These are the cooking adventures of Jeff Nimoy, an LA writer who accidentally found what's called The Caveman Diet, also called The Paleo Diet. Basically, it's eating what the cavemen ate. The results have been staggering and people have been so fascinated, this blog was started to show exactly how and what Jeff eats! If you're new to the blog, please start with the earliest entry, "Entering The Cave," dated August 9, 2010, to get a clear understanding of what it's all about.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Dinner: Monday 1/3/11
Fried Chicken (boneless, skinless), with broccoli sauteed in olive oil and lots and lots of garlic! Chicken was breaded in almond flour and spices. All ingredients, all organic, all the time. Click here for recipe: Fried Chicken
Friday, December 31, 2010
Caveman Cocktail Frank, anyone?
A New Year's Eve tradition for me involves making cocktail franks with Pillsbury croissant dough. But this year, I'm taking my organic hot dog (does have a little salt though), and baking it right into my nut bread! First experiment, so I made some that were completely dipped, and some that were stuck half way. Made my own hot mustard by combining water, mustard powder, crushed red pepper and lemon juice. Some organic sauerkraut, rinsed off to limit the salt content, as a garnish. Look:
Pretty good, huh? Caveman Cocktail Franks! By the way, new photo friendly plates a gift from my friend Stacie, who coined the phrase fauxghetti to describe my zucchini noodles.
Pretty good, huh? Caveman Cocktail Franks! By the way, new photo friendly plates a gift from my friend Stacie, who coined the phrase fauxghetti to describe my zucchini noodles.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Paleo Pizza Kitchen: Grand Opening!
I'm REAL close on this one, folks. Paleo pizza! First, look, then, recipe:
I made my regular bread from ground brazil nuts, the most bread-like nut flour so far (almond probably still tastes the best, but brazil makes for the best consistency). Again, the recipe is (ALL INGREDIENTS, ALL ORGANIC, ALL THE TIME):
1 Cup Ground Brazil Nut Flour
1/4 Cup of Arrowroot
3 Tblsp of Olive Oil
3 eggs
Mix that all together and pour into a 9x13 parchment paper lined baking pan. Spread out evenly with hands or a spatula. Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Take out of the oven, and spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over bread, leaving room on the sides (like a crust). Add toppings. Bake for another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle on Paleo Parmesan, and fresh basil. Cut into squares, and serve (we call square pieces of pizza in Brooklyn, Sicilian style, usually a thicker crust, but in this case, just convenient, if you have a round pan, go for it!).
Now for my toppings, I had two slices of leftover breaded eggplant from the last pizza experiment, so I put that on (pictured far left), but for this experiment, I put the sauce on top of it, but now that I've tasted it, I think all toppings should go on top (duh). Then I lightly sauteed some mushrooms and put that on a slice (pictured in the middle). Finally, I just went with the sauce for my last slice (far left).
Yes, it is cheese-less, but the paleo parmesan and the fresh basil really make it smell and taste like pizza! I think if I could find some organic mozzarella from a grass fed cow, it would be a pretty good mini-cheat to add on, but even without the cheese, this pizza IS DAMN GOOD! Let me repeat that little bit about grass-fed again. Listen up people, I'm sick of saying it, cows eat grass, please stop using cow products from corn-fed cows, it's BAD for you! And don't be fooled by advertising tricks on labels like "all-natural," and "fed an organic vegetarian diet." All that means is the corn and other grains they ate were organic. It has to say "organic" AND "grass-fed," and then you will know you are eating products from a happy and healthy moo-cow.
The eggplant was good, the mushrooms better, and I think the plain was the best (the mark of quality with any great pizza)! If I had some of that leftover Italian sausage, that would've been great too, but I finished off that bad boy the next night! I also sprinkled on some crushed red pepper, but no need for garlic powder, if you remember, the paleo parmesan has raw garlic in it already!
I am going to claim this experiment a success and declare the Paleo Pizza kitchen officially open. If I do a mini-cheat with some cheese I'll be sure to let you know. But when you're hungry, and only have a few ingredients around, go to your pantry and make a quick sauce with that jar of organic strained tomatoes I've told you about many times (you can look it up in the blog about Ten Condiments yourself, you lazy bastards), make a quick bread and paleo parmesan using the brazil nuts you have in the pantry right next to the strained tomatoes, and presto, in 20-30 minutes you have paleo pizza!
Hmm? What's that? You don;t have any of that crap in your pantry? Well, if you want to eat like a caveman, you better stock up the cave. Otherwise you'll be running to the store every friggin' time you want to eat. And you'll get real tired of being paleo if that happens. So stock up, prepare ahead, and plan/cook multiple meals at a time (like, if you make fauxghetti sauce, plan on three different meals including pizza with the leftovers, and freeze the rest for the future). Do all that, and you'll be as happy as a grass-fed moo-cow. Only instead of moo, you'll be happily saying, "Ugga-Bugga!"
I made my regular bread from ground brazil nuts, the most bread-like nut flour so far (almond probably still tastes the best, but brazil makes for the best consistency). Again, the recipe is (ALL INGREDIENTS, ALL ORGANIC, ALL THE TIME):
1 Cup Ground Brazil Nut Flour
1/4 Cup of Arrowroot
3 Tblsp of Olive Oil
3 eggs
Mix that all together and pour into a 9x13 parchment paper lined baking pan. Spread out evenly with hands or a spatula. Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Take out of the oven, and spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over bread, leaving room on the sides (like a crust). Add toppings. Bake for another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle on Paleo Parmesan, and fresh basil. Cut into squares, and serve (we call square pieces of pizza in Brooklyn, Sicilian style, usually a thicker crust, but in this case, just convenient, if you have a round pan, go for it!).
Now for my toppings, I had two slices of leftover breaded eggplant from the last pizza experiment, so I put that on (pictured far left), but for this experiment, I put the sauce on top of it, but now that I've tasted it, I think all toppings should go on top (duh). Then I lightly sauteed some mushrooms and put that on a slice (pictured in the middle). Finally, I just went with the sauce for my last slice (far left).
Yes, it is cheese-less, but the paleo parmesan and the fresh basil really make it smell and taste like pizza! I think if I could find some organic mozzarella from a grass fed cow, it would be a pretty good mini-cheat to add on, but even without the cheese, this pizza IS DAMN GOOD! Let me repeat that little bit about grass-fed again. Listen up people, I'm sick of saying it, cows eat grass, please stop using cow products from corn-fed cows, it's BAD for you! And don't be fooled by advertising tricks on labels like "all-natural," and "fed an organic vegetarian diet." All that means is the corn and other grains they ate were organic. It has to say "organic" AND "grass-fed," and then you will know you are eating products from a happy and healthy moo-cow.
The eggplant was good, the mushrooms better, and I think the plain was the best (the mark of quality with any great pizza)! If I had some of that leftover Italian sausage, that would've been great too, but I finished off that bad boy the next night! I also sprinkled on some crushed red pepper, but no need for garlic powder, if you remember, the paleo parmesan has raw garlic in it already!
I am going to claim this experiment a success and declare the Paleo Pizza kitchen officially open. If I do a mini-cheat with some cheese I'll be sure to let you know. But when you're hungry, and only have a few ingredients around, go to your pantry and make a quick sauce with that jar of organic strained tomatoes I've told you about many times (you can look it up in the blog about Ten Condiments yourself, you lazy bastards), make a quick bread and paleo parmesan using the brazil nuts you have in the pantry right next to the strained tomatoes, and presto, in 20-30 minutes you have paleo pizza!
Hmm? What's that? You don;t have any of that crap in your pantry? Well, if you want to eat like a caveman, you better stock up the cave. Otherwise you'll be running to the store every friggin' time you want to eat. And you'll get real tired of being paleo if that happens. So stock up, prepare ahead, and plan/cook multiple meals at a time (like, if you make fauxghetti sauce, plan on three different meals including pizza with the leftovers, and freeze the rest for the future). Do all that, and you'll be as happy as a grass-fed moo-cow. Only instead of moo, you'll be happily saying, "Ugga-Bugga!"
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Pie is Cooling!
Bringing a caveman apple pie to my friend Heather's for Christmas Day dinner. Non-paleo meal, but at least dessert will be fit for a caveman!
Click here for recipe (crust had been improved since, will update again after New Years): Caveman Apple Pie!
Click here for recipe (crust had been improved since, will update again after New Years): Caveman Apple Pie!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Rigatoni! Plus, Garlic Bread Improved!
Leftovers for dinner tonight, but I definitely improved on the garlic bread! I threw it under the broiler for a minute and look what happened!
Now THAT looks like garlic bread! It was awesome!
I also took the opportunity of leftovers to try my rigatoni experiment. Instead of making fauxghetti from my zucchini, I peeled them, cut the into sections, and hollowed them out! Served them with the leftover Italian sausage, take a look (through the steam):
They actually look more like calamari, huh? Anyway, my verdict? It was a nice change of pace, but it was a lot of tedious work, and considering they don't really taste like pasta, I'm gonna stick with the fauxghetti, because A) it's easy to make with the spirooli, and B) the twirl really makes ALL the difference when you're trying to trick yourself into thinking you're eating pasta. But hey, it never hurts to try, right?!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all, Ugga-Bugga!
Now THAT looks like garlic bread! It was awesome!
I also took the opportunity of leftovers to try my rigatoni experiment. Instead of making fauxghetti from my zucchini, I peeled them, cut the into sections, and hollowed them out! Served them with the leftover Italian sausage, take a look (through the steam):
They actually look more like calamari, huh? Anyway, my verdict? It was a nice change of pace, but it was a lot of tedious work, and considering they don't really taste like pasta, I'm gonna stick with the fauxghetti, because A) it's easy to make with the spirooli, and B) the twirl really makes ALL the difference when you're trying to trick yourself into thinking you're eating pasta. But hey, it never hurts to try, right?!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all, Ugga-Bugga!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Dinner:
You didn't think I'd tell you I was having fauxghetti and Italian sausage and not show you any pictures, did you?! First, this is how I made it (click on this recipe for details). Brown sausage:
Then make sauce (you're not using salt, so put in LOTS of fresh herbs and spices):
Finish cooking the sausages in the sauce and then serve:
Don't forget the Caveman Garlic Bread!
All organic, and NO GRAINS! Pretty miraculous for an Italian dinner that includes pasta and bread, huh? Ugga-Buggan right it is!
Then make sauce (you're not using salt, so put in LOTS of fresh herbs and spices):
Finish cooking the sausages in the sauce and then serve:
Don't forget the Caveman Garlic Bread!
All organic, and NO GRAINS! Pretty miraculous for an Italian dinner that includes pasta and bread, huh? Ugga-Buggan right it is!
Caveman Garlic Bread!
This one's good! Remember that Paleo Parmesan I made the other day? You don't? Screw you then.
Okay, I'm in a good mood because I'm paleo and eating garlic bread, so I'll tell you. I found a paleo friendly mock parmesan cheese recipe. Here you go:
1 cup Brazil Nuts
2 Cloves Garlic
Pretty simple. Doesn't taste quite like cheese, but still, for paleo, pretty decent substitute. But as I keep eating it, the smell reminded me more and more of garlic bread. Well, my regular bread recipe is made from nut flour anyway, like almonds or walnuts, so it wouldn't be a stretch to make my bread out of the brazil nut flour! One little tweak though from my regular bread recipe to make it as close to garlic bread as I can get it. Okay, in a bowl mix all these organic ingredients:
1 cup of brazil nut flour
1/4 cup of arrowroot
3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 eggs
Pour into a baking pan, and spread to even out. Don't worry if it's too thin, mine is usually only less than 1/2 of an inch thick, but feel free to experiment with thicker bread. Put it into a preheated oven of 350F for 5-10 minutes. While it's cooking, mix up:
2 cloves of garlic
A bunch of chopped parsley
A little more added olive oil
After 10 minutes in the oven (you want it firmer than the liquid mess you put in, but still kind of wet looking) remove bread and pour garlic mixture on top, gently spread out evenly, and continue baking for another 20 minutes until done. Then gaze upon garlicky goodness!
Came out great! I'm gonna serve it on the side of some fauxghetti and Italian Sausage I made today. I think brazil nut flour is my new GO-TO nut flour for bread! Leaves a little powdery residue like pizza crust, wonderful when you're trying to trick yourself into eating bread. I might even try making cheese-less pizza with it soon! Plus, brazil nuts have so many healthy benefits, including high amounts of selenium, which reduces the risk of colon, lung, skin, and prostate cancer (hear that guys!). I don't take any vitamins anymore since going paleo, instead, I prefer getting my vitamins and minerals from the all natural food I eat, rather than from a factory manufactured chemically solidified pill. So it's important to find different foods that give you different health benefits. Brazil nuts are something I never would have even tried, let alone cooked with, if I never went paleo, so don't be afraid to try new things. Become informed. See what vitamins you currently take, do a little googling to see what foods are high in those vitamins, and eat your way to health and vitality! Ugga-Bugga!
P.S.- If you plan on making a sandwich with the garlic bread, I recommend putting the garlic mixture right into the bread batter (skip the added olive oil) and baking the whole thing together (discovered in my experimenting stage). Sort of how my friend A. from Constructivedeconstruction might recreate traditional garlic bread (only she'd probably make it into the shape of a lego set first). This way, it's not as oily to handle when eating. Look:
I plan on making a favorite with it from my youth one day: Roast Pork on Garlic Bread with Duck Sauce! This is a sandwich I have never seen outside of a NY diner menu, and it was on EVERY diner menu when I was a kid. Such an odd combo of flavors, but it all works. Gonna wait until my plum sauce is back in season, and then watch out!
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