Tuna Salad with Capers and Sundried Tomato

How insanely yummy does this look? I actually want to jump through the screen and have a bite right now! The inspiration for this little salad comes from my friend Carol at Anaheim CrossFit. She is a serious sea food lover. She is also on day one of her Paleo program along with a few other poor soles who I'm sure are in carb depletion hell right about now. Hang in there guys... it gets better.

It's also an ode to Carol because rumor is she doesn't know how to cook and you don't even really need to have a kitchen to make this salad. So let's get to it!

What you'll need:

Romaine, butter or any lettuce you happen to have laying around except iceberg. If you even have a shred of iceberg in your house you should go outside immediately and flog yourself repeatedly with the garden hose. I don't want to hear how iceberg lettuce make a great "bun" either. It basically has no nutritional value what-so-ever.
tomato

1 Persian cucumber (or 1/2 an English)

1/2 a red onion

a can of dolphin safe, free range, cage free, net free, line caught, humanely treated, grass fed albacore tuna packed in water (I'm being silly)

3 or 4 pieces of sundried tomato packed in oil

a couple tablespoons of capers

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2 tsp garlic powder

What you do:

Rinse the tuna and squeeze the water out of it. Put it in a small bowl and flake it up with a fork. Add the capers. Chop up the sundried tomatoes into bits and mix in with the tuna and capers. This is where your taste comes in. I like strong flavors so I like lots of capers and lots of sundried tomato. You may not, so play around with the amounts to your liking.

Chop up your lettuce, tomato and cucumber and mix together. Put that on your plate and top it with a big 'ol scoop of the tuna mixture. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon and garlic powder. Pour some over the salad.

Enjoy!

Waldorf Salad

Greetings from Primal Slacker!

I know that all of you can relate when I say I have a busy life. If there were only like 900 more hours in the day, I think I could get everything done that needs doing. It seems the last couple of weeks have been extra challenging, though. I am proud to say that I am representing Orange Coast CrossFit as part of the affiliate team during Regionals. This great honor has taken over what microscopic moments I have left and filled them with WODs, stretching, chiropractors, ice packs, jacuzzi baths, etc. Ten years ago I'm sure the last sentence would not have read like that. It would have been a lot less about stretching and chiros and ice... But I have to counter that with 10 years ago I would not have been on the affiliate team. I was sitting on the couch, with a pizza and 26% body fat. Although I am getting older and it takes a little longer to recover, I have never been stronger both mentally and physically. So this is a long winded excuse to say I'm sorry I haven't posted a recipe in a while. I hope all of you did not turn to bread sticks in rebellion.

Summer weather is here today and I always feel like something light when it's hot. And so it is time to make a Waldorf Salad. YUM.

What you'll need:

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup diced apples

1/2 cup sliced grapes

1 cup diced chicken (Trader Joe's Just Chicken or rotisserie)

1/2 cup walnut pieces

1/2 cup plain coconut yogurt (So Delicious brand)

1 T lemon juice plus a little more

What you do:

Look at this easy recipe and notice that you do not have to have a kitchen to make this. So all of you that do not cook... no more excuses. All you need is a knife and a bowl. (They're the sharp silver thing with the handle that will send you to the hospital if you grab the silver end and the thingy that looks like half a sphere). So get out your sharp thing with the handle and chop up said ingredients and place them in the half-sphere. Before you put the apple in, squeeze a little lemon over it so the apple doesn't brown and make your salad look ugly.

For the dressing mix up the yogurt and lemon and taste. If you like a little more tartness then add more lemon.

Mix the salad and dressing together and serve. That's about it! Go for it you non-cooks. I have every confidence that this one is bullet proof :)

Enjoy!

Thai Beef Salad

Yesterday I attended the CrossFit NLP Invitational and volunteered as the nurse for the event. It was great to be out there and watch the competitors in action. I have to say that it still blows me away to see the athletes work their magic during the WODs but what has me amazed is the team spirit and closeness of all of the affiliates. I don't think I've ever seen any other sporting event where opposing teams openly cheer for each other. There is a great spirit of competition and a great spirit of family. Yesterday for me, confirmed the fact that I am right where I should be. I am in the heart of a community that supports one another to go farther, lift heavier, run faster and be better than you were the day before. I love being a CrossFit Girl!

So now let's talk about dinner. This dish is by no means original. In fact, very few dishes in the world are. But it's the way they can be changed to fit the paleo lifestyle that makes them unique. You've heard me profess my love of Thai food. It's got to be my favorite. But there's almost nothing that's going to be paleo friendly coming from that region of the world. (They do give us coconuts, bless their hearts). So we shall do a small tweak here and there and make a great paleo friendly Thai Beef Salad (que salivation).

What you'll need:

4 oz of steak per serving (Sirloin works well)

1 bag of salad greens

1 cucumber, scored and chopped

1/2 cup shredded carrot

1 large tomato, seeded and thinly sliced

1 bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped

1 bunch green onion, chopped

1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup olive oil

4 garlic cloves, crushed

several limes, juiced

zest of 1 lime

1/3 cup olive oil

1tsp soy sauce (or fish sauce)

sweet chili paste (trader joe's or supermarket)

What you do:

In the morning, in a big baggie, marinate the steak in the olive oil and 3 crushed garlic cloves. Oh, what the heck, squeeze a lime in there, grate a tsp of lime zest, add a tsp of sweet chili paste and throw it in too. Let it sit in the fridge all day. When you are ready to start dinner, throw the bag of meat in the freezer for about 10 minutes. This firms up the meat and makes it easier to slice really thin. While you are waiting on the meat, slice up your onions, chop the cilantro, slice the tomato. If you have one of those really cool but utterly useless cucumber peely things (to make stripes on the cucumber skin) you can use that. Otherwise just scrape the skin with a fork or just leave it alone and chop the cucumber.

Take the meat out of the freezer and with an extremely sharp knife, slice it very thin. Heat a pan with a little oil and stir-fry the beef. Remove the beef from the heat when cooked and let it cool. Place all salad ingredients and meat in a large bowl.

Mix 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup lime juice, 1T. soy sauce (or fish sauce), 1 crushed garlic clove and 1tsp sweet chili paste for the dressing. Poor over the salad and toss to coat. If you want more heat you can use some red pepper flakes.

Enjoy!

ps. I have no idea why the first paragraph of this post is blue and underlined. I'm going to have my two-year old look at it for me when he wakes up.

Kale Salad

UPDATE: Add chopped cooked chicken (I get mine at Trader Joe's) for a great protein rich salad!

I never knew kale was a vegetable. For 39 1/2 years I've walked this earth thinking it was something that you planted in the front yard next to the petunias. That is, until my hubby brought a kale salad home from Whole Foods Market.

I have to admit that when I first saw it in salad form I was a little hesitant to try it. This was going out on a limb for me even though I love most vegetables. It was so dark and heavy looking. I thought for sure it was going to taste like lawn clippings.

Well, as you've probably guessed by now, I was wrong. Dead wrong. Kale is delicious! And when you pair it with the sweetness of dried cranberries and the tartness of lemon, it's a total winner. I was hooked instantly. I wanted to send hubby out for more immediately. That is... until I saw the price tag on the top of the container.

Almost six bucks for a micro-dab of kale, four cranberries and an almond sliver? Are you kidding me? You can get a truck load of kale for 47 cents! Ok, maybe not that cheap, but you get where I'm going with this.

All I had to do was figure out how they were making it and create my own. Hmmm... how was I going to do that? I know! How about reading the ingredients located right next to the ridiculous price tag! I'm a genius.

And so Primal Mama's version of Whole Foods kale salad is born!

What you'll need:

1 bunch of kale

1/2 red bell pepper (optional)

1/4 a purple onion

1/2 a cup of dried cranberries

1/2 a cup of sliver almonds (pine nuts are great too... or walnuts)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 lemon, squeezed

dash of garlic powder

What you do:

Wash and dry the kale well. Chop it into bite size pieces omitting the tough stems. I find that if you make the pieces on the small side it's easier to eat. If you want some red bell pepper in there chop that as well. I really just put it in there for the color. Slice up some very thin strips of purple onion. Thin is the key. You don't want the onion flavor to take over the salad. Well, that took about three minutes. So Whole Foods can't blame their high price on a labor intensive salad now, can they. Put all your veggies in a bowl. Add in the cranberries and nuts of your choice. Take a look at all the colors. This really is a beautiful salad.

To make up the dressing just poor 1/3 a cup of olive oil into a Tupperware or jar. Squeeze in the lemon and add a little garlic powder. Close it up and give it a good shake. Taste. Adjust to your liking as necessary.

Now poor the dressing over the kale and toss it up. Smile! You've just made a mountain of kale salad for about three bucks. The beauty of this salad lies not only in its taste, but in the fact that it will last in the fridge for several days and taste even better as it sits.

Enjoy!

Cobb Salad and an Ode to Rx-Star Chic

It's Sunday again. Time to do a little refrigerator search and rescue. If you've read any of the other Sunday posts you know that Sunday is my bare bones day. I'm out of just about everything and I challenge myself to come up with a meal using what is left before I shop again.

Before I begin, I must take a moment to tip my hat to the ladies of Rx-Star Chic. I attended their clinic yesterday and had an amazing time. They are a newly formed group of ladies that focuses solely on women, teaching them all the "man things" at CrossFit. I got my first muscle up yesterday with their expert coaching. If you don't know what a muscle up is you need to look it up on youtube. Let me be the first to say it is not easy. It takes strength, balance, coordination and a huge dose of chutzpah (which is Hebrew for balls). If you live in the So Cal area, please check them out. I have included a link under my favorites.

Ok, back to the fridge. As usual, there are just a couple of things floating around in there so let's make a meal. I've got left over lettuce from last nights dinner, a couple of eggs, defrosted chicken breast, nitrate free turkey bacon (as usual), an over ripe - gettin ready to croak avocado, tomatoes, green onion... looks like the ingredients for a cobb salad to me!

What you'll need:

refer to list of items above plus:

garlic powder

herbs de provence

1/3 cup olive oil

1 lemon, squeezed

1tsp Dijon mustard

What you do:

Start by hard boiling a couple of eggs. While the eggs are cooking, cut up the raw chicken into bite size pieces and coat liberally with olive oil, garlic powder and herbs de provence. Saute the chicken in olive oil until it's nice and brown and cooked through. This is the same recipe as Herbed Chicken available under the "chicken button". Set it aside to cool. When the eggs are done run them under cold water to cool them off or plunge them in ice water.

Fry up the bacon in the same pan when the chicken is done. Too many pans going = too many dishes to clean. Chop the bacon, egg, tomatoes, green onion and avocado.

Put a couple of handfuls of lettuce on a plate and top it with some of each of the chopped ingredients and chicken.

Whisk up your olive oil, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and 1 tsp of Dijon mustard. Poor some over the salad.

Enjoy!

Field Greens with Caramelized Onion, Avocado and Bacon Crumbles

Doesn't the title of this post sound snooty? You might find something like this salad on the menu of a five star restaurant with a five star price tag to go along with it. But I say, "Down with the five star price tag!" You don't have to spend a fortune to have a delicious, quality meal.

I actually made this one up on the fly. It's Sunday and Sundays for me are typically scrape the bottom of the fridge time. I'm usually out of just about everything so I rely on what's hanging out in the shadows. Let's see... bag o' organic greens ready to expire... check, lonely purple onion way in the back... check, preservative free and nitrate free turkey bacon...check, ripe avocado (oh crap... they're ALL ripe at the same time)... check. Sounds like a salad! The dressing is a simple vinaigrette that I get rave reviews for every time I make it. Yes... I'm using vinegar again. You'll have to turn me in and take away my caveman stripes.

What you'll need:

1bag salad mix of your choice

1package turkey bacon (we use Trader Joe's nitrate free, preservative free)

1avocado

1purple onion

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 - 3 T. balsamic vinegar

1T Dijon mustard

1tsp honey

What you do:

Start with the dressing. Mix all the ingredients together in a jar or Tupperware container and shake, shake, shake. If you have a child present, give the container to them to shake. Children are a wonderful source of manual labor.

Slice up your onion into thin rings. Get some olive oil hot in a pan and place your onion in the pan. Now here's the big secret. Turn the flame down low and let the onion cook down slowly. It's going to take a while(like 15 - 20 minutes) so don't rush it. Stir the onion around the pan occasionally and watch it start to turn soft, then golden, then a beautiful caramel color. They are glossy and a little sticky when they are done. The flavor of caramelized onions is just this side of bliss. I may be going out on a limb here but I think they're nearly equal to chocolate.

Set the onion aside and cook up your bacon in the same pan. Cube up the avocado.

And now for the finally: Put a couple of handfuls of lettuce on each plate. Divide the onion in half and put it in the center of the lettuce like you're building a little onion mountain. Put the avocado on top of the onion. Now sprinkle the bacon liberally all around the salad. Drizzle with the dressing. Pat yourself on the back and say this affirmation: Not only am I incredibly hot, I make a mean salad!"

Enjoy!

Asian Chicken Salad

Ah, Monday morning. Three cups of coffee and a couple of Excedrin later, I'm ready to roll. So far today I've made breakfast, taken the boys to their morning round of therapy, grocery shopped, cooked lunch, cleaned the house up, cleaned and folded the laundry, done two rounds of dishes, played "chef" with my sons (yes, I'm teaching them early... lucky future wives), made dinner and finally, put the boys for their nap. Not bad for it only being noon.

Tonight's dinner is Asian Chicken Salad. I chose it because I knew I could make it up early and shove it in the fridge for later. I like to be able to check dinner off my list early sometimes and this is the perfect recipe for that. The more it sits, the better the flavor becomes. It should be perfect by tonight.

I've always thought that the key to a perfect salad is color. This salad is a testament to just that. It is a real show stopper with great taste to boot. As usual, it is easy and quick to make thanks to my boyfriend, Trader Joe.

Now, here's the warning: I use vinegar. I know what you're thinking. SHE DOES WHAT???? Yes, it's true. I am guilty as charged. So you Paleo purists out there can go ahead and shun me; I will survive.

What you'll need:

1/2 a bag of shredded cabbage

1/2 a bag of shredded broccoli slaw

2 Persian cucumbers (or one big, peeled & seeded), chopped

1 large tomato, seeded to remove liquid, chopped

1 bell pepper (I like orange for the color), chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1/2 the pack of TJ's Just Chicken (it's cut chicken breasts), chopped

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup dried cranberries

black sesame seeds (only if you're trying to wow someone)

dressing:

2/3 cup rice vinegar (no sugar, no salt)

4T sesame oil

2tsp soy sauce

2T almond butter

What you do:

Make the dressing first by putting all of the ingredients in a tupperware bowl and closing the lid. Now shake it hard. Keep shaking it until it's mixed well. Make sure the lid is on, you don't want to be cleaning soy sauce off the ceiling (trust me... it sucks). Set it aside.

Now take all your other ingredients except the sesame seeds and put them in a big bowl. Poor the dressing over and give it a good toss. If you have time you can let the dressing sit on the salad a while before serving.

Plate the salad and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Ooooo... so pretty! Serve it at the table and when everyone looks at you in wonder reply, "That's right, I'm the sh*%". If you have children at the table reply, "Oh, how nice of you to think my salad is pretty. Mommy/Daddy made it especially for you my little muffin."

Enjoy!

p.s. If you can't eat cabbage you can use lettuce. Just know that once the dressing goes on it will not keep for long before wilting.

Taco Salad

Sometimes I simply don't know what to cook. I may even start with one idea and switch it half way through the cooking process. My husband will tell you that when he asks me what's for dinner I will often say, "I don't know yet, but I'll tell you when I figure it out." All the while there is food on the stove bubbling and sizzling away.







This taco salad was born of that thinking. I had grass fed ground beef out, but what to make. Burgers... not tonight, meatloaf...blech, meat sauce... oh lord I don't have 10 hours. So I decided on taco salad. Simple, quick, delicious and my home made seasoning is just a couple of posts down from this one. Perfect!

What you'll need:

1 pound grass fed ground beef

1 onion, sliced thin

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin

1 bag of lettuce (romaine preferred)

1/2 cup pico de gallo

1 avocado

1 serving of my "no heart attack" taco seasoning, available a couple of posts down

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

Here's what you do:

Brown and drain the ground beef. Set it aside in a bowl. In the same pan saute the onion and red pepper until it's soft. Put the meat back in with the onion and pepper. Add in the tomato sauce and give it a stir. Stir in the seasoning and 1/2 cup water. Let it cook down a little bit and thicken up. Now, shout your favorite Spanish phrase of joy. I would, but my mom made me take eight years of French because she thought it was a "pretty" language. It's served me well over the years - HA!

Now for the assembly. Grab a couple of handfuls of lettuce and throw it on the plate. Top with the meat mixture. Spoon on a bit of pico de gallo and top with avocado slices. If you want to get crazy you could even squeeze a little lime over the top.

And there you have it. A quick (and I mean like Usain Bolt quick) taco salad that is flavorful and super yummy. No cheese, beans or tortilla needed... I promise!

p.s. sorry about the over exposed picture with the wrong date stamp on it. The salad is really much prettier than that. It was the last shot before my battery died in the camera. And since all of the 500 double a's we have in this house are being used in toys that are so child proof you have to have one of those microscopic screwdrivers and the patience of Job to get them out, you get the crummy picture.

Enjoy!

A Big Bowl of Awesome Yumminess

Sometimes I'm starving. Well, most times actually. But it's those few moments that I have between diaper number 17 and making everyone else's meal when I get to open the fridge for myself.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when the fridge is full and there's NOTHING in it! How can that be? Every shelf is stocked. Every drawer is overflowing. If I take a deep breath and try to see through the blinding hunger what I usually come up with is: There's plenty in the ice box but THERE IS NOTHING PREMADE.

Getting behind on my schedule and having nothing prepared to eat is the bain of my existence. Mostly because it doesn't take long for me to start envisioning what I can pick up down the street in an instant. Soon enough I'm engulfed in the full fantasy... Do I want the super, cheesy, gooey, meaty melt? Perhaps the triple bacon beefy stack complete with colossal size order of french fries? Ohhh.... soooo....good.

And then reality hits... I am flooded by haunting memories of Fran, Angie and Barbara. For those of you who are not familiar with CrossFit the names of those women refer to some of the hardest workouts I've ever done. The workouts are named after women; kind of like hurricanes and equally as deadly.

So I get out the veggies and the chicken and start chopping all the while vowing to myself that this is the last time I will be so ill prepared.

This recipe is a quick fix. About 10 minutes and the glorious thing is that it keeps for 3 or 4 days so you can make a big batch. I hope you enjoy it.

You will need:

4 Persian cucumbers (or a big one peeled and seeded)

1/2 a container of cherry tomatoes

3 or 4 green onions

2 bell peppers (I like yellow and orange for the color)

3 pepperoncinis

5 kalamata olives

a sprinkle of pine nuts

1/4 cup awesome quality olive oil

1 lemon

a sprinkle of dried mint

1 garlic clove (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)

a dash of cayenne pepper

Any left over steak, chicken, fish or a cooked chicken from the market

If you are a bachelor you can use that nasty lunch meat hiding in the back of your fridge

First, make the dressing. If you happen to have a mortar and pestle laying around now's the time to get it. If not use a cutting board, a plastic bag and a meat mallet. If that's just too much of an undertaking you can cop out and use the garlic powder. Take your garlic clove and put it in the bag or bowl. Now, start crushing it. Smash that sucker till its unrecognizable. Pretend it's your boss' head. Annihilate it! Ok, good. Does it look like a gooey paste? Perfect.

Remove the garlic and put it into a bowl. Poor in the olive oil and squeeze in the lemon. Add a dash of cayenne and whisk it all up. Taste it. Faint. Now let it sit so the flavors can blend.

Chop up your meat of choice and put it in a large bowl. Take all your veggies and chop them into bite size pieces. Try to avoid getting carpal tunnel. Put them in the bowl. Add the pine nuts. Poor the dressing over the veggies and sprinkle on top with a little dried mint.