Grilling for Flavor

Grilling meat is rather easy. You fire up the grill and lay the meat over it, letting it cook until it is as done as you want it to be. But how do you make that meat taste better?

Some people use rubs, some use marinades, I just sprinkle a mixture of spices while I am cooking it... but that is not the way to get great flavor out of your meat. There are two rules for getting the most flavor out of your meat, and they both take place after your meat has been cooked.

First Rule of Grilling for Flavor

Tired of Meat?

It may be Primal blasphemy, but i get tired of meat quite easily.  Before going Primal, it wasn't uncommon for my family to eat an average of only 3 standard servings of meat per week.  That's quite a difference from what we're doing now, and i'm still getting used to the change.  One thing that helps: produce, of course.  I might go a little overboard on the carbs for a person that's trying to lose as much weight as i am, but it keeps me sane and away from nonsense items like crackers (which, for some reason, is what i've been craving lately).  And today?  My night-working caveman 'gathered' some fruits and veggies on the way home from work, so today i had plenty of the things i've been wanting.

Today's lunch was Fruit Salad (red and green grapes, strawberries, apples, and oranges), bacon-wrapped pork loin, fresh broccoli, and mushrooms and green onions sauteed in butter and a splash of oyster sauce and soy sauce.

Food, Inc. Is Being Streamed, For Free

Food, Inc. is a movie that lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli — the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.


Currently, it is being streamed FOR FREE at PBS until April 29th (http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/photo_gallery_watch.php). Go watch it and tell me that it doesn't make you desire for a change in your life.


EDIT:

I've just finished watching this documentary and straight away, I purchased it. There are tremendous lies that we are being told, billions of dollars are being spent to keep us misinformed with misinformation. I cannot stress this enough: The country that I live in today is not the country that I was raised to believe it was.

Food, Inc. reminds us that in spite of the terrible things that these food companies are doing to their customers, products (the actual animals and vegetation), and the environment, the blame for this state of affairs is due to the people buying it. So buy local meats and vegetables and fruits and stop buying mass-marketed foods. Stop eating corn derivatives like High Fructose Corn Syrup. Show some concern for the other people, animals, and environment out there. Everyone likes to think that they cannot do something. That they are just one single person and their voice doesn't mean anything. Food, Inc. shows that this is not true by just looking at how Wal-Mart has stopped selling milk with growth hormone due to the amount of money their customers were spending. They sell organics due to customer desire and do you really know what this means? It means that there is a little bit less of the horrors we have allowed the food industry become.

Please, if you do nothing else between today and the 29th of April, watch Food, Inc. for free through the link provided above. The more people who watch this documentary means that the more people can realize that every time they spend their money of crap, they are voting for the company who makes that crap to make more of it... and every time they spend their money on wholesome items like locally grown produce and meats and organics, that it tells those companies who make crap to make less of it and invest in better food because the people prefer it. I know that my lifestyle, eating Paleo, may seem odd to many people (even though the science is all there as well as a great deal of common sense), what this documentary shows affects us all. I'm begging you, share the link with friends and family, print this page and hang it around the office, copy and share the link around the internet. Because if we will not save ourselves... who will?

Vegetables and Fruits Do Not Protect Against Cancer

We have been told by the authorities, repeatedly, that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables will lower our risk of cancer. However, a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition states that this is not necessarily the case:

"Conclusions: Intake of fruit and vegetables was generally unrelated to total cancer incidence in this cohort. Residual confounding by smoking is a likely explanation for the observed inverse association with vegetable intake among men."

This study reveals a very modest association between high intake of fruits and vegetables and reduced risk of cancer. Of course, due to the fact the research was based upon the daily food reporting of the people involved in the study, there can be a great amount of error... although I tend to believe that the error would be more in line with falsifying a greater amount of vegetables and fruits eaten. People tend to say what they think others want to hear. 

What does this mean? According to the Cancer Research blog out of the UK, 

"If the study’s results are to be believed, the authors calculate that if everyone ate two more portions a day on average, then 2.6 per cent of cancers in men could be avoided, as could 2.3 per cent of cancers in women. In the UK, this equates to around 7,200 cases of cancer every year."

They also point out that even if fruits and vegetables do not help to reduce cancer rates by more than 2.6%, eating them means that you are not liable to eat foods that do harm your body like junk food and processed foods.


I agree with them whole-heartedly. Of course, I eat very little vegetables and even fewer fruits due to my desire to continue to get rid of my excess weight. That said, once I get to my desired weight, I do plan on adding more vegetables and fruits into my diet simple because I like their taste. Which is an oddity. During my years of living the SAD (Standard American Diet) I thoroughly disliked nearly all vegetables. But now that I have cut out all sugar, I can actually taste their true flavors and I am finding how much I enjoy them.


Which means that is makes complete sense for vegetables to be hated by the majority of the people since their diets are screwing with their taste buds.

Primal Bento

Bento is one hobby that i have all but given up due to our recent lifestyle change to Paleo/Primal eating.  It's not that i can't simply leave out the traditional rice dishes (and all the fun onigiri molds and toys i have collected to go along with them!), because i can, but more the general apathy that I often fall to in regards to food due to all the diet changes--i'll be honest, i resist change of any kind.  It makes me grouchy.  So, in a grand gesture of goodwill, i offer you the Primal Bento:

Wherein lies: summer sausage (read labels carefully to avoid additives), leftover grilled chicken, cheddar (this is what makes it non-Paleo), broccoli, cherry tomatoes, canned apricots (again, read labels carefully and avoid corn syrup), and raw almonds.

Grill Night!

It's my favorite night of the week.

Partly because i don't have to cook, but mostly...

Come on, seriously?  What's tastier than lots and lots of grilled MEAT!?

Cast Iron Cookware Information

The best thing to cook on is a grill in my opinion, regardless of if it uses propane or is able to use charcoal, wood, ect. Smokers are my second choice half the time and first choice the other part of the time. The taste you get from a well smoked piece of meat can not be beat. However, you can't bring your grill and smoker inside, so what are you going to do? There are some rather nice non-stick pans out there but those are not all that healthy as studies now show. The best solution? Use cast iron!

For most of us, cast iron is a mysterious metal, with the care and usage of it is nearly magical that only grandmothers understand. Do not let the skill of using cast iron die out and reclaim the ability to use it! The added flavor that the cast iron imparts makes dishes unbelievably good. To help everyone better understand how to use cast iron, I've provided an excellent guide below.

The following is from an article from Backwoods Home Magazine:

The Military May Be The Ones To Force School Lunch Change

School lunches called a national security threat - Diet and nutrition- msnbc.com:

"The school lunch bill, currently awaiting a Senate vote, would establish healthier options for all foods in schools, including vending machine items. The legislation would spend $4.5 billion more over 10 years for nutrition programs.

The Army is already doing its part to catch the problem earlier, working with high schoolers and interested recruits to lose weight before they are eligible for service, says U.S. Army Recruiting Command's Mark Howell. He added that he had to lose 10 pounds himself before he joined the military.

'This is the future of our Army we are looking at when we talk about these 17- to 24-year-olds,' Howell said. 'The sad thing is a lot of them want to join but can't.'"

Though I might have problems with the way the military is being run, I feel that the military's involvement in our school lunches and health might be the only way for them to see improvement.