Shredded Pork. What? It's Paleo

What up. It's James. I'll be your host this evening, melting faces and guiding you through the fatty deliciousness that is pork. I know what you're thinking. Pork? Healthy? Yes. On paleo, you can have as much bacon as you please. I even found a paleo recipe for chocolate covered bacon. Now I'm not actually advocating eating tons of bacon covered in chocolate, it's just a beautiful thought.

But I digress. The point of this blog, aside from espousing the benefits of paleo and filling my wife's somewhat odd need to blog (this is seriously her third or fourth attempt at a blog, and thus far the longest lasting) is to tell you good people what we ate and how we made it. Again, I know what you're thinking. Again, the answer is yes. We really do think we are so rad that a blog  needed to be created solely about what we eat for dinner.

This will be my second, and final, attempt at digressing to the actual point of this evenings blog. What we ate for dinner. Shredded pork, onions, green and red peppers, and spinach all sauteed and topped with sliced avocado. I'll admit, we cheated a bit on the pork. We bought a pre-seasoned cut of pork from HEB. That was a mistake. The pork was good, but our Carolina Pork recipe is better. Next time HEB will not tempt me with visions of laziness. I will do it the right way. So I took this inferior  pork, threw it in the crock pot, added some chicken broth (all we had), red pepper flakes, garlic powder, cumin, and a little bit of apple cider vinegar to help it shred. The crock pot worked its magic for nine hours, and the pork shredded with a fork quite easily. I diced all the veggies, and sauteed the onions and peppers together, while doing the spinach in a separate pan. We sautee everything in coconut oil, simply because it contains a better fat than olive oil. Coconut oil contains more fat than olive oil, but much of it is MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) which are more easily processed by the liver and thereby less is stored as excess fat in the body. Just dropped some knowledge on you. The more you know..

I am now going to attempt to write the recipe. It may be pointless, I did not measure one thing. Ingredients were dumped in until I felt it looked good. Keep in mind the pork was pre-seasoned, so this was just extra lovin'.

3 lbs pork
Almost covered the pork in the crockpot with chicken broth
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs cumin
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 an onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
4 oz spinach

I realize the pork doesn't look amazing in the picture, but we aren't photographers. Just master chefs.

Chicken Stuffed Avocado

I have no clue how to spell avocado. Ok, let me rewind. I misspell the word 'avacado' every time I type it. That stupid red squiggly line pops up every single time and it constantly reminds me why I decided to teach math. Thank goodness for Algebra. I get along really well with x's and y's. and numbers. I love the quadratic formula. It's true.

James and I went to dinner with Teresa, Stokes, Will and Brit two Sunday's ago and this was pretty much the start of our non-paleo eating. We went to El Tiempo where I fell in love with the amazing fried avocado. Like legitimately fell in love. The real thing is a fried bundle of goodness and you can read about it here.

I am on a mission to create this deliciousness while sticking to my paleo guidelines. This is the first attempt, and my hopes are high. Well, not too high. It's never a good idea to try and make a dish that is extremely non paleo, paleo without feeling a little bit disappointed. The first time I tried to make ranch dressing was a huge fail. And chocolate pudding. Some things need to be left in that sacred-unhealthy area to be enjoyed every now and then.

Ingredients
3 Large chicken breasts
2 Cups of Chicken broth
4 Ripe avocados
3 Jalapeños
1/2 Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
Chili powder
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Salt
Pepper

Directions
1. Boil chicken in chicken broth and season with the above dry ingredients until its easy to shred.
2. Dice garlic, onion, and jalapeños (seeded). Brown the garlic, jalapeño, and half of the onion in a skillet with coconut oil.
3. Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits.
4. Scoop out the deliciousness from the avocado and place in bowl.
5. Add the sautéed mixture, shredded chicken, jalapeño, and the remaining onion to the avocado bowl.
6. Stir until completely mixed.
7. Place in the avocado shell and top with some tomatoes.
8. Eat.

Holy crap, this is more delicious than I expected. I added a side of spinach and chopped cauliflower. We will definitely make this again, and may even try it with crab or shrimp.

Martha Stewart's Baked Chicken Breast

For the past week or so my paleo has been nonexistent. With the holidays comes extreme temptation and unhealthy eating. I'm not going to lie, it was all very delicious and well worth it. Especially the beverages and apple pie. I really, really love apple pie.

The McMillan family will be reuniting in Denver on December 21st, so James and I have decided to eat strict paleo until then. I feel tired and sluggish and my clothes are definitely not fitting the way I'd like them to. It will be difficult at first, but it's way worth it in the end.

There's nothing super special about our dinner tonight, other than the fact it's easy and yummy. The recipe comes straight from a Martha Stewart cookbook that my mom got me for Christmas. James is a pro at cooking this, so he made dinner while I began to prep for tomorrow.

Ingredients
3 Large Chicken Breasts (with bone and skin)
Carrots
Cherry Tomatoes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or Coconut Oil)
Salt
Pepper

Directions
1. Season chicken with salt and pepper
2. Sere chicken in oil over high heat
3. Season tomatoes and carrots with salt and pepper, drizzle with a little oil
4. Bake all of the ingredients at 475 degrees for 20ish minutes (depends on the size of your chicken)
5. Remove from the oven and let cool

Easy Chicken Noodless Soup

Ah!! The cold has taken over Texas. Granted, we don't have frost or snow but I'm still going to complain. I absolutely hate being cold. Thank goodness the Acura has heated seats for mornings like these.

I was feeling lazy last night and didn't want to cook. My focus was more on starting a fire in our fire place and watching 'Gossip Girl'. James met Will and Kyle for beverages which meant I had the remote controller to myself.

Anyway, all I did was boil two large boneless skinless chicken breasts in chicken broth on the stove top. After 40 minutes or so I added chopped carrots, celery, and onion. I seasoned the mixture with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, celery seed, and a dash of red pepper flakes. The yummy goodness then simmered on low for an hour or two. The result, an amazing Paleo chicken noodless soup. It was perfect for my chilly night by the fire.

Oh, s'mores were for dessert and they were totally not Paleo, yet totally bangin'.

Turkey Balls

I'm finally back on the grid and have a cell phone. I had to say goodbye to the 814 and BlackBerry, but I guess it was time. Today wasn't too bad... for a Monday.

Oh. Texas also wants to secede from the Union. Awesome.

Turkey Balls, Squash, Zucchini
2 lbs ground lean turkey
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
2 Roma tomatoes
2 gloves garlic
1 onion
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Garlic powder

Sautée garlic and onions in coconut oil
Chop and season veggies
Make small meatballs and season
Add meat to the pan
Once the meat is almost done, add veggies
Enjoy! (With some hot sauce)

Pork vs. Politics

Clearly, pork wins this debate. This recipe is delicious. If you don't eat/like pork, then I think chicken or beef could work, but us McMillan's freakin' love pork. The key to this recipe is preparation and time. James and I attempted to make this a few weeks ago and the pork didn't shred as well. Today, we worked several extra hours which resulted in the crockpot working its magic a little while longer. I will say the thought of this deliciousness cooking at home made my day a little brighter. The fact that I didn't have to cook when I got home made it even better. Yes, my thoughts today weren't about politics...they were about pork.

Delicious Pork, Onions, and Peppers

3 pounds of pork tenderloin
1 green bell pepper
1 onion
32ish ounces of chicken stock
3 garlic cloves
cilantro
dash of garlic powder
dash of onion powder
salt/pepper

1)  Mince garlic and sautee in oil (or coconut oil)
2) Slice bell peppers and onion
3) Place half of the peppers and onions in the crockpot
4) Place the pork on top of the peppers (season the meat with the above items)
5) Place the remaining peppers, onions, and sauteed garlic on top of the pork
6) Pour chicken stock into the crockpot. I added a little water to make sure the meat was covered
8) Place a few cilantro leaves on top
7) Cook for 12 hours on low heat (I prepared the night before and turned it on in the morning. I don't think 12 hours is completely necessary, but the meat was very tender and shredded very easily).
8) We steamed some broccoli and carrots for a side. I'm aware that the flavors don't really match, but it turned out just fine.

Oh... some hot sauce really makes this dish shine.