Pamela's Paleo Life

So sad to hear about Prince.  Paisley Park is just minutes west of where we live.  I loved him.

So, as a tribute to the Purple One and to celebrate family May Birthdays and Mothers’ Day, we chose a Starfish & Coffee theme for brunch.  Diamonds and Pearls were worn.

We had: starfish and coffee maple syrup and jam butterscotch clouds a tangerine

…and a side order of ham

With waffles to hold it all!

WAFFLES:

1 1/2 cups Otto’s Cassava Flour 2 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt

1 can Native Forest Coconut Milk (full fat) 2 eggs 2 tbsp TigerNut Oil 1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together dry ingredients Whisk together wet ingredients Combine wet with dry and whisk until well-blended – batter will be thick Use medium cookie scoop to portion into waffle maker (mine uses one scoop in each quadrant of a round waffle – see photo) and follow machine instructions

My sweet boys gave me a tea-themed bracelet for Mothers’ Day.  They know what I like!

So blessed to be these boys’ Mamma!

Join Thrive Market by 12/24 – Receive 2 FREE Cans of Salmon

    Join Thrive Market by 12/24 and receive 2 FREE cans of Wild Planet salmon!

We all know how good for us wild-caught salmon is – and how expensive it can be! Thrive Market provides wholesome products at wholesale prices.  Everything from food, household, personal care and even toys – at great savings!  Shipped right to your door.

I’ve been a member since last February and shop regularly.  When…

12 Days of (Paleo) Christmas 2015

2015 List of Paleo-Friendly Gift Ideas:

On the first day of Christmas…la la la la la la…

#1 Instant Pot pressure cooker for convenient prep of favorite Paleo comfort foods.

  #2 Frankincense & Myrrh essential oils for nearly anything that ails you – even kills cancer cells!

  #3 Red Apple Lipstick Gluten-free makeup to deck yourself out for the holidays and every day.

     #4 Downton Abbey Ch…

I did roast the annual Ferndale Farms pastured turkey, and there was pumpkin pie, of course.  The exciting part was the addition of Otto’s cassava flour to the recipes.  It made an awesome gravy thickener, as well as real pie crust and bread rolls.  Thank you Paleo Mom and Zenbelly for the pie crust and dinner roll recipes!

So while the rest of the family played and watched the parade on TV, I was in the kitchen. Most of the food was made the day before, as I only have one oven and it was needed for the turkey.  For the fifth year, I used my trusty America’s Test Kitchen recipe for turkey and gravy, substituting Paleo-friendly ingredients.  I can always count on them for perfection!

The Chef Alarm (by the makers of the Thermapen) is critical to perfectly roasted meat. The alarm goes off when the probe reaches desired temperature an attaches to the outside of the oven with magnets.

Perfect Pie!

Bent the rules a bit and made fingerling potatoes and stuffing with Udi’s Gluten-Free bread.

See how nicely that gravy is thickening? Even smoother and easier than traditional flour roux.

Added bacon deviled eggs for the appetizer (aka breakfast!) and Tigernut apple crisp.

Pastured eggs with Primal Mayo, scallions and BACON.

My latest creation: apple crisp made with Tigernut flour.

FINALLY found this – and it is the BEST!  So good I stocked up on a few tubs for Christmas… just in case there’s a run on it at the co-op – yes, it’s that good!   *nom nom nom*

Yummy!

This was Max’s first Thanksgiving feast, and he enjoyed it immensely. A little cautious about the pie and whip at first…

Then grabbed the whole thing and chomped it down!

BIG smile!  Toddler-approved.

Bath time! LOL

Our new kittens Remi & Ella helped with the cleanup.  Panda & Raven got some turkey later.

We had our first snowfall of the season after a mild, extended Fall. So Alex finally got his wish, and gleefully played in it. Bundled up Max, only to find he outgrew his snow boots before ever wearing them!  Oy!  

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Time to make notes for next year and start on Christmas celebration planning…

The Bulletproof Cookbook is Finally Here!

The Bulletproof cookbook is HERE at last!

NO other cookbook was able to recreate classic recipes—traditional recipes everyone craves (even your non-paleo/anti-Bulletproof friends and family)—until now…

Here’s what’s inside…

• Traditional RecipesMade Bulletproof – Make all your former favorites healthy enough to be bulletproof with easy to prepare substitutions for nearly every single kryptonite…

Be Bulletproof at 20% Off Sitewide TODAY!

ALL Bulletproof Products are On Sale!  Woo-Hoo!

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Be Bulletproof at 20% Off!

Bulletproof Products on Sale!  Woo-Hoo!

Sunday: 20% off supplements and accessories

Monday: 20% off SITEWIDE!

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Red Apple Lipstick’s Winter Collection is Here!

Awesome new colors for the Holidays!  I got mine.

New lipstick, gloss, lip liner and eyeliner along with the existing favorite mascara, eyeshadow and lip products – you’ll be set with safe, gluten-free beauty for every occasion!

Sign up for the VIP 20% Discount and never pay retail!

I LOVE this stuff and wear it every day!

Be Bulletproof at 20% Off!

Bulletproof Products on Sale!  Woo-Hoo!

Saturday: 20% off proteins and snacks

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Be Bulletproof at 20% Off!

Bulletproof Products on Sale!  Woo-Hoo!

Friday: 20% off coffee, beverages and oils

Saturday: 20% off proteins and snacks

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Monday: 20% off SITEWIDE!

NO COUPONS OR CODES NEEDED!  SHOP NOW

Regular readers will do a double-take when they see our new furbabies!

A week ago they arrived at our house courtesy of a friend that rescued them from feral living.  After some adjustment, they’ve become quite at home here with us.  Panda was rather accepting from the beginning, but Raven still has to be won over completely.  She will tolerate them up to a distance of about 2 feet, but any…

The 6th annual Minnesota Blogger Conference was held last Saturday in St. Paul, MN.

Highly informative breakout sessions and a great opportunity to meet fellow (local) bloggers made the event worthwhile.  WordPress and Securi were there to answer our most pressing questions, and there was even a professional photographer providing discounted headshots.

Twin Cities public relations operative Arik…

Red Apple Lipstick’s Winter Collection is Coming 11/16!

Red Apple Lipstick makes the BEST gluten-free, paraben-free safe makeup!  I’ve been a devoted fan for years and look forward to each season’s new colors.  Here they are for Winter!

These gorgeous shades of lipsticks, glosses and eyeliners go on sale November 16th.   Click this image to sign up to get access to the sale and a 20% VIP discount.

Check out all of their products, including eyeshadows…

Finding pastured pork/bacon can be challenging – even here in (agricultural) Minnesota. Once finding a source, the supply is NOT guaranteed either!   

At a recent Farmers’ Market, I located a farm that produces pastured beef, pork, poultry and eggs (which happens to be near where I grew up in Central MN) and was so excited!  The initial sampling of beef and eggs were outstanding, so you can imagine my disappointment when told they were out of bacon for the season.  *sob*  Oh, The Horror!

Pastured piggy fat is one of the few food sources with any appreciable amount of vitamin D, which we really need here in the Northland winters.  So, after a moment to calm myself, I perused the menu and saw pork organ/back fat on the list.  Did they still have some in stock?  Yes, one package in the trailer.   Score!  Only I had to render it myself.  Sure, I could buy a jar on Thrive Market, but it wouldn’t be local or as fresh.

How hard could it be?  I took to the Paleosphere and read a few blog posts and decided to do it crockpot-style in my Instant Pot.  [This appliance has been an incredible help in the kitchen as a pressure cooker, and I’ve used it for beef, poultry, root veggies and curcurbits with great success.  As an aside, if you have little ones with hands that reach the stovetop like I do, it’s a huge help safety-wise as it can be kept on the counter out of reach and is insulated should it be touched.]

I cut up the slabs of back fat into cubes and set the Instant Pot to Slow Cook (vented, of course!)

It took much longer than expected on the slow cooker setting, so I opened the pot and continued on the Meat/Stew. stirring occasionally.  Once most of the fat was melted, I strained it, removed the pot from the base and finished rendering on the stovetop for better heat control.  Apparently it is better to take the time to cut up the fat into really small pieces.

It’s getting there!

All told, I got 3x the amount of lard at 30% less cost than buying it finished. And got a jar of tasty cracklings to boot!

Boo!

Another food-centered holiday – a minefeld for those of us with celiac and/or food allergies. We will again be distributing an allergy-friendly treat for Halloween (Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops) and participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project.

Teal Pumpkin Project

Trick-or-Treating is fun, so we let our son(s) do the rounds in the neighborhood with Daddy and bring home their stash for sorting (minus a few safe bites).  We use the Gluten-Free Candy List 2015 to verify GF safety and have ourselves a little gorge-fest (and ensuing sugar coma), then buy the rest of it from the kiddo(s) to send with Daddy to the office the next day.  All unsafe candy automatically goes into that pile from the get-go.

The boys got to wear their costumes last weekend at the Arboretum’s Ghouls & Giggles Event. There was a Teddy Bear Band and Trick-or-Treating along a trail in the woods.  The maples were gorgeous, and everythign smelled like Fall.

I chose the astronaut costume for baby, and older brother decided to match.  Daddy is always telling people that Big Bro will invent the first Warp-Core Engine and double-dog dare Baby to fly it.  Gotta be an astronaut to do that, right?!

All that sugar impairs immunity.  And every year like clockwork, all the kids at school get sick right after Halloween.  One year, poor Alex even developed pneumonia.  Oy, that was scary! This year we are prepared – above and beyond eating nutrient-dense foods and vitamin D. I armed myself with a bottle of Young Living’s Thieves essential oil.  Legend has it, this oil protected four thieves from the Black Plague back in the Dark Ages.  It really seems to work!  If there is a hint of illness approaching, I place a few drops in a diffuser at bedtime (only for those of us older than 6!) and it works its magic.  Science has verified the power of essential oil medicinal compounds.  They are often superior to conventional antimicrobials and they do not develop resistant strains of pathogens.  Lavender and Frankincense are safe for (conservative) use on babies, while peppermint should never be used on anyone under the age of 6.

I have been learning about and using essential oils for a few months now, and I must say I am impressed.  Veriditas Botanicals (local Minneapolis company) have been my favorite products, although I also use Aura Cacia, Young Living and Mercola (all organic versions only!)

Here’s wishing you all a safe and happy Halloween!