perfect roast chicken

In case you didn't have a one foolproof way to roast a chicken, you will now. Think of this as your starting point for a million different ways to season and spice it. It's really a technique post, as opposed to a recipe, but I think those are fun. A lot of times I get carried away with thinking about flavors and side dishes that I don't pay as much attention to little details as I could. Plus, if you really kick butt at perfectly cooking a hunk of meat (or vegetable), then you don't even need much seasoning. Think a perfect rib eye. Salt is a wonderful thing.

Did you know that I have a Facebook page? I don't know why I'm excited about it, but I kind of am! If you'd like to hear from me aside from my lame once a week posts, you can like me there. I would like to post more than once a week, but for some reason I can't get it together to do so. Being super picky has its downfalls. Such as, I want to make a rendang recipe, but it means that I have to travel all over town to try to find some certain ingredients that I'm not content getting canned, jarred, or dried versions of. I just don't see much of the point of posting a recipe that has a main component not right. It'd be like making Garlic Chicken! and using garlic powder. Barf. And go to hell.

Week two of the Whole 30 is going swimmingly, though I'm getting nervous at a couple upcoming get togethers that I'm going to. But I can't just stay home, because I think that would defeat the overall purpose of doing the Whole 30 (even though 99% of the time I prefer staying home in my pajamas. God/Tebow I love pajamas). If I can only do it while I'm cloistered, then I'm not really making any change. I'm more be doing some weird cleanse that's only purpose is to rid you of some new age jargon. It is pretty funny to talk to other people who are also in some newyearnewyou mindset, when eating/dieting comes up. I've had someone say, after briefly outlining what I'm not eating, that "oh, so like lots of raw vegetables." Huh? I don't get why raw vegetables would be how you interpret it. Or like, "oh cool, well you should try this awesome low fat cake I made." Wait, what? Understanding food is not that hard people.

I'm not going to get into making the perfect pan sauce for this recipe, though it really is a wonderful thing. It's just that wine makes the most wonderful pan sauce, and I don't want to include a rather un-celebratory pan sauce with a decidedly celebratory roast chicken post. Because, you know, with my raw vegetable diet, wine isn't included. So, for a not-so-perfect sauce, may I suggest just some water or chicken broth to deglaze the roasting pan and then boiling it down. Still pretty great.

So I guess I should discuss a little of why this is considered a technique post. First, the oven temperature is on the high side. This results in a superior crispy skin. Second, stuffing the bird with lemon and/or onion is a surefire way to help it not dry out. Third, salting the crap out of it helps make the skin even crispier. And tastier. Um, yup that's pretty much it. It's the little things.

perfect roast chicken
adapted from Ruhlman's Twenty

3-4 pound chicken
coarse salt
1 lemon
1 small onion, quartered

1. Take the chicken out of the fridge about 30 minutes to an hour before you plan on roasting it. Rinse it and generously salt the inside and outside. Let it drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the chicken in a cast iron pan, or other roasting pan. Zest the lemon over the top of the chicken (optional, it doesn't make the chicken look as pretty cooked as it would if you use just salt). Quarter the lemon and stuff it inside, along with the onion pieces.

3. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 1 hour. Check the doneness by cutting into the leg joint - if the juices aren't clean, chuck back in the oven for another 5 minutes and check again. When done, let rest for 15 minutes before carving.

4. While the chicken is resting, on a plate or rimmed cutting board, you can deglaze the pan and boil it down to make your little sauce.

Now that you've perfected the lowly chicken, what are you going to do next with it? Don't say coat it in garlic powder.

This was originally posted at my blog, the crankin' kitchen!

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winter fruit, beets, and fennel salad

Hey, it kind of looks like a I'm posting a NewYearNewYou recipe. I might be. I may or may not have gotten on the Whole 30 bandwagon. Who are you if you don't get on some sort of New Years bandwagon? One of those selectively self-righteous "Resolutions just set you up for failure" or "I don't make resolutions, I make changes" jerks who read that in some lame article in some publication whose parent company also publishes an equal amount of newyearnewyou articles. New Years resolutions are fun. And if you fail and spiral into some depression then you need to lighten up! Or actually do good on a resolution for once because you're probably worthless. That was harsh.

In any case, it only seemed fitting after my month and a half long debauch to go super clean. I stupidly got a subscription to the enviro-nut Whole Living (when I should have gotten a subscription to Bon Appétit since the subscription ran out at my work) as part of some Groupon-y 3 for $5 magazine deal, and they have this somewhat decent clean eating plan in it this month. But it calls for drinking vegetable and fruit juices for breakfasts. I don't get juices at.all. What is wrong with the whole food item? It's supposed to be too hard on your digestive system or something? It just seems preposterous. Plus, I don't like drinking my calories. Smoothies and milk and juices and milkshakes (debatable, this is more that I just vastly prefer ice cream) and protein shakes and eggnog and punch and soda. I like beer, wine, and spirits for those that are begging to point that out. But I hardly drink at all. So far, just a lousy five days in, I feel so much freaking better. It was getting to the point that after every time I would eat some cookies I'd feel like a post-nasal drip thing. I don't know what was causing it, but it was totally corrollated to cookie eating. Scary.

I really wanted to use blood oranges in this salad. Not so much so that I was willing to drive around to different groceries stores to find them, but I was disappointed that my normal grocery store didn't have them. Since this is a rather fussy salad, I thought that I may as well be fussy about making it look wonderful. Plus, they're good. But Cara Cara oranges make an appearance and those are a really nice color too. Oh, and I specifically got a chiogga beet since I'd been wanting to get one since my last beet post, but it was the least colorful chiogga beet I've ever seen. Another disappointment. I MAY AS WELL GIVE UP ON MY RESOLUTION. THEY JUST SET YOU UP FOR FAILURE.

Also related, somewhat, to my newyearnewyou is that I need to make more homemade bacon. Not the least because store bought bacon contains sugar (omg I'm sorry but it's so minimal I'm sure it's fine, but I'll play by the rules) but because I discovered a smoker lurking in the tool shed in the back yard! That sounds scary, but I don't know what else they're called. Smoking machines. I think living in rentals makes up for the fact that I can't hang anything on the walls or get rid of the metallic vinyl wallpaper in my kitchen by always surprising me with free stuff left over from previous tenants (and a flakey disappearing hippie roommate). I.love.free.stuff. I've gotten a cute end table, my favorite tea cup, dishes, a 70s fondue pot, a porch glider, a leather shag rug (it's cool, trust me... I might be the only one who thinks it's cool), a nice lamp, the biggest cooling rack (which came in very handy during that cookie debauch I'm trying to forget)... Stuff that really doesn't make up for the fact that I can't do shit with the rental. But a smoker? That's a pretty cool find. And I can't wait to make bacon in it. Too bad I'm defrosting a pork belly, which will take a while, and then I have to cure the stupid thing for forever. I want bacon NOWWWWWWW.

With this salad, you can use lots of different kinds of winter fruits. If you can find blood oranges, awesome! Try a mix of citrus fruits, different pears, persimmons, that sort of thing. Not scientific. Same goes with the beets - chiogga, red, golden, baby beets, etc. Nuts would also go great on this. Pistachios come to mind, predictably. Pumpkin seeds, too. If you haven't peeled a pomegranate before, it's real simple. Cut an x into the skin, then in a bowl of water start peeling away the skin. It has a nice snap to it and should come apart easily. Gently snap away the arils (seeds) from the pith. They'll sink to the bottom, the pith will rise, and you won't be covered in red juice. There is so much pith and red juice in this recipe.

winter fruit, beets, and fennel salad

2 medium red beets, trimmed
1 medium chiogga beet, trimmed
2 Cara Cara oranges
1 pomegranate's arils
1 pear, such as Comice, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch thick wedges
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 fennel bulb, very thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 red onion, very thinly sliced on a mandoline (about 1/3 cup)
Extra-virgin olive
Coarse, flaky sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh cilantro leaves

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Wash and scrub beets and wrap individually in foil. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until beets are tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 hour. Let cool enough so you can rub the skin off without dying.

2. Meanwhile, peel the oranges and remove all the white pith. With one orange, slice down the outside to remove the membranes, then slice the orange crosswise into 1/4 inch rounds. Place the rounds in a medium bowl. With the other orange, separate it into segments and peel off the membranes. Put membrane-less segments into the bowl and squeeze the membranes into the bowl to save any juice. Discard membranes.

3. Put the pomegranate arils and the sliced pear into the bowl and add the lemon and lime juice. Gently toss.

4. Once the beets are cool enough to touch, rub the skins off with your fingers. Slice the chiogga beet and one red beet crosswise into thin rounds. With the other beet, cut into 1/2 inch wedges.

5. Arrange some beets and fruit mixture onto a plate, making sure to get some juices from the bottom of the bowl. Top with some sliced fennel and onion. Drizzle with olive oil and a generous helping of salt and pepper. Top with cilantro leaves.

I ate so much of this it made my pee turn red from the beets. I'm so sorry I wrote that.

This was originally posted at my blog, the crankin' kitchen!

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Objectivist Links

As part of Modern Paleo's weekend schedule of blogging on Objectivism on Saturdays and free market politics on Sundays, I like to post a link to The Objectivist Roundup. The Objectivist Roundup is a weekly blog carnival for Objectivists. Contributors must be Objectivists, but posts on any topic are welcome, including posts on food and health.

Erosophia hosted this week's Objectivist Roundup. If you're interested in seeing the latest and best from Objectivist bloggers, go take a look!

Also, in my live Philosophy in Action Webcast on Sunday morning, I'll answer questions on being pragmatic, feigning indifference to attract a man, explaining atheism, "ignostic" versus "atheist", and more. As always, it's on Sunday, 29 January 2012 at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET at www.PhilosophyInAction.com/live. Please join us for this hour of lively discussion, where we apply rational principles to the challenges of living virtuous, happy, and free lives!

Here are the questions that I'll answer this week:

• Question 1: Being Pragmatic: What's wrong with being pragmatic? My dictionary defines being pragmatic as "dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations." What's wrong with that, if anything? Is that the same as "pragmatism"?


• Question 2: Feigning Indifference to Attract a Man: Should I act uninterested in a man to attract him? One common theme in romance advice is that a woman should act aloof and unattainable in order to attract a man or to get him to commit to a relationship. Is that dishonest? Is it counterproductive?


• Question 3: Explaining Atheism: How can I effectively explain my atheism to religious believers? When I discuss religion with believers – mostly Christians – I find that I can't easily explain why I don't believe in God. Should I appeal to the principle of the "primacy of existence"? Should I explain the problems with the arguments for the existence of God? Or should I try a different approach?


• Question 4: "Ignostic" Versus "Atheist": Should rational people describe themselves as "ignostics" rather than "atheists"? By rational principles, no cognitive consideration should be given to arbitrary assertions. Since the concept of God is invariably a floating abstraction and incoherent in its definition, shouldn't the claim that God exists be dismissed as arbitrary and invalid – rather than being answered in the negative? If so, shouldn't rational people describe themselves as ignostics? In contrast to atheism, ignosticism is "[the] view that a coherent definition of God must be presented before the question of the existence of God can be meaningfully discussed. Furthermore, if that definition is unfalsifiable, the ignostic takes the theological noncognitivist position that the question of the existence of God (per that definition) is meaningless." [Wikipedia]

After that, we'll do a round of totally impromptu "Rapid Fire Questions."

If you can't attend the live webcast, you can listen to these webcasts later as audio-only podcasts by subscribing to our RSS Feeds. You can also listen to full episodes or just selected questions from any past episode in the Webcast Archive, including questions on paleo, nutrition, and health. Finally, don't forget to submit and vote on the questions that you'd most like me to answer from the ongoing Question Queue.

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The Paleo Rodeo #097

Welcome to this week's edition of The Paleo Rodeo!

The Paleo Rodeo is a weekly blog carnival featuring the best paleo-related posts by members of the PaleoBloggers e-mail list. The past editions of the Rodeo are collected on this page.

What is "paleo"? As I say in Modern Paleo Principles:

A "paleo" approach to health uses the evolutionary history of homo sapiens, plus the best of modern science, as a broad framework for guiding daily choices about diet, fitness, medicine, and supplementation. The core of paleo is the diet: it eschews grains, sugars, and modern vegetable oils in favor of high-quality meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

The purpose of The Paleo Rodeo is to highlight some of the best blogging of the ever-growing paleosphere.

Here is this week's edition:

Eddy presents TIP: Kill Dessert Cravings with Lemon posted at Health Freak Revolution, saying, "Still get sweet cravings sometimes? It has worked for some, could it work for you?"

Tony Federico presents Caveman Cuisine: Spicy Pig and Plantain Soup posted at FED - Fitness in an Evolutionary Direction, saying, "Make soup so good it will make you want to smack your paleolithic ancestors in three easy steps."

Suz Robinson presents Paleo Interventions posted at The Paleo Network, saying, "When you know a stranger would benefit from a Paleo trial - is it right to intervene?"

Ruth Almon presents Even A Stubborn American Can Learn New Tricks . . . posted at Ruth's Real Food, saying, "This is a fascinating guest post from Jen, a blogger at Real Food Freaks who is married to a Fillipino. She writes about how her attitude to the foods of his traditional culture have shifted over the years."

Nell Stephenson presents From Vegan to Paleo? What? posted at Paleoista.

Eddy presents Knowing What to Avoid is More Important Than What to Consume posted at Health Freak Revolution, saying, "Sometimes we forget that half the point of paleo is about AVOIDING certain things; toxins, artificials and processing as much as eating meat and veg. Do you always spot the misleading products when shopping?"

Sean Booth presents Bone Broth Redux! posted at Old Fashioned Upgrades, saying, "A look back at how easy it is to make mineral rich bone broth in only 2885 minutes!"

Nancy Atwell presents Do You Vary Your Eating Routine? posted at Ancestral Crone.

Hadass Eviatar presents Dr. Terry Wahls - A Prophet for Our Time posted at My Coat of Many Colours.

Kris presents Teenagers, Milk and Advanced Prostate Cancer posted at Kris Health Blog, saying, "A study came out recently about the association between milk consumption in adolescent years, and risk of advanced prostate cancer later in life."

Neely Quinn presents How Much Food Should You Eat? posted at Paleo Plan.

Joe Lindley presents Paula Deen Endorses Victoza for Diabetics and Suggests the Wrong Diet posted at Stop Craving Sugar..., saying, "With all the hoopla online and on national TV about Paula Deen's diagnosis as a Type 2 Diabetic (see yesterday's post on Paula Deen and Anthony Bourdain) I found myself puzzled over the "example" she is setting for the public in terms of medication and diet. She has picked Victoza by Novo Nordisk as the Diabetes medication she now endorses.She waited 3 years to announce her diagnosis, which has caused some to criticize her for promoting high carb and high fat recipes during that time - food choices which are bad for most of us, especially diabetics. In her defense, she says she waited in order to study Type 2 Diabetes so she could make an informed decision on her own health and provide a good example for her fans. When I looked deeper into exactly what she is doing for her own treatment I became concerned."

Jedha presents Paleo Diet Beans And Legumes posted at Paleo Diet Blog.

Meghan Little presents Paleo Bang Bang Shrimp, A Thai Sweet, Fried Seafood Dinner Idea posted at Paleo Effect, saying, "This recipe for Bang Bang Shrimp is sweet and sour with a little baby kicker at the end. beautifully crispy and delicious! Find this and more at www.paleoeffect.com or find us on Facebook!"

Ritu Riyat presents Are you SMART? posted at Nutritionize!.

Riki Shore presents Spiced Butternut Squash Soup with Pancetta and Fried Onions posted at Three Squares, saying, "The warming spice blend in this soup contains a smoky chile pepper from Turkey called Urfa Biber - delicious with butternut squash!"

Diana Hsieh presents Snowboard Girl, Powered by Bacon posted at NoodleFood, saying, "On a recent trip to the mountains, I was able to snowboard and ski for five days while sticking to my super-strict elimination diet."

Peggy Emch presents Homeschooling Isn't For Everyone posted at The Primal Parent, saying, "My experience homeschooling over the last three months. It has been both good and bad, but due to work and other difficulties, I think I'm going to have to take a break."

Arsy presents {lavender + clove} posted at Rubies & Radishes, saying, "A quick and healthy recipe for homemade air freshener."

Amy Kubal presents Paleo By Profession - Is it Possible? posted at Robb Wolf, saying, "Yes - you can put paleo into practice in a 'non-paleo' world!!"

Paul Jaminet presents Is It Good to Eat Sugar? posted at Perfect Health Diet, saying, "In this post I address the arguments of the Peat-atarians that orange juice or soda may be good for you."

Melissa "Melicious" Joulwan presents Wonder And Camels posted at theclothesmakethegirl, saying, "Life can be filled with wonder if we remember to take a good look around."

Stacy Toth presents Our 10 Year Renewal - Part 2 of 5 (Giveaways!) posted at Paleo Parents, saying, "From our paleo "wedding" series. We had a vow renewal for our 10th anniversary and somehow made it paleo. Check it out!"

Tara presents Banana-cado Chocolate Pudding posted at The Foodie And The Family, saying, "A big batch banana avocado chocolate pudding that is so good that even the avocado haters will fall in love!"

David Rourke presents Vitamin D and vision posted at Paleodyssey, saying, "Vitamin D seems to be good for a lot of things--protecting the eyes from the effects of age among them."

Julia Campbell presents green curry salmon with kiwi salsa posted at the crankin' kitchen!, saying, "crispy curry salmon topped with a tart, spicy kiwi salsa"

Many thanks to the PaleoBloggers who submitted to this edition of the The Paleo Rodeo! This blog carnival has plenty of room to grow! So if you blog on paleo-related matters and you'd like to submit your posts to the carnival, please subscribe to the PaleoBloggers e-mail list. You'll receive instructions and reminders via that list.

Finally, you can find all of the blogs of the PaleoBloggers on this continuously-updated list:
Enjoy!

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Question of the Week: Liver

The Paleo Question of the Week is:

Do you eat liver? If so, what's your preferred form?

We want to hear your answer in the comments! You're also welcome to post a comment or question on any other paleo-related topic.

If you'd like to submit a question for an upcoming question of the week, please e-mail me at diana@dianahsieh.com.

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Announcement: PaleoFX

This PaleoFX conference looks really interesting! Alas, I have other plans for this weekend -- namely SnowCon 2012 -- but this looks like a great rival to the Ancestral Health Symposium. (Hooray for competition!)

Here's the announcement:

PaleoFX Partners is proud to announce the inaugural PaleoFX Symposium in Austin, TX, March 14-17.

The symposium theme is "Theory to Practice." Speakers include Sarah Fragoso, Jack Kruse, Mark Sisson, Robb Wolf, and many, many others -- it will be virtually a "who's who" gathering of the Paleo, Primal, and Physical Culture worlds. The content will be vital and cutting-edge. In addition to fitness and healthcare professionals, nutritionists, and research scientists, there will be top strength and conditioning and natural movement coaches giving hands-on demonstrations. The symposium is intended for laypersons, practitioners, researchers, and everyone in between. Tickets are now on sale. Stay tuned for announcements on ticket giveaways. For full details, visit www.paleofx.com and 'like' our page on Facebook.

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Questions on Menopause and Weight Gain

Earlier this week, I received an e-mail from Audrey asking some good questions on menopause and weight gain. I don't have any answers for her, but I was hoping that some of our readers -- particularly the older women -- might be able to offer some advice and insight. Here's her e-mail:

Thanks for your great website, I just found out about it through my personal trainer. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction regarding my particular issue.

I have been paleo for a couple of years now with the exception of full fat greek yogurt (the only dairy in my diet). I am 48 and have been engaged in weight training (superslow) for 6 years and recently added kettle bells and sandbag workouts to my exercise routine. My carbs are less than 75/day, my protein intake is about 100 grams a day. All fascinating stuff! I am 5'7" and 140. My "I feel great" weight is 130" (I have a small frame). I was on a course of poison (synthetic progestin) a couple of years ago which threw me into menopause. I was being treated for uterine lining problems. I gained 10 lbs on the progestin and discontinued it after 3 months. I have been menopausal for 6 months.

I have had 8 blood tests in the last year. Thanks to paleo I have wicked, ridiculously good HDL (121--I kid you not), very low LDL and triglycerides. I am postmenopausal, have normal thyroid and cortisol levels. With the use of D3 I have bumped up that number to 70. I am very healthy and take no medications, just a truck load of supplements.

I am taking topical bio identical progesterone. I have varied my caloric intake (paleo, so no grains, legumes, sugar or pasta, just fruit, meat, eggs, and veggies) from 1000 cal/day to 2,000 cal/day, cut out dairy, wine and caffeine all in an attempt to lose this 10 lbs. I can't move it. I have been trying for 2 years and I cannot budge the weight.

Are there any resources you can recommend for paleo women in menopause and their particular issues? I feel like I am 5 months pregnant and have investigated every option I can in a desperate attempt to lose these 10lbs. My doctors (one is an ayurvedic practioner) are not impressed with my complaints and think I am being neurotic for wanting to get rid this tire of fat around my waist.

I simply want to feel like myself again.

I have read every book on the subject of menopause, weight loss and nutrition (the most recent is The Female Brain Gone Insane). I still feel like I am missing something because not only am I not losing weight, it's creeping upwards.

Any thoughts or suggestions you might have will be greatly appreciated.

Thoughts? Post them in the comments!

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Hsieh RCM OpEd: Why is Creating Value Good, Profits Bad?

The 1/17/2012 edition of Real Clear Markets has just published my latest OpEd, "Why Is Creating Value Good, Profits Bad?"

It's not directly related to health care policy, but rather the broader theme of defending the virtue of the profit motive in a free, capitalistic society. (I do use insurance as an example of how value is created). Here is the opening:

"Profit" is a dirty word. Profit-seeking businessmen are stock villains in Hollywood movies. "Occupy Wall Street" protestors demand, "People not profits" (whatever that means). Companies reporting healthy profits are automatically assumed to be exploiting customers and can only atone for this by "giving back" to their communities. "Making a profit" has an unsavory, morally suspect taint.

Yet simultaneously, Americans have a far more positive view of the concept of "creating value." The mainstream press lauds visionary businessmen who "create value," such as the late Steve Jobs of Apple. The business literature routinely emphasizes the importance of "creating value." So many organizations wish to be seen as "creating value" that it has become a business cliche, like "best practices" and "thinking outside the box."

But in a free society, "creating value" and "making a profit" are just two sides of the same coin...

(Read the full text of "Why Is Creating Value Good, Profits Bad?")

Those who earn honest profits by creating value should be proud of this fact.

I'd like to thank attorney-blogger Doug Mataconis for providing the Tweet which I cited later in the OpEd, as well as pointing me towards the Wall Street Journal piece on Bain Capital that I cited.

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Video: Dealing with Temperamental People

In Sunday's Philosophy in Action Webcast, I discussed dealing with temperamental people. The question was:

Should people be willing to "walk on eggshells" around temperamental people? Some people – often very talented – are known to be highly temperamental. They'll explode in anger if others disagree with them, make innocent mistakes, or just act differently than they'd prefer. Is that a moral failing, and if so, what is its source? How should people around them act? When and how much should others try to placate them?

My answer, in brief:

Temperamental people indulge their emotions when they don't get their way because they don't respect and value other people as autonomous individuals. If that irrationality is entrenched, then the best course is likely to refuse to deal with the person.

Here's the video of my full answer:

If you enjoy the video, please "like" it on YouTube and share it with friends in e-mail and social media! You can also throw a bit of extra love in our tip jar.

All posted webcast videos can be found in the Webcast Archives and on my YouTube channel.

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Objectivist Links

As part of Modern Paleo's weekend schedule of blogging on Objectivism on Saturdays and free market politics on Sundays, I like to post a link to The Objectivist Roundup. The Objectivist Roundup is a weekly blog carnival for Objectivists. Contributors must be Objectivists, but posts on any topic are welcome, including posts on food and health.

Try Reason! hosted this week's Objectivist Roundup. If you're interested in seeing the latest and best from Objectivist bloggers, go take a look!

Also, in my live Philosophy in Action Webcast on Sunday morning, I'll answer questions on wrongful convictions of the innocent and the guilty, the morality of the death penalty, alternatives to America, choosing a place to live, and more. As always, it's on Sunday, 22 January 2012 at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET at www.PhilosophyInAction.com. Please join us for this hour of lively discussion, where we apply rational principles to the challenges of living virtuous, happy, and free lives!

Here are the questions that I'll answer this week:

• Question 1: Wrongful Convictions of the Innocent and the Guilty: Why is punishing an innocent man worse than failing to punish a guilty man? English jurist William Blackstone said that "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." What does this mean, and is it true? Is some higher ratio of wrongly-punished to wrongly-released acceptable?


• Question 2: The Morality of the Death Penalty: Is the death penalty moral? I understand why people are opposed to the death penalty when there might be genuine doubt as to whether the accused person really committed the crime. Certainly, we've seen cases where DNA evidence has exonerated someone who was convicted several years ago for a crime they didn't actually commit. But if someone confesses to first degree murder and if there's incontrovertible physical evidence to confirm their guilt, is the death penalty then appropriate?


• Question 3: Alternatives to America: What other countries besides America have a relatively healthy sense of life? Suppose America takes a bad turn politically and I need to relocate to another country. What other countries still have a relatively healthy "sense of life" and decent culture – in that they respect reason, accomplishment, and productiveness – even if their politics are left-leaning? Over the past few months, I've heard various people discuss Canada, New Zealand, Costa Rica, China, and India as possible places to relocate to. What do you think of the cultures of those countries?


• Question 4: Choosing a Place to Live: Is it rational to value good weather over good politics when choosing a place to live? I currently live in a state with fairly good politics, with respect to taxes, gun rights, and so on. However, I have friends who live in California who say that the weather there is so good, that it's worth it to them even if the taxes are high, the gun laws are terrible, and the overall political climate is abysmal. Is it rational to value something like good weather over good politics in choosing a place to live?

After that, we'll do a round of totally impromptu "Rapid Fire Questions."

If you can't attend the live webcast, you can listen to these webcasts later as audio-only podcasts by subscribing to the RSS feed. You can also listen to full episodes or just selected questions from any past episode in the Webcast Archive, including questions on paleo, nutrition, and health. Finally, don't forget to submit and vote on the questions that you'd most like me to answer from the ongoing Question Queue.

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The Paleo Rodeo #096

Welcome to this week's edition of The Paleo Rodeo!

The Paleo Rodeo is a weekly blog carnival featuring the best paleo-related posts by members of the PaleoBloggers e-mail list. The past editions of the Rodeo are collected on this page.

What is "paleo"? As I say in Modern Paleo Principles:

A "paleo" approach to health uses the evolutionary history of homo sapiens, plus the best of modern science, as a broad framework for guiding daily choices about diet, fitness, medicine, and supplementation. The core of paleo is the diet: it eschews grains, sugars, and modern vegetable oils in favor of high-quality meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

The purpose of The Paleo Rodeo is to highlight some of the best blogging of the ever-growing paleosphere.

Here is this week's edition:

Sean Booth presents Stocking up on fruit! posted at Old Fashioned Upgrades, saying, "Cranberries are cheap right now and here is an easy way to save them and incorporate them into your daily diet."

Tony Federico presents Pulled Pig over Mashed Plantains posted at FED - Fitness in an Evolutionary Direction, saying, "Inspired by foods eaten by the hunter-gatherers of Papua New Guinea, this dish is simple and delicious."

Jeff Callahan presents 6 Things You Never Know about Protein Powders and Supplements posted at How to Die Young, saying, "Read "6 Things You Never Know about Protein Powders and Supplements" to gain insight on protein supplements that 99% of the population doesn't know."

Diana Hsieh presents Cinnamon Hot Cocoa posted at NoodleFood, saying, "While I'm on my elimination diet -- and hence, unable to enjoy my usual cup of tea with cream -- my cinnamon hot cocoa has sustained me!"

Ruth Almon presents Replace Dryer Sheets with a Chemical Free Alternative posted at Ruth's Real Food, saying, "Reducing the chemical is skincare products, haircare products, and household cleaners is a work in progress for me, but here's a change that's easy and economical."

Julia Campbell presents cuban pork roast + mojo and chimichurri posted at the crankin' kitchen!, saying, "this cuban pork is crispy, citrusy and kicks even more butt dipped in mojo and chimichurri."

Holly presents Winter Stew You Should Make This Weekend! posted at Holly Would If She Could.

Meghan Little presents Paleo Steak and Salsa Wrap, A Healthy Lunch Taco for an Outside Meal posted at Paleo Effect, saying, "Our paleo steak and salsa wrap, a healthy lunch for an outside meal, is made with dairy-free and grain-free ingredients. Try this and more at www.paleoeffect.com!"

Tara presents Breakfast Popovers posted at The Foodie And The Family.

Tim Huntley presents Blackened Chicken Salad with Spinach posted at My Athletic Life, saying, "Joey Bowles from Sleep - Love - Eat has a great recipe for Blackened Chicken Salad. Enjoy."

Laurie Donaldson presents About Paleo Challenges... posted at Food for Primal Thought, saying, "Is a paleo challenge the right way to approach paleo?"

Nell Stephenson presents Paleo 'Breaded' Cutlets? Go Nuts! posted at Paleoista.

Arsy presents Rubies & Radishes - {vitamin zzzzzz...} posted at Rubies & Radishes, saying, "Tips on getting quality sleep!"

Eddy presents How Much Difference Does What You Eat Make? posted at Health Freak Revolution, saying, "How important is food in the bigger picture of health? How much attention should you pay what you eat?"

Sean Booth presents New Pet! posted at Old Fashioned Upgrades, saying, "Our new pet, aka the Kombucha Jellyfish! Getting started with it now and looking for more advice on how to go about it!"

Amy Kubal presents The "Weighting" Game posted at Robb Wolf, saying, "Stop playing a 'losing' game. Ditch the scale for good!!"

Stacy Toth presents Primal Kitchen: Getting Buy-In for Real Food Lunches posted at Paleo Parents, saying, "A guest post by Primal Kitchen: A Family Grokumentary on how to get your family on real paleo food and off the sandwich for lunch. A very in depth look and a frequently puzzling topic!"

Primal Kitchen's Family Grokumentarian presents Updates on Crossfitting in 2012 posted at Primal Kitchen: A Family Grokumentary, saying, "I'm now about 3.5 months into Crossfitting, and fairly besotted in its results and overall compatibility with a paleo lifestyle. Not only am I stoked about some 2012 goals, but I'm also doing cartwheels that a family member has joined Crossfit as well."

Joe Lindley presents Paula Deen and Diabetes - Anthony Bourdain Turns Up the Heat posted at Stop Craving Sugar..., saying, "After yesterday's news that Paula Deen, the renowned Southern Cooking TV personality announced that she is a Diabetic, the topic entered a new phase today as Anthony Bourdain, also a celebrity chef, blasted her with his opinion of her actions."

Jedha presents Stevia Sweetener. The Inside Scoop. posted at Paleo Diet Blog.

Angie presents Berry Smoothie/Pudding posted at Angie's Suburban Oasis, saying, "Looking for a new smoothie recipe, or maybe you're looking for a spoon-able dessert. Well, this berry pudding/smoothie recipe will hit the spot."

The Cavegirls presents Eating Paleo Without Breaking the Bank posted at Northwest Cavegirls, saying, "Looking to eat a paleo diet but not spend all of your money doign it? Take a look at our tricks and tips for eating well while not spending a fortune."

Vanessa presents Detoxification Part I : Healing Waters posted at Healthy Living How To, saying, "The capacity of the body's detoxification process is not endless. By encouraging the body to efficiently flush out toxins, we will not only boost our health and well being, but also strengthen our immune system and prevent disease. You can do this in as little as 20 minutes by taking a detox bath."

Paul Jaminet presents Is There a Perfect Human Diet? posted at Perfect Health Diet, saying, "This was our inaugural post at Psychology Today and introduces our diet by discussing why "all healthy people are alike, each unhealthy person is unhealthy in his own way.""

Neely Quinn presents Q&A: Breastfeeding While Starting Paleo posted at Paleo Plan.

Many thanks to the PaleoBloggers who submitted to this edition of the The Paleo Rodeo! This blog carnival has plenty of room to grow! So if you blog on paleo-related matters and you'd like to submit your posts to the carnival, please subscribe to the PaleoBloggers e-mail list. You'll receive instructions and reminders via that list.

Finally, you can find all of the blogs of the PaleoBloggers on this continuously-updated list:
Enjoy!

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Question of the Week: Failure

The Modern Paleo Question of the Week is:

What has been your biggest mistake or failure in eating paleo? Why -- and what did you do about it?

We want to hear your answer in the comments! You're also welcome to post a comment or question on any other paleo-related topic.

If you'd like to submit a question for an upcoming question of the week, please e-mail me at diana@dianahsieh.com.

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fried plantains + avocado salad

I never want to see another Christmas cookie again. Or Christmas cake. Or Christmas pie. Or Christmas giant bowl of whipped cream. But namely the cookies. I baked like a madman and ate like an utter lard. I get to the point where I've stuffed myself so awfully and then I start to feel terrible about myself and then I figure aw fuck it what's another 10 cookies going to do when you've already eaten 23. It's really a pretty dumb mindset. And you'd think after years of reading stupid Shape magazine I'd be a little more rational. I can't decide if coming to terms with my inability to control my Christmas dessert consumption and just swearing them off, until maybe Valentine's Day sugar cookies, is a better way to go, or if I should strive to just be more reasonable when and if I do decide to eat some dessert. I guess I'd like to be able to just eat two cookies, but uh, yeah, probably not going to happen.

Anyway, enough about my lard tendencies. I did cook an amazing amount of food, and really awesome food, for Christmas dinner. And I have an amazing amount of leftovers, too. Joe left for the week, so it's just me trying to make my way through most of a ham, like 4 pounds of roasted potatoes, several pounds of roasted sweet potatoes with a brown butter vinaigrette, and a mountain of my famous brussels sprouts. I'm going to have to make some sort of soup out of the rest of the ham and then freeze it. There's just no way I'm going to be able to eat my way through it all. I was most excited about presenting to my friends on Christmas Day the roasted potatoes. If you've made that recipe I posted, then you know why. If you haven't, then you've been eating crap roasted potatoes and I hope you feel sorry. We were eating at my friends' house and so we carted all the food over there (they made their share of food too... it was a feast) and in a hurried we-gotta-make-it-over-there-in-a-timely-fashion move, I put the fresh out of the oven potato chunks in a big tupperware and drove over there. Piping hot potatoes give off condensation. Condensation makes gorgeous crispy potatoes soggy and disgusting. GAH. I can be excused for drowning my sorrow in Christmas dessert. I made a brown sugar cranberry walnut gingerbread upside down cake. I'm awesome.

Now I'm home alone, left with a fridge full of leftovers that I eat for three meals everyday, and that cake that I wasn't allowed to throw out shoved to the back of the fridge in an attempt to fool me into forgetting about it. I've started watching episode after episode after episode of old Biggest Loser. I do try to do other things while I'm watching it, like cleverly utilizing space on my 13 inch computer monitor and writing this blog post! On one episode, I think in the first season, they're at a restaurant and Jillian applauds some fat when he asks for no avocado on his salad. Avocado! Oh the fat! The calories! Obviously calories matter for the contestants, but that's such a shame to banish avocados. So in honor of that one guy, I decided to shun my leftovers for one meal, and make something with avocados.

I've told you about my obsession with plantains, I'm pretty sure. There was a time when I was eating one for breakfast every day. It got a little hefty. I had to swear them off for a little bit (I see a pattern emerging...) but I've reintroduced them into my life this year and I haven't gone too bonkers at all. I often times have a range of plantains in stages of ripeness on my counter. I like them all. I keep buying them green because I want to make mofongo. But I never get around to it and they just sit there and get black. Which is the case with the ones I used for this recipe.

If you can't get black-skinned plantains at your grocery store, which I usually can't at my normal one, you can either buy the darkest you can find and let them ripen on your counter, or you could just use them. As long as they're not super green, you can still make them the same way, they'll just be starchy. If they're really unripe, they're best for tostones, which maybe I'll post sometime. If you haven't had plantains before, wait until they're black until you use them. You'll thank me.

avocado salad
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 ripe avocados, sliced and scooped out
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and pepper

1. In a small bowl, marinate the red onions in the vinegar for at least 30 minutes.

2. In a larger bowl, place avocados, 1 tablespoon of the marinating vinegar, olive oil, and the drained onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and gently toss to mix. Alternatively, if you don't want to bash the avocado, you can place the sliced avocados on a serving plate and top with the reserved tablespoon of vinegar, olive oil, the drained onions, and salt and pepper.

plátanos maduros
2 ripe plantains
coconut oil or bacon grease
fresh lime juice
coarse sea salt

1. To peel the plantains, it's easiest to cut the ends off and then using a sharp knife, make two opposing vertical cuts and peel off the peel. There may be spots that stick, so just slice them off.

2. Use enough oil to be about a 1/4 inch deep in a heavy sauté pan. Heat the oil over medium high heat. Cut the plantains in 1 inch chunks and add them to the pan. Cook them about 3 minutes per side, until they are golden brown.

These sides are a delicious little meal or perfect sides for some pulled pork, or hey some leftover Christmas ham!

Oh look, it's my Linzer sandwich cookies. I hate you.

This was originally posted at my blog, the crankin' kitchen!

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Food Elimination Q/A Part One (Is food elimination for life?)

I'm doing a lot of work on helping people identify and fix food sensitivites, so I often receive questions related to this. If you have a question, please put it in the comments section, and I will try to answer it in a follow up post. Thanks! /Christian

Q: Let’s say that I have discovered a few foods that I react badly too. Will I have to stop eating them for life?

To answer this in an as illuminating way as possible, I’m going to define food sensitivity very broadly:

Let’s consider “food sensitivity” as something that could include everything from abnormal blood sugar levels when eating carbs, to tummy discomfort when eating lactose, to autoimmune flareups from gluten or nightshades, to anaphylactic shock from eating peanuts.

If the food sensitivity is part of your “hard wiring” either because of genetics or because a part of your body has become irreparably damaged, then YES, you need to stay away from that particular food for the rest of your life.

An example of hardwired genetic food sensitivity is genetically based lactose intolerance. In this case, your body just doesn’t have the genetic information that it needs to make the needed digestive enzyme (lactase), and hence you will never be able to digest lactose on your own without ingesting some lactase at the same time. (Strictly speaking this may depend on your gut flora and if you drink raw milk, but let's not complicate things!)

(Note: To put this in the context of "Paleo": Paleo theory essentially holds that we are all genetically hardwired to be more or less sensitive to grains, legumes, dairy and certain other foods.)

The second category of "hardwired" food sensitivity is caused by irreparable damage.

One example of this is problems metabolizing carbohydrate due to the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin (diabetes). Another example is the poor ability to digest fat in people who have had the gall bladder removed.

In addition to these examples of irreparable damage, I would like to add that in a person with auto-immune disease there is the possibility that the immune system has become permanently unable to distinguish between “self” and and “non-self” in such a way that some foods will always be problem triggers. (An example is a person with Celiac disease who will have to stop eating gluten for life.)

Let’s now look at food sensitivity that is not hardwired, but that could be called functional (or “circumstantial”) food sensitivity:

In this case the sensitivity is a result of a degenerative process that has caused a degree of malfunction in some organ or system in the body such as the intestinal mucosa, gut flora, blood sugar regulation, or immune system (all of which can cause the body to react adversely to various foods).

This type of food sensitivity is most often present when people discover problems with typical paleo foods such as meats or seafood or inconspicuous fruits and vegetables.

If this is your situation, your prospects for being able to eat the food again without problems hinges on if you can successfully halt the responsible degenerative processes and restore proper function.

Part of the healing process is to stay away from the reactive foods for a significant time (say, three months), and then do an experiment with re-introduction.

Now, I deliberately said “part of the healing process”, because removing trigger foods may not be enough to to stop and reverse the underlying degenerative process that caused the food sensitivity.

In many cases one needs to do additional repair work in conjunction with eliminating reactive foods to regain full health and the ability to eat the excluded foods again.

Conversely, not doing the repair work can result in a merry-go-round of food sensitivities. The person may develop new sensitivities to whatever foods they are eating for a prolonged period of time. (This is a classic sign of “leaky gut”.)

Details of the repair process are far beyond the scope of this post, but, as a summary, one may have to use restorative nutrients to repair the digestive tract, as well as address other surrounding issues such as hormonal imbalance, gut pathogens, and toxicity issues that can all contribute to poor gut function.

PS. What I have found is that when a person doesn't have optimal health overall (could be anything from acne to obesity to auto-immunity), poor gut health is always part of various viscous cycles in that person's body, and that in order to heal the body, one must heal the gut… But to heal the gut one must also heal the rest of the body! (Helping people navigate this wonderful complexity is part of my daily life!)

PPS. Polemics: There is a widespread myth in the paleo community which is that taking out certain foods will always lead to healing of the body, and that if a person doesn't get better after doing so is is because he/she just didn't do paleo strictly enough or hasn't tried to eliminate enough foods.

This is as simplistic and ignorant regarding the nature of the body as saying that a person with a bullet wound likely needs no further help beyond having the bullet removed.

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Cinnamon Hot Cocoa

On my super-restrictive elimination diet, I've been in a bit of a bind regarding hot beverages. Normally, I drink black tea with cream, usually just one cup in the morning. Also, if I'm tired from running errands, I find that a cup of tea restores me nicely. I don't just enjoy the taste: a cup of tea is a moment of quiet peace for me.

On my MRT test, coffee and tea tested "green" for me, so I could drink them. However, cream is what makes these beverages palatable to me, but dairy won't be on the menu for me for a while. Tea without cream is really too bitter, and I only barely tolerate coffee, even with lots of cream. It's possible to make a coconut-based creamer with coconut milk and egg yolk, but eggs are also off the menu for me, at least for a few more weeks. I'm also limiting my consumption of coconut milk. Oh, and I still dislike coffee, so I'd just prefer not to drink it. Coconut milk in tea is just plain gross.

Happily, I've found an acceptable substitute for tea: cinnamon hot cocoa. I just pour boiling water over approximately 1 tablespoon of pure (Ghirardelli) cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and often a pinch of sea salt, then stir. The cocoa and cinnamon tends to settle, so I stir periodically while I drink.

It's not the tastiest beverage ever, but it's better than nothing! The cinnamon adds a sweetness and complexity to the cocoa, and the touch of salt makes the flavors pop. I'm sure that other spices would work well, but alas, I'm pretty limited in my spice choices right now.

I know lots of people who can't tolerate either cream or coconut milk... but you might like my cinnamon hot cocoa!

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Video: Tenacity in Pursuit of Goals

In Sunday's Philosophy in Action Webcast, I discussed tenacity in pursuit of goals... something that people often need when eating paleo or pursuing other health goals! The question was:

How can I become more tenacious in pursuit of my goals? I find that I give up too easily on some of my goals, particularly when success is far away and much effort is required now. What can I do to make myself more tenacious?

My answer, in brief:

Tenacity is an important quality of character to cultivate, but it must be used selectively. If tenacity is a problem for you, don't wallow in guilt: find creative ways to motivate yourself.

Here's the video of my full answer:

If you enjoy the video, please "like" it on YouTube and share it with friends in e-mail and social media! You can also throw a bit of extra love in our tip jar.

All posted webcast videos can be found in the Webcast Archives and on my YouTube channel.

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Objectivist Links

As part of Modern Paleo's weekend schedule of blogging on Objectivism on Saturdays and free market politics on Sundays, I like to post a link to The Objectivist Roundup. The Objectivist Roundup is a weekly blog carnival for Objectivists. Contributors must be Objectivists, but posts on any topic are welcome, including posts on food and health.

Rule of Reason hosted this week's Objectivist Roundup. If you're interested in seeing the latest and best from Objectivist bloggers, go take a look!

Also, in my live Philosophy in Action Webcast on Sunday morning, I'll answer questions on SOPA and online piracy, he said/she said accusations of wrongdoing, dealing with temperamental people, judging young adults fairly, and more. As always, it's on Sunday, 15 January 2012 at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET at www.PhilosophyInAction.com. Please join us for this hour of lively discussion, where we apply rational principles to the challenges of living virtuous, happy, and free lives!

Here are the questions that I'll answer this week:

• Question 1: SOPA and Online Piracy: Should SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) be supported or opposed? SOPA was recently introduced to the US House of Representatives, then shelved temporarily, and many people are urging businesses and their representatives to oppose it. Would the bill promote prosperity and creativity by protecting copyright? Or does it justify internet censorship and cripple free access of information through online media?


• Question 2: He Said/She Said Accusations of Wrongdoing: How should a rational person evaluate unproven accusations of serious wrongdoing about people he deals with? I recently heard some information about a business associate's dealings with another of his associates that, if true, would make me reconsider doing business with him. However, his side of the story is that the other person is the one who acted wrongly. This is a serious matter, and it's clear that one or both of them acted very badly, but since I was not personally involved and the only information I have is of a "he said/she said" nature, I am not sure how to decide what I should do. Am I right to consider the information I heard at all, since I can't confirm it?


• Question 3: Dealing with Temperamental People: Should people be willing to "walk on eggshells" around temperamental people? Some people – often very talented – are known to be highly temperamental. They'll explode in anger if others disagree with them, make innocent mistakes, or just act differently than they'd prefer. Is that a moral failing, and if so, what is its source? How should people around them act? When and how much should others try to placate them?


• Question 4: Judging Young Adults Fairly: Is it fair to judge by a person's intellect or other qualities of character purely based on his age? I am 16 and am facing problems with some people who seem to think that my views aren't clear even to me just because "I am a lazy teen with no experience in life." Is that unjust? Should I try to show them they are wrong about me or is it not worth it? If I should try, how might I be effective?

After that, we'll do a round of totally impromptu "Rapid Fire Questions."

If you can't attend the live webcast, you can listen to these webcasts later as audio-only podcasts by subscribing to the RSS feed. You can also listen to full episodes or just selected questions from any past episode in the Webcast Archive, including questions on paleo, nutrition, and health. Finally, don't forget to submit and vote on the questions that you'd most like me to answer from the ongoing Question Queue.

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The Paleo Rodeo #095

Welcome to this week's edition of The Paleo Rodeo!

The Paleo Rodeo is a weekly blog carnival featuring the best paleo-related posts by members of the PaleoBloggers e-mail list. The past editions of the Rodeo are collected on this page.

What is "paleo"? As I say in Modern Paleo Principles:

A "paleo" approach to health uses the evolutionary history of homo sapiens, plus the best of modern science, as a broad framework for guiding daily choices about diet, fitness, medicine, and supplementation. The core of paleo is the diet: it eschews grains, sugars, and modern vegetable oils in favor of high-quality meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

The purpose of The Paleo Rodeo is to highlight some of the best blogging of the ever-growing paleosphere.

Here is this week's edition:

Tony Federico presents Caveman Cuisine: Roasted Beef Ribs posted at FED - Fitness in an Evolutionary Direction, saying, "Strategies for cooking the perfect piece of meat and a delicious recipe too!"

Ruth Almon presents Does Your Bathroom Stink? Don’t Buy Air Freshener. Change Your Diet posted at Ruth's Real Food, saying, "Do you reach for air freshener when things get odorous in the bathroom? That just (sorta) covers up the problem, rather than getting to the heart of the matter - fixing your diet."

Kris presents Keep It Simple, Stupid - Healthy Living Summed up in One Sentence posted at Kris Health Blog, saying, "In this article I do my best to compress all my health advice into a single sentence, short enough to fit in a tweet."

Suz Robinson presents Chicken Stock posted at The Paleo Network, saying, "Homemade Stock doesn't compare to shop-bought versions"

Melissa "Melicious" Joulwan presents Giveaway: US Wellness Meats & Well Fed posted at theclothesmakethegirl, saying, "I teamed up with US Wellness Meats to give away a $100 gift certificate and a signed copy of Well Fed. Entry deadline is midnight Friday 1/13."

Holly presents 6 Strategies To Make Fitness Fun posted at Holly Would If She Could, saying, "The combination of Paleo with a great fitness program is like the combination of dark chocolate + almond butter. :)"

Meghan Little presents Paleo Brownies posted at Paleo Effect, saying, "Our paleo chocolate brownies are moist, grain-free and dairy-free. None of that dry crumbly stuff! Try them with one of our Ice Cream recipes!"

Neely Quinn presents Set Realistic Goals. Win Stuff. posted at Paleo Plan.

Nell Stephenson presents Omega 3 Enriched Eggs - Are They Paleo, and Are They Healthy? posted at Paleoista.

Ute presents What to expect... when you go paleo! posted at GROKette's Primal Musings

Hadass Eviatar presents Paleo posted at My Coat of Many Colours.

Melissa Fritcher presents Detox, Healing Crisis, i.e. WTF!? posted at Less of Mimi, saying, "Detoxing is hard & most people experience some degree of feeling worse before getting better. This week, I posted about my experiences with healing crises."

Megh presents Is It Yoga? Or Yoga Plus Veganism? posted at Yolks, Kefir, and Gristle, saying, "A reasonable question..."

Marc presents Sweet Potato Shrimp Bisque posted at Feel Good Eating, saying, "Delicious and filling...it's soup season."

Amy Kubal presents ‘RD’elusion – Nutrition Pro Questioning Paleo… posted at Robb Wolf, saying, "Talking paleo to a 'non'-paleo nutrition professional."

Diana Hsieh presents Elimination Diet: Weeks 1 and 2 posted at NoodleFood, saying, "My super-strict elimination diet to heal my gut is going quite well! Here's my report on my first two weeks."

Julia Campbell presents perfect roast chicken posted at the crankin' kitchen!, saying, "This is THE best roast chicken recipe. You'll be so impressive."

Cavegirl Kate presents Paleo Buffalo Butternut Squash Lasagna posted at Northwest Cavegirls, saying, "We have always been big lasagna fans in our household. With the caveman hubby and the cave kids to feed, I made it my mission to create a paleo version of one of our favorites. It will be one of yours, too!"

Angie presents Beef and Cabbage Crockpot Stew posted at Angie's Suburban Oasis, saying, "There's nothing better on a cold day than a big bowl of stew. It's especially good if it's ready to eat when you arrive home in the evening having cooked all day in he slow cooker. This stew is a hearty mix of beef, cabbage, carrots and fragrant spices. It will warm you from the inside out!"

Jedha presents What is the paleo diet and lifestyle really about? posted at Paleo Diet Blog.

Vanessa presents The Spice of a Healthy Life posted at Healthy Living How To, saying, "The most common herbs and spices, often added to our favorite dishes for flavor, also have considerable medicinal use. It is likely, these spices and herbs were originally added to foods for this very reason. Most herbal spices aid in digestion as well as prevent and relieve gas. Spices can be used to treat problems from headaches to infection. The next time something ails you, before going to your medicine cabinet, why not give one of these remedies a try."

Eddy presents Furniture Disease posted at Health Freak Revolution, saying, "Do you have it?"

Joe Lindley presents Statin Drug Study Reveals 48% Increased Risk of Diabetes for Women, Lipitor posted at Stop Craving Sugar with a Low Carb Diet Plan or Paleo Diet Plan, saying, "Older women using Statin Drugs like Lipitor may be at a 48% higher risk for becoming Type 2 Diabetics. This result was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and reported by Medpage Today, January 9, 2012. The study didn’t specifically prove that statins cause Diabetes but rather proved that either the use of statins causes Diabetes or that statin use is somehow related to the incidence of Diabetes. Future studies will be needed to prove any cause/effect relationships."

Paul Jaminet presents Around the Web: Epiphany Sunday Edition posted at Perfect Health Diet, saying, "Our weekly round-up features music by IZ, video of the South Pacific, and links to fun and informative pieces from around the Paleosphere."

Scott Lee presents IGF-1 and Animal Protein? Does Eating Meat Cause Cancer? posted at Scott Free Thinking.

Many thanks to the PaleoBloggers who submitted to this edition of the The Paleo Rodeo! This blog carnival has plenty of room to grow! So if you blog on paleo-related matters and you'd like to submit your posts to the carnival, please subscribe to the PaleoBloggers e-mail list. You'll receive instructions and reminders via that list.

Finally, you can find all of the blogs of the PaleoBloggers on this continuously-updated list:
Enjoy!

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Question of the Week: Allergies and Intolerances

The Modern Paleo Question of the Week is:

Do you have any food allergies or intolerances? What are your symptoms? What do you to do avoid those problematic foods?

We want to hear your answer in the comments! You're also welcome to post a comment or question on any other paleo-related topic.

If you'd like to submit a question for an upcoming question of the week, please e-mail me at diana@dianahsieh.com.

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bobotie

On Saturday, as part of my very successfully Christmasy advent activity roster, I went ice skating at the stuffy Denver Country Club for Joe's company's Christmas party. During a rip roaring raucous game of broom ball, I fell backward onto my right wrist. Did I forget to mention that I'm not the best skater? The only way I know how to stop is to run into the rink wall. I really had no business trying to play a game on the ice with some rather skilled skaters... In any case, using a knife to chop anything harder than an onion is pretty much horrible. Enter bobotie. Like the best meatloafy dish known to man, and which also includes minimal chopping. It's an iconic South African dish that is served with this glorious chutney that I kind of cooked to a hard candy because I decided I wanted to take a bath and may or may not have completely forgotten that I was reducing the sauce on the stove top.

I don't know much at all about South African food. I knew one guy from South Africa and I thought he was the worst person ever. But I like bobotie, so my thoughts on the country are turning a little. Not only is it a curry-spiced hunk of ground meat studded with dried fruit, but it's topped with an egg custard. If you aren't as poor as me, you will make this out of lamb. Or even a mixture of beef and lamb. Usually I seem to be able to find ground lamb on sale at my grocery store - the this-is-about-to-go-bad kind of sale. But there was none of that when I went shopping for this. I did get grass-fed ground beef for $3.97/lb. Thought that was decent. This will be so so so so so good with lamb. I love lamb. (PS please get me a microplane for Christmas, thanks God. And Tebow.)

This blog post is getting a little tiresome already, since typing is rather a chore with a bruised and banged up wrist that intensely dislikes being rotated inward to type on the keyboard. And since I intensely dislike trying to type with one hand, I'm overriding my wrist just enough to get this post out. There aren't going to be more stories of my advent activities (and oh they've been fun! cookies! Christmas karaoke! homemade candles!) or some history of bobotie (which Lion keeps trying to suggest as "bootie" and makes me laugh every time). So here goes...

bobotie
adapted from Rainbow Cuisine: A Culinary Journey Through South Africa by Lannice Snyman, serves 6-8

1 tablespoon butter, plus more for greasing
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 lbs ground lamb or beef, or a mixture of the two
1/4 cup whole milk
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces dried apricots, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple peeled, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 1/2 ounces chopped or slivered roasted almonds
6 lemon, orange, or bay leaves (if you can't find fresh, use dried bay leaves)

topping
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9x13 casserole.

2. Heat butter and oil in a medium saucepan and sauté until the onion is translucent. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric, and cook briefly until fragrant. Remove the pot from heat and mix in the ground meat.

3. In a small bowl, mix together milk, lemon zest and juice, egg, salt, pepper, apricots, apple, golden raisins, and almonds. Add to the meat mixture and and mix in.

4. Add contents of the saucepan into your prepared casserole. Roll up the leaves, or not, if they're dried bay leaves, and bury them at regular intervals. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 1/4 hours.

5. Increase heat to 400 degrees. Thoroughly whisk together the topping milk, eggs, and salt, and pour over the casserole. Bake uncovered for 15 more minutes until the custard is cooked and lightly browned.

If you want to serve this with the chutney, here is the recipe. It's called blatjang.

2 ounces dried apricots, chopped
2 ounces golden raisins
3 cups wine or cider vinegar
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/4 pound honey
1 1/2 ounces chopped almonds
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 tablespoons ground coriander
1/2 tablespoons mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoons chili powder

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat, over medium heat, until liquid is reduced to about 1/3. Stir frequently toward the end.

The recipe I got this from was more involved - calling for overnight soaking of the fruit, etc. I think the easy way is probably just fine. I'm sorry if I'm greatly wrong... I mean, I don't really know what I would have created, had I not made candy.

This was originally posted at my blog, the crankin' kitchen!

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