Saturday, November 28, 2009

A Day in the life of Feel Good Eating

I hope all of you made it through thanks giving without too much family irritation and that you didn't completely abandon your primal eating ways. I stuck to a bowl of butternut squash soup, turkey and a small helping of sweet potatoes with chives. I did have way too much wine ;-) But the selection that was available was so good, I just couldn't help myself sample more then I should. It was the only meal of the day. I had a real nice workout in the morning. It's not often that I can make myself a little playlist for my ipod before I go. and that I can go to the gym leisurely at 10 am. So a heavy workout, followed by rest (read naps on the couch), followed by a good meal. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving,

The pictures for this post are a day in the life of Feel Good Eating.
Above is one of my favorite "break-fasts". Probably my favorite way to eat Fage yogurt. A Feel Good Eating version of tzatziki. Full fat fage yogurt, 1 small clove of finely chopped garlic, one scallion, tomato, cilantro, sea salt, fresh ground pepper and a drizzle of evoo. Normally this dish also has some shredded cucumber, but I didn't have any. Half a small avocado. 2 stalks of celery provide the nice crunch for scooping up the yogurt. Ate this around 1 pm.
Later in the day I prepped up braised beef short ribs. Beef short ribs is one of the cheapest grass fed cuts you can get your hands on. It's delicious braised or grilled, the one needed ingredient is time.
Ok, here we go and see the pictures below. Salt and pepper the ribs and brown them well. (I used butter)

Once browned remove them from your pan and set aside (above). Now add garlic to your hot pan. Next add your onion and stir well. Next add carrots and celery. Saute this mixture for a while. Now add red wine. mix well. Let this mixture reduce some. Add your ribs back in there and add beef stock. Bring to a boil, turn to low and simmer for 2-3 hours. You know its ready when the meat is as soft as "butter". YUM.

Here's some additional goodness. Strain the veggies and set the broth aside.
In a small pan, reduce the broth a bit. Toss the strained veggies in the food processor. Add some of the broth and a splash of heavy cream and puree. Normally there is flour in this recipe and potato. It makes the dish heavier, but the way I make it, it stays "light" and then the sauce compliments it well.


A little more work then normal, but it's so good!
Enjoy the weekend!

7 comments:

Anna said...

Aren't short ribs the bomb, Marc? I love shanks, too. Those long cooked, bone-in cuts, in addition to being tasty and thrifty, contribute lots of easy-to-absorb minerals to the sauce. I consider dishes like short ribs my calcium supplement!

When I buy a half bison and split the order with friends, I always keep the short ribs and shanks packages for myself.

We definitely stayed primal for Thanksgiving - though we didn't have turkey this year. I had several standing rib roasts in the freezer from previous bulk bison purchases and needed to use them, so I prepared one of those... it was superb despite a year in the freezer. Roasted brussel sprouts with hazelnuts and smashed cauliflower rounded the meal out nicely.

Mark said...

That fage concoction looks awesome. I'm going to have to try that.

We were only in Naples overnight - too bad we didnt have more time.

FLA is nice this time of year!

Marc said...

Anna,
The meat just gets so delicious from that slow cooking and the bones. Cand care to share the b-sprouts and hazelnut recipe?

Mark,
Next time perhaps. For the next 4 months Florida is one great place to be. The weather is just unbelievable. Let me know what you think of the Fage recipe when you try it. safe travels back to MA.

Marc

Anonymous said...

"family irritation" LOL. Yeah, I had my share of that among other things.

Love that FAGE. It is like Paleo whipped cream! We introduced my mom to that, hopefully it will take.

Yummy said...

Those short ribs look yum-o-rific! I guess it's time for my dinner...? :)

Sandy Sommer, RKC said...

Time is a great ally for Primal Eating. I've got a pastured chicken in the dutch over right now with curry, coconut, onion, tomato, stock and I can't wait for it to be done on this cold December day!

FatBurningFurnace said...

The roasted braised beef short ribs looks very delicious. I will try to make it this Sunday.