Primal Texas Gardening Resources

After the suffocating summer we endured last year (and a shortage of bees), my wife and I had trouble getting much of anything started in our vegetable patch for this past fall/winter. That said, we were more than ready to get the early spring vegetables going in our garden. Ready enough to start planting in February. In these unseasonably warm first few months of the year… we decided to gamble. We planted a number of seeds in the last week of February, waited two weeks and planted more. Things are looking good as we seem to have survived March without a frost or freeze.

My wife and one of last year's turnips!

Hope springs eternal this time of year. We all have visions of what we want our lawn and garden to look like; lush, green, bountiful. And before reality starts flooding in, we head to the store to stock up on seeds, fertilizers and supplies. Know that not all stores are the same… and where you get your supplies may play a role in the success of your garden.

Primal Economics 102 - Produce

I wasn't always a fan of the produce section.  The veg in my shopping cart used to come in the way of some canned green beans, an onion, a few out of season roma tomatoes and a bag of frozen french fries.  Oh, and ketchup.  [Odds are the tomatoes were going to go bad sitting on my counter.]  My shopping cart slowly evolved over the years... and the places I got my produce from changed, as well.

While most Central Market grocers have well organized and beautifully arranged produce sections, you have to do a little digging to find what little organic produce they stock.  Whole Foods carries more organic produce... but you're going to pay for it.  Listed below are a few of the other ways you can affordably source your produce.

Bacon Rosemary Cod

I haven't done anything with seafood in a while.  I take that back.  I haven't posted anything to do with seafood in awhile.  I made salmon cakes a couple of weeks back.  On the plus side, they tasted great!  They just weren't very appealing to the eye.  Worth trying again later, though. 

You may or may not have noticed... I'll wrap bacon around just about anything.  Dates, eggs, chicken livers (a-frickin'-mazing)... and fish.  Looking at this recipe, instead of cod, you could probably sub in chicken tenders or some sort of lean beef cut into strips.  But, cod plays nicely in this dish.  It has a good, firm texture and it's not a fishy fish (for those who complain about such things).  And, considering the fact that my freezer is stocked with the 2.5 pounds of the cod I bought at Sam's... it's time to make cod.

To prepare...

Restaurant Review - Louis Mueller Barbecue

Stepping outside of your own kitchen, you lose control of how your food is prepared.  Most restaurants will give you a brief description of the dishes on their menu... but few will tell you what is actually in them.  Do enough digging online, and you can find out how much MSG you choked down at a national chain... and how many more ingredients there were in their crispy french fries (aside from potatoes, oil and salt).  Caveat emptor.

Having been in Austin for PaleoFX12, we decided to stop at Louis Mueller Barbecue on our way out of town.  Louis' is a mere 45 minutes northeast of downtown Austin, we took "the long way" home.  It was well worth the side trip.

What is a Paleo/Primal Kitchen?

The question of how to stock a primal or paleo pantry is a common one... and each of our answers are a little different.  While we all stock our fair share of meat and vegetables, the details start to vary from there on.  But what about the actual kitchen itself?

I imagine the original paleo kitchen was pretty simple: a fire, a knife and maybe a flat stone that could be heated and cooked on... maybe a mortar and pestle.  Even looking back a mere hundred years or so, most people would be lost in a kitchen circa the turn of the 20th century.  No ice or filtered water dispensed from the refridgerator door?  No dial on the oven to meter the temperature inside?  No food processor?  No microwave? 

Just as the human diet has changed and evolved over the centuries, so have the kitchens we use.  I started thinking about how and why...

Apple Cinnamon Bites

These little guys are in a freezer bag tucked away in my backpack as I wander around PaleoFX.  I kind of wish there was a time activated sensor that rationed these out to me... then I wouldn't need "self-control."  While they certainly aren't cookies in a traditional sense (no sugar, flour, etc.), eating them in excess will still not do me favors.  Eating almonds, apples and raisins are all better for you than cookies... but you can easily eat too many of those things as well.

I thought about naming these Cinnamon Raisin Apple Paleos... but they taste way better than that acronym would imply.  To make these...

Other People's Food - Volume 2

My wife and I went to a formal dinner this weekend.  I'm always interested in seeing how other people plate and portion food.  Looking down at my plate, I was shocked at the lack of veg.  At first, I rationalized that it might have something to do with budgeting... managing costs for an event that was serving a couple hundred people.  But then I saw the tenderloin on everyone's plate that weighed in around 6-8 ounces.  If they can afford to feed us all beef tenderloin, they can afford to give us more than two skinny asparagas stalks and an equally atrophied carrot.  The food wasn't meant to be the focus, so all in all, it was a great event.  I'm just saying...

Listed below are a couple of the recipes that have supplemented the menu in my house the last couple of weeks...