Slow-Cooker Short Ribs

If I had to pick one food to write a love song to, it would probably be short ribs. I just found out about them a couple of years ago when I ordered them at a restaurant expecting spareribs, and was surprised that the meltingly tender meat I received had no bones at all. The texture of short ribs feels so deluxe if you're used to steak or ground beef. I can't get enough!

You can buy boneless or bone-in short ribs. I usually buy bone-in because I think cooking with the bones in gives the meat extra flavor. They can be served on the bone, like in this recipe for kratiem prik thai short ribs, or off the bone, shredded, like I've done here.

Easy Baked Chicken with Sherry Vinaigrette

Remember my rant about chicken breasts from last week?

I may have to retract some of it. After accidentally buying chicken breasts when I thought I was buying thighs, I was forced to give my least favorite cut of chicken another chance. Spoiler alert: it came out really well!

This baked chicken is really easy to make and stays moist thanks to a quick vinaigrette and a piece of parchment paper tucked around it when it cooks. It's great for adding to salads, tossing with some zoodles, or just eating plain with a side of veggies. I tossed a couple of handfuls of greens with some extra sherry vinaigrette, sliced up half an avocado, and enjoyed my chicken in this simple salad.

Today I also wanted to let you all know about an awesome program called Paleo Rehab. Laura Schoenfeld of ancestralizeme.com and Kelsey Marksteiner of healthyguthealthylife.com, both registered dieticians, developed this comprehensive program to help people suffering from adrenal fatigue. (If you're not familiar with adrenal fatigue, some of the symptoms are brain fog and persistent lack of energy. Check out the paleo rehab site to learn more!)

The program is on sale with a special bonus until May 4th--in addition to the videos, meal plans, and worksheets included in Paleo Rehab, you'll get exclusive access to office hours with Laura and Kelsey twice a week. If you're eating a paleo diet, getting enough sleep, and still feeling exhausted, this program could be perfect for you. (I'm a paleo rehab affiliate and also contributed one of my recipes to the program.)

Burmese Chile Prawns with Cucumber and Avocado Salad

Are you fast in the kitchen? I'm super slow. No matter how much I wish I could be an ingredient ninja, I just can't seem to get things located and prepped very quickly. I took a knife skills class a few months ago, which helped a little, but I think the issue stems more from disorganization than a lack of dexterity.

I'm working on making more 30-minute paleo dinners to share here on A Calculated Whisk. To make sure I'm representing things accurately, I time myself as I cook, which really highlights my lack of culinary efficiency. For this recipe, I started timing, assembled most of the ingredients for the marinade, and then realized I couldn't find a sharp knife to cut the lime in half. I paused the timer while I located a chef's knife and washed it, because I thought you, my wonderful readers, were likely to already have a clean knife on hand. Several other misplaced items and dirty dishes slowed me down and I didn't stop the timer every time, but I still managed to make this meal in JUST over 30 minutes (if you're making rice, you may need an extra 3-5 minutes to get that measured and set up).

So, even if you're less than speedy in the kitchen, like me, you can have this dinner on your plate in just about half an hour.

Today's recipe comes from Sue at Couscous and Consciousness. I was assigned her blog for this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal, and had so much fun browsing through her delicious recipes. (I was also excited to read that Sue is a yoga teacher. I love yoga and have been trying to do at least a few sun salutations every morning. I wish I could take a class with Sue, but she lives in New Zealand, so it would be quite a commute.)

Sue's food is colorful, creative, and usually on the lighter side, so there were a lot of tempting options to choose from. She also has many internationally inspired dishes, which makes browsing her site really fun. For this month's reveal, top contenders included bengali aloo with lemon turmeric aioli, roasted apricot gelato, and plum and cardamon cake. Even though I'm not much of a salad person at all, I also found myself wanting to try this salmon with green tea soba noodle, broad bean, and radish salad and this watermelon and feta salad with preserved lemon dressing.

Crispy Chicken with Spring Vegetables

Remember when Dorothy threw a bucket of water on the Wicked Witch of the West? And the witch screamed in agony: "I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a world!" 

As I walked to the train station yesterday afternoon, I could almost hear my city's dirty snow screaming the exact same thing. Boston is not free of snow yet, but we sure have a lot less of it.

The thaw seemed like my cue to start celebrating spring in the kitchen by making a dish with bright green veggies. For the protein I went with crispy chicken thighs, because truly crispy chicken skin is the best thing ever. Ben only likes skin-on chicken when it's as crunchy as possible and not moist at all, so I practiced and practiced and now have my routine for chicken-crisping down pat.

Here's how you do it: sear the chicken skin side down in a very hot skillet for a little longer than it seems like you should, and then flip it over and finish it in a 450 degree oven. While the chicken roasts, you'll have just enough time to fry some bacon and chop your veggies. Then, while the chicken rests, the vegetables cook in the fat from the chicken infused with a bit of lemon.

Vietnamese Caramelized Pork Meatball "Vermicelli" Bowls

My favorite thing to order at our local Vietnamese restaurant is bún chả, a bowl of vermicelli topped with pickled vegetables, peanuts, and grilled sliced pork or pork meatballs, served with a generous bowl of nước chấm (sweet fish sauce) on the side. This paleo version hits all the right notes without refined sugar, legumes, or actual vermicelli--the noodles are spaghetti squash instead! I'm not always a fan of swapping spaghetti squash for regular noodles, but it really works in this dish. There are so many flavors and textures intermingling that the squash flies almost completely under the radar.

The star of this bowl is the caramelized pork meatballs, which are by far the best meatballs I've ever made. Last time I attempted Vietnamese pork it was delicious, but nowhere near as good as what I've had in restaurants. I wasn't sure how to get that unique flavor--the one that's at once almost too sweet and almost too savory, but actually just perfect. Then, while doing a little online research, I came across this recipe from Saveur, which involved a very surprising step.

I never would have tried the technique advised in the recipe if it hadn't come from such a trusted source, because it sounds totally ridiculous. Luckily enough for me and you, though, I did try it, and it was just the ticket. Buckle your seat belts, folks, because we are going to MAKE CARAMEL and put it in the meatballs.

Yup.

THAT is what I mean by "caramelized".

Pesto Frittata

I'm finished with the first week of my Whole30, and feeling pretty great.  You can see almost every delicious thing I've eaten over on Instagram--I've been having so much fun trying out new recipes and revisiting old favorites.  Doing a challenge like this really gets the creativity flowing!

So far I'm breezing through each day without craving any off-plan foods--I even survived a friend's birthday party last night without any serious yearnings for the cake, cookies, booze, or tortilla chips that everyone else was enjoying.  I sipped on seltzer with lime, snacked on mixed nuts, and felt pretty darn virtuous.

Roasted Jerk Chicken with Carrots and Potatoes

As winter settles in, I'm trying to remain focused on the few cold-weather activities I actually enjoy-- namely, roasting things, making hot drinks, and baking cookies. (Don't even try to get me excited about skiing, snowboarding, or sledding. I'll just meet up with you in the lodge for some hot chocolate when you're done freezing your nose and toes on the frigid slopes.)

There is one other winter activity I enjoy, though, and that is going on Caribbean vacations. I don't have the money for a trip anywhere warm this year, but Ben and I had an amazing time in Jamaica year before last. Today we relived some of those good times by eating this paleo roasted jerk chicken with carrots and potatoes. It's no trip to the islands, but it does taste really good.

Galician Greens

My mom is from Texas, and I lived there for four years, so I am a bit of a Southern girl at heart.  I like fried okra, really hot weather, and smiling at people I don't know (not as much of a thing here in Boston, unfortunately).

As a true Texan, my mom gets really excited about greens, but I was never able to share in her excitement until now.  When I was a kid she often worked to recreate the greens my grandmother used to make, which started with salt pork and reportedly ended up as a fabulous and memorable side dish.  I never had the chance to try my grandmother's greens, so I can't really say how my mom's versions compared, but as a child I felt exasperation and dread whenever my mother picked up those gargantuan leaves at the store.  I just didn't like collard greens.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Do you like cilantro?  It's my favorite herb by far, and I love it because it's capable of totally perking up almost any food, both in flavor and appearance.  If you're a cilantro hater, though, you're definitely not alone.  According to The New York Times, many people's aversion to cilantro may be due to the fragrance of certain substances in the herb that are also found in soap and bugs.  (Make sure to read through until the end of the article, when the author describes how he converted himself into a cilantro lover.  Here's one hint: this recipe of mine might be a good place to start.)

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog Angels Homestead.  It's written by April, a mom, homesteader, and frugal cooking expert who was the owner of the SRC for several years.  April recently began cooking without grains for health reasons, and you can read a bit about her story here.  Everything I make is grain free, so I was excited to find many recipes on April's site that fit my dietary requirements.  I was also excited to find several recipes featuring cilantro, my go-to herb.  I can only assume that April must be a fellow cilantro fan!

Squash Noodles with Everything Pesto (and an egg on top)

It has been a very long time since I've posted a recipe, and I'm hoping these squash noodles with everything pesto and a fried egg on top will at least partly make up for it.  Things have been busy at school, and it's getting harder and harder to blog often and stay on top of my readings and projects.  However, I am sure you do not want to hear about that.  I bet you'd rather hear about this brunch (dinner? lunch? midnight snack?) recipe that's paleo, grain-free, vegetarian, and ridiculously delicious.

I have to admit that I was unsatisfied with zoodles (zucchini + noodles = zoodles) for a long time, due mostly to unrealistic expectations.  Anyone who tells you that zoodles taste just like regular pasta is either totally lying or has a vastly different palate from mine.  You can't expect these to taste like linguine.

Mocha Pistachio Ice Cream (Dairy Free, Coconut Free)

Sadly, it turns out that I'm allergic to coconut.

This is especially devastating because coconut is the miracle food source of the paleo world.  Coconut milk, sugar, flour, oil, and butter are all delicious, and do an impressive job of standing in for their non-paleo counterparts.  

I can't help but wonder if my sudden increase in coconut intake during my January Whole30 was what caused my allergy to surface.  But, no matter the cause, I won't be partaking in any coconut anytime soon.  Eating raw coconut makes me feel awful, and my doctor told me not to eat cooked coconut either unless I first sit through a challenge test in his office.  The test would consist of me bringing in some food with cooked coconut in it, eating it one bite at a time, and seeing if I go into anaphylactic shock or anything.  I told him no thanks for now.

10 Paleo Recipes for Summertime Celebrations

Summer has finally (and suddenly) arrived in Boston, so it's probably time to have a party.  Here are ten paleo recipes I recommend for meeting all manner of summer celebration needs, from "What can I do with all these flag toothpicks from my mother?" to "How can I sneak coffee and/or balsamic vinegar into recipes that don't normally call for them?"

Those are the kinds of dilemmas you're grappling with, right?

I am always on the lookout for more ideas, and hearing from you makes my day.  Share what you're planning to make (or just eat) in the comments, or let me know what kinds of recipes you'd like to see on A Calculated Whisk in July and August!

If you're looking a show-stopping drink that's delicious with or without alcohol, you will love the Blackberry Smash.

Monkfish with Lemongrass-Scallion Sauce + Ozeri Green Earth Pan Review

Disclosure: I received this product as part of an advertorial.

Have you ever tried monkfish?  It's also known as "poor man's lobster", and it's a mild, firm, white fish that won't fall apart when you cook it.  I am calling it "starving grad student lobster", and it's my new favorite fish.  Inspired by the color of my new Ozeri Green Earth pan, I smashed lemongrass, scallions, olive oil, and pepper into a paste for the sauce.  This stuff will make you pucker your lips after the first bite and want to lick your bowl after the last.

In addition to being a wonderful, mood-lifting shade of chartreuse, the Green Earth pan is special because of its health- and eco-friendly design.  The nonstick ceramic coating is free of PTFE and PFOA, so it won't release harmful chemicals.  The bottom of the pan has a raised honeycomb pattern that enables you to cook with very little oil and makes sure that nothing sticks to the pan.  You can find out more about Ozeri's products on their site.

Bacon, Arugula, and Avocado Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette

My last post was about inspiration, and this one is about exhaustion.  Not the discouraging kind of exhaustion that makes you feel like there's no end in sight, but the kind of exhaustion that leaves you cheerfully spent at the end of the day--content, but without much left to offer.

I started my first external placement for graduate school last week, and I'm in schools working with kids and teachers four days a week for ten hours a day.  (In case you haven't heard me mention it, I'm working on a master's in speech and language pathology with dual certification as a reading specialist).  I am learning and doing so much that I do not know where to put all my thoughts and ideas.  I have plenty of notebooks and folders, but there's not enough space and time to capture everything I want to hold onto.  Do you ever feel that way?  Please tell me about your own exhaustion in the comments so I can feel a little less alone!

Pico de gallo de frutas

After I graduated from college, I moved to Houston and became a bilingual teacher.  I had the most amazing group of students, and was lucky enough to be their teacher for three years in a row: kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.  We spoke Spanish almost all day, except for an hour or so of ESL.  Their kindergarten year was my first year of teaching, as well as my first year living far away from home.  While those things made it a difficult year for me, my kids and their families were absolutely fabulous.  A lot of people may say this, but I truly think I could not have asked for a better group of students.  They worked as a team almost from the beginning--embracing me, each other, and all the new students that trickled in (and sometimes out, and sometimes back again) over the course of our three years together.  They were unbelievably kind, patient, tolerant, bright, and hilarious.

At the end of three years, I had learned a huge amount of Spanish (I had thought I was fluent before taking the job, but the Spanish spoken in Texas is so different from what I'd practiced while studying abroad in Argentina that I had to learn new words for much of what I wanted to say).  Most of them had learned a huge amount of English, and had learned to read in both languages.  I had also learned so much about teaching, about children and families, and about life.  I know that sounds very expansive, but it was a foundational experience for me, and I think of those kids and their families almost everyday.  Shockingly (to me, because it makes me feel so old), they're in middle school now, and I'm happy to still be in touch with several of them.

Sweet Potato & Crispy Kale Breakfast Skillet

It took me a really long time to jump on the kale bandwagon, but now I'm hooked.  I see it at the grocery store and it's so affordable, so curly, and so healthy looking that I have to buy it.  The flavor of kale takes a little getting used to, but I've found that when it's crispy and/or cooked with garlic, even haters will happily chomp on it.  This recipe delivers on both counts, and also offsets the leafy kale with sweet potatoes and perfectly-cooked eggs.  You start the breakfast skillet on the stove, pan-roasting the sweet potatoes with chopped red onion until they're tender.  The garlic and kale are tossed in and stir-fried just for a minute.  Next, you make four little wells amongst the veggies, crack an egg into each one, and then pop the skillet into the broiler.  In just a few minutes, the eggs cook and the kale crisps up just like kale chips.  You are going to love it!

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Passover starts tonight, and if you have your big seder this evening, I realize I may be getting this dessert idea out too late.  However, it never hurts to have a delicious kosher for Passover snack cake on hand for days 2-8, right?  This cake would also be perfect for Easter--since I celebrate both holidays, I'm planning on making this again next weekend and dressing it up with some eggs and/or bunnies.

This cake is delicious: moist, tender, and perfectly lemony.  I couldn't taste the olive oil, but I think it adds some hard-to-pinpoint depth to the overall flavor of the cake, and it's nice to know you're baking with a healthy, dairy-free cooking fat.  The glaze is cashew-based, but I worked hard to make honey and lemon the prominent flavors, so I think people who don't know cashews are the main ingredient won't be able to figure it out.

Cashew Chicken with Asparagus & Shiitake Mushrooms

It's finally spring, which means it's asparagus time.  I love asparagus, and usually just roast it or dip it raw into some hummus.  This time I decided to change things up and add it to a paleo version of one of my favorite Chinese stir-fries, cashew chicken.  I love the taste of roasted cashews coated in a savory sauce, and crisp asparagus spears add another level of freshness and flavor.  The shiitake mushrooms and a tiny bit of fish sauce give this recipe plenty of umami, which really takes things over the top. (Are you as obsessed with shiitake mushrooms as I am?  You could use any mushroom in a recipe like this, but I find the meaty flavor and tender texture of shiitakes totally irresistible.)

Slow-Cooker Carnitas Lettuce Wraps with Pineapple & Avocado Salsa

Ben is out of town this week, so I have been left to my own devices.  Last night I got home and decided to read the first chapter or two of the kids' novel Because of Winn-Dixie, which I needed to preview before using it in a lesson.  Turns out the book is really good, and also a bit sad.  A girl named India Opal, whose mother left when she was little, moves to Naomi, Florida with her dad and ends up adopting a stray dog who helps her make all kinds of interesting friends.  Each friend has their own poignant story.  I may have ended up crying several times (just enough to need a tissue, not straight-up bawling), and finishing the whole book in less than two hours.  Now, that's what I call a fun evening!  Tonight I might watch the film version.

Sweet Potato & Roasted Garlic Hummus

Is it spring yet?  It's still freezing here.  Also, yesterday was so windy that I ended up getting dust and tiny pebbles blown into my eyes several times during my ten-minute walk to the train.  A little early-spring sandstorm right here in Boston.  Needless to say, I was not a fan.

I'm trying to keep my food springy, in hopes that the weather will follow suit.  So, here is some paleo (chickpea-free) hummus.  It's a little sweet from the sweet potato, but with lots of savory flavor from the tahini, a whole head of roasted garlic, and some garlic-infused olive oil.  Don't be intimidated by the large quantity of garlic--it mellows out as it roasts, and the flavor is amazing.  Your house will smell amazing, too.