Slow Cookin' My Way to Delicious

I know, I know--it's been awhile. In the last recipe post I made: Broiled Bacon-Fat Smeared Broccolini, I made the case for how I eat so simply, there's no recipe required. When you are eating meals with simply a meat, a vegetable, and some fat, there's not much to blog about. The old standbys of carnitas, grass-fed beef steaks, grass-fed beef burgers, rotisserie chicken, and turkey breast are all my go-tos. And that's okay. Most of us don't live our lives with something new at every meal. If you like something, you eat it often until you get sick of it. Most people rotate their meals around just a few different varieties. And that's okay as long as you're trying to get a good variety of healthy foods on your rotation. If a recipe is good enough to keep your attention and appetite for quite some time, that's a winner!

Since I HATE cooking late in the evening when I get home after work, I've found myself relying on store bought meals too often. Sure, they can be satisfying paleo-style eats, but it gets tiresome and expensive. I was looking for something new to try when slow cookers caught my eye. I had always thought of them as a fire hazard and never dreamed of leaving something plugged in and cooking all day alone with the cats while I was out and about. But then I realized I could cook something overnight and everything changed. I went with Consumer Search reviews and bought a slow cooker.

Wow, with just a little prep at night and no fuss cooking while I'm sleeping, I have food for a good few days. And the best part--it's freakin' delicious!

My first recipe was a chicken following fellow paleo/primal blogger (who btw is awesome--check out the linked website for fantastic recipes!) The Nutty Kitchen's recipe for Crock Pot Spiced Whole Chicken. OMG it was amazing!  I loved the spice combination and the hearty stew-like sauce it made without any added liquid.  You HAVE to try this recipe!  I fell head over heels for my slow cooker :)

My second attempt was a pot roast. I was thinking of doing onion soup since the onions came out so terrific in the chicken recipe, but onions and I have a hard time getting along. I've tried glasses, contacts, and even my old chemistry goggles, but I still have a hard time cutting them or even being the house with them once they are cut.  I am streaming for the rest of the evening while dinner cooks, even if I wasn't even in the room while they were being cut.  Not fun.

So I had a defrosted Morris Grassfed chuck roast and not much else.  Time to pull something together: MacGyver-style.  Since I had recently marinated a grass-fed flank steak in cilantro and lime juice, I had some leftover limes and chopped cilantro. We always have some coconut milk lurking around the cabinets, so that was an easy pairing for a coconut curry. Thai red curry paste was hiding in the fridge and I had just enough to create a little paste. The garlic packets are now my go-to for easy garlic prep (don't hate me). I threw everything in and realized I forgot to cut the roast to get more flavor into the thick hunk of meat. So sliced it in the pot (carefully! without scratching the pot), rubbed it all around with my hands to moosh the milk and seasoning all together into all the nooks and crannies, then closed the lid.  It took all of five minutes. Yay!

I looked at the slow cooker directions for chuck roast and decided it was somewhere between beef roast (which was 4hrs on Low) and brisket (which was 8hrs on Low). Six hours was perfectly tender and cooked with an aroma that filled the house, giving the "OMG that smells so good it made me hungry" response from my husband every time he went outside and came back inside.  Cool!

That lasted us a good week having it sporadically with lunches and dinners so as not to get tired of it. The sauce was AMAZING sopped up in cilantro-lime cauliflower rice and served in a bowl with a spoon like a stew.  I even sopped it up with broiled bacon-fat smeared broccolini (I could have that every dinner)!  So we tried the recipe a second time, being more diligent with the prep and using a different, tougher cut of meat to see how it works and....perfection! The roast is outstanding once again. Try it yourself!

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Pot Roast
Lip-smacking delicious--this is juicy, tender, shred-able beef fit for a feast!


Prep Time: 5-10min
Cooking Time: 6hrs on Low (or according to your own slow cooker's directions)

Ingredients:
1 can of coconut milk (NOT light)
1/2 bunch of washed, chopped cilantro
1-2 limes, juiced
2T Thai red curry paste (make sure the ingredients fit the bill, I used Thai Kitchen brand)
3 packets (more or less, your choice) of garlic (or about 20+ cloves)
3-4 (or more) -lb grass-fed beef roast (sirloin and chuck have worked well), deeply scored for more surface area
NOTE: despite being a curry, this one is very mild on the spiciness--if you want to liven it up, try adding some heat yourself (more/hotter curry paste, hot peppers, cayenne, etc.).

Method:
After you have the ingredients prepped, make a paste of the curry and lime juice so you can smear it over the roast (nooks and crannies too!).  Add the garlic and insert into the deep cuts in the roast (it'll melt like but-tah--oh yeah!).  Sprinkle on the cilantro and shove some in the pockets of the roast.  Now pour on the coconut milk.  Lid.  Walk away for six hours and return to deliciousness!

Note: most slow cookers change to warm after their cook time, so it's best to make this right before you go to bed.  Then, when you wake up, you can turn it off and cool it on the counter before whacking it in the refrigerator before you leave for work.  When you return home, the sauce will have congealed a bit, but some heat will melt it all back into a savory, deliciously rich sauce and warm that meat for shred-able delight.  Serve with a spoon as a stew or over Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice (recipe below) to sop up that flavor.  Yum!

Leftovers will last covered/sealed in the refrigerator for a week.

Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice
I was trying to replicate Chipotle's cilantro-lime rice and it works--quite tasty and a great accompaniment to the roast for sopping up the delicious curry sauce!


Prep Time: 15min (or less)
Cook Time: 15min (or less)

Ingredients:
1 lime (or more to taste)
1/2 bunch washed, chopped cilantro
1 small head of cauliflower / half a large head per diner (more or less depending upon taste)
salt to taste

Method:
For my basic recipe, check out Kristy's Cauliflower Rice.  Here is a derivative:

Wash the cauliflower and break into small florets. Food process them in small batches, looking for the cauliflower to stick to the sides and the blade to spin freely (it tells you when it's done!).  Once done with all the batches, you can either cook with the cilantro, lime, and salt in a skillet or microwave in a covered container until softer and less smelly (cauliflower smells strongly once cut--try to cook it or freeze it at once, seal it up tight, and eat it quickly or your entire house will smell pretty sulfurous). The time it takes depends on your preference for doneness and how much you are trying to cook at once, but it's usually no more than 15min max for large batches.  Stir periodically during the cooking.

Alternatively, you can pre-cook halfway and freeze until you need it.  Then, just defrost, squeeze out some accumulated water or drain, and add the seasonings and cook briefly.  Since cauliflower rice is so messy (those little bits get EVERYWHERE), I like to make a whole bunch and freeze what I don't immediately need.  Timesaver!

So there you have it--a meal that takes very little time to prepare and feeds you and your friends/family heartily or lasts you a good few dinners and lunches.  For me, a slow cooker definitely earns its keep, helping me break out of the "I don't feel like cooking" slump and reinvigorating my paleo-style meals.  I highly recommend it!

Oh and in case you haven't seen me on Facebook--please follow the link in my sidebar and friend me for updates and connecting back and forth!

I'm also included on the weekly Paleo Rodeo graciously hosted by Modern Paleo when I get my post together in time.  Check it out for some fantastic recipes and paleo/primal discussions.  Thanks for hosting, Diana!

Fatphobia

Many are plagued by this "disease," which grew strong in the late-20th century and has led to a full-blown fat-free hysteria.  We've seen it everywhere from the general media to school lunchrooms and nutrition classes.  It is perpetuated by the Mayo Clinic, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, and most influentially by the USDA.  How can something so inGRAINed in our health knowledge be so wrong?

Contrary to Popular Belief


Despite promoting a reduced-fat and fat-free lifestyle over the last 20 years, Americans have been getting fatter.  Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke are all at all-time highs.  One large study summarized here started back in 1993 and tracked nearly 50,000 women for eight years.  Close to 20,000 followed a low-fat diet, while the rest continued their usual diet.  Here are the results:

The results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed no benefits for a low-fat diet. Women assigned to this eating strategy did not appear to gain protection against breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or cardiovascular disease. And after eight years, their weights were generally the same as those of women following their usual diets. [see article for citations]

and

The findings from the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial came as a surprise to many Americans who have been hearing for years that reducing fat is important for long-term health. Yet long-term follow-up studies such as the Nurses Health Study have consistently found little relation between the percentage of calories from fat and risks of breast cancer, colon cancer, or coronary heart disease. Such studies are one reason why major reviews of diet and health during the last five years, including those conducted by the U.S. Institute of Medicine and the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Committee, have moved away from advocating low fat intake to an emphasis on the type of fat.

Another large study found that the Atkins diet trumped the food pyramid standard diet, Zone Diet (40 carbs:30 protein:30 fat), and Ornish (high carb) at producing weight loss and decreasing risk of heart disease.  What makes Atkins so different?  It is the only very low-carb diet that was tested.  Sure, eating bun-less cheese burgers and bacon might not be very healthy, but compared to low-fat diets and moderate- to high-carbohydrate diets, Atkins won.  Looks to me like carbohydrates may be the real issue, not fat.  If anything, the higher fat diets did better!

Here is a (LONG) presentation from the Stanford lecture series on the findings of that study given by the lead researcher, a vegetarian.  It is fun and filled with visuals, so it's worth the time and effort to watch.  A good summary of it is here.

So why aren't our healthcare sources catching up with the current research?  Their tenacity to desperately hold on to out-dated policy calling for the reduction of fat IS NOT making us thin or protecting us from disease.  It is perpetuating a myth.  Just look at the general public consensus: we all know that fat makes us fat, right?  From my school lunch post, we know this is still being taught in schools and infiltrates school menus.

Bottom line: The low-fat and fat-free diet recommendation is NOT supported by current science.      

Why Fat-Free is Health-Free


Fat is not some boogeyman of the macronutrients.  Fat is essential, hence the essential fatty acids.  Essential is a nifty term given to substances your body CANNOT make and HAS TO ingest through your diet.  The essential fatty acids are alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid, and linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 fatty acid.  Two other omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are best consumed from dietary sources because although your body can synthesize them from ALA, the conversion is inefficient.  The omega-6 fatty acids are prevalent in nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils.  Omega-3s are rich in fish oil, fatty fish, chickens (and their eggs) fed flax and pastured, and grass-fed livestock.  The increase in our use of vegetable oils and decreased consumption of fish and grass-fed livestock has lead to an overbalance of omega-6 to omega-3s in the typical American diet.  While omega-6 fatty acids are still essential, too much leads to problems, while more omega-3s is protective of many diseases.  Basically, the bottom line is ditch the veggie oils, supplement with fish oil, and eat pastured chickens and their eggs, wild fish, and grass-fed beef.  You'll still get plenty of omega-6s.

Okay, so now we know the dangers of giving up fat entirely.  You can't live without essential fatty acids.  But, fat-freers will still get plenty of omega-6 in their diets due to the prevalence of veggie oils in everything processed, despite the "fat free" labels ("fat free" can really just mean very little fat, not entirely without fat--same goes for "trans fat free").  However, where will fat-freers get their omega-3?

Fat is required in your body for many jobs.  One is storage of energy.  A woman too low in body fat can't menstruate.  There just isn't enough fuel to support her body and certainly not any excess to support a child.  Without enough body fat, you start to eat away at yourself, self-cannibalizing your tissues to fuel essential functions.  There is no excess.  That tells us something about resources--your body NEEDS fat to support its function.  It can't function without it.  Excess calories whether from protein, fat, or carbohydrate are stored as fat.  If anything, carbohydrate is the Big Bad.  Your body can produce glucose internally without consuming it, so in reality, you don't need to consume carbohydrates for their energy.  According to Dr. Eades in Protein Power,

the actual amount of carbohydrates required by humans for health is zero.

OMG--read that again, it's life changing!  It totally overturns the dominant paradigm which places carbohydrates at the base of our beloved food pyramid (or as the dominant sliver nowadays).  You don't need carbohydrates.  There are no essential carbohydrates like there are essential fatty acids or essential amino acids.  You might want to consume carbohydrates for their vitamins and minerals, but without fat, that is a losing battle.  Here's why:

Another job of fat is dissolving fat-soluable vitamins like vitamins A, D, E, and K.  Fat-soluble vitamins are water-proof, meaning water can't break them down and you can only capture them and use them if you have fat to bind to them and take them where we need them to go.  If you want to find out more about what each fat-soluable vitamin does for our body and how vital they are, read up on them here.  So guess what happens to all the precious vitamin D and A fortified in our dairy when we drink skim milk?  Flush!  It is our fatphobia that has lead to this fortification because the typical American eats so little fatty natural sources of these vitamins (fatty fish, nuts, eggs, grass-fed meat, and oils).  And with our busy lives we definitely do not get enough vitamin D synthesis from the sun, even those living in Florida, the Sunshine State!

How about the health-conscious salad eater with fat-free dressing and dip for his/her veggies?  Where do all those precious vitamins go?  Flush, flush!  Vitamins E, K, and A (precursors) are prevalent in leafy greens and carotenoids (for vitamin A).  Without fat consumed along with veggies (also sources of these vitamins, itself), there is no absorption of these vitamins.  Thus, the fat-free craze necessitated supplementation of essential fatty acids into our already highly processed foods because we were no longer eating natural sources of fat-soluble vitamins and couldn't absorb them from veggies alone.  But this doesn't solve the problem if we still aren't eating any fat with the fortified foods!

(Don't worry, there's a recipe coming--keep reading!)

Replacing The Fat

What replaces the fat in naturally fatty products like oils and butters?  Give you a hint.  It is a big C.  In baking, a standard to reduce fat is to increase the sugar or use shortening or margarine instead of butter (more sugar to spike your blood sugar or hydrogenated oils and trans fat--which is the lesser evil?).

Check out the carbohydrate in uber-popular Kraft Ranch Dressing and Kraft Fat Free Ranch Dressing.  The fat free version has 11g of carbohydrate, compared to 3g for the regular ranch.  Granted it only has one more gram per serving of sugar, but what the hell are the other unnamed carbohydrates in there?  Remember, aside from the fiber, no matter the source: carbohydrate breaks down into sugar in your body.  And without fat to slow down digestion and keep you feeling full longer, your blood is quickly flooded with glucose, insulin mobilizes to get it out and store excess as fat, gets too much out since so much insulin was required, and leaves you with a blood sugar crash, which brings irritability and hunger, again.

Let's go to the video-tape per se, and dissect these two frankenfoods to see the real cost of fat free:

Kraft Ranch Dressing

Ingredients: WATER, SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, GARLIC JUICE, BUTTERMILK, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, WHEY, PHOSPHORIC ACID, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, EGG WHITES, VINEGAR, XANTHAN GUM, CITRIC ACID, POLYSORBATE 60, SPICE, NATURAL FLAVOR, ENZYMES, WITH SODIUM LACTATE, NATAMYCIN, AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA AS PRESERVATIVES. CONTAINS: MILK, EGG.

Kraft Fat Free Ranch Dressing

Ingredients: WATER, CORN SYRUP, VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHEY (FROM MILK), SALT, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF GARLIC JUICE, ONION JUICE, SOYBEAN OIL, XANTHAN GUM, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA AS PRESERVATIVES, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ALGINATE, NATURAL FLAVOR, DRIED PARSLEY, DRIED GREEN ONIONS, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, DISODIUM INOSINATE, SPICE, CARAMEL COLOR, SULFITING AGENTS, YELLOW 5.

I highlighted those ingredients that differ.  At first glance, you can tell that the fat free version is making up for its reduction of fat with a plethora of pinatas--sorry, I mean ingredients, but since they carry within them a host of sugary treats, the slip is fitting.  Both are unacceptable because I can't pronounce half of their ingredients or identify most of them as actual foods, besides the fact that there are just too damn many of them.  But all that is besides the point.  This is a case study of the average American, a ranch-dressing aficionado, told by the health community to choose fat free ranch over regular ranch dressing.

The regular ranch gets its fat (at least it has some?) from soybean oil (a vegetable oil rich in omega-6 fatty acids we are trying to avoid) and sugar is up there as its #3 ingredient.  Fat-free has sugar in the form of corn syrup AND high fructose corn syrup as its #2 and #4 ingredients.  You already know my argument against high fructose corn syrup and the processing to create these frankensugars nauseates me.  Do you really need sugar in your salad dressing?

Despite the snooze-factor, let's take a closer look at some of the ingredients that differ.  This is IMPORTANT because I bet you've partaken in processed foods with naivety just like me.  Let's look at the dark underbelly of those most common:

Monosodium Glutamate is MSG, which has a spotty history and may be responsible for symptoms like headaches, nausea, heart palpitations, and chest pain after eating MSG-laden foods.  Disodium Gyanylate and Inosinate are a pair that take the place of MSG in the fat-free dressing.  They provide saltiness and are derived from fish or yeast.  Recommendations against asthmatics, those with gout, or babies using products with this couplet make me a little nervous.

Citric Acid is a flavoring and preservative extracted from mould that eat sugar, mostly derived from corn sources.  Like yeast-fed sugar, I would think that citric acid is a little outside the paleo diet.  To note: Xanthum Gum is also usually corn-derived (it's also produced by bacteria fed corn-derived sugar).  Most chemically processed additives are derived from grains, so be wary of them if not for their highly processed nature (ex. Modified Food Starch), but also for their hidden gluten and anti-nutrients.

It would be nice to know the source of the "Sugar" and what the hell a generalization like "Enzymes" really means, "Spice" too while we're at it.  What are they specifically and where do they come from???  I am also concerned about the milk source of the buttermilk and the egg whites.  Without any guarantee that the animals were pastured and organic, I have no doubt they are animal products from brutal, inhumane factory farms.  Doesn't matter how little we rely upon products from that industry--any use is complacency and keeps them in business.

Let's keep free-falling down this rabbit hole, it only gets more horrifying:

In both dressings there is something mysteriously called "Natural Flavor," but if it was actually natural flavor, why is it an additive?  Hello contradiction!  Basically, natural flavor is anything from plant or animal used to flavor food.  Good luck tracking down that one to find out what you are actually eating.  The fat-free dressing also has sinister-sounding "Artificial Color" with Caramel Color and Yellow #5 to boot.  All this to get white dressing?  Caramel color comes from sugar, usually derived from corn, which amongst other concerns begs the GMO question: what exactly are we eating?  Sulfiting agents can be really bad for asthmatics and those sensitive to sulfur, and the fact that the FDA thought them dangerous enough to ban their use on foods eaten raw makes me nervous about their use in food products.  Guess who Yellow #5 is also dangerous for?  That's right!  Asthmatics!

Can you see a trend here?  Those with the most compromised and sensitive digestive tracts are falling ill when consuming these artificially produced chemicals added to our foods.  This might be a chicken and the egg question begging more research, but I see a connection here between a damaged digestive tract and asthma.  What damages the digestive tract?  Gluten (for one)!  Hmm, does that mean asthmatics might be more inclined to have gluten-intolerance and seriously adverse reactions to gluten a la celiac disease?  Not surprisingly, the answer is yes.  Giving up gluten reduces asthma.  That is a big home-run right there.

Bottom line: Look before you eat.

(And yes, we are almost there!)

The Downward Spiral

So let me connect the dots (la, la, la for those of you who remember PeeWee's Playhouse): the food industry replaces fat with carbohydrate (which breaks down into sugar) and derives most of its chemically processed additives from grains.  The sugar puts our blood sugar regulation on over-drive leading to a host of problems, especially since we don't have any fat to mediate digestion and produce satiety.  We lose valuable vitamins because we don't have the fat to absorb them.  That is a runaway train of metabolic sickness on its own.

But it gets better:

Meanwhile, gluten, lectin, and anti-nutrients from grains in the typical American diet destroy a person's digestive tract.  The inflammation, permeability problems, and inefficient, broken digestion that results is further exacerbated by those chemically produced food additives that are, no surprise: allergens!  Asthmatics and celiacs are at greatest risk because they are hypersensitive, but when you look at the scientific evidence about what grains do to your body, aren't we all celiacs by varying degrees?

Conclusion: The trade-off of fat for sugar, more carbohydrate, and more additives just isn't worth it.

The True Skinny

So it looks like fat isn't really all that bad for us after all.  Whew!  And I didn't even touch on the cholesterol myth or go into the nitty gritty of metabolism!  We'll save those for another day.  If you haven't read my saturated fat rant, please do.  I know that is crazy controversial, but 'the truth is out there' if we are brave enough to digest it.

I think our society has made great sacrifices in our health by throwing out the fat in our diets and replacing it with more processed frankenfoods at worse, sugar and more carbohydrates at best.  And that isn't saying much if carbohydrate is really to blame for our obesity epidemic and the modern Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and stroke.  But then, this challenges a paradigm backed by national commodities like wheat, corn, rice, and beans.  Their production is subsidized and their use is required in public schools.  This is where money and power diverge with nutrition.

Bottom line: Fat is healthy.  Seriously.  Obviously, you should choose natural sources with as little processing as possible, but that goes for everything.  Duh.  Healthy sources are olive oil, coconut oil, nut oils in moderation, animal fat, fish oil, avocados, and if you partake in dairy: butter, whole milk, and cream from raw, grass-fed sources.  For more information, see Mark's Daily Apple's Definitive Guide to Oils and a Primal Primer: Animal Fats.  Ditch the fat-free frankenfoods.  Don't be afraid to give yourself a little "indulgence" and enjoy healthy fat!  Make sure you have some at EVERY SINGLE MEAL!

Nut 'N Butter Crunch
The crisp, buttery crunch of this mix make for divine snacking!
Cooking/Prep time: 1/2 hour or less

Ingredients:
3C raw pecans (or roasted--just skip the roasting step)
1C raw coconut flakes/slices (see above)
2T raw, grass-fed butter (yes, it's worth the price, and no, don't even bother without it)
1/2t to 1t kosher salt to taste
(feel free to play around with the ingredients as desired)

Method:
Roast your pecans and coconut on sheet pans in a 350 degree oven (no need to preheat--you can just use the preheat as a timer for checking done-ness) or one batch at a time in a large skillet over medium heat.  Watch them carefully, because one minute they are browning, the next burnt to a crisp.  Seriously--my record is about even with burning versus success.  Remember, their bottoms will brown and burn, so toss them to keep checking.  You'll smell their fragrant roasty toasty-ness when they're done and the color will be a dark, golden brown.  This should take less than 15 minutes.

While your nuts and coconut are roasting in the oven or cooling, start a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the butter and brown the butter--which means stirring intermittently while it foams, loses its bubbles, and begins to brown.  Doesn't it smell like cheese?  Isn't that incredible?  REAL butter actually has a taste and smell!  Now you understand why I said raw, grassfed butter!

Back to the cooking: Watch the butter carefully for a change in color from yellow, to amber, to deep golden brown.  It won't take too long--say within 10 minutes.  Pull the plug once you've hit GB&D (golden brown and delicious--but, of course, singeing your tongue isn't necessary--smell and color will suffice).  Immediately remove from heat and throw in your roasted coconut and pecans.  Toss well and salt.  Remove to a covered container (try not to use plastic as the fat likes to bind with plastic and it makes cleaning really tough).  Whack 'er in the refrigerator to cool and for storage (I know it is torture to wait, but it tastes better once cooled, believe me--also, burning your fingers and mouth to snack on molten nuts isn't really fun).

Once cooled, enjoy crunching on this AMAZING mix!  It's very satisfying and decadently delicious!

Make a Date with Delicious

Dates.  To me, they conjure up images of Arabian royalty dining upon these delicacies in their opulent palaces.  I also hear the Aladdin merchant yelling, "Sugar dates and figs!  Sugar dates and pistachios!"  Yes, I watched that movie way too many times in my youth.  The dates on the table in Raiders of the Lost Ark piqued my interest, although it saddened me when poisoned dates were responsible for the death of the cute little monkey spy...  Anyway, dates have always been foreign to me, not something to which I was exposed as a child outside of television and movies.

Bottom line: I was missing out!

Dried dates are candy, plain and simple.  They are an excellent substitute for sugar and retain its caramelization and candy-sweet properties.  However, we can assume that with that sugary taste comes a nasty blood sugar spike.  Or does it?  The glycemic index value of dates is 103, higher than glucose set at 100.  But that number has puzzled researchers due to dates having a high fiber content, which would lower their GI.  Their glycemic load, which takes into account grams of carbohydrate minus water weight, was very high, too, at over 40, which makes sense given they are dried.  But what does this mean?  Well, to calculate these values, 50g of this carbohydrate were tested, which is actually about the quantity used in my recipe.  Of course if you eat all 12 yourself in one sitting, your blood sugar will be higher than a kite!  Duh!  Another study tested other varieties of dates and found them to be low glycemic, so there is definitely some dispute going on.  There is even some contention about whether or not the glycemic index is more important than dietary fiber quantity in food or if it is relevant to real life eating situations since the values were obtained 2 hours after eating the food and on a fasted stomach.  Bottom line: it seems that dried fruit in moderation is fine and can be reaped for its nutritional benefits.

Medjool Dates used in my recipe are Moroccan in origin and were almost wiped out there due to a disease in the 1920s.  Luckily, a portion of the healthy plants were transferred to the US and have been successfully cultivated here.  Dates are perhaps the first cultivated tree crop dating back more than 5000 years.  They have been a royal delicacy for much of their history.  Dates are also nutritious.  They have a good percentage of dietary fiber and have three times the potassium of bananas!  Potassium is integral for maintaining blood pressure, healthy kidneys, and cellular functions.  It is lost through perspiration and regained through your diet.  They also have a variety of B-complex vitamins and are a good source of magnesium (used for bone development and metabolism).

Pecans, our second major ingredient, are native to the Americas.  Pee cans or puh-cahns?  As Emeril would say, pee cans are for truckers.  They are chocked full of antioxidants--more than any other nut!  One antioxidant in pecans, Vitamin E, is responsible for reducing the oxidation of blood lipids and, thus, helping to prevent coronary heart disease.   Their antioxidants may also protect against cancer and Alzheimer's disease.  More details can be found here and here.  They are also rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, which are heart healthy fat.  They also have loads of vitamins and minerals.

So, here is a delicious, tasty, EASY treat to blast your taste buds.  I was inspired by this recipe from Girl Gone Primal--love her site!  Such brilliance to try something so simple!  I made hers with the apricot and walnuts and wasn't overly impressed with the taste (even with roasted walnuts)--perhaps it was the different varieties of apricots or nuts across the continents or just my own weird taste buds.  I knew the idea had potential and I know that so many people like hers, so I am just weird, but I tinkered with it to find the perfect combination of flavors at least for myself.  I think I found it!

Pecan Fudge Truffles
Fudge, plain and simple and sugar-free (aside from those delicious-as-candy dates).  
Makes: 12 bite-sized balls


Cooking Time: 30 minutes of preparation, tops, even accounting for cooling before assembly PLUS as long as your heart desires for freezing to get an ideal consistency.  I like mine really frozen (a few hours), but they are certainly edible and just as tasty sooner.


Zone Blockage: You can be my guest to figure this one out.  Exactly what size/variety is the "2 dates per block"?  Can you even find pecans on the list?  I would rather just enjoy them as a paleo-style treat!

ingredients:
1/2c pecans
1t vanilla extract
6-8 small Medjool dates or 4 jumbo/large, pitted and torn in half (2-3 ounces)
unsweetened shredded coconut (1/2c at least)
unsweetened cocoa powder (1/4c at least)

This is pretty darn simple.  Toast your shredded coconut in a naked skilled over medium heat.  It'll take a few minutes to get going, but once you start to see browning, stir often and keep an eye on it until you reach desired GB&D level (Golden Brown and Delicious, courtesy Alton Brown's Good Eats).  Meanwhile, set your pecans on a sheet pan in a 350 degree oven (I suggest toasting more than you need for inevitable future batches).  Keep an eye on these as well since they love to burn and are already golden brown in color at the start.  Even mild burning leaves this dessert with that burned nut flavor, so err on the side of caution!  Let your toasted coconut and pecans cool before beginning the assembly process.  Place the cocoa and toasted coconut in separate regular-sized or shallow bowls.

Assembly: (this is almost so easy, it is laughable) get out your food processor.  Dump in the pecans, vanilla, and halved dates.  Pulse to chop up the dates then let 'er whirl until the mixture begins to clump.  This only takes a minute or so.  Make sure your nuts are ground into tiny bits, and then remove the clumpy mixture from the processor onto a parchment paper-lined sheet pan.  Create little teaspoon-sized balls with your hands (roll in your palm) then plop 4 or so into your bowl of cocoa powder.  Here is the magic method: instead of gunking up your sticky hands, swirl the bowl so that the balls roll around and coat themselves!  Brilliant!  Of course I figured this one out after many, many batches of club-hands.  Then, remove the balls into the coconut bowl and repeat the process.  You may want to get your hands involved to press on some coconut if it isn't sticking well.  Remove from the coconut bowl and place on the sheet pan.  Repeat the process with the remaining balls and leave room between them on the sheet pan.  Whack 'em in the freezer until you cannot stand waiting any longer.  Enjoy feasting upon their awesome fudgy deliciousness!


How can such a simple process create such amazing chocolately, coconuty fudge?!?  And the best part: NO SUGAR (besides the dates, of course).  How awesome is that?  Are these worthy of your unenlightened brethren who might think your diet is insane?  I think so!


Dates