Primal Pumpkin Pie I have mixed feelings about eating primal on Thanksgiving.  On the one hand, so many delicious foods can be prepared in a primal way that there is truly no need to feel deprived.  After all, the turkey and the vegetables present no problems, gravy can be thickened with arrowroot, and even a tasty batch of quick rolls can be whipped up using almond flour. On the other hand, this tends to...

Dave getting ready to eat his fancy stuffed pork chop There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.  You know all the fancy photos of the food on this site?  The ones that make it look like we live in some kind of Autumn paradise.  Or the ones that look like we spend our evenings gathered around a cozy dining room table sipping wine?  It’s all fake.  Well, the food is real, but the rest of it is...

Last summer I wrote and received a grant for my kids’ co-op preschool to fund a new program promoting the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.   The program is called “Try It Day”.   Once a week, another parent or I bring in samples of a given fruit or vegetable.  The kids all get a chance to try it before snack time.   If they try it, or even just lick it, they get a sticker...

I think cardamom is an under-utilized spice.  If you’re not familiar with cardamom, it has a slightly sweet, pungent flavor that can be used in savory meat dishes, curries, and baked goods.  You can also add some to your coffee grounds.  My mom makes a cardamom braid at Christmas so I always associate cardamom with a colder season. I was thinking about how I might use cardamom more often and decided it...

I heard that it might actually snow over the weekend. Even though it is much much too early for snow, I suppose this means we are officially headed into the dark months. I am always lured in by the cheerful promise of the upcoming holidays. Then, after the anti-climax of New Years, I’ll find myself standing on some bleak, windy hill pretending that sledding is fun and wondering if I’ll ever be...

Sri Lankan Coconut Chicken Curry If I believed in such things, I would say I spent a former life in Southern Asia.  I have always been fascinated with this area of the world and I adore Indian cuisine.  At various times throughout my life I have tried to travel there but have always been thwarted or disrailed in one way or another (mom, if you’re reading this, I don’t mean by you).  I even tried...

Not too long ago, I would have thought ‘cauliflower rice’ sounded kind of depressing. I mean, let’s be honest – it’s not the same as real rice. (For the record, I still find cauliflower pizza crusts to be depressing and am working on a primal pizza crust that doesn’t have a bajillion calories.) If you haven’t tried it, though, you might be surprised at how well cauliflower...

When I was about 6 or 7 years old, I told my dad that pork chops were my favorite meat. I actually meant spare ribs but got the names confused. After that he would make me pork chops on the grill and happily inform me that he was making my favorite dinner. I don’t know why but I could never bring myself to tell him I had made a mistake. Thank goodness I’m a grown-up now and can have ribs whenever I...

I ran across a rustic sort of carrot cake recipe online not too long ago and thought it looked like a good candidate for a primal cake.   I am beginning to realize how many flour-based dessert recipes can be successfully altered using almond flour and an alternative sweetener, such as honey or maple syrup.  The result, as in this case, is frequently something healthy enough to eat for breakfast.  I made...

Primal Cheddar Jalepeno Biscuit Rounds: very cheesy, a little spicy, and not too eggy. It may be cooling off a little but barbeque season isn’t quite over yet.  I recently made a huge rack of ribs with a tangy rum-mango sauce (I’ll post the recipe later this week) that would have been just fine with some grilled vegetables.  But having recently purchased Everyday Grain-Free Gourmet: Breakfast Lunch and...