Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti Sauce

1. Chop up 10lbs of tomatoes, boil down into sauce

2. Add a large can of tomato paste (or equivalent of homemade paste if you have it)

3. Add in spices and simmer for 1 - 2 hours
1 TB cumin
2 tsp chipotle chili pepper
4 TB fresh basil
4 TB fresh oregano
1 TB smoked paprika
1 bulb garlic (crushed)

4. Chop ~6-8 cups of veggies, add to sauce, cook until tender (e.g. onions, peppers, mushrooms, celery, zucchini)

5. Cook 2lbs of ground meat (your choice .. I like beef + sausage) and add to sauce. Simmer.

Sweet Potato Chili

Sweet Potato Chili

Tomato Base
1. Chop up 10lbs of tomatoes, boil down into sauce

2. Add a large can of tomato paste (or equivalent of homemade paste if you have it)

3. Add in spices and simmer for 1 - 2hours
1 TB cumin
1 TB chili powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chipotle chili pepper
2 TB fresh basil
2 TB fresh oregano
1 TB smoked paprika
1 bulb garlic (crushed)
2 TB red wine vinegar

Chili

4. Chop veggies, add to sauce, cook until tender
2 sweet peppers, diced
1 yellow zucchini, grated
1 large onion, diced
bunch of mushrooms, diced :)
2 large sweet potatoes, diced

5. Cook 2lbs of ground meat (your choice .. I like beef + boar) and add to chili. Simmer.

NorCal Margarita

As some of you already know, in addition to getting geeked out on all this nutrition and fitness stuff, I am also a software developer. As much as I love developing software, I am also a big fan of getting out and being social. This was my primary motivation for joining my local user group and then subsequently becoming a co-organizer. If you are in the Fredericton area feel free to check us out at http://frederictonug.net. The group is not only for software developers but IT folks in general so feel free to come out and socialize a bit.

So what exactly does this have to do with the NorCal Margarita? Well we generally hit up the Garrison Ale House post-meeting to have a drink and socialize outside of the usual classroom style atmosphere. While I love my beer (and the Garrison has a huge international beer menu), beer does not always love me. So lately my drink of choice for post-meeting has been the NorCal Margarita, made famous by Robb Wolf himself.

Last night a few folks got curious enough to try it with me, and then inquired about why I chose this drink. Robb mentions the drink in his book (The Paleo Solution) but does not really go into the 'why' about it. I did remember looking it up once but the explanation escaped me at the moment.

So, for those interested here it is.

NorCal Margarita

• 2 shots of 100% agave tequila (I prefer Patron Silver as its the only decent tequila in NB)
• Juice & Pulp of one lime
• Shake it all up with some ice
• Add soda water to taste

I generally half the recipe when I'm out as two shots is one shot too many for me in a social atmosphere where I also plan to drive home in a couple hours (don't drink and drive folks!).

So WHY is this an effective drink. Here are the goods on what I could find.

• Tequila is delicious.
• Tequila is fermented agave juice, which makes it gluten- or and starch-free. Gluten, as nutrition geeks know, is a gut irritant and just generally bad stuff, and starches are way too dense with unnecessary carbs.
• Lime juice blunts the insulin response of the alcohol, maintaining your precious and hard-earned insulin sensitivity.
• The lime juice also provides a net alkaline load when it gets to the blood stream, which is a good thing. Most other foods provide a net acid load, and it’s nice to balance that out.
• The carbon dioxide bubbles in the soda water help get the ethanol into your blood more quickly. This has the practical effect of allowing you to drink a bit less for the same effect.

So there you have it. Minimal damage, maximum gain :D

Pork, Apple, Potato Bake

Pork / Apple / Potato Bake

Ingredients

• 4 pork chops
• 2 - 3 cups sweet potato
• 4 honey crisp apples
• sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg
• drizzle of maple syrup
• coconut oil

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish with coconut oil
3. Cube the pork chops, sweet potato, and apple and place in the dish
4. Melt a couple tablespoons of coconut oil and drizzle it over the mixture
5. Sprinkle the whole thing with cinnamon and nutmeg
6. Drizzle some maple syrup and then mix the whole thing together
7. Place in the oven for 30 - 45 minutes

Paleo Spaghetti

Paleo Spaghetti Noodles

1. Take 1 large spaghetti squash and cut in half, remove seeds
2. Place face down in a baking dish and add water until it covers the bottom of the squash
3. Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes or until a knife cuts through easily
4. Let the squash cool and then shred the inside using a fork

Paleo Spaghetti Sauce (aka regular spaghetti suace)



Ingredients:

• 8 large tomatoes
• 1/2 C olive oil
• 2 small cans organic tomato paste
• 1 TB basil
• 1 TB oregano
• 4 tsp paprika
• 1 TB chilli powder
• 4 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 5 cloves garlic

• 2 sweet peppers, any colour
• 3 - 4 stalks celery
• 1 large onion
• 1 large portobello
• 1 lbs ground beef
• 1 lbs ground 'other' (can use boar, emu, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, whatever)
• 1 TB red wine vinegar

1. Dice the tomatoes and dump into a pot with the olive oil and bring to a boil. Once the tomatoes start to break down into small pieces, add the tomato paste, all the listed spices and the red wine vinegar.
2. Turn the heat down and let the sauce simmer for 1 hour.
3. Dice all the vegetables and add to the sauce, simmer for another hour.
4. Cook the ground meat in a separate pan then combine with the sauce and let the whole thing simmer for awhile. The longer you let it simmer the more flavorful it will be.