I really love pork rinds & cracklings, but it’s next to impossible to find any commercial brands that source foraging piggies. Make my own, you say? I’ve tried that, but it just takes so darn long. When those salty snack cravings hit, sometimes you want instant gratification.

I got the idea while I was braising some chicken quarters the other night. Braising means you brown a piece of meat in a skillet and then stick the meat in a pot of liquid. In my humble opinion, chicken skin and liquid do not like each other. The skin gets so soggy, and that is something I do not enjoy munching on. So I pulled the skins off the quarters, and continued on my merry braising way, frying up the skins as a late night snack.

Concerned about Omega 6? My limited research shows chicken skin ranks up there around almonds.

Find the recipe on Food Renegade.

Cheap and easy. Sounds like a pay-per-view movie title. I’m talking about a five minute meal that costs less than five dollars to make. The best of both worlds, ya? This is a simple riff on the classic egg drop soup, which is an equally cheap and easy soup to make. My version really just mixes up the method, so the soup consistency is smooth, velvety and slightly more elegant, but not in a snobby way.

Ingredients

• 2 c chicken stock
• 3 eggs
• juice of ½ to 1 lemon, depending on how tangy you like stuff, I used a whole lemon
• salt

Method

In a small sauce pot, heat the stock over medium heat.

While the stock is heating…

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and lemon juice with a pinch of salt.

Once the stock is simmering, slowly pour about ¼ of the stock (while whisking) into the eggs.

Place the sauce pot back over the heat and pour the egg mixture into the stock (again, while whisking).

Turn the heat down to low. Whisk the soup on and off, for about 2 minutes, letting the soup thicken slightly.

If the whisking and pouring part sounds confusing, follow along with the pictures…

Shirt Update

We’re about to head to the printer, but need some help choosing the color(s).

Buy one here.

Another dish inspired by the leftovers lingering in the fridge. Okay that was boring, I know. Sometimes… actually, most times, it’s hard to find the words to type at the beginning of a recipe. Most times, all I can think of saying is what actually went through my head when I first dreamt up the recipe, and that’s usually quite yawn-worthy. Do you really read the “introduction”? Every food blog writes one. How the hell do they always have something to say? Brandon and I are not that interesting. Example: do you really want to know that tonight, Brandon and I painted the hall bath ‘Nutshell’ from the Martha Stewart paint collection? Probably not.

Anyway. After re-thinking what I called this recipe, I hope you don’t schluff this off. It really does sound like the recipe would call for a grilled chicken boob, with the usual fajita suspects, plopped on top of lettuce. The Paleo world has been there, done that.  And though the picture does predominantly feature lettuce, let’s look past that and see it for what it really is… eye candy (due to my lack of pho-tog skills, I have resorted to cheap tricks. I am truly a faux-tographer.). Let me explain, before the comment sections blows up with, “Eye candy isn’t Paleo. You suck.”

Eye candy (noun);

visual feast, eyeful; gloss, tinsel, veneer, decoration, glitter, flamboyance, gaudiness; ritz, glitz, garishness, razzle-dazzle, razzmatazz; sight for sore eyes.

I hope you see this recipe for what it is…a rescue for the pervasive chicken and its dry, lackluster, but always plump, boobies.

Ingredients

• 1- 1½ lbs chicken, cooked anyway you like & chopped (breasts or a mix of breasts & thighs or leftover rotisserie chicken)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped
• 1/3 c mayo, preferably homemade
• 1 lime, juiced
• salt, to taste
• hot sauce or chili garlic sauce, to taste

Method

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayo, lime juice, cilantro, salt and chili sauce. Add the chopped chicken, bell pepper and green onion. Mix to combine. Let the salad sit in the fridge, so the flavors can meld, at least 30 minutes. Serve cold.

I got home from the gym at 8:11 and had this ready to eat, on the table at 8:43. No lie. Bibimbap is a Korean dish that’s just a big saute of vegetables, topped with a raw or fried egg. Well, the raw egg wasn’t going to happen and the hater-of-washing-dishes in me only wanted to dirty up one pan, so I opted for making little holes in the vegetable saute and baking the eggs.

Ingredients

• F.O.C.
• 1/4 t red pepper flakes
• 1/4 t coriander
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 thumb-size piece of ginger, finely minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 oz mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1/2 hot house/english cucumber, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 6 oz spinach, roughly chopped
• 6 eggs
• chili garlic sauce or sriracha

Method

Preheat your oven to 350F.

In an oven-safe or cast iron skillet, melt your F.O.C. over medium heat. Add the red pepper flakes, coriander, garlic and ginger. Then progress down the list, adding vegetables as the previous ones start looking cooked.

Using whatever tool you used to stir around the vegetables, make little holes by pushing the vegetables out of your way, throughout the skillet, big enough so you can crack your eggs into each one. The bigger your skillet, the more room you’ll have for egg holes. Crack the eggs into the holes and if you like heat, top with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

Stick the skillet in the oven and bake until the eggs look about 1/2 way done. Then stick the oven on broil to get the top side of the eggs cooked to whichever way you like ‘em–over easy, medium or hard.

Serve with a few squirts of sriracha or chili garlic sauce.

French fries? How about Latin fries? Baked plantains crisp up just as nicely as fried potatoes, for a Paleo-friendly version of this guilty pleasure –for the salt-aholic, like myself.

Ingredients

• 5 green plantains
• F.O.C. (fat of choice), we used bacon renderings
• 1/2 handful of cilantro leaves
• 2 green onions
• 2 T olive oil
• salt
• squeeze of honey

Method

For the Fries

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Green plantains do not peel easily. Here’s what to do:

Now cut the plantain in 1/2, widthwise, and then cut into matchsticks (or skip the widthwise cut and just slice ‘em). Melt your F.O.C. in a medium-sized bowl and toss in the plantains. Coat them well  & add a nice pinch of salt. Spread the plantains out on a baking sheet and pop into the oven. Let them go until they get crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle a bit more salt on, if needed.

For the Sauce

Puree all the ingredients in your food processor or blender.

It was one of those nights where nothing had been planned for dinner and we’re both scratching our heads at 9 p.m. wondering what we’re going to eat (and which one of us was going to pull kitchen duty). I always keep some hard boiled eggs in the fridge and if there isn’t bacon in our fridge, there’s always bacon in our freezer. Thankfully, because bacon is already cut into slices, it takes no time at all to thaw out. So, here you have it– a clean out the fridge salad, that really needs no recipe, so follow the quantities as loosely or as stringently as you’d like…you can do no wrong.

Ingredients

• 2 heads romaine lettuce, chopped small
• 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
• 7 slices bacon, crumbled
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 3 green onions, choppped

For the Dressing

• 1/3 c bacon drippings
• 2 T Dijon mustard
• 1 T honey
• s&p

Method

First and foremost, get the bacon sizzlin’ in a saute pan. I usually use a sheet/cookie tray and pop the bacon in the oven–and that’s fine too, but for this recipe, I’m using the bacon dripping for the base of the dressing, so I figured it was easier to pour the drippings from a saute pan rather than from a cookie sheet. Once the bacon is crisped to your liking, remove it and let is drain on a paper towel lined plate. Turn the heat off the pan and let the bacon drippings cool.

While the bacon is doing its thing, go ahead and prep your lettuce and veggies, and toss them into your serving dish.

For the Dressing

Using a jar with a screw top lid (think jam, pickles, etc.) combine all the ingredients and shake the living day lights out of the jar. This is the least messy, most efficient way to emulsify the ingredients. A note about the dressing: because bacon fat is mostly saturated, it will solidify at room temp and in the fridge. It’s best to drizzle the dressing only on the portion of salad you’re eating…not on the whole thing, unless you plan to eat it all in one sitting.

Store the dressing in the fridge and reheat it in the microwave for a few seconds to get it nice and fluid again.

“Mistake Gone Right” should be the title of this recipe. It happens all the time, let’s be honest. We set out to make some glorious meal for our loved ones (or ourselves), and somewhere down the line, it all goes down the pooper. So what can you do to salvage? Just add stock and blend. Soup disguises all mistakes!

Disclaimer: You definitely have to start out with something that, at least, tastes o k a y. I mean, I can’t imagine something like celery, chocolate and adobo peppers tasting good. Period. Soup or not. But…hey,what do I know?

Ingredients

• 2 heads cauliflower, stems & core removed, chopped small
• F.O.C. (fat of choice)
• 3 leeks, sliced & washed (see pics)
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 shallots, minced
• chili flakes, to taste
• 1 quart stock
• 1 pint  original flavored coconut milk creamer*
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 c olive oil
• s&p

Method

How to clean your leeks:

In a large soup pot, saute the onions, leeks, shallots in your F.O.C., over medium-low heat until they’ve turned a nice golden, brown color. Add the cauliflower and stock. Bring to a simmer and let the cauliflower soften. Use an immersion/hand blender, or a regular blender, to puree the soup. Add the coconut creamer and the soup is done.

For the Basil Oil

If you use a blender to puree the soup, make sure you make the basil oil first…just saves a step– you don’t have to clean out the blender twice. I would rather have basil flavored soup puree than cauliflower flavored basil oil.

Place the basil, olive oil and some s&p in the blender and puree on high. This makes a lot of basil oil. It adds a lot of brightness and goes great on almost any soup (maybe not chili),  eggs, and is a great base for salad dressing.

*This stuff is awesome. No real detectable coconut flavor, just tastes like 1/2 & 1/2.

Unless you make your own ranch or blue cheese dressing, you’re eating a lot of omega-6 laden seed oil and other fraken-ingredients. So….let’s just remove all doubt and guilt and make good ole fashioned guacamole to dip some taco spiced wings in.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs chicken wings
• F.O.C. (fat of choice)
• 2 t garlic powder
• 2 t chili powder
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 1 t smoked paprika
• 1 t regular paprika
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper

For the Guac Dip

• 2 avocados
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped
• chili garlic sauce, to taste
• salt

Method

Move the oven rack to the upper-middle part of the oven. Place the oven on broil. Now, let’s go to wing school and learn how to prep the wings:

Save the wings tips for a quick chicken stock.

Mix the spices together. Coat the wings in the spice mix along with a few tablespoons of your F.O.C (melted). Place the wings, skin side down, on a baking sheet. Broil for about 12 minutes on this side, until crispy. Use a pair of tongs to flip over the wings to skin-side up. Continue to broil for about 20 minutes, until the skin is super crispy.

For the Guac Dip

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, or just use a fork to smash everything together.

If you’re getting tired of potatoes and/or sweet potatoes, I think you should try to source some green plantains. Not all grocery stores carry them, but if they do, they’ll be around the mangoes, jicama, guava, and other tropical produce. Plantains are almost as cheap as bananas. They’re mostly starch and contain almost the same number of carbs as sweet potatoes. Since they have such a neutral flavor, they can be used, practically interchangeably, like potatoes. When looking for green plantains, don’t think that buying yellow or brown ones will yield the same result, as those are the extremely sweet and sugary ones.

Ingredients

• 4 green plantains
• 2 c stock (any kind)
• 1 T coconut oil
• 1 squeeze of honey (optional)
• s & p

Method

Get the oven to 350ºF. Put the plantains straight on a baking sheet, skin and all, and toss into the oven. Let them go until the skins turn black–about 20-30 minutes. Once they’re cool enough to handle, peel the skin, discard, and roughly chop the plantains. Place the plantains in a medium size saute pot along with the chicken stock. Brig it to a boil. Once the plantains start to soften, about 8 minutes later, add the rest of the ingredients. Use a potato masher or my favorite tool, an immersion blender, to get the plantains as smooth as you’d like ‘em.

Chinese food, without the MSG and dog meat. Hehehe, just kidding.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (cut into bite size pieces)
• 3 T fat (coconut oil works well here)
• juice of 2 oranges*
• zest from 1 orange
• 1 t fresh ginger
• 3 T coconut aminos or wheat-free soy sauce
• 1 t chili garlic sauce or sriracha
• 3 green onions, chopped

Method

In a medium size sauce pot, add the orange juice, zest, ginger, coconut aminos and chili garlic sauce or sriracha. Set over medium heat and let simmer to reduce and thicken while the chicken cooks.

In a saute pan, heat 3 T of the fat of your choice, over medium high heat. Add the chopped chicken thighs and cook until a nice brown crust has developed on the chicken pieces, about 6 minutes.

Add the chicken to the sauce pot and stir to coat with the orange sauce.

Serve topped with sliced green onions.

*Taste your oranges. If they don’t taste orange-y, then neither will this dish. Use tangerines if you gotta or add a teaspoon of sweetener until you’re satisfied with the flavor.