Lemon, Garlic, and Herb Baked Salmon

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but rest assured I’m still doing my Paleo diet! Work has kept me busy, and then there were all the garden veggies that needed to be canned or worked up (green beans, sweet corn, dill and sweet pickles, and tomatoes).




 

I do have a couple new Paleo recipes to share, though. I tried these both last night, and my family said they were hits and I could make them again. If you like salmon, this recipe is super easy to make, and it only takes a few minutes in the oven before dinner is ready. I paired this salmon dish with Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower and a nice green salad, and dinner was on the table in no-time flat.

lemon-garlic-salmon

 

Lemon, Garlic, and Herb Baked Salmon

8 salmon fillets

3 ounces grass-fed butter or ghee

1 teaspoon sea salt

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh dill, chopped

1 garlic clove, finely minced

 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (or use a little melted butter or ghee). Place salmon fillets skin side down in the baking dish.

Melt the butter or ghee in a small bowl in the microwave. Add the salt, herbs, and minced garlic to the butter, and stir to thoroughly combine.

Using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter mixture over each salmon fillet.

Bake fillets at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through and easily flakes with a fork.

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Bone Broth

One of the things I’ve always wanted to try making is bone broth or stock to use in various soup and stew recipes. Now that I’ve started my Paleo diet, this is something that is actually encouraged to drink on a daily basis and use in homemade soups. The diet I’m following says to drink 1/2 to 1 cup of bone broth daily. I don’t know if I’ll keep up with it daily, but since it can be frozen, I’ll definitely make up batches to keep on hand in the freezer to make soup quickly.




The recipe I used is salt-free, so if you’re following a low-salt or no-salt diet, this is perfect for you. I will say that the next time I make this I’ll be adding salt to help bring out the flavors. That said, if you decide to salt yours, keep in mind that as the broth simmers, the flavors will concentrate—and this means the salt intensity will increase, so be sure to start low with your amounts. You can always add more later on.

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Make sure you have plenty of time when you set out to make bone broth. I was in a bit of a hurry, and I should have let my bones roast in the oven longer than I did. The recipe said to roast for 15 minutes, and I went for 25 minutes, but I do think it should have roasted longer to achieve that nice dark brown color and flavor you get from long roasting. However, it still is tasty, but I know it will be better next time when I really roast everything before I start simmering it on the stove top.

My recipe comes from The Paleo Cure by Chris Kresser, one of my clients who inspired me to take charge of my health and get started on this Paleo diet. It really is easy to throw together. Once everything is in the pot, you just keep an eye on it and let it do its thing.

 

Paleo Bone Broth

4 pounds beef bones, preferably marrow and knuckle bones

2 onions, peeled and halved

4 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

4 cloves garlic, peeled

4 celery ribs, coarsely chopped

1 cup fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the bones, onion, and carrots in a roasting pan. Add about 1/2 inch of water to the bottom of the pan so the drippings don’t burn and stick to the pan.

bone broth - bones in pan 2

 

Roast for 15 minutes or until very well browned.

When everything is nicely roasted, add everything from the roasting pan (scraping the bottom) into a large stockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients, and add enough cold water to completely cover everything.

 

bone broth in stockpot

 

Cover, and bring ingredients to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer, covered, for at least 3 hours.

Strain the stock.

bone broth - strained

 

When the stock is completely cold, pour it into 1-quart Mason jars, and refrigerate it for later use. It should last about a week in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it in bulk or in individual portions in freezer-safe containers.

 

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Paleo Broccoli Slaw

I’ve finally come to the realization that I’m not a healthy person. I’ve always thought I ate a healthy diet. I ate plenty of vegetables and fruits. I ate chicken breast, usually without the skin (but not always!), and I tried to bake or roast other meats rather than deep-frying, although I would do that for a treat. I baked my own bread. I canned the fruits and vegetables that we grew in our garden. Basically, I was eating what I thought was a fairly well-balanced diet.

Then I went to the doctor. Yes, I’ve put on some weight over the last few years. I work from home on the computer, so I do have a fairly sedentary lifestyle, although I would try to get out and do yard work and walk on a halfway regular basis, though I know it probably was not enough. While I was definitely not happy about my weight (and subsequent BMI numbers), the thing that woke me up was my blood work.

I’ve had hypothyroidism for years, as well as undifferentiated connective tissue disorder and fibromyalgia. I’ve been prediabetic for just about as long. My blood work numbers finally screamed at me that it was time to take drastic action. How or what I was going to change I still wasn’t sure about, but I knew that something needed to change. Just so you know, my thyroid is completely out of whack. Conventional medicine says that a normal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) range should be between 0.5 and 4.5. I later found out that the functional medicine range (more about how I found this out below) for TSH is between 0.5 and 2 or 2.5. Well, I blew both of these ranges out of the water, as my TSH came back at a whopping 20!

Knowing what I know about the thyroid, I knew this was bad news. The thyroid regulates what goes on in the body—so with this huge TSH number, it’s no wonder I was putting on weight, and it’s no wonder my blood sugar (A1c) finally jumped into the diabetic range. But I still wasn’t sure how to fix this. My doctor put me back on a higher dosage of levothyroxine said come back in three months for retesting. And that was it. I love my PCP because he always listens to me, but really? That’s all the advice you had for me?




Around the time I got this news from my physician, I picked up a new client out in California for some transcription work. The client was doing this online class and podcasts and needed some transcription work. I started listening to his class lectures, and when I started working for him, he was on a section about supplements and the HPA axis, which is the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. While it was interesting material, it didn’t really seem like it pertained to me. I kept doing the work and going about my business.

Then he did a lecture about thyroid dysfunction and the differences between lab ranges of conventional and functional medicine and when each would probably decide to treat a patient. This was a lightbulb going off for me. This clinician said he would probably treat a patient, depending on all the factors of course, if her TSH was in the 2 to 2.5 range. And here I am with a TSH of 20. He also described different things that can influence thyroid dysfunction, so I decided to delve a little deeper into what other things this clinician talked about.

I decided to look up this clinician who I was working for and discovered that he was a leading expert in the Paleo movement. I read about his background, saw that he himself battled an unknown illness for years but found a way to improve his own health, and then I bought his book. If you’ve followed a Paleo diet or have done any research about it at all, you’ve probably heard of him or maybe have even read his book. It’s Chris Kresser, and the book that finally made everything click for me is The Paleo Cure.

I’d looked at the Paleo diet several times over the past few years, but I never really truly decided to do it because I love bread. I love pasta. I didn’t think I could go without these favorites and be able to cook or eat the way I wanted. After these past few months, however, I’ve decided that I can’t afford not to change and do this diet, so I’ve jumped onto the Paleo bandwagon with both feet. On July 1, I started doing Chris’ 30-day elimination/detox diet. I completely eliminated all sugars, dairy, alcohol, and gluten products. I threw out all the foods in my cupboards and refrigerator that are banned for the first 30 days. My youngest son, who has had GI issues of his own over the past year, is also doing this diet with me, although he’s complaining a bit about going dairy-free for 30 days, but he realizes he too needs to figure out why he’s ill when the specialists he’s seen over this past year have no idea what’s wrong with him.

I believe, although I don’t have any proof in terms of blood work, that both my son and I are intolerant to gluten. I do know my son does not have celiac disease, as this was confirmed by biopsy during his two EGD procedures. However, after listening to Chris’ transcriptions and reading his work, I believe my son and I may be intolerant to gluten, which may or may not show up on any lab test. The only way to determine if this is the case is to do an elimination diet.

So here we are. I have to re-learn how to cook. I have to find tasty substitutes for things I’ve always taken for granted: ketchup, soy sauce (for my son), bread, pasta. I’ll actually learn to make my own mayo, something I’ve wanted to do anyway but have been too lazy because Miracle Whip is right there on the grocery shelf. I’ll probably be fine with going sugar-free, although I do love to bake and will need to come up with acceptable substitutes for my favorite recipes to make them Paleo-friendly. But going without bread and pasta will probably be the hardest, but it’s the one thing I must give up to see if that is where my problems originate. Studies have shown that gluten may interfere with thyroid functions, and that really makes sense to me now.

On the plus side, my son is happy that this is a protein diet, and he can still eat steak and liver, two of his favorite foods. I’ve told him after the first 30 days we’ll gradually see if he can tolerate milk again, which is his biggest vice. If any reader has a favorite Paleo recipe they’d like to share, please feel free to drop me a line to share. Or if you have a favorite Paleo website, you can share that too. I’ve been all over the Internet and have found some good sources, but all new sources are welcome, especially if they have tasty, family-friendly Paleo recipes.

Our first few Paleo meals were nothing spectacular by any means: steak and mushrooms. Not that my son minded a bit!

 

paleo steak and mushrooms 2

 

I simply seared up the steak (grass-fed) and topped each steak with some mushrooms and onions that I’ve sautéed in a little bit of ghee (clarified butter) and seasoned with some garlic powder and black pepper. I’d normally saute the mushrooms in unsalted butter, so switching to ghee wasn’t hard to do, and quite frankly, I couldn’t taste a difference.

The next night everyone was together, so I decided to cook a Paleo meal for everyone. Unfortunately for my youngest son, he was forced to eat steak and sautéed mushrooms again (poor kid!), but I threw in a quick broccoli and carrot slaw to go with, and the meal was finished off with a nice chilled slice of sweet watermelon. Here’s the recipe for that salad, which was super easy to throw together since I used packaged broccoli and carrot slaw. Now some Paleo purists may say that honey is a no-no, but it’s on the “eat occasionally list” that I’m following, but feel free to eliminate this if you choose. Easy peasy, delicious, and Paleo-friendly.

 

broccoli slaw paleo

 

Quick Broccoli and Carrot Slaw

2 packages broccoli slaw (contains shredded broccoli, red cabbage and carrots

2 apples, cored and chopped (I left the skin on mine but you can peel if you prefer)

1/2 red onion, diced

1 package toasted sunflower seeds

3 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon raw honey

1/3 cup good olive oil (I used regular olive oil not extra-virgin)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

 

In a large bowl combine all the vegetables and the sunflower seeds, and mix together. In a small bowl (or a small Mason jar with a lid), whisk or shake (if using the jar) the mustard, honey, olive oil and vinegar together until completely incorporated. Pour dressing over the veggies, and stir until everything is nicely coated.

You can serve this right away, or you can chill it in the refrigerator while you’re getting your steaks and mushrooms ready.

Yield: About 6 servings
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