***Winter Feasting***

So, I really haven't been posting a whole lot this winter. My life feels pretty "non-postable" right now. We're not doing our Supper Club anymore, my best friend, Josh, just moved to Denver, it's been snowing a lot. I haven't really even been able to wrap my head around gardening when there is still 10 inches of snow on the ground. We needed that moisture so badly...I'm grateful. 

What I have been doing is cooking. And eating. Chris and I are (mostly) doing the Paleo "plan" as we like to call it (instead of "diet"). It's been really great. It's gotten me out of a cooking rut. The gluten free nature of it leaves me sleeping better, with more energy, less brain fog and feeling full longer. Oh yea, and I've lost some weight. It definitely takes food planning though. If I skip my Monday prep day, I'm scrambling for the rest of the week. The Paleo Plan includes lots of veggies, some fruit, nuts, seeds and healthy meat and seafood - think grass fed, cage free, antibiotic free - all of that good stuff. It's mainly about avoiding grains and processed carbs like crackers, pasta, tortillas. It's supposed to be the "caveman diet", what people ate when they were hunters and gatherers. I mean, I'm obviously not going to be foraging berries for my breakfast but I am going to be more conscious about what I eat. And the coolest thing about it is that I FEEL REALLY GOOD. 

Raw kale salad with apple, radish, dried currants, almonds, goat cheese 

(not technically on the plan) and a lemon mustard vinaigrette. 

Made one for dinner and another to have for lunch the next day.

A whole roasted chicken with sweet potatoes and an AWESOME fresh herb, 

lemon zest, garlic, olive oil, parmesan sauce you drizzle over everything. YUM.

See recipe below if you care to replicate. Sorry for the torn/taped together recipe. Let me know if you have any questions.

Raw broccoli salad with almonds, red onion, dried currants, 

sunflower seeds, lemon, greek yogurt.

snack/lunch

Grass fed beef burger patty with stinky blue cheese, sauteed mushrooms 

and almonds. Green salad on the side. SO GOOD!!!

Chicken with garlic, thyme, parm and capers. 

Mashed sweet potatoes and acorn squash with almonds on top.

Homemade paleo cookies! 

Homemade paleo crackers! Sesame seed, sunflower seed, coconut flour.

Breakfast on a snow day.

Snacks for the week.

Not very pretty but DELISH. Goat curry (braised for 4 hours) 

with coconut milk, tomato and cauliflower.

And finally, Smokefest II at Kevin's house yesterday. We smoked cheese, garlic, salt, almonds, trout and salmon. MMMMmmmmm.

~~Smokefest 2012~~

A couple of weekends ago, Chris and I travelled to the distant land of Topeka, our state capital, to hang out with our buddy Kevin. To eat, drink, be merry and smoke stuff. Now, I know what you might be thinking...

But this event consisted of eating smoked ribs for dinner that Kevin smoked all day long, hanging out amongst Kevin's incredible collections in his basement whilst the boys smoked pipes, slumber partying over night and smoking fish and cheese the following morning. It was mine and Chris's first time to smoke fishes and cheeses and it was delicious and FUN! Thanks Kevin, you are best host!

Kevin's awesome "man cave"

Listening to 78's all night long

Chris peeling an obscene amount of garlic for the brine.

Brining the fish overnight with brown sugar and garlic.

Prepping the goods in the morning for smoking.

Good morning!

This is how we did the cold smoke for the cheese: 

a soldering iron in a can with cherry wood and a little tub of ice

 to keep the temp under 90 degrees.

We smoked garlic and salt too. But realized after the fact, 

that we probably shouldn't have put it with the fish. 

It ended up tasting too much like fish. We tossed it. 

Lesson: put it with the cheese!