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August 9, 2011 | 2 Comments

A Weekend in Martha’s Vineyard (Or… Lobster!)

Well, so sorry for the radio-silence! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks for me and the hubby at our respective jobs… that, coupled with some fun travel to Martha’s Vineyard this weekend, has made me a less-than stellar blogger.  We just got back from a lovely weekend up north with two of my favorite people in the world, my brother- and sister-in-law.  Those of you here in Austin can certainly appreciate how incredible it was to leave our 107 degree state for 75 degree highs and evenings that required a jacket.

Lobsterzilla - the fabulous 22 pound lobster we saw at the Menemsha Fish Market (notice how his claw is the same size as a regular-sized lobster?)

While I didn’t eat 100% Paleo over the weekend, I did take every opportunity to eat lobster. Seriously – I had it for multiple meals every day.  Lobster rolls (sans bread), lobster mac & cheese (loved it, but not going to lie… the pasta, cream, and cheese made me feel less than 100% for hours after), surf & turf, lobster sauteed in butter… you get the idea.  It was a lobster-fest.

After enjoying such copious amounts of this delicious crustacean, I finally decided that I need to conquer cooking lobster at home… I’ve been intimidated (naturally, I think!) for some time, but I spent a lot of time thinking about why.  Cooking a lobster at home is probably as close to killing our dinner as most of us ever get, and it can be daunting to end the life of these little critters.  That said, I’m trying to eliminate hypocrisy in my carnivore nature, and I feel like I should be able to man up and kill/cook my own dinner. So, stay tuned… lobster at home is coming soon!

Gorgeous Surf & Turf (Lobster!) at the Beach Plum in Menemsha

Anyhoo… we had a fabulous time in Menemsha, and one of our favorite memories was our dinner at the Beach Plum.  All of the carnivores at the table tucked into this gorgeous surf and turf – 8oz ribeye with 6oz. of butter-poached lobster.  The sauce certainly wasn’t Paleo, but man-oh-man was it good!  Might just have to try it at home Paleo-style!

August 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

My Favorite Roasted Turkey Breast

Feeding my turkey addiction: Roasted Turkey Breast

I LOVE the house-made Traditional Roasted Turkey Breast at Central Market. They actually give me funny looks at the deli counter when I ask for four pounds of this stuff.  It’s just a simple roasted turkey breast seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I got a wild hair this week to try roasting my own turkey breast. My only prior experience with roasting turkey was Thanksgiving a few years ago… it involved a 5-gallon brining bag filled with seasoned salt water and turkey juice that ended up all over my kitchen floor.  Although I did have to thoroughly disinfect my floor, my kitchen did smell wonderfully of rosemary for several days… 😉  Needless to say, it was time to re-tackle the turkey.

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July 29, 2011 | 5 Comments

Peach, Crab, and Citrus Summer Salad

Fresh Summer Salad: Peaches, Lump Crab, and Mixed Greens with Orange Juice Reduction

At the fish counter in Central Market, they carry these little tubs of gorgeous, fresh crab claw meat… Every time I go in, I stare longingly at them, wishing I knew how to make something other than crab cakes.  Well, the day has finally come… I ran across a Martha Stewart recipe for a salad with peaches and crab meat, so I adapted it last night to be Paleo-friendly (and to my liking!). The only downside was that it took a little longer than I planned, so I was on the ravenous side when I finally gobbled it up. I also had to stop myself from just eating the crab meat straight out of the tub. Don’t tell.

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July 25, 2011 | 0 Comments

48 Hours in England and a Drop-In at CrossFit London

Just flew in from London, and boy are my arms tired…  I mean my brain. I mean my neck. I mean pretty much every part of me.  I just got back from a super-quick business trip to London over the weekend, and my poor body doesn’t know what hit it! Here’s what the last four days looked like:

  • Flew out Thursday night and arrived in the UK on Friday morning (sat in the cheap seats, so I only got about 1-2 hours of sleep)
  • Worked from the hotel during the day Friday and was able to drop in at CrossFit London for a jet lag-busting workout (more on that below!)
  • Worked all day Saturday and took my team out for a fab dinner at the Spice Market (short ribs! slow-cooked ribeye! yum!) in central London
  • Spent the entire day Sunday flying back to Austin (long, long day, but… I did get unexpectedly upgraded to business class on the Heathrow-JFK flight – woohoo!)

Needless to say, I’m ready to get back into my food and workout routine – that much travel is just hard on the body.  I will admit that I wasn’t 100% Paleo over the weekend, although I was pretty darn good.  My biggest non-Paleo indulgences were dessert on Saturday night at the Spice Market (it was simply too good to turn down!) and a couple of pints of lager with my team.  When in Rome, eh?

I did get to enjoy the very Paleo-friendly English breakfast during my stay… these guys do bacon right:

English Bacon and Eggs... Yum!

One of my very favorite parts of the trip was getting to drop in at CrossFit London over in the East End.

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July 23, 2011 | 2 Comments

Steamed Broccolini with Lemon

Steamed Broccolini with Lemon

This is one of my husband P.J.’s go-to dishes… He’s a vegetarian, so he’s been a great influence on me in terms of incorporating more vegetables into my daily diet.  He’s also one of those guys who can grab four seemingly unrelated things from the fridge and create something awesome.  It’s an incredible skill, and I love it about him.  He created this dish to round out our main course options at the inaugural Paleo Dinner Party.  I take no credit for this dish – it’s all him!

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July 22, 2011 | 0 Comments

Roasted Butternut Squash with Thyme

Savory Roasted Butternut Squash with Thyme

These were a HUGE hit at our Paleo dinner party last Saturday. The combo of sweet and savory paired beautifully with our pan-seared roasted pork chops, and they’d also be great as a fall/holiday dish. I highly recommend peeling/prepping your squash ahead of time… it’s not the most fun thing to do, and it seems to take a little longer than you’d think.  Not much fun when you’re trying to pull together your dinner at the last minute.

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July 20, 2011 | 4 Comments

Pan-Seared and Roasted Bone-In Pork Chops

A Towering Stack of Simple, Tasty Bone-In Pork Chops

Time for a new protein! I wrote recently that I’ve always been intimidated by cooking steak. As it turns out, same goes for pork chops. I’ve had some dry, icky pork chops over the years, and I was also nervous about under-cooking the pork (as we know, you definitely don’t want to under-cook your pork…). With the recent changes in cooking guidelines for pork and the fact that I’ve made beef filets for the last 4 of 5 meals I’ve cooked for friends/family, I figured it was time to try the pork chop.

I REALLY enjoyed these pork chops, and they were super easy to make. This is going to become a regular weeknight protein for me.

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July 19, 2011 | 1 Comment

Watermelon and Arugula Salad

Watermelon and Arugula Salad... Perfect for Summer!

My husband P.J. is a HUGE fan of watermelon and arugula, so I’d been meaning to adapt and serve this recipe for a while. I actually stumbled across it in my pre-Paleo days and had it earmarked for summer. At the Farmer’s Market on Saturday, we stumbled across some seedless yellow watermelon (crazy!) – that was all the prompting I needed to make this salad.

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July 18, 2011 | 3 Comments

Roasted Prosciutto-Wrapped Figs

Roasted Prosciutto-Wrapped Figs

I have a confession to make.  I had never purchased a fig before this weekend. In fact, I didn’t even know what a fig looked like. (Whew! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest…)

So, how did I end up making this app over the weekend for our Paleo Dinner Party? Honestly? I scoured my loads of cookbooks (Ina Garten! Bobby Flay!) to find something that sounded fancy but that would be easy to make as well.  Since I’m a huge fan of cured pork AND this fabulous Ina Garten recipe (from her book, “Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?”) sounded sufficiently fancy, I figured I’d give it a try. This recipe is so stinking simple, there’s not much to change! Here’s what I made:

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July 17, 2011 | 9 Comments

Spicy Oven-Roasted Pecans with Cinnamon

Spicy Oven-Roasted Pecans with Cinnamon (These puppies are addictive!)

Years ago, there was a restaurant here in downtown Austin called Crimson… I think the restaurant was only open for about 8-10 months, sadly, but they were the wonderful folks who introduced me to spiced pecans. Rather than bread and butter, they would bring you bowls of these delicious, addictive spiced pecans to munch on while you picked out your meal for the evening – I loved it!

When I was thinking about what to make as an easy snack food for our friends this weekend (at our Paleo Dinner Party), the idea of spiced pecans came to mind.  Easy, delicious, and they’d pair really nicely with the very non-Paleo German beer we were having.  For inspiration, I looked to a variety of places, including the wonderful Elana’s Pantry. This recipe is my adaptation… I hope you enjoy it!

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