Tag Archives: nutrition

Wow, so I have been a little absent on the blog lately, but the good news is that my absence is due to me getting the job at Carpe Vino. I have been working full time so it has been interesting to find a balance and a routine but I think I have finally worked out the kinks as to how to spend more time on here. I have also been able to make it back to Crossfit thanks to Coach E! Although I am basically having to start over, and it is sad seeing how much strength and fitness I lost.. I am extremely happy to be back at it. I almost forgot what it was like to be sore EVERYWHERE. It hurts so good.

I am not completely sure of my work schedule now that the restaurant is open Sundays, but I do know that I will at least have every Monday off. Therefore, I will try and get a recipe post up every Monday. Hope you are ready for Monday suppers!

My Kryptonite

January 14, 2013

Uncategorized

Day Five and an End of a Chapter

January 10, 2013

Uncategorized

False Start

January 5, 2013

Uncategorized

2 Comments

It is not usually a good sign when there is a pretty big blogging break in the middle of a Whole30 challenge. As you may have guessed, or assumed, we had a false start. ( That is what I am calling it for now.) We all decided that it would be best for us to start after New Years and after my birthday which was on the third, and my roomies birthday, which is today. I REALLY wanted birthday sushi, and although my other roomie Anna isn’t doing whole30 we didn’t want to have to worry about eating whole30 at wherever she decided to go for her birthday.

So this means we restart our whole30 challenge tomorrow. Call me crazy but I am excited. I normally wouldn’t recommend being so anal about the food you eat. The whole30 challenge is TOUGH. Eating in a restaurant and knowing your food is 100% whole30 is nearly impossible. Planning ahead is the key to a successful whole30. It takes a lot of work and thought to just simply eat. I wouldn’t live my whole life this way…but if you are someone who normally doesn’t really think about what you are eating, or know what is in your food, this is a great way to be more aware of what you put in your body. The best part is… it is ONLY 30 days.

I am going to confess now, that although I will be 100% whole30 compliant at home, I am not going to sacrifice the way my food tastes at school. This is my last quarter of culinary school so I am going to have to draw the line here. Since this is my second time participating in the whole30 challenge I already know what foods my body is not so fond of. I know that the Hartwigs ( the creators of the whole30/whole9 program) say that you never have to eat anything you don’t want to and that there are no excuses… well I beg to differ. Sorry Hartwigs, I need to graduate…and find a job. So I need to taste my food before I serve it to a chef. My reputation is on the line here!

If you want to know more about what you can and cannot eat on the whole30 or would like to follow along, PLEASE read this first: http://whole9life.com/2012/08/the-whole30-program/

Updates!

December 26, 2012

Uncategorized

Get Your Galentine

September 15, 2012

Uncategorized

2 Comments

Another quarter of culinary school is coming to a close. It is crazy how fast this quarter went by…and only two more to go until graduation!

Our Groups Goods

My Canapes: Cherry Tomato relish with feta cheese on baguette

For our final this quarter, we had to make 12 identical Canapes ( appetizers ), 4 identical dinner salads, breakfast sausage, and chicken galentines. Chicken galentines are probably one of the oddest things I have ever had to make, but when done right, they are also oddly delicious. This quarters final was probably one of the most relaxed finals I have ever done, but despite the relaxed atmosphere I still decided to be my usual high strung self and prepare a galentine at home the night before. Since I am currently doing the Whole30 ( day 14!!! ) I decided to make a paleo version.

So what is a Galentine? You may be wondering… well, in a way it is basically a sausage that is encased in chicken skin. First you have to skin a chicken….

If this creeps you out, you are completely normal.

After you skin the chicken, you want to reserve the chicken breasts. You will be pounding these out and wrapping them in the skin along with the rest of the meat. While you make the stuffing place the chicken skin on a sheet tray with parchment paper and chill it in the freezer. This makes it easier to handle when you are stuffing it. Remember to reserved the breasts, and take as much meat off the wings, thighs, etc and put them in a bowl. ( yes chicken livers too! ) You will be grinding this up in a food processor.
Paleo Galentine Ingredients:

Chicken Meat from 1 chicken Carcass

8 oz. ground beef

1/2 can coconut milk

2 Tbs. Penzy’s Arizona Dreaming spice mix or a mix of paprika, oregano, garlic, cumin, chili powder….

2 egg whites

Sauteed mushrooms

Salt to taste

For reduction:

1/2 cup Chick Stock

1 Shallots, finely chopped

4 cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 cup Red wine vinegar
First, you want to get started on your sauteed mushrooms and reduction so that it has time to cool before adding it to your meat.

Sautee your shallots and garlic in a pan until the shallots are translucent. Then add your red wine vinegar to the pan. ( if you are not doing the whole 30 than you can use regular wine. )
Then, add your stock to the pan and let the mixture reduce to about 1/2 its original volume.
Remove from stove and let cool. It is quicker if you put it in a new container and place it in the freezer/fridge.

Now for the fun part:

Place the chicken meat, and ground beef in a food processor and pulse until it is semi smooth. Add your spice mix, and salt.

Next add the egg whites and coconut milk. Pulse in the food processor until it smooth. Add your shallot and garlic reduction and pulse again.

Remove the mixture from the food processor and place in a bowl. Fold in the sauteed mushrooms.
You are going to want to check the seasonings on your filling before you go to the next step. To do this, take a small amount of your meat mixture and form it into a patty. Cook it up in a small pan and test it to see if it is seasoned to your liking. Test and season until you are satisfied. Always taste your food as you go.

Once your filling is seasoned to your liking it is time to wrap it up in your chicken skin.

Place your pounded out chicken breast in the center of the chicken skin. Then place your stuffing on top of it. Do not over stuff your chicken skin. Then roll your chicken skin and truss it like a roast…

Don’t judge my horrible trussing job.

Traditionally, galentines are poached…but I hate the texture of poached chicken skin…pale and rubbery skin is not really appetizing to me. Chicken skin should be crispy and delicious so I roasted mine. After trussing the galentine I placed it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or until it reached an internal temperature of 165.

It is actually starting to look edible

Chicken Galentine with salsa verde, salad with a pear vinaigrette, and roasted zucchini

After letting the galentine rest for a few minutes, I sliced it up and served it with some roasted tomatillo salsa, a salad, and roasted zucchini. Yum.

You probably have absolutely no desire to actually make this do you? Well, if that is the case, maybe I can just make it for you sometime.

If you are looking for something a bit easier my next post will be on how to render fat. The lard you find in the grocery stores is not the real deal. It is basically just shortening and contains hydrogenated oil. It is time you render your own fat! I didn’t name the blog Render The Fat for nothing!

Whole 30

September 3, 2012

Uncategorized

12 Comments

I am day two and knee deep into the Whole 30. If you don’t know what the Whole 30 is than you can check it out here. It is basically a strict version of Paleo…It’s just 100% paleo for 30 days. No cheat days, slip-ups…or paleoifying desserts. I am the queen of Paleo desserts a.k.a. “sex with your pants on.”However, for those of you that know me, you will know that giving up the Paleo desserts is not the hardest part. See, I had a little vice…that vice, was energy drinks. I know. *gasp* how could you?!!! Well, I am one and a half days clean and sober…which is about a half day more than I have been since I started drinking them. I prepared myself for the worst. Withdrawals which included headaches, fatigue, grumpiness….etc. but honestly, I feel pretty damn good. I realize that I am probably not experiencing these symptoms because I am substituting energy drinks with coffee…but hey, coffee is allowed on the whole 30 AND I do not think it is bad for you. So bite me. I am still learning to like coffee, so I am actually enjoying a bit more kombucha due to its similar taste and carbonation to energy drinks.

Normally I would have an energy drink while I blogged

It feels good to be chemical free…and I feel good in general. I even felt good enough for a few workouts over the holiday weekend with my friend and fellow CrossFitter/Paleo blogger Molly.

Crossfit workouts are a little limited when the gym is closed for the weekend, but we did our best. Yesterday we used a playground for our workout and let everyone and their mom (literally) watch us get our WOD on. Funny how “odd” we may have looked, and the moms walking by with cigarettes in their mouths didn’t even get a second glance. What is the norm these days is pretty sad, but Molly reminded me how important it is that we were there…you have to inspire people somehow right? For today’s WOD we hopped up some steps on the football field and went for a short trail run. Of course, the trail run was my favorite part. I have lived in this town for years and have yet to utilize the trails. Running with no music, or anything to track my distance, pace, or time was liberating and the view of the canyon was amazing. I am thinking these trail runs need to happen more often. I am realizing I don’t have much of a balance when it comes to doing something for no reason other than for pure enjoyment. Part of the Whole 30 is addressing every aspect of your life. Stress, sleep, nutrition…etc.. So it is interesting to see the imbalances in my life and how I need to work on them. There is lots of work to be done.

I am still trying to decide whether or not I will document my whole 30 challenge. I might just keep this one on the DL but will try and post some recipes or etc. when I can. Unless of course you think otherwise. Let me know. Do you want me to document my Whole 30 journey?

Mastermart

August 18, 2012

Uncategorized

1 Comment

I don’t watch a whole lot of TV these days…but one of my favorite shows on TV to watch is Masterchef. However, I am getting tired of seeing them advertise Walmart beef on the show. Here is a little clip from last weeks show:

There are a few things I have to say about this….

#1 The word “stunning” used to describe this industrialized corn fed beef is not a word I would ever use to describe it. “future recall” or “false advertising” might be better describing words.
#2 Grant makes sure to emphasize Walmart as the generous provider…which “sells the highest quality choice steak.” The highest quality choice steak? There is no high and low quality “choice” its all the same grade. Grading only focuses on intramuscular fat..a.k.a. marbling..not nutritional content, how it was raised, what it was fed..etc. Any “higher” and the grade would be “prime” and lower and the grade would be “select”.
#3 Notice that Ramsay acknowledged the cut of beef, but didn’t promote or acknowledge that it came from Walmart? That is because he knows better than to promote industrialized Grade A shit…he is executive producer of the show however, so he doesn’t get off the hook that easy. Come on Ramsay…Walmart?? Really?

I did a little more research and hopped on over to Walmarts website to see if I could see where these “high quality choice” steaks came from…. I found absolutely nothing.

Masterchef may not have sparked my interest in buying Walmart beef, but it has made me curious to know where it comes from.

What are your thoughts? Where do you get your beef?

What’s Got Your Goat?

June 25, 2012

Uncategorized

1 Comment

It’s Monday, and you love your life. Don’t deny it.

Well, if you are not feeling much love for your life at the moment than you should enter my giveaway if you have not yet done so. I know I would love my life if I won an awesome jar of coconut oil, but i’d hate my life if I missed the opportunity to do so. The giveaway ends tonight at 10pm! Time is running out people. Enter Here.

Just in case you don’t win, I have a little recipe to cheer you up. I know it is supposed to be “Meatless Monday” and all, but instead of going meatless I decided I would go beef-less. I went with 100% grassfed goat from Flying Mule Farms instead.

I ended up getting two of these little guys, trimming them up a bit ( removed as much of the silver skin as possible ) and making a curry/stew out of it. You are also welcome to use lamb, or beef in this dish but if you can get your hands on some goat, I highly recommend it. I found the goat to be less gamey than lamb, and rather tender. This recipe is actually one that has been adapted from my Latin Cuisine class. I believe we used lamb but it comes from Trinidad where using goat would be more authentic. Believe it or not, goat is actually pretty popular in other countries and is a very sustainable meat, but for some reason us Americans prefer beef. Onto the recipe!

Curried Kid

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. Lime Juice

1 lime cut into wedges

1 Tbs. sea salt

1 1/2 pounds of boneless lamb or goat ( cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes )

2 Tbs. coconut oil

1 cup onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons of tamarind pulp ( usually found in the ethnic cuisine part of the store. Make sure to buy seedless or else you will have a fun time picking out the seeds by hand…unless your into that…) Never used tamarind pulp? Consult Dr. Google. Here.

1 cup green mango, peeled and diced about 1/2 inch cubes

1 Tbs. curry powder

1 jalepeno pepper, seeded, minced

1 cup tomatoes peeled, seeded OR since tomatoes are not quite in season or yet you can use one 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes.

1 Cup of chicken stock

1 cup of potatoes, peeled and diced ( optional if you don’t do potatoes or if you can sub white potatoes for sweet potatoes )

1 Cup Kohlrabi, peeled and diced ( you can find this at the farmers market, whole foods and even Raleys right now. )

1 Tbs. Fresh Thyme, chopped

1 tsp. fresh lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

1 large spaghetti squash

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

First you are going to want to get your spaghetti squash baked so that you have it ready to serve with the stew.

Place your spaghetti squash face down on a sheet pan and bake until tender. ( usually around 30-40 minutes but keep an eye on it. )

1. Combine the 1 tablespoon of lime juice, lime quarters, sea salt, and meat with one cup of water. cover and allow to stand for 30 minutes. ( meanwhile prep the rest of your ingredients.

2. Drain your meat and pat dry. ( make sure to dry it off really well or else it won’t brown properly ).

Heat coconut oil over medium-high heat and brown the meat on all sides. Remove the meat.

3. Add onions; cook 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown. Add garlic, tamarind pulp, mango, curry powder, and jalapeno pepper. Cook, stirring for 3 to 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook 2 minutes. Return meat to the pan; cook 2 to 3 minutes to make sure that the meat is coated with the spice mixture. Add the stock.

4. Bring to a simmer, add kohlrabi, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.

5. Add potatoes, and cover and simmer 30 minutes or until meat and vegetables are tender. Stir in the fresh thyme, 1 teaspoon of lime juice and correct seasonings.

6. Serve hot over spaghetti squash.

Bon Appetite

Day #30 The End?

May 5, 2012

Uncategorized

2 Comments

Day #30 has come and gone. It felt weird making my breakfast this morning and not snapping a photo of it before I dug in…so I snapped a quick photo anyways. I think I have created an odd habit. Taking pictures of my food has worked its way into my routine. Uh oh.

I may take a few days off from posting about my food but I have a feeling I will be back with more very soon…perhaps something a bit more challenging. We shall see.

Now on with the days food!

Breakfast

Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, dill, and sweet potatoes.

If you still have not tried smoked salmon in your scrambled eggs… you don’t know what you are missing out on. I suggest you try it immediately.

Not only did I survive yesterdays WOD but I also had the opportunity to cook lunch for my friend Laura and her little one Claire. ( well, Claire had a sandwich with almond butter and jelly ).

Salmon with red and golden beets, ( glazed with coconut oil, chicken stock, and raw honey ), and brussel sprouts.

I was a little nervous serving beets and brussel sprouts to Laura…little did I know it was the first time she had tried either of these vegetables. If you have had beets before, you know they have what we call in the culinary world an “earthy” flavor. A.K.A. it tastes like dirt. They are kind of an acquired taste…but luckily Laura isn’t a picky eater and enjoyed the beets and the brussel sprouts. Mission accomplished.

Another concern when serving fish is that people are not used to #1 eating the skin, #2 seeing it served skin side up, and #3 are used to it being served to them over-cooked. Laura asked me before she started eating “Can you eat the skin?”. Yes. You can indeed eat the skin. If it is served nice and crispy of course.

Dinner

Salad of of leftovers

For a post-workout meal I made a salad out of leftovers from lunch. The only thing I had to slice up was mushrooms and avocados. I added a bit of balsamic vinegar and dinner was done!

And that my friends concludes my thirty days of Paleo…or does it?

—Render The Fat

Archive

Tag Archives: nutrition

Quick Life Update

My Kryptonite

Day Five and an End of a Chapter

False Start

Updates!

Get Your Galentine

Whole 30

Mastermart

What’s Got Your Goat?

Day #30 The End?

Follow “Render The Fat”