Primal Mashless Cottage Pie!

Made another meal today that is a lot more primal than the Guinness casserole. Used a recipe that I found here and thought it was very primal so decided to cook it myself!

Mashless Cottage Pie

Ingredients

500g lean beef steak mince
tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves (or a squirt of garlic puree)
400g tin of chopped tomatoes (chopped fresh tomatoes can be used instead.
250ml of beef stock
tbsp olive oil
2 leeks
1 large or 2 small parsnips
2 medium carrots
cheddar cheese

Method

-  dry fry the mince in a big pan and then set aside
-  add olive oil to pan and fry onion on a medium heat for 5 mins
-  add garlic and fry for a minute more
-  Add tinned tomatoes and bring up to boil, then reduce back to a simmer and thicken for 5 mins, stirring occassionally
-  Return the beef to the pan, with the Worcestershire sauce and the hot stock
-  Bring back up to the boil, cover and simmer on a low heat for 20 mins
-  Preheat oven to gas mark 6.
-  While that is simmering, peel and chop the leeks, peel and grate the carrot and peel and grate the parsnip.
-  Heat olive oil in a separate pan and fry the leek for 2-3 mins. Add the grated carrot and parsnip and fry on a medium heat for 2-3 mins more.
-  Put the beef mince mix in an oven proof dish. Top with the grated veg mix and then sprinkle grated cheese on top.
-  Oven bake for 30 mins until the top is crispy.

Just had a couple of fork fulls and it is really lovely Really like the carrot/parsnip topping instead of the mash.

Really looking forward to eating it tonight!

Sausage, Bacon and Guinness Casserole

Had a day of cooking today, made two meals that can be frozen or eaten on the day. First meal was sausage, bacon and guinness casserole.  I know that guinness isn’t primal and red wine can be used instead if wanting to stay more primal. The recipe was based on one that I found on the channel 4 website. I added a few things though.

Sausage, Bacon and Guinness Casserole

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
8 pork sausages
1 large red onion
1 celery stick chopped
6 rashers smoked bacon
3 tbsp tomato puree
330ml bottle guinness
150ml beef stock
100ml water
7 chestnut mushrooms cut in quarters
2 small carrots dhopped
1/4 aubergine
butter

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large casserole/deep wide frying pan. Add sausages and cook till browned for about 6 or 7 minutes. Then remove the sausage and set aside.

2. Add some butter, the onions, aubergine, celery and bacon to the pan and cook while stirring for about 6 minutes.

3. Add the tomato puree and cook for 1 minute.

4. Pour in the Guinness, bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes until reduced, add the carrot.

5. Add the stock and the water and bring back to the boil.

6. Return the sausages and add the mushrooms

7. Simmer for 5 or 6 minutes while stirring. Season to taste, I added some cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne chilli pepper spices.

Tasted really nice the last time I made it. Will be a perfect amount for two hungry people. Will be eating it tomorrow night after reheating it. Can also be frozen if you make too much or if you like to make it ahead of time.  Reheat it in a pan for about 10 minutes.

Have just put it in the freezer tonight and will be eating the cottag pie instead. Here is a picture just before I put it in the freezer.

Rules

I have never been one to follow the rules blindly, and I am not going to start now.

I do think it is a good idea to have guidelines, but these guidelines should be set by yourself, not by others. Some of these guidelines may be exactly the same as other peoples rules, some may be different. Sometimes it may be a good idea to follow someone elses rules temporarily until you have more knowledge and experience on the subject, then create your own rules later.

I have been reading a lot of www.marksdailyapple.com lately and I agree with a lot of what I have read. I am willing to follow a lot of the rules that are given in the book “The Primal Blueprint” but will not follow them blindly forever. I will make sure that I have read up the reasons for these rules. Then I will adjust or remove some of the rules depending on the research that I have done and on what would apply to me.

It seems that a lot of the primal community just follow the rules in the primal blueprint as if they were gospel. Which is not something that I am going to do.

As times goes on and I learn more about primal living I will post more about the 10 laws of the primal blueprint. I will post about my opinions and research on these laws and will then come up with my own guidelines that will be detailed on this blog.

My guidelines will not be set in stone either. Setting guidelines in stone and calling them laws make it so much harder to change them in the future if new evidence comes around to change my opinions.

I have a lot of respect for all of the primal/paleo blogs, books and websites out there. I hope that my blog will become a good source of information for people over time too.

Post Workout Minute Steak

My workout today was half on my iron gym and half on my york bodygym. 5 sets of 5 chin ups on the iron gym and then 5 sets of 5 shoulder press on the bodygym.

After the workout it was food time!

Half a plate of the salad that I made yesterday, with a cold chicken thigh and a fried steak. The minute steak (cube steak) is perfect for a post workout meal as it is high in protein and super fast and easy to cook. As the name suggests, it only takes a minute on either side to cook. The only downside is that there was no fat on the steak.

Was a nice quick meal that gave me a lot of protein. Might have to make it a regular thing.

My primal life is starting today!!!

My primal life is starting today!

The tesco man arrived today with the shopping. Lots of vegetables and eggs and some good meat. As soon as I had finished unpacking the food I started to prepare my salad. Cut up a load of lettuce and shoved that in a bowl, added some chopped cucumber, chopped mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, chopped red and yellow pepper. Then I added a small amount of almonds,  some walnuts, some pumpkin and sunflower seeds and finally added some raisin/sultana/cranberry mix. The only other thing that was needed was some meat! I cooked an organic chicken thigh and then cut it up and added that to the salad.

Here is a picture of the salad just before I ate it.

Looking forward to a primal life!

I have spent a lot of Saturday researching meals that I could make for myself once I start my primal lifestyle. My dinners at the moment normally consist of oven chips and some other frozen food reheated. My lunches are normally sandwhiches or cheese on toast and my breakfasts have been cereal. A carb lovers dream.

My meals when primal will be a lot different though. I plan to have a 3 egg omelette with bacon and a small amount of cheese in the mornings. A big salad with chicken most lunchtimes. Dinner times will be meat times! Steak, pork chops, chicken, alongside veggies. Some other meals that I will be making are stews and chilli.

Not long until I start being primal and I am really excited about how much it will benefit my health and happiness. It will be really good to be cooking good food every evening for myself and to be learning and living with a new outlook on life.

Hello world!

Hi,

I am Magu and this is my blog.

I have been reading a lot lately on www.marksdailyapple.com about Primal living. I have decided to live my life in a more primal way and will report here about my experiences. I am not going to jump in at the deep end, I intend to take steps from a conventional lifestlyle to a primal lifestyle. It wont be easy to shake off all of the bad habits I have learned.

I have already started exercising and weight training and will be eating the primal way soon too.

Lots of changes ahead, am looking forward to it