That's So Primal

Chipotle Style Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice

Chipotle Style Lime Cauliflower Rice
Served with Slim Palate’s Carnitas

I love Chipotle’s cilantro-lime white rice. With this recipe I really wanted to create that same side dish that could go with a bunch of stuff I cook throughout the week. It’s a nice staple to have on hand for any Mexican dish you cook. Sure you can do the real deal Chipotle recipe found in Paleo Takeout (which I do from time to time), but this recipe gets a lot more use considering that I consume a lot more cauliflower rice throughout the week instead of white rice. I searched the web high and low and found this recipe and then adapted it slightly. This recipe omits the adding of water and I add some Kerrygold Butter at the end. Making this the perfect side for adding some healthy omega–3 packed fats to your meal.

Chipotle Style Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice before microwave
Chipotle Style Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice before microwave

Chipotle Style Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice after microwave and ingredients mixed in
Chipotle Style Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice after microwave and ingredients mixed in

Chipotle Style Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice
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Ingredients
  1. 1 Head of Cauliflower
  2. 1 Lime
  3. 1 Bunch Cilantro
  4. 2T Kerrygold Butter
  5. Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Pulse cauliflower florets in a food processor until it looks like rice.
  2. Microwave the raw cauliflower rice in a covered microwave safe container for 7 minutes.
  3. While it’s microwaving, wash and chop the bunch of cilantro.
  4. Zest the lime over the rice once done and then squeeze the juice from that lime into the rice. Then add the chopped cilantro and 2T Kerrygold Butter. Throw in some salt to taste. Then stir all together.
Adapted from Lime Cilantro Cauliflower Rice
Adapted from Lime Cilantro Cauliflower Rice
That's So Primal https://www.thatssoprimal.com/

Cricket Flour Protein Bar Review: Exo vs. Chapul

Cricket Flour Protein Bar Review: Exo vs. Chapul

Breakfast is hard. Getting up early for work, packing lunch, getting ready and out the door can be a hinderance to getting a good serving of fat and protein in your belly in the early hours of the day. On some days it may work to just skip breakfast since intermittent fasting has been shown to have a multitude of health benefits. However, for those days that you want to get something Primal in your belly that’s also filling and tastes good, what cricket flour protein bar will do the trick: Exo or Chapul?

Cricket Flour Protein Bar Review: Exo vs. Chapul

Exo started out on Kickstarter where they raised $20,000 in 3 days. I originally backed them and got my first box after they finished production and I have continued to order them every month to have a quick go to Primal breakfast or snack. The kicker for this bar is that the protein isn’t whey, pea or soy – it’s Crickets. They raise crickets, euthanize them and then pulverize them into a flour. So no you won’t have a cricket leg sticking out of your bar. They are very similar to Chapul that showed up on Shark Tank and backed by Mark Cuban. Being the avid Shark Tank viewer that I am I couldn’t wait to get my hands on these bars to compare them to my beloved Exo Cocoa Nut bars. Exo and Chapul both actually get their cricket flour from the same farm in Canada. You can read more about them in this really insightful article on The Verge. But how do they fit into your life? Should you buy them? Let’s take a look at 3 key factors: Nutritional Profile, Affordability and Taste.

Nutritional Profile

Now, I inevitably have to compare Exo to Chapul since they both share the same protein source and are marketed so similarly to one another. When you sit down and have to decide which bar to buy, what nutritional factors should you look at? If you’re following a low(ish) carb/high protein Primal diet, Exo wins when taking a look at the fat, protein and carb profile. I love how Exo doesn’t seem to be afraid of fat and calories. They made a bar that will sustain you through the morning or an afternoon at Disneyland where your food options consist of churros and corn dogs.

Cricket Flour Protein Bar Review: Exo Cocoa Nut
Exo Cocoa Nut
Total Fat: 20g
Total Carbohydrate: 23g (Dietary Fiber 7g, Sugars 13g)
Protein: 10g
Ingredients: Almonds, Dates, Coconut, Honey, Cricket Flour (Acheta Domesticus), Cacao Nibs, Cacao Powder, Ground Flaxseeds, Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt.

Cricket Flour Protein Bar Review: Chapul Aztec
Chapul Aztec
Total Fat: 2g
Total Carbohydrate: 36g (Dietary Fiber 7g, Sugars 25g)
Protein: 5g
Ingredients: Organic Dates, Cocoa, Chapul Cricket Flour (Brown Cricket, Acheta Domestica), Organic Espresso Roast Coffee Beans, Cayenne.

We see a few things here. Chapul is much higher in carbs, much lower fat, lower protein and more sugar. They both share, more or less, the same omega–3 fatty acids, iron and calcium contributed by the crickets. I think the answer is pretty clear when comparing the nutritional profile of both bars. Exo has, by far, a more superior nutritional profile when considering we, Primal folk, are looking for something with enough fat and protein to sustain us. Chapul has very little fat since there are no nuts and coconut. Therefore leaving the Chapul bar a very high carb snack that will leave you with with a sugar crash quickly after consuming it.

Now yes, neither of these bars are low carb by any means. But I still think Exo is a nice quick snack or breakfast choice every once in awhile because when you compare the profile it’s like eating 2 scrambled eggs in 1T butter (22g fat, 2 carb, 12g protein) and a small banana (.3g fat, 23g carb, 1g protein). We need the fat! Otherwise you’re really just eating a cricket candy bar. When looking at both I feel Exo is the winner in all three categories (fats, carbs, protein) lending to a more filling and satiating snack.

Affordability

Exo Cocoa Nut
Price per bar: $2.66 (subscription)
Price per 12 bar box: $32.00 (subscription)

Chapul Aztec
Price per bar: $2.83
Price per 12 bar box: $34.00

It’s important to look at how you can get the most bang for your Primal buck when purchasing one of these cricket bar brands. If you’re spending money on something to fuel your body, you better choose the best option that has the optimal fat, carb and protein profile – while being affordable. For that I would declare Exo the winner again. It’s crazy to think that Exo comes in cheaper but maintains more fat and protein per bar than compared to Chapul.

Now at almost $3 a bar, these aren’t cheap. However, they’re still a better option than all the other “Nutrisugar” bars that are filled with carbs and likely no fat and protein. So are these affordable? Depends on your budget and how often you eat/need them. I don’t suggest replacing eggs and bacon with these bars, but they are very handy when you’re in a pinch for time and you don’t want to resort to pastries or doughnuts a coworker brought to the office.

The only reason that you would dismiss the nutritional profile and affordability advantage that Exo has is if one doesn’t hold up to a taste test. Let’s take a look at how the two compare…

Taste

Lastly and possibly the deal maker or breaker is how these bars actually taste. Now this is totally going to depend on you, you may actually have to buy both and taste for yourself to determine which flavors you like and don’t like.

Cricket Flour Protein Bar Review: Exo vs. Chapul Closeup
Exo Cocoa Nut on the left, Chapul Aztec on the right

Exo Cocoa Nut
Personally, I’m in love with the Exo Cocoa Nut. After purchasing these bars for about a year now it seems Exo has continued to refine their process or something. At first this bar was very dry, tasted amazingly chocolaty and nutty, but very dry. Now they seemed to have nailed down making the bar a little more moist. Not sure how they do it since the ingredients haven’t changed (to my knowledge). I have tried a couple flavors and have still gone back to the Cocoa Nut flavor. The Blueberry Vanilla was not my favorite, pretty gross actually. I ordered one box when it first came out and I just missed the chocolaty/nutty taste of the Cocoa Nut. The now discontinued Exo Cashew Ginger was amazing! I wish they would bring it back…

Not everyone loves the taste of this bar though. I’ve let a bunch of people at my work try it and they say it’s dry and make a face when eating it. Whether or not they don’t like it is really hard to distinguish since they’re still probably stuck on the fact that they’re eating crickets (which you can’t distinguish).

Chapul Aztec
This bar actually tastes pretty good. It doesn’t taste terrible, but I was expecting more. I was really hoping for more coffee taste. All I could really taste was the chocolate, sweetness from the dates and it was finished off with the cayenne. You can definitely taste the cayenne near the end. To be honest, I actually was expecting the bar to be sweeter when looking at the nutritional profile but it doesn’t actually taste that sweet. Kinda makes you wonder why they needed so many dates to make it as sweet as it is. It really could use some nuts or coconut or something… oh wait then it would be the Exo Cocoa Nut bar…

Chapul has a few other flavors which I’m sure taste pretty good also, but I would still have to ask myself if it’s worth all those carbs – for me the answer is no. I’d rather eat a Larabar because that way there’s actually some fat going on. In the end the taste wasn’t terrible but I still prefer the taste of the Exo Cocoa Nut bar.

Conclusion

I think the answer is pretty clear. Exo has a far better nutritional profile, are more affordable and tastes better. I love these bars and am glad I originally looked past the fact that they were made out of crickets. Hopefully you can look past that too and pick some up!

Buy some samples and decide for yourself:*
Exo Sampler Pack
Chapul Sampler Pack
*After you figure out which flavor of Exo you like I suggest you sign up for a subscription.

7 Lessons Learned: Eating Primal during your lunch hour

7 Lessons Learned: Eating Primal during your lunch hour

Do you have a hard time staying consistent with eating Primal during you lunch hour? Consistency is the key word here. So often my buddies or coworkers talk about how they’ve gone primal but so often fall off of it because grabbing a burger is that much easier (and sometimes tastier) than a salad. Bleh.

Eat Simple Salads

There’s nothing wrong with eating a big salad every day. The key that I’ve learned is to keep the salad simple. Buying a big box of salad and throwing it together with seeds or nuts every morning before work is what works best. Don’t wear yourself out with trying to do some new extravagant salad every single day. Every once in awhile is ok, but we are shooting for consistency.

Use a dressing that’s nutritious and delicious

This probably should be the first tip because it seems to be the one that that trips up all of us. Salads are so boring if they don’t have a good dressing. But the problem is, all salad dressings in the stores are made with soybean oil or canola oil. Not nutritious. Not to mention they are filled with copious amounts of sugar or high fructose corn syrup. The key here is that you need a dressing that will fill you up, i.e. good fats, i.e. olive oil. Now, you can go the route of making your own dressing every week. Nothing wrong with that. If you’re not into that however I suggest you check out Tessemaes salad dressings. They will make your daily salads nutritious and delicious. You no longer will have to compromise on nutrition or taste. If you want to keep it even simpler: Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar goes a long way.

Find an easy protein you love

I would go insane if I ate skinless chicken breasts every day. One thing I’ve learned is that having an easy protein option at lunch is key to succeeding at staying consistent with going Primal during your lunch hour. An easy protein for me are cans of tuna, salmon or sardines. These are quick sources of protein, they taste good, they’re very nutritious and they are relatively cheap too. At first sardines sounded so gross to me to eat straight out of the can, but after I tried it a few times I got hooked. You may need to step out of your comfort zone on this one to find an easy protein source you love. But remember the goal is consistency.

Think leftovers

Cook extra food for dinner throughout the week. That way you have an abundance of leftovers to take to work the next day. This especially comes in handy when you’re tired of salads and tired of an easy protein source you love.

Find a park near your work to eat outside

Ever think it’s weird that we (people with desk jobs) drive from one box to another box inside a box just to stare at a box? The reality is we spend too much time inside boxes. Get outside the box during your lunch hour. Sit in the sun. Synthesize some Vitamin D. Eat your salad. Maybe grab a couple buddies to play frisbee or try to see who can climb a tree the fastest. Whatever you do during your lunch hour, make sure you get away from your desk and get your skin in the sun.

Don’t freak out when your coworkers want to go to a restaurant/fast food place

This one is where people put an end to going Primal. Claiming it’s to hard to stay Primal throughout the week at work. But check this out, you have two options when you commit to eating out with your coworkers. Take it as a day where you eat whatever you want or do your best to eat Primal. If you eat one off meal you’re not going to be unhealthy, just as one healthy meal doesn’t make you healthy. If you choose to still stay Primal, that can be an option too. What does that look like exactly? Depending on the restaurant you go to most places have fancy salads, just stay away from the dressings and ask for (olive) oil and vinegar. Or get a lettuce wrapped burger and honey sriracha brussels sprouts.

Don’t let perfection get in the way of good

You may not eat Primal all day everyday. Don’t let that stress you out. Shoot for perfect but just know along the way, throughout the week, things might get complicated. Just accept it and move along and pick it up the next meal or the next day. The very fact that you’re thinking about eating Primal and moving more puts you miles ahead of the rest of the population.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Bacon

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Bacon on a plate

This roasted brussels sprouts & bacon recipe is what got me hooked on brussels sprouts.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Bacon quartered

My wife first looked up some recipe online, that for the life of me I can’t find, where it included brussels sprouts and bacon.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Bacon closeup

Every time I would try to remake it my portions were off until I think I finally narrowed it down to this recipe. I can almost eat this just as it is or as a side. We make this recipe a lot… A LOT.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Bacon before roasting

Every time I make this for friends and family they always ask me for the recipe. I will now be able to send them this post instead of some janky text or email where I try to rattle off the ingredients.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Bacon side view

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Bacon
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Ingredients
  1. 3lbs Brussels Sprouts
  2. 1lb Bacon cut into 1/2” pieces
  3. .5T Butter
  4. .5T Olive Oil
  5. Kosher Salt & Pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425°.
  2. Cut off the ends of the brussels sprouts then quarter them. This is pretty time consuming so put on some music. Cut the bacon.
  3. Heat up a skillet and toss in the bacon. Cook bacon until almost crispy. Dump out bacon fat but still leave a thin layer of the fat in the skillet. Save bacon fat and put it in your fridge.
  4. Throw in butter then toss in quartered brussels sprouts. Pour olive oil and crack some pepper over the skillet then stir to coat evenly. Cook in skillet until brussels sprouts start to brown (10 min).
  5. After brussels sprouts are browned pour them onto a foil lined baking sheet and sprinkle salt on top of the partially cooked brussels sprouts and bacon. Put the sheet in the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes until desired crispness.
That's So Primal https://www.thatssoprimal.com/

My Story

Hi, I’m Randall.

I’m a husband to my best friend, Kristi, and a father to three daughters.

If you are looking for a chef with a culinary degree, you’re in the wrong place. I’m a graphic designer by day. I might hold my knife wrong, and I definitely chop onions slower than the pros.

But I have been cooking this way since 2011, and I built this site to share the practical, family-friendly recipes that keep us healthy in a busy world.

The “Before”: Desk Jobs & Honeycomb

My Primal story started in December 2011, but the trouble began a few years earlier.

When I got married in 2009, I transitioned from an active college lifestyle (skateboarding everywhere) to a sedentary desk job. My diet didn’t adjust to match. I was fueling a sedentary body with spaghetti, fast-food burritos, and massive tubs of Costco pretzels.

I was a sugar addict. I grew up hating scrambled eggs and preferring three bowls of Honeycomb cereal for breakfast.

In just two years, I went from a skinny 150 lbs to a soft, sluggish 180 lbs. I was experiencing what Mark Sisson calls “insidious weight gain”—it happened so slowly I didn’t notice until none of my clothes fit.

The Turning Point

At the end of 2011, my wife decided we needed a change. She logged onto Amazon and bought a cookbook: Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals.

When it arrived, I picked it up out of curiosity. That led me down a rabbit hole. I bought Mark Sisson’s guide, The 21-Day Total Body Transformation, and decided to commit for just three weeks.

The results were undeniable. After 21 days, the brain fog lifted. Six months later, I had dropped 30 pounds, returning to my college weight of 150 lbs.

I didn’t lose the weight by starving myself. I lost it by reading Mark’s Daily Apple, understanding the science of ancestral health, and swapping processed junk for real food.

“Are You Still Primal?”

Friends still ask me this question constantly. It’s funny to me because I don’t look at Primal as a “diet” anymore. It’s just how I live.

Once I understood how industrial seed oils, processed sugars, and gluten caused inflammation, the idea of “stopping” never crossed my mind. I don’t have Celiac disease or an autoimmune condition; I just prefer feeling energized over feeling sluggish.

Today, 14 years later, I am still 150 lbs. I still prioritize sleep. I still get out in the sun. And yes, I still eat this way.

Why This Blog Exists

I created That’s So Primal to organize the recipes that actually work for my family.

It’s a collection of my favorites—some are tweaks on classics, some are family experiments. My goal is to show you that you don’t need to be a gourmet chef to feed your family nutrient-dense, delicious meals.