Eating Healthy for Performance

Primal Fusion has been experiencing some technical difficulties that need to be worked out. A new comment from a new reader, Marcos Apene do Amaral-AçaíTri, reminded me of why this blog was originally created. It is for the goal of healthy eating and living, also treating the planet well. In addition to that, it was geared to the athlete. Below is a website that encourages organic eating for the athlete, although it does go to the vegan route. Lately my own diet has been veering towards vegan although I still consume meat on rare occasions (keeping it primal). I have also jumped on the Triathlon band wagon and will be doing a few sprints and 10Ks this year. Though I only work out a maximum of 3 hours a day, I have yet to experiencing bonking since my workouts are still in base period. I still have a love affair with food, eating it and cooking it the primal way. Please stay tuned for new recipes and possibly even my muffin recipe which has been a big hit amongst everyone that has tried them (except maybe people that dislike bananas).

http://www.organicathlete.org/vegan-athletes

Tea Egg 茶葉蛋 (cha-2 ye-4 dan-4): A Primal Food

Who doesn't love eggs? Well... I know one person that doesn't. Myself, I am very picky about the way I eat my eggs. Usually I don't like them boiled but this was the way I grew up eating them, and they are very flavorful. The raw eggs are slightly cooked, shells are cracked and then boiled in a mixture of tea and spices.  Since, I was talking about them to a friend of mine, I thought I would share this recipe with you, since it is quite primal. The Chinese like to eat these as snacks, or as a side dish. (I just like to eat them all the time). I make 12 at once, but you are welcome to half the recipe.  

Tea Egg Recipe (found all over the web, but my version)

Ingredients

12 eggs

2 tablespoons salt

1 cup soy sauce

4 star whole star anise

2 tablespoons of chinese 5 spice powder

2 cinnamon sticks

2 tablespoons of black tea or 2 tea bags (Earl Grey counts) Please do not use herb tea or green - the eggs become bitter *Note: I have done this before, not good*

2 tablespoons of whole peppercorns (optional)

Instructions:

1) Put all the eggs in a pot where they can all sit not on top of each other, cover with water about to 4 cm over the top of the eggs and bring to a boil, then simmer for 3 min.

2) Remove the eggs from water and place them in a bowl so you can crack them, lightly crack them all around, don't be afraid if there are lots of cracks, this is important, just don't break the egg open. (Use a knife or a spoon)

3) All the rest of the ingredients to the pot and place the eggs back in. Bring liquid to a boil and simmer for 1-3 hours. (You may also simmer for an hour and leave overnight, any longer and they will become too salty)

4) Enjoy, eat them hot or cold as a snack. 

Peanut Butter Powerballs

These snacks are only 75% Primal due to the oats, however you are welcome to omit them, but you will need to substitute with more peanuts. This recipe came from my roommate who is a preschool teacher and had her 3-5 year olds make them. If they can do it, so can you. The recipe came from this website. However, true to form, I made my own version.

Recipe for Peanut Butter Powerballs

Ingredients:

1 cup of peanut butter

1 cup of honey

2 cups of old fashioned oats

1/2 cup of ground flaxseed

1 cup of mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup of peanuts

1/2 cup of raisins

1/2 cup of dried cranberries

Instructions:

1) Mix peanut butter and honey together in a bowl

2) Add in oats and mix in

3) Mix in chocolate and nuts

4) Oil your hands and form into balls, place in the refrigerator and viola! 

Btw. Thanks to all the people that showed up to the potluck. 

Diary of a Roast Chicken

Ryan loves rotisserie chicken from Henrys Market. I don't blame him, it's an easy $6.99 for a precooked deliciously moist chicken. However, staying true to being more primal and supporting better farming practices, we try to buy socially responsible meat in a budget friendly manner.

So I went for a vegetarian fed, free range version from Trader Joes. I would like to think mine is much better than the store bought version.

To make the chicken more moist, I marinated it for a day in 4 whole shredded onions and spices (garlic powder, white pepper and salt).

It was roasted standing up in a special device, which can you duplicate, cheaply with a can of beer (but make sure you drink at least 1/2 of the beer and puncture some holes in the can so that the beer will moisten the chicken.

Next time I vow to take better pictures. During the marination process I was being rushed since Ryan and I had plans to go to the opening of the Aaron Chang gallery.

This roasted chicken became several meals. Meat for salads.

As you can imagine, this entire meal was eaten with our primal utensils of course!

Oh and a quick way to make stock, eat the chicken off the bones, and then boil the bones in water for about 3 hours and then you can use that stock to make soup... which will be my next post.

I think I will roast another chicken in 2 weeks and take better pictures this time.

Here is the recipe though:

Ingredients:

4 onions thinly sliced (thinner the better)

1 whole frozen chicken

*for each lb of meat make a rub of these quantities*

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp white pepper

1 tsp salt

Exterior of chicken

2 tablespoon of italian seasoning

1/4 cup of olive oil

Instructions:

Day before

1) Clean the chicken, take the wrapper off, remove the neck and giblets/liver etc

(if you like these items, wash them and dry with paper towels)

2) Wash and rinse the chicken (this means, washing it like you would wash your own skin)

3) Loosen the skin of the chicken (which means prying the skin away from the meat) remove excess fat and feathers (yes some will be there, if not you are lucky)

4) Dry and pat the chicken with paper towels

5) Take the dry rub and apply under the skin of the chicken and in the cavity of the chicken, place extra on thicker breast sections and thighs, rub excess on the exterior of the chicken and apply more heavily on the drums

6) Stuff chicken with thinly sliced onions, under the skin, in the cavity etc.

7) Cover and refrigerate

Next day

1) Preheat Oven to 450 deg F (Convection Roast)

2) Remove all onions from the chicken and squeeze the juice out of the onions (this will be the liquid you pour into the can

3) Mix olive oil and herbs in a small bowl with a basting brush

4) Stand chicken up on roasting stand (can) and in a baking pan

5) Bake for 1 hr or so (measure chicken with a thermometer for doneness 165 deg F, stick in thigh and breast)

Invitation to a Primal Potluck!

Come one, Come all!

By popular demand, we are going to be throwing a primal potluck on March 7th @ 7pm! If you would like to eat good food with good people, drop us a comment and we will email you a personal invitation. Of course then after the primal potluck, we'll be posting about it! Instead of a typical potluck, we will let people know what kind of thing to bring. Appetizer, Entree, Side, Dessert, Sensible Vice :)

We are looking forward to meeting new caveman/cavewoman friends and tasting other Primal Recipes! Location will be Carmel Valley in San Diego.

Who wants in?

Guest Post: Salmon with Moroccan Roasted Vegetables

Hey all! Shannon here, from Sassy Shan Racing. Over the last 4 months, I’ve been trying my hand at living like a cavewoman (however, sans the facial and body hair). Thanks to the likes of Mark’s Daily Apple, Primal Fusion, and VO2 Maxxed, I’ve found some great recipes to whet my primal palate, so I thought I’d contribute a recipe that I really love.

Salmon with Moroccan Roasted Vegetables

For the salmon – check out your nearest Whole Paycheck for a good cut of fish. Your favorite marinade – homemade, or this time, I used Soyaki (Trader Joes). This recipe would also go very well with chicken or steak.

For the veggies, this recipe comes from a cookbook from my favorite restaurant in Ithaca, NY – The Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. If you ever happen to be in Ithaca, you MUST go to this restaurant. You won’t be disappointed! While this cookbook caters to vegetarians, there are some AMAZING recipes in here, so check it out!

Without further adieu, the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 med onion, roughly chopped
1 med zucchini, 1/4" semi-circles
1 sm. eggplant, 1/2" semi-circles
1 lg sweet potato, 1/4" semi-circles/roughly chopped
1 lg red bell pepper, 1/4" strips
2 med. tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cup (15.5oz can) garbanzo beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne (or chili powder)
2 tsp salt

Directions:
In a big mixing bowl, add the chopped veggies, olive oil, lemon juice and spices. Mix thoroughly.

Spoon into a large baking dish and bake at 400F for 20 min. Remove from oven and mix the veggies so that the top layer doesn't get too dry. Bake for 20 min more. For the salmon, I like to either broil or grill it. Serve on top a bed of spinach, and with veggies on the side. As a side note, this particular recipe makes A LOT, so it’s great if you’re having friends over for dinner, or if you like having a lot of leftovers.

I really like eating the veggies cold as part of a spinach salad with crumbled Feta – nom nom nom!

V-Day Dinner: Filet Mignon

After a solid day, we decided that it was best to avoid expensive, over crowded restaurants and make our own dinner. So, we headed over to Bristol Farms to pick up some filets, veggies, and of course, 2 strips of bacon for a very primal dinner.

Before: Hers and His... (Note, should have bought a 2nd strip for Ryan's!)


After:
And a little indulgence...

How to cook Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon

1) Wrap bacon around Filet and secure with a toothpick, liberally salt and pepper each side.

*Note, for every inch thick height of filet, add another piece of bacon. Ryan's piece needed an extra one*

2) Cooking the lazy way: for every inch Broil 5-8 min each side (Angie's piece was done in 15 min, it was Medium Rare) (Ryan's piece was done in 20-25 min)