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Comfort Me With Meatloaf: Paleo Comfort Food for a Ghastly Election Year

10/5/2016

2 Comments

 
I don't know about you...no, I take that back, I DO know about you: You are feeling as awful as I am about this incredibly hideous election cycle. When I think about Election Night, I can picture myself sitting under a blanket and sucking my thumb. In dark times like these, the only foods I want to eat are comfort foods...primarily tapioca pudding. I once spent several weeks following one disastrous election outcome (but not as disastrous as this one could be, trust me) comforting myself with warm tapioca, right out of the pan. I couldn't stomach anything else.

So here are a few of my go-to nursery food choices to get you through  Election Day. And after that? Depends on the outcome...I'll either go with celebratory meals, or, if my friends follow through on their desires to flee north of the border, Canadian specialties.

Meanwhile, please don't forget to register and VOTE and please let your vote be informed by everything that is GOOD about our country. Love can indeed trump hate.

The meatloaf recipe, below, requires bread (the ultimate comfort food), so I am reprinting the recipe for Paleo Sandwich Bread from a year ago, one of my first posts. So, Happy Anniversary, Paleogram, and thank you, faithful readers, for making it such a fruitful year.

So, what are your favorite comfort foods, childhood or otherwise? Drop me a line under comments and, if feasible, I'll work on making your favorites Paleo and include them in a future blog post.

Paleo Sandwich Bread (from Paleoeffect.com)
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups arrowroot powder
1 cup golden flax meal
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
4 tsp  baking powder
4 eggs
4 TBS walnut oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
4 egg whites, beaten to soft peaks
Coconut oil for greasing pan

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a bread pan.
2. Combine all dry ingredients.
3. Mix 4 eggs, walnut oil and cider vinegar and then combine with dry ingredients.
4. Fold in beaten egg whites.
5. Pour into greased pan and bake for 55-60 minutes.
6. Cool on wire rack.

My Favorite Meatloaf
Serves 6-8

The original recipe came from an old Adele Davis cookbook which is now lost, but I've changed it up quite a bit over the past 40 years, so my kids consider it mine. In any case, it wasn't difficult to "paleotize."
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Ingredients

2 slices Paleo Sandwich Bread (see recipe, above)
1/2 cup organic full fat canned coconut milk
2 TBS hemp seeds
1 large carrot
1 small zucchini or other summer squash
1 small onion
Handful of parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
A few grindings black pepper
1 egg
1 lb. ground grass-fed beef
1 lb. ground turkey or ground chicken
Paleo-friendly ketchup
Coconut oil for greasing pan

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease loaf pan (I prefer glass, but metal works o.k., too) and spread a thin layer of ketchup on the bottom of the pan
3. In a large bowl, crumble the bread into the coconut milk and let sit until bread gets mushy (you may have to mash it with a fork, as this bread doesn't mush as well as regular bread); stir in hemp seeds
4. Using the shredding attachment of your food processor, shred the carrot, zucchini and onion, and stir into the bread mixture, along with the chopped parsley, oregano, salt and pepper.
5. Mix in the egg, then mix in the ground meats, one pound at a time.
6. Now it gets fun: Roll up your sleeves, take off your rings, and plunge your hands into the mix. Use your hands to mix thoroughly until everything is incorporated and there are no separate little chunks of meat or bread.
7. Put the meatloaf mix into the pan, smoothing the top with a spoon. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. To serve,  cut loaf into slices and spoon ketchup "gravy" from the bottom of the pan onto each slice.

 For extra comfort, serve alongside mashed cauliflower (faux mashed potatoes). Simply steam cauliflower florets until tender, then place in food processor with a tablespoon or two of ghee and salt to taste and process until it achieves the texture of mashed potatoes. And if you don't tell them, some of your eaters may think it is the real thing.

Fettuccini or Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 2

Writer Calvin Trillin once famously called for Spaghetti Carbonara to replace turkey as America's iconic Thanksgiving meal. While I wouldn't go that far...how can you go wrong with bacon, eggs and cream on pasta? Actually, I eat this for breakfast a couple of times a week. Zero calories for the Miracle Noodles, not so for the bacon, eggs and coconut cream, though.
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Ingredients

2 packages Miracle Noodles Fettuccini or Spaghetti (available at your local health food store or on-line at miraclenoodle.com), prepared according to package directions, which are basically to rinse noodles, throw in boiling water for a minute and then drain)
4 cage-free eggs, beaten
4 slices cooked bacon, broken into pieces
4 TBS coconut cream (from top of can of organic full-fat coconut milk)
Salt and pepper to taste
Nutritional yeast, optional

1. Prepare Miracle Noodles and after boiling for a minute, drain the water out and put noodles back in dry pan. Over low heat, stir the eggs into the noodles and cook gently, just until egg are no longer liquid (don't cook too long or you will end up with scrambled eggs).
2. Stir in the coconut milk, add crumbled bacon and salt and pepper to taste. If you want to make this more authentic (Spaghetti Carbonara contains Parmesan cheese), sprinkle with nutritional yeast for a "cheesy" taste.

Tapioca Pudding

Serves 8, or one very needy person, who will eat it warm, right out of the pan (Note: I do not endorse this practice, but it's better than drinking yourself s**t-faced as you are waiting for the election returns from swing states).

 This is a Paleo version of the Classic Old-Fashioned Tapioca Pudding Recipe on the back of the bag of Bob's Red Mill Small Pearl Tapioca, which I recommend. Do not use instant tapioca, as it may contain additives. Tapioca is not a grain, so it's o.k. In moderation (with an exception for Election Night) on a Paleo diet.
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Ingredients

1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
3/4 cup water
2 1/4 cups organic full-fat canned coconut milk
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 eggs, separated
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place tapioca and water in a medium-sized saucepan and let tapioca soak for 30 minutes. Do not drain after soaking.
2. Add coconut milk, salt, honey and beaten egg yolks to tapioca and stir over medium heat until boiling. Simmer over very low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring often.
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
4. Fold about 3/4 cup of the hot tapioca mixture into the egg whites, then gently fold mixture back into saucepan. Stir over low heat for about 3 or 4 minutes.
5. Cool for 15 minutes, then stir in vanilla. Serve warm, but it's good cold the next day,  provided there is any left over.
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Got (Coconut) Milk?

11/4/2015

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           When my kids were little, we lived in the Hudson Valley of New York State, in a  fixer-upper house that never quite got fixed up. When my son had an allergic reaction to cow's milk, we were advised to start him on goat's milk. Back in the day, goat's milk was not readily available at the local grocery and health food stores were few and far between. So, we schlepped each week , recyclable bottles in tow, to a local farmer for our supply. Eventually, it seemed to make sense to milk our own goats (it didn't make that much sense in mid-winter when we trudged to the barn twice a day to milk them, though). Anyway, we had LOTS of milk, so I made yogurt and cheese. It was kind of a production, with precise temperatures and timing and special equipment. The kids didn't even like it. A lot of work for very little payback.

          Fast forward thirty-some odd years, and I am once again making yogurt and cheese (well, cream cheese, anyway), but this time with coconut milk and without all the paraphernalia. It's easy, fun, and, oh yes, delicious.

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Coconut Yogurt
Makes about 1 pint


           This summer, my cousin Amy came for a visit and brought a rare and coveted gift, a container of Anita's Creamline Coconut Yogurt. I practically swooned when I tasted it and made up my mind to put in a standing order. Alas, Anita's is only available in New York City and they will not ship it no matter how hard you beg or grovel. When I looked up recipes for this yogurt, they all required hacking up baby coconuts to extract the meat. Way too labor-intensive, so I reconciled myself to no yogurt. But then I wondered what would happen if I used canned coconut milk, instead. And guess what, it's really, really good--not quite the amazing, sensual taste sensation of Anita's, but perfectly wonderful if you live in rural Maine and get to New York City maybe once every couple of years.

Ingredients
-Cream from the top of one can of coconut milk, plus enough coconut water from the can to make a smooth yogurt (I use Native Forest Unsweetened Organic Classic Coconut Milk. This brand contains organic guar gum, but when I tried this with a brand without guar gum, the texture was unacceptable. In any case, do not use reduced-fat coconut milk--unless you want to make kefir) If your kitchen is very warm, you can put the can in the refrigerator overnight before you use it so cream will thicken.
-Contents of one probiotic capsule

1. Scoop the cream from the top of the can and put it in a bowl. Add as much of the liquid from the bottom of the can as you like--if you want a thick, Greek-type yogurt, just add enough so you can stir the mixture; if you like traditional yogurt, add a little more liquid. Do not use the whole can or yogurt will not thicken properly.
2. Empty the contents of probiotic capsule into the cream and stir until well-combined. An immersion blender helps if there are lumps of coconut cream in the mixture.
3. Pour into sterile glass jar, cover, and place in a turned-off oven for 24 hours.
4. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Paleo Sour Cream
Makes about 1 pint


                 When my siblings and I were very young, sour cream and bananas was a favorite dinner choice. I don't remember if this was offered as the actual dinner, or maybe the alternative when we turned our noses up at what my mother put on the table (liver and onions, perhaps?). I actually loathed bananas, and this was the only way I would eat them. It still is, but now my sour cream is made with coconut milk. The bananas, however, are still made with bananas     
​ ( just slice them into a bowl and top with sour cream--voila, instant kid dinner. Or, even better, use coconut yogurt in place of the sour cream, add a tablespoon of raw organic hemp seeds, and you have a healthy adult breakfast).
Ingredients
1 can coconut milk (see yogurt recipe for information)
1 TBS fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Sea salt to taste

1. Scoop cream from top of coconut milk into bowl
2. Add lemon juice and salt to taste and mix thoroughly
3. Use in any recipe that calls for sour cream (like my Aunt Honey's Sorrel Soup, see below)

Paleo Cream Cheese

Ingredients
Same as for Paleo Sour Cream, above

1. Follow recipe for Paleo Sour Cream, above
2. Line a strainer with an unbleached coffee filter and place strainer over bowl, then add Paleo sour cream
3. Cover with a clean dish towel and leave on counter overnight so liquid can drain
4. Remove coffee filter and transfer to a small bowl. Refrigerate and use as you would any conventional cream cheese (yes, you can still have lox and bagels on Paleo--check out Elana Amsterdam's recipe for Paleo bagels on her website www.elanaspantry.com)
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Aunt Honey's Sorrel Soup (Schav)
Serves 4

                  My mother was the oldest of 6 girls, and was 20 years older than her youngest sister, so I have several aunts who are not much older than I am. The following recipe, adapted for Paleo, is from my second youngest aunt, who always signs her letters to me FYAHWLY (from your Aunt Honey what loves you). As of mid-October, I still have sorrel (a lemony-tasting green) in the garden. It's a perennial and I planted it just for this soup (it also makes a great sauce for salmon).

Ingredients
3 medium onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic (I omit this, because garlic doesn't like me)
1/4 cup ghee
Sorrel leaves (remove stalks and large veins), coarsely shredded, approximately 8-10 cups
2 TBS vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt, pepper to taste
4 cups low sodium chicken stock (I use Imagine brand)
1 egg, beaten
Paleo sour cream (see above) to garnish

1. Sauté onion (and garlic, if using) in ghee until golden
2. Add sorrel leaves, and cook, covered, until wilted (about 5 minutes)
3. Add stock, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook, covered, about 30 minutes
4. When ready to serve, beat egg in a small bowl, add a little hot soup to the bowl  and then return the mixture to the pot. Stir well. Do not allow the soup to boil or the egg to set.
5. Serve at once with a dollop of sour cream.
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5/1/2015

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      Deborah Shepherd

    New recipes and Paleo adaptations of family favorites I've been cooking for years that I hope will work for all of us, whether Boomers or beyond.

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