Paleo…you know that caveman diet, meat and veggies blah blah blah. I can get into how amazing eating paleo is and how much good it’s done for me but that’s kinda boring no?
Let me give you tears and screaming, pouting faces and disgruntled mumbles. Because that’s exactly what happened when M came home one day after work and proclaimed that he wanted to start eating a paleo diet.
WHAT?!?! 4 years of me trying to make us nutritious foods in different iterations, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, raw, fermented. I sprouted my own grains. I made my own nut milk. I made homemade raw sushi rolls. I was making quinoa taboulleh, buckwheat porridge. All my pizza crusts were made from scratch with heirloom spelt groats that I ground myself. All in the pursuit of greater deliciousness and better digestion. And now Mr. M comes home and proclaims that he wants to eat paleo and we just do it?!
I repeat: WHAT?!?!?!?! This is the part where I cried “You mean you want me to stop baking for you?” “What about the pizza nights?” “No more bagels with smoked salmon?!” “Who eats chili without beans anyway?”
But in the name of love, I eventually stopped my whining and embraced this little challenge M had given me. And here I am, fully paleo-ified. It took me a long time but, to be honest, I no longer crave bread, crackers, bagels or gluten filled cakes. I feel a lot better without eating grains and legumes and seriously following a whole foods paleo plan is actually more about abundance than restriction. I mean is there more to life than pork and greens? And don’t worry, I’m never gonna be that person who debates at length whether full fat cream and white potatoes are paleo ok? There’s way too many people out there already doing that. #safestarch #teamwhiterice #teamoccasionaldairy
Here’s a perfect example of a dish that is paleo but does not leave you wanting more…I couldn’t start the blog off with anything other than my two favourite foods-pork and vegetables. Put those two on a stick and everybody’s happy. Enjoy folks, there’s plenty more where this came from.
| Cilantro-Lime Pork Belly Skewers | Print |
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and halvedSubtitle
- 1 cup of packed cilantro (no need to remove the stems)
- ½ cup lime juice
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ⅛ tsp chipotle powder (optional, this makes it spicy)
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
- 520 g pork belly
- 2 zucchini, thickly sliced
- ½ red onion, cut in thick chunks
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt & Pepper
- Prepare Marinade: Combine all the marinade ingredients together in a food processor (I used a mini chopper) until the garlic and cilantro are broken down but not totally pureed (makes ⅔ cups marinade).
- Prepare Pork Belly: Using a sharp knife, cut the pork belly into 1" (2.5cm) x 1" (2.5cm) chunks. Season the pork belly chunks liberally with salt and pepper. While the marinade is salty enough, an extra dusting of seasoning directly on the pork helps the flavours pop.
- Place pork belly cubes in a covered glass dish or in a Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over pork. Marinade for 2-4 hours in the fridge.
- Prepare Grill: About 10 minutes before you're ready to grill, preheat your BBQ to medium high (400F-500F).
- Prepare Veggies: In a bowl, toss zucchini and onion pieces with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.
- Make Skewers: Once done marinading, remove pork from the fridge and thread onto skewers, alternating with zucchini and onion. There will be approximately 3 pork belly pieces per skewer.* Leave a small amount of space between each piece on the skewer so that everything browns evenly.
- Grill Pork: Lightly oil grill to prevent sticking. Grill each skewer for 4-5 minutes per side, turning once. You will know they are ready when the pork pieces are golden brown and slightly charred.** Allow skewers to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
**A few tips here, because the pork belly is very fatty you may have a lot of flame come up, you want to stay close by to ensure that the flames don't burn the pork. Spray down the flames with a water bottle as needed and resist the urge to fiddle with the skewers.
[…] no fear, there are certainly ways you can lower your costs. This is why I like to buy ground beef, pork belly, organ meats and sausage. These meats are always cheaper than fancier cuts and very often are on […]