Mashed Celery Root with Leeks

Celery root is a great alternative to potatoes. There are 42 calories and 9 grams of carbohydrates in 100g of celery root compared to 77 calories and 17g carbohydrates in 100g of potatoes. I like to use it in stews instead of potatoes and celery stalks.

1-2 Tbsp ghee or coconut oil
1 large celery root
1/2 cup leeks, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 cup broth
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saute pan heat coconut oil or ghee. Peel and dice celery root. add celery root to the pan with a dash of salt and cook until slightly brown, about 15 minutes. Add leeks, mix together and cook for a couple of minutes, then add garlic, salt and pepper. After about a minute, add broth and simmer until celery rood is soft. Transfer to a bowl and mash or puree using a food processor or immersion blender.

Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

The 9am class at Crossfit Arizona is Combat Conditioning. Monday I got the t-shirt. That T-shirt is earned, not bought. Combat Conditioning is Coach Mike's baby. It's hard core and he plays all metal, all morning. We're talking Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies. It can't get anymore awesome than that. I roll out of bed, drive 2 minutes and I'm there and he always says, "you're going to hate this" when I show up. I'm almost becoming a morning person. Well, not really. I wake up when the sun rises but I'm not always happy about it. We have 4 shifts at work and right now I'm on noons. Come April I get to pick which shift I go to. When I say I get to pick, I really don't. I'm still pretty low on the totem pole so it's midnights or midnights. This will adversely effect my Crossfit schedule since I work on average 10 hours a day. Either Coach Mike has to change his work schedule just to train me or I have to find a way to just work 8 hour days M-F. Neither scenario seems realistic.

This isn't exactly a sauce and it isn't exactly a side dish. More like a topping. A topping for beef, or lamb, perhaps bison, maybe even chicken. Or if you're one of those non-meat eating types, you can eat this as your main course.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp fat (I used goat milk butter and I highly recommend)
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
10 oz baby bella shrooms
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 oz goat cheese (I used Trader Joe's Goat Gouda)
1 tsp balsamic (I used Dark Chocolate Balsamic) 
Salt and pepper

In a sauce pan, heat fat.  add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds then add shrooms, thyme, salt, pepper - in that order. cook for about 20 - 30 mins. Shrooms should be watery and simmering. Turn flame down to low and add goat cheese. try to mix it up evenly, then add balsamic. Serve on top of meat! Drink wine, preferably something earthy and red. I'm having Casillero del Diablo Malbec. If I still drank beer, I would be having a Dogfish Head Chicory Stout. But I don't and this saddens me.

Tzatziki Sauce

I made this to go with the gyro, but I thought it deserved it's own page. Even though this is a paleo food blog, I have several vegetarian and vegan friends I would like to share recipes with. It's really easy to be a good cook when you're an omnivore, but true talent is making due with limited ingredients. My friend, Kristy, is a vegan and she is one of the best cooks I know. Christmas dinner at her place rocks. I do like a good challenge and going out to eat with Kristy requires research. How do you find a restaurant where you can get both vegan and paleo meals? It's difficult. Z'Tejas has a gluten free menu, but they're only vegetarian entree, mushroom enchiladas, has lots of cheese. I found a BBQ place that has a gluten free menu, but absolutely nothing on their menu was meatless. Ethiopian and Indian cuisines have lots of vegetarian options, but bread and lentils are almost unavoidable. We went to a hockey game  last week and found a restaurant near Jobing Arena that has a huge vegetarian menu. I ordered a steak. There was butter on top.

Right before I started cooking, I ran out to the store to get a few thing. I meant to get fresh mint, but I forgot it. So I used dry spearmint. 

Ingredients:

2 cups yogurt (I used goat. If someone wants to try it with coconut yogurt, let me know how it turns out.)
1 medium cucumber
4 cloves garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp dried mint (or 1 Tbsp fresh mint, minced)
salt

Place yogurt in cheese cloth and drain excess water. This is going to take a while so leave it in the fridge and go and do some other things.

Peel cucumber. Slice in half and scoop out seeds. Chop finely, add salt and strain out excess water.

Since I used dry mint, I rehydrated it in the lemon juice for about 10 mins. I pressed the garlic into a mixing bowl then added cucumber, lemon, mint, some more salt and lastly the drained yogurt. Mixed it all up and put it back into the fridge while I was having rotisserie drama with the lamb.