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Friday, November 26, 2010

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!



Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

It's been about a year since I really got into "Primal" eating and living and I am endlessly thankful that I did! It was a long road getting here, through years of all kinds of diets and nutrition styles, from classic vegetarian, to mostly macrobiotic, to raw vegan to omnivore and then to Primal. It's been so nice to try something and finally get results. My health isn't perfect, but it's vastly closer to perfect than it's been in my adult life. That's such a big deal to me!

I'm thankful I found such a big piece of the puzzle and that the piece turned out to be something easy and even, dare I say, fun? I've regained my love of cooking (now that I actually have the energy to cook;)


Right now, I'm in the kitchen, listening to Luxuria Music (best music ever for cooking up a storm) and taking a procrastination break now that I've just finished my cranberry apricot sauce.
Next up, I'm going to make a hazelnut-pecan crusted Primal pumpkin pie. I'll be using the recipe from This Primal Life as my touchstone but I'm going for a hazelnut/pecan crust instead of almond flour. I may or may not be drooling, just thinking about it (take a guess which!)

Tomorrow, hubby is on turkey duty. It's nice eating turkey after 16 years of no meat. Bring on the bird and the gravy!

I'm so thankful to have a number of Primal and Primal-friendly friends and family members, so I'm especially looking forward to this meal, which will have all kinds of goodies that I can eat and not suffer from, with the exception of the inevitable carbohydrate coma I'll be in. But, hey, it's Thanksgiving. There's NO way I'm staying lower carb! Not even going to try! I'll go back to being a good girl after the holiday.

I hope everyone of you enjoys the holiday and all that you have to be thankful for, even if it's just one little thing. One little thing is better than nothing!

-Erin

Friday, November 19, 2010

Sweet Potato Fries



















I am such a sucker for orange veggies (with the exception of carrots!). I have so much fun in the fall with sweet potatoes and winter squashes. Right now my carbohydrate intake is a little higher than normal because of these yummies, but I want to take advantage of seasonal food and I believe that there is wisdom in eating with the seasons.

I recently learned that what we call "yams" in our grocery stores, are actually sweet potato varieties and real yams are hard to come by unless you get them at an Asian or Caribbean market (you just KNOW I'm going to try to find some, now!)
Mark's Daily Apple recently posted on this difference, and though I was a little bummed to find out I've probably never had a real yam, I'm looking forward to trying to fine one. I like a food challenge.

I've been making a lot of sweet potato fries because they're so easy. I get the pre-cut fries from Trader Joe's, but you could also take a little time and chop up a bunch of fries to make throughout the week. It's way less work that way and you have them in the fridge, waiting to be baked.

There's quite a lot of variety to be had in baking fries and here are some ideas:
Cinnamon
Garlic granules (not garlic powder. Big difference!) Yes, garlic granules are really yummy on sweet potato fries; just use a light hand!
Garam Masala
Chinese Five Spice
For spicy fries, my special blend of garlic granules, paprika, and cayenne and salt. Not TOO much cayenne, now!

PS- they're really nice to eat with breakfast/brunch, too!


Sweet Potato Fries

Heat oven to 400ยบ
Mix fries with melted coconut or palm oil (use only organic palm oil) and salt/spices
Bake for 12-15 minutes

These will not be really crispy, but more soft with crispy bits, just like the picture above. I love this texture.

See how easy it is? You're going to want to make them all the time;)
Eat up!
-Erin