Pork-Based Diet

I have a couple friends who eat "Plant-Based Diets." I think it means vegan-ish. As in, "I'm pretty much a vegan but I'm not too obnoxious about it." (Don't get your feathers in a ruffle. I'm sure You are not an obnoxious vegan. Further, I have loved most vegans I've met and known.) Whenever I think of the term plant-based, my head always turns it into pork-based. I daydream about meeting someone at a party and, when they tell me they eat a plant-based diet, my eyes light up and I tell them that I totally relate because I eat a pork-based diet.

 Not that I really like pork. It doesn't have a good taste to me. I like my pork heavily salted (Bacon!) or I've recently discovered I can eat some pork loin if it has strong flavors. This recipe below is one my family really likes. And I tolerate.

1. Crock Pot Pulled Pork
1 pork shoulder cut (butt or picnic), weighing 3-4 pounds
1-2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1-2 tablespoons of granulated garlic or garlic powder
6 fresh garlic cloves, peeled
The juice of one lime
1 onion, sliced or chopped
1 bay leaf

Instructions:
Mix together salt, cumin, black pepper and granulated garlic. Juice the lime over the seasonings and rub the mixture all over the pork. Use a knife to slice six thin cuts in the pork and push each fresh garlic clove securely inside each cut. Place the onion and bay leaf in the bottom of the crock pot and pork on top. Cook on low for about 8 hours. (Great one to put on before work, and then it’s ready for you when you get home!)

An important reminder :

kombucha

Look on the internet and you will find lots of recipes for kombucha. Rachel, from Small Notebook, has the clearest directions for homemaking kombucha that I have found. It really is a lot of fun if you haven't tried it. Before I began making my own kombucha, I saved up my G.T.'s kombucha bottles. I use those to store my individual batches of kombucha. It would be fun to buy the home-brewing bottles that Rachel uses though. Maybe one day.

How to Make your Own Kombucha.

Meatloaf from Paleo Musings

Tonight I made this meatloaf for the second time. It has been a huge hit both times I've served it to my family. The recipe comes from the 3/11/12 post on Paleo Musings titled Heavenly Paleo Meatloaf. The first time I made it, I used only pork. Tonight I used one pound of pork and three pounds of beef.

Quinoa Cakes from The Whole Foods Diner

Tonight I made Quinoa Cakes. I thought they were delicious. I'd say my children were about half in agreement to liking them. In my opinion, that isn't bad for a first time offering.

The recipe comes from The Whole Foods Diner, their 4/15/13 post titled Meatless Mondays : Quinoa Cakes. I left out the onions because I didn't want my children to be afraid; I think onions would have made these great cakes even better.

Shift

I hope to use this blog as an organizational tool to help me better meal plan and feed my family. Still hoping to use minimal sugar and gluten, this will be an everyday-type, all-encompassing menu blog. Therefore, I will be using categories to try to keep things organized : Season, meal, focus, and possibly even main ingredients.

Some of the categories I am going to start out with are:
spring
summer
autumn
winter
breakfast
lunch
supper
snack
beverage
dessert
gluten free
refined sugar free
dairy free
vegan
vegetarian

One foot in front of the other

I'm still working my minimal sugar and gluten intake. I did have a breakdown this weekend. Who knew a half cup of chocolate chips was over 500 calories? Jeezapete.

I found this article over the weekend. It is fairly basic, but has good info to know.

http://www.skinny-bits.com/2012/07/skinny-on-sweeteners.html

I hope to have something worthwhile to say before too long.