Monthly Archives: January 2012

Ding-dong! The beans are gone! (A paleo chili recipe)

January 27, 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
When I first learned about chili, I thought I had found the gateway meal that would lead me to the world of legumes.

From as far back as I can remember, I always had a problem with beans of most kind. I have tales from kindergarten about the chick pea situation in one of the soup they served weekly and how I had to negotiate a tolerable ratio for my bowl with the cook – the agreement was a single chick pea per bowl, but I had to actually eat it in front of an educator… it was an event every week -_-

Turned out I find legumes as undesirable in chili than in soup. Yet I like chili – how comforting it is in winter, how the spiciness helps with congestion, how it is full of flavor and how deep and complex this flavor can be. And just the process of making chili… it’s a bit like brewing a potion. I was therefore really glad when I heard Dr Sheldon Cooper say that real chili does not contain beans. AH!

In its bean-less form, chili happens to be a fantastic paleo meal that can be prepared in advanced and stored for these lazy days when you feel just like ordering pizza.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 lb beef (chuck, tenderloin) in small cubes (I don’t know much about meat cut… I just bought cubed beef for braising, and re-cubed them smaller)
  • 1 tsp ancho chili powder
  • 1 tsp chili peppers flakes
  • 1 tbsp cumin seed
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 2 cups onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup beef stock
  • 2 cans (28 ounces) of crushed tomatoes (or 1 can crushed, 1 can whole or diced tomatoes… I just prefer the texture of all crushed tomatoes)
  • 4 tbsp tomato paste
  • 3 bell peppers, chopped
Note - The original recipe suggested the use of dried ancho and chili peppers. I couldn’t find any, so I substituted for the powder and flakes. If you can put your hand on some, the recipe called for 2 dried ancho chili and 2 dried red chili pepper, that you need to soak in hot water for 30 minutes. Just sayin’.

Instructions

In a large pot over high heat, add half of the oil (1/4 cup). When the oil is hot, add cubed meat and brown on all sides. Remove browned cubes from the pot and set aside.

Combine remaining olive oil (1/4 cup), ancho chili powder, chili peppers flakes, cumin seeds, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and chipotle peppers in blender or food processor and blend about 30 seconds, until it looks like a paste.

Return your large pot to medium heat and cook ground meat until it’s nicely browned.

Add onions and seasoning paste to the beef and cook until the onions are slightly translucent.

Add the beef stock, bring to a simmer and cook until stock is slightly reduced.

Add in the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped pepper and browned cubed meat.

Stir all ingredients and simmer for about 2 hours.

Eat what you can and store the rest!

Note - A chili recipe is always a work in progress. Next time, I will experiment with adding a bit of salt to it, as well as using whole canned tomatoes that I crush myself in the blender – I find that crushed tomatoes can be very sweet.

Adapted from the book Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie & Charles Mayfield.

6 Comments - Leave a comment!

Nuts for cookies: paleo cookie recipe

January 17, 2012 | Tags: , , , , ,
As one of the first 30 days challenges I intend to take in 2012, I decided to eat paleo for the entire month of January. My biggest difficulty was to find a little sweet something to replace my usual very sugary desserts and cravings. These entirely fruit-sweetened cookies are my saviours!

I know that to achieve weigh loss, it is best to limit the consumption of fruits and cookies – even if they’re very clean and paleo. However, I find it best to go slowly when attempting to make permanent beneficial lifestyle changes. Cutting all refined sugar was a big step for me, so for now I’m not restraining myself too much with these cookies. After 2 weeks though, I can already say that my urge for sugar – natural or refined – as dropped considerably. Usually, when I attempt that kind of experiment, I tend to dream about cake and ice cream, but this time I feel surprisingly clear-headed and sane and I have no fantasy about giant dancing anthropomorphic chocolate truffles. Yay!

These paleo cookies are made with coconut or almond flour, which pack them with nutrients, but also make them really, really filling. I’m pretty sure the elves used nut flours for their lembas bread…

Ingredients

  • 2 bananas
  • 3/4 cup almond butter
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/3 cup raw walnuts
  • 1 apple, peeled
  • 1/3 cup coconut milk
  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
Can’t find coconut flour? This recipe can be made with almond flour (or almond meal), which I think is a bit easier to find in grocery stores. Keep the same measurement, but skip the coconut milk. Coconut flour soak liquids like crazy, this is why it is often necessary to add coconut milk to it to adjust the texture. Cookies made with almond flour will have a different taste, texture and nutrients, but they will be just as good! I tried it!

Instructions

Preheat the oven at 350°F.

In a mixing bowl, mash the banana with a fork to purée consistency.

Add the almond butter, the cinnamon, and the baking soda and mix well.

Put the apple, the walnut and the milk in a blender, and chop to oatmeal consistency.

Add the mixture to the mixing bowl.

Incorporate the coconut flour and mix well.

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper – these tend to stick a bit more than cookies made with huge amount of butter.

With your hand or a spoon, place cookie dough on the baking sheet. Give them roughly the shape you want them to be, because they won’t budge in the oven. What you see there is what you’ll get.

Bake for 25  minutes.

Makes about 16 cookies. Or more. Or less. Depending on the size, you know.

These should be stored in the fridge and make an awesome breakfast, collation or dessert!

Use whatever food processor you have to get to a similar consistency. I only have a blender, so the coconut milk really help. Adapt accordingly to your tools…

You do not want a complete purée. Small bits give texture to the cookie. In a good way.

If you used almond flour, your mix will be more liquid. That’s why it’s not necessary to add the coconut milk.

I have found that both the coconut flour and almond flour version do not spread much in the oven, contrary to other cookies mix. Keep in mind when shaping your dough!

Adapted from Everyday Paleo, an awesome resources for… you guessed it… paleo recipes.

2 Comments - Leave a comment!

About L.A. & reflexions on urban traveling

January 14, 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
With the exception of my 2 trips to San Francisco – first to find an apartment, then to… live – my travel experience can be resumed in 1 word: camping. This trip to Los Angeles was my first “true” experience in urban travel, and I will certainly remember it forever as I learned something very important there: I hate sightseeing.

Grauman Chinese Theather - or my definition of Hell

Running around the city to look at stuff I’ve seen countless times on TV – from better angles, closer and with better lighting – seems like a vacuous waste of time to me. There’s very few good pictures opportunity in it: these places are flooded with tourists. There’s very little to enjoy: like I said, these places are flooded with tourists. I find it strenuous and boring. And it leaves me with an empty feeling… or worst, the unsettling feeling that I am broken: Why can’t I marvel before these landmarks like everyone else? Why am I not having a blast? Am I the only one who’s rather die than to eat at Mel’s Drive In? Why can’t I be more grateful to be here? Why are these freaking tourists walking sssooo slowly?!

Getty Center's tram

Getty Center's gardens

Getty Center's... center

In the Getty's gardens

Nice textures and surprises in the walls at Getty

I think what I like best about camping is that it’s always an “experience”: sleeping in a tent, hiking, kayaking, cooking my food over an open fire, etc. It’s about doing stuff I can’t really experience anywhere else. Traveling as we did in L.A. felt weirdly like going to the zoo: we watched supposedly exotic things from behind bars. It wasn’t engaging.

I left with the sinking feeling to have seen nothing more of L.A. than what I had already seen in the movies. And I’m sad to report that everything in the movies looked better and more impressive. Deeply unsatisfying.

Venice Beach

For my future trips, I want to concentrate on experiences:

  • Eating in good restaurants intended for the enjoyment of locals – not only for the convenience of tourists (which we mostly did on this trip: one of the things we learned from SF).
  • Splurge on a meal I usually couldn’t afford.
  • Watch people while having a drink.
  • Try an activity I wouldn’t do in my everyday life (skydiving, for example).
  • Take my time because I’m on vacation.
  • Enjoy the perks of living in a hotel.
  • Rent an apartment instead of a hotel (hotels are nice, but after 2 days, the novelty kind of wears off…).
  • Walk around to get a feel of the city (which is not easy in L.A. since everything is so far apart… It’s one of the few place I would say you can get a better feel of the city by driving).
  • Not care about crossing “must see” landmarks off my list unless I feel a strong personal connection with the place.

The key to a trip (in my opinion) is to find contrasts, something different from what you know. What differentiate Los Angeles from San Francisco is not the Hollywood sign or the Chinese Theater. The real differences are in the little everyday things, things that change and shape the people who live there.

Well. Life is a lesson, right? I’m sure we’ll get better at traveling with practice – fortunately, it’s something I don’t mind practicing often! ;)

Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A.

Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A. during a fraction of second with no tourists in front!

So, as an ending note, here are some impressions and highlights on our trip to Los Angeles:

  • The serendipitous discovery of the Mexican restaurant with the most amazing decor ever – even the soundtrack was epic: Spanish covers of 50′ oldies. It was like stepping on a set for a Tim Burton/Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaborative movie. I’d totally watch that movie.
  • The never-ending bus ride from Getty to Venice beach. It wasn’t nice, but it was… different.
  • The long and tall Mexican Fan Palm trees. They are tall! And everywhere! It gives the city a weird, unique look. Well, unique for this girl who never went to Florida and other similar locations ;)
  • How little they care about pedestrians. The sidewalks were so messed up and poorly repaired and patched.
  • How the Universal Studios Park is in much need of a rejuvenating cure: I don’t mind going back in time and relive the thrill of Jurassic Park and the Mummy, but really, there’s been 2 new Terminator movies since T2, and 3D isn’t very exciting anymore since it spread to every theaters. What they need is magic…
  • The “Front of the Line” passes at Universal Studios, one of the most “Hollywood” experience we’ve had: passing in front of everyone and never waiting in line. AH!
  • Laughing glances exchanged with Alex during the very tacky and degrading “Hollywood Star Home Tour” – during which you see very few homes but lots and lots of bushes.
  • The delicious and humongous cocktails of the Saddle Ranch Chop House.
  • The complimentary cotton candy tower of the Saddle Ranch Chop House!

Humongous drinks and complimentary cotton candy tower at the Saddle Ranch Chop House in West Hollywood.

3 Comments - Leave a comment!

Eleven Questions Tag

January 6, 2012 | Tags: , , , , ,
I’ve been tagged by Leah from Velokova to share 11 things about myself, answer 11 questions and ask 11 questions to 11 bloggers. Here we go!

RULES

  1. You must post these rules.
  2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
  3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
  4. You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.
  5. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.
  6. No tag backs.
  7. No stuff in the tagging section about ‘you are tagged if you are reading this.’  You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

11 things about me

  1. I was born in November (11th month of the year) at 11h11. I’ve always been very lucky in life, and that’s how I explain it.
  2. Now that I think of it, I’m also born on the 28th in 82. 28-82-82-28… whooo!
  3. I always thought I should have been born in a past era until we got Internet at home. Looks like I’m a 21st century girl after all…
  4. When I was young, I wanted to become an astronaut (with one important condition: a custom-made pink suit).
  5. At one point in my life, I thought I would become a fashion designer. Even went to fashion school (for like 2 months…).
  6. I’m a scanner, and I’m currently working on seeing this as something else than a curse.
  7. My new favorite ice cream flavor is Creme Brulee. It is awesome.
  8. I started drinking wine this year only. Before that, it was all beer and fruity cocktails. I feel all grown up now.
  9. I read way too much. Worst: I re-read way too much. Lord of the Ring? 5 times. Dune? 3 times. Harry Potter? I re-read them every time a new tome or new movie would come out. And then I say I don’t have time to write.
  10. I LOVE superhero stories, but just can’t bring myself to love reading comic books. Very much longing for superhero novels…
  11. I’m a reformed cat hater. I know, I’m ashamed.

Leah’s 11 questions:

  1. List 3 words and a color that describes you the best.
    Explorer. Introvert. Imaginative. Chartreuse.
  2. If you had to pick one, which Muppet would you be?  Why?
    I wish I was more like Gonzo The Great: so optimist, fearless and eager :) Truth is, I’m much more like Statler and Waldorf: my inner dialogue can sometimes sound like two grumpy judgmental old men bickering together.
  1. Share three different photos from your travels and tell us a little about them.
    Three pictures taken during our trip to L.A. Will keep the details for a possible future post.
  1. What’s your favorite video game of all time?
    I would take extended vacation to play a new installment of Final Fantasy. I love to wander in a new world and that there is always strong storyline and characters at the base of the game. My favorites are FFIV, FFVII, FFVIII and FFX. Sadly, I find it difficult to go back and play them because I’m spoiled and used to better graphics :-/
  2. What is one accomplishment you are most proud of doing in 2011 and what is one thing you’d like to accomplish in 2012?
    Living alone for 4 months (I’ve been with my boyfriend since forever), reducing considerably our amount of possessions and moving to San Francisco. UPDATE: Oh! And paying all our debts… how could I forget that?! // Finish my novel, run SF’s half-marathon.
  3. What is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?
    Moving to SF.
  4. What are your “go-to” pair of shoes right now?
    A good old pair of Converse. I’d like one in every colors to match with my moods.
  5. What was the last thing you bought online?
    Kumbaka wrap top. Excellent purchase, perfect for traveling!
  6. What are three websites that you visit on a regular basis (besides Google, Twitter, FB)?
    NOTCOT in general, but more recently one of the newest addition: NotVentures // The 99 Percent // The Mary Sue.
  7. Winter or Summer?
    It used to be neither: in Quebec, both seasons are too extreme for my taste. In San Francisco, all seasons are pretty mild, but I will go with summer, because it’s the most peculiar: foggy grey before noon, shiny sun and blue sky in the afternoon, and at night, a fog so thick that you can see it move and spread. Love it.
  8. What are you most passionate about?
    A good storyline. I think. I’m trying to figure out what’s my thing… You caught me in my “lost” period that started back in 2010. Bwah.

My 11 questions

  1. Where would you most like to live in the world?
  2. What are your top 3 books of all time (or 2011, as you wish)?
  3. Three fictional characters you would like to invite for tea?
  4. What would be the title of your memoir?
  5. Can you share something that you learned in 2011? (Can be random, insignificant, life changing, about yourself, etc.)
  6. What was your life like ten years ago?
  7. How would you like your life to be 10 years from now?
  8. Online shopping or traditional shopping? Why?
  9. What’s your favorite breakfast meal?
  10. If you were a superhero, what super power would you like to have?
  11. How long did you take to answer this tag?

The eleven persons I tag…

Hasina, Zviane, Nathalie Quéré, Janick, Stephanie, Suki, Casi, CréAriane, Kate, Mari… and since Leah cheated and tagged 12 people, I’ll equilibrate things by tagging only 10 ;). Some of you I know, some of you I don’t, but you all seem terrific ladies and I would love to read your answers, if it pleases you. Some of you haven’t posted in a while; I totally understand the reasons for web-silence, but I also know sometime all we need is someone to notice our absence to want to jump back into the craziness of blogging :)

7 Comments - Leave a comment!