Happy Pi Day.

3.14159265348979323846246433832

That how much of pi I remember offhand. I dont even know if that is correct!

Well I wish I had a pie for you on pi day, but alas... I did not cook a pie. Or a cake. Or even anything circular.

Here's to hoping you had some delicious pie on pi day!

Almost primal dinner... not so primal dessert.

Since I have committed to being primal (Well, aaaalmost... I still drink raw milk and eat raw cheese but that's better than the reg stuff. I eat a lot less now than I did, but I'm not supposed to have it at all. Take away breads and sugar and all that but don't effing touch my cheese!) I have eased into it. I still eat fruits and sometimes some beans or sweet potatoes or banana, but it still puts me in the under 80g a day area so its cool. Getting rid of refined stuff was easy... too easy...? Usually, no carbs besides veg, fruit and milk. I do participate in the DB Challenges still, but I usually give the goodies away. I dont have a big sweet tooth, its always been like that. These pics are from a while ago, as I am trying to put up all my back-logged stuff.

So, here are a couple mostly primal dinners for you and a def not primal dessert.

Duck with blueberry-orange sauce, roasted blood oranges, sweet potato latkes and asparagus.
Got the idea from Jennifer McLagan's book Fat. Its a book all about using animal fats to cook, which is way better than veg oil. Lots of great recipes and ideas. I recommend you check it out!
Her recipe features duck breast with blackberries. Well, duck beast is expensive, so I went with legs. Also I have a big Tupperware in the freezer full of blueberries from last year so I used some of those. I never follow recipes anyway, I just use them for ideas.

Duck legs, ready to score (with a very sharp knife).

Blueberries out of the freezer. Starting blueberry sauce, saute shallots.

Grated sweet potato, egg whites, coconut flour and cardamom for the latkes.
Seared duck.

Sauce coming together.

Roasted blood oranges with salt and pepper.

Duck leg covered in orange-blueberry sauce, roasted blood oranges, sweet potato latkes

with sour cream and asparagus cooked with a little lemon and pepper.

Now onto the not primal dessert I made this with a friend in mind who was going through a difficult time. It was very good (yeah I had a bite) and still featured the orange-bluberry theme, haha.

Orange and blueberry bread pudding with slivered almonds.

The last primal dinner of this post. Got the idea from Use Real Butter when she did this with boursin. I had goat cheese so I used that.

Goat cheese, basil and spinach chicken with mushrooms, broccoli and asparagus (with homemade butter).

Review: Tim Tam (Slam)!

If you have not discovered Tim Tams, GO OUT RIGHT NOW TO FIND THEM! They are only available at Target (tar-jay) so hit up your local Target and do yourself a favor. These are now my favorite cookie! Thank you, Australia!

Tim Tam Slam: Also known as the TIM TAM Suck or TIM TAM Bomb. Grab a Tim Tam and a warm drink (coffee, milo or tea). Nibble both ends off the biscuit and use it as a straw for your drink. When its saturated, quickly SLAM it in your gob before it falls apart. It can get kinda messy, but who cares when it tastes that GOOD! <--- True story.

Yours truly performing a Tim Tam Slam, but with milk... yeah I know I look like I have an extra chromosome. I cant help it.

Britny doing the same. Roffles.

Packaging.
Choc on left, caramel on right.
YUMMMM.

So I know I am on the Primal blueprint, but sometimes you just have to eat three cookies when you find out they are on limited release in the USA. I don't stray very often with my food, (though looking at my blog you would think I am heading straight down the diabetes highway) I usually get my carbs through fruit and milk (ah mi gawd I love milk), and maybe once every couple weeks I eat a cookie. Or a small slice of bday cake. Not too bad. Easy to keep going because I don't flip out about it. Now I just need to work out. Hmph. Back to the cookies...

The cookies are super yummy. I thought I would like the caramel ones better but the choc ones were simple and tasty. Plus when you're doing a Tim Tam Slam with something cold (i.e. milk) the caramel in the middle gets all hard. I should have learned my lesson with Hobnobs...

Tim Tam = Yum Num.

Caramel Sauce: How to?

Caramel Sauce! For my February Daring Bakers Challenge I made a caramel sauce to go with the cake we made. I thought I would show how to make it.

Caramel Sauce
1.5 c sugar
2 T H2O
2 T butter
3/4 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
1. Heat sugar and water in a pan over medium heat, swirling occasionally. DO NOT STIR: if you stir the sugar could re-crystallize and you will end up with something like this (Dave really is a great cook, but don't stir it. Don't.).
2. When the sugar melts it should be about the consistency of clear maple syrup. It will turn brown. This happens very fast, and it will burn if you aren't vigilant. Once you see a little teeny hint of brown do not leave it alone. Just gently swirl the pan. When its a dark amber color add the butter. Stir gently (okay, NOW you can stir). Remove from heat.
3. Add the heavy cream and stir. It will bubble a lot, so be careful.
4. Add vanilla and salt.
5. Done. Store in fridge and just microwave when you're ready for it to be warm and gooey. Its pretty simple but for a more detailed description go here.

Sugar melted and liquid.

First hint of color. After about 30 seconds.

Another few seconds.

And another few seconds.

Add the butter, remove from heat, then add the cream.

Stirring it in.

Yummy nummy sauce. Add the vanilla and the salt. Done.

Closeup of finished sauce being drizzled.