The 31 Woman

Tuesday

Cavemen Loved This Paleo Mayo on Their Dino Burgers!

Ok, I can’t prove that. But, I bet they would have loved it.

This is a great basic mayonnaise recipe with lots of options for flavor. I use this mayo in several of my delicious dressing recipes that I will be sharing over the next few weeks. It is also tasty in chicken, tuna or egg salad. Slather it over the top of your primal burger. Add garlic to it and dip Brussels Sprouts Chips in it, oh my!

Hope you enjoy this easy recipe. It is nearly foolproof. You never have to be afraid of making mayonnaise again. I’ll show exactly what to do so that you end up with a silky, luxurious condiment.

Basic Paleo Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

1 egg, at room temperature

¼ cup light olive oil, avocado oil or nut oil

2 tb lemon juice, freshly squeezed

½ tsp dry mustard powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup light olive oil, avocado oil or nut oil

garlic, sun dried tomatoes, or herbs, optional

Combine the first five ingredients in the bowl or a food processor or in a blender. Process just until well blended (10-20 seconds).

Remove the cap from the top of the processor or blender and turn on to medium speed. Begin to SLOWLY drizzle the oil in a very small stream. Take your time here. The slower the better. You will hear to begin to thicken. This should take at least 2 minutes to get all of the oil poured into the blender. When you finish pouring in the oil the mayonnaise should be ready. Turn off the processor or blender.

At this point you can spoon the mayonnaise into a bowl for storage. You could also finely process some garlic or sun dried tomatoes or herbs and add them to your mayonnaise for a tasty treat. Store your mayo in the refrigerator for up to a week. But, you will probably eat it all before then.

Cavemen Loved This Paleo Mayo on Their Dino Burgers!

Ok, I can’t prove that. But, I bet they would have loved it.

Hope you enjoy this easy recipe. It is nearly foolproof. You never have to be afraid of making mayonnaise again. I’ll show exactly what to do so that you end up with a silky, luxurious condiment.

Saturday

Glori's Best Guacamole is a Yummy Paleo Treat

I wanted to share a recipe from my new primal cookbook, The Top 21 Quick & Easy Paleo Recipes. This is one of my most requested recipes when I go to parties, family events or social gatherings. It will be a great edition to your paleo lifestyle.

I taped this video about 8 months ago, but was waiting for the release of my new cookbook to share this episode. I am so happy to say that I now weigh almost 60 pounds less today than when these were recorded. And, no more steroids!

Make sure you grab your own copy of this great little gem at Amazon, iBooks or Smashwords.

Also check out my Quick & Easy Paleo Facebook page to make sure that you don’t miss any of my great new videos.

Glori's Best Guacamole is a Yummy Paleo Treat

Friday

Why I Wrote The Top 21 Quick & Easy Paleo Recipes

I am so excited about the release of my newest cookbook, The Top 21 Quick & Easy Paleo Recipes. It is filled with 25 yummy and kid-friendly recipes that will be a great addition to your Paleo Diet. These recipes are also perfect for diabetics and those cooking low-carb. Most recipes can be used on a Candida diet, as well.

So why did I chose Paleo? I’ve spent years trying and testing “diets” for healthy eating. For years, I followed a Yeast-Free diet to keep Candida under control. I also have extended family members who have diabetes and others who deal with gluten sensitivity. The more I studied the more I like the Paleo diet.

The Paleo Diet is based on the types of foods humans ate prior to the advent of agriculture. This diet has produced better health outcomes for type 2 diabetics than standard high-fiber, low-fat diets and even the Mediterranean diet, which is touted for it’s heart health and prevention of chronic disease. This diet is also ideal for people avoiding gluten, yeast, and most common allergens.

Robb Wolf, an authority on the Paleo Diet says, “It is our modern diet, full of refined foods, trans fats and sugar that is at the root of degenerative diseases such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression and infertility.”

Although there are a growing number of variations, the Paleo diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture-raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes what are perceived to be agricultural products: grains, legumes, dairy products, potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

With the Paleo Diet many have seen a decrease in appetite which means you usually eat less, plus cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin levels and blood pressure fall into line. And, Paleo Dieters usually feel more satisfied which makes a long-term lifestyle change easily achievable.

The basic building blocks of the Paleo Diet are lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds and healthy fats. The foods that are avoided include dairy, grains, processed food and sugars, legumes, starches and alcohol.

Many health food proponents dislike the Paleo Diet because it eliminates many foods that they promote such as lentils, soy, hummus, beans, wild rice, quinoa and dairy. Paleo proponents argue that these foods have only been consumed by humans for a relatively short time in our history, and as a result, our genetic makeup is simply not adapted for them. The rise of Gluten intolerance should be an indicator that our bodies may, in fact, have an issue with the digestion of grains. As far as dairy, we are the only mammal that continues to drink milk once we are weaned. Also, no other mammal in nature consumes the milk of another species. And, don’t even get me started on GMO’s when it comes to grains and legumes.

After years of eating a Yeast-Free Diet and a Low-Carb diet, I have happily embraced the Paleo Diet. To me it just makes sense, plus my body loves it. I have noticed over the years that grains and legumes just don’t sit well with me or my family. We have also noticed that we all have issues when we consume dairy, except for my homemade yogurt. My daughter had chronic ear infections, while my husband and I had a drainage at the back of our throats. When we stopped consuming dairy those issues ceased. Instead of cow or goat’s milk we use coconut milk, and almond milk. All very tasty!

One issue that I do see happen with almost every diet, however, is that there are always extremist. With the Paleo Diet, there are those that go to the extreme by eating butter straight, or making mayonnaise out of bacon grease. Let’s use a little common sense here. Moderation is a good thing. I use real butter, never margarine. But, butter is a condiment not a main food ingredient. We do eat bacon, but I don’t have to over do it with the bacon fat.

When shopping for foods I encourage you to purchase organic, grass-fed meats, wild caught seafood, free-range, organic poultry and eggs, as well as organic fruits and vegetables whenever you can. I love it when I can find a source for local foods. I especially love local, raw honey.

Eating a Paleo Diet does not have to be expensive or difficult. I have spent many hours converting recipes, working to make them easy to prepare all while ensuring that they taste great. I hope that you find this collection of recipes easy to prepare, delicious and a great edition to your Paleo lifestyle.

Grab Your Copy Today at Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords.

The Top 21 Quick & Easy Paleo Recipes available at…

Why I Wrote The Top 21 Quick & Easy Paleo Recipes

Monday

Get the Skinny on Fat, A Guide for the Paleo Diet

I found this article online and as best I can tell it came from the folks at PaleoLeap.com. I was unable to find the actual post on their site so I couldn’t link to it, but this is their work and I wanted you to know.

This was such a great explanation about the use of different animal fats in your diet, paleo or otherwise. These fats used in your dishes add such depth and flavor to your meals. They will satisfy you and fill you.

And, it turns out that animal fats have gotten a bad rap over the years, especially from the low-fat diet craze that swept the nation. Yuk! I hope you find this information helpful. I know I did.

A Guide to Using Animal Fats in Your Paleo Diet

Coconut oil is fantastic, and olive oil richly deserves all its good press. But they’re not the only Paleo fat choices around! In fact, some of the best Paleo-friendly fats might be right under your nose: animal fats.

Animal fat, of course, has a terrible reputation, but like all the rest of the low-fat myth, it’s completely undeserved. Fat, including saturated fat, from healthy pastured animals does not cause heart disease, cancer, high cholesterol, obesity or anything else. Chalk up one more point for traditional wisdom: the fats our grandparents and great-grandparents cooked with are good for us after all.

Why choose animal fat?

When you have jars of olive or coconut oil available in every store, why would you want to go for something “weird” like tallow or schmaltz?

It’s usually cheaper. Many farmers will literally give it away, because nobody wants it. With the rest of the world still terrified that looking sideways at a spoon of lard will give them heart disease, mass quantities of animal fat are yours for the taking, often for free or a trivial charge.

It’s delicious. Soybean and canola oil aren’t just unhealthy; they’re also a crime against taste buds everywhere. The right fat will do wonders for your cooking, and make even ordinary dishes taste like amazing indulgences. There’s a reason why duck fat French fries are so legendary! Foodie culture lately has been all about rediscovering fat in various ways – and you can do it, too.

It has health benefits. For example, here’s one paper where beef tallow increased the power of conjugated linoleic acid in fighting mammary tumors. This study is extremely interesting. A 10% beef tallow diet was carcinogenic, but when 1%conjugated linoleic acid was added, the diet became anti-carcinogenic. This may suggest that pasture-raised tallow (which naturally contains conjugated linoleic acid) is significantly more healthful than factory-farmed tallow.

In this study, beef tallow helped subjects absorb Vitamin A better than sunflower oil. In this study, feeding either lard or tallow to alcoholic rats reduced liver damage dramatically compared to corn oil.

It’s hard to find studies in human subjects, or studies where animal fats were given without massive doses of soy or corn oil alongside, but the data we do have is encouraging.

Buying and Cooking With Animal Fat

Convinced to give animal fat a try? Here’s how to get started.

Before using any animal fat to cook with, it has to be rendered. This is simply a process of heating the fat so that it melts and any impurities float to the top.

You can buy animal fat raw and render it yourself, or buy it pre-rendered. Raw fat you’ll typically have to get from a farmer, but you can often find pre-rendered fat even in a grocery store. If you don’t see it with the meat, check the freezer section; often you’ll find it hiding in there. Here’s a look at the more common types:

Lard

Lard is the fat from a pig; both the raw and the rendered fat are called lard.

Raw fat: will be white to pale pink. It may have scraps of meat, connective tissue, or skin clinging to it (hey, you’re buying a part of something that was once alive; it’s not going to look 100% perfect all the time).

Rendered fat: should be pure white to very pale warm cream color. It’s solid at room temperature, but soft – around the consistency of butter.

How to cook it: lard is irresistible melted on top of a baked sweet potato (as a replacement for butter), or use it to cook any pork dish for extra flavor.

Fat composition:

Suet or Tallow

Suet or tallow is the fat from a cow. Suet is the raw fat; tallow is the rendered fat.

Raw fat: will be white to pale yellow, crumbly, and very light for its size. It may have scraps of meat, connective tissue, or skin clinging to it.

Rendered fat: should be white to cream-colored. Because it’s highly saturated, it’s hard and brittle at room temperature. You can’t scoop it, and to cut it you’ll need a sharp knife. If this is a pain in the neck, you can pour your rendered tallow into an ice cube mold while it’s still hot and liquid; it will solidify in the cubes and you can pop them out to cook with one at a time.

How to cook it: tallow is one of the most stable cooking fats this side of coconut oil. Because it has a relatively high amount of saturated and a relatively low amount of polyunsaturated fat, it’s ideal for high-heat cooking. It has a very mild beef flavor, and it’s tasty with almost any kind of vegetables or eggs.

Fat composition:

Duck fat

Both the raw and the rendered fat are simply called “duck fat,” although rendered is much more common to find in stores.

Raw fat: typically comes attached to a duck. Should be white to pale yellow or pink. Feels soft and slightly greasy.

Rendered fat: solid but soft at room temperature, around the consistency of butter. Should be a creamy white.

How to cook it: Duck fat is the Cadillac of animal fats – it’s so decadent you almost want to eat it straight from the spoon. Try roasting parsnips or other starchy root vegetables in it for a delicious treat. Alternately, try a confit.

Fat composition:

Schmaltz (chicken fat)

You’ll almost never find raw chicken fat, unless you pull all the fat and

skin off a chicken yourself and render it (which you can absolutely do!). Typically it’s sold rendered. Rendered schmaltz should be a pale to medium yellow color. Because it has more polyunsaturated fat than other animal fats, it’s just barely solid at room temperature, ready to liquefy at the slightest heat.

How to cook it: Schmaltz is best-known for its starring role in traditional Jewish cuisine. It has a lighter flavor than duck fat; it’s wonderful for roasting potatoes, frying onions, making chicken soup, or frying up any other chicken recipe you’re working with – it intensifies the chicken flavor and adds a lovely depth to the recipe.

Fat composition:

Summing it Up

Animal fat is healthy, delicious, and extremely economical. It just doesn’t make sense to butcher a cow, throw out huge chunks of perfectly good fat, and then buy more cooking fat to brown your meat with! And animal fat is also delicious in a way “vegetable oil” just can’t match – try it once, and you’ll never go back to tasteless junk fat again.

You can buy raw fat from most small farmers (or sometimes they’ll just give it away, if you ask nicely). Or look in the freezer section of the grocery store – you might be able to find duck or chicken fat, or maybe even lard. Happy eating!

Get the Skinny on Fat, A Guide for the Paleo Diet

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Get the Skinny on Fat, Animal Fat That Is

This was such a great explanation about the use of different animal fats in your diet. These fats used in your dishes add such depth and flavor to your meals. They will satisfy you and fill you.

And, it turns out that animal fats have gotten a bad rap over the years, especially from the low-fat diet craze that swept the nation. Yuk! I hope you find this information helpful. I know I did.

Coconut oil is fantastic, and olive oil richly deserves all its good press. But they’re not the only Paleo fat choices around! In fact, some of the best Paleo-friendly fats might be right under your nose: animal fats.

Animal fat, of course, has a terrible reputation, but like all the rest of the low-fat myth, it’s completely undeserved. Fat, including saturated fat, from healthy pastured animals does not cause heart disease, cancer, high cholesterol, obesity or anything else. Chalk up one more point for traditional wisdom: the fats our grandparents and great-grandparents cooked with are good for us after all.

Why choose animal fat?

When you have jars of olive or coconut oil available in every store, why would you want to go for something “weird” like tallow or schmaltz?

It’s usually cheaper. Many farmers will literally give it away, because nobody wants it. With the rest of the world still terrified that looking sideways at a spoon of lard will give them heart disease, mass quantities of animal fat are yours for the taking, often for free or a trivial charge.

It’s delicious. Soybean and canola oil aren’t just unhealthy; they’re also a crime against taste buds everywhere. The right fat will do wonders for your cooking, and make even ordinary dishes taste like amazing indulgences. There’s a reason why duck fat French fries are so legendary! Foodie culture lately has been all about rediscovering fat in various ways – and you can do it, too.

It has health benefits. For example, here’s one paper where beef tallow increased the power of conjugated linoleic acid in fighting mammary tumors. This study is extremely interesting. A 10% beef tallow diet was carcinogenic, but when 1%conjugated linoleic acid was added, the diet became anti-carcinogenic. This may suggest that pasture-raised tallow (which naturally contains conjugated linoleic acid) is significantly more healthful than factory-farmed tallow.

In this study, beef tallow helped subjects absorb Vitamin A better than sunflower oil. In this study, feeding either lard or tallow to alcoholic rats reduced liver damage dramatically compared to corn oil.

It’s hard to find studies in human subjects, or studies where animal fats were given without massive doses of soy or corn oil alongside, but the data we do have is encouraging.

Buying and Cooking With Animal Fat

Convinced to give animal fat a try? Here’s how to get started.

Before using any animal fat to cook with, it has to be rendered. This is simply a process of heating the fat so that it melts and any impurities float to the top.

You can buy animal fat raw and render it yourself, or buy it pre-rendered. Raw fat you’ll typically have to get from a farmer, but you can often find pre-rendered fat even in a grocery store. If you don’t see it with the meat, check the freezer section; often you’ll find it hiding in there. Here’s a look at the more common types:

Lard

Lard is the fat from a pig; both the raw and the rendered fat are called lard.

Raw fat: will be white to pale pink. It may have scraps of meat, connective tissue, or skin clinging to it (hey, you’re buying a part of something that was once alive; it’s not going to look 100% perfect all the time).

Rendered fat: should be pure white to very pale warm cream color. It’s solid at room temperature, but soft – around the consistency of butter.

How to cook it: lard is irresistible melted on top of a baked sweet potato (as a replacement for butter), or use it to cook any pork dish for extra flavor.

Fat composition:

Suet or Tallow

Suet or tallow is the fat from a cow. Suet is the raw fat; tallow is the rendered fat.

Raw fat: will be white to pale yellow, crumbly, and very light for its size. It may have scraps of meat, connective tissue, or skin clinging to it.

Rendered fat: should be white to cream-colored. Because it’s highly saturated, it’s hard and brittle at room temperature. You can’t scoop it, and to cut it you’ll need a sharp knife. If this is a pain in the neck, you can pour your rendered tallow into an ice cube mold while it’s still hot and liquid; it will solidify in the cubes and you can pop them out to cook with one at a time.

How to cook it: tallow is one of the most stable cooking fats this side of coconut oil. Because it has a relatively high amount of saturated and a relatively low amount of polyunsaturated fat, it’s ideal for high-heat cooking. It has a very mild beef flavor, and it’s tasty with almost any kind of vegetables or eggs.

Fat composition:

Duck fat

Both the raw and the rendered fat are simply called “duck fat,” although rendered is much more common to find in stores.

Raw fat: typically comes attached to a duck. Should be white to pale yellow or pink. Feels soft and slightly greasy.

Rendered fat: solid but soft at room temperature, around the consistency of butter. Should be a creamy white.

How to cook it: Duck fat is the Cadillac of animal fats – it’s so decadent you almost want to eat it straight from the spoon. Try roasting parsnips or other starchy root vegetables in it for a delicious treat. Alternately, try a confit.

Fat composition:

Schmaltz (chicken fat)

You’ll almost never find raw chicken fat, unless you pull all the fat and

skin off a chicken yourself and render it (which you can absolutely do!). Typically it’s sold rendered. Rendered schmaltz should be a pale to medium yellow color. Because it has more polyunsaturated fat than other animal fats, it’s just barely solid at room temperature, ready to liquefy at the slightest heat.

How to cook it: Schmaltz is best-known for its starring role in traditional Jewish cuisine. It has a lighter flavor than duck fat; it’s wonderful for roasting potatoes, frying onions, making chicken soup, or frying up any other chicken recipe you’re working with – it intensifies the chicken flavor and adds a lovely depth to the recipe.

Fat composition:

Summing it Up

Animal fat is healthy, delicious, and extremely economical. It just doesn’t make sense to butcher a cow, throw out huge chunks of perfectly good fat, and then buy more cooking fat to brown your meat with! And animal fat is also delicious in a way “vegetable oil” just can’t match – try it once, and you’ll never go back to tasteless junk fat again.

You can buy raw fat from most small farmers (or sometimes they’ll just give it away, if you ask nicely). Or look in the freezer section of the grocery store – you might be able to find duck or chicken fat, or maybe even lard. Happy eating!

Get the Skinny on Fat, Animal Fat That Is

Tuesday

My Heart is Filled with Joy to Announce...

My son, Joshua and me.

I know that most mothers would say that they have the best son, but it just simply can not be true because I do! Joshua has been a delight since the day he was born. I do not exaggerate. He is easy going, compassionate, and thoughtful. I could always count on him to be respectful and loving.

Someone once called Joshua a Gentle Giant and I think it is very appropriate. He may be gentle, but there is fire inside. He has tenacity and strength. At 19 years old when most kids are off to college Joshua chose to pack up all that he owned in his car with no air conditioning and drive alone across the country to Los Angeles. He had no job lined up. He had no place to live. But, he felt it was where God wanted him and he followed.

Joshua in action

It has been almost 1 year since that gutsy move and I am so proud of the man that Joshua has grown to be. He survived nights in his car, hunger, loneliness and trying to find his place in the cold town of LA. I’m so thankful for some good friends that he has made who have lifted him when he needed it. And, I’m thankful that he is finding his passion. He was not sure what he wanted or was supposed to do in LA. So as a time filler and hobby he began going out and taking random photos around the city. He really enjoyed this exercise and found that he had quite a talent in the area of photography.

We’ve always known that Joshua had an eye for detail and thought outside the box. This shows through in his photographs. He has been encouraged by many who have seen his work to build a website to display and sell his prints. He has just completed the initial work on the site and I am so excited to share it with you.

If you need art for your home or office, do yourself a favor and check out his site. Or if you just want to enjoy some stunning photos, then grab a glass of wine, turn on some jazz and click the link below to be inspired.

Ladies & Gentlemen I present

J.K.Winders Photography!