Sorry that I have not posted in a while. I have been extremely busy. My car broke down  and I had to fix it and we have added a new addition to our family.

His name is Egon.

Already checking out the grill

He is a GREAT dog. Absolutely amazing in fact. We saved him from the middle of a busy street about a week back and when no one claimed him (people abandon dogs in the desert out where I live all the time), we decided to legally adopt him. Unfortunately though he got an infection from his surgery (the animal shelter neuters all adopted dogs) and he has been very sick and has required a lot of extra care and attention.

Anyways… here is a simple labor day recipe for everyone. This salad dressing is my grandmothers recipe and is by far my favorite dressing. It also happens to be completely primal. Not only is it my favorite primal salad dressing though, it is my favorite dressing period!

My batch is almost gone!

Primal Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
-3/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tblspns balsamic vinaigrette
- 2 teaspns dijon mustard
- 1 small garlic glove finely chopped or minced
- 1 tbslpn shallots finely chopped or minced
- 1 tblspn red onion finely chopped or minced

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl
2. mix thoroughly
3. Store in sealed container (I got mine form the $1 store) in the refrigerator
4. Shake well before use and Enjoy!

Like many of the best things in life.. it really is that simple!

Enjoy your labor day! I have an extra special chicken recipe coming to you later in the week!

I like to post periodic pictures of myself to show that I haven’t fallen off the wagon and primal is still really working for me. I just snapped these two quick pics (got too much sun this weekend). Terrible I know, but I haven’t really been working out much or trying to hard and still look pretty decent if you ask me!

Relaxed and sunburned

What the heck, throw a flex in there

On to the food pics!

Primal Enchiladas

Echiladas Dressed

Primal BBQ Sauce and Sweet Potato Fries

Coconut Cheeseballs in new deep fryer

Primal Awesome Blossom

Primal Pizza Ready for Oven

Blueberry Macadamia Nut Muffins Ready For Oven

BBQ Chicken in my cool rotisserie

Indeed... indeed

Thanks to reader/close friend Roger De Rok for the picture!

Everyone loves to demonize bacon. But whats so bad about bacon anyways? Take for example just on the McSoG post where Dangeruss commented on how he has a hard time viewing bacon as a healthy food. Many of us have the same problem. Bacon is viewed by our collective CW society as optimizing bad diet.

I have 3 theories on why this is:

1. We are still stuck on Ancel Keys bs “fat is bad for you” theory. This has been pretty heavily debunked but still sticks with us in out conventional wisdom ways. Bacon has plenty of fat in it. Heck, you can SEE all the delicious fat all over it. In our minds thanks to Ancel Keys, it is still sometimes hard to get over the though of fat=bad.

2. We have this thought that if something tastes good or feels good… it must be BAD for you. Because eating healthy is supposed to be hard right? No way it can be easy. NOT! This is another one that we have a hard time getting over. Your body still knows whats good for it. Just because something tastes good does in fact NOT mean its bad. Just look at all the delicious, real food we get to eat in our primal lifestyle.

3. Some bacon IS bad. Many companies process the hell out of their bacon. They add sugar (bad), nitrates (may not be as bad as we think), and other chemicals and crap. This has given the rest of the bacon a bad name.

Now lets take a look at why bacon can be good and healthy. (Assuming of course you get bacon that is as natural as possible without the added sugar and crap.

1. It is full of protein and fat. This fits in perfectly with a primal/paleo profile.

2. It tastes freaking awesome. If you can’t stick to an eating program that greenlights eating bacon… I don’t know what hope ther is for you J/K of course… you can be primal WITHOUT eating bacon… but seriously… dude… bacon.

What are your thoughts? Do you love tha bacon as much as I do?

I have a big interview today for a promotion. This means not a lot of time to put together a post because I am preping for the interview. Therefore… enjoy another installment of random pics and stuff!

Speaking of work, here is me at work. The SoG isn’t always running around shirtless lol.

Here is the wife Foraging fresh vegatables… in the produce department.

I always said they should have individual servings of wine. That way you don’t feel obligated to polish off the bottle. Well here they are. This way you can enjoy wine one glass at a time!

Grok On! These shirts are soon to be available from Mark Sisson’s MDA.

The wife doing some climbing.

Me doing some climbing. This route is harder than it looks!

My sister asked me if going Primal gave you abs. Sometimes a picture speaks louder than words… (P.S. my brother in law is now going primal… awesome!)

What better way to make pork better than to stuff it with… well pork (chorizo in this case)

Final Product

Salmon Patties and grass fed stir fry… yummmmmmmmmm

Picture doesn't really do them justice

Well, yesterday I DID finish my schoolwork in time to do some experimental cooking. I give you Dinosaur Droppings. My wife says the name is too unappetizing but I think its hilarious and pretty primal so I am sticking with it. These are basically dark chocolate primal fudge balls and they are absolutely delicious.

I kind of created this in a flurry of experimentation…which means I did not keep very good track of ingredient quantities so I am going to kind of guesstimate what I used. You might need to adjust slightly according to your results but this SHOULD work out as well as it did for me.

Ingredients:
- 1 bar ghirardelli 100% cocoa baking chocolate
- 1/2 can or 7oz of coconut milk
- 2 tblspns coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 tblspoons egg white powder. I am not entirely sure about the necessity of this ingredient but i used it and it worked so I am keeping it in here.
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup almond butter. This is where I really failed keeping track. I just spooned it right into the pan.
- Crushed walnuts (or another nut you would like to use.
-(Optional) Add in some stevia or sweetener if you need it sweeter. I don’t think it needs additional sweetening at all.

Directions:
1. Slowly warm coconut milk in a saucepan on low to medium heat.
2. Add in almond butter and stir until smooth. Keep pan on low-medium heat.
3. Add chocolate bar. It will melt easier if you break it into its section. Stir on low-medium heat until smooth.
4. Add coconut oil and once again stir while keeping mixture on low-medium heat.
5. Stir in egg white powder and vanilla.
6. Once all stirred and melted. Remove from heat.
7. Stir in crushed walnuts (or other nut) and allow mixture to cool enough to handle. You can do this in the freezer or refrigerator to speed it up.
8. After sufficiently cooled, use your hands to roll the mixture into whatever size fudgeballs you would like.
9. Cool the fudgeballs in the freezer or refrigerator.
10. Once cooled and hardened… enjoy! Store in refrigerator.

Try it out and let me know if it works as well for you!

I love MS Paint

I have fallen victim to not listening to my own advice. Those of you that have been around for a while know that I advocate reading the ingredient list on EVERYTHING you consume because to never know what they can and will stick in something. Well I failed to follow my own advice and paid for it.

I am not a big advocate of anything made from soy… especially for men.Briefly, it can lower testosterone and cause other problems. If you want more information, check out Scott’s posts on Soy over at Modern Forager. I generally only have a little soy in the form of soy sauce in my homemade jerky (which I eat daily). As we know from the Japanese, a little soy won’t kill you so I never really worried too much about this little that I consumed.

Recently a good friend gifted me some “Bragg’s Aminos” which is supposed to be similar to soy sauce.Curious as to what the actual difference was, I sat down with the bottle of Bragg’s and my bottle of Kikkoman’s and began to investigate. I read the ingredients list on the Kikkomans and almost choked. The second ingredient in my Kikkoman’s is wheat! Wheat I say! In my Soy Sauce! It is even higher on the ingredient list than soy. Now not only am I consuming soy but also wheat. I am so disappointed in good ol’ Kikkoman and also in myself for not realizing this sooner. I advise people all the time to read read READ all the ingredients and here I failed in that myself.

Many of you may not think this to be a big deal at all BUT I have noticed side effects from this. Lately, I have been bringing jerky to work with me as an afternoon snack to break my fast. Instead of the jerky satiating my hunger, it has actually been making me hungrier! This would totally explain why.

Once again… READ ALL THE INGREDIENTS OF ANYTHING YOU CONSUME!

I for one am done with Kikkoman’s for good. lol

This was my actual final product

I have been playing around with trying to make a cheesecake for a while now.I was well on my way along the right track but reader Tim e-mailed me a cheesecake recipe that quickly skyrocketed me to success. This is largely that recipe he e-mailed me but minus the splenda and plus the berries. I like my sweet additions natural.

This recipe is very heavy on dairy.Which makes sense cause how could you make a “cheese”cake without dairy lol. Anyways, that means this recipe is not Primal per say but is pretty darn healthy IMO. No added sugar and no artificial sweetener. Mostly just good fat and deliciousness. Even our guests (chronic sugar eaters) enjoyed it!

Ingredients: (Note: remember that organic DOES matter when it comes to dairy)
Crust:
1+ cup of almond flour
3 tblspn organic butter OR Coconut oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Filling:
Approx 2 cups or 10 Large Strawberries. I used the frozen kind
2 8oz. packages organic cream cheese
2 dollops organic sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Directions:
Crust:
1. Melt the butter or coconut oil in a large bowl.
2. Add cinnamon
3. Add almond flour and mix until you get a good crumbly consistency. This should take a little more than a cup of almond flour.
4. Press very thinly into your pie pan. A sprigform pan is recommended but not necessary. As you can see from my picture, I used a regular pie thingamabob

Filling:
1. Add all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Use a mixer or a hand mixer and beat until smooth
3. Pour mixture into your pan over your crust

Bake:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Put cheesecake in the oven
3. After about 5 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 200 degrees. This will allow the cheesecake to bake while slowly cooling.
4. Chck cheesecake periodically after 60 minutes. Mine took about 90 minutes to cook. The cheesecake should appear firm on top all the way to the center.

Serve and enjoy:
1. Cool cheesecake and place in the refrigerator to further cool.
2. Once cooled, cut and serve.
3. Enjoy delicious strawberry cheesecake!

This is really quite good. I used strawberries as my “sweetener” but i think that other berry would work very well too. You could try blueberries or blackberries!

Had mine with Guac and a Salad

Wow, this dinner was absolutely amazing! It was so easy too that it is almost criminal. I am going to put myself out of a job posting easy recipes like this. Anyways, here is a quick easy and to die for meal form your crockpot that I know you all pulled out after reading this post.

Ingredients:

1 large Pork butt

1 can (8 oz) of El Pato Mexican hot sauce. Or make your own, it is basically just tomato puree, water, chiles, garlic and onions.

Directions:

1. Put the pork butt in your crockpot/slow cooker.

2. Pour the sauce over it.

3. Leave in the crockpot on low to medium for 20-24 hours.

4. Using tongs, pull the pork apart and stir in the cooker. It should fall apart almost on its own. (if your pork is not flavorful enough for you at this point, you can add a little extra garlic, onion or salt).

5. Serve and enjoy!

This is absolutely delicious with a little bit of your homemade guacamole!

Lean as it gets

Ok doctors, society, health “gurus”, etc… can we finally put this one to rest? How many times have you heard “Eat lean meat” or “I eat a lot of lean meat”.  You know what? It is a really good thing that for once, people CAN’T follow advice really well and I will tell you why. Do you know what happens when you eat nothing but “lean meat”? You die.

No, I am not joking. Maybe exaggerating a bit but it is a real danger. It is known as Rabbit Starvation and most anyone who has spent a fair amount of time in the wilderness or out in the great unknown is familiar with it. You see, a rabbit is a very lean meat. Very very very lean meat. If you are stuck in the woods and eat nothing but rabbit (over a certain amount of time of course – You won’t die from eating a couple rabbits), you will actually die from protein poisoning. This is because you are not getting enough fat!

Vilhjalmur Stefansson spent a great deal of time with the Eskimos and other North American indigenous people. This is what he has to say:
“”The groups that depend on the blubber animals are the most fortunate in the
hunting way of life,” wrote Stefansson, “for they never suffer from fat-hunger.
This trouble is worst, so far as North America is concerned, among those forest
Indians who depend at times on rabbits, the leanest animal in the North, and
who develop the extreme fat-hunger known as rabbit-starvation. Rabbit eaters,
if they have no fat from another source-beaver, moose, fish-will develop
diarrhea in about a week, with headache, lassitude, a vague discomfort. If there
are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no
matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied. Some think a man will die
sooner if he eats continually of fat-free meat than if he eats nothing, but this is a
belief on which sufficient evidence for a decision has not been gathered in the
north. Deaths from rabbit-starvation, or from the eating of other skinny meat,
are rare; for everyone understands the principle, and any possible preventive
steps are naturally taken.”

Fat = Satiety people (or “feeling full”). Eat lean meat = Be hungry. No wonder everyone is running around starving following “conventional wisdom”.

Heck even our buddy and original purveyor of Grok’s existence Charles Darwin wrote in The Voyage of the Beagle”:
Yet the Gaucho in the Pampas, for months together, touches nothing but beef. But they eat, I observe, a very large proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; and they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the Agouti. Dr. Richardson, also, has remarked, “that when people have fed for a long time solely upon lean animal food, the desire for fat becomes so insatiable, that they can consume a large quantity of unmixed and even oily fat without nausea:” this appears to me a curious physiological fact. It is, perhaps, from their meat regimen that the Gauchos, like other carnivorous animals, can abstain long from food. I was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily pursued a party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking.”

Rabbit Starvation has been the purveyor of many a failed expedition. It has been the bane of past explorers. The need for fat and the “hunger for fat” experienced on low-no fat diets is actually surprisingly well documented. Once again, one of those bits of health knowledge right under our nose that is shunned by today’s “conventional wisdom”.

Don’t get me wrong, lean meat is plenty delicious and healthy … AS LONG AS YOU ARE GETTING YOUR FATS (actually Rabbit is quite good)! Or, you could join the starving “low fat diet” masses.

P.S. Animal fat sources are chock full of saturated fats. That is NOT a bad thing. I can’t wait until we can finally put that pink elephant to bed too.

The Super Bowl is upon us and the manly men in us (yes that goes for you ladies too) are making our plans for descending upon a chow down and slam fest.Superbowl represents one of the only times of year where it is acceptable for 2 manly men to hug out of pure excitement. This year though, ditch the beer keg and the nachos and opt for some more primal fare. Excellent options are often right under your nose in some SoG past posts.

Bro… where are the snacks?

Option #1: A big bowl of nuts will hit the spot. I recommend a bowl of unshelled nuts like unshelled pistachios. Not only will this satisfy the appetite but it will keep people busy and entertained cracking shells.

Option #2: Make a big plate of veggies for dipping. Carrots, celery, broccoli, jicima and sliced cucumbers are all great options. For the dip, use some of your homemade guacamole or salsa… or both!

How to make salsa – get yourself a nice tomato or two. Then go to the pepper section of your supermarket and load up on a variety of delicious looking, different colored peppers. Toss everything in a food processor with some garlic,lime juice and other seasonings (cilantro and chili powder are both good) and pulse. Wala! Delicious salsa.

Option #3: Your buddies can’t get past the fact there are no chips for the dip or to munch on? How bout opting for the healthier (and more delicious) option and making a batch of SoG Sweet Potato chips?

Dude… Where is the brew?

No beer at this party, we are drinking wine. But dude… isn’t that kind of… unmanly? No, not at all. Pretend you are sitting in the owners box instead of the nosebleed seats and enjoy some of the finer things in life. Where would you rather be? You can even turn it into kind of a joke with your buddies as a “theme” for your party.

Um.. bro, where is the man chow?

Option #1: How about some Bacon Buffalo Meatloaf? Make a big enough one to feed everyone!

Option #2: Treat yourself and your buddies to some SoG Primal Pizza.

Option #3: Grill some big, beefy hamburgers! Set up everything just like normal only instead of buns, offer up giant pieces of romaine lettuces. Fold up your burgers in these and enjoy some of the best burgers you and your buddies have ever had.

There are a ton of other options that are out there. Try to think outside the box and get creative this year. Hey… if the Cardinals can make the Super Bowl, anything is possible right?

Next year, I will plan ahead and create some Super Bowl specific recipes for you all!