef stew! It was just your normal ingredients (beef stew cubes, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and garlic) but I took the lid off to boil off some of the liquid, forgot about it for about 1 1/2 hours, and ended up with a very deliciously reduced stew.
Served here with chard in tallow and a sweet potato with coconut oil.
I braised a bunch of cabbage in the same pot from the stew. Braised it in bone broth, if you couldn't tell from that healthy jelly blob in the middle.
Cooked up a bunch of bison burgers for breakfasts for the week. I think this was the first time I actually pulled them off before they were done so I didn't end up with overcooked leftovers later.
I need all the tupperware I can get...
Breakfast one day (a weekend, from the looks of that light): a bison burger, mushrooms, and asparagus (speaking of which, I really need to stop having that for breakfast, or just not drink a lot in the morning, or just not use the restroom while at school.....)
This was a quick lunch: roast beef, avocado mashed with garlic sauerkraut, and leftover liver pate from Christmas (previously frozen, of course).
Oh, and we have mice. These two are generally good mousers, but either they're getting too old, or since they can't leave my apartment (but the mice can), they're having trouble.
I've almost run out of pork chops! I thought those would be so hard to get rid of from my half hog, but I haven't messed one up yet in my convection steam oven. Served here with blobs of Dijon mustard, chard, and asparagus.
Had another one for breakfast, served with broccoli, chard, and mango. I tried eating mango regularly, but my GI system is not up to the task. I was against buying something so obviously not local for a while, but I know mango's "supposed" to be good to the gut and the farmers' market ended a long time ago, I do all of my shopping at WFM or a local organic store anyway and... in the name of healing, right? Well, no. So I'm sticking with just citrus and berries for now.
After that breakfast, we braved the elements (possibly a bad idea) to drive to a nearby mountain (not a bad idea if we made it there, right? and the snow stopped before we left, right?). Took the car path to the top and back .
Brought a typical paleo snack: bone broth, jerky, and dates.
Dinner that night was herring with fresh parsley (splurge!) and lemon, asparagus, cabbage, and a sweet potato with a chuck of coconut butter melting on top.
Had to spend an unexpected night at home in NY, but it least it had a couple of bright sides - a hike with all four dogs and fresh monk fish liver with lemon (and avocado and chard) for breakfast.
Made a fresh ham (same recipe from Christmas, more or less) over caramelized carrots, parsnips, and onions, with a big purple sweet potato on the side.
So many vegetables! Made a big beef chuck roast over carrots, celery, butternut squash, onions, and garlic. I decided it was worth it to me to buy the bags of organic baby carrots to save time peeling and chopping. It's worth it right now...
Made a batch of pork spare ribs over cabbage, garlic, and onions for breakfast, served with asparagus here.
So many vegetables again! And I love these sweet potatoes... now these were totally local!
A bright and sunny weekend breakfast: more of the spare ribs, plus chard, Brussels sprouts, and grapefruit. I also went to the nearby Wegman's for the first time and found they sold
Zukay's kvass! Very exciting. This one here is the carrot and ginger, which I'm not crazy about, but I did like the beet one.
So many vegetables I couldn't even fit the meat on the plate! Leftover chuck roast vegetables with sweet potatoes and more mustard pork chops (one for dinner, one for later).
I bought plantains and three weeks later... I cooked them! I saw this GI for a summer and in the building next door was a little grocer with a pretty elaborate hot bar. As I left, I always got white rice, sweet potatoes, and sweet plantains, which were so good and gooey. I'd made plantain "chips," or patties, or burgers, or something, a few times, but I never really knew how to make them sweet. Or I would try to let them ripen, and they never would properly. But this time the stars aligned and it worked. I used
this recipe, substituting with coconut oil and maple syrup. I burned them a little, but they turned out well and tasted just like French toast.
Also, I got a salt lamp for Christmas!
A breakfast of mako shark (with dried cilantro), mushrooms, and chard. You're seeing leafy greens so much because I seem to be digesting them better these days. Go figure.
For the first time, with the physio exam coming up, I bought a roasted chicken at WFM. Not nearly as good as roasting one at home (when it goes well, not when it would set off the smoke alarm... if I had one), but was good enough (as long as I don't think too long about where it came from). Made for a good snack on the ride home (let's be real here). I reheated it in the oven, which is why it's missing from this picture, but I had it for dinner one night with lots of Brussels sprouts and the last of my purple sweet potatoes.
Here's what's left of the chicken. Am I the only one who pulls off what I can for meals, and then for the last leftovers, just heat up the carcass and pick at it? No? Well, I wasted nothing, and the thoroughly cleaned carcass is sitting in the freezer, waiting for the next broth batch. Served here with broccoli and a sweet potato (tallow and coconut oil, respectively... typical).
And... finally... this was today's lunch. Roast beef stuffed with mustard and avocado or a Bubbie's pickle and mustard, with broccoli and asparagus.
If you didn't notice, this is my new partner/sous chef/hiking buddy/etc. My previous one is safer and happier. Explanation to come... maybe.
Rest in peace, little mamma. You will be sorely missed.
