Slow Cooker Mocha Pot Roast

Mmm, pot roast. You're probably looking at the title, thinking I'm crazy, but I assure you, I am quite sane... Well, ok, I'm sorta sane... But I am right about this! I got inspiration for this from my chocolate chili. Then I googled it and was both bummed and justified to discover that I wasn't the first to think of it, there are recipes all over! I went ahead with it anyway and was not disappointed. Cocoa might be my new favorite seasoning for beef. It adds a ...something... that I can't quite describe to it, but it's a smooth sort of flavor. The coffee seemingly did the same. I'm definitely going to be making this again, possibly during my detox! Anyway, here's the deal:

Slow Cooker Mocha Pot Roast

2lb beef roast

2tbsp cocoa

2tsp paprika

1tsp cinnamon 

1tsp sea salt

1/2tsp cumin

1/2tsp ground ginger 

1/2tsp black pepper

1/4tsp cayenne

1 med onion

2 cups strong coffee

Mix spices together to create a rub. Pat roast dry and apply spices on all sides. 

Chop up onion in wedges and add to the bottom of the pot, pour coffee over. 

Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat and sear sides of meat.

(Unless you have one of those large, oblong cookers, I don't recommend getting a huge, rectangle roast like I did. It barely fit in the damn pot and some bits were dry in the end)

Settle roast on top of onions and coffee and set slow cooker to low. Leave for 8 hours or until internal temperature is between 145-170. 

 

Goes very well with simple roasted butternut squash! Happy eats!

Green Eggsalad

Today was a quickly thrown together lunch kinda day. I've been so focused on planning for next week, that I forgot I had to feed myself THIS week. I decided suddenly this morning that I wanted egg salad today. Who knows why, I sure don't. I was far too lazy to make mayo though. Pssh. Too much mess at 7 am. Have you ever made your own mayo? I love it. I hate mayo, but something about the fact that I made it, know exactly what's in it and can do whatever I want to make it delicious just improves it so much for me. I use the recipe by Melissa Joulwan at Clothes Make the Girl and use it as a base for most of my dipping sauces, including chipotle mayo (great with carrot fries) and dairy-free ranch (great with... Well, anything). 

What's a girl to do when she has no mayo and a mayo-filled craving to satisfy? ...enter Green Eggsalad!

No, the eggs aren't green, but a ripe avocado makes a great creamy substitute for mayo. 

Green Eggsalad

1/2 ripe avocado

2 hardboiled eggs, peeled

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste. 

Once you've boiled and cooled your eggs (I like to bring the eggs and water to a boil, leave it for 7-8 minutes and instantly dunk them in cold water till chilled), peel them, yell at them while they refuse to peel cleanly and set in a bowl. 

Add your half avocado in chunks and mash both together. Don't worry about getting the avocado super smooth. 

As your oil, lemon juice and s&p. Feel free to add any other spices or bits to make a new flavor combo: cayenne pepper or chopped olives, for example. 

Mmm, green eggs look appetizing, right? If you want, you can make "green eggs and ham" by serving in deli ham roll ups (or bacon!). I ate mine with raw bell pepper, cus I'm boring. But hey, craving satisfied!

Detox prep and tears.

So, I've been doing some prep work for my detox starting in one week. I decided on a whim to go full throttle and follow the Whole30 methodology to the letter...although I'm breaking the cardinal rule of 30 days... Semantics, right? Pssh. 

I swear I'll do a real one after the holidays. 

I did NOT do enough research before I made this desicion though, and started discovered food labels yesterday that made me more than a little panicky and sad. 

First, I gave up coffee a few weeks ago, tried to go with nothing in the mornings, but I really love the bitter, smooth body of coffee first thing. Tea just doesn't have that, it's merely delicious hot water. So, I switched to Teeccino herbal coffee. I thought nothing of it, at first. To me it's just coffee! Turns out this "coffee" contains barley root. Cue the panicked Googling for alternatives. Turns out, according to Root Simple, the rest beyond the carob and chicory (which are the first 2 ingredients) is just extra, that may add a depth of flavor, but are not necessary to the coffee-ness. Solution? Go for broke and order a pound of each. Sensible, right? Right. 

Second, I figured my cans of tuna would be good emergency protein. It's packed in water, right? Wrong. It's also packed in soy isolates. Eiw. Solution? Continue going for broke and order a 12pack of Wild Planet that will last me forever because I will be too scared to waste it. Also, grumpily eat a can of Bumblebee tuna for dinner. 

Finally, my beloved almond milk. I cook with it, add it to my coffee and drink it with Oreos (don't judge, they're dairy-free). But, not only is it packed with preservatives, which are frowned upon for the Whole30, it's got Carageenan right there in the center of the ingredients label, which is straight up not allowed. Carageenan is one of those "natural" products that many health companies seem to add which has many negative effects on the body. Sadface. Solution, stock up on full fat coconut milk. 

Needless to say, I spent a lot of money yesterday. And I cried. Well, inside. I don't cry. I'm heartless. But, these things will all last me a long time and I will truly be the better for it. The only things now that I will have to worry about starting next week is meat, eggs and veggies. Oh, did I mention? I'm taking this one step further and eliminating more fruits also. I need the cold turkey effect to really kick the cravings, so I'm limiting myself to the occasional sweet potato and green apple for my "sugar". Should be fun right?

You should join me! No, really. Take three weeks, pick a detox program you like and do it. Just do it. You don't have to go  as hardcore as I am, but wouldn't you love to enter the holiday season fully in control of your eating (not to mention looking super sexy in all those inevitable photos)?

I promise to have recipes soon. I have a bunch planned, but I'm dumb and always forget to MEASURE things the first time I make it, so I don't have much to share, do I?

Cheese, chocolate and chemicals.

So it's been pretty much exactly 6 months since THAT day, ya know, the one where my doctor told me my body doesn't like dairy (funnily enough, I remember the exact date well enough, but I can't remember birthdays or anniversaries for the life of me). 

It was about a month and a half later, after lots of research and recipe hunting that I realized that paleo was the best fit for my dietary needs and my goals. I've noticed now that the more I focus on providing my body with good, wholesome things, the more that desire is expanding. First, pesticides and grain-fed, factory-farmed animals made me nervous (though I still often buy such things due to a tight budget, it's a work in progress), then chemicals in my body products. The other day, I saw a Febreeze commercial about a new product called "sleep serenity" or something and the tv mom sprayed it in the room of her sleeping kids and all I could think was "oh good, spray the chemicals right over your children, let them breathe it all in". Gosh, I'm becoming such a hippie. Has this happened to anyone else who's taken pains for a natural, whole foods change?

I've been craving cheesy, creamy dishes lately. I couldn't tell you why, it's just been constant. In an attempt to satisfy said craving, I've been experimenting with lots of creamy dishes. Results have been mixed. I promise to share the successful ones eventually, but unfortunately, I do not have the time or resources to cook until perfection in the same day, so if it isn't just right, I won't share it and you'll just have to wait until I do. Deal with it. I expect to have lots to share while I detox, don't worry. 

A coping method with my cheese cravings that makes me shudder is my eating "cream cheese". That's right, soy product faux-cheese. My roommate came one with it one day because her boyfriend had accidentally bought it on a shopping trip and didn't want to go back. Whatever, I'll find a use for it and never eat it again. I don't turn down free food, generally. It's pretty gross on its own, but it's got the right texture, so when the craving threatens to overwhelm me, I spread a bit of it on a slice of salami and roll it up. It tastes like my childhood. *dreamy*

I'm looking forward to my detox to banish these cheese and chocolate cravings for good. It's going to be interesting, to say the least. 

Sugar and food processors

Man, I've been sugar crazy lately. Like seriously, I need at least two hits of something sugary (usually chocolatey) a day just to get through the next few hours without majorly distracting cravings. It's one of two things, I figure, or maybe a combination thereof: I quit coffee this week (many reasons I'll go into later) and I think my body may be trying to compensate for its usual dose of energy, ie the sugar and caffeine found in chocolate; also I've been indulging a lot more so my body may be back to its old cycle of carby cravings (potentially amplified by stress). Either way, it's a LOT of fun, really and it means that I might need to give myself another kick in the pants quite soon. 

That being said, I'm contemplating setting off on my first Whole30 after Halloween. Whole30 is a program by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig from Whole9 that is basically a very strict form of Paleo for 30 days to allow the body to reset. It's a full on hardcore detox and I think I need it. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is right around the corner after Halloween and I already know it would be way too stressful to do a detox on the biggest holiday dedicated to food, especially since I'm not the one cooking and have no control over what my parents put sugar in (that's right, sugar and even honey are not Whole30 approved). Soooooo, I'm thinking I'm going to try something more like a Whole21. Three Perfectly Paleo weeks. That should be fun, right? I'm feeling this is something that needs to happen before the holidays, so I don't completely spaz out once I have food in front of me. 

Last night, I made some of my chocolate from scratch, beautifully rich and dark, and washed it down with plain almond milk. Delicious. I thought I was good... But then I bought and ate half a bar of dark chocolate today. Guess not. Shucks. What are your thoughts on detoxes? I think they're super painful, but it's the only way to get me to STOP. 

Oh yeah, so I also stopped drinking coffee... For now. Not forever, but I needed to break the dependency. It's been tough. The tension headaches from work are getting worse, but I think regulating my energy levels (and maybe picking up meditation) will help a lot. I'm trying to trick my brain by Teeccino herbal coffee in the mornings. Ever tried Teeccino? It's pretty delicious. Not quite coffee, but very close and very tasty.  And completely, naturally caffeine free. 

On another sugary note, my new mini food processor came in today. And it's all awesome and purple. :D I really wanted to use it TODAY, but I had nothing to cook, so I just figured I HAD to make banana ice cream, right? Right? Yes. 

Omgosh, best decision ever. 

Look at THAT. Easiest time I've ever had making banana ice cream (if you didn't see my recipe for Chunky Monkey Ice Cream, banana ice cream is pretty simple: chop up a frozen banana and blend!) Don't get me wrong, I love my blender. But it is no fun for heavy jobs like frozen bananas and cauliflower. Ugh. This is gonna be so good for making cauliflower rice. :)

What's your favorite blender/food processor food?

Slow cooker chocolate chili

Man, it's been a long day... Week... Month... Whatever. Preparing tasty food energizes me. There are lots of things that I'd never cooked before 6 months ago. Chili was one of those things. It always just seemed so scary and complicated. Not to mention I loathe cutting onions. Like, really. Eventually, I realized that onions are a necessary (delicious) evil. I'd still rather not cut them and am pretty good at wheedling someone else to do it for me (hint: bribe 'em with chocolate), but it has opened many doors for food. Like chili. 

I started researching chili and discovered, it's really not so hard. Meat, tomatoes, onions and spices and cook forever! Still, making really good chili is less easy. My first attempt was meh...this time... I think I fixed all the issues. Now, I didn't want the regular, most common chili flavor and I found a lot of recipes for chocolate chili in my searches. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Chocolate AND chili? Yes please. 

Wanna see what I came up with?

Bam. Bowl of delicious. Oh, and it's Paleo. 

Slow Cooker Chocolate Chili

1 large vidalia onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 pounds ground beef

1 teaspoon oregano

1-2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons ground cumin

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

Optional: 1-2 tablespoons chili flakes for some BURN

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon salt

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add ground beef, crumbling and stirring into the pan to brown.

Drain some of the fat from the ground beef and add contents of pan into your crock pot, then toss in your diced onions, garlic and spices, mixing well.

Add canned tomatoes.  Stir well and turn crock pot on low.  Let sit covered for 8-9 hours.  Perfect to leave for the work day!

Acorn Squash Bowls

I warned you that I was butternut squash obsessed, right? Well, that maaaaay have expanded. I also have a Hubbard squash and a couple sugar pumpkins to play with... Yay! 

When I bought my enormous load of butternuts, I also grabbed an acorn squash, which, believe it or not... I've never eaten. My mom cooks it all the time, but I was just completely turned off by its appearance. If anyone is gathering by this point that my mom is a terrible cook, you'd actually be incorrect, I ate lots of tasty things growing up, but we just did not and do not see eye to eye on certain methods of food prep. For example, she prepared acorn squash by cutting it in half and baking it with brown sugar and walnuts in the hollow center, which I thought to be just... weird. I hate nuts cooked into food. Doesn't everyone? No? Well, ok... Moving on. 

Well, I didn't like butternut squash growing up either, but it turns out that I just don't like all the sugar and gunk that Americans think is necessary to add. So, considering my newfound appreciation for certain foods, namely butternut and sweet potato... I thought it was time to give acorn a try too. Today, I was trying to figure out what to do with it, as I was QUITE sure, I did not want the traditional brown sugar filling. 

Then I found something on PaleOMG.com (one of my favorite sites by the way). Baked Acorn Squash CANDY.  What? Candy? 

But, holy crap, it IS candy. I thought I was eating dessert for dinner. I think acorn squash may be my new favorite food. Yeah, I said it. Favorite. I look forward to playing with it more. In the meantime, here's what I did based on Juli's recipe:

Baked Acorn Squash Bowls

1 acorn squash

2 slices of bacon

Cinnamon

Sea salt

Preheat oven to 415.

Cut the squish in half from top to bottom and scoop out seeds (reserve your seeds for roasting!). 

Place halves cut side down on a baking sheet or dish and bake for about 25 minutes, till soft (squishy!)

While squash is baking, cook bacon in a pan on the stove till crispy. Place on a papertowel covered plate to drain excess fat, but reserve the fat in the pan. 

Once you remove the squash from the oven, flip over so the cut side is up. 

Using a couple forks (don't burn yourself!), scrape and mash the squash inside the skin. Add a small spoonful of the bacon grease from the pan to each squash half, then crumble in a slice of bacon to each. Add salt and cinnamon to taste and mix well. 

Mmm, this made it super easy. Lookit that!

Serve in the skin "bowl" with whatever your heart desires. Enjoy!

Im intrigued to see if this would work as well with another source of fat, such as coconut oil or ghee. Care to give it a try and let me know?

Eating across the country

So I'm headed home. Yeah, forgot to tell you, I've been out of the office for the past week. Specifically, driving across the country from central Connecticut to San Deigo. It was a whirlwind adventure: extremely exhausting, but tons of fun and I wouldn't take a single second back. 

I panicked for a bit before and as we left, trying to figure out how to control my eating and not be stuck chowing down on McDonald's or something just as gross along the route. We had a 48 hour drive to make and we wanted to be done as quick as possible, since we were in a crowded 2-door car with a couple angry kitties crammed in the backseat along with my co-pilot's stuff (the reason for this crazy trip is so we could move her cats, her car and self out there). 

I went crazy at Target purchasing road food: raw nuts, bit of dark chocolate, dried fruit, tuna and shelf stable single serve almond milk (for the coffee I would DEFINITELY be needing). We supplemented with some fresh fruit. 

I think I did pretty good. Actually, I got too much. We ate about half of this because it became very necessary for us to have some REAL food. I needed me some meat and veggies. But we chose our pit stops well. 23 hours on the road brought us to northern Arkansas, where we had a well timed stop for dinner, showers and sleep at a friend's. Dinner was pasta, but it was dairy free and topped with meat sauce, so I ate very willingly. It tasted like a treat, been such a long time!

Some Paleo-friendly Panera and coffee got us on the road the next morning. Have you ever tried out Panera's hidden menu? Quite a few tasty and guilt free options there. 

Lunch time brought is into Oklahoma City where we stopped at a little steak place that was recommended by a friend. Hello, meat!

Then came the big push, fueled by our cooler of road food and hour long naps at rest stops till we hit Flagstaff, Arizona Thursday morning. Our hunt for caffeine led us to this fantastic little cafe called Macy's filled with lattes and vegan delights. I broke down yet again and had bread, but only because I couldn't resist the chance to try a vegan raspberry Danish. Boy, was it worth it! I've earned a little indulgence by this point, don'tcha think?

Definitely not Paleo, both grain and soy filled, but it was a good experience, for sure. 

Fueled by coffee, we dragged our tired selves through the last 8 hour push. We were loopy by the end as it was now Thursday evening and our last horizontal sleep ended early Wednesday morning. But as tired as we were, we'd made it and we were running on coffee, adrenaline and excitement. 

For dinner, we went to this fun place called Stacked, known for allowing you to custom build your burger and mac and cheese orders with any number of alluring toppings. 

I decided to redeem myself a bit and got a lettuce wrapped burger stuffed with tasty morsels of bacon and avocado and some sweet potato fries. Mmm. It was a little too stuffed though and ended up as burger salad, but it really tastes just as good, doesn't it?

Good thing they gave me a knife. It's like they KNEW. 

Wow, I'm tired just remembering this far, and my week was only half over! The weekend was loaded with more tasty morsels. I spent far too much time worrying about staying dairy free and low carb. Dairy free is EASY in San Diego. Unbelievably easy. It's vegan hippy nirvana. The next few days consisted of Thai curry, Pho, sushi (yes, I had rice and noodles for all of the above, I didn't spend too much time worrying about low carb...) and unbelievable vegan and gluten free cupcakes!

Seriously, those cupcakes were life changing. We spent an afternoon in La Jolla: beautiful beach, lounging sea lions and delicious, independent food shops everywhere. One thing that saddens me most about my area of CT is that my caffeine options are limited to Panera and Starbucks (and Dunkin Donuts, but I can't have ANYTHING there so I don't count them). Don't get me wrong, I love Panera, but I crave a nice, independent coffee shop with some character that I can relax and enjoy myself at. Cups fit the bill so well, I nearly cried. It's a small cupcake and coffee shop stocked with both soy AND almond milk; a large selection of cupcakes, some vegan, dairy free and/or gluten free; and a very friendly and casual staff. I happily consumed an almond milk iced mocha (wonderfully dark and barely sweetened), an unbelievable vegan pumpkin spice cupcake with soy "cream cheese" frosting and carried home a DF/GF peanut butter cup cupcake. I would happily have carried home the entire shop. 

Today feels like such a drag compared to everything from the weekend. I'm eating leftover trail mix from the drive in between flights home. Back to the real world. 

Anyone else have any awesome food ventures this week?