I'm Back!! And back to bidnezzz

Sorry about the huge gap in posts. I've been fighting sickness for about 3 months now and I spent most of my Saturday and Sunday in bed. But let's get back at it!

How was your first week? Are you still feeling the blues? Mine went pretty well considering I was unconscious for two days. And I did do some cooking!

Paleo meat balls, marinara and meat sauce. Bam!

So I don't normally measure things out. I do pretty well on smell and taste and since everyone smells and tastes things differently, I like to leave the amounts up to the cook.

First off, meatballs!
Ground beef 1 lb (the only thing I measured)
Parsley
Chopped garlic sauteed until soft in grass fed butter
Eggs x 2
Freshly ground pepper (Pre ground peppers has flour in it to separate the pepper grinds. Flour = Gluten = NO!)
Sea salt
Granulated onion

Set your oven at 350 and cook until brown.

Walah!

Ok, so you might freak out/throw up in your mouth a little bit so you've been warned. You might ask "Tara, how do you know what amount of each ingredient is enough? I can't smell it and I'm sure as hell not gonna taste it!" Well I do. I've been fed raw meatball mix since I was in utero. My mom said she didn't start eating it until she was pregnant with me, and neither of us has stopped. In fact, my whole family does it. Thats how primal we are.

Another question you might be pondering. "Tara, your balls are so round and uniform. How did you do that??"

That's right. An ice cream scoop. Learn about it!

Marinara & Meat Sauce

First off, if you buy store bought marinara, shame on you. It's the easiest thing in the world to make.

Tomatoes- depending on how paleo you are will depend on what type of tomatoes you use. No matter what, canned tomatoes have preservatives in them. Period. But if you don't have time to do the other method (I'll explain shortly) buying whole peeled canned tomatoes is fine. Puree them in your blender or food processor to your liking and throw it in the pot. If you are down right dirty paleo, here's what you can do. Take you fresh tomatoes and throw them on the bbq. Thats it! This softens the tomatoes and makes them very easy to puree in the blender. Time will vary depending on the size of the tomato and the temperature of the bbq. I'd say medium heat to be safe.

So you have your tomatoes, now what? And this is where I say "what ever the fuck you want!"
Oregano
Basil
Parsley
Garlic
Onion
Carrots
Whatever!

Again, this is going to be towards your taste appeal. Want it thicker? Add some tomato paste. Want it spicy? Add some crushed red pepper. The one thing I do suggest is staying away from "combo" spices. Ones that say "Italian Seasoning" or "Seafood herbs & spices". The fact is you really don't know what seasoning, herbs and spices really are. Like already ground pepper, there could be flour or god only knows what else added to the main ingredients.

The top one is marinara, the bottom is a meat sauce. I tell people "Cook it until it almost looks orange." This get the fullest flavor our of the tomatoes. And constantly stir it! You don't want a burnt bottom. Or maybe you do...

I think thats enough for now. I'll give you guys all a talking to at the gym and see when we want to have our next paleo get together. I did manage to do some shopping today.

6 dozen eggs + 4lbs of bacon= $17.98 at costco. Well worth the $40 a year membership...that my dad pays..