By Marsha Fottler –
A new cookbook called Paleo Lunches and Breakfasts On The Go by Diane Rodgers, a nutritional therapist and cooking teacher, assumes that you’re committed to the gluten-free-Paleo-lifestyle that eliminates grains and sugars from one’s eating routine and restricts meats and seafood to grassfed and line-caught. Eggs should come from ducks and chickens that have been “pastured,” which means not penned. They roam free and eat insects and seed and not commercial grains. Fruits and vegetables should be organic. No processed foods, meaning when shopping you choose the perimeter of the store and you don’t venture up and down the aisles.
The chief challenge in a lunch cookbook is that sandwiches are bound to appear, but Paleo people don’t eat traditional breads, rolls, biscuits or tortillas made from grains. In the recipes in Paleo Lunches, lettuce substitutes as a wrap and both potato and coconut flour plus tapioca starch take the place of wheat flour when making bread or rolls. Long thin slices of grilled or roasted eggplant are great for rollups. Besides sandwiches, the book offers salad options, many soups, dips, dressings and sauces. There are breakfast items too.
The book assumes that you are already committed to Paleo and you’re looking for both variety and easy cooking techniques that use common Paleo pantry items such as ghee, tallow, coconut aminos, sriracha, tapioca starch, nori wrappers, arame seaweed, coconut water, raw-milk cheese and other kitchen must-haves that are listed in the book. But, even if you’re a Paleo novice, there’s still plenty enough basic information about the source of the diet and how to shop and stock your kitchen. You could use this manual as a how-to, but it is advisable to consult other sources too.
Most of the recipes are easy to make and are both healthy and protein rich. There’s every reason to have this book on your Paleo shelf and to use it daily, especially if you are Paleo cooking for a family. This book provides a three week schedule of tasty Paleo school lunches that are easy to assemble and pack well. Paleo moms will be thrilled.
Thai Curry Crab Cakes To Go
(makes about 10)
2 cups all natural crab meat
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
1 teaspoon sriracha
2 scallions, minced
3 tablespoons cilantro, minced
1 egg
¼ cup Hassle-Free Homemade Mayonnaise (see below)
½ teaspoon and pepper
½ cup potato starch
Sauce:
1 cup coconut milk
Juice from ½ lime
1 tablespoon cilantro, minced
Heat over to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and place palm-sized patties on the sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. White the crab cakes are baking, make your sauce by combining the 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Remove the cooked crab cakes and spoon the sauce over them if you’re ready to eat,or simply pack the sauce to dip the crab cakes in later at the office.
Hassle-Free Homemade Mayonnaise
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ lemon juiced
1 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Place the egg yolks, mustard and lemon juice in a plastic quart container. With an immersion blender, blend the egg and mustard together, then slowly add the olive oil in a drizzle stream as you blend. The mixture will become thick. Resist the urge to dump the entire amount of oil in too quickly as the mayo will separate. The whole process may take about 5 minutes. When all of the olive oil has been added, add some salt and pepper. Will keep in the fridge for a week. No immersion blender? Use a food processor or hand whisk instead.
(Paleo Lunches and Breakfasts On The Go by Diana Rodgers. Page Street Publishing Company. Softcover $19.95).
F&M