Pardon my absence as of late.  I haven’t been feeling like posting much mainly because I haven’t been cooking much.  Here it is the fall harvest season and I’ve done little more in the kitchen this last week than whip up a few meals for the kids and cut up a rotisserie chicken.  The reason?  In a very un-primal manner I have been drinking protein shakes for breakfast and lunch followed by a simple...

Agave Nectar Sometimes I wish I were one of those people who could casually take or leave a chocolate-caramel brownie.  Or better yet, one of those strange specimens who actually find the taste of sugar too sweet and mildly unpleasant.  But I am not.  I am slave to my physiology and people evolved to enjoy sweet foods.  In nature, sweet foods are rich in nutrients and carbohydrates (think carrots) making...

Kombucha in my yard Somebody in my microbiology class last semester home-brewed kombucha and gave a presentation on the process as her term project. At the time, being the nerd that I am, I’d never heard of it. Apparently, kombucha has been part of the cultural lexicon for several years now. It is not unusual for me to learn about ‘new’ products or fads long after the fact. Of course,...

Compare and contrast. Left: Hungry townspeople closing in on the lonely produce stall at my town's farmer's market. Right: One of many gorgeous, overflowing produce stalls at the farmer's market in Portland's south park blocks. I know that some parts of the country have really great farmer’s markets.  I know this because I used to live in Portland, Oregon.  The farmer’s market...

I will venture to say that erythritol is not a strictly primal sort of food.   Although it is a sugar alcohol that occurs naturally in some plants such as pears and various fermented foods, you have to do some chemistry in order to get the little crystals that you can pour into your tea or coffee.  Grok encountered fermented fruit now and again, but he did not don a white coat and prepare erythritol from...