Ingredients:

1 bunch Swiss chard

1 beet

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic

1 green onion

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 slices organic nitrite free bacon

2 tsp fresh chopped parsley

 Method:

Cut your beet into quarters and place into boiling water for about 3-5 minutes to soften for chopping. Chop the Swiss chard and parsley, rinse and spin dry.

Roughly chop the onion and dice your bacon, add to a large saucepan and cook until onion starts to become translucent. When the beet has done boiling, run it under cold water so that you can handle it. Peel and slice into bite sized sticks. Add to saucepan and simmer for 2 minutes with bacon/onion mixture.

Toss in the chard, garlic, green onion and apple cider vinegar. Cover and let soften for about 5 minutes, tossing the mixture occasionally.

Serve aside a lovely grass fed steak!

It was a busy weekend with a 7th birthday part to plan, execute and clean up from, not to mention putting together the 4 million piece lego presents that he received.  I feel like I deserve some kind of recognition from the international engineers association, if such a thing exists. So, it left me little time to put thought into what to do with the pork roast. I usually ponder new recipes for hours, not this time.  Slow cooker throw together really. Here is what dinner ended up being:

What you need:

1.5 lb pork roast

2 apples

1/4 cup raisins

3 TBSP fat of choice (I used bacon grease of course)

1 tsp diced ginger

salt n’ peppa

1 tsp organic mustard

What you do:

Season the pork with salt and pepper and sear in your fat on all sides for about 2 minutes a side. Slice your apples and line the bottom of the crock pot. When the pork is done, rub mustard all over it and place on top of apples. Sprinkle with ginger and raisins, pour the grease from the pan all over it and cook on low for 2.5 – 3 hours (I’m sure that 10 hours would produce mouth watering meat but I didn’t have that kind of time!).

I served it with sweet potato hash and it was yum! I couldn’t finish my apples though…too sweet for me.

Enjoy!

-Stefanie Herron, Personal Trainer, Primal Playground Richmond Hill

Farley’s life changed when he and his wife undertook our 3 month nutrition coaching program. Before this, a typical day would start with an enormous bowl of cereal. He was a regular drinker of soda and beer and would sit down at night to a movie and some microwave popcorn or potato chips. His weight had increased over the years to point where, last November, he was weighing in at 305 lbs. He’d been thinking about making changes for a long time but hadn’t really done anything. Topping 300 lbs was a big eye opener. At only 54 years old, he realized he had a a whole lot of living ahead of him and he didn’t want to miss a thing.

So began his journey. After a huge pantry purge and restocking of goods he was on his way. Now, breakfast consists of pastured eggs and bacon, lunch is a coconut smoothie and for dinner? Anything from steak and a salad to ribs and veg. He no longer craves snacks all day long and is full of energy. His only problem was that eventually, he was walking around the house with his pants falling off. In just 4 months he has lost over 70 lbs and has gone from a 50″ waist to a 38″.

Way to go Farley, you rock!  WHO’S NEXT?

Thanks again Jennifer – you are an inspiration! Lead by example and change will come.

One of the first things I decided, after deciding to go Paleo, was to cook what I liked to eat.  The rest of the family, twin teen girls and a tween girl, and ½ Paleo husband, could pick out what they didn’t like.  Faced with the daunting task of editing out the beef, the bok choy, the onions, the red peppers ….. and being left with slivered almonds and the sauce, my youngest and most pickiest eater bravely picked up her fork and speared her stir fry.  All that was left was a few suspicious pieces she thought was celery (really the bok choy stems) but she ate the “parsley” (really the green part of the bok choy).  Success!

That has been the most positive impact of going Paleo in the Chez Orrett household: watching the kids make the better choice, choosing the healthier, natural food.  One of my aha moments was when the carb and sugar addicted hoards of teens who continually invade my house requested I make them what I had made myself for lunch, (smoked salmon topped leafy greens stir fry with red wine and garlic), based strictly on the smell that drew them up from the cavernous basement with its games and musical instruments.  A huge hit, they raved about it and have asked for it repeatedly.  And it was really just a what’s-in-the-fridge-is-going-in-the-pan dish.   Got some wine and cashews on the counter?  Bang that in, too.

While I’m fueling my body with the right food, I’m dragging the kids towards a life time of good eats.  Without them even realizing it!  Unplanned reverse psychology, which is the best kind.

Here’s a few other observations of the Paleo diet challenge:

1.  You are, literally, what you eat.  Wanna  test that theory?  Eat a 5 lb bag of beets in two days, and watch out for the results in the toilet bowl.  Gives you a great idea of the impact that food has on your body.  Beets are nature’s dye.
2. Always have on hand a ready-to-go supply of nuts, bananas, apples, Paleo bars, figs, hard-boiled eggs.  Wait, revise that.  Have a HUGE supply on hand, because suddenly those 100-calorie snack packs are less attractive to the rest of the household.
3. Toothpicks become a purse stocked item.  Ever checked your teeth in the car mirror on the way out, only to discover hidden bits of kale or spinach peeking out at you?
4. You’re never really hungry on the Paleo diet.  You won’t have those dreaded night time cravings.  This gives you the time for other night time activities…. Just saying…..
5. Trying to cut back on sugar in your coffee is hard.  Having 3 times your normal amount of coffee with less sugar in each one STILL equals the one cup of double double you used to have.  Nice try, Jen!
6. Bacon fat is a gift from the Gods.  Spinach tastes good in it.  Already cooked shrimp tastes even better (a hubby discovery).  I can’t believe I used to throw this nectar out!
7. Don’t tell anybody how good bacon-wrapped baked figs are!  Shhhh! ‘Cause you turn your back for one second and they’re all gone, even eaten by the cat, the little devil!  Well, she spit out the fig bits, sort of.
8. Longo’s Salad Bar is the Paleoist’s fast food.  Too bad they don’t have a drive through.

All in all, 7 pounds down in one month is an acceptable weight loss.  More amazing is how great I feel, how my sugar cravings are gone, how happy I am that the example I am setting for my girls is literally the best that I can do for them, and for me.  Practice what you eat!

Jennifer Orrett

Mom to Jessie, Katie and Stephanie, wife to Ross.

What You Need:

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 onion

10 cremini mushrooms

5-6 medium sized zucchini

1 cup fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup nuts (all I had was cashew, walnuts are better, macadamia nuts the best)

6 cloves garlic

pinch Himalayan mountain salt

4 TBSP olive oil

What You Do

Cut your chicken thighs into smallish chunks and set aside. Clean and chop your mushrooms to the size you like to bite them, and slice your onion. I didn’t dice but left larger slices for this one. Set aside. Thinly slice 2 cloves of garlic.

Peel (if you want to) your zucchini and, using a potato peeler, cut your wide noodles and lay them out on a sheet to dry out a bit while you cook everything else.

Heat a large saucepan to medium and add the mushrooms. Let them cook dry in order to release moisture. As always, we’re looking to evaporate as much water when working with mushrooms and zucchini noodles as possible to avoid a water bowl of mush as dinner. Once the mushrooms start to release, add the onions and a tiny bit of olive oil. Blend and add the chicken, a bit more oil and the thinly sliced garlic. Begin cooking on low until the chicken is cooked through.

Put your basil, 4 garlic cloves, nuts and salt in a food processor and blend for a few seconds. Turn back on and while blending, pour in the olive oil and mix until you’ve got a nice paste.

When the chicken is done, add your zucchini noodles and cook through, stirring often. Once your noodles are at the desired softness (about 8 minutes), turn off the heat and add the pesto sauce. Stir it thoroughly to coat and serve!

- Stefanie Herron, Personal Trainer, Primal Playground, Richmond Hill

As usual, when making a good lasagna, you need to invest a bit of time. With this recipe, the time really goes into letting the meat sauce simmer as long as you can. It just makes the whole thing taste better for some reason. Now, this recipe uses a bit of cheese, however we use only Kerrygold pastured cheese, and only about 2-3 cubic inches are used for the whole recipe. Compare that to my old recipe which called for a full kilo of factory farmed mozzarella, and we’re coming out on top. If you’re just starting out in paleo, or you KNOW that you cannot do dairy…leave it out. It really doesn’t diminish the dish at all.

Hands down, this is Ken’s favourite meal. I could make this every single day and he’d be asking for more!

Ok guys, get ready to cook!

Meat Sauce:

2 lbs grass fed ground beef

1 27 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 27 oz can of diced tomatoes (or use sauce you’ve preserved yourself…so much better)

8 cremini mushrooms

1 onion

2 carrots

5 cloves garlic

dried basil, oregano, marjoram to taste

1 TBSP paprika (found GREAT organic paprika from Fresh From the Farm)

1/2 tsp organic turmeric

Layers:

2-3 large Zucchini for noodles

1.5-2 whole tomatoes, sliced thinly

5-6 leaves fresh basil

1/4 cup finely grated pasture raised hard cheese (optional)

Begin browning your meat in a large saucepan while you dice your onion and carrot. Add to the meat and simmer slowly. Once it’s almost all brown, add your garlic and spices and let cook for about 15 minutes on low heat, stirring often. Chop your mushrooms up to bite sized pieces and add to the pan. Cook with the lid on for about 5 minutes then take the lid off and simmer for about 10 minutes or so. This cooks off a lot of the juices that are released from the mushroom. We’re not using oven ready noodles here folks so we want to eliminate as much water from the sauce as we can.

Open your crushed tomatoes and drain as much of the water as possible. Add it to the meat and simmer for a while, then add the sauce. It’s best to let this stuff simmer on low for a long while, occasionally taking the lid off the pan to release water.

Lasagna Layers:

You’re going to use zucchini for the ‘noodles’. If are able to, cut your zucchini noodles just as you begin browning the meat. If they are allowed to dry for a few hours, they release less water into the final dish. I cut mine about 1/8 inch thick. Too thin and they don’t hold the dish together, too thick and it doesn’t jive. Find your zucchini sweet spot and go with it.

Once the meat sauce is ready, ladle out about 1 cup or so into the bottom of your baking dish. Place a layer of zucchini on top of that, then take half of what’s left of the meat sauce and spoon over the ‘noodles’.  Here is where you can add a light sprinkling of pastured cheese, as well as a few fresh basil leaves ripped into pieces. Add another layer of zucchini and the rest of the meat sauce.

Top with a layer of finely sliced whole tomato and a generous amount of ripped basil leaves. Sprinkle your Kerrygold on top. Bake in the oven at 375 for about an hour (gotta cook those zucchini’s). If your meat sauce is piping hot when you layer, it may take only 45 minutes. Either way, turn the oven to broil for the last 10-15 min of cooking and then let it set on the counter for about 20 minutes before serving.

We get about 8 servings out of this dish…which can sometimes only last 2 meals (it’s so good).

Enjoy!

-Stefanie Herron, Personal Trainer, Primal Playground, Richmond Hill

Get outside guys! No matter where you are go for a walk, stop and smell the roses and tease the squirrels.  Walking is a huge part of fitness. Humans used to walk about 17km per day just to get the necessities of life, today we drive to everything and have to schedule time in to move. Well, if you were looking for a good day to get out, there’s no better day than today.

- Stefanie Herron, Personal Trainer, Primal Playground, Richmond Hill

Watch the video below and get your thinking cap on.  The winner will receive The Paleo Diet, by Dr. Loren Cordain.  If you haven’t befriended us on Facebook, come on over!

What you need:

2 chicken quarters

1 orange – juiced with 2 TBSP grated rind

3 TBSP grated ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion

1 bunch swiss chard

1 head cauliflower

1 egg

8-10 cremini mushrooms (or portobello)

2 TBSP turmeric

1/4 or more of the fat of your choice

What you do:

Chicken:

Squeeze the juice out of the orange into a bowl and mix in the minced garlic, ginger and orange rind. Let sit. You can do this the day before you make the dish as well. If you don’t have that kind of planning or foresight, no worries.  Rinse and pat your chicken dry, place in a shallow dish and cover with marinate. Stick in the fridge for at least an hour, turning half way through. Preheat your oven to 400F, line a baking dish with a couple of leaves of chard and place your chicken on top, drizzle half the marinate over chicken – reserving the other half to pour on when you flip over the chicken half way through. I cooked skin side down first, then turned at about 25 min into cooking. For the last 10 minutes of cooking, I tossed a dollop of butter on top of the chicken to get a crispier…it’ll work with whatever fat you are using.

Cauliflower Rice:

Steam your cauliflower for about 15 minutes. Chop your onion and mince a clove of garlic, toss in a large bowl. Slice your mushrooms and toss into in a large saucepan on medium heat. Cook until it starts to release moisture, add your fat of choice and cook for about 5 minutes at med-low.  When the cauliflower is soft (not mushy) add to the large bowl and add turmeric and the egg. Smash with your spatula or pulse in a processor. Add the cauliflower to the saucepan and saute at medium to medium high for about 10 minutes. Near the end of cooking, rinse your chard and tear it into pieces and add it to the pan, stir it in and when it softens. Time it so that it’s done at the same time as your chicken!

 Enjoy!

–Stefanie Herron, Personal Trainer, Primal Playground, Richmond Hill

Been following your guys for quite a while now. I just had a couple questions for you..

–I’m currently a college student, my goals are to get as close to a paleo diet as I can within the next 6 months, in hopes to be completely paleo by the end of the year. But I have an issue….Paleo/organic diets seem to be very expensive. Any tips for a student on a budget??

–Josh

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the great questions! As a college student on a budget paleo and organic can seem a bit daunting at first, however it’s not impossible. I’m not sure where you are located, but if you were to check into a local CSA you can order meat (to be delivered to you once a month) that is naturally raised/grass fed for as little as $9/lb. Here in Ontario, that’s a steal of a deal for clean meat. Your issues will be storage (if you’re in a dorm), but instead of packing beer into the fridge like your buddies, you can back T-Bones

If that is unavailable or just not feasible, you can always find hormone/antibiotic free meat at local grocery stores for about the same price as regular meat. No, it’s not as good as grass fed, but it’s better than conventional meat, and way better than not going paleo at all.

When you’re cooking or planning your meals, try doing large casseroles that use ground beef or stewing beef.

A) They’re darn easy to make and leftovers mean fast lunches between classes

B) They make a little meat go a long way (so maybe you can grab that grass fed ground).

Organic produce is fast becoming affordable in many places. Up here in the frozen north some items get more expensive in the winter, but there are always options. If it’s just WAY out of reach, try to stay with organic for things like berries and leafy greens, and just get fruits/veg you can afford. You are still doing your body an incredible service by avoiding grains/legumes and pre-packaged processed foods. Do your best, but don’t let price keep you from making this transition!

–Stefanie Herron, Personal Trainer, Primal Playground, Richmond Hill