Prestidigitation Paleo French Fries

I love french fries. It's terrible. Why are they so good and yet so horrendous for you? I also love sweet potato fries EVEN MORE, and yet they're only mildly better for you than the latter. Of course, neither is Paleo unless cooked in the right oil. It's a vicious cycle where I want them, but everything I defend the choice with is really just an excuse to eat something I shouldn't be eating anyways. 

On the other hand, I love vegetables, but I'm getting really bored of salads and steaming. Don't get me wrong, broccoli will always be delicious and filling, but sometimes you want something with a little more pizazz. Salads serve a purpose, but they don't fill me with comfort or satisfy my need for something warm and a little sweet.

Lately, these conflicting feelings have left me with the incredible urge to make things taste or feel like other more delicious and unhealthy things. Call it culinary prestidigitation if you will. I'm a huge fan of D&D and I play a gnome bard who is constantly using prestidigitation to transform things into other things. She wants blue hair today? Great! She decides to turn a screaming blue jay into a songbird so she can enjoy natures melody? Go! She decides to make a piece of quartz look like an astral diamond to pay for new equipment? What an idea! So after all that fun around the gaming table, I've been thinking about the things a gnome bard would do in the kitchen if she had to eat right, but wanted to enjoy all of her unhealthier cravings at the same time. Just like slaying mindflayers on your way to the Underdark, cooking is a necessity, but it's always better when it's fun! Thusly, I had an idea to create a recipe for vegetables that tricked me into thinking I was eating fries. Since I like sweet potato fries, I decided to go for carrots because of their natural sweetness. Anyone care to gather round the fire pit at the Project Reroll tavern to see a magic trick? 

Prestidigitation Paleo French Fries

Ingredients: 

• 8 carrots sliced into 3/4 inch thick "fries" or sticks. Use your best judgement as far as length.
• 4 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• sea salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment and spread your carrots evenly across it. 
3. Add your extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
4. Sprinkle the garlic powder over all the fries.
5. Roll your carrots back and forth across the parchment until everything is evenly coated in the seasoning and oil. 
6. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and flip your fries.
8. Replace the sheet in the oven for 10 more minutes. 
9. Remove from the oven and enjoy the mouth watering results of your magic trick!

Do you have any culinary magic you perform to stay healthy but eat yummy? By all means, share in the comments so all of our Slayers can enjoy your creative ideas! 

Tomorrow is the due date for the our first Mini Slayer Halloween Challenge! I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures! 

Jedi Fuel Pumpkin Smoothies

http://www.deviantart.com/artisan/culinary/pumpkin/?view_mode=2&order=15&q=game+of+thrones

Winter is coming, and 'tis the season of all things Pumpkin Spice. Sadly, almost everything that calls my name is terrible for me. If I'm choosing to spend so much time building themed teams in Pokemon X, then I can't be simultaneously stuffing my face with everything that suits my fancy.

Geek Nation

I'm convinced that there are Sith Lords out there with knowledge of all of my worst seasonal weaknesses. Between Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks, Pumpkin Smash smoothies at Jamba Juice, and an array of pumpkin flavored pastries at Dunkin' Donuts it's temptation city.  So I put out the call on twitter and facebook for Paleo Pumpkin recipes. Boy did I get a ton of great stuff back! My friend Michelle linked me a recipe for Raw Pumpkin Balls, which I haven't gotten a chance to try yet but I can only believe it's like Halloween exploding in your mouth based on the ingredient list. However it was my "Jedi Sister" Emily who blew it out of the park with a Paleo replacement for that Pumpkin Smash smoothie I've been  hankering for. 

Emily and I spent our youths looking at the sky and imagining our adventures among the stars as Jedi Knights. When we met at soccer practice and admitted our love of Han Solo, it was BFF central. We even saved all our money so we could go to Space Camp and buried a Jedi time capsule in my back yard with all of our childhood secrets. 

Emily is a powerful role model. Not only is she a thoughtful, empathetic, intelligent person, but she is determined to meet every challenge she faces head on. I remember when she got into the Naval Academy, she started doing athletic training at home in Chicago so that she would be ready. No one else I knew at that age was attempting something like that. Add to her list of accomplishments living abroad in Japan to serve in the navy, starting grad school, and spending her free time training for half marathons. Seriously, is there anything she can't do? Apparently not because I tried this recipe and its amazing. I made a few tiny adjustments, but we wouldn't be Jedi Sisters if we didn't collaborate on our missions! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Jedi Fuel Pumpkin Smoothie

• Ingredients
• 2/3 cup of almond milk
• 1/3 cup of organic pure pumpkin (canned is fine, but read the label to make sure no sugar or chemicals are added)
• 1 cup frozen organic pure pumpkin (same as above)
• 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg

1. The day before you intend to make your smoothie, put one cup of canned pumpkin in the freezer. Make sure it's chopped up a bit so that you can use it in place of ice. Make sure you put it in a freezer safe plastic bag.
2. Add all the ingredients to your blender. Make sure your "ice chip" pumpkin pieces are broken up. 
3. Blend till smooth. 
4. Drink in your Jedi Fuel, confident in your delicious yet healthy Light Side diet choice. 

If you have other pumpkin recipes you'd like to share, please feel free to add them in the comments! On a slightly separate note, while I was at New York Comic Con, I chatted with some industry folks about what it would take to self publish a Project Reroll Paleo cookbook. Would that be something you Slayers would be interested in? 

Paleo Baked Diced Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Recipe

I've been cooking a whole bunch of delicious Paleo food at my family reunion in North Carolina. 

It's given me a great chance to share what I've been doing with my relatives (many of whom are surprised to see me in the kitchen!) and to work on some new recipes with my dad. Just one year ago I weighed about 100 lbs more and was just getting ready to embark on my quest for weight loss and wellness while I was here with my family. I think they're all pretty shocked at the change but everyone has been very supportive and encouraging. To give you an idea, here's a picture from last year.

/shudder.

Aside from helping me map out and film my 20k run (which I'll report on soon!), Dad did a lot of shopping to make sure I had all sorts ingredients at the ready so I could stay on track this week. As a caterer he often has a lot of great ideas to liven up my dishes. In honor of Lord Caldephron (his D&D Druid alter ego) and his much appreciated assistance, today's recipe deals with a new way to enjoy sweet potatoes (my very favorite tuber treat!). It's a great side or even a tasty desert depending on how you look at it. So without further ado, here's the recipe for:

Caldephron's Roll for Crit Diced Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• Sweet potatoes (About 1/2 lb per person you're cooking for. For one person, I tend to use one hand sized sweet potato)
• Fresh Ground Sea Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil Cooking Spray
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Ground Cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Peel or not according to preference. If you are not peeling, give into the dark side and scrub sweet spuds aggressively. 
3. Cut into approximately 1.5 inch cubes.
4. Spray an oven safe baking dish with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray and deposit your sweet potatoes.
5. Fresh ground sea salt and pepper to taste.
6. Carefully sprinkle a light dusting of cinnamon evenly across the potatoes. 
7. Drizzle a teaspoon (per potato used) of extra virgin olive oil on the seasoned potatoes and toss the cubes till they are all glistening and coated evenly.
   
8. Put baking dish into the oven for 15 minutes.
9. Remove baking dish and re-toss potatoes. 
10. Put baking dish back into the oven for 10 minutes. 
11. Remove from oven and serve like a boss!

Note: You may need to adjust your cooking times based on how thick your potato cubes end up being. Stick a knife in after the first round in the oven and you can adjust time more or less based on whether they seem cooked through.

Baked Eggs in an Avocado Recipe

My new favorite thing is baking eggs in avocados. I learned about this idea from a friend on the Nerd Fitness forums. I've posted a few pictures on Facebook of my delicacies and every time I make one of these things, I get a real "bigger on the inside" vibe. Honestly, the possibilities are endless. Once you get the egg in there, you can top it with anything that strikes your fancy, so break out your favorite wibbly, wobbly, timey, wimey bits and get to the kitchen for this delicious Paleo treat! So without further ado, I give you my recipe for:

Baked Eggs in an Avocado Tardis

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 eggs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Any toppings you choose (cooked ground beef, bacon, tomato, pepper, onions, etc. Use your imagination!)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Slice an avocado in half and remove the pit.
3. Scoop out a little extra avocado to make more room for the eggs. There will be SOME overflow but you don't want most of the whites to go to waste.
4. Create a "bowl" out of aluminum foil and place your avocado halves inside. Set it on a baking sheet.
5. Crack two eggs into the hollows of the avocados.
6. Salt and pepper to taste!
7. Add your toppings.
8. Put your avocado in the oven for 20-25 minutes (till the eggs reach your desired level of firmness).
9. Plate your avocado Tardis halves and devour them! They make the perfect paleo companion for any Doctor Who episode!

Primal Chai Iced Tea Recipe

One of the things I loved the most on the food bender I allowed myself last week was drinking Iced Chai Lattes at will. I've already espoused my love for Chai on the blog, but it's only grown exponentially since then. With the onset of summer, I have to move away from hot tea (or risk baking myself in the heat). I like iced coffee, but I just don't think I can live 3 months without Chai in my life. I'm that obsessed. Chai tea is one thing but dumping lattes down my gullet non-stop is a big no no, especially for my Primal diet. 

So, I set about devising the following recipe for Chai Iced Tea that comes in around 8 calories per serving as opposed to the 150 usually found in a small skim Chai latte. Pretty snazzy, huh? I can tell you this is one of the simplest recipes I've ever made and one of the best tasting, sweet tooth satisfying treats ever. At only 8 calories a serving, there's no harm in getting a little addicted. Prepare thine gullets, fair readers! Chai deliciousness incoming!

Serves:
About 8 and is good for one week if refrigerated.

Ingredients:
5 cups boiling water
4 cups cold water
12 Chai teabags
Almond Milk
Stevia or honey for sweetener

Total time: 10 minutes of prep, 2 hours of refrigeration.

1. Bring 5 cups of water to a boil.
2. Steep all 12 teabags in the pot for approximately five minutes. Don't leave them in much longer even if you like strong tea because it will create a very bitter aftertaste. 
   
3. Remove and carefully strain the teabags through a slotted spoon.
   
4. Stir in the desired amount of stevia or honey for the whole batch. I like 2 packets per cup, but if your tastes differ, then go for whatever works for you. Stir till all the sweetener is completely dissolved. 
5. Pour the steeped tea into a pitcher and stir in the four cups of cold water.
   
6. Refrigerate for about 2 hours, or until cold.
7. Serve over ice with a splash of almond milk!

Stay on Target Stir-fry

Ah my monthly plateau. I've eaten perfectly all week and worked out six out of seven days and yet today at my weigh-in I find I've gained a 1.2 lbs. This happens every month right before "the time that shall not be named" and even though I know it's just a fact of life, it still drives me completely up the damn wall. Seeing a negative number on the scale can really mess with your head, but you just have to persevere and remember all the work you've put in plus how important it is to continue moving forward. As Gold Five says in Star Wars: A New Hope, "Stay on target!"

One thing I've been working on is amping up my knowledge of nutrition and various different diet plans. I've been interested in learning about Paleo even though I'm unsure if it's ultimately what I would want as far as a full time eating plan. I'm a part of the "Nerd Fitness" Rebellion and a lot of people on those forums swear by it and I can see it's appeal because it's one of those diets that really does allow you to eat a ton of different delicious things in any quantity you like as long as you avoid the big "no-nos" which are anything processed; wheat, flour, sugar or its equivalents, dairy, or legumes.

As a part of my "Level Up Your Life" 6 week challenge on the Nerd Fitness forums, I made a goal to cook three Paleo recipes in order to help me explore the plan and also remedy my lack of cooking ability, something that is going to have to change if I'm going to maintain my weight loss and eat on a budget once I reach my weight goal on the Nutrisystem plan. So without further ado, here's the recipe I came up with for stir fry!

Stay on Target Stirfry

Ingredients

• Broccoli
• Shiitake Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Chicken Breast
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Sea Salt
• Black Pepper
• Lime

1. First wash and cut up all of your veggies. I bought mine already cut up and ready to go which really cut down on my prep time so if you don't mind spending a bit more money, then awesome. Are they cut up? Great! Set them aside.
2. Next put your skillet or wok on the stove. Set the heat on low.
3. Cut up your chicken into small pieces. I prefer half inch thick slices but it's really up to you.
4. Throw your chicken into the skillet and drizzle a dash of your extra virgin olive oil on it. We're trying to be conservative with this ingredient. Now use a spatula to stir the chicken to get it all coated with the olive oil and make sure it's all spread out evenly. 
5. Now season the chicken with the garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt (be conservative!), and black pepper. 
6. Cut your lime in half. Squeeze one half over the chicken and save the other for the veggies.
7. Cook the chicken for 10-15 minutes to make sure it's cooked. Keep moving it around with your spatula every once in a while to make sure it's cooking evenly and that everything is covered in the seasoning. I also use this time to clean up after myself while I'm hanging out; wash the cutting board, the knife, clear away any packaging, etc.
8. When the chicken is done, remove it from the skillet and put it aside on a plate.
9. Dump all your veggies in the skillet. Drizzle a modest amount of olive oil on them.
10. Repeat the same seasoning process you used for the chicken.
11. Squeeze the second half of the lime onto the veggies.
12. Stir everything up. Keep moving it around so that it will all cook evenly.
13. When you think it's done, then taste one of each type. If it tastes done, then it's done! If it doesn't, keeping going and repeat the taste test process.
14. When the veggies taste done, dump the chicken back into the skillet and cook everything together for about a minute.
15. Turn off the heat and serve up your stir fry!

It's delicious, healthy, and will definitely help you stay full and stay on target when it comes to weight loss! I promise you that you'll be super excited to clean your plate and sad to see it all gone. I know I was! Let me know how you liked the recipe if you try it out!

Night's Watch Sweet Potato Stew Recipe

I've been exploring cooking a little bit with my boyfriend. It's really important to learn a bit about cooking if you're going to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Let me preface this with the fact that I would kill myself if I had to cook every night of the week. That's why I pre-make my salads for the week. If you put in a little time on your day off, you can easily prepare yourself for a delicious and nutrition-concious week full of home made food that only requires a quick zap in the microwave to prepare. I'm definitely a beginner in the kitchen, but it's been really fun to level a new crafting skill by picking appealing dishes out of the blue and then trying to make them using recipes we find online. I really crave warm comforting vittles during these cold winter months so we have experimented with a few stew recipes and I've made plenty of little changes (like using less salt, low-sodium beef broth, and sweet potatoes instead of regular) to make this final recipe perfect for someone looking for something both delicious AND nutritious! Stew normally needs to cook for hours on end, but if you are careful to cut the meat, veggies, and potatoes into small enough pieces, you won't need as long to achieve that tender yummy goodness!

So without further ado, here's Anne and Brandon's recipe for:

Night's Watch Sweet Potato Stew

(best if eaten whilst watching Game of Thrones)

Sworn Brothers by tyusiu on Deviant Art

This recipe serves 6.

Cook Time: 2 hours (You'll need about 30 minutes of prep time on top of that).

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs boneless chuck roast, cut into 1 to 2-inch pieces
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 onions, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 1/2 cups low sodium beef broth
• 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 2 carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch slices
• 1 stalks celery, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1 inch cubes

This is extremely important. Before you begin, recite this oath:

Ok! Now you're a member of the Night's Watch. You are filled with the honor of your order and are soon to be filled with stew! Now roll for initiative. 

Preparation:

1. On medium-high heat, add the vegetable oil to a large pot that has a lid. 
2. Wait for it to smoke a bit and then add the beef and brown very well. It may take a few batches to brown all the meat. Add salt whilst the beef is browning. 
3. After the beef is browned, remove the it with a slotted spoon set aside. 
4. Add the onions and sauté for until they soften. 
5. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the flour, and cook for 2 minutes. You will want to stir often. 
6. Add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute. 
7. Add wine and deglaze the pan. Scraping any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. The flour should thicken with the wine and it should come to a simmer. 
8. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, and then add the beef broth, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, and the beef. 
9. Return to a gentle simmer. Now cover and cook on low heat for about 1 hour. 
10. Add carrots and celery. Simmer covered for another 30 minutes.
11. Add sweet potatoes, stir, then cover and simmer for another 30-45 minutes. They cook faster than normal potatoes, so make sure you check back around the 30 minute mark to make sure they're getting soft, but not so soft that they're completely falling apart when you stir.
12. Once you're happy with the tenderness of the meat, veggies, and sweet potatoes, turn off the heat and let it sit covered for about 15 minutes. Now it's ready to serve!

I generally eat about a cup and a half of this stew with a salad on the side, but of course you can serve it as you like! Let me know how you like the recipe and if you do make any changes, feel free to post them in the comments to share your variations and advice!