Hey it is Wednesday, the kids are hungry, feed them maybe? (thank you Carly Rae Jepsen)

I am tired… Between my youngest turning 9, a freshman in marching band, teaching elementary kids to cook, oh and that pesky 40 hours a week that I have to spend making money… I am plum tuckered out! 

What about you? Are you so busy that drive through, or frozen dinners are looking better and better? I do occasionally take the family out for dinner just because it would be too much work to go home, find something to cook, blah blah blah… but I usually have some quick and easy dinner ideas up my sleeve.

This week I made a Boston butt (that is a pork shoulder roast). I took the time on Sunday to put it in the oven on about 275 degrees (after a quick dry rub) and then I went about my business until the internal thermometer started ringing. It was done and chopped about 9 pm, but I was able to divide it out into lunch portions for my wife and I and then we also had a great meal last night by re-purposing the delicious swine. I basically tossed the chopped pieces with a spice rub and put it in the oven (400 degrees) for about 20 minutes, cooked some frozen vegetables and dinner was done. 

By the way did you know that you can play the card game WAR at the dinner table and count it as math homework? I lost every single hand…

My point is that if you take a few minutes to think about your week, and decide what you can do, then you can prepare ahead of time and save yourself some time!

You could cook a turkey while the game is one and then use it all week in different recipes, from soup to potpies, or the ever popular turkey sandwich.

Brisket, pork roast, pot roasts, chicken, turkey, and ham are all examples of meal planners. You can make a low investment on one afternoon, and then have some go to ideas for the busy times.

Quick prep Boston Butt:

7-9 pound pork shoulder (Boston Butt)

Tin foil

For the spice rub mix together:

½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup kosher salt,  ¼ cup paprika, 2 tablespoons granulated garlic,

1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon cinnamon (or make your own version)

Preheat oven to 225 degrees

Rub spice mixture all over roast until it is covered completely. Place roast on rack in a foil covered pan. Place in oven for 9-10 hours (I sometimes cook them over night). The internal temperature should be between 180 and 200 degrees. At 180 the roast is done, tender, juicy and delicious, at 200 degrees the roast will shred in to pulled pork. Your choice!

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Go cook something! Trace

I am eating like a caveman...

I know that some of you that have had the pleasure of sharing a table are not surprised by this revelation... but I am talking about the food, not the way I look when I eat it!

Primal, paleo, caveman... (insert Tim "The toolman" Taylor grunts here) is a change from the way most of our country eats. 

Food that “Grok the caveman”* would not eat: Flour, oats, refined sugar, pasta, processed food, high starch vegetables, beans (including peanuts), etc…

Food that “Grok the caveman”* would eat: Meat (grass fed beef, pork, chicken, fish), low starch vegetables, mushrooms, tree nuts, unsweetened coconut, butter, etc.

Fruit is allowed in moderation as well, making this a fairly low carb plan. Which is good for me as a diabetic (type II)… but traditional dietary guidelines would say that I need grains, and I need to cut out/limit beef, coconut, butter, etc. 

For every study that you can find that shows that high fat diets are bad for you, we can find a study that shows that high carbohydrate diets are just as bad… I think it comes down to you.. yes you! Take some time, determine what foods agree with you, what foods make you feel bad, adjust and keep moving forward. I would have never thought that wheat was giving me any trouble, but when I stopped eating it, I stopped taking ibuprofen every day for my aching joints… 

(http://nourishedkitchen.com/against-the-grain-10-reasons-to-give-up-grains/ check out number 4).

Is it easy? Ummmm kinda-ish? It is easy at times, at home, I have a reasonable portion of beef, or pork, and a side dish of cauliflower (mashed, or roasted, or steamed… ), but when I try to eat at a restaurant it becomes more difficult.. I have to order foods that are not easy to hide ingredients in (order 2 eggs over medium and you get two eggs, order and omelet and you could wind up with pancake batter to make them fluffier).  

Snacking is interesting, because I love peanut butter, and that is technically roasted bean paste… but there are alternatives such as almond butter, eggplant dip, etc.

The screams I hear are: No cereal? No pasta? No convenience foods? My response… quit your bellyachin’! Give it a try, do some research and maybe you will find a better way to fuel your body… 

Check out a couple of these sites for inspiration:

www.againstallgrain.com

www.marksdailyapple.com *(creator of Grok the caveman)

www.nomnompaleo.com

Let me know if you are trying something.. and I will be posting some ideas and recipes soon on www.cookingwithtrace.com

Now go forage something.. Trace