That's So Primal

Weekend Camping Trip: Keeping it Primal

Not too long ago I encouraged you to get back outside with your family. Hopefully you were able to find some ways that you could enjoy the outdoors before it gets too cold and before we all get too wrapped up in the mad dash of the holidays. If you’re still trying to figure out ways to get the family together, might I suggest you plan a weekend camping trip? Something you can easily do after work Friday with a little planning.

There are campgrounds everywhere, all you need to do is find one close to you that sounds fun. This is something you can do with just your spouse or even if you have a bunch of kids. The kids will be sure to love it and it’s a great time to get the whole family together. It also offers the a unique time where everyone’s faces aren’t plastered to the bright screen of a phone, tablet, laptop or TV. That idea, in and of itself, may freak you out. But don’t let it. Below I’ve listed a few ideas for what you should pack, what a meal plan may look like and what to do. All you have to worry about is where you want to go camping.

What to Bring

Camping Gear
This depends widely on where in the country (or outside) you may be camping. Now, you don’t have to buy everything you see at your local camping store but some basics that you don’t want to forget are:

Food

Salt & Pepper
1 Pack of Aidells Chicken & Apple Sausages sliced into 1/4”
3 Bell Peppers chopped (I use red, orange & yellow)
1 Onion chopped
1 Garlic clove diced
2T Coconut Oil
Mixed Greens
Oil & Vinegar
Cans of tuna/sardines/chicken
Bag of Paleonola
Burgers
Cheese
Organic Baby Carrots
Homemade Ranch
Eggs
Bacon
Butter
Popcorn Kernals
Coffee

Clothes
Just keep them comfy. Maybe even go barefoot if you can take it. It’s a rare chance you can go a whole weekend without having to wear shoes at all. If you can’t bare (pun intended) the thought of that, then just stick to sandals or something like that. You don’t need $400 hiking boots. Humans have spent a long time “camping” without needing giant rubber heels attached to their God given arches and heels.

Board games/deck of cards
Forget the solar phone chargers and extra battery packs. Just make sure you have a headlamp or a bright enough fire to play some card games or a board game or two.

What to Eat

All of these meals can be cooked in your 12” Cast Iron. I suggest you do all your cutting Thursday night before the weekend. No one wants to do the cutting on some janky table at the campsite.

Friday Night
Dinner: Chicken & Apple Sausage Stir Fry
If everything is precut, this meal comes together really quick. Perfect for getting to the campground, getting the tent up and then right into dinner.

Campfire Snack: Popcorn
Popcorn isn’t paleo. But it’s a nice once in awhile snack. Especially when you cook it yourself with butter and salt. All you have to do is melt 2T of butter in a skillet, throw in 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels and cook over fire or flame with lid, shaking continuously, until you hear the kernels start to pop. Take off the lid when the kernel popping slows down. Then top off with salt and enjoy.

Saturday
Breakfast: Eggs & Bacon
Cook the bacon. Toss out some of the fat while leaving a thin layer in the skillet. Then scramble the eggs in the remaining fat.

Lunch: Salad & Sardines/Tuna/Chicken
Toss salad in bowls with oil and vinegar and top with protein and Paleonola. Or eat the protein of your choice straight from the can.

Dinner: Burgers & Carrots with Ranch
Melt some butter in the skillet and cook burgers until desired doneness. Top with cheese if you do cheese. Serve with carrots and ranch.

Campfire Snack: More Popcorn
This is too good to just have it one night. Cook up another batch of this and you won’t even be thinking of s’mores.

Sunday Morning
Breakfast: Eggs & Bacon
Same as Saturday.

Lunch: Chipotle
No one wants to have to have to prepare a lunch on your last day of camping so just pick something up from Chipotle or some other Primal option lunch spot on the way home.

What to Do

Once again this depends widely on where you’re planning on camping. But think outside the box a little bit, and by box I’m referring to your home. Take advantage of being outdoors. Maybe even ditch the tent and just sleep outside. Just do something that you don’t normally do, here are some ideas:

Beach
If you happen to be camping near a beach then this one is pretty obvious. But I point it out so that you don’t think just camping by the beach is enough. You need to go to the beach. Put a suit on and go body surf, dig some holes, eat a sand crab, do some sprints. Anything really – just go to the beach.

Hiking
This one is pretty obvious too but not everyone likes hiking (wink wink my wife). But you should really use this opportunity that you’re living outside for a couple days to explore and see what the trails around you have to offer. Remember too, don’t try to pull the excuse that you don’t have your hiking shoes. God gave you hiking shoes when you were born. If they’re good enough for the Tarahumara, then they’re good enough for you.

Skateboarding/Biking
Most state funded camping places have some paved road throughout the grounds. If they do, take advantage of the no TV and laptop and go cruise around on a skateboard. If there are no paved roads you can always use a bike to go cruise around.

Nothing
Don’t always think you have to be doing something when you’re camping. Use your time away for the weekend to do nothing. We need to relax and kick back every so often, and this is your perfect time to do so. Take a nap throughout the day. Stare off into the distance. Watch ants crawl around. Just try to do absolutely nothing.

Look for bugs
Ya know, bugs may be the future of food. How about you go checkout some of the local offerings? I’m not sure if it’s kosher to eat bugs just crawling around, but hey depending on where you’re camping they may have a better diet than the chicken pumped full of antibiotics and soy.

Rock climb
Rock climbing didn’t start in an indoor gym. It started with actual rocks. Try to see if you can find some rocks to go climb on. Doesn’t matter how big or small, just look for something to climb on. Remember to always bring a buddy so they can catch you if you fall.

Play Games
You brought all those board games and cards. Bust ‘em out and play as much as you can. Busy schedules at home don’t always lend time to play a couple rounds of Catan.

Hopefully this post urged you a little bit to even contemplate planning a family camping trip. Now your trip, if you choose to do one, may look completely different than what I have outlined above, but this was just to spark ideas. So take some ideas I’ve listed above, or make your own, but most importantly – get outside.

Cauliflower & Cheddar Soup

To be honest I’m not sure how I first came across this Martha Stewart recipe for cauliflower cheddar soup. I know we wanted to try out a simple recipe with cauliflower and cheddar and we just came across this one and now we make it pretty much every week. Our daughter loves it so much too that my wife and I normally double the recipe and freeze a bunch of extra containers for our little one and for us.

Cauliflower

I love this recipe first because it’s super simple. Second because it’s a great way to get grass fed dairy into your diet. We use a Kerrygold grass fed butter and a Kerrygold grass fed white sharp cheddar cheese.

Kerrygold Grass Fed Sharp White Cheddar Cheese

Third is that you can use some bone broth as the recipe called for and man after all that this is one nutritious soup. Fourth is that I can get all these ingredients at Costco (minus the bone broth. You can get that here).

Bone Broths Co.

It makes it super easy to plan for this meal because it’s really no planning at all!

Aidells Chicken & Apple Sausage

Not only is this soup simple – it tastes fantastic. We normally cook up some Aidells sausages also when we do this soup just to get some more protein into the meal. My wife likes to dip the sausage in the soup as well, and I’ll admit I copy her from time to time and it is indeed tasty.

Cauliflower & Cheddar Soup

2015-10-05 16:10:35

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Ingredients

3 tablespoons Kerrygold butter
1 yellow onion, diced small
2 lbs cauliflower florets, trimmed into smaller pieces
4 cups bone broth (or chicken broth)
5 1/2 ounces Kerrygold sharp white cheddar, grated (1 1/2 cups)
Salt and pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper (optional)

Instructions

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large pot. Then add the onion and cook for about 8 minutes while you stir continuously. After 8 minutes then throw in the cauliflower, stirring continuously, and cook for 12 minutes or until it starts to brown. After that, add the broth and 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. After it boils turn down to a simmer for about 20 minutes.
While this is going you can grate the cheese.
After the 20 minutes use an immersion blender and puree the soup directly in the pot. Be careful not to burn yourself. Then add the cheese and stir until it’s melted.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with a pinch of cayenne for a little extra kick. Enjoy!

That's So Primal https://www.thatssoprimal.com/

Paleonola: Grain Free Granola Review

I have a problem.

See, normally when I go grocery shopping I stick to the perimeter of the store. You know, where the real food is. I grab my eggs, meat, yogurt and vegetables. I may pop into the international aisle if I ran out of my ~~prescription~~ subscription coconut milk from Amazon. But I have this problem where I get my cart full and then I end up creeping down the granola aisle.

I love yogurt, full fat greek yogurt. Plain or the honey kind. And it’s just so boring by itself. So I convince myself to pop down the aisle with the granola on it. I scan the boxes of granola and check out the ingredients looking for some sort of grain free granola to top off my yogurt. I get really close to buying some flax seed gluten free organic something or another but then my brain stops me and says do you really want allll those carbs from the oats and sugar (not to mention the death canola oil). Thus far I have been able to put down the box and head to the checkout. Nevertheless I still have this desire to top off my yogurt with something crunchy!

Now I tell myself I can always throw some nuts, coconut oil and maple syrup on a tray and make my own. But that never happens. Nobody’s got time for that. So as I was on Instagram browsing through millions of photos of really good looking food. I came across Paleonola. The name really says it all – I didn’t need to look them up to first understand what they were all about. They were obviously about making Paleo-nola. Duh!

Paleonola note

So I got in touch with them and asked if I could review their grain free granola, and literally a couple days later I have all six flavors sitting at my doorstep. When I opened the box, it was like a light was shining down from heaven revealing the first grain free granola I could get my hands on. Here it is. At last – no oats and all. Lovely.

Paleonola

So you still may be asking what is Paleonola? Well from their packaging:

Real food

So based on their mission statement above, have they accomplished that goal? Let’s take a look at our three factors: Nutritional Profile, Affordability and Taste!

Nutritional Profile

This is definitely where this granola shines. It is far better nutritionally than the rest of the junk on the granola aisle. Nothing comes close. When I was tempted down that aisle I looked at two brands mainly: Udi’s Gluten Free Granola Original and Nature’s Path Hemp Plus Granola. So I find it necessary to compare these to Paleonola’s Original flavor. (I will cover all the flavors in the taste section)

Paleonola Original

Paleonola Original
1/4 cup serving
Total Fat: 15g
Total Carbohydrate: 7g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 4g)
Protein: 4g
Ingredients: Almonds, Pecans, Pepitas*, Honey*, Walnuts, Coconut Oil*, Sunflower Seeds*, Flax Seeds*, Sweetened Dried Cranberries (Cranberries, Apple Juice Concentrate, Sunflower Oil), Dried Coconut, Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon. *Denotes Organic Ingredient

Udi’s Gluten Free Granola Original
1/4 cup serving
Total Fat: 6g
Total Carbohydrate: 21g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 7g)
Protein: 3g
Ingredients: Certified Gluten Free Oats, Wildflower Honey, Canola Oil, Raisins, Banana Chips (Banana, Coconut Oil, Sugar, Natural Flavor), Walnuts, Cashews, Almonds, Pistacho Nuts.

Nature’s Path Hemp Plus Granola
1/4 cup serving
Total Fat: 3g
Total Carbohydrate: 10g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 4g)
Protein: 2g
Ingredients: Rolled oats, evaporated cane juice, soy oil, brown rice flour, flax seeds, hemp seeds, oat syrup solids* (oat syrup solids, tocopherols), sea salt, molasses. *Organic. Contains soy. Produced in a facility that uses wheat, peanuts and tree nuts.

Closeup Paleonola

Now this reminds me of my Cricket Flour Protein Bar Review in that Paleonola isn’t afraid of the fat – like the rest of the companies out there. I want to be satiated when I eat a bowl of yogurt with granola or grab a handful for a quick bite – I don’t want a glucose spike and sugar crash. That’s where Paleonola kills the other two brands we’re looking at. Enough fat from the nuts and coconut oil instead of just a bunch of oats and a couple seeds/nuts.

Real Food

Then when we look at the carbs, once again Paleonola beats the rest obviously since there are no oats. Oats are pretty heavy on carbs – and at the same time completely unnecessary nutritionally in my opinion. They’re just a cheap way to add more crap into the bag. It’s all about profit for those companies. Paleonola seems to choose real food over profit. Protein is negligible since all that’s in these are nuts. But a handful of Paleonola and some slices of bacon would make a great meal for sure!

Affordability

Paleonola Original
10oz $8.99

Udi’s Gluten Free Granola Original
12oz $5.62

Nature’s Path Hemp Plus Granola
11.5oz $3.69

Paleonola Mission

This reality will most likely always ring true for Paleo products. You pay for quality. It’s why grass-fed beef is more expensive than conventional beef. It’s pretty obvious why the price is such a steady progression from cheap to expensive. Paleonola is the most expensive – yes – but that’s because real food is expensive. Udi’s comes in second, but only because they’re paying for the gluten free oats. It’s pretty costly to use gluten free oats in your product since oats are normally processed at the same facilities as wheat products. So for them to use gluten free oats means the oats are processed completely separate from any wheat/gluten products. For this very reason, Nature’s Path comes in at the cheapest. They’re not using gluten free oats, thus they can pump out a super carb inexpensive gluten contaminated granola. Sure it might not effect you unless you have Celiacs or something, but nevertheless that’s still the reason for the price differentiation.

The reality is that if you want quality real food, you’re going to have to pay for it. I don’t mind paying for it since it’s the very reason why I would always put back down the granola in the store aisle – it was because I couldn’t justify spending money on sugar, canola oil and oats. I would rather spend my money on honey, coconut oil and nuts.

Taste

Paleonola

The Original
Man this is some good stuff. It hits all the flavors that granola should hit and then some. It has the sweetness and little hint of cinnamon. I also like that it’s not too crunchy. Some granola (from before I went Primal) almost felt like it would crack my teeth at times. Not this stuff. It’s nutty and crunchy but just the right amount of crunch.
Link to buy

Chocolate Fix
This one is definitely chocolatey and less cinnamon (obviously) than the Original. The chocolate used is cocoa powder, and you get the full taste at the end of the bite. The addition of hazelnuts is great also, adds a different crunch. However, if you don’t like the bitterness of darker chocolate, this one might not be for you.
Link to buy

Maple Pancake
The maple pancake definitely hits the sweet spot. Noticeably sweeter than the original but only 1g more of sugar in the form of maple sugar. That’s where the maple pancake comes in – maple syrup. It’s a nice addition. There also seems to be a little more walnuts in this one that I tasted compared to the Original. So if you don’t like the distinct taste of walnuts, this one may not be for you. But if you’re looking for the sweetest tasting Paleonola, this one may be it.
Link to buy

Pina Colada
Woah. They hit the nail on the head with this one. Very distinctly pina colada tasting but with extra coconut. Imagine the taste of a pina colada and then imagine that you just ate a bunch of roasted coconut chips afterward. That’s kinda what you get with this Paleonola. I love it because I love the taste of coconut, but if you don’t like things that taste distinctly coconut, this one might not be for you.
Link to buy

Apple Pie
This one is very similar to the Original, but with the addition of dried apples. Very tasty. It’s definitely reminiscent of a nice crust of an apple pie, with the cinnamon and crunch – but the best part is it’s not an apple pie. It’s real food (nuts) cooked in coconut oil and tossed with cinnamon and dried apples. Now what would be amazing is if you somehow crushed this all down and made a faux crust for a “Paleo” apple pie. Hmmm future recipe? Maybe…
Link to buy

Pumpkin Pie
Ya know, I’m not entirely sure how they pack the taste of Fall into this bag. I looked for pumpkin something on the ingredients and all I saw was “spices”. Not sure exactly what it is, maybe pumpkin pie spice or something. It has a very distinct nutmeg Fall kinda taste to it. This one is pretty good just by itself. I had a hard time not eating the whole bag while typing this (as I was typing this my wife from the other room literally just said, “I want more of it”, because I just had her taste it to see what spice she tasted)
Link to buy

Paleonola

I have to say my favorite to eat just by itself is the Pina Colada flavor. I think because I really like all the coconut chips that were used. Any of these flavors would actually be great on top of yogurt. Whatever flavor you feel like you can put it on top of your yogurt. If you’re in the mood for Fall tastes, throw on the Pumpkin Pie. If you’re in the mood for chocolately goodness, throw on the Chocolate Fix. If you’re just in the mood for plain ol’ yogurt and granola, go with the original.

Conclusion

More up close

Honestly, I can’t say enough about this granola. I’m so stoked to finally find a product that isn’t laced with canola death oil and packed with sugar and carbs in the form of oats. I’m too lazy to make this kind of granola myself – so that’s where I love that Paleonola made all these different flavors so I don’t have to. It’s not terribly more expensive than the others, so all around it’s a win win. My only issue is that it’s not in more stores. I wish this was already on the granola aisle that I pop down at my grocery store, but it’s not (yet). I know I’m gonna be pretty impatient waiting for it to ship when I run out of a bag. In the very least maybe they’ll get on amazon and I can get them same day shipping because I’m buying over $35 dollars worth!

Thank you Paleonola for helping me with my problem – I no longer have to search for grain free granola or make my own. You’ve got me covered!

If you would like 20% off your Paleonola, feel free to use this link!

Empty bowl

Chicken & Apple Sausage Stir Fry

My wife went to our friends house (@lyssalovelee) and came home and told me about this delicious and easy lunch she made. So, I tried to replicate the recipe as best as I could by asking my wife what was in it, where she responded, “Sausage and peppers or something…”. So from those extremely descriptive ingredients I made up this chicken & apple sausage stir fry recipe. I buy all the ingredients pretty much every time I go to Costco, which happens to be about once a week and is less than a mile from my work.

Aidells Chicken & Apple Sausage came in handy once again

That way I can have these ingredients on hand at all times to whip this up real quick. Costco sells a 3 pack of the sausages I use in this recipe. They also have a good deal on the bell peppers with 6 in a bag. The coconut oil I buy from Costco as well.

Chicken & Apple Sausage in a Lodge Cast Iron

Chicken & Apple Sausage Stir Fry

2015-09-28 09:40:50

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Ingredients

1 Pack of Aidells Chicken & Apple Sausages sliced into 1/4”
3 Bell Peppers chopped (I use red, orange & yellow)
1 Onion chopped
1 Garlic clove diced
2T Coconut Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat the coconut oil in a skillet then toss in the garlic until it smells good.
Throw in bell peppers and cook until slightly brown (3 min). Then toss in onions and cook until slightly cooked (3 min).
Now add in the sliced sausage and cook covered 4-5 min. Then stir and cook for another 4-5 min.
Eat by itself or serve with Basmati rice or cauliflower rice.

That's So Primal https://www.thatssoprimal.com/

Fall Back Outside: 8 Ways to Avoid Being a Couch Potato in the Fall

Fall began today. For most of us that means no more vacations, back to school/work and tv shows are starting back up. All of which really means we will be spending less time outdoors and more time indoors. Less time in the sun and more time in a car, on the couch or in an office building. I want to challenge you though: fall back outside. Just because summer is over doesn’t mean we should be stuck indoors. We should still be outside moving frequently at a slow pace. I’ve listed 8 ways below to help you and your family still make time to get outside and avoid being a couch potato (pun intended) in the Fall. Now these ideas can hopefully be done everywhere you are but I live in Southern California so my ideas may be a little bias. To help kickstart some ideas for where you live, you can always Google things to do in (insert your city here).

It's Fall Today

Amusement Park

So we live near a bunch of stuff here in Southern California but most importantly – Disneyland. My wife and I do have passes to here so it makes it extremely easy for us to pop in and out of the park whenever we want, even after a long week of work. We also have annual passes to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park which is pretty fun and if you bought a pass for the San Diego Zoo Safari Park you can use it at the San Diego Zoo also. If your budget affords you and your family to go to an amusement park, it’s a great way to get in a bunch of steps, hang out with your family and be outside.

Book Store

When you get home from work and get dinner over with, try to avoid slamming into the couch. Get out and go to a bookstore near you. I know there isn’t that many around anymore, but if there is, they’re a great thing to do if you just want to spend time with your spouse or kids checking out books of all sorts: cookbooks, animal books, kids books, craft books, etc… Just promise me one thing, don’t buy your books there. They’re overpriced. Buy your books from Amazon. Just a little husband pro tip also, watch what books your spouse looks at and make a mental note of them for Christmas or birthday gifts. You’re welcome.

Pumpkin Patch

This time of year is a great time to go out and buy some pumpkins. They’re everywhere. Look up some place fun around you that you can take the family. Now, you can pick up pumpkins for carving or for roasting some pumpkin soup. It’s up to you, but the pumpkin patch is only possible one time of year and that’s now. So get outside and take advantage of it!

Farmers Market

Look up when farmers markets are going on in your area and check them out. Sometimes they are going on through the week or on the weekend. They afford you some great opportunities to connect with farmers around you. Also, it may be a good place to pick up pastured eggs, pastured meat and organic fruits and veggies. This is definitely something the kids will love. Just do your best to avoid street fair type foods like kettle corn popcorn or something else that’s gonna give you a glucose spike. Look for someone smoking some meat or something if you’re hungry.

Neighborhood Walk

You don’t even have to go far from your home to get outside. Once everyone gets home from work or school and dinner is all wrapped up, head outside. Walk around the block, walk to the nearest park – just make the walk around 15-20 minutes at least. Walking after dinner has actually been shown to improve digestion and has led to lower post-meal blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Backyard Bonfire

Sitting around a fire is about as primal as you can get. The yellow light is good for your circadian rhythm and it’s just plain fun. Just skip the s’mores and maybe just eat some dark chocolate instead. Or experiment with some melted dark chocolate and some almond butter in a cast iron? I dunno. Ok if that sounds too weird just throw some steak on the coals instead…

Weekend Hike

If you just absolutely can’t break away from your home during the week, then spend the week nights planning some time in the sun over the weekend. Look up some trails for you and your family to check out over the weekend. If you have a dog, which you should, then find trails that allow dogs. My wife doesn’t necessarily enjoy hiking so this one may take a little more creativity for me to get her on a trail over the weekend!

Watch the Sunset

Ok I know, it’s sounds cheesy. But isn’t there something about watching a sunset? Maybe I’m just spoiled in Southern California with beautiful sunsets but my wife and I have driven down to the beach a few times after a long day and sat on the beach to watch the sunset with our daughter. And I’ll tell you what, I’ve actually remembered the few times I’ve done that far more vividly than the nights we get done with dinner and watch tv.

Whatever you do with your family, keep it outside and keep it fun. It’s very temping to crash on the couch after a long day, I get it, but I guarantee you that you’ll cherish the memories you create once you get out of the house with your family.

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