Dressings, Marinades, Rubs & Sauces

Roasted Beet and Cucumber Salad with Yogurt Dressing

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roasted beet and cucumber salad with yogurt dressing

roasted beet and cucumber salad with yogurt dressing

We planted some chiogga beets this year. Ordinarily I buy vegetable plant seedlings and transplant them into our raised garden beds. But because these are heirloom beets we ordered the seeds online and that meant planting them ourselves. So we’re kind of proud of these beets. It was fun for the boys to see what comes from a little seed they planted themselves. Here’s Nathaniel with a few of our crop.

Chiogga beets

We may have let them grow a little bigger than what is best for flavor. Smaller beets tend to be tastier.

Here’s what chiogga beets look like when you slice them. They are kind of mesmerizing if you stare too long.

chiogga beet slice

Even though chiogga beets would have worked perfectly well in this roasted beet and cucumber salad, the ones I used this time were “regular” beets. Still delicious, still beautiful and nutritious – cancer-fighting, actually. I remember my aunt Norma making a beet and cucumber salad when I was a kid. I have no idea what was in it other than beets and cucumbers and some sort of creamy sauce. But I do remember it was really tasty so you might say this recipe is an homage to Aunt Norma!

The yogurt dressing in this version is close to a tzatziki sauce with garlic and mint. I just love the combination of cool cucumbers, sweet roasted beets with a garlicky yogurt sauce. It’s a perfect (primal) summer side dish.

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Heirloom Tomato Salad with Garlic Scape and Kale Dressing

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heirloom tomatoes by window

If I were a better gardener and lived a little farther (further?) south I MIGHT have grown these heirloom tomatoes myself.

But I’m not and I don’t and I didn’t.

So, instead, what we have here are heirlooms I found at a standard grocery store and Costco. But let’s not turn up our noses shall we? Look how gorgeous.

heirloom tomatoes by window

The whole time I was taking these photographs I was pondering what to do with the heirloom tomatoes. We needed a side dish to go with our roasted chicken dinner. Tomato, cucumber and avocado salads are always a big hit around our house so I thought that might be nice.

heirloom tomatoes bowl

But these tomatoes seemed to cry out for something a little different.

heirloom tomatoes

After all, they are special…and beautiful and, well, heirloomy.

heirloom tomatoes vertical

Then I remembered I was in possession of another, rather unique, ingredient.

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Endive, Watercress and Radish Salad With Walnuts and Goat Cheese

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When I was a kid I remember my father taking our family out to dinner at a “fancy” restaurant in Dallas for a special occasion. The nature of the special occasion eludes me all these many years later but, oddly enough, I still remember the salad. Perhaps that is one mark of a true food lover. We reckon everything in terms of what we were eating at the time. The memorable salad marking that particular experience was dominated by Belgian style endive. (Pronounced “on-deeve”*) It is a vegetable I had not encountered prior to that day and it struck me as very exotic. Even though endive is not a food I have eaten regularly over the years I still associate it with high-caliber restaurants and recipes.

Knowing my husband is a fan of the more bitter flavors, I decided to use endive to create a unique salad for him on Father’s Day. This salad combines crunchy, slightly bitter endive with refreshing watercress and spicy radishes. It’s topped with toasted walnuts and creamy goat cheese and dressed with an extra virgin olive oil and white balsamic vinaigrette. The sweetness of the white balsamic vinegar is a nice contrast to the bitter and spicy flavors of the vegetables.

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Basic Mayonnaise Recipe for Your Paleo Diet

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Paleo mayonnaise recipeMy husband abhors mayonnaise with a passion. Despite this, both of our boys ended up being fans of mayonnaise just like their mom. If you find yourself on the pro-mayonnaise side, and want to avoid inflammatory oils, this recipe for Basic Paleo Mayonnaise is for you.

Why Make Your Own Paleo Mayonnaise at Home?

One of the main reasons I like to make my own mayo is it is almost impossible to find a brand in the grocery store that is not made with soybean oil (yuck!). And any food made with soybean oil is, by definition, a low quality food. And it’s not just soybean oil we should try to avoid, it’s any highly (high temperature and pressure) processed vegetable or seed oil. Sadly, these oils are in virtually all commercial mayonnaise and salad dressing products.

What Type of Oil Should Be Used in Paleo Mayonnaise?

Rather than soybean, canola or grapeseed, using extra virgin olive oil is a much more healthful choice. The challenge with olive oil (besides making sure it really IS olive oil!) is the flavor can sometimes be too strong to work well in mayonnaise. My recipe recommends you use regular olive oil, sometimes called “light” or “extra light” olive oil, instead of the usual Extra Virgin Olive Oils.

Here’s the one I used this time.extra light olive oil

Another option is to use something like avocado oil which has a mild to neutral flavor but, unfortunately, without the same level of health benefits as good olive oil.

What are Some of the Challenges with Making Mayo at Home?

One of the fears people have in making their own mayo is the use of raw eggs*. In reality, the risk of getting salmonella is fairly low. The risk is even lower if you use farm fresh eggs and, as it says on the carton, you CAN taste the difference.Eggs for paleo mayonnaise recipe

Check out these beautiful, farm fresh eggs from one of my neighbors.

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Paleo at Penzey’s

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It was a cold autumn evening and I was on my way to a Christmas concert in a nearby town when I spied a brand-spanking-new Penzey’s store. Had it not been for a slew of paleo food blogs I have seen referencing Penzey’s, the significance might have been utterly lost on me. But I knew immediately I would be making the trek back the following day to check it out up close and personal. In fact, I even managed to convince G to come along which meant we dragged our two boys as well.

Penzey’s is the top on-line seller of over 250 herbs, spices and seasoning blends from around the world. They have also branched out with several retail stores. Ordinarily when I see a recipe that contains a spice mix ingredient I just move on to something else. It has always seemed a bit presumptuous on the part of the person creating the recipe that we readers would necessarily have that particular spice mix on hand. Not only that, but while my kitchen cabinets are filled with a fairly respectable assortment of herbs and spices, I have never been big on spice mixes. So many of them have salt or sugar or MSG or the confounding “natural flavors” or all of the above that I was simply not interested. But after seeing Penzey’s referenced so many times I figured it would be worthwhile to investigate and I’m glad I did.

Penzey's bumper sticker

While ordering spices online is a perfectly reasonable thing to do – especially if you do not have access to a Penzey’s retail store – there is just something wonderful and sensual about being able to see and smell the offerings before making a selection. The Penzey’s store we visited was warm and inviting with a peaceful ambience and a friendly staff. The spices were well organized and most, if not all, of them were available to smell. There was even a small area for children to sit where they could draw pictures to be displayed on the store walls. While the boys were safely ensconced in the art area, G and I proceeded to sniff almost every herb, spice and mix in the store. A few more than once.

Here is what we brought home with us.

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Pomegranate Raspberry Chipotle Sauce and Glaze

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pomegranate

pomegranateChipotle peppers have become my secret weapon in cooking. This pomegranate raspberry chipotle sauce and glaze is not only delicious it is absolutely gorgeous, nutrient dense and easy. The chipotle peppers give it a “kick” that melds perfectly with the fruity flavors.

pom pomegranate juice

I found a similar recipe years ago from Emeril Lagasse that used only raspberries and it was amazing! This time I’m using about half the fresh raspberries and instead using fresh pomegranate seeds and pomegranate juice. Instead of the recommended 3/4 cup of sugar I only used 1/4 cup of honey in the recipe. The sweetness comes from the addition of pomegranate juice that is reduced down until it is just the right balance of sweetness and spice.

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Holiday Turkey Brine: Part 3 – Roasting the Turkey

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Over the last several days, in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday, I have done a trial run of brining and roasting a turkey.  In the first post, Holiday Turkey Brine, I provided a recipe for a brine that makes enough for a twenty pound turkey.  The second installment was Holiday Turkey Brine: Part Two – Brining the Turkey. Today I want to show exactly how I prepared and roasted this brined turkey.

My bird was on the smaller side – a mere 13-14 pounds. Here’s a general guide for how much you will need:

12-15 lb turkey for 10-12 people
15-18 lb turkey for 14-16 people
18-22 lb turkey for 20-22 people

In a perfect world we would all have an organic heritage turkey that we hand fed and raised in our backyards and slaughtered ourselves. Just joking there. But seriously, it is nice to have a fresh turkey that has not been injected with lots of antibiotics and gluten-containing saline solutions. When I purchased what I thought was a “fresh” turkey I did not understand the meaning of “Kosher”. Turns out it means, among other things, the poultry has been soaked in unsalted water for half an hour and then packed in salt for about an hour. This means it has been partially brined. I ended up letting this kosher bird brine for about 18 hours but it probably could have gone for less time and been fine. That’s one of the nice things about brining, it is not an exact science.

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Holiday Turkey Brine

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turkey brine

turkey brineRecently, my boys and I took a trip to Williams-Sonoma to purchase a pan for the Paleo Pecan Pie Tart.  While perusing the store, trying not to buy more than was absolutely necessary – a difficult task, I might add- I happened upon a large jar of Turkey Brine. Just last Fall I purchased a honey-brined turkey breast from a local grocery store and was surprised at the difference the process made in the taste.  So when I saw the Williams-Sonoma turkey brine I was all set to buy it, until…..I looked at the price.  It was $18 for what is mostly sea salt!

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Dry Rubbed Barbecue Pork Ribs – Paleo Style

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paleo barbecue pork ribs with sauce
paleo barbecue pork ribs with sauceEver since the paleo diet unshackled me from the fear of eating animal fat I have been on a mission to indulge in foods previously avoided. Barbecued pork ribs is one of those foods. My goal with this recipe was to create something delicious that would be paleo, which means, among other things, having very little or no sugar. It was also important the dry-rubbed ribs be good enough to be eaten without sauce.  Of course, barbecue sauce is pretty indispensable in the minds of most people and my family is no exception.  So I have also included a spicy barbecue sauce recipe that contains no high fructose corn syrup and only 2 tablespoons of sweetener.  

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