I know. I get an "F" for presentation but it is delicious!

Recently I discovered that my brother in law, my sister and my wife are all pretty big fans of hummus. Seeing as how hummus is made from legumes (which aren’t the worst thing in the world but I recommend avoiding), I figured that I would see what I could do about finding a more primal alternative.

This is what I found. Unfortunately I cannot take credit as this is taken from several similar recipes spread across the web. Still though this is extremely easy to make and also extremely good. This is so good in fact that I am now hooked on hummus as well!

This makes a great vegetable dip or you can eat it like me and put some over fried eggs which I find delicious.

Ingredients:
-2 peeled and cut zucchini
-3/4 cup of tahini
-1/4 cup of olive oil
-1/2 cup of lemon juice
-4 cloves of garlic
-2.5 teaspoons of sea salt
-1/2 tablespoon of ground cumin

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor (or blender).
2. Blend thoroughly.
3. Enjoy!

Store in the refrigerator.

Do you like hummus? Try this one and let me know what you think!

Primal Jerky Creation Station

Making jerky is one of my favorite hobbies. I usually make about 3 pounds (before drying) every 2 weeks.

I know that I have been alluding to something special about my jerky all week so I guess I will finally let the cat out of the bag. I make jerky with no heat, no cooking, no boiling and nothing to ruin that delicious meat. Those of you that eat ceviche or sushi know how much better uncooked meat is. Cooking damages the meat and takes so much out of beef jerky. Is it safe? Very. I have been eating jerky made this way on and off for over 20 years (My mom used to make it when we were kids) with no problems. We kill the bacteria in another way, but we will get into that.

Not only is making your own jerky delicious and rewarding but it is so much cheaper than that preservative rubbish you can buy down at the Quickie Mart. Also, it is so easy!

What will you need? Not much:

1. Meat

2. Marinade supplies

3. Cooling racks

4. Fans

Steps and details:

1. Meat selection is important. This is one time that you want a lean meat. Fat will go rancid faster that meat. I personally use a Sirloin Tip, 3 pounds at a time (It is a lot of meat). It is inexpensive and suited perfectly for jerky. The meat should be cut thin ACROSS the grain in order to keep your jerky from getting too tough. You can either have your butcher cut it for you or you can cut it yourself with your handy deli slicer. The meat will need to be slightly frozen in order to cut it thin enough. 1/4″ is about where you will want it cut. You can tell the butcher to cut it at a 12 or a 13 for thin jerky or a 14 or 15 for thick jerky (I like mine thick). These numbers don’t usually translate to home slicers (or at least mine). Now you are ready to…

2. Marinate. Your marinade is important. You need a salt based marinade as it will be what kills the bacteria as the meat dries. For this reason I use soy sauce as the base for all my marinades. Beyond that, you can explore all the different flavors that you want to try. I do recommend using a tad bit of honey in your marinade. This is not necessary but the little bit of sugar will keep your jerky from over drying. I use 1 teaspoon of honey in 3 pounds of meat so it really is not very much at all.

This is an example of my last marinade: Soy Sauce, Worcestershire, Minced Garlic, Sea salt, Garlic Salt, Chile Powder, Crushed Red Pepper, Onion Powder and that dabble of honey.

You will want to marinade the meat for 3-6 hours depending on how flavorful you want your jerky. Anything less than 3 hours will not penetrate the meat well enough and anything over 6 will make your jerky TOO salty. I usually like a 4 to 5 hour marinade. After your meat is done marinating, you can…

3. Put the meat on your cooling racks. I buy racks by the pack at the dollars store. Lay your meat out on the racks in a single layer. Make sure that there are no overlaps and that you meat does not bunch up or fold over on itself. Now you can…

4. Dry the meat. What is the ideal climate for drying meat? Most people would say the Sahara or a desert… and they would be wrong. The truth is that you would be much better off on top of Mt Everest. The best environment for drying meat is a cold, dry environment. We will simulate this with box fans (available very cheap at Target or Walmart). Find a relatively cool area of your house. I use my kitchen but also garages work especially well in winter. Lay your racks out in front of box fans (Pictures below) and run your fans on high. The more fans you have running, the faster your jerky will dry out. I leave mine overnight. It is recommended that you leave this setup running for 16-18 hours in order to fully dry your meat. I find that my setup is very efficient and my jerky is usually done after 12-14 hours.

SoG Jerky Stations 1 &2

Now you can…

5. Enjoy. This jerky is delicious but keep in mind that it does not have all of the preservatives that store bought jerky has. Keeping it in the refridgerator or freezer will help prolong its life. The jerky in our house always goes within two weeks of making it so I cannot really speculate on the true longevity of this jerky.

I dare you to try this at least once and not be hooked! It may seem like a lot but it is truly quite simple and the jerky is hard to beat.

I will not be able to put the post up on making beef jerky until I get home tonight so here is something to hold you over.

A while back, Marks Daily Apple featured my recipe for primal pizza. Here is the link for those of you that have not seen it!

SoG Primal Pizza

Enjoy and the jerky post will be up tonight!

The SoG

I almost forgot to take a picture before it was gone.

This week, you all get an unplanned bonus recipe! You know you love it.

Anyways, we did a thanksgiving dinner at my grandparents house. I spent most of the night getting berated by my MD aunts and uncle’s for the way I eat but there was some positive to the night! My grandma, being the sweetie she is, decided that she HAD to make something that my wife and I could eat for desert. The following was the result and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

1 cup Pumpkin puree

1 cup Sweet Potato puree

1 Tblsp Cinnamon

2 Eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened Evaporated mild (She said half and half would work too) *P.S. EDIT – I think coconut milk would work great in here as an alternative to the dairy!

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a baking dish.

3. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes. Souffle should develop a slight crust on top.

4. Let cool and enjoy!

This was so good that I didn’t even crave the sweet potato or pumpkin pie that was there and I am a huge fan of both!

The SoG

No, not that Meatloaf

As emergefit commented in an earlier post, meatloaf is one of those easy to mix up recipes. No two meatloaves ever have to be the same. Once you have the basics of making a meatloaf down, feel free to go wild! This is a really really REALLY delicious meatloaf that we put together the other day.

Ingredients:

Sauce:
½ can tomato paste (you will use the other half of the can in the loaf)
½ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ of a green bell pepper finely diced

Loaf:
1 lb ground buffalo. (You can use beef too!)
½ of a green bell pepper finely diced
½ of a red bell pepper finely diced
½ of a white onion finely diced (or yellow or even red… we don’t onion discriminate around here)
1 egg
½ can of tomato paste
4 slices of bacon chopped
1 tsp garlic salt (Minced garlic works great too)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
(Optional) Swiss cheese broken into small “Chunks” (The SoG isn’t afraid of a little cheese but we will get into that later with my upcoming “Dairy Dilemma” post)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Sauce:
This part is easy. Add water to tomato paste until you get a nice consistency and mix all ingredients together. A nice consistency would be one similar to ketchup.

Loaf:
1. Mix all (yes, all of them) ingredients together in a big mixing bowl. This is really fun to do by hand and get a bit messy!
2. Form into round “loaves” on a nonstick pan. See picture below.

Uncooked Meatloaf

3. Paint some of your sauce on top of your loaves.
4. Put in the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes.
5. After cooked, paint some more sauce on top of your loaves and serve.

Final Meatloaf

Congratulations, you are now the meatloaf master! Have fun creating your own meatloaf flavors. I am a big fan of celery in mine.

Sweet Potato Chips. I am almost out of them. Time to make more!

Hello everyone. Here is a very simple, very easy way to make your own sweet potato chips!

These are way healthier than almost any that you would buy in the store and are really inexpensive to make too.

Also, sweet potatoes are lower on the glycemic index than normal potatoes (no really they are!). I still wouldn’t recommend making these a staple in your diet or eating too many of them at a time but they are great every now and then, especially if you are craving a chip. I personally like them with salsa and sometimes I put some Primal chili (recipe in the future) on top of them to make a kind of frito pie.

Ingredients:

Sweet Potatoes (We usually do 1 or 2 at a time)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Optional)

Sea Salt (Optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees

2. Very thinly slice sweet potatoes into chips. You can use a food processor or other method for this but I have found that for us, using a knife and doing it by hand is worth the effort.

3. (Optional) Toss your chips in a small amount of evoo and some sea salt to give your chips that salty and slightly oily flavor. I say that this step is optional because these chips can be made with just the sweet potatoes plain. My wife likes them plain while I like them flavored so if you like the plain, skip this step.

4. Arrange the chips on baking sheets in a single layer. Stacking the chips will cause you baking problems.

5. Put in the oven to bake for approximately 1.5 hours. Every 30 minutes or so, take out chips and flip them over. Your chips will be done when they appear crispy and many of them are turning a slightly darker brown.

6. Enjoy!

Storage:

These chips store pretty well. I keep them in a large ziploc bag in my pantry. They don’t seem to need refrigeration. Ours usually get eaten up within a 2 week time frame so I can’t really speculate on longevity past that point.